Crab Time...

I found myself giggling to myself when I made this layout...

Why? Well it was made for a challenge at Shimelle's cyber crop and there I was having an early alarm set on a Saturday morning... I sat scrapping in my pyjamas at 8 in the morning and what was I scrapping? A crab of all things! It just seemed VERY funny at the time!

Like at least if I was up at that time scrapping on a Saturday then it somehow should be something important and urgent to scrap (that is, whether scrapping actually ever can be urgent? Unless you have a deadline of a gift or DT/CT work of course).

Maybe that was my way of staying awake. Giggling at the rather usual thing I chose to scrap at that time in the morning. All I know is that I think now I will always have a little giggle at this when I see this layout in my albums.

iNSD Fun...

It's time for iNSD and lots of fun will be happening at the Lilypad over the weekend. Please come and join us! :)

Hardwick Hall...

We went on a great day out on Saturday. Visited a few places/parks and had a cosy picnic lunch out. As I have some Creative Team work to get done this week, I thought I might as well use a few of the photos from this weekend. This has been done for the Lilypad:

[Supplies used: CU Scallop Templates - Amy Wolff , Tickled Pink - Cori Gammon, Simple Singles Template Painted 1 - Gina Miller, Being A Princess Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be - Karah Fredricks, Stamped - Kaye Winiecki (all from The Lilypad)]

I literally just got the kits this morning and finished this layout before I started the blog post. I'm off now to get some other things done, deal with the frequent eye drops & treatments that needs to be done all the time (sigh!) and then have lunch. I hope to get some more CT work for Lilypad done this afternoon, but we'll see how far I get...

Have a great day everyone :)

Cupcakes...

This was the very first layout I did for Shimelle's cybercrop last weekend. The first challenge of the Friday evening. And the challenge was? To create something featuring cupcakes... the more the better (of course)! So I printed some cupcake photos and got out some cupcake stash and enjoyed it lots...

Want to know the funny thing? When I got up on Saturday morning I got a parcel with stash from the US containing... - you guessed it - .... some more cupcake items! I kinda wish I'd known that it would arrive then because I could have waited with my layout and used some of my new stuff. But I guess it wasn't meant to be :)

*Sigh*...

Ever had one of those days when everything just go wrong? I'm sure you have. We all have. And I'm having one of them today - sigh. Thing after thing. Problem after problem. I hope I can solve some of them, but we'll see... And can I just say that I hate it when people don't keep appointments and let you wait without even letting you know that they won't turn up - grrr!

In the meantime I'm putting my frustrations into tidying. Got some stash which desperately needed to be put away so I guess that's good at least :) And the dropped egg on the floor was at least pretty easy, and minor, to solve LOL!

Above is a layout which I did for Shimelle's crop last weekend. And with that comes a wish for nicer weather and barbecue time again :)

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day...

Clumber Park...

The same day that we had been to Lincoln, the weather was so great we also continued to Clumber Park (another new place for us to visit) for a nice long walk. It was the first time this year that I have comfortably walked around outside in a t-shirt and it hasn't felt too cold :) Unfortunately the weather has not been quite so nice since, even if it is a bit sunny today it's still much colder...

[Supplies used: Springtime Basics Paper Pack - Shimelle Laine (from 2Peas), Photoy Templates 2 - Amy Martin, Flower Bits - Jenna Desai (from the Lilypad), 2 Straws - Shawna Clingerman, Dani Mogstad, Traci Reed (from SSD)]

We took quite a few photos walking around the park (it was a BIG place!) and yesterday I decided to scrap just a few of them. I made this layout as part of my Creative Team work for Shimelle as I thought her spring papers fit just perfectly :)

A Great Weekend...

...last weekend, that is, and I'll come to that in a minute. This weekend? Won't be so great as all our plans have been cancelled :( Mum & Dad were due to fly over and we were to spend the weekend in the Lake District with them. It's been planned and booked for weeks and weeks, but last night had to be cancelled due to a certain volcano eruption. So I feel a little sad about that as I was really looking forward to seeing my parents. The only positive thing is that it's looking like it might be rescheduled for a few weeks later... but it's still being worked on, re-booked etc.

So let's talk last weekend. I took part in Shimelle's cyber crop. Seriously took part, really, as I completed every single thing and loved every minute of it :) It was great and brought back a little of that magic cyber crop feeling which I have not felt for years now. Yay!

