A Gaggle of Gadgets and Scrapping Too!!

Stamps For Sale.....

2010-03-30T09:55:00.002+01:00

So I have quite a few stamps for sale, unfortunately they have all come up here in the wrong order, but at the moment I dont have time to shuffle them around. Most of the stamps are numbered so if you are interested, just drop me an email at greeneyes11ster@gmail.com and I will let you know if they have sold yet or not, I will mark them sold as soon after selling as I can, but sometimes emails come in close together. All prices will include postage and packing to the UK, international postage will be at cost, payment by paypal (please pay via gift option) or cheque (cheque will have to clear before sending out the stamps)... thank you.

The above sheet of stamps measures 14.5cm x 21cm.... only 1 or 2 stamps have ever been used (you can see the used one as it is stained red, but this does not impair the stamping quality)... these are clear acrylic stamps. The cost of this set is £10.

This stamp is a Sugar Nellie Stamp and the cost is £4.

These are Sugar Nellie Stamps some of them have never been used, I would like £4 for numbers 42 and 43 and £4.50 for numbers 41 and 44. These are all mounted onto ez mount.

I would like £4.50 each for these stamps, all have been mounted using ez mount and the price includes postage and packing.

These are also Sugar Nellie Stamps and I would like £4.50 each, they are all mounted onto ez mount and the price includes postage.

These stamps are also Sugar Nellie and have never been used. I would like £4.50 each including postage and packing and these are mounted onto ez mount. Number 26 has been SOLD.

These are Magnolia Stamps. I would like £4.50 for each of these stamps except for number 21 which I would like £4.00. Prices include postage and packing and all are mounted on ez mount. Numbers 20 and 24 have never been used. 19 and 23 are SOLD

These are also Magnolia Stamps, I would like £4.50 for each stamp, all are mounted on ez mount and the price includes postage and packing... payment by gifted paypal or by cheque please. Number14 and 17 now SOLD

More Magnolia Stamps, £4.50 each including P&P plus all are mounted onto ez mount. Numbers 7 and 9 SOLD

Magnolia again, number 4 has never been used, I would like £5 for this stamp and £4.50 for all of the others to include P&P. All are mounted on ez mount. Numbers 3 and 4 SOLD

This is a set of Kelly Panacci stamps. Some of these have never been used, I would like £8 for this set including P&P.

I bought these stamps from KatzelKraft, this is a set of 3 stamps, different kinds of trees, I would like £9 for this set to include P&P. All are mounted onto Kling On.

Heidi Swapp Clock Faces, I dont think these have ever been out of the packet. I would like £4.50 for this set to include P&P. They are clear acrylic stamps. Heidi Swapp Stamps SOLD.

These are Gorjuss Girl Stamps, most of them have never been used. I would like £4.50 each stamp, they are mounted onto Kling On, price to include P&P. Numbers 33, 36 and 37 is SOLD

This is a Banana Frog Set of Stamps, they make up to a flower, as you can see I have only used one of the stamps. I would like £8 for this set to include P&P.

This is an Autumn Leaves set of stamps, Word Art by Rhonna Farrer. Hardly used... £10 including P&P.

Another set of KatzelKraft Stamps, these are birds, all mounted onto Kling On, £14 for this set please.

Again Autumn Leaves, hardly used, Word Flourishes by Rhonna Farrer, I would like £10 for this set to include P&P.

Thanks for looking, I will be advertising them elsewhere, so if you want them please get in quick to avoid disappointment. Take care xx

A Card Box.....

2009-01-13T17:23:00.003Z

I thought I would show you this little gift I have made, it is a card box with 10 cards in using the Stampin' Up! Fun and Fast Notes Stamp Set....

The Patterned Paper is also Stampin' Up! but has now retired, but you can still buy it until stocks run out... the ribbon is Certain Celery Grosgrain Ribbon and the Flower is from the Stampin' Up! Pretties Kit, along with the little gem.

Off to finish cooking my roast dinner, have a good evening all xx

Blog Candy and a Card Challenge

2009-01-13T07:27:00.001Z

Hi all, sorry I haven't updated for a while, but thought you might like to know about this Blog Candy and Card Challenge on this blog... www.purelystamping.blogspot.com. Will be back later with an update... have a good day xx

Woo Hoo, have finished all my Christmas Cards...

2008-12-19T16:29:00.002Z

Can you tell that I am excited by that.... lol

The first card I am going to show you was for DHs boss whose wife runs a chicken business advising people on how to look after chickens...

And here are a few more...

Have a good evening all and check out my other blog www.purelystamping.blogspot.com for more card ideas....

Take Care xx

Guess what... more cards..

2008-12-15T16:25:00.006Z

Well DD finally went to her appointment with the consultant about her mouth and she needs to have another operation..... how unlucky is that, he is hoping this time he will sort it out for good...
Have been manic busy making Christmas Cards, buying Christmas Presents, seeing Christmas Plays and various other appointments. But I have managed to make some more cards, so as I am running out of time as DS is off to his Beavers Christmas Party in a minute, I will just post the cards with no details (as I probably dont know them anyway...)

This last card was inspired by a card on this ladies blog http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/.

Dont forget to check out my other blog... www.purelystamping.blogspot.com where I sell my Stampin Up Stash and you will find some great Stampin Up Inspiration on there....

Off to the party... have a good evening everyone xx

The 12 Gifts of Christmas....

2008-11-19T09:42:00.000Z

Check this out over on my other blog www.purelystamping.blogspot.com. I am showing you how to make 12 Gift ideas over 12 days, days 1 and 2 have already been published, and to day is day 3, this will be up around lunchtime.

But chaos still reins in my household, another trip to hospital Friday night with DD about her mouth, 3 weeks after the operation and it was worse than ever, so another prescription and still trying to bring her appointment with the consultant forward again as it is not until 11 December. Have ordered some Christmas presents, now have to wait in today for some of them to arrive, will probably end up spending waaaaay to much as usual, and I dont even know what I want... lol I know what I want to buy DH but unless I sell my whole Stash and Gadgets collection I will never be able to afford it, so will have to think of something else...

And just for a bit more inspiration here are some more cards...

Will be back with some more soon.... dont forget to check out my 12 Gifts of Christmas....

Check Out This Blog Candy

2008-11-10T20:02:00.000Z

http://franmade.blogspot.com/2008/11/blogoversary-candy-time.html

why not enter, you have nothing to lose....

Okay, been a bit of a delay....

2008-11-06T08:28:00.003Z

but here are some more cards to post.... am now working on my monthly order again, so will have even more to show soon... then I will need to get on with my Christmas cards and Christmas gifts....

Although you will notice that the card above IS a Christmas Card.... this is made entirely with Stampin Up Stash.... if you would like to purchase any Stampin Up Goodies, please check out my other blog www.purelystamping.blogspot.com and you can purchase your items through me. I am also offering a wishlist, so just click on the link above the post on my other blog that says ORDER/WISHLIST and fill in with the items you would like to receive for Christmas, put in the box at the bottom that this is your wishlist and then just let your family and friends know who has your list and between us we can sort out your ideal Christmas Gift... I will also wrap it and will supply a handmade gift tag, so all your friend needs to do is sign it and pop it under the tree.

I am also selling Stampin Up Gift vouchers in denominations of £10. You can buy any amount you like and can redeem them any time in the next six months through me only. They will come supplied in a beautiful little gift pocket, ideal for the vouchers and also a hand made tag, again just click on the ORDER link on my other blog.

Have a good day everyone... will be back soon I promise xx

I've Been Tagged By Belinda.....

2008-10-26T16:32:00.002Z

Before I start, check out my other blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ as it has been totally re-vanped and I have lots of Stampin' Up Offers for you, especially if you would like to become a Stampin Up Demonstrator and either make lots of money, or fund your stash habit, plus I will give you 2 free stamp sets if you become a Stampin Up demonstrator during October or November for FREE, that means any 2 stamp sets from the catalogue even if they are the most expensive ones....

Right Belinda has tagged me and I need to tell you 7 things about myself and tag 7 other people...

Here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of the post by leaving their names as well s links to their blogs.

4. Let them know that they have been tagged, by leaving a comment on their blog

5, Link your tagger and list the rules on your blog.

Things About Me:-

1. I have 10 children ranging in age from 25 down to 5.

2. I have a Great Dane the size of a horse and she is only 9 months old.

3. I am an Independent Stampin Up Demonstrator who can order you anything you would like from the catalogue.

4. My husband is 14 years younger than me.

5. I absolutely love cream cakes, but try to avoid them where possible.

6. My Fave Groups are The Killers, Queen (when Freddie Mercury was with them not now), The Who and U2.

7. I studied Interior Design for 2 years.

Right these are the people I have tagged:-

Justine
Lisa
Kelly
Caz
Kate
Jacquie
Shary

Will be back tomorrow with some more cards... have a good evening all x

Look What I Am Giving Away.....

2008-10-17T16:21:00.007+01:00

Yep, check out my other blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ and you will find this blog candy giveaway, just link from your blog to mine letting people know about the blog candy giveaway, then leave me a comment to let me know and I will enter you into a draw for the blog candy... if you dont have a blog, dont worry, you can enter anyway.

I have also made a little mini album about my grandson Caleb, I have used Stampin Up cardstock and stamps for this too, the letters are also stamped using the Big Deal Alphabet from Stamping Up, in matching colours to the cardstock and then cut out and stuck in... the definitions are just dictionary definitions found on the internet and typed and cut out.

And spend some of my evening last night with my son in A&E after he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. He fell off his bike whilst out with his friends and bounced across the road, he ended up with 6 stitches in the cut under his eye... look away now if you are squeamish.

Not a very good quality photo as it was taken with my phone, and now it is dressed and stitched you dont quite get the same effect. He also had several gouges out of his hands and legs, but nothing serious enough to need stitching. So back to hospital on Tuesday to have the stitches out.

Thats all for now, if you are interested in buying stampin up, or just interested in Stampin Up in general check out my other blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ for some inspiration.

Have a good evening all xx

And even more.....

2008-10-13T15:51:00.003+01:00

Yep more cards to show you, will eventually get to the end of the list.... lol

Will be busy with my Stampin Up this week, so probably wont have to many cards to show, plus I will have some blog candy over on my other blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ later in the week, dont forget to check it out.

A few more cards to show you....

2008-10-11T20:37:00.002+01:00

Here are a few more cards that I have made recently, I have finally finished all my orders today (thats 70 odd cards) so will be concentrating on my Stampin Up in the next week, if you wish to purchase any Stampin Up, check out my blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/, there is 10% off all Stampin Up stash in the new catalogue until noon tomorrow...

Off now for a glass of wine and to watch some Criminal Minds.... have a good one all xx

Two posts in one day....

2008-10-08T12:59:00.004+01:00

Just realised how many cards I have that I haven't shown you yet, so have popped back to upload some more... so here goes...

So there we go, hope they give you some inspiration...

Long Time No See.....

2008-10-08T09:31:00.003+01:00

Okay, well I keep my other blog up to date, you cant expect me to keep this one up to date too can you?? (Visit it at www.purelystamping.blogspot.com)

I have been really busy, so will post a few cards a day so you can see what I have done. We have been really busy here, we have been to a Torchlight carnival, been geocaching and generally getting on with busy school and home life. My little grandson has learnt to roll over and back and now happily rolly pollys round the lounge, there's no stopping him now. My son is changing jobs on 13th October which also happens to be my daughters 21st birthday. She has started back at Uni this week where she is studying Biomedical Science in the hope of becoming a Doctor. She seems to have settled back into life in good old England after spending 10 weeks in the land down under.... with my in-laws...

So as promised here are 4 cards that I have made...

Thats all for today, off to create... have a good day all xx

More blog candy... how exciting..

2008-10-06T07:10:00.002+01:00

Drop by this very talented ladies blog and leave her a comment for a chance of winning her gorgeous blog candy including some lush Hanglar and Stanglar stamps... http://mar1ene.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/birthday-blog-candy/
dont be too long though as it finishes on the 6th!!

Blog Candy...

2008-10-03T13:45:00.000+01:00

Look at this excellent blog candy, visit here http://inkingontheedge.blogspot.com/2008/09/yay-5-000-hitsmy-5-favourite-things.html but you will have to be quick as it finishes today... have a good day all xx

And A Few More Things... (actually quite a lot)!!

2008-09-10T12:36:00.005+01:00

So I have been super duper busy, have been making special little kits to give away to one of my stamper 10 clubs for Stampin' Up and have also been making things like cards and mini albums, so here they are....

And then yesterday I spent the day making a Christmas Mini Album (for last Christmas, I am behind, not mega organised), but it was to demonstrate using one of the new pre-order stamp sets from the new Stampin Up Catalogue, due out on 1st October.... there is actually a stamp from the "Season of Joy" kit on each page, plus the front cover and back cover... here goes..

All Cardstock, Ribbon, and Stamps were from Stampin Up.... check out my other blog... www.purelystamping.blogspot.com for more details on Stampin Up...

Have a good day all xx

Back to School, back to blogging....

2008-09-05T13:55:00.004+01:00

Okay, well it has been sometime, hope you all survived the summer holidays.... ooops sorry did I say summer..... I meant rainy miserable holidays!! We had a great time in Brighton, best weather of all the holidays I think, got really sunburnt the first few days even though I thought I was sitting under a parasol... DOH!!

