Hey - Do Ya Wanna Come and Play

22:18 Karen 3 Comments

You're all invited to come and play with me and my friends at the ATDML cyber crop weekend.

It doesn't matter where you are from we will make you most welcome. Old friends and new you are all invited and what an exciting weekend it is going to be. The timetable is jam packed with classes and challenges so come and join us - you know you want to really.

I have been creating lots of things for the cyber crop and for this month's DT gallery (it will be up soon) so although I have made lots of stuff, not much I can show you.

Oh, yes - I made this page quickly yesterday for the ATDML Blog, well as quick as I make a page.

Drop on over to the ATDML blog to see more details.

Off to write class instructions and hopefully get some sleep.

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. A day of making stuff is always a reason to be cheerful.

2. My Rainbow accounts balanced perfectly this evening when they were audited.

3. A little adventure with my best girl tomorrow.

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Another Challenge from Amy

08:04 Karen 13 Comments

Amy has set another scrappy task over on her blog. This time she was inspired by an old copy of Simple Scrapbooks (this is an enigma to me as I am sure there is no such thing as 'simple' scrapbooking) and challenged her blog followers to take 5 photographs of things that wouldn't be there in 5 years time. I changed it about a bit and some of my photographs are of things that I think might have changed in 5 years time.

So I took the photos yesterday and then decided to make a layout inspired by the magazine cover. The only problem is that I definitely, under no circumstances do Simple Scrapbooking. I struggled with the the concept of less is more. I originally made the page with just the three buttons on the top left corner of the photograph, as in the layout on the magazine cover but this morning gave in and added two more clusters of buttons ;-). So there we have it yet another page inspired by Amy.

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. It's the half term holiday and as today is a non-pupil day I am off for the next 10 days.

2. Blogs that inspire me.

3. The prospect of going into town to purchase some awesome fabric to make a 'Glinda' dress (for the school production of The Wizard of Oz). I am soooooo excited about this one as the last dress making I did was Gracia's prom dress over 2 years ago.

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With a little help from my friend! (Well Gracia really)

07:35 Karen 18 Comments

With Amy's 'scrapping the moment' post still fresh in my mind and inspired by the current sketch on Once Upon A Sketch, I knew that I had to scrap parts of a conversation I had with Gracia on Friday evening.

As I have probably said, many times before, she openly admits to be a 'geek' she wears a t-shirt that proclaims 'I Love Geeks' and the subjects she studies at 6th Form are quite geeky ( 3 sciences and maths).

I went to pick her up from Josh's home and they were messing about as she got in the car. I remarked on how they both fool around and that Josh seems to have become as crazy as she is (a family trait inherited from both parents I'm afraid). The conversation that followed had me laughing so much that I was a danger driving back home.

After taking this photo I realised I had missed a t from the end of the word thought, now rectified.

The journaling reads

I am so glad that you have found someone who appreciates your geekiness. He likes it when you sing the periodic table to him, says that Chemistry is so boron, you say to him that he is the substrate to your enzyme and when I said that I thought some of your craziness had rubbed off on him you said that it was through horizontal gene transference.

An awful lot of what you say to each other goes over my head but what is obvious to me is that you are a pair of Cheeky Geeks and very much in love.

Now, I was working on this page when I picked the kids up from work yesterday and it was still on the table when they got home. I wanted to use some sort of embellishment that reflected the subject and decided to print out a periodic table and punch out the elements for decoration. I had chosen the ones along the bottom because I liked the colours, Gracia insisted I changed some of the because I hadn't included her favorite elements (who has favorite elements?) So I had to add Ag and pb. The B on the punched tab represents Boron.

She also spotted a set of stickers, one of which said 'I am inspired by ........' and said "You could use this mum and put on it 'We are inspired by Einstein!' instead." All the while that Gracia was making suggestions, punching out her favorite elements for me to use etc, Josh was reeling off Chemistry puns and jokes most of which I didn't understand but had Gracia in fits of laughter!

So a big thank you to Amy who has inspired me to make 2 'In the Moment' pages this week and also to Gracia for her help in choosing which elements to use, suggesting the use of the sticker, the funny conversations we have but most of all for embracing her inner Geekiness and running with it.

If you want to know which papers I have used pop over to the ATDML blog and read my post there.
Reasons to be cheerful:-

1. The new stairs are in (photos to follow at a later date).

2. A bonus day of scrapping because I couldn't go into the lounge as the stairs were being fitted, couldn't go upstairs because there were no stairs so the only place I could go was the dining room/kitchen and how fortunate that that is where my scrap stash is!

3. The kids are perfectly happy who who they.

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A Giveaway over on Once Upon A Sketch

07:19 Karen 0 Comments

The absolutely gorgeous May kit from My Scrapbook Nook??

Once Upon A ..Sketch is giving one, right now!!

All you need to do is this..

