What Next - Paint Your Baby Blue?

So I am work today boo-hiss, don't usually work on a Monday so totally had that Monday morning feeling. Anyway I love to surf UKS on my lunch break and it's offline for a server move -arrrrgggghh!! So what to do? I headed over to the BBC website to have a mooch and brace yourself..................another rant from Sam.....

Some berk from Unicef now says that giving babies pureed food is "unnatural" and not necessary, for goodness sake not a week goes by without some "expert" changing the rules about baby feeding. Less than 5 years ago when my son was born we were advised to wean after 16 weeks - now it is 6 months. I give up - what are parents to do???

OK rant over (it was only a mini rant really)

Oh I am so glad that Opera Singing fella won "Britains Got Talent" he is so shy and humble and boy what talent. I really liked Conny but she is so little she's got lots of time to grow and get some more experience.

Tonight I am determined to get crafting again, despite my finger, I have re-bandaged it and it looks like a HUGE cartoon finger!!

What a Berk!

After my creative lag of late I decided to do some "playing" yesterday, so I take the little fella and myself upstairs to my craft room and ended up in casualty!!!

Yep!! I slipped with a craft knife, my brand new cutterpede retractable (meant to be safer) knife, and cut across the knuckle of my middle finger on the right hand. It took me a grand total of being in the room for 2 mins, boy do I feel stupid - added to that I have done it before, making Anita Mundt's "Happy Flowers" with chipboard. The split second before I did it I thought "uh-oh I don't think I am doing this in a safe way - remember last time......................"

Blimey, now I just have to wear rubber gloves to keep the dressing dry, as I have had to have steri strips over the cut.

Anyway, I forgot to mention I went to see George Michael in Manchester on Friday night in the City of Manchester Stadium. He was really good, but it rained alllll night (luckily we had posh tickets in the stand). He sang loads of the Wham stuff and his own and it was brillo.

Changes.....
Well I have been reflecting on my creative output of late and I have to say I have not been particularly active - given recent circumstances I am not surprised but that said I am determined to get going again. I have finally added some of my stuff on a slide show since there wasn't a fat lot on here before. Since most of my work gets published I kind of felt I shouldn't post it on my blog (DOH!!!) so I have now resolved to put my stuff on here once it has been published.

I have been buying loads of goodies lately and I am looking forward to getting cracking with them, but for now, here are some pics of cards that appeared in last months Quick and Crafty Mag using my all time fave - Scenic Route......

Sad......

After 6 years of cancer and a 6 week stay in a hospice, my wonderful Dad passed away today, not much else to say ......

Big Brother...............................I just don't get it

OK first off I don't want to offend anyone by what I am about to write, so if you are a fan of Big Brother, look away now.....................

I HATE BIG BROTHER, I just don't see the point, it's a waste of life, but loads of my friends just go mad for it every year when it is on - WHY?

It's what ? 15 weeks of watching complete strangers who are desperate to become celebs but have no talent behave like nutters in a house, it's just awful. Think of all the things you could be doing with the time spent watching this garbage, I know it's like TV Heroin, once you start watching it's addictive.

Mostly I hate it because it seems to have this "hold" over popular culture, TV like this dumbs us down. There are thousands of young kids who are mesmerized thinking they too can become rich and famous for doing nothing - rather than doing something worthwhile like becoming a vet or a poet or a plumber.............and that's why I hate it, because it robs us of our imagination and makes us worship people who have done nothing spectacular. There are millions of people out there that we should be in awe of for the things they do on a daily basis, not these numbskulls who want 15mins of fame

Well I brace myself for the hate mail - I know I know, what I have written is not very popular so I suppose I'll have to take it on the chin!! Mind you I don't think many people read this anywhere so I suppose I am fairly safe (I'll be out of hiding in 15 weeks..................)

Brmmmm.................Brrrmmmm

Oh I am very excited, I am a VERY lucky girl. I am getting a new car - yey!!!

When I was pregnant with the little fella I had a really nice black Ford Puma which went like s*** off a shovel, but I realised I had to be a sensible chick and there was no way I could get a baby seat into the back of a Puma in a hurry. Soooooo I got a nice little (BORING) A-Class Merc, which has lots of room and is safe blah frickin blah.............................

So being the totally spoilt brat, high maintenance wifey that I am I have been whining about having a new car for yonks and hubby finally caved in and agreed it was a good idea. Well after I picked myself off the floor I started my quest for the new motor. I have switched my reading habits from all my papercrafting/scrapbooking mags to "What Car" and I have been glued to the Autotrader website. I still haven't the foggiest what BHP means but I have finally got a new car which I pick up at the weekend.

We drove to go and see it in Sheffield yesterday, now getting to Sheffield from Cheshire ain't no mean feat, you have to drive over the Woodhead pass which is pretty hairy in a sissy little A-Class and we under estimated the time it would take to get there. Actually our sat-nav was deffo on drugs 'cos it told us it would take 1 hour...........................yeah right try 1 hour 40 mins, which ain't so bad when you are not in a hurry but it sucks when you are trying to reach a place that shuts at 4pm. The air was blue - I was soooooooooooooo stressed, but we got there and loved the car and the deal is done. I will soon be in proud possession of a lovely shiny 4X4 - a Honda CRV and I am very happy.

Is Noah Coming?

Oh my lord, global warming, more like global drowning, what the heck is all this flipping rain about? So it gets very warm a few weeks ago and I dashed out to the shops flinging colin credit card hither and thither to buy sarongs for work (since it was so boiling) and now look what has happened! I would have been better off buying a sou'wester! But blow me I am wearing that white linen skirt and pale pink ballet shoes, even if I have to wade from my car into the office!

I finally took the plunge and changed my mobile phone from BT Mobile to Vodaphone cos (a)BT seemed to have been charging me half the national debt of Chile to make a teeny amount of necessary calls and (b)The choice of new phones for the total gadget freaky geeky I am were PANTS.

So I got myself a nice new shiny Sony Ericcsson summat or other, the guy in the shop said "oooh and it comes with a memory card included free" - Crikey, he opens this "flap" on the side of the phone which is about the size of a baby's fingernail and pulls out something the size of a molecule which I goggled at and then mentally made a note never to touch it, cos if I drop that on the floor I ain't never gonna find it EVER!!!

I settled down for a nights TV viewing tonight. which for me is a rarity, and stumbled on a programme on Channel 4 about "embarrassing illnesses", well I do have a streak of the morbid about me and I am not squeamish at all so I think it might be worth a whirl. How wrong could I be? Suffice to say I am glad I wasn't eating. This bloke comes on saying he had piles, so this young doc gets him to remove his strides to have a quick butchers at them. At this point I am thinking "surely they ain't gonna show some geezers piles on colour TV......................" WRONG!!!!! OH MY GOD, this guy had piles like a bunch of grapes and the doc then proceeds to show photos of some other poor individuals bottoms with even worse piles. Now I can watch all sorts of gore normally, but I must say I have never changed channels so rapido in my life! So my TV viewing is over for tonight!

Got my sub copy of Quick and Crafty mag today and my latest project is in it, I still get a real buzz seeing stuff in print, I am very lucky that they like my stuff and I get chance to see it in print - such a nice feeling

Anyway, think I might venture back onto the couch for some "pile free" TV

Banana Frog

Cool!!! - Bev Fletcher of Banana Frog has set up a type pad wotsit bloggy thang which she has invited her DT to contribute to - that includes lil ol me. The Bevster has also been very busy creating new yummy stamps, forget autumn leaves and grab some of her very own homegrown UK stamps, they are LUSH

The blog is here it's still in it's infancy but should be worth a look once we all get a posting

I have been a very good girl this week and finished my Quick and Crafty project on time using some lovely papers from Sarahs Cards from a company called Collage Press

Anyway not much else to post, off to enjoy the sunshine, and download some classes from the UK Scrappers cyber crop, got visitors this weekend so can't take part but hey ho!!!

Lottery Winner

Sorry guys our huuuuge lottery win and our world tour has meant I have neglected my blog, I am up to my eyes in Champagne and Prada.Just taking a break from flicking through the Range Rover brochure..........................

HAHAHAHAHAHA just kidding - I am still poor, just been totally lazy blog - wise of late so no posts

OK so what's been happening with me........................................

1. Got published in Simply Cards and Papercraft for the first time - yey and double yey!
2. Been to see "The Producers" with Peter Kay (it was fab)
3. Enjoying the gorgeous weather but got even more hysterical about global warming
4. Hubby has finished the deck at the back of our house - AWESOME (pics to follow)
5. Been arranging a BIG party in May for hubs and I's 40th ( I should like to point out I am not 40 till July!!)
6. Downloaded even moreDIGI kits off t'interweb
7. Watched the last episode of "life on Mars" - very upset it is all over
8.Become strangely obsessed with housework (why??)
9. Spent some time at Easter in Anglesey in my mates holiday home ( I LOVE HER!!)

