Wishing you a....

Happpy New Year!!

I'm never getting those three hours back!

The Christmas hols is one of those times of year where you find yourself catching up on films that have passed you by in years past. I'm a big Peter Jackson fan and love the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and am eagerly awaiting 'The Hobbit' so I thought I was on for a safe bet settling down to watch another Peter Jackson epic (all three hours of it!) - King Kong, especially when the wonderful Jack Black was the star... sadly for about three quarters of an hour of action and a bit of pretty CGI, you have to sit through one of the dullest films i've ever seen... it took over an hour before we got even a hint of a big monkey... Shame.

Talking of big black hairy creatures here's a page featuring lovely Lola (another tragic attempt by my scanner!) This one is mostly November Studio Calico.

Amazing Hooter...

I have no idea what sort of owl this is... or what they are talking about... but I sort of want one!!

This one should do it...

Well I promised you a cute Birthday pic and I think this one fits the bill quite nicely! Martha's such a wally posing in her little hat... and check out her nice damp crimpy ears from her paddle!!! Sweeeeeeet!

Birthday Girl...

Today was Martha's 2nd Birthday! We of course had a little party and I have some fun hat pics to share once I get them off my camera! She's promised to be a good girl now she's all grown up (but still growing!) but I'm an eternal optimist... Lola's 4 and she's still a little tinker!!!

This page (November Studio Calico kit) shows one of her favourite poses... and the noise that Newfs tend to emit! (My scanner is clearly having a bad day.. plonking a big weird green splodge across it!!)

Christmassy...

Looking back on my Christmas pics I seem to have lots of fun prep pics, but a few less once the Champagne was opened! Oops! Anyway here are a few to share - first up I had to polish of the last few advent chocs...

Then of course about a million sausages had to be rolled...

The stuffing made the obligatory appearance...

And met up with a scrummy yum free range turkey...

And the sprouts were peeled and prepped...

When dinner was nearly over Sandie's homemade pud went centre stage...

And Martha posed serenely by the tree...

Or maybe serene isn't the right word!!

Hope your Christmas was as much fun as mine!

Merry Christmas!!

Well I got so distracted by free Bacon Sarnies at our local farm that not a single photo was taken - you'll just have to imagine the rural festivities! But suffice to sayn Mr Turkey is safely in the fridge awaiting his big moment! Sausages have been rolled (in bacon not down a hill or some other weird ritual), gifts are nestled under the tree and i'm just mustering the energy to get out of bed after sipping a little glass of a gorgeous Rose' last night (thanks to my Secret Santa at work!!!) I PROMISE I'll try harder to snap a few suitably blurry pics later!

I have to share a suitably festive page today - I whipped this one up the other night when visiting my lovely friend Emma who if you read her blog you'll know that she's just about due to produce her first Baby Collins. She's one of those irritating people that is still uber organised and glamorous even at nine months pregnant! Love ya sweetie!!

Anyhoo... from me and mine, to you and yours... Merry Christmas!

All together now....

I'm happy to say I've started my Christmas hols! It's been a busy ol' year and I'm grateful for a few days to chill out at last!

Christmas Eve to me means a visit to my local farm pick up our free range Turkey and some organic veg, with the chance for a wee nibble on a Mince Pie while you wait! I'll take my camera along and hope to grab a few pics of the festivities! A really good turkey makes all the difference - it's succulent, fresh and of course makes me feel happier knowing they've had a good and humane up-bringing.

The arrival of my December Studio Calico kit has inspired me to get cracking on some festive pictures - I'm of course starting with some of my Martha pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot! Out of all her options she seemed to like the scarf the best and let me know by having a good bark whilst wearing it! It made me giggle that she looked a bit like a carol singer in this one, hence the title! (although my scanner hasn't loved it as much and it's a bit dark! So I'll add the original below!)

The page shows off my little Christmas present to myself - some gorgeous Studio Calico alpha stamps - they both seem really usuable fonts and in a great size.

I'll hope to be back later with some festive pics... have a great Christmas Eve!

Partay...

We had a little tea party on Sunday in honour of my Lovley Auntie Sandie's birthday and much fun was has - a bit of scrapping, a whole lot of raucous Karaoke and a buffet tea. Although judging by this picture the most fun was had by Martha...

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Despite my December Studio Calico arriving i've been so busy getting bits sorted for Christmas I haven't had a chance to craft all week - that's going to change today though!

I've nearly finished my wrapping and try as I might I can't resist paper that errs on the side of cheese - it would be a whole lot less fun to have perfectly elegant gifts each with a coordinating topper, for me Christmas is about tradition and for me wrapping needs to be a bit more fun!

