Christmas in Summer...

Late or early?  You decide!  S J Crafts is running a Christmas card making event called 6 on the 6th to help us make a few cards a month and hopefully do away with that last minute panic.  Lets face it, the last thing we need in December is more panic right?!  

I'm very time poor at the moment so mine were fast and furious and all the same design.  I found these toppers in my Christmas stash from a few years ago and it was good to use up some older supplies.  They were just from a cut-apart sheet so I layered them onto red or green cardstock and then popped a ribbon or some Christmassy trim underneath.  They were then mounted on coordinating paper and then onto red or green card blanks.  

They won't be the best cards in my collection but I'm happy that I have made a start, albeit a little later than intended!

 I've also been working on some very summery layouts too using Echo Park's Perfect Summer collection.  Here's a sneak of the two layouts that appeared on the SJ Crafts blog today.

There are quite a few more to come from this collection because I wanted to make the most of using the bright colours in this wonderful weather.  Check back soon!

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 221

Its a wonderful Wednesday!  Time to hook up with lots of crafters from around the world and share your creative spaces.  Check out Julia's Stamping Ground for the blog hop list.  Don't by shy!

Thankfully there is a lot more creativity going on this week for me.  I've been working on a DT assignment using the lovely Echo Park "Perfect Summer" range which is quite apt for this lovely weather we have had this year.

I'm coming to the end of the pack but so far I have created 4 singles and a double and I haven't scrimped at all.  You can see I have more left to go too.

At the top of the pic you can see some bark that Louis insisted we bring back from Wales and he wants me to use it on a layout.  I'm thinking it might be good in place of a wood veneer if I can cut it nicely.  The little blue thingy under my scissors is my needle holder because I have been stitching on one of the layouts to outline the sun.  Here's a sneak peak.

Last week I mentioned my log of layouts which caused some consternation!  I have to keep a record of what I have made, photographed and blogged so that I don't blog the same thing or forget to photograph something.  Also when I've had times where I've not made anything, I can look at the log and find something to share.  I don't do them in order because sometimes I get backed up with DT layouts that might need to come before a group of layouts from a crop or be more suitable to a more current subject.

In the pile I found this one, don't laugh.  It was my very very first ever layout and I had no internet, no galleries, no patterned paper, no Pinterest, no sketches, nothing.

Yes folks, there are peel offs galore.

I also mentioned last week about how I needed to get sorted and several of you commented about your own desires to sort your craft rooms etc.  Thank you all so much for your support but I wish it was that simple!  My "sorting" is diet, depression, fitness, work, housework, etc.  I am hoping that I can really get a handle on things (which are all linked obviously) over the next few weeks with the help of Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday.  If you are taking this class, please do say hi!

Bye for now
xx

Mowing Fun

It was supposed to be a very wet day today and goodness knows the garden could do with a good drenching.  Alas it is that sort of weather that is not so good for the garden - warm and overcast.  Our poor grass is not so much a lush green and is more of a parched straw colour.  The only benefit is that it hasn't needed mowing for some time!  

This layout was one of the ones I found during my logging process that has been completed in November last year and hasn't made it as far as the blog.  The photos were taken last summer when we seemed to need to mow the lawn every week.  

Enjoy the wobbly bunting won't you....

The gorgeous papers are Cosmo Cricket's Tea for Two and the pretty little rub on is a very old one by Dear Lizzy's Enchanted range.  I used two different fonts of Thickers, both canvas covered and some of my most favourite ever.

I'm thinking of using a Mister Huey's to make the grass look as green as it did last year.  Waddyafink?

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 220

Good grief my desk is not so inspiring today is it?!  Plenty of mess as usual but not much in the way of sticking and gluing going on.  In my defence, the laptop is there because I am trying to update my log of layouts and which one's I have left to produce for DT / blog / photograph etc.  It is one of many things on my to-do list but about the only one I have the energy for!

Still, I have enjoyed looking back over my blog at all my layouts and found many that I had forgotten and more still that I want to scrap lift.  What has shocked me though is the amount of times I have said "I really must get myself sorted" and "this time I really will" and such like.  Yet I am no further forward now than at any other point in the last few years.  Hhmmm, must try harder...

I hope your desk is a lot more attractive than mine.  Check out the other desks too at Julia's Stamping Ground.

Bye for now
xx

Surf's Up!

