Sorting.....Sorting.....Sorting!!!

I've finally come up for air!! As the craft room is still quite a way off being finished I want to be as organised as I can be so I only move stuff in there i'm going to use!! I've been sorting and tidying so much in the last few days but today I haven't stopped, only to pick Charlie up from nursery until he went to bed! I've spent alot of time under the eaves in the cupboards so my back is a little sore now! Hey ho, it's all coming together nicely and i'm going to be SOOOOOO organised in my new haven!!!! :D

Recent scrapping!

I seem to have had a few days of crafting! Friday I spent most of the day whilst Charlie was at nursery preparing Courtney's book (2 coats of acrylic paint and ink mists.) and also did the digi layout of the sheep! On Saturday was Chorley crop where I decorated Courtney's book and made 4 layouts! On Saturday evening when I got home I put some finishing touches to a couple. On Monday I created the PNE open day layout and today i've made the Illuminations layout! (which to be fair was very easy, LOL! I just created the picasa collage below and stuck it onto white card!!)





The Scrapagogo LO's are scraplifted from their design team and the Echo Park LO's are ideas I saw on 2Peas

Blackpool Illuminations

At the last minute yesterday we decided to have a trip out to Blackpool as Mark had some of his work cancelled. We went to visit Aunty Ruth first in a nursing home, she is looking really well but had a fall earlier in the summer so it looks like she'll be in the nursing home for a little while. We then went to have a mooch around Tesco, we had a little coat to exchange for Charlie and bought Courtney some dishes and cutlery. Mark had been asked to do a measure in Blackpool so we tied that into our trip out next then went for some good ol' fashioned fish and chips on the (very windy) sea front! We knew the switch on was at 8:00 and we were a little early so we had a quick play in some amusements, Charlie quite enjoyed putting the pennies in the slots! We then walked along the 3D displays until switch on, our timing was perfect, we'd more or less reached the end of them when the lights came on! We walked back to the car and changed Charlie into his PJ's before driving down the prom to look at the rest of the illuminations but it all proved to much for Charlie and he fell to sleep about a third of the way along, bless him.♥

Day 13

After almost 2 weeks of not seeing the builder at all he finally came back yesterday. He has been having trouble sourcing roofing materials and yesterday we went to have a look at some. The one we've decided on is a little over the original budget but it's an all in one composite so much better. I've taken some pics this morning of yesterday's work. It's starting to feel a little more like a room now and I can really see dimensions! With the new roofing it has been decided that the peak of the room is now going to be exposed (as it is finished off on the underside of it) which is what I wanted in the first place to have a feeling of height so i'm really pleased!
Outside looking in

The peak is in place

Inside looking out

♥Courtney's Little Book♥

As part of the adoption we have to make a little book for the child to see before they meet you. I've made this one for Courtney, it has taken me hours but I love it! (i'm chuffed to bits how well the colours co-ordinated with the dolly in the end, that was purely a fluke!!)
When I made one I made for Charlie i'd found a soft toy doggie actually called Charlie and we all had our photos taken with the dog and I made his book. I wanted to do the same for Courtney so this time we bought a cute fairy dolly! The dolly will go with the book for her to cuddle as she looks at the photos♥

How the book started out

2 coats of white acrylic, ink mists and a whole lot of girly bling later......

Sunflower success!

You may remember this post from a few weeks back and how we'd comforted ourselves with this surprise sunflower as the three we'd planted didn't seem to be growing much, well when Charlie and I got home from nursery on Friday we spotted this little cutie in the front garden! :D One has grown after all!! LOL!

Evening scrapping!

I realised with all the sorting I have been doing for my scraproom I haven't actually scrapped for a while and am a little behind! I've got about 5 paper layouts planned but decided to do a 'quick' digi tonight but there was nothing quick about resizing 22 photos, LOL!!!

Courtney timeline!

