Christmas comes early.....

I know, I know.....it’s only August but I just had to try my hand at these little gems which I have stolen from Susibee’s blog.  They are digital stamps from Pink Petticoat and although they are very quick and easy I love them but prefer Susibee’s because she could be bothered to get the sewing machine out on hers.

In other news, I had my annual (and very late) appraisal at work.  I do think they are such a waste of time, especially for someone in her 50’s who only works part-time as a Receptionist.  Stupid questions like “what are your goals and aspirations for the next three years”.  Doh!  To retire early???  Had to take Dad to hospital for his latest appointment to do with his 'prostrate' (as Mum calls it).....the tablets aren't working but he's a bit reluctant to operate on him as he's in such a fragile condition.  Looks like poor Mum will have to carry on mopping up and doing lots of washing I'm afraid!  :(  Hope I die before I get old (as the Rolling Stones once said!).

Mood Board Challenge No.7

Here is my take on this challenge............ 

Cheated a bit by the addition of just a hint of Green.........

Title actually reads 'Love This!' but you can't read the little 'love' bit.

I really enjoy these Mood Board Challenges and look forward to a new one every fortnight, keep them coming!

A little shopping trip

Spent a lovely day at Cabot Circus in Bristol with my DD, Megan.  The only trouble is that I find it very difficult to just go 'window shopping' and not spend any money and I was being very good up until we went in Harvey Nics.  We were just on our way out when I spotted the Jo Malone concession....I shouldn't have gone over to look.  It was fatal....I came away with 3 items and £178.00 poorer!!  I must say I was stunned and amazed at the different type of scents available and the different combinations that you can make.  I came away with Bay & Blackberry body creme and English Pear and Freesia Cologne.....fabulous combination.  I also treated Megan to some body creme as well (soft or what?).  And as for the packaging, well it was just way OTT but I loved it....it was a work of art.  


We stopped for a spot of lunch at a lovely oriental restaurant called Tampopo and a bottle of Tiger beer between us.  



And finally I picked up a lovely pair of earrings from a shop that Megan had recommended from her last visit....Oliver Bonas.  Lovely little shop with lots of  lovely 'different' bits and pieces.




In other news I've only managed to do one LO in the past few days as I've been busy with other things but hope to do a bit tomorrow (it being a bank holiday!!).

  This was quite a quick page and came together really well.  It's for yet another challenge on UKS  Old Stash New Stash.  Managed to get a couple of good shots of my DS, Rhys at long last.

Empty your cache.....

Well, after nearly a week of trying to post on this bloomin site I have finally got there....I emptied my cache, and hey presto!!  I sometimes wonder whether it's worth the hassle having this blog as not many people read it but hey it's for me anyway so I shall 'Keep Calm and Carry On' (God how sick to death i am of that phrase!)

Now I'm on here I can have a bit of a catch up....

I've done yet another LO this week........seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment.  Picture is of my eldest niece, Kayleigh, always was a bit of a tomboy and never one for dresses but she has changed a bit nowadays!!  

I've been to the cinema today to see Elysium staring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, which was directed by the same person who did District 9.  I was fully expecting another excellent sci-fi but was a bit disappointed with this one, the concept was good but I feel the story got lost among all the special effects.

I'm also very glad to see one of my fav progs back on tv......The Great British Bake Off.  I'm sat here watching Who Do You Think You Are now, which used to be another favorite of mine but I'm afraid I am not enjoying this series at all but will probably stick with it 'til the end just in case.  Well that's it for now, just glad I can get back to posting my witterings on Blogger.

Finally Friday....

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!!  Not that i've got anything planned but it's still nice to chillax and not worry about the alarm!

Spur of the moment haircut this afternoon 'cos my fringe was driving me mad!!  Quick visit to my lovely friend Sue who as moved into a new bungalow and is busy unpacking and trying to find a new home for everything so I didn't stay long.  Then home to do a bit of scrappin' (again!)

Seen this layout in this issue of Scrap 365 and just had to give it a try myself..





   So here's my version, which I'm quite pleased with.

Hi fellow bloggers....

Just a quickie today about my latest crafting exploits.  August Week 2 challenge on UKS was ...

At least 50% white space; machine, hand or faux stitching; punched or die-cut elements and at least 2 different papers and so here is my take on it....

