Slacking

I can't believe I haven't updated in a few days again. But I have a good excuse because the Design Collective looks as though it's been very well received and that's been keeping me busy. The response has been fantastic. And it's not really surprising. The classes work out at around 85p each and you can do them in your own home when it suits you. Plenty of people can't get to crops or (like me) maybe don't have the confidence to go alone. I'm so excited to be working with 13 hugely talented scrappers. We all have very different styles and that's fantastic for the subscribers because it means there really is something for everyone.

In other news (sorry I think I've been reading Maria's blog too often), well there is no other news really. We've had a completely uneventful few days. I'm so boring.............

I will try to do something really exciting tomorrow so that I can report back about it. Suggestions on a postcard please......

Exciting news

Fresh, fabulous, inspiring

Introducing a new and exciting concept in scrapbook design inspiration.

Our team of designers are renowned for their diverse and creative approaches to scrapbooking and altered art projects. Their wealth of creative experience in designing new and innovative pages and projects is already being tapped into by leading magazines, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers in the scrapbooking industry. They now come together to bring you a whole range of fresh, fabulous and inspiring ideas for your scrapbooks and other memory art projects.

The team comprises: Fiona Beckman, Clare Brown, Jane Dean, Amber Harrop-Johnston, Debbie Jewell, Karen Leahy, Elaine Loughlin, Jennie Leon, Ali McGovern, Karen Miller, Debbie Nicholas, Katie Shanahan-Jones, Suzanne Torr and Kirsty Wiseman.

Classes will be issued four times during each calendar month on the 3rd, 11th, 19th and 26th. By subscribing to The Design Collective, on each of these dates you will receive:

• one major class project;


• two additional inspiring projects (taking a variety of formats such as challenges, new ways to use something, themed pages and so on);


• a range of tips and ideas from the design team.

A newsletter will be sent direct to your email box with the relevant classes in the form of attached pdf files. Classes will focus on different design elements and techniques and will cover a whole range of projects from layouts to mini books to gifts and altered items. You can choose to print out the classes or save to disk; whichever format you choose, over a period of time you will be creating your very own Design Collection to use over and over again to create beautiful and meaningful pages and projects.

In addition to issuing project pdf files, we will be hosting a blog to keep up to date with all the latest news and a community forum for subscriber chat, help from the design team and a gallery so that you can share your work with us. And we will also host two cyber crops over the course of the year for even more fun, challenges and inspiration!

For just £10 a month (and NO! that is not a typing mistake!) you will be getting four major project classes, eight further classes and a wealth of knowledge and tips from the design team. That works out at under 85p per class! Plus, there will be no having to buy expensive class kits as we will be positively encouraging you to use up that stash mountain in the corner of your room! You choose what supplies you want to use, to match your own photos and themes, you get to stay in your pj’s and scrap in the comfort of your own home, whilst having the class designers to call upon for help and other subscribers to talk to in the community forum. And think of the money saved on petrol!

We will also be incorporating a Loyalty Scheme which will reward subscribers with additional benefits on the completion of a six and twelve month continued subscription with us. Subscriptions will be taken on a monthly basis, paypal is preferred but we will also accept bank transfer. This way you don’t need to pay out a lump sum up front, just the monthly subscription charge of £10.*

We will be taking registration bookings from Monday, 12th March. To make sure you don’t miss out on any important updates and registration details, please register your interest** by emailing to subscriptions.designcollective@gmail.com and keep checking for more information on the team blog http://designcollective.typepad.com

Notes:

* Subscriptions will be due on the 2nd of each calendar month to ensure you continue to receive the classes without interruption.

** Registering your interest at this stage is not a final commitment.

Dare #42

What a challenge - this week's task was to use up some of our really old stash that hadn't seen the light of day in a long while. I got off lightly because I've only been scrapping a couple of years and got rid of all my REALLY ghastly stuff ages ago, but you should see what some of the others did with some seriously cringe-worthy stash. You'll be amazed, go digging out your old stash and see what you can come up with. And, best of all, we have another new Speshal girl ~ Karen Leahy (better known as Dolly to most). As always, you can find the other girls' work on the Speshal blog.

