Life and all that Jazz!

Remainder of December Daily Album

2012-01-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some more of my December Daily pages.

Day 16 was just a simple page with a few snowmen at the bottom.

Day 17 tells of my daughters first horse riding lesson. I didn't take photos at the stables because the light was bad and I didn't want to scare the horses by using flash, but I recorded the story in the journaling.

On the 18th I hadn't taken any photos and then there was a knock on the door and the Rotary carol wagon was outside. I grabbed the children and my camera and managed to get a few photos. They are quite blurred but I'm not bothered about it - I decorated the page with a few stickers and a glittered white star from my stash.

Day 19 was of my son's Ju Jitsu display. I have blanked out the face of his friend for privacy. On the opposite page to this, in my album I have blown up a photo to 8.5 x 11 and added text to the bottom, but there are lots of other kids shown on that so I can't share it.

Day 20 was another simple page about the first Christmas in our new kitchen.

My daughter and a friend made some mince pies on the 21st.

Day 22 was another baking day, this time with a cake mix that I bought from Tesco. I saved the wrapper from it and laminated it as a page divider.

Day 23 was my son asleep in our bed - sweet!

Christmas Eve! I took this photo in the evening when the excitement was growing. I blew it up and sits on the opposite page to the the next photo down.

These photos are just a snap shot of things we did on the day.

Christmas Day.

I blew up one photo again which shows the hustle and bustle of Christmas morning.

The opposite page again, is photos of a letter from santa and opening presents.

Completing this album was a bit of a struggle. My computer broke, I ran out of ink and life got in the way but I am really pleased that I ploughed on and completed it. The resulting album contains lots of memories, photos, drawings, clippings and other memories that I will treasure for years to come. If you haven't done this project before, I highly recommend it.

December Daily

2012-01-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas seems such a long time ago now, but I will keep posting the pages from my December Daily.

Day 13

I took this one at a fairly quiet moment and it is one of my favourite of the holidays. I jazzed it up a bit with some tartan ribbon.

Day 14

I did consider not puting this photo in my album because it is horizontal, but I decided that I really wanted to tell the story so in it went. I covered the whole of the page in paper and added in some bits and pieces, rather than trying to stick to the template that I have used before.

Day 15

I didn't take any photos on the 15th and so I just stuck in this receipe card from Waitrose and journalled about the magazines that I like to read at Christmas.

I am planning on being back tomorrow with more from my album.

Jo

December Daily

2012-01-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days I have been working towards getting my December Daily finished and I'm nearly there. I've just got some journaling left for Christmas Day and then it's done. Here are a couple of photos of pages I've finished.

Day 8

This is of my daughter and my mum and I kept it really simple. The orange colour was a challenge and I did consider converting it to black and white, but I wanted to use up the snowflake paper which I've had for a while which is by Fancy Pants. I added some Scenic Route word stickers, Flair by American Crafts and ribbon by Love Elsie.

Day 9

This is of my son playing around with a Santa hat. It doesn't bother me that half of it isn't on the photo - I think his expression is fab! I've added the journaling directly onto the photo. I was getting a bit bored with the template that I had created so I decided to shake things up a bit with the rest of the album.

I covered up the '9' on the bottom of the page with the paper (Fancy Pants) and added a glittery number on the top. The Santa hat is one which came in a pack of 3 from a local garden centre and the sentiment at the bottom is from My Minds Eye.

Day 10

Sorry the photo isn't straight (too much mulled wine!) The 10th was a really busy day and I had more that one photo that I wanted to add to my album. I printed this photo of 8.5 x 11 and added the text directly onto it.

On the second page I made a template in Photoshop and dropped in four photos of the day. I added three buttons from Love Elsie on the top and a 'tree' sticker on the bottom and that was that.

Day 11

This day was tricky as I didn't take any photographs. I went shopping and didn't take my camera. What I did have was this menu from the restaurant so I added that in and cut up a box which held candy canes and added that in as well. I then added in bits of paper which I had spare.

Day 12

Today was my youngest daughters birthday. The colours totally clashed in this photo so I converted it to black and white and added in some 'newsprint' paper. Onto this I added a few stickers by Scenic Route.

I will post more of the ages soon but in the meantime would love to hear what you think.

Jo

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T03:23:00.000-08:00

A very Happy New Year to everyone - I hope it is filled with health and happiness for you all.

I have nearly finished my December Daily album, there is just a little bit of journaling and embellishing to do and that will be that. I have really enjoyed putting the album together again this year although there have been challenges regarding my computer breaking down and then ink running out. However, I'm so glad I persevered. I haven't taken photos of the pages yet but will do so when the light is a bit better and get it posted later in the week.

In the meantime, I am starting Project Life. I have my album set up and in the kitchen, where it is going to live. I reckon that if it is out and in plain sight then I will do it throught the week and just print of photos at the weekend. This is the first time I have done it so I just need to find a way that works for me - any suggestions will be appreciated.

Jo x

December Daily - Day 7

2011-12-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

This is day 7. It is of my son in the school nativity play. I have placed a star in the middle of the photo merely to hide a childs face - it isn't staying there! The photo is a bit blurry as it was taken without the flash but I love the colour in it and it truly reflects what I saw at the time. The play was called 'Out of Darkness, Christmas Light' and I cut the title out of the programme and sewed it onto the photo. I have another programme which I have inserted into into a page protector which I cut down and sewed to size. Here it is in the album:

I have put the ribbon over the name of the child who designed the drawing for the sake of privacy.

Hope you like it.

Jo

December Daily - Day 5

2011-12-17T04:45:00.000-08:00

I've had a totally manic time during the last two weeks. There has been so much going on with the kids that I haven't had any time for scrapping.

Then, when I finally did get around to scrapping, my computer broke and then when that was sorted out my ink ran out! Aargh!!!

Fortunately I printed a few photos before my ink so I'll concentrate on those for now.

I am determined to finish this album as I absolutely love this project and I just love looking back at the albums I've created in previous years. I have been keeping a note of what we have been doing and keeping bits and bobs to place in my page protectors for when I finally get my photos.

In the meantime here is day 5. I got my box of baubles down from the attic just to check they were still in tact after the work we've had done on the house. I love seeing these every year. I added the journaling at the side. The journaling says

'Today the decorations came out of the attic ready to go on the tree. I love getting them out each year and I especially love seeing the decorations I bought for the children. Every year they have a new one which reflects them or what they have enjoyed throughout the year. I call our main tree my memory tree as each ornament holds a special memory.'

