Hi there crafty friends!

No photos in this mini - it might be for my craft sale.... eventually!

What a cutie - Pablo my crafting companion!

As this is the first post of the year I'd like to start by wishing everyone a very happy new year! Now that we're all back to business as usual I thought I'd check in and load up a few pics of what I've been making over this year's festive season. At the start of the year I made a list of craft things I wanted to get round to doing - no deadlines, just realistic goals to aim for, sort of! So in my little book of ideas I have gently suggested that I might aim to make enough cards, a few minibooks and other bits and pieces to hold a little "craft fair" of my own either here at home, (you know,  have a few friends round, make them drink wine, hopefully by one or two things...) or get my mum to show them round at hers - her friends are really appreciative of handmade goodies as they all seem to have their own skills, from knitting to stitching - that type of thing. So the deal goes something like this... make a coupla cards each week and however many mini's I can put together (- I need at least 6) some bottle tags, gift card envelopes, (and the dreaded) recycled christmas card tags etc, but, woah, that sounds like a commitment and you know I don't like the sound of that word... Maybe if I change that C word to something more Jacqui friendly like, I know... PLAN! There, that sounds a lot less scary and a bit more flexible heehee! So, as well as the pics I've posted here, I have been doing a bit of digital stuff on our beautiful adorable iMac we now have at home. It has been a bit of an investment on our part as I'm sure you can appreciate we aren't made of money here but it's the tool both myself and my OH both use in our field of work and designing on a Mac is just way superior to a little home PC (but that's just my opinion!) So, when I actually get a turn on it, I have been exploring Adobe Illustrator and making up patterns and following youtube tutorials so I can maybe design some patterened papers of my own. Millie got a drawing tablet for the Mac for her Christmas - she's a budding illustrator and knows her way round Photoshop as well as I do - which is very handy for me also as it's my tool of choice instead of a mouse! Isn't Santa clever! Hopefully, one day, something else I'll maybe get round to doing at some point is an etsy shop, where I can sell the stuff I enjoy designing\making. Ah, New Year! - such an optimistic time of year, I dare say by March I'll be well on the way to chronic jaded-ness though LOL!
   On another subject, there's more crafting going on in the background Chez Strachan that may or may not see the light of day... I'm not one to tease - it may or may not be work related (that's my real job in real life)...so that's all I wanted to say... just in case I go off the radar again for a bit...
     Anyways dear bloggers thankyou as always for popping by - I'm off for a snoop round your blogs now as it's time for a catch up and a reload of all your lovely inspiration, which always fires me up and gets me feeling all creative and purposeful!
Take care everyone - let your Sunday be a happy and creative one!
Jak
xxxx

New Kitts on the Block...

As promised a couple of blogs ago, the two new additions to our mad enough already household.....drumroll please for Pablo Diablo and Rocky Rocket Man Strachan!!! Awww!!! When we lost our Kaspy Boy in a road accident back in September we were absolutely distraught. He left a huge hole in all our lives - he was such a dominant character around the house. It was like our house was just way too big for little Mog and she was lost without her brother. Strange though it may seem, we quickly decided that although we needed to grieve for our loss, we would not have Mog as our only cat and once things weren't so raw we would make enquiries into taking on a new kitty from the local cat shelter. About four weeks later we arranged for a lady from the Cat Shelter to interview us at home to check our suitability for taking on a kitten. During the visit she told us of some kittens that were currently in one of their foster homes which would be ready for homing shortly and would we like to have a look at them? With much trepidation on my part we all went to visit them in their beautiful foster  home out in Auchterhouse. As soon we saw them we knew we couldn't have just one (I know, I know!)  There was only three of them and one was spoken for already. So, it was decided there and then that we would take the two little boys.  They weren't quite ready to leave their mummy yet so we had to leave them there for another week but we made sure their Cat Shelter names were changed and that they were to be known as Rocky and Pablo!
   They have settled in really well although Mog was decidedly miffed to start off with and took to standing in the garden glowering at the house. Even now, she grumbles like an old lady if they get a bit too in her face which, being kittens they do -  but all in all she has coped really well. They are funny and cute and really really naughty - just the way we like 'em!
 Here's a couple of piccies!

Pablo

Fast akip!

Rocky

It's a hard life being a kitten!

Thanks for popping by!

Jak

xxxx

   PS:- Leon and The Girls put the Xmas tree up last night. Not unexpectedly, two unwanted furry decorations kept appearing in it! At one point Rocky had to be untangled from lights and tinsel. They shall now be collectively known as The Dangerous Brothers!

On the first day of Christmas, Sadie gave to me...

...a stunning advent calendar she'd made for me at school! Hooray! The first door has Rudolph in it or Roodle as Sadie calls him. Day 2 has a jolly snowman behind the door. So while everyone else in the house is opening their own calendars and chomping down chocolate before breakfast, I get a lovely colourful surprise behind each door, just like it should be!
   Now when I was a wee girl there was only ever 1 calendar bought each year and me and my big sis Kags always had to take turns to open each door. These calendars were always of the holy variety naturally, as Christmas is all about Jesus - well it used to be when I was young, probably cos we went to Catholic schools... Anyways, I was always so excited about the Advent calendar and Kaggy who is seven years older than me, always let me have my turn first to open door no.1. Now, I thought my big sis was being (unusually) kind and had truly entered into the Christmas spirit by being so generous as to let me have the first go... It took me years to work out why I never ever got those final no. 24 double doors that revealed baby Jesus in the manger, with Mary and Joseph et all! Hmmmm...
Have a lovely lazy Sunday crafty friends!
Jak xxx
PS:- She always whipped my ass at Cluedo too, even though it was only the 2 of us playing...I'm such a dimwit!! LOL!

