My latest offering....

On Bank Holiday Monday in between all the organising/cleaning out of my wardrobe, I managed to complete a LO using the rest of my July Scrapagogo Kit. Here is the LO, the picture is of my Sister & I taken circa 1973/74.

I really love the Blonde Moments Suet Pudding range, I think they have become my favourite of their range so far. I always loved the patterns of the papers that Jay designed, but the black & white version seems to look so simple and elegant, but also fun and loving at the same time. I look forward to see what new and delicious papers the talented team at Art from the Heart bring us next.

Wednesday's Blog Prompt...

On UKScrappers today the prompt was...

You're having a small intimate dinner party with lots of good food, perhaps a glass or two of wine, and LOTS of sparkling conversation. Each of your five guests must be a real person but can be historical or currently alive. Who will you invite and why? What do you really want to talk about?

I would invite five people as follows...

1. My Mum - she sadly died quite suddenly of Pancreatic Cancer in May 2003 only 3 weeks and 1 day after being diagnosed. Not a single day goes by when I don't think of her and miss her dearly. She was my best friend in the whole world. We didn't always agree, in fact we were very alike and often argued, but I always knew how much she loved me.

2. My Dad - Mum was his soul mate and the love of his life, so it goes without saying that he would have to be there.

3. My Little Sister - goes without saying...

4. Brother in Law - as above

5. My Husband - as above.

I know this is not the most exciting group of people, but there is nobody that I want to have more around my dinner table than my family. We are close, so to lose such an important part of our lives was and has been devastating. We would talk about everything and nothing in particular, just to talk about everyday life and to hear my Mum again would be more than enough. One of the things I miss is just hearing my Mum's voice and her laughter.

If I was allowed more people it would be my daughter Georgia who can't remember my Mum as she was not even a year old when she died. She can recognise her picture and knows how much her Nanny loved her, but that is the extent of her memories. My niece and nephews were a little older and can remember....but I am sure they would love to just sit around the kitchen table having one of our Sunday Roasts lovingly prepared my my Dad...the family Chef.

OK, I am sat here with tears streaming down my face just wishing that this was something that I could really arrange. Thanks for the prompt Jane.

A Bit Late...thanks to Blogger....

Tuesday's Blogging Prompt on UKScrappers... I would have posted last night....but bl**dy Blogger wouldn't let me in...so here goes...

"There ought to be a law": What are your pet peeves? We’ll call this ‘Grumpy old scrapbookers’! List your five top pet peeves about anything (scrapbooking, kids, partners, pets, or just life). If you've seen 'Grumpy Old Men' or 'Grumpy Old Women', you'll know what this means, but you don't have to be old...just grumpy.

1. "Middle Laners" on the Motorway. Why do they insist on sitting there when the road is completely empty. Is it too much of an effort for them to move over. It means I have to get into the far lane to overtake, and it seems so stupid.

2. Another diving one...Lorries who want to overtake other lorries that are in the inside lane doing less than 60. They overtake when they are only going a couple of miles per hour faster, and it takes them ages to get by. Meanwhile the traffic is backing up behind them, and the roads ahead are deserted.

3. Recycling - In Milton Keynes we are lucky enough to have a weekly collection. We can recycle all plastic, paper, metal and glass.....but still most of my neighbours (including my mate Bex) refuse to bother. How hard can it be to put a few bits into the pink bags and keep the glass in the box they give you. I mean we all live on this planet, and it is our responsibility to do what we can to save it. My moto is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

4. LOST!. I have never watched it, don't get it, don't see the point in trying to watch it....so why does my Husband keep making me watch it...I HATE LOST!

5. People who smoke in their car, and then toss the butts out of the window. I have no objection to smokers, but their cars have ashtrays in them.....why will they not use them, and then empty them at home. It seems that they don't want to get their car ashtray dirty, but are quite willing to make our cities, towns & villages dirty.

OK, like many...when pushed I can become a "Grumpy Old Woman".

