A Little bit of Cheating......

...here and there, is acceptable...obviously not in exams or really important things...not that Shimelle's  PRETTY PAPER PARTY  is in any way trivial or unimportant (certainly not to us scrappers!), but you know what  I mean!...yes? 





Well, I cheated a little on Prompt 2.....I was trying to kill two birds with one stone, you see! I'm trying not to fall too far behind with the prompts (but I know I will anyway!) and I also wanted to play along with SUSANNE over at SNAPS AND SNIPPETS. Her  'In Good Company' challenge this week was to use 'Making Memories' products......this is where the cheating comes in! Due to my hectically busy life obsession with the most recent jigsaw, I have found myself with a rather untidy house ...and DH is due home tonight! I am trying to avoid him actually realising that very little work gets done around here while he's away...LOL!....so it's been a cleaning day here!


So instead of choosing random papers from my stash, they are all MM ones....the patterns are 'DILLY DALLY'and the plain one is 'PAPERIE'...oh! and it's 8x8, as it's for my 'A-Z of ME' album, which is on my hitlist to be finished by the end of the year! :

With DH arriving soon (am off to the airport again-I swear my car could get to that place without me!)....and DD on Saturday, I reckon there won't be much scrapping done now till after the weekend.

This was weigh-in day and I put a half pound on :( ........oh well! onward and upwards downwards!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

A Scrappy Day

Seeing as the weather's still pretty unsettled (though I did sit out to eat my dinner, as the sun had come out), I have spent a good part of the day surrounded by pretty papers etc. and managed to complete two LOs and almost finish a third! 


I have had my trusty laptop beside me, and been playing along with the 'Spa Weekend' challenges over at Scrap Friendzy.


My first LO was a scraplift challenge. I 'lifted' this LO, by Tammy.

This is my version, which I also used as my 'A-Z of ME' page, for the letter 'R' over at 

Scrapbook Challenges

The second Layout was for a challenge about 'Friends'...I used the second page of this week's sketch from Let's Scrap

My third LO is a double-pager, but it will have to wait till tomorrow, as it's to do with my story for Sian's Storytelling Sunday. You can find a whole host of stories ...and tell one of your own, if you drop by  HERE tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

P.S. Thanks for all the supportive comments re the weight loss (or rather, lack of it!)

Good Mail Day....Bad Weigh-in Day!

I had a feeling I hadn't lost the pesky .2 of a KG this week......but I was not prepared for the news that I had put on just over a pound!! 


I put it down to the fact that, because DH was home at the weekend, we had a few meals out (and, therefore a few drinks) and I also had rather a few 'cafe con leches'. I have been avoiding Cafe con Leche when I'm out, because they are basically a Spanish Cafe Latte........but, unlike the UK and USA, there isn't the option of 'skinny'-there isn't even the semi-skimmed milk option- they are,in other words high in fat/ calories. When my beloved is here, however, I tend to forget things like that and gaily order one every time we stop for a drink, or at the end of a meal.  All-in-all, there were a lot of contributary factors ......but bottom line is that I didn't keep a tally of the blessed 'points' and have no-one to blame but myself. Add to that my two days of misery when he goes away again..and what do I turn to? KitKats of course! When I look back on it, I didn't stand a chance, but I am back on track. Today has been a much better day eating wise and Boo has had a jolly good walk tonight!


After the desolation of this morning, however, I went to collect a parcel from the Post Office....and was delighted to find a parcel of scrappy goodies from the lovely Natalie, over at SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES. She had organised a MiniCrop for NSD a few weeks ago, and yours truly was the randomly chosen winner!

This was certainly enough to put a smile back on my face.....thanks Natalie! After gazing at them, touching them and gazing at them again, I managed to put the 'pretties' aside and get the 'Q' challenge for  my 'A-Z of ME' album (again, over at Scrapbook Challenges). The challenge was to scrap about a question that has always 'bugged' you...

Today, this was the obvious one for me!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

A-Z of Me- Letter 'M'

In a couple of previous posts, I have mentioned the ongoing 'A-Z of ME'  Challenge, which I'm participating in, over at Scrapbook Challenges . When the Challenge was originally posted, I decided that I wanted to make mine a 'snapshot' of my life as it is , now, in 2011. I have used a 8x8 American Crafts album.....it was scary enough thinking of doing little LOs about me, never mind 12x12!


Sometimes the challenge is very specific in nature, with not only the title specified but also what supplies, techniques etc. are expected to be used. Other times, the choice is completely left up to yourself. The letter 'M' was one of the latter...and boy! did I struggle to come up with something!

After almost three weeks of brainstorming (badly!), I resorted to....don't laugh!.... a Dictionary! And lo and behold, the word 'makeup' jumped out at me.


As you can see from my LO, I don't use a lot ...just enough to cover up the blemishes and shadows!....although I do feel naked without mascara. 


This led me to wonder:
Do you wear a full makeup during the day, or just on 'special' occasions? 

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

10 Kgs......

...that's the amount of weight I've lost to date! That's 22. 2 pounds..(.the point 2 counts!).....can you tell I'm doing a 'Happy Dance'? 


I can't tell you how pleased I am...and how much better I feel for having lost it.  I am walking further with Boo (she appreciates it - I can tell!), get up hills without feeling as though a heart attack is imminent...and -drumroll here- have dropped a dress size! I tried on two dresses (which haven't fitted me for almost two years, but that I was loathe to put in the 'charity' bag),  a couple of nights ago, and they actually fit better than they did when I bought them!


I managed to get this LO, for my 'A-Z of me' album (an ongoing Challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges)

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Summer's coming!

Last week I was writing about Spring....and suddenly Summer seems to have arrived! Yesterday it was 30 degrees in the shade, with not a hint of breeze until late in the day, while today it felt slightly cooler ....due mostly to the breeze that was missing yesterday!


I know it's really hot when I have to resort to wearing this:

Yes, it's sarong time! I have a variety of these that I wear round the house and garden( it's a bit like wearing your nightie all day, actually) and only wear real clothes if I'm going out or if I have 'company'. 

I even thought about going in the pool, but on checking, this was as far as I got

It  was beautifully cool on the feet...but the Winter chill isn't off it yet and there were no other bodyparts being submerged today!

Instead, I scrapped a little- making a LO for the ongoing 'A-Z of ME' challenge over at Scrapbook Challenges. The challenge for the letter 'K'  was to make a layout about your relationship with your kitchen, WITHOUT using any photos.

 I had struggled with this LO, but after reading  Stacey's post earlier today, about much the same  subject, inspiration set in- so thanks Stacey!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx