Happy Monday

Today was meant to be the happiest Monday of the year!  Mine did start that way but then went downhill very rapidly.  I had my appraisal, which was very good, and then the rest of the day went by in a blur because I was so busy.  Dashed home, swallowed dinner and went to bingo......no winnings though.

Thought I would show you one of the layouts I did over the weekend.  It's inspired by the sketch on Shimelle's blog and totally out of my comfort zone - I have never used so many patterned papers!

Maddie's first time as a bridesmaid back in 1996!  I know I really should catch up on my scrapping :) I used this months kit from Sarah's Cards and thought it was perfect.

The blues of the papers and the colour of the flower perfectly matched her bridesmaid dress.

I love, love, love these bunting stamps from Hero Arts.  They are so versatile and can be used for scrapping and card making - 15 different stamps in one pack so a bargain too.  I got mine from Gotta Craft and can't wait to use then again and again :)

Now I am tired but I'm reading a lovely book so don't know whether to sleep or read, if only all decisions were that easy.

Hope you've had a happy Monday.

Jo xx

I've Been Creative!

I've been taking full advantage of my lovely craft area and have managed lots of scrapping this weekend, it's been great.

I managed this layout for the weekly challenge on UKScrappers.  The challenge was to scrap baby, human, new things, use earth tones, include stars and the word who in the title.  I even managed to do some stash busting and use papers from my scrap bagP:

I drew a face on a box once and Maddie decided to put her head in the box and poke her hair out of the top!  The funny thing about this photo is that when people are looking through my photo album and come to this picture they always rub their hand over it because they think there's something stuck on it rather than a picture of Maddie with a box on her head.  I love making rosettes and normally score them every centimetre, this time I scored them every half a centimetre so they wouldn't be so bulky.  There's a bit of hidden journalling behind the photo because I really wanted to keep the layout nice and simple.

Today I also made my first ever batch of shortbread.  My friend got me a recipe calender for Christmas and I said I would cook the recipe for the month every month.  I cut it very fine this month and didn't even get a photo to share on here because it all disappeared so quickly!

Hope you've had a good weekend.

Jo xx

Scrappy Space

At last I have somewhere lovely to scrap and it's all thanks to Paul.  I normally scrap on the dining room table but when it's time to eat I have to pack everything away. This means that if I have 20 minutes to kill before dinner there is never any point in getting my scrapping stuff out because I only have to pack it away again straight away.  Paul has changed all of that by firstly spotting a desk on sale at B & Q for £15, then assembling the desk, then adding another shelf to it, adding some work space on top of a set of shelves I already had and even by getting the sewing machine out!  Here are the results of his hard work:

I now have lots of shelf space to have some (not all) of my bits and pieces out.

I won't be forgetting about Stickles and mists because they're not hidden now.

The punches, flowers and buttons I use most are now within easy reach.

My alphabets and lovely Thickers are all where I can see them.

And this is where I go to scrap now.  I am so happy and can't thank Paul enough for doing all of this for me.  Where did his use of the sewing machine come in?  He stitched the bunting together for me!  The reason for the bunting is because it's on the shelf he added, the shelf had a raw edge and rather than just get some veneer edging I decided I wanted something more fancy :)

I gave it all a test run today and managed 2 layouts in the time it took Manchester United to beat Southampton in the fourth round of the FA Cup!

I hope your weekend has as much happiness as mine.

Jo xx

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I loved the sketch on Shimelle's blog last week and couldn't wait to do it but everything was against me.  I printed the sketch, filled my tote bag and headed off to my crop on Thursday minus............photos!  Still had a great night and even had a go at designing some of my own sketches.

The weekend arrived at last and I set the whole of Sunday aside to scrap, no housework, no cooking, no ironing just pure scrapping.  Woke up Sunday morning with the mother of all headaches so yet again I couldn't tackle the sketch :(

Tonight I finally got my chance and for once deciding on a photo was no problem at all.  I remembered the photo, I remembered taking it and better still I knew exactly where I could lay my sticky mitts on it.

Maddie sitting on the throne of the Queen of Hearts in Disneyland Paris 1999, fun times.

I even managed to use the name of the paper range on the layout!  I got the papers on Thursday from GottaCraft and couldn't wait to use them. 