Have not been doing to much scrapping lately, what with six manic children to look after and another manic husband as he kindly started a new job the day the children went back to school so now I have a nice empty house to myself most days except for DD who arrived back at stupid o'clock on Thursday morning from the land of Oz. Had to get up at 3am to get to Heathrow for her flight landing at 5.57am. So next week my scrapping will start in earnest, just aswell as I have 2 card orders for 27 cards to make aswell as getting some samples made for my SU website.

We have also been decorating and refitting our kitchen which has taken the best part of 2 weeks from morning to early morning the next day but it is now finished. I will try and post some photos tomorrow. Meanwhile here are some cards I have made but have not shown you yet...

Didn't realise there were quite so many, so will save the others for another day....

Have a good day all xx

Woohoo Holiday Time

2008-07-24T21:31:00.006+01:00

We are off to sunny Brighton tomorrow (or thereabouts anyway) and my fave job of the year of towing our caravan there....(<----- sarcasm). Every year about this time we go off to Brighton to our Church conference, Christian Outreach Centre, and they have Pastors from their churches all over Europe and Asia meeting together for a really awesome time of worship and teachings etc.... Our Pastors are standing down from Church on Sunday (unfortunately we wont be there) and our new Pastors will be taking over, and whilst at Conference this year they will be Ordained, along with our brilliant Sunday School Teacher who will also become a Pastor, not sure if we are getting assistant Pastors or not so have covered that angle by making an extra card. So here is the card I made for the Pastors who are standing down as they are not sure now what they are going to do as they are at retirement age....

And the following cards are the same except I made 3 different colours, not sure yet what to put inside...

Ooooh so exciting....

Next project was to make the teachers at school some presents and cards, there is 1 teacher and 2 teaching assistants in two of my sons class and 2 teachers and 2 teaching assistants in my other sons class, so that was a total of 10 cards I had to make, the apple ones I made 4 of, one was slightly different to the rest as I didn't want both teachers in the same class to get exactly the same card and I made 3 each of the other 2 cards. Here they are...

I am now into decorating the inside of cards aswell as the outside so these took me quite a lot of time.

And here are the altered altoid tins I made for the teachers, I had to make 4 of these, I put antiseptic wipes and plasters into them and made them into little first aid kits that are nice to carry around in your handbag.

Have packed a small box of craft stash to take with me including all my new Stampin Up punches... ssssh dont tell anyone, hoping to get lots of images coloured whilst I am away, taking my prismacolour pencils and copic markers for this.

And if you were thinking of burgling my house whilst I am away, if you manage to sneak past my great dane and 2 other dogs, then I am sure my son who is staying here will get you.

Have a good week....xx

Phew.... Its Over

2008-07-18T18:08:00.008+01:00

So I did my first Stampin Up Demo last night, didn't go too badly, but was a good learning curve for next time.... made some bits to show and we also had a make and take, so here goes...

I showed two different techniques for stamping, one I watercoloured, the other was coloured by dabbing chalk onto a versamarked image...

For my table I made this bucket which I filled with a cellophane packet of cookies tied with ribbon and gave the cookies to the girls at the party

Then next I did a make and take, I used Karin's from http://www.inlovewithstamping.com/ photo wallet tutorial for this, here is the outside of mine and the inside.....

I am loving these little photo wallets and am thinking of making some for my family when I have the time.....

Last but not least I made a little froggy paperclip, I got the idea from StampingCaz's blog...

Well last weekend DH took himself off to his garage for 2 days and was bang bang bang out there, I was banned from the vicinity, but Sunday night he came in with this.....

my very own storage for all my Stampin Up inkpads, by the end of the month I should have it full..... woohoo. Now it is very easy to pick out the colour I want to use and easy to tidy up again afterwards... he finished it off by writing on the top.... "Made With Love.."

Had an opticians appointment the other day and my eyes have deteriorated badly in the last 9 months... my "bad" eye which I had an operation on when I was 15 months old is very very shortsighted, by my other eye is very very longsighted. My "bad" eye has not got any worse, but my "good" eye has got even more long sighted which is making close up work difficult, so have had to order some new glasses.... DH had his eye appointment the day after and he also needs new glasses, but due to the fact the boys are always managing to bend his, he has ordered the ones that scrunch up in your hand and dont break.... how cool, can see the boys having hours of fun with those!! The children all have an eye appointment in August and it is going to take 3 hours to do them all.... eeeeek!!

It is DH's birthday tomorrow, cant say yet what I have got him, nor post a photo of his card, it has been really difficult making the card everytime he goes to the school to pick them up as he is always around when I am crafting.

Unfortunately although he had 2 interviews this week and the one he wanted, they spent a whole day trying to decide whether to have DH or this other guy, they eventually went for this other guy... boo!!! But he has another preliminary interview next Thursday and if he is successful he will get a second interview after that, unfortunately we are away the week after, so hopefully if he gets through they will wait until we get back.

Right, will be busy this weekend making gifts and some more cards for the teachers, there are 10 cards need making, one DS has two teachers and two teaching assistants, and the other 2 boys have a teacher and 2 teaching assistants. Also will be making altoid tins into first aid tins for the teachers, and the teaching assistants will get something in cellophane bags tied with ribbons and a tag (haven't decided what to put in them yet...lol), will post photos once they are all finished.

Need to clean our caravan in and out ready for next Friday, check the gas, sort out clothes... can see a busy week ahead, plus I told DD I would take her clothes shopping on Monday!!

Need to fly.... have a good evening all xx

Getting Nervous Now....

2008-07-16T20:22:00.005+01:00

Well I have my first Stampin Up demo tomorrow, have been busy for a week now getting things ready, ordering stuff I want to show and guess what, DHL has mislaid a load of demonstrators parcels and mine is included in that, so stuff that normally takes 2 days to get here has still not arrived despite being posted on 10 July... aarrgghh, it has finally been traced to Cologne and wont be here until Friday.... what bad news is that my workshop is Thursday night..... I needed those punches, that paper, those stamp sets... aaarrgghh, so a quick shuffle around, but I needed those punches...... poopy pants...

On the good side, I now have all my Stampin Up 10 month club people, just waiting on a reply from 2 people with their addys and then their catalogues will be whizzing there way to them, then need to sort out hostess months and order deadlines.... its non stop here you know!!

School is just about finishing here, DS left school this year back in June, one DD is on work experience at the moment, having a bit of a tough time working with children with special needs, especially when the second day she was there she found out a little girl had died during the night and everyone was really upset, it is her funeral tomorrow. Other DD has gone off on holiday with her best friend and her dad and girlfriend, they left last night, so she is missing the last few days of school with the blessings of her teachers. The primary school does not finish until next Wednesday though, it is DS's last day at primary school but he is going to miss the party as he has an appointment at the fracture clinic as he needs another x-ray on his broken arm to check it is healing okay before we go away next Friday.....

I have made a few more cards, so here they are....

I love the colours on this card, it is one of my set of 12 that I sell each month.

The next one I made for my son for his 2nd Wedding Anniversary last week...

Used the cricut to cut out the shapes, the cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the dots and the ribbon is Stampin Up taffeta ribbon. Does look better in real life as you can see the shine then.

Another stampin up card made entirely of Stampin Up bits except the nestabilities dies and the pink gems. Check out my other blog.... http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ for more stampin up examples and offers.

Have a good evening all xx

Wow, Look At This Blog Candy

2008-07-10T10:55:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know about this wonderful blog candy..... 140 images of Hanglar and Stanglar.... pop over here to join in... http://mayas-hobbyblogg.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-candy.html. Have a great day all xx

A Few More Cards

2008-07-10T10:45:00.003+01:00

Nothing to report this time, things seem to have quietened down here, DD is on work experience, DS was not allowed back at school with his broken arm until I had signed a letter saying I would take responsibility for him whilst at school, this was despite the consultant saying there was no reason he shouldn't be at school. He has gone to visit his secondary school today, I didn't mention the arm to anyone there... lol

Put in my first Stampin Up order, so 10% offer has now finished. Am now looking for 10 people who would like to spend £15 a month for 10 months. You need to commit yourself to this as for each of the 10 months one of the people will be hostess and get all the benefits of the hostess which is a free stamp set (which you cannot buy) and at least £15 of free goodies of your choice from the brochure. On top of this you will need to pay £3.50 postage and a nominal 3% if you pay via paypal which I would prefer, but you then get to build up your Stampin Up stash....

DH has an interview for a job next Tuesday at 11am, so prayers for that would be very welcome, he really needs to get a job but they are very thin on the ground at the moment.

Here are a few cards that I have been making.....

These have been "cased" from two US blogs which I found whilst blog hopping, but cannot for the life of me remember whose they were, so if it is you, please let me know so I can give credit to you.

Off to do some more Stampin Up stuff.... have a good day all xx

10% off Stampin Up Until Wednesday....

2008-07-05T21:24:00.003+01:00

Okay so first things first, if you check out my other blog http://www.purelystamping.blogspot.com/ you will see that you can have 10% off any Stampin Up items in the current catalogue, scroll down the right hand side of that blog and click on the catalogue picture, here you can browse the current catalogue, then just e-mail me with your order and I will post you back a payment request, please bear in mind a nominal amount will be added for P&P depending on the weight of your parcel.

Here are a couple of cards I have made with Stampin Up merchandise....

Check out www.purelystamping.blogspot.com for all the details of these cards.

Went out yesterday afternoon with all the children geocaching, we had three planned, but unfortunately after the first two, DS who is 16 and DS who is 11 were walking along the mud (which is the kind of beach next to the estuary we live near) and they were both kicking a buoy (note the spelling not boy) on a chain at each other, suddenly DS who is 11 went splat in the mud, well this made us laugh, but we quickly realised he wasn't laughing and he was in great pain, I checked him out and thought that he hadn't broken any bones but was probably a dislocated shoulder as he was in a lot of pain in this region and couldn't move his arm. After a very very slow walk back to the car as we wasn't sure how to carry him without hurting his shoulder more we took him to the hospital where it turns out he has done something that the doctor says children never do and that is to break the bone in his humerous, right at the top just under the ball that goes into his shoulder socket, there is a nice chip of bone which has come off too.... they cannot put a cast on as it is so far up his arm, so he has had to have a special sling fitted to stop him moving the top of his arm too much which he has to have on for 4-6 weeks or until it heals, so that also includes countless trips to the fracture clinic starting Tuesday....

Went to DD2s today to a barbeque it was mega, there was so much food thought I would burst and we have the left overs for a barbeque tomorrow too.... he he he

Went for a trek this morning, DD4 has work experience next week and is working in a special needs school which is around 45 minutes on the bus away and needs to get the bus. We have worked out which bus to get but needed to walk from the bus station to the school, so thought if we all went and walked it today she would know where to go next week... took longer than we expected and it took us about 1/2 hour each way, but are expecting that she will walk slightly quicker than we did today, but at least she now knows the way and hopefully we wont get a phone call saying she is lost....

Off to watch Casualty, have a good weekend all xx

Cards, Cards, Cards and Stampin' Up

2008-07-03T19:34:00.005+01:00

I now have my Stampin' Up kit and am now looking for hostesses to host a party for me, if you sell over £150 you will receive a free hostess stamp set (which you cannot buy) and free merchandise of your choice too, so if you are local to Maldon in Essex just drop us an e-mail... LindaLloyd@gmx.net. Also go visit my Stampin' Up blog which has three cards on now and details of a 10% off deal that is on at the moment until Wednesday 9th July 2008. If you are local and dont want to host a party but would like to see what Stampin' Up offers, let me know and I can arrange a workshop at my house, with make and takes etc. (www.purelystamping.blogspot.com).

So Daughter has settled down well in Australia and seems to be fitting in to DH's family quite well, she has had a busy week including the cinema twice, once a big IMAX screen one to watch Kung Fu Panda, the theatre, a Sicilian meal, Church club every day, and a visit to the pub with her step-grandad.... lol

On the other hand, DS2 hasn't had such a good week, he was mugged for his mobile phone, and then fell from his skateboard on Sunday and managed to partly slash his wrist on broken glass and ended up going to hospital in an ambulance.... (he is 16..)

DD4 went to see a consultant today about a lump in her mouth, and she was told she needs an operation to open the lump, then stitch the skin open so the fluid inside can drain... yuk (too much information I know), but as she is away most of August I have no idea when this is going to take place, so in the meantime it gets bigger, bursts, then starts all over again.

DS3 is off to visit his new secondary school next Thursday, (will have to check up on that) cant believe he is going to secondary school already, and I realised it is 3 weeks until I go on holiday, cant wait, but means I will have to give my caravan a top to toe clean soon. Luckily I have someone staying here to look after all my animals.

Here are some cards I have been making...

The fruit bowl stamps and this garden with gate stamps are from a brilliant US company called Our Daily Bread, and they make some wonderful religious stamps, and if you buy the unmounted ones dont cost the earth to ship either...

Inside this one it says "I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit... John 15:5

Went to the library today for the first time in years, the children were thrilled at getting new books and also the self-service check out place, they loved being big boys and doing it all themselves, unfortunately when DH went to get his books out he found he owes an £11 fine and as he is unemployed at the moment we just do not have the £11 to pay off, so he had to put his books back as he wouldn't let me get them for him, so I am off to get reading now...

