Great Weekend

Gosh this 'ere festival is just one big whirl, I was confined to barracks yesterday , Alan was allowed out "to play" so I sat at home and sulked.

Apologies to all for no posts on crafting for a while, since it's the Summer Hols I really haven't had the chance to do anything so I hope to get back to it once Alex is back to school.

On Saturday we met some friends and went to see Craig Hill in the Gilded Balloon. We also hooked up with Craig's cousin and her hubby. It was such a fab gig, he is hilarious. We got to have a beer and a burger with him afterwards and he is such a lovely guy.

After that we had tickets to go and see "Andrew Maxwell's Full Mooners" this was a HOOT, we climbed up 100 steps to the top of Calton Hill to a big top to see lots of acts including, Andrew Maxwell, Ed Byrne, Jason Byrne, Glenn Wool and Carl Donnelly. OHHHH it was good, apart from the blinking climb.

Yesterday Carolines Ma and Pa came for a cuppa, her Pa was the piper at our wedding, almost 10 years ago. He brought his pipes and played in the garden for us, what a treat!

Right I am off to do some more "back to school" shopping, Ocean Terminal here we come.

How Much for Cupcakes?

I have been bitten by the Cupcake Bug, I have seen some of the scrummiest creations ever online, so I thought "I gotta make me some of them!"

Small problem is that my baking sucks! No matter, I have searched the internet for recipes and ideas and I finally made some tonight, and they were nice, I mean they are actually edible and taste good. I cannot embark on a new "project" without having the correct equipment so today I went out and bought......

New scales for weighing baking ingredients £16
Electric Whisk £17
Piping Bag and nozzles £6.50

Plus a dozen eggs, 2 blocks of lurpak, 2 packs of Stork, food colouring, and various decorations for the top

My kitchen was covered in icing sugar too.

I could have had 2 dozen designer cupcakes sent up from London for the money I spent today, I made 24, cost per cupcake so far about £1.85!!!!

Culture Vulture

OK I am 41 years old, was once (still am actually) DESPERATE to be a famous actress\singer or both since the age of 5.

Have been "aware" of the Edinburgh Festival for years and OK

.....TRUTH IS

....only had my first experience LAST SATURDAY!!!

NOW, (sorry about RanDom CAPS), my teeny, provincial pea brain can't quite get it's head round how blinking ENORMOUS this whole deal is, it's HUGE, it's MEGA, and the OFFISH FEST GUIDE is like the bleedin' yellow pages. I am bewildered, befuddled and amazed at the sheer size of all the frolics taking place less than 2 miles from my house.

AND I feel like running away and joining this wonderful, crazy, mad circus. Thing is, I can't decide whether to write a best selling hilarious novel (semi auto biographical) and play myself in the TV show, or do "stand up". The latter is my preference, GOD knows I have lurked about lots of craft shops and no-one has ever recognised me , let's face it, why would they? I want to be famous and adored and laughed at (or is that "with")

As you may guess I have been out "Festing" it today. Saw the lovely Andrew Clover doing his kiddie show today with Alex, he sent me an email the other day, not out of the blue, I sent him one first. I sent him a reply and he didn't reply back , probably thinks I am some mad stalking weirdo ( it's OK Andy I'm not - fancy Dinner??)

Andrew was great but I am totally intolerant of people if I go to the cinema or theatre, there has to be reverential silence as far as I am concerned, one sniff and I shoot daggers. Since this was a kiddie show one can expect a fair degree of "unsolicited audience participation" , Andrew was a Saint. All I can say is there were a few toddlers who needed the naughty stair!!! I'd have screamed " I am an artiste, I need TOTAL silence" but it was not to be.

We rounded off the day with another tattoo visit, not going to make you all jealous ...BUT, all I can say, corporate "do", lots of nice wine and food and great seats.

Nuff said, off to bed...

Anyway

I am MOOved

Postie just arrived and brought me the dinkiest funkiest little delivery EVER!

Last week, I ordered some mini cards from MOO.com and they just arrived in a dinky box and I am in love. They are mini business cards, you put your details on one side and pick some of their very gorgeous artwork for the other side, or you can upload your own artwork or photos of your own.

I am in BIG love with this company, they are quirky so make sure you check 'em out!

Stampin' Up Workshop

I am holding a Stampin' Up! Workshop at my house in Edinburgh on the 4th September . You'll get a free catalogue, chance to stroke some of the SU! Goodies, 2 cards to make and take, and biccies - I might even make some cupcakes!!

Interested? Send me an email - link on the right and I will give you all the info you need!

A Petition

I am not usually a political animal, but I urge you to go and check out Kirsty Wisemans' Blog today and sign the petition about the closure of the only dedicated hospital for injured servicemen and woman
It's here.

Fest is Best

We have been hitting the Festival, so I thought I would have a bash at reviewing the shows I have seen. Firstly I can't believe that I have NEVER been to the Festival - bearing in mind that I had at one time had the ambition of becoming an actress - but I was pants at acting so that wasn't really a go-er for me.

Alan and I have spent the last 2 days at the Fest so here goes....

Who Writes This Crap?
Excellent comedy show, 2 guys talk about the ads and the "lies" we are bombarded with on an average day. Small "Underbelly" venue in an arched cave type room. I love the Cowgate Venue, lots of rooms with great names such as Iron Belly, Beer Belly, Fat Belly, and Jelly Belly - go see this one

Andrew Clover - Dad Rules
Small venue, VERY hot, must have been about 120 degrees in here (think Brazil)

Andrew writes a weekly column in the Sunday Times mag, which is great. He was also the "clown" in Ashes to Ashes.

Very funny show and I sat right at the front, the crowd were quite muted but I was laughing my socks off, I had a chat to him afterwards. At this point I should mention I am a bit of a pain in the bum when it comes to "celebs" Alan thinks I am a nut, but I can't resist talking to "celebs" given half the chance. Andrew thanked me for laughing so much! When we came out he was sitting next to Christine and Neil Hamilton - they have a show too.

GO see it!!!

The Rat Pack
Thought I was at a 6th Form school production - big pants............don't go unless one of your teenage kids is in it . That said the musicians were good, but Dean Martin shouldn't look so scruffy, shine your shoes matey.

Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman
Sweet Grassmarket venue- compact and bijoux (i.e bloody tiny) EXCELLENT performance, was very glad we saw this. Last performance tomorrow. Both of the actors are fantastic, edge of the seat stuff.

Terminus
3 hander, Dublin based theatre group. Mesmerising acting and writing. Big venue............however, I didn't enjoy it. Very dark . When I come out of the theatre I prefer to feel uplifted, was impressed by the talent but I want to come out feeling "Mary Poppins" I felt more like "Schindlers List"

Empty Hoose

Alex has gone back up North for a few days to the Highlands with Alans cousin whilst we stay at home. He went 2 hours ago and the house feels so empty, I have just looked at his little bed and he won't be in it...............quite sad.

Meanwhile I have spent an hour fixing Alan's Outlook Account and his broadband connection on his desktop, he is now happily squished into a small space in the "junk" room sorting out his PC. Might just sneak out and hit the Fringe whilst he isn't looking ha ha !

Talking of the Fringe , I have an UBER talented friend , the one, the only Caroline Hickey (Cazza to me!!) doing a one woman show this year, called Fully Committed.........................and here is a pic of her in action!

"One reservations clerk, one telephone, 40 screaming VIPs and no tables. Sam Peliczowski juggles the needs of scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabees, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses in a 70 minute, breakneck, tour de force by Becky Mode."

If you are a Fringe attender , go see this show. For the record Cazza and I go waaaaaay back and she is the SWEETEST most talented lady I know and if she doesn't go and get herself spotted and whisked away to fame and bloody fortune damn soon I am gonna eat my hat (well I would if I had one). She is in the "Burgh" for the next 3 weeks and staying at our gaff for a couple of nights, so I am WELL excited, plus we muck about like a couple of kids when we are together and have a right old scream. I predict Mad festival attending nights with this chick over the coming nights ......................can't WAIT!!!!

