Happy Birthday Harry!

My little boy is 2 and no longer a baby, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! It seems like only yesterday I was starring all gooey-eyed at him fast asleep in his hospital cot. But here he is, all grown up, copying everything we do, including cooking with the new play kitchen he unwrapped this morning, among other things.

He's had a great day at nursery and then we all went out for tea where he made us laugh by climbing and kneeling on the table to reach the bottom of the ice cream sundae dish with his spoon. The pictures are on my phone (yep, 3 photographers, 1 scrapper and not a camera in sight!) so as soon as I work out how to upload them I'll share.

Anyway, we've had a lovely evening, which I've finished by making yet another card, another birthday card for a certain someone (I won't say in case she is peeking!). This one was also taken from the Easy Patterns book I mentioned yesterday, but I've changed it quite a lot to suit the papers I chose. I like it, shame I have to give it away! Can't post a picture of that one yet as the batteries in my camera have died, probably best in case the recipient sees it!

Talking of cameras, hopefully some time next week dh should be getting a Nikon D80 (he thinks, the deliberations continue!) while I will be treating myself to a QuickKutz Silhouette, which seems to be much like the Craft Robo but with newly designed downloads available every fortnight to use if you wish. I can't wait, I just hope there are some left when I'm in the position to hand over the money!

Chat soon :)

I promised Florida pictures...

... and here they are. I was hoping to take a lot more than I did, but with Harry not himself, the weather cold and lots of shopping to be done it just didn't happen. But here's a few I did take.







Hopefully you can expect a few more pictures this week as tomorrow is Harry's 2nd birthday, in fact in exactly 18 minutes it will be the exact time he was born two years ago, 24 minutes past midnight, February 28th 2005. I think at this point I was completely away with the fairies on pethidine and telling the midwives I'd had enough and was packing my bags and going home! I'd only been in hospital one hour when he came into the world, it was the best day of my life and gosh, that was two years ago! Where has my baby gone?! We're having a little get together on Saturday for him, to give me a chance to catch up with my friends and Harry the chance to play with their children. Really looking forward to it already. Just finished making his birthday card, and also this LO - my first 8.5x11 - taken when we visited The Deep last August. I love that picture. Both the card and LO were taken from sketches in the fantastic Creating Keepsakes Easy Patterns For Scrapbooking magazine/book that I picked up in the USA. It's filled with ideas for LOs, and shows you how best to use patterned paper, which I often struggle with it. Every page shows more gorgeousness and I would definitely recommend it.




See you soon!


x

Florida baby yeah!

Almost forgot ti update my blog I've been so busy and jet lagged, zzzzzzz, hence why I'm still online at midnight, my body thinks it's only 7pm! Our flight was delayed 24 hours so only got back on Thursday, had a first aid course on Friday and been sorting out my neglected swaps today so not had time to stop and type yet!


Anyway Florida was amazing, not so much the weather (it was freezing in Disney World, I was soooo cold) but the stash shopping was just fantastic. I bought so much stuff, as I knew I would, including a tote and a Cuttlebug, which I just love and have almosr worn out already while cutting alphabets for a swap. It really does cut chipboard and embosses so well. I was also really pleased to find alphabets are quite reasonable to buy in the UK as well. They were my biggest bargains (the Cuttlebug was only $40, about £21) but there were just too many to mention. I'm still trying to find room for it all but I am a very happy bunny. Now all I need is some time to stop and scrap and use some of my new stash and hopefully produce something as good as LOs published in the US magazines, all I can say is wow, they are so inspiring (brought a few mags back as well in case you hadn't already guessed!)

Didn't take too many pictures while away, Harry was still getting over the flu and just wasn't himself and we didn't really get up to too much, apart from Disney and shopping of course! But I'll try and get dh to put my pc back together (don't ask!) and see if I can upload some tomorrow.

Bye for now. :)

All card-ed out!

Had another busy week, even more so because I've had everything to get ready before flying off to Florida on Tuesday. That included a birthday card for my mum, a Valentine's card for Gareth and a get well soon card for my boss's wife who has been poorly in hospital, poor thing. I'm no card maker, so my designs were card-lifted from the Doodlebug website gallery, but they still so long to make and get right!

