TIME FOR A CHANGE...

... came home from a long day on site and just felt like a change... What do you think? x

40TH BIRTHDAY BASH... IT'S ALL OVER...

.. and it went very well, from what I remember. I had a magic glass! It got filled at the start of the night and never emptied! How cool is that??

Anyway, I wanted to share with you that one of the highlights of the weekend was that I eventually got to meet the very talented Tracey! It was brilliant to finally meet her in person and we had a great laugh - I'll tell you the saga of the false eyelashes one day! - and sat up till all hours making sand boxes to hold down the helium balloons.

She also brought Lil G and me some fantastic cards:

This one was for me... How fab is that??? And this one is for Lil G:

and it's full of brilliant images for her to colour. She's thrilled to bits, as am I. It was so good to finally meet her in person. She's had a really tough time just lately and I hope she knows that I'm always there for her and how much I value our friendship.

So, it's now the Easter hols, so off to get a load of stuff for Lil G to make/colour/paint, etc! x

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Hello all, and especially all the mums out there... I hope we all have a great day!!

I made these cards for my Mum and her best friend who is like my other Mum! The flowery papers are from Summer Driggs' 'Happy Mother's Day' collection, while the chocolate one is made using papers from the DCWV 'Sweet' collection. I hope they like them.

Off to cook dinner now :( xxxx

LOTS OF LOVELY EMBELLIES!

See? I have been busy, really... just couldn't show you for a little while. All of these are made with lots of lovely embellies from Poppicrafts. Hope you like them! x

BIRTHDAYS, MYSTERIES AND CARDAGE...

Hello all! Just taken five minutes to say hello and let you know what's been going on here at the Loony Bin that I call chez moi...

My very beautiful baby girl was 6 yesterday! Can't believe it!! I thought I'd be such a terrible mother that I'd leave her somewhere, like the supermarket or something. But no, it seems I've done an okay job cos she's here, safe, well and 6 years old!

So we took 17 of them - 6-yr old terrorists, that is - to the bowling alley on Sunday morning... still got the headache.

And this is the card I made for her. You can't really see the vast amount of GlamourDust I used, but it's purple (of course, is there any other colour??) and it's an image from Pink Petticoat. She was really chuffed with it, but even more chuffed with the one she found under the fairy door yesterday morning (remember the fairy door, where the fairies let themselves in?).

She came running into our room cos she'd found this:

Now I didn't make it... and Georgia didn't make it... and Fidgit couldn't have made it.... and it didn't come through the letterbox, so it must have been from the fairies (no, I really didn't make this - my guess is Daddy did it but it might have been the fairies...).
Hugs xxx

O M G!! A CARD!!! NO... REALLY?

Yep. I haven't been idle, but I can't show you the rest just yet. So you'll have to make do with this one. I was asked to make it for my mortgage broker's mum - yep, really!! Hopefully, he'll waive the broker charge LOL!!! xx

ANYONE SEEN ME MARBLES?

It's like a loony bin round here at the moment! No cardage to display, I'm afraid, right now... sorry. I plan to rectify that this weekend, hopefully.
Parties - who'd have 'em??
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the countdown at the bottom of the page for Lil G's birthday, which is coming up on St Paddy's Day. So someone had the brilliantly bright idea of taking twenty (yes TWENTY!) 6-year-olds bowling for her birthday party..... Now who would come up with a stupid idea like that????? Yep..... me.
Of course, it only occurred to me AFTER we started planning the 40th birthday bash at the end of the month that her birthday was before our party and I needed to sort something out a bit sharpish!! Seemed like a good plan at the time... ho hum.
Oh, and the black & white birthday bash - another great idea. I want to take Lil G out shopping to find a beautiful black/white party dress...... SHE wants to go wearing what she wore for Halloween. Marvellous, innit?
And to top it all off, it's hubby's birthday NEXT WEEK. Bugger.
So how are things with all of you?

xxxxx

BELATED (VERY!) 40TH PARTY INVITATIONS...

Well it's been a long time coming but we (my oldest schoolfriend and I) are at last celebrating our 40th birthdays!! Yes, it was last year, but we figured that providing we party before either of us turns 41, it didn't matter!

So I made these. They have RSVP cards and directions in the wallet. The papers are Pink Petticoat Little Swirls. TFL x

A VALENTINE CARD

Yet more Pink Petticoat papers! And the very clever hinges are from the super-duper Poppicrafts - where else? x

SOME NEW BABY CARDS...

