Wedding day.

I am feeling much better today so as promised - photos and account of the day. Kelly 'left' from her bessie friend and chief bridesmaid's house so it was very calm at our house, for the morning anyway.

Back view of wedding gown

Laura (second bridesmaid) had stayed over at Wayne's for the night and had promised to be back at half twelve to have her bath, get ready and drive us to the church. She decided on the spur of saturday morning though to go and have her hair curled so both her and Wayne turned up at 1 oclock, neither of them bathed or changed! Despite the panic to get us all ready and in the car on time we managed to look reasonably presentable as we walked out the door. We managed to get lost on the way to dropped Martin off at Helen's (thank goodness for mobile phones)and arrived at the church on time.

Laura, Wayne and the two grandfathers outside the church.

I did very well, only having to choke back tears when the wedding party walked up the aisle - but then I think that was my perogative since as well as my radiant baby in her beautiful gown,
there was also hubby in his tails and Laura the most prettyiest of the bridesmaids! The vicer was a lovely old boy who had lots of little jokes that broke the ice and got everyone relaxing.

Signing the register

The sun shone, the sky was blue, there was a little bit of breeze and there were tons of smiling faces.

Leaving the church.

Some little ironies/incidents:

The council must have a sense of humour - the building right next to the church is a home for battered wives!

5 Mins before leaving for the church, the chief bridesmaid discovered the zip on her dress had broken. She was upstairs and Kelly was downstairs in a hooped wedding dress and the only one free to move up and down stairs was Kelly's dad who no way was going to attempt to mend the zip on a semi clad young bridesmaid!!

The hotel had forgotten to shut the door seperating the dinning area from the drinks/meeting room so people wandered off to their tables without doing the meet and greet/kissing and hugs past the wedding party so no one got introduced to each other which was a shame.

The guys were really nervous about their speeches but they all did really well, and I didnt get the traditional bouquet as given to mother of the bride by the groom but a lovely wheelbarrow planter (flat packed though).

Then it was the fun bit, good food, laughter, lots of drink, and dancing. A brilliant day all round.

The only real downside was the hotel. We stayed overnight but in one of the rooms below us there was obviously some sort of after party (from the other wedding event being held there) going on and it didnt finish until the dawn chorus. So no sleep for me for the entire night, which is why I have been so totally exhausted.

But it was very near to red nose day so to finish....

Wedded bliss

Judging by the amount my stat counter has gone up, I guess I have had people dropping in to find out how the wedding went and to see some photos.

I promise I will get some on here but right now I am just sooooo tired I dont have the energy to keep my eyes open let alone mess about in photoshop getting the photos the right size to upload so please be patient I promise I will get them loaded as soon as I feel better.

Here's one of me in my outfit though - please note it looks purple here but irl it is no where near that colour but more a dusty dark pink
The wedding was a fairytale, brilliant, and there are heaps of little stories to tell about the day so I want to be awake enough to do it justice.

I also have an interview on Wednesday at a local nursery so lots to update but sleep comes first.

The BIG day

So its finally here. The day we give our little girl into the keeping of her new husband! Gosh where did that time go, seems only yesterday we were rushing off to the hospital - me in the ambulance because my waters had gone and hubby in his car, racing to catch up because the ambulance driver needed the loo in a hurry, and hoping not to get stopped because he had just come back from a pub crawl with his mates (I stress this was back in the days before we really realised the dangers of drink/driving).

So right now I am sitting here waiting for my nails to dry and wishing I had settled for slightly lower and more comfy shoes. Its very quiet here because Kelly has opted to leave from her chief bridesmaid's house. This is because she is getting married in her own parish which is half hour drive from our house and I couldnt see the point in her coming all the way back here just to drive back again. A little bit of me wishes I hadnt suggested this, and had made her come here but I know in my heart of hearts this is the more practical option.

So calm, calm almost boring here. We had some fun yesterday as the boys were going into town to collect their penguin suits and Kelly and I were collecting the dress and cake. This obviously needed 2 cars but as Martin went to start his, it refused and the RAC had to be called. The RAC were prompt but parked across the drive preventing me from getting my car out. So delays all round and slight panic as we were running out of transport options for today. Dad's seats in his car are all spoken for and Wayne's had failed its MOT, needing new suspension.

Anyway all cars are miraculously back on the road now so panic over. Suits were collected, cake is beautiful and dress safely delivered.

A futher hickup when I got Laura's poncho out the washing machine (needed just incase it is cold at the church as the bridesmaids are in strapless dressies) to find the washing machine had eaten a large hole in it. Back into town to M&S to buy a pashmina. We managed that after a strange 3 way phone call in the middle of the store between myself, Kelly and the other bridesmaid to check I got the right one.

So off at 2, ceremony at 3, then lots of kisses and hugs, tears and hopfully happiness to come today.

Forced to scrap!

My beloved favourite scrapping forum is down for maintenace, and has been since early yesterday morning. This means I ma chasing round lots of other forums trying to catch up with all my mates - and I have never read so many blogs as I have this weekend. Of course it doesnt help that the weather is really horrible so I cant get out in the garden (which really needs some work) and hubby was out all afternoon and evening on his future son-in-law's stag do.

