Double Trouble!

Last weekend saw me at the first crop of the year and I have to say I was very productive, well for me anyway!

I decided to have a crack at the weekly challenge over on UKScrappers and it was a great challenge to kick start my creativity for 2014.  We had to use this sketch:

We also had to include paints or misting and lots of journalling.  Here's what I came up with:

This is one of my favourite photos of Maddie and Alfie.  It was taken in 2010 and they were leaning on the gate saying goodbye to me as I went away for the very first weekend without them.

I can't say it was a fantastic weekend because I was so worried about the pair of them but I needn't have been because they were fine and had a great time!

How have you kick started your crafting for 2014?

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Naptime Cuddles

Last week I did a layout for the weekly challenge over at UK Scrappers.
Part of the challenge was to use this sketch:

To use five of something and to use new stash.  As part of my New Year's Resolution was to use a kit as soon as it arrived this challenge was great for me.  My brand new Studio Calico kit had just arrived and I couldn't wait to cut into it to create this:

I'll often walk into the room and find these two snuggled up like this :)

I used these cute little velum arrows for my five things.
We are currently in the middle of a terrific hail storm so I'm going to snuggle on the sofa and watch a film with Maddie.
I hope you've had a great weekend.
Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Another Hat!

At the weekend I was snuggled indoors watching the snow falling with nothing to do but scrap, bliss!
I headed over to UK Scrappers for inspiration and decided to do a couple of the challenges.  The first challenge was to just use a sketch.  Great, I thought that would ease me gently into scrapping and it did.

I hunted through my photos, grabbed my new kit and set to work cutting and sticking to create this:

Maddie in another hat.  Now I spotted this hat, I fell in love with it and I wanted it...she has worn it every day since!  Next time I go hat shopping she can stay at home :)

Every day Maddie worries that the pom poms are about to come off though!
The snow is leaving, the grey sludge is still here so I'm snuggling on the sofa and watching The Great British Bake Off!
I hope that, if you still have snow and ice, you are staying safe and warm.
Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

It's Cold Outside!

But the home fire is burning, in fact it's doing overtime to keep me warm!
Like most of the country we've got snow and it makes everything look so lovely, this is the view from my living room window:

 And this is me kitted out with my boots and Nordic walking poles ready to walk to the shops!

The weather has meant I've had nothing to do but stay in and scrap, it's been great and I've been very productive.  One of my New Year's resolutions was to use my stash and that's exactly what I've been doing.
On Wednesday I got my new Studio Calico kit and by Thursday I had produced this:

The picture was taken in the gift shop at the V&A museum.  Everywhere we go, if there's a hat to be seen, Maddie has to try it on!

And every hat she tries on always suits her!
I hope you are staying safe and warm if you've had a helping of the white stuff this weekend.
Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Some Actual Crafting!

Ok, so it's not crafting from this year yet but I realised there were a few layouts from last year that were yet to be blogged!
Following on from the introduction of my new, beautiful, niece I thought I would share a couple of layouts featuring established nieces who are equally beautiful :)

This is Elsie trying so hard not to smile for the camera, she failed :)

 I love these old papers and thought it was about time they were in an album rather than hidden in a box!
Next up is Elsie's sister Bella, she's a right little tinker!

Bella is not a dog lover but she loves my Alfie.  She doesn't love him enough to visit him but every time I see her she wants to see photos of him.  I bought her this cute, cuddly dog for her birthday and straight away she called him Alfie :)

Although her Alfie went everywhere with her she has now informed me he went for a walk and didn't come back :(
I am getting closer to starting my Project Life album, photos are printed and supplies are sorted, now I just need to find the time to get cracking on it!
I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes for my sister, she's still in hospital but is getting much better :)
I hope your week is going well and you are staying safe if you have snow.
Thanks for visiting
Jo x

Another New Week

But I am feeling so refreshed that I just don't care that it's back to the office today!

I had such a lovely weekend and it all started on Friday when I went on a road trip, with a couple of scrapping friends, to Eastbourne (stopping en route to shop for stash!).

On Saturday I got all my boring, horrible jobs out of the way like housework and food shopping before heading out to have dinner with some friends.

On Sunday I had a real 'me' day and got my stash out.  I'm in a sketch group and I've been so bad that I still hadn't got round to last month's sketch, that has now been rectified.

