my little life of scrap

{Week 4 : 2012}

2012-01-29T14:12:00.000Z

Sunday: We took little one swimming which was not a great experience (he screamed the whole time for his dad). We then spent a little time with my parents which was nice. Then at home with my boys. Nice and relaxed.

Monday: We had a dentist trip, then a trip to a soft play centre near us. Before playing at home. Love being a mum.

Tuesday: Work, then once home I started a scrapbook page. (which I am planning on finished today!)

Wednesday: Work (it is crazy busy at the mo!) Then dinner out with the girls from work. YUM.

Thursday: Another crazy busy day (full of client meetings!!!) collected M from nursery. He got a card as he is moving up rooms at nursery. Getting so big!

Friday: Me and the boy hit the local high street, before relaxing at home. His new skill learnt this week is shaking his head to say no or if he doesn't know the answer to something, CUTES.

Saturday : Nursery open morning, saw his new room. Then a drive up to see my sister in law and nephews for her birthday. We went out for lunch to Giraffe and dessert - Shakeaway! TUT TUT

{Document2011 Oct/Nov}

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000Z

Hopefully December will be ready to share soon too...

I love this album.

I am very proud of it.

I love seeing my family grow, change and our lives all there in scrapbook form.

Happy Crafting

L

{Document2011 Jul/Aug/Sept}

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000Z

Next 3....

Happy Crafting

L

{Document2011 Apr/May/Jun}

2012-01-26T15:00:00.000Z

The next 3.....

Happy Crafting.

L

{Document2011 Jan/Feb/Mar}

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000Z

I am nearing completed last years album (just need to sort out my December photos) and I was a bad blogger last year - hence I did not share with you my pages. Therefore instead I am doing a round up of them. Starting with Jan/Feb/Mar.

The other months to follow......

Happy Crafting

L

{Shaka Zulu: January Date Night}

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000Z

I love Groupon. Yes, it can be random at times and a little bit odd. But sometimes you do strike a good deal.

A few months ago now we had been talking to a friend re restaurants we had been too. He mentioned that he had heard good things about Shaka Zulu and we should try and go. its a South African Restaurant and the food is supposed to be lovely. A few days later that Groupon email was in my inbox with an offer for the very same restaurant. What's a girl to do other than persuade the other half we should buy the vouchers and try it out.

As mentioned this was a few months ago, and well, when I checked the vouchers at the beginning of the year I noticed the expiry date - which just so happened to be the middle of January. Whoops - better make that booking.

The timing was not great (we had been out the night before to celebrate K birthday which had involved a few cocktails, bottles of champagne and vodka shots. Therefore we were a little fragile on the Sunday) but we arranged a babysitter for the afternoon and made the trek up to Camden for a little date.

We originally could not find the restaurant (when I say we, I mean me, I googlemapped the location. It came out on a main road. Seriously how hard can it be to find. I missed the fact it was actually IN Camden Market and that place is like a rabbit warren) but we got directions from a local and arrived outside.

The restaurant was below ground level and you need to take a escalator to reach the reception area. But walking into the restaurant truly was breath taking. The whole place was full of tribal prints, wooden furniture, life size statues of people and floor to ceiling wood carvings of animals, patterns and generally beautiful designs.

We were taken down to our tables (on yet another escalator) and seated in a lovely lit corner of the busy restaurant. Our voucher had entitled us to the South African tasting menu.

The food was amazing. We tried different things and the spicing on each was lovely. I really enjoyed my main of Bobotie and would definitely have that dish again.

A really lovely date with stunning food. What more could you want. (apart from maybe enjoying it with the slight remnants of hangover from the previous nights antics!)

Soft Shell Crab & Chicken Curry with Boiled Egg

Bobootie & Beef Spit Roast

Melktart & Koeksister

{Honeymoon Album:WIP}

2012-01-24T11:00:00.002Z

And here are the honeymoon pages....

This is the opening page, even though these pages were taken on the last day of our trip - I think it makes a good title page.

The Crazy Long Drive to Liverpool

Our Hotel Room : The photos are not great at all, but I cropped down the 4x6 photos - just a nice little reminder. - Plus I added a little pocket behind the title which has the paper wallet from the key card.

Our first Activity.

This sits opposite the layout above.

Relying on the IPhone Accuracy is not always a good thing.

Our first meal - again a photo collage made by cropping down 4x6 photos.

Our Breakfasts throughout the whole trip: Amazing. I have a few more food photos from this to scrap.

And our mode of transport for our break.

As with my wedding album, I am using whatever papers or embellishments inspire me.

Happy Crafting.

L

{Wedding Album:WIP}

2012-01-23T11:00:00.002Z

As previously mentioned my wedding and honeymoon albums are both works in progress. And this fact does not cause me to filled with worry or stress. I enjoy being inspired to go and scrap the photos when the need takes me. (I am happy with the fact I have way too many photos to scrap them all)

However I have created some layouts already for these albums. Some of the layouts I have shared previously but I have put together a post with all the layouts under one heading - so yes a honeymoon album layout is too follow.

I have opted for no actual theme for my albums - as in colours or embellishments. Again this works for me. I love patterned paper way to much to restrict myself. I try to match in design or papers the pages that sit opposite each other. I'm liking the way it is coming together - and I love going back through my photos and feeling inspired to record that memory.

My bridesmaid making their entrance.

The kiss.

Getting the offical documents!

Family photo....on the bouncy castle.

Maxwell looking rather tired.

Our first dance.

Some of the UH-MAZING photobooth pics. This was for Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love Class over at Two Peas.

Thanks for stopping by.

{2012: Week 3}

2012-01-22T09:00:00.001Z

Sunday. Very relaxed. I was still feeling under the weather. I chilled at home (with crochet, jelly beans and recorded Poirot on the TV) while K took little man off to visit his grandparents. Then more relaxing and family fun.

Monday. Messy play at our local children's centre. M loves it - today he played with rice, noodles, cornflakes, jelly, flour and soapy water. (glad it was here and not in my house) He also tried celery. Not so keen on that.

Tuesday. Work. Which OK, my boss was back off her holiday so good to catch up. Then in the evening scrapping with some good friends, an m&s ready meal and snacks. My attempt to catch up on my 2011 album!

Wednesday. A days holiday from work for me. M still went to nursery. In the afternoon he had his first haircut. He behaved and was more annoyed he was being made to sit still and not allowed to play with the toys. Today I also decided to attempt ProjectLife instead of my usual Document album. We shall see how this goes.

Thursday. Another days holiday, M went to nursery. After I completed some tasks (like sorting out clothes that no longer fit M, hoovering, washing etc) I scrapped. Made more progress on project life plus some other layouts. Went out for drinks with work colleagues as well.

Friday. Mummy time. Trip to asda for baking supplies, then soft play (met up with an old school friend not seen each other in years!!), then took little man out for lunch in chiquitos. We then headed home, he fell asleep in the car. Once home I baked Peanut Butter, Chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. Plus cooked a curry for dinner. My brother in law came round in the evening, which meant I left the boys playing the PlayStation.

Saturday. Went to a craft fair with my parents, nan and sister this morning. And made the felt ball above at a make and take. Got some basics (smooth cardstock, a new trimmer) then Krispy Kreme for coffee. Home and family time. Plus writing the invites for M's second Birthday party next month! EEK. Only downside, having one hell of a headache.

Also this week I started reading Players by Karen Swan. (I enjoy reading trashy chick lit books!!) and this book has got hooked. Over half way through, and just want to keep reading it!! I have also watched this week The Kings Speech (loved it!) and Bridesmaids (very funny).

Happy Thoughts.

L

{S.O.S}

2012-01-21T20:53:00.000Z

#ShowOffSaturday.

I don't actually have a picture of the actual event.

But today, while at home with his Dad (I had gone out for the morning with my parents), Maxwell had gone and found his wellies. He then proceeded to sit down on his little step, and put on his wellies. On the correct feet and everything. Very proud parent moment.

Happy thoughts

L

{2011 Layouts}

2012-01-20T09:00:00.001Z

It is only when I look back over my albums that I realise exactly how many layouts I completed last year. I'm thinking its around about the 100 mark (taking into accounts my Document2011 Album). Days I doubt my ability to create a page I like, it always makes me happy to go back and take a look at pages I do like. I find it hard to look at my layouts and identify a defined style. Whereas I can look at other layouts online or by friends and automatically see 'them' in their work. When at a crop or away for a weekend scrapping I find myself quite often looking at others in awe at their ability to create such awesome layouts in a style I don't think I could ever quite achieve. But I am becoming more comfortable with my layouts, and the way I create. I am also trying to be more relaxed in my creativity, as these layouts are going in my albums. No one elses. Me and my family are the ones that will have to look at the hideous colour combo, mispelt words or blurry photos. No one else has to look at my layouts ever again - except K. I think I will continue to force him to take an interest in 12x12 bits of paper!!

In honour of me being able to be more objective and, dare I say, positive about my 'work' - I decieded to go over the layouts I created in 2011 and produce a (kind of) top 5 of my favorites from last year. I have not included my Document2011 layouts (I am hoping to finsh that album soon and will try and blog them soon!) Then, in no particular order, may I introduce my 2011 top 5 layouts.

The brief for this layout was set while taking part in the ScrapFactor competition over on UKS.There are several elements off this layout I have repeated on layouts recently, and I do love the bunting and bling on here. Which adds a little femine touch to a masculine subject matter. And the colour combo I adore - kraft and white (love pairing these two!) with green, orange, pink and blue. Plus the photo still makes my heart melt just a little bit, remebering looking down at this beautiful baby boy in the hospital and knowing right there and then he was all mine. Such a huge but amazing feeling.

OOHHH aqua woodgrain! (I have offically used every last scrap of this paper now! #sadtimes) I love the engagment photos SJ took of me and K last year (actually about this time last year) I really like the fact I crocheted the flowers on this layout too. And black butterflies, another of my fave things to add to a page.

I actually think that one of the big things I love about this page is the memories I have of making it. On a fab weekend away with the most amazing girls (so thankful this hobby has led me to them, they make pretty much everyday that bit more fun!) Apart from that I really like the fact I over embellished, clashed colours, wrote on the photo and doodled. I just kept adding things - sometimes pages just work like that. A bit of everything all smooshed together and held down with some glue and staples. (You gotta love a hobby that allows you to use glue, stapes and glitter right?)

I LOVE the papers on this page - I actually love the top right pink one so much I have bought it a few times more!! Mainly I love this page for the construction of it. The ethos behind it. Basically as I said I love these papers, and what better way to show them off apart from sticking them down on the paper. This is my go-to technique, to get me out of a scrapping slump and get me inspired again. Plus I love I was able to use some really old embellishments (the amy butler butterflies) which have been in my stash for ages - seriously what good are they sitting in my stash, no one can see how pretty they are there!!

And finally... This page was an outcome of Shimelles Pretty Paper Party class. And I love it. I love the balance, I love the colurs and I love the pattern. (you see black butterflies again!!) And I really like the negitive from the punches. Plus this page sybolises my effort to go back and scrap those missing stories from my album. You see how relaxed I am about saying that. I know my albums are not complete, I know I have not scrapped everysinglephoto I own. I know my story still has pages to go. All of the above does no longer fill me with fear. It fills me with the desire to want to record these memories, and all those to come (and to continue my document albums to record the RIGHTNOW stuff). I am just happy to be inspired right now. The silver lining is that if I have had scrapped these photos as they happened way back at the begining of 2010 when I was overdue - I might not of created a page I loved as much as I love this one. Things are what they are, you cannot change the past. But look what the present allowed me to create.

Have you looked over your layouts or crafting adventures you completed last year? What did you really love that you made?

Happy thoughts.

