Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Xmas :) I've had such an amazing day, hanging with my family - this is the first time in around 10 years that we've spent it all together and had xmas dinner on xmas day and not New Years day lol!  The most amazing present has to be the Pogo! I will write about it very soon, as it's just wonderful for journals :D

Nearly xmas!

I can't believe that Xmas is less than a week away. Nor that it's been almost a month since I last posted... Seriously, if you decide to handmake a ton of people presents... give yourself plenty of time! I'm just finishing up the last lot this weekend - such relief! LOL!

New Moon

(Click pic for credits)

I saw New Moon yesterday and it was absolutely FAB!  Such a great atmosphere in the cinema and I seriously want to go see it again :) I think I'll have to go take my mum lol! People "Woooo"'d when Jacob took off his shirt and a huge round of applause at the end. Seriously LOVED it, I will type a post tomorrow when I have time with a cut so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it :)  Hmm, I think I need to twilight my blog lol!

Mid November

I can't believe it's mid November already lol. It's also going to be Oliver's first Christmas so Stewart got his decorations out last week! HAHA! Love it :)  I've been feeling very Christmassy. I got all my Christmas craft magazines out and have been sat reading through them - such fun! We're trying to tidy up a little in the front room ourselves, to remove clutter to make room for our tree (which is HUGE!) I also decided to go out in the garden and rake up all the leaves, which took me ages, but the garden looks better. And the lovely task of picking up the poop of all the cats in the neighbourhood who have chosen my flower bedding area which I got ready for Spring, as a big kitty litter box. Mum suggested tea bags and Olbas oil, so I've done that and hope it does the trick!

I will be going to Hobby Craft on Friday I should imagine :)  I'm off to New Moon and the cinema is nearby so I can pop in then, so I shall be starting my quilt next weekend I hope LOL!

Hobbycraft junkie

LOL, I think I may need help. While I'm also having fun bookbinding currently, and coming up with some ideas for handmade presents for certain people, I really REALLY want to have a go at a Christmas quilt. I don't know, something about the idea of snuggling down on the sofa watching TV, and reaching to the back of the sofa where a handmade patchwork quilt is laying and wrapping it around me is... well... lush lol.

So I do think I'm going to take my Aunt's £5 off when you spend over £25 voucher will be put to good use by buying Christmas fat quarters, batting and some backing fabric :)  It all started on Sunday after I decided my current journal needed a nice bag to go in. With a pocket for emphemera and pens and coloured pencils lol. So I eyeballed the whole project and my sewing machine was playing up but even after I finished that attrocity (but it does the job and I made it myself) I held it in my hand and with the stuff I put in between the lining and outer to reinforce it, it feels like a thin quilt and I was like: "HEY! That's a good idea..."

Also, I purchased my New Moon ticket for Friday 20th as I have booked the day off work, and as much as I would have loved to have caught the midnight viewing, it is just physically impossible for me to stay up late and as much as I love New Moon I just don't think I could do it, so I'm going to the second viewing instead which is around midday. Awesomeness :)  I have my veil, borrowed from my cousin Sarah and disco is all booked for the wedding. I'm on a roll!

Book binding adventures

I love books, and as you know I love journals as well, so when I stumbled upon Karla Dudley's workshop "Journal 3 Ways" I was intregued... and then I saw the journals we would be making and the fact that there were cool downloads as well... That was it. I was sold.  So all images you see contain brushes and papers designed by Karla :)

The first journal (I still have to cut the edges so they're level)





Then after I finished that one, I just had to make another using some lush paper I had left over from "Express Yourself  DIY"





Week two was the Perfect Bind method. I honestly didn't think about binding books this way. But having said that, one of my favourite books (Cathy Zielske's Clean and Simple Scrapbooking part 2) is bound using the perfect bind method... and several pages have come away from the book through excessive use lol. Although I'd say it's not my number one, I had a ton of fun doing it, it looks just lush and I only lost 3 pages after binding :)

And like a completely numpty, I put the covers on the wrong way so the book is back to front... DOH!









I seriously want to do another one of these :)  I've got the book binding bug now, and I'm seriously going to be making a few more things!

Pumpkin - Go team Jacob!

There was no contest when I decided on which template I wanted to use to carve my pumpkin this year :) I wanted something pretty simple as this is only my third ever pumpkin, and my second using a template, but as I was soooo proud of my witch last year, I had to at least give it a go!



