Things that made me smile this week...

1) Julie and Julia - obsessive blogger remind you of anyone? It almost causes her husband to leave her...I know Arne gets annoyed when the first thing I do when we get in is see if I have any blog love!

2) Arne's teapot pose...he usually does it to make me laugh when he's been naughty. I see it frequently, but it still cracks me up. I will have to make a page about it.

3) Finishing The Time Travellers Wife - I have adored it. I don't know whether I want to watch the film now. People have told me I won't enjoy it as much.

4) My naughty year 8 boys acting out a scene from The Tempest. Drunkenly staggering on stage, having a mini water fight and romping under a blanket. It was pretty cute.

5) Taking ten year 10 lads to Yorkshire Sculpture Park on a poetry workshop. They wrote some fab stuff - really sensitive. It was such a great day. Gave me the warm fuzzies. Especially since they are the "bad lads" around school. Their fav sculpture was the HAHA bridge - it can't fail to make you smile!

Footprints in the sand...

Just back from parents evening. Brain is a mush. Too much talking. Bad pics of actually a very good layout...but didn't make the light tonight!

Completed for Sarahs cards...

That's my boy...

Another layout I have been playing with for months. I was getting a bit tired of the purple and turquoise cardstock so was loving this alpha background (can't remember the make, I am rubbish about remembering makes and ranges) The journalling is on a beer mat I got at a pub in York (I went round every table swiping them all - magpie moment!!) I bordered it in ribbon so it looked a bit like a rossette. I clustered these embellies and added a bit of bling to the layered flower. The sticker matches the journalling about his gran crying all day long at our wedding!

I went for a monocrome title as I thought it was best to keep it simple with the busy background. I matted it on the heart ribbon - which I have used throughout my wedding scrapping because it was left over from the invites.

This is a lovely pic as his grandparents mean so much to him and I love how his gran is grinning so proudly at him. I back it on the dictionary print backing paper to co-ordinate with the background cardstock.

Here is an "arty" shot with our cake topper. Funny isn't it??

I was really pleased with this layout. I feel as though I am getting my mojo back. The hubster is off camping with the boys this wkend so if I can put off marking my Y12 course work longer I may make a few more LO's. I know its sunny out...but...you can't play out on your own! :(

Clearly not Miss Popularity...

Ok so I was getting ahead of myself by arranging a giveaway on my blog and since I only had one entry I can dispense with the random name generator...so the lucky winner of the stamps is...Hannah! Couldn't be going to a better home I am sure! So send me your email and I will send them out to you. In other news I went to see Date Night with the girls on Wednesday night. It was pretty funny and I think the lead actress is comedy genius...apparently she wrote Mean Girls. I will be looking out for her in the future. She does great impressions.

I would recommend it if you want a good laugh. I would give it 3 *'s.

Spring Fling...

Now the sunshine is out, I can shed mt black winter coat and enjoy the great outdoors...I decided it was time for a spring layout. Bunting is compulsory and lots of flowers. I made my own embellies with punches and lots of inking. I dabbed grey paint of for my journalling block.

I have always loved this pic that my bro-in-law took of my sister and I last easter. The journalling is a homage to my family's love of town hopping. There is nothing better on a nice afternoo than to so and wander round a quaint little village or town, grab a bite to eat and browse in the shops. Us Jonses love to hit the road!

I completed it for butterfly crafts new challenge. Hope it bring a spring smile to your faces!

Results of my scrap-a-thon....

SO here are three layouts i have been working on for a while - months for some! As I wasn't sure I liked two of them and then just went with it anyway as all I had to do was glue and I was having a creative block last night (at 1 am!) The above layout is one I have had in mind for a while. I like the word mooch! The paper is 7gypsies and I love their grungy papers as they lend themselves to lots of diff colours and patterns and lots of inking - my fav! I also used my fav Martha Stewart stamp to border my photo - it really sets the photos off. I like using ribbon on layouts. I have a whole shoe box full of random bits and bobs from Christmas and birthdays and our wedding invites! This second layout is a homage to our long standing annual Jones parties in Hodnet. We usually end up playing pass the parcel with dares and so these are some shots of the dares. I used glimmer mist and then tried to double up the title to resonate - double dare! The writing does show up when it is in good light. I like the little rosette. I wanted to scrap this father of the bride pic from my wedding and felt this paper was fitting for the colour scheme. My biggest regret is that I didn't mat the ribbon on a plain colour card to make the title pop, but I glued it and so it was too late. Quite minimalist on the embellies as the cardstock is so patterned and loud.

