Back in the creative mood

I have been creating a lot of mini albums lately, and using both sides of double sided paper I haven't been getting too creative with them, just layering papers & adding a few stickers and flowers. The albums look pretty, but it's not as satisfying creating them.

Back in the creative spirit though with the album I'm currently woking on. It's my favourite size - 8.5x11 - and I've finally found a use for the 11 sheets of Prima's Blooming Retro collection that I just had to have but didn't have a clue what to do with once they arrived! Big thank you too to my best friend who gave me this lovely gift for my Birthday - as you can seein the layout below, the brads have already been put to good use :)

Still to add the journaling to this page but I'll go back & do that once I'm finished the album. If anyone is considering purchasing the Martha Stewart Cherish punch I'd definitely say to go for it. Even the corner punch on it's own looks great & with the bracket border it creates cute little frames. This one started off as a 5.75" square.

Pulled out my paints earlier too. Loved these MM canvas alpha stickers & got some for £1 (~$1.50) but been finding it difficult to co-ordinate them with my layouts. Solved that problem today with some cream paint. Even with two coats you can still see the canvas texture.

Looking forward to a family Christmas tomorrow. A walk, church, quiet time & some fun games is all we've got planned. Like it that way, Christmas should be about enjoying yourself - not stressing trying to create the 'perfect' day. Best wishes to all for a merry & bright weekend however you choose to celebrate xx

Thankful for many miracles this Christmas

A recent post over at the Brave Girls blog got me thinking about the many miracles in my life this past year and how I am very grateful for each & every one.

Back in the spring I told you about my Auntie being diagnosed with breast cancer. It's been a long & hard journey, one that has taken it's toll on the whole family, but my Auntie most of all. Despite that she remained positive & cheery thoughout, I really admire her strength & courage. She's doing better now, although she still isn't back at work yet. That means she doesn't have much money to spare for gifts this year. I don't mind at all, her good health is all that matters to me.

Although she isn't in a position to be able to give gifts, she did take the time to send me a very special card. Isn't it cute? I'll treasure it always.

Christmas Gifts

I'm still waiting for my December Studio Calico kit to arrive before I start any new scrapbooking projects so I made use of my time today creating calendars to put in with Christmas presents. I had actually forgotten I bought the little calendar tabs in October so had to hunt about my room for them last night before I eventually found them amongst my journaling cards. Why I thought it would be a good idea to store them there I've no idea! But at least I found them in the end.

I kept the designs quite simple as I had a few to make. These are for each of my parents, two of my aunties, my Gran & a friend.

I also made this frame for my Gran. Not sure about the glass though, it has given everything a blue tinge so I think I'll get a different frame. I have two albums to share too, one for my other Gran & one for my parents. Not taken photos yet so will post them tomorrow.

Birthday Weekend

Didn't have the best of days on Friday, everything seemed to go wrong. Luckily my parents had boked tickets for Thriller the stage show. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was brilliant & really cheered me up after a bad day.

My Auntie gave me the most precious gift of all, her charm bracelet. I always loved it as a child & she promised one day it would be mine. I love the bible & church charms the most. They both oen, the bible has a tiny version of the Lord's prayer in it and the chuch has a vicar & a couple being married.

Was out yesterday & discovered our nearest Starbucks has re-opened so had to pay a visit. Everything is so Christmassy outside & now Dad has put our lights up, our house is starting to feel the same. Think we're putting the tree & other decorations up tomorrow so it'll really feel like Christmas then.

Eve of my Birthday

Looking forward to my Birthday tomorrow, I love having it this time of year. Everything about December is familiar because of all our traditions, it takes me right back to my childhood and all my happy Birthdays & Christmasses.

Tomorrow will also be my final day of this project. I'll be able to complete the last page once I get a photo from tomorrow printed. This is the front cover of the album, the opening page & the 9th December layout.

Final installment of 90s nostalgia

This will be my last post featuring my 90s album. Still want to do some full journaling pages to close the album with but haven't got around to writing them yet. Been working on creating some Christmas gifts these past two days so will have them to share tomorrow.