Funny Old Day

One year ago tonight I had the most awful phone call to tell me my Mum had died suddenly at home. Sadly my Dad, who had cancer, had died only 9 weeks previously, my poor Mum was devastated, they met when they were about 19 years old and my Dad was in the army, he met her on New Years Eve and proposed after 2 weeks. They were made for each other and treated each other so kindly, they really were soul mates.

Tragically, they both endured the loss of my brother almost 10 years ago, and I think after the loss of Marcus and my Dad, Mum died of a broken heart................. I miss herand my Dad very very much.

So tonight we went to the Edinburgh Tattoo as a family Alan, Alex and I, and it was so moving, it was amazing and Alan and I shed some tears at the sheer size and emotion of the whole event.

It's time to move on and live my life as they would have wanted with Alan and Alex, happy in Edinburgh. No more sadness, only happiness and thankful that I had such a loving, wonderful parents and a very nutty brother.

Mum, Dad and Marcus I miss you and love you all, it almost felt that you were there tonight.

Boat Trip

We went out on a big boat trip yesterday, first we stopped off at the Kyle of Lochalsh for some supplies, so we sailed under the Skye Bridge.


Then we found a great secluded beach, it was used for filming Local Hero.
Arty picture of boots..............
My hubby.....
Then off for tea at The Old Forge at Inverie, the remotest pub on mainland Britain, and I have the t-shirt to prove it.
All in all a beautiful day and the most awesome scenary!!

On Hols

We are up in the Highlands for our annual holiday, just a few days up here for us. It really is idyllic up here.

Alan, his Dad, his cousin and his cousin's son are all currently playing scrabble. 10 mins in and the arguments have started and the dictionary is out. It reminds me of rainy days in our caravan as a child so I am staying well out of it.

It's 2 years this week since I started my blog, we were here in Kishorn when I started! It's also a year this week since my Mum died suddenly , we were all here when we got the dreaded phone call. I miss her so much and it's been pretty tough this last week, I was in Warrington last week for a couple of nights staying with a friend as I was down for a team meeting at work. I didn't feel good about being back in the place where I was born and raised and having no family left there. Pain like that just hits me in the chest and it's horrid.

Changing the subject I have had a couple of projects published this week (well 3) in Crafts Beautiful, Quick and Crafty and Simply Cards and Papercraft. So that'll be it for a few months for me, whilst I re-charge the creative batteries and hopefully find time and space in my muddled head to get my act back together.

We are hoping to get out on the boat tomorrow, then off to a Ceilidh dance on Wednesday, then back down for the tattoo on Thursday. Alex is coming back up to Kishorn for a few days without us and Alan and I are hoping to get into town to enjoy some festival frolics. My UBER talented friend from Cheshire is doing a one woman show in town, so can't wait to see her.

No More Dentist

Thank GOD!!! This morning I went to have the 3rd and final installment of my root canal work. I put Peter Kay on my iPod - took several deep breaths and just about managed to get through it. At one point they had to give me a break cos I was shaking so much, but now I am done and very happy.

Got ironing and housework this afternoon (boo!) BUT I am off for a meal at......................The Witchery (v.posh restaurant) with Alan tonight and some business colleagues, can't wait!

Party!!!!

Wow!! We had our housewarming party last night - boy did we have fun! We ended up with around 50 people at the house, many of our neighbours who we hadn't yet met and friends from Scotland.

The weather was brilliant, the garden was packed and everyone had a jolly good time. The only moment of drama came when one of our pals leaned against a candle and set the back of his shirt on fire, he ran through the house and ripped off his shirt in the front garden - he then realised that he was shirtless and surrounded by people leaving the party, so he put it back on very sharpish!

3 of the guys at the party were Irish and one brought a guitair so we had a sing-song at the end of the night - classic.

Remarkably I haven't had a hangover - feel a bit tired but that's about it- result!

20 Years Ago....

20 years ago today, I was in Minnesota, in the USA in a place called Bemidji and I was celebrating my 21st Birthday. I was at University and was a camp counsellor (teacher) at a kids Summer camp. It was one of the best 3 months of my life, the Camp was called Camp Thunderbird (yes really) There was a boys camps and a girls camp separated by a lake called Lake Plantagenet. There was a Dairy Queen in the centre of town and not far from camp , pretty much in the woods was a bar called Squirrels Nest. The whole thing was so darn American and I loved every precious second of it. We had toga parties, we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We went camping, we sang songs in the lodge at dinner time, we sheltered in the basement of the lodge when a tornado came by, I learned to waterski, and lived in a log cabin with 12 little girls. Gosh I am having a total nostalgia trip. I emailed the camp this week to wish them a great Summer and got a reply from the camp directors daughter, she is the same age as me and I remember her well, she is now running things with her parents.

Well that's me for today, got lots of cleaning to do today as we are having a little housewarming party tomorrow night. Hopefully I can post some photos.

Princess Pity

hmm not having the best of weeks. Last night I had a phone call from one of our friends, his wife, our friend had passed away. We saw her in hospital on Sunday and she was very poorly. She was not very old at all , in her early 50's so you can imagine we are very sad.

This morning I was back at the dentist round 2 of 3, it was yukky (again) Can't think of much else to write today, not really in the mood.

It's my birthday tomorrow, but all I can think of is that my Mum used to ring me up and sing Happy Birthday, this is my first birthday without her and it makes me sad...................

Loyalty Points at the Dentist?

Yup you guessed it, I was back again to the dentist today, the filling didn't help AT ALL. The pain this morning was excruciating, at dinner last night when the tears were running down my face with pain, Alan helpfully said "yes it is universally acknowledged by all that toothache is the worst pain ever" then he added "wish I could help you darlin' but I can't" Do you think a judge would have convicted me if I'd killed him on the spot??

I was driving Alex across town this morning and the pain was so bad I don't even remember much of the journey, every time we had to stop at a traffic light I rested my head on the steering wheel.

So full of the usual trepidation I set off for the dentist - again! First thing they needed to do was take an X-Ray, you should have seen the size of the X-Ray thingy he wanted to stuff in my cakehole "oh it's a bit big, I need a smaller one" - yes said I "use the ones you use for toddlers". So I managed that 20 second ordeal without wanting to retch (Just!!) Honestly it was like biting down on a toblerone and getting the mountain stuck on the inside of your mouth (a la Billy Connolly). The upshot was ROOT CANAL WORK

OK if you have never had ROOT CANAL WORK stop reading this post and make a promise to yourself to brush 6 times a day and floss every 10 mins to avoid this torture.

He numbed my mouth - no fear of throat closure today, then he starts to drill and he used that drill that is BIG and low pitched and I swear my brain was vibrating and wolves were howling in nearby woods.

Then he tells me I cannot close my mouth, now I don't know about you but most of my dental fear isn't about pain, but it's about choking to death in that chair or retching. So I swallow A LOT when I have various instruments of torture crammed into my SMALL mouth to avoid such a dreaful fate, and now I am told I can't swallow, and the dental assistant (blonde, and aged about 18 ) is pratting about somewhere by my side and not using the sucker up thing to get rid of all the drool. So this was really not easy and sod him I did swallow a few times and he tutted. No matter, I finally braved the ordeal there is nothing sweeter than hearing the phrase "OK you can rinse now" I was shaking from head to toe, but at least it was over.

"OK Mrs Currie, we have only just started I need to see you again for 45 mins this week to finish the job and done't bite on that side because your tooth may crack WIDE open"

OH MY GOD.......................................................

At The Dentist.....again!

Honestly, I am a walking disaster zone. I managed to let the metal bit of a PC unit fall on my leg the other day just above my ankle and blimey it hurt ( I think I said "flippin eck!") SO now I have a HUGE bruise on my leg and the sun has finally decided to come out and I can't wear a skirt.

