What a day yesterday, I was so good and did a load of housework and now it looks like a bomb site again…..there were some benefits of being a working mum, if the house was tidy when you left…it was tidy when you came home and I do sometimes miss that if truth be told. Sometimes I feel like I’m chasing my tail with it all, which is why it’s easier to take a step back during the day and just let the girls get on with it, if not you’d run yourself into the ground tidying up every five minutes and that’s not really the way to keep a healthy mind.

Talking of healthy minds, I think the ‘black cloud’ has started to make a reappearance. I’m finding myself crying at bizarre things and feeling stressed over the smallest things so I really need to monitor that over the coming weeks. I’ve spent the last 10 years on and off anti-depressants and I’ve also had counselling. It seems something that comes and goes and I just have to try and manage it but it’s often difficult when Pete is away and things are manic. My most recent low point was last year when pete was away for at least 6 months of the year and Natasha was only 4 months old and not sleeping. Part of it was PND and I’m lucky to have a very good doctor and that helps. But when you get to crying at the end of ‘How To Look Good Naked’…..something isn’t right! LOL

Try This!

Just found this on Jane Deans blog....very frustrating, confussing but damned addictive!

Good Girl

Mammoth scrapping done last night with the new Modscraps kit. It's the K&Co Bailey collection. Now this is not my cup of tea at all, very heritagey feel to the papers so i'm really struggling but i've managed a few layouts and a card for my mums birthday tomorrow. I also tried a 6x12 layout for the first time. Again i'm not really pleased with it, but it's a start. I'm trying to scrap a lot of old family photos using the papers but i find the size of the photos very difficult to work with as most are square and small so anyone who has any ideas for me....let me know!

There were some lush items with the kit, the most gorgeous luxurious looking fabric covered brads, some lovely rub ons and a little tag book but i still find it so hard to get my head around these types of papers. I like the second layout i did which is one i've done for this weeks team challenge on UKS. I love these pics of my dad....whoever said that dressing up is a girls thing. We came from a very run down area of Plymouth, council house family, dockyard worker grandad and they never had two pennies (or whatever the non metric equivalent would be) to rub together. But they were such a close family. It was a house filled with love and i'm so special to have been brought up in the family that i was. It was a stark contrast to the family on my mothers side who had a bit more money, weren't close and we never really saw...even though they lived a 20 minute walk away.

For those that know me, they'll know what an influence my nan was on my life. Even in one of the roughest areas of the city, all the kids knew her and would greet her 'hello Mrs Hallett', even the real troublemakers. Half Irish, convinced she was a gypsy who could put a curse on people and do all kinds of strange things. She was such a strong independent woman, something quite rare for her generation. She's the only nanny i ever came across who had a tattoo. And standing at only 4ft 11, she could easily be towered by everyone around her and yet she was always the biggest character in the room.

I was basically brought up by her as both my parents worked full time and i really couldn't have had a better role model. She had high morals and always brought us up to be respectful and polite but she also a bit of a rebellious side for a woman her age. I remeber when i got married for the first time at the tender age of 19 she took me aside during the engagement and asked me if i really understood what i was doing by not 'playing the field' and settling down so young.

I remember cooking buns with her (she always let me lick the spoon), she used to let me iron the tea towels, i remember having jam on toast (only cooked on one side) in the mornings, the way she always had a tub of glace cherries in the fridge (that me and my sis would sneakily eat), how she'd sing Carma Miranda songs to me and blare out Irish Rebel songs. She spent a lot of her youth in Singapore where her dad worked in the oil business and they lived a charmed life there until the Japanese invaded. She lost an eye when she was 9 from kids throwing stones....she would go crazy at kids in the street if she ever saw them throwing stones and would freak them out with her eye as a warning as to what can happen. They came to England to escape occupation...leaving her dad to meet them later...but he never did..he was captured by the Japanese and they never saw him again or even knew exactly what had happened to him. It was something that burned my nans heart greatly and her adoration for him was everywhere in the house. She had a pic of him on the wall which always had poppies on it. When her eldest son was 17, he drowned...just another major upset in her life that she found hard to deal with. But you would never see her act as any kind of victim or feel sorry for herself, she got on with everything life threw at her and I really admired her attitude to life...it sucks, get on with it! But despite the bravado she had the biggest heart i've ever known. She was always the one i went to with my problems (even if sometimes she would go all gypsy on me and pretend to read my future to reassure me). Her hugs were second to none and everyday i miss her, even though she's been gone now 12 years. I still talk to her, I still ask her questions. She'll never leave me completely. Woah i've rambled here haven't I? Sorry got carried away!