L

{Stories from my Camera}

2012-01-19T09:12:00.003Z

Look at you here.
On your trike, in the park, with your bag of playmobil in the back.
Wearing that tiger hat of yours and a brand new hoodie you got for Christmas.
Taken on December 28th 2011.
While mummy had to go to work, daddy stayed at home with you. You love spending time with your daddy. You have such a lovely relationship.
You look so innocent here. So calm. So quiet.
I wonder what your thinking, I bet your planning your escape or what you can get daddy to let you do - while mummy is away the boys will play.
I'm sorry I had to work. I'm sorry I couldn't play with you two and take a walk in the park. I promise you this I missed you.
My beautiful boy. What will you become.

Journalling 18/01/2012

{Album Organisation}

2012-01-18T15:00:00.000Z

How do you organise yours?

Me, I opt for chronological thanks to this post by Shimelle. This is seriously the best thing I have done.

I spent an afternoon this week actually labelling my albums. (it feels so good)

The reorganisation of my albums was not a quick thing. It was a slow progress. Before I made this conscious decision to change how I order my layouts they were (well some of the older albums) kind of organised by theme - and then as life moved on, it was just - 'oh this album has space, I'll stick my layout there' As much as this was a quick storage option at the time it made it difficult viewing the album, as it would be a real mix of themes, and date of photos.

When I read the blog post I felt this option would work for me. I spent a few evenings pulling ALL my layouts out of my albums. I then sorted them into piles sorted by year (this process also showed me how little I actually date my layouts - I have now changed this!!!) These layouts were then put into albums. I then spent a few evening organised these layouts into chronological by year. (thankfully picassa organises my photos by date!)

Since this rejig I now stick to the chronologically order of my layouts. I leave blank spaces for pages I know I want to do. Even in my older albums. I realised when reorganising my albums there was some stories I hadn't recorded yet. (my notebook is full of sparks, ideas and layouts I want in my albums)

The albums I have now include:

The Early Years (a combination of childhood photos, old family photos and pre 2007 layouts)
2007
2008 #1 & #2
2009 #1 & #2
2010 #1 & #2
Document 2010
JYC2010
2011 #1 & #2
Document 2011
JYC2011
Wedding 20/08/2011
Honeymoon

All of the above are pretty much Works in Progress. And this fact does not overwhelm, worry me or cause me stress. I love the flexibility I can go back and scrap a layout from 2009 or one from last year or a wedding photo. This, I believe, makes me more creative, more willing to be inspired and less worried about feeling behind.

As much as I have applied the above to my scrapping life - the one album I do try and stay up to date with is my Document albums. I love these everyday highlights of our life. Hopefully my 2011 will be finished soon (need to order the photos) so I should be able to share these with you soon.

I'm hoping (light depending) to take some photos of my wedding and honeymoon layouts so far.

So there is a little insight in how I organise my albums.

Happy crafting

L

{Stories from my Camera}

2012-01-18T11:34:00.000Z

Blurry photos.
Mucky boy.
Daily life.
You are getting so good at feeding yourself, you switch between using your left hand and right hand. Though you do normally favour your left. You take the spoon off mummy and insist on doing it yourself.
You love to have your porridge in the morning, and eat it all up. Mummy has tied a tea towel round your neck (couldn't find a bib!) Our morning routine is up, then a cup of tea before having your porridge. You know where it is, and you know which milk to use (blue milk for Maxwell, Red milk for Mummy)
You have recently learnt that to cool hot food down you have to blow on it. And now whenever I say something is hot (whether it is the kettle, taking the clothes out of the dryer or when the oven is on) you automatically go to cool it down by blowing - too cute.
As much as I love to see you be independent and feed yourself, it is nice that you still rely on mummy to finish it off.

Photos taken 16/01/2012

{Christmas Baked Goods}

2012-01-16T21:43:00.000Z

I know, the Christmas season is over now for another year. But Chocolate Cake and Sugar cookies are for life and not just for Christmas.

As the season (or any season/holiday for that matter) approaches I begin scouring my cookbooks, blogs and magazines for my 'To Bake' List. Christmas 2011 list included : Nigella Chocolate Biscuits (a fave of K's), Mince Pies, Gingerbread Men and Marble Cupcakes. This well-rounded list was topped off with Sugar Cookies (a seasonal must in this house. I have a TON of cookies cutters!!) and my new find for this year which was Spiced Chocolate Cake topped with Ganache. Both of these were well received by my Christmas Eve guests. In fact K loved the Cake so much he requested this as his Birthday Cake. A rare occurrence as his cake of choice is usually Lemon Drizzle.

Spiced Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe while browsing through my stack of magazine recipes. I was looking for a Christmas Cake, which wasn't fruit based. Luckily I had kept this recipe from a Sainsburys Magazine from 2010. The recipe uses dark chocolate (I mixed mine up with a cheap own brand bar and some of the more expensive Lindt Chocolate) and then spiced with ginger, stem ginger, mixed spice and cinnamon. It also includes black treacle and golden syrup making a really glossy chocolate mixture. It filled the house with the most amazing smell. I really want to try baking this again with some orange zest in.

The other Christmas eve bake (which is being added to the Edwards Christmas Tradition list) was Sugar Cookies. I use the Hummingbird Bakery recipe from their original book. This recipe makes a ton of dough which equates into many cookies!! For the Icing I mixed up a little water/milk with some icing sugar until a nice thick consistency. Maxwell decorated a few for Santa, which he doused the cookies in icing and decoration's (lucky Santa!) - Whereas I, as slightly against the clock, drizzled the incing over the cookies and sprinkled glitter and sugar stands over them. Creating a stack of shimmering cookies ready and awaiting our visitors. The small people definitely enjoyed these!

Sugar Cookies made by Mummy.

Sugar Cookies made by M.

I do love baking.

In case you didn't know.

Happy thoughts.

L

{2012: Week 2}

2012-01-15T10:00:00.001Z

On the way out to dinner at Shaka Zulu, Camden.

Making cakes for Daddy.

Working on my Ripple blanket

#fromwhereistand making tea at work

Home to this cheeky monkey

The mess an almost 2 year old can cause!!!

Spent the day at my local crop = very productive

{s.o.s}

2012-01-14T19:01:00.000Z

Was catching up on some blog reading as I just got in from my crop and I found this. Such a lovely idea to celebrate you.
This Saturday I am happy to show off my little man. He is growing so fast. And he may not be talking yet but he understands so much, actually amazes me. This week I have seen him be more vocal. He is such a daddies boy. Big time. But this week has seen him take my hand, want cuddles with me and be excited to see me too. This makes me all kinds of happy.

Happy times. To you and yours.
L

{12/01/2012}

2012-01-13T11:51:00.001Z

I was reading some online blogs, as per usual. And stumbled across this idea. Thought I would try and incorporate this idea into my document album - maybe as a separate page protector, or I might just go into my normal year album. Who knows. Are you taking 12 in 2012?

And this was my 12/01/2012.
A crazy (as my working days are) morning, attempting to get everyone out of the house to get to nursery/work on time. Then at breakfast at my desk, lunch at my desk. Hometime - and my weekend! Whoop! Rush to do the nursery pick up, plus been told that little man will be moving up to toddler room this month. Home, a cuppa tea and some buttons for the boy while I fix dinner. Playtime - currently he is obsessed with puzzles. Bedtime for little ma, he was exhausted. Dinner and a little crochet while watching Eternal Law with the hubby. Not an overly exciting day - just normal everyday life.

L

{2012:Week 1}

2012-01-08T11:45:00.001Z

First week of January.

Saw us seeing in the new year, a trip to a garden centre, an open house with some old family friends and seeing the in laws (plus new baby cuddles with Kezia!), K turning 31, a walk in the park, a little light scrapping and a house full of friends and family (and some home baked birthday cake) Saw the first official day back to real life, both at work, some crazy weather, both being crazy tired, and going to bed early, being happy that the weekend was here, I went and saw my families new office (they moved over Christmas), I cooked for M and he ate it all (this is a minor miracle as he can be quite fussy with eating), going to the first kids birthday party of the year, and a rather messy night out to celebrate the big fella's birthday - which involved wine, free cocktails, shots and bottles of champagne and vodka!

Crafting this week included starting the 8th stripe on my ripple and ccompleting my November multi photo page.

TV, we watched and loved Treasure Island (Eddie Izzard rocked it!) & Sherlock (I love this programme!!!!)

Happy crafting y'all.

Lx

{Tagged}

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000Z

The other day I sat down at my dining table (where I craft) and wanted to make something. I did not know what I wanted to make (I knew I didn't have time for a layout!) so I grabbed some of my leftover tags from my JYC and Christmas present wrapping. And with these I made 3 pre embellished tag - I kind of have an idea of the layout for them in mind.

I used only my scraps and punches to make them. I have also found that working on small tag is really good for trying out colour combos. I picked red and green (as I think these may go on the one and only pic I got of all 3 of us over Christmas - as M is going through that I do not want to stand still stage. The photo is not brilliant but tbh that is not as important as recording the memory - hey?)

I added our initial to the tags and wrapped them in twine. Now I just need to order photos and get them scrapped.

Happy crafting!

{Happy New Year}

2012-01-04T08:43:00.002Z

Apologies in advance!

So Christmas happened, my JYC is part done, Maxwell had a fab time, we ate lots of food and saw lots of friends. Maxwell seems to love Christmas as much as me (we love the lights, the tree, the baubles and wasn't even that frightened of Father Christmas)

And we saw in the new year with a few close friends.

It seems the advent of a new year, makes people think about recording your life. There is lots of talk at the moment about project life. As much as I love the idea, I know I would struggle with this project. But I love my Document albums - I completed my 2010 (it needs a title page and an end page but its done!) and I am currently trying to complete my 2011 album. And I will do this project again this year. The format I find works for me is:

A memorabilia page, with a pocket or envelope to fill with bits and pieces or even extra photos from that month. I would also like to include some of Maxwell's artwork each month in this page too (he such a creative little man and got a lovely art desk from his godparents for Christmas) I would also like to include a card of some sort in this pocket filled with what has happened this month - I might modify this idea slightly.

A split photo page. I take lots of photos on my iPhone (more on that to follow) and I like to fill this page with photos off my phone, as this is where I seem to capture our everyday life. Something which I found I like from working on last years album, is I like to dedicate at least 3 of the small sections to photos of M. Things he has done, achieved, like or places we have gone.

A focus page. I choose one event from the month and scrapbook it. I store all my layouts chronological anyway (so will be starting my 2012 ones too! eek!) so having just one layout in my document album suits me fine.I have also set aside a notebook to tally up things like, visitors we have had, places we have gone, films we have watched and crafting projects I have completed. I think this would be a nice addition to my monthly layouts.

Now every year I attempt to take a photo a day. and every year I fail.

However December I completed taking a photo a day, and I think my key to completing this task was I took all my pictures on my iPhone. I have been using the camera+ app mainly but recently downloaded snapseed too which I will play around with. I sit on my phone most evening having a browse etc - so I can sit, edit and save any photos I have taken that day.

My aim (now this is the scary bit) will be to try and upload them to my blog - I'm thinking weekly not sure I could cope daily!

I will also aim to photograph and upload my document layouts (especially last years ones! to share with all you guys)

I should try and use my blog more. For memory keeping at the very least.

Finally 2011 was wonderful, amazing - I got married, spent lots of fab time with my family and friends and saw lots of new babies!! EEKK!! I'm hoping 2012 is just as wonderful (if a little cheaper!)

A few resolutions from me:

I should worry less (anyone who knows me knows this will be hard!)

I should relax a little more (and not worry what people think - see point 1)

I should be a little more selfish at times (and put myself first occasionally)

Much Love L

p.s you have permission to nag me if I have not uploaded my pictures

p.p.s sorry not photos - blogging from work! oops!

{JYC2011so far}

2011-12-09T14:58:00.001Z

I am enjoying this Christmas so much. Yes it's crazy busy. Yes it's stressful. But there are moments of pure happiness.

I have been able to journal my pages and I have been using my iPhone to full advantage to record the season. Though I must get out the dslr to get some pics of the tree etc!

Here are a few of my Christmas photos so far.

