It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas.

Tomorrow is December 1st and it's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas. I have started my Christmas Shopping and earlier this week a gorgeous box of goodies arrived from the UKScrappers Advent Swap. 25 presents all wrapped up in black papers with gold tags each bearing a clue to the contents of the presents. My Secret Santa hasn't revealed their identity yet but the postmark on the box was a clue (I think) and I therefore have my suspicions. I've been comparing the writing on the tags to the handwritten journaling on LOs posted in my suspects UKScrappers gallery and I think they are a close match. Time will tell is I have the right person.


I hope the person I have sent gifts to hasn't guessed my identity yet - it's nice to keep them guessing.


Friday night was Mojo Holder Challenge Night and challenge #92 was to scrap lift the awesome Betsy Veldman. I loved Betsy's LO - so bright and cheerful. I scrapped a photo of Lara and used BasicGrey Euphoria and Scenic Route papers.

Not much time for scrapping

I've not had much time lately for scrapping and have only managed to complete my weekly Mojo Holder LOs.

On November 14th (which also happened to be my brother's birthday as well as that of HRH Prince Charles) challenge #90 was to scraplift a LO by Norwegian scrapper Ingvild Bolme. Her LO had a real romantic/vintage feel - mine didn't! I used some of that really challenging kraft patterned paper from the Sonoma line by Scenic Route and some photos of the children taken last year of them hiding amongst the plants at the Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Dorset. Here are the two LOs.

On November 21st, Challenge #91 was a lift of a LO by Nichol Magourik. Nichol's LO inspired me to scrap some photos of Lara taken when she was just 10mths old. Here are the two LOs.

Apart from those two LOs and some bits and pieces I've made for the advent swap on UKScrappers, I've not done any other crafting and with Christmas fast approaching I doubt the situation will improve much until the New Year.

Oh one last thing. Do you remember my exploits last year whilst making a doggy shaped birthday cake for Lara's birthday? Well ..... I know I said 'never again', but ..... I have bought another shaped cake tin and this year I will be attempting a cake in the shape of ..... Sponge Bob Square Pants!!! Am I mad?? We will see!

Last week on Mojoholder we scraplifted the fantastic Molly Peckham (another scrapper whose work I had not come across before). Her LO was beautiful - lovely colours, lovely composition, lovely photos. It was a pleasure to scraplift. I used photos taken just last month on Halloween, of Steven carving his pumpkin. The concentration on his face was priceless.

Here are the LOs:



Tonight we're lifting an extremely talented Norwegian scrapbooker. Make sure you check it out.

Half Term Holiday

Last week was the school half term holiday so we took our usual autumn trip to the coast. For the last few years we've gone to Norfolk but this year we had a change and went over the border into Suffolk. The weather wasn't great but we had a good time and came back refreshed and relaxed.

We went out and about a lot whilst we were away. We visited three English Heritage properties - Leiston Abbey, Framlingham Castle and Orford Castle. Believe me, we aren't on a mission to try and visit every English Heritage property in the UK, nor are we on a mission to bore the children (LOL), but as they were all fairly close to where we were stying we thought we may as well take advantage of our membership.

We also had some long but chilly walks on the beach, a shopping trip to Ipswich and a day at Jimmy's Farm. We had followed the goings on at Jimmy's Farm on TV so it was nice to go and see the place for real. It wasn't as big as we thought it would be but the children enjoyed seeing all the animals as well as exploring the Woodland Walk (with den building) and the adventure playground.

Whilst we were away it was Halloween. The children were initially quite disappointed to find that they wouldn't be at home for Halloween and wouldn't be able to go trick or treating with their friends, but we promised them that we would have our own little Halloween party while we were away. So we took Halloween costumes with us and on Friday night we carved pumpkins, bobbed for apples, watched 'Winnie The Pooh - Pooh's Heffalump Halloween' DVD ( LOL - as scary as we dare go for Lara! ) and gave the children bags of halloween novelties and sweets. They were more than happy. The apple bobbing went down particularly well!

While we were away 2 challenges went live on Mojo Holder. Challenge #87 on October 24th was to lift a LO by the wonderful Janna Wilson. Her LO was gorgeous! I scrapped photos of Wayne on his Driving Day in June.

October 31st, Challenge #88 was a scraplift of Teresa Collins.

There are some lovely scrap lifts coming up in November so do make sure to stop by Mojo Holder.

One last thing, while I was away I bought this book. It's by Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame. I had seen him plugging the book on TV and thought it sounded interesting. I'm half way through reading it and it certainly is very thought provoking and also at times funny. It is about how after a long and painful Christmas shopping expedition, Robert Llewellyn had a revelation. He realised he had enough stuff; he'd had enough of rampant consumerism; he would simply stop shopping for a whole year. Hmmm, now I wonder if I could manage that ??? .......... Nah, but it's a good read anyway.