So I was forced off the computer and into the scrap room. Gosh what a hardship. LOL

I haven't finished the paper LO yet as I had some trouble with the paint on my chipboard letters so I cant upload that yet but I was inspired by this weeks make and take feature on 2Peas so I decided to try a digi version.

The photo is my youngest DD having her first fitting for the bridesmaid dress (her elder sister gets wed next Saturday) but she forgot to put her strapless bra on for it. Hope she gets it right on the day

All the bits (apart from the heart brushes) are from Whatekatiedid's freebies (found on her blog) but I desaturated them to remove the colour and then altered the colours using variations in Photoshop so that they would match the photo.

Look what happens

When you get out of the habit of updating your blog daily -

1) You forget what the hell you have been doing for the last week
2) People stop visiting your blog and you fall off the blog chart numbers LOL

Now number 2 is just an observation because as I have said before this blog is just for me (see number 1 as to why LOL) but isnt it interesting how you give a few freebies away, and soar up to 25 or something ridiculous but then plummet like a stone when you stop giving away stuff? Gosh its a mercinary world we live in.

Mind, there has been a lot of blog activity in the scrapping world this week as some very talented and lovely ladies launched their new venture The Design Collective offering classes, private tutoring, a forum, crops and heaps of other online fun much on the lines of The Big Picture or Shimmelle's classes but far bigger, better and brighter with some big names from the scrapping world. The launch of this exciting enterprise didnt go as smoothly as it should have done though. Instead of welcoming new ideas that are going to help put British scrapping on the map, help newbies and old hands alike, and plug a huge hole in the market that the loss of our British scrapping mags left,there has been heated words, much nastiness, and some very hurt feelings. So there has been a frenzy of bloggworld reading as the scrapping community (nosy cows that we are) tried to find out who was saying what about whom.

Personally I wish the girls well in the new business. I would wish anyone brave enough to start up their own business good luck. The way of things in this country just now makes anything a huge risk with no support should you fall,even if you think you are in a 'safe' profession (just look at the state teaching and nursing are in right now).

I also think the scrapping world needs more diverse ideas, more ways in. When I started there were hardly any places you could get stash and certainly only online or at shows. I watched with glee and mounting excitment as more and more online shops and then real bricks and mortar shops opened, but then the competition and the profit margins became too much and sadly many of those shut down again. Now there are very few places selling a really wide range of goodies, and lots of those entraupenures are going over to specialising in kits or albums or such. You cant believe the problems I have had just being able to source Herma at a reasonable price because of this.

Then there is the advent of digi scrapping and now hybrid (which is basically what most of us have always done, I mean I started from day one printing out my labels and using clip art to make embellishments). Hardly heard of a year ago and now there are literally hundreds of sites and blogs giving away digi freebies or pointing you in the direction of kits for sale (Hey I know I tried it myself).

And this is why I ask we give more variety a chance. It seems our nature to either jump on a new idea and flog it to death at the expense of all the other good ideas, or dis it without even trying first. Yes kits are great but wouldnt it be even better if I could ALSO get some Herma from a shop without having to have a full pizza box of other stuff just like I used to when I started out?

Which is why I love the idea of what the DC are doing. It may not be a new idea to sell classes on line. It may not be different to set up a hints and tips forum or an on line cybercrop, but to have it all in one place without having to spend hours searchng online, to know that the class I am going to get is one in a style I will like (because I know the work the girls do). How many times have we all read posts or posted threads claiming to have 'lost our mojo' 'run out of inspiration'? What good is a scrap room full of stash if it never gets used or we dont know how to use it? now instead of having to google for hours, search huge galleries, flip through pages of mags until that little bit of 'me' time is gone and there is no time left to scrap anyway, there it will all be, with the talent and knowledge of these terrific girls but a click away.

Its something ELSE not INSTEAD of I can choose to spend my money on. And guess what? I am not stupid. I want value for money. So if I dont think it is what I want., if I dont like it or my spending priorities change then no one is twisting my arm up my back and making me buy. So if I do find that elusive Herma I can spend my money on that instead of a class.

If I like a class one month but dont have the right bits and bobs to make it I can use my following months money on stash and catch more classes the following month. How terrific is that? No more subbing up front for a year only to find the company has gone belly up two months down the line and no way of getting any money back. No more 'well I love the layout shown in this mag but I cant buy all the stuff they are sourcing because I've spent all my money on the sub'. No more 'well two months ago this mag really suited my style but now its gone all way out but I am stuck with it for another 10 months'.

They say no publicity is bad publicity, maybe that is true, maybe all the heartache the DC girls have gone through this month will give their idea one hell of a kick start. Lets hope so, lets hope that something good comes from all the pain, because this industry should be supporting new initiatives not putting them down. If the idea is bad or wrong then it will fall of its own accord (personally I dont think this one will). Businesses are hard to keep afloat and will only work if the ideas are sound, the managment strong, and the talent brilliant. I personally think the DC have all three of these things. Time will tell.

So to all the DC girls - good luck, and I wish you well in your new venture.

New experiences

Well the weekend was full of new experiences!

