Home Again

I had a lovely few days with Paul and didn't want to come home :( We had a couple of nice days out, did some baking (well I did the baking and Paul did the eating!) and even managed to get some layouts done!  The time just went too quickly and I can't wait to go back and see him again.

This week I set the challenge over on UKS.  The challenge is to use at least 90% patterned paper as the background, to either use an embellishment associated with time, how you like to spend your time or the word time in the title and lots of bling for Bonfire Night! :)  Here's is my example:

I have always loved this picture of me and Maddie taken one evening in Weymouth all the way back in 2004!

I had bling on my ribbon and on my flutterby :)

Glittery Thickers and a lovely swirl, in fact I think I went to town with the bling on this layout!  If you have a go at my little challenge then don't forget to give me the link to your layout.

Now that I'm home I'm loving that the clocks have changed, that the evenings are drawing in and that I don't feel guilty when I climb in to my PJs as soon as I get in from work :) Obviously missing Paul though :(

Tonight I plan to catch up on the Pretty, Paper Party prompts and all of my blog ready.

Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Warm Again

I'm off to see Paul later this week but was a bit worried about Maddie getting cold so I thought I best test out the heating.  Tried it on Sunday and it did not fire on all cylinders, only one radiator became lukewarm, the others were cold :(  Today I came in and, on advice from Paul, gave the water pump an ickle tap with the hammer........it worked and I am so pleased :)

I managed to only do one more layout at the weekend because, for some reason, my mojo stomped off slamming the door behind it :(  Before it departed I did managed to get the weekly challenge over on UKS done.  We had to scrap ONE different size photo to normal, use Halloween colours and a stamp we'd never used before:

Maddie becoming a Rainbow many moons ago.  I thought the picture would be great for the Halloween coloured papers that all came from my scrap box.

I think she lasted all of two weeks in the Rainbows before deciding she didn't want to go back!

Right, I'm off to pack for my little holiday and I am so excited.

Hope you have a fabby week.
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

Another Week Raced By

I don't know where the time has gone this week.  I do recall a couple of trips to the pub, snuggling on the sofa with Maddie, meeting up with family and a crop so it was a good week.

I thought it was about time I showed you the two other layouts I did last week at Paul's.  The first one was using more of my lovely stash from S J Crafts:

I really love this picture of Maddie, she really got the giggles that day.  I used lots of the Crate Paper Random Collection chipboard, layered the co-ordinating papers and even cut one of the flowers from the Vintage paper.

The second layout is of my lovely boy, Alfie:

I used the gorgeous Crate Paper Farmhouse collection, I really love these papers.

 I am loving my Nestabilities at the moment and I can't imagine that I'll ever stop hand cutting things out of patterned paper :)

I have managed three layouts so far this weekend and I'm hoping to get some more done this afternoon.  Tomorrow I am looking forward to the start of the party over at Shimelle's, the Pretty Paper Party :)

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend and the winter sunshine :)

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

It Worked!

Crossing those fingers sure paid off and I got to spend a lovely weekend with Paul, thank you :)

He did have to work for a few hours and in that time I managed three whole layouts! I am so pleased with myself and with the layouts I did.

The first one was for the weekly challenge over at UKScrappers. We had to use three of three things, blue not pink and a household item:

I used three gorgeous photos of my nephews, Jack and George, 3 alphabet stickers and three bits of bunting.

The household item was a piece of string I found lying around at Paul's :) Papers and embellishments were from the Sarah's Cards September kit which was Fancy Pants - It's The Little Things.

Today I have been a bit like a zombie, had a late night and a long day so no bingo for me tonight. Instead I have plans for a soak in the tub, blog reading and a bit of knitting. I shall be back to share the other two layouts shortly.

I hope you had a great weekend.
Jo xx

I Love Crate

I really do so I was delighted when Sarah at S J Crafts included it in my design team kit :)

I knew straight away what photo I was going to use for my first layout and couldn't wait to get stuck in.  I took a bad photo really of my niece Bella but her smile was so adorable I didn't care.  Because she was had lots of light behind her there's not much colour in the picture so I knew the bright colours in the Random Collection were perfect:

I used lots of the Random Collection Chipboard Accents there are tons of shapes on the sheet and I even managed to get a couple of titles from it so great value for money.

And how cute it that cupcake :)

I inked all of the edges of the paper and chipboard with Vintage Photo Distress Ink because I love how it gives the layers definition.

And I finished it off with some Jenni Bowlin Tiny Alpha stickers.

My second layout also featured Bella and I used the leftovers from the first layout to make a matt for the photo:

These are the papers on the flip side.

This time I added lots of Crate Stickers and just a few bits of chipboard.

The paper is lovely to work with, it's great for tearing, distressing and inking. Sarah has her Thursday offer up so get your skates on to get some buy one get one half price Stickles.
I would now like to ask you all to keep your fingers crossed that Paul won't have much work on this weekend so I can get down and see him :)

I hope your week is going well.
Jo xx

Racing The Sunset

That's what I had to do tonight!  I knew I had to take some pictures of layouts and I was hoping the sun would keep his hat on long enough for me to get the shots I needed.  It sort of did:

My gorgeous nephew George.  I did this layout for a sketch team that I'm in.  The sketch was covered in flowers and I didn't know how I would make it work for me, I replaced the flowers with stars and voila!

I had two lovely weekends with Paul, wow weren't we lucky with the weather?!?  Paul went to Paris without me :( but won mega bucks at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe :) His first time at a race meeting, his first ever bet and he hit the jackpot!  No he hasn't turned into a gambler and yes he did get me a present.

I helped to run a mini cyber crop for the mighty, mighty Red Ribbons on UKScrappers and stayed up late into the night doing some layouts for S J Crafts, I will share them soon.

I'm sorry I haven't been around, I had a bad week that made me want to hibernate for a while but I'm feeling much better now. I know I have a million blog posts to comment on, the figures on my Google Reader scare me!  I will get round to seeing all the posts I missed though :)

Thank you for stopping by
Jo xx