The Next Page...

Because of my surgery (x2!) last week, I'm now rather behind on Shimelle's "Something From Almost Nothing" class. Not something that I had planned really (surgery was due in May but I got a cancellation appointment), but hey! At least I have pratice from being behind on her classes (thinking of the Christmas one, which I got done even if it was way after the last prompt arrived). LOL!

For this prompt, well... I actually didn't follow it at all to be honest. It was about page protectors. Either using a divided one (which I LOVE but I don't have any 6x12 at home and no craftshop nearby), so this was out. Or using your sewing machine to create one. But since my sewing machine is more than unreliable (if you can recommend a good, decent priced one - please do, I'd be so grateful) this was not even an option either. So I just went with my own thing, used a few bits from previous prompts and came up with my own topic of scrapping my most favourite day of the year ---> Christmas Eve :)

Easter Cards...

Have you made any Easter cards this year? :) I'm not religious, but I do love the cuteness of Easter things (and the chocolate!). If you read my blog you probably already know that I can't resist cute things, so there's no surprise that I love the bunnies, coloured eggs and chicks of Easter :)

I didn't go mad. Only simple cards, a card for my parents and one for my sister and brother and their families. I used, what for me are, typical Easter colours of pink, green and yellow. The stamp is by Magnolia (from this year's Easter collection) and I have used my Copic markers to colour them. Sorry I totally forgot to make a note of which shades I used :(

I used white cardstock for the blank base and a Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder on the front. The bottom edge has been done using a Martha Stewart border punch.

And of course, I couldn't forget a little something on the front and back of the envelopes too :)

Not Quite Yet...

Another week until it's Easter weekend and chocolate-eating time! Yum! LOL! So what to do in the meantime...? Scrap Easter and chocolate of course LOL!

[Supplies used: Spacey Templates 7 - Amy Martin, Egg Hunting - Kate Hadfield, Googie Hunt - Kaye Winiecki, Painted Alpha - Sahlin Studios (all from the Lilypad)]

This is a layout which I made as part of my Lilypad Creative Team work. I used some super cute Easter kits by Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki combined with a great template from Amy Martin. I really can't resist all the cute bunnies and chicks for Easter. Or anything else cute for that matter :)

Goodbye iPod Touch (sob!), Hello iPhone (yay!)...

This week has been tough. Much tougher than I ever expected. A case of very bad luck and a case of something being worse and much more painful than expected. Let's start with the bad luck. My beloved (used several times a day, EVERY day!) iPod Touch died. *sob*

It was the 3rd major problem with it since Christmas so something was definitely not right. At Saturday lunchtime I got the "Apple screen of death". We spent 13 hours (!!) trying to get it back working. Restoring to factory default (meaning I lost everything!). Nothing worked. At one in the night (!) we gave up and went to bed. And of course it was only about 2-3 months out of warranty... how it always works...

GOODBYE iPOD TOUCH

Since I used my iPod Touch daily. And because of what was coming up this Monday (more on that later). And because my mobile has been acting weird (bad button) for over a year. And because I have known for over a year that my next mobile was going to be an iPhone... We went did lots of research on deals and went out and got one on Sunday afternoon.

HELLO iPHONE

And even though it's 80-90% exactly like an iPod Touch (just the phone element added) I'm already soooo in love :)

And the thing that was a lot worse than expected this week? And another reason I did not want to be without the entertainment of an iPod/iPhone? On Monday I went through two lots of scheduled surgery. Not eye-related and nothing major. But it's left me very immobile and in a lot more pain than I expected. I can't even sit up properly yet and this is the first time all week which I can reach for the computer a little (previous blog posts this week were pre-scheduled), enough to spend a few minutes typing. So my iPhone has already been invaluable this week. I have also seen a lot of my Kindle, Nintendo DSi XL and puzzle books LOL!

Anyway, that's all for me now. I'm exhausted and need to put this laptop down & have a rest. Have a great weekend everyone :)

Fun Way Of Scrapping...

Definitely a fun way of scrapping... of picking your photo. As one of the prompts for Shimelle's latest class said: grab a bunch of photos and start flicking through them, pick the first photo you see that makes you happy and scrapbook it, telling why it makes you happy. What a simple yet great way of going about picking what to do a layout about next :)

For me, I came across this photo of mum & dad. It makes me happy because I love it when they come and visit us (we live in different countries). So this is definitely a "happy" photo for me. And, by happy (!) co-incidence, we're also playing my favourite board game, Scattergories, so yet another little fact that gets documented in my album :)

Happiness Is...

