Things to do with washi tape.

People who know me know I like to get value for money. If there's a voucher or way to get something cheaper I'll find it lol. Likewise things I do buy I try to get as much from as possible.

Which brings me to this :) When I get a kit I try and challenge myself in two ways:
1 - To kill the kit as much as possible before going onto another one.
2 - Use only the items in the kit as much as I can.

This months 'Like for ever' kit included this roll of washi tape. I LOVE washi as it is so versitile! So I thought I'd share a few things I do with it. :)
Now none of these ideas are groundbreaking but I figured everyone starts somewhere and some readers might not have thought of these yet, so here you go :)

There's the usual way to use it of course, just put it on the paper as a ribbon type thing, use it to stick photos down, or you can make new embellishments with it.
First a flag. I'm obsessed with these recently but they are so expencive to buy new! You can make your own for less than pennies though with a cheap pack of cocktail sticks and some washi. :)

Simple as anything, rip a strip of tape and place over the top of the cocktail stick, leaving a little bit at the top.

Fold it round.

Snip to shape and you have a little flag!

Next, bunting. Again looks great on a layout but those 12x12 sheets are costly and limited designs. With some Washi and some embroidery thread you can make as many mixed designs as you have tape.

Cut the thread a bit longer than you would like your finished bunting to be.
Like with the flag tear off strips and place over the thread where you would like your flags.

Fold it round. As washi is very low tack you can gently pull the flags along to make them closer or further apart at this point.

To cut the bunting I find it easier to stack together, this way it is more of a unified cut. :)

Trim and done :)You can also use twine or coloured thread if you like to give an even larger range.

Last are one of my faves and really one of those 'Why didn't I think of that' moments.
With this kit in partiular I loved all the papers so I was reluctant to use the full sheets for punching shapes. To avoid this I pulled out some packaging from the embellishments most people throw away and of course, my washi tape.

Stick a few strips of tape to the packaging and....

punch whatever shape you like!

Hope these ideas are helpful to someone :)

Bad blogger

This week has been so busy and fun! I can't count the amount of times I've sat down to blog though then something else has happened to distract me lol. So right now Marks watching TV, kids are playing in Caits room and Scamp is licking my arm for some reason so I'm determined to get a post done this time :)
So catch up time I think!

Sunday
Quick trip to town to buy food for Granny coming to dinner. Must have been fate as we bumped into one of Caitlins school friends while there. Conversation with the Mum went like this:
Her - Oh hi Caitlin, are you looking forward to Tuesday/
Me - Tuesday?
Her - Yes ***** (her daughters) party is Tuesday.
Me - The txt invitation said Thursday?!
Her - No its Tuesday.
Glad we bumped into her!

Monday
Relaxing day, then my niece came for a sleepover. 11:45 kids finally went to sleep!

Tuesday
Nightmare day. Remember how I said about that party Caitlin was going to? Well the invitation said it was at lazer quest. So we went to our local one. Waited, waited, nobody shows. Ring the Mum to find out its in the one in the next town!! Quick drive over there, 20 minutes late but Cait got there in the end. I was stressed out beyond belief by this point so drove to Asda and sat crying in the car park lol.

Wednesday
After yesterday I needed a break and today was perfect :) There is a mini theme park near us that sometimes puts on free play events for kids. We've been to quite a few in the past and the kids usually love them so we packed a picnic and off we went.
The weather was beautiful, and because the kids were happy playing together most of the grown ups time was spent sunbathing lol.
They did manage to convince me to climb on the haybale stack with them though, then they tried to shake the bale I was on while my dad took the photo lol.

Thursday
Thursday saw me in London again! I've been more in the past 2 weeks than I have in my whole life lol. This time was a coach trip to the Museums for Cameron and Mollie.

I did worry they might get a bit bored but they loved it :) Cams fave area was surprisingly the underwater area with all the whales and other stuff like that (its getting late now I'm tired lol) He did make me laugh when he said 'This museum is blowing my mind!' :)
We still had time at the end for a quick trip to the Science museum down the road and I admit I wish we had gone there earlier. The kids loved the interactive area, it was like a kids playcenter but educational lol. Hoping to go again in the Summer and take Caitlin too.