Over the weekend one of my teeth started to ache - a lot, and I lost a couple of hours sleep last night, so I took myself along to the butcher (dentist) this afternoon. OH MY GOD, he must think I am mental, he had to numb my mouth and I accidently swallowed some of the gel stuff he used . Well my throat started to feel "funny" and so I was convinced I was going to have my windpipe close/swallow my tongue so I sat up and started a right fuss,saying "oh I think my windpipe is swelling OH NO". They got me a drink of water and I was OK but shaking durrrrr! He must dread me coming in!

He gave me a little filling but I am not sure the pain has actually gone away for good, my god the pain this afternoon was awful, I felt like cutting my head off ( I was actually crying!) and I have given birth so I know what pain is Mister!

Wish me luck as I head off to bed with my Ibuprofen.....

A Bit of This and That

Well we have had visitors this week so not had time to do any crafting. It hurts to sit down, I went to see the doctor and she said since I fell over and landed on my tail bone it can take weeks to get better. She had a prod (ouch!) and said "in rare cases (look away now if you are squeamish), the end of the tail bone can break off and perforate the bowel!" YAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!!!

"but you don't have that" thank goodness.

Yesterday I had the dratted veneer fitted - I hate that dentist, all seems well so far.

Yesterday, I, who am such a geek was excited to upgrade my iPhone with the iPhone 2 software, but iTunes couldn't cope and I spent 4 hours without my phone working - I felt like I had lost a limb. All good now though, which is cool

I have just picked up a copy of the new look "Craft Stamper" magazine, it's really good. In the past I bought it but was always a bit dissapointed, some of the projects weren't really very much to my taste. The new look mag is bright, modern and trendy, pick one up if you can.

I have just started Cheryl Johnstons online photography course, its a 4 week course so I am hoping I get to learn more about all the twiddly bits on my new Nikon DSLR. Still scratching my head a bit though so wish me luck.

Ouch!

Yesterday Alex and I went into Edinburgh to buy a birthday present for his pal and to go and have a look around Greyfriars churchyard. I don't tend to saunter anywhere and I was running across Princes Street at a crossing with Alex and a young girl (listen to me Grandma!) collided with me and totally knocked me flat on my back at speed. As I was holding Alex's hand I dragged him down with me. What a nightmare, when you are older and you fall over it seems to come out of nowhere and it flipping hurt! Plus I was so embarrassed, trust me to fall flat on my back on the busiest road in Edinburgh. The girl wasn't English and had her iPod in her ears, and I was a bit mad at her, feel awful now as she was sorry and accidents happen hey ho.

Poor Alex grazed his elbow and he was crying, and I landed right on my "tail bone" now it hurts to sit down - ouch!

Anyway we limped away and did go to the church which was fun and I spied an art shop right next door so I got some "Sansodor" and some paper stumps. My Prismacolor pencils should arrive this week so I get to play. Hero Arts have an "awesome" tutorial on using these pencils check it out here .

Can't wait to play!

Text In a Circle

I thought I would put together a quick tutorial on how to create text in a circle on a PC. There are so many stamps out there that use this technique but you can create your own just using Microsoft Word (or Powerpoint) I use Word 2007 for this example but you can pretty much use any verision of Word and the instructions are reasonably similar.

Create a new document, then click on the Insert Tab


Click the WordArt button


Choose a style from the gallery, I generally use the one shown below as I don't want my text to look fancy schmancy

A little box pops up, change the Font here if you like and the size, you can come back later to change these things if you like so it's not vital to change right now

Type in the text you need, separating each phrase with an asterisk or a dash or full stop - rememeber to add one at the end because we are creating a circle!

Click OK and you get this....ewww!

Click on the Change Shape button on the toolbar, and select the Circle shape

At this point you'll see a dotted line around the outside of the circle with grab handles at each corner, use these to click and drag to resize the circle to get the size you need
At this point you can just print this off and the job is done, but you might like to add another circle to the outside of this one. So follow the same steps this time using the full stop button on the keyboard to create dots instead of text.

Now the way that word treats Word Art is different to the way that Powerpoint handles it. In Powerpoint you should just be able to position your cursor over the images and move them around how you want. In Word however these little critters refuse to move unless you format them, so on each of the circles you create, click on them with the RIGHT mouse button and select Format Word Art

Then click the layout tab in the box that appears and Square, then click OK

You should now be able to move the circles over each other to create this type of effect.

If at anytime you want to change the text you have typed, click the Edit Text button to re-open the text dialogue box.

That's all there is to it - enjoy!!!

Craft Room Tidy Up

ooohhh I am pooped, I have spent all day tidying up my craft room and as a result I have some things I need to sell. No photos yet but just to give you an idea...(P&P will be charged at cost)


12x12 clear plastic stackable trays - 6 of them £17.50
Argos Cupcake Tree thing in Pink £5
Making Memories Foam stamps 2 sets, flowers and Alphabets £7.50
Whispers Ink Pad Caddy £15
I also have a BIG stack of 12x12 papers, including SEI, BG, American Crafts etc etc that are too heavy to post but if you live in Edinburgh you could pick up , and I would like £35 for the lot, I'll post pics soon.

There is more to come so email me if you would like further info.

Off to See Kung Foo Panda tonight, should be good!

Blogtastic

So the other day I was looking at my blog counter thing that rates how far up (or down) the "hit parade" a blog is on Crafty Blogs and I was like "eh?? Suddenly my blog is popular for no good reason..." then I realise that that nutter (I mean that in a nice way) Kirsty Wiseman had bigged me up on her blog so that accounts for it. She gave me a brilliant blog award so I need to pass this on to ...........Stamping Mathilda, a very talented lady

Thanks Kirsty for thinking of me - it was the post on the trip to the dentist that did it for her LOL!!!

Difficult Decision

Well after a lot of thought I came to a decision over the weekend to take a break from magazine projects for a while. I have been extremely lucky to have my work published over the last few years and it is always a real thrill to see something I have made in print, but I was starting to struggle with the time committment required so I am stepping back for a bit.

The good news is that now I think I will be able to re-charge the creative batteries and come up with some designs I can share on the blog. I haven't done any crafting just for me lately. I have friends with weddings coming up and would like to do some stuff for them too. So here's to some more posts with pics.

I have also signed up to do an online photography class, so hopefully I can get my creativity going there - who knows SHOCK HORROR I may even get chance to do some scrapbooking!

Some Cards...

Thought I would post some pics of cards I have made in the last few months...

Banana Frog Stamps.....
My Minds Eye from Sarahs Cards


Scenic Route...

Great Day

I went along to the Stampin' Up! Experience in Edinburgh on Saturday and it was brilliant, I won't reveal more just yet since there are a couple more happening this week.

I got to meet Shelli Gardner who co-founded Stampin' Up! She is sooooo lovely, I had to get a picture of her - I'm the one that has the hamster cheeks on the left!

She obviously knows how to pose for a picture but I look like some dopey fan! She really inspired me to get cracking with my first SU! workshop. If you are in or around the Edinburgh area I am taking bookings now so please get in touch. I am also planning a workshop at my house, so if you want to come along and not have to host at your own house, please email me and I will send you details.

Ginger

Well I have been busy taking pics of lots of stuff with my new camera,still on the ol' Auto Mode but still quite chuffed with what the camera can do. Just had to share this picture, this is Ginger who lives down the road, he/she is quite a character and very nosy.

Dental Trauma

OMG I am soooo embarrassed, I went to the dentist this morning to get "scaled and polished" and for them to prep my front tooth for a new veneer. A couple of months ago I was chewing my nail in a meeting and PLING! the veneer on my front tooth broke in half and fell onto the desk. I was gutted!

