Just Desserts

I blogged the other day about 'white space' [here], a design concept in scrapbooking.  I featured an article (by Debbie Hodge) about white space which showcased three layouts (using the same images) to show off this concept on finished layouts.  I personally liked layout #2 and thought I'd give it ago...

 

Here is a picture of the original layout design...

 



 

 

 

 

And here is my take...

'Special For Today'... feature's my LIKE FOR EVER August kit (Oh So Lovely), which consists if the Crate Paper 'Wonder' collection.  This is my 8th layout with this kit, the photos tell the story of my daughter and I taking my niece out for her first 'grown-up' shopping trip... we had a ball!  Part of the experience was to be 'ladies what lunch', so here we are having lunch in Frankie and Benny's.  Of course lunch had to include dessert... and what fabulous desserts we had!  I'm so glad I managed to capture this moment.

 

 

My journaling

 

Love these sequins and enamel dots that came in the kit, they add just the right element

 

I used some of the die-cuts for my title and embellishments

 

 

I think this design may become one of my 'go-to' layouts when inspiration deserts me!

 

Have a great 'hump day' everyone x

 

 

 

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Abbie~Cat

As I sit here, typing away, in-between watching the new Christmas adverts on TV.  I'm thinking... why would you (supposedly) spend 7 million pounds on one advertisement?  Seriously, these supermarkets have far too much money, far too much power and not enough freebie coupons!

 

My current pet hate is the tiny amount of money countless big well-known businesses are not paying in UK taxes.  We hear about how much profit they've made each year, but they are not so forthcoming about the tiny percentage they pay in tax on that profit.  No wonder they can spend so much on adverts!  If they have enough money to spend 7 million on one advert or can afford to scrap thousands of pounds worth of merchandise (just because it is 'old' stock ~ that's less than a year old by the way) then surely they should be putting back into the country they are getting all this profit from!  But no!  They are more likely to create a new highly paid job to someone who knows how to evade taxes than just cough it up!  As a consumer it is MY responsibility to protest this, by boycotting these disgusting tax-dodgers and flexing my consumer muscles, by withdrawing my hard earned cash from these rouge outlets!

 

BUT...

 

How can I stand on my principles when the worst of these companies are... GOOGLE and AMAZON!  I mean my Christmas shopping would not get done if not for Amazon... I'm even on 'Prime' for goodness sake!  So much for my ethics!

 

And as for Google... does the internet even work without it?

 

I will do what I can, though... no more Tesco deliveries for me.  Definitely no more trips to Boots and everyone is going to get something from 'Lush' for Christmas this year (because they pay LOADS of tax on their profits)!

 

I've had my moan... so on with the crafting...

My photo today is from 2013 Halloween ~ my niece, Abbie, decided to dress-up as a cat ~ an 'Abbie-Cat'...

LIKE FOR EVER, August kit was used for this.  all from Crate Paper's Wonder Collection, the colours are lovely and that vellum with the gold triangles is beautiful

 

 

 

I love this little cardstock sticker

 

 

...more cats

These thickers are fab ~ 'Gold Charm' they are gold and corrugated for additional texture

 

and to finish a few stickers

 

Simple!

 

 

 

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

 

Home Time

If we are very lucky in life, our children will actually turn out OK... no matter how many times we, as parents, manage to cock up ~ they will manage to get through it and grow up to have only minimal hang ups, they will (hopefully) not be too traumatised by their parents stealing the occasional kiss (despite the gagging noises sons and daughters seems to have been born able to do!). I'm VERY lucky with my two off-spring.  My son is willing to overlook my obvious deficiencies and be kind to his dear old mum, whilst my daughter works and lives away and so, has more understanding of how the world actually works and misses having someone to pay the bills!

Can we ever, truly be friends with our kids?  I think not... and that's not just because I want to be the boss of everyone!  I could never be anything but 'mum' (or as they were wont to say "ahh mum!!!"), I expected to be the one in charge... it wasn't a democracy in our house but more of a dictatorship!  And of course as my delightful, well behaved children entered teenhood I managed to cross the invisible line of 'fuddiness' by uttering the immortal words (and there's really no going back from this) "in my younger day" ~ and once said, that's it, game over... you have just labelled yourself 'old' and have turned into your parents.  It will bring back memories from your own childhood, remembering how annoying your parents were, for never understanding you, but it will not make you more understanding of your current situation and the stranger in front of you! I guarantee the first time you say it (and there will be many more times), you only realise after the word have left your mouth, what you have said because you will, by this point, be frustrated and ready to be classed as 'old' because at that precise moment you really won't understand the person who is now inhabiting your child's body. 

By way of revenge, I used to really annoy my kids by being the 'cool' mum to all their friends ~ they always found it SO irritating, I had them over a barrel, they couldn't say anything horrible because it would make them look bad ~ mwahhhh!

