Last layouts :) For now lol

Well sports day yesterday went well. :) Had just sat down when the rain started lol, but the kids went on anyway :) Was funny as the poor teachers kept having to tell them not to run too fast as the grass was wet and they slipped, but it being a race don't think anybody listened. lol. All the kids were laughing and having fun though and there were no tears from the teams that didnt win so a nice afternoon really :)
Camerons team sadly didnt win, but my mum had bought him a large chocolate medal anyway so don't think he was too bothered!

Well have the last two layouts to show from the ATDML cyber crop :) There are a few I haven't done yet but didn't get a chance last night and as we're going away Friday will wait and see if I get time tomorrow :) This was a challenge to use a sketch. It's hard to photograph but I actually did this on 12x12 acetate, so it had a clear background. Love all the cute little animals I cut out :) Photos are from a trip Mark and Caitlin went on with pen green. It was all about teaching the kids about nature and caitlin adored her binoculors. Tired her out too :)

This was for another challenge to do stamping. I'm not a big stamping person but did the bubbles in blue paint stamped with a cup, lol. So hope this counts. :)

Close up of the bubbles.

Well not much done today, work and ironing this morning, dinners in the oven and got more cleaning to do this afternoon. Like to get it all done before we go anywhere iykwim.

Sports day!

I think Camerons just a little bit excited it's sports day, lol, think he's told us about 30 times this morning 'It's my sports day today!' :) Thank goodness woke up to beautiful sunny weather so keeping everything crossed it holds out :)
Still have layouts to share form the ATDML cyber crop lol. This was a class by dawn Evans, this was an old photo of Caitlin wearing one of my jumpers. Doesn't she look cute!

This class was by Katherine Sutton. After I'd stuck all the paper down it looked a bit undefined around the edges of the squares, so I put the twine around it to give it a bit of texture too.

Bit of a story here, the story behind the photo is that when we got our cat Bella, my mum came round and Bella kept sitting on her head. My mum is NOT an animal fan so while she's laughing in the photo she is not in a good mood at all, lol. Hence the title 'No cat!' as that's what my mum kept saying. Anyway, yesterday, after I'd spent ages doing the layout, sticking on the twine and everything it was time for Bellas bath. Which obviously she hated. So she has the bath, I dry her best I can with her trying to get away, then come downstairs to find her sitting on my layout which is drying on the desk!!! She NEVER sits on the desk! I think the little beggar knew exactly what she was doing and it was payback for the bath.

Still working on a few classes and challenges. :) Love how there's a really long deadline so can spend a bit of time of them rather than rushing. :) Not that I'll get time this afternoon, will be too busy cheering on my little man! :)

More scrapping :)

Well along with housework I didnt get quite as much done yesterday as the day before but still a bit :) This was a class by Jane Hewitt which is such a great way to do hidden journaling :) Theres actually 4 layers of card under the photo to hide 4 different journaling cards.

So they can be pulled out like this :) I did mine all about what caitlin is like at age 4.

One challenge was to make most of your page about journaling. This is a layout I've been deciding to do or not for a while so took this as a sign it was time to make it :) When I was pregnant with Caitlin she was actually one of twins, but I lost the other very early on. I'm a big believer in scrapping the good times as well as the bad but never knew how to go about this one, so decided to use some pretty ledger style paper, a simple photo and lots of jornaling about how though I lost the twin, it made me even more grateful for the amazing children I do have :)

I picked this photo of the two of them as I love how close they look in it :)

This was a class by Debbie Jewell. Love the colours and how bright this one is. Plus used lots of scraps :)

Well plenty for now I think :) Did do a couple more and hope to finish some more tonight but will see, kids were up at 4:45 this morning so everyones a bit tired! lol. Camerons particually exsausted as he had a sponsered dance at his school today. Was very cute to see him 'breakdancing' (read 'spinning around on the floor') with his friends. fx if the weathers good its his sports day tomorrow! Lot of pictures there I'm thinking :)

Scrapping and getting on top of things :)

Well this week has been rubbish, seriously a low point in my life. BUT its over and I refuse to let it get me down, so forgetting about that I took part in the ATDML cyber crop. :) I'm really enjoying it so far and done some layouts I'm really pleased with. The first was a class by Mel Hand. I only decided to take part in the crop at the last minute so didnt have any kits, but its nice making more of a dent in the stuff I already have lol.
This is called 'Oh Brother!' When we were out to dinner a while ago Cameron decided he wanted to take a photo of me and Caitlin, but was taking him so long to work the camera Caitlin let out a huge sigh and put her head in her hands, just as he took the photo, lol.

