Photo 365+1 - March Highlights

Three months in and still achieving my photo per day. March has been a month of some special occasions: a university reunion, a family christening and Simon's birthday. April is set to be busy with the Easter holidays, Matthew's 2nd birthday and lots of other 2nd birthday parties to attend, so I am looking forward to taking more photos.

Here are my March highlights from 365+1.

3rd - University reunion - a fabulous day.

10th - Matthew took this picture of Simon.

12th - My Heidi Grace supplies arrive - more on that another time

15th - working with my Gottacraft Design Team supplies

17th - Matthew and I at lunch

18th - Faith's Christening

19th - Matthew with my cousin Liz

22nd - Last Sing and Sign lesson

24th - My cool dude!

26th - Matthew's first football lesson

29th - twin lambs I watched bring born at Bocketts Farm

31st - A trip to Wisley

Basic Grey Challenge - My Little Grown up

Today Ive been scrapping and have managed to complete two layouts.

This  one  is another Basic Grey Challenge. This time  the challange  was to scraplift this layout. The bit I scraplifted was the strip of paper with the flag like ends with a second layer of paper running across it. I liked this so much I included it three times in my layout. I used some Lime Rickey papers - Ive always loved this collection with its bright colours and it was good fun to use it again.

Here is my final layout. Its shows Matthew with his backpack ready for a day out. He looks so grown up - more like a four year old off to a first day at school that a 22 month old. I cant believe how fast he is growing up.

Sing and Sign - the end of an Era

Since January 2011 when Matthew and Eva were 8 months old, Helen and I have been taking them to Sing and Sign in Raynes Park with the lovely Joanna Worsfold. We did two terms of Stage 1 classes and then two terms of Stage 2. Now unfortunately they have completed their 4 terms and so on Thursday we had our very last lesson. It has been such good fun. It has really helped Matthew with his speech, it has helped me build up some songs to sing at home, and it has been lovely to see Helen and Eva every week so that the little ones have got to know each other. Each Thursday visit has also included a trip to Starbucks and the littles have been so good whilst Helen and I chat and catch up on news and gossip. It really has been a very important part of my life for the last 15 or so months.

Here are the photos from Thursday as a little reminder in the future of our Sing and Sign classes.

We start our weekly ritual with a visit to Starbucks

Jessie Cat makes her appearance

Out come the musical instruments

Helen, Eva and Matthew enjoy a jamming session

Matthew having good fun.

Time to tody up the instruments

Eva playing little bunnies

Matthew loves any of the hat songs!

Matthew wearing two hats!

Certificate time

Eva and Joanna

Joanna with Eva and Matthew

Two real cuties! Born on the same day - my son may well be a giant!

12 on the 12th

It feels like a long time since I posted, but it is only a week, but it has been a busy one. Last weekend we went away to the christening of my cousin's little girl Faith. It was a great weekend. Matthew was very good on the long journey to Devon. We have a DVD player for the car and although I feel guilty about him watching too much , it does keep him occupied and of course he naps some of the time too. Last weeks DVDs  were Kipper, Fireman Sam and Jungle Book.

It was lovely to see all my family and we stayed one night at my cousin Lizzie's so it was really fantastic to spend some quality time with her - we havent done it much in recent years and it was great to really catch up. Im sure photos of the weekend will be on my blog soon or on my layouts.

So this week has been busy. We came back on Monday and then it was back to work on Tuesday so Ive been chasing my tail catching up with jobs and getting myself organised at work (something I can normally do over a weekend).

So not much time for scrapping or blogging this week, but the Easter Holidays start next Friday so hopefully I will find some time then.

However, I still have some photos to share with you so I thought I would blog today with my 12 photos taken on the 12th of the month. Its a great way of making a true record of a day and all the little things we did. Ive scrapped my Feb 12 on the 12th and look forward to scrapping this months too.