Phew..................so quite a bit really

Gosh now I have started I must keep this up, let's hope I can summon up the time/ brains and energy to get my arse in gear for another post xxxx

Brown Rice and Sandals

Last night I decided to catch up on the Sunday supplements, thought it would be nice and relaxing errrrrr how wrong could I be???

Was reading the Sunday Times Mag (oohhh hark at me with my matching shoes!!) and there was a long article about global warming which I started to read. Listen my friends by the end of it I didn't know what to do with myself............it was SOOOOOOOOO SCARY I almost jumped up and called Al Gore himself ( the new saviour of the planet)

Basically it ran through all of the totally plausible scenarios for global warming based on climate changes of 1 degree to 6 degrees and it is not good. Basically if we don't do summat radical RIGHT now the consequences are horrendous ranging from flooding, millions of people becoming refugees and starving to death to basically most humans, animals and plants becoming extinct all within the space of a 6 degree increase in temperature!!!!!!!

All I can say is early this week I wanted to punch David Cameron for suggesting we go to Butlins for our hols instead of jetting off to the Sun...........but now I am ready to embrace the nearest red coat and chuck my tumble dryer on the tip...........

Genius

Get a load of this photo, now I HATE having pics of me I suppose most people do, but on Sarah's retreat last weekend I met Anita Mundt for the first time and she was doing photo shoots and look what she did - I could weep for I am not photogenic at all and I am sooooooooo chuffed with this. A very big thank you to her.

This was the first retreat I had taught at and I had a great time, all those involved were just lovely. Jools did us all proud again with her fab cooking ably assisted by Sarah's Mummy Wendy.

Sarah, who is pregnant with twins for goodness sake did a great job with her goody bags AND she hauled all her gorgeous stock with her of which I did partake (what a surprise.......) A great time was had by all.

One more sleep to go

Yep I am teaching at my very first retreat tomorrow, Sarah of Sarahs Cards is running her 2nd bumper retreat this weekend and has kindly asked me to teach a class for 50 ladies (yikes!) Hope they like me and don't throw rotten tomatoes at me. I am lined up against the uber talented Julie and Anita so wish me luck. Also it seems my Dad is well enough for my Mum to come along too, AND my replacement crocs arrived so I am a happy bunny!

I also managed to teach my first Photoshop one day course at work this week, it seemed to go well, can't be bad eh? being paid to learn and teach such a fab piece of software.

Anyway, gotta dash got 50 kits to make up for tomorrow, hopefully I'll get chance to post some pics tomorrow

The Queen

Ohhh I am sooooooooo chuffed that Helen Mirren won the best actress Oscar for The Queen, it is a fab film and I just love her she is brilliant. She looks fabulous for her age and the dresses she wore for the BAFTAs and the Oscars were stunning - Good on ya Nell!!

On a more sour note, I was just watching the news (can you tell I don't work on a Monday?) and it seems that more and more of our dairy farmers are going out of business because UK supermarkets are squeezing them on milk prices. I have to say this makes me very angry. We have all got used to paying less for our weekly shop but this has a detrimental effect on our farmers. Did you know for example that the "buy one get one free" offers you see are not being funded by our generous supermarkets? Oh no, many of them basically tell their supplies that they need twice as much for the same price, so next time you are in Tescos and see that they are discounting Veg for the health of the nation, they are probably squeezing a farmer.

The thing is, the "big boys" now make it sooooo easy for us to do all your shopping in one place that is has a knock on effect on small local businesses. I for one am not a fan of Tesco, the supermarkets are all as bad as one another but I really don't like the foothold and power they hold in this country

I could go on for ages on this one - like why do we "need" to buy Portuguese Strawberries in February -they taste of nothing and are addding to global warming with all those "food miles"

CRIKEY!!! Listen to me, I have turned into a "right on" hippy type, and I still can't be arsed to go anywhere than my local Sainsburys!

Rant over

T'Interweb


Golly this 'ere T'interweb ain't half good..........Look what I got from the postie this morning only ordered these yummy things yesterday and here they are today.

Obviously they didn't come together, though if you can find a shop online which sells Crocs and trimmers I wanna know about it hee hee

The trimmer is for all the paper I need to cut for my class at Sarahs' retreat next weekend, I didn't think my little x-cut trimmer cut stand the pressure of cutting up for 50 kits! I have had my eye on one of these MM precision trimmers for a couple of months and since I have probably spent over 20 quid in replacement blades for my X-Cut I thought what the hell! (thanks to Vanessa from Papermaze for sending so darn quick)

And the crocs? Well the downside is they are too small.........but have ordered replacements. I never thought I would be seen dead in a pair of these, hubby think they are UUUUGLEEEE, but I really like them and they are PINK which I lurve. So I am 300 hundred years behind everyone else but hey better late than never eh?

Why Is February so Short?

Well got my Quick and Crafty Mag and the cards I made with Blonde Moments goodies have been published, I hope the guys at Art from The Heart like them. Bev Fletcher from the gorgeous Banana Frog also got published this month which is fab.

I am gearing up for my teaching slot at Sarahs Cards retreat on the 3rd March and quite frankly I am cacking my pants, I really hope everyone likes what I am going to teach, especially since there are going to be 50 talented scrappers there (gulp!) In fact I nearly fainted when Sarah brought me back to reality to gently remind me that it is NEXT FLIPPING WEEKEND arrggghhhh!

Just having a crisis of confidence, when I went to "Stitches" at the NEC I felt a bit like the class outsider , lots of fellow designers were on the big stands doing demos and I felt left out (boo-hoo), I have a "real" job too so I am not really a full time bona fide freelancer and I don't really have the time to devote to the shows (mores the pity!)

God what a whinger eh?

Daddy's Home

My dad is home from hospital, I am so glad. All I can say is don't get ill at a weekend and I am gunning for an NHS Direct doctor

Nuff said, all that is important is that he is home and safe.........

Life's Ups and Downs..........

My poor Daddy isn't well, he is in hospital bless him. Not ever posted about this before, but my Dad has advanced prostate cancer and he hasn't been well for a few days. The bugger was playing golf the other day and then whammo! here we are with him in hospital. He has an infection and yesterday was rather incoherent, or totally doo-lally. Anyway he is a little bit better today, still slightly "away with the fairies", but cracking jokes, in fact he is kind of like a happy drunk so he is on the mend.

I was due to go to the trade show at the NEC today and ummed and ahhed about going with Dad in hospital - anyway hubby said I should go, so I went but felt rather half hearted about the day. Saw some lovely stuff especially from Cosmo Cricket, Sassafrass Lass , Basic Grey, Crate Paper and others, but since I don't run a shop I can't buy any yet (boo-hiss)

Caught up with some crafting peeps, Lynn Martin the lovely editor of Quick and Crafty who has been soooooooo supportive of my designs and I love her for it!! Also saw Dyan from Art from the Heart, Diane and Linz from Practical Publishing and the fabbo Paula Pascaul and Amanda Walker who were demoing on the Kars stand.

Back home now and keeping fingers crossed for my Dad!

Let Joy Be Unconfined!

It's finished - my gorgeous craft room which I started to "do up" in September last year is finally finished and I am sooooooooooo happy.

Check out the pics

Back Home

Well hubby and I got back home last night after our fabby trip. Our luggage FINALLY arrived at 12:45 AM on Saturday morning a FULL 30 hours after we had arrived in Prague, BA rocks, NOT!

Anyhow we managed on what we had till then, so we'll put it down to experience. We saw the sights and have the blisters to prove it. We have had a fabby time

We went to a Mozart concert in the Municipal House on Saturday night, it's an Art Nouveau treasure.

So finally here are some pics...............the first on is the entrance to the Municipal House

And a view of the city towards the castle

The other great news is that my Craft Room is nearing completion, the carpet will be fitted tomorrow!!!! Here is a pic of it a few weeks ago.........

Tomorrow it will be gorgeous and I can't wait to do the trip to IKEA for the furniture yey!

Computer Says Noo..................

Welll we made it to Prague through the snow drifts (yeah right) pity our luggage didn't

Honestly, we got the shuttle down to London and were there for about 3 hours till our connection in the SAME terminal and they have still managed to lose our sodding bags. I am so fed up about it. I have a small amount of make up and thankfully packed a spare outfit in my carry on bag so that's not too bad, but I have no brush and have hair like Wurzel Gummidge. Apparently our bags on now on separate flights at 6pm and 9pm tonight arrrgggghhhh!!!!!! So tomorrow I plan to wear about three outfits to get through all the stuff I packed.

