Retro Christmas Cards

Just made some last minute card for my neighbours, loving the retro paper and stickers from K&Co, very simple to make, and I printed out the Merry Christmas greetings onto white card - as that meerkat on TV says - "simples".

Stampin'Up!

Hop over to my "other "blog for some Christmas card ideas.....

Lovely Stuff

I love felt! It's just yummy, but I've found that it's quite hard to find nice colours. Most shops I'vc been in sell a very limited number of colours. I searched high and low to find a nice selection until I made a plea on Twitter and someone suggested this site . I am in felt heaven! Sarah, the girl who makes all this lovely stuff inspired me to make these hearts with buttons. I take NO credit whatsoever for these designs, I just copied them from the site, but I am not intending to sell them, just hang them in my craft room and give some to friends as wee pressies.


I just had to order some more yummy felt, so here is my parcel from Sarah, including a scrummo colour chart.

Twitter Nightmare

OH good grief, my Twitter account got phished, I am such an idiot, someone sent me a spam "tweet" I clicked the link, it asked for my Twitter name and password and I filled it in

ERM HELLO, talk about dumber than a bag of hammers...........so if you follow me on Twitter, please unfollow\ignore anything from my @sjcurrie account and follow me on @sam_currie

I can't believe I was so stupid, apologies to you if you follow me.

A Few Cards

Currently working on some cards for a mag which I can't share but these one were in a mag a few months ago using papers and embellies from a company called My Little Shoebox. Their papers are sooooo colourful I love love love them. They are all available from Sarahs Cards

New Stampin' Up! Catalogue

EDITED - I've just seen that my blog is ranked higher than it has been in aaaaages so as a little celebration, the first person to email me gets a brand new SU! catalogue for free!!!

They've done it again! A brand new catalogue from Stampin' Up!, full of yummy scrummy card making and scrapbooking goodies.

If you would like to place an order please contact me anytime, I am offering free P&P at the moment too!!

Click the image to see the online catalogue!

A Crafting Weekend

I've had a great weekend. I spent all day Saturday on the Stampin' Up! stand at the SECC in Glasgow, met some great ladies who ohh'd and ahh'd at the lovely samples our talented team of demos had made.

I did 7 half hour "make and takes" in three and a half hours -phew!

Here's Paula, the UK Manager of SU!


Here's some of the lovely samples on the display board

I've even done some crafting myself this weekend. About three years ago I taught at a retreat which was organised by Sarah Davis of Sarahs Cards. Her retreats and crops are AMAZING, such attention to detail and she makes everything just perfect. Check out her online shop and blog, she always has the best stash in stock and her kits are scrummy!

Anyway, during the retreat I was given a couple of kits which were taught in the other classes. I dug them out and made them up yesterday afternoon.

Here is a mini book in a cigar tin, designed by the fabbo, Anita Mundt.


Here is a Christmas star book which was designed by Jan Dolan, who now lives "Down Under". I've never made a star book before, it was really nice to make.



Both projects use American Crafts papers, one of my favourites


Last but not least, I made a card this morning inspired by a card I saw on the Papertrey Ink site, so it's a total "case". I used Hero Arts stamps and a Stampin' Up! punch

Text In A Circle

Just a quick video for your delectation! I've published this on an earlier blog post as a step by step type thang, but I thought I would try it as a video, it's my first attempt at using Screenr so I hope you like it.

It's probably going to get "Twittered" too. Oh and if you click the button next to the Screenr Logo at the bottom of the window you'll see the video in full screen which makes it a whole lot easier to see (press ESC on your keyboard to come back to normal).

Cover Gal

OHHH Looky Looky, my Christmas cards are on the front cover of the Dec issue of Crafts Beautiful, I haven't posted any pictures of my stuff for aaaages, basically because I don't get chance to craft for myself at ALL, woe is me eh?

Hoping to rectify that, since I have so much stash, talking of which I had a MAJOR craft room de-clutter last week and my friend Steph will be on the receiving end of some nice goodies soon!

Meanwhile I am really chuffed to be on the front cover!!

I am off to the SECC this Saturday, I will be on the Stampin' Up! stand, should be fun, if you are there please come and say helooooo.

Thank You Alan xxxx

A year ago today I heard the words no-one ever wants to hear, "you've got cancer". I can't believe how fast this year has gone, I'm out the other side now, a little older, fatter and I hope, wiser.

