Dare #51

This week's theme is to compare ~ pick anything you like. :) I chose to compare Danielle's cheesy smiles. Papers are by Christina Cole and I used some of the yummy new MR velvet flowers.

As always, lots more weird and wonderful comparisons over on the blog.

Have a great weekend, whatever you're up to. We're putting the finishing touches to Casey and Danielle's new tidy bedroom (coat hooks & new storage), and then it's time to tackle Charlie's room. Eeeek!

Oh, Gertie, my minibook is currently stuck on the shelf next to my DW 2007 calendar. I'll stick it in the cupboard with others in a couple of week's time lol. ;)

Minibook on the cheap

I picked up a packet of little kraft coloured index cards from Stationery Box in their closing down sale for about a pound (you can see the original colour on the left hand side of the cover). I used 5 of them to make a minibook and still have enough left over to make 4 similar books. Bargain! And at the rate I make minibooks, they'll be finished by about 2010. I went for a very simple approach; as much as I love clutter and layering, it's not really my thing.

The quotes on each page are from the Robert Palmer song "She Makes My Day"; I always struggle with meaningful quotes, so song lyrics are usually a good cheat. Lots of various goodies on the pages - MM Kraft papers & tiny type alphas, HS, AC, Prima, Queen & Co, Upsy Daisy stamps, Provocraft rolling stamp, GinX and MM rub ons, 7 Gypsies oval stamp & fabric hole reinforcers AND loads more but I'm getting bored now lol and you must all be asleep.

Well, that's about it for now but, before I go, I want to link to a new inspiration blog all about scrapping pets, and you can see it here. I take lots of pics of Max but never seem to get round to scrapping many of them, so I'm going to play along as often as I can.

We all need some bunny to love...

.... that includes you! You all have to go and check out some gorgeous little bunnies on Andrea's blog that are all in need of a good home. Not only is she a talented scrapper, but she's a whizz with a sewing machine too. I want to win the lottery and buy a trillion of them.

Dare #50

This week, we used some of our favourite quotes, sayings or proverbs. Mine is "The best things in life are free", because it's absolutely true. As always, check out the blog to see what everybody else has been up to.

This is a photo I took last week; I blogged about it at the time because I accidentally chopped half of Danielle's body out of the photo, but though it looked quite arty. I used quite a bit of old stash on this one, mixed in with some new.

Papers ~ Scenic Route Laurel (one day I will do a LO without using any SR.........or maybe I won't)

Chipboard strip, photo corners & circle ~ Scenic Route Laurel

Doodlebug acrylic letters

Pressed Petals Chip Chatter letters

AC Felt thickers

Dymo tape

Heidi Swapp fuzzy rub ons (flowers and word)

Heidi Swapp bloom

Hambly journaling bit rub on

I'm also sharing another couple of pages I finished off last night (I went a bit wild with the lime green/pale pink combo in both but I like it). The first is the wallaby from Tropical Wings last week. The title comes from a book that Casey used to love, and the idea for the index tabs is from DW 2007 a few days ago.

Mainly old KI Memories stuff on here, with a huuuuge HS photo corner and a Bazzill blossom (now I only have about 20 odd of those blossoms to try and use up lol).

The second one is a series of pics of Danielle from a couple of days ago; she can never look 'normal' for photos lol. The background and little strips of pp are Scenic Route Brighton (I have a little passion lately for patterned papers backgrounds - not good news for my pile of cardstock because it ain't getting any smaller!). The circle rub on is by BG; I've been saving it for ages for just the right page and thought it was about time I used it, smaller circle is an epoxy sticker by Christina Cole (it says "I am what I am"). Title is a mix of MM rubons and Banana Frog stamps. Flowers in the corner are rub ons by HS - they're absolutely pants and never rub on cleanly but it gives quite a cool effect here and they look distressed. Believe me, last night they were distressing me!!

In the real world, Casey has been tidying her room since about 8.30 this morning. It was an absolute tip and she's a hoarder. We now have one (almost) tidy room and about 10 bags of utter rubbish. Oh, and one bag for the charity shop. We've promised her that she can have her room decorated if she tidies up, and keeps it that way; I've got to say that I'm really proud of the way she's knuckled down today and got on with it. I wouldn't have done it lol. Now we just have to wait and see how long it takes to get messy again.

It's been a while..............

.............as Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) said in Scary Movie. Funny how little phrases remind you of certain films isn't it?


