O Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree
How cluttered are your branches??

I bought lots of new tree decs in the sale last year, but didn't realise just how many I'd bought till we came to put them on the tree last week lol. The kids love it though - especially all the cute felt snowmen, teddy bears etc (and of course I had to rearrange half the decs because they were all put on the lower half of the tree as the littlies couldn't reach any higher).

Don't faint but I actually took these pics on manual - not the best technically but, for me, they're brilliant pmsl especially as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. For some reason, my tree looks like the leaning tower of pisa, but it's not like that irl.

Christmas at Collectively Yours....

.... and I'm doing a headless chicken impression (where has the first half of December gone already!!) so my project was a very quick and simple one. One bauble, a photo, some SR paper, dymo tape and some Prima velvet flower ribbon.



Check out the other bits and pieces on the blog.

Dare #73 - Childhood Favourites

I knew immediately what my subject was going to be for this one; it's something I've been wanting to scrap for a while before it gets forgotten & is one of those corkers that little kids come out with, that just leave you gawping. Hopefully you can read the journaling, but in case you can't, the LO is about a pony that Danielle named herself - "Strawberry Heartburn". Journaling was done on the pc and printed straight onto the background cardstock - first time I've done it (I think) and my LO came out slightly different to how I'd planned because of it but it's all good. The title looks wonky but it's all straight irl - another of my rubbish scans lol.

Materials: SR Papers, KI Memories lace cardstock, AC chipboard photo corners and a couple of other bits and bobs.

As always, check the rest out on the blog - there are some crackers. ;)

Below are a couple more very quick pages using older photos. I keep finding more that I want to scrap though so my "to scrap" pile is getting bigger instead of smaller. Ho Hum.

Happy birthday to Casey

My little girl is 12 today.

I haven't posted in over a week, so am sharing everything I've done since my last post. First up is a 6x4 Bare Book made for me by the lovely Gertie - check out the links to the right if you want some. Mine's only taken me about 2 months to get round to doing lol.














Next up 3 pages that I managed to complete this week.





I think that's it. I've done a couple of things for upcoming DC projects but, of course, they're top secret.

Dare #71 ~ Chipboard in Abundance

This week's theme was to use chipboard; I could have wimped out and just stuck to my usual chipboard title lol but I wanted to do something a bit different.




Sooooo, I used lots of chipboard circles (from a Fancy Pants pack) - I covered them in K&Co Amy Butler paper scraps and then sanded the edges. It was quite a labour intensive job, and I had RSI from all the sanding, but I like the finished effect. The LO itself is pretty simple; this was just a photo I really like and so there was no journaling to go with it. That might get the journaling police on my back, but in my opinion not every photo needs journaling. Check out the CY blog to see what the rest of the ladies did.

The next page was for the weekly challenge on UKS, and these are some older pics of Danielle scoffing her face. I used yummy SR Loveland papers for this one.

Dare #70 - Girls Aloud

I can't believe it's dare #70 on the Collectively Yours blog already - where do all the weeks go? I used lots of Fancy Pants felt plus Prima & Scenic Route papers for my little dressing up queen.



The next one is Charlie, looking not-quite-so glamorous after Danielle had been cutting his hair. I probably should have been mad when I saw what she'd done but I couldn't help but giggle. I used sketch #27 from the Sketch This blog for this one.

Not speeding, but still going...

Just one layout completed yesterday but that's good going, considering we had to go to the optician's in the morning, my mum was round half the afternoon and we went to Adventure Island in the evening.

The photo is of Casey and I've been wanting to scrap it for a long while but never really knew what papers etc, Plus, I couldn't think of a title so I asked my UKS team mates for help and Marja (who is the queen of great titles) came up with this one.



We picked up Danielle's new glasses yesterday and she's struggling a bit with them. After a change of opticians (we're with Boots now), the man there discovered that Danielle also has a very slight squint in her right eye. It's not noticeable enough to see when you look at her, but it needs to be corrected. He's hoping that the right prescription will do it, without the need for patching, but is going to monitor her regularly to assess. Anyhow, the upshot is these glasses are VERY strong (+5 in the right and +3-point-something in the left) and it's going to take her eyes a few days to adjust. I keep catching her with her head tipped right back so that she can see out from underneath the glasses rather than through the lenses.

We went to Adventure Island in Southend last night and the glasses were soon forgotten about though. Casey didn't want to come (??) so stayed with her nan but Danielle and Charlie loved it. We met up with friends there & they have a daughter 3 mths older than Dan, so the 3 girls had a blast - they felt very grown up because it was the first time they were tall enough to go on the rides without an adult. They were on all these various trains, elephants etc (going about a mile an hour if that) and they had their arms up in the air like they were on some really scary rollercoaster. The min waltzer was their definite fave and I think they would have just spent the whole few hours on that one ride.

Still speeding along.....

