the best things in life aren`t things

something a little different from me today... a 8 x8 scrapbook page to go on the wall in my brothers room in the hospital, for him to see when he comes out of his coma.

for this page i have used the challenge over on:~

ONCE UPON A SKETCH ~ JUNE THEME ~"THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN`T THINGS" 

FANTASTIC TUESDAY#40 ~SUMMER AT THE BEACH (this photograph was taken on San Clemente Beach, California)

(links on my side bar)

 words used above and below

 used craftwork cards papers, nestabilities rectangle and heart dies, sizzix butterfly stamp and die cut,  sizzix alphabet dies, used glossy accents for finish.

this photograph was taken last August in California, when i was out visiting my brother and family, as always please more prayers and healing thoughts would be so welcome x thankyou x

aaron!

well another day, another challenge, today i am showing my scrapbook (12 x 12 double layout)pages for scrummystash cafe , the theme this week is "hidden messages!"
have used papers and embellishments from colorbook "perfect pages", worked out well as i had two sets!! epoxy numbers by e-z stick-on(royal brush) buttons and stringy stuff from my stash.
used photos taken over the last few years! ~ please click on the pages to get more detail) ~ i wasn`t sure on the title ~ "our aaron" or "aarons smile???" when you have looked and read it ,maybe you have your own ideas!!


these pages are totaly self~indulgent, i so needed to make sense of the last few years ,when aaron moved from first school to middle school (here, the children move to three seperate schools, for first, middle and senior)~to make sense of all his 11 years, living with a child who has aspergers syndrome (although only diagnosed over a year ago) . i was inspired by reading many thoughtful words and looking at beautiful pages on this amazing blog ~http://alienadventurereports.blogspot.com/. (thanks T, for your help and support)

so over this weekend ,when time allowed , i was bent over creating my pages , it just kind of evolved, and became very personal, in some ways ,a therapy for me!! found the lovely poem ~"how do i love thee", which i printed onto vellum and added down the right hand page. the hidden message in the tag, was written ,while the football was on ~amazing what you can do when your husbands transfixed to the tv and your 4 year old is playing with dora on the computer!! (aaron was staying with my parents) ~i just wrote how i felt, and it has really helped me , after the pain and the total low spot we had reached, last week ,~ this week , i am strong and ready to "fight" for aaron, to be safe and hopefully come out of this school unscathed (both emotionally and phyisically) in another years time.

i wasn`t going to show the words in the tag , but so many of you are going through "difficult" times at the moment , or have had your difficult times and have come out the other side, ~so give it a go , find a photo or photos that mean alot to you , (even the most painful or your happiest) and do as i have done ~it really does help!!

so for me and aaron, this week is the start of getting help, being positive and ......smiling!!

hope you all have a great day, and do some thing to make you smile, byeeeeeeeee xx

family page

well another day another another challenge , today i am showing my scrapbook page for scrummystash cafe ,who`s theme this week is "layer it", use flaps, or multi layer.
thought this would be a chance to complete a apge showing my mums parents (my nanna and grandad ,who sadly are no longer with us)
used paper and main photo frame from perfect pages,quickutz hearts, hero atrs stamp ,and letters and buttons from my stash (please click picture for detail) have used a pull out tag, to give details of my grand parents names. loved creating this page ,must do the same for my dads parents!!

cannot believe it`s thursday already , busy day for me , (so no crafting time today) up and back to schools and nursery (lewis spends some time at his "big" school this afternoon, yes, first time in pants!!)
hope you enjoy your day, and you get time to do some crafting!! byeeeeee xx

hope!!

well another day and another challenge, today i am showing my take on the "class" by maria on scrumystash cafe!! has taken me all week , as just had so little time to craft this week!! as you can see a very summery photo , chosen by lewis!! (yes he loves this , as you can see he is in my tummy ~and he finds it funny) so not my choice of photo!! have used papermania christmas paper, glittery hand made paper from my stash, see D`s stamps, hero arts journal stamp, thick chipboard "hope" from my brenda pinnick set and sizzix alphabet!! finished with glitter!!
the photo shows aaron being father xmas, last family avent before lewis was born two months later at the end of february!!! (then there was four!!)

