Sunday Challenge

Hi,

Here's the new Studio Challenge. A sketch this week, with a slight twist of 'Halloween'.



I kind of side stepped the Halloween theme and used a photo that was taken last October of my Dad and the Grandkiddies. I then used Oranges, browns and reds keeping in with the theme of this time of year.
These are strips of papers cut from last months Cocoa Daisy Kit, an added tag and some misting using Tattered Angels 'Peppermint' Yum!!



Thanks for stopping by xxx

All Abit Crazy

To say the very least.
We currently have 5 kids and 6 adults staying at our house with another arriving tomorrow.I love having my family around me, they are a great bunch, but it's hard work. I felt like I didn't sit down for 2 seconds yesterday, always someone calling my name, the kettle to be put on, meals to make. Always something.
But the kids have been so so well behaved. They love all being together, so that's a blessing : )
I am missing coming into my room to play. My fingers are aching to make something. Is that really sad that I can't go a couple of days?!!

So today I will share a page that I made last week for todays Sketchy Thursday sketch.
This sketch is perfect to scrap a day out. One of those days where you have a favourite photo and lots of others that you want to get on the page.



My recent day out with Ade to London.
(click on photo)



I used some JB packaging that I kept as I love the shape. It was laid on my page and misted over.



The stash is from last months Cocoa Daisy kit, teamed up with Sassafras alpha stickers (I love these) some twine and maya road mist spray.



Have you visited The Studio this week?
There's an exciting new challenge right now, one to really get you thinking and working and Amanda has made something really beautiful for the Wednesday Extra.
Take a look here.

Thanks for stopping by.
Back to my crazy household now : )
xxx

Lovely Pair !!

Want to see what that's all about, then pop along to Twisted Sketches here.

It's been a very busy few days and I shouldn't even be here right now.
Ade's up in the attic and I'm supposed to be helping. Whoops!!
Kids are on school holidays this week and I'm about to have loads of family stay from tomorrow. The bathroom is almost in working order.

Hope you had a good weekend xxx

Wild Hair

I love Louis' wild hair. We call it his nest sometimes. It's crazy. I wouldn't want it cut back short though as it suits him so well. I love his curls.
This LO came to life after seeing this latest Sketchy Thursday sketch.



I flipped the sketch and replaced the 2 smaller photos with 1 larger.
I've used a piece of the Basic Grey 'Basics' paper along with gesso, spray mists, and a Little Yellow Bicycle journal cloud and some Sassafras stickers.



Louis doesn't like his hair though, I can understand why : )



Thank you for all the sweet messages re Louis' situation at school.
It means alot. I feel sorry for him right now. He'll be ok though.

I got a very wanted delivery today. I knew the Cocoa Daisy package was sent early last week so was due anytime now. I love that feeling. Thankfully this month it took just over a week rather than 3 : )
Here's a little peak at what has arrived.



The November Cocoa Daisy kit 'Poker Face'. With addons to die for : )
Visit here for more photos and you can also see the beautiful stamp that Kim designed just for this kit.

We had a really good frost this morning. Everything was white. We went to school with thick coats, scarves and gloves. Well Louis and I did, obviously Hollie now at Senior School is far too cool for that and stuck to the 15 denier tights and no coat. LOL.

I think that kit is calling me. I'd better go.
Hugs xxx

Creative Therapy

I can't believe how stressed out I feel today.
Monthly hormones are contributing I have to admit, which really doesn't help, but you know when you have those times when everything seems to be happening. It feels like that right now.
Work stuff for Ade and I going on, Miss Hollie and her 11 going on 17 attitude.
This was her this morning. I spent ages curling her hair last night, it looked so pretty this morning and I barely got a 'hello' or a 'goodbye' from her : (

The continuing bathroom saga. I took these last night.



The new suite is in there believe it or not, but the walls are so bad, Ade has decided to tile over the lot. It's supposed to be ready for the weekend.
I think not : (



We have a big meeting at Louis' school regarding the bullying later today. I feel sick again with nerves. Louis got hurt again yesterday : (
Ade has called te local counsellor now and he's sitting in on the meeting.

I received an email from Wendy this morning on behalf of Papermaze with regards to some DT work for November. 4 small projects, one for each week. I've ended up doing the whole lot this morning. I think I really needed the creative therapy session. I think it's done me good. All that nervous energy used up in a positive way.

I also finished this Pencil Lines sketch this morning.



