Some scrapping!

Wow what a week!  Nothing terrible has happened don't worry, it has just been a very full on week with lots happening.

Firstly DD has had M her French exchange student staying and my French has not improved, it remains virtually non-existent!  I actually studied German at school and boy does it show!!!  Thank goodness for Google Translate.  It has been interesting to watch 2 French girls versus 2 English girls playing Pictionary and using Google Translate (which didn't always work!).  Who knew that you cannot translate Korma or Nan or Tikka Marsala or any other type of curry (they didn't like what they ordered very much but then who eats prawn korma anyway???)  Seriously I think they have had a great week with days out, parties and fun socialising and today they have been at Thorpe Park.

On the crafting front I have made a serious commitment, I thought about it for a long time and was watching and waiting for the right opportunity to come along.  Finally I jumped in... I have joined a team on UKS!!!  I have been a member of UKS for a while but really go there in isolation and rarely comment.  I was adopted at one point but was then deserted so I never really got involved in anything and just hung around the shopping boards.  Now I have joined the Craftoholics and am really happy that 2 of my blogging buddies also joined.... one co-incidentally and the other with encouragement...can you guess who they are????  So I have gone for it and joined in with a challenge, scrapping a birthday, using an old piece of paper, 4 of something and a colour of the weather

The papers used are all quite old I think, this is DS on his 10th birthday and it isn't the best photo but the only one I have of him blowing out his candles so it also fits Shimelle's challenge 15 and I have used 4 different types of stickers (and 4 patterned papers on the background one! so fits in with challenge 2 mixing up paper collections) and I went for yellow and blue to remind me of the sun in a blue sky.  Yay my first UKS challenge completed!!!

I also made these pages, inspired by Shimelle's online crop last weekend..........

this was made using my own simple sketch for lesson one of just one sketch (such fun!) a monochromatic page that uses SJ's printable for my journalling (completed post photo to keep secret as usual!) so Shimelle's 13th challenge.  Plus it uses up lots of scraps (challenge 16) my favourite being the upper left circle shape that is the offcut from the sticker (half of which is used just above the photo)  I actually love this LO and it really reminds me of the beauty of Antigua.

this page still make me squirm slightly as I went out of my comfort zone to mix up my style (challenge 3).  I don't often use flowers I don't really think I am very girly and I have never used twine across the page (I used my original sketch from the previous page and rotated it to create this one) I normally don't do bright and bold colours but encouraged by the bright bathing suits and challenge 10, I used the bright green and the crazy reddy patterned paper!

Finally I used the March ANFSCD page by Shimelle (challenge 9) and used  new stamps that I have had sitting in a basket for ever (challenge 8) and I actually like how this one came out...just!

Phew what fun I have had this week, hope I get to do some more next week but it looks like another busy one!!!  PS Am I allowed to enter a LO into more than one of Shimelle's challenges???