Lost - my mojo

Seriously its gone on holiday. I haven't had the desire to scrap anything n ages. :( Don't think it helps that my desk looks like a bomb site. lol. I keep tidying it but I've fallen into the typical crafters pitfall of buying too much and not having the time to use it or space to put it in. As I result I keep tidying but as most of the stuff doesn't really have a place to live it gets messy way too quickly. Anybody have any advice for this?! lol.
Suppose I really should start trying to use some of it up. To that end I've joined some swaps on Uks. :) I love the Christmas swaps but usually only join the stash swaps, this year I've jumped out of my comfort zone a little and joined some crafting swaps too. One of which was a 'felt embellishment' swap. We had to make 10 felt Christmas themed embellishments which will then be sent to the host who will split them up and send them back. I made these snowflakes.

Did plan to do stitching etc on them but when I did it on one it looked too busy, so decided to keep it simple and sparkly :) So from this I managed to use up a bottle of stickles, some sheets of felt and some bling. Not loads but its a start! lol. And at least I'm making something. Hopefully will attempt a layout tomorrow. If I can get to my desk that is!

Catching up

Well as predicted its been a busy but fun few days. :) Monday we went to sherwood forest with the kids. They had a great time naming all the different animals and insects. Cameron was really interested in the different trees having different leaves and how they grew from seeds etc. Caitlin just wanted to run and climb. lol.
This is Mark and Cameorn in front of the oldest Oak tree in the uk. Think it was around 1,100 years old.

Caitlin climbing. lol

Hiding n the den.

PLaying in the park. Love the happy faces. :)

Tuesday Cameron had his immunisations. Was really worried how he'd react but he was fine! Didnt bat an eyelid. Very proud mummy. :) Speaking of proud he now knows his 3 times table and can count to 120. He seriously doesnt take after me with maths!!
Wednesday I had my neices for the day, which was nice as I cant remember the last time they had a chance to play with my two, with all the trouble going on with my sister. Makes me sad when they ask to visit and I say we can't. Camerons also been asking about her ex Paul, how on earth do you explain all that to a 4 year old. :( If I'm honest I just make excuses. Hes such a sensitive kid, was really upset when we watched Mrs Doubtfire and the dad moved out. Took a lot of reassurance that his Daddy wasn't going anywhere to calm him down.
On a happy note its been great having him home this week. We've been doing puzzles, reading books, watching films, just relaxing together. :) Except yesterday, lol, I woke up and felt So ill! Really sick and dizzy, so I spent most of the day asleep. Did hear lots of laughing from downstairs though so kids were enjoying time with daddy.
Well today Caitlins at nursery, and Marks taking Cameron to the childrens center so I plan on catching up with the housework that wasn't done yesterday, lol. Tomorrow I've promised the kids we'll do a big baking session and Sunday is the dads group halloween party so got to get all caught up!

Half term!

Camerons first half term since starting school. :) Looking forward to spending some time with just him when Caitlins at nursery. Lots of fun things planned. We're going on a trip to Sherwood forest tomorrow with Sure start, park Tuesday, Halloween party wednesday, Thursday dr (bleh) then Friday another party. :) Think poor Camerons going to be looking forward to school for a break!
ok so old layouts but still done them. lol. When my crop was canceled I'd already packed my stuff to took it upstairs to try and do some there (didnt work too well. lol) but did manage a couple. :) This one is nicer in real life, not so busy. :) But love these papers and these alphas.

Cute little apple again. lol

More Disneyland ones. Caitlin was going through a phase of not wanting her photo talen so was surprised when she actually asked for these ones lol.

Thought the sticker was pretty fitting :)

Last one, really special photos as this was our last big family outing before it all went tits up with my sister. lol Love Evies happy face :)

Well housewok is pretty much done (woop woop) and have plenty of leftovers from last nights dinner to make chicken pie so nice chilling afternoon I think. :) Loads of films on tv so kids will be happy. Got to be careful what we put on though at the moment, Camerons got a bit of a cold which seems to be making him really sensitive. Had lots of tears yesterday when Babe lost his Mummy and when Stitch was sick. Poor kid takes after me. I still cry at the disneyland ad where all the kids are excited. lol

hallway and proud mummy.

Ok so doing up the hallway and a little outhouse type room might not seem a big deal but I'm so thrilled!!! Our hallway has always looked horrible since we moved in, and since its the first room you see I was always embarrassed when anyone came round for the first time. Obviously bigger rooms, like the livingroom and bedrooms needed to be done first so its taken a while to get around to it but so glad its done now. :)
Love the colour of the door and the shoe cupboard. Much neater than just the shoe rack!

