Leap Year Day

First, thankyou Tassie. Will pop back to your blog for a longer read after posting this. Also added you to my list of faves.

It's been one of those weeks, first I almost get shaken out of bed by the earthquake, my Ipod battery was flat, went to use mobile phone that too was dead as a dodo..... and today - someone bumped into my car :-( The guilty party did come and tell me, and immediately offered to pay for damage. Fortunately there was no major damage, just a smallish dent and some scraped paintwork, but garage said it will cost around £200. Was annoyed, the chap reversed into me as he backed out of his drive, wounldn't mind but it is a wide road, there was no traffic, and still he manages to hit my car!

So in need of a cheer up, I fished out one of my pics of City Walks in Universal (Los Angeles), taken outside the Hard Rock cafe. Did venture in, and immediately left, the music was so LOUD - you couldn't hear yourself think, let alone hold any sort of conversation.

I did have a play with my LMC mag today, flicked thru wondering what to make... settled on a pop up card... but got myself into a tizz with it, so left it (to be finished tomorrow), then spotted the star card... so got going on that! Almost finished, just got a few more bits and bobs to put on it... did my own thing in the end, decorating wise. Had a good look at all the bits and bobs, love them! The papers are so pretty, and the die cuts are adorable. Then suddenly it was time to think about cooking dinner, Haggis, Tatties and neeps... yes I know Burns night was last month, but I forgot all about it, so made up for it today.

Got to find a present for mum tomorrow.... have made her card, tho realised today that it is missing one vital thing: Happy Mother's Day! Made a waterfall card, to spell out Mother. Want to try a waterslide card, saw them making one on C&C the other day.

Right off to do a blog catch up!

Week over

Well my working week is now over... have that lovely feeling of.... ahhhhhh. I particularly like every other Thursday, as our manager isn't around, so we can all relax.

Weather was kind as well, a lovely spring like day, quite warm. I got a new jacket, £20! Summer weight, just what I was looking for. And more bags of rosy apples from M&S, we're addicted to them at work, oh, not the 'real' rosy apples, but old fashioned sweets. I bought some last week, now everyone is hooked on them - LOL.

Before I get to pic, want to mention my determinations: to visit more blogs and leave comments, and put more links to blogs on my blog. Always nice getting comments, and I have been very remiss in not leaving any on other blogs, so I am determined to mend my ways! And sorry if I don't leave comments on cards on the CB site, in spite of all my efforts I still can't see many of the images, I can see those uploaded from flckr and other photo sites, but as for others... nowt! If someone has a blog I nip to that and see if you've put a photo on there, and if so then I do my bestest to go back and leave my comment.

Also nice to find a big white envelope on return home from work, first instalment of my prize - a years sub to LMC! I like nice suprises, and it really was a nice surprise. Hadn't seen the new issue, so it made it doubly nice. And lots of lovely goodies to play with tomorrow.

Pic is of my sister's eldest son Mike, as he now likes to be called. He was about 3 or 4 in the photos, my sister had come to visit, and so I took Mike and his sister out on to the field at the bottom of our street, Mike just ran around giggling. Then he came back and niftily plonked himself in the chair his grandmother had just vacated. He'd had a really rough time, lots of operations, he couldn't talk properly, and it was becoming clear that he would be in for a lot more ops on his jaw, and would have to have his teeth sorted out. But it never bothered him, he just carried on in his own way - making us all laugh. Just found a photo of my brother's son at his confirmation, complete with cheeky grin - looking forward to scapping that.

Thanks for the comments folks, I love reading all the blogs and viewing your fab photos.

I'm also adding more blogs to my favourites.

And the earth moved

There I was, all cosy in bed, and... oooer... wasn't sure what happened, heard a rumble, felt something... and... turned over. Then woke up again at 4 a.m., as I've been doing for the last week! So made a cup of tea, and switched on News 24 - an earthquake, oh good, that explained the anxious feelings before. No, not good about earthquake, just needed to know why I'd felt so anxious and nervous. Had similar feelings before other stuff, the tsunami, and 9/11 - feeling really on edge, not able to settle to anything and then once its happened I settle down again. A university in the USA is studying the phenomen, they say human's are capable of picking up on stuff before it happens, quite an interesting study, they started it just before the death of Princess Diana.

Must now get to pic: from the Crafting mag, Let's Go Crafting... or summat like that. Well the card is from the kit, the rest was my idea! Used my tearing ruler to get the wavy edge, drew round ruler and then cut out wavy bit, used some of the paper in the kit, then added some ribbon.... then used up some flower peel offs, easy or what! Have come up with a few ideas for some proper crafting, feeling the urge to do some more involved stuff again, but can't get going till Friday. Got full day in work tomorrow :-(

Yep, oh to be a cat... what a life, sleep, eat, sleep, eat... what's to get stressed about?

Did some gardening today, haven't got a proper garden, what we have is tarmacked, so we plonked a lot of pots with various plants on it, but they were all in need of a tidy up, and some pruning. Well I was willing, my back objected, so I ignored it and carried on. Still got to do some serious hacking to a few plants... the clematis is in need of a good cut back, but it looks much better. Gave a few of the mini bushes a haircut. Glanced at car, which is in desperate need of a wash... she'll have to wait. All the gardening made me ravenous, so made a huge stir fry.

Caught up on a bit more of C&C's craft day... they made me laugh about the sticky dots... and the unsubtle references to QVC! C&C's stuff is just not my thing, watched one demo and thought: I'd get bored making that... it must have taken a good 20 minutes, and that was just putting it together, with all the bits prepared. Too involved, think it was a book card, a card with 3 other cards attached. Having said that think what really put me off it was that it was just too gaudy for me. Liked the lady demonstrating it, she seemed like a real laugh a minute type.

another day another dollar...

Only way to look at work is as a means towards an end. in other words, it fills up my bank account. It is always worse when you get a new member of staff, they are all eager, keen to learn, while you are fed up, disenchanted and wish to tell them to get out while they can!

To Snooz button... the adorable Boston, in sleep mode! I love how cats sleep, they just - sleep! Ever seen a cat toss and turn.... nooo, they are just too laid back, horizontal in fact. The frame round photo was a serendipity moment! Hated it in its original colour, so attempted to paint it, but it didn't like the paint and rejected it, so what to do? Paper it! The mini paper pad I picked up for less than half price is sure coming in handy. The colours go so well with the cat scrap kit. Again it was a case of less is more, not a lot really you can to with an 8x8 album, you have to keep it simple.

Just indulged in some QVC watching, they had a 3 hour craft show today, all scrapbooking, and where was I? At work! Sods law... last week I was off and nothing on QVC craft wise, this week I'm at work and... typical! But indulged in a crop-a-dile on the video page.... having far too much of a hit and miss experince with my silent setter. Almost bought another album, then remembered I have two empty albums... rest of stuff was a bit too OTT for my taste, or flowery.

Now need to go stretch out the back... it is complaining.

Dithering

The pic is one of my 'quick' cards from yesterdays crafting session, liked the sentiment! I got the epoxy flowers in a Christmas present, so yep, it was dead simple to put together. But my card stash is now sufficiently boosted, think there is now enough in there to last me a couple of months.

I do now prefer scrapbooking to card making. With scrapbooking I feel that I am 'crafting', nice to make up stuff for the pages, using the robo, or just cutting shapes, or just generally having a mess with stuff and seeing what happens. My family keep nagging me to sell my cards... they just don't get it! I just like to be creative, I don't want to be put under pressure to make cards, it would then stop being enjoyable. The only time of year I sell cards is Christmas, partly to raise funds to buy more stuff and partly for charity. But it does become a chore. So I'm glad I started scrapbooking, something my family don't really understand, and fortunately none see how I could earn any money from it, not that I want to.

I am dithering over whether to apply for a new job... half filled in the application form. Problem is the job is full time, I don't want (or need) to work full time, all my friends say to apply, and if I get it, work full time for a few months then turn it into a job share... dunno, stuff like that doesn't always work out. I'd still be working in libraries, but as a reference librarian, so less involved with thugs and yobs! Got a week to send in the form... will keep dithering!

