I solemnly swear I am up to s{no}w good

After a lot of last minute shopping last year (once I'd finally dug myself out of the house) and one or two presents that didn't actually appear until January, I am 110% committed to having my Christmas shopping done before 1st December this year. So who's with me?  Go on, say it...

I solemnly swear to:

Sip mulled wine, 

Listen to carols

Enjoy the festive season

And put my woolly sock clad feet up in December.

No shopping (unless it's for fun or me).

 

And on that note, I am heading into town for a spot of festive shopping. So who's organised? Does anyone have all their shopping done? Presents wrapped? Cards bought/made/written???

10 Things in November

Another 10 things you may or may not know about me:

1. I love chick lit. I am currently reading Cafe Tropicana by Belinda Jones.
2. I love reality TV. My recent favourites are Big Brother, The X Factor and The Bachelor.
3. I have a little boy who is three years old.
4. The first time I went on a plane I was 10 years old and on my own.
5. I have been dying my hair blonde for so long I'm not entirely sure what my natural hair colour would be if I let the blonde grow out completely.
6. I once travelled from Stirling to London on a freezing cold bus to protest about university tuition fees.
7. I am addicted to Coke (Cherry Coke being my all time favourite).
8. I am taking part in a 'Twiathlon'.
9. I order chips and curry sauce and call it a 'Chinese takeaway' (in my defence I always order prawn crackers!).
10. I'm 32 years old (I think!). I have got to THAT age where I question what age I am on a regular basis.

Every month, we blog ten things on the tenth.  Your ten things can be absolutely anything you feel like sharing.  Pop on over to Shimelle's blog and link to your specific blog post so we can all come read your own list of ten.

The Great Wall of... (our livingroom)

So things started getting a little spooky around here at the start of the month. My little man celebrates his birthday on 11th October and I take that as a big flashing green neon sign to start decorating the house for his birthday and for Halloween. I mean, you want to make the most of your spooky decorations don't you. So why not start early.

This year we had something new to decorate. I frequently lust over other peoples 'displays'. You know the ones with the gorgeous sentiments and the gorgeous ornaments, and the gorgeous photos. Well, we have no such space in our home. No chunky mantelpiece to drape pretties from, no lovely shelves to decorate, not even a sideboard!! Oh dear, you may way ask, how have I survived all these years?!? I honestly don't know.

We have this wall in our livingroom. It's unloved. It's... bare!! Bar two picture hooks that I unceremoniously string Christmas cards from but once a year (well thankfully really, Christmas cards more than once a year would be, well weird). It was time to show the wall some love. Photo collages to vinyl wall decals were discussed but I wanted somewhere to 'hang', to 'place', to 'decorate'. I wanted... a shelf! And where else does one buy ones self a shelf, Ikea of course. And a few other fancies while your there. It would be rude not to and quite frankly it is The Rules of Ikea to slip things into your trolly you never even knew you desperately needed.

And here it is, loving refered to in our family as 'The Shelf'.

Crys of 'I wasn't sure about the shelf but...', 'I love your shelf, I wasn't really sure about it to be honest' can be heard far and wide but the fact remains they all love it. But most importantly so do I.

Happy Halloween to one and all :)

(apart from the wee buggers that just egged my front window - I wouldn't mind if I was being all scrooge mcduck without any pumpkins on display and no bowl of sweeties ready and waiting for them but come on at least wait until I've tripped the switch to the doorbell to egg me :p)

Halloween's Coming

Halloween's coming, witches will be after you...

I just love this time of year. Although the pitch black when my alarm goes off at 6:15am may take a little bit longer to get used too. But Autumn leaves, central heating, homemade soup (not that I don't eat homemade soup all year round but there's just something a bit lovely about eating it all cozy and warm when it's cold outside), pumpkins and Halloween decorations make up for the dark mornings. I can't wait for the Halloween costumes to appear in the shops. J has been a pumpkin, a vampire and a spider. We have a busy September and October ahead (a stag, a hen, a 3rd birthday and a wedding) but I am hoping to find some time to make some Halloween projects. And at the very least I hope to scrapbook last years Halloween photos!