And I found out yesterday that I was lucky enough to win a prize too, for this layout:

That's far from the best one (I was getting really tired from the scrapping marathon at this stage!) I made this weekend, in my opinion, but I think it might be totally irrelevant anyway as I have a feeling the prize giving was random between the entries. Anyway, I won a prize of a free pass to one of Shimelle's future classes and as I always enjoy them a lot, I'm really very happy for my prize :)

Lincoln...

Last Saturday we visited Lincoln, a city where we have never been before. The weather was amazing too. 21,5 degrees - way warmer than any day so far this year. So it turned out being the perfect day to spend being "tourists".

[Supplies used: Can't Buy Me Love - Shimelle Laine, Springtime Basics Paper Pack - Shimelle Laine, Write It Down Cute Circles - Shimelle Laine (all three from 2Peas), Photoy Templates 1 - Amy Martin (from the Lilypad), Bad Sewing Machine XII: Don't Be Square - Traci Reed (from SSD)]

This is my first layout scrapping just a handful of the many photos that we took that day. The layout is done for Shimelle's Creative Team.

My 5 Favourite Layouts...

This weekend I'm taking part in Shimelle's cybercrop. I'm loving it :) But I'm beat LOL! It's now after 10 in the evening and I started scrapping at 8 this morning, starting a new layout every second hour!! Anyway the final challenge for the night was to pick 5 favourite layouts that we have done and share why...

So after some hunting around I have picked out five. I'm sure some other day I would pick 5 totally different layouts. But today, being tired and achy from scrapping on my chair all day, these are my favourites. In no order...

...because it contains two of my most favourite photos from summer 2009.

...because I used a digital photo cluster frame and it was something totally different for me to print and scrap.

...because it features sooooo many photos. From me as a baby up until 2009.

...because it features the biggest photo I have ever scrapped so far and I really enjoyed the challenge of doing that.

...because it's the hardest layout I have ever scrapped. Documenting my eye conditions, the surgeries, pains, treatments and all the appointments (the black lines on each side, and in the text, covers dates and personal info which I don't want to publish here).

Right that's me off to bed, getting ready for another day of cyber cropping tomorrow... if I can get out of bed LOL!

Some More Easter Scrapping...

Today I wanted to share this cute kit by Lliella Designs with you... Sweet, eh? And birds, so of course I had to scrap with it :)

I decided that the birds were quite Easter-looking, so I went for another Easter themed layout:

[Supplies used: Tweet Jam - Lliella Designs , Choo Choo Bear - Lliella Designs (both from SSD)]

Not The Best News...At All...

My intention was to blog yesterday... Instead I woke up in the morning having had a "pain attack" in my left eye. This is the one which started off with the symptoms back in Oct 2008, had surgery in January last year and has (together with lots of lubricating drops) been fine since then :(

To say that I'm upset is very mild. On top of that I had two pain attacks during the day yesterday too. I have NEVER had that before, it's (when my eyelid tried to rip the cornea - eye surface - off) always happened during the night. So it felt like mega bad news...

I honestly was not expecting to get through this night without another episode. But I upped my eye drops a LOT yesterday and we even had alarm in the middle of the night to add more... and somehow I got through it. Otherwise we would have gone straight to the emergency eye department at the hospital. Now normally I would be able to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that nothing will happen until at least I sleep tonight. After yesterday, who knows? I'd just desperately hoping that this is it, that the cornea can self heal by itself and with the help of lots of lubrication before nothing happens again. I hate this and I don't know what it means, all I know is that it's not good and I really hope it goes away now...

Anyway, I need to think about some good things, so let's swap the subject to the cutest Easter kit by Lliella Designs which I have scrapped with:

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

Safari Fun...

I have had this super cute zoo/safari kit by Lliella Designs for a couple of weeks now:

A very typical kit of the kind that I can not resist. And I have been dying to scrap with it. And I have also had LOADS of suitable photos to go with it as we love visiting safari parks and zoos.

But I just haven't had the time to sit down and scrap with it until yesterday. I feel like my "to do" list has been completely overwhelming the last week or so LOL! I'm making big progress but it seems like it doesn't end at the same time. I guess sometimes it's just like that and everything just happens at once, needing your attention.

Anyway, Creative Team work was just one of the things on my list, so I decided to tackle a small part of it yesterday, and this is what I came up with using the kit :)

[Supplies used: Crumply Corrugated: Dater - Lliella Designs, Safari Adventures - Lliella Designs (both from SSD), Photoy Templates 2 - Amy Martin (from the Lilypad)]

Right I'm off to go through some photos next and sort some out to have them uploaded & printed. Have a great Tuesday! :)

Chicks...

