Paper Obsession

While the cat's away...

...the mouse will play! Gareth was out for drinks after work last night, giving me a whole evening of guilt-free scrapping.. and I managed to complete two layouts that I'm really happy with.

The first of these was in response to this month's challenge on the Fiskarettes blog. It's a sketch challenge, and the prize is a year's subscription to one of a whole range of craft magazines, including Craft Stamper, Scrapbook Trends, Simply Handmade and several others. Well worth a go - the closing date is Monday 12th April so get to it!

I've just checked the rules and you're allowed to post your entry to your own personal blog, so here it is:

 
The journaling reads:

'He might look as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, but at 15 months old, Harry had an alarming habit of throwing his cutlery across the table... often closely followed by his plate. Thankfully he's grown out of this now (although he's still no angel!).

As you can see, Shimelle's lessons have really sunk in:

scraps of cardstock - check!

assorted alpha stickers - check!

My second layout of the night was based on Shimelle's Friday prompt - using flowers - and her sketch. You know, I'm really loving sketches at the moment! Also, I think I'm beginning to embrace white space and let go of the urge to fill it with stuff. Perhaps the clean and simple style is not beyond me, after all!

Julie - if you're reading this - thank you for the purple hydrangeas!

The journaling reads:

'Harry! Don't step on the flowers!' I called in vain.

'I wouldn't!' he called back.

I don't know where he's got this phrase, 'I wouldn't!' - usually uttered whenever he is doing just what I have asked him not to do. Infuriating... but so cute at the same time!

Finally... Julie Kirk very kindly did a post on the Gauche Alchemy blog yesterday which mentioned my article in this month's Scrapbook Magazine. Two of the layouts I did for the article used lots of gorgeous sparkly bits from Gauche Alchemy's mixed media colour kits.. which, of course, I mentioned in the article! As a reward for getting their name in print, GA are going to send me a little goodie bag.. result!!

Have a happy weekend.. :o)

Spring is in the air

Happy Mothers' Day to any mummies reading this! I hope you were truly spoiled today. Me? Well, there was no breakfast in bed (can you imagine, with a two-year-old and a three-year-old leaping around beside me?! It would literally be in the bed..) but we did have a very lovely walk in Grangewood Park this morning. The sun was glorious, the squirrels were out in force.. it was a perfect Spring day.

 

Harry has been poorly with a really nasty cough for the last few days (complete with awful nights of little sleep) but seemed lots better today. The boys had both made me beautiful Mothers' Day cards and also decorated a gorgeous little photo album with chipboard and foam hearts while we were at Toddler Group on Friday (I would not let them leave without doing one each!). Gareth very thoughtfully bought me an American Crafts 12x12 cloth album in Cardinal Red - how on earth did he manage to know that was just what I wanted (ahem.. I might have dropped a small hint)?!

So here's the evidence...

 

Fab... what more could a girl desire for Mothers' Day..

Hand-made cards from my sweet boys (born to craft, methinks)...

Charlie's message, faithfully transcribed by his teacher in Nursery.. and his signature... had me in tears!

And finally, here's a picture of the title page of my 'Celebrate Life' project, which I'll be putting in - oooh, let me think - my new AC album!

Have a great week!

Some scrappy discoveries

I seem to have been glued to the blogs for the last few days and have created nothing new.. shame on me! However, my boys have both created some lovely art - and seem to be developing very different styles! Charlie likes to put hand-prints on everything, while Harry just loves to make train tracks in paint.

Despite my lack of creativity this week, I have managed to bring my Google Reader under control (now down to a mere 23 subscriptions)... and have also discovered some interesting blogs and sites...

A website called ScrapScene - 'the who's who of scrapbooking' - am I the only scrapper who didn't know about this? It contains all sorts of scrapbooking news, along with design team calls and useful articles. Definitely worth a look.

Over at Get It Scrapped!, Debbie Hodge is running a free class called 'Scrap "Your" Story'. It's a series of 11 weekly lessons, posted each Tuesday, designed to get you scrapping about yourself. The first one, entitled 'Yourself: Who are you right now', is on the website now. It looks pretty detailed, and I doubt I'll commit to it, but could be useful if you've been meaning to scrap about yourself but keep putting it off.

From a link on the Gauche Alchemy blog, I discovered the Submissions page for Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Bead Trends and Simply Handmade magazines. I only have one copy of ST (the December '09 issue) but it's a fantastic source of inspiration, the layouts are just gorgeous.. and SO beautifully photographed. It would be a dream to be published in those hallowed pages.. so I thought why not have a go?

Well, you don't get anywhere if you don't try, right?!

I could go on, but it's getting hard to type with a little one on my lap..

Oh, just one more thing - I did sign up to Shimelle's new class 'Something for (Almost) Nothing' - so if you have too, see you in class! ;o)

And they call it... Muzzy Love

First day of March and Spring has sprung! Today was so glorious, after all the dismal weather on the weekend, that I couldn't help grinning all the way to Charlie's nursery this morning. I just hope it lasts.. for a while at least.

