Hello...my name is...

Good Morning,

I hope it's not too cold where you are.

I so struggled to get out of bed this morning as it was so cold and my bed was so cozy.

I have a couple of Cocoa Daisy layouts today.

This kit is just the best. 

It goes on sale tomorrow (1st) The addons went super fast during the reveal to the subbers, so if you can get your hands on a kit tomorrow, I highly recommend. (here's the link)

 

We met Mario whilst in Orlando at Seaworld.

We wanted to do some different things this time and we booked this behind the scenes tour.

It was amazing and so so much fun. It was a small group of 15. A great tour and we got to touch a shark and this little fellow too who was super friendly and very very vocal : )

The Thickers come with the addon 'How've you been'. They were brown, so I sanded them down covered them in this Prima Chalk Ink and then added Glossy Accents. The Prima Inks are very juicy and coat really well.

I needed to add a little more red to my page so added some hand stitching.

Happy Memories : )

The next one was using 'Simple Stories' from the Kit. I love their stuff!! 

 

 

An everyday page this time about how I plan our weekly menu. This is this weeks.

 

 

And the little wired house again. Love that!! I used Glossy Accents to stick it on with this time.

And using my new EKSucess Border punch that I bought in the US.

So so much cheaper than in the UK and with 40% off. I do love a bargain!!

And leaving you today with my delicious Spicy Thai Pumpkin Soup.
nom nom nom

Have a great day and stay warm xxx

Home Sweet Home with Cocoa Daisy

Good Morning,

It's a lovely winters morning here. Bright and sunny and Ade had to de-ice the car before taking the kids to school. (Making the most out of him working from home now*smile*)

The Cocoa Daisy Reveal was last night. There was a real buzz about this kit. We had some fab exclusive stamps and some really fun colours and bits and pieces.

I thought I'd share my canvas first that I made yesterday. Remember those messy fingers? They are actually still stained green. Well this was the cause of theme.

A little 15x15cm canvas.
The main kit comes with some little wired house clips which gave me this idea. I based it upon the brightly coloured October Afternoon papers in the kit and used the 'hello' sticker from 'Simple Stories'.

I used some Maya Mists and ran some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam from the top.
It's now on the hall way wall as you enter through the front door.
Love those friendly colours.

I mentioned the little wire clips. I used one for this little card.

We have new neighbours over the road, so I shall pop this through their door later.
Isn't the wire clip adorable? I used it with a 'Simple Stories' journal card.

Can you tell how much I love this kit???   : )
Lots of deadlines to get done by the end of the month, so I'm ready to make a start now.

Have a sunny and bright day xxx

More Cocoa Daisy Sneaks with Painty Fingers

I'm sat here typing with hands covered in inks, paints, paste and glitter.
I've been having fun today : )

Tonight is the December reveal at Cocoa Daisy!!!
It kicks off at 9pm EST.
Christine has some exciting new sneaks on the blog today. You can see here.
I love seeing what the other girls have done with their kits.

We are talking about the reveal on the MB here today.
And lastly from me a final sneak at what I've been up to today.

With my messy fingers : )

Don't forget to check out the reveal tonight and join in with the fun here.

Lisa xxx

Hello Mr Sneaky!! - Cocoa Daisy

I have just finished uploading my Cocoa Daisy gallery for tomorrows reveal.
I am absolutely loving this months kit.
4 LO's and a card so far and I still have so many more ideas.

Come and join us tomorrow at Cocoa Daisy for the reveal.

Here are my sneaks in the meantime.

 

See you tomorrow.

Live in the Moment Journal

Good Morning,

It's a quick one form me today.
I've had the most fun weekend away with some lovely ladies in Paris.
I have some fab stories to tell in my upcoming scrapbooking pages : )

Today though I have my most recent mini album to share. I displayed some photos before I taught the class in Swindon but some of the ladies have asked if I could share all the pages here, so here you go.

The Mixed Media Mini Album
Cover

And a close up. The heart is made using glossy accents, beads, paints and stickles.

The opening page using up old thickers

.

I chose to document our wedding in Florida.

I decided to add all the stories and journaling after it was made.
I used vellum to make a small pocket.

I may actually add a couple more pages to include our meal at Seaworld after. I changed into a long aqua coloured dress and we all had dinner at the Underwater Shark Grill. So much fun : )

Thanks for popping by today.
I hope you also had a fun weekend xxx

Dare - OLW

The word right now with the 'One Little Word' girls is Dare.
I always love how Hollie has a little brave side to her and will try things. Take her here for example in Epcot trying snails.

We were visiting Disney's Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival. I'd researched before and had seen what countries were offering what food. They basically have lots of little kiosks set up throughout the World Showcase offering foods & booze to try from all over the world. So we thought we'd spend the afternoon sampling different things.
We got to France and Escargots were on the menu. No way for Louis. We couldn't convince him to try, but Hollie was up for it : )
They were ok, but the three of us agreed we probably wouldn't have the chewy little blyters again.