Just a quick Sunday update with a layout that I did using some new digital goodies from Shimelle Laine. I love the colours of these papers and I instantly thought they were great spring and Easter colours. :)

[Supplies used: Springtime Basics Paper Pack - Shimelle Laine, Write It Down Cute Circles - Shimelle Laine (both from 2Peas), Photoy Templates 2 - Amy Martin, Egg Hunting - Kate Hadfield (both from the Lilypad)]

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

BYOC Time...

Last week was the start of a new month and BYOC (Build Your Own Collab) kit time at the Lilypad again :) I've had a play with some of the kits and came up with this layout:

[Supplies used: Spring Space Templates - Amy Martin, Spring Has Sprung Shaded Kraft Papers - Cori Gammon, Flat & Frayed - Gina Miller, Spring Sprocket - Gina Miller , Doctor, Doctor - Kate Hadfield, St Paddy's Pranks - Kate Hadfield, Cafe Break - Kaye Winiecki, Remember Me - Designs By Lili (all from the Lilypad)]

I just love making pages using Kraft cardstock as the background - it just makes everything else pop off the page and seem to enhance everything.

As usual I'm going to try and pick three of my most favourite kits from April's BYOC and this is what I came up with...

Cute animals. That's really all I need to say :)

...and, cute animals again I guess! :) If you read my blog regularly you already know that I can never resist cute owls and birds when it comes to scrapping. Or animals in general for that matter.

And finally this kit. The clue in this one? Spot the cupcake! :) That's another thing ---> add a cupcake and I'm sooooo sold on it :)

Simple Things...

Sometimes the best things are the simple things. In this case I wanted to document simple food. And let's face it, sometimes nothing can beat a simple BBQ :)

I used a photo from Sweden of dad starting the BBQ. This is another page for my Celebrate Life album. I think I have another 2 or so pages to go. Following the prompts that is. Then I might actually do some extra pages myself too. We'll see...

I've really enjoyed this class. And it's made me think. I have missed paper scrapping and I feel like I maybe do too much digital scrapping (so I don't have time to do any traditional scrapping). This is troubling me a bit. Well, who am I kidding? It's troubling me a lot lately. I want to do more paper scrapping and have already given up some digital Creative Team work because of it... but I still don't feel like I have got enough time for it. Yet I really wouldn't know what other CT work to give up as I love them all :( Any ideas are very welcome :)

The Dobbit...

This is a bit of a funny layout. About a dobbit. Neither dog nor rabbit. Very well travelled he is too (this is taken in Sweden). And a very long story...

A cute little blue dobbit that we picked up on the very first day we moved in together. There's no way I could fit the whole story on the layout, but at least it's documented a bit now :)

Are you recovering from Easter? Having eaten too much chocolate? Or not enough maybe? LOL! Have you got loads left? I know we have - it will definitely last for a long time yet :)

Stash Buying...

Got some great new things on Saturday so I just wanted so add some pictures here of my new stash. It's mainly stamps but I'll go through it...

I couldn't resist this little cute cupcake and dog stamp set. And as stamps go, it ws pretty good value price too. Plus it had some good sentiments!

Then some cute bunny & Easter stamps. And yes I know Easter is virtually over. But like with the cupcake set above, this was from the same company, so good value, and too cute to resist. And there will always be more Easters to come :)

...now do I need to say much more than ---> cupcakes?! That is all the explanation it needs for me. It was a definite purchase as soon as I picked it up.

Some cute little animals that I could not resist and I figured would be sweet to have on birthday cards for my little nieces etc :)

Right, onto the bits that were not stamps:

Martha Stewart border punch. I totally love her border punches and as soon as I saw this one I picked it up and couldn't put it down. So mine it had to be :)
This is a bit like the cupcake stamps really, all I need to say is ---> birds! I don't know how much use I will get from this (but more than I probably think!) and I really couldn't resist it.

Finally I picked up a sweet embossing folder for my beloved Cuttlebug. Great for card backgrounds I think :)

Happy Easter!...

I hope you're all having a great Easter weekend :) Don't eat too much chocolate (or maybe, do! LOL!)

Celebrate Life Album...

This is the next page in my Celebrate Life album... it's coming along quite nicely now :)

The prompt was about scrapping friendships and using up loads of stickers. Since I'm working behind on several of the layouts for this album I kinda got a bit lost in the prompts and mixed them up etc. So I didn't really go with the sticker suggestion as mentioned (purely by mistake/missing it) but there are quite a few stickers on this page anyway so I guess it still fits in a way :)