Catching Up

As busy as I claim to be, I've still got the greatest job in the world - and that job is to be a Mother.

Bobs finished school this week - his last GCSE exam was on Friday - and now we wait for his results. The old testosterone is well and truly kicking in, and I look at my boy and see that he is no longer a child but a young man with hopefully a wonderful life ahead of him.

J has stuff going on at school which will hopefully lead to him being able to sit certificated exams - not GCSE's - but exams which will help him on his way towards the goals he has set himself. The transition in to year 10 is going to take some planning, but luckily J has a wonderful LSA and we work well together to make sure things go as smoothly as they can for him.

My family all arrived last weekend and we spent time together at the local Ocean Festival - which was not as good as the previous year - but it was still nice to hang out and spend time chatting and doing stuff that girls do when they get together.
I had an amazing birthday due to the fact that for first time in a long while all of my family were actually in the same spot at the same time!
Hubs totally spoilt me and he and the guys bought me a MacBook Pro :D
Its a good job my lil sis is a Mac wizard because with out her help and expert guidance I would still be trying to work out how to turn the bloomin thing on. LOL!

Scrapping wise Ive not had time to do very much at all - Ive been busy with family and coursework and of course enjoying the sunshine as much as I can :D

I'll leave you with a peek of my LO for tonight's Pencil Lines sketch, which will go live at 8pm GMT.
Have a wonderful afternoon doing whatever it is that makes you happy - me - I'm off to the pub to grab my spot for the England match :D

Thanks for dropping by.

T.x.

Love, Love, Love

The Vintage Love Collection from Glitz Designs is perfect for scrapbooking all those old Wedding photographs you have waiting to be scrapped.


I cut one of the sheets of paper down to size before stitching around the outside edge using my sewing machine. Using a paper distresser I roughed up the edges before adhering the page to a sheet of 12x12 patterned paper, which had also been machine stitched and distressed.


Glitz rubons are so easy to use and make the perfect quick fix embellishment.
I used one of the Fancy Frames rubons and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper before cutting it out and using it as a mat for my photograph - which was taken on my Husbands Grandparents Wedding day.


Adhering further rubons from the Vintage Extras collection, as well as Glitzers from the Garden collection, to patterned paper before attaching to my page, enabled me to layer the accents on top of one another to add dimension to the page.
To create additional page accents I hand cut details from sheets of Vintage paper layers and attached them to the page - I love how the butterfly looks like it has landed, to rest for a while on the page.

I combined a mixture of Glitz rubons and Glitzers from the Distressed Couture collection to create accents and embellishments for this page.



Fixing the rubons and Glitzers to cardstock and hand cutting out the details is a great way to create quick coordinating embellishments for your pages - why don't you try it for yourself and let us see how you use Glitz rubons and Glitzers on your pages - we'd love to see.

Thanks for dropping by.
Tracie.x.
LiFe AnD tImEs of A 12x12 ADdiCt

Busy Bee....

Last weekend I had the pleasure of joining Anna , Sandie , Michelle and Sue as well as all of the ladies at the Scrapping Angels Retreat, where I taught two classes and a make and take.

I re purposed an old book to create a tactile shabby chic mini book, as well as raiding my stash box to create this tag which used a masked stamping technique on calico.


The weekend was great fun and I had a fantastic time meeting up with friends old and new.


It was wonderful to get to spend some time with Anna - we have been scrapping pals for the past three years and frequently chat together via email or the phone, but the distance between us makes getting to actually hang out together a little difficult....6 hours driving behind the wheel is getting a little too much for me now I'm in my 40's!LOL!


Anyway, the retreat was really well organised, the venue perfect and I had a fantastic time - it was a much needed break away from the stuff that's been going on at home just lately - I wont bore you with the details but if I say "grrrr teenagers", I'm sure you'll understand! LOL!

This weeks Pencil Lines Guest Designer's are the DT from My Little Shoe Box - you can go check out just how different and totally amazing each of the pages are right here.

Here's my take on the sketch, which I rotated.


I cut the details from the patterned paper and used 3d foam pads to give the page dimension.

And so, yet another week has passed by so quickly - my Sister and Nephew arrived late last Sunday night and are staying until Monday. Hubs and my Sister have been busy painting and adding the final touches to her new home - which happens to be the cottage next door to ours!


Later on today my lil Sis and her entourage will also be joining us for a long weekend - plus the guys have invited mates over to stay too.....so there will be bodies everywhere and I've certainly been kept busy on my toes getting ready for their mass arrival.....not that I mind at all - I love the house when its filled with the people having a good time.
We are all heading off to the local Gold Coast Ocean Festival and have our "festival goers clobber" standing by at the ready - the "pack a macks" and wellington boots have been pulled out of storage, just in case the heavens open - we are all hoping that Mr WeatherMan is right and that he doesn't break his promise of a weekend filled with unbroken sunshine - for me there's no way better to spend your birthday weekend, than spending it with family and friends, sipping ice cold pear cider whilst listening to cool tunes down by the beach - party on I say :D

Thanks for dropping by.

T.x.

Dear Dad

Dear Dad.

13 years have passed since the last time we talked.
Every day since I remember our last conversation and how you assured me that everything would be all right....well it wasn't to be and that night my world fell apart as you took your last breath.

Last night I looked up at the sky, and thought to myself - how breathtaking, how totally mind blowing beautiful it is up there.

The stars were shining so bright and the moon was gleaming. The sky line went on and on and on - never ending.

As I stood star gazing - listening to the waves crashing against the shore and thinking of you, I felt this feeling all over. A comforting feeling that tingled from my head all the way to my toes.

I knew at that very moment it was you, smiling down on me - telling me not to worry and that indeed everything is all right.

I miss you Dad.
RIP.

T.x.

If you rest, you rust!

Its been soooo long since I updated my blog that I'm feeling a little bit rusty!!

Life has been unbelievably busy over the past month, with my days kinda rolling in to one. I wouldn't even know where to begin dissecting the tangled blurb that has been my life of late....and anyway I'd only bore you to death with my mundane mutterings of GCSE Exam Revision, CBT Driving Tests, Moped driving Teenagers, Painting, Sanding, Curtain Making, Stash Sorting, Gardening, Sickness, Bullying in the Playground, Days at the Beach and Dinosaur Hunting!!

Crafting wise Ive not been able to do as much as I would have liked - however full service has resumed and I'm in the process of attacking my list of "to do's" :D
In the meantime I'll do a little catch up and will share some of the projects that have kept me busy.

Pencil Lines Sketch 185 Guest designer was Teresa Collins DT Member, Stephanie Ackerman.
I used product from Teresa Collins Bebe Boy collection to create my take on the sketch.


Pencil Lines Sketch 187 Guest Designer was Australian Scrapper, Jane Jones.
I wanted to scrap this photograph of Hubs parents on their Wedding Day and the papers from Glitz Designs Kismet Collection worked just perfectly with both the sketch and the photos.


At the beginning of May I created these two pages for Crafty Stash using papers from My Minds Eye (swoooon)


There was so much in the kit that using up the scraps I created a teeny tiny tag book too :D


Kits with full instructions to complete all three of these projects are available to buy here.

Thanks for dropping by.
T.x.