Craft Junkie... Gets A Fix!

Ok... so like those poor unfortunate drug addicts, I've given in and found some 'stuff' to give me a little 'fix' until I can get to the really good stuff (back home in my craftroom).  Since my 'habit' is causing me all kinds of withdraw (I'm away from home and didn't pack my most essential item, namely my LIKE FOR EVER kit) ~ and as my willpower is at an all time low, I've searched my laptop in the hopes of finding something to give me a bit of a lift. 

 

My desperation has reminded me of when you haven't quite got the right money in your purse in change, but don't want to break into a note!  What do we do?  We search the bottom of our handbags hoping that it was more than 1p that we dropped in there last week when we were in a hurry and couldn't be bothered to go to the extreme lengths of placing said change tidily in the right place, namely the afore mentioned purse!

 

Anyway my desperate 'handbag' search yielded a few pictures of last year's December Daily attempt...

 

December Daily^® is a December mini-album project that documents the 25 days leading up to Christmas. The simple goal is to capture the spirit of December via one story per day.

 

2014 was my first attempt at 'December Daily', in order to help me along I found some 'prompts' and decided to do a 'photo-a-day' challenge. 

Instead of doing a separate album, I decided to include it in my current project life album and to do the whole of December, from the first to the thirty-first.  My title page ...

 

I used a different pocket page layout than usual, that of design E (4 6x6 pockets), by using this design style I felt I was maximising my 12x12 Christmas patterned papers.  I used any appropriate papers I found in my stash!  My title page included the photo challenge prompts (top right).

 

 

I made my page numbers (1-31) by punching two different sized circles and layering them, I added a swirl (cut on my cricut, from gold cardstock) and a wood veneer decoration.  For some days I used one full page and some pages had two days on them.

My first page told the story of 'Your View Today' (prompt) which was a picture from my bedroom window, also on this page I included a picture of my mother opening the first window of the candle advent calendar I gave her and a close up of my mother's recovering face from her recent fall ~ isn't she colourful!

I will be attempting DD again this year... but I will be using Pinkfresh Studio's Christmas Wishes collection that is contained in the LIKE FOR EVER December Daily kit.

 

 Pretty. isn't it?

So there we have it a blast from the past and something to look forward to... I'm feeling much better now.  Consider myself wonderfully 'fixed'!!!

Blah... blah... blah...

 

NOT Drug Induced... withdrawal

I'm having withdraw symptoms!

 

I love going to my mum's 'beach house' (as the kids call it ~ nieces and nephew, that is ~ my kids are no longer kids!).

 

Anyway, here I am, on the BEAUTIFUL PEMPROKSHIRE coast, overlooking the sea on a lovely warm (warm is a relative term... it is nearly October after all) afternoon, and what am I doing? MOANING, that's what I'm doing ~ moaning because I'm not stuck in my little messy cubby-hole (aka my craftroom) beavering away midst the untidiness that is my creativity!

 

No sooner do I get here, than there is a panic over my mother's health... I know she's not coughing up blood just to pee me off... but due to the fact that my step-father is useless a man, apparently it is my job to act as ambulance driver, paramedic and comfort provider to a cantankerous old woman who is... "NOT going to hospital". I'm patient (she is after all my mother and I've been raised to show the proper respect), I'm caring (not something that always comes naturally, I blame my mother... but I'm working on it), I'm organised (there's plenty of petrol in the car... you never know when you might have an emergency, there's tissues to mop up the blood, there's even bottled water for the severly dehydrated!) and I'm forcefully enough to get said reluctant woman into the car and on our way with as little arm wrestling as possible!  We get there and OMG...