Any how I go to get my veneer-less tooth prepped and my god I think I would have preferred root canal work and that SUCKS! The dentist needed to take an impression of my top teeth and they use a kind of plastic horsehoe filled with putty like stuff, now despite the fact I am quite a vocal person (aka BIG GOB) I have small "dental arch" so they had to use the smallest one. I have had this stuff done before and I don't like it. I'll tell you why, they fill that bloody horseshoe to the top with that stuff then thrust it in and up into the roof of your mouth and the stuff squidges out the back and is very prone to making me gag - I am really vomit phobic and I was scared to death. So it happened this morning, I am horizontal in the chair and dentist shoves it right up into the roof of my mouth and the unthinkable happens I start to gag and can't stop, I sat bolt upright heaving away, waving my hands about saying "take it out, take it out" ARRGGGHHH! I have never seen a dental assistant jump back so fast. It was horrible. I can laugh now but at the time it was a nightmare. They were making a false veneer for me so I had to do it another 3 times after my gag fest. They had the sense to sit me upright for the rest but each time they did it I had to endure it for about 3 mins for the putty to set and I had to concentrate REALLY hard so I didn't barf.

So now I have a false veneer that quite frankly looks like Bubba teeth, and tomorrow I am hopefully going to meet Shelli Gardner from Stampin' Up! she is from the USA and has the all-American perfect smile..............I shall bring a fan and hide behind it like Emily from Little Britain.

New Camera

ooohhh my new SLR arrived today, a Nikon D40 - I am a newbie to the digital SLR brigade, Kirsty Wiseman advised the D70 but I wimped out cos they are only available via ebay and I was SCARED of being ripped off.....soz Kirsty I is a scaredy cat xxx

I am very excited about it, but even though I am a gadget geek I am a bit scared of all this ISO, focal length blah-de-blah, hey ho I shall learn dammit!

Ohhh this Saturday I get to meet the CEO and founder of Stampin' Up! Shelli Gardner in Edinburgh, it's OK I don't have a private audience but I still get to meet her. If you want to come along , it's free just drop me an email!

Rant Alert.....................You have been warned

Ohhh I just love Sundays, I love the Sunday papers, well I love the Sunday Times mainly. Now we have moved to civilisation, i.e we have a corner shop and not one of those dreary Tesco Express jobbies, we have our paper delivered every day. It's bliss, I am in love with Caitlin Moran, Giles Coran , AA Gill and even gobby Jezzer Clarkson, their writing often has me giggling and thinking too.

SOOO yesterday I am reading this piece about how a school in Scotland has stopped making Father's Day cards for fear of offending single parent families and lesbians!!! I just about choked on my toast and went "oh my God look at this PC nonsense rant rant rant...." then OMG I realised they were talking about the school our son currently attends.!!!! I am flabbergasted, stunned and frankly bloody angry. How DARE they!! Alex's class all made cards, but some other classes did not. Has the world gone mad, why is is the minority rule? It'll be Christmas cancelled next by these interfering mad people.

I was ready to chain myself to the school gates in protest, I was hoping for a queue of TV station vans lining up with huge satellite dishes, I did my make up and had it all planned out, my impassioned speech about how mad people are diluting our culture and wrapping everyone up in cotton wool.............................................but zilch.............nowt.................the worlds media stayed away and apparently no-one I spoke to reads the Sunday Times. So my preparation was in vain, not even a squeak from the school either. WELL if any of the teachers responsible for this idiotic idea read this - SHAME ON YOU FOR BEING SUCH IDIOTS!!!!

Thank goodness we are moving schools this year, good riddance I say........................I did warn you of the "rant fest", I am orf to bed...

Yo Ho Ho............and and a bottle of rum

Check us out......................... Alan and I were invited to a "pirate party" last night by one of our new neighbours - what a flippin' hoot we had. Pity I look like Vanessa Feltz in my wig ROFL!


Fancy Dress is such a flippin' hoot. Alan and I have been together for about 12 years and never been to a fancy dress together. He is "ginger" and looks so funny in this outfit, plus I persuaded him to have eyeliner, what a palava getting that applied on him - his eyes were watering like mad, ha ha!

Some of the outfits were just brill, 3 people came dressed in sheets with min-fans on string round their necks, they came as........................"3 sheets to the wind". The host was dressed up as captains birds eye I spent the first half hour laughing my socks off at all the outfits! Not laughing so much now though - got an ickle bit of a hangover bleurgh!

In Love With Stamping

Just a quickie post this morning, just wanted to tell you about a great new forum for stampers its here www.inlovewithstamping.com . It's a forum for all sorts of stamp addicts and for Stampin' Up! demos and "fans" too, check it out!

One of those Days

Yesterday we went to an "induction" afternoon at Alex's new school. We are going "private" next year, never thought we would but it just happened and it seems very right for us.

His new school is very old and very traditional in the centre of the city and I have fallen in love with it, kinda reminds us all of Hogwarts!!

So we had the head of the school give us a talk in the most gorgeous school hall yesterday and I was totally choked up. It was such an inspiring speech delivered by the most charismatic man I have ever heard speak in a school and I am beside myself with excitement and pride and can't wait to be a part of it.

5 mis before we arrive some silly sod reversed straight into the front of the car - as we were waiting to park......................grrrrrrrrrrrrrr it nearly spoiled the "ambience" and I swore like a trooper (nice!!) thankfully it was only minor and we had such a nice couple of hours I didn't care at all.

Total Witch

Yesterday I was a complete COW! Yes indeedy, with deadlines looming, piles of ironing and a house that needs to be cleaned I was HORRID. Have to be nice today since it is of course Fathers Day.

We have been invited to a Pirate Party next weekend to meet the neighbours - we went shopping for fancy dress yesterday which was a hoot. The shop in the middle of Edinburgh was run by a bunch of "very pierced" individuals. It was good fun and Alan who hates dressing up finally got into the swing of things and was picking out stuff to accessorise his outfit ha ha!!

Hopefully I can get some pics and post them next week.

It's a lovely day here in Edinburgh and we are only 2 mins from the sea so we are hoping to go on a boat ride this afternoon.

Techno Geek

Sometimes I wonder about myself. Now I work from home most of the time I am surrounded by technology, I have 4 email accounts, 3 types of instant messenger, I text using my iPhone (dratted Apple just brought out another version - gee thanks!!), and I have just signed up for Twitter (go on try it).I think I am definitely a geek, but I just LOVE technology.

Thanks to that Kirsty Wiseman woman, I am now hankering after a digital SLR too, so I am scouring ebay for second hand bargains, I really want to learn more about taking photos.

So what else have I been up to? Just had another project published in Quick and Crafty using the fabulous downloads from Pink Petticoat. I always buy my patterned paper, but the super talented Liz, designs papers and "digital stamps" that are so funky and modern I decided to have a go at using them. I was really sceptical about it to be honest, I have a very simple colour inkjet printer, but the print outs looked really good. Anyway, pop along to her website and get downloading.

More Crafty Stash

UH-OH, I have discovered a new way to empty my bank account.............................beading!

Discovered not one but two beading shops close by and I am hooked. I love jewellry and have nearly finished my first necklace.

I went to a shop on Saturday, then discovered another on Monday. The only downside was that when I came out of the second shop I had a flippin' parking ticket - I WAS SOOOO Mad!

My hubby who is not very arty said "huh! well at least it is more exciting than card making ,beads are quite interesting" and admitted he might even cross the threshold of a bead shop.

I'll let you know.

Artstamps Scotland

Blimey I have been really busy with projects, my craft room looked like a bomb had hit it today so I tidied up and it looks much better.

Yesterday, feeling "starved" of an opportunity to shop for "real" i.e not from t'interweb, I decided to go to the Artstamps Scotland Show in Edinburgh. Quite frankly it was AWFUL (stand by for a Sam rant)

I paid £3.50 to get in and the quality of the exhibitors wasn't up to much. It was a great venue and not busy but most of the stands weren't well known or high quality. I felt this way the last time at the SECC show in Glasgow. I don't know why, we have some great stash shops in the UK but they very rarely venture North of the Border.As an avid crafter I get very angry when I see the "Low" end crafting retailers making up the bulk of the exhibitors. These people are very much the "pile it high, sell it cheap" type. They have no real interest in crafting, they don't have anyone demoing the products, they just want to make a fast buck and they put other shops out of business - and OK I am a craft snob, but there must be a better way to run these shows.