I know the layouts haven't photographed well but it's late and I wanted to get it uploaded as soon as I'd finished.

Other news this week is that I, well Paul really, spotted a bargain at a charity shop, 2 full size tripods for the camera for £2! Now I just need to give them a try.  He also spotted a great desk which he has built and altered and it's all ready to have my lovely crafty things on it.  At last my own proper scrapping area, I will share photos but I need to add a bit of bunting first :)

We're nearly midway through the week and I'm already in need of a shot of Redbull, not good!

Byeee

Jo xx 

I'm Back

I had two nights without the internet and I really missed it, thankfully it's fixed now.  Having to hang on the phone to Virgin to find out what the problem was made me lose my mind, well that's what I'm blaming it on!  I went to a crop last night and forgot to take any photos with me, the basic and most important element was left at home so I had no other option than to sit there chatting!

I do have a couple of layouts to show though.  Me, Maddie and our friends Sarah and Emily spent a day in London absolutely yonks ago, I'd forgotten all about it until I found the pictures when I had a sort out of my craft cupboard.

This is typical Maddie when I have the camera out!  The papers used were from an old Gottacraft kit, I really need to cut into all of my kits and I've been doing well this year.....so far. 

Emily is more than happy to strike a pose.  Again I used the Gottacraft kit and although it's not a double layout I think they'll look good together in the album. 

There was a street performer in Covent Garden offering passers by a rose.  If they took the rose and posed for a picture he would pull a large, fake knife out and pretend to stab them.  He pulled the funniest faces and had the longest tongue and the person posing for the photo didn't have a clue he was doing it.  He must have like Em because she just got a pat on the head.

This week has gone surprisingly quickly which is fantastic, it helped having this afternoon off of work to go craft shopping and have cream tea.  Now it's time to soak in the bath and then chill in front of the TV.

Happy weekend

Jo xx

Wednesday Weigh In

Another disappointing week with zero weightloss! I was so good this week but I guess I must try harder!

TTFN
Jo xx


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Another Crafty Weekend

Yesterday I had a fun day playing with paper and glue.  I managed 3 layouts in total and thought I'd share a couple of them now.

Shimelle has started doing a scrapbook sketch of the week and I really loved the sketch so had to give it a go:

It was a great way to use up loads of scraps, in fact my whole weekend of scrapping used papers from my scrap bag only which is good.

The second layout was for the weekly challenge at UKScrappers.  The challenge was lots of layering, use a neglected die cut, use something that's been on your desk for ages and inking. 

I love this picture of Alfie and Maddie.  I was going away for the night and they were leaning on the gate saying goodbye to me and trying to look sad, Alfie just managed to look totally disinterested!

Today I have been a busy bee baking cakes to take to work tomorrow. 

Hope you've had a good a weekend as I have.

Jo xx

Lucky Girl

It was my birthday yesterday and I was really spoilt. I had some lovely presents from work:

And Paul made me this gorgeous card:
It's pergamano so it's all hand drawn, cut, painted and layered, he's so talented.
We had a lovely dinner and a few glasses of vino, just the two of us because Maddie had actually gone out for once!

I've had a lovely, lazy day today and I managed to get another 3 layouts done! Off to do some more now.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Jo xx

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History Repeating Itself?

Tonight was Maddie's parent's evening and I went along and heard how nice she was, how polite she was, how intelligent she was, how she was always on time and how she needed to apply herself a bit more.  I remember the same thing being said to my mum about me, except I didn't always turn up at school!  I'm so pleased with the reports she got from her teachers and it was very apparent that they liked and respected her, so.....how do I get the lazy so and so to apply herself.  Answers on a postcard please :)

I was having a massive stash sort out the other day.  I have hundreds of 12 x 12 bags of part used kit so I decided to sort them all out in the hope of using them all up.  I put all of the bits and pieces of paper together, the buttons went in my button tub and the blossoms in my flower box.  All other embellishments went in a large biscuit tin,  of course I had to empty the tin first and very nice the biscuits were too!

While doing this I found two layouts I did last year, I had totally forgotten I'd done them!  The first is my nephew Jack on his third birthday last April, I know I did the layout soon after so it's been stuck in some dark corner for a very long time now!

He loves Thomas the Tank Engine and got a bouncy castle for his birthday present. 

