On a very special day

This is my favourite professional shot from our wedding day - I think it was an accident but the sunflare, coupled with our positions & expressions just lifts my heart.  I don't remember this bit of the photo-taking, before we moved down to the grass and the trees.  The weather was almost perfect for a wedding & the mass of photos that go with it.  And the two days of torrential rain made the grass glorious!!

Looking back today, I see two young people, in love & optimistic about the future.  I can see exhoes of this day in our photos from more recently.  Five years & two children later, I still lean on you and we still laugh together.  I hope we never lose the joy and comfort of just being together.  I love you more today than I did then and for many more reasons.  I'm excited to look forward to our future together.  April 2012 xxx

Back in February, I had some 5x7 photo credits going out of date so I ordered reprints of some of my favourite photos from Isaac's early days and our wedding.  This shot is the only wedding photo we have on display in our home - must do something about that! - because it's my absolute favourite.  From a distance it's stunning but almost anonymous; when you get closer, you can see the little details that make it representative of us together.

I stuck to a colour palatte of grey, yellow and white for this page as part of challenge 4 from Shimelle's scrapbooking weekend.  Initially, I tried out navy, blue or purple as my third colour but I couldn't find anything inspiring in my stash.  I had some bright ideas for white accents and found some vellum printed with text from 1 Corinthians 13 to use as well.  After that, it came together pretty quickly and I used up quite a few things that I've had hanging around for far too long!

On real life

I wanted to take a photo with me & the kids - looking through our photos, there aren't enough with me in them.  But Anna couldn't sit properly & Isaac wanted the camera so I have some bad photos with me laughing & Isaac diving to grab the camera from Andy.  Sigh!

And another inspired by Shimelle's online scrapbooking weekend - challenge 15, rubbish photos!  This year I'm trying to take more photos of me with the children.  As I'm the one holding the camera, I'm very rarely in the pictures so I have loads of photos of Andy with Isaac and/or Anna and practically none of me.  This little photo shoot was a bit of a disaster - Isaac loves cameras.  He likes to see himself in the viewscreen and holds the camera up to his nose to 'take his picture'.  And he's just starting to figure out that what's on the screen is what's in front of the camera.  It's fascinating to see the wheels turning in his head.

This page is very me in terms of design but I tried to stretch myself a bit with the big cluster of 'stuff', using a range of different bits from different manufacturers.  I like how it turned out and I'm glad I'm scrapping recent photos using products that I love.  Happy scrapping day!

On the back step

March sunshine - sitting in the back garden - feeding the baby - watching Isaac play - wearing sandals for the first time this year - dinner on the patio - flipflops, ladybirds & sunhats - Isaac in shorts - avoiding direct sunlight & trying not to get cold in the shade - the cows are back - lazy days togethers - <3 27th March 2012

I LOVED this challenge!  Create a scrapbook page with four unique sections.  I was going to do 4 5.5x5.5 sections but my leftover papers didn't quite work.  And then I cut something the wrong size and I ended up with this layout.  Originally, the skinny sections were both on the left but I did the butterfly first, then the photo and then the journalling card.  Then I realised I had nothing to add to the apples section apart from decoration and I didn't like how it looked with all the content on one side and just decoration on the other.  And actually, I like the off-set nature of this page.  And I really really like the idea - I think I'll probably do this again.  I made each section individually but tied them all together (figuratively) buy repeating some related elements and using the same ribbon on most of them.

On a sunny October day

Journalling: With Daddy in the garden, October 2011. Isaac loves wearing the big gardening gloves & using the tools. It would have been quicker without his help, but what a lovely way to spend a sunny day in the garden!

Challenge 9 from Shimelle's scrapbooking weekend was to take a previously posted challenge and consider it reopened just for you. I took this starting point and turned it 90 degrees, mostly because my papers were vertical patterns. I love this die-cut paper from making memories but I had never actually used it on a page!

One of the sweetest and funniest things about Isaac at the moment is how he likes to copy us. He wears oven gloves, washing-up gloves and gardening gloves. He leans or sits or stands where and how we do. And he wants to be just like his daddy. Even if he's just too little, which is where the funny comes in!!

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On second thoughts

I was showing my husband today's crafting effort and I still wasn't happy so I went back and looked at that last layout again. And I think I found the problem. I'm a monochrome kinda girl. So I group things together in the same 2 or 3 colours. And that little badge, button and gem cluster were all blue. But the rest of the page isn't my style, it has pink, green, blue, brown and orange. So I went back and changed the buttons and the gems to different colours. And now I like it much much more! Ta da!!



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On a snowy February day

Your first real snowfall - you weren't sure at first but once Daddy went with you, you were happy to walk out into the garden. Your car was covered in snow & you insisted Daddy cleared the top off before you got in. Once you came in with your cold hands, you had hot chocolate. Yummy!

