Santa is comming to town.....

Yahooo.....my secret santa items arrived this morning and look oh look what i got! Each day your supposed to open one pressie but as mine arrived today i got to open two! Im ever such a lucky little scrapper.

So just wanted to say a BIG thank you to my secret santa.

Here are some pictures for all to see.....
Firstly all my pressies - had to be really good as to not poke and touch each one.....lol


Then, once i found pressie for day one, i opened this.....

Arent these just the cutest!! I think i have said this once or twice but THANK YOU Santa.

Then pressie number two.....

Chalks. Would you belive that i do not own one chalk in all my scrapbooking stash?? Nope not me. I am so looking forward to getting these babies out and having a play. If anyone has any suggestions or tips for me leave me a line and let me know.

Im so excited Im acting like a kid.....lol

So i am going to love you and leave you and bounce from my scrapping room, all the way down the stairs and into the lounge.

Have a great weekend everyone and dont forget to come back tomorrow for pressie number 3!

An Update.....I think so

Lol....how long has it been? Things, as i am sure for everyone, are crazy crazy crazy at the moment. My list of things to do does not seem to be going down any faster and for some reason i am just so tired lately.

I have beeing loads of work on my grans 80th album this past week and i am almost half way through. My Gosh, that is such a scary thought.Time just seems to be flying by. Christmas cards to make and send off, christmas pressies to buy, circle journals to complete and send on...like i said, the list does not seem to be ending any time soon.

Here are a few sneak peaks at my grans album. I know i should you a few pages earlier on in the year so here are a few more i have been working on.

This is my actual album tin.......for those of you non-scrappers out there you'll understand when i post the full picture...lol

and the following are sneak peaks of some of the pages...

and this....

and this.....

and this.........

and finally this......

Now this is my cat. For those of you who dont know we actually have 5! I know, i know....how on earth did we end up with so many. Im just not too sure to be honest. But, everyone of them is so very different from the other and they all have such great personalities. This one however, he is my baby. I love him to bites. When he sleeps he has to always rest his chin on the floor or chair or whatever he may be laying on. By doing this he ends up with his butt high in the sky...it really is so funny.

Last friday was my moms birthday. After work, my dad took her out for a meal and once they had done that they poped over to us to come for some good old cake and tea. It was so nice being able to spend the evening with them. Out of all the photos that i took these two are my favourite. My mom looks lovely in this photo......

And this photo - i just love how i managed to catch the light from the candles in the photo. Very very proud of myself for this one....lol

Anyways, looking forward to another weekend. Hope you all have a great few days and thanks for reading my extra long post today....lol

Scrap-therapy

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever."

I never knew how therapeutic this scrapping hobby of ours could be. I have heard of people saying how therapeutic it has been for them...but me - i have never felt this way....until last night that was.

Effer Dare # 47 is Pain. Not something that you would normally see on a layout but I am so glad that i took this challenge on. It's amazing how some layouts just come together, what seems like, all on their own. I sat listening to one of my favourite songs at the moment, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, and i just started to think about the things that i have been through in my life so far. I got a pen and a piece of paper and i just wrote....whatever was on my heart and running through my head went onto that piece of paper. I did no amendments and didn't even go back and read through it again as you normally would do.
Then i sat down and put my layout together. It took me just under 90 minutes. This for some may seem like ages but i am normally a very slow scrapper. So for me to do this layout from initial idea right through to a completed item is pretty darn good.
I was in too minds about putting this on here for all to see, especially as it makes me so open and vulnerable, but in the end i decided that this is part of who i am now so why should i keep it hidden.

The quote at the top of my blog is the quote that is sitting on my Fragile Handle with care label on the layout. The journaling reads:
Pain is....
losing your baby
that deep dark place in your soul where you wonder if you will ever make your way out.
realising that you love someone more than what they love you.
that feeling of complete loneliness even though you are in a room of people.
realising that that truly happy feeling of knowing you are living your dream is gone and your not sure you will ever get that feeling again.
knowing that you gave up too much of yourself and what you wanted for someone else.
regrets
knowing that there is not one person in your love who "gets" you.

Remember....Pain is real and often knocks us further than we ever thought possible - but it wont last forever!

I know that this has been a little heavy today........but the one thing that is really important to me at the moment is being real. Life is not all roses and things don't always go the way you would like them to go but life is also filled with so many happy moments that we need to remember to not dwell too long on the painful moments.