I started off by going with Laura to her bridesmaid dress fitting. I cant say I am overly impressed with the place Kelly has chosen to have them made with. I thought this experience would be all cosy and girls together, mother and daughter stuff. The place we went is in the middle of nowwhere, a barn on a farmyard that has been converted into outlets. So my first new experience was using a sat nav system to find it.

Far from my ideal, it was literally in and out of the shop! Last time there wasnt even any seats out for those waiting, this time at least there was a huge chocolate fountain running although everyone felt too intimidated to munch any. The dresses are already late, they were promised the end of January and have only just got back to the shop from the suppliers, so they hadnt even been pressed when the girlies tried them on. And despite all three girls being vastly different in size and shape strangely all three dresses need taking in at the bust??!?? I only hope the alterations are good as there is only a week to the wedding once they come back.

Then it was back to my mum's as that is where Kelly is leaving her wedding gown so that Ollie cant see it before the wedding. She had picked it up that morning, so it was a full dress rehersal for me and the grandparents to see the dress. Wow! For obvious reasons I cant put the photo's up here, but it was a bit of a hanky moment seeing my little baby all growed up.

After that it was off to the hotel for the hen do. I've never been to a hen party, they didnt do them in my day, just a bit of a drink with your girlfriends down the pub if you were lucky. None of all the commercialism they have today. So another new experience. There were 13 of us including the bride, and we started off in the hotel pool, followed by yet another new experience for me - the steam room. The youngsters also piled into the sauna but that was one new experience too much for me and I stayed in the pool.

Up to the rooms for the opening of the 'brides' box and the rules of the evening. Then into our 'costumes' - a cowgirl theme, and down to the restaruant where a table had been booked, decorated by the waiters with goodies supplied by myself and the bridesmaid and an evening of laughter. I'm not going to put drink and food there because the service just wasnt up to it. We were very dissappointed as it took them an hour and a half to get our food to the table once we had ordered - it would have been quicker in weatherspoons and in my experience thats saying something!!! Maybe this is what put the waiters off?

In fact the service was so bad that the waiters never returned to take our desert orders so we retired to the bride's room for a slightly altered game of pin the tail on the donkey (involving a tastefully changed poster of the groom *wink wink*) and pass the parcel, chocolate and wine.

By 11 the main bridesmaid, Helen who was the organiser, had run out of steam, it being only the first time away from her beautiful baby boy of 7 months, so the games ceased and we listened to the chatter of two of the other girls as the rest of us snoozed gently against the walls of the room (seating being on the floor only).

Sadly a combination of excitement, toomany new experiences, chlorine, and rock hard very high pillows resulted in a migraine for me, so not only could I not enjoy my full english breakie included in the package, but Jan had to drive my car home, and I spent Sunday and Monday sleeping. But I did enjoy it all. I look forward to Laura's hen!!

Oh and to finish one more new experience. When we got home, Jan phoned her husband to come collect her, only to find he had managed to get their Landrover stuck in the mud at the stables!!!! Only he could manage to get a Landrover stuck!

Stinger

A couple of digi LO's I have been playing with. This one is of me and my younger brother taken on the hill at Pegwell Bay when we went to see the viking ship. No idea who the little fella in the middle is, he just happened to be there for some reason and came over for the photo call.

Shabby Princess Seasonal Sampler Winter
Katie Hatfield Doodle arrow
Shabby Princess Festival Frame
Colleen Lynch Sweetpea Kit

And this one is Laura taken last summer as she was watching Wayne play cricket.

Shabby princess colourful corners
Katie and Kirsty's Kit
I made this today doodles
Colleen Lynch Sweetpea kit

The plans for the wedding are down to final details now, one of which is the hen party and also the 'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Kelly had asked me to find the baby blue garter that she had had as a youngster as part of a dressing up outfit so that it would cover old and blue. All dressing up clothes from when the girls were kids had gone up in the attic so she also asked that while I was up there I measure the internal doors stored there to see if they would fit her house. For some reason it seems a hobby of the people who own houses before us to take the doors off and put them in the attic space. There were 7 in our attic when we moved in, although all the rooms in the house did have doors hung on them. We left them up there and used as floor boards, making it less likely for Martin to fall between the joists and through the ceiling (he still did). And Kelly only has two internal doors in the whole house, seems the previous ocupier took them all away. So it seemed a good idea to see if the ones in our loft fitted her doorways.

I went up to look in the attic on Wednesday. I couldnt find the garter and the doors were hidden behind a pile of boxes so I asked Martin to measure them. Somewhere between getting his tape measure out of the shed and climbing into the attic he managed to harbour a wasp in the sleeve of his fleece though and, yes, it stung him not once but about 4/5 times. He then had an alergic reaction so that by the time he came home from work yesterday his arm from his knuckles to his elbow looked like the leg of an elephant. The pain we suffer for our kids! And whats worse it turns out the doors wont fit Kelly's doorways either.

Tomorrow morning the bridesmaids have their fittings and Kelly is collecting her dress to bring down and give us all a show, then tomorrow night is the hen night. We are off to stay in a hotel, enjoy the pool and spa and then a meal (dress not optional, cowgirl theme) followed by silly games in the hotel rooms. I must go put the camera batteries on charge.

CV Madam?

