May round up

I can't believe we're almost in June! Will be Summer holidays before we know it then I'll be back to planning Christmas!
Anyway I'm still doing my monthly roundup :) I've decided this time to set some targets as I work better when I have targets. So below each one I'll list how many I want to do and how far I've got so far this year.

Pounds lost - 6. As of last month I wanted to lose 23 to get to my goal weight so I'm starting from there.
6/23

Games to complete
- Professor layton, The lost future
- Silent hill origins
- Yoshis wooly world
- Uncharted
- Silent hill the room
I keep starting new games depending on my mood and what room I'm able to play in so these are the ones I want to complete this year.

Layouts done - 45, easy to see where my time went this month!! I'm doing really well on layouts at the moment so decided to go all out and aim to do the equivalent of one a day.
95/365

Projects finished - 4 Pocket letters. No real target on this one as my 'other' projects tend to change from month to month.

Cross stitch done - None. Hope to finish this by the end of the year but I really need to move my butt if thats going to happen.

Books read:
- The Good Mother - A. L. Bird
Only one this month. I haven't read a really good book in a while so I admit I'm losing motivation with reading. Still hope to read the equivalent of one a week though.
15/52

So now I have targets I hope to feel a bit more motivated to get things done :)

This layout was a scraplift of another layout I did. I pulled out an old photo from the first holiday overseas we had where we went to a sulpher pool. My Mum wouldn't go in because she's scared of water she can't stand in so she played photographer.
Was nice as we had loads of photos of the 4 of us which doesn't often happen as I'm usually the one behind the camera.

This was another DIY kit but besides 'favourite' being the American spelling I really like this one :) and look! I made a shaker pocket!

Happy little moments

Well its been a lovely Bank holiday Monday here. Started off with a trip to the cinema. We get free tickets to the kids showings with The Sun so if we take a few munchies from home its a cheap morning out. I usually take Mollie too so gives my Mum and Dad a bit of a break.

So Kung fu panda 3 finished we were driving home when Mum rung us about a dog show and fun day on at East carlton park. Quick run home to grab Scamp and we were off again!
Kids loved seeing all the dogs and various stalls, was all going great at the park too until Cameron fell off a swing and belted his head :(
Once I knew he was ok I decided to take him away from the obviously very dangerous park and took him for a walk in he woods. The girls were happy so they stayed in the park with Mark and my Dad.
Walking along we saw this baby bunny sitting right at the edge of the path. Seriously was only about 2 feet from us.
Got to love the dogs though, their hunting instinct must be completly gone as neither one of them even noticed lol.

Traditional photo in the tunnel thing. Got to love Cam, he always looks like hes cringing in photos.

So after a fun day out we're chilling out tonight. I made took some homemade meatballs and sauce out of the freezer this morning so nice easy dinner. Hopefully get some more scrapping done tonight too. :)
Think it was all a bit much for Cam though.

Talking to my half asleep son
Me - cam where's my ds game?
Cam - it's in my mouth
Me - no honey it's really not.

Hehe. Early night for someone I think!
This layout was done for a challenge to not use patterned paper. I had lots of pretty strips of washi so used those, mists and texture paste to make the background.

This photo has journaling on the back telling the story about how just after this photo was taken I somehow managed to slip and fall off the wall. Kids found it VERY funny!

Stay wild

Happy Birthday Mark!!! Hubby turns 39 today :) We had planned to go for a picnic but considering the weather is cold and grey and he didn't get out of his bed until 11:45 maybe not lol. Oh well, will stay home, bake cookies and play games I think.
Mark did pick one thing though, a munchies and movie night where we watch his new birthday gift, the new Star Wars movie :) Mark and I have seen it obviously but this will be the first time the kids have seen any of the Star Wars films so I was interested to see how it would go down.
Amazingly they both really loved it! Cam cried a little at one point (I wont post any spoilers just in case) but the fact they both sat through it amazed me!
Why they decided to sit and watch it with their dinners in their boxes, I've no idea. :\

So today I've FINALLY managed to kill my Twenty sixteen kit! I added a few 12x12 sheets to it when I first got it and that seemed to make it last for ever!!!! 18 layouts down, its dead and gone :) I can start the new one tomorrow, yey!
This layout is a bit of a mix of kits but mainly one from last summer I cant remember the name of lol.
I love this photo, I took it when we went for a picnic last year. I loved Scamp jumping in so I added the dog embellishment to bring attention to this.

