Sweet Sugar Challenges

Just a quick blog. I have been selected to be on the DT of the new Sweet Sugar Challenges website. Every fortnight a new challenge will be set to make a card using your Sugar Nellie stamps. Hope you can join us there, cant wait to see the designs you all make. The first challenge will go live on Monday evening. You will find it here.... http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/

Lots of news to put on here, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, so just a warning in advance of a very long blog post.

Have a great evening all. xx

More Cards....

Back to normality this week, cant believe this time last week we were in Marrakech....

Anyway, been busy this weekend, I have made a few cards...

Have also completed my first LO of the year today, haven't scrapped since November, only been busy making cards, but unfortunately I cannot show it to you yet as it is for a competition my team on UKS is hosting in February.

Went geo-caching yesterday, found another cache, really need to buy some wellies though, everywhere is just so muddy at the moment. Tried to also finish the one we started two weeks ago, but it directed us through a farm, and I wouldn't let everyone traipse through a farm, so we gave up... we have since looked up the position and found that we were in the wrong place anyway, we arrived at that place using a normal GPS which shows co-ordinates of where you are, but not in which direction to walk. So next week we are going to start that one from scratch and hopefully at last we will find it, my 5 year old has been going on about it since the first time we went out, hope he is not disappointed when we find it!! If you dont know what geocaching is or want to start check it out here www.geocaching.com.

Right off to watch Without a Trace.... have a good evening all xx

Been Away......

Okay well I haven't been away for as long as I haven't posted, but my mojo has also gone on holiday, cant get it together since Christmas, but tomorrow, hopefully!!!
Left home at 2.30am Monday morning to drive to Luton Airport for our 3 day break to Marrakech. Gorgeous warm weather, I was really hot even in shirt sleeves, and now I am sitting listening to this awful storm and wind and rain and worrying about DD on her paper round, but she cuts through alleyways galore and I would never find her if I went out in my car looking.... okay, well whilst typing this she has turned up home, she is soaked through and we have had to sort out towels and dressing gown before she can leave the hall.... think a hot shower will be in order. My sympathy goes out to anyone who is experiencing flooding at the moment, we could see rivers that had burst their banks whilst flying over UK yesterday afternoon.
So I haven't made anything, and now need to make a mini book of my trip to Marrakech especially the pics of me looking scared out of my skin with a black cobra around my neck, yes a live one.... the guy made DH kiss it!!! rofl
Have tidied my bedroom and my scrap area this morning and afternoon, tidied out paperwork and spend about 45 minutes just shredding old stuff, had to empty shredder 4 times!! All ready to start my scrapbooking tomorrow, that is if I dont spend my time searching out caches for geocaching on Saturday or Sunday.... depending on the weather!!
I am trying to catch up on peoples blogs and leave comments, but as our internet was down from last Friday until last night I am really behind, think I will make a small BIA book with lists of things I need to make and then work my way down my list. I still have 5 US scrapbook kits still in their envelopes that I haven't used yet, that doesnt include all the ones I took out of the envelopes, so have tons have paper, just need the inspiration. My new kit from US turned up whilst I was away and although I wasn't keen on it online, I absolutely love it IRL. Also my team on UK Scrappers is hosting the weekly challenge in February, so I need to make an LO for that too, have printed out the picture but that is it!!
Right off to look at some more blogs...
Have a great evening all xx

Been Busy Stamping For a Swap......

Been busy today stamping Magnolia and Sugar Nellie images (you can find the stamps at www.funkykits.co.uk) for a swap on UK Scrappers. Hopefully when it finishes I will have a lovely collection of stamped images to colour in, and will save me some pennies into the bargain. Check out the swap here.



Have only managed to make one card today.....


Have decided to geocache regularly so bought a Garmin Emtrex H last night, hopefully it will turn up Friday, and off treking in the mud on Saturday before returning earlier than normal to go to work on Saturday night.

My neighbours left last Thursday for Spain. They have a very big motorhome and have gone to the sun and warmth for the next 2.5 months when they will return once the UK warms up a bit. Then they spend a lot of their time in the Ukraine in the summer months, visiting orphanages and churches and trying to provide for the street children. What a wonderful way to spend your life, I have often thought of upping and leaving everything behind to start a new life!! Not so easy when you still have 7 children at home tho!!

Have failed in my money diet, bought some nestabilities dies on Saturday night, then the GPS last night, then our trip to Marrakesh next week, not to mention our trip to the theatre this Thursday night..... I am really trying not to spend money.... honest.

Have yet to try out all my Tim Holtz inks, pads etc, waiting for a nice quiet time when I wont be disturbed covered in ink... lol

Anyway, off to have dinner, have a good evening all xx

More Cards.....

So have more pictures of more cards......

Still have 6 more images coloured and waiting to be made into cards, but my mojo has abandoned me, maybe because for the first time in 2 weeks I had to get up at 5.50am again to get everyone ready for school in time.... boo!!! Dont forget you can get these Magnolia, Sugar Nellie and Maggie stamps from www.funkykits.co.uk.

