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!