I've been using Pinterest for a while but only to re-pin images that has already been pinned (are you still with me?). That was until Julie's It's a Sign post prompted me too add all of my Orlando holiday photos of signs. You can see my It's a Sign board here if you are at all interested. It dawned on me that I could be using Pinterest to save some of my favourite Halloween projects so that's what I did yesterday. And here is the board and some of my favourite pins... Happy hauntings :) Yup, I'm slow on the uptake.

Source: 2.bp.blogspot.com via Kir on Pinterest

Source: lemontreecreations.blogspot.com via Kir on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kir on Pinterest

Welcome to the World

My little neice arrived safe and sound last week; a little bundle of loveliness. In preparation for her arrival I created a couple of pages for her very first scrapbook. I decided on the Amanda Blu Woodland Animals album for her. I have the Robots version of this album as well (in fact I have three but that's a whole other story). The albums have a lovely touchy feely fabric embellished cover which you can't help but stroke. You really need to see them in the flesh. They are gorgeous. My little man loves his 'robots book'. He is always 'just looking' at the cover :)

I used Simple Stories Baby Steps, Prima flowers (Whisper Collection - Celebrate and Classic Lace - Aria), a Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, some Kaisercraft gems and pearls and Lullaby Thickers. I inked the cardstock and papers with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

 

A little slow on the up-take, I am fast becoming a kraft cardstock convert. I just can't see past it at the moment. It's so easy to work with no faffing around trying the match papers to cardstock. No pulling out oddles of one colour of cardstock to find that really you have nothing out of the masses that actually matches. Urgh. 

In other news, I am throwing a  Gruffalo themed birthday party for my little man's 3rd birthday. Amazing! Said the Gruffalo.

10 Things

10 completely random things you may or may not know about me...

1. I'm 4' 11"
2. I collect Pocket Dragons
3. I am an only child
4. I have 3 brothers in law and 3 sisters in law
5. I have two degrees, neither of which I need to do my job
6. I work in IT in a university
7. I met my husband at high school
8. I passed my driving test first time, age 20
9. I've been in prison (I worked for the prison service) :p
10. I am a Taurus

Fairest of Them All

Parades are great for a bit of character spotting and snapping at Walt Disney World! I love to stake out a good spot for taking photos of the parades. And, to be honest at only 4' 11" it's a bit of a neccessity! We were lucky enough to catch the Hollywood Holly-Day Parade (aka the Stars and Motor Cars parade) at Disney's Hollywood Studios' (formally MGM) in December 2007 before it moved to Disneyland Paris. So, I have lots n' lots of photos of  Disney characters in their cars with the added bonus of Santa as we caught the parade at Christmas time.

To create this page I used  a sheet of Bazzill and lots n' lots of Reminisce's Fairy Tales Collection and some seriously old (or should that be vintage) red and pink metal and pearl embellishments that I think my Grandad 'rescued' from a birthday card. My Grandad was crafty like me and I inherited his craft supplies when he passed away in 2006. It's really lovely to be able to use something he had squirreled away on one of my pages.

Have a magical day!

I love you more than you know

Look at those fingers and those big eyes and all that baby drool. I can't believe my little man was ever this small. I know everyone says it but they really do grow up so fast! On Saturday morning I went into his room and I said 'good morning little man' and he said 'good morning little mummy' {cue heart melt}. I love him more than he knows. True story.

Suppiles for this page include My Minds Eye Lime Twist Fly a Kite, My Minds Eye Life of the Party, Green and Blue Petaloos and KI Memories Happy Day Puffies.

A Hollywood that never was - and always will be

One of the things I love about being a scrapbooker is noticing things I wouldn't have ordinarily noticed. Like this statue and sign in Disney's Hollywood Studios (or Disney MGM Studios as it was known then). If I hadn't taken this photo I'd have long forgotten about the statue never mind the plague. And for this I'm forever grateful to this fantastic hobby.

Supplies include; Creative Imaginations, Jolees, Reminisce, October Afternoon, American Crafts Thickers, Bo Bunny and .

Thanks for stopping by. Kx

I'm a Proud Scrapbooker

A little later than scheduled, inspired by this post by Shimelle, I bring you 10 Things I love about scrapbooking...

1. Supplies. I am not gonna lie. A huge part of my love of scrapbooking stems from my addiction to all things stationery. Hand on heart I spend more time swooning over my supplies than actual scrapping and that's OK with me. I ENJOY stroking and organising my crafty goodies until my hearts content. They make me smile. And I LOVE to see my supplies used up and on my pages for everyone to see and share their absolute beauty.

