Scrapbooking like a Superhero!

Three years!

I haven't blogged for three years. What have I been doing?

It just hasn't seemed like a priority for while. I've been busy being a mum, being a teacher, crocheting and a hundred and one other things that I had to or wanted to do first.

I have been scrapping during this time. But it has  been a little slower. I've dabbled in project life, but I don't think its really for me. And I've continued doing 12x12 layouts - mostly at my monthly crop.

But over Christmas I had a bit of a blitz on my craft room. Don't get me wrong - its not now an organised, immaculate, magazine worthy room. It's still a mess! I still have too much stuff. But it did remind me what I had and inspired me to get stuck in to some of my stash.

This corresponded nicely with Shimelle launching Scrapbook like s Superhero on Facebook, relaunching her Glitter Girl videos, and setting weekly challenges on a Monday. The combination of all this plus my own Christmas stash review has really made me want to get stuck in and consequently I have done over 30 layouts this year.

One of the best aspects of an online scrapping community is sharing your layouts. I get so many ideas from other layouts I see online and of course its really nice if someone posts a comment about your layout.

Last weekend Shimelle hosted a scrapbooking weekend of challenges. They have inspired me this week and I wanted to be able to share them back to her website. And so here I am... blogging again,.

Here are four of the layouts that I completed off the back of the challenges from last weekend. Ill post back again soon with more layouts from the Monday challenges so far.

Weekly Challenge - Using Maps. This is easy for me as a Geography teacher I have loads of globe and map themed stash.

Using a large photo  ( I also used from very old Basic Grey)

Using frames. Again used some quite old Basic Grey.

Circle Challenge - really pleased with this one!

10 on the 10th - Project Life

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year

Its hard to balance everything. I am busy part time teacher and full time Mummy to Matthew. I often work at home in the evenings or at weekends.  I love to read - books and magazines. I like to take photos. Just organising and uploading those can take time. I try and bake more and enjoy looking at new recipes and ideas for family meals. I like to swim. I like to chill out and watch tv . I love love love to to scrapbook. I like to read blogs and stay on top of new scrapbooking products. And to be honest there are just not enough hours in the day unless I give up sleep - and to be honest I like that to!

And so sometimes my blog suffers and for the last three months it has taken a back seat to a number of things such as processing 48 university applications for my sixth form students, preparing for Christmas, learning how to use my new iphone and ipad and the other things that keep up busy in life.

But Im back ( for now anyway!)

This year I am going to have a go at Project Life. Project life is scrapbooking with a difference. I take a lot of snapshots, especially now I have my iphone. Just snaps of Matthew. I am also aware that whilst I have a lot of scrapbook pages for Matthew to look back on I dont always record the little details of life. So I am going to do Project Life in 2013. It means I can include little photos that dont deserve a while layout but tell me about life at that moment. It will be a place for tickets and receipts of things we may have done. It is a place to try and get other people to record our life - especially my husband. It wont be all photos and I will try and include more journalling.

Ive made a start and here is my front page. ( photo to follow)

So what is my 10 on the 10th - well it is 10 things that I should include in project life - but little things that I dont always record in my scrapbooks.

1. Books - what I am reading or Matthew is enjoying
2. TV and Films from that week
3. Funny things Matthew says
4. A text or email message from a friend
5. Cards and Invitations
6. Journalling by my husband
7. Receipts and tickets
8. Food we eat or new recipes tried.
9. Matthews favourite toy that week
10. Little achievements/events - such as last night we booked a weekend away at Centre Parcs

So all you fellow scrapbookers out there - any tips and ideas. As a newbie Im really keen for ideas.

Ill update here with pages.

Top 10 Books on the 10th

Matthew loves his stories - especially at bedtimes. I thought it would be great to make a little list of his favourites. So here it is - the current top ten!

1. Bear Snores On
2. Lost and Found
3. The Disney Winnie the Pooh books
4. Kipper Books
5. Hippo wears a hat/Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose and One Mole Digging a hole - the Julia Donaldson collection
6. The Biggest Kiss
7. Is it Bedtime Wibbly pig?
8. Aliens  Love Underpants
9. When the Dragons Came
10. The Gruffalo

And just in because I havent blogged much recently - here is recent picture...

Making sandwiches

10 on the 10th - My Birthday in numbers

On the 10th of the 10th I try and take part in Shimelle's 10 on the 10th alongside lots of other bloggers.
In September this is easy as it falls on my birthday. So here is my birthday this year in numbers.

