My First Few Digi Pages

Well considering I currently do not have any type of scrap area in my house as my wonderful little son has taken up residence in what was my scrap room but im happy enough to have given up my room for him, I did always know that my scrap room was a temporary fix as we were always trying for a baby. And until we have finished converting the garage I am still without a scrap area, I then came across Digital Scrapbooking, for a present a family member brought me a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements V6 and I have been on the main PC every night for the last few days fiddling around and practising, now dont get me wrong I will never give up paper scrapping as I love it, but this digital lark is fabby, here are my first ever layouts digitally:-




This is a layout of my son Oliver

And this is a layout of my friends little girl Isla

I am so pleased with the outcome I really am, and I cant wait to do some more and its not like I do not have enough photos lol.

Anyway, I shall bore you some more now as I have some more photos of Oliver:-




Oliver taking a little nap on mummy

Looks like his is warming up for the number one contender :-))







He loves his colourful giraffe





Chat soon, xxxx

Ok I am pants - But I have a good reason........

I have had my little boy, Oliver Jake Varney was born on 31st May weighing a neat 6lb 9oz, I had to be induced and the whole process took 4 days but I only had an 9 hour active labour and after having an epidural it was incredibly easy. He was born at 11.30pm

This is me with Oliver after just 10mins of him coming into the world.

My time since having my lovely bundle of joy my days have just been flying past, I cant believe he is now 15wks old (16ks on Sat).

He has now had his second set of jabs, it was truly awful not sure who it effected more me of Oliver, dont get me wrong he screamed like there was no tomorrow on both jabs. But I think it got to me more seeing him being hurt like that. But this time he did not settle as quickly as his first set of jabs and was off colour for longer!

Anyway here is my little man now:-

Loving his changing time, on his changing unit he does have a giggle bless him

Loves giving mummy smiles

I love him in his bath robe looks like he is a number one contender lol

Anyway just thought i would pull my finger out and update my blog i have been so pants, but i have also finished the PWL photography course which was fab, will try to upload some more photos of the PWL course soon.

Take care

Claire & Oliver xxx

Time time time..................

Well as I thought me trying to keep this upto date was pointless, but whilst I have some time and I remember I thought I would give a little up date. A little update on bubs I only have 10 weeks to go, as I have been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes so they wont let me go over 40 weeks, so either way in the next 10 weeks I will be a mum, which in itself scares the hell out of me LOL.

As for the Gestational Diabetes it really has bummed me out to be honest, I was really enjoying my pregnancy and now I have to test my blood sugar levels 4 times a day and it really does add stress onto your day, its a real visual aid. But anyhow at least at the moment its controllable by diet so I just have to watch myself even more.

The nursery is nearly done, we have ordered all the big stuff as its been out of stock since October in Babies R Us, but now its in we are waiting on delivery of the Dresser, Cot Bed and Wardrobe. I am ordering the travel system in the next few days so getting very excited now, and once its all turned up its sorting ourselves outs, and getting some more of the smaller bits.

I have just also signed up for the PWL Photography course held by Cheryl Johnson from UKS im really looking forward to it and building up the confidence to move the button on my camera from auto to another function! And I will soon have a fabby subject to photograph. Cheryl has 2 other courses I want to do but she has advised this course first, should you want to look into this her website is www.feelgoodphotography.com you will love it, her work is amazing.

Right I had better get cracking with the manual that came with my camera last year LOL - I am hoping to do some scrapping over the cybercrop but as I dont have my room anymore its a little more tricky roll on the time I can convert my garage.

Right im off take care and chat soon
Love n Hugs
Claire & Bump xx

My goodness where has time gone to

I cant believe that time has gone so fast since i last posted, whats that all about! i am now 27 weeks pregnant and all is going so well, i have had no sickness and to be honest i cant say that i have had any kind of cravings its bizarre, the only thing i do like at the moment is a little ice cream but that isnt a must to have.

