Crafty!

Forgive this long post, but I couldn't decide which pages I liked best, so they are all here! This is my 'Scrapbooking Matters' minibook, from a Big Picture Scrapbooking class (Bigpicturescrapbooking.com). I ordered the book from the States (scrapbooksupply.com). It's gorgeous, but didn't half cost alot!!! It worked out atabout £17!!!!! The Who, When and Why pages are chipboard, and the letters are cut out of the chipboard. I have painted them, and then backed them with double sided patterned paper. The What and Where pages are acetate. I painted the brown and blue stripes then stamped the titles with my new Autumn leaves alphabet stamps.

I really enjpoyed doing this book, and it made me think about why I scrapbook in particular! It's great getting the email prompts every day. At the moment I am getting Shimelle's 'No place like home' prompts, but I haven't done anything crafty with them yet. I have just printed them out and they are in a big pile to do later. I am looking forward to starting them, as the home theme ties in nicely with my 'everyday things' scrapbooking this year. I have also signed up for a Little Red Scrapbooking class on journaling, and have received a really scrummy kit, but more about that later!

patchwork dog

Here's my little dog that I made on Sunday! I went with burn (Angle on Tanda and various other forums) to her friend Freda's house in Newhaven. I haven't done patchwork really for a very long time, so it was great to do it with someone to get my mojo going! We had a fabulous day, talking, laughing and sewng - very gentle and relaxing. Just can't wait to do it again!

My dog (must find a name for itLOL) is made from an old packet of Laura Ashley patchwork pieces. I do like the colours, very spring like, but they don't go in any room of my house! I suppose they are of ther 1990s, and a bit old fashioned now.

Birthday goodies!

My little pile of presents. I have used my BIA to make 1 book so far! I need a bit of practice. I have eaten the Roses already, and played the Duffy CD loads of times! The map is for our holiday, we are staying in a cottage in Dorset and walking the coastal path. Nicholas is coming with us but not Lucy, she is going to Spain with Tom's family. The book underneath is Monty Don's Around the World in 80 gardens. A really stunning new tv series. Can't wait for ther DVD.

Here are all

my cards and ATCs out on my dresser in the dining room. Thsoe scruffy cardboard 12 x 12 drawers you can see sit on top of plastic drawers, and hold a small proportion of my stash!

Forum cards

I was totally and utterly gobsmacked to receive all these beautiful cards from a private forum that I have not been on for long. The ladies here are so talented, and I feel quite unworthy of their company really (but I still love receiving things from them!!!)

Al













Nat















Penny


















Lana






















Sarah


















Lorry























Chris

Birthday cards and ATCs from Tanda Forum friends

ATC by Tash

Card and ATC by Possum (Charlotte)

Card by Chicken Licken (tash)

Card by Janeycutting (Jane)

ATCS by various!!! They are downstairs now and I'll have to go and get them to tell you who they are from!! Back later to edit. Right here goes: L-R top row Lesley, Sian, Lorraine

L-R bottom row: Andrea, Burn, Jane.

Card by Lilybaby (Lesley)

Card by Angel (Burn)

All absolutely fabulous!!! I am gobsmacked, thanks girls!

There are a couple more and I think at least 1 more to arrive, so I'll upload them later.

More volleyball photos

Volleyball YAY they won!!!!

We went to Nottingham on saturday to watch DD's volleyball team play in the quarter and semi finals of the England under 16s. Well, they got through to the final!!! How exciting is that!!!

I have tons of photos, but blogger is being very slow atm, so you will have to wait for more!

We had to get up v v early (4.45am to get the girls - DD and DN to the teacher's house to join the minibus). We left about 7am. Traffic was really good and it only took just over 3 hours on the road. We stopped at Little Chef for brekkie!

The team (Ashcombe under 16s) had already played and won 1 game when we got there. They won the next game quite easily, but were drubbed by the last team! This team were so good that they caught our team napping!!! They really didn't play very well. But never mind, they were through to the semi finals. They played Tameside - and waht a close exciting game it was! Ashcombe held their nerve, and won 25-23, 23-25, 15-13. Very close. The only problem is that they have to play the team that they lost to in the final!!! Lots of training required me thinks!

Horrible paper cahllenge at Brighton and Hove crop

We had our Brighton crop on Saturday. We have 2 new members, and the church is giving us a discount as we are now longstanding users of the hall! So that means it will be cheaper. We would love to have more people attend. It really is a lovely hall, and big enough for quite a few more people. Janet (standing here) is our fabulous organiser.

This month we did a horrible paper challenge! We all bought in a few sheets of paper that we didn't like or were not likely to use, and put thim in a pile in the middle. Then we choose 2 sheets each, and made a LO with them.

Here's some pics of us hard at work!

Here's Sara, working with her October Afternoon scrapagogo kit

And here's Lerryn scrapping her gorgeous grandchildren!

Lerryn's Lo won the challenge! She chose papers that went so well with her photos.

Elaine was runner up! How about that for someone who hasn't scrapped before? I think it is lovely, again nice papers with the photo.

Here's Sue's LO. What a cheeky chappy! Again, fab papers with those photos.

Here's Sara's. She decided to go B&W and choose really bright funky papers with 10 random facts, brilliant!

Janet thpought her papers were a bit sombre, but they show off the photos well. These are photos from previous crops.

And last but not least, here's mine. I decided to scrap some 'heritage' B&W photos. These are weddings in the 1960s and 1970s. The 3 grooms are brothers and cousins of mine. I was bridesmaid to the middle one!

feeling a bit yuck!

