I shop....

..therefore I am broke!! If I'm honest, I really don't do sale shopping.I can't be bothered getting up early or with the pushing and shoving ! But I do admire those who do it and grab thenselves some bargains! Instead I have shopped from the comfort of my PC ...and now have some nice sparkly Doodlebug letters on their way to me along with some other bits & pieces :)And as a treat I ordered the second series of Greys Anatomy on DVD,I will admit to still not having seen the first series but as I know I love the second one I decided to go with that! And does anyone know if and when Five are showing sereis 3 ? I started to watch it on Living but got all behind and never caught up :(

Pencil Lines were asked to guest over at Splitcoast Stampers as Diva Designers this week - how cool is that?! I have never guested anywhere or set a challenge of any sort so I was really excited! Check out the link to see what we came up with :)


Another sketch is live over at Pencil Lines tonight.I love my layout this week and it's hanging up in my living room at the moment in a fab box frame from Wilkinsons :)

I used Scenic Route Roxbury papers & stickers
KI Memories Ice Candy
American Crafts foam thickers
Scenic Route chipboard letters
Heidi Swapp ghost star
Love Elsie Noel ribbon

It does look a lot brighter in real life!

And do you fancy following a 365 challenge this year? If you pop on over to Anna's blog for details!

Oh...and Lyzzy? You excelled yourself this time ;) !!

A very Momiji Christmas?!

Now I know they're not everyone's cup of tea...but I love that the girls (and Geoff!) can go and choose these themselves for me (unlike scrapping stuff where I have to order it myself!) I was very lucky girl this Christmas and my collection grew by five ,plus the gorgeous snowglobe:)
I was very lucky to be given Blu by Anna - thanks hun!As well as Momiji's , I got lots of scrapping goodies (Scenic Route and KI papers, BG file set,lots of treats from Anna) and the usual socks, knicks,Terry's Orange and some spends :)Oh, and a space hopper...so I can relive my youth!! The girls got High School Musical for the Wii so there's been lots of loud tuneless singing going on here!
The girls did well,most popular pressie I think was Holly's Minnie Mouse ears...they've pretty much remained on her head since they were opened!My mum & Dad came here for lunch and yesterday we went to theirs along with my sister ,her Dh and girls.All the calendars went down well -phew!! Hope they don't expect them next year !!

The girls at Pencil Lines have been working ahead to keep up to date over the festive period so I can share a sneak from my layout for this week!

Twas the night before Christmas....

Merry Christmas!

Mission completed,over and out

Yep, yesterday I finally finished the mission that was the calendars...all 48 layouts worth.Whilst I breathed a huge sigh of relief Geoff muttered something along the lines of 'Still,don't know why you left it so late...' !!Pah!!

So as the big day approaches I think we are finally all sorted.We've just wrapped the last of the presents and whilst watching Elf! Having flattened my batteries completely on Friday and spent yesterday recovering I was hyper -charged up this morning ,feeling much better and did a whole load of cleaning and tidying.I feel so much better for it! This afternoon was spent doing a layout and now my scrapping stash has been firmly put away for the next few days.

Yesterday we battled round Tesco's (I got there before you Lyzzy, they still had the frozen sausgae rolls then!),not a fun way to start the day!

I am itching to open a present bag from Anna which has been sitting under my tree since last Wednesday..but I am remaining strong willed! You can bet it'll be one of the first ones I open on Christmas Day though :)


This evening a new sketch has gone live at Pencil Lines:)

I went for a festive theme using

Cosmo Cricket papers
Buttons and twill from Dec Scrapping Angels kit
MM Heidi rub-ons
Stamps Away journalling stamp
Heidi Swapp ghost snowflakes
Dovecraft brads
Scenice Route sticker
Velvet ric rac from ribbon Oasis

Tomorrow we are off to the Christingle service,hoping that they have a real donkey, baby etc like last year! Then we will be settling down to watch It's A Wonderful Life..

I doubt I'll be back tomorrow, so I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year wherever you are!

You know you have a friend

..when surprise packages like this land through your letter box.How wonderful is this woman? She knows I have never seen this film and wanted to make sure this year I finally would! Thank you so much hun, something like this means so much! Guess what I'll be watching on Christmas Eve?!

Just quick post as I am feeling a bit rough,too many late nights catching up with me I think!

I hereby pledge...