Here's a layout I did yesterday..

• Harry at six days old, just after a feed and giving me a beautiful gummy (ok, windy) grin.

• Evidence of the origin of his all-consuming obsession with muslin cloths (which he now calls muzzies).

He was a very sicky baby for the first few weeks so I constantly wore a muslin over my shoulder to soak up the inevitable post-feed bloops. Ever since, he has wanted a muzzy with him pretty much all the time. Thankfully he's not too fussy which one he has (and we do have LOTS of them).. although recently he has started insisting on a muzzy with a label.. and the blue ones are definitely his favourites.

I used my brand-new set of 'Red Tag Sale' alpha dies on the Cuttlebug to cut these letters out of Bazzill card and blue felt.. aren't they yummy! [..and the die set was only £20 on eBay..bargain!]

The papers and duck stamps are October Afternoon 'Ducks in a Row' (of course). 

I am currently debating whether to sign up for Shimelle's new class, 'Something for (Almost) Nothing'.. it's all about making the most of your stash, putting it to use in different ways and learning some new techniques along the way. It starts on 10th March and runs til the end of the month.

I just can't resist a Shimelle class and I'm sure I will end up joining in.. my only problem is that it overlaps with Dina Wakley's Art Journaling 101 online class, which runs from 22nd March to 16th April . I signed up for this a few months back (when it was an archived class) but didn't really get very far. Now she's running it again live, so to speak - so it's my chance to have another go - and maybe succeed this time (I hope)!

Who wouldn't want to live here?!

Eastbourne... the beach on Saturday morning... Charlie, Harry and their cousins Caitlan and Kieran, having wonderful fun splashing in the puddles at low tide... all the reasons we are planning to pack up our lives in London and relocate to the south coast.

It's been an exhausting week. On Thursday evening we went to stay with Gareth's parents in Eastbourne, still without an offer on our house, to view some properties and also a nursery school for the boys.

We viewed four houses on Friday but there was one in particular that we both set our hearts on. It's a 1930s-built semi, in desperate need of repair and modernisation, but potentially a wonderful family home that will suit us for years.

I felt moved to do some scrapping this afternoon and produced this.. so that I will never forget how I'm feeling today.. the day before a potentially HUGE turning point in our lives. The journaling tells the story in a nutshell.

Terrible lighting, so here's a couple of close-ups..

Supplies:

Cardstock - Bazzill Basics white

Patterned paper - Basic Grey 'June Bug'

Letter stickers - American Crafts Thickers 'Rain Boots'

Stamps - Banana Frog 'Journaling' and 'Tiny Teen' alphas

I'll keep you posted...

Harry's little book of 2009 - pictures!

Following from yesterday's post on Harry's day, I thought I'd share a few pages of his 2009 mini-book so anyone interested can see just what I was talking about!

Here is the cover:

I made the book using burgundy A5 thick card (simply because I had lots of it) and a slightly larger chipboard cover, bound using the Bind-it-All. I have been restricting my patterned paper to a 6x6" pad of BasicGrey Archaic papers (although I may sneak a few other bits in as supplies dwindle!).

Here is the inside front cover and facing page:

 

Here are my pages for March:

The stamps are by Banana Frog and there is hidden journaling on a card behind the photo.

Here are the pages from April:

I have put all my completed pages in my Flickr photostream (Mini-books set) if you have a burning desire to see more!

18th Nov = Harry's day

On the 18th of every month I try to record a few details about Harry's day and complete a page in his mini-book. It's a bit like Shimelle's 'Scrap Your Day' class but focused on the new things Harry has done over the past month, the funny things he says and what he did on this day. I do the same for Charlie on the 23rd of each month.

I am not entirely up-to-date with the scrapbooking side of Harry's minibook, or Charlie's come to that. But if I take a few photos and write down a few things, I can do the scrapping when I have time.. at least there's the theory.

Harry's day:

Morning:

• hot Shreddies and raisins for breakfast, plus 'milksnake' (Actimel + milk)
• drawing/scribbling on the dining table, occasionally on paper
• watching Postman Pat videos (for the umpteenth time)
• dragging chairs into the kitchen to help me wash the dishes (please, no)
• drinking 'pink milk' (strawberry Nesquik) and eating Humzingers

Lunch:

• 'bubbly cheese' on toast with Branston pickle and baked beans
• throwing cutlery on the floor, smearing bean-juice on face and hair
• NOT liking having face and hands wiped

Afternoon:

• taking Charlie to Nursery, riding on the Buggy Board
• NOT liking being dragged away from Nursery
• having a nap (peace at last..)
• a quick Jaffa Cake before going to collect Charlie
• splashing in some DEEP puddles in the park

• home for a complete change of clothes
• back out to the charity shop (bought some lovely eyelash wool) and newsagent (the new Craft Stamper magazine.. couldn't leave it there)

Evening:

• dragging chairs into the kitchen to help mummy make dinner (nooooo....)
• pizza, oven chips, carrots and sugarsnap peas, followed by an ice-cream for dinner (we don't eat junk food every day, honest!!)
• bathtime = let's see who can splash the most water onto the floor
• stories - 'Shhhhh, Duck - Don't Wake the Baby!' by Jez Alborough is favourite this week.
• bed at 8pm.

