Ten Years On......

Aww I do miss Diana, I remember I was in bed on a Sunday morning and Alan had to go into work, he called me as he heard the news on the radio. I promptly burst into tears. I loved to see her on TV and in magazines. I was very lucky to have met her when I was 19 - she was beautiful. I also got to meet Paul Burrell in June this year. I know many people thought he was a toerag for writing his books I did and I told him so (oops!) I did tell him that when I read his book I changed my opinion. Talking to him I was so struck by how very devoted he was and still is.

I thought the service today hit all the right notes. By the way if you haven't seen "The Queen" with Helen Mirren in it, you should, it really sheds so much light on the whole story and why the Royal Family chose to stay at Balmoral. At the time I was livid that the family didn't return to London, but it was the best thing for the Princes at the time, and it was awful how the Queen was criticised then.

5 years ago this very day my little boy Alex was born, so we have celebrated today.

"They Tried to Make me Go to rehab - I said no no no.........."

OK I am feeling a little like Amy WINEhouse - me and Mr Chardonnay are more than just good friends right now - hey ho, if it dulls the pain/stress/etc then I think it is OK. Besides a stay in the Priory might just be fun eh?

ANY -HOO , we officially started house hunting in Edinburgh today - OH MY GOD

OK this is how it works. People selling houses up here pick some totally random figure of a price they would like you pay - you then have to make them an offer over that figure, and we are not talking maybe 2 or 3 grand more................we are talking maybe 2 or 3 HUNDRED grand more. They are "sealed bids" so you have no idea whether your bid will be accepted. To me it sounds like a recipe for total heartache and stress and frankly I DO NOT need any more of that right now thanks very much.

So tonight we went to see the most heart breakingly beautiful house which has a guide price we could afford but not offers over. Edinburgh is probably now on a par with London prices, we currently live in a 6 bedroom house in Cheshire and there is NO WAY we can afford that here. OH and just in case you think I am a posh tart............I am not - 2 of the 6 bedrooms are used as offices and most of the rooms still need to be "done up". We were just very lucky to find a house at a very reasonable price which needed a lot of TLC.

Anyway apart from all that I am fine and dandy and Alex is 5 tomorrow so that will be a nice day.

Taking a Break

Well we 3 are in Edinburgh for a few days, we have spent so much time arranging a funeral and clearing the house that we decided we have to get away and just chill. It is Alex's 5th birthday on Friday so high time we did some fun stuff together.

I have shed a few tears tonight, the last few days of mum's life were spent in this flat in Edinburgh, we waved her off on the train from here, so it was emotional to come back. I miss her so much

My Back Hurts...........

OK bit of a grueller of a day, we headed over to Mum and Dads house to do some more clearing out. Crikey over 40 years of accumulated possessions yikes!! Well today I decided to tackle the loft. Have you ever spent 3 hours bent double in a loft? Put it this way I feel like a twisted old hobgoblin (by the way what is the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin??) My back is killing me.

The loft is filled with some sort of insulation, hopefully it's not harmful, if it is then I am "scoobed" it's shredded paper by the looks of it, makes you sneeze and there are years of accumulated dust up there.

I found loads of cool stuff, including all the pics and stuff I had when I was a camp counsellor in the USA when I was 21 (possibly the coooolest 3 months of my life)

About 300 love letters sent from Mum to Dad when he was in the army..........shall I read them??

My very first ball gown from Uni days, fuchsia pink from Laura Ashley - I sense it could be vintage and worth millions heee heeee.

The weirdest victorian doo-dah, it's a glass dome which covers a "basket" of wax fruit, most of which looks melted and yukky, it belonged to my Grandma , I remember it when I was little. It was in a sorry state then, but I LOVE it- Alan called it a "shed pixie" (tune in tomorrow for a shed pixie definition)

Lots of cheesy 1970's Annuals, Jackie, Look-In, Dr Who etc, retro heaven!!!!

And much much more. I guess it all stems from the fact that Ma and Pa lived in the same house all their married life.

OHH OHHH also, totally changing the subject..........I had a comment today from a real life US writer - hey Candace!! Lord knows how she arrived at my blog, but I am chuffed to pieces (i.e very excited)

ALSO last but not least, those of you who are kind enough to read my stuff know all about what has been happening in the last few months and I am extremely touched and grateful for your lovely comments. It means so much, so I thank you for taking the time to post such nice words xxxxx

I am so uncool

The Mac went back.............I am soooo uncool. I feel like Andy out of Little Britain "don't like it"

I tried to be cool, I WANTED to love it, but it just didn't float my boat. I am not a graphic designer, web designer young hip trendy thing, I am 40, I like making cards and dabbling in digi scrapping. OK so I ain't been doing much of either lately but I really didn't need a MacBook pro. So ,my love affair with Macs was short lived.But there was no real acrimony, Mac I thought you were cool , but I guess you were just too cool for me. The people at the Apple Mac store were gutted, I thought the guy was gonna cry, he loved macs and begged me to reconsider, I nearly caved in but didn't.

So they refunded my money and I am blogging on a new HP laptop, it's lovely and it feels like home..........

