Monday, Monday....

Felt like I'd been triple whammied this morning, first I had to go to work, second I drew short straw and had to do the weekly cash... nightmare at the best of times, then a sneaky lot at another library had a moan about some stats...

The stats were the end of year results, plus they had our 'boost your issues' day results. Tho how we are supposed to force people to borrow books is beyond me! Our results were healthy, okay so all us staff renewed our books, but that is the only 'trick' we got up to, while others sunk as low as using tickets of dead relatives, issuing and then quickly discharging books... one library was peeved as we'd pipped them to 5th place - honest you'd think there was some huge bonus to be had the fuss they made. So someone readjusted the figures... and we got bumped down: it was war! We weren't taking that... so boss loaded gun and persuaded me to fire one of the bullets by making a phone call. Had to act all innocent about readjusted figures, then gently mentioned the other unscrupulous tricks, well a couple of them, used by other libraries... :-)) Result, new set of figures and we got back our fifth place!

Took the amusing pic yesterday, was just approaching the point where I was going to turn back and head for home when I spotted 'this' thru two sandhills... looks like a flying saucer, in fact it is our new swimming baths. It is begging to be amusingly scrapped! In fact it also gave me an idea for a scrap challenge...

Just got back from hospital, mum had to go for an echo cardiogram, or as she insists on calling it an echo scan. Her heart is still ticking and making all the right noises, and her ecg looked fine to me.

Hopefully it will be a quiet week at work, most of the children are back at school... bliss. Boss is back from hol, but she is up to her armpits in doing end of year stats. I get to finish at 1pm tomorrow, so will be home in time to watch the bibster on QVC.

A lovely day

For some reason I woke up at 2 a.m., rather make that 3 a.m. as the former is when the clocks leap forward. I used to like it when I was on nights and was on duty when the clocks moved on an hour...

Fell back asleep and came to around 7.30, so had breakfast in bed - very decadent! But then got up and at them, didn't want to miss the opportunity of a walk along the beach in the lovely sunshine. Was down on beach really early, so it was nice and quiet, well it was until one plonker decided to go razzing on his motorbike... he was riding ever closer to where the quicksand was.... sadly he just avoided it, tho he must have annoyed someone as the beach patrol came roaring down and got him! I once watched, transfixed, as a Ford Anglia drove on to the beach, think I was about 8 or 9, heard my dad say: what an idiot. Next thing the Ford Anglia has parked up, couple have got out (luckily) and are busy posing next to their new car, didn't last long as car began to sink ever so slowly... owner panicked, a few other men tried to help but it was a lost cause, car was gone - probably still there! In the end I managed a 4 mile walk, mostly due to my Ipod, had all my Carpenter's tracks on it, love Karen Carpenter's voice... liquid gold, so listening to her I just kept on plodding along till I got to Crosby! Course you do forget, that how far you walk is how far you have to walk back. So everything is now complaining. Staggered back home and made myself a well earned bacon butty, and relaxed for an hour with the sunday papers and crosswords. I am a crossword fiend, and I've also got into cryptic crosswords. I must do at least 3 crosswords a day, plus alpha puzzles. Oh forget sudoko, am rubbish at maths.... hate even thinking about it. Took a humungus effort to get my city and guilds maths certificate to get into uni, then daft tutor suggested I try for the Math GCSE... I quit after 2 months, poor brain was fried. Much prefer words, English lit/lang is my forte... could be why I did an English Lit degree!

After lunch I thought about my crafting, more cards or scrapbooking... scrapbooking won. Flicked thru the stash of photos and found this one of my mum with Joe, her great grandson, tho he is now a very grown up 4. Since photo was 'green' I went with a green theme. Used the Sarapapers Seasons book, found some plainish green paper, along with a lovely patterned one, used the latter to mat the photo, attached that with some eyelets using the cropadile. Then what... so had a rummage, found some flowers, then some leaves, then a pretty bumbly bee, and a flutterby, rummaged a bit more, found some felt flowers... stuck them all on, then added a bit of lace along to and bottom, added 'Two Peas in a Pod' and that was that, time for tea.

Oh, tea was spaghetti hoops on toast... you can't beat a junk food Sunday! Back to the healthy stuff tomorrow, tho I did have a banana, and had porridge for brekkie.

Now need a cuppa.

Oops...

It occurred to me yesterday that I was due a new debit card, given the state of our postal service I was starting to get nervous, old card runs out soon, and no sign of new card! Until that is I went thru the stash of mail that has piled up, yep, there it was... new card... then again had you seen our postie this morning you'd also have been on tenterhooks. I was doing the washing up, spotted half asleep postie try to open gate (how difficult is it to open a garden gate?), tramp up path then tramp back out, two minutes later doorbell rang, it was our downstairs neighbour, handing me my post, which postie had put thru his door! Not the first time its happened, in fact it is happening more and more, last Saturday we got our post at 4.30 pm!

Was hoping that the Beeb had got the forecast wrong, woke to sunshine and blue skies, but by 11.30 a.m sky was slate grey and the first drops of rain were falling. By time I got to supermarket to pick up mum it was lashing down - horizontally! So after lunch settled down to.. a spot of card making, remembered I'd still got two outstanding birthday cards to make. After I'd polished off those, wanted to make one more card, and to use the new stamp I got the other week...

So, chose a Jollynation pet, took one of the cards from the LGC stuff, and one of the circles, cut out the cat, then stamped onto the circle with a black versamark inkpad, sprinkled on some enamel powder and heated it up... quickest card of the afternoon. Love the expression on the cat's face, Beth Hughes is soooo talented, but it was a perfect match to what the stamp said!

Big day tomorrow, our derby match, Liverpool versus Everton, I am from the blue half of the city.... so come one EVERTON! Depending on weather, and whether or not the Beeb have got our forecast right, they actually say it is hard to give a forecast for this part of the country... er... yeah, right! They do get it wrong a lot of the time, yesterday they said we'd have wall to wall rain, not so... it did clear up for a while in the afternoon. Where was I, oh, yeah, well depending on weather, may go for a walk along beach, get papers and saunter home to a BB - bacon butty. Then to some scrapbooking, or should I get to grips with DM? Mmmm, or listen to match...

P.O.E.T.S DAY

Yes tis Friday, seemed odd to be in work on a Friday, it has been my day off for the last 3 years. Not sure if I like my new rota or not, like that I get to escape at 2 pm, hate that it means I have to come in four days instead of 3.

Decided to have a bash at the LGC challenge, didn't want to make a card, so dragged up a blast from the past. Many, many moons ago I was a keen paper folder, or origamist (if that it the right word!), can remember a few folding techniques, but one that has always stuck with me was the box. The LGC stash came up trumps with the lovely reddish pink paper, needed the two tone for the folding of the corners. It looks complicated, in fact my guess is that you have sort of made this when you were a child, remember those things that you used to open and close, then lift the flap to see what the answer was? Well the box is folded along those lines, except that you turn it into a box with a few extra folds. Think it would be easier if I posted photos of the folds, will try to do that tomorrow. Had I not been limited to just using the LGC stash I'd have added a little bit of lace to it, instead I added the peel off hearts. Also made a heart on a stick, took two pieces of card, stuck them together, stuck the peel off on to some of the silver paper, sandwiching the pieces of card in between, then took one of the small circles, found the centre, then cut it, turned it into a cone. The boxes are great for keeping stuff in or giving them as gifts filled with chocs! I also made one with some thin card, but paper is better as it is easier to fold, if you do attempt one try to use two tone paper.

Also realised reading the LGC thread that my mag was missing the sticky bubbles, and also found when exploring the paper and card that the silver paper had been torn, and for some reason best known to the packer (I guess) they'd attempted to repair it with parcel tape. So I had a piece of silver paper with a strip of parcel tape down the back! A few years ago I was one of those people who used to pack the stuff into magazines and other stuff, it is horrible work, piece work, so the faster you work the more you earn... I did get up a good speed, but it was sooooooo boring! So it doesn't surprise me that mistakes are made, imagine spending all day stuffing things into magazines, which have to be done in the right order - and knowing that unless you hit a certain target you won't earn a great deal. At my old Craft Central shop, one of the staff told me that they had to put all the goody bags together, so again, not surprising that at times stuff got left out, tho they did try to ensure that they were all packed properly, and they did their best to make sure no-one took stuff out. I think people who steal from shops, or take the freebies from magazines are low life... they are thieves.

Not sure what I'll be doing over the weekend, feel a hankering to get back to some scrapbooking. Must also get going on my new forum, not even managed to post anything yet!
Have a good weekend all. And thanks for dropping by.

At last!

Hooray, it's only taken two months and umpteen e-mails but at last Graphtec have sorted out my license file - one of the serial numbers (which came with software) was missing an '0'... mmmm. While I am glad that my DM software is working I am a bit annoyed with graphtec as I had supplied them with all the relevant numbers yonks ago... and took them 8 weeks to spot the missing digit! Oh and a not so gentle nudge from me to reply to my e-mail last week, which in turn was in response to a request from them for all the serial and machine numbers (already supplied more than once).

Aside from that it has been a funny old day, woke to find a sunny day, but as I was about to pop over to get newspapers before going to work the sky went dark grey and the heavens opened. So headed to work and picked up papers on way... could not believe that at 9.15 when it was still chucking it down we had a queue of people outside the library! I know where I would have been had I had a choice: at home. Other colleagues were in grumpy mood, they'd had a torrid time day before with the children, them plus people bringing in food and drink then leaving their rubbish behind them. So we had a clamp down, anyone daring to enter library with a drink or packet of crisps/sandwiches was told to leave. It amazes me, you get those who are really, really nice, polite etc, and then at the other end of the scale you get the grunts, downright rude and those who believe the world owes them something, oh and the downright bone idle.

No chance of crafting, got home at 2.30, after calling in at only petrol station in town, and got stuck behind woman who seemed oblivious to the queue mounting up behind her as she filled her car then umpteen flipping petrol cans, then decided to rummage round in car for Lord knows what - think the chap behind me was ready to flatten her. Once home I had to then wait for mum to call me, she was at hospital for her pre op check, didn't see any point in getting out any crafting stuff. So had a look thru the Let's Get Crafting mag, and made a few plans to have a go at a few projects, even tho my stash box is now full. Watched a repeat of Come Dine With me... boy are they bitchy! Had just got comfy with a cuppa when mum called, she was all done and dusted. On picking her up had found that the NHS had yet again excelled itself in stupidity, in this pre op thing mum should have seen the anaesthetist (he was on holiday), consultant (he'd taken day off), then ECG guy told her she had a heart murmur... news to her and us. That pillock told her she'd need a scan... twit... she will most likely need a more extensive ECG, or echocardiogram. She was worried, so told her that she'd reached 79 and was still here, and had it been serious I'd have been visiting her in a ward. It's either due to ageing, and her smoking, or she could have had it since birth, in which case it ain't done her any harm. Then just to worry her even more she was told they still hadn't decided which hip to replace, actually surgeon wanted to do both at once, but mum said no. I told her to tell them to do the worst first then do the other later in the year.

Hopefully a more peaceful day tomorrow, and some crafting.

Pic is of my LA holiday in 1991, I seem to always go to the USA in October, so the place is full of Halloween stuff. This was my first trip to LA, some friends and I went to the Farmer's Market, okay we got lost and ended up there! But there were all these pumpkins laying around, so we started snapping away. Wanted to do something different with the photos, so used the compass cutter to cut one into a circle, the cutter hadn't cut right thru so as I was trying to gently prise the bits apart I liked the effect I got, the circle in middle and the bits that were 'destined' for bin on either side, for the second photo I cut a zig zag thru the photo, splitting it into three, then just leaving a gap between each piece, I ripped and tore some paper and vellum, ran them behind the photos, added a few square gems and the chipboard bit... tho can't for the life of me now remember where exactly the second photo was taken, it wasn't at the Farmer's Market!

