HALLOWEEN - Wreaths

Welcome to the 1st day of October - what promises to be the start of party season and the best of times with family and friends.

The secret to a successful party is the organisation and preparation, so let's begin the month with decorating the house with a Halloween wreath. If you have never made one before, it can be easy. You only need the simplest of items for an effective look.

Some of the following wreaths I have seen on Pinterest and around peep's blogs. There are plenty on the internet and they don't have to be round!  I have seen square ones too. *Ü*

First up is this 'beware' wreath. I love the purple and black together.

The instructions on how to make it can be found here.

There is a varied assortment here.

If you make a little something each day, it will lighten the load and I can predict that your party will be stress free and a LOT of fun.

Enjoy ... and I hope to see you again for more Halloween makes.

It's beginning to feel a lot like...AUTUMN!

With the temperature having taken a dive from last week and the official day of autumn being Saturday 22nd September, it means the time will soon be here to party! By that I mean Halloween and Guy Fawkes nights. *Ü*

They both conjure up thoughts of fun and intrigue. Cosy sweaters and steaming, comfort food. Nights in around the fire hugging a mug of hot chocolate and dressing up for a fun time with family and friends.

For the past few years, I have been posting links on my blog to help with getting your gathering under way and this year, I intend to do the same, so watch this space. *Ü*

Of course, if you can't wait for 1st October to start the countdown, here is something you may want to make - a Halloween advent calendar. Tashia gives a tutorial which looks pretty easy. Here is another by Jenn.

I haven't forgotten to post photos of my recently decorated bedroom. It's just that I have had some real bad problems with my computer and ended up having to buy a new monitor! Now, all is not quite right but I am keeping my fingers crossed. It would be so kind of you if you would too.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good day.

Month in Numbers - August 2012

This is my very first time of documenting my 'Month in Numbers' that was started by Julie Kirk at notes on paper. I have been viewing other's posts and scrapbook layouts and have been inspired to do one of my own. So here goes...

August was a busy month as there were a couple of special birthday celebrations in my family, which entailed me visiting my eldest sister and then my family staying with us for a few days to come together for a family reunion to celebrate our son-in-law's birthday.

First number up - the biggest amount...

• 171 - Number of photos I took at Monkeyworld! *Ü* For my sister's birthday, she chose for us to go to Monkeyworld and it was a beautiful day. We had fun watching the antics of the different species which are currently in a series on the television.

• 109 -  Number of Ferrero Roche chocolates it took to make a 'tree' for my son-in-law Homero's birthday.

• 24 - Number of eggs that I used to make Homero's birthday cake! The first and biggest cake I made didn't turn out as I expected. I multiplied the mixture x 4 - which included 12 eggs, and baked it in a flowerpot as I wanted the graduated 'bucket' shape for the cake. Fortunately, I made it a little earlier than planned, and I just had enough time to make another cake - which would be the original but it was very tight - timewise. I made a 'KFC' cake and 'fries' - made from marzipan. I borrowed a KFC tray to present it and Homero was thrilled. The cake turned out moist and delicious in the end! Phew!

  

 

 'Steak fries' to accompany the cake.

• 32 - Number of pounds I paid for an ice cream treat at Morelli's for 9 of us!

• 11 - Number of sheets and towels I washed after my family went home.

• 4 - Number of days I was without my computer due to a fault of my own! I took the phone plug out of the socket to make a call on the phone in my office and wondered why my pc didn't work! LOL. Duh! I couldn't figure out why and it was 4 days before I managed to get back online. It is so frustrating when I am without my pc and I realise that it makes me miserable.  

So that is the sum of my Month in Numbers post peeps.

Toots for now,

Bathroom makeover!

I am so happy that my Blogger typeface has returned to 'normal'. I have missed blogging for a while since it was so frustrating that every time I created a post, it wouldn't include photos. Let's hope it remains this way now.

Welcome to my new followers. Thank you for joining us and I hope you like what you see.

