I'm so bad...

At blogging, but at least I admit it. I don't even have a good reason as to why it's been so long! I've been busy with the kids... nothing new there. I've been doing lots of walking in a bid to tone up, and keep me out of the kitchen to prevent snacking. The weight is coming off slowly... 1 stone and 1/2lb, so far... still a looooong way to go, but I've got the support of some really good friends this time, so hopefully it will keep going in the right direction.

In 2 weeks time I will be at the second Sarahs Cards retreat in Warrington. So excited, and a little bit nervous too. Really hope the people attending like my class. Can't wait to spend more time with the rest of the lovely DT, and all the lovely ladies who will be attending.

Over on the Sarah's Cards blog, this months sketch challenge was designed by me... play along and leave a link to your work for a chance to win a £10 e-voucher for the shop. This is the LO I did.... I love these photos of Drew in the snow.

My first Twisted LO is live this week.... I should have posted a link earlier, but there is still time for you to play along. The twist is 'soft', any way, any how... I went with the Andrex ad line, soft, strong and very long after finding the creative mess Drew had left in the bathroom! I tell you, that boy might be a nightmare at times but he does provide loads of great scrapping opportunities!

The LO that won me a place on the DT went up a couple of weeks ago. I have to say I really like this one. I selected a few of the 100s of photos that Harry had taken of himself on the DSi... I think these will be great to embarrass him later in life... he he he!!!

I've been playing with the March kit for Sarahscards... it's a yummy one, and I've gone quite experimental with it... I'm not sure the LOs I've created will be to everyones taste, but I'm loving them, and they're right up there in my top ten favourites of all time. Here's a sneak of one of them...

And here's a sneak of a safer, none messy LO...

Right got to go, things to do (boring stuff mainly) and places to be (a date with Things 1 & 2 at the cinema to see Tangled). Back soonish

xxx

Sketches to Scrapbook Winter Release.

A new Winter release of the fabulous, must have sketch app for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch is available to buy. I was lucky enough to contribute again, and have 2 LOs this time. This first sketch was of the first time Drew 'walked' in snow.... he wasn't at all sure about it!This LO was of Harry's first nativity play, where he and the rest of the nursery children were twinkling stars. I used the actual star that Harry painted and glittered to wear, and love the fact that I have actually used glitter alphas.... I think possible for the first time ever!There is a Lite version of the app which can be downloaded here, but considering the full app is a bargain price of $3.99 you may as well splash out and download it here.

Still not got the original release app??? To celebrate the new release the original has bee reduced to $2.99 and can be downloaded here, this is for a limited time only so be sure to grab a bargain!

Exciting news.... for me!

I'm a Twisted Sister.... YAAAAAAY!!!!

I've loved the Twisted Sketches Blog since it first started and have enjoyed playing along with it. I fully intended to enter the competition for the very first team of Twisted Sisters, but got my dates all muddled up in my head and missed the deadline.... such a typical me thing to do! It was great to see Rach make it onto the first team though. Then I always seemed to miss the posts announcing that it was time for new teams, but still I didn't mind as another fab friend and talented scrapper, Jems, got a place. And now it's my turn.... whoop whoop for me:) I'm hoping that this is the kick up the backside I need to get me regularly blogging again.... it might work for 6 months, you never know ;) So watch this space to see Twisted LOs very soon. Once it's gone live on the blog I'll share the LO that got me a place on the team.

I can share a couple of LOs I have done for Sarahscards. I was sent some papers from the American Crafts The Classics range. Now I have to admit when I first opened the box and saw them I though 'eeeeeek' and closed the lid. After playing with them though, I have to say that I actually really like this range... in fact I am defo going to have to be buying a few sheets of the lovely peacock feather paper as I can see that being used on quite a few LOs.

Here are the 3 LOs I have created so far.

This fab photo of Drew stuck on the sofa was actually from a series of about 4 photos I got! He forgot there was a new toy box behind the sofa that blocked his escape route, and yes I am a cruel mummy for getting the camera before helping the child.... but come on, it had to be done didn't it... lol! Serves him right for trying to escape me... mwahahahahah!

The second LO was a very 'un me' LO created for my lovely friend, Jenny. Very strange not to use any mists, inks or distressing... not something I'll be doing often, as even though I like the LO, I don't love it iykwim. I'm sure Jenny will love it though, she's a wannabe scrapper... I'm sure I'll lure her over to the dark side soon!