..........and I managed another 4 pages. I abandoned the Scenic Route for most of these and finally used some of the Love Elsie stuff that I bought AGES ago. I love the embossed cardstock, especially when it's sanded back; I'm not so impressed with the alpha stickers though - STICKer is definitely not a good description because they keep lifting up off the page. *humph* I can't believe how much Danielle and Charlie have changed. *sob*





Dare 69 on Collectively Yours went live last night - check it out for lots of spooky Halloween themed delights. I swapped out (Halloween isn't my 'thang') so I'll be up next week instead; I'm so organised that I even did my page for it over a week ago lol!

Speeding up

I decided that I need to speed up a little; I've gotten into the habit of faffing around for far too long, trying to make each page perfect. Choosing embellishments for just one page can sometimes take me half an hour or more, and I'm geting nowhere fast. My need for perfection has also meant that I've been putting off scrapping a lot of my less perfect photos, because I know that I can't 'do them justice.'

So, last night I just got out my box full of Scenic Route papers and decided to do the pages from that box alone (cutting down on paper selection time) & adding very simple embellishments to each. Most of the pages are pretty similar, I know, and that's fine. I managed to get a page done in the afternoon and the other 5 took about 2 1/2 hours last night.

Pony Mad

I finally got round to scrapping some more older pics - these are from last year, when Danielle was still in her 'I'm a horse called Clippery' phase. Papers are SR Sumner, black alpha stickers are also SR and the blue alpha is vinyl, by AC. Journaling tag from Etsy.



I haven't scrapped anything else this week, but I've been working on a few bits and pieces for the Design Collective christmas extras. I'm just waiting for the SR Roxbury papers to arrive so that I can complete one more thing. We are entering another new month at the DC and we will be announcng the winner of our October prize draw very soon. ;)

I've been tagged by the lovely Maria so here goes:
(I wasn't hibernating, just didn't have anything to bore you with lol, but lots of love to you and Gertie for missing me)

1. If you could have £100 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? I think I would go for papers - I have tons of embellies that would probably last me a lifetime because I use so few of them on each page.

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or rubons, which would you choose? Rubons. (As long as money was no object lol) Stamps are cheaper in the long run but rub ons are so much less hassle to use.

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year...which would you do? Layouts, for definite.

4. Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home? My own scrapping room - I'm fed up of my little corner in the kitchen and squishing onto one small worktop space to scrap.

5. And last but not least, what is your CURRENT cardmaking or scrapping style? Non-existent lol. Joking aside, I'm always swinging between very plain, minimally embellished pages and those with ever so slightly more embellishment.

I will now tag:

Marja
Gertie
Gems
Eleni
Paula
Sharon
Sue

Sketch This #30

Another old photo of Charlie. I'd forgotten just how long and messy his hair used to be (and it was usually full of food crumbs). This is sketch #30 on the Sketch This blog. Papers are Scenic Route Salem *slurp*, AC vinyl alpha stickers (love the smell of these almost as much as the foam ones but I got in a bit of a sticky mess with them lol), journaling tag from Etsy, GinX rub on doodles and I can't remember who made the arrow stamp. The doodling goes all the way round the outside edge irl.

Sketch This #29

I've been following the Sketch This blog since it started, fully intending to tackle each sketch as it was posted, but things kept getting in the way. So, now I'm working my way backwards through the sketches, from most recent back to the beginning. I made a little boo boo with my LO for sketch #30, so will have to fix that before I scan, but here is #29 for now.



Background pp ~ Prima Steel Toe Mary Jane
Scalloped pp ~ MM Noteworthy
Index tab ~ HS
Chipboard circle ~SR

Productive day

The page above was for a scraplift challenge. I chose to lift a page by Suzanne Torr, called Going Bananas (I hope she doesn't mind me posting hers below!) although I went for a less embellished page because I can never quite get the right effect when I do it. I'm trying to scrap some of my older pics - some of them aren't that great or inspiring, so I'm making it easier on myself by using sketches/scraplifts. It definitely speeds up the process as I don't have to faff about worrying about paper placement etc.



I also completed the latest two sketches from the Sketch This blog (go me!!) but will upload those in the morning. ;)

Forgot to add that Dare #67 is up on the Collectively Yours blog. Go have a lookie. :)

Here's hoping......

..... that I didn't scare you all away with my random facts haha. Forgot to say about the drinking one - it was all highly embarassing as one of the partners (I worked in an accountants at the time) offered to drive me home that afternoon and I had to make polite conversation all the way home and try not to sound drunk.

I've got the scrapping bug so am making the most of the opportunity while it's here. I threw these together last night. The first was for a challenge on UKS to scrap yourself (which, pssssst, I do quite a bit anyway as I find it too much hard work to think up something new all the time lol).