...never to attempt to make any Christmas presents involving more than photo .....ever!! I am nearly there with the calendars, just one more to do!But I think this will be the last year I try something like this...last year I made everyone exploding boxes and this year it's been the calendars.But finally my 'to do' list seems to be getting done, though it doesn't seem to be getting any shorter ...how does that work?! This evening I have bagged and tagged the teachers presents for tomorrow, finished decorating a book for a friend of Em's,done a whole c******* (I'm sick of the word, so I guess you must be too by now!)...and not a lot else! Hand made cards have fallen by the wayside this year bar a few very simple attempts!I think Anna and I will making be a pact to start our Christmas prep in August next year!
Tomorrow is the girls last day at school and they finish at 2pm.I am hoping to pop back for the carols assembly mid morning :) All pressies are now bought though when Geoff said he might go shopping again I did drop some very non-subtle hints (I'm guessing showing him a picture online is being non-subtle?!)I still have some wrapping to do, as well as a LO and a write up for a project, which is a new one on me!!(But sounds good doesn't it?!) Hopefully, I am planning to get everything finished on Saturday evening so that I can collapse on the sofa come Sunday!
Right , I am off to bed as my eyes have just about had enough for today.Here's a little sneak of my Pencil Lines layout for this week :)

Never again...

...will I look at something gorgeous that someone else is doing at a crop and think 'Wow! I'm going to do that too...four times over!' Yes Kerry, I mean you and your lovely Paper Mill calendars! I've spent most of today chained to the kitchen table doing two of mine...and I have done 24 mini 'layouts' for them .When I say layout, I'm talking the bare minimum...photo, cardstock,patterned paper and nowt else! Well,I may add a bit of stamping a few flowers tomorrow...;)It was quite nice to go hunting through all my old papers,and I have learnt a few things too...I really need to get some neutral shades of Bazzill, I have way too much pink Bazzill and lastly,I own way too much Basic Grey and Junkitz, most of which I will probably never use!
So to catch up...on Friday I met up with the lovely Caz and her Mum to hand a little something over ;) ,and we had a good gossip over lattes, diet coke, muffins and panini's!Friday night I stayed up to the ridiculous time of about 1.30am,after scrapping and then discovering that Anna was still awake too!
There was no chance of a lie in though as we were up and out early on Saturday morning to go food shopping.I had to pop into town in the afternoon to pick up my photos for the calendars - I can recommend Boots!!If you order over 50 digi prints on the next day service they work out at 10p each!
When I returned home we broke open a new Wii game - Sonic & Mario at the Olympics :) Oh my word...my arms were ready to drop off after a couple of attempts at swimming and rowing!Both girls love it and Em seems to be a natural at archery!
After that Holly and I went for a walk down to the lakes and at last my camera got a bit of use :) It was obviously a good day to go, we had the place to ourselves and only saw about six other people the whole time...I think everyone else had gone Christmas shopping!The light was gorgeous and I love this photo of Holly that I managed to get.
This morning we took the girls over to see Father Christmas.He dutifully wrote down their present requests, though Holly was slightly put out that he stopped her from asking for more than one thing ! Let's face it the queue was pretty long, he'd have been there forever!
This afternoon Em went to see The Golden Compass for a friends birthday treat,whilst Holly went to my Mum & Dad's to make cakes and mince pies so they've both had a busy day! Whilst they were both out,Santa's elves came and wrapped up and whisked away a pile of pressies back to Lapland, how's that for timing? ;)

And lastly, to finish off my essay...here is my Pencil Lines layout for this week :)
I used
MM Noteworthy paper
Ribbon from SIS TV kit, Love Elsie Noel ribbon
Heidi Swapp heart
Autumn Leaves stamp
Angel Kiss blooms
There are some gorgeous layouts again this week , so make sure you check them out!

Ticking off the list.....

...of things that I have to do!Today I managed to finish and post off the 'commissioned' layout I have been working on.Doesn't that sound official?! Actually it was for my SIL's Aunty -in- law.....if there is such a thing!And whilst I had all my stuff out I got another job done by making Anna's birthday card :) Why does it seem just so wrong to send another scrapper a shop bought card?!Anyway, my conscience is clear now!
So...the girls Christmas show is now done and dusted...lots of tears after last nights performance! Em 's were because it was her last Christmas show at Junior school, and Holly...because she will miss Emma being there next year!I will take photos of them in their costumes over the weekend as we weren't allowed to take any of the shows themselves.
Yesterday was a fab day! Anna came over and we did what we do best...went shopping and ate out!I am so tempted to poke the pressie bag that now sits under my tree...but I am resisting! We ate at Frankie & Benny's ( see Anna's blog for our scrumptious pudding!) and also did a bit of shopping for the men in our lives...Wii accessories anyone?!I also gave Anna her birthday pressies and her reaction was to squeal a lot so I think I got it right!
My poor camera has been sadly neglected the past few weeks so I have no new photos to share, so I'll use this one from the other week! These squirels were a couple of gardens away from us but fascinating to watch!
And it's official...Lyzzy stalks me where ever I go....;)

More hours in a day needed...

