Party time

Yesterday was Cams birthday, but today was his party :) We had rented our local cinema so he and some friends could play computer games on the HUGE screen. Tried to get a photo but this was the best I could do.

Needless to say they had a great time :) The noise 4 kids can make amazed me!
After the cinema they all came back to mine for some games, food and cake. Cameron had requested a 'eye of cathulu' cake, think I did ok :)

Cameron was pleased so that's the main thing. I'm always pleased with myself when they request random things for their parties and I manage to pull it off lol.

We played pin the mustache on Mario, hunt for Yoshi eggs and also posed in a giant Game boy to get photos for party bags. Kids loved it :)

So one party down! Just have Caitlins next week and that's it done for another year. :)
With all the party talk it seemed fitting to share this layout of Scamp at my 30th birthday.

As you can see the hat didn't stay on too long!

7 & happy, 9 and happy :)

Today is my baby boys birthday :) 9 years old, where did that go!!!???
We're having his party tomorrow but had my Mum, Dad and everyone round tonight to give gifts and have dinner. Cameron mainly got computer games, sweets and biscuits lol.

I asked him later what his fave gift was, 'food!' was the reply. So glad I spent £100 on gifts *rolls eyes*

With it being Cams birthday I thought I'd share this layout. I took this photo in Spain a couple of years ago.

Journaling reads:
There you are, t-shirt on inside out and backwards, shorts too small but 'cool because Mario is on them' hat which goes with nothing but 'looks like Daddys'
Dressing Caitlin is a form of artwork, everything co-ordinating and matching. You dress for you. I love that.

Be your beautiful self

Today is a big and busy day :)
Typically Marks in bed with a migrane :(
This means I have about a million things to do while being a quiet as humanly possible. Not too difficuilt luckily but hoovering will be taking a back seat until tomorrow. Ugh.
Well the reason I'm so busy is 3 things.
1 - Camerons birthday tomorrow :)
2 - Camerons party Saturday :)
3 - Civil war at the cinema tonight!!!!
We're supposed to be going to dinner too but can't see that happening now.
Pretty much finished all the party prep though :) I'm thrilled with the party bags I've done. This is what is in each one.

Theres a Pokemon Mew teddy, a pull back mario car, fake mustache, star wars erasers, fruit ninja shooter, water gun, mario block with chocolate coins and a creeper pot with sweets. Camerons seen it and was really excited so feeling pleased with myself.
Look how cute they fit into the little bags! I'm making a large Gameboy cut out so the kids can pretend to be in the game, I'll take a photo and put each one on the bags so they know whos is whos.

Ignore the huge pile of layouts that need putting away in the background :p
Speaking of layouts I must admit this is one of my faves I've done in a while. A friend on the like for ever group was kind enough to cut me some 12x12 papers on her machine and send them to me. I love how easy it is to make complicated looking layouts with these!

I didn't want to cover up the diecut so limited the photo and embellishments to the bottom corner. This little 'be your beautiful self' cut out was perfect for a title :)

Right, off to try and cross a few things off the list :)

The day after tomorrow

It's almost May isn't it? I'm sure it is but the weather seems to disagree. I took Scamp on a walk tonight and got in just as the sky went dark, thunder and lighting started and then serious hail started to fall.
Caitlin was a little scared at first but Scamp decided to watch with her which always makes her feel better :)

This was 5 minutes after the first photo was taken!

As if that wasn't enough drama, we woke up in the middle of the night to Scamp crying. Turns out he'd fell down the side of the bed and got stuck. Thank god he's not a wild dog because I'm pretty sure he'd be dead in a day.

So weather and dog drama aside, this is another layout from The Little Things kit. I can't take credit for this one as I scraplifted it from another subscriber Pol Prince.
We got a pack of beautiful rub ons and a lot of them are used here. I must admit I'm enjoying using things up rather than just hoarding them :)

I have opened another kit from my collection and managed a couple of layouts form that, but I may just put it away and pull out the new Like forever kit. :) All the layouts the other subs are posting are very inspiring!