I have not really put any weight on either, i think through the first 3 months i was so off my food that i lost alot of weight so i am only just getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight, i am also so keen on making sure that i dont do the 'oh im eating for two' lark otherwise i will just balloon.

All my scrapbooking stuff has had to be packed away to make way for bubs arrival, it was so hard to pack everything away, i had to pack away the bits that i have not used for a long time and the stuff i used regularly, so i have a box of stuff in the loft and the rest under the stairs - this is only until we get around to converting half the garage.

I see that there will be another cybercrop on UKS soon and i am hoping that i will be able to get involved somehow which will be lovely.

I am also starting a photography course PWL with Cheryl on UKS in the next few weeks which i am looking foward to i am hoping to become a little better at taking photos not just the point and shoot which is all i seem to be capable of at the moment.

Anyway I had better get going as i need to get the roast dinner on, poor Roger is working this weekend so I thought i would do a lovely roast beef for today, i know its saturday but we are hoping to have a takeaway tomorrow which again is a little crazy i hear you say.

Hope to get back into blogging soon, my apologise for my absense
Claire & Bump xx

What Can I say.........Im Pants!!

Ok as the title says i am utterly pants, I cant believe the last post i done was in August, that is terrible! so my much needed apologies.

So what has been going on with me over the last few months, well to be honest a little or nothing a tad of alot LOL. August came and went and put my new camera into gear and took hundreds of photos we actually had a lovely August and September really for taking photos.

The main thing that has really taken up my time is trying to sort out a new mortgage, its been hell on earth, lets just say we dont have the best of credit ratings at the moment, but we had found somewhere that was willing to help, then the interest rates went up, they put their rates up and it all fell apart, but now we have another one in place and it should with everything crossed go through in the next week or so, and we are hoping that it will be in the next 7 days at least that will give us some kind of Chirstmas to be honest.

So that has really drained me, its been hard, we have been so skint over the last few months that my dear loving hobby Scrapping has had to go on hold which is hard really as its my little release, and im desperate to stock up!

Then we had another little surprise in September, Roger and I found out that June next year we are going to become parents, we are very excited, happy and ellated, its been a long wait and finally after many tears and tantrums our little peanut will be here in June. I am now 15 weeks gone and we have had many hours of searching the web for all sorts of bits for it.

We are hoping to convert half of our garage to put the computer and my scrap area in as at the moment its in what will be the nursery, i always knew that one day i would have to give the room up, and i think being so skint over the last few months and the lack of scrapping it hasnt really bothered me, but it is a must for us to sort out the garage as we now have even more of an excuse to scrap done we! For once we can scrap our own baby and not someone elses for a change LOL.

So i promise to be a lot more up to date with my blog, and for those that do read it im sorry that i vanished for so long, life just took me away with boring and annoying problems and for a little while i forgot the fun side of life.

Thanks for reading
Claire xx

OOOOOOOOOOO New Camera

Well as the title says!!

For my birthday which incidently was 1st July, my lovely friends and family clubbed together and gave me money, cos I had been after a new DSLR Camera, I could have asked for money to go towards maybe a Ciricut or Craft Robo, but maybe that will be my next birthday LOL. But I thought to myself, since I have started up scrapbooking some 2yrs ago, I have looked a photos in a whole new light and the ladies on UKS give me nothing but inspiration to do more and create better photos, along with fantatisc new LOs.

And as Roger and I are also hoping for some baby news I thought it was time to invest in something that would benefit all round.

So, like I always do when purchasing something of value, I researched and researched some more and as our other digital Point and Shoot compact camera is a Fuji we looked into a Fuji DSLR, ok fine its not a fully grown DSLR its what they call a bridge, but hey for what it does the cost of it and the sheer beauty of it I was not going to attempt to pick holes. And to be honest with you my dad was a keen photographer and had all the get up that you needed and the amount of times we used to laugh as my dad would say "oh what a great photo stay in that postion" and then runs off to grab a half a ton of equipmenet LOL - not saying that the photos he created werent good cos they were, I am just not sure if I was cut out for that.

