Wednesday 30 November 2016

My week

This week has mainly been about cleaning and making paper roses.
Lots and lots of paper roses.
I swear my Mums wreath didn't take half this long!
It hasn't all been about roses though. Thursday we took the kids to a Christmas fayre. It was sooo quiet but we went to a local fish and chip shop and found they did battered Mars bars! I think its a Scottish thing and I ate loads of them when I was a kid. Mark had never tried them and thought I was crazy when I told him about them. I've wanted him to try them for ages so was very excited.
Mark and Caitlin were not impressed, Cameron however loved them. Like Mother like son ;)
Saturday Caitlin was off to Harry Potter world with her Brownie group. She was so excited. I love how independant she is and happy to go on trips and things.
While she was off I made the most of the time to go shopping with Mum. I've pretty much finished all my Christmas shopping but still had advent calender bits and stocking bits to buy. Had to have a coffee to fuel up first of course ;)
Honeycomb latte. Yum.
Sunday we did something very controversial and put the tree up! We don't usually do it until December but with the kids clubs and everything Sunday was the last day we had to do it together.
I admit I usually let the kids decorate the tree, then I 'may' move one or two (or all) of the decoratios where I think they should go. This year though apart from telling them to put the glass ones safely out of Pug reach I let them go mad.
Surprisingly I love the result :) I can't wait until Christmas!!!!!

Sunday 20 November 2016

Christmas!!!

You know when you have a plan, and then it all goes to hell? Well today was one of those days lol. Still had a great time though, so thats the main thing ;)
It started off great. I was sitting watching 'I'm a celebrity' with the kids and the coke truck ad came on tv!!! That's the first real sign of Christmas to me and I always get very excited. this time I screamed and the kids jumped about 6 foot in the air!
I found it funnier than they did lol.
So the plan for today was to chill out in the morning, go to a food festival in the afternoon and use some Tesco vouchers I cashed in for a lovely family meal at Prezzo.
No.
The food festival was in a city about 45 mins away. Travelling there was fine, took us half an hour to get there. Then took us nearly an hour to find a parking space. The traffic was crazy and all of the disabled spaces were taken (most by people with no blue badges I'd like to point out) Caitlin was feeling really travel sick by this point and I was beginning to stress so not good. We eventually found a space in a little back ally type car park. We were so glad to get out of that car.
So off to the market. This was fun :) We tried lots of different foods, bought some fancy jams and cheeses and Cait picked up a little pressie for Mark too so she was pleased. Cam thought the band playing Christmas music was hilarious (I think they'd had a few) and we all bought giant slices of various brownie for home later so yey.
By now though we knew Prezzo wasn't happening. Poor Cait still wasn't feeling herself :( So we decided to put that to another day and just buy a take away. Typically everyone wanted different things. *rolls eyes* Mark bought food from a noodle bar, Cameron a whole pizza from a street vendor and of all the food there Caitlin wanted.......a ham sandwhich. Bless her. Thank goodness for Subway.
To round off the drama we nearly hit a baby deer on the way home too!
So now home with full tummies, sore legs, and a very large glass of wine for Mummy while she makes teeny origami bows for the kids class christmas gift. Only need to make 90 of them, easy.... ;)
Next weekend we might just go cinema!

Saturday 19 November 2016

Ice skating!

Today was our first Christmas day out :) Christmas is huge in our family. lots of food, gifts, making things, and spending time together. I plan everything for months, saving up vouchers and everything to make it a big deal on our budget. :) This one of our trips was ice skating at a local garden center. The kids both loved it when we went to a big rink earlier in the year so we were all excited about this one!
Cameron bless him did brilliant! Caitlin was off on her own as usual, no idea where that girl gets her co-ordination from. When we went before Cameron managed to balance with some help, but for some reason he could not move forward. He just kinda skated on the spot. This time though something clicked and he was doing brilliantly. It was wonderful to see him so pleased with himself. :)
Mark obviously couldn't join in so he sat by the edge taking photos, I love this one he got of us. My Mum had just slipped and I grabbed her so that's why we're laughing, Cam is photobombing us and Caitlin is standing thinking 'Why am I with these crazy people'
Lots more planned to come! Tomorrow is a food festival in a town nearby, yum :)

Friday 18 November 2016

Our happy, busy, crazy family

Look, look, look, its a layout I did recently! A while back I made about 14 kits from my ever expanding stash and I try and use a modern kit, then a DIY kit. This was one of my faves ones I made :) Lots of bright colours and woodgrains so perfect for woodland or autumn themed photos.
I knew I was going to do a lot of scrapping last weekend as the live scrapstream was on, so I made some backgrounds on me cameo and got to work. This heart was one of them :)
I wanted the heart to be the main focus of this layout (along with the photo of course) so I kept everything else to a minimum and just frames the photo with embellishments.
Most of these are from a Snap! project life kit I got from Tkmaxx. I don't do project life but the cards are great to cut up and use as tags or titles, both of which I have done here.
Journaling reads: The Robin Hood festival was great fun. We brought enough food for 12 people but there was still none leftover! There was a slight sad moment when Cam got accidently hit on the head with a Pringles tube, but the 'bonk' noise it made soon made him giggle.
Still lots of this kit left! Few layouts planned with more cut files but might be a while before I get there, they're currently under the pile in the back left hand corner on my desk lol.
I really need to start picking one project at a time, think I have about 9 on the go at the moment!