Hope your Christmas is as lovely xx

{JYC : 2011}

2011-11-28T15:35:00.001Z

This year I decieded to take a different aproach (rather than assume, yes I will have time to make my pages from scratch each day! Along with work, being a mum, it being nearly Chrismtas and general other craziness that goes along with Decemeber) And that approach was to make up **most** of pages in advance, so that they are pretty much ready to go. But you could add more embellishments, titiles or numbers where required.

The first thing I knew had to be done was to make a plan on the album format. After much delibiration - I settled on 6x6. I thought this size would be 1.more achievable for me on a daily basis 2. was better value of money for me (one 12x12 sheet will make 4 pages!). Step one decision made.

Step two. Photos or words? I use my Iphone daily to take pictures, and I use instagram a lot. This is how many of my friends and me stay connected with each other. I love the effects you get with the photos. And I love that I always have my *camera* with me. I know I will take lots of other christmas shots with DSLR, but I love the look of square prints you get through instagram. After some lengthy discussions on twitter mainly - I settled on have a words focus page and oppsite this I will have a photo focus page. I will print all the photos in one go after Christmas (cheaper!) and probaly embellish them slightly with punched shapes and other prettyness. Settling on this as plan, then aided the next step.

Step three. My pages. For creating my album I bought the Chirstmas in a Box kit that Shimelle put together. Then this along with whatever other Chrimtmas bits I had would be my core supplies. I did order a 100 manilla tags (planning on using them on my Christmas wrapping also!) but I wanted something fairly simple I could use throughout my album to offer some continutiny. I then gathered some cardstock in a mix of blues, greens, kraft, white and pink. I cute these into 6x6. Out of the kit I picked a selection of papers I wanted to use as backgrounds, these were all cute 5.5 x 5.5. The pages were then made up from these bases. Some more simple than others, but all are ready for Decemeber 1st.

Throughout my pages I used some enevlopes (some were sealed and then cut to make pockets), some with journalling cards, some with tags - but all of them I have left some space for journalling. My plan is also to add pages or inserts without the album were needed. It will as always be a work in progress - but the main bulk is done.

As I have taken part in JYC before I am more aware of what some of the prompts which happen throughout the class - therefore I did make some of the pages more directed ready for that theme, but the majority are pretty simple, ready to be embellished & titled.

I havn't made any numbers, as I will see what each day brings in terms with how this fits - but I am toying with the idea of adding the number to the photo page?! (as I said this is a work in progress!) All my Christmas bits are now all stored together (with some letters, ribbons, etc) so that I can either attempt to complete my page daily! (doubtful) or spend a couple of hours at the weekend and finish the pages.

As with other years, I will probably tweet some of my journalling daily to. Helps me remember.

I hope all of you who are taking the class are excitied and I would love to know how you will be doing your album!

Roll on the 1st!

L

{JYC : 2010}

2011-11-28T14:56:00.007Z

I have made a few discoveries about myself and crafting recently.

1. I do not cope well with deadlines

2. I find it hard to always craft everyday

3. I am embarrassed at my numerous unfinished projects

4. All of the above fills me with guilt.

That being said, I had decided that once again I wanted to take part in JYC again this year. But before I could prep 2011(blog post on that to follow) I wanted to make a big effort to complete my 2010 album. I had done a lot of the journalling in a notebook for the season. I wanted to combine my notes with my photos and my Christmas Stash. So out it came and I spent one afternoon / evening finishing my album.

Last year I opted for a multi sized album and I had already done about a third of the album. I sat down with my photos and my album, and I made a plan of what I wanted to record. I had last year, punched all sorts of different shapes out of my older Christmas stash (only the punches I had - circles, labels, stars etc) and stored them along with any other tags or sayings, all in a Quality Street tin - festive! This has been brilliant for just pulling together embellishments for my pages (and I used the same tin of shapes for my pages for this year too!)

I am so pleased I was able to finish my album. Here are a few pics of my finished album. Throughout the album I added envelopes which I put the pages with my original journalling in. I added pages of just a single photo, or a bigger layout with journalling. I included some reciepte, handwritten enevlopes & even a decoration off the tree.

I am very excited to be doing my JYC again this year. I will share how I started my album for this year later. (sorry some of the pictures are out of order, but blogger was being temperamental!)

Thanks for stopping by.

Just a quick note as well, I've posted a quick project over the fiskars blog. Drop by and take a look.

{Halloween Party}

2011-11-06T11:55:00.006Z

Last weekend I had the crazy idea to host a little kids Halloween party. It actually wasn't that bad. The children arrived in fancy dress, and because of their age there was no real organised games etc. It was more a get together - with baked goods.

In preparation for the party I purchased a part pdf printable pack from Shindig parties to go http://amandaparkerandfamily.blogspot.com/

Here are a few pics of the party table. I was very please with the outcome.

I baked Red Velvet Cupcakes & Chocolate Cupcakes (Recipes from Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days) and the cookies was Miranda's Vanilla Biscuits (Recipes from The Great British Bake Off )

I did also make a door wreath, bubble wraps and goodie bags for the children using the same printable pack - but I haven't got any good pics of those.

{fiskars}

2011-11-05T15:19:00.001Z

I would like to share some news with you all.
Exciting times.

Hope everyone has a safe bonfire night.

Love Leanne

{Pretty Paper Party #3}

2011-10-30T12:15:00.000Z

The most productive prompt.

I took 8 sheets of patterned paper. Choose a couple to be left whole. The rest I cut up. Yes, cut up all of them into various shaped blocks.

Then I picked photos and created layouts. This was most awesome idea! Shimelle rocks!

And I created 6 layouts - and I had tons left over which went back into my scrap bag (the idea is to carry on scrapping but the weekend came and I am unable to leave my stash out - but the scraps will be used again - as will this technique!)

Our first and one of the only (due to a very over excitied little man who did not want to stay still!) from the wedding as an offical family. Actaully makes me happy all these layers of patterned paper.

A photo from earlier in the year of me and my sister. The title is the nickname my parents call us - SD1 and SD 2 - which means 'sad daughter' (sad not as in unhappy but sad as geeky). I made the little pennats along the bottom - love them!

Pictures from Lauras wedding (which k pointed out I put the wrong year on! Must correct that srsly my brain is a fail sometmimes) Plus this pattened paper i had been 'saving' for ages. Happy I've used it now!

Old pics of the boy. simple but i love the photos so much.

A record keeping layout about the boys sleeping habits, nap times etc. Again Simple but a layout i'm happy I have.

Finally a picture of my bridesmaids taken on my friend Helens hen weekend. yay.

{Pretty Paper Party #2}

2011-10-28T12:12:00.000+01:00

Here is a layout I made from prompt two - but I used the techniques from this prompt on my layouts for number 3.

A couple of older pregnant pics. Felt good to put this down on paper - and a couple of my fave pregnant pics. I really like the black butterflies on this layout and butterfly band behind the pics is the left over from the punched elements.

Only a quick post for now.

L

{Pretty Paper Party #1}

2011-10-26T11:50:00.000+01:00

I signed up to Shimelle new class.

If you haven't I would suggest you should

Amazing amount of inspiration (I have completed 6/7 layouts in under a week from the first 3 prompts!!!) This has totally given me my mojo back.

Rather than put all those layouts in one post I though i would split them up and number them based on the prompts for other class followers.

From Prompt 1 I did two layouts (but i'm sure, as with all the promptes I will go back to them and make more layouts!)

A couple of pics taken on my iphone from the top of our trip on The Echo Wheel while in Liverpool on our honeymoon. I loved being able to get so many patterns onto my layout without being so overpowering.

The offical 'here is your wedding certificate' moment.I really like the paper sections as the other layout, but this is a bit softer. I actually used 7 different patterns here!!

Thanks for stopping by.

{Crop Day : October}

2011-10-24T11:35:00.000+01:00

The October crop was great fun, and I was very productive even though I was extremely disorganised. I actually just dumped all my photos, papers etc in a couple of bags and trundled off. I did use Shimelle sketches and starting points for my layouts - a great jump start! And i have plans to try the new starting point for a layout soon (I'm not usually quick enough to get in before the deadline!)

I have a huge pile to scrap (wedding honeymoon etc) but I also recently went through my albums and reorganised then chronologically and there are a few stories missing. So I have printed off those pictures and I am going back and scrapping the stories.

As many will know my friend Laura, recently gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Now Laura has done an amazing job at recording her pregnancy. I didn't. At all, and I am amazed at what Laura did and I also at what some of my other friends have recorded their pregnancies and their children. I have a crop friend by the name of Michealanne, and she has given birth to a lovely little chap called Jimmy. Michelanne recorded her whole pregnancy weekly in an awesome 12x12 album! She is a super mum! And I'm pretty sure she will always be up to date scrapping Jimmy's life! (Unlike me!!) And my other friend Jen has done an amazing job a photographing Benjamin on a monthly basis (again something else I didn't do or think of doing!) All these things inspire me to be better mum and at recording these things. One thing I did complete last year was my document album - which is a lovely record of seeing Maxwell change (plus all my photos are stored by date so I can look back at them) I know I didn't record much of my pregnancy by photo partly as I was worried something would go wrong and partly I think as I didn't 'look' pregnant till right near the end. (and also our camera was broke for a large proportion of 2009) However I have made the effort to print off a selection of photos from that year and make an attempt to scrap them. I might not have amazing whole albums that I envy of my friends but I can least have a few pages in my album. That's gotta be worth something right?

So on top of my wedding, honeymoon and general pictures of Maxwell - I now have a pile of older photos to get down in my album (and I am not going to panic about scrapping them all now!) I will enjoy the process of choosing my pictures and papers and being inspired.

All this means my pages are not all one theme (which helps the overwhelming feeling of scrapping my wedding now!!! lol!) and means it is exciting to pull out a photo and scrap that now! I hope at least.
At the crop then I scrapped 3 honeymoon layouts, 1 wedding layout, 1 recent Maxwell layout and 1 old 2009 picture of our 3 month scan of Maxwell - which happened to fall on our anniversary. I used a mix of my studio calico kits, some new American Crafts paper and my scrap bag.

I love these recent pics of M at the park. This was an exclusive paper design in the calico kit. I cut some matching shapes out of patterned paper in green, to pull the green from the photo. A few girls at the crop did a similar page via a sketch, so I took up the crop challenge.

My husband pulls the silliest faces!! Srsly. These pics were taken a few hours before we headed home to London. I cut down the 4x6 to form a photo strip effect. (I love these thickers so much!!)

Our journey to Liverpool was hellish! 8 hours! Crazy! During our honeymoon I took lots of pics on my iPhone to, so I can scrap a mix of pictures.

My sister organised our whole honeymoon, which was a surprise as we had no plans to go away. Our whole bridal party chipped in for us to have a break away as Mr& Mrs and Liverpool was a lovely city location. My sister had made envelopes for us to open each day which told us about our planned, prebooked and prepaid activities - I kept all the letters and wanted to include them on my pages. This was our first activity. And as the journey was awful getting there our trip on the wheel took place a little later than imagined but it was still lovely.

The wedding layout. It makes me happy. All that matters.

And finally the scan picture. Looking back at this makes me emotional. And sitting at the crop writing the journalling made me tear up. That little baby bean there in the scan is now a big healthy boy of 20 months.

That's all for now.

{Autumn Days}

2011-10-23T15:20:00.004+01:00

These past few days have looked like this.

I heart autumn

{20 months on...}

2011-10-20T20:04:00.001+01:00

This week Maxwell turned 20 months. Wow.

I still can't quite believe it some days. That, me, I am a real life actual mum. Times have been difficult, and stressful and tearful. But the majority of the time is pretty amazing being a mum to this little man.

I do doubt my abilities sometimes. And I compare myself and the way we are raising m to others. I am constantly worried i am doing something wrong or I am not good enough for him.

These past 20 months have been amazing I have become a wife and mum. Truly lucky and blessed.

At 20 months old maxwell is

Not talking (the odd word!) but is understanding so much. He knows where he trainers go once they have taken off. He knows how to turn the beside light on among other things.