Finally got a reply from graphtec, and with it another licence file... I uninstalled DM! Can I be bothered to try again? I'm not impressed with the service, true I did get an apology, but no reference to my polite 'rant'. But not sure I can be bothered to go thru it all again, or see why it has to be so complicated. Hey ho... I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Sloooow Sunday

Just had one of those slow days... weather was grungy, and it was raining in the morning, so no chance of a nice walk. Off to supermarket - first gripe, idiot who undertook me at lights and raced off... only to get caught up in the heavy traffic ahead - LOL. Then blasted roadworks... do they ever, every STOP repairing/digging roads! It must be a man thing... But that particular stretch of road is dug up every few weeks, and of course you never see anyone working...

Usual moans and groans about supermarket shopping... still fail to see why some see it as a family day out! Nearly ran over one child who appeared from nowhere, a 2 year old left to run about in a busy supermarket, the mother must be nuts. But had the biggest laugh at the check out, I always take bags with me, got a nice array of bags for life, so when assistant apologised as there were no 'bag's' laughed, said no problem, got my own, and that they shouldn't be giving any bags away. No shop in Ireland will give you a bag, you must provide your own. I'm sick of seeing people stuff a couple of items in a bag then grab another one... truly wasteful. Those flimsy bags are made from oil... and there ain't a lot of oil left. So buy the 'bags for life' and keep one with you. That's my eco bit! Anti medical lot bit - stop moaning at us! You got your way with cigarettes, just knew that you would then turn to alcohol, and you have... just push off, leave us sensible drinkers alone. Besides, the worst people for drinking are junior doctors! I'm just sick of being got at, when will these people be happy? When there are no pubs, no booze anywhere, no fast food outlets... Well to upset you, I have a nice glass of red wine, and have just enjoyed a bacon buttie!

Did buy the Let's Go Crafting mag, dunno why, just fancied a treat. Some nice ideas in the mag, but oooh, what lurid coloured cards! A bit ''in your face". Got mag out, thought about making a few of the ideas and... did my own thing! Just made up some quick cards, like the 'Just A Note', a bit of vellum with music notes on it, yellow paper, plain white card and large chipboard musical note - can't get any easier. There were some ideas in the mag that I'm keen to adapt, but wasn't really in the mood for too much creativity, so stuck to simple.

Who Dunnit?

After a morning at work it was nice to get home and settle into an afternoon of scrapbooking. Have been wanting to scrap this pic since I took it last week. During my Sunday morning walk along the beach I came across this large piece of driftwood (love driftwood) which to me resembled a dismembered torso (or have I been watching TOO much CSI! LOL). Had a page of beach paper (try Kalulu for scrapbook stuff, they have some truly fab papers), tho it was a bit more 'Miami' than Vegas, oh well... tho could always get a Vegas paper.... hmmmm thanks BJ! You just gave me an idea! Well who says you can't scrap a photo twice?

This was easy peasy, cropped the photo, used one of my tearing rulers, but used a craft knife to cut thru photo. Then made the spyglass, just cut a circle from some black card, and then added the handle, next up the wording... wanted red (blood)... not enough letters in my one red set... so, adapt, used red peel off marker to colour some other lettering, then added the flip flops... well they appealed to me!

Took my cat scrapbook into work to show a colleague, she has just lost her little yorkie, I've offered to make her an exploding box of her fave doggie photos, when she is ready, she is a still a bit raw at the moment. Can identify with that, took me a while to get over losing Mufti, she had cancer of the mouth, when I took her to the vet he said that she had about six to nine months to live, there wasn't anything he could do, tho he removed a bad tooth which made her more comfortable. She gamely battled on, she was eating well and still going about her usual lazy routine, was still settling beside me on the chair for her tummy rub... then just three months later she started having problems eating, and wanted to be by herself... I knew what she was trying to tell me, that she'd had enough. I took her to the vet again, he agreed that she was now in a lot of pain and would only live for one or two weeks... he said I could take her home and bring her back on Monday, so I could have one last weekend with her. That was just too much to bear, there was no way I could take her home and endure another 48 hours of watching her suffer, and just knowing that on Monday she would... So I asked him to put her to sleep, and I stayed with her, part of me wishes I hadn't, I can still see her looking up at me as he injected her... I felt horrible. The vet was so kind, he let me stay with her for as long as I wished, no-one would rush me... I spent about five minutes with her, just stroking her. She had been my loyal, irascible, annoying and most loving companion for 16 years, always there in the morning, and impatiently waiting for me to come home from work. I paid the receptionist/nurse (who'd been in the room with me and Mufti), she is a lovely lady, loves animals... the change was 50p, that 50p piece has remained by my bedside ever since. Then I sat in my car and howled, tears just cascading down my cheeks. Mufti came to me at a very low point in my life, I'd just lost my father and two other cats, then in to my life came this little bundle of fur, so cute and oh so pretty, and she refused to give up on me. She'd also become a bit of a celebrity on a Yahoo group I belonged to, I regaled them with tales of Ms Mufti...

Oh, where was I? Oh yes, the cat scrapbook, Ms Mufti is in it, I found a few precious photos of her... they made my colleague smile, she knows I know how she feels right now, and what she is going thru. Her family keep trying to persuade her to get another dog, my advice is not to, not yet, not unless it is meant to be. As I said I'd lost two cats, Mufti arrived as a total surprise, someone had found her, he was going around trying to find who her owners where, when he got to our flat Mufti must have decided that she liked the look of the place and flew out of his arms, up our stair and landed in my lap, one minute I was reading the newspaper, next I was looking down at a little kitten! I honestly think my dad sent her, colour wise she was an amalgam of every cat we'd had as a family down the years, a bit of ginger, white, black, brown... and character wise - she was unique!

Nice memories, which have taken away the nastiness of my morning at work, well the end bit - and they are not worth mentioning, they are not worth one ounce of effort of stress or concern...
Have a nice weekend folks

Frosty sand

At last got to scrap my frosty sand pic! And once again some freebie stuff came in very handy! I used some dark blue brazzil card, then had a rummage and found some Winter paper from my Sara paper seasons book, but also some winter paper from a mag! Contemplated cutting out the snowflakes, then thought 'life is too short to stuff mushrooms', so used my compass cutter to cut round the large and small snowflakes, added a few more snowflakes with a stamp and a white brilliance stamp, dragged pad round edges of card, and across it in parts (doesn't really show on photo), then how to mount the photo, looked a bit 'nothing' all alone, so used the freebie winter paper, plus some dark blue paper, clipped the corners of photo, and card/paper. Like the 'wintertide' title, had a 'beach' feel to it, then used (at last) my chipboard set from QVC, to spell out Frosty - in the round, then Day below photo, finishing touches were some pearl gems, and a definition of Winter. Only took me two hours. Which is fast for me, usually spend far longer, mostly mulling and dithering, making cups of tea... resisting choc biscuits etc.

Now got my other unusual beach photo to scrap... hopefull tomorrow, tryinng for an Agatha Christ feel to it, which may or may not work. May employ the robo for the lettering, need an Art Deco feel to the page.

On subject of robo, 3 days and still waiting for my new DM licence, which I was told to apply for via the crafty club site, not that sure the link works. I am regretting buying DM, had I known about possible licence problems I would have saved my money. It is ridiculous, I got my new PC and then set about installing all my programs, Office, Frontpage, Adobe, Itunes... not a bit of bother, all registered and all working as they should. But with DM... forget it.. you have to jump thru hoops to get the licence, even tho I have supplied them with my receipt number etc. They told me to quote the number on the CD case, er, what number? There isn't any. Nor was there any instruction to make note of first licence number, I assumed that once I was registered that would be it, as it usually is with most programs, in fact 99.9 per cent of programs... typical then that the robo, not the easiest of beasts to get to grips with, should also prove problematical software wise.

Frankly I care not whether they send me the new licence or not, I'm saving my pennies for the new KNK program, which has no licence issues. Wish I'd gone for this in the first place and saved myself some grief. To Graphtec, people DO replace their computers, they DO from time to time have to perform full reinstalls, so why make your customers jump thru unnecessary hoops to get your software to work!