The shows are not cheap to attend so I really feel for our stash sellers, it costs a huge amount of money to have a stand, then there are travel and accomodation bills and (unbelievably) they do have to factor in a certain percentage for "shoplifters". Yes you might not like the fact that some of the retailers breathe down your neck at a show, but there are plenty of light fingered people out there. Times aren't easy for our craft shops at the best of times and the credit crunch is hitting us all, so we shall see how it all pans out.

All I can say is, I really hope that the shops that do the shows have a think about allocating a small part of their budget to attend a show North of The Border, we need you. Most of the feedback on UKS this weekend about the show was that it was very much below par, and I am certainly going to be in touch with the organisers!

A Couple of Quick Cards

OK these won't win any prizes, but here are a couple of cards I made over the weekend.....very similar layouts and simple to do. The 18th Card uses Berry Sweet Paper , new from K&Co and very scrummy their new papers are, the brad is Dovecraft ( I think)

I dragged out some old Junkitz paper for the moving house card. The font was cut using my Cricut, I managed to mangle a couple of letters getting them off the cutting mat so I scrunched them all a bit and inked them, it's great when a mistake can be made to work LOL!!!

Quite Chuffed

Well I have spent MONTHS doing every mag commission in a total panic for lack of inspiration basically because crafting time has been once or twice a month. This last week I have completed 3 commissions ON TIME and although they have been challenging, it has been really rewarding to finish them. I have realised that practice makes perfect, if you don't create on a regular basis then the mojo takes longer to find.

Today I have been working on a project for a mag doing mens cards............yuk!!! They are the worst to make for, but I reckon I have done it, I rose to the challenge.

I visited Flawless Designs in Stirling for the first time today, what bliss to visit a real shop, and my goodness it was worth a 40 min drive, packed to the rafters!! I'll be back there again I can tell you!!!

I also made two cards for friends, they won't win any awards but I'll post pics tomorrow.

Love Stampin' Up! ???

Stampin' Up! are holding a special 2 hour Stampin' Up! experience in Edinburgh on the 28th June, it's a chance to meet the SU! people and make a couple of cards. If you would like to come along, send me an email to sam.currie@btinternet.com and I will tell you alllll about it.

I've been a croppin'

Well I went to the Bo'ness crop on Sat evening and jolly good fun it was too. A really nice bunch of ladies we had a right laugh about an American word on a sheet of BG rubons. In the US it means "spirited" in the UK eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerm something rather less ahem shall we say "clean" than that, ha ha!!!

I did some digi scrapping which was fun, but the fruits of my labours are actually "pants" so whilst I was brushing up on techniques using digi templates I won't be showcasing them here LOL!

I am hoping to get along to another crop this Saturday (husband permitting) I need some more crafting buddies up here.

Finished off some cards for Crafts Beautiful, the editor will probably pass out cos they will actually be almost on time this month.

Bad Blogger

Cor Blimey how bad have I been, haven't blogged in aaages.

OK so I have been working on some mag projects, and tomorrow I am going to my first Scottish crop. I am taking my laptop to do some Digi Scrapping - yey! No doubt I will be heckled as I will be without, paper, inks etc. Actually knowing me, I will spend most of my time gabbing and eating snacks.

Just watching a great programme on Peggy Lee on BBC4, since my maiden name was Lea, and my Auntie was called Peggy, I am related to Peggy Lea (OK TOTALLY tenuous link there)

Got a great new column in Quick and Crafty mag coming up soon, focusing on blogs , so I am going to spend even more time blog-hopping.

Still in a Guddle

Guddle, I learned this week, is Scottish for "total tip/in a mess" so now I am speakin' da lingo up here I can affirm that our "hoose" (more lingo) is still in a guddle.

I was nearly there with my craft room but a lot of Alex's junk got shoved in there last night as we are building him a new wardrobe tonight. On that point, we spent a fortune in IKEA last weekend and I found out that they are having a 21% off sale today cos they are celebrating 21 years in the UK......................talk about bad timing!

I have started back at work - Working from home or WFM as I like to call it. I have also found out that I know have a "portfolio career" - with my day job and my crafty design work I have kinda 2 jobs hence the term "portfolio career", sounds pretty darn groovy to me!

Much of my time has been spent trying to get rid of a certain smell in our the utility room. No-one but I can smell it . I have a very sensitive nose, borne no doubt out of years of ceaseless poking it into other peoples business LOL! Put it this way, the last owners had cats who I think must have been incontinent, I think there was a serious "widdle fest" going on in that room prior to the move "aaaaahhh knock yourself our kitty kats we ain't staying...."

I have also been a little bit obessessed with Delia's new book "How to Cheat...." It's brill. I have searched and searched every electrical shop in Edinburgh for a Kenwood mini chopper, finally got one on line. So last night I made Shepherds pie using M&S tinned lamb and Aunt Bessies frozen mashed potato. I must admit I didn't hold out much hope for it. It looked like (and smelled like) dog food with small frisbees on top. BUT it was gorgeous!! Even Alan, who HATES shepherds pie, thought it was very tasty..............I am such a domestic goddess ha ha.

Right off to pick Alex up from school, Scottish kids "don't do Friday afternoons" so Mummy is copping for it this afternoon. Harvey Nicks will have to wait for another week ha ha!!

My New Craft Room

Right, Alex is at school, Alan is at work and now I can get down to the business of finally sorting out my new craft room yey!!

I had a TOTAL TANTRUM last night, there were 16 boxes of Alan's stuff in my room and no room to move so I flipped out big styleee. Bit childish really, but since my new office is actually going to be my "real" place of work as well as my crafting room, I need it sorting today since I am back "at work" tomorrow.

So as soon as it looks presentable I will be posting new pics!

We're In!!!

Cor blimey we have finally made it, after months of waiting and keeping fingers crossed, we are finally in our lovely new home. It's brill, I am knackered,but happy.

We got the keys at 10am on Wednesday, the vans arrived at 1pm and there was just enough space to park them - phew!!

The guys finally finished unpacking at 1pm yesterday, we still have a ridiculous amount of stuff to unpack, one of the bedrooms is ram jam full of boxes and I want to get rid of lots of stuff have even more of a de-clutter! After 10 years of marriage I have realised what a hoarder Alan is!

Tempers were a little on the short side last night, Alan spent most of the afternoon bringing EVEN MORE stuff back from the flat (2 car loads) , honestly, he said "it'll only take me an hour", yeah right!!! He then tried to plumb in the washing machine, but the guy at B&Q gave him the wrong connection, in the misdt of his temper tantrum (very rare for him to lose his temper - unlike me!) Alex spilt milk all over Alan's Blackberry. Oh dear!! You know the saying, "no point crying over spilt milk?" It definitely applied last night.

Well my office/craft room is "getting there", there are about 15 boxes of Alan's rubbish from his old office in here GRRRRRRRRRRRRR I am so mad about that, but he has promised to go through them and sort it out for me, currently the room is like an obstacle course and I have given my beloved Expedit shelving to Alex for his room. I have a feeling I shall be shopping for more Expedit VERY soon.

Alex is settling in well at his new school, he lost his 2nd tooth yesterday, so the tooth fairy made a visit. I sat next to him this morning and said "are you happy with your new house and school? Isn't it nice that we are all together again?" He looked at me with his big blue eyes and said "Hmm, yes Mum errrr can I have chewing gum when I am eighteen?"....................kids eh?


Right, gotta go, I have more boxes to unpack..................................

THE BIG DAY!!

It's finally here, today is the day we move into our lovely new home. I cannae wait !

We'll be busy bees all day and probably for the rest of this week, it's very exciting. Got a bit of packing to do from the flat too, so I think we will be to-ing and fro-ing between the house and the flat. I am just in panic mode, I hope there will be a space to park the removal vans outside the house - eeek!!!

