Me time :)

Yesterday afternoon with Holly out all day and Em amusing her self and talking music with Geoff, I made the most of some daylight scrapping time :) I very rarely scrap during the day,I always feel a bit guilty when there is other stuff needs doing like ironing and housework!So this is the result :)

I've been wanting to use these papers for ages so I'm glad I finally did.The Lo was inspired by this one a I saw while back by the amazingly talented Karola.(note ,I said 'inspired by', I'm well aware that it's not a patch on hers!)Though it wasn't til I went off in search of a link to it that I realised I'd used a similar title too!
I used Pink Paislee papers, Pink Paislee chipboard & stickers,Doodlebug alphas, AC puffy thickers and Kaisercraft pearls.
This morning we went to the cinema and it's really time I remembered to take tissues with me! We went to see Where The Wild Things Are and even Holly was crying at the end!
Tomorrow sees us back in the school routine with some miserable weather forecast too :( I have a bit of housework to catch up on before I carry on with the holiday planning :)

I've got mine :)

Have you got yours yet? I'm talking about the Pencil Lines book :) You cannot imagine how happy I am that I was part of this :) The more I look through,it the more I love it :)

So, half term is almost over and I feel like I've hardly seen the kids properly:( I suppose it's to be expected as they're both growing up and spending more time with their friends but I've missed not doing much with them this week :( Tomorrow Em is off to the cinema in the morning with friends whilst Holly is out all day at Brownie meet up...see what I mean?!I think Sunday will be a day for doing nothing!
This afternoon Holly and I decided to go for a walk for some fesh air, and to give my camera a bit of trip out (though sods law that the girls flattened the batteries in it yesterday!)Once home ,Holly set about doing a bit scrapping :)

Having promised myself I'd 'do' something last week,I spent the weekend making the final 2010 Paper Mill calendar I had to do .(Yes, I know it's now Feb but the original had September missing so I couldn't use it!)Which was a good thing as it got me rummaging through lots of paper again :),and made me feel like doing a layout.I used this photo as I had it already printed out and I'm almost out of ink (sods law!).I used the lovely Kaisercraft papers from Anna's January crop kit.I am very bad at not using my kits so she'll very proud of me!The cute wooden star is actually a cake decoration (it was on a little wooden stick!) and the letters are my new love Doodlebug stickers.I have got through loads of their Loopy Love stickers but these ones are fab too, plus you get lots on a sheet :) Doh, I've just realised that I forgot to add on a date tag somewhere so I'll have to do that later!
Half term has started off pretty drearily with rain, grey clouds and more snow yesterday...I feel like I'm in desperate need of of some fresh air and sunshine!
We are on guines pig patrol this week for our neighbours, though they are staying at their 'own home' and we are just going over to feed them :)Though with the dark evenings I'm thinking it may have been easier to have them here!Lesson learnt :)
Anna has now taken delivery of the Pencil Lines book -woohoo! I think very few people will appreciate the blood ,sweat and (lots) of tears that have gone into getting this book published ,and I am so proud of her for persevering and realising her dream :) Okay, gush fest over ! I'm sure I will have a photo to share of the girls holding the book soon as they can't wait to see it :)

Whoops

I did mean to blog sooner but...life seems pretty un- interesting at the moment :( I have been getting into the whole holiday 'planning' thing (much to Anna's horror ;))and spending ages researching stuff,only to stay awake at night with so much whizzing round my head...cue one grumpy and tired me!
Scrapping is still non-existent, though I'm going make myself do something this weekend!Yeah right...;)
Last week I was lucky enough to get lots of flowers, all as thank you presents :) I have managed to keep the beautiful orchid alive so far, and how beautiful are those cream tulips? (which sadly have just about died now :( )


Earlier this week Holly has Australia Day at school.'Warm' costumes weren't exactly practical as it was freezing! Holly went doing a bbq,complete with plate of plastic food and tongs :) Not forgetting the huge koala bear she took too!