Coming home from holidays is always very mixed for me.  I love Wales so much and it refreshes me like nothing else but it is lovely to be back in our own beds and in particular for me, back to my creative space.  I can write when I'm in Wales but I can't seem to create any art other than playing with my Promarkers when the children are colouring!

We had a lovely time and managed some horse riding, dolphin surveys, seal spotting, lots of walks and time on the beach and lots and lots of eating.  I even went fully into the sea which is unheard of!  Louis got a new body board for his birthday and both of the children loved splashing about in the waves in their wet suits.  Maybe next year I will be slim enough for a wet suit myself?!

Bella was able to wear Louis's suit from last year.  She's changed so much since her first little wetsuit at a year old.

I loved her in this pink wet suit so much!  I went a bit mad with the photos that year... maybe...

The gorgeous papers are from a 6x6 My Mind's Eye pad called Lime Twist I think.  I'd been dying to use this mermaid button for ages and this seemed like the perfect time.

And speaking of which, I think this is the perfect time for a cup of tea and a catch up with all my blogging friends.  I have well over 200 posts to read so I maybe some time but I will be there.  See you soon.

Bye for now
xx

Welcome Theo!

Happy birthday Theo!  My first Great Nephew is a year old today!  He is such a cheeky chappy, always on the go and loves to be centre of attention.  He flirts with people in shops and knows his smile can melt even the coldest heart and he uses it to his fullest advantage.  We don't get to spend as much time together as we would like because they live a couple of hours away but they are all very very precious to me.  This layout shows him at 4 days old when they finally escaped from hospital near their old home.  They stayed over at our place for a night before heading across to their new place but we were like ships that passed in the night because we were heading to Wales the same day.  It seems so fitting to be sharing this now because we are off to Wales again this very morning.

  

I was inspired by a layout on my Pinterest board but in my haste to get things sorted for the holiday I can't find the link!  I'm so sorry to whoever the original layout belonged to and I will find it and update as soon as I can.

I used the wonderful Studio Calico Snippets collection with some older Papermania letter stickers for a fresh and modern feel that seemed fitting to the new family.  Some funky turquoise washi tape completed the look.

I hope they have a wonderful day together and we will be thinking of them as we wend our way west to Pembrokeshire.  We're back in a couple of weeks so enjoy the peace :-)

Bye for now
xx

Pick your Precious - Story Telling Sunday

I was rather caught on the hop today.  We have just returned from a weekend of camping to find that it is of course the first Sunday of the month, which means it is Story Telling Sunday.  My camera was busy downloading the photos from the weekend so I had to think fast about pictures I had of something precious that fitted with this month's theme of being given with love.  

My mind immediately turned to obvious things like my rings - engagement, wedding and eternity, but I didn't have pictures of those.  Then I remembered a very special piece of jewellery that is tucked away somewhere safe (i.e. now I come to think of it, I can't recall where it is...)  

I remember the day that we went out to choose this; myself, my fiancé at the time (now my husband of almost 15 years, otherwise known as Management) and my dear old Dad.  We went out specifically to find something suitable for a girl turning 21.  A girl who wanted the world but had it right there in front of her and didn't know it.  We went into various jewellery shops in Portsmouth because my Dad really wanted to get me a locket, something I could keep and wear forever regardless of fashions and sizes.  In the end, we chose this ensemble with my Dad buying the locket (as he wished) and Management purchasing the chain to accompany it.  

In the years gone by I have had periods of wearing it everyday and other times (when the children were little and "grabby") when I didn't wear it for months.  I wore it once while holding a baby around 9 months old and he put it in his mouth revealing a little tooth mark in the back of the locket.  You can see that many of the links have been stretched over time through being pulled too.  This locket has seen a lot of action in the last 18 years...

People often ask me what I have in it, expecting photos of loved ones or a lock of hair, but I always answer the same thing - kisses.  It used to be Management's job to fill it up with kisses in the morning before we went to work and then I would have enough to last me through the day.  At one time it became Louis's job to fill it up.  There was also a time that Bella would "steal" the kisses inside that were meant for Mummy whenever she needed them.  With her starting school in September, I think I need to find that locket and have it filled up with kisses from all three of them before they leave for their respective activities in the morning so that when I am home alone, working on something and thinking of them, I can have a little bit of them to last me until they get home.

Have you got a story to share about something precious?

Bye for now
xx