So after alot of thought and research we chose the camera I wanted, and here she is-----------

Never thought a box could look so good

And here is the little beauty (not the image behind the camera, the camera itself)

We took a look on PriceRunner.com and found a company on there that sold the camera, and extras (Recharger, Batteries, Case, Tripod, 1GB card) for a lovely price of £260.00 I was well chuffed to be honest.

And to make it event better I got it on Friday, I was not meant to have it till Tuesday, but I got home from work to a message from the courier saying he will be back at 4.00pm so off course I stayed in with baited breath LOL and have been snapping all weekend, and here are a couple of examples.

Look out for more, but for now thats your lot as I have a cat to snap LOL (she looks terrified already)

Bye for now xx

Thoughts and Layouts

OK so I am sat here thinking, that I cant believe that I have now officially been scrapping for well over a year, time has flown by, and that I have not made a single card since LOL.

See I originally started out as a card maker, it was the first thing crafty that I took too, but found that I was getting fed up spending all that time, effort and money and giving it away. Don't get me wrong I had a real sense of gratification and pride when I gave them out and got some lovely comments back, but at the same time I was seeing nothing afterwards, and that's when I stumbled on this little joy of joys, and have never looked back.

Its funny I have found the most amazing community connected with Scrap booking UKScrappers is truly the most amazing place and the people there (male and female) are so friendly and warm. I have in my time been on some forums and communities and have found them after a while so bitchy and cliquey, and its not nice, but I have now successfully been a member of UKS for well over a year and I have not once found that - so to the creators and the members of UKS thank you for such a great forum and to the members, thank you for being such good friends, I have not once felt alone or lonely since being a member, its also nice that so many outsiders kind of frown when you say scrap booking the overall consensus is amazing as to what people really think it is. So its nice to have like minded people out there.

So for my post today I thought I would share some of my LO's that I have created over my time so far, I thought I would add some of my very first LO's and some of my latest, brace yourself there are a few LOL

I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking
Cxx

So....Here are some Layouts

Ok so this week my inspiration came back from holiday and hit me head on, so firstly here are 2 layouts I done in the week.




Ok so this is my first Cat Brandy, he was called anything from just plain ole Brandy to Brandy Snap, Brandy and Ginger LOL he was a lovely cat, handle kids so well, he truly was a soppy cat and would let my nephews stroke, pull and meow in his ears and wouldn't lose it once - bless you Brandy Snap I miss you my little lion xx






This one is our first family holiday, the same holiday I created my White Bits LO - it was a lovely holiday, Mum, Dad, Lee and myself - I still remember it to this day and that was some time ago, and that dance we are doing is the one and only 'Birdie Song' come on shake those bums !!





Its also a very good friend of ours Nikki's birthday at the beginning of August, and I thought as she is going through a hard time at the moment, and will be travelling I thought for her birthday I would make her a little Friends Book, and I have and I'm well pleased, and as I have taken quite a few photos I thought it best to just put it in a slide show! otherwise this post would be never ending LOL, so enjoy - I know I'm pleased - just have to do a few finishing touches and that's it - Thanks to Caz on UKS who is RAK'ing me a few larger book rings as the 1" ones just don't cut the biscuit LOL. Heres hoping that my mojo and inspiration don't take another holiday!!

Thanks For looking xxx

Picture This.....................

Ok so I dont normally blog twice in a day, but I got home from work today and found a little parcel waiting for me..............which made me smile.

See the story behind this parcel is a naughty one..........................last Sunday was my birthday and Sarah (Beesbabe from UKS) sent me a birthday card and a gift voucher from Capture the Magic which was very naught, but it would have been rude not to induldge so I did, and when I logged on the Capture the Magic I was over the moon that there was a sale YES A SALES woohoo, so I promised Sarah that as soon as my little package arrived I would post some piccies - just look at what I got for my money......

