UKS Weekly Challenge - March week 4

This week's challenge over on UKS was set by the lovely Dawn aka Mrs Cheshire. She set a nice simple challenge to use...

A primary colour -10 points
3 clusters of embellishment - 10 points
Washi tape/ribbon - 10 points 

Well, first I had to get out one of my newer Gossamer Blue Kits - this was January's - to find some blue and red papers.  A little bit naughty as I am really keen to use up my older kits first.  Maybe next week! Anyhoo, I chose blue and red and this is what I came up with....

And I have once again done a facing page with a dividing page protector that holds some more photos and the journalling.  I'm really liking this in my albums as a way of including more pictures and ephemera without throwing everything on one page :)

The journalling reads; 

If London Bridge was falling down then Tower Bridge was flippin' cold! The wind was biting so only Josh and I  braved the bridge while Tony and Alex headed for the warmth of a coffee shop.  Josh decided the only wat to approach this escapade was with his hood and coat done up fully!  After about 10 minutes, we too beat our retreat!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

UKS Weekly Challenge - March Week 3

This week's weekly challenge was a great one for scrapping the photos I took at the Take That concert in 2011.  The whole show was incredible and like no other concert I have ever been to (or proabably will go to again!)  I have cheated slightly as I have stretched this onto a page and a hlaf but I didn't want all three photos on the same page as two were taken after dark and the other before we went in the stadium.  Scrapping the extra 6x12 page has given me an opportunity to place my journalling here as I have lots to say about the day/evening!

So the brief was to...

Scrap a building, place or object 10pts

Use at least 3 photos, at least one of which must be at least 4x6 size (if you scrap smaller that 12x12, the photos can be in proportion, but the photos must be the main feature of the page!) 10pts

Do something creative with your title, rather than using stickers! Why not try covering or painting chipboard letters? hand cutting a title? stamping? hand writing/doodling? stitching? 10pts

My pages are below.  Sorry for the rubbish photos but the snow and grey skies outside do not make for good light for photography!  Here are the two pages together;

The right hand page;

And the left.  My title originally was painted over stickers and I was going to leave the negative however the adhesive lifted some of the patterned paper so then I outlined the gap left and placed the stickers slightly off like a shadow but this still looked wrong so I added a load of stitching over the letters which is something I've not done before and finally I was pleased with it! 

This is one of my Gossamer Blue kits from October which I am supposed to be ignoring whilst I finish off my old Sarah's Cards' ones but the plan is not working lol!  Also used my new postage stamp punch on this which I am really loving :)

My month in numbers - February

Oops! I have not posted my February numbers yet, it seems! I had started a draft on my iPhone and never got to finishing it, probably due to an interruption by one of the kids, the phone or even the cat! Maybe I should log that number one month and see how many times I do get interrupted! Anyhow, here are my very belated numbers for last month...

3 wedding invitations all within 6 weeks if each other! One family affair we are all attending, one close friend's which means Tony gets to be best man (and I get to wear the same outfit twice as neither will have the same guests!) and one an ex-colleague's which will be a massive celebration as both parties suffer from life limiting conditions but you could not meet a more beautiful, happy, life-loving couple if you tried!

7 years working in my current job. As blogged before I have the 7 year itch so hoping I won't make it to my 8th anniversary!

1 pint of blood donated to the blood bank. This in modern terms is 459-500ml!!  Giving blood is so easy to do so if you've ever thought about it but never done it then visit the website here for more information.

A trip to Liverpool at half term with 2 other mum's and 7 kids. We went on the Wheel of Liverpool as it was such a beautiful day and enjoyed 4 rotations looking at the view.



Wheel number 2 I photographed that week was the London Eye on a second day trip down to London but with very different wintery weather - we even had snow!


5 was the number of days I had songs from the musical Les Miserables going round my head after we saw the schools live production at a local arts centre. My daughter's friend was in the cast and it was just as good as any professional show. Here they are doing a flash mob outside a local cinema the weekend the film was released to promote their show. Next years production is Footloose and we can't wait!

