What a Lovely day

At the begining of the year I vowed to Rusume my life & do what makes me happy .

So today I planned a scrappy day with my friend Jackie.


Firstly she surprised me with these beautiful flowers.


Secondly we didn't scrap at all! but what we did do was chat, drink tea, laugh & chat some more.
It was so great to catch up . We plan to repeat this regularly :)

Sheena x

First Monthly Make...

 I had great plans in my head

 of what fab projects 

I was going to make for this months make

 but with the house move

 & all the unpacking 

I've had limited time to be honest.

I had planned to widen my cookery skills

now we have a shiny new kitchen

by trying at least one new recipe

a month,

so for January i would combine the two projects.

I decided to make shortbread.

Why I've not made it before is beyond me!

I followed a recipe by Lorraine Pascale

which was very easy to do ,

with a little help :)

 It proved to be so tasty that it lasted less than 24hours!

So I will certainly be making it again.

I'm in love...

...with my Essentially GoGo February kit xxx

So much so that it inspired me to scrap photos

of my Husband & I.

Sometimes in our busy lives with family,

children, the house & a business to run

we forget we are a couple too.

So we have been having the odd "date night",

a meal or a trip to the cinema together for some just us time.

These photos were taken on one such night

on an iphone using the Hipstamic app,

which explains the colour.

The classic orange & blue colour combo was just perfect for these.

I love the stamped doily

& to make good use of it all

I took the stamped birdie out the centre

& gave him a patchwork makeover.

The hybrid heart wreath

was just perfect to surround my

stamped love birds image.

The bespoke card designed by our Sam

co ordinated perfectly

& grew a pair of hybrid heart wings :)

All finished with Crate letter stickers

mounted on a hybrid journalling spot & a couple of heart pins.

thanks for looking x

Fancy a new kit ?

ScrapaGoGo

brings you a new kit

Essentially GoGo

A unique mix of cardstock,

patterned papers plus

loads of embellishments

all for £14.99!

These kits have been specially put together with the

same thought, care & attention to detail

that

ScrapaGoGo

are famous for.

Go on, order one today x

With a Twist...

At Twisted Sketches

there are weekly sketches

to keep you inspired

& here is my take

of sketch 136 with a twist- fabric.

This Lo

is all about our love of travel

including our recent trip

to Florida.

Patterned papers- Studio Calico

alpha- Making Memories

plane punch - EK success

selection of stickers

fabric flower- Making Memories

stamp- Jenni Bowlin

many thanks for looking.

Lucky Winner...

I was thrilled last week to discover

I had won a Plundered Pages Pack

on Julie Kirk's blog,

just like the ones she sells on Etsy.

Julie has gone to great lengths

to tailor this pack to my own tastes & interests

making it both personal & unique.

It even has her trademark Zebra on it :)

I'm really looking forward

to using these pages in my future layouts.

Thanks Julie x

Sheena x

Spreading the word...

To make the occasion of moving back home

we had these amazing cards

designed by

Sarah-Jane Dowsett.

They are now winging their way

around the globe

sharing our wonderful news

with family & friends.

Do check out SJ's blog,

her stamps & digital images

are superb.

We are BACK!!!!

We are so thrilled to announce that after 2 years & 2 days we are finally back in our home :) It has been a very emotional weekend for us all, even though our house has been rebuilt in a totally different style it still has the essence of our old home & we are already starting to feel settled.


There is still lots to do both inside & out but now we have all the time in the world. heres a few peeks inside...


this will be my craft room.


The kichen.


The new carpet. As we get unpacked I'll share more pics. Last night we shared a moment to celebrate Happy New House x


I'd like to thank all our family & friends for all the love & support they gave us during this eventful journey. love Sheena xxx

Two years on ...

TWO Years

where on earth has that gone ?!

I can tell you where I was on

January 12th 2010

& how I was feeling...

but our journey back

towards living in our own home again

is very nearly over.

So today I remember

what I've learnt from our experience.

- There are worse things in life than this.

- I am much stronger than I thought.

- I have the most amazing resilient kids ever.

- Trauma tests a marriage but ours is still strong.

- We love & value having my parents live close.

- True friends know when to help & when to listen

& I have some fabulous friends :)

- Enjoy today as you don't know what tomorrow brings.

- Do more of what makes you happy.

- Home is people not a place.

- Those things you thought you couldn't live without,

well you can!

- Stress has turned my hair grey!

- Never believe a builders time schedule!!

Love you guys

xxx

With a new Twist...

Over at Twisted Sketches

it's my teams turn to create with the sketch

& twist - NEW.

I had loads of fun

using photos from our recent trip

to Universal Studios, Florida.

Papers- Basic Grey- aged & confused.

Stickers- Echo Park

Large Alphas - Heidi Swapp

Memorabilia

If you need a little inspiration

pop over to Twisted Sketches

to kick start your mojo :)

10 on the 10th ...holiday

Here are my top 10

photo highlights of our trip to Florida

at New Year.

1. Seeing Hogwarts

at Islands of Adventure, Universal,

for the first time.

2. Watching Matthew have a wand choose him

in the Olivanders experience

brought tears to my eyes.

3. Enjoying local transport from the hotel

to Universal Studios Parks.

4. Enjoying Christmas decorations in the sunshine.

5. The delight of a hole in one!!

6. Blue skies & palm trees...

need I say more.

7. Seeing Father Christmas

in the Macy's Holiday Parade.

8. Being verbally insulted by the Grinch had us

laughing till we cried!

9. Being very brave

& experiencing Manta

at Sea World.

10. Being photographed in an inflatable snow globe

at Sea World was loads of fun.

10 things on the 10th

is organised by Shimelle

so please pop over to see others

10 things.

One Little Word...

Following an idea started by Ali Edwards,

for the past few years

I've always picked a word at the start of each year,

to help guide me & help me

stay focused for the coming year ahead.

This year is no exception.

RESUME

1. to take up or go on with again after interruption; continue.

2. to take or occupy again

3. to take or assume use or practise of again

4. to take back.

This is my word.

I totally feel like our lives

since our house fire 2 years ago

have been on hold

with all our time, attention, strength & energy

going in to the complex minefield of sorting our insurance

& supervising the builders.

Even though this process is not quite over yet

I want to shake free of it,

and RESUME my life.

I want to RESUME...

living our lives in our own home

having more quality time with my kids

having lunch dates with my husband

seeing more of my friends

clearing our lock up of the last singed reminders

doing what I enjoy

exercising more

having piano lessons

doing all sorts of crafts.

learning that relaxing is not a waste of time!

Thank you for your patience

if you have read this far!!

I hope to look back at this often to remind myself

of the direction I want to take.

Sheena xxx

Happy Mail...

I came back from my holiday

to a lovely e mail.

To tell me a Lo

I made recently was being featured on

Basic Grey's blog

as a December Flickr friend.

As you can imagine I'm thrilled.

Great Week Away

Just a quick post to explain my absence this past week. We went to Florida & were there for New Year only returning today. We concentrated our time on the Universal Parks plus some compulsory shopping. I'll come back with more details & pics later in the week.


Sx

Happy New Year

Here's to a happy & healthy 2012 to all my family and friends.


I'm hoping it's a great one for my family, with new beginnings, we know there may be a few challenges along the way but with the love & support of each other we can achieve & conquer all thats put in our path.

Love
Sheena x