Since I'm talking about my kids I think I'll show you my seventh layout made with my LIKE FOR EVER August kit ('Oh So Lovely' consisting of the Crate Paper 'Wonder' collection ) I'll get around to showing you layout number six next time...  these photos tell the story of my son's love of school or not!  I never had any trouble getting my kids to school.  School was one of those non-negotiable rules (like seat belts)... you go, that's it! "Yeah, I know... life's not fair (get over it)!"  Anyway, back to my boy... he went, but by golly like the proverbial horse taken to water... no-one was gonna make him learn!  His favourite subject was detention!  The first photo shows his pre-school face (happy? NOT) and the second one shows his eagerness to get out of that blasted uniform (finally a smile)...

Very busy layout

wood veneer

 

yep, there's grumpy

 

I little bit of journaling (gosh, I hate my writing!)

 

 

Those 'Trinket' thickers are lovely even if they do take up loads of space!

 

 

 

 

I love being a mum... and even though they won't admit it, they love having me as their mum... I think!

 

May your inks never run dry!

 

 

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

 

 

Alone Time

I'm home alone... oh, sometimes this is just heavenly!

 

No-one's calling my name or demanding my attention (I swear my children are more needy now than when they were younger ~ I expect to have my mother making demands... but not my 23 and 25 year olds!).  I'm not really moaning about them, they make life interesting after all.  But... it's nice to be just me, sometimes.

 

Me and my craftroom!

 

My mind is uncluttered today, which is reflected (I think) in todays scrapbook layout.  It's nice and simple with some embellies and layering, but still fairly straight forward.

 

The photograph is of my niece... beaming a broad smile after she'd finally managed to work loose her baby tooth...such a proud moment!

 

Again I'm using the LIKE FOR EVER August kit... 'Oh So Lovely' for this layout, all the papers are from the Crate Paper 'Wonder' Collection

The 'HELLO' die cut pieces are from the ephemera pack (popped up on some foam squares)

I'm loving these gold corrugated thickers... I wanted a play on the word 'GAPPY' so I crossed out the 'G' and added a 'H' to make 'HAPPY'

Tassels! Never really know how to adhere them... but the trusty stapler came in handy

The top embellie is just a punched circle from some patterned paper with an epoxy circle over the top, the middle one is from the chipboard element sheet and the bottom embellie is again a punched circle with some glitter washi and another (smaller) punched circle from the tassel packaging, a couple of staples and badda bing badda boom

A date is always good hahaha, even though I'd forgotten to change the year, so I had to correct the '2014' to '2015'... what a numpty!

Some faux stitching...

a few layers and some splatters of gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine...

 

and there we have it... another memory recorded!

 

May all your glue dots stay sticky!!!

 

 

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Drama And Child Labour!

Friday saw me back at the 'Beach House', in Fishguard...

 Looking back towards the harbour ~ it really is a stunning view

 

...my mother and I arrived there after a rotten morning, which involved me picking my mum up from town (she always has her hair done on a Friday morning, and yes... I'm still a taxi service).  She'd called into me briefly first thing in the morning (we live next door to each other) and requested a pick up, being half asleep at the time I mumbled a "yes, of course", she answered "pick me up at one" and off she when.  At 11 O'clock I set off for town.. I wanted to go to the bank and I suspected my mum would be finished at the hairdressers earlier than she'd anticipated.  I parked outside the hairdressers, got my scooter out and headed for the bank.  Whilst in there... my mum sneaked passed me and set off for the local church café to wait for me.  I, in the meantime headed back to the car to wait for her!  Two hours later... I've got half the town looking for her and refuse to leave the car thinking she'll turn up ANY MINUTE NOW.  And she's still in the café, thinking I've abandoned her and panicking about how to contact someone (she's got a mobile, but it's NEVER charged!). When we finally get together ~ after the initial relief, we're both trying VERY hard not to blame the other, and each competing about who had it worse!

 

NOTE TO SELF~ make proper arrangements! 

 

I swear my life is one drama after another!

 

At least I managed to get mum to her eye test on time.  And I even managed to crack open my stash of craft goodies (I remembered to take some stuff with me this time) to do a layout with the August LIKE FOR EVER kit, 'Oh So Lovely'.

 

I'm a little behind with my kits!  The kit is comprised (mostly) of the Crate Paper 'Wonder' collection which is full of happy icons, sweet embellishments and adorable papers.

 

My photo is of my niece and nephew on holiday at the 'Beach House' entertaining themselves by polishing the car ~ something I bet they won't be quite so enthusiastic about when they have cars of their own!

I hate my hand writing... but so what!

 

 

 

Now I really must catch up with my Project Life Album...

 

 

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

 

 

Yippee... I'm Home

I'm glad to be home, after a few days at my mum's 'beach house'...

 Fishguard, Pembrokeshire

         ...                 Balcony

         ...             View to the sea

 

          ...                 View inland

 

Beautiful isn't it?  But alas no craftroom :(  All would be perfect if not for this sad, sad oversight!  So yes, I'm glad to be back amongst my creativity.