Rant post

So today sucked. It started off a bit bad, car wouldn't start as battery was dead but my Dad gave me a jump start and it worked fine. Drove to a resource center a few towns away, found out it had moved so drove about for a while until we found it lol.
For those of you who don't know a resource center in our area is basically a place where you pay to join, then pay each time you go, BUT its full of papers, fabric, bits and bobs which have been donated by business' and you can help yourself.
Its great for crafters and I visit whenever I'm throwing the kids a party as it's a million times cheaper than buying huge sheets of paper for decorations etc.
So we filled the boot, car started fine and we drove home :)
Couple of hours later I got back in the car to drive to town and nope, dead again. Needs a new battery.
Now I'm ok with drama, having a sister like mine and Mark with various health issues and other situations means I have broad sholders as they say. I can deal with a lot. Every now and again though I get pushed over the edge. Usually something random that does it, last time Asda was out of stock of the pizza I want and I sat in the aisle and cried. This time it was the car. No crying this time. I locked the car doors, lay down in the seat and refused to come out.
As you do.
Sat there scrolling Pinterest for 3 hours until I HAD to go and get the kids from school. Still ignoring the whole situation, whenever my Dad or Mark mentions the car I leave the room or sing 'let it go' lol. I've no idea why! I know it's nuts, but I just don't want to know lol. Sure I'll calm down later. :)
So in my weird mental funk I haven't managed to photograph my new kit, so here's another from the old kit :)
I've scrapped a lot of photos from Spain with this kit as it was very bright and summery with lots of greens, this picture I actually took for the Summer scavenger hunt last year for 'waterfall'. We were at seaworld and the kids were eating their 3rd ice cream when we came across it. :)

I loved the flowery paper at the bottom but it was SO busy I thought a little goes a long way, I love the boarder it makes here. :)
So theres another layout blogged, fingers crossed for a simpler day tomorrow!

You and me, # techaddicts

Today is another one of those days that just raced by. I got a lot of planning done, and lists made, but not much actually finished iykwim.
Have lots to do tomorrow so hopefully more productive.
Have done a couple of layouts too with a new kit. My new Like for ever kit came too but not really looked at it yet, will share that tomorrow :)
This is still one from the old kit. The photo is of the kids on Caitlins birthday last year when she got a Hudl. She was thrilled and her and Cam spent the rest of the morning with her on that and him on Daddys Ipad.

Quiet morning :)

Love this

14 layouts done and I'm officially calling my 'Little things' kit killed! I've loved this kit, and aside from adding cardstock I've used very little from my own stash. Shows how far these kits can stretch :)

This is one of the last I did, and is the second half of the 'Crazy' layout I did yesterday. Looking at it now I think it needs something in the middle but I still like it :)
Much nicer photo this time anyway lol. You can't see the title (Butlins selfie) too clearly in the picture but it doesn't blend in quite as much in real life.

As well as killing the kit I took the kids to the cinema this morning to see 'Goosebumps' As we get free tickets in The Sun its a cheap morning out. They loved it and got us out of the house for a bit as otherwise been a very quiet weekend.
Had to get a quick photo while there :p

Mark and I are off to see this on Thursday, he's team Captain America, I'm officially team Iron man, but in all honesty I'm more team'they need to stop fighting and be friends!' It's made for a few interesting debates in the house so far so if I'm off to see a divorce solicitor on Friday that will probably be why :p

#crazy

What is with the weather at the moment! One day I'm in a t-shirt, next day I'm curled up with a jumper on! Today is a jumper day. It looks beautiful outside but there's a strong wind which is very cold. The sunshine just likes to trick me.
So at the moment it's silent in my house beside snores. My niece stayed over last night and had bad night so I think everyone's had about 3 hours sleep maximum. Cameron doesn't sleep at the best of times so he's wide awake and gone next door to play. I'm full of coffee and determined to kill my Little things kit today!
I know I know I've said that 3 times already, but it just keeps going! The problem is is that I love the papers so much, I am keeping every little tiny bit of it. Usually I'd be happy to chuck these little bits away but I'm hoarding this lot.
I think I'm almost there though. I have no 12x12 papers left and the embellishments are dwindling. I've done 13 layouts and think I can possibly do one, maybe even 2 more before I call it killed. Think the new one is due on Monday so want it done by then!
This is layout 10, using possibly the worst photo of me and my daughter ever taken lol. I was running out of useable alphas here so took inspiration from Leisa OBrien on the facebook group to use up the rest.