OK back to Scrapping, I have completed a few more pages this month....here are a few of them. I promise to update again later this week with more, but don't want to put too much pressure on Blogger...as it has a nasty habit of losing my post...and then I lose the will to update. So here is a DLO that I did of the girls when we went to Lynseys for a BBQ... There is journaling under each flap detailing
which bottom belongs to which face. It was such fun taking the pictures, the girls were in giggles as was Lynsey...she even incorrectly identified her daughters bottom... I know my Georgia's anywhere as she tends to clench it and then it gets dimples.....so now you know which one is Georgia, we also noticed that Melissa has the pert bottom, and then Catherine was the cute one left over. I think this is the cheapest layout I have ever produced as all it took were 2 sheets of 12x12 pattered paper, 2 full sheets of 12x12 Bazzill, 2 part sheets of 12x12 Bazzill, and the rest was either stamped onto the patterened paper (arrows & question marks) or in the case of the title, hand written by me, and then cut out. I think the total cost of the DLO was £2.60...which is a miracle for me...
Here is another one I love. I did it earlier this month. It was a scraplift of a LO seen on 2 Peas by a talented lady called Adrienne...I added a few bits, but it is mainly a lift. I had this picture for a couple of weeks, trying to work out what papers to use, and then the lovely people at Basic Grey released the new "Gypsy" papers. You would think to look at them, that they were made especially for me to use with the picture...even the flowers match the ones on Georgia's outfit.

Bl**dy Blogger

Well Blogger is getting right on my nerves at the moment. It allows me to update, but won't let me add pictures. Maybe it is angry at me for not updating for a whole month, so now it is punishing me.

I am sorry Blogger, I will update more often....but please please let me post my pictures......

Ok so now it will let me load pictures...but not the two I wanted.....I wonder if it is because they containe the word "Bum"...LOL

Ok, the LO here was done for me by the lovely Lynsey (Lyns110craft on UKS) the picture is of David & Georgia and Lyns took it while we were at Woburn Safari Park. My contribution to the LO was the title.....so a joint effort...and I am really pleased with the whole thing.

Forgive me Bloggers...It has been one month since I last Blogged...

That sounds like a confessional...I always knew I would be crap at keeping my Blog updated....I told you, and now you all believe me...

Life has been busy here during August, my Hubby David was off work for 3 weeks, although I was too busy to take more than a few days off. We have done a few things this month, including a BBQ with Lynsey & family, atrip to Woburn Safari Park with Lynsey, Paul, Melissa & Catherine. The girls had such fun on both the days they spent together. The most exciting news is that David has an interview with Lockheed Martin. They so Aeroplanes & Missiles for the MOD. You should see the application form that has to be filled in. Obviously there are security issues, and the form seems ridiculous until you think about all the security threats facing the country in this day and age...and then the form seems sensible, I mean you wouldn't want just anyone to work for these companies. Hopefully David will also hear from BMW soon, as he was recommended for a position there. I think David would prefer the BMW job as it is doing more of what he is doing at the moment, but when there is a nice redundancy package on the table @ GM he will consider either. He has even toyed with the idea of doing contract work for a couple of companies where he as contacts....so who knows quite what the future holds for him.

Time for an Update!

Ok, I did type a lovely long post last week.....and when I went to spell check in blogger.....it bl**dy well went and lost the lot....so I lost the will to post...

So here we are, start of a new week and almost the end of July...Where has this year gone, it has literaly flown by. Georgia is starting to get excited about going to school in September. She is all kited out with the exception of white socks as they had none in her size.

I have been mega busy with work, taking on about 4 new clients in the past couple of weeks...now I just need to squeeze all the work in...I think I need to clone myself, but I am not sure the world could handle another one of me...

I have tried to do lots of scrapping this month, and have actually managed to do 5 SLO's and 1 DLO this month. I entered a couple of Design Team Calls this month, sadly I didn't make it on this occasion, but had lovely emails from the site owners telling me that I was shortlisted, which is nice to know. I will keep on trying and who knows maybe next time I will make it.

I was asked my Lorraine of Scrapagogo to write a bit about myself to feature in her kit booklet under the "Members Spotlight"....so look out for more about me in the August Kit.

I was bought a sewing machine for my birthday back in March, but had not really had
a proper play with it until yesterday when I actually completed my first ever LO with machine sewing on...so here it is...leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

I have also started to make my journal bag that was the June Jenni Bowlin Project Kit...and I love it. It is totally fab, and now I am having to make one for a Client of mine to give to her Sister for her Birthday. I had to order them on eBay from the US, as I couldn't find the 7 Gypsies Tall Journal instock anywhere in the UK...and I did search endlessly.


Ok, well at least Blogger hasn't lost my babblings this time.

More Ramblings...

