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!!!

Run Run as fast as you can....

...You can`t catch me I`m the Gingerbread Man...!!!

I didn`t even realise Gingerbread men could run...any that come into our house usually get their legs bitten off!!!

Mia did develop a bit of an aversion to eating them though a couple of years ago after she had watched Shrek...she thought it was cruel to eat them!!!

Luckily my little gingerbread man can niether run or get his legs bitten off as he is ready to hang on Mia`s little Pink Christmas tree that she has in her bedroom at Christmas!!!

Here he is in all his little festive glory ready to come to work with me tomorrow to be used as a sample of what we will be creating. I actually used the FaLaLa cartridge for the Slice machine to create the template for this proving just how versatile a die cutting machine can be!!!



Also doing "Thongs" tomorrow night lol, well teaching how to work with cord and thong anyway and also a little bit of macrame...just what you need at the end of the day a nice complicated knotting patern...muwahahahaha!!!



If you happened to walk into my studio at the moment you would swear I had been robbed, the only clue to suggest otherwise is that my Cricuts are still there....





Yep it still looks like that too and I have to tidy it before I go to bed because half of what I need for my lessons tomorrow is all over my desk and the floor...I even had the cheek to lecture the girls earlier about the state of their bedroom, which now looks like every fairy from fairyland went in and waved their magic wands....I am a terrible example but luckily the girls are in bed so havent actually seen my "creative disarray"

OOOOOH and look what I have got



No its not a sexy new purse, its my new tool kit.....



Picked it up today from The Bead Shop in Manchester....have seen it advertised in a couple of magazines and obviously I need a decent kit, the pliers in this are all box jointed and are fabulous to work with and they are pink!!!

Off to try and create at my desk...wish me luck, my mission should I chose to accept it and all that!!!

Weekend Witterings!!!

Another crazy weekend...I am going to work tomorrow for a rest!!!

I had to get up yesterday morning at 5.30am and got to bed about 2am this morning...nearly did the full 24 hours and bloody hell my body feels like it too.

Was in Burnley yesterday at The Craft Range demonstrating the slice for Kars, and bumped into my good pal Kirsty Wiseman, well I say bumped we were actually sat next to each other demonstrating all day, she was showing people what to do with the Papermania clear albums and one of her samples was an amazing idea to use them as storage books for acrylic stamps...so obviously had to buy one and have washed all my stamps in cold water as this makes them "sticky" again and they are say quite happily in their little album that is just waiting to be decorated now. Had such a great day too and met some really lovely people, the icing on the cake is the little cafe they have in the shop where all the food is completely scrumptious, I can highly recommend the handmade quiche mmmmm!!!

Also bought a fabulous Christmas stamp, designed exclusively for the Craft Range by Claire Rowlands, and she showed me how to use copics correctly too, been toying with trying these for a while, now I am in love and need probably the full set!!! You can see her exclusive designs here Redgy the Reindeer came home with me!!!

So despite Kirsty getting us a little bit lost on the way home...must have been stopping for McDonalds thick shakes on the way home that did it was a lovely day.

Went to a 21st birthday fancy dress party last night...only got in from Burnley at 7pm and then was ready and out again for 8pm...record timing, dressed up as a halfhearted cowgirl...bloody come in handy those cowboy boots of mine, and can`t remember the last time I wore my hair in pigtails complete with ribbons!!! Had a really lovely night dancing with my kids, I love to dance. Not sure that the three shots of Sambuca were such a good idea though...so finally hit the sack at about 2am, completely and utterly wrecked. Had a really lazy day today though, apart from transforming this...





To this...



Took me a couple of hours, but I had limited movement thanks to the sambuca last night!!! My desk has not been that tidy or organised for a very long time but apparently if your workspace is clean and tidy and organised you are far more likely to want to create...must have worked because I then designed this for my class tomorrow...



I am in love with Kashmere beads at the moment, they are truly scrumptious and make the simplest design look so decadent.

So now I am off to bed with a hot chocolate to rest my weary body!!!

Careless Wispa!!!

Admit it you are humming George Michael now aren`t you, I know I am!!!

OH MY GOD...just had one of these...



The new Caramel Wispa...I needed chocolate...this is exactly how chocolate should taste...smooth, velvety and creamy with a delicious caramel filling...this my friends is chocolate heaven!!! Just going to email Carbury`s now to ask if they are considering releasing it in a family size!!!

Okay on to the careless part...no explanation needed apart from I have been crafting...



But out of that chaos these two little cards emerged...still working through my new stamps I picked up at the GMEX a couple of weeks ago...