He is babbling more and more. Though his favourite thing to say is 'dad'. Little man is a true daddy's boy. When the phone rings he says Dad, when the doorbell rings he says dad and when he looks at photos he says dad.

He is loving looking at my albums. He takes them off the shelf and likes to turn the pages (and says dad at pics of K)

He is very clever and only has to see you do something once and he remembers. Like the other day he saw K put on his knee support, now when k is getting dressed he likes to 'help' daddy put his support on.

He has been sleeping in his cotbed for a few months now (as he learned to climb out of his cot!), which is working well. Except we have had a run of early mornings recently.

He has started to 'pull' us by the hand or leg if he wants us to do something. Like wake up! Or go to the kitchen. I'm trying to encourage him to actually tell me what he wants. All in good time I guess.

He is so loving. And even though he is a daddy's boy, if he gets into bed with us. It is always a snuggle with mummy!!

My little boy is at times a handful. He loves to explore, run about, climb, make noise and generally be a little monster. But I wouldn't change him. Im the one who needs to change. I need to relax and not worry about how others see him. (I just want to be a good mum!)

I write this now while sitting next to my lil fella all tucked up in bed. Lucky mummy indeed.

Xxx

{my life right now, in iPhone pictures}

2011-10-11T22:10:00.001+01:00

I shall not apologise for being busy, being a mum and being a wife. Life has been busy. And my evenings I have needed to relax. Thank you to all those who read and comment. I shall try harder.

Here is a look into my life right now thru the lens I use most. My phone.

Mucho love to y'all

{Lists}

2011-09-21T12:56:00.005+01:00

Things to know about me.

1. I am not organised

2. I love lists

3. Point 2 helps facilite me to be more organised (point 1)

Recently I have seen more list based prompts or ideas for scrapbooking - Yay.

And where better for me to record some of these list style journalling than on my blog!? huh? I have been looking at 30 days of list & the list it products from ella publishing.

I'm hoping that I can then use my lists or journalling from these random prompts to actually turn into pages (like I don't already have enough to do?!)

I am not intending this to be a regular ( i.e every tuesday I will....) Again I am not orgnised!! but I like the idea of being able to write something, think about journalling or ideas for pages and it not be hidden away in my notebook (some might still be kept hidden away!)

Todays thoughts (in list form!)

I am happiest when

I am with my husband

I am being a mum

I am baking

I am crafting (scrapbooking, knitting, crochet etc)

I am snuggled on the sofa with my boys

I am watching a good film

Pictures taken on my phone recently.

That's it.

{Saturday Crop}

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

I have been a member of this crop in Cheam for nearly 4 (maybe even 5) years now. We meet once a month in a community hall in Cheam. It really is a lovely bunch of women. We are all loud, like to chat, the majority all drink tea (all with no sugar) and the majority also love the fact the community hall is next to a Sainsburys and a Starbucks!

It has been a long time since I have been able to go to the crop for the whole day on Saturday. Due to childcare, events (baby showers, birthdays and seeing take that in concert) and also with wedding prep. But this Saturday I was able to stay all day. It was a couple of the ladies birthdays recently so we had a little lunch and some cake.

I had packed up a few page kits (more that I could complete in a day) but managed 1 double layout and 3 single layouts - and seeing as I had a very slow start catching up with everyone, showing wedding pics and seeing my lovely friend Michaelanne and her new baby boys Jimmy.

I am a little worried about scrapping the wedding to be honest - so I did not do any of those layouts! So i did scrap my hen and some of Maxwell.

This was using the starting point layout which can be found over at www.shimelle.com each weekend!

This is a double layout - which I have not done for ages! and It took me a while - but glad I have been able to document some of the details from my Hen. I had two parts this nice civilised afternoon tea - which was then followed by a trip in a hummer out to a vodka bar!

Here is a little pic of one using M nursery pics - the main pic I took was not so good - but you get the idea!

And finally...

A bottle of tea, yes he has it. in the morning with me having a cuppa - his is a very weak milky tea. But like mother like son. Now to tackle some actually wedding pics. Or maybe not?!

{It has been...}

2011-09-18T18:51:00.001+01:00

18 days since my last post. Geez where has the time gone!?

It has also been almost a month since I became a married woman! Exciting times.

In that time I have been doing some crafting. Some scrapbooking, some sewing and some knitting. Last year I attempted to knit M an advent calender made up of mini stockings, however I am a novice. However I am now making an even bigger attempt to finish them by this Christmas, and I will post pics when they are done (hopefully) by December 1st!!. (there is a reason behind me telling you this promise!) I had been tweeting about the fact I am a slow knitter and that I wanted to complete this project - and two rather lovely ladies Heather and Jen (who are also friends are the rather lovely Rach!) During the random twittering about my knitting socks - I commented on this blog post by Heather in which she talks about reconnecting with an old friend by letter - like actually real pen and paper letter and not text,email,tweet or facebook status! This made me smile - actual pen pals - did you ever have a pen pal? I remember having holidays and then writing letters to friends you had made on these holidays! Where have pen pals gone? Replaced by facebook me thinks.

Anyway I digress - In this conversation I said to Heather I would love her address so I could write her an actual letter too. We had had conversations over the previously mentioned social media networks but I wanted to write a letter. This exchange took place.

In between all this, my lovely friend Rachel had told Heather (whose crocheting is awesomesauce!! on many levels) about my blanket I was making on our recent trip away scrapbooking. This is totally a work in progress made up of odds and ends of DK yarn in bright colours (fact about me, I crochet way better than I knit and I do enjoy a bit of yarn related crafting - less messy but more stressful sometimes, and a lot slower!) Well Rachel had mentioned to Heather that I would love some DK yarn to add to the blanket. Well guess what came in the post.....

A lot of lovely yarn, which will most definitely come to some good use in my blanket. And yesterday in the post, a card full of real handwriting!! and some lovely letters spelling out Maxwell (soon to be making an appearance in his room) Rachel has also donated some lovely yarn to my cause too!!

So now I need more lovely stationary to send a letter back (this is writing etiquette obvs!) and as a request from Heather - my work in progress blanker. The pattern can be found here. But I think I will do mine horizontal instead of vertical.

It is a bit crazy in colours I know!! But I like it.

Enjoy your Sunday peeps! xx

{10 Facts about 'The' Wedding...}

2011-09-01T12:14:00.003+01:00

I like the refer to it as 'the' wedding - you know like 'the' royal wedding!

My flowers were Calla Lille's, Gerber as, Roses and Lisianthus - and some diamante obvs!

I wore a lot of bling in my hair and had a lot of shimmery prettiness all over me!

K had a special wedding car of a Ford Mustang 1946 (I think) He is a real American muscle car fan

I had 3 bridesmaids (in 3 different colours!), a baby flower girl and K had 3 best men (also colour coded!) and Maxwell of course!

Our first dance was to Chakka Khan, 'Ain't Nobody'

I wore pink shoes and K had orange socks!

My something borrowed was the tiara I wore, my something blue was 'I Do' gems on the soles of my shoes, my something old was a bracelet which was my Nan's and my something new were my earrings from bridesmaids.

We had two cakes - a cupcake tier and a traditional Jamaican Rum cake 3-tier.

Our photos were taken by the very awesome Shimelle and SJ. (And check out Shimelle blog for some of the pictures Yay!!!)

{it happened}

2011-08-21T22:08:00.001+01:00

Finally. More to follow soon.

Xxx

{Capture Life}

2011-08-15T10:00:00.000+01:00

This is what we as scrapbookers do.

We try and capture all those memories, stories and events in a photograph, so we can preserve it down in our albums. TBH I think this is pretty cool. I recently took one of my albums into work as a couple of the girls I work with wanted to see what my scrapbooking actually was. Everyone who looked it at it said 'Maxwell will be so lucky to look back on these things when he's older' I really do hope so! But I just like to know that I am putting down our story somewhere. Even if in years to come he looks at them and thinks 'what a waste of time!' you never know, his kids or grandkids or great grandkids might find them and think 'WOW' this is our family history, right there.

I wanted to put down a few of my thoughts about this onto a layout. About how I love recording and capturing life thru a lens. I used some photographs my rather talented friends took of me and or out camera on our recent weekend away (Laura, Sj, Shimelle, Rachel, Natalie, Katy, Katherine, Chloe & Sally)

The style is a bit different from my usual, but I am OK with that. (I think this in itself is progress on part!)

Journalling reads:

What I love about my ability to record out daily memories on camera is that this is so important for us to tell our story, to look back at our pictures and see how our lives have changed. Watch our child grow. I am filled with great happiness when I look at our photos. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words.

Hope you capture a memory or two today!

{Summer Days}

2011-08-12T10:00:00.000+01:00

OK, so our summer has been a little washed out!! But I have been able to get a few good 'Summer photos' this year (in between all the rain)

I created this layout a little different than my usual approach. As in I selected my photos, then found the embellishments I wanted to use - before I even though about cardstock, patterned paper or letter stickers. I am pleased with the results.

Rather than make the journalling for this layout actually specific to the event in which the photos were taken, I used the 'summer' photos as a starting point to list some summer memories so far from 2011.

Journalling reads:

A few Summer 2011 memories so far: playing in the paddling pool in grandma's garden, watching you waddle around the garden in just a nappy, BBQ at grandmas and you drinking from a glass like a big boy, Sitting on the balcony in the sunshine in your toy story chair, learning to eat an ice lolly and loving it, BBQ @ Katies house, you walking round eating a strawberry as big as your hand, going for a walk in with you trike at the park, spending time chilling indoors when the weather was not nice, playing in your sandpit at nannies, playing with the rocks at nannies.

Have fun whatever you doing xx

{10 things on the 10th}

2011-08-10T21:59:00.001+01:00

....about our wedding.

Our wedding is in 10 days. The 20/08/2011.

Our wedding is 4 days before my birthday, and 17 days after our 10 year anniversary of being together.

Our wedding has four colours, instead of the more typical 1 or 2 colours. Mainly because I couldn't decide. And partly because we love all things bright.

Our wedding is taking place in a registry office. A small service.

Our wedding reception is taking place at a local football club. This is a lot bigger celebration.

Our wedding will not be having a sit down dinner. Instead we opted for a BBQ.

Our wedding will be having a cake table. Surprisingly enough, I will not be baking any myself.

Our wedding will be having a bouncy castle and garden games. Pray for good weather!!

Our wedding will have 3 bridesmaids, 3 best men, a page boy and a flower girl.

Our wedding is getting really close now. To must learn to relax.

So there you go.

{My Greatest Adventure}

2011-08-10T10:00:00.000+01:00

In doing the Explore class with Shimelle, I have found some amazing inspiration to create pages that were not just linked to actual event. But are more about what I think or feel in that particular moment. I am really enjoying this approach to my pages at the moment.

I created this page in response to thinking about adventure.

As I wrote on my twitter: I am not adventurous. I haven't travelled the world. I haven't climbed a mountain. I am the opposite of adventurous. Unless you count....planning a wedding in under a year, dropping 2 dress sizes, being a mum and working as adventurous.

The thinking about that concept and the creation of an explore pinboard via pinterest with a rather lovely lady I have 'met' recently Jenna, led me to create this layout (totally inspired by this postcard)....

The journalling reads:

I have never climbed a mountain or travelled far & wide but I did make the decision to be a mum. I was blessed with Maxwell. You teach me thins everyday. You make me laugh, cry and even scream sometimes. But you make me feel loved. I'm sure life with you will never be boring.

{In Our Home}

2011-08-08T10:00:00.000+01:00

Me & K have lived in our current flat since late 2009. We moved when I was pregnant (blessing as I was unable to lift any of the boxes!!) Gradually things have been looking more and more like our home, with out stamp on it.

Buying bigger pieces of furniture to display our photos and things on, buying a bigger computer table to create more work space, changing the 'spare' room from that to Maxwell's room, and recently over the past couple of weeks making changes to our Sofa (which was smaller as from our old flat) and a new bed, as the old one broke.

