Sunshine anyone?!

No, I can't send the little bit we had today your way, you see it is here trying so hard to melt our mountains of snow.

No I am here with some South African Sunshine in the form of Kim's kit "Sunshiney Day" I love the soft colours in this and it was so nice to NOT scrap snow!

This first layout uses a picture from my cousin's beach wedding.

And this is Robert last year tucking into his ice lolly.

And as I am really late posting this, Kim actually has another kit out "Rustic Warmth", I used this one for Challenge 4 of the ADSR5. We had to make two ATC cards (Artist Trading Cards) there were no rules other than the size of it, and that it had to honour our partner, and this is it

Additional credits

Wordart by Nikki

Back soon Jennilyn Designs has some great stuff coming out on Saturday, which I will come and show off. CU then

KimB's - Passions Blush

I love being on the site CT at DSO! I get to play with such beautiful kits. This week I got to play with KimB's latest kit "Passions Blush" (image linked to store)It is just beautiful, don't you think!

This is what I created using it.
My brother and his wife (I will be using this as their card for their wedding anniversary!)

and here my niece as a bridesmaid at our wedding in 2005

Back soon

A fresh Start...

is the name of KimB's Designs new kit, and I got to play with it. I love the colours and all the elements in the kit. (image linked to store)The kit is geared towards New Year's but when I first saw it, I thought of a cold winters day, and got my favourite photo of the boys out and scrapped this. I managed to combine it with the Quote Challenge at DSO
And then after decorating the tree and messing about with Robert and tinsel, I remembered that there is actually some tinsel in the kit, and this is what came about then.
It's a great kit and I am sure I will be scrapping some New Years pics with it, just after, so watch this space!
CU soon

Santa's helpers visited

And I got two completely different layouts done about it.

First of all, I have to show you my new desktop! Charlie has posted her Desktop Challenge on the NEW DSO Challenge Blog, and seeing as I still had Octobers on my desktop it was time for a change.I used KimB's newest Xmas kit "Merry And Bright" which she RAKed me with on Saturday, thanks again Kim, it really really cheered me up!

But I think the pics need explaining. Last year we introduced a new tradition to the family, on November 30th, the boys write their Xmas lists and leave them on the front doorstep for Santa's helpers to pick up, and Santa's helpers then leave an advent calendar for the boys. Last year the helpers also picked up Richard's dummy and their baby drinking beakers. This year we didn't need to "get rid of" anything, so they only got the Xmas lists.
And in the pics on the layouts you can see them both "signing" their lists and this year it was raining so we couldn't put them on the doorstep, so we posted them in our letterbox, and put the flag up, so that the helpers knew where to find them.

I loved the pics so much, that I knew just how to use Funky Playground Designs Template (on their blog today)Credits:
Template by Valorie Brown at FPD
Funky Joy by Wendy Page at FPD
Santa from Comfort and Joy by Miss Tiina at FPD
Alpha from Spot of Color by Valorie Brown at FPD

As you can see I have been having fun, when really i should have been making my Xmas card, at this rate no one will get one before Xmas, more like Easter! OK off now, to try and get the cards made.
CU soon

First Christmases

Ooh, I got a great kit to play with this week and I got to go browsing through some of the old pics of the kids. Their first Xmases.. seeing as the kit by KimB's Designs is called Christmas First, I thought it would be good to look back at my kids first. (kit image linked to store)

Robert first seeing as he is the oldest, he was 6 months in this photo. this picture in its original colours was actually our christmas card in 2004 - I still love it.
I tried a new technique on it for this layout though, I doubled it and changed the Hue and Saturation and then deleted that where the red bits were that I wanted to show through. I love how it turned out.and this is Richard at his first Xmas, he was nearly a year old then, I had to find a picture where the dribble wasn't too obvious. I kept this layout really simple using just a mask (also by KimB) and a hint of elements, cause the paper just did the work for me!
Back soon with more pretties

Ready for Xmas??

Well Kim is! She has a GREAT new kit out "Candy Christmas" (image linked to store)
And I got to play with it.
This first layout is me at 6 months, my very first Xmas.
and in this one I wanted to show off some of the great papers in the kit, so I tried blocking them all. And paired them with this family photo taken just before Xmas last year. We take one every year, and have so much fun doing it. We get lots of silly photos too, but this is a good one!
Hope you enjoyed them
I'll be back tomorrow with something more autumny
CU then

Fall Frolic - and holiday layouts

I was sure I posted these layouts before we went away, I guess they got lost amongst the packing - that is a shame, but I am sure you can still grab the kit I used. I applied for a One Kit Call and this is the beautiful kit I got to play with!
And here is what I made with it. This first layout was for the Template Challenge at Elemental Scraps and used a template by ChrissyW, and for the Elements Challenge at Gotta Pixel. I love how it turned out.And this is a layout using more of our holiday photos from England. This time it is Robert with Heather (my cousin) blowing bubbles!You can grab Mandy's kit "Fall Frolic" at Scrapbook Elements. (kit preview is linked)

So, now we were away last week, we went with friends to Center Parcs at Bispinger Heide and had a super time there. We did a lot of swimming with the kids, and all sorts of other things. And whilst the others played on the Wii in the evening I watched and scrapped. And here is what I made

This first one is of all of the kids at the pool.Credits:
Swim Fishy by Kristin Aargard
Alpha from Bubble Bath by Kristin Aargard

And here are the girls enjoying an ice creamCredits:
Summer Sorbet by Zoe Pearn

Credits:
In the stars by KimB's Designs

And I just had to scrap these photos of our friends daughter pushing her own pram to the swimming pool, she was so cute!

