Lost

That's what I'll be this weekend.... Lost.

Or rather, in Lost heaven :-)

My Carlo has got me the boxed set of season 4 on DVD and we plan to spend the weekend holed up away from the cold catching up on all our fave characters... Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, and the others... we've got plenty of provisions in - so no need to venture out - and tbh, I can't wait! Lol!!!

How sad am I? Are we? :-D

Ok... this layout has nothing whatsoever to do with Lost the series... but it it sorta fit with the title of my post today so here it is. It's something I made ages ago which was going to be for a challenge thingy way back in August that never went up, so as I've posted a few LO's recently made with summer pics to try to forget the cold crappy weather we're having I thought I'd air this one too...



(and I bloody well wish I was lying under this tree in Jazz's garden right now, instead of shivering my ample butt off here, let me tell ya's!)

So, have a great day all, I'm off now - and if you take my advice, you'll go and get Lost too xxx

more parky than park...

Oh yeah, the nights are drawing in, especially now the clocks have gone back. I couldn't believe how dark it had got so early last night... and Brrrr! chilly too!

Seems hard to imagine it was only a few weeks ago we all sat in the park on blankets sipping Pimms, nibblin nibbles and chillin in the sun. I was born in the wrong country I reckon coz I don't do dark and I don't do cold.

This LO I did for tamara's sketch blog, working from this sketch - no 68.

I quite like how these sketches are making me use lots of pics on a page - something I don't do nearly often enough. Another four hundred years of these andI might have made a small dent in my photo pile... ;-)

huge hugz everyone, stay warm!
jake xx

PS Jazz!! You are your mother's daughter, alright.. shame on you!! (is it good? lol)

It's all orange

So, did you all enjoy that extra hour in bed then?

Nah, me neither... Not last night, and not the night before. I woke up several times last night and finally decided to get up at half 5. Never was one to lie there trying to doze back off. So i'm on my 2nd coffee, and thought i'd fire a quick post up before work.

God, I hate that word.

Work.

What do I want to go to work for? When I have stuff here I'd rather do?

The minute I win the lottery it's goodbye Work. Forever. I won't even have the word uttered in my presence.... so there.

Now that's out of the way I'll get on. I've been a busy crafting bee of late. You know how you go up and down... sometimes you can't be bothered with it all... and sometimes you can't stop. Well, i've been on one and i'll get it up here bit by bit, as and when I can.

First up - a little book I decorated and prepped ready for the halloween photo's from Jazz. We spoke on the phone last night and though Ruben was not that well, he had a great party and the event was a huge success. The Pinata went down a treat, everyone dressed up and the kids had a brilliant time. And Meemee wore her outfit! Yay!

I don't suppose she wore it for long... but I can't wit to see the pix all the same :-)

The Hybrid Book:

This was a Magistical Memories naked chipboard book I won last year from Scrapajack's decorated with loads of fun digi images of kate's

I'm not sure what the papers are before anyone asks... sorry, but i'm useless at remembering things like that. I think the majority of them are by AMM, but they're not current - they'll be last year's, or even older. I'm using my stash, remember?

All the digi stuff is from Kate Hadfield's store at the Lily Pad:

Tiff and Kate's halloween wordy bits

The witching hour

Trick or treaters

So that's it for now... best go and get ready to go to that place! Oh the curse of being poor...!

Have a great day - more later!

jk x

who's that girl...?

So, I asked Vin what he thought of my lil wall hanging...
It was just a pretty thing I made using a bigish jenni bowlin chipboard flower, a bit of pink wire and lots and lots of kate's gorgeous goodies. Just a lttle thing... but I loved it.


He said it was lovely - really pretty, and such a cute photo of Jazz.....

I'm smilin now....

I asked his dad next, what he thought... He loved the dimension and all the inky edges... { he does like an inky edge, does my Carlos... ;-) } He marvelled at my patience in cutting all the elements out...
...Oh, and he loved the picture of Jazz....

Only it's not Jazz! It's Donna!

It's Donna and my adored kitten Moth - in the garden of the first little house we ever bought years and years ago, just a few days before Moth was stolen from the front of the house. We were distraught and contacted the local paper as we lived near 2 schools and feared kids may have thought him a stray and carried him off. They used this picture in the paper - and Moth was returned to us next day!

But what's uncanny is how like Jazz Donna looks in the picture!
And Jazz's baby Jenna is the spit of them both lol!

Pic is a bit blurry as she never sits still, and it's off her dad's phone, but you see what I mean? The image!

I have to say I really enjoyed making this thing.