1. Today I was 41.
2. I started my day with 44 lengths of the local pool. Im taking part in the Aspire Swim the Channel in 12 weeks challenge and today was the first day.
3. So far I have raised £286 but my target is £750.
4. I went to the parade to Our Greatest Parade in London to watch 700 athletes on 21 buses. It was an amazing experince.
5. I took 300 photos today!
6. I made 1 Victoria sponge for my birthday dinner and 12 cupcakes to take to work tomorrow.
7. I received 31 facebook messages saying Happy Birthday . A sign of the world we live in in 2012. 3 from overseas. Such a great way for people to stay in touch.
8. 20 days until my birthday present from my husband when we are going to stay overnight in a spa hotel and leaving little Matthew with grandparents.
9. 43 emails arrived in my in box at work today. Usually I read them even though being part time I dont work Mondays. But today they can just wait until tomorrow!
10. 364 days till my next birthday. Shame I'd like one every day!

Two Holiday Layouts

Managed a little scrapping this week and have now done a few layouts from our holiday.

The first layout is of the first day. It was raining but we didnt care. We put on our wellies and went to the Donkey Santuary. Matthew loved the animals and climbing around. Our first activity on the Isle of Wight!

I was inspired by this beautiful layout. I used some Authentique papers but added a basic grey flower and used my new butterfly punch and some paperpearl pens.

 

The second layout is a basic grey sketch. I used some old paper from the Kioshi collection. I love the soft colour palette.The photos show Simon and Matthew enjoying the beach at Sandown. Holidays are perfect for doing this things you dont always have time for. Matthew absolutely loved the beach and Im so pleased we were able to take him 4 times during the week. 

Lily Bee Challenges

Just a quick post with a couple of layouts that I have done recently for sketch challenges on the Lily Bee Blog.

The first layout was inspired by a Lily Bee sketch and used the Victoria Park Collection - love using pink to scrapbook Matthew!

The second layout was inspired by this sketch and uses a selection of the most recent ranges including buttercup and picking out the yellows, blues and greens from other other collections. Ive added a few butterflies and resin flowers but the papers, stickers and journalling card are all Lily Bee.

10 on the 10th - Holiday highlights

Didnt quite get round to blogging my 10 on the 10th yesterday but did write it down ready for posting. A few weeks ago we went on holiday to the Isle of Wight. It was the perfect location for a two year old. Lots of things to do and the weather was kind to us.
Here are my 10 holiday highlights:

- Matthew loved the Ferry - or what he called 'the big big boat'. His first time on any kind of boat.

- Lunch in the car in the rain - only one day of very heavy rain - but all British holidays need a picnic in the car

- Flying a kite on Sandown beach. It was just fantastic.

- Rock pooling at Bembridge beach

- Visiting the Seaview Wildlife Park - Matthew loved the area where you walk through with the wallabies and would have spent all day stroking them

- The Owl and Monkey Haven - a lovely project rescuing animals that are no longer wanted or are not fitting in at other zoos

- A walk in the woods - collecting pine cones and finding crickets and ladybirds on tree stumps

- The great escape tunnel - at a farm soft play - Matthew lay on his back and went through the tunnel on a pully system, He loved it!

- Visting the lemurs at Amazon World

- First proper ice cream (he has had ice cream at home or restaurants - but this was Matthew first day out ice cream all of his own - he has had a few more since!)

Its been a while - Basic Grey Challenge

Wow - its been a long time since I blogged. I really don't know where the last six weeks has gone. Ive done lots of things but blogging hasnt been one of them.
The end of term was very busy and we went on holiday the day after we broke up so I was quite busy getting organised. We had a fabulous week on the Isle of Wight and I will find time to add photos etc later. Since holiday two things seemed to have taken over my life - sorting out my craft loft room and the Olympics. Why would anyone want to blog when they could be watching Team GB getting gold medals? It has been fantastic so far and Ive loved every minute that Ive managed to watch.
As I say I have spent a couple of  days and a few evenings sorting out all my craft stuff. I worked really hard at it sorting things out, throwing things away and generally getting organised. I dont think it has had a good sort out since Matthew was born so it really needed it. It looks really good now and Im looking forward to getting some scrapping done in the last weeks of the holidays.

I did some scrapping on Thursday evening with friends and a little more yesterday  and I wanted to blog about my layouts.
The first layout was the sketchy scrappers sketch of the month. I used the new October Afternoon Woodland collection which I absolutely love. Im pleased with the outcome and colours.

The second layout was the Basic Grey Sketch.The photos show Matthew pond dipping at the London Wetlands centre - a place we went to visit for the first time recently. Ive used some of my Piccadily papers and embellishments along with a few other bits and pieces.

The third layout was based on a pin - but I cant find it so when I do I will come back and credit the creater. Its another pond dipping experience for Matthew looking for tadpoles with his friend Martha. I used some old Cloud 9 and Creative Imaginations papers. Always good to use up old papers.