Wasn't going to.. but I did

I was in the supermarket, frankly wishing I wasn't in the supermarket... it was full of kids... and spotted Let's Get Crafting, should I, shouldn't I? Somehow it jumped into the trolley! Got grumpy check out assistant, who seemed to like flinging the stuff down to me, was about to say something when think she sensed she was pushing her luck and she stopped. I hope she was due a tea break, cos she obviously needed a break. I could empathise with her, I knew how she was feeling - least where I work if I am feeling stressed I can go bury myself amongst the shelves. Tho what gets me irritated, and also my colleagues, is that when we are tidying up the shelves people make a beeline for us and ask have we got X book.... its like they expect us to have the entire library catalogue embedded in our brains! The other nutty thing is when they say: Can't see any more James Patterson books on the shelf, have you got any? Er, no, if there are none on shelves then that means they are out on loan... it ain't rocket science! And what is so hard about understanding alphabetical order? Books are put in alphabetical order, by surname.... okay? Gooooooood. And that explains why it is helpful if you can spell and know your alphabet, cos if you don't (and believe me many, many don't) you are in trouble. So raspberries to any teacher that thinks spelling is unimportant, it ISN'T.

Card: my first springy card. Saw them featured on QVC, was almost tempted to buy the kit but thought I could probably manage without. Seemed a case of cutting some A4 card in half or thereabouts, and forming 3 squares, first one is folded in half, second (middle one) is folded both in half and diagonally, last bit is left unfolded.... still with me? You stick down first bit, the half fold this makes the stand, and leave the diagonal bit to 'spring', tho I found it was better if you just stuck down the corners a little. I rounded off the top with the compass cutter, used a circle from the Let's get Crafting mag, then cut out some dog decoupage by Paper nation. It's a RAK card for a friend, she is a doggy lover, but it is hopefully a cheer up card as well.

Hoping to get some crafting done tomorrow, finish work at 2pm, may have a go at the new challenge on the CB forum. Must also catch up on my new forum - thanks Caz!

I wish them the karma they are due..

Puddled by my title? Let me explain. Got to work today and I felt that my dearest colleague wasn't her usual happy self, and I was right. Last Thursday she checked her account online and found that it had been cleared... her card had been cloned and the stupid Halifax had allowed a moron to go on a huge shopping spree in this country and in Eire! At one point the Halifax did stop one request for £600 but failed to contact her or stop the card, so the spree went on. She'd checked her statement, and it plainly shows very unusual activity, the very thing that is supposed to alert banks to fraud. Just to rub salt into the wounds the Halifax fraud squad does not work over Bank Holidays, mmmm, maybe they should tell the theives this, then the thieves could also take a break over bank holidays! Have you ever heard of anything so bloody stupid! She has contacted a few of the websites where her card was used, mostly online betting sites - supposedly all secure sites, all have broken the law by paying the winnings to another card - something I wasn't aware of, but her husband is as he is a bookmaker. The only place her card was out of her sight was in a Weatherspoons hotel in Birmingham, where she says the receptionist took a very long time to take the card details - so you have been warned: don't let your card out of your sight. Oh and the Halifax will not be prosecuting anyone... typical, fraud like this costs you and I billions each year and yet the banks just write it off! I hope the nasty individual who did this gets their just desserts, and in triplicate.

I'm going to make her a RAK card tomorrow, got a sheet of decoupage of her favourite dog: The Westie! Not much I know, but hopefully it will let her know that someone does give a damn. One more bit of the rant: when will our justice system start delivering justice, I don't want maximum sentences for the ne'er do wells, I want minimum sentences and for the full sentence to be served, with rehabilitation - as I do believe it works. Well for the majority anyway, the downright rotten can go rot.

Posted pic of inside of waterfall card... was going to scan rest of it, but all plugs are engaged in charging things - why does stuff all run down at the same time? Got toothbrush plugged in one socket, phone in another, Ipod in computer... battery charger charging batteries.... wonder if I can plug meself in for a recharge? Perhaps not...

Save me from dozy drivers!

I had to venture out today, first to get some bulbs for new light fitment in kitchen, it has been up for four weeks and one bulb blown already! So off to Homebase, that was painless, then had a wonder about going to The Range, needed some stuff to make another engagement card. Not impressed by The Range, but it was the only option as I need the stuff... so off I went, only to hit queues of bank holiday drivers! Grrrrr.... one wally decided to sit and stare at a green light till I blasted him with the horn. Then on a fast stretch of road there they all were, tootling along like they were the only ones on the road. Think blood pressure went thru roof when I got to Southport and found long queue of dozy types seemingly wondering how to negotiate roundabout. There was obviously a dozy driver convention on somewhere near Southport as that is where they were all heading.

Got to Range and... yes, was disappointed. They had zip, had to make do with some peel offs, was hoping for some nice dangly blingy things - not a hope in that shop. It is the last time I bother. Had to rummage to find some 12x12 card, needed to make waterfall cards, finally found some buried under pile of other stuff. Picked up Do Crafts mag... considered hoofing it over to independent craft shop, but by this time I was too fed up, and too hungry... besides all the dozy drivers had got out of their cars and were now being dozy pedestrians. So headed home, luckily the dozy drivers had disappeared, so those of us driving were able to drive at the national speed limit, we only had to contend with one suicidal biker who seemed determined to kill himself by weaving dangerously in and out of the traffic, then weaving his way thru, at speed, at the traffic lights, he nearly came a cropper at one set.

So spent afternoon making waterfall card, well after the blood pressure had eased. Not entirely happy with it, used the sheet of sticky dots to attach a couple of things, but they made everything sticky - may have to start again with the mechanism bit, well a couple of the flippy things. You can see how technically crafty minded I am!

I'm in a umpty mood, got work tomorrow, ugh, and double ugh. Only saving grace is that I finish at 4pm! Oh and I have chocolate.... still got 2 and a half eggs left from my triple egg... er, make that 2!

Oops, forgetting my manners... thanks for the lovely comments. Anyone thinking about blogging, stop thinking and start... just sit down, place fingers on keyboard and... waffle to your hearts content :-))

Not even a bit of snow :-(

Guess you shouldn't moan at waking up to a sunny day, but felt a bit robbed - not even a bit of snow! Just a light layer would have sufficed.

Tramped over to paper shop, picked up soggy paper, put it down, picked up next paper, it was soggy ... er... ? They were all soggy. So took soggy sunday paper home and... ironed it dry! Did think about going for a walk, but it was a tad too cold and far too windy... I am a fair weather walker.

