Why 4? Here's why...

The other morning I was putting cream on Callum and I said to him "I need to put cream on your forehead". He replied "Four heads? I've only got one!"

Last weekend the four of us went to the driving range. Matthew with his child sized golf clubs and Callum with his plastic set. We got two baskets of balls and Matthew, Jeff and I hit the real ones, whilst Callum practised hitting his plastic golf ball against the wall. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take the camera, such a shame because it really was a great afternoon.

Jeff and I have been taking advantage of the boys being at school and went by ourselves to play a 9 hole golf course nearby. I am not very good, infact some of my shots are rubbish. In particular one of my drives, which had I had enough time I should have shouted "Fore!" as it missed a groundsman by about a metre. I totally miss hit the ball and sent it flying off to the right of the tee. Of course I apologised and when I was about to take my drive again I noticed that he was standing behind a tree for protection!

Well I guess I'd better have a 4th thing involving 4. Here's '4' scrap related things I've been up to since I last blogged...

1. Scrapbook Pages - 'Back to School'. Love how this one turned out, even though in my mind it was going to be a 8.5 x 11 inch page. But I printed the photos too big so changed to a 12 x 12. I kept it simple by using just one type of patterned paper; Scenic Route 'Worn Lines' (one of my fav's), red vinyl letter stickers by American Crafts, alphabet gaffer tape by 7gypsies, some red brads and a 7gypsies label sticker.

 'Repeat prescriptions'. I decided to make a page about Callum's long list of repeat prescriptions. I knew that he needed lots of medicines and creams to help keep his eczema and asthma at bay, but was surprised that it was 2 pages! Supplies; patterned paper - Pink Paisley, chipboard letter stickers - Heidi Swapp, letter stickers - Crate Paper, journal label - 7gypsies, embellishments - Making Memories, Heidi Swapp and Autumn Leaves, 'take a look' stamp - Fontwerks.

2. A 12 x 12 Album - 'The School Years' for Matthew. For those of you who are into scrapping you may have seen this idea in Cathy Zielske 'Sequel' book, and she in turn had taken it from Stacey Julian. For those of you who aren't; basically the idea is to make 4 pages for each year of your child's school life, which you complete just once a year. Here's what's in Matthew's so far; pre-school and reception. I have bought enough Scenic Route lined paper for the 15 years that he will be in education (up to A-levels) so that I can maintain the scheme. The only thing that will change will be the accent strip of patterned paper on each page, which I plan to match to his uniform. Blue spot (KI Memories) for pre-school and red spot (Scenic Route) for his first school. Also added 7gypsies report cards just because they look so cute!

Pre-school.

Reception.

 
3. Mini Album - When I was over in Northern Ireland in the summer, Janine and I encouraged each other to order a mini album, along with a signed Ali Edwards book 'Sharing Your Story' from an American company called Cocoa Daisy (such a cool name). I decided to make a mini-album about our 'One Day at the North Coast'. We had such an amazing day (sand dunes etc) and I had taken nearly 200 photos so I had plenty of material to work with (thanks goodness for digital cameras). Here's how it came out...

(Supplies - Tinkering Ink Peek-a-boo Mini-album with acrylic dividers, patterned paper - Scenic Route (stuck 2 pieces back to back to make it studier), Paint - Making Memories, Sealer - Modge Podge, Arrows - 7gypsies, Brads - Making Memories, Stickers - Jenni Bowlin & 7gypsies, Rub-ons - Scenic Route & Making Memories. Plus crop-a-dile for punching a holes, which Janine you'll find are slightly wider than a conventional hole punch). Apart from the album, all the other items I used I really had in my stash.

4. Scrapbooking Course - I have enrolled in an on-line scrapbook course run by Cathy Zielske (an American scrapbooker, graphic designer and Art Director for Simple Scrapbook magazine). I have never done a course before but I love Cathy's style and thought 'why not?'. Course starts beginning of October for 12 weeks, producing 3 layouts a week. Really looking forward to it, just hope I can keep on top of it what with having 4 craft fairs in the build up to Christmas. Better start to make some Christmas related stock soon! Anyway I digress, here's my prework layout for the course; why I love scrapbooking.

Supplies; Patterned paper - Ki Memories, Scenic Route & Anna Griffin, Tag - 7gypsies, Letter stickers - 'Tiny' Making Memories, 'life' American Crafts, 'create' Basic Grey and 'J' Making Memories. Stamps - ALi Edwards, Fontwerks and 7gypsies, Brads - American Crafts, Overlay - Hambly Screen Prints, Words Sticker - 7gypsies, Chipboard accent - Scenic Route, Butterfly - KI Memories, Ribbon - American Crafts. Kraft Cardstock - Paper Reflections (bulk pack of 25 sheets from Artbase).

And unrelated to the number 4 or word 'fore' some very important news. Callum had his regular hospital appointment to check on his eczema, he had recently had quite a bad flare up so I again asked if we could get some allergy tests done. To my surprise she said 'yes', I had asked for this last year and for some reason they wouldn't do it. Anyway, that same afternoon Callum had some blood taken which they will test for a number of things; dairy, nuts, cats, dogs, house dust, house dust mites, grass and tree pollen, plus some others. We should get the results back next week, it will mean so much to us to know which of the things we suspect are causing his eczema (and possibly his asthma) are and which aren't. Here's a photo of him with Grandad, my Dad helping to do the mowing last Thursday - check out that excited face!

Matthew received a Headteachers Award last Friday in assembly for 'Trying his best in all his writing'. Two children from each year receive an award every friday, there are 60 children in his year. He had his picture taken with the other seven children and it will be on display in the school foyer for the next week - must remember to go in and see it.

Finally, tomorrow Monday 15th September, Jeff and I will be celebrating our 7th Wedding Anniversary. I've made him a little 'something' which naturally I can't show you yet, but next week I will. Happy Wedding Anniversary!

Thank you Hilda and Denis (my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law) for the beautiful flowers we received yesterday. Here's a photo of them taken my Matthew.

That's it, hope you're having a great weekend.