Last post from England!

Tomorrow I'm off to New Zealand to start my new life with my hubby Rob. I'm all packed and just need to tidy the house and make some final arrangements then I'm done! Gonna have my last bath (we don't have a tub in our NZ home) and get an early nite as I don't have my TV connected and need to pack up my laptop, so my next blog will be from New Zealand some time after my arrival on New Year's Eve.

Byeee!

Tan xxx

3 more sleeps before emigration day!

I have only 3 more nights of sleep before I fly to New Zealand to join my hubby and start our new life together.

There's still so much to do ~ like my packing!!! but I'm slowly getting there. The only downer is that I don't currently enough money to send our cat over so I have to leave him behind for now ~ it's gonna be heartbreaking and I'll miss him so much!!

However, I'm so excited to be going and can't wait to see Rob on New Year's Eve.

Tan xx

UKS Dec wk1 Challenge

The UK Scrapper's Team Challenge for Dec wk 1 was to use a literary title, circular colour photo, handmade embellishments and hidden journalling. Here's my entry:


"The Story of a Mother"

The hidden journalling is in the little folder at bottom left:


With hidden journalling exposed


Journalling ~ detail

The journalling reads: "This picture of my twin sister Elise was taken on my Wedding Day in June 2006. She had given birth to Lucia just 8 days before and although she'd been through an emergency C-Section, she was still there for me on my big day. Lucia was our youngest guest and in the dress I bought her, she looked like a tiny bridesmaid!"

Thanks for looking!

Tan xxx

My Recovery

So I'm back home after my op ~ all went well and I spent two nights in a private room with en-suite and TV because there wasn't room for me in the general surgery ward by the time I came out of recovery (I was there for a few hours due to pain caused by the air they pumped into me).

I felt a bit like a human kebab for a few days but luckily my bed was electronic which really helped me sit up etc. I'm still a bit tender but my scars are healing well and I have a lovely jar of gall stones to show for it (yuck!)

Tan xxx

Operation Tomorrow!

So I'm due to go into hospital tomorrow to have my gall bladder removed - hope it all goes to plan and that I can have the keyhole surgery as booked ~ I can't afford for it to be re-booked as my flight to New Zealand is booked for 29 Dec and I can't fly for 4 weeks after the op so fingers crossed that there is no reason to delay it!

Still have a few things to do tonight to prepare and I'm starting to get a bit nervous but in all I'm confident that I'll be up and about in no time and I'm determined to recover quickly!!

It'll be hard having no hubby around to pamper me as he's the best when I'm poorly, he really spoils me, but I'm sure people will pop up to see me and I have my cat to keep me warm!

Tan xxx

UKS Nov wk 4 Challenge

Here's my latest scrapbook layout, done for my UK Scrapper's weekly challenge. It's of my niece Lucia as the photo goes really well with the colours I wanted to use.


Lucia ~ you are such a joy to me


Lucia ~ detail

The journalling reads: "This is my neice Lucia, aged about 12 months in this photo, taken last year. She's so cute & funny & has me in stitches most of the time! She LOVES our shoes & bags ~ already this girl has great taste & takes after her Aunty Tan!"

I got the full 30 points for this challenge, so that's good! It was a nice easy one though. I'm also making a mini book with some of my fave photos of Lucia so I'll upload that when it's done.

Thanks for looking!

Tan xxx

Remembrance & Credit Crunch Layouts

I've just finished anothe two layouts - one is about my Grandad for the poppies kit we had at my Thursday eve Redbourn Crop and the other is part of a team challenge on UK Scrappers.


Remember ~ my Grandad


My Grandad was in the Royal Navy and I'm proud of his achievements. He received a medal from Russia in 1987 for the "50th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" and was also awarded a 60th commemorative medal by he Russian Federation in 2005. The journalling reads: "Remember: Bill ~ William Sydney Ramsden, 1924-2007. Crew on HMS Savage ~ involved in sinking battleship Scharnhorst in Dec 1943."

Sadly, he died suddenly in January 2007, and I miss him a lot. However, I was very pleased he was able to see me marry in June 2006 and to see my sister give birth to his first Great-Granddaughter Lucia. I have many fond memories of him.

My team challenge layout is called Credit Crunch Shoes:


We had to use the words Credit, Crunch, Money or Free in the title, and use old stash and something recycled and/or painted. I went with the credit crunch theme and showcased some of my lovely shoes that cost less than £20 each. The beads hanging from suede on the left came from a beloved pair of boots that I had to throw out (recycled element) and the number 20 comes from old stash bought at my local Crop. The number and the shoe are all painted too, so I think I got the max 30 points for this one ~ my teammates will be pleased!

