2 years 4 months

They said that we would never make it past 5 days.....but here we are sporting a new hairdo and full of the mischief of the season...

I decided that a new haircut was long overdue. She hates her hair being brushed because it gets so tangled due to the amount of time she spends lying down.

Oh no she has me 

ack! I'm being strangled...

OK, melodrama isn't working. Lets try this

The trauma......I'm bald....

I count my blessings twice when I count Ayla, little monkey mischief xxx

JYC 2013 Day 1

Day 1: Christmas Manifesto

This Christmas we are going to keep up with our traditions that we started when Ayla was born.
We will revel in the sparkle of the season, and will spend the month of December making magical memories
We will be present with Ayla all month, and hopefully make a Santa Tinsel list of things to do before New Year.
This Christmas is a time to enjoy having family with us, and keeping them around us. It is a time to slow down and appreciate what we have around us .

This Christmas I intend to have a great season and I hope that it results in a fabulous treasure book of memories at the end in the form of my Journal Your Christmas album.

Is it here yet? JYC '13 approaching....

On the crafting front I have been trying to get some Christmas cards made, but alas not much success there. I think it will be shop bought ones again.

I have also been trying to complete JYC '12. This is a vain attempt to get the album finished before JYC '13 happens. I have only managed 2 pages of 20, so not looking likely. Whatever happens, I will still be participating in this years journalling party. I love Christmas, and I love that Journal Your Christmas helps you focus on all the magic of the season. 

This year I am using a project life style album, so hopefully I might have more chance of completing it this year.

It's never the end of November already???

How did that happen? I was full of good intentions when I typed up the last few posts. Yet, the month has run away with me all over again.

What's New this November?

• Ayla got a big girl's bed
• We took Ayla for her flu jab booster
• Road trip to Irvine to meet up with friends

I kind of feel that doesn't quite sum up this month. Ayla thankfully has been well. Surprising because of it being cold & flu season. I think it has helped that we are using the cold & flu barrier gel.

She is also trying to stand and enjoys sitting up when we can sort the cushions.

October so far

In October so far ....

• Had a few days at Rachel House where Ayla got to meet birds of prey for the first time
• We met our Superheros who climbed 10 peaks to raise money for Ayla
• Had an overnight with her big cousin Mia
• Getting ready for Halloween

I can't tell you what an amazing group this is. They have raised over £2.5k to help with Ayla's equipment. To give you an idea, a standing frame £2.5k, a portable oxygen generator £3.5k, a comfy support seat £600-£1200.....you get the idea. Some things are funded by NHS, but her bed for example has been in stores since the summer - we are still awaiting delivery and the standing frame was measured and quoted in July, but not ordered yet. I'll keep you updated on what we decide to order.

What happened to September?

In September....

• We dealt with a snotty girl all month
• We went to SOFT conference (if you click on the link it will take you to the newsletter)
• Baba came to visit for a week
• We went to help our friends celebrate their wedding anniversary with a BBQ

Ayla chilling out at the SOFT conference

What happened to August?

Well, in August...

• We had a great photo shoot of Little Miss A and mummy. Photos are in the post previous.
• Ayla had her 2nd birthday. We had over 70 people come to visit. I am incredibly privileged to know so many caring and generous people. I kid you not when i say that i actually boxed up her entire wardrobe and replaced it with the presents that she received. Fashion parade photos here we come..
• We took Ayla to get her peg changed to a mini button. That was the day after her birthday. That was done without anaesthetic, and it means that she won't need another operation if her new button gastrostomy needs to be changed, we can just whip it out and change over.

a little update on Ayla

Well, I can hardly believe we are mid September already. (obviously it's later but that is when it should have posted)

Just before Ayla turned 2 in August, we had a photo shoot with Weir Photography. . We had a great photo shoot of Little Miss A and mummy. I was in a good mood, she was crabbit as anything after her midday nap and the photographer was patience personified. He didn't get my favourite smile, you know the one with the crinkly nose and smiley eyes, but hey...you have no idea what he had to deal with! I love the photos that he did get, although how he got them.......????

These are a couple of my favourite photos from that session

More update to follow soon.....

WOYWW 216

well, not much crafting for me this past wee while. I did however manage to acquire a bit of new stash during a trip to TK. Of course we were shopping for linen for DH, but hey when presented with an opportunity...I took it....right to the cash desk.

