CABIN FEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is official!!!

I can`t wait to go back to work, I love my kids dearly and from the bottom of my heart and all that but cooped up with them indoors whilst it pours with rain is seriously having effect on my mental health!!!

Got up this morning...at stupid o clock I may add, nothing to do with insomnia oh no...my dearest son who went to a party last night and was supposed to be staying the night at a friends house started knocking on the door whilst it was still dark, now call me old fashioned but when I used to "stay the night" somewhere that actually meant the whole night and returning home at a reasonable hour the next day, not something past seven in the morning!!!...anyway like I said I got up this morning to Sunshine, once I had administered a decent amount of caffeine to my body to recover from the shock I decided because it was sunny...honestly...that I would take the kids on a picnic...no sooner had I thought that the heavens opened!!!

ARGHHHH!!!

So that idea out the window and all my other ideas quite literally scoffed at, I googled rainy day activities and had a choice of...wait for it...playing with string, recording the sounds around us, or making an indoor den...go on google it I dare you...dear god...I opted for the picnic idea...indoors obviously, so we moved the furniture back took up the rug, put down a picnic blanket and had a "carpet picnic"....
....
....Do you see now why I have to go back to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did however have a couple of commissions to work on this afternoon...but my god I missed my ipod whilst doing so, I swear if I have to hear another episode of Spongebob I am going to find that Pineapple under the Sea....!!!

Another Christening Card...the third one I have made in two weeks...



A gift bag for Pandora Beads...



Spotted this fabulous site this morning, whilst googling rainy day activities...honest ;-) and came up with this layout using their August 15th Sketch....



And finally....phew I can almost hear you say...

Took this picture tonight, not long after I found out one of my crafty ladies had very sadly passed away, just thought that the clouds looked very beautiful.



Promise to complete Day two of my Blog challenge tomorrow.

OOOHHH Look what I found!!!

Over on my good friend Victoria`s Blog I have just found this Blog challenge, created I presume to help lazy arse Bloggers like me keep up with their blogging...so here are the challenges...

* Day 01 — A photo of you taken recently
* Day 02 — This month, in great detail
* Day 03 — Your favourite television program
* Day 04 — A photo you took
* Day 05 — Your favourite quote
* Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy
* Day 07 — A photo that makes you angry/sad
* Day 08 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
* Day 09 — Your favourite book
* Day 10 — Your week, in great detail
* Day 11 — Your favourite song
* Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy
* Day 13 — A fictional book
* Day 14 — A hobby of yours
* Day 15 — Your favourite animal
* Day 16 — A song that makes you cry
* Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
* Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy
* Day 19 — A talent of yours
* Day 20 — A non-fictional book
* Day 21 — A recipe
* Day 22 — A website
* Day 23 — A YouTube video
* Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy
* Day 25 — Your day, in great detail
* Day 26 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago
* Day 27 — Your favourite movie
* Day 28 — This year, in great detail
* Day 29 — A photo that makes you happy
* Day 30 — Whatever tickles your fancy

So for Day 1 - A photo taken of me recently....



I know its not the best photo but I love my hair in this Picture...

Be back tomorrow with the next challenge!!!

Some time ago I bought this....



...with all good intentions of having a beautiful creative place for me to fashion pretty little items surrounded by inspiration and clutter free shelves, embellishments perfectly organised and papers colour co-ordinated and flat, this morning I woke up to this...





Oh dear...every time I craft that's what my "creative space" looks like, it takes me so long to find the perfect paper or brads that by the time I have matched items up I have lost the motivation to craft....now however, after a couple of hours proper sort out it looks like this...





I know, it`s so tidy I don`t want to craft now because I know I will make a mess!!!

I did all that without the aid of music...:-(
My ipod is poorly sick and is staring lifelessly at me from the docking station in the kitchen, and my god I miss it so much, all my music is on there, organised into playlists. I even bought new headphones last week...fear not its booked into the "Pod-Pital" and hopefully will be fit and well very soon. Either that or Harry is going to lend me his Nano, which has some very questionable music on it!!!

I had a great day Demonstrating over in Kendal on Saturday, WOW the scenery is so breathtaking and the very kind Keith took me back to the train station via the scenic route, up in the hills, so high up my ears popped but it was so worth it when we looked down over Kendal, absolutely stunning...thank you Keith.

Was lovely to see so many people turn up for the Demonstration day too, and I didn`t stop talking to customers the whole day, had to bite my sandwiches between "Cuttlebugging" whilst chatting with fellow "CuttleBuggers".

If you are in the area at all its well worth a visit, the staff are very welcoming and friendly and the stock is huge, and there`s an upstairs too ;-).

So yesterday I was feeling a little delicate due to some rather serious drinking on Saturday night with my best friend...it was her idea to start the shots of Absinthe honestly, but did manage to create this with the Tim Holtz Birdcage Die which I am totally in love with...



And then was using up some scraps and my Creatables...which by the way are gorgeous, and I created this...



Oh My God...I know its a Christmas card, but with all the beautiful weather we are having I had to cool off somehow didn`t I!!!

Demonstrations...

...Just updated my Demonstration diary...to the right.

I do have more to add I am just not sure of the dates yet.

Sneaky Peeks!!!