I had a wonderful little (ok... giant) helper this year getting everything wrapped, but i'm not sure stomping on the paper as you cut it is that helpful... in any case every bit of sticky tape has the odd stray brown hair trapped beneath and most likely a few dribbly spots for good measure...inevitable when this... is about two inches from your arm!

I want to get on and take a few pics of each of my favourite tree ornaments - this cute little chick decked out in hat and scarf is a fave so thought I share... I'm going to break out the tripod again later and take some nice long exposures to avoid flash, but this is one to keep me going in case I never get round to it!

Of course with all the festive preparations some things can't be forgotton, doglets still need entertaining and and Martha doesn't care how cold it is... she still needs a paddle, although I'm sure I ended up wetter than her!

Om nom nom...

Fingers crossed I think I'm past the worst of my lurgee... and thank goodness it was just in time for a scrummy Christmas luncheon at our local olde-world local pub with the guys and girls in the product team at work. I went against tradition and scoffed a big ol' steak between wholy traditional prawn cocktail and essential Yule log.

On the topic of food here's a page featuring Martha scoffing her din-dins. It's definately one of her 2 favourite times of day (just behind lunch!) and takes her all of 2 mins to polish off. This one is again with the SC November kit  - i'm making good use of it while I wait not so patiently for the December one to arrive!

Talking of  food... is it wrong to hanker after tomorrrow's advent chocolate?

Fabulous....

Love this new Lily Allen track... enjoy.

Flash ah ah.....

There's a new challenge over at the Forever Friends challenge blog and the challenge this time is to use a Christmas song... here's my offering..

At the moment I'm bearly seing the light of day, it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home so my photography is severely limited at the moment. So the only alternative is long exposures with a tripod or getting busy with some flash - this is one of my favourite Christmas ornaments - who can resist a bit of glitz at Christmas? I finally use the Liveview on my 40D for the first time and it really does make nailing focus a cinch for close-up shots. I was decidedly sceptical, but I'm a convert!

For a while now I've been wanting to get some off camera lighting and rather than invest in studio (continuous or flash) lighting I've taken the plunge with a set of wireless flash triggers for my speedlite. It means you can get a bit more creative with the angle and amount of flash. This shot (which is by no means perfect!! was lit with the speedlite on the right hand side of the shot and it straight away adds a bit of drama and interest.

Once I'd got the Speedlite off the camera you loose the thru-the-lens metering so you have to control the flash manually - a whole now world to learn which is quite exciting!

This is a page from the weekend (November SC) and features one my recent favourite pics of Martha - I took it when I was aiming to get some Christmas card pictures (hats and antlers!!) but Martha much preferred posing without!

Awol...

I've been AWOL for a little while because I've been fighting a horrible virus... I'm still pretty ropey and am taking it super easy in an attempt to shake it off. I've got a page to share though that I did last weekend before it all kicked off! It's using Novembers Studio Calico kit and it was quick and easy, just the way it should be! Love those K&Co Embossed Butterfly die-cuts - I'm really not a fan of Butterflies that are too realistic, they always remind me of those horrible pinned displays - so these are perfect as they are more stylised.

Also to share is a wee Xmas notebook using BG Wassail and a Forever Friends stamp - he's made using the bits left over from my Wassail after finishing my Christmas cards (see last post!). I think he looks rather dapper in a Wassail hat and scarf... now there's an idea!!

An efficient Christmas..

One evening... 40 handmade cards... job done! Who says making Christmas cards has to be hard work??

Wrap up warm!

I have to admit that Martha really doesn't feel the cold, but she still looks darn cute in my scarf!

Page is mostly Sassafras plus my fave Stampin Up punch down the left hand side of the lined paper layer... love that note-book finish!

I'm still trying to psyche myself up to crack on with my Christmas cards... even though i've ordered the pics I think i'm having a change of heart!! It's a tough (and important.... honest!) choice!

Keeping you in the dark...

Most scrapbookers admit to taking their camera pretty much everywhere they go, but I wonder if many people take it out in the pitch black to grab a couple of candid shots? Well I have! On a nightime walk with Lola grabbed my camera and flash and while she merrily snuffled through the leaves I snapped away! She didn't seem to mind the flash either!

I've used the wonderful November Studio Calico kit including this cool die-cut from K&Co. I love the autumnal shades and it's been the perfect way to scrap my autumn photos.

There's also a new challenge using the cute little Forever Friends bears - this weeks it's all about an unconventional Christmas - never let it be said that I like conventional colour schemes so this one was great fun for me. To be extra non-traditional I've used flowers on a Christmas card (and not your standard Poinsettia!)