Sweet nothings

taking your family with you...

In one of my favourite store's January sales  {the store is Paperchase} there were all manner of great bargains. my kinda bargains - at least 50% off. Picture frames, groovy stationery, pens, paper, that sort of essential stuff ;)  shuffle about in the heap o' bargains I found some leather luggage tags which I didn't need as my son got me one for Xmas, and a folded over leather tag. Took me a moment to work out what it was, but then the swirly embossed leather opened, unfolded into three miniature photo frames.  very cool. very me! so this afternoon I made these, slipped them inside the leather case and ta- da! I get to take all my family with me on a trip I'm away on soon!

Yes of course it was an essential part of my vacation prep. and right at the top of my procrastinating 'to do' list. I go away in eight days. and I'm nearly ready. honest..... I need to buy suntan lotion. hahahaha. Right now its freezing here with a wind blowing straight from Russia and I'm having a hard time getting my mind into tee-shirt and sun cream buying mode...

And I've gotta make the lists of instructions for Mr Britguy when I leave. {He actually LIKES lists, I'm not just leaving them as some kind of whip cracking mean wife}   You know the kind of list

 'please feed budgies , please feed cat - please do not feed Budgies to cat...'  :)

Speaking of families and things I've made, I think this was one of my favourite things I made this Christmas.

I made lots of proper gifts, but this was a fun last minute one.

For my Mother-in-Law who always wishes for her family to be in one photo, and boy we never all are! I made her 'a family on a stick' :) :)

wooden skewers, matte photo paper, faces of everyone { which was the hard part} and hey presto! all her family, all together, all at once!

2009?

well I've been waiting for this one! 2009!

I hope you have a good New Years Eve and a great New Years day too! 

We're not up to much, - Miss daisy is poorly poorly and its waaaaaaaaay to cold to attempt a fire-pit outside like last year. However New Years Day we're off on our annual long hike with lunch out - cant wait! 

2008 was a year and a half, for me personally,  and lots of it not in a good way. You know whilst youre going thro it and it {feels like it} nearly kills you, you cant even begin to understand people who tell you it will be a bonus in the long run, but now, here in a better place I get it. Tough times, bitter people, difficult things? those that dont break you, make you. 

cliché but true!

this is the quote of the day - which arrives in my inbox every morning-

“When you get in a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

and OH i'm so with that! great quote.  My family are growing beautifully, my friends are awesome and my world is bright. Grateful doesnt even begin to cover it.

Happy New Year!

which came first....

never mind the chicken or the egg, I often find myself making layouts from something I wrote in a blog post. or Blog post from something I referred to in a layout....

Like this layout, from the blog post about the conversation with Mollie about her looking like her toy....

28, 29...

nearly at the end of my December Daily book ...

unwrapping {my point of view}

theres my layout of 'gift unwrapping photos' from this Christmas season. Its very cute and I like the randomness of the round up of pics. Okay, stop there best friends and relatives -there arent any of me, yes I know, but thats because a) I had most of my gifts earlier in the year and b) 'cause this is my point of view - via my camera.  LOL thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

Thats what Christmas is all about to me --buying/creating/making something that will bring those kind of smiles to the face of the recipient.  Oh I'd like to apologise about the 'Georgia with cash' shot. Its a bit tasteless and could be taken as bragging, and its not, I was just struck by her genuine delight in the unexpected. Even she thought it was a shot too far... which shows another nice side in her I think. 

As I finally make my way around my favourite beloved blogs and read up on everyone's Christmas I am glad to see similar random happy pictures filling the posts.  So glad for you guys :) Funny how alike so many  Christmases are across the globe. 

Personally, I do not like, nor encourage, a verbal listing of 'gifts got' from my children, and whilst adults are adults and can obviously do as they wish, especially on their own blogs, its nice not to see a look what I got entire list kind of post. Sure, tell me {'me' as in the whole world out there} about a funny gift, a super amazing extra special gift, or whatever, I love reading/hearing about them. but dont brag, dont brag on your childs behalf and please for goodness sake stop your child standing up and listing the items he/she received by order of expense. blurgh, dont you hate that? I do , and that - not via my camera but via my blog- is my point of view! You see how I did that with the title? huh? ;) used it twice in reference to the layout and the rambling? Oh seriously, I rock dontcha think? LOL LOL........

