1973...

This song just inspires me so. Doesn't everyone have a certain year they always go back to??? One that you kinda wish you could have again. My fave line is : 'your journey's been etched on your skin...' how SO true is that. Corny. Yes. I just love it at the mo. Tomorrow though it will be something different ~ but for today i'm gonna listen to it just a few (hundred) more times.

Today.

Emily is a witch. Yes, we are getting into the halloween spirit excpet all our decs are in the loft 'somewhere' and I doubt we'll get them out this year. It makes me sad because Halloween is my favourite time of year. I just love dressing the kids up!

I really want to go http://www.willowtreecrafts.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=88888891&Itemid=35 HERE... I REALLY do. Karen Russell ROCKS. Her scrapping style isn't mine but her ideas, journalling and photography just amazes me. She is my all time scrapping idol. How cool would it be to go to a retreat with her teaching??????????????? I SOOOOO want to go. And of course a whole weekend FULL of scrapping would be just the best thing ever. I cannot imagine it at all. How super would it be??? Can you not see how much I want to go?!

A HUGE thank you

to those who came along to my crop yesterday. A BIG thanks to Jane too who helped LOTS and LOTS and really was a star. Thank you.I hope everyone had fun and liked being there. I am hopefully re-running on the Sunday the 25th of November. I have a few ideas kicking around for projects but will let you all know nearer the time!

PICCIES to follow... (except I was pretty dosey and forgot to take them of EVERYONE and only remembered right at the end when half of you had gone home... boo!)

Right at the end... us last few die- hard scrappers... Note: Sarah isn't asleep... just nearly falling off her chair for laughing so much...!

Sorry Dee but you do make me laugh!

Didn't manage to get ANY scrapping done at all. But have sent Kev back to work this morning with a package to post off and am sat in waiting for a parcel to be collected here (we ave been sick bay to my sisters pootie)... What is the betting they turn up at 5:30pm. I hate it when collections are 'vague'. 9am - 5:30pm collections are such a poo.

And check out the tee shirt on this cutie here http://karenrussell.typepad.com/my_lifejust_not_on_the_ro/2007/10/after-7-12-hour.html
How SWEET!

Last night...

... Kev went out, so I truly spread ALL over our lounge floor and created. This one of Ben, I love the photo. You can see his eyes changing from baby blue to ~ I assume brown and it's the first real time i've 'boy' scrapped with papers JUST for boys. Also tried going back to 3d foam. It so isn't my thing/technique.

I wanted to add more journalling to this but felt it would spoil the 'fluffy~ness' of the LO if I did. I am planning on getting it down on paper though. Sometime very soon.

OOOOH, this has to be my favourite. I started it at crop on Wednesday but you know when it doesn't seem to be working AT all? It was one of those nights. So I bagged it up and left it. I'm so happy I did now. SO happy. On the piccie, shes grimacing alittle and so it kinda looks weird but I altered the pic with the aid of my photoshop book and it really made the bubbles have that petrol-ey shine and colour. I thought the corner rounded edges just softened the piccie and added to the whole 'round' bubbly thingie going on. As with my own scalloped paper ~ makes me think of Jane Dean when I say that. But I was trying to 'doodle' outside of my doodling comfort zone. As too with the heart and the glittered wings... YUM! And at first I just didn't like these thickers - the chipboard ones in the scroll-y font. But now... I LOVE them. You know when something just clicks and you realise you've had this stuff for months now and passed it by...? Well, these were that item. Except now, i'm using them heaps and they are nearly all gone ~ unless anything is spelt xxzgkkpo...!

And ifyou like bam pop ~ take a sneaky peek look at their new stamps: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bampop/1701703484/

Scrapping good~ness...

I know the photographs of these are POOR. But in my defence i'm so busy this week. All made with either NEW stuff from Reminisce and Pandoras or OLD, OLD, OLD stash that i'm trying to use up. I'm finding I have a 'thing' for buying scenic route stuff. Seriously ~ I have SOOO much of the stuff.

Ok, blog over... back to the packing!

I've been tagged by Michelle!

I got tagged by Michelle (http://scrapcouture.typepad.com/) And so here are my answers...

Jobs I've had...
1. Photographer
2. Nanny
3. Customer service assistant
4. Scrapbook teacher (yay!)