The last LO is my absolute fave! It's a me LO. It has misting, scraps of paper and random stitching... and not to mention a photo of a super cute baby!

Right, as always this post has taken me forever to upload.... is there a quick way to add photos to a blog, because this is what puts me off uploading more often!!! Must go and cook tea for the family... curry, rice and naan bread.... yum yum!

Happy New Year!

WOW, just how fast did last year go? I can't believe Christmas is done and dusted and the kids are back to school already! And in all that time, I didn't update my blog once.... he he he, some things never change huh!
So what's been happening? All the usual, getting ready for Christmas, lots of festive activities with the children, resulting in glitter, glitter everywhere!!! A bit of scrapping here and there, although that took a back seat whilst I played along with the Journal Your Christmas. My first time playing along, and I have to say I loved it. I've not quite finished, although I know what I'm going to do, and I decided to stop on Boxing day rather than continue until the 6th Jan. I didn't go for a typically festive themed book, as I don't really like all the Christmas papers and embellishments.... although I seem to have accumulated quite a few over the years!

Anyway, here are just a selection of photos from my journal. I can share some LOs created for the Sarahscards November kit. The colours were just gorgeous, lovely and rich and perfect for the ridiculous amount of photos I have of the boys playing in the trees at Sherwood Pines and Sundown Park.

This LO was done at the little crop get together we have at my house. It was one of those LOs that wasn't planned but had to be done just so I could use the gorgeous new stamps I had just bought! I am just loving the Glitz range of stamps at the moment. Only got a couple of sets, but I have my eye on the rest. I neeeeeeeeeeeed them all!!!!

Sarah of Sarahscards has a personal blog to showcase the fab quilts she has been making.... you need to check them out. They are amazing!!! I am thinking that I need to learn how to do this, because I can see me getting cozy under a gorgeous snuggly quilt.... oh dear, I think this could get expensive!!!

Sarah made me my very own quilted bits pot.... in pink, because let's face it, there's never going to be enough pink in this house!!!

Right, I have ignored the boys for long enough whilst fighting with blogger to put the photos in the right order... I will be back soon, as I do fully intend to update this blog each week ;)

Sketches 2 Scrapbook Is Here!

The Scrapbook Sketch App for you take to crops is available on itunes now.

There are two versions: a FREE Lite Version with 12 sketches in it for everyone to demo the app, and a FULL version with another 104 sketches for the low price of $4.99 (US Dollars) - the FULL version also gets you the sketches from the free version (so a total of 116 sketches).

Here is a link to the FREE version: itunes/scketches2scrapbook/lite

Here is a link to the FULL version. itunes/sketches2scrapbook

Here's the description from the itunes store....

Sketches2Scrapbook is a Scrapbooking Sketch application that will allow you to think creatively on the go with over 100 unique sketches and layouts to keep you inspired.

Most Scrapbookers are people with busy lives – always on the go and trying to fit scrapbooking in with everything else. When they do get to scrapbook, they bring their phone with them... to the crops, at the store, to their scrapbooking space.

Sketches2Scrapbook is a totally self-contained system where you can search the sketches for the one that suits the layout you want to make - you can search by style, by number of photos, by embellishments, even by the number of different papers you want to use.

Once you have your sketch selected, you can flip to see a sample layout made by some awesome Scrapbookers from around the world. Each of the beautiful layouts comes with a supply list of all the products they used to create the sample layout.

This App will help you to find the perfect sketch for your photos saving you both time and tote space – no need for magazines and books taking up valuable paper or embellishment space, no need to sit in front of your computer or print our online sketches to take with you. And when you are out at the store, you can use the app to pre-plan your layouts and even use the supplies list to remake the layouts with your own photos.

With 104 sketches, you have enough to make 2 layouts every week for a year plus the 12 free sketches for 1 extra layout each month (the Lite version comes built into the full version as extra sketches) – that’s a lot of inspiration especially with the sample layouts added as they are inspiring in their own right.

Sketches2Scrapbook is a way to give you more time and space to scrapbook by keeping all the sketches you need at your fingertips.

I've downloaded mine and have to say I think it is fantastic. The sketches are fun and versatile and varied to suit all tastes.... and don't forget that if you rotate and flip them, you actually have far more sketches than the 116 stated! The LOs included are super, and having the list of all supplies used on each LO makes shopping for the things you simply have to have right now, immediately, straight away, easy peasy.