2. Shopping. Hello. My name is Kirsteen and I am a shopaholic. It's true. I am. I can honestly say that I look at new stash and new classes every. day. in. life. Searching for the prefect collection or finding a class that is 'right up my street' makes my heart sing. And why ever not.

3. Surfing. I have a PC, laptop or smartphone within my reach at all times. I have scrappy websites I check every day (UKScrappers), I follow fellow scrappers, scrappy stores and manufacturers on Facebook and Twitter. And I sub to lots n' lots of amazing blogs via Google Reader (one of my favourite bloggers - Stephanie Howell). I love reading about inspiring projects, new ideas and exciting developments in the scrappy world every day. I love that I can be a part of blog hops, and circle journals (not that I have ever done this but I could, you know) and online crop parties! Full on scrappy excitement 24/7 at my fingertips.

4. Planning/squirreling. I am a planner. I love to plan. I love to plan holidays, days/nights out, parties... in fact, I start every day with 'so what's the plan?' I didn't earn my title at university as the 'minx co-ordinator' for nothing you know. So it comes as no surprise that I love to plan my scrapbook pages. I love to collect 'things'. Tickets, maps (oh maps how I love thee), coins, wristbands, receipts, napkins, badges, clothes tags, postcards. I collect them ALL. I love to think about the types of photos I want to take and where. I love to pull out all the supplies that I think will work well with a particular project, and find that perfect paper or embellishment lurking in my stash. I have books upon books of 'scrappy ideas' (did I mention my notebook addiction?) I love nothing more than to scribble a memory down just as it's happened knowing that I don't have to rely on my dodgy memory bank to remember it.

5. Living. It goes without saying that I love to live life more than I want to scrapbook it. But knowing that I am going to scrap those moments. Knowing that I am going to remember them and be able to re-live them in far more techni-colour detail than I ever could if they weren't scrapped makes those moments all the more amazing!!

6. Sharing. I love creating pages for my family and friends. I love the looks on their faces as they look at their photos scrapped and preserved along with their story. And I'm not going lie. I like it when they woop over my 'creations'. And my heart did skip a tiny beat when I gave a friend a mini album of her wedding day as a first anniversary gift and she cried. I love that I can plan albums with them and tell them about the prefect collection I have found for their photos. I am lucky. They share my excitement. And for that I am forever grateful to this hobby that I can share with my friends and family even though they aren't scrapbookers themselves.

7. Friends. Without a word of a lie I have known my bestest scrappy friend for as long as I have been scrapping (2005) - Mandy Charlton you know who you are :) I loves her and I love that she 'gets' my scrappy obsession. She inspires me and and makes me laugh every day. Go on, go say hello to her on Twitter she's a hoot. I am a member of a team on UKScrappers, each of whom I love dearly. Absolutely Scrapulous girls - I love you!! I met our 'leader' Mon last year for lunch even though we live 100s of miles apart. We would never have met if it wasn't for scrapping and I thank my lucky stars for each and every one of my scrappy friends.

8. Learning. I have learnt so many new things about scrapping and most importantly, about myself and I am so excited about all the things I still have left to learn. And there is so much to learn.

9. Talking. Yup. It's no secret. I like to talk. And I love to talk scrapbooking. And I'll talk scrapbooking to anyone who will listen. Luckily, my husband is a great listener or slightly deaf... one of the two.

10. DOING! Knowing that I have a scrapping day or 30 minutes planned. Or that moment when a page comes together just how you'd imagined it or even better. You can't bottle than!!

I hope you've enjoyed my 10 things I love about this fantastic hobby or ours :) If you love scrapbooking as much as I do why not pop this cute image from Shimelle on your blog/signature/social networking site.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Scrapping!! Kxx

The Magic is in the Detail

I'm not sure if you know, I guess I have kept it a bit of a secret around here but I think it's time I came clean...

I love Walt Disney World. Yup, I know, I kept that one well hidden didn't I? :p Now that you know the truth I guess I can just jump right in with a Disney page, right?