Movies I (do) could watch over and over:
1. Thelma and Louise
2. Any Harry Potter film
3. Face off
4. The talented Mr. Ripley

TV Sh0ws I watch:
1. Ugly Betty
2. Californication
3. Eastenders
4. Neighbours

Places I Have Lived:
1. Surrey
2. Leicestershire
3. Lincolnshire
4. Derbyshire

Favorite Foods:
1. Thai
2. Indian
3. Chinese
4. My sister's chilli chicken ~ yum!

Favorite Colors:
1. Orange
2. Khaki shades of green
3. Black
4. Pink

Places I would Love To Be NOW:
1. In bed
2. At crop
3. On a beach somewhere pretty
4. Shopping with an unlimited budget!

Names I Like, But Would Not Use For My Children:
1. Sebastian
2. Tobias
3. Poppy
4. Kitty


I tag: Nina!

BUSY.

I am super busy this week. It is always the way when Kev is on school holidays. And I have crop to organise still for Sunday. I have kits all half in bags, they still need instructions, buttons and a label on each. Some still need their chipboard cutting and adding. Time just seems to be flying by this week. I cannot thank ALL you ladies enough for the support and help and just the whole interest i'm having about the crop. Lets hope we have a fabby one and keep it going. It's so nice to meet up, create and have a natter with like minded ladies.

I have the Wickford crop tonight and i'm looking forward to it. I have some deadlines for submissions this week too ~ three LO's which seem to be proving harder than I thought for some reason. And my style is evolving again. I'm not sure why it happens. But it is. Somehow i'm getting braver with patterns I would NEVER of placed together before. Oh well. Progression is good, right??!

Managed to get my copy of SI yesterday and SBM. Wow, both have surppassed themselves. I must say that it's the first SI I have REALLY enjoyed in a long time. Some of the articles though I wish could've been longer. Seems I just got into them and they ended but the LO's were fab. Fave - had to be by Cara Medus ~ it was just my sort of bam pop-ey type style I love. (and funny ~ the "be careful Daniel, it's fall-y down there" had me in stiches) Well done girls. And SBM is getting SO much better. It has some truly wonderful designers on there. I do love Anna Bowkiss and Anne Hafferman, they aren't my style completely but their art work is FABBY.

No piccies today. I'm too busy. Just jotting this down so you don't think i've vanished entirely from blogger-dom.

And Michelle ~ laydee! Thank you for tagging me... I will do it later on tonight, that one is cool I saw it on Shelley's blog too...

Bye for now!

This boy...

...seriously misses out when I scrap. Scrapping supplies are aimed at girls. I'm sure of it. They are marketed to girls to scrap piccies of girls. I find it hard to scrap my boy. Using ribbon/gems/felt makes it seem so girlie. I haven't got the hang of 'boy-scrapping' but i'm TRYING...

I heard some good news today too (not sure if I can share and I know that the said person will want to share it with the whole world!) CONGRATS to you... you know who you are!

And it's CROP COUNTDOWN ~ six sleeps to go...

Impromptu...

These pictures were taken earlier in the week but with one thing and another I have been so busy and only just gotten round to taking them off the camera. The cute rainmac was from Emily's cousin who had outgrown it a while back. It has been sat in her cupboard for ages now until she has fitted it. When i got it out she was so funny... and so excited cause she loved it the minute she saw it and was heartbroken it was too big. She loves her umbrella too ~ even if she is rather lethal with it!

And so now... after the weeks of rain we've had and hated it, In our house we are waiting and praying for more...

I think i'm being converted...

Since I started scrapping I knew that digi scrapping exsisted. I've had a few trials too but I thought they were crabby and hardly worth the time it took me to make anything with them. They just looked so flat and lifeless. And tbh, I love paper, card, pens and my faithful scissors. (those of you who know me in RL, will know I don't own or use a paper trimmer. I hate the things. I just cannot get on with them; my ruler, pencil and scissors are my faithful scrapping tools!) But I have been being swayed for sometime now. Kate Hadfield has some FAB LO's going on with her digi scrapping. I just love them, esp. her once upon a time LO.
Now, I will NEVER give up paper/card scrapping. Not ever. Never. But you know i'm intrigued and it's appealing to me so much. I downloaded a free make and take from twopeas (the cute little journo one) and I am in *heart* with it. I SO am going to make my own little digi journal. And the task has begun today making and creating and searching.
SO, i've downloaded some stuff. But I have no idea how to open it and use it... And the person who does, Kev... has a meeting tonight and i'm going to have to wait. I hate waiting. I just hate it.