On our main tree there are also a lot of decorations I bought on trips abroad and the memories come flooding back each year.

Day 4

2011-12-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a chilled out day when we finished the decorations on the tree and the kids did their homework. I really wasn't sure what my story for the day would be and then I thought that I photograph what is going on right now, regardless of it being December - and that was homework! So here is my eldest daughter working away in our kitchen with the tree in the background.

I've kept the scrapping to a minimum on this page as I don't really think it needs any more. I may add a bit more bling after I've added my journaling.

Hope you like it.

Jo

Trimming the Tree - Day 3

2011-12-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we trimmed our first tree. It came down out of the attic in its' bag, which was covered in dust, unfurled and finally looked totally magical in all it's glory. I love how trees go from looking so dusty and boring to looking totally 'wow!'.

I haven't scrapped the photo yet, but thought you may like to see what I've done with it. I up-loaded it into Photoshop and added the title and text.

I'll post the scrapped page when it's done.

2011-12-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

Today I had my hair done so I decided to scrap that. There is a school Christmas Fair I'm going to later but as it is usually soooo busy I don't think I'll take my camera - so here is my offering today - moi with a new hair do!

I'm adding journalling to my album after I've blogged - just in case you were wondering.

December has arrived!

2011-12-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

Yay, December is here! I just love Christmas but I'm not quite in the spirit yet as I'm just getting over all the building work. I also love December because of the December Daily album.

When the kids got up early this morning out came the Advent Calendars and, yet again (!) explaining that it was only 1 chocolate a day!

Here is my scrapping for day 1.

Catch up!

2011-11-25T02:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I really can't believe my last post was in July - time flies.

We have finally finished the extension - yay! We have a lovely brand new kitchen and lots of extra space that we are using all the time.

The above photo was taken on the 8th October before we had the floor put in and before it was totally finished - the washing machine is not a permanent fixture right there!

This is what it looks like with the floor in.

We are so pleased with it and the fact that it is finished before Christmas.

In other news, since July we have a new bike rider in the house.

We met up with good friends who live in America.

We had fun visiting Grandma.

The attic has gone from this:

To this:

and the bathroom in the attic has gone from this;

to this

I have been working on my December Daily Album which I am doing again this year. I have chosen an 8.5 x 11 format as I had a spare album hanging around. I am using the same templates as I did last year.

I am adding in some other bits and pieces like these

and these

I can't wait to get started on this album and have been looking back through the others I have done for inspiration.

Let me know what you think.

What I've been doing lately

2011-07-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well the children have broken up from school and in the last week we have all been to Devon to stay on a lovely farm for a week. We have seen, handled and played with these;

And had fun throwing pots on a potter's wheel.

Painting ceramics

Bouncing on Jumping Pillows.

Swimming in the outdoor pool.

Sliding down death slides

and horse riding.
We had a fab time and have booked to go again next year.

Bits and bobs.

2011-07-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

Life has been a bit crazy around here for the last couple of weeks. The extension is well underway and last week I was out of the house for most of the day as the builders were digging up the patio using a huge drill and the house was literally shaking - the noise was totally unbearable so I spent most of my time at the gym and swimming with the obligatory stop for a cup of tea afterwards!

The foundations are now in and the bricklayers start in earnest tomorrow so hopefully we will see things moving along quite quickly now.

We have been and chosen our new kitchen and appliances so it's all systems go in that department too.

In other news I am reading quite a lot at the moment. I have been taking my Kindle with me wherever I go and so am reading constantly. I seem to be whizzing through books!

I have managed to do a little bit of scrapping - here is one of my recent layouts.

I have done a few others but haven't managed to take photos of them but I will do soon.

Let me know what you think.

Jo

Extension - Day 3

2011-06-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Building works and scrapping

2011-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have managed to get some scrapping done lately but I'm tending to use similar designs on my layouts. This one I did of Jamie's 6th Birthday and used lots of layering and old bits and pieces including a red label I had cut off an old t-shirt of his and a badge from one of his birthday cards.

On the next layout I punched squares out from his cards and made a layout from them, this is something I do for all the family birthdays and Christmas cards and it is an idea with I got from Ali Edwards.

This layout is based on a sketch at Shimelle's blog for the week of the 22nd June.

It was so easy to put together and used up lots of die-cuts I have also used it on this layout:

and also on this layout;

I have also done this layout which was fun to do, using some of the Love Elsie Cody range. The more I use this range the more I like it. It is double sided and is really versatile as, although it is based around sports, it is double sided with lots of dots and stripes going on on the reverse.

In non-scrapping news we have started today on an extension to our house. We are making the kitchen larger, getting rid of the conservatory and having a proper roof put on it so we can use it as a den. I took photos this morning of how it looked which was this:

And now it looks like this:-

And from this:-

To this:-

I am planning to take photos every day to show how things are moving on so I'll post as often as I can.

More of my Lapland Album

2011-05-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos of the Lapland album I am scrapping at the moment. I am really pleased with the way that it is coming together and has just sort of clicked into place. I am using white cardstock throughout the album and minimal paper and embellishments. I am using some old Basicgrey papers and putting strips of paper on the edges.

Whilst I am scrapping I am keeping in mind the way I want the album to flow through the days. These photos are of the 15 December.

I typed up my journalling in Photoshop and on the other side I added in more photos. When the album is finished I will cut the page protector and sew in the journalling using red thread.

I really like the next photo so blew it up and gave it a page all of its own.

Scrapping without photos

2011-05-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

Scrapping without photos - not sure about this, what is the point? That's what I thought when I first came across the idea a few years ago, but the more I think about this I do think that scrapping without photos is ok - who says it's not? Since then I have been jotting things down stories I want to record, random thoughts etc. and then just typing them, adding a few embellishments and I'm good to go.

I think of all those stories that I have in my memory from when I was younger, holidays, relationships, details of when I went to school etc. and that I haven't got photos of but would like to share and so I pull out my computer and get typing and do you know what - I love them! I love the fact that the story is recorded for my children. Here is one story that I wanted to scrap which happened in April.

I used Bazzill cardstock, Scenic Route paper and the digital element from Ali Edwards.

Here is another one that I did last year - paper by Blonde Moments and again a element by Ali Edwards.

And another:

These kinds of layouts come together very quickly as I don't think about matching colour to the photo and what kind of embellishment would be suitable. I just add a little bit of paper and that's it.

Let me know what you think.

Jo

A bit of this and that.