Have just realised how much I need to get done this week and how little time I have to get it done in! Tomorrow I am out all day what with the school show matinee performance and then straight on to Rainbows, Tuesday evening we are watching the evening performance of the school show, Weds evening I am out for a Christmas meal, Weds daytime hopefully seeing Anna....so it looks like I'll have to cram in as much as I can tomorrow evening , Tuesday afternoon and anything else will have to wait til Thursday.....oh dear !!

This weekend we have put the Chritmas decs up, the outside lights had to wait until a break in the downpours this afternoon! Still have a few ornaments etc to find homes for, but we're getting there slowly!

Today we made our annual pilgrimage to Milton Keynes to see the Christmas displays.This years theme is The Wind In The Willows, a book I loved as a child.As per usual, the displays are fantastic, you must go if you can! The girls enjoyed a couple of rides on the carousel too :)

And check out The Simpsons...there is a Canon stand in the shopping centre with this big display, and until the Canon people arrive to set their up cameras etc, everyone else was taking their own photos, so we had to join in too!
We finished to day off with a lovley roast followed by an M&S Crazy Chocalte Overload for pud - yum!

Here's my Pencil Lines layout for this week, go check out the new sketch!

I used American crafts paper from the Nov Bad Girls kit

Doodlebug letter stickers

Angel kiss Blooms

Scalloped Bazzill

Queen & Co felt

Love Elsie & Rhonna Farrer stamps

MM Hugs clip

Dots done using Crafters Workshop template

American Crafts felt Thickers

I am off to get some sleep before I start burning the candle at both ends!

Charity shop chic?!

So, as per usual I was a little bit late sorting Em's costume out for her school Christmas show...but look how it turned out! I am so pleased with it and she loves it :) The original plan was to use a skirt we had been given and just sew in anet underskirt.It soon became apparent that this wasn't going to work,hence a quick dash to the town by my Mum & I.We toyed with the idea of buying a pattern and fabric in John Lewis but were put off by the fact it would have worked out at about £25 in all.We were on our way home, me to search ebay and my Mum to search the Yellow Pages for dress hire shops when we decided to pop into a charity shop 'just in case' We found the pictured gorgeous dress, which already came with an underskirt and a trim of black net attached.And lo and behold we also found a pale pink bomber jacket to complete the Pink lady outfit - there is a God!! So three metres of shocking pink net and a few hours later and her costume was complete! On days like yesterday I so wish I owned a sewing machine! Anyway, I have one very happy Pink Lady and enough net left to make a brides headdress (for dressing up purposes only!!)for Holly! Got to love charity shops!

Today has been spent trying to tackle the amount of mess in this house! I made a start on my wardrobe chucking out about half the contents.Trouble is, it still houses umpteen photo albums, books,christmas pressies etc etc! Stiill, at least I can close the doors for now!

No rest...

...for the wicked! Roll on next weekend...I think we only have one thing planned to do!

Yesterday morning I went out shopping for for pressies and costume material with my Mum & Dad.The rest of the day was spent preparing for the arrival of Holly's friends late afternoon for her party.Now poor Holly just doesn't 'do' noise (as Anna can vouch for!)...and was absolutely shattered by the time they'd all gone home! We played the mummy game (wrapping each other up in toilet roll) twice, musical statues, pass the parcel and of course the doughnuts on a string game! I am convinced though that my kids are the only ones who eat at parties...we had loads of food left!

This morning we did the food shopping and then went to Frankie & Benny's for lunch as a birthday/ pre Christmas treat for all of us!From there me & the girls went to see the Christmas Tree festival at a local church, to see the tree decorated by Holly's Rainbow group.


We have had a new sketch go live over at Pencil Lines.I very rarely do layouts with Geoff on, mainly because he hates having his photo taken!In real life , the photo on this layout isn't as 'blue' !

I used

Scenic Route Salem papers
American Crafts felt Thickers
Heidi Swapp letter stickers
Hand drawn border

Tomorrow the girls are off school due to an Inset day so we will spend the afternoon at my Mum's trying to make an underskirt for Em's costume!

Just a quick one...

