Getting ready for New Year.

I used the pencillines sketch 115 for this Layout it is just a collection of family photos, my mum, my grandchildren,daughter and the the dog all caught in the party mood. The Title is "Young and old we love a Party" because we do! I wanted to enter it in the Craft Garden challenge, i found it through a link in the UKScrappers site.

Getting ready for

Getting ready for

Happy Christmas to everyone!

Had a very nice break in Scotland and even though the trains were awful - why cant we cope with bad weather?- It was a lovely time. I gave my cousin her album and it was well received.
I have done this weeks challenge for the uks and here it is. I wish everyone a fabulous christmas and a wonderful new year.

Halloween is Fun!

I have added a little Halloween Scrap blog at the bottom of the page just for fun :)

The Cyber Crop at UKScrappers

A whole week end of Scrapping and beautiful classes, i was so happy with the results i got too. I had really looked forward to Ifa's class and i was not disappointed it was lovely.
There was much cussing and tutting over the Days Til Christmas Class by Di O and though it was messy to do the result was lovely and i will be hanging it on the wall over xmas with pride.



So many of the classes were lovely but i also loved the bright and cheery Layout that i did for the lollipop guild class by Michelle Jackson-Mogford (MJM).

Hurray it is nearly time for a cyber crop!

Just completed my precrop challenge for the UKS cybercrop, the subject was Home so of course my layout shows the people that spell home to me. I had some fun making a little house to put on the LO. Also i found a nice BoBunny swirl and a sticker that says "Family is the center of life's meaning". With a title from Thickers, and a piece of old ribbon to finish it off, I finished up with a layout I am quite pleased with.

UKS weekly challenge

This weeks challenge had 8 or more different options and as I couldn't make my mind up I went to Scrapblogger and did it as a digital layout. It is easier to play around when you are not ripping up real paper and paint.

heritage pages for the album

Finally getting near the end of my son's album, I had put off doing the heritage pages until this week. But I think i was in the mood and four new pages are in his book. 8"x8" pages are very different than larger pages and they can get overworked very easily, i am not sure that these are right yet but for the moment they will do.

The photo's are not great because my camera seems to be playing up. I need to finish this album in the next couple of weeks because UKS is having its cyber-crop and i want to concentrate on that.

knot knitting

I used the weekly challenge on UKS to make a double 8"x8" layout for my son's album. The little devil loved to get at my knitting, and this time he totally distroyed it. It gave me some fab pictures though and a chance to use my new paterns and cut scalloped edges, and squares.
I have also been playing on Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/gallery) The best site for making quick wordy backgrounds i used them to make backings for halloween cards this year, unfortunately i didnt get photos before the cards went.

comfy feet

This was my new LO for the uks weekly challenge. They asked us to scrap something that we take for granted. I thought of lots of things like my laptop, mobile, sat nav, and I couldnt make up my mind. Then I went to my grand-daughters birthday and put on a pair of heeled boots, that I hadn't worn for six months (summer means birkenstocks). When the party was over I meant to come straight home but had to go out on family business instead. It was agony and I ended up borrowing a pair of trainers to come home in - still I made up my mind what to scrap! :)

I have just completed a Lo for my grandson Baris, who was born last week. He is so cute and very good. I needed a LO for the uks weekly challenge and decided to do a digital which i am going to print up and give as a present to some futher away members of the family.
I have not managed to up load - so sorry that i am not technicallyt minded.

Funny stuff

Words for Women to Live By…

1. Aspire to be Barbie - the b!tch has everything.

2. If the shoe fits - buy them in every colour.

3. Take life with a pinch of salt... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.

4. In need of a support group? - Cocktail hour with the girls!

5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).

6. When life gets you down - just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.

7. Let your greatest fear be that there is no PMS and this is just your personality.

8. I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.

9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.

10. Don't get your kn!ckers in a knot; it solves nothing and makes you walk funny.

11. When life gives you lemons in 2009 - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.

12. Remember where ever there is a good looking; sweet, single or married man there is some woman tired of his bullshit!

13. Keep your chin up, only the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest.

14. If it has Tires or Testicles it's gonna give you trouble.

15. By the time a women realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong.

'Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there'

'Remember yesterday, dream about tomorrow, but live for today'.