Template from here: http://www.pinkraygun.com/2009/10/10/free-pumpkin-carving-templates-twilights-jacob/. Although Gareth says he prefers my witch from last year, and he just doesn't "see" Jacob in this one. I don't care. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish.

And I also decided on doing a paper haunted house, after seeing a few on a website and thinking how cool they were. Apart from the pumpkin, I have no halloween stuff here, so the paper house would be fun, so again I chose a nice easy one :)



Download and instructions here: http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index301.html

Sadly the lighting is terrible in here. This is why we can't play with Neville this evening. Nev is our virtual pet, as seen here:



We saw an advert for EyePet and curiosity got the better of us. So we got a copy and played with it for aaaaaaaaaaaaages lol!

My Thursday

Mon-Wed blog posts were done on Sunday, and I had the week off work and I had all these awesome plans - one of which was that I was going to have some freebies. I will post them eventually. But this is how my week has shaped up:
Monday: Dentist am. Quick check, said I needed to go back for clean and polish. Book next appointment for Wednesday morning. Spend all afternoon with my dad working on something for mum.

Tuesday: Doctors am, goes ok although Gareth poorly and home sick. Gas man supposed to come between 12.30pm and 4.30pm. Get call to say he's not coming but someone will call me to arrange another appointment, so I race out to get car checked. Says I need a new sleeve this time, they temporarily fix it (sounds much better!) and tell me that they will call me and let me know when it's in. Take stuff back to Argos for refund.

Wednesday: Dentist am. Late going in, dentist butchers my teeth - gums bleeding and sore for a while. Go home and wonder why I haven't heard from garage or Gas man. Gareth needs to go to docs, so I take him and he needs blood test so we wait until the nurse is available - there over an hour. Get him back and give him more medicine and ring gas man. Turns out they went ahead and made an appointment for Thursday between 12.30 and 4.30 again. Thanks for telling me. Rang garage, car part there I can carry on and get it fitted an hour after calling... Get there, wrong part. Will be in Thursday - tell them it will have to be Friday instead as gas man coming. Go to Blockbuster and use 2 of my free rental vouchers on Bolt and Secret Life of Bees. Watch Bolt with Gaz in the evening.

Thursday: Scrapbooking which I've been meaning to do all week, and watched Secret Life of Bees. Gas man turns up at 1 and condemns fire. I am livid, ring dad. Dad turns up and is also livid. Gas engineer apologises and leaves, taking my number and tells me he will ring. Rings up at 4 ish (he was here 2 hours) and tells me someone can start work on fire Saturday morning. Too late to get car fixed after I was thinking I could. Dad tells me he will come up Friday morning to prepare for the man to come and fix the fire, so I have to then hope I can get my car repair fitted in during lunch time and return the DVDs and use up my last voucher so I can at least enjoy some of my week off!

So this is what I did this morning:


I just have to finish my journalling, print it and do the photos and I'm done :) Possibly the only happy thing this week lol!

Journal part 3: My current journal

This is my current journal, and I will share with you some bits and bobs from it :)


It's another Daler Rowney of course! I decorated the book with Making memories stuff. I am missing one of the flower gems off the front though, and I have a velour lilac ribbon as a bookmark that co-ordinates.

and here's a sneek peek at some of my entries (more after cut as image heavy!)

Journal part 2: The memories

With my swap journal, I began to include a few more relevant bits in my journals, not just random stuff I picked up along the way (although, in one of my hard back books I have a return bus ticket from at least 10 years ago - and it's interesting to see the price difference!)

Yes, when I get upset I generally head straight to the journal and whine about my life in it - it's free therapy and it never judges me. I like that! But I also like to put the every day life in it too :) As I also carried it everywhere with me in my bag, I kept some of my favourite photos in the back (this from my swap journal)





Pictures of myself and Stewart growing up :) That always cheered me up!

I'm also not an artist by any means. I really suck at drawing, but my journal was my go to place just to release some creativity (One of my Daler-Rowney journals)



I like to include happy photos:



Portraits of myself, and talking about my hobby (in this case this was about photography - before I got my DSLR):


and simple reminders to myself:


Some of the other things I have found helpful in my journals are tabs. Loving the Tabs! I can quick reference back to things - you have no idea how many times I thought about something, and thought "that was back in August 2005" or something, gone back to my journal for that time and sat flicking through the pages to get back to that date to see what it was I was looking for. These tabs are by Doodlebug, and was on their Summer cardstock stickers sheet. Doodlebug was my happy thing back then and my journal is even covered in doodlebug papers.



