of a 30 year old English girl
Kirsty…
Wife | Scrapbooker | Amateur Photographer | CrafterFollow me
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I am back to Zumba classes 
So fab to be with such lovely ladies, and they were all talking about a video which Reg gave us a demonstration of (minus the Zumba men!) So glad to be back.
I’ve also been on Illustrator which just does not want to co-operate on my laptop. I managed to export 2 of my vector images but for the last 2 it claimed I did not have enough memory to complete the operation. Thank heavens for smart layers! I copied and pasted the vectors into photoshop.
8 papers made for a new “Shout It Out” kit I’ve been toying with for Hanson Crafts. Hopefully will lead on to phone wallpapers, 10×8 print to go with the subway art I made… My vectors are far from perfect though, but I made them so they’re good enough for me ^_^
So a couple of my online twitter/instagram/facebook friends have quite a lot to answer for 
Katy started a group on facebook for Smashers which she invited me to, but I didn’t smash… Well I do now after seeing everything has been up to!
I ordered some smash supplies, and then I came up with an idea as I was stroking my new supplies! I went to Paperarts and got some cardstock that matched my kit that I designed.
I still hadn’t done a minibook for the concert back in November!
So I finished the mini book (pictures to come when I have better light in which to take photos!)
And I designed a Hanson Smash book, and fully assembled it!
I smashed a couple of pages…
Which I also figured to go with a smash book and to make a mini book, people need some journalling blocks! So I designed some of those too! I hope to get pictures, downloads and tutorials to follow on the Hanson Crafts site shortly I hope
So a lot of my hoodies are either (1) falling apart or (2) too small. I love my Hanson hoodies with a passion though my Walk one is a little too small for me right now *sniff* (well it IS an extra small after all!), so I decided instead of the top that I wanted to decorate, I was going to do something a little different. So a trip to Matalan and a black hoodie later, I got home to cut the Hanson symbol inside a hidden Mickey (my two loves: Disney and Hanson!) and I just hoped that it would work! I ironed the freezer paper on, painted on the metallic silver paint, let it dry learning a lot as I peeled the paper away once it had done… and it’s not perfect but I am super happy at my new hoodie! The DIY will be up at Hanson Crafts this weekend I hope it’s so nice and soft to wear, I can quite happily snuggle down in it! It’s a nice little comfort while at work.
Kelly Purkey’s post was something that was quite refreshing to read. I appreciate those kind of posts, especially when I see her photos and swoon over them and think how lucky she is.
And whose life doesn’t look lush and gorgeous when you add a little Valencia filter on Instagram
I’m slowly settling now, things being all over the place isn’t really freaking me out now. In fact, I managed to fit in a Zumba session (a 45 minute one on medium intensity… what was I thinking!?) I weighed in on Monday. A pound gained in two weeks, could have been worse but I still have 10 lb to lose.
But I felt good for it. Such relief for things to start feeling “normal” And look at our green beans and our tomatoes!
Trying to come out of hibernation though but on Tuesday the weather girl said “Don’t be fooled, it is spring not winter!” come on spring I know you’re here hiding somewhere. But in the meantime, snuggling on the sofa for big bang theory and then how I met your mother… Thursdays are my new favourite!
After the announcement that Hanson.net were stopping their web space, I quickly uploaded what I did have of my site up to my domain and now it is pretty much complete. I have a fab idea that I hope to do this weekend as a craft (it’s actually part Hanson, part Disney after the concerts at Epcot and I saw another fan with a particular hoodie, I decided I had to have a top with the same thing on it!) So please come and peruse my
HANSON CRAFTS SITE
(PS. we also have a Facebook group!)
I’ve not played around making a digital kit in many years. Now this kit in particular is aimed towards my special crafts site as a freebie, but I have been toying with the idea of removing those theme specific items and releasing it as a mini kit for here. But I still have a lot of work left to do on it, believe me! But it’s actually really fun to be doing something with design. I could never do it and make a business of it though, I couldn’t do numerous kits a month LOL! Though I have been making templates, and overlays so hopefully there will be more freebies in the future ;)
“I have many fond memories of our fire at home during my childhood. Getting up in the mornings and racing Stewart for a prime spot next to the fire, in front of the TV, one sat behind the other.
But the most fondest of all was when dad used to push the sofa closer to the fire, so that to come in the front room you had to walk behind the sofa. Mum, Dad, Stewart & myself all used to sit on it together, watching TV.
While I remember the occasional Saturday night television in the winter, being cuddled up with my family, it also reminds me of Christmas.