Friday
Today was Marks 38th birthday :) We'd got him a few gifts and treated him to dinner out. Was a nice break for me to not cook as well as I was so tired from the day before.
There was a pub near us doing a 'feed your family for £15' deal, two adults meals, two kids meals and a giant ice cream. Bargain :)

Saturday
Today! lol. Today has lasted so long! Marks friend took him out for the day so it was just me and the kids.
Its been a day of cleaning, crafting, bike rides, things breaking, crying, fixing things and general crazyness.
We did make a few bits for Caitlins mini beast project at school too :)

A frog and a lady bird if you wern't sure. ;)

I promise to be a better blogger from now on!

Babysitting and photos

Today I've been mainly cleaning, organising and planning. Tonight I was babysitting for my Mum so her and my Dad could go out to dinner.
Thinking I'd have some spare time while the kids played I took my laptop along to blog and catch up on some blog reading too. Then Mum handed me her laptop and asked me to find some photos she took a little while ago.
Do you know the last time my Mum sorted through her photos? 2008! 2008! It took me 3 hours to put them all into folders and sort them all out, by that time the kids were bored entertaining themselves and that job fell to me.
Oh well will read some blogs tomorrow!
In the meantime heres another layout :) Nice quick one as the background paper was so heavily patterned it didnt need much.
I did this one based on Jennifer Grace Focus your craft challenge. The inspiration prompts were:

Find a ‘focus’ related quote and use it on your next project

Make a photo border with washi tape, glitter tape, or ribbon (or all three!)

Add some text & picture overlays to a photo, digitally or physically

So I made this one :) I made the border with red glitter ribbon, then added some hearts and stars rub ons to the photo.

One of my fave photos from Disney, with the misty castle in the background and the kids big smiles. :)

Hopefully some scrapping time after food shopping tomorow :)

Friday

Its the last day of school before half term and I admit I'm excited :) We have a couple of days out planned but a week of reading, relaxing and playing in the garden are on the cards in our house.
Not doing much today but when I was sorting out layouts last week I found a pile I still haven't shared so here's another one.
It's based on this sketch

and heres my take.

I did it with some of the last bits of my 'Like for ever' kit, its a great sketch for using up scraps :)

I got my new kit today so hopefully will be able to scrap over the weekend :)

London again!

Yep that's right I'm off to London again!!!
A few weeks ago I had a really lucky streak, no lottery wins unfortunately but I did win 4 tickets on a coach trip to London! The original plan was to go with my mum, dad and Mark but Mark wasn't up to it so he and my dad stayed home :(
Mum and I still went though and had a brilliant time :)
As neither Mum or I are partically flush we were trying to keep the day as cheap as possible. Thanks to Groupon, Tesco clubcard and other vouchers we managed to visit Madame Tussuads and a 3 course meal at Planet Hollywood for £20 each! Bargain!
Madame Tussuads was more fun than I expected, but to be honest if I'd had to have paid the £33 entry fee I would have felt a little ripped off. There were quite a lot of waxworks though a few I expected were missing. Benedict Cumberbatch for example was on the front of the programe, and the making of his waxwork was a bid deal but he wasn't there :s
Tinkerbell was though :)

The new Marvel section was good. Again not as many waxworks as I expected but the 4d movie was amazing! Honestly the best I've seen and I've seen loads now lol.

There was also the new Star Wars exibition which even though I'm not a huge fan I did find it impressive. It was an extra £3 each but worth that little bit.

It wasn't too busy when we went but can see it being a bit crazy in the school holidays, not so sure I'd enjoy it much then so glad we went when we did. :)
Oh, guess where I'm going next Thursday? That's right, London lol. Last year we took Caitlin to Disney on ice, as she went there we asked Cameron to pick a treat and he asked for a trip to London museums. We were planning to go last November but didn't have the money. Then the lady doing the cheap coach trips organised one for half term so we're off there too! Caitlin and Mark are staying home with neighbours so just me and my boy. Very excited :)

Challege YOUrself

I love happy mail and look what I got the other day :) I'm in a pocket pals swap on a facebook group where you fill a pocket page with decorated cards and little embellishments. I'm halfway through mine but my swapee was super speedy and sent mine already :) How cute are these!

