A busy December and a lot done...

December is always busy and I really did not think I would find time to do much scrapbooking at all but somehow I have! At my crop this month, a couple of the ladies were doing the journal your Christmas and it got me thinking...wouldn't it be nice to do that as its Emily's first Christmas....anyway you know what I am going to say next - yes I bought the online class and I have made some progress. I am upto day 8 but quite pleased with what i have done so far. I am reading the daily promts to make sure I get the right photos as I am a little behind.

So here is what I have done so far, the pages are a nice size, 6x6.
1 - is about why I wanted to do the class - as its Emily's first xmas and as a keepsake for her.
2 - is my "perfect weather" and I wrote how a white xmas might make it difficult to see the family.
3 - is the first xmas card we received and some details about who from, when i wrote ours etc.
4 - is "what makes a perfect xmas" I have of course said, being with our family!
This next picture is lo's 5 - 8
5 - Advent - with Emily's calendar
6 - Past Christmases - this is us in 2006
7 - Is a to do list of what i had left to do that day and also about being on maternity leave and home for the festive season first time ever
8 - A photo of today - I chose this as Emily met a friend this day and it was the first time she had "played" with another baby so a good memory.

I have not followed the promts totally but as much as possible but I am pleased with my book so far - check back to see if I do actually complete it some time in the future!

I mentioned I went to my crop this month. I really enjoyed seeing everyone (hi if you are reading this). I had Emily with me so it wasn't the esaiest task in the world. I did however manage to do the next 2 lo's and I finished the titles and embellies at home.

This first one is a picture taken in the hospital when Emily was about 18 hours old. It is a 3 generations photo. I have used the new Fancy pants papers and they are gorgeous.

This second lo was done using Fancy pants - daily grind papers. I am quite pleased with how it turned out although it was one of those lo's that turned out nothing like I had planned. These photos were taken when we weren in Spain with my mum and family in June. Didn't I do well to scrap a non-baby related lo!

This lo's of Emily I did today. I had initially planned to use BG Eskimo kisses for this photo but thought the indian summer matched much better and I am now beginning to wish I bought the whole range of this - never mind! If it wasn't for Mel's bad influence I wouldn't have any of it - so thanks Mel!!! This is one of my fav dresses Emily had in Newborn. This photo was taken at 23 days old and I love the way her little legs are crossed!

This next lo has been made using the December Gogo mini kit and its pretty much a lift of the original. The title fit this photo so well as this is the photo i took and printed off to send in with the christmas cards so i guess she is wishing everyone a merry christmas!

This final lo has been made using MME papers - I do. Iain bought this T-shirt especially and of course I had to photograph him in it when I see him (I didn't know he had bought it). These papers matched really well I thought and he is such a proud daddy!

Thanks for taking the time to pop by and read this long post. Hope I haven't bored you too much and I will keep you updated with my progress on the JYC.

Elaine xxx

Two more ...

Well I these lo's were done over a couple of days but I finally managed them. First of all I decided to do the sketch challenge on Sarah's blog http://sarahscardsltd.blogspot.com/2009/11/sketch-challange-with-prizes.html I used the earth love papers from the Scrapagogo kit along with a couple of the other elements too. This picture was the first picture of the 3 of us taken in the recovery suite at the hospital. Emily was about 50minutes old when this was taken.
This other lo was a team sketch challenge and to also use 2 colours and a mix of alphas in the title. I thought these photos my sister took came out quite well and i wanted to relfect the love i have for my new baby. Emily was 5 days old whent hese photos were taken. I have used the MME be loved papers for this lo.

Well thats all for now. I need to think about what I want to scrapbook next. I have had lots of crafty shopping this week I am waiting for a couple of online orders. My new passion at the moment is thickers and journaling tags. I have ordered about 5 sets of thickers and loads of tags from elles studio direct in the US they are cheaping including postage than buying them here - not that many people sell them here. Hopefully I will use some more of the photos I have taken and new papers soon. My temporary box of papers is now full too so i need to get using it all!

Thanks for reading x

My first Layouts with Emily

Well our gorgeous daughter arrived on 20th October and this week I have had my first opportunity to make some scrapbook layouts of all the lovely photos that I have taken of her. There has been the cc on uks this week so 3 of my lo's were inspired by that.

