Rocking your World Friday - 26 July

Hello and Happy Friday to you all.

A much more positive post from me this week - Im sure you will be glad to see that. Last week was just one of those weeks for me but I was still determined to join in.  I guess sometimes you do need to take the rough with the smooth.   Not as many photos as I would have liked though as Im blogging from my phone which isnt a problem in itself but the signal is poor and its very hard trying to get photos to load over it.

So lets get down to it.  What rocked my world this week.

Firstly - my local crop -  I co run this along with Audrey and they really are the lovliest, friendliest and maddest bunch of crafters you could hope to meet.  A days cropping with them never fails to cheer me up.
I even managed a bit of creativity - Yay! It felt good after a week of producing nothing at all.  No pictures though as I havent actually managed to finish any of the things I started yet!!  It was good to see Donna again all refreshed after her holiday to the USA and I really must thank her for the teeny wee wooden alpha stamps and lovely journal cards and little patterned glassine bags she brought me back.  The stamps are pefect for my art journal and I cant wait to use the envelopes and cards on a layout.

Then on Sunday we were distraught as Maisie Moo, my daughters kitten managed somehow to get out of the house and was missing for around five hours!!!! We were in a right old panic when we discovered this and when we set off along the street to search for her it was not at all helpful when the first thing we saw was a fox!!!! just two doors along strutting up and down like he owned the place  We were sure then that we would never see Maisie again but just after we had given up searching and come inside to post pics of her on facebook I noticed a movement at the lounge window and there was the little minx up on the outside sill begging to come in.

Finishing work on Thursday for a wee break!! Im not back in the office until Tuesday 6 August. Its a fab feeling. Yay!!

Beadnell - yes I'm back here again - my favourite corner of the world and how lovely this time to be here not only with my parents but I will be joined later on today by  my lovely son Fraser and his girlfriend Emma and my gorgeous daughter Fiona and her boyfriend Gary.  Its a long time since we were all here together and Im really looking forward to it.

But the main thing Im grateful for this week,  and the reason we are all at Beadnell together is that today my lovely Dad is 80 and along with all their caravan friends we are having a birthday bbq.  In case you didn't know about eighteen months ago my Dad was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia and in that short time we can see him failing which is incredibly sad.  Most of the time he is his lovely self but when he is not it gives a glimpse of how the future might be.  He has been looking forward for weeks to us all being there with him (I will post up some pics of his birthday celebrations next week)

Im here for another few days then Im heading home because once and for all I need to get a grip on the ever increasing mess that is my craft room.  So instead of chilling out down here Im biting the bullet and having a few days off at home (which I dont usually like to do) to sort things out in the hope that once its tidied and semi organised so that I can find things I might feel more like sitting in there doing a bit of creating,  So Im hopeful it will be worth it in the end

And finally I receive this very lovely kit in the.post.this week from Sue.  I won this as a prize.on ber lovely blog and I can't wait to.use it.

If you want to know what this is all about then hop over to Virginia's place and join in.  Due to very limited signal here I might not get round to comment on your blogs till I get back home but I will try my best.

Till next week.

Arty CJ Catch Up

Hello, hello. Two cj entries from me today. The first was for my Mojo Busters 3 cj on UK Scrappers. This was for the gorgeously talented Rebecca's cj which made me nervous before I even got started. Rebecca's subject is New Year to be interpteted in any way we wanted. I'm not really a lover of New Year, I know, I know, being Scottish you would think I would be, but there you go. I was a bit stumped to be honest and the cj was all in Gorgeous vintagey Tim Holtz style and I had nothing which really matched that. Then Rebecca said try something art journally so I did and this is what evolved. The little booklet on the left hand side opens up to explain New Year,New Art Journey and the wee flap in the middle has my sign in details on it. The stamp on the right hand side is a saying by Helen Keller and reads "The best, most beautiful things can not be seen or even touched they must be felt with the heart". I love the colours but when it's in with the other pages it does stick out a bit like a sore thumb. I just hope Rebecca likes it

The second is for my team cj. Im proud to be a member of the fabulous Rik Rak Ravers on U K Scrappers and for our first sj we are just passing round pages which cuts down on cost. This month I had Julieanns to do and her theme is Change, and my pages morphed into something much brighter than my usual. I think the recent week of sunshine here in Scotland has definately gone to my head. This one had lots of layers of Gesso, washi tape, paint and was inked and sprayed on and also through stencils. The quote on the left hand side says "Things do not Change We Change". I made a pocket on the right hand side and decorated with a doily and a flower made from the tattered florals die using a previously made background and some vintage book pages. I popped my tag in with my journalling on. Julieann has received the pages and says she likes them so that was a "phew" moment!