Have a happy hump day everyone!

Not again.....

I think my ear infection is coming back, AGAIN! I have never had any problems with my ears before now but for the past two months or so i keep getting swollen ear drumbs, blocked ears and very very painful ears. I will be going off to Boots at lunch time to see if i can find my own cure for my ears as the doctors have tried me on 3 different things and obviously none of them are doing the job.

I managed to get some scrapping done this weekend all be it a lot less than i was hoping to get done. I managed two layouts, began another altered item for christmas and also another page for my mini album. The layout that i did below is called Never Forget - and yes that photo is of a younger me......lol. How cute am I!
I combined three challenges into one layout so was pretty impressed with myself. There was a lot of journaling on this layout so i have included it at the bottom of the layout.


Dearest little me,
Here you are, only three or four years old and I have so much that I want to tell
you. Growing up is scary and has also been rather difficult at times, but I am hoping
to remind you of a few things and to give you something to look at whenever you are in
need of a little encouragement, a little wisdom or a little tender loving care.
First off let me start by saying that you have such a wonderful future ahead of
you. You are going to see things that no one else your age has seen. You are going to
grow in leaps and bounds and you are going to have a great time doing it. You have
always been a dreamer. Make sure you never lose sight of that dream that you hold so
close to your heart. When people say that what you want will never happen, that it is
too "out of reach", just remember that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you and who
is capable of making everyone of your dreams come true. Don’t let go of them and
don't give them up for anyone!
You have always been a little hard on yourself. You expect the best from yourself
and also from those around you. Even though this part of who you are helps you to
achieve so much and is such a big part of who you are, sometimes, when things get
tough, just remember to be a little less harsh on yourself than you normally are.
Remember that you don’t always have to be perfect.
Now, this one is such a huge one for you. People Pleasing! It's integrated into
your personality and has been confirmed by how you have been raised. As tough as it
might be, and this is one thing that I am still working on, you don’t always have to do
what everyone expects you to do, you don’t always have to live up to what everyone
thinks you should be. Find out what it is in life that YOU want and go for it! Start
learning now how to stand up for yourself, to not be a doormat for everyone and anyone
to walk all over. I know you can do it! You are special and deserve to be treated with
respect and consideration.
Love....during your teen years you are going to feel so awkward in your skin.
Your going to wonder if anyone is every going to love you and you are going to wonder
if you will ever get married and have children. Let me just tell you. One day you
will meet this young man who sweeps you off your feet. He will be charming and funny
but demanding and totally opposite to you. He is not your first love but he is many of
your firsts in other areas. Stand on your own two feet, look out for yourself but
remember to take care of him.
There is so much more to say, so much more I would like to tell you but I think I
have probably overloaded you with too much already. If you take nothing away from you
in this letter just remember the following....1. Your family are most important, never
forget that.....2. Never give up on your dreams, no matter what comes your way.....3.Dont
forget to make some time for yourself when you get older, you matter and you need to
put yourself first everyone once in a while.....4. God has a wonderful plan for you and
right now as I am writing this letter I know that that plan is still now finished...
..5.NEVER forget that you are special, special to yourself, to your family and most of
all special to your Heavenly Father and finally 6. Enjoy your life, no matter what comes
your way make sure that you enjoy the little things that show up in our every day
lives....there is so much beauty and joy to be found in those simple things.
All my love,
Your older and wiser self.

The first challenge was this weeks UKS challenge. Use 5 different colours - check, use something sparkly - check, hide something - check, do something royal - missed this one and tear some paper - check!
Second challenge was Journalers Junction challenge 10. Write a letter to someone, anyone. Put your emotions in writting.
And finally the third challenge was for the Colour Blog challenge 8. Scrap with a colour that makes you VERY uncomfortable. Well that orange definately did it for me, along with the bright pink ribbon and the completely floral patterend paper....lol.
I love the end result though.

Ok, so i know it is a little late in the season to be saying this but i finally managed to take my first real autumn photo. This was taken out of my bedroom window looking down towards the trees in the cul-de-sac. I loved the contrast of the colours of the leaves with the fresh blue sky.


I have loads more photos to show you and a ton more scraping pictures but i need to get ready for work. Another week having to work with this horrible woman.....argh!

Anyway, have a great day everyone!