..before I fall asleep!

My little 'baby' turned seven today...I remember her arrival very clearly and have no idea how time has flown by so fast! She has had a good day,despite a slight disaster with her birthday cake (which she didn't see as a disaster at all!) Lots of High School Musical and Hannah Montana themed pressies as well as pens,books and a new coat, she is a happy bunny!Tomorrow afternoon we will be descended on by five of her friends which means that right now I really should be wrapping up the pass the parcel! Guess I will just be doing it last minute as per usual!

I'll leave you with a sneak of my Pencil Lines layout for Sunday :)

McDonalds and Munchkins....

..yes, I know, a weird title but I couldn't think of anything else ! It is relevant though!
Today I met Caz for lunch (I know, don't see her for months and then twice in one week! ;) ).We settled for a McDonalds, the first I have had for absolutely ages !I have to say, the after thought of having a milkshake made it even more worthwhile!!
Onto the subject of munchkins, I have now finished Holly's costume for her part in the Wizard of Oz...an apron and hat decorated with big felt flowers (courtesy of Louise - I knew I'd find extra uses for them!)to be worn over a dressing up dress.Em has now been told she needs to supply her own pink jacket as part of her Pink Ladies costume (they are doing Grease)...back to the drawing board!

Feels like I have 101 things to do before the weekend so I need to get organised tomorrow !
The advent tree is well on it's way to be being finished.I practically copied Jen Hall's totally! I need to wait for some ribbon to add to it and finish stamping all the numbers on the boxes.

This evening I've been to a friends Avon party and have come home armed with lots of yummy smellies!

Photo is of me ,Caz and Lyzzy after the crop last week.Note to self...must work on that double chin!!

I am off to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Searching for the impossible?!

No, not a Nintendo Wii...but something far more accessible -well I thought it would be anyway...Holly is usually pretty restrained with her Christmas & birthday list and this year has asked for Tigger pyjamas. Easy!! Not!! Can I find Tigger pyjamas for a 7 year old girl anywhere? Nope.... Pooh and Eyore yes,but none with just Tigger on.So please,if anyone knows where I can find a pair of girls Tigger PJ's , in an age 8-9 please point me in the right direction!

It has been so cold at times this weekend that I have started to feel really Christmassy!Yesterday I had Christmas music on whilst I did the ironing and then settled down to watch Love Actually in the evening :)

Whilst doing a very late night blog hop the other night I saw this little beauty on Jen Hall's blog. Having already seen the tree itself in Tesco's the week before ,I decided that I have to do one too.So in a very early AM shop I ordered the Love Elsie Noel papers(look away Lyzzy!) from Papermaze,and yesterday I picked up the tree in Tesco.I spent yesterday afternoon covering it and just need to add the numbers now.

On Friday Lyzzy very kindly paid for me to go cropping ...I was in shock at her picking me up on time and forgot my bag! Caz came too and we had a fab time.Even though I had to bag a photo from Lyzzy to scrap as I hadn't printed any off!I will be better prepared next time, honest!I just need to add the title then I can share the layout I got done:)

And finally, being Sunday means it's a new sketch for Pencil Lines.This week we were sponsored by Bad Girls kits.Now I'm not going to pretend I found this one easy, at one point I nearly gave the kit back to Anna...but I love the layout I eventually did with it.It was one of those 'complete accident' layouts...I'd printed the photo off to scrap with some other papers but happened to put it down on top the Hambly transparency...and hey presto! Everything on the layout is from the kit :)Go check out everyone else's fab layouts here !

A busy week this week! Tomorrow I have to take Em to the Orthodontist for a check up on her braces, I need to sort out a costume for a munchkin and a Pink Lady for the school show,we have Holly's birthday on Friday and her party on Saturday - phew!!

Busy doing....

...not very much!! Hmm, I seem to be doing a lot of time wasting at the moment, just browsing the net or searching through my photos.Not tomorrow though.The girls are out at friends straight from school which gives me a huge chunk of 'empty house' time,so I'm going to tackle the kitchen.Every cupboard needs sorting through and chucking out of the stuff we never use needs to be done.I think I'll get it done if I stick a dvd on out there or the stereo on full blast!
Have got a couple more layouts done this week (thud), one of them being my Pencil Lines for this week.I've used a photo of Em that has to be one of my faves (shame I didn't take it myself!).As per usual, here's a little sneak!
Tomorrow evening I'm off cropping with the oh-so-lovely Lyzzy.Bag still needs to be packed and I have no idea what I will be doing! I'm hoping Caz will be joining us to as I have 'stuff' to hand over and I haven't seen her in ages!