One of the things I love most about WDW is the attention to detail. I love a theme. Be it, a fancy dress party, a fundraiser, a children's party. If I can 'theme' it I will. It is no surprise that Disney World is my idea of heaven. From the tables to the chairs, from the street signs to the bins EVERYTHING is themed. The attention to detail is so great, you won't find a Frontierland cast member (don't you just love that) wandering around in Tomorrowland. Oh no. No space cowboys round these here parts. The Magic Kingdom was built over a series of tunnels called utilidors to allow cast members to move about freely from one land to anotehr without being seen in the 'wrong' place. How cool is that. I love this, I love that Disney is putting on 'a show' for their guests and the show never seems to end. There is so much to see, so much to take in. You couldn't possibly see everything is just one trip. In fact, I'm not convinced you could see everything in 100 trips to the mouse.

When I took this photo I had a scrapbook page in mind. I knew I wanted to document the little details, the little touches that make WDW the most magical place in the world. This is a lamp, yes, a lamp on a little desk in our room at the Grand Floridian. Isn't it cute? The lack of colour in the photo and that I wanted to journal about what makes WDW 'Disney' for me meant that I could really go to town with my 'Disney' supplies. I have papers, and stickers in red, black, yellow and white coming out of my {Mickey} ears and every now and then I like to pull all those supplies out a create what I think of as a totally 'Disney' page. It's so simple and so much fun. And I love the results.

Supplies include; Bazzill, Creative Imaginations, Reminisce, Echo Park and Doodlebug. Thanks for stopping by Kxx

Just Add Water

There is something about the smell of the water in Orlando that says we've arrived. A la; Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. I am convinced I can smell it coming off the plane. I would imagine it's something to do with the amount of chlorine they add to it but I'm no water expert so we'll just leave it at, it smells different, nice different. Although, I have heard people wholeheartedly disagree on this.

Ever since the first two challenges over at Disney Scrappers were posted I have been itching to do a watery themed page. I don't have a while lot of watery photos from Disney. In fact, we've never been to any of the water parks - I know, call yourself a Disney-a-holic?!? It is impossible to see and do everything in one trip. What can I say.. we NEED to go back.

During our second trip in 2007 we managed to fit in a day at SeaWorld. OK, so it's not quite Disney but Orlando and Disney are interchangable in my mind - one means that other and vice versa. I don't just love Disney, I love Orlando, hell, I love Florida :)

Echo Park's Splash was perfect for some SeaWorld photos. I hand cut a waves, a clould and a sun and added some matching stickers. I used a very old (so old I can't remember who it's by) 'Paradise Found' rub-on and an even older SeaWorld logo die cut. Continuing to use old supplies I added two wooden embelishments that I bought in Michaels on our last trip on Orlando. I then sneezed, a big old flower sneeze. I added buttons, gems and pearls for flower centres and bubbles in the water. Thanks for stopping by. Kx

10 Things

This month I'm dedicating my 10 Things post to 10 things I love about Orlando, where I have been twice, once in 2005 and once on honeymoon in 2007.

1. Gasparilla's hotdog and fries. Especially after an 8 hour flight, having just checked into the Grand Floridian!!



2. Wild Cherry Pepsi bought in bulk at Wal*Mart



3. Lays Chips (crisps). First discovered at the kiosk in the American pavillion at EPCOT having forgotten the chips means crisps.



4. Carrot Cake from Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Must be eaten every night like ritual.



5. Mickey's Philharmagic show at the Magic Kingdom



6. Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table in Cinderella Castle. Epecially on one week wedding anniversaries



7. Being upgraded to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa on our honeymoon trip. Yup t'is true.



8. Joanns, Michaels, Wal*Mart and Target. Need I say more?



9. Sipping virgin cocktails in Bahama Breeze



10. Disney's Days of Christmas shop in Downtown Disney. Christmas all year round!

There are other people blogging 10 Things today today. Why don't you join us? Pop on over to shimelle.com and add your link once your done :)

The Day we Conquered Everest

Once upon a time we went on a journey to a forbidden moutain... Mount Everest!! As in Disney's Animal Kingdom Mount Everest, clearly. Following on from last weeks 'Wild at Heart' layout this is another page I did for Disney Scrappers. You must visit if you {heart} Disney and Scrapping.