Anyway at least we are here and the weather is lovely, we are on the Exec floor of the Prague Hilton and it is GORGEOUS, we look like tramps though ha ha!

Today we have visited the Mucha museum I love Alphons Mucha ( Mr Art Nouveau) We have been over the Charles Bridge and had yummy Goulash Soup for lunch. Off to the bar for a quick snifter, followed by a siesta and later on din-dins!

Keep your fingers crossed for our bags folks!

Snow Joke

I am writing this from the palatial splendour that is the BA Exec lounge at Heathrow - la-di -da! En route to a 3 night mini-break ( I am Bridget Jones) to Prague.

Hubby works away quite a lot so the perk is he has exec club membership and what a perk! I have had a lovverly lunch and a couple of glasses of Chablis - bliss!!

Different story last night though, we got a text to say our flight had been cancelled due to the weather, but we managed to book on the earlier flight yey! Those media types have a lot to answer for, you would think it was like Alaska down here but no so!!

Soo I am off to do some duty free shopping, will blog more soon!

S'me Again

Ohhhh look at me I am number 68 from about 109, I feel loved again ( I paid a kid down the road to sit at his PC hitting the refresh button all day yesterday, seems to have worked)

It seems like I need to post more embarrassing stories to remain popular, however, I can report that I have not been near a carpet shop in the last 48 hours.

Yesterday I took a trip to see Diane at Practical Publishing, ohhhhh I have never been to a real life publishing house before, felt like taking my coat off and saying "gis a job". They are all reet nice and Sarah and I had a right hoot with them on their stand at the NEC in November.

Well I have managed to complete 2 mag projects this week and they weren't actually too late for a change.

I am off to Prague with hubby on Thursday, v excited and hoping the airports ain't snowed in, typical we were panicking about a BA strike and now that is off there is heavy snow forecast!

Never mind, I am going to take my book with me it's the new one from Bill Bryson "The Thunderbolt Kid" He is the funniest writer and I have read all of his books. The other night I was crying laughing out loud . The book is all about his childhood in the USA in the 1950's and he just cracks me up!

How Embarrasing

Oh my god! I had the most embarrassing moment EVER today. My office/craft room has been under construction since last September and today was finally ready to paint, so I was dispatched to go and look for a carpet. Me and the little fella went to the local carpet shop and a nice chap was helping me, then a youngish couple and and old bloke were floating about near us in the shop and the old bloke says to my helpful chap " how much for this?"and drags my chap away! So I am standing there feeling like a right prat and quite frankly a bit p***ed off. He barged in an stole mychap - how rude!! Now normally I would avoid confrontation with strangers and would then go home and beat myself up for being a total wimpo! But I am thinking "what a cheeky sod, I am not having this!" SO I look the old chap straight in the eye and say "well I don't know if you noticed, but this chap was helping me before you BARGED in and THANKS VERY MUCH!"

The old chap and the couple looked at me for a second and said nowt, so I am thinking "good on ya gal , you finally stood up for yourself". Helpful chap comes back to me and I say "sorry, I am not usually so gobby but that old bloke wound me up" Helpful chap just smiled at me and said "it's OK"

10 mins later and the couple have left and i noticed the old chap is still around.................and behind the bloody counter. It takes a minute or 10 before my pea brain suddenly thinks...............OH MY GOD THE OLD GUY WORKS HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The poor guy was asking my chap for a bit of advice and I tore a strip off him duuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrr

Much red facedness and a grovelly apology followed and I still feel very silly. So I have resolved to be meek and mild and not open my BIG trap again...............................I am soooo not going back to that shop either, I think Carpet World Calls!

CHA

Well I am back from an exhausting few days at CHA and boy did I drool over all the yummy new stuff......................................hahahahahaha and then I woke up!!!

God I have been torturing myself today looking at all the glam US blogs written by celeb scrappers and papercrafters and I am totally "wazzed off". I WANTED TO GO TO CHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT FAIR - big sulks. I am in desperate need of new stuff to play with but I bet it'll take forever to land over here. I sound like Kevin the teenager don't I?

Gotta admit to feeling slightly, well jealous of the US celeb crafters though. Their lives seem so glam and they all have perfect teeth and lives and it's all so Hollywood. hey ho!

One bit of great news is that the Recipe Cards I did for Craftwork Cards are out this week I think - BIG thanks to Sue and Julie for their faith in my work it is sooooo flattering.

Anyway I am off to the land of nod I have been a grumpy old heifer all night need some Z's

BTW I am getting rid of that bloody crafty blog wotsit, I can't face it any longer boo - hoo

Tour T-Shirts
OK after last nights Nerina gig I got to thinking about the "merchandise" sold at gigs, you know the little stall with T-Shirts, Programmes and other assorted stuff. It's usually got another stall next to it offering financial advice as all the stuff is so frickin expensive. Not so our Nerina, it was all very resonably priced!

Anyway my experience of buying merchandise is usually that it is a complete waste of money. They must pump something into the air at gigs which makes you think "ohhhh how cool will I look wearing a tour t-shirt for XXX artist, everyone will be soooo jealous that I went to that gig" In reality tour t-shirts are worn by people who favour stonewashed denim and bum bags - so be warned...........these people are also the sorts who spend every penny they earn on going to EVERY gig on a tour. This I believe borders on psychotic\stalker behaviour that nerdy types exhibit.

Gosh and I wonder why my blog is soooo low on the "hit parade" after re-reading this waffle!

Nerina Rocks

Gosh I think I have become a "special occasion" blogger. Like I ain't had nuffink fab and groovy to say for a few days but today I have!

Tonight I went to see Nerina Pallot. Now this girl is TALENTED, she is a singer songwriter but this does her little justice she is talent personified. The gig I had got tickets for cancelled in Nov last year and was rescheduled for tonight, was meant to be going with my best mate, but she is poorly (get well soon matey!) so I begged DH to come with and he did me proud.

Soo the gig was at Manchester Academy which is slap bang in the middle of Manchester Uni students Union - I am 39 for god's sake but I tried my best to look hip and trendy with my "smocky type" top that looks great if you are skinny and 15 but I just look "up the duff".

No matter I spent a blissfull evening quaffing Bud out of a plastic pint pot, reliving my youth and listening to the fabby Nerina. You've probably never heard of her, but may have heard her toons - I URGE you to pop on over to iTunes and download her album "Fires (Remastered), no I mean REALLY go on and do it..............you will thank me for it I promise. She is up for a Brit Award and if she doesn't win, I am gonna chain myself to the railings in front of the House of Commons...........cos there will be no justice in the world. I am now off to read her blog......

Talk About Unpopular..............

OK , do I smell or summat? I am now at the before now unplumbed depths of being number 78 in the crafty blogs chart. I wish I hadn't added the darned thing to my blog cos now I just feel unloved and boring. I mean this whole blog thing was just meant to make me internationally famous and a household name, I failed the X-Factor audition ( I kid you not) and now this is just another blow.

I wanna be an Elsie, a Cathy or a Kirsty....................hang on, I think I have sussed it. I need to change my name to end in "e", it seems to be the winning formula, from now on I shall be known as Sammie. Or maybe I just need to write something interesting, or hey hang on to your hats, ACTUALLY post a PHOTO or 2. hmmmmmmmmmmm now there's a thought..........

Saturday Morning

Phew! What a week, what about that wind?? Here in sunny Cheshire there were loads of trees blown over, mostly on my way home from work. I had friends stuck on the M56 for 3 hours not moving , what a mare.

The worst news for us crafters is that Thorpe Park is cancelled this weekend, not that I was going but hey ho!

Talking of crafting, you HAVE to check this video out, it has been posted on UKS but in case you haven't seen it, give it a whirl it's hysterical

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbXLIniGz24&eurl

I was cropping again on Wednesday with the crop I co-host with my pal Sarah and she didn't even let me open my laptop! I was instead working on a design for an altered clipboard for her retreat on the 3-4th March. I am really looking forward to it and with 50 ladies to teach my knees are knocking a bit too. Who knows, I could really take to it and I could be the new Elsie Flannigan - you read it here first folks.

Right I am off upstairs to carry on with the craft room refurb...........it's only been in progress since September

I've Been A Croppin'

Oh flip - look at me back at 69 in the Crafty Blog Hit Parade...............I was up there at the dizzy heights of 43 and now look at me back on the scrap heap

Not to worry eh?

