Snippets

 I would love to get back in to the habit of blogging again. It's a long time since I did it properly & reliably. Here's a few little snippets of our life over the last 6 months:

My little poser!

 
There was lots of fun in the sunshine.

Benjamin turned 2 years old,  this was his cake.

 We celebrated Christmas.

We watched the ships.

 

We have enjoyed some snowy days.

 I'm still scrapping. Here a few little glimses of some of the work I've done for Sarahs Cards recently. These can all be found over on the blog. I'm also still doing Project Life, and I love love love my albums!

The little man has become somewhat obsessed with firemen! Here he is taking an emergency call.

Most recently, we made an announcement...

{Meet Bubbles}

This is Bubbles, our new addition! 

She came home with us at the weekend and we are all completely enamoured with her. I have never seen Benjamin so happy about anything before, he's bouncing around with excitement. It's so great to see. Poor kitten is going to have to become pretty tolerant I think, as he's desperate to keep picking her up, carrying her, and depositing her in various places like people's laps and boxes and trays! I'm so looking forward to seeing their relationship grow. 

Mungo, our 3 year old cat has yet to meet Bubbles - the big introduction is scheduled to happed this evening when he arrives home from the cattery. Hoping it goes smoothly!

Yummy Mummy?!

I am fully aware of the fact that it's been an age since I last blogged. I've fallen out of the habit. I could put hundreds of excuses here, and follow that up with promises to myself about getting back into the habit but really, what's the point?! So I'm just going to jump right back in...

The lovely Leanne recently blogged a series of questions along the lines of motherhood, and I love little questionnaires so I'm joining in:

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
I usually try to roll over & go back to sleep! Failing that I go and get my little boy (or hubby does) and he gets into bed with us for snuggles, my favourite time of day!

Do you shower daily? Are you an early morning shower or evening bath type?
Morning for me. I let my hair dry naturally 99.9% of the time, and I hate going to bed with wet hair, so it has to be morning! On a work day it's before hubby leaves so we take it in turns in the bathroom while the other looks after the little one, but on non work days I'm usually joined in the bathroom by my 1 year old who sits & looks at books or play with cars while I get ready!

Do you wear make up daily?
No. I very rarely wear make up, even though I love looking at it / buying it!

Whats in your make up bag?
Benefit foundation, Estée Lauder mascara, eyeshadows from Avon, No 7 & Estée Lauder, touché éclat, plus a whole variety of lipsticks, glosses and sheens!

When your having a slummy Mummy day what do you normally wear?
I don't do "leisure wear" unless I'm pretty ill, so I tend to wear my normal clothes which is usually jeans and a pretty top. I have a couple of hoodies that come out for home days, which my husband refers to as my "old friends"!

Nails – how often do you get them done?
I have a confession...I bite my nails still. They look horrid. This is not something I like about myself! In fact it's my sister's wedding next week so I am having acrylics applied this week, after which I intend to have Shellac or similar in order to grow them out & keep them looking nice!

Your top tip for tired eyes?
I wish I knew! My eyes always look tired!

How many children do you have/want & why?
We have one gorgeous son Benjamin, who is one and a half now. I am one of two children and my hubby is one of three. I would love three children and he'd love two. I think we'll agree on three lol, that is if we are lucky enough to have more children.

Where is your favourite place to shop for babies/children’s clothes?
I love brights for my boy, and Next always come up trumps, along with Boots and Mothercare. Sainsburys have also been fantastic recently, I find myself eyeing up every item in their boys collections - such fun designs!

Flats or heels everyday shoes?
It has to be flats for comfort really, but I do love low heels too, and I have the odd pair of skyscrapers that come out for special occasions!

So there you have it...am I a "yummy mummy"? No probably not, but I'm comfortable and I don't spend hundreds of hours or pounds on looking "just right" whatever that means these days.

There has been a lot going on around here in the last few months, including a garden redesign, plenty of home decorating, Benjamin reaching milestone after milestone, and lots of crafting including quilting, cross stitch, full page scrapping, project life, felt food making, crochet, and sewing. Maybe I'll get around to sharing some of those things one day soon!

