I've gone Scrap Mad

Well who has been a busy girl these last few days, I HAVE. I think I've almost caught right up with my scrapping. I had two cj's outstanding, but yahoo, have done them both.

Both are Love / Hate CJ's, first one was to be based on what you love / hate about scrapbooking and is below for you all to see.

Second one was a free for all, you could pick anything, well I had already been using a pack of the brilliant American Crafts papers and decided to stick with them, (something I saw Kirsty do at the Luxurious Angels retreat - she played the whole weekend with a pack of Dasher and made some lovely layouts that where not at all Christmas related), so I copied her, cause I'm a copycat and away I went with one pack of paper.

I've actually managed to do two layouts, a CJ entry and I'm halfway through a starbook as well, so the pack is now almost finished.

Sorry I digress, back to the CJ's, as I was saying the second one was a free for all, so I chose Christmas trees and how I love how they look when all Twinkling and Bright (pic of tree decorated is actually Heathers and not mine)I manged to make this by creating a spiral which you open up to reveal the pics underneath. It was a nightmare to make, I thought it would take me an hour or so, but no, three hours later and with some help from Heather, downloading a template for me I was finished.
I also did the BOM Prompt for January and uploaded that to UKS today, this one has to include the word 'YOU' and either some gold in the layout or at least 4 pattern papers.

Gerry took these pics of me on Christmas day with my new camera and the quality is amazing, I love my new camera so much, might have to take some lessons off Gerry though for how to use it, seen as he did so well. It does not show up well on the pic, but everything was edged with a gold Krylon pen.

Next I did a layout of the family that was taken a few years ago at our nephews christening.

And lastly I did a lovely layout of my God-Daughter Natascha, she now lives in Canada, but her Dad sends us pics on a regular basis and I chat on MSN to her nearly every day, here she is, my little Snow Angel.

So I now have a few DT things to do, but then thats me, fully upto date, yahoo, took a while but I got there, I was so glad of these last few days and the opportunity to scrap.

Today I spent with the amazingly funny Heather, I love going over to her house for play time, the kids all tried to drag me off to show me there toys, and play etc, but no, not today, today we where both on a mission to finish off CJ's and projects and amazingly we where both productive as you can see from my lot above. I had a lovely day, we chatted, we sat in silence, we laughed, we ate we scrapped, what more could a girl ask for.

News from home, Gerry has the dreaded Man Flu, I swear to god we will have to take him to hospital soon for admission into intensive care, or at least you would think so, with the amount of groaning and moaning he is doing.

Ben is completely absorbed in his Xbox, I know its not good to let them sit in front of the TV for hours on end, but you know what, its his holiday season as well, and come next week, when he is back at school, he will be back to normal service's, so I'm gonna let him enjoy it whilst he can.

Joke of the Day:

One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their P.J.'s, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers thrown all about the front yard. The door to his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess.A lamp had been knocked over, and a throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, Breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand lay piled up by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and other piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried that she might be ill, or worse!!He found her lounging into the bedroom, still in her pajamas, reading a novel.She smiled, looked up at him and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"She again smiled and answered, "you know everyday when you come home from work and ask me what in the world did I do today?""Yes", he replied reluctantly.She answered, "We'll, today I didn't do it!!"

OK, think I've given you enough to last a week in this post, so I'm off now to see what havoc I can cause in the house. Take care of yourselves, kissy wissy's to you all. xxx

So Relaxed

I am so loving this break over the Christmas season. We have done nothing, yes thats right, nothing, Me and Ben have not even left the house, we have stayed in and vegged out and we are loving it.

Ben is loving his Xbox, its so funny to watch him play it, he gets really engrossed in it. I tried yesterday to have a shot of it, but can't make my people walk in a straight line, so not a chance of defending them whilst they are under attack, hee hee, Ben quickly took the controller back off me.

I've spent my time reading books, napping, eating, eating, eating and then some more eating and napping. We have watched movies, gobbled up sweeties and played games together, and all this in our PJ's.

It really has been a magical time for us as a family.

Gerry has spent some of his time playing with his Boys Toys and he is so happy and content as well, yesterday he said he could quite happily spend his life living like this, no stress, no worries, just happiness.