The second layout I found was another one from Maddie's 16th birthday in June: 

She had wanted to see Wicked for years so I got her tickets for her birthday.....nice, cheesy grin when she opened them :) 

I've been disappointed on and off all day today because I keep thinking it's Friday, of course I know it's not Friday because if it was it would be my birthday!  I can't wait until the weekend because I've got some really crafty things to try including the A Mini A Month challenge over on Karen's blog.

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

Wednesday Weigh In

Well I jumped on the scales this morning, well that's a fib really because I stepped on them gingerly! The resulting weightloss this week:

0lb

Didn't lose a thing and I was disappointed but, on the bright side, I didn't gain anything either! Better luck next week……hopefully!

Take care
Jo xx


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Productive Weekend

I have had such a lovely and very productive weekend and it's been great.

Yesterday I went to a crop where I managed to get 3, yes you read correctly, 3 layouts done!

The first was for the UKScrappers House Challenge where Scrapdolly had provided a great sketch:

I used the LO to tell the Santa cookie jar story again, I did it in my JYC but wanted it to have a place in Maddie's album.

The second LO was for the weekly challenge on UKS.  We had to use new stash so I used some I had bought that very day - this is almost unheard of for me! We also had to have different journalling so I used journalling stickers and the final thing was a clock:

The third LO I did was of Maddie getting the giggles on Christmas Day:

When I got home I did a forth LO and I've managed another 2 today, I really don't know what's come over me but lets hope it's here to stay.

I've got a lovely, lazy evening ahead of me so I might do some more scrapping and try to put the thought of going back to work tomorrow right out of my mind!

Hope you've all had a great weekend

Jo xx

UFOs

Not in the sky (although I did see lots of Chinese lanterns over Christmas and New Year) but in my craft cupboard!

While I was putting the Christmas decs away I found two things that I really want to get finished soon.  The first is this hat, which has to be finished while it's still cold really or I'll never get to use it:

The second thing is something I love to do, but not a lot of people know because I don't often show it off.  When it came to picking my options at high school I wanted to do pottery, art and dressmaking but my mum made me do physics, chemistry, biology and technology.  The last time I used the options picked for me was in 1988 when I did my exams!  It's hard to say the last time I used the options I would have picked for myself because I do them all the time but they are all self taught.  I love to draw and I love to paint, some people say watercolour isn't as forgiving as oils but it's the medium I love and here is a work in progress at the moment:

Newquay harbour.

So I have dragged it out of the loft along with my paints and I am going to finish it this year, well the first half of this year really.  It's not often I let people see my paintings, this one has been seen by only two people, but I decided to pluck up the courage and show all.  My mum is an excellent drawer, my dad was an excellent artist, my grandad paints beautiful oils and my great aunt does stunning watercolours so I guess it's in my blood.

It has also made me think about the pottery I've done, so I shall dig it out, dust it down, photograph it and add it to the blog soon.

Now I must be off to bed as it's been a long day as usual but I had tons of fun at my crop tonight.

Thanks for stopping by

Jo xx

Wednesday Weigh In

Well today was my first weigh day of 2011 and I'm pleased to say I lost:

1.5 lbs

I'm pleased because it wasn't a full week of dieting and there were still a few Christmas chocolates hanging about. A loss is a loss but it would be nice for a bigger loss next week……we shall see.

TTFN
Jo xx


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Look What I Found....

A few weeks before Christmas there was a cybercrop over at UKScrappers.  One of the challenges was a mystery kit that, once received, you had to turn into something gorgeous.  I normally do a layout but this time I thought I'd do something different and asked my crop friends for help.  I decided to make a Christmas Wreath and cover it in snowflakes.  The girls at the crop brought along loads of Cricut carts, punches and Slice cards with lots of snowflake designs on them.  I spent hours cutting the shapes and then assembled the following:

I was so pleased with it, put it somewhere safe until Christmas and then found it when I was getting ready to take the decorations down......hopefully next year I'll remember to hand it somewhere so everyone can see it!

I've been doing well with book reading and have just finished my first book of the year.  It was about the little ships that went to Dunkirk during WW2.  Now I have seen a ship that went there, known it for years and have always said to people "that little boat went to Dunkirk" It wasn't until I read Lilian Harry's Three Little Ships that I realised just what that meant.........for the little boat and the crew.  The little ships celebrated the 70th anniversary of Dunkirk last May and all of those that could still sail returned to the French harbour.  I wish I had known and I will I could have seen it.  I know intend to try and see as many of the little ships that I can because they were so brave.