This was a challenge to use bunting. This is an old photo from a few birthdays ago, both kids are covered in ice cream so loved the banner at the bottom. Did search everywhere for a felt ice cream embellishment I KNOW I have somewhere but still cant find the bleeding thing.

Close up of bunting. Thought it was a bit plain on its own so added the thickers to spell Yum. :)

The next class I did was by karen Moss. There was journalling and other bits on hers but I love how this is with more white space.

The class included a template to print out for the hearts which is probably more work than I would usually be bothered doing but I love this layout :)

More classes and challenges to do today :) Have to say kids have been angels this weekend. I swear sometimes they know Mummy needs a bit of quiet and respond to it, so peace, cuddles and a cybercrop. Just what I needed this weekend :)

My week in pictures :)

In all honesty its been a pretty boring week, lol. One of the main reasons I havent blogged much, but here we go anyway :)
Saturday - Saturday was a, well interesting day. Weather was rubbish, kids were moody and house was a mess. As soon as I cleaned one room they'd trashed the next! So Saturday night this was certinly called for :) Yummy Martini and lemonade :)

Sunday we woke up and there was this strange yellow thing in the sky. Took us a while to work out it was the sun! Thought we'd make the most of it so packed a picnic and went to the park. :) To make a day of it we went out to dinner afterwards :) There was a bit of a wait so I thought the kids how to make houses from the coasters. Cameron, like always, took it very seriously lol.

Monday was the football! Cameron was so excited about watching his first football game with daddy and insisted they both wear their football shirts. I made hot dogs and doughnuts and they really enjoyed it. :) I was surprised that Cameron actually watched the whole thing, I thought he'd get bored but he loved it. Was funny watching him shout at the tv along with Mark, he even shouted at the ref for 'telling off the blue man, he knocked down the white man and that's cheating!'

Tuesday i convinced Mark to add this to our virgin package, :) We had it before but got rid of it to save money but tbh I missed it. Not just the films but the kids are a bit old for playhouse disney now, but too young for 'wizards of wavery place' and all the bits on the general disney channel. So 'Lilo and stitch' the series and all that are perfect for them. :) Plus more Disney films for me/them. lol.

Wednesday i usually work but as the Queen was coming to visit most of the roads in our town was shut off so stayed home. Made the most of the time though doing housework and putting photos in my new frame for the wall. :)

Thursday, keeping up with the whole improving the living room idea I decided to repaint the banister. Its one of those things where you dont realise how shabby it looks until you repaint it iykwim. Poor caitlin though, I said to her it was wet so dont touch it, what does she do? Put her hand right on it and promptly start screaming! I told her she wasn't in trouble, it wouldnt hurt her etc but she didnt calm down until I washed it off. lol.

Frida, well today is going to be mainly about ironing and sorting out the kids toys (again). Now they have lego and dolls houses and all this stuff with tiny bits it drives me mad finding them everywhere. SO need to sort it out every now and again and put it back where it belongs. But thats gonna be a dull photo so thought I'd share a layout I finished last night :)

Right well better get started. Caitlins watching tv so good time to start it!

Scrapping :)

Yey I've actually scrapped :) None of them have titles yet though so thought I'd share some older ones I finally finished last night too, lol. They just needed journalling really but I have a tendency to abandon journalling and titles and start another layout istead.
This was one I did to use up lots of leftover letters. It was the first sheet of letters cameron brought home from school so thought it would be nice to keep :)

I had originally planned to put more on this layout but I really liked it with all the white space, few sprits of blue mist and I thought it was done. :) Love this photo of Caitlin, was at Peppa pig world in the water area which she loved. I love how happy she looks running away from the fountains.