Now I'm itching to get some scrapbooking done, so today, I'm off to get dressed into real clothes and am planning a few days of play for myself. Anybody out there who fancies some scrapping time, come on over and we can create wonderful layouts together.

I'll leave you with a pic of Ben playing his Xbox, taken with my new fabby wabby camera.

and a bad shot of me. Kissy wissy's to you all xxx

joke of the day:

Why are hairdressers so well paid?

Because they have lots of fringe benefits.

OMG Look what I got for Christmas

I GOT A CANON EOS 400D, YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I have no idea what the hell to do with it, was very very scared to take it out of the box, but in the end I did, I played around, took pics of the family and I love it, still have no idea what the hell to do with it. But come Feb 07 I will. I'm off on a one day course to be run by the super talented Miss Kirsty Wiseman (she is actually a Mrs but don't want to make her sound to old, mwahahahahahahah). I'm also off to find courses at my local college to see if they can teach me how to use this bad boy.

Gerry and Ben surprised me with it, after we had opened all our presents yesterday. I was already over the moon with what I had received, A tripod and a camera rucksack to hold all the necessary equipment, once I had saved up enough to actually buy myself one. Was hoping to receive money for the next few years for Christmas's and Birthday's. But now, look at me, honestly you won't believe how excited I was and still am. I think I actually scared Ben, with my excitment, I was bouncing around hugging them none stop for a few hours.

The day went brilliantly, Ben got his XBox 360 and adores it, so funny to watch him talking to his friends over the headset. Gerry got his boys toys and is as happy as a pig in muck, playing with them, and trevor, made a pig of himself all day with treats and grub, as did we all actually.

Today is clean out drawers day, not that kind drawers, but the kind you put clothes in, Ben and Gerry got so many, they have no room to fit any of the new ones in, so out with the old and in with the new.

I sincerely hope you all had a great day, and I can't wait to hear what you all received.

Merry Christmas

xxx. Kissy wissy's to you all.

Joke of the Day:

Q. Why does Santa go down the chimney on Christmas rather than through the door?

A. Because it soot’s him!

Christmas Mayham

Just got a quick moment to say hello to you all out there in Blogger land.

Gerry and Ben have quickly ran to the shops, typical, christmas eve and the boys have gone shopping. I've just finished making the Sorbet for tomorrow.

We have finally put a tree up, we were not going to bother this year as the house is in such a state with the damp, but today I sorted out the dining room and we decided to put it up in there. Not all three layers as that makes it so big, so we just used the top two layers, and stood it on a small table, it actually looks lovely in the dining room this year, probably the nicest its ever been, I'll take some pics later when I can find where I've put my camera.

I hope you all get your hearts desire this christmas and that you have a great time with whoever you choice to spend Christmas with.

We are staying home this year, just the three of us, and all of us are so looking forward to the chill time we are gonna have. Anybody is welcome to drop by for a christmas drinky poo and a mince pie.

Merry Christmas to you all.

I want to be a tree

I so want to live in the forest. I've just come back from the most magical weekend away in Blanefield. 20 minutes outside of Glasgow and we where in a forest, driving up a dirt track to get to Dawns Farm, and oh my God, I loved it, real log fires, romantic four poster beds, lots of lovely bubbly, great food and brilliant company. I'm so relaxed right now, that I can't even get stressed about Ben having no uniform for tomorrow.

We spent the night talking away till the wee hours of this morning, and what a morning we woke up to, sun was shining, air was fresh, rabbits and chickens where freely roaming and all was well with the world.

We had a hearty breakfast and then off we went for a ramble. We trundled through puddles, over streams, through the woods and generally had a fun time, chasing the kids, the kids chasing the dog and the adults rambling on ten to the dozen.

Whilst on the walk, Alan showed us this massive beech tree, and three of us stood around it arms outstretched to see if three people could actually hug it, and YES we did, so chuffed with outselves, silly, but fun and that was what the whole weekend was about, silly fun.

After our walk, I jumped back into bed and had the most amazing nap I've had in ages, then it was up, quick play with the kids, whilst Alan (dawns amazing hubby) chopped logs, - - that man is mother earth in male form. He knew every bird, deer, rabbit, frog, toad, toadstools, mushrooms, trees, plants - basically everything about animals and their surrounds. I could quite literally sit and listen to him all day long, he is a wealth of information and you sit captivated to him and his voice.

