Musings of a Stash Junkie

Update

2008-02-03T11:06:00.000Z

Just a quick update as I haven't posted for a while! Olivia is doing well now and gaining weight. She is very good on the whole and sleeps as well as can be expected for a 4 week old baby! After a late feed around midnight she usually wakes once around 4a.m. and then sleeps until morning. I am one of those people that *need* my sleep so I am finding even this to be completely exhausting but I have friends with new babies whose sleep is much more erratic so I mustn't complain!

I love the picture above. Mum had Izzy for me overnight on Tuesday and so on Wednesday morning I had the luxury of a little time and I set up a little photo shoot. Considering the lighting was from my bedroom window and the back drop is Darrens dressing gown I am quite pleased with the result!

Welcome Olivia Ruby

2008-01-16T15:26:00.000Z

Olivia Ruby was born at 10:11a.m. on Monday 7th January. We stayed in hospital until Thursday evening and then came home. Unfortunately she had jaundice and there was a problem with her weight - she was incorrectly weighed at birth and so we couldn't tell how much she had lost so combined with the jaundice and being extremely sleepy we ended up back at the hospital in the Special Care Baby Unit on Monday. Livvy managed to lose more weight the first day we were there despite the formula top ups, however from Tuesday to Wednesday (today) she gained 110g so we are back home again!

Tomorrow is THE day!

2008-01-06T21:41:00.000Z

Feeling really surreal tonight, it is so weird *knowing* that tomorrow the baby will be born. We have had loads of lovely messages \ e mails and texts from people wishing us well which is so nice.

Just had to post this picture taken by the wonderful Kirsty Wiseman when she came to do a workshop at our retreat.

I felt like I had an enormous bump then but compared to it now it looks quite small!!! This pregnancy has been way more uncomfortable than the last (probably due to having to run round after a toddler as well but I really quite like my bump and will be sad to lose it - of course I *won't* lose the bump altogether but once the baby is born it will stop being a lovely pregnancy bump and start being yucky old belly that needs to be lost pronto!!!!

Recent Favourite...

2008-01-05T21:56:00.000Z

As I posted before i have been trying to get more photos scrapped, some layouts have been scraplifts or quick and easy but I have also been playing about with different techniques.

This is my favourite layout recently, I adore the colours in Scenic Route Salem so although there isn't loads of the paper visible it was my starting point. I also used some Scenic Route Metropolis and some Autumn Leave Rhonna Farrer Scribbles papers.

I have also been really into Technique Tuesdays Tecnique Tiles recently and used several on here painted with Jo Sonjas and then either doodled on, added to with rub ons or just glzed with glossy accents.

The buttons in the callops along the bottom were so much fun to make! I used plain white fimo and just fiddled about squashing balls of fimo into rounds and then pressing lids into them for indents, piercing them to make the holes and using various bits and pieces to make textures on them. Then I cooked them, painted them to match the layout and glazed them with glossy accents too - so much fun :)

I may find time to post tomorrow but if not I am off to hospital early on Monday morning so won't post after that until at least next wekend!

Honey I'm Home!

2008-01-03T21:27:00.000Z

Well after a 4 month absence I have decided to make my way back to blog land! I stopped updating because I felt like I was just doing it on auto pilot and I wasn't doing a whole lot creative wise so it seemed silly to continue for the sake of it.

Anyhow, I have decided I am going to give blogging another shot - I won't be posting daily as "Our News" from my last post i.e. baby number 2 is going to be arriving in 4 days time by C Section so I am not nuts enough to think i will have oodles of time to blog but I will make an effort to post more frequently!

Things in our house are a little crazy right now - Isabelle is a complete fruit loop but totally gorgeous too, she had a fantastic Christmas but as they say is often the case i think she realises change is rapidly approaching on the horizon and she is a little bit unsettled in terms of sleeping, that combined with a case of the terrible twos and "I don't want to" syndrome is making everything a bit hard work!

In addition we are in the middle of selling the house and moving to a house to be shared with Mum and Dad - this may sound like a crazy plan but it is a big house so plenty of room for both families to have their own space, and it has oodles of potential!

On the scrapbooking front, ATDML will be getting it's own premises in the grounds of the new house so that is exciting for 2008. The November Retreat was a great success and we had a blast. We are repeating the event in March on a bigger scale - places still available if anyone wants to join us for a weekend of scrapping fun - Friday 14th - Sunday 16th March. Details are HERE!

Personally I am trying to get a bit more up to date with Isabelles album as i am all too aware that soon I will have another album to keep up with! For me this means accepting that not every layout has to take hours or planning and execution and that it is ok to mix and match between complicated layouts and quick and simple ones. I have sorted through my "Photos to Scrap" box and tried to be a bit more realistic about how many layouts I am likely to get done. I sorted the photos into "Must Scrap" "Maybe" and "Been Sitting Here So Long I Am Obviously Never Going To Scrap This!!" There are still loads to do but it did make me feel better to remove a whole lot from that box and put them in a separate box for now.

So here are a few layouts i have been working on:

I am completely loving Scenic Route at the moment! I used Salem for the Autumn layout and Loveland for the Fantillusion layout. Neither of these are WOW layouts or particularly creative, but I guess they illustrate what I mean by allowing myself to do some layouts which I like but which aren't at all complicated or fancy - they just showcase photos I like for different reasons and get the pages done!

Our News...

2007-09-07T09:22:00.000+01:00

OK so I have been a bit sneaky and have been keeping our news under wraps for a while because it makes the time pass quicker but I thought I ought to introduce the newest member of our family - due in January 2008!

This is my 20 weeks scan from Monday just gone (although i will be 22 weeks at the weekend) In our local hospital they will not tell you whether it is a boy or girl although you can pay for a private scan to find out. We are not going to though as a surprise is nice at the end of it all :) We are working on the basis that if we have a girl then we have loads of girl things already and if we have a boy we have one of each then - which ever it is we are happy.

Holiday Pics

2007-09-06T10:52:00.000+01:00

A Few Isle of Wight Photos, some from Arreton Barns Craft Centre, the park, the Donkey Sanctuary and one of Izzy and Libby Libby eating ice cream on the least sunny day we were there!...

Home Again!

2007-09-03T08:52:00.000+01:00

Well we took the opportunity to pop over to the Isle of Wight for a 5 day mini break staying with family last week. We had a great time and by this summers standards the weather was very kind to us! Whilst it wasn't glorious sunshine we didn't get rained on at all and it was only overcast on one day.

i went to the Isle of Wight every summer as a child as Mum and I used to go and stay with my Gran so I have hundreds of very happy memories of the place. Of course I have a memory card full of photos which I will post shortly but we didn't get back til early evening on Friday, I was due to go out for my monthly meal with friends so rushed off to that and then on Saturday I spent the time looking after Izzy Whizz and then went over to Mums to stay the night and get ready for the craft fair we went to at Hintlesham on Sunday. In amongst all that i haven't had time to upload and edit the photos from the Isle of Wight yet but I will do that soon!

Today is quite a busy day and very exciting! I will post more about that later or tomorrow when i have added the Isle of Wight pictures!

A Few More Holiday Snaps...

2007-08-19T22:31:00.000+01:00

Just adding a few more of my holiday photos. Disneyland Paris obviously had a lasting effect on Izzy, several times she has come in to our room in the morning, dived on my head and said "Wake Up Mummy - lets go to Disneyland!" I might add that usually it is the other way round and I go and wake her up but with Darren off for the school holidays I get the luxury of a lie in!!!

I have to say we did actually order Belle an Apple Juice in King Ludwigs Castle (where this was taken) but as her Daddy was indulging in the happy hour, buy one get one free on LITRES of beer I couldn't resist taking this photo as she looked so amazed when it came!

I love this picture of Isabelle with some of her favourite friends in the whole world! When we were getting ready to go to Disney she kept reeling off a list of who she would see there and she would say, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Chloe, Susanna, Johnny, Jo, "Slimon" Sneezy, Bashful, Dopey and Cinderella! I love how she added our friends right in the middle like they were Disney characters too!

Finally, i was all geared up to try and take some good fireworks photos but I never got around to setting up the tripod and staking out a great spot. I really enjoyed the "Wishes" fireworks show but as the castle is not fully illuminated throughout I found it hard to get photos of the fireworks which showed the catle. Part of the show involces them projecting images onto the castle which is great to watch but not to photograph! I quite like this shot though as the fireworks and smoke sort of create a silhouette of the catle which I like.

Back From Disneyland Paris

2007-08-15T09:40:00.000+01:00

Well OK we got back a few days ago but I needed to get my photos uploaded. We had a wonderful time. Izzy loved the rides - her favourite was "choonior" which we worked out after a couple of days was Casey Junior the Circus train! She also enjoyed the teacups - I love this pic of her with everything blurred, Darren looks a bit like an alien but the shot of Izzy is cool!

She also fell in love with Minnie Mouse and the highlight for me was her face when we were sitting in Cafe Mickey and she spotted the characters. She got really excited and then enjoyed the characters coming round the tables to see her.

As always with a Disney holiday it passed too quickly and I wish we had spent more time just soaking up the atmosphere, enjoying the details and relaxing, maybe next time!! We didn't do all the rides by any means, there were several we did 3 or 4 times and lots that we missed out but we had a lovely time.

i was really pleased with how well Izzy did on the journeys, even though it was a total of about 7 hours each way (including stops) she was really good in the car, helped of course by having Elizabeth in the back entertaining her and some nice lengthy sleeps! She also did well in the parks, Darren took her back in the evening most nights after dinner but she managed to stay up for the Fantillusion parade one night which wasn't on til 25 past 10 and I am glad she saw it, it was beautiful.

Darren really doesn't do Disney so the highlights of his holiday were a couple of the meals and finding a crate of Old Speckled Hen beers at the Euro Tunnel terminal for just 18 Euros for 24 cans - Bargain!

Movies

2007-08-01T22:01:00.000+01:00

It’s been said that allegedly if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up........if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
( ) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
(x ) Saw
(x) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( x) 50 First Dates
( x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Pie Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( x) Signs
( ) The Grinch
(x ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x ) Along Came Polly
( x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) King Kong
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(x ) Halloween
( x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
( ) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
(x ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
(x) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Seven
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) E.T.
(x ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(x ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x ) She’s All That
(x) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( x) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
( ) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x ) The Terminator 3
( ) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X3
( ) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( x) Catch Me If You Can
( x) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(x ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street*
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
() Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
(x ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc
(x) Titanic
( ) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
(x ) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
(x ) Kill Bill Vol. 1
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( x) Kingdom of Heaven
( x) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(x) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix: Reloaded
( ) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(x ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( x) Hannibal

Total - 75 of the films listed

OK so officially I have 10 films left before I "Have No Life" but lots of my favourite movies are not even on the list!

What happened to The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Goodfellas, The Godfather (1,2 and 3) The Jaws series, Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman and too many more to mention! I think i can afely say I am well past the 85 mark, I just wish I had more time to watch movies!

Thanks & Photography Write Up

2007-07-17T22:56:00.000+01:00

First of all thank you for the messages and e mails i have had about my Grandma. It is nice to know there are people who are thinking of you.

Now i wanted to post the write up of my trip to the Lake District for the Annabel Williams photography course "Capturing The Essence of Childhood"

First off, when you look at the RAC route planner and it tells you it is 6 hours driving, it isn't lying. After 3 hours i kicked into "Are we nearly there yet?" mode. The Lake District is a long way from Essex by car!

I stayed over in a nice little B&B pub in Stavely called the Eagle and Child. breakfast was good, beds were comfy.The course ran from 9:15a.m. til 4:30p.m. although we over ran a bit. First we were introduced to Sandi Friend who was leading the course. She has done a lot of childrens fashion work but also does portrait sessions quite a lot now. She was very friendly and relaxed, showed us some of her work and talked through the psychology of the shoot, what to expect from different ages of children and how to deal with parents.

Then we went out on a shoot with a family of three kids, a 6 year old girl and two boys aged 4 and 2. They had a selection of clothes and she talked us through how she selects what they will use, thinking about the location and also why she discards some of the options (too heavily patterned or with distracting logos etc...)

So off we went wandering round Stavely. We walked through a little industrial area and i was talking to a girl in the group saying that I would have liked to have stopped to shoot there and lo and behold, round the corner we stop by a pile of old wood and metal and industrial stuff. I guess they often shoot round here as no one in the area batted an eyelid - Sandi gave the area a check round for sharp metal and nails etc and then we shot some pictures of the children individually in and around the wood pile. One of her tips is that putting smaller children on piles of stuff (obviously not too high!) is a good idea as they don't move so you can get a few of your posed sitting still shots done!

The children on the morning shot were most difficult of the two sets to work with. The 2 year old was clearly too little to take any direction, the 4 year old took some direction but very much had his own agenda and the 6\7 year old girl was VERY self conscious and didn't really do smiling \ looking happy etc... til near the end when we caught her off guard. Obviously it was a bizarre situation as there were 12 photographers not just one so it must be off putting if you are a little kid who is a bit self conscious anyway.We went back to the studio and talked about the shoot, asking Sandi questions and then had lunch (Moussaka and various salads and breads - yes there was a veggie option as well!)

After lunch we looked through a complete set of shots Sandi took at a shoot and she talked about which she had shown the client, which were left out and then, interestingly what the client had bought. Apparently the client spent around £5,000 which I guess highlighted which market Sandi works in!