I was back at work today and it was a shock to the system, I'd forgotten that there were two 7 o'clock's in the day!  Feeling very sleep now and I really think I should have an early night, I might try and get a few rows of knitting in first though.

Ta ta for now
Jo xx

On A Roll

Well I certainly am on a roll this year, I managed another layout today!!!

I started a Book of Me last year and found a photo of me with two of my oldest friends, Clare and Allison.  We met on the first day of high school and have remained friends ever since.  The photo of us together was taken in December 1990 and we were probably on our way out to bingo........nothing changes!

The title is one of my favourite Bette Midler songs and I thought it was great for this layout and the past 28 years we've spent together.  I used a Gottacraft kit and thought the already black and white photos were perfect for it.

Last year me and Maddie traipsed around London on an elephant hunt, we found lots and took hundreds of photos.  The one elephant that Maddie really wanted to find was Bobby the policeman, we found him in Hyde Park near Speaker's Corner.  I did this layout just before Christmas using a Gottacraft crop kit.  Now it's not often that I complete a layout at the Thursday evening crop but I had been working on my Journal Your Christmas album and all the pages were 6 x 6, doing a 12 x 12 was bliss!

Another song title for the title, maybe I'll do that once a month on my layouts during 2011.

I went to bingo tonight but as usual I didn't have a win.  I wasn't bothered though because it was a night out with my friends before we all head back to work tomorrow and resume our busy lives.

I have another layout ready to stick down so I might even surprise myself with another blog post tomorrow!

Take care

Jo x

Journal Your Christmas 2010

I joined in again with JYC this year and really enjoyed it.  I didn't keep up but I did keep notes and managed to complete it yesterday.  No matter how far behind I get I always set myself the goal of getting in completed on New Year's Day.  I managed to completed 19 pages in two days to reach my goal!!!

Here are a few of my favourite pages:

Day one

Day 16 and I had to scrap this because when I posted the picture of my Santa cookie jar on Facebook last year my friend thought it was a baby picture of Maddie.  When Maddie got her Christmas PJs I knew it was a great photo opportunity!

Day 25 - the big day - Maddie looking a bit disappointed with her the cook book I got her but looking over the moon with the Bon Jovi CD, I know what will get the most use! 

And finally the completed album.  I loved doing it and can't wait for next year's to begin :o)

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely, long weekend.  I'm off to watch the darts now, 2 World Championships on at the same time.....good times.

Jo xx

It's Here...........2011

Happy New Year, I hope it's a good one for everyone.

This time last year my aim was to get a job, I ticked that off the list 4 weeks into the New Year.....a target reached quickly.  Eight months after starting my job I was voted Employee of the Quarter by my colleagues so a good year on the work front

This year I've decided on the things I want to do:

1. Blog more - I know I've been slacking recently and that is going to change.
2. Scrap more - I spend more time thinking about scrapping than actually scrapping so that will change too.
3. Take more pictures - I really need to get out with my camera more.
4. Finish at least one quilt - I managed it last year and I'm hoping to manage it again this year.
5. Walk the dog more - I work longer hours so this has slipped a bit but I will change it this year.
6. Read more - I have a mountain of books to get through so less TV and more reading this year.
7. Crochet - I have been wanted and trying to do this for years, hopefully I will conquer it this year.

The most important thing I'm going to do this year is lose weight.  I have a year and 13 days until I'm the big 40 and I'm determined not to be fat at forty!  I'm going to have a Wednesday Weigh In every week and I'm hoping that by blogging my progress I'll stay on track.  More dog walking and more time on the Wii fit is bound to help.  First weight loss check on 5th January.

The things I would like to do this year are:

1. Stop smoking - will be tough but I would have so much more money to spend on stash.
2. Get fitter - no more couch potato.
3. Get out more with Maddie - this will be tough because she hates going out.

I did Journal Your Christmas again this year and by doing 19 layouts in the last 2 days I have managed to complete it on New Year's Day for the second year running, very proud of myself.

I hope everyone is happy, health and content in 2011 - I hate odd numbers though so entering the year with trepidation!

Jo xx