Late to the {LSNED} party... as usual!

I joined in with Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day back in 2011 and I intended to join in again last year but never really got round to it! 

As I am trying to get back into the habit of recording the little things on a more regular basis, I thought I would use LSNED to prompt me... I don't know that I will follow the prompts, I doubt I will manage to create pages right away but what I am hoping is to share something semi-regularly - I may not blog every entry but I am at least going to keep a notebook and take photos and I am also going to try and post the photos on Instagram too.. a lesson all on it's own for me as I've never really used it before!

So, my first few lessons ...

Day 1: 

I need to plan ahead better..

or at least look at next months calendar before the 31st!

I hadn't turned the page to look at September until the 31st when I realised it should have been my turn to cook Sunday dinner for all the family... by which time I really couldn't be bothered to go shopping - but at least it gave us a chance to try the new fish and chip shop!!

Day 2:

He STILL doesn't trust me to do the ironing...!

I had hoped today's lesson would be more along the line of "29 years old and I finally learnt to iron!" but it wasn't to be! I have tried to learn to iron - my Mum tried to teach me, then my sister and even my brother-in-law! 
Not only do I have some strange ironing-disability (the creases just jump in when I'm not looking!) that means that ironing has fallen to Dean for the last 12 years, but no one really trusts me with a hot iron either...
Allow me to explain... I am really clumsy... I mean REALLY clumsy!  I have lost count of how many times I have fallen down the stairs, or tripped over my own feet!  My darling hubby even bought me a plastic beaker at one point because I dropped and broke so many glasses...
So today when I announced that I intended to iron Hannah's uniform, ready for her to go back to school Thursday, he looked slightly panicked!  After much persuading he finally let me loose on one polo shirt while he hovered like a mother hen and then immediately took over to do the rest of it! (and he thinks I didn't notice he re-ironed my one piece!) so looks like I still can't claim this one!

 

Day 3:

Sometimes heels with PJs are a necessity...

 if not exactly a good look!

 
The water company have been doing works in the town and somehow managed to cut our mains water off as well by mistake so we had no water when we got up at 6.30 this morning and had to go to my Mum's in a hurry to get showered and ready for work - I didn't see the point in taking two pairs of shoes - but it certainly got a few laughs when I got out the car (although that could just be the Dumbo PJ's!)
 

 

Day 4:

Looks like I'm a proper grown up now!

We've always serviced the cars ourselves as and when needed, but my new one is only 4 years old and came with a full history so I spent my lunch break looking at garages for service quotes (after having to actually find the service book!)

 

Wow - that was a longer post than I planned - but a good start :)  I may yet manage to keep this up!

 

C x

Come in, have a cuppa...

Hello, welcome, long time no see!

 

I am so out of touch with everyone, but I see so many of you joining Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams and I thought a sit down and chat over a cup of tea might be just the place to start with catching up! 

 

Why don’t you have a seat, excuse the mess – I’ve only just sat down, after a full day at work and the girls seem to have had some fun in the lounge with Daddy today.. he’s not much for ‘tidying as you go’, more of a ‘let them trash the place and clean up when they’ve gone to bed’ sort!  I’ve got coffee here if you prefer, but if you don’t mind I’ll be indulging in a rather large tea - I may even start a pot if you can stay a while- and maybe join me for a slice of ginger cake…

 

I could say it’s been a busy month but to be honest it’s been more of a busy year here!! 

 

Miss Willow, who I introduced in my last post, is 9 months old now and into everything!  She’s going to be a climber, that one, and she has already mastered the stairs, so no turning your back, even for a second!  Miss Hannah is three already and full of chatter, she started Nursery school back in April and it has definitely not slowed her down any – she’s lively and fun, but very hard work, so I am pleased when bedtime rolls around, so I can sit down for a few minutes, like now in fact, and relax over a cuppa - would you like some more - enjoy it while it's hot!

 

I had the strange idea that Hannah going off to school 3 hours a day would give me time to catch up with scrapping and blogging and all those things that I intended to do while on Maternity Leave, but here I am, back to work last week and I have no idea where the time has gone!

 

I may not have had time to do much blogging, or even as much crafting as I would like but we have definitely made the most of my maternity leave and Hannah’s school break to have lots of adventures! I have a few photos, if you've time to have a look -   I really must get these printed and into albums, but then again I think the photos from last summer are still in a packet somewhere round here..  all the best intentions...