Then we went out on a shoot with a gorgeous family whose kids were 6 and 9 and it was completely different. There was a lot more direction given but it was still fun, this morning it was more a case of getting them to play games which would lead to good shots, the kids in the afternoon were happy to listen and do what they were asked. it was also good in the afternoon to see how Sandi worked with the parents who were in some of the shots too.

Back to the studio to talk it through and a question and answer session and we were done.I really enjoyed the day and seeing how a professional photographer runs a shoot - I guess one of the big things I learned is that the whole time you are with the group doesn't have to be spent pressing the shutter, it is fine to stop and spend time talking with them, playing and doing what is necessary to get them in a comfortable state so you can get the best fromt hem. I also REALLY learnt how adaptable you have to be - the difference between all the kids was amazing, from the crazy gorgeous 2 year old to the serious 9 year old it was a huge difference of course but also the two girls who were both 6 or 7 were completely different to work with so it isn't just an age thing!

It was an expensive course and while I am glad I did it, I didn't immediately decide to book another one of their days. We will see... I was a bit worried before I went that everyone would be pro photographers as a lot of people who are doing it as a job go on her courses. I would say half the group were working photographers, another quarter were in the process of becoming photographers and the rest were enthusiasts but to their credit we weren't made to feel out of place.

My only niggle was that when someone asked about charging session fees and how people say "What do I get for my £85?" (that was the example a girl was charging as her session fee) the course leaders basically said they weren't the right type of clients and that eventually as her reputation grew people like that would stop calling! They were pretty much saying everyone should aim to take £1000 as an average in sales and session fee from every portrait session they did. All well and good in terms of money making but I don't know anyone who can afford to just spend a grand or two on a photo session. If I was ever to want to get paid for taking pics I am sure i would be rubbish at the vusiness side because I would want to do sessions for people that wanted them not just people who could afford to give me a thousand pounds or more for the pictures!!!!

Sad Day

2007-07-13T21:26:00.001+01:00

I was going to post an update about my photo course today but that will wait til another day.

My Grandma has been very poorly for a while and she died today.

I wanted to post this photo on my blog today as I love it - it was taken when she was quite a bit better and Izzy and Darren and I went to see her. I have already scrapped it which I am pleased about. She kept saying we had made her day going up there with Izzy to visit.

Been A Busy Girlie

2007-07-02T22:36:00.000+01:00

Lots of new stock in the shop so have been trying to upload that - New Basic Grey Infuse is in, Rusty Pickle Mayflower is in (and going on the site tonight \ tomorrow) plus more 7 Gypsies, KI etc...

I am hosting this months photography competition on UKScrappers which is fun. My theme this month is "Extreme" i am really looking forward to seeing the entries :)

Not much to report home wise, Izzy is still throwing herself wholeheartedly into the Terrible Twos phase. You have to give her credit, she doesn't like to do things by halves! Her current favourite phrase is "No, I'm Busy" when asked to do pretty much anything she doesn't want to do.

Next week i am off to the Lake District for my Annabel Williams Photo Day - "Capturing The Essence of Childhood" i am REALLY looking forward to it although the prospect of driving to the Lake District and back over two days is, to be honest, not filling me with excitement. Nevermind, i hope it will be worth it. it may also mean that I hurry up and get some more photos to post on my blog!

Still Here!

2007-06-19T17:44:00.000+01:00

Nothing much of note that I feel like sharing on here is happening right now hence no updates! We have a show at Hintlesham near Ipswich on Sunday, or rather Mum does because Darren is away on a residential school trip so i am home with Izzy all weekend!

Tomorrow I am also off on a school trip, but only for the day, to Marsh Farm in Essex. It is supposed to be really lovely so I am quite looking forward to it!

No pictures to post at the moment and not a single minute spent crafting so nothing to upload - I have circle journals waiting to be done and no time at the moment. It doesn't help that Isabelle has decided she doesn't need a lunch time nap and worse still is climbing out of the cot (cue a second more disasterous Sudo Cream incident yesterday!) You can tell it was a bad one as i didn't even have the inclination to get the camera, I just surveyed the devastation in her room and wondered where on earth to start!

That's about it for now - just thought I had better update!

Busy Week

2007-06-10T11:14:00.000+01:00

As Isabelle gets older she will learn the art of spinning out your birthday to last at least a week and I have been working on that this week!

Saturday 2nd - Family Party

Monday 4th - Actual birthday, cake and candles at Music

Thursday 7th - Picnic with friends

Friday 8th - Swimming and lunch with friends

I still haven't had time to do any crafting whatsoever although I am going to photograph a couple of layouts that I finished a while ago and get them uploaded hopefully today.

If anyone can tell me exactly how to fit in scrapping, in amongst running a business, working part time, having a family and attempting a social life i would love to know. Answers on a postcard please!

**Edited** Ok now i have photographed the layout although I can't for the life of me get a decent, straight photo of a layout and my A3 scanner (Mustek) is not compatible with Windows Vista much to my annoyance. i am holding out in the hope they write a driver for it so it will work but I am not happy at the prospect of buying a new scanner :(

So here is the layout. Isabelle adores Jonathon and asks me nearly everyday if we are going to "See Johnny?" Try as i might I haven't been able to get a good photo of them together. On the day this was taken we decided to try to get them to sit and pose for a picture together so I said "Go and sit together in front of the tree" - of course being the impeccably good and obedient children they are the both ran behind the tree and peeped round the other side... click click click and I got this shot which I LOVE!

The title came very easily (unsurprisingly) and although the lettering isn't perfect (I used masks and paint) I decided i quite like the little imperfections and persevered with it. When I thought i had finished I went away and came back and decided to add the little pink flowers to balance all that green and to pick out the pink in Izzys hat and the tree looked very large so I cut out the heart, used masks and watermark ink to create the word friends and stuck it in the middle.

Happy Birthday Izzy Whizz!

2007-06-04T17:32:00.001+01:00

Our baby is TWO today!

It seems like a lifetime ago but also only a heartbeat ago that Isabelle was born and now she is two. We had a family party on Saturday which was lovely (although somehow her neglectful Mummy and Daddy FORGOT to do the birthday cake!!!!)

As Darren is back to work today we spent the day as we normally do going to music in the morning and I took along the cake so everyone could sing to her there. i also managed to get a birthday cake and candles shot!

This afternoon we have been shopping to buy her last minute present (it wasn't available to be delivered on time if i ordered online so I had to collect it today) and Darren came home earlier than usual so we have been playing in the garden and Izzy has been making music!

Woinderful Wembley!

2007-06-03T17:06:00.000+01:00

Darren and i had a great time at Wembley on Friday, we wanted to take pictures and checked about whether they officially allowed cameras into the ground - the answer was that a smallish compact camera is fine but not one with "lenses and stuff!" I translated this as point and shoot but not DSLR which is a shame as i wanted to try out my long zoom and play with the settings for some shots. Nevermind though, our old digi compact has an 11x zoom so it did an ok job..

We drove to Stanmore (we usually park at Newbury Park and get the tube into London but it was better to drive further and only be four stops on the tube this time) journey was pretty good til we were nearly at the Tube station and then it got a bit slow as everyone tried to park.

Four short stops and we were at Wembley Park Station, as you exit the station you get a view up Wembley way which is a good start! We were heading for a pub Darren found on the net (in the hope of a bit of food and not too expensive beer, but after a very long walk it was packed out, nowhere to sit and eat except in the middle of a throng of smokers - urgh, I try to be tolerant but I really can't stand to have smoke breathed all over my food :(

So we had a quick drink and headed to Pizza hut instead! A bowl of salad and a Chicken Supreme later we headed back to the Stadium.

Wow - I was very impressed. It looked great from the outside, there were no problems with excessive queues to get in and although we were in the top tier there were escalators and lifts manned by stewards to ensure that everyone got to their seat quickly and safely.

Now this may sound bizarre but I think you can tell a lot about a place by the toilets!!!!! Darren and I travelled to Milan for the day to the famous San Siro Stadium a few years ago to watch Ipswich play Inter Milan - amazing stadium, glad I went, but the toilets were strategically placed holes in the floor - in the ladies loo. Not up to scratch I'm afraid! In the area we were in the toilets were plentiful, clean and tidy. However the hand driers sounded like there was an alien invasion going on - VERY noisy and strange!

Anyway, toilets aside we went to find our seats. We had opted for the cheapest seats and were prepared for not the greatest view but boy were we pleasantly surprised. We were three rows from the back and diagonally behind the corner flag so pretty much as far as you can get away but the whole pitch was clearly in view, there was plenty of room in the seats and the gradient was steep enough so the person in fronts head wasn't in the way but not so steep you felt like you might fall off!

Before kick off they held a minutes applause for Alan Ball which was well respected and I managed to use the zoom to get this shot of the players clapping.

I couldn't get right in on the action without going into the digital zoom which ruins the quality but I like this pic which captures the zie of the stadium and the crowd as well as a bit of the game.

Anyway, enough rambling, we had a fab time, it was great to see David Beckham playing again (excuse the picture it was taken off the big screen) and we thought he or John Terry should have been man of the match not Steven Gerrard.

As we left I managed to get some pics of the arch all lit up which was lovely.

Had A Really Good Day!

2007-05-31T23:53:00.000+01:00

After the crappy weather and general pooness of half term so far today has been great. Sun was shining, sky was blue and we had a good day :)

Isabelle stayed at Mums last night so this morning we went to get her, she and i went to see Jo and her children and spent a lovely couple of hours chatting, playing at the park and eating lunch. Then it was back home for a quick nap (Izzy not me) and back out to our NCT baby group (ok they aren't babies they are all 2 now except Isabelle - she is 2 on Monday!)

Anyway, no pictures today but there will be on the next post as Darren and I are off to Wembley tomorrow for the first senior international match; England Vs Brazil! Can't wait, will definitely take some pictures and get them posted! :)

Wet & Soggy Bank Holiday plus Items For Sale

2007-05-28T12:13:00.000+01:00

Wow, this Bank Holiday weekend has been a real washout. It is still chucking it down with rain outside but I am smiling because Belle is entertaining me singing happy birthday to the ham and tomatoes she is eating for lunch! LOL

I have a few goodies for sale which are from my personal stash (not ATDML stock) but I am putting them on a couple of forums and here on my blog rather than e bay, if you are interested e mail me: Mel@atripdownmemorylane.co.uk

I prefer paypal (am less likely to fritter the proceeds away that way as i am saving!) All prices include P&P.

ALL SOLD PENDING PAYMENT - THANKS LADIES :)

Leave Memories Unmounted Red rubber Stamps: Ribbon Stamps (product number 011203) See attached image. This sheet is approx 5.5" x 8.5" and includes words and phrases which can br printed direct to paper or, as the name suggests, printed onto twill or ribbon. In addition there are some individual words printed ot look like they are in bookplates, a key, a clock and other bits.
I paid £12 plus p&p for this set but have never used them (pack is unopened) and would like £7 inc p&p

PaperArtsy Ecclectic - Plate 2
I love PaperArtsy stamps and I love this set so much I discovered I bought it twice. This set is unmounted red rubber the sheet is approx 3.5" x 5.5" and features some of PaperArtsys most famous designs - great for altered art \ CJ's or ATCs. It is of course unused.
I paid £5.85 and would like £3.50 inc P&P

Somerset Studio ATC Book "Artists Trading cars - An Anthology of ATCs"
This is a beautiful book - it is paper back and the size of a regular paper back book (so very portable for sticking in your handbag for on the go inspiration! The book, as the name suggests, is largely a collection of hundreds of amazing ATC's with some articles and commentry included as well. There are also some pages printed on thicker card which are lightly perforated so you can remove the ATC's. i have looked through this book a few times but it is in perfect condition. I am selling it because i don't get enough time to scrap my photos at the moment let alone spend ages making altered art!
I paid £14.95 for it, I would like £7.50 inc P&P

The Desk Is Alive With The Sound Of Music!

2007-05-22T15:21:00.000+01:00

Woo Hoo - my old PC speakers were rubbish to start with and then they packed up completely. I hadn't realised how much I missed having music playing at the PC until I got my new PC set up with the fabby speakers!

Thanks to Jen I found this site http://www.radioblogclub.com you can create your own playlists and use it like a juke box. Love it!

Currently listening to the Fratellis, Kaisar Chiefs and The Killers (with a little bit of Blondie thrown in as a blast from the past!)

New Computers!!!

2007-05-17T15:06:00.000+01:00

Well after putting up with months of both mine and Mums computers periodically freezing, doing crazy things and basically not working we have got ourselves a pair of shiny new Dell PC's and although I am running mine tandem with the old one while Darren transfers my files I have to say I love love love the new one!

The only problem I am having is that the widescreen monitor is stretching layouts so they all appear rectangular even if they are square! Bizarre!

On Tuesday i went to see the lovely Annie and the even lovelier Addie. If you think that girl is cute in the pictures on Annies blog she is even cuter in real life! Had to laugh as I took some J2O with me as I am having a mini addiction to them and Annie thought I had brought beer...!!

I have a couple of layouts finished ready to upload but the scanner isn't connected right now so they will have to wait - maybe tonight. I browsed the UKS Cyber Crop forum and was intrigued by Shimelles Box of Sweets class using a huge 12x8 photo. I didn't "do the class" but I did get inspired to order some big prints so i have 2 layouts with that size photo on.