Love all the little embellishments particually the arrow paperclips in the envelopes :)
On other crafting I was blog hopping when I realised I had joined in with this months Challenge YOUrself but I had forgot to blog about it!
So this was the sketch challenge given.

And this is my take.

The photo is me in Turkey. It was the night where the kids had been to a kids club party while the adults relaxed with a few cocktails. The kids came back full of sugar and spent the next few hours playing happily. :) Was a great, relaxed night.

I put the title a bit squint because I think it looks more playful :)
Seem to have got my mojo back lately so hopefully more layouts coming!

Sooooo tired

Well was a bit of a muted household this morning. Poor Mark was bedbound but expected that. Didn't expect how tired me and the kids would be though lol. However Caitlin was star of the week in assembly and Cameron was showing his work at school so a day off wasn't really an option.
Cameron was easy enough to bribe with a promise of a special dinner. Caitlin however was a bit more difficult. In the end I had to agree to bring Flutter, a huge blue pony, to come watch her get her award.
The things we do for our kids!
Typically, the hall was silent, everyone quiet when I move my leg, accidently press the button and.....'My little pony, My little Pony, ahh ahhh ahh ahh!' yep the bloody music thing goes on. Wanted the ground to swallow me up.

Seeing cams work was much easier lol. love seeing how far he has come with his English work and volcabulary. Very proud Mummy. :)
As we're all exhausted an early night is needed tonight I think. You can see Caitlin agrees with me....

Funnily enough 15 minutes after this tantrum, and declaring she was NOT tired, was NOT going to bed and FINE she would just stare at the walls then, she was fast asleep :)

London baby!!!!

Today was our trip to London. :) The kids picked it for their joint birthday gift and as there was a load of Shaun the sheep statues dotted around the city to hunt for we were all very excited :)
After jumping on a few tube trains, which Caitlin did NOT like, we came out at the London eye. Caitlin had been asking if we could go on it but once she saw how large it was she soon changed her mind lol.

This was the 3rd Shaun we found. I had got an app which was supposed to act as a GPS but the map was so small it wasn't much use and some of the sheep wernt where it said they should be but we made do. Was more fun being surprised when we spotted one tbh.

4 sheep down and it was time for lunch! We found a little italian called 'Bella italia' but it wasn't the one I thought it was lol. Still lovely though. It was really quiet so the staff made a big fuss of the kids and gave them crazy straws which they got to keep and take home :) Funny how the little things make such a difference.
Cameron said it was the BEST resturant he had ever been to. Made me laugh though that we went all the way to London, went to an italian resturant and what does he order? Fish and chips lol.

Few more Shauns then Caitlin spotted a Build a bear shop. She had said a while ago thats what she wanted to spend her birthday money on but I thought she'd forgotten. No such luck. Must admit while its pricey it is a good quality product and good experience. Caitlin picked a My little pony Princess Luna and the girl helping her was lovely. She had to help stuff the pony, pick a sound thing to go inside, make a wish and kiss a heart to go inside the pony and then pick a scent to go inside too! Once that was all done we were onto outfits. the shoes would be £20 which I dont even spend on shoes for me so said no to those lol. She ended up picking some hello kitty slippers, a little silver lead and a dress set. Next to register the ponies birth and name her (Flutter), throw in a special backpack to carry her around for the day and we were done! Cameron was a MUCH simpler affair. He picked a Toothless dragon, stuffed him, named him (snap) and put him on his back lol. I took out the much used credit card, paid and we were off with two very happy children.

We couldn't find the last Shaun on the list so hopped the tube to the next area. Mark was really struggling by this point despite frequent brakes and walking slow so we watched a few street magicians for a while. Caitlin loved them!
Shes not usually the most confident little girl so when I offered her some change to go and give to one I was very surprised that not only did she go but actually chatted to him for a few moments :) Apprently he's trying for Britains got talent next year and watching him he certainly could do well. :)
Rest taken and painkillers popped Mark managed to make it down to Nelsons column and my fave Shaun. :)

Look how cute the pigeon is! I love the fact it looks like stone too.

Por Mark had had enough by now and tbh so had the kids so was ice cream time :) As it was a treat day we splashed out on the hagen daz resturant. OMG I didn't expect it to be quite such a splash out lol. 3 scoops of ice cream each and a drink came to the same as a 2 course meal each plus drinks in the italian that morning!
Cameron didn't even finish his, that hurt lol.

