almost two weeks!!!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I did any scrapbooking! The odd thing is I haven't missed doing it, I've been so busy with other stuff I just haven't had the time to feel like creating anything let alone actually sitting down and choosing papers and photos. I'm not too worried though as I'm thinking this means I will have enough un-scrapped photos for the WCC retreat that is quickly approaching.I haven't been totally uncreative over the past two weeks I finally got around to painting my little IKEA easel and adding a few little finishing touches. It doesn't look quite so bare and out of place now in my very red and black craft room.

I also managed to finish my third baby blanket. They are now ready to be posted to my nieces for the babes to snuggle under. The girls already have a collection of pale pink, white and baby blue blankets I wanted to give them something that will last past the baby stage and also suit Jack, who at 2 needs something more "big boy" like, for curling up under while watching Toy Story and Cars.

I have made two trips over the mainland with this little chap. the first was to drop him off to his new mamma last week. the Thursday just gone I had to go collect him and bring him home. unfortunately for him, expectations were just too high for him to meet in such a short space of time and She decided he wasn't the right dog for her. So now we will start to look again to find him a new home. We know he has some problems (fear aggression and food obessions) but, I am sure that with the right owner, someone who is prepared to give him the time and space he needs to settle in. He will be a wonderful little addition their life.

and now I'm going to enjoy a totally unplanned weekend! I have nothing to do other than a little housework! I'm planning on relaxing and recharging ready for another busy week at work.

Enjoy your weekend!
TFL
Paige

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh the babies are alseep

I completed another two layouts of my nieces two new babies yesterday. Oddly I didn't notice until I was choosing a title for the second layout that they were both sleepy layouts.

So this is a sleepy Peyton. I used a mix of October Afternoon (no surprise there) some Cosmo Cricket a little Prima and plenty of sewing machine :) I love Peytons squooshed up face in this photo. she was being burped at the time and had falled asleep like this. The second LO is sleepy lamb Liam. I used some more of the prima papers (same range as the papers I used in Peyton's LO) a couple of journal tags and two strips of bling. This LO was made using a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays they have some fab ideas here so if you are stuck for a LO pop over there and have a lookieloo.

Two new layouts from my trip to the North Island

I have had a free day today :) It doesn't often happen on a Saturday that something hasn't been planned or some-one's not coming over. But today was all ours :) so this morning we walked on a very windy beach, the dogs had a great time swimming and chasing each other about on the sands. Once that was done I was able to settle down in my craftroom with six snoring mutleys and create. here's what I made.

This photo was taken back in the summer when Lucie was still pregnant with Peyton and Kirsten had just had Liam. I draw a large scalloped edge on the pale blue polka dot paper cut it out and added little dots. The boarder strips are all stitched on, I added so interest to the ribbon by layering it as I stitched and distressed the edges of my photo matt. The flowers were a late addition. I kept looking at the LO and feeling something was missing. I think they finish it off nicely.

I really do think I will have to order some more of this Sassafrass paper. It's so yummy!!! I've used up almost all of this range now and could happily carry on creating with it! This photo is of Kirsten's family (I'm annoyed I didn't got a similar photo of Lucie with her Hubby and Kidlets on the same day). I'm so in love with the stampin Up punch that makes these little hearts and am using them on most of my LO's at the moment. I love it almost as much as my MS butterfly punches :) The sewing machine came out for this LO as well. as did my old favourite October Afternoon stickers.

Have a great time over the rest of your weekend whatever it is you plan to get up to. Me I'm off for chicken and Chips and a few good films curled up with my man on the sofa :)

Paige

Jack and his Buddies

When I visited my sisters family at Christmas, Jack, who's now 2 and such a little man ;) was chatting away about his two favourite friends Woody and Buzz. That's mostly all I heard from him all day Woody....... Buzz.........Buzz.......Woody and so on. I want to get this over somehow in a layout to preserve the memory of his two best friends. The idea for the repeating title came to me the other morning as I woke up and I knew it would be perfect. thankfully the LO turned out exactly as I planned!