If you would like to share your month in numbers or read about others than skip on over to Julie Kirk's wonderful blog at Notes on Paper and take a peek.

Thanks for stopping by :)




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Simply a moment...

I reach for my phone on the bedside table to check the time...4.20am...one again I have been woken by my toothache.  It's not as bad as it has been and I lie in the warm, snuggly bed for a while knowing I will have to step out and venture into the cold kitchen for some pain killers shortly.  I listen to the stillness of the house, interspersed by the sounds from the side of me.  Tony is not snoring but he is definitely breathing noisily!  I make a quick trip down stairs for the paracetamol and race back to the warmth under my duvet.  I am awake now and I count the days to my root canal treatment.  2 weeks today.  A bird starts tweeting outside. Surely not the dawn chorus already?

My mind wanders to the things I need to do today on my day off.  I jolt wide awake as I realise I have a job application to finish!  I need to get that done and ring about a few more.  It really is time for me to leave my current company.  More birds join in outside my window and I need to block them out.  I reach for my phone again to listen to a podcast to get myself to sleep.  I stick in my ear phones and tune into a Paperclipping Round table.  It is a discussion on scrapping those close to you called "I love you, Awesome Nerds!".  I think of my own "awesome nerd" and a layout starts forming in my mind to document the songs he sings around the house.  The pain killers have kicked in and I am relaxed again.  I nod off thinking of patterned paper and embellishments, songs and page titles...

If you would like to join in with Simple a moment, a meme started by Alexa of "Trimming the sails", then you can find more about that here

If you would like to tune into the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, "I love you, Awesome Nerds!", the link is here

And if you would like to offer me a new job then please place your comment below!

52 card challenges

Caught up with weeks 6 and 10 here.

Week 6 was a sketch...




And week 10 was to use a number. Handy as I needed a card for my friend's little girl...




More scraps used from a retreat layout, I think. You can join in the 52 card challenge over at Nat's blog.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Meadow Barn pages...

I had a wonderful weekend at Meadow Barn - It was fabulous with plenty of chat, tea, cake and wine and lots of laughs!  I made 6 pages in all and 9 cards plus a little gift box.  Here are a couple of pages made for the Sketchy Scrappers challenge.  This was the sketch this month set by Ally...

Such a great sketch for using up scraps.  So I set about using up...yes, you've guessed it!.. another of my Sarah's Cards kit.  This was Daisy Bucket - In the meadow and I just had enough for the page plus a few little pieces to embellish some divided pages to go after it in the album of the rest of our day.  Monkey Forest is a fabulous place just outside Stoke-on-Trent where you can wander through with the monkeys all around  you.

I loved the sketch so much I made another page from another kit.  Not quite used this one up yet though!  This was Josh looking gorgeous on his first day of High School.

I'll be back in a few days with some more of my pages.  We had a fabulous weekend with plenty of chat, tea, cake and wine and lots of laughs!  I made 6 pages in all and 9 cards plus a little gift box.  

52 card challenge catch up

With a bit of crafting time on my hands this weekend (well I am away on a scrapbooking weekend after all!) I have nearly caught up on the 52 cards challenge. So without further ado here is...

Week 6 - use unloved stash (this is the last bit of my Scenic Route kit that I absolutely loved)




Week 7 Use hearts...




Week 8 colour inspiration of red, pink and aqua...




And week 9 Roses




A few more Mother's Day cards to sell at work and some more scraps used :). Just week 5 to do now.

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UKS Weekly Challenge - Feb Week 4

This week the challenge was to use scraps of patterned papers, use yellow or circles and include food, cooking, eating or any kind of celebration.

Well scraps to me meant using up another Sarah's Cards Kit! This one was Echo Park - For the record. I used paper with dots on and some yellow and scrapped the cup cakes my daughter and her friends made for her 14th birthday treat.

So another weekly challenge and another kit used up!!

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