I've managed to reclaim an area under the stairs for my crafting. Unfortunately it doesn't yet have room for a table never mind a table to craft on. well, that's a problem that I'm working on. So my workdesk is really just a pile of RUB stacked on top of each other. At the right of this photo is the shelves that hold all my other bits and bobs. Now for some inspiration and time to clamber over the ladders to get to my stash.

Why don't you join in with the fun at Julia's today, and show us what you are working on too.

WOYWW 210

Its Wednesday again and here we go in another round of desk hopping. We all start off at Julia's and then from there it's anyone's guess....and someone's desk...

Today we are up at Rachel House. I've had my operation, and now I'm here with toots and DH taking things easy for a few days.

So...my workdesk today is a guddle. I'm trying to complete a project for my sister's birthday. It is a few weeks late, but I'm sure she will understand given Toots and I both being in hospital and a kitchen refurbishment.

So far I've painted, now I need to decorate. Later I'll post the finished example.

birthday bonus

Today was a good day, I got to spend most of it with my daughter at home for a change.That is how I like to spend my birthdays :-)

Ayla didn't like the sun in her eyes much in this photo, but it was the best one that i got (I kept having to put the camera on timer and run back to pick her up again..)

The last 6.5 weeks have been quite stressful, but it is all good because now i get to be at home with my girl.

I can't thank everyone enough for their support over the last couple of months.

WOYWW 208

It's the 4th anniversary of this lovely blog hop. Pop over to Julia's to see where we all meet.

This is what my desk (aka coffee table) looks like today.

The green things that you can see....well, I made my first granny square today, ignore the fact that it is a little lopsided....i obviously have issues with my tension, but for my first try I'm quite pleased.

All my acrylic paints; mists and alcohol inks are in the tubs that you can see piled up on top of my box of 12x12 scraps. The distress inks are in an old washing tab container. everything else is hidden in a room upstairs, lol.

So that is my desk, how about you show your desk too

A call out for prayer warriors

Ayla is in ICU at Sick Kids in Edinburgh. She has been fully ventilated for over a week now. She has metapneumo virus. I am reminded how totally fragile she is, on the same hand how much of a fighter she is.
Generous to a fault, Toots passed her bug on to me. Let me tell you, it FLOORED me. Thank God for Pediatric ICU.

This photo was taken the day that she was transferred, that's what she thinks of metapneumo virus.

I can tell you I love her fighting spirit.

and as for her charm, well this is the smile she flashed to the doctor who was about to take her to PICU, as if nothing in the world was the matter and what was all the fuss about??

So if you could just add her to your prayers, she is stable for the moment and thankfully her Baba is there with her when mummy and gran are too ill to go near her. it is breaking my heart not seeing her for a week is a week too long.

WOYWW 201

well we are past the double century over on Julia's. I hope you can join in the fun peeking at everyone's desk.

On my workdesk this week i have the remnants of some scrapbook papers and alphas. I have discovered I'm obsessed with alpha stickers/thickers/die cuts. I think it's all part of my determination to journal - as a note or a title, but to get the story told in one way or another.

talking of titles, this page has had the title change around numerous times, I'm not actually sure it is going to have one at all, what do you think? Maybe something like 'catching rays'??? The problem is that there is a corresponding R page with us in the water so don't know whether to title individually or across the two?

hope you have a great week

Moving on

The last post was a bit serious so I thought that this post should be a bit lighter. This LO was done for the weekly challenge on UKS. It started off as hexagons, then i ended up using the bit of the page that i had cut from the patterned paper as a template to mist over.

I remembered my gloves this time, last week i ended up with 7 of my fingers neon blue.

The journalling reads how she hears everything, how i love her cute button nose, how her little fingers were clenched so tightly that we could hardly squeeze my pinky in between them and how even the guys comment on how long her eyelashes are. But most of all how I love her to bits.

I had taken these photos to remind myself of all the little things that I loved at that stage in her life. It seems like such a long time ago, it is nice to look back and remember that we loved the little things as well as rejoicing in the big things.

WOYWW 198

Wednesday again so to Julia's we all sneak...or spring, depending on what else you are meant to be doing and how guilty you feel about indulging in peeking through other peoples desks.

Last week I did a couple of layouts that were difficult for me. They tell a difficult story, the pictures didn't necessarily match the paper choice but I wanted those papers so I tried to make them work.

Wish for life

wish for one day at a time
journalling reads: Only 1 week after the Sipap incident where you had a seizure we were back in Childrens ward.
We thought it was apnoea but after 24hr EEG they confirmed seizure activity.
Terrifying, horrifying seeing you deal with that many and not be able to touch or comfort you.
But at least now we could medicate.

