It's Me, Sarah

Clearly Cute

Here is a little acrylic mini album from Scrapping Clearly that I really enjoyed making.  I called the album Treasure because it holds photographs of me and my siblings when we were all little :)

The papers I have used are from the DCWV Once Upon A Time mat stack, these mat stacks are just the right size for mini albums, I love them

In other news:

I did the Plymouth Race For Life and actually managed it ok, I really surprised myself as I am not really know for my keep fit endeavours!  However, it was Father's Day and I ran it for my Dad and my Mum.

Amy is still doing wonderfully, she grows more every day :)  Ben and Charlotte are the same as ever - little monkeys!

Have you seen Jennifer MacGuire's 'Thinking Inking' classes over on Two Pea's - they are great.  I must have a play when I have finished my magazine work.

Nona came to play in my craft room and we had a lovely day chatting and creating.

Lands End

It was my birthday last Thursday, only one year  until the big 4-0!!  Scary.

I had a lovely birthday and had some great presents.  Mark bought me a zoom lens for my SLR and both Lily Allen CD's which I have been wanting for ages.  Mum got me a couple of lovely summer dresses, I had money and Next vouchers and Carol got me a Cathy Zielske book which I have also been wanting for a long time, ooh and she bought me the Sister Momiji doll too - so I was really spoiled, I even go flowers through the letterbox from my sister in law Debbie :)

Mark drove us down to Lands End for the day because Ben had been dying to see the Doctor Who exhibition.  We had a lovely day, even though Ben was more than a little scared of the Dalek!!

The weather wasn't too good though it was soooo windy we could barely stay outside, but we all had a great time anyway!

The Apple of My Eye

Mojoholder's guest this week is Danielle Flanders, check out the design team's work on the blog because we all enjoyed being inspired by Danielle this week.

This was my take on this weeks challenge.  It is currently on the wall in my craft room in my layout frame because the colours match the room perfectly :o)

The Craft Room

Well, I finally took some much better photographs of my craft room.  It really is finished now apart from some window blinds but I really need to find the right ones so it may be a while before I get those.  The light streams in the windows and at times it is difficult to see the computer screen so the blinds are a must, I just haven't seen any I particularly like yet.

I love my little room though, it is great having a (labelled) place for everything and makes tidying up so much easier.  I do love organisation so I must admit I really enjoyed all the labelling!

Here are some (well, 20) pictures for you, I know that I love looking at craft room pictures so I though I would do plenty so that nosey people like me are satisfied - isn't it horrible when you see a craft room but can't quite make out what that lovely looking piece of stash is laying on the table?

This is an overview of the room

If you have visited Jennifer McGuire's blog (link in the sidebar) then you will recognize the wall art :)  I loved it so much that I just had to have it - however, as the company are in America I didn't really want to wait for it to arrive so I made it myself by creating the words in photoshop and then cutting them with sign vinyl in my Quickutz Silhouette.  I won't pretend it was simple to put the word 'Creative' on the wall in a straight line whilst it was curling up and sticking together but to be honest the whole process took about 2 hours and I love that I made it myself.

The television on the wall is a godsend and I love that it is on a swivel and tilt fitting so that I can position it just right and pull it out from the wall.

The other side

This is the other side of the room.  There is a high area which is housing my sewing machine but is also where Ben and Charlotte can sit and do some crafting whilst I am scrapping at my desk.  The boxes underneath hold the childrens craft supplies (they have nearly as much as I do!).

Little Red Cabinet

I love this little red cabinet from Ikea.  I holds A4 paper perfectly and you can fit about a ream in each draw.  Here begins my labelling mania!  I use this to hold printer paper, photo paper, envelopes, labels (of course!), postcards, SD cards and other small items - did I say how much I love it?  It holds loads, I emptied out an entire sideboard cupboard into it and still had space!

Storage Boxes - Ikea strikes again!

I just adore these storage boxes from Ikea.