I'm sooo loving this class. A class with no supply list - how great is that? Just use what you have :)

And talking about things that make you happy - this was all a page about those things. The good things that make you happy :)

PS. Check out the cute little birdie brad at the top right of the journaling - love him! :)

Spring...

A very quick update for today as we're off out in a bit for some shopping and a nice long walk. But I wanted to get a little blog post in before then...

[Supplies used: Spacey Templates 5 - Amy Martin, Embossed - Amy Sumrall, Shabby Flowers - Amy Wolff, Here Comes The Sun - Kaye Winiecki, Paint It Up! - Designs By Lili, Sweet Notes - Designs By Lili, Sunshine And Daffodils - Shalin Studio (all from the Lilypad)]

...a spring time layout (photos are not from this year!) using some of the brilliant March BYOC kits from The Lilypad.

Have a great day everyone! :)

Celebrate Life...

I'm really enjoying the Celebrate Life album that we're doing for Shimelle's latest class. I decided to go for a 6x12 album format to have a bit of a different canvas to work on. And I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot. I have done a 6x12 album before but that was landscape and this is portrait format.

The challenge for the day was to use up some patterned paper scraps. This is something which I'm pretty good at anyway, and always enjoy doing, so I was very happy for this. I used lots of scraps long the right side and then used my sewing machine to sew across it.

And talking about sewing machines. Can you recommend a good one? I've been tearing my hair out ever since I got mine about 2 years ago. It's been nothing but problems. It gets stuck, the thread rips... any possible problem you can imagine. The chance of me being able to sew a straight line across a 12x12 page without it being "faulty" is about 20% :( I'm desperate!

The Finished Christmas Journal...

First of all I want to say THANK YOU to all of you who have left such encouraging comments during the making of my Christmas journal. I've read them all and it's been so great and inspiring to read them.

Before I show you some photos of the finished journal I just wanted to add these two photos below which were taken when I made the covers (from scratch) back in November, before I'd even started making any pages:

This is a little close-up of the logo on the front. Using up some old stash. Yummy October Afternoon papers, Doodlebug tree sticker and some old Doodlebug Paper Frills...

And this is what my finished album looks like...

It's not the first time that I have made my Christmas journal using a mix of page sizes and materials and I still really love that concept. At this moment I find it hard to see that I would do anything different next year either...

Hope you have enjoyed the little peek into my album! I know, even though it was a long process, that I really loved every minute of making it :)

Day 31...

And we're onto the very last day in my Christmas journal. A whole month of documenting using photos + words. These projects are rather challenging... and certainly takes a certain amount of discipline and willpower to keep going all the way through, every single day. But it's sooo worth it in the end. And such a cool thing to look back on another year :)

The left side shows the backside of Day 30 and more of my "year in review" photos... And then we're onto New Year's Eve. This was a weird one for me. The very first NYE ever that I have spent in the UK!

I'm journaling about the celebrations, the yummy food we have and that we watched the fireworks live from London and Big Ben on the TV. I even managed to get a pretty good photo of the fireworks on the TV :)

Little Baby...

My little niece was born a week ago today and the same day I got sent some super cute photos from when she was only about 6 hours old...

Then Lliella Designs released this very cute kit...

...and I just had to do some scrapping straight away. I decided to go for a very plain kraft-style background since the kit in general was very bright. This is what I came up with:

[Supplies used: Buggalicious -Lliella Designs, Kristin Aagard (from SSD), Spacey Templates 2 - Amy Martin (from the Lilypad)]

I never got the chance to do my page for Shimelle's class yesterday. But fortunately a new prompt is not due until tomorrow. So I really hope I can get some time to sit down later this afternoon and put my page together :) We'll see how it goes...

Day 30...

And we're on the 30th of December in my Christmas journal. I was meaning to get this on my blog last week but kept getting distracted by other things LOL!

The backside of Day 29 (the blue and white page you can see on the top left with the gingerbread house) is just lots of journaling about that day.

The 30th (right side) I always use as a little "year in review" before it's time for New Year's Eve. So I normally create a little photo collage with a few selected photos from the year... more to come on the backside of this page.

I'm still absolutely addicted to the Nintendo DS game Picross 3D! Over 180 puzzles solved in just over a week now! I even frantically dream of it at night LOL! Not so good though as I wake up absolutely exhausted... Anyway, if you have any Nintendo DS puzzle game recommendations, please, please leave a comment. Thanks :)

Easter Cuteness...

I'm going to follow on from yesterday's post about the March BYOC release at the Lilypad. This is another layout made using a selection of the kits...