2011-05-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm listening to my IPod and Angel by Sarah Mclachen is playing - I love that song it's so haunting. Next it's Robbie Williams (Angels) followed by Lady Gaga (Bad Romance)! I think I may do a list of what's on there for an layout. I think it would be really interesting to know, what my parents and grandparents listened to and that is what I want to share with generations of my family to come. I'm sure IPods will be antiques by then!

I still haven't done my layout for how we celebrated the Royal Wedding and I want to get this done this weekend.

Those of you who follow my blog will know that way back in October I took part in a challenge set over on Elsie Flannigan's blog of 4 things to do before the end of the year. One of mine was to get my photographs for 2010 up to date. I got to October but then life got in the way and, of course, my December Daily.

Well, last week I sat in front of my computer and was determined to chose and upload my photos. I used Tesco as I hadn't used them before and there are 50 free prints of offer if you sign up. The quality isn't as good as if I had printed them at home but for my photo album they are great, although I will probably use my home printer when I scrap them.

I'm going to try and have some me time over the weekend and get some scrapping done.

Here's a layout I did about a fortnight ago. It's of my daughter when she was 18 months old and mobile telephones had just been banned for drivers - yet here she is in the car, talking on her mobile! I used Bazzill Swiss Dot cardstock and papers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

Have a great weekend.

Jo

The Royal Wedding

2011-05-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have spent the afternoon scrapping the Royal Wedding. I printed off all the photos and then the layout just came together. I added in the cute bunting after downloading it from the internet and re-sizing it in Photoshop Elements. Here is the layout in full (I have tried to crop it and enlarge it but for some reason Blogger is not letting me up-load it).

I think the bunting looks cute.

A bit of bling was a must on this layout. The bling brads are by Delish Designs and the Union Jack strips are, again, a download from the internet.

I haven't added any journaling to the layout as I am going to do another one which documents what we were doing at the time and how we celebrated - watch this space!

Jo

Up-date and Royal Wedding

2011-04-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted for ages, but life has just got in the way - know what I mean? I have been doing some scrapping, such as my Christmas cards (better late than never!) on this layout.

I have also been making some in roads into my Lapland album with these layouts.

Now to the Royal Wedding, I watched every minute of it with my two girls and we all loved it. I thought about how I was going to scrap it without photos, but then I decided to take photos from the TV. They are not 100% sharp but that's fine. Here are a few of the best ones.

I am planning on scrapping these fairly soon and will post them as soon as I can.

Jo
X

A couple of layouts

2011-03-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I've been awol for a while, but life really is hectic at the moment.

I have managed to do a bit of scrapping though, such as this one:

The photo of the layout is really dull and it looks much better than this in real life. It is about my son and how much he loves playing with Go Go's.

I've also done this layout:

I'm not entirely pleased with it, but hey, it's done. It was about a toy museum the year did at school and what he wrote about the toy he took in, which was mine.

In December 2009 we took a family holiday to Lapland. It was a fantastic experience and one I would really recommend. I took hundreds of photos like this;

and this;

and really want to get them into an album along with the tickets, receipts and lots of other bits and bobs. I kept a diary whilst I was there and so I have lots to get onto the pages.

Because of the sheer volume of this work I have spent lots of time thinking about how I wanted this album to work. I started off thinking that an 8 x 11.5 album was the way to go, but as I started getting everything together I've decided on a 12 x 12. I'm still planning on using other sizes within the album but that it what I'm going for so far.

I have started the album and I'll try and take some photos of it to get onto the blog.

Have a great weekend!

A loved up layout!

2011-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

My kids were really into Valentine's Day this year. I don't know why because we don't really celebrate it in our house. This year was a little different (who says advertising doesn't work!). The children were very excited and had made cards and bought small gifts for us. I wanted to record all this on a layout and this is the result. I used Bazzill cardstock and Scenic Route paper. I made a pocket on the bottom of the layout to slip in the little love notes they had sent and other bits and bobs like a label and the back of a chocolate wrapper which had lovely hearts on. I added a few sparkly hearts by Making Memories and called it done. Let me know what you think.

Exercise Boy!

2011-02-14T05:53:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick layout I put together featuring my son. I found him in his swimming cap and peddling on the exercise bike, I just had to grab my camera to record it.

I used a sheet of white bazzill as the base and added on some Scenic Route Kraft cardstock, which has the circles on it. I then added in some Basicgrey Obscure paper and a Maya Road cog calender. I journalled down the middle and finished off with a black hand drawn frame.

2011-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok - I know that I haven't posted for at least a month and I'm now ready to get back into the swing of things with my scrapping and blog - or at least I think I am!

Since the New Year I have been getting myself into a routine of getting the kids up early, dropping them off at Breakfast Club at school, getting myself to my school, doing a days work and getting back home to collect the kids. Then it has been the usual after school routine of swimming, dancing and a whole host of other things to organise before I eventually sit down at around 9pm. By then I'm really not in the mood to scrap.

I have now finished my December Daily album and am really pleased with the way it has turned out. It was quite a challenge scrapping for a 6 x 6 album, and I'm not sure that I'd do it again, but it really made me think about what I wanted to record and what exactly to put in the journalling.

So here are the rest of the photos of my album.

Day 22

The wreath for the front door. Every year I raid the garden for greenery and hand make the wreath. It has become a tradition now and I love it!

How it looks in the album. I've added in the receipt for the main Christmas shop as well.

Day 23

This year I dotted little piles of presents around the house. This pile was in our bedroom.

How it looks in the album.

Day 24

Christmas Eve and three very excited children. I added in the tickets at the bottom as digital elements before printing.

Lots of journalling today with paper by Basicgrey and a sticker by Scenic Route.

How it looks in the album. The transparency is one I made myself and it is of 'T'was the night before Christmas'.

Day 25

The first picture is of some very excited kids on Christmas morning. I love the movement in this photo and the soft light as well as the tree lights and their pj's.

The journalling is on the opposite page and I've added a Santa hat, sticker and some ribbon.

How it looks in the album.

We had such a fun day on Boxing Day I've added in a page for that as well.

Day 26

This is of my mum and my daughter on the beach. You can just make out the sea in the distance but the whole of the beach was covered in snow and it looked amazing.

The compilation page included a photo I took with the camera held at arms length, and more of the beach.

How it looks in the album.
I hope you liked following the progress of my album I really enjoyed making it.

December Daily

2011-01-10T14:16:00.001-08:00

I have finished my album but I just haven't had a chance to photograph all the pages. Here are some more that I have done

Day 18

The first page is just of me having fun in the garden in the snow.

How it looks in the album with the gorgeous Fancy Pants flocked transparency.

