Embellish your World

February ATDML Gallery is up

I have much blog catching up to do after a couple of real busy weeks with work and poorly children/half term but for now I wanted to share that the gallery for February is up for ATDML. I created lots of projects this month and a welcome run of creativity meant I had all my projects done within a weekend!

A nice simple page to start with, multiple photos, plenty of journalling, pretty papers - just as I like them!

I then mixed it up a bit for this next layout of my youngest and his first passport photo which features papers by My Minds Eye, Bo Bunny and, my favourite at the moment, Simple Stories. Even had a bit of a spritz on this page using Pumice Stone ink mixed with water in a tiny mister - great fun now I have practiced more! Again multiple photos here (albeit many of the same image - but they cost nearly £10 for six and I only needs two to send off!) and plenty journalling once more.

Another page, mostly with the My Minds Eye Lost and Found 2 papers this time is a single 6x4 photo layout cos the papers were too pretty to cover up much more! A rare layout about me, but I am eager to do more as I am sure my kids will be as interested in learning about my life as recalling their own.  I need to do more pages about my mum too and managed to get some nice shots of her and my dad with my kids at a family party last weekend.

Plenty sharing there, and how sparkly are those papers?! I have another layout, a card and giftbag I created too. I will share those later this week, but once more it is later than I realised and so I must away to the land of nod! ttfn lovely people x

Snow good

f

Over 6" of the white stuff fell from around 8pm Saturday night, throughout the night for us to awake to a world of white Sunday morning. Despite having been unwell with a high temperature, cough and cold Jamie was desperate to get out there (as was his super eager big brother) so we went for a little walk, wrapped up super warm and rewarded ourselves with hot chocolate to warm up after! Not the greatest photos (taken with my phone) as I was too scared to fall and break my good camera in the slippery conditions! Still, they make me smile and capture our little adventure out.

That hot chocolate, coupled with three course meal at Jamie's Italian restaurant in BlueWater on Friday lead to a small 1/2lb weightgain this week. I also missed a week of Boxercise but plan on getting back on track first thing tomorrow. (the food was soooo good though, highly recommend it!)

Another starting point challenge

Another starting point challenge layout from Shimelle and using some ANCIENT papers that I found whilst clearing a shelf in the craft room. Captured the eXtreme Jamie and his love of slides, photos a few years old too, the little man turns 5 next week... I know, how did that past by so quickly?

No more kids under 5 from next week, boo :(

The layout features some brickwork stamping which also features on one of the layouts we will be making at the ScrapMates crop next Saturday, that and some misting!

I also finished the "and now for something completely different" challenge on UKScrappers as taught by Shimelle. Luckily I already had the papers so it was a pretty easy page to pull together, especially with my out of this world funny photos!

phew, enough sharing for now... must go create more!

F F F F reeeeezing Feb!

How cold is it? Seriously chilly out there and I must admit I thought twice about going for my walk last night with my neighbour Tracy. We are walking each Wednesday evening to build up to the 15k night hike in May for a local cancer charity. Last night we managed 7.5k in just over an hour and 15 minutes and that was in sub-zero temperatures and wearing many layers!! It is definately hibernating weather and I shall be happy to be playing with paper and glue in the warm with friends on Saturday at Eclectic in Colchester. I am picking up the kits for the February ScrapMates crop too so will have much to be playing along with. If you too are scrapping this weekend how about using this sketch over at Created by ATDML as your starting point? It was the inspiration behind this page of the very lovely Matt Cardle (I now another Matt page but honestly that is only 2 now!) which uses MME lost & found 2 papers. Remember that sneak peak I shared?

I also used my original manual typewriter recently obtained via freecycle! Love it to pieces and the kids do too (great for them "playing" but learning at the same time!) It isn't perfect but I like the quirky appeal of the slight smudge that sometimes occurs!

And so to bed I go with a happy heart as I have a day off tomorrow (YAY!) and am going to Bluewater in Kent for a Creative Stitches show. Nothing like a nice bit of retail therapy to put a smile on my face - oh and of course my pedometre should pick up plenty of steps mooching around all day!!

Personal Best

54 lengths in 50 minutes, the furthest I have ever swam in one go and just 10 lengths short of a mile!

I was struggling to get to the 50 mark when I was in the pool, but the closer it got, the faster I seemed to swim, and so with a few minutes left before the pool closed at 10pm and my 50 lengths done I thought I may as well swim another couple! Had a rest day yesterday (apart from plenty of walking and taking the stairs not the lift) and today I have done a Body Combat class and am off out for a late night walk with my neighbour shortly. As well as the Swimathon at the end of April I am also taking part in the second 15k night hike run by the Council I work for in aid of the local hospital and cancer hospice. I completed the 15k last year, over 2 stone heavier than I am now, in just under 2 hours and am hoping to beat that time this year!