However there is one part of home I love the most. The wall above the sofa - which I call the 'photo wall' even though we do have photos in other rooms of the house. The photo on this layout was taken with the first frame up which holds 17 photos. I put this together when I was on maternity leaver. It is all pictures of mine and K first 7 years of our relationship (with a couple of our baby pics thrown in for good measure!) Since this first frame the wall has grown in size.

It now has 10 frames in different sizes, a couple of E monograms, M's fathers day card and a stone from his first trip to the beach.The photo's range from a couple of bump shots we had done, to M's first photo which was taken on the iPhone and uploaded to facebook a few hours after he was born (this is still one of my fave early photos of him), to a few photos from the early part of his life, a family portrait taken on the beach, a photo from his christening and a picture of me and K at Laura's wedding. It also holds a little frame I made. it all makes me happy

The journalling on the layout reads:-

our home may be rented. It may not have much colour on the walls. It may not be all pretty. It may not be co-ordinated and is always full of clutter, toys and STUFF. But there is one area I love. The wall above the sofa. Our 'Photo Wall' Where I can add pictures. You can see our family grown and change as more frames are added. I love having these photos on show. It is now a lot large than this picture, with a few added embellishments. This large frame has photos from our first 7 years together. Before becoming parents to M. These photos are important to our story.

{2 Brides to Be 2011}

2011-08-07T10:00:00.000+01:00

I have this friend..

We met each other when we were 11 at Girls Brigade.

We grew up together.

And weirdly our other halves grew up together too.

And this year both us celebrated our 10 year anniversaries.

And we are both getting married this year.

This photo was taken at my friends Hen in March, she and her hubby tied the knot in April. Both me and K (and M) were were part of the wedding party. And surprisingly enough they are both part of ours. Strange the way things turn out huh?

This layout is mainly using Studio Calico Kit (a few months back) and I adopted the #failsafescrapbookinstandby to kick start this page.

Choose 3 patterned papers (if you get a kit use any 3 out of that OR pick 3).
Cut them into blocks. (This layout I did 2 x chunky rectangles & 1 taller thinner rectangle)
Stick them on a some cardstock.

Base done, also you have made the leap and actually cut into that pretty paper! Now layer until your hearts content.

The journalling on this layout reads:

Me and Helen have been friends for Years. And who would of thought all these years later we would both be getting married within months of each other. Bridesmaids for each other. It has been great to share this experience with each other. 2011 will be an epic year.

{A Week in my life...}

2011-08-05T10:00:00.000+01:00

Well I had all good intentions of doing this, and I started well. But this same week, I had major wedding stress, crazy busy everything else going on. This it kinda got forgotten. BUT I am not upset or annoyed about it, I will try and do it again in a few weeks time. Properly applying myself to the task. In the meantime...

Here are some of the photos I did manage to get...

{Explore}

2011-08-04T20:34:00.002+01:00

I have for the past couple of week been taking part in Shimelle latest classe, Explore. I am loving the change and the guidance to actually stop and think about my creativity, how I create things and how I look at things.

Here are a few pics of the 'playbook' which I have created in the class. Really loving the freedom of it - and out of this I have ideas for several full scale pages for my album.

Enjoy your evenings x

{Nope....}

2011-08-03T14:26:00.002+01:00

You are not imagining things.

Yes, this is me writing an actual blog post. (Sorry it has been a whole month!!)

Life has been so busy of late.

Firstly, I am getting married in 17 days!! Can't belive how quickly the days have passed. So as you would expect things are pretty busy busy busy at the moment. with last minute planning. This weekend is my hen - and I am very excitied (if a little nervous)

Secondly, My scrapping mojo took a major dive after the scrapfactor competition. It took a while for me to get back into the swing of things. I have been taking part in Shimelle lastest Explore class. Which has really kickstarted things again for me creativlty. I have done a couple of layouts from the class which I will post later this week.

And now.....

A little bullet point list (ready to go onto a layout!) I did a similar layout about this time last year.

Things I am loving right now, August 2011

That this month I am getting married. I am very excited, nervous, worried all at the same time about this!!

Experimenting with different baking reciepes. I am more confident to find a reciepe and try tweak it here and there. Baking actually makes me happy (sad i know!)

That our house is turning more and more into a home. This past week we have got a new sofa, a new bed and chucked a load of rubbish!

My gradual weight loss. This isn't something I have blogged about, but around this time last year I started slimming world. Since then I have lost about 3 stone. I am very happy with the figure I now have. And I am very proud of the progress I have made for me.

That My little man, is growing up so well. His cleverness amazes me.

That I am more relaxed about my scrapping style. More happy to experiment. More happy to make mistakes

That I finally got to see Wicked at the theatre. I have had the soundtrack for YEARS!! and finally saw it in actual real life

Browsing Pinterest makes me happy, I love looking at pretty pictures. Even if I might never create all those things I see!!

That I have some lovely friends and family around me.

That after 10 years together I am still so happy to be with my Big Fella, and being his wife :- icing on the cake.

Back soon with pictures...Promise.

{life right now, looks like this..}

2011-07-01T20:20:00.003+01:00

Back soon with crafty endeavours...promise xx

{thank you}

2011-06-15T15:39:00.001+01:00

To everybody who voted for me during the scrapfactor competition. Unfortunately I was eliminated this week but I want to with the remaining contestants the best of luck. But thank you xxx

In other news my calico kit arrived this week yay (including my smash book! Must get thinking on what to do with it now!) and I am going to be selling on the stamps. The film strip for £6 and the moon stamp for £4 Inc p&p. Email me tinkypen @ yahoo dot co dot uk if you'd like them.

The film strip stamp has now gone. Thank you.

Back soon with a round up of my scrapfactor layouts

Xx

Love Leanne

{Sick Baby Boy}

2011-06-03T06:50:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post, apologies I have been MIA this week. Maxwell has been unwell, so we are all finally getting back on track here at home.

The scrap factor voting result is this morning and I am very nervous.

Thank you also to all my friends out there who have been there for me this past week.

xx

{scrapfactor week6}

2011-05-24T12:34:00.001+01:00

I cannot believe I am still in this competion! Thank you so much!

Voting is open again! Go and vote and play along!!This weeks gallery is here. Some amazing work guys!!!

My week off work involved a trip to a&e, adding some decor to M room, baking oatmeal cookies and some other craftyness.

X

{Weekend Away & Layouts Part 3}

2011-05-20T21:38:00.000+01:00

and the final installment of what I got up too while crafting in the country with the girls...

The scrapbooking other halves looking very handsome all suited and booted at Laura & Wills wedding last year! (again another photo I have been meaning to scrap for awhile!)

A couple of candid shots I snapped of M while playing the other day. Its amazing how much he is learning and growing day by day (I mean these photos were taken about a month ago and he was trying very hard to but the bricks together. Yesterday when he was playing with the bricks he was able to build them together no problem **little boy growing up quick**)

Another from my 'to scrap' pile. 3 photos of my little man, and looking at the change. I am amazed at how quickly these changes take place.

And that's them all -thanks for stopping by

{Weekend Away & Layouts Part 2}

2011-05-18T21:24:00.001+01:00

More layouts from my weekend away with the girls crafting....I have had these photo and title planned for this layout for AGES!! So happy I could finally get it scrapped! We bought M a Sophie on recommendation from friends - and he loved it. It was the first real toy he played with all the time. **bless**

I have scrapped M's birthday - but I wanted to record some of the details of what happened on the run up, what happened on the day etc.

Me & K both have IPhone (mine is currently dying after M decided to dunk it in water!!) but since he was very small he has had these phones around him. So much so that at 14 months he knows how to make it light up, how to scroll through the pages and that it plays music. He really is an iPhone baby (and loves it when I play tinie tempah or Adele on the phone!)

More to follow....

{A tidy up!}

2011-05-17T18:53:00.002+01:00

I have been putting off sorting out M's room (aka moving all my scrapbooking stuff out of his room and into ours) for a while. But I finally got my act together and in doing so sorted out some stuff to sell on.

I have listed some bits and pieces on EBay today (and still have a few bits to go!!) but please take a look and see if anything takes your fancy.

I also hope you are having a awesomesauce kinda day. xxx

{Weekend Away & Layouts Part 1}

2011-05-16T21:05:00.000+01:00

I have made some lovely friends through this hobby and a few weekends back I went away with some of them - they are all much better at blogging this than me (examples being all these links!)

We stayed in a rather lovely house in the country and enjoyed lots of chat, crafting, a little walk, some wine, and chocolate and all in all had a rather lovely time. Amongst all the fun I did manage some layouts....

I did a few about me and him (and only a few more months until we are Mr & Mrs!!??!!)

This was a picture from our engagement party (and I am lovely grey background!!) I wanted the layout to look quite bright so I used lots of random bits and pieces I had! & layered up the ribbons!! (Thanks to Rachel for the photo op journaling spot! Perfect!!)

This photo was taken by the lovely SJ (and the story behind K's cheeky look in this photo is moments after this picture was taken he tried to scare me by pushing me off the rail we were sitting on!!!) I have been wanting to use this song title as a layout title for awhile and It sums up how I feel about the whole engagement and becoming K wife. I had kinda convinced myself that we were destined to not get married but he went and surprised me with the proposal on Christmas Day.
I love these pics that Shimelle took of us at Laura's wedding last year. This was the first day since having Maxwell in the February that we went out together for the whole day and M stayed overnight with my parents. I wanted to record how much I still look forward to spending the time with him after all this time.

More to follow....

{Scrap Factor Week Five}

2011-05-15T20:56:00.003+01:00

Omg, another week and i'm still in!

Thanks so much if you voted. Please go check out the gallery over at UKS and cast your vote for this week. & don;t forgot to play along with challenges each week!!

Here's a sneaky peak for y'all

{Life..}

2011-05-15T20:38:00.003+01:00

Has been a little busy of late.

I have been scrapping for scrap factor (thanks again to anyone who may have voted for me! A sneak of this weeks layout will be up tomorrow)

I have been away for the weekend with the girls scrapbooking - (These will be up soon)

I have been reading - currently on the search for a good book, recommendations welcome

I have been planning a wedding (wedding list now mostly done, wedding rings bought! Invites nearly finished and I will be a wife in a few short months!)

I have lots of pregnant friends (which has meant sorting out and passing along baby stuff)

I have been trying to sort out our house (which will mean I will be listing some stash on eBay this week)

I have been mega busy at work (which has meant overtime at work - which leads to late nights!)

I have been trying to train for a half marathon I will be walking for St Catherine's Hospice (I know I'm crazy right!?)

and amongst all this....

I have a 14 month old who is on the go constantly and insists on pulling out all his toys, the kitchen cupboards, the books and anything else he can get his hands on a regular basis.

All in all....

Life is pretty good right now x

{Scrap Factor Week Four}

2011-05-09T14:38:00.002+01:00

and thank you....

Through to another week. I'm just stopping by quickly to say thanks and few sneaky peeks.

Please go an vote and check out the next challenge.

Here is my full size layout for last weeks music challenge.

Taking inspiration from music is an amazing way to get ideas for titles, layouts or journaling. Mine and Kevin’s life is full of music. It was one of the big parts of our daily lives, and is very important to us. We're currently in talks over what our first dance should be (and random fact one of the reasons we chose the name Maxwell for our song was because it is the name of singer we both love). I constantly hear songs or lyrics and think ‘oh that would make a good layout’ - and well this song (this line) has been going around in my head for ages. My life would suck without you – I love the sentiment behind it and I love the unromantic-ness about too. It’s straight to the point and direct. The tone of the song title inspired my layout of bold colours and shapes.The photo is one I took over the Easter Weekend of Maxwell & Kevin. It already reminds me of such a happy weekend spent with my family and such lovely weather. I decided to repeat the picture 3 times in small format, rather than use one large photograph. I created the photo strip in Picasa, via their collage option. I use Picasa to locate all my photos, and carry out some photo manipulation. It’s free to download, but I would recommend it.