It was a gorgeous day yesterday which seems to be the opposite to most people...lovely and sunny an this morning started sooooooo hot that the air con was on at 9am. As the girls wanted to play in the garden i smothered them in sunscreen at 10.30 only for the sun to swiftly disappear, the temerature to drop dramatically and the sky to fill with rather grey looking clouds! Oh well, can only be the Great British weather eh?!

Half term here so kids are pottering around today. Tonight i have to drop Rob back to his mums, pick up Freya from her dads and pop round to see my dad. Then Freya has her best mate Shannon staying for a couple of days so no doubt i'll hear High School Musical on repeat for the next three days! X

I want one!

My desire for a DSLR is getting to the point of fever pitch. I'm fed up with taking rubbish photos and am constantly in awe of those i see elsewhere. I really want to do the OU course in photography however my digital point and shoot isn't up to it. So i'm looking for a second hand camera but even then they are soooo expensive and so now i'm looking at what i can sell to fund my purchases. So i'm going to sell my PSP and see if that can get me a little cash towards it. Will let you know how i get on.

Been having a clear out at home and trying to reorganise my stash. I'm now at the stage where i wish i hadn't started because i don't know where i'm putting anything and i have stash laying all over the place. Thing is i can't go to bed til it's finished as if i do it's in danger of being ruined by inquisitive fingers in the morning.

Had a really nice afternoon. We went to Jump in Plymouth as Natasha was invited to her first ever birthday party. A little girl called Sydney that goes to her nursery. Jump is like a wacky warehouse but bigger, i don't know if Jump is a national thing or not but for little uns it's fab especially since it had a refit (it was previously a Playzone). The toddler area is amazing there. Pete has taken them a few times since it reopened but it's the first time i've been there and i've already decided i'll hold Emilys birthday party there although that isn't until November.

Robert and Emily went off and did their own thing whilst i stayed with Natasha. She wasn't too keen on the party food but enjoyed the party dances although was petrified of the cute spider toys that they used for the incy wincy spider song! No pics though as i just couldn't handle 3 kids and a camera today.

Beautiful Day

Hi all, mums been round and we had a lovely roast beef dinner followed by trifle and some buns that emily made this afternoon. Good day but manic as hell andthe kitchen looks like ..... well words cannot describe, an absolute mess. Mum bought the girls a trampoline as emilys old one had gone mouldy in the shed and i had a real nightmare trying to get it together. Even now it's more on one side that the other but hey ho, all i can do without the strength of a man with me! Thing is, we kept the last one in the living room, only banishing it to the shed when i was about to have natasha and needed birthing space in the living room...this one, even though it looks the same is a lot bigger so it won't be able to stay there but since we had the conservatory done we haven't got room for it in the garden til we get it all levelled out (hopefully this summer) so now i'm stuck with a bloody great trampoline in the living room. Girls love it though. Just waiting for Freya to jump too high and smash her head on the light fitting! I got some really funny pics of emily and natasha on there this afternoon but due to my girls aversion to wearing clothes i can't upload them which is a shame.

Did a fair bit of scrapping the last few days, sneaky peak here of my entry in Chloe's Shoe Circle Journal which i loved doing...can't show it all as we've promised we will be surprised when we get our own journals back in September.

Been waiting for ages for a delivery from Craft Obsessions. Typical Royal Mail...David at Craft Obsessions gave me the packing details to chase it, apparently it went out for delivery yesterday but they ran out of time to deliver it so took it back to the depot...flaming cheek. Didn't turn up til 4pm this afternoon after much of me being a complete troll on the phone to them...didn't turn up in a red van though....funny that...NOT! So thrilled with my little stash splash...also got a new rotary blade trimmer which i can't wait to try tonight if i manage to get the kitchen sorted.

So what did i get? Well loads, two gorgeous journalling notepads from CI, some CI Caution Girl papers and epoxy stickers, doodlebug embossed cardstock and sugar coated cardstock, basic grey, doodlebug, scenic route and CI Rub ons, some pizazzil chipboard monograms, some zig pens, AMM ribbon slides and printed twill, Bazzill Bling brads in different colours, Doodlebug jewels in loads of different colours, CI glitter chipboard alphas.....can you tell i'm having a 'bling' moment!

Hopefully tomorrow i should get my scrapbook organiser from Willow Tree Crafts and that's me set for a while!

Finally!