Sunshine, sweet treats and cheesy smiles...

I insisted that we make the most of the last day of the easter hols and so we headed to Chapel Allerton and Roundhay Park. Since Iron Cupcake (check out the pics from last months) I was keen to try out the delicacies in Sunshine Bakery and boy I was not disappointed. I would even go so far as to say they were the BEST CUPCAKES I have ever tasted - quite a feat! So here is our little feast complete with my fav ginger beer and Hibiscus tea (a little strange, but strangely moorish!) My Eton Mess cupcake. The "frosting" was ganache with white choc and strawberry puree and a little meringue on top - how cute! It tasted divine - he says the secret is almonds in the batter/ Pretty flowers in Roundhay Park... Me posing in the sunshine. It was thumbs down to photos of Arne today! New scrap fodder and a fab little outing. I would recommend the bakery to all you Northerners. It is so reasonably priced compared to cupcakeries in London and Brighton we visited recently. They also do whoopee pies and so we got one just to try and it was soooo good - reminded me a bit of oreo cookies, but softer. Gems you have to come and visit now! xxx

Teenage kicks...

So this is my latest layout of our charity shop outfits in London. I used this fab sketch. Laugh was great twist and I had fun leafing through photos finding one that was fitting. It was a laugh wearing these crazy outfits and seeing all the funny looks we got. I used my trustee glimmer mist - I seem unable to complete a layout without it! Then a hambly overlay and some random snippets of paper. I felt that the more colours I used the better as it's a clashing outfit so a clashing page was fitting. I love making my own flowers too and so this was my main embellie. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Layouts a la Rachel...plus a cheeky giveaway...

The cheeky giveaway is three sheets of clear alphabet stamps and patterns...more info at the bottom of the post. So I have been disappointed with my lack of scrap action this easter. I have been busy...on my Southern road trip, also I spilt milk on school laptop - ooppps and so spent Monday back in school trying to sort that out. A lack of laptop has hindered my blogging action too. A new keyboard has been ordered. So last night I was determined to scrap some of my easter pics. I made three whole layouts in one evening - not often achieved by moi. I went for the Rachel Ward approach (check out her blog) of just throwing everything at it and not thinking too much or stopping for faffy bits nad bobs. I often spent a few sittings on one layout as i feel it always needs more. SO here they are, let me know what you think. Is less really more? So it was difficult to find papers to match these clashing patterns. But these did the job:- Loving the monogram here and my journalling stamps I forgot about. This page is basically a homage to our love of the humble rootbeer float. I cut the bottom of a saffrass page to jazz it up a bit, black cardstock was the only thing to pull the whole look together. I am loving the button border - I didn't even bother with the stitching, just glue! I love using the bracket chipboards and of course double polka dots.... So you have seen these pics and now I scrapped them to remember that fab contest. I journalled round the edge as sometimes it is the only space left. I spent ages finding my scalloped cardstock to draw round - I never use it just keep it as a template! The title is a play on the old song Sweet Like Chocolate. I didn't even mat my photos just plonked them on with rounded corners - a la momma Jones! And here is my mother's day page. My mom is South African so we use the American spelling - always difficult when getting cards - guess I should just make them! I used the good old glimmer mist. I am finding my silver and pink mists are not working as well as they should be now and are making the whole page wet - anyone else encountered this problem. Although we don't really look alike, we are very similar and so I used the strip journalling to list some of the ways we are similar. This cardstock is very fussy so I just let it do the talking and didn't add any other embellies except the calendar. So here is my minimalist approach. Now onto the freebie. I have some clear alphabet stamps and little phrases like 'our family' sister, everlasting love etc a bit cheesy really but great if you like card making. There are big and small alphas and some flowers and little borders. So leave me a comment and I will pick the winner in a week using the random generator.