 

Anyway, a very busy few weeks around here.  We made the most of being so close to the coast to have several trips to the beach and we paddled in the sea and indulged in sausage and chips and of course an ice lolly or two....

 

 

We have been to the zoo, where Hannah (and Daddy!) had a conversation with a lynx..{don’t ask}, we saw giraffes, zebras and an ostrich or two from the safari truck then had a spot of lunch with some meerkats.

 

We have been swimming and picnicking in the parks and generally making the most of the nice weather while we had it to play with a bowl or two of water and make a mess in the garden with paints – Hannah is becoming quite an artist, and Willow loves to get messy!

Miss Hannah finally mastered the art of pedalling a bike properly (rather than stop and push along with her feet - the little cheater!) and we had a visit or two from her cousins (and various of their friends)- Hannah loves the fact that they can just wander over during school holidays, take her to the park or pop by to help her decorate some cupcakes...

 

My lovely Mum offered to keep my girls one morning a couple of weeks ago so I went shopping and I bought a whole new wardrobe of work clothes – there have to be some benefits to returning to work, after all!  Bless my poor sister, I took her along for a second opinion and she may have needed to spend best part of an hour stood outside of changing rooms, swapping out items as I tried them all on!  It is such a nightmare when all your sizes have changed, but at least I have quite a lot of options now and I think I scrub up quite well...

 

The girls and I camped out in a tent in the garden at Nannie-Nannie’s house the next night and had hot chocolate made on a camp stove, followed by stories and treats and a late night!  Then we had more hot chocolate and some brioche for breakfast – I think Miss Hannah is rather a big fan of camping now!

 

 

We have met three new babies this holiday - all of them girls! 

One was born in May to a good friend who moved away while pregnant, so it was lovely to catch up with her and meet the new addition and the other two precious bundles are cousins, born just two weeks apart, to some good friends who lived in our street when we were children - I can see these bubbas keeping the new Grandma on her toes, almost as much as their mothers did!! :)

 

Bank Holiday Monday actually turned out to be a nice day here, and my sister and I took the girls to a Maize Maze and had great fun getting lost amongst the corn for the morning!  We didn’t manage to lose any of them and all made it out safely, and together! 

 

How about you - did you manage to get out and enjoy the sun at all?

 

It has been a very busy month, and I have a few more things planned before the end of it, although they are very mundane – such as shoes shopping- we bought Hannah new school shoes today and now we find that her trainers won't fit either... 

How about you, do you have much to do before Autumn is upon us?

 

It has been lovely to catch up with you, thanks so much for stopping by, and I do hope I haven't completely talked your ear off... maybe I shouldn't leave it so long next time!  Please do help yourself to another slice of cake before you go… it's open now, so we may as well finish it off!!

Almost that time again....

Yup, that's right - my second post of the year! Remember me?!

My last post was also on this topic, when I finally finished my 2011 Journal!  It is very nearly December again, and in scrapping terms that can only mean one thing for me - time for Journal your Christmas - a wonderful class from Shimelle that encourages us to take back our Christmas by taking a little bit of time each day to consider what makes this time of year special. 

I am hoping to be a bit more on top of posting my progress as I go this year, but am not making any commitments other than that I will keep a journal and hopefully do pages as and when I can which I hope to share here!

Want to see my ready-made excuse...?

Not exactly scrapbooking/papercraft but look what I made this year, when I was quiet on the blog front...

Meet my daughter Willow, born just under two weeks ago!

I am hoping that being on maternity leave will give me more time to keep up with making pages, but I have a feeling two little girls are going to be keeping me even more busy than a full-time job did! :)  I can't wait for Christmas 2012 and I hope that you will be here to share it with me!

x ~ C ~ x

No, I'm not even joking... JYC Alert!

JYC 2011 that is...
I truly cannot leave a project unfinished, no matter how much my scrapping mojo has abandoned me!
So at last after a much needed break I am delighted to have finally finished my album!
I won't share all the pages and details... I'm not that cruel.. who wants to talk about Christmas with Spring finally on our doorsteps.. but I did want to blog my overwhelming sense of personal achievement and now that it is a weight from my shoulders, I'm hoping to spend our crop morning next week pushing on with Document 2012 and maybe even work on some old photos from my To Scrap box! Woohoo!

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JYC Time! Christmas Starts Here...!