I went to my first crop in about 400 years yesterday, it was in "Wozza". Wozza for the uninitiated is short for Warrington where I was born and bred. Great crop hosted by Sarah, Lianne and Rebecca who hauled all their luverly stash there for us all to drool over. Met loads of lovely gals including 2 other Sam's. There was a gang from Anglesey, one of my fave places. They really made an effort coming from there what crazy chicks!

I ended up taking my laptop and DIGI scrapped BOY did I get abuse, good job I am not sensitive. Someone (you know who you are) said "DIGI scrapping - THAT's cheating!!"

It ain't and I love it, and I will soon be carted off to the flipping poor house if I carry on downloading kits etc. My PC is groaning with the gazillion Gigabytes of digi wotsits it has to bear now.

Will post some of em soon

DIGI DIVA

OK so my hard drive is full and my paypal account is in tatters, I have downloaded lots of free and not so free stuff from t'interweb over the weekend, so I think I'd better do some more layouts.

I have had an idea for a one day "retreat" - I am an IT trainer "by day" and I am investigating the possibility of hiring an IT training room for a day to teach folks about using a PC to craft and DIGI scrapping. OK I hear you say "who the heck does she think she is......she's only just started digi scrapping!" Well I am a bit of a dab hand with training Paint Shop Pro and just about to launch a Photoshop course at work, so you'd be in safe hands, honest.

If you would be interested please leave me a comment and I will go for it. I am based in Cheshire but could set up a day elsewhere when the time is right.

OK so I'd better go find a pic to digi scrap and use up all the yummy stuff I have.

More DIGI

Here's my second attempt at DIGI, oooohhhh downloading freebs and other stuff like a maddie! Seems like Kirsty Wiseman is at it too! It's all catching on eh?

Check this one out..................

Worra Geek

Oh Lordy, I have become OBSESSED with technology. OK I am a computer trainer - that's my day job, but I really do lust after all things new in the technology world. SO I have hit on this digi scrapping thing. Now I know a lot of traditional paper scrappers hate hate hate digi scrapping, but I have a real problem with paper scrapping. I stare blankly at photos and paper for hours and just can't "do it" - anyone who has ever been to a crop with me will know I am a complete waste of space. I have oodles of scrapping supplies and I pore over scrapping mags, but mostly I use the stuff for my cards.

I have done 2 more digi layouts today with the most gorgeous kits I downloaded last night. Now of course I am beginning to think I am gonna need a bigger hard drive to store all this new stuff (see there is always money to be spent however you scrap)

Digi scrapping is still fairly small in the UK, but I have found a really talented artist called Kate Hadfield who lives near to me - gonna meet up with her soon hopefully. Check out her wonderful blog to check out her stuff. Kate has done some wonderful articles for Creative Scrapbooking Mag which is sadly no more. Let's hope someone else snaps her up pronto.

I haven't given up on real "lumpy" stuff, my lovely pal Sazzles aka Sarahs Cards has the most gorgeous chipboard flowers and I got some today - fabbo - check them out here.

Right just off to download more digi stuff heh, heh, heh

A New Obsession.............

UH-OH deep trub, after months of reading and thinking about digital scrapbooking I finally decided to have a go. My first attempt isn't brill and won't win any prizes, but I have at last sussed out how to use Photoshop. I have been learning to use it to teach it at work. Little do my unsuspecting users know they will be forced to digi-scrap - ha ha

Well here it is, please feel free to cackle cos it ain't "all that", but we all have to start somewhere.

What a Grump........

Feeling very grumpy today, I hate everything, the house is a tip and DH has a viral throat infection. Desperately trying to sand those bloody beams in "my room" and it is a MAMMOTH job.In my spare time I am reading the IKEA catalogue so much I swear I am rubbing off the text. I am dying to "create" but can't face my old office, it's a tip too.

The upside of today is that one of my cards was published in Making Cards magazine. It's a card made with the Xyron Personal Cutting Machine that the lovely people at Xyron let me have to road test. So there's a plus.

I am back to work tomorrow boo- hiss - I like my job but I am being such a "Kevin the teenager" that I don't wanna go.............................

Let's hope I cheer up tomorrow

Happy New Year

Well its 2007 - been looking forward to it so I can start my new Autumn Leaves calendar ha ha ha

Anyway I went to a party last night, check out pic of DH and I below

THe party hosts were the Mum and Dad of DS best friend from school. It was a "shooters" party, each couple had to being a bottle of summat disgusting to drink from a shot glass, and at an allocated time the couple had to fill 14 shot glasses and make everyone drink one. It was funny and I got very adept at "losing" my drink - there was no way I could drink all that! I was particularly impressed when I managed to ditch my shot of sloe gin in a plastic bowl full of fruit pastilles ha ha. The ouzo went down the loo and grappa (nasty nasty) got chucked out of the front door.......I hate to think how the rest of the party are feeling!

Anyway happy 2007.................I ain't making any resolutions this year...............January is dreary enough (hee hee)

DURRRRRRRRRR.............

So DH went out for his "boys" afternoon yesterday "won't be a late one hun he says, since we are starting at 1:30 pm" yeah right, he rolled in at 1:30am this morning...............I am not impressed.

Anyway DH asked me to go and get a wireless router for his dad's laptop from PC World yesterday, so I did and installed it etc, works great, I am working wirelessly as I type. The downside is, the idea was that FIL would not have all the trailing wires leading from the back of the modem which is connected to the TV box wotsit. ERRRRR but wait a min, old PC brainbox here forgot that a wireless router has to be connected to one PC or laptop to work so in fact he now has even more wires and boxes to contend with. Haven broken the news to DH who is still snoring............oh dear.

Have been getting some great pics of scraprooms since I posted on UKS about it. Can't wait to get home and get to grips with my evil sander later today. I've got loads of deadlines in Jan and I NEED to be in the room to create!! (hark at me)

I'll let you know when the proverbial hits the fan about the router.

Glasgow

I am up with DH and DS in Glasgow for a couple of days, went out to a lovely place called Cafe Mao with 6 other couples last night - the yummiest food and the BEST company. My head should hurt this morning but I think I have been spared.

Gonna try to fit in some stash shopping today, fingers crossed, might head off to Flawless Designs in Stirling. My appetite for stash has returned yey!!

Can't wait to move into my new craft room but things are on hold for a couple of days, have appealed to bods on UKS to give me some colour and design ideas for decorating and furnishing. I'll keep you posted.

Changing Rooms

OOHHHH my arms hurt, I was sanding the beams in my craft room yesterday - I am sooooooo desperate to get in there I have gone all DIY. You should have seen me , I started with a piddly little sander which was taking ages till hubby brought up a "dobbin" big band sander, which basically dragged me across the beam - it's a beast. Being a right wimp with no muscles I only lasted half an hour with it and was exhausted. Bet the neighbours were glad though it makes a hell of a racket.

So the room is still ongoing I am dreaming of my expedit shelving from IKEA, knowing my luck it'll be out of stock as soon as my room is finished - arrrgggghhh!!!

Off to Glasgow this afternoon for a couple of days yey!!

OH OH I am sooooo chuffed my blog is heading up the Crafty Blog charts.........check it out!

Trafford Centre

I must be mental (well I think we all know I am) but I decided to brave the Trafford Centre yesterday to get a handbag with my John Lewis voucher and a case for my iPod, it was MOBBED, all the car parks were full but we managed to squeeze into a space.

Bagged myself a half price handbag which I had my eye on before Xmas - yey!

The January issue of Quick and Crafty arrived in the post today and one of my cards made the front cover, I am sooooooooooo chuffed. I have used the most delish American Crafts "play" papers and Aunty Sarahs bloomers - check the papers out here at SarahsCards website.

The other good news is that my craft room has been replastered and is drying out nicely, I am off up the stairs to strip the wooden beams. All I need to do now is choose my colour scheme, I have been drooling over the IKEA catalogue choosing my storage. Most of the DIY projects in our house tend to take ages, but I want to be in and creating in my new room by the new year.

Boxing Day

Mornin! It's 6:25am and I can't sleep so I thought I would blog instead. In fact I have been awake since 4:30 am!!! I'll be knackered later I bet.

Been surfing t'interwe for iPod bits and bobs, think I need to buy a case since I am so flippin accident prone. Talking of which I brought down hubbys stereo into the kitchen on Saturday night and dropped one of the speakers, thought I had got away with it cos I was giggling nervously once I realised that it worked. I confessed and on checking it, one of the "doo-dads" inside was wrecked................oops!

Anway sitting here in new jim-jams courtesy of my Mum, had some great pressies, including the most divine cashmere scarf from my cousin Hil (she spoils me rotten).

The little fella got a whole pile of pressies and this was the first Christmas he was totally aware of what is going on bless him.