This is the sketch:

And here's my layout:

Me and my oldest friend celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee back in June.

Using papers and embellishments from Portobella Road collection, which were perfect for the event.

I hope that you had a great weekend and are looking forward to another new week.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

And Now For Something Completely Different!

All of this year Shimelle has been running a class/challenge over on UKScrappers called And Now For Something Completely Different.  On the 10th of the month she posts a list of materials and on the 20th of the month she posts a list of instructions along with photos of the different stages.  I was very late to the party and only just got round to joining in.

I had a look at the list of contents, which you can find here.  I liked what I saw so thought I would join in this time.  The instructions were put up here but this month they were just a little bit different, there were no photos! This made me want to join in even more because I love a blind challenge :)

This is how my layout has turned out:

I used papers from Authentique, Dear Lizzy and Echo Park along with some Thickers, gems and twine. The photos are of Maddie on her 18th birthday and I just love the expressions on her face in these photos.

Today is the big reveal for everyone who took part this month so I have no idea what everyone else has come up with for their layouts, I really can't wait to see them.

I don't know how this layout compares to the others but I really am pleased with it:

I will enjoy looking at all the other layouts later on today.

Thank you for stopping by
Jo xx

Fall Back

Well the clocks have gone back an hour and I love it.  I love how the nights are drawing in now, how I come home from work, close the curtains on the world and cosy up on the sofa with  the dogs and some crafting.

It also means that Halloween is nearly here.  I love Halloween and look at all the pictures of the decorated American houses with pure envy, it all looks great and so much fun.

When I lived in a flat we didn't get any trick or treaters knocking at the door so, six years ago, when I moved to my current home I really went to town on Halloween.  I had ghosts and ghouls lighting up the windows, pumpkins on the door step and a pumpkin head full of not one but two tins of sweets!  How many people knocked on my door? Zero, zilch, none!

Me and Maddie have a tradition of watching Hocus Pocus on Halloween and that's exactly what we'll be doing this Wednesday.

Before I go I'll share this layout of my own little witch when she dressed up way back in 2002:

She was such a pretty little witch.

I hope you all had a good weekend and have an equally good week.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

A Dreary Day

Today is dark, foggy and downright dreary!  I love when the weather is like this but only if I don't have to venture outdoors, I love to snuggle :)

I had a great weekend because I managed to spend a day in London with Paul on Saturday.  I haven't seen him for a month so it was lovely to spend a few hours with him.  On Sunday I scrapped and I really enjoyed myself.

The weekly challenge over at UKScrappers had a baking theme so I thought it was perfect for my pictures from Frieda's.  Part of the challenge was to use this sketch which was great because I had a lot of pictures to scrap!  The other elements to use were washi tape (not that I need an excuse to use washi tape!) and numbers.

The dreary weather has no consideration for the fact I have layouts to photograph, I guess I'll have to get used to that over the coming months. Maybe I need to get a daylight bulb for my lamp.

Tonight I plan to snuggle on the sofa with my new hobby, I'll be sharing that soon :)

I hope life is being kind to you
Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Chop Chop!

On Sunday I watched a video from Shimelle's Cover to Cover class and got to work straight away which makes a huge change for me-the world's biggest procrastinator!

The idea is to pull together a kit and then just cut the paper up, don't go looking for photos or embellishments just chop, chop, chop so I did.  I have to say I really enjoyed the process because I already felt like I was doing something and not just thinking about doing something.

I've managed to do a double layout, my first since 2005! And last night at the crop I completed a single page and started another.

Here's the double page (excuse the poor quality but it's been a long time since I 'stitched' a double layout together:

Another gap filled in the albums which is great.  The photos show Maddie playing on animal statues when we visited Detroit zoo in 1999.  I know it's taken an age to start scrapping our American holiday but I wanted to get it right and I'm really pleased with the layouts I've done so far.

My weekend has started already, I've got the day off and I'm going to see Paul for the weekend.  The sun is shining here and to say it's hot would be an understatement!  Poor Alfie doesn't know what to do with himself and trying to get him to lie out of the sun is proving mighty difficult.