As well as the hallway we sorted the little breeze block room we had too. Its really tiny so couldn't be used for much, think it used to have the boiler in until it was moved upstairs. In a house as tiny as ours though any space can be used! lol. I didn't like how messy the coats looked in the hallway so decided to put them in here. Love this old looking coat hook I found in TK maxx. :)

As our kitchen is tiny, and as this room is always freezing we also decided to make it into a mini larder. So shelves have gone up for jars and theres a drawer set below which holds lots of tins and dried foods like pasta and rice. Also ordered a spice rack for the back of the door but thats not come yet. :)

Also a very proud Mummy. :) Camerons school photos came back yesterday. The one of him on his own isn't great, hes got his 'Yeah Im smiling now take the picture!' face on, but the photo of the two of them is beautiful!!! can't wait to get copies. Will obviously still get the photo of him on his own but getting lots of the one of the two of them. :) Also had Camerons first parents evening last night. Teacher is very pleased with his progress. Though he's easily distracted he plays well, works well and has made a good start to the school year. :) Happy mummy. :)

Hall is finished. :)

So where have I been this week? One of the following places:
- In the hallway with a paintbrush in my hand
- In the bedroom wrapping Christmas gifts
- at the tip dumping rubbish from the garage
- On the computer ebaying, or posting stuff sold.
So all in all it's been a busy week! But my hall is all done and I love it, and the garage is a heck of a lot neater. :) So back to boring housework now! lol. I have managed to do some scrapping the past couple nights though. I haven't done any in ages and it always amazes me how much I enjoy it when I start again after a break. Also started getting excited about my retreat next month. Getting close now!
ON the note of Sarahs cards I received my monthly kit on saturday. much earlier than I expected as its not usually until around the 20th so was a nice surprise. :) Was a beautiful kit, the papers were from Jillibean Soup - Apple Cheddar Soup, which was funny as I usually hate Jillibean soup papers. lol. But I think that's the best thing about getting these kits, using stuff you wouldn't normally buy yourself.
This was the first layout I did, its of caitlin last september at the farm. It always amazes me how grown up she now looks compared to old photos. I almost forget how big she's getting until I look back so wanted a layout to reflect how I see all these photos and layouts as little parts of her childhood I've managed to capture.

Love these little trees and thought the measuring tape was ideal for this layout.

Another one from the farm, but both kids this time. Different style of layout than I usually do as I'm not often fond of one busy area then lots of white space. But like this one. :)

Still using up the bling. lol. Amazingly easy to make my own swirls and things I've found. Just use my bazzil n stich templates. :)

Last layout for now. :) More summery than Autumn but think the papers still work.

Well as well as house stuff been doing some crafty bits with Caitlin. :) She's becoming much more independent in her play now which is great as rather than being glued to me all the time, she will happily play by herself, meaning I can get things done quicker and spend more quality time with her. :) On Saturday we decided to roll the rug up, get a huge sheet of paper and go mad with pint and stickers. :)

We did start off using paintbrushes but that then went to hand prints which went to footprints. lol. Baths all round afterwards!!!

Well will take pictures of my hall to blog tomorrow. Quieter week this week so hope to be about more. lol

Wheres the weekend gone?!

Seem to be losing days a lot recently. lol. Like Mark says, rather than spending a day doing one big job, like the ironing, or painting or something, we're doing lots of little things here and there which makes the time go SO quickly! I like it though as I like seeing the difference in the house.
Caitlin did stay at my mums on Friday, which was great as Cameron had some 'boys time' with daddy, also known as playing computer games and eating junk food. While I hid in the bedroom with a pile of magazines and the tv on rom-coms. lol.
Saturday went a bit different than planned. lol. I was supposed to be going to my crop, was all packed, then received a panicked phone call from the woman who runs it. She'd forgot she'd canceled the hall that month and had just turned up to find it being used. Bless her, these things happen. So ended up doing a few layouts at home. Nowhere near as productive as I would have been but did a few :)
Also received a parcel. :) As I've said before, we had a bit of money leftover after paying for hall etc, so Mark got a few more models, and I put in an order to Sarahs cards. :)

Love these alphas.

Perfect for disney layouts I'm thinking. :)

Today we've been painting the hall in preparation for Thursday. Was a bit of a mess as was just planning to re-pain the hall the same colour as it was to freshen it up a bit, however only had a little bit of paint left. Did however have half a tub of the kitchen paint left (both green just different shades) so ended up mixing both together and using that. lol. Got the woodwork and the ceiling to do during the week. Hate painting woodwork but got to be done. Will look great when finished. :)

Layouts and christmas box swap

God yesterday went so quickly! Did school/nursery run, housework, town, visits to gran, dinner, bath bed for kids then listing on ebay and before I knew it was bedtime for me! So didn't manage any scrapping but still have some from the other night to share. Feel like my mojo is coming back a bit. Still using up the American crafts papers. lol.
When Cailtin moved up groups at nursery they gave me some photos they had taken from when she first started. While they were not exactly the best photos, on normal paper and ripped in parts, I really wanted to scrap them as it shows the part of her life where she first started learning new things and becoming independent outside the family iywkim.
This one is a photo of her doing a jigsaw. I love the concentration on her face. :)

Used one of my new wooden butterflies. So cute and great to tie in the wooden jigsaw in the photo.

