Misc Me and Moved!

Ok well bit of a jump because I have gone from house hunting to moved!  I am such a bad blogger but to be honest it was all done rather quickly which in some ways was really good because I didn't have too much time to think about it and start panicking (I am not someone who likes change too much) but it also means that it was pretty hectic getting everything organised!

The poor movers were rather stressed because I think I may be a bit of a hoarder lol (and so are the kids who never want to give toys up even when they have outgrown them).  That was fine at our old house because we had lots of built in cupboards to store all my stuff neatly in and we had a spare bedroom but the new house is a bit lacking in the storage department.  So needless to say I am having a very difficult time trying to unpack and get everything where it should be especially as we currently have no cupboards!

We have definitely moved to an amazingly beautiful part of the country and I will have to get a few photos up soon :)  Anyway now I am rambling when this was supposed to just be a quick post!  I haven't done too much scrapping except for a couple of magazine layouts so today I am sharing the start of my Misc Me 2013 album.  I am even using the write up I gave for the Bo Bunny blog because it is quicker! :)

I have decided to use mine to document our year month by month and so far I have only done January and February as we are in the middle of a house move. I wanted to keep my album quite clean and simple so it will be quick and easy to do and I will be more likely to be able to keep up with it!

I haven't decided what I want to do with my month dividers yet so for the moment I have just left them blank.

I am going to try and keep it simple but I already see a few more details starting to creep in on my February page as it is just so fun, so I am not sure how long that will last! I was originally going to use a different collection for each month but in the end decided to just use whatever went with the photos on that page so I have used a mixture of collections and some of the cute little inserts that come with the Misc. Me packages.

Bo Bunny Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper : Family Is; Mama-Razzi2; Snow Day
Misc. Me : Graphic Weekly Contents, Graphic Note Paper
Stamps : Mama-Razzi2; Family Is; Smoochable; On This Day Stamp
Stickers : Snow Day
Rub Ons : Snow Day

Anyway that is it for tonight and now I really need to go and get some sleep as I am shattered and I still have all sorts of unpacking and running around to do tomorrow plus the kids are still at home until the council finalizes thier school places.  I will try to do some blog hopping tomorrow, I am very out of the loop with everything! :)

House Hunting

Ok I did say Tuesday or Wednesday yet here it is Thursday!  To be fair I did start typing this last night and then Christopher suddenly rushed out of bed to the bathroom with a horrible tummy bug and my post went out the window!  The poor dear was up most of the night and has been sick all day and as miserable as anything and the only thing he could stomach was water and Rooibos Tea.

Anyway in preperation of our move went away to do some house hunting and visit some schools recently.  But of course we also had a bit of time to take in some local sights and for a bit of fun for the kids :) Warning, this is a very picture heavy post!

Of course we had to go to the beach and I took lots of photos and then made the kids stop and pose for one.  I got a couple of nice ones where they were both looking a me at the same time and smiling...

 But of course with my kids (as with most) this is what most of the pictures looked like....

 We went and played some Putt Putt seeing as it was right around the corner from the hotel.

 Note the looney tune in the background that is just par for the course (pardon the bad pun) in this family

Then to the kids absolute delight we went Go Carting, which they loved!

Of course Paul and Kieran had to start getting competitive and racing each other which Paul found very amusing.

Christopher on the other hand just drove around at his own pace and enjoyed himself.  He did however give me some very valid reasons as to why he should never be allowed a driving license as per the evidence below... This one is blurry but you get the picture, taking his hand off the steering wheel to wave to his mother and just as he was about to go around a corner!

Next he was worrying about fixing his helmet whilst once again driving with one hand!

The last piece of photographic evidence is how he has accidentally swerved off the main track most probably because he was driving with one hand and he is still merrily whistling to himself quite unperturbed...

As I said this is just the things I happened to catch on camera, there were a few other occasions including when he went full throttle into the pitt at the end so that everyone from Paul to the guy who runs the carts to the general public standing on the side where shouting 'Whoa slow down!'.  I had a total heart attack although he did manage to stop in time without hitting anything and didn't get what all the fuss was about.  So yup I have informed him that he will not be getting a license ever :)

We then went to visit Nothe Fort where Christopher immediately slammed his finger in the car door and took all the skin above his nail off!  The sweet little old ladies that run the fort seemed to enjoy coddling and  bandaging him up and I think once he got over the initial pain he enjoyed all the attention! This is the gardens outside the fort.

The kids just loved this old motorbike

 Playing soldiers....

Christopher was clearly a monkey in a previous life and climbs everything in sight.  He ran off ahead and climbed up on this gun then sat down for me to take a photo.  Only when I zoomed in to take the photo did I notice the 'Do Not Climb' sign right next to him!  Now I wonder if he saw it and ignored it or really didn't notice it....