So tomorrow I have tickets for the cinema so hopefully some scrapping time afterwards while the kids probably play in their boxes. Kids were so funny, were playing in them today when Caitlin started singing:
Caitlin - I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the sky! But I can't really because there's a roof in the way and I'd hit my head!
Strange child!

Seeing London

Im exhausted! Been a busy day here cleaning out the garage, weeding the front path, playing with the kids and running errands. 8pm and I'm ready for my bed!
Been fun though, the weather was lovely so made the most of it and kids played in the front garden while I weeded. We live in a lovely area in a little cul-de-sac but I still feel better when they're out there with me.
Annoyingly while it was a lovely day and the kids had a great time playing and crafting, I forgot to take a single photo! Hate when that happens.
I know you don't need photos of everything but I like to capture the moment. :) This is a perfect example. Last year we took a day trip into London and went on an open top bus tour.
The kids loved it at first, seeing the London eye, Big ben, Buckingham palace etc. As we got into the older part of London however they lost interest and the computers came out. I found it very funny to see that Caitlin was playing a driving game where you had to drive around London....while we drove around London.

Whatever makes them happy!

Stocking up

It is so cold here!! What happened to Summer? Has that been and gone? Really hope the weather improves for the half term this week so we can get out and about, and for poor Caitlin who is off on her first Brownies Camping trip next weekend!
Mummy will need lots of wine!
Could do with a wine now to be honest. Last night wasn't fun. To start the day we had a poorly Caitlin at home. The night before she was suddenly hit with a cold from nowhere. Poor kid was sneezing, coughing, nose was streaming etc and had a temp so she spent the day curled up in bed.
She makes me laugh as she is SUCH a hypocondrac. We're used to 'I feel sick, my leg hurts, my head hurts, my ear hurts' etc etc. Usually around bedtime or when I've told her we need to go shopping. Funny that.
When she is actually sick however she doesn't complain at all. When she's quiet, you know she's ill. One day she might figure this out and use it to her advantage but at the moment she's not that sneaky ;)
Anyway, as she was home sick I had to leave her and Mark and home to do the school run which I don't like doing in case something happens when I'm out. So I was already a bit anxious when Cameron came out of school and handed me a letter. I scanned it and saw it was a head bump letter. He gets lots of these as he's a clumsy kid so I didn't read it too closely, asked if he was ok and scanned him for bruises/bumps etc, found none so started walking home. I was half listening to him while planning dinner etc and I suddenly heard the phrase 'so he slapped me in the face' HE WHAT!? Camerons face when I spun round was a picture. Turns out Cameron was 'out' in rounders so another kid in his team slapped him across the face for losing.
Kinda woke my Mummy bear a bit. I handed Cam my coat, told him to go and stand with Nanny who was waiting for Mollie and stormed into the school. Cams teacher wasn't there but had a word with another who assured me it was being dealt with.
Later that night however Cam came downstairs and just sobbed. He has meltdowns about random things which I've mentioned before but this wasn't one of them. He just lay in my arms like he used to when he was little and just sobbed. Broke my heart. So back into school this morning to tell his teacher (who I love) and she was really upset to hear how distressed he'd been and said she'd have a word with him today. So glad it's half term and he can just chill with the family for the week.
So kids at school we had to take Scamp to the vet for his kennel cough, hate it but needs to be done!
So home and sitting down with a coffee before I start the housework. Think tomorrow I'll be locking the door and keeping the world away.
So sad stuff done with, here's a layout of Cameron at his happiest. Eating!
When we were at Spain a few years ago Mum, Mark and I wanted to go to the market but obviously the kids didn't. We found out the kids club were doing a princess party so my Dad agreed to stay with the girls and do that, while we took Cameron to the market with a bribe of a gift and extra computer time, hehe.

