Camping

This will be last post for the next two weeks. I am away camping for a week...hurray for British summertime! When I get back I will be going into hospital for a further operation on my knee and I am not sure how long I will have to stay in this time...minimum of 2 days said the consultant so happy blogging and I will catch up with you in a few weeks time.

Jo x

25th July.....

Where has this month gone.... I have finished my July page for 25th book. It was my monthly sewing class during the day and in the evening I helped prepared for Isabels 1st party. This month's challenge was to use black and white photos so the pooches are look moody in the black and white shots!

The 1st birthday party went well, I think it was all a bit too much for isabel...she was teething badly so off her food but I manage to catch her in her mummy's bedroom after a nap...and the cupcakes looked and tasted amazing!

Cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes....

In preparation for my Niece's 1st birthday party, the girls (Kelly and my sister Rachel) had a cupcake making evening! I was just the photographer and chief decorator. Im not so hot at following recipes! It was fun. I think they have made cupcakes for the whole street.

Pink frosting with star sprinkles...my favourite!

As I didnt contribute to the baked variety I made some fabric one for a garland to decorate the room. I will try and get a better photo at the party!

I cant work in this mess!

Ages ago...maybe April time, I bought some new storage units for my craft room. I hadnt got round to doing anything with them until yesterday. My craft room needed a good sort out, I am terrible for not putting stuff away as I change from scrapbooking to sewing........so I attacked it and 5 hours later, hey presto and a craft room I can work in!

Im curious...do you have a craft room...how do you store your craft stuff? I would love to see. Ive been naughty because I also have 6 or 7 more boxes of scrapbboking stuff that I keep under the stairs...LOL! Im giving all my secrets away! Anyway, to make room for all my crafting stuff I am selling some items on Ebay so take a look.

Whilst sorting my stuff Daisy came to join me for a nap on the bed, "it's hard work watching my mummy tidy!"

52 sketches....52 weeks

Ive been receiving emails from 52 Sketches....52 weeks for a while. Its has some great layouts. Week 28 inspired me to start Isabel's 1st chrismas. I had already purchased the lovely Blonde Moments paper from Craft Den but was unsure of the layout. I completed a double layout...as always! I enjoyed doodling the spotty frame. The pages now complete Isabel's 1st year scrapbook so I can go to the party next week!

I've had a productive sunday morning while the OH and the dogs slept in! I've made a start on Isabel's second scrapbook. I must slow down ...LOL!

Wow...looking at the photos on the layout, she has grown up fast, look how she as changed in 6 months!

What a busy week!

The last few days have flown by since coming home from our camping trip! I dont feel as though I have achieved much this week but when I sat and looked back over the week.....I think I need a quiet weekend to recover!

I've attended 3 classes this week at the Craft Den, you cant keep me away, Lynne! Two of the projects are on my WIP list (work in progress) but I was please to finish my niece's 1st birthday card. I really enjoyed the taster class on Copic markers. Well, all the girls are always talking about them at the Craft Den, I wondered what I was missing out on. Here is my finished card....

Here are some sneek peeks of my WIP's.This is Thursday night's crop class waiting to be finished...

Here is Tuesday night's craft class project. An altered tag book. I cant wait for next Tuesday's class to work on it again.

Ive also been putting the finishing touches to my newly decorated bedroom. I love costume jewellery, beads and earrings so I have a small set of drawers that I keep it all in. I have covered the front of the drawers using some great paper from the Craft Den . It is from the Artsylicious range. Its Fine Flocked Paper in Peacock. I have added some Bo Bunny flowers as accents. Even if I do say so myself ..I love it! I always wanted to be an Interior Designer!

And finally..... a while ago I mention to some of the girls from the Craft Den Design team how about a Christmas Challenge using Blond Moments Minaise Moo range? Ive made a start on mine. This is just another sneek peek as it is still WIP. Isabel is 1 year old in a few weeks time so I want to finish her scrapbook for all the guest to see at her party.

Well, I think that's all for now...I forgot to mention I became wireless this week! I am so behind the times. It's great, I can now log on to the internet on my Ipod so I can get my daily fix of all the blogs I follow while sat on the sofa with the dogs!

I love camping.....

This weekend we went on our first camping trip of the year. It was BJ's very first camping trip too, he loved it.....he made himself at home in my posh camping chair! We went to Holbeach, in South Lincolnshire. We like to support the Lincolnshire Essex and Trent Boxer Rescue Fun Dog Show which is held in Holbeach United football ground.

This is Buddy who belongs to my sister and her partner Carl. He came 2nd in the Male Boxer Catogory.

We entered the Happy Family catogory we came 1st! I was so proud we won...the best family of dogs!

Big G...George came 3rd in the Veteran catogory...he's a golden oldie at 10! Here he is with his proud daddy.

The weather was good to us all weekend. It only rained during the night. I love the sound of pitter patter of rain on a tent when you are snug in your sleeping bag!

Craft Den Crop Day

Ive added the finishing touches to the 3 layouts we scrapped at the Craft Den at the weekend. It was a very enjoyable day. You get to complete 3 layout using the scrummy papers that Lynne stocks. The 1st page is Princess Daisy, this is my favourite picture of her. I added bling (I think Chanelle's influence is rubbing off on me!) I enjoyed cuting out the flowers and leaves and even learned a little about decoupage!

My second page is of me and my twin sister on Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills. We were only window shopping, you need to win the lottery to shop there. I think we were both having bad hair days....The black and white papers were gorgeous. I added more bling again...I told you it was catching!

And my final page....when I saw the colours of the paper I knew which photos I wanted to crop...I have had these photos in my craft bag for about 3 years!! They are of my younger brothers, Andrew, and the twins Matthew and David. My brothers are all now horrible teenagers but they were cute back then! I have stamped a title and date on the page to finish it off . Thank Lynne and the crop girls for your company it was a fun day.

The summer of 2009.....

I said I would, so here goes.... I know when I look back through my scrapbooks this will remind me of The Summer of 2009, relaxing at home with the dogs and enjoying the summer weather. I am now having difficulty bending my knee so Im going to have a further operation in August. In preparation for the operation I have a daily exercise routine, which involves swimming and attending a gym. I hear the people who know me, Joanne and gym in the same sentence....Never! I havent put an journalling on this page as Im unsure how I feel about it all. Maybe once I have totally recovered I will. Do you think it needs a title?

My trip to London.....

Last month my brother Gavin invited us down to London. He was appearing on All Star Family Fortunes and he had got tickets for us to see the filming of the show. We nearly didnt get to London as my sister Rachel arrived with 30 seconds to spare for the train to London. The problem was that we then didnt have enough time to print our tickets. Rachel sweet talked the conductor as we had to change in Retford that we would get them printed there. We made it of course...we werent going to miss meeting Vernon Kay! Oh and seeing my brother of course!

We had a great time in London, Gavin and his girlfriend lets us stay at their place and looked after us! Whilst Gavin and Jodie were rehearsing for the show, we had a slow mooch round London. When we arrived at the TV studios we were given gold wrist bands and told to say at the door we were guests of the Production Cast...we loved it! The filming lasted 4 hours. Afterward we were allowed in the Green room where we met Vernon Kay. It took us ages to pluck up courage to ask Vernon for a picture...He's so tall! He had to bend down so we could get all of us in the photo.

I love making scrapbook pages where I used items I have collected from the trip. I have included the gold wrist bands, and the map that was given to Gavin from the production company. Ive also hidden my journalling under the tube ticket! I have made the union jack backgrounds from torn strips of paper which I glued on and worked over the top. I have even included some of the questions Gavin was asked...and the stupid answers he gave...LOL!