 The views from everywhere on the fort were amazing!

 More guns!  The kids of course just loved all the guns, cannons and anti aircraft guns.

 After we were finished at the fort we went pack to the little amusement park by our hotel and the kids went on the sack slides for a while...

They then went on these hurricanes which were so cool although Kieran seemed to have way to much fun bashing into his brother and getting him stuck in a corner before he even had a chance to work out his controls and move out!

Anyway it is getting late and as I got hardly any sleep last night because I was up and down with C I am totally shattered so I think I should head off to bed!

Before I go... Bo Bunny has teamed up with Clearsnap for a little blog hop with some fantastic prizes so if you would like a chance to win them and see the gorgeous items the girls have made for it then head over to the Bo Bunny blog.  I hope everyone has a great Friday and a fantastic weekend! :)

Sweet 16

Oh my gosh it has been almost a month since my last post which is totally crazy!  But then no surprises there as things are extra, extra crazy at the moment with all the moving sorting out going on!   It is two weeks until we move and we have been manic trying to find a house, see schools and get the house etc in order before we go! :)

For today I am just going to share a layout I did for Bo Bunny.  We had to do a layout in under an hour which for me is virtually impossible as I am a dreadfully slow scrapper but I actually did this one in under 45 minutes because I was literally running out the door to go away on a trip and I still needed to photograph, edit and upload it!  I did want to add some machine stitching to it too on the strips and the frame which would have still made it under an hour but I was already late (everyone was waiting for me lol) so I just had to leave it.

Products used:

Bo Bunny Prairie Chic Chevron, Wanderlust, Garden patterned Paper

Bo Bunny Prairie Chic Petals

Bo Bunny Prairie Chic Noteworthy

Bo Bunny Prairie Chic Brads

Bo Bunny Stained Textures Stamps
Prima Mask 882020

Tattered Angels Cranberry Zing Glimmer Mist

American Express thickers

Washi Tape

That is me 20 years ago, hmm must have been a typical sullen teenager seeing as I couldn't even smile for the photo lol.  Anyway that is it for today and I will be back tomorrow or Wednesday with some photos from our house hunting trip, for now I am off to go and have a clear out of some children's toys (oh joy).  I hope everyone has a great week! :)

Stamps, Flowers and Biffy!

We have been having a crazy busy month again!   I feel like I am always waiting for the crazyness to end, I am always thinking that next week it will be calm down and then I can get to all the things that need to be done and sorted and can just relax a little, but then next week comes and things continue to just be crazy.  But I suppose you adapt and learn to deal with things as they crop up, I have just had to learn to accept that my life is unpredictable and things can't always be perfectly planned and it is okay to not be on top of everything!  One of the things I have definitely not been on top of for the last few months is my blog and recently my blog hopping which has really bothered me as I always wanted to have an organised blog with 3 or 4 posts a week but for now I have accepted that won't be happening in the near future :)

Anyway enough with the rambling!  This is a layout I did (while I was away on our retreat) to showcase the new Bo Bunny background stamps....I am just loving these stamps, I love all stamps but background stamps are just my favourite and the designs chosen for the Bo Bunny ones are fantastic!  I used the Family Is line which is just soo cute and so perfect for my family lol

We all went to watch a Biffy Clyro concert on Monday night which was brilliant and definitely in my top 3 concerts I have been to so far :)  Here are a few photos but they are taken with my phone and we are way at the back of the arena.  We always book in the same area because although it is on the far side of the arena it is directly in front of the stage so your view is still better than being closer and on the side.

 As we all like Biffy Clyro we made a bit of a family thing of it this time and took the kids with, this is Kieran's third concert and Christopher's second.  I think we have decided that Christopher is not really a concert person though as he was a bit bored.  We also went with my BIL and SIL who love concerts as much as we do and our two nephews.

It was my Birthday yesterday and I just had to share some photos of the beautiful flowers that hubby got me for my birthday.  I think he has become a bit indecisive as he got me three boquets!  Lol he is so sweet :)

I am just loving my Instagram app on my phone!

So I was going to finish off with my favourite Biffy Clyro song but I couldn't decide between Bubbles, Many of Horror, Mountains and The Captain so instead I will just play my favourite song so far from the new album.  It is called Black Chandelier..

I hope everyone has a wonderful relaxing long Easter weekend with their families and loved ones.

Scrapping With Friends!