Anyway, this is mine. The papers and ice candy are by KI Memories; one of my very first stash purchases I think (apart from a few odd sheets of rubbish from Hobbycraft& they went in the bin quite soon after purchase!). The fabric photo corners are by Making Memories and were a bulk buy from Ebay in the US. Yes, at the time, I convinced myself I really did need 6 packets!! Plus about 3 packets of suede photo corners. And, since then, I've also bought about 12 packets of Heidi Swapp photo corners. So, I have no need for any more photo corners in this lifetime. The little flower brads are also by Making Memories, another early purchase but one that I've used a LOT. In fact, I'm down to about 10 of these little babies I think and I'll be sad to see them go. *Sob.* The little tags are by Doodlebug - I have 2 sheets (blue and pink) both barely used. Lucky me!! The stitching is some Doodlebug rub ons. Lettering is Heidi Swapp chipboard, which I sanded. My early alphabets were tons of yukky crappo stickers in ghastly colours and I donated them to the kids craft box ages ago. Phew! Dare I say, I actually really enjoyed this one and have even started another page along a similar line but with KI Memories Keepsake papers.

You're boring me now

I stumbled across this cute little pic of Charlie mid-yawn and had to scrap it. It's not a great pic as it was taken on my old Samsung digi with the ghastly flash on - looks better in the scan than irl in fact (which makes a change). The papers are some scraps of Rhona Farrer Scribbles Graffiti that I found hiding in a pizza box. The chipboard corner and stars are from one of the new Fancy Pants sets. Various lettering for the title including the yummy-smelling American Crafts foam thickers. I could sniff them all day lol.

Not much else to say right now but don't forget the next dare is up tonight at 8pm. :)

It's been a while

I'm sure everybody's been constantly clicking refresh on their web browsers, waiting for the latest thrilling instalment of my life story. No? And why not?

Nothing much to report. I've been busy with stuff but nothing I can post about AS YET!! I'm still scrapping furiously - this was a page I did the other day with some yummy new papers and stamps from Upsy Daisy Designs (I treated myself out of some crimbo money from my mum, and I got them from Memories & More). The photo is an oldie that I've scrapped before in 12x12 but I love it so much that I had to scrap it 8.5x11 as well.

I did another page last night too but that's top secret & not to be shared right now.

Oh, and you've got to read this: Animal Diaries- really funny!! Shirley linked to it on her blog and I've been giggling my pants off.

Happy Birthday little man

Charlie's 3 today. He was so excited last night and promised he'd be able to open all his own pressies because he was "big enough to do sticky tape". He finally got to sleep at around 10pm and was awake this morning at 5.30, so now I'm ready for a nap. He took some wallypops (lollipops) to playschool this morning to give out to all his friends, but was looking a bit nervous towards the end - I think he was worried there would be none left for him.

I'll keep it brief as we've got to go and play pirates and firefighters. Danielle's the firefighter and she said that you can ring her up (the number's 871) if you find somebody in your bed that doesn't belong there. Always handy to know I guess. I'll leave you with a LO I did this morning of Charlie at just a few hours old. He looks so chubby here but he was anything but - look at his little thumbs too; he always had them poking out from between his fingers.

Sketch This #1

I stumbled across a cool sketch site the other day (Sketch This) and decided to have a crack at the first week's offering. This is Danielle with her treasured My Little Pony. Papers are the new MM Kraft Valentine pp's and I wanted something quite neutral that would allow the pics to stand out, rather than swamp them, because they're not that great. Heart and flowers by Maya Road. Title is MM Tiny Type alpha and velvet alpha stickers. I also mananged to fit in all elements of this week's UKS challenge on this one too.

Doctor Doctor

Charlie got an early birthday pressie today from our friends - a doctor's bag! Check out the doctor glasses - aren't they just the most flattering pair of specs you've ever seen? I know you're all going to want a pair.

I asked him what his name was and he told me that it was Doctor Doctor. I think Joe 90 might have been more appropriate lol.

Max is feeling a bit out of sorts; he had another epileptic fit earlier today. That's the second one in 3 weeks. After he had the first couple, back in the Autumn, I really hoped that it would be a one off (well two-off to be pedantic) but sadly not. It's so awful to watch; he always seeks me out right before it happens. Previously, he's seemed perfectly normal before and after his episodes but not this time. He was acting strangely this morning because, when I washed up, he chose to go and lie in his crate instead of sitting on my feet (yes, you read that right) as he would normally do. I took a pic because he looked so glum, not realising what was to come. He's still acting very odd now - very clingy and I feel like I've grown a Siamese twin. I'm going to speak to the vet and see what he thinks we should do. He didn't want to put Max on meds if the fits were infrequent because of the potential risks of the meds themselves, but we need to reassess exactly what infequent means.