In my honest opinion, this app is an absolute MUST HAVE for all scrappers with an iPhone/iPad/iTouch, and at such a bargain price there's no reason not to go and get it RIGHT NOW!

It's been a while...

Well just for a change it's been a while since I last blogged. I think about it often though... so it's not a fully neglected blog, not just yet!

So what's been happening in the Stevenson house since I last updated?

My grandad (mum's dad) got taken into hospital as his cancer had got worse.

My (and I use the term very loosely as I really do not consider her to be part of my family) Nanna reported my mum to the police for harassment.... twice! The two incidents of harassment being

1, knocking on my grandad's door (when she knew his wife wouldn't be in) to see him. As t turned out he was in the hospital, but a neighbour reported that mum had been there.

2, sending a card to my grandad at the hospital.

Now I don't know what was more outrageous, the fact that Nanna actually reported this as harassment, or the fact the police turned up at my mum's house at 11.45pm on a Friday night!!! Like, seriously... do Nottinghamshire police have nothing better to be doing on a Friday night!

To cut a long story short, mum refused to sign a document agreeing to stay away from Grandad, thanks to a really lovely sister at the hospital, she got to go and see him outside of usual visiting hours. They both got to say goodbye to each other, and make their peace with each other alone, without the interference of malicious family members.

Grandad died a week later.

After posting a comment on my cousin's Face book status basically saying R.I.P. Grandad, I got

some hate filled messages from my so called Nanna, basically saying that Grandad never loved me, why would he when he had two other grand children that were his whole life... blah, blah, blah!!!

One good thing that has come out of this whole sorry mess, is that I got in touch with my cousin for the first time, and got a lovely message from her. Even though we grew up in the same small village we don't know each other as our parents do not speak to each other.

Anyway enough of the doom and gloom! I have had some fun too!!!

I went away for a child free weekend with the Sarahscards DT to Bottomhouse Barn.

Same place we went to last year, and we had a fabulous time again... in fact it was better this year, as we all knew each other better, and more of us stayed for 3 nights instead of just 2.

Here are a few photos stolen from Rachel's blog....

and some other stolen from Rachael's blog....

On Saturday night we played with sparklers.... what a talented bunch we are... look what we did...lol!!!

Clever Gemma, took the photos and arranged the montage.

I only managed 4 LOs over the weekend.... but to be fair, we did do a lot of Twilight watching, so there's only so much paper shuffling you can manage with distractions like Edward Cullen!!!

This LO was done using the current sketch on the Sarahscards blog.... make sure you play along and leave a link to your work for a chance to win a £10 voucher for the shop.

I used mists on this LO, but instead of spraying with them I unscrewed the lid and used the tube to drip it down the page like blood. Not as messy as you'd think and I really like the result too. The papers are My Mind's Eye Haunted, and are so gorgeous. If you haven't got them, you need to... they are flocked with black velvet and are just divine to touch. They are so much better in real life than on a computer screen. You can find them HERE.

This LO was created using the same papers, and the same drippy mist technique... one trip pony, yeah yeah yeah!!!

This was also done using the My Mind's Eye papers.

This LO was the first I did at the retreat. It doesn't have a title, but I don't think it really needs one. The photo is of Drew and his buddy Sam. Sam is the son of good friend Jen.... who doesn't blog anymore!!! Sam is actually 4 months older than Drew... not that you'd think that when you compare weights!!!

I used a mix or Indie Girl and Webster's Pages... both of which are just scrummy.

This LO was a mix of all sorts, and didn't really come together until the last bit was glued into place! Photo of Harry doing his first stomp off to sulk when he doesn't get his own way. I'm not saying he didn't sulk before this, but this was the first day he deliberately walked off to lean with his back to us, all because he couldn't go on the horses as we had to go and book in!!!

I was sent the Crate Paper: School Spirit papers to play with, and here are a couple of pages I did... using Maya Road mists and Prima masks too. I am just loving misting right now... the only problem is when you do a page without misting it just looks so wrong!!!

Lastly... I'm really getting into ATCs at the moment. I did some a few years ago, but didn't really take to them all that much. After playing around with mists and scraps, I've found that I love the speed and ease of ATCs... here are a few I did the other day.

My plan is to do loads and have them framed in a big frame for in my bedroom... just got to decide if I want a theme/color scheme/random collection.

These ones were done for Oliver, because he complained that all the others had been too girly!!!

PHEW!!! and breath!

Well, that's all for now folks... no doubt I'll be back with another monster catch up in a month or so ;)