Hello Blogland!!

Hello! I feel I have missed so much in the last 4 weeks of being without internet. I still don't have my own internet but Paige has very kindly let me come and play on hers this afternoon as I was suffering major withdrawls! She has also phographed all my LO's from our retreat a couple of weeks ago so I can blog them. Paiges wonderful husband is coming to set up my internet tonight as BT have finally 'switched' it on so baring any problems I will hopefully be online tomorrow.
It has been such a pain without the internet as I work a lot from home and I have had to be running here there and everywhere borrowing other peoples computers to get my work done so that I get paid. I have not had the time to look at everyone blogs because once I've finished my work I've felt like I would be taking the micky to just start browsing for my own pleasure!

Not Even Remotely Dorky-
LO of Caleb in his new Big bang theory t-shirt
PP is Jillibean soup

Scrap with us wk 50-how I met....
PP Cosmo cricket
This LO is how I met Paige, my scrapbook inspiration!!

Scrap with us wk 51-End of the rainbow
PP We R memory keepers
Wight craft circle girls day out to southampton, shopping, dinner and a show

Scrap with us Wk 49 Did you know...
We rock! Photos of our new years eve celebration playing rock band.

Scrap with us wk 48- use a magazine article/advert for inspiration
Above is my family tree LO, below is the magazine page that inspired it.

Scrap with us wk 41 (yes I am well behind with the challenges!)-White space
This is my fav LO from the whole weekend and is of my puppys first bath and walk. PP is a mix of basic grey, october afternoon and DCWV from my scrap box.

Scrap with us wk 47-What colour are you?
PP is cosmo cricket
My 36th birthday dinner at Paiges house, and obviously my colour is purple!

Well, hopefully I will be online tomorrow and can come and browse all your blogs and leave some comments for you...I have missed you all!!! I have to dash off now to get the kids from school, I was hoping to check out your blogs today but this post has taken ages, I'm out of practise!
TFL
Sami x
P.S. Just wanted to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments about the calendar page...I will catch up and comment on your blogs! x

Back from the retreat

I am home from the Wight craft circles 3rd retreat and surrounded by a pile of craft stuff that needs packing away!

I had a wonderful time and managed to get 8 LO's done. I bought way too much stash from Katies wonderful shop (cre8tive online) and it was great to catch up with all the ladies that come to us from the mainland, Deb's, Julia, Anna, Nicole, Diane, Alison and Katie and to meet Julia (WOYWDW Julia over at Stamping ground) and Linda who attended our retreat for the first time. I must say we have the best ladies at our retreats!!! Everyone had a great weekend, loads of fab scrapping was done and lots of laughter was had (especially the story I cannot repeat that Alison told us, which had me rushing to the loo for fear of wetting myself!!). Everybody has already booked up for our 4th retreat in February.

Unfortunately I didn't remember to take any photos! Paige took a few which I expect she will post on our Wight circle blog. We normally go out all together on the Saturday afternoon and get some silly group shots but as we had torrential rain for most of the weekend we didn't get the chance.

Paige and I would like to say a big thankyou to Katie for bringing her shop so us Isle of Wighters could purchase and drawl over some wonderful stash (most craft shops on the Island are dismal!) and also a huge thanks to all of our lovely ladies who make the retreat such a pleasure to run and bring such inspiration and friendship to us.

Here are the LO's I completed (sorry they are not in order, blogger was not playing nice!). I had saved quite a few challenges from the Wight craft circles scrap with us challenge to complete at the retreat. Paige and I also worked on a couple of LO's for our upcoming scrap with us so I am giving you a bit of a sneak peak!

WK 30-10 things about....

10 things I'd like to be. PP is October Afternoon, thickers and adorn it's.

I was going to do 10 things about me, but couldn't think of 10 interesting things so ended up doing 10 things I'd like to be!

WK 27-What makes me happy?

PP -WRMK show and tell
My family make me happy and as Mr Ladybird (Paiges husband Trav!) just did some lovely family portraits for us I had to use one of them for this LO.

WK 28- Traditions and focus on journalling

PP-Bo Bunny (raided from Alisons scrap bag!)
Another of Trav's photos. We don't have many traditions in our family, unless it's xmas ones, but the kids and me do have 'I love you' sayings that we use all the time!

