More crafting

Had a very productive day today! :) First finished off another layout from the frosty festivities blog event. Loved the result on this one, never thought to use glitter ribbon to make little trees. :)

Decided to go a little different for the next one :) As I've mentioned I'm throwing a Frozen themed party for the kids next month and this prompt inspired me to make some more party favours :)
Be Inspired:

Add a hat and scarf to a character on a card, layout, or other project

Alter a shop-bought bauble / ornament

Paint a swirly branch

So I dug out some old wooden showflakes I bought for 10p each in the sales last year and made these :)

I love them! I cut the twine off and covered the hole with the gems. Glued some coffee stirrers together and wrapped them in ribbon for the handles and added some more ribbon to make it pretty. Hope the girls like them too :)
Last one for today. Went a little off with this one lol.

Be Inspired:

Wrap wool or thread around an embellishment

Add baubles to a tree or stars to a wreath

Use paperclips on your next project

I started by making a star from hama beads which I planned to make into a mini hama bead wreath. That turned into a hama bead tree, which turned into a huge wreath for Caitlins door. Got the mojo flowing anyway!

So I'm thrilled with all my crafting done today. :) Might have to do some housework tomorrow, bedroom looks like a bombs hit it again.

frosty festivities

So yesterday to take my mind off Caitlin I took part in Jennifer Graces frosty festivities :) I love her blog events so it was a brilliant distraction and Caitlin joined in today too.
First prompt was:

Be Inspired:

Cut a giant aperture on your next project

Make a journaling card or tag in the shape of a Christmas themed item

Stick a big flower at the top of a Christmas tree
I copied the layout on offer and made this. Seriously old Christmas photos of Cameron opening some of his gifts. Not sure about this one as seems a bit plain compared to the one on the blog.

Loved this next layout though :) Prompt was:
Be Inspired:

Use felt to make a gift, decoration, or embellishment

Create a Santa with a coat that’s NOT red (eg. use stamps, die-cut machines, or hand-cut paper)

Use brads, buttons, and beads on your next project
I did this layout of Cam and Caitlin opening their Disney gifts the other year. We had wrapped up some old park passes, Mickey ears etc and asked them to guess what they thought it meant. I love I was able to get a picture of Camerons face when the penny dropped.

For the prompts I used a felt embellishment and some brads like the little stocking and gift in the corner.

Was a lovely relaxing day after yesterday :) Hopefully manage to do more tomorrow!

This week in one post

Another catch up post. Getting used to this now lol.

Wednesday
Bonfire night! We don't really do much as standing in the cold waiting for fireworks isn't really our thing lol. This year however Camerons school had a baking contest where they had to make bonfire/firework themed cake and bring it in. Camerons not really into that so picked a nice easy cake for him to do. Few chocolate fingers, some icing and food colouring and we're done :) He was pleased with it and though he didn't win he was happy just to take part.

In the end we watched some fireworks the neighbours let off. cait was terrified bless her. She gets so anxious about everything these days, got to keep an eye on that. :s

Thursday
Well today poor Mark was in bed with a headache so I put the monitor on and spent the day at Gemmas crafting. :) We're doing a craft class at the school so I was doing some simple designs on bunting to give the kids some ideas on what to do.

Tonight was very exciting for me :) I LOVE all the Christmas themed food that comes out and a big one is the Costa cups and flavoured hot chocolates. I got an email saying they were opening late on Thursday so you could come in and sample the new range before it went out on Friday. I was so excited! Rung my Mum and asked if she wanted to go for coffee Friday, she suggested going Asda late night Thursday then popping in for coffee on the way home. Yey! Love my Mum, she supports my insanity lol. Throughly enjoyed my brownie hot chocolate and Mum loved her prailine cappachino.

Friday
Well today was difficuilt so had a bit of retail therapy. I know I said about no spend November but everything seems to be going wrong so just keeping an eye on the spending instead. Think I'm going to need a few small treats every now and again! So I picked this up from Poundland :) Mark called me cruel but Scamp loves it! Ok he hates the hat but he loves the collar with the bells on lol. I took it off him and he followed me and stood looking at the cupboard I put it in until I put it back on lol.

Saturday
Today was so hard!!! My baby girl went on her first trip without me. :( Shes been on school trips before but I've gone too (perks of being on the PTA) so this was very hard. She was going to Drayton Manor with her Rainbows troop and I knew she'd have a great time so I had to let her go. 11 hours without talking to her through......

