What a Pretty Day

Hi guys

As the title suggests it's a pretty day here in the UK. The sun is trying to come out but it just feels great! I think that what I've just read on Kristal's blog, she's doing a blog hop, has really inspired me and made me remember how great our Lord is. I've always said it's the little things in life that mean the most and I truely believe that. There are so many things that can get us down but sometimes you just have to pick yourself up, dust it all off and keep going.

I was trying to find a way of making books without having a Bind-It-All or The Cinch to bind the pages together. I don't have an eyelet thingie (technical term and have pretty much just woken up lol) either so had to think of another way of making them.

So last night I started making them, well I've only done one so far and it's still a work in progress lol but I had such a great time doing it and it's turning out really sweet. I'm sure this has been done like a million times before but I decided to use envelopes as the pages. The opening flap of the envelope is what you stick to the front of the next one. If you stack your envelopes in the same direction one on top of another you will see what I mean about sticking the opening flap of it to the front, this will create the hinge for the pages. Or at least I hope this makes some sense LOL. Then all you have to do is cut your pretty papers to stick onto each page. I also made the front and back covers out of a cereal box (chipboard effect) and covered them too. I made them slightly larger than the pages of the book. I used 8 A6 (to fit a 4 x 6 card) envelopes for this book. This is a standard size in the UK but equivalent I guess to an A2 size in the US. In total I used 16 6x6 pieces of paper to cover the pages inside and the base decoration for the covers front and back. I used another really fun piece of A4 paper (81/2 x 11 in the US) to cover the 'chipboard' covers. I've got lots of little piles of envelopes ready for me to customise and make my own and I'm going to have such fun too.

I have a bunch of papers which were freebies from crafty mags that I buy and so I'm trying to find ways of using them up and so thought this would be a great way of doing this. Another way is to print off pretty papers from your crafty CD's if you have them as they really do have some wonderful papers to play with.

As soon as my camera's up and running (I know I keep saying it but it will happen one day LOL) I will post some pics of what I've done.

Have a super sweet day/eve everyone!

Hugs
Janene

What a Lazy Day!

Hi Everyone

I hope you're all having a wonderful day. I have to admit I've had a really lazy one today, haven't done any crafting yet! What's up with that?! LOL.

I did however, manage to revamp my blog and I'm really happy with it now. It's so pretty but took me most of today to do! I'm still learning as I go here so it takes me so much longer to do these things. I'm sure it doesn't take you guys that long right?!

I have been so busy doing nothing - LOL - that I kept forgetting to let you know that I won blog candy from Kristal at Getting Cricky with K Andrew! I was so excited when I just happened to notice my name and the timing for something that good couldn't have been any better as we'd had some horrible news the Friday before the Sunday I saw it. Kristal is so awesome, she really is and she inspires me every time I watch her fab videos so please check out her blog if you haven't already - Getting Cricky with K Andrew

I'm off for now but will be back I'm sure. Thanks for being so awesome guys and for your comments, they mean a lot to me.

Hugs
Janene

Happy Happy Easter Everyone!

Hi guys.

I hope you have all had a blessed day filled with lots of love and laughter, oh and not forgetting what the Easter Bunny brought you :0).

Sorry I haven't updated sooner - still no camera lol - but things here have been tough. We, my hubby and I, had some very sad and upsetting news about a week ago and so it has thrown us all out of sinc since. With this news means that coupled with all the other things that seem to have gone wrong in the last few years, our chances of having our own children seems to be slipping further and further away. Right I'm just gonna say it, we were given the funding for IVF last Aug/Sept (which we were so grateful for) but we had been trying to save the money for an additional genetic test which we needed for the IVF to stand the best chance of working. I found out about a week ago that the funding has been withdrawn. We were not aware this was going to happen, nobody had told us, and it was when I phoned our clinic to check everything was still ok that I found out about it.

This may sound a little odd but I could understand it a bit better if they had said they would not be funding any further cases but to just take it away from those of us who haven't yet started our treatment was devastating to say the least and broke our hearts.

So if anyone in the UK or you know someone who has gone through this recently, please let me know. We would love to speak to you as we have now got our MP involved who is supporting us in anyway he can. Don't be alone. The more of us that stick together, I think we will at least stand the best chance of being heard, even if the funding is not re-instated. I hope that makes sense, it's been a long and trying week.

