Happy New Year - 2018 in review

Raising a glass of bubbles to you all and wishing you much happiness for the year ahead.

It has been a year full of adventures and narrowing it down to just a few photos a month to summarise 2018 was quite the challenge.

 

What a year of memories, looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings. 

Winter challenges

Finally got some scrapping time yesterday after a busy Christmas lead up, family time and then couple of days back in work. Luckily I'm now off for a few days so can play some more.

Joined in again with the Facebook challenge group "For the love of pretty paper" FTLOPP with their Winter Olympic challenges. The page above was for the Luge challenge where you had to create a page with elements running from left to right. And the page below was a tough challenge, number 3, to create a layout using NO scrapbooking tools! 

I used a background paper with a light spray of white ink (allowed), several project life cards by Kaisercraft, some stickers, wooden festive elements and sequins to create another seasonal page for my album. 

Book Club 52/52 - Tagan's Chance by Amelia Ford

The last book in the series (which REALLY needs to be brought to the screen) and my last #BookClub52 post for 2018. I'm not sure if I will do another challenge next year as I recently got some nice headphones in the sale so maybe listening to more music on my commute (and it will save my ageing eyes a little too!) but if I do decide to do another I will of course share it here.



Sophie returns to find that not everything is back to how it should be. She is now faced with her biggest challenge yet—She has six days to try to convince Ahran that he is in love with her, but even though she believes she has destiny on her side, the path to happiness is neither easy nor straightforward and Sophie finds herself being forced to accept a situation that is entirely out of her control.  On the surface, it couldn’t be more perfect, but beneath it all, it couldn’t be more wrong.

This was another great series and I will certainly look for more books by Amelia Ford in 2019. I hope you have enjoyed my book sharing this year. Happy reading :)

Merry Christmas all x

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from my family to yours. Enjoy the festivities xx

Book Club 51/52 - Tagan's Chase by Amelia Ford

Probably my favourite of the series so far and the more I read about these characters the more I wish this were a film and can visualise it so clearly in my mind - I have even picked out a male lead to play Ahran Alexander Skarsgård . If you read the series let me know what you think!

For the past two years, Sophie has managed to forge a happy, if unconventional life with Ahran. But just as she is planning to relocate and settle permanently she is captured by British Intelligence who has an agenda quite different to the one she was expecting. What ensues is a heart-stopping chase, where Sophie, Ahran and Toby are once again faced with further challenges and unknown enemies, putting Sophie’s newly found confidence to the test. 

ATDML final Virtual crop day for 2018

A clean and simple page for one of two layouts I designed with Bo Bunny Carousel Christmas papers which were part of the ATDML kit for this month's class. As well as my two layouts I created a teeny tiny mini book for the forthcoming 12 days of Christmas as mentioned in my last blog post. It is made from 1.75" punched circles which feature tiny hand-cut baubles and leaves space for small photos. I really enjoy creating these little extra projects with my kits and it was a lovely project to start at my crop and finish up in the new year when I have my photos.

My class is up first at 10 with another by Katherine at noon and Tricia at 2pm. Go check them out along with plenty of festive inspiration on Created by ATDML blog.

Book Club 50/52 - Tagan's Change by Amelia Ford

Next in this series which I am thoroughly enjoying and is a great end to my reading challenge year 2018 and it continues on straight after book 1.

Will Ahran, Galius and Elaya rescue Toby? Or has Sophie lost her only family as well as having given up Ahran. Tagan's Change is the second book in the fast-paced, adrenaline fuelled, love story with a twist Tagan series.

Our last crop of the year

Saturday saw our last crop of the year and it was a pleasure to once again spend time with my wonderful ScrapMates. As always there was fun and laughter and clearly some shocking occurances!! This photo makes me smile at the friendships which have developed over the years.

I was busy designing for ATDML and the last virtual crop kits for 2018 too and after making two layouts I set about using some bauble designs on one of the Bo Bunny papers to make a teeny tiny mini album to hold photos for the 12 days of Christmas 2018. I can't share this until the weekend so I'll leave you with one of the crop layouts I designed which is also today's Scraplift Santa over on ATDML

Elf Antics

For quite possibly the last year Timmy the Elf is back causing smiles all round in our home this Christmas 

But would you like to see what the slinky he played in on Dec 2nd looked like just barely a week later??

I know, tragic isn't it? 

Here's a few more pictures of his actions so far... 

