Sewing a Sock Kitten....

Well who'd 've thunk it!
Me sewing! Aaaaargh!
And at the busiest time of the year!
That is Pester Power for you. Sadie is the Queen of Pester Power and I have been mithered relentlessly since this little parcel was opened Christmas morning. So much so that I was actually (almost) glad to get to work for a break from the incessant "Will you help me make my Sock Kitten Mummy pleeeeeease?" trilling in my ears! However by yesterday afternoon I'd run out of excuses and was actually feeling a bit guilty about dodging this duty that I kinda thought I'd better show willing and just get the job done if only for the sake of my ears...

So here in all its glory...





And so admired and grateful was my little Belle that she couldn't wait to get off to bed with he who has been named Mittens Stripey Strachan!
Bless!
Kinda made it all worthwhile ... maybe. Can I just add that Millie got one too but she surely must be old enough to sew it herself by now...surely?

Oh. And when we got up this morning, Mittens looked like this...



Hahahaha - he'd lost an eye! Eeek!
D'oh - better go. I have a Sock Kitten in need of emergency opthalmic surgery!!!!
Happy New Year to everyone!
Jak
xxx
PS - don't ask me to sew for you. Ever!

8x8 bonus post!

Well lookey here!
I've managed to squeeze in another post! Here's a layout I was working on at my last craft club night (Merry Christmas ladies!). It needed a few finishing touches to complete it and finally I'm happy with the way it has turned out. It was inspired by the LO on the cover of the first issue of Scrap365. I really like the splashy paint style - a bit more lively and defo fun to indulge in. My first attempt didn't quite work though - I used the "wrong" colours and it ended up looking like some kind of horror/bloodbath, crime scene layout! That had to go as it was totally distracting and did nothing for the small photo. In the end I went over with a soft pink paint that complimented the colours in the pic instead! Ah well that's what its all about - some you win, some you have to work a bit harder with! Hope you like it anyway.
Have a very Merry Christmas everypeeps!
Lots of love
Jak
xxx

Festive Greetings....

Hiya my crafty friends! This will most likely be my final post this year (maybe) and I feel I should apologise for my lack of new posts this month. However its not that I've been resting on my creative laurels - oh no! I've been busy recycling piles of other peoples Chrimbly cards (from last year) and turning them into tags for the school craft fair. Oh and then there was the magnetic peg memo holders and the xmas cards and money envelopes etc... So with all that and Xmas shopping etc - phew! But I do have lots of ideas for next year that I want to try out. I love the new scrapbooking mag that came out last month - Scrap365, (yay I won a 6 month subscription which makes it even better) and have found a good few inspiring projects in there that I'm going to get going with as soon as the madness here calms down. Did anyone else love that Glue Book and the self made Smash Book? Oh I'll get some of those scrap bits of stash used up yet...
Meanwhile I'll leave you with a pic of a notebook made for a xmas pressie (dust off that bind-it-all) using some recycled corrie cardboard, vintage dictionary pages and my favourite glue ever - Golden Gel which dries with a bumpy brushed texture. Love it! Hope Santa brings you all new stash to play with!
Have a fabsy Christmas everyone!
Peace, Love and Creativity!
Jak
xxxx

Baby Book for a friend....

Just finished and just in time! Only a week or so to go. So exciting! Can't wait to meet baby and can't wait to see this little book all filled up with pics and journaling. Come on Sam, tell that little poppet to get a move on...

Altered pegs

Here is a quick project I made for the craft fair that we were at on Saturday. The ladies from the club really liked them and asked if I could show how to make them at our next meeting. They are super easy to make - the only thing that might not be in everyon's stash is the adhesive magnetic strip for making them stick (there's an excuse for some retail therapy if ever there was one)!
Cheers!
Jak
xxx

Craft fair...

Me and my friend Elaine are taking part in a craft fair at the Cabin Community Room in Monifieth on the 12th Nov. This is a mini poster I've designed to recruit some new members! Pop by if you can!
Jak
xxx

Millie's Craft Party

All went really well and everyone had lots of fun making stuff and decorating their cakes. It was non stop for 3 solid hours but all the girls went home with 2 makes and decorated cookies and cakes. I think it was definitely worth a week of sleepless nights but I don't think I'll be making a career out of it anytime soon. Phew! Here are some pics of the party in full swing...

Flag making



Cake decorating - Yum!




Name plate making.




Hope you enjoyed a wee look at what we've been making!
Back to some scrapbooking soon!
Jak
x

A Little Decopatch Birdhouse....

