Dead on my feet

So tired! Couldn't sleep last night so was up till 4 (thanks to Lisa for keeping me company :) ) Then been busy today scrapping and cleaning. Managed to do nearly all the classes so quite pleased. This is what I did today. You were supposed to make your own flowers but I gave it a shot and mine looked NOTHING like they were ment to so they went in the bin and I just got some blooms, lol. Made the vine myself though.

Now these flowers were much easier. Amazingly simple and look really effective irl. Painted the grungeboard (the pink and blue swirls) with paint then crackle paint but dont think I did that right either, lol. Oh well, this was the last class I did. Was losing my energy by now.

This took me ages and you cant really see it. lol. downt he left hand side and at the top I used tim holtz barbed wire mask and glimmer misted the paper. Looks nice in real life. lol

Did this lo about how easily cameron makes friends. usually female friends. Wasnt untill after I'd done it that Mark pointed out that the title might have another meaning consdiering the photo of Cam running about with a girl. lol. Woops

This is a typical 'I cant be bothered to get up I'll just do a lo with whatever is in arms reach' kinda thing. Quite pleased with it though, lol. the idea was to scrap a new tradition. I picked the tradition of every christmas spending ages trying to take a photo of all of us as a family but never quite managing it!

Decided to get quite creative with this one. Last year at butlins Mark in all his wisdom decided to help cameron bury his new Bob beanie (which cost a stupid amount of money I'll have you know! Couldnt believe he bought it!) in the sand. They then promptly forgot where when a huge storm started and he was frantically digging to find it. lol. The idea of the Lo was to include 4 elements, a metal element (the badges) a sewing related element (the cross stitching) then a moveable element and hidden element. I decided to put lots of tags and hide a bob picture under one and the word 'nope' under the others. Made me giggle if nothing else. lol

This was done at 3am so went a little wrong with the letter S, hense the outline rather than a full letter. Love the photo on this as shows cameron and caitlin both climbing up ladders towards the slides. Decided to make it about how brave they are. it always amazes my mum and other mothers I know how they just run off and do their own thing, and how at playcenters and the like if a bigger kid pushes one eithr of them the other will run up and push back. Ill never forget when I saw a kid twice the size of Cameron push him and take a toy from him, but before i could get there Caitlin slapped him and took the toy back! Now I dont' condone violence but I was a little proud. lol

This a very old photo of when we went to disneyland. Cameron was nearly one and Caitlin was nearly ready to be born (hense the size of me then, now its all ben and jerries, lol) The theme was scrap a journey so I did the first time Cameron was on a train. I know blurry is spelt wrong but its how Cameron said it this morning when I showed him the photo and told him he was looking out the window as everything blured past ('It was all blur-ie out the window mummy?) so thought it would be a nice touch.

Well did a couple more but shattered now! Hope everyones well. Wont be about untill friday as off to butlins with the kids. :) Take care!

cyber crop!

Well though it sounds like some kind of strange adult internet activity, a cyber crop is where a number of classes/challenges are posted on a scrapbooking site for members to follow. UKS tend to have 2 a year and I LOVE it! This times theme is Monopoly so each class is slightly themed towards the game. Though you can make it your own. For example, the class below was originally photos of your first home. I don't have any of mine so did a chritsmas one instead. :)

This was a challenge to use up stash you normally save for 'something special'. Im dreadfull for this and have loads of crystals and pearls I just never touch. So I bit the bullet and covered this LO with stickles and pearls. So much so I forgot to leave room for a title!

Don't love this lo. Was a challenge to scrap a shopping expereince. I did how I always go OTT with xmas shopping. It was one of those LOs where the kids were acting up while I was making it so I'd do one little bit, deal with them, do another, deal with them. And I always forget where I was going with it so end up just shoving it together!

Now I LOVE how this one turned out. The dotty paper was leftover from another lo (further down) Normally I'd have just thrown it away but kept it this time and it turned out to be the perfect frame for this. The challenge was to scrap a holiday and water. So I did Caitlin at the beach last summer. Water could either be the sea, or the torential downpour that followed moments after this picture was taken.

This is where the dotty frame came from. love this class. so simple but effective.

This was the first class I did and messed it up a bit. lol. The idea was to use letters to make a title, paint over it then take the letters off leaving the outline behind. I used felt letters for the L and O. Not thinking that the paint would soak through. Woops! This is part of a couple lo. In the other Caitlins sitting on the floor after pulling a bowl of beans on herself after I left the room for a moment. Cameron is delighting at telling on her. lol

Simple lo, challenge was to use vines.

