QVC

If you were watching Becks Fagg on QVC  on Monday you might have spotted some of the los from round 1 of the Scrapbook apprentice competition. One of the los I did was shown when Becks was talking about Doodlebug flock. It's called Cookie Love and you can have a peek here if you fancy!!

sneaks and stories

Oisin usually gets a bedtime story from me or Declan but last night he read to me! He read The Enormous Turnip from start to finish :) You only realise how complicated the English language is to learn when you have to keep explaining to your five year old that lots of words don't actually sound the way they are spelled (or is that spelt??), or are not spelled the way they sound ... Oisin calls them 'tricky' words.

Voting is still going on for round one of scrapbook apprentice, but the next round will start at the end of the month. (And we have actually already received our packages for round three). So I have a few sneaky peeks for challenge 2. Hope you like them:)

 

SI

Forgot to mention in my post yesterday that I have a lo in the reader gallery of Scrapbook Inspirations this month. It was one I did with one of my first StudioCalico kits.

scrappy stuff

Well Oisin is still a little sniffly (he's had a cold for the last week), but cruel mother that I am, I sent him back to school today! He told me he had his best day ever when I picked him up:) 

I had a great day on Saturday at Lainey and Annamaries crop in Donnycarney. I didn't get many lo's done but I did get to chat to lots of lovely ladies. I have to say a special hello to Fiona... (got your name right this time :) The lo below is the only one I managed to complete on the day.

I was lucky enough to win a lovely Christmas table arrangement in a draw on Saturday too ... thanks Lainey and Annamarie :)

When I got home on Saturday I found a package from my cara crafts secret santa!! I got some lovely things including some Basic Grey goodies (my favourite!) I was able to figure out who it was pretty quickly though (I had spotted a card just like the one I got on her blog!) ... so a big thank you to Dianne :) 

I'll post a few sneak peaks of my los and cards for the next round of SA in just a few days. 

Always in three's...

Why is it that when things break, it always happens in three's. Since my last post, the fridge broke (we were able to get it fixed, but it did cost €135 to fix it!), I had a punctured tyre that had to be replaced (it burst on the M50 on a busy Friday evening and cost €120 for the new one) and a special chair that I need to use in the shower broke and will cost €280 to replace (and if that's not a sign I need to go back to weight watchers, I don't know what is!) So as well as breaking things, I have been busy finishing the next challenge for the Scrapbook Apprentice. I just need to get it posted now but I don't think I'll get to the post office today ... Oisin has been sick for the last few days and has been off school. But I'll definitely have to get there tomorrow to make sure it's there on time. I also want to post my Kris Kindle for the Cara Crafts Forum ... hope the person I have likes what I'm sending!?!?

Thought I'd share a LO I started before we went on holidays. I'm not quite sure if it needs anything else??

And this is what I have on my craft table at the moment. It's some gorgeous Christmas paper from Pink Paislee which I plan to use to make a few Christmas cards. I'm finding the Christmas cards hard to get my head around this year as I have a backlog of StudioCalico kits calling me very loudly :)

And this year I got a few new decorations for our tree ... here are my favourites ; a very cute Santa and a lovely big red star.

And so it begins....

Well D-Day has finally arrived... yes voting for the Scrapbook Apprentice has begun! Having seen everyones work, I'm feeling very nervous. If you would like to vote then head over to the Creativity Life blog here. Of course you don't have to vote for me, but I do hope you like what I did :)

catch up

I've been trying to catch up on my Christmas craft projects over the last week before my box of goodies arrived for the next scrapbook apprentice challenge.  I got two calendars done using the new BG calendar kits, which I'm going to give as prezzies. They are absolutely gorgeous ... though I can't take any of the credit for the lovliness ... the very talented Kelly Goree designed them! I picked up my kits while I was on holidays but I think CardznScrapz also have them. I also started making my Christmas cards and planned to get a few done today but my SA box has just arrived (YAY!) ... so I know there's not going to be much Christmas card making done today!! 

I'll leave you with a few pages from the calendars and then I'm off to check out my new box of goodies :) 

sneaks ands snaps

I can hardly believe that we are home more than a week. This week has flown by, but mostly because I have been busy working on the first scrapbook apprentice challenge. The theme for the first challenge was chocolate (as in colours) and layers and we were asked to complete 2 LOs and 2 cards. The box of goodies we were sent to use was very generous ... lots of cardstock, papers, rub-ons, letter stickers, stamps and more although I was a bit apprehensive about scrapping with so much brown! But as always, it's surprising what you can come up with when you try something new :) As promised I have a few sneaky peeks... 

The holiday was great. Plenty of sun, but not too hot. No queues. Lots to see and do. Scrapbook shops!!!! We had lots of fun in the theme parks: Oisin got to meet Spiderman, Wolverine, Cyclops and a few other superheroes. I was very proud of myself for finally getting up the nerve to go on the Hulk rollercoaster in Islands of Adventure (I had wussed out every other time I was there:)

And then of course there were the scrapbook shops. Let's just say it took about three minutes for my receipt to print out in the very gorgeous Scrappy Boutique! What a treasure trove of scrappy goodness. There were heart palpitations, let me tell you, being surrounded by endless shelves of Basic Grey, Thickers, Making Memories and more:)  And then of course I picked up a few bits in Michaels. Anyway, better go for now, but hope you're having a great weekend. 

And by the way, hi to Julie who I met in Inspiring Ideas today:)

Scrapbook Apprentice

Well it's cold, it's windy and it's wet... but I am happy. We arrived back this morning from a wonderful holiday in Florida. I didn't manage to get any sleep on the flight back so my brain is a bit fuzzy but I thought I'd just do a quick post. I can finally spill the beans... I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 12 Creativity Life Scrapbook Apprentice candidates!!! Yay! You can see all 12 on the CL blog. I am so excited about this competition I think I'm going to combust! I've been dreaming  in LO's since we got the details of the first challenge. All the other girls look fab so it's going to be a great competition. Voting will take place after every challenge (which I think will be monthly) and will be by the public  (on the CL blog) as well as by a judging panel. Voting starts on the 30th of November. I'll try to put up a few sneaky peaks when I get started (though I'm still waiting on my supplies to arrive... but hopefully they'll get here soon). 

I'll try to post tomorrow about the many scrappy temptations (and my lack of resistance) in Florida when my brain de-fuzzes, but for now I'll leave you with one of the LO's I submitted for SA.  Have a great day :)

Countdown

The holiday countdown has begun! We are heading away this weekend so I'll be off the air for the next little while. 

The lovely and super talented Elisa came over during the week for a StudioCalico crop. It was great fun and I even got to see some of her gorgeous work IRL!! I did this LO about Oisin who has really amazed me with how well he's doing with his reading and writing in school. These papers were perfect for it. In fact, I think they probably gave me the idea for the page. Have a great day:)