I am always delayed with everything these days!  Last weekend I went away on on one of my scrapping groups annual scrapping weekends.  Every year we rent a lovely quite place in the countryside called Meadow Barn and we scrap, chat and eat lots of lovely cakes!  This is really the most fantastic group of totally wonderul girls (and men!) and I am so glad to have met all of them!  Here are a couple of group shots.
This is the nice normal looking posed group shot.

Hmmm the cracks are starting to show a little bit....a little bit more like us

Below are the two guys who join our group every year, the tall one is Lisa's husband who does digital scrapbooking and cooks us some divine Mexican food on the Saturday night each time.  The other one is Karen's husband who doesn't scrapbook and usually goes for nice long walks in the beautiful country side but always helps us out in loads of little ways and on the Friday night this time made a very yummy chilli con carne which we used to top some of our jacket potatoes.  

Take note of all the tubs of droolworthy cakes in the front of the picture there!  The cake queen is definitely Karen who makes the most divine coffee cake ever, she also bought special chocolate cup cakes, Dundee cake, Mince pies and biscuits!.  Even Lisa's extremely talented young daughter sent a lemon drizzle cake along, unfortunately I didn't get to taste hers as I was too busy eating Julia's completely yummy lemon drizzle cake but I did hear lots of rave reviews :)

We also did a mini gift exchange this year where we each made or brought a little gift for each person.  These girls think of such amazing things, we have been so crazy busy that unfortunately my gift was just a little box of Mini Eggs as I didn't end up with any time to make something although I doubt that I would have been able to think of anything as nice as the other girls did!

The gorgeous decoupage stone was made by Julia and we all got to pick our designs.  The chocolate item is a little chocolate man topped with fudge pieces with a spoon stuck in it is from Gemma and is to stir into hot milk!  The little blue milk carton box is from Karen and is full of mint imperials.  The beautiful box and matching card was our gift from Fiona and it was a little class and all the supplies to make them!  The sweet little dried flower tags were from Tara and were made by her adorable daughter and MIL with flowers picked from her MIL's garden.  The three little tags were hand made by Ali.  The little badge was from Jess and we got to choose which saying we wanted.  Lastly the gorgeous bag charm was hand made by Lisa in whatever our favourite colours were!

Then my lovely friend Lisa is making and selling these beautiful beaded bracelet and earing sets.  I adored them when I saw some of them over the weekend and totally fell in love with and immediately wanted this one which she called 'Nature's Glow'.

Alas my photo does not do justice to the beautiful colours in these, I just adore them!  I saw her make one over the weekend and the amount of care and effort she puts into them is amazing. If you would like to look at some of the other sets she has up for sale or buy your own set then go and check out her blog here.  Hmmm I think I might need a couple more of those soon! :)

Well as usual I didn't get too much scrapping done over the weekend!  I am a slow scrapper in general and I tend to spread out a lot so the tight scrapping space bewilders me and I get slower than ever lol.  But I don't mind as I mainly like seeing all my lovely friends and having a laugh and we do lot's of that!  Plus the long drive is really good for me especially as this was my first long drive since my accident last year so I was a nervous wreck but felt much better afterwards :)  But I digress I can only show you the card I made for now... this was for this months card sketch on the Bo Bunny blog.  I did the sketch this month and this is what it looked like...

 This is my card using the very pretty new Isabella

Now that I have posted this I can see that the bow has gone skew and is covering some of the pearl swirls! That is really going to irritate me lol.

Anyway that is it for today, I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and all the mothers out there have a fabulous and relaxing day tomorrow!

Gesso Background Tutorial

I have a little tutorial up on the Bo Bunny Blog today for creating a textured background using Gesso and some of the gorgeous new background stamps Bo Bunny recently released.  This is the finished layout that I used the technique on. 

 This is my Granny and me a few years ago, sadly she is no longer with us but as she lived with my parents and us for around the last 25 years of her life me and  my sisters were really close to her.  She really was the cutest Granny ever and was always laughing and joking and I would always call her Old Bag and she would call me Young Bag.  I actually found a letter the other day that she had written me after I had moved out of my parents house and she had signed it O.B and that made me smile (and a little bit sad too) and that's when I knew what my title had to be for this layout :)

I used the gorgeous new C'est La Vie and lots of the new flourishes and one of the new doilies that are all from Bo Bunny's latest release.

 

 Bo Bunny Products:
Patterned Paper: C'est La Vie, Decoupage, La Vie En Rose, Belle/C'est La Vie
Noteworthy : C'est La Vie
Chipboard : C'est La Vie layered Chipboard
Brads : C'est La Vie
Petals : C'est La Vie
Jewel Flourishes : Frosting Jewels
Doilies : 4" Small Doilies
Stamps : Flourishes and Such Stamps

If you would like to see the tutorial for creating my background then please stop by the Bo Bunny Blog.