cake anyone.....?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, forgive me whilst I tuck in to some yummy treats I made for the family yesterday. My victoria sponge packed with strawberry jam and buttercream, mmmmmmmmm.

And here is the yummiest, gooeist, most delicious chocolate brownie, packed with dark, white and milk chocolate and walnuts (oh and I have another of these without nuts for those of you who are allergy sufferers!)

so if your passing pop in for a cuppa and a piece of cake, your more than welcome!

Cricut serenade

Ok so this was my naughtyness the other day, I saw this over on Karens blog and fell in love, well who wouldnt, cutesy little birdie cages, flutterby's and pretty things...

so I had to have it, I scoured the net looking for it, and believe me it took hous, no one had it in stock, then I found it cute and crafty had it £44.99, so it whipped itself into my cart and paypal did its thing! So off I went surfing some more looking for the sweet treats cart - yes am into anything sweet at the mo. When alas I went to cutting edge crafts to find this little baby £10.00 cheaper, so I rang cute and crafty - thank you so much nice man - and cancelled my order and purchased from cutting egde, which left me with a handy £10 extra to spend on other bits!!!!!

So here it is in all its glory, had to hide it from hubby though, pain in the neck that they sent it recorded, couldnt really hide that, I am however a little miffed with QVC Im still waiting for my Martha Stewart punches, if they arrive sometime in the next hour I will be laughing, if not then Im in trouble as hubby will be home! please, please please let them arrive while he is out!

Gramps is still in hopsital so I made him a card to send to nan for valentines day, hope you like it.

We have found out that the hospital wants to release him but that he will have to go into some form of care home, not a problem you would think, but of course there is my nan too, she really needs more care than she gets, so we are ready to fight, we want them to go into the same home, we arent convinced though that they both need the same type of care, let battle commence - us against HCC!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Are you ready for valentines day????

I am finally, I was blog hopping earlier and saw a similar card, but Im sorry I can't remember the blog I was on!!! Anyway I love using buttons so thought that this was perfect, I used some Jillibeans cold raspberry paper - fresh mint as the background as Im loving kraft papers at the moment and some glittery black thickers for the' be mine'. Buttons are from my stash!



I hope that he likes it, we have decided that we arent buying any pressies etc as we need to conserve our cash incase he doesnt find a job soon, however I decided to treat myself and am now awaiting my martha stewart punch set that was this weeks tsv and a rather scrummy new cricut cart, oh and some new dies for my cuttlebug, but shhhhhhhhhh dont tell him that!

A fantastic week...

well in the life of a trainee teacher anyhow, have had the most amazing lessons and the kids have been fantastic this week! Which makes a change as after last week I was beginning to think that I should change career completely!

Last week wasnt a good week anyway, Steve was made redundant and that in itself has been a shock! Who know what he will do until he finds something, we shall see!

Anyhow here is a little card I made for a colleague at work who turns 50 on monday, she has seen it so its ok to post it on here! Happy Birthday Helen!

Claires Weekly Challenge - Docrafts

I decided that this week I would have a go at Claires challenge, thought that Id get ahead and think of some for Easter!

Here is my card, made using the Papermania Hugs and Honey paper collection.

Another goody bag card!

So here is another casuple collection card and again I used my scrummy new stamps! This is my fav out of the 3 I've made from the goody bag so far! Hope you like it!

Papermania, capsule collection goody bag!

So I was having a go with that fab new goody bag from docrafts and my new stamps and came up with these few cards - there is one more that I need to add so will get around to that later! Hope you like them!

Using my yummy new hero arts heart flourish stamp, colorbox chalk inks, bazzill cardstock, anitas card blanks, and everything else from the goody bag!

This were made using my new inkadinkadoo cat stamps, they are so lovely! The yellow cardstock is bazzill, colorbox chalk inkpads and the rest is all from the goody bag!

Stash Haul update!!!!!

Ok, so I have stopped scrapping for a while, just because I get so little time to scrap and cardmaking has sort of come to the forefront as I can generally make a card in 15/20 mins and thats about all the spare time I ever! So what I should also have added to the stash haul last night was:

Brenda Pinnick scrap keeper album
Brenda Pinnick card keeper
QVC's multi technique kit - bit I got mine from readicut for £19.99 - bargain - QVC want about £35.00 for it!
A pack of 50 square cards
Black PM adhesive stone
Subscription to crafts beautiful magazine - which if you do subscribe to you will recieve a PM hugs and honey kit, which is worthwhile even if you only decide to subscribe to for the 3 months direct debit - £8.45!