The left hand page is again a compilation of more images of that day. On the left I have used the packaging from the bingo cards to make a a strip of festive words - it was just the right size. The paper is Basic Grey and is topped with a Jenny Bowlin ticket.

Day 19

The left hand page is one of the kids sledging on the sand dunes - a totally surreal experience! I added an old Basicgrey rub-on.

Here's a better look at the photo. Notice all the Christmas trees in the background.

The right hand side is a compilation. I added a rub-on by Basicgrey and an embellishment by American Crafts.

Day 20

The left hand side is a photo of some of the wrapping paper I used this year.

I haven't added in a transparency to this page yet, but I'm thinking something red!

The left hand side is the compilation of photos and I used a piece of the actual paper along the bottom topped with a lovely K & Co. Embellishment.

Day 21

This is the photo I used for the right hand side. I wrote directly onto the photo and added a hand drawn frame with a white gel pen. It was of the icicles hanging from our conservatory.

How it looks in the album.

On the left I added the journalling together with some Love Elsie paper and matching embellishments.

I hope you like my album, it really feels as though it's coming together now.

December Daily

2011-01-08T09:05:00.001-08:00

More photos of my December Daily - I am so close to finishing it now .... hopefully tomorrow!

Day 14

Today's photo is of some new tops that I bought for work. As I haven't worked in such a long time I absolutely nothing to wear so I had a little shopping trip. I haven't been clothes shopping in such a long time and I really enjoyed myself so I thought I would record it in today's page. The embellishment is by American Crafts and I didn't really think that I would be able to use an embellishment which included grey but this page was perfect for it.

How it looks in the album. I added in a label to the page.

I added a second label to the right hand page as the colour just looked so festive and I had lots of embellishments to match it!

Day 15

This photo is of my Christmas plates. I bought them ages ago and they come out every year on the 1st December.

This is how the album looks in the album. (oops - that's the toe of my slipper in the corner!)

The second page is made up of a Christmas card that the kids designed in school and was professionally printed. It was the perfect size for this page. I punched out their names on the verse of the card and stapled it directly to the page protector. The ribbon is old stash by Junkitz.

Day 16

This is just a snap I took at bedtime. I drew a frame and wrote directly onto the photo.

How it looks in the album with the laminated lace cardstock.

On the other page there are two more photos and some digital papers. On one I added a 'your story' layer from Ali Edwards Yesterday and Today class and on the other an epoxy embellishment by Love Elsie and a Basic Grey rub-on. The other embellishments are from Love Elsie and the paper is Basic Grey. I am determined to use up my old stash!

Day 17

This is my daughter on her way to a sleep over at her friends - hence the suitcase. We had just had a few snow flurries up until this point which was about 6pm.

How it looks in the album. The 'transparency' is a page divider with nik naks added in to it. I added the journaling to a separate page (by Making Memories) and slotted it right into the album.

The second page is of our street later on in the evening - covered in snow. It looked beautiful and I think the orange tinge from the street light adds to the atmosphere. I added a Basicgrey rub-on and a Bazzill half the edge embellishment as well as an old KI Memories word sticker.

December Daily

2011-01-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here are more pages from my December Daily.

Day 11

My second eldest daughter was 8 and this photo was taken at her party. I love this photo of her to which I added some text in Photoshop. The second page was journaling

Here is how it looks in the album. The transparency is a laminated KI Memories lace paper.

Day 12

For her birthday she got a pink Christmas tree together with pink lights and decorations - bet you can't guess what her favourite colour is!

I added the journalling to a simple card and added that directly into the album. The right hand side of the album consisted of more photo embellished with paper from Fancy Pants and Love Elsie Noel chipboard buttons.

Day 13

This photo is of our tree to which I added some simple text. I'm thinking I may use this image for some Christmas cards next year.

The second page was journalling decorated with some scrap paper from Basic Grey, stickers by 7gypsies and a large ornament sticker from American Crafts. I love the simplicity of this page.

Will post more soon!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T08:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe evening.

Jo

December Daily - 7th December

2010-12-30T11:29:00.001-08:00

As promised here are some of my completed pages for my December Daily Album.

Day 8

The transparency I used was some pockets to which I added some festive papers and embellishments and sewed the pockets with red thread.

I added journalling to a slip of card which I added straight into my album.

The second page was created in Photoshop with views around the house and in the middle I added a digital Christmas twill and an Ali Edwards circle saying 'Winter Joy'.

Day 9

On day 9 we went to pick out our tree which is always one of the highlights of the festive season. I always take my camera and they are quite used to me now snapping away at all the lovely trees. The light on this photo is not very good due to the flare on the page protector, but you get the idea.

The transparency was a lovely flocked number by Fancy Pants and on the other side I included some photographs of the school nativity play. The journalling, along with the tag from the tree was placed in an enveloped and added to the album.

Day 10

This is the main picture which I re-sized to 6 x 6 for my album. It is of the kids decorating the main Christmas Tree.

The transparency is a dotted flocked one from Fancy Pants.

Journalling went straight on a card into the album and the right hand side page was two photos and some lovely embellishments, the one at top right is by K & Co and has 'snow' on the inside and the other is by American Crafts. The trees at the bottom are by Bazzill Basics.

I'll add more pages tomorrow. I hope you enjoy looking at these - let me know what you think.

A Hectic December

2010-12-29T09:50:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to get back on to up-date the blog for ages but life in December has just been a bit mad. Not only was there shopping and preparation for Christmas but I got a job! It all happened very quickly and quite surprisingly. I started the week before Christmas but is not ideal but I just couldn't turn it down. It is working as a Teaching Assistant in a local comprehensive school and so far I love it!

So working and having everything that goes with Christmas through me off track on my December Daily.

However during the last few days I have been making a real effort to get it finished and am nearly there. I'll try and post some photos tomorrow so check back.

I hope you all had a great Christmas.

December Daily - 8th December

2010-12-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

Today I haven't managed to photograph the completed page as the light is so bad. However, I have used this image as my large one on the left hand side of the page. It is of the fire in our lounge and we only light it at Christmas. As soon as it goes on it makes the room look like a Christmas card.

Yesterday morning I still had sick children in the house so I decorated the stairs and put up one of the four trees that we usually have around. The ribbon is the 'before' picture of the bow and then there is tree and the garland on our stairs. I love decorating the house as it really gets me in the festive mood.

December Daily - 7th December

2010-12-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

As I had two children off school sick yesterday we really didn't do a lot and didn't take too many photos. I did manage to get enough to complete this page though.

This photo is of a bowl of beads I have displayed in our lounge.