Now, I am not a rollercoaster person but I like to think I am. And I love that you can kind of kid yourself into going on a big ride at Disney. Sometimes you can't even SEE the rides!! Rock n' Roller at Disney Hollywood Studios is a great example of this. I would have never rode this in a million years had I actually SEEN the coaster! You can't see the coaster accelerate from 0-60 in 2,8 seconds, nor can you see the two roll-overs nor the corkskrew inversions from the outside (good job!). I thought I was in for a relaxing drive in a limo with the lovely Areosmith... 'Walk this Way' I said!! I love Disney because even though I am unlikely (let's be honest here) to ever ride Rock n' Roller coaster again I can still say I have done it! And I have and Everest too!

Although, Expedition Everest at Disney's Aminal Kingdom is not so elusive, I mean I could see the 80 foot drop before I declared 'Let's do Everest' but you know what's it's like, it's Disney, 'how bad can it be', 'it'll be similar to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad I'm sure' and the queuing area is 'so cool', 'a must see' I had set myself a goal to ride EE and afterall, we were dressed for the occiasion :p I. Was. So. Scared. But I didn't let on until we were off the ride and through the shop. I wanted the ride photo and my 'I Conquered Everest' licence plate (shopping overrides my fear factor, isn't that the case for everyone?!). Safely, out of earshot of the Yeti I uttered 'how scary was that!'. I really hope I can muster up the courage to ride EE again. Or perhaps I'll do a 'Mummy'... huh? Ah well, that's a story for another day... :p

Supplies include Bo Bunny U Bug Me and Zoology. Thanks for stopping my and as they say at Disney's Animal Kingdom 'have a wild time!' :)

When Life Gives you Lemons...

... scrapbook until you learn how to make lemonade.

Life has thrown me a curve ball recently and I admit, I am not quite dealing with all that entails in the graceful, calm manner that I would have wished for. But I am working on it. Meditiation CDs at the ready! But, I am somewhat scrapping my way through it (or should that be scraping my way... ;p).

Last week Disney Scrappers (re)launched their Disney scrapbooking challenges. You must sign up if you are a Disney scrapper as there are bucket loads of talented Disney scrappers over there with oodles of inspiration. It couldn't have happened at a better time for me and gave a nudge in the right direction to return to my honeymoon album. Only 4 years in the making, not bad eh?

I really wanted to have a bash at the first two chellenges: Under the Sea and Caution! You May Get Wet! but I didn't feel I had the right papers or embellies and nothing really took my fancy online (who knew!?!). I am still on the look out for a cute water themed collection? Although Bo Bunny Barefoot and Bliss has caught my eye. How cute is the title? Never mind the collection!

However, having just bought some Bo Bunny Zoology, challenge 3: On the Wild Side was perfect for me!

I dragged out some old animal themed papers and embellies, mainly Bo Bunny's U Bug Me and some Making Memories animal prints and set about selecting some photos from our day at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

We had planned to go to Universal Studios the day we went to Animal Kingdom but when we looked at each other as we went to leave our hotel we realised that there was no where else for us to go but Disney's Animal Kingdom. We looked like we were going on safari!! As a scrapper our colour co-ordinated khaki attire has made for some really handy photos to scrap :) It wasn't planned, honest! But next time it will be! Here we are in all out green and brown glory...


Part of the challenge was to include animal print and the Zoology tiles were perfect for this. I wanted to make this page really busy. I got a huge kick out of using two (old and new) Bo Bunny lines together. And felt quite smug when some very old metal embellishments and an old wooden dragon fly worked well with the page. The metal Mickey clip fitted with another part of the Disney Scrappers challenege to include a Mickey head. Yay. I added some yellow netting and some stickers from both ranges, along with the leaf pin to add some detail.

I topped it off with some Thickers for the title. I'm so pleased to have restarted my honeymoon album and even more pleased to have rehomed some supplies from gathering dust in my craftroom to centre stage in one of my albums. I'm even more pleased to have lost myself for an hour or two in the magic of Disney and scrapbooking :)

I have another Animal Kingdom layout to share with you soon...

When life gives you...

oranges...

have {fanta}stic fun.

What? don't give up my day job? :p


J having a carry on with oranges

Who knew they could be so much fun

Some of the J's favourite toys aren't toys at all

Boxes become racetracks, roads, garages

Spot a theme? J likes cars

Here comes the science

Supplies are: Echo Park Little Boy, Bazzill, Thickers, Papermania and October Afternoon.

4 photos to try to capture 'the action'

Polka dots because well they are round like oranges, right?

Layered up a whole load of journalling spots to create a mat for the title

Added some sparkles simply because I am addicted to bling :p

I'd just like to say...