I like the result. I like the fact that I finished the layouts. I like that part of her story has been told and I can move on to more cheery cheeky parts of her story....like this morning when I was changing her nappy. I lifted her legs only for her to blow....unceremoniously....and then laugh at me as if she intended the vile event all along whilst waiting for me to comply.

Most weeks in our house there are tears of sadness at some point, but they are far far outweighed by the belly laughs that she inspires on a daily basis. Those are the pages that I can't wait to get started on...

Another post and it isn't even Wednesday

Lately I have only managed to post once a week, if that. This week I read two blog posts that basically made me pull my finger out and get some photos scrapped.

Shimelle had a fantastic post on using frames the result was a grid pattern. Also, on UKScrappers Nikki's March post speaks about finishing those unfinished projects and about using multi photos on a layout.

The resulting layout

so the photos are from this christmas, but the project is a Christmas Album that I got for a wedding present in 2008. This will be my first page to go into this project. Nikki's page on multiphotos helped me decide on matting up each photo slightly differently to each other.

WOYWW 197

Well Sunday at the craft exhibition in SECC was a nice day out but a bit disappointing for new scrapbooking products. Actually, any scrapbooking products would have been nice. Lots of dies, but I just spent lots last month. Lots of glittery things, but a whole pile of glittery bits and bobs are in my scraps box just waiting to be used.
That is not to say I came away empty handed. That would be wrong...so on my desk today....my haul.

No reinkers, Mr Huey or glimmer mists....so I bought some mica powders thinking to make my own. Well, we will see how that goes....any suggestions on how to would be gratefully received. I bought 3 acrylic paints too because I wanted a red and a vibrant yellow. Might be a wee sneaky hour traversing YouTube for video tutorials me thinks. I met Barbara from Clarity, she is just as lovely as on TV.
So that is my Wednesday desk, show us your one. We all meet up at Julia's desk so that is a good place to start

WOYWW 195

Not much going on this week on my craft desk, I was off to Rachel House. We have just returned today. Of course that means that  my desk is still pretty clear. So instead of lingering here too long, why not pop over to Julia's list and see if you can find something a bit more crafty going on.

I will leave you with a LO that i finished last week for UK Scrappers weekly challenge.

Have a great weekend, I'm off to a crop tomorrow....so excited

WOYWW 194 & to sleep perchance to dream

The last time that I had a chance to pop over to Julia's to sneek at peek at everyone else's workspace was too long ago. My desk this week has actually had a fair bit of scrapbooking on it. So whilst my mojo is still with me I thought I would share a layout.

This layout was made for the weekly challenge on UKS last week. The photos are some of my favourites of my nephews and nieces.

Don't you wonder what they dream of....

The challenge was to use green, pearls and a shakespeare quote.

I also rediscovered a RAK that my old teamie sent me last year with 4 different washi tapes. I am starting to love that product. Have you rediscovered anything in your stash lately???

JYC a year late

Shimelle runs this little course called Journal Your Christmas (JYC) which I started subscribing to in 2010 when I spent Christmas in Turkey.

I realise that you are meant to do the project in the current year, but 2011 was a bit of a whirlwind for me, so rather than start a new one this December (2012) I felt I should finish last year's first. There were only 16 pages that I wanted to do, partly because of time and partly because most of that year we were in and out of hospital.So without further ado....here are the pages...

I have come to realise that I don't actually like pages with no photos so i added a couple of similar photos to pages with only journalling.

The papers & embellishments were primarily Peppermint Twist by We R Memory Keepers, some Christmas Fancy by Dovecraft.

I think I am now going to start my 2012 album, but along the same lines - only selected pages because with the house move and other things I didnt follow all the prompts.

WOYWW188

A long time no see...well I saw, I just didn't post my own little piece of chaos on the blog of loveliness that is Julia's domain.

We moved in to our new home 20th Dec, so crafting has been usurped by DIY and trying to settle Little Miss A into a new house and a new routine. None of which has been entirely successful....YET!! I'm calling them works in progress.

So as to my workspace....normally it's called a coffee table, but for the moment it suffices my crafty urges. I am working on a project for next Christmas, but only cos time overtook me on this year.

Glitter, spray glue and a wipeable table cloth (well it is a new coffee table)...and we went from this bland version

to this lovely sparkly glittery version

Mum loves them now, she hangs her favourite baubles from them but they did look a wee bit bland on the mantle piece at Christmas this year. Next year they will be all shiny and bright.

Hope you all have a lovely crafty wednesday and join in the fun.