Climbing Mountains!

Sunny blue skies are here....yipppppeeeee!

After a weekend of non stop scrapping, a day at the beach is just what the Doc ordered!
Chilling out, hanging with friends, picnics, surf, a good book....perfect....simply perfect!

Hubs joined us late afternoon and we stayed til late just playing around....silly games...laughing and then laughing some more....he had made the guys a Sand board, (like a skate board - you stand on it and ride down the dunes), the guys loved it....but being adrenalin junkies they would!



Climbing up and down the sand dunes really tired them out and they all fell fast asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows.....bless.

When we arrived home Hubs had a lil surprise for me!
The guys had been experimenting with Fimo over the weekend and had been "helping me" make some buttons....


Before joining us at the beach, Hubs had visited the local craft store to collect some more Fimo for me...isn’t he just the best:) Anyways...he spotted this fab dry felting set!


I’m going to play today and see what I can make....the colours are fab and match perfectly with some funky lil Fimo embellishments I have made!

I heard through the grapevine yesterday, about a lil competition and was in two minds as to whether I should enter as the deadline is like today!
When we arrived home from the beach, I sat trying to decide which LO's I should submit....after finally deciding it was past 10pm....I needed to make up a LO and have everything ready for posting this morning....OK so which piccie could I use for the set theme??
Another hour passed and I found the perfect one....it was quirky and would be fun to scrap, but the clock said 11pm and my body needed sleep.
Hubs was rolling his eyes a lil...he said I would regret it if I didn’t at least try and get my entries completed and posted off....so I soldiered on.....I dunno why but my heart wasn’t in it....I am so not a last minute scrapper.
I was looking for a quote I wanted to use on the LO, when I found this one in my lil book of scribbled quotes...
"I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."
As the clock hit midnight I thought about that quote....was I happy doing what I was doing right at that moment....er nope! My body ached, I was tired and scrapping because I felt I had to, not because I wanted to....I packed away my stash...put the half finished LO "to bed" and climbed the apples and pears to join my man, feeling content that I had made the right decision....Scrapping should be fun right?

Art!

This weeks Pencil Lines is up!
Go check out the amazing work of the Guest Designer, Céline Navarro....its awesome as is the work of the other Pencil Lines DT girlies....Jolenes LO is amazing.



I tried something a lil different for my sketch this week.....leaving some space! Ive really gotten into "bizzy" scrapping just lately, so wanted to have a break from filling my pages with everything I can lay my hands on!
I used the wonderful products from my SIStv Rock Star kit....I love the screen print PP from Hambly and the Jenni Bowlin Stars paper has been used so sparingly because I love love love it....little snippets have been used here and there on 4 other LO's!
The photographs are of my guys....taken a couple of years ago when they were messing about in my craft room....they both love the Sizzix machine!
journalling reads
"Boys are mischievious creatures!
You can lock them out of your workshop,
but you cant lock them out of your heart!"

Its been a busy few days here at the madhouse!
The tent remained standing until late Friday night when Hubs decided it needed to come down because his precious grass was taking a battering....my man is obsessed with his lawn!


The guys were pretty miffed but hey ho!, we will be off camping in a couple of weeks so they will enjoy the outside life once more:)

J...bless him, has had a couple of higgley piggly days...he is a lil confuzzled by the summer holidays...its summer right? So why isnt the sun shining? Every summer holiday we spend our days at the beach...so why havent we so far? Bloomin rain! According to the press Summer 2007 UK styley begins on August 15th! I do hope they are right because thats when we plan to head off and go explore the South West Pennisula!

Ive been scrapping my heart out all weekend:)
Hubs has taken control and left me to crack on and get a few things done and dusted.
Ive decided to take the plunge and am entering a DT call for a US company.
I dont for one minute expect that I will get very far....I mean have you checked out the talent out there...its amazing.

Heres a few sneaky peeps....fingers crossed eh? I can dream!




Do you like my new car accessory?


LOL!
J has taken to climbing on to the dash board of the car as soon as we pull up anywhere!
He said he likes it there...its warm and he can see whats going on....weird huh?

Have a good one.
Enjoy.
T.x.x.x

For those who asked about my bag....links to make them are here and here....they are very easy to make....go on have a go and dont forget to show me!

Craft Life & Home

Issue 2 of Craft Life & Home is now available to download for free here.
If you want to get your hands on a perfectly bound handbag size copy for yourself, then checkout the list of stockists as they will be available from your favourite store very soon.

Im sooo excited and extremly honoured to part of the Craft, Life & Home DT for Scrap Genie and keep having to pinch myself that I have been given to oppurtunity to work alongside such fantastic papercrafters....many of whom have been my scrapping idols since I started this wonderful chapter of my life.

These are a few of the projects I created for the magazine using papers from Scenic Route.




This bag I knitted from supermarket carrier bags and decorated using Rusty Pickle Chipboard and Scenic Route papers!



The weather here has been truly awful. Its so hard to believe that we are halfway throuh the summertime.
The guys have been total stars and have occupied themselves whilst Ive been catching up on some scrapping assignments.
The tent is still errected in the garden....they have moved their playstation and Xbox in there and have camped out for the past three days!
At least we know the tent can withstand torrents of rain with no sign of any leakage.
The guys buddies are still here and it looks like they will be until the weekend..I dont mind at all...its great to have them all here, although the food cupboards have taken such a battering!

Ive managed to get quite a bit of scrapping done over the past couple of days!
Here's a sneaky peep


and LO I made just for me!


Off to sort out the masses as its feeding time at the zoo!
Have fun.
T.x.x

Fighting.....

Well today was one hell of a tear jerker.
J spent his last day at school.
I can not begin to explain just how life changing this will be for J.
He leaves the safety and protection offered by the most amazing teaching staff to venture out into the big wide world that will be mainstream.