Had two great classes today and finished my afternoon class a little early so I got shown some Yoga moves by a student, I honestly thought that was supposed to be relaxing, I think I have pulled a muscle in my thigh and I could certainly feel the stretch, not sure I will be taking that up, felt a bit like a form of torture although saying that I have tried to concentrate more on my posture...you know shoulders back chest out...but its making my back hurt so the only posture I am interested in now is of the horizontal type under a quilt...been up since 3am (bloody insomnia) I have to go and investigate the inside of my eyelids!!!

Sometimes I ask myself....

...why is it that kids don`t have a volume control!!!

Came home tonight and they have either all gone deaf or plotted amongst themselves how long they can shout at each other before Mum completely loses the plot!!! I am not talking about fighting they were just generally conversing...loudly!!! Thank god for my ipod which I turned up to full blast while I was working tonight to drown them out, then they had the cheek to tell me they couldn`t hear the telly properly because my music was too loud!!!

I have had such a lovely day today, despite being sent half crazy by my delightful little offspring, had to go into work this morning for some training and to sort out some paperwork but then I hit Manchester to pay a visit to the bead shop...oooh I love going there, could spend all day running my fingers through the boxes of beads, delighting at the colours and textures and obviously coming away with a brand new bag of beautiful stash...yum, although not used any yet, they have to be stoked and gazed at for a certain amount of time before I will commit them to a piece of arm candy...I know I am sad!!!

Did however create this scrapbook layout tonight, the picture is of Mia in 2005 when her wardrobe consisted of fairy dresses in every colour and texture, she refused to wear trousers or jeans because fairies don't!!! Ignore the state of my desk and my craft mat...yes I am a craft slob!!!



Honestly look....



That was a total disgrace, even the kids had a go at me reminding me that I am forever telling them to tidy their rooms...really I should be setting a better example...so I did this...



Clean, tidy and organised...honestly!!!

Off to stroke and gaze at my new beads!!!

Little Fairies...

...came into my house last night and waved their beautiful magic over my desk to transform it to this...



Well that's what I would have thought if I had come downstairs this morning and saw it all sparkling and gleaming like that...pesky fairies missed me out again and I spent over an hour transforming it from the state it was in last night to this..somewhere I can actually work without hunting under piles of Primas or stacks of paper for my knife or tweezers...and so inspiring was the tidiness...I have created four cards this evening and have a layout in progress too!!! Should try this tidy and organised more often...unfortunately after making four cards and designing the layout it doesn`t really look much like that any more!!!

But I have got these as rewards for my creative disorder!!!

Cute little Edwin...



My lovely little oriental doll...



Beautiful little Tilda...



And there she is again...



Had a great day today, back to work taught a scrapbooking class this morning and Jewellery this afternoon, has been pretty hectic, had several new students turn up at my class this afternoon so sorting enrollments out...more bloody paperwork...but lots of lovely new students even if the class was a little chaotic!!!

I am off in a minute to dig out my Pink Trainers, My Pink Tracksuit and my Pink Tshirt...can you see a theme there...no not the pink the bloody fact that I have to wear a tracksuit and trainers and I have to have photographs taken to prove to all my friends that I did wear them...oh the shame!!! Tomorrow night is my midnight sponsored walk for the local hospice, did I mention I am walking 13 MILES...oh god I am so going to regret that on Saturday!!!

Wish me luck...I am going to need it!!!

This is All Wrong!!!

Totally wrong...It is Saturday Morning...yep Morning 8.30am...yep am... and I am up and whats more I have been up for an hour, made a card and tidied up this....

...which is how my desk looked when I got up!!!

All tidy now though ready for another onslaught of creativity.

So I made this earlier, which fits in very nicely with this weeks weather challenge over at DCM and also the sketch over at Friday Sketchers

I love those papers so much the DCWV Nanas Nursery ranges, so delicious and I am using them and not gazing lovingly at them or stroking their glittery embossed texture!!!

Look see I made another card using them with my bargain 50p stamp I bought on Wednesday...isn`t that angel cute...

I also have a couple of layouts to share...this is an 8x8 of Mia last week...on our way to the train station we walked past "Le Frog" a very aptly named French restaurant and as Mia`s nickname is Frog I couldn`t resist taking her picture outside!!!

And this picture has had me stumped for probably two years now...there is so much colour in it but it was such a poignant moment...sitting in McDonalds in Liverpool with my four in the summer of 2007, there was a lady sat next to us with a small child and the lady kept repeating over and over again "eat your Chicken" in a very very broad Scouse accent...well my kids were rolling about the floor because they love the accent . Needless to say it earmarked the catchphrase "eat your Chicken" every time we have it at home!!!

