ONLY JOKING

I wanted to share a gift I made for my boys to give to their Dad for his 50th Birthday. I had planned to put the book together during my time at home after my operation however, that didn't happen due to the fact that I was rushed back into hospital so it's taken me nearly six weeks to complete by just doing a little each day. I won't bore you with all the details, however, had this concertina album with box for ages now so started by painting it all cream. For the cover of the box, used one of the SMASH pockets and stamped an SU greeting on the front then got the boys to fill in a page each from a SMASH pad and turned them into labels to put into the pocket. All papers are MME and card stock is SU. All embellishments are from my scrapbook collection (of which I think I have too many!). Kept the layouts all very similar and simple as I wasn't physically able to sit for hours at a time.

Do you remember me telling you about the scrapbook me and Lewis had to make as a school project? It was all about his London trip and we put so much work into it in such a short space of time........well, we got 1st place.....whoo hoo!! It also meant that he could at long last, bring the scrapbook home, so I've been able to photograph the pages and here it is. The pages aren't really spectacular as I had to do the whole book in a weekend and I usually like to spend a couple of days on one page!! Hope you're all taking advantage of the gorgeous hot weather we're having at the moment. Apart from working for a couple of hours on Saturday morning, I should have a peaceful weekend so I'm hoping to sit out in the sunshine for a while and also get the chance to make a card......I haven't made one in ages and I'm itching to get on with one! Have a great weekend.

Happy Halloween to everyone! I've got two very excited boys who can't wait to dress up and are going to a Halloween Party this afternoon. That will mean I'll have a couple of hours to myself but unfortunately, have to pop into town to tax my car - yes, it passed its MoT, thank goodness!! Well, it may be Halloween but it's also Friday which means another challenge on Stamp Something and, of course, it had to be something spooky! For the card, I've used an image from Sugar Nellie and coloured it with Promarkers, which took all of five seconds!!!! The papers are a free download, as is the sentiment. Cardstock is Bazzill. Bat brad is Karen Foster and other brads are from my stash. The bags were made from a Digital Download which was just folded in half and attached to the bag of chocolate eyeballs. I've kept it very simple as I had quite a few to make for all the boys' friends. One more thing to share with you - I made this scrapbook page last year and did load...

As promised, I'm back with my DT work for Stamp Something . This week the challenge has been set by Alex and wow, did she test me!! The challenge is to make a scrapbook page of 8.5 x 11 or 12 x 12 but nothing smaller and the theme is "All About Me". However, that's not all of it!! It must include the following:- (1) three buttons (2) four brads (3) two different ribbons (4) some sort of lettering for the title (chipboard, paint, stickers, stamps, etc) (5) at least two stamped items (6) five facts about yourself. There are a couple of reasons why I found this a real challenge - firstly, I haven't done a scrapbook page in a long time, mainly because it takes me quite a while to complete one page. Also, the theme was a problem for me......I never scrap anything about myself unless I really have to, and I never seem to be in photos as I'm always the one behind the camera!! Taking all that into consideration, I really made an effort to get this one done in record ...

Early start today even though it's a Sunday, but to be honest, now the boys have finished school, I've lost all track of what day it is. They're off to their nativity dress rehearsal at the Church so I'll have a couple of hours to try and wrap their presents while they're out of the house(!) so thought I would post this now while I've got the chance. Don't mean to be morbid, but this time of year does make you think about the people who are not here and thought I'd post this scrapbook layout of myself and my best friend Anny. Unfortunately, Anny died of cancer in May 2006 but rather than dwell on that, I like to look through this scrapbook I made her for Christmas 2005 and have a giggle! This page really does make me chuckle - we used to have such a good laugh on holiday together. I haven't got a photo of me on my blog yet but if you knew me, you would realise that this photo was taken a long time ago before babies!! I wish I was that size now! Never...

Thought we'd have a little bit of a break from Christmas! This is a scrapbook layout which I entered into the DoCrafts competition. I did make it to the last 30 but think that is as far as it goes! Anyway, I like it!!! I do love scrapbooking but find it takes me so much longer to complete a page than a card. I also tend to make quite a few scrapbooks for my family's "special" birthdays and don't get time to scrap my photos, which reminds me, it's my sister's 50th in February so I'm gonna have to get started on one for her in the New Year - trouble is, I always leave it until the last minute and end up in a panic LOL. Hope to be back later with a couple more cards.