If you claim Jobseeker's allowance (which I am in order to get my National Insurance stamp paid) you have to agree to do at least three things a week in order to find yourself a job. So last week I signed up to Fish4jobs, and on a whim applied for a Trainee Microbiologist vacancy. I dont think I have much chance of getting it, after all its twelve years since I got my Science degree and I haven't really had call to use it much teaching 4 year olds.

Yesterday I got a phone call from someone claiming to have had my cv passed on to them from Fish4 jobs - convo went like this

Them: You have all the right qualifications and educational background but your cv lets you down so you havent been chosen this time.
Me: Oh right, what should I do about that?
Them: Would you like to talk to the recruiter about it?

Following my affirmative, I am left hanging for some time, then the original caller comes back

Them: I have spoken to the recruiter (I thought you were going to get him to talk to me?) and he says that its down to your CV. In light of the short time before the cut off date to apply (I thought you said I hadnt been successful, now your saying I havent been put forward yet?) he suggests you get a professional to write your cv for you.
Me: Ok what do I do?
Them: We have an account which means that it usually costs £99 but we can get it done for £39 which you would get refunded if we got you the job?
Me: (finally realising what this was about) Well as you appreciate I am unemployed so I would have to ask my husband to pay that but he isn't here.
Them: We are here until 6 tonight
Me: My husband wont be home until 9
Them: You can leave a message or phone me in the morning (Hang on I thought this was urgent?)
Me: Could I not just send you my own cv
Them: We already have your cv
Me (and here's the clincher) No you don't, you have what Fish4jobs wrote using the answers to the questions I answered on their site, they wrote that cv, I never sent in my own because I applied through their website. My CV isnt skills based though.
Them: (after pause and some excuses about not knowing how Fish4jobs works) It does need to be skilled based
Me Ok I will write a skilled based one and send it to you.

Honestly! How many people fall for this? I was disgusted that, already in a vunerable position of being unemployed there are sharks out there ready to prey on you.

I have been scrapping and have actually finished a paper LO! I will try and scan it in later today.

More before and after

I'm still trying to rescue those 1980's photos and came across this.



Sweep is no longer with us - but just how cute is this, and what do you think of the after photoshop effect?

Bluuugh!

I've not blogged for a bit. Just didnt feel like it and to be honest life has been so bloody borring there wasnt really anything to blog about. I guess its February blues. I do so hate January and February. On top of which a job which I really really wanted and which on paper I was highly suited for never called me for interview so feeling really down about that too. So anyway I have branched out and applied for a few jobs which have nothing to do with teaching but will call into use my Science degree. Perhaps it would be nice to actually use it??

I did also start making a Valentine digi kit to give away but seem to have lost steam on it. I will try and zip up and upload the bits I did make though. Someone may find them useful.

Wedding plans are steam rollering along and on Saturday I got invited to Kelly's for a cuppa. We ended up going through lists and lists of songs choosing stuff for the reception. Agerdoo made it to the final cut but sadly Hi Ho Silver lining and The Conga were veeto'd.

I've played with this digi LO for ages, it feels to me that it needs more but I just cant figure out what.



Papers by Ashley Olson (Digidare colaberation kit)
Shabby Princess colourful corners
Shabby Princess Sweet Serenity alpha
Miss Mint Blue Lavender pin
Coleen Lynch SweetPea Kit pink ric rac
Miss mint Cinnemon Tea wordart
Divine digital doodles

As promised

Gee this is a steep learning curve, I've been trying to work out how to upload and share these files for most of the day and I'm still not sure I've got it right but anyway here goes.

Blue Moon

They are saved in .png format and hopefully this is what you will be getting if technology goes to plan.

A few bits to build into flowers, some clips and a bookplate.

Two pattern papers

And one of whatever these are called.

Plus a set of corners that I accidentally zipped in there as well. LOL

And hopefully (fingers crossed) you can download them all here

Watch this space

I have been playing lots in photoshop and last night succeeded in making an eyelet which I then used to make an envelope fastener (don't know what they are called but the thing with the two circles that you wind the string round). Now if Katie and Kirsty can do it I am sure I can make a few elements and hand them out for free, so I am going to look at how to upload the files. If I can work out that bit of technology then there will be a few bits and bats - not a whole kit (I find I get sidetracked and loose concentration if I try to make too many bits that go together) but a few basic bits.

So watch this space!

More cake?

The rest of the book (because blogger didn't want too many photos in one go!

Home made cakes

in a book.

I didnt fancy doing confessions as my theme for Shimelle's free class but the finished results did inspire me and it looked so simple and quick. So I rooted through my years of photos and came up with the idea of recording all in one place all the home made birthday cakes I have made the girls and Martin across the years. Now this is rather a lot because for every birthday the girls had there would be a party for the family and another for the girl's friends, so with the one for hubby that is at least 5 cakes a year and Kelly is now 25.



Of course I took photos of every one, of them blowing out the candles and of the cake sitting pride of place on the tea table. But I couldn't find them all. I know for a fact I was quite practiced at The Hedgehog cake with the chocolate button spines, and there was one year when we scoured the shoppes for old fashioned lace licourice to make train tracks for The Train cake. What happened to the pictures of the cake shaped like a huge wedge of (bright) yellow cheese with the sugar mice sliding down it?












