AAARRGHHHH

Right, so i loathe my photo being taken, i have very few photographs of me taken in the last 5 years and now HSMS is going to make Saturdays self portrait day?! Think i may be missing saturdays from now on. This one has been done out of necessity as i needed to send one to Scrap Studio but other than that i hate my photo. One eye comes out massive and the other looks squint (hence this shot so you can't compare them). Lets hope now that i lose 3 stone before next weeks portrait! have a lovely bank holiday weekend, it really is beautiful down here. X

TFI Friday!

The two ickles are at nursery...Freya and best mate Shannon are still in bed and DH is asleep too so i have complete peace in the house for a few hours. I can hardly see the PC Screen downstairs so have no idea how this pic for HSMS prompt looks to be honest as there's far too much glare on the screen to see anythig properly but here goes. Took these of the side of the conservatory...also took some of the steps too but as i can't see to make sure they're straight i'll leave that and upload later. Right off to finish some projects. It's gorgeous here this morning...hope it is where you are too. X


Just edited to add a sneak of a project i've just finished. Got to say I am loving the colours of the Scenic Route papers and Bazzill in this month Scrap Studio kit and grab one quick because they're despatched after the weekend.

New Goodies!

Well hopefully i'll be getting a little delivery tomorrow from the wonderful Craft Obsessions. This shop is my fave for one big reason - their customer service is second to none. Not only are they fast shippers but Brenda and David are so friendly and help with everything you're looking for. So i was on the site looking at the new arrival last week when i noticed these clear acrylic albums. Thought that they didn't look much and didn't bother. I called and spoke to David on Tuesday to ask if he had any craft knives in and he asked if i'd seen the new albums. When i said that i didn't really see what the fuss was he pointed me to the examples on this website here

Look at these:




So you can guess what my next little project is!

Absolutely Awesome!

Had a fantastic day! Freya made a card to give to Pink at the concert, strapped it to a teddy bear and then we were off! Firstly me and Freya spent an extortionate amount of money shopping....clothes for holiday, back to school stuff etc. She bought a really cool bright yellow long tee with black skull and crossbones on it and looked fabby in it, i swear that girl could be a model! Mum on the other hand gasped at everything she 'couldn't' try on...lets just say i've got to get back on the diet wagon on Monday...so obviously will pig out this weekend LOL. One thing that isn't fat on me though is my feet so bought a lovely pair of new shoes to replace my soon to be retired crocs. I love my crocs but there comes a time when everyones wearing them that they lose the quirkiness that you loved about them in the first place so i bought these beauties, actually went to buy another colour too on the promise of a little discount if i bought two pairs but they didn't have the brown and pink ones in my size - poo! I did treat myself to a little splurge in Coast though, a nice little outfit for my holiday which i'll keep a secret til then.....and keep the reciept a secret til my grave!

When we got to the venue we still had a long wait in store but kept ourselves amused by chatting with the rest of the people waiting patiently. Freya gave her card and leopard teddy to one of the security guards in the hope that it may get Pinks dressing room, bless her, she even included her phone number incase Pink fancied a chat! We queued for three hours outside and got right down the front for the concert. Freya was completely mad for it...screaming as soon as Pink came on stage, singing her heart out and ramming her fist in the air in time with the music. Pink got into the gap between the stage and the audience and after briefly holding her hand, Freya has now vowed not to wash her left hand ever again! Awesome concert and now i want to go again.


So i'm absolutely knackered at the moment...eyes still bleary and loads to do today so going to catch up on gallery comments and do a little online stash shopping - naughty naughty. Little story for the HSMS prompt today. When i got home last night, Pete asked me how good a mood i was in.....i hesitatedly (is that a word?) said 'good - why?'. Well apparently, 3 year old Emily had decided to paint her nails last night so crept into our room, opened the red polish and painted not only her toes and fingers but almost the entire room. Apparently it looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre had occured with red splats not only over the leather pc chair, all over her body and clothes...but also over my 'white' sheets! So heres a peak at what i came home too. I asked Pete if he'd taken a picture of it all when it happened and he almost looked at me as if i was mad.....guess he'll never be a scrapbooker then!

The second pick is just a quirky take....this 'sculpture' is in the Eden Project and just represents all the white goods that people throw out

I'm so excited!

Actually i'm really knackered too but so excited, tonight me and my 'best friend' (HSMS PROMPT DON'T CHA KNOW)are off to see PINK - AGAIN!

Just off to have a shower, get changed etc and then we're off for a girlie day and night together. Thankfully the sun is shining brightly as i didn't fancy three or so hours of queuing in the rain so fingers crossed that stays with us.

This girl is truly my best friend. WE've been through a lot together and she's been the only constant in my life. Her cuddles are the best, her humour is the strangest, and she's all mine.......Enjoy your day. X

Yup i'm still here....