I still have loads to do, although the list is getting shorter, just a Clippykits cosmetic bag, my mum's recipe tin and my CJ to do now. Tomorrow is the Leeds crop so hopefully I should get a fair bit done, at least I hope so as time is really running out now. I can't wait to get away though, I'm so looking forward to devouring all the goodies in the scrapbooking shops there and my mum has already booked me in for a two-hour class, bless her! But that means I have to take a few things with me, which leaves less room for new stash on the way back LOL!

Sorry I've not posted pictures of my returned CJ yet, I will get round to it soon I promise!

Bye for now!

End of an era...

... or so it feels like. I'm talking about completing the last LO in my CJ group. I didn't want it to be over, but I'd been looking forward to this last one the most because I knew exactly the theme and photographs I was going to use. It's called Scent of a Woman and for me that meant my favourite perfume, Ralph Lauren Romance, and the occasions I've worn it for, including my wedding. I'm so pleased with it and feel so sad I can't keep it for myself, although I expect I will re-do it once I eventually get round to scrapping my wedding photos.

I also received my own CJ back today, and it was so exciting to open it up and see all the other inspirational LOs my team mates have produced for me to admire. I'll share some with you tomorrow, but for now I gotta go!

Catch you soon! :)

Mmmmmm, fairy cakes, yummy!

Not done any scrapping again today or last night, just not been in the mood and have been feeling really sorry for myself still. So I decided to show Harry how to make fairy cakes instead. Or should that be rock cakes?! I'm no domestic goddess, more a domestic nightmare, so me being me I left them in a tad too long. They still taste nice though, but I don't think Shimelle needs to be panicking just yet! Lol!

Anyway, I've just been cheered up slightly by the news I'm going to take receipt of a free, new sewing machine tomorrow. It had been advertised through www.freecycle.org.uk a website where people offer their unwanted items for free and people ask to take it off their hands. I've given a fair bit of stuff away recently after a clear out, and now I'm helping someone else out too, or rather they are helping me out! At the moment I'm borrowing my sister's machine but now I can give it back to her and play with my own to my heart's content. I can feel a stitched LO coming on! Anyway, if you haven't already go check out your local group, get signed up and start freecycling!

x

Sneak Preview

This is my current project, which I'm sure I've told you about before. It's a recipe tin for all the recipes my mum wrote in her school jotters, with space for a very special one my nana included secretly, her favourite, walnut and date loaf. It will be my mum's birthday present later this month and I hope, when she opens it while we're on holiday, she'll like it. It's just a work in progress at the moment, the creative juices are not flowing today, but then I feel really down about all sorts of nonsense so it's not surprising. Think I will just surf the internet and sulk tonight and get back to scrapping tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day, right?

More piccies!

Managed to get a good (enough) photo of last night's LO using the new kitchen worktop and overhead halogen lights - well it's a lot better than in my dim scraproom anyway!



Also, just made this very quick card to say congratulations to my crop friend Karen and her husband, who have had a baby boy. I'm sure Karen won't be looking and that it's safe to post this here, she'll no doubt be a bit busy now she has two young sons to look after!And thanks to Anthea for introducing me to those wonderful glitter glues, how fabby are those?! :oD

Right, off to watch a clip of Harry as a baby then Pirates of the Carribean 2, bye for now! xxx

Double makeover!

Both my blog and me have both had a much-needed makeover and I'm sure you'll agree we look much better! I had dyed my hair back to brown with blonde streaks before having to model for a crowd of photographers for a lecture my mum and step-dad were hosting. This picture is one that was taken on the day and one of my favourites.


And then I've used the same picture to re-design my blog banner. The old one was bright enough, but a bit too plain and boring and outdated for me now. So after a bit of a play in Photoshop this afternoon with some scrummy Rhonna Farrer digital goodies I've made this one. Hope you all like it, I do.

Managed to get some scrapping done last night, not anything on my urgent 'to do' list, but a fun LO of Harry being messy with his spaghetti and his favourite foods at 23 months old. I'm still waiting for the batteries to charge so will take a picture during daylight tomorrow and upload then.