I have a thing with 3 bugs lately love it, also there is some Bazzill and other card stock in that photo and loads of it!!

Ok so here is another photo but close up of the yummy 3 bugs (never thought i would say yum to a bug!!) drool with me please

Epoxy Stickers, a Friend brad book and some alpha circles

ooooo card card and card oh yeah and MORE card

So I think you can agree for my money I done well, now im sifting through my many printed photos. So Sarah my little hun thank you for my pressie I appreciate it, and even though very thoughtful and nice but oh so NAUGHTY

Love ya

Cxx

Ok Lets Face Facts............I'm A Blimp

Right so it seems that somehow over a certain period of time, so pounds and stones have made friends with my body, and have taken up residence and living it up, this shock move announced itself the other day after spending between 4-5 a week kickboxing and general workouts, I had this stupid notion to go weigh myself thinking hey I have been working out like this for the last 4-5 weeks you never know something might have happened.

Well alls I can say is OMG is that such a figure, I was stunned, shocked, nausous, angry and verbal, alls Roger heard from downstairs was comments like, how is that possible, but im exercising, its not fair bla bla bla.

So after the intial shock and the temper tantrum and trying to get Roger to weigh himself in hope that it would make me feel better, but now thinking about it would have made me feel worse knowing that I weigh more then him, but having him weigh himself would have just highligted exactly by how much and think at that point I would have happily thrown myself of the roof of my house. So I sat there with Roger gobsmacked and frankly devastated, im now officially the heaviest I have ever been in my life and it totally rocked my world and truly dont think I have ever felt so elephant like !!

I sat in stunned silence for at least 30 mins feeling disgusted and angry with myself, and declared that we have to do something and something fast I cant feel like this, and if one more person says to me "oh but your tall" I shall do damage, it makes no odds im fat im over weight it makes no odds if im 4'3 or 6ft my weight is extreme!! So Roger and I sat there and went through what we eat and weigh it up against the exercise. Now with Roger he has a physical job he is a window fitter so clearly does 100% more exercise then myself in an 8hr period as im stuck behind a desk - not that this is an excuse cos its not, its more highlighting that the both of us need different exercises, so we have realised that im not eating enough and far too little exercise. So we went and brought some fruit for me last week and have had some for 11am and 4pm which is where I find I dip! made sure I have had breakfast (a bowl of Special K) and after dinner we go out for our brisk 20 min walk, and on top of the kickboxing each week im hoping that im doing enough.

But this was highlighted the other day by a rather funny post on UKS, it was all about weight and how much over we all are and its amazing at how alike we all are, with our busy day to day lives fitting in exercise, fitting in healthy eating, cos lets face it eating healthy is far from cheap, which is my bug bear, we can go and get a terrible takeaway but by the time you have walked out of the fruit and veg section in the supermarket its cheaper to go and stuff your face with a takeaway (not that I do its a point). Seriously the other day we went to Sainsbury's (ok not the cheapest but the same in all supermarkets) and by the time I had picked up a handful of apples, oranges, strawberries, bananas and veg on top the bill was already over £10.00 (scan and pack).

Whats that all about, I know people have said go to a street market its cheaper, but we are not all blessed with street markets, and would much rather buy from local farmers but we dont have that around here, so how do you win!! ok exercise yes this is a pitfall of mine and Rogers and we are aware that we need to kick our fat butts into gear which we are - but its the healthy eating.

Oh dont get me wrong, we dont eat bad but there is room for improvement, we only mainly eat Chicken or beef and everything is grilled or stir-fried, we have veg every night and everything we have is half fat, I dont think there is one thing in my house that is full fat, not due to the diet but just tastes nicer in our opinion!

Aarrggh.....oh well sorry for the rant and sorry ive not posted any LOs lately, but cant fit behind my craft desk LOL no seriously just not had the time, but have some wonderful photos from this weekend so need to crack on.