Well it has been a couple of weeks since my last update, things have been pretty hectic. I attended the funeral of an old school friends Mum. I grew up over the road from them, and they were like extended family, so when Jan lost her 5 year battle with Breast Cancer, it was like losing family. Having lost my own Mum to Pancreatic Cancer 3.5 years ago, I totally understand how they are feeling at the moment. The range of emotions they are about to go through will be varied and intense. They will need each other more than ever, and slowly they will learn to live with the loss.

On a happier note, I recently submitted a few layouts to Jenny Cocks, the editor of Creative Scrapbooking, and to my surprise, she asked me to send a couple of layouts to her. She wants to publish them in the August issue of the magazine, her last as Editor, as from the September issue Mandy Anderson will be taking over. They are going to use "Motley Crew" and "Fairy Princess". I am so over the moon. It will be the second UK magazine that I have been published in, having made it into Scrapbook Inspirations at the end of last year.

Sunday is the Milton Keynes Crop. I was asked this week by Lynsey (one of the organisers) if I could do a LO using this months kit...so here it is. Sorry about the shadow on the LO...the sun has dared to shine on us this week....how damn inconvenient of it when I was trying to photograph a LO...

The kit will contain a sheet of each of the papers in the DCWV Black & White Paper Stack, plus some Bazzill Cardstock. The techniques for this month were stamping and/or sewing. Since I am not very good on my sewing machine, I really must practice, I decided to use my Making Memories Simply Fabulous foam stamps....they are so big, and perfect for titles. I want to get another one done before Sunday, but I have housework to do tomorrow.

Monday is David's Birthday, so tomorrow Georgia will be making him a birthday card, and she may even make him a small cake. My four year old loves to make cakes...unlike her mother...LOL
Like every year David is having a party, but we have postponed it until the 15th as loads of his friends were already busy that day. So in preparation of loads of visitors...it is time for a massive dose of housework...now housework is the equivalent to swearing to any dedicated Scrapper....but needs must. We decorated the lounge earlier this year, so it looks lovely, and the kitchen was done last year...so this weekend David is fitting our new toilet and sink with vanity unit in the downstairs cloakroom, and I will be giving it a lick of paint. I have already started to peel of the wallpaper that has been there since we moved in 5 years ago...so now it has to be painted...that's one way to force me to get painting. While I am painting, I will be touching up the marks in the hallway too...So instead of leaving it to a mad panic.....I am starting early. Well enough from me, I want to get back to some scrapping.

Glorious Sunshine

Well another week has passed. Things have been busy work wise. So busy that I have only just found time for an update.

Last weekend an old family friend finally lost her battle with breast cancer. She was a lovely lady and she will be sadly missed. So tomorrow My Dad, Sister and I are making the journey down to Looe in Cornwall to attend her funeral on Monday. I love Cornwall and inparticular Looe, and wish I could stay longer than one night.

I managed to get some scrapping done during the week too. On Thursday evening I did this LO. The picture was taken by David at Easter when we took my Dad & Alex bowling in Milton Keynes. I love it when Georgia put her had on your cheeks and kisses...they are the sweetest kisses in the whole world.

I took Georgia for a haircut on Friday afternoon, she was such a little angel doing exactly what the hairdresser asked her. She has asked if she can grow her hair longer. At first I said no, because she will never let us brush her hair, but over the last couple of weeks she has been much better. I told her that as long as she continues to let me brush her hair twice a day, then I will let her grow it....seems fair enough to me.


Today we have been playing in the garden again. Georgia has helped David put her paddling pool back up and she is now fully lotioned and ready for action. I had a fun day scrapping in the shade in the garden. I did the cover for a new CJ I have joined on UKScrappers "Bonanza 2006". When I finished that I did a LO, the picture was taken at the beginning of June, Georgia wanted me to take a picture of her lounging on the grass. She is looking more grown up by the day....my little lady.

Those Darn Kittens!

Well after my day creating stuff with my Delivered2You kit, I came down this morning to find that the kittens had decided that it made a cute play thing....and it had claw and teeth marks all over.....so I had to dismantle and start again.

Has been hot again here, thank godness for the paddling pool. It is supposed to stay Hot, Hot, Hot! for the next few days, so it is being left up with the water in...and will then be used to water the garden.