Have a great evening all xx

Daughter is Now Half Way Across The World

2008-06-29T20:35:00.005+01:00

So Thursday morning (very early, 3.15am to be exact) my alarm went off so that me and DS could take DD to Heathrow to catch her plane.... to Australia. She was so nervous, but she survived and is now at her step-grandparents house... she seems to be having a great time.... (me jealous... nah) and we spoke on the webcam on Saturday morning (evening there, 9 hours ahead) and she told us about the spider on her bedroom wall, she is terrified of spiders and today she rang with great news... she is at Uni training to be a doctor and a Doctor over there has given her the opportunity of shadowing him, she is over the moon, it is just what she went over there to do, so she starts Tuesday week, this week she is very busy with a party, cinema, theatre and probably more!!

Here is a card I made a couple of weeks ago using a Sugar Nellie Sweet Ebony stamp (http://www.funkykits.co.uk/).

I am about to become a Demonstrator of Stampin' Up, well actually I am now a fully fledged Demonstrator just waiting for my kit to arrive (although I must own most of SU already), so if anyone is interested in anything I might sell just drop us an e-mail... LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

I have started an SU blog here just for things made entirely of SU items.

I am now 2 weeks late with my card order for this month.... have been busy with cards and my mini album for MIL in Australia, so that has taken all my time lately, plus 2 sports days at school last week and a dentist appointment, then the airport.... didn't stop last week and this week looks no different, so will have to switch off the comp and get making. Will post pics of the mini album this week as I need to edit them slightly and upload them to photobucket too....

Here is my SU card:-

For more details see my other blog.

Have a good evening all xx

Busy Busy Busy....

2008-06-23T19:33:00.003+01:00

I have been very busy, DD is going to Australia on Thursday for 10 weeks and she is staying with the inlaws out there. I am now very busy trying to put a mini album together with some photos in (hopefully will post more later this week) and then need to make a couple of cards.... will be back once I have finished with some piccys. Here is one to be getting on with.

Card shape cut using my expression and SCAL software. Image the new Magnolia Tilda Paddling, coloured using my new Nick Bantock inks, flowers, gems from stash, oval shapes cut using nestabilities dies. Celebrate printed using a dymo machine.

Very exciting news too, I am about to become a Stampin Up demonstrator so will be setting up a dedicated stampin up blog very soon, so anyone interested in purchasing any stampin up goods, just let me know.

Have a good evening all xx

Aaaargh I did it again.

2008-06-12T16:57:00.003+01:00

Bad blogger yet again, was busy making a boy and girl card for DD to give away, and when I had finished I forgot to photograph them..... doh!!

So here are 2 cards that I have made...

Sweet Ebony stamped image (from www.funkykits.co.uk) coloured with copic markers, Crate Paper patterned paper, leaves cut with Quickutz die, ribbon, brads, gems flowers from stash, sentiment printed on computer.

Scenic Route paper, stars cut with cricut, brads and eyelets from stash, orange card embossed with swiss dots cuttlebug folder. Thank you sentiment free with card magazine.

Got some new Hero Arts Cupcake stamps today (from www.sirstampalot.co.uk), have yet to use them tho, have also ordered some new bits from US, DH's Fathers Day prezzie turned up yesterday and am in the process of making him a card which I cannot show yet incase he reads my blog.

Have a good day all xx

Ooops missed a day again....

2008-06-07T16:15:00.003+01:00

Had to make a card in a rush yesterday, DD's friend turned up about 5 minutes before they had to leave for school and asked if I had a boy card, I didn't have a suitable one, but managed to make one up in about 10 minutes.... here it is..

Magnolia Edwin image coloured using copic markers, star shape cut using nestabilities die and then embossed using swiss dots embossing folder, ribbon, sticky cheap stuff from stash, Happy Birthday rub on, Basic Grey, and the white circle shapes were stamped around the image using a Stampin Up set plus white brilliance ink. Finished and ready for school, she seemed to think it was okay, and definately a record for me, it usually takes me a few hours to make a card!! lol

Anyway, my 6 sets of stampin up stamps arrived from US, they are absolutely gorgeous, and were only posted on Monday and arrived Friday, so super speedy postage too. Obviously I buy the UK sets from UK but US sell many more sets that they dont sell over here, so I have to buy them from US too. So that is the last of my packages until my monthly US kit arrives around the 17th, ooops and the Magnolia stamps I ordered from Magnolia today.... rofl

Took a trip to The Range this afternoon as the boys asked me.... "why do you have all this crafting stuff and all I have is a glue stick and some card".... guilt trip I know, so we went out to buy them some bits, and some fell into my basket too... but I was really good, normally end up spending around £75 when I go there, but today it was only £22 so I was on my best behaviour, nearly put more paper etc in my basket but I could honestly set up a patterned paper shop here as I have so much!!

Went to Wetherspoons for lunch yesterday as it is just sooooo cheap there and as we dont get to eat until around 9.30pm because we are working it is nice to have something filling for lunch and it doesn't cost much more than a sandwich in Tesco.

What is it with the weather recently, cannot believe it is June already, it has been pouring down here all day, and has finally stopped (I think) but is just so wet everywhere, the grass grows so quickly and needs cutting all the time and I just want some sunshine and constant warm weather. Only 14 days until the longest day of the year, can you believe that.

Anyway, off to get ready for work, have a good evening all xx

My Parcel Has Finally Arrived.....

2008-06-05T15:39:00.004+01:00

Woohoo at 3.20pm this afternoon my parcel arrived from France.... excellent. Just need to mount my stamps on a sheet of kling on (that I saved especially) (or actually get DH to do it) and try out these Nick Bantock inks. Nice bright colours, too exciting for a boring Thursday afternoon, but at least the weather is nice and it isn't raining.

Here is the card I made today..

Penny Black image stamped for me by Clair (her blog is http://valentines-sharni-clair.blogspot.com/) she is doing a Penny Black swap, you pick 10 images you want her to stamp for you and you send her a parcel of stash back, hope she likes what I sent her, will keep checking her blog to see if she uses any of it. So that is 1 image down and 9 to go. Junkitz pattered paper, sentiment from stampin up mounted on nestabilities die cuts, image coloured with copic markers, gems ribbons and brads from stash.

1 more card for today....

Now I normally use patterned paper on my cards, but thought I would try without it this time, so image from stampin up coloured in using my Marvy Le Plume markers, sentiment is from Hero Arts, gems and ribbon from stampin up and cardstock from Papermill Shop. Nice and simple, something that I dont do too often!!

Well off to have a play with my new inkpads, have a good evening all xx

More cards....

2008-06-04T16:25:00.003+01:00

Have been rather busy over the last two days and have managed to make 3 more cards.

Used Laura Ashley Papers, Hanglar and Stanglar image, scallop cut with Fiskars Threading Water border punch, ribbon is American Crafts, Sentiment printed on computer, Scallop square and rectangle cut using nestabilities dies, green leaves cut using a punch, flowers, and pearls from stash. Image coloued using copic markers.

Hanglar and Stanglar image coloured using prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps. rectangles cut using nestabilities dies, sentiment from Stampin Up set, flourishes cut from Home Accent cricut cartridge, large flowers from petaloo dahlia box, gems from banana frog, ribbon and metal embellishments also from stampin up. Paper is Collage Press "fresh".

Image is from funky kits (www.funkykits.co.uk) and is a sugar nellie Sweet Ebony stamp. Coloured uing copic markers. Mounted on scallop circle using nestabilities dies, paper is Daisy Ds, Stamp sentiment is again Stampin Up, gems, flowers and brads from stash.

The great news is that funky kits are going to start producing and selling Hanglar and Stanglar stamps to UK and worldwide. Hopefully the first lot will be ready for purchase in July/August, so keep checking their website and blog for details.

Have heard that my Stampin Up sets are winging their way here from US, so fingers crossed they will be here within the week, plus my new inkpads and stamps from France are underway too, although it seems to be taking quite a time from France to England, reckon I could swim it quicker.... lol

Think I will start making some thank you cards for the children's teachers, they seem to get more and more each year, so will start early this year, have made a couple of Father's Day cards already but need to make a couple more too, so busy busy busy for the next few days.

Have a good evening all xx

My Band Pics

2008-06-02T16:17:00.005+01:00

Went to see Boyzone last night at Wembley, had brilliant seats and could actually see them on stage properly, then as a finale they got on a moving platform and went past us so close by that we could almost touch them. Unfortunately my small camera has gone wrong and although my phone camera is supposed to be 6 million pixels it doesn't take a brilliant photo, so here is a taster of my evening with Boyzone...

Last went to see them in October (or may have been November) 1999 and they were just as good last night as they were then, maybe even better, hope they stick together for a while and do another tour next year. DD who is 20 came with me (cant let you go on your own Mum but everyone will take the mick) but she also loved it, said she would definately go see them again and even told her Uni friends where she had been and what a great time she had had.

Last Thursday we went to see the Rubettes (you know, Sugar Baby Love etc) and they were surprisingly good, they could play their instruments really well (something that is lacking with today's bands) and were very entertaining...

Next on stage were Sweet, remember them, Blockbuster, Ballroom Blitz etc.... well I didn't know that 2 of them were dead and there was only 1 remaining original member of Sweet, Andy Scott, but it was still good....

And last but not least came Showaddywaddy, still in their "Drapes and Crepes" and they used to be called and they were very entertaining too, I remember seeing them 15 years ago at Butlins in Skegness and they were absolutely brilliant entertainers.

So there we go, super busy week and now I am worn out and tired, so need to catch up on some sleep as my mojo seems to leave me when I am exhausted, and the awful weather does not help, when is our summer going to arrive.

Anyway, will leave you with a couple of cards I have made recently...

The idea for this one came from Monica's blog, a card that she had made with the same images and the scallop border. Patterned paper is Scenic Route, the images are from the Stampin Up Touch of Nature set and coloured in using copic markers. The pink card has been embossed using the cuttlebug swiss dots and the distressed look embossing folders, ovals were cut using my nestabilities dies, the sentiment was printed using my computer. The holey scallop border is made using the Fiskars border punch Threading Water. The photo corner was made using a doodle doo die.

The cardstock is hammered ivory card from the Papermill Shop. The "grow" swirl is from (I think) the Home Accents cricut cartridge, the flowers are from Walking in my Garden cricut cartridge. Doodles hand drawn around the edge, sentiment printed on computer and matted with cardstock, gems from stash.

So off to have a quiet night at home (after Beavers and Guides have finished at 8.30pm) first night in since last Wednesday.... hooray. Have a good evening everyone. xx

Blog Candy Giveaway

2008-05-31T11:43:00.004+01:00

Just an extra post today to let you know of a couple of blogs giving away blog candy, the first is this one.... http://lildebstampscrap.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-candy.html. There is tons of stuff in the giveaway and you have until 14th of June to register.

The other one is http://heidi-kortoggodt.blogspot.com/2008/05/hanglar-blog-candy.html but it runs out today, so you will have to be quick. Hanglar stamp and images for this one....

And one more blog candy giveaway of hanglar images, this is on until tomorrow.
http://www.hjemmehoscharlie.blogspot.com/
Thanks to all the generous blog candy giveaways.

And yet another blog candy giveaway.... http://going-buggy.blogspot.com/ you have until 5th of June for this one.

Ooops I forgot....

2008-05-31T10:37:00.005+01:00

I remembered last night when I got home from work at about 10pm that I hadn't updated my blog.... was too tired after eating my chinese to do it, so here goes for todays one...

Have received lots of stash lately and still have more to come, yesterday I got my Stampin Up parcel from Monica, (http://monicas-passions.blogspot.com/) I am buying 12 ink pads a month and the matching cardstock, plus a little extra, this month it was a stamp-a-ma-jig so that I can get my images stamped in the right places. I also received my new Sugar Nellie stamps yesterday along with a little freebie one which was very welcome, thank you Karen from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. Today I received my prize from SarahsCards (http://www.sarahscardsltd.com/), a gorgeous card kit which my daughters are already trying to steal from me, plus my new Tim Holtz bits from http://www.craftobsessions.co.uk/, sprockets, jump rings, ball chain, hanging clip things and a new cuttlebug embossing folder. I have had an email from a lady in US who I buy my Stampin Up stamps from that they dont sell in the UK and she has my 6 sets which she will be posting out to me Monday, have also had a dispatch e-mail from a place in france where I have bought some new stamp pads and stamps too, so look forward to receiving them next week.

Haven't made any new cards since Thursday as DD sprung it on me that she needed another 10 thank you cards made which made the total 25, all finished now, so will get on with some making of my own.... Here is the thank you card I made...

I changed one of the photographs I had taken of Caleb (my new grandson) and changed it to black and white, cut out a white square and blue scalloped square using nestabilities dies, ribbon from stash, computer generated sentiment, gems from stash and the base of the card was made using a cuttlebug embossing folder.... quite simple (glad about that as she needed 25). Teamed them up with pale blue envelopes and now everyone who bought baby Caleb a gift gets a lasting reminder of him too.

A couple more cards that I have made recently.

Paper was Basic Grey Two Scoops, scallop made using Fiskars Threading Water border punch. Sentiment is a rub on from Timeless Transfers, green flower is a prima flower, blue flower is from my new Petaloo Dahlia Box Blends, lace and brad from stash.

This card was made for my daughters 15th birthday, paper is Basic Grey Cupcake, buttons are also matching Basic Grey Cupcake, circles cut from nestabilities dies, cupcake cut from a sizzix cupcake die, gems from stash. Cardstock was Bazzill card.