For the Toy Story banner I did a Google search for Toy Story images and just downloaded any with a white background, I cropped them all so they where roughly square and then I resized them all to 325 pxls (just over one inch). they all fitted on one 5x7 sheet of photo paper and then I punched them using my 1" EK Success punch. The papers are all October afternoon as are most of the stickers and journal tags.

Paige

This weeks WCC challenge LO

I forgot that I had posted a sneak peak of this LO a while back but didn't ever post the full picture. Well as it's this weeks Challenge over on the Wight Craft Circle I thought it's about time it saw the light of blogland. Its another "lifted" layout, I haven't changed it much from the original but just enough to make it mine. you can see Jill's LO here. I find the Noel Mignon blog so useful for inspiration, there are some amazing ladies on the design team there.

So back to my LO. I have used a mix of all my current favourite papers brands (Cosmo and OA), a selection of bought and home made journal tags, even the sewing machine got a good workout for this LO. I did all the stitching onto the white CS before mounting the whole lot onto the kraft CS. that way the sticthing doesn't show through the back and my poor little machine only had two layers (3 at the most) to sew.

Peyton Layouts

Here's a couple of layouts I finished this evening of my eldest niece Lucie's beautiful new baby Peyton. Sadly I didn't get the monthly photos of Lucie (like before) as she didn't feel too good throughout most of her pregnancy, but she did pose for this one and I think she looks beautiful in it! I'm really pleased with the finished effect of this LO the curved cut of the paper was to echo Lucie's baby bump. I loved working with these papers and I think I might just have to order some (lots) more of them! Not much scrapbooking really on this LO but I wanted to use all three photos and they landed in a pile on my desk pretty much like they are in the LO. I liked how they looked so copied it straight over to the paper. Just adding a collection of little bits top and bottom to finish the page.

I really need to order a new scrapbook as Peyton's LO's are taking up precious room at the back of Jacks album at the moment. hurry up pay day!!!!!

Layouts from the latest Crop

Yesterday was the first Wight Craft Circle crop of 2011. I spent a lovely day chatting, laughing and crafting away until 5pm. In total I completed three layouts and made a good start on another two (needed to use my sewing machine to complete them both). Once home (while Trav cooked tea) I got the sewing machine out and finished the last two off. so here they are!

First off I made the Layout for next weeks Scrap with us Challenge over on our Crop blog. so that one I can't show you ;)......... well maybe just a peak.The next layout is using a photo I took of Jack and Liam (Grt Nephews) while visiting family over the holidays. They are growing so quickly!!! I took a break from the norm. here and used sasafrass papers instead of my usual OA
I so enjoyed the finished look of my year in review layout that I wanted to use the "lots of mini photos look" again. So for this layout of my friends birthday I layered 16, inch square photos (I use a punch to make sure each photo is the same size) onto bazzil CS and then added some sparkly birthday papers. The three file tabs are not removeable, but I might re-jig this LO for future use and make them journal cards.
This is the first of the two LO's I completed at home. This is Peyton (my Grt Niece) with my sister. I have a collection of photos of Peyton that I really need to scrapping with. I have stitched around the whole LO, making a pocket for the journal tag at the top. The title was made using the new (and oh so lovely) October afternoon Mini Market stickers, and the journal block is a new stamp I ordered from the States
The second home finished Lo is of Liam. I'm not sure if it shows up on the photo but I have scored three lines int he CS (2 top and 1 bottom) and added a few stripes of sewing. I love this dotty paper so much!!! even though it's Christmas paper I think it works well with non-festive LO's. i have punched three circles from the cut off paper and raised them with 3D pads then on each dot I added a dab of glossy accents. The journal card is one I made on word and printed out on kraft CS. and the little stamped lamb is My Little Shoebox (Liam is nik-named Lee-Lamb by his Nanny).
So that's it for now I'm hoping to get a little more scrapping done this evening after our trip to see "Harry & Hermione go camping" sorry ;) Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows Part 1 (I'd rather be seeing Season of the Witch but I'll catch that later in the week with Sam I hope).