This is the bag of goodies you could be recieveing for entering the Scrap It Challenge. These are the gorgeous new Anna Griffin papers, some gorgeous patterns on there and i've included some ribbons, fibres and flowers also. Not had many entries this month so far but you still have plenty of time...remember you have to be in it to win it.

We had a great crop on Wednesday although i did very little again (well lets face it...I did nothing!). We had an ATC class kit which was really interesting but i brought it all home with me so that's another project added to my 'to do' list. God knows how long the list is now but I guess it keeps me occupied.

Was going to get an early night but it was the last day of school for year 11 at the local comp so there were lots of rowdy parties….the worst next door. Not that I mind, I remember my last day at school and even donated a bottle to them and then went to the shop just now and drove past a lad on his hands and knees on the floor. I picked up a bottle of water in the shops for him, drove back and he’d made it onto a bench by then. He was ok, just realised that getting drunk has it’s draw backs so I told him to drink the water then make his way home and go to bed. You should've seen the state of him!

I'm hoping the kids will behave long enough this afternoon to let me watch the cup final. OK, off to do a little housework and catch up with the ickles who so far this morning are driving me crazy.

So much creativity it makes my brain hurt!

Been trying to surround myself with loads of inspiration over the past few days, even spent hours (literally) gazing at many of my papers and thinking! Of course no one in the family understands that this staring as though in some kind of catatonic state doesn't mean that i'm doing nothing. I've found some fabby blogs on my travels though and this one, although new, looks really promising. It's an Aussie site which sells kits (unfortunately doesn't seem to ship worldwide though) but they have sketches and projects that look great. So check out the zest blog, it's well worth it.

Been having a major tidy here in the house since Pete went back although i've already started his next 'to do' list for when he's back. The play room is gradually coming together although my enthusiasm for it has wavered since i started scrapbooking as i can't stop dreaming of it as a lovely light and airy (even have air con in there) scraproom. Trouble is i think social services would become involved if i turfed out my kids now, oh well, just another 16 years to go...fingers crossed.
Talking of kids, last night was a 'baking' night for them, emily was dying to make flapjack (a firm fave amongst the girls) and as i was hunting the aisles for some ingredients for a carrot cake which i'm making for the plymouth crop tomorrow night i came across some dalek cookies biscuit mix. Well Freya is a Dr Who nut (and we're talking nut in every sense of the word) so that box ended up in the trolly too and Freya made those. Meant that the kitchen was covered in flour and goo but they had a good time.


As for Natasha, her food of choice was Aunt Bessies Yorkie puds....STILL FROZEN! She was in tears when i dragged her away (after the photo opportunity of course). I'm determined to try and improve my photography which is dire. I can appreciate good photography but just can't replicate it. I don't have the luxury of a DSLR or whatever it's called so have to rely on my digi camera point and click, it is a 6megapixell so it's not too bad but my skills just don't match up. Read a good article yesterday on 'catchlights' on Two Peas website and would love to take pics like this as the eyes seem to sparkle. I have learnt how to add a little sparkle to some pics in Photoshop Elements but i really want to learn more. One of the girls in my UKS Team is taking the new Open University Photography course so i'm waiting to hear the feedback on that. I'm not sure whether or not it will be relevant if i only have a point and shoot.

On the downside, i've been really teary the last couple of days. No idea why, could be that i've given up smoking and feeling the pressure a bit but it's a horrible feeling to come over all teary especially during the day when the kids are around. So anyhow, i'll be back later tonight to let you see the goodies you could be winning in this months 'scrap it' challenge. Don't forget, if you give it a go there is a good chance of winning. X

Rain Rain Go Away

It's not just raining...it's pouring! Absolutely pelting it down and it's so flipping miserable. We had bought Freya a new bike on Friday which she doesn't know anything about but can't see her getting to grips with it tonight with the weather like this. Pete went back to Scotland yesterday morning so got another three weeks on my own. I've been doing a bit more digi scrapping lately, more for points on UKS than anything else, havinga play with elements is fun and i'm going to try brushes next as i've downloaded some gorgeous ones off the internet. Not feeling too great today so will keep it short but sweet and catch up properly tomorrow when Em is at nursery.

So Honoured!

That is what i feel, so blooming well honoured to have such talented friends. Sarah applied for a DT place that was going with ScrapGenie and even though she didn't have faith that she would get it she did! I@m soooo proud of her, she is such a nice girl and we have quite a lot in common (and some great differences aswell) and having seen her layouts in the flesh i know just how flipping good she is. I can't wait to see her at the Plymouth Crop on Wednesday and sqidge her to bits.