Was SO pleased when she got home :) She was shattered poor girl and I had to give her a massage, hot water bottle and neurophen as her legs were causing a great deal of pain but think it was worth it for her. :) Might be a bit easier next time. Doubt it though.

Back to normal :)

Love my dog but he makes me laugh. As its been warm we've had the door open over summer so he's just gone and used the garden whenever he pleased. Now we're trying to teach him to ask to go outside when he needs to so whenever he does, then goes out and does the toilet he gets a little treat when he comes back in.
However he now thinks just going in and out deserves a treat so I've been up and down to open the door 14 times already! lol. He simply scratches at the door, runs out, runs back in and sits and looks at me wagging his tail. Um, no, lol.
So today we're all back to normality. :) Which was a bit of a rush this morning as my alarm didn't go off so we woke up to find the neighbour knocking on our door to leave at 8:30! We moved quick though and they kids were dressed and out the door by 8:40. Thank goodness for pop tarts :) Great portable breakfast lol.
Back home and hit the cleaning, tidying and finishing off a few bits including this elf door. My neighbour is buying an elf for her son this christmas so I offered to make a door for him. She seemed pleased so one job done.

Also I can now share my notebook I made for a swap as its been received. The theme was flowers so I picked some vintagey flowery paper and used that with some fabric ribbon down the side. The recipient liked it so thats the main thing :)

Sadly have a very upset little girl tonight :( She's going on a trip with her Rainbows group on Saturday, but its also one of her best friends birthdays so she won't be able to go to the party :( Broke my heart as she was really upset and couldn't stop crying. Said she could sleep in our bed tonight so hopefully that will help.

Last day of half term!

This half term seems to have lasted a looooong time. Don't get me wrong I love having the kids off and spending time with them etc but seems they've been off for way longer than a week!
This morning they woke up in great moods however as my Gran is babysitting this afternoon. Mark and I signed up for a free craft class to do together so really looking forward to it. :)
Don't know about the weather where you are but it's starting to feel much more like winter here! Caitlin was in a bit of a sensitive mood this morning so I let her wear her new super fluffy, oversized jumper. Funnily enough it's a trait we both share, Mark has a fluffy jumper which is obviously too big on me, but whenever I'm feeling ill or sad it always cheers me up to snuggle up in it. Scamp decided to join the snuggle too. :)

The kids have been colouring and crafting a lot this morning (in between cuddles) so I've been making some of my christmas crafts too. Getting excited now :)
Well my elf door is only half finished so back to more layouts :) Thank goodness for these or I'd have nothing to blog for a while!
Simple layout which again needs journalling. Last winter I had my Eeyore hot water bottle out when Caitlin decided Scamp needed it more and put it in his bed. I didn't have the heart to take it back lol.

Like this layout :) The photo was huge so didnt need much to it. Used up lots more from the old embellishment pile too :)

Hopefully something new to share tomorrow :)

Catch up day

Sunday is always catch up day in our house. A chance to finish all the little bits and bobs that have been started through the week and get organised for the week ahead.
Now we're getting even closer to Christmas that 'to do list' is getting bigger and bigger so while kids were happy colouring I jumped at the chance to get as much done as humanly possible and finish off some bits and bobs. It turned into a very productive day! Again I can't share what I did because its for gifts, swaps etc but there were a fair few things crossed off which is a weight off my mind at least. :) Was also the first time I actually sat and used my new craft desk. Caitlin was on the bed watching a film with Scamp and I sat and finished off the snowman boxes for the kids to give to their friends. Was a lovely, peaceful, family day. :) Considering the weather was dreadful it was just what we needed :)
So as I can't share anything I've made, back to layouts I did while away!
Not my fave layout, but really wanted to scrap these photos. When Caitlin finished nursery they gave me some photos they had taken of her during her time there. They wernt the best photos, and most were laminated and dog eared from being stuck on the wall for so long but they were important to me so still wanted to scrap them. As they were so large I didn't do much to this one, just added a few scraps and a tinkerbell I've had in my stash for I think 6 years now so yey used it up!

More using up here. I had a huge sheet of chipboard leaves and other Autumn embellishments so decided to use them all on one layout. I plan to do the journalling in the right corner which is why its a bit empty, but I hate my handwriting so tend to do that part after photographing ;)
The photo os from a visit to the farm. Caitlin had asked and asked to go on the barrel ride, which she had been on countless times before, but for some reason when she got on it this time she looked terrified!

