my exciting news

Well, it's exciting news for me anyway!! Having shown you all little glimpses of my home, I have to tell you that I am moving house! We put our house up for sale and within 10 days had two fantastic offers one of which we accepted immediately. As much as I love this house, it is definitely time to move...and probably quickly as our buyers would like to be in by Christmas - Eeeek! So forgive my recent absence but it's been so crazy around here.

We've found a fabulous house which i'm already planning lots of lovely decorating projects for. I'm really excited about sharing our before and after pics with you and maybe getting some help and suggestions along the way!

I'm sorry - Here I am!!

I have missed my blog!! I have just been so busy busy this past week or so.

The irony is that I've done so much and have tonnes to write about but just haven't had any time at all to get it written down. The awful nasty coughing bug has reappeared too so i'm feeling a bit poorly again and so very tired. However... Exciting things are happening which I will tell you about tomorrow..... Please come back to hear about the loveliness!! (Another pic of gorgeous Hector to help atone a little for my absence recently...)

Oooooh - How exciting!! Daily Decorator news.....

Do you see the photo in my banner above? Well I sent it to Daily Decorator and they've used it for their Sweet Sunday feature!! I am ridiculously excited - this time last week I was only just getting going with my blog and now i'm having so much fun and finding so many lovely new sites and great people to share things with! Go and have a look at the site - it's so inspiring!

Journal your Christmas - I have found the perfect Digi Kit!!

...and this is it!! It is SO perfect and i'm really pleased to have found it. I was going to make a paper journal for JYC but then, after getting a little more confident with Photoshop and Digi scrapping, I decided to go for hybrid but now i'm tempted to try total digi which i'll then print out (does that then make it hybrid I wonder?).

This kit is by Julie Bullock at Shabby Pickle Designs and is only $4.54! (that's about £2.79)

It's exactly the right style for me, has tonnes of great papers and loads of fabulous elements AND comes with a free set of Quick Pages. I'm so excited to be doing JYC for the first time and think this kit will make a beautiful album. The Shabby Pickle site has some other really great Christmas kits too - Check them out and let me know what you think!

The bigger picture!

Snow Angels and Memories

So I'm feeling a little better today - thank you to all those who wished me well!
I had another play with some more lovely masks - again from TwoPeas. I wanted to try out a Christmassy mask but I am sadly lacking in Christmas photos so had to make do with this scanned one from Christmas Eve 2000. Although the quality is terrible, I really love this photo of my friend making snow angels.
It was when we lived in Canada and we were on our way back from midnight mass. The snow was gently falling as we walked home and we had so much fun making those angels. It's not something I've had a chance to do since returning to the UK as we don't have that kind of snowfall but it almost makes the memories even more special!
So, ignoring photo quality and pushing aside sentimentality, I actually really like this. I have emailed it to my friend as i thought he might like to use it himself as a Christmas greeting.

What do you think of it? I've only just started using masks (as you'll know from Thursday's post!) but i'm having fun and would love to hear your thoughts (even if they aren't so good!!)

The Word Art is Jing a Ling by Sausan @ Cat Scrap . I LOVE this site - some really great digi kits. Let me know which is your favourite if you get a chance to take a look!

Masks, themes and just a little bit of pride!!

I have to admit that i'm not feeling my best today - I have a bug that I can't seem to shake off. I was determined to be back at work today but, after a dreadful night of coughing and other awfulness I am back in bed trying to cheer myself up!

So I thought i'd have another go at using a photo mask - I've never quite got the hang of it but...a little bit of help from this wonderful lady http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=25%3Ageneral-photoshop-tips&id=691%3Atutorial-digital-templates&Itemid=92 and I think I got it!!

So that's the masks and the pride covered...do you spot the theme?

One thing I have (quite obviously!) not got the hang of is how to do a pretty link within a post without the giant, ugly URL across the page. Any suggestions gratefully received as the link button doesn't appear to have any other options!

The mask I used was from Rhona Farrer at TwoPeas. Here comes that ugly URL again...

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/rhonna-farrer/59169-digikit-grunged-photo-edges-kit/

Another favourite spot in my house...

In my kitchen - practising taking photos!

A sunny day with Hector and Hubby

Hector the scaredy dog.

I know he looks cute and lovely here but this dog is driving me crazy at the moment!!
He has never been bothered by fireworks before - in fact he's been more like our cats who hop onto the windowsill to see where the noise is coming from but this year has been RIDICULOUS.

Shaking, whimpering, whining, salivating - this little doggie is terrified of all the loud bangs and is currently hiding out in his bed feeling very sorry for himself. Poor Hector - I think we'll all be very glad when the firework season is done and dusted!

Who ate my porridge?

So, I think Christmas may be on its way! I've only really started to notice Christmassy things in the past couple of days and can't believe it is only 7 weeks away. I have a bit of a love affair with this time of year and suspect there will be many Christmas-related posts to come in the near future!

Do you like my photo? I used to live in Canada and this is one of my favourite pics (subject-wise, not quality obviously!!) from the ice sculpture competition in Québec City. I have many happy memories of my time spent in Canada and suspect there will also be some reminiscing about this to follow....

Day One of Blogging - EEEK!!!

So this is my first post on my brand-spanking new blog. I'm excited to be starting this but a little nervous too. I have no idea what i'm doing but i'm hoping to learn as I go along and with the help of a class i'm taking: http://www.shimelle.com/classes/618/a-new-online-scrapbooking-class-blogging-for-scrapbookers/

So, if you've ventured over here, stop and say Hello and hopefully there'll be a lot more to read and look at soon!