{Project Life Week 5}

Week 5 was a busy week, so I used a whole double spread, plus both sides of a divided 6x12 page protecter to fit in everything. 

One thing I am adoring about this project is it's ability to "scrap-bust"! Early on I went through my scraps pile and cut a load of papers into 6x4 and 3x4 sized pieces. It's great to have a pile there ready to grab & go whenever I want to dip in and create a little bit, and I love that I'm mixing old (sometimes really old!) papers with brand new ones. There is no set theme to my album in terms of colours or style or papers, I just try to make sure that each week coordinates across the pockets. I find the easiest way to do that is to limit supplies - I grab a couple of alphabets, a few journalling stickers, my pile of papers, a coordinating twine and a couple of rolls of washi tape and I'm good to go. Here & there I've added the odd embellishment, but not a lot. This album (or albums) is going to be bulky enough as it is without loads of embellishments.

{Project Life Week 4}

I have always been pretty rubbish at the memorabilia side of scrapbooking. Occassionally I remember to keep a ticket stub or receipt, but I never know how to include it, or it's got lost by the time I get around to wanting to use it! I'm trying to be better at this, and include a few things here and there in my Project life album. In week 3 I included a save the date card we got in the post, and for this week I've added in a party invitation (even though we couldn't go - I've journalled about being sad when my job stops us from doing fun things!), and part of a restaurant flyer since we had a lunch date midweek (a rare occurance!).

{Project Life week 3}

 Week 3 of the year was the first time I included an insert page to my album. 

We did a few things this week, and I had a few photos to include, but not enough to fill two whole pages, and I had one that I wanted printed out larger than the others. I used a 5x7" page protector and added my favourite pics to that. I'm using all the same page protectors for my main pages - they are from Becky Higgins. However, I'm using a variety of styles for my inserts and have a whole box to choose from! I'm not sure whether I'm regretting just getting one style for my main pages, but I have 60 of them so I've got to use them! Adding different inserts means it's mixed up enough to satisfy me.

 

Main page above, and insert (both sides) below :)

{Project Life week 2}

Onto week 2 of my project life album. This week I included pictures in lots of different formats. I like to use full size photos to fill a slot - either 6x4 or 3x4, and just add a bit of information right onto the photo either on a sticker/washi tape or sometime straight onto the photo with a journalling pen. I've also used small square photos from Instagram, a photo printed and cut out to give a polaroid effect, and a photobooth style strip from my camera cut down into individual pieces. On my wish list is an Instax polaroid camera, so I can add another type of photo to my pages.

Each week I choose which photos I want to include and insert them into a word document, arranging them to fit onto a page and resizing to the size I like. Then I just print the whole page onto A4 photo paper. I have a few friends with portable Selphy photo printers, and I'm wondering how well this would work for me. It does sound appealing to be able to print straight away from the camera, minus the faffing around on the PC...

{Project Life 2012}

We won't mention how long it's been since I last blogged.....wow those months just skip on by don't they?! Let's just pretend the massive gap didn't happen, and jump right on back in. 

If you read the Sarah's Cards blog you'll know I'm still here and still scrapping. Most of what I make these days ends up on there, but in addition to those pages I am working on my version of Document 2012 / Project Life. I'm using divided page protectors, and documenting on a weekly basis, but in general just one side per week, with extra for really busy weeks, or added inserts as necessary. 

I love how it is coming along!

This is the first page in my album (the title page has yet to be done) - week 1 way back in January and starting the new year off. The "2012 Memories start here" card was a free printable I found via Pinterest. I am just loving all the printables available, and have an entire pinterest board dedicated to them. Check it out here!

{Documenting June 2011}

 June seems a long time ago now, but I'm pleased to have reached the mid-way point in the year! 

This month saw little man turning 8 months old, and becoming more & more cheeky by the day. These photos are just so typical - looking all cute & smiley, and holding the sign upside down! Another Shimelle starting point was the inspiration for this page.