Wow! This was such good fun and super quick and easy to do. Thankyou to Little Pinata who came along to Crafty Allsorts last Wed with their Decopatch demo and goodies to buy. This is a super-cute little birdhouse which was decorated/painted in probably an hour or so. So simply done and so effective. I'll defo be buying some more for a play. In fact I enjoyed it so much I enrolled the girls into a Halloween "make 'n' take" class at their shop on Friday. The girls will love it!(So will I!)
Got to scoot, taking the girls to see Lion King in 3D. I haven't seen it myself before but someone did tell me I might need some tissues....
See ya later
Jak
xxx

Handsome boy and Gorgeous Girl...

xxxx Kaspar xxxx


xxxx Mog xxxx


Millie's making a looroll mini album of her own featuring these two and I thought I should upload a little visual update of how our moggies are growing up. Sweet but such a worry as they tend to wander a bit if we don't call them back to the garden every half hour or so. Our neighbour lost one of hers just a few months ago on the road at the top of our hill which poor Leon found lying there and brought home to her. So sad :-( Poor Woody - still missed.

These two are cerrrrazy!!! and have no road sense whatsoever, but what can you do. I would feel cruel keeping them couped up all the time and they have such fun out in the garden. Mog has put on quite a bit of weight since her little lady-op and this thankfully has taken the edge off her bloodlust for livestock. Eeeew!

On a different subject, I'm getting stuck in preparing Millie's birthday party and have made some little cupcake flags today - cute. Just waiting now for Hobbycraft to open so I can get some cute papers for making into bunting.
(The xmas cards have been shelved for a bit - yay! Any excuse!)
Keep crafting everyone!
Love Jak
xxx

Make - its!

Been making a couple of craft projects with the girls inbetween making Xmas cards and gift envelopes for my mum. Phew the cards are turning into a bit of a chore! I struggle to get myself in the mood for doing them at this time of year - Xmas seems so far away yet... especially when we've been having such glorius sunshine of late. Might feel a bit more like it when the weather goes back to normal - the newspapers are telling us to expect snow in October!!!!
I'm eagerly awaiting the opening of a new HobbyCraft shop locally - the signage all went up during the week - looks like they're ready to stock the shelves now. I just hope us scrapbookers are well catered for.
My next project is to plan a party for Millie's 9th birthday. It's gonna be a craft party with other activities such as cake decorating and bingo. I really need to get cracking with it though - there'll be lots to organise and set up. Just off now to design some invitations!
xxx


Guardian Angel Bracelets - shake your wrist to jingle the bells when you need a help from your Guardian Angel! Sweet! Thankyou for being the perfect model Sadie!




Flower Fairies - made with pipe cleaners and fake flowers. V cute!

She's a winner!

We had a wonderful surprise today when we went to pick up a medal Millie had won at our local library. She'd entered a city wide reading competition open to all the local kids by which they earn a medal if they complete reading six books over the summer holidays. To our total delight (and my great pride!) it turns out she also won first prize for a poster she designed for the summer reading comp too - a box set of Harry Potter books. Cool! Hopefully she'll share the wealth with mummy - I fancy a read of those so I do! My budding little artist! I'm all for encouraging creativity and a bit of individuality. Well done Millie! A special mention too for SadieBelle who was a really big help when it came to magically making all the crisps and biscuits disappear from the refreshments table!LOL!
My girls ROCK!
xxx

Xmas pressies sorted....

Been busy with my sizzix making these cute banners for my nieces and nephew's xmas. I hope they like them. Had fun catching up with the crafting ladies at Crafty Allsorts club last night. I took a couple of projects along and as usual completed none of them. I have to say I just don't seem to have the knack of preplanning and packing what stash I might want/need to use - result being I don't usually have the right stuff with me to do anything much. For example :- I forgot to take my guillotine with me, my friend didn't have hers either. We both had our heat guns - but had no idea why we'd brought them LOL! Shambles - moi? Nevermind, all was not lost as I had at least packed a scalpel and ruler - phew! I'm a terrible one for flying by the seat of my pants but I like the spontaneity of that - hate to plan anything in case I decide I don't want to do it anymore. Heehee!
Have a crafty weekend folks!
Jak

Stones we decorated...

while we were on another weekend away at Alison's beautiful little seaside cottage! I thought it befitting I decorated one as a bee, seeing as I got stung while we were there! Oooyah! The very nice ones at the far left of the pic were actually done by Alison and it seems to be turning into a tradition for each visitor to leave her a painted stone which I'm sure she appreciates. We had such a lovely time again and The Girls experienced their first bonfire. A memory in the making! We all smelled like Arbroath Smokies by the time we fell into bed haha - I love that smell and I love this time of year when the season is changing. Today is officially the last day of summer, but that doesn't make me too sad. Autumn has a very special smell all of its own, what with the crispy leaves and garden fires and that cold nip in the air! And if you get a lovely sunny day it's all the sweeter. Lets make the most of it by enjoying these days before it gets dark by teatime and we have to dig out the wellies and winter coats!
Have fun!!!
Jak xxx

News Flash! Mum finds time for a cuppa!

Because the girls have started back at school today. Hurrah! 1 excited, (SadieBelle - I'm sure the novelty may have worn off by the end of the week!) and the other 1 miserable (Millie - but then she cheered up when she saw all her friends)! By the time I have this post uploaded it'll be time to collect La Belle again as she finishes at 12. Quick where's me cuppa!
Love Jak
xxx

Lots of embellishing...