I am really looking forward to half term next week, no packed lunches to make :)!
And fingers crossed the Pencil Lines books will be with Anna very soon and I will have a copy in my hot little hands!
I will try and update again soon...but don't hold your breath!

Badly written blog!

Or just not written at all!!

And as I haven't written it for so long, I'm having trouble remembering what I've done!

I have lots whizzing round my head, mainly holiday planning :) This time last week I was filling in the passport forms,and today these arrived through the letterbox.

Now I would love to show you our photos ,but we look like a scary ASBO family so Idon't think I'll bother!

Our weekend was a busy one,Saturday morning we went to Thurrock to do a bit of shopping for 'warm weather' clothes! I know it may seem a bit early ,but we needed to go to a decent Primark and the Thurrock one is the nicest near here! Really pleased that I got us some bargain Crocs too, Mary Janes for Holly & Em and Caymans for me for a total of £29 :) That's one thing I can cross off my list then :)

Saturday afternoon Holly had a birthday party at the sports stadium doing fun rings, which is basically going down the ski slope on a huge inflatable ring! Then on Sunday afternoon we went to see the Bowkis family :) Em rocked out on Guitar Hero with Peter ,and I'm not quite sure what Holly and Izzy were up to!

Today has been back to the mundane, lots of hoovering,dusting and ironing...roll on next weekend! I have no crafty 'makes' to share,I'll need to scrap again soon before I forget how!

Felty things:)

For yesterdays crop,in an attempt to not take quite so much paper with me, I took a big bag of felt :) I put to use Anna's lovely new Hello Kitty die (hmm,wonder who sent her the link to that then?!) and made two of these Hello Kitty pencil cases for the girls.


I had to have a quick lesson from Kerry on how to do blanket stitch first though :) They still need buttons putting on, and I'll be the first to admit that are pretty basic! But it was nice to do omething a bit different :) I also attempted some felt flowers, but I think I need to practice them a bit more!

I also made this, finally using a board with a strut on it that Anna brought me back from Barcelona a couple of years back.You can basically use the back of any old photo frames as the base for a layout :)


I have been meaning to use it for ages and thought it would be perfect for using some of Anna's scrunched up flowers on :)I used Scenic Route Sonoma papers.I'm a bit sad that there will be no more papers from them as they're one of my favourite companies, I could use their papers over and over again (and I do!)

Ready for the weekend :)

I have to admit that these days I really look forward to the weekends and the possibility of a lie-in! Maybe it's the rotten dark weather we're having,but most mornings I would rather stay under my duvet :) No chance of a lie in on Sunday though as I need to be up bright and early to go cropping :)I still need to sort out some stuff but I am hoping to be a little bit more organised and not take half the house,simply because it's too heavy to take on the train!
Earlier in the week I did this layout,which I have to admit I love :) The photo was taken by Anna ,back in April last year.I know it's nothing special but it was nice to do layout because I wanted too :) When searching for something the other day (which I didn't find!),I had a rather big reminder of how much unused 'old' stash I have.I went mad buying Ki Memories embellishments when I first started scrapping.And I still have loads of them ! So in an effort to 'use it up' I made a point of using a couple of bits on this layout, the bookplate and the 'memories' tile.Hopefully now I've remembered I've got them I'll use a few more!I also need to remember to hunt through my chipboard more often as I tend to forget the alphabets in there and just reach for the Thickers or Doodlebug stickers.
On Tuesday Anna came over and we did a little bit of retail therapy in Dunhelms and Hobbycraft,just for essentials though you understand ;) We were pretty disappointed with Hobbycraft ,not that I ever spend loads in there, so we came out pretty much empty handed.Before going out , we had a go on Wii Just Dance and knackered ourselves! Two 40 somethings dancing to Hot 'n'Cold by Katy Perry is probably not the prettiest sight you'll ever see!

Almost a heatwave!

Today has been a much needed day of sunshine and blue skies, I even managed to hang the washing out in the garden! And although it isn't really that warm, after being so cold for so long it feels really warm!

We went for a walk down at the lakes this morning ,to get some fresh air, as Em seems to spend most of her weekend holed up in her roon doing homework! Although the snow is all gone, most of the large lake is till frozen over.

I have managed to finish a LO last night :) Very simple ,but I just couldn't think what else to addd to it, as it wasn't really a photo that needed flowers or bling! I'm not even sure of the title,\i just wanted it finished or it would have sat around for ages!

Anyway, it is basically to tell the story of how I finally own the full set of Friends DVDs,after several years of not being able to justify paying out for them :) Which reminds me that I can now get rid of the seven series that I have on video which are sat out in the shed!Anybody want them?!

I used Cosmo Cricket and Jilly Bean Soup papers, I'm rather keen on spotty paper at the moment:)

This week I need to put together some bits & pieces to do at the crop on Sunday :) Not necessarily scrapping, I think I may be making a couple of felt 'things' :)On Tuesday I'm seeing Anna,we seem to have done our usual thing of not seeing each other for ages and then twice in one week! I'm looking forward to a gossip and a hot chocolate (and maybe a trip to Hobbycraft ;) )

Priceless....

I popped into my mum & dad's today to borrow something that my Dad had to go down to the shed for.When I looked in the bag (which was a fairly new one) there was a tatty little book in the bottom of it, which turned out to be a very old 'Brownie Ventures' book of mine! I can only assume it was in the shed for some strange reason! Mum thought it was my sisters but looking at the name of my 'six' I could still remember all their surnames :) Anyway, what I found inside the book made my day...

Look at that...I made a Scrap book (And I think the other 'object' might be an apron?!) ,probably in about 1977!

And this page makes me giggle,I gave myself two ticks for getting up in the morning with a smile!!

I am so glad I found this,I'll put it with my Brownie certificate and add it to my list of things to scrap :)

So, what's been happening since Monday....

Mum's tests at the hospital showed that she didn't need any further treatment at the moment,which was fab, thank you for the well wishes for her ,I really appreciated them :)

The trip to London didn't happen :( (long story!) ,but should happen sometime in the future, fingers crossed!

And I think that's about it...most of the snow is now gone, but we're still left with loads of slush and ice on the pavements...not nice :( It would be nice to step out of the door without having to wear my wellies and without having back ache from walking weirdly so as not to fall over!

This evening I started a LO (thud) though without having a deadline for it, it could be a while before I actually finish it so don't hold your breath!

It's a start...

So despite treating myself to some very nice stash in the sales ,I still haven't actually done much scrapping :( Last night I was in the mood, printed a photo, only to realise that I'd already used up the paper I was planning to use - typical! So I ended up finishing off a Lo that had been sitting around since the last crop I went to in ..erm...October...ooops! I made it using some photos I already printed and Anna's crop kit.Apologies for the awful photo, it's so dark at the moment, even in the day time!


The snow is still here, though it seems to be melting a little bit,very slowly and we had a few more light flurrys this afternoon.The snowman's head is just about clinging on for dear life in the back garden!
But how cool are the icicles on this tree/bush thingy? Not the best photo as I was on the other side of the road but better than nothing!

Tomorrow both girls are back in school, normal times ,which makes life a bit more normal again!I seem to lost all sense of routine the past few weeks!
This week sees my Mum go into hospital for a heart treatment so am a little bit apprehensive about that,but there is a chance she could be in and out in a day,fingers crossed.
Then on Tuesday I am going to see Legally Blonde,the musical in London -woohoo!Never seen the film,but I just love the excitement of going out to London for the evening :) (Can you tell I don't go out much?!)

A few more...

..as it doesn't look like it'll be going anytime soon!




Both girls were off school again today.And tomorrow,Em is home but Holly is in...what a pain in the bum! It'd be a lot easier if they were both in or both off!
It has been really cold today ,much colder than when it was snowing yesterday!Shouldn't complain though, it makes a change to get actually get snow in the winter, rather than daft times like Easter and Halloween!

We had some more :)

So having originally been forecast snow all day yesterday, it eventually started lightly at about 7pm.And then carried on during the night...and chucked it down during today as well :)Everything looks so much prettier covered in snow :) AS usual I took my camera out with me as who knows, we may not get any snow again for a few years!








I have lots more photos, but they might upset Anna ,as she seems to live in the land of little snow!
Holly and her friends made some fab huge snowmen at the lakes as well as doing a lot of sledging :) They both have another day off school tomorrow too, though it is supposed to be bright & sunny though very cold,perfect for taking photos ;)Thank goodness I have some Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly on it's way to me !

Happy (belated!) 2010!

Yes,I know I'm a bit late,but better late than never :) Our New Year was a very quiet one.Sadly we didn't go to to the Bowkis bash this year,as we knew the kids wouldn't last til midnight! They proved us right and I had to shake them awake to come and watch the fireworks at midnight!
We have been done a little bit of sale shopping,just little bits & pieces plus boring things like sheets & pillows!:) The girls got some Hello Kitty bargains in John Lewis ,plus half price HK calendars from Clintons.And today I got some very cute wooden star cake decorations which will end up on a LO somewhere!I have also stocked up on some scrapping stuff, namely white alphabets as I am all out of white S's!!And some bling and flowers fell into my basket too :) I also managed to bag a set of Heidi Swapp months of the year stamps from A Trip Down Memory Lane in their sale, which I'm planning on using in some kind of yearbook this year :)
All the decs have now been taken down.It always looks a bit bare afterwards, but the Rockband drums have taken the place of the tree in the window!Maybe I could drape some tinsel round them?!
Huge excitement here as we have finally booked our Florida flights -yipee! We have lots of planning and list making to do in the near future :)
Feels very weird having no Pencil Lines LO to share this week! But I have lots of LO ideas whizzing round my head at the moment, so hopefully I'll get something done soon :)
As today was the girls last day before going back to school, we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate :)And this afternoon I draggged them out to the lakes for a walk and to give my camera an airing :)
Every where was covered in thick frost this morning,and not much thawed during the day.We are forecast more snow for tomorrow - yipee :)

And it's all over...

Christmas, that is! We had a quiet one,(busy-ness wise, not volume wise!!) with my mum & dad here for Christmas lunch, and then going to my mum & dad's on Boxing Day. Father Christmas was very generous and the girls loved their presents :)Lots of New Monn /Twilight stuff for Em and lots of Gogos and Hello Kitty stuff for Holly :) They were also lucky enough to get Rockband with the Beatles software from their other Nan & Grandy, so it's been a bit noisy round here! Em also got the Just Dance game which is great :)This present from Anna got an extra loud scream though ;)

This Sunday was my last official week at Pencil Lines.I'm sure I will be back now & again in the future :) Keep your eye on the blog for the announcement of the new DT.

This is my Lo, photographed very badly as the light was so bad :( Very simple, using Prima E Line flowers,Basic Grey brads and a mix of American Crafts and Doodlebug letters.

And as I have no idea how long it will be before I have any scrapping to share, I thought I'd be a bit self indulgent and share a couple of my faves from the last three years :)

Happy Christmas :)

Hope you have a good one :)
We have spent the day walking like penguins to avoid slipping on the ice we have every where!
We made it safely to the Christingle service though.Once home we delivered presents and cards before the girls sat and laughed their heads off at the panto on TV!
Snacks and letters have been left out for Father Christmas and we are now off to bed before anybody decides to wake up again!

One more day...

and I can't wait, I need a rest!
Sadly we may not get the much longed for white christmas, as it's currently raining and everything is turning very slushy :(
Anyway, while everything was still looking lovely, I took my camera everywhere :)









I still have a pile of wrapping to do, but the main part is done. I went to start on the final calendar I have to make this evening...only to discover there is no September page!!So now I am presentless for someone as there seems no point in doing it if I can exchange it for a complete one.
Yesterday Anna braved the weather and came over for for a pre-Christmas meet up :).We were treated to (yet another) show from the girls,ate cookies and rocky road and had crackers :) Sadly, I forgot about the hot chocolate sitting in the cupboard!