See, my cancer was a bit sneaky. It couldn't be felt by me or the 3 doctors that examined me, which is a very sobering fact. It was found when I had a mammogram, I was only 41, and the only reason I had it was because Alan had been for a company medical, a proper MOT from BUPA. He felt it unfair that he should have the benefit of a good looking over whilst I didn't. So he booked me in on the spot. The terrifying fact is that the lady who booked me in, asked if the mammogram was required since it was optional because of my age.............thank GOD he said yes to it.

I also had had this unshakeable belief that I was going to get cancer, don't ask me why, I just KNEW.

I was phoned a few days after the medical to get the mammogram re-done and at that point I knew I had cancer, this was my wake up call. The waiting was horrendous, even worse than the diagnosis really, since I was already convinced I had it.

My overriding thought was for my little boy, he was six years old at the time and all I could think of was that I would not see him grow up and become a teenager, a man. The fear I felt about this literally gripped my heart and paralysed me. I spent a night literally staring into space hardly daring to breathe I was so scared.

The diagnosis, surgery and treatment all happened very quickly. I had a lumpectomy, chemo and radiotherapy, and to be honest it was all very bearable. My cancer was small, it was whipped out and hadn't spread to my nodes, so VERY lucky call indeed.

I lost my hair, but didn't spend months with my head down the bog. I gained weight, and I am now in menopause. BUT who cares? I am one of the lucky ones, I am still here to tell the tale, and hope to be for many many years to come.

So, one year on, my life is different, I do have a genuine lust for life that I've never had before. I have amazing friends and family and every day really is a gift.

Thanks for sticking with me over the last year, many of you have posted lovely comments which I really appreciate. But now it's time to move on, time to put this behind me, cancer had nearly 12 months of my life and it ain't getting any more........................all I need to say is "thank you Alan, you pretty much did save my life xxxxxx"

A Funny Old Week

I feel so bad I haven't blogged in ages, but life has mainly just been rumbling along nicely with no major things going on.

This week, has been a bit more eventful, I went to Oslo on Monday, for a quick overnight trip, it was definitely a case of planes (2), trains (1) and automobiles (2). Alan was out there on business and had been invited to dinner at the home of a guy he does business with in Oslo, I was invited along too, which was fab and we were joined by a couple from Finland who we have met before.

Our hosts live in a lovely apartment and they took us all up to the roof with frozen Margueritas to see the view of the Fjords - It was stunning



We sat down to dinner and our starter was something very unusual and we had to guess what it was. Now I have a cheese phobia so was worried I was going to get cheese, but I wasn't prepared for the starter. It was......................wait for it....................raw whale meat!!!

Well apparently this is a great delicacy in Norway and it is a real honour to be served with it. It wasn't the nicest thing I have ever tasted, but we were very honoured to be given it to eat as it is only served on special occasions.

Our hosts were just lovely, very welcoming and we all rolled off into the night full of alcohol and whale meat.

I had travelled to Oslo on my own and had to travel back to Edinburgh several hours before Alan. On the first plane from Oslo to Heathrow I was sitting next to a guy who spent the whole journey reading aloud from the Koran and switching his mobile phone on and off, now I don't wish to be racist etc but I was crapping myself. I was convinced he was up to no good, especially since he had a bag on his lap with a compass on it which he wouldn't let go of. Of course being English I sat there and said nothing, the fear of embarrassment over being mistaken about it obviously outweighed my suspicions that he was up to no good -gah!!! Poor guy was totally harmless..................doh!

The drama continued on the next leg of my journey, flying from Heathrow to Edinburgh. We were coming into land and suddenly the pilot pulled the plane back up into a steep descent. The engines were making that high pitched "impending doom" noise and I almost wet myself with fear.............arggh!!

The pilot comes over the tannoy and says "ladies and gentlemen, as you can see we've just had to abort our landing into Edinburgh, we shall give you an update in a few minutes"

OH MY GOD, I'm thinking, bloody hell are they counting the wings?The engines? Has the landing gear jammed/ fallen off? I'm going to have to adopt the brace position and probably die in some hideous fireball and be on the 6 O'Clock News!!!!

It was the longest 2 minutes of my life and again we all sat in our seats being terribly calm reading our books (well I was bargaining with God at the time I think).

Anyway the captain came back on and re-assured us that we'd hit a bank of cloud and he couldn't see properly to land, its very common apparently and we'd be OK and were heading back down again.

I have NEVER been so glad to land in my life.