I also kept miniature envelopes in my journal for no other reason than to write cute notes to myself and stash them away in there to find again later, and any smaller bit of emphemera I had collected. Larger envelopes is definitely something I will do in my next journal, to keep all my bits and bobs in a nice and neat order.



Now, you may notice a very silly thing, and ask: "But Kirsty, you said you chose Daler Rowney books because they were acid free, protected your photos and I can see you even used scrapbook products in your books... so WHY can I see BIRO in your books!?" Ah yes. This is something I stupidly and completely over looked! I do in fact journal with acid free pens now. It was shocking to me, that although you can't see it in photos, my very first journal is already yellowing. Seriously breaks my heart, and this is why I'm going all out acid free in my current journals.

Also my number 1 top tip: If you should take you journal around with you, put your address in the back of the book! Mine reads: "This journal has no monetary value but it means a lot to me, so if found please return to {address} I will gladly refund the postage."

Tomorrow I will be sharing bits from my current journal and might have a little something for you ;)

Journal part 1: The evolution

I thought I'd take the opportunity to take this week to talk about things and give things to all my blog readers (lol, all two of you Rachael and Katie ;) ) Today will be part one of my ramblings on journals :) It's what gave me the idea when I was doing my personal blog. I wanted to keep it separate from my photography hobby blog and giving that the subdomain "blog" I chose "journal" for my personal blog.

This is my very first journal, aged 11 years:

It did have a lock on it and you could at one time back when I was 11, close it up but over the years I used it I began putting things in it and it would no longer close properly.



I also had horrific 11 year old writing and mainly talked about teddy bears and what I called them lol.



and my random stickers - back when the original 90210 was on! I kid you not, I even have a sticker of MC Hammer in there - don't ask me why!



Then came my awesome "fluffy" journal, which still locks and I still have the key hidden away in my secret hiding place even after all these years and moving.



Filled with Hanson goodness :)

New Halloween Theme

For what us Brits lack in Halloween celebrating, I'm making up for in my new blog theme, and even more cooler is the fact that I've played with the widgets and as my themes are widget friendly, I'm having a blast lol! I am currently perusing the widgets now :) 

Even better, I'm going to branch out and do some Blogger themes including my all time favourite types: Photoblog themes. So that's something to look forward to playing with tomorrow.

Anywho, the kitchen isn't going to clean itself, nor is the lounge with all house info everywhere and I need to change the bed sheets as well once the washing that is in the machine is done. So glamourous! But the themes are giving me a welcome distraction :)

Autumn is here

Hmm, I've not been a big fan of Autumn. Ever. Well sometimes with the back to school stuff and getting new stationary and clothes etc, but otherwise not really. I've always been a summer girl myself.  But Gareth gets the Next catalogue, and I can't help but flick through it and sigh, thinking of getting some cute new outfits now the weather is chilly and the leaves are changing colour.  I even baked:



White choc chip cookies, which got the Gareth seal of approval. When I asked him if he liked them after he ate one, his reply was: "I'd like them even more if there was another one in my mouth..."

Even reading through my September issue of Creating Keepsakes, I stopped at the lovely red and brown coloured shoes at the "Hot fall trends (Let fashion trends inspire your creativity)" and have since left it on that page.  Now I've downloaded a freebie autumn kit and I plan on making a cute little "ode to autumn" mini book to place on my mini easel, once I've finished my Cathy class :)

New trousers & class

I'm feeling a little better today, which is such a relief. Not 100% but better.  It's just typical that I should come down with a terrible head cold on a bank holiday weekend.

Still, this Thursday I have Cathy's new class "Me: the abridged version" to look forward to.  I've kept my little tag book on me at all times, for when inspiration strikes. I do think I'm going to have to grab the dictionary for some more Z words. It does help that my scrapbooking idol and class teacher's surname begins with Z, so that's one less "Z" entry to worry about I suppose lol.