I had to stretch a little bit to fill my mini pages this month. For some reason June was fairly sparse in activities - it was so hot I think we just chilled out at home & went to our baby groups, but I failed to get many photos. I know I was stressing about going back to work a lot this month. Still, I did manage to find enough to fill the gaps. So June saw the arrival of our first nephew Alexander, it saw Benjamin learn to kneel and pull himself to stand, it was our 3rd wedding anniversary (I love this block - the present theme is leather for 3 years, so I went to M&S and picked up a leather swatch from the homeware department to put on here), B sent happy birthday messages to his grandma & grandad, and my mum and dad went to Canada!

I have to say thank you to Shimelle for getting me out of my scrapping rut, what with the starting points that I love, and the new class Pretty Paper Party, which is where this page came from. This wasn't an event as such, just a sunny day messing about in the garden and taking silly photos of Benjamin in my sunglasses lol! He'll thank me for this when he's older I'm sure (hmmm). 

{The Party}

Benjamin's first birthday party was a small affair with just a few close family & friends, but I still wanted to make it cute & fun of course! 

We went with a monkey theme, since he's our "little monkey", and I kind of went a bit mad with balloons - I ordered 100 and strung them up all over the house! In fact they are still up now, I can't bear to take them down because B loves them so much! 

The lovely SJ made us some super cute invitations featuring an adorable little monkey with a cupcake - what's not to love?!

 Here are a few of the party details: 

1. Those balloons - I used an idea I'd seen on Pinterest and blew them up then threaded them onto a piece of thread and hung them all over the place! It worked great! I love that they aren't in your way on the floor, and no helium required - win! I will definitely be using this idea oevr & over again. 

2. The cake. The all important first birthday cake. I admit, I was nervous. I don't bake a lot, although I would like to. The cake was pretty simple really - a chocolate sponge with chocolate butter icing. I cut a alither away from the top semi-circle to give it shape, then added rolled icing for the face. The hair is made of matchsticks, the ears are jaffa cakes, the eyes are buttons and the nose chocoate coated raisins. I love how it turned out! 

3. I strung up all of Benjamin's monthly photos using little chalk hearts to mark the months. It was great to see them all together like that, so this series will definitely be making it's way onto a layout soon (if I can figure how to get 13 photos onto a page, maybe it'll have to be the first double I've done in years!).

4. A monkey party just wouldn't be complete without bananas. Both the fruit and the sweetie kind!

5. Just in case anyone wondered what flavour the quiche was, or which cheese was which I made little food flags for the buffet table. Quick, easy and effective. 

6. I can't claim to have made the napkins, but they were cute lol!

Finally to commemorate the little man turning one, we had a print made, again by SJ - see how well it coordinates with the invitation? Love that! These are a few of Benjamin's favourites at the tender age of 1. I would love to do something similar each birthday, it's such a nice reminder. 

If you love this, you can have of your own! SJ does Likes prints for individuals, families, and also family values prints. Great for birthdays, christmas or just because. Any age goes - I'm tempted to do one for myself! Take a look at her shop here.

{Documenting May 2011}

As promised, here are my pages for May in my Document 2011 album. I am so happy with the way this album is turning out, it's such a wonderful way to look back over the year. 

Benjamin's 7 months page was based on a starting point by Shimelle. I used a subtle grid paper for the main block so that I would have plenty of space for journalling! This month it was all about movement - he went from stationary to crawling in several stages over the month. Using a washing basket for the photos was my way of keeping him in one place although it was still hard work! The 'seven' letters are the same ones you can see in the photo to date it.

 Some of May's activities included a girly scrapbooking weekend away (half of the weekend was technically April, but I used creative license, since April was so packed already!), my 27th birthday, Benjamin loving the swings, teething (and the arrival of the first 4 teeth), lots of time in the garden, and little man's baptism.

For my focus page this month I used my favourite photo from Benjamin's baptism - it was such a lovely day. My sister did a great job with the photos - I love how Michael & I, and Father are all looking and smiling down on him, which is exactly what the whole day was about. I stuck to a fairly neutral colour scheme of pale yellow and grey, with a few splashes of green and blue. 