I used mainly the branding strips from the Live out loud like forever kit. The journaling reads:
Breakfast before a day shopping with Mummy and Nanny.
Though looking at it you would think it was his last meal!

As cute as a bug on a rug

I swear time is on fast forward. I have no idea how we're suddenly on Wednesday! Monday was just a blur, then yesterday Mark was off to Birmingham with my Dad for his (Marks) check up (all was fine) and I had a meeting at Camerons school.
Think I've mentioned on here before that Cameron has these meltdowns. All will be fine but I can see him getting more and more twitchy through the day then something daft will happen and he will just breakdown and sob for a good 30-45 minutes. Last time it was his roll broke in half when he was trying to butter it.
Sometimes I can predict when hes about to break and I can tell him to go chill out in his room, or make sure he doesn't have to make any choices however how small so he doesn't get pushed over the edge. Obviously though I can't do this all the time as its usually the most random thing that does it. It's also worse if he's had a busy day. if we go to kids play or the swimmming baths ect I know he'll need a few hours peace in the afternoon to wind down.
As he's getting older this is really something we need to try and stop rather than just prevent. Thing is I don't know if it's just Cameron needing to, for lack of a better phrase, man up and deal with things better, or if there's something deeper going on he can't control. To try and find out we saw a Dr a while back who has now referred him to the ASD/ADHD team and wrote to the school to ask them to try and help us. Hense the meeting.
I was nervous as hell going in. I've been to lots of meetings like this, I've just been on the other side of the table and I didn't want them to think I was one of those Mums who labels her kid rather than dealing with an issue.
It went well though. The staff were really nice and agreed that Cameron loves school and is doing really well, but could do with a little extra help with anxiety and dealing with stress. After half term they are starting him in 'Theraplay' classes where he can meet with a teacher to chat, draw, anything he wants to to try and figure out his feelings. Cameron seems happy with the idea so good all round. :) Yey!

Over NSD I got into a routine of killing a new kit/kit I loved, then moving onto an old kit/kit I wasn't sure of. This was certainly one of the latter. So much so that my friend Jess and I renamed it The Ugly kit.
It was originally a really old Sarahs cards kit. I think it was from 2012! I obviously didn't think too much of it at the time either as it hadn't been touched.
The papers were very dated looking, so I pulled out the photos from Ripleys Believe it or not in London as all of the wall paper etc in there was very old fashioned looking. I set to work and this was my first layout.

I used the space at the side to write about the day, not just the photo, I'm trying to put more into my journaling so will see how that goes.
Managed to get 4 layouts out of this kit, usually get a minimum of 9 so shows I didn't try and stretch it out at all!

Little miss and Miss marie

Its Sunday?! Where did Friday and Saturday go?! Very much a blink and you miss it weekend.
Friday we finally got Caitlins passport sent off, 3rd times a charm on that one. Huge weight off my mind that that's done.
Saturday was my Dads birthday so we took his gift over. Caitlin decided she wanted to go to a car boot sale with them so I spent the morning playing computer games with Cam. Was really nice to spend some time with just him and I even won a few games!
When Cait came home they both went to her room to play so I did some cleaning then decided to have a bit of quiet time crafting and watching TV.
Nope.
No sooner had I sat down that both kids came in and asked to sit with me. My tv was quickly turned off and Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory put on. Though to be honest that film is WEIRD! Caitlin loved it though, she didn't think Cameron was paying enough attention to her however so this was the result.