I had fun making both layouts, though cutting into the damask design to show the teal background on my second LO took ages ~ I was cutting away with tiny scissors well into 3am on Thursday and had a really sore neck afterwards!!

Thanks for looking!

Tan xxx

Flight all booked!

I bookd my flight to New Zealand today ~ I'm flying on 29 Dec ~ so exciting! I can't fly for 4 weeks after my surgery so I'm going to miss Xmas with my Hubby, which we're both gutted about, but I'll arrive on New Year's Eve (though I'll have serious jet-lag so I might not make it to midnight!)

We're going to have our own Xmas together when I get there which will make up for missing each other on the actual day ~ hopefully my sister-in-law and her family will have me on Xmas day so I won't be alone.

I have 6 weeks to go so plenty of time to finish packing up the house, but time flies so I'd better get on with it or I'll end up with a week to go wondering how I'm going to get it all done!

Tan xxx

Making my Xmas Cards

I've had a fun couple of evenings making my first ever Xmas cards ~ I've created two designs:


One is teal and the other is purple, and half of each either have 'Season's Greetings' or 'Tis the Season' stamped on them.


Purple with 'Tis The Season'


Teal with 'Season's Greetings'

I enjoyed the design process and created something I could mass-produce without too much difficulty:


Cards in production

All I need to do is add the purple ribbon (I ran out of Herma then double-sided tape), print the address labels and write in the cards, then I can post them!

I'm ahead of the game this year ~ for a change ~ probably because I usually struggle to find a design I like that doesn't have religious images/text. I know I'm a hypocryte to some, but I think Atheists can still enjoy the holiday season and have the decorations, prezzies, food, parties etc as for me it's about having fun, enjoying winter, and most of all, spending quality time with loved ones. You don't need to believe in Jesus for that!!!

Tan xxx

What I really want for Xmas

I know it's a bit early to be thinking about the big day but all I really want for Xmas this year is to be with my Hubby in New Zealand in time for Xmas Day!


Xmas Robbie

I still haven't heard back from the hospital yet re: when I can safely fly so I'll have to chase them (again!) so I can book my flight ~ it's getting more expensive the longer I leave it ~ DOH!

Oh and I'd also love a Cuttlebug, 'Santa'! (o;

Tan xxx

The big clearout

So I've started the big clearout in preparation for emigrating to New Zealand ~ my spare room is already full to bursting with stuff I've emptied out of various cupboards and haven't gotten rid of yet and the house is starting to look like a tip! It's also really hard getting rid of things when I'm still living in the house as I'll be using a lot of stuff for a few weeks yet, so I'm finding it really tough, especially with the mess that I'm making ~ I'm trying to keep it all in the spare room but there's only so much that I can fit in there!

I'm thinking of hiring a hall or function room in the village in order to have a big jumble sale ~ that seems the best idea for selling most of my miscellaneous household items and old clothes as putting it all on eBay would take months and most stuff will have to be collected due to postage costs, so hopefully I'll be able to do this instead then eBay or dontate anything left over. I really need to make some money to live on over the next few weeks as my £60 incapacity benefit doesn't even cover the basics so hope people will buy my stuff!

Now I just have to put my strict head on to force myself to part with my beloved belongings!

Tan xxx

Hubby layout

I've been missing Rob like crazy so I did a layout of him ~ it was very therapeutic and I spent ages looking through all my pics of him ~ very enjoyable!


The journalling reads: "This is my husband Rob. He's my best friend, my life, my Rock. He really looks after me and does all the housework and most of the cooking too ~ I'm so lucky! We've been married for 2 years and he still makes my tummy flip when I see him ~ he's gorgeous!"

I really want to get a proper printer as mine is rubbish at printing photos and the ink runs out really quickly ~ I'll have to save up when I get to NZ as I won't be wasting shipping costs on my current one!

Tan xxx

Redbourn Herts Crop - Thurs 4 Nov 08

I went along to the Redbourn Herts Crop on Thursday night, run by my friend Diane and had another enjoyable evening scrapbooking and chatting with the ladies ~ they really are a lovely group and I wish I could bring them with me to New Zealand ~ it's going to be tough getting used to another group ~ even though I haven't known them for long, I feel really at home and I've really bonded with Di as we're both going through similar times and we've spent lots of time together over the last couple of weeks, so I really enjoy their company.