I love scrapping a wedding photo every now and then. This has boosted my mood slightly. Puts things into back perspective really.
I love my man so much : )



I decided to scrap all our little squirks about our wedding day.
The fact that we decided to go to Orlando to get married, so it was as memorable for the kids as it was for us.
We had a honeymoon day the day before at Discovery Cove.
Wanting a very relaxed ceremony. Not wanting to be apart and spending the night together the night before the wedding and only being apart for 2hrs as we wanted an 11am ceremony so we could spend the whole day together.



Hollie read a poem that she had written herself. We wrote our own vows.
We had dinner at Seaworld that evening (in the underwater shark grill) and were in bed before 10pm : )



Everything was perfect. Very us.



Deep breaths!! Things could be alot worse eh?!!
Think I have time for a latte before I head off to school.

Thank you for all the lovely comments yesterday. I appreciate it so so much.
I feel so lucky to have made so many lovely friends through this fab hobby.
Thank you
Lots of love xxx

Very Exciting News : )

Hello : )

I received an email yesterday morning that made me feel sick with excitment.

I made the Fancy Pants Design Team !!!!!!!!

To say I'm excited is a complete understatemnet. Shocked also needs to go in there too. Shocked and very excited.

I was very pleased this morning to see the list and see that fellow scrappers Kim Watson and Janis also made the team.
I can't wait to find out now what happens next.

We (Louis and I ) had a great time at Legoland yesterday. At one point I thought we were the only ones there. It was so quiet. It was great not having to queue, go on a ride and go back around to have a second go : )
We did all the water rides and got soaked, watched a pirate show whilst having lunch and had hot fresh doughnuts (and a cuppa tea for me) too. A lovely few hours.

I did quite abit of scrapping over the weekend and joined in with the Color Room again. I do love their challenges. The colours this week are purple, yellow, white and dark grey. I would never usually work with these colours, but they really work, don't they?!



I took this silly photo of Hollie last week when we went shopping together. I love that she is finally taking care of how she looks and love seeing her being silly trying things on when we are out. (the hat and glasses are not hers, but were in the bargain £1 bin)



I have a big 'to-do' list for today, but have just spent over an hour on the phone to my sister making plans for Dad's arrival and stay next week.
I think I may struggle to get everything done. There's always tomorrow I guess : )

Thanks for stopping by.
xxx

Sketchy Fun

Bright and breezy for me this morning as I'm about to take Louis to Legoland as he has a teacher trainer day today.



I did manage to get a couple of the Pencil Lines Sketches done yesterday.
This one above is here.



An older photo in my 'to scrap' pile. Hollie about to attend her Junior School Prom.



And I also did this next one.



I had a sort through all my papers on Saturday.
I've cleared loads and have been very ruthless. The kids have a hug bag to play with and so does my brother now too next time I see him.
But I did find lots of papers that I'd forgotten about like this old Sassafras.





Have you seen this weeks challenge at The Studio?

Here's what Amanda set us this week:
My house is slowly but surely being taken over by scrapbooking supplies. I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way. It's not physically possile to use them all at the rate I buy them, so I'm always looking for new ways to use things up. This week, I want to see you all WEARING your stash! OK, I don't expect you to make paper ball gowns (although you can if you wish!), but a little something like a piece of jewelery, hair accessory or brooch shouldn't cause you too much trouble :)



So I made a little hair slide from Basic Grey flowers.
Don't forget to check out what the others did. You've got to see the bracelet that Tessa made. Click here.

The kids got crafting this weekend too. We had a pj day yesterday. Hollie altered an old costa coffee pot and made lots of little bits to go inside.



And I caught Louis looking through his own scrapbook of LO's that he's made. He was in bed Friday night just looking and reading through. So he had the scrapbug this weekend.



and made this : )
All his own doing.



Right, better get my backpack sorted for legoland.

Weekend Creativeness

I'm so pleased it's the weekend. I love not having to set the alarm.
I've had a pretty unproductive day so far, a bit of laundry, scrapped a page, I guess I should do some cleaning really. Yawn zzzzzzzzzz

Amanda added this frame that I made up a couple of weeks ago for the Scrap Rat site.
I love that vintage look.
She's added so much more to the crafty Vintage shop. If you like that type of look, take a look here.



I used a book page for the background and also cut 3 hearts from book paper and spray misted them. You can see the book pages here and the old Bingo Cards here.



Tessa has also added a Christmas Banner to the blog which you can see here.



So, what creativeness are you planning this weekend?
Are you cropping? Are you scrapping alone?
What are you making?