Anyway, must go - got about 19,800 itunes to download (hee hee)

ipod Big 'un

ooohhh I got an 80gb iPod for Christmas yey!!!!!! Courtesy of hubby bless him

Just have to buy loooooaaaads more iTunes to fill it -apparently it fits about 20,000 tracks -COOL.

Happy Christmas one and all!!!

My head hurts..............

Wel it's Christmas Eve and I am all sorted apart from pressie wrapping. Got a bit of a sore head, our friends were round for our annual Christmas meal and get together last night, so we were quaffing Champers (hark at me!)

Anyway, been dying to blog about the fact that Julie Hickey from Craftwork Cards has asked me to be a guest artist on their new recipe cards -check out their new concept here. I was actually asked when I was at the NEC with Sarah back in November, I stopped by their stall and Julie asked me if I would be interested so of course after thinking for about a nanosecond I said YES! I am extremely flattered to be asked, especially since when I started card making about 3 years ago I was very inspired by Julie and her work - she is cardmaking royalty for goodness sake!

2006 has been a great year for me and I am very flattered that so many people like Sarah and Bev have also got me on their design teams, I just hope I can do 'em proud. If any of you lovely people are reading this, thank you so much for the opportunities you have given me

Well must dash got pressies to wrap

Christmas is Coming!!

Blimey, well AT last I think I am all sorted for Christmas PHEW!

Hubby and I are back home and yesterday we took our little fella to see Santa on the Santa Express in Llangollen.

It was soooooooooo cool, like stepping back in time, we got on a steam train and had our own compartment, it was just like Harry Potter or Mallory Towers (Enid Blyton) . I read all those books when I was little and just so wanted to be posh and go to boarding school and have a tuck box, a truck with initials on it, play lacrosse and have midnight feasts. Jolly Hockeysticks!

Anyway back to Santa, he came along the train which sat still for about 40 mins before we set off! He gave all the kids a pressie. We travelled along the line to Lapland station, which was all very festive and back home again. It was a great treat for the afternoon.

Done all my housework, hubby has been dispatched to Sainsburys ( I couldn't face another trip) and I think I will have a snooze this afternoon.

Proof positive of how much running round and forgetting to eat I have been doing , I have lost about 8 pounds!! YEY!!!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!

Sweden

Hej Da! I am in Sweden with work and it is pigging freezing. I have been used to 10 degrees and rain and it is -2 and very frosty

I am more knackered than I have ever been in my life, exhausted in fact, I need to get back to my hotel and sleep for a week zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Still there is a nice spa in the hotel with lovely pool etc, I think I will hang out in there for a bit (literally hang out ha ha ha as I will be wearing a swimsuit) then early bed. Sweden is nice but our hotel sucks, my room is nice but the lighting is dreary, not good in a country which is dark most of the year!

Any-hoo, I shall stop whining and I am home tomorrow yey!!!

The Spirit of Christmas Returns

Gosh my Christmas paddy last night was funny, it went along the lines of "RIGHT - that's IT!! I ain't doing Christmas next year , I am running away to hide" Hubby laughed at my strop.

However this morning we went to our son's nativity play and he was playing one of the angels and it just melted my heart. It was all so sweet, bless 'em. There were LOADS of kids in the production, the teachers must have been so stressed ( I think one of them was swigging gin beforehand ha ha!!!)

Anyway I am back in love with Christmas again, I am off to the Trafford Centre tomorrow to start and finish my shopping.............no doubt I'll be in a foul mood after that!!!

Don't Mention the C Word

If anyone else tells me they are "all sorted for Christmas" I shall kill them. The mere mention of the C word is making me hysterical. Who are these people who buy all their pressies and have them wrapped in August - are they put on earth to make December a misery for me? Is it me or does December just flash by at warp speed - I mean what the heck is it doing being December 13th all of a sudden?

The good news is that alllll my Xmas cards and shop orders are done - my craft table is bare and I ain't touching paper till 2007 I swear!! I am eternally grateful to Lynn and Melissa at Aceville for their support. My creative juices are gone and I can give no more in 2006.........gosh wot a diva eh??

Any-hoo I am off to Sweden with work on Sunday for 3 nights so even less time to get pressies. If you know me, expect a last minute gift from a petrol station - how does charcoal briquettes sound? You never know when barbie season will roll around again ...........

Will I ever be glam?

Well it's my works "do" tomorrow night at Tatton Park in Knutsford Cheshire. Every year they host a couple of weeks of swanky parties in a massive marquee with a fab theme. I haven't been before but last year hubby went and thought it was brill.

Soooooooooo tonight I was due to do the whole laydee beauty routine, face pack, manicure, pedicure etc and you know what? I am too knackered, so I ain't gonna be no posh spice tomorrow. My toenails look like they belong to a velociraptor ( I can't spell dinosaur names) the "holiday skin" tan I have been applying looks like Vicky Pollard applied it and my hands are in a right state

Lets hope it's dark in that there marquee.........................................

My Crafty Space

OK folks try not to faint, but there are pics on my blog!!!

Thought I would show you my craft space, I am currently residing in a small corner of hubbys attic office as seen here..................

However my "real" craft room is "under construction". This was my hidey hole but since we live in an old house and the plaster is caving in on the wall I have decided to have it plastered. It's in a poorly state at the mo - but check out the carpet ha ha ha!!!

The plasterer has promised to come before Xmas and I can't wait (yeah well we'll see if he arrives eh?) I am intending to paint it pink and green and have white furniture from IKEA and I will just be in HEAVEN!!!

200 cards b4 Xmas???

Ha ha do you think I am gonna acheive this? 200 cards and 2 mag projects, back to my "leaving it to the last minute"tendencies..................eeeeeeeeeeeek!

I wish I could be an organised Christmas person, my mate at work has all her pressies bought and wrapped by the end of Nov and I could kill her!!!! She's the sort of person who buys stuff in August (arrrrrrrrrrghhhh !)

I have just bought a copy of Creative Scrapbooking mag, and it just gets more gorgeous every month. Lianna Mawer from LittleSilver Hat (ribbons v yummy) has had 2 yummy layouts published and I bet she is thrilled, so well done to her.

The other brillo news is that Rochelle has re-opened her shop One Purple Cow and I am sooooo chuffed.

Fab news #3 is that I am now number 63 in the crafty blog chart hee hee!! SO thanks for reading.

Well the housework is calling so I had better "do one"

Another Work Week Over!!!

Tee hee I am loving this 3 day work week malarky! 4 days off now yipeee!

Mind you, I am lucky, I love my job, yesterday I was teaching people to use PaintShop Pro and I am learning Photoshop too!

New project is out in Quick & Crafty, I did some cards with some lush papers from Banana Frog, they are fab

Also have a piece in about blogging so lets hope I go up the "Crafty Blogs" hit parade lets face it number 69 in the rating ain't good!!!

Once Bitten Twice Shy? -No Sireeee not me

Those who regularly read this nonsense may recall my "crumpet rage" at Tesco Express last week.

Well this dotty old bag was there again tonight and have I learned my lesson? Did I stay clear of the evil self service till wotsits??

Did I 'eck, like a lamb to the slaughter, the trusting fool that I am I was sucked into the "ooohhh bet that'll be quicker than queuing" mentality.

This time it was worse, scanned all my stuff, then it sniffilly refused every form of payment I offered it, I cajoled, I pleaded all to no avail...............I was eventually persuaded to go and queue up outside to use the chuffin' cash till to get money to pay!!! The queue for that was about 8 people long..............will I ever learn???

Anyway due to my early onset of senility I bought a flash new filofax yesterday, filled it with everything my pea brain needs to remember till the next Millenium and guess what? The damn thing is too big to fit in my handbag...........sheesh!! I Give up

So , now at my desk making cards and I have run out of blanks (I'll need to shoot myself with real bullets ha ha ha ha ha!!)

I need a personal organiser!!

OK it's official, I am officially brainless as of now...............toadelly losing it memory wise. This morning on the school run I was convinced I had forgotten summat, but couldn't figure out what?? Then I remembered - the cheque for school lunches this week durrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

I wish I was more organised, I am hopeless at this "school Mum" thang. It is my honest belief that all children should stay in nursery till 5pm every week day till they are 16 - no more messing about with having to make tea every night and clogging up the roads with the dreaded school run. I am laying the blame squarely on the teachers at my boys school, if they send home any more letters with "bring this in" , "do this" or "we are doing that" this side of 2009 then they are getting shoved where the current bun don't shine.

ALSO whilst I am on a rant - what gives with my blog, do I smell??? I am thinking of bribing Kirsty wiv Jaffas to stop writing for a week so I can be number 2 not number 70 !!! on Crafty Blogs...........(just kidding Kirsty).