Off to create, although I am helping at Sunday School tomorrow so need to swot up on what we are doing there... have a good day all xx

What a Surprise.... I'm a Winner....

2008-05-29T16:05:00.006+01:00

Well I couldn't believe it when I stumbled across the winner thread of the May Prize Card Challenge on UK Scrappers as the winner was ME!!!! Totally surprised as there were so many gorgeous cards entered..... I win a card kit from http://www.sarahscards.co.uk/. Thank you so much Sarah for your generous prize. Here is my winning card....

The image is from Rachelle Anne Miller designs which I bought from http://www.sirstampalot.co.uk/, it has been coloured in using Prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps. The scallop edging was made using the Fiskars Threading Water Border Punch, the paper is Basic Grey Sugared, with matching bazzill cardstock. The flowers are from my stash and the buttons are also the Basic Grey Sugared collection. The green swirls you can just see down the edge of the flowers were cut using my Cricut Expression and SCAL software and the sentiment was computer printed.

Some new bazzill card and flowers arrived for me today, they were a bargain as they were 50% off from http://www.scrapfairies.co.uk/, so decided to stock up on everyday things, especially the colours of flowers that I am short of.... hopefully tomorrow my new stash from Stampin Up should arrive, really excited about that, plus hopefully my new sugar nellie stamps from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/.

Here is another card I made this month...

I am loving these really big eyelets, I think they are from We R Memory Keepers, the stamps are from http://www.ourdailybreaddesigns.com/ in the US, the image was coloured using watercolour pencils for the sky and copic markers for the rest of it. Image and sentiment were mounted on corrugated cardboard, the spotty card was made using the swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder. The card looks much more vibrant in real life, took the photo on a rainy day (surprise surprise).

One other card for today....

The faith panel was cut using my new Home Accents cartridge for my Cricut Expression, the ribbon is Grey Taffeta from Stampin Up. The scallop edge was made using Fiskars Border Punch Threading Water. Flowers were made using a punch with gems from stash. Quite simple although it did take quite a while to make.

Off now as we are going to see Sweet, Showaddywaddy and Rubettes at Cliffs Pavillion in sunny Southend in a minute as we are going for a tapas meal first, should be a nice walk along the seafront in the rain!!! lol

c's ya tomorrow with hopefully some photos of tonight for all you oldies who may remember these groups!!

Take Care xx

Two Days in a row... cant be bad

2008-05-28T17:54:00.005+01:00

So this morning we all went for our Dentist check up, luckily all I needed was a de-scale and polish, and all but 2 children needed to treatment except for a de-scale, unfortunately 20 year old needed the most and she now needs to pay for her own treatment too.... maybe that will stop her eating so unhealthily!!! Doubt it!!

Caleb my grandson is now 10 days old and went for his weigh-in today, he has very nearly re-gained his birth weight so the hospital are pleased with him and they have both been discharged. DD has been having trouble with her new house, it keeps flooding when they use the bathroom, to say she is dis-pleased is an understatement so they had the plumber back Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday and it finally seems to be fixed thank goodness, not good for her having stress of having to vax up water from her new carpets and dry them out with fans especially as baby was less than a week old when it first flooded. This also means that she can take her kittens home now, 2 of my cats had kittens, one had 4 and the other only had one, she is having one from each litter and we are keeping the rest, DH calls me cat lady!!! rofl

The new challenge is up at http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/, check it out and leave a comment with a link to your entry, bit of a tricky one this week. Dont know quite how it happened but a couple of the new sugar nellie stamps fell into my basket yesterday, and they were dispatched today, unfortunately they normally take 2 days to get to me from the other end of the country, but fingers crossed for tomorrow anyway. You can buy sugar nellie stamps from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/.

My car has gone to have its MOT tomorrow, fingers crossed yet again (maybe I need to cross my legs too) that it will pass, especially as I am a bit limited tomorrow as to when I can pick it up, off to see Sweet, Showaddywaddy and Rubettes, really looking forward to it!! We are also having a meal at a restaurant first, well a Tapas restaurant as I loved the Tapas we had in Barcelona last year.

Here are a couple more cards that I have made.

The image is Sugar Nellie fisherman (from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/), the paper is Scenic Route, the scalloped edge was made using the Fiskars Threading Water border punch. The fish were cut using a quickutz die, the metal frame is from We R Memory Keepers, eyelets set into fish using my new Big Bite and sentiment printed on computer, brads from stash. The image was coloured using Prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps.

This was the card I made for DD and Son in Law for their babies birth, image is a Tilda image, I had bought both the boy and girl one as they didn't want to know what they were having. Stars were cut using the Star Nestabilities and then embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder, the scallop edge again was made using the Fiskars Threading Water border punch. The congratulations was cut on the cricut but for the life of me I cannot remember which cartridge I used. The ribbon was from my stash, the paper is K&Co Hopscotch. The image was coloured using copic markers.

The image is from Stampin Up "Loads of Love" set, you can buy this from http://monicas-passions.blogspot.com/, the sentiment is also included in the set. The scallops are spellbinders nestabilities, the image was coloured in using copic markers, the flowers and ribbon was from my stash. The paper is Basic Grey Cupcake collection. Cardstock came from Papermill shop.

Just finished this one, paper is My Minds Eye, Kaleidascope collection, gromlets from We R Memory Makers, scalloped edge, Fiskars Threading Water border punch, sentiment is Hero Arts, stamping design is by Rachelle Anne Miller, you can buy these stamps at www.sirstampalot.co.uk, I have coloured them in using Prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps. Ribbon from stash, small scallop edging was made using a circle scallop nestabilities die, check out Monica's blog http://monicas-passions.blogspot.com/ and watch her tutorial on how to make scallop edges using various methods.

I will be back tomorrow, c,ya all then xx

Ooops I did it again......

2008-05-27T11:46:00.009+01:00

Another month has passed and no blogging, this time I really am going to try and update every day, but lots has happened in the month.

DD has finally had her baby, only 6 days late and numerous visits to the hospital beforehand, she gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy on 19 May 2008 at 9.28am and proud nana was there at the birth..... how wonderful.

These are photos of him less than an hour after he was born....

I have also had my birthday and I was truly spoilt, got a new flash for my camera, tickets to see Boyzone on 1st June at Wembley, also off to see Sweet and Showaddywaddy and Rubettes this Thursday (yes I am showing my age), and we also went to see Def Leppard at Carling Club in Islington a couple of weeks ago, a very small venue with 200 tickets and 300 guests, it was absolutely awesome.....With my birthday money I bought a set of 120 prismacolour pencils which arrived from America in less than 2 days, I also bought a couple of new cartridges for my expression, Weddings and Home Accents, also the box which holds 8 of these cartridges.

I have also splashed out on some copic markers, I now have 88 of them and they colour so brilliantly, here is some photos of a box I made for them, unfortunately as I expanded my collection the box is now to small.... lol, the box I originally made which was too big now holds them.

Today my Crop-a-dile Big Bite turned up along with my Tim Holtz idea-ology bits, game spinners, philosophy tags and trinket pins. I will be posting a couple of Tim Holtz style cards in the next cle of days once I have transferred them from my camera to my computer.

Here are a couple of cards that I have made that are ready to be posted...

I stamped the pink card with Stampin Up stamps and coloured them in using my Marvy Le Plume markers, the image is a Magnolia stamp called Tilda in Petticoats, this was coloured in using Prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps. The scallops are made using my nestabilities dies.

I used MM Noteworthy paper for this card, a Shabby Chic Magnolia Tilda image coloured with Prismacolour pencils, sansador and paper stumps, the green leaves are a quickutz die cut and the sentiment was computer printed. Doodling done by hand, scallop circle is a nestabilities die. Flowers and brad from my stash.

More MM Noteworthy paper on this one, Magnolia Stamp - Paris Tilda and little birds also from Magnolia. Sentiment is computer generated, green leaves from a punch I have, nestabilities die cut scallop square, swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder. Image coloured using Prismacolour pencils and sansador and paper stumps. Flowers, brads and square gems from stash.

Will be back with more tomorrow.... take care all xx

Bad Bad Blogger.......

2008-04-22T14:42:00.005+01:00

Okay, so not sure what went wrong but I haven't posted for over a month. I thought it was only a few weeks too..... doh!! So I have been really busy in that time, I have made loads of cards, 3 small Baptism albums for 3 people in my church who have been Baptised, I will post these in my next couple of posts as I need to made the picture sizes smaller.

DD is moving into her new rented house soon which is actually a house my aunt rents out. It has always been rented and never been empty, so as there is a month crossover from when my son moved out of there into a flat that he is buying and my daughter moving in, my aunt has been spending lots of money refurbishing it. So in the last 2.5 weeks DD and SIL have been very busy, kitchen gutted, papered, painted, new units, tiled and the new ceramic tiled floor will go down this week, new cooker arriving next Monday. Bathroom gutted, new bathroom now fitted and in the process of being tiled, we needed to buy an extra box today, hopefully that will be finished tomorrow and then the floor can go down in their too. They have decorated their bedroom, just need the time to get out and buy a piece of carpet for it, the babies room has been painted but as DD is the demon laminator and she wants laminate flooring in there it will have to wait until she has had her baby due in 3 weeks time, although they have been and bought it today. Hall is in the process of being painted and they have a carpet waiting to go down. The lounge was already nicely decorated, it is just full of decorating stuff at the moment. So they have been really busy and hope to move in this weekend just intime for the birth of baby, although unfortunately the lady they have been renting from has not even advertised their flat yet, so that means they will have to fork out extra rent this month for both places as they had a six month contract on their flat which doesn't run out until 3 June, very unfortunate as DDs DH was made redundant last Wednesday, he had Monday and Tuesday off to decorate, went back Wednesday and arrived home a couple of hours later with a redundancy letter, so bummer to that!!

Anyway, here are a few cards that I have made lately.....

These last 2 cards were made for the Sugar Nellie Challenge blog here:- http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. You can find these cute stamps here at www.funkykits.co.uk.

I met a really nice lady a couple of weeks ago, her name is Sally and she was interested in seeing all my cutting machines as she runs a crop every fortnight and wanted to invest in a cutting machine. She came here and I showed her how they cut and she fell in love with the cricut expression. She is now the proud owner of a cricut expression imported from US. Her crop is every 2nd Wednesday at Writtle College in Chelmsford between 7 and 10pm. It costs £5 per evening and you receive a free protective page and use of equipment and papers on your first visit. Just ask if you want more details as everyone is welcome.

I was totally taken aback yesterday when I received a gorgeous RAK bag through the post. No name, so cannot thank this person in person (IYKWIM) but if you are reading this, a very big thank you. The items are lush, they include ribbon, chipboard shapes, photo corners, metal embellishment, bottle top, fibres, paper clips and much more, thank you so very much. It is my birthday on Sunday, so I will look on it as an early birthday present!!

Off to make some more cards and break open my new SU stamp packs.... lol

Have a good evening all xx

Wow, twice in 1 week.....

2008-03-20T08:39:00.008Z

Yesterday I went to the Paper Mill Shop to replenish my stocks I used for DD's wedding paraphernalia, and wow, it has changed. The boxes are smaller, but some of the colours are nicer, and I didn't spend as much as I normally would have as the boxes are cheaper too. Daughter was well impressed with my constraint and I spent less than £6 in there, which is more than can be said for my trip to Pets at Home..... lol I needed a big big bag of food for the Great Dane pup and little pug's bling collar has seen better days, so bought her a new collar, also lots of bones to help stop dogs chewing my kitchen (or the small dog bed is the latest casualty), and some denta chews to help prevent vets bills for bad teeth!!

Have made a card for our Sugar Nellie Challenge here.... http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. Please come along and join in, we had lots more people this fortnight, but more cards mean more inspiration for the rest of us. Just wait until the next fortnight, that will be a real challenge for you all....

And here was my card for the challenge before this one, didn't get round to uploading it before...

the subject was black, white and pink.

Have 5 new additions to the household, our cat of 1 year had her litter of kittens monday night and she had 4, all are thriving at the moment, but one of them is really small, so fingers crossed for it, then her mum who is 3 had a single kitten Tuesday night, they are now nursing them all together, thought mum would have some more, but so far she hasn't...... she is not distressed, but quite happy nursing the kittens and looking after them so maybe 1 is all she is going to have. It was quite big, and she wasn't massively fat. Here are some pics....

This picture of my dogs also amused me..... this I guess is a definition of a dog pile.....

Yesterday I received my 3 new Sugar Nellies which I bought from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/, have only used the Monkey so far, but am quite pleased with the results...

Have been out today, and instead of buying the children Easter Eggs for Easter I have bought them all books. They do like reading and so thought I would save their teeth this year. Have bought the older 2 and their wives/husbands small egg each, but the others all have books. They will get Easter Eggs from their older siblings, my mum buys them Easter Cakes and they get eggs from their Dad, and seeing as they are always arguing over who is eating whose, I thought I would save myself some stress..... lol (in my dreams).

