final instalment of month in numbers...

for 2012. Boy has this year gone soooo fast.
If you've not seen this before, Month in Numbers is a totally different way of recording your life created by Julie Kirk.
December.
£139 - cost of our first ever fake Christmas tree.
9 - blog post this month - must try harder next year.

3- Christmas trees decorated, one in the lounge, the hall & the kitchen.
11.7 - my post -op Hb, treated with iron tablets.

18 - Our eldest becomes an adult!

1 - we lost Ginger Snap Ranger , our only ginger chicken :(

11 -  reindeer biscuits made using 1 new gingerbread recipe.
112 - miles round trip to spend a lovely day with my MIL x
3D - first ever watching of the Queens Speech wearing glasses !!
12.12.12. 12.12 - This type of date won't happen again in my lifetime so we snapped this pic of us getting ready to celebrate the 1st christmas back home xxx

many thanks for looking & reading my post this past year

I'm hoping to make a few tweaks in the coming weeks 

to make for a better blog.

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Journal journey...

I've managed to get a little more of my Christmas journal/ December daily album done in small bursts over the past week. I'm keeping the pages pretty simple in the hopes I get it finished before next Xmas!

Dec 5th - We found a home for our advent buckets by tying them to the bannisters !
Dec 6th - Birminghams Bull wearing his Rudolf costume.
I don't tend to worry about the papers or ranges or how old they are when I do these journals as I find that when you go back to them you are focused on the photo & the story.

Dec 12th - At 12.12 on the 12th we took this pic of us ready for our first Christmas back home.
As you can spot I'm missing a few days. I will fill them in, in time but tend to work on the pages that grab me first or that I have pics printed for IYKWIM :)

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Merry Christmas to you all x

I would like to wish all our family & friends a very Merry Christmas. I know I'm a little early but we are hosting Christmas dinner tomorrow & are really looking forward to our first christmas back home at Field View. We have dithered a little in the house decorating, but it now looks very festive with a total of 3 Christmas Trees! in all shapes & sizes ready for the big day.

 So we hope you have a great time over the festive holidays with lots of laughter, company & delicious food xxx

more journal completed ...

Got a couple more pages done for my JYC :)
Dec 3rd. Shop decorations in Birmingham & Solihull getting me in the festive mood.
Dec 4th. Showcasing the frosty weather we had at the beginning of the month.
many thanks for looking x

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Christmas Journal...

...better late than never!! I had great plans to keep up this year & was quite organised, at least by my standards but it just didn't come together. Then again we've been making the memories I now just need to record them :)
1st Dec - manifesto.
2nd Dec - documenting a fab Christmas class attended at the Moxley Massive Crop.
I'm keeping the pages simple to give me some chance of completing them :)
My album is a 6 x 8 Studio Calico plain chipboard one I picked up at the GoGo Getaway in October. The date tickets are a print & cut file from Silhouette, my first experience of this system & with a little reading up worked really & I have them in 2 colours to add to each page. Thanks for looking x Hope to have more for you tomorrow x

p.s. Good news today x found out my accident claim from 3 1/2 years ago has finally settled, when I look back at those pictures, it could have been so much worse...

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Our Little Star x

The Blueprint To Go sketch over at ScrapaGoGo is such a great source of inspiration each month & can really help you make the most of any scrapping time you get particularly as busy times like Christmas.

I wanted to create a Lo about a very special family member, Jack, who despite how poorly he has been always has a huge smile for us.

Using my December "Cheers M'Deer" kit and the American Craft glitter card, I created a star shape as my photo mount. The star was cut in 2 pieces with the join covered by the patterned paper strip.

To continue the theme I used this months fabulous stamp to decorate the cardstock using an embossing pen & clear embossing powder allowing me to pick out different stars each time I stamped it.

 The Lo was finished with further stars cut from patterned paper & the glitter fabric paper to replace the flowers on the sketch and with American Craft Thickers for my title.
Many thanks for looking x

a very special 10 on the 10th x

Today is the 18th Birthday of our eldest Son

Daniel x

So here are 10 photos of him growing up

into the wonderful Son 

he has become xxx

1994. A few days old.

1995. His Christening.

1996. A cheeky toddler.

1999. First day at school.

2000. With his brother & sister.

2002. His 8th birthday cake.

2006. Making friends at Discovery Cove.

2008. Surfing at Woolacombe Bay.

2010. Goofing around in Florida.

2012. Up close & personal at Australia Zoo!!

I have no idea where the years have gone but I'm proud to be his Mum even though he now towers over me x

To see more 10 on the 10th, hop on over to Shimelle's blog to see more 10 things.

Many thanks for looking x

Document life - October catch up

I'm still playing catch up with this wonderful monthly project but finally have my October pages for you to see x

 featuring...
Matt turning 15!, Apex Challenge for Explorers, Moxley massive crop, Matt plastered!...

 Bear Grylls visit to Coventry, Dans Half Marathon success, retreat fun,wallpaper, netball injuries...

 Pauls birthday, fog, curry night, GoGo retreat...

 Halloween, pumpkin carving, autumn family photo, pre op fitness...

loads of memories encapsulated in these pages to look back on. Did you see some Silhouette cuts creeping in to my pages. Think these are going to feature even more next year :)
many thanks for taking the time to look xxx

New Team x

Recently after appearing as a Guest designer, I was thrilled to be asked to join Scrapology as a full Design Team member.I'm really looking forward to creating along side these talented ladies &  stretching myself with the great challenges they run on their blog.

Here is a card I made for their November Card Challenge.- Buttons & Bows.

 If you fancy a challenge pop on over to Scrapology x

My month in numbers - November

Here we are again with my monthly round up, this time for November as devised by Julie Kirk x

9 blog posts written.
1 new recipe tried- Hummus, which made a really lovely lunch :)
£151 for 2 pairs of glasses for me at Spec Savers !!
61 xmas cards written so far & ready to post & 3 received this month!
93/63 - my blood pressure at it's lowest!
287 tablets taken post op - pain killers & antibiotics.
18000 Nectar points used buying christmas gifts :)
18 gifts of flowers & chocs I've received from friends & family.
14 movies watched, at home & the cinema whilst I've been convalescing.
many thanks for looking xxx

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Document life - September

Better late than never!!

here are my pages for September.

Featuring :- our last few days in Australia, climbing the Big Pineapple, the long journey home.

 belated birthday, back to school, seeing Micheal McIntyre,

 sewing weekend, visiting friends, cooking, scout weekend,

Ladies night in Cambridge, hurt wrist, Baby Jack, & lazy sundays.

 I still am loving this way of recording our lives & plan to keep it going in a similar format next year.