I didn't make much that evening as I was gassing too much, but I was able to hand over my 6x6 'About Me' page that everyone makes for their Members Class Book. Although I'm only going to be attending a few crops Di still asked me for a page so people would remember me ~ I thought that was really nice so I did my best and the results are below ~ I really enjoyed doing this and it only took me an hour or so:



The journaling reads: "I'm chatty, friendly, creative and passionate. I love making new friends and having a giggle. I also love art and crafting, especially sketching, making cards and scrapbooking." Pretty much the same as my intro on this blog site!

Of course I couldn't fit all of my favourite things onto a 6x6 page so I just picked the things I really love at the moment.

The fonts were freebies downloaded from a favourite site of mine called www.dafont.com. The title and brackets are Sketch Rockwell and the list is Dymo (like the label maker!) Another great freebie font website is www.fontspace.com.

Tan xxx

Date for op!

I finally have a date for my gall baldder surgery! It's booked for the afternoon of Dec 1 so with any luck I'll be able to fly to New Zealand before Xmas - depending on how well I recover, how early you're allowed to fly after having this type of surgery (they inflate your abdomen with gas and it can travel around your body so that could be dangerous on a long haul flight) and how much it costs to fly at such short notice at this time of year. I really want to spend Xmas with my husband so I have fingers crossed that it all works out.

Of course this also means I only have 3 weeks to pack up our belongings for shipping and to sort out and sell/donate what we can't take with us!!! Anyone that knows me will know this is going to be a huge effort for me as I'm terrible at throwing anything away and have accumulated 10 years of stuff that will need sorting through, so I'm going to have to be really strict and only keep hold of the really important items that we can't replace. Without Rob's help it's going to be really hard to let things go, but it will mean our new home is clutter free and hopefully I'll be able to make some money from some of my junk!


Wish me luck peeps!

Tan xxx

My first crop

Today I went to my first crop (Redbourn Crop Circle) and made my first scrapbook layout!

The group was really friendly and helpful, and they all made me feel very welcome. I had such a great time and was really pleased with how my layout turned out ~ especially as it was my first one!


Layout


Journaling

The Redbourn Crop Circle is run by Danny C ~ details of the next crop can be found in the Cropping Central forum on the UK Scrappers website.

Tan x

Hubby's arrived in NZ

So Rob left for New Zealand last Sunday - a very emotional day for us both! His sister came with me to the airport and we both clung to each other sobbing like small children when he went through the gates.

The nights are the hardest as there's a huge empty space in our bed that even my cat cannot fill, and I miss him constantly - there's so much I miss about him I'm not even going to start listing everything - it'll be boring to anyone else. Let's just hope my operation will be soon so I can join him before we both go mad!

You can find out how he's getting on at his blog: http://robskiwiadventure.blogspot.com/

Tan xxx

Drawings from my sketchbook

I thought I'd post some sketches I did a while back - some a few years old, others a bit more recent - I was experimenting with portraits as I hadn't done any since my A-Levels. The portraits are all from photos of my niece and nephews.

Ollie

Oliver is my sister Rebecca's middle son. It was my first attempt at sketching a portrait - some of his features are a bit off and his mouth didn't come out as well when I photographed this sketch but it was my first one so I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Sammy

Samuel is Rebecca's youngest son. This one makes everyone laugh as he looks so round and chubby, but I only had a tiny passport sized photo to draw from and he was just a little baby with not much hair! He 4 years old now with beautiful blonde curls. I've noticed I've got a tendancy to make the eyes really big in all my portraits - something I'm going to have to take care over.

Thomas

Thomas is Rebecca's eldest son and again I've gone a bit mad with the eyes, but it is a good likeness (I wish I could find the photos I used as a comparison but you'll just have to trust me!)

Lucia

Lucia is my sister Elise's little girl. This is my favourite sketch - I really enjoyed doing it, even the difficult fabric. Elise even recognized the top she was wearing as I spent loads of time on the detail.

Callum

This is my sister-in-law Sonya's eldest Son. This was from his school portrait - when he was told to smile he did a big grin to show all his teeth - funny how kids do that!

Kieron

Kieron is Sonya's youngest son. I've had to re-do parts of this a few times - I made hm look a bit like a chip-monk at first, so I've done some more work on it and was happier, but as with Ollie's picture, it looks a bit strange on screen - his features are a bit uneven. I must keep practicing then!