Hubs and I will be forever appreciative of the time, understanding and care that J has received during his time there.

He arrived as a little boy who was so very scared, so very insecure, so misunderstood and now two years later, he has blossomed....he is confident and able.

Gifts and cards were shared....






J stood infront of the whole school at assembly and receieved the hugest of cheers from his buddies. They wished him well, hugs all round and then the tears started.

Seeing just how popular my boy was soon had me shedding a few tears.....I thought back to when J was previously in mainstream....he didnt have any friends....he never went to play dates or received party invitations....no one wanted my boy there, for fear that he may upset the other kidlets if he had a meltdown....how I wish that those parents, who had shunned him, could have seen him today.....he was a star.


Whilst we were enjoying a lil tea party in J's classroom, J was given an extra leaving pressie from his class....to some I know it may seem silly, but this present meant the world to J. I saw the joy and excitement in his eyes when he was given it.
Each and every playtime the teachers take out a selection of playground toys for the children to enjoy....J's favorite being a rather battered and old bouncy thingmejig.
When times were bad for J the teaching staff knew that 5 minutes bouncing would get my guy smiling again......they gave him the bouncythingymejig as a leaving pressie....all his class buddies had signed it for him....J really couldnt believe that he was allowed to take it home.....he cried and so did I...it now takes pride of place in J's bedroom.



Ive not updated my blog for a couple of days becaise Ive been busy looking after Bobs.

He took a rather nasty knock to his eye on Sunday night. Ive told him endlessly not to push J too far, but he wouldnt listen!
J didnt hit him....instead he threw a leather football into Bobs face and it caught his eye.
Off to A&E because there was blood but no visible cut.
Thankfully all is OK...Bobs is a little sore and swollen but Im pretty sure he realises that sometimes its better to just walk away...if only he had listened to his Momma in the first place!
Thats kids though isnt it?
We have to let them make mistakes or how else do they learn?

This is the part of parenting that I find the most difficult. Both Hubs and I have bought our boys up to know the difference between right and wrong....they are good lads....they act the loon at times and I know they are no angels....but they are polite and pleasant to all those around them.
I just hate to think that over the coming years they will have so many temptations put infront of them....they may go off the rails....they may not....but they have to experience the oppurtunity to decide for themselves which path they take....all I can do is be there to guide them and pick up the pieces if needs be.

Anyways....school is out for Summer....yipppppeeeeee!

We have errected the new tent....its huge!
Theres a sleepover going on in my garden and I need to go supervise!

Have fun....I know I will!

T.x.x.

Expect the Unexpected!

Its been one of those days today where we have made no plans and yet have managed to be really busy all day.

When I woke this morning I hadnt a clue what the day would bring and certainly didnt think for one minute we would be doing the things we have done.....like errecting our caravan awning and then dismantling it....we sold the caravan to our buddies and then headed off to the local for a bite to eat.....after lunching we hit the local camping store and have splashed out on a 10 man tent!!!!

The guys are chuffed to bits....they really dig camping "proper" styley....I just know Im going to miss the luxury and comfort of the "van", but hey ho! Camping can be fun can't it????

Its been a crazy day but one filled with fun.

Ive been a lil snap happy again!

Some piccies of today!




This is my lil buddie Tommy....when he grows up he wants to be a scrapbooker!


Ummmm some one wasnt happy when his Momma stole the Harry Potter book cus she wanted to have a read!


Deep in thought.....thinking about getting a new mobile phone!!


He didnt know we had bought the phone he had been lusting after! I had planned on giving it to him on Tuesday night when he finished school.....OK so I caved in....his end of year report really was very very good so he deserved a treat.


This guy stayed in a mood all day.....he didnt have time to eat when there was serious reading to be done!


This weeks Pencil Lines sketch was created by Jennifer Hall and I love it! Its such an adaptable sketch to use.




My LO features a piccie of my lil Momiji Dolls which I simply adore.
Scenic Route products were used throughout apart from the Heidi Swapp tape, Dove Craft brads and the chipboard alphas, which were from the £ shop!

I love a bargain me!

Have fun.

T.x.x

My day!

The guys and their buddies camped out in the tent last night.


They didnt settle well and by midnight they were still wide awake.
I sat scrapping and checked on them every 20 minutes.....Im just a worry pants I know, but J can be more than a lil mischevious at times and I wanted to make sure he was asleep before I headed for bed.

They finally fell asleep by 3am but I'd drunk so much latte that the caffeine levels were far to high for me to sleep...I scrapped and by the time 5am came I wanted to crawl into bed but instead I headed off to the Next sale and grabbed some bargains:)

Home to sort the guys out, who have done nothing but fight all day!





Lunch at McYukkies.


Back to into town to order uniforms.....we dodged the rain clouds as best we could!


Then on to WHSmiths to grab new pencil cases and all the bumph to go in them....quite how J will master the use of a scientific calculator is beyond me but it was on the list, so we had to get one! Hubs nearly chocked when he paid up....£76 for pens and paper!!!


I picked up a Photoshop book cus I need to work on my editing skills and of course we got our copy of the new HP book.

Bobs went to see the HP film with his buddy last night....he loved it.
We had booked tickets to see it last weekend as a family but J doesnt do the cinema too well, so we will wait to watch it on DVD.....that way he can rewind at his lesuire. Its an ASD thing...he doesnt do surprise or secrets well and has to be sure he is ready to see what going to happen as and when he feels comfortable.
This of course means it could take up to a week before he sees the film straight through from start to finish, but he will know every word of the script!

Im off to wrestle with Bobs...he has read the first three chapters and now its my turn to indulge.

Happy days.

T.x.