Project Life weeks 1 -3 & some layouts!

Hello!!

Well I finally got round to uploading some photos of my work ... and finally I'm blogging them!

I apologise in advance for what will be a pretty photo heavy post!

Here are my title pages and weeks 1 to 3 for my project life; I really am loving doing this!

Title page:

And  the left hand side of week 1:

right hand side:

I got each of us to write down our new year's resolutions for week one, I love that we can all get involved in this project.

Week 2 left side:

Tiegan made me the little green card; she just made it and put it into my folder where I am keeping all my stash I've picked out do do the first few weeks... it reads"I love my Mummy"

And the right hand side;

And finally week 3... left hand side;

there is a close-up of the little letter that Madison wrote me further down;

Here's the right hand side;

This letter Madison wrote me is so cute! She wrote it in my notebook and so I had to cut it out & use it for one of my inserts...

It reads "my Mummy is the best mummy in the "hole" world and I love her a lot. Love my mummy Madison xxx"  Be still my heart!!!!

Most of the stash I have used is from a Sarah's Cards kit (Random by Crate - lush lush lush!!!) - I plan to try to use up more of my old kits on the project as I go along.

Here's a couple of layouts I've done lately, the first is of Tigs playing in the leaves in the park, and I just love this photograph of her;

Papers are from Prima and I just loved all of the fussy cutting to put the page together.

Here's one of Madison, its a phot she took of herself!

More Crate random and a transparency from Prima... pretty!

Told you it was a photo heavy post! I have some more layouts to share this week and hopefully by the weekend I will have put together week 4 of PL :)

Thanks for popping by, have a fab week
Hugs Claire xxx

PROJECT LIFE (Photos to come!)

Hello!!

Anyone else doing project life?

I thought about it last year & decided I didn't have the time to commit - I thought I'd give it a go & I'm absolutely LOVING IT!!!!

OK so I have to restrain myself from making mini-layouts in the inserts, otherwise I really wont have the time, but I just love how it captures, normal everyday things, like things the girls say & do, me brushing their hair, my work etc etc etc

I'm keeping a notebook in my handbag, in the car and in my briefcase so that I dont miss jotting things down & I'm using both my camera  my iphone to take pix.

I promise I will try to upload some photos of the first 3 weeks as well as some layouts over the weekend....

Have a fab weekend
Lots of love xxx

I don't get it....

Ok so here's the thing.... I just dont get it....

How could anyone turn their back on these two little girls?

Be their father for 4 years, do what you did, be punished ( if the justice system believes thats what it was) for it, then make a new life for yourself and just vanish from theirs. Its been almost 6 months since you spoke to them - that's a twelfth of their lives... Christmas came & went without a word....

My heart aches for my children when I leave them to go to work .... I would walk barefoot over broken glass to get to them... nothing would keep me from them, no matter how hard it was or what obstacles I faced.

I am their mother, they are my life and I adore them... they need me and I need them. They are my total reason for living, my everything.

We are now so happy and settled, they have forgotten sitting screaming under the dining table, terrified of what happened to them... what you did to them that day.... they are content.

Their friends no longer tease them in the playground about their Daddy not loving them because he drove them home from school too drunk to stand up..... They have almost forgotten... but never totally... they still scream if I reverse out of the drive & I am not wearing a seatbelt.....

You did that to them.... and yet I gave you a chance to prove you could be a father to them.... you dipped in & out for a while, but you didn't want them, you wanted your old comfortable life back, ......now you have found a new life and they are forgotten....

How could you?

I want you to know this..........             they no longer need you, I tried to bring you together for 18 months because I believed it was best for them to have you in their lives.... I was wrong, they are better off without you.

They deserve better.... they are beautiful, loving, funny children who deserve stability and love in their lives.... and finally I realise, they have all the love and stability that they need   ... in me.

And in the new life that we now have.

You see, I can't replace you ... I wouldn't want to because the father that you were isn't one that they need.... they now have all that they need and finally I can close the door on that chapter of my life and start really enjoying the one I am living now.

But you should also know this.... having finally made this decision and been through so many chances to try to bring you together, know now that if you ever come to your senses and realise what it is you have lost.... it will be too late.

I will never let you hurt my darling babies again.... I will stop at nothing to prevent you hurting them (however slight) again. And I am not alone.... those little girls are now surrounded by more love then they have ever known..... they are happy and content and so my heart is full.

I know you won't read this and to those that do, I am sorry for my rant.... this to me finally represents closure on the events of the last 2 years. I feel lighter already!!!!

Long time.....

A belated Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas break, I can't believe we are now into 2012!
2011 ended up being a great year for me & my girls, we are happy and settled at last... I've finally started scrapping again & am really enjoying being creative once again.

This Christmas saw the arrival of our "elf on the shelf" - Santa wrote a letter to Mads & Tigs telling them that he would be sending them an elf to keep an eye on them in the run up to christmas, all they needed to do was name him & sprinkle magic dust on him & he would come to life when they were asleep... the letter did warn them that elves can be very naughty.

3 days later, the elf appeared on our doorstep... he was sprinkled with magic dust and named..... Fred !!
Fred??? Really???

Actually after a few days the name seemed to "suit him" - and so Fred became part of the family, every mornng the girls loved finding him in different places, where he had been up to no good. He was found in the bath, in the fridge, laying on my bed watching tv etc etc.