This first lo has been made using the american crafts papers. It was also the cc precrop challenge to scrapbook about home and whats important about home or what makes home. Home for us has really changed since Emily arrived and its so much nicer having a baby around the house.
This second lo was inspired by the weekly challenge on uks. It was to do something mini themed - so i chose minnie! This gorgeous outfit was sent by Amanda and I had already taken the photos so I couldn't resist using them.

This third lo has been made using the crate - bliss papers. It was a cc challenge to scrap about something important in my life. Of course this would be my husband and daughter. I love the B&W photo in this lo as I think it makes it.

The last lo is another cc challenge to scrapbook a journey. This was Emily's first car journey - the one home from Hospital. I have used Abbey Road papers.

Well thats all for this week. Its not quite so easy scrapbooking with a baby around but I wouldn't change her for the world and I am just pleased that I have been able to scrapbook some of our first photos. Hope to do some more this week.

Thanks for reading xx

7 more lo's over the last week...

Well this is my second attempt on this post and i hope it works this time! I lost the last lot and having to re-type again :(

I have managed to do a few lo's this afternoon which was quite nice. My mum has been here this week so i haven't really had much chance. Its been nice having some company though and i haven't been bored this week. Think I am actually getting quite used to being at home!

Anyway here are some Lo's for you.

The first one is a photo of Iain and I taken today. I wanted to scrap a photo of us togther with bump as there doesn't seem to be any then I though of the title and thought I must scrap the photo. I have 2 days till my due date so its REALLY MUST BE A MATTER OF TIME NOW!lol The lo was made using the August Gogokit.
This second lo has been made using the Sarahcards cards Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Kit. My mum is a great cook and the journalling says " I wish i could cook like mum" I am actually pleased with how this turned out.

This next lo has been made for my family album using photos of mums wedding party last year. The lo has been made using the new Fancy pants dancing girl or girl dancer papers. I think they work with the photos quite well.

This last lo of the afternoon has been made using my new Gogokit that only came this week so I think I did well to break into it already. Its the gorgeous Love Earth papers.

The next 3 lo's were made at my crop last week but I never got a chance to upload them.

The first is valentines this year and I have used Heidi Grace papers

The second is a photo taken at the Beatix Potter museum in Cumbria and I have used the twitterpad papers which I love but was struggling to use.

This final lo has been made using October Afternoon Hometown - a range I adore. It suited the photos of the boys playing garden jenga back in May.

Well thats me all updated. I have had a couple of parcels this week. My kit and an order from papermaze so that has kept me busy but its quite nice to get back into scrapbooking and use of these gorgeous papers that i seem to be forever buying!

Thanks for reading.

Another scrapping Session

Well another productive afternoon I am pleased to report! I sat down to do the uks weekly challenge first of all. The elements to include were "something you take for granted", ""vibrant colours", "old stash" and "round". This lo is inspired by my love to shop which is something i have been lucky enough to take for granted...however, I have a baby on the way so things might not be that easy going forward and I will miss this. Needless to say i am stocking up on gorgeous stash now incase i cannot have new stuff in the months to come! The patterned paper is from the august (i think or july) gogokit its the comso cricket girl friday paper which i love and quite bright colours too. The old stash is the blingy heart and there is a circle on the lo too so I am claiming full points for my uks team.

Here is a close up of the journalling for you to read - hopefully it can be seen!
This second lo i did was inspired by PL155 although with my own spin of course. I have used the pink paisley fetching papers and embellies along with some thickers for the lo. This is a lo for my vegas album (as are a couple of the other I have done this afternoon). The album did not have many lo's with multiphotos so this one was nice to do.

The third lo was inspired by Twisted Sketches no 18 although I have used the sketch only more than the twist which was to put ribbon on the lo - I have used rikrak though. This lo has been made from the September Sarahscards kit which is cosmo cricket early bird - yes I am rather obsesssed with cosmo at the moment!lol. The is a lo for my vegas album. This is my brother at this time he was winning - as you can imagine there were many wins and many losses too!.

This 4th lo again is for the vegas album and I have used some we are memories keep papers - i think they are called white collection. I have also used some daisy bucket rub ons too. The title is so appropriate as this is my husband and step-dad who were constantly larking around - I think my hubby is such a bad influence although looking at the photo my step-dad doesn't look like he needed much encouragement! The photos were taken in the ventian hotel in vegas.

