Friday's bargain buy....

.... (just for Gertie) is something that will keep the kids quiet for hours. Apply generously to mouth area!



Just kidding, although I've been tempted at times this week.

Danielle had an appointment at the hospital this morning with the orthoptist. The lady was lovely, there was no queueing and (best of all) no eye drops needed. Phew! She carried out quite a few tests and confirmed what the optician had already told us. The squint is very sight and her glasses give her perfect vision, so she is happy for Danielle to be managed by the optician. We need to see the consultant next week, who will confirm that she has the right prescrption lenses and, if all is well, no more hospital. The orthoptist advised that we also get Charlie checked just as a precaution, and said that if there were any problems getting him tested because of his age (or more likely his stubbornness -sp?) that we can ask to be referred to the hospital for the test, whch is nice to know.



Oooh, and I managed two LO's last night, both for next month's DC class. Go me! Btw, Paula, you asked where I keep the photo blocks - at the moment they're on a shelf in front of all my cropper hoppers till I find somewhere safe, away from the kids' mucky fingers!

Tuesday's Bargain Buy.......

...... animal masks and ears from Ikea - 50p per set. Danielle can't wear the mask for long because it doesn't fit over her glasses but those ears only came off her head at bedtime last night and were back on this morning as soon as she woke up. Charlie prefers to wear the mask like a hat instead of over his eyes pmsl.

Friday's bargain buy....

..... was this lovely set of blocks from Tesco for the grand sum of £1 from those bins they seem to have at the end of the aisles (most of them full of tat, but these little babies just jumped out and said "Buy me"). To give you an idea of size, each square is approx 1.75 inches wide.



I sanded them first (the pictures were quite shiny but came off really easily) and then mod podged paper and photos on. In hindsight, maybe I should have chosen a pic of the 3 of them that didn't involve cutting Casey's head in half lol. I finished off with some BG rub ons (postmarks and such like) that I've had for yonks and have never used plus some Heidi Swapp fuzzy rub ons. The papers are all scraps and I was a very brave little girl and even managed to mix up ranges and manufacturers. Off the top of my head, I think I used:
BG Lollipop Shoppe;
SR Brighton, Metropolis, Laurel & Charlotte;
MME Kaleidoscope (I'm not sure which line it was from but it was something very bright and a bit flowery lol).






I think they're looking good but Charlie says he prefers the originals!! Have a good weekend. :)

Btw, Maria, I have to tell you that your blog doesn't like me any more - I've been trying to leave a comment for days now. *sulk*

Doing it digi style

I've finally got myself started on digi scrapping. I had a bash ages ago, but couldn't even figure out how to get the papers onto my blank canvas, doh! I've used page templates for now, just so that I can get the hang of things quickly - I give up very easily if I can't get things right.



Template ~ Designer Digital
Papers & grunge border ~ Aja Abney & 2 Peas Future Rock Star kit by Chris Ford



Template ~ Heather Ann Designs
Papers ~ Kellie Mize, Designer Digitals
Quote ~ Katie Pertiet, Designer Digitals
Swirly Overlay ~ by Kim Liddiard from dsp
Blue swirl ~ Aja Abney



I also did a paper version using the pics of Charlie. I saw the quote on a t-shirt a long while ago and thought it suited the pics. (Please imagine a thin border of Kraft cardstock all the way round the edge of the LO - my scanner chopped it off, grrrrr!)

Products used:
SR pp;
GinX Seaver rub ons;
AC chipboard stars;
7 Gypsies stamp.

I also want to add a few pics of some of the cha releases I'm drooling over already:
Cosmo Cricket:







Heidi Swapp:



Prima:



And, I'm also loving everything by Pink Paislee. I gotta start saving me some pennies!!

Remember Me ?

It's been a while. I wish I could say that I have been scrapping my butt off 24/7 or even doing anything worthwhile but I'm not completely sure what I've been doing to excuse my absence lol.

Below are pics of just a few things I've been up to since I last posted. The first was for the sketch challenge for last month's SI mag - btw Danielle came home from school one day just before Christmas and told me that her dinner lady had spotted her in the mag; Danielle was so made up.





You would think that, after being awol so long that I would have lots to say, but nah. I'll leave you with some pics of Danielle from Saturday when we picked up her new glasses - I told her I wanted a nice photo of her wearing them so that I could scrap it. To be fair, I didn't actually tell her that her eyes had to be open or that she should be looking at the camera pmsl. She's decided that she wants to grow her fringe out too, so she'll be sporting this very attractive clipped-back spam for a couple of months. The good news is that it looks as though the glasses alone should correct the squint, but Danielle has been referred to the hospital just to be on the safe side and to see if anything can be done to improve the muscles in her weaker eye.

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.