.. with my new Stampdendous "Baby's Bath" stamp, Pink Petticoat papers and Poppicrafts embellies. TFL xxx

A LITTLE BIT OF CARDAGE...

Thought I'd share a bit of cardage with you... Papers are Pink Petticoat and embellies are from the brilliant Poppicrafts. TFL x

SOUP LADLES, SNOW AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Now there's a title for a post, eh? How you all doing? Not too snowed in, I hope (although it would mean no work and lots of crafting LOL!). We got told the BIG snow would be happening at 2 pm today but so far it's been a bit disappointing up here... ho hum.

Been back to the Chinese Clinic and had another go with the needles (got brave with the hands, but still can't do the feet - eeuuwww!) and got beaten up with the soup ladle again. Works brilliantly and if you've ever suffered with aches and pains and never considered this treatment, go for it. My friend has been seeing a physio for 6 months now and has a shoulder injury. She booked into to see an acupunture chap and feels better after one session than she has for 6 months! Doesn't work for everyone, but I firmly believe in it - nothing against physios, either! Last one I saw was a bit of a dish!!

Now then. It's my Mummy's birthday tomorrow, so I made her this:

It's that "when I get old I shall wear purple" poem by Jenny Joseph - brilliant!

My clever little baby-waby made this:




She stamped it herself, punched out the tag, chose the ribbon and stuck the sparkles on - all by her purdy little self - cool, eh?

Hugs xxx

SOMETHING'S NEEDLING ME....

... Hi all! No cards to show yet, sorry, but I just wanted to share the progress being made with the old trapped nerve. Getting so fed up of not being able to work/drive/move/live! that I bit the bullet and went to the Clinic of Chinese Medicine today.

Now that was an experience! Firstly we had a good ole chat about why my back/neck/hips/shoulders, etc are so sore. Then we talked about how having me put down was NOT an option and how Chinese medicine can make a difference.

Then he stuck a whole load of needles in my head, neck, back and hands (yes, HANDS!! I wussed out of having the ones in my feet - eeuuww!) and cleared off for half an hour! So there I sat, like a ruddy hedgehog, on me tod, and started to nod off. Just as I was getting comfy, he came back and pulled them all out!!

Thought that was it, but then he started on some serious massage with what I thought was a roller thingy. Really painful. He said I'll look like I've been flogged by tonight! When he stopped, I asked to see what he'd used and couldn't believe it! A Chinese SOUP LADLE!! I've got a whole set of them to go with my little Chinese soup bowls!

So I've been stabbed and beaten up with a soup ladle and charged a lot of money for the privilege! AND I'm going back for more on Saturday!! I KNOW!!

But it feels much easier. And it's cheaper than the morphine/methacarbamol/diclofenac, etc, in the end.

So there you are - all you lovely folks with aches and pains really need is a tub of Tiger Balm and a soup ladle.... have you sorted in no time! Hugs xxxxd

YAY! CRAFTING WEEKEND! - BOO! STILL HURT!

Hi all! I've actually managed to get some crafting done - I've made a few for the Poppicrafts DT and a few for myself to use. My oldest friend and I were both 40 last year, but neither of us managed to celebrate it, so we've decided that we'll have a joint bash at the end of March (before one of us turns 41!) - so I'm making the invitations....

My next-door-neighbour celebrated her birthday this weekend so I made this. It's an unashamedly CASE-ing of one of Liz's cards, over at Pink Petticoat. But I love her designs and this colour combination (pink/mocha) so I thought I'd nick it. I don't know if you noticed, but I've used Christmas Rose for the image cos my neighbour is pregnant and it works perfectly for this occasion - but I've edited the image slightly so she's holding a cake instead of a Christmas pudding (hope you don't mind, Liz!).

The downside to all this crafting is that my body is seriously complaining. This trapped nerve is being very stubborn and I had to resort to the morphine tablets again - boo! I still can't turn my head to the side very well and the pain is often keeping me awake at night, but I had to get these things made!

So, back on the morphine again today and finishing off some invitations if I can. Hugs xxxxx

SOME AWARDS AND SOME VERY BELATED THANK YOUS

Well this working for a living thing is bit pants! I don't get much time to craft/blog/play and it is with my head hung in shame that I realised how late these thanks are!!