Book Club 49/52 - Tagan's Child by Amelia Ford

New Series I stumbled across reading reviews on Goodreads. This one was suggested for those who liked Twilight and whilst that is initially what drew me in this is so different with no vampires or werewolves in sight - but instead a parallel universe with super humans who refer to earth beings as Sapiens. There are four books in all which will take me to the end of the year nicely if I read one a week as planned (with 10 hours commuting time a week this is totally doable)

The day after the first anniversary of her sister’s death, twenty six year old Sophie McAllister is paid an unexpected visit from a handsome stranger who delivers some disturbing news about her eight year old nephew and ward. Just when Sophie thought her life was getting back on track she is forced to put her trust in a man with an extraordinary secret and begins a perilous journey that threatens everything she holds dear as well as challenges her innermost fears.

December Daily - I have finished one!!

OK so I finished my 2016 December Daily!!! Woo hoo!!

As I had previously blogged I have not been the best at finishing these but this one I was the closed to completion with just Dec 25th missing so I dug out the photos from my laptop, printed them off and finished my page for Christmas day 2016.

Here is a flick through of the year. 

I have loved looking back and remembering things from just two years ago and seeing how much my kids have grown. The Timmy the Elf antics always make me smile too and I am so pleased I have a documented set of these for the year.  Now I just need to finish another year now whilst trying to stay on top of 2018 too! I will keep you posted but so far so good.

A little festive thing I made

I got a little Pinterest happy and got all festive and cut up lots of small pieces of paper and this was the outcome when combined with some bells taken off a cheap 79p Christmas decoration.

I am a little bit in love with it, but more importantly loved the creation process itself, so even if it falls apart after one year up in the house (lets hope not!) then it will still have been worth my time. AND it's yet ANOTHER Graphic 45 project from me (this year I think I have been on a role creating with what I previously found a very challenging style to work with). I do think they lend themselves to plenty of fussy cutting which can be very therapeutic on a chilly winter evening.

Advent with Kaisercraft and ATDML Scraplift Santa

 

December first and we are all reaching for our advent calendars and that cheeky chocolate that is only acceptable to have for breakfast in December!! I spent a fortune on a fancy beauty advent calendar for my daughter this year (which was her birthday present as requested) so decided to make a small one for myself rather than buy one.  The irony isn't lost on me that I spent more on a set of white blank matchboxes than I could have on a traditional advent calendar but where would the crafting fun have been in that? Plus I saw a design like this on Pinterest last year, if not the year before, and really wanted to recreate it.  ATDML then made that easier for me when they included this delicious foiled Kaisercraft advent paper in my December kit.

So this project features on the ATDML blog today as we kick-started the month of Scraplift Santa challenges.

There are a few more images over there plus a bit of an explanation on how 2 coasters and 24 matchboxes became this advent cube covered in Kaisercraft Wonderland papers

December Scraplift Santa with ATDML

Starting on Saturday, and kicking off with yours truly, the A Trip Down Memory Lane team have a bi-weekly Scraplift Santa challenge going for the month of December.

One of the DT stand in for Santa and bring you a gift of a seasonal project for you to scraplift from the comfort of your own home. No kits, no instructions, just simple images and a whole heap of festive fun every Wednesday and Saturday throughout December.

It's going to be so much fun!!

Book Club 48/52 - Mountain Mercenaries Book 1

Just 4 more books to go after this one to reach my 52 books read in 2018 (ok so I am already at 52 and haven't blogged them all) but I will continue to share one a week as I had planned.



Love is a life-and-death risk for the Mountain Mercenaries in New York Times bestselling author Susan Stoker’s explosive series of alpha heroes, hot action, and hard passion…

Don't really need to add any more to that description do I? I mean who wouldn't want to read it....

To Christmas Journal or not...

I absolutely love the festive season there's no doubt... But do I start another scrapbooking journal of the holidays given my track record? Read on.

So in 2014 I can be forgiven for not finishing. I'd prepared the pages mostly in advance so I just needed to journal and add photos. I completed days 1-12 with Dec 13th being our Christmas crop day. I had a few non scrapping days after that and planned on catching up the following weekend so just kept notes in the meantime. Sadly I then lost my mum unexpectedly and the 2014 album has remained untouched since.

2015 I started my new album with the intention to throw in a day or two from 2014 into my monthly crafting to get the prior year album finished.  Again I completed the start of the month through to the 10th. managed to print photos for 11th-15th and then just notes for the rest of the month... Album is unfinished.