Only thing with all this exercise and healthy regime is less hours to scrapbook, especially with work deadlines as well. I have completed Shimelle's January Craft Along project though (just need to print my photos off) and was thrilled she featured my Matt Cardle layout as one of her favourites from last week's starting point challenge.  There is a new starting point today, two infact, and hopefully I will get to play along at the weekend. I have done another layout of the lovely Matt Cardle as part of the ATDML gallery for next month so sadly I cannot share the whole layout just yer, but here is a cheeky little sneak!

Off for my walk now, need to get my minimum 6000 steps in today!

Starting Point Challenge

I played along with Shimelle's first starting point challenge for 2012 last night, but sadly didn't get up early enough this morning to photograph it and upload in time to enter the challenge. Not to worry, I still love my Matt Cardle layout which uses MME Lost & Found papers and some punched snowflakes for a wintery feel as the photo was taken after he switched on the Christmas lights at London's Regent Street.

We have the MME Lost and Found 2 papers in our February design team kit for ATDML and I have been super prolific with them and so far have 5 layouts, a card and a giftbag made. Can't wait to share them with you next month. For now, I need to log off and go to my Sunday morning step aerobics class - yes, I think I may be mad!!

Catching up

I am been super productive this week plenty of those little jobs finished off hence the lack of blog update. We have decorators coming in tomorrow to assist us in completing a few more tasks too as we continue to win the battle against the house! Hoping the boys are old enough now that the decorating/new carpet will not be destroyed in five minutes, that being one of the main reasons we have held off since the loft conversion was completed almost 2 and a half years ago! Their rooms were all done but we didn't refresh the communal area stairs/hall etc whilst little finger prints were still capable of destruction in 10 seconds! Saying that Jamie is only 5 next month so I guess it could still happen!

Health and fitness wise I continue to win that battle and make great strides towards my goals. My second swimathon training session by far exceeded my aim of 40 lengths (which was an increase of 4 on last weeks 36) but instead I managed 50! That is half the distance I am aiming to cover in April. Took me 50 minutes to do, so my overall aim to complete 100 lengths in 90 minutes may be doable after all with some more training.

This week I also lost the largest amount of weight in a week since I have been slimming which did make me smile and just 3 more lb and I drop down yet another stone bracket!  Still have 10 more weeks til my friends wedding and our cruise holiday to get a little more comfortable in my dress, but my weightloss journey will continue past this deadline so I don't see it as a finish line by any means. Didn't stop me enjoying a divine curry and beer with my husband last night either as we celebrated his 39th birthday and planned our trip to New York (fingers crossed) for his 4oth next year!

Finally, before I depart for what was supposed to be an early night(!) I wanted to share the full Simple Stories layout I taught at our ScrapMates debut crop for 2012 last weekend.  Some of you may have already seen it in the ATDML gallery or indeed on their blog, but incase you haven't (non-scrapping friends!) here it is.

You can read all about the crop here and see the papers need to create the above page here.

Simple Stories Gallery

The January Gallery is up over at A Trip Down Memory Lane and features over 50 illustrations with Simple Stories papers. Here is a quick peak at some of my creations for that gallery, and then I am away to sleep!

Simple stories have a great blog too with plenty of inspiration which can be found clicking on this link and there facebook page is here.

I am looking forward to teaching one of these pages at the Enfield ScrapMates crop this Saturday. More infromation about the crop, venue etc can be found on the blog.

Progress

Another 1lb lost this week at Slimming world and a good start made to my Swimathon training. I managed 36 lengths tonight in 30 minutes, just over a third of the distance I will be attempting in April.

I have Zumba booked for tomorrow night then Boxercise again on Thursday. Hoping my arms won't give in on me before the crop on Saturday! Must try and be as good with my food this week as I am with my exercise! Then I shall surely see a nice meaty weightloss!

Getting excited now

Not long back from visiting the hall again where my crop will be held next Saturday. Feels so exciting to be running the crop monthly again having had a good 18 month break from it to focus on my family and my health.  We have over a dozen ladies all joining together next Saturday in the name of craft and their will be an optional class project which consists of a 2011 in review scrapbook page, and here is a little sneak...

Plenty handcutting so at the very least the newbies won't be bored!

 Moving on I have a minor confession to make publically.......before yesterday I had NEVER baked a scone before!!...... and another confession..... before yesterday I have NEVER eaten three in a row with jam and cream either!!   I must be good at them eh?  *snigger* The scales will hate me on Monday and I will totally deserve it! Good job I have Boxercise Sunday evening and swimming on Monday to counter balance the damage. And I should probably mention now that I have been persuaded to particpate in this year's Swimathon.  I will be undertaking a 2.5k swim which is 100 lengths of my local pool (and should also mention that the furthest I have ever swam before in one go is not even a third of this!)

I will keep you all posted on how my training is going of course, and hopefully together with the Boxercise, dieting (which excludes any more scones!) and walking I will achieve my goal weight this year! Stay tuned for updates.