I love stuff that is funny because it is true and these things all are :)

Scrap lift

Today i did the weekly challenge on UKS and really enjoyed it. I did a scrap lift of the "black and blue" class from the last UKS CYBERCROP. I had done the original class with photos of my grandaughter. I wanted the opposite page in her fathers album to show him in his scuba gear. He had got his diving licience and was very pleased about it. I think the pages worked out well together although I didnt have the same papers I improvised and stamped, drew and daubed on plain paper to get similar effects.

Doing an album at the speed of light!

I have had a really busy week - my daughter is having a family party for her birthday but i volunteered to make quite a bit of food.
For the last three days i have worked none stop on my son's album. I have made 27
Layouts in the last three days, its was exhausting but so worth while.


Here are a couple of examples from the album, from the previous generations pages. The whole album is finished now i am glad to say.

Little doors

Two little fairy doors for a swap on UKS. One is a fairydoor disguised as a bush and guarded by fairy Rihana and her dragonfly, the other is a goblin door, built in a rubbish dump and guarded by a goblin called Grebbon.

boston

Just a quick note Boston is feeling better he is healing up nicely and i suspect it was my fault he got ill i think he may have an allergy to his flea treatment! If he gets better and stays better than i think i have the culpret and he wont be using it again - i will have to stuff him full of garlic capsules instead.

Boston

My poor dog has an allergy to something and he's developed sore patches and bumps under his skin and raw patches. The vet charged a fortune for steroids and a cream and washes but says we need to spend £800 to get allergy tests done, that is a lot of money. I am hoping that he will clear up but i feel so sorry for his sore face and neck, i also think it maybe the flea treatment that he had a few days ago. Fingers crossed he will feel better soon.

Thank you QVC

Having the house rewired has taken up so much more time than i ever imagined and made much more mess. So instead of trying to scrapbook i had a tray of goodies that went from room to room with me. Thanks to an old QVC kit i have got all of my xmas cards, one thank you card, two birthday cards and an anniversary card completed.

the 8x8 jiggy swap

top row by:
Leigh, Crafty Barbie, Roxy52
second row by:
Phoenix Tears, Dragonfly jane, Wisher Trees
bottom row by:
Terris chocolat, N4n Lu, Magpie

This is the jigsaw I received this week from the "Not SO Big Jiggy Swap" on UKS. I also goT chocolate -thanks Phoenix Tears. My subject was "blue fantasy" as i wanted to give everyone as much scope as possible, and the 12X12 Turkish Jigsaw that we did earlier in the year is mainly blue. The result is a stunning jigsaw.
Thank you ladies you are all talented and fun crafters and i cant wait for the 6X6>

Out and about

First to Cropredy to look about, then Warrington for 2 nights, finally Shrewsbury. We visited Liverpool, but couldnt get on the tour because it was very busy and the parking was HORRIBLE! But I've promised myself another visit to see everything properly. Gotta love LIverpool!

The main focus of the trip was a visit to the QVC outlets, unfortunately this time I didnt get much craft stuff but we still managed to fill the car - I have a big car but boot and backseat were stuffed!

Once apon a time I lived in Shrewsbury, over 30 years ago, I wanted to try and find any places I knew back then and happily I found some and have photos too.

We also went to loads of Home Bargains and Cheshire Oaks Designer outlet - it was all fab! Had a great week end out and about with Laura, we had loads of laughs and a real good time.



I couldnt take scrapbooking with me so I took my current xstitch kit instead.
Also I took my crochet but didnt do any until i got home, I have just finished some little flowers to keep for a scrapbook layout. Here they are.
:)

Mikado - boxes and chocolate!

A toilet roll tube tag book fits perfectly into a "Mikado" chocolate box and you get to eat all those crunchy chocolate sticks too!
I made my tag book from 5 inner loo rolls. I made it blank as a present, but then needed a box to fit it. By chance i had an empty Mikado box and it was the perfect size. Covered in paper to match it made a nice present, and i didnt have to give the choccy! :)

Family Matters

Today there was no crafting, because my mum, brother and i went to the Bermonsey Square Hotel to meet my cousins who were down from Scotland for the weekend. I was lovely to meet up and have lunch. I have to say the food and service were wonderful (especially the dessert- yum!). But the most interesting part was talking about family stories.

