Sum Up Sunday ...

1. Favourite photo - now I know it's not a great photo but on Thursday night DD1 and her school's cheerleading team opened this awards ceremony. I was so proud of her and the team - 20 6 year olds performing to an audience of 200 guests and she says she wasn't nervous! Well I was! Her team had previously won the Key Stage 1 award for Central Warwickshire but the organisers had asked them to perform as they were the best they'd seen out of the whole of Warwickshire (there are three areas).I didn't manage to get a good photo of the girls' performing as they weren't on a stage and 6 years olds aren't that tall so were obscured by the heads of people in front of me!!

2. Favourite Project - love these button brooches, think they'd make geat LO embellies. Not sure I have that many matching buttons though!!

3. Favourite blog post - Ladybird Ladybird's Paige has posted some fab felties that she's made for her JYC. I think her journal is looking really lovely.

4. Favourite purchase - more of a favourite shop. Had a wonderful time in Paperchase today, we went to the one inside Selfridges in Birmingham's Bullring, which is much bigger that my local. Could have spent many hours browsing all the shelves of goodies.

5. No of LOs/Projects completed - 3

Journal Your Xmas...

... so 2 days until Journal Your Xmas starts. This will be my third year and the least I have been prepared for it!

The first year I followed the prompts to the letter. The second year I journalled the day's activities first and used the prompts when there was nothing specific to record. This year I'm starting with the premise that I might not even journal every day, but if I do that's a bonus!!

I bought the November project kit from Scarlet Lime which mainly had Making Memories Mistletoe paper and embellies. These colours are more traditional than I would normally go for, but for ease of use decided to buy some more papers from the range and have added various other bits in - October Afternoon alphas, some ebay ribbon, red tags (think I bought them to use last year!) and some Paperchase felt sowflakes.
So yesterday I made this little tag using the Scarlet Lime project instructions (slightly adapted) to make a title for my as yet undecided album!

It was only today after a visit to Paperchase that I decided on my format - this A5 Kraft file folder plus black card and 6x4 photo pockets.

Last year I prepped all my pages beforehand, but seeing as though time is not on my side, I think I shall do the pages as I go along. I have managed to add the tag to the folder though.

Let the festivities commence!!

Combo LO ...

... finally felt ready to scrap again after the mad weekend of The Studio's charity crop. I've used 3 challenges for this one!!

Butterfly Crafts - make a LO about what makes you happy
The Studio - to use a number in your title, to journal in a list and to use eyelets (didn't manage that one
Lotus Paperie - sketch

There's still a couple of days left to win a Studio Calico kit from Butterfly Crafts. Simply complete one of this month's challenges by 30th November to be in with a chance of wining.

Advent Activity Calender ...

... so inspired by Stacy Julian's advent project I set out to find something I could do quickly. I remember seeing a digitial download some time ago that could be printed straight out, but couldn't find it anywhere. So I came to the conclusion I was going to have to make my own!

Ta da! I pulled out an old QVC kit, made up some envelopes and stuck on some embellishments and numbers (mental note to check you have enough 1's and 2's before starting out). Really pleased with my result. The snowflakes are card pegs from Tesco's and I will hang the envelopes up across our fireplace come Dec 1st (shall post a picture when they're in situ). The next task is to type the daily activities up on little cards to put in the envelopes. These are what I've come up with (mainly gleened from the internet):

- Make a lantern and go for a neighbourhood walk
- Paint everyone's toenails
- Have an indoor picnic
- Dress up 'fancy' for dinner
- Make a tree decoration
- Make paper snowflakes
- Make cookies and wrap up some for the neighbours
- Make a popcorn garland
- Take a drive to see the neighbourhood lights
- Sing and dance to Xmas songs
- Have a cooked breakfast and listen to a Xmas CD
- Use puppets to tell a bedtime story
- Write letters to Santa
- Decorate Xmas cards
- Game night
- Read Xmas story books
- Make a gingerbread house
- Give everyone a silly hair-do
- Make angel decorations
- Take photos of each other
- Have a family awards night
- Make and wear fancy hats for dinner
- Make gift tags
- Open a present (Mummy and Daddy to decide) on Xmas Eve
- Visit Santa (school fair)
- Eat tea by candlelight
- Watch a Xmas movie with sweets and popcorn
- Make or write a book about Xmas

There's more than 24 ideas here, but I'm not going to decide until the night before which activity we're going to do so I can changes things around where needed.