Firstly, I got this award from three very talented people: Sue Lesley, Barbara and a new friend, Jackie! Thank you so much for thinking of me, ladies. It is a real honour to be considered for these.

I have to pass this on to 5 blogging buddies (we'll come back to that later!) and list 5 things I'm addicted to. So here goes:

1. Cardmaking and crafting

2. Chocolate (duh, what else!)

3. Dormens' Spiced Nut and Satay Bean Mix.

4. Sunshine (I get SADS otherwise!).

5. Top Gear.

My new friend, Jackie, is an extremely talented crafter and she's also very kindly given me these two awards as well!

I have to pass these onto to 5 blogging buddies, too (we'll come back to that later, honest!). And finally, I need to say a great big thank you to my good friend, Barbara. She also gave me the Marie Antoinette award. She's had a shocking few months and it's so good to have her back in blogland in one piece. Hugs to you, Hunnybunny xxxx

So that's my grovelling... I'm sorry it's taken so long to get around to this. It doesn't help that the trapped nerve is still stuck where it shouldn't be (must be a bloke nerve - won't ask for directions LOL!) and the morphine is making me a bit left of centre...

Going to try for some crafting this weekend, so watch this space.... oh, and given that I'm rapidly approaching 15000 hits on this little ole blog, watch out for blog candy - COMING SOON!

Hugs xxxxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, better late than never! No cardage to display - sorry! just haven't had a lot of time - but wanted to send good wishes to all in Blogland.

Hope you all had a good festive celebration? We had a quiet one again. Don't do much now without Dad. But we make a bit of an effort for Lil G. We were hoping to go out for New Year's with her, but the weather was so bad we decided to stay home and watch the fireworks over at the pub.... but the weather was soooo bad they didn't have any! So we had a naughty midnight feast, turned all the lights off and watched the fireworks over the Thames on the telly!

Not much else to report, except for a trapped nerve which is really getting on my remaining nerve - drugged up on morphine most of the time, which is a hoot and much cheaper than Baileys LOL!

Will try to get some crafting done this weekend, if I'm lucky! Hugs xxxx

COUPLE OF SPECIAL THINGS FOR A COUPLE OF SPECIAL FOLKS

Managed to get a bit of time for crafting this weekend - yay! So I made these for two very special people in my life.... can't tell you who cos I haven't posted them yet! But they're CD wallets and I made them using the Pink Petticoat Little Swirls set.

I cut the card 5.1 x 10.2 inches and printed the pattern straight onto the card (bit of a cheat but hey!) in Willow and Quartz. Inside, I printed the opposite pattern, wrapped up a 5 x 5 inch card in the same solid colour and stuck it inside. Cuttlebug snowflake, with the obligatory GlamourDust!, some crystals and lovely shiny ribbon for effect.

I hope they like them! TFL xxx

THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS ...

...Nativity play! Lil G was already a bit fed up cos they were doing that "Mary and Joseph story AGAIN and we did that last year!!"
But it was fab. They all did so well and yes, there were tears.... from the parents!

There's a DVD of it coming our way, too.... Worryingly with "bonus footage"!! Not sure I want to know! Lil G was "Star #1". There was lots of singing, including a fabulous rendition of "While Shepherds Washed Their Socks By Night" (yes, really!) and some funky dancing by the shepherds, too.

Well, that's that one out the way for another year - yay! xxx

NO TIME FOR ANYTHING... BUT HERE ARE SOME CARDS!

Hi all. Done all your shopping? I have - I know! Cheated, though. None of us wants anything ('cept me, lots of craft stuff LOL!) so we've all bought each other gifts from World Vision. I've bought my friends a goat and a set of fruit trees. Confused? Well it's all from WV's MustHaveGifts. You buy them for people in Africa, etc. The goat, for example, will be used to provide milk for a family and then bred to enable the kids to go to another family... and so on. Great idea, innit?? Got school dinners for a whole year for 3 children in Africa for my other friends. Brilliant!!

Anyway, here are a few cards I've made recently:

Just got no time for anything much at the moment. Given up on the whole village shop idea cos I got offered a full-time job - what do you do, gotta pay for the craft stash somehow, eh? And I just couldn't turn down good money in the current climate. Fed up with no time to craft, though. Hope you're all well. Hugs xxx

AND MY ADVENT CALENDAR FOR LIL G

Nowhere near as exciting as hers, but I used bigger matchboxes so it holds more interesting treats! She loves it, luckily!!

xxx