Just for Alison here is the picture of Isabelle covered in Sudo Cream from her exploits a week or two ago. She "found" (by half climbing out the cot) a test pot of Sudo Cream and smeared it all over herself and the walls and her cot... Not pleased! Of course being a scrapbooker I took the photo first and then cleaned everything up! The full horror of the mess doesn't quite show in the picture as it was all over the walls as well but there we go!

Excited!

2007-05-13T13:29:00.000+01:00

I have booked myself on an Annabel Williams Discovery Day - "Capturing the Essence of Childhood" on July 11th. I was quite restrained and asked for money towards camera equipment and courses for Christmas and my birthday so I treated myself to this course which I have been looking at for ages!

It does however mean a trip up to the Lake District for a one day course! I think I had better go up the night before and stay over - that way I will at least have some sleep the night before. I don't want to fall asleep during the course and miss it all! LOL

Tagged By Nicki

2007-05-10T09:36:00.000+01:00

I hot this message from Nicki in a blog comment:

I am tagging you!The rules:Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself. People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog. Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog.

OK so, 7 random facts about myself:

I am hopelessly untidy, I have tried all sorts of things but I think the tidy gene was missed from my genetic code! I do recognise my own untidiness and from time to time I think URGH get this mess tidied up, but I just can't seem to control the tidiness issue.
My favourite TV shows are Bones and Hustle - which are currently both airing at the same time, thank goodness for sky plus!
I love football, specifically Ipswich Town and have a tattoo of the horse from the club badge with the football under its hoof and the words Ipswich Town Football Club.
I once asked Kieron Dyer (of Newcastle Utd) if Alan Shearer was as drop dead gorgeous in real life as he is on the telly! Needless to say I was a little bit merry at the time.
I once appeared on the TV show "You Bet!" hosted by Darren Day. He fell down the stairs during our rehearsal. Our challenge was related to a sport called tchoukball which I used to play, we completed it with ease every time in practise so the director reduced our time for the actual show - we failed to complete the challenge then :(
I love organising my scrapbooking stash, I love my Expedit for IKEA which is perfect with it's 13" cubes - it can take paper trays, albums, books etc... I have also just got a clip it up unit to store my flat embellishments on a rotating stand.
I always said I wanted 6 children, after Izzy was born I rationalised that down to 4 (in fact during labour I said that any others had to be adopted as I wasn't doing this again!) Darrent hinks 2 is a much more reasonable number! We'll see!

There we go, now I will work out who to tag and post later. Thanks Nicki!

Lipstick!

2007-05-07T13:01:00.000+01:00

May 2008 sees the launch of the new Lipstick Rehab event. A Trip Down Memory Lane is proud to be one of the retailers at this new event. This is going to be a huge event, lots of "patients" AKA delegates, great teachers and of course great shopping!

To see what all the fuss is about visit the Lipstick Rehab Special Forums at UKScrappers.

Slide

2007-05-06T13:05:00.000+01:00

This started out based on a class by "Mole" on UKS but I went off at a tangent and tried a journaling technique that I have been meaning to try for a while. I quite like the end product although after it was all stuck down I found a photo of Izzy sliding which was a bit more colourful and would stand out better but such is life!

Paper is Christina Cole (remember everyone going nuts for that?!?! - Izzy also got hold of a pack of those papers in the stock room and consequently we have a lot of it in the damaged stock box so I cut my circle from that!)

My Little Star

2007-05-02T18:34:00.001+01:00

Over the weekend I also finished off a layout started a while ago t my friend Dorothys house. It was inspired by this layout Maria did for our Design Team so can't take credit for it all. I also saw the technique of adding glossy accents to transparencies on some layouts people produced in a class by Kirsty. I love the pics of Belle in her Disney sunglasses posing so I just had to do a layout of them!

Cyber Cropping

2007-05-01T12:46:00.000+01:00

I got a whole day to myself on Sunday as Darren offered to take Izzy to the zoo and look after her while I went to Mums to take part in the UKS Cyber Crop. I am not a fast srapper so didn't whizz through all the classes and challenges to claim lots of points. Instead Mum and I picked a couple of classes to do and just did them at our own pace. We both loved Marias class so had to do that one and then we both did "Moles" class too. I also loved the look of Shimelles Box of Sweets class and am ordering a BIG photo from photobox so I can do that one too!

I always think it is amazing how from one class you can get so many different layouts. Obviously a lot of people choose different papers but once you alter the placement a bit and add different embellishments the variations are endless.

You can see Marias layout HERE

and here is my version of her class using Junkitz Friends range and Mums version of the class using Crate Paper Twirl.

I must have been having a blue and green phase on Sunday as my other cyber crop layout is also blue, green and white! I will upload that in the next post as I don't want to risk blogger crashing on me again! I am having terrible PC trouble and have been frantically trying to back things up but unfortunately my PC is telling me it now doesn't recognise the DVD RW drive so I am stuck and hoping I don't have any fatal, lose everything type errors before Darren gets the DVD writer working and at least backs up my photos and the business emails and files!!! Fingers crossed!

Little Cousins

2007-04-25T19:21:00.000+01:00

The colour on this is a little off and the picture is a bit wonky because I had to photograph it leaning up against my AMM tote as the scanner is playing up again.

I love this picture of Isabelle and her little cousin Anya, it was taken just before Christmas the first time they met. I know Nic, my sister in law and Anyas mum, pops by and looks at my blog from time to time so if she sees it I hope she likes this layout of the two little cousins!!

I used Stella Ruby by Basic Grey, some gorgeous glittery chipboard letters from Autumn Leaves (for the word cousins) my new Autumn Leaves Hand Drawn Typewriter alphabet stamps, Rusty Pickle Acetate and some Rhonna Farrer Scribbles stickers.

I have more uploading to do tonight for the website but I have a headache and would much rather sit and faff about with a layout I want to get finished... we'll see how quickly I can get the new products on!

No I Haven't Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth!

2007-04-24T16:14:00.000+01:00

Blogger has been doing funny things to me and not letting me log in and post. Touch wood it seems to be sorted so I have lots to catch up on!

The Sound Of Music was GREAT! We followed the Maria TV show and loved Connie best so I was glad she won. However she has been poorly recently and we prepared ourselves to see her understudy - West End understudies are usually pretty good anyway so I knew we would be in for a treat! When we got there we got a lovely surprise as it was in fact Connie playing Maria and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Well actually, I did have a little problem with the child in front of me whose parents thought it was ok to let their son, who looked about 8 so old enough to know better, stand up periodically and completely block my view. I know it is hard when you are in the Upper Circle and can't see perfectly but there were a large number of children in the audience who all had a great time and stayed seated so it did annoy me that I sat behind the child who wanted to stand up all the time. Oh well, didn't let it spoil my evening though.

Last Sunday we went to Hoveton for a Scrapbooking event, it was nice to spend the day catching up with some familiar faces, Nicki was there teaching and Annette came by with Rose who is looking VERY grown up and as usually completely gorgeous! We took some new stock to Hoveton and I have been putting it on the site over the last couple of days. I am loving all the new stuff we have got in. 7 Gypsies releases are always yummy but aswell we have just had in some lush stuff from Maya Road, some Autumn Leaves goodies which I want all of and there is even more on the way!

I have just about finished a couple of layouts I had on the go so I will post them when they are finished.

Ooohhh Excited

2007-04-12T13:21:00.000+01:00

Been a rubbish blogger - I have been doing things and I do have a layout to post and photos to post but I only have a minute.

We (Elizabeth, Rebecca, My Auntie and I) are off to see The Sound Of Music tonight. I have no idea if Connie ever made it back after her illness caused her to have time off but I am sure it will be great whoever is playing Maria.

The Hills Are Alive.................................... (Yeah ok, I will stop singing now - it's best for all concerned especially my neighbours.)

Oh and also, I get to stop at Artbase on the way to buy a few bits of loveliness aswell!

Playing With My New Lens

2007-04-06T10:33:00.000+01:00

Although I mostly use my camera for photographing people and events I often go to the zoo as it is right on our doorstep. One of the lovely things about our zoo is that the animals have got decent sized enclosures which is great for the animals but I was finding with the 18-70mm lens I have on the camera I couldn't get close enough. So I did a bit of research and got myself a new lens. I got the Sigma 70-300 f4.5-5.3 APO DG Macro I got it at Jessops but had a magazine with an advert where they agreed to price match any camera of lens in the magazine so I got it at the Warehouse express price which was good!

Anyway, I had a little play with the lens and for the money I am quite happy with it. It will need to be tripod mounted for the longer end which I expected but I also had a little play with it's macro function which was an added extra.

I got this shot which I quite like of a wasp on the pear blossom in our garden. Anyone who knows me knows I hate wasps but I didn't have to get too close!

Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby

2007-04-03T13:52:00.000+01:00

Ok actually just Stella Ruby by Basic Grey. Our Design Team worked with the newest Basic Grey releases last month and luckily for me there were a few sheets of each collection left over so I have been playing with Stella Ruby. Izzys Boat Coat (a few posts down) had a little bit of one of the Stella Ruby papers on it and this layout has a lot more plus a little bit of Winnies Walls by SEI!!

The buttons are Nostalgiques by Rebecca Sowerand the green heart is K&Co from the Hearts and Stars pack.

Just Playing

2007-04-01T15:07:00.000+01:00

I finished my Inchies! Woo Hoo - they are just drying and waiting to go and while I was doing that I decided I fancied playing a bit more with paint and ink and modge podge so I made a little set of ATC's - they won't set the world on fire but I enjoyed making them and found it quite theraputic to make something just because I wanted to! I borrowed the phrase from a Heidi Swapp Overlay because it seemed like a nice little saying and I wanted to use my new clock stamp I bought in California.

I have a background made for another set so I might make some more this evening if I get time.

Scraplift!

2007-03-29T18:43:00.000+01:00

This is a layout that I started months ago and then put to one side and never got round to finishing. Today I got the giant Ric Rac out and stuck it on with the bloom to finish it off.

The original layout was by Debbie Jewell and was one of her entries for the Scrappers Block competition on UKScrappers. I loved her layout and kept it in mind to scraplift when inspiration was running dry. I started this a long time ago when I had barely any time to scrap and a complete lack of ideas. So thanks Debbie for the lovely inspiring layout. :)

Arghh Scanners

2007-03-24T21:20:00.000Z

The scanner is working and I finished off another layout but when I came to scan it the colour rendition is awful. I have to say I like all the ideas for this layout but am not very happy with the outcome. The thing I do like is not shown at all by the scan but all the snowflakes, the frame and the word cold have a sprinkling of glitter courtesy of "Stickles" by Ranger. Now I have to say although I like glittery things I have never been one for adding glittery stuff to my layouts - I always think I end up making a mess of it and it looks tacky. BUT I heard so many people raving about Stickles that I caved in, bought some and have tried it out on here. I love it!

Anyway, the clocks go forward in a few hours so I need to dash and get some sleep.

Oh and by the way, typical that the first time blogger lets me upload an image and allows people to click on it to view it super size I jump the gun and scan it before rubbing some pencil lines out!!! Yes Yes, I know, there are grotty bits of pencil markings all over "Izzys Boat Coat" I am going in search of an eraser in the morning!

Scanner Is Working Again!

2007-03-21T20:25:00.000Z

So I can upload the other layout I finished last weekend. For a while I have wanted to try a layout with a lot of journaling on. There is nothing deep and meaningful, just recounting a holiday memory and looking at it on screen it is harder to read the journaling than in real life (because it goes either side of the photo circle) but I had enjoyed doing it and it is something different for Izzys album. I am going to try this year to vary my style as much as possible trying out new things. I figure it is only paper (gasp!) and i can get the photos reprinted!

I'm currently working on two layouts, one with a painted background, glitter and a technique Tuesday frame and one with a white background, hand written titles, acetate, staz on and a bit more paint (can you tell I am in a painty phase right now!)

Right, must go, I am off to try and sneak in an hour or two of scrapping!

So In Love With Scenic Route Right Now

2007-03-18T22:44:00.000Z

I have been trying to be a bit more productive in the layout department - I will never be a prolific scrapper like Karen but I am trying to find more time to scrap!

Anyway this weekend I have worked on three layouts, a circle journal, an inchie swap and Mums mothers day card which for me is loads (usually I work on one layout for a couple of weeks at a time - yeah super slow I know!) I bought myself a heap of Scenic Route as a little birthday present to myself, along with some Autumn Leaves stamps and I am loving the Scenic Route papers mmmmmmm!

I hate the photo of myself on this layout of Isabelles blessing day but it is the ONLY one we have from the church so I guess it has to do. I have been wanting to scrap this day for a while. It was a lovely day, her first birthday and the day we held her Service of Thanksgiving \ Blessing.

I used the new Scenic Route Laurel papers and chipboard, plus a bit of my precious Basic greyribbon, some Cherry Arte and BG rub ons and Doodlebug alphabet stickers.

I finished another layout but my scanner says it is not connected - it SO is! So that one will have to wait, plus I am having lots of fun with our most recent NCT group picture.

Here's to working through the huge pile of pictures to be scrapped and enjoying every minute of it!