Wish us luck!

Great Weekend

Well we decided to go for a bracing walk at Yellowcraig Beach yesterday, yep, whilst the UK is being snowed on, the Curries go to the beach doh! Yesterday morning Alex and Alan were throwing snowballs at each other on the walk to get the Sunday newspapers, by the afternoon we were on a gorgeous beach in the sunshine. OK so it was FREEZING and very windy but it looked nice, I have no idea why I am gripping Alex's head like that??!!!

I also found a wee gift shop, and bought these lovelies for my office/craft room...

When the Going Gets Tough................

The Tough go shopping!! YEEE HAAA! Well the going hasn't really been tough at all, but I have been shopping in Edinburgh today, I don't need an excuse.

The shops are gorgeous, my fave is White Stuff on George St and they had a SALE on- yippety deeeee!!!!

Anyway hubby is on his way home so all the evidence has been stashed into the wardrobe. Now I am going to be working from home I needed to purchase some work clothes (jeans!) hee heee, I am so bad!

Off out into Edinburgh tonight for din-dins, just got to choose my outfit "this? Darling I've had it for years......!!!" yeah right

Just to Prove....

Just to prove I do actually do some cardmaking I thought I would post a few pics of some of my latest stuff. These cards appeard in Crafts Beautiful last month and were made using Stampin' Up! Products, hope you like.

A Funny Old Day...

Crikey, I am here, in Bonnie Scotland, hoots Mon! We are in the flat, all of our stuff is safely stored to come up here next week.

We had several hours of frantic activity by the removal men, then cleaning and a 4 hour drive up to Edinburgh. Our house felt VERY different once all of our "stuff" had gone - in fact it didn't feel like home any more. We are in transition but in the end, home is where the 3 of us are, and right now, home is right here.

Tin Opener?

Quick tip, when your hubby has been clearing out the garage before moving, make sure you haven't packed the bottle opener...............and the tin opener, doh!

Lots of cleaning to do but no rooms are totally empty yet except my craft room. Boy this all feels VERY weird

The Evidence...............

Here's what remains of my craft room............

It's alllll empty, a big removal man took it all away in a container today. At one point my see through plastic box with all my blank cards in was being loaded sideways into the container and was hanging open. ARGGGGHH! I had to look away - the guys labelled my craft boxes as "Art Work" so they obviously have taste. Mind you I don't think they had seen anything like it before even though I had boxed a lot up myself it took them aaaages.

I think I am going to be suffering from Craft Materials separation syndrome for the next week- any advice? (or will you just be telling me I am hopeless saddo??)

The packing continues tomorrow.........................

Packing Up....

A year ago, I finally got my perfect craft room. I had been in an unplastered grotty room for 4 years and after some hard work I got my room how I liked it, it was my haven, my own special place and I LOVED it. Now we are on the move, leaving our lovely house after 6 years, lots of hard work on the whole house, a house we thought we would be in for 20 years or more and on Wednesday we move out. It's a move that was agonised over, it took us ages to decide to move to Edinburgh and we have sold Mum and Dads house, the place I have called home for 40 years. Now they are gone and we have sold our "dream home" in Cheshire, it's time for the Currie's to go. My craft room is almost packed and will be relocated North of the border. So it will soon be a final goodbye to this house and a big hello to our new home and new life.............I sure am going to miss all my pals here, the school Alex has been to and my workplace. Wish us luck and I look forward to creating a lot more crafty stuff in my new craft room. Stay tuned, I will take lots of pics of the new room once I am settled!!!

All a bit strange............

Well it was my last day "in the office" today, this is really weird, I work with a group of just fab people, we have such a laugh, we all get on (most of the time) and all have a silly sense of humour, AND having been in the same team for 10 years, I just love em all.

So when we move , I will be working from home, I am a really sociable type of gal so it'll be really weird to be working on my own. I will still see my work chums but probably only once a month ( poo!)

So that's me finished work for a week or two, the packing guys arrive on Monday morning and we move up to Edinburgh on Wednesday - after almost a year of Alan being away I can hardly believe our new life is almost here.....................bring it on!!!

Ohhh hark at Me

Well I am finally "famous" ha ha not really. Well this month in Craftbusiness Magazine I have been "Profiled", I was interviewed a couple of months ago, about my crafting. Yeah Sam , What flippin' crafting ?? I hear you say. I know, I know, normal service will be resumed soon.....

Any-hoo, anyone who knows me will know I can talk the hind leg off a donkey, and send a glass eye to slepp, so I pity the lovely Beverley who interviewed me! I went off on so many tangents that I am impressed she managed to put together such a great piece of writing. The only downside is, ahem! the pics of the work around the article aren't actually mine. An easy mistake, and I would like to thank the real designer Maria McPherson, her stuff is lovely (but it isn't mine..)

Right then, off to make some thank you cards for Alex's school, end of an era tomorrow, his last day in his current primary school awwwwwww

My Mum

It is St Patricks Day today and it would have been my Mum's birthday. Had a bit of an up and down day really, have had lovely messages from a couple of her friends and shed some tears for her. The "firsts" after a death are always hard.....

On a positive note, on Thursday I will have only 2 nights apart from Alan until we move into our new house, which is great. Today was the last time I will be in the school playground for Alex in his current school. He goes into before and after school club for the rest of this week, so I got nice hugs from some of the other Mums.

Well I have to make some thank you cards for school this week so I may actually get to post something that I have made...................!!!! I can't wait to get settled and get some time to craft PROPERLY again. I'll be looking to make crafty friends up in Edinburgh!!!

I'm 'ere!

Lawks I ain't posted in a while eh? OK so what have I been up to?

1. Had big phone row with some council chap about carting away rubbish from Mum and Dad's house - all sorted now, but by GOSH I was irked (let's say I was a lady on the phone but I may have uttered the "f" word several times when I got off) Why can't people just have a little imagination and break the rules now and then?

2.Went to a Christening on Sunday, the vicar broke into spontaneous (very bad) singing, I am very proud I didn't guffaw out loud

3. Got quite tiddly on wine at said Christening

4. Got even more tiddly (erm wasted actually) at the neighbours house after the Christening

5. Woke up on Monday morning feeling........................wait for it......................absolutely fine. Can't figure it out, was walking about all day with this feeling of dread waiting for the hangover of hangovers and it didn't happen- result!

6. Finished a project for Quick and Crafty mag

7 Am halfway through a project for Crafts Beautiful mag

8. Have ebayed and packed half of my house away

So that's been my week, house stuff is all going well, we'll be moving sometime in the next month, can't believe I am going to be moving 250 miles from my home and all of my friends. One minute I am over the moon the next minute terrified. I guess it would all be easier if Mum and Dad were still around, then "here" would still be classed as home (big sigh)

I am really missing them both, BIG time, gosh I so wish they were still around so I could share all of this excitement with them, it makes my heart hurt just thinking about them............

Was I evil in a former life??

Boy what a day!! This morning I had to go to the solicitors to sign some papers about Mum and Dads house sale. Regular readers will know just how stressed I am about this ! Any-hoo, since my appointment was at 9:30am it meant I could take Alex to school instead of dropping him off at "before school club" So I had a nice relaxed start to the day (it didn't last) We arrived at school and I think "ay up, there seem to be a lot of kids LEAVING school rather than GOING IN?" - turns out the central heating was broken so they closed school for the day arrgggghhh!!!

SO I frantically try to ring other parents, I have 2 VERY kind chums who do me favours at times like this and I owe them BIG time. NO-one is picking up their phones, so I take Alex to the solicitors with me. Now yesterday all was tickety boo with both house sales and we were feeling upbeat -THAT didn't last long! A few probs have occurred which frankly aren't major but I was soooo stresssed this morning I did take it to heart and was on the verge of tears leaving the office. So I am trying to hold it together - I get back to the car and the remote will not open the doors - I just stood there and cried (what a goon!)