Credits:
Shabby Twang by KimB's Designs at DSO

CU soon

More layouts and a bit about...

our fun weekend out! Last weekend we went to visit friends and stayed the weekend. The highlight of the weekend was an outing to the vintage steam railway nearby. The boys were in awe. Not only could they look at "thomas and his friends" in real (well, without the faces), they got to ride in them too. It was great fun. The last train we took had an open carriage to ride in, so we all put on our anoraks and jumpers and went for it. It was actually a lot warmer than I was expecting and so much fun...
Of course the pictures needed to be scrapped. I chose KimB's "Deon" from her Friends Series for this layout.
And then cause I was having so much fun with the kit and because I needed some scrapping therapy today (to put it mildly Robert is being a little monster today) I scrapped this one of the boys.
I have to thank "hoo-rah" for this layout, cause her layout "miraculous" was my inspiration.

OK, I have a new CT kit to play with, so I'll be back soon with more layouts!

Moody Days..

no not me! I'm perfectly happy, its nearly weekend!! And Florian will be home in about 3 hours!
No Moody Days is the name of the kit that I have been playing with this week.
Its a great grungy kit, and I had great fun with it. (image linked to store)
This is first layout is slightly embarrassing for me, BUT I just had to scrap it... But a bit more background, back in the "good old days" when I was really young, we used to go to Butlins (holiday camp) every year, with a huge crowd of Mum and Dad's friends and kids. Well this week my uncle was scanning some old photos in and sent these two through. Its of all of us kids back in 1977 and one of just me in the most embarrassing clothes - I guess I dressed myself that day! Wellies, white socks, skirt, anorak, anorak hood up and on top a hat - what was I thinking!!!

Well I put these two photos on facebook this week too, and we have been having a "Butlins reunion" in the comments. It is great fun - I just love the internet it makes the world so much smaller!

And this next one is my boys, I ran an action on the photo made by Pioneer Woman, and just love it.Thanks for stopping by, CU soon

2 more days and 2 more bags

Wow, this week has gone fast, there are only two more days to go of grabbag week, so I am going to show you my layouts using Jill's grabbag and those using Kim's grabbag.

Jill first, her preview didn't give that much away of what is inside it, so maybe these layouts will give a little hint...

First off we have our up and coming Scrapper -Richard! When Robert goes back to Kindergarden in the afternoons all Richard wants to do is "cutting, drawing and gluing", and it certainly looks like scrapping to me! Maybe I should give him a couple of photos and see what he comes up with..!

(hint hint - I used two of the products from the bag in this layout)

And this is me and Richard, I used an action by Pioneer Woman on the photo.

(just one product on this layout)

And that rounds off the layouts I made using the bags I was given. BUT for being CT of the month I got a gift voucher to spend at the store, so I bought Kim's grabbag, and now I'll show you what I made with that...

This is Richard, I think he must have been reading over my shoulder when I checked the September Challenges at DSO, cause this was the quote for September! I can't remember the last time he fell asleep in the lounge or anywhere other than bed, but on Friday he crashed mid-play! Bless him!
and this is Zoe on her birthday,

I knew how I wanted the layout to look and had to find something or write something for down the side of the photo, well, I couldn't come up with anything from me, so I went searching and found this lovely poem about kids.

CHILDREN ARE...
Amazing, acknowledge them.
Believable, trust them.
Childlike, allow them.
Divine, honor them.
Energetic, nourish them.
Fallible, embrace them.
Gifts, treasure them.
Here Now, be with them.
Innocent, delight with them.
Joyful, appreciate them.
Kindhearted, learn from them.
Lovable, cherish them.
Magical, fly with them.
Noble, esteem them.
Open minded, respect them.
Precious, value them.
Questioners, encourage them.
Resourceful, support them.
Spontaneous, enjoy them.
Talented, believe in them.
Unique, affirm them.
Vulnerable, protect them.
Whole, recognize them.
Xtraspecial, celebrate them.
Yearning, notice them.
Zany, laugh with them.
by Meiji Stewart

And that is all of my layouts using the grabbags available at DSO. If you still need convincing check DSO's gallery there are some lovely layouts from the CT there.
Happy Shopping!
Back tomorrow - I have some more layouts to show off, that have nothing to do with the bags...