So there I was planning my crafting over a sausage butty when... my niece phone and yelled down phone: I'm engaged! They've only been dating since school... LOL. But at last he has popped the question. So then mum asks me to make her a 'congratulations' card or something, preferred the 'something' angle... been making loads of cards lately. So got set to make an exploding box... had to decide between using one of the kits I got last weekend, or starting from scratch... went with the kit, got two of them, a pretty pink patterned die cut with silver edging, and flowers, thought I'd save the bigger version for whenever the wedding is. So outside of box sorted, but how to decorate inside? Ooer, suddenly realised I am very, very, very, very.... short on engagement/wedding stash. Fortunately managed to find a sheet of silver peel off hearts which I stuck on to some silvery pearlescent card then cut round them, bit more of a rummage, went with two chipboard letters, M for Mark and S for Suzanne... recoloured them with silver paint, added some clinking cup charms and then some spangly blingy bits. Used the leftover bits from die cuts as a mat, and used some pink card to cover the pattern but leaving the silver showing, used some faux pearls to act as faux brads. Then used the strip that said 'especially for you' as a handle, final touch was the sentiment: To a Special Couple... Mum was delighted, now I have to go buy more stuff to make my own card! Ran out of time to finish off other exploding box... can only craft for so long before back starts protesting, well still got tomorrow.

Ended up with aching shoulder, so used TENS machine for half an hour, it worked luckily, but didn't work on lower back, that is still aching! Now trying the red wine cure, well either way I won't care what is aching.

Now must go see what I can get in way of engagement/wedding stuff... what's that? Try local craft shops... you must be joking! Haven't got a decent craft shop around here, got The Range, The Paper Mill and Hobbycraft, and one independent... and none are up to much. I do try my bestest to support the independent shop, but the layout of the shop is sooooo frustrating, it is a mish mash, stuff everywhere, and much of it buried under something else, so you have to rummage and rummage to find anything, that is once you've fought your way past the three swingers jam packed with peel offs, you can't swing them round as they are far too heavy, and they are plonked right next to door. I just wish the owner would rearrange the shop, it just needs a bit of thought, sure she'd do a lot more business as well. The Range is rubbish, well my branch is, full of the same stuff... as for Hobbycraft, it is on the expensive side, and cos they cater for all crafts there is nothing really different, or up to date in there.

Now got an Easter Egg to tackle... a triple egg... will keep me going for weeks! Hope the Easter Bunny visited you all and left lots of lovely choc.

I spotted a snowflake!

It happened at 5pm, suddenly there were snowflakes falling.... then.... it stopped! Hadn't had any snow this year, be nice just to have a light sprinkling off the stuff over the weekend.

I like Saturdays, it is junk food day... tonight we had pizza and chips, followed by rhubarb pie and custard, and all made by someone else.

Well there was nothing else to do today but craft, far too horrible outside to venture anywhere. Decided to get on with an exploding box, I had gone for a purple and silvery white colour combo, but didn't like it, so switched the purple for pink... much better. Got most of it done, spent most of the time cutting stuff out and then doing some dry embossing. All it needs now is a few finishing touches, need somehow to work out how to make a mini vase.... probably get the idea in the middle of the night!

Pic is of my Easter basket, my effort for the LMC challenge on the CB forum - but there are lots of lovely cards already entered. Amazing to see all the different ideas using the same stuff. Good luck to all. Glad I don't have to decide.

I've made bag cards before, but wanted to make a basket, and wanted to incorporate some paper weaving. The scan has muted the colours a bit, I did use the yellow and orange cards, but the scan made the orange more of a tan colour. The paper weaving reminded me of making ice lolly stick rafts when I was a kid, then we'd race them in the large pond in the park. Back to the card, then I added the eggs, stacking them randomly, found a spray of flowers amongst the die cuts, and then added the lacy ribbon around the handle and base, for a finishing touch I added a flutterby.

Will finish off box tomorrow, and maybe indulge in some scrapbooking, got a new cat pic, could end up as a surprise for someone on the CB forum!

Now off to see if there are any crisps, just feel in a munchy mood.

Freezing Friday

Was far too snuggly in bed this morning to want to get up... the sun was shining, but oh was it cold!!! Think we escaped most of the nasty stuff, guess there is always tomorrow.

Had a nice surprise last night, was channel hopping and found that QVC were having a 3 hour spring craft show! Er, what would have been wrong with having it today! They must think all us crafters are night owls or summat. Managed to keep the eyes open till midnight... tho there was mostly decoupage and peel offs. All got a bit samey.

Today decided to have a bash at the LMC comp on the CB site. Had an idea in my head, and wanted to incorporate some paper folding, Easter basket seemed appropriate! Used the orange and yellow cards, used the yellow for the basket, used the compass cutter to cut out the handle, and round off the bottom. Then cut up the other yellow and orange card to make the weave... used the sticky dots to fix it all together. Then used all the eggs, and a spray of flowers, then added a little flutterby! Pic is posted on CB forum. There's already some gorgeous and clever entries.

Next I made another flower fold card, chose the one above, reminds me a little of Lotus flower, liked the minty green look... attached the flower to the mat card using a jewelled brad (memo to me - get more jewelled brads!), then attached the mat/flower to a mat of green mirri card, added the sentiment, then well, it 'needed' something.... was tempted to add a butterfuly, but as I flicked thru my peel off folder came across the dragon fly... stuck the peel off to some white patterned card, cut round him, then used my H2O's to give some iridescence to his wings.

Had a bit of time left before I had to start cooking dinner... so started a decoupage card of a mischievous cat... he just needs to be finished off properly.

All in all a lovely day, far better than yesterday. Did wonder if anyone turned up at library expecting it to be open... ! I can never believe that people queue up outside the library well before opening... why? There is one chap who is there every morning without fail, he almost knocks you over as he rushes in, desperate to get to the computer in the ref room... when he gets there he settles himself down, gets out his very expensive headphones, then sits and listens to loads of music... he's done this for the last two years, he is fit and able, and of working age... Another regular gives us all the creeps, he looks decidedly creepy, and spend his time in the most awful sex chat rooms.... I've caught him a few times looking at porn... he just makes my flesh crawl. He's been coming for four years... spends all day in these chat rooms, he is a young man, again is fit/healthy and more than capable of working.... yet he chooses to sponge off the rest of us. The nicest people are the Poles, they come in to either organise flights to get home for breaks, or to keep in touch with their families, they are unfailingly polite and make every effort to learn our lingo. They also work incredibly hard, putting to shame the bone idle Brits.