So I admit, Im a stash-o-holic and that stash ban I put on my spending at the beginning of the month has made my spending worse, so I now have no stash ban and hopefully will stop buying cos I dont feel that I need to! Lol! SO here are some of the cards that I have made with the qvc kit aready, just some simple decoupage but effective nonetheless.

New stash, yum, yum, yum!

Hellooooooooooooo out there, its been a whole week, and the week has been tough but fun! I started my 60% teaching placement, which Im loving!!!! Can't wait to get back to work on monday, if it wasnt for all the paperwor and planning that went with it I would have my idea of a dream job!

So this week to cheer myself up Ive been bashing the credit card, and now am wondering whether that was the right thing to do, Im sure the ladies over on DoCrafts will agree it was!

So my stash haul for this week includes:

Inkadinado stamps - the cutest cats and some loverly birdie werdie stamps!
Mr Men and Little Miss Paper and Embellies - yes I know these came out last year, but Im desperate for some man stuff, and Mr Men are right up my street!
Bam pop hello bot and bonjour bot stamps
Kaisercraft seals stamps - fabby stamps that are just perfect on the back of a mini album or in a scrapbook!
A very expensive set of hero arts card message stamps - which were more than I would normally dream of paying for stamps!!!
Some disney mickey mouse clear stamps - my ebay bargain!
Hero Arts wooden heart flourish stamp that I saw in crafts beautiful magazine and fell in love with!
2 glitter pot exclusive forever friends stamps
Stamps Away owl stamp
Cuttlebug scallop nesting squares dies

So here is just some of my new haul!

and then today I went and got even more....
I bought the Docrafts goody bag, which has the papermania capsule selection in it, now for me this was strange, I do not like yellow one bit, and sooooooo rarely craft with it, but I was intriuged, so bought it, have to say some of the papers, not my style, but I have sat and made several cards with it already and Im loving it!

So what do you get then?????
A pack of A4 yellow capsule paper
2 packs of the cutest, dinkiest buttons one in plain colours and the other in spots (I want more of these gorg little things, yes Suebubbles your button crush has worn off onto me!)
a pack of ribbon bows that co-ordinate with~
A pack of 4 ribbon spools each with 1m of delish ribbons on
A little flower box filled with flowers, brads of differing sizes, gems and other bits and bobs
Pack of flowers,
Square gem stones - love these!
An exclusive daisy and dandelion stamp - little rabbit holding flowers, perfect for easter cards
A scrapbook 12x12 wallet to hold page kits

I think thats about it, sorry if I have missed anything out!

Will be back later with some pics of the gorg cards I have made using my new cat and flourish stamp and capsule collection!

3 more days...

till my baby hits the big '5' years old! How old do I feel now then! Tonight we went party bag shopping, so Im feeling a bit more relaxed, I was getting panicky that I had nothing ready, but now I at least have fillers for birthday bags, we have paper plates and pink napkins too!

Lottie has a horse in a stable cake, from tesco, she is sooooooooooo horse mad its unbelieveable, but we have bought a very pink sparkly fairy cake from M&S for her to have at the nursing home with my her great nan on sunday after the party, we thought that it would be a treat for Great Granny to share a slice of cake with her!

Hopefully we will get to see great grandad too if there is a chance and take him a piece, however he isnt doing too well, we really need him out of there, but to be honest, even if he does come out, we arent sure whether he will go home, he has given up, isnt interested in life at all which is such a shame as he was always such a proud man, shirt and tie man, and now he is a slip of his old self.

Work is tiring, Im shattered at the moment and all I have done is lovingly opened and stroked my card keeper and my scrap keeper albums, Im really pleased with them ,but just havent the time to play. Monday sees the start of my 60% placement and although I know Im going to enjoy it, the thought of all those detailed lesson plans fills me with dread! Ive completed 2 out of 10! Need to make sure that i get the topic planned for monday, thats the most important! So friday night will be spent writing lesson plans and more lesson plans! Am going to try and make sure that I do not do any owkr on sunday though, as thats Lotties special day!

Anyhows Im off for the night, prob be asleep in about 20 mins Im that exhausted, being back at work and the emotional strain is knocking me for six, still they do say, what doesnt kill you will make you stronger, so I guess thats what is happening here!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Glad to be back...

at work! Well why wouldnt I, I have the best job ever, Im a trainee teacher, getting paid to train, in a fab school, with some fab kids!