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Awesome

Well today was a bit more interesting than yesterday, I did hoovering too!
Just kidding, I mean I did but I did other stuff too. I took my Gran to a Dr appointment, did a layout, did some shopping, some batch cooking and made some roses for my Grans wreath. Last year I made one for my Mum and it took me AGES, so of course I decided to do two this year *rolls eyes*
This was my Mums
Takes a fair few rolled roses as you can see! Looks lovely once done though, I put a large bow in the middle of my Mums in the end but not sure what I'll do with my Grans.
So guess what, as well as scrapping I actually photographed a couple of layouts too! This one was a scraplift of a class Nicola Mardlin did over at Like for ever. I bought a few of the embellishments and made up a kit with those and my exsisting stash. I love doing this as it encorages me to use up what I have, but mixes it with a few new items so they don't feel so dated.
The photo is Cameron a few years back, we were at a fete and they had a stall where police were giving talks to children on stranger danger. For some reason at the time Caitlin was really scared of anyone in uniform, including the police. Obviously this was something we wanted to help her get over so Cameron held her hand, took her over and chatted to the police with her. They were lovely and while Caitlin didn't quite have the confidence to wear a hat and stand next to the giant bear it really helped her. Shes fine now and regularly chats to the Community support officers that hang around her school at drop off and pick up points.
Just to point out we don't live in a bad area it's just to watch people don't park across driveways lol.

Monday 14 November 2016

Shine today

I've no idea what I'm doing lol, seriously I'm sitting staring at the screen wondering what to write. I'm so boring!!!
Do you know what I did today? I got up, tidied up and did dishes; took the kids to school, came home, tidied up and did dishes; answered emails, tidied up and did dishes; picked kids up, came home, tidied up and did dishes. I swear I have a magic sink that just breeds dishes! The kids obviously eat a lot, so that makes dishes, and Mark drinks about 60 cups of tea a day (never in the same mug) so that makes a ton of dishes too.
Thinking about it I don't know why I'm so behind on my scrapping because I never do anything to take photos of!
So back to when I did have something to take photos of lol. We went to Disney last year so took a ton of photos. This was one of my favourites, the staff were nice enough to take a photo of us with our camera. I love the staff at Disney, seriously i can't fault them. I know they must make a mint at the park but they really seem to go out of their way to make your visit special.
Advert over lol, this layout is another from the Like forever kit 'Central park'. When I get kits I try to use as much as possible up before I declare the kit killed and break the remains up into my stash. This is simple when its a sheet of chipboard or a pack of buttons but rolls of washi last AGES! I found a sketch though and used washi instead of pp and I love the result. Used lots up too :)
Hopefully will have something interesting to blog about tomorrow, if not I might have to start taking photos of washing up liquid!

Sunday 13 November 2016

Travel in style

Whats up scrappy peeps!!!! Ok I might be a little overtired so starting to get hyper lol. Last night I was up until 4am watching the Inkie quill live scrap stream. If you don't know who Inkie quill is, look on youtube!
So yesterday I was scrapping up a storm, managed 7 layouts before I gave in and went to bed. I should have been doing Christmas projects really but thought I'd give myself a break and have some fun :)
As usual though I haven't properly photographed any of them yet so still blogging old ones.
This one was done with Septembers Like forever kit called 'Central park' There were lots of traveling elements so right away I thought of this photo of me and my Mum. We'd took the girls to Disneyland last year and splashed out on first class travel on the ferry.
Was a lovely trip. Was worth every penny! Well the ferry part was, 10 hours on a coach with crying children made me wonder if it was time to open the wine I'd bought at duty free......

Wednesday 9 November 2016

October recap


Games to complete
- Professor layton, The lost future
- Silent hill origins
- Yoshis wooly world
- Uncharted

- Silent hill the room
- Pikmin 2
- Tomb radier rises
Ok so I'm doing well on the games!


Layouts done - 8
163/365
Im sure I usually do more than this :\

Cross stitch done - none. *hangs head* *again*
Can you see why it's been sitting there since Cam was a baby? lol

Books read:
15th affair - James patterson
Undercover - Danielle Steel
The goodbye gift - Amanda Brooks
29/52
Not as many as I'd like but I'm doing better than on the layouts at least!

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Ugh.