Anyway I used the front part of the little 4x4 freebie mini album that came with this months SI mag and lots of scraps of paper to produce all the cakes for Laura from birth to age 7 and this is the result.

Another day, another .....

yawn.

I am so bored of being home!

Well I guess it wouldnt be so bad if I didn'f feel so guilty about not being at work. And not helped by another two letters turning me down for jobs I had applied for. I KNOW when I was younger it wasnt this hard to get a job, you just saw the vacancy advertised, rang up for an appointment (or the job centre sent you there) and all the stuff they needed to know they asked in the interview. When I was 18 no one had ever even heard of a CV let along got the correct type of resume professionally written.

Now its closing dates, aplication forms, letters of application, CV's (in the correct format for the job) initial visits, informal interviews, formal interviews, presentations, demonstrations and then .....

Anyway did a bit of digi scrapping while I was sitting here writing yet another letter of application.


Flowery background and frame are freebies from Scrap Girls designed by Angie Briggs
Ribbon, ric rak and stitched doodle from Miss Mint Frozen Slush
Lace frame by Miss Bonbon (but I altered colour)
And the torn corregated paper is by Pam (Simple little basic set)

Oh God I ache

You wouldnt think you could use so many muscles just painting - walls that is not LO's. But I have sure discovered a few muscles I didnt think I was ever going to need to use again this weekend.

Laura and Wayne have got to the stage of the build where the new plaster needs three coats of paint...all of it...in a three bedroom, two reception and kitchen/dinner detatched chalet bungalow! Thats a lot of walls, and a lot of paint and a lot of painting.

So I have been giving them a hand. And its hard work.

Still now we have got the colour on the wall it is beginning to look like a house now instead of a building site. Second fixings start next week and then it shouldnt be long for the plumber and kitchen, then flooring to be completed. I am going to miss having the two of them around when Laura moves out.

I have been playing around with 'actions' in photoshop. I have discovered a good site here and using the auto colour one. OK its not going to do wonders for the composition of my old 70's and 80's photos when photo technics and processes where pretty dire but it has managed to at least make photo's of my babies scrapable

Before photoshop play
After photoshop play

Why blog?

There is a bit of a debate about how to get people to read your blogs going on UKS.
It made me stop and think for a bit.

I didn't start my blog to get people to come read my twaddle. And I dont fool myself that my scrapping is so wonderful that I need to share and give others inspiration (it would be nice but I know its not gonna happen). I started it to record bits of my daily life for ME. It was an easier way for me to keep track of what had happen so I could match my photos up to dates and occasions. A way to help my failing memory in my dotage LOL Just a..diary I guess, for ME.

I am hopeless at diaries. Its all those blank days staring at me, and if I dare miss a day I cant face filling in the next one without the blank one looking up at me and demanding to know what I did on that day. Blogger doesnt mind though. If I miss a day, or a week or even a month it doesnt look at me accusingly, it just shrugs and says 'what have you been up to then?'

But then I added a visitor counter because others were doing the same, and then I joined Crafty Blogs and it all got a bit silly. It became a bit of a game to see how high I could get up the chart. And I started to get caught up in the 'blog hype'. You know the one - come and look at such and such on my blog - just to get the counter up.

I started to feel I couldnt post on here unless I had actually done a LO or could offer a digi freebie.

Pure madness.

I'm not going to take my counter off because I do like to look and see who has visited and where from. Its interesting and part of being in blogland

And I am not going to take my blog off the Crafty Blog site, because if nothing else its a link for me to find other crafty blogs and also you never know, one person my find my work interesting, or post suggestions to help me improve.

But I am going to stop competing for veiwers and go back to the basics of why I blog.

Scrap-a-Ganza

If you want to know anything about this event then a blog all about it has been set up here

Dates

Why, oh why did photo developing companies stop printing the dates on the back of your photos? It would make life so very much easier.

I am now working in Excel to put 'clues' as to what year the photos I have piled up here might be from. Things like - that year we had the brown 3 piece suite, or thats the year we still had the climbing frame that end of the garden' or even 'the girls are wearing the dresses I made for Mother-in-law's wedding anniversary so it must be..

I tell you it is doing my head in!

And I seem to have more unwrapping christmas present photos than there is years.

Oh course what all this means is that I can no longer step into my craft room because the floor and table are covered in LO's and photos in attempts to cross-reference everything. Which is a shame because I have just downloaded the instructions for Shimelle's class, and although I dont fancy the subject matter, the idea of that simple little book is something I could have easily gone for.

I've done some scrapping

I just cant manage to cataloge these photos I scanned from my dad's collection. So I have stuck them all in a box and am just randomly scrapping them. They are important because he seems to have captured a few memories that I have no photos of - like Kelly's bessie mate from school, and her when she lost her front teeth. How did I manage to miss photographing those moments?? Good old dad, but I so wish he had put dates on the back of his photos when he had them developed!.

