Our latest addition

Its about time I blog about our latest addition,

 this 8 week old cute little fella!

 

He appeared in our lives on June 30th after a fair bit of  'do we? don't we?' about getting another kitty, after the loss of Costa.  We went to look at him and we were smitten immediately.  Kyle and Madison had no idea what we were doing so once we showed him to them, Kyle aaaaaarrrrrrrrhhhhhhh'ed a lot and Madison said 'pudtat' :)

 

His name is Anakin 'middle name to be completely decided' Skywalker.  Why?  He was born on May the 4th - Star Wars Day!!!  Of course!

Middle name is likely to be Springs as he really is the springiest little creature.  He bounds around the place, chases anything that moves, loves to play with receipts rolled into balls, has an extremely loud purr and is sooooooo inquisitive!  His neck seems to elongate when he's seen something that interests him!

He and Gizmo are still making friends, we knew it would take a while after having introduced Gizmo to Costa, but they are getting there - there are definitely less hisses from Gizmo nowadays.
Madison just adores him, I spent the first couple of weeks saying 'DON'T PULL HIS TAIL!' and mostly 'PUT  THE CAT DOWN!' - Madison would pick him up by whichever part of him she could grab hold of, often round his neck!!!  She would sit on him, hug him which was usually by flopping her head and upper body on top of him and even try to snuggle him into her neck!!!  Strangely, Madison doesn't worry about any scratches she receives and Anakin just takes it all in his stride!

He is now the grand old age of 14 weeks and has certainly succeeded in giving us some laughs at his strange antics.  Fortunately he still has lots of sleep and gives us lots of cuddles!  He is a super little bundle of fluff, but I don't think he will remain little for long, judging by the size of his paws!!!

A Challenge you say... well WHY not!!!

Recently my craft desk has been tidy which means my Mojo is around more and I scrap more!

This afternoon's LO was in response to my BFF Suzy suggesting I take part in the Merly Impressions Layout Challenge this month which is to create a LO about why I scrap, including the words 'why I scrapbook'. 

Ok, good challenge but then as if that wasn't enough, I decided to challenge myself further by not using any patterned paper at all!  I must be mad considering I've just spent what seems like an eternity sorting out some of my older scrapbook kits to the point where I now have a Expedit square  full of beautiful patterned paper!  GULP!  Too much stash <----  hmmm, is that even possible???

Anyhow, here's my challenge LO, Why ...

So although there is no patterned paper in sight, I used lots of my favourite things at the moment instead - a Crafters Workshop Template used with Dylusions ink sprays (these are just pure lush colour in a bottle), the misted result cut out and machine sewn onto the LO, the netting from a mixed cheese bag from the supermarket, washi tape, a wood veneer heart which just happened to fit a stray heart I had on my desk from some Basic Grey paper (oooh, okay there is some pp but it is only a small amount - oops!), a strip of fab rips, a film strip die cut that I've been hoarding for a long time which house the miniature photos I printed, twine & some Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap all topped off with good ole corrugated lettering!  So even a little bit of recycling going on here too!

The six mini photos are a mix of myself, hubby, Kyle & Madison and you'll see why when you read the journalling ... "I'm often asked what is Scrapbooking but rarely Why?... For me, its my chance as a mother to record those memories that my otherwise be forgotten so that one day, Madison & Kyle will look back and reaize that they are the reason why I scrapbook now!"

So thank you Suzy for your suggestion and thank you Emilie for setting such a thought provoking challenge.

Until next time...
x

RIP Costa

Costa Princess Racoon
(6th May 2009 - 16th April 2012)

She was such a delicate little thing with such a sweet nature.  A really soppy puss cat when SHE wanted to be.  She was a very independent young lady, oh and she was a lady - don't let the photo of her sprawled across the bed fool you!  She just liked to stretch and boy, could she... she was such a long thing but so light.  She could jump upon you and you would barely know she was there.  She had the softest purr, the longest, bushiest tail we've ever seen on a cat - this is where the third name of Raccoon came from - and just the best kisses and snuggles.

It only just over 2 years ago we lost her brother Mickey and its heartbreaking that we lost Costa so young too and in the same horrible manner.  The siblings are now buried next to each other in our garden and I'm sure they are having lots of fun, causing mischief & mayhem, catching creatures of all sorts, wherever they may be as well as enjoying their cuddles that they so often had.

