Christmas crafting

Christmas crafting with my boys.

Idea from Pinterest - chocolate bars wrapped as Christmas characters.

 Pom pom fun!

 Christmas colouring.

 Pinteresting again! Strawberry Shortcake Santa Hats <3

 Plus printing out this amazing man who has been in my life for 20 years! About time he featured on my wall of things to inspire me around my craft desk <3

Christmas is coming.

Christmas is coming..... and coming fast! Which means life has been busier than usual. I've done  some scrapping but not got around to scanning the pages yet. I've also been busy Christmas crafting with the boys. A couple of weeks ago we had a snowflake making session. We have covered the back window with them and they look great. Then just yesterday I saw this on pinterest:  

So I decided to have a go at making one just like it.

Fail #1

                                                                             Fail #2

Then I wimped out and tried an easier version:

Successful enough...

I've also been making some Christmas bunting. I used two different paper manufacturers for this project, which is the current challenge on Sarahscards. I used Crate "Peppermint Collection" and 3 Bugs "Snow Much Fun" as well as some random papers from TKMaxx. Not a layout I know, call it artistic license haha.

I'm also busy stressing over layouts as I've been asked to guest design for Sarahscards January kit. Woo Hoo and Yikes all rolled into one!!!

Have a great Christmas everyone.

TTFN

x

Scrappy Dappy Doo Day

Lou, Helen, Lianne, Sarah and I had another of our fabby crop days on Sunday (we missed you Vanessa). Along with Percy Pigs, Naughty Nibbles, Hot Chocolate Jen Style and some soup that is best left unmentioned (bleurgh) we did actually .... GOSSIP! Yeah, ok, we scrapped a bit too - well some of us did!

This was my last page of the day which i finished at home. I used Bella Blvd " Finally Fall" papers and a strip of woodgrain mix tape.

This one was actually from before our mini crop. I used some old scraps of basic Grey "Marrakech" that I came across when looking through my papers doing Nat's mix it up challenge. I added some Elle's Studio, a WRMK journalling tag and some digi print offs I think I found on UKS.

This "Josh is 5" LO uses My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup along with a couple of Elle's Studio bits.

This last one was actually my first of the day. I used Bella "Paper Boy" papers with some reeeeeaaaaally old Cherry Arte paper - still "mixing it up" see?

Thanks for popping in for a look.

TTFN

Jen

x

Colour me blonde and call me Welsh!!

Lovely Miss Natalie's last post on Sarahscards encouraged me to mix and match some paper ranges. It's easy to scrap with a complete range because everything coordinates already - and that is what I usually do. But over the weekend I had a go at Nat's "mix it up" style. I used Bella Paper Doll "Nostalgic" for the border, Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend "Homework" using the lined side for the main base; a random spotty piece of PP behind the photo along with a 6x6 piece of Dovecraft Christmas paper (the pink piece). I matted the photo with Pink Paislee "Think Big" from the 365 Collection and also made a heart with this PP with a smaller heart in the pink Dovecraft again. I stole Nat's idea of sticking punched circles together to make a scallop detail and Lou's masking tape idea to sit the title on.

Whilst I had all those papers on my desk I moved onto another picture of my gorgeous niece. The base is Bella Paper Doll "Jot"; the hearts sheet is American Crafts "Craft Fair" as is the pink woodgrain. The words come from Bella Paper Doll "Collage" and the blue piece behind the photo is Pink Paislee "Think Big" again. I much prefer the first LO to the second. The second is a bit "in yer face" colour wise I think, but I did enjoy stepping out of my coordinated range box!

So, feeling a bit PP'd out, this was my next page. No PP at all, just a piece of that lovely chalkboard paper from American Crafts that Sarah has in stock, along with loads of different mix tape and masking sticker tapes. I wasn't sure how I was going to use the chalkboard sheet in A4 format but I'm liking the result. The black thickers on black background looks quite funky in real life too.

As it's Tuesday today I have a little "me" time so I'm off to play with pretty paper some more.

TTFN

Say hi if you stop by :)

Negative

This month's challenge on Sarahscards is to think NEGATIVE. Nat suggests interpreting this word however you wish. I've interpreted it several ways.

1) You may look at this LO and think - "That's a layout? Really?" There are NO embellishments NO patterned paper (shocking for me I know) and NO fancy paper folding or other techniques.

No=negative right?

2) The main part of the title is made by spraying over masks leaving a NEGATIVE space.