[Supplies: Shabby Flowers - Amy Wolff, Doodley-Doo - Jacque Larsen, Stuck Together Are You Square - Karah Fredricks, Here Comes The Sun - Kaye Winiecki, Paint It Up! - Designs By Lili, Snipettes: Springtime - Sahlin Studio, Sunshine And Daffodils - Shalin Studio (all from The Lilypad)]

When I saw the kit with the doodled papers I really liked it. But at the same time it was quite "scary"... like HOW would you really use them?! LOL! But I decided to be brave and go for it. And sometimes a challenge can be good - and in this case it was, as I had lots of fun trying to incorporate it into a layout. :)

Peek-A-Boo

I wanted to share the first of a few layouts which I have made using Lilypad's BYOC release for March today :)

I really, really love these photos that my dad took of my mum and little niece. The look on my niece's face says it all - soooo much fun to play peek-a-boo!

[Supplies: Spacey Templates 3 - Amy Martin,Dressed Up Papers 2 - Amy Wolff,Shabby Flowers - Amy Wolff,Spring Whimsy - Gina Miller,Here Comes The Sun - Kaye Winiecki, Paint It Up! - Designs By Lili, Sweet Notes - Designs By Lili, Weeds And Wildflowers - Valerie Wibbens (all from the Lilypad)]

Cuteness + Class Start...

Shimelle's class started on Wednesday. I really love the concept of this class... or rather, I should say: the class schedule (but I do love the "something from almost nothing" concept too!). We get prompts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So a day in between to catch up. Also I don't scrap at the weekends too often (this is mine and Ross' time!) So for 7-day classes, I normally get behind on a weekend and I just hate the stress of that.

Anyway, onto the very first page. This is the intro page in my album and very much a scraplift (though totally different colours and stash used) of Shimelle's page. The subject of this first prompt was to use up some old metal. Yay! I very rarely use bookplates, even when they were all the rage a few years ago, so to get 4 on a page was a record for me. Also using 14 brads on one page... not bad! :)

Now to some cuteness that arrived in the post yesterday. I have always been a huge fan of the cute Penny Black stamps. BUT they are rather pricey! So even though I have spent many hours admiring them, I can count my wood mounted Penny Black stamps on one hand. :( Then they decide to bring in the transparent stamps and Anso is happy :)

I have got a few sets already over the last year or two and these are my 3 new sets that I got in the post yesterday. Some Easter and Spring cuteness above. :)

Birthday cards are the most common cards that I make and I always seem to need more birthday related stamps so these fit perfectly...

...and finally some cute love themed stamps. Great for Valentine cards or "Just Because" :)

My New Copics + Class I'm Taking...

I got some new Copics the other day so I just got my camera out....

Oh how I wish they were not so expensive. Only looks like a few pens yet it's quite a bit of money. Not fair LOL!

I have no place nearby that sells them, so it's a case of ordering on-line for me. Doesn't the collection just shout pretty spring & Easter colours? I had no idea when I ordered them. I mean, I knew what colours I picked, but I didn't think of how they would look together as an order. When they fell out of the jiffy bag as I opened it, the colours just made me smile. :)

This photo is also a little photo towards our "pre challenge" for the latest class I'm taking. Shimelle's "Something From Almost Nothing". We were supposed to take a photo of our stash, some stash, any stash. Since my scrap room is TINY, and I have a hard time to get far enough from something to actually fit it into a photo, my new Copics will have to symbolise my stash photo :)

Your Fave DS Games...?

As I finished my blog post yesterday, I said I'd be back today telling you about my latest "obsession"... of the non-crafty kind. But let's first take a step back to last Friday when I got this, pre-ordered, on launch day:

{Nintendo DSi XL}

The original Nintendo DS was my first handheld Nintendo console. Ever since then, we have kinda pre-ordered and upgraded every time Nintendo has released a new DS version. I have always liked certain video games (more on that in a bit) and having a boyfriend who's always been into games, well... I guess it was only natural that I'd be going through the full set of Nintendo DS (original), Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi and now the Nintendo DSi XL.

So, main difference? Bigger screen, bigger console. I found this pic on the net which compares it to the DS Lite and gives you a pretty good idea:

What do I think? Well... I wasn't sure when we came home with them on Friday, if it would feel like an upgrade or not. But after having played with it during the weekend - I'm in love with the bigger screens! :) When we got out DSi's back when they were released, the build quality felt so much worse than for the DS Lite... like a downgrade. So I was actually kinda relieved to be rid of my DSi. I'm really pleased to tell you that the DSi XL seems to be back to the great build quality of the DS Lite - yay! And I never thought I'd say this but last night I even tried the fat stylus (it comes with a standard one in the console and an extra fat one in the box), and O-M-G!! It's sooooo nice to hold.