So after all that drama, I went to a fundraising "Pamper Night" for the Maggies Cancer Centre at Le Monde in George St. It was organised by my lovely friend Fiona and compared by the gorgeous camp comedian Craig Hill , he's a hoot.

Being me, I had offered to stand up and say a few words about the centre, since I used it when I was having treatment and it's fab.

I thought long and hard about what I was going to say, but it all went out of my head, I was faced with about 150 ladies and a microphone (oh good, Karaoke!!! hee hee!)

So I just told a little bit of my experiences at the centre and how re-assuring it is to visit, and there were a couple of ladies who shed a wee tear. Afterwards a few came over to thank me, it was very humbling and after a few glasses of wine I was boring everyone to tears with my "cancer story" - what am I like?

Yesterday, I went to have my hair cut and coloured for the first time in a year. EEEKK!! I now have this kinda "burgundy" hair colour, I don't think Alan is keen, but I am going to live with it for now...................only me eh?

No pain, no gain

I've never been the "sort" to pamper myself at the beauty parlour. In the last few months though with holidays and stuff, I have tried out a few little treatments.

Tonight I am going to a Gala Dinner at the Prestonfield hotel in Edinburgh. I visited their website to find out how to get there and it has co-ordinates for landing on their bloody helipad. Our helicopter is on the yacht at the moment so we'll be arriving by car!!!

So armed with this "it's gonna be a posh one" I have decided to indulge in some spa treatments this afternoon, a manicure, pedicure, a mini facial and a "wrap" to lost some inches. Since I have piled on the weight during the last few months it's definitely a case of "turd polishing".

Before I went on holiday in July, I had a fake bake spray tan. God it was hilarious. This lovely girl popped round to my house, I had to strip naked (bar from a g-string), I turned away for a minute, turned back and there was this huge pop up tent in the kitchen, since you don't want to be spraying the walls with fake tan. Now normally you have to wear self adhesive "sole" protectors on the feet to stop the tan from covering the underside of your feet. Well she'd run out of these so she handed me two sanitary towels to stick on my feet. So you can imagine the scene eh? After I stopped laughing she got me to stand in the tent and then sprayed me all over. I then stood chatting to her, almost naked covered in brown fake tan writing her a cheque, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Alex took one look at me and said "you look weird Mummy" I then had to sleep in the gunk and shower it off the following day, it did look good in the end though.

I also got my eyebrows "threaded" at Debenhams in Edinburgh. I was wandering through the cosmetics hall with Alex and spotted it . For those of you who don't know, "threading" is a way of removing hair using a twisted cotton thread, the majority of people who do it are Indian or Middle Eastern.

So I sat down in the chair right in the middle of Debenhams and the girl, who incidentally had NO sense of humour, took one look at me and said "you want upper lip doing too?" ERR "no thanks" I replied, then I said "aw go on then". BIG mistake, HUGE! OHHH the pain, forget childbirth, when someone is ripping hair out round your lip with a bit of cotton, the pain is awful. I got the giggles and had to get her to stop a couple of times, I said "oh I need you to stop a minute, it's very sore" I sat up and I'd drawn quite a crowd, most of whom were laughing! Eventually I got through the ordeal and I felt a lot better.

I am hoping today's treatment will be a lot less traumatic, wish me luck!

Keep on Running

See me? I am a TOTALLY allergic to exercise. I've blogged about this before, I bloody HATE it.

However thanks to the chemo I am now in "Chemopause", early Menopause caused by chemo which is a total bummer. I do however think myself very lucky since I have "seen 'orf" the cancer, so what if I now have premature menopause?

Symptoms of the "change" include hot flushes (very yucky), mood swings (yippety-dee!) and putting on weight around the middle, top and bottom, well, basically anywhere. The size of my arse is now a major concern and so after months of saying I must do some exercise I have actually started!

Cyclists and runners make me see red, I think they have a certain air of smugness about them which makes me want to punch them in the nose............but, confession time.....I have started running!

Yes Siree Bob, yours truly, the couch potato, wine guzzling lardy, has started running.

AND, although I have only been doing it a week, I now know why runners look smug, it's because it's actually quite good.

I have started very slowly by using a fab iPhone application (see there has to be some sort of geek element to it ) called "Get Running" it costs a mere 59P! Now if that ain't a bargain I don't know what is. In 9 weeks of running 3X per week I should be able to run 5K in 30 mins. So far this week I have been out 3 times, you warm up with a fast walk for 5 mins then run for 1 minute\walk for 1.5 mins, this run\walk combo is repeated 8 times and topped off with a 5 mins cool down fast walk. It's bloody brilliant and you can set off a playlist on the iPod and it will "talk over" the music to tell you when to run and walk.