3) The subject matter could be seen as negative. It's not about how lovely my son is. Nor is it about what a lovely day we had the day we ..... etc It is all about his speech issues - or lack of speech. The journalling explains it all. You may see this as me being negative about Sam, but I feel it is an important part of his life, especially if his communication issues continue as he gets older (which unfortunately I was told yesterday they possibly will). Last year when Josh was in hospital some people may have thought it was odd to take photos of him so ill and then to scrapbook them. I wanted to do it to help him remember what it was like and how brave he was. Plus it is important to document some of the NEGATIVE as well as loads of the POSITIVE.

So take a look, have a read, but focus on the positive for me would you? Because he is gorgeous and lovely and we do have lovely days the day we..... etc

Layout catch up

I think I sorted the scanner problem. It makes a very poorly noise but at least it scanned!

This was my last LO before the retreat - Joshy climbing on the rocks in Kippford. I always have good intentions of telling you what papers I used..... I had it written down.... but now I don't...SORRY :)

 Retreat Layouts:
This is my Helen-esque page. I printed a photo strip in Picassa then chopped it in half; stuck it down with mix-tape then added some alphas, thickers and a chalkboard pumpkin.

This is my version of Lou's class. Lou's was 12x12 so I did mine in A4 to show it was easily adaptable. The pic is Sam posing like James did on the rocks.

 More Halloween pics - James this time. I was pretty tired when I did this so it's a bit unfinished! I may add something... a donkey maybe, or the eiffel tower (tee hee).

 I tore this one apart and started again at one point! I have a tonne of the WRMK Teen Angst papers still to use.

 These are Stella & Rose papers with a little bit of the new AC "Chap" chucked in - plus Amy Tangerine Mix Tape and a bit of bakers twine. The photo is from Joshy's birthday with his "bestie" Harvey.

 Yet again I can't remember what these papers are - answers on a postcard......

The retreat was FAB was always - roll on March !!! There are still places left you know - come along. You KNOW you want to.

A little bit of awesome.

I made these little pretties for my little dudes whilst I was away at the Sarahscards Retreat this weekend. The "Jubbly" gift box was one of the make-n-takes we were teaching over the weekend. Each one is super easy to make from just a piece of 6x4 and some adhesive. I added some Amy Tangerine washi tape just because I love it. They had sweeties inside waiting for the boys to rip them open without really looking at the prettiness that mummy SLAVED OVER!!!!!!! haha ;) If you didn't come to the retreat a) why not? b) poor you c) let me know if you want a "how to" and I'll type one out for you.

Testing testing 1,2,3....

Even though I am so tired I can hardly see straight after a FAB weekend away, I have just downloaded the blogger iPhone app. I'm going to hit publish to see if it works ........

My scanner/printer isn't happy :(

 I have one of those all in one scanner/printer HP thingies and every now and then it throws a wobbler. It was scanning fine and printing naff, so I fixed it. Now it's printing perfectly and scanning a bit iffy! I have 3 layouts to share but one of the scans is so naff I can't post it - I'll try again tomorrow. these scan's will do for now.

Here are my boys playing scared on holiday in Scotland. There was a coastal walk with one huge garden that was filled with sculptures and statues - some of which were a bit spooky!!! So of course my little actors played scared!!! I bought a few sheets of Bella Blvd "Too cute to spook" with that "hmm I'll never use it, but it's cute so I'm going to buy it" feeling. Happily I went down a "less is more" route with it and it worked. Of course it means I have loads of it left... and I'll never use it.... but it's cute..... lol ;)

 This LO is also in Scotland and also has a little ham actor in it! Sammy was sulking about a frisbee for goodness sake! He is so good at sulking I thought I'd document it to torment him with in future years!

Isn't that why we scrap??? lol

Happy Halloween!

We had a fab Halloween party here on Tuesday. All 15 kiddies seemed to have a fab time and the mums didn't appear to be too frazzled when they left! The boys and I spent most of Monday afternoon decorating the house, including mummifying the table (see above) and hanging my first attempt at bunting (hastily made on Sunday night

Between them Helen and Lou took around 200 photos - watch this space for Layouts!!

This month's challenge on Sarahscards is all about my latest favourite pastime; Pinterest! The challenge is to take inspiration from their Pinterest board

I used these pinwheels (that I had already pinned on my own board!)

 and this little paper plane

but I changed it to a dandelion CLOCK:

 

I had a journalling mishap (AGAIN!!!) but managed to cover it with a little kraft tile and then added a few more so it didn't look so out of place.

I'll enter this one to the challenge but i think I'll be trying the cute little folded hearty-flower thingies too, maybe on a girly LO of my niece :)

TTFN

TFL

x

Got to be quick.....

