Happy Halloween!

I am not a fan of Halloween! But this year Joe and Jess are going to a sleepover including some trick or treating. We had a hell of a time (ho ho) getting them costumes today, most places were sold out and Matalan want £25-£40 for a decent one - thats why they had so many in stock. Anyway we managed it in the end.

I've just been practising Jessica's hair and make up in case she didnt like the big hair, but she loves it and is flouncing around the house diva like lol . This photo is of her with the practice hair and make up. will take more photos of them both when they are in full costume

Quick Update

I haven't fallen of the planet really. Had a lovely but busy weekend, the kids were at Butlins with their dad, so Jason and I did the usual, lots of socialising, we had lunch out on Sunday and met up with loads of mates and generally had a lovely boozy time of it! We even had chinese snacks (from the chinese over the road) in the pub! (nice landlords, let us do that from time to time)

I woke on Monday to no hangover which was a minor miracle, then got the news that Jessica had a bug and they were on their way home. Poor Jess she was sick 4 times on the journey home, so I spent all afternoon nursing her, trying to get fluids into her and sitting with her as she was a bit clingy.

Tuesday I awoke to feeling like I had a head cold, Jess spent all day in her jammies and we did nothing. Jess fully recovered by Wednesday, me worse. Today I feel on the road to recovery, I have just left the house for the first time since Sunday (I have been so bored cooped up!) to walk the dog, but thats about finished me off! I also have no appetite but am trying to stick to my diet which means I have to eat a certain amount, I know it sounds like madness but since I upped my food intake, the weight has really shifted!

No crafting (well a very small little amount) but nothing finished so nothing to show you! This week must have been my most unproductive since I started scrapping proper in March! I miss it, I desperately want to do it, but I am too knackered!!! I HATE my low immune system.

Strange pic but its of one of the fields that we walk the dog in, they are building on these fields very soon and we will miss them, poor Bruno is used to being let off the lead daily and he will be most put out when this place goes! Just after this pic was taken it hammered down and we got very wet!

The SHAME of it!

Jason got his brand new Hyundai i20 today, after about 15 weeks of it being on order, and a few delays.

He was very excited when he got home at 7.30 and so we all dutifly put our shoes on and went to have a look. All of us bar Jason were in our pj's. Jason asked if we wanted a trip round the block in it, so off we went in our PJ's!!!! I was praying we wouldn't break down lol

On the way back I had a go, which involved me walking in the street to get in the drivers side in my pj's lol (no-one was about!)

I like it, it looks impressive, but I don't like the handbrake (I couldn't move it!) 1st gear felt stiff and in Jasons old car it had a massive digital speedometer, which was much better. Just a case of getting used to it I think! It wasnt until we pulled up on the drive that I realised that it was the first time I had ever driven in the dark!

Have done absolutely nothing crafty today, have spent all day moping the kitchen floor, or it seems like it. Kids, playing out, rain and my kitchen floor DO NOT mix! I said to Jess "Please try not to get your boots too muddy" she could not have come back in more covered in mud!

Sparked Out

Did this today for the challenge at http://www.twistedsketches.com/ not a fantastic photo, it looks a bit blurry and dull as its impossible to get outside with all the rain. The twist was to use ink (easy peasy) I took it a little too literally and managed to smudge red ink over the white cardstock - not best pleased!


I've had no power for 2.5 hours, just me, everyone else in the street is fine :( the flaming trip switch had gone, and nothing was convincing it to 'trip' back, then after about 20 trillionty goes it worked - hurrah! the house was starting to get cold, and I was haveing visions of having to spend all night batch cooking the contents of the freezer!

Kids break up today for half term and Jess doesn't go back til the Tuesday 2 weeks following - half bloody term its supposed to be not bloody christmas! At least it means lots of lovely lie-ins.

Loadsa Scrap

Been scrapping a lot of late, think its because my scrap area is well organised (it wont last!)

Yesterday I completed this one of Jess, I've had this photo of her for 6 weeks and have been dying to scrap it, so here it is, such a gorgeous photo of her, this was done using my October Scarlet Lime kit, aren't the little velvet rub on photo corners gorgeous?