 

It is NOT like 'Casulty' or even 'Holby City'... I'm shocked and very disappointed that a little man (or even a gigantic nurse) hasn't rush up to me and taken charge of my mother and then (hopefully) shoo'ed me away.  No... there are no nurses, there are no doctors, not a uniform, white coat or stethoscope in sight... just a couple of extremely bored looking receptionists, giving of vibes of 'seen it all before' and 'what's all the fuss about'!  I book my mother in (I mean where am I?  The Ritz!) and proceed to a seated area for the 'emergency' patients who require urgent help so they've come to that place where it will be freely and immediately given -  A & E, hah! An hour later... I kid you not, my mother is on the verge of walking out, bloody tissue in hand for every time she coughs.  My mother is after all of the certain opinion (not unfounded I will add) that the more time you spend in hospital, the less likely you are to leave alive!  Just before I have to go ninja on her skinny arse a young gentleman sticks his head out from one of the many numbered doors (why they've got so many is a mystery to me, I'm convinced there's no one behind them, at least I haven't had to give anyone a dirty look because they've been seen before us - because NO-ONE  has entered or left!), he calls my mothers name and gestures for her to enter the mysterious numbered room '7'.  She immediately goes from Attila the Hun to Everyone's Favouite Granny in two seconds flat, leaving me looking like the world's worst bully for all to see (...and hear).  Do I care? Nope, my poor mother is finally going to get some help.

 

I know what you're thinking... that everything following the arrival of the 'young gentleman' (yes, he is a doctor, although I never did get his name), is going to be a disaster ~ not so!

 

In true 'Holby City' tradition he was very helpful, very knowledgeable, very nice and caring ~ he attempts to 'fix' my mum; he tried to fix what her GP should of been doing (but 'forgot' to book the CT scan) and send us happily on our way armed with lots of advise and a clear plan of action for tackling my mum's health issue.  Before I go any further about my mothers 'problem', I would like to point out that 'Casulty' and 'Holby City' are fictional, the real health services of this country bears little to no resemblance of said television programme.  "I want... U's & E's, UFTL, bloods and ..." (or whatever tests they are calling for) is the immediate demand from doctors on these programmes - that simply doesn't happen... SHOCK!  I thought my mum would have a team of helpful people running around desperate trying to figure out the problem... I'm a fool, she wasn't even offered a clean tissue! We got one bored receptionist and one tired, but polite young doctor. Grateful as I am, my mum wasn't rush up to the ward or into surgery, to immediately fix her... Oh no, she was sent home to go back to her GP, so he can write a letter sending her back to the hospital we've just come from, to see another doctor, who will then pass her on to someone else and so the cycle will continue... if he doesn't forget.  If only it was like 'Holby City' my mother would be fixed and I wouldn't be looking at being a hospital taxi service for the next six months whilst we go backwards and forwards to a variety of hospitals ranging from 15 to 40 miles away. Oh the joys of being a daughter (not an only daughter I might add!) - but at least my mothers knows NOT to go back to A & E if she coughs up any more blood - after all they think they know what's wrong with her (they know they can't fix her but at least they think they know what's wrong ~ cold comfort!).

 

Needless to say it was not the best start to a relaxing few days at the beach house... back to the withdrawal.

 

Whilst it's lovely and peaceful here and the ideal place to relax and unwind... there is no patterned paper! YOU know what I mean, don't you? Please say you do and I'm not the only weirdo out there!  My need, although small, is GREAT.  I want need the feel and smell of that material that is manufactured into thin sheets made from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances; I need it coloured/printed/foiled; I need those decorative details or features that when added to something it makes it more attractive; I want all my crafty things around me!   I'm miserable, I'm unhappy, I'm feeling sorry for myself and I'm bored... I NEED my crafting kit, my papers, my glue, my scissors and my embellies.  I have a greater understanding of addiction.  I have learnt a HUGE lesson, about myself and about life...

 

LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING,

IF YOU DON'T HAVE SOME CRAFT ITEMS TO PLAY WITH!!!

 

From now on I will not be leaving home unless I pack some crafty goodies to go with me (even if they are only to look at)... lesson learned!!!

 

 

 

Blah... blah... blah...