This is the opposite page. I used some cardboard packaging for one of the papers and the other was BasicGrey.

This is what the whole thing looks like in the album. I used a lovely Fancy Pants transparency to divide the pages and I am going to add journalling on a tag as I have done the last few days.

December Daily - 6th December

2010-12-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Day 6 was quite an easy page for me to put together as I had lots of photos to choose from. We didn't have any snow but the frost was that hard it looked like it. After I had taken the kids to school I grabbed my camera and went into the garden to get the frosty shots which I've used here. I cropped this photo down in Photoshop to a 6 x 6.

I did another compilation for the opposite page of some frosty Ivy and a cobweb and my daughter trying out our new sledge on the sofa!

Here is what it looks like put together in the album. I'm going to add a journaling tag and slip it inside the album similar to what I did on the 4th.

The transparency I used is one I made myself. I've taken a photo of it with white paper behind so you can see it properly.

If anyone wants the recipe for those snowmen on day 4 (or as my Daughter calls them dough men!) let me know and I'll post it - it's really quite simple to make.

Jo

December Daily - 5th December

2010-12-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Again, I have gone for an enlarged photograph on the left. This time it is of our Christmas stockings hanging from the mantle piece.

On the left is a compilation of photos of what we did on the 5th ie decorating the house. I added a strip of half the edge to the page to add a bit more fun and a strip of paper to co-ordinate along with a small chipboard heart from the Love Elsie Noel collection.

I wanted to add journalling to this page so I grabbed an off cut of cardboard and wrote on one side and added a photo to the other.

Hope you like it!

December Daily - 4th December

2010-12-06T07:18:00.001-08:00

DAY 4

Yay! I think I have found my groove with the album now. One large photo on the left hand side of the album and a compilation of photos and journalling on the other. I had fun doing this page.

So, here is the left hand side. A photo of my gorgeous girls which I changed to black and white. This really suits the black transparency which I also have in the album for today.

On the right hand side is a compilation of photos which I put together in Photoshop, of various things we did on the 4th. The girls found a great recipe for salt dough snowmen and I think they have turned out really well. I have displayed them on a long plate which I generally use for garlic bread!

I wanted to add more journalling that the space would allow so I made this cute little envelope of some Scenic Route paper and slipped the journalling inside topped by a 7gypsies sticker.

Here is what it looks like put together in my album.

December Daily - 3rd December

2010-12-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a fun but very busy day but the highlight was going to see JLS in the evening with my 9 year old daughter who is a huge fan.

I didn't take my camera with me so I took a photo of the programme and used this as the photo page.

I then opened up a text box in word and printed it directly onto the cardstock for day 3. I decorated the edges with some Autumn Leaves paper and I have attached a snowflake brad and a bit of the ticker tape that came down at the end of the show to the bottom of the page (sorry, you can't see this). I am going to get out my sewing machine tomorrow and sew one of the tickets onto the reverse of the transparency with blue thread.

I used one of the transparencies that I made myself which has blue snowflakes on.

This is how it looks in my album.

December Daily - 2nd December

2010-12-03T04:39:00.000-08:00

Here is my Day 2 page:

and put together:

And how it looks in my album with the transparency on top.

I am finding scrapping 6 x 6 quite a challenge as I like to use big photos and will often layer digital elements on top. I don't really think I'm in the swing of things yet, but I keep reminding myself to keep it simple. I'm not really pleased with this page but hey, it's done so I'm moving on to today - Day 3!

December Daily - 1st December

2010-12-02T12:49:00.001-08:00

I got stuck into the first page of my December Daily Album today and here it is:

I used the photo from yesterday of snow falling and an Ali Edwards word which I layered over the top of it in Adobe Photoshop. I then stuck it down and used a Bazzill 'half the edge' strip and added some brief journaling. On the opposite page I wrote some more detailed journaling about the day. I swapped my transparencies around as I thought this one suited the colours of the pictures better than a black one that was in there before.

I hope you like it.

Let it snow,let it snow let it snow!

2010-12-01T14:21:00.001-08:00

We had our first snow of the year yesterday and although it was only a sprinkling, it was very exciting as we don't often get any of the white stuff. Today we had more snow and I took this photo which has made an appearance on the first page of my December Daily Album.

I am really looking forward to starting my December Daily again, although I can't quite believe that it's been 12 months since I did it last.

This year I am going for simple! Simple photos, simple embellishments and simple journaling - I don't need any extra stress at this time of the year so 'simple' will be my overriding thought when putting my album together this year.

I do intend to post my pages but I didn't complete today's until late in the afternoon so I didn't take a photo, but I'll post it tomorrow.

2010-11-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

This week I haven't really had a lot of time to scrap but I have nearly finished my Halloween album. I am continuing to use up lots of my old scraps and have also been looking at previous layouts I have done using scraps and old bits and bobs.

Here area few:

On this layout I used some old ric rak, rub-ons and chipboard buttons, but they all matched the layout I was creating.

My old scraps on this layout were the paper, bling crown and the sentiment sticker.

I'm having fun digging through my stash and sticking it down, it feels very satisfying to use up old bits and pieces and I would urge you to give it a go.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jo

A little bit of heaven!

2010-11-20T11:31:00.000-08:00

Heaven is the sound of your husband giving the kids a bath whilst you scrap! Will post photos soon.

Jo X

Notes Mini Album.

2010-11-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

As promised here are the photos of the mini-album I did the other day.

I have lots of little notes from my kids and wanted to keep them safe and scrap them at the same time. I found that a mini-album was the best way to do this. I used a Scenic Route album which I covered in Basic Grey Obscure papers and just stuck in the notes and then added on a few embellishments. I didn't want to over complicate matters so I didn't give much thought to pattern, matching papers and embellishments etc. I just pulled out a few sheets of paper stuck them down and added in the notes. It only took me about 2 hours and I've been thinking about how I was going to do this for months - NOTE: Don't sweat it - just do it!

I used Hambly rub-ons, Scenic Route and Love Elsie rub-ons.

I still have lots of papers etc. from when I had the shop (Scrappy Do's) so if you want any of these papers I still have lots to sell, at a discount of course, just send me an e-mail at scrappydos@googlemail.com if you're interested in any papers, I have lots of BasicGrey, Love Elsie, Scenic Route and some Autumn Leaves and 7 gypsies as well as lots of Love Elsie embellies and stamps.

Have a great weekend.

Serendipity

2010-11-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a bit of scrapping today trying to chill out a bit after a busy few days. I've created a lovely mini-album of notes and letters my daughter has given me over the past year. I will have to post photos tomorrow as the light here is virtually non-existent at the moment.

