February Mind the Scrap Challenges

Well I am not doing too bad as we near the end of week 2 in February and so far I have managed to do challenge layouts for the letters B, G, H, I and J for the Mind the Scrap alphabet challenge. PLus it is half term this week and I am off with the kids so between a few adventures (when they are feeling brighter having both been unwell) I may even get a few more in!

So here is what I have done so far, lots of them using my February ATDML kit, my Bramblefix Subscription and I still have lots of my MTS Feb kit to play with too.

B is for Banners, Butterflies, Badge, Borders and Boarding card, using lots of elements from Feb MTS kit.

G is for Golf and Grid paper (the little flag!)

H is for holiday hugs and heart embellishments

I is for icecream and interactive (the tags pull up from behind the photo for journaling)

J is for Journey and Jewels

Not a bad start if I do say so myself. Hoping I can get a few more done as I said and will of course share here and on my Instagram page.

Book Club 52 - Week 7/52

"What if your best friend's child disappears - and it's all your fault? This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto, overwhelmed working mother of three, one freezing December in the Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment, and her whole world descends into nightmare. Her best friend's thirteen-year-old daughter Lucinda has gone missing and now, devastated by this and publicly blamed, Lisa sets out to right the wrong."

Well as a busy working mum of three I certainly resonated with the main character in this book and the feeling of not quite being good enough and not fully functioning on a cylinders certainly felt familiar!! And I admit I am too guilty of envy at those super mums who seem to have it all together with ample time on their hands to think straight and look perfect!. 

This story was great with lots of twists and turns some of which made me quite cross which actually is a reflection on how well written the story is as it evoked several different emotions and reactions from me throughout having me crying at one point too. Managed to resist re-homing another cat whilst reading this (you'll understand if you're an animal lover and read this book!)  and would definitely recommend it.  As I mentioned last week I have also read "Keep your Friends close" by the same author and was hooked from page one, so another for your book list if you enjoy this one.

February ScrapMates Pages

Well we didn't want a valentine theme per se at our crop this month, but I did stick with heart themed pages when designing the classes.

Firstly I scrap lifted a great page from Pinterest by Devra Hunt which can be found here and there is also a link to a cut file but instead of cutting the background paper and then backing with pattern hearts I provided a template to cut out the pattern hearts and stick on to the background. Faux stitching around the edges and drawing a journaling spot direct onto the paper as well as a paper journaling spot changed the look of the page. I also used four smaller photos and not a central photo like in the original. Final difference was my left and right edges of paper pieces and more faux stitching

The second page I scraplifted myself from a page I had done last month for a journaling challenge at Mind the Scrap. Sticking with the heart theme again I marked on the paper where my heart full of journaling would go, along with my photo and then stuck a variety of 1/2" strips of paper across the page leaving the heart open for my words.

A title and a few embellishments (plus my signature border round the edge) finished this page off. So there you have it. A pair of heart themed pages with not a hint of romance in sight!!

Book Club 52 - Week 6/52

Book 6 which I actually read last week was the Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond, just 99p on Kindle. 

Amazon describes the book as follows:

THE NEW RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB THRILLER AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 
'A pacey, page-turner of a novel . . . extreme but grippingly thought-provoking'

Would you stake your life on your marriage? Newlyweds Jake and Alice are offered a mysterious wedding gift - membership of a club which promises its couples will never divorce.

Signing The Pact seems the start to a perfect marriage, until one of them breaks the rules.  
The marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare.

Not my favourite book that I have read so far this year but I can't deny it wasn't thought provoking if not a little strange and mildly disturbing in places! As you will have been able to tell by now I am quite the fan of reading thrillers - but this one, whilst unlike anything I have ready before in terms of the story line, just left me feeling a little flat after I had read it. I would still recommend it as a decent read, just didn't really do it for me.

Another thriller however lined up for next week "Just what kind of mother are you" by Paula Daly which I am looking forward to and was pleased to pick up from the book swap table at work. I have read a different book by this author before I recall it being very good so looking forward to telling you all about this one.

Mind The Scrap February Challenges

Not sure I will quite make a layout every day this month (already the 3rd and I haven't made one yet) but over at Mind The Scrap on Facebook they have a great alphabet challenge going for the month of February. Each day your layout has to begin with the allocated letter of the alphabet.

So Feb 2nd (they skipped the first for the challenge but not making a layout!) was the letter A and examples of what to include on your page were Animals, Alphabets, Arrows, Acrylic paint, Acrylic embellishments etc..

and today Feb 3rd is the letter B with examples of Boys, Banners, Butterflies, Brads , Birthdays etc anyway you get the idea. So I am going to try and join in as many as I can using existing papers I have so I can make a dent in my scrapbooking collection, get some of my supplies used and it to albums (so I can then buy more of course!)

Watch this space.. I will share what I make here, and probably on my Instagram account too knowing me :) Should certainly help me boost my number of blog posts for the month!

Book Club 52 - Week 5/52

First off I have a confession to make...I am so ahead of my book a week challenge! Perhaps I should slow down and maybe focus on some of my other goals for February! I still plan on blogging just the one book a week though!

Last week I shared my views on the first Melinda Leigh book I read called "Say you're sorry" which I really enjoyed reading and therefore before reading any of the other books I had lined up (of which there are several!)  I couldn't help but download the next in the series "Her Last Goodbye" which I think was just as good if not better than the first one! Same main characters in the story but another investigation/crime solving story line and the added bonus of being free on Kindle Unlimited if you are a member.

In this Wall Street Journal bestseller, the Morgan Dane series continues as the fearless attorney and her partner, investigator Lance Kruger, take on a disturbing disappearance…

Gripping with lots of twists and turns, a great read which I devoured in just 3 days.

Line here to the book on AMAZON UK.

My next book up is a described as a gripping thriller, The Marriage Pact  by Michelle Richmond. Pop back next week for my thoughts on this one.

#Febinphotos

Have decided to get snapping this months and take a photo a day (at least) to capture my month read to scrap the everyday life. I have called this challenge #febinphotos although perhaps "feb-in-fotos" might have been better? Just rolls off the tongue!

I posted the challenge over on the Created by ATDML Facebook page as well to encourage my fellow DT and scrapping friends to join in too. What about you? 

Just use the #febinphotos if you share online and we can glimpse the awesome everyday of our friends.