Basic grey Alysha (see I will use up this stash!)
K&Co 3D rose sticker
PM rub ons
Hand cut rose made from Cherry Arts paper
Heidi Swap Chipboard letters
AG stamps (finally found a way of using them)

Ups and Downs

I've not really felt like blogging, well not really felt like doing much at all. I always feel like this about January and February, but this week I have had a mouth full of ulcers which have made me feel really down. I have been gargling with TCP and mouth wash, got through a whole tube of Bongela and cleaned my teeth at least 5 times a day in the hope of encouraging my gums to heal quicker. Its still sore today but at least not excruciating agony, and it did help me loose 2lb this week as it was a tad difficult to eat.

On the up side I phoned a private foster care agency yesterday, worried that our knock back from the LEA foster care dept would prevent us from being considered. But no, the lady was very encouraging and is going to send out a pack. So we may not have to wait 6 months to start the process all over again. Plus this lady assured me they expect to get their carers trained within 6 mnths - it took the LEA 8 months just to get our medicals done.

Wayne and Laura took me to the pictures on Tuesday. We were supposed to be taking my mum for a birthday treat but those two can never get themselves organised. The first time they went on holiday together they were still looking on the internet for places to go on the Monday of the holiday. In the end they just got in the car with a change of clothes - no coats- and just drove, with no idea where they were going. Anyway their chosen way of going to the pictures is to just go to the multiplex and decide what they are going to see when they get there depending on the time. I didnt think my mum would go for that idea so just the three of us went.
We ended up seeing The Pursuit of happyness, not a film I would have been likely to choose to see, but I am so glad I did. It sent you through a roller coaster of emotions, humourous to down right laugh out loud bits, sadness, anger, and bought you to tears. Will Smith's son certainly has an acting career ahead of him if he so desires but the thing that stuck with me was Will himself. Only ever having seen him in comedy slots I didnt realise what a brilliant, beautiful straight actor he was. So if you get the chance to go see it, do.

Chillin'

So I think I have earnt it, since my parents led me a bit of a song and dance this morning. To be honest it was my own fault, but I still got a tad worried and worked up.

Yesterday Mum had asked me to take her out to help choose some jewellery to go with her outfit for THE wedding, but I had to wait in for Martin's upgraded contract phone to turn up. By the time I got round to Mum's, my cousin was visiting so in the end we didnt go out. But I said I would take her today and would ring in the morning.

This morning I rang and got no answer. I continually rang her for three hours. I even drove over to their place and checked up the allotment. No joy. I just couldnt understand why she wasnt answering her mobile.

After three hours it finally dawned on me that I was ringing the home number and not the mobile - derr - but in my defence I have also just got a different handset and am not used to using it yet.

Suffice to say they were fine and had gone to pick up dad's new glasses. I say new, they were new before christmas but the lens fell out. He took them back and asked for a new frame as the one they were in was bent. After a lot of debate and looking at the frames the shop decided the lens had fallen out because the frame was too small and thats why it had bent. Solution - well common sense would have said get a new frame the lenses fit but no, dad had to keep the bent frame and have another lot of lenses made. Go figure?

So as I said, I am listening to a wonderful little site - Radio blog club - and chilling out to a little bit of Steely Dan while scrapping.

This is one result. A not very brilliant attempt at Scrapdolly's class for this week on UKS.

I found a heap of photos dad must have taken of the girls when they were younger, except I wasnt there when he took them so I have no reference for what when and where. Its fun trying to work it out though.

I have something to confess

Go take a look at Shimelle's blog for more details!

Addicted

I have to say Kirsty's kits are rather addictive and I have had another play - this time using the desaturation control.

Joy was a Christmas special gift from Scrap Girls, Sweet girl tag and the journaling tag came from Miss Mint Candy Fairway kit but every thing else is from Kirsty Wiseman's Ice Queen kit.

Another kit by Kirsty

And it is fab! She has put the download link on UKS so go grab it if you want to play. I have combined the two kits she has done so far to do this LO. Added my own touches by converting her background paper to a pattern fill for the arrow, used a few snowflake brushes on the backgound and colour filled a few of her bits. Plus there are a few elements from a kit called Heaven on Earth by Sunflower

For those of you who dont know and want to give it a try, making a fill pattern from an existing pattern is really simple. I use photoshop 7 so my instructions are for that.

1 Open the background paper you want to use as the pattern fill.
2 Use the marquee tool if you only want a bit of the pattern to select or Use select all if you want the whole pattern.
3 Edit>define pattern and give your pattern a name, click ok
4 Click on the fill icon and then change foreground to pattern. On my software this is on a drop down menu at the top left hand side of my screen.
5 Find the pattern you have just made on the drop down pattern menu
6 Use the fill icon to fill in your pattern

This is my eldest daughter who is 25 now. Grandad used to let her get away with murder including making huge snowballs in the garden with just her tights on and no coat!

Ahh well.

Which just about describes how I have been feeling all day.

The weather has been awful, gales, rain, sleet and at one point there were very large snow flakes coming down in the rain. I just couldnt really be bothered to do much. I did go and have an informal visit at a really lovely school where there is the chance of a 3 day job share going. But already, after only 2 days of advertising he has had 14 applications and a lot of interest in visits. Plus the two women going round with me just seemed so much more suited than me. So .. ahh well!