would just like to say a very big thankyou to vickimay (justcosscards) and jo (onlyjoking) for these fantastic cards they sent aaron for his birthday!! they are stunning!!!

aaron loved vicki`s , (helped by her daughter) as she has made him dr who!! "my best card ever" , so from aaron that is praise indeed!!! think i`ll need to step up my game next year!! LOL

also jo`s card is so cool, similar colours and love the image!!

thankyou both so much!!

and last but not least my mother-in -law made aaron this card, for her grandson!! fab colours with great imagination!!

with all those thankyous, i also need to give a big thankyou to fran (franmade) for these fab images , beautiful card and stamp (hope the cheque doesn`t bounce!!) LOL

fran had this card on her blog , and i said how i had missed out on them saturday morning (saw them friday night, but thought i`d wait until sat morning to buy)~they had all sold out ~ learnt one hard lesson!! so fran kindly said she would stamp them for me!! (what a kind friend), but also sent the card and her spare stamp ~ so need to use her now!!

gosh quite worn out now!! so thankyou all again , and for all your kind wishes for aaron on his birthday ~ the boys love indiana jones film - one for all the boys young and old!! pizza hut was good afterwards ~but not for aaron , he was so sick last night!! not really a good end to a perfect birthday!!

hope you all have a great day, ful of fun byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

dark hair and card swops!!!

another day another challenge, today i am showing my scrapbook page for "my time to craft" challange, which this week the theme is "dark hair"!! well seeing as we all have dark hair in this family , what better, than photos of my two boys when they were born!!! really cannot tell them apart , only the different coloured bowl gives a clue!! (please click on the page and see if you can tell the difference!!??)
used my brenda pinnick kit again, and dies cuts from quickutz and sizzix. and the writing on the computer!!
hope you have a wonderful day, may the sun shine!! byeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx




also today it is time for jo (only joking) and myself to hand over the next card swop to jo(fairymad) and angie (angiec ~ crafting)!!
jo and myself launched the last card swop on the 12th april, so hopefully you have now all made your cards and sent them. thankyou all for taking part , i`m sure we were all very pleased with the cards we received, and how exciting it is to open some post from a friend!.
i`m sure fairymad jo and angie will be getting in touch soon , with plans for the next swop and your partners name.
good luck jo and angie , and mostly lets enjoy making our cards and continue to get to know each of our "SBS 13 " SISTER` S better!! byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

scrapbook decoupage ~ ballet

well i did say i would had these scrapbook pages to my blog once i had taken photos!! ( light still not great)

these pages were made for the magnolia challenge this week , which is "decoupage", just in time as new challenge will be on the site tomorrow (i was waiting for new ink for my printer , so i could decoupage the flowers)

here i used papers from my brenda pinnick kit, some chipboard cut outs, stamped image of "tilda dancing", with "tilda in boots" head!! ( have cut and re-arranged one tildas legs so she looks like she is dancing!!!) decoupaged their dresses and flowers in their hair. used quickutz ballet shoes, used hero stamp with details of photos (my parents belieive i was 8 or 9 years old when i took part in the show where i did my solo dance!!) finished by adding gems and sequins to centre od some of the decoupage flowers!!

as usual i didn`t know when to stop and have over done it ~really don`t know the word minimal!!! and don`t think i would have chosen that paper for the photos , but best in the kit , i feel!! thnaks for looking ,byeeeeeeeeeeeee (again) xx

fame!!!!

well just had to tell everyone , i have my scrapbook page from friday, baby aaron, showing in the gallery at "once upon a time". una , the lovely lady who owns the shop , e-mailed me to let me know!! i`m so excited!! as only been doing this for two weeks ~(can be found in the "layout section")
please take a look at the on-line store for some lovely goodies!! una is so lovely and helpful, and i have bought some gorgeous papers (which i used for this scrapbook page), and stamps from her, including some magnolias,and snag`ems!!!

