I Love....

...Primark!!!

I`m sorry but it is true...Ella even has socks to prove it!!!

The girls and I hit the streets of Liverpool yesterday, my second favorite place in the world after Manchester, and we DID Primark...All five floors of it...well four floors, because we didn't want to do boy stuff!!!

We DID it that well we had to buy a suitcase to transport our purchases home...I love that ;-)!!!

We came home with lots of new clothes, very happy but very, very tired!!! So tired I nodded off on the train home, you know that moment when you are part way between being awake and being asleep and you feel your head fall and you wake up slightly only to nod again...that was me...you got to love big sunglasses to hide that look!!!

Luckily I had the girls with me to chunner and jabber away keeping me partially awake so we got off at the right stop!!!

Funny though got home and still managed to complete this page in my art journal...very apt for yesterday...

Titled "Home Sweet Home"...

And these are a couple I completed Monday but it was too dark to photograph...and quite possibly too late...this Art journaling has me staying up late and getting up early...bit like a new baby but with less commitment, I wouldn't say less mess because that would be an outright lie!!!

This one is titled "Time"

and this one "Rock Chick"...

I have been busy tonight prepping for my last Demo for a couple of weeks, I am over in Lancaster on Saturday at Cardcraft UK so come and say hi if you are nearby.

Off now to maybe get messy with Mod Podge or Grungy with Gesso!!!

Behind the scenes...

...I have been beavering away behind the scenes today, preparing for two 30 week BTEC courses I am teaching for the College in September, I am very excited about these, one is in Jewellery making and the other is Mixed Media, it is not only a fantastic opportunity for me to be teaching these but also for many of my students who need a progression route...I love my job, even though I was sat at the computer for six hours today...yep six, planning course outlines, creating supplies lists and translating the BTEC course aims and objectives into my own subject areas...did I say I love my job, honestly I really do, this is a fresh new challenge for me and I can`t wait.

I am running an advice session tomorrow night for these courses...Me!!!...

...sometimes this all feels like a dream; that I have a job that I love so much, that I put so much into (ask any member of my family for confirmation of this) and that I am actually pretty good at, I had a teaching observation a couple of months ago...I know I have been a bad blogger and should have shared this earlier but I was awarded a Grade 1 Outstanding Tutor and over the moon about that was a little bit of an understatement...I am truly blessed to be able to love work as much as I do.

As I said last night Picasa was playing silly beggars whilst I was trying to edit photos, so this is the first Art Journaling page I attempted with my brand spanking new, lush, stroke-able water colour crayons...did I mention I love them!!!

This page is all about how I have fell in love with Art and the journaling reads:

"I never considered myself an artist before until I began Art Journaling and I`ve fell in love, I`m excited and I can`t stop talking about it..."

I know I am probably boring you all with this now but it is just like a new love and that is how I wanted the page to "feel"!

Just a reminder that I am demonstrating for Kars at My Paper Warehouse on Saturday, they are hosting their annual craft event, I demonstrated there last year and had such a lovely day meeting lots of other demonstrators so this year should be just as good...if you are nearby come and say Hello, even if you are not it is definitely worth a trip just to check out the amount of ideas and inspiration each demonstrator has to offer and the amazing scenery in a beautiful part of the country...did I mention I love my job!!!

Off to proof read my supplies list...just kidding, going to catch the end of Twilight with Ella, apparently there's some serious eye candy in that ;-)!!!

Wax Crayons....

My new ones arrived today wrapped very carefully in Amazon packaging, these are not just any old wax crayon in fact if Marks and Spencer did wax crayons these would be them...these are water soluble wax crayons...think scribbling some colour, spritzing some water and then dragging a brush across.....Yummmmeeeee!!!

Look at the lushness of these babies...

And yes the kids are banned from these at 15 quid a pack they are the most expensive crayons in the world, I even chuckled to myself when I ordered them but I have been creating with them tonight and I loves them, in an "oh my god where have you been all my life" kind of love...sad but oh so true!!!

So I`ve created three art journal backgrounds using them but then Picasa decides it`s had enough so will only let me edit one page...

My Blue/Green living the dream page...

Thinking of adding some white acrylic texture stamping around the edging of this one but I am loving the watercolour background, the crayons blend so easily on gesso.

However.....

...I also bought some oil pastels today and I am in love with them in an "Oh my god you nearly made my heart stop beating" kind of way....I LOVE THE EFFECT!!!

And out of all my pages this is my favorite one so far, just because its my favorite colour combination and I doodled...