We are all interested in family history but also in conserving the lives and memories of the older generation. As our family has expanded and the years have passed suddenly we realise that we have miss the chance to talk to the elder members of our family and to ask the questions that are important to us. It is a sad loss.

However hopefully we can record our own lives to leave to our grand-children. Who will probably find them as strange, as my children found the fact that in the first house i can remember there was no electric just gas mantles for light and a radio with an accumulator to charge it.

When my mum has finished her memory jar questions, I am going to answer the same questions, then after me my daughter. Hopefully one day we will have a record of our family that covers more than just three generations and is of interest to our future relatives.
Even if it is just for a laugh at all the strange things that happen in our normal lives. Maybe I can get an explanation for the interesting head gear in all my baby photos!

Memory Jar

Today I finished the memory jar, note book and souvenir box that i started on the Indigo Mill retreat. Yippee!!
Claire showed us her womderful jar at the retreat and i had to have one!
My mother is in her eighties and as she has five great grand-children i thought it would be nice to have some of her memories and likes, dislikes, and favourite things recorded. She has agreed to pull question or hint strips from the jar and write her thoughts in the notebook. I have included the souvenir box for little bits she has kept(theatre tickets etc)
I am planning to do my own one and hope this will start a family tradition, my daughter is very keen to follow, and i hope my sons will one day record something too.

Busy Day

This is a double LO for my son's album - it shows the lovely Boston as "Santa's Little Helper", a photo that never fails to make me smile because within two minutes of taking it the bow tie was a gonner! Layouts for this album are harder than i expected because it is an 8x8 album and he doesnt want "ribbons, bows and daft things"


I have had my stairlift repaired - hurray!!! If you have to have one it's nice if it works.
Today has been suprisingly productive, i have managed to do five pages for my son's album and scrapped some older photos that i had done once before but not been happy with, still not sure i have it right but i will get there sooner or later.

Having a strange day

I started out to do some scrapbooking but fell into the trap of looking through all the old photographs. In the end i did some digi LO's to send to a friend - they were of her sons 4th birthday and he had a pirate themed party. I never could resist a pirate!!
I also added a bit to the album i am making on scrapblog of a trip to the eden project, i have added to a page on Wales. I dont know enough computer stuff to add a link but i can add a photo - will one day be one top of this stuff but not today!

Cats on the brain

A whole lot of my recent scrap booking has pictures of my cat. I had her for 14 years and she was a real character and part of our family. She helped my children through some hard years and was a repository for many confidences. When things were bothering the kids she was a non-critical, fluffy audience.

Sansli was an Istanbul street cat, found by my daughter when she was to small too have anything but special milk from a dropper, she turned into a furry Attila the Hun. She hated quarantine and held it against us for months afterwards. Turning her back on us when we visited her -the only sign she still listened were the ears completely turn on her head straining to hear us.

From the time she was little she loved cars and travel, she went visiting with me and bike riding on my daughters trike. But her favourite was to wait until you weren't looking and sneak into the car through the sunroof. Many a workman has found a furry hitchhiker after working on our house.

The dog was in awe of her and would never look her in the eye. Just to remind him of his lowly position she like to steal the best bits from his dinner. She liked to sleep on the back of the sofa and Boston always faced away from her as he curled up on the seat, but sometimes they were friends and slept on the same seat.

We lost her at new year, but the vet couldnt help her and she was suffering. Now whenever i do the dishes i still expect her to be tapping on the window for me to open the back door and let her in. It many ways losing her marked the end of an era, now my children are grown and have their own children but Sansli was a link to their childhoods.

This is the first time i have tried something like this as i am technically challenged (for that read -old). But so far so good!

I wanted this blog to keep a record of my craft stuff, which has recently become a flood, filling my house with stash and my head with plans and teaching me to look with new eyes at all my old junk.

Things that were once gaily cast away now get a second look and often find themselves part of something different.

the most recent things have been little houses and jigsaws for swaps
At least its enviramentally friendly.