On a much lighter and happier note, this week's Speshal Dare is up. Click on the blinkie on the right to check out the other girls - lots of variety this week. Love it!! The subject was "A week in pictures" and I chose the first week after Danielle was born (although now I'm going to HAVE to do one each for Casey and Charlie or they'll sulk lol). I made a mini book from little white paper bags; the pages are approx 3 inches square. There is another set of 2 pages but my Photoshop skills (or lack of) wouldn't let me incorporate them.

Have a good weekend, whatever you're up to. :)

3 years ago today..........

14th feb 2004, was Charlie's due date. Where has the time gone? I know babies hardly ever arrive on their due date, but I would loved to have had my little man on Valentine's day. Instead, the little beggar hung on in there until the 19th Feb (48 mins past midnight) before finally making his entrance into the world with his cord wrapped tightly round his neck. A scary minute or so followed until they could clamp the cord and cut it, but thankfully, no harm done.



We've been to Tesco this morning and Charlie's picked his own cake for Monday - a football one (I'm sure Casey had a hand in it though). I was trying to persuade him to go for the Chocolate Button traybake. Yummy. This is another of yesterday's photos - Charlie trundling along in a world of his own.

Nice weather for ducks.............

and geese, and swans. This morning's rain was short-lived, so the kids and I took a trip down to the local wildlife reserve this afternoon for some fresh air (I'm worn out - it's 2.30pm and I could go to bed now lol). Hard to believe that this place is slap bang in the middle of a huge housing estate. There's a path (of sorts) that leads all the way round the lake but it was really muddy. I was wearing my crocs, so all the mud was squishing in through the holes in my shoes. Not nice. But the kids had a fab time feeding the birds and I got some great photos (until I filled the memory card up).

I have a confession to make - I find birds quite scary, especially when they come as close as these ones did. I made Casey hold the bag of bread so that they wouldn't come near me (bad bad mummy!)The pale brown coloured geese, especially, were very intimidating. There was a group of 3 of them that followed us up the path, honking furiously because we'd already given the bread to the other geese. The kids showed no fear at all, even though the swans were bigger than them but I was secretly crapping myself and trying to sound confident at the same time so as not to scare the kids lol. I like the cute little white duck though - he looks like a big fat marshmallow and I'd love to know how he keeps his feathers so gleaming white in that mud.

Cheesy Titles R Us

I'm completely rubbish at thinking up really cool titles for my pages. Most of the time I scrape by with something ok, but every so often I have to resort to something a little corny. Sunday night I managed a double dose of corny titles. Please keep your fingers crossed that we don't have any more snow, because I'm all out of snow-related titles. I finally got to use some of the scrummy Scenic Route papers from last winter, on some real snow pics. The Brighton papers are so yummy that I've already used most of them on non-snow pics; so for the page of Danielle I had to make do with a few offcuts I had left. I finally got round to using some of the Heidi Swapp iron on alphas which I bought about a year ago too; I love the fuzzy feel of them but it meant I had to do a lot of planning before I could stick any of my page down as I had to do the iron-on bit first.



I also forgot to share the pages I did a few days ago; I was so excited about uploading last Friday's dare that I forgot the rest. These were just a couple of very simple pages - I couldn't even be bothered to get my ink out for the pp edges, which is saying something. I even managed a 12x12 too, although it was a struggle. But it had to be done, because I started an album for the kids' birthdays in 12x12. I estimate that I'll still be scrapping their birthdays in 12x12 for another 5 years!! Maybe I should just take some of the page protectors out of the album haha. It's not entirely coincidental that they both contain the word 'wish'. I'd originally planned to use the Li'l Davis glitter word on the first page, but the colour was wrong and I had no papers that would match the word and also work with the design I had in mind. But once I'd got the glitter word out of its packet, I really wanted to use it so I planned the birthday LO to make sure the word fitted.


Danielle had a great time at the party on Saturday; Charlie fell asleep just before we went out and he woke up just before we got home again so he wasn't too sure exactly where we'd been lol. Danielle had saved some sweets for him and Casey (bless her, I'd have scoffed them all in the car) and he was happy with that. The kids are on half term this week, and (typically) it's pouring with rain. Boo!!!!