This final lo is loosely based on Twisted sketch 17 but turned around. The lo is for a family album i am doing following the wedding party my mum had last year. The album only has about 7 lo's so far so has a way to go before completing. I will continue to chip away at it though!

Well thats all for today. Thanks for reading!

4 lo's in one session - inc a stolen lo!

Well my friend Sarah from work has been up today for a crafty session which was really nice. My first lo has been "stolen" blatently from Rachel Elliott I see it in scrapbook magazine but it is also on her blog. Please look at the original as it is gorgeous http://elliottmess.blogspot.com/2009/08/leftovers.html I see this and just thought it was lovely and wanted one for my album too. A great LO Rachel.
As you know I have been struggling for photos to scrapbook lately and I remembered taking this photo of all my presents when I left work the other week for my blog. Well I thought that I could scrap it and it slowly came together with the help of these new MME papers. I was quite pleased with the finished result.

This third lo I have used American crafts - backyard papers for. Its a photo of us taken at the beach in August.

My Final lo has been made using the August scrapagogo kit. The photos were again taken whilst we were at our in-laws caravan in August. Its quite nice to have a lo to show how we spent out weekends away.

Well thats all for now but I am in the process of printing out some more photos...despite having "nothing to scrap" I do still have my vegas album and my family album of my mums wedding party to finish so I have been trying to give some thought to that. You never know I might actaully do some more scrapping before the baby arrives!....13 days to go!

An afternoon scrapping..

Well after being disappointed that my parcels of stash didn't arrive in the post this morning i thought i would treat myself to an afternoon of scrapping once i got the food shopping. Amazingly I was actually feeling quite inspired to scrap and that was without reading the new "kick it up" book that arrived from amazon today - I will save that to read later on.

This first lo was inspired by pencillines sketch 154. I set this as a challenge for some of my uks teamies and I knew immediately that i would use the baby scan pictures for this one. I have used the new fancy pants little sprout paper and I think the lo has worked out well.
The second lo was inspired by sarahscardsblog - link on right side of my blog. The lo that inspired me was Rachel (you can also see her blog - rewardingmemories) and its the birdie lo that was the basis for this lo. The paper is the sassafrass range and I thought the colours matched well. The journalling on this lo is similar to my last blog entry.

The third lo has been inspired by twisted sketches number 16. Its not an exact take on the sketch - mine never normally are but it was the sketch that inspired me to do this. The photos were taken with my friends baby Oscar a few weeks ago and we commented that we were "practising to be parents" at the time so its rather apt that i used this as the title for the lo. There is also journalling on the lo too.

My final lo wasn't really inspired by anything. I printed the photos a couple of days ago and it just came together really. I have again used sassfrass papers - anthem. The photos were taken when Iain did a 10km race in May. I was really proud of his time. He wanted to do an hour but took just very slightly over due but it was an excellent achivement and he raised money for the British Heart Foundation too so a worthy cause.

Well thats all for now. Hopefully my packages will arrive tomorrow. I could also do with the baby arriving shortly as I am running out of photos to scrap and need a new subject matter!....

Since Finishing at work...

Well another busy month has passed and I really don't know where the time has gone. I finished work for my maternity leave on 17th and had a fantastic last day. I was so spoilt. Here is a picture of some of the presents we had. Actually I should say that bubba was so spoilt! She got some fantastic things and has far too much already. Am just hoping she really is a girl or I will have lots of shops to crawl back to asking them to change things!

I had a day out last Saturday went to the scrapbook show at Alexandra Palace. I must say that I was a little disappointed this time. There was much more stamping and card stuff than scrapbooking bits and pieces. I know I havce bought a lot of stuff lately but most of what i have bought wasn't there anyway. So I think I only managed to spend £45 which is about the least I have ever spent at one of these events! I did get some nice things though. I had some more of the flutterby range by Bo Bunny and the Little Sprout journalling book by Fancy pants which I may use as a mini book for baby not too sure yet we will see! AS you can see there are some other odds and sods there too. I was really hoping to get cosmo early bird range but as they didn't have it I have now ordered it online!