I chose a plain background for the base of layout, the kraft & black combo, to ensure that the other elements I add really popped. I printed off the font and stars on white cardstock before trimming them down and inking the edges. I like the look of the alphabet tiles I was able to create via this method, plus my having the font on the computer I was able to change the size to make the ‘YOU’ more prominent than the ‘LIFE. I mixed up my own made alpha, with some white thickers to add dimension to the page.The stars already had a stapled element printed on them, I used these as the guide to layer up with punched shapes, and staples. Then wrapped in bakers twine.To complete the fun and relaxed look I journalled straight onto the background and doodled a border and elements to the page in both black and white.

SuppliesCardstock: Kraft & Black BazzillPaper: both from my scrap bagLettering: American Crafts ThickersDigi : Michelle Underwood, Perfectly Imperfect Alphabet, Two PeasAnne Langpap, Stapled Star Stickers, Two PeasElles Studio, Scalloped Journalling Block, Jessica Sprague

{Scrap Factor Week Three}

2011-05-02T14:07:00.004+01:00

A huge big thanks to anyone who voted me through this week. I have made through to Week 3.

Please go check out the gallery and take a look at the entries (and don't forget to place your vote for you fave!) This weeks theme is all about song lyrics. Also you can play along and win some goodies (there was no hybrid entries last week :( so why not give hybrid a go!!)

Here's a sneaky peek of my Week 3 layout!
& here is my full size layout from week two, plus the info about it from the UKS gallery.
As soon as I read this weeks challenge I knew what Ad I wanted to use. I saw this advert ages ago in a magazine, and I love it so much I actually had a pic of it on my phone for awhile. But I managed to find the particular magazine!!! And celebrated!

I had downloaded an amazing set of word art from OScraps called 'Everydays Life 2' by Weeds&Wildflowers and Cinza Designs. I layered up one of the phrases on a recent picture of Maxwell. I made a little flag out of a printed wood grain paper by Jennifer Pebbles, wrapped it round a pin and added bling and bakers twine. I then used this picture of him in the garden as the jumping point for creating the misted border. I used a Heidi Swapp mask and a mister huey mist in white. As I had the title 'I love my life because of you' on the photo I wanted to add a monogram to the page. I am a big fan of monograms as embellishments (or use numbers). I had this lovely alphabet from a digital kit designed by Shimelle called Bazinga. I printed this on the same colour cardstock as the background. As the letter was coloured it meant I could introduce the reds/oranges into the layout. I love this woodgrain bunting in Orange from Little Musings -and so simple to create. I cute and inked the edges of the shapes, then glued and folded them over bakers twine. I felt this drew attention to the top of the layout and leading the eye down onto the journaling.

I used the word art in the photo as the starting point for my journalling which reads :- 'I love being your mum. I loving saying that. I love having this as my job. I love having that as my label. I love your caring nature. I love watching you grow. I love your character. I love your cuddles. I love watching you learn. I love you.'The final touch to the layout was to add some red scallops to bring in some more colour and I punched out some butterflies in the same cardstock as the misted background. I attached these with foam squares to the layout to bring in some extra dimension.

Supplies:Paper - Girls Paperie, We are Memory Keepers & October Afternoon / Digital- Everyday Wordart 2, Cinzia Loosemore, OScraps Woodgrain Bunting Bright, Little Musings Bazinga mini kit, Shimelle Laine, Two Peas Pretty Woods, Jennifer Pebbles, Two Peas

I have just come back from a rather lovely weekend away with my crafting girlies so have lots of new layouts to show! so i'll be back soon.

{Scrap Factor Week Two}

2011-04-27T20:34:00.003+01:00

Thank you so much to anyone who may have voted for me in Week 1. Here is my full size layout from Week 1.

The theme was to be inspired by a colour palette. I started off by flicking through my stack of 'to scrap' photos to see if anything matched - luckily I found this picture of my inlaws at a recent wedding taken in the park, both kindly wearing coordinated purples! Once the photo was sorted I matched papers to colour palette. I'm using a lot of plain cardstock in my layouts lately, for matting, layering elements and printing elements out. Once I pulled these altogether I looked at the hybrid elements. I knew I wanted to include some journalling and I have these amazing labels from two peas called swanky labels. You get some great sizes including this really large size which is great for getting a load of journalling crammed in. To pull in the green element from the colour palette I misted (new fave technique!!) including misting over the frame designed by SJ. The frame was in greyscale so the hint of sparkle really lifted it - plus with misting you can change the printable to match your layout colour scheme!The journalling reads : -These two people have been in my life for almost 10 years now. They have taught me a lot and I am very thankful for their love,support & understanding over these years. In a few short months they will officially be my mother in law and father in law. I hope they see me as a daughter .

Supplies used: Vanilla Cardstock, Papers My little shoebox & American Crafts, Swanky Labels (two peas download), Frame (Little Musings) and Family card (UKS Monthly download), Thickers and sassfrass letter stickers, Prima bling, Maya Road Lime mist, Martha Stewart Punches

I am very excited for the Week 2 voting which is now open. Take a look over at UkScrappers, where you can also play along with the weekly themes . & here is a sneaky peak of my layout in gallery right now!!

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter, I sure did and will be back soon with some pics of what me and boys got up too.

Thanks Again xxx

{Scrap Factor Week One}

2011-04-18T14:59:00.004+01:00

The week 1 entries are now up in the gallery!! Exciting times!! There have been some really great entries by all the contestants. You can also scrap along with the contestants and take up the challenge. Stop by and take a look at the colour palette and see if it can springboard a layout idea for you. Here's a sneaky peak of my entry. I really liked the colour palette for the challenge, and found it made me think about adding things to my layout I might not of usually put together. Let me know if you do play along - I would love to see your layouts. Good Luck everyone & enjoy your week xx

{Pencil Lines Guest DT}

2011-04-18T12:20:00.003+01:00

I love the pencil lines blog, and was over the moon when they asked me to Guest DT for them this week.

This weeks sketch was designed by Anna Bowkis - It was a 8.5x11 sketch, but I did mine 12x12. Rather than use a single photo I trimmed down 2 4x6 photos and matted them both onto cardstock. The papers I used came from March Studio Calico Kit - some lovely Cosmo Cricket!! I used the dark woodgrain paper for the circle and edged it all in red pearls. I am loving the colour combo of the bright reds and yellows aginst the greens and browns. The photos were from a lovely weekend away scrapbooking with the girls. & kindly the place we stayed had these rather lovely Jack O'lanterns on display - hence the photo op for us! I would love to see your take on the sketch.

You are also able to download the digital template of the sketch over at pencil lines. And check out all the other fab takes on the sketch by the talented design team.

Thanks for stopping by.

{Scrap Factor}

2011-04-13T21:40:00.003+01:00

I am both nervous and excitied to announce that I have been choosen as a finalist in the ukscrappers first ever scrap factor contest!

I have been a member of Ukscrappers for a long time and through it I have met many lovely people (including the lovely cheam crop ladies and of course reconnecting with the also lovely Laura!) and I am very proud and honoured to have been chosen to take part in the competition.

All the details can be found here. If your not already a member sign up it free! You can also play along with the weekly challenges that we are set! I would love to see if you do!

In true 'x-factor' style I was asked if I wanted to switch groups from Paper to Hybrid. & I said yes. I have done some hybrid layouts in the past and find it really great for making some unique embellishments and layouts. I don't think I'm a completely digital scrapper (mainly as I love pretty paper and embellishments too much!) but hybrid works well!

I want to wish all the contestants the best of luck!!

And here is one of my audition layouts. A picture for every month my little man has been 1! I can't believe he is a whole year old (or that I have been a mummy for a whole year!) but it has been the best year so far!

see you soon xx

{Sew Vintage}

2011-04-08T08:23:00.003+01:00

Check out the download available over at Little Musings today. For £1.50 you can get your hands on all this....

The design team have knocked up some lovely examples! So check them out.

I used the colour sewing machine and cut it out to use on a layout. I love these divided page protectors. Perfect for using up those odds stack of photos you have waiting to scrap!

Hope you have a lovely sunny day xx

{wordless wednesday}

2011-03-23T14:19:00.001Z

{Some scrapping for you...}

2011-03-21T14:32:00.003Z

I loved Studio Calico Feb Kit! So much fun!! And I got my scrap on ...happy times!
Back soon x

{is in shock}

2011-03-14T07:13:00.001Z

That its march already? Where has this year gone. These next few weekends will be even busier. I have in no particular order- a hen weekend, k is on a stag weekend, tickets to see hairspray at the theatre, a rehearsal for my friends wedding, another hen night/meal, bridesmaid dress fitting, a night out for a friends bday, my friends actual wedding, an easter tea party for m and his friends and two more cake decorating classes Then in-between all that I need to. Have a meeting with our caterer, our florist for out wedding, find fabric to make bunting, buy glass jars and candles for decorations, finish the wording for the invites, finalise the guest list.
And on top of all that I would like to, finish my document 2011 feb pages, scrap m bday pictures, do some crochet, maybe go to the cinema, and spend time with my family.

So um im busy. Understatement.

I will leave you with some iPhone pics of some layouts I've done recently. Plus some of m just because.

Love Leanne

{wordless wednesday}

2011-03-02T09:47:00.001Z

Love Leanne

{Proof}

2011-02-19T10:35:00.000Z

That I have scrapbooked recently....

All using studio calico, now to use this months kit.

(Thanks you to Laura for the christening photos)

{Engagment Party}

2011-02-18T08:30:00.000Z

Me & my sister have a very weird realtionship. We are very different people and there is 5 years between us. And we will openly admit we are not the closet. This being said my sister is pretty amazing, way more organised that I will ever be and very generous when it comes to her friend & family. So when it came to planning my engagment party I knew who to ask (as I tend to freak out and panic a fair bit!! God knows how I will cope planning a wedding!) She really did a great job at the party. Food, Venue, Music, Cake. It was a proper old skool night out dancing which me & K haven't done in such a long time - and thank you to everyone who came and showed us some love!!

I'm loving our colour coordination!!

{Document 2011 - JAN}

2011-02-17T09:54:00.000Z

I did complete for 2010 - but haven't posted photos but I promise it is done and finished and I love it. Hence why I am so excited to be doing it again this year!

My approach this year is to have a calendar page. I bought this PDF from 74LimeTree off Etsy. I printed it off on Kraft and filled in bits and pieces we did for the month. Stuck a pic of M from January - and made a little pocket next to it with some invites, cards and photos from the month.

Then onto the divided page, the ever talented Laura gave me a heads up the We R Memory Keeper page dividers which are fab. I got a couple of the mixed ones plus a pack of these square ones. But may need another pack lol! So Jan saw M start walking, K turning 30, New furniture, lots of bday parties, going back to work and spending time with friends.

And my focus page was out engagement party. YAY.

I used Studio Calico Kit throughout. Roll on Feb now.

{Wordless Wednesday}

2011-02-16T10:48:00.002Z

{A busy bee}

2011-02-16T08:20:00.002Z

Is exactly how I feel at the moment.

I have had great intentions to make projects, take pictures, have a giveaway. But life has just got in the way!

I have taken this week off work as lil man turns one (OMG!) on Friday. And as per usual I get sick. plus M has been under the weather too!! However I think we are on the mend now, thankfully.

We have been so busy weekend after weekend as all his baby friends and lots of our friends have birthdays JAN,FEB,MAR BUSY!!! months!

Also the wedding is picked and I will be married by Christmas, hence a lot of planning!! OMG! I must be crazy right?

I shall try and be back with some pictures and creativeness soon.

in other news M is now walking and fully mobile!!!!

{Friday: A Week of layouts}

2011-01-28T11:10:00.000Z

TGIF hey? hope your week has been good and thanks for sharing this week of layouts with me!

My final Layout of the week.

Pictures from the Christening, which I'm finally getting round to scrapping. Its a slow process now around here! lol

I've used January Calico Kit - plus some Jenni Bowlin paint! LOVE IT!