http://www.itsonceuponatime.co.uk/

scrapbook page ~aaron

well another day another challenge!! today it`s "my time to craft" , the theme "babies", yes so again i have a scrapbook page, today is the turn of my oldest son aaron when he was 3 months old, with me, at a birthday party of some old friends.!! (the first time my bridesmaids had seen "baby aaron", think he got exhaused being picked up and smiling at everyone!!)
used some daisy bucket (beach towel) papers, green vellums, hero stamps, stamps away scroll, and quickutz photo corners!! (again you need to click to see the photos better)!!
think i need to do a few more cards again,while i rummage for some new photos!! remember tomorrow is national scrapbook day!!
have a fun day, try and use some vellum in your creations today!!byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

scrapbook page ~ lewis

well another day another challenge ~ today is from scrummystash cafe ~ the theme this week is "baby"!!! found some of photos we had taken of lewis, when he was 4 months old!! used papers from my brenda pinnick kit, (chose the colours to match lewis`s outfit and material the photographer had used) covered frames with some of the paper, used sizzix scallop pocket tag (for the receipt, of the session), alphabet, also used my new hero stamps from scrummystash cafe, and quickutz photo corners and smiley face!! really am enjoying this scrapbooking!!!
hope you have a good day , byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

scrap~page challenge!!

well another day another challenge!! this time my fave "scrummystash cafe" , (did my first ever challenge with them) this week is "lift it",which means take some-one elses layout and make it your own!! so i chose "layout by sam livett", found under "april kit" by the design team . using my brenda pinnick kit again, quickutz revolution circles and papermania stickers. as you can see the picture is of me, before my first birthday , no idea how old (there is a stamp of developement on the back saying "sept 1965") think i will have to re-do the info strip as was about 9/10 months old i guess!! have to ask my parents!!
well i did get to do my tagged questions and answers yesterday (well had too after being tagged threee times!!) must get some crafting done today and visit some blogs , all depends on little lewis (still poorly, and letting me know it!!)
hope you have a great day, go on, get out those old photos!! byeeeeeeeeeeeee xx
ps waiting for my goodie order from scrummystash cafe, after my last win, ask not to have my name in the hat any more as won twice!!

my boys~ scrap page!!

here is the scrapbook page i was going to show today!! but had to show sheilas lovely card , then just seen the challenge for "my time to craft" , oooooh ideal!!! using my brenda pinnick scrapbook kit, and quickutz circles.
well , both boys are home ill today , high temperatures , aaron upstairs wathing a DVD and lewis down here with me watching a DVD!! both had some calpol and loads of cold water , so may have a little "me" time!!! never know with children!!

my time to craft!!

well another day another challenge!! this time it`s "my time to craft" challenge which this week is "frames" frame it!!! so another scrap page now i`m on a roll!!! after my first scrap page, this week , using lewis , aaron had on his grumpy face, so have made a page with a picture of aaron when he was 16 months old!!
using my papers from my brenda pinnick album, sizzix alphabet, and quickutz dies. so enjoyed doing these pages, must get on and do another very soon!!
thanks for all your happy birthdays for my mum!! we all enjoyed a lovely slice of caterpillar chocolate cake (chosen by lewis) with a cup of tea yesterday afternoon, while mum opened her pressy ( a smoothy machine)!!
hope you all have a great day, and it`s full of surprises!! byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xx

scrapbook challenge

well here is a first for me!! a 12x12 scrapbook page ~scrummystash cafe`s challenge this week is a sketch ~ so up for this challenge i`ve had a go!! i had a lovely boxed scrapbook and coordinating bits, up in my cupboard for nearly a year, and kept saying i would start making it!! (always the next day!!) so thanks to scrummystash cafe (who have got me hooked on buttons and stealing my childs foam shapes) here is my first scrapbook page. i used brenda pinnick paper, photo tags, label and quote , (which reads: precious jewel, you glow, you shine, reflecting all the good things in the world ) photo of lewis when he was 2 years old, and quickutz revolution flourish die (please click on photo for better look). i am very pleased with my first attempt ,and am now looking forward to my next page , so some more sketches please , i do need some help starting!!!
what a day yesterday~ my washing machine just made a horrible noise and smelt of burning near the end of a wash, the end of it`s washing life!! so now over £300 lighter , we found a company who could deliver a new one today!! (husband said -oh may have to move your craft table/cupboard to get the new machine in ,through the living room!! mmmmm how long would that take to clear and move???)
hope you all have a good day , and it`s filled with "nice" surprises!! byeeeeeeeee xx