First, I painted the chipboard frame in pink lemonade acrylic, then dry brushed it with cherry blossom pink, before inking with warm red, rouge and dark brown inks. The background paper is BG Blush ( not sure which one as used a scrap but easily identifiable if you want it) , and all the elements come from Kate Hadfield's
Funky Junky Doodles which are available from the LilyPad.

Click image for close up.

And here's my mojoholder LO from last night:

Very tongue in cheek layout, having a playful poke at my youngest two! And again, another hybrid Lo using Kate's stuff. can you tell I'm hooked?

This week we lifted Janna Wilson
And this is the sketch Sarah made for us to work from:



Today is Ruben's 4th birthday party, though it's not his birthday til tomorrow. And last Thursday was Matilda's 2nd birthday. Mattie had a night garden theme at a soft adventure playground and looked totally adorable in her cute little dress from Next.

Love these pics of all the huffin and puffin!

She looks very cute here but trust me - she's a minx! Well, she's two - what else would she be? However in fairness, it has to be said, she behaved remarkably well at her party considering all the kids there and all the excitement going on :-) She was in fact the perfect little hostess!

Now I gotta admit, I have no idea at all who this character is - which is actually quite worrying... because it means Great Grandma (who's knocking 90) has her finger on the pulse better than me... but i'm sure many of you DO know.... wanna enlighten me? lol!

Rubie's having a halloween party, and Jazz has promised hundreds of pics. I'd better get some photo's of Minnie because I sent her an outfit!

A pumkin cloak and hat... !! In Chihuahua size!!

i know she'll scratch it off, but I could resist it. How cute to see a a chuhuahua in a halloween costume :-)

Can you say ahhh........?

hugz everyone! more tomorrow!

jake x

fairy rings... and things.

So, this is the first piece of work I made for Kate Hadfield's hybrid CT at the lilypad which of course, I've just joined. I've been meaning to scrap this photo for ages and never got round to it but katies digi stars and toadstools were perfect so there you go.... another one done!

All digi elements printed, cut out and stuck down - by hand! Lol!

The journalling reads:

Fairy rings... usually found in places where fairies have had a gathering. Toadstool rings tempt people who are hoping to see fairies, back to the same spot over and over again. However, non-magical people cannot see fairies; and anyway, fairies seldom meet in the same place twice, so it is somewhat silly to return to a toadstool ring in the hopes of glimpsing fairies...

Doesn't stop me checking tho! :-)

Today is Tadpole Tuesday at the lilypad and Kate has this on offer :

Grab it today - perfect for jazzing up your halloween goodies - and it's just $1.00!
Normal price $3.49 - Bargain!!

more laterjk xx

owww... sore sore throat...

well...sore sore throat and ears actually.

I thought it was a toothache at first because it was kind of like my jaw? But it's not, it's my throat and my ear.. and it's not very nice. BUT - as I hate being ill, i'm dosing up and attempting to soldier on. Those extra strong Lemsips are a blessing, let me tell you.

Today my 2nd LO for tamara's sketches dt went up, but looking at it there i'm not too happy with it. For some reason the words round the edge look like they're in straight lines and um.. actually, they're not.
Just so you know, okay? :-)

This is the sketch, which I flipped on it's side:

and this is tildy bum looking as cute as ever. She looks just like a little angel - do NOT be fooled... she's a rascal!

So that's me for today - got lots on, so have to fly

more tomorrow!

jkx

There's been excitement!

Yep - good things for me :-)

First I got a parcel for a GDT spot - and it's gorgeous - totally wonderful colours, and very very me.

And second, I joined Kate Hadfield's hybrid CT!


I'm really excited about this as I'm very keen to do more hybrid work and finally put this Robo to use! I've had it almost 10 months now and I think i've used it 5 times... but that's going to change :-) Kate's work is just amazing and i've always been a huge fan. Her doodles are so clever and colourful and I can't wait to start for work for our undisputed digi scrapping queen. You can buy Kates stuff and find loads of inspiration at the Lily Pad

My only niggle is that I can't make the animated blinkie work on here! Grr!!! Blogger drives me insane at times, and i'm sick of wasting time trying to make it work.In fact there are some real issues here with blogger and photobucket. The other day all my slides packed up - you may have noticed they were missing? One minute they were there - the next that box came up saying they were all empty. And when I try and add anything from photobucket now all I get is a box saying image moved or deleted. I am SO angry about it!

Is anyone else having issues like this - or just me?

X factor last night was a disappointment. I'm no MJ fan so that didn't help, but I thought at least half of them were rubbish - and how the hell did Ruth get into the bottom 2?????