Kyle was understandably upset but he bounced back so much quicker this time, there were cuddles but he hadn't bonded as well with Costa, probably because she would jump just at him calling her name if he said it too loud!  Told you, the original scaredy cat at times!  Madison was able to stroke her many times but is still too young to realize that Costa is no longer with us.  

 

RIP Costa - we miss you so much but we will always love you.

x x x

Here's to 2012, well the 2nd half at least!

Well apart from the usual joke of 'I haven't blogged since last year', I was going to say does anyone know where December went? But I think I had better change that to where has half the year gone???!!! I had such plans for lots of scrapping & art Journalling! I planned on doing a December Daily album & an Art Journal Calendar à la Kate Crane style & Project Life, but it all went to pot far too quickly.

We've had a bad mixture of things to deal with from Madison falling downstairs (but she's made of tough stuff & was fine apart from a bruise!) to Andy being made redundant at the end of May! From fighting the system for my ESA benefit (which is now to go to a tribunal) to losing our beloved Costa (who was run over late one night outside the house, she died in our arms-see next post) to lots more besides!

Don't get me wrong! It hasn't all been doom & gloom, although there have been very dark skies above us for much too long, we have had some good things come our way & as long as we all have each other, we'll get through everything - eventually - I hope! Fingers Crossed!!!

So dear Blog, my intention is to record some of those good things over the next few weeks & hopefully intermingle them with current events!!!

Watch this space!

MY BFF's a GD!!!

You may remember that my BFF Suzy won the July Scrapology challenge, the same month I was the Guest Designer.

Well, this month, Suzy is the Guest Designer at Scrapology after they sort of 'head-hunted' her!

And best of all, Madison is in her LO and what a fabulous LO it is too!!!

Well done Suzy :)

OOPS!

Looks like I've been AWOL again! So what's happened since my last visit to this dear blog...

Madison started walking & now has a very pretty pair of purple shoes, with 3 little hearts on the bottom! How clever of her to put her feet like this for my photo! Especially as she fell asleep like that! LOL

Madison now has 10 teeth however I don't think any of them apart from the bottom two at the front have come through in the order they should!
Kyle has just turned the grand old age of 9!!!I was very proud of him because his birthday was on Remembrance Sunday this year and as a cub scout, he took part in the Remembrance Parade in Crewe!

Every year, I take a photo of him holding up his fingers to show his age, only one more year of doing it though or the socks & shoes will have to come off! Above is a rare photo of him & below is a normal photo of him - well, you know what boys are like!
I've finally seen a Rheumatologist and as usual, consultants don't like giving a proper diagnosis so I was told it's 'Highly Likely' that I have ME/CFS as well as the Fibromyalgia :( So now I'm waiting for physio & occupational therapy appointments as well as a trip to the Chronic Fatigue Service.

And Andy is putting up with us all - bless him!!!

As far as crafting goes, I've been plodding on with a Crochet Bag, knitting scarves, scrapping in real life & digitally, making cards for birthdays where I can - oh no, I better get on with the dreaded C******** cards too lol - and I've signed up for an Art Journal Circle Journal on UKS, which starts in Jan 2012.

Speaking of UKS, I hosted my first solo challenge on there in October - here are my 2 example LOs - using a different size photo, halloween colours & a stamp thats never used!

I was interviewed by Lisa Griffin, a fairly new DT member in ScrapaGoGo Land - the interview was posted on Kyle's birthday - you can read it here if you want to know more about my scrapping history!

The Chinese Whispers CJ in GoGo Land has come to an end but never fear, I will still make use of my kits - I've signed up for 2 more!!! These are the 10 LOs I've created over the course of this first CJ. Chinese Whispers are the best type of CJ's - I love being able to use my stash for a LO that I get to keep! LOL

Thanks for stopping by :)
x

One Year Old!!!

WOW! Will someone please tell me where the last year has gone???

This last year has flown by - there have been ups & downs, ins & outs, but with the cutest, prettiest face to look at, its really been a good year!

Yes this little lady is now the grand old age of ONE!!! 12 MONTHS! Yikes!!! lol

Love you Madison, so so much...

Isn't she the cutest???!!!

This photo was from one of those free photo shoots where you go and the photographer gives you a free print in the hope that you will order something else. Well we did, but you'll have to wait until I've scanned the other photos first!!! lol