I tortured my little niece, Eve to do some posing for me at the weekend and came up with one or two nice photos which will undoubtedly end up on future LO's.

I like the way this one turned out, although not sure about the doodled border but thought it was lacking something without it.




 Also did the same to her 'big brother' Jack, who was not best pleased but put up with me for a short time.  lol  Teenage kids do not like having their photos taken, especially the male of the species.





This months's Simple Recipe challenge took my fancy too, an interesting concept of very soft, washed out colours and lots of white and again a photo of my niece, Eve but this time a black & white one.  Here is a 'kit' I put together but I didn't use some of it but it gave me a good starting point.













And here is the finished layout.....






Hope you have fun looking at my crafty efforts and please leave a comment as it would give me a bit of encouragement with my blogging. 

Sunday sunshine....

Well, problem seems to be something to do with Chrome, which of course, is Google, which of course, is Blogger!!  Anyhoo I've ditched IE and have decided to go with Chrome for now and see what happens....at least I can upload photos again.

Yesterday I was busy doing a bit of the dreaded h/w but did manage to get a bit of 'licking and sticking' (as my friend calls it) done too and here are the results.....

A layout for the UKS House challenge for August, which was to scraplift a LO that you really liked from the We Challenge You that ran for June & July.

I chose this lovely one from DaisyChain888....

Then my Mum had asked me to make a Christmas card for her Grandaughter, Sarah as she is going away to Malawi for 2 years teaching.  Grandma wanted to pack up her Christmas things for her to take with her when she leaves in a couple of weeks.

Testing, testing........can you see this photo???

Frustrating IT issues.....

Is it me, is it the laptop, is it Google or is it just the WWW in general????  At times I am fit to kill someone or throw something (usually said laptop) all the way across the room!!!

I seems I can no longer add photos to my blog and have spent the past 2 hours trying everything I know and looking on the internet for answers but all to no avail.  If I can't get past this irksome issue I will just stop blogging.....again!!!!

As weekends go this one was really good!  We had a mini family reunion with my Auntie Win and her daughter Una and her husband Martin all coming over from Ireland for a long weekend.  My Mum was sooo excited to be seeing her sister again as it has been years since they have seen each other.  My Dad being unable to travel anymore and Mum being his full time career now and then my poor Auntie having one or two health scares herself. 

Anyway, Martin and Una volunteered to do the cooking on Sunday so I took them over to the supermarket to shop Saturday evening and then decided to stay at my Mum & Dad’s too (so as not to miss out on any of the fun!)  Sunday was a lazy start then my brother, Nick & his wife, Gill turned up too and they stayed to dinner…..so we made it stretch as best we could.  It was a great weekend full of joy and happiness with quite a few photos taken too!  I hope there can be a repeat performance in the not too distant future.

In other news….I received my ‘pizza box’ from Papermaze today with one or two nice bits and pieces to add to the stash (‘cos I really need more stash!)  Started the countdown to our holidays in earnest by buying my travel insurance…..less than SIX weeks to go now.

Haven't done anything 'arty farty' all weekend.......feeling a bit twitchy, maybe tomorrow morning before work?  There are several challenges on UKS I would like to tackle.

 

Blue skies.....

I like this picture, taken when walking Lulu.  I don't know why I like it....it's very 'urban' but I think maybe it's the mix of blue skies, fluffy clouds and hard metal that I find interesting.  The towers are like aliens striding across the fields.

On  totally different topic - I have been looking at lots of different blogs and trying to decide why I like the one that I do and how I can improve my own .....I fear it will take a while!!  At the moment I only have a simple template from blogger with very limited ways of changing things but eventually I hope to have the knowledge and confidence to 'upgrade' to more serious things with lots of add ons'!

I haven't done any crafting this week and am feeling a bit shaky......need to get a fix this afternoon if possible (sod the grass-cutting, it can wait!)  I also need to learn how to use my new Silhouette as it's not had much of a trial run yet.  I'm sure there's a thousand and one wonderful things it can do for me so I must crack on and give it a bit of a work out!   I've still got to use the $10 gift card it came with too!

Rock n Roll Bingo tonight......hope I win!!  Will let you know tomorrow!  lol