I`m off to stroke my new crayons!!!

Wii did it....

.....we fixed the Wii!!!

I say we, but it was thanks to a very good friend who knows all about this technology stuff the girls and I are back Wii-ing!!!

I'm not too sure about this Wii Zumba though, Ella and I did a 20 minute session and even though the trainer kept saying "you're doing great" I didn't feel great...in fact I felt like my heart was going to explode and that I really needed to be lying down...possibly in a dark room, With a glass of wine and a cigarette, we did it though and bloody hell it's hard work but I feel kind of energised, I'm not one for exercise unless it's running through Primark on a Saturday but I managed and I'm even on track with my five a day today...and that doesn't even include the Pinot!!!

I have spent most of the day preparing for my demo on Saturday over in St Helens A Christmas demo in August...got to hunt for a Christmas tree to display some projects...going to mean a trip into the loft tomorrow.

Will post some pictures tomorrow, I'm blogging in bed from my iPad...oh yeah baby I saved up for one and treated myself the day Jack turned 18, kind of a well done on surviving being a mum for 18 years gift to myself!!!

Off to listen to the wind rattling around my house on this beautiful summer night!!!

Zumba...

...In my bid to keep a little bit fitter...running up the stairs has me reaching for an oxygen mask at the moment, and my idea of five a day has a lot more to do with a certain little grape than a selection of fruit, I purchased this today...well I sent Ella to Asda with my Dad and the money because I was working...so far so good yes?

So the intention is there which is half the battle , the motivation arrived when I decided at 7.30pm that yeah I would have a little go...not at all concerned about making a fool of myself in front of the girls...nope they have seen me on Just Dance and had to endure me singing on Lips...not pretty I can tell you!!!

I am all geared up and ready to go....and...my Wii won`t work...go on say that out loud I dare you ;-).

I have spent the best part of an hour on Nintendo`s troubleshooting site, we have tried resetting, resyncing, I have maybe said a few bad words under my breath...and I have given up...been for a smoke and poured a glass of wine...see that's one of my five a day!!!

Any help gratefully received!

Chorley bound and a sticky situation

I'm up early and off to Chorley to teach a jewellery making class at the Crafty patch with a very lovely group of ladies today, just wish it wasn't so early!!!

These two day weeks are really stretching me I kid you not, hoping that I don't get attacked with a can of stick and spray today as Wendy tried to yesterday, as she tried cutting on her Accucut she managed to completely cut through a full can...glue flew everywhere literally and I think we spent the rest of the day high from fumes, this crafting is a dangerous business I can tell you and I'm considering asking for danger money...no harm done really just jaw ache from giggling.

Forgot to post this last night but for anyone wanting to know the plate combination for embossing, either with a creatable or a brass stencil using the cuttlebug it is as follows:

Plate A
Two shims of thick card (I use two pieces cut to the size of my plates that I got in a fill a box for a fiver)
Creatable die (with die already cut) or brass stencil with card you want to emboss over the top (core-donations works well)
Tan embossing mat
B plate
Cutting B plate

Roll it through and hey presto embossed images in a jiffy!!!

On some of the older creatable dies it tells you to use a C plate...please do not I managed to break a cuttlebug with this combination.

Have a great day whatever you are doing.

Stargazing....

So mingling with the stars yesterday in Blackpool...wax ones but hey they looked pretty damn good to me.

Mia was a little uneasy to begin with thinking the statues were actually going to come to life but soon relaxed enough to have her picture taken with various different celebrities, I remember going to Madam Tussuad's in London when I was younger, My Nan used to take me all over the place, the London Dungeons were a particular favorite and they are opening one in Blackpool in September, not sure I will be able to convince Mia to go there though.

So here I am with Mr Russell Brand....he is very very tall!!!

And Mr Alan Shearer....

Could get used to the celebrity lifestyle!!!

I also had a bit of a play with one of the Doily Marianne Creatables yesterday and came up with this easel card...again the white cuts are all in glitter card but my camera does not like that stuff, can`t say I blame it I hate glitter too....

Having a relaxing day today no day trip planned...yet!!!

Backpacks at the ready....

...Yesterday we went on a daytrip and at one point I think we were totally lost in the middle of North Wales on a bus but we had a wonderful day and the weather, just as BBC weather had said, was very kind to us...apart from when the train went through Prestatyn where it was bucketing it down!!!

We headed over to Conwy and walked round, and up and down the castle...its bloody huge and there was obviously no health and safety in place when it was built because the steps were lethal, but its a very beautiful and powerful building, very easy to imagine looking out over the water waiting for attack!!!