1. Follow the Once Upon A ...Sketch Blog
2. Copy this exact information and post about this on your blog, together with the May kit picture and a link back to Once Upon A Sketch.
3. Make sure you also post the information about the current offer at the Nook listed below.

3. Link your post using the Link Tool at the bottom of this post!

That is it! You have until the end of the current challenge, which is midnight May 31st, Australian Eastern Standard Time. I will draw a random winner soon after.

My Scrapbook Nook is offering a wonderful offer for a limited time only!Sign up for 6 months and receive the May kit for free......great deal!

Or Sign up for 12months and get the 13th kit free!!!!!!!!!

Kits value between $31- $34 – Yours for only $29.50. This way we ensure that you receive a fully loaded kit each month. We will also offer combined shipping with any add-ons or goodies from the store you need.

http://myscrapbooknook.org/kit-club/

Tell a friend and if they sign up email us at orders@myscrapbooknook.com and give us your friends name and we will give you a $5.00 store credit. Good only while supplies last.

Go for it!

POST ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY ON YOUR BLOG, AND THEN LINK YOUR DIRECT POST HERE.

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Well, how quick is quick?

21:52 Karen 7 Comments

Quick is taking a photo this morning, then printing it out and scrapping it in less than 60 minutes. This has amazed me on so many fronts because I can go to a crop lasting 6 hours and if I am very lucky will have made 2 pages. I like to faff about and add and add and then add some more!

Amy from 'Over At Our Place' threw down the gauntlet with this post. So, not one to resist any sort of challenge I duly took a photo of Gracia this morning. Then as soon as I got home this evening I pulled out some coordinating WAMK papers and made the page. It would have been even quicker if I hadn't had to cut out the flowers to pop dot at the bottom of the page but you all know me - I cannot do plain and simple, it has to have some sort of lumpiness about it, some flowers and maybe some bling.

Oh my word I have forgotten to put any bling on it and the centers of those flowers look perfect for blinging up. We all know what I am going to be doing as soon as I finish typing up this blog post ;o)

Blog amendment - 20/05/2011
Bling now added and I am happy!

So I stuck fairly rigidly to the template/sketch but gave it a bit of a 'Karen' twist.Pop on over to Amy's blog and have a go and next Wednesday she has promised to show all the variations that have been made using her template.

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. That I have discovered that it doesn't have to take several hours to make a page - I can make one in under an hour.

2. Scrapping the moment is a fantastic way of remembering the little things. Thank you Amy.

3. The Zumba class this evening was awesome.

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A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

16:18 Karen 8 Comments

I am such a busy girl at the moment - too much to do and not enough time! So as a quick blog post I will show you some little peeps at the things I can't fully reveal yet and also some of the things I can!

Yesterday, was the EK crop and we had a full house, we were lucky to welcome some new ladies who, as always because the girls are such a friendly lot, fitted in as though they had been coming for years.

The cakes of the day were blueberry muffins (not photographed as the blueberries burst everywhere) and Tropical Delight - pineapple bases with lime frosting and yellow glitter. I felt that they looked too plain so purchased some strawberry bon bons from Sainsburys, on my way to the crop and once I had popped one on to the top of each cake it made all the difference.

At the crop I was working on dt layouts for ATDML and so can only show you a little peep at those two

(one got fully finished but I changed the title when I got home and the other is on the table waiting for buttons to be sewn, butterflies to be pop dotted and journaling to be written)!

BUT - just look at this absolutely beautiful layout which was the class designed by Karen C.

How could anyone not love this? That girl has so much talent. We used the new MME Lime Twist range and with some cutting, punching,

sewing

and folding

all made variations on the class. Some ladies chose to use 3 photos as Karen had recommended but I wanted to use just one of Gracia and her two best friends. The title was perfect for the three of them off soon to unis spread far and wide.

I am going to add their names, using those gorgeous wood-grain alphas now I have photographed it.

So today I have

been out for a run. I am still on week 4 of the running program but feel that as long as I stick at it and eventually complete week 9, it doesn't matter how many times I repeat each week. To give myself a fair chance of going the whole way I am not moving on to the next week until I am happy. I did week 3 for 3 weeks. So today in total I run for 16 minutes. If I am honest, it is a light jog and not a run but at least I am moving and today when I weighed myself I was 4lb lighter than I thought I would be.

Been to do a big food shop.

Spent too much time surfing blogs.

I am now going to get this little secret project finished and off to it's recipient. I feel that today I can give the time and love it deserves.

Reasons to be cheerful.

1. Lovely ladies at the crop, lovely class and spending time with my two best friends chatting, laughing and for one of them teasing unmercifully. I know I am going to regret the last one big time!

2. Unexpected phone calls from friends you haven't spoken to for ages and being able to pick up the friendship where you left it.