Month in Numbers - May

Well I really enjoyed joining in with this last month.  If you are not sure why I am recording the important numbers for this month then hop over to Julie's blog .... and have a look to see what its all about

I had some lovely comments from people who joined in with this last month and really enjoyed my hop around the various blogs to see what numbers people had recorded for their own month

So without further ado, heres what happened for me in May

one lovely birthday lunch out for my Mums birthday at their favourite local del - Deli 108

1 - Blog makeover by my lovely and very talented friend Dee - I absolutely hated the old fashioned and cutesy look of my blog but after Dee got her mitts on it she has dragged it right into the present - using my favourite colours and even incorporating some of my art work in the banner .  This led on to me hosting my very first (and hopefully not my last) Blog party/hop where some of my very good real life friends and some good friends I have made via blogging and scrapbooking - 10 in total joined in with me to showcase some of their work.    Dee also made me a new cover photo for my facebook account based on the blog banner.  There were 6 prizes and 1 lovely discount offered along the hop and I had 34 fab comments

5 - the number of days I spent in my beloved Beadnell at the end of the month Bank Holiday.  For one reason or another I havent managed to get there this year up to now and boy was I missing the place.4 art journal pages finished off outside in the sun and 2 calendar pages for June started.

2 beach walks,   only 6 pieces of Seaglass collected, very slim pickings.   Two books read whilst I was there.

2 - the number of crops attended this month - our own one in East Kilbride which was back to full capacity this month and 1 new member, Karen we welcomed along to join in the madness with us.  She is fairly mad herself and fitted in exremely well.  The second one was Scrap Dollies bi-montly crop at Stewarton which in May was held to raise funds for Cancer research and as we had lost one of our members to cancer earlier this year we were all happy to go along and help raise funds for this wonderful cause

  This is the canvas I made as my contribution to us all making something which had to include pink and which hopefully could be sold to help raise funds. This is as pink as I get lol

1 - Fab stamp ordered from Crafty Individuals - I mean it would have been rude not to really.  What with my connections to that area of England and my love of all things seasidey. How excited was I to discover a stamp with Grace Darling's Lighthouse on it.  I cannot wait to create something lovely with it.

One silly and somewhat spectacular fall at work resulting in one sore neck and two very bruised knees (all better now so thanks for asking)

So that wraps May in numbers up for me.  Why not join in yourself this month.

Rocking Your World Friday

Hello there. Can't believe it's Friday again.  This week has rolled by very quickly.

Last week I joined Virginia for the first time with this and really enjoyed jt so.here I am again.

What rocked my world this week then:

Firstly a few days away.from home at my parents caravan in Beadnell, Northumberland, so relaxing and a chance to recharge the batteries.

Sunshine, yay! Several days of it whilst away, it felt good to be out and about enjoying it.

Finally getting the time to read this book which has been on my "to read" pile since Fraser and Fiona bought me it for Christmas and a very enjoyable read it was too.

Sitting in the sun on Saturday evening with a glass of.chilled white wine, some nibbles and a pen doodling in my art journal - bliss.

Receiving my first two sets of Plundered Page packs from Julie Kirk all beautifully packaged up with some extra seaside themed papers, little beads and a wee bird and a gorgeous little card with the words challenge and encourage you which is very appropriate given the challenges and encouragement in Julies recent blogging series Ive been following.  These will be making an appearance in my crafting very soon.  I got the maps and the numbers packs and they are full of fabulous pages.

So there you go, that was my week so why don't you head on over to Virginias place and join in.  See you next Friday.  Have a fab weekend everyone and I hope the sun shines for you

Rocking Your World - Friday

Hello there.  I have decided to join in with Virginia at her blog Celtic House and her Rocking your World Fridays.  I spotted this on Jen from Wear Crafts blog and thought it might be nice to join in

So here we go whats Rocking my World this week

Well firstly finishing work at 1pm and jumping in the car and heading straight for Beadnell to my parents caravan.  Its my first visit this year and boy have I missed the place.

