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...

Ooops!!

Forgot to mention a friend of mine is selling a Bind it All machine hardly used if anyone is interested please email me xx

Thats It!!!

Back to work tomorrow after six long weeks off work!!!

I am looking forward to it though, I really enjoy work and I have new classes starting in new venues and there should be some familiar faces too, did have a bit of trouble trying to decide what to wear though, its been a while since I had to wear "work clothes" lol drama over now though!!!

Made a couple of cards today using one of my new Magnolia stamps, Creatables and some new Christmas papers....

Traditional red and green...



and a bit more contemporary...pink and green...



Tilda is "sitting" inside the card on this one, and I love the new wreath style Creatable which both cuts and embosses, the little stars are embossed.

I am off now for an early night with one of the five magazines that I have bought this week!!!

Windmills and Towers!!!

Today I was demonstrating for Barbara over in Thornton at Windmill Crafts...and I have had just the best day, to all the Ladies...and Gents who watched my demo and asked me questions...thank you, without you guys it would be pretty dull...and I even saw the Blackpool Tower on the train over too!!!

...Special thanks to the lady who had travelled from Tenerife in the early hours of this morning to watch me demo too...I told her I would blog that ;-)

I will be honest with you though, if you pay Barbara a visit be prepared to let go of your cash...I did...She has the most amazing collection of Matilda stamps and I came home with these two little Gems......



Oh and these too ;-).....



And I really want to play with them tonight but came home to a hideous pile of Ironing and all the kids beds to make up...and now I am too tired...boo!!!

Play day tomorrow...I promise myself!!!

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.

I Did It!!!!!

I bloody did it, I passed my first module of the degree I started, I received confirmation today and I am Bloody Beaming...

...because I really did not expect to pass, not because I thought I couldn`t do it but because I decided two days before the hand in date that I wanted to change the whole angle of my assignment and rewrote it completely in about six hours!!! I am over the moon and now have to decide if I want to continue with the second module, which obviously I do but have to work out if I can fit it in as I am back at work for the college next week and I have an awful lot of Demonstrations and Classes over the next couple of months at the weekends too...

...if anyone has a little house elf they want to lend me then I would really appreciate it, failing that I am thinking a personal assistant, a nanny or an Au pair...when I was little my Nan used to work for a family who always had Au Pairs although I always thought they were called "old pears".

So I am in a really "wow I really can do it " mood tonight, you know what I mean, as adults and especially as Mums we tend to doubt our own abilities as we get a little bit older and more often than not put our families before us so to achieve this even after screaming at my kids to shut up, ironing with one hand, on the phone with one shoulder, we`ve all done it perched the phone between our shoulder and our ear...whilst trying to work on my assignment...multi tasking to the max I do believe, I feel damn bloody good and intend to revel for a little while longer ;-).

Mia went back to school today...no tears!!!

Although that was because we got to school after the whistle had blown, not my fault I wont go into the grim details but as we left the house she had a nosebleed so I had to clean her up which made us late...I swear there is always a drama in this house, and because she got there after the whistle I dont think she had time to think about crying whilst I bundled her PE kit, games kit, lunch bag and school bag into her arms which were already full with "Sarah" the build a bear in school uniform!!! Do you know you couldn`t make this stuff up could you!!!

Look at this...



Does she remind you of anyone!!!

And how beautiful does she look here...



Beautiful because she insisted I braided her fringe and then straightened the rest of her hair...kids!!!

Completed two layouts today, after having my purse emptied by Harry and Ella, new phone for Harry, new earphones for Ella, and various sprays that make them smell sweet...bit of a worry considering Harry is nearly 15 and should be allergic to water and cleansing products.

Another one of the series of photographs I took of Mia when she collapsed after the shopping spree...this is the one where she realised I was taking her picture, just before a big scouse security guard told me off for taking pictures...of my own child...yeah whatever mate!!!




And one of Jack and I messing about last Monday in the sunshine...



So that's three layouts, a card and a "cupcake tube" I have created in two days...you want to see my desk...no really you do, I have turned over a new leaf...I have been tidying up as I go along!!!

I know even I am worried...the sooner I get back to work and back to normal the better!!!

Off now to search House Elf on Ebay!!!

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.

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 ;-).