Bye for now! :oP

Romantic ribbons

Spent a lovely day playing with Harry and doing a little bit of ribbon shopping for a swap I'm in. Valentine's Day isn't far off, so my colours are romantic pinks, purples and a dark peach, with primas thrown in for good measure. I can't wait to get a nice mix back soon, I just lurve ribbons and primas, I just need to use them more! I'm also in a Valentine love swap, which I really must start getting on with, along with my mum's birthday present and something for my beloved husband so he doesn't feel left out! Lol! I'll be away on the actual day, so I must leave him something nice to make up for it.

One of the possibilities is this beautiful sei Twitterpated scrapbook in a box kit that arrived at my door this morning. It's this month's free subscription gift from Scrapbook Inspirations magazine and it's utterly gorgeous! I had a sheet of it before and used almost every last square inch on several LOs and cards, so something tells me I'm going to enjoy this one. :)

Revealed! Ta da!

Here's my first Kraft Stop design team projects, using the delicious supplies sent to us lucky gals courtesy of the very lovely Lynn.

Well I had fun with these, although I found using the Christmas-themed papers quite difficult at first as I just seem to struggle with festive LOs and cards. But the summery sheets were a doddle. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them (having previously used the same papers to do a LO) and I turned them into a minilope for my best friend and Harry's god mummy. And do you know what? I think she liked it!

Not been doing much scrapping of late as we've been really busy getting on with decorating our kitchen now the final parts have been fitted. It's a huge task involving stripping wallpaper, patching and sanding the walls, plastering, re-papering, painting, re-painting all the woodwork and radiators and tomorrow my step-dad is coming to do the tiling. Phew. It's costing a small fortune, even though it should have been finished months ago and we thought we had it all covered, but I don't care if I'm going to be skint all month, it's worth it. And I'll be skint anyway because I'm squirrelling money away to go stash shopping in Florida in minus 22 days and counting! Woo hoo!

Love to crop

Really enjoyed yesterday's Leeds crop again. I didn't get as much done as I had planned to as usual, just a single LO in fact, but I love the LO I did and getting to have a play with Kirsty's Craft Robo was great fun. I have got to get one of these very soon, once I'm back from holiday and can start saving again properly! Anyway, inspired by the amazing Elsie Flannigan herself I decided to try some acrylic painting on acetate and it worked great. The title (rub a dub Jubb, Jubb in a tub) is what we say to Harry when he has a bath, what with our surname being Jubb and all! LOL! I'm so chuffed I actually managed to use more than 1 photo on a LO and for once I made it 12x12 without making it look empty and lost. Unfortunately my photography skills aren't as good and getting a decent picture of it has proved unsuccessful, but here's my effort anyway!

Just been relaxing today and spending the day with family to celebrate Gareth's grandma's 70th birthday. Harry is still tiring us out, his routine this weekend is shot to pieces and late afternoon naps have made him hyper at bedtime and really hard to settle. Hopefully he's down for the night now and will sleep past 5am, which was what time he had me up this morning, yawn!

And on that note I better get some sleep otherwise I will fall asleep at my desk tomorrow. Bye for now!

Roll on tomorrow!

And I might actually get some scrapping done then! This week has been one mad blur of work, fantastic news and tidying out and I haven't had a moment to sit down and scrap. But that doesn't matter, because next month Harry and me are jetting off to Florida! My mum and step-dad have a villa there and are staying there next month and we are flying out to meet them and spend a week with them and my sister and grandma. I can't wait, although I'm not looking forward to a nine-hour daytime flight with a very-almost two-year-old on my knee. I'll just have to do lots of scrummy stash shopping to make it up for it when we get there! And at least we're all flying home together so I might actually get to eat on the way back (toddler on knee and fold down tables do not add up.) I wonder what Harry will make of Disney, I hope he likes Mickey as he's been getting a bit scared of costumes recently, it's like he knows! I also had a court case against me dropped, it was brought by a woman who knocked my car after turning the wrong way into a one-way car park. So that's a big relief and means I can enjoy the holiday without worrying about it now.

