* Goodbye 2010 *

So here we are on the last day of December, just a couple of hours before we welcome in 2011!! I didn't manage a Christmas post as things got so crazily busy, so I will do a quick review here. Thankfully we all recovered from the coughs, colds and ear infections that got us all in the run up to Christmas and finally we were all ready for the Big Day. Loads of food (far too much!) bought, pressies bought and wrapped, tree and decorations up!

The Tree!

This year Christmas Day was at "Our House" with relatives coming to stay. We had an anxious wait on the 23rd to see if their flight would arrive okay, with airports closing and flights cancelled due to the ice and snow, but they got here safely, 2 hours later than scheduled but at least they were here!!!

We also had my Dad over for Christmas Day and Boxing Day and my brother and his partner and two children popped over Christmas Day evening for supper and the kids pressies! Quite a houseful but lots of fun!!

Unwrapping Santa presents!

We had a lovely few days and then it was all over and on Monday it was "Sales shopping". I got a few good bargains, new boots and a bag and a couple of tops and a few bits for the "Young One".

The last few days have been all about relaxing, enjoying our new gifts, playing board games and generally chilling out. Lovely!

I would just like to wish all bloggers a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and I hope 2011 brings you all that you wish for!

I will be back soon with a 2010 review and also my Christmas Journal.

A Winter's Walk

Do you ever have a day at the weekend with nothing very much planned? I love nothing more than waiting "to see what the weather is like" ...and see "what we feel like doing" rather than having a definate plan in our heads for the day.

Sunday was one of those days. The sun was shining ~ it was very, very cold but there was a gorgeous clear blue sky and we all agreed it was a perfect day for a walk on along a beach. We are extremely lucky to live near the coast and have several beaches within easy reach. On Sunday we chose Highcliffe beach, about 30 mins drive away. ~ It was beautiful! ~

H (and hubby!) had a fabulous time climbing over the rocks and I took loads of photos!!

Happy days!

Rock climbing!!

Worn out from our walk we headed up to Highcliffe Castle and the tearooms for coffees, hot chocolates and cakes! Yum!

A Perfect way to spend a Sunday!

I hope you had a fantastic Sunday too!

In Crafty news ~ My Christmas Journal is keeping me busy but I'm waiting for my photobox order so I can add photographs. I've also been having a good sort through of my stash and trying to reorganise my storage so I can find stuff easily!

Right, off now to do do more JYC!

JYC ~ 1st December

This year I am keeping my Christmas Journal simple as I think that is the only way I have a chance of making an entry for each day as the closer we get to Christmas Day the more crazy and busy things get in this house!

My page for 1st December documents how I intend to do my best to take lots of photos (lots and lots!!) and capture the memories of this magical time of year. I love the festive season but sometimes I am so busy preparing for family to come and stay and organisng Christmas Day that I tend to lose myself in the craziness of it all. This year I am going to try to slow down and take time to enjoy the special moments!

Snow.....!!!

We woke up yesterday to a very white view from the window, in fact it was the most snow I have ever seen down here on the south coast. Being so close to the sea we very rarely see snow and when we do it's usually just a little dusting!!

The view from my front door at 8am!

The "Young One's" school was open yesterday, although they have had to close today so we are enjoying a "Snow Day" at home. I decided it was best to leave the car behind (as you can see it was covered in the white stuff!) and set off on the 15 minute walk to school.

Once back home and warmed up I headed out into our garden to capture a few snowy shots! Perfect scrapping material!

I think most of the UK has snow now....did you get some photos? If so, I'd love you to leave me a message so I can pop by your blog and see too!

Keep warm and if you have to go out take care!

x

PS: will be back later with my JYC post!

It's that time of year again!!

You know how sometimes you dither over whether to do something or not well, a few days ago I finally made up my mind that I will make a Christmas Journal again this year. Last year I managed up to about the 11th, I think it was and 2008 saw me get to the 9th so this year I'm determined to finish.

It's not too late to join in just pop over to Shimelle's blog for all the info.

I've did my page for 1st Dec today, but the light was bad here today so will wait till tomorrow to get a photo.

I'm going to be working a few days behind as I will have to wait to get photos printed down at Asdas or via photobox!!