Moving on to 2016..well this was a good year. I finished my album up to the 24th so just have the 25th to complete. Go me!

Last year, 2017, I was in NYC 🗽 until the 5th celebrating my daughters 21st and have photos printed but not journalled for those days. Then I completed the 6th-10th and have photos and notes for the 11th-22nd..then nothing... Another unfinished album.

So am I kidding myself I can do 2018? Or should I try and finish last year's first... How far do you get each year? Do you stay on track mostly or play catch up? I think I'll finish 2016 first... Easy win right? Then decide what I am doing for 2018. Maybe I'll start journalling and see how I go.

Another FTLOPP challenge layout

Following my last blog post here is another challenge layout for the FTLOPP winter Olympics challenge 2 on Facebook. I started by lightly spritzing the background piece of white cardstock.   My five main rings were then inked with Distress Oxides through a cardstock template I made punching out a 2" circle. Then I lightly spritzed these with water to allow the Ink to oxidise and then reused the templates to draw on borders.

Several more stamped circles were added along with some enamel stars and star elements from Cocoa Vanilla Boys Rule bits and pieces pack.  I added my journaling inside one of the circles and mounted the 3x4 black and white photo before adding it to the page with the title from Cocoa Vanilla Midnight word pack. The final touch was the two strip of paper at the top and bottom of the page which re also from the Cocoa Vanilla Midnight collection.

For the love of pretty paper

A friend recommended to me a scrapbooking group on Facebook called "for the love of pretty paper" and they have a Winter Olympics challenge going until the new year. Each of the scrapbooking challenges are based on events from the winter Olympics and you simply upload your interpretation to the respective gallery.

One of the bonus challenges was to only scrap in the top half of the paper, feature scallops, zigzags, chevrons and the letter X multiple times.

My stripey background was by American Crafts Dear Lizxie and then I used Cocoa Vanilla Boys Rule bits and pieces along with some Kraft border strips from 2011!

This is the third challenge I have done but I need better light to photograph the others.

Book Club 47/52 - Winning Ace Series finale

Finished book 3 today - great series, a much more serious tone to this book but so, so good! Definitely worth a read (and did I mention free on Kindle Unlimited)

Grand Slam is the captivating finale to the Winning Ace Series.
After Tally’s perfect life implodes, she moves to Greece. There she finds a country overcome with refugees fleeing the crisis in the Middle East. 
She vows to help and, in the process, begins to heal herself.

Shattered by his loss, Cash commits to months of therapy, determined to win back the love of his life. His struggles, though, are far from over.

When a shocking turn of events thrusts Tally back into Cash’s life a moment of joy brings a stranger into their lives.
Who is she? What does she want?
And will her arrival signal the end of Tally and Cash's hard-fought happiness?

Festive Crafternoon

What a fun afternoon spent at Salisbury House on Saturday joining in the Adult festive crafternoon. I consider myself creative not artistic and am quite self critical when drawing so I was actually a little apprehensive taking a sharpie pen to biscuits of wood to create around 14 designs ready to form a rustic, nordic style wreath.

In the end I was pleasantly surprised and quite proud of my wreath which needs some sparkle and maybe a little white paint to brighten before I share the finished article. 

As always it was an absolute blast to share the experience and several pots of tea with this one! "

Book Club 46/52 - Winning Ace book 2

Continued on with book 2 in the series as I enjoyed the first so much. I was going to post the usual blurb to the book but a fellow Goodreads member left a review which I couldn't agree with more so instead I am sharing that today.

"I just finished the second book in the winning ace series, and could not turn my pages fast enough! The author continues her tale of tennis ace Cash and girlfriend Natalia, a journalist, with a fast-paced story that drags you along quickly as you try to keep up. The characters are wonderful, with incredible scenes that emote so much romance,fear,happiness, and terrible sadness that I was holding my breath while reading." Kathi Defranc.

My little scrum half in action

I'm a Sunday morning rugby mum with both of my sons now playing for their local club OG's. Today saw our U12s including my son face the first round of Middlesex games to determine what league we will be in next year when the progress to youth rugby from minis.

I took my Canon down to the game to grab some shots of the boys in action as I often do but this is the first time I've seen close up just how serious my youngest takes his rugby. Quite amusing to see given he's the joker of the family and almost always has a smile on his face... Not so much when the game is on!

They played two fantastic games winning both with conceding any trys so it was back to smiles all round once the game was over! Now to find scrapbook papers or design something mixed media style to go with some of these photos.