Not sure what to do tomorrow, feel the need to go to a craft shop... guess the weather will decide. Do need to go get mum and Easter egg.

Brrrrr.... who kidnapped spring?

Where did spring go? It was here yesterday, lovely sunshine, a bit on the chilly side, but lovely if you kept to the sunny side of the street. Then today.... wall to wall grey, windy, cold, rain... and worse, I was stuck in work all day!

Also hadn't realised how slow our new assistant is, she is very nice, easy to get along with, but boy is she slooooow. It was five minutes to opening and I realised that she'd still not switched on the PC's, or opened the window blinds, or changed the date stamps... it had taken her 15 minutes to check off the newspapers! Think she is being over cautious... tho trying to get her to be more laid back is proving hard...

Morning was quiet, well as we expected with the weather. Then of course the kids came in... they were mostly fairly well behaved. Then from nowhere these three yobs appeared, they stood in the doorway, blocking open the automatic door... and letting in the cold and the rain. I asked them nicely to either come in or go out, but not to stand where they were as they were blocking the entrance, and also likely to damage the mechanism to the door. I got abuse, typical, so red mist descended ( I am frankly sick of yobs adn the yob attitude of 'the world owes me') and I suggested to the most foul mouthed of them where he could park his scooter... in a dark, shady orifice in his nether regions, er, but not exactly using that language. He was so gobsmacked at me having the nerve to stand up to him that he sloped off, muttering things.. then his two mates attempted to come in, I told them both they could get lost. It was quiet for a while after that, then in came another group of children, some okay, some not so okay. I took objection to one little bully, who having used up all his PC time decided to then use his little sister's computer time, while she looked on bored and upset... he had with him also his skateboard, he somehow thought a library the appropriate place to demonstrate a few tricks.... WRONG! In fact my junior assistant chucked him out.

Then right on closing two idiots decide to come in and choose to hire some DVDs, we all glared at them... I informed them that they had precisely one minute to choose the DVD, and that they needed to have the right money as I'd just cashed up. 'Oh,' said dopey, 'are you closing now?' Now when faced with a dumb question like that you are tempted to say what you feel.... as in CAN'T YOU READ - LOOK ATTHE SIGN!. I didn't, but did say: yes we ARE closing, we've been here all day and WISH TO GO HOME.

I've said this before, but NEVER, EVER, go into a shop five minutes before closing time... unless you wish to incur the wrath of Kahn, and the cursing of assistants. Remember they've been there all day, the last thing they need is some dopey type coming in just before they close the doors.... I don't get paid overtime... so sorry, closing time is in our library 6pm... and I am not interested in serving anyone past 5.50 pm... you've had all day!

So now I can put me feet up, and with the weather being so awful I can craft without feeling I should be out enoying the sunshine...

Happy Easter, watch out for that Easter Bunny... he tends to pop up all over the place!

I give up...

Last night I uninstalled and then reinstalled DesignMaster as suggested by graphtec... got the numbers I needed, then applied for a change of license. All went smoothly, until tonight... got my new license, could I hope that it would work? I installed it as per instructions... opened DM, typed out Happy Birthday and... DM closed down, said it was lacking a security device!!!!!!!

This saga has been going on since beginning of February, I've so far had four new license files (sorry Cazzy, went back to count them properly) and none have worked. I've owned a computer since 1987, I consider myself to be computer literate to a medium to high level, have installed software, TV cards, memory, other stuff... all without any bother. I've set up websites, used HTML... and in the very early days of computing even wrote my own mini programs. So I am not a dunce when it comes to IT, yet I feel that graphtec have been very patronising... sometimes implying that I am at fault. Since I managed to install DM on my old PC without any bother, then I know darn well that I am not at fault.

Be wary of buying this program, it is a pain to reinstall should you need to either upgrade to a new PC or perform a full reinstall of your old PC.

Rant over, but you can imagine how I feel, having paid good money, in good faith, for a program that is now useless! Grrrrrrrr

What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday I was footloose and fancy free, well work wise, as in NOT being at work, so pain free... today I was back at work, and within an hour I was back in pain. The only good thing about being there was it was quiet, none of us can work out if the kids are on holiday or not, seems some are and some aren't. Sadly tho the dregs of society where out in force... sorry but I've lost all patience with the majority of them, all are perfectly capable of working, yet choose to sponge of the rest of us and fill their days by playing computer games and chatting in chat rooms.

Once upon a time a library was a safe haven for many, the homeless, pensioners, those with not a lot of money, or the disenfrancised. They'd come in and spend the day keeping warm, reading the newspapers and books... now many are reluctant to enter because of the yob element, because the library no longer feels safe, or offers some peace and quiet.

Now I am forced to spend my days explaining to oiks why they cannot eat their Big Mac/subway sandwich etc in the library, why they cannot use their mobile phone etc. And why their foul language is unacceptable!

Roll on Friday... and I will be free from it all. Oh and get back to what is important - crafting! Only got one more week of my old shift, then I'll be on half days, best bit is that I get to miss the kids coming in straight from school.... something I WON'T miss!

Uploaded pic of some of what I bought with my birthday money on Saturday, the flower folding kit. I only bought it cos a nice lady encouraged me to buy it, she was so nice, explaining how to do it, and handing over a few more ideas. I had hoped it would be more involved, if you get my drift, but it wasn't, which half left me disappointed, think I was up for a challenge. But it was easy, just a case of folding and cutting. I added some of the self adhesive lace to the mat, another simple card. My real challenge seems to be the screen cards, half made one, but feel it isn't quite right! Got an idea in my head, so watch this space.

Updated my slide show, and hopefully it is back in the right place. Still doing battle with DM and graphtec, have realised that they don't read the e-mails you send them. Last night I sent a very clear and succinct e-mail to them... and they replied by.... askign me for information I had already told them I couldn't supply, as they'd never supplied it in the first place. Wrexham isn't that far away... I am sorely tempted to go pay them a visit and chuck DM back at them!