  
I used lots of Heidi Swapp papers here and I love these Amy Tangerine Thickers,
If you want to play along with the OLW girls, visit them here.

Having a LO about France is rather fitting today as I'm off to Paris tomorrow for the weekend with some lovely friends. There are 6 of us and we are all scrappers. We are visiting the Marie Clair Expo tomorrow, having a day in Paris on Saturday and then stopping at the market I believe on Saunday before getting the train home again : )
I've never been before, so I'm really looking forward to it.

And before I head off, thank you for the lovely messages re the Travel Journal yesterday and a Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear US friends.
Have a lovely day xxx

How to make a sucessful Travel Journal

Hi,

I have finished my Orlando 2012 Travel Journal **big smiles**

I have put together a blog post today at Cocoa Daisy full of hints, tips and lots of photos if you want to take a look here.
I feel so chuffed with myself having this completed within just 3 weeks of being home. Feels like such an achievement.
Please do take a look and leave me a little love on the CD blog : )

Thanks xx
 

 

Feeling Happy

I'm designing again today for Cocoa Daisy.

My fellow DT member and good friend Anna set a fun challenge where we have to use stamps as a main part of our design. So using the stamps that came in the November Cocoa Daisy kit, I made this.

I used the stamps to border my photo and to journal on.
I also used my fave colours : )

Ade took this photo of me whilst we were in Island of Adventures in Orlando. I just remember feeling so happy and chilled. It was so hot, the kids had queued up and gone on a ride alone and we stood and waited for them and took photos of them on the ride whilst they waved and laughed. We chatted and enjoyed the few minutes alone. We'd have never let them do this during the last trip and now just a couple of years older and we can do this without any worries.
Happy days.

If you'd like to reach for those stamps and join Anna and myself in this challenge, please see here for more details. You have until 4th December to play.
Here's the full kit if you'd like to take a look.
I coloured my Thickers over with a Pro Marker Pen and doodled over in black.

The postie has just delivered my December Kit.
I'm off to open it now : )

Have a great day xxx

Cordon Blue & A Scrap365 Sketch

Hello and a Happy Monday to you today.
I hope you had a good weekend.

I have a sketch challenge to share with you this morning.
It's the December Scrap365 sketch.
Here is my LO that I made for it.

When we were in Island of Adventures we hunted down the Mystic Fountain.
There had been chat about this fountain on the Florida Forum that I go on.  We'd visited this park on our other trips by never noticed this fountain. We hung around and laughed so much. The fountain shouts out and is so rude to people.Pretends to spit at people when they go past and make them jump. It was so funny.Louis kept trying to run up and through coins in but was going around the outside to avoid being squirted. The fountain was shouting at Louis and calling him 'Cordon Blue' (he was wearing his blue Chelsea top). It was shouting ''Hey you Cordon Blue!!'' Are you chicken???''.
We spent quite some time here, it was so funny : )

I bought lots of Basic Grey 'Serendipity & Shine on' whilst in Orlando so used some of these new bits on this page.

If you would like to see the Scrap365 sketch, you can view it here and play along.
The closing date to play along is 20th December.
Have fun : )

xxx

Hello my name is....sneakie peekie

If you are like me and you can never wait to see what's coming in next months kits, here's a little taster as to what's in store for Cocoa Daisy next month.

Hello my name is...December Kit

I just love that this kit is bright and fun and not the usual Christmassy themed kit.

With addons like: Nice to meet you

How've you been

And this Embellishment Pack

 

And these extra papers to addon too

This is right up my street. I just love the look of this.

And look at these stamps.

The DT kits are arriving any day now.
I can't wait.

Be sure to check back on the 28th Nov here for the full reveal.

xxx

Celebrating

Good Morning,
I hope your week is going well.

I'm feeling excited today.
I've been struggling with my scrapbooking for some time now. I scrap loads and generally for a DT purpose and under deadline. I feel like I've kind of lost my way a little. I still always stand by my word and scrap for a reason and not just because I have to. This has always been important to me that I scrap to keep these stories for my family and no matter what else, this is the most important thing to me.
But it's very rare that I finish a LO these days and think ''I'm so pleased with that'' and then want to hang it on my studio wall. It's more the case of, that story's been told and then add the LO to the pile to file.
I've been wanting that to change. I want to get that feeling again when I make something that I really love. So I've been looking back at the LO's I've made that really stand out and seeing what they all have in common.
I've found that :

I need the white space.
I love bright colours.
Layers
A good colour combo

I feel ready now to move on and think of these factors when I scrap in future.
Some of my favourite work has been when creating using a colour combo challenge. I like the colour combos. I tend to wander in my studio and collect bits that match and lay them out on my desk before starting. So yesterday to practise this theory of mine I popped over to my lovely friend Ronda's challenge blog 'One little Word'. I used to love these challenges and was really sad when Ronda closed the blog. I'm so happy that Ronda and the girls have decided to start over again. It's a very inspiring blog.

