Bad Bad Blogger.......

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.....

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

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......

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...

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

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

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