Today, in order to stave off the boredom we are experiencing - or the flat after christmas I suspect- we've taken our decorations down and tidied up. Its pretty refreshing to have a whole clear sitting room, dusted and all. I have made only the merest of dents in the tidying up part of the computer room but have run out of steam. Anyone else with the piles of new stuff with no home in the house yet? I cant tell the children where to put it cause I dont know! as a result I have a heap, a big slidey pile  still to sort out. And now a billion Christmas cards in another one of those big slidey piles, waiting for me to file them also. And underneath that an art project I was working on before the heap of stuff. 

and on top of that a 'to do' list I was happy to write yesterday but not so happy about achieving it all today ... ack.

I also sorted out the larder in the kitchen {and threw away all half eaten christmas crap. LOL} cleaned the shelves and sorted the spices etc..

I'm going to need to look up 'ways to use up chocolate pennies' recipes. Thank goodness for the internet for important things like that huh? ;)

to be jolly :)

family line up

as all my 'December Daily' pages will be in one book I'm now scrapping some favourite Christmas season photos for our regular family scrapbooks. So you might of seen little versions of the pictures before....

December daily 24, 25, 26, 27

Boxing Day

Okay Boxing Day done:) Its kinda funny but sad how we as adults see Christmas as a chore to be completed. But there we go. Christmas over with. Sigh of relief tinged with sadness .... crazy how emotive Christmas makes us. 

 However, I for one am kinda keen to get 2009 here now.... its going to be a good year :) a better year. woohoo!

I have just about edited all my festive photos. sheesh. I have over-photo'd-itus. I cannot see a good shot amongst the rubbish ones anymore, and I'm *almost* sick of pictures. LOL

so I'm just posting a few that stick in my head after all the editing from todays lot,  not because they are the best, the people they should be of, or for any reason other than I like them. 

I told Mollie she was like her new toy. She told me as she didnt have pink fur so wasnt at all like him. I was referring to the cuteness overload and big beautiful eyes actually!

Ah, yes, good to see Daisy has moved on from the box being her favourite toy. Now shes all about the bubblewrap!!!!! she likes to pop this A LOT!

This really is one of my favourite from all of Christmas. Hugo entranced by Mr Britguy's new remote helicopter taking off. Love it.

Dec 25th round up

Phew! okay so I tried to narrow down my choice of today's photos....

yeah, like that was ever going to happen. Still from about 70 good ones I picked these, to kinda sum up and round up our Christmas day..

that was the day spent with Mr Britguy's family -  tomorrow is the one spent with mine.  Yes we're doing Christmas all over again tomorrow! so same amount of pictures from then probably. eeek.... hardrive brace yourself!!!

There are not enough of Kal or Mr BG. Neither of whom make picture taking easy with grimaces and forced grins, or looking away at the last minute. And, hmmmmm, there arent any of me at all. All things to work on tomorrow!

I hate the flash so much, - on camera or off,  that I stuck to just my trusty 50mm lens all day with no flash. medium ISO, sometimes higher. As a result not all my pictures are crisp sharp. I dont mind. I like this in fact. I love movement blur and real natural light.  Its all back to my mantra of 'its all about the everyday'. not posed, not set up, and not perfect. Because it wasnt like that, it was loud, busy, crazy, crowded, silly, and FULL so why should the photos show it any other way? 

Can you believe Mollies poorly????? she has a cold and horrible cough. She seriously didnt have it on the 23rd. not even a bit. And Daisy is pretty off colour, she slept all thro Christmas dinner bless her... I hate the way we get sick at Christmas. every  f r e a k i n g  year. 

There are - surprise!- more photos and stories to share over the next few days, until then may the rest of your Christmas season be wonderfully real!