I hope you have a great weekend
Thanks for stopping by
Jo x

I Have Returned

But I haven't really been anywhere! The weather here has been so bad, we were issued with a hosepipe ban because there was a drought and since then it hasn't stopped raining!  I love the rain but the battle to get to work through traffic and floods has been wearing me out.  So, I've been coming home and crashing on the sofa!

I have managed to get some scrapping in though and thought I'd share a layout or two now.

I've been slowly working through my photos from Christmas.  As yet I haven't actually used any Christmas papers, I'm concentrating more on the people rather than the time of the year.  This is a layout of my brother and his son.

And I'm really pleased with how I used up my scraps of paper.

Next up is a very rare photo of me and Maddie together!

I've been trying to come up with quick and simple layouts to get stash used up and the pictures in my albums.

And I've been pleased with my efforts so far.

I'm going to spend a lazy evening catching up on blog reading and looking forward to it being Friday tomorrow :)

Thank you for stopping by
Jo xx

Here's Hoping for a Good Friday!

Ever get that tingly feeling on the top of your head? You'll just be sitting there and then suddenly feel it?  Some people say it's someone from the other side letting you know they're there and it's something I believe and get comfort from. 

All day Tuesday I had that feeling on my head and knew it was probably my dad letting me know everything would be ok, I was worrying about a how I was going to pay a big bill that arrived the day before and I guessed it was dad's way of saying not to worry.  The next day a lovely old man came into my office to see me, I asked his name and it was the same as my dad's!  When he left he shook my hand, said God bless and told me he'd be back to see me the next day.  I took it as a sign, a good sign.  That night I won £530 at bingo, enough to pay my bill!  I couldn't wait to go to work the next day and see the old man again...........but he didn't come back!

Anyway, enough spooky tales.  I came to show you a layout I recently did from last month's Gotta Craft kit:

It's the gorgeous My Minds Eye Miss Caroline Collection, which I think are great.  I love anything with a natural, wood look and these papers are great to work with.  I reproduced the pre-printed embellishments in the bottom left corner in the top right corner and added a few butterflies here and there.

The photo shows my view when I'm cooking dinner in the evening.  Maddie and Alfie like to sit outside the kitchen door having a cuddle while I do all the work!

Today the weather men seem to have got it wrong.  I should listen to Paul's advice, he always says "if you want to know what the weather's doing then look out of the window"!  The forecast here was for a miserable day so, I planned ahead yesterday and we were going to have a PJ day today with films and popcorn.  Woke up to a blinding bright sun and it feels a bit naughty to stay indoors now!

I hope you all have an amazing long weekend.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

I've Been Scrapping!

This weekend hasn't seen me dashing down the motorway or getting the train into London to see Paul. This weekend I've had a lazy weekend at home and I've been scrapping!

I decided to do the Weekly Challenge over on UKScrappers.  The challenge was to use the sketch provided, use tearing or distressing and five different papers.  I came up with this:

Last year I went to the Vintage Fair on Southbank with my friend Sarah.  We had a lovely time and then lunch on the Tattershall Castle, one of the floating restaurants on Embankment.  I took this photo and kept laughing at it because her head looks exactly the same size as the London Eye!

I used up one of my old kits because, if I don't start using them up quickly, I'm going to become overrun by them!  To get rid of the leftover bits from the kit I decided to create my own Starting Point.  Starting Points are something Shimelle came up with last year and I love them.  I grabbed what was left from the kit, inked the edges, stuck them down and came up with this:

I'm not sure if I'll finish it today or another time, I haven't even hunted out a picture to go with it yet but at least the kit is used up and I have a started layout that I'm really pleased with so far.

The sun is shinning here and I'm going to play in the garden with Alfie for a while.

I hope your weekend is going well.
Jo xx

A Challenge

I had intended to be back sooner with a post but time has been flying past!

I was very proud of myself yesterday because I upgraded my phone and managed to transfer all the data from my old one to the shiny new one.  The is probably easy for most people but for me, iTunes, sync, restore to previous back up are a foreign language.  When the lovely sales assistant in the shop was telling me what to do all I could hear was blah, blah, blah.  But I came home and did it; ok, so it took ALL night, but I DID IT!