Thought I might blitz my house this Easter, I always seem to be tidying up, washing, ironing and cleaning, but I guess I never do any deep cleaning like pulling out the fridges and the washing machine, tumble dryer etc and cleaning, I rarely clean the top of my cupboards in the kitchen, dont often clean the skirtings either, so that is all going to be done this weekend. I will get everyone to join in, one can have a duster and go round dusting the tops of the walls and all the corners, they already have a room each to keep tidy, so I will make sure they have tidied the room they are supposed to do, another can go around wiping the skirtings, another dusting the shelves and window ledges, I will clean the windows and wash the covers and mats, DH can do the hoovering, hopefully then we can knock it all on the head quite quickly, apart from the kitchen, which is bound to take longer!!!

Have a good Easter all xx

Bad Bad Blogger

2008-03-17T13:25:00.007Z

Okay, so I haven't blogged for over 2 weeks.... I have been really really busy, but now the wedding has been and gone, I am hoping to get back to normal again. Have loads of cards to post for you, but unfortunately have not been scrapping much, although I did make DD and SIL a honeymoon mini album and then forgot to photograph it..... grrrr!!

Wedding went brilliantly, DD looked absolutely beautiful and a good time was had by all (at least I think so), nothing went wrong, the weather was gorgeous and warm and I have loads of photographs, but have done nothing with them yet..... here are a couple of them...

I have also photographed my puppy, here is her picture, she is only 11 weeks old....

This was taken when she was 8 weeks old and she is growing like a weed at the moment and is much bigger, I have no idea how I am going to carry her to the vets in just over a weeks time for her second injection.

Okay, so here are some of the cards I have been making lately.....

Off to Weightwatchers tonight, dont expect to have lost any weight because as well as eating the yummy Wedding meal, we also had a cooked breakfast the morning of the wedding too, plus I couldn't resist the chicken curry at the chinese on Saturday night either...... grrrr.

Have a good day all xx

Things are hotting up......

2008-02-29T16:04:00.004Z

So only 2 weeks today until DDs wedding, things are getting even busier. She decided to ask me this week what she should do for a bouquet.... argh!!! So went on e-bay and found the perfect one, e-mailed the lady to ask if it would be ready in time, but luckily she was willing to sell the already made one to us as long as we didn't want it changed and we didn't.... I also asked if she could do 3 buttonholes as this is what is required, and she agreed to that. They turned up next day.... hows that for service... so another to do crossed off the list. On to the favours, she had no idea what she wanted, so we ended up picking some little love hearts and heart shaped jelly beans, now I just need to make and decorate 63 boxes. Have cut out and stuck names on 63 place cards, need to make some decorations for them now, but have been very busy finishing my card orders, plus a birthday card for a boy whose party all the children are going to tomorrow, and a Mother's day card for my mum who arrives back today from a three week holiday in Portugal.... It was also DDs Hen Night last night, and we did the normal embarrass her type thing, we made her wear a pink fluffy cowboy hat with flashing lights, a sash saying Bride to Be and some L plates, although we did join in with pink fluffy and silver tiaras... and a nice Girls Night Out flashy sign on our table. Considering that DD is now 30 weeks pregnant and started the week off in Hospital we had a not too alcohol fuelled Hen party starting with a meal at Wetherspoons. I think a good time was had by all!!

Here are some of the cards I made for the first card order..... some were inspired by some card magazines I have bought lately and some were closely copied (only one I think), but cannot remember who to credit them too, so if you recognise any of these cards, please let me know who you are and I will credit them to you.

Here goes....

Other news for the week, I have just got a new puppy to join our cocker spaniel (3 years) and pug (1 year), it is a great dane puppy (yes I am mad) and she is absolutely gorgeous, unfortunately she doesn't have little accidents in the house.... they are totally ginormous. She has just about managed to make two sets of stairs to my bedroom now, although I have to struggle down stairs carrying her as her legs just go in all directions. She is desperate to please tho and I have managed to train her to sit, so hopefully the rest will follow quickly. We are not letting her jump up, we are petting her if she sits as one day she will knock us flying if she was to jump up at us, so trying to set good rules whilst she is young.

My mothers day present turned up today, a cross trainer, but it is a nightmare putting it together, have got DD doing that at the moment, but will need to go help her before I go to work. Joined weightwatchers a week and a half ago and at this weeks weigh in had lost 7lb, so really pleased, although I did blow it at the hen night last night, but back on track today.

Have a good weekend all.... xx

Busy Weekend...

2008-02-12T17:08:00.000Z

Been busy as usual, the older children started their half term on Friday, worked Friday and Saturday night, and did the usual geocaching Sunday. We did a geocache on the site of the Rettendon Murders (the film Essex Boys is based around this story) and whilst looking for the cache, some very scary people walked down the muddy track towards us, we quickly logged our find and left, think they may have been relatives of those shot dead at that site. Also did 3 others, not sure how we always end up in the woods after dark, but it is great fun!!

Made a card on Saturday...

this is for my order of 12 that I have each month... and good news this ladies friend also wants 12 cards a month, so this will keep me busy, now maybe I will have to stop chatting so much on UKS.

DDs nearly sister-in-law had her baby on Sunday, a boy like they had been told it was, so I had to make a card for this event too..

I have now started a list on all the things I need to make, each day I rub some of the things out, but then I remember others so add more... lol I think it is a never ending list.

Spent most of today making DHs valentine card, not sure if he reads my blog, so cannot post a photo until after Thursday... watch this space, clue:- it is not your usual run of the mill Valentine card.

My car went into the garage today, has been playing up for weeks and at one time we did think DH had fixed it, but unfortunately not. Bad news, it is probably the turbo and it could have an electrical fault, the garage which it was at do not do "electrical" so it needed to go somewhere about 15 miles away. I could take it but I had no way of getting home, plus all the children are at home, so could have got there, but we wouldn't have all fitted in anyones car to get home, except my Mum's car, and she is in Portugal for 3 weeks.... at least it is half term and I dont really need the car. It cost £50 just to take the car to Colchester on the back of a low loader, and I still have to pick it up from there once it is fixed.... "electrical" sounds expensive to me, but I really need a car as we live out in the sticks!! Bus fairs for the older children to go to school is £3.50 return, so that would cost me £50 a week just for the children to get to school!!

Have received some of the items I have ordered, I ordered a lot of the K&Co Saffron range as I want to make a mini book of Marrakech using those papers, just waiting for Artymiss to deliver my order, ordered it last Wednesday and it still hasn't arrived, the only one of many not to turn up. Blonde Moments extra thick embossing powder turned up today, bought some new dies from e-bay and some of the We R Memory Keepers Designer eyelets and snaps, been meaning of buy these for a while. Also ordered some little handles for my mini albums, some magnetic clasps, and my new Tim Holtz rubber stamp tin in which now live my stamps... just loving these Tim Holtz tins, and it seemed a waste just buying the tin, so bought some more Tim Holtz stamps too... Oh yeah, mustnt forget my new star Nestabilities too, love those dies!! Oh yeah not forgetting the 6 Colorbox fluid chalk cats eyes stackers.

Right off to cook our dinner, have a good evening all xx

New Lola Stamps

2008-02-08T16:36:00.000Z

So my first card with the new Lola stamps from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. Have also been using my new spring glitter stack from DCWV aswell, lovely glittery paper. Have also received today, some new little knobs which you can use for your mini books, they look so cool, also some mini keys to use on my Tim Holtz style tags, and some really gorgeous watch faces too. Have also had a couple of new dies turned up, sizzix alphabet and a baby with a teddy bear. Hope to get round to using those soon too....

Have fallen by the wayside with my money diet, so will have to continue it next week.... so hard with so much really cool stash stuff!!

Took the girls geocaching today and found a new travel bug, will have to photograph that later with DS's football table as it is a football travel bug. The weather was so gorgeous today, lovely sun whilst we walked along the sea wall and it was quite an easy find too, although nowhere near where we thought it would be....

Right off to work... have a good evening all xx

New Sugar Nellie Challenge

2008-02-06T15:56:00.000Z

So Monday night saw the new Sugar Nellie Challenge blog go live, you can find it here at http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. Please spread the word and enter into our challenges which will be set every 2 weeks.... strange but all the DT went for the Rockstar stamp this time, and there was no conferring, so will have to try and think a bit out of the box next time. Here is my attempt....

Have bought some new Sugar Nellie stamps, you can find them here... http://www.funkykits.co.uk/ and they arrived today, unfortunately haven't had time to try them out yet as my 3 new books from US turned up today, and I have spent time looking at them, all about mini books etc. I have also splurged on some UK ones too, so have been reading them aswell, and trying to have a bit of a rest as Monday and yesterday were pretty manic!! Am waiting on a couple of parcels so that I can start my Marrakech mini book, I suppose I could print out the photographs ready.

Have at last finished DDs wedding invitations, they have changed registry offices to a larger much nicer one, so have invited more to the daytime part (but luckily I had made extra of those invites) and booked a larger hall too, so more evening invites were needed, so had to rush and make those yesterday. Hopefully now they are finished. Have to practise my photography skills now as she wants me to take some photos of her wedding, luckily the registry office has a nice garden to take some pics.

Went geo-caching at the weekend (look at previous post for more information on geo-caching) and managed to find a local one, then Sunday when we came out of church we popped to one close by, but despite 8 of us hunting for around 20 minutes we couldn't find it, so logged we couldn't find it. The person who had started the cache checked it out and it was gone!! They have put another one close by but more hidden and posted the new co-ordinates, so quickly popped there after school and not only was there a first to find coin but a travel bug too..... I was just tooooo excited!!! Visit www.geocaching.com to find out what all my excitement is about. It is very good exercise and gets us out of the house and doing something as a family too!! We also found another three later Sunday afternoon and this entailed us traipsing around the woods after dark howling like werewolfs!! (Dont ask)!!
Anyway, off to finish reading my books before having to start dinner.... have a good evening all xx

As Promised, Long Post......

2008-02-01T12:55:00.000Z

Okay all, sorry I haven't posted for so long, but have been really busy, and set to making a mini book on my trip to Barcelona (in January 2007, so long overdue)... it was made using 7 Gypsies zanzibar papers and clip, brads rub-ons etc. This has taken me a while to complete in between all my other chores. Here it is...

Yes excuse DH for washing his feet in the bidet!!

Luckily I had nearly finished this book when DD2 announced she is getting married on 14th March, and would I make the invites... what could I say, I had made DS1s invites a couple of years ago, so I set too making one that they could alter and guess what, they loved it, so have just finished them, I also took the photograph of them used in the Wedding Invite, here they are, I made everything myself including the heart embellishment, I sat for ages twirling the wire.

And the evening one I made which is a slightly slimmed down version....

So far this year, I have almost stuck to my anything diet... I must not buy anything and must concentrate on paying off our visa card... well I haven't quite succeeded, but spent far less this month than I would normally done, and on quite a few occassions have added bits to my basket, then shut the page completely without ordering it. Not sure I will be that good once the new Magnolia stamps arrive at either http://www.sillymonkey.co.uk/ or http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. Unfortunately DHs car tax needed renewing in January so that cost £180 and I think mine may be due this month... so all in all fighting a losing battle with money!!

DS1 told me last week, guess what?? I hate guessing so got him to tell me that they were on their way back from buying a flat... good on them. This is their first place as they have been renting now for a few years, so I am really excited for them. They got a good deal on a mortgage by using our financial advisor and they said they really made him work for his money, but in future when their fixed rate runs out, he will find them new mortgages for free, this is what he does for us every couple of years!!

Went to see Sweeney Todd on Wednesday evening... I really loved it, so much so that I made DD3 go watch it last night so that I could discuss it with her, she also loved it... I guess being avid Johnny Depp fans did help!! Quite a surprise for me at the end as I didn't know the story of Sweeney Todd before seeing this, and seeing Sacha Baron Cohen in it was quite amusing too!!

Went Geo-caching again last weekend and finally found the one that has had us stumped for a couple of weeks, and can you believe it, a fellow UK Scrappers member beat me to it... and left a message for me!!! DOH!! Have now managed to find a pair of wellies to fit round my fat calves and so can now do caches that involve stomping in puddles!!! he he he Also managed to get a programme called CacheMagnet to work with my ipod, it logs all the notes etc and saves me a fortune in printing out the caches we are going to visit. If you are bored and dont know what to do with your kids during weekends and holidays, you could well enjoy geocaching, doesn't cost much other than the initial outlay for a GPS. Visit this site to find out more... http://www.geocaching.com/.

I had my hair cut yesterday, after a few weeks of being really fed up with it and hating it, but not quite getting round to having it cut, I succumbed to vanity yesterday and had it done. I am really pleased with it and it took less time to wash and dry this morning, so double bonus.

Right, off to think about making my Sugar Nellie card for the DT... check out the webpage http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. The first challenge as I have said before, goes live Monday evening, and new challenges will be posted every 2 weeks.

I get a monthly scrapbooking kit from US, and this months looks super scrummy.... I just love receiving kits with lots of different papers and embellishments to match too... http://www.scrap-room.com/, they also have add on clubs, a stamp club, embellishment club and bazzill card club, plus special offer kits most months too, which I am trying my hardest to resist.

No snow here yet, just nice brilliant sunshine, although it is a bit cold.... have a good day all wherever you are. xx

Sweet Sugar Challenges

2008-01-31T19:51:00.001Z

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....

2008-01-21T20:18:00.000Z

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......

2008-01-17T16:31:00.000Z

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......

2008-01-08T18:26:00.000Z

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.....

2008-01-07T13:29:00.000Z

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....