Thurzzzzday

Pic - me messing with my post/peg stamps. Wouldn't have got started with them had it not been for a reluctant stamper who bought a set at a craft fair, then started playing with them. I'd seen the stamps, but had veered away from them, looked like they were a bit 'involved', as they are, but once you start getting to grips with them they are a lot of fun. Not quite there yet, but getting there. Other bits and bobs on card came courtesy of a freebie in a mag I'd forgotten I had, just came across it in a sort out and found all these lovely garden toppers.

All that was two days ago, now I am back at work :-( Not where I want to be at all. Luckily today was quiet, no oiks, no horrible kids... well just one, but he slunk off once he was nabbed in his illegal use of using his friend's computer log on. Just tho wish to know, when did it become easy and permissable for children to lie? Some of the children I deal with lie so easily, and so blatantly it is scary. The said child is a case in point, I have lost count of the times we have caught him pretending to be someone else, yet he stands there and denies it.... then once he realises that the game is up, he just saunters off.

And then at lunch time, I felt the need for a little walk to the shopping centre, well to see if Smiths had any new craft mags. Anyway as I was sauntering thru I saw a gang of college kids, all doing the construction course judging by their dress.... but oh their language! It was disgusting, loud enough for all to hear. It made me cringe. And then two young women, nicely dressed, pretty but sadly what emanated from their mouths let them down. I do despair of young people at times, and have berated one of my nephews for using foul language. I'm no saint, I can utter a few blue words, but I would never drop such words into my every day language, I let rip when someone cuts me up on the road... Sadly far too many of our young people think that certain swear words are acceptable, and use them liberally. All it does is show how narrow your vocabulary is.

Not going to mention work, if I did well, this post would run to several pages. Suffice to say that, yes, the lunatics are now in charge of the asylum.

Need to find a new pasture to go graze in methinks. May get some crafting in tomorrow, dithering over whether to do the supermarket shop so that will leave me with Sunday free for a walk and crafting.... mmmmm - need a cuppa

It's Definitely Wednesday!

I have an affinity with Wednesdays as it was the day I was born. But didn't get my leisurely day that I promised myself. Had planned to get usual morning chores, breakfast, washing up, get papers - out of way and settle into a day of crafting.... mmmm Mum told me that there had been a gas leak at top of high street, she was worried as she was going to hairdressers for a perm, and didn't know if the buses were still able to go down high street. Well you can't leave your mum floundering... so it was a rushed morning, and I HATE being rushed in the mornings, I need time (lots of it) to come to, several cuppas, a cigarette and a shower. I have never been able to just roll out of bed, hit shower, grab cup of tea and head off to work. Nope I need a lot of 'come to' time in order to function properly, even then I work on auto pilot - well if it is a work day I do, usually on work days auto pilot mode lasts until I finish work. My boss doesn't get it, she thinks you should be all cheery and smiley in the morning... yes well she can go bury herself in her office all day and thus escape contact with the great unwashed.

Anyway, by time I'd got mum sorted, got her to hairdressers, got other stuff done it was suddenly lunchtime and not a bit of crafting had been done! Did manage to watch a bit of C&C and within 10 minutes remembered why I don't watch C&C.... Will the presenters please stop being so flaming PATRONISING! I am not an idiot, I DO NOT need things spelled out to me! I felt like hurling something at the TV. It would also help if they all learned a few more words, broadened their vocabulary... and stop saying this is 'gorgeous' all the time... Luckily a sandwich and a cuppa or two sorted me out, got me calm enough to go scrapping.

Hence pic of Boston, not my moggy, just the latest in my series of moggy scrap pages, moggy pics come courtesy of my on line friends. I asked, they sent! My late cat used to place her paws just like that, probably all cats do, always found it funny to see Mufti with her 'paws crossed' and dangling over the chair edge - just wish I'd take a pic of her at the time.

As usual the page took me all afternoon, I had high hopes of scrapping a couple more pages, but it wasn't to be. Just the one page, took a while for me (as it does) to figure out the LO. No, no use in me using plans... I am very good at making plans, then I ignore them and go with my creative flow! I just like sensing what is right, what works etc. I'm not a planner, and never will be. I have tried, honest, but it just isn't for me. I get out my stuff, get the photo, have a long mull and... take it from there. So far it seems to be working.

Oh well, freedom over, back to work... yuck, and double yuck. Do not want to go to work... hate it, need new job... but with same pay... same holidays....

What day is it?

Think I've lost the plot, couldn't remember if today was Tuesday or Wednesday, or whether I should have been in work! Since I didn't get a call from my boss asking where I was, I figured I must have got it right - it was my day off.

Took myself off for a walk, trying to walk off my sore back - tho it isn't working. Then got the old barnet chopped... what I would really like is to leave my hair at the shop, they cut it and I go back and collect it. I like my hairdresser, Bill, he does a great job, he luckily is not a chatterbox, so no inane conversation, I just get bored with the whole process, do like the hair washing bit tho, girl who does it gives a lovely head massage - and so always gets a nice tip from me!

After the bad news yesterday, got a nice card from a friend who has had a terrible time healthwise since retiring from work, it was good to hear that she is at last on the mend. I'd sent her a RAK card, we were very good mates at work, and I really miss her... Funny, all the people who were at the library when I started have left, or retired, well except for the manager and one other colleague... I do like my current work mates, but have definitely got work day blues, am truly fed up with work... got to do something.

After an amble home, via Morrisons for a bottle of wine - medicinal! Honest, red wine is good for you... Settled down to some earnest crafting, or what I call proper crafting, making a card from scratch, as seen in pic above. Found the template for it in an old magazine, so decided to have a bash. Just felt in the mood to make such a card, was really chuffed with the end result, I did adapt it, they suggested making a rosette, but I couldn't be bothered with that much faffing, so found a large flower. It did take quite a while to put together, but it was really satisfying to make - felt like a 'real' crafter. Funny that I feel more contented now that my stash is mostly in one place, and within easy reach of the kitchen... no more trying to remember where all the bits and bobs are, as in 'are they in...' or 'did I put them...' it all kind of ruined the old flow of creative juices. My plastic drawers are all now properly sorted, so I am HAPPEEEEE! Just need a second set for the scrapbook stuff - oh and to win the lottery, then I can just potter and craft. My little pipe dream... to win just enough to retire from work, buy a nice house, have a proper craft room, oh and first on list is: pay for mum to have her new hip replacement.

I hate seeing her like this, fed up and in so much pain. She won't get the op on the NHS till at least April, new financial year! Mind you had the idiotic physio not messed her around, telling her she didn't need a new hip (if I ever get hold of that phsyio.... grrrrrrr) she may well have her new hip.

Sorry, interrupted my crafting flow... ended up making four cards! Think I may have to alter the slide show, put on what I've been making recently. Will post pics of other cards during week.

One more day of freedom...

Monday Blues

Well in spite of it being another sunny day, I felt distinctly down, partly because of the hassle with Design Master, wishing now I'd not bothered buying it. I've never had such a fuss with installing a program. Went onto a well known web site for scrappers and it seems I am not alone, others have had similar problems. I'm trying my best to be nice to Graphtec, but frankly the patience is wearing thin. Also learned that you cannot sell the software if you get fed up with it, you are basically lumbered with it. I know the usual rules regarding software is that you may sell it, providing you remove it first from your own hard drive, and any licence files must be passed onto the new owner. Had I known this I wouldn't have bought DM. I've been looking at a few other programs that will work with the robo, Funtime and KNK... both are on the expensive side, but they do come with all the necessary files. In meantime I'll just cope with the ordinarly robo program.

Went for a walk and bumped into a colleague, she works at another library, but we used to be based at the same library a couple of years ago, she had bad news, her mum had died last week. Felt really sorry for her, her mum hasn't been well for sometime and also had dementia. Thought about making a sympathy card, but then saw a really nice one in Woolies with a lovely verse. Bummer

Managed a bit of crafting, but really wasn't in the mood, made my swap card for this month, the theme was 'You've passed', or congratulations on passing... was hoping to come up with something witty, but it came down to an L plate! Did have another play with my post stamps, I'm slowly getting the hang of them. Also found a magazine with a lot of freebies in it, I'd forgotten I'd bought it! There was some white card, lovely papers and some toppers. Will have a play with it all tomorrow, when I will be in a better mood! Going to get hair cut as well.

