Hello bump...layout!

So I wanted to take pics of my growing bump during my pregnancy, but we haven't proved that good at it. The lack of sunshine has hindered post-work photo shoots and so I have just about got a pic a month. This was a hastily snapped pic at 12 weeks - taken on my phone.

You may have noticed that I am totally in love with my Amy Tan 'hello' stamp and it is featuring on a lot of my recent layouts. It just makes titles fun! In fact I think all of my 'baby' pages so far use it -perhaps it can be a 'thing'. Y'know like Shimelle uses kraft for all of her travel pages - I use 'hello' for all my baby pages.

It's funny that I thought that was bump. Now I am 25 weeks and am having to get an even bigger pair of maternity jeans I know what a real bump is. Photos and layouts to follow eventually... My year 11's enquired the other day whether I would balance my cereal bowl on my bump like Phoebe from Friends! They just ask the most random questions. In fact they were getting so distracted in lessons suggesting baby names so I flippantly suggested that write them on a postcard and send them to me - so at the end of the lesson my desk was bombarded with little yellow post-its with an array of baby names from the cute - Ava - to the ridiculous - Mario! No offence if your kid is called Mario. It just makes me think of Nintendo!

I think the 'IT'S HERE' arrow post-it works perfectly with it.

I tried two new techniques:

• the cluster of bling. This was created using lots of glossy accents and sequins to emphasise the mannequin. 
• The border created by circle punches cut in half. I think its an easy, but effective technique.

The supplies I used are mainly American Crafts - I love the floral and peach together accented with the turquoise. In fact I think its a very 'spring' coloured layout - all I need now is the sunshine and blue skies to go with it!

In other news its Easter holidays - yay! We are off to Cornwall on Sunday night for a pre-baby mini break. I haven't been to Cornwall since a family holiday when I was about ten so any recommendations for places to eat, good tea rooms (love cake!) or places to eat would be very welcome. I think 'Once Upon a Time' will have outgrown me by now!

Elephant canvas for the nursery...

 I mentioned in a few previous posts my intentions to make canvas' for our nursery - ready for our new arrival in July. We are only in rented accommodation so I don't want to commit to a project too big - like wallpapering or painting a feature wall. So canvas' seems like the happy medium.
There are many tutorials on blogs and youtube and I took inspiration from these but went my own way with it too. Below is a step-by-step tutorial - including lessons that I learned along the way.

Step 1 - Decide upon your colour scheme. Prep canvas with gesso allow to dry. Paint one coat of acrylic paint - I applied mine with a foam applicator, but a sponge would work as well. Allow to dry. Apply second coat.

Step 2 - Decide upon your design. We originally wanted elephants and giraffes, but the giraffe silhouettes looked a bit strange and didn't look as cute or convincing as the elephant - so we went for one big elephant and then two little ones. I just got the picture from google.

Step 3 - Cut the design out and then trace in pencil onto chosen fabric. Remember that it will be in mirror image. Cut the design carefully out of the fabric - my fiskars scissors come in hand here.

Step 4 - Attach the fabric with modge podge to the dried canvas. Modge podge all over the top (see third picture) don't worry it will dry clear. I added heart buttons for the eyes with modge podge too.

Step 5 - Allow the whole thing to dry. On the top canvas I decided to outline the elephants in black fabric paint to add more definition.

Tips:

• Pick a dark coloured fabric as the yellow was a bit see through and up close you can see some of the glue underneath.
•  Be very careful that you flatten the fabric down before the clue dries - as you can see the second elephant has a bit of a crease on it. Some bloggers recommended reinforcing it with modge podge first or backing with cardboard.
• The yellow canvas also shows up some of the plush from the fabric and it dried into the modge podge. This, as I am sure that you can tell, was the first one and I might redo it as I think the little imperfections will annoy me.

  I made some canvas' of our wedding in the summer and the tutorial for these can be found here.

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!

Precious Pictures...

Since storytelling Sunday is all about stories gather round, get comfy and listen...