Finally I got the doors open - and drove home. Luckily my pal came to the rescue and had Alex for the afternoon so I could go to work and not have to waste a days holiday.

Please send me your good vibes folks....kinda need 'em right now xxxx

What a Day!!

So this morning, 8am, I am standing in the kitchen writing my to do list in my dressing gown, Alex is eating his breakfast in his jammies and my mobile rings. Hubby is at Manchester airport, flying to Paris at 9am and .........................wait for it..........................HE'S FORGOTTEN HIS PASSPORT ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!

So Alex and I get dressed in about 30 seconds (poor luv) jump into the car, me still with wet hair and drive to the airport- unbelievably we made it, they had left the flight open for him, he raced outside to grab the passport PHEW!!!

On the way to the airport my neighbour rings to tell me our house alarm is going off, her hubby resets it. Then she rings again, it's gone off again, her hubby resets it again. She then rings a third time and says "your day just got worse........................a magpie has fallen down your chimney and is covered in soot in your living room!!"

OH MY GOD!!! Her hubby was in a rush so had to leave the bird in the lounge. So I get home, look through the lounge window and a very black looking Magpie is sitting on the sofa (watching Tricia) ha ha made that last bit up!!!

So I go in and chuck a kagoul over it, open the window and it flew away. I thought I had got away with no damage till I saw soot marks on the ceiling and magpie doo-doo on the sofa.............................as if I haven't got enough to do. I give up!

I feel like a mole...........

Hubby and I have been holed up in our cellars all weekend trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff, I am pooped!! Still got lots to do, we haven't even tackled the rest of the house yet. EEEEKK!

Feeling a bit fed up that I haven't had time to craft in aaaages. All this house moving stuff is "doin' my head in"

I am sure it is boring the pants off you lot too!!

Had a lovely mothers day though,Alex made me a lovely card and bought one too, Alan got me two wee (ooohhh hark at me with me Scottish lingo) books on Edinburgh and I got a cuppa in bed and my breakfast made for me too!

I have just been on TV!!!

yep I was on the final of American Princess on ITV2 (second from the left in the crowd!!) My friend Richard was the producer and invited me and some other friends from Uni to the filming in June last year at the beautiful Sudely Castle!!!

It was a great experience and I chatted with Paul Burrell - it was such a thrill to see my fizzog on TV!!!!

Windy

Blimey it is VERY windy here tonight, glad that Alan was able to fly back home from Edinburgh which was VERY VERY windy.

Trying hard to sell lots of crafty stuff on UKS ahead of our move, but email me if you are not a UKS member and want to know what I am flogging.

I am also on ebay selling lots of vinyl LP's - gosh that is an old term

My liitle brother Marcus, died 10 years ago and I am selling his old Doors, Bob Dylan and Echo and The Bunnymen Lp's on ebay too.

All this moving out and clearing out, stirs so many memories...............

More Stuff to Shift

Sorry !!! I have been buried under a pile of things I know not what to do with (is that proper English?) and aside from that, I was rudely awoken at 12:50am by the earthquake. GOD I ALMOST WET MYSELF, I am home alone and I was convinced someone had broken in, I was terrified. We have a Victorian wash jug and bowl on a chest of drawers in our bedroom and it was rattling very loud when the earthquake struck! I got such a fright! My heart was pounding.

Anyway I think it was a rather "quaint, polite" earthquake, kind of "oops, frightfully sorry, I have damaged a few chimneys and a few of you are now on the streets in your jammies, must dash toodlepip"

HA HA!! Being English we shall all be talking about it for years to come and probably getting counselling for the shock.

ANY-HOO nuff said, you might think this is my blog but it's a little offshoot of Ebay for the next few weeks tee-hee

I have a couple of the rolling carts for sale - well 4 in total actually £10 each if anyone is interested I live in Cheshire about 15 mins drive from junction 19 of the M6 ( I will reveal my address to serious buyers, don't want to be "papped" on my own doorstep now do I?)

ALSO I have the whole of 2007 Creating Keepsakes magazines £15 the lot - post a comment or email me via the link on this blog if you are interested.

Oh I have discovered the joy of Russell Brand's stand up show this week, downloaded from iTunes, I laughed my head off (plonk!) on the way into work yesterday and today, he is terribly rude but damn funny ( and just a teensy bit gorgeous too!)

Anyway I am off to find more stuff to sell. OH I have lots of baby equipment for sale too, which I ain't gonna bang on about here cos this is a crafty bloggy , (scant evidence of that recently I know, but I don't want to get ousted from Crafty Blogs, since that is the only way I can gauge just how massive my fan base is heee heee heeee!) If you are interested and can pick up - let me know.

Later!!!!!

Questions about my storage

I have had a couple of questions about the storage in my craft room. Whoever you are Bixie Sparkles, I want that name LOL!!

Anyway my rolling cart things are from Costco, I am not sure if they still do them, but I will be selling a couple of them in the next few weeks, if anyone lives near Cheshire and can pick up and are interested let me know.

The clear plastic trays are from Display Dynamics, I can't remember where I got them but they came through the post, Google them and you'll be sure to find them.

SOLD!

Wow, who needs ebay? Thanks to the blog shopper who snapped up the bumper pack of embellies, they shall be winging their way to you this week. If you'll bear with me I have about another 500 things to sell, ha ha just kidding!

Well, emotionally I am SPENT! I have just finished watching "In Pursuit of Happyness" (yes that's the way they spell it) with Will Smith. I LOVE Will Smith, and in this film he is so good. Alan watched it on a plane about a year ago and said it was fantastic. All I can say is I have cried so much I now have eyes like a frog, I wept buckets. I knew very little about the film apart from it is the tale of a single Dad and his little boy, who end up homeless. Very sad and it was only at the end I realised it is a true story, yes sireeee. I won't spoil the ending but if you have SKY you HAVE to watch it, and have tissues, perhaps a whole box.

We have a new lady in our team at work who is based in the USA, she is also (spookily) from the USA, hee hee. Today she sends me an email with the phrase "well that's a fine howdy do!" It just cracked me up, I have quite a few friends in the States (ohhh hark at me) and I love their sense of humour - they just make me laugh. So Karen, hun, I love ya!!!

Clear Out Time

Well I am having a pre move clear out and I have a BIG collection of embellishment to shift. If you are interested I am asking for £40 for the lot and that includes postage. Let me know if you would like to purchase.Lots of goodies from Elsie, Foof-a-la, MAMBI, Rob and Bob studio, Junkitz, K&Co , KI Memories, SEI and a nifty flourish template too.

Hoots Mon!

So just back from Edinburgh, had a nice time and caught up with some very good friends for a few beers in Glasgow on Staurday night. We laughed soooo much I thought my sides would split. They are all Glaswegian and quite frankly I love their accents so much they could read a bus timetable and I would fall about laughing.

Anyway, Saturday morning the three of us drove back to Edinburgh with FIL to have a second house viewing. I had seen it briefly and had tried really hard to feel like "OK this is the nicest house EVER but I am SO not gonna like it cos we are like so NOT gonna get it". So this 2nd viewing was so exciting for me since now I could like it LOTS and not run the risk of getting broken hearted. HAH! the best laid plans................

So we rock up and meet the owners, who are lovely and we come armed with a tape measure since most of our house won't fit in the new one, so we need to decide what to chuck out and what to keep. We have 3 cellars (which are bursting at the seams, and a garage) New house has a total of errrrm ah yes no cellars and no garage. Check in later to find out how bad my IBS has got!!! Put it this way, going into our cellars at the moment sends me into a panic attack!

OK I digress, so I am walking round the house feeling all free with my love of it and imagining where we are going to put our (fewer) possessions. We are in the master bedroom, I look at Alex, he is as white as a sheet clutching his stomach, and he says " I think I am sick" AAAAAAARGGGGGHH, he is about to throw up IN THE NEW HOUSE. Quick as a flash Alan lifts him into the ensuite bathroom, he coughs, retches onces and NOTHING! By this point (did I mention just HOW vomit phobic I am ??) I am beside myself. I am thinking "OH God, he is gonna puke in the new house with the owners sitting downstairs".