Hey ho c'est la vie - off to beedie byes........till next time xxxxxxxxxx

Great Weekend

Gosh I have had such a brillo weekend. One of my hubby's Greek colleagues has been staying with us since Friday and he was a perfect house guest.

Yesterday was Sarahs' retreat, I am in awe of the scrapbooking talent I keep seeing. Julie Doyle, Jani D (can't recall her full name - sorry Kiddo) and Kirsty Wiseman taught a class each yesterday and I must say I was totally blown away by them all. How come ladies with families and jobs to juggle can produce such wonderful artwork?? I take my hat off to you all! Jools was a COMPLETE star with her catering too, bless her she is a dedicated scrapper and spent the whole day in the kitchen with Sarah's mum Wendy.

The retreat was perfect, Sarah " I am having twins by the way" Davies just organised such a brilliant day - I love you gal!! Every small detail was taken care of. The food , the venue and the raffle were fabbo.

Today I took my little 'un to "Polar Palace" one of those hideous play frame party venues - he went with his 2 best pals. I say hideous, but they do love it. My little fella kept complaining that he was hungry, and I was like "stop nagging just go and play". His 2 mates popped back on their own announcing that he was in a party. I went legging it over to one of the party rooms and spotted the little blighter sitting at a table happily tucking into some random kids party meal - OH MY GOD!!! I was soooooooooooo embarrassed, I just picked him up and ran for it!!! God knows who they were, I didn't stop to find out!!!! At the end of the afternoon putting his shoes on he complained that he didn't have a party bag!!! SHEESH what a kid???

Off tomorrow to get lots of card making done - yey!!!!!

BAD Mother

I think I am definitely going senile, or my mind is so full of "things to do"that there just ain't no room for more info.

Today was anti bullying day at school which meant no uniform and I didn't just forget, I have no recollection of it being mentioned in any letters from school. So my poor son ended up in school with his uniform on and now I feel dreadful..................everyone else was in jeans - bless him.

So I was feeling dreadful and quite grumpy and found a letter in his bag about him needing a flipping angel costume for the nativity play..............arrgggghhhhhhhhh!!!!

It's Sarahs retreat tomorrow and I am going to be a helper - should be great!!!

Stop the World I wanna gerroff

GOD!!! I am a bit stwessed at the mo. I have been trying to get in work early so I can finish early every night to get stuff done around the house. We have a vistor staying with us this weekend and have also invited bods round for fireworks and nibbles on Sat night. Added to this our garden is still being sorted. We now have a skip full of the Berlin Wall on the drive, an electrician and a squad of guys who pave stuff for us arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!!!!!

So in my rush to get to work yesterday I jumped in the shower - had a quick look at my hair, thought it passed the "minger test" and didn't need to be washed so I could save time. Got out of the shower, put my make up on and realised since I had slapped face oil on the night before that my hair was greasy and I didn't pass the "minger test" after all. So legged it back to the bathroom to wash my hair. Looked in the mirror and my mascara and it had all run - arrrgggghhh!!!

Face then had to be redone. I go into the wardrobe to get something to wear and as I struggled to get something out, a coat hanger flicked out and whacked me straight in the gob!!! You can imagine how blue the air was - it flipping hurt!

No time for brekkie, and I needed cash so I drove to our Tesco Express got cash, then had a brainwave to buy crumpets and butter for the office.

They've just installed those god-awful "swipe your stuff yerself cos we can't be a****d" checkouts and my crumpets wouldn't beep throught the "swipey thing"!! So in true Victor Meldrew stlyeeee I said "oh for God's sake why can't we actually have a real human being behind these bloody tills????" Well I said it quite loud, my crumpets finally got themselves together, I paid and made a sharp exit with bemused early morning shoppers gawping at me.

Progress eh...........? I hate it

Oh I bet my blog will be kicked off Crafty Blogs now for not having any "crafting tips or stuff" - so here is my tip of the day "craft knives are very sharp so be careful".............................

The Stress Bunny Returns

I have orders for 100 cards to deliver before Christmas -- plus I need to do Xmas cards for our family............................I'm gonna hibernate

Muuuuuuummmmmm!

Great Quote

Read a great quote in Paper Crafts Mag today....

"There's a very fine line between hobby and mental illness........."

How true is that?? I daren't show my other half since this is how he views my obsession with paper n' stuff.

I've been really busy with writing the words to go with my pictures for the mag, it's the worst bit of the whole process so got that sorted - till next month.

It's action stations in the garden again, hubby made himself very popular with a pneumatic drill yesterday , much to the disgust of the neighbourhood hee heee!! We have a pile of concrete rubble to rival the fall of the Berlin wall outside our kitchen door and yet another flippin' skip on the front drive.

Lots to do this week - got orders for cards for a couple of shops and we have friends coming at the weekend so lots of yukky housework to do. I could just leave it and blindfold them when they come through the front door instead.....there's a thought!

A Quick Recovery!

OHHH I do feel better. Up in Glasgow at the moment, we went to a 40th Party last night gosh it used to be weddings and christenings now it is 40th parties, how old am I starting to feel?

The party was for hubbys mate who was our best man and the venue was a bowling club, they had indoor bowling on green carpet and although I was rubbish it was good fun! The party boy had brought his iPod and plugged it into the stereo and every single track was fab - I may have to clone it. Mind you I don't have an iPod all my itunes are on my PC and I am mad for downloading tunes.

Back home today to get on with the garden renovations, the final phase starts next week - can't wait!

My hubbys cousin is over from the States, she made a flying visit yesterday and dropped off a stack of scrapping and stamping mags for me - I LOVE HER!! SO I shall have plenty to read today. I've also had orders for cards from a couple of shops so I'll be busy doing those.

Poorly 'ol me
Well I have managed to get myself a little tummy bug - what a pain. On the mend now though, it just meant I had to leave our crop early on Wednesday. Incidentally for all the thousands of you reading this, Sarah of SarahsCards and I run a crop every month near Northwich in Cheshire so if you care to come along please get in touch!

Off to Glasgow tonight for a flying visit for a 4oth Party then back home to continue with our garden renovations!

My latest project has been uploaded to MyCraftWeekly , a new site devoted to all things crafty by Aceville, its' a subscription thing but well worth a look. I must say reducing my hours to 3 days a week has meant I can get on top of my deadlines at last!!!

BananaRama

OHHHHHHH ( I am very excited) Bev Fletcher has just officially "launched me" - well I am almost as big as a boat, on her Banana Frog website as part of her design team, I am so happy!!!

A big thanks to Bev for supporting me and choosing me for her team!!!

Check me out - worra poser.

This week has been so great for me, I have some really nice offers which I am just keeping under my bonnet just now, but suffice to say I have been grinning like a Cheshire Cat all weekend!!!

Back Home from the NEC!

WOW!! What a great weekend I had at the NEC - Sarah and I did make and takes at the show with 300 people! Sarah was an angel I was "cooking on gas" all weekend and I think I wore her out but she was very gracious and didn't punch me once! A BIG thanks for all her kindnesses and for letting me accompany her - I love ya Sazzles!

I met loads of lovely people and had a great natter with Julie Hickey from Craftwork Cards and Dyan from Art from the Heart. They of course had the most scrummy stuff on sale and of course I succumbed. The gang from Quick & Crafty and Crafts Beautiful had the stand at the entrance and were "going like a fair" all weekend too. They had a BIG blown up poster of one of my front covers on the stand, by the time I got round to taking a pic some elderley lady was sitting in front of it and I didn't have the heart to ask her to budge, so no pic for me!!

It was so great to have an exhibitors badge and I waved it like Wayne from Waynes World - I was deffo "Access All Areas" tee hee!

The gang from Practical Publishing, Lindsay, Diane & Iain really looked after us and were a complete hoot- even with hangovers! SO a Big Thanks to them for "having us".

OOHHHH but it was great to meet all the enthusiastic crafters there, some of them were so lovely. Some were a bit flippin cheeky too, we were making things with brads and one woman swiped a handful as she left our table - if you are reading this madam shame on you! It's amazing the stories you hear of folk pinching stuff at the shows too, you wouldn't believe crafters were capable of such behaviour...............but then it takes all sorts.

All in all I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to the next one, and helping Sarah on her retreat on the 25th of the month.

One more sleep to go!

OOOhh I am almost (but not quite) wetting my pants about tomorrow - off to the NEC yipeeee!!

I am almost packed, and very excited. Poor "expectant" Sarah will probably want to strangle me by Sunday if I stay this excited!!!

Please, please let's hope people actually want to "make and take" with Sazzles and Sam, cos I have been preparing all week, I am just gonna drag people to the table and MAKE them MAKE AND TAKE.