Ben had a ball with Dawn's children, they had a den in one of the outbuildings with a TV and Xbox and regardless of the cold, they spent hours outside playing, even football in the dark. And oh my is it dark, its so strange to be plunged into darkness like that, no street lights, no buildings nearby, just forest and sky, amazing, the stars you see in the nights sky are so bright. I obviously kept nipping out to have a cigarette and I got all that beauty to myself.

Dawn has lent me this most amazing book, I'll share it or at least some of it with you later in the week, at the moment I want to hog it all to myself, but honestly if your anything like me, you will all love it.

Anyway, that was my weekend, how was your's what did you all get upto, I know lots of you visit my blog, so please take a moment and leave me a comment.

Take care of yourselves, kissy wissy's

Joke of the day: A teacher said to her student, "Billy, if both of your parents were born in 1967, how old are they now?"After a few moments, Billy answered, "It depends.""It depends on what?" she asked."It depends on whether you ask my father or my mother."

Fantastic Day

Today some of my girlfriends came over so we could have a day to ourselves, we spent the morning scrapping, went for an amazing lunch at Carrigans the pub across the road from me and then back to scrapping. Not that I did much scrapping, I was on a mission to make my Christmas cards, and managed to make almost 30, still another 30 to go, but now I'm on a roll I'm hoping to rattle these out tonight and tomorrow.

We did exchanging of Christmas gifts and I got the most amazing presents of Angela, (she let me open them, only cause she was desperate to open hers, hee hee). I got a lovely Willow Tree Angel ornament, which I had actually looked at for Angela as well, but had decided against it at the last minute, so spooky, that we are so tuned into each others wavelengths. I also got some No. 7 Products, think she is trying to tell me to wear more slap, cheeky mare, and a fantastic pack of crate papers, plus a Sudoku book and some lovely green tea, I so love green tea, so that will be gone before Christmas arrives probably.

One thing we never did today was take any pictures, which is not like us, but actually it was really nice just to sit there and enjoy each others company and to catch up with each others news.

Girls I love you all so much, thank you for one of the most enjoyable days I've had in a long time. Lets make this a regular thing for us all.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should go to my works night out, they are all going for a meal and I've said I might join them for a drink afterwards, but that would mean having to clear away all my craft stuff and have a bath and get glammed up, but the weather is so horrible I'm not sure I can be bothered. Far to lazy I know, but it's that time of year when you just want to stay in all cosy and warm.

I've still a few Christmas presents to make, I had planned to do them today, but the cards where far more important as they need to go in the post tomorrow if they are to have any chance of reaching their destinations.

OK, need to go and print out labels and write the cards out, plus finish the rest off, so I'll leave you with Joke of the Day.

Take care of yourselves and kissy wissy's to you all.

Joke of the Day:
Two guys are in a car. The driver comes to a stoplight and goes right through it. His friend says, " What are you doing." The driver says, " Its ok my brother does it all the time." They come up to another stoplight and they go right through. His friend says, “You are out of your mind.” The driver says, “Its ok my brother does it all the time.” They come up to a green light and he stops. His friend says, “Its green, go.” Driver says, I can’t my brother might be coming!

What a weekend

Wow, what a weekend I just had, it was great. Got to spend loads of time with Gerry, something we don't get to do alot of and spent the time away from home.

We flew down to Heathrow on Saturday afternoon after dropping Ben and the dog off at Angela's. Hired a car and off we went into deepest darkest Hampshire. I managed to make my hair appointment and was not disappointed, the girl did a lovely job of making it all curly, pic below. Then off to the hotel for a quick drink, before a nice hot bath and into party gear.

I wore my beautiful Ralph Lauren dress, but OMG, was it tight, had to keep getting Gerry to nip out of the room with me, so he could undo it, so I could breathe for a moment.

Party was good fun, food was great, drinks where expensive, oh well you can't have it all. Had a very very very late night, a lovely long lie and a full tucker breakfast, then back to the airport for our flight home.

It was lovely, I really enjoyed the time away from home, I even managed to complete an album on the flight down, ok, it was a cheats album, one of the SEI Scrapbooks in a hour, Kirsty got me hooked on them, when I snuck into one of her classes at Bonanza this year. Anyway, I did the album for Anne for part of her xmas box, she is having a lovely new house built and her DH has taken pics of the footings going in, so I'll pop these into the book to start her off and she can add the rest as it goes on, then Viola she will have a lovely book to remind her of the house being built.

Busy week planned this week, spent last night over at Angela's making layouts for a project she is working on, all will be revealed soon, hee hee.

Tonight I'm planning on wrapping all the xmas pressys up, so I'll be nicely wrapped up in cellotape and gift wrap come the end of the evening.

Have a few DT projects to work on this week and must at some point start on my xmas cards and get them in the post before its too late. I still have three xmas pressy's to make as well, which will involve getting the sewing machine out, but I might save them for Friday as some of the girls are coming over and we are gonna have a craft day and our xmas lunch together, yahoo.

Anyway, presents won't wrap themselves, so I'm off, see you later.

no joke of the day today, but wanted to share this with you, this is what one of my mad friends sent me the other day.

My dear friends,

Somewhat embarrassing to admit, I'm not getting an annual bonus and Christmas is tight this year. I will be making bedroom slippers for you all as gifts. Please let me know your sizes. You'll most likely agree that it's a splendid idea, and should you wish to do the same, I've included the instructions below:

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads (knicker stickers in male language): You need four maxi pads to make a pair.

Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.
The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.
Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.

Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers (this is
most aesthetically appealing), etc. These slippers are:
* Soft and Hygienic
* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh
* No more bending over to mop up spills
* Disposable and biodegradable

* Environmentally safe
*Three convenient sizes: Regular, Light and Get out the Sand Bags.
I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you can see the nifty slippers for yourself.... Awaiting your response. It's crucial that I get the right size for each one of you.

I can't wait to receive my pair, hee hee

Kissy Wissy's to you all xxxxx

My Talented Son

Ben has just come home from School, with his first ever thing he has made in Tech class, and I wanted to share it with you all. its a O's and X's game, he still has to add the O's and X's but I love it.

He has started a letter rack today and tells me its for me, I can't wait to get that one when he finishes it, and I'll let you all see the results of that when its completed.

I'm so proud of him, he actually hates arts and crafts, but plays along because he knows how much I love it, but he has a real talent for tech and he has been busy drawing sketches, and plans for all sorts of wonderful ideas that he has.

i'm sure you will all agree, a great first make from Ben, yahoo, you go son, toot toot.

Its Nearly Christmas

and I think I'm finally almost very certainly ready for it, that is expect for the presents I've still to make, along with greeting cards, food shopping, decorating the house, wrapping presents, etc. Oh how the hell am I trying to kid, I'm no where near ready.

Now don't get me wrong, I have actually bought all the presents I needed to buy, I have all the cash sitting her for all the cash presents we are sending, but I honestly don't feel in the christmas spirit.

Maybe its due to the fact that every day at work, I take card orders, process them, count them and distribute them, or maybe its down to the fact that its rammed down our necks at every possible opportunity by advertisers and shop owners. I don't know why, but I'm not looking forward to it.

I do know that once it arrives I'll love it, I'll rise to the occasion and become fully absorbed in it, but at the moment, I simply can't be bothered. Bah humbug and all that.

Anyway enough of me rambling on, oh that reminds me, I'm working on a project just now, and I'm gonna call it rambling, hee hee, all will be revealed soon, hee hee.

This weekend we have Gerry's office Party to attend, and I'm so looking forward to an excuse to dress up. I have the most stunning dress to wear, its full length, gold Ralph Lauren and I'm gonna look like a princess, yahoo. now just need to sort out my hair and face, nobody say anything about miracles.

Now for fun stuff, have just spent the last five minutes playing with photoshop, as instructed by Kirsty on her blog and here are the mad results of me playing with Distort. should be useful for scaring everyone.

No joke of the day today, as these pics are so funny, I love the horny one, and the fish eye one makes me look chubby, hee hee.

Have a brilliant weekend, and I hope your Christmas plans are going better than mine.

