OOPS!

Looks like I've been AWOL again! So what's happened since my last visit to this dear blog...

Madison started walking & now has a very pretty pair of purple shoes, with 3 little hearts on the bottom! How clever of her to put her feet like this for my photo! Especially as she fell asleep like that! LOL

Madison now has 10 teeth however I don't think any of them apart from the bottom two at the front have come through in the order they should!
Kyle has just turned the grand old age of 9!!!I was very proud of him because his birthday was on Remembrance Sunday this year and as a cub scout, he took part in the Remembrance Parade in Crewe!

Every year, I take a photo of him holding up his fingers to show his age, only one more year of doing it though or the socks & shoes will have to come off! Above is a rare photo of him & below is a normal photo of him - well, you know what boys are like!
I've finally seen a Rheumatologist and as usual, consultants don't like giving a proper diagnosis so I was told it's 'Highly Likely' that I have ME/CFS as well as the Fibromyalgia :( So now I'm waiting for physio & occupational therapy appointments as well as a trip to the Chronic Fatigue Service.

And Andy is putting up with us all - bless him!!!

As far as crafting goes, I've been plodding on with a Crochet Bag, knitting scarves, scrapping in real life & digitally, making cards for birthdays where I can - oh no, I better get on with the dreaded C******** cards too lol - and I've signed up for an Art Journal Circle Journal on UKS, which starts in Jan 2012.

Speaking of UKS, I hosted my first solo challenge on there in October - here are my 2 example LOs - using a different size photo, halloween colours & a stamp thats never used!

I was interviewed by Lisa Griffin, a fairly new DT member in ScrapaGoGo Land - the interview was posted on Kyle's birthday - you can read it here if you want to know more about my scrapping history!

The Chinese Whispers CJ in GoGo Land has come to an end but never fear, I will still make use of my kits - I've signed up for 2 more!!! These are the 10 LOs I've created over the course of this first CJ. Chinese Whispers are the best type of CJ's - I love being able to use my stash for a LO that I get to keep! LOL

Thanks for stopping by :)
x

Haircut 101

Upon seeing the fabulous paper from My Minds Eye 'Stella & Rose - Hattie, Happy' collection in my April GoGo kit, which just begged to be cut into & decoupaged and then seeing this LO from Sheena Rowlands, I just had to get the scissors out!

The photo was of me, taken at the grand old age of 5! It was a school photo taken on a Monday after I had decided to cut my hair on the Saturday afternoon! Yep! You read that right! I was cutting chunks of my hair off and putting it into an old shoe box while pretending that each bit of hair was an 'ingredient' in my recipe for tea. My mum was hanging out the washing and helping me with suggestions of another vegetable to put in, completely unaware that I had a pair of scissors in my hand! I can still remember her face when she looked in the box and then at me! Hence the rather short fringe and flicked hair, it was the best the hairdresser could do to tidy up my hair! lol

And of course, while the kit was out, I completed this LO too - photos of Mickey & Costa as kittens, chillin' in one of their usual spaces - Costa in the sun while Mickey was often to be found in a box! Bless him!

Haslington Crop UKS Weekly Challenge

Once a month, I have a day (well, 6 hours) of 'me' time when I go to a local crop in Haslington. I have a fabulous time EVERY time - lots of laughing, lots of coffee, lots of cake, lots of fantastic company and sometimes a bit of scrapping! We decided that we would host a weekly challenge over on UK Scrappers and that week has arrived.

Our challenge consists of making a LO with a group of photos or photos of a group, to include the letter H in the title, to include a star (as our crop only started this year!) and to follow this sketch from Page Maps.


It took me a while to find suitable photos but eventually I remembered these photos of Kyle carefully & patiently standing all his Crazy Bones in lines - it was only when he did this that I realized just how many he had! Yikes!


Now due to having a distinct lack of time, this LO was only completed a few days ago - I got my February Studio Calico kit, sorted out which papers I was going to use and then... nothing! No time = no LO! But then one evening, I just threw everything at the page and hey presto! It was complete!!!