Just a quick post to say Happy December everyone! My tree is up and I am well on the way to getting the rest of the decs up already as I have a few busy evenings and weekend coming up and wanted to get a jump start on it! I love the excuse to cover the house in pretties and lights! I really can't wait for Christmas as I think Miss Hannah is going to be really into it this year :)

I will be joining in with Shimelles Journal Your Christmas again as I had such fun last year and I want somewhere to record all the little moments of this year too.
I have been flipping through my 2010 album for the last few days as I started thinking about Christmas and I have really enjoyed reading and looking at what I included. I am definitely going to try and prepare a page every day and will probably follow most of the prompts too. We have planned a couple of dedicated JYC Sunday crops during December so I am hoping I won't fall too far behind on the creating front.

I have already decided that I won't even try and blog everyday but I will aim for a once a week roundup and If I managed more it will be a bonus!

Hope you have all had a fabulous 1st of December, whatever you have been up to! X

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Annual Stash Shopping!

We have a bit of a tradition going now... over the last couple of years, sometime around the end of November, Vicki, Rachel and I get together and head off to a local garden centre to coo over the pretty Christmas decorations and also visit a craft shop (or two) and top up our Christmas stash in anticipation of JYC starting (as Vicki and I joined in last year and will be playing along again this year)

So.. this morning, I started with a fortifying breakfast - a cup of coffee and a couple of Breakfast Muffins.  The breakfast muffin is a new recipe for me - made the first time this weekend - but I can see these being a new favourite.  The recipe has come to me in a roudabout way and has been adjusted a bit, but I believe originates from the Hummingbird Bakery's Ham and Mushroom Muffins - it is relatively simple and quick to whip up once the prep is done (always a winner for me!) 

We ended the day with a snack stop, including a slice of cake (as you do!)...

and in between we saw this lovely lot...

... took the obligatory silly pics of Christmas hats etc... even Emily got involved.. (Vicki managed to get the hat that danced around by itself on top of your head - very odd!)...

saw this gorgeous fella...

 

and even managed to look round some craft places too...

We were a bit diappointed in our finds.. or actually our lack of finds this year - both shops we visited have recently changed hands and are still finding their feet and settling in (hopefully settling in!) so not up to the usual standards.  Luckily we had visited a lovely craft shop at the end of October and had failed to resist buying Christmas stash so we were not heartbroken that none of us struggled to keep to our budgets, but it just did not seem right (even if it is good for the pocket!).  We did have one good find though - I am now the proud owner of the first issue of Scrap365, so I know what I will be doing on my lunch break tomorrow...

Today was a bit different, weather-wise from last year!  Lots of autumn colours around, leaves still falling from trees etc 

 

Last years photo had snow on the ground and we were huddled in winter woolies but this year not a hint of a coat in sight and we struggled to get a good picture as the sun was too bright...! But we managed one nice one...

 Still with me...? Well Done!

Well I am off to admire my nice pile of Christmas stash and plan what I am going to be doing at our JYC Prep crop day next weeekend...

C x

Decisions Decisions...

One of which has (finally) been made!  I have ordered my album for JYC 2011!

I have been pondering and debating which size album to do this year for quite a while now but Shimelle's Christmas Preparation weekend finally gave me the nudge (well, more of a shove - I am very indecisive sometimes!) I needed to make my choice and choose an album.


I am at work full time this year, where last year I only returned to work on 13th December and even that was only 4 day weeks, so I did not want to commit to anything too big that I would then struggle with each day, but I also knew that a smaller album or minibook would not work for all the days prompts as I like to include photos, most of which I print at 4 x 6!


In the end I decided that I enjoyed the 8x8 size of last year and so I would stick with that, pre-cut my pages and keep a kit together and then just try my best to keep up... and there is always the 2 week break over Christmas and New Year to catch up if I fall behind with my creating!


So here it is, it was delivered yesterday and was waiting for me when I got home last night ...

It is an 8x8 American Crafts Modern Album - I usually use postbound albums but I found last year that JYC tends to end up quite a thick album and the postbound becomes a bit of a pain when the albums get big so I am trying out a D ring style to see if it copes better!

You may notice I have even made a start on getting together at least the patterned paper in 8 x 8.  Vicki, Rachel and I have a stash shop planned for Sunday where I will choose (hopefully) some co-ordinating plain papers to add to the stack.. so exciting!!

C x