There and back

So, where was I?

Well....

Went to the UK, travelled around a lot, attended a crop, saw a lot of scrappy friends, caught up with a wonderful schoolfriend (see Gerry's Cakes here for a peek at the incredible talent), took a trip to London, had champagne in Harrods at the Oyster Bar, ate Prêt-à-Portea at The Berkeley, saw Mamma Mia in the West End, had a great pub dinner with dad, scrapped a lot, took little ones to and from school, received LOADS of cuddles and kisses from three scrumptious monsters and then came home again. Phew. It was quite a week.

And on top of that, I managed to keep up with my LOAD challenge, even scrapping without photos on the train (two days running). *Insert funny looks from fellow train travellers here*

I never actually thought I would manage this but I was determined to give it a go, and not to stress if I didn't. Somehow it worked - brilliant!

May 10th

May 11th 

May 12th

**just a sneak peek here as it is a magazine assignment for TSM

May 13th 

**I forgot on the 12th which frustrated me until I realised that the 13th was much more interesting anyway with a family engagement celebration!

May 14th

May 15th

May 16th

May 17th

May 18th

May 19th

May 20th

May 21st 

May 22nd

May 23rd

I even created an extra layout. And... I managed to break into one of my five untouched Scrapagogo kits that have been sitting there on the side. Strike!

Since I've been back, I've been trying to get back into the swing of normal life but a long Bank Holiday weekend has kept the holiday feeling going and the housework and humdrum is suffering! But who cares, right?

It was lovely to attend the Bromsgrove crop (hi everyone!!!!!) spend some time with family, have a weekend with mum and Libby (the last time we did that was 10 years ago!) and see those little (growing) faces! So heart warming. I can't believe how much they have grown. They'll be taller than me before I know it!

Talking of taller than me - the other *kiddies* are all grown up now - the baby brother has even moved into his own flat - Go Joe! And good luck to Ted for his exams that he's been working so hard for since forever - our fingers are crossed for you. Amber - keep up with the photography.

Looking forward to receiving all the visitors over here throughout the summer! 

And mum and Lib - photos will be in the post soonest!

LOAD update

Day 9 and so far, all is going well with the Layout A Day challenge.

Want to see?

I'm trying to get a few stories told that have been hanging around for some time, trying out some new "styles", trying to use up some of the photos that I have printed out and done nothing with so far, trying to be creative. Or maybe that should just read "trying".

May 3rd

May 4th 

May 5th

May 6th 

May 7th

May 8th

May 9th

Learning points so far? Well...

1. I need to improve the photography of my completed layouts
2. I love the Mr Campy Cosmo Cricket range - I might need to buy more!
3. I love having years' worth of printed out photos in holding binders which I can just browse and pick out photos that speak to me at that moment. This is thanks to my incomplete Library of Memories Stacy Julian system. It still needs work, but it is already proving worthwhile.
4. I still love pink!
5. I use border punches ALL the time
6. I need to make layouts every day until I die if I have any chance of working through my PP collection
7. Even if I am trying to do a really simple full of whitespace layout, I seem to fill it up. Bits and pieces and journalling. Simple does not come easily to me
8. When searching through my stash for these bits and pieces, it's scary how many items are years old. I mentally give myself a million points if I use anything that is really old. May 5th uses some really old (2007) HS stuff and that negative style frame must be older than that. It felt good to use it. 
9. I adore all my Thickers alphabets - I neeeeeed more
10. I love using the same photos again and again telling a different story each time. Maybe I should get over this...

Welcome May

Another month as slipped by and here we all are in May.

I have been creating which is always a good thing! I am playing catch up on my BPS class Dimensional Details - just have to do the current week's assignment to be completely up to date and then I can go back and do extra ideas from the class if I have time. I am using up lots of scraps which is great and trying out new things which is very inspiring. I'm not being so particular with my layouts for this class - I'm grabbing photos, papers and bits and pieces and concentrating on the techniques - it's fun to do something a bit different. In fact, most of the time, I am creating a whole layout without even thinking about the photos and then adding them in at the end! This is one of the best classes I have done over at BPS and Nic Howard is lovely and so talented.

Week 2 was creating backgrounds including glimmer misting a mask onto the background - it IS there, just a bit shade in shade!

Week 3 was multiple layering

Week 4 was focus on the photographs (just can't stand how gorgeous these photos of Isabella are - can't WAIT to see her in two weeks - and the other two of course but Isabella is the one who pays me most attention these days - what's not to love about that???) 

And now I am part of the May LOAD (layout a day) challenge! Being creative every day for a month is a great way to use up stash, get inspired by the gallery, kick-start a lethargic me and generally have fun! I will be following my 10 point strategy again - see here - and we shall see how I get on.

 I am really not sure if I'll manage it this month because I will be in the UK for a week, but with a bit of planning and iPhone uploads to Flickr, I'm going to give it a shot (now, to get on with the planning!)

May 1st's layout was the Isabella one above - and I really think this is one of my favourites from the last few months.

And then May 2nd was a bit of an introspective one - bit dark and gloomy! 

Here is just a sneak of it...

And I am thrilled that Deb has given me a Kreative Blogger Award. How cute is this badge?

I have to list seven creative things I have done - mmmmm.....:

1. I started sewing clothes for my dolls when I was about 5. Once I even sewed over my finger with the electric sewing machine much to my mother's horror! Didn't put me off though!
2. As a teenager, I made my own advent calendars - with pictures of my favourite pop stars etc behind the doors!
3. I used to make Christmas cards with hand sewn beads on slubbed silk like Christmas trees - but they had to be hand delivered as the sorting machines at the post office used to crush the beads.
4. Back at the end of the 80's, I ran a dress designing/making business concentrating on evening dresses and wedding gowns. The dresses were gorgeous (even if I say so myself!) but I was hopeless at the business side of things. I lasted three years before having to give up and get a "real" job. I must have made hundreds of silk handmade roses over the years!
5. One of my first scrapbooks was created in a sugar paper album after my first foreign holiday with my grandparents - I was 11. It even included the plastic cutlery from the plane! Not sure about the archival quality of that...
6. I discovered modern scrapbooking back in 2005 and it took until the beginning of 2006 for me to start. I had no idea what to do really, and dragged Libby along to a shop that had what we thought was LOADS of wonderful products that we both fell in love with. The rest is history.
7. I started taking a Photo A Day at the beginning of 2007 - I still try to take photos most days and have a set of albums to showcase them. I have ALWAYS taken LOTS and LOTS of photos - I have thousands and thousands that need to be scanned, sorted and stored. I am improving slowly.

So, I tag Libby, Sarah and Stacy to be my Kreativ Bloggers! 

On that note, I will love you and leave you and get back to my page planing for later in the month. 

Wish me luck for LOAD!