Quick Bind it All Album

We had a pretty rough hospital stay in April when Eil had the first of his big operations, didn't help the situation when my Granny died on the same day of his surgery. He took a bad reaction when we got home from Dublin and spent another week in Castlebar Hospital. Pretty crappy time all in all but using my 365 photos that I had to take on my phone I decided to make an album with them. I wanted something simple just to focus on the photos so not much embellishments and I used my new Little Hero's Waltzing Mouse add on set. Of course the set made me cry because it was just perfect for this. A great release for me to make this, helps me to process it in my own head and have it recorded for Eli when he wants to know about his story later on.

This took me about 1 and half hours using kraft card as the background and an American crafts paper pack I got in TK MAXX recently. Quick bind with the bind it all and even I was impressed with the speed of it!

Front cover

Waltzing Mouse stamp at top of page says - once upon a time there was a boy

and he was very brave

After surgery and he was in a morphine induced sleep, I added a filter to it because it was so blurry and out of focus but I think it adds to the effect of it

He was so nervous before he went down, they gave him a premed. He acted like he was so drunk, giggling and falling over himself. Made it easier bringing him down to surgery as he sang twinkle twinkle putting the gas mask on but I cried as I came back up. It's not an easy thing bringing your child to an operating room and leaving his life in a team of surgeons hands. The stamp says- and I was so proud of him (how fitting for this photo)

We got home late Saturday night but were back in hopsital the next day...twice

Not easy being confined when you love outside

Never seen him as sick and it was heartbreaking seeing him in such panic and pain. It didn't help the situation when I got the gastro bug from the hospital and passed out, cutting up my face. I looked like I had gone a few rounds in a boxing ring

First smile I had seen in over a week

I was so happy we were released when we were.... I thought Eli was getting Munchausen syndrome!

Last stamp- and he could do anything

And I truly believe he can, 1 surgery down 4 more to go....

Cheer up grumpy britches

Just watch..and don't let the moment pass. PTI clouds and sun die and stamp, dylusions ABC stencil and scraps of paper just fitted into each other

Cheer up grumpy britches... is what I say to a face like this but in all fairness he was mid air when I took the photo after Phil threw him up!

3 x2 photos

When you have a fussy underweight child whose weight is not even on the charts for his height you are happy when he eats anything....even if it is a coffee mocha cupcake :)

I finally found somewhere in town that prints 3x2 photos, since my kodak printer died I had no way of printing unusual sizes. 

Well needless to say he ate the bun...paper and all

Paper is some old basic grey and echo park and jillybean letters.

The pain of scrapbooking

To say that cutting out so many circles with a crappy I brad hole puncher in 3 different sizes was so difficult is an understatement....as I mash the iPad with my hands because my fingers no longer work I just hope my pain paid off :) inspired by pinterest I made about 8 cards along with this, I love the spectrum of colours!

 

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Don't craft while hot & angry

Wish I lived by my own rules because now I've ended up with mediocre stuff like this *sigh 

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Baby card & album-déjà vu

 

All my friends seem to be dropping babies like they are hot, so I've had to set up a baby card & present production line & make each of them different in some way!

The album is made from the new Papermania paper pack, I feel it's very retro & 1950's style but really versatile. The stamp is the same as before, coloured quickly with watercolour pencils.

My standard baby stamp layered up and mounted on some embossed paper. My poor cloud has seen better days I think!

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Bunting tutorial of sorts

I don't do tutorials because I don't do measurements or have never used a sowing machine until today so am I in no way in the know of how to use it, but I took photos as I made bunting for my sons room today. Here it goes:

 

 I cut large triangles out of lots of different materia, not equilateral nor straight in any way but I'm sure sowing in a straight line isn't hard....

REMEMBER: good side kiss together, I had to make kissing noises as I made all of them because d'ya know it's hard to rip machine sown things....pin them

 

Sow along the two long sides in a random pattern as you wish, it's homemade it doesn't have to be straight

Cut a piece out of the bottom triangle and put little slits in the side so it will flatten better when you turn it inside out (or so my mother told me... it didn't but I'm not questioning her)

Turn inside out and I used a chop stick to push the bottom point out, don't push too hard or your bunting will begin to resemble swizz cheese. A good iron to material is what cover up is to spots, covers alot of imperfections! So iron the bunting flat....I had to iron mine twice, I don't know if it was a case of the iron wasn't hot enough or I really made a mess of it!

I got some nice red bunting and ironed it in half, then I slowly sowed each piece into the middle of the bunting (who am I kidding, I had no control over my foot and it just flew through it and the machine ran out of red thread after the first one, so I ended up using brown, pink and blue thread...really need to get some machine thread not just the packs you get free in hotels)

Ta-da... I wasn't too impressed when they were finished but once I stuck it up in Eli's room they were perfect

Now... time to put the sowing machine away that took farrrr longer than expected!

Cards

Lots of Birthdays, an anniversary and a new baby! Busy month March...

For a friend's baby, decoupaged the teddy, all the paper is Papermania I think

A fimo embellishment I used silver goldfinger to highlight and using my new flourish stamps from PTI

Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack again (HOW much have I used this!!) and the steampunk dies UTEE'd with gold (like how they aren't completely covered) but a good card for a man I think

For my parents who are 30 years married..hang on I'm 31 :p (I'm 29 BTW!) It was a card someone commissioned for a wedding and never picked up so I just took off the couple and added the birds, flower and 30, simples!

Fimo angel embellishment with a PTI die and their new sentiment stamps

Phew..... and I still have mother's day yet