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken time to reply to my last post 10 things. I really appreciate each and every one :)

10 Things

1. Day until we go to the zoo


2. Hours until I finish work and meet my Mum and the Wee Man for lunch and shopping


3. Cushions on each of my sofas


4. Number of us going to the zoo tomorrow


5. Days until my Dad starts chemo


6. Disney ornaments I can see from where I am sitting on the sofa


7. The Wee Man's shoe size (going to Clarks this afternoon to have this checked)


8. Photos in my livingroom


9. More hours in the day that I need to get things done


10. Things. On the tenth of the month. Brought to you by the participants in Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers starting today. Pop over to Shimelle's blog for more info.

Team Pink

Being a mamma to a handsome little boy I am thankful for my gorgeous Goddaughters for blessing me with the opportunity to join Team Pink!! Being a pink loving gal they allow me to get my fill of all things pink and pretty. And I thank my lucky stars I am able to do so. Because, not all girls are so lucky. Not all girls can play with pretty papers and ribbons. And that is what today's blog post is all about; helping girls who aren't as lucky as you and me (because if you are here you probably play with pretty papers and fancy ribbons right?).


Today Shimelle is donating 100% of all her class sales to Plan-UK. So if you fancy getting ahead with Journal Your Christmas or, my own personal favourite, stash busting with Something from Almost Nothing then pop on over to Shimelle's and grab yourself a seat on one of her classes. Go on, treat yourself. You can even gift a class to a friend.


Supplies; Echo Park Summer Days. Thanks for stopping by. Kx

You are my Sunshine

It doesn't matter how sad

feld up
blue
I feel
just one little teeny tiny look at this little man and my heart melts and the sun shines

Give your little ones an extra sqeeze today

let the sun shine

Supplies are sassafras lass bungle jungle, making memories, kaisercraft, adornit and provocraft.

Still Missing, Still Missed, Still Looking

Madeleine McCann

4 years on

Please help

Sign the petition

Twitter

Facebook

Writing the Wrongs - blog

Visit findmadeleine.com for more info

Say a prayer

Don't give up

Thank You for the... Scrapping

Look at that face! OK, so I'm possibly a teeny tiny bit biased but look at it {heart melt}. This photo was taken at Edinburgh Zoo in September 2009 when my little man was only 11 months old. I can't believe that he will be 3 this year! Time goes so fast, too fast, much faster than before. I remember when a week seemed like an eternity and summers lasted, well, forever. When did it all start to speed up?

I'm watching as those baby legs turn into sturdy little toddler legs - and I wonder where all the baby podge went. Although, I didn't need too look far - oh hey look, it's on me! :p Could we just stop time for a minute while I catch my breath and take in every single second; smell that baby smell, hold those squidgy little baby fingers in my hand one last time... Thank goodness for blogging, diaries, to do lists on scrappy bits of paper and scrapping to remember it all. I'd be lost without this hobby.

Supplies include: Bo Bunny Double Dot, 3 Bugs in a Rug Animal Stackers, Thickers, AdornIt, Making Memories, Aunty Sarah's Bloomers, Sandylion, American Crafts Flair, and October Afternoon. Ribbon from stash. Thanks for stopping by. Kx

Mummy's Little Poser

I wish I had a little button on the leg of my glasses that allowed me to capture what I could see right at that very moment. Or photographic eyes that upload straight to Photobox with a blink of an eye.

Everyday my little man does so many things that I wish I could capture there and then. By the time I have found the camera (why is it never where I left it?), wrestled it from its case, switched it on, while trying to muffle the 'switching on' sound trying not to alert my toddler to the upcoming photo session (I must learn how to switch that off), switched off the flash (I must learn how to have this switched off automatically - I must read that manual!!) he's off and the moment is gone.

My little man never poses for the camera but he is aware of it. I know because he says 'cheese' when you take the camera out he just doesn't look at it.

I couldn't believe it when he happily posed for the photos below albeit at the back of the cupboard under the stairs with all the clutter; Summer toys and Daddy's golf clubs included, while I was clearing it out for the hundredth time last November.

Supplies include: Echo Park Little Boy, Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock, Alphas; Thickers Marine and Leaf, Adorn It, Mini Alpha Stickers Apple, Rusty Pickle Pop Star Rub-ons, October Afternoon Night Light journaling cards, blooms, DCWV Grade School rub-on and Papermania buttons.

