Shopping!!

Well as well as christmas things we've still been selling off computers and bits. Most has gone on the house and christmas gifts, but some we kept for ourselves. So mine went on guess what? yep craft stuff! lol.
I've wanted the bow punch for AGES but never seen it anywhere, so was thrilled to see that, and the Snowflake punch back in stock at Sarahs cards. They also had these circle punches which I used loads at the reteat.

Speaking of the retreat this is a kit from jens class (which I still havent finished, lol) I LOVE these papers and thickers so decided to buy a second. :) Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet but arnt they pretty. :)

Two photos now. :) Of my bargain GRAB BOX!!! I LOVE when Sarahs cards does these. They're always stupidly good value with lots of yummy stuff in. £75 worth of stuff for £25 with free postage. Can't complain can you?! This is photo one. Lots of yummy Christmasy things I've put together in a little kit. Have a crop coming up so hopefully use it then.

This is photo two. Love this glitter paper, really thick and the glitter doesnt come off in my hands. Got to be gettings some more of this. :) Lots of flocked and embossed paper too. If I had the money I'd buy another one of these. lol

Well more shopping today. :) Christmas food shop then off to Northampton with my mum for the stocking fillers and any little bits and bobs we can find (and afford!) Hopefully the weather will pick up. Currently sitting here with the lights all on!

Where has this month gone?!

Honestly, I can't belive its been so long since I last blogged! This month has just sped by. Suppose it'll go by even quicker now we're getting closer to christmas!!
Well this month we had Caitlins dress rehersal for her ballet show. Was gutted to be honest as she was really poorly the day before and still not quite right on the day. :( Took her along just incase but while she did try the outfits on she didnt feel up to dancing so just sat on my knee and watched. I'm not sure she's going to do the main show as its on a huge stage in a proper theatre which I think is a bit much for kids her age. But we'll see. :)

We've also started our Christmas celebrations! I LOVE that the kids are that bit older now and I can do more with them. :) We took them to see the Arthur Christmas film last week. Cameron said it was the best film ever! I didnt think it was that great but oh well. lol. We also had our little christmas party for the kids. :) Wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it this year with my sister and all but went ahead and glad I did. :) The kids and adults all had a good time and all were pretty well behaved. Except my mum who got a bit over excited when she won a board game and made Cameron cry!! Not sure if naughty step will work at her age. lol

Well I promise to try and blog a bit more now! Have lots of fun things coming up so like the idea of recording it here for future journaling if nothing else. lol

Sarahs cards saturday

So cold today!!!! As much as I'm missing the good company and fun classes from the retreat this weekend this morning I'm seriously missing the coffee machine!! I'll start by apologising for any spelling mistakes in Thai post. Currently blogging from marks iPad as the computer is doing a disc check which seems to be taking hours. Lol. Anyway, back to the retreat :)
First thing Saturday morning we had a card class, which I forgot about so haven't photographed yet lol. So will blog that tomorrow. :) instead I'll show you one of the make and takes I did. Amazingly simple peg magnet for the fridge.

Another layout with the Christmas kit. Pretty much used up except scraps now, whoop whoop! Just another 13 or so kits left. Lol

love these leaves. Got a pack from the charity table at the retreat so no idea where they're from. Anybody know?

This class was Tactile Memories by Claire Wheatley and it was VERY messy!!! lots of modgepodge covering the whole thing and lots of screwed up tissue. i revisited my childhood and spent some happy moments peeling dried glue from my fingers lol.

An unusual way to use paper clips. Though beware they do go rusty from all the glue.

This is Krafty Adventures by Lou Stevenson and was actually my favorite class. Lots of little details without being too much iykwim.

Lots of twine used here. Wouldnt have thought of simply wrapping it around a circle to make an embellishment.

So lots of classes done we had dinner. Oh my god I've not laughed so much in ages!!! Honestly it was like Fawlty towers with one mishap after another. The starter was stilton and broccili soup. I've honestly enevr tasted anything like it! It was dreadful! everyone sent it back poor staff didn't know what to do. Last year when they kept messing up we were given free wine, this year we got hot chocolate. hmmm, I think we did better last time. lol.

Sarahs cards retreat!

Well yesterday I got back from the Sarahs cards November retreat. As usual I had a great time. Lots of laughs, great classes and interesting food. lol. Shopped too much, as usual, so the mess on my desk has now spread to the floor.

Got to sort that out today (said that a few times before havent I!) But first the run down of the retreat. :) We entered to great goodie bags, as usual. The tables were allocated this time which was a good idea as usually its a mad rush for a seat. i was a bit worried I wouldnt be sat with people I'd get on with but I really neednt have worried! I sat with Debbie, Lynn and Jill, 3 very funny, friendly women who were So nice and fun to sit with. :) On all our goodie bags had these tags on to show us were to sit.