.....and as the HSMS prompt is up, I thought that i'd add this before the girls get up. DSLR still upstairs so crappy camera at the ready for wet(wipes)! It's actually been dry over night so not much that's wet to photograph and as i'm yet to go to sleep my brain can't think of anything else!

Well at least the light is a bit better now so i can leave you with a sneaky peak of what i was working on last night.....enjoy..(cos i did!) Posty has just been and delivered my new CJ to do, so going to grab a coffee and have a leisurely look through....the kids will definately wake up then just to spite me!

Another all nighter...

Yup it's not quarter to 5 and i'm still up! May aswell stay up now til Pete gets up and then hit the sack for a few hours. But i've almost finished layout 2, just got to wait til i can use the upstairs printer for some journalling which i can't do when Pete is asleep unless i want to be battered to death with a pillow!

I mostly hand journal on my layouts, mostly because i'm too damn lazy but also because i think it's that much more personal. However, i don't have the best hand writing in the world so in light of this being a DT submission i thought i'd make it a bit more legible! LOL. I've also started a couple of extra bits to submit and if they get used great, if they don't, i know they'll be used here anyway. So i've been a busy little bee and should have completed everything by tomorrow night to make way for so many other things i have to do.

Wednesday is a trip into Plymouth to make sure that Freya is kitted out to go back to school. We're having a girlie day shopping and lunching...we don't get the chance to do it very often as she's at her dads most weekends but it's fun when we get the opportunity. Then in the evening we're going to see Pink in concert and I really can't wait. Freya is so excited, especially after watching the DVD of her last concert (which i saw...and she moaned about me seeing!).

Thursday i have to do my final CJ entry, post off and then wait (impatiently) for my 'Confessions' CJ to make it's way back home after an 8 month abscence. I really can't wait to see what everyones deep dark confessions are.....I am soooo nosey are't I?!

Did try to take some pics earlier...just sneeky peeks of the stuff i've been working on but as the only camera down here is a 2megapixel instant jobby and the light is horrendous...all the colours looked bizarre so i'll wait til tomorrow afternoon after i rouse from a well deserved sleep before i get take some decent photos.

Natasha went into a bed tonight....fell out twice (luckily its very low) and has been plonked back in again with her 'silky' (don't ask, will explain another time when i can't think of anything else to write) and dummy. Was an absolute mare getting her to go to sleep and not wander around the bedroom though. Oh well, it can only get better tomorrow night......or can it?

Will leave you with another layout i did a couple weeks ago but didn't upload. This is another using the Roxie kit from 'Love..Elsie'. Will see you all tomorrow evening with my HSMS photo. X

Plant!

Well as the weather isn't built for an outside journery today i've had to use this from my 'back catalogue'! This was one of the first pics that i took using my first DSLR and it's probably the best purchase i've made. The love must've rubbed off as my step mum ended up buying the same model a couple of weeks ago...and she doesn't even have a PC LOL!

Plants are not my strong point, we have an unruly unlevel garden which needs a complete overhaul and i've never been greenfingered. Even house plants usually have only lasted a few weeks - if that! The longest plant that i managed to have was a tall spikey cactus which became so bulbous after about 6 months i had to throw it out as i couldn't replant the thing and it kept toppling out of it's pot. Like i said......not green fingered!



My Tesco vouchers came through this morning so i've sent off a request to change them to OU Vouchers to do the photography course they run in October and i can't wait. I've been quite brave with my camera and messed around in Photoshop Elements, stuck in in Manual (and even manual focus, someone get this woman a bravery award!). I'm shooting in RAW and now i want to learn what makes a good photo. After i've done the OU course i'm going to have a go at Cheryls courses that she runs online as there's been a lot of positive feedback about those and hopefully she'll run another after i've done the OU course.

They all loved the Simpson movie last night and were straining to tell me every last detail....luckily, i am still oblivious and will wait til it comes out on DVD. I have a ton of DVD's to watch but there just doesn't seem to be the hours in the day at the moment. Maybe once Big Brother ends i'll no longer become a prisoner of reality TV! Freya made another two cards last night, one for her auntie and another for her cousin so i'd better get cracking and make some more this week, I hate leaving things til the last minute, i like to start something and then not stop til it's done. I'm like that with layouts. It hasn't to get to the completed stage that day although i could spend days planning something now.

Pete is now dismantling Natashas cot and setting it up as a bed. When we go to Butlins in four weeks she'll be in a bed so thought i'd better get her used to it now. Probably in for a long night tonight! Was going through some layouts last night that i'd done in previous weeks and realised that i hadn't shared them on here so will upload one now for you.

This is a bit new for me, i thought i'd try my hand at a bit of freestyle with Junes Scrap Studio kit which was the Love Elsie Roxie range. I'm still not sure that i like it although i'm happy with the layout premise if you get what i mean. After having two girls and then becommming pregnant it seemed that everyone thought i'd be disappointed when i found out i was having another girl. Even my dad would say how lucky my sister was that she had one of each. But to me, what's more important is that i have three children who all have very different and unique personalities. They all have different things i adore about them, and they all have different things that sometimes drive me mad, so why does it matter what sex they are? I love my girls and feel more sorry for Pete who now lives in a house outnumbered 4 to 1 by women, can you imagine what it'll be like when all the hormones kick in?! No wonder he never wants to leave the Navy!

