Long Time No See!!

Don't panic.....you're not seeing things.....that's right.....I am actually blogging!!!

Where have I been?? Well life has been chaos! Since I last blogged I've been spending lots of time getting to know my new class, I've been on a hen weekend and to one of the most beautiful  weddings ever, and I've been busy creating, but more on all of that later.

First, I want to tell you about my new classroom! It is a very, very, exciting thing for me to finally have my own classroom. I think, without even really knowing it, it's been something that I've dreamed about since I was a little girl, and now I have one!  I have to keep reminding myself that it's only mine for a year (my contract is temporary,) but for now I am going to enjoy it and make the most of having all the enthusiasm of an NQT!!

My class is year 1 and is called Penguin class, I don't know if I have mentioned before but penguins are my favourite animal so I have very much taken the theme and run with it! For example, one of the first things I did was make these....

Penguin tricky words that are velcroed to the wall so that the children can take them to copy and then pop them back.

My next project was a little Ikea chair that we bought my nephew years ago, he's grown out of it and it was looking a bit tatty but after a lick of black paint (thanks Dad) and me digging my sewing skills out of mothballs, it got transformed to this......

My very important penguin chair! Simply made with three pillowcases (about £1 each!) and some felt scraps.  I have to say I'm pretty chuffed!!

And finally, a project I've worked on for a while, since before I had the job actually! I bought this bolster cushion years ago with good intentions of making a cover but it never happened until now.....

A granny stripe in pretty rainbow colours, hopefully it will make the book corner a really inviting place.  This has to be my new favourite crochet pattern, so easy and grows really quickly.

And I actually enjoyed writing this post to so if you're lucky I'll be back soon with more!!

TFL xxx

Mini Festival Mini Part 3

And here is the final part!

I had a bit of fun with these pages! I took this funny photo of two of his mates and knew he'd love it! 

A random selection of photos from the evening.

Blowing out the candles..

And finally his speech.  I didn't take many photos after this point...too busy partying!

Then there are the pocket pages...

We were lucky enough to have an inflatable hot tub! I wasn't brave enough...too cold getting in and out and no fun getting out of a wet bikini in a tent, but some of the boys braved it!!

Washi tape was so useful in this project....quick and easy and nice and bright!

And that's it! I'm pleased to say that my friends were delighted to receive the book and think it's a great keepsake of a fab party.

TFL xxx

Mini Festival Mini Part 2

I'm back with the next few pages.....

The band....

I was really pleased with this page detailing the moment that the surprise was revealed in order.

There's that stamp again! This time in white and I love the effect of the paint mists against the black and the white, in real life they are so shimmery.

At the party I made a really big effort to take loads of photos of Laurence greeting all of his friends and family, there were a mix of different people and he was so surprised to see so many of them there that I knew he would want lots of photos to remember it by.  I was really pleased at some of the candid shots I managed to get.

 I found this great quote on pinterest that was perfect for this book....'no one looks back on their life and remembers the nights they had plenty of sleep.' For the record I stayed up til 4 am!!!

And I'll be back soon with part 3! xxx

Mini Festival Mini Part 1

So at the moment I seem to have my 'mini book' mojo back in spades! I have always loved making them, but when I started this one of my friend's 30th birthday photos it reminded me of just how much I did enjoy them and how long it had been since I'd made one.

As I mentioned briefly a couple of posts ago, my friend's 30th was pretty epic and I had hundreds of photos to choose from, with that in mind I decided to get loads of mini photos printed and just try to fit in as many as possible.

Anyway that's enough waffle here it is.....

I wanted to go with the festival feel from the photos so I used a mixture of scraps, lots of colour, some paint and lots of flicks and splatters with paint mists.  The '30' was a stamp I made myself from some quite dense foam I had in my craft room, I was pretty pleased with it and managed to make use of it a few times.

Thought I'd start it off with a picture of the birthday boy but the rest of the book is in order from the preparations to the end of the party.  This project was a great stash buster, I managed to use up bits and pieces that I'd had for ages!

The pages were made from some big paper bags that I've had for a while, I thought they were perfect for this as they had a bit of a grungey, recycled feel which worked well with the photos and were suitable for a 'man' project!!!  I cut the bags in half, sealed up the bottom half of the bag and the bottom end of the top half (IYSWIM!!) and left the original opening open to add in extra cards.

I won't bore you with the whole thing now, watch this space for another installment soon!!

TFL xxx

Jubilant Baking

In preparation for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee I had a browse around Pinterest to give me some ideas for some party bakes, in the end I came up with a July 4th cake that gave me the inspiration to bake this....

Which was patriotic through and through....

Not wanting to leave anyone out, I also whipped up a batch of gluten free cupcakes....

Any excuse to use this pretty cake stand!!

I've absolutely loved the jubilee celebrations, it's made me feel very proud to be British and I'm quite sad it's all over! What did you do to mark the occasion?

xxx

Where Have I Been?? Picture Heavy!!

Hello Blogland, I'm back!!! It's been a while and there has been LOADS going on here so I thought I'd try and explain why I've been MIA for so long!

So in the last month I have baked a pretty cake for my lovely Mum's birthday....

Helped to organise a party to end all parties for a good friend of mine, a 30th surprise mini festival.....

Which included a spot of camping........

Don't ask!! You'll hear a lot more about this party when I share a little crafty project with you.

Then I went to watch the Olympic Torch Relay with my new neighbour, my best friend Jenny who moved just around the corner a couple of weeks ago, yay!!

I had a couple of lovely days with my 'bumpy' best friend Emma, who as of last wednesday is no longer 'bumpy' and now has a beautiful baby boy that I just can't wait to meet.  He's gonna be an Irish dancer like Mummy and Daddy....

Now for the best bit, last week I had my first teaching interview and happily spent the evening celebrating my success!!!!

And since then I haven't even had time to stop for breath until today cos I have been...

Celebrating Dad's 65th......

Singing in a choir concert....

And celebrating the Jubilee!

Amazingly I have been rather creative too so I will be back with more posts asap!

Thanks for sticking to the end of a mammoth post xxx

Blog Readers of a Nervous Disposition Should Look Away Now!!!

I can't quite believe I've made a layout of this photo but I couldn't help myself.

At Easter we set up an egg hunt for the children, we were on Dartmoor where there are lots of ponies who have become pretty cheeky and not scared of people.  While we were putting out the eggs they were following us around and being a pain! At the end of the hunt this one wouldn't leave my cousin alone and then we realised how pleased it was to see her!!!! (Look closely at the photo!) It was so funny!

I used Crate Paper Storyteller.

TFL xxx