Did forget my camera...kicking myself about that so had to make do with my little "BlueBerry" and took this one of the girls outside the Smallest house in Great Britain...no way I would even fit my craft stuff in there and I dont think even Ikea could maximise that space, its so dinky and quaint and at one point there were two people living in there!!!

And on the way home we stopped here...

I have been on the train so many times and heard Deganwy is a request stop only please inform the conductor if you wish to alight here...someone did woo hoo...Easily pleased aren't I!!!

For those ladies who came to my Demo on Saturday at Garners here are the Christmas cards I made using the new creatables...the white cuts are all cut from white glitter card but the camera didn't pick that up very well...

Tree and doily card...

Reindeer and Sleigh easel card...

And Winter Scene landscape card...

Be Christmas in 143 days you know...says so here!!!

Right I am off to get ready for yet another day out...I am exhausted I must have walked at least 100 miles this week, slightly exaggerated but that's what my feet tell me, Its Blackpool today and the waxworks...camera battery is charging so I wont forget that...we are off to mingle with the stars.

Scrapbook Magic...

...Thats the feeling I get when one of the kids looks at one of my layout or flicks through an album and smiles or makes a comment...pure magic!!!

That`s the reason I scrapbook, well that and Basic Grey :-), to be able to preserve memories and not just of special occassions but of normal everyday moments, that walk in the park or the fact that now my 15 year old son is taller than me he is now able to give me a piggy back, not momentous moments but those I wouldn`t ever want to forget.

I was working in a care home this morning where some of the residents suffer with various forms of memory loss and dementia, I had one of my scrapbooks with me of me and my kids, and was showing it to them, the joy it bought to their faces was just incredible, whether it tapped into memories they had forgotton or moments they remembered I don`t know but just to see the light shining in their eyes as they smiled...that was magic.

Scrapbooking is good....

And on that note here are two layouts I completed Sunday...

This is the first 12x12 layout I have done for a while and I really like it...



and an 8x8 layout in my favourite colour scheme...needs something else though...



Will have to re-think that one tomorrow...

And using the leftovers from the above layout I created this which is currently sitting on top of my microwave in the kitchen...



And now I am seriously considering hitting the quilt, even though its only 7.30pm my little peeps are struggling.

Vintage...

...No I am not talking about wine...

I spent the day working for the college today at a Vintage Fair in Warrington Market, for those who don`t know Warrington Market is an indoor market and open daily and historians have discovered that the market has been around for approximately 750 years, luckily its pretty up to date now, apart from the vintage pretties that were displayed today...there were handcrafted goods and beautiful little items that i remembered my Nan owning when i was a little girl, if I had known how vintage her dressing table set would be now I would have carefully had it wrapped in tissue paper, I remember sitting for hours brushing my hair with the brush and holding the mirror up to check my "auburn" shine...anyway I was promoting the college courses that we have starting at the beginning of march and I had a really good day and even met Laurel and Hardy...obviously not the real ones but some pretty good lookalikes, I love how diverse my job can be.

I also chatted with some of the stall holders...set out a bit like a craft fair...obviously being crafty I like to chat to fellow artisans and there were some very talented individuals displaying their beautiful little pieces, I particularly fell in love with Vintage Twee...beautiful shabby chic stall directly opposite our stand which meant lots of lovely eye candy...go check out her beautiful site here

Been having a bit of a play with my sexy Swarovskis and fabulous findings...and this is what I have been creating...

Acrylic leaves and flowers, crystals and Swarovski...



With matching necklace...



Turquoise...my favourite colour in the whole world...Pearls, Fire Polished Crystals and Swarovski...



And a bit of fun...bought these little birdcages at the Gmex last week and added one to a ribbon and cord necklace with some Pearls, Charms, Acrylic flowers and leaves and Swarovski...



Just realised that is quite a lot of jewellery I have created lately...hmm maybe I need a day of scrapbooking tomorrow...yes that sounds like a plan, especially as I don`t have to do any lesson planning, I am off most of half term...Woo hoo...lie ins planned!!!

Off now to plan some layouts and sip some wine!!!

Blackberry Bathtime!!!

I had a little accident this morning involving a Blackberry and a bath...you can pretty much guess the rest...its currently drying out on the radiator...luckily I got the back off and the battery and sim out straight away before too much damage could be done, I know it still works because I sneaked a peek about an hour ago and to my amazement its okay, a little water damage to the screen but considering it had a good soaking I am impressed with Blackberry technology!!!