• LA Gear trainers with lights in the heels were popular.
• Everyone was reading Goosebumps books.
• Live & Kicking was the Saturday morning show to watch, with funny games, cartoons & crazy sketches.
  

• The Sweater Shop tops were worn by people of all ages - male & female.
• Head sports holdalls were a popular choice as school bags.
• We watched 3 frogs advertising Budweiser, sang along with the Weetabix Robin Hood ad & collected the Tetley Tea Folk characters.
  

• We collected Ty Beanie Babies we were sure would be valuable one day.
• Wore 'poppers' trousers with buttons down the legs.
• Bought Smash Hits magazine for the posters, song lyrics, stickers & free gifts.
  
  

• Tammy Girl was the best place for pre-teens to shop for clothes.
• We wore coloured hair mascara, glitter gel & owned a rainbow assortment of nail polish, mostly magazine cover gifts.
• School fads included cyber pets, yo-yos, plush toy keyrings, fluffy pens and pencil cases.
  


• Game Boys came in one colour option, grey. They were the size of a brick & weighed just as much. The game screen wasn't in colour either.
• Walkman's that played tapes or CDs were the only form of portable music in your pocket.
• We taped the Pepsi Chart show from the radio on a Sunday afternoon. It was a frantic rush to stop the tape before 'Dr Fox' started talking again & spoiled the end of the song.
  
  

• Girls came back from holidays abroad with hair wraps, bought the fake CK One & Tommy Girl fragrances from Internacionale & learned all the Steps dance routines.
  

• Girls wore multiple hair scrunchies (usually 3) and we all wanted to have the 'Rachel' cut like Jennifer Aniston.
• Life stopped for 30mins on Friday evenings to watch Friends on Ch4 at 9pm
  

• Almost everyone went to the cinema to see Titanic, most people about 3 times!
• Girls believed everything they read in Shout & sugar - the health, beauty, quizzes & horoscopes.
• Harry Potter books were just becoming famous with the launch of the Prisoner of Azkaban in July 1999.

Moments worth remembering?

Christmas holidys started early for me today, weather still really bad here so not going to be able to make it into university tomorrow. Really glad I worked hard to complete everything ahead of time. Just my final project to hand in but my tutor knows I have put the work in & is being really understanding about it.

Mixed assortment of memories from the 90s today, too many to try & group them so just going to post the journaling & photos.

• Colour change t-shirts & mood rings were in.


• We collected scratch & sniff stickers and even had smell-o-vision for Children in Need in 95.


• Yikes made school cool again. Pencils had brightly coloured wooden barrels & the patterned erasers were fun shapes.

• We learned the dance routines to Saturday Night & the Macarena.


• Snap bands were popular in the playground but quickly became banned.


• On the last day of term we played board games, watched disney films & wore our own clothes to school.

• Tony Hart & Art Attack inspired us to get creative.


• CBBC was filmed in the 'broom cupboard'. Presenters included Andi Peters, Toby Anstis, Josie d'Arby & Kirsten O'Brien. Edd the Duck and Otis the Aardvark added lots of fun.


• Tim Vincent, Diane Louise Jordan & Anthea Turner made up the Blue Peter team. We saw the original Tracy Island make, laughed at them tossing pancakes and took part in Bring & Buy sales for the appeals. Pets included Kari & Oakie the cats, George the tortoise, Bonnie & Mabel the dogs.

• Leggings were worn with rolled down 'slouch socks'.


• Nearly every week the Beano hadd free sweets on the cover & you could get a badge, card & wallet when you joined the club.


• Libraries were full of Babysitters Club books and there was even a TV series & movie.

• We kept in touch with friends by letter or landline calls.


• The only form of spam was chain letters & junk mail.


• Few people owned a mobile & even fewer had the internet at home until the late 90s.

• The Spice Girls were everywhere. Kids knew all their names, both real & spice ones.


• They had a huge influence on fashion, short skirts, bright colous and massive platform shes became trendy.


• Girls styled their hair like them too. Suddenly everyone had pigtails like Emma or zigzag partings like Victoria.