Keeping it simple...sort of!

And here is the layout I did last night :) At least I used up some paper on this one as opposed to the Perfect Pumpkin one where I only used a tiny scrap of Scenic Route!I really need to make a start on the calendars soon...the thought of having to do either 36 or 48 mini layouts is starting to scare me slightly!
Huge excitement for Holly today,she has been offered the chance to do a three week Karate class at school! Not surprisingly she said yes!
The weather here has been miserable,so wet and dark!I made the stupid mistake of going out in my Crocs and forgetting my umbrella this morning (it wasn't raining when we left for school!),as you can imagine I got totally soaked in a downpour on my way home!
Hmmm, not much else to share really...it's not often I update three days in a row!!

Snow??!

Yep, that's right...we have had snow here this evening!! It did settle for a bit but has now been washed away again by the rain.

Just popping on quickly to share my Pencil Lines layout for this week:) I love this layout, IRL it is very touchy feely as the ric rac is velvet and the sizzix swirl is cut from glittery felt.

I used Scenic Route Salem papers (how did you guess Sandie?!)

Velvet ric rac from Ribbon Oasis

Stamps Away owl stamp

Angel Kiss blooms

Title cut from Sizzlits Twang font (thanks kerry!)

Bazzill spotty brad

I've also done two layouts since yesterday too - some kind of miracle in this house!Here's the first and I will share the other one tomorrow :)

Time for a change...?!

I was trying to put away some of my scrapping papers the other day...and came to the conclusion that I really need to start using more! Admittedly I don't buy as much as I used to but I still have a lot to get through.So I think I may just start doing some more simple layouts,just for me.Anna and I were talking the other day and were trying to work out why we wait for that 'perfect' photo to scrap instead of just using one of the hundreds we already have!So I 've decided it's time to use up some paper and scrap older photos,wish me luck!

Christmas shopping is now just about all done,just the basics like cards and wrapping paper to sort out.Oh, except for Geoff who will be getting nothing if he doesn't give me some more ideas!

We have a quiet weekend ahead of us, just catching up on stuff around the house :)

I'll leave you with a peek at my layout for Pencil Lines this week :)

Pop!!

Is what I think my stomach may well do after tonight! Just got back from a meal at Frankie & Benny's where I had the full works (starter, main & pud plus wine!)...I am off to sleep it off!!

One of those weekends....

..when we don't seem to have stopped!

Yesterday was the school Christmas craft fair where Em had to do a waitressing stint for half an hour, before that we had the food shopping to do too.After Em had finished we took a quick walk round the fair before going to my Mum's for lunch as it was her birthday.

Then today I have spent the day helping out at the Scrapping Angels Christmas workshop:) It was lovely to see Annie again who I haven't seen since the retreat in April as well as some new faces and familiar ones! I'd love to say I created several master pieces but today, my creations were in the form of tea & coffee! Louise though scrapped like a woman on a mission...I want to be her one day! Anyway, I had a fab day so a huge thank you to Anna for entrusting me with her shop and leaving me in charge of the food!

On Friday, Em had Evacuee day at school :) My Mum knitted her a cardigan, I covered her lunchbag in brown paper to resemble a case and made her her a gas mask box too.She also had to have a ration style packed lunch.Not sure how well we fared with that as I think she probably had the family's weekly ration of meat in her sandwich!

And it's Sunday so that means another sketch is live over at Pencil Lines.I have wanted to do a layout using these papers and this photo of Em for ages (as she likes to call her spotty hairband her Elsie hairband:) ) so I'm so pleased I finally got it done!Be sure to go and out everyone else's layouts!

I am off to bed to rest my feet and slap on some handcream after washing all those cups!! Zzzzzzz....

Nowt going on...

...to tell you about really,but I thought I'd better update!

Caught up with Lyzzy today as Beth was playing netball at the school round the corner from us which was nice :) Congrats to Beth whose team won, she scored 3 goals in the first match while I was there!

Scrapping wise, I have been making a canvas this evening for MIL's birthday pressie.Just need to add the photo and Mod Podge it all tomorrow so that it can be posted off (I hope it survives!!)Also have a couple of CJ's to catch up on before the weekend. Oh, and I really need to start on the four paperchase 2008 and calendars thaqt i need to do for Christmas pressies! On Sunday I am off to help at Anna's Scrapping Angels Christmas workshop :), looking forward to catching up with Louise & Kerry and meeting some new faces :)

On Friday we will be off to get the final bits of Christmas shopping,I can't believe we're so organised this year! Here's hoping everything we've bought doesn't get marked down two weeks before Christmas ,which will really annoy me!

