The idea for this page design was inspired by a layout by Elizabeth Kartchner seen in Creating Keepsakes magazine and on her blog. I really liked the idea of 5 slim spaces to put either photos or patterned paper. I had 5 photos that I wanted to use for Callums first day of school, so I left out the patterned paper and stuck with photos. {A lot of the products used on this layout are from October Afternoon's Report Card collection (pp, stickers, rub-on and journaling sticker), really like the vintage look of their recent collections. I used foam thicker stickers from American Crafts, gaffer tape from 7Gypsies and a really old coaster ring from Creative Imaginations (I think?) which I painted red to highlight the letter C for Callum.} I started this layout in Northern Ireland when I met up with Sheila and Janine in February - more of that night to come!

I made this layout whilst at Janine's house one evening back in February. I had taken this photo last September for my Me, the abridged version album. I loved it and decided it was worthy of it's own page. The idea to use the brown cardstock and white letters at the top of the page was inspired by e-mails I receive from Big Picture Scrapbooking. The ric rac is vintage - I was given a card with over 30 yards on it, plus two other cards, a dark maroon and a cream, I'm sure you'll be seeing some of those on layouts soon! {The patterned paper is Lily Bee and October Afternoon, the circle sticker and epoxy heart sticker are both Creative Cafe, the ticket is by Tim Holtz, letters are Making Memories, and the flowers are old ones from Maya Road.}

This photo was taken in Northern Ireland on our last day of holiday. We were driving back to Jeff's parents house, I looked round and saw Callum sat in the back of the car with not only his hat on, but also Jeff's hat and his hood over the top of them. He had done it all so quietly, he made me laugh, he looked so funny - like a little Elvis with sideburns! He pouted just for the photo and within 10 minutes he was sound asleep, I guess it was very snug. The layout design itself was inspired by one on Ali Edwards' blog, as so many of mine are. As soon as I saw her page on her blog when we got back from holiday I knew this photo was absolutely perfect for it. {pp - Jenni Bowlin, ric rac - American Crafts, stamp - Cat's Life Press, rub-on C - October Afternoon, metal tab - 7Gypsies, number stickers - Making Memories and punch - Fiskars Threading Water punch}. I keep thinking I might re-do the journaling, but other than that this is one of my favourite layouts ever.

Well, I had to scrapbook these photos and this night of silly fun. We laughed so much, it truly was a fantastic night - thanks Sheila! I took inspiration for this layout from the packaging of the moustaches, using the yellow as the base colour. I don't own much yellow patterned paper, however I do really love this piece - maybe it's because it's polka dots? I had so many funny photos from that night, it was hard to decide which and how to use them. In the end I went with one large photo and supported the story with strips of other photos which I tucked under the photo of the packet - there's another seven little photos in there! I used that journaling card because the edges reminded me of the moustaches and the letters are glittered which emphasises the fun of the story. {cs - bazill basics, pp and letters - American Crafts, Journaling card - Jenni Bowlin, stamp - Fontwerks}

And finally the last layout I have to show you is about a lovely, lovely shop in Belfast called Avoca. Jeff and I had two shops that we wanted to visit while we were in Belfast; his was a sports shop and mine was Avoca. We originally split up; he had Matthew and I had Callum. Callum and I went to look around Avoca and whilst we there he knocked over a bucket of bouncy balls - of all the things to knock over! Of course they bounced off everywhere, two kind people helped us catch the balls and put them back in their bucket. I decided to abandon my browsing (I was a tad embarrassed) and come back later with Jeff so that he could look after the boys and I could browse in relative peace. I took this photo whilst I was in the queue to pay for some red polka dot cupcake cases. The boys look the picture of innocence sitting with Jeff, mind you I think they had been blowing raspberries at each other! Inspired by those flowers in the photo, it was the perfect time to dress up the layout with some fabulous ribbon from the new Dear Lizzy range (American Crafts) which had arrived while we were away. {pp - Making Memories, ticket - Creative Cafe, Pins - Heidi Grace and Maya Road, letters - American Crafts and punch - Fiskars Threading Water}

So I think we can conclude that I love polka dots (in every colour, on scrapbook layouts and on cupcake cases) and that it really can be funny to pull a silly face every now and again. Have a lovely week!