Aaaanyway - gotta run. More later when I have piccies to post.
jk x

Organised...? Me? Pah!

First off, my little planner (previous post) was picked up by:
http://organizedchristmas.com/

And was featured here:
http://christmasplanner.com/

For some reason this both tickled and delighted me, especially as they said such nice things! I'm not normally noted for being organised despite the fact that I am actually paid to be an activity organiser/coordinator ;-) (erm, for that...read fraud...).

Anyway, there are some smashing ideas on the site - loads of organisational printables and downloads, and heaps of pretty inspiration too, so if you have a few mins spare pop over and have a look.

My Mojo layout for last night was a lift of a page by Michelle Lanning.

I did the sketch... don't laugh!

And this is my layout. I'm loving this colour combo lately:

The spotty green paper is something I got free in a magazine a hundred years ago - but it looks ok on here roughed up a bit I think :-)

The journalling reads:

Hey Vin - I know you think you look pretty hench in these photos... well, guess what? You Do!

You're losing the boy shape... And I can see the beginings of the man you're going to become.

See the muscle definition growing.

See that cute triangle shape the girls are going to love.

Just never forget dude - this girl loved you first!

Ok, i'm off, got a pizza box full of goodies to play with for a GDT spot :-)

Have a happy saturday folks! leave me a comment and put a smile on my face!

hugz

jake xx

it's that C word....

Yeeehah!

Hard to believe I know... but it's almost time for the C word to be mentioned...

*gasps all round!!*

Keep it to yourself but I 've already mumbled it a few times today... And no, I haven't taken to profanity (well, no more than usual anyway) but over on IACW we're getting ready for the Christmas season by offering up a month of creative inspiration, hoping to get everyone crafting in plenty of time this year :-)

Somehow I got to be the one to kick it off, and my post went up this morning, but check in everyday to see what the other creative girls are coming up with - there's some gorgeous projects on the cards and we've got ourselves all whipped up with Christmassy excitement lol - Like a bunch of kids we are, and we wanna share it with you!

This is was the lil project I made to start us off. Very simple, really quick, and made with stuff you almost certainly have lying around, it's cute, might make a nice pressie - and cost pennies. I'm really getting into this thrifty 'use your stash idea' now and lovin it! Initially it started off because I was too poor to buy anything, but now it's fun seeing what I can make with ancient papers and embellies :-) I actually get a kick out of seeing what I can do with it. So....

My Christmas Planner :



This year I’ve managed to get ahead of myself and I’m keen to stay that way! So I thought I'd make a Christmas planner so I can scribble notes, write lists and jot down ideas as they come to me. I've got a date stamp and a calendar stamp for December and I deliberately chose a square booklet to alter so that if I get an idea for a Christmas layout it’s the perfect shape for quickly sketching it out while the idea’s still fresh in my mind.

If you're making one you might want to include some or all of the things I have here:

Recipes/menu,
Buying/decorating the tree
Card listsGift lists,
Posting dates for friends/family around the globe,
Countdown of days for jobs to be done,
Ideas for teachers/tutors gifts,
Shopping lists for fresh foods from various suppliers
Card making ideas/colours/papers
Photos of things you’ve made
Ideas for xmas entertainments, games and family get togethers
Putting up the decs

Oh...and… your own wish list of course!! ;-)
(then leave it open on the coffee table.....)

Coz I'm always so pushed for time I didn't have time to make my planner from scratch, but those of you with a spare half hour and a BIA could make this in any size or shape you wanted. Personally, I picked up a cheap chipboard notebook from the poundshop mainly because it was square - and therefore handy for sketching layouts and cards.


First remove the binding wires carefully - you have to put them back afterwards so take care not to bend them out of shape!

Then cover the outside and inside of the chipboard covers. I used my cropodile to punch holes where the wires go. Cover one side and punch - this will give you a guide once you've covered the other side.

Once you've covered it, dress up the front with your chosen embellies and carefully reassemble the book.

I added a cute festive peg which came on some flowers I got last year, so I could safely save Christmas tokens, vouchers and offers - why not have a hunt around and see what you can find or make which will suit the same purpose?
Thanks for popping by the blog and hope you enjoyed this simple sweet tutorial :-) You wouldn't believe how quick and easy this planner was to make so if you're a list maker like me - get crackin - Christamas is coming!! ... oh and my friend bekka has another planner on her blog - it's gorgeous and perfect if you love pockets and lists... like me!

hugz - jakexxx

Harvest Home

Today at work we had our Harvest Festival. I organise two christian church services a month with visiting clergy and if necessary, arrange for ministers of other faiths to visit the home should our clients require spiritual comfort.