My eyes are closing so I am off to bed...I'm hoping for a lie in on Christmas Day!

Loving it :)

So the snow did settle, froze and then we had a load more last night :) so it's still looking gorgeous here.Keeping my fingers crossed some of the snow might last til the end of the week and Christmas Day as that would be just fab :)
Both schools were shut on Friday so once we were back home, we went down the lakes for some sledging fun.We are so lucky living almost next door to such a fab place :)By the time we got there it wasn't really that busy.We went back again yesterday afternoon as well as going for a walk round the lakes :)It was so cold though,and we went home with our feet totally frozen!

This is my Pencil Lines Lo for this week, probably my last 'official' one ,as I don't think I'm going to make it next week :
I used October Afternoon Very Merry papers (yum!) & stickers
May Arts ribbon
Heidi swapp bling circle
Pink Paislee letter stickers
Chatterbox felt heart
Tim Holtz tag


This week ...tomorrow we are doing some tidying up and some cooking :), Tuesday we are off to see Father Christmas and hopefully seeing Anna & the girls:) and Christmas Eve we will be going to the Christingle service.I also still need to make two calendars...so we're busy busy busy :)

White Christmas?!

So, outside it currently looks like this!
We've had weird weather all day, rain,sleet,snow and hail,with some blue skies and sunshine mixed in too.The snow started at about 8pm and is still coming down.Trouble is, it's also blowing a gale so it's like a blizzard out there!School finishes tomorrow, and I'm guessing if it carries on like this they'll probably close anyway!

The Birthday girl

Today I went to visit the Birthday Girl from yesterday :) Yes, Mrs Bowkis has finally caught up with us and had her big '40' :) Now I know she wasn't looking forward to it hence why I didn't do a blog post post about it before now.
Anyway, my pressies have now been delivered ,and although they made her both laugh and cry ,I think they were liked!I forgot to take photos first but hopefully Anna has come to share :)
It has been flippin' freezing here today and I have my fingers crossed that we will actually get the snow that we're forcast for tomorrow :)
Right I am off to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep, feel like I am running on empty at the moment!

Ooops!!

Yep, long time no blog...yet again! So I thought I'd better do a catch up just so that I can remind myself what's been going on!

Last weekend we went to the Christmas Tree festival in town,mailnly to see the tree Holly had helped decorate at Brownies.And also because we always go, I remember going when Holly was about a week old and wearing her very cute cow print fleecy body suit:)These days it's a lot easier without the big bulky pram!

Holly's school show took place last week for two evenings.After a few tears and lots of nerves ,she was fine (and she only one line!) The whole school then went to a pantomime the following day :)

Em has been busy with rehearsals for her house drama play,though we don't get to go and see it yet :( She also did a work shadowing day at the local hairdressers last week.Not sure that she is planning on being a hairdresser in future but trying to find her a work placement was a bit of a nightmare due to insurance !

I am all done on the Christmas shopping front - woohoo! Just need to sort everything out and get wrapping :) I also need to wrap pressies for a certain person's 'big' birthday tomorrow :) I am off to Anna's on Tuesday afternoon to deliver her birthday card and maybe a couple of other things...!

This weekend we have just hung around at home.I ventured out yesterday for the last few presents and this morning we went to Stevenage for a couple of bits & pieces.I came home with something that I have been longing for for ages.It's one of those things that you don't need, you just 'want', so perfect as a Christmas present :)

Our decs are all up and it's looking lovely and cosy in here :) I just need to put some more lights outside :)

This is my Pencil Lines LO this week, using the sponsorship from Kaisercraft :) It hasn't photographed that well, but my usual photo-taking spot is taken up by the Christmas tree at the moment!

All products are from the Kaisercraft Lilac Grove range.I used two old photos of the girls which are Geoff's favourites, hence the title :)

Right ,I am off to bed, very thankful that it's the last week of school for the girls !