Funny old day

For some odd reason woke up at 2.30 a.m., ah the mysteries of the menopause... and why you have to suffer a hot flush at some unGodly hour! But you do... but my 'wake up' resulted in me making a cuppa, and tuning in to last bit of the QVC craft bit... tho still wondering which plonker thought it a good idea to show craft between midnight and 3 a.m.! Obviously a sadist. Dawn looked half dead, and desperately wanting to crawl into bed... can't remember what they were showing, then they showed the TSV... what! It was a joke -right? I thought I'd dreamt it, then I checked it on the website, nope, i was all those paints and stuff... guess they've still got lots of it it stuck in the warehouse. It was totally uninspiring, okay for painters, but they'd said it was a craft TSV, and sorry, craft to me means stuff like card making, scrapbooking, not watercolour painting. Not a lot else grabbed me either.

So after my little sojourn to QVC, I fell fast asleep till 6 a.m., had tea and toast and went back to sleep again til 9ish. Dragged myself out of bed, wanted to go for a walk, since the Beeb had got the forecast badly wrong... for us they had given rain all over the weekend... WRONG! We got just a few spots yesterday, a bit during the night, but the day light hours were fine and mild. Was a bit windy, but I ploughed on along the beach, noticing that the council had half cleared the walkways, well a few of them, but left all the damn litter strewn along the beach... I am sick of lazy people, bout time they discovered what litter bins are for! I never saw one bit of litter on Venice/Santa Monica beaches... not a bit! Not even a tide line... that was swept away every morning before us early morning types hit the beach for our walk. Did note one litter picker, going at such a fast pace I doubt he noticed the litter strewn around. ? I did note that the old boat house/club had been flattened... big deal, should have been done years ago. Some overly modern and horrible looking thing is set to replace it... note to Sefton Council, it would help if you kept the marina clean, removed all the graffiti, put in toilets and refreshment, picnic areas.... sometime soon would be nice!

Tucked into a well earned bacon butty on return home, did crossword - need to get the brain working. Then got out all the stash I bought yesterday! Where to start.... wasn't sure, so began with some flower folding, pic will be uploaded tomorrow! It was easy, just followed the lines, those to be folded, those to be cut... matted flower onto pearlescent card, and added some lace. But needed to get brother's birthday card done, so back to Jolly Nation.... see lap top man... lots of cutting, lots of 3D foam, and I then used my new Happy Birthday stencil, with embossing paste... then cut it out and stuck it on. Had a stab at one of the screen cards, not very happy with results, got a half hearted 'that is nice' off mum... but was first effort. Plan to decorate other side of it... got an idea... watch this space. Then went back to waterfall card, decided to play with new peel off marker pens, almost there... just is taking longer to colour what bits I want coloured... and then using other bits to go back in... you will eventually see what I mean when it is finished.

Still got to play with H20's, and other bits. But not back at work till midday Tuesday. Hating the thought of it!

Gone shoppin

I hate normal type shopping, but love craft shopping. Armed with a dangerously large amount of birthday money I headed off to Cardcraftplus, which is based in Preston, a mere 31 miles away.

Set off at 11.05... bear that in mind! Armed with catalogue, that had directions for shop.... traffic was light on motorway, was in Preston at about 11.50.... so far sooo good, figured I'd soon be in shop spending money. Following directions we... got lost. Well not lost exactly, but CCP had sent us on a wild goose chase, the directions had not been written very well... realised we were on wrong road, did u turn, got back on track, still no sign of CCP, stopped to ask a young couple if they could direct us, they were lovely but they were also Polish! Bit further on spotted young chap, stopped and asked him, he was just a student, lived in area but didn't know it very well... spotted a B&Q, figured that might be staffed with locals... luckily security guard helped out. But still no sign of CCP, even tho we were now in the right street, it was supposed to be by an electrical store, only there were two of them.... made another U turn, and finally spotted CCP tucked back from road... !!

Fortunately they had a tea/coffee machine and a place to sit, so mum settled herself down with a cup of coffee while I went shopping. Can't fault them on the wide choice they had, or the fab products, could have shopped til I dropped, but one thing blighted the experience, the unfriendly staff. I spotted one wandering around, but she was definitely NOT interested in helpign anyone, as for the girl on the till.... well she was swamped, obviously tired and fed up... I of all people know how hard it is to keep smiling when dealing with the public, but you do, and generally people in craft shops are a darn sight more pleasant than the ungrateful yobs I encounter in the library. My happy mood was fast disappearing, then a lovely lady helped boost it, I was on my second way round of shop (like to go round once, then go back and have a proper mooch), she saw me looking at some paper folding kits, so she stopped to chat... she made my day. She told me what to do with the kits, how to fold them, and to use chalks/pastels on the edges, and get some nice brads for the centres. Noticed that mum was now chatting to someone's DH... so she was content.

What did I buy... take a look at the pic! Lots and lots, lady behind me in queue gasped when the assistant said what it had all come to.. so I explained I was spending my birthday money. Hopefully in the next few days you'll see some of the creations.

After the shop mum and I were desperate for food and the loo, and in reverse order. I decided to head down the A59, hoping to spot a few pubs on way so we could stop and get fed and watered. We found one almost as we turned on to A59, so had an enjoyable lunch, then headed for home - and oddly enough it was quicker down the A59 than on the motorway.

I had been thinking of venturing up to Dawn Bibby's shop... not so sure now. There are directions on her site, but I think I've had it with naff directions. Those that put them together should do so thru the eyes of total strangers... so make note of useful landmarks, cos as my mum pointed out had CCP said to turn right by a Tool shop then we'd have found it much faster. And Preston Council could also help out by putting street names on both sides of street, and not just on one!

Shattered but very content.... full of beef and ale pie!

Happy birthday to..... me!

Had a lovely day, got lots of cards from my friends on my crafting group. In my book cards make smiles... so it was a very smiley breakfast, and lunch! Postie delivered more while I was out.
Now got lots of cash to go spend on craft stuff. Am planning a trip to cardcraftplus tomorrow, was so nice of them to send their catalogue to me this week... how did they know? Just hoping for a trouble free journey up the motorway to Preston, it is only 30 odd miles away, but it has often taken me over an hour to get to Manchester and that's the same sort of distance.

So spent afternoon making more cards, made a start on a waterfall card - now have to find what to put on it. Then a very quick card using the art deco stickers, it is for a colleague who is retiring (lucky thing) at the end of March. And half a Jolly Nation card, again just need a few bits to finish it off. Funny, the other day when I was scrapping I had no imagination/ideas, felt very flat creatively, then today felt the exact opposite, suddenly ideas are flowing.