 

 

p.s. I'm sorry I don't have anything 'crafty' to

show you... but I'll be home in a few days!
Oh, and my mum is feeling much better and
is no longer coughing up blood!
p.p.s. Just so you know, I love my mum VERY much and
I'm SO relieved she's going to be ok, she's
even better than all the crafty goodies in
the world! 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Smiles

It's so odd working with more than one kit... it just feels wrong to post this! Is it the OCD in me? That wants to finish one kit before starting the next??  Am I the only one who has this problem???  My crafting is supposed to be fun not stressful!  Yes, I think I'm guilty of over-thinking again!!!

 

It was the perfect kit for this photo...

 

My first layout with the ACORN AVENUE September kit (Pink Paislee ~ Cedar Lane Collection) from LIKE FOR EVER...

 

Pumpkin Smiles, my gorgeous niece during a visit to Alton towers a couple of years ago, this is one of those photographs that just begs for its own scrapbook layout ~ another life moment 'captured'...

 

It was SO hard to cut into these stunning patterned papers, but there's

only so long that you can sit and stroke them LOL

 

I got out my trusty sewing machine and made a creative mess around

the white cardstock and then made even more wobbly lines around each patterned paper!

 

The gold glitter accents on the ephemera pieces are lovely, I added some washi tape stickers

to the pink/gold circle; a small puffy heart and a wooden hearth to the banner

I found some old woodgrain alphas in my stash for the sub-title and added them to one

of the acetate pieces (tag with gold accents) from the ephemera pack

Another of those sparkly circles added a touch of detail to the photo after I'd added

some 'word jumble' stickers and other wooden heart

Gotta love all the sparkle, even if my foam thickers are slightly wonky!

More hearts (you can NEVER have too many) and a date stamp

... and more

 

I'm loving this layout although last month's kit is sulking :(

 

If you've taken the time to look at my post, please leave a comment ~ and make my day (needy or what?) ~ I don't care I love to hear from other crafters!

 

Happy Day x

 

 

Blah... blah... blah...

 

 

 

 

 

Process? What Process?

I wonder what thought processes are followed when deciding what pictures to scrap or indeed what papers/colours/embellies to use OR if you even think about it at all!

 

I don't!  Well obviously there is a thought process... but I really don't think about it too much... does this make me a bad scrapper?  Is there such a thing as 'a bad scrapper'?  Do I care?

 

I really don't think so... in this day and age where EVERYTHING has to be explained ~ must there be a rhyme and reason or can we just follow our hearts and record the memories without having to follow any rules ~ I certainly hope so... because me? I just wanna enjoy the 'process' and have a record of what we've been doing!  I want to enjoy a craft whether I follow a 'visual triangle' or 'a rule of thirds', for me rules? Nope!

 

So stop over-thinking (something I've been guilty of more than once) and just SCRAP, otherwise it becomes a chore, and we may stop doing it all together!

 

My process is as simple as ~ I've got a kit, next month I'll have another kit, so... I'm going to finish this kit before my next one arrives!  Oh I try to match the colours within my photographs to the present selection of papers, or a theme (e.g. birthdays) to a particular paper, but further than that... just confuses me and then ~ when confused ~ I just put it all away again.

 

My present dilemma is that due to time/health constraints I have two kits on the go!  This I find, instead of opening possibilities, actually limits me ~ yes, I get confused, I get flustered because I have too much choice!  I am obviously NOT a natural scrapper LOL.  But I am also a bit of a 'tight-wad' and can't bare to send last months kit to the corner where it will be forgotten... however, this months kit has all the 'latest and greatest', so how am I to ignore it???  I can't!!!  Which is why I'm going to try to run the two kit along side each other and get lots scrapped... that's the plan anyway.

 

Lets see how it goes...

 

I am a TOTAL fan of my present kit club subscription ~ LIKE FOR EVER ~ it is owned and run by

Nicola Mardlin, anyone who has had anything to do with #likeforever will know that this lady goes above and beyond to provide and excellent service which is both super efficient and great fun!  Well done Nicola.  Its the little extras that make this club ~ the welcome gift; the personal service; the free lollies (what can I say?  I have a sweet tooth!); the discount on other goodies from the shop and Nicola's kind word and rapid responses to all things #likeforever and scrapping in general. 