I absolutely adored that time, all 4 of us together. I can recall that I’d often request the sofa being pushed forward because it was my favourite. A rare treat, and quality family time.
Cozy. Pure comfort”
Ok so I found a great new app (PicFrame) and had to use it to show you that I am indeed doing December Daily In fact there are days that I look at my page and I don’t like it, but the one above about fond memories of moving the sofa during the winter and the page I did yesterday I do like Yesterdays is a random letter to santa:
My silhouette/robo has been doing me proud, though I need a new mat (and to temporarily put a new blade on so I can get my gift boxes done!)
I shall be enjoying a long weekend (Monday off work, a-woo-hoo!) and basking in my “up-togetherness” as I have just one or two presents left to make and then I’m done. Well apart from getting presents for Gareth which he just decided the other day that he wants otherwise I would have got it before now
Really trying to be festive and in that Christmas mood. And to be in the moment and savour this time of year!
I love it when I’m working on nice smelling crafts (bath stuff or baking!) because it makes the flat smell lovely
If I am covered in glue, glitter, paint or ink… I’m happy
In actual fact, I have been planning in my head a reworking on my Hanson crafts site over the christmas break, so I look forward to that too
Now I have been working on my December Daily, I will share that when I can. At the moment only day 1 is truly completed, I am not falling behind in the slightest but my paper scrapping time is limited and I want it to be an awesome album to look back on so bear with me
My December Daily has all the base pages completed.
and I have added a ribbon to keep it closed as it is quite chunky now and won’t close I will take some better photos on a day where it’s not overcast and with a camera that’s not my iPhone
I started on my Christmas gifts too, I have done some candles, some lip balm (though I need to remelt them and add some more flavour to it),
I tried making some “bubble bars” which I tried one tonight, and it worked but didn’t last long :\ I may need to use my soap bar moulds to make them slightly larger to see if that makes a difference, but I love this mould! I plan on using it for my bath bombs and for the soaps that I will be gifting
and one of my magazines “Making Gifts” had a recipe for indulgent bath melts, which I also tried out…
and then last night we went to see Lee Evans in Cardiff, it was a good show and interesting to see a show Live as I’ve only ever seen Comedians on a DVD!
in 5 days it’s Hanson!
I thought long & hard about which album to choose and what other things I had to hand. I bought some shapes from Silhouette Store and Kerri Bradford, and jumped for joy when I remembered my Glitz and Glitter border stickers – one in particular saying “believe” which I knew just HAD to be on the front cover.
I have done my opener page and that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I am a bit stumped on just what I want to do.
I was so excited to see this lace cardstock shape and I just had to have it, I unfortunately have run out of acetate to stick it on to have it as a pretty filler page, so I need to keep my eyes peeled for some more.
I sat and cut some shapes on my Craft Robo including my numbers for my days (though I may not use them all – still undecided! Eeek!)
I’ve still got another 2 weeks to have a play and see how things will work out.
I have been devouring my magazines, had my first Red Cup yesterday (peppermint hot choc), and I have watched The Holiday and Four Christmases. My Hollyday papers are ordered for my December Daily, and Gareth has his Starbucks Christmas Blend. We are already in the swing of things!
I have been trying to come up with some frugal ideas, and seeing as my Sister in Law doesn’t know about my blog, I felt like sharing an idea I had for her gift… I save random stuff, I have a bunch of Christmas gift bags ready to regift and I also have some cool boxes I got some presents in. One of which was from a friend from MANY years ago, who gave me a cute toiletry set in this gorgeous wooden box. Kept it ever since thinking I would use it one day. For my sister in law who likes to bake with her son, I shall be getting some cute cupcake liners (with a pretty design) some “emergency” packet mix (because she’s having a baby very close to Christmas!) and some sprinkles and hopefully some toppers if they fit in my budget.
And for my nephew oliver, it’s a tough one, but thankfully Disney has a Craft site in which I have been collecting colouring pages to make him his own personalised colouring book which I shall print and bind here at home.
I’m doing a lot of searching for printable style gifts. One of my favourite books/mags I have that I normally whip out at Xmas is 101 Hip Handmade Gifts. I have poured over that so much my copy is falling apart They have free printables over at the Creating Keepsakes website.
And how freaking adorable is this! I want to make one for myself, I used to have a big bookcase in my room at home and ran my own little library (I would later become a librarian at my school, and I still have a big love for libraries!)
Source: twigandthistle.com via Kirsty on Pinterest
Ok, so I shall continue my search and post soon on my progress