I was on UKS this morning and read a thread about a lady who has posted a listing on ebay for Pokeman cards that one of her 6 kids had sneaked into her trolley whilst shopping. The listing is hilarious, but her blog is even funnier. This is probably appearing on blogs all over the place but here is the link - absolutely worth a read
http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/

What Have I Done?

Oh no, I REALLY don't like my MacBook, I have wanted one for so long and I just don't like it. It's not as much fun as I thought it was going to be, I suppose the thrill is in the chase ha ha!

ALSO , although I finally got wirless to work, the "A" on the keyboard is very dodgy. I am dragging my sad self to the Trafford Centre today to see if I can get a refund..............what a berk!

I'll keep you posted. If you see a blonde 40 year old in the Apple Shop shouting.....it'll be me.

The lovely Paula Pascual sent me a card yesterday, I was so chuffed, she is so kind.

I have also had about 3 cards from the fabby Julie Hickey. Julie is such a sweetie, it's weird, when I first started card making she was a great inspiration to me (still is) and now here I am getting handmade cards from her, how cool is that!

PC Versus Mac

In a vain attempt to cheer myself up I bought a MacBook Pro today. I have lusted after one of these for aaaaages. I actually bought a PC laptop 3 weeks ago, the battery konked out yesterday and so it went straight back to John Lewis for a refund. I bunged a bit (actually A LOT) more money to the refund and splashed out.

Well I was sooooo excited, they didn't have a bag big enough to fit the darned thing in so I had to carry it in it's gorgeous mac box, god they do know how to seduce suckers like me. I was terrified I was gonna get mugged getting back to the car, so I dragged poor Alex at break neck speed through the Trafford Centre and locked the doors as soon as we were in!!

So I get it home, open the box, all V stylish I can tell you, and then the heartache began. Seems the little critter is so posh it took a decided dislike to my common wireless router and refused to connect to the t'interweb, aaaarrrggggghhh! FINALLY after hours of trawling the net on my desktop I found an answer and I am able to connect. I have to admit though, it has taken the shine off the whole experience. I am loathe to load on any software in case I have a change of heart.

The other thing is, I have never really used a mac before, I think I will be buying MACs for DUMMIES as it is quite hilarios to watch..........wish me luck

I Feel Weird

Hmmm I feel weird, kind of a bit lost and unsettled. Life has changed so much in the last 4 months. I keep thinking "oh I must ring Mum and tell her about.................................ah right I remember now, I can't" (sigh)

I think I am doing OK, but really not sure how I feel at the moment. Alan is away and I really don't know what to do with myself.

I spent some time in my craft room today, tidying up and chucking rubbish out. Have brought home lots of Mum's craft stuff, so now I have 2 of everything hey ho!

I've been off work for about 3 weeks now - 3 weeks ago tomorrow, Mum, Alex and I drove up to Edinburgh to start our holiday. Strange, it all feels like I am living someone elses life at the moment ( I wish I bloody was too!)

Doing OK (ish)

Yesterday we said a final goodbye to my mother, it was the funeral. Although there were of course some moments of great sadness, we also celebrated her life. I was surrounded by wonderful, loving friends and family, all with great stories and memories of her.

I managed to write a eulogy and got up to speak at the church, I was dreading making a fool of myself, but I got through it, and got an applause at the end which was just so supportive.

Lots of decisions and things to sort out over the coming weeks and months. I miss her very much, but at the same time I feel blessed to have had such a wonderful mother.

Not feeling Good

I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful little boy, but having lost my brother at 28 , 9 years ago and my Mum and Dad in the last two months, somehow, I feel very alone............on the surface I think I am doing OK., no hysterics and stuff but just shocked and empty. Gosh I miss my Mum.

Thank You

I am so grateful for all your comments. It is a sad time and I am coping (how? I don't know)

This is a time when you know who your friends are and I seem to have lots and I am so blessed.

My Mum was my best friend and we shared lots - she was a card maker too. I sat reading Crafts Beautiful and Quick and Crafty last night, normally I would ring her and talk about the latest designs and stash , so it was quite sad. All I can say is hold your loved ones close and never take life for granted, it is a precious gift, so love one another as much as you can, make every day count. Don't save that outfit for best and never say "i'll do it next year" just go and do it..................

Sam xxx

Devastated

Late last night, we had the worst news ever. My darling, precious mother died suddenly with no warning at home...........2 months after my father died. I can't think of any other words to say

Ahoy there Shipmates!

Our hosts have a new boat, and every year we try to take a trip out, usually to Plockton, for dinner. For a land lubber like me it's a great thrill, the weather wasn't so good yesterday. We get to the boat by way of a little red motor boat , the Loch was VERY choppy and we were soaked by the time we got to the big boat even though it was only moored about 50 yds off shore, take a look - she is gorgeous......


Here is the youngest crew member..... The views were amazing, here's the little boat from the port side ( I think)
Here I am with Alex.....
Returning to the boat, here is the view from Plockton shore..............just gorgeous.

We had dinner in the Plockton hotel and I strode about in my sailing wellies feeling quite the thing.