This is the page that I lifted (and I *think* I probably originally lifted something else I'd done to create that one *snort*)



Finally, a very simple, page using MM Noteworthy goodies - I have to admit that, as much as I love the stuff, I struggled to use it. *sob*



I'm almost done with another page that's for a scraplift challenge on another forum, and then I have a whole batch of pics waiting to print. I'm going to start looking back on some of the Sketch This sketches I think, just so that I can start working my way through the photos pretty quickly. I've been buying a LOT lately but not really using any so it's time to make a dent in that stash pile.

I've been tagged.........

......... by the lovely Eleni.

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.




1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs

Ok, so here goes:

1. I can't cook a meal/bake without using up every single spoon in the cutlery drawer.

2. I also can't cook a meal/bake without washing my hands after touching every ingredient.

3. Having said that, I can't cook to save my life lol.

4. John calls me Pidge - I'm not quite sure if it's supposed to be a compliment or an insult lol.

5. (Inspired by Eleni's bee fact) I was stung on the bottom by a bee as a child. I've been scared of wasps/bees ever since.

6. I once walked into a fire door at work after a lunch time drinking session. I was sick very soon afterwards, but had to pretend it was possible concussion (and they took me to A&E) because I couldn't admit it was because I was drunk lol.

7. I find it very hard to smile without poking my tongue out - attractive eh?

Now, I'm going to tag:
Gertie
Gems
Paula
Maria
Tracey
Sharon
Sue

Beach Boy

Just another page I managed from the UKS cc class; this one was by Shani. Papers are mainly Scenic Route, with some Christina Cole for the sun rays.



Hope you're having a good weekend. I had a fun (not) afternoon sorting out the shed as we're having the asbestos roof removed tomorrow; I didn't realise I'd kept so many cardboard boxes (most of them pizza boxes!!) so I was ruthless and broke them all down to be recycled. What's the bets I need one in a couple of days?

Ooops, forgot this...

I *think* this is the first cc class I've ever got round to completing, so go me!! This is the Wishes class by the fabulously talented Emma Trout (sugar almond). The papers are Scenic Route (again!!!) and I used some ribbon from an SI freebie plus some HS ghost stars, which I painted round the edges, finished off with more Fancy Pants felt. Chipboard alpha is by American Crafts. I inked round the edges in blue & I love the effect, so I might be pinching that idea some more in the future. Thanks for the inspiration, Em. :)

Did ya miss me?

Probably not, lol. I have a few things to share and first up is this week's Collectively Yours Dare (can you believe we're up to week 66 already!). The theme was to scrap someone other than family, so I chose the delicious Zac Efron, who Danielle loves like mad. The papers are all by Prima - Caliope and Steel Toe Mary Jane collections. I chucked on some Fancy Pants buttons and felt, then added various lettering for the title (HS and MM I think).



Next up is my Dare from last week, which I never got round to uploading here at the time. The prompt was Autumn Delights, but I don't really own any autumn coloured stash so I went for the non -traditional colours lol. Papers by Scenic Route, more Fancy Pants felt (lovely stuff) and chipboard alpha by American Crafts.



Thirdly, I was thrilled to be asked to write a class for the 5th Birthday cyber crop on UKS. *insert big cheesy grin smiley here* I'll admit that the nerves before the class went live was a killer - especially as I'd been seeing eveyone else's wonderful classes beforehand and wondered if everyone would look at mine and think "Urgh! I'm not doing that one!" Thankfully, quite a few people seemed to like it and it's been so inspiring to see how everybody's interpreted the class and added their own personal 'stamp' to the page.If you're one of the people that took the class, then thank you. :)



Lastly, my DC class for November is all written up and ready to roll. Below is a little peeky sneak (yes I meant to say that) at just one of the LO's I put together as a class example.



In the real world, Danielle has had yet more trouble with her specs. Charlie kicked her in the face when they were playing and managed to toally twist the frame in every which way you could imagine. Optical Express refused to try to straighten them in case they broke & sad we could have a new pair. But they were already unwearable so they had nothing to lose by trying - or maybe they were worried that they might fx them so well that they couldn't get more money from the nhs for a new pair? Cynical, me? Oh yes!!

Next up, they tell me the only frame they have in stock nationwide in the right size is a Beano pair for boys. We all know kids don't exactly like wearing glasses, and add to that for Danielle there is nothing worse than putting her in something boyish. She go upset on her first day of pe when she had to borrow some kit, because she thought it was boys stuff. The woman just said "Well, she needs to wear them. I thouhgt you'd just be relieved we found you a pair." Erm, nope!

So, we decided to go elsewhere. We popped into Boots and found a lovely woman who spent ages straightening up Danielle's specs, even though technically she could have refused to help as we didn't get them from there. She's booked us an appt to get Danielle's glasses made stronger in a couple of weeks and has already ordered in one of each frame so that we have a choice when we go in. So, big raspberries *pfffffffft* to Optical Express.

Have a good weekend. :D