What I was going to do last night was blog about the weekly challenge that my team have set over at UKScrappers.  The challenge is to scrap a photo of a woman/women, do some sewing and celebrate an achievement.  Here's my take on it:

Me and my BFF celebrating our 40th birthday.  I was going to machine sew on the layout but couldn't get the machine to play nicely so I decided to hand stitch a border. I think the achievement is that we've stayed friends since nursery school!

I loved last month's Sarah's Cards kit so much that I had to layer up lots of the papers because it was too hard to pick just a few!

Now I am off to be crafty, which I was hoping to be last night, and pray that we don't have any more snow!

Thank you for stopping by
Jo xx

Thought It Was About Time....

I showed you that January wasn't all about parties, pressies and dining out, I actually did some scrapping too!

In January I managed to get 17 layouts completed, yes I'm very pleased with myself :) Here are just a few of the layouts that I did:

I thought these papers were perfect for the pictures I took at the Vintage Fair on Southbank last year.

And the cotton reel top really went well with the vintage feel.

Next up is a layout I did using a photo I took at Christmas, yes very quick off the mark for me!  It's my nephew Ryan and his beautiful daughter Charlotte:

I really like the effect of the positive and negative of the butterfly punch.

And finally another Christmas one:

Even though we were all dancing, singing and laughing around him my nephew Jack was far too tired to stay awake after a long Christmas Day :)

I am loving the camera stamp at the moment but taking care not to over use it.

This evening has not been a good one, Tesco have run out of dog food, Maddie needs new shoes and I can't find any she likes anywhere and then my handbag broke :( I came home to find this on the doormat though:

Some gorgeous stash from Sarah at SJ Crafts for me to play with!  I'm off to Paul's for the weekend because it's his birthday on Friday so will make some beautiful things to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

A Great Start to the Weekend

My Saturday has been a good one so far.  I woke up late for once, sorted lots of paper, re-read the Pretty Paper Party prompts, scrapped and even baked a cake and some cookies :) whew!

Here's where I'm at with the class so far:

I used a sketch from prompt one and some leftover Kaisercraft - Peechy Keen papers, die cut elements and Cosmo Cricket alphas.  How cute are the lamb and the calf having a little cuddle down at Brocketts Farm?!?!

The next layout I did was using old, old (almost antique because I bought them so long ago) papers.  I loved sorting through them all and there were many I'd forgotten I even had.

Maddie being cute on the beach at Weymouth in 2003.  I used a mixture of manufacturers on this page and really did some stash busting!

And I'm still loving making little embellishments.

I have to say that this class is one of the most inspirational I've ever taken and I've taken a few, I can tell you.

Now I'm off to play with more paper, glue, punches and paint.

I hope your weekend is off to a good start.
Jo xx

The Party Has Started!

Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party that is! I have to confess that I am a little bit torn.  Yes I am a Scrap Sorter, as you know, I love to use up every last bit of paper and I'm always dipping into my scrap box. But then again I am a Pattern Contender because I always worry that a better photo or embellishment might come along for that special piece of paper I have.  Whatever I am though I know I'm looking forward to using the papers that I have.

I did manage to get some paper used at the weekend, I got a few more layouts under my belt!  The first one was for the weekly challenge over on UKScrappers.  The challenge was to scrap a mum, tell the story, use three different shapes and a bit of bling.

The story behind this layout is here and the title is down to the fact that Maddie's friends say she is lucky because she has such a crazy mum!

I used Crate Paper's Farmhouse Collection again and I love this little die cut because, although it's actually apples, it reminds me of cherries :)

The second layout I did was for the house challenge over on UKS.  We had a sketch and had to use orange.

I love this picture of Maddie and was lucky to find it again.  When I first decided to dip my toe into scrapping I was very organised.  I went through albums and bags and boxes and found all of the photos I wanted to scrap.  I put the pictures in envelopes with a note on the front saying what they were and then put the little envelopes in bigger ones with the dates on.  I was off to a great start even if I do say so myself.  That was 7 years ago and I have only just turned to those envelopes of photos and actually started getting them stuck on patterned paper!

I've also been trying to build up my embellishments with a few layers and love how this turned out on the page.

Now it's time to return to my craft desk and see if I can muster up some energy and mojo in the hope of getting another photo scrapped.

Have a good evening
Jo xx