I have also managed to do 8 lo's this month so far which is quite good for me. One of those was a weekly challenge too so I should get some points for my uks team this month! These are two of the lo's I have made I have not photographed all of them as I put 5 away before I realised i hadn't taken pictures of them! This lo's is based on the trip to vegas and I am quite pleased with how its come out.

This photo below was also taken in vegas on my 32nd birthday! Despite it being about 4am to us because it was my birthday i still decided we needed to go out for a meal so we went to Planet Hollywood and the lo is based upon this. I have used the crate papers - prudence.

Finally, I am now 37 weeks pregnant, not long to go really. I am not too fed up at the moment despite being really keen to meet little bubba. Its been nice having a week at home and I have started to sort out the baby's room but there is still quite a lot of stuff to do up there. I will get their gradually but I am sure I have another few weeks of being at home yet so no rush is there!

Yesterday we went on the annual trip to Duxford for the showbus event with Iain's family. It was a lovely day but again the boys were a bit disappointed by the lack of stalls there and stuff to buy - anyone would think there was a credit crunch on!!! I did manage to get this photo of Iain & I though. I wanted the photo as the other night FIL phoned to check I hadn't given birth and mentioned not doing it on the bus! Anyway when I put the phone down, it ocurred to me that we were going out on the bus I used for my wedding transport an then thought "oh dear what if I did go into labour with my first born on it!!" Anway depsite the bouncy about on the bus, bubba stayed firmly put and i think BIL was quite relieved as the bus has been recently restored!

August update

July went by in a flash. I had my 4d scan in July and here is a piccie of bubba. She is wriggling around lots so that good. I can't believe this was done 6 weeks ago now. Only 8 weeks to go....

Well August is here where has the time gone? I stil haven't had much time for scrapping though. I couldnt get to the crop this month which was a shame but i was away for the weekend which was nice. This is a lo i did back in July after the July crop. It is a lo of a photo using the June Gogo kit and the photo was taken in vegas back in August.

Last weekend my friend from work came over to scrapbook with me as I had missed the crop. I wasn't acutally feeling very inspired so i dragged her up the range to have a look at some scrapbooking stuff and i eneded up buying some new papers this is a new dcwv pad so i had to put it to immediate use and made this. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Sadly i didn't scrap anymore than this as I helped Sarah with a few lo's instead.

Then today I have been busy. I bought some embellies to match the paper that i bought last week. I have now been making up some page kits to help me at the next crops I go too. I think I have made up about 13 so far so quite pleased about that. This lo below was a photo taken last year at Ironbridge but I have only just got around to scrapping it. This was also the UKS challenge this week.

Well thats it from me for now...till next time and hopefully it won't be so long!

Finally Updated!

Well where have I been most of you are probably wondering? Since being pregnant I have not really felt like scrapbooking much. I was also quite ill in March so that put me off I ended up missing my March crop too and didn't actually get back to Scrapbooking until I went to my May crop.

Unfortunately I have not produced that much but at least by going to the crop its made me sit and scrapbook whihch I am sure I would not have found the time to do otherwise.
This first lo has been made using the FEb gogokit the are mainly basic grey items. This is my now SisterInLaw's Hen do.

This second lo was produced for a weekly challenge back in May. I cannot remember what the elements of that challenge were now. The paper is american crafts.

The third lo has been made using a gogokit I think this was the March kit although not 100% sure. The lo is based on the bellagio hotel and was the first page I have made for the vegas album that I hope to finish some day!

This lo was made at my June crop and it is a lo based loosely on a PL sketch. I have used the penny lane papers and this is my brothers wedding reception in las vegas that I was so proud to be part of.

This lo has been made using the girl friday papers and was completed in my june crop. This was teh hen & stag do and will also be part of the vegas album.

This lo was made at my July crop and I used the gogo June kit. This is another page for the vegas album.

Moving away from vegas now - this lo is another of the gogokits perhaps March or April. The lo is the uks weekly challenge for July week 1 and also completed at the July crop. I have been to spain last month to visit my mum who has a house there and this is a lo about the house with a summer theme for the challenge.

I have done one more lo which I will upload to a separate message as for me its quite a special lo. In the meantime I need to try and do some more scrapping as this is not a very good effort for the last 5 months!!