I hope you'll find the time to pop over to UKS and look at the gorgeous LOs my fellow croppers have done & maybe join in too :)

Pinch Punch

The 1st of August 2011 can only mean 1 thing... my BFF Suzy is celebrating her eldest son turning 18!!! Happy Birthday Nick :) & Happy Birth-day of Nick to Suzy & Simon :)

However the 1st of the month also means its ScrapaGoGo Chinese Whispers CJ time - it was a bit of a rush this month but I'm still pleased with this LO using the June kit - based on a LO sent to me along the Chinese Whispers line and the title is similar to this LO from Sarah Youde. The journalling reads 'After a fall off his bike, Kyle only had hugs for Lumpy - my teddy! Of course, he was only on loan! He always is!!!'

A Boy & His/My Teddy

And a couple of close-ups because I'm trying out taking close-ups!!! LOLAs I typed this, I realized I haven't blogged any Circle Journal LOs since March's! Oops! So without further ado...

Gone (using ScrapaGoGo May kit)

The Masks (using the April GoGo kit)

Another of my recent LOs was of Madison's first smile - caught on camera on Day 2!!! I used more of the lovely Cosmo Cricket Pixielicious range I love so much!

First Smile

Do you like my 3D butterfly? I know it doesn't take much, but I am rather impressed with it!
I punched it out of the purple spotted acetate, which I then used as a mask for the Wild Honey Distress Ink before securing the acetate butterfly on with variegated thread from WRMK Sew Easy range.

July - Scrapology Guest Designer

That would be me!!! :)

I was over the moon when I was asked to be guest designer at Scrapology for July :) This month, M is for Masks and this sketch from Liz Qualman.

I flipped the sketch because in the photo, Kyle was looking slightly to the left so it looked better for him to be looking towards the centre of the page.
So without further ado, here is my LO...

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I'll buy a mask, have lots of ideas how to use them, but then rarely use them because I forget about them - obviously I have too much stash!!!

I used a hexagon mask that I bought back in March, from 'That Special Touch' and sprayed it with Lemonade Mister Huey's. I also used the mist with a sponge at the bottom and with the mask again in the top right corner, cutting out the hexagons and backing with paper. I like this - may do this again soon!


The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted the green paper with the red dots - this was from using the Swiss Cheese punch on scrap paper then using Red Brick Distress Ink. I like this too - can see me using more of my border punches as a mask! :)

And another close up... So what do you think, I'd love to hear from you. And don't forget to pop over to Scrapology & take a look at the Design Teams creations - you could even take part in the challenge & get those masks out of storage!!!

Scrap Factor entries

I was having a sort out of my photos of layouts & looking back on here to see what I've posted when I realized I haven't shown off any of my digital LOs... I hadn't done many before when I decided to enter the Scrap Factor competition over on UK Scrappers - using digital LO's! So without further ado...

Entry requirements were for 5 layouts with criteria given for three of them...

First up... A LO about ME - Yikes!!! I used the Smitten kit which was available from a Scrapbookgraphics blog hop & kept the LO very simple. Those that know me will know that I don't 'do' pink yet there's a LOT of pink on here for me!!!

This is Me

Second... a Double LO - I've done a few DLO's in real life but doing it digitally completely took me out of my comfort zone - but I'm pleased with it! I used Sir Scrapalot's kit 'Snow Much Fun' - which was beautiful but not the traditional colours you'd expect to see on a wintery LO.

The End of the Snowman

Third... a LO without photos! Easy! I wanted to do a LO with all the nicknames Madison has already acquired... Took me a long time but when I look back at it now, I can see why - its too busy!

What's Your Name?

Then 2 more LOs - any size, any theme...

So firstly... whizzed together using Sir Stampalot's Spookilicious kit & Echo Park's digital Halloween Alpha.

Candy

and lastly, my favourite... 'a Model ?' using a kit from Dawn Inskip called Snapshots, which was just perfect for this LO.

A Model?

I didn't get through the 'auditions' for the competition but I enjoyed doing them & I certainly learnt a lot more about Photoshop Elements. I've done some more digital LO's since but I'll save those for another post. I also think I need to be a bit bolder on my shadowing - maybe I'll go back to my very first digital LO's and practice on those!!!