Here's a new one...Goodness, there's a bit of everything on this one. Embossing folders (see wood to right of pic), Anna Griffin lace stamps, Prima stamps, Amy Butler for K and Company stamps, ribbon flower - made myself, twine, Papermania felt border, mini clothes peg... phew someone stop me!
The girls go back to school tomorrow and it's Sadie's first day. I'm gonna be mega busy today getting things all sorted out for tomorrow. As usual I've left things like ironing uniforms and adding name labels till the last minute - so not like me heehee! Can't help it - I'm always telling myself off for not being better organised but then something inside me rebels and says "No, I'm not gonna do that yet!" One half of me wants to be one of those super-organised, everything running like clockwork types, but the other commitment phobic half won't let me be like that.... Ah well! Wouldn't do if we were all the same now would it?
Love Jak
xXx

Glitter, glitter everywhere...

No. Really! I tell ya, the sacrifices and hardships us creatives have to endure ... sigh! It's a labour of love. But one that takes a fraction of the time to do now I've got my trusty sizzix (heehee still enjoying all that handle cranking!). This little banner for my eldest daughter's door is the deluxe version of the one Sadie made for herself just a coupla posts back. I managed to make it all myself (an unusual occurrence these days!) though it was Millie's idea for the black iridescent glitter on the letters. Good choice my girl! She so gets it! The rags used to put it together are recycled scraps from one of her old skirts. God I'm turning into such a hoarder of stuff you wouldn't believe! Eeek! Do any of you fellow crafters hoard - I'll bet you do! What's the most unusual thing you've stashed away, convincing yourself that you're really gonna use it for...something! Haha! Well I was right! That tatty old skirt just came in really handy.
Luvin it!
Jak xxx

Well, hello stranger!

Long time no see...
I apologise for completely failing as a blogger but, we've all been a bit caught up with holidays round here. Daytrippin, playing in the sunshine and a little minibreak in a beautiful little cottage in Westhaven, Carnoustie - bliss! I wish I was there again right now and if I win the Lotto this weekend a little holiday home by the sea is on my shopping list. Nothing flash, just rustic, functional, comfortable and right on the beach! Aaaah, happy memories. Must post some of those piccies!
Haven't been able to get near my crafting table for the girls feltpens, playdoh, bits of paper and I'm sure you're getting the jist of things here but yes, general mess. Each time I tidy it and turn away, another bomb goes off on it. So been in a bit of a creative slump (again LOL!). However, I had a lovely time at the craft club I go to on Wednesdays and that helped me out a bit. The peacefulness was v theraputic and so I got to work on a coupla things that I'd been planning and came home feeling a lot better for it. Great!
Schools go back here on the 17th and my wee SadieBelle starts in P1. How that last 5 years has flown by! I'll probably cry as she goes off to her classroom - she's my baby you know! She's looking forward to it but I'm not sure if she knows she has to go for the next 12 or so years. Haha!


Holiday pics to come soon!
Take care everypeeps
Jak xXx

Embellished to within an inch...

Oooooh I enjoyed that! Might even be tempted to purchase some prima flowers.... Strangely enough it all came together quite quickly - quicker than some less embellished LO's, but then one photo LO's are always gonna be easier to do than multi photo ones. The more photos - the less scope for other elements eg. title, journaling etc. At least that's what I find. Just now I think I'm addicted to colour. Must be my way of compensating for the dreary grey skies we are having of late. I'm not surprised - it is "summer" in the UK after all!!! Hope you having some sunshine in your lives wherever you are!!!!
Love Jak
xxx

Lace Stamps...

Ooooh these really are lovely - such a lot of detail to them. I've been stamping and colouring... and faffing about with flowers. Tried making some paper roses but they were a bit on the (ahem) "dimensional" side. I'd get one LO in a scrapbook and even then I'd be lucky to close it properly. Ah well, back to the drawing board!!
Faffing Rocks!!!!
J ;-)

Holiday frustration...

Why does it rain all day, then once the kids have gone to bed - the sun comes out! Not much use to us holidaymakers - meh! Stuff it!! - were off to the park anyhoo!! Have to work off all the biscuits and cakes we've made and scoffed! Yum! My scones turned out deeeeelicious tho I say so myself. Pics to follow later... Have been playing with some new Anna Griffin lace stamps which are really gorgeous. I'm trying to do a really intricate, over embellished, over the top, Anna Griffin stylee LO and it's taking a while to get the right feel for it. The stamps are working well with it though. Could really do with one or two ornate border punches...hmmm!
Keep crafting!
Jak
x

Side view closeup!

Don't know why, but my pics never load up in order! Anyhoo I thought this side view of my mini cover lets you see how dimensional it is with all the yummy layers an tactileness! Die cutting rocks! Yay!
Jak :-)