Bit of blue misting to make the background a little less plain. :)

Last one, using up the last scraps from an old kit. While we were in the queue to see Santa a couple of years ago Mark decided to teach Caitlin to wink to keep her occupied, they all found it hilarious for some reason lol.

So quite a productive night last night :) Finished these and a few more and did 3 new ones. I think the problem with my mojo was that I was trying to force myself to finish a kit before I started a new one, but I'd get bored of the kit and not want to go back to it. However I've seriously started to run out of paper! Which is good and bad at the same time, lol, so adopting a more 'use what I want to use' approach. :)

The sun was out!

Well yesterday was the last day of the kids holidays and luckily the sun made an apperance :) We made the most of it and packed a picnic for East Carlton park. The kids had a great time and I got some good photos too :) We all love the park because theres a playground area and also huge woods for the kids to run around and get lost in, :) With us obviously lol. Cameron loves being the leader and showing everyone where to go lol.



But back to normal today :) Cameron was quite happy to get back to school. Seemed quite excited about the rain as apprently they watch a film during indoor play so fingers crossed it continues. Doing my grass the world of good too :) Planning on housework today, then making hot dogs and chips for dinner. Marks all excited because its englands first euro 2012 match tonight and Cameron wants to watch :) Probably wont last until half time but its nice they can share it for a bit. Think I might bribe caitlin with sweets and a dvd in her room so I can watch too! lol

my week in pictures

Look at me, managed it two weeks in a row lol. Don't think I'd do it without my phone camera though.
Saturday was very relaxing :) Didnt really do much, just pottered about doing housework and they kids played at home. They also played computer games with Mark which I'm not thrilled at but there you go, lol.

Sunday was all about Lego! As I said in my other post I spent the whole day sorting out Camerons unplayed with lego to sell and he suddenly decides he loves it. Typical. lol

Monday was another relaxing day. Actually managed to do some scrapping in the daytime too :)

Tuesday was a nice day :) Thought I'd better get the kids out after not doing much so took them to a friends house in the morning. She's recently moved home so went to see her new house which was really nice :) Cameron goes to school with her daughter so the kids had a great time playing too :) In the afternoon we went to my mums house and baked jam tarts. Well some were jam tarts, some had chocolate spread, some had kiwi, some weren't even tarts they were just rolls of pastry the kids had done. lol. But all good fun :)

Wednesday was a loooooong day. Caitlin hates having her hair tied up in any way, which is annoying as her hair tangles easily and then she cries when its brushed (she refuses to see the connection) On wednesday her hair seemed to take on a life of its own and decided to get tangled onto items as well! She got it caught on the washing basket, Marks shirt, and then when I was relaxing in the bath she comes up crying. holding this car which had attached itself to her hair *sigh* To be honest this isnt new, lol, last year I heard a tearing sound, turned around to see caitlin holding one of Camerons trains with a big chunk of her hair attached to the wheel She actually jad a bald spot but didnt seem to hurt her!

Thursday was the best day of the week! Like most other people I often have a battle in my head of what I want to do, and what I should do. I've always wanted to take the kids to Florida. However at 6k its just way out of our price range, :( I did all the reserch I could trying to find a way but no chance. So, as a compromise between my head and heart (and with mark too lol) we will now be spending the kids birthdays next year here! For those of you who dont recognise this picture its hotel cheyane in disneyland paris :) OK we really cant afford it but to hell with it I'll figure it out later Lol.

Friday was all about his. My poorly baby girl. In all honesty I feel like hell myself but you know what its like kids come first. Glad mark was feeling ok today though and could help out. Wouldnt have managed if he was having a bad day.