Today we woke up to beautiful weather. Need to make the most of it in the good old UK so we went to our fave park for a walk and a play. Every time we go the kids climb in this thing and every time I take a picture. :)

So crafting never really happened. Which is annoying as my new Like for ever kit came and its LOVELY! I've still got an old kit sitting on my desk though which just seems to be never ending so going to do my best to use that one up before I cut into the new one.
This is from last months 'live out loud' kit. I struggled with this one as I always find it harder when we dont get a pack of emphemara (sp) and we didnt with this. I like lots of bits and pieces to use and find it harder to put together layouts when I don't.
This one however I really like. I don't really 'do' halloween but we went to Disneyland at Halloween last year so I'm enjoying scrapping with the halloweeny colours, but not the embellishments if you know what I mean.
This is an example, black and orange go great with this photo but theres not a spider/bat/witch in sight. Just how I like it :)

The girls and me loved meeting Marie. We'd not met her on previous trips and I always say that Caitlin reminds me of her so I really wanted to get a photo of them together. She was very cheeky! She stole Caitlins sweets and then stole my crown and put it on. She was super soft though and very good to cuddle.
I may have been more excited than the girls. :P

I love to plan

Ohhhh I'm SO sick of forms! I've spent most of the day filling out paper work and questionnaires, and Caitlins passport form for the 3rd time. I'm telling you if it's wrong this time I'm just staying home with her lol.
Then the school rung, poor Caits eye had swollen up and was really red and upsetting her. I picked her up and the teacher suggested a tea bag. Not the most glamourous look ever I have to say lol.

Silly look aside it worked a treat! She came home at lunchtime and by pickup time her eye was back to normal, though stained a bit from the tea bag hehe.
So I had planned to finish a layout I started last week but that is still sitting there. Think my mojo is on a bit of a break after my huge scrapping session last week.
This one was for a bit of a different challenge, incorporate another hobby into your layout. Aside from scrapping I don't really have many hobbies. I read, and rarely cross stitch but I didn't have the motivation to stitch on my layout.
So I decided to incorporate something I love as a hobby. I LOVE to plan.

Ok it sounds weird but I do. Having an aim, something to research, plan, shop for, makes me feel like I have a goal and something to look forward to. Come September this is Christmas, aside from the big day the highlight of the season to me is the Christmas party I throw each year.
It started as a spur of the moment party when the kids were toddlers. Each year its got bigger and more involved and I love it. The kids always look forward to it and ask questions about what we're doing, what theme etc. Each year the kids make something they can keep. Year one was a stocking, year two decorations for the tree. In this layout it was year three and the kids made their own placemats to put Santas milk and cookie plate on, they made the plate the next year too :) Got to love Pinterest!

Wish list 2012

During the NSD I pulled out an old Like for ever kit. It was the Christmas one and though I have Christmas papers and embellishments coming coming out of my ears it was so pretty I couldn't resist buying a ton of add ons for it. Of course Christmas was too busy for me to actually use it so its just sat there untouched since then.
When I read one of the challenges was to use a lot of journaling, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Each year I write down what the kids have asked for, what they got, how hard it was to get etc. I think its fun to look back and see what the 'must have' toys were that year, or if theres a funny story behind any of them.

This year it was a Four arms Ben ten figure Cam wanted, along with half the kids in the UK. We searched toy shops, online, car boot sales, finally found it in Toys R us with about a week left until the big day :)
No idea where it is now, think it got sold at a car boot sale last summer lol.
So got to love the stuff my daughter comes out with. This was a gem she blurted out on Saturday night.

Caitlin - I love pole dancing!
Me - Caitlin what's pole dancing?
Caitlin - it's like at the circus where the guy climbs the pole and spins and does tricks.
Me - ah ok *breathes again*

Kid is going to make me grey.

If you can dream it, you can do it

So, 38 layouts and 5 kits later I think I'm all scrapped out!
National scrapbooking day was last week and I wanted to get all the challenges on 4 different blogs done by the deadline tonight. I almost made it! 3 layouts still to do but I think I did well :)
Funnily enough I've been scrapping for years, but scrapping so much in a short time I actually learned a few things about my style I didn't notice before.
For example I don't like doing multiple photo layouts. I don't mind if the photos are the same size and I can put them into a rectangle or a square, but if they don't go together I struggle with it.
I'm not a big fan of coloured cardstock as a background anymore, I used to like it but I find myself gravitating towards more white or black backgrounds now.
I'm liking white space!!! This is a huge revelation for me. I used to hate it, other peoples white space layouts would look nice but mine always looked unfinished. I did a couple though and were really pleased with them.
This is one example, the challenge was to use lots of one embellishment and while I planned to use sequins I found this pack of rub ons from 6 years ago which still worked beautifully and the layout just flowed from there.