So lots done today, and I'm very excited about tomorrow. Our local childrens center is holding a free craft class each Monday in the run up to Christmas with the aim of teaching people to make gifts for Christmas to keep costs down. As we used to go there often, and I volunteer there they are very aware of Marks illness so we both decided to sign up. It's not often we get to do an activity like that together so I'm really looking forward to it :) My Gran is babysitting the kids as it's a teacher training day and to be honest I think they're more excited about that than they are about Christmas!

No spend November spend so far £0. Good start lol.

No spend November!

Wow we're in November! How did that happen?! So another catch up :)

Wednesday
Caitlin had a birthday party tonight and Cameron had his very first sleepover outside the family. Both had a great time though think our neighbour regretted offering to let him sleepover lol. Neither Cameron nor Cody (their son) are bad kids but when they get together they just go nuts! Think it was gone 11 when she txted me to tell me they'd gone to sleep.
So while Cam was there we took Caitlin and Evie to the birthday party. They had a great time though Mark and I were bored out of our minds. Glad we could take them though :)

Thursday
For the past two months we've been saying about going out for a chinese, but something comes up every time. So we were all surprised we actually managed it! Was a lovely night as the kids played nicely while the grown ups ate and drank. What more do you need! Caitlin took a lovely photo of us all :)

Friday
You know this was only yesterday and I'm not overly sure what we actually did all day lol. During the day Caitlin went out with my Dad then round her friends for dinner so we barely saw her, and Cameron was quite happy playing in his room so was such a quiet day!
I managed to get some bits made for gifts and swaps which I can't share but can share another layout :) Simple one of Cait and Cam in Turkey last year :) Seems so much longer ago than that!

Well as it was Halloween we had planned to stay home, get into PJs and watch a kids scary film. Then Cody knocked on the door trick or treating and that was it the kids were desperate to go! Luckily Cameron was wearing his Captain America onesie so he just went out in that. Caitlin threw on her blue princess dress and off we went! Considering we only went to two streets the kids got loads! They were so excited so I think its going to have to be an annual thing now lol.

So we're now on Saturday and the first day of November. Just like last year we're skint. I've put too much on cards and gotten in way over my head, so this month will again be No spend November!
Basically we're aiming to spend as little as possible this month and only on things we NEED not things we want. With the aim of running down the masses of food we already have and paying a little bit more off the card.
As last year there will be some exceptions:

- School trips for the kids. Don't want them left out.
- Perishable foods, or foods we run out of. All the cupboards, fridge, freezer etc are full, but I'm dreadful for buying more because its half off, or I fancy it, so while I aim to run down what we have we will need to buy more milk, bread, fruit etc. Also if we run out of staples, such as cheese, then thats ok. Non staples, like wine, chocolate, crisps etc well once those are gone they're gone.
- Advent calender for Cameron. Haven't bought one yet and kind of need to do it this month lol.
- £30 for a day trip with my Mum and Gran. I booked a coach trip to Birmingham Christmas Market ages ago for November 15th. Now I don't need anymore Christmas gifts really but I don't want to go with nothing. So I plan to sell as much as possible by then, and if I'm doing well on not spending I will take £30 in cash and leave the cards at home to avoid any temptation.

As last year, I have a reward in mind. We've promised for ages to take Cameron down to London to go to the museums there, so if all goes well we're taking him on the last day of the month. IF we have paid off some of the cards by then!

Halloween

Today we went to the farm with the kids for their Halloween event. We have an annual pass and often visit as dogs on leads are permitted everywhere so it's a great place to take Scamp too. So we were really dissapointed to visit today and see he was no longer allowed in the park area :( I can understand dogs having to be kept on leads and pick up after them etc but will really put a damper on our visits from now on as not much fun for me to stand about and watch form the other side of the fence. :(
That aside it was a nice visit :) Weather was amazing and kids loved running about in the sunshine. We didn't do a lot of the activities as to be honest the kids are getting a bit old now but Cameron enjoyed the spooky house.

Caitlin took two steps in, felt a big furry spider brush her face and walked right back out lol. She did however make a fairy wand from willow and ribbon so that pleased her.
There was also a 'Boob box' where you had to put your hand in and guess what it was. I caught Cameron cheating and looking however. Love his 'What I wasn't doing anything?!' face!

Well tomorrow Camerons going for his first sleepover tomorrow night, only going next door though so I'm not too worried lol. Caitlin has a birthday party to go to until late so going to be another long day I think.

Has time slowed down?