The word is 'celebrate' and here is the LO I made last night.

The theory worked and I'm thrilled with it : )

I started with the the photo. That was instantly my inspiration for my colour combo.
It was taken the very first night of arriving in Orlando. That feeling of excitement of just arriving in our favourite place and chatting about all the wonderful plans we had for the next days to come.
We did the boring bits of unpacking and popped to Publix for groceries and then we headed to the bar and pool. It was 8pm and still so warm. We ordered pizza and Ade and I had Buds. Dipped our feet in the pool and chatted and laughed. It was the perfect evening to start and really felt like ''yes, we are on holiday''.

Like I said, I started by gathering up bits and pieces to go with my colours.
Then I lightly misted my background using 4 different mists.

I kind of decided what was going where, but when I layer I like to have the flexibility of changing my mind and also adding extra bits. Something I always do is use Double Sided Tape, this repositions so much better that pva glue and I just stick it in the centre like this.

  
This way when it's stuck in place I can slide extra pieces under if I want to.
 I carry on layering.
I love this Cocoa Daisy Stamp . It has the years and the months.
Rather than break it all up and stick to a block, I kept it on it's original packaging and used it whole.

I added a lovely cluster of Basic Grey Embellies which fitted in so well with everything here.

And it all came together so effortless. One of the things I like about the layering technique is that it's a good way of using scraps. I have a pretty dish on my desk where I create and I purposely keep odds and ends for this reason.

I feel like celebrating now. I feel like I've found my old scrappy self again : )

And to finish off I needed to add my journaling. I wanted to document this first special evening.
As always I get to this point and think ''where to journal''. As I only stick down the middle bits, I can then journal on tags and just slide them under.

And look how well my two get on. I'm so lucky that they are getting older and still remain such good friends.

After all that I'm left with my LO that tells our story, has been a delight to make and also leaves me with that old feeling of happiness as I'm so so pleased with the outcome.
I'm so pleased with this.

 
Does anyone else have their own 'thing' when it comes to scrapbooking?
Something that works for you.
I'm so happy that I've pin pointed what mine is.
Thanks for letting me share this with you xxx

A little bit of Magic

I've been creating again.
Nothing like a good holiday and a few thousand new photos to get that mojo kick started.

I've just launched the new 'Just for Fun' challenge over at Cocoa Daisy.
The challenge is slightly different this month. One of the Daisies 'Ronda' contacted me and came up with idea of us each scraplifting a LO from the members gallery here.
So I picked one of Ronda's to get this challenge started.
Ronda's LO is here. And if you want to play along with us, click here. It's open until 13th Dec.
And here is my take using parts of the November and the October Kits.

 

The word 'dream' in Ronda's title made me think of this Disney photo that we had taken. I edited it to have 'where dreams come true' along the bottom.

This is my first of many Magic Kingdom LO's that I will make for this visit. As the title says' it was voted best park by us for this trip.

Just everything about it was perfect. Weather, queue times, the things we did...everything.

We ended up visiting 3 times. On this particular 'very hot' afternoon we just stayed for the afternoon.

We also did the Halloween party and stayed from 3.30pm-11.30pm and then we came back for our last full day as we'd loved it so much.   

We got the photopass plus this time. We never fully understood the whole photo pass thing at Disney before, but the very kind photographer Kate (Londoner living in Florida for the past 8yrs) explained it all to us at the start of our first Disney day in Animal Kingdom, so we really made the most out of it.

Throughout the Disney parks you have their photographers dotted about. Outside the photo hot shots like the castle above and also when you meet the characters. We paid $219 for unlimited photos. So each time we approached a photograper they scanned our card and snapped away.

Here's this photo.

 We had just arrived at Magic Kingdom for our first visit and the photographer kind of grabbed us and spun us around as the fireworks were about to go off. How cool!! I've never seen fireworks in the day before, although to be honest, I still haven't as they were behind us : )

When you get home you can edit your photos and add various frames etc like I have done above.
 And little logos like I did in the photo below. I love these kind as the photographer just snaps away and catches the kids being totally natural. I prefer these kind to the posed.

You can also add their autographs to the photos.

And they do crazy stuff like telling Louis to cradle his arms when we were in Animal Kingdom.
When you see the photo, they've done this : )

 
  And the fun part of it is that it also includes all your ride photos too.

 We are really really pleased with our photos. We have around 340 Disney photos in total. It's so nice to have photos with the 4 of us in this time. I think the pass was really good value for money. We chose to download them so we can have as many copies as we wish now.

So I will end this blog post today with the 4 of us in our magical place.

And before anyone asks.... yes he is!!!
xxx