I am Demonstrating in beautiful Kendal on Saturday at The Gosvenor Paper House, using the gorgeous Creatables cut and emboss dies and the Nellies Frames. may even throw in a bit of Cuttlebug embossing too, just because I love it. I love demonstrating the Cuttlebug, I have had mine for three or four years now and I still use it all the time.

The Creatables dies are pretty lush too, I have managed to cut through just about everything I have tried them with, and they emboss too.

Here are a couple of the Samples I have created for my Demo on Saturday:

12x12 layout of Mia in the Snow, die cut some of the Snowflakes in felt...



More felt...this time the Daisy dies, glued to a hair clip...I think Mia may be pinching this once my Demo is done...



Snowflakes again, this time cut from funky foam and linked together with jewellery nylon, looks invisible, to create a Christmas decoration...



And the Butterfly...simply cut from card and glued to a decorated paper mache box to create a little gift box..



Jack returned safe and sound from his tour of America...I got a keyring and a couple of bags of dirty washing, bless him...

He really didn`t jump off the Grand Canyon...clever photography...



I am off now to have a play with the Butterfly die above...I have had an idea...watch this space!!!

Its Saturday...

...and I was very rudely awakened this morning by a generous soul knocking on my door at 6.30am....twice...what the...ignored it and tried to go back to sleep until at 6.50...grrrrr...the same thing happened again...so I happily trot downstairs full of the joys of...I am kidding...I stomp down the stairs muttering profanities under my breath only to find nobody there!!!!!

Good start to the day there then!!!

The day got better believe me!!!

Got these cards to share, The Christening card was a commission ....




And this is for a certain very special someone who is celebrating a birthday very soon...shhhh ;-).

Off to watch some stars twinkle...okay I admit I am going for a smoke!!!

I`m All White....

...Honestly...

....literally!!!

I am currently covered in white acrylic paint, its all over my hands, on my arms and even in my hair, where I lent so far over my desk that my hair dipped in the paint!!!

Crafting...occupational hazard!!!

Had a fabulous day though, My good friend Heather, who is also my Learning Support Worker in one of the venues where I teach, came over today to craft craft craft, gossip and "Do" lunch, because we are ladies!!!

A whole day of crafting and it was fabulous and considering there were two messy crafters at it we didn't make that much mess either...



Mia joined us in our crafty marathon too, getting the luxury of sitting at my desk on the comfy chair because we were at the table, but checking on our progress every so often...love this picture...



...and all of these too, because she is just a little poser, and in case you were wondering that dress cost me £2......can you believe that, got to love the Asdoh sale ;-)

And honestly I didn't spend the afternoon taking photographs of my little poser, I completed five...yes five scrapbook layouts...

Ella and her Ice Cream...



Mia on the Beach at Colwyn Bay...



My very own "Rock Star"...



Harry and Mia in Woolston Park...



Mia and her "Big Bro"...



I love the Summer Holidays, even more so today because its the very first day so far of the holidays that it hasn't rained and Harry and Ella have actually been able to play outside today...Jack on the other hand, halfway across the world enjoying temperatures we in Warrington can only dream of.

So far on his tour of America he has spent a week in Ohio, been to a Baseball game, done some night Shooting, visited Ohio State Park, gone fishing, travelled to Vegas, took in the Grand Canyon and headed over to Dallas...and I am so NOT jealous....I have all the photos to scrapbook when he gets home...lucky me!!!

I`m off now I am going to go outside, for a sneaky smoke, and to catch the stars again...last night was so clear and I saw a shooting star...first time ever, and yes I made a wish, then I have to clean this bloody paint off me...wish me luck ;-).

Who took it from us?

I am talking about the summer...Obviously...It has rained every single day of the school holidays so far, my garden is underwater and flip flops are not suitable footwear at the moment when we should all be chilling in shorts and summer dresses!!!

We did get over to Colwyn Bay last week, even though in Warrington it was pouring down I had checked the weather and there was a break in the clouds over the Bay for the afternoon, cloudy but dry...well until we went in the sea then we were pretty wet but at least it wasn`t from the rain...this was the first time ever I had been on a beach with all my kids...is that sad or what...shoes off, socks off and jeans rolled up and the fun began...







Typically we bough buckets and spades and tried to build a sandcastle...that failed miserably though and we used the buckets to carry our wet socks home!!!

Traditionally we had Fish and Chips for tea and had the entertainment of a sea gull the size of a small dog trying to get into the litter bin near our table but sliding off every time he tried to lower his head into the opening. That has been recorded by Ella on her phone and should be winging its way to You`ve Been Framed very soon.

Had a couple of days off work so have been scrapbooking some of the pictures I have taken so far this summer...not a lot of sunshine in sight though...

This photograph just captures Mia`s personality perfectly...



I was recently introduced to a park very near to my house that I never even knew existed and took the kids over there a couple of weeks ago...photo opportunity for mum, run around in the sunshine for the kids...

Perfect Posers...



Took this photo of Harry in Colwyn Bay High Street last week, he is into climbing at the moment, not sure how long that will last before we endure a trip to casualty but it makes for cool shots for me.....



I am demonstrating over at Preston tomorrow and Saturday for Inspirations by Cardcraft so if you are in the area either day come and say hi, they are having a four day craft extravaganza, started today but runs until Sunday, and there are lots of free demonstrations taking place.

Off now to clean the Fimo from every available work surface it stuck to today...promise pictures soon.