Today seems to have gone on for ages!!! I think it's because we were up early and on the go from the start. Got lots of shopping done, bits a bobs from different stores that we needed, then home to do lots of housework and there's still hours left in the day! Always feel like I've forgot something when that happens lol.
One of the jobs done was to pick up a parcel form the post office which contained this.

A decorated notebook from a swap I'm in :) I asked for a Christmas themed notebook and I'm thrilled with what I got. Seems a shame to write in it to be honest!
Rather than show you photos of my shopping (boring food and other essentials shop) I've got another couple of layouts instead.
Even though my sister is in this photo I still quite like it. Was taken on my Mums 50th a couple of years ago now. This was one of the easy calender layouts. The background was pretty much done so just had to add some embellishments to give it depth and finished!

Another calender one, used the wooden words from my 'use it up' pile to make the title too :)) Love this photo of the kids in their onesies.

Tomorrow is a visit to the farm so hopefully the day won't drag as much as today. :)

Look, layouts!

When I went away with Jess I did over 20 layouts :) However since I got home they have sat there waiting to be photographed and I finally got around to it!
A lot of them were from a couple of calender kits I bought so were really easy to put together but I did some 'normal' ones too. This was one of them with a quite up to date photo compared to others lol. I haven't actually got any photos developed this year but my Mum did a few off my phone and this was one. Love the relaxed feel to the photo as everyones just lazing about :) Added some family/happy themed embellishments and done :)

This one was for the Challenge YOUrself challenge here. The challenge this month was to use an affirmation so used this tag from my 'use it up' [ile reading 'A family is a gift which lasts forever'. Seemed pretty fitting to this photo of Cam and me beside the Christmas tree.

Other than photographing layouts I've been getting organised for some swaps I'm in, but more on those later :)

Disney on ice

At the start of this year I decided to try and push myself a little more when it came to things I was scared of. One big thing was driving. I was fine until I was pregnant with Cameron and we drove past a really bad accident involving kids and since then it's been a bit of an issue.
I'm OK driving somewhere I know, or if it's an easy enough drive but complicated places scare the life out of me. With this in mind I booked tickets to Disney on ice early in the year. We've been before, my sister drove and I was freaked out enough as a passsenger let alone driver so I figured this would be a good push. I wouldn't be able to let the girls down once I told them we were going and the train tickets cost a bomb so I wouldn't want to pay for those either lol.
So after a quick pep talk from Mark I set off, and tell you what, it was easy! I was so thrilled when we got there I was dancing in the car park lol. We had a while before the show so we took the girls for lunch and Mum bought me a large glass of wine lol.

The show was amazing as usual and the girls loved it. Both want to go see the next one in March which typically is at the NEC and is so easy to drive to!

catch up again

Well another busy week! But very productive and fun. Honestly it's just flown by!

Monday
Today Caitlin took her potion homework into class. We wrote the mixture onto a themed sheet of 12x12, ripped the edges and inked them to look old. love the effect.

Look how proud she is bless her. I carried in in though as she nearly dropped it as was a bit heavy!

I finally managed to make a proper list of everything that needs done between now and Christmas. It's longer than I expected with less time than I thought but I feel much better having it all planned out :)

Tuesday
Started to tackle the list today! First up, finished all the hair clips for the party and then made the invitations :)

Loving my snowflake die :)
Was supposed to be rainbows tonight but Caitlin didn't want to go :( Ended up dressed in a cosy onesie and watching a DVD in our bed. Hope shes not coming down with something.

Wednesday
Back to the list! I'm making a lot of gifts this year to keep costs down and wanted to make the kids a new doorhanger each. Cameron obviously Mario

and Caitlin Hello Kitty :)

Left the room to make a cup of tea and I think Scamp wanted to play, so need to redo Mario I think!

Was so sweet today. I was listening to the kids play and heard Cameron say this to his sister:
'You know how you keep saying you're ugly? well you need to stop that, you are beautiful all the time' Awww!!! God I love them :)

Thursday
Such a long day! Started up town buying lots of bits and bobs that I needed for craft porjects, Got most of the things on my list but for some reason bog standard a4 white card seems to be nowhere to be found! Did get Scamp a new bed though which he loves :)
Not that hes giving up his old bed yet, I tried to put it away in the garage and he stood at the door and cried lol, so had to put it back.

Now this year for the kids to give to their class Caitlin wants snowman kits. So I looked everywhere for pretzel sticks for the arms. No joke we were wondering about Tesco with Mark singing 'We just want to build a snwoman! But can't find the pretzel sticks!'
Ended in me just buying normal ones and snapping them. My prototype turned out cute though :) drew the face on with food colouring pens.