I've just seen that Pencil Lines are celebrating 4 years tomorrow. They have a sketch on the hour every hour from 8am GMT - 8pm with lots of prizes.
I do really like their sketches so would love to try and squeeze a couple in. Family permitting obviously : )

I'm trying to get ahead of all my DT projects right now. I have some really busy time coming up with the kids on school holidays from Friday for a week and my Dad arriving during this time for almost 2 weeks. He lives in Indiana, USA and visits once a year. So the whole family comes to me and we spend the time together. So I need to be ontop of all my scrapping.

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday xxx

Sketchy Thursdays Inspiration

So using the sketch above, I created the LO below.



All about Louis and how he enjoys craft.
The journaling goes on to say how I was surprised that during a parents meeting once at school I got told that Louis doesn't enjoy Art. The teacher was surprised too knowing how much I like it and as I helped out alot with the class particually during these times.
So when I asked Louis about it he said, ''But they don't do proper Art like we do''.
That's my boy!! : )



This was made with papers from the September Studio Calico Kit.
And an old clothes tag thrown in. Nothing like abit of recycling.



If you want to join in with Sketchy Thursdays this week, the sketch is at the top and you can visit us here. Lots of great inspiration and prizes to be won.

Hollie's teacher training day has been fun. We went shopping with a friend of Hollie's. Hollie has finally learnt the art of shopping and is loving it.
Parents evening tonight.

See you soon xx

A Funny Old Week

It's really unlike me to go so many days without blogging.
No particular reason really, just been busy.



I made this delish cake at the weekend. Zucchini Bread it's called, but I used a marrow from the garden instead. We LOVE IT!!



And Louis has finally decided to start football.
He's been two weeks in a row now and loves it. I must get him the proper gear now.
I hope he has a growth spurt soon. Can you see how much smaller he is now compared to his friends? Poor things, it's starting to be very noticable and he's starting to get teased alot too because of it : (

We've also been having the kids bathroom worked on. Ade's up there right now tiling away.
And I've been working lots this week. Hollie is home from school tomorrow, teacher training day, so I'm taking her and a friend shopping and Louis is off for the same reason on Monday. Legoland is on the cards at the moment.
So I'm needing to keep on top of work.

Scrappy wise, not much happening. I did a DT LO this evening and my new Cocoa Daisy kit is on it's way. Yay!!

The new Twisted Sketches sketch has gone live this evening.
It's a goodun. Go take a look when you get chance.
I will add it to my list of 'to do's'.

Here's my page from last week.




A photo taken in Lyme Regis a couple of years ago.
I've used lots of pieces from a Cocoa Daisy kit from earlier this year.





Amanda is still searching for a Guest Designer at ScrapRat if you are interested and would like to receive a free bundle of goodies to design with. Check out the blog here, for more details.

And now we have a date with Lord Sugar, if you would kindly excuse me. We have The Apprentice to catch up on. What would we do without Skyplus these days? I love being able to rewind live tv : )

Big hugs
Lisa xxx

Guilty Pleasures

Cocoa Daisy had some good news this month.
We got picked out amongst the Top 3 in the best 10 Kit Clubs in the Creating Keepsakes magazine. Great News!!

There a still a few of this months kits left if you are interested. Click here.

There are also a few of the Halloween Kit add ons left. Ronda has created the most beautiful mini book and a bonus project too. It comes with full instructions.
Take a look on Ronda's blog at what she's made and the kit can be bought here.




So if kits are your gulity pleasure, this next challenge may be of interest to you.
The Studio has launched it's weekly Sunday Challenge which is all about those Gulity Pleasures that we all have. What's yours?

Mine is the TV Series 'Come Dine with Me'. I love it. It's on series link, so I don't miss an episode. I even make up pretend menus, as if I were going on the show. Sad I know : )



So if you fancy having a laugh at the rest of the teams, visit The Studio here.
And don't forget to link up your guilty pleasure pages when you play along.



One last thing, Scrap Rat are having a Guest Designer call.
If you fancy receiving a fan package to play with, visit Amanda's blog here for full details. The closing date is 31st October to submit your entry.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

More Cocoa Daisy

Some more of the Cocoa Daisy work I've made this month using the October Kit.



A handmade and stitched photo frame.



With punched and layered flowers.



Spaltters on the fab new Studio Calico Mister Huey sprays that come with the kit too.



And a card.



If you get this kit, you will love it.
If you don't subscribe, visit here for more details. It's a beautiful kit every month.



And check out here for this weeks challenge at Twisted Sketches.
Here's my sneak of my page for this week.
I used an older Cocoa Daisy kit (I love using up olders stash) and added this little card that I had saved from a Scrapagogo kit, years ago.



I'm still tired today. Staying up late chatting with friends didn't help.

Have a lovely weekend xxx