Kissy Wissy's

xxx

I'm now a fully fledged Brownie

Yes that's right, this weekend I made my promise and completed my first task, and now I'm a fully fledged Brownie, hee hee.

The girls where all over for a crop at my house on Saturday and Elin and Heather are both leaders with the Brownies and said I had done such a wonderful job of being a hostess that if I made a formal invitation, and my promise I could be a brownie. Well any of you who know me well, will know I love a challenge, so off I went and made an invitation for them, did my promise and low and behold they gave me a badge and a certificate there and then.

What a brilliant time we had though, I made soup, the girls brought treats and we ended up sitting at the dining table gossiping to two hours, not much scrapping done, but a good time was had by all.

Had a brilliant time with Janet, and she loved meeting everyone. We swapped our xmas presents before she left, I was so pleased with what I managed to get for her, but I can't say as she occassionaly reads my blog, so no clues here for you Nut. hee hee.

I feel like I'm coming down with the cold, all achey and sniffy, so forgive me if I don't update on a regular basis, I'll be under my quilt hiding.

Joke of the Day comes from Clair, thanks for that one, made me laugh so hard thought I was gonna pee my pants.

A woman pregnant with triplets was walking down the street when a
masked robber ran out of a bank and shot her three times in the stomach.
Luckily the babies were OK. The surgeon decided to leave the bullets in
because it was too risky to operate. She gave birth to two healthy daughters
and a healthy son.

All was fine for 16 years, and then one daughter walked into the
room in tears. "What's wrong?" asked the mother.
I was taking a tinkle and this bullet came out," replied the daughter.
The mother told her it was OK and explained what happened 16 years ago.

About a week later the second daughter walked into the room in tears.
Mom, I was taking a tinkle and this bullet came out." Again the mother
told her not to worry and explained what happened 16 years ago.

A week later her son walked into the room in tears. "it's OK,"
said the Mom, "I know what happened. You were taking a tinkle and a bullet
came out."
No," said the boy,
"I was playing with myself and I shot the dog."

Next Prompt is up

Next BOM prompt is up on UKS, here is the link Kirsty came up with the prompt for this month and it is 'If I Didn't' and you have to use Green on the Layout, here is mine for you all to see.

Been a busy bee over the last few days, Janet has arrived for the weekend, so prior to her coming, mad cleaning frenzy took place and clearout. Today we went xmas shopping, but I ended up spending more on myself, hee hee, love those days. We scrapped till late into the night last night and looks like we are gonna be doing the same again tonight.

Tomorrow the girls are all coming over for a crop at my house, will be really good to see them all again as seems ages since I have actually seen some of them. Have made a huge pan of Lentil and Veggie soup and a Curried Almond Soup, yum yum, Janet is going to make muffins tomorrow first thing and then its scrapping all day, or crapping as I call, as everything I make is crap, mwahahahhahaha.

OK, best go, trying to kill 3 birds with one stone, need to make something for a Kraft Stop Design Team, so have decided to make a Flip Book and also use it as a piece for a magazine article and a gift for my godchildren, smart or what.

OMG, I almost forgot, I have now launched my new book, go and check out the Lippy Chick website and see all about the new Flop book, it bloody brilliant if I do say so myself. hee hee. The Design Team have done me proud, I love those girls to pieces, only have the galleries up for Heather and Tracie at the moment, but after the weekend, when Heather has kindly photographed all the other books for me, I should have them up for the rest of the girls as well.

OK, I'm been rude to my guest, so have to go, take care,

Kissy Wissy's xxx

Joke of the day:

A famous art collector is walking through the city when he notices a mangy cat lapping milk from a saucer in the doorway of a store and he does a double-take. He recognizes that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable, so he walks casually into the store and offers to buy the cat for two dollars. The storeowner replies, "I'm sorry, but the cat isn't for sale. The collector says, "Please, I need a hungry cat around the house to catch mice. I'll pay you twenty dollars for that cat." And the owner says "Sold," and hands over the cat. The collector continues, "Hey, for the twenty bucks I wonder if you could throw in that old saucer. The cat's used to it and it'll save me from having to get a dish." And the owner says, "Sorry buddy, but that's my lucky saucer. So far this week I've sold sixty-eight cats."