It's genius and if I can do it, literally anyone can. If you have an iPod touch or iPhone it'll work. Hopefully I will carry on with this, I've bought 2 running books off Amazon too. Off to revel in my smugness now......

Why I Love Twitter

When I tell people that I use Twitter, most people snort derisively, tell me I have too much time on my hands or say "oh that's for geeks! who wants to know what people are saying about their sad little lives? Tweeting? it's a waste of time".

Actually, I often find it's quite difficult to tell people what Twitter is all about. I wind up saying stuff like " oh well ya know you let people know what you are doing in 140 characters or less, and you er like, follow people and they ermm, well, they can follow what you are doing" and so it goes on. This fails to impress most people and in some ways I can understand. I really believe you have to use and experience Twitter before you really "get it".

For me, moving up to Edinburgh has been a perfect excuse to use Twitter. Edinburgh is a fabulous place to live, 16 months after moving here I still feel very privileged to live here and experience all the city has to offer. A vibrant, but relatively small city, Edinburgh attracts a lot of interesting, creative people and Twitter has given me the chance to meet some of them.

I moved here already knowing several people, I've made friends with other mothers from school and I have some fab neighbours too. Working from home, has meant that I don't have an office to go to and people to socialise and chew the fat with on a day to day basis. Twitter has changed that for me.

Every Friday morning a fairly sizeable group of people gather at Centotre in George St for coffee, bacon sarnies and chat. The group have been meeting for about 3 years, long before Twitter. I stumbled across it via Twitter, it took me a few months to summon up courage to go along and I did so whilst I was going through my cancer treatment. I was made to feel very welcome, I've met some fabulous friends who I tweet with on a daily basis, I've been to a "tweet up" and met more, and I am due to attend another in September which will raise money for charity.

I've met a great group of Tweeps , Amy, Juliet, Darcie, Bettina, Jackie and Kate and Andy. They have all been so very supportive of me during my treatment (which is now well behind me), both online and in person. They've made me feel good about myself at a time where the old confidence has taken a hell of a bashing. On a recent night out, Darcie took this picture of me, I do not photograph well, but I love, love love this one.

You tweeps are fab and I love you all.................. x

Highland Fling

Well here we are again in the Highlands visiting family. This is such a place of outstanding beauty and if you have never visited here DON'T (you'll spoil it for the rest of us hee hee!)

Earlier this year the BBC had a series on TV called Monty Halls Great Escape - Beachcomber Cottage. It was fantastic and featured a lot of the places we visit every year. His bothy was in Applecross in Sand Bay and this year we got to visit it. He was here for 6 months last year and whilst I have been here I have read his book based on the series. The bothy has been left open and we were able to go inside, it's amazing how abandoned and overgrown the place looks after a year.

Sand Bay
The inside of the bothy
Alan strolling about the (abandoned) vegetable patch at the back of the bothy.
To get to Applecross we crossed over the Pass of the Cattle (Bealach Na Ba) although the scenery is breathtaking the road is single track and sometimes the areas by the side of the road plunge downwards hundreds of feet - don't look down, it's a white knuckle ride! We stopped to look over to Skye and take photos of cairns.
The left hand "dip" in this picture is the pass (gulp!) This is the view from the other side of the Loch in Kishorn where we are staying.
A rare sight, me on a bike, taking by my snickering hubby.
We've been for a couple of long walks with me whining like a teenager all the way. Loved these old tractors, so stopped to take a pic.
On Wednesday we walked up "The Old Man of Storr" in Skye. This is the only photo taken where I don't look like I am being tortured, the climb was very hard, here I am am at the top. Look at the background view, it was incredible. NEVER AGAIN though, it was very very steep and the descent was a killer on the hamstrings.

Back Home

Well we are back home from Florida and now we are in Kishorn in the Highlands. We come here every year to stay with family and I started my blog 3 years ago whilst holidaying here.

I thought I would share some pics of our time in Orlando. We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, here is the lobby, breathtaking!

A view of the pool from the room

This is Epcot at night (obviously) the iconic Geosphere

Me in front of the big golfball

We went to the "Hoop De Doo Revue" a dinner show at the Fort Wilderness campground and it was absolutely brilliant and hilarious

Alex loved the Lego store at Downtown Disney it is HUGE!

The choice in the USA is vast, check out this sweetie shop in Magic Kingdom, every colour of M&M you can imagine!

