week 12, up, down and all over the place!

Up , down and all over the place is how we have all felt the past few days....
After resigning herself to not going away, Em picked up and we decided to drive her up to York ourselves yesterday to join the school trip.Except that she was ill again early yesterday morning so all plans were cancelled again..... We are now hoping to take a short break up there in May , just need to check that the girls are okay to miss school that week.Have a horrible feeling it will be the week school assessments are being done so keep your fingers crossed for us! Cannot believe that the Dr's wanted to charge me £11.50 for a sick note for Em though...!
Yesterday we had glorious weather and Em picked up again after spending some time out in the garden.She is home today and currently snuggled up on the sofa watching various DVD's!
So whilst she was comfy I sneaked into the kitchen to get my card for Emily's prompt this week done! Love that I can get this done quickly as they are so small!
So here's mine for this week.I had touble trying to think of something I believe in , to be honest...and I made a point of not looking at anyone else's card so that I wasn't influenced! I ended up with 'I believe...that to have true friends, you first have to be one'. I am enough lucky to have some very good friends who there for me when I am down , who listen to me when I moan and are happy for me when I'm cheerful.I think you know who you are...:)
I used
Hedi Swapp tape
Lil Davis chipboard I
Ki Memories Gel Candy flower
Stamps Away letter stamps, written over in permanent pen as my stamp pad is rubbish!

Right, am now off to check out everyone else's cards!

Gutted...

...for this little lady tonight :( Since last September Em has been looking forward to her school trip to York which starts tomorrow. However, having been ill (both ends, sorry TMI!!) over the weekend she was sick again this evening ...which means she will be staying home.She is being so brave....one big sobbing session so far.I am so sad for her as she was so excited about all the stuff they are doing.Last year was her first trip away and she really wasn't keen, it was all outdoor stuff.This year it's all historic places which she loves...sods law I guess....
I think the only person slightly relieved is Holly , bless her, as she was distraught at the fact that Em would be gone for three days!
We are hoping to maybe take them both up there for a couple of days next week to try and visit some of the places she would have gone to this week.So any suggestions of family places to stay in York would be be greatly appreciated!
Signing off now as I have to go to the school at 7am in the morning to tell then Em isn't going...

This week on Pencil Lines we have our first sponsors - how cool is that?! We had the pleasure of using products from Hambly Studios and another sketch from the fab Lu Braxton.

Here's mine for this week!

I used

Hambly Overlays

Papermania foam stamps

Queen & Co flowers

Jornalling on overlay done with a Sakura Souffle pen

Love the photo of Holly that I used...and yes, her face really was filthy! But you've got to love those long lashes!

Spent today cropping - woohoo! I ended up getting ready in a rush as Em was poorly last night, lost an hour with the clocks going forward and I was my usual disorganised self! Still had a great time ,though I am still full from the cake! Ali did some demo's for us and I now have yearnings to buy lots of new ink pads! I settled for some of her fab new flower stamps, you have to have these cuties!Will sort a pic for tomorrow. I worked on the above PL sketch and also did some bits towards a couple of layouts and a CJ entry .

I'm impatiently waiting for Emily's new prompt...I want to try and get it done earlier in the week than I normally do!

This week Em goes away on her school trip to York for three nights .We have already had several lots of tears from Holly as she will miss her, and she hasn't even gone yet! This will be the longest she has been away from home for but she is so looking forward to it!

Off to blog surf and aiming for an early night!

Late again...week 11!

I know, late in the week yet again!

This is my card from Week of Emily's prompts, this week being your initial. I was only to just write 'scrapper' but with the S being bigger, I thought it'd be read immediately as 'crapper' , hence why I wrote my name in very dodgy looking writing! I used a Heidi Swapp ghost letter , painted pink, May Arts ribbon and some Queen & Co sequin flowers.

I've done no other scrapping this week, but I'm cropping on Sunday so hopefully I'll get inpired there!

Another pic for you, of my gorgeous Dolly beads!These are from Jaq at A string Of Beads.

Right, I really don't have anything else to report, life is so boring at the moment!

Have a good weekend!

Consider my wrists slapped!!