Yesterday was a bad day for me, and too for my local hospital, they received the wrath of me and my folks. I got very upset when I went to see gramps yesterday, slumped in his chair,with no falsies, no glasses and no hearing aid in. He couldnt even talk to me without his teeth in. They had been left on his tray and looked disgusting! The fact that he is incontinent (he wasnt before he went in there!) was my biggest issue though. I couldnt believe how undignified he was sitting there in something he shouldnt have been sitting in. If its no good for a baby, then its certainly no good for a 90 year old man!

Degrading and humiliating I call it. Anyway I had stroppy words with the staff and walked off crying in dispare at their treatment of him. Needless to say my mum rang and complained, and lo and behold when my other half went back in the evening, he was clean and fresh. I felt so bad for him. My gramps is a proud man, a shirt and tie man, even at 90 and he was sitting there in horrid peach hospital issue pj's that werent even done up properly. Disgraceful. Doesn't surprise me really after the awful treatment I recieved when i had Lottie, but not a comfort either.

Mum has spoken to nan's social worker who confirmed that the ward he is on, she isnt surprised that my grandad is in that condition, we have asked for him to be moved to another hospital when he goes into rehab.

That aside, I got my new photo printer software uploaded this morning so Im hoping that I can have a play in a bit and print me off some pics to scrap - no snowy ones for me though, I havent taken any, I hate the cold!!!!!

My brenda Pinnick scrap keeper album and card keeper albums came yesterday so have been busily unpacking them and hiding them so hubby doesnt see!!!!!!! Shhhhhhh dont tell him!

Isn't this so cute....

Its the new hugs and honey range from docrafts, isnt it gorg! What a perfect way to start out usinng it on a new baby card, congrats to Katie and Chris and their new arrival Holly!

Ive used the 8x8 paper stack, and the owl stamps for the sentiment. Flowers, ribbons and button from stash.

Sorting out

Finally I have gotten round to organising my crafting space, been a while since I said I was going to do it and I was hoping that Steve would sort me some shelves out for xmas, bt alas no avail! So I went to argos and bought some pine shelves and here they are, laiden with all my goodies!


So I bought 2 sets, one to sit on top of the desk and the other sits at the side!

So on the desk I have my clear stamps and pads in the totes on the top shelves and my adhesives in the other. On the next shelf are my card blanks for card making and flower box as well as my odd bits and bobs that I dont really know what to do with! The next shelf down has my tins of primas I got in the states, love them! My tubs of buttons and all of my cats eye queue ink pads, which I have totally fallen in love with recently! The bottom shelf baskets house my basket of beloved pro markers, 6x6 pads and basket of tools!

My second set of shelves is my punching/die cutting shelves, it has all of my nesting punches on the top shelf, next down my cricut carts, the next shelf my manual die cutters and on the bottom shelf my cricut!

Finally, my paper store and bits and bobs rack still sit on top of my dolls house, I never use this doll house, but I cant get rid of it for some reason, I guess having lovingly built it and decorated it I see it as my first home! Probably the least tidiest part of the room now! Am awaiting some more cropper hopper paper stores though to put the rest of my scrapagogo kits into!

Good job you cant see the rest of the room cos there is still loads more stuff under the bed and all around the room, but it does look tidier now!

Another snow day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or for me, a sitting around in the warm day. Steve is back today, but Lottie is not, so no peace and quite there then!

Not much to tell really, have been looking at wedding invites for a colleague at work, she now has a few ideas which is good so I can get cracking on producing some samples for her so Im scouring the net now for bits and peices that I might be able to use!

Anyway off to make some breckie and hopefully today Ill get my photo printer set up too!

Snow day!!!!

Well for the kids it was, for me it was uni work, now where is the fairness in that!!!!!!!!! Anyhow we are meant to be doing a group presentation thingy, which is very hard over the internet, but we are slowly putting stuff together.

So yesterday the snow did a fall, well it started tuesday evening while we were out visiting grandad, who by the way looks a lot worse than when he went into hospital - our NHS does our proud doesnt it! Well you have to feel sorry for him, he is in a bay on his own, and there is no tv or anything about for him to do, no wonder he is looking fed up and with still no sign of coming out Im surprised he hasnt gone stir crazy in there!

Last night I did a bit of crafting, I found some freebie papers from scrapbook magazine - must have been last easters edition - and made some cards, used some papermania elements sticker and lots of glitter and flock - which made bucket loads of mess, but hey ho! Felt a bit more human by doing that, I need to add some sentiments to them and inserts then I can pop them in my card box which is looking very empty!