Art Journalling - a newish discovery for me and I just love the whole painty inky messiness and the fact that there are no rules - just suits me to a tee.  Im hoping against hope I will be sitting in the sun this weekend, glass of wine by my side, and painting away in my journals.  Yeah!! I know, some hope eh!!

My friends who joined in with my very first blog hop on Monday - you all rock - it was such fun and I really want to do it again soon

My new look blog - I just love it - so very me - and it rocks - I cant thank Dee enough for all her hard work on this and yes I was a tricky customer lol

Why dont you pop over to Virginias place to see what this is all about and I will hopefully see you again here next Friday

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - May

Im late posting my pic again which was actually taken during the first week in May. I did manage to snap my view on a fairly sunny day and its nice to see a blue sky appearing.  Roll on the summer I say, because I have had enough of winter weather thank you very much.  Today we had sleety showers on the way into work.  Sleety showers in May!!! What on earth is going on.  It brightened up as the day went on but its still blooming freezing outside.

I also managed to do my simple layout using my photo for my wee accordian book so that it is up to date as well, Im really quite pleased with the way the book is  shaping up so far and once I get June's done I will display it on my fireplace I think.  Im just hoping the Studio Calico Snippets papers Im using for this book last but I am beginning to think I might need to invest in a couple more sheets just in case!

Month in Numbers - April

Ooh here we are folks with my second time of joining in with Julie Kirk's month in numbers and this month Julie is directly responsible for two of the numbers on my list thanks to her excellent Push up Bra approach to blogging series (if you havent seen it yet hope over to Julies fab blog and take a look and maybe you could help by giving a donation to her very worthwhile cause of  Save the Children.

Okay to the numbers for the month.  First up is the two I can give Julie and her push up bra the credit for .   13 (yikes is that unlucky)  the number of blog posts this month, the most I have ever posted in a month since I started my wee blog!  That might not seem like a lot to you regular bloggers but the total of my blog postings for the whole of last year was only 33 lol.  Then 1 blog hog I joined in with on UK scrappers and 75 (wow!) the number of lovely comments left by UK Scrapper folks  on my blog hop post.  Join in with things Julie said, I did, and I enjoyed the whole experience, once the initial technical traumas were overcome, which was a long story of having no working computer, a smartphone which isnt so smart and an aged laptop owned by my Parents,  and I will not be so shy about joining in something like that again.

6, the number of fab crafting friends who got together for 1 fab, 3 night weekend crafting at Lochhouse Farm in Moffat, leading to 1 friend (Dee)being converted to art journalling while we were there

Here are five of us beavering away

I piece of extremely good news a special friend had after getting the all clear following a major operation.

24 - the number of Derwent Inktense pencils purchased from ebay following a recommendation that they were excellent for art journalling ( I will report back on that once I have had a wee play with them)

3 - the number of hours spent raking through my garage hunting for an elusive tent for my son to use on a camping weekend next weekend - only to find it had been hiding in the back of a cupboard in the spare bedroom all along *sigh*

That's me for this month.  Hop on over to Julie's place Notes on Paper to see what it's all about

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there fellow bloggers.

Tuesday has rolled round again and it's time to join in with Vicki's  Ten Minute Tuesday, hop over to Vicki's blog  The Biskit Barrel to see what it's all about.

This week I decided to scrap the April photo for the View a month challenge on the Lucky Snapping in 2013.blog.  I made the accordian book and scrapped January to March at my recent weekend away so only had my April pic to do to  keep me all up to date.  Each wee page is only 6 x 6.making it easy to scrap and that coupled with the fact that I'm only using papers from the one collection (Studio Calico Snippets - chosen as they have a dinky wee sticky tab for each month plus I loved the colours) meant that its easy to grab the bag Im keeping the papers, the accordian book and my printed photos for each month and get going with my ten minute slot. It's blooming hard to photograph though lol.

What will you do with your ten minutes this week?