3. My little girl is feeling better today and a big thank you to Mummy Eileen for coming to the rescue when I had left my phone at home and picking up said girlie from college and bringing her home safe and sound. Don't you just love your best friends when your they are a second mother to your daughter xxx

Wishing you the best-est of best weeks.

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Stash Busting with Vengence!

07:03 Karen 10 Comments

This is the result of my stress induced stash clear out.

Thursday was the deadline for choosing universities and so on Wednesday Gracia was over at Josh's house while they thrashed it out, bouncing between the ones they liked!

I was getting phone calls for my opinion every 30 minutes and so to take my mind off it I decided to have a bit of a sort out.

I started at 5:30, because I was only going to have a quick tidy and finished at 11:30, having cooked and eaten a meal, and talked to Gracia numerious times on the phone in-between tidying.

At one point I was ankle deep in paper and stash!

Note my one and only Tim Holtz ink!

I threw a whole bag of papers that had been crumpled or were half used and other bits and pieces out.

But the result was that I could put my hands on everything I needed to make a card for Josh's Mum and produce said card in 15 minutes yesterday. (I forgot to take a photo before he took it home)

So, yes they are going to Newcastle and I am coming to terms with it because for them it is the best option.

Hey-Ho, we can always meet up half way for weekends and little treats.

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. My scrap supplies are now tidy and I can put my hands on what I want, when I want, for the time being!

2. I am going to the little crop tomorrow to work on Amy's wedding album and have a consignment of lovliness winging it's way to me from ATDML.

3. Newcastle is not at the end of the earth!

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Three Birds With One Stone!

21:04 Karen 12 Comments

I hate housework. I hate it with such a passion that I almost recoil inside when I think of it, but is is one of life's necessities for a harmonious marriage. David on the other hand loves a clean and tidy house, hates mess and is very caring of all the things in the house.

I have to really force myself to clean, dust and tidy - I think it is a thankless task and the results of hours of work only last a very short time. Our house is very old - 300+ years and we have a coal Aga which means that twice a day a scuttle of coal is shook into it causing black coal dust to fly out and land on all the kitchen surfaces. Where is this going?

Well yesterday I took the plunge and tidied the spare bedroom, it took me several hours (most of the mess and clutter are mine, well if I am being honest all of the mess and clutter are mine) but as a reward and a carrot to keep me going I on/off scrapped this page.

The Echo Park papers are just fabulous and lend themselves so well to photos of Gracia's birthday. So I made it for the ATDML blog (using Echo Park papers and Lemonade Bazzill from the shop) more details on about how it was made are on ATDML blog,

for Chicken Soup (inspired by the bunting)

and for the Once Upon A Sketch challenge (I used the sketch turned on it's side) I love this journalling based challenge blog.

Rewarding myself with something I love is the only way I can get through housework. I have been known to go out and buy myself a bunch of flowers once the whole house is clean and tidy!

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. I have a tidy spare room (for the time being).

2. An absolutely sublime day at work.

3. In sorting out the spare room I have put winter away and got out summer - am I being a little premature?

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In Nana's Garden

09:02 Karen 23 Comments

I was laying in bed this morning, deciding whether to get up or roll over for some more sleep and thinking about when I was little and about my Nana and it came to me that this is Storytelling Sunday and I had something to contribute on this occasion!

When I was very small, my mum went back to work. It was very unusual to have a working mum in those days but circumstances demanded that this was the way it had to be. My Nana looked after me whilst mum was at work.

Looking back this was the most idyllic time during my childhood. My nana, whom we all called 'Nanny Marzie' because of her tendency to dish out Mars bars at every opportunity, doted on me and my every whim was catered for. During this time my Great Aunt Grace came to visit from Canada and so this meant that the doting was doubled! Great Aunt Grace's visit, that was planned to be only 3 months, turned into two years. We idolised each other and spent all day playing and knitting - she taught me to knit before I was five.

These two elderly ladies taught me to ride a bike by holding the back and me riding a figure of eight around the apple and pear trees.

Aunt Grace gave me my greatest possession - Freckles. He was my constant companion and slept in my bed from the time I was four until well into my teenage years. I loved him especially more because he was precious to Aunt Grace and for him to be given to me was amazing. You see, he had been made for her by her daughter in law (a lady who was the daughter she never had) and this lady had died of cancer just before Aunt Grace made her visit to the UK.

To this day I still have Freckles, he sits in my bedroom looking over us and is the only one of my toys that I haven't passed on to Gracia - maybe one day but not yet!

The pages illustrating this post are very old ones for 2008!

Reasons to be cheerful:

1. That sitting at my laptop smiling as I remember my childhood is much better than languishing in bed for another hour. Thank you Sian for Storytelling Sunday.

2. I am considering going on an organised walk through our local woods today, last time I learnt so much.

3. The new stairs are in the house, albeit in pieces like a giant jigsaw on the lounge floor, but they have arrived.