At Last My March Challenge Layout

It has taken me such a long time to be able to do this layout, the theme was Vintage and I wanted to use some old black and white pictures I had, but my Daughter borrowed them for her family tree and now I can't find them anywhere.

I have chosen 2 pictures of my Grandad for this layout and have called it 'A Perfect Vintage'. Sadly my Grandad passed away in 2009 and until now I have not been able to bring myself to make a layout with his picture on, but I am finally coming to terms with losing him and this is a tiny tribute to a very special man.
The pictures all over the page are things that meant something to him, or to members of my immediate family and on the back of the first page I have added a sheet of paper with my reasons for choosing each picture. Some of them relate to his hobbies or where he worked and some are special to us, for example the false teeth, he used to push out his bottom teeth and scare me half to death when I was little, he did the same to my Son and Daughter and my Grandsons too.

Thank you for looking and any comments you wish to make 

February Challenge

This is my double layout for the February challenge that I set on Docrafts. There are a few of us who are taking part in the challenge and if you would like to join in pop on over and add your name to the list.
I knew what I wanted to do immediately which makes a change for me as I usually spend most of the time wondering what to do!!!
I wanted a then and now image and remembered having a picture of my Grandsons on the blanket from when George was about 4 months old, so I encouraged them to re-create the picture now that they are much bigger, I wonder if they'd be so happy to oblige in about another 6 years?
I used a variety of papers that I had in my box and safmat to make the rub-ons, I wanted it to be really simple without much fuss as I think the photographs speak for themselves. My favourite picture is the 'Buddy Love' one as George decided one day on holiday that his Daddy was his buddy and has called him that ever since and when ever George kisses you he puffs into your ears at the same time, hence the screwed up face of my son.

Thank you for stopping by and any comments you wish to make

January Challenge

This is my layout for the January challenge called New Year Celebrations, that I set on Docrafts, last year we all swapped tags, with themes suggested by a different person every month. With the current postage costs we decided this year to do a virtual swap with each person making a layout and then posting on their blogs or in the gallery on Docrafts.
I chose to scrap my New Year's Eve, as everyone was out for the evening and I was laid up with a nasty bout of Laryngitis I thought what better time to watch the last ever Westlife concert.
I have been lucky enough to see several live shows, the first was when they were still called Westside and my daughter was young enough to have a major obsession with Boyzone. So armed with a honey and hot lemon drink a large box of tissues and a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk I settled down to watch.

I have discovered over the years that a little bit of 'Westie' magic can solve most problems, whether it's cleaning the house, doing the dishes, planning lessons or revising for tests.
I'll need to get my thinking cap on soon for next month's challenge.

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Happy New Year

Wishing you all a healthy and peaceful New Year
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19 cards and counting...

We have quite a large number of staff at the school where I work and I try to make cards for everyone, some months I am ahead of the cards I need and some months got missed last year due to illness.
So I thought having finished the one project that I wanted to get done, covering the album for my middle Grandson, I ought to get cracking on the cards for this school year, I need approx 40 female and 2 male.
I have used a variety of papers, mostly ones that I bought from my Daughter when she was selling her crafty stuff earlier in the year, some of the card blanks, the coloured square ones are photocards that were donated by a colleague from work I just trimmed them so they were even in shape and added large daisies cut using my sizzix bigz die - Daisies. I can't give any more details of the papers used as none of them were in the original wrapping except that I still have more than enough left to make the rest of the cards I'll need for the year.
I'm impressed that the cards this year have not cost me anything to make as I had everything in my now enormous collection of papers, card blanks, plain card etc.

Most of the cards are fairly simple but with so many to make I don't really have time to make lots of fancy ones, now to teach the new Year 3/4's to take the cards round to be signed without getting them dirty!!!

Thanks for stopping by and any comments you wish to make 

And The Fun Begins Again ...

Well it's happened again, I bought an album to make my middle Grandson's baby album a few years ago.
I got it from that well known auction site and when it arrived I had a quick look but didn't completely unpack the box.
I thought it was about time to start on Reece's book, so I got it out of the cupboard, unpacked the box and was horrified to find that the book was almost completely faded except for the corners which were still bright yellow. I think it may have been in a shop window for a while before I bought it.

The leather effect ribbon was crooked and peeling off - another disaster was close to happening. I searched for several days online for another album, the trouble was that Reece is not a pale blue boy, he's an in your face as bright as possible boy. He had chosen his papers for the book (K&CO Hopscotch for Boys)

I found a stunning album in the USA but they do not ship to the UK, so I had an idea !!!

I took all the embellishments off of the book.

I covered the front and back with a large sheet of thin craft foam to hide the bumps after I had sanded the rough sticky tape off and took a trip to Hobbycraft, I had a little chat with the lady serving me and mentioned that every time Reece comes with me he goes home with a bump or cut, from either falling over stuff in the aisles or walking into display units, our local shop is not very child friendly. Eventually I managed to get her to move the fabric over just a few inches so that I knew I would have enough to play with without having to buy another metre of fabric.

So over the past two days I have cut, hemmed and stuck the fabric to the covers and spine and this is how it looks now.

Front and Back Cover

Inside of Front and Back Cover

I love it and I hope Reece will too.

Thank you for stopping by and any comments you wish to make.

Oh My Word - it's finally finished!!!

Well today after nearly 3 and a half years I finally finished my eldest Grandson's first album.
When I started I had a plain album designed to be decorated by me, but I didn't like the way it opened, the front cover creased every time the cover was opened.
So I looked for a new one - months passed whilst I looked everywhere. During this time I also decided I didn't like the colours I had originally chosen so I bought new papers, reprinted the photos and started again.

Still looking for an album to put it in I went away for the weekend with my lovely OH, we stopped off at the Clark's Village there was a dinky little craft shop there and lo and behold in box marked water damaged items was the album I had been searching for - the damage? a tiny dent in the bottom of the front and back cover just under the ric-rac braiding, so small you can barely see it!
I was over the moon, got it home and then it hit me I hated the way my pages looked with the new album. My problem was that for my son's book (H's Daddy) I had used Making Memories Sam range and I loved it to bits, so after weeks scouring ebay I found 2 large and 1 small packs of the Making Memories Ethan range, having ordered it I spend days looking for the postie.
This past week I have, with help now from H who is now 10 , he designed one double LO himself, been able to finish it.

The only problem is the other two now want their first books started too!!!
I wonder how long they'll take???

Special thanks go to Kathleen_Mc for her help in setting up my slideshows, you can visit her fab blogs here  http://craftbloggers.blogspot.co.uk/ and here http://craftbloggers.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you for looking and any comments you leave