This is my mystery kit LO. Each team had a kit, where basically you're sent a box containing some embelisments, patterned paper, cardstock etc, and you can make whatever you want using only items from the box. For this I used my new vintage findings card for the slice and I LOVE it! Dont use my slice as often as I should as its quite loud so dont use it when the kids are in bed. but think I'll make more of an effort now.

Well thats really all I've been doing! Besides cleaning and packing! More tomorrow so will be back with more then, lol.

Poorly tum :(

Not much to report today. Had a bad stomach so mainly been doing a little housework and curling up on the couch. Gutted as managed to finish my pre-crop challenge lo but missed the deadline. :( So here it is for anyone who wants to see it. The challenge was to scrap an important man in your life. I picked my husband Mark (even though he HATES this photo) Seems particually fitting as hes spent all day taking care of me. lol. The crop starts tomorrow so lot of challenges and los to do. Quite excited as loved it last time. :)

Why did I think this was a good idea?!

Well quite a quiet day today. Last night was quiet too. Mark went to his hospital appointment in Birmingham (goes every month for check up) but was running really late so late back. Kids were shattered after nursery so just sat watching tv. Doesnt Caitlin look so happy. lol Well while Mark was away and kids in bed I managed to get a couple of los done.

This was Caitlins first day at nursery school. The banner along the bottom reads 'from small beginnings come great things'

These are REALLY old photos. I caught both kits playing with the buttons on my computer so stood on a chair above them to take some photos. Cameron was oblivious but Caitlin caught me. lol. Also started a lo for the uks cc pre-crop challenge (wow thats a mouthful!) Had had a glass or two of wine by that point and decided to use every scrap I had leftover from a kit I had a while ago. So that should be an interesting one when finished!

Been a nice day today here to kids have been happy playing in the garden.

In my wisdom I decided now would be a good time to sort my old los. I used to have them all in post bound albums. But decided I prefered d ring. So I emptied all my albums, put the los in boses and bought a few d-ring albums. So today I sat down with the task of putting all my los into order and putting them in their new homes.

NOT an easy job. Watched 'The Hills' season two while I was doing it. My mum got me hooked, lol. Shes buying season 3 on friday so told her shes got to watch it over the weekend for me to borrow. :) Right, better get back to it. Im only up to Caitlin being born so still got another 2 years worth of los to sort!

My mascot :)

Have to show you this. Its the uks cyber crop this weekend and I'm in a few swaps (chocolate swap, stash swap and mascot swap) I got my adorable little mascot this morning from my friend Lisa (well her husband but lisa made it, lol) I did plan on taking a photograph but the second I put it down a little hand grabbed it and ran off. She will now NOT give it back so this is the best I can do! Its a cute little bunny with a bowler hat and ball and chain around its leg. It had a heart on his tummy which flashes and plays music if you press it's paw. Which my poor hubby has already done countless times today. lol. Thanks Lisa and Alun, you've made a little girl very happy (and since she's quiet, her mummys happy too!!)

Car boot bargains!

Well this morning was the weekly car boot. I admit not been in a while as car has been broken (REALLY missed it, lol) Its in the same place as we went to yesterday for the picnic and the kids love it as usually when we go to the park its £6 something to park the car there, so we park miles away and trek it. However on car boot days its only £1, so we can take their scooters and things with us too. :) anyway on to the important part. The bargains! Was thrilled this week as pretty much every stall had Thomas on. I admit I hate paying the daft prices for kids toys and jigsaws these days so never buy new unless its their birthday or something. Particually with Cameron as he goes through phases of playing with nothing but a certain toy for a few weeks, then goes onto something else and the original toy is never touched again. At the moment its Thomas jigsaws. And look at this lot we got today!
All this, plus a buggy Caitlins currently playing with and another jigsaw Camerons currently doing, came to just under £20. Bargain!

When we go to Butlins next week we've splashed out on Gold accomodation, which includes a dvd player. Now as much as I love Butlins I find it a bit daft that breakfast is at 8, then nothing opens untill 10. Actually I know exactly why they do it, its so parents such as myself have to take their child to the only thing that IS open, the arcade, and spend a small fortune keeping them enetertained untill everything else is ready. Well HA! This year we're just going to take the kids back to the room and let them chill with a dvd. Which is a huge treat in itself as tv is banned in our house till after lunch. Think this lot we got today will keep them going for a bit. lol

Ah the jigsaws. cameron LOVES jigsaws. it started at christmas when my mum bought him one and he did it a few times. Then Mark bought him a huge one and he just became obsessed. Thing is we have to keep buying him harder ones as he becomes bored easily. My mum bought him a jigsaw book 3 days ago, yesterday I found him doing the jigsaw back to front as 'picture side is too easy' These are some easier ones but he lets Caitlin help with the giant ones so nice to have some for them to play with together. We also found a big Barney teddy. He doesnt do anything but Caitlin loves him anyway. :)

The books, bag, and games. :) Ok so the books at the end are for me, lol, but we got a huge pile of thomas books from one lady who was really nice and game me the backpack for free. Cameron spotted this memory game under a huge pile of clothes (I swear he has a Thomas radar or something) and Mark found the little bat and balls for the beach. We even found some Barney books for 5p each! Was really pleased as its hard to find Barney items now and Caitlins face always lights up whenever we find anything.