Not sure what the plan is for the day, it is piddling down with rain, we are supposed to be going to the Highland games in Skye tomorrow, if it is not rained off - fingers crossed.

A Rare Day

Yesterday, I did something I do very rarely, I basically did a whole lot of nothing. I stayed in the house, didn't race from place to another and really for once had nothing to do and nowhere I had to go. I found a new book to read " The Moon's a Balloon" which is David Niven's autobiography, which I am finding hard to put down.

I also played for hours on my laptop, I downloaded some digi kits, installed ACDSEE and generally blog surfed which was fab.

I am astounded and extremely grateful too see how many people are currently reading my blog. I have a view my stats link which lets me see where people are coming from on a map and from which site they found me. It's incredibly flattering to see that some VERY talented people who have their own blogs have seen fit to add mine as a link from their own. I just hope you all stay tuned.

The weather up here today is not brilliant, but as Billy Connolly says "there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes", so we will do what we can. Not sure yet what we will be doing FIL and his friend and my hubby are off to play golf in a while.

The midgies were out with a vengeance yesterday, chewing on Alex, he stayed outside for as long as he could flapping his arms about to ward them off, but I am afraid he is just too young and juicy for them to resist him. He eventually ran in the house whimpering and scratching his head madly, bless him. Judging by the weather today they'll be back..............

On My Hols

Well here we are, safe and sound in Kishorn, almost a year now since I started this blog, so if you look at some of my very first posts you'll see a pic of where we are.

The Sun is shining and the midges aren't out for blood (yet!). It took us five and a half hours to get here from Edinburgh (groan!). It's usually a 4 hour straight run, but there was lots of traffic yesterday.

I have my new laptop with me and I purposely didn't bring any card making stuff, so I am hoping to crack on with some digi stuff and hopefully post some here - time and outings permitting.

Our hosts have a new boat, we haven't seen yet so I am looking forward to a trip out on that, and on Sunday, we are off to the Skye Highland Games, I might get to see some caber tossing and sword dancing, lots of pics to be taken then!

Ah well that's me for today, tune in tomorrow for more Highland News and the latest midgie count!

Penguins

WOW I was really chuffed to see how many people visited my blog yesterday to read the bagelope instructions. There is lady in Canada with a great blog called http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/ check it out. I'll be adding this to my sidebar too.

I also got tagged by Paula Pascual, so I apparently have to add this doo-dah to my blog

I need to tag some other people too, so I am tagging some of the Banana Frog design team members . A very talented bunch of chicks they are too ! Shimelle, Ann, Audrey, Nat and Sam.

So after yesterdays post all I can offer you is Penguins. Yesterday, Mum , Alex and I went to Edinburgh Zoo, the highlight of the day was the Penguins walk. Every day at 2:15pm they open the gate to the penguin enclosure and those that feel like it, toddle out for a little walk, it is soooo cute. 12 of the little souls decided to go for a stroll yesterday so here is a pic.

Edinburgh Zoo is just brilliant, we were able to do a brass rubbing in the rhino house, they have a big pool and two of them were lying in it and it was fascinating to watch them, although a bit whiffy.

At the end of the day Mum and I walked round the corner, there is a papercraft shop 5 mins walk away, I spotted it last time I was here, how cool eh? So we were really excited, but when we got there they were CLOSED,arrrgh, the lady who owns the shop is getting married and so they are closed till next week, bad timing or what? So I stood there with my nose pressed against the glass spying at all the goodies................never mind I'll have to save it till next time.

Bagelopes

I made some bagelopes with my chum Sarah from Sarahs Cards last year as a make and take at the NEC, and I got them published in Simply Cards and Papercraft this year too. I can't claim them as my own idea, I read about them on t'interweb but I thought it might be something good to share. They are easy to make and it's something you can do with children. All you need is a humble envelope and then you can decorate them as you like. I like to do do rubber stamping on mine, if you are going to do the same, make sure you do it BEFORE you make the envelope into a bag! In the example above I used stamps from Banana Frog

Step 1

Take an envelope and either cut or tear off the top flap, you can use decorative scissors if you like.

Step 2

Fold up the bottom of the envelope about 1 inch, crease quite firmly, you can use a bone folder if you like, then open the fold up

Step 3

Fold in the sides of the envelope to the same width as the bottom fold, it's important that you make the folds the same size otherwise you will end up with a "wonkylope" ha ha ha !! Use a bone folder if you like. Then open the folds up.

Step 4

Put your hand in the envelope to "sit" the envelope flat on it's bottom

Step 5

Turn the "bag" upside down and maeke 2 points creasing them firmly.

Put glue on the underside of each flap and stick down, you can put your hand back in the bag and push down on a flat surface to help the sticking process.

Step 6

Hold the bag upright and sharply crease down the folds on either side of the bag to give the bag it's shape

Step 7

Fold down the top of the bag creasing firmly, then you can punch a hole in the top to thread a ribbon through. Ta-Da!! your bagelope is done!

If you make a bagelope I'd love to see your creations, post them on your own blogs and let me know and I'll link to them from here - have fun!!!