Dancers on the Main St of Magic Kingdom

Pirate of the Carribbean ride

Just a few highlights of a fabulous holiday, hopefully a few more pics tomorrow. Weather is not great here so lets hope it improves soon.

Miami

Well we are now in Orlando, nearing the end of our hols but on the way we spent 3 days in Miami. It was fab, we went to SoBe (South Beach) Check out the food, yum!!


South Beach is full of the most gorgeous Art Deco architecture.

Of course there are miles and miles of white sand and gorgeous tanned skinny women (ugh!)

We stayed at a great hotel in Coral Gables, our room was the one under the arches at the very top right of the photo - blisssss

Whilst we were out and about I spotted a Michaels Craft Store, I stopped to grab some crafting magazines and spotted a book edited by Sarah Crosland the editor of Crafts Beautiful and it had some of my cards in it!!! I knew it had been published but hadn't been able to find a copy in the UK I was so chuffed!

Last Saturday we headed on up to Orlando, we are staying in a Disney Hotel, the Wildernes Lodge. I am such a sap for Disney and I have been here about 6 times but never stayed in a Disney Hotel. I know a lot of people think that Disney is naff, but I don't care. I still get a lump in my throat when I walk down Main Street in The Magic Kingdom, and if there are cast members singing and dancing it sets me off again.

Wilderness Lodge is themed on a great Western wooden lodge, the lobby is AMAZING and I did shed a tear when I walked in, it's been a challenging year and I was so happy to be here.

I'll post some more pics and stories about Disney when we get home, incidentally you get free admission to a theme park on your birthday here................my birthday is the day after we leave (great timing huh?)

Right I am off to hit the pool xxx

On My Jolly Hols

OK OK I know I haven't blogged in aaaaages, but I have an excuse, I am in Florida yaaaaaay!!!

We arrived in Orlando on Saturday, and have not yet done the Mickey "thang", we drove towards Sarasota to stay in the most gorgeous beach resort in Longboat Key. Here is a pic of Sunset on the beach.....


And a pic of moi, at the restaurant, wearing my (handmade) top! Sorry I look a right poser and a bit miserable too, I am not very photogenic, I am having a good time - honest.

Longboat Key is lovely, a very rich area, lots of big boats and marinas and lovely places to eat too. We saw pelicans, and when we were in the sea the other day a pod of dolphins swam by and I saw a stingray!.

We left Longboat yesterday and drove across Alligator Alley to Miami. We are now staying in a lovely Hyatt hotel in Coral Gables. On Saturday we head off to Disney for a few days, which will be brill.

I managed to go to two scrapbook shops in Sarasota, one had the autographs of Ali Edwards, Kelly Panacci and Donna Downey written on the side of the cash desk. It was great to visit the shops since I started my paper obsession after the last time I visited the US. I am hoping to catch another shop in Orlando..............any recommendations???

Full of a Cold

Ugh!! I am full of a cold, woke up on Saturday with a sore throat and I also felt really stiff and achy, I could hardly move, I felt about 85.

So me being me, immediately thinks "OMG SWINE FLU" because of course being the drama queen I couldn't just have a common cold eh? Well it was a cold but by Sunday I really felt crap. I spent most of the day on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, forget about man flu, I got bird flu ha ha!!

Not being doing a whole lot of much lately, gearing up for my hols in Florida and generally just getting over the last remnants of the ol' Radiotherapy, gosh it made me VERY tired.

OOOOOHHHH almost forgot, I went to see Take That at Hampden in Glasgow. They were, of course, unbelievable. They were supported by Gary Go and The Script, ohhh I LOVE The Script. It felt weird seeing them in Glasgow, I've always seen them in Manchester which is of course their home town. It was still brill though.

Anyway I'm off, I have a hacking cough to whine about...............

Stamps for Sale

Hi Y'all

Got some stamps for sale - postage is free in the UK, I'll accept cheques and paypal. If you use paypal I'll need to add 50p to each package to cover my paypal fees.

All the Sugar Nellies are very lightly used and are mounted on that stuff (hmmm can't remember the name arrrggghh!!)

Sugar Nellies are £4 each, you can buy all 5 for £18 if you like (bargain or what!!)






Scrappy Cat Flower Scribbles £6 (very lightly used)
Alpha and Circles £6 again lightly used
Autumn Leaves background stamps - £5 - never used!!!

If you are interested please email me at sam.currie@btinternet.com - cheers!!!!