52 in 10; Prompt 5

This week's prompt for 52 in 10 is Family. I'm half-regretting (if there's such a word!) my choice of 12x6 format for my album as the size of page doesn't give me enough room to explore each Prompt in detail. To get around that choice today I used two pages, making a 12x12 layout, but split into two halves to fit in the album.

I used Bo Bunny and My Mind's Eye papers along with green Provo Craft word stickers (which don't show up very well on the photo). There are journaling tags under the girls' photos describing each of their characters. As I've said before, they are so different in appearance and character too. Jenni is chatty, bubbly and The Scrapbooker. Karen is quirky, creative and The Photographer.
I sometimes wonder how people choose their childrens' names. How did you choose yours? I was going to be Andrew but that was hastily changed to Ann when the expected boy turned out to be me!
I chose Jennifer's first name because I have always liked it and Hubby was tasked with choosing her middle name. It seems that the oldest girl in his family is always called Ruth (I think I was taken for a ride with that tale!) so Ruth she is. But, for our second child, roles were reversed and Hubby got to choose the first name. Never give a man an important job, I say! I had Elizabeth ready weeks beforehand for the middle name- we knew she was a girl -  but she remained nameless for three days, poor thing, because Hubby couldn't decide!!
Eventually she was named after Karen Carpenter because he liked her singing voice. That's the honest truth.
(I've just Googled Karen Carpenter and discovered her middle name was Anne - now there's a coincidence!)
Perhaps I should have devoted the 'Family' page to how our family got their names?!

52 in 10....Late Starter

I admit I'm a little late in posting these photos but I do have an excuse. I've had a bad week with no buses running here to get me to and from work, so I've had to sleep over at the hospital twice more this week. I am fed up with the snow and fed up with sleeping on a trolley! But it looks as if the thaw might begin this coming week - fingers crossed. End of whinge!
I'm taking part in 52 in 10 as I have pledged to take part in more Challenges this year. Here is my first week's entry. I decided to make a mini album (although after 52 weeks it won't be all that mini!) and chose a new size of page for me - 12x6. The first week's prompt was to review the past 10 years. My journaling lists the main things that have happened over the past 10 years, that I can remember. I never think of things in terms of decades though and I needed to think hard about events that had happened. And the start of a New Year is nothing special to me either, it's just another year, but I saw this challenge as an opportunity to keep me scrapping throughout 2010!

Above is week 2 where I had to think of the year ahead and what I want to achieve. I have listed my Crafty Goals For 2010 and tucked them behind my photo. The sharp-eyed among you have probably spotted that this is the reverse side of Week 1 as the punched holes are on the right-hand side this time. I was challenged to include stitching on the layout, but with Week 1 already completed, and not wanting to make holes through the paper, I drew faux stitching instead.

For the mini album itself, I was limited by my Crafty Goal number 2 of not spending on Stash this year, so had to use what I already had. I chose papers by Bo Bunny and My Mind's Eye and cut them in half for the 12x6 format, punched the holes and used book rings to keep it all together. It's easy to disassemble every week when I need to make another entry, and I can also swap the pages around at the moment if I prefer to use a different pattern for each weekly prompt.

Finding the time to craft with a full-time job is never easy, especially when I have to get everything out of the cupboards and put it away again the same day, but having made a start on this Challenge, I'm hoping to see it through to the end of 2010.

December 18th 2009

No, I've not got the date wrong! I know we've had Christmas - weeks of preparation and all over in two hours! December 18th is all about the layout above.

The worst snow for twenty years fell overnight in Sussex and everything ground to a halt. No buses running, and with no grit on the Coast Road, I had to walk into work. Our car couldn't make it up the hills. (You don't usually need a four-wheel drive on the South Coast, therefore we don't own one!) Totally unprepared for a long trek in foot-deep snow drifts, it took me an hour and twenty minutes to get to the hospital! Of course the patients couldn't make it in either, but in-patients still needed their scans doing. And people were falling over everywhere and ending up in Casualty.

Having to work the next day, and knowing the freeze overnight would turn the roads into an ice rink, I slept on a trolley at the hospital. The day after that, supposedly my Sunday off, I had to work again, as the person meant to cover the shift could not get out of her drive! To say I've had enough of the snow would be an understatement! I feel sorry for those who spent Christmas in plaster casts because of fractured limbs, and there were plenty of them!

I'm glad to say it's all melted now - and I won't mention the weather forecast for this week predicting more snow or I'll start grinding my teeth!

Anyway, those who didn't have to go to work (i.e. my daughter and her boyfriend) really enjoyed the snowfall and had a great time. Snow on the beach is something of a novelty here, hence the scrapbook page.

I used Bo Bunny papers and some stamps to make 3D elements for the layout.

I think 3D might become my 'thing' in 2010 - it adds dimension to a layout, but more importantly, I find it fun to do.

The only good thing about snow, in my opinion, is the photo opportunities it creates! Bah Humbug!