Small bump unknown...

Dear Pregnant Me,

People will tell you to make the most of your sleep, you will laugh along with them and smile knowingly as if you know how bad it is going to be. You don't. And you didn't take their advice. Or maybe sleeping when you're the size of a whale and it feels like a pack of ferrets was let loose in your belly wasn't as easy as they thought. (Or remembered.)

You know the nursery that you have spent hours/days preparing and getting ready? It will be trashed within a day or two. There will just be so much stuff and so little time. Those cute little drawers from Ikea will soon be piles of 'newborn' 'first size' and '0-3/3-6' as you need things that will fit the baby to be accessible and close at hand.

Those date nights you have been trying to make the most. Well really make the most of them. Never again will you just be able to go and see that new film that came out at the Hyde Park Picture House or go to Pizza Express on Orange Wednesdays on a whim. Date nights will become military operations. Sorting a babysitter weeks in advance, getting The Baby ready, bathed and in bed, leaving lists of instructions and then staring at your phone all night worrying. It will feel forced and you will often be too sleep deprived to enjoy it. So yes, really, make the most of them.

Spend time with your friends without babies - although the gap may already be apparent. Because when you become a walking, talking baby making machine you will find their eyes glaze over and you've become a little less interesting in their eyes. When you cancel your lunch date cos you've had a bad night or The Baby has a cold they won't get it - just like you don't now.

Your whole life is about to change in a big way and you have no idea. You have no idea how hard it will be. How relentless it will be. How it will test your relationship. But also how much love you can feel for this tiny baby squirming in your arms. How much it will rely on you. Need you. Love you in return. 

Yep nothing can prepare you for that.

Love,
Sleep-deprived me

P.S You have a boy so not the future crafter you were expecting. Get lots of good washing powder. Lots of muzzies, Lots of energy and embrace the madness!

________________________

This post was largely sponsored by a serious lack of sleep. We have started sleep training here and when we see some success I will do a post on that.

 

Project Life: Scrapbooking the newborn pictures

So I am going back in time with my Project Life. I probably didn't have the time when he was a new born to 'Project Life' it and I was still a die hard scrapper then - albeit I had downsized from 12 by 12 to 8.5 by 11. These photos would have each had their own page with journalling and embellishments.
But early January I decided to switch and when I started loving the little pocket scrapbooking I realised I have so much of The Baby's first six months to catch up on.
Plus a huge wallet (or rather wallets) of photos needing a home.
My lovely instagram friend, Ashley, sent me some cards to start me off. She sent me a mix of Dear Lizzie 'Fifth and Frolic' and Maggie Holmes 'Flea Market' cards and these are mainly what I have used on these newborn layouts. 

Some techniques that I enjoyed trying on this layout:

• Mixing up the gold sparkly and gold metallic thickers for the 'proud' caption. It really wasn't because I had run out of some of the letters.
• The heart border and the star were created using the negatives from stickers with washi tape underneath. Love this technique.

My second layout is all about my parents being first time grandparents. These are the first pictures of each of them holding Ellis; after they had busted their way through the strict visitors hours by claiming to have travelled from 'very far away' and having to return shortly.
The harassed midwife came though and said she had a very distraught grandmother on her hands who was demanding to see me. The 'Australians' visiting from far away. This made me smile as my dad is from Belfast and has a strong Ulster accent and my mom is South African and still has a hint of this in her accent. I wondered what kind of stories they were telling to get to see me!
I understood why my mom was so keen to see me as the last she had heard at 10 p.m the night before was that things were not going well. I wouldn't let The Belgian out of my sight and so she only received the call at about 5 a.m reassuring her that both mother and baby were fine. She'd had an awful night pacing the floor and arrived at 9 a.m wanting to give her 'traumatised' daughter a big hug and they wanted her to wait till 2 p.m. This is a bit unreasonable on the very day her grandson was born.
It turned out they weren't telling fibs to see me. They had travelled from Shropshire (although they were staying in a hotel up the road) and the midwife must have confused the South African accent for Australian. 
However, they did return at two for another cuddle and she came in to change my dressing and really gave them a look. Lets just say there was no love lost between her and my mother.

