S J Crafts Challenge - Learning

It's time for another challenge over at S J Crafts and this time it is about school / learning.  There is also an optional extra to use scallops.

This challenge was a good excuse for me to use these fun pictures of Louis learning to feed himself.  BLW stands for Baby Led Weaning which is where the baby feeds themselves solid food from 6 months with no purees.  Its messy as heck but loads of fun!  It is a lot more popular now but even just 5 years ago it was very "new age" and most people hadn't heard of it.  My Mum and Mother-in-Law thought I was torturing Louis and spent mealtimes with their hand on the phone ready to call an ambulance for when (not if) he choked but he never did.  They still didn't like it when Bella went through the same regime but they were not so anxious second time around!

I used a scallop border punch and a scalloped circle punch to fit the 2nd part of the challenge.  The buttons are from Handmade Treasures and the papers are Echo Park "A Boys Life" in yet another 6x6 design (you know I like them, right?)

So, have you made any projects recently with back to school photos or someone learning something new?  The closing date for this challenge is 17th October so upload your "learning" inspired project on the blog there to be in with the chance of winning a prize.  Have a look too at the great projects by Sarah and the other DT girls.

Bye for now

xx

Some summing up

Its been a pretty crazy couple of months around here.  The children went on school holidays and a couple of weeks later we had a new little boy in the family.  Baby T is my Great Nephew and he is now 5 weeks old.  He and his Mum and Dad moved the week he was born and they are now sadly nearly 3 hours away so the poor little sausage gets the life squeezed out of him when he visits as we take turns to hold him.

He has been down visiting this week and so we helped out by having Harvey, their lovely Staffordshire Bull Terrier for a doggy sleepover.

Between baby-watching and doggy sitting, we've not achieved much this week I can tell you!  We just about managed to fit in a quick snuggle with my other Great Nephew, Baby E who arrived in the world last week (you might remember from this post.)  He is now a whopping 4lbs and 10oz!  Even Management managed to get a snuggle of this one!

Two babies in a week is almost more than Miss Bella can handle.  Throw Harvey the dog into the mix and we have been a little... erm... overexcited to say the least.

She has found the slightly longer days at preschool really hard to adjust to with all this extra excitement going on.  At the end of the week it was all too much for her... bless!

I was really glad to get back to a routine again and part of that routine is the monthly Artful Angels crop.  This month we were visited by Handmade Treasures with her lovely displays of ribbons and buttons that looked like a lovely sweetshop.  I admit, I broke my stash diet here but only a little bit.  I used some of the stuff on Thursday when my friend came over for a scrappy play date and I managed to catch up on a few projects.

So we are now 2 weeks into the school term and I have no plans to visit or be visited by any babies or dogs this week, or to go to or host any crops.  I've also decided that as I didn't get off to a very good start with all this going on, I am not going to try to catch up or continue with LSNED this year.  I have too much to keep me occupied to be going backwards.  I can start exercising again this week and my new course starts in about 10 days time so I need to get as much done as I can before then.  Look at all these lovely books!

My routine will be a little different from now on that it was before the summer holidays but I really hope it will take me forward as I have really stalled in the last year or so with all the goings on and I can really feel the difference in my mood.  I thought if I shared my resolutions here then I might be more accountable to actually continuing with them.  So:

I want to get back to my running and hopefully start to attend the regular Park Runs held locally.
I want to make real progress with my weight loss and head towards losing another 2 stone.
I want to engage more with the children in the precious times that we have together now.
I want to get back to enjoying cooking by planning ahead and researching my Slimming World recipe books.
I want to stay in control of the house in terms of the housework, the de-cluttering and the decorating.
I want to make positive progress with my shoulder injury.
I want to keep on track with my coursework and start to look for outlets for my work.
I want to make progress on my unfinished projects and keep adding to my haul of finished layouts.
I want to make progress with my photo workflow.
I want to be calm and happy and feeling like I am moving forward.

Feel free to nag me, if you got this far you deserve it! ;-)

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 171

Best laid plans an' all that...  I rushed into my craft room to take a picture in daylight (those precious hours are dwindling fast aren't they?!) and managed to do this instead.  Obviously many round pieces and a hard floor mean't that things were scattered far and wide.  It was a dumping ground for embellishments after being at crops so that will teach me to put things away when I get back.

Its been one of those days so I took a deep breath, walked away and closed the door.  I do need to clear it up though as I am having a play date tomorrow - huzzah!  Lots of tea, chat and scrapping and I can't wait.

I've been finishing off a few things week and working on the little something for a friend but I did also manage to squeeze in this easel card for my niece.

I've never made an easel card of any sort before so this diagonal one was quite a logistical challenge for my small brain!

That fabby large button and the printed twill ribbon were part of my haul from Handmade Treasures at the weekend.  I love these feature buttons which do come in a size bigger too for a real statement.

This cot stamp was another thing rescued from my "give it away" box which I never got around to "giving away" - oops!  I love the subtle embossed effect on the printed background.

You'll be pleased to hear that Mum and baby came home on Saturday and are doing really well.  We are dog-sitting at the moment for my other niece who visiting with her new baby (5 weeks) so I have had lots of lovely newborn snuggles this week and I will miss them all when they go home today.  I will get a lot more done at my desk though!

Talking of desks, what's on yours?  Go on share if you dare.  Its what we do on a Wednesday around here. This post is brought to you by Julia's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx