Meet Bubbles..

...this is Bubbles , my new paper puppy as made by Holly yesterday! Bless her ,she spent ages yesterday sticking and gluing and made us all our very own paper dog!Her imagination and some of the things she comes up with never fail to amaze me...or make me smile!
Here is my Pencil Lines layout for this week...which I did like until I saw everyone else's stunners! Oh well!

I used
Scenic Route background paper
Heidi Swapp bling
Love Elsie ribbon
Creative Cafe scalloped velvet ribbon
Bazzill spotty brad
American Crafts Daquiri Thickers
Scenic Route papers

I have a couple of tags to do thanks to Sandie, Lyzzy and Beth so I will try and get them done tomorrow as I have a thumping head at the mo (See Anna, I am trying to cut down on my Diet Coke and look what happens,my head hurts!;) )
Half term is fast approaching and hopefully I have enough planned to keep the girls occupied! So far we have planned a visit from Anna and her girls,a trip to the zoo (weather permitting),a street party to celebrate new trees being planted plus a couple of mornings at Nan & Grandads - phew!
Right, I am off to rest my head!

Still here!

Haven't been snowed in or blown away...I just kind of forgot to blog! Not that much interesting has been going on anyway!

Yesterday was one of those days the mums at school dread...dressing up ,this time for National Reading Day.The kids were given guidelines that they should dress as characters from traditional fairy tales ,nursey rhymes,myths & legends or stories passsed down by generations...hmm, since when Spiderman became any those I really don't know ,but there were plenty there! Em's was a last minute choice after I deemed most her of her ideas as pretty unsuitable for the weather at this time of year! She settled on the witch from Sleeping Beauty...and dressed in black! Holly was slightly easier after a friend lent her a red cape and she went as Little Red Riding Hood,complete with basket of plastic cakes. Apparently they have to dress up again in about a month for World Book Day...I guess I'd better start thinking up ideas now :) Holly likes the idea of Lola..so I'll be on the look out for Lola style pinafores!

Today we went for walk over to the library followed by a visit to Costa Coffee for hot chocolate :) The weather has been lovely, bright and crisp but with no sign of snow...:( Whilst the girls ate lunch I finished off my Pencil Lines layout for tomorrow .I wasn't sure about it when I started it last night but it's grown on me now it's finished :) I'll leave you with a little peak (mainly because I have nothing else to show you!)

A Little Bit of Loveland...

...yes, my adoration of Scenic Route continues with Loveland!

This is the layout I did at the crop yesterday ,featuring Holly wearing her two favourite Christmas presents- her Minnie Mouse ears and the pink jumper from Izzy & Lilly :)

The black background is the table runner as mentioned in yesterday's post - thanks again Louise! And thanks to Kerry too for the title help! See, I am no good at this lark...I have to get other people to help me! The close up shows the Heidi Swapp giant ghost heart which doesn't show up much in the big photo.I didn't realise when I ordered these that you get an 'outline' as well as the solid heart,fab added bonus! Papers are Scenic Route and Making Memories Noteworthy,and I added a pile of Angel Kiss blooms,various brads and Scenic Route letter stickers for the title.I did sit and push a couple of other photos around on various bits of paper yesterday but they haven't materialised into layouts yet!

Sandie, I haven't forgotten your tag, will try and do it tomorrow!

Been cropping....

...twice!!And I still didn't get much done! Am coming to the conclusion that I am rubbish at crops ! I can't take the whole house as I travel by train to Anna's so I end up half doing things because I 'know I have something at home' that will go with it! Every time I tell myself that next time I will go prepared and organised..I never quite manage it! It was lovely to see everyone though and huge huge thanks to Louise for that gorgeous table runner! And guess who forgot the memory card for her camera ...again !! So if she forgets to credit me, the photos of Anna's Pencil Lines layout this week were taken by me ;)!! On Friday I went cropping with Lyzzy & co, and mananged to do my Pencil Lines layout...and spend money in the shop!


Talking of Pencil Lines, new sketch is now live! And a very rare occurence, I actually did a double layout...only the second one I've ever done I think!

I used the Scrapping Angels January kit plus Autumn leaves Journalling stamps,Queen & Co stamps, AC Thickers and Heidi Swapp bling and photos of the big snowfall we had last year.
I am off to unpack my scrapping bags!

Ta Da!

Woohoo, I scrapped! And not only that ...I scrapped without a sketch and manged to cram 10 photos onto one layout :) I feel much better now...I've seem to have got so used to using a sketch that I find it difficult trying to scrap without one! Anyway, this is a layout I have been meaning to do for ages ,before I forgot the whole 'feeling' of the day. Once I had all the photos down, the journalling came quite easily...something else that hasn't happened in a while! I am really pleased with how it turned out...I wasn't keen halfway through doing it but by the end I was more than happy! So this is my little tribute to Anna and her amazing race last September...

Click on the picture to see it bigger!

Just mooching...

Yep, we have spent the weekend just mooching about due to the rubbish weather here at the moment!
I was treated to my breakfast in bed by the girls this morning though as Geoff had gone into work!Em also decided that she was going to 'do everything around the house' today...she did do her and Holly's tea anyway!
Holly was hoping to go for a walk down to the lakes this afternoon 'to walk in the mud' but it was raining again by then so we gave it a miss! Probably just as well as I'm sure one of us would have ended up on our bottoms in it!So instead the girls did some painting whist I waded through the ironing! And I suddenly realised how they are growing up too fast...Holly used to churn out loads of 'big handed' people paintings...today she did just two paintings ,but took ages over all the little details on them.But at least I didn't have to spread them all over the floor waiting for them to dry out!
Pencil Lines is live with a new sketch! Our GDT this week is Sasha who is an amazing scrapper and a regular contributor to the readers gallery:)
I had a set idea in my head of what I was going to scrap this week, but all the photos turned out pants so I had to change ideas yet again!I still plan on doing my original idea at some point,just need for wait for better weather !

So I used
Scenic Route papers (yet again!)
American Crafts felt Thickers
Doodlebug Simply Sweet & Loopy Lou stickers
Heidi Swapp block alpha stickers
Angel Kiss blooms
Bazzill/Imaginesce rub-on
The photos are of Holly last year during one of our many trips to the small park near us :)

Huge thanks to Annie for the little package of scrapping goodness that arrived on Saturday - thanks hun!
I have just ages resizing and printing lots of photos for a layout so hopefully I will be scrapping tomorrow night!At last we have sussed out how to print different size photos out at the same time on one sheet of paper!

bang bang thud

Yes, that would be the sound of me hitting my head against a brick wall whilst trying to get the council to sort out the never-ending problem of my garden shed.I am sick of nothing being done unless I ring up and chase them and now just as it was getting close to being sorted we have gone three steps back again.Yes, I know there are worse things going on in the world but I am still allowed to get annoyed about it. Thank you and good night.

Make your own sunshine....

This is the sight that greeted me this morning when I came downstairs,Holly 'sunbathing' under the 'parasols' with Mickey...love her imagination.And I love her Charlie & Lola pyjamas :) She makes me smile on miserable rainy days like today !
And it's just as well I'm not superstitious about umbrellas being open indoors isn't it?!

Cool feet....

Are these cool wellies or what?!These are Holly's new boots...a snip at £3! Yes Lyzzy, we do still need wellies...what do you mean summer is round the corner, have you seen the weather forecast for this week?!
The trip to the Orthodontist went well and Em is brace free for the next four months so that they can see if there is any movement - she is one happy girl!
Other than that, not much to report here!

Oh...my...ears!!

So this afternoon Geoff discovered an 'on demand' karaoke channel on the TV....ouch!! Now I love my children to bits, but they really don't have the best voices sometimes! Anyway, much wailing and dancing followed this discovery...so I took myself off into the kitchen to prepare the roast for tea and start on a CJ!!

Bit of a quiet day here...I'm sure I won't sleep tonight as I've not even stepped out of the door today! I still seem to be lacking any get up & go...I'm not ill...just feel ..flat for want of another word!I think I just need some sunshine...shame there doesn't seem to be any on the horizon!

Tomorrow I have to take Em for an Orthodontist check up to see how her brace is getting on,and whilst over there I need to go wellie shopping or Holly!

Let's have another go at showing my layouts...!! There's no point in showing the sneak of my Pencil Lines as it's now live! The layout was done using a sponsored kit from Fresh Pages...so I have a good reason for using Scenice Route again this week - I had to!The photos are of Holly a couple years agao after she'd been told off (I have no idea what for!).I love them because she has her'summer hair' - it dries really wavy when she gets it wet in the paddling pool!

It's the weekend!

Well, okay it's almost halfway through now as I'm posting this so late!
I have been so bored this week and grumpy,it was nice not to have to do the schoool/work routine today.And the added bonus was that it didn't rain...well not while it was daylight anyway!
Today we went out for a walk to the lakes...lets just say it was ....muddy! Luckily no-one slipped over but I'm pretty sure one of Holly's wellies has a hole in it somewhere...
We've almost spent a bit of time of the Wii :) The girls (well Holly mainly, she adores this game!) have unlocked all the extras (Ithink!) on the Olympics game so we have been doing a bit of skydiving along with some dream fencing!
Yesterday when the sun made another brief appearance I scrapped...I forced myself! *no photo as Blogger won't let me upload !*I always take ages finding photos so I just pulled out one from some spares I had printed out at Christmas.I used Scenic Route Loveland papers...I am so in love with Scenic Route at the moment (does it show?!) and end up buying mot of them twice so I can use both sides! The only other thing I used was some pink Heidi Swapp bling.I couldn't think of a title but I like it without one.And if I do think of one,there's still plenty of space!
I also got my pencil Lines layout done last night too :)
This morning I picked up two CJ's from the PO depot.They are both absolutely gorgeous so I hope I do them justice!

Still here..

..but not much to share!

Today I went over to Anna's ,alas not to play today but to work instead.We got the January kits packed up(helped by Lilly!) and rather nice they are too :) I have some ideas whizzing round my head as to what to do with it .Which is good as the last week or so I have had trouble scrapping.I just can't and I don't know why! Also sorted out some of the retreat admin and the next kit too - which is very nice :)

The girls are now back at school but Geoff has been home off sick the last few days so normality has not quite returned yet!

Hmm, so no scrapping to share I'm afraid so I'll share a pic of Anna's kit!

Almost over...

Yep, the girls have one more day of their holidays left before they go back to school on Tuesday.Whilst I will miss them, I'm also itching to get on with some serious sorting out around here! The Christmas decs were all taken down and put away today (yes, I know we are a day late but we were otherwise engaged yesterday!)so whilst I am so glad to have daylight back in here again it does look a bit bare and empty....
So yesterday...hmm...what did we do? Oh yes..went to the Bowkis's...:)Poor Anna apparently had lots of kitchen disasters before we arrived,not that you'd know though by the most edible chocolate cake,sauce-to-die for and strawberries she dished up!If that's what she calls an accident Lord knows what she'd call my baking attempts!We sang tunelessly along to High School Musical on the Wii (yes, even me & Anna...I think we probably curdled a few pints of milk;) !! We knackered ourselves at the Olympics and yes, the Deacons narrowly beat the Bowkis clan at tennis...don't you love the Wii?!At one point the kids went upstairs leaving just the adults fiercely competing against each other...do you think they got bored?! Anyway, with so much excitement I kind of forgot to use the camera (plus the men complained that Anna's flash was putting them of their stride whilst they were Wii-ing it!)We had such a good time but sadly we had to come home...cannot wait til the next time!Thank you so much for having us!
So today has been spent tidying up the final traces of Christmas etc and Geoff doing some nifty improvemants in the kitchen :)

Pencil Lines has gone live with a new sketch (well, it's Sunday!)If you like multi photo layouts go and check out this weeks GDT!
Here's mine :)
I used
Creative Imaginations paper
Rhonna Farrer swirl stamps
Doodlebug sugar coated chipboard alphas
Doodlebug Simply Sweet alpha stickers

I need to catch up !!