So to all those out there struggling with their weight or exercising - Your not on your own, we need to be strong and find the time - so all together now lets fight the flab **I wave my fist in a revolutionary way whilst shouting I will fight the fat**

And to those who read my blog, an update on the camera, we have my birthday money, we were due to order it over the weekend but had family up so didnt have the time, but will be ordering it this week - so watch this space for some practice shots LOL

Thanks for reading and one last time *wave your fist* we will win

Photos..............

As promised some photos of my trip to see my dads rose tree, and a sleepy cat in my flower pot hehe

Happy Monday!!

OK so I'm trying to be good and get back into blogging, I don't mind waffling away on my blog of my dreary days with nothing major to talk about, but I worry that if I do have any regular readers I will bore their little socks off!

Nothing major to report on this side, though I must admit I was very very good this weekend, I created a LO woohoo, I have taken any photos yet as Saturday and Sunday just seem to fly by and before I knew it I was setting my clock for work this morning. So hoping to take a few snap shots tonight so I can upload to my system, UKS and here.

Ah yes the lovely UKS..............I am utterly lost, even though I work Mon-Fri 9-5 and incidentally very busy at work, I always like the have UKS running in the background so I can pop in and see all my lovely friends on there and catch up with them, and read the posts and generally gather very informative information! It has been down since 9.30 last night for a server swap, so we all know that its serious but I miss it, my little life line, oh OK I know I have work and that is a life line, but somehow being on UKS I feel more (trying to think of the word!) I feel more not welcome but part of something, that's it UKS makes me feel part of something big, and crafting of all sorts is something big.

And I'm even more lost today as my good friend is off work today, so have not had our daily catch ups and chats today, and I think because I'm on my own in the office every Monday my day is dragging even more, I hope she is OK bless her she is going through a difficult time at the moment, so a little word to you my little buddy I'm here to listen and hopefully make you chuckle at least once during your day :-))

Still slowly reading through the book I purchased by Cathy Zielske, I can tell you now that woman is god when it comes to photography, design and scrap booking, I created my LO on the weekend with her in mind, and how she uses the pages, tip, tricks and techniques I think she is utterly amazing, and have put her second book on my birthday list!

Birthday I hear you shout, its your birthday LOL!! well it is on 1st July I will be the young and tender age of 32 (mum argued with me the other day saying I was 33!), and for this birthday I have decided to ask for money, I would normally spend it on crafting stuff, but this time I have an aim.........this little beauty

Its the new Fuji Finepix S9600 and its lush, so I have put my one item list (OK that's a fib) in front of Roger and gave that sigh and lost puppy look.






Talking of photos, I think cos I'm so into photography I'm finding all sorts of amazing things to photograph, and we have a decent Fuji 5.2 compact now, but I feel I just need that stage or two up, but yesterday we picked mum up and took her to the cemetery to see dad and put our cards on his rose, and it truly was a lovely moment, the sun was shining, perfect blue skies, and we walked into the part where Dad, Nanny and Granddad's roses are and the array of colour and the smell of beautiful roses was breath taking, I was so glad that I had my camera on me and took a photo from where I was standing!

I know a cemetery is not the kind a place you should take pictures, but my reason was two-fold, firstly the beauty took my breath away, and secondly as my brother lives in Spain he has never seen dad's rose bush in bloom so I thought it would look lovely to have a photo with dads cards and in bloom and send it over to him.

The cemetery in question is the Putney Vale Cemetery, and its truly the most amazing one I have ever stepped foot in, I know they are sad places and not a place to talk about, but these things I take notice of as Dad was a grounds keeper for another cemetery and was a keen photographer, so both of these in mind I pick up the beauty in the strangest of places, this place is slap bang on the A3 and if anyone knows the A3 its a busy road, but when your in there it all pales out, you cant really hear it, its amazing.

Anyway, I have taken some lovely photos of my trip there but again did not have the time to upload, so when I get home tonight I shall upload a few of this photos into a slideshow.

I feel I have waffled on for long enough, so for now ttfn xxxxxxxx
Cxx

Over-Worked!