I thought if I typed the activities onto cards, I could then add the cards into my Xmas Journal (when I know what I'm doing with that!!)

Sum Up Sunday ...

... have had a very non-crafty, very busy work/school PTA week, but do have a few things to share from my week.

1. Favourite photo - me and my girls. We had my work's family Xmas Lunch today (yes, a bit early I know), so this is us just before heading out. 2. Favourite Project - this Advent Mini-Book from Stacy Julian. Have been wanting to do a non-chocolate variety of Advent Calender for a while and if I can just find the time, then this might fit the bill!!

3. Favourite Blog post - Cut+Paste - more blogs of inspiration to explore!

4. Favourite purchase - I have treated mysef to an early Xmas present of a Sumsung NC10 Netbook. As I've a desktop in my 'craft' room, this should stop DH complaining that I don't spend anytime with him. Now I can surf and watch TV!!!

5. LOs completed - zero. Have just about recovered from my scrapping hangover from last weekend and am ready to go again (work and PTA permitting!)

Over the Top award ...

... the other day Paige gave me this award, but I haven't had a chance to respond since I've been busy with The Studio Charity Crop.

You answer the following questions with one word only and then pass the award on to some bloggy friends. So here goes!

1. Where is your mobile phone? desk

2. Your hair? brown

3. Your mother? missed

4. Your father? loved

5. Your favorite food? roast

6. Your dream last night? hamsters

7. Your favorite drink? wine

8. Your dream/goal? happiness

9. What room are you in? craft

10. Your hobby? scrapping

11. Your fear? imprisonment

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? coastal

13. Where were you last night? home

14. Something that you aren't? tidy

15. Muffins? yes

16. Wish list item? camera

17. Where did you grow up? Torquay

18. Last thing you did? washing
19. What are you wearing? jeans

20. Your TV? off

21. Your Pets? 5

22. Friends? wonderful

23. Your life? busy

24. Your mood? chilled

25. Missing Someone? parents

26. Vehicle? polo

27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

28. Your favorite store? online

29. Your favorite colour? purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Tuesday

32. Your best friend? DH

33. One place that I go to over and over? Torquay

34. Facebook? no

35. Favorite place to eat? Stepmum's

I'm going to pass it onto Lisa, Claire, Emma, Sally and Jo.

Sunday afternoon ...

... here's what I did for the rest of the day!!

Sun 1pm - Twisted Sketches challenge - to use their sketch and a 'Count your blessings' theme
Sun 11am - Lisa's Rock Chick challenge. OK so I was a bit off the wall with this one as the challenge was to use Rock Chick as your theme and I've journalled about DD1's rock collection!!!!

Sun 5pm - Sketchy Thursday's Sketch challenge. I've added extra paint since I completed this LO as the photo didn't feel very anchored. Had to use water as the theme also.

Sun 7pm - Cathy Zielske set the grand finale challenge to scrap photos from one day. I've chosen to document our camping routine.

I completed 14 out of the 25 challenges, really happy with that. We can carry on uploading until 7pm tonight, but in reality I don't think I'll manage any more LOs. Really hope I manage to win a prize!

Now I need some new stash!

Sum up Sunday ....

1. Favourite photo - desk mid cyber-crop

2. Favourite project - this adorable pincushion! Would love to try and find some time to make one of those.3. Favourie blog post - Red Art Scrapping. Love the projects Karen made for the last Scrapbook Inspirations Magazine especially the little file folder recipe book.

4. Favourite purchase - Jamie Cullum's new album - The Pursuit

Am loving Don't Stop The Music particularly!

5. Number of LOs completed this week - 17 thanks to the cybercrop!

Sunday morning ...

... just waiting for the next challenge to go up before I decide what to do next, so I thought I'd share this morning's creations.

Sat 5pm - to use handcutting and stitching Sat 9pm - to use a PencilLines sketch

Sun 9am - to only journal with 6 words

Saturday ...

... just time for 1 LO before taking the girls to their swimming lesson

Sat 1am - to use bright colours on kraft. I also used the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch. After swimming and taking the girls to a friend's house for lunch I had a bit of time to do some catching up

Sat 11am - to scrap your favourite view. This is of the harbour where we stay when we go to Mallorce.

Sat 1pm - was a colour combo and sketch challenge.