On everything!

Thank you for the comments about 365 journal :) Sadly I haven't got any further and it's still lacking a title! I am keeping up with making my notes though and will start filling the journal in next week once the girls are back in school.The fab thing about this is that you can do as much or as little as you want :) I doubt I will do a layout every week but I am hoping to put photos in the journal along with my notes.Todays prompt is about a normal day...well my normal day consists of lots of Diet Coke and at some point a phone call to Anna!So photos will addded of a can and the phone! It did make me think though...a normal day is full of routine,which I admit I get bored with.But then we have the holidays, after a while I start to miss that routine ,and the guarantee of two walks in the fresh air doing the school run.So maybe I should maon less about the routine days?!

Tomorrow we are off to the Bowkis residence to be wined and dined by the Domestic Goddess herself ;) I have a list of 'to take's which includes Mario & Sonic at the Olympics and a rather gorgeous red metal cake stand...I'm sure Anna will post pics once she has assembled it (which she will probably do five minutes after we walk through the door!)

No new photos to share I'm afraid as the weather is just so dark here the last couple of days, so I'll share one of Holly using her Golden Coin maker last weekend (a much wanted Christmas present!)

So after feeling a bit down and grumpy yesterday today has been a bit better :) I must admit that the kids were driving me slightly mad this morning so I shut myself in the kitchen and did some ironing.They got to make as much noise as they wanted for half an hour and I came out of the kitchen much calmer so peace all round!

This afternoon we met the lovely Lyzzy and Beth for hot chocolate at Costas.As Beth had Christmas money burning a hole in her pocket we also took a trip to Toys R Us and Dunelm Mill, which saw both Lyzzy and I buying new duvets!

I also got a book to start my 365/366 journal in.I have decided I definitely won't be doing it as self portraits.If I try and look serious in the photos I end up looking gormless and if I smile I look false! So I give up! This evening I've made a start decorating the book,though it's not finished and I'm not sure about it.I haven't even dared to look at what everyone else has done with theirs yet,which would probably make me condemn mine to the bin!

It's getting colder and colder here and the girls are hoping for snow tomorrow.We're forecast light snow so I've warned them not to get their hopes up.Wouldn't it be fab though?!

Happy New Year!

Now,if I'm honest, I don't really get that excited about New Year...today doesn't feel any different from yesterday!
But I will admit to setting myself a few goals for this year, which I won't bore you with!I've also decided to have stab at Ann's 365 day challenge.I'm not doing it the self portrait way - I hate photos of me and am rubbish at taking them!I don't have my book yet either , so today I have just made some notes which I will keep safely somewhere!
Last night and today I have done something quite refreshing...I read a book! I used to read quite a lot but it's kind of fallen by the wayside in recent years.Then last night I was fed up of watching the film Geoff had put on and remembered a book a friend had lent me a few weeks back.I started last night and finished it this evening,all 410 pages! Incase you're wondering, yes, I am a fast reader and no I haven't had my bum glued to the couch all day!
Tomorrow we are meeeting Lyzzy & Beth in town for a hot chocolate , before the diets kick in for this year!
Oh , and out of curiosity....I've had loads of hits on my blog today....anyone know why and want to enlighten me?! (And no, Lyzzy, I don't want to hear your theories!)
No new photos from today so I'll share this one of Holly from Boxing Day, wearing her favourite present on her head!

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!