Um, and really that is about it...interesting huh?!

Two old hags....!!

Just thought I'd get that comment in before someone else does!

So yes, I am still here! Have spent this week (well, last week now) running around all over the place and my blogging has been neglected.

So what's been happening...on Wednesday we went out trick or treating...don't panic, just to people who we knew ! It was a really nice evening,there were three of us adults with 6 kids.There is a street near us where my friends sister lives so we went there...almost every house had a pumpkin outside! The girls buckets were full of sweets !(which will no doubt get forgotten and thrown away in six months time!)We have been over run with pumpkins this year as my dad grew some as well as our Willows farm ones. I did a witch for last Wednesday.As we were having a small Halloween party today, I did another one this afternoon (the others are now mouldy...really not a nice smell!)but still need to take a photo of it.

So this afternoon, Anna came over with Izzy and Lilly for a Halloween 'do'.Holly really wanted a Halloween party for her birthday...but being born at the end of November means it's a bit late!The compromise was to have a small party this weekend.As it was still early afternoon, I covered all the windows with bargain Halloween tissuie paper from Poundland .We had the doughnuts on a string game (Ann'a fave!), Mummies and find the sweets in the 'goo' (ie cold spaghetti and jelly!)All finished off with sparklers in the garden! After we waved our guests off , we popped over to our neighbours for fireworks in the garden (rather them than me!) and more sparklers :)

Pencil Lines is now live with a new sketch.We also have two fab new design team members join us this week.Their work is amazing - go check them out!

This week I used items for the November Scrapping Angels kit.

Papers by Scenic Route

Angel Kiss blooms

Bazzill rub-ons

Bazzill from kit

Scenic Route journalling label from kit

Right, I am off to recover!

Been cropping!

Today I finally made it to a crop after missing the last two months due to clashes with Geoff's work rota :) The trains were not on my side though...got to Anna's late having nearly missed my change over train due to my first train running late.Getting home was even worse...the train was 25mins late, meaning I did miss my second train....so I abandoned the train and Geoff came out to pick me up.Coupled with the rain it was a miserable journey home!


Anyway, I got a layout completely done (which is good for me!) I am so pleased with it but cannot share as it's for a Pencil Lines sketch in three weeks (go on, pick yourselves up from the floor at the shock that I have manged one in advance!! ) Also helped Anna pack kits for next month and ate yummy cake courtesy of Kerry! We also had a birthday lucky dip, I got a fab pink MM alphabet :)


Pencil Lines are live, this week we were sponsored by Fiskars:)We got kits packed to the brim with gorgeous embellies and paper.Sandie, the papers I used were Cloud 9, the Chocolate Chalet range :)(with added white doodling ;) !) I just could not find six small photos so I merged them into three larger photos.I also added rain dots to some of the flowers which don't really show in the photo.Fiskars have donated a fab RAK for the favourite from this sketch...make sure you don't miss out by emailing us your layout for the gallery!


The girls are back at school on Tuesday so tomorrow will be spent sorting out PE kits etc,finishing off homwork etc ! I need to start sorting through the huge amount of paperwork that seems to be hanging here at the moment and then the clearout in preparation for Christmas will begin!!

Doughnut anyone??

Hmmm...maybe not!! I was given a doughnut maker earlier in the week so I thought I'd have a go at making some for the crop tomorrow.But they taste more like yorkshire puddings (okay, so I haven't dusted them with sugar yet...) so I don't think I'll risk them on anyone else just yet!
Been a quiet day her today.Holly has been at a friends most of the day which felt very weird for a Saturday!
Yesterday we took a trip to Ikea to look at a bed/storage for Holly's room.Hopefully we have found one which will give her a bit more floorspace in her room! Anyone who's been in my house will know I have a thing for Ikea lighting....and yesterday was no exception! I got some fab christmas lights which look like snowballs.
I completely forgot to share the highlight of the pumpkin patch trip for Em....seeing Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films in the cafe just before we came home!At first I wasn't convinced so I went back for a second look...and yes, it was him :)

I leave you with a sneak of my Pencil Lines sketch for tomorrow evening.
Don't forget to put your clocks back tonight!

Pumpkins!!!!

Oh yes...today Anna and I finally made it to a place where there were pumpkins(Along with Geoff and the four girls!)!!Sad, I know but we have been hoping to make this trip trip since last year!!