Well pardon my French , but the little bugger was fine, totally fine!!!. Which was nice, but now I am watching him like a hawk and desperate to get out of the house just in case he does it for real next time. We finish the viewing with me angrily whispering "let's get out of here" to Alan, who is mad at me cos I am soooo stressed about the whole episode. We head back to the kitchen where the owners very kindly offer us a brew, which I declined on behalf of the 4 of us, much to their bemusement. It must have seemed so rude, but I was panicking!!! GAH! what a mare!

I need a lie down after that tale I can tell you................

Busy Busy........!!!

What a week! The flurry of activity on the house front has been exhausting, but it will be worth it I am certain. Alex is on half term so we travelled up to Edinburgh last night. Haven't done any crafting AT ALL just been so busy sorting stuff out. We have a cellar which consists of three rooms and they are all stuffed to the gunnells. The house we are moving to has a total of ...........NO cellar at all. EEEKKK! Every time I go down to our cellar I feel like having hysterics, lord knows what I am going to do with it all. Added to that we have brought back the last bits and pieces from Mum and Dads house.

If anyone knows of a good cause for baby toys/equipment / books in Cheshire, please let me know. We've been to the charity shop so often I think they think we are moving in.

I was planning on going to "Stitches" the trade show on Monday at the NEC with Sarah but I have to get on with de-junking the house....................ugh!

EVERYTHING IS PEACHY!!!!!!!

WE DID IT, WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been awake since 3:30am worrying and convincing myself we weren't going to get it, but we have and I am soooooooooooooo happy!!!

YEY!!!!!!!! The good luck fairy is being kind to us at last!

About to pass out with stress and anticipation..........................nuff said..............back soon. All I can say is wish us lots of luck ...............please!

No Fingernails Left

Blimey am I stressed, lot's going on with our potential house purchase and selling. I am on the edge of my seat arrggghhhh!!! Let's just say there are things happening which end this week which could spell happiness or misery......................and let's face it, with my track record eh???

Any-hoo, I did something very rash at the weekend..............I bought an iPhone and gosh do I LOVE IT (gadget gal strikes again!)

ALSO taaaaaa daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My Stampin' Up! cards are on the front cover of Crafts Beautiful March edition, I am soooooo happy!!

What a Day!!!

Cor blimey!!! What a day. Last night Alan decided I HAD to come and see the house up in Edinburgh we are interested in. The deadline for bids is next week, so I had to see it and we have to be somewhere tomorrow.......................so I had to go to Edinburgh today. So last night I booked flights up to Edinburgh for Alex and I and we whizzed up there. Just back, I AM IN LOVE...............with the house, it is stunning. Oh lordy, we are steeling ourselves for more stress and possible heartbreak.

Not had ANY time to craft (as my editors well know - oops) so forgive me , just send us lots of luck for next week.

Could Our Luck Be Changing??

WOW!! we accepted an offer on my Mum and Dad's house today, keep EVERYTHING crossed (even your eyes!). Also our house properly went on the market today and we have 2 viewers tomorrow, again keep all crossed for us. Ohhhhh it's so nerve wracking...........but our house has never been so clean and tidy, I love it. Sorry just a short post today

The Boy Done Good

My man is home and I am glad, even if it is for only one night........he hasn't made a mess, so no need for me to change the locks. He brought me a present..............a really, really great present, a new watch, the one I have wanted for ages- I am happy, very happy...........but what makes me most happy is that we sat and watched the last episode of Cranford that he hadn't seen and he loved it. YEY!!!! Oh yeah and despite his jetlag he bathed Alex and made dinner! I think I am lucky.

I feel like Flat Stanley

I am pooped,knackered, shattered, jiggered, and I feel like I have been deflated like Flat Stanley. I have just spent 2 days getting the house de-junked and gorgeous for the estate agent pics. The house looks fab, I am soooooo in love with it, it has never been so tidy and clean and I going to keep it this way , cos I ain't got the energy to do that again.

Alan is home tomorrow and he has been issued with a death threat if he messes the place up ha ha!! He rang me tonight, he and a friend had "crashed" a convention in Dubai with about 5,000 all having a party grrrrrrrrrrrr "gee thanks for calling me whilst you are in the midst of a party and I am doing bathtime followed by the ironing", he owes me, he owes me BIG time

The For Sale board went up today and it's sad...................it'll be great when we finaly get a house in Edinburgh but it hasn't happened yet, so I am hoping we get some luck very soon.

Whilst I was up in Glasgow I took a quick trip to "S for Stamps" and bought some gorgeous Amy Butler papers and stickers from K&Co, can't wait to have a play, but too tired tonight zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........................later dudes!

Lovely Day

It may sound strange to say that, but I went to a funeral today with my Father-in-law. A very dear friend of the family died last Sunday. Since Alan is away in Singapore I drove up to Glasgow last night to represent us and support Alan's dad. The lady who died was very special to us, and had suffered a very short illness. The service was of course sad, but lovely. I was able to see other very good friends I haven't seen for ages after the service which was just great. I am glad that we have such lovely friends waiting for us when we make the move up to Edinburgh.

I have also dragged my FIL into the 21st century, he bought a laptop today and I have got him all sorted wirelessly, he'll be on itunes this time next week! Tomorrow we start with a lesson on email (oh lord!!) wish me luck.

FIL is 71 and we watched Jack Black on Channel 4 in the film "School of Rock" - he loved it!!!! He has spent the last half hour plugged into my iPod listening to Bing Crosby, yes I have Bing on the iPod, I have a very varied taste in music....................

Mixed Day

Yesterday was awful, I had two rather unpleasant phone calls, the most significant being the news that someone close to the family, a very lovely lady, died after a short illness on Sunday night. I will be attending the funeral on Friday in Glasgow, Alan is still away and I will be going to support his Dad and represent Alan. Gosh, is life always like this? We seem to have experienced so many people passing away in the last couple of years I know so many people who seem to have lost no-one and I envy them so, but am also glad they haven't had to go through what we have.

On the flip side, I had a phone call today from someone from school I haven't spoken to in 20 years, and it was wonderful! It cheered me up no end and the nostalgia trip continues!

Life is certainly very strange right now.................

Nostalgia Trip

The past couple of weeks have been one long nostalgia trip , which is nice because what is happening in the here and now is starting to "bum me out".

It's all started with the family tree and it's several mind blowing revelations, and I have been reading my Mum's diaries. Today I went to their house to check the mail and stuff, I don't much like going there, even though it is the only family home I have ever known it now feels sad and cold and empty and every time I go , it reminds me of all I have lost.

So I went into the loft to move more stuff, and I found the love letters sent to Mum by Dad and it just really cheered me up. I found them from the very first letter way back in 1961 when Dad was in the army. They really were soul mates, I guess we always think of our parents as being , well, just parents, not young people with hopes and dreams and, well, just falling in love, so I am very lucky to have them as a reminder.

I rang my Mum's best friend to see if I could pop in for a cuppa and she was on her way to her grandsons birthday party just round the corner in my old junior school, so Alex and I got an invitation to go. OHHHHHHHH now that was a nostalgia trip. It's a Victorian building that has been converted to a cafe and community centre, and it was just such a thrill to be there, I reckon I haven't been there for 25 years, no wonder I feel so damn old (or is that just too many late nights?). I looked through the window of my old classroom and it has hardly changed, and it was like I was instantly transported back to 1975 it was just magic! SIGH!

My 3rd nostalgia trip of this weekend was the Mr Ben DVD in The Times yesterday. Alex has been watching it and has been transfixed and so have I, and of course now I can't stop humming the darned music. I have also been struck how weird it is for a man in a suit to spend every weekend in a fancy dress shop..........................