Ready for September

Well that was August.  Over in a flurry of showers and the occasional sunny moment.  September will bring a few changes here at Castle Johnson with Bella at preschool for 3 days and me going back to studying with the Open University.  I will also be going back to the gym to test the progress on my shoulder (or not) and I'm hopeful that by the end of the month, I will be the lightest that I have been for many years and dipping under the next stone mark at Slimming World.

Of course I will be recording this journey with Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday.  You don't have to be a scrapbooker or a crafter of any sort to join in with this particular class because this is about the lessons we learn everyday and recording them in whichever way suits us individually.

I've mentioned before about my album, saved from last year, so here it is.  This is a bare chipboard album covered with Pink Paisley "Old School" papers and random bits from my stash.

This is the inside cover and I've cut all my pages to size and hole punched them ready to go.  I plan to do a lot of journalling this year.

This morning I finally finished my owls.  These will be the date markers with a little white number on their smart tummies, and I think I will add them to a label shape for the journalling.

Louis would like to show you his book that he made too.  We used the papers that come with Scrapbook Magazine (which I dislike intensely but are perfect for the children) and glued them back to back.  Then we cut them to size (6x4 so we can easily add photos where needed) and he rounded all the corners.  Then he cut the title element and wrote it out (several times as he wasn't happy with it) and made his own owl and a little flag.  He got very excited about we put it all together and almost combusted when I showed him how to insert the pin into the foam tape of the title!

He's got lots of different papers in his book and the spare bits are in a bag.  He has punched some shapes ready to decorate his pages and made a little pocket for these and his gems that he wants to use.  I tell you this kid is a chip off the old block!

September also sees a return of the Artful Angels crops and I am so excited because I get to take my new bag.  Look at this beauty!!!

The fabulous Lunch Lady Jan made it for me especially to fit my trimmer which won't fit in my rolling tote.  It is exactly what I wanted - pockets on the outside for my keys and purse and long straps to make it easier on my shoulder.

She chose the fabrics herself and I think she knows me well enough that she got it spot on, literally!  Pink polka dots and a pink and aqua tea cup fabric!  (She knows I love tea!)  She also made it extra sturdy by using a special backing.  I love it!

Louis took some photos of me "wearing" it but I looked awful so I ended up just holding it out so you can see all its gorgeousness.  I am very lucky to have such a talented and wonderful friend and I am planning a little something to say thank you in return.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a cup of tea to drink.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 169

Happy Wednesday to you all.  This is the last Wednesday of the school holidays here which means that this is my last precious day just with my son, while my girl has her last day at nursery.  It's such a rarity to spend time with just him and me and I have no idea how we will ever manage it again, aside from him being off school poorly (very rare) while she is at preschool.

Today we will be doing some sewing as he has just discovered those pre-hole-punched sewing kits.  We will also be making a little Smash book type thing for him to record his lessons for September as he is going to be joining in with me for Learn Something New Everyday.  I thought it would be a good way to encourage him to write outside of school as he really needs the practise.  He reads beautifully, is okay at mental maths, has a great vocabulary and a wonderful imagination but anything involving using a pen / pencil and everything goes wrong - it's a bit like his brain and his hand are not connected!

I did have a clear up last week after we had both done some crafting and I sorted out my supplies for LSNED and put them in the box on the left there.  The pockets contain pieces of punched owl (we would like to confirm that no owls were harmed in the making of this blog post).

The owls will be used as date markers / journalling tags and I'm sure Louis will want to make some of these too for his own book.  Aren't they cute?!

If you stopped by last week then you will know about the mystery of the hospital tags.  Well I solved that by asking a lovely friend who was also a stand-by independent midwife for me at the time and she said NHS midwives issues them in case the baby needs to be admitted at all.  I did wonder if that was the case as they hadn't been worn, just filled in.  Still no idea why they were in the car 3 years later though!

Well that's my desk revealed for the week, how about you?  Care to share your crafting space?  Link up with the Queen of the Desks Miss Julia and let other creative types have a nosy too.

Bye for now
xx

6x6 Celebration Part 3

Welcome back for the third and final instalment of my celebration of love for 6x6 paper pads.  The previous 2 posts in full are here and here followed by the final set of projects, all over at S J Crafts blog.  I do hope you will pop by there and have a look at the fun I had creating a range of projects from the versatile Echo Park Eclectic Collection.

My final project involves some memories of my Scrap-a-Mia retreat using some small photos.

Small photos work really well with small patterns.

Small embellishments to match the size of everything else.

I had great fun using my much neglected small punches.

I really hope you have enjoyed this collection of projects.  We'd love to see what you've been inspired to create as a result of this series so why not upload your project in the comments on the S J Crafts blog.  Sarah has kindly offered a prize for one chosen participant.  This closing date for this challenge is September 16th so you have time to complete something once the children are back in school.  Good grief, how fast has this "summer" gone!