Sadie Leaves Nursery...

Ok, so this actually happened last year but I felt like updating the old scrapbook and well she might like to remember these sorts of things when she looks back once she's all grown up...
   Its just a pretty straight forward LO using up scraps that colour match the photos and instead of trimming papers with my guillotine, I just tore them using a ruler for a change. Saves on distressing the edges! I dipped into my old 365 bedtime story book for the wee illustrations in the corners - they are sweet and retro. These kind of books are impossible to get in our local charity shops without paying a small fortune. Perhaps car boot sales might be a better idea for that sort of thing...
Anyway, hope you like it, thanks for looking,
Jak
xxx

Nurse Sadie Belle...

Haahaa! - maybe I shouldn't laugh but the very thought of Sadie growing up to be a nurse... Think I can safely say that although I come from a family of many nurses, it's the one profession I couldn't see either of My Gurlz going into. Millie for one would faint at the mention of the word blood and Sadie is just too much of well, everything crazy! Anyhoo, the lovely piccie of her in her nurses' costume inspired a very colourful layout...The colours made me think of old 1950's illustrations, so I cut some out of an old book that I thought would match up well with the nursey/hospital theme. The flowers were made using a new framelit for my Bigshot. These are great - must buy more! Hello Santa if you're listening....
Hope you like it. Thanks for popping by,
Jak
xxx

Sadie's First School Day Book

Good morning everyone!
Here's a look at a little book I just finished up now that my craft desk is back to normal! It's made from some kraft cardstock bound together with washii tape. The idea for this actually came from a feature I saw in Scrap 365 magazine and it has lots of stamping which I don't usually go in for but it kinda went well with the messy feel I was trying to achieve. I used washii tape for sticking in the photos and making little flaps to turn the pages. I love washii tape and have quite a wee collection of the stuff now. Thank goodness I have found a way to use some of it! I think that bit of upheaval we had around the house inspired me to tidy my stash up too and I rediscovered lots of things I forgot to use - namely my Big Shot, so I dug that out to make some diecut titles. While I was playing with my Big Shot it occurred to me that I don't have nearly enough dies so I went online and invested in some lovely new framelits which I used to make the school badge on the book cover. I love these dies and  I so have 2 more new sets of framlits with stamps winging their way to me as we speak (purchased from Craft Superstore free delivery for orders over £40 - I had to make sure I spent enough to qualify heehee). Hopefully I might be able to rustle up a few Xmas cards with them when they come!
Talking of which I am working on a couple of card designs that I want to simplify and be able to make up quickly so I can get them out there... nothing too fancy just well designed and simple to put together!
Stay tuned for more craftyness soon!
Have a lovely Sunday with lots of inspiring things in your day!
Jak xxxxxx

Hello hello! its me I'm back!

The way we were... eek - by this time the doors had literally started falling off!

  

And now....

Hello PhotoBombing Kitty!

Hello my crafty friends!
Things are slowly getting back to normal round this way and I thought I'd start off with ...... Kitchen News ..... Yay! The news is I now have one! And its almost complete apart from the decorating and lino, but wow what a difference it has made!  Since I seem to spend the majority of my life in there - it's great to be in a more erm... welcoming environment. What I mean is, hooray - it's not a dreary, depressing, embarrassing, hovel of a pit anymore that has been slowly sucking the lifeforce from my very soul for seven bloomin' years!!! Feel free to drop in for a quick cuppa anytime!!!
   The strangest thing occurred just after the tiling was done. One evening, I had not long started making tea for the girls when a spontaneous and unexpected quietness descended upon the kitchen.  (s'okay - it lasted about 30 seconds, nothing to worry about!). The usual background noises were still there going about their daily business - Simon Mayo on the radio, oven fan whirring away quietly, then Pop! Pop again! Crackle! Pop! What the??? Now this popping and a crackling wasn't that loud but it was coming at me from all directions. Really - what was going on? I thought my ears were playing tricks on me or that someone had filled them up with Popping Candy while I hadn't been paying attention (that kind of thing happens all the time y'know!) and then the penny dropped or should I say I remembered what the salesman in the tile shop had told me. "Them tiles'll start making noises once they've been put on the walls. (!) It's the crackle glaze on 'em. You'll hear 'em cracking. Don't worry though they're meant to do that!" Of course at the time I thought "Yeah mate, do I look that daft?" But guess what-  he was not taking the proverbial! The heat from the oven set them off and really deepened the crackle finish on them. It's like they've been finished off with Ranger Crackle Glossy Accents! I was amazed!!! They've stopped doing it now - must have reached their optimum level of crackleyness now they have settled in! So yeah, that was an entertaining 20 mins of my life and I really tried so hard to catch them doing it, but every time I stared at one tile, another one at the other side of the kitchen would pop so, no, I didn't see anything happen but I heard everything! Mental!
   Would you say I need to get out a bit more?
Thanks for popping (heehee) by!
Jak
 xxx
PS - Did anyone spot the little kitty sneaking in on the act? He's one of our new babies - he also has a less attention seeking bro' but more about them later!
xxx