Sunshine Makes Me Smile

2007-03-17T15:02:00.000Z

Well I haven't been so good at blogging lately, but thats because it has been too nice to be in front of the computer. Oh and because we have had tonnes of yummy new stuff coming in to the shop so I have been busy uploading it to the site and so on. It's funny to think we are coming up for two years running A Trip Down Memory Lane in a couple of weeks and to look back from when we started with 100 products from K&Co to today when we have over 80 different manufacturers in stock and a current product catalogue of approximately 2500 items. I look at the stock room and see stuff that makes me smile and drool and feel the urge to shoplift!!!!

Anyway, in addition to shop stuff we have been out and about on outings to the zoo, to town and to friends houses and really making the most of the good weather. I posted a picture before of Izzy in her sunglasses but the picture was terrible and I felt the need to snap some more in front of my white double doors in the lounge. This makes it easy to dodge and clone out the darker areas so they have a nice plain background. These pictures and the recent sunny weather have put a smile back on my face. (the "hitting phase" has not gone but I am trying not to get too miserable about it.)

Oh and did I forget to mention. A certain shipment including 7 Gypsies and American Crafts has landed on UK soil and should be here on Monday - Woo Hoo! Look out for 7 Gypsies appearing on the site at the beginning of the week and American Crafts hot on it's heels!

Having A Little Wobble....

2007-03-12T19:50:00.000Z

Just popping in to post an entry as I haven't blogged for days. Took this photo of Izzy in the lounge on Friday. We borrowed the highchair from the Toy Library and she loves putting her monkey and her doll in it and strapping them in, feeding them and generally being quite cute.

Shame the cute thing doesn't last all the time though.

I am feeling a bit miserable as she has reached the hitting stage. I have been quite laid back about everything so far, eating, sleeping, crawling, walking talking - my philosophy has been she will do everything in her own good time and most things are just a phase (refusing foods etc..) but this one has got me. I am finding it really tough to deal with her hitting \ poking \ pushing other people.

Today seemed like it should have been a lovely day, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and we had a nice day planned but it all went a bit pear shaped with Izzy pushing one of her little friends around and then me wanting the ground to swallow me up when she bashed one of the assistants in the shoe shop.

Arrrggggghhhh It's just a phase - I know, but I want it to be over, soon - preferably tomorrow.

Here's hoping.

There Is Another Toy Besides Mr Monkey!

2007-03-07T21:33:00.000Z

OK it's not an inspiring background but Izzy was popping up and down hiding behind the wall so I snapped a few pics of her little head peeping over the wall!

Neither of these photos is particularly sharp, she doesn't stand still long enough for that and the light was getting low so I had to slow the shutter speed down and up the ISO, but I don't care. I love the not so good snaps just as much as the technically good shots!

Isabelle has recently got into dolls which is a bit of a shock to the system as I never really bothered with them! However, she has a big doll at Mums that my Gran used to have in her shop and a little doll gere which my friend Jo bought her. She can't say Dolly properly, it comes out as Lolly, so we have Little Lolly and Big Lolly! No, neither have replaced Monkey but they are definitely flavour of the month!

WOO HOO! My Wacom Arrived!

My lovely new Wacom Graphire 4 Classic XL has arrived and I have got it hooked up and working. I have had a play on it with a few old photos but haven't tried editing up any from scratch yet. I will let you know how I get on but at the moment I am in love with my new toy! :)

Photos, New Stock and Anticipation

2007-03-06T22:33:00.000Z

I have the camera back and it is charged up so I decided to snap a little picture of one of the flowers from the ones Karen sent me. I put some black cardstock behind it then did a bit of photoshopping to make the black really black and adjust the contrast a little.

I also took some of Izzy in the garden this afternoon but I haven't uploaded those yet.

We have had some cool stuff come in to the shop including loads of A2Z Essentials papers which are rather funky! I like the fact that they are not the same as loads of other papers out at the moment and the collections are all quite different from one another.

We are very excited because we now know our 7 Gypsies order has been picked, will soon be sent to our freight forwarder and we have said to her that as soon as it arrives we would like them to dispatch that and anything else they are holding. So in theory it should be here quite soon YAY! :)

Cropping In Bury St Edmunds

2007-03-04T12:29:00.000Z

Yesterday we took the shop to Nickis crop in Bury. I love going to her crops, everyone is very friendly and usually I get chance to do some scrapping too. We took some of our new stock from CHA and as they had bee on the website the doodling templates were very popular.

Jennie was there teaching a fabulous looking mini book class, I was so tempted to do the class but I really wanted to get a layout done for Isabelles album. I am finding it still so difficult to find time to sit down and scrap at home that opportunity to get on with a layout was too good to miss!

I spent ages faffing around trying to decide what to do but in the end I worked on some photos of Izzy learning to use a spoon to feed herself and getting in a mess! I was dying to use the stamps I bought as a birthday treat to myself so the arrows and the alphabet stamps came out! Plus I had to add a bit of doodling!!! I also used some MM tapes I bought in California and some off cuts of SEI Winnies Walls paper and letter stickers.

More Flowers!

2007-02-28T21:38:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a note through the door about a parcel that they had tried to deliver but I must have been engrossed in playing and didn't hear. Anyway when I went to the Post Office to collect my parcel it was another lovely bunch of flowers - this time from Karen. I've never been so spoilt!

Unfortunately the camera isn't here so I can't snap a pic of them but they are lovely.

Playing With Transparencies

2007-02-26T18:02:00.000Z

I had a nice relaxing evening on Sunday crafting and experimenting with making embellishments out of transparency sheets. Anyway, after lots of faffing and playing I made some bits to use on a layout and today I finished it off while Isabelle had a sleep.

There is a sheet of transparency over the photo with 'love' and the heart stamped on it using Staz On. Then I wrote the word beautiful on an off cut of transparency using an American Crafts slick writer, coloured roughly over the reverse with a white sharpie and inked the edges with staz on. The photo corners are a combination of staz on, slick writer pen and white sharpie all on transparency.

The journaling box is a foofala rub on, "EYES" is done with Creative Imaginations chipboard letters and the lace border is froma Rebecca Sower Nostaligiques pack.

Did I Say I Was Lucky? I Meant Very Lucky!

2007-02-24T13:49:00.000Z

This morning I got another yummy parcel through my door. This time it was a gorgeous canvas made by Clare. Thanks Clare!! Here it is, the photo doesn't do it justice!

Darren and I decided that to make up for having to cancel all my birthday plans we would try and do some nice stuff this week coming. This morning we have been to Colchester Zoo. We are so lucky to live about 3 minutes from this place. They have a great reputation for high standards of animal care and enrichment as well as a breeding programme that is amazing (we've had two baby elephants in the last few years which is no mean feat in a zoo!

We both have Platinum cards for the zoo which allows us unlimited visits over a two year period and with it being so handy Izzy and I can pop in for an hour whenever we fancy without feeling like we have to stay all day to make the most of the entrance price.

Izzy loves the monkeys and the elephants and I love the tigers and the sealions oh and the meerkats. Despite being a Saturday it was much less crowded than I thought. Here's Izzy at the elephant enclosure and a pic I got of one of the tigers.

On the ATDML Front...

I got an e mail from our freight forwarder and we have a shipment en route to us as we speak! This shipment includes mostly new suppliers to us (and in fact most of the items are from companies who were "new exhibitors" at CHA - either brand new companies or new to the show)

I am really excited about some of the cool stuff we have coming. There are some GORGEOUS rub ons, some cool technology for your pages, loads of yummy A2Z paper plus lots more. AND it's nearly March which means a whole load more of our orders that are due for March shipping will be on their way soon!

Feeling Much Better Now!

2007-02-23T12:51:00.000Z

Phew, all the anti biotics and paracetamol are kicking in and I am feeling relatively normal now at last! I snapped a few photos this morning of some of the things I got yesterday, TWO lots of flowers, one from Darren one from Dawn, a beautiful clipboard I got in the post this morning from Maria, my Pad birthday swap gifts from Izzy and the card I got from Shirleen (would have photographed the present with it but now I am half way through eating them the bag isn't very photogenic!!!!

Flowers from Darren

Flowers from Dawn

Altered Clipboard From Maria

Pad Birthday Swap Parcel From Izzy

Birthday card from Shirleen

I really am a lucky girl (and a bit less Eeyorish now I am feeling better!)

Happy Birthday To Me...

2007-02-22T22:25:00.000Z

OK, so here I am. 28 years old today. AND I'M STILL SICK! Felt much better on Monday but on Tuesday I got an excruciating headache and felt like my head would explode if I moved too much. Blurry vision, flashing lights and neck pain meant a swift trip to see the Doctor (and I had to see the mean one with no bedside manor who no one likes - funnily enough he was the only one with appointments left, go figure.

So I still feel rubbish (marginally better now the anti biotics have kicked in.

**Stamps feet**

I'm relocating my birthday to next week but in the meantime thank you to my lovely cyber friends who sent cards and gifts, they were unexpected and sweet and brightened up a grey poorly day.

I'm going to try and take some pictures tomorrow of my pressies and upload them because I need a pretty picture on my blog!

It Didn't Go Quite To Plan

2007-02-18T20:10:00.000Z

Today Mum and I were due to go to Stitches at the NEC. Stitches (short for International Craft Hobby and Stitches) is the main UK trade show for the craft business and most manufacturers and distributors have stands there. I have to confess that several people had said to me that coming so soon after CHA it would probably be a disappointment as the scale of the event is MUCH smaller and you have just seen most of the new releases.

However, I didn't get to find out. I have been feeling a little off colour with a sore throat and flu like symptoms but last night by the time I got to Mums (to stay over and get an extra 20 minutes in bed before an early start) I felt absolutely rotten.

I slept very badly, in fact I only slept between 11 and 2:30a.m. and even then I had really vivid bad dreams which is very unusual for me. Needless to say when Mum came in at six she took one look at me and suggested I stay home. I guess she didn;t fancy a few hours couped up in a germ infested car with me!

I tried to get a bit more sleep but after downing a few Neurofen I felt a bit better and consoled myself with finishing a layout I had started the other night.

It's nothing fancy but I love this photo and I am quite pleased with the layout.

Mum didn't stay that long, placed a few orders, picked up a few catalogues and most importantly met up with a few online friends. I was so sad to miss out on seeing them but I think I probably did the right thing staying at home. As it happens Mum had a coffee with Ginger probably at the same time I was finishing off her Art House Circle Journal - well it needs it's holes punched but then it's done. I will maybe upload a sneak peek next time but not the whole thing as it has to be a surprise when t gets home!

I Scrapped With The New BG!

2007-02-17T16:25:00.000Z

After all the parcels were packed and the Design Team Kits were sent out I managed to get my hands on a few sheets of the new Basic Grey. I used the Phoebe range for this layout of Isabelle playing with my incredibly long scarf a whole year ago!

The bits of paper folded over around the edge of the photo were inspired by the cover of a mini book I did in an Emily Falconbridge class which had ribbons stapled round the edge. I just cut the stripes up to make paper ribbons. I used American Crafts "Thickers" for the title and was really chuffed to discover that the Rhonna Farrer Scribbles stickers I have from Autumn Leaves are a great match for the Phoebe range. I think my scrapping mojo may be returning as I am back to being quite excited about playing with paper again! *Smiles*

Phew - It Arrived and It's Gone Again!

2007-02-15T23:59:00.000Z

The Basic Grey that is.

We have spent the best part of the week sitting around waiting for it to arrive. Each day we were expecting the call and for some reason HM customs decided to be MEAN MEAN MEAN and delay the shipment of Basic Grey.

FINALLY it arrived today. But we hadn't been resting on our laurels, all the pre registered customers who confirmed their orders and paid had pizza boxes ready for them and so as it was lifted out of one box it was packed straight into pizza boxes, with the relevant pre cut co-ordinating ribbons that we include with every order and straight down to the post office.

It helped of course that my Auntie (super organised) and cousins were on hand to help. We had a little production line going:)

Back with a proper entry with pictures and stuff soon. Too tired now.

How Lush Are These?

2007-02-13T12:30:00.000Z

I love these stamps from Art Declassified! And they are on their way to us - ordered at CHA and shipped a couple of days ago look out for them in our store.

There's quite a variety of themes and styles so great for any altered artists, circle journal makers and for scrappers too. This is just a snippet of what's coming, we ordered quite a lot of different designs. They are Red Rubber and come ready mounted and stored in CD cases - that was one of the things we loved, buy the stamp and it's ready to use, easy to store and you can even use the CD case it's in instead of a mounting block if you prefer (although some people do swear by using a proper acrylic block so that bit is down to personal taste)

Hmmmmm I think one of Darrens CD storage units might be commandeered for stamp storage use!

Conversational Confusion & Visitors

2007-02-12T23:17:00.000Z

Isabelle is trying very hard to speak and her reportoire of words is growing by the day. It does get a bit confusing when she is adamant she wants whatever it is she is trying to say but it sounds too much alike!

Nana = nana, Darrens Mum. We have been saying this all week to proactise as Nana and Robin were coming to visit yesterday. Just to confuse matters she also says Nana to refer to her friend Susanna!

Narnee = not to be confused with Nana this is Izzys shortened form of Banana; said VERY frequently.

Nonny = Johnny, one of her little friends and companion for most of the week I was away. Several times a day since we have got back she has looked forlornly around and said "Nonny?" as if she has lost a favourite toy.