I then spent the rest of the day putting all the photos on my discs into ACDSee. I used to have this program when I first started using digital photography about 7 years ago and couldnt rate it high enough. But somewhere along the line it got lost and forgotten. It cropped up in conversation on the Pad today and immedietly I rushed to download a copy. Mind eons ago it was freeware but now it apparently costs money ...Ahh well.

I downloaded a trial version anyway because you can tag the stuff you have saved on discs and veiw it even without the disc in the drive. Now all I have to do is choose the photo I want, use ACDSee to cross reference the disc it is on, find the disc and voila. Way easier than sitting here with a pile of discs all labeled 'photos'. Martin got stuck on the A20 as Operation Stack was put into place. Honestly what other country uses their motor ways as a lorry car park every time the wind gets above force 3? Yet another ...Ahhh well.


But this evening I did some digi scrapping. I used some of Kirsty Wiseman's kit, some of Shabby Princess's Seasonal Sampler kit and some bits from A taste of India by J Sprague. Kirsty has come along way from last week when I talked her through her first digi, and I notice this evening she has just put up her second digi kit for us all to share. She is putting me to shame and maybe its about time I started designing a few bits??...Ahh well!!!

Finding my way around

With the help of google and alot of different sites offering info and tech help I managed to make and upload a new banner - do you like it? I'm quite chuffed with it although I couldnt get it as wide as I would have liked.

And somewhere along the line I lost my slide show but every time I go to reinstate it, it is too wide and only half of it shows up, so more work on that to do.

A few people without blogger accounts are also telling me they cant comment so thats another thing I have to work out how to change ( if you can).

Gee the school web site was waaaaay easier than this to update and maintain!!! LOL

Taken the plunge.

I have finally taken the plunge and updated to Beta blogger. So I am still playing with colours and have to make a new banner, please bear with me.

Fatal flaw

In my plan to use photo's of all the people who's birthday it was in my birthday book/calendar I omitted to allow for the fact that some parts of the year I dont actually know any one with a birthday in that month. OOOps!!!

I have just completed February but am waiting for the paint and glitter to dry before putting it on the scanner. It took me long enough to clean the crud off last time.

Happy birthday mum!

For yesterday. A bit late but blogger has been down for maintenance.

The family took her to the Toby Cavery for her birthday, the food wasnt up to its usual standard, being a tad overcooked but the company was good, and Kelly got all excited sharing the plans she has now got round to making for her wedding. About time she got organised with only 8 weeks to go. I didnt actually take the camera though as we have so many pics of us eating at either the cavery or the Harvester its getting silly.

Today I had to phone Occupational Helath so that they could finally tick me as fit to be back at work. I guess the guy I was talking to must have realised I was fit and well as I didnt pull any punches letting him know that they hadnt really done anything to help me. He made lots of suggestions for should it happen and the same situation arise again but I was quick to point out that it was too little too late. He did have the grace to apologise and say that lots of really good improvements had been made in the last year. Well no good for me though eh?

One thing he did say though was that the back spasms I suffered from 3 years ago could have been the result of stress - early indication, if only I could have read the signs.

But better than Occ Health saying I was fit, was the observation made by the librarian at my local library. They are all lovely lovely ladies that work in there, its only a little sub library so they get to know all their customers. Not only that Kelly worked as a Saturday girl there before going off to Uni so I know them better than most customers. Anyway today I chose 9 books, and she looked at the pile and said 'All those?' Before I could answer she added 'Thats more like you, we were really worried when you were only taking out 4 or 5'. I hadnt even noticed but the truth is that when I was suffering I simply couldnt concentrate long enough to choose my full quota. It felt really good to know I am now back to 'normal' (whatever normal may be!).

Dead lucky!

Martin has gone to golf this morning and since most of the housework was up to date I decided to treat myself with a little scrapping, surfing and playing one of my new pc adventure games. First, I thought, I'll update my little ipod shuffle so that I can listen to music while I scrap. But I couldnt find it.

I knew I had had it fairly recently as I nearly gave it away to my mum in a pile of stuff she was taking home, so I hunted high and low. Eventually with no place left to look I started on the recycling sacks which were ready to go out for collection tomorrow.

What a good job I did. Not only was my ipod sitting at the bottom of the sack but so too was the attachment for fixing my tripod onto my camera!!! I am going to reposition all the wastebins away from desks and tables now.

Anyway after all the excitement I finally got to do a little bit of scrapping and did the July page for my birthday book. Lots of Chatterbox papers, prima's, some Anita's ribbons and my beautiful youngest daughter

At this time of year

that I wonder?:-

Why am I so short?
Why are none of the tall people that live in this house ever home when you need them?
Why are drawing pins so painfull to remove?
Why have I chosen carpets that match the colour of metal drawing pins and why don't cats wear slippers anyway?
Where does all the dust come from?
Why does 'non-staining' bluetac leave a stain?
Why is it that stuff that came out of a box only 3 weeks ago and fitted perfectly will not, in any way, squeeze back in to the same box?
Why is it that it takes twice as long to put things away as it does to get them out?