I've been playing...

Honestly, the CK computer tricks book/magazine is fab... sometimes alittle difficult to understand but still fairly ace. And tonight i've been playing with a couple of my old photos that I haven't scrapped and changed them slightly to fit the papers I want to use them with ~ I actually thought about dressing my two to fit the papers (which seems pretty sad but i'm sure I won't have been the first to do it) Lol!

So I managed to alter two photographs in about an hour and a half... Kev tried to do one for me but somehow it didn't save properly! I am hopelss at dealing with photoshop, all those little icons just confuse me and I just get frustrated when I can't get it to do exactly what I wanted or had in mind. I just get so frustrated. But I am VERY happy with these two piccies. I just remember those first few flowers of spring and Emily in such amazement ~ this was the first year she really started to notice the little things... I like flowers and started to get inquistive about the world around her. These pics make me smile.

This is also what I started to fill yesterday...

I just love the bam pop papers and SO wish that I could go and buy another pack rather than have to order them and then have to wait. And I am tired of waiting for parcels... today I got my design team package from Fidgeons Crafts but nothing else ~ boo! I am sick of waiting. And I know our postie and the van have been around so that is not the problem... GRR! Post/Parcels... I hate waiting. And I have been waiting for over two weeks now!!

Look what I made at Nina's crop!

This is what I made at the Sugar and Spice crop... I had such a fab time! There wasn't many of us there and soon we dwindled to four, as three went home ill. Even so, I got a lot done and promise to post more piccie goodness once i've finished them!

Thinking of 'home'...

Weird, I've not lived here for nearly ten years but just lately i've been thinking of it alot. (and no, I didn't live on a river bank, lol) And I know that if I ever went back, i'd get itchy feet again. I KNOW for sure nothing changes ~ apart from a few more houses being built and people crowing up; they are all still doing the same things, going to the same places, seeing the same people. But even so. I'd like Emily and Ben to be able to experience some sort of country life and be able to enjoy the outdoors alittle more than they do here.

So, i'm buying a lottery ticket next Saturday.

Old and new.

A sneaky peek of a new little bam pop project i'm working on. These cute little wobblers are glittered with glamour dust and then glossy accented on top which came to me after doing on of the below scalloped circles to show diff techniques... hmmm. Lots more cutting to do but i'm sure it will look super, super cool once i've finished.

This is what i've been doing EVERY evening since Saturday (with the exception of Tuesday night!) ~ punching, cutting, snipping and stamping. And boy, i'm fed up of it...! But I know we'll end up with 16 or so cute little projects and special little keepsakes and THAT is whats keeping me on with it. Hurrah though I do think i've finished now!

These are two old-ish LO's I did a while ago but didn't upload. I guess they kinda aren't my style. I feel bits/something is missing from them but they were simple LO's created for one of my classes... I felt they were easily achieveable for a beginner... I'm not keen on them at all but the piccies make me smile. The top one is 'toadie' from neighbours with a NZ friend Alison and the bottom LO is of the kids I used to nanny for. Bertie (below) was my baby boy, not only was he so darn cute... he was so cuddly too. He was a lovely little boy, along with his two brothers and fabby funky sister.

I'm excited because it's the Sugar and Spice crop on Sunday and it's been ages since I went to a crop (ok, August) and i'm feeling I NEED a day away from home to let my creativity have time to get into it's groove. What with ill children and crop stuff to get ready I seem to have little time for my own projects. This Sunday I am dedicting to my own scrapping projects.

And congrats to my sister who took her thrid year OU exam yesterday. I'm SO proud of her. She is so very, very special. She is so inspirational and strong. I just wanna let her know how much I love her. xxx (lets hope you get the mark you want and that the next three years go just as well)

It says it all...

I've been tagged by Sandie!