On the note of crazy, we bought travel insurance today for our holiday. The quote on the left is without Mark, quote on the right is with. CRAZY!!

We managed to ring around and get it for £120, so not too bad I guess. I was amazed though that a couple told us just to not declare Marks main illness. :| Are they allowed to tell us to do that?! I'd just be freaking out the whole holiday something would go wrong, small price to pay for peace of mind in my opinion :)

Friends forever

Well the assessment went well I think. We got a little lost, Leicester is full of weird one way systems and the building we had to go to was in the middle of a very run down, rough looking area. :\ We had to park a little away so Mark was shattered by the time we got there and has been in bed for the rest of the day. Can imagine he'll be wiped out for the rest of the week so good job we don't have much to do.
I'm still working on the Little things kit, almost killed it now! Still have loads of the Twenty sixteen one though. To be honest I'm not overly fond of it so finding it a struggle. Managed this layout for a sketch challenge though :)
This was the sketch.

and this was my take.
The photo was from a trip we took last year to the sea life center in Birmingham. Caitlin looked so grown up!

The kit came with a seemingly never ending pack of ephemera so tried to use up lots of little bits on this one.

Have soooooo much party stuff to do so got to kill my little things kit soon!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Tomorrow Mark has his benifits assessment. It's been changed from Northmpton to one further away in Leicester but I actually prefer that because I lived in Leicester for a while so I'm more comfortable driving around there :)
Still worried about it though. Of course I know mark can't work, on his bad days he can't get out of bed lol. but you hear all these stores about people who are basically paralised or have terminal cancer being told they need to work so its always a worry.
So to combat that the name of the game today is distraction :) Cleaning, scrapping, anything to keep my mind from thinking about tomorrow. :)
One thing I want to do is finish off my Little things kit from Like for ever. This has been my fave kit so far and I've loved using it. Once its done I need to start on birthday bits for the kids and might even cut into this bargain!

A while ago I saw a post on a scrapbook group that Studio Calico wee offering your first kit for free, so this cost me £3.50 for postage!!! Love the 12x12 zip up bag, can see that getting a lot of use.
Not the little things kit but another I made a while ago. Super old photo from Cameron and Caitlins 4/5th birthday. Caitlin would NOT go near the monkey, poor girl was terrified!

Loved all the gold and blue in this kit. Funny how I hate gold jewllery but love gold embellishments :p

OK so off to make a cake, hang up some ironing and maybe batch cook a few meals. Think Mark and the kids probably like it when I worry lol.

White space - you are my calm

Yey the MOT is done and the car passed!!!!! Thats one big hurdle passed this week :) Only Marks medical assessment and a few big bills to pay and it will be the weekend!! Woohoo!!!!
So sharing another white space layout today :)
This was Nicolas

and this was mine.

My photo was much larger than Nicolas and also was a portrait photo rather than a landscape, so I flipped the layout and made it 12x12. Other than that, and some pink texture paste in the top corner I stuck quite close to the original. Closer than I usually do anyway lol.
This photo is from Spain a few years ago. Caitlin was playing happily in the sea and I was just taking photos of everything as usual. I loved this one as she just looked peaceful playing by herself.
Journaling reads:
Your brother is all about chaos, and noise, and Pokemon battles. You can be just as crazy but have moments of such serene calm. You were quite happy to play by yourself in the sea at Spain. It was very relaxing to watch.