Now off to sink a few glasses of wine... I'm not ageing, I am regressing!

This and that....

A nice calm day, so gave the car a treat - she is all clean and shiny, even the inside got the treatment. Okay so it is now raining, sods law!

And my stuff from acard4u came - wow that was quick! I always forget what order, so when the parcel does arrive it is always a nice surprise. Inside were the Jolly Nation decoupage, on seeing them realised I should have ordered more from the men's range... forgot that my two nephews have birthdays coming up in April and May - shucks, will just have to go order more stuff! Also got some pretty pink 12x12 card, that is for the baby exploding box, can't do much more than make the box, it will eventually contain scans and photos of the new baby. It's for a friend at work who'll be a grandmother in June, she's collecting the scans... but also wants some first pics to go in the box. Got some pretty baby stuff as well. And some art deco stickers, they're gorgeous, can't wait to play with them. May use them on a waterfall card... or box... mum likes art deco... oh good an idea for her birthday!

Oh and my sticky dots and sheets arrived. Was thinking of schlepping up to cardcraftplus, which is in Preston, may go on Saturday. It's my birthday tomorrow, as usual family have been instructed to give craft stuff/vouchers or just the money.

Have put up my scrapchallenge page, my favourite TV show... think all were expecting CSI! Wanted both a hard and soft look to the page, well one of the tags was: talk tough and wear pink. So pink became the theme, with blue to represent the NYPD. Also would have liked some lace, but didn't have any, so made do with some that was on a 12x12 page which I just cut out. Think I could have done better, but was in a bit of a 'blahhhh' mood. As in out of inspiration, and feeling miffed that I still have no licence files from graphtec - how long does it take! Really wanted to use DM to make the lettering - but can't as it won't work without the licence files.

When the wind blows

This is the calm after the storm. I woke up at 3.30ish a.m to the wind howling past my window and something creaking very ominously! I peeked out of the window, half expecting to see stuff flying past! I drifted back to sleep only to be woken by the almightiest of crashes emanating from the docks... found out later on a local news bulletin that a huge pile of containers had been blown over. Things weren't much better at the more civilised hour of 8 a.m., I ventured as far as our paper shop, a five minute walk and nearly got blown over. Found it amusing all the coverage on Monday about the storms in the South, but precious little on the storms in the North! North/South divide is still alive and heathly then. So its okay if we have winds of 75 plus here in the North!

So, unable to venture meant time to craft! Tho pic is from yesterday's efforts, a clutter card of a workshop. I like these cards, you can use a bit of your own imagination. I made a lot of them at Christmas, and added few touches of my own to them. The card is for my brother, who is a joiner by trade, but who has aspirations on being a proper carpenter. Ask any carpenter what the difference is between being a joiner and carpenter! My uncle was a carpenter, he made us all sorts of stuf when we were kids, he made me and my sister a dolls house with proper working lights, it was a double fronted detached house, with bay windows, which had leaded lights. I can still see it now. He made my brother a fantastic fort, with a pull up draw bridge, battlements. My brother is now making toys, and has improved much on, tho he has a lot of time on his hands these days to hone his skills. Not sure where the creative streak comes from, mentioned my uncle, but he is not my uncle by birth, my mum was adopted, so my past is a mystery.

Today I finally put together my scrap page challenge, thinking of putting the challenge on the CB forum. It isn't quite how I want it, but have a second stab at it, as I decided to make a two page spread. I'll post the pic tomorrow. Not a lot to say about the clutter card, you cut it all out and then stick all down where you want really, some bits I stuck straight down, other bits I added a 3D foam to give some dimension. Had seen another kit that would have been brilliant for my brother, but can't remember where I saw it or what it was called, did think it was twisted decoupage, but on seeing that,realised it wasn't. Instead ended up ordering a load of Jolly Nation, formerly Paper Nation. Then today got catalogue from Cardcraft plus, and realised that they are only 30 miles away.... mmmm feel a craft trip coming on!

Not getting a lot done

Think sloth has kicked in, could not get going this morning. The horrid weather is not helping, not exactly inspiring my get up and go. Managed to stir myself to go get the supermarket shop, also had a bit of a declutter - more rubbish for the tip.

Was going to do some scrapbooking, but felt more in the mood to make a few cards. Feel guilty that I've not made more cards from my LMC mag, so made amends with this one. A bit of twist on one in the mag, use the same colour card, paper, but then matted and layered some gold/green/gold mirri card in a spiral shape, then stuck on the cute bunny with 3D foam, added some white ribbon, added four button brads. Stuck another strip of white ribbon near bottom of card, added the easter egg like gems, then the Happy Easter sentiment.

Also made a clutter card for my brother, no doubt my mum willl snaffle it, so got to go hunting for more decoupage suitable for men! Had seen some called twisted decoupage, but can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. Got two more male cards to make! Why are men so awkward! And must put the finishing touches to an exploding box that has been on hold, and a scrap book!

So much to do, so little time to do it all.

Stormy Monday

There I was lying in bed thinking: what storm? So rolled over and went back to sleep, was woken a few hours later by a howling gale. Wondered whether to look to see if the ariel and roof were still attached... then luckily it calmed down, seems we were at the centre of it, so got off fairly lightly. Hope everyone else was safe.

Also got my car back from bodyshop... waited for pause in showers, then rang garage: car was ready. So whipped round there to get her. Panel beater had done a great job, no-one would know that she'd had a badly dented door... and bless him, he'd even take away a nasty rusty spot near the window for me at no extra cost. Not that I was paying, he even stuck to his quote, tho I'm sure it must have come to more than £180. Delivered bill to prangster, tho he wasn't in, had to pop over to 'lady who I clean for' house to get an envelope. She was on my side about price of repair, her husband was a bit er, reticent, tho he changed his mind when I said how much damage had actually been caused, far more than he or the prangster thought (they'd looked at in the pouring rain - and it was hard to see how much damage had been caused). I'll see what happens, bound to get an update on Friday when I go to clean... if prangster as much as moans then I'll bill him for my inconvenience! Prat.

Spent afternoon putting together all my stuff for my scrap page, needed to do quite a bit of cutting, then decided on a two page spread... more cutting, and more planning. Just printed out last of mini photos. So all is ready to go... Hopefully if all goes well then I'll have some pics to put up tomorrow.