Hello everyone, first my apologies for leaving it so long to log on and update my blog, I check it everyday but just not had the chance to update it. Its been a funny few weeks, again my mojo has upped and left me for a short break probably somewhere a lot more desirable then drabby UK.

Anyway, a lovely lady from UKS called Jac helped me big time not so long ago, I was given some old piccies from my mum and she wants me to do something with them, they are of myself and my brother, I had them scanned at work (they all laughed and wanted to know where my innocence went - cheeky buggers!) and I then sent them off to print, but obviously not using my noddle I didnt realise that they would have printed them in 6x4 format even though they were 3x4 format so you can imagine what I got back LOL.

Anyway, I posted on UKS for some advice and Jac stepped up to the plate and helped, so now I have plenty of copies of these photos to try and do some wonderful things with. So watch this space for my next creation.

I am also very pleased with myself I have not spent any money in the last 2 months on Stash, I took a hard evalution on my stash and even though I dont have a lot I have enough for my scrapbooking knowledge, and whilst I am on a dry spell of inspiration it seems silly to spend out.

News on me at the moment, went to the Drs last night due to a funny and rather irrating cracking sound in my left wrist, she done loads of twisting and moving motions with it and bascially told me and I quote "its over used" ok so how would I explain that one to my ignorant boss who incedently has time off and doesnt tell us - Knobber!!

So anyway, my left wrist is heavily strapped and will have to wait and see the outcome.

Roger and I have spoken alot about weddings lately and we are now tallying up a cost, just so we can see how much we need to save.

Right I think that is it for now, will try to make sure I am good in the future

TTFN
Clairexx

Peeves..............

OK so today I feel really crabby, its that time of month, its cold dank and wet and frankly just cant be bothered!!

I am sitting here at work really not wanting to be here, I am lucky at the moment that the IT regs still allow me to post on here, so I'm going to post and be all yukky and moody LOL. My motivation seems to have vanished along with the sunshine so hopefully when that comes back so will by motivation.

I have loads of photos and plenty of stash (well not plenty) there is more then enough that I could be getting on with.

So the latest news from me is mum has decided that she wants to see the house now, she realises that the house is just far to big and hard to manage now its just her on her own, so we have found a lovely 2 bed maisonette just around the corner and she is in love with it, we have also had loads of interest in her house which is always a good thing, just its just a case of watching and waiting and hoping it will all sort itself out. Also the estate agent well he is a bit of a lad I must say, he looked a little tangoed when I met him LOL - I think he needs to have a rest from the ole tanning beds LOL.

I know I said I was going to blog at least once a week, cant remember the date I last done one, so I thought I would get my trusted Blog Prompts list out and take one from there, and as you can see by the title its about pet peeves and there should be a law against.............................

My pet peeves, probably are the same as most others, I think for this one it will be in list fashion LOL:-

• Petrol Station attendants that stay on the phone whilst serving you and hold their hand out for the cash!!
• People who NEVER call back
• People who say "if only you had told me last week I was selling one!!!!"
• Cold Callers on a SUNDAY MORNING
• Learner Drivers in rush hour (sorry I know I was a learner once, but never in rush hour)
• Pregnant women chuffing on a fag
• People who hear my London accent then start talking to my in rhyme "whose on the dog and bone" "up the ole apples and pears" "ah lovely mince pies" do I look like a pearly queen LOL
• Or when you have a argument/discussion with your OH, and you say you always do that and they come up with the smart arsed comment "if I always do that then give me examples" oh that really gets my goat cos you know sods law says you cant remember a single example!!

I know there are a whole host more of annoying little things that I feel should just be law that they cant annoy me. Anyway I will try and think of something better to blog about next week, hey you never know the sun might come out and my motivation to come back and I could blog about scrap booking now theres a chance!!

Seeya xxx

Toot Toot

I know I have posted today, but only just got my photos uploaded and havent shared my new car with you loverly lot................so here is my sexy little black number..........isnt she yum....................