White space - hello vacation

Just going to gush about my dog dog for a moment so if you can't be bothered with that do skip over :p
Those of you who know Scamp know he would make a dreadful guard dog. He loves everyone he comes across and is very similar to Tigger from Winnie the pooh, jumping up and down, running around and generally being a little whirlwind.
While I could never count on him to protect the house, the family is a different story. If one of the kids cries, he comes bounding up, trying to lick them and climb on them to make them laugh. He'll dance about, bring them his toys, anything but sitting still!
So imagine my surprise yesterday. I've been having minor panic attacks on an off for the past few months. No idea why they've started up again but I've been trying to get a handle on them and for the most part I've done ok. Yesterday however Mark had an appointment at a hospital in Wellingbrough. I worry whenever Mark has an appointment anyway but Wellingbrough and Northampton have the WORST parking I've ever seen. It's crazy! So that just added to my stress. Then before we left we got a letter saying Marks benifit assesment is next week, 2 days after our MOT. So I think that was what brought on a full on panic attack. :(
I couldn't breathe, was shaking violently, had a dreadful ringing in my ears, it was horrible. I was in a ball on the kitchen floor when Scamp came over to me. I figured he was going to climb on me or something but instead he just lay down next to me and gently licked my arm. Focusing on him, his smell, stroking his fur, really helped and let me get control of myself again. As soon as I sat up Scamp went crazy again, running off and getting his ball for me to throw and jumping about again.
I know they say dogs are very in tune with emotions but to be honest Scamp is such a daft bundle of fluff I think I underestimate him sometimes. :)
OK so gushing over, I thought I'd share a layout I did of Scamp at the Like for ever retreat.
This was the original.

and this was my take.

I loooooove this photo of Scamp. When we took him to the beach a while back he loved it. He was running around, in and out of the waves, chasing Poppie and the kids. Think it took it out of him, he didn't even eat his treat!
Journaling reads, Scamp loved his first walk on the beach at Great Yarmouth. Never seen him so tired!
We're off there again in September so hopefully more photos of tired out Scamp to come lol.

White space - costa caravan

So today marks 10 years since Mark and I got married. God I feel old! We always said we would renew our vows when we got to 10 years but money (or lack there of) has scrapped that idea. Movie on tv and ice cream it is! :)
Can't believe its been over a month since my scrapping retreats :( A year between them is too long but at least we all keep in touch online :)
Still sharing layouts I did while at the Like for ever retreat. This is another from Nicolas white space class.
This is Nicolas.

and this is mine.

When we were away at Great Yarmouth Mark went with Scamp to get me a coffee. He got all the way back when Scamp pulled and spilled it! It was an easy way to tell which caravan was ours though so we left it there until the end of the holiday. Got to laugh.

Lets party

So the kids went back to school today! :
I had a to do list as long as my arm, and though I was busy all day I somehow got nothing done!? No idea how that happened.
A blog post was on my list so suppose this is something :)
So the Easter holidays was great fun :) Considering it was only 2 weeks long we packed in a lot! Sleepovers, trips to the park, cinema, swimming, cooking, cooking, crafting. No wonder my floors are desperate for a deep clean!
Sunday was the best though, when we finally got to Disney on ice again.
Now I'd like to say the girls were mainly excited about the show, but they honestly seemed far more excited by the slushies! In their defense they are nice slushies, though at £10 each with a collectible cup (read tat) they're not exactly cheap.

Considering this is my 4th time seeing this show you can imagine my irritation to discover they offered free refills!
The girls certainly took advantage of this, managing to eat 4 each during the show.

Our seats were amazing! We booked them as part of a coach trip so I was a little wary as obviously I didn't get to pick them myself but they were brilliant! Caitlin loved it as she said she could see all the detail on the dresses of the skaters. Girl loves her clothes.

The show was amazing as usual. Hearing everyone singing along to the songs and all the little kids dancing on their seats, always makes Disney events even more special to me.

So between not finishing jobs today I actually managed a layout! Can't share it yet though so will share this one I did for the sketchy scrappers mid month challenge.
The challenge was set by me, and was to use a type of embellishment you tend to neglect. For me this was brads and I managed to use 3 on this layout.

Not exactly a huge amount but its something!

Every laugh line on your face, made you who you are today.

Wow, how did we get to April?! Well another month means another challenge over at Challenge YOUrself. This time we challenge you to take inspiration from a song.