The 12th  fell on a Monday ths month. The day started with fog and I could see spiders' webs on our terrace. Matthew played at home in the morning in his PJs and then we went to soft play and lunch with Karen and Bella. Matthew puckered up for a kiss goodbye with Bella. In the afternoon the sun came out and my daffodils in the garden looked lovely. Matthew had a trip to Nanny's while  I did some school work at home. I had another win on facebook of £5 to spend at Craft island and in the evening I scapped this layout for Shimelle's Starting Point Challenge. You can see layout better here.

Hopefully I'll be back blogging again soon. x

Gottacraft Design Team

A good friend of mine, Sandra,  who I met through my local crop has a lovely shop Gottacraft.  You can also see the shop blog here. She recently asked me if I would do some work for her design team. I was delighted and honoured to be asked. Thank you Sandra. She gave me some lovely papers from the MME On the Brightside collecton to work with. I love the orange/aqua combination which is just perfect for little boys. I have completed two layouts and a card with the lovely products. You might notice a bit of a butterfly theme....

Both layouts use photos that were taken when Mum and I enjoyed a lovely day out at Wisley with Matthew. They had a butterfly display in part of the greenhouse, so we were able to do that, enjoy a walk, have a nice lunch and let Matthew play in the little soft play there. A lovely day out!

The first layout uses all the papers that Sandra gave me. I used the grey woodgrain one as the background as I thought it matched well with the bench Matthew is sitting on. As well as the papers coming from the collection I also used some tags and journalling spots and some of the paper buttons. I add a couple of other bits such as the thickers, an Amy tangerine camera and some little Authentique words, like these . I also added a butterfly from my studio calico kit and these brads.

My second layout was based on a sketch I found here. Thanks Pinterest! This time I added some Jenni Bowlin butterflies and some of the Viva decor paper pens to make the little butterfly trails.

Lastly a made a couple of cards for Mother's day. Again just added a butterfly, the paper pen butterfly trails and some thickers. Very simple. Based on this card here.

Ive really enjoyed using the papers. Very versatile. Thanks Sandra.

Basic Grey Sketch Challenge

Thursday night is crop night once a fortnight but tonight Simon had a lad's night out so I stayed at home and decided I would still do some scrapping. Ive done two layouts. One for a design team Ive been doing some work for - more of that on a seperate post and another Basic Grey challenge.

The challenge was a sketch this time - you can see it here.

I used some papers from the Indie Bloom collection and this lovely photo of one of Matthew's little friends. I stole the title because it was just perfect for this layout. I love pink and dont get to use it as much with my Matthew layouts ( although it has been known) , so it was a great chance to getting pretty with pink. I love a sketch!

Basic Grey Challenges

I love the Basic Grey Challenges. I love that they help me use up my old stash and I love that they get my creative juices flowing.

Over the weekend I did one of their recent challenges. The challenge was to use your punches to create a background. What a great idea - not something I do very often. You can see the challenge here.

This actually inpsired me to complete two layouts.

The first was using my circle punches to create bubbles of water behind a photo of Matthew and Simon swimming. I used some of the Basic Grey Lauderdale collection - mainly picking out the blues and greens.

The second layout uses the Ambrosia collection and my square stamp punch. This photo was taken at Chessington Zoo in January and I must say Im very proud of the photo. These papers show off the colours of the tiger perfectly.

Im really pleased with how this challenge made me do something a bit different with my scrapbooking. Thanks Basic Grey

Scrapbooking Starting Points

I can't believe I'm posting twice in one day. Of course I only have a handful of followers so I cant annoy too many people with loads of posts, but I hope those people who do read will allow me this indulgence.

Im trying to do a bit more scrapping at home and in the evenings. Challenges are very helpful for speed scrapping and of course I have thousands of photos to get through. Tonight I have had a go at Shimelle's Scrapbooking Starting Point. I used some new papers from Simple Stories which is called Awesome - perfect for boys and a photo taken of Matthew at Chessington Zoo in January. He just loves to be behind a steering wheel!