{Documenting 2011 - catch up!}

I've been way behind on my Document 2011 pages - April pages had been sat half done in my to-do pile since early May! A couple of weeks ago now I sat down and blitzed my way through them! I think because they'd been sat there so long I'd got a sort of scrappers block on them, and they just needed to be out the way!

Since then I've also completed May and June, and July is in progress, so I'm happy with that. With two scrapbooking weekends up and coming in November, I feel confident that I can get this project up to date. A massive photo order done yesterday should mean I can just grab it and go. In fact, I may not take anything else with me! 

Here are April's mini pages: 

April was a really busy month, with loads of days out and events to document. I prefer months like that, sometimes I have to work hard to fill the 18 squares! So in April we had my mother-in-law's 60th birthday party, easter, an ale festival, my first mother's day, a trip to the zoo, the royal wedding and a few random phone pictures of Benjamin.

This month was his half-year, and I LOVE the pictures from this month's photoshoot. He was at that lovely age where he could sit up, smile & laugh, but would stay still lol! I layered up lots of papers under the photo, and put my journalling both on the yellow die-cut piece and all the way around the edge of the page. The stars are embossed chipboard (I may be slightly addicted to Zing! powders at the moment!). There don't seem to be a huge amount of star shaped embellishments out there, but I love them for little boy pages. I'm in the market for a star punch if anyone knows of a good one?

...and then he was ONE

 

 My baby is one. Officially no longer a baby and more like a toddler. 

People are right when they tell you that time flies by so much more quickly when you have children. It really does. I don't think anyone really believes it until they experience it though.  

From this to this in 12 short months. I'm so proud of my little man.

The day started with presents of course, and the birthday boy sported mummy's new favourite stripey sleepsuit! See that stack of presents behind him? That has taken a long time to open, because he loves all his new toys so much he just wants to play with them & not open the next one!

 

Then off we went to the Sea Life Centre which was a huge success - he loved watching the fishes, and one particular playful penguin was captivating! 

Back home and time for a few photos. The balloon pictures didn't really work out since the weather was a bit rubbish, so instead we have cake photos for his one year pics. Since he won't sit still enough for a number prop anymore, I made a customised vest for him using photoshop and some t-shirt transfer paper - super easy & super cute!

Just out of interest, this is what hapens after you give a one year old a cupcake....

...sugar high! It was hilarious - he was dancing around and squealing at the top of his voice. Racing over to the window and slapping it whilst shouting at the garden. Rubbing his hands over his chest & belly like a man possessed lol!

Having recovered from the sugar rush, it was time to test out more new toys, here he is enjoying a couple of them - a cute wooden trike & a fun fire engine (I think I will hear nee-naw noises in my sleep!).

 

 

Last but not least the important family photo. Rubbish quality beacause it was getting dark & I had my ISO set wrong d'oh. But although it may not be great quality, it's us. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more family photos at the weekend when he has his little party & there's someone else to take our pics - much easier than doing it yourself!

{Almost 1)

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone. This time 1 year ago I was almost 40 weeks pregnant and sooo ready to meet my little baby. Now, that precious newborn is a toddling, smiling, clapping, laughing little boy with so much personality. He has grown so fast! He will turn one in two weeks - wow!

I only started doing the 'official' monthly photos at 3 months, but I have photos from the right days of the previous months, so here is his first year....

The day he was born - 10/10/10 at 10.27pm

1 month old, starting to smile

2 months old, looking more grown up

3 months old, starting to get cheeky!

4 months old, loving tummy time

5 months old, learning to sit

6 months old, teething!

7 months old, getting harder to photograph since he won't keep still!

8 months old, won't leave the props alone!

9 months old, being taught naughty tricks by Grandad!

10 months old, refusing to look at the camera!

11 months old, walking!

I have plans for the one year photo which involve lots of ballons! We shall see how well that comes off - he might not want to cooperate with me!