Best hit the hay, think I'll have a hot choc.

A lovely day

Had a lovely lie in, oh it was soooo warm and cosy in bed! But forced myself to get up and out. And I was rewarded, was hoping that I would get some 'frosty' pics, this one I took as I got up onto the beach, the sun had only just reached this part of the sand, but there was plenty of frost left to make for a fab photo. A bit further on I spotted an unusual piece of wood, well a tree trunk really, will post that pic tomorrow, it reminded me of a dismembered torso... too much CSI! I enjoy getting on the beach early, before too many folk are around, it's nice and peaceful. It was cold, but not windy, so I had an enjoyable amble along the beach.

Bit worried tho, as now my back is really aching, wasn't expecting it to protest this much, usually walking helps... have a sense of deja vu.... back problems looming again! Not what I want, or need. Will try another walk tomorrow and see what happens.

Rewarded myself with a bacon butty when I got in, and a nice hot cuppa, well make that two! Then I put together my new storage unit for my stash, a plastic set of drawers, but very spacious and deep. Got loads in it, all my card stock, pre cut cards, tools, chalks, brushmakers, stamps, stamp pads... was amazed at how much I got into it, and still have space. May get another set, once the housing association give us our new heating system I'll be able to store everything in the old airing cupboard, think I can fit two of these storage systems in there. Would like another to take the scrapbook stuff, then I can use my scrapbook papermania cases for ongoing projects.

Did manage some crafting, in spite of my aching back, finished off three cards, the dufex card, butterfly embossed card and hot air balloon card. Sadly the scans haven't done them justice, will try photographing them instead. Also got some more work done on an exploding box, bit of a work in progress, it is to be a retirement box for a colleague, so I want to take my time over it.

Not happy with my DM software, or the Craft robo, not sure either is installing as it should. Getting help is a long winded affair, yes I could pick up the phone, but I refuse to pay for any support, my feeling is that I paid for the software so the support should be free. So it is all down to e-mails... and graphtec is not a 24/7 company! I think the software was rushed, I am well used to installing software, and using a computer... but this program is not very user friendly. I got told to look for a serial number on the 'flash' intro.... there is no number! There is also NO number on the disc or case it came in! The person I have been dealing with at graphtec has been helpful, but it took a week to get the licence file, now the stupid program says I need to install a security device, oh please! How come my printer works fine, without the need for added security devices? And what a faff to get the licence file, sending e-mails, having to download zip files, copying them to folders... er, we are in the 21st Century! Not even Microsoft has stretched my patience this far!

Well I feel better for 'sharing'! :-))

The weekend

Oh it is nice to laze in bed, not to have to get up and got to work... I had a thoroughly lazy day. Well morning! The only thing on my 'to do' list was get some sort of storage for my stash. Nothing in the Argos catalogue took my fancy, so after lunch I toddled off to the Homebase store in Southport, it is a much bigger store than our local one. I spotted a nice sideboard/drawer set, drawers had nice compartments in them, then I spotted the price - £169! No, no, no.... went round corner to storage department, saw large set of plastic drawers, perfick, and only £24.99, they are big enough to even take the paper cutter, and deep enough to take lots of stuff. Better still when I got to the check out I got another 10% off. At last I can get all my stuff sorted, instead of it being stored in boxes, in different rooms! Makes it a real pain when I come to craft, having to gather stuff, and more so when it come to putting it all away. Oh for a craft room!

Then decided to get the dreaded supermarket shop out of the way at the Tesco superstore. I really think someone should write a thesis on supermarket shoppers, there are so many different varieties. There are those, like me who make a list, who get in and get out, and who follow a route. Then there are those who just amble around, dithering, generally getting in the way of everyone else, then the other lot who hog the entire aisle, leave their trolley parked at awkward angles so you can't get past, and who taking their time choosing whatever cheese/butter etc... reading all the darn labels! There are the families, who treat it like a bloody outing - er why? Do you seriously think your children consider a day in a supermarket to be a treat? The mum is trying to shop, the kids are choosing what they want, dad is wandering around with the trolley annoying everyone else! It was double the usual stress as the store is twice the size of my local one... oh boy was I glad to get out of there.

But no crafting today :-( Pic is of a card I made for my great nephew, he was 5 yesterday, I passd on the invite to attend his party at the fun factory.... kids and pubs do NOT mix. And after the week I'd had with kids, the last thing I needed was to spend an afternoon with 20 5 year olds. Card was easy peasy, just a set of card toppers, arranged at my own fancy, used a pale blue pearlescent card to mat and layer, then added some ribbon (my bogof bargain from Hobbycraft), and some button type brads.

Will be crafting tomorrow, got three cards to finish, plus must stash my stash in its new home. Good forecast for tomorrow, so will be off for a walk along the beach, will take camera, may get a few interesting snaps. Got a mini idea for some scrapbook stuff... a case of watch this space!

Stress Free Friday

First, thank you Cazzy! You are a real friend. I do feel a deep sense of gratitude to my cyber buddies, 'listening' to my moans and groans and always being there for me. Makes a girl feel much, much better.

Today tho was my stress free day, a morning of cleaning, amazing how therapuetic it can be, especially when you're being paid to do it. But nice sense of satisfaction of having entered a room that is dusty, in chaos, leaving it in good order. My 'lady' who I clean for is also a friend, and a very understanding one, I told her that I'd have to leave early, had to be back home by 1pm as windscreen was to be replaced sometime between 1 and 6... At 2pm windscreen man rang to say he'd be with me at 3 ish... he'd just got on the road... mmmm. Not blaming him, he's the workman, but do blame whoever it was that had overloaded him with work. He arrived just after 3 and got on with job, did offer him a cuppa, but he turned it down. Left him to it and got on with my relaxing afternoon of playing with new goodies, my new stencils and chalks, plus my dufex decoupage... still have no idea how I came to order that.

I carefully watched the supplied DVD that came with my chalking set, good thing I did as you needed to apply the chalks in a certain way. So dry embossed my flower stencil on some white pearlescent card then applied the chalks... what fun! Scan isn't doing the softeness of the chalks justice. The result just needs to be matted and layered on to a card. Half made a second card using a butterfuly corner stencil, again using the chalks, but then got stumped as to how to finish it off. Hey ho.... an idea will crop up somewhere. Think it either needs a nice flourishy Happy Birthday or Thankyou to finish it off, neither of which I have!

Then doorbell rang, windscreen man had finished, he did a great job, no mess, and so now I have a gleaming windscreen. So Lil Red, as my corsa is called, now has a new windscreen, new wing mirror, she has been serviced... so she needs to start avoiding trouble! I'm sure she has a penchant for men in grubby overalls.... I've promised her a corsa toy if she stays out of trouble. Com 'on - you've seen the ad, well the toys in the ad are available in all good Halfords shops!

Went back to my crafting, cut out a dufex decoupage of a 'ladee' and then blow me, it was time to stop, clear away and cook dinner. Ribs if you must now, with white cabbage, and spuds - delicious! Noooo, not spare ribs, ribs, as in slowly cooked in pan for an hour or so. And I am odd, as I love cabbage. Oh and sprouts, in fact any veg. Well not spinach, and can't STAND celery!

An afternoon of crafting, two glasses of wine = a chilled out al dente cassidy!

Got another parcel of goodies!

Just what I needed, a lovely suprise waiting for me when I got home - a parcel of goodies. What I like is that I can never remember what I've ordered, so it is like opening a present! I did recall ordering the vellum butterflies, and the CD of card verses, and yes the card toppers, and yep the corner stencil (another butterfly) and the flower stencil but... could not remember ordering the sheets of dufex decoupage.... why would I order that, not my thing.... checked my order, and yep, I did order it! Oh well, guess I'll have to figure out what to do with it.

Watched my DVD on how to use my new set of chalks, discovered some useful tips for scrapbooking. Also realised what I'd been doing wrong during my mini play with the chalks, I'd not loaded the brush properly. There are lots of other ideas on the DVD as well.