My favourite classes to teach at school are often the smaller groups.
The nurture groups.
The ones who are not reaching for the stars academically.
And often don't have many (if any) positive role models in their lives.
Why do I like teaching these groups so much?
They have heart.
You get to know them a lot better as there are less of them.
You have to show them you care or you lose them.
So you use little quizzes (they love my Friday celebrity quizzes), sometimes treats and mostly anecdotes to win them round.
So last week we were studying a poem about a hurricane.
I asked what they would save from their houses in a natural disaster.
First answer,
"my computer games miss."
"Hmm nice try, but I honestly don't think most people would care about plasma screens and play stations - they can be replaced."
"My family then."
"My mum," chipped in the Burly Boy.
"I said it had to be a possession - an object." I reminded them.
"Money?" Cheeky One tentatively put forward.
"No," Trendy Boy interrupted knowingly. "Insurance will cover this."
"Photo's then, memories?" Suggests the only girl in the group.
"Bingo," I smiled.

So my 'precious' this month are the baby books I have made for The Belgian.

My mum did fill in a baby book for me and this is precious and I love to read the funny stories about my first birthday and first Christmas (where apparently all I was interested in was the selection box - no changes there then!) But there were lots of pics still to be scrapped and I had a mini album to fill.

I asked the in-laws for some pics of The Mini Belgian and I scrapped them in a little book - which is the only scrapbook I have ever made which he will proudly show to any visitors. When we entertain little kids too they love to look through it.
Also a scrapbook I made from my youth - more info and pictures of which can be found in this post.

These are all photo's that are irreplaceable.
In the days before digital.
These photos and albums are definitely very precious.

Half term highlights...

To combat the back to school blues I will share some of what my half term looked like...

Baked some blueberry scones

Went to a certain Swedish furniture store and indulged in my fav treat

Along with some tasty donuts from a certain America donut place

I think The Belgian looks hot here - but then I am bias!

Did some crafting on a onesie - I shared this earlier in the week

Impressed myself with my chevron creating skills

Ate at So Bar in Knaresborough getting two-for-one using our new free trial Tastecard - fellow Brits sign up now!

Creating his 'n' hers lamps on our bedside tables - Homebase were selling these Habitat lamps at better than half price.

Did some more crafting for the babies nursery - I will share a DIY for this later in the week.

Picked these up at Ikea as well for the nursery - we are thinking of a 'feature' wall of pictures rather than painting

In other news:

• Saw Beautiful Creatures on Orange Wednesday - not usually our cup of tea but we enjoyed it
• Had our 20 week scan and all is well - we are Team Yellow and waiting to find out
• I am totally loving Pink's new song with the guy from FUN
• Watched Nashville for the first time today and think I could really get into it - always been a closet country music fan
• Found Paige's blog through Shimelle and have been having a real nosy around - am totally inspired by her use of hearts, confetti and layering

What have you guys been up to recently?

Diy chevron cushion cover

So earlier in the week I declared my intentions to actually do some crafty projects this week.
When I started to think about the fun of designing a nursery I started scanning pinterest.
I was in love with this cushion from Etsy  and this is partly what inspired the yellow and grey colour scheme
and the elephant theme.
But it was made in America and this equals large postage costs so I thought I'd have a go at creating a chevron pattern myself.

1) First I brought a yellow cushion cover for £3 at Ikea.
2) I created a chevron pattern with masking tape. Most blogs and tutorials advise you to use electrical tape as this eliminates the chance of the colour bleeding, but I found that masking tape worked fine. Also you a-types out there would definitley bust out a tape measure - but i just eye-balled it and the end result (pictured below) is accurate enough - so long as you don't look at it too closely!
3) Using grey fabric paint purchased at Hobby Craft and the sponge applicator (pictured at the bottom) I applied a generous layer of paint trying to go with the grain of the fibres on the pillow cover.
4) I had to wait patiently for the paint to dry. The Belgian found this very difficult and I had to swot his hands away many times.
5) Peel back when you are sure it is dry.
6) Stand back and check for any small errors - I then corrected these with a small paintbrush.
7) I then ironed it with a sheet of paper over it on a low heat. I should have ironed it first and would advise this to be your first tip.
I still need to buy a pillow to go in it and a rocking chair for it to rest on. I might do a smaller plain grey one and iron on a yellow polka dot elephant. I will do a photo shoot when its all ready, but for now you get the impression!

Stamping on fabric...

Playing around with my amy tan stamps and a onesie. Do you like?

Pinning Projects to Paint...and other things!

It's no secret that I have been having a crafty drought these past say four and a half months.
I think there are many reasons - mostly relating to the baby growing in my belly.
For instance:

• feeling too sick and lethargic to do anything more creative than channel and web surf
• barely having any photo's from the last few months
• especially lacking pictures of Christmas - where I was being sick a few times a day
• realising a distinct lack of storage space and rapidly accumulating scrap albums
• trying to clear out my scrapbooking room - ready to transform into a nursery

However the nursery is giving me some creative yearnings and I have spent the week pinning craft projects that I hope to work on over this half term holiday.
I will post the top four here to share with you all and to commit myself to completing at least two!