Today I did this Layout for Butterfly Crafts Challenge 21, which was to scrap something that changed your life, never joined in there before, but my scrappy buddies Claire and Fay made the design team recently, so I had a look in and thought I would have a go! Again I used the Scarlet Lime Oct kit for this.

All set for christmas

Settle down! I am NOT all set for christmas, in fact I am burying my head in that sand about that particular holiday.

However with a cute photo of Bruno all done up like a dogs dinner, I had to scrap it so here it is, this is my fav lo in WEEKS. I know I shouldn't chuckle at my own jokes, but check out the little journaling strip under the word 'christmas' This LO was done based on the latest sketch at 52 weeks.

I lost a bit of sleep last night, I have had words with my ex's wife. On the whole we get on very well but I have felt increasingly nagged by her over the last couple of years, she texts me a LOT and has to be involved in everything (think control freak) This weekend I snapped and told Mark to tell her to back off, shes not long has a baby and since then has been unbearable with the texts and expecting far too much from Joe and Jess, I understand, in fact I am so bloody understanding, I have always stood up for her when the kids moan etc and can really see it from her point of view, so when in an email mark asked me to see it from her point of view, steam came out of my ears, I can't see it from her pov any more strongly, but really if she has issues with the kids, raise them with her husband not me, if Jason were to text Mark everytime he had and issue, Mark would soon get fed up of it!

Anyway I am Sooooo looking forward to her picking the kids up on Friday afternoon, that is going to be fun!

Last night was the finale of Harpers Island, it was FANTASTIC, but it was a one off programme, so thats it now, I will miss it! And I was right all along about the killer!

A crafty day

Had a good clear out of my craft space today, bought that little fold away table as I needed a bit more surface space, and its working really well, I am all compact and everything has a space again!

Of course once it was done I was eager to get scrapping, my new Scarlet Lime kit arrived yesterday morning, so I dug in and made the below. Only took that photo yesterday night!

And whilst shopping in the range for my table I couldn't resist this little christmas bow tie for Bruno. I am going to get him a little hat too and and he will feature on our crimbo cards this year! Doesn't he look dapper??

Of course dress-ups were just too tempting for Jessica, and poor Bruno lost his masculinity a bit here! Poor dog, luckily he doesn't care a bit, just loves the attention!

Another card and a parcel

I love parcels I do, they make me happy. This one arrived before 7.30am this morning and was waiting for me in the porch. Its full of thickers that were reduced in price (quite nicely reduced too!) and I couldn't resist. There was one full price pack missing though, so I hope they respond to my email soon and sort it out. Here they are in all their lovely thickeryness. I like white ones as you can colour them any colour to match!

Busy morning, I have cleaned, ironed and made this card. Its for my sister who recently moved into a house from her little flat. We are going visiting tommorrow, so I thought I would make her this - I don't promise cards anymore as I find it a chore if people expect them.

And a little message to my daughters school - we parents can do maths! They charge 20p a day for a piece of fruit. On Fridays they have LOADS left over so they sell the parents bags of fruit for 50p a bag. Last week I bought a bag of pears, that were not anywhere near past their best (and yummy they were too) in the bag were 10 pears. Thats 5p a pear. So this week I am buying loads and will make a 75% reduction on what they want to charge daily!!! And whilst we are at it daughters school - 6 texts a day? really? is that really really necessary? You are doing my head in!

Tra la la

A Layout and a Card

It was a toss up this morning, a mound of ironing or crafting. Crafting won and by 9.15 I was sat and ready to start. I was doing a bit of blog hopping and saw a fantastic Layout on this blog http://aliscrap23.blogspot.com/2009/09/ch-ch-ch-changes.html I thought I would have a go at a scraplift (something I have never done before fully) So heres my take:

In real life I really like it, but its not looking well photographed which is a shame. I didn't feel much sense of satisfaction copying it so I changed some elements. There are parts of this LO that I really like and will be using again.