...got to take biggest boy for his flu jab :( First time he has had it - he has to have it because he has asthma :(

Anyway....

I saw this on Pinterest:

and loved it. I wanted to use it on a layout so I did:

My cutie Samshine and his cutie smile :) AND no alpha induced stash strop!!! I had enough of each alpha for ALL THIS!! Bonus :) But now i need to buy more........

This one is biggest boy with his new skateboard that he bought himself and is teaching himself to ride.

Dude ;)

Right, love ya and leave ya, ttfn.

Be good.

Take care.

See ya L8R ;)

Not perfect

My lovely mum-in-law took this photo of Josh and Sam a while back to show me how they had spent some of their time together when I was at work. They are watching TV quite happily together. Apparently they quite often sit in this chair together to watch TV but on this day Sam had slung his arm around his big brother and they were all snuggled up. The photo is out of focus and blurry but so what? It captures such a cute moment I had to scrap it - hence the title. The title also reflects the layout - not perfect! I was loving it, then I out the heart mask on and misted and it looked NAFF. Then I tried to save it, tried to save it a bit more..... and I'm not loving it. Ah well - the title says it all.

This one is inspired by Gems at Sarahscards with her post about using banners. Josh didn't want to pose for hours like James did, he just wanted to explore the rock pools. Thankfully he managed one quick pose before he adventured off away from me and my camera! I used Jillybean Soup papers (for both LO's actually) and my fab 83p postage stamp punch ;)

 TFL

Have a great Tuesday (I love Tuesday! No kids!!)

Say hi x

Monday Mini Crop

Well it turns out back to school didn't have to be the end of ourMonday Mini Crops. We have less time but also less kids so it's not all bad ;) Sam and Oliver had fun playing Bobs and Firemen all day and Baby George tried to eat our toys all whilst the two mummies played with pretty paper. Here's what I got done:

I'm sure I saw the scraps/handstitched heart thingie on Pinterest but I didn't repin it so it's origin is lost. Sam was engrossed in the Bob the Builder show at Butlins and I spent the whole show watching him enjoy it.

This one is those fab posing photos from our holiday in Scotland - go James! Hmmmm the scan is not great - the faux stitching goes all the way around the edge :)

TFL don't forget to say hi xxx

Last week I saw this on Helen's pinterest board:

When I picked up four photos of Sam to scrap it popped into my mind. All I could remember was the strips and the circles. So this is what I came up with:

I'm sure Helen will spot my mistake.... she usually does ;) I used "Campy Trails" again and no whiff of a campsite ;)

Helen is coming over to play with paper on Monday....erm... I meant so Sam and Oliver can see each other!! so hopefully I'll have more to share then.

TTFN
x

Just checking in

I've had too much going on since "back to school" to do as much scrapping as I did over the Summer :(

Busy and tired and CBAitis. So why is it that at 9.47pm tonight I suddenly feel like scrapping? I know if I start now I'll be up L.A.T.E!!!! so I am going to resist the urge and blog instead. These photos were taken in the back of the car on the way to Butlins - gotta love and device that keeps the boys happy and quiet(ish) on a long car trip! I already posted the photo of Josh on his DS.

This one is a bit flat and unfinished looking. I reckon I'll be having another play with it soon. If anyone suggests a hot air balloon I will BLOCK THEM FROM M?Y BLOG!!! lol ;) Can you tell that those a DCWV Christmas papers BTW? I don't reckon you can, can you?

And here is the biggest boy - the one who started the DS craze :)

I still haven't spent my £20 prize from Sarahscards.... what to buy???

TTFN

TFL

etc

;)

x

Woo Hoo I won!! Go me

http://sarahscardsltd.blogspot.com/2011/09/challenge-winner.html

Sunday Crop

On Sunday Helen and I spent the day at Lou's scrapping the day away. Even though they were HORRIBLE to me and tried to make me use hot air balloon stamps for NO REASON I still managed these two layouts.

;)

So not about hot air balloons, no no, it's about my Joshy having all his hair cut off. I resisted the urge to jouranal the fact that I think he looks like he had his head shaved after an infestation of nits!! Of course he hadn't, he simply wanted to be the same as his big brother. I didn't like it :( too short.

This one is a cute piccie of Sammy playing Guitar Hero at Butlins. I have had the papers FOR EVER and finally got to use them :) See this Lou and Helen???? Guitars on the papers + Guitars on photo =

 MAKES SENSE!!! lol

TFL folks x

Today's the day!

This little boy starts Reception: 

This little boy starts pre-school:

And this BIG boy starts the junior school!

My 3 boys!