Sweetie Jar

I keep my tiny ink pads in this sweetie jar which is great for being able to find the one you want quickly and it looks so pretty!

Yep!  It's from Ikea :)

I love this little rail above my workspace which holds paints and tools, great to have the stamp cleaner at hands reach.

Making Memories Carousel holding more tools

Creative Memories Layout Frame

I love this layout frame from Creative Memories, I bought this ages ago whilst having a craft room was a distant dream - I am so glad I did, although I think I am going to cut off the ribbon that runs along the front of the frame (for pegs) because I never use it and would rather see my layout.

A fairy watches over me

Buttons in little spice jars

I have finally organised my buttons by colour, it is great.  I used a glue dot to adhere a corresponding coloured button to the top of each jar, it just makes it that bit quicker to grab the correct jar.

Mini books in a basket


Paper holders from Muji

I just couldn't find anything that I liked to hold my paper until I saw that Paula Pascual and used these suspension file holders from Muji, they are absolutely perfect!  I am going to cover the fronts and add labels but I currently have 8 of them and have yet to sort my paper properly so I can't do that just yet. 
The one on the left of the photograph is actually holding a pile of layouts that need to be filed into albums.

Wood mounted stamps

I have to confess that I haven't had time to actually organise the inside of the boxes holding my stamps yet but I wanted to show you how much they hold, the large ones are amazing.  Sorry about the Amy in the photo but I think she finds all this 'stuff' more exciting than toys.

Chipboard Alphabets

This is another of the large boxes, great for holding all those chipboard alphabets.

Acrylic Stamps

I currently have my acrylic stamps in one of these boxes, the plan is to put them into binders and then keep the binders in the box.

Copic Markers

I was thrilled that my copic markers fitted perfectly into the DVD sized box.

Amy's Area

Amy's little desk fits perfectly between my desk and the expedit unit.  Now I just need to get her to sit in it whilst I craft, she currently prefers to sit on my desk which sort of prevents me from doing anything!

Letter Stickers


Little drawers

These little drawers are brilliant for holding all your bits and pieces.  They are also one of the first items I have found that I can fit my Marvy Le Plume pens in (they are quite long those pens!).  Again, this is on my desk so I have used the drawers for frequently used ink pads, pens, pencils and acrylic blocks.

I love the colour of the room it is Dulux's Melon Sorbet, it is exactly the colour I was hoping for.  All the furniture is Ikea (surprise, surprise), I'm so happy they started a delivery service as our nearest Ikea is in Bristol, we did have to travel up to buy the boxes, jars etc because they don't deliver all those items but getting the furniture delivered was a big help (but, be warned, there is a £60 delivery charge!)

Heaven

So, there you have it, my little piece of heaven!  I love having a craft room and I can't tell you how thankful I am to my step-dad (who is like a real dad to me) for making this dream room for me (from this) and to Mark for helping Geoff every step of the way and, of course, paying for everything :) I love you both so much xx

 

Loads to Say....

But not getting the chance to blog!

Mark is working tonight so I will get a blog post done later :)  Here is a picture I took at Lands End when we visited last Thursday on my birthday :)

It's Raining Hats

Well it's not actually raining as the weather has been beautiful in the West Country for the last couple of days.

Many people will probably know that Mark is in the Navy.  He has recently been working at HMS Raleigh as an instructor to the new recruits.  He loves doing that job because it is really 'hands on' and as someone who loves going to the gym and generally working out it gives him the opportunity to join in with the lads and help show them how to get through the grueling physical aspect of the training.  Not all of the instructors do this, some just sit and watch - I think it is a testament to Mark's character that he feels that if the recruits are doing it then the instructor should show that they are 'up for it' too.  Anyway, I am incredibly proud of him and yesterday I went to HMS Raleigh to watch his final class pass out.  It was a great ceremony, Mark's class had won every trophy available due to their commitment (and, I believe, Mark's excellent leadership ;) ).  This also meant they won 'The Guard' meaning that Mark as their Instructor had to lead the passing out classes onto the parade ground - he was brilliant.  My Mum and Geoff came with me too and it was lovely to see the pride on their faces when they saw Mark in his working environment.  I didn't take many photographs as I just took my little compact camera, but I was thrilled to catch the moment when the recruits finally finished the parade and threw all their hats in the air.