Are you doing JYC??

It's WOYWW ~ 10 November!

Today I have spent a blissfully happy morning at the dining room table scrapping. Not particularly productive. Lots of cups of coffee. Several pretty papers shuffled about. Boxes and baskets of embellies rifled through. But I was happy.

I ran about like a mad thing first thing this morning. School run, dashed around Asda to buy ingredients for tonight's lasagne ( Oh yes, and a HUGE tin of Celebrations chocs ~ to be stashed away until Christmas!), did the hoovering and other boring houseworky stuff in record time so that I could give myself the rest of the day off! To craft!!!

If you have arrived on my blog via Julia's blog, Welcome and thanks for stopping by. The pic above shows the table with my 2nd layout of the day mid progress. There's the obligatory coffee cup and at the back there is my newest purchase .... the rather cute Martha Stewart butterfly punch! Oh, how I love this punch!

If you haven't got a clue what I'm on about pop over to here to see what WOYWW is all about!

I'll leave you with the one layout I did manage to finish this morning!

Journalling reads: "I am probably biased but you have such a beautiful smile"

This is a scraplift of a layout by Liberty Chance that was in issue 49 of Scrapbook Magazine.

Scrapbooking & Card Making Kits FOR SALE!

I have put together some kits using stock left from the closure of the shop.
I only have a limited number of these so if you would like one (or more) please let me know by e mailing me sarah_sjr at hotmail dot com

If you need the kit(s) posted to you this will cost extra.

ALL KITS NOW SOLD OUT!!!

Christmas Kit 1

3 Sheets of Patterned Paper from My Mind's Eye Colourful Christmas (nb. designs may vary to those shown in picture!)
5 sheets of bazzill
Snowflake Punch (Woodware)
Glue Pen
My Mind's Eye Brads (to co ordinate with papers)
6 felt snowflakes
1 pack of Papermania Shimmer dots
1/2 sheet of adhesive clear gem stones
4 lengths of co ordinating ribbon (at least 50cm of each!)

Worth more than £22.00
Kit price: £11.99 !!



Christmas Kit 2

3 X Little Claire Clear Stamps (Molly & Tilly get ready for Christmas, Jolly Happy Snowman, Decorating the tree)
1 X Wooden Stamp
1 Pack of gold dots stickers
1 Pack of mounting pads
Silver Stickles

Worth more than £25.00
Kit price: £12.99 !!

K & Co Poppyseed Kit

4 Patterned Papers from K & Co Poppyseed Collection
5 Sheets of Bazzil
K & Co Mat Pad
5 Packs of Poppyseed Embellishments (these may vary from those shown in the picture
but will be an assortment of words, letters, flowers etc)

Worth more than £25.00
Kit price: £12.99 !!


BUY ALL THREE KITS FOR £33.00!!!!!

* Blue Sea...Blue Skies *

Hi Bloggers!

Can't believe how long it has been since my last blog post! Sorry!

I have been back from holiday over a week now and it's only this weekend that I have had a little time to myself to blog about it. I think I must have got buried under the holiday washing, don't you just hate the unpacking and laundry when you get back from hols?!

We had the most relaxing holiday ever in this beautiful place.

Portinatx, Ibiza!

A small, quiet resort on the north coast of the island!

We were lucky enough to have great weather, and enjoyed 21-22 degrees, sunshine and blue skies apart from on 1 day when the winds picked up and it was a little chilly. But the change in the sea from the calm, still waters that we had played in the previous day to the huge waves crashing up on to the sand and rocks was amazing to see and made for some great photos.

On one of the days, we took the local bus (an experience in itself!) to the capital of the island, Ibiza town. Exploring the Old Town was one of the highlights of the week for me!

I was going to post a few more pics that I took but for some reason blogger won't let me upload more than 2!!

I'm having a day of sorting out my craft stash.

Then tomorrow I will make stuff!
It's been too long since I did some crafting!

x

* 10 Years *

Yesterday was my birthday! I celebrated A Big OnE!!!!!! It got me thinking how my life has changed in the last 10years.

10 years ago We had just moved into our new house, a small two bed mid-terraced house. I was looking forward to decorating it and making it ours. I was working long hours in and loved it! We were engaged and busy planning our wedding!