Anyway got lots to do - wish us well and I'll write and update on my return (how will you survive without me ha ha ha!)

Crafty Blogs

If my brain was made of dynamite I wouldn't have enough to blow my hat off! What a berk, I signed up for Crafty Blogs and have been wondering all week why it hasn't appeared on their rankings ..............durr you need to install a button wotsit on your blog to get it to work. I sent an email to their support guy last night - he must have thought "god here we go again another dimwit!"

So I am now number 68 in the rankings, not quite Billy No Mates but practically.

I hear that Lianne has been voted scrapper of the month (she is always fighting ha ha ha) but seriously well done to her - she sent some YUMMY scrummy ribbon to me yesterday - check out her shop www.littlesilverhat.co.uk

Two more sleeps to the NEC!!!

Lots to Do.....

Ohhh yesterday was my first Monday off in aaaaages, I have dropped down to 3 days per week at work so I can pick Alex up from school and not put him in Kiddie Prison (after school club) Got loads of creative stuff done for my Quick & Crafty project, so really pleased.....as per usual can't share it cos I would get "done".

Well on the way to getting all the stuff sorted for our Make and Takes at the NEC at the Weekend, please say hi when you pass Sarah and I on the Practical Publishing Stand.

I am very excited about a new venture I am involved in, Aceville, who do Q&C mag and Crafts Beautiful have just launched My Craft Weekly, which is an online forum full of videos and projects and patterns etc etc. Some of my stuff will be appearing v soon so I am very chuffed!

3 more sleeps to the NEC yey!! Poor Sarah will be fed up cos I will be like a kiddie jumping up and down and saying "I AM DEMOING at the NEC" all weekend. Soz Sazzles.....

God my Blog is boring...............

Feeling a bit naffed orf today cos I have found a site which lists all the top Blogs for crafters and mine ain't on it..........however on closer inspection it seems you actually have to log your blog on the site cos apparently they ain't psychic.

YEY thinks I , I might get some real strangers, rather than my Mum, Julie and Sarah (god love em all) reading my blog, then I noticed a rather pertinent disclaimer which basically sez if your blog ain't "crafty" enough you'll be kicked off and pelted with rotten tomatoes ( I made the tomatoes bit up)

Well it doesn't take a brain surgeon to notice the distinct lack of crafty pics and tips on my blog does it? Thing is, cos I have to work (boo- frickin - hiss) AND the fact that I don't get time to create and play other than for Q&C most of the time, I can't actually take pics of what I have done.............cos that would spoil the TA-DAH! effect in the mag. So what to do? Can someone please arrange for a few more hours in the day peut-etre, cos that would sure help my little predicament.

I am off to Courtyard Crafts tonight with aforementioned mother to drool over stuff (must not buy, must not buy...). Tomorrow I am spending the day with Sazzles to work on our "make and takes" for the NEC next week. We are gonna be on the Practical Publishing stand and I am VERY excited. So for all the hordes of you reading this - ahem!!! Please come and say hi.

I am off now to ponder my options for squeezing crafting time in so I can take some pics of things I have made.

Overrun with Trick or Treaters!!!!!!!!!!!

OK quick tip, if you are gonna stick a lit pumpkin on your front step, don't try to make a casserole and feed your 4 year old, instead prepare for serious hordes of trick or treaters!!!

WOOOAAAAHHHHH I think someone must have parked a coachload at the end of our road, our house was INUNDATED with visits tonight. Good job I bought like shedloads of choccie in readiness though, was hoping to trough the leftovers..............not much left over I can tell you.

It was all very cute though and I felt really mean that I hadn't dressed little Alex up to open the door, bless him. Every time the bell rang he sprinted to the door to offer up the choccie basket. Bless his socks awwwwww.

Gee it's good to be back home again...........

Yes these are the words of John Denver and they are true. We have had a fabbo family half term holiday. Just back from Buckinghamshire after visiting friends in Great Missenden. What a gorgeous place, Roald Dahl lived there and there is a museum there devoted to his life and work. It was soooo interesting and hs made me determined to get a book about his life. I had no idea he wrote the screenplay for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Did a great tourist day in London, saw Downing Street for the first time and also went to the Tower of London which was really good.

Yesterday we went to Whipsnade Zoo and the best thing there was the hippos, saw them really close up and apparently they poo in their pool to mark their territory. YUCK

Back to work tomorrow - boo -hiss xxx

Waiting for Noah..........

Flippin 'eck (spot the Northern Lass) its been piddling down here all day. Most miserable.......

Never mind, my fab new custome made stamps arrived this morning just for meeeeee! Very chuffed with how they turned out, no time to play though cos off "darn Sarf" tomorrow to visit friends near London.

Also mega excited - Sarah has booked our hotel for the NEC in Nov - "girls on tour yey!!" She has been busy with another yummy kit on her website - check it out at www.sarahscardsltd.co.uk I am wishing her a sell out!

Off to Leoland at the crack of dawn.................hope it ain't raining darn Sarf

Hoots Mon

Just back from a fabbo long weekend in Glasgae..........did lots of fab things, went to S for Stamps and Craft Heaven - designed my own stamps which should arrive tomorrow and bought more stash!

Went to the newly reopened Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery with DH and DS, just fab. I am a real fan of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and they have an exhibit with loads of those designs - just yummy.

Talking of yummy I went for the best curry ever last night at Mother India, just delish!!! Back home for 36 hours and then orf to Legoland and London - these half term hols ain't all bad eh??

OHHHHH 3 Comments

Seems like my begging has paid off, my last post was read and commented on! Thanks gals your fivers are in the post!

Well I can report that my mojo is back and I am on top of all my projects and I am actually getting the time to just "play". Now I have been cruelly wrenched away from my stash and I am in Glasgow, not to worry I am sure I can fit in some trips to Memory Avenue and S for Stamps he hee heee!!

Looking forward to November cropping activity and the NEC. The last crop was cancelled because Sarah and I couldn't make it so we are on again for our monthly crop in Northwich and I am helping out on her Xmas Retreat (making tea - oh my lord where is the valium??) Then I am helping her out at the NEC and I am SOOOOO excited.

Yummy New Stuff

Ohhhh went over to Sarah's last night (of Sarahs Cards) and raided her new stock. She has taken delivery of lots of GORGEOUS, and I mean GORGEOUS new American Crafts 12x12 paper and it just made me swoon. It is just to die for and I got loads of it and I want more - greed is a terrible fing. The problem with Sarah is she just stocks ENTIRE ranges of papers and it just means I have to buy em'

On the same subject, I have developed an obsession with Stampin Up, a just gorgeous US company who have the lushest stamps on the planet. I have bought some off ebay but have made contact with a demonstrator who lives near my cousin in the US and I am gonna buy more when I can.

Talking of stamping I have discovered a yummy stamping blog called Stamping Mathilda, she is a lady based in the Netherlands I think, and she stamps like a dervish!! Her stuff is wonderful so check it out, cos I is in awe!!!!!

Photos!

Gosh well I finally uploaded a photo of Lil Ol' Me onto my blog - display this page and it'll keep the kids away from your PC hahahahahah. Did you all notice my fabbo new banner? It took me chuffin' ages, and I still can't figure out how to get rid of the original title which is still lurking underneath!

I hate photos of me, one time I joined a posh gym near Wilmslow and I had to have a pic taken for my gym pass. The girl took it really quick she said "ready?" I went "ay? what? ohhhh waaaahhh" and it was all over. You should have seen it, I almost wet my pants laughing, I truly looked like I was looking into the back of a spoon. The girl that took it was peeing herself too. So she goes "awwww don't worry no-one will ever see it, it's just for your card"

WRONG!!!! Each time I went to the gym the card got swiped through a machine and was displayed about A4 size on a bloody TV screen - invariably when there was a fit rich bloke just behind me.....................so that's why I don't go to the gym! Good excuse eh?

Confined to Barracks...............

Silly old me - I've managed to get myself an inner ear infection called "acute labyrinthitis", completely out of the blue, went to the docs yesterday and he has signed me off work with it. It makes me feel like I am on a boat, bit dizzy and sicky, as long as I don't pogo about I feel OK so for once I am taking it easy!

He gave me some microscopic pills which apparently you can't chew or swallow (it says so in BIG letters on the pack) instead you have to put them up under your top lip. They stop you feeling icky . Last night I DID feel icky so I stuck one of those suckers where I was supposed to and was SO SCARED I was gonna swallow one I sat up in bed like a big jessie holding it against my gum with my pinky. It did the trick though hurrah!!

I am such a hypocondriac though, I started reading up about it and apparently it can make you vom like a trooper and last for weeks. Now I am no big fan of "Up-Chucking" (who is??) so I hope that ain't gonna happen!