Right off to find my new photo printer (my xmas pressie) and try and set it up, only had it nearly 2 weeks, but never mind!

Happy New Year!

The new year always sees double celebrations, as its my mum's birthday, this year she was 60! Despite gramps still being in hosptial and they still dont really know whats happening with him we did have mum's 60th birthday. We all dressed up (yes even me!) in some fabby 60's gear - pics to follow and had a pretty good night!

I was the one that wrecked it by saying, 'they spelt your name wrong on your cake mum are you gonna complain' to which I was told to shut up and it didnt matter! Im just someone that likes it all fine and dandy, thats all.

Anyhow not much more to tell except that its back to work tomorrow, so Im busy getting sorting that out, am hoping to take down the tree tonight, but not sure that it is going to happen, I did do the xmas card recycling today though!

When can I go back to work?????

Christmas this year hasnt been much fun, Gramps was rushed into hopsital xmas day, making xmas dinner and presents fade into insignificance and feel like it never even happened.

Now we ae spending time babysitting nan and none of the family are ever together at the same time. My dad has practically moved in, only coming home if there is someone to stay with my nan when he isnt, and its ripping us all apart. After a completely messed up xmas day (I know, its no ones fault) all I want is a bit of time with my folks, but no, nope, not a chance at the moment.

this weekend hasnt felt like xmas at all, I might as well have bypassed it completely and not spent any money on presents cos none of it was worth it. Lottie keeps asking me when christmas actually is, and I keep replying 'we have had it'. Somewhere along the line.

So Im hoping all of you that read my blog had a better xmas than I did and are enjoying your breaks from work, all I want is to go back to work and forget about the huge mess that wasn't xmas in our family! Selfish arent I?

It's here...

and I am the only one up! Its lovely and peaceful, sitting here with the tree lights on and the darkness. Thats the thing I love the most about Christmas, the tree lights in the dark, they give a warm glow, that is so relaxing.

Im wishing everyone out there a fabulous xmas day, filled with laughter and Christmas spirit.

Santa Claus is coming, Santa Claus is coming, he's not very far away...

and Billy and Barbara the elves are hiding out in Lotties tinsel in her bedroom (well thats the game that we are playing anyway!) They are watching for good Lotties and Bad Lotties to see whether its pressies or coal this year!

Have been and done a quick trip to sainsburys and at 7am this morning it was quite a respectable visit too, hardly anyone there so we could dawdle to our hearts content and just chill, still forgot the marie rose sauce for the prawn cocktails though!!!!! Bless mother she sorted it for me.

Right have a few more pressies to wrap and mince pies to make but Im almost on top of xmas, Steve is happily jetwashing all the snow and ice off the drive and is going to salt it too, just so we dont fall flat on our bums in the morning when we trek up to mums for dinner!

Right baking calls me, have done my cleaning and ironing and even put it away so the kitchen is saying 'make me mince pies. make mince pies!'

Things can only get better....

and they sort of did, by lunchtime Lottie had stopped being sick and then grandad babysat so grandma and I could brave Tescos, and brave is the word!!!! I had to leave my mobile for my dad in case he needed us as our home phone doesnt allow you to make calls to mobiles, so I was phoneless and believe me that was not good! Try as we may we stayed together for the first 25 minutes, then I turned round and mum was gone, I felt like a little lost kid in the middle of Disney (yes it was that bad!!!!) Eventually about 20 minutes I could stop crying and found her!!!!

The queues were about 10 deep so I raced mum and changed lanes - Yay!!!! I won!!!! through the checkout 20 minutes before her and I got to sit down the other end after I had paid as there was a seat waiting for me!

So thats it, xmas food shop done, no more, not at all, no way, anything we dont have is tough, not that I think there is anything missing the fridge is full to bursting, the freezer is stuffed full and we have more than enough booze for 10 xmas's put together, so my tasks now, to put away the 4 baskets of ironing I have just done, hoover and wash all my floors and then wrap the last remaining presents, I am also going to make some mince pies as it wouldnt be xmas without home made ones, even if steve doesnt like them!

By the way he is at the docs with suspected tonsilitus...... wonder where he got that from..... La La La La La!!!!

Oh and the cat... i think she has round worms after lots of googling!!! Have bought some tablets and if still not sorted after xmas will take her to the vets!

Merry Christmas everyone!