Then I got sucked into the "back to school" hype. Can you believe it's been 10 years since I left school... and 10 years since I met Gareth!  Seriously, had anyone told me that the cute guy who sat behind me in Dave's class at college would be my future husband I'd have thought you were insane.  Anywho, while shopping in Tesco I decided I needed new trousers for work, so perused the "Back To School" section, and tried on a pair of trousers.



and I've gone from 14-15 year olds to 15-16 year olds.  They're really REALLY long on me though, and they need to be taken up. I also need some new shoes so I will get some back to school shoes (another positive thing about being so small, I get to shop in teen sections for cheaper clothes, and as my feet are so small, I get cheap shoes as well. Score) So once I get some new shoes, I know how many inches I need to take the trousers up. At least 5 inches I'm sure. I'm so short, it sucks.



The only embarassing thing is the tag inside where I can write my name and class information in. But no one can see that :)  And they're Purple inside. Not pink as it may appear.

New t-shirt

Firstly, The images can be found here at this Crafster thread by "boo-zombie":  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=299075.0

I've done the Quileute High Protectors shirt so far, for the pricely sum of £1.47 and I've had the transfer paper for a while now, so I won't count that, but the top was from Primark. It's not 100% cotton though, so the image has cracked, and it smudged after the backing moved and I accidentally caught it with the iron... Doh!  Still, I have 2 more shirts from Matalan (£3 each) to have a go at the Forks Spartans one.



I've actually bookmarked some freezer paper on ebay, although someone has mentioned that Hobby Craft do it, so I might just check out my local HC sometime.  The best news is we're moving to nice clean offices, within walking distance of HC. I can imagine I will spend many winter lunches there!

In the meantime, I'm about to jump in the shower and put on some new PJs.  My favourite pair (I've had since 2002) have got a hole in the knee. They'll last a little longer but I have a new pair and a Nightie... I don't do nighties lol, so want to give it a go, and some new fluffy white slippers. Then I have a Yankee Candle wax tart burning in the background.  Been a pretty good Sunday!

Oliver :)

I'm on a roll with Oliver's scrapbook. I need some help from Stewart though. He sent my mum some photos and she bluetoothed them to me, but in the meantime, I have started scrapbooking some photos I took on Saturday:



and here's 2 photos from Saturday, minus a scrapbook page lol. It was just me, dad, Stewart, Claire and Oliver at nan's house, so it was quite nice and relaxed with lots of Oliver time :)

Latest

Firstly to start off this post, here's a shot of Oliver I got doing his cute pouty lip thing. It was taken in low light settings with my kit lens, so I'm glad how it turned out - I imagined it would have been much more blurry!


And Taz enjoying his mini break :D


And now for the main event: Sims 3.  Now since the patch has been released it's been a  MUCH better gaming experience. For me, I play on my laptop as it's just easier for me and it allows my beloved Fiance to play on World of Warcraft on the main computer, and my laptop failed on CPU speed to be able to play it but I can play it fine :)

I started with Jamie Hart as I did in Sims 2 and immediately married him off to the first local who he met called Blair


They had two kids Avery Grace and Dylan and once Avery Grace was a young adult I moved her out to test the Story Progression :D She had a boyfriend and two kids, although the father of the children is questionable LOL! It doesn't show in the family tree mode.
I continued on with Dylan who met Bella (yes, THE Bella!) at the gym and he married her, only to find out that she already had a little boy called Cary. Bella and Dylan had Connor together and as Cary was already around they didn't have anymore kids. As Connor grew older I had a very funny time trying to get him hooked up with someone! He started off with a girl called Rayne who completely blew off all of his advances, so he started dating a girl called Lacy... Only she never came to see him - and in fact everytime he rang her to come over she would tell him to call back in so many hours or try again the next day. Now, I got annoyed so the last time she blew him off and told him to call back the next day I made Connor go to her house where she was watching TV. He proposed to her and she refused... so he went to see Rayne where she absolutely adored him! (Go figure...) So it was back to Lacy's house where he broke up with her and things got VERY ugly... Seriously she was yelling and screaming at him to get out so he obliged!

Now at Rayne's house there were a bunch of guys there which I assumed were her brothers... and boy was I wrong! Once married, only then did I realise that those 3 men were in fact her sons amd she was just days away from becoming an elder. Oops. So it was a race to get my heir! Then Aurora was born :) She's currently a teen and the only 2 people left in the household are Connor and Aurora as Dylan died and just 2 days later Rayne died. Dylan did really well though, he got his lifetime wish and lots of aspiration points, so on the Hart section of the graveyard, Dylan stands proud above everyone else.