Challenge 5; take inspiration from a layout by Wilna Furstenberg. I created a rough sketch from the layout and used a pale cardstock background (though mine is cream not white). I used the theme of snow and I cropped 3 portrait snaps down to 4x5 to mimic the 12x5 panoramic shot. I've also included a transparency strip along the top of the photos. In some ways this is a lot like other layouts I've created but something about it felt a bit awkward while I was creating. I'm not entirely happy about the colours I've used; there are too many different things in different colours, I like a more unified look. But it's good to stretch a bit and try something a bit different, even if it just clarifies your own style and preferences. Overall I'm happy, especially since I'm mixing old and new stash in this one. It makes me happy to see the things I love actually on layouts, instead on in drawers and containers!

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On a bouncing baby girl

So we're sitting in the loft, I'm trying to scrap something but you're distracting me, as usual.  At least this time, it's because you're being cute & not just noisy!  Making you laugh & smile is addictive - I could sit & entertain you for hours, although then I wouldn't get anything done!!  You're sitting in your bouncy chair - you just figured out how to kick your feet & make the chair bounce up & down.  You kick & bounce & smile.  You've got Sir Prance-a-lot to play with - actually, you mostly just chew him.  The great thing about this toy is the number of bits of him that are chewable!  I'm not sure he was designed to be used that way!!  The only problem is when you drop him & he falls off the chair.  Ah well, back to work!  Oh, go on then, just five more minutes! xxx

This is my layout for the second challenge of Shimelle's online crop from the weekend; create a page using three or more paper collections.  It's also a scraplift of this layout by the lovely Leanne, incidentally, this is her entry for the same challenge!  The yellow dot background is from Jillibean Soup, the stripe and the orange houndstooth are Bella Blvd's Finally Fall and the green woodgrain is Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg.  I've had those pink button flowers from Sassafras Lass in my stash for ages and only used one before this layout.  And a prize to you if you spotted the very very old AC details embellishment next to the title!  This page is made from the same 'kit' as the previous one - I love how I can get completely different looks from the same supplies!

On a bridge over water

I've been taking part in an online scrapbooking party this weekend so look out for a few mini-posts this week as I post my entries for the challenges posed by the lovely Shimelle!

Challenge 1 was to take inspiration from this layout by Jaime Warren.  I took the central stack of elements, the single photo and the embellishments built up on pop-dots as my inspiration.  I mostly used the Finally Fall line from Bella Blvd.  I'm used a kit built around those papers and stickers for my Document October 2011 pages, which I started and completed this weekend!  The photo was taken at Twycross Zoo on our fifth wedding anniversary.  Isaac had a great day but the part he got most excited about was the ducks!

On April 10th

She turned 5 months old. She jumps, tries to stand and just about sits with support. She shouts and shrieks and coos. She blows bubble and raspberries and dribbles everywhere. She'll chew your finger off given half a minute. She tried toast but decided her thumb tasted better. She still goes to sleep like an angel and wakes only once a night. She's caught another cold but escaped the chicken pox. She has slightly gingery hair and the brightest blue eyes. She adores her brother even when he pokes her, kicks her and squashes her (mostly by accident). Her giggle is infectious and I could spend hours making her smile. Love you baby girl, happy five months.



Thankfully, time has slowed since the first three months of her life. I'm holding on to these precious times while they're here, not eager to rush on to the next stage because it's coming whatever I do and I won't get these days back again.



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On life today

Wearing; pre-pregnancy jeans, purple T-shirt and chunky knit green cardi.


Reading; Knowing God by J.I. Packer - I read this book before but years ago.  I'm only 3 chapters in but God is speaking to me clearly already.  Last night, my attention was arrested by this passage, which I read over and over before I fell asleep.


'Then, third, knowing God is a matter of grace.  It is a relationship in which the initiative throughout is with God - as it must be, since God is so completely above us and we have so completely forfeited all claim on his favour by our sins.'


Scrapping; mostly Project Life, I'm loving this way of documenting the everyday and I'm planning a post devoted to it soon.


Watching; Mr Maker comes to town, and assorted other CBeebies shows.


Proud of; roasting a duck, using the carcass to make stock and making 2 dinners from the left-over meat.  So frugal!!


Making; still on the baby blanket, but mostly because I've finished some other projects in between.  I'm loving the colours - makes me think of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Mint!

Experimenting with; Hipstamatic and Instabooth.  This iPhone might be the most addictive thing to come into our house for a long time.  I find myself purposely leaving it in another room so I can't check my apps every 5 minutes!


Dispensing; Calpol, Piriton and calamine lotion - the boy has chicken pox, poor thing.  Though he's bearing up well and seems to be on the mend today.


Longing; to meet the latest addition to our friendship family.  Baby boy was born on Saturday and I've been unable to go for a cuddle because of the pox.


Observing; the girl learning to sit up and taking her first tastes of food.  And the way she and the boy interact, makes my heart swell and then melt.

Long time no blog, but I'm (hopefully) being clever and scheduling some posts for the rest of the week.