It was a nice way to end a stressful day/week. Even my laid back colleague flipped when the kids once again started messing about, and it takes a lot to make him lose his temper. One kid was whizzing about on those stupid wheelie shoes... not giving any thought for anyone else, we have a lot of elderly customers, some have poor vision, the last thing they need is some silly brat whizzing around. Felt very sorry for a little girl, she'd come in with her mum and new baby sister, the mother was totally besotted with the baby, and ignored her young daughter who was crying out for some simple attention. We did our best, giving her colouring sheets and chatting to her, looking at the books she brought up for us to see... but it really tugged at my heart when she asked if one of us could read her a story... we simply didn't have enough staff, I said her mum would read to her, she then said: my mum never reads to me. The mother, baby, little girl plus 'father' returned a few hours later, this time both parents ignored both children while they spent time in chatrooms! GRRRRRRRR. I chose not to have children because I liked being unfettered, knew that I had neither the time or patience to devote to a child, I love all of my nephews and nieces to bits, and enjoyed spending time with them when they were very young, but was happy to hand them back to their parents. In fact spending time with them made me more aware of the huge responsibility you have as a parent, and how much time a child needs. Then I see these stupid bits of kids getting pregnant, and it is okay while the child is still in the cute baby stage, but once it gets to four... it is ignored, shoved aside, left to its own devices. Little wonder they play up in shops, libraries, mess around, it is their way of saying: I want attention, I want someone to value me.

And how about this for an OTT reaction? Outside our library there are some cycle racks, at lunch time someone spotted two youths attempting to hacksaw their way thru a chain (holding bike to rack), someone rang police... not one, not two, not three, not four... but FIVE police cars/vans descended to arrest these youths. Yet when we call the police about unruly youths in our area we get told that no-one can respond! Mmmm, it occured to me that the OTT response was due to the incident being in a very public space, outside a library, Job Centre and busy shopping centre. Perhaps the police would like to take note, that we'd feel more reassured if they'd respond to calls in poor areas, and nip in the bud the anti social behaviour being displayed by youths before it takes hold.

I was on my way back from lunch when I spotted all the action, my first thought was that something had happened in the libray, and yikes: I was the one in charge of it! I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I found it had nothing to do with us.

No pics today, no crafting. But now off till next Thursday, so hopefully there'll be lots of pics to share.... even some dufex stuff - what the heck do you do with it?

Feel as tho the 'Gods' are against me!

Had a horrible week. Had a hollow laugh at my horoscope that said I would be faced with many challenges this week - yeah, tell me about it. As usual we were understaffed at work, our boss seems impervious to the stress her staff are under and how it is affecting us all. We are supposed to have a minimum of 3 staff, this week we've had two plus the boss, who we can't count as she busies herself either doing her own mountain of paper work, or needless stuff. The end result is that us two staff start to crumble, we have five terminals on our counter, 3 phones, our average footfall per day is around 850 - far too much for two people to manage.

It is also half term, that means kids, and most are horrible. We do try our best to be reasonable with them, we ask them to do their best to behave, or at least not mess around too much. But this week they seemed intent on causing in mayhem, one came within an inch of being thumped by another customer (a normally mild mannered chap - and who later apologised to us for losing his temper). I was rather glad that he has lost his rag with them, cos they all legged it. I could have cheerfully thumped the lot of them. I would dearly have loved to have dragged in the idiot manager who had devised the challenging behaviour course, and let her put her theories to the test. Silly cow. I and my colleague tried various methods, including talking calmly to the ring leader attempting to appeal to his better nature, but he was intent on causing mischief, he is a spoilt brat - whatever the latest fashion is, he has it the moment it hits the shops, fancy trainers, fancy phone etc, he is 10 years old, and probably rules the roost at home. Over indulged, over spoilt and in my library... But the worst part is, our boss, who is at the best of times reluctant to exert any authority over any miscreant, and who invariably buries herself in her office at times of trouble. I told her we were having trouble, all but spelt it out in capital letters that I needed her to come out of her office and exert her authority... did she, did she heck. So I ended up stressed out, upset and fed up, feeling like I just wanted to hand in my resignation. I damn well would if I could. The icing on the cake was ... finding that my windscreen had been cracked, probably by a football... whose daft idea was it to sell heavy footballs to kids? I'd like to sue him. That meant a phone call to my insurance, arranging for a repair, and of course paying the excess. Grrrrrrrrr

Feel free to moan at me - but when exactly did children take over the world, when where they put at the centre of the universe? I feel sorry for most of them, they are barely literate, cannot think for themselves, are fast becoming used to getting their own way that when they do reach adulthood it is a shock to their system, suddenly they told they must conform, put up with it, get on with it... that life is not so comfy or tailored to their needs. The animal kingdom knows exactly how to bring up its offspring... pity we humans don't take lessons from them.

Moan over...

Pic - a card for friend, birthday card. It was part experiment, I used a stencil and the embossing paste to make the image, then I replaced the stencil, dabbed over it with a clear versamark pad, and then added enamel powder, and er, crossed fingers.... yeah it worked! I then cut out the image, took a plain oval aperture card, mounted image on pale blue pearlescent card, added ribbon - done. One teensy problem - made bow separately, and could I get it to stick onto ribbon? No... tried everything, silicon glue, sticky dots, doublesided sticky tape... what stuck it - super glue!

Got one more day at work, I say 'day' cos who knows how long I will last.... Probably make it till tea break... but if one horrible kid plays up.... he may find himself taking a flying exit out of the library.

A sunny monday

I love this country, the weather is crazy! Two weeks ago it was freezing cold, snowy etc, now it is balmy, sunny and more like a spring day!

Today was: delivery day! New kitchen table and chairs were coming. I cleaned kitchen, living room and my bedroom, then dismantled old kitchen table, brother was supposed to be helping.... mmmm no sign, so I got out the saw and finished off the legs of the table. Packed lot into car and headed for recycling centre where a nice chap gave me a hand to tip stuff into skip.

Dunno why, possibly it was the nice chap at recycling centre, or the sunny day, but on drive back home I suddenly thought: I just want to potter. Don't want to have to go to work, just want to potter my way thru days, do my crafting, go for walks, just potter. Got home to find Argos van parked outside flat... 3 large flat packs were carried inside... mentally prepared myself for a long afternoon/week... had lunch, then opened first flat pack... JOY! Alls I had to do was attach legs to table.... chairs were a bit more involved, but only a little, so by 3.30 I had a table and four chairs. Back was complaining like mad, but while I could still move I got rid of the cardboard, more recycling... it is hard work being green! I was too tired, too sore and too stiff to think of doing any crafting, even tho I really need to finish a card. But I don't like crafting when I am tired, that's when I make mistakes. On upside new table and all chairs fitted into kitchen, leaving nice space behind settee, where one of the old set of chairs had sat for years.... Fab, at last I can buy something to store all the craft stuff! Some of it is stored in a plastic crate in living room, along with various other boxes, all containing either stamps, ink pads etc, plus tool box... I'd really been longing for something more permanent. Dunno whether to get a little cupboard, or small bureau.... have to ponder.

Pic - is of my half finished humming bird card. I used my new stencil along with the snow white embossing paste, easy peasy, just stick down stencil with low tac masking tape, apply paste, remove stencil and leave to dry, how easy is that! And you get a brilliant result. You can paint it, or as I've tried, use enamel powder on it - which gives a fantastic glossy result. Or you can mix the paste with poster paint. Going to finish off the card by mounting the image in an oval aperture card. Will try painting it next time, but just like it as it is this time round, used some blue pearlescent card, gives it a wedgewood look.

I'm building back up my stash nicely now, it was rather depleted. I like having a good range of cards, never know when you need a RAK card or something. Nice to just dip in and find what you want. Must tho build up the birthday cards...

Work tomorrow... :-(( YUK. Worse it is half term... library will be full of kids... double YUK. Most are okay, but there are exceptions, and it the exceptions I take exception to. Those who have no manners, are crude, rude and generally yobbish... and utterly selfish, like those we had last week, 12 going on 30, or so they thought... heading for big trouble at some point, and thinking it oh so clever to use crude language. My colleague was dealing with them, I was just back up, funny how it was my look of disgust that had more effect, big yob used a few more swear words but then got frustrated when we didn't react, instead we just gave her pitying looks. And no-one moan about them not having much to do, there is plenty for them to do if they would just engage their brain, they choose to be bored.