I love this photo. It was taken with my phone on a whim one day. We were walking to the shops and Caitlin was jumping in puddles. Turned out to be one of my favourite photos of her. :)
So LOTS more layouts to share. Now I'm not so focused on a deadline I'll hopefully do more in a day than just using pretty paper lol.

Play

Still very much in a scrappy space here :) Since Friday I've managed 16 layouts!
It might not sound like much but that's along with the party, sleepover, shopping etc so I'm pretty pleased. :)
One of the challenges over the weekend was to use your most recent purchase. My most recent purchase was a pack of enamel dots and some 3d foam pads so kinda boring. Used both here though :)
The circles are a huge wood vaneer that I painted white. It seemed a shame to just put such a feature embellishment in an album but I couldn't think of anywhere else for it to go! I used some of my fave photos ever of me and Cam though so that made it feel a bit less wasted.

The pictures are from just before Christmas when Caitlin was out with her friend so we took Cam to a new burger resturant that had just opened. I was trying to get a nice photo of the two of us but he kept putting his fingers behind my head to give me bunny ears lol. I loved the photos in the end though, Camerons laughing face and me pretending to be mad. It shows an easiness between us that I know some parents don't have with their kids at this age.
I also included a hand made embellishment for another challenge. I had to use stamps to make something but as I don't own any I made this heart by stamping with wood vaneer and texture paste which I then punched from. The little green stars are made with tiny wood stars covered in misting ink and stamped. I loved the result :)

Love how these challenges are pushing me out of my comfort zone.

What a weekend :)

Well I've had an amazing few days :) Friday was the start of International scrapbooking day. YEY! It's technically on the saturday but a lot of places start the challenges etc earlier. I'd managed to get everything sorted for Caitlins party (or so I thought) so I started scrapping in the afternoon.
Until the kids came home anyway, the sun was shining and it was beautiful outside so we all went round the front so Gemma (neighbour) and I could chill out with a drink and the kids could play.
Was very relaxing until I got up for a moment and Caitlin stole my seat :P Nobody could say she's not my daughter!

Saturday morning I was up early going to the supermarket to buy doughnuts which I forgot and were apprently vital, and tea bags to keep hubby sane. Managed to pick up a couple of goodies for me too ;) Kids retreated to their rooms when we got back and Mark was still in bed so I started watching the Inky Quill scrap stream. I even got a mention and squealed like a loony lol. Got a very strange look from Caitlin!
After much scrapping (8 layouts!) it was time for Caitlins party. It went amazingly! The girls all had a great time and it was a serious bargain.

Included in the price of the party was a £10 gift card for each of the girls. As there was a 'buy 3 items get 3 free' offer on at the time Caitlin put this in with her buys :) Little thank you gift for me lol.

Then we got home and found out it was broken. Ahhhh!!!!
But anyway, the sleepover went really well. The girls spent most of the time outside playing 'Britains got talent' so it was actually really easy.
Not that I'm rushing to do it again in a hurry! ;)
Sunday I was supposed to be having a scrapbooking day to catch up on the challenges I'd missed. It was so hot outside though it felt like a waste to just sit in so I decided to go back over to Kettering and exchange my cup for a new one.
Ended up changing the cup, buying ice cream and pizza and picking up mcdonalds for everyone on the way home. I shoudn't be allowed out sometimes.....
So that all the birthdays done again for another year. Well, Marks is at the end of the month but I've already bought his gift and all he wants to do is watch the new Star wars film so aside from having to make the kids sit through that theres not much I need to do lol. In between everything I managed 13 layouts and another 4 today so its been a very productive few days! Come back tomorrow and I'll start to share the challenges I've done so far> :)

April round up

A little late this month as been so busy, but here is Aprils round up for me to keep track of this year. :)

Pounds lost - 5, so lost the 4 I gained last month and an extra lol

Games completed - 0 started a new game, woops

Layouts done - 18 go me.