Bye for now
xx

6x6 Celebration - Part 2

Are you ready for another instalment of my 6x6 Celebration projects?  Well hop on over to the S J Crafts blog to see the full details of these 3 layouts.

If that's not enough inspiration for you then check back towards the end of the weekend for part 3.  If you are inspired to create something, why not link it up to the S J Crafts blog?  The lovely Sarah is offering a prize for one lucky winner from the projects entered.

Hope you are having a wonderful bank holiday so far.

Bye for now

xx

Learn Something New Everyday

Can you believe it is almost September?  I found a leaf this morning that was scarlet, so beautiful, and I knew  Autumn was suddenly saying hello.  September always brings Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday class and last year I got very organised with making my own album, cutting all the pages to size etc.  For some reason, I never even completed day 1.  I made mental notes about what I was learning and most of it related to the exercise programmes that I was trying to achieve.  In the end, I took the photos that related to my lessons and this weekend I made a double page layout with those instead of the album.

I printed my journalling in a list and then cut it into strips.

I'm happy that they overlap the photos which is something I wouldn't normally do, because the journalling is the most important thing here.  

Of course, the end of September was when my Step-Mum died suddenly but this wasn't  about that at all and I didn't want to make a big thing of it here.  I made a note in relation to 29th which might sound a bit harsh on its own but I intend to do another page that preceeds this one with the story of that evening - I was on my way to the gym when I got the phone call.

I used Echo Park Paper's This and That Graceful collection because the pinks and reds were a great match for my red vest and pink iPod cover.

I can tell you that I have lost NO weight since then due to hovering around the same half stone mark but I have carried on with Slimming World because I knew if I stopped I would start gaining!  My shoulders are still causing me great problems so I have had to suspend my gym membership.  The next step is another MRI looking at a different area but I am going back to the gym in September regardless to work on the bits I can.  Although I am sad that the summer holidays are almost over, I am quietly looking forward to the changes that it will bring and I will have much to record for LSNED this year!

I haven't wasted the album from last year though.  I have changed the date to 2012 and got my basket of supplies ready and I am busy making owls to use for my journalling.  I'll share my preparations in another post very soon.  What are you looking forward to about September?  Anyone else joining us for LSNED this year?

Bye for now
xx

6x6 Celebration Part 1

I've been hinting for a while now that I have been working on a project about my love for 6x6 pads.  Did I mention that I like them, maybe just a little? ;-)

Well Part 1 is up on the S J Crafts Blog and talks about quadrants, cards and tags.  Here's a little sneak of the first couple of projects.

Can you see what it is yet? (said in best Rolf Harris voice).  These papers from Echo Park's Eclectic Collection are so versatile and gorgeous.

Please do stop by and have a look at the projects in full.  I've also included some comparison shots so you can see the difference in scale.

It looks like being a very wet bank holiday (no change there then!) so I will spending some time sorting photos with the children and getting lots more scrapping done.  I MAY be tempted to use a 6x6 pad or 2.  How about you?  If you make anything inspired by any of the 6x6 Celebration posts, please do link up in the comments as we would love to see what you made.  Don't forget to check back to see Part 2 & 3 during the weekend too.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW (I have no idea!) (168 apparently!)

Forgive me Julia, for I have sinned.  Its been many many weeks since I last joined What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and revealed the horrors of my desk.  I am glad that I can share my mess here because I am actually ashamed of it right now, head-hangingly embarrassed.  A combination of holidays, children off school, paperwork panics, elsewhere declutterings and a mammoth DT project (more on that soon I promise) have mean't that my desk is not as it is usually and certainly not as I would like.  I thought that joining in with old friends would shame me into sorting it.  I will honestly.  Just one more cup of tea and catching up on a few more blogs (I'm getting there!)

The scale of the problem is so bad that I had to take a few steps back to get all the chaos in.  Post holiday magazines on the chair, a box of stuff taken from the walls while decorating in that green box, the black box file is my scraps.

A shocker of a layout that I am performing a scrapectomy on, my sweetie jar of gems, the remains of a few half finished projects that are still... ahem.. half finished, the battery charger for the camera which still hasn't been charged, my beloved bunting punch, a pile of invoices from the nursery (having to go through them with a fine toothed comb and a little something medicinal), and other random stuff.  We cleared out the car yesterday (hoovered a tonne of Pembrokeshire sand) and found 2 hospital wrist bands for Female Infant Johnson.  Now this is a puzzle indeed because Female Infant Johnson is 3 years old and was born at home!! Well at least they will make it to a scrapbook page, even if it is a random story about clearing out your car more often ;-)

This is said Female Infant's penultimate day at nursery meaning I have a precious whole glorious day with my boy and he wants to do some scrapping!  Best clear the decks then... or just sweep it all onto the floor for now, who am I to interfere with his plans? ;-)

Bye for now