For the past 6 months, I have been busy... dieting and losing over 1 stone - or for the benefit of my American friends - 18 pounds. That is good for me! LOL. I am a chocoholic and have had to curb my temptation, which I am pleased to say has been successful.

I have been decorating - my bedroom and 1st floor bathroom and having a general cleanup, as well as making a mini album for my sister's birthday (which I posted previously).  Phew! Maybe having such  rainy  weather this year has made it possible to get things done. If the sun is out, so am I and I do like to catch some rays in the garden - or at the local beach.

So here is my 1st floor bathroom makeover...

Before...it was more of a beach/seaside theme.

Without changing the bathroom suite - which would have cost a fortune in this size room, I basically painted the walls and ceiling white and added some colour!

After - still keeping the grey, I added black and white with a zing of yellow. It kind of gives it a 'buzz'! *Ü* What do you think?

 I transformed/recycled the big photo frame - painted the border gloss black, used some yellow card for the backing - and black card for the photo frame. I LOVE this photo of 2 of my grandchildren Eden and Ethan. It is a few years old but it makes me smile every time I walk into the room. *Ü*

So there it is. In another post I will blog my bedroom makeover...if only I didn't have so much hassle with editing the photos! I have an old editing programme which came with my pc and since I had my last camera, the programme can't handle the bigger pixels!

Have a nice day peeps.

Family Tree mini album!

It was my sister Carol's 70th birthday on Monday and I have spent many years researching my/her family history.  This past year, I was blessed to have Tricia help me. She found more information in 3 weeks than I did in 30 years!! Carol and I have the same mother but different fathers. She is the eldest child from my mum's first marriage. It was a very emotional day both for her and myself as I had also managed to contact a cousin of hers (that Tricia found for me), and it just so happened that she was holidaying this past week in Hampshire where my sister lives! She called in to surprise Carol and they had sooo much in common and so much to talk about.

I bought a blank 'FAMILY' word album to begin and then I used several collections of papers - Bo Bunny - Timeless, DCWV - Tattered Time and Simple Stories - Generations - again I had help locating some of these papers from sb buddies in USA. I made the front and back covers and all of the pockets to hold certificates and generation sheets from black cardstock.

Some Tim Holtz sprocket gears, game spinners and clock face. The charms are significant to Carol. The little birdcage is when her dad bred budgerigars and German Roller canaries.

A word strip that I cut from one of the 12x12 sheets unfolds...

An old photo of Carol's father I got from one of my cousins...the flap lifts to reveal his details...

The same for our mum...

I made a pocket to hold 3 journalling blocks for Carol to write on...

Thank you to Susan who came to my rescue with 2 keys that I had trouble finding. I made a folded pocket from a sheet of 12x12 black cardstock. The band has a magnet to hold it together and I used my new punch that I won in a recent blog hop at Cal's. *Ü*

It unfolds with areas to write her own thoughts. This is a photo of her paternal grandparents that Tricia found on the internet! Amazing.

Another pocket...with a pull out photo card of our brother Ken (who died 17 years ago). I forgot to take a pic!

More areas to write her thoughts.

The second key from Susan. 42 is the number of the house where Carol lived in Fulham, London as a child and it is also the year that she was born.

 The flap opens to reveal photos of Carol as a baby.

She was a secretary for The Football Association many years ago and then secretary to Fulham Football  Club after that - hence the typewriter.

 The flap lifts to reveal photos of her dad.

Inside back cover.

 I added gusseted pockets that I made from black cardstock to house a 4 generation chart.

...and birth, marriage and death certificate.

 ...and family information that Tricia had managed to find on Carol's paternal side.

 ...and maternal side.

Phew! It has been my biggest project to date and has taken me soo long to put together. I wish I had been able to video the album, it would have saved a LOT of posting of photos. LOL. It was fun to make and I learned about each family member and I now feel that I know them a little better than them just being a name in a book!

Happy crafting,