10 years on and my life has changed a lot....I have been married to the most wonderful man for too many years to count. I became a Mummy to a beautiful little girl. We finally moved to a bigger house. I gave up the long hours in my career to concentrate on being the best Mummy I possibly could. Our baby girl grew up and started school. I started my own business. Life was hectic. I closed the business and made the right lifestyle choice. I'm happier now than ever before.

What will the next 10 years bring?

My hope and dreams for the next 10 years...

• Our daughter has the opportunities to realise her dreams and hopes.
• We can afford to get an extension built on the house.
• My family and friends continue to enjoy good health.
• I can give my daughter the little brother/sister she (and we) long for!

If you have read this far, thank you for bearing with me whilst I get my thoughts written down. I plan to include this post as journalling on a layout soon.

Oh, and yes I had a lovely birthday, and got spoilt rotten!

x

Ally Pally!

Yesterday I got up at ridiculous o'clock to catch the 7.20am train up to London to go to the Big Stamp And Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace.



I had a great day looking round all the stands, watching demos and enjoyed numerous coffee stops!!

Do you wanna see what I bought??

Lots of lovely new papers...October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket....

Some fab new alphabet stamps from Creative Expressions (love these and spotted 2 other stamp journal sets from CE I'd like!), an EK Success Border Punch and a few new embellies.

Quite a few stands were demoing stamped images coloured with promarkers. I used to make a lot of cards like this and watching the demos made me really want to get my promarker pens out again and do some colouring in!! Got meself a new Lillie of the Valley stamp to get me started off again. As soon as I get chance I'll be getting my pens out and getting started on some Christmas cards!!

It was a long day and by the time I was back at Waterloo for the train home I was shattered...

........but loved it and can't wait for the April 2011 show!!

Right, off to bed now as I have another early start tomorrow with a 1 1/2 hours drive to a course for work!!

* One More Sleep .... *

...Until Ally Pally!! Yay!
I am seriously excited to be going to the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace tomorrow!!
I have been away on a course with work this week, so I'm more than ready for some "Me" Time! Not looking forward to the early start to get the 7.20am train up to London though.
I don't have a lot of money for stash shopping but will get a few new bits and hope to see lots of demos and get some inspiration!
Anyone else going?

* Happy Sunday *

Happy Sunday Bloggers!!

Thank you for all the get well wishes for the "Young One" . She is now a lot better, after a visit to the Doc on Friday morning. She is now on antibiotics, so hopefully will soon be 100% again!!

I haven't got anything crafty to show you, sorry!! But thought I would share some photos I took in and around Christchurch as I know a few regular readers have mentioned they like to see photos of the area I live in. A couple of weeks ago I decided to make the most of my day off work (I had been working a lot of overtime!!) so ran round like a mad thing doing laundry and shopping in the morning so that I had the afternoon free to take my camera out.

This is just a few of my favourites...

The castle ruins alongside the river

The "Ducking Stool" ~ like used in the olden days to punsih naughty villagers!!

The beautiful gardens at the Red House Museum!

Sometimes it is a walk in the sun in a garden like this, with hardly anyone else around that is just what I need when life gets too fast!!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, I'll be back later to visit all your blogs!!

* My First WOYWW!! *

From time to time I check out What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday but as Wednesdays are manic here, I have never had the chance to take part, until today. My daughter is off school poorly so I had to take the day off work to look after her. I was blog hopping and as I read Julia's blog who created WOYWW I realised I could participate. Yay!! I grabbed my camera and took a pic of the dining room table where I had been crafting this morning.

I had brought a selection of papers and stash downstairs so I could craft whilst the poorly one laid on the sofa. I finished the LO I had started last night, which you can see at the back and starting choosing papers for the next one. I'm taking a break from LSNED for a few days to do some 12 x 12 LOs.

Close up of the "Giddy Up" Page which documents Hannah's first pony ride!

As you can see from the state of the table I am not a tidy scrapbooker, not tidying away before starting the next one. I just work amongst the scraps of paper and bits everywhere!!

Right, must go and make dinner!! Look forward to visiting your blogs to see your work desks!!