Well have a lovely weekend

{Thursday: A Week of layouts}

2011-01-27T10:58:00.000Z

Morning!

Hope week is progressing nicely! Another layout inpired by the two peas class this one is the 'Products you Love' which was to use border stickers. I must admit this is product I have in my stash I rarely use.

I love this photo which was taken by Shimelle at Lauras wedding. Me & K love music all different types and we sometimes we kind just get lost in the music with each other.

{Wednesday: A Week of layouts}

2011-01-26T10:47:00.000Z

Morning! Today's layout...

Everytime we go on a scrapping break we like (as we are scrappers) to get group photoshoots. We usually get the normal everyone grouped together shot but we also try and think up different ideas ( we have had shoes, Polaroids, in a line etc) this was one of our ideas. Also most like a chain of paper dolls.

The full title actually says 'Another Crazy Photoshoot Idea'. I used December Studio Calico Kit - Love the sassfrass patterned paper and embellishments.

Have a nice day.

{Wordless Wednesday}

2011-01-26T07:52:00.000Z

{Tuesday: A Week of layouts}

2011-01-25T10:43:00.000Z

Happy Tuesday!

Back in November 2010, I went out for afternoon tea for a friend's 30th Birthday. It was such a lovely day, and anyone who knows me knows I am a huge tea junkie!! SO this was bliss. Tea, crumpets, scones, cakes.

I've used the Studio Calico November Kit (I think). I really like the small little pics on the layout of all of us who went.

Have a nice Tuesday

{Monday: A Week of layouts}

2011-01-24T10:23:00.003Z

I have been scrapping a fair bit recently, yay! But I have realised I haven't actually shared any of these layouts here! Whoops - so Welcome to my first Week of layouts. I'll show you what I've been up to, please link me in the comments if you too have been scrapping. I'd love to see what you have been working on.

But before that a few links from myself.... Firstly huge wishes of good luck & happiness to Rachel who has moved house this past week. Secondly BIG congrats to SJ whose stamps were sold on QVC Friday & see is also selling on her blog a fantastic cd rom of her designs!! Then have you seen the amazing layouts Laura has done recently - I definitely find her layouts very inspiring, you should totally read her blog! Also I did a guest blog post over at Shimelle.com , 5 ideas with a Martha Stewart Punch. Think that's enough of a round up - hope I haven't forgotten anything.

On to my first layout of the week.

This layout I loved making! Have you seen over at two peas there FREE monthly classes. This layout was from the first class all about stamping, and I loved pulling out my stamps and creating this layout. Some of the stamps I used for example the Heidi Swapp family one I have had for years!!! Glad it finally got some good use.

I loved the sketch that came with the class as it used lots of photos, a layout I often aspire to make but fail at. This pictures were from Christmas day, and with my little man it is often hard to get him to sit still for longer than 5 seconds. Hence all these photos are slightly blurry but I didn't want to not scrap them because of this. These photos were also taken about 2 hours after we got engaged :)

Another layout to come tomorrow. Have a great week.

{wordless Wednesday}

2011-01-12T22:32:00.001Z

{Welcome 2011}

2011-01-01T10:58:00.003Z

Firstly thank you so much for your lovely comments before. I have so many thoughts running round my head but I'm sure I'll have some friends around to help me.

Secondly Happy New Year. I have enjoyed reading round ups and resolutions on blogs around the world today.

My 2010 has been amazing it included...

a baby shower * leaving work * having a baby * becoming a mum * meeting new mummy friends * losing weight * learning about handy manny, mickey mouse & special agent oso * knitting/crocheting again * afternoon tea *a wonderland birthday party * going back to work * scrapbooking weekend in the woods * a friends amazing wedding * good friends getting engaged * a christening * baking a lot * loving being a mummy * getting engaged * growing older * a couple of cinema trips * learning to use a sewing machine * a few layouts * & a lot of photos (& I'm pretty sure I've missed out some things!)

I really wonder what 2011 will bring. I'm not so keen on resolutions but I like the idea of goals so here goes:-

walk more with my family. we live next door to a park so must take advantage of this
take more photos and learn to use my camera more
make time for me
host a dinner party
make my home more pretty
read more
be more carefree and embrace myself.

Have fun out there now

{Best Ever Christmas Present! EVER!}

2010-12-31T09:16:00.004Z

Was one of these.....

Yes, the boy did good! We are very happy and I'm excited to get planning (if a little nervous at the whole idea!)

So I'm guessing you'll be wanting the 'story' hey? Well it is a story of two sides His & Mine.

I had decided from August 2010 that ultimately what I wanted was us to be an official family and all have the same same, the big question was how & when to propose? Leanne's Birthday? Our 9 Year anniversary? But Christmas day seemed perfect as Leanne loves this time of year. I did think about arranging a dinner or going out someone where but I thought at home suited us.

I didn't tell anyone my plans as I felt I couldn't trust anyone to keep it quiet, not in a bad way but good news is something people find hard to keep to themselves. I wanted everything I had planned as it came from MY Heart, not anyone else's.

I spent a long time researching rings while down playing the idea of getting married. Then a week before Christmas after much research I went and bought the ring. I had an idea of the type of ring I wanted to get but I wanted to see them in real life. And when I saw this one I knew it was the one. Now I just had to wait for it to come into the shop. I went to collect the Ring and I actually got a shiver down my spine, like 'this is actually happening'

The plan was now set, I had the ring & the confidence. Just had to keep quiet - which was hard!

Christmas day came, and no going back. I just had to wait for the right moment. I really wanted us to be dressed and not in pj's and before Leanne's parents came round. Once Leanne was getting ready, I knew now was the time. Me being Kevin, I set up the video camera so I could record the moment. I asked Leanne to stand by the tree telling her I wanted to go get her other present so shut your eyes. I then got down on one knew and took her hand and told her to open her eyes.

Me & K have been together for 10 Christmases now. We have a beautiful son together. And I love our life. Sometimes it is not perfect but I don't mind.

I have wanted to be his wife for a long time now but to be honest I got fed up with going on about it. That's why the proposal on Christmas Day took me by such surprise.

K had bought me a Christmas card and had told me that I couldn't open it till he told me too, which I thought maybe it had vouchers in or something! After we had opened all our presents, had breakfast, put M down for a nap, K told me that he would get me other present but I should stand up and shut my eyes. He then told me to open them. OMG. There he was down on one knee with the biggest smile on his face asking me to be his wife. Obviously I said yes. The pure emotion of happiness and joy was running through me. The ring is beautiful.

I was then allowed to open my card which was 'Merry Christmas to my fiance;. I am amazed at the thought he put into the whole this, he really is a romantic I guess. I felt so lucky and blessed at that moment.

Thank you K, I love you.

xxx

So there it is the story all ready and waiting to be scrapped.

Just want to take this moment also to wish you a lovely new year, thank you for all your comments xxx

{Christmas Eve Party}

2010-12-24T18:00:00.000Z

Evening blog land!! Merry Christmas bloggers!

Whoop whoop! I am so excited!
We are having a few guests this evening so I have been busy preparing, but me and some other girles are getting you in the mood with a little Christmas blog party - go take a wander and you never know what you will find! Gayle , Julie, Kirstin, Sherry, Barbara, Diana, Michelle & Kelly
!

Now whats does a Christmas party need...um in my book sugar cookies! These ones have an added touch of Christmas with some Cinnamon yum! And here's the recipe if you fancy making a batch!

300g of plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon (i added a bit more! )

1/4 teaspoon of allspice

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

75g butter

150g caster sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

tablespoon of milk

Mix together half the flour with the other dry ingredients. Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and milk.

Stir the spiced flour into the mixture, then add slowly the other half of the flour until it forms a dough stiff enough to roll. You may not need all the flour. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave in the fridge.

To bake preheat the oven to 190c / 375F / gas mark 5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 3mm thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 8 minutes until slightly golden. Allow to cool completely before icing.

I made up some basic royal icing and used sprinkles and cake glitter. These will be the ones we will leave out for Santa tonight, lucky Santa hey ;)

Hope you enjoy your other party gifts too.

Have a amazing and magical Christmas. See you all soon.

Love L K & M x

{My Favorite Christmas Photos So Far...}

2010-12-17T15:57:00.004Z

{JYC: The Beginnings}

2010-12-14T09:19:00.000Z

I love to JYC. That is a fact.

However I also knew that this year my December would be pretty busy, exciting and lots going on and I wanted to record all this festivity down. To remember Maxwell's first Christmas. To do this I have approached my JYC slightly differently than I have done in the past.

My first point of call is to tweet my daily activities or thoughts or anything. That way I have a record to look back on.

Next I printed off a set of journalling cards from Shimelle's forum. I printed mine 4x6 and I will be chopping off the bottom to make my pages. I have then be transferring my quick journalling from twitter onto my journalling cards. These will then be the focus for my page. These will then make a very small almost December Daily album. With just the record of our Christmas Season and what happened.To make things even quicker I went through my 'Christmas' box of stash (you know what i mean!) And punched out a load of shapes. which are now all in a big quality street tin lol! I made up very quick little embellishments by layering the punched elements together. I used some plain white cardstock for the back and stamped stars and inked the edges. Adding a little bit of glimmer with a maya road mist in lime. A finished card assembled.
This mini book almost will them pop into my Christmas Album. I have been reading the JYC prompts (maybe not daily) and sitting down with my pen and notebook and writing. I'm hoping this journalling will then form the basis for the pages in my Christmas Album. I know it may not be finished by the end of January but I don't mind. I'm enjoying my Christmas too much.

xxx

{Twisted Sketch #79}

2010-12-11T16:48:00.003Z

Hey Bloggers, hope your December is happy and healthly. Mine so far plenty of happy not so much healthy. Little fella has been sick but he's getting over much better. I have been trying to fit it lots of festive fun along with being at work and everything else life throws at you. I am JYC'ing and will post some progress on that soon - but I am tweeting my JYC thoughts too - click the link over there if you want to follow me and see my JYC happening.

Moving on, my crafty level has been pretty low - but I did manage this layout for this weeks sketch. I used one of the photo booth one from Laura's wedding! cuteness!! (Also check out Laura blog she is guest posting on Jenni Bowlin blog this week, but her blog = Awesome!!) and some lovely Crate Paper restoration! Yum (more on that below!) But due to snow and life etc I forgot to email my layout this week! Silly me, but it's here for you all to see!

I have had a few things not go exactly to plan recently! :( BUT i did get some good news. I won some blog candy from here... a very cute online shop with some yummy bits and pieces (I'm loving the Martha Stewart stuff!!!) so lucky me right??

Enjoy your evenings! xxx

{December time}

2010-12-01T07:46:00.001Z

Good morning bloggers!!

Apologies for the blog neglect. Thongs have been pretty hectic- hence the blogging via iPhone!

I have done very little craftiness recently! But been having lots of fun.

Hanging out with these familiar faces.. And Shimelle and Katherine. We went and ate nandos, played in a crazy japanese photo booth, had afternoon tea at a very cute place called drink, make, do, played cluedo and drank sherbet cocktails!

This little fella is so much fun right now. Such a ball of energy. Trying to walk round the furniture and pushing his walker up and down the room! He likes to touch everything!! And now has 8 teeth!

I went on a date with k to see harry potter. I loved it, I cried and looking forward to the next release!

Yesterday we had a load of snow! Which caused my usual 45 min journey from work to take 4 hrs!! Not. A. Happy. Bunny.

Which leads me onto happy jyc day! I shall be trying to play along. But I think it will be a case of journal and photograph now and scrap later!!

Keep warm

Xx

{Twisted Sketch #75}

2010-11-14T09:52:00.002Z

A new sketch this week! I loved this one! I also loved using some bright summery colours even though it rather grey and cold here!!