2008-01-04T17:35:00.000Z

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????

2008-01-03T12:25:00.000Z

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

Serious Brain Overload......

2007-12-19T17:38:00.000Z

So have nothing to post as I have just been busy busy busy, trying to get Christmas ready... you would not believe the amount of times I have been to Tesco this week and have spent well over £300 thereon Monday alone!! Just waiting on one present now from Amazon, was dispatched on 12th and should have arrived yesterday... grrrr. I did receive a parcel yesterday tho, posted first class post on the 8th, so 10 days not bad for RM I guess!! Just need that parcel to turn up so I can stop worrying!! DH is wrapping presents whilst we watch a series of Without a Trace on telly, 2 episodes a night, then he has had enough....

Little children have broken up and the bigger ones finish early tomorrow, one christmas party (fancy dress no less) for one child tomorrow at the time the big ones need picking up from school and haven't even got the present yet.... poopy!! Cant believe this time next week Christmas will be over...... my new years resolution is to be more organised next year and not spent nearly as much money..... read Shimelle's blog earlier and they are having a making it Christmas where they are making everyone presents.... think I will try that one next year, but will start in January!! Serious stash diet coming up in the new year too..... maybe I will get to use up some of the stash I have accumulated over the last year, and I think I will be really brutal and sell a lot of my dies too as I use my cricut mainly now, and there are several dies I use a lot and others I havent even opened the packet of!!

So here are a couple of cards I have made but haven't posted on here yet.....

And here is a Christmas one I made for a Goth in DH's office....

Have a good evening all and take care xx

Busy, Busy, Busy.......... and RM suck!!

2007-12-14T16:13:00.000Z

Have been pretty busy the past few days, we have been to a Nativity Play and have another one next week, need to photo shop the photos a bit so none to show at the moment.

Have finished my card order for this month (only 2 weeks late, but I have been busy with Christmas). Here are a few more of the cards I have made....

I am not very pleased with Royal Mail........... nothing is turning up, I ordered something last week which was dispatched Monday, DH ordered from the same company on Monday, item was dispatched Tuesday and it turned up Wednesday... I am still waiting for my parcel.... please RM I am waiting for it, please bring it tomorrow. I am also waiting on countless others that haven't turned up yet but were dispatched early on in the week. I have just been informed that another parcel I have ordered was dispatched today via City Link and will be delivered Monday and needs signing for and Monday morning is my shopping day...... aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

Yesterday my Sugar Nellie Club Kit turned up, haven't had time to play yet, but have some coloured images to make cards from, so will make that a priority after wrapping presents. This weekend is garden and garage tidy weekend, as DD has moved out she will be collecting all her bootsale stuff which means we get our garage back at last.... woohoo!!!

Did receive 1 parcel today, filled to the top with Tim Holtz embossing powders, another herma dispenser and the Autumn Leaves Designing with 2008.

Gotta fly, DS is off tobogganning tonight with Scouts and needs taking...... (not real snow I will add as there is no snow here).... have a good evening all xx

A Much Better Day.....

2007-12-11T18:52:00.000Z

So excited, my mobile phone turned up around 8am.... but didn't connect me until around 12.15pm, but all up and running now (I think, will have to check a couple of things with DH otherwise is means me reading the manual....).

So haven't really done much today, so not much to blog, I always meet my son for lunch on a Tuesday, so we had a nice lunch together, but time flies so fast!!! Then posted all my Christmas cards at the post office, very grumpy lady who didn't want to post my cards through a slot, so guessed whether they would fit or not, so I apologise in advance if anyone gets charged, it really wasn't my fault!!

Here are a few cards I have made....

And here is a pic of my new mobile phone, a LG U990 Viewty.... all touch screen, what you see in the pic is what you get, no slides no opening nothing!!!

Have a good evening all..... xx

Been Very Busy (as usual).......

2007-12-10T19:36:00.000Z

Well have been working non-stop since I last blogged, but not much crafty stuff I am afraid. Friday I was desperately trying to finish off my Christmas cards (which I forgot to photograph).. Saturday I woke up and decided to envoke the spirit of Christmas into our household, so DH had to lay carpet on our 2 sets of stairs, then laminate the middle hall.... so I dragged the children off to buy some new Christmas decorations. We spent ages in town in the lovely wet windy weather and came home with a nice selection (well they should have been they cost a fortune), but once home we realised we didn't have any drawing pins. DS1 came to the rescue and brought us some round and we decorated our lounge, not overdecorated, just the right amount, but we haven't got round to putting up our tree yet. We did buy a 2 foot tree for our hall and some small decorations so that is up, but the hall is also not yet decorated. Carpeting and laminating took longer than expected (now there's a surprise, why does that always happen to us) and wasn't finished on Saturday. I did manage to write my Christmas cards though, so that was another thing ticked off my list. Sunday, we went to church, then helped DD2 move into her new place with her OH, so off to Focus to buy them a double bed, then back and fourth a couple of time with all her stuff. After we had finished and DH had finished laying the second lot of stair carpet, off we went to their flat to have KFC..... lovely picnic on the floor as they are not getting their sofa until Wednesday.... maybe we should have all sat on their bed, all 11 of us!!! rofl

Today I went shopping (as always) and managed to get our Christmas turkey, all 9.6 kg of him. Also some christmas crackers so that is Christmas all organised.... NOT. Need to do our Christmas shop, but DH is late home from work tomorrow, Wednesday is school play night, Thursday is Church Club night, and Friday, well Fridays in Tesco does not bear thinking about along with all weekend, so that leads us to the following Monday which is only a week away from Christmas Eve....

Today I got a lush new kit from Scrapping Goodies, and an e-mail that at long last my new phone is going to arrive, 12 days late, but better late than never, I told my DD last Friday that if I topped up my old phone with credit it would finally turn up, and guess what, I was right!! DH also ordered my Christmas prezzies today, I added lots of stuff to wishlists and gave him a list of websites, my resolution for the new year is to learn to distress, so Christmas prezzies consists of lots and lots of this kind of stuff!!

Downloaded the trial version of the new cricut design studio on Friday night, and today I made a PEACE for above my lounge doorway for Christmas, could only use the 2 cartridges that came with the expression, but was so impressed I have ordered he full version. Well I do have 31 cartridges so wont be too limited in what I can do!!

Got most of my Chrissie Prezzies now, just need to wrap them (well actually I normally get DH to wrap them), so need to organise that before my dad visits next week.

Here are my projects I did today.....

After that really long post I will love you and leave you.... have a good evening xx

Hooray, something made at last.....

2007-12-06T18:20:00.000Z

So... spent the morning trying to finish my Christmas Shopping online, but didn't quite manage it, so off to Argos tomorrow and then Freeport Braintree after that to pick up a few more bits. Couldn't go out today as was waiting for UPS to pick up a parcel from here. DS 2s Xbox 360, it has the dreaded ring of death, so has gone back to be fixed. DS1s x-box 360 also had the same problem and had to be returned, how ridiculous to bring out such an expensive machine, and most of them have had this ring of death thing and have had to go back. X-box have even extended the warranty from 1 year to 3 because of all the x-box problems..... hindsight is a wonderful thing!!

Woohoo, my prisma colour pencils turned up today, so have just ordered more paper stumps as would hate to run out (that is my pet fear, running out of stuff, so always try to keep stocked up on absolutely everything, guess its a habit I should try and break, then my house would be filled with less things). I have coloured in one sugar nellie stamp with my new pencils.... you just have to do this dont you. Only down side was that you have to actually sharpen all the pencils before you can use them. Decided to do this as I go along.

So I need to make 6 teacher cards as the boys have 3 teachers/helpers in each class (whatever happened to the days of 1 teacher per class) and that doesn't include the parent helpers, DS3 has said he will make his own (thank goodness). Have made 4 so far and here they are:-

DH has just cooked me a yummy meal as the boys and 1 girl are all at Church Club this evening, they just have egg on toast or something similar for tea and we eat on our own once they have gone, we had sushi to start..... (thank you Tesco for your yellow labels) and Moroccan lamb and rice afterwards, I am now too stuffed to eat dessert (although this is my fave part of the meal)...

Have a nice evening all xx

Decorating.........

2007-12-05T13:52:00.000Z

I hate it when decorating is going on, the whole house messes up, and I cannot stand the mess, it has taken me and DD all day so far to clear up after the decorating, but not too much to go now, just seems so many jobs are building up and we are always so busy taking children places, meetings, school consultation etc there are just not enough hours in a day, and definately not enough days in the weekend. So hall is nearly finished, glossing done, walls re-papered in places and painted, and hall landing carpet ripped up. Now all that is left is to put up the blind in the hall, laminate the upstairs landing, and re-carpet the stairs with carpet that is buried somewhere in our garage, and that leads to another job, the garage and garden, such a mess you cant even get in there, the garden is also a mess, so much rubbish blowing around from this recent wind, trampoline needs putting away, slides, bikes, swimming pool steps, just a flipping mess. Oh yes the blind in the lounge also needs replacing, have the blind, but each slat needs trimming first so takes ages, and of course we wont be able to find the trimming tool as it will be somewhere in the garage that you cannot get into. So due to the decorating I have only made one card this week.....

Dont know why the lighting is so bad, perhaps because the weather is not too good here today.

Aaaaargh flippin Argos... ordered DD2 a bed for Christmas on 24th November for her and her OH as they were supposed to be moving into their new flat last weekend. We ordered 24th November and were given a delivery date of 3 December but unfortunately last weekend the people wouldn't move out as their place wasn't ready, so rang on 30th November to change the delivery date, was given the option of December 8th or 11th, so as we weren't sure they were moving in on the Saturday we said the 11th, a Tuesday. Well yesterday they rang to say they dont have it in stock.... how does this work, they have it instock for delivery on 3rd, but not instock for delivery on 11th, but... yes, they will have it in in time for Christmas. DD is pregnant and needs a bed, but they could just have the base without the mattress, but it is a matching bed base mattress type bed with underbed storage.... am I mad??? You bet your ass I am!! So she is now out bed hunting so we may be able to tell Argos where to send their bed too!!! he he. Other problem was the bed was ordered on DH's credit card, but we asked for delivery address to be different. Now Argos wont talk to DH as it is DDs name on the delivery slip.... how does this work eh??

Anyway, have to fly now, nearly time for school pick up and I have only just sat down.... have a nice day all xx

A Lazy Saturday.....

2007-12-01T17:20:00.000Z

Ha ha, had a lay in this morning, cant remember the last time I didn't get up until 11am... then DH went with our neighbour to pick up his poor broken down car.... DS4 was unwell and went back to bed (which means he was really unwell) and so I stayed home with him... sod's law his car started first time, but he kept losing all display and lights a couple of times on the way home. Once home they checked the car over and found a couple of loose connections, so now the car is working better, but all displays still flickered off a couple of times whilst out on a test drive, so DH then tried connecting my old laptop computer with relevant software to his car's computer to see if it could tell him where the problem lies, but the car wont speak to the computer properly at the moment and then the rain started so DH had to give up for the day, but at least it is running a bit better now.... car maintenance will resume tomorrow.

In the meantime, I made a couple of cards, practised colouring in Sugar Nellie in various ways, but still waiting for my prisma colour pencils. New Tilda's arrived today, to go into a box with my other 14 unused (so far) Tilda's, I got party Tilda and party Edwin, and a concave corner punch which I used on both the cards I made today. I also received my sansador (odourless spirit) and paper stumps, so as I have no prisma colour pencils and the only ones I have other than waterproof ones are pastel pencils, I used those with the sansador and stumps, so the darker card today was coloured in in this way.

And just a little extra photo of my little pug in her Christmas santa hat.... DD3 bought her a little doggy santa hat today, and dont worry, although she looks a bit freaked out, her eyes always look like this and she was cool with it, although she did take it off once we put her down.

Have a good evening all xxx

I am Thinking of Hibernating.....

2007-11-30T18:42:00.000Z

Whew, what a busy day...... cannot believe how things just get worse and worse... had a not too bad morning Christmas Shopping (well I sat in front of my computer and shopped), no hassle, no stress, and now have most things ordered and bought, christmas cards all made.... but then things started to go wrong, sent DD 2 to go get DH's christmas present for me, all ordered etc, just needed picking up, so she went to do this, I went on the school run, extra child today as DD 5 is having a friend over to stay tonight, so went shopping for extra food, and midnight snack type stuff. then the small school have disco's tonight, so need to get them ready for 4.45pm. Then at 4pm just after I get home from school run, DH rings, his car wont start, problem he is about 30 miles away, listen he says, it is turning over but wont start.... now ask me about a petrol engine, I can have a good old go at determining what is wrong, but give me diesel, and if the battery is turning over and the glow plug light goes out I am stumped... okay I says, try checking fuse to fuel pump, but whilst fiddling with fuses he manages to start car..... hallelujah, but no within 10 minutes he is on phone, all his lights have failed, no indicators, brake lights, nothing, but the car is still running, he has people flashing as he has no lights, so I tell him to park up at the nearest station and catch a train to the nearest station which is about 10 miles away... luckily he outside the station and does this, so children need to be at disco for 4.45, dh needs picking up 10 miles away, dd3 is still at Uni, DD2 needs to start work at 5, so manage to persuade DD2 to take the kids to disco, and get my neighbour to sit with remaining children, then DD3 turns up early from uni and comes with me for the trek to the station. We arrive home at the time the children need picking up from the disco at 6pm.... finally we are home and have dinner in front of us..... think we need a bottle of wine, and then DH can walk round to the school at 9.15 to pick up DS 3 from his disco. PHEW

Only one card to show you tonight....