Techniques I used on the cards:-

• washi tape and a punched star stapled on for that rustic look
• a line of stamped camera
• some patterned cards used as is with no extra embellishment as the other cards were quite busy
• twine tied around one of the photos 

So are you Team Midwife or Team Grandma?

Haha! 

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...

Thrifty Thursday: Using stamps as embellishments

So because I missed my Maternity Monday's bump update on the bank holiday as I was entertaining family - I thought that I would share my bump at 26 weeks layout. (Actually I have just realised that I missed my bump update for the whole month of May - its been crazy with exams and coursework deadlines at school!) My scrapbooking has been increasingly more thrifty and resourceful recently as everything is boxed up and so I am working with limited supplies - but it means that I am rediscovering old passions like stamping and embossing. The main embellishement on this layout is washi tape and then a stamped tag with the title and small little heart stamps to emphasise the pictures.

This second layout was created in probably 15 minutes. I used an old Studio Calico 6 by 6 pad and then on the ledger paper used washi tape and embossed alpha stamps to add the title. I also embossed the little Amy Tan his'n'hers icon - which I felt went along with this photo, which was taken on our 3rd anniversary getaway to the Lake District.

 A close-up of the stamping...

Over the last few days I completed a mini album of my baby pics and have been loving adding sequins as embellishment. I felt that with only six weeks to go till due date I needed to get that completed before starting on my own baby scrapping!

What techniques have you been rediscovering?

Tuesday trends: Starburst design layout!

So following on from my previous post about keeping up with current scrapbooking trends, I decided (quite a few months ago now) to have a go at the starburst layout. Lisa Truesdell over at two peas made this great layout (top picture) that took all of the guesswork out of it as it included a step-by-step video.
I must admit that it was a very time consumming process and I had to use a ruler and make measurements - something that I NEVER do in my layouts. I've never been a fan of math or being too precise. I used my kraft knife to slice the little sections out - but it doesn't look as though mine are bursting with as many sequins (or punched out circles as I used) as Lisa'a segments.

What I loved about Lisa's layout was:

• all the cute polka dots
• the amazing frosty picture
• the glittery title which pops from the page
• the chevron stamping
• the buttons

Other than obviously copying the whole composition of it I also tried to incorporate a lot of these elements in my layout. It was definititly more of a scraplift than just using a layout for inspiration.
The subject of my layout was my sister's first 'proper' holiday to America. She had been to Chicago on a work trip but had never been on a roadtrip in California and so because I loved this picture of her, I felt that the starburst would reflect her excitment and the shininess of the picture.
It was one of those layouts that I was working on for a few weeks as I had to be really alert and ensure that I got it all right to make it fit together right.

Do you love starbursts, but want to start smaller? Here are some links to other layouts using this fun techniques. Jen at Studio Calico using kraft, Amy Tan rocking a small starburst, Magda went cute with hearts and pastel shades and last but not least October Afternoon ran it as a sketch challenge and you can check out what their design team did with the starburst.

I'd love to see - have any of you used starbursts on your layouts?

Once you pop you can't stop...

Although this title pertains to the subject of my layout it also applies to stamps. When I uncover an old and neglected fav then I really use it a lot. I used my heart stamp as a recurring motif for the backing paper on this layout. In fact I used it to make my own cardstock - which is something I used to do years ago. I also dusted off my embosser and embossed the title. Don't you love my new shadow punch too? I couldn't find the right colour to put underneath to make it pop - but I think the gold works okay.
I have wanted to make a layout about my husband's obsession with popcorn for a while and I finally got the pic for it and then it all came together. I get annoyed with him as we go to wallet friendly Orange Wednesday and then he spends as much as we saved on a popcorn and drink. He cannot go to the cinema without popcorn. He shovels it down and its usually finished before the trailers are done. Bless!

Linking up with Shimelle's 8th challenge - just one stamp!

Skinny love...