This morning Courtney's social worker came out for a visit. She showed us a whole album of Courtney from newborn. We now have an idea of when we get to meet her! Cheryl is working to have the paperwork submitted on the 24th of September, panel will be on the 20th of October then it has to be approved again by a decision maker so she's allowed 10 days for that stage. She's proposing that we should get to meet Courtney on the 1st of November♥
There is a submission date exactly 1 week before and i've asked if there is any chance of making that (allowing 10 days for paperwork to be completed) Cheryl has said she will try but as our social worker is still off sick her manager is covering her work and may not be able to get it done in time, here's hoping though! If that was the case then all dates would be brought forward by a week too!

MLH September

I know i've said it before but I totally LOVE LOVE LOVE this project! you should never wish time away but I can't help looking forward to the 1st of every month, LOL! This month yet again hasn't disappointed, how cute is this scarecrow ♥ (sorry he's a little out of focus) Can't believe there are only 3 boxes now to complete! :D

16.2 miles

Goodness, I can't believe it's over a month since i've cycled! I can really feel it too! It's been very windy today so we stuck to the cycle path which is sheltered in places and went to Bull Beck.

My first girlie layout♥

I enjoy my Saturday night scrapping and haven't done so for the last few weeks so tonight I decided I was going to try and do at least one layout, well it's a good job I didn't set a higher target as one was all I managed! I asked Charlie whilst in the car earlier if I should scrapbook a layout about him or Courtney! He very sweetly chose Courtney, bless him. I have scrapped the photo we were given of her on Wednesday and I loved being able to scrapbook in pink! I have used pink on my layouts of Charlie with me but this layout is REALLY girlie! The layout is scraplifted from a member on UKS (I'm sorry her face is covered, this is just to protect her and us until she is legally adopted by us.)

Flock to Skipton

I love Skipton, it's such a nice little market town! At the moment they are hosting the Flock to Skipton event, it's much like the Rhinos that we saw in Chester a few weeks back (and the Penguins that we saw in Liverpool in January, oh and the Superlambananas from last year! I guess I like hunting, LOL!)
Skipton have 25 of the sheep dotted around, the map was quite clear to follow and as we know Skipton quite well we were able to find them all! Even though a couple were trying to hide from us, LOL! We had lunch here We only wanted a quick bite and I tell you, I have never had such a delicious sausage roll before, LOL! and their currant square was divine! If you go to Skipton I would heartily recommend it! It certainly set us up for more sheep hunting!
Some of the sheep we dotted along the canal, that was a lovely walk and we bought some duck food so Charlie could feed the ducks, it's something he enjoys doing on the canal near to home so we knew he'd have fun!

Day 12

.....and I have a concrete floor in my craft room!

I'm not sure if i've said about it's size before as I think the photo is a little deceptive. The room is approx. 9.5 ft. wide by 10ft.
The builders have also measured up the roof and have finally found a supplier, we thought we were going to have to compromise and have felt tiles at one point! I ordered the carpet this morning too, it's a really nice wool berber, a little over budget but oh so worth it, LOL!!

Day 11

I forgot to update about the builders yesterday! We had a guy called Paddy come to fix up the driveway and he's done a fantastic job! it looks so neat and tidy now. Jason was here this morning and was hosing down the driveway but we're guessing he left not long after we went to work as we can't see that anything else has been done today!

Charlie's promotion!

Today was Charlie's first full day at nursery (9:15-3:15) He is now officially a pre school child and as such he gets to wear a red tabbard! (Last year he wore a blue one.) I went with my parents in law to pick him up and we were told he had a good appetite, LOL! He was tired out, bless him!
I then left Charlie with them and went home for a meeting with Mark, Janet (our social worker's manager as Jane is off sick at the moment) and Courtney's social worker, Cheryl. This was the first time we'd met Cheryl and she's lovely! It was a successful meeting and we had to confirm we are proceeding with Courtney, which of course, we are! We didn't get a photo of Charlie until a couple of weeks before we met him. I wasn't sure when we'd get one of Courtney but I felt it was important for Charlie that we had one as he knows he's getting a baby sister but to him Courtney doesn't have an identity, I don't even think he thought she was human, LOL! Anyway Janet agreed that we could have one of her as we'd decided to have her on the basis of the report and not her looks! So we now have a photo and she is BEAUTIFUL!♥♥♥ Unfortunately I can't share the photo yet as it's all very confidential and we need to protect her, just in case! I will share as soon as I can though.