My favourite service tho is with Pastor Rex, mainly because he's a great friend, but also because it's just so relaxed and warm and completely without pomp and stuffiness - though there are a few resi's who prefer the more traditional C of E style service which we have too.

We had a table set out and I loaded up a basket with fruit and veg from the kitchen, and we sang and clapped and thanked the Lord for all he provides - and had a real laugh about the size of one particular cabbage he provided today - we fear it's something we may be eating for weeks...

...promting one old dear to suggest in a deafening stage whisper that perhaps on this occasion the good Lord might just have provided a little too much.....? :-)


Sometimes they kill me!

********************************

I loved making my layout for this weeks Sketches! by tamara as the pictures are really juicy and made me pine for sunny days round the pool with the fam. Rubes and Vin might not be too close in age but they're both mad for the water and happily spend hours in and out of the pool playing on inflatables, making a lot of noise / action and having water fights which somehow end up involving everyone. Though he just turned 16 this summer, Vin was still a kid in many ways... I wonder how much he'll change in the next 12 months?

Tamara's sketch
My layout

Okies, that's me.
More tomorrow

jk xx

fab weekend

It's been a great couple of days:-)

The car finally passed the MOT (at some cost admittedly, but at least it passed).
My sister came to stay.
England won....! and X Factor was brilliant :-) Doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?

On Thursday sister sanna arrived and we had a lovely meal and catch up with her and her best friend Jenny. Friday we saw my Dad, and then went shopping. My dizzy sibling nearly got us arrested for shoplifting when she waltzed out of Primark behind me clutching her shopping bag... containg a pair of one pound fifty tights and some two quid glasses!! Honestly! She ran back in immediately, but we were giggling and carrying on so much we drew the attention of the security guard who then followed us upstairs and hovvered about until we'd selected some leopard print pj's, queued and paid!

We laughed all the way home... I mean fancy getting done for pinching in primark... the cheapest shop on the planet....oh the shame!

Later she insisted on taking us out for a meal so we went to town for dinner and drinkies.

And then yesterday she went home. I do miss her and wish she was nearer to me - even if she does get me into trouble!

Friday night's mojoholder welcomed 4 very talented ladies to the team:

Maria - who many of you will know from UKS and various Dt's and magazine work. I'm a huge fan of Ria's work which is always fresh and truly outstanding, and I love her to bits because she's such a nice girl too.

Paula - who many of you will know as minibook pixie. Paula is very very talented and another total sweetheart.

Jaimie - One of Australia's most talented scrappers - do check this girl out. She's just amazing... and she wants to play with us! Yay!

And Sheena - another super talented UKS'er who we are delighted to have on the team.

This week we lifted Martha Bonneau and this was my version:


Look at the little bunch of dandelions in Rubie's hand... awwww bless.

And I've made a couple of very quick halloween cards too.

I'm still enjoying the cardmaking and hope to get a cuttlebug for Christmas because I really want those embossing folders Bekka showed me. I also saw something I fancied on Paula's blog which is a scalloped card die - must ask her about that I think!

Wanna win some gorgeous blog candy? Look here!

Anyway - enough from me!

Off to craft now :-)

have a great day... jk xxx

Welcome

Quick post today as I'm mega busy with real life.

I'm taking the car to the garage - yes again! - to get the fractured coil spring fixed, so then it can pass it's MOT. I'm not even going to go into how much it cost this time... i've got to the point where the mechanics say "it's going to be this much" and I go "oh, ok" and take out my card.

Whatever they say I just accept it... they've broken me at last. 

But on the plus side my sister comes tonight for a few days so I have something to look forward to. When I get the car back later I'll go and get some provisions, but in the meantime I have the dreaded HW to do. Oh Joy.

Today I'll share the post I put up on IACW. I made a  cute little welcome message with some tatty old kids blocks I found in the junk shop and covered with ancient basic grey. I actually think I prefer some of the older collections to the ones which come out every other week - and I still have plenty lol, so if you do too - get it out and get creating!

Oh, and take a look at MOJOHOLDER tonight - we have some mega talented new additions to the DT - the mojo's really rockin!

*********************************

Doing up kids blocks for practically FREE!

Recently while trawling the local charity shops I came across a bag of kiddies blocks priced at 75p. I could see the potential even though they were only paper covered plastic, so I snapped them up

I decided to use some old Basic Grey papers to cover them as I knew I wanted a very inky look, and let’s be honest, nothing accepts chalk inks like good old BG does!

I picked out a few coordinating papers and covered all sides of the blocks. I found it easiest - and quickest - to use a prit stick and just cut round the block with a craft knife.