It's been another week that's just flown by. We went to Tropical Wings on Sunday. We went about the same time last year and the kids absolutely loved it; and even more so this year. There have been a few improvments since last year - some of the animals have new homes. The kids' fave (and mine!) was the wallaby enclosure; you can walk right into it and get to feed/stroke the wallabies. There were several babies and I got a great pic of one that was a little too big to squeeze into his mummy's pouch but he wasn't going to let that hold him back.

It's been a funny old week. Danielle and Charlie couldn't go to preschool on Monday because the premises had been vandalised over the holidays, so that's thrown my body clock out. I have no idea what day it is today lol. I've managed to bag Charlie an extra preschool session too, so he now goes 3 sessions a week and that's just confused the days in my head even more.

Danielle surprised me this afternoon by actually agreeing to pose for some pics in the garden. All was going really well and I got a few good shots. I'm sharing this one though because, even though it's not as good as some of the others, this is typical Danielle - the clown!!

Dare #49

I ducked out last week because my mojo had deserted me, and I nearly didn't make this week either because I'd totally lost track of time after the Easter weekend and thought that today was Thursday lol. But I made it, just in the nick of time.

This week, we had a prompt "It makes it home". I chose this page all about Danielle's new pet turtle, Blossom (it looks very much like a stone, but it's really a turtle because Danielle said so!). Blossom came from the beach originally and stunk like smelly seaweed, so she's had a few bubble baths. Now she's smelling all beautiful, Danielle decided that she deserves a life of luxury in a new cardboard house, with huge garden (including a heated swimming pool). This was made with a lot of help from Casey, and some 'help' from Charlie too.

I have a little confession to make - the stone in the photo is not the real Blossom - it's a stunt double. I only decided this morning that this would be my subject, and Danielle had taken Blossom with her to my mum's house. Aaaaargh. Of course I panicked, and then used my noodle and decided that I could use a lookalike, & replace it with a photo of the real deal at a later date. So, that's what I've done. :)

The title is a play on words "A home of her stone (own)". The cardstock background is a sheet of Pizzazill; I thought it was about time I used some lol. The title is a mix of Doodlebug teeny tags, Junkitz alpha stickers, Doodlebug alpha stickers & MM Shimmer alphas. Graph paper and chipboard photo corner are by Scenic Route. The plastic stars are by American Crafts and the border strips are Doodlebug paper frills. Check out the blog here; it's crammed full of yummy inspiration.

The second mailing of Design Collective classes has been very popular, and it's great to see everybody's takes on them. It's always amazing how everybody starts off with the same layout, and yet everybody manages to put their own stamp on it. I had a go at Kirsty's class from last week - this is a follow on from a page I scrapped last summer called "My daughter, the horse". Danielle would run up and down the garden, pretending to be a horse called Clippery. And, this year, she's still doing it lol! This is the LO from Kirsty's class:

And, this is the page I did last year:

Welcome to the world Noemie

Marja and Kirk's little girl made her appearance yesterday morning ~ Noemie Catherine. I'm so pleased for them both and still remember the excitement that a new born baby brings. You spend 9 months, imagining what he or she is going to look like, what being a parent will be like and nothing can prepare you for it when the time finally arrives. It's the biggest buzz. I'm feeling all broody. Yikes! Gotta snap out of it lol.

It's been another sunny day, so yet more time spent out in the garden. This first pic was taken a couple of days ago - Danielle is such a poser! I must remember to compose my photos; that digger in the background is an eyesore lol. Oh, and I didn't notice till I went to edit all the photos, but she'd tucked the front of her dress into her trousers lol. That's why I'm sharing a side view and not the front.

This next one was taken today. Danielle's hair needs cutting badly, and it looks even worse when she has her sunhat on, because it pushes her fringe even further into her eyes. I haven't cropped this at all - this was how I took it. It wasn't supposed to be missing half her body but I think it looks kind of arty pmsl. I ran Peta's colour pop action in Photoshop too and it doesn't look half bad for somebody that can't take photos.

I'll leave you with this one of Charlie - he was goofing around and pulled his hat down right over his eyes, so then he had to tilt his head right back to see where he was going lol. I'm not quite sure why, but his mouth had to be wide open too - adds to the gormless look I guess haha. I cropped this one slightly (that darn digger was trying to muscle in on the action again) and used the colour pop action. I'm gutted that you can't really see his eyes because I think I even managed catchlights.