Well thats the day so far. Came home and did some tidying. Tryign to make sure house is spotless for when we go away. Well I can try I suppose!

The lollypop to end all lollypops!

Well we went out for a family picnic today and had an AMAZING time! I think it was because the weather was so good and we're just people who love being outside in the sun. Last summer we had meals outdoors more often than in, lol. Anyway, we packed a HUGE picnic (I tend to go ott on picnics, of which I had tuna pasta salad, yum, lol) covered kids and Mark in suncream, hats etc and headed to Wicksteed park! Kids were stupidly excited, even though we go there every sunday, lol. As soon as we got there they ran to the park and started climbing on everything. :) Caitlin driving the big wooden car.

Then on the swings. Caitlin also decided to give me a heart attack! I turned my back for two minutes and turned back to find her at the top of the biggest slide at the flaming park! I ran over trying to be all calm and laughing while reaching up to help her when really I was freaking out inside! She was fine of course. I think I'm being cursed with a daughter just like me so I know what I put my mother through.

They spent about 2 hours playing in this sand pit. :) Got Cameron a Thomas sant pit for his birthday so can't wait for him to get that.

I adore this photo of Caitlin picking flowers. An unusually girly moment for my tomboy of a daughter.

I do admit I shed a few tears today (I'm sad I know!) but seeing Mark playing with the kids, Caitlin was screaming with laughter and Cameron running alongside, was such a happy family moment. :) Its my mums fault she cries at everything too. lol
I also could have cried when we went on the train! Theres a big train that goes around the park and obviously in Camerons Thomas mad world it was called Thomas, so he was happily pointing the other trains out 'Theres Henry, theres Gordon!' Then he sees the guard 'And theres the fat controller!!' I could have died! The guy laughed about it but I don't think it helped he wasnt on the skinny side.

This is Cameron with his new best friend. Theres a big avery there and this little budgie kept flying over to him. Cameron was amazed. lol.

By this point the kids were getting a bit tired so we took them to the gift shop. Cameorn of course picked out a Thomas door name thingy costing £9. So i told Caitlin to pick anythign she wanted as she'd been too small to get on most of the rides she wanted and she'd been SUCH a good girl all day. You know what she picked, a £1.50 smiley face pin to go on a croc shoe. I showed her dolls, buggys, nope, she wanted this face. *sigh* Fair enough, lol. On the way out we went into the arcade. Caitlin saw a HUGE lollypop in a machine and wanted that. The aim of the game was to use the buttons to move these TINY little blades to cut this TINY little string to let the lolly fall. Anyone whos ever played these games know that they're nearly impossible, but I felt bad she hadn't got more at the shop so I gave it a go.......FIRST TIME!!!! I got it! Was stupidly excited, lol, you'd think I'd won the lottery, lol. But Caitlin was thrilled so yey. :)

Right so had enough of the park, lol. Came home and decided to get chips for Mark and the kids as I was too shattered to cook. Parked in front of the shop and I started to read a magazine while mark went in. Moments later I get a txt 'Love you, shes in your purse btw' i turn around to find Caitlin had got my pruse out of my bag, opened it, opened a second compartment where I had their nursery money and was posting £10 notes out the window!!!!! Luckily i gott hem all back but shes lucky that lolly wasnt used as a mallet, lol.

Right well thats my day, car boot tomorrow so hopefully some bargains!!!

Well, didn't go too well. lol

Well i got up this morning with a well laid out plan...... that promptly went to hell. lol. Had to go up town and get Camerons hair cut and Caitlin a new coat. First kids had a lie in, which would be great if it didnt make us late. Then I needed to lie down for a while anyway as had spent the night in bed with my son as he was having nightmares (messed up my back) Finally get up town to find the hairdressers closed. Went to get Caitlins coat, shop full of screaming children and angry ,others shouting so promtly walked out and went to my mums for a cup of tea. lol. Oh well, kids had a good time playing and can always try again tomorrow. :)

Finally remembered to take a photo of my desk. :) which is still clean as not used it. lol.