Harry's favourite things:

• Going to the park
• Chasing Poppy the cat
• Splashing in puddles
• Postman Pat (Po-po Pat) - he can name all the characters
• Helicopters (Ta-ta-ta), ambulances (La-la-lance) and trains
• Scooting around on his trike

I'll be back soon to share my mini-books as they are so far.. now there's an incentive to get some scrapping done! ;o)

Harry's story

I still can't look at this photo of Harry - at two days old - without feeling a surge of emotion, without blinking away tears.There is a copy of it, on copier paper, on the side of the wardrobe in the boys' room, where it has been since the day it was taken. I used to gaze at it while sitting in the nursing chair, trying to express milk for Harry while he was still in hospital.

I haven't been able to commit the story of his birth to a scrapbook page yet, despite the fact he is now two years old. Perhaps now is the time... at least I should try.

Harry's brother, Charlie, was born by emergency C-section after a traumatic induced labour, fifteen days after his due date. Terrified of going through the same distressing experience again, I was determined to try for a home birth the second time around. I have to say my doctor, consultant and midwives were less than enthusiastic about this - there seems to be a general wariness of natural births after a caesarean in this country, let alone home births.

My contractions started two days after Harry's due date - on a Thursday evening, continuing all through Friday and into Saturday. Midwives came and went, examined me periodically and declared I was not in proper labour yet. It certainly felt like proper labour to me!!! By Saturday morning, however, I was making some progress and I was hopeful that my dream of a natural home birth would soon be realised. By mid-afternoon the situation had deteriorated - my contractions had become sporadic and I was no further dilated than I had been that morning. The midwife decided there was no choice - I had to transfer to hospital.

I was devastated. Gareth made frantic calls to friends and parents to arrange a babysitter for Charlie while I faced a lonely trip to the dreaded Labour Ward in the back of a bumpy ambulance in pain and fear. Memories of Charlie's disastrous birth came flooding back and I knew I couldn't cope with all that again.

Mercifully, Gareth had the presence of mind to request a move to the birth centre - once there, thanks to my wonderful midwife and a birthing pool, I regained my strength and belief that I could get through this. All was going well until my midwife detected fetal heart decelerations on the monitor. There was no option but to get me back to the labour ward as soon as possible. After another hour and a half of pushing (and the most incredible pain), Harry was born.

He was grey and motionless, the cord wrapped tightly round his neck. Doctors appeared from nowhere, Harry was put on the trolley, ventilated and his Apgar scores monitored. He was then taken away to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), Gareth in hot pursuit, and I was left alone. It's hard to describe how I was feeling at this point - numb, deflated, confused, exhausted beyond belief. There was no 'It's a boy!', no crying baby, no skin-to-skin cuddles - I hadn't even touched him! I didn't even know if he was alive.

Of course Harry was alive, though he had seizures the night he was born and had to spend six days in SCBU. His brain had been starved of oxygen during the birth and we faced an anxious twelve months of monitoring to find out if he would suffer any lasting damage. He was given the all-clear shortly after his first birthday and is now a beautiful, naughty little scamp.

I am so lucky to have him.

A fun-packed Easter weekend

My parents came up to visit this Easter and we had a very busy time, taking the boys out to all three of our local parks as well as Gambado indoor play centre in Beckenham. We had a rather damp Easter Egg hunt in the garden on Sunday morning which was great fun. Charlie and Harry adore their Grandma and Grampy - we don't see them often enough as they live in South Wales, but the boys always have lots of fun when they are around.

Here are a couple of photos from the weekend.

Above: Harry feeding the ducks

Above: Charlie and his Grampy at South Norwood Country Park

I've been trying to catch up on the boys' 2009 Little Books.. need to take some photos of my latest pages so I will try and upload them tomorrow.

My Bundle of Fun

OK I just wanted to share a layout I did yesterday afternoon while the little ones were napping. I was inspired by a LO in the book The Busy Scrapper and used papers from the BasicGrey Offbeat collection pack which is gorgeous! The layout features Charlie on a Sunday morning walk round High Elms country park last October. There is further journalling on the tag tucked behind the photo.

Harry stirred from his nap before I had started sticking all the pieces down so I grabbed the stapler and just stapled everything down - done in record time! SO much easier than glue and I rather like the effect..

Talking of Harry, this morning he uttered his first (very short) sentence. I was changing his nappy and putting the old one in a bag when he said 'Bye-bye poo-poo' and waved at the nappy bag. What he actually said was 'Ba-ba bboo-bboo' but I knew what he meant!