So onto my latest obsession of the non-crafty kind, PICROSS 3D!! During the weekend we have done over 80 (!!) of the puzzles...

When Pic Pic first came out it had me hooked instantly. I then moved onto Picross... soon to be followed by Colour Cross. Now I can't get enough of the new Picross 3D! :)

So please tell me your best suggestions for good DS games? :) I love my puzzle games and also the odd 2D platform game (think: original Rayman for the PSX). New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart are brilliant too :) However Brain Training and the Layton games are not for me. I just don't see the appeal... they don't give me that feeling of "wanting to play more and more". I don't know why, I just find them a little "boring" somehow. Soooo, what would you suggest? What are YOUR favourites please? I'd love to hear :)

Birthday Cards + Thanks...

First of all I want to say thank you to all of you who have left comments during the last few days as a response to my rather tricky question last week. Thank you :) I'm going to check out all the links you gave me :)

I also mentioned that I was making some birthday card last week for my sister and brother who are twins. I didn't get the chance to take photos of them until just before they went in the post on Saturday. Hopefully they will arrive (definitely should!) in time this week :)

I used white cardstock, a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Maya Road cupcake stamp, Copics (yay!), some scrap pieces of patterned paper and then the text is printed on my computer due to lack of Swedish greeting stamps (which hopefully might be sorted soon!)

Tomorrow I'll be back with a post about my latest non-crafty obsession... :)

Day 29...

I'm sooo enjoying making my Christmas journal. I've done it for a few years now. Every year I work behind as I normally don't have access to my stash over Christmas. But as long as I keep taking photos there's no problem in catching up. The photos have dates on them (digitally I mean, the files) and they tell the story enough for me to be able to write about it at a later time.

Day 28 (left side) is only half a page (the bottom part). A photo snapped in the kitchen in Sweden while we're making lunch before setting off for the airport. Mum, dad and one of my nieces.

29th of December, again it's a little hard seeing on the photo what is the page and what is actually pages behind it, but it's basically just a photo of our Christmas tree back in England.

Only a few pages left now...

Making Fun Paper & Eye Update...

I'm really enjoying the Tablet class by Jessica Sprague. I still have the last week to do but it's all fun :) Some of the little midweek challenges (we do make complete layouts too) are little exercises to get used to working with the tablet and pen more. And I love these.

We got this polka dot challenge one day and were given some files to create our own papers with. Together with using our tablet pen to create different polka dot patterns. This is what I came up with as my first try:

And then another one with just white dots:

Hrm...I guess the question I asked yesterday was just too hard and specialised, eh? Oh well... I'll have to continue my hunt.

I had another appointment with the eye specialist this morning. They took out the protective bandage lens. I'm still on antibiotics for another few months, then a summer break and then back on them again. I'm on two different eyedrops (one type at night and another type about 6-10 times per DAY) for life :( And also now they wanted me to use this special eyebag that you heat in the microwave (a bit like a wheat pillow) 2 times a day for the rest of my life too. I just ordered my first one at £20... seems like it will last about 3 months then I have to buy a new one. All this eye stuff costs a fortune!

The eyes were looking good for now, but I have all these things I need to do every day, always... with no gurantee. The fear of sleeping every night as I never know if/when the original (V.E.R.Y painful!!) symptoms might return. Scary! Still, it could always be worse.

Swedish Greetings Stamps...?

I know most of the readers of this blog are either from the US or UK, but I'm desperate so I'm going to try and put out my strange request anyway LOL!

I'm after some Swedish greeting stamps. Things like Congratulations (Grattis), Merry Christmas (God Jul), Happy Easter (Glad Påsk) etc.

I thought Magnolia did some but as far as I can see, it looks like they have changed their text stamps to be in English now.

Anyone seen any around please? Ordering from a Swedish online shop would be just fine for me :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance to anyone who can point me in the right direction to a good place :)

Day 28...

It's getting close...! It's getting close to the end :) My Christmas journal is nearly finished...

I told you on Saturday about the mini Christmas we had again on the 27th of December. So there's more journaling about this on the left + a photo taken at the table.

The 28th of December was the day that we had to return to the UK. A sad day. But we'd been lucky and spent a long time in Sweden for this Christmas so we couldn't really complain either. The bags are packed and we're ready to catch the flight.

And talking about Sweden, I have some birthday cards for my sister and brother (they are twins) which I need to get working on today :)

Before I leave, I want to say a big thank you to Jessica for this blog award. Thank you!

Okay, I'm off... have to think of birthday card ideas :)