WK 29-Things you've lost and found
PP-prima & college press
I have not the journalling yet for this as Im afraid it might be a bit mushy so didn't want to do it at the retreat!

WK 31- How I feel about....

PP-WRMK 72 and sunny
This Photo was also taken by Trav at my Dad's 'I'm in remission ' party! He was diagnosed in January this year with non hodgekins lymphoma, went through chemo and was told he was in remission in August so we had a big party to celebrate. The journalling will be about how scared I was and how pleased we are that he came through it. I made a tag to pull out from behind the photo so the journalling is not on view.

WK 32-could it be magic

PP-Echo park
These photos are from a handfasting I performed a couple of weeks ago.

WK 34- The great outdoors

PP- My little shoebox
This pic is a little blurry, sorry! My daughter could not get up the tree without me giving her a little shove, then she realised she couldn't get down either!

WK 35- Me in 2010

PP- Bo Bunny

Photo taken at the handfasting. This Lo is about how I need to be photos and I need to scrap them! I hate photos of me but I have to remember that my kids will want photos of me when Im gone. At the retreat Julia told me that when my kids look at photos of me they will just see their mum, they wont see all my insecurities like I do- so thank you Julia, i will remember that and try and be in more photos!

WK 38- Proudest moment

PP-Jillibean soup

My son in his uniform on his first day at high school



The next two were done at our last crop and I forgot to post them! They are not challenge LO's, just for fun!

Thanks for looking,

Sami x

Long time no blog!

It has been ages since I have blogged anything! I have been busy with work and the sketchbook project. Tomorrow we are all off to the Wight Craft Circles scrapbooking retreat!! This is the 3rd retreat Paige and I have run and I am looking forward to seeing some old friends and some new faces! So, I should have lots to blog about when I get home!

Some photos from Feb 2010 Wight Craft Circle retreat

Sami x

Only one more sleep!

I have been busy with work last week and this week is half term so not a lot of crafting going on at home! The Wight Craft circle had its monthly crop on Saturday though so I managed to get in a solid 7 1/2 hrs of scrapping.

I covered one of a set of 3 bare boxes from Papermania. I used a set of basic grey papers that I have had forever. As I have the whole set I knew I'd have enough to do the other two boxes to match.

I still need to add something to the front of the box though as it looks a bit plain.

For the top I used an October afternoon journalling card, pink c/s punched with an EK Succes notebook punch, ribbon, blooms and a butterfly. The fabric covered heart I got from a lovely little shop called My House that sells all sorts of homemade and decrotive homewares.
I don't know what I am going to use the box for, I'm thinking a reciepe box but I don't have that many reciepes to fill it!


I did this LO of my son and his first girlfriend. We met her for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We took them out for dinner as it was Caleb's birthday. They have been 'going out' for 5 months now and she seems to be a really lovely girl. Its not a great photo but I had to be a bit sneaky to get it! I knew I wanted a photo to scrap so took my little camera along. My daughter had a huge bowl of icecream so I whipped the camera out saying ' oh goodness look at the mess you are getting in, i have to take a photo.' Then when I'd taken 4 or 5 of her I turned the camera round and said casually 'lets get one of you two then' Click, click!! Of course they were sat right in front of a window but I couldn't pose them better for fear of scaring the girlfriend or God forbid, embarrasing my son!!
The LO is a scraplift from this months scrapbook trends magazine. I used Hedi Grace papers, a little ribbon and Paige's Cricut to cut the title.


LO of my daughter during all the snow. I used Core'dinations white wash card which I sanded down to the pink core. The journalling card is Teresa collins. I don't remember what the PP is. The snowflakes were cut on my slice and I added some snowman ribbon and a little Tesco chipboard angel.

And finally, here are all my craft bags packed and ready for the retreat tomorrow!( And this photo doesn't include my wheelie tote! Am I taking toooo much!) This is the second Wight Craft Circle retreat at Totland bay that we have organised and I am really looking forward to it. It will be lovely to catch up with everyone from the last retreat. We have two birthdays to celebrate while we are there so there will be plenty of cake!! Also the ladies that came last time and tried to ruin the whole weekend were not given the opportunity to book again for this one, so its just going to be the NICE girls!!!
It will be so nice to just relax and scrap for the whole weekend and forget about everything. Its been a really horrible start to the new year for me and my family with serious illnesses and hospitals etc so I really need this get away!

Just one more sleep...!

Thanks for looking