Well all that to look forward to tomorrow! I really would just like to go potter!

A pea souper

Ever flung opened the curtains and wondered: where did the world go? It was like that here this morning, I'd heard the fog horn going, so knew it was foggy, just didn't realise HOW foggy. We had about 20 yards visibility on the road, so how come most drivers didn't have their lights switched on? How do these people manage with just two brain cells? Had a severe 'grrrrr' moment, in fact a very severe 'grrrrr' moment in the supermarket, when I came close to spitting the dummuy and wrenching the phone which appeared to be welded to a male idiot. He was at the tobacco counter, phone welded to ear, not taking a blind bit of notice of sales assistant who had already told him how much his purchases had come to, four times she tried, finally - before us 3 customers keel hauled him, she shouted at him. Why do people do that? Why are some people slaves to their phones? It rings and they just HAVE to answer it... why? 9 times out of 10 it is a trivial call, and if it is important they will ring back. I now refuse to serve anyone who is conducting a mobile phone conversation... I left one woman to it a few weeks ago, then she had the temerity to tap loudly on the counter to get my attention.... I just looked at her, she tried to make an issue out of the fact that I'd walked away. I told her I wasn't paid enough to put up with rudeness... She was gobsmacked.

I do have a mobile phone, it is for emergencies only, a pay as you go.... and most of the time it is switched off. I have survived this long without a mobile.... I am frankly sick of them and the utterly naff ring tones.... the naffer it is the more stupid you look. As for using them while driving - are you thick, do you have a death wish? Someone nearly crashed into me in a car park, he was too engrossed in his mobile phone conversation to be bothered to notice what was happening around him... oh and I was on foot. I banged on his damn bonnet, he swore at me, I swore at him and then refused to move. So he was stuck, another woman joined me and was in sympathy with me, as was the grumpy old man who passed by... all in all idiot was outnumbered by us outraged types.

and then there is my crafting... ! Had happy afternoon playing with my new stash. I used my new cat stamp, see pic! Just kept it simple, inked it with a black ink pad, stamped onto pale blue pearlescent card, then used the enamel powder. First time I had used the powder, so wasn't sure what to expect, but loved the effect, really glossy and detailed. I just added a few more layers, some more pearlescent card and mirri card, that was enough. Glad now I went for that stamp, there were quite a few moggy stamps to choose from, most quite comical... but I like this one. Made two more cards, dry embossed a stencil, of a humming bird, then used the embossing paste on it, will post pics during the week. Also used the embossing paste for a birthday card, but then decided to experiment, once the paste had dried I reapplied the stencil, then dabbed a clear versamark pad over the image, then sprinkled over the enamel powder, got a lovey deep effect.... then cut out image... my intention is to make it look like Wedgewood... halfway there. Also used my bogof rolls of ribbon, it is nice to use, crimped, and in nice pastel shades. Oh and had a play with my post stamps, need a bit more practice, but enjoyed having a dabble.

Award for plonker of the week goes too: the wally in the van, on the A565, whose exhaust was hanging by a thread, and rather than pull over and tie up exhaust, or pull it off, decided to crawl along with four way flashers going, at 15 miles an hour, at midday.... causing a mile long tail back of traffic, already struggling with heavy fog.... You were an absolute idiot, I just hope you were spotted by a police car and got what you deserved.

What a difference the sun makes

Woke to find the sun shining... makes such a difference. Especially after last week when it hailed, rained and tried to snow. I had one task to do... fit the new wing mirror to car. I've had the new wing mirror for 3 weeks, got car manual from work (work in library!), read instructions.... yeah been here before, manual saying how 'easy' it is - NOT. So with a sense of trepidation, manual, tools and new mirror I set forth... and well, it was easy. It was (for once) just like it said: remove cover, prise off cover from door, locate 3 holding nuts, unscrew, remove old mirror, and reverse instructions... by some miracle it all went smoothly. I was truly chuffed with myself. I actually can do more car stuff, could if I wanted and cared to, service the car... I was a driver in the army and they teach you all that stuff. I'm okay at paint jobs, and minor stuff, but there is always that bit/stuff that just needs a mechanic, or rather a workshop. Still at at last car now had two working mirrors, as opposed to one working mirror and one gaffer taped mirror. And if that idiot who likes kicking mirrors off should come near my car... it will be the last thing he does on this earth! We have such an idiot, tho I think he has been frightened off, not by me, but by a nice lady who scared the pants off him when he tried to attack a car in our street... think we may have seen the last of him. That lady kindly knocked on our door to warn me that he was about, and told me who he is, and that (incredibly) she and a few others have reported him to the police, but police refuse to do anything, they say he has 'mental' problems - er, so? He is damaging property, and at same time placing himself at risk, at risk that is of a thumping from someone. Be a different matter if I lived in the posh part of town, then the police would act...

Anyway, decided to take car for a tootle. As I still had some Hobbycraft vouchers left over I drove to Chester. For the first time I managed to get to Hobbycraft without making a wrong turn! The retail park it is situated on is not clearly signposted. Personally I would like to get hold of those responsible for signposting places (by the throat) and point out their OBVIOUS mistakes... Even managed to find a space near the shop! And then off to have a splurge, let's just say I had £60 to spend, if I wished! I didn't think I would actually buy much, I never seem to find what I want in Hobbycraft, they're also on the expensive side. But one hour later I had managed to spend £50. I got: set of post stamps, pack of dual tone pearlescent card, card toppers, ink pads, lovely humming bird stencil, peel offs, scrapbook mat pad, a bogof deal on some pretty ribbons, cat stamp, oval aperture cards plus rub on alphabet set. Did toy with getting more perfect pearls - but price put me off £15.99! You got to be kidding! I've seen same sets at 9.99. Best bit was getting to till.... I'd earned five pounds off my purchases!

Only one thing annoyed me.... on way in I heard a small child crying, a really distressed cry, then spotted mum, followed by truly distressed child. The mother was laughing! Hey! The poor tot was really distressed, she wanted her mum, but this stupid mother found it funny. I nearly blew a gasket. The tot was not having a tantrum, the tears and screams were for real. From somewhere the father appeared, he seemed as upset as I was, and quickly scooped up the little girl. My thoughts were: that Dad and child could havd stayed at home, happy, while mum went off to shop in peace. Why do people drag very small children around shops? My mum would leave us lot at home, either with our aunt/friend/neighbour, so she could shop in peace, and have some well earend time to herself. I just do NOT see the point of dragging little children around shops, they get bored, get tired/hungry, are fed up... and scared. I can remember as a very young child being taken by my mum to get some clothes, she took me to the city, we had to get into a very crowded lift, I felt very frightened and screamed my head off. My mum blamed herself, and she admitted that it had taken a long time for me to calm down, it also put me off getting into a lift for years.

Aside from that upsetting episode, it was a nice day - I hope that little girl is now safely tucked in bed and that her mother does some serious growing up.

But having got to Hobbycraft safely of course it had to go wrong on return journey, and it did, took wrong turn off badly signposted roundabout.... ended up tootling along a windy road, which I knew would eventually lead me back to motorway. One thing really irked me, the denial of Liverpool! All the way back to motorway I saw signs for Runcorn and Manchester, but not Liverpool... they really are a bunch of snobs over the water!

Will be trying out all my new goodies tomorrow.... can't wait

Yeah tis the weekend!

Bliss, four days off. Really wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep this morning, sadly my 'other' job beckoned, so had to drag myself out of bed. Uggh. But not too bad, at least in my cleaning job I feel valued and respected. But brain was most certainly not in gear, left house drove to house I clean, reached into pocket.... no key!

I enjoy cleaning, well that is doing cleaning for someone else. Sounds daft, but there is a sense of satisfaction in restoring order. I only get the same urge at home every couple of months, then I go bonkers, some need to put things back where they belong. Not that I am a slob, I have to tidy up after each craft session, having no dedicated craft space forces me to be tidy and organised - well only before and after the session, the between bit is chaotic!

I had to make a get well card, and a birthday card... got both done okay, one is done, other is still a work in progress, but did dally with the idea of making a trapeze card. Bought the kit from QVC last year - not one of my best buys. Got same result today - yuck. Think it will be heading for ebay.