Busy Busy Busy

So i've completed one layout for the Scrap Studio DT which obviously you can't see at the moment but i may put a sneaky on tomorrow to tempt you to part with some of your cash....go on, you know you want to!

The two eldest stayed up last night and began making cards for the mammoth amount of birthdays coming up between now and Xmas. Not only do i have three kids birthdays (all within 4 weeks of each other) but my neice, nephew, sister, myself and Pete, Pete's mum, petes sister and petes nephew all to do so they made a start last night and made a card each from them for Natasha (who turns 2 the end of October) and Emily (who will be 4 a month later). I get the 'Lets Make Cards' mag for lazy card making and also because it's easy for the kids to follow when they do their cards so they joined me til around 2am this morning doing these two which they were both really proud of.

It was gone 6am when i dragged my butt off to bed and i woke at 1pm and went downstairs to find my mum had come over and started prepping my roast for me and put the chickens (yes with 7 mouths to feed it is plural on purpose) in the oven. I even made yorkshire puds from scratch as Auntie Bessie had let me down and not magically made enough puds to go round. I'd only made from scratch once and they'd been a disaster but this time i was like a domestic goddess which lovely high rise yorkies which tasted scrummy....who needs Auntie Bessie eh?

After much groaning about the size of the meal, everyone still managed to demolish a banoffee tart afterwards plus i still have half a chicken for curry tomorrow night!So the kids played off their huge dinner by turning the wheeled puzzle chest into a truck in the garden! Natasha wouldn't get out which started a fight with Emily.....guess which one came off worse? Yup, bigger sis Emily ended up with the tears and the plaster despite a two year advantage on Natasha Caitlin......the rivalry between these two is fierce!

Freya on the other hand just chilled after lunch, i think after a couple hours swimming this morning she was a bit pooped out, even the extraordinary amount of sugar containing sweeties that Nanny always brings round couldn't rouse her from her 'i just want to sit' mode. I did get her to sit still long enough to take some photos. I'm so happy that she's back home as i miss her so much when she's at her dads and sometimes i just want to eat her she's so scrummy. I mean, look at those eyes and lips...no make up, no enhancements nothing....and she's simply gorgeous. Luckily she has her dads skin tone and not my whiter than white complexion. This girl has a perma tan and looks fabby for it, dark hair, dark skin and dark eyes...a classic little beauty but then of course i'm biased!


Pete has just left to take my mum home and then it's off to the Simpsons Movie for him, Freya and Robert. Me? Well i've got a little housework to do, two kids to get into bed, some online catching up and then onto my second DT layout and a lil project i want to do. Whatever you're doing have a great evening and i'll leave you with my HSMS prompt which today is 'can'. This 'can' has a story, it's been sitting in my cupboard for far far far too long. One of my best and oldest friends has been living in the NE now for the past 12 years and raves about Pease Pudding. Never seen it, don't know what it is but apparently you put it in a butty. However when i (pleased as punch) told her that i'd managed to find a tin in Tesco i was shot down in flames and told NEVER eat tinned Pease pudding, only fresh! So here it is, sat, lonely, unwanted and unopened. Poor Pease Pudding!

A Stitch In Time....

.....makes your thumb bloody sore! I knew there was a reason why i don't stitch. Simply because i can't stitch. Honestly anyone who has ever witnessed me sewing a button on has generally stared at me as though i am a complete moron. But i was determined that i wanted stitching on tonights layout and now i can't feel my thumb. Of course it doesn't help that at the thickest point i was stitching through cardstock, paper AND photo.....all with just a needle as i don't seem to be able to attach my paper piercer tool to the end of my craft knife and didn't think Pete would be that enamoured with me calling him out of bed at 3 in the morning to show me how to unscrew it!

But yes, i've pulled another all nighter so dosed up on caffeine and doing my first layout for the Scrap Studio DT. The kit arrived this morning (or actually yesterday morning as i suppose it's now Sunday)and i was beaming ear to ear with the goodies inside. All i can say is if you're getting the kit.....get the Bazzill Flower Box add ons because i assure you that you will not be disappointed. They are so shimmery and gorgeous without being OTT. The papers themselves are fantastic colours and the weight of them is superb. So go on and treat yourself if you havent already....the kits are due to go out on 28th August.

Another reason that i'm so upbeat despite lack of sleep is the fact that Spurs won today (again yesterday......bodyclock not clocking yet). Could life get any better? Well i'll have to check the lottery and see....... if i've not updated in the next two days i'll be in Barbados sipping Pina Coladas!

CHEERS!