Planning on scrapping later though, so wont stay this way. lol
Also decided that to spur me on on my diet I will post my progress here and shame myself into sticking with it! Well weighed myself on monday and I'm currently..........13 st 4lb! Shamefull! Aim is 10st 7lb so long way to go! Nothing yummy for me for a while. :(
Speaking of yummy, went to see remember me yesterday. Have to say really enjoyed it! Took a while to get going and its def not one for people who like the more 'well behaved' Robert in twilight, but a brill film I thought. One warning though, take your tissues! I was told this before I went and thought 'oh cant be that bad' then bawled my eyes out along with all the other girls in the cinima. Poor Mark was the only male there! lol.

The diet started today!

Well day one of my diet today. :) Starting slimming world. Now I'm cheating a bit as I'm not going to the meetings but my mum (whos on it too) has got me all the books and bits I need so I'm following it the same. I did the same when I followed WW a few years back. Don't see the point paying £5 a week for someone to tell me I'm fat. I know that already! lol.

Also been busy gutting my craft corner. Getting a bit full at the moment. Plan to take photos once camera is charged. :)
Not much else to report after yesterdays big post. :) Mum came round again and played with kids in the garden which they loved.

Nursery for them tomorrow and hopefully going to see 'Remember me' with hubby. Been married 4 years tomorrow. :) Right, better run and get Caitlin off to bed. Night all!

Crop day!

I warn everyone before I start this will be a loooong post. lol. So here we go!
Well first I thought I'd thank everyone on here and uks sending my dd caitlin get well wishes. :) She had a dreadful temp thursday and friday night caused by a throat and ear infection. Thankfully she seems fine now :) Infact she's currently upstairs banging about despite me telling her 4 times to come down! lol. Shes a stubborn little thing. No idea where she gets it from ;-p This was her while she was poorly and I asked her to smile. lol.

Well yesterday the sun was shining and mum had the kids so me and Mark set to work on the garden. :) Must say it's much better now. cut the grass and moved some bits about (its a TINY garden so didnt take long) Got rid of our woodburner which was hard as I loved it but its 4 years old now and not at its best. :( Going to try and get a firepit one instead. :) Kids are loving the new garden. Particually my swing chair. lol

A few girls have been photographing their scrap rooms before and after a big clearout. I'm not lucky enough to have a room but this is my desk before a clearout. :) Clearout is tonight/tomorrow so watch this space for the after picture. lol.

Final thing to tell you all about was my crop today. :) Its run each month (blog http://quirkybootscrop.blogspot.com/ ) and is brill. Theres cakes, tea and scrapping. What more could a girl want. lol. This is what i did this month:

Lo of my son and his cousin Mollie at the fair last year.

Lo of Cameron and Mark reading a book at a playcenter. I love these photos as they're both having such a good time they didn't actually notice me taking the photos.

Lo of Caitlin on a bouncy castle. Hidden journaling reads 'One day we went for a picnic at east carlton park. There was a big safety event on with a huge bouncy castle. However it was so quiet you and Cameron had the castle to yourselves! You were on it for nearly 3 hours. You slept well that night!'

This is the second lo I've done for our disneyland album (only been 2 years, lol) All three show me or Mark holding Cameron. There were another 7 photos like these. In none of them were Cameron and the parent smiling at the same time. lol.

This photo looks a little shiney as theres a 12x12 transparency over the top of the lo. I love this picture as Marks got such a goofy loving smile while looking at the kids.

This was the first picture I took with my new camera at my grans house. One of the few times Cameron managed to say cheese without screwing his whole face up. lol

I'm really pleased with all these Los as they were all done with bits from my scrap boxes. :) Thanks for reading so far! Wont blab on as much tomorrow. lol

New habits. :)

Evening all. Not been about much as been busy sorting the garden/ironing/other fun stuff, lol.
Lats night my mum kindly had the kids so me and Mark could have some time to ourselves (wedding anniversery is tuesday) Was nice as we watched some films on normal volume and got a chinese. :) Not so nice was the fact we both woke up at 7 this morning and couldnt get back to sleep! lol. So Mark ended up finishing the garage while I cut the grass and rearranged the garden. Was a nice day all in all. :)
Tomorrow is my monthly crop and I'm very excited. :) I love sitting and scrapping without being interupted, tea, cakes and lunch cooked for you. what more could you want!
Anyway, onto the 'new habits'. At the start of the year I made my usual resolutions:

1. Learn a new skill
2. Spend less on stash
3. lose weight!
4. Work on the house.
5. Do something different with scrapbooking

While I've stuck quite well to 1 (baking) and 4, the others have gone to pot a bit. Last month I spent nearly £300 on stash so at the start of the month I joined a social group on uks where everyone promises to buy no stash for a month. So far its hard but goign well. I'm quite enjoyign using up my scraps. :) Losing weight hasn't been too bad. I'm being more active and losing weight on my own, btu have decided I want to lose it quicker and have a more structured diet iykwim. So joining slimming world on monday :) Never joined a weight loss thing before so shoudl be interesting! As for doing something different, I vow to enter every competition and bombard magazine with my los untill they publish one. lol. Wish me luck with all that!