Taz the hoodie

I'm on Networked blogs on Facebook should anyone want to follow me :)  http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/kirstys_journal/  and my photography one is there too: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/kirsty_base_photography/  and I need people to confirm that I'm the author so please do that too after my failed attempts to confirm it myself.



My book was seriously funny. And I thought things went terribly wrong on my camping holiday the other week, nothing campared to this, and Emma and her family are nothing but persistent! LOL, I loved this. And the ending seemed very fitting too ;)



My "beach in a box" is seriously awesome. I had it on my desk at work and my boss destroyed my sandcastle - to be honest I think he just wanted to play with it and see what it was about, so squishing my sandcastle seemed the best way!



Our sea monkeys are doing ok. Easiest pets ever.





and isn't Taz the cutest hoodie you've ever seen lol! My parents took him camping last weekend but it was a bit wet so they bought him a rain coat complete with hood.

I will have to find something to blog about that's better than this.

Right Now {via Ali Edwards}

"Borrowed" from Ali's blog,

TODAY
June 23rd, 2009

Outside my window... My neighbour has actually put her bin out - first time since she's moved in, I believe!!

I am thinking... about Buster still, and that my eyes are still itching and hoping the hayfever symptoms go away

I am thankful for... family. Been going over every day, and I just need that. To be with mum, dad and Stewart, and Oliver of course!

From the kitchen... mini pepperoni pizza with chips.

I am wearing... black t-shirt (too hot), jeans and barefoot.

I am creating... Right now, nothing but I'm looking forward to doing some more scrapbooking soon, and I have to finish my travel binder sharpish!

I am going... to take a shower and wash my hair in a bit. Fancy another early night, so want to be in bed by 9.30pm.

I am reading... The unofficial guide to Twilight.

I am hoping... that the weekend isn't a huge washout, and that the "light rain" won't come to anything.

I am hearing... Hanson's membership CD.  "Devil's Nachos" seriously rocks, lol.

Around the house... Dishes piled up in the sink, messy floor in the lounge, and clothes to put away in the bedroom.

One of my favorite things... photos. They're such a comfort right now.

A few plans for the rest of the week... carry on to my parents for the rest of the week again, and tidy up around here.

My dad liked his frame as well. My dad never cries and when he took it out of the bag he burst into tears, then I started and so did my mum.

Roller coaster

This past week has been such a roller coaster of emotions, what with Oliver being born last Saturday (Stewart's first Fathers Day today, I've text him already :) )  I have started on Oliver's scrapbook already, and have asked his daddy for some photos he may have taken to put in there. So here's the front page:

 

Then losing Buster on Wednesday.

The vet said himself it was odd that he had paralysis and disorientation, and although we all thought it was a stroke, it was probably more likely a brain tumour.

This is what I have made dad for father's day...  He loved that dog to pieces. They went running together and everything, and as my dad said, undoubtedly one of the best dogs we have ever had.



I also made a Buster mini book.  I made it in less than 2 hours, the chipboard pieces were the inserts of the Maya Road album I turned into a travel binder.  2 albums for the price of one ;)



You can see the rest of the album by clicking this link here: Buster Album, and going through the images you see on the right.

Taz has been getting a ton of attention.  He's been such a good boy, he even goes for walks without his lead anymore.


and this photo breaks my heart everytime I see it. It's Taz waiting for Buster to come home :(



But Taz has some new friends - They're my old dog slippers :)



and my mum will probably kill me for this, but I love it anyway - this photo best explains why I nicknamed Buster "Buster Bear"



He was a big cuddly bear.  I miss him so much :(  Dad went and donated Buster's stuff to a dog shelter, and they were trying to get him to take a Staffie home, but mum and dad have said no more dogs. as it's too heartbreaking and too soon besides.  I went over twice yesterday to see Taz, and dad was just wandering around with Taz in his one arm lol.  My dad has requested my Buster photos, so I have put them on my USB stick, smiling to myself knowing that I came up with a great idea for his father's day present.

Anywho, I gotta get the last lot of washing on, vacuum the front room after all the hole punching for Buster's album and take a shower then head on over to parents. Gareth has gone to see his dad today, but I wanted to stay with Taz.