First week flying solo

So, because you were all so supportive and sweet when I shared my concerns about leaving The Baby and returning to work, I though I had better share an update of how we got on.

Well not only is my childminder great with the kids, she also appreciates capturing the everyday and has a special Facebook page where she shares what the kids are up to throughout the day. So perfect for a scrapbooker and anxious mother who is sat missing her little boy at work and then up pops a whole album to show what he has been up to. It is beyond amazing. 

So here is what he has been up to in just three days:- 

Lots of playing outside in the garden as the weather has been nice

Some sorting cups and looking at reflections

Some web surfing!

Some role playing

He even ate some banana (which was on the naughty list before)

Lots of giggling

Some falling in love (uh-oh!)

Making birds' nests

Chewing some toys

Munching on some toast

Napping (only the second and third day, clearly on Monday he was too enthralled by it all!) 

Playing with cars - apparently he was really trying to work out how the cars got past the bend. Future engineer?

Exhausted by all of the fun and asleep in the triple buggy

Making bird seed

Whole body painting!

Doesn't it look exhausting, but such fun! When I see these pictures my heart sings and I can see the benefit of it all for him. He loves his little buddies and follows the little one and a half year old boy around like his shadow. After day one he was barely crying and was eating and napping well. I am so proud of how easily he has adapted - especially since last week he wasn't very well and had been very clingy. 

Today (my first official 'day off') he has been clingier than usual and has napped a lot, but its been a hectic and slightly confusing week for him so I can fully understand that response. I now have five days off and plan to make the most of it.

I have enjoyed being back at work and it already feels like I've never been away (in mostly a good way); however I am totally exhausted in the evenings and have napped most afternoons or gone to bed really early. Dinner has been a really lazy convenient frozen pizza or tortellini and housework has been the bare minimum. I will have to find a happy medium, but for now I am proud that I didn't cry on Monday and the we're both enjoying our new ventures. 

What do you all have planned for the bank holiday weekend?

One Photo Twenty Words: Baby Led Weaning

is the way to go,

they eat what you eat,

they say, 

so the menu today?

Chocolate!

__________________________________

Linking up with the lovely Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams

Our little bundle of joy...

Proud to announce the arrival of Ellis Julien Arne
Born July 25th (our 4 year wedding anniversary!)
At 4:42 a.m by emergency c-section.

These past five days have been intense, really emotional and everyone who meets our baby is totally in love.
Everyone warned us about the huge surge of love you have for this little person and for each other but *wow* it is indescribable. I want to eat him up, drink in every moment and...oh yes, some sleep would be nice!
I am recovering well from the insane birth and he was worth every moment and every struggle.
At the risk of gushing too much I will leave you with the pictures.

 

Waiting for the world to change...

I thought that this layout would be apt for my current situation.
Almost 41 weeks pregnant and sweating it out in this crazy heat wave.
Hello England! Where has this heat wave come from? It normally rains at this time of year.
I have an appointment on Monday, but hope things happen naturally before then.

This picture was taken on our three year anniversary break to the Lake District last summer.
I was sat waiting for the miniature railway train to arrive.
The journalling is about how in 2012 we learned the art of patience as we struggled to get and stay pregnant. The story about this is here.

I made the chevron mask using cardboard packaging from other supplies and thensprayed with bronze mist. It only lasted one spray as the cardboard went soggy and the lines weren't as crisp.

 

It was embellished with cute heart washi tape and an Amy Tan Stamp. Plus I created a tag for the journalling and added some cute flair to give the layout some more dimension.

And the wait continues...

Bumper Scrapping Saturday...

So I have been finishing off, photographing and editing some layouts that I started a while ago but got a new lease of life with National Scrapbooking Day last week and the challenges up on Shimelle's blog and also at Two Peas. Then this weekend I have been treated to lots of exciting tutorials and challenges over at Jennifer Grace Creates. So in order to meet all the deadlines of the challenges and to be in with a chance of winning more stash (having just flogged loads of old stuff at a car boot sale) I have to go against Julie Kirk's advice and do a bumper post.

1) Challenge 1: Shimelle challenged us to make the most of our tools and scrappy investmentsas did the Two Peas girls with the Tool School by Jen. I got the Making Memories Slice for Christmas years ago and used it for a while and then it got consigned to its box and never used again. 

So I unearthed it and used it to cut out the words 'fun' and 'enjoy' on this layout. I inked the edges of the words to make sure that they popped out of the page. The papers are from a 6 by 6 Studio Calico pad and also some the American Crafts 'Dear Lizzie' range. I also used my Martha Stewart star punch. Below is a closer look...