Anyway, as I was saying, tomorrow is the monthly Leeds crop and I have plenty to be getting on with including my mum's birthday present. I am making her a recipe tin using the recipes she learnt in school. She's lent me her exercise books and I'm going to scan and print them out onto recipe cards. There's even one my nana wrote in the back, walnut and date loaf, it was her favourite. She'd been looking after them all those years and we found it after she died. Bless her. I also want to complete the January page of the calandar I meant to complete ready for 2007. I'm going to do one page each month this year, which is a commitment I can cope with, and then it will be all ready for 2008. And finally I must finish the latest CJ and get it posted on schedule this time!

Anyway, just a little LO to share with you this time. It was a quite quick and simple one that I had to do to satisfy my craving to scrap the other night and to try out my unopened square punch. It did make me feel better!

Bye for now!

Happy New Year!

My first post of 2007, can you believe it's here already?! Ok, so I'm three days behind everyone else but I've been busy, working mainly, no rest for the wicked and all that! I did get a really positive appraisal today though and there seems to many more opportunities for me to develop in my career, so I'm really pleased with that. :)

Anyway, you want to hear about scrapping, right? Well, I've not done much since New Year's Eve, other than another CJ entry, a bit behind schedule but better late then never I suppose. Here's a sneaky peek (and if you are in my CJ team, look away now! You have been warned!)

Just been relaxing and surfing the internet in front of the tv tonight, after such a late night scrapping last night and Harry practicing his escaping from his new toddler bed almost every hour through the night. Not too impressed by this year's Celebrity Big Brother hopefuls, or should that be nobodies! It seems to get worse every year doesn't it? Oh well, it might improve later (I'm not holding my breath though!)

Bye for now! :)

Goodbye 2006. Hello 2007!

As I write this the final minutes of 2006 are on their way into the past and a new year is almost upon us. And I've just had time to complete one last LO before the clock strikes twelve, using a bazzill and goodies subscription of yummy goodies that landed on my doorstep last week. I'm really pleased with it, but I seem to have fallen into my 'signature' style once again!

So much has happened this year, we've had good times and a few bad times as well, but it's certainly been happy for me. I'm going to use today's UKS blog prompt to remember a few times.

What has made 2006 for you!??! What has made you smile, cry, laugh, reflect and what have you learned?

So what made 2006 for me. Blimey. I'm not sure. Maybe I better answer the other questions first! Things that made me smile were celebrating my son's first birthday in February, our second wedding anniversary in August and our first family holiday in October. I cried about getting moved offices in April, although that worked out really well for me after all, and also a few times over our disaster new kitchen and electrics from hell. I've learned so much, this time last year I'd never even heard of scrapbooking and now look at me! I've also learned so much in my job now I'm working in a much better environment with more responsibility. I think we've been quite lucky really, and I hope 2007 proves to go as well as this year has.

See you next year, and Happy New Year, hope you all have a wonderful 2007!

Christmas past...

... or should that be Christmas has passed, been and gone, and the mayhem is finally settling. We had a lovely time being with our families and we've all been so lucky with the presents we received. Harry was so much more into it this year than last Christmas, he was only 10 months then. This time round, at 22 months, he just loved opening his presents - and everyone else's too! He's turning into such a cheeky chappy, and a lovely little boy. We're going to turn his cot into a little bed for him this weekend, I can't believe this has come round so fast, he really is growing up in the blink of an eye.

But back to Christmas! I think my mum must have been surfing UKS and chatting up the lovely sponsors as she somehow found her way to a site that sells cases for the Tag-a-long and a Craft Mates caddy. I didn't ask for anything crafty for Christmas, so I'm so chuffed that not only did I get something craft-related but that I also got something really useful and nice.

Harry was spoilt rotten again, no, make that ruined! He got quite a few books (he loves books), toys and clothes, but I think if he could string a sentence together he would tell you his favourite present was a portable DVD player so he can watch some films in the car. We said we would only get him a couple of presents this year, but we saw this last minute and it was too good a bargain to miss. He's recently started watching a bit of television, he loved Monsters Inc on Christmas Day, and as we make frequent car journeys of up to an hour or more we thought he'd like this better than staring out of the window!

Here's a photo of him opening it on Christmas morning.