 

Now back to the scrapping...

 

I've used August's kit ~ OH SO LOVELY for this layout (Crate Paper ~ WONDER Collection).  My mother and I visit my brother and his children regularly (even though they are in England and we live in Wales), we always attend the various birthdays, on this occasion it was my niece's birthday.  Off we go with my other niece in tow (its always nice for cousins to get together), where we had a lovely celebration.  We were staying at the local Premier Inn and so we arranged to meet everyone for breakfast the following morning (before the children had to get to school).  This photo is of my nephew just after breakfast before the inevitable rounds of hugs and good-bye cuddles start, as we say "ta ta for now, see you soon".

 

I've only used the Oh So Lovely kit for this layout, with the exception of a mint doily (found lurking under a pile of stuff on my desk) and some Heidi Swapp gold colour shine for some creative splatters.

 

'CUTE'...

I love that little heart paperclip that came in the kit!

So many lovely ephemera pieces

I hope those animal masks don't look too creepy!

 

I've just noticed that I do actually have a 'visual triangle' going on with the yellow felt hearts, but that was more by luck than design... perhaps I'm not as bad as I thought!!!

 

Happy Scrapping ~ may all your splatters miss your photographs!

 

 

Blah... blah... blah...

 

UNBOXING ~ September's Scrapbooking Kit

I thought I'd share my unboxing of the latest LIKE FOR EVER scrapbook kit ~ 'Acorn Avenue'.

 <----- Every month Nicola tries to match the tissue paper with the colours in the kit ~ And I try to use it on at least one layout!

 

Isn't that packaging sticker super cute? 'GET EXCITED'        ----->

September's kit consists of...

 

And features Pink Paislee's Cedar Lane collection, each kit includes:

Twelve 12x12" double sided patterned papers from the 'Cedar Lane' collection | Two 12x12" sheets of cardstock: Bubbles and Blackberry Swirl | One pack of Fitzgerald Glitter Thickers: Teal | One pack of Ephemera | One pack of Word Jumble Stickers | One pack of 3D Arrow Embellishments | One exclusive, custom mixed pack of Pretty Pink Posh Sequins | One vellum bag of wooden butterfly buttons.

 

So first of all the two sheets of cardstock ~ 'Bubbles' and 'Blackberry swirl'...

Bubbles is pale green

 

Blackberry swirl is ? Yep, black

 

Next... those fabulous patterned papers

5th Avenue

Acorn Avenue

Arrow Avenue

Cedar Lane

Circle Street

Greenspace

Main Street

Park Place

Riverside Lane

Town Square

Walnut Street (x2)

Aren't they just 'scrummy'?

 

 

Embellishments...

Fitzgerald Glitter Letters in Teal

 

 

Ephemera Pack (76 pieces)

 

 

Word Jumble Stickers (clear blue with gold lettering)

 

 

3D Arrow Embellishments with gold glitter accents

Exclusive sequin mix by Pretty Pink Posh

 

And finally... painted wooden butterfly buttons in a glassine bag

 

 

 

Yes, I DID get some add-ons...

Glitter words; puffy stickers; washi tape; 6x6 paper pad and

some embroidered tags

 

 

Oh, and lets not forget the little sweetie gift Nicola includes in the kit ~ this month I got one of my favourite childhood chews ~ a 'drumstick'!

 

 

So there we have it... September's LIKE FOR EVER kit... ACORN AVENUE, I'm off for a play, but first I'll probably stroke those patterned papers for a while, whilst I contemplate the dilemma of cutting into them!

 

 

Happy Scrapping x

 

p.s.  I nearly forgot... Nicola (the owner of #likeforever) also includes some 'page maps' for us each month! What a little smasher she is...

 

 

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