I switched the page around to put my photo on the left and of course made a few other changes but overall pleased with the final layout. Thanks Shimelle!

10 on the 10th

Ok, so I know I'm two days late but Matthew has been a bit under the weather and sleep has been a bit of an issue - especially on Saturday night when he decided that instead of going to sleep beautifully about 7.45 ( thats the norm), that he was going to have a bit of a paddy and not sleep till 9.30. Think he was practising to be a terrible two! Last night was back to normal so Im hoping it was a one off and not a new phase! Anyway to cut a long story short it means that I didnt get a chance to do my 10 list on the 10th.

My 10 is Matthew orientated. As many of you know having kids is expensive. On Saturday we went on a little shopping trip and bought a few bits for Matthew. I thought I would make a list as it will be interesting to look back and see what we were buying for him at 22 months.

10 on the 10th - Shopping for Matthew

1. Calpol
2. Junior Nurofen
3. Calpol plug ins ( can you tell he has a cold!)
4. A booster seat - I dont think it will be long before he uses this instead of a high chair and easier to take to friends and family than a high chair
5. Play doh - a current favourite
6. Finger paints - on my to do list!
7. Some trousers - to wear to a family christening this weekend
8. A new toothbrush  ( honestly we spent a fortune in Boots)
9. A bargain t-shirt in TKMaxx - its a bit big for him yet but its lovely.
10. Lunch in starbucks - Matthew had some of both our paninis!

And here is a picture of what we didnt buy him - a huge car from Toys R Us - I cant believe anyone really has a house big enough for one of these!

With his birthday coming up and him growing out of his size 18-24 month clothes , im sure we will be spending even more money in the next few weeks. My husband wont be happy!

Shimelle's Scrapbook Starting Points

For one reason or another I wont be able to attend any of my crops this month. So therefore Im really trying to get a little scrapping done at home.

A couple of days ago I had a go at Shimelle's Scrapbook Starting Points. This is where the start of the design is done but what you do next is up to you.

I used this design to scrapbook some photos of Matthew and two of his little play date friends. I used some of my new Cavallini washi tape and some lovely Basic Grey Picadilly papers and embellishments.

Here are my efforts:

Friends Reunited

Yesterday was a very special day. I consider my university friends to be some of my best friends and yet of course our lives have all taken different routes and we dont get to see each other as often as we like. There have been some weddings, some reunions, some occasional meetings but some of our group havent managed to see each since graudation ( which is coming up to 19 year ago).  Yesterday 6 of us from our old group, 5 spouses and 8 children got together. It was lovely to see everyone again,  fantastic to slip into our old conversations, amazing to see all the little ones together and quite simply just one of those really fantastic days we will never forget!

Here are some photos and some who's who!

Our lovely hosts for the day Warren and Louisa. Warren was one of the 'old' Reading geographers. I haven't seen them for five years.  

Warren, Jeremy, Phil and his wife Nora.

Jeremy. Im lucky enough to see Jeremy on a regular bases. He was my 'best man' as our wedding.

Ok - everyone is actually in this shot!!! Not quite what we had planned when we set the timers on our cameras.

Phil and Nora. I havent seen Phil for about 7 years. He has been in New Zealand for some time but is now working in Edinburgh for two years with his lovely wife Nora.

The girls from the Geography group. Caroline, myself and Chris. Again, I havent seen them for five years.

Chris and Ben and their daughter. Son running around the field somewhere.

Caroline and Chris

The oldest 6 children. What a bunch of blondes. Hard work getting this photo!

Matthew getting to grips with the piano and Caroline's little one looking on.

Matthew loved the dogs!

Another picture of the oldest 6 children. With Matthew being supported by Simon ( who I cropped out!)

Jeremy with Warren's youngest. I must sign him up for babysitting!

So I think that includes a shot of everyone - even me and Simon.

So thank you to all of these people for being my friends. Special friends, special memories. Let's not leave it so long next time. I promise to organise something at our house next summer.