I have been cat sitting for Bex since Thursday, and she is due home this evening. Pickles and Tabitha have been good.....Pickles will even purr when she sees me now.....but I think it is just because she wants to be fed....and not real love...LOL

Carnival Time

We were going to the West Bletchley Carnival this afternoon, but the weather is too hot to be standing around without shade etc. As the weather is Hot! Hot! Hot! we decided to put up the paddling pool for Georgia...which was a much better idea, and kept us all cool.
The roads in Milton Keynes will be busy today what with Bon Jovi playing at the MK Bowl, the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the West Bletchley Carnival. The Carnival have a large screen showing the first England World Cup game at 2pm, so I expect there will be a large number of fellas congregated around it.

I have been playing with this May's Delivered2You Kit of which I am a Design Team Member. I have made a couple of items, just finishing them off this morning.
I also got a couple of parcels this morning. A box full of goodies from PaperArts including 4 of the new Provocraft Tins......they are totally FAB. I love the large lunch tin. I also got another Pinecone Press Book - Altered Alphabets, plus some Marian & Me charms, and a couple of sheets of scalloped Bazzill. The second parcel contained 2 sheets for Kling-on from the lovely Kym at Stamp Galaxy....her last 2 sheets...yay for me...LOL The final parcel was a CJ, I am in 2 CJ's at the moment, Scraplings Team CJ and I have just joined the Bonanza 2006 CJ. I received Fiona's (FlossieD) this morning, so will have a play tomorrow...fingers crossed.


One more thing before I disappear for the day. Here is the final LO I did at the MK Crop last weekend. LO of Sweep, one of my 13 week old kittens lazing on the window sill on Bank Holiday Monday.

The Best Made Plans

Well yesterday was a disaster. I had a busy day planned, I had wanted to finish the set of accounts I needed to do for one of my clients. The day started out promising until I got a phone call from Georgias' nursery...they were having to close due to a burst water main. So just after lunch I had to go and collect her. I was only out for about 1 hour, and I returned to a disaster zone...our two 13 week old kittens had diarreah and had made a mess all over the house. I spent all afternoon trying to keep Georgia out of the way while I was trying to clean it all up. I put them into the downstairs cloakroom and fed them chicken and rice and things seem to be ok now...fingers crossed.

Ok so I promised to add pictures of the LO's I did at the MK Crop on Sunday, so here they are. The first one is "Spring on the Farm" the pictures were taken over Easter Weekend when went to a local farm to see the Lambs. The one pictured was being hard reared as it's Mum had rejected it and the could not get another Sheep to adopt it. We used felt to make the embellishments, flowers in my LO. which was something that I had never done before but they looks so effective.
The second LO I did "Field of Dreams" was using a picture that David tookof Georgia sitting in the long grass in Linear Park near our home. I used a MM Kit that was given to me by Caroline (IrishCaroline on UKScrappers) and it was a perfect match to the colours of the picture. You would think the picture was taken with the kit in mind. David did see the kit when I came back from Bonanza, but like all men he would have forgotten in the blink of an eye...LOL
The only thing I added to the kit were the title letters, they are KI Memories Alphabet Soup and the colour was "fat free" but I added L'il Davis Marshmellow paint to the back of the letters to make them stand out...the paint actually looks like clouds on the backs of the letters. I also painted the metal charms to make them stand out more.

Ok back to the daily grind, fingers crossed the water main has been repaired when we take Georgia to nursery as I have work that I desperately need to get on with today.

Sunny Days

Well the weekend was filled with sunshine, and I spent Saturday visiting my family in Weybridge. A lazy day followed by a lovely BBQ in my Sisters garden....what could be better. Sunday was my filled with the monthly MK Crop....formerly a Scrapaholics Club...but a long story. I managed to get 3 LO's completed, although it is Tuesday and I have still not had a chance to take pics....I think that is a job for tomorrow and daylight.

Here is a LO I did when Bex came over to Scrap on BH Monday. The picture was taken at his 2nd Birthday Party by my Hubby David. He looks completely lost in his own world. I really love this sort of natural shot. I love using my new KI Memories Alphabet Soup....but when I did this LO I sat and calculated that at £12.50 for a tin of 46 letters, it made the cost of the title alone on this LO come to just over £3.50. I have a few tins and have decided to keep full set so that I can trace around them....which I did on a LO done at the crop....and they look fab, and cost a fraction...

I have a busy working week this week, but we are at home for the whole weekend, so hopefully I will have time to get a CJ done for a new CJ I joined on UKScrappers....The Bonanza 2006 CJ. I am doing my DLO on Michele Charles techniques that I learnt from the lovely lady herself when I worked in her classroom last month at Discover Bonanza. I also desperately need to finish some things I am working on for the Delivered2You Kit Design Team....so much to do...so little time. Hope the weather wherever you are in the country/world is FAB...and continues this way well into the weekend.