I'm so happy I managed to catch this moment with my camera (it must've been where I left it, not in the case and I figure I needed the flash for the dark cupboard!). I guess the photographic eyes and camera specs can wait.

Daddy & Me

Lately, I have been stuck in a bit of a patterned paper rut. In fact I can't remember the last page I created that wasn't completely COVERED in patterned paper. For this page I wanted to return to my orginal scrappy love of more graphic pages and 'white space'.


I used Bo Bunny Double Dot, Animal Stackers by 3 Bugs in a Rug, the small circle journalling spot is October Afternoon, Papermania buttons, Thickers and the felt stars are Making Memories.

The photo was taken at Edinburgh Zoo in September 2009. My brother and sister in law and my in laws were all there. It was an absolutely brillant day. We lucked out with the weather with a rare sunny day. It was so warm we took the little man's socks and shoes off to let his little tootsies breathe. Check out his chubby little legs. Oh how I am going to miss those little baby legs. Thanks for stopping by. Kxx

Snuggle Buggle

Just a quick post from me today to share this page. I can't believe Jack was ever this small! He is only two weeks old in this photo. He's all wrapped up like a snuggle buggle in a towel after having a bath. I can't believe the size of his little face compared to his Daddy's hand.

I used the Best Creation Baby Safari collection that I won on the Best Creations Blog last month. Cute isn't it? It's perfect for baby pages and I am going to do loads more but I am going to use it to scrap some photos taken at Disney's Animal Kingdom in WDW as well as I think it will go well with our safari-esk photos. Love Kirsteen x

Baby it's Cold Outside

I was about to put all my Echo Park Wintertime papers away but I thought as I had them out might as well have another bash at the page that I had started but got nowhere with. And I am soooo glad I did. I think this page is one of my all time favourites, of the moment (obvs.) :p

I layered lots of stickers, there are so many in this collection. I can't imagine running out. And added a punched scalloped circle, rikrak and some Kaisercraft Pearls to create a cluster of embellies at the bottom on the photo.

I just love this with the little hat and the pompoms. As always, I still need to add my journalling. Jack had been playing outside in the garden for ages and was his face when I suggested that it was perhaps time to come inside. Look how cold his little face looks. Happy Friday!! I hope you have a fab weekend planned :o) Kxx

Calamity Jane does Scrapbooking

I had a huge case of Calamity Jane does Scrapbooking when I created this page. Firstly, I under estimated just how wet the Tim Holtz Distress Ink was going to be. After inking the large square of patterned paper I placed it on top of the cardstock and shuffled it about a little, spreading ink everywhere.

Undeterred I carried on, adding double sided sticky tape to my large piece of inky paper, and when shuffling it into place for the second time I noticed it was squint. I'd somehow managed to cut the paper jaunty and with a 12x12 guillotine (who knew that was even possible...).

Prior to figuring this out though I popped the cardstock into the guillotine just to make sure that the cardstock was absolutely square you see and I somehow managed to pull down the handle ever so slightly making a cut into the cardstock (seriously, what are the chances?).

I also added a mis-match of uneven foam pads to the Wintertime sticker making it bumpy (this was not the look I was aiming for). The upshot is that this page is slightly smaller than 12x12 and purposely bulky to make up for that :p I kinda like that it has a funny little story to go with it though :o)

I used Bazzill, Echo Park Wintertime and Kaisercraft Pearls. The photo was taken in our back garden in December last year. I'm not really sure what it is that my little man is trying to do but I like to think he's checking the depth of the snow with his head, as you do obviously! :p


I made this little embellishment using a scalloped circle punch of Wintertime patterned paper and some of the co-ordinating stickers with a little twine and some Kaisercraft pearls. I added a flurry of snowflakes to the bottom of the photo using an old Xcut snowflake punch and some more Kaisercraft bling.

A Cake Monster and a Happy Dance

I think I might have mentioned that I love, love, love the Little Boy collection by Echo Park :p I can't stop scrapping with it and as I was running out of photos of the Little Man plus any kind of transport I thought I'd try a wee page with no planes, trains or automobiles.... here goes...