One of my guilty pleasures on these long and dark winter nights is to watch 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here!' whilst it is on I usually have the computer on my knee and sort out my photos or do a bit of digi scrapping. I have had Adobe Photoshop Elements for about a year now and am quite comfortable creating layers and re-colouring the layers, but that's as far as it goes. I had a go at a full layout the other night with a free kit which I downloaded after a google search and here it is:

I'm quite pleased with the result and need to get it printed now. Where does anyone else get theirs printed - any recommendations?

Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

My December Album and Transparencies

2010-11-12T09:15:00.001-08:00

A scrapbooking friend from USA and I have a monthly challenge and for October it was to create a winter layout. I pullled out this photo of my daughter and printed the photo off large as I wanted it to be the focal point of the layout. I layered an Ali Edwards statement on top in Photoshop before printing. I used Bazzill Cardstock and Fancy Pants paper with some Making Memories glitter stars and some Pebbles Inc. pearls. Although it is very simple it is one of my favourite recent layouts.

Below are photos of the transparencies I have made and you can download them from the link I posted yesterday.

We have some lovely pink snowmen.

A green 'Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer'.

Same again but in red.

Some numbers.

This final one is the names of the reindeer printed in a lovely shade of green.

With so many colours of transparency to choose from I will be able to mix and match to the days photos.

Here is a look at the cover of my December Daily Album for 2010. I added the date on the side with American Craft felt letters and made the corners more tough by hammering on some Tim Holtz book corners.

Let me know what you think.

More Transparencies to download

2010-11-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

Today I've been working on finishing my December Daily Album and have designed some more transparencies to use between my pages. Some are Word documents and some are PDF's.

Here is the link to have a look at them and download them if you wish to.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Halloween Layout

2010-11-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

I've been having a bit of a play this morning with the Halloween photos. Here is the layout that is the result and I'm really pleased with it.

I used American Crafts cardstock, Bazzill 'Just the Edge' Halloween title and cat trim, a spider which began life as an earring, the paper is 7gypsies, Collage Press and Cosmo Cricket, journaling note is by Making Memories, fabric tab is by Scrapworks and the chipboard in the centre of the flower is by Scenic Route.

The layout came together quite easily once I had got going with it and I'm now inspired to finish scrapping my Halloween photos, maybe in a mini album.

Let me know what you think.

Halloween Pictures

2010-11-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we had great fun yesterday preparing the party tea, getting on costumes, getting loot bags and knocking on doors trick or treating. We made a lovely carrot cake which we decorated with write on icing and a 'real' plastic spider and some yummy rice crispy cakes decorated with spooky stickers which the kids made.

Here are a few photos.

The recipe from Cranks Recipe Book.

The mixture.

"The flour just jumped out of the bowl!"

The cake.

The food.

One of my little devils.

The pumpkin.

Halloween

2010-10-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everybody! We went trick or treating tonight and the kids have enough sweets to last them a year. Will post pics soon.

Pumpkins

2010-10-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year again, when the kids bug me all week to go and get our pumpkins. Today we made the trip and ended up with two huge beauties! We had so much fun hunting around the field for just the right ones - now to carve them!

I love pumpkins and love to take photos of them, here are a few I took last year.

More December Daily

2010-10-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my December Daily Album and am really pleased with the way it is all coming together. Here are a few more shots of the transparencies which are dividing the pages.

Fancy Pants Flocked transparency with an old Fancy Pants die cut.

A transparency with bits and bobs tucked in, a Jenny Bowlin ticket, an old charm, 7 gypsies sticker, Making Memories star, flower and a bit of paper with a Fancy Pants Die cut.

KI Memories Lace Paper laminated with Tesco Value laminating pouch. I love the effect of this and they are really sturdy. I may embellish this page further when I finally put the album together.

Gorgeous Fancy Pants flocked transparency with a Fancy Pants die cut sewn on with red thread.

More Fancy Pants! A gorgeous transparency with a die cut attached.

My own design of stars jazzed up with a die cut by Fancy Pants.

More of the lovely Flocked Transparency by Fancy Pants with a tag attached.

As I've put these together I've been totally inspired to create more of my own design on transparencies. Keep checking back as I'll be posting more with downloads.
I hope you like my album so far, I would love to hear your comments.

Transparencies

2010-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

The snowflake and star transparencies are now up-load to here. I hope they are OK.

Have a great weekend.

2010-10-22T15:28:00.001-07:00

I have managed to upload the transparency with words on it that I created yesterday, for you to download. Not sure if it works as it is the first time I've tried it. Let me know.

My December Album and Transparencies

2010-10-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have been working on putting together my December Daily Album. I am using a 6 x 6 American Craft Modern Album. I bought this earlier on in the year for this very purpose - nothing like being organised!

I love the way that Ali Edwards has used transparencies between every page and wanted to do this as well, but as I'm on a stash diet I decided to print some of my own. I've also used other transparencies that I had.

I created these transparencies on my computer and printed them out on transparency paper that you can get at WHSmiths, Staples etc.

I found these stars on Clip Art and put them into a Word document, lined them up and viola!

Another transparency using Clip Art snowflakes. This is quite a delicate pattern so will need a darker background to really bring out the colour. I may bling this up a bit with Stickles at a later date.

For this transparency I used Word again and typed in a variety of Christmas words, for about three lines. I changed the font of each word and just copied them down until I had enough to fill the page. I'm planning to do a similar one using red numbers.

I am sure this Christmas will be busier than usual so I plan to copy Ali's design fairly closely. I designed this page layout which is very similar to the one Ali is using. I again used Word and inserted a table, tinkered around with it a bit and am quite pleased with the result.

I would love to know what you think.

Last Year's December Daily Album

2010-10-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

As I am starting to put together this year's album I have gone back to have a look at last years. I really enjoyed looking at it and reading about what we did. We had a big family holiday in Lapland last year and of course this is featured as well as the other smaller things. The album was entirely created using scraps and it was the first time I had printed off 6 x 12 photos which I loved and think look fab in the album. Let me know what you think.

The front cover was made using thick cardboard covered with Basic Grey Jack Frost paper. On top of that I added some snowflakes jazzed up with Stickles and the date was made using American Craft Thickers.

On quite a few of the pages I cut up trading card protectors, filled them with small photos and sewed all of it together with red cotton.

This photo was taken without the flash, hence the red colour, but I really think it works. I opened it in Photoshop to add the text which reads 'Believe in the magic of Christmas'.