GoGo Chinese Whispers - 2 for the price of 1 !!!

Regular readers may remember I'm part of a Chinese Whispers Circle Journal over in ScrapaGoGo land... I completely forgot to blog my LO at the beginning of April so now you have 2 to look at...

Just the 2 of Us - using March's kit, is of Andy & I on my favourite bridge, Luzerne, Switzerland in July 2007 - we were smirking slightly as I was balancing the camera & trying to take the photo AND not drop it in the water!!!


and

Catching Butterflies - using February's kit - Madison in mid-snoore/snooze!!!

Happy

Finally completed LO for the UKS weekly challenge I mentioned on WOYWW this week - knew it would take me the rest of the week!!!The journalling is about Kyle starting his day with a singsong & a smile when he was younger.

I suppose nowadays he starts & ends his days thinking about Pokemon!!! LOL

Times flies...

Wow - time really does fly by, doesn't it???

All of a sudden, Madison is 7 weeks old and Kyle has just turned 8 - 8!!!!! Where did the time go??? Now as I hold Madison in my arms, I remember how small Kyle once was and then I find myself wondering where the last 8 years have gone!!! I must have blinked for far too long!!! LOL

A quick catch up...

Halloween came and went - Madison had her own little outfit - come on, who on earth could resist this cute little number!!! Thanks to Fiona (aka Angelfish on UKS) for the heads up on this outfit!!!
As you can see, even Madison was full of glee with this outfit!

Then there was my fabulous friends' daughter who regularly comes to walk my pooch, who was looking for an excuse to dress up on Halloween, so she took Kyle out for 'Trick or Treat'...
For Kyle's eighth birthday, we went Ten-Pin Bowling and then Pizza Hut with his best friend Leo and our family...
And a LO, just the one!!! This took me a couple of weeks really, by snatching 5 or 10 mins here & there...

Introducing Madison...(used the most gorgeous Pixielicious range from Cosmo Cricket, which was part of the ScrapaGoGo kit for October!)


Madison has been having loads & I mean LOADS of cuddles from lots of friends and family - I can't show them all here as you'd never get the page to refresh properly!!! So instead, just a few smiles from Little Miss Indecisive (my team on UKS is 'The Indecisives') and/or the Ribbonette (on UKS, I'm part of the fabulous and best house - Red Ribbon House)...



Til next time...

Quick LOs

Hullo - I'm still here... and STILL waiting for baby to arrive... if Mother Nature still hasn't taken over before Tuesday, then I'll be going in to be induced! Come on Little Lady - everyone is getting impatient, especially ME!!!!!

I've managed to do several LOs though in the past week or two while I've been waiting and I'm now down to doing LOs with kits and/or instructions so I can complete them quickly - just in case!!!

So firstly, Hello Mr Dragonfly - I was quite happily scrapping when I heard Gizmo behind me and a very LOUD buzzing noise... turned out she had caught this beautiful dragonfly. Andy managed to rescue it and the camera came out rapido to get some photos as it recovered from its ordeal. I don't think I've ever seen a dragonfly soooooooo close before so I was really happy to get some decent shots of it. Then I just had to wait for my September ScrapaGoGo kit to arrive as I knew the contents of the kit would be perfect for these photos. With the addition of some pre-made ribbon dragonflies from BF Suzy, the LO was complete...

I also had another perfect photo for the same kit - Andy & I went to the 'official' opening of Rare Aquatics in Crewe and I had to take a photo of this pleco Jo had in a tank. I was gobsmacked at the size of the fish, probably about 8 or 9 inches in length and those teeth!!!

I managed to take part in the UKS weekly challenge this week - to scrap an obsession or guilty pleasure - well, as I don't wear matching socks anymore and was proudly wearing my new Little Missmatched socks that day, I set to work basing it on a sketch from the Bo Bunny blog - this turned out to be a very BRIGHT LO!!!
And finally today I did this Tasty LO - one of the quickies! This LO was courtesy of my fabulous teamie on UKS, MJ who put this class kit together for a DLO and gave it to us at our retreat back in June. I only wanted to do a SLO so also based it on a LO that another fabulous teamie Katy created from the same kit, here. Thank you ladies for the inspiration! Photo is of Kyle when he was approximately 10 months old - just enjoying a quick snack!!! There was a very soggy end to that french bread by the time he'd finished munching on it!!!