* LSNED & First day at school *

I have finally found a few minutes to sit down and blog my first couple of pages for LSNED. On the 1st Sept we woke to find the tooth fairy had visited during the night. As I watched Hannah run to check her little teddy to see if the tooth was gone and if there was a coin in it's place I could sense her anticipation. Her delight and excitement at finding a shiny £2 coin just made my heart melt. I learnt that " I love it when the tooth fairy has visited our house"

It was my Dad's birthday on 2 nd September. As it was the school holidays still, Hannah and I had arranged to see him in the afternoon but had made no definate plans as to what we would do or where we would go. The sun was shining so Dad said he would like to go to the beach. We spent a lovely afternoon building sandcastles, paddling and generally enjoying each other's company.

I'm keeping up with the class well, getting a few words down each day, but the creating bit will have to wait until I have a little more time. But that's what I love about this class, I can do it in my own time.

I can hardly believe it's Friday already and the first week of term has just flown by. Hannah has settled into Year 3 really well, enjoying her new classroom and new class mates and getting used to her new teacher. This is the first time she has had a male teacher!

All ready for school on the morning of 1st day of term!

New Shoes!

Note the socks already falling down! Lol!

Right, I'm off for a round up of all your blogs. If you do pop by my blog, please leave me a message so I can come and visit you too!

Have a great weekend!

* Getting Organised!! *

Learn Something New Everyday started on 1st September. I have been taking my little notebook with me everywhere and jotting down a few sentences each day, inspired by the daily prompts. Rather than focusing on lessons learnt (although I'm sure I will learn lots over the month!) I am just trying to get down on paper my current thoughts and feelings on life and document my day to day activities. I will create a page for each day, some with photos some just journalling, but will be working a few days behind the prompts as and when I can get my photos printed.

Today I got myself organised to start on my first pages. I have sorted out some stash and put it all together in a little basket, along with some stamps, inks, punches, papers and tools. I cleared the mess that is usually my craft area and laid everything out so I'm not hunting through my stash each time I sit down to a page.

I have prepared some bazzill for my first few pages, trimmed to size and you can see my photos on the table which I got printed today....so I''m all ready to go.

In other news, I swapped my shifts at work this week so I could spend today with Hannah, as our last day together before the new school term starts next week. We had a lovely day shopping for birthday presents and stopped for coffee and pastries in our favourite coffee shop, Cafe Nero! Yum!

I have the evening to myself as D has gone out with some friends to watch football. H is tucked up in bed so I'm going to eat lasagne and chips and then get my first few LSNED Pages done!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely evening!

* Tooth Fairy Magic *

The tooth fairy visited our house last night!! Oh the excitement and joy of finding a shiny £2 coin this morning!! Magical!!

Having been wobbling and wiggling her two front teeth for what seems like weeks and weeks, one finally fell out last Thursday and the other just popped out yesterday morning. So last night it was carefully
placed in teddy's little bag in readiness along with a note (in her best handwriting) to the fairy...

"Thank you for leving me pocket money

and taking away my totth" xx

So now the "Young One" has a rather cute, "gappy" smile!!

The £2 coin??! That was soon spent on a new book this afternoon. My little bookworm can't get enough of books and reading at the moment, but hey that's another story!

* A day at The Castle *

Today sees the start of the last week of the school holidays, and tomorrow D is back to work after his 2 weeks holiday. I have to admit feeling a little sad as we have Sooo much enjoyed each others company. Just the three of us!

Yesterday we took a drive out to this beautiful Castle.

Lulworth Castle

We climbed up a million steps to very top of the tower to see amazing views across the Dorset country side. With a glimpse of the sea in the distance.

Just about see the sea in the dip bewteen the hills!

We watched the jousting!

There was a great little animal farm, where H loved the donkeys, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, pigs, alpacas, ducks, birds, peacocks and happily ran round stroking and feeding as many as she could. Great Day!!

I am sorry there has not been much crating going on here lately. I'm hoping to get back into this week, now that our little "holiday at home" has come to an end and with a new Shimelle class starting on the 1st I am looking forward to it.

Hope you have had a fun Bank Holiday!