Once the blocks were all covered I inked them heavily using 
Creamy Brown, Terracotta and Dark brown inks.

I cut some letters out on the Robo to spell ‘welcome’ and ‘home’, and used rubon’s to spell out ‘to our’ on the last block, adding a little paper heart to finish it off.

 

I think they look lovely in the soft lamplight in the hall and it’s a nice way to extend a welcome message to your visitors which cost practically nothing.

Happy Crafting!

jk xx

a bit late.. but

Poor Tamara... she's another one having a nightmare with her computer at present...  and I can SO relate to that!

My own problems here are not as bad as they were, but I still have issues and no idea how to right them. *glum*

The DT will still be creating however!! So please pop by and check out the Sketches!  site  for some lovely ideas and inspiration from the girls :-)

Anyway - just a little late this week - we got the Sketches! by tamara layouts up finally, and they're all fantastic. The new DT have really pushed the boat out and I'm so excited and proud to be among them :-)

Here is the sketch tamara sent us:

And this is what I did with it.

I was really keen to use these gorgeous butterflies which I was given by the wife of one of our resi's. They were much too heavy to use on paper or card tho, so I thought I'd make a canvas for the wall instead, using pix of some of the flowers in my garden.

Anyway - work calls - more later
jk xx

Send your menfolk to me...

...Send them all.... young and old alike, because I'm offering a course in Basic Life Skills....

for FREE!!!

Yep, you heard me. Totally free - I'm so convinced there's a real need for this that i'm willing to offer the BLS on a one time only basis. I'm qualified - I've been teaching it for years  ~ albiet to seriously challenged students ~  so sign em up while you can... imagine the benefits!

And there'll be incentives... oh yes. Coffee, cake and all the chocolate they can eat. 

***Classes covered will include***

How to transport cups to the sink/dishwasher for recycling!

How to screw the lid back on the Marmite/Peanut butter/Jam jar!

How to fold a towel!

How to hit the laundry bin with a pair of balled up socks!

How to close the cupboards in the kitchen!

And my Master Classs.....

How to fit a toilet roll on the holder!

Now all I have to do is convince my OWN two to turn up...

(expected class size.... zero)

.................................................

And my Mojoholder layout for this week was a toughie!!

We were lifting a page by Michelle Clements  which was made on a shaped transparency, which of course I didn't have. Didn't have any plain 12x12 'thick' transparency at all, so I decided to adapt a patterned one. Michelle's own gorgeous LO can be seen on  mojoholder.

The hardest part was cutting the shape as I couldn't fold it like I would have paper... so the eagle eyed among you will notice that it's not exactly symmetrical.... Ah well, this matters how? lol. I had loads of fun splodging paint and throwing  stuff at it, and it didn't turn out too bad in the end though the image is awful because I had a nightmare trying to photograph it for upload. I imagine Jazz and Hayley will love it as it was those two devil's who had him out on the razz that night...  :-) I wanted to capture the essence of my sister Jen's favourite quote (excuse!) "Life is not a rehearsal" live it.

I imagine Jen would approve of Vin's unconventionality immensly :-)

Ok, got a busy day so need to get on! More later!  

Have a great weekend whatever you're up to :-)

jk xxx

Feeling the pinch?

Oh yeah... we are... But then, who's not?

The poxy car failed it's MOT again, despite the fortune I have spent on it this year. Gutted is not the word. Only failed on one thing but it's going to be another £90 or so to get it through. FFS. Everyone in the world has their hand in my pocket.

On a happier note, I've done a bit of crafting this week. I had a really crap weekend last week and wasn't in the mood to do anything, but things have eased up a bit now and i've managed to get in here and pick up some papers.

A wedding card for the theme post on IACW. 

This looks large but it's actually tiny! Only 3.5" x 4.5" :-)

And a card in gorgeous Autumny colours

And a 12 x 12 of Rubes.

There are a few half finished things on the go as well which I'll hopefully get up this weekend as they get finished.

Yesterday I went to meet a fellow scrapper, a lovely lady called   Bekka  who is local to me who just happens to be a stampin up consultant... and now I want... um... everything. Lol!

I saw some gorgeous pens, inks and watercolour pencils. More stamps than I've ever seen in one place before (drooling much?) and pored over the brand new catalogue which could make you dizzy with inspiration. All I need to do now is win the lottery! I got to have a play too - and now need a cuttlebug and ALL the embossing folders :-) yep.. just 6 lil numbers... and i'm there!

Thanks lighthouse girl for my lovely things, that wonderful coffee and for letting me loose with your stash :-)

More later

jk xx