There is something else crafty I've created but I can't show it yet as it is for a certain Godmum to be!!! Be patient Suzy - I'm not!!! tee hee!

Maybe on my next blog post I'll finally be able to introduce you to the Little Lady!

Oops!

So much for keeping this blog up to date - another month has just flown by!!!

End of Year 2 for Kyle which was quite hectic with school plays, street dance performances, pressies for Mrs Dean and Mrs Clarkson - these 2 mugs which I painted last minute (as per usual!!!)Then Andy, Kyle & I had a lovely holiday down in Cornwall for the first week of the summer holidays while my mum house & pet-sat for us! The weather was pretty good, it rained most nights but only during one day, whereas the weather at home was atrocious!!! Andy managed to get some fishing in (including losing his phone in the lake!!!) and Kyle did his first bit of fishing with his own fishing gear which Andy bought for him! I love this picture of them both...Since the holiday, its been pretty much back to normal, except Kyle has been playing a lot of Wii, DS & watching TV - unfortunately I haven't had much strength to do a lot of things with him but we've watched some DVDs together and had 'Us' time!

The pregnancy is still having its downside - morning sickness continues and I've been diagnosed with SPD which flippin' well hurts!!! Turns out I've had it for a few months now, but as the first physio I saw back in May said 'you don't get SPD til the 3rd trimester!', then several friends and a doctor told me that wasn't true, I've since seen another physio and she said I have it and from the pains I had back in May (and before) that I've had it for a long time!

At 36 weeks now, its getting harder and more painful to move around and I'm tending to feel very fed up and quite emotional!!!
On the positive side, I had a scan at 34 weeks (and will be having another on 31st Aug), the doctor said they may well induce me a week early due to the SPD!!! Yippee!!! When I saw the midwife this week, she said the same thing! Double Yippee!!! So fingers crossed, as that means less than 3 weeks to go!!! :)

I have scrapped but I've been slightly occupied with finishing a Disney Cars cross-stitch for Kyle (currently at the framers - so photo next time!) and after discovering this amazing blog called Attic24 with some beautiful crocheted creations, I've been hooked (pardon the pun!!!) on creating a ripple blanket for baby! Again, photo once finished!!! In the meantime, here are the LOs I have managed to do, since my last post!

Another Challenge complete and more LOs

Fellow Red Ribbon Housemate Jo on UKScrappers set the weekly challenge this week - to use bright colours, a TV show or Film title, buttons and flowers. Here is my challenge complete - although I tried hard to place a flower on there, I just couldn't justify a flower on such a 'manly' LO!I've had these photos and these papers & stickers in a 12x12 bag for soooooooo long waiting to be scrapped - I'm proud of myself for actually doing it at last (even if the LO is a bit more themed than I usually do!!!)

Other recent LOs are below - some of which were created at the Wrenbury Crop last Saturday - I really enjoy going there - 6 hours of scrapping & laughing! I'll be sad when I'll have to miss a few once Bump arrives!!!



















"Live with Passion" uses Creative Imagination papers that I've had stored for ages. I wanted the black heart from the background red paper to be on top so I set about cutting it out, recoloured it in black and added Glossy Accents. Took me a while but I think it was worth it in the end!!!



















"Lifeline" and "Our Time" both reflect the time when Kyle & I moved out from the family home after my first marriage ended - we started afresh in a new home and had great fun! Not that we were alone for long - I met Andy only 3 weeks later and have never looked back!



















"Ride" is scrapped at 8.5x11 inches - a size I use for a separate album just for Photos I Love!

This photo was taken on Boxing Day 2006 - Andy & I had bought Kyle a new bike for Christmas and this was his first outing on it - he loved it - he rode it up and down the paths in Congleton park and literally screamed with delight! I love how I managed to capture the smile and look on his face - pure fluke, but so glad I did!