Thank you to Sandie for tagging me! (Sandie can be found here:~http://sspot-sandiejds.blogspot.com/)
These are the rules.....
1.Post these rules
2. Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself
3.Tag and list 7 people at the end of your post
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK. 7 Random facts about me:

1. At the mo, i'm addicted to facebook. (just realising I left the wee village I grew up in 8 years ago and NOTHING has changed at all).
2. We had haddock for supper tonight.
3. I have a weird crush on Danny Dyer.
4. I cannot find my winter boots anywhere.
5. I did three loads of washing today.
6. I drink far too much coke and I really oughta stop.
7. I cannot wait to get my next CJ, as I think it's Shelley Brewer's (yay!).

And I tag:
Nina
Sandra
Michelle
Shelley
Peechy
Sara
and Anso - cause her doodling in the BPS is fabby!

Creativity and a sick bay:

This is my celebration LO... It somehow doesn't work altogether but each element on their own does... So thats how i've pictured it. Seperately. And i'm addicted to these journo spots!!! I SOOOO love them.

WARNING: Rather YUCKY post.....

Our home at the moment is a sick bay. Last night, I was up and down to both Ben and Emily as they were both ill. Kev had put Emily to bed as I said I was going to the Sugar and Spice halloween party over at Barleylands (I only had a small spend~ and will create with them tonight). I orginally had planned to leave around 5:30pm but by the time Kev got in from work, I had a shower and fed the kids... it seemed best for me to hang on ten minutes and put Ben to bed and then go leaving him and Emily up.

He put her to bed and she threw up all in her bed and Ben started crying ~ from what I gather it was pandemonium! In the end both settled somewhat and when I came in at half eight he looked rather fraught. He was going to call me. There I was worried, as it's really the first time Emily has been 'sick' as in not baby puke... And Ben had been v.unsettled too.

And so the fun began. I spent the whole night up and down out of bed to the pair of them and in the end Kev did see to Ben at 6:30am. I managed to get 40 mins of un-interupted sleep ~ bliss! This morning, Emily had her milk but I was apprehensive to give her any breakfast as such and she said she didn't want anything. Glad I didn't, 'cause she then threw up everywhere on the kitchen floor. Yuck. I can deal with poop or bogies... but sick. It makes me wanna too.

So today both of them have been pretty ill. Emily's is coming from her top end and Ben, his bottom... the joys of parenthood, eh?!

I am SO excited.

I did it. I got the call and I got a fabby little freelance job (well, providing my samples are ok ~ which I am gonna work SO hard on that they will be for sure!). I am on Fidgeons DT !!! Yay! I cannot tell you how much I have wanted this moment and how excited I am. This week they are sending out some goodies so I can create with them and so hey! i'm super dooper on cloud a gazillion excited.
And so it calls for a LO in celebration for the fact I am on a DT and have a freelance job! YAY!

Off to create now before my little man wakes up!

Contemplation.

You know when you have 'that' email or phone call from someone who once was someone special in your life but then hurt you so much that you cut all ties. That happened yesterday and today. It makes me feel weird and semi-reminiscent but not necessarily in a good way. It made me feel strange, like it seems like just yesterday ~ all these things happened in my life when really it's like nine years ago. Whoa. It's strange. And I do have all these photos to scrap of this time. But it kinda makes me feel betraying to my life now if I did scrap them. Does that make sense? And it's not as if anyone else now, knew me back then. In fact looking back I wouldn't of even recognised myself. I was well and truly wild. Thank god I calmed down.

And then, I think i'm waiting on some REALLY super-dooper news. I am just waiting for a phone call and I am so pumped about it all. I have waited for this for a L-O-N-G time and tomorrow should be the day when my phone rings and .... oooooh I can't wait...

I've been playing...

Ummmm all gold! (apart from my clumbsy thumb taking off a tiny spot on one of the scallops!) and the red glittery heart speech bubble!

It's subtle and kinda shabby but its embossed lightly round the circle in a gold shimmer...
Doodled with a silver pen...
These little journalling spots are coming in our crop kit. These were the miss cut ones (!) I am excused for that, I was up til 2am cutting them all out! On one side they have the 'love heart' stamp on them and the reverse is blank.

So i've been doodling on them and heat embossing them too. Some worked (I love the heart speech bubble one, the journo spot one and the gold one), some did NOT work... but I had fun and also realised how much I love heat embossing.

I used a versa ink pad for the whole scalloped spot embossing but a versa pen for the small doodled details. (these are a fab buy! especially to heat emoboss your own doodly paper/designs or fiddly patterned papers)