Usually I struggle with these kinds of challenges but as soon as I read the line 'every laugh line on your face, made you who you are today.' I knew I wanted to use this photo of my Mum and I from Mothers day.
When I took the picture on my phone we both moaned about the wrinkles around our eyes, so I thought this was a bit more of a positive spin on it hehe.

I wanted the title to be the main focus as it was so large, but after sticking it all down it looked a little plain. One technique I've seen lots on Youtube is gluing twine to the page. I did it once ages ago and tbh it seemed more hassle than it was worth. Having done it again my opinion hasn't changed. That gold twine would NOT stay where I put it!!!!

Did look pretty though :)
Hope you all join in and I can't wait to see what you do, especially if you use twine! ;)

Sunny smiles

Well the film was actually a lot better than I thought it would be! This was good and bad, I really need to learn to read the plots of films before I take Cameron to see them.
Oddball and the penguins. Sounds innocent doesn't it! Nope, 11 penguins are killed (Camerons second favourite animal) and the dog is shot and kidnapped (Camerons first favourite animal) so lots of tears and cuddles during the movie.
Couldn't have been too bad though, as we left Cam said it was his fave film ever!
So remember I said I wanted to get a lot done this afternoon? Well after the movie I bought the kids some juice and sweets as a bribe to play in their rooms while I cleaned up. They were great and agreed.
Got home and they went to play tea parties in Caitlins room. 5 minutes later I hear a wail. Turns out one of the little ceramic cups had smashed and poor Cait had cut her finger. It wasn't serious and a cuddle and plaster soon calmed her down.
The stress however had given Mark a headache, so he retreated to bed and anything loud, such as getting bits from the loft or hoovering where put on the back burner.
I did manage to get the kitchen cupboards sorted, and food ordered for the kids parties at the end of the month though so that was something! :)
Ok going way back now, while away at dukes farm last month I took part in some of Shimelles challenges, including one to use a large photo. I also used a sketch from Sketchy scrappers on Facebook.

I don't often have large photos as I have all mine printed off at 6x5, but as luck would had it I had recently changed the photos in the living room frames so had this one taken in Turkey while on a boat trip. Cameron was going through a phase of making this really weird face every time someone took his photo so when the photographer on board took this one of him and Caitlin smiling nicely I bought it right away!

As you can see I rotated the sketch and used one large photo rather than two smaller ones.

Think this was one of the last layouts I did with the Like for ever Stripy straws kit. Was sorry to see the end of this one but I've got LOTS more to use up! :\

The sweet life

So tonight I was walking Scamp when some teenage thug rode by on a bike and stole the bag I was carrying. :)
Yeah usually someone stealing something from me would make a sad face, but the bag contained an empty water bottle, and a nice fresh poo from Scamp.
Would have LOVED to have seen his face when he opened that bag!!!
So other than having my dogs poo stolen, I've not really been up to much the past few days. Honestly it's just gone so quick! I think because the kids are off, jobs that usually take me an hour are taking 3 so the days are just going in so quickly.
Tomorrow we're taking a break though and going to the cinema. Not exactly excited about this as we're going to see 'Oddball and the penguins' which doesn't look like my kind of film, but hoping if I take the kids, then go to the park after I can convince them to give me an hour or two of peace to get the kitchen sorted to make a shopping list. And yes it will take me an hour or two as a week of the kids pulling things out and putting them back in to find what they want means I've no idea what I've got.
Sure there wasn't this much chaos during the summer holidays!
Speaking of holidays, that's another job I need to do. Pull the boxes of holiday clothes from the loft and see what we need for this year when we go back to Spain.
I admit I wasn't really very excited about it, there is so much going on in the world I would rather just stay in the UK, in my house, with weapons lol. But I was outvoted and really I know I can't put life on hold, there will always be nutters out there. Scrapping this pocket page layout at the retreat helped too. :) It was the second half of Jackies class (see part one here) and usually I don't like my pocket style layouts too much but pleased with this one :)

The fact I loved the papers and embellishments didn't hurt.

Wish me luck for a bit of peace tomorrow!!