 

Anyway I'm home now, so apart from a mountain of washing to do - how do I get everything so dirty? Where does it all come from? - apart from this I'm free to tidy up go to my craftroom for a play - yippee.

 

That is until my mother pops in to inform me that I've forgotten (ME?) that she has an eye test on Friday (tomorrow) and that its booked in Haverfordwest... back at the beach house!  What??? I've only got one day to play!!!!!

 

And, at what point did I become 'Taxi's R Us'?

 

Not only THAT - although frankly, that's enough to send me into deep, deep depression, but I've got errands to run this morning - yes, you've guessed it - for my mother, and that washing is not going to jump into the machine itself or indeed divide into the correct colour/non-colour/delicate piles all by itself either!!!  When am I going to be able to play!

 

So off to town I go, mother in tow, as she wants me to transfer some money from her bank account to my brother (his TV has just blown-up and she's helping him buy a new one).  Isn't she lovely?  But when am I going to be able to play?

 

We get to the bank - and use the automated service (God forbid that we engage with an actual human), money now transferred - NOW can I play?

 

No...

 

Mum hasn't finished with the bank... she needs to pay in some money (I'm not surprised with my brother spending it so freely!).  I've been wondering what's in the shopping bag she has been clutching tightly to her chest... I'm about to find out.  One after the other, little plastic bags of 1p's, 2p's, 5p's and £2 coins are lifted out onto the counter (I'm grateful to see a couple of bags of £2 coins otherwise we'd be here all day!). Has she filled out the paying in book correctly? - nah!  Are we here even longer because it turns out that ALL the bags have been counted incorrectly? - yes indeed!  £176 later (seriously?) my playing time has been cut even further! FRUSTRATION abound!!!

 

A lady pops out from behind the counter (I really don't know from where!) and requests to speak with me.  My immediate thought is that they are going to ask me never to bring my mother in again or that their policy has now changed and they don't accept 1p's, 2p's or 5p's unless checked by someone younger than seventy (who can fill out a paying in book without crossing anything out four times and knows how to count correctly), my guilt for inflicting my mother on the bank knows no bounds when I realise just how many people are queued behind us whilst my mum tries to fish another 2p's from the bottom of her handbag!  Head down I follow the lady into a private room.

 

Now I'm given a moral dilemma? Some kind of test by the bank to see just how honest I am? It turns out an error has been made on my account and I have been given £234 by mistake - not the bank's mistake so they cannot demand it back, but by someone else.  Do I give the money back?  Or do I help my brother buy his new TV? Or (even more tempting) do I splash out on some crafting goodies?  But wait...

 

This isn't my money - its someone else's... do I do the right thing? or do I just enjoy my windfall (since no-one can do anything about it... no-one can take it back after all).  All the things I could get with £234 run through my head - as the bank lady sits patiently waiting for me to make my choice.  Do I spend, spend, spend and risk her negative judgement or do I straighten my halo and sign it back to its rightful owner?  What would you do? Risk-free windfall? or Clear conscience?  Can I be bought? And when will I be able to play?

 

Needless to say I'm not £234 richer (I gave it back, and painful it was too... even if it was the right thing to do!).  Now can we go home and put some washing on and play?

 

YES! YIPPEE!!!

 

Some washing done...

 

Some time later...

 

Layout #3 with the LIKE FOR EVER August kit (I'm somewhat behind!) 'Oh So Lovely'.

 

This is the story of my niece and daughter (she's the big one) on a trampoline.  We are at our annual family reunion - an event all the family attend once a year to catch-up. We're all there, cousins, aunts, great uncles and in-laws.  We chat and stuff our faces whilst all the second, third and 'not-yet-cousins' (you know - when one of us has re-married/re-relationshipped and the introductions begin as we get to know someone else's offspring from a previous relationship - not-yet-cousins.  I'm not sure how to describe them.  Soon-to-be-family-if-we-managed-to-last-longer-then-a-couple-of-months?) go swimming in the pool, bounce on the trampoline or whack a tennis ball about pretending they can play.  Its a great day, and because we now live in Wales (and have done the last 30 years), for us, its wonderful to re-connect with everyone and catch-up with what's happening in their life's.  The travelling's a bit of a pain (4 hours) but it's worth it and after all, its only once a year.

 

Cute & Bouncy...

The kit contains mostly items from the 'Wonder' Collection by Crate Paper

The acetate cut-apart sheet (an add-on) had some fab gold accented tags

Love that paperclip (kit) and flair button (a flair for buttons - etsy)

Aren't those thickers fabulous - corrugated gold!

I cut this overlay using my CRICUT (Artbooking Cartridge p63 - OVERLAY, <H>)

...and used the 6x6 papers to back various triangles

stickers and splatters in gold completes my layout #3

 

So tomorrow will see me headed back to the 'beach house' for another few days.  But this time I will be taking some crafting supplies with me!

 

Happy Crafting x

 

 

 

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