Challenge 2: Shimelle also challenged us to create a layout using our favourite paper line. It seems that we are both American Crafts fans and so I used some of the Dear Lizzie range to create this layout about our trip to the Farmer's Market in LA. I created a cluster using some of the die cuts and the thickers from this range too.

 
Challenge 3: Shimelle challenged us to use smaller photos and Jennifer Grace challenged us to use a big bold black title with lighter colours.
This photo of us at the hand ball at the Olympics last summer was taken on my phone as he doesn't like to get the 'big' camera out in public and finds a quick mobile picture doesn't draw quite so much attention! I cropped it so that I could fit the journalling and another little picture of the hand ball stadium behind it. This polka dot paper is really old, but it seemed to work well with the orange washi tape and ledger paper. I also added some smash washi tape to ensure that I had the date etc on the layout. I think the bright colours reflect the energy of the game and of the whole event.

Phew - I wish I could say that that was it (well actually its better to have too much to share than too little, surely?) but I still have some messy misting and paint layouts to share. I will save it for another post though. I will also be sharing some more 'bump' layouts - its really massive now and  have less than nine weeks left till D-Day!

Steaming towards three years: Anniversary Layout

You may recall last July (I'd be impressed if you do!) we celebrated our three year anniversary in Howarth. A blissful day spent on steam trains, painting pottery and enjoying a delicious lunch.
So inspired by Shimelle's prompt to use 4 by 6 photos I have scrapped the pics this morning of the steam train journey and museum. I always tend to use 4 by 6 photos and I like to use them 'Shimelle style' in a line all and all the same way up. I then like to layer papers and washi tape to create interest around them and I like to add little journalling spots and embellishments to finish the layout off.

A close-up of the pictures:

The title and journalling spots - inlcuding the ticket for the train - which I wasn't entirely convinced went with the colour scheme of the layout, but it seems to go with the lined patterned paper which has green pastel tones in it.

So there you go...

One challenge down and another one to come shortly...

The satisfactory surprise!

So you may recall back in October I hit the big 30 and my husband whisked me off to London for the weekend to see Matilda and eat lots of yummy food.
Now when I was a teen my dad used to refer to me as High Maintenance Mel - I have no idea why. But I had a bit of a rep for having high expectations from boyfriends and just life in general. I think I'm pretty chilled, but there you go...
So a weekend in London would have been great if he hadn't tried to throw me off the scent by hinting at a weekend mini break on the continent somewhere. I think it was at the moment that I was putting all of my liquids into plastic bags that he realised perhaps his 'surprise' was going to backfire. Needless to say having grown up 20 mins from London and having a sister living there meant that London was no *quite* as exciting!
But it made for some good hidden journalling and here are two mini layouts from the trip.

 Click on them to see them in more detail.

Both of these layouts used lots of paper scraps that were leftover on my desk and so were quite thrifty - I was pretty happy with both of them though.
Have any of you experienced a surprise that backfired?

Messy Mondays: Painting with American Crafts and Amy Tan

So as July 10th approaches and the little baby in my belly is wriggling away and making itself known I am becoming increasingly aware of the decline in our 'us' time. We often go on spontaneous dates - trips to the cinema, meals out, snacks like ice-cream or smoothie dates and I am sure that this will change as us becomes a three!
So I made the most of our recent 'donut date' and got a picture of the usually reluctant 'model.

I wanted this layout to be pretty with florals and hearts. I went for Dear Lizzie paper, mixed up turquoise paint to create a border and then created little clusters with washi tape, bling and strips of patterned paper.

Please tell me that this won't be the end of it all...that we will fade into the backround. Haha!

What to do with paper too pretty to hide?

Are you like me? Do you have some pages you'd just like to stroke and admire and are always reluctant to actually use? I've been hoarding this gorgeous camera paper for ages and so was delighted when Shimelle's most recent sketch to scrapbook page was all about making the most of a really great patterned paper.
I used a picture from our honeymoon and used my travel stamps washi tape. I kinda messed up the page trying to do a line of embossed Amy Tan cameras, that turned out not to be very straight and so I tried to salvage it with a Martha Stewart star punch.
I'm not entirely sold on the pink and the green together, but I think it works.

The second layout I tried with this sketch is also a travel one. It is all about how the desserts in Thailand were often a dissapointment - until we got to MBK centre. It puts English food courts to shame and the desserts were all beautifully presented - as we do eat with our eyes after all.
I am a lot happier with the colour scheme on this one - I've never really paired brown and purple before, but I think it really works. A technique I've picked up watching lots of scrapping videos over at two peas is distressing, tearing and rolling the edges of the photo mat to make it really stand out. I have been watching a lot of scrapping tutorials as I have had a really bad cold and hacking cough - the poor baby!

What techniques have you been loving recently?
I've been getting messy with paints and have lots of brand new layouts to share with you soon!