Also altered one of my new tags

More random photos from nursery.

How cute is this Owl? Thought with school pictures a wise old owl would fit well.

Another tag I've changed a bit, love how versatile these are. :)

Well a while ago I also received my Christmas present box swap. The idea behind this one was to make a simple origami box, then fill it with lots of yummmy stash and send it to your swapee. I was thrilled with mine. :) Really stuffed with lots of great bits,

Love these little felt embellishments. And you might recognise the stamp from above. lol

Boring day today. I have training for a course I'm doing on how to speak to kids about puberty. Not enjoying it so far as I'm a last minute add-on as someone else dropped out, and while everyone else has children who are teenagers mine are still only babies. Makes it interesting when I fill out worksheets asking 'what do you do when your child asks about changes in their bodies' Well besides cameron moaning about girls having boobs and he wont, which was fixed by Daddy pointing out Cameron can pee standing up and girls cant, they dont really ask much! but we'll see how things go. lol. Caitlins hopefully staying at my mums tonight. She hasn't in a while as she's been super clingy but seems to be improving on that front and wants to stay. Really hope she does as not only will it be good for her, but it means I can leave the boys to a computer game downstairs while I hide in the bedroom ironing and wrapping christmas gifts. lol

Stash shopping :)

Well yesterday was SO busy but really pleased at how much I got done. :) Payments for lots of the stuff we sold came in so I paid some bills and ordered our hall flooring. :) Very excited about that. :) Had a bit of a bad spell to which is funny now but not at the time! lol. I woke up yesterday with a pounding headache, so took some painkillers. However we were so busy I hadn't eaten so by the time I got to Camerons school to pick him up I was feeling like I was about to pass out! lol. had to txt Mark to come walk with us, Cameron was very confused as to why we had to wait for Daddy to pick us up when Mummy was already there. lol Note to self, taking painkillers on a very empty stomach isn't a good idea.
As well as paying bills etc with our sale money, there was a little left over so me and Mark split it to buy ourselves something. So I headed right to colemans and bought this little lot, lol.

Was so impressed as they had a clearance sale on a lot of stuff so all this was only £22!! Caitlins going through a phase of loving Hello Kitty at the moment so can see this die being used a lot. lol. I think my favourite buy were these wooden shapes though. Theres loads of them and was only £1.99 for the box. :) Bargain.

Right got to get a bath before rushing out so got to go! Hope everyones enjoying the more autumny weather. I've got a stew cooking in my slow cooker as we speak. lol

Gravy swap.

One of the great things on UK scrappers is the swaps we do. :) These can be things people make, or just general stash swaps. At Christmas theres always loads of fun swaps, one being the Christmas gravy swap.
In this you have to get an empty gravy pot, decorate it and fill it with stash, then swap with someone else. I love it as I get to shop, plus some of the bits of stash I might not use someone else might so its nice to swap that way too. :)
This is the gravy pot I received. :) How cute is that stamp!

And I LOVE these, little chipboard glittered reindeer's and Christmas trees. :) Can see these being all used up soon!

Look, I scrapped! Sat watching tv last night and put a couple together. Love this one of us all at Disneyland. The photos are not the best but it's not very easy to get 3 kids to look at the camera and smile, particularly when they just want to go play! lol

Well lots to do today so better run.Hope every ones enjoying the sunny weather, apparently not going to last long now. :(

Seriously? It's October?!

Yesterday we went to the car boot sale and then for a picnic. Not something I expected to be doing in October! lol. Loving the winter sun! Caitlin made me laugh though:
Caitlin - Why are the rides not open mummy?
Me - Because its nearly winter love
Caitlin - (looking confused) but its not snowing its sunny!
Few hours pass....
Caitlin - I know why its sunny Mummy! Tinkerbell hasn't brought the snow yet!
So there we go guys, nothing to do with wind from Turkey or climate change, Tinkerbell's just decided to stay a little longer :)

She is so my daughter. She wanted to climb on the climbing frame but Mark wouldn't let her as she was too small. Full on argument began with Caitlin insisting she can do it. 'Go on then' Mark challenged. Big mistake lol, my determined little miss forced herself up and managed it. lol. Hope Mark learned from that!

Was amazed this week at how much craft stuff was at the car boot! you usually find some bits few are far between but one stall had sizzix dies, scrapbooking books the lot! I didn't like any of the dies but did buy these bits. :) £4 for the lot which I was pleased with as the felt is glittery and the little box is great storage. :) I also LOVE this bag! Ok it wasn't a scrapbooking bag its from boots so I think it originally had toiletries in it, but its got lots of little pouches inside so great for crops. And how cute is it!

Look at the zip, love it. :)

Well lots of housework to do today, and errands to run tomorrow. Also have a meeting with social worker as sisters finally been assigned a worker rather than an assessment worker. Joy, lol. Raised enough money to have my hall done though so will ordering that tomorrow. Yey!