Must use them in a layout one time. After settling in we had our first class. Through the Window by Natalie Grant. Here we cut out a window from the middle of the paper, and opened it up to put the picture and embellishments in the middle. A quite simple idea but looked great as added depth and showed the other side of the paper too.

After dinner was scrapping time. I did these two using an old Christmas kit. Which hasn't actually seen the light of day since the retreat back in march! Pretty much all of it is used up now though. lol.

Love the banner across the bottom. Reads 'It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home'

This one was for the Friday night sketch challenge. Really pleased with it, and used a bling swirl too. Slowly getting over my fear of using them. lol.

Under the vellum is the list of gifts Caitlin got for christmas last year. Well what I could remember anyway. I thought it would be interesting to do it each year for the kids and see how their tastes change.

We also played bingo and scrapped untill the wee hours (3am for me) but no pictures of that. lol. Was great fun though, and the bingo machine didnt fall apart like last time! lol.

double layouts

Never done a pre-planned blog post before but as I'll be spending most of today driving don't think I'll get a chance to blog. lol.
One thing I've been doing lately is double layouts. I've never been a fan of them before, mainly the ones where it looks like its one long layout cut in half. As I use D ring albums the layouts have a big gap between them so it never looks right I think. However I've started to do some which which are more like mirror images. Which I'm quite pleased with. :) With two kids I'll quite often have two very similar photos of them, so I like doing a 'boy' version and a 'girl' version of the same layout iykwim. This is one example. :) Both kids made Mark a fathers day card at school, inside they told their teacher why they loved their daddy and she wrote it down for them. Cameron said loads, 'He's silly' 'He gives good cuddles' 'he plays trains with me' Caitlin said 'he dances' lol. Well at least its something!
This is Caitlins one.

Little butterflies. :)

This is Camerons. SO much harder than caitlins, but I do find boy layouts a lot harder. Thank goodness for my Gadget gears die!

Made this little banner :) so cute!

This is another double layout I did. ) We went to a local park and they kids both sat in this story seat. As usual I had two sets of the same photos just with different kids. lol So another mirror image layout was needed.:)


Right well hopefully I'll be at Sarahs retreat safely and will be scrapping by tonight. Will take lots of photos to share when i get back. :)

Woops. lol

Well I did mean to blog yesterday but something distracted me. Namely this

I have been waiting for my library to get this book for ages! I love her stories as she tells them from all different perspectives and are full of interesting facts. Such as a strawberry isn't actually a berry its a rose. lol. Was so excited when I saw it on the shelf so my night was spent with a glass of wine, some biscuits and this book. :) Nearly finished it and its great so far but wont say more incase anybody wants to read it. lol
Well got a hectic day ahead, on the Sarahs cards retreat tomorrow (woohoo!!) so have to make a name badge, pack and sort the house out ready for my mum to come over. Anybody else scrub the house from top to bottom when they know their mums coming round or just me? lol. But relaxing with a cup of tea while blogging at the moment. The calm before the storm. lol
Well I said I'd share the layouts I did so here some are. :) This one I did with this months Sarahs cards kit. Love this kit. :) nice recent photos too rather than ones from years back. lol

Dug this rub on from my bits box, love these little envelopes for hidden journaling but thought it needed a little something. :)

More of the SC kit and a few bits from my scraps. Love these pictures. lol. We went to Thomas land ages ago, first time we went and couldn't figure out the map at all. I took a photo of Cameron looking confused so obviously needed to do the same with Mark and Caitlin. Think Marks used to me taking photos with specific layouts in mind now. lol

How cute is this brad! I'm not sure where I got it from but have a feeling its another SC kit. lol

Last one. :) I LOVE this layout. Nice and simple and lots of cute photos. :) This kit works so well with them too with all the apples and the september card. :)

Well I really better get started. lol. Marks still in his bed so first stop is getting his lazy bum up!!

Taking over the living room

Well as last night was Halloween we took the kids to a local park which does a huge Halloween party. I have to say I was really impressed! They do a spooky walk through the woods which we did while it was light (poor Evie was terrified enough then let alone in the dark, lol) and it was great. Lots of props, things hanging from the trees, candles etc. Apparently when its night they have around 60 people hiding under bushes and in trees to grab you and scare you. Think that would have killed Evie off. lol
I seem to have lost my camera :( so mum took most of the pictures, but did get this one on Marks camera.

Remember what I said about having too much stash on my desk to scrap? Well here's proof. lol The boxes are ribbons I got from the 'studio' catalog. Super cheap and really nice.

So what do I do when I want to scrap? I go on the rug. lol. Mark says I'm slowly taking over the house. Don't think he's really wrong there. lol

But I am making a dent in the mess. A small one granted which will probably be filled at my retreat this weekend. But never mind. lol. Have been doing lots of layouts, but will share those tomorrow. :)