Anyway, I've been back at work for two days now, although I've not been feeling so good. I hope it's just a bug, it's nothing serious, just an annoying cough that keeps making me feel sick and very tired. Hopefully it will pass soon. Got another long weekend, although we have no plans other than to pop into town and check out the sales, spend the vouchers we got for Christmas, etc.

Anyway, hope you all have a good one. Happy New Year!

Back again

Hi all, hope everyone had a good weekend. I've been a busy bee. Friday night was my company Christmas do and my colleagues and myself had a great time dancing until 3am! You wouldn't believe how quiet those two are at work, but boy can they really let their hair down! Then yesterday was the December Leeds crop, which I was one hour late to having gone to bed so late the night before, or should that be that morning! A hangover seemed to help though as I finally got my design team Christmas LO done after being stuck on it for well over a week and another LO using one of the huge pile of Harry's younger baby pictures.

So it was quite a productive day really. Then today we've stayed home and put up the Christmas tree - I've even wrapped a few presents to go under it.

I must say I'm not really in the Christmas mood yet, it still seems a tad early and having no money in December is no fun either. I also have to work right up until Christmas Eve, well the Thursday, and then it's back straight after Boxing Day. It will happen though, and I'm sure this Christmas is going to be great once I can relax and enjoy it.

Bye for now :)

Another present down!

I managed to tick one more Christmas present off my ever-growing list last night thanks to a challenge on UKS. The challenge was to complete a Clippykit item and as I had bought several cosmetic bags, two handbags and an umbrella - some for Christmas presents - I was only too happy to join in. After all, I thought it would give me the kick I needed to get them done. But with so much going on and so much to do I've only got one done so far! Oh well, it's a start isn't it?! I just have to get more of a move on with the others!

I've also made a lovely handbag charm from a little charm, an old bracelet and some extra beads and wire. I'm quite pleased with it, especially as it's my first attempt. I'll take a photo of it tomorrow when it's light.

In other news I have been having a clear out this week and have either given away, recycled or thrown out a few things, everything from furniture to boxes. The old sofas have gone too so we can continue redecorating the kitchen now, although we're still waiting for some last bits to be delivered and later fitted. At least there's light at the end of the tunnel now though! I hope anyway!

Tomorrow we're going to my mum and stepdad's to put up their Christmas trees and also have some Christmas pictures of Harry done as well as a few family portraits. They're both photographers, which is handy! It's been so long since we all had a photo taken together so I can't wait, especially as I know they'll be lovely.

Right, I'm off again. See you soon.

Long weekend ahead...

... and boy do I need it! Just taking a couple of days leave from work to catch up on some tidying, Christmas shopping and, of course, scrapping. Although at the moment I have more things I want to do than I can actually fit into the next two days when my son will be in nursery! I'm going to have to fit a hair cut in there too as my hair has got far too long and straggly again!

Anyway, I finished my latest CJ Beautiful Planet last night. I really enjoyed this one, it's not often I get to do lovely landscape pictures, other than the couple in my holiday album I mean. I did my entry on Dominican Republic, where dh and me spent our honeymoon two years ago. And here it is (but no peeking if you are in my CJ team!)

Next up is the Kraft Stop design team kits I received last week and then I must test out the scrummy papers, chipboard and primas my postman brought me this morning from Little Cottage Crafts. I loved the paper layering class in last weekend's CC, and I'd love to experiment a bit more with that technique.

Right, best go catch some zzzzz, busy day tomorrow!

I survived the cyber crop!

It's just a shame none of my stash did though, well, not intact anyway! Lol! But I had a fantastic time and I got loads done, so much more than last time when I was still new to scrapping and a bit slower than I am now. The classes were fab, really inspriring and they certainly got me thinking outside the box and trying new techniques, which I'm so thankful for. Oh, and my house won again, bonus! Here's some of my favourite projects.

There's talk of starting up a new crop in my area especially for classes and I really hope it gets off the ground as I've only ever done classes online and I'd love to do more in real life. I feel I still have so much to learn. But in the meantime there's all the challenges and the Christmas presents I have to make and they are certainly getting me doing something a little different. Plus I get to see the look on people's faces when they open them and realise I made it especially for them :)

Got to go complete a CJ, it's already a day late because I forgot about it in all the excitement of the CC! Seeya later :)