Ill be popping back this week to share photos, more layouts and other bits and pieces.

Basic Grey Scraplift challenge

Ive been busy recently. Work is busy for a wide range of reasons. I have been scrapping at crops - but I havent had much time for blogging.

At my crop on the weekend I did complete the Basic Grey Challenge. I turned the layout on its side and made a few changes.

The photo is of Matthew with our friend's son also called Matthew. They have only met a couple of times but Matthew seems to like Big Matthew and they had fun on the bouncey castle together at a recent party. Its not the best photo but its one of those moments that is worth remembering. I used the Lauderdale collection as it was hot sunny day and the colours in the photo are quite bright.  Ive had ths collection a long time so I used up loads of my buttons and brads on the layout.

10 on the 10th

How to kill two birds with one stone!

Im a still doing my project 365+1 - managing to take a photo every day to record the highlights of life and the everyday routines.

I havent posted my highlights from April and May so my 10 on the 10th is my top ten photos for both April and May. You can see my whole project here. http://365project.org/lornae/365

April - Top 10

 A trip to Holmbush Farm with Charie and Anna - so sweet how they get on.

Easter Sunday - Polesdon Lacey

Meeting Fireman Sam

Bella's Birthday Party

Nathan's Birthday Party

Matthew's Birthday and his cake at a little party at the Caro's

A trip to the garden centre. The last time we saw Bella before she moved away. I adore this photo.

Matthew's Birthday party - photo taken by Matt Shelley

Martha's Birthday Party

A farewell meal for Karen.

May - Top 10

Sleeping in  the big bed now!

Cooking

Jumping at Claremont Lake

On the monkey bars at Alex's party

Looking for tadpoles with Martha

The gorgeous Lily - photo texted over by Sarah showing Lily in the little outfit we sent.

Matthew thinks the new chair in the lounge is for him!

Matthew enjoys an ice cream for Mum's Birthday meal

Mum's Birthday outing to the British Wildlife Centre

Very cute - Maddie aftrer Caroline's 40th party

Scrap Fever!

Well you can tell its half term as Ive been scrapping. I went to my crop thursday night and did three layouts, and then yesterday my mum came over in the afternoon and we scrapped for a few hours together. Matthew was at my inlaws. And then I did another layout last night. With the football now on most evenings, Im hoping to get a few layouts done over the next few weeks, but going back to work on Monday may slow things down!

The first layout is one of Matthew playing with Simon's umbrellla after his birthday party at Godstone Farm. I was desperate to use these MME papers, but was gutted to find I didnt have any of the umbella papers left so a massive thank you to Jo B who managed to find a piece for me. I added a few other bits from Making Memories and some journalling spots.

The second layout uses photos taken last weekend at a friends birthday BBQ. There was lots of fun in the garden with tug of war, hula hoops, a slide and of course skipping! I used the October Afternoon range sidewalks which was just perfect with the little sticker of the girl skipping

The third layout uses a really old range called Finlay's Estate from Cloud 9. Not even sure if they are still around. I love this photo taken of Matthew in the garden. It was taken that really hot Saturday a couple of weeks ago and we went out in the garden in the evening when it was a little cooler and he helped water some of the plants. The photo matches the papers perfectly and I love all the wording stickers that came with the papers. Added a butterfly and a few paper pearls to finish it off.

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The fourth layout shows Matthew and Eva who share a birthday. I bought these Authetique papers before Matthew's Birthday but the colours are quite strong and wouldnt go with just any photo. However this photo is just perfect - thanks to Eva's red cardigan. I love all the little stickers and used quite a few.

The next layout is my 12 on the 12th photos from May. That day we went to a 2nd birthday party ( the 7th one !). I love the colours of the boys t-shirts and they matched perfectly with the What's up papers from Basic Grey. My layout is based on this layout using the same range.

The next layout uses more Authentique papers. Again they are quite unusual colors so I was lucky to find a photo that matches.  I love this dreamy photo of Matthew taken in the pub garden after  a friend's 40th birthday party. It was hot day and it was nice to escape the party for a little while and relax in the cooler garden before the long drive home. I love the little arrow stickers that say 100% genuine and 100% original.  I was inspired by this amazing layout by Michelle Logan .

The last layout is probably my favourite of the seven layouts. I love this photo of Matthew looking super cool after a trip to Wimbledon Park and wearing his Dad's shades. Not yet two in this photo - he looks so grown up - I can see the teenager in him already!! I used a mix of old papers by Kaisercraft. I love the sprayed inks in the background and should do this more often as I always love the result.

Thanks for looking. Sorry its such a long post. Which one is your favourite?