Okay I am off to investigate what else happens this early on a weekend morning!!!

Marvellous Macrame!!!

I knew it was going to be one of those days today before I even went to sleep last night...well I use the term night loosely it really was about 3am this morning because I sat up watching ER night until then...oooh George Clooney and Noah Wyle eye fest mmm. I used to watch ER religiously my friends and I would text or phone each other after it had gone off and we would ooh and ahh over that episode, I have missed the last couple of seasons though and now it has finished completely...can see an Ebay search looming!!!

So slept in this morning until about ten then spent the entire day lesson planning for all my courses that are starting next week, this is what my dining room table looked like until 7pm tonight when I had to clear it off for tea...all the papers are my course outlines that I have very carefully planned...I know even I am impressed at just how organised I am!!!






...and my desk still looks like this...although I still think its very pretty





Finally I managed to teach myself macrame too, have been wanting to try this out for a while after one of my students made the most beautifully intricate bracelet...mine is nowhere near as good and it took me a good half hour to master the square knot but very happy with the end result.






...and a close up of my square knots and some rather delicious beads...






Off to do some tidying up....not...its Friday night!!!

Wednesday Whitterings!!!

A little late blogging tonight I have a really good excuse though...Honest...had a bit of a tidy up of my desk earlier on, bought a new drawer set from Ikea on Saturday for all my bits and bobs and needed to fit it in somewhere, so I was hauling through my ever increasing craft stash and I found a whole load of Tilda stamped images that someone had very kindly sent me and I have spent the entire evening sat colouring them with my watercolours...see I told you it was a good excuse!!! Just have to transform them into cards now but I think I managed to watercolour five of them...god that's so relaxing, I could have sat at my desk all night doing that but I have to teach tomorrow and need at least a couple of hours sleep before then!!!

So thought I would show you the before and after photos of my desk, taken about 30 minutes apart earlier on, unfortunately it doesn't look that tidy anymore but beautiful things are created from chaos...that`s my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!

Before...a little bit of a mess!!!

And after...very tidy!!!

Still not sleeping very well, hoping that because I am up a bit later I will collapse into bed and sleep for a decent chunk of time tonight, although all around me are ill...I am surrounded by sick bugs floating through the air trying to attack me...I have tried to protect myself all evening from the onslaught of little bugs but I am anticipating being up in the night with at least one of the kids!!!

Ooh and before I go the photo prompt over at her space my space is aroma...now that is a good prompt...capturing an aroma in a photograph...hope I have managed it with my Mum`s Bread Pudding!!!

Off to make hot chocolate with bailey`s...have been told its a perfect cure for insomnia!!!

Her Space My Space...Brush

The photo prompt over at her space my space today is Brush and had this lovely picture of my desk when it was tidy, which is almost never so it is nice to look at these photos, cropped it down a bit so you can see my paint brushes!!!

Just look how beautiful she is.....

My gorgeous little girl and my new photo editing skills that I am a little giddy about...I know I need to get out more!!!

I took this photograph with exactly this effect in mind I so can not wait to scrap this picture, I finally got to grips with my new photo editing software and you would have thought I had won the lottery when I realised I had finally done it!!!

Also made this little card last night, was supposed to be a new baby card but ended up as an anniversary card...oh well all the best laid plans!!!

and just to prove that I am a complete slob....look what I woke up to this morning

It is tidy...ish now, have been working on some Christmas card designs this afternoon so there is work in progress...that's what I am calling the mess anyway!!!

Off to play around with more photo`s!!!

Her Space My Space ...Office

Today`s photo prompt over at Her Space My Space is Office...here is mine on a rare "tidy" day complete with my favourite coffee mug...you can get a whole lot of coffee in there!!!

Pesky Little Craft Fairies...

...Have bypassed my studio...AGAIN!!!

I had to tidy it all up by myself today...Had to put all my papers away, all my stamps back in their box, all the double sided tape backing in the bin, I have even cleaned my craft mat...that Cillit Bang is amazing stuff and will remove not only your top layer of skin but also ground in acrylic paint too!!!

Normally I post pictures of how messy my studio looks after a crafty marathon but its so clean and tidy I thought I would post some just to prove I am not always a complete slob!!!

Scooby Dooby doo....

God that looks a mess but its all tidy and organised ... honestly!

See I can be tidy...hmmm lets see how long that lasts!!!

Have also managed to take some better pictures of the little acetate Christmas house card/album that I designed yesterday. I love daylight...even though it has been raining buckets here all day, although weather like this is why GHD straighters were invented ;-)

Thanks for looking xxx