I have been told off by Caz because I haven't posted pics of my 'naked' playing cards! So here you have them! Have no ida how messy this will all look as I am no good at jiggling pics round on here! I took a photo of them on a piece of paper, on the table (so you can see the transparency of them) and then in the light of the window!
Haven't had a chance to finish this weeks card yet, I've started work on it though!
Bit of a miracle today, I managed to lose weight again for the third week in a row! It's not huge amounts but at least it's going down and I'm happy with that!
I'm cropping this Sunday with Anna, Ali, Kerry , Kerry, Louise and Ifa - yipee! Especially as I hear Kerry is bringing cake!
Tomorrow I have to pop into town to see if I have any bank charges and if so, get them reversed by the manager !
Geoff's passport arrived today...one week after being sent off for renewal and without paying for a 'speedy' service!
No other news to share , other than I now have another Dolly bead (Mothers day pressie!) so I shall post pics of that tomorrow! Catch you soon :)

Peppermint creams and paper flowers...

As promised yesterday , here's a photo of the little box of sweets Holly made me at school for Mothers Day yesterday - so sweet!

Weird weather here today...blowing a gale, brilliant sunshine and .....snow!! It's gone so cold again I've had the heating back on today!

This afternoon we had parent Consultations for both the girls at school.They both went well (don't think they've ever had a bad word said about them! ) which was good.I had to laugh at some of Holly's spelling though, bless her.Whilst writing about her bath toy that she'd made, she described how she'd 'poo shit' in the bath...it actually should have said as 'pushed it'!! I do love her wrong spellings though, last week she spelt Tuesday as 'Choosday'...

Another pic too, this is of the paper flowers I made my Mum for Mothers day.Not bad for a first attempt!

Emily had another fab prompt this week, your initial. Hmm...don't really think sassy ,sexy or sweet apply to me so maybe I won't go down that avenue!Hope to make start on it tomorrow!

Week 24...

...I know, not a very original title but there you go......!!
So as you can see, week 24 of Pencil Lines is now live.This week our guest is the wonderful Paula Sealey.
For my layout this week I used

Ki Memories paper (from the Favourite Things Water collection)
KI Memories Alphabet Soup
Autumn Leaves tag stamp
The felt flowers are from an Easter decorative trim from John Lewis
Karen Foster gem stone brad

Hope you had a good Mothers Day.Holly made me a little box full of peppermint and orange creams at school! I'm getting a Dolly bead for my present from both girls which should hopefully be here on Tuesday :)Not much going on here, my Mum & Dad came round for lunch and Geoff was working!

As I've had a few comments about my cards for Emily's prompt, I will add some pics tomorow of them before I use them! They are clear plastic cards that I found in Borders for a bargain £1!!

week 10...

This weeks prompt from Emily was 'Note to self'.I had loads of things whizzing round my head for this one, hence doing it before catching up with the last two! I finally settled for 'Don't Give Up'.This mainly refers to my weight loss (or slowness of!), to remind myself to keep going with it.I've used a Heidi Swapp acrylic star , stamped with Stazon ink and a Stamps Away stamp and a Stamps Away journalling stamp.I also stamped the corner with pink chalk ink, but it doesn't show up that much!I liked the Joker symbols on the card so I left them uncovered .To finish, I edged the card with more Stazon ink to define the edges a bit more.
Right, off to carry on with more stuff around the house!

Finally done!

I know, I am so late with my Pencil Lines layout this week! I had to finish it though or it would have sat unfinished forever!

I've used

Fancy Pants paper (cut down to 8.5 x 11, an idea inspired by Anso!)

Junkitz 'Home' rub-on

Polar Bear press rub-ons

Stamps away letter stamps

Karen Foster gemstone brads

I used little pictures of things around the house that make this place 'home', from my shelf of girly chick flick films, the shelf that houses my Willow Tee angel and glass slipper bought in Disneyland on our honeymoon, my Austin sculpture (gutted that they no longer make these, I wanted a collection!) and the freezer covered in magnets and photos of the girls! Topped of with a photo of our street sign and the number on our door!

I haven't blogged for a couple of days as I haven't had much to share! Em is gradually getting used to her brace and takes great pride in cleaning it and taking proper care of it! We had a few tears on the day she got it but I am so proud at how she's doing now.

