A catch up and another page for Leah

Blimey time has flown since my last post! Lets see whats happened... Last week was my 30th birthday which I have to say wasnt was bad as I thought it would be despite being forced to wear a flashing 30 badge all day at work! We decided to have a weekend on Shell Island last weekend, it stayed mainly dry but very windy which drove us mad and battered our poor tent! We managed to get the same pitch as last year with this amazing view

We were lucky enough to see dolphins one morning but they were slightly too far out to get a decent photo with our camera. The best bit about being right on the beach is being able to have a fire two nights, we built the best fire pit which got called the volcano

Not one to miss out on the action was Vern and his friends

I also managed to get 2 more pages for Leah's album finished before we went away. One is for Sketch & Scrap so stay tuned for that one, the other was this

This layout is of my cousins (Leah's mummy's) Christening. I love how Emma is smiling at our Nanny Grey in this photo

More pages for Leah's Album

As promised here are some more pages I've managed to complete for Leah's album

This layout is of Leah's great nanny Stallon.

The papers are ones I've had for ages, I think they are DCWV. I used my Martha Stewart scalloped punch for the borders. The butterflies and flowers are also punched from old book pages with Martha Stewart punches.

The next page is of Leah's mummy, my cousin Emma, with her best friend Jacky taking part in a parade when they were at school.

The papers used here are some American Crafts free papers from a past issue of Scrapbook Magazine. I created the bunting to match the school flag they are carrying. I also used some old Fancy Pants rub ons I've had for ages.

The final page I've finished is of Leah herself with her younger brother Ben

The papers are from the current issue of Scrapbook magazine. Originally I had drew and out my own clouds but they looked pants so I used one from the free papers! I then had the usual scrapbookers dilemma of running  out of E's in my thickers hence the back to front 3!

So in total that's 5 pages down 15 to go! Luckily this is for Christmas cos its going to take some time! xx

Leah's Album: Wedding Day

This month for Sketch & Scrap we had a lovely sketch set by 2Angels AKA Carin

For my layout I decided to make a start on Leah's album and chose a photo of my Auntie & Uncles (Leah's grandparents) wedding as this was a perfect excuse for adding hearts, which was the perfect excuse to buy a heart punch hehe! This is my layout here...

I love using old book pages in cards and thought they added to the vintage feel with the Dymo labels. The papers are from a recent grab box from Sarah's cards, the floral paper is from American Crafts "I Do" range, the blue paper is the reverse side to some stripey Fancy Pants paper.

I finished 2 other pages over the weekend and will take pics once I can get the camera back from Ian lol!

Weekend at Dalby Forest

Last weekend saw us travelling back to Pickering for the MTB Cross Country World Cup. I'm not a biker at all but love going to the racing cheering on the riders.

Friday night was the Pro Sprint Eliminator around the centre of Pickering. The riders race in groups of four around the town, down tight alleys and even through someones garden!

Saturday was the first day of Cross Country racing. Last year one of Ian's heros, Thomas Frischknecht, was racing. He was there again this year but this time to cheer on his son who was taking part in the juniors.

 Of course no trip is complete without our fury friend Vern! Not to be left out he came along and even wore a British Cycling sticker to cheer on our riders.

He even tried to have some of Ian's cake!

We also found we were famous! We made it into the programme (I'm the one with the Shram Bam Bam's!)

First Page of Leah's Album

A few months ago I was asked but my Auntie Barbara to make a scrapbook of family photos for my cousins daughter Leah. We sadly lost nan at the start of the year and Leah loved looking through the old photo albums so rather than just giving her an album of photos, my Auntie thought it would be nice to present them in a scrapbook. A few weeks ago she dropped the scrapbook and some photos around but as we were going catsitting that week I decided it best not to start straight away unless I wanted a little kitty helper! Anyway I managed to make a start on it this weekend using this months sketch on Sketch & Scrap but you're going to have to wait until next week to see that one...sorry but its the rules lol!

Last night I sat down though and managed to finish another page which I can share with you now.

This photo is of my mum and dad, Leah's Uncle & Auntie, on their wedding day in 1976. That summer there was a nationwide drought but the day they got married the heavens opened and it poured all day, so much so that my dad says it was dripping through the church roof onto the register! The papers used are ones I brought ages ago when I started scrapping but have never used!

Stay tuned for the next page at the end of the month lol!

Cat Sitting

This week we have been looking after my furry niece and nephew while my brother and his girlfriend have been away in Egypt.

Meet Spook

And Axle 

Spook is laid back, lazy and very greedy while Axle is cheeky and mischievous. While she is quite happy to flop (and I mean flop) down anywhere after eating her food and trying to eat his, Axle will mew away to himself and run from one and of the room to the other, creeping up on Spook and pouncing her. Or as he has done on a couple of occasions jump up onto the dining table before jumping on top of the kitchen door! He also likes to watch television with us...

Like most people last Friday we sat and watched the wedding. Wasn't it lovely so laid back and genuine, not stuffy and pompous like some Royal weddings can be. To celebrate Ian and I had a mini tea party

.

I would like to say I made all the cakes myself but my baking skills only go as far as chocolate cornflake cakes! The Victoria sponges and carrot cakes are from Weight Watchers lol!

The reason I am a bike widow!

Its been a whole month since i last posted! I'm sorry the new shop I'm working in has opened and all is going great, my new bosses are lovely and we've had alot of positive feedback from customers. Anyway seems as its been a month it must be Sketch n Scrap time again!

This months sketch was set by Dee

I must admit I sat pondering this sketch for a long time as I'm not one for multi photo layouts, 2 photos tends to be my limit. The problem was trying to find a subject I had alot of photos of, then it hit me... BIKES! Ian is forever building up his bikes, riding them for a bit, taking oodles of pictures of them before dismantling them and moving onto the next. I am a bike widow!! I think if there was a fire some of the bikes would probably get saved before me lol! Anyway here is my layout...

I recently brought a grab box from Sarah's Cards which included a transparency sheet which I have never used before so used this for the circle. The sketch also gave me the opportunity to use my new Martha Stewart Bangle chain punch which reminded me of a bike chain.