Simple Pleasures

Speshal Dare #40 is up. And it's another cracking one. We also have a new girl - the very talented Jane Dean. This week's dare was called Simple Pleasures. We all had very different ideas about what our simple pleasures were, and mine involves a tutu. Not me wearing it though, that would be soooooo wrong. This is Danielle and the tutu was made by my very own fair hands. Aren't I clever? As I said earlier in the week, this LO is so simple but it took me so long to do, you wouldn't believe. Simple most definitely does not equal quick. I should lie around about now and say that it only took me 5 minutes to throw together and you would probably be so impressed. The paper is MME Kaleidoscope (Summer I think). I punched all the little circles from one of the sheets of pp, and gave them brad centres. Dymo tape and MM Tiny Type alphas make up the first half of my title. 'Enjoy' is made from HS ghost letters, which I attached with some chunky stitches. The rest of the title was done on the pc, and I cut the edges with my scalloped scissors.

Have a good weekend, whatever you're up to. Danielle has a birthday party to go to today, so she'll be overdosing on cake this afternoon. Charlie hasn't been invited so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to break the news to him that he's staying at home. Before I go, I must apologise wholeheartedly to my UKS team mates; that surprise I promised you all failed to materialise.

Lunar Bim rocks

Charlie absolutely loves Lunar Bim (no, it's not Jim; it's definitely Bim because Charlie says so). He spied this cute Rover toy in the ELC catalogue and it's all he's been harping on about. So, this is one of his birthday pressies, with 20% off thanks to my ELC Birthday Club voucher. I likes a bargain, I does. I've had to hide Rover in the shed because the kids have sussed out where I usually hide the pressies, so I hope he isn't feeling too cold. I can't believe it's only ten days until my baby's birthday - this time 3 years ago, I was the size of a heffer and had just been let out of hospital after a 3 day stay because Charlie was lying transverse (sideways) at 38 weeks and they didn't want to risk me going into labour with him in that position. I should have known that was going to be a sign of things to come - he was a troublemaker then , and he still is now lol.

The next Dare is up later tonight, (and it's another goodie!) so I'll be sharing mine in the morning along with a few other pages I've done. I'm beginning to enjoy this scrapping lark again.

Brrrrrrrr

We have snow. Personally, I could live without it but the kids were so excited and if they're happy then that makes me happy. School's shut (and preschool), so we were in the garden at approx 8.30am having snowball fights and making the tiniest snowman in the world. Charlie wimped out the quickest and wanted to come in because his little handy pandies were cold. Casey braved (not sure if brave is the right word - maybe foolish) the snow for another hour and came in a short while ago soaked to her skin. She threw all her wet clothes on the floor (in true 11 year old style) and is now defrosting as we speak in her snuggly dressing gown and jammies. Max is sprawled out on the floor (with bad stomach cramps no doubt lol) because the whole time we were outside, he was eating all the snow he could find. Psssssst Maria, the grass still hasn't been cut since my last lot of cold weather pics.

Not Amused

Wonders will never cease. My mojo is still with me and I scrapped the stern-faced pic of Danielle that I posted on here when I first started my blog. It's funny how some pages just seem to come together - this was literally 10 minutes of playing with scraps of paper, picking some alphas for the title and job done. Whereas my next LO was the result of 2 nights of pushing bits of paper around until I finally liked what I saw. I can't show it yet, because it's for this week's Speshal, but when you eventually do see it, you're gonna wonder what on earth took me so long because there really is nothing of it.

Btw, I just lurve the funky hat Danielle's wearing. She refuses to wear it now; partly because I feel the urge to stick my camera lens right in her face every time she's got it on, so I can't blame her I guess. I think that's probably the reason for the face she's pulling too. I got it (the hat) as a freebie with an outfit I bought from a lady in the US. I love freebies; wish they were all as cute as this one.

So, is it cold enough for everyone? Casey came home from school, full of beans because the school told her that we're forecast 6 inches of snow for tonight/tomorrow and we need to check on the local radio in the morning to find out if school will be open. Let's hope the snow comes, because Casey's already got tomorrow's itinerary planned and it doesn't include going to school. I'm all set for the snow, well except I haven't got any closed in shoes because I live in my Crocs, so my feet are going to freeze. But, the good news is that the kids will be able to make a snowman in the garden this time because I made sure to pick up all the dog poo today. Sorry, tmi, I know but the kids were gutted when I told them they're weren't allowed out after the last lot of snow because I hadn't picked up the doggy doo - can't risk one of them throwing a brown snowball, can I now?