I used my new nestabilities on this card, and my other 3 packs have turned up today, just haven't had the time to use them. Am also waiting on some new Magnolia stamps.... and a concave punch, which have been dispatched to me today. Fingers crossed for tomorrow...

off now, the wine is calling, have a good evening all xx

A Minor Victory.....

2007-11-29T17:11:00.000Z

Ha ha ha, DD3 had a strange interview arranged today, probably for a telling off for something she didn't do, but she was very likely to blow up at the accusation thrown at her, so DH went with her for support and guess what, it shocked the guy so much that she had an "adult" with her, he was slightly lost for words, and then had to backtrack on everything he started to say, and actually then admitted that the problem was probably their fault anyway...... hmmmm wonder which way it would have gone if DD had been on her own, so minor victory amongst all the wrongness going on at the moment.... thank you Lord!!

Bought some nice wicker baskets in Poundstretcher this morning, and they had the most adorable largish cards in packets, 18 to a packet and buy 2 get third free, it is of sparkly snowman and sparkly santa, and I thought I could not make cards any cheaper for DS 4 and 5's classmates, so promptly bought them, just hope there is enough now.

Managed to make 4 Christmas cards today inbetween sonic trying to beat knuckles on my PSP!! Still haven't managed it, cant believe I got through the other levels so easily.... boo!!

Here are my cards...

Got just a small parcel today, a set of oval scalloped nestabilities, wizard dies to make different size scallop ovals.... just waiting on another 3 sets from someone else now, which are the plain ovals, scallop rectangles and plain rectangles.... hope they come soon. Also ordered 48 Prismacolour pencils from US, and some paper stumps and odourless spirit, and will try my hand at colouring my stamped magnolias and sugar nellies in this way.... still haven't got round to using my new Magnolias yet, just need to get these Christmas cards out of the way, also need to spend a day surfing for Christmas presents.

Managed to get DD2s bed delayed for a week, so hopefully they will be in their new flat by then. She is off to have a blood test at the hospital tomorrow as they found something not quite right in her last blood test and want to repeat it, but she doesn't know what, but was told it was nothing to worry about.... but I guess we worry just the same!!

Kids off out to their club now, so off to order my yummy chinese takeaway.... have a good evening all xx

Birthday Day......

2007-11-28T17:43:00.000Z

Its my babies birthday.... he is 5 today, cannot believe I have been 5 years without being pregnant... rofl We really went out Sunday for his birthday, but I asked him what he would like for his birthday tea, and he aske for meat pies, although we have a rather yummy chocolate gateau for birthday cake!! He was more than happy with his remote control Dalek, which he has been dying to get his hands on for weeks, and a whole set of power rangers!!! Luckily we have recently laminated most of our house and so the dalek zips around pretty quickly. Looks like we will be having visitors in and out for the rest of the evening....

Just had an e-mail, was really excited about getting my new phone but it has been delayed until around 6 December, to say I am disappointed is an understatement, and I have been trying to use the credit up on my old phone.... so a big RASPBERRY to LG who cannot keep up with demand for the phone.

Have managed to make 2 christmas cards today, and coloured in one sugar nellie stamp to make another card with.... here are the cards...

DD2 wont be moving into her own place this weekend now as the people who are supposed to be moving out are not at the moment, as the place they are moving into is not ready.... so daughter has a written contract with someone who says she cannot move in, so what can she do!!! She can hardly force them can she!! So double bed and fridge freezer are being delivered to this address on Monday, and now all that will have to be changed, and she will have to find someone to store this stuff for her!! She has also found she will not be offered a permanent place where she is working at the moment, although she has been there 3 months, probably because she is pregnant and it is too expensive to keep her on, but as she didn't have a permanent contract there is nothing she can do, she will also struggle to find another job as she is pregnant.... at the moment lots of things are going wrong.... but this is all minor to some of the problems we have had over the past 3 years.. will just have to pray harder.

Anyway, off to have our birthday dinner now... have a good evening all xx

Phew......

2007-11-27T11:20:00.000Z

Been busy making Christmas cards for the people at Church, needed 18, and I always do similar ones for them (as this makes my life easier), so spent Saturday and Sunday making 18 of them. Saturday, we also went out to PaperMill shop, how do I always end up spending so much when I dont need anything!!! The boys always make me buy them a box of card too, so along they went choosing colours they want.... cute eh!!
Sunday we took the children to KFC and then went to see Ratatouille at the cinema, and a good time was had by all I think. Some more Chrissy presents turned up yesterday, and by some fluke they turned up after I had got home from weekly shop, instead of whilst I was there, and then all the palavar of going to City Link etc to pick them up!!
Told DH I wanted a Sonic the Hedgehog game for my PSP for Christmas, and he walks in the room with one that he had bought me for my birthday that had never been opened..... ooops, but at least I am consistent in my wants, so spent the evening last night playing that, and got through the first two levels!!
At the moment, I just dont seem to be able to get into card making or anything creative, just feeling very lazy and cant put my mind to anything, but I really do need to sort out some more Christmas Presents etc, and make some more cards, I hate being disorganised, but for some reason I am always distracted. Got 15 more magnolia stamps on Friday and haven't even used them yet, so will need to use them soon I think... maybe tomorrow when I have nothing else to do.
Anyway, here are the cards I have been making...

I also designed a teddy bear template for my craft robo last night, so didn't totally waste my time. Thursday I am getting a new touch screen mobile phone, I am really excited, though I dont know why, it is only a mobile phone..... now who will I ring first!!! and does that mean I have to read a manual!!! lol Anyway, off now to beat robotnik.... have a good day all xx

Christmas is Coming.....

2007-11-22T17:34:00.000Z

Been busy today, what with Dentists, teacher consultation meetings, school runs etc..... but I managed to make a few more Christmas cards. Will have to sort out my list to find out how many I actually need to make, maybe the shock of the numbers will really spur me into action!!!

So here are the few I have to post, that makes a grand total of er..... 16.

Was much better organised last year, and even made the kids cards for school.... think I am getting lazy and spending too much time on my computer.

So my parcel from Amazon that I have been waiting for for over a week has finally turned up, but my complaining about the amount of time it took has earned me a £3 gift voucher from them. Will have to start checking out some other Christmas presents too, as have many more still to buy. Received my US scrapbook kit this week, it is huge and I haven't even used the previous 2 months yet. I bought an extra Jack and Abby kit this month and have decided that as I have been decorating my house, and as the mini album is in the shape of a house, I might make a mini album of our decorating efforts, although I have no before photographs only after ones.... hall's turn next week, and I have seen a massive wardrobe type thing in Ikea where you can build whatever you want in the inside, so want a shelf for a computer with 2 monitors and a huge laser jet printer, and also a hanging bit for coats, a shoe rack for shoes, and some more shelves for storage of catalogues and telephone directories, gloves, hats etc. Problem although my car is huge, the wardrobe is more huge.... aaaarrrggghhh!!!

Okay well off to have my Chinese takeaway and check out how many more Chrissy cards I need to make, have a good evening all xx

Finished at Last.....

2007-11-22T09:28:00.000Z

At last I have finished my secret keepers mini album, have decided to give it to son for Christmas as he has just started making cocktails and is still collecting stuff, so will buy him some bottles of booze and give him this album too so he can make some of the cocktails. He used to love Ghostbusters as a kid, so that is why I have included a cocktail called ghostbuster.

Here goes....

Made some more Christmas cards yesterday, will post them later today as it is so dull here I have not managed to photograph them yet... maybe I should take to scanning them instead.

Also tried an experiment with my magnolia stamps, will try and use them later and show you what I did.

Off to the dentist in a minute, 2 children 5 fillings between them, then I have a parent consultation appointment after school today, and another 2 tomorrow, non pupil day for big children at school tomorrow for this purpose. Nothing else exciting happened, so I will love you and leave you, have a good day all xx

WooHoo Finished For Now

2007-11-20T17:37:00.000Z

Well the boys room is finally finished, and well pleased with it I am too.... much tidier, cleaner, brighter and modern... more streamlined with everything you would think they could need.... so why are they always in my room then!!!!

Have now decided to do the hall before Christmas too. we have three storeys, so that is two sets of stairs. Luckily if we can get matching base paper, we will only need to strip and paper the middle storey hall, the rest is okay, the paintwork needs repainting as hands dragged up and down handrails has worn the paint off (even though it is gloss), and then repaint the walls. I am going to laminate the middle hall landing too, the downstairs hall is already laminated, and hope to buy a large wardrobe with sliding doors for the entrance hallway, to store coats, shoes, computer, toys and any messy stuff!! Trailing telephone wire will need to be sorted too!!

Anyway, have now nearly completed a little book I have been making for my son for Christmas to go with his bottle of alcohol. He has decided to start making cocktails and insists that everyone buys him alcohol for his presents, my little book has a few cocktail recipes in, which should keep him going for a while. Will post piccys when it is totally finished. Need to set to in making more Christmas cards too, so hope to make about 10 more this week!!

Have just ordered a new mobile phone an LG Viewty, I have had my old phone for nearly 2 years which is unheard of for me, but nothing caught my eye, especially on the "3" network which I like (have had a contract with Orange before and they were totally naff, dd has one now and she has to ring up every month as they always charge her too much). Now this viewty is just one big gadget.... perfect for a Gadget Monkey like me... and it is touch screen, will let you know more once I get it.

Here are a few cards I made last week which I didn't post.

Have a good evening folks xx

No Scrapping for Me Today.....

2007-11-15T19:09:00.000Z

So been busy in the boys room all day, have visited Focus 3 times as they have been too busy to get the extra laminate off of the top shelf in the storeroom for us..... now it looks like we have too much. Have done things all the wrong way round as neighbours complain if we make noise at night, so laminate has been laid, and the walls will be painted soon, as painting doesn't make noise does it??? Which means the boys have nowhere to sleep, so looks like they may have to sleep in the lounge, which means they probably wont sleep much... oh well maybe we will get a lay in on Saturday.... I envisage this room being finished hopefully by Sunday night as we are off out on Saturday. Have a meeting tomorrow morning, so DH will crack on with the decorating and building the wardrobes which will hopefully turn up.

DD3 has just put deposit on a rented flat and she hopes to move in on 2nd December with her fiance, they hope to get married in January and are having a baby in May.... so good luck to you girl... go for it!!!

Went to hospital for x-ray on my foot this morning. I slid down a tyre rut in March and ever since then my foot has been killing me, but as I never go to the doctors, I haven't been in the stupid belief that if I leave it it would get better eventually, but it still hasn't and now it is starting to get on my nerves and is also very painful.

Right here is my card I made yesterday, photo is a bit blurred, but I used my new Sugar Nellie stamps which you can get from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/ Here goes....

Right off to the decorating again, have a good evening all xx

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha - The Laugh of Insanity

2007-11-14T14:12:00.001Z

Okay, I'm a bad blogger, I have failed to blog for the past 2 days...... life is just too hectic and the project I am working on at the moment is going to take some time, so have nothing really to show you. Got my new Prima Bauble Flowers yesterday, they are lush, here are some photo's but honestly the photos do not do them justice, they are absolutely gorgeous....

Okay, well will start with Monday, Monday is weekly shopping day, and boy do we need some weekly shopping, also thought I would do well and ordered some Christmas Prezzies online for the children.... unfortunately (now bear with me a minute), my DHs credit card was defrauded a couple of months a go due to a transaction made a year ago with Ticketmaster Germany. So they have issued him with a new card.... (are you still with me)... now when used in the shop everything is hunky dory.... but large purchases online are obviously a no-no.... Argos works alright, as it brings up an additional security window from his bank in which he fills in various other details and it all goes through (luckily as ordered 2 lots of wardrobes from them Sunday) but other companies, not so good. So phone rings, automated service about a payment for one order, security issues, I ring him he rings back his bank, but actually has no idea of the costs as I still have his credit card, so he has me on one line and the bank on his mobile.... trying to listen to both of us, finally it is sorted out, one company will re-try card later for payment.... good... finished.... not a chance. Do all the usual running around school time, panic to pick DD up from school as older DD has go stuck in traffic, DH is helping out at Beavers, and lo and behold, get back with DD from school at 6pm, and phone rings, another flippin automated bank security call.... ring DH who cant do anything as he is at beavers. Get e-mail saying we need to revise our payment method as card has been declined again.... aaaaarrrrgggghhhh. DH gets home at 7pm and finally sorts it out, put payment through again and yes it worked.... Girls are at guides, so by the time we finish dinner it is nearly 8.30pm and girls need to be picked up.... where has my day gone.

Tuesday..... Quick shop for lunch, Mum pops in for a chat... out for lunch, have 30 mins before picking children up from school, have manic school picking up time (one set of children come out at 3.15 in one area, second set come out at 3.20 6 miles away).. see my problem?? DH gets home from work slightly early, phone rings, its Argos, want to delivery your beds Friday.. or one day next week... aaarrgghh... so before Friday we have to...... strip carpet from boys bedroom, take down 3 wardrobes which just dont cut it anymore, patch up the wallpaper, paint the room, lay laminate flooring (11.6 x 15 foot), and then on Friday build 2 sets of 3 door, 4 drawer wardrobes..... this is after finding somewhere to put all the boys toys, books, DVDs, computer, cars, guitars, etc etc etc....