All in all it was an amazing, and very very long day lol. We really lucked out on the amazing weather and I was so proud at the kids behaving so well and trying so many new things :) Both asked if we could go back in Summer so I think it will end up being on our Summer bucket list :)

Where did Summer go? :(

Bleh, woke up cranky this morning. Cameron was up most of the night with a cough bless him so nobody got much sleep, dentist this morning and its cold and grey outside so I'm ignoring the cleaning for a bit and curled up in bed catching up with the new Nashville which started last night.
I probably should be finishing the layout I have laid out on my desk but its the last of the lovely sunny kit I got the weather is killing my sunny mojo lol.
Oh well, still haven't shared the layouts I did last weekend so here is one of Caitlin and her first selfie :)

This is one of Cameron and Caitlin in Turkey. There was a large mushroom thing which I don't think the kids realised sprayed out water every now and again. I was taking a photo of them playing when it suddenly turned on. Never seen Cam move so fast!

Weather tomorrow is supposed to be nicer. FX as I have washing to do!

Awol again

Wow been almost a week since I blogged. No idea why tbh, every time I sit down at the computer to blog my mind just went blank so I never bothered. it's still blank now really but I'm hoping if I start talking I'll figure out something to say lol.
So to start with anyway I've been doing quite a few layouts for Scrapbooking day. I've been using my new kit and 11 layouts later I'm down to just scraps. Been so long since I started and killed a kit as soon as I got it but it was so pretty and easy to use :)
First layout is quite a recent photo. Haven't done the journaling yet but it will tell the story of the time I was cleaning caits room and I wrote 'love you Caitlin' on her teddy. Later that night I put her to bed, and found the teddy sitting where I had left it but she had wrote 'love you too mummy' on the back.

Second is Caitlin at wicksteed park last year. We had a competition to see who could spin a hula hoop on their arm for the longest and Caitlin won lol.

Still can't think of anything interesting to say so I'll sign off until tomorrow!

So much to share!

It's been a very busy fun weekend :) Yes I know it's Tuesday but this is the first chance I've really had to blog about it lol.
Saturday was our coach trip to Cadbury world and the Sea life center.
Cadbury world was fun but a LOT of walking for poor Mark. You got a few freebies but nowhere near what I remember when I was a kid. The kids loved seeing how chocolate was made while the adults enjoyed seeing all the old ads from when we were younger.

Cadbury world done we went to the Sea life center. This was much less interesting as it was packed and really just felt like we were shuffling through a crowd. The jellyfish were beautiful though.

Funniest part was when we discovered there was no cafe or anywhere to eat our picnic so we just parked ourselves in a quiet corner and settled down. People were staring at us as they walked past and Mum started joking we were on display. One Chinese couple actually took a picture of my dad eating a sandwich!

Sunday was my baby girls birthday :) I think she was a little surprised to come down to only one gift but was thrilled when she opened her own hudl :)

Managed to have a little time to play before her birthday party! :) As it was an art party there were lots of painting, making t-shirts and other activities before ending with her colorful cake :)

Poor Mark missed most of it as Saturday wiped him out. He's still pretty much bed bound but hoping he'll be up and about soon. :)
Tomorrow I'll start sharing some of the layouts I managed to do :)

Like for ever scrapbook challenge :)

Hello all! As part of national scrapbooking day Like for ever are having a selection of challenges over on their blog/facebook page. Not only is it loads of fun but you can also win great prizes by taking part!
For my challenge the prize is a Becky Higgins Project Life Love Notes Value Kit as shown here.

Beautiful right?! So to be in for a chance of winning the challenge is to scrap using stash to spell out a word. :) As it's my daughters birthday today I asked her to pick a word she thought described scrapbooking. Bless her the word she picked was 'stash' :) So, your challenge is to create a layout using bits from your stash to spell out 'STASH'. This can be colours, manufactures or anyway you interperet it.
This is the layout I created.

To spell out stash I used:
S - Little sun embellishment.
T - triangles
A - Alphas
S - Seven punched circles
H - Hearts

I cant wait to see what you create!