Speaking of Crocs, which I was about half a page back, somebody showed me the cutest little kids Crocs the other day and I want them NOW!!! Click the link and check out the pink ones. They're in the US in March, so please pray that they come over here pretty soon after that or I'm going to book me a flight to America just to buy some. In fact I think they're even cuter than the Disney ones, but I love 'em all. Is that sad? Scrap that question, I don't want to know the answer.

The last of the 3

I forgot to add the third page last night, so here it is. Another one of Charlie, and I used the same range of papers as before. Again, this was using some of my Ribbon Mad DT kit. Some more chenille ricrac (this one's slightly thinner than the red), and I attached it with some big chunky rough-looking stitching using I'Kandee twine.

All chipboard bits by Heidi Swapp (I have a whole pizza box full of HS chipboard that I'm slowly working my way through.) The Permission Slip is by 7 Gypsies.

I even managed to fit in most aspects of the UKS weekly challenge for this one - I have no idea how long it's been since I managed one of the challenges so please don't all faint at once.

Scrapping like mad

I haven't scrapped regularly in months and months. I've done the odd project or DT assignment, but it's been a far cry from the almost nightly scrapping that I used to love and enjoy. My mojo walked out and left me, big time, a few months back. If I'm honest, I was trying too hard and felt that every LO had to be better than the last. Of course, they never were and so I was starting to feel like a failure. I now feel so much more confident, after some time to recharge my batteries and I'm just scrapping for me without trying to meet any expectations of what other people maybe think I should be doing. And, when I'm relaxed, the creative juices seem to flow so much easier. I have done 3 pages in the last 2 nights, with even more ideas spinning round in my little head.

This is the first, which was for my Ribbon Mad DT assignment where I got to play around with some scrummy chenille ricrac and silk flowers. The photo is of Charlie with Elmo - isn't he just a vision of loveliness in red? Charlie I mean, not Elmo.

This is the second. Does it look kind of familiar? The centre 6x6 section started life as my Valentine's card for this week's Speshal Dare, but I wanted to turn it into a LO to keep forever and ever. So I added some more Scenic Route papers plus white braid & silk flowers from my Ribbon Mad DT kit. My scanner hates black backgrounds, so it's chopped about half an inch of plain black border off the top. No amount of begging on my part would make my scanner change it's mind - the black border would NOT be scanned.

Actually, I think I conclude that my scanner is completely naff - it always makes my backgrounds look all scrunched up and funny colours. The scanner absolutely hates anything that isn't totally flat - temperamental little thing. You'll just have to believe me when I say that these look better irl.

Speshal Dare #39 is up

Go check it out here. This week's was a collaboration with the Daring Card Makers so make sure to check their awesome work out too. I challenge you not to be inspired.


This week's dare is 'On the cards' - we challenge you to make a scrapbook page that is also a card, any size you like as long as it will fit in one of your albums - we have made ours to give as valentines cards, but you can chose another theme if you wish. Here's mine:

Lots of Creative Imaginations papers (love 'em) and some Scenic Route Brighton thrown in. I started with the quote and chose the rest of my papers to compliment it. Photo corners and pink chipboard heart are by Heidi Swapp.

The chipboard heart is by Maya Road, scroll is by Fancy Pants, both painted blue followed by a top coat of Lil' Davis glitter glaze.

Profile photo

I just added one and it looks awful. But I urge you to click on it and view it full size (don't worry it doesn't get much bigger; that would be way too scary) because I don't look quite so boss-eyed in the larger version.

Update on Henry

Oooops, proof if ever anybody needed it that I don't know my ar*e from my elbow. Shirley has just pointed out that those hills in the beach picture might actually be waves. I just checked with Danielle and, what do you know, Shirley's right!!! Of course, I knew all along they were waves; I was just checking if anybody else knew.


Do I sound convincing?

Meet Henry......

We have a little pet spider; he was dangling from the ceiling last night and the kids were so taken with him they affectionately named him Henry. He was still lurking about this morning, but he was running about really fast and he was giving me the willies, so I let him go and play outside in the garden. But, before he left, Danielle had to draw a picture of him on the DS. This is him on the beach, soaking up the rays. I think he has a few too many legs and the beach is a bit hilly, but he sure looks like he's having fun.