Gave in on Saturday and bought myself some circle nestabilities from US, just waiting for confirmation e-mail expected today, but bought and paid for Saturday.

Yesterday we went Geo-caching, this is where you have co-ordinates of a place and you need to find the place and the box (or similar) buried or hidden there, you then sign the log and put it back for another person to sign. Have thought about doing this for weeks, but tried to sort it quickly yesterday and found that none of our 3 GPS's actually find things via co-ordinates. The nearest we could get was DDs GPS where it does show you the co-ordinates of where you are, but does not direct you to your chosen ones, this made things rather awkward as we were tied to footpaths etc (could not go traipsing over farmers fields) and we never managed to tie the 2 co-ordinates together, we found the exact place for the North one, but not the East and when we found the East one, the North one was way out. We are thinking of investing in a Garmin one which is around £65 (as pointed out by DD this is less than we pay for a meal in the Hungry Horse some weekends) so may have to buy one this week so that we can go find that flippin box next weekend... dont like things to beat me!!!

Everyone back at school today, thought I would be raring to go, but after tidying the house, doing the weekly shop, I just feel like going back to bed, and this time next week I will be in Marrakesh..... woohoo, but then again I always come back exhausted from our little trips away.

This week I have the theatre to look forward to, The Adventures of TinTin on stage, a present that I got DH for Christmas plus a pre-theatre meal. Luckily DH is already in London for the day with work, so will just meet him there, (means only one train fare)... lol

Have a good day all xx

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Have been very busy making cards from all the stamped images I coloured in over the holidays, unfortunately I still have loads and loads to do before I start colouring anymore in, plus I want to get some scrapbooking pages done too... here are a few of my cards

The stamps are from www.funkykits.co.uk. They have loads of exclusive Sugar Nellie stamps, plus they also sell Magnolia stamps, and the fabulous exclusive Maggie and Hamish stamps too, get along there and try something different this New Year!!

Haven't really done much else since yesterday, just tidying up which is ongoing, the Wii has been well and truly taken over by the children. The smaller ones who are still home from school have been so hyped up today, probably something to do with the cakes with pink icing I gave them at breakfast time (still trying to use up all the goodies from Christmas)!!

Have now received all my stash parcels, so nothing to look forward to for the next year, just working hard to pay for all the stuff I bought last year!!! Maybe I will learn something from this!!

Have a good evening all xx

Oooops how bad am I????

Okay, so I haven't blogged since way before Christmas, but a good Christmas was had by all.... and plenty of money spent after the occasion too as I am now on a serious money diet as we hope to make a big dent in our credit card balances over the next year.... but I am the proud owner of a new camera.... a canon 40d and I am now waiting on a new lens for it too which I am hoping will arrive today as it was dispatched on Monday, but I have noticed that RM haven't improved at all since Christmas, so will probably take them until Easter to catch up!!

I have one scrapbook kit subscription from US, and have decided that I will continue to receive it, but that I will cancel add-on kits if I dont like them (stamps and embellishments) to save even a tiny bit of money, instead of getting them in the hope that I will use them. I also cancelled the bazzill add-on as I have loads of it anyway, and it makes the postage much higher too. You would also not believe how much stash I have here, and it really does need using up. I hope to do at least 1 SLO a week, and as it is DD3s 21st in October, I thought ahead and have bought an album (waiting to arrive, ordered before new year) in preparation as they have had their major presents on their 18th and a scrapbook of their lives on 21st. I also want to make a mini-album of last year for the MIL (she lives in Australia) as we tend to hardly ever send them photographs, and to enclose a DVD of the children in the album too. Day after boxing day for the first time everw e contacted them via skype on the computer and had a webcam talk with them, unfortunately this is when we found out that our computer didn't have a built in microphone so we had to talk to them on the phone at the same time... we have now purchased our own mic.

Have done no scrapping apart from 11 thank you cards that are all the same, over the holiday, as dont like to scrap when everyone is here, like to spend time with everyone, so as from Monday, will be scrapping with a vengeance...

Whooo hooo 2 of my parcels have turned up, I now have all the Tim Holtz tins and apart from the alcohol inks one where I cannot find another 7 colours that I dont have, I have a full tin of paint dabbers and a full tin of distress ink pads.... he he and tons of grungeboard!!! My resolution this year is learn to use all my Tim Holtz stuff properly.... I also want to get into digi scrapping, but only so that I can make my own papers and print them off instead of buying loads....

Here is my thank you card:-

For Christmas I got some gorgeous canvas portraits of my children from DD3, her friend has painted them for me and DH there are a few missing still as he never had time to paint them all, but here is a piccy of the ones I have so far....

Also for Christmas from DH I got a trip to Marrakesh later this month, so my new camera will be ideal for taking photos of the wonderful people and colours associated with this place.

We are also off to the Theatre and a meal beforehand at a Thai restaurant next week in London, we are off to see TinTin on stage, a present I bought for DH for Christmas.

Here is a card I made for DS2s birthday last week using my new Tim Holtz stuff:-

Silly me tho, bought some duplicate Tim Holtz stamps (one of them was this saying on the card above), so will be sorting my stuff and selling them soon....

Have a good day all xx