Another full page 6 x 12 photo. The text was added in Photoshop before printing.

This page was kept very simple by printing off 1"square pictures as a collage. The hearts were some old heart rims which I filled with scraps of paper.

This page is just a normal sized envelope with a photo covering the front and a piece of Doodlebug paper on the reverse.

I made this envelope and added an insert with a further photo and journaling.

Love this photo! When I took it I deliberately left some blank space for journaling which reads 'Walking in a winter wonderland'.

A simple page for Christmas Eve.

A Fun Day!

2010-10-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful day last Saturday at a 24 hour crop to raise funds for Breast Cancer Research. I didn't actually stay for 24 hours but some of the hardcore scrappers did. We are hoping to raise at least £1,000, but the final total isn't in yet.

It was so good seeing scrapping friends again and having dedicated time to sit down and actually do some scrapping.

It was a total surprise to receive a lovely kit (via a friend) that had come from a good friend in America, so I put that together. It was very theraputic and I loved the fact that I didn't have to really think about the page design, I just followed the instructions! I put the whole thing together in a few hours and used 2 tubes of glue doing it and had a great time - highly recommended!

Here are the photos, I hope you like them.

This is one of the single 12 x 12 layouts that I did. I wanted it keep it really simple but delicate and used some very girly pearls, Jenny Bowlin Butterfiles and the gorgeous American Crafts rose ribbon.

This is the front cover of the Travel Album. The cover is acrylic and has the blue frame on it and the page underneath has the map paper and the postcard and other embellishments.

More pages from the travel album. I love all the different embellishements from stickers to ribbon and acrylic to the epoxy stickers. Now I've just got to fill it with photos!

December Daily Album

2010-10-08T10:10:00.001-07:00

I know it's too early to even think about Christmas but for those of you who take part in the December Daily Album, now is the time to get started. If you aren't familiar with this project check out the link here to Ali Edwards site for a detailed explanation. Basically, it is an album which contains 25 pages, 1st - 25th December, in which you put photos, notes, journaling and lots of other bits and pieces. I've done it for the last 2 years and love it! Will post pics soon from previous years.

I have already bought my album which is a 6 x 6 D ring Album my American Crafts in a lovely shade of red and will get out and blow the dust off my Christmas papers and embellishments pretty soon to get the basis of the album done before the 1st December.

If you haven't done this before I urge you to have a go - it's great fun and forces you to get scrapping in December.

Summer Album

2010-10-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished the mini-album I put together as an overview of the summer holidays. We didn't go away but we did lots of fun stuff and I wanted to record it so here it is.

I used a Basic Grey album and covered it with Love Elsie fabric paper. I used some left over Prima felt swirls, some Love Elsie Stickers and a flower to complete the cover.

I used Basic Grey Obscure paper for the inside and decorated by doodling with a white gel pen.

I used a lot of scraps in this album which can only be a good thing!

2010-09-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick and simple layout that I did recently of the Safari Park. We have got a yearly membership so we go quite often and I have got loads of pictures and I wasn't sure how to scrap them. I decided that I would do a layout that focused on the animals. I added the journalling after I had taken the photo.

I added these chipboard circles (Love Elsie and Scenic Route) which I had in my stash and I threaded some embroidery floss through the button to add some texture.

I added this Prima felt textured swirl and added detail with some flowers.

I was quite pleased with the result of this one and it is hanging on my wall so I can enjoy it before it is transferred to to my scrapbook.

2010-09-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well over the past few weeks I've been quite busy. First of all my printer broke - aargh! Typical as one of my goals was to scan in a huge bag of old photographs mum had given me. Anyway I had some birthday money as I was 21 (again!) in August and I bought one of these baby's. It's just what I wanted a scanner, photocopier and printer all in one. It scans up to four photos at the same time and the photo quality is great. Here are some of my favourite photos I've scanned so far.

My Great Grandma, Emily aged 46 in 1923.

My mum aged 3 in a new dress.

My Grandad Arthur.

My grandma as a young girl.

My Grandma and Grandad's wedding, 1924.

I've nearly finished the scanning one bag and am looking forward to the next one. It has been really interesting to look in detail at the photographs - such as this one - what do you see? A couple (relatives of my mum just after they had moved to America ) standing outside their car and home? Yes, exactly but .....

.... look more closely - can you see the young boy peeking out of the window? I'm not sure who he is but I do hope it's my mum's cousin (she didn't see him until he was much older during the war). What a fabulous photo! Let me know what you think.

I have done some scrapping but I haven't taken many photos, will do so soon though.

2010-09-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

The kids went back to school last week but before they did we took a day trip to Llandudno. We have a fabulous time and the weather was gorgeous so of course I took lots of photos. The kids had a wonderful day shopping on the pier, running around on the Great Orme and riding on the cable car. I'm planning a mini album for this trip so I'll keep you posted.

A Day Trip.

2010-08-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a lovely day out in Wales, the weather was fab but it was really windy. We visited a place where I used to go as a child so the trip brought back a lot of memories. The kids had a lovely time playing on the beach, looking in rock pools and climbing the big rocks and on the way back home we stopped for fish and chips - yum!

4 Simple Goals

2010-08-25T12:12:00.001-07:00

I have given the 4 goals which I hope to achieve by the end of this year, a lot of thought. I have thought about what I want to achieve and how I will feel when I do achieve them. I have also been careful not to give myself too many difficult goals as I find this time of year is so busy with the children going back to school, Halloween and birthdays, not to mention my December Daily album that I will also be doing again this year.

So, here are my goals:

1. Re-start my blog (looking good so far!)

2. Up-date my photo albums from 2008 to date.

3. Scan a huge bagful of old family photographs my mum has lent to me.

4. Drink more water. I am a tea drinker and boy do I drink lots of it, so I am going to try and switch to a more healthier tipple!

I spent some time today printing off photos from 2009 to add to my photo album and, as there were so many, I used a library style stamp to add the date onto the photos. If you haven't used one before and have lots of photos to date I would recommend buying one, they are available from most hight street stationery stores.

Using some old pyjamas.

2010-08-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole morning today tidying up and clearing out my daughters room. Whilst throwing out various items of clothing I came a cross a lovely pair of pyjama bottoms and decided to cut them up and use them on a layout, and here it is. (Sorry about the reflection on the photo, I'll try and re-take it tomorrow.)

The pyjamas are the pink strips at the bottom of the photograph. I used various strips of scrap paper and then I got my sewing machine out and used it to machine stitch some of the strips, the pyjamas and the photo onto the cardstock.