Needless to say yesterday when she was getting very cross with me for not understanding her I was lost in a tirade of Nana, Nonny and Narnee's

Anyway, yesterday, as I mentioned my Mother In Law and her partner Robin came to visit us. I have to admit I wasn't sure whether the tidying would get done but it did! It was lovely to see them and we had a nice lunch together while Izzy had her nap. My gorgeous new storage solution was admired LOTS by Robin who has now decided he needs an Expedit! - no, neither Jenny or Robin are scrapbookers but as well as being the perfect size for 12x12 layouts and cardstock it of course will fit a large number of 12" records which they have and need storing. If only IKEA would give me commission. ;)

Isabelle enjoyed having a different audience to watch her prancing about playing with her sunglasses and climbing into her booster seat, buckling herself in and then undoing it (her new favourite trick) and of course she wasn't shy about thrusting a book at her Nana and saying "Nana Book" a few times! I got Darren to snap a picture of them reading together. My lounge has AWFUL light and on a late afternoon in February with the ISO cranked up the picture quality isn't good at all but I like it.

CJs & Sunglasses

2007-02-12T10:59:00.000Z

The Circle Journal is coming on OK which is good. I am really wnjoying the Hodge Podge CJ group as it is a chance to do more of the arty stuff that I like to do but can never manage to translate onto a layout.

That's one of my resolutions, to try out a few new things on my layouts and not worry about whether it will work out ok - after all, I have all my photos printed t Photobox so I can alway get reprints if I try something and it doesn't work, and the rest of it is *only* paper after all!!

I am also really looking forward to an "inchie" swap I have just signed up for on the pad - ohhhh paint ink and collage art are definitely what's getting me excited at the moment :)

Just had to post this seasonally inappropriate picture but it WAS taken yesterday!

I couldn't resist buying Belle a pair of Minnie Mouse Sunglasses in California (as modelled by Mr Monkey in one of the earlier posts!) and she loves them, she especially likes opening the front "mouseheads" which leaves clear glasses behind which is why the right side of the glasses looks odd in this pic!

The Card

2007-02-10T23:24:00.000Z

Here's the card, blogger had a change of heart obviously. The colour on the scan is not quite true but it is't that far off - it's still pink!

Tidying, A Culinary Disaster and Valentines

2007-02-10T23:06:00.000Z

Well today hasn't been that exciting. My Mother in Law and her partner are coming tomorrow so we are faced with the customary frantic tidying mission! I am hopelessly untidy and I am possibly the worst housewife ever to walk the earth! So today I have been trying to clear the dining room table while Darren went out to football. Sounds bad doesn't it? He went out and left me tidying. But the reality is, he is super tidy and is also remarkably quick at tackling the tidying so he was easily able to do his share AND go out for a few hours!

Secondly I feel I must confess the French Onion soup was a disaster. Well ok it wasn't THAT bad but I didn't really stick to the recipe and I made rash decisions like thinking that because I love caramelised onions that I should add a whole heap more sugar than the recipe said. And I just chucked things in willy nilly. Now don't get me wrong, that is my favourite way to cook and some of my best dishes have come from such blatant disregard for the quantities, ingredients and method set out in the recipe but, on this occassion, it just meant the soup was FAR too sweet and I could only pretend to enjoy half a bowl before leaving the rest! I Still love French Onion Soup and will try and make it again but sticking to the recipe!

I decided to be brave an upload the valentines card. Darren won't look on my blog, well certainly not before Wednesday so I am fairly safe. I must add the following little disclaimers that

a) I am so NOT a card maker, I was just too tight to pay £3 for a card when I have a load of card blanks at home.

b) I KNOW it is pink and it is a card for a bloke but I really made it the way I would like it.

c) Does anyone know a man who actually likes the soppiness of valentines day? I don't so he won't really care that the card is pink and home made very badly!

I am hoping tomorrow Darren won't go too mad if I get out the scrapping stuff when Jenny and Robin have gone home because I have a Circle Journal that needs to get finished and posted. I LOVE the journal I have right now and am tempted to tell it's owner that the dog from down the road came into the house and ate it just so I can keep it! Mwahaha It's theme is Art House and each page has to be a house of some kind. I would tell you what mine will be but then I would have to erase the memory of anyone who reads this blog and that sounds like a whole lot of hassle.

A Ha - it looks like the valentines card will remain under wraps for another day or two as blogger once again is in "computer says no!" mode. No pictures for me AGAIN!

Blogiversary Giveaway and French Onion Soup

2007-02-09T19:26:00.000Z

OK The number picked out of Izzys little pink hat (as worn in the snow pictures) is number 15 and looking down the comments that is Heather (with the Red Haired Girl Blog.) Email me at Mel@atripdownmemorylane.co.uk and let me have your full name and address and I will send you a little box of goodies. Still working on transferring stash from various locations around the house so not sure what I will find some nice stuff :)

I have been to work today so no exciting news to report. I might be brave and upload the slightly pathetic card I made Darren for Valentines - only trouble is I made it and it ended up a bit pink! Well it has a heart on it and it didn't look right in blue. Ho hum!

I am really starting to get annoyed at my inability to transfer files from the laptop to the PC via the wireless network. By the time I finish posting my LA pics it will be Summer!

While we were there we went on a tour of LA, Hollywood, Beverley Hills and Venice Beach. Our lunch stop was at the Farmers Market which had a whole area with loads of food stalls. Mum and I ate at the French Creperie and I had the most fabulous French Onion Soup. It was delicious. So I have found this recipe which I saw on Saturday Cooks a while back (don't laugh I often flake out on Saturday morning with breakfast and play with Izzy while watching cooking shows! Its Jean Cristophe Novelli's Onion Soup... Of course I probably won't do it right, just follow the general method and make a few adjustments! Wish me luck - I know it is quarter to nine but I am about to go cook it for my dinner!

Snow

2007-02-08T13:47:00.000Z

Well the forecasted snow arrived here over night and with it came a phone call early this morning to tell Darren that some of the main roads into his school were blocked so he got the day off!

Izzy kept waking up last night, very unusual for her, and I was shattered from being up and down all night so I got a bit of a lie in!

When we got up though we did wrap up and take Isabelle out in the snow for a little while.

She seemed a bit unsure of it to start with but curiosity got the better of her and she was soon picking it up, running round in it and sniffing it!

All that's left now is a forlorn pile of slush with a few patches of snow still lingering so I am glad we got out and took photos earlier. Ialso snapped this picture which if I was to call it anything would be called determination! We had our front driveway dug up, concreted and inprinted with just a couple of small flower beds left which Darren put weed membrane on then gravelled the top of with just a few dwarf confiers along the front. Somehow some of our spring bulbs survived and found a way through the edge of the membrane, through the gravel and through the snow and their shoots were peeping out at me today! It's not a very pretty picture with the car parking area in the background and no colour but the shoots are there!

Ooohhh Exciting

2007-02-07T20:20:00.000Z

We got e mails today from two companies we ordered from at CHA, one asking for card details as they have an order ready to ship to us and one letting us know they have taken payment and the order will be on it's way shortly. VERY excited to think that we will soon be receiving our first orders from the USA!

Will look at the comments on yesterdays post tomorrow night and select a name from a hat to choose who gets my blogiversary giveaway goodies. :)

Not much else has happened today as I have been at work. We had fun making various craft stuff this afternoon including Chinese Dragons! I have tomorrow off but am back at work on Friday to make up for the day I missed last week while I was faffing around doing a Hollywood Tour!

Ooohhh forgot that I hadn't uploaded those pictures yet - Must Must Must sort out transferring photos from laptop to PC!

**Note To Self - Get Organised!**

It's My Blogiversary and A Giveaway

2007-02-05T20:49:00.000Z

I just looked in my archives to see what I was up to in February last year and discovered that on this day one year ago I started my blog!

I wish I had a new layout to post on my blogiversary but the only things I have been making are a valentines card (that's a bit rubbish unfortunately) and playing with inks on scrap card which I have now cut into ATC sized pieces but have no clue what to do with them!

I had planned on scrapping tonightbut Izzy is poorly. Half way through Eastenders she started crying, I went up to see her and she had been really sick. Poor little thing was so miserable looking and was all shakey. Darren was of course super helpful (or not) and declared himself unable to deal with sick so muggins here had to clear it all up and get the washing on.

Anyway, let's hope it was just a one off thing. As an indicator of how poorly she was feeling I had to put Mr Monkey in the washing machine and we put the spare monkey in the freshly changed cot... she didn't even notice.

Anyway, enough about sick.

I can't believe I have been blogging for a whole year. It is pretty cool to be able to look back and see what I was doing when, I am also amazed how many people stop by and read my blog and some even take time to post a comment. I don't know quite why I find this surprising, I love reading other peoples blogs and try and leave a comment every so often, but I guess it surprises me that my blog is in the least bit interesting to anyone!!!!

So, as I seem to be getting quite a few hits at the moment post CHA I guess some people must be reading so I thought I would give some goodies away to celebrate my "blogiversary!" Just post a comment on this post and I will pick a name out of a hat to get a little box of goodies - not sure what but I like sending presents!

Anyway, thanks for coming by and reading \ posting comments, I'm looking forward to the next years worth of blogging!

Mel xx

Anabella Hotel

2007-02-05T14:24:00.000Z

I have had a couple of e mails asking about where we stayed so here are a few pictures. Unfortunately i didn't get one of our room but I think they have some on the hotels website. We stayed at the Anabella which is on Katella Avenue. It is on the same block as the convention center but you have to walk all the way round to the other side to get in to the convention center - CHA provided shuttles which sounds a bit lazy but when you are lugging bags full of catalogues they are very welcome!

The hotel is also located across the street from Disneys Californian Adventure. There is a gate into the parkig lot a little way up the street opposite our hotel and you can walk through and get the disney trolley cart which takes you up to the main entrance plaza for both parks and Downtown Disney.

The hotels pool area looked nice but we didn't venture in - It was too cold!

I did however snap a picture of that. The service was very good and we were happy with the room. It isn't as posh as the Hilton or the Disney Grand Californian which we also went in for various reasons but we thought it was good value for money and the hotel restaurant; the Tangerine Grill, did a Fillet Mignon to die for! :) We went to Cocos which was across the street for breakfast most days and they did the most fantastic biscuits. Biscuits are one of the things I love best in America. They are not what we know as biscuits (they are cookies) but an American biscuit is like a scone but lighter and fluffier. I LOVE them. I think they are made with buttermilk. Must google for a recipe or ask Annie!

Anyway, regarding the hotel, I would recommend it if you want reasonable proximity to the Disney attractions and good value for money. If you want to live the high life then go stay at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disney, it was beautiful!

On our last night we took a short cut back through the Grand Californian and the lobby was gorgeous! There was even a little side section with a roaring fire and lots of chairs round it. We managed to get lost trying to cut through from Downtown Disney on a shortcut back to our hotel! We had just been to the Rainforest Cafe for our last nights dinner. This eating venue is always "an experience" and as Mum hadn't been before we went.

We also bumped into Lorraine and her family who were eating there for Zoes birthday - Happy Birthday Zoe! Poor Lorraine and Kirsty both looked a little the worse for wear after their illness, thankfully they were both over the worst and ready to enjoy the rest of their holiday. Lorraine was, as usual, very sensible and had done her CHA ordering from the catalogues in her sick bed so she could concentrate on getting better and enjoying the family holiday

Blogger is once again not being helpful and has drawn the lie at one picture on this post. Man I am tempted by Typepad! Will try and add the other relevant pictures later.

Rub Ons

2007-02-04T14:39:00.000Z

We have ordered a whole range of embellishments but I thought I would upload some pictures of some of the yummy rub ons we saw at CHA. I don't have the order details here so can't say exactly what we ordered but I know we have loads of gorgeous rub ons coming our way in the next few weeks and months (some of the very newest items are not yet ready to ship unfortunately)

In addition to gorgeous embellishment rub ons anyone who knows me will know I love all things alphabet related so of course there will be new alphabets in a range of product types including chipboard, cardstock and rub ons. You've got to love these script style rub ons, elegant script without being so fussy that its illegible and well designed enough that you can properly create joined up script style titles and captions.

Basic Grey Register of Interest

2007-02-03T23:11:00.000Z

We are once again going to be offering the Ragister of Interest for the new BG lines. By adding your name to the list you secure first dibbs on the packs when they arrive. We don't take your payment, just hold the required items for you. Then when the delivery is imminent we will contact you and you can confirm your order and make the payment. This enables us to have pre prepared boxes for the stash to go in and voila! They go out immediately that they come in.

So here they are:

Perhaps

Phoebe

Scarlet's Letter

Stella Ruby
To add your name to the register of interest e mail me Mel@atripdownmemorylane.co.uk and let me know which packs you are interested in. Easy!

Back Home

2007-02-02T19:59:00.000Z

Just a quick post to say we are safely back home. I still have loads of photos to share so will get them off the laptop and onto my PC for editing ASAP. Flight home was bit dodgy, lots of turbulance which is no fun. It was also really weird as we took off at 5:15pm and landed at 11:20 a.,. so it was an overnight flight but because of the time difference by the time I settled down to try and have a little bit of sleep they were almost ready to put the lights on and serve breakfast... Hence I am shattered. Will post more piccies soon.