The girls were a little sad that he left with Santa on Christmas Eve, although he did leave them a note with their presents to say that he hoped he might be able to come back next year....

Here's Fred in the fridge...

I took lots of pictures of Fred... so I have lots to scrap!

I spent the whole of December making my own wreath... it took forever, but I'm really pleased with the results! I used a polestyrene base from hobbycraft, lots of plain copier paper and some gems, and thats about it really, other than lots of blood, sweat & tears!!!

I also made our crackers this year - hobbycraft do a fab kit to make them, you just add a little decoration & your own presents. I got the girls a lipgloss keyring each and Paul some cufflinks, he got my a necklace & put it in my cracker before I tied them up. The decoration was so simple, a journalling stamp, little flower embellishment and a thicker for each of our initials.

I also got on with my mini-book to journal December, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with the December Daily project like I had the year before, so I just made the mini-book and printed off my photos at regular intervals... I just need a couple of hours to print off my journalling now to put it all together; bit of a blurry shot, but you get the idea...

A fab photo opportunity arose on new year's eve; my brother had a fancy dress party...

the girls looked fabulous;

I cant believe that I managed to get Maddy's hair to go like that with a bit of backcombing & some coloured spray!

Paul & I also joined in, not sure what I was meant to be but he looked rather debonair!!

And I actually got some layouts done!! I haven't uploaded the photos yet so will share later this week...

My new year's resolution is to scrap more & blog more!!!

Life is good at the moment, just great... my heart feels full and I feel happy. I feel very, very blessed.
Thanks for popping by
Claire xxx

New layouts

So I finally got down to some scrapping over the weekend! I did some crafting with Tiegan which is always fun as she's actually pretty good when she accepts that everythign doesn't have to be perfect!

This first layout is a photo that I've wanted to scrap for ages, and I used papers that I've been holding onto for ages, not wanting to cut into them for some reason!! The papers are Websters and I've also used a Prima mask, a prima vine, and of course the obligatory mists & distress ink; The photograph is of my brother and nephew with my new baby neice when she was just a day old. The look of wonder in Daniel's little face is just lovely.

The next is a layout using an old kit from Sarah's Cards - I thought I would try a different style, with cleaner lines & less inking & distressing. I really dont like how it turned out!!! I guess its a lesson learnt, but its  another layout for the album & another memory captured!

See? Not one of my best at all!!! But its good to be scrapping again, I still havent solved the storage issue or whether to scrap upstairs or downstairs so I'm kind of doing both!!

Thanks for popping by xxx

51 sleeps... really?

Is it really only 51 sleeps till Christmas? Where on earth has this year gone?!!

I'm feeling very envious of all the ladies off on the Sarah's Cards retreat this weekend.... I soooo enjoyed myself in March, but I promised the girls a firework party this weekend... ho hum! Still, I consoled myself by ordering some lovely stash online, cant wait till my pizza boxes arrive!

I ve been finding lots of craftign time lately, and seem to have several projects on the go, so very little completed as yet; a holiday mini-book, a christmas wreath, some paper shoes, 3 circle journals, a layout that is taking forever with tons of fussy cutting, but I'm loving it... so lots to share soon.

A few bits I can share now; the photographs are really bad for some reason?

The first is an old layout I did for SBM of Maddy in the snow last year; love these prima blooms, yummy!

This one is another old LO for SBM, I was provided with these papers, and decided to amke a collage of photographs of a holiday in Kefalonia;

And finally a birthday card I made for Mum using an older kit from Sarah's Cards, as you can tell, I'm really not a cardmaker!!!

Well thats it for me, I'm off to buy fireworks and yummy food for tomorrow night and a well deserved bottle of red, it is the end of the week afterall! happy bonfire night all xxx

Long time no blog.............

Wow its been ages.... I haven't blogged, haven't scrapped or been on any online forums for soooo long.

Its for good reasons though mostly, life has kind of taken over again & the girls and I are happy and settled in our "new" life. We've finally moved on & put the past behind us & been able to forget all the horrible things that the last year threw at us. The past rears its ugly head now & then but we are able to stamp on it when it does!!

So I've now started to get back into my scrapping, I've done a few layouts & am halfway through a minibook about our holiday... so I will post some pictures later this week, but I thought I would summarise the last few months with some iPhone photos;

Tiegan in her high heeled boots; she really is a diva in the making!!

The girls on the way to our holiday.... are we nearly there yet?!!!

 Oh dear Tigs had an accident running around with a yoghurt drink in her hand.... oops!

 Maddy joined a football team, team shot after the first match - yes she is the only girl!!!

 I got my tattoo done finally ! Ouch - 4 hours of hurt!

 I celebrated 5 months with my Mr M - he buys me my favourite pink roses every month to celebrate ... sweet eh?!

 I took the girls to see their first pop concert; Katy Perry at the o2;

So its been a busy few months, yes I plan to try to blog more, and now things are settled I plan to craft more.... here I face a dilemma; do I leave my craft things upstairs in the spare room... this means I dont so as much as I am there on my own while Mr M & the girls are downstairs.... or do I move it all into the corner of the dining room which will mean I do a lot more, but will then be moaning that the hosue looks untidy?!!! hmmm!

Thanks for dropping by, have a fab day xxxx