UFO NUMBER 1

Right as part of mine and Sonja's stash busting/UFO finishing challenge this is a mini book that I started at a workshop at Simply Create quite a few months ago....

I was going to use a series of photos from a day out we had a Haughton Park in Alford with cousins, aunties, uncle and friends til I realised I only had about 5 pictures(forgot I was going to get some from Pete but never did) so I decided to make it a book about April 2011 instead and since it was Morgan and Ellie's 12th and 11th birthdays on the 14th...

It's a very picture heavy post so I wont bore you with the 'how it was put together' waffle, I will just let you enjoy the photos...

I love these flowers and my niece was round one night and her pearly necklace snapped all over the conservatory floor and I said I would string it back together for her but never did so i pinched them and used some for the insides of these gorgeous flowers on the front cover...

The very front cover is perspex so the flowers and the lovely swirly stamp are on the outside and when you open it you can see the full LO...

Morgan on his birthday...not looking very happy....

The terrible twosome - Niamh and Blair - they are either fighting like cat and dog or best of buds....a very love/hate relationship but they are very close cousins....

Ellie's friends on her birthday sleep-over...

Trying to light the candles outside was hilarious as it was quite a breezy day...we would no sooner have some lit than they would all start going out...gave up in the end!!!

Niamh lost her first tooth so was very excited....

One of my cherry blossoms in full bloom...

Mother's Day...not exactly what look Allan was aiming for here...lol...

And I love the label for the back...even tho it's Jacqui's design I have made it my own unique book with the photos used and the different page arrangements ....I am funny like that when I go to a class I am always trying to change things so they are not carbon copies of the whole class...

Anyhoos - Thanks for looking...

Kirsti

xxx

PS - Next on the list of UFOs is one of the Rusty Pickle books from his last workshhop - only got a couple of pages to finish in it...

BICYCLE, BICYCLE, BICYCLE...I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE

Not done a card for ages...this one is for my friend Julie's husband Blair who turned 40 today...He is really into biking and since it was his 40th I thought a trip down memory lane with all the old bikes from the Hero Arts Joy Ride set was just right...

I used a piece of vintage style jotter paper and stamped all the various bikes onto it and then used Versamark with clear embossing power to stamp the stars and circles...I painted a chipboard circle black and then crackle accented it, added the greeting and layered it up and stuck it on...

The 40 is done the same way as the chipboard circle...I added some coloured pearls to some of the centres of the wheels and a little Vintage Photo distress ink round the edges completed it...

I was very pleased with how it turned out and I hope Blair was too....
TFL

Kirsti xxx

MY MONTH IN NUMBERS

So today I had a comment from Julie Kirk from Notes on Paper about her Months in Numbers challenge that I had looked at earlier so I thought I would start joining in as of this month...so if anyone else fancies joining me you can find all the details over here...

Kirsti xxx

A LAYOUT FROM ME....

After seeing all Sonja's LOs lately she has put me to shame as I wouldn't actually like to say when the last time was that I completed a LO...we have also made a stash busting/finish online classes and UFOs pact so hopefully this will be the first of many and if I write it down for all to see it will have to be won't it...lol...

This is a LO out using the last Simply Create Design Team Kit which is sadly the last one...I have enjoyed my time on the DT and keeping the blog up to date so thank you Jacqui...

This is a pic that was in a post a couple of weeks ago when we went geocaching for the first time...

I started of with the plain cardstock which I sprayed with various inks..some places better than others...and oops I have just remembered that I used a sketch that Sonja had used earlier in the week which can be found below...

I cut out one of the big daisy like flowers from the pattern papers(Glitz Afternoon Muse Floral) and cut down into the petals and inked with Vintage Photo distress ink then added some glossy accents to the centre and filled with seed beads...

Family Fun is done with some chipboard letters painted with hazelnut paint dabber and coated with crackle accent and fun (from the Lost & Found Union Square Perfect stamps) is stamped in Timber Brown stazon...

Before inking I laid out the ribbon creating a mask and then used the 2 ribbons to tie the buttons and cut out a couple of leaves from the floral paper.

Found this giant tag in my stash box(along with 4 more) so I decided to do a little hidden journaling and finished it of with the last of the ribbons...

TFL

Kirsti xx

Well here is my very late offering for this month's design team kit from Simply Create...sorry it took so long and all that....

I started with a blank canvasboard and added some dressmaking pattern using ModPodge(don't worry about the creases and crinkles too much, it just adds to the texture of the background) and then coloured it in green and blue paint....

I was going to cut the bunting flags(Glitz-Afternoon Muse Banner) from the 12x12 out individually until I realised that if I cut out just that bit of it fitted perfectly onto the canvas and I love the way the paper blends in with the painted background..I did cut round the bottom row and crumpled them a bit tho for a bit more of a layered look....