So had just enough time to make that before rushing to get Cait, get her changed and back to school for the Halloween disco. because I was working there she wanted to go to the reception disco and her year groups. Which was nice as she got to spend time with Lillie who she doesn't see often now.

Was nice to see Evie in Caits year group too :)

While it was fun, 4 hours at the school helping and dancing took their toll on my baby girl, ended up having to carry her home as she was falling asleep on her feet. Doesn't seem that long ago her Daddy was doing the same for me!

How is it Sunday?!

Where has this week gone?! It's almost 1pm on Sunday and I haven't even had breakfast yet let alone a coffee lol.
I do keep sitting down at the computer intending to blog but something always happens to stop me. This morning though mark's in bed with a headache, kids are happy doing their homework and I'm ignoring the dog who keeps dropping his toy on my lap asking me to throw it.
So catch up of the week:

Thursday
Thursday was Doctors appointment with Mark who woke up with a very poorly tummy, then a craft class at school which was fun but omg it was chaos! Don't think the reception children really knew what they were doing lol. Caitlin abandoned her project and helped the younger ones in the end bless her.

Friday
Much more fun day :) Had a PTA meeting, then managed to get all my jobs done before dropped Caitlin off at her nannies for a sleepover. She packed her bag herself with toys and craft stuff and this was the result lol. Girl takes after her mother ;)

With Caitlin gone, and the boys watching tv I poured myself a cherry shanapps and coke and hid in the bedroom to use my new craft desk and die.

The kids are having a Frozen themed Christmas party this year so I decided to make some hair clips for the girls favours, thrilled with how they turned out!

Saturday
Today was cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. In the run up to Christmas I like to go through each room and fully gut it. Chuck anything not needed, repaint any tired looking bits and generally make everything pretty :) My ain is to do as little as humanly possible during the month of December housework wise as its always crazy busy.

Sunday
So today I decided to gut the kitchen. Obviously as I was going along I decided to do some baking. You know, as you do lol. So while cleaning I made Jamies epic brownie. OMG it was lush! I've only had a bite but Mark, the kids and the neghbours have had some and all love it so thats a good sign :)

As I've been tidying I've noticed we're running low on a lot of staples like flour, sugar etc so plan for this afternoon is shops, more cleaning then the usual bath, homework, bed routine. Hopefully more crafting tonight too!

My child is......

well, imaginative, a pain in the ass, trying to get me arrested? Or all three I'm not sure.
She came home form school today with this picture.

That is a picture of Mark and I, holding a bag of sweets each and smiling, while Caitlin cries because we won't give her any. I don't know WHEN this has ever happened but expecting a phonecall from social services soon.
Hopefully they won't lock me away before I get the chance to use my new die :) Very excited when this came this morning :) :)

With Christmas coming up I cen see this being used a LOT, and I already have some projects in mind :)

Happy day :)

Last night was a lovely relaxing night :) Caught up on some TV with Mark, did some homework with the kids and basically just chilled out.
One of Caitlins current projects is based on Georges Marvellous medicine; she has to make up her own potion, make it and write abotu it. So we came up with 'Double trouble' where if you drink it it makes two of you :) I could use something like that sometimes!

Wouldn't drink it though, as well as sugar, salt and tomato sauce there are leaves and orange peel in there. Can't imagine it would taste too good lol.
Today I've been putting together the bits I got from Ikea and look at my new craft area!!!! I am SO thrilled with it!

Caitlins staying at my Mums this friday so going to dump the boys in front of the tv and try it out I think :)
Being imaginative I decided to glue some magnets onto the bottom of my stickles and stick them to the underside of the little metal stands. For the most part it worked great.....

One or two however glued themselves to the table. See this is why I ask my Dad to do DIY, you daren't let me near a drill!

Home time :(

Well thats it, our relaxing, scrapping, shopping weekend over :( Originally I was going to drive but after my flat tyre Jess offered to drive her van. Good thing too as dont think we could have fit this little lot in my car!

To be fair theres a huge tub in there I got from Ikea to keep scamps food in, plus 4 large storage tubs a friend wanted me to pick up for her so theres not THAT much shopping. just a few well chosen purchases :)
It has been an amazing weekend. :) It's funny, Jess and I don't see each other for months at a time but when we get together it's like no time has passed :) Cheesy but true. :)
Was good to get home though, kids, Mark and Scamp seemed to have missed me and its good to be home. Can't wait to put my new craft storage up!