* New Forest Deer *

Those that read my little blog regularly may remember that I mentioned in this post that DH has had 2 weeks off work and we were planning on making the most of the beautiful area that we are lucky enough to live in. Despite the rain we have enjoyed a few day trips out on the days I was not working.

Last week we went to Salisbury, Monkey Worlds and Monday was Gunwharf Quays near Portsmouth for some serious shopping. My favourite so far was Thursday just gone when we donned our rain coats and wellies and headed off to see these beautiful animals

In the New Forest, which is a 30 minute drive from us, deer (and the famous New Forest ponies) roam freely. It is possible (but rare) to spot the deer but on the odd time we have seen one it has run off into the trees and out sight. The Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary is the ideal place to see them, complete with a special viewing platform from where I took loads of photos (just so wish I had a better zoom!!).

I know some of you live locally or visit the south on holidays from time to time. If you get a chance to go, time it around 1.30pm-3pm as this is the time the Forest wardens feed them so there are plenty gathered in front of the viweing platform.

After a lovely walk through the forest, with opportunity for plenty of photos we headed into nearby Lyndhurst for coffee and cake.

The Beautiful New Forest

I'm looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend, despite me having to do an extra shift at work, we haven't quite decided what to do yet. What are your plans?

Right, I'm off to sort out my scrapping stash and put some bits in a basket ready for Learn Something New Everyday.

* A New Class *

I think I am becoming a Shimelle.com class addict!

Last night I signed up for Learn Something New Everyday.

Class starts 1st September!!!

Well, I figure I need something to keep me busy once the school holidays are over!!

Want to join the fun? Find out more right Here !!

* Monkeys, Shopping and a Layout! *

After a few days of not having chance to get on here, I think we are due a bit of a catch up blog post!

Last Thursday we took H and her little friend to Monkey World as her birthday treat. For her 5th birthday she had a party at a soft play centre and last year we hired a local hall and organised games and activities for 20 children (which I found very stressful) so this year we suggested she chose one special friend and had a day out and we would treat them to dinner afterwards. A heavy rain shower in the morning almost tempted us to cancel but I am so glad we didn't as the sun came out for the rest of the day.

Monkey World is an amazing place!! We saw monkeys, chimpanzees, orang-utans, apes, gibbons and so much more, many of which had been rescued from abuse or neglect. H loved it and enjoyed sharing her special day with her "BFF", Aimee!! Sadly I forgot my camera batteries so took no photos, I know how bad is that?!

Friday was my nephew's 3rd birthday so more family celebrations and birthday cake! Today we have escaped the rain (just!) by going out for breakfast and a shopping trip to nearby Poole. H spent some of her birthday money on some new clothes.

I do have one layout to show you. I didn't manage to do any of Shimelle's On Line crop last weekend as it was H's birthday but I was having a browse through the challenges the other evening and this sketch caught my eye and I came up with this.

I love all the TV talent shows, so I am so pleased X Factor has started again on Saturday evenings and right now I'm just settling down to watch the "Don't Stop Believing" Final on Channel 5. Anyone else love X Factor??!

* Birthday Time *

Yesterday was H's th birthday! She had an amazing day and lots of fun with friends and family! Her cousins came over just after lunch for some crafting activities and cake decorating, which they loved!!



Then for the rest of the day we had an "Open House" and friends and family popped in throughout the day. We had dancing, games, a treasure hunt, a yummy birthday tea and a Hannah Montana Cake!!





Today we headed off to Salisbury for the day, as hubby has the next 2 weeks off work and although we aren't going away anywhere we are planning a few day trips. We are lucky enough to live in a beautiful place with lots of beaches, country side and places to visit nearby so for the next couple of weeks, we are going to make the most of living in a holiday resort!

We couldn't really go to Salisbury and not visit the Cathedral, somewhere I have not been since I was about 16. It really is beautiful!


Apart from the one above, I took loads more photos (which I'll save for another blog post). H also took loads of photos with her new camera, a present from us for her birthday! She loves it and felt very grown up being able to take her own photos!


A true scrapbooker in training!!

It is very late, and after a hectic but enjoyable few days I really must be off to my bed now!!

Night, night Bloggers!