Halfway to the weekend!

Well, it's Wednesday so only a couple of days until the weekend. I had a fab day scrapping with Bex on Bank Holiday Monday. I managed to get another LO done and also a CJ that I needed to get posted this week.


Here is the LO I finished over the weekend, it was started at Bonanza in the cropping room...and has sat unfinished since.
The picture is of my nephew Sean and was taken this month at his 2nd Birthday. He really is a cute little boy, with such personality. He kept making us sing "Happy Birthday" to him...I think we sang it at least three times.
Georgia has insisted that we watch Wallace & Gromit "Curse of the WereRabbit"...AGAIN. While we were in the kitchen, I spotted her dancing to the scene were Gromit is pulling the strings of the "lady" rabbit to the tune of the striptease...It was so cute hand behind head, other hand on hip and full bottom wiggling going on.......she suddenly caught us watching and became very shy....will have to try for pics another time.

Managed to get a cute picture of one of our kitten called Sweep, she is such a gorgeous little minx...and it seems she like Scrapping!!!! Check it out for yourself... She has the sweetest personality. Her Brother Sooty is not anywhere near as brave as she is, but he purrs like a tractor as soon as I start to stroke him. They follow me around...they are really Mummy's Kittens....but don't tell Georgia.

I seem to have acquired Bex's Creativity

OK, so Bex has lost her creativity....and I think I may have stolen it.....mwhahahaha

Can't believe I have done 2 new LO's and finished off two that had been sitting around for the last couple of weeks.

So here it is, a picture taken at Xscape Milton Keynes on Saturday 20th May of my daughter Georgia and my neice and nephew, Hannah & James. The girls both had birthdays during the week, and wanted us all to go bowling together, so they made the trip up from Weybridge for the day. The picture was taken with them standing on a bench that is outside, it is metal and wavy and has a metal wavy background. I love the way you can see their feet in the reflection, and if you look closely there is my reflection taking the picture too. I even used an old denim skirt that had belonged to both girls that they had both grown out of...a new form of recycling. Now I seriously doubt anything more will be done this evening, although Bex is supposed to be coming over to scrap tomorrow.

Sunny Sunday

Well there was I promising myself that this would be a waste if time as I have never in my life kept a diary, online or otherwise. And low and behold I am here boring you all again. I have found some time to scrap this weekend and have finished another couple of LO's. One was started over a week ago, but those chipboard alpha's take time to decorate.....especially with paint and glitter.....I am still twinkling from the glitter episode.
Here is the one that I only had to finish off. A picture taken of our new kittens, Sooty & Sweep. The were snuggled down and I could not resist the photo opportunity... they had better get used to having their pictures taken, as I am hardly likely to stop with such cute subject matter... These pictures were taken last Saturday while we were waiting for my family to arrive for Georgia & Hannah's Birthday BBQ and Bowling Party. I tried to use Photoshop Elements 4.0 to turn the picture B&W and then make the pink jacket and hat show through.....but I could not get it to look right. Instead I used a technique I learnt at Bonanza from Michelle Charles....I used ink to colour tint the photos. I am quite pleased with the effect, and it was a lot less stressful than Photoshop...LOL. I am still not sure about doodling directly onto LO's, but it is too late now...so I am going to have to live with it. That's all for now folks!

Well here goes.....

Well, I have decide to join the masses and have a Blog. You will probably all be very bored reading about my mundane life.....but tough.

So it is the Bank Holiday Weekend and surprise surprise it is raining. Not that I mind as I am beavering away in my Craft Room. I have finished the title on a LO I started at the MK Crop earlier this month, and also done a LO with a picture my Sister had taken at Venture earlier this year. Ok, here they are....wasn't as hard to upload them as I thought......yay for me. Ok, this is the one that I finished the title on. This was a FAB kit put together by Lynsey & Rachael at the Milton Keynes Scrapaholics Club earlier this month. All except the L'il Davis Blossom and the Alpha Bradletz were included in the kit. I wasn't sure that Georgias' pink clothing went with the papers, but the background of the picture seems to make them work.

Ok, this is the one with a picture taken of my Sister Tracey and her Hubby Frazer with their Kids.....Alex 14, Michael 12, Jody 11, James 7 and Hannah 5. I love the relaxed way they are all in a heap.

Ok, back to the scrapping...more LO's to create.