I used various stamps from the DT set of Lost and Found(Union Square 'Perfect') and a couple of Stampin Up rollers which I like as you don't get the whole image just bits of it to add interest to the background....I also splattered some Stampin Up All Purpose Ink in Frost White using a paintbrush...

I made various flowers which were duly crumpled and inked using cardstock and added buttons and ribbon and pearls for the centres and hand drew the stalks and leaves...I almost forgot I did the very bottom of the canvas with Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Antique Linen and then added some more lovely shimmery ink from Stampin Up for some added shine..

I cut out the word SUMMER using Tim Holtz Vintage Market Die and added a few little drops of shimmer ink to that to...

Thanks for looking and have a great summer everyone...I have enjoyed my roll on the Design Team very much - it has definitely given me a little more confidence in myself....

Kirsti xxxx

PINTEREST....

Just a quickie to let you know about this site called Pinterest that Sonja pointed me in the direction of a couple of months ago but I couldn't quite get to grips with...well I have now and it's fab...great for storing all those things you see online and don't want to forget about!!! Go check it out...I am sure you will become as addicted as me, Sonja and quite possible even Julie...lol....


Kirsti xxx

TAKE THAT AND A SPOT OF GEOCACHING....

Hello again...well I just thot I would show you a 'few' photos of what I have been up to the last week or two...On Wednesday 8th June I went to see Take That in Manchester with my very good friend Liz and her mum Gill and her sister Jane...

We had a fabulous time despite the fact that it practically rained non-stop from when we got of the plane til we got up on the Thursday morning for our shopping day...

The boys and all the pitch fans must have been soaked to the skin cos I know we were by the time we walked back to our apartment...

Ooooh Howard....mmmmmh...

No this is Lizzie...hehee...that's Howard above!!!

We had a ball shopping the next day at the Arndale centre which was just a few minutes away from the City Warehouse Apartments where we were staying...lovely apartments and we even got upgraded to the penthouse...lol... I would definitely recommend them...very cheap too...

This is us being very silly trying on the headwear in Primark...not laughed so much like that for ages...there is something magical about laughing at silly things with friends...thank you girls for a lovely few days away from home...was fab...

GEOCACHING!!!

Today we decided we would try our first geocache...I have seen quite a few people I know talking about it on Facebook and had been thinking about giving it a go but to be honest the kids behaviour lately has meant that I haven't wanted to be around them very often but today since Ellie and Libby had 'finally' tidied their rooms we decided to give it a go....

We picked a Bennachie trail and got a wee bit lost and in the end we didn't find the cache but no worries the kids weren't too disappointed and they seemed to enjoy the lovely long walk around Bennachie with no-one grumbling that they were tired or had a stitch...lol...better luck next time...

Unfortunately we had a little mishap on the way home and ended up with a puncture and I would like to thank the two guys who were in front of us and obviously saw what happened and reversed back to help...took quite a while to get the spare tyre out of it's hiding place under the car and I don't think I could have managed that myself so THANK YOU VERY MUCH from all of us...

So that's another weekend over...judo done, tea scoffed and now away to get the kids in of the trampoline for bed...'just wait for the 'another 10 minutes pleeeeease'....

Oh I almost forgot the other good news this weekend is that Strathburn P7s won the Insch Football Tournament yesterday....well done boys!!!

WELL HELLO THERE....

Sorry I know I said I would be a better Blogger this month and I have failed miserably....the reason being is that I have been busy doing a few fairs and trying to keep up with all the kids activities....

Anyhoos...Allan and I managed to get a weekend away together and decided to go to Edinburgh...I love Edinburgh..it feels like my 'spiritual home' as Allan put it...must be something to do with being born there...it's my favourite city ever...

We stayed at Malmaison in Leith courtesy of Allan's work(20 year service award...I also got a gorgeous silver Links of London bracelet as he didn't want anything out of the corporate brochure!)

Enjoying dinner in the Brasserie...lovely it was too....


Being silly with the camera...Allan's atmospheric shot of the crane....



I like like this one a little better...heehee...

The castle....

The Walter Scott Monument...It's a long time since I have been to the top...I think the last time would have been with my good friend Mandy when she came to visit...eeek...THAT was a LONG time ago....I think that's the last time I was at the top of Bennachie as well...ooops...going to remedy that this summer!!!

SPORTS DAY TODAY....

My proud little Niamh with her 1st - 2nd and 3rd badges....you should have seen her do the monkey crawl...won by a mile...lol...no photos of the bigger kids yet but should have some next week once Pete emails them to me(he has a MUCH better camera than me)....

Well that's the news for now...if you want to see any crafty photos you can look here on my Facebook page...I think this is why I haven't been doing blogging lately as I seem to just be uploading to there....

Will catch up next week...am of to Manchester tomorrow to see Take That...excited.com....will be back sometime on Friday and then of to Glasgow on Saturday to watch Morgan play Celtic...so next week I should be a little quieter and will be catching up with my Father's Day orders, etc...

Have a great week everyone....xx