It's been a while since I used the sewing machine on a layout and I really like the texture of the stitches on the photo.

Supplies used: Bazzill cardstock, papers; Fancy Pants, Doodlebug, Heidi Grace, Lace Wrap by Fancy Pants.

Gotta love this layout!

2010-08-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

I've actually managed to finish another layout and I love it. I don't think I've put as many flowers onto one layout ever before, but really got into it, rummaging through my stash and I used a lot of older stuff on it.

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, papers by KI Memories, Fancy Pants, Heidi Grace, flowers by Bazzill, Fancy Pants, Heidi Grace, Prima, Hearts by Making Memories, sticker by Scenic Route.

NOTE TO SELF: Use up more of my old supplies!

Hello again!

2010-08-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 2 years that I have been AWOL but hopefully I'm now back for good.

I've recently been looking at Elsie Flannigan's blog and have been inspired to join in with her '4 Simple Goals'. Have a look at it here and see what you think - care to join me?

It's one of my goals for the remainder of the year to keep up to date with my blog and to post some of my photos and musings on scrapbooking and life in general.

Yesterday was the first day in ages that I had had a chance to do some scrapping and here is the result.

I don't often do double layouts but I really wanted to get lots of photos on this layout and this was the perfect solution. I actually scraplifted this from Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Tips and tricks as my creative mojo has gone missing!

Today we had a quick trip to the beach which was lovely. The kids really enjoyed just splashing around in the sea, writing their names in the sand and hunting for shells. Here are a few photos.

Now I just need to find the time to scrap them!

Can you believe it!

2008-12-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's gone until next December. I can't believe that Christmas Day has been and gone already. This December has been such a whirlwind for me so it is with gratitude that I can look back at my December Daily Album and recall all the memories that I would otherwise have forgotten. I have really enjoyed this project and will do it again next year. Here are a few of my favourite pages.

Oh Christmas Tree!

2008-12-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling slightly more festive now so here's a few photos of my tree. The Santa riding a cactus is a decoration I bought whilst travelling in Arizona.

Cold Play

2008-12-17T02:02:00.000-08:00

Last week my friend, Kathyrn, and I went to see Coldplay at the Liverpool Echo Arena. Well, all I can say about it is WOW! We loved it. The band were so cool and at one point they actually went to the back of the Arena and played from there.

Anyway, here are a few photos.

A Beautiful but Cold Winter's Day

2008-12-08T04:23:00.000-08:00

When I woke up yesterday I thought we'd had a sprinkling of snow, but it was just a hard frost. I really didn't want to go outside but I just had to grab my camera to snap those gorgeous iced plants before all the frost melted.

These are a few of my best shots.

As I hadn't been feeling very well on Saturday, I didn't leave the house so yesterday I just had to get out. As it was lovely and sunny we decided to go for a walk on the beach - well what else would you do on a Winter's day. I didn't dip my big toe in the sea, but I did dip my finger and yes it was FREEZING! Here are a few photos I took, which will find their way into my December Daily Album.

2008-12-08T03:56:00.000-08:00

Are you giving money as a gift this Christmas? Then have a look at these cute little money pouches which are so easy to make. They have been made by one of my customers, Rose, to give to her Grandchildren and I'm sure they are going to love them!

The Key to Christmas

2008-12-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

I often go mad at Christmas decorating the house. Last Christmas we had 4 trees! One in the hall, one in the Lounge, one in the Dining Room and a kids one where they hung all their home made decorations. This year will be no exception!

I often hang things from the door handles, upstairs and downstairs so the Christmas cheer is spread through the house.

I love the really big chipboard keys from Delish Designs and when I was shopping the other day I ventured in a shop who sold old music sheets. I thought they would be perfect for creating a festive door hanger and this is the result. I put together a kit to sell them through the web-site and they flew out!

2008-11-30T05:27:00.000-08:00

I love Ali Edwards! I love her scrapbooking and her whole philosophy towards her art. I keep reading her Life Artist book and everytime it inspires me and gets me itching to start scrapping.

I am doing her December Daily Journal, which you can find on her blog.
I am really looking forward to scrapping this throughout December and creating a whole album as I go, but best of all, I won't have tons of photos to scrap in the New Year! Here are a few pages of my album, all ready to go.

The Lake District

2008-11-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am fortunate to live only a few hours drive from the beautiful Lake District. A couple of weeks ago hubby and I went off to stay and be pampered in a wonderful hotel not far from Windermere. I just thought I would share some of the photos I took on the trip. I love taking landscape photos, but since I started scrapping I have taken more portraits. This trip was a great opportunity to get back to my first love of landscapes.

Re-discovering old stash

2008-11-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Today I was working on my Ali Edwards Daily December Journal and re-discovered using Bottle Caps! I had used the odd one or two a while ago, but I have now re-discovered them. The first one I just bashed with a hammer to flatten it, the second I punched out a circle which fitted perfectly inside the cap, added a number and then added some Diamond Glaze mixed with a few drops of Stickles and it is really effective.

It's really satisfying to be using up old stash!

Scrappy Do's Crop

2008-11-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was very exciting for me, it was the first Scrappy Do's Crop. What if no one turned up? What if I was sat on my own all day in an empty hall? What would I do with all those Jacket Potatoes and Mince Pies?

Turns out it was a fab day! A huge thank you to all who turned up, I couldn't have asked for a better crowd to spend my day with.

I didn't get that much done, but you don't go to crops to scrap do you?! I did manage to get my Journal finished that I am doing for the Ali Edwards December Daily Journal and I'll post some photos of that when I eventually get round to taking them!

Pumpkins

2008-11-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would share some pumpkin photos that I have just downloaded. I love pumpkins and all things to do with Autumn and plan on scrapping this year's photos very soon, I'll probably use the BasicGrey Mellow range as I love it!

Stories in Hand

2008-11-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a scrapbooking class. Not the conventional stick this paper here and that paper there kinda class, but more of a thought provoking class that gets the stories outta your head and onto the page, and boy do I feel as though I have lots of stories in there. Since I've been scrapbooking I have seen so many photos and photo opportunities that have made me remember things from my past. Why didn't I write them down?

Now I have this blog things are going to change. I want my kids to really know about me as a person, rather than just me as their mum. Thankfully my mum is still here and is still fit and healthy and I have lots of questions for her as well. Setting up this blog is just the start!

I have made and completed an album of 'sparks' which are pointers to spark your memory and I have also made a cute little jotter pad which I'm going to start carrying around with me to actually record those memories. Here is a photo of my jotter ---