Sat 3pm - to use what's on your desk. I choose to use up the contents of an almost finished Scarlet Lime kit.

I think that'll be me done for the day. Off out for drinks with the girls tonight, so hopefully I'll start afresh tomorrow morning (head permitting!!!)

Friday night ...

... so The Studio's charity crop started last night and here's a quick update of what I've been up to (sorry about the photos, they were taken last night)

7pm Challenge - to scrap vintage - I chose a old pre-school photo 9pm Challenge - to scrap with scallops
11pm challenge - to scrap a Halloween photo with non-Halloween products and to complete the LO in less than 30 mins
I finished scrapping and uploading at about 12am, which is way past my bedtime! The challenges continued to be posted every 2 hours through the night and I caught up with those this morning.

This weekend ...

... I will be hanging out at The Studio's Charity Crop in aid of charity:water - click the link for more details. Starting at 7pm tomorrow and lasting for 48 hours there will be games, challenges, prizes and special guests including Cathy Zielske who is setting the last challenge.

Last night I took part in one of the pre-crop challenges which was to create a LO in black and white, plus one other colour taken from your photo.

I was thrilled to find out this morning that I'd won the challenge!!

I created another PencilLines LO the other day aswell, using the photo that Audrey took of us at our Scarlet Lime Retreat. We're all holding LOs made with the September kit!!

Right now ...

... inspired by prompt 3 of Blogging for Scrapbookers to make lists and have used PencilLines sketch 159. I've had these Unity Stamp clouds for a while now and this sketch was a perfect opportunity to use them. The journalling stamp is also from Unity. I made the flower from the scrap of fabric that came with the Scarlet Lime kit.

Sum up Sunday ....

... a new (and hopefully regular!) feature. This weeks:

1. Favourite photo - DD2 with sparkler.2. Favourite project - Christmas felt ornament. I help out at a Christmas Craft event and am always looking for projects that are quick to teach and complete - this one looks perfect.

3. Favourite blog post - Lisa Dickson. I am loving all the LOs she's done on this post - into my to Inspiration folder they go!!

4. Favourite purchase - Keep Calm and Carry On Spoof calender. I spied this on another 'Blogger for Scrapbookers' blog (sorry can't remember whose it was). Shall be making plenty of Xmas presents with this download.

5. Number of LOs or projects completed this week - 2!!

It's a cats life ...

More circles ...

... thought I'd ought to make a LO rather than just talking about them!! All the sketch challenges seem to involve circles at the moment, so yet another rare LO for me that has a circle element! Sketch from Stuck? Sketches. I almost didn't add the buttons, but so glad I did as I think they really finish off the design.

Has been pretty dull and wet here today- the girls managed 5 mins outside to light some sparklers in honour of Guy Fawkes. Going to try and do some more fireworks at the weekend. I'll leave you with the obiligatory blurry picture!

Blogging for scrapbookers: Days 1-3...

... class started on Monday, so I thought an update was in order! Firstly, here's where I blog from:
Prompt 1 was about stating our intentions from doing this class, and simply mine are:

- to blog about more than just my layouts;
- to share interesting and useful information;
- to blog on a more regular basis;
- not to feel that I have to complete all the prompts.

And on that note onto prompt 3! This covers something that I had been thinking about doing - lists of favourites which can be done as a series such as on a weekly basis like Ali Edward's 3 Things.

I have to admit that I do spend a lot of time on the world wide web and have plenty of blogs listed in my Google Reader and I bookmark loads. So I thinking that maybe on a Sunday I'll do a list of things I found out that week - a week in review sort of thing. Watch this space!

Regular readers will know that I like sketches, so in the meantime I thought I would share my Top 5 favourite Sketch Challenge websites:

Scrapbook Challenges
52 sketches ... 52 weeks
Stuck? sketches
PencilLines
Sketchy Thursday

Thank you for stopping by, hope you'll come back soon!

First DT assignment ...

... challenge 22 has gone live over on Butterfly Crafts so I can share with you my first DT LO.

If you could be any character in any TV show or film, who would you be and why? Would you choose someone who's character you relate to or someone who is a total opposite to yourself?

Journalling reads: Like all of them I believe I am a kind and caring friend, loyal and honest. Like Lynette I try to keep all the balls in the air; like Bree a good organiser; like Susan a bit forgetful; like Gabi I love glamour!

Hope you play along too!