Also I have just got in and on my monitor the pictures I uploaded are showing very different to how they were on the laptop. I have no idea now what they actually look like to anyone reading!

Nye for now zzzz *snore* zzzzz

Basic Grey - As Promised!

2007-02-01T07:12:00.000Z

Here are a few pictures from the Basic Grey stand. The first picture shows a large display they had on the outside wall of their booth.

The layout shown is a huge version of one of their designers 12x12 layout - it was printed about 30" square. Very eye catching!

I love the cute little box ad baby shoes all done in Basic Grey paper.

I have also added a photo of some of the lovely new wholy cow rub ons.

As always we will of course be getting the new Basic Grey lines as soon as they are available at the UK distributor. I imagine we will be doing a register of interest - keep you eye on the blog \ website \ newsletter for details of this.

We don't fly home until tomorrow (Thursday) so we went on a little sight seeing tour today. Our tour guide Johnny was quite something! Will post some pictures of the sights and of course Mr Monkey on his grad tour in the next post. Plus of course a few more product pictures.

What do you want to see? Let me know what you would like to see and if we took pictures of it I will post it!! Here, just for Nicki, is Mr Monket, wearing the classy Minnie Mouse Sunglasses I bought for Belle, chilling out on Venice Beach LA!

Cool Stuff at the Ranger Booth Part 2 Plus A2Z

2007-01-31T05:49:00.000Z

So, back to the Ranger booth! I finished chatting to Claudine and went off to meet Michele our new freight forwarder. Anyway, after we had met and chatted back I went past Ranger nd saw another demo going on. This time it was of course Tim Holtz demonstrating some of their newer products in a variety of ways. As always he was very inspiring and made me want to go straight hom, get out some inks and go create something. Always, I think, the sign of a good teacher in any context. Here he is in black and white but witha splash of colour.

The tag in this photo is being done with Heidi Swap masks (we hope to have some of these in stock soon) and distress ink diluted with water in Ragers mister bottles. You fill them with water, add a drop of ink from the re inker, shake well and get sraying!

Here's a close up of another tag he was making.

OK, onto more products! Wegot a lot of e mails telling us to go to the A2Z booth. So we did! The cool thing at this stand was they had 14 new paper collections but each one was a mini collection. There are 6 different designs in each collection and they are on double sided paper. So you could buy the whole collection on three sheets although most people would buy 6 sheets so they could get maximum use out of all the designs. As I said they have 14 new collections premiering at CHA and the photo ust shows 3 of them (I put a different three on our site and I will probably put another three on the ATDML blog.) ONe of the other great things about this company is their designs are SO varied. They go from really fun doodley \ drawn type designs like the sunburst one i the middle, to quite sophisticated designs like the Asiana shown on our website.
Right, so I kind of know what lots of you guys are really clamouring to see - pics of the BG stand! So I think blogger will freak if I add more pictures to this post so I will do BG next I promise!!

Cool Stuff at the Ranger Stand Part 1

2007-01-31T05:14:00.000Z

We order our Ranger products from their UK distributor so we weren't planing on doing anything except stoping by to pick up a catalogue on the Ranger booth but we spent ages there! We didn't place an order although we will be getting some of their cool new stuff.

The first time I walked past there was someone sitting workig at the demo desk with no one around her. Being a nosey person I sauntered over to have a look. She was making these cute little collage art doll \ poppets... so I have a look at her badge. Wow, I was sanding there chatting to THE Claudine Helmuth.

Of course I had to have my photo taken with her and she told me that althugh she was demonstrating on the Ranger booth (using beeswax in the melt pot) she had her own rnge of poppet stamps ad scenery papers at another booth. I stopped by and took some pictures there too. I love the poppet ranges but I can't say for sure how "alternative" they are and as it was the end of the day we have the catalogue but idn't order. If you are one of those people who love this style and would like to see the range (poppet stamps - arms, legs and feet,clothing etc... plus the poppet scenery papers) in the shop please drop me an e mail mel@atripdownmemorylane.co.uk They also had oneof the coolest things I saw at the show - a "become a life sized popet" facility! Well ok it was a big popet in a scene printed onto a lare vinyl sheet with a hole where the head is. As I was stopping by the stand on my own I didnt have Mum to take a picture of me behind it. I did however play just a little i photoshop to put my head in the picture. It's a very slap dash attempt but it was funny.

Totally Inspired And Excited

2007-01-30T15:41:00.000Z

Not only are there so many lush products around to tempt us but most stands also hae a stunning array of art work to inspire you. I adore this little book from the 7 Gypsies stand.

The wall of layouts on Elsies stand (I think I already posted a picture of the green wall - there were two other walls done the same way with different layouts) is also delicious and there were some beauriful layouts at many of the stands.

The Crate paper which blogger didn't want me to post yesterday is here

plus some gorgeous stuff from Autumn Leaves. I love their books, and their stamp and they have some amazing overlays (some cool new designs)

I am really excited about the things we have ordered so far. I think (ad hope) we have got a good mix of products to appeal to scrappers of all levels of experience and to people wth a wide variety of tastes. I guess the customers will be the judge of that!

More Stuff!

2007-01-30T02:24:00.000Z

Another busy day at the show. We went to place the orders we compiled last night first, then looked round some more of the stands. There is seriously far too much stuff here to see everything in detail.

I haven't snapped anymore photos of celebrity scrappers although I have seen Heidi Swap, Keilli Crowe and while we were rushing off to order something i saw Emily Falconbridge browsing the stands with Tara Whitney! I was sorely tempted to go and speak to them, after all Tara is someone whose blog I read all the time but I resisted the urge as I didn't want to interupted them whil they browsed the show. I'm guessing they get bugged by quite a lot of people whilst out and about at scrap shows.

I have to say I don't know who half of the other personalities are!!! I was waiting for this woman to give me a catalogue and tell me about products, she'djust gt back with the catalogue when this American lady walks up and starts gushing "Oh my gosh! I am just a small town girl from Louisiana and I am so honoured to meet you. Can you sign my show guide? Can I have a photo taken with you?? etc.." Well I was on te Anna Griffin stand and looking at the womans badge her name was Anna. Ok so the penny dropped. Like I said though, I have no idea about most of these "celebrities!"

Right, products. I did take somemore photos. I love the stamps on these tags I picked up at one of the stands. If you love them too, or several others in the range then good. Pop on over to ur store whe the boxes come rolling in!

We read the e mails people sent and have signed up for accounts and placed orders with several companies people requested. All will of course be revealed in the fullness of time!

We were browsng the new exhibitors hall and came across a pair of guys who some people may be familiar wih - yes it is non other than Alan and Barry! Actually Alan (or was it Barry?) was taking a restroom break when I took this photo, but if you wondered whatever happeed to Alan and Barry - now you know!

We of course went to visit the Crate stand. They are premiering new lines agan this show - the one in the picture is Brunch. I have more new Crate pictures to follow. Once again apologies for the picture quality. When i get home and can spend a bit of time editing all of them up via the RAW files I have I hope to have some better images. Unfortunately though, to avoid using flash I have had to use a hih ISO so the are grainier than I would ideally like.

Grrr - blogger clearly doesn't like Crate - will try again later with that.

Bye for now!

CHA, Sore Feet and Yummy Products!

2007-01-29T07:42:00.000Z

We spet today (It's stil Sunday here just!) walking the halls of the Anaheim convention Center. Starting in the New Exhibitors hall we collected brochures, chatted to people working the stands and plotted what goodies to buy!

I couldtell you evrything we have ordered or are going to order but then I would have to kill you - well actually I wouldn't do that, it's too mean, but it would spoil the surprise!!

I have got some show pictures though. I have a distinctly tired and unglamourous looking me next to the energy oozing and impeccably turned out Elsie Flannigan.

Her new line, Love, Elsie, is premiering here at the KI memories stand. Well actually Elsie has her own stand next door and there is a 50's style kitchen set up where she is doing make n takes at the kitchen table! Very cute - I haven't photograped my actual make n take but there are some piccies of Elsies stand.

We also saw Anna at the Zsiage stand. She was working hard and gave us her sales pitch! She didn't have to try too hard as they have some great stuff on their stand too. It was great to catch up with her and chat for a while. She is very busy this week and I don't envy her schedule. She is working at the show in the day, then teaching every night this week from tomorrow.

I think I may be pushing my luck wit Blogger if I ask it to upload any more photos on this post. I have got a few 7 Gypsies piccies already uploaded to the ATDML welcome page if you need to see more! I am off to bed now, it's nearly midnight and we are up again for another show day in a few hours. I will try to get a few more pictures from today online here before I leave tomorrow... Night Night!!!!

Disney Visit

2007-01-29T01:43:00.000Z

OK so I am behind on my blogging! We've just got in from our first day t CHA but I will do a separate post with details of that. Yesterday we went to Disney for the day. We had a one day park hopper ticket and first stop was Disneys Califoria Adventure where I was dying to do "Soarin' Over California" I loved it and so did Mum despite nearly backing out in the line. We both agreed this was the best ride of the day!

Mr Monkey continued his adventures meeting various characters including the great mouse himself! Plenty of people asked about the monkey so we had to explain he was going to star in a new book! Someone even asked if monkeys like him were on sale in the park because they wanted one!

We spent time in both parks just taking in the Disney atmosphere, then we watched the illuminated parade and went to get dinner before the fireworks. There were huge queues for dinner but eventually we got in an Italian restaurant in Downtown Disney. We both had Rigatoni Bolognaise. It was good! No dessert as we couldn't fit one in but we had already eaten lovely enormous chocolate coated strawberries in Californian Adventure.

We went back to the park to watch the freworks but when we got there a Cast Member told us they were cancelled due to high winds!!! Well they have a very interesting definition of high winds!!!! We said it was a shame and it wasn't that windy but she pointed to the flag fluttering gently in the breeze as if it should be self explanatory! Shame. I love Disney fireworks and as they only do them on Friday and Saturday here in off peak season we won't see any :(

Sweetpeas Pictures

2007-01-28T14:47:00.000Z

Here goes trying to upload some pictures of the gorgeous Sweeteas store. If anyone is ever going to LA we recomend this store :) 11726 West Pico Blvd. Don't ask for directions (Karen!!) We took a shuttle from our hotel - well to me we took a cab but apparently this is a different thing! The driver was very nice but the traffic wasn't!

They had washing lines with stuff pegged up and little corners of loveliness!

Here's what Anna will see when she goes to teach there on Wednesday night - all the tables set out with water bottles, green apples and flowers. So cute.

We just loved browsing all the products set out amongst various vintae bits and peces and craft object. There was a divine album made out of fabric on display, All the pages were like canvas with photos printed or tranferred on with sewn embelishments and buttons. Mum is so mad at me for not taking a photograph! I did get some of the mini dress display manequins with paper skirts, or prima boices though. This one has a collage bodice with various words type paper.

Shopping!

2007-01-27T05:20:00.000Z

After I blogged and posted on various forums and sent e mails this morning we went out to find breakfast. We had a walk around and got our bearings, picked up some tour leaflets on the way and ended up at a Dennys Diner for breakfast. When I went to Florida something I really loved were the biscuits - not biscuits like we have back home but things that looked like scones but were light and fluffy inside. Needless to say my breakfast included those!

We had a bit of a fiasco with the phones. We have $25 worth of different phone cards and we still can't get through to the UK. The guys in the tourist office tried to help but to no avail. I was really disappointed as we had worked out what time to call so I could speak to Isabelle. Although she doesn't really talk she likes listening on the phone and will sing to someone on the phone and I was dying to hear her little voice. Plus I also wanted to chat to Darren. I will try again tomorrow (Saturday - I am writing this on Friday evening even though I think blogger will register it as being posted on Saturday)

Anyway, after all the faffing we decided to save Disney til tomorrow so we couldmake the most of the opening times. Instead we decided to go into LA and check out a scrapbook store. I had planed on trying to locate one of the big chains like Michaels or Jo Anns but Anna had mentionned a couple of stores she was teaching at so we decided to check out Sweetpeas and Snapshots.... It was GORGEOUS!

We met the lovely Mary and her assistant who I am so cross to have forgotten the name of, I want to say she was called Pauline but I may be dreaming that part. Mary chatted with us for a while and mentionned that the store was low on stock as they were getting ready to order at CHA but I have to say we found lots of wonderful goodies to buy!!!!!!

They have an area set out for classes and the tables looked so cute all ready. They had pink tulips in the middle and each place had a bottle of water and a green apple. The store was set out with a vintage look with loads of bits and pieces of old furniture and objects to display the products. It was really refreshing to wander round and browse in a store set out like no other store I have been to.

We bought lots, of course, and found out from Mary that she too was staying at the Anabella which is where we are!

We have now sorted what we are doing for the rest of the week. We have Disne Tickets which we are going to use tomorrow and have booked a sight seeing tour for Wednesday - we decided we couldn't visit LA without going to see Manns Chinese Theater, The Hollywood Sign and Rodeo Drive amongst others.

Blogger has chosn today to refuse to allow me to upload any pictures which is a shame as we have some shots of Sweetpeas and of course of my breakfast!!!!! Will try again later or tomorrow to get some pictures on here.

We're Here!