The Lochhouse Ladies

Hello folks.  Last week I had a  tired and back down to earth with a bump  week, having just spent a fab long weekend with my crafting friends at Lochhouse Farm near Moffat.  Lochhouse is a lovely wee place and we usually go twice a year in April and in October. This.time round there were six of us and that really is the perfect number for the scrapping space available. We always have such a good time with plenty of laughter sprinkled in among all the crafty goings on

Mary and Martin  always look after us supremely well and the food is just lush.  Its so nice just to kick back and chill out with good company and the best thing is that once the crafting stuff comes out in the lovely stables conversion it can stay there until we are ready to pack up to go home.

Unfortunately I just havent had much scrapping mojo lately so only managed one layout which was  for last weeks weekly challenge on UK  Scrappers. Its not the best photo in the world but as its such a  rare one of Fraser with his Great Gran who sadly passed away when he was two it needed scrapping for his album. After all isn't that what scrapbooking is really about, scrapping real family moments and not just always showcasing the best photos with the newest paper ranges.  I titled this layout precious moments, because that's what it was to us

I spent most of the weekend messing around with paints and inks and faffing in my art journals and even  converted Dee to the joys of art journalling.

Heres a page in my A5 Book of me journal.  I went for collaging with paper for this page and used what was left of this lovely Teresa Collins sheet as I liked the words "Happiness" and " .  I hate photos of me but quite like this one Lesley took of me at Lochhouse last October , I used some distress stains on the paper to darken it down a bit.  Having borrowed Lesley and Donnas stains over the weekend I have come to the conclusion I need to invest in these as they are fab for backgrounds.

I will be back later with some of the other pages I did but for now the coundown is on until our next one in October when are are going for the WHOLE week whoooo hoooo, bring it on.

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - April

Goodness me. Running late or what this month!  Just sneaking in with a few days of April left with my view.  Taken early this morning as  woke up early and it was such  a.beautiful, if cold morning.

I took various shots then heard some geese taking off and just managed to catch them in my photo.

I've finally managed to decide on a format to display my monthly photos and have plumped for an accordian book with 6 x 6 pages using the Studio Calico Snippets papers, film strip washi tape and Bo Bunny mamarazzi 2 stamps (which by the way stamp like a dream) all obtained from my friend Angela of Angel Crafts.  How long we have waited for the film strip washi tape so it was hard to break into it lol.  I'm looking forward to filling the book up with mini layouts each month

My Month in Numbers March

Ooh first time joining in with this challenge set by the very lovely Julie Kirk
31 days filled in on my March Art journalling calendar (challenge organised by the lovely Kate Crane). Cant believe Ive managed to keep up with this for 3 months yay!
418 miles round trip (via Heathers in Holystone) to attend an Art journalling workshop in Middlesbrough organised by Jean Sharrocks of 3d Jean and.taught by the lovely aforementioned Kate Crane.  Well worth the trip and new friends made including the founder of The month in numbers challenge Julie Kirk. Hoping Theres another One and I manage to get a place on.it.if there is.
4 - the number of weekly challenge layouts done for the challenges on Uk Scrappers during March giving me a points total for my UKS team The Rik Rak Ravers of 240.
2 crops attended, our own one in East Kilbride and Heather's One in Holystone
20 - the number of brightly coloured balloons released at our March EK crop in  Memory of the gorgeous Heather Cuthbert who lost her battle against cancer.
41 - the number of inchies and twinchies made for a swap on UK Scrappers.  Twinchies, not a bad size to work on but those inchies - tricky little size to work on but I eventually conquered them

Hmmmm too many! The number of Creme eggs consumed by us at work and that was before Easter lol

To Blog or not to blog ..........

Im Following an excellent series on blogging by Julie Kirk from Notes on Paper called The Push up Bra approach to blogging. Pop along and give her blog the once over.  Its one of.my favourites due to her very entertaining style of blogging which draws the reader in and makes you feel you have made a new.friend in the blogging World. I would post a link but well due to blogging vía my phone I just cant seem to Master that as yet.

After reading her prompt yesterday and then promptly! Pardon the pun having that McFly song stuck in my head *sigh* I got to thinking about why I dont update my blog as often as I would like.  Then I realised In ok at updating when Ive made something Im happy with, a scrapbook layout, a piece of painty messiness or if I am following a challenge. But I find that when the crafting mojo toes walkabout then I neglect the blog as I feel I have nothing to say.