I will try not to leave my posting as long as I have and will speak to you all soon.

Have a wonderful rest of your Easter Sunday.

Hugs
Janene

Link Up Love Party Week

Hi guys

I think this is a wonderful idea. My new friend Kristal from Getting Cricky is having a Link Up Love Party this week so come on, join in the fun and spread the love! Sadly there will always be days when life gets you down. Family and friends are what hold us together so lets get to know one other, so that we can inspire each other and get even more creative and crafty!

All you have to do is click on the link below, post it to your blog and let us know something that most don't know about you. Here we go with mine... crafting is my way of escaping the worries and woes of my everyday life. As positive as I try to be there always seems to be a rather large bump in the road that I keep falling over. Since I have become a 'blogger' I have a way of speaking to fellow crafters who have the same passion for it that I do. My mum is the only other crafter I know so this is a great chance for me to make new friends who enjoy this wonderful hobby too. Kristal was my 3rd follower and I got so excited about it. I've watched her videos and I really feel she is a talented lady. She's a bargin hunter just like me! and I kinda feel like I know her a little bit already.

Well, I hope that wasn't too cheesy for you lol but I hope you all have a very happy day/evening.

Hugs

My First Blog Award!

Hi guys

After updating my post I received my first ever blog award from Misty at http://www.deliteful-gifts.blogspot.com/. I am so grateful for this award and so a HUGE thank you goes to Misty for giving this to me. wow. This is so exciting for me! lol.

So I hope I get this right!

The rules for this award are:

1) Thank the person who gave it to you
2) 7 things about yourself
3) Send it to 15 other bloggers

Thank you Misty - what an awesome surprise, 2nd one today! (2nd surprise today not award) yay!

7 things about myself, well, lets see..

1) I have the most incredible husband in the world, Vinny
2) I have 3 fur-babies, 2 King Charles spaniels (Millie and Blue-Boy) and a kitty cat (Shakira)
3) I found my passion in papercrafting about 3 years ago and am completely addicted to it lol
4) I love making new friends
5) I'm a very short lady with a big heart who loves to help others
6) I love the smell of rain - I know it prob sounds a little nutty lol
7) I'm an old romantic at heart and so is my hubby which is one of the many reasons why we work so well together :0)

Here are the 15 fellow bloggers I've chosen - gotta say it's difficult choosing as there are so many wonderfully talented crafters out there, I wish I could pick all of you.

Getting Cricky with K Andrew
My Pink Stamper
Karlee Krafts
Creative Time For Me
Pink Cricut
Obsessed With Scrapbooking
Creations With Christina
Leann Chivers Craft Inspirations
Leonie Pujol
Stampin With Janice
You Had Me At Craft
Creative Critters Cricut Club
Polka Doodles
Funky Cards
PartiCraft Ltd

So there they are. I hope you have a fantastic evening (it's evening over here) and I hope you check out these fab blogs - they truly inspire me.

Hugs Janene x

Feeling un-inspired today

Hi guys

Hope you've all had/having a great day. Gotta say that I've not as am still not well so have been very un-inspired today. However, I had a lovely surprise when I checked my blog and found that I have a new follower, how cool is that! I get very excited about such little things but you know what it's the little things in life that make it all worth while for me. It always has and I've always said that. I also checked out her blog which is deliteful-gifts.blogspot.com and she has some fab photies of a white deer on there. So beautiful and I can relate as we have a woodland on the other side of our fence and so we see deer too. So lovely! We also see fox, pheasant, tons of squirrels, loads of birds - it's just so awesome! I love it! I will try to get some pics put up soon to show you. Isn't nature just wonderful? :0)

I want to say a huge thank you to my followers as I am still new to the blog thingie but you guys have been awesome and I'm so grateful that you've joined me. I hope that we can become great friends and share and inspire each other and others in our crafty quests.

If you haven't yet checked out Miss K's blog (I hope she doesn't mind me calling her that) - gettingcricky.com - you so gotta. She has been so inspiring to me, even though I'm having an 'off' day today! She is so sweet and has fantastic ideas. From her vids, I now know how to make my very own dew drops and colour them - just one example :0).

Well, I'm off to see what I can come up with so that tomorrow will be a better day. Fingers crossed guys lol!

Happy crafting!
x