I have my youngest nephew, Harrison, via by brother Paul, and my eldest niece, Jordan, via my baby sister Bobbey to draw yet - plus Bobbey's got another one on the way, so they should provide me with lots of practice! All of my siblings have kids but I haven't started my family yet and I'm the eldest (by 7 mins to my twin Elise), and I'm starting to get on a bit, so I'd better get a wriggle on!

Quick sketch of my hand - veins to rival Madonna!

Bowl of fruit (apple and grapes)

Peacock feather

This is my most recent sketch and it took quite a while as the individual pieces that make up the feather are very fine. I used a hard pencil to draw those lines, so they made an impresson in the paper and when I came to do the shading, it made a nice effect.

I get completely lost in time when I'm sketching - much as I do when I'm crafting, and time simply flies. It's very therapeutic though I always end up with a sore neck and back from sitting too long - I never learn!

One day I might get brave enough to progress to colour and do some paintings but for now I'm sticking to my pencils as it's my favourite medium.

Tan xxx

New Cards

I've made some more cards and I'm really pleased with how these two turned out.


Little Birdie

I made this for my friend's 21st Birthday and have to admit that I pinched the design from a favourite blogger of mine called Kath on the Fiskarettes blog site as I love it so much. I didn't have the same materials so I used a free backing paper I downlaoded, and made the flower myself from petal shapes I cut from paper, and I stamped gold flowers on white card for the paper trim. I cut the scolloped edges by hand as I don't have the Fiskars cloud scissors that Kath used (I've bid for them on eBay though and hope to get them soon!).

I made another version for my Nan's birthday but instead of 'a little birdie told me...' I wrote 'Happy Bird-day' on it instead. Hope you don't mind Kath!


King of Sleep

This is my first go a designing a scrapbook layout style card. I made it for my sister's fiance for his Birthday. I used a photo of him having a sneaky snooze (his fave past time) and used denim backing paper and decoupage elements (moon, hat) downloaded from free digital craft sites, printed a poem about sleep onto white card using a nice calligraphic font, and double embossed a crown in gold using a free stamp received in the Nov issue of Craft Stamper.

I distressed all the edges and the sleep poem paper using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Walnut Stain (more eBay bargains) using a makeup sponge and cut a 'K' out of patterned paper. I wrote the rest of the bits n bobs on the card myself.

I'm very pleased with this one as being new to crafting I'm still struggling with ideas and inspiration, but I don't want to copy other people's ideas, and this layout came to me as I was messing around with various elements I had in my kit.

My first cards

I've started making cards recently and decided to post some of my first cards made for my family.


Cupcake card

This was my second attempt at a card and I made it for my sister-in-law. The design and materials came from the Jan 08 issue of You Can Craft! magazine, great for getting started in card making as it supplies all the materials you need to make the cards in the magazine.


Oriental Birthday Wishes

I made this using the free stamp in the October issue of Craft Stamper - my favourite magazine out of the 5 or so that I've read so far. I haven't sent this card to anyone yet - it's in my stock of spare cards for emergencies (I'm terrible at remembering people's Birthdays!)


Thinking of You

I made this for my Nan who is having an operation at the end of the month - I wanted her to know I was thinking of her. This was the first card that I designed myself and I also made my own butterfly embellishments using blending chalks and sparkly paint from Hobbycraft, which I then punched out using a butterfly stamp. I love the Woman in Repose stamp - I got it on eBay and nearly missed out in the bidding war!!!


Birthday Boy

I made this for my nephew Thomas using a design and materials from the Jan 08 issue of You Can Craft! magazine. I didn't have any blue card so I edged my white card stock with Blue Encore! Ultimate Metallic ink, another eBay bargain.

Hubby's off to New Zealand

I haven't posted anything since I set up this site, so I thought I'd start making posts - mainly for myself at the moment, then once I've got some decent content, I'll start publishing it everywhere for people to see.

We've been trying to relocate to New Zealand for several months, but with the market crash our house hasn't sold and we've been stuck here. However, we need to start paying the bills at our house in NZ, so Rob has booked his flight and will be moving there in just over a week.

I've got to stay behind to tie up loose ends - plus I'm waiting to have my gall bladder removed so I can't leave until I've had my op, and with no date from the hospital yet I'm stuck here for now. We'll just have to cope with Skype and webcams while we're apart. It's going to be tough as we haven't spent more than one night apart since we got married in 2006, but we'll get through it as it's for our future. Still, the first few nights at home alone are going to be tough!