So we suggested by Julie out came the notebook, a funky chevron  one with kraft pages no less (at a great cost of 74p from Sainsburys) and let the note taking commence.  Hopefully this will give me the zing back to.blog a little more often.

I will definately have a reason to blog after Saturday as Im off to Middlesbrough, vía an overnight stop at Heathers in Newcastle for a Kate Crane Art journalling workshop so Im mega excited and even more so to realise that the aforesaid Julie Kirk will be there.  I will report back hopefully along with somehing lovely I have created

Lucky Snapping - Lets Reflect March

This month Anne gave us the Word Laugh to use and although this should have been an easy one I had a  piece of news the previous  week which meant laughter was not on the agenda for me.  One of my lovely local crop friends Heather Cuthbert lost her short but bravely faught battle with cancer on the Monday leaving behind her husband and three children.

Laughter was in very short supply and I thought I might just miss the prompt out all together but having  reflected a bit I have decided that laughter is indeed the best medicine.

I dont think we laugh enough in life really and it really is wonderful when we get together with family and friends and end up laughing.

At my crop yesterday we all gathered together to say a few words and release some balloons in a tribute to Heather and as we stood outside the Church Hall in the middle of an unexpected snowstorm watching the coloured balloons soaring high into the snowy skies someone remarked that no doubt Heather was up there looking down and having the last laugh saying look at those numpties standing out there getting soaked.  It made us all smile and when we went back inside and dried off we were able to share some happy memories. 

Yes indeed laughter is a great healer.

Rest in peace Heather the East Kilbride crop will miss your laughter.

Lucky Snapping - March View Challenge

Still really enjoying this challenge and managed to take my view during the first week of this month but Im just a bit late getting it blogged and linked up, sorry Jen.

This month I stopped by the Heritage Park on my way home from work.  How lovely it is that its light enough now to do that.

It had been a beautiful bright day but extremely cold and I managed to catch the last of the Sun.

I got some lovely Studio Calico snippets stash from Ángel zcrafts at the crop yesterday and the alpha sheet has 12 little tabs with the months of the year on so Im all set now to get my photos scrapped into a mini book.

Lucky Snapping - Lets Reflect February

I was looking forward to logging on to the Lucky Snapping in 2013 blog on Monday morning to see what Anne had in store for us on the second part of her Lets Reflect challenge.

Impossible was the topic for February and I was immediately stumped. This will take a lot of thinking was my first thought but suddenly today, something went ping in my head when I thought of the great weekend I had just spent with my scrapping buddies.

Its my best pal and UKS teamie Heather's 50th birthday this week and although I knew she didnt want a fuss for her birthday I knew she would just love to spend time scrapping with friends. The planning took a few months and at first it looked like a fairly impossible task. It was a feat of organisation which at times, looked like being near on impossible for a combination of reasons, including me having no car for the last couple of months, Jules breaking her leg and Lesley being involved in a horrendous crash with her gorgeous Grand-daughter which wrote her car off., but in the end we all got there, coming from all parts of the country with Dee coming from Donegal, Donna from Langbank, Me from East Kilbride, Julieann from Wellingborough and Jill from Leicester on a combination of planes, trains and automobiles!! and to meet up with the local girlies, Lesley and Julie who were putting us all up and co-ordinating the collections from airport and metro, and local teamie Wendy and Pam and Pauline also from the crop. In the end we did it and the look of shock, delight and every other emotion on her face when we all jumped out of cars in front of the hall on Friday night was just priceless and made all the months of planning and all the little white lies we had to tell worth it- some of us are never going to make it to heaven Im sure.

We had a great time cropping all weekend, being joined on the Saturday by our UKS teamie Wendy and also Pauline and Pam. We cropped all day, stopping only for a chinese takeaway in the evening and rounded off the weekend with another cropping session on Sunday followed by ten of us hitting the local carvery for Sunday dinner before we all had to disperse again. It was just great and Im sure Heather has now forgiven me for all the "porky pies" I had to tell to keep the secret.

Just goes to show that sometimes you can make the impossible happen.

I will leave you with a pic of some of us from the weekend - 8 out of 10 from our UKS team the Rik Rak Ravers.  Somehow or other whenever we arrange a meet up 8 is the maximum we get together but maybe just maybe the impossible will happen and we will get the full 10.