She is the new shape Seat Leon, fab and fun to drive......just thought I would share

Random Fact for a Random Monkey!

Ok so here are some random facts about me, I found this on Gems blog and as she hadn't tagged anyone in particular and I hadn't blogged I thought I would take this opportunity to blog and share some randomness about me.

The rules are to list 7 random facts/habits about yourself. Then choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names (don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog and they need to write the rules in their answer too). So...7 random facts/habits:

• Lamb will never pass the threshold of my house, unless it is a pet, as a child I had to eat what mum served but hated it from my earliest memory
• I cannot physically look out of a downstairs window, that backs onto a dark area like a garden, I am scared that someone will be starring back at me of pop up in front of me
• At nearly 32 I am still petrified of clowns, one of two things could happen if I came face to face with one 1. I could cry and turn into a blubbering wreck or 2. punch the living daylights out of whoever it is, and it could even be a friend playing a joke, I wouldn't see it!
• I had my last cigarette on the 14th August 2004, the day Roger and I moved into our first house together and am now officially the worlds worst ex smoker
• I kick boxed for several years, and competed
• I started Ice Hockey at school despite not being able to skate, and even now if you put me in those blue boots it will look like I have never skated a day in my life
• I have 2 false teeth at the front of my mouth, thankfully they don't look false, they were knocked out by a flying Puck and yes OUCH is the right word!

As for tagging someone, I think I am going to take a leaf out of gems book (blog) and let whoever hasn't been tagged to take this opportunity to share some randomness with the blogging community, but if you do then comment back here so I can go and have a peep.

Thanks for reading a little snippet of my random world, it was nice to invite you all in

Claire xx

Oh my goodness!!

Can you believe it !! its nearly a month since I last posted, so I'm sorry to those that read my dreary going ons, LOL but I really don't know where time has gone, I really am shocked that we are now in MAY!! whats that all about?

So May brings the end of the CC on UKS, which was a totally fab weekend, I tried different things, I actually worked outside my comfort zone and regularly over the weekend found thinking out of the box which was cool, I feel that as I have really only been scrapping for just over a year, I have found that I am comfortable with certain things like colours, embellies, number of photos etc.... and this weekend saw me scrapping more then 1 or 2 photos, and using different sizes have a look:-

And I found that because I didn't buy any kits I made things, like one of the classes needed a clock and I was able to make one, ok albeit not as perfect as the one that would have been in the kit, but I truly had fun making them!

Also, May brings loads of birthdays, my Brothers 41st!! I cant believe it was this time last year we were all in Mallorca celebrating his 40th! its mad where the hell has 12 months gone?

Also, sad to say it also sees the first anniversary of my dear dads death, its crazy, I sit here now and wonder how I got through this year, and to be truthful I cant answer that, I have had my days of realising that I will never see him again or have that hug and become inconsolable, but yet there are days where I think he is in a much happier and pain free place, I think I am one of those people that hide emotions as much as I can, and just get on, and try not to think too much about what is going on, I am not saying that I don't think about him because I do and a lot, like with the crap I am going through with work I could see my dad and have a good ole rant and he will tell me "oh stuff em tell to go **** themselves your better then them" LOL a true Irishman I can tell you, and he would listen even though I was probably boring the pants off him he would always shake his head and have an answer, or if he knew I needed to rant he would rant with me, and that is something I do miss a lot! funny isn't it, the silly things that get you.

Funny, the silly sod is always in my mind, maybe not always at the front, but is always there, you know my philosophy in life is never to regret, and 99% of the time that is so true, but sometimes I think "oh how I wish Roger and I had gotten married" you know just to save that little bit of pain on the day!! Hey ho never mind........................(just reflecting), it would have also been his 66th birthday on the 26th May!