So I'm currently sitting on the couch with a hot water bottle, it's freezing here and I refuse to put the heating on if I don't have to.
So today has been crappy. It wasn't too bad at first, got a lot done, decluttered a bit more, it was all good; then the kids came home.
The kids themselves weren't the issue, it was more the news they brought with them. I had a son really upset because one of the kids in his class seems to have it out for him, and a daughter breaking her heart over not getting a part in the school play.
Now I love my daughter, there are so many things she is amazing at and I'm so proud of her. Singing or dancing in front of a crowd however, not one of them. She panics, she stutters and completely shuts down, so when she told me last week she didn't get a part in the Christmas play I wasn't too surprised. She was upset, bless her she had actually tried out for a dancing part but didn't get it, few tears and pizza for dinner however and all was good again. Then she goes into school today and finds out that a load of kids who didn't get parts either now had parts because their parents had gone into school and kicked up. Why?! Caitlin was bloody heartbroken, shes now the only one of her friends who doesn't have a proper part, but admits shes still too scared to do it.
Why do parents do that? I mean if I thought my kid was being treated unfairly I'd be the first one to kick up but I've never been a believer that all kids should get a medal for participaing iykwim, at least not at this age. Some kids get a part in the play, some don't that's life, if it's fair then I can explain it to Cait but saying that parts are based on how much your Mum and Dad kick up isn't a good excuse. Ugh.
Ok moaning over with. Still havent photographed my new layouts so heres another old one. Not my usual style, lots of white space, but there were a lot of little embellishments so thought that would balance it out.
I fully admit the only reason this layout is called 'Yey' is because it was the only title I could make with the alphas I had left lol.
Well fingers crossed for happier kids at pickup tomorrow! Just in case I might buy a pizza for dinner, ;)

Monday 7 November 2016

Be thankful

Well its November (yeah seriously!) and that means Christmas prep, darker nights and a new Challenge YOUrself challenge!
This months challenge is a nod to our American cousins and Thanksgiving. This month's challenge is all about being thankful. You don't have to use the word thankful on your page, but of course, you can! If you don't use the word, please tell us why this word inspired you! And please use a banner somewhere on your page.
One of the reasons I love Challenge Yourself is it inspires me to scrap photos of me. Sometimes though it makes me realise how little of these there are.
When I saw the 'be thankful' challenge, my first thought was obviously my kids and my husband. But this is obvious and I wanted to do something a little different so I thought about my dog Scamp :)
Could I find a photo with me and him in it?! Nope! I have loads of him with the kids, just him, him and hubby ect, but none with me and him where you can see me properly.
After searching through all my photos this was the closest I could find. See all the pink? Thats me lol. He's sitting on my knee and is cuddled up with a teddy I've had for about 11 years now.
Journaling reads:
When Caits sulking, Marks sleeping, and Cams on some form of technology, I'm so thankful for you and the cuddles you give to make me feel loved.
Love that heart, cut with my new Silhouette machine :) You might see the negative space on another layout soon!!
So that's my take on the 'Be thankful' challenge. I can't wait to see what you choose to be thankful for! :)

Friday 4 November 2016

Bonfire night

Ok so Bonfire night is technically tomorrow but our local display was on today for some reason. We don't usually go but Caitlin wanted to take one of her friends with us so Cam decided he wanted to come too.
Glad we went as it was really good! When I went as a kid it was always really, really crowded and freezing and I hated it. While it was busy it wasn't 'shoving' busy iykwim. Cameron was a little uneasy at some points but he did well :)
Caitlin loved it! Said it was like 'Drawing in the sky' Got to be a title for a layout ;)
Speaking of layouts, I've been scrapping a fair bit recently as I'm quite up to date with my Christmas crafting (go me) but I haven't photographed any of them yet (not so go me) If it's sunny tomorrow it on my to do list for then!
This one is from the Central park Like for ever kit. I had tons of these little wooden words so I tried to use as many as I could on each layout.
On this one I wrote 'Our big adventure, Always remember this happened, You are my reason to smile' The photo was taken at Disneyland when we met Jack Sparrow. We met a lot of characters that week but I think he was one of my favourite. He was so funny and asked Cameron to do his best 'pirate face' then pretended to be scared. Caitlin was a little intimidated but he was lovely to her and made her giggle.
I want to go back to Disneyland! *sulks*

Wednesday 2 November 2016

Halloween

You know, every time I go to blog recently something comes up. I mean granted it doesn't take much to distract me anyway but thats not the point lol.
So whats been happening since I last blogged? Not much I guess. Halloween is the main thing. We decided against 'trick or treating' this year as there's been a lot of reports of idiots dressing up and scaring people for the sake of it so we went to Caitlin's brownie Halloween party instead.
The party was dreadful! There was a tiny dance floor, nothing to do and even though you paid to get in if you wanted a drink or a little cup of jelly it was a further cost. 3 packs of crisps were almost £2! There was one bright spot though in that Cam won the costume contest! His prize was great too, a bag full of sweets, a trophy and a Roald Dahl book. He was over the moon :)
As the party was a bit of a bust we had a little get together at Mums house the next day. Mainly Halloween activities but Mum bought some Christmas cookies for the kids to decorate. You can see the difference between my kids here. Messy, half eaten cookie covered in chocolate by Cameron, and very detailed, colour co-ordinated cookie by Caitlin.
So Halloween now over, we're now in November, means I'm allowed to say Christmas without getting yelled at. Yey!!!!!!!!!!