I also got this photo of Mark marching up with them, shame I seem to have caught it when his eyes were shut.

And finally, this was Mark's class.

I had a great day out and we are out again with the kids tomorrow :)

I have some scrapping stuff that I just need to photograph so I will share that with you soon.

Happy Toys

Why do kids love McDonalds so much?  It must be an in-built desire that whenever they see those golden arches they ask for a McDonalds!  We don't go that often (although I am partial to the Chilli Chicken Deli Sandwich) but when we do they can't wait to eat their Happy Meals so that they can play with the toys.  The photo in this layout was taken just after Christmas when McDonalds had a massive queue, Mark was in the queue and I had found a table to settle the three kids at.  Charlotte was thrilled when two teenage girls gave Ben and Charlotte the toys from their Happy Meals, I was thrilled too because it kept occupied whilst Daddy was in the queue (Amy was asleep in her pushchair anyway).

This is my Mojoholder layout for this week.

We had May Marix Marte as our guest this week and this was the challenge. 

Don't forget to pop over to the blog to see what the other girls have done with this layout and sketch inspiration.

Happy Birthday Mum

It's my Mum's birthday today and I don't have anything to give her because her present hasn't arrived yet :)  I have ordered her some gorgeous embroidery scissors by WASA but they are coming from America.  She knows that they are on the way and I did make her this pretty card so I hope she is happy.

The stamp is one of the Gorjuss Girls stamps from Funky Kits, she's adorable.  The flowers are from the Hero Arts Nice Little Border stamp I just cut them outand adhered them with dimensional tape.  Everything is coloured with Prisma's and the papers are, again, from the Making Memories Just Chillin' girl range (6' x 6" pad).  Other supplies are Bazzill card, Hero Arts sentiment, Quickutz Silhouette, Nestibilities and Stampin' Up ribbon.

Right, I am typing this at 7.30 am but not publishing until Mum has received the card, must go and get the kids ready for school :)

Holiday Kids

I had some random photographs on Ben and Charlotte from a holiday we took in 2004, I just wanted to scrapbook them and (yet AGAIN!) the Just Chillin' papers matched perfectly so I whipped up a quick layout to get them scrapped. 

It took forever to sew the buttons on!

Just Chillin'

Well, yesterday was a bit of a washout!  Mark came home from work on Sunday morning and said that he would take us all out for lunch - woo hoo!  I went upstairs and got changed out of my 'Sunday lounging around the house' clothes and put on a bit of make-up.  On the way to 'lunch' we needed to stop at Halfords so that Mark could have his bike fixed.  The kids and I stayed in the car (for about 40 minutes!) whilst this was being done.  I began to feel very sick and had to get out of the car - just in case.  Mark came back, smiling because his bike was fixed and got in the car, we were on our way NOT!!  The car wouldn't start, it has one of those card key things so we were a little confused as to what to do, Mark doesn't know anything about cars and the dashboard was going beserk.  Anyway, the upshot is that the day was then spent getting towed home by Geoff (Geoff to the rescue once again!) who then helped Mark to sort the car out (needed a new battery) whilst I cooked our dinner.  I then collapsed on the sofa and slept for a few hours so perhaps going out for lunch wouldn't have been such a good idea anyway. 

Just so that I have a picture in my post, here is a card I made last week using Making Memories gorgeous Just Chillin' collection.

It features that lovely Hero Arts birdy stamp too.

I did a layout this morning using the same range of papers, I will upload it tomorrow when I have scanned it.