Cola cupcakes for my cupcake contest...

My sisters have been going to the Iron Cupcake contest for a few months now and kept urging me to go to the one in Leeds - so I did. Even though cupcakes aren't really my forte. I made chocolate and coke cupcakes with coke and vanilla frosting and sherbet on top with a fizzy cola bottle. They tasted darn good. Even Arne like them and he is a big critic of my baking! It was fab and I have realised I need to up the ante for next month as competition was stiff. I am so taking my own cake stand too! These were strawberry bon bon (the theme was retro sweets!) This was the winning entry - rhubarb and custard... These are my little babies... A close up showing the glistening of the sherbet... I had to go all by myself as all my girls were out of town and the Belgian was slobbing out in front of the footy. In fact I was so annoyed by him I pretended I wasn't going and snuck out and listened to Avril Lavinge the whole way to Leeds - my most man hating CD! But when I got there and got chatting to all the lovely people I was fine and I picked up lots of top tips. I made friends with David who runs Sunshine Bakery in Chapel Allerton and am looking forward to checking it out later this week. This easter break seems to be going on for for weeks...and I have hardly scrapped...baking is taking over...eeek!

'Brighton'ing up our Bank Holiday...

So it will have to go in reverse order...! These are my first trial for the Iron Cupcake contest in Leeds. They are rootbeer flavoured batter and icing with cola popping candy and cola bottles on top. They are the most delicious cupcakes i have ever made - really light and fluffy and a good chocolate flavour. They would look better if the icing was piped on but it was a bit soft as I had to use marg not butter!

Arne and I at a random little Lebanese restaurant in Brighton on Tuesday.

The most ridiculously chocolatey coconut cake from a cafe in Brighton called Choccywoccydooda. Have you seen their wedding cakes?? They specialise in really indulgent, chocolate creations but this looked good but tasted so sickly. I hate the combo of chocolate and strawberry sauce anyways. It was funny anyways...

And as promised our ridiculous charity shop outfits when we went to All Star Bowling lanes in Holborn - isn't this just waiting to be scrapped?! Any suggestions for good ranges to scrap it with?

I had forgotten just how amazing Brighton is. All it needs is a scrapbook shop and it is my fav shopping destination! The lanes are so exciting to travel down and all the shops are cute little gift shops and one off's not nasty high street chains like you get in most British high streets...snore! We really enjoyed getting away in the sunshine for a few days.

Hope you all had a fab bank holiday too! x

Hey now you're an All Star...

So firstly hope you like my new look blog. I am staying at my little sister Gem's and she redid it for me as my old background said Happy New Year and was a bit past it now!!! I thought this look very scrappy and vintage. Easter holidays could not have come a day sooner! Phew that last few days was a struggle to get up and get motivated. Day after end of term we headed down to London (a very looonng and tiring journey with lots of speed limits - sooo annoying!) We had a fab day on Friday involving a meal at Belgo (a Belgian restaurant in Covent Garden) and a wander round some cute shops and Whole Food London's best kept secret. We met up with my best school friend Kim and her American hubby Tom. It was great to see them again. The best day of all was Saturday when we headed to All Stars Bowling Alley in Holborn. I had been wanting to go for ages. My sisters and I all love anything American dineresque and this did not dissapoint. Lots of root beer floats, burgers and fries and all that good stuff. The best part was that we had to dress in charity shop finds. We each picked someones name out and had to pick an outfit for them. Oh it was hilar! Mara picked me a rather "fetching" two piece suit that looked like it was made from a bad pair of 80s curtains Pics to follow, but suffice to say it was a great day out. We got the idea from this fab blog and we did the m&m idea too with different colours dictating how we should bowl, but the boys didn't wanna do this as it messed

up their high scores!

I would highly recommend it to all - have a great Easter Sunday bloggers! xx