Tomorrow we have a plumber apprently coming to give us a quote to do the bathroom (cant afford that either but hey ho lol) and going to sort out a few bits to sell too :) Hmmm wonder if those two things are related. lol

its still half term

Remind me never to book a holiday just before half term again! lol. The kids had just started getting back into a routine and calming down and then half term starts *sigh* Cameron literally ran into a wall yesterday lol. Caitlins back at nursery this morning though so just the one child to deal with and Marks keeping him occupied by playing Mario, lol.
Just waiting for a phonecall and getting very tense (I don't DO waiting!!) but more on that tomorrow :)
I did manage some scrapping the other day, to be honest reading more than scrapping lately. Think with the kids home I've no energy to scrap by the end of the day lol.

Ok being honest I've no idea what I'm putting down on here while waiting for the call back (its not bad news dont worry) so will say bye now! lol

Bank holiday, doing nothing lol

Well today is bank holiday and we are doing.......nothing lol. My facebook is full of people having parties, going away etc but my plans for today are sorting washing and maybe taking the kids for a walk. Sounds dull but it's actually what the kids picked. :) Think they've had enough action with the holiday and all the activities at school last week.
Anyway yesterday I decided to sort out Camerons room a bit, he has toys in there that actually have dust on they're so neglected so wanted to get rid of a few to make some more room. One bit thing was a huge box of Duplo we got at a car boot about a year ago, was a good buy as was a RUB box filled with cars/Thomas duplo for £5. In all honesty I've never actually built up the individual sets which in retrospect is probably why Camerons never bothered with it. So with the plan to sell them I spent ALL day yesterday figuring out what sets were in there, finding pictures of them online, sorting out the bits, building them and photographing them. What happens? Cameron comes in 'Oh those are SO cool Mummy! Can I keep them? I love them!' *sigh* So we made a deal, I got to tidy his room and put some toys in the garage (4 large boxes worth!) he wasn't allowed to see what I'd removed and if he asked for it between now and Christmas he could keep it, otherwise I'm selling it. :) Was impressed with all the duplo though, £5 for a RUB box and what turned out to be over £100 worth of sets. lol.
Well it's been a while since I've done any scrapping and I really need to get back into it. Don't want the kits and papers to build up again! lol.
These are OLD photos of Caitlin and my Gran, was trying to get a nice photo of the two of them but Caitlin was in a giggle mood and would not stay still, lol.

These little tags were ideal for these photos :)

This photo was taken by Mark on his phone last summer. Caitlin had ice cream all over her mouth so not the most dignified of pictures, lol.

Love these little sentiments, thought the 'show me your smile' one went with the picture very well. lol

Well hopefully will be able to do some more tonight, or maybe even this afternoon if the kids are busy enough :)

My week in photos

I've often seen this on other blogs but never remembered to do it myself, but this week somehow I managed! lol. So this was my week, :) Saturday we got back from Turkey so unfortunatly was all about this. Washing and ironing, bah, never been so glad for sun though as ment I was able to wash and dry 6 loads in one day!

Sunday we were all a bit more refreshed and on top of the washing so I sorted out the stuff we'd bought while away. :) To be honest we didnt get that much, few bits to go on the walls in the garden and some clothes from the market. Oh and 2 handbags :) This was Caitlins souvenir she picked (Camerons was a truck, lol) she loves it because when she swishes the skirt the metal bits all make a tinkle noise.

Monday and back to school and nursery! I think Cameron was quite happy to go back to be honest to tell everyone about his holiday. It didnt last he was crying this morning saying he didnt want to go lol.

Tuesday was Marks 35th birthday, since we'd just come back from turkey we were pretty skint so a quiet night in was on the cards lol. He got the new sherlock holmes dvd so we just stayed in and watched that :)

Wednesday was my 'work' day, the mum I work with is Italian and she kindly gave some cakes to the kids. As you can see Caitlin enjoyed hers. :)

Thursday was garden/garage work. Granted it would have been a better idea to do it earlier in the week when it was sunnier but live and learn lol. Front garden is all full of flowers again now :)

Today! Well this morning we have a little visitor, lol. My sister has a meeting so we're babysitting Lillie. Tonight Camerons at my mum and Marks out so some girly time needed I think :)

Hope everyones looking forward to the long weekend. We're doing absolutly nothing, lol.