Anxiously waiting

Today's the day that Marja will be finally meeting her little bubba. We're team mates on UKS and I've been hearing all about her pregnancy on our team thread, and on her blog so it almost feels as though I've been pregnant with her (but without the heartburn and swollen ankles lol). I can't wait to finally see pics and find out Juju's real name.

We've had a few days of glorious sunshine, so we've spent a lot of time in the garden. It wears the little ones out a treat, and they seem to argue a lot less outside for some reason (which is just as well for the neighbours' sake lol). I'll share some pics later on - they're on my lappy and I'm typing this on the pc.

The Design Collective is now on its' second mailing (and I'm in it, yikes!). I'm going to share just a little peek for those who haven't subscribed. :D

Windswept

Just sharing something I put together last night; this was a pretty quick page (by my standards anyway lol). All papers are the new Scenic Route Laurel - I can see me needing more of these because I've used loads already. They're double-sided, which is great in one way, but it also means that you always end up using a sheet, then wishing you had't because you love the pattern on the other side too much lol. I cut the circles out, then distressed the edges with my MM edge scraper, which I haven't used in absolutely ages! I used AC Felt Thickers for my title. The photo corner is one of those new Heidi Swapp XL ones - they're absolutely ginormous; I didn't know just how big they were going to be. Lots of brads round the edges of one of the circles, just because I have thousands of brads and I felt like using some up.

Danielle's jabs went pretty well. The nurse is very good - she did Casey's jabs 6 or so years ago now - very fast and doesn't really give the little 'un time to think about what she's doing. Takes 'em by surprise! I was dreading it because we got into her room and she told me that they now have to do 2 jabs (Casey only had one) and I was thinking there was NO WAY Danielle would let her stick a needle in twice lol. But she did, and she didn't even flinch. Danielle was more freaked out by the little bit of blood afterwards; she hates blood and usually screams like a banshee at the smallest cut. But, she consoled herself with the big pile of stickers the nurse gave her then went skipping off to the sweet shop to spend her pound; she wouldn't wear her jacket though in case she got blood on it lol. Then, all afternoon, she was milking it - she had to have her lunch first because she'd had an injection; she had to watch her programmes on tv because she'd had an injection; she had to choose dinner because she'd had an injection...... By the evening, one of her arms was a bit sore, but it was fine by morning. All in all, not half as bad as I was expecting!

Gong feet

A very simple page I did over the weekend of Charlie in his sister's boots. Why do kids always manage to get them on the wrong feet? They've got a 50/50 chance of getting it right but it doesn't ever happen, lol. Paper is MM Kraft, rub on by Hambly, stars by American Crafts, as are the Felt Thickers.

I bought some of the AC black felt letters a few weeks back and, when I pull them off the backing sheet, the felt gets pulled out of shape and my letters end up stretched. A couple of weeks back, I got some white and blue felt letters and they're much more sturdy and hold their shape. Is it to do with the colours or are they a new and improved version I wonder? I haven't been able to sleep all week for wondering. ;)

All the lovely subscribers to the Design Collective will have woken up this morning to their first ever classes from us. Yes, at last, the classes are now live. And only 8 days before another set of classes hit the inboxes. :D

Danielle has her booster injections this morning, and John has given her a pound to spend at the sweet shop after the event. Wish me luck!

Waste not, want not

I was sorting out some of my stash the other day, taking lots of stuff out of its packaging to save on space, and I was left with lots of leftover blister packaging. I used two matching packets to make some mini hanging photo frames. I thought I had a third somewhere, but do you think I could find it? Nope, but never fear because as I mentioned the other day I will have a 3rd to match very very soon. :)

Most of the bits and bobs on Charlie's frame were in my RibbonMad DT goodie bag for March:

Cactus Pink papers and ribbons. I then added some rubons and a plastic star.

To make Danielle's photo frame, I used Scenic Route Laurel paper scraps (my faves!). Ribbon and buttons were part of my RibbonMad DT dolly bag.

The pictures are not that great because no matter where I tried to take them, the plastic keeps reflecting. They're much cuter irl.

There are now only 2 days until the first Design Collective class. Parts of the forum are now for subscribers' eyes only, in preparation for the class discussions on Tuesday. Exciting!!

Have a good rest of the weekend, whatever you're up to.