This afternoon I was a little bored so I sat down and played and made this card. Not made a card for ages and ages and I am quite pleased with it, god knows who I will give it to, might have to wait for Valentines day as thats not a sentiment I would give a mate!!!

Now I have to go and clear up my scrappy mess and think about tea, oh and get the kids in, I made them promise that they would come in if it started to rain, its been raining for 10 mins and no sight of them!

And the mound of ironing sits silently mocking me.....

Woohoo

After what seems like (and has actually been) ages, my two Layouts have made it in print for Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. Here they are in the magazine, although I am sure most of you have it at home by now anyway (UK) but indulge me in being a bit excited, I have 2 more LO's going in, in the next 2 issues, but after this I won't mention it again lol.





Had a quiet morning and after a bit of extremely boring housework that I have been putting off for ages (sorting out the underwear basket) I sat down to make. I've deviated from my style for a while and although I like what I have done, its not really been me at my best. Today I went back to white space (I love you white space) and made this:



The glasses were cut on my pal CR, took me a while to find a suitable gsd file, but I found it on this site: http://www.scrapmag.info/crafty/index.php its french but its pretty self explanatory

I know I've said it before, but I am going to try to stop hankering over all these lovely messy over embellished Layouts that see, and then want to re-create. I can't over embellish, I prefer to mess with paper and that is that. For today anyway lol. Embrace the clean and simple.

Randoms

Just come back from Parents Evening which was a joke, I sat down, they asked how I thought Jessica was getting on, I said ok and they said "yup, thats it really"! Seriously they had nothing to say and if I hadn't of asked a few questions they would have said nothing else. Bit bemused by it really. In and out in 2 mins!

Got a call yesterday that went like this:

Woman: "Hi i'm from sky, just checking that your sky box is working ok?

Me: "I don't have a sky box"

and then she hung up on me, seriously I was bloody incensed, how rude can you get, no "sorry to bother you" she just hung up. It really made my blood boil.

Had another driving lesson today, the last 2 have been a bit hit and miss, I know how to drive now so its just practising and ironing out silly mistakes, which I have been making a few of. Its a shame cos when I do it well I really do it well and then I make a mistake and thats it. Did Bay parking today along with it seems every other learner in Keynsham, the car park was full of learners!

Managed a bit of scrapping the last 2 days, done these 2 LO's, neither has photographed very well which is a shame as they look so much nicer in real life.

That is all, except I am sure a Bristol Balloons hot air balloon is following me! It's not doing a good job of being incognito!!!!

My Weekend

The children were at their dads this weekend. We did the usual Friday night, the ususal crowd and had a good time.

Last night we went for curry, my first curry in weeks and weeks - and I don't think that I've done too much damage to my diet, even if I did have a pint of lager (I have missed lager and cider since starting the diet). It was a fun night, we even missed the last bus voluntarily so we could stay for 20 mins more and keep on nattering to out mates Nicky and Alan.

Not done much today, but I did manage to finish this LO that I started on Friday, rather like it too!

I was very very naughty this morning whilst browsing the internet. I noticed that Sarahs Cards were selling some thickers cheap - from about £1.75 a packet and quite a few packets might have been purchased, even though I did say no more craft shopping! But you can't let a bargain like that pass!

1975

1975 the year I was born. I've had this photo for ages, and never done anything with it as its such poor quality, and this is a version thats been scanned and 'fixed' and its still rubbish lol. Anyhow its a pic I love as its me as a baby with my granny and grandad. My gran is still alive and is 94 and now lives in Sheltered Accommodation, she is fading fast unfortunately and has been in and out of hospital this past 9 months.

But this Lo is about my Grandad, he was a lovely man and I adored him, He died when I was 11 but I still remember how I used to do everything with him, I caused him great trauma one year when I sneaked into his greenhouse and took a bite out of every single one of his beloved tomatoes, but he never shouted although he must have been very cross. We used to watch the wrestling together on a Saturday afternoon, he loved wrestling, I was always trying to get his attention and he would cup his ear with his hand and say "hark" and I would be quiet, and let him watch a bit more! One other thing I remember is that when he was asked if he wanted seconds on pudding he would alway say "Just a sensation" for years I though he was saying "Just an alsatian" I always thought that was very strange!

