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 :)