Pic - my get well card for a friend on a craft group. Doesn't look like much, scan hasn't done it justice! Just took an aperture card, some sticky jewels, bit of acetate, and some peel offs... sticky gems are really pretty - you can rearrange them, but I'm not that brave.

Other card I was working on is a birthday card, but not yet finished. But did find a good use for some very thin pearlescent prescored cards that I bought by mistake. They are perfect for dry embossing. Don't like them as they are, too thin for me - size wise.... thought at the time I bought them that they were A5! That will teach me to look closer at what I am buying.

Head is bubbling with ideas right now, so a case of transferring what is in my head to card or scrapbooking.

I'm cream crackered

My day has been lonnnnng, started work at 9.a.m., and ended at 6 p.m. In between that boss when bonkes rearranging stuff, which meant moving piles of books, washing down shelves, fitting in other stuff she wanted doing yesterday... plus the small matter of serving customers. The icing on the the cake were the 3 foul mouthed young girls who sauntered in quite late, they immediately began swearing, messing around, so they got thrown out. Not literally, but oh boy is it tempting to get them by the scruff of the neck and just fling them out into the street.

So have aching back, sore feet and a yearning to never go back to work! The marzipan on the cake was being given a health survey to fill in, sent by our idiotic bosses, I took one look at it, got as far as: do you take skimmed milk, full fat milk or semi skimmed in your tea coffee and.... wrote on it 'Mind your own flaming business' stuffed it back in envelope and posted it back to them. I do not live to work, I work to live, my employers do not own me, my duty to them is only when I am at work, once I leave that building that is it. Our cleaner, who cleans quite a few of the offices said that most had either done what I had, or ripped it up and chucked it.

Anyway to craft stuff... the card. It is a bit of LMC and a bit of other stuff. I loved the flowers that came with one issue of LMC, they were so delicate, then I bought 5 books of A4 vellum from QVC... the flowers went perfectly with the vellum with circles, I used a yellow card, and attached the vellum with some pretty brads. I do remember making this card, I was just starting to get to grips with matting and layering, or at least managing to get it all in the right place - as in the centre. I'd just invested in a small paper cutter, that certainly made life easier, my new paper cutter has much improved my cutting, at least now the edges are straight, squares are squares!

There is something really cheering about the colour yellow, it was tho snaffled by a friend at work who'd been pestering me to bring in some cards, so I did and she then proceeded to buy 20 from me.

Was somehow prompted to give up something for Lent, did consider chocolate, but I don't eat much of it anyway, butter, again I don't have it on bread... so what to give up? Procrastinating! I've had my robo for quite a few months now and have barely got to grips with it, want to do much more with photoshop. But I found myself torn between learning how to use both and wanting to just craft... but learning how to use both properly will benefit my scrapbooking. So end of procrastinating, hopefully by Easter I will know my robo a bit better, and will be getting more out of photoshop.

that makes 3 days of sunshine

It's been lovely waking up to find a blue sky, well okay, almost blue, but with the sun shining. So refreshing after last weeks terrible weather.

Got to work to find my boss in 'de-clutter' mode... this happens every 3 months or so, we know as we started to keep a diary. Had a feeling she was itching to have a go at 'our' desk, 'our' as in me and the other senior types desk, we are all slobbish, the desk is a mess... but that is how we like it and we can manage it. Sadly it drives our boss nuts, and every 3 months it gets to her! Only difference is that this time she included us in the de-clutter, normally she just de-clutters it! Luckily boss was almost at the end of her shift as I started mine, so didn't have to put up with too much lecturing on the tidying up stuff.

Photo - this is a card I made quite some time ago, a swap challenge card. Fairies was the theme... wasn't sure what to do till I remembered my See D's collection of stamps, it had some fairies on it! I stamped the images onto some blue card, used silver embossing powder, then cut roudn the image and mounted then with 3 D foam, onto some lovely star vellum... then found I had a stamp with a dictionary definiation of a Fairy, so stamped and heat embossed that, cut round it, put some black card behind the vellum, a few brads, blue card... finishing touch of some silver cord... and that lovely feeling when you know you've met the challenge!

Now got another one to meet... as usual I have some ideas, all of which I know I will either forget/ignore/contemplate and then ignore. Weeks will pass, deadline will be looming and... from somewhere a card will appear.

I know I shouldn't, but I do feel dissatisfied with my card making, think I really do need a shake up and a real challenge. Was flicking thru some scrapbook magazines and felt a bit down... thinking 'why didn't I think of that?' Got to sit myself down with the robo and Adobe and get to it.

Determination for this month: stop procrastinating and get on with it!

I wish tho I could split myself in two, one half of me to go off and do what I need to do with the robo/photoshop, the other half to sit contentedly crafting. But on friday I am spending the afternoon with the robo, me and it are going to produce things, and I'm going to do the same with photo shop, put the idea I have in my head on paper! Get it all cut out, and then go craft it.

One more day at work... a day spent with boss in de-cluttering mode... mmm could be a long day!

A much better day

First, apologies to the taggers, I had a long think about it, realised that those whose blogs I've got on my site have already been tagged... and, as I said got a lot on my plate right now. My mum needs a hip operation, and so I am chief cook and bottle washer. Today I cleaned the oven, did the ironing, did some shopping... finally sat down at 2pm to watch QVC craft show, and did some crafting!

I don't seem able to catch up with myself at the moment, so just want to come here and just blog. Plus visit the other blogs to see what you're all up to, and see the photos, as I can't see them on the CB forum. Could on the old forum, but not on the new one! Don't think I'm the only one either.

Had some fun making my nephew's birthday card, which was immediately snaffled by mum! And that's why I've just been scouring cardcraft plus for other boy stuff, found a great racing car topper kit. I had intended to make a pop up card, but couldn't quite figure it out, think I'll have to go and search for a template. So did some tearing, and cutting, and put on some digger vehicles, he is car mad. Then made a get well card for a friend, next cut out an exploding box, just been doing some dry embossing to go on the inside of it, just now need my new chalk kit to come! Also treated myself to a few other bits, some stencils, sentiments CD (getting tired of trawling the net for sentiments), some gorgeous vellum butterflies - can't resist butterflies!

I've been dithering about buying the TSV, then checked my scrapbook stuff, can't really justify another album. Then thought about buying nice alphabet set, then turned to the robo and designed my own. All in all a much better craft day, everything at least turned out as it should do!

Only the lunchtime shift to get thru tomorrow, back to more ironing - did a pile of laundry today! If it were down to me I'd just iron stuff as I needed it, but that drives mum mad, so if I leave it she'll try to do it and end up in a lot of pain, plus she'll end up doing her impression of a statue as she stiffens up.

Muddling Mondsay - and please no tagging

Ever had one of those days when you wish ought to have stayed in bed? I did, actually all us staff at the library felt the same. After exchanging notes we discovered we'd all woken up early, had just managed to drift back into the land of nod only for our alarms to go off... My boss stepped into her shower switched it on and... nothing. Meanwhile I was not even 3 quarters awake, yet having to get stuff done that my mum can no longer manage (only cos she is in dire need of a hip replacement), trying to get myself ready for work, make packed lunch, dash to corner shop for milk and papers... finally get to head off to work only to find that the car needed de-icing. Got to work, five minutes late, found boss was only just ahead of me, but not happy as she'd not had a shower, was having a bad hair day... and no sign of other colleague... Boss and I managed to half get our acts together to get the library ready for the great unwashed... I made mistake counting cash, boss dropped table... boss recounted cash, I rescued table. Other colleague staggered in, she had been waiting 45 mins for a bus, had hurt her shoulder... off she went to make a much needed cuppa for us all... we heard an anguised cry - NO MILK! So we glared at junior member of staff who had just pitched up, he took the hint and dashed out to get the milk. Junior member of staff had over done it with his new Wii console, and had a sore shoulder.

Just as we were gratefully sipping our cuppas, we got a phone call from hubby of now retired member of staff, she'd undergone emergency surgery for a serious neck injury - which the NHS had ignored for 12 months, fobbing her off with useless physio and cortisone injections. She'd paid for a private consult, consultant ordered a scan and, took one look at scan results and booked her in for emergency surgery.