Inspiration Notebook

Heres a wee inspiration notebook I altered using one of the A5 Pukka Project books with moveable dividers.

The lovely Sian lent me her Kate Crane art journal DVDs 3 and 4 and I was mesmerised by them, I have passed them on now and am awaitig a borrow of DVDs one and two. 

The background for the cover of my notebook was copied more or less from One of Kates pages and I added some hearts cut from vintage text paper and.the wee words are.from a Tim Holtz chit chat Word pad.  Now I have a handy notebook to gather sketches,ayout ideas, things I want to have a go at etc. all in One place and portable enough to keep in my crop bag.  Im hoping it makes me more productive but we will need to wait and see lol.

Im off tonght down to Newcastle to my friend Heathers for a weekend of crafting, laughing, eating and drinking and boy after the week or so I have had Im so looking forward to it

Affirmation Postcard Swap

Better late than never! At the cows tail as usual me . I joined an affirmation postcard swap on UK Scrappers hosted by the lovely Stan!

We were to make three 6 x 4 postcards with a positive affirmation on.   As per the thread got out of hand with hilarious "alternative" affirmations being suggested.  So two groups were formed, one for each Type.  Ive joined both groups.  After a stressful weekend with DD in hospital I  eventually got these finishing and they will be winging their way to Sian tomorrow.  Im not very pleased with the way they turned out, more practise at the arty stuff is needed.

The positive ones read "My soul is beautiful" and the alternatives say "you dont Just have issues, you need a subscription!"

Now then a mini canvas board for another swap is next on the agenda.

Lucky Snapping, The View Challenge February

My, my for once I think I can say February has come around really quickly. Im not a fan of winter or January in particular but now that we are into February I feel its still light coming out of work at 5pm which gives me hope for the Spring to come.

I took this picture on 5 February on the way home from work. Although the poem Jen is using for this challenge says January brings the snow for once we had none in January but on 5 February we had a virtual whiteout in the morning. I didnt have a chance to get out of work to take my picture though so swung past the heritage park on my way home. Somewhat irritatingly all traces of snow had vanished so it didnt look like I was getting my snowy picture. However when I pulled into the car park and looked up at the sky it was turning beautiful shades of red and orange. So here is my February picture and considering I only had my phone with me to take it on I am mildly pleased with it.

Hoping that by next month there will be some dare I say "sunshine" in my picture. Well a girl can always dream

Lucky Snapping Nostalgia - New Beginnings

When I logged on, on Monday to look at Kathijo's challenge I wasnt sure what I would blog about.

Hhmmm nostalgia and new beginnings, it was a toughie for me.

Should I hunt for a happy version or go with the first thing that popped into my head.  I turned 50 last year and decided at the start of the year to Make a Project Life type album to mark the year.  Im not quite up to date with it yet but am determined to finish it as I really enjoyed it and its been a great record of the year.

I wanted the year I turned 50 to be a happier year in my life because the last big birthday in my life was my 40th and at a party in the house with family and friends all around I remember thinking how truly blessed I was.  This thought was shattered into pieces some two months later When I discovered that my husband of then almost 20 years had been seeing one.of my very close friends.  I was devaststed and after a couple of years of trying to hold my family together he eventually left and last year finally married her.  Turbulent years followed him leaving as I began to slowly put back the.pieces of my life and hold it together, not always successfully, for my two kids.  I became determined that as I approached 50 it would mark my "Life Begins" and that I would start to see the glass was half full and not half empty.  In my 21 year old son and my 19 year old daughter I have two fantastic reasons to have a better life and in changing jobs due to redundancy four years ago I now work with the most supportive and lovely crowd of people who keep me going on a daily basis
.
I have slowly emerged from my shell, discovered scrapbooking, co run a local crop, joined a Team on UK Scrappers where I have met the most fantastic friends a girl could have who have been the the greatest support and we now meet up several times a year and we have the best ever retreats in Moffat, Scotland a couple of times a year where we scrap and laugh till we cry.

Life can still be tough but I am learning to love the litle things and count my blessings once again. The former me would never have been brave enough to do any of these things.

I think I will mark these prompts in a mini book or art journal as the year goes on so Im looking around for a suitable format.

I will leave you with a pic of four of us friends and teamies at Lochhouse, our wee scrapping paradise