I'm also impressed with Ipod too...I finally went wireless yesterday...I know I was probably the only person in the world without a wireless Internet connection, so I am all geeked up now and managed to install it almost by myself with a little phone support and now can access the Internet on my Ipod....sad aren't I!!!

I have a card making class on Thursday and my students wanted to do valentine cards...so here is a heat embossed card that I whipped up this afternoon...

Off to tend to the Sunday roast mmmm and marvel at my lil Blackberry!!!

Saturday`s Dilemma...

....Okay so if you are very good and very bad in one day does the good cancel out the bad!!!

I will start with the bad...I was supposed to be doing the weekly food shop, you know descending on the aisles of Asda living through the torture of a dodgy trolley wheel, several thousand people greeting each other in the MIDDLE of the bloody Aisles, and kids running riot everywhere...however I slipped into TKMaxx before I could muster up the courage to place my pound in the trolley.

and look what I got....

Nestled in that cute retro plastic shopping basket is an 8x8 scrapbook album lots of papers, die cuts, letters and bling...all for an incredible £4.00...!!!

Then my beady crafty eyes spotted these We Are Memory K page kits....

Not sure of everything that's in them yet as I haven't opened them to stroke the papers yet, I am saving myself until after tea...but they were only £3.00 each!!!

And finally this...which just reminded me of Mia....

And was a bargain £2.00

So if you love a bargain get yourself down to your nearest TKMaxx for scrummy drooly stash!!!

Okay so that was my bad now for my good...after negotiating my trolley around the awful aisles of hell on earth, I mean Asda, I got myself a Christmas Saver Card!!! I know I feel all sort of grown up and responsible, I have never saved for Christmas before but am planning to whack a couple of quid on it every week just to make this years festive season a little easier on the pocket, I have also picked up a couple of birthday gifts in the sales and wrapping paper too, tell you this is the time to do your Christmas shopping, I am going to be one of those awfully smug people that by October say oh yes darling I have all my gifts and they are all wrapped and ready!!! Or maybe not!!!

I am off now to stroke my lovely new papers and flick through the Christmas Magnolia magazine that arrived yesterday before the kids drag me on Just Dance!!!

Oh just to let you know that said Magazine has had a price increase to £7.99....shocking but if you head over to Craft Obsessions they are selling it at the original price of £6.99...I have just ordered my copy.

Landing Lights!!!

Well Hallway to be precise but you get my drift...spent the day shopping for the house today and got myself some cracking little bargains including this gorgeous chandelier style lampshade which sparkles beautifully...

So along with that I bought some Black filigree panelling to hang on the outside of the dining room door...facing into the hallway, a new doormat and some big fat fake black Gerberas.....looking very funky now but a little shabby...not shabby chic either shabby screaming I need a paint job shabby...I have asked the kids what colour they think and not too impressed with Harry's suggestion of grey...so I think I will decide then at least I can say I consulted them...Im thinking a nice fresh apple green to go with my striking new black accessories!!!

Spent a little more time Lesson Planning last night, I am very nearly done now, I don't think I have ever spent this long planning before but all my courses are brand spanking sparkling new ones...

This is a basic stamping and watercolouring card for my card making course...

And this is a basic vintage page for my scrapbooking class...the photograph is of my Nan and Grandad on their wedding day not sure of the year but their anniversary was on Boxing day, going to have to check with my Dad on that one.

Going to have a mooch on the Dulux website now and try to convince Harry that Green was his idea!!!

Its been a while...

Since I blogged last, I know and to all those who have complained to me about my obvious neglect for my blog and the witterings I post I am sorry....I`ve had a mammoth timetable for the College and every weekend I have been tied up with Demos for Kars...I do have two weeks off from College though so expect some blogging...so much so I will probably bore you to death!!!

I have completed so many crafty projects over the last...hmmm is it really a month since I blogged last...I know it`s longer because I have done a term at work without a blog post...WOW that's just Lazy-Est!!!

Anyway without boring you with the rant about Uniform Policy at Ella and Harry`s school...!!! And how we have had Ofsted inspecting at work, and how I have loved teaching this term so much and how fabulous all my Demos have been.....WAKE UP...I have had a pretty good month.

I am demonstrating and teaching Pink Make and Take Jewellery at Cardcraft Plus on Friday...Come along if you can make it...but be warned there will be a lot of pink about.

I am also demonstrating the new Slice Elite on Saturday over in Frodsham at Crab Apple Crafts with Rosemary Merry on Saturday, so if you are interested in a PINK electronic die cutting machine come and watch. I will be blogging a product overview very soon.