2010 the Review

This weeks Scrap with us is to review 2010, I saw this awesome layout a while back on this fab blog and saved it knowing it was just the kind of LO I would like to reproduce for a year review. I chose 60 photos that span the last year (it was really hard to chose just 60). I then re-sized them all so I could use my 1" square punch so that each photo was exactly the same size. I sorted the photos out in to a rough time line and then stuck them onto the white CS layering this onto the Kraft and then the red (watermelon) CS. I used a couple of home made journal blocks on the right hand side to note the year. two punched circles that i ran through my yummy new red sewing machine and the rest is just OA stickers and a few bits and bobs. The title I have cut on my cricut using the "under pressure" (from DonJuan) and "All mixed Up" carts

a close up of the 60 photos On the reverse of the LO I have stuck a numbered guide just in case I forget what was happening in each photo

Feeling the JOY

It's finished!!!! Yippee!!! not that I'm happy the holidays are almost over but I do love completing a project. Here are the last pages of my JOY book. I plan to take part again next year so made sure when i stopped in at CTM on Wednesday I got a good supply of my favourite Xmas themed papers from this year (I never buy enough and always want to use them again ) for my next JOY book.

DAY 25
the pages seem to have become all October Afternoon, maybe because I got a sneaky parcel delivered this week :) I used a sheet of acetate to hold the main pressy photos of Trav and Myself. a lush new Mayaroad scalloped envelope holds all our pressy tags (I keep them as I still write thank you notes).

I made a journal tag holder and attached a strip of CS down one side so the jump ring holes didn't catch on the tag. On this page I added a few photos of the day and the lovely friends we spent it with.

DAY 26
Normally this is the day I drive up North to see the folks, but this year Trav and I chilled out and watched films all day. I was feeling the polka dot love when I created this page and love the way the green and yellow look together!
DAY 27
This was my early start day! I love living on the IOW but hate the fact it's such a horrid drive when i want to go see old friends and family. I try and make the journey at least twice a year. One of my biggest treats on the journey is stopping at as many Starbucks as I can on the way and buying vanilla lattes! I love them and we don't have a SB on the Island :( I took Gracie-Lou and Stanley with me, as Stanley was going to meet my friend who has agreed to be his new mamma. Stanley has now been renamed Dave and will be moving out of the DC house in the New Year.

DAY 28
A day spent with Family! and my how my sisters family has grown in the last two years!! I've gone from having 2 nieces. To 2 nieces, 2 nephews (their husband and partner), 3 grt nephews and 1 grt niece (their four children). It was a lovely if somewhat noisy day :) The paper I used for this day was mostly CratePaper with some OA thrown in for good measure.

DAY 29
Total M25 hell! I started my journey that morning at about 8:30 and finally got the ferry port at 5.10pm, due to the fog the 3.30pm ferry still hadn't leave the port!!!!! thankfully someone was smiling on me and I managed to get a ferry home at 6.10pm :) I also managed to fit three Expedit units from IKEA Southampton into my tiny car and spend a few pennies at CTM before I left Cambridgeshire. So all in all it was a good trip!


DAY 30
a day spent working! I had to catch up today with my dog grooming. due to my clippers breaking before Xmas I had a few little hairy's booked in and wanted to get them sorted out before school started back. so today I Bertie, Basil, Maggie & Rufus booked in I also managed to give Dave (aka Stanley) a quick trim and tidy.
DAY 31
On this page I used to journal panels that i made on Word a few years back I like the way the whole year can been seen at a glance and have used these in all three of my JYC/JOY books so far.
DAY 32
Rather than making a long list of resolutions that i know I won't manage to keep I thought I would just make a few promises to myself about everyday things, such as time usage and being a good witch ;)
I hope you all have a brilliant 2011 and would like to thank you for reading my blog during 2010!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!