Wednesday, my Sugar Nellies have arrived.... woohoo, but when do I get to play. Took DS to dentist this morning, he was late out of school and left us 10 mins to get to dentist, which unless I have a helicopter would be impossible, luckily dentist was running late. Had misplaced my mobile phone, so was bothered by this, so popped home before taking DS back to school, and finally found it in a toybox where I had put some of the boys toys away this morning... DOH!!! Took son to school, then had to drive to Colchester and get DD from Uni as she had finished for the day and her car had been in for its MOT.... luckily it has now passed with only £100 worth of work, so she is well pleased. Have a meeting today at 5pm, so need to finish tidying house... (housework, now what is that??). Then after meeting, dinner, trip to Focus for laminate flooring and paint and roll of wallpaper... and so it goes on...

Here some cards I made a few weeks ago......

Have a good day folks!!!!

Life at a Much Slower Pace

2007-11-11T18:45:00.000Z

A nice slow day today (well for me anyway).... went to Church this morning, had a really good time as usual. Then off out for the afternoon, after a quick trip to Tesco to buy bits for DD4s cooking lesson tomorrow.... lemon tart, and black cherry cheesecake.... mmmm yummy, I love my deserts, which I regret to admit does show!!

Went to Southend, much colder this weekend, flick back and you will see the photos from last weekend on the beach. No chance of the beach today, the tide was very very high, and we could see why Southend was on flood alert last Friday!! So children played together, not argument free for 2 hours, with games we keep in the car like swingball, throwing horseshoes, and also the kite and kiteboard. Well there was not enough wind for the kite, but the kiteboard went smoothly down the hill with each of the children on in turn and even some together.... with DS 2 deciding to do somersaults over the board on its way down, see the photo's below. Had a good time together but had to leave for home earlier than normal as by 4.30 it was already getting dark.... boooohooooo!!! DDs 2 and 3 took some flowers to the cemetary as my grandad died on Rememberance Sunday about 11 years go, and we try and make sure flowers are laid for him on this day, and a big Thank You to all the soldiers that have laid down their lives so that we may have the freedom that we do in this land.

Have decided to sort out the boys room this week, meaning, patch up the wallpaper, coat of paint, laminate flooring, new desk and new wardrobes, but am having trouble deciding on the maple wardrobes or the maple wardrobes with blue doors... and yes I have done 2 years training in Interior Design too.....

Right well here are the photos of sons and daughters on kiteboard....

Bit blurred but I really need a tripod, and I guess I had the wrong settings for movement, although I did shoot in auto mode except for the focusing, so not sure really what went wrong...

Here are some photos of a couple of cards a made a while ago as I haven't made any today....

Have a great evening all xx

Phew Finished at Last.....

2007-11-10T19:58:00.000Z

Okay, well I have had a manic 2 days, have visited Ikea twice in that time and actually stuck to what I wanted (well almost).... Bought some desks for the girls new room, 2 new chairs for their desks, a side table, table light and wall light for them to read by at night, and other DD's room I bought a table, a chair, some material, a cushion, and last but not least a new magnetic strip for my crafts!! Rooms are now finished and look good, have spent the day either at Ikea or tidying up, and a big sigh of relief that it is now finished, but no crafting done unfortunately. Thinking I may sell some dies and maybe my small cricut machine, and possibly my Xyron PCS as I need some money to do laminate flooring in the boys bedroom now, and a new bank of wardrobes would be good too... maybe at last then they would be able to keep it tidy, the carpet is well past its prime and you can imagine what it is like with 3 boys in the room!! DH has just gone off to get us some kebabs for dinner.... mmmm very hungry as haven't really stopped to eat all day!!

Here are a couple of cards I made yesterday, the christmas one was made specifically for the Scrummy Stash Cafe blog competition, and the magnolia one also fits the description, so added that to the competition for good measure!!

Here they are.....

Have a good evening all.... take care xx

A Book Quiz

2007-11-09T13:15:00.002Z

Okay, well I found this quiz on GermGirls website and thought I would give it a go.... not sure if it is me tho, may have to ask a few people!!! rofl

You're A Prayer for Owen Meany!

by John Irving

Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire
faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest
this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking
moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT
SOUNDS LIKE THIS!

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

A Bit Quieter Today

2007-11-08T17:10:00.000Z

Well I managed to get everything done yesterday..... supermum or what!!! lol Dentist went brilliantly, no-one needed any work except Elijah, DS 4 who has teeth that through no fault of his own just crumble away. Therefore dentist fills teeth, teeth crumble and filling falls out, the first time he went he needed 17 fillings, last time he went he needed 11, this time only 4, but maybe that is because his teeth have started to fall out at last. Dentist seems to think the second lot of teeth will be okay and he wont have these problems. Our dentist is a hero, he is brilliant and even though the rest of the staff wanted to go home, he made the children balloons out of rubber gloves and drew faces on them!!! I sped off to the Doctors, I hurt my foot back in March, but have done nothing about it as I thought it would have to get better eventually, I never visit the doctor, I am allergic to penicillin and erythromyacin so there isn't too much else that I can take, so dont bother going. Anyway, doctor doesn't know why my foot still hurts, and when I say hurt, I mean really hurt, I have a high pain threshold, with 7 of the children I only had gas and air, (the other 3 were C-sections), so can put up with a lot, but some days this is just sooooooo painful. Anyway, he has given me an x-ray form and I have booked an x-ray for next Thursday (how come they are only busy when I need an x-ray, Mum says they are normally super speedy with appointments). Doctor then says if there is something wrong with my foot then he will refer me to orthopaedics which will take an age.... thanks for that Doc.... now I know why I dont go to the doctors very often!!

Today spent the morning with DD3, we went to Morrisons and had our almost weekly fried breakfast.... my arteries love them!! Then off to B&Q to buy some curtains for when she finishes decorating her room, also some sticky fablon stuff to disguise the yukky pink wardrobe doors, a new curtain rail (why do small kids always managed to pull down curtain rails)!! sockets and light switches (room has 1 electric socket??? so we bought a 1 to 3 converter socket) and the light switch is a dimmer!! All painting was finished last night, laminate bought, and they are going to lay that tonight. Then we went off to Argos to buy some bedding for her bed, and somehow or other some bedding fell into my basket too, a set I have been coveting for quite some time, and not something I would normally buy at all, I am a very plain type of person, and I have absolutely nothing pink in my house but this is fussy and has pink in it, will try and take a piccy for tomorrow!!

Havent made much today, just my first ever Hanna card, and so I am uploading a couple of cards I made last week before I started this blog. The pirate is a Magnolia stamp and is for DS5s birthday at the end of this month. The other I made as I was just trying to use up my kit from Scrapping Goodies before the next one was posted out.

Have a good evening all.... xx

Another Busy Day.....

2007-11-07T15:48:00.000Z

So this is how the rest of my day will go....... Dentist for 6 of us, Doctors for me, Firework Party for 2 girls, somewhere we have to fit dinner in, off to Focus to buy paint and laminate flooring for DD3s bedroom... dismantle bunkbeds, clear out carpet, paint the walls..... phew *lets out a deep breath*...

Anyway, at least the rest of the day was not so bad, managed to get 3 cards made, coloured some more stamped images, finished up some more of my Chalk Garden Kit....

Received 3 more Magnolia stamps from Funky Kits.... thank you so much Tracy and Karen for getting these out to us super quickly.. and RM have played the game this time too!!

Anyway, off to fold up some washing..... how do I end up with so much when all they wear every day is their school uniforms??????

Have a good evening all xx

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

2007-11-06T16:34:00.000Z

Okay, well BT managed to cut off our phone completely yesterday afternoon.... so how do you report a fault when your phone isn't working?? Luckily Mum came to the rescue and she phoned BT for us, reported the fault at about 7.30pm last night, and they said the fault was somewhere between the exchange and our house, and that they would fix it today (phew.... not our fault so no charges).... Mum thought maybe we had melted the wires with all our downloading!!! Well true to their word, which in my experience is very unusual, they did fix it at around 12.30pm today, nearly 24 hours without internet access...... so I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms... but I didn't get side tracked and so got some scrapping done instead!! Maybe BT should cut our phone off more often!!

DD4 has been picked to represent the Essex Guides in Slovakia next year for 11 days in August... she is so thrilled... tonight we have a meeting in which we will find out more about it and she will find out who she gets to go with (only a handful of girls, so did very well to pass the interviews). Cost £500 plus spending money!!!! *Gasp* but luckily last week Guides said they will raise the money through sponsorship for her to go... *big sigh of relief*.

Got my new Scrapping Goodies Kit yesterday, and despite the fact that I wanted to use up my Chalk Garden Kit from Scrummy Stash Cafe, I managed to throw good intentions to the wind and do an LO of my son who is now a part time Police Officer and full time IT Manager in a School!! at the grand old age of 23!!!! Dont I feel old!!

Anyway here are the cards and LO that I have put together over the last 24 hours, the acetate card was made using the Chalk Garden Kit from Scrummy Stash Cafe and was copied from their Project Sheet.... so no imagination used there, but as I had not made an acetate card before I thought it a good idea to start with this.... he he there will be no stopping me now!

So there we go... if you want any more information about the papers etc... just leave me a comment and I will answer as soon as possible!!!

Have a good evening all!!!

This may be a long post.......

2007-11-05T11:32:00.000Z

Well not a very exciting weekend, spent it tidying up and completing a card order for Sunday. We are in the process of swapping bedrooms around as DD2 has just moved out, so DD3 who is at Uni is about to get her own room, but she needs to go into the small room, and the other 2 girls move into her room. So all we need is a new bunkbed as I dont think their old one will take being moved yet again..... so checked out the Argos website and they quoted 2 weeks, but lo and behold when I ordered it they said Friday, so a manic week trying to sort out the rest of the bits... and believe me that is no mean feat going on the amount of stuff DD4 has accumulated in craft stuff and DD3 has accumulated in old skulls of various animals.... (yeah I know but she is studying to be a doctor). Her condition of having her own room is that she laminates it before she reassembles her bed in their but the room is only about 7 foot 6 inches by around 8 foot 6 inches, so shouldn't take too long.

Sunday, well believe it or not we spent the afternoon on the beach, and it was gorgeous, how on earth can you spend a lovely November day on the beach.... check out these photographs I took.

So November on the beach in swimming trunks.... mad eh!!

Received some lovely stamped images on Saturday from Alex (aka UKS Bird) and now all I need to do is colour them in and make cards with them. My aim is to have a box of mixed cards to send out as needed instead of having to rush and make a card when needed, plus I really need to get a move on with my Christmas Cards otherwise yet again it will be a last minute panic.

At the moment I am stalking the Postie waiting for my monthly Scrapping Goodies kit, it looks absolutely gorgeous and I am sure it will be..... please can I have some more hours in the day, I have so much paper to use up!!

Here are the cards I made this weekend..... have a good day all!!

And even more cards.......

2007-11-01T16:35:00.000Z

Havent done anything exciting today, spent a fortune on Fireworks for Saturday night as the children wanted Fireworks in the garden as opposed to going to a display. Mojo is still on holiday, so here are my chistmas cards I made from last week with yummy doodlebug papers and a card made with the left overs from my very yummy Scrapping Goodies kit.

Off to parents evening tonight, fingers crossed for good reports, although I did get preliminary reports the other day that they were all settling down fine this term and were doing well, even my littlest one who has only just started school. He went back to school today after 2 days with the lurgy!! and just in time for the school photographs, although I never buy them just keep the proofs, can you imagine how many school photos I would have by now if I had of bought every set!!! Would have needed a bigger house!!

More Cards.....

2007-10-31T18:50:00.000Z

Well my little boy slept until 2pm this afternoon when I woke him up as I had to do the school run, I was worried he would dehydrate if he didn't drink, but he was fine and is much better than yesterday, when he threw up all over the place twice and was so hot, he hallucinated and was inconsolable when he dreamt his brother (who is six and very scrawny) had thrown him across the room. This left me plenty of time to create and craft, but I was stuck for inspiration and only managed to make 3 cards!! So here are today's offerings.....

I also have some Christmas Cards I have made but will save them for when I have a day where I dont make anything, plus it is much easier to photograph during the daylight hours!!!

Have a good evening all....

My New Blog - Todays Masterpiece!!!

2007-10-30T17:58:00.000Z

So at long last I have created a blog which I intend to keep up to date. I thought I could post all the bits I make on here and link it to UK Scrappers so that I dont have to post everything on the forum. I cant promise my daily life is interesting, but you are welcome to read on. On Thursday it is my eldest sons 23rd birthday, he is an IT Manager in a school and a part time policeman, so for the last 2 years his birthday cards have had to contain something to do with police. I have also found a photo of him taken when he was about 3 at a playschool day, where he is wearing a policeman helmet and handcuffs.... maybe he was always destined to be a policeman, who knows!!

For this card I used Basic Grey Color Me Silly Paper, a computer generated Happy Birthday strip, and cuttlebug cars.

And here is that wonderful photo from yester year!!

Sssh dont tell him it is here. I will tell him about my new blog and I know he will have looked at it when he complains about me posting it!!! Ha ha ha. How much do children embarrass you when they are young... now its time to get my own back!!