Penguins!

Do you have a favourite animal or bird? I just LOVE penguins. I don't know why but I always have. My children in my class by me penguin gifts, my family buy me penguin gifts. I love love love them!
I was at a craft fair in Braintree back in January or February and there was a decopatch stall there. Have you heard of them? Basically you buy a bare object and special, very thin paper. You tear the paper up and then stick it on your object. They had a penguin there so I just had to buy him and make him.
Here he is ...

He is sooooo cute and sits on my windowsill. It was ever so easy to do and didn't take that long, but the best bit was that I found it extremely therapeutic.

I've also covered a notebook now and am going to cover a heart next.

If you haven't had a go, give it a try.

Ally

xx

B is for blossom

I've never been an outdoorsy kind of girl. I grew up in Felixstowe, which is a seaside town in Suffolk. Being able to go to the beach whenever I wanted to when I was younger, meant that I never really appreciated it.
Now that I have Henry and get out for a walk most days (albeit it's always to the same place), I seem to be growing to appreciate the outdoors much more and am taking more notice of what's around me. This is my second digi layout in my A to Z of photos and is called B is for Blossom. I used a page template from Jessica Sprague.
I'm not overly happy with the background paper. I changed it numerous times, but just couldn't find the one I liked best. I settled for this one, but now I've come back to put it on the blog and looked at it again, I'm not so sure. But then that's the beauty of digi scrapping. If you don't like something, it doesn't matter, just go ahead and change it. You haven't got to worry that it's already stuck down!

The 2 week easter holiday is almost over! Where has the time gone?!!
I planned to do so much and have barely touched the surface!
Note to self - I really must organise my time better.

Ally
xx

Blogging about blogging

Okay, so at the beginning ot the easter holidays I said that I was going to dedicate more time to crafting in some form or other and then blogging it. Have I done that? Well about twice. So I've decided to have a think and dip into Shimelle's class, A Year of Blogging, to see where I want my blogging (and crafting) to go.
When I started this blog, I wanted it to be a place where I could show what I had made. But now I've realised that I don't make things often enough to warrant it really. So what do I want from my blog now?
Well, I think it's going to still be a place to share makes, but maybe also a place to share photos I've taken and just some general musings about everyday life.
Do you plan what goes in your blog?
Do you blog for a reason?

So this photo is one that represents me at home. Laptop is on, crafting tools are out and cup of tea ready (My name is Ally and I'm a cup of
tea-aholic and proud).
This is how many an evening starts off once school work and housework is finished (ok, so that's another reason why not much blogging and making goes on - daily life gets in the way. HMPH). Laptop will be on, tea and tools ready ... and then I start surfing! I normally start by looking on UKS and reading the threads on there and once I start clicking I can't stop. Before I know it I've ended up on the Internet somewhere completely different to where I started, time for bed and no making done!! Sound familiar?

I have no doubt that I will still have plenty of evenings that travel along this same path but I am going to try and be a little more focussed.

Note to self - spend any spare time in the evenings being more productive!

So that's enough waffle from me. Let's see if this at least gets me on a more focussed track. Let me know your thoughts and feelings about your blog and why you blog too. I'd love to know (ok so I'm a nosey parker too!).

Ally
xx

Let's start at the very beginning

So obviously I'm quite late starting this but hey ho. Also, knowing the way I work, will I finish it? Well the betting starts now, how far through the alphabet will I get?
So I've started taking a photo with each letter of the alphabet and then doing a digi layout of it. There is a thread over on UKS for the more determined than me, but I shall just plod along in my own merry way.
I don't have a digital camera so I'm using my phone to take each of the pictures (hence the poor quality - or is that just the photographers skills I wonder?).
So I had to start with A for Ally. To be honest I didn't really want to, because, as the journalling says, I have to be THE most unphotogenic person I know. I HATE having my photo taken, but I didn't really have a choice. So there I am, rough and ready, in my slob gear as normal.
I used a template that was on UKS back in January and then used a kit by Shabby Princess called 'Express Yourself.'
Hope you like it
Ally
xx

I've crafted whoop! whoop!

Well here I am and it has been sooooooooo long since I've been here. I'm fully recovered now but found that I had no energy at all once I was back at school. Crafting has had to take a back seat unfortunately, but it's school holidays now so I'm determined not to spend it all working! So here is my digi image. I've used a template by Jessica Sprague and then used a kit by Dawn Inskip called Heart and Soul. As the title says, it's a layout of my mum. I don't see her very often as she lives in Wales but speak to her on the phone quite a bit. So, hopefully I'll be around a bit more over the next 2 weeks. Hope you like the LO. Ally xx