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