After a slight delay stuck in traffic (made up for by High School Musical 2 blaring on the car stereo at full blast!) we made it to Willows farm park :) First off we went in to the animal villages where the girls happily sat and held guineas pigs and rabbits.Then we made a move for the Pumpkin Patch.We were a bit worried that there might be none left, but we weren't disappointed! Despite there being lots of squashy ones, we eventually found four huuuuge ones!! (lesson learnt though....the huge ones weigh an absolute tonne and it's a long way back to the car park!!).
Holly was happy to pose today...yes, I did arrange those pumpkins around her I'm ashamed to say!Geoff carried two of the pumpkins whilst Anna and I pathetically struggled with one each! After some lunch in the (very cold) fresh air we watched the Sheep Stake Trials, Daft Duck Trials , went for a tractor ride and spent time in the play area
By this time we were freezing cold and decided to head for home.Looking forward to next year already ;)!

This evening another sketch has gone live on Pencil Lines, all part of our 1st anniversary celebrations :) Here's mine,

I used

Doodlebug papers

Angel Kiss flowers

Poundland Halloween 3D sticker

Thoroughly spoilt...

...is what I have been this weekend gone :)

Saturday morning we left bright and early to make our way to Oxford.The weather was gorgeous all weekend:).Saturday was spent shopping,lots of Christmas and birthday presents plus some treats for me.In the evening we had dinner in the restaurant...I guess the rugby was a good excuse for people to stay home...we were the only people eating there! Sadly , the hotel has gone downhill a bit since last year but we still made the most of it.It was nice just to have time to ourselves.On Sunday we nade our way home via Milton Keynes for a little bit more shopping...yes, our purse and wallet are now very empty!Geoff bought me a Momiji doll as a pressie, the new Pixcie one holding a cupcake :)


Last night Pencil Lines went live with a sketch from the very talented Lucy Folch.

I used Scrapping Angels October kitScenic Route Salem papers
MM clip
Doodlebug Hopscotch letter stickers
Queen & Co felt
Primas
Queen & co brads
Sassafrasslass stamps



Today we had a flying visit from Geoff's sister, the girls were so happy to see her & her husband!

Right, I am off as I'm sure there are other things I should be doing!

Yum!

Just popping on quickly to say cheerio before Geoff and I go away tomorrow morning :) Yep, a whole day and a half being away from my two sweeties...missing them already! (they are at mum & dad's tonight as we are hoping to leave early in the morning)
I will share with you a pic of the yummy ribbon I got from Ribbon Oasis yesterday.Swoon! The photo really doesn't do the velvet ric rac justice,it is gorgeous!

And here is a sneak of my Pencil Lines sketch for Sunday.We have multi talented guest with us this week who does some amazing work - you don't want to miss it!
I'm off, see you Sunday!

How fab is my friend??!

I received very happy post today , from the wonderful Annie!! Look at this wonderful box of goodies,can't wait to start using it :) Thank you soooo much!That along with my delivery of the new Scenic Route Salem papers put me in a very happy mood!
We have had another mid week sketch go live over at Pencil Lines,you can check it out here.Have to admit that mine really isn't my best work, but I tried!These pages will eventually go in a mini book of our day in London :)
Not much to report here, though looking forward to half term next week - woohoo! Actually I am looking to the weekend first as Geoff and I are going away on our own for the night,same place as we went last year.Hoping to do some Christmas/birthday shopping (lots of birthdays in November in this family!)and having a nice meal at the hotel in the evening.Then next week we will be going to Willows farm with Anna and the girls - fingers crossed it doesn't rain and that there are some pumpkins left for us!
Earlier in the week we had the girls consultations with their school teachers, no problems at all , they are both doing really well :)This week we have another assembly, this time Em's year, doing a Midsummer Nights Dream (well not all of it obviously.....!!)

All over....

Phew...so Em's birthday celebrations passed off without any hitches :) On Friday we had tea at home with her Nan & Grandad,then last night she had three friends over and one stayed for a sleepover.Then this morning we took her & friends bowling.I think a good time was had by all! There was lots of lughter and lots of playing on the Wii! Em is now the proud owner of three Momiji dolls,lots of earrings and yet more books (you can never have to many!)

On Friday it was also my favourite school assemby of the year, Harvest Festival :) I love everything about it- the songs, the huge pile of food all the children donate...it just reminds me being a school kid again!