2007-01-26T16:17:00.000Z

My packing DID get done, although we didn't leave for the airport hotel until 11pm!!!!!!! We stayed overnight before our flight at the Thistle hotel near Heathrow -we booked via holiday extras and got parking included but we weren't very impressed with this hotel - it was GROTTY but as we got there at around 2:30am and got an alarm call at 7 am we weren't there long!

The flight was delayed a bit but it was very good with very little turbulance. We bumped into Lorraine from Just a Memory and Margaret and Emma from Artbase on the same flight - Margaret and Emma enjoyed slightly more spacious accommodation than we did in bog standard economy! US immigration was slow in the extreme but we finally got to the desk, were finger printed, iris scanned and allowed to enter.

We took a shuttle from LAX to Anaheim but getting out of LA at five oclock isn't fun. We finally got to Anaheim at about 6:30 local time - 2:30 a.m. UK time. We checked into our hotel then got a quick dinner before crashing out! It's 8:15a.m. ad we have a spare day today so we are off out, maybe to Disney, maybe somewhere else! Who knows. Show registration starts tomorrow so we will get the floor plan and start planning our route round the stands and essental stops! Wish us luck.

Anyone who has read my blog before will know who Mr Monkey is! (Isabelles favourite toy who she won't sleep without. You probably also know about the spare Monkey which looks the same but that she won't make do with. So I brought the Spare Monkey with us to LA - I am going to photograph him around and about to make her a little book of Mr Monkey in LA (she loves books and Elizabeth could do with a new one to read to her!!! So anyway, the picture is Mr Monkey on the flight carefully reading the safety card! Picture quality isn't great as I have my camera set to hoot RAW and basic jpeg - I don't have my RAW editing on this laptop so will properyl edit when we get home. Until then the basic low quality jpegs will have to do on the blogs and website. Be sure to check out the ATDML blog and our home page regularly while we are away as they are all being updated and I will spread any photos, especially of new stash, around these three places.

ARGGGGHHHHH

2007-01-24T07:48:00.000Z

Still not packed! (started but not anywhere near finished)

Got to work today.

Got to go collect Izzy from Mums after school.

We leave tonight.

Panicked? Me? NOOOOOOOO! (well ok maybe just a little.)

Will post a proper entry with pictures and stuff later when I am all calm, the packing is done, Izzy is in bed and I am waiting for Mum to come collect me!

*smiles*

Finally Finished This Off

2007-01-21T18:56:00.000Z

During the epic sort out I have found a couple of layouts which I started and never finished. I really wanted to try out "Simple" Scrapbooking after being inspired by Cathy Zielskes book so there is really not much to this page - it is surprising however how long it takes to geteverything just right even with a simple page!

I used Christina Cole Rainbow Stripes 1 for the coloured stripey sections (it's the more muted of the two rainbow stripes papers), Black Prism cardstock, Doodlebug Sew Simple letters for Rhythm and AMM white rub ons for Baby You've Got (and that was the unfinished part - I added that part and hey presto it's done.) Wow this Simple lark is not as easy as it sounds! Pictures were taken ages ago and I need to look up the date so it can go in the right place in my album!

3 days and counting til I go away... I finally went out and bought a few new clothes to wear. The budget is pretty tight at the moment and I decided to go for value for money and shop in the Supermarket clothing section! But I have to admit I am quite pleased with my purchases and got some nice stuff! Darren thinks I am mad for buying clothes to take, he said I should have saved the money and bought clothes when I got there but I won't have time for that kind of shopping. We are planning a day at Disney and perhaps another excursion of some sort and the rest of the time we will be pounding the floors of the convention center!

It Worked - I Scrapped!

2007-01-19T23:47:00.000Z

Well having the new storage and moving my stuff downstairs has worked. For the first time in ages I scrapped a layout. The relocation of the scrapping stuff is still underway but I took time out to test out my new organised scrap area and created this layout. I used Scenic Route Cape Town papers and co-ordinating Bazzill. As is my ongoing "policy" I have included hand journaling and although the layout is far from perfect it feels great to be scrapping again. I have to say Izzy looks a bit odd in this photo as she is a bit squashy looking trying to get out of the car when I was trying to take the picture. Susanna however is quite possibly the most photogenic child ever and looks gorgeous as ever!

Went to the bank today to change the ATDML account from Sole Trader in Mums name to full partnership - so there's something you didn't know, officially until today I wasn't a partner in ATDML which is kind of sad. But now I am (though it was my own idea not to be until now as I didn't want the added hassle but the recent acquisition of a proper accountant has eased my worries!)

I am STILL not feeling organised for the trip to LA, I did take Elizabeth on a trial run to show her how to get to the two places that Izzy wil be going during the day while I am away as she will be doing some of the ferrying to and fro of Little Miss Isabelle. Oh and before we went on the reconnaissance mission we went for a bite to eat in Stada... Yummy food as usual (especially the melting chocolate essert) but why oh why do I have to find that the occupants of the next table include a child I teach on my day at school. I love children, really I do, but when I want a silly girly meal out I don't want to be seated next to the pupils!

We still have a few places left on the retreat - I meant to post lots more about it but I don't seem to have got around to it. All the details are on our welcome page and when I get back from CHA I will post a long post with tonnes of details I promise! Talking of posts and CHA, we are taking the laptop and the camera so hopefully I will be able to post on here, the ATDML blog and on our website with a few pictures and updates of what we have been up to!

One Week and Counting

2007-01-18T14:43:00.000Z

This time in one week I will be somewhere over the Atlantic! (photo was taken out of the window on our way to Florida in 2004 also with Virgin) Because we are going for the business and DH and Izzy are not coming too I haven't had that holiday feeling where you keep counting down to the day you go. I am really looking forward to it but on the other hand I am worried about missing Isabelle. I obviously want her to be fine and have a lovely time (which she will as she is with my friend Jo and her kids in the day for most of the time and then with another friend Sarah and her little boy for the last two days) but I also don't want to get home and find she has forgotten me! You know, walk in, Hi Izzy!!... long pause and Izzy babbles in toddler language"Sorry who are you again?!"

Anyway, I am trying to work out what I actually need to be doing before I go and I'm not getting far! I have found my passport and checked for the fiftieth time that it is in date (doesn't expire til 2014 when I will be 35 YIKES!) I have oprinted off some discount vouchers for the Anaheim resort shuttle bus to get from LAX to our hotel and I have pre arranged a lunch meet with Michelle our freight forwarder. That's it, nothing else done at all!

I KNOW there is plenty I should be doing but I can't think what it is! Answers on a postcard...!

Oh and while I was typing this entry I was also flicking to anoter window and browsing the Virgin site - I looked at the in flight movie guide - Can yuo believe they are showing "Snakes on a Plane" Somehow I doubt I will be watching that to keep me amused!

It's Filling Up!

2007-01-16T10:55:00.000Z

A bit more stash sorting last night and the shelves are filling up. I went through loads of stuff and sifted through what I love, what I loathe and what I can't understand why I have! Before I had scrapped a page I decided I loved the SEI Synergy and Sassy ranges. I don't hate them now or anything but when I found I had FOUR sheets - yes count them FOUR sheets of many of the sheets some of them I realised I may have been a bit nuts. When I started (again before doing a apage) I decided I only ever wanted to do double layouts so that opposite pages co-ordinated - so I had to buy in multiples of two and then as I really liked the paper I bought two lots of two - crazy! The times I actually ever scrapped a double layout can be counted on one hand I think!

Anyway, we also had a panic as I couldn't find a whole load of my paper - cue panic phone call to Mum who reminded me I had left a box of my 12x12 at hers when I went there to scrap during the cyber crops! Phew - I haven't lost it all!

Unfortunately the bits that still need sorting are the piles of stuff I didn't know what to do with so I think although lots of it has been done the last bit is going to be the hardest to sort... Wish me luck!

New Storage!

2007-01-15T08:41:00.000Z

So after all my posts on here reminding myself that I need to get my stuff downstairs and organised I broached the subject of where to put it all with Darren. It was upstairs on an old Argos workstation - in piles of disorganised mess!

I had found threads on the PAd and on UKS about "The Expedit" from IKEA and I decided that was The One! To my surprise Darren didn't even flinch when I suggested yesterday that I "needed" to go to IKEA. (Probably because he knew I would take Elizabeth and he would be spared the ordeal while he looked after Isabelle.

So four hours later (an hour each way plus two hours negotiating the last day of the IKEA sale crammed with every person in the world it seemed) I returned triumphant! Well maybe not triumphant, I was supposed to get the Beech one as it would go better but having trawled round the whole store, got to the designated area in the warehouse (Aisle 22 location 4) there was a choice of white or birch - beech and black\brown were out of stock. There was no way I was doing a repeat trip just to get a specific colour so we now have birch!

I LOVE IT! Elizabeth and I spent the evening trying to sort my stash. With a pile for e bay, a pile to take to Mums for the communal family supplies box and of course huge piles to organise on my beautiful new shelves. It isn't finished yet, I promise proper pictures when it is but for now here are my beautiful bargain blossom jars (Spice Jars - 4 for £1.99) in their own little cubby hole. I think jars filled with colour sorted blossoms and buttons must be just one of lifes HAPPY THINGS!!

New Banner

2007-01-12T08:59:00.000Z

Inspired by my lovely and super talented friend Clare I decided it was time for a makeover for my blog. I didn't have time to go fiddling with the template much but I did have a play at creating a digi collage for a new banner. I'm quite chuffed with the results but to see the amazing banner that Clare made for her blog look HERE.

Excited and Poorly

2007-01-11T22:05:00.000Z

For a few months now we have been keeping quiet about our next exciting project; an ATDML Retreat and now it has finally been announced. It is going to take place in November 2007 and I am working hard on making it fab!

I am really excited about the teachers we have lined up, the venue and all the delegates that have signed up so far. All the details are on our welcome page (link is in the sidebar) There are still a few places left so if you are interested check out the details and drop me an e mail.

Anyway, I was trying to think what I have been up to to blog about and actually I feel like I have been in a small gap in time! I have had a yucky bug and done virtually nothing for a couple of days although I felt a bit better today so Belle and I took a jaunt to Mothercare world in Ipswich so I could indulge myself buying pretty small person clothes!

Funny how where I once would have gone out and bought a top for me as a bit of retail therapy now I go out and buy miniature clothing for Izzy - my wardrobe is still full of the same old same old!

Hmmm - will come back tomorrow with a post with some pictures, either photos or layouts. STILL haven't got around to sorting out the scrap stuff! Was hoping that by posting it on here I would make myself get sorted... was worth a try I guess.

Playing At Digi!

2007-01-08T22:02:00.000Z

Well I searched for the Shabby Princess kits I downloaded in 2005 - wow now we are in 2007 I can say that was TWO years ago!!!! (the lovely Urban Kiwi and Fall 2004 kits) and added to them with "Dinner party" and just got on and played.

The photo isn't the greatest but I love it! Izzy was reading to her Monkey, the light was POOR and I had to up the ISO AND break a golden rule with shutter speed but do you know what; sometimes it's great to get a brilliant shot but this was one of those "I don't care I just want to snap this moment" times!

Apart from a couple of digi elements I made myself I think most of it is from www.shabbyprincess.com If you are even remotely interested in playing with digi it is a must visit site. For me I just love playing with paper and digi doesn't give me the same buzz, but I totally get how much work goes in to some of the fantastic digi layouts I have seen on UKS and the Pad. Of cours eI still haven't brought all my paper stuff downstairs so this filled a bit of time last night and this evening.

*** Note To Self - Get On With Bringing Stash Downstairs! ***

A Cunning Plan

2007-01-07T22:00:00.000Z

OK I am REALLY missing scrapping. Since Christmas DH has moved all his stuff up to the spare room where my scrapping stuff is. That means NO room to do anything. So I am thinking of moving it all downstairs again. At least then I will get to use it!

Inspired by Kirstys blog post about her exploits with Shabby Princess digi kits I have dug out the digi kits I downloaded from them and might have a go as an interim measure until I get the paper and embellies downstairs and sorted!

Friends

In the meantime I thought I might decorate my blog posts with some old layouts that haven't been up here. I thought I would put these two which have pictures of the babies in our baby group. It's so funny to look back at them now. All of them are now between 19 and 20 months now and have changed so much (duh! Obviously!)

I HOPE that soon I will have a layout with a new picture of them all as we had some taken recently which were really fun, but for now here are the babies aged 3 weeks-two months and then again aged 3-4months. As usual the scanning is not perfect and the first one is straight - honest!

OK Just One More Post With Christmas Photos!

2007-01-04T19:20:00.000Z

You may remember the layout I did of Isabelle and 'Mr Monkey' - he is her favourite cuddly toy and she loves him to death. She can't of course say Mr or Monkey and for ages we wondered when our daughter had turned into Vicki Pollard as she kept on saying "minger!" It was only when "Minger" became "Munger" that we twigged she was talking about her monkey! Oh the joys of toddlers learning to speak. Anyway, I digress! Here is Mr Monkey in festive attire! Closely followed by Belle wearing a party hat and unwrapping presents with my cousin Elizabeth (who has the patience of a saint as Isabelle takes piles of books over to her and sits on the sofa thrusting the same story over and over again at Elizabeth for her to read!!!!).