Summertime!!!

Well what a lovely day today! Sun shining, blue sky, was great. Went back and forth to the post office a few times as had a few swaps on uks to do. All up to date with those now and hoping to do my CJ toinight. But the weather was so nice decided to take the kids round to my mums for a bit so they could play in the garden. I swear Cameron didn't stop talking form the moment we left untill we got there! 'Whats that mummy? Whats he saying mummy? look theres a bird mummy!' Was so sweet to hear him so excited. lol.

Finally managed to photograph the Lo's I did the other day. two dont have titles yet as tbh I havent thought of any! I'm really unimaginative when it comes to titles so any help would be great. lol.

One of the many los I have of them sleeping. lol. I suppose they did it so rarely I liked to photograph to prove it happened!

Cameron decided to put one of my ribbons around his dummy, I still dont know why.

This one does have a title, lol. Been meaning to scrap these photos for ages. Was when caitlin was only 5 months old, I found a playcenter toy at a car boot that was low enough for her to use while in her bumbo. Best £1 I ever spent! Cameron was NOT allowed to touch it bless him.

Well hubbys out tonight (good tv for me night :) ) Then tomorrow mums havign the kids at her house as its our wedding anniversery on tuesday. We were going to go out to dinner and all that but as the cars broke we're getting a chinese and dvd instead. Yey :)

Hard work never killed anyone. Flipping hurts though!

Still no car. :( Starting to get used to it now though. Does mean everything takes 5 times as long but my waistline is liking all the walkign though. :) Speaking of which I've started doing weights at night so between that, walking and the usual housework/kiddies don't have a spare moment these days! Strange thing is I'm much happier for it. :) Getting up in the morning and makign a to-do list is helping as I'm much more focused and get more done. All in all its all good here. :)
Hopefully have something more interesting to blog tomorrow. lol

Nice day :)

Evening all. :) Hope everyones had a great bank holiday. Had quite a nice day here all things considered. :) Went to a local car boot sale this morning. was RUBBISH! About 5 stalls there, lol. But the kids played on a big wooden train that was there so they had fun, and we got a dolls cot/swing/playmat for caitlin which she adores, so worth going. As we only stayed for about 15 minutes we decided to go to my mums for breakfast so picked up some rolls and bacon and headed there. Stayed for a bit, then came home and read magazines while the kids played. All in all a good day! lol.
One thing I have been doing today is lookign at other blogs. There are some amazing ones out there! Put my little one to shame, not that thats hard. lol. One I found was http://donaldas.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html which has the most amazing flowers on it! Remind me of prima but smaller, and cheaper. lol. Right daughter is demadnign barney on the tv. managed to do some scrapping yesterday and hoping to do more tonight. Trying to make a dent in my huge pile of papers!

Happy Easter!

Afternoon everyone. :) Hope everyones having a good easter. I've been in productive mode today, baking up a storm (had to send poor hubby round the shops for more butter, lol) and cleaning the floors. Now planning to relax and scrap, children allowing, lol.

As I mentioned on a previous post I recived a cake decorating book the other day. Well I decided to give one of them a go yesterday and made a chocolate cake with chocolate roses. After using paper for so long it was a lot easier than I expected and this is the result. :)

I admit I'm quite pleased with it. :) My buttercream icing leaves a lot to be desired but good for a first attempt.

Wasn't much to do today as the weather was dreadful. :) Normally I'm not happy about that but as we don't have the car again I was gutted we would miss out, but if it's raining we're not missing anything. lol. Hoping for nice weather tomorrow as theres a big easter thing near our house. Anyway for today I decided to do some baking with the kids as well as doing some more myself. :) Used a fairy cake kit which I don't really like but came with sugarpaper pictures of barney. Which pleased my dd no end. :) They had a great time helping me mix it up, then icing it and stickign the pictures on. This is the finished result.

This is the kids busy at work. :)

As for grown up baking I decided to make some double chocolate chip cookies and jam tarts. Marks been snacking lots latly and since hes ment to be gaining weight thought this might help. Lol. Right, kids all fed and torturing hubby. going to take some me time I think. :) Hope everyones havign a great day.