Pete is going back to Scotland tomorrow morning so been trying to get some stuff done that i won't have a chance to do after tonight for a few weeks.
I finally finished my Shimelle book that i started at Braunton on Saturday, a little late for the competition but i loved this little book and i'll definately do a lot more of these as they're perfect to scrapbook specific days out and stuff. I've taken some pics of all the individual pages so you can see what it's like. We used the Heidi Grace papers and die cuts which were embossed with felt and other touchy feely stuff, plus i used some bits and pieces, some urban lilly rub ons, a crown which had fallen off one of the girls jewellry boxes (ok then, i mean i robbed it off one of the girls jewellry boxes!). Hope you like!

Will be back to being on my lonesome tomorrow so will finally put up a pic of the goodies to be won on this months scrap it challenge tomorrow evening. Just in time for the football on Sunday....COME ON YOU SPURS!

Have you done a challenge yet?

Have you? No entries so far for the May challenge....is this stash going to waste? Can promise you a bumper bag of goodies this month, including some lush BG papers for the winning entry. If you haven't yet checked out the challenge click on it on the top right of my blog to take you straight to the details.

Quietish day yesterday, still trying to recover the house from leaving Pete in charge for a night and a half with two very poorly kids, washing machine still hasn't stopped. Did finish my Maze book from the Alison Doherty class from the weekend. I love these little Maze books and they're so simple to make. Alisons incorporated tags in the pockets and instead of a ribbon closure, it was bound just like a little book with regular covers.

We used the gorgeous Autumn Leaves foofala papers and they were stunning. Also the lushest velvet papers, soooo strokeable which we used to make the daisies. I filled mine with pics of the ickle ones having fun painting in the half built conservatory making a hideous mess. Don't know about you, but i'm certainly NO Martha Stewart. My house definately looks like there are 4 kids living here. I could run myself into an early grave trying to make sure everything is always spick and span but i don't. Instead i choose to enjoy my time. I do what i need to do and the rest of the time i enjoy at home. When you look back on your childhood do you think about how tidy your house was...or do you think about the time you used to play and be happy and enjoy childhood? I'd rather sit and glue stuff with the kids than wash the kitchen floor, read a book rather than iron a mountain of clothes. And you know what...I don't care!

Sick Sick Sick

I suppose it was going to happen but Freya is now off school feeling ill. Luckily Em and Tash are now much better although i'd taken a bucketful of puke over the scaryness that is Natashas nappy at the moment. Guess it's cos she hasnt really eaten for 5 days but wow it's sinister. Finished another of my layouts from the crop yesterday...This one was a class from Alison Doherty and involved stitching. Well anyone that knows me knows that i have an aversion to needle and thread and even during the crop i made some holes, did the layout (minus photo as i didn't have one that went) and then gave the stitching a miss, but last night i did it and was so glad i did if for no other reason than to get ovr my fear of it!

We used fancy pants chipboard flowers (amazingly you can buy this at Bitz for a quid, never heard of this place but there's one in Plymouth so paying a visit with Sarah on Thursday) as templates for the flowers and the stitching runs down the stalk, as does the journalling. So now have two books to finish from the weekend and will do that later today if i can keep the sicky one at bay!

What a mixed bag!

The last few days have been soooo goood and soooo bad it's definately been a case of getting the rough and the smooth. All of Thursday night, Emily decided that she was going to join the sick club and managed to puke on two beds and the hallway floor (not to mention all over me, i don't know why i do it but i cup my hands in front of them when they're sick, no logic at all!).

Well this carried on into the morning so needless to say the girls ended up home from nursery, seriously hampering my prep time for leaving to get to Braunton. But eventually i was organised enough to go pick up Sarah and head off with AA route planner in hand and some random scrawled directions that i'd taken from Tracie on Wednesday night...which, on reflecion, probably made about as much sense as Pete's nuclear physics manuals!

So there we were, coming out the other side of Barnstaple after just over an hour and a half (not bad at all considering we went the M5 way, twice as long but far less scary!) and that's where things didn't quite go to plan. Scrawled directions were more like some kind of secret code, AA route planner had lost us from the minute that it told us that Barnstaple was left and not right as you came off the M5 so i just went the way i knew before...and of course ended up at the PUB! Well at least it showed that i knew where i was going!

Well after a few directions from the landlady we made it to Tracies, in time to dump bags and head back to the pub for some delish food, acid burning lager (i really can't drink lager anymore) and lots and lots of chat.