Woe is me! I had to go to the dentist on Monday because my crown (front tooth!) has moved back, and is really annoying, in the way of my bite and my tongue. I thought I had an abcess on the gum above it too. Well, nice young dentist (aged about 12!) thought that the root had cracked, but when he saw the x-ray changed his mind and said it is raging gum disease! Might have to see a specialist. I booked an apppointment with my dentist for the end of March(nearest appointment) and we'll see what he says. So I am on antibiotics for the infection. Then I noticed a huge cold sore coming on my lip! So quickly bought some cs cream for that. The cream never does seem to stop it in it's tracks though, just makes it go a bit quicker. So that will look horrible by the end of the week, when I have coffee and lunch dates! Last night I had a real ache either side of my chest! I think it's where Merlin pulls so hard! Trouble was this morning I have just made it worse, becasue I stupidly went up to Highdown where I could let him off, but Oscar the choc lab was there. Merlin and Oscar always have anice play, but it does end up in M trying to mount and likc O. O's owner is very very anti this sort of beahaviour, so I have to put M on the lead. My god he pulled hard! It was all I could do to hold on!

I have been feeling very very tired lately, and even going to bed early isn't helping. Yesterday afternoon I wasted watching QVC! That made me feel bad, because I had planned to do lots of scrapping, I had even sorted out 'page kits' for some gorgeous photos of the kids when they were little! Maybe I should go and do another page now before going to see Mum and Dad this afternoon!

Welcome to Ollie!

How cute is this puppy???!!???

He is 11 weeks old, a gorgeous light coloured golden retriever, and belongs to Andrew, Lynda, Michelle and Isobel.

He is incredibly mischievous, so we think he will be great fun! Probably a bit more lively than Rolo their previous dog was.

I think we all came home wanting one too!!! LOL

Radio 2

Just wanted to blog a bit about my Radio 2 obsession! I listen to it whenever I can. I have my raio on in the bedroom, the kitchen, and my MP3 player and digital portable radio are all tuned in! I also listen to it on the computer. (I can't get it atm, it won't let me click on listen live)

I sometimes download the podcasts too to listen on my MP3 player at work. Unfortunately I can't get r2 at work, only the local radio station Splash FM. I love to listen to Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine (DS thinks JV must be mad to host a programme like that where the general public can phone in!), sometimes Steve Wright, although I don't like him so much. I do love Chris Evans at drivetime, and Stuart McConie and Mark Radcliffe in the evenings.

I love it when the proper presenters go on holiday, Johnny Walker has been sitting in for Terry Wogan this week, and he is sooo lovely! Stuart McConie has been sitting in for Ken Bruce, and it was hilariuos this morning when Stuart was late, did JW take the mickey!!! Turns out SM was ill really (man flu!!!!) but turned up late sounding proper poorly, but still managed to carry off the program, what a pro!

apologies for not keeping up to date

I must apologise for not keeping this blog up to date! It's because I am doing a visual diary blog for Cheryl's photography course. My theme is 'everyday things' to tie in with my scrapbooking project this year! Here's a few photos I took today:

Update on life in general:

Dad is doing quite well atm.His white blood cell count is still a bit low, but hopefully starting to rise properly now. He had a blood transfusion last week to help the red blood cells.

DB has gone to USA on business (wish I could've asked him to buy me some stash!LOL) and was a bit worried about going, but it's been OK. While he's been gone SIL has got a new dog!!! 10 week old puppy golden retriever called Ollie -can't wait to see him!

Work is good, except that I am knackered this week, not doing so well with 4 early mornings! (Knackered because I took my friend Burn to my crawley crop on Monday evening, and was quite late back) but I am starting my new challenge to be the volunteer coordinator. Looking forward to the challenge and getting some new skills under my belt.

Crawley crop, - Natalie brought literally tons of stash for us to buy!!! I got 2 Tim Holz stamps, looking forward to playing with them tomorrow, and quite a few sheets of paper, some of which I have given to Judi at work. Burn took the rest of the box of paper home with her!

Weight is creeping up again - says she just tucking inot a huge bar of chocolate that DS doesn't want because it's got nuts in it! Must be careful.

Had a lovely day out with Angela yesterday to Wakehurst Place. I took some photos but they're not very good - too much chatting, not enough concentrating.

I like days like these....

I had a great day yesterday. It was sunny and bright, so i took my camera on my dog walk. These cheerful crocuses were in marine Gardens on my way to the beach. The sea was a little bit out, and looking fab!

Really pleased with this picture. I love the bird on top of the wood, and the position of the sign. Theya re still working on clearing the wood to a big holdong point, where they are now going to chip it and send it off to green power stations!

My 2 best friends came for coffee, and then I caught the train to Brighton for the craft show, where I met Burn and her friend Freda for a cup of tea and a natter!

Here's what I bought: 2 books, one on ATCs with some brilliant techniques to try, and one on bag making! I'm going to try and make a bag for DD's prom! I also bought a Believe chipboard album (Bo Bunny), another chipboard accordian album, buttons, scissors, blades for my trimmer, gems and 5 min clarity stamps (might do inchies again this month!)

All in all a really superb day, DD even cooked the tea!!!

Some more cards and scrapbook pages and sewing!

On my new forum, we were challenged to make 'the easiest bag in the world'. Here's my effort! I am a lazy sewer and not patient enough, hence I didn't press it as I went along, and the stripes are a bit wonky! But at least it got my sewing machine out again, and I am determined to get sewing more often














This is my coffee mug LO for the overlooked challenge! Next one is collections, so I have photographed my collection of old gardening and sewing books














DLO I did at the Brighton crop at ther weekend about the Wood on the beach. It's using a really lush kit I got from LRS by Melissa Frances, a bit Anna Griffinesque! I glittered my chipboard letters, and am really pleased with the effect, not done that before!

I made a couple of cards the other day for BIL and SIL. Both are using Tanda Stamps. I absolutely adore the papers on SILs, BG Stella Ruby!