1) Firstly since we don't want to find out the sex of the baby we have decided that colour scheme will be yellow and grey with polka dots and a jungle theme. I loved these spray painted and decorated zoo animals over at Spearmint baby and think this would be a fun project and would look great displayed on the window still or book shelf. With yellow and grey accents of course.

 

2) For me the most ambitious project (since I am useless with a sewing machine) and the one I will probably save for nearer to the birth when I may be able to get some direction from the lovely textiles teacher at my school. I love this honeycomb material - any ideas where to source it in England? Elephants and giraffes are going to feature most heavily in the decor. The tutorial is found here at Sew 4 Home.

 

 3) I love this shadow box idea from Our Day by Design. I have ordered some elephants punched out in greys, blues and yellows from ebay - cheaper than the actual Martha Stewart punch which is £15. I just need to get the shadow box - I seem to think that Ikea stock these quite cheaply? Am I right? 

4) And lastly the project I will be tackling first I think is this animal painted canvas - here is the youtube link. I brought the supplies yesterday and have printed the pictures off ready to roll.  I think I might make the silouette with material and have ordered some grey and yellow fat quarters off ebay this morning. So it may look more like this...

How cute is this? From here.

So there you have it. I do pin a lot, but I also try to actually make some of the things I pin. Hopefully I will have some projects to share with you all by the end of the week,

The Precious Little Wriggler...

So I am a bit late joining Sian's storytelling Sunday party, but I thought that the theme of sharing your precious would work well with my exciting news (that I hinted at last week).
My 'precious' is my 12 week scan pictures.
It's been a bumpy journey getting there.
I was pregnant last April, but sadly lost the baby in June - a week before our scan was due.
I struggled afterwards with anxiety and sleeping at night.
For a while life was pretty hard.
So when I fell pregnant in October I took some convincing that it was true.
So I couldn't quite believe it when I saw the little heartbeat at eleven weeks.
I am due the 10th of July.
A summer baby.
I have been very sick, tired and constantly nauseous.
But it will all be worth it when we get to meet the 'Little Wriggler.'
This is what the doctor dubbed the baby when it wouldn't stay still during the scan.
In fact my husband said it was doing jumping jacks in my belly!
This suggests that it will take after him.

Layout mainly completed using Amy Tangerine goodies - my first actual layout in four months!

 Here I am at four month's pregnant....

with a rapidly expanding belly that is getting trickier and tricker to conceal from the kids that I teach at school!
I hope that my story brings hope to other couples who are trying for a baby, or who have suffered from similar setbacks.
I found support and inspiration from complete blogging strangers who shared their stories and one in particular who helped me to admit how I was feeling.
Now that the sickness is subsiding I hope to blog more.

Memory Monday: Pie Charts and self timer fun...

Now those of you who knew me in school would know that pie charts and fun were never two concepts I connected. Apple pie and fun maybe...but maths - shudder! A strange trend to hit scrapping in 2012, but one I was keen to have a go at.
This page uses lots of American Crafts and especially Amy Tan. I created the pie chart with cardboard and scraps of paper - embellished with an Amy Tan stamp and a Studio Calico wooden camera stamped in black ink.

The memory is of our trip to Barcelona August 2012. When there are just two of you on holiday, you always have the drama of trying to get a picture of you as a 'couple' and in Barca you have to be aware of pickpockets and people liable to run off with your camera.
So we turned to the slightly hit and miss method of self timer. With the camera precariously balanced on some rocks. I like this pic as it is a fun angle and I think shows the energy and fun of our trip.

Back next week with some exciting news and an actual layout that I actually created yesterday (after a four month scrapping drought!)

Me right now...

Digging: Les Mis
Drinking: ginger beer and strawberry smoothie
Eating: Almond Magnums
Listening: Eddie Reymayne singing Les Mis
Wearing: PJ's and a hoody
Reading: A really sad book, but I can't think of the title now...
Feeling: relaxed
Weather: was snowing now slush
Wanting:another snow day
Needing: a good back massage
Wishing: I had more energy
Thinking: I need to start listing some stuff on ebay - we had a big snow day clear out
Enjoying: Don't Tell the Bride
Loving: Almond Magnums