I'll keep you posted - even though the lack of comments on here make me feel like "Billy" (no-mates)

Back Home

Well I am back home and judging by the number of comments a bog fat none for ages it looks like I am "talking to myself". It'll be my own fault since I am a bit of a sporadic blogger.

I haven't "created" anything in ages and so on Friday and yesterday I spent hours making stuff for my 10 squillion deadlines. When I first started I was almost having a heart attack trying to figure out what to do, but I am dead proud of myself. I got stuff done for Quick & Crafty, Crafts Beautiful and some design team work done for the lovely Banana Frog!!

Don't know if I have mentioned it but Bev from Banana Frog has asked me to be on her design team - I am soooooo chuffed. She produces the most fabby acrylic stamps, it's great to see such talent in the UK and I am very very flattered to join them.

Still got loads more bits and pieces to do. A lovely chap from Xyron has sent me some goodies to play with including books for my Xyron Personal Cutter yey!!! AND more discs for my design runner, so I'll see what I can come up with.

My "craft" room is still in a right state and I am still occupying a small corner of DH's office at home. It's great but he caught me oohing and ahhing over some American Crafts ribbon I got from QVC on Friday. After looking at my 6 jars jam packed with ribbon he said "more ribbon ?????"...............men they just don't understand........

London Rocks!!

Well folks I am in London and having a fab time. Although I am officially here for work I have been made to feel very welcome and I am staying at a really nice hotel. Been here since Sunday and I flew down (oooh get me!!) to our head office. Our head office is larvelly!!

On Monday night I went on the London eye which was just peachy. Last night I went to see "The Producers" in the West End. A quick tip for theatre lovers - don't pay BIG ticket prices, if you haven't got your heart set on a particular show go to the TKTS booth in Leicester square on the day you want to go see summat cos most of them are half price. Anyway the big scoop is that I went on my own "what a big girl" how cool am I. OK so I stressed about how I was gonna get home on my own on the tube (so still a big ponce really) but I needn't have worried there were like 10,000 peeps on the tube last night so plenty of people about. My mother nearly had a conniption (spelling?) when I told her.

Tonight I am hoping to go see "Guys & Dolls" - apparently Patrick Swayze has bogged off on hols this week so he we be covered by his understudy - I was kind of hoping to see him since I swooned over him in Dirty Dancing in the 80's . Hey ho though it'll still be good.

Off home tomorrow night - it's been kinda blissful being a "chick about town" rather than " a drudge at home " LOL!!!

Till the next time........

Hop

Scrunched Up Stomach
Over the past few weeks I haven't had time to "create" and it has made me very grumpy and edgy. I have had to work 5 days a week when I usually work 4 so time has been limited and DH has been working away so by the time I have got Alex to bed I am fit for bed myself

The good news is I am off work next Friday so I'll have time to play -yey!!

Deep Blue Funk...........

Well readers - I have to admit to being in a bit of a deep blue funk right now

Working 5 days a week, with a wee one who has started school and precious little time to even do housework and the basics has meant my creativity has taken a back seat. In fact my creativity is basically so low on the list of priorities its actually in a trailer attached to the back of the car............

I have been watching the UKScrappers forum and reading all about Scrapcamp and all the lovely retreats and I am green with envy. My job is getting in the way of my papercrafting and it makes me sad and restless and quite stressed - what to do???

I have been extremely fortunate that my work appears in Quick and Crafty and this has been a spring board to other opportunities.........but at the moment I am struggling to fit them all in. If only I didn't have a "day job" I am sure I could really soar.

Hey ho...........no comedy from me today, what a moaner I am - someone come round and slap me!!

Trying to Be A Stamper

Well after another one of my loooong absences - I am back!

Lots of stuff has happened since I last wrote my blog but I won't bore you with the details. I want to write about rubber stamps.

I am a BIG fan of rubber stamps and associated stash but I just can't get my head round using them. I see a stamp in a shop and think "woooaaaaahhh I gotta have it" and then all the ideas I had for using it evaporate when I get home. It's bizarre.

So I have decided to "focus" and get myself into stamping, I was in Harrogate for the CraftWork Cards Papercraft Extravaganza and had a fab time last Sunday. I took my Mum and although we only had 2 hours to whizz round I still managed to spend money!! I visited the scrummy Craftwork Cards stall and bought loads of stuff. I chatted to Julie Hickey who said lovely things about my work and I blushed to the roots of my hair!!!

I also meandered over to the Art from The Heart stall,oohhhhhhhhhh just SCRUMMY. I have never really been into their Blonde Moments designs but once I saw what they had done with them I was in "lurve". I also watched a demo by one of their team using Distress Inks and PaperArtsy stamps - I was hooked! So I am hoping to get cracking with some stamping, as I write this I am watching my Tim Holtz DVD.............very inspiring. If I manage to do some stuff I'll get some pics and upload them.

My craft room hasn't progressed much either, I am useless!!! We have to track down a plasterer, so it could take a while.

Sarah and Kirsty have been having fun at the Emily Falconbridge workshop this weekend I am dying to see how they got on so I better hop on over to Kirstys Blog.............

God I'm tired

I am soooo tired, and I am now tired of being tired, I am pooped, knackered, whacked and I want to sleep for a week. Not sure why.......................but I am verrrrry sleepy.

Sold some mags on ebay last night, I just love turning my mag pile into real cash that I have all good intentions of putting away for savings but just end up squandering on more stash on ebay, will I ever learn?

Crop night tomorrow yey, Sarah Davies (of Sarahscards) and I hold one every month near Northwich, for all you millions of readers get in touch if you want more details!! Sarah has also just set up her Xmas retreat check out her fabbo website for more details ,www.sarahscardsltd.co.uk there will be classes with some very talented papercrafters (i'll be making the tea)

Talking of tea, I have this insane inability to make tea for others without getting stressed.Yes I can stress over tea for goodness sake. I have made tea for all the builders and other guys who have done work on the house and I can almost see their shoulders drop with dissapointment when they peer into a mug ful of brew made by me. As for the crop- well Sarah and I make a point of supplying all our attendees with tea and coffee I even write a list but then get all mixed up in the kitchen - Sarah nearly wets herself laughing at how rubbish I am!

Tune in soon for more from me xxx

Every Bone In My Back Hurts...............

Oh Lord, I am in pain, like a crippled hobgoblin from my DIY efforts on Saturday, it's all caught up with me! I suppose 15 trips up and down 3 floors carrying dobbing bits of old wood and chucking them into a trailer didn't help.

I was brandishing a heat gun stripping the paint off the beams in my room and cos I was on my own I started thinking......... "errrr these beams are right next to the roof space, lots of old dust and crumbling lathe and plaster...............................oh god I could set the whole flipping house on fire". So I stopped, then spent the rest of the night worrying that there was some smouldering fire in the roof that would turn into a towering inferno overnight and all my stash would go up with it too.

The things I think of!

Anyway it's my 8th wedding anniversary today - trust me to pick Sep 11th !!

That's all for now.

Whoa..............Busy Week

Well my little one started school this week, very monumental day! Bless him he was only just 4 years old last week. Like his Mum though, he is a total nutter with way too much to say for himself so he is taking it alllll in his stride. Alan and I went to pick him up and he escaped early! Let me explain, he is only in school from 8:55-11:30 for the first week and a half - I know!!! Tell me about it!!! When I was a kid it was like - here you go see you at 3:30! Anyway don't get me started cos I do work you know!!!! I don't get chance to play with gorgeous paper 'n stuff all day (more's the pity), so I have had to do some serious juggling whilst our UK "nanny state" deems it necessary for my child to spend a few hours here and there at school for the next 4 weeks - it's been a bit of a nightmare sorting it all out, but hey ho, that's life"

So - back to the escapee!! His school has a small part of the playground fenced off so the little blighters stay safe. The idea is that they get them all sorted with their bags and stuff , lead them through their classroom and through the side gate to line up towards the gate. Well not my kid - he's in the cloakroom, spies Alan and I waiting for him through the glass door and makes his way outside! Not bad initiative for the youngest kid in school, so you gotta hand it to him. We did march him back in to join the others though! Meanwhile he has also lost his school sweatshirt and chucked his snack box in the bin................what can I say??

He's off camping in Wales with his Dad for 2 days and I am blessed with a quiet house.......................decisions, what to do? Get drunk? Do housework? Watch a film? Go shopping?

Well none of the above I decided to "gut" my craftroom. I have knocked out the 1980's fitted cupboards and am well on the way to getting my "dream room" - more on this tomorrow. In the meantime, I think I overdid the action and my back is killing me...................................