Ohhh I posted my previous post on facebook and have had loads more pageviews...perhaps I shouldn't keep my little blog all to myself and other scrappers. I sometimes worry that it is a bit geeky to non-scrappers and think they will percieve me as a wierdo who sits in her spare room cutting out flowers and hearts...does anyone else think this? So anyways back to my "geeky" scrapping. I tried two new techniques on this page: 1) Using lace cardstock as a mask and misting with two different colours. The result of which I am totally loving - a lot more interesting than just using the lace cardstock. 2) Julie Kirk's cute little cartoon style stamping technique. I have not described it well so check it out here. I didn't do a strip as I didn't really have space. I also don't have any cute little stamps of people, so had to settle for a squirrel as it's all I had, but it did fit in well with the layout. This is completed using part of the lyrics from Aerosmith's Livin' On the edge for Scrap it with a Song challenge. In my teens I was a big Aerosmith fan and I remember distinctly using one of their albums on random to decide which boy I should go out with. Ahh the innocence of youth! And the joy of having options! If I don't get to blog anymore over the weekend HAPPY EASTER to all my followers and readers of my blog. Hope you all get lots of exciting treats from the easter bunny - check out my previous post for a great easter cookie recipe.

Not a mission to create...

Above is a little gem of a layout. I loved these pics taken by my bro-in-law Byron and was excited to scrap them. I have always enjoyed using the Mission to Create challenges as they are very specific, yet flexible and they are a good stash buster. The requirements were:-

Deborah- Make a list as part of your journaling

Jocie- Primary colors

Nicole- Use a journalling card

Vanesa- Use a mini calendar

Ania -The following inspiration (a cute postcard)

I was mission successful and used all of them. The different coloured lettering was especially good as I got to use up all of my odd thickers. I am pleased with this layout and it is taking pride of place on my wall in my scrap room.

Long may the sunshine continue. We had been "trapped" in the house and garden today as our mot was pending and we were like a kid on exam day when the phone call came - the good news was that we only had one thing to fix and then it passed - soooo much better than all the issues with the KA! Yesterday we had a mini adventure and walked the six miles to Pool in the blazing sunshine. It was a longer run than I thought and my flip flops weren't the comfiest of foot wear! However it was all worth it as we stopped at a gorgeous little pub called The White Hart. We sat on the terrace soaking up the sun and Arne had a homemade burger and I had a gorgeous stonebaked pizza - yum! Here are some pics we took on route - it was a very good photo day today! Hope you've all had a non-stressful hump day and enjoy your evening. (We are off to Orange Wednesday!)

Stars in their eyes...

So fellow bloggers I had all these great pics of a fancy dress party I went to in early March, but felt they needed something special to scrap them - really bright and striking. So I completed a double layout using this sketch. Below I went crazy with the stamps as I have so many great ones and I rarely use them. I enjoyed making this pattern to border my layout. I also sliced the pic to replicate all the little pics from the sketch. I then emphasised some with pop dots and contrasting colours of cardstock. The second part of the layout I used gesso and masked the title. Although I forgot my own (Tessa's!) little tip of sticking the letters to my jeans first and so they peeled off a bit of the paper too, but it kind of adds to the shabby chic look. I feel this layout should be embellished a bit more, but I was running low on inspiration and everything I added just clashed or looked silly so...this is it. In other news since the weather is usually so overcast in England we headed to the historic and beautiful York for a wonder on Monday and he actually let me take some pics * yay * So I had to really make the most of it and climb the historic walls and strike a pose. There are about thirty of these, but I will spare you all! Well he *let* me take the pic, but smiling clearly wasn't in the bargain! My icecream was toffee honeycomb - yum! In fact today we also had a mini adventure in the sun and took lots of snaps...so more to come later! Thanks for looking and for your much appreciated comments!

Cosy Christmas pj's...

So Twisted sketches wanted cosy I gave them my red fleecy heart pj's. One of my best Christmas pressies. Lots of stamping on this layout as I figured I have so many stamps and rarely use them. I even dusted off my embossing powders and embosser. Great fun.