We all thought: what else can go wrong? Well it was a case of what ever could go wrong, did go wrong. Plus lots of ultra thick customers who couldn't log onto computers, only cos they weren't punching in the right numbers. I mean it isn't rocket science.... all they have to do is type in their library card number, plus pin number. One extremely thick woman had tried to log on to 3 computers, so I took her card, and logged her on first go... She does the same thing every flaming time!

Then at 2.30 I ask chap if I can help him and what does he say: I got a canal boat, where do you want it? Hey, what - canal boat? Er.... luckily he meant a model canal boat, tho was a huge model, all 12 foot of it! More ultra thick customers.... next one that books a flight with Easy Jet and then comes over and asks where their e-mail from Easy Jet is will be punched! These dumbos think that Easy Jet and the like send the e-mails to the library.... er.... how do they survive on two brain cells.... Same goes for those who set up an e-mail account, and ignoring advice from Yahoo or whoever, plus us, fail to write down the pertinent details, of account name and password... then try to blame us cos they can't access their e-mail account. I flatly refuse to help them, our rule is: you have to know how to use the PC, if not, then go away. We have neither the time or sufficient staff to nursemaid anyone thru setting up an e-mail account or on how to surf the internet.

And sadly, I don't have the time or inclination to participate in the tagging thing. Sorry, not my thing. I should have said 'not to tag' me. Please don't, as I don't have the time to take part in those sorts of things.

I'm happy to include links to other blogs, I will pick them up from the CB site. All I ask is that you reciprocate.

Sorry don't mean to be a party pooper, but I am caring for my mum, working and caring for my own bad back. Hope you understand

Not a happy crafter :-((

Just posted a bit about my unhappy crafting day. Well bits of it were okay, managed another page of my cat scrapbook. Chose Boston, think the photo my friend sent me is fab, Boston has a very haughty look about him! The green card came from the Do Crafts goody bag, cut out the paw prints from another piece of card in the scrap kit, added those wiggly brackets, and then chose to use some black chipboard letters. Wanted to tear the green card, but it was too tough to tear with the tearing ruler, so I just drew the wobbly line and cut along it. Also used my paper cutter to clip all the corners so they were rounded off.

So that was a happy craft, as was the next bit, I opened up the goody bag to see what else was in it and found four lovely embossed cards. They were all different, chose one with two blanks, surrounded by flowers, put some sticky diamond shapes on the blank bits, then chalked over the embossed flowers, next I accented the flowers with some teeny tiny sticky pearls. So two successful bits of crafting... I was on a roll... or was I?

Wrong, picked up another of the cards, it had a blank oval in the middle, perfect I thought for some stencilling using the embossing paste. My hat lady stencil fitted the bill nicely, applying the paste went like a dream, no smudges, smooth as a baby's bottom, left it to dry then reapplied the stencil and blacked in the image with a brush marker pen. It looked good, but I felt it needed a touch of glossy accent, hadn't used mine in quite a while, unbunged it, but the bottle must have split at some point, I just managed to start adding it when I noticed it had dripped over the wrong part of the card... could I save it? Nooooo, it was beyond repair. A lot of chuntering and muttering! Usually I can manage a salvage job, but not this time, the blobs of unwanted glossy accent had fallen in the wrong place, half on and half off the embossing paste, so the black leached into the oval, a horrible sludgy grey! I chucked the bottle out.

Did realise tho that I need a good set of chalks, set I have is pretty useless, I just got them to 'have a try', rather than fork out for the more expensive set. Also need some more stencils. Since I wasn't bankrupted by the MOT I shall being indulgent and get some!

I'm really ticked off!

Thanks Cazzy for tagging me... I'll do the tagging tomorrow, think I have the gist of it, but think also that those in my favourites have already been tagged, will have to find a few more victims ;-))

And then the sun shone

What a whacky week weatherwise, sleet, hail, wind (boy was it windy), freezing cold and today... a lovely sunny day, even the wind had disappeared.

Grumble: The Range. Since my local Craft Central was forced to close by our infinitely stupid council, I don't have a decent craft shop. There are craft shops, Paper Mill in Liverpool, but it hasn't got a good selection of craft stuff, and even less scrapbook wise, another independent shop in Southport, lovely owner, but you have to really search hard to find stuff, that is after you've done battle getting past the three swingers holding the peel offs placed not so conveniently by the door! I'm sure she is contravening DDA rules. The owner is a lovely lady, very helpful, just wish she would sort out the layout of her shop, it is a mish mash, stuff all over the place, you really have to ferret to find things. Then there is the Range, which used to have a decent range of craft stuff, but no longer. I was hard pushed to find anything. I had hoped to find some zoo animal peel offs or die cuts, they had nothing, well except for a really babyish set, which my oh so grown up 5 year old great nephew would NOT have appreciated. There were also five people standing in one aisle, blocking it, they were not looking at the stock, but simply chatting, me and another lady both tut tutted, nothing annoys me more than when people just block an aisle like that. I had to push my way past, I was polite, had said excuse me but the great oaf just carried on chatting to his mate while their wives conducted a separate conversation further down the aisle. So I got rude and barged my way thru! I did wonder why I'd just bothered to drive 12 miles... all for nothing. Well okay I came home with: spare blades for craft knife, some nice white silky emobossed card, good bag, some peel offs, and a chipboard set of shapes.

Latest pic is Sam, I posted a photo of his paw the other night. A couple of people have remarked on how I cut the photo, I did with the help of photo shop, I used the cookie cutter to give a star shape, then just cut it out. Dunno where I got the idea to crazily mat and layer the orange and green, plus photo, actually they sort of slipped, and I thought... mmm I like that. I added a few faux chipboard buttons and then a rub on paw print. Oh that was something I looked for in The Range, a paw print stamp... all they had was the same range of stamps they've had for the last 2 years!

Not a happy Saturday, in fact a discontented Saturday... will make up for it tomorow, exploding box, few pages of scrapping... and persuade robo to cut animal shapes...

Brrrrr - it's soooo cold!

Another stormy night, but it wasn't the wind howling that disturbed me, but someone's gate banging! Why can't people be a)more thoughtful and b) more aware - as in when a gale is blowing make sure that your gate is properly shut!

The banging gate woke me at 5 a.m, couldn't get back to sleep so made some tea and toast, and then fell into a deep sleep, woke up at 8.30 - had to be at my cleaning job at 9.30! I am not one of those people who can just roll out of bed and go off to work, I need time to wake up and get my brain in gear. I wasn't too late, not that it matters if I am a little bit late. It is a very sad house, with mother and daughter both coping with grief, double grief for the daughter who has lost both her grandmother and good friend in the space of four weeks. Had chat to daughter, then to mother later, both are exhausted emotionally... hope the year begins to improve for them both.

Latest pic is of Mattie, when she a very cute kitten, not sure what she was looking at so intently! Kittens are so amusing, I remember my own cat Mufti once spotting her reflection in the living room window, she must have jumped (vertically, all four paws leaving shelf at same time) a good foot into the air. And boy was she funny when it snowed, I lifted her up onto the window ledge to see the really thick snowflakes coming down, she at first tried to catch them, was looking up as if trying to figure out where this white stuff was coming from, then off she jumps and goes to kitchen, jumps on on window ledge, yep white stuff is coming down past that window, off to my bedroom, same thing: looking to see if the white stuff was coming down, off to small bedroom.... finally off she goes to front door, so I opens it and she tentatively steps outside, quickly withdrawing her paw when she realised how cold it was. Then suddenly she jumped out into the garden, looking up to the sky, totally baffled! I look back now and think: if only I'd taken a picture! She had the most expressive face.

Managed to do two scrap book pages! Excelled myself. Will put up pic of other page tomorrow. Think tho the robo will be pressed into action for more lettering, they are so stingy with it in these kits! No complaints with the paper, all of it coordinates beautifully, it has realliy been well thought out. Will need to get some orange and green card, for the lettering, plus maybe a few more bits and bobs. Depends on whether I wake up to find it has snowed during the night, so far we've just had hail and sleet, but the forecast has said it will snow!