I managed to get some old photos scanned the other week, and here are just a few of my favs:-

This is me and dad in our back garden in Putney, London in the early 80s (not a daddy's girl at all LOL)











Now I know full well that Mum would not be happy with this photo, but it is of mum and dad on holiday in Malta (2nd time) in the early 90s

This is a fav of mine, I have always looked up to Lee in more ways then one, and this was our first visit to Mallorca back in the 80's, how strange that we now seem to go there every year, as this is now where he lives, the birdy song obviously had a lasting affect on him hehe

Mum gave me a few of these photos, and have enjoyed finding things to do with them, and is nice to have them in my vast collection of photos both on my pc and the hard copy ones. I know mum has many many more for me to play around with so looking forward to getting my grubby mits on them too.

Anyway, I am sure I have waffled on far to much now so I am going to sign off - but not before wishing my big brother a happy birthday for tomorrow, and my several friends throughout this month, and a happy birthday to my dad I know he is probably reading this over my shoulder LOL, and I miss you more then you know xxxxxxxx

Thanks for reading peeps, promise I will get back to once a week (honest!) - I have been badgering a good friend (Sarah) for not updating hers, and she quite rightly pointed out my month absence today x

Catch you all soon
Clairexxx

I'm Alice and im in Wonderland

Well I cant be happier, UKS have just launched another CyberCrop!!! Excitement all round I think, I had my first ever experiance of a CC last year with their Harry Potter one, and I have truely never had so much fun as I did on the run up to it and that whole weekend.

And now im here for a second one how totally fab is that, and im apparently a Diamond whoohoo so I am now a proper sauff London Diamond bird heheh.

So roll on all the fun, games, frollics for the next 3 weeks and a many hours of chatting to my new teamies.




Which Alice in Wonderland Character are YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com

The Colours in my life..................

Ok I forgot the Sunday blog last week, so I thought I would give it a bash now!!

This Sundays blog prompt is encouraging you to grab your camera again.. And this time capture some of the patterns and textures of your home... What colours do you surround yourself in your home?

Do you find your tastes in scrapping paper relates to tastes you have in your interior fashions?
I do.. I am quite taken by funky fabric prints, logos, textures and colours.
I like a "hint" of colour and then go mad with accessories!I think you can have features in your house that have far more of an impact that a whole room of random colour.
Show me yours and ill show you mine!

So here you go:-

Thanks SJ for another brill prompt xx

Where has the time gone................?

Ok so it feels like I haven't blogged in months but actually just realised I only blogged last week LOL, well so much for blogging every day, last week just seemed as manic as you like really!!

Well the overwhelming pain finally subsided by Thursday, I went to see a Locum Dr and apparently she reckons that it was a pulled muscle, I can 100% tell you now that WAS NOT a pulled muscle, I have broken bones, trapped nerves and pulled muscles in my 31 yrs existence and I can firmly and honestly say that woman had no flipping idea, dappy cow.

As for my foot, I have been put on a one final dose of Antibiotics, she said that should it stay the same then she will put me in for having some sort of toe op LOL sounds lovely doesn't !!

I managed to get a Monday off from work yesterday woohoo, wonders never cease to amaze me LOL, and yesterday I went to pick my new car up, its still a Seat Leon but just an 06 and its in BLACK wohoo im well pleased, obviously Roger wasnt as ecstatic when I said I wanted a black car as its him that has to keep it clean!! but either way its lovely, its gonna take me a little while to get used to it but it lurverly!!

Im such a dappy cow, I got all sad leaving my old car there, she has done me well bless. So driving home yesterday, it felt like I was driving across the world I drove in every weather you could imagine, I left home sunny, then rain, then sleet, then hailstones, then snow, back to rain, the sun, the pulling up outside the house and low n behold snow. Every season in one day, how mad was that!!

I feel a LO coming on with my cars, I do get so attached to my babies, especially if they have done be well, unlike a few pigs I have driven LOL

So thats all my news, I forgot to take photos of my mother day gift that I gave to my mum, it was a little mini album and I must admit I was very proud of it, and even brought a tear to mums face!!

Take care
Clairexxx