I used the fab American Crafts City Park Lane! I love it, that cloud paper is glittered!!! cute right? The circle embellishments are made up with sassfrass paper whimseies, punched shapes, Jenni Bowlin butterflies, Maya road chipboard circles and embellished with some stickle pearls paints! Phew!

In other news, I have baked my Christmas Cake, bought a food processor, and learned to sew! (blog post to follow!) over and out guys - enjoy your Sunday! x

Also thank you everyone for your kind comments on my blog! xxxx

{Scrapbooking and a cold..}

2010-11-08T10:57:00.004Z

A few weekends ago I headed off to a weekend in the woods with the 'usual suspects'. It was, of course fun to spend time with these girls and catch up. The actual weekend pics have been shared in blog land already. We chatted, ate US candy and baked goods, and generally had a merry ol'time. My lovely weekend was only slightly tainted by a cold i got - and the fact that my two boys were at home, both with bad colds too!

But I did achieve my weekend goal of a)catching up with my document 2010 b) scrap some layouts (not a big list granted! But I achieved it). I've used a real mix of stash, some calico kits, some new bits, some old bits.

A picture from the christening taken by Laura, of us and the godparents.
Sassfrass mix &mend - speedy scrapping at it's best!
Using a prompt from Shimelle latest class - True Story. 'M' words we use about Maxwell.
I love these pics of me and M!!
Using another prompt from True Story class.
One of many pictures from Laura's wedding.

A real big pic from the christening! = Happy days.

Right, this has taken me ages to do! I'm off over and out blogland xx

{M.I.A}

2010-11-02T13:10:00.001Z

Hiya blogland.

I've had so much going on right now including going back to work, a scrapping weekend and the whole family being sick. And currently we have no Internet due to a virus!! Comes in waves right!

So I do have some pictures to share soon including a lot of baking, and a lot of layouts.

Normal service shall resume soon.

Lx

{Twisted Sketch #71}

2010-10-13T18:18:00.003+01:00

The new sketch is up! and its a fun one. I love circles on layouts!! Makes a change to all that liner-ness! :)

The twist this sketch is 'hole'. The chipboard panel on the left, I punched holes and stuck it on with foam pads - added circle punch outs beneath and, of course, added some butterflies!!

And check out my chubby faced li'man! Cheeky little thing.

Supplies used - Paper Crate and Lilly Bee, AC ribbon, thickers and chipboard accent.

Let me know if you play along this week.

Enjoy the evening. x

{the difference a few days make}

2010-10-04T14:09:00.002+01:00

My baby boy over the matter of a few days has now discovered he can stand. And pull himself up to standing on EVERYTHING!!! the sofa, my legs and the picture is in his playpen. Cheeky Monkey right??? Also - he loves to clean his teeth (he has 6!) and i'm sure in the years to come he will not like cleaning his teeth but right now he does....

Now onto some making....

Twisted Sketches sketch this week. The twist is flower - and well my twist is a little tenuous this week - the photos are from my parents garden, plus the Delovely paper has some small flowers on it.

Supplies : paper Crate & Cosmo, butterflies jenni bowlin, alphabets MME and American Crafts.

Plus this week I crocheted my little fella this cute lil'beanie. I bought the pattern from Inner Hooker on etsy - And I have decided I want more patterns!!!

Ok that's me I have a layout on my desk half done, have a couple of knitting projects on the go too - but right now I want a cuppa! ;)

{The Christening}

2010-09-28T08:50:00.005+01:00

It happened.

All the stress, nerves, worrying and planning but it happened. And as far as I know everyone had a lovely time - downside - I hardly took any pictures! Luckily Laura & Hubby were guests and she did an amazing jobs capturing all the scrapbooking moments (all the photos below are hers! Amazing right?! I love them all!!) I do have lots of pictures of the guests getting a bit merry and having a dance.

Things I want to remember:-

How well behaved my lil'man was. He was so good seeing as that morning before he was extremely grumpy!

How he moved his head out the way when the priest was trying to anoint him!

How he flinched when his head got wet!!

How I made a speech, thanking everyone for all there help!

How generous everyone was.

How K, Me and M danced too 'ain't nobody'

Onto the pictures - thanks again Laura xx

{Twisted Sketch #67}

2010-09-16T17:06:00.003+01:00

The new sketch is up!! Whoop Whoop!!

And the twist this week....one of fave stash items.....BUTTONS!! Yay!!

I added buttons and I doodled on them using a black sharpie, white signo pen and white pearl stickles!!

It was only when I looked at this picture of Maxwell I realised how much he face has changed!!

supplies - paper American crafts and thickers plus buttons from my stash.

Let me know if you play along this week Lx

{alotta layouts}

2010-09-13T11:35:00.004+01:00

I went to a crop at the weekend, I have been doing to this crop for over 3 maybe nearly 4 years now! And this past weekend was my first full crop attendance (well I went last month too but did not scrap - i made christening invites and some of my friends wedding invites!) since being about 7 months pregnant. And it felt so good - to cut, glue, stick, drink tea and a Starbucks hazelnut skinny latte (yum!) and to chat with the other ladies. I find with scrapbooking you ending sharing and knowing so much about these other ladies lives. So catching up at a crop you are really just have a good ol'natter! lol! These ladies have been great even though I am not always around on UKS as much (i find blogging,facebooking and twittering and being a mummy/housewife hard enough! lol!) they are still so welcoming. Thanks!!

Onto the layouts..... (i was thinking of saving some for another post but decided against it so apologies in advance!!)

Picture credit to Shimelle Laine. Supplies using August Studio Calico kit (including the little promotion card in there)
Picture Credit to Shimelle. Supplies using the papers in August studio Calico Kit and October Afternoon alphabet.
i *heart* this baby pictures of Maxwell, literally a few days old (i think actually the bottom one hours old!) . Supplies :- paper Aug Studio Calico, Thickers and October Afternoon alphabets.

From our day trip to the beach. Once I had stuck all the papers on I spritzed the whole thing with a lime green maya road mist. Supplies October afternoon papers, Sassfrass Stickers, Thickers and October Afternoon letters.

Very cute pictures of Maxwell and his two grandmothers. The pictures were taken on different occasions but scrapped together. Supplies - ummm American Crafts Dear Lizzy!

I adore this photo! Supplies - Paper October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket. Cosmo Cricket Stickers, Amy Butler Butterfly.

Photo Credits to Shimelle and Laura. The most Awesome Cake!! Supplies Echo Park papers, Thickers and Paperchase cupcake stickers.
K loves these pictures of me and Maxwell, I must admit they do make me smile. Supplies Cosmo Cricket, Thickers.

Phew!!

Thanks for hangin out til the end there lol!

In other news. Maxwell is now on the move and is very quick! Oh and has 6 teeth!

{Twisted Sketch #65}

2010-09-02T08:29:00.003+01:00

This weeks sketch is up!! And the twist is 'Metal' - me I automatically though brads. Yay that's metal - but do you think I could get them to work on my layout!??!!! EERRRR NO!! so i grabbed my 'metal' box and managed to unearth a metal label holder - which I think I have had for a million years (ok maybe not that long!) but it worked!

I used a fairly old photo - well from Jan - when I was heavily preganant and my sister threw me a baby shower!

supplies used : Paper - crate paper, studio calico & Lillybee, some random brown sequined trim, kraft cardstock, and of course thickers!!

In my world - I have been knitting (finally finsihed a pair of socks I started ages ago!) watching a lot of TV and generally not doing much else - however September is a busy month for the Edwards/Inkpen's - starting this weekend with Laura's wedding! xx

{I have Scrapped...}

2010-08-28T12:10:00.003+01:00

The proof that I have actually managed to stick some paper together and added some pretty embellishments ;)

I went through the other day and printed a huge batch of photos from photobox of pretty much life with Maxwell since he was born - that way i can just grab a pic i particularly like and whip up a page. well that is the theory!

These photos were taken at different points during the early days with Maxwell. But I thought they worked well. A nice little record of what I hop will be a blossoming relationship between these two.

Supplies - paper - October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket, American Crafts Thickers, October Afternoon letter stickers, Sassfrass Stickers and American Crafts Chipboard Shapes.

Another one of my pile of photos!! Maxwell got given these cuddly Lion and in the early months he would love to hold and cuddle it. I named him Rory!

Supplies - Paper American Crafts & Cosmo Cricket, Buttons from stash, American Crafts Thickers, Stickles, October Afternoon letter stickers and White Paint.

This babygro Maxwell had when he was a baby was my absolute favorite. I loved the bright colour and the stars. Any chance I got I put him in this!!!

Supplies - paper Sassfrass, Letters, My little Showbox, Basic Grey & American Crafts. and some buttons.

Now I am off to bake a cake,

Enjoy the long weekend xx

{Birthday greetings!}

2010-08-24T19:11:00.002+01:00

SO today is my birthday! I am now 27 years old.

Today has so far been a very good day. Been spoiled with presents, surprise lunches and birthday cake with friends and so much love shown on facebook and twitter - my phone has been going off all day.

My life has now changed - so much for the better of course. I am no longer just Leanne. The geeky girl with a love for musicals, stationary and all crafty pursuits. I am now Leanne AKA Mum. The bit of strange woman who will strive to bake the best cookies for my son's school (a la Monica and the house of tollhouse) who is hoping to share with my son the love of films and music and theatre I have, that will be as excited as I was for starting a new term at school and who will enjoy getting messy with Mummy as we make presents for Daddy and artwork to adorn our fridge.

It is weird to stop and think about how much my life has changed. I would never have imagined 9 years ago when I met K that he and now Maxwell would be my life - my everything. I knew I always wanted to have children and do the whole family thing. And I am happy with my life now too.

I am apprehensive for the future of course, of returning to work, childcare, raising a boy - but right now as I sit here and type I can with real joy in my heart say Life is good. It amazing how little things can make you stop and think. I have really been truly spoiled today and it makes me realise how many lovely people are out there. And I know there are times when I feel like I have no one to turn too, and that I'm alone but I know I have K, (and of course all you blog readers ;) lol) but today is not one of those days.

So no pictures today - just words. Which may or may not make sense, that may be a bit much but I wanted to record my feelings. Normal service shall resume soon.

Other News,

The knitted socks are almost finished, I still have layouts to photograph and share, I'm getting excited about an impending wedding of two lovely people, and very excited about another September and learning something new.

Much love blogland xxx

{Twisted Sketch}

2010-08-19T14:19:00.004+01:00

So I know I have been awol..but I have been scrapping, making invites, knitting, crocheting, reading, watching Tv and of course playing with my beautiful baby boy! He is getting so big - and two teeth are starting to make a apperance (please enter grumpy moments!!!)

So this weeks sketch - I actually made two layouts for it. I shall leave you with them.
Supplies list:- Paper Crate Paper, October Afternoon, Lillybee (All from May Studio Calico), American Crafts Thickers, October Afternoon small letter, Bling and Matha Stewart butterfly punch.

Paper:- October Afternoon, Thickers, Stickles.

I have some other layouts too, but I have not photographed them yet!

In other news....it is my birthday next week :)!!

{time flies..}

2010-08-06T14:50:00.003+01:00

When your having fun hey!

Which why I have been MIA!! Apologies blog land. But my parents had a week off so we spent time doing fun things and the K had a week off and I Had my wisdom tooth removed - hence my slight lack of creative output.

I do have a ton of photos now to scrap! My pile to scrap is getting BIGGER!! And my to do list too - including a long list of books to read, things to learn etc! Good job I like being busy!

Anyhoo, I do have some creative-ness to share : D

My first sketch with Twisted Sketches went live, and thank you so much for everyone's well wishes :D I was very shocked to make the team to be honest!

You can check out the sketch here - and please let me know if you have done the sketch, would love to see it ;)

Plus the very talented SJ, has got a lovely download this Friday. August at the freebie Friday's is a festive one! so make a start on those cards!

(you can see my little ones toes in the background! he is sitting up now like a pro!! at 5 and half months!! we are also in the process of planning his christening as well!!)

Hope your all getting creative too! I'm trying very hard!! ;) Have fun!!