So tomorrow is my Birthday...and I am at that OH MY GOD halfway stage between 30 and 40...I remember my 30th birthday and that was only five years ago and so being 40 is only five years away...I should be worried, or upset or thinking I am getting old...Yes...But I am loving life too much to even begin to worry about it...I love work, I have wonderful family and friends and I am just happy with who I am so...like they say age is just a number...will leave you with my favourite pictures from a lovely pre birthday celebratory lunch with a friend today...





Cheers...Happy Birthday me...

September Classes

I have had quite a few people getting in touch with me about the classes I am teaching for Warrington Collegiate starting next week so though I would post my timetable on here for all to see...Classes run for five weeks this term:

Tuesday 14th: Scrapbooking 10-12 @ Penketh Oaks for five weeks

Thursday 16th: Jewellery making 10-12 @ Museum Street for Five weeks

Monday 20th: Jewellery Making 6.30-8.30 @ Great Sankey High School for five weeks

These courses are free if you are in receipt of certain benefits (email me for more information), all my other courses this term are referrals only.

And something very very strange has happened...so strange even I am a tiny little bit worried...I have all of my course outlines wrote...that's seven courses for five weeks, planned and designed, all course materials sourced and either purchased or ordered, I am demonstrating over at Windmill Crafts on Saturday and not only am I prepared I am packed and ready to go too...Its so much of a worry too that I had a "to do" list tonight and I "to done" it...good job really because.....
.......
.......Back to work Monday after five weeks off...and I am working ELEVEN days on the run!!!

Over at Craft Range next Saturday and Crab Apple Crafts next Sunday Demonstrating for Kars so come and say Hi if you are around.

Thats it then....

....Summers officially over....

Mia starts back to school tomorrow and Harry and Ella on Tuesday, Jack begins a new course at a new College tomorrow too and I....

....Have another week off work..hehehe!!!

Peace and quiet and the house staying tidy all day, no five thousand to constantly feed throughout the day and being able to go out exactly when and where I want to without twenty bloody questions...but I will miss them, I have really enjoyed spending the summer with them and despite the awful weather we have had the last week off was beautiful and we made the most of the sunshine with a couple of days out...

A picnic in the Park on bank holiday Monday something not quite right about the sun shining on a Bank holiday....lots of fun, my kids are good company when they are happy and outside...

Sunbathing....



Trying to sunbathe but having our sun blocked....



.....How high can he jump!!!

Piggy backs....



Then on Tuesday we hit the streets of Liverpool.

Too early in the morning waiting for the train to take us to the land of the Scousers...



My Munchkins in the Sunshine sat by the Mersey...



Going for a Titanic moment on a Ferry across the Mersey....Bloody brilliant boat ride...anyone who knows me really well knows I love the water and I loved every minute of the boat trip, but this for me was amazing, looking down at the sun sparkling on the water and the wind ruining my hair...



On a little beach the other side of the water, this was the safe beach, the one we went to before this we literally had to run for our lives as the tide came in!!!



...and after walking what seemed like twenty miles, the ferry ride, the beach, running for the ferry to get back, lunch in McHeartattacks and a mammoth two hours in Primark...poor little Mia....



Quite literally shopped til she dropped!!!

Yesterday I headed over to Manchester Central...GMEX to everyone for the Craft show....my poor feet are seriously screaming at me after this week believe me...

This is my stash....



Two scrapbooks for a fiver...bargain, two Tilda Magazines, lots of bling, three stamps, lots of gorgeous new papers, a Martha Stewart border punch....Yay finally lol and lots more, and I even started to play last night with my new goodies...so far have created this....



Very naughty I know but I saw a kit to make these "Cupcake Tubes" but wasn`t going to pay £7 for them when I knew I could make them myself from some card and acetate and one of my new stamps, isn`t that just the sweetest.

Layout of Mia from Tuesdays shop til you drop...using brand new papers...not like me at all I usually have to stroke them for at least 6 months before I will cut into them...



And because I had some paper left over and I wanted to try out another new stamp I created this...



I am liking aperture cards at the moment and created this with one of the Nellies frames, added an acetate window and stamped on that too.

Eagle eyes will notice I have used my new Martha Stewart punch in every one of those projects...see there its already paid for itself ;-), and showing just how versatile a punch can be...I so need another one now!!!

Off to lay out Mia`s uniform and make her packed lunch...I haven`t missed doing that I can tell you.

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.