Tom and La-La

Busy day so far. Had another driving lesson today, my first in over 2 weeks so I was expecting it to be a disaster, but no, it was great, just felt really confident driving around, got my head around the gears and speeds and was moving up and down the gears really confidently. Did a 3 point turn, getting better at those and then did a stretch of dual carriageway, got up to the high 60's in speed and over took some cars too! As we were pulling on to the dual carriageway there is a busy roundabout, when I saw my gap out I came, Jason told me to do it fast, so off I went. Jason was laughing cos white van man to my side was struggling to keep up and I zoomed into my lane much faster than him, Jason said that must have been very embarrasing for the driver as he had 2 other passengers and me a learner had got out and going so much faster than him!

Loved my lesson today, given me some confidence, and I only got the shakes twice and only mildly! I think it helps that I have finally sorted out my seat position and now my legs don't ache and cramp up.

Got home and my Scrapbook Nook kit arrived (not the September one, that is STILL missing) now its all graphic 45 papers NOT my thing at all! But I have some retro photos to scrap so I got going on it, and I am REALLY pleased with it, have felt like my scrapping has been crappy lately, nothing that I loved, all just really mediocre shite. But this LO pleases me, I hate the papers, have never scrapped outside my immediate family but it seems to have worked well. One thing though, I'm boring myself with the old strip journaling I really am. MUST JOURNAL ANOTHER WAY!

Ice-Cream Celebration

I finally managed to unpack yesterday from my scrapbook weekend, so today I managed to do a bit of scrapping.

This LO is from a celebration meal that we went on in June, when Jason qualified as a driving instructor. I've been wanting to try painting on bubblewrap for a while, so finally managed it, maybe inspired by Lisa from the weekend who uses paint so well. The picture quality is not too good, its very dark outside.

Scrappy Times

This is what I was getting up to this weekend, a fantastic time in a gorgeous barn in Wiltshire (My batteries were dead in my camera, so these images are courtesy of Fay). Isn't this barn lovely?

The lovely big kitchen, where surprisingly things DID get cooked, thanks to Fay again!

This is where we scrapped, with the kitchen table added on to the end, there was tonnes of space for the 6 of us! Lisa, Claire, Audrey, Fay, Steph and me (If I knew how to link to their blogs I would!)

Here is a (very small for some reason) pic of the outside!

This was my first time at a scrapping event, crop or retreat and I was very surprised to actually get some stuff done, I was teased for being a bit slow, but I'm always slow lol. So heres what I acheived:

Jason a bit worse the wear at a wedding, 3 years ago

A mini album from a class that Audrey very kindly taught, was so pleased with this (its obviously not finished yet, but its going to be a present for my little boy. Since getting it home Bruno had chewed a corner of the arrow off as you can see (it was even in a plastic wallet so not that accessible to him), to say I was cross was an understatement so to compensate I chewed a corner of his ear off! That'll teach him! Not really, but he did learn of my displeasure and looked suitabley sorry so I have forgiven him now.

This LO was a challenge LO from Lisa, we had to use the contents of a little package that she prepared, in mine was a piece of notepaper, raffia string, brown paper, little flower stickers and green felt (there was also cork as well but I forgot that) Heres what I made, this was my quickest LO of the weekend!

And finally this one of Jess, made using the Scarlet Lime September kit, the girlies from the weekend are all Scarlet Lime Subs so we all made a LO with this kit.

I did make another LO but it didn't photograph too well, to be honest the photos of these are all a bit crappy, can't go outside as its raining here

I got back from the weekend to find that Jason had totally scrubbed the kitchen, lounge and hall, it looked so sparkly and nice to come back to that!! Isn't he a good boy?

And in good news, last night I finally slept (this insomina is happening more and more) so today I actually got something done! A pile of ironing.