Oh and last but not least there is a picture of the bauble I painted before Christmas. Last year we painted a plate and a bauble with Izzys footprint on it and this year we did a plate with her hand prints. (The less said about the handprint bauble attempt the better!) But I also indulged myself by sitting in All Fired Up in Colchester merrily painting baubles with Elizabeth, listening to Christmas music and feeling festive (Darren had taken Isabelle home and put her to bed by this point in case you are wondering what I did with her while I faffed about painting! Anyway, here is one of the results!

Food Photos!

2007-01-03T19:39:00.000Z

I just had to post these - well I blogged about Sausage and Mash didn't I amd if I did an entry about that it would be rude not to blog about my Mums fantastic New Year buffet.

I was reading on a blog (or was it a forum?) about what things really make you think of Christmas and for me a lovely buffet is one of those things. The food all laid out on plates and the smell of cold meats, salad and bread. mmmmm!

So here's a few snaps of our New Years Eve buffet!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and a Few Christmas Photos!

2006-12-31T10:55:00.000Z

Thought I really ought to upload a few photos from Christmas! The exposure is not quite right on the one of me and Belle and it needs a bit more working on but last year there were hardly any of the two of us at Christmas, I have learned this year that if I want to be in ANY photos I really must let Darren use the camera occassionally!

Isabelle really seemed to "get" Christmas a bit this year. She was excited and loved eating Christmas dinner (including large amounts of Christmas pudding!!!!) and unwrapping her presents.

One of the top most favourite things she got were some crayons! She has 'drawn' countless pictures although to her credit she is VERY economical with the paper - she will crayon on it til every last bit is covered!!! She hasn't crayoned on anything she shouldn't have yet, it has only been on the paper except for in this picture where she seems to be adding a nice shade of green to the Celebrations tin!

I guess this will be my last post of 2006 (even though I have some more photos to post from Christmas) so I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy new year. I know it will bring some exciting things for us, we have some cool things happening on the ATDML front and personally I am looking forward to a year with hopefully lots of highs and not too many lows.

Happy New Year!

A Very Scrappy Christmas and Something to look forward to!

2006-12-29T12:42:00.000Z

So what did Santa bring to you?

I was a very lucky girl and got some lovely goodies including some fab scrapping stuff. I was the lucky recipient of a Making Memories trimmer, an All My Memories tote in Seafoam with a matching mini tote and a cutting mat. I also got various DVDs eatables and some money, including some Dollars ready for our trip to California!

Off To The USA

I don't think I blogged about California which was very remis of me! Mum and I head off on 25th January for a week in sunny California to go to Winter CHA at the Anaheim convention center.
This is one of the biggest and best shows in the world for Scrapbooking manufacturers to showcase their goods. We have had (and will I hope continue to have) soem great service from UK distributors but we want to go and find some new product lines to stock. There are hundreds of smaller manufacturers out there producing products in all shapes, sizes and styles and they aren't all picked up by the UK distributors so we hope to find one or two companies which will provide some new and interesting products for our customers. If you have anything you think we should be looking at while we are out there please let me know - either post a comment here or e mail me Mel@atripdownmemorylane.co.uk Obviously we can't promise to get in everything anyone asks for but we will look at as many of your suggestions as we can.

Congratulations To The Hafermanns!

2006-12-28T19:25:00.000Z

I meant to post this yesterday but Blogger was playing silly games and wouldn't let me post!

Annie had baby Addison on Boxing Day - Anna posted the news on her blog.

Huge congratulations to Annie, Spike and Dean on their new arrival and to baby Addison; Welcome to the world - I'm sure you are going to love it here!

A Few More Pictures

2006-12-23T12:19:00.000Z

I was going to update this the other day but Darren and I both seem to have some bug thats doing the rounds and that coupled with the manic Christmas preparations has meant very little time for the internet.

We had a really nice time visiting everyone last weekend and Izzy was good as gold - we were so proud of her. She slept well both nights (she had her travel cot in a different room to us which helped I think) and didn't wake til 9a.m. both mornings. There were no little tantrums in evidence and the worst she got up to was fiddling with tree decorations which was (I thought) not too bad!

It was especially good to go and see Darrens sister and her partners new house, it's gorgeous and I am very jealous - she has a spacious hallway which is essential with a pram!!!!

Anyway I made a bit of a faux pas with the camera as I had to wack the ISO up as high as it would go when we visited my Grandma as it was dark outside and the rooms were not well lit. Of course silly me left it on all weekend so the quality of the photos is not as it should be - they are too grainy. Ho hum, live and learn.

Cousins

2006-12-20T00:23:00.000Z

The trip went well, we saw all but one of the groups \ people on our list. It was lovely to see everyone. Will post more tomorrow but just wanted to share this picture of Isabelle and her cousin.

From Crazy Days To Crazy Weekend

2006-12-15T08:21:00.000Z

We're off at lunchtime (and it's 8:30 and I still haven't packed EEEKK!) on a two and a half day crazy pre Christmas trip!

2 and a half days
2 nights
5 towns
6 visits

AND (going by Belles recent record of sleeping away from home)

NO SLEEP!!

Wish us luck :)

First stop Peterborough, then on to Spalding, then Boston (Lincolnshire not USA unfortunately) then on Saturday it's Newark, then Grantham then back to Newark over night and finally home on Sunday.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone, first up is my Grandma who hasn't been very well lately so it will be nice to see her. Then of course the main highlight of the weekend will be the first meeting of "The Cousins!" Izzy didn't come with us to see Nic Chris and Anya when Anya was only a week old as she had a yucky cold and I didn't want to expose Anya to them when she was so new. But now she is almost 3 months and should be a bit more robust and Izzy is not poorly at the moment.

Will hopefully have some lovely pictures to post when I get back! Have a good weekend!

Crazy Days

2006-12-10T09:45:00.000Z

Well it was my work Christmas meal on Friday. Usually these are quiet sensible affairs which end EARLY! Well not this time! We went out to a hotel for a meal followed by a disco and I had a blast!!!!! OK so the Creme Brulee was not the best I ever tasted but we had fun!

Unfortunately I had to be up at 6a.m. the next day ready to take the shop to Nickis crop in Bury. I love going to crops (especially Nickis as the girls are all so much fun) but at 6 o'clock I was not ready to crawl out of bed!

I hauled myself up and went over to Mums... or at least I tried. Lucily I was nearly there before the car cut out. The power steering went, the oil light came on and so did the battery light. Now I have been here before and I could see the ££££ signs stacking up quickly. Darren came out and we called the AA so Mum had to go to the crop herself while I took care of Belle and Darren took care of the car! At this point we thought the engine had seized due to a radiator leak, or a slightly less expensive scenario; the head gasket had gone AGAIN!

Luckily the AA came quickly and towed Darren and Belle home and I got to go on to the crop - better late than never!

It was great to catch up with the girls, Annie popped in and it was lovely to chat with her, she is still annoyingly cute and petite for someone who is 37 weeks pregnant, I remember feeling like I had eaten a basketball at that stage! I also managed to get her write a little important date in her diary!!!.... mwahahaha

By the time I got home at around 7pm I was ready for bed but a sudden burst of energy and a little dose of Ty Pennington on Extreme Makeover Home Edition helped me stay awake and get on with a circle journal!

I am having a blast working on the Hodge Podge circle journal I am in. As the name suggests it is a mixture of themes and styles, there are a couple of scrappy ones but in the main they are arty ones. I am really loving playing with paints and inks in a way I never usually do with my layouts. I don't know why I don't try a layout or two in that style, there are some stunning layouts done in that very arty way and many of them by our own very inky, painty and generally fabby Clare! *Note to self, must get on and try new things!*

Anyway here is the last of my Cyber Crop layouts. I am always amazed by the amount that people get done in a weekend. I thought four layouts was quite productive but then I am quite slow at scrapping! I have to faff about for AGES first before committing glue to paper and actually getting started!!! I scanned it before it was quite finished as the leaves are connected by a swirly doodle thing - I wanted them to be "falling" but didn't like it so added the doodle so they weren't floating aimlessly anymore - I am of course far too lazy to go and rescan the layout now - it's done now!

Christmas is on it's way!

2006-12-03T14:18:00.000Z

Well It's December and we're counting down to Christmas! Every year I think I am going to make cards and crafty decorations and every year I don't get the inspiration until it's too late. So if you get chance pop by our Christmas Inspiration Gallery where our designers have put together a selection of cards, layouts, decorations and projects to get your creative Christmas juices flowing!

As I said in my last entry I am going to upload my cyber crop projects in my next few posts so here's todays!:

This is a layout I did for Lousettes class on UKS during the cyber crop. I can't believe how grown up Isabelle looks in tthis picture - I absolutely adore the photo and this little girl :) She pulls some crazy faces but sometimes she looks really serious! Lousettes class was really eye catching and I loved the idea, I changed it a bit to move the title and use only one picture but I am quite happy with the outcome.

Irreplacable Friends

2006-11-28T21:46:00.000Z

Thought I would post another one of my layouts I did over cyber crop weekend. I was allocated to Slytherin House for the CC and luckily we (ATDML) were supplying the Slytherin Mystery kit so I got to have a go at the mystery kit challenge! This photo of "Mr Monkey" and Isabelle was taken in the summer while we were out at the park on the Isle of Wight. Izzy loves her monkey more than any other tou. She takes him to bed with ehr, cuddles him when she is tired and tries to feed him bits of her dinner!!

I decided as she loves him so much I ought to buy a spare one in case any terrible fate should befall Mr Monkey (lost on an outing, sucked and stroked til his stuffing fell out etc...)

Of course Isabelle can tell the difference between the two monkeys and wouldn't have anything to do with the new one! Recently she has started to play with the second one occasionally but he certainly won't do to take to bed or comfort her when she is upset!

Anyway, so thats why this layout was about her favourite, irreplacable friend!

A Little Something From The Crop

2006-11-26T21:28:00.000Z

Well I have had a wonderful weekend. My lovely hubby took on Izzy duties all weekend so I could go and crop at Mums. Unfortunately on Saturday we had a storm and the power was down - no computer, no access to classes, no printing, no LIGHT! (Mums house is very dark so we were trying to scrap by candle light!) Luckily the lights and power came on after a while which was handy!

I dod four layouts this weekend, three were classes from UKS and one was just a layout that had been in my head for a while! I have also saved some amazingly good instructions for an exploding box by Anso (am also hoping she will put them on her blog so I can link to them) and soem very cool classes from the Scrap-Pad.

So anyway, as I like to have a picture with my posts I am going to post one layout with each of my next four posts! This one is the one which I have had whirling round my head for a while now. It is really simple but I love it.

Before Izzy was born I was definitely going to use reusable nappies and spent a fortune of some gorgeous shaped terry nappies and the wraps. We did use them a bit but no where near enough to be cost effective (some are still in the drawer unused!!!) but before she outgrew them I had to take a photo of her in one with the rainbow fleece wrap which I love!!!! Of course terry nappies look huge compared to disposables hence the title!

Anyway, think that's about all for now. Happy Thanksgiving to Annie and any other American readers who stop by here.

*Smiles*

Cyber Crop

2006-11-22T22:49:00.000Z

This weekend is Cyber Crop weekend on UKScrappers AND on the Scrap Pad. I am hoping to multi task and do as much of both as I can possibly manage! Will upload my little creations after the mayhem has finished!

Autumn

2006-11-17T21:43:00.000Z

Izzy and I went for a walk in Castle Park today. One of the nicest things about living in Colchester is the lovely park. The leaves are all yellow and golden and I had to snap some pictures of Isabelle in the park.

We had a blast playing in the leaves and splashing in the puddles in her funky pink wellies. The only problem was she then decided to splash her hands in the puddle and her lovely pink hat with the ear warmer bits - it isn't so pretty now it has puddle juice all over it!

Circle Journal Entry

2006-11-09T23:13:00.000Z

So here is my entry in my Circle Journal. The journal is all about songs and lyrics. I chose the song Dream A Llittle Dream. The first time I heard it they were using it on a car advert! I love this song and had so much fun messing around with paint, acetate masks and rub ons. The tag pulls out and has the song lyrics printed on it.

Fun with paint and ink!

2006-11-08T09:49:00.000Z

Wow - I have really been having fun with paint, ink and modge podge! I am in a circle journal group with some girls from the pad and I have created my journal based on song lyrics.

The first picture is the front cover of the journal. I printed some script paper then masked off areas with cardstock cut into swirls while I stamped and inked the areas differently. I love the Tim Holtz stamps I used. (PAisley at the top and harlequin at the bottom. They don't show so well in the front picture but better on the back. Then I masked the title and the heart with Heidi Swapp masks and painted with yumyy Jo Sonja paints. Finally I doodled with pen adn with glossy accents, added the delish crackle accents over the red and when that was dry I covered it all with two coats of modge podge mixed with a bit of bronze paint.

For my intor page I wanted to keep it simple so I used lots of green paint, stamped the "Be Yourself" Tim Holtz stamp onto aseparate piece of painted cardstock. Added the title in "Bottle Top Letter Stickers" and printed our my (brief) instructions onto white cardstock and stuck them down.

At this point I will admit to a blatant disregard for EVERYTHING I learned on my photo course - or so it seems! Unfortunately the intro page pic is out of focus because the shutter speed was too slow and there's a bit of camera shake. uh oh - well it is packaged and sent now so will have to re photograph when it returns!

Will upload the inside entry I did later on tonight or tomorrow.