Seem to have spent all week running to and fro so far.I've been taking Em out of school for lunch whilst she's been adjusting to the brace so I've been doing the school walk three times a day , and hardly been at home!

Tomorrow I need to crack on with my cards for Emily's prompts and try and catch up a bit more!

Almost like summer....

The weather has been beautiful here today! The girls have spent most of the day outside , be it it washing the car, on the trampoline or riding their bikes up and down the street! We've blown up the pools and hosed them all down, the cars been washed and the shed re-arranged!Phew, not bad! And all finished off with a roast - yum!
I've had PC probs this weekend so I'm all behind on my Pencil Lines sketch for this week.Go check it out though, there's some fab work again this week!I'm hoping to have mine done for tomorrow !
So as there's been no scrapping done, todays pic is of me! I am so chuffed that Geoff managed to get a decent one! Who knows, I may even scrap it!
Tomorrow we are taking Em to have her brace fitted, keep your fingers crossed for us!She has this one for six months , before changing to one top and bottom.

Another one done!

Here's my finished 'Love' card.I painted around the edge of the card, stapled a Heidi Swapp heart on and used Stamps Away stamps and (shock horror!!) black peel off letters for the title.They were the only thing I had small enough to fit in the word 'unconditional'!!

Feels like I have walked the length and breadth of Welwyn Garden City today! I walked over to my slimming world meeting this morning and back home .Then this afternoon I walked over to the other side of town to pick up a parcel from the Post Office depot.I am all walked out!

Not much else to report I'm afraid as all I've had time for today is finishing off the card and eating my lunch!

Still playing catch up!

Still trying to catch up on Emily's prompts! I finished the shoe one today and am almost done on the 'love' prompt, so I'm getting there!This shoe one wasn't easy ! I hate my feet, they are deep, wide and as my ankles puff up, I never have them on show!I dread buying shoes or boots as I can never find any that fit properly.Hence my huge foot wardrobe consisting of...two pairs of boots, one pair of falling apart trainers, one pair of sandals...and my Crocs! I only bought them last week and have only worn them once - to a stamp fair! Which was a pretty good road test for them as I did a lot of walking! And at last - no squashed toes and no aching feet - woohoo! I still haven't been brave enough to wear them to the school run but I'm working on it!

I love the effect of these see through cards! all i did to thos one was add pink acrylic paint around both ends before doing my journalling.

Only a little bit late!

Here's my Pencil Lines layout for this week! I was a bit late this week and didn't mange to get it to Anam until this morning.
I used Fancy Pants papers
KI Memories Ice Dot
MM foam stamps, Lil'Davis stamps,Stamps away stamps and MM rub ons for the title
Heidi swapp chipboard letters & photo corner
Karen Foster gem brads
Angel kisses

I love the new Fancy Pants papers,and even better is that they are double sided so you get twice the gorgeousness!
Had a fab time at Stamperama yesterday! Met Lyzzy and Mel (missed you Caz!)I watched Anna shop for England ;)and picked up a few goodies myself!
Will update more later, just wanted to share the layout!

Quick post!

Because I really should be in bed! But as I cannot sleep I thought I'd blog surf and update on here!

Yesterday saw Holly's year 1 assembly at school ,about teddy bears.Oh my gosh, I was so proud of her! She spoke so clearly and with such a big (gappy) smile I almost cried! Em is now very proud to be a library monitor in the school library.It is the perfect vocation for her as her head is permanently in a book!Tomorrow I will try and remember to upload pics of her with her badge on, complete with her new hair cut!

Tomorrow (well, today really!) am I going to the Stamperama show in Stevenage.Looking forward to it as Clevercut will be there , as well as meeting up with Anna, Lyzzy, Caz and maybe Mel.It's so long since I've seen scrapping stash in 'the flesh' , I cannot wait!

Photo today is of a layout I did earlier in the week.I should have been doing more important stuff, but had that urge to 'create' something! I used papers from the Feb Scrapping Angels kit,along with American Crafts stickers and a Heidi Swapp 'R'!

Right I am off, but please go check out Annie's blog for some fab news!