Back at Tracies it was time to bag the kits up for the crop and even though we were probably all three sheets to the wind i think we managed it just about and then left Tracie to finish her layouts out, god that girl is worse than me for staying up. But what a great night. I love the fact that Tracie is so down to earth and honest and even though she is sooooooo talented, she is the least pretentious person i've ever come across.

Getting to see all of her layouts 'in the flesh' was wonderful, such a tactile experience, i really love her work and we even got to see her make a bead for Sarahs troll bracelet, i did resist the temptation to use the burner to try to light my ciggie (yes was smoking this weekend) although i did have to fight it off.

So tired and looking like a pile of poo off i went to Braunton Croppers for National Scrapbooking day. Alisons classes were lovely, Tracie's layout class was lush and made me really think about trying different papers and the Shimelle class for NSD was great although i didn't have time to finish it. What a great group of girls Tracie has there aswell. They all made myself and Sarah feel so welcome and it was nice to catch up with some that we'd met back at the LCC workshop back in December. I really wasn't looking forward to coming home and could've stayed longer, but i had to come home to two puking kids and one worn out husband!

So, Kids seem to finally have gotten over their bug, the fact that i've been back on the tabs mean i have to go cold turkey again today and despite nicotine patch i'm probably going to start getting narky some time in the next hour or so. Will leave you with this layout from Saturday (the only one i've completely finished). This was Tracie's layout class using KI memories papers and ribbons and lots of stamps. I'd never really thought about using many different stamps on one layout before and i'll definately do this again and i loved all those ribbons down the side of the photo which were all tied to a lolly stick. Just feelsorry for Tracie as she lost some of her 'ickle stamps down the sink when washing them out....sending hugs to you!
So thanks soooo much to Tracie for just being Tracie, Sarah for listening to me babble on ALL the way there and put up with me singing Amy Winehoue ALL the way back, Tracie's hub for the best bacon roll i've had in ages, Tracie's gorgeous boys for showing me the joys of the dirty hamster and giving up their beds for the night and everyone at Braunton for making me feel so welcome. CAn;t wait to get up again.

Braunton here we come!

Random pic of Emily taken last week as not much going on here at the moment. This time tomorrow i should be enjoying a gorgeous meal and a few bevvies in the company of two VERY talented ladies! It's Brauton Croppers on Saturday and therefore, tomorrow afternoon myself and Sarah will be making our way up to Tracie Hudsons in preparation for the mammoth crop fest. There's loads planned, two classes by Tracie and two by Alison Doherty. I did a class of Alisons back in December at the LCC Workshop, a canvas which i loved so i'm really looking forward to the minibook and layout that she's doing. Apparently Alison was going to be coming up (or rather down from her neck of the woods) tomorrow, but now can't make it til Saturday morning...so Tracie, having a moment of pure madness has taken it upon herself to think that it may be a good idea if i can show how to use the craft robo! I only got one at xmas and can just about cut a title and templates but thats where it ends! Will have to see if i can do it tomorrow night before i make a complete arse of myself on Saturday.

Been a difficult few days due to giving up the weed, more to necessity than want (how anyone can justify a £450 tobacco habit is beyond me but that's where we are!). I haven't felt as bad as i have done before when trying to give up but there have been severe stormy moments in the Farrell household the last few days. Didn't help that Natasha has been poorly today aswell. Poor girl has been sick three times, possibly because we've changed her milk. Bedding has been on permanant wash cycle all day.

So stash is in the car, just have to pack my overnight bag and print off photos which i'll do tomorrow after the girls go off to nursery, that's if Natasha makes it that far. But will leave you with the May Scrap It Challenge ......... Challenge this month is to scraplift one of my layouts, anyone...you don't even have to like it! LOL. My UKS gallery is here or you can just browse what ones i have posted on my blog. Entries to be recieved no later than 31st May, files under 500k sent to terriefarrell@hotmail.co.uk. Details of this months goody bag will be posted Tuesday. Have a good National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday, i know i will. X

May Madness

Good morning everyone and welcome to May! And who won the April Scrap it challenge i hear you ask? well......it was....this gorgeous layout by Micayla entitled 'dreams'. I loved the gorgeous colours and the heart with wings stole mine away, simply beautiful! Make sure you email me with your address details and that lippychick book and bits will be winging it's way to you shortly! Great entries by everyone by the way.....great prize coming up again this month so spread the word to your friends.

And as for this month....well the challenge is to follow, check back later today for details of the new competition and think happy thoughts!