Starting my album...

So you all know it was my 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be a very memorable week. I celebrated my birthday with friends, family, WOYWW desk dashers and at Wembley with Bristol Rovers. 

At the WOYWW crop many said I should do something to document that week. A few years ago I bought an album from Paperchase. It is a decent size with black pages. I decided I would use this album so I set about designing a cover for it. The black and white flag design wasn't quite right! So here's some pictures of what I've done so far - 

This is the original cover design.

This is the cover I've designed. It's a mixture of digital & paper. I've included some photos from my birthday, my actual birthday badge is now stuck onto the front. The letters are from a Dylusions set. I coloured them with a blue Copic then covered with Mod Podge clear to finish. I had fun with glossy accents too.

It's hard to see the various layers and textures I've added. 

I've used Craft Artist Pro to do any digital work. I intend to mix actual papers and embellishments with those I've printed. Here's my first page. It's shows the meal out I had with my best friends.  

Again a mix of digital and paper. There's washi tape, a doily and accents. I used a white pen to journal. 

I love spectacles and buttons and often use them as accents to pages. Words too. 

I'm looking forward to filling the album with photos of the week, I'll include my tickets from Wembley and will add ATC's from the crop too. There are a lot of pages so I can fill it to bursting to create an album of wonderful memories! 

I will share the pages over the following weeks as I do them.

That's it for now.

Take care Zo 

WOYWW 312 - special edition!

Well it's here - the 6th anniversary of our wonderful WOYWW, Julia has brought so many people together with her idea of us all sharing our desks regularly. I may not get here every week, but boy do I enjoy it when I do. I've made online friends and some of those have now become real friends. That's what makes this special.

Right my desk - 

So there's stuff! Under the blue ink is an album I bought from Paperchase ages ago. It's for scrapbooking, has black pages and is perfect for me to document my 40th birthday week so I've started gathering bits for the cover and deciding how to go about it all.

Window side - there's papers and an image ready to make my niece's birthday card and those boxes?! Well I'm very excited. I picked up this beauty from my local charity shop. It's a Polaroid Pogo. A mini printer that you can print 2 x 3 inch photos with and it's a Zink product (Zero ink). I've wanted either one of these or one of those cameras that prints pics but couldn't afford one. These pics are perfect for Smash books and scrapbooking. And the paper is photo but with peel and stick backs! Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this for £15. (They're normally anything between £30 - £50). Took me a while to suss how to send pics from my phone but I got there and it works beautifully. Very happy Zoe! 

Now I wanted to share this pic with you of my Fundraising page I was finally well enough to go to the bank to pay in the money raised from the WOYWW crop plus extras as I sold a couple bits kindly donated too. So earlier I made the donation. I want to THANK everyone who went to the crop for your generosity and kindness. To have raised this amount by the end of May is absolutely amazing. I'm over the moon as you can imagine. This money will help so many people who have any of the Hypermobility syndromes including Ehlers-Danlos Hypermobility like me. 

 Okay so that's me for now - I'm off to link up. I do have some extra ATCs to share as well as my * one so let me know if you'd like one leaving your email so I can contact you!

Take care Zo xx

What a weekend! 16 - 17 May WOYWW & Wembley!

Hello! I thought I'd do a post sharing pics from the most amazing weekend I had on 16-17 May 2015. Lots of pics so get ready. Firstly Saturday at the WOYWW crop - 

Fiona and Lisa-Jane

Maggie and Debbie 

Chris and Cindy 

Sam 

My cake

I took selfies  

Me and Lisa 

Me, Sam and Fergus

Me and Helen

Me and Chris 

Me and Cindy 

Me and Kyla 

Me and Maggie 

Me and Debbie 

Me and Dolores 

Me and Mary Anne 

Me and Fiona 

Me and Diane 

Red, white and Blue - Shaz, Chris and Me! 

Me and Lisa working away - love my hair in this pic! 

Group shot! 

Look at my face! I was presented with a fabulous card made by Shaz and a present made by Julia. Thank you all for that! 

Me and Lisa 

Fabulous pic of me cutting my cake 

LLJ's Gordon took this picture. I love it. Think it's one of the best I've had taken of me in years! Will be giving my parents a copy that's for sure!

By the end of the day the best present was the amount of money raised for my fundraising

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ZoeKirkby

I will be paying in £150 later in the week when I go to the bank. So thank you everyone who gave something in order for this wonderful amount to be raised!! It means so much to me.

Right now here's a few pics from Wembley. The best news is that Rovers won promotion back to the football league. As you can imagine I was so happy and even shed a tear or 2! 

A Wembley selfie of me and Keagan

We got someone to take this of us.

My view from the wheelchair platform. Looking towards the Grimsby end. They only filled the bottom tier.

Took this before the game. Fabulous view.

Took this once the Rovers end filled up! There were 3 tiers of Rovers fans.

The trophy presentation was so close to us!

On pitch celebrations

Congratulations!

So there you go. My most amazing weekend.

Now I know you guys will worry about me so I can tell you I'm ok. I'm in a lot of pain and so tired. I've not done anything since getting back from Wembley. But I've a huge smile on my face and I keep watching the videos from Sunday. So it is all worth it! 

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 210 - the 40th birthday edition!

Hello fellow desk dashers!

I'm linking up with Julia and The Stamping Ground to share my desk. Now rather than bore you all with the same pics as I've shared the last few weeks I've got a few different pics for you today.

Tomorrow is my 40th birthday! I love birthdays. Always have and am never shy with telling how old I am. I've ordered a special birthday cake to take with me to the Crop on Saturday to celebrate with you all there.

I've also bought these beauties to share with friends and family tomorrow, and with you all today. There's plenty to go round I'm sure!

I bought myself a new mat and thought it very apt for my boy Baxter!

Now my desk - 

Yep those pens.

My working desk, more pens, images and a WIP.

Right it's a beautiful day, I'm on strict orders to rest up so I'm going to sit out in the yard and read for a bit I think in the sunshine. Then a nap maybe. Then more colouring. Rest. You get the idea. 

Thank you all for all your comments. They all mean a lot to me.

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 209 - blue hair in the paper version!

Good afternoon everyone. Now I'm going to apologise for the following picture heavy post but I think you'll enjoy and have a giggle at what I have to share! As always I'm here to link up with Julia -The Stamping Ground to share our desks. Here we go - 

So I took these from my chair - I've had to buy a few more trays as my pen collection has grown!

Got a few bits out as using them a lot.

I have this daft dog on my lap too. Baxter loves to cuddle up.

Plenty of colour options

The window side, some colouring projects there.

Now woken up who can resist this little face.

Now if you know me then you know I am a huge Bristol Rovers fan. Well my boys have reached Wembley in a play off final on Sun May 17th, just a few days after my 40th birthday (14th) and the day after the WOYWW crop! I wasn't going, couldn't afford it really and was worried if I wouldn't cope, but family funded our trip and I have bought a wheelchair space for me and seat for Keagan next to me. I feel if I use my chair all day I will manage. The thought of potentially 60K people and me on sticks is a no-no!

This will be our view at Wembley. Taken from the Wembley website. What a view!

Now in my excitement I tweeted that I would dye my hair blue for the final. It was picked up and quoted in the Bristol Evening Post. A friend who lives in Bristol sent me this photo! (You may have to zoom in)

Guess I better dye my hair blue then! SO those of you at the crop on the 16th will get to see it in real life but I will share lots of photos.

That's me. Take care Zo xx