I added some buttons, October Afternoon die cuts and stickers with some Making Memories felt stars and some American Crafts Thickers. I haven't added any journalling yet as I've not decided what it is that I want to say. Yes, me lost for words?! Who knew?! :p

The colours in this collection just make me smile along with the October Afternoon 'monsters'. In other news, a very, very, very exciting parcel arrived this week. Cue The Happy Dance. I won not one but two collections!! over on the Best Creations Blog a couple of weeks ago. Check the blog out if you haven't already! Here they are...

Cute huh? The Baby Boy Safari collection is my absolute favourite and I can't wait to use it all up. Thanks for stopping by. Kxx

Beep Beep

I made this page for a new Two Peas class 4x6 Photo Love with Shimelle Laine. The class is free and runs the whole of 2011 from one 4x6 photo in January to twelve 4x6 photos in December. Check it out if you are a 4x6 girl like me.

I am loving the new Little Boy collection from Echo Park and I couldn't face putting my supplies away just yet. So... I dug out all my photos of Jack with a car/train/truck, surprisingly there weren't as many as I thought there would be. I must sort that out! But I found one. A photo taken in his little red nee-naw on Christmas Day 2009. Back in the days when I would ask him to look at me and he would, look at that smile {heart melt}. I added some Queen and Co embellies; the little green photo anchors and the red felt cars and I think the cardstock is DCWV.
Thanks for stopping by Kxx

Until Next Year...

OK so it's a little on the late side but better late than never right. I have finally finished my JYC 2010 album! Can I get a whoop whoop? ;o) I have to confess (eek, should I?!) I have a strange love/hate relationship with mini books. I love the idea, I love that you can dig out some co-ordinating stash, make a huge dent in it and not waste time digging through moutains of scrapbooking supplies. But... I find myself getting really bored before I've finished :o( I lose interest and cannot wait to start my next project so rush to put an end to my mini adventure (OMG, did I just admit that?!) Anyway here is my take on JYC 2010...


I used a packet of 4x6 AC page protectors (inspired by Laura's Paris Mini Book), Sharon Ann's Christmas Magic collection by LYB, some very old Making Memories metal charms, the flowers are Glittered Dahlia's - Jolly Christmas by Petaloo, and a some bits and pieces from Jolly and Bright by Heidi Grace.

The photo is of our Yankee Candle Snowman Family tart burner. We bought him on honeymoon in the Yankee Candle Shop in the Florida Mall {heart}. I love that this depicts our little family as we are now, Mummy, Daddy and wee man :)

And here is the wee man opening his first 'door' on his advent calendar. This was a hugh deal this year as it was the first year Jack was able to eat chocolate at Christmas and it's the first time he's been able to understand the concept of an advent calendar although I don't think he really 'got it' but he knew there would be something waiting for him in the little pocket of his Santa everyday.

I know I wasn't the only one to see some white stuff this year. This is our backgarden in all its snowy glory.

What can I say. I love my Christmas tree. It's not an expensive tree, it's plastic and at the grand old age of 7 it is starting to look at little worse for wear but almost every decoration has a story to tell. All the non-discript red and gold baubles were bought in 2003 when we bought the tree and could only afford the basics. All our honeymoon ornaments bought at Walt Disney World in 2007 are there. All the ornaments we bought on our first trip to Orlando in 2005 are there too. There are ornaments from our friends. Baubles we were given at a friends wedding that were used a place settings with our names on from 2005. The Spaceform ornament that we were given on our first wedding anniversary, ornaments with Jack's name on, baby's first Christmas ornaments from 2008. I love putting the tree up and reliving each and every one of those memories.

This is Jack's Christmas wish list, I made it up as he's too little to make a list but if he could this is what I think he would have asked for. Funnily enough Santa brought everything on the list.

We have a lot of Disney Christmas decorations. We're huge Disney fans and spent our honeymoon there in December 2007. For me Disney and Christmas go hand in hand = magic. All our Disney decorations remind me that Disney is truely a wonderful place to be especially at Christmas.

This was Jack's first time meeting Santa and he wasn't too sure about him. I think his face in this photo says it all. He happily shouted 'bye Santa' all the way out of the grotto though!

No actual gifts under the tree for fear of little 2 year old hands helping themselves to them :o)

He's been! Our livingroom after Santa had been.

I'm not sure what I'll do next year. I'm sure I'll want to join in again but maybe not a mini book... until next year... thanks for stopping by Kxx