Pencil Lines is live with a new sketch tonight.This week we were lucky enough to be sponsored by 3 Bugs In a Rug .I used the Blossom collection, though I think maybe my photos were a bit big...you can't see much of the paper! They are lovely though and I still have lots left to play with.All papers, stickers and tag are by 3Bugs and the scalloped paper is Bazzill.The stamped part of the title is done using Penny Black Liquorice stamps.The photos are of Holly modelling her bargain (£1 in Primark !)Sharpay (from HSM) style sunglasses :) Huge thanks to Anam for photoshop-ing out my refelction from the sunglasses!

Today we had planned to go out in search of pumpkins but where we were going closed at 1pm...I rang up to check they were open at 5 to 1 !! Maybe another day.....

Everything all at once....

I really should know by now, but everything else also seems to happen in the week of Em's birthday ie school trips, harvest festival etc etc.
So my 'baby' is tomorrow.....and I still have to make a cake, that's tomorrow afternoon's job!On Saturday she is having a few friends round and one staying over and then on Sunday morning we're going bowling.
We've had another sketch go live over at Pencil Lines since I last blogged,I actually managed to make a card this time!
I used
Scenic Route Laurel papers
Doodlebug paper frills
Stamps away alpha stamps
Angel Kiss flowers
Tomorrow night I will hopefully get another CJ done as I've been really bad and got way behind with them :( Here's a sneak of one I did the other night (won't show it all just in case Chelle sees this!)I'm really pleased with it, just wish it hadn't taken so long for my inspiration to materialise!
Yesterday Anna came over to deliver me some gorgeous sponsorship goodies for Pencil Lines plus the latest Scrapping Angels kit.We headed over to Stevenage and indulged in a bit of girly shopping in Primark :)It was lovely to see you hun,must do it again soon!
This weekend , other than Em's birthday celebrations, we will hopefully visit a farm shop in the quest for pumpkin photos!!

Sniff....

...I have been buried under a pile of tissues for the last few days thanks to Em passing her cold on to both me and Geoff! Don't feel quite so rough now but I had a couple of early nights last week!Hence no blogging!

This week we have a very special guest over at Pencil Lines (actually, they are all special!) so pop on over and check us out :)

This is my layout,using photos of Holly from last week.

I used

Scenic Route paper

Scenic Route journalling die cut

Stamps Away journalling stamp

Angel Kiss flowers

Bazzill from Scrap Studio kit
Sue Dreamer letter stickers

Ribbon from Hobbycraft.

Can you tell I'm in Autumn mode and going through a brown and orange stage ?!

Very quiet round here...Holly and I went for a walk down to the lakes this afternoon where I managed to trip over in a rabbit hole! Daft thing about it was that I was just remembering Anna doing the very same thing in the summer when we went down there ,when over I went !

Not much planned for this week...lots of scrapping to catch up on and on Wednesday Anna is popping over :)

Party on...!!

Oh yes...we have a mid week sketch go live for you tonight :)

Our wonderful guest is the gorgeous Annette :) I actually made a mini book last night (even Anna was shocked !!) and have done these two pages to the sketch.I am going to fill the rest of it with other pictures and 'rituals' from our autumn walks and outings! This is my fave season and this little book will be a perfect way to save some my memories :) And it's a good way of using my Mellow Basic Grey scraps left from my Autumn Fun layout.

This evening we have been to another senior school open evening with Em. Saw lots of people we recognised...these evenings seem to kick up an awful lot of memories!

The weather report says we will have sunshine for the next two days...which makes me feel very happy! You just can't beat a bright crisp autumn day!

Gotta go, have a date with Channel 4!!

Paaaaarty!!!

Yep, we at Pencil Lines are celebrating our first birthday ! :)Which means I can proudly say that I have done at least 50 layouts this past year (I missed a couple of weeks somewhere along the line!),something I am quite gobsmacked at and proud of! Considering it used to take me about two weeks to do one layout when I first strated scrapping it's a major achievement!
Anyway, back to the celebrations! We had a new sketch go live last night provided by our very own Anna :)I made mine as a single layout.

I used
Basic Grey Mellow papers
Angel Kiss flowers
Bazzill spotty brads
Hobbycraft ribbon
Scenic Route chipborad
Prima Birdie
Penny Black Liquorice alpha stamps
Making Memories stamp
wooden buttons from a stall at Ally pally
Doodlebug paper frill,inked brown
Love Elsie border stamp
Photos of Holly were all taken on Sunday, at the Lakes and while we were conker collecting.I absolutely love these papers and am going to have to get some more!
We have lots of goodies to give away this month so keep checking in!