Yes it's twelth night and time to take the decorations down. Martin is working all weekend and Wayne and Laura stay at his on Friday, and Saturday so its just me and the cat to remove all the last traces of christmas from the house. Well I got it all apart from the lantern lights around the porch because try as I might I just cant reach the last final hook even standing on the plastic garden chair, and it is way too wet and windy out there now to take the step ladders out. So they can stay and hang the superstition!

As all the cards come down I get time to look at them more closely and admire them, make a list of who sent what. This one is the one my padder mate Lyzzydee made me for the card swap and I adore it to bits.

And this is the first of my Birthday book pages, scraplifted from Clare Brown's calendar pages in the January edition (and sadly final edition) of Creative Scrapbooking Magazine.

I dont need a calendar as my Aunt sends me one every year for Christmas, but I loved her work so much that I decided I would make it into a birthday book, hopefully each month utilising photos of the people who have their birth dates in that month. So for January a photo of my mum.

On the reverse is a pocket to house my birthday cards all ready and organised for when the birthdays arrive.

(Sorry for the really crap scan but the scanner didnt like the very 3D card I have made for my mum). I have no idea what the blossom paper is on the front page as it is from a pack my mum and dad bought me back from their trip to America 3 years ago, but the back is Junkitz, with BG alpha stickers

More on digi scrapping

It would seem that since Katie joined up with the Padders there has been a fire of enthusiasm for digi scrapping sweeping the forum. Last night I encouraged through the wonders of Live Messenger, Kirsty to complete her first ever digi LO. I take very little credit for this wonderful masterpiece as all the ideas were hers. I just helped her find the buttons.

I guess I must be a little understated though because I have been offering up help and encouragement eversince I joined the girls, and although all saying yes they would try, it was not until Katie arrived that they actually put down their bits of paper, took up their laptops and had a go. So thank you for the push Katie, hopefully between us we can bet more of these girls doing it the pc way. LOL

So it did really mean I did another digi myself and this is another christmas page that really aught to be in my journal. Signs of Christmas was something I was struggling with but just before I took the decs down yesterday I snapped this decoration on my mantlepiece and I guess it has all the things in it I associate as signs of Christmas, the colours, green gold red, glitter and sparkle, lights, natural greenery , twigs, cones, christmas trees, and that lovely serene and calm feeling that comes along with it all.

I tried adding other elements and embellishments to this LO but it seems it really needed to let the photo do the talking.
The paper and brads are from the Christmas Red Collection Created by Meryl Bartho, the snowflakes a set of free brushes from the net and I played lots with the lighting effects and the filters on the photo.

What have I done today?

The day didnt start too well as Martin informed me the car was making rotten nuts and bolts noises and it turned out half the exhaust needed rebuilding at the pricely sum of £85. Then he needed new shirts for work as his have now all but fallen to bits. Good for Tesco who had some dirt cheap in the sale. Its really not worth him getting decent ones when he is filling shelves and pulling stock around but despite the fact he is management and is not supposed to do the heavy stuff he seems to do more of that than anything else.

Then most of the rest of the day was spent hoovering up pine needles as Martin took the tree down. The rest of the stuff is still up so tomorrow I will take it all down, box it up and do a really good clean.

I wanted to do some crafty bits - I am trying to use the wonderful calendar by Clare Brown in the last of the Creative Scrapbooking mags (I finally tracked down a copy) as a base to making a birthday book. I have nearly finished January but got sidetracked looking for the instructions to a waterfall book for a friend and now the scrap room is awash with paste mags and I cant actually see the table.

Things I have done

I dont do New Year's resolutions but I found this on Muckyfingers blog and thought it was rather interesting.
There's not many things left undone that I actually fancy doing so I seem to have done pretty well looking back. Those on the list highlighted in red are the ones I have achieved.


1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7 Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (well it was a glacier really)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played DVD for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane 109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Playing catch up

Martin has decided to have a lazy day today watching the telly which considering the hours he has been putting in lately is not surprising. He is still on call today and at 6 has to drive the round trip to Caterham just to let the night crew into the building!

Still it has given me a chance to do some guilt free scrapping, so 3 more pages for the journal!!

Happy New Year

I'm still playing digi scrapping.

CreditsTemplate Shir Benovich
Font CK Elves
Dani Mogstad baubles
Beatrice Zobel Advent kit

So our New Year celebrations were a bit of a let down but we still had a good time. We had arranged to go to our friends for a meal and then on to their local pub where the landlord had done a brilliant PR job on the singing duo he was getting in for the evening, including pushing back the tables in the restaurant to give a bit of a dance floor.

Things started well with a scrumptious and very filling roast beef with all the trimmings dinner followed by a huge helping of homemade apple crumble and custard, plus a bottle of wine. Felling extremly stuffed and a little tipsy we braved the wind and driving rain to walk to the pub. Laura and Wayne had popped in on their way back from a meal out and on their way to a party just to buy us a drink and wish us happy New Year. They had nabbed us a table and we settled down for the entertainment.

It was diabolical!!

The average age of the cliental was 75, the duo coulnd sing, the base was turned up too high and the landlord insisted on using main overhead lighting in all the bar sections resulting in no atmosphere and a general earbashing. Eventually at 11 o'clock we could stand it no longer and left to go get a coffee at our mates and see in the new year with Jooles Holland!

Happy New Year.