Projects finished - Painted 4 minecraft pots, 4 mario blocks and various party bits.

Cross stitch done - A small amount on the bus to Disney on ice. Better than last month anyway.
From this

To this.

Slowly getting there lol.

Books read:
I'm not going to bother reviewing these anymore, I can't see me caring what I thought of a book in 10 years time and I'm pretty much the only one who read this blog so there you go ;)
- Crazy Love You - Lisa Unger
- Little girl gone - Alexandra Burt
- Midnight sons, volume one - Debbie Macomber

Baby girl

Today my baby girl turned 8. 8! Breaks my heart how quick its going but I think I've shoved as much into their childhoods so far as I could.
Her party with her friends is on Saturday but we had family round tonight for gifts and cake.
One of our gifts for her was this Pug suitcase lol. She saw it in Asda and went on about it for days so I popped back and got it for her.

The pug theme continued, with pug slippers, pug cushion and of course, a pug cake :)

Very happy little girl :) My Gran got her a game shes wanted for a while so this was her for a while, surrounded by pug goodies and of course the real deal wandering about her.

It was a lovely day. After everyone went home the kids were still really hyper so we took a walk to the park with Scamp, then picked up some sweets on the way home. Planning a night of chilling out and scrapping before the last minute party planning starts tomorrow!

Sunshine, happiness, charm

Today was dull, and draaagggggggeeeeeddddd. Caitlin went out with her friend and her parents this morning so Mark and I played some computer games with cam. We had planned to go to a nearby park for the day but the weather was dreadful so that idea was shot in the foot.
Typically now its 6:30 and kids are getting baths etc before school tomorrow the sun is out and its lovely out there!!
Anyway after getting my butt handed to me on Mario Kart Cameron settled down on the couch Ipad in hand and bowl of cookies at his side. I think the past few days started to catch up on him as he's not moved much all day lol.
So I've been cleaning, sorting a few bits for Caitlins Birthday tomorrow and thats about it! Actually lay on the bed this afternoon watching tv because I couldn't think of anything else to do!

Managed a couple of layouts over the past few days but weather has been too poor for photos. This however is one of my faves that I did with the old kit.
I loved all the papers so this was a good way of showing them all. I'm loving the grid look at the moment.

This photo is of Caitlin when she had just had her ears pierced. We waited until she was old enough to decide to have them done herself, typically though she always asked to get them done just before she was going back to school, or halfway through a term. That Summer though she asked just before the Summer holidays so the first day off we took her and got them done. I had done a LOT of research into where best to get it done and decided on a local tattoo parlor with great reviews and used the old fashioned needle method rather than a 'gun' Glad I did as heard so many horror stories when Cait went back where kids had gone to other places and had got infections, or even passed out when they had it done!
Glad Cameron has no intention of getting his done lol.

2 Kewl 4 you

Its Challenge YOUrself time! A bit earlier this month as we're teaming up with 'Scrap it with a song' So a bit of an extra challenge this month :)
Our side of the challenge is to use a photo of you as usual, and also take inspiration from the following mood board.

Scrap it with a song challenges you to take inspiration from one of two songs, "Best Day Of My Life" by American Authors or "So Am I" by Kensington.

I picked 'the best day of my life'. As soon as I heard it I thought about a day out we had last Summer to London. It was such a fun say with beautiful weather it definitely ranks as one of the best days of my life so far.
I love this photo. We were on one of those open top bus tours and my niece Mollie was in a mood with me and said 'You're not cool you know!' So I did what anybody would do, put Caitlins hat on backwards and started talking 'street' as loud as I could 'For realz yo!' :)
She didn't find it as funny as I did :P

From the mood board I took the greens, flowers and sunny feeling.

As much as it hurt to spell the title like this as I HATE people writing like that, I loved putting this layout together as it reminded me of a really fun day out with my family.

I can't wait to see what you all make this month!