Now off to explain to graphtec yet again that my DM does NOT HAVE a five number digit on the opening screen... jeez... how many more times!

A funny old weekend

Woke up yesterday feeling decidedly ugh.... by lunchtime I felt worse, and as if I wanted to be sick... luckily that passed, but felt so dreadful I just went back to bed for a couple of hours, felt better, but tucked myself up in bed at 8pm. Felt very fortunate not to have spent the day in the 'Jane', as it was called on C&L (Cagney & Lacey for the ignoramuses). But the 24 hour bug put paid to me doing the prep work for my favourite TV scrap page...

The clue as to what it will be is in the pic... Cagney & Lacey, tho everyone else thinks I'm going to do CSI! So had to do all the prep work today. Thought it would just take an hour or so.... it took me nearly all afternoon to source some photos, then make up a film strip using adobe, then cut the letters using the Robo. And let's NOT mention DM! I had been planning to chuck Design Master in the bin, in spite of the new licence file they sent me, the stupid thing still wouldn't work! They sent me a new licence... so today I thought I'd give it one more shot... why did I bother, it still won't work! The dumb site says it wants the number on the CD... what number?! There isn't one! I've applied again (Lord knows why) for a change of licence... 3rd time lucky? If not they can have it back - and I'll have my money back as it is not 'fit for purpose'.

Anyway, got all my photos of C&L, did the film strip... just got to print it all out and then start the best bit - putting it all together! In 1991 I visited LA and got to go round the studios where they'd filmed C&L, the Jane was still there, as was the squad room, sadly the Lacey apartment had been dismantled, Cagney's loft was still recognisable. The studios were just a converted warehouse, in Lacey street! Cagney's apartment did have two real windows. Funny seeing it all. They did most of the filming in LA, they only spent a few weeks in NY, the rule apparently was when they filmed in LA: don't point the camera skywards! The Hispanic area doubled for a lot of NY scenes, or so the guide told us. Later in the same trip I (along with 16 others) had dinner with Sharon Gless - and she paid. A very generous lady. We went to a restaurant called El Cholos... had no idea at the time where it was exactly, we just got there by cab.... fast forward to 2004.... there I am, with two friends, on a bus headed to Hollywood, from Santa Monica and I spot El Cholos, on Wilshire boulevard. Funny in 1991 our American friends seemed eager NOT to hang round the area too long... in 2004 it was perfectly safe.

Now shall I start printing or.... well the forecast is for foul weather tomorrow.... mmm. Need a glass of wine, then I'll start the printing!

That Friday feeling

Was a bit of a grouch this morning, had to take car to garage to get the door fixed, won't get it back till Monday. Then had to get bus to cleaning job, it was sunny, but it was also very windy and cold. Then I learn that bloke who backed into my car wasn't happy with what it will cost, he muttered something about the dent not being that bad! Cheek, he is getting off very lightly, I'm the one without a car thanks to his inept driving, plus forking out bus fares, and waiting for flipping buses. I was quoted £180, that was the top quote, after a consult in the road on a very very, rainy day, so it will probably be a bit less. The dent isn't bad, it is the long scrapes that are bumping up the cost. I think he assumed I'd go and get some filler and some spray paint... not on his nellie, car is in good nick and so he can pay to have it properly restored. Men!

After all that stress needed to do something to relax, so did some scrapbooking. Also wanted to use my new toy - the cropadile. Since I am a novice with eyelets, decided just to keep it simple, well until I get the hang of the cropadile. I chose a photo of my nephew Ben taken just after his confirmation. The toothy smile was deliberate as he'd just lost a tooth! Wanted a masculine paper, luckily I found some brown check paper, with some red running thru it, which went nicely with Ben's red dickie bow, then I tore some paper, and fixed two strips of red paper with the cropadile. I fixed the photo to a cream mat with some brads, then spotted a frame, so used that to highlight Ben, also used brads to attach it. Then recoloured some chipboard letters with a brush marker, very conveniently the gold still came thru! Added a couple of small messages, and that was that. Found some photos of the International Garden Festival held in Liverpool in 1984, so they're next on the list. Also got to find where I put a photo album, I put it somewhere safe, so safe that now I can't find it.

Loved using the cropadile, was easy once I'd figured out which bit did what, made easier once I'd found the instructions - usefully (NOT) buried under the packs of eyelets. Tho I think I will be longing for the 'Big Bite' the new version of the cropadile, which will be much better for scrapbooking.

Forecast for weekend is horrible, wonder why it is always so windy in March? Mum reminds me every now and then that it was snowing the day I was born, my birthday is next week... wonder if I'll get a snowy birthday?

Been meaning to say that FINALLY, I can now see all the thumbnails on the CB site. I know I said I'd sorted the problem, in fact it was still a bit hit and miss, some I could see, others remained invisible to me - which was definitely ruining my enjoyment. So I ditched McAfee, felt sure that it was the cause of the problem, but damned if I could find how to persuade it to let me see what I wanted on the web. So have now installed Norton... bliss... can see thumbnails, can enjoy seeing what everyone has been making and post comments. Didn't want to say anything sooner in case it all went pear shaped, as it did before when I kinda jumped the gun.

There were ten in the bed and the little one said

Roll over, roll over... just thought I'd 'share' that with you, as I heard it at least ten times this morning! It is World Book Day, the them was - bedtime stories. My colleague Jay was in charge, she brought her dressing gown and slippers, loved the gown, especially what it had written on the back: Grumpy but Gorgeous!

It is also the National Year of Reading, there is lots of suggestions on the official site: www.yearofreading.org.uk and lots of challenges to get you reading. And yes, reading blogs does count!

It has been one of those horrible 'long' days, when the clock seems reluctant to move. We almost reached breaking point when two wallies started playing music on opposite side of road, one had an accordian the other an oboe, only problem was they knew ONE tune! Eventually the Betting Shop staff called the police to have them moved on...



Was really glad to get home, back was really painful and I was hobbling around all day. But on return home - Yippee at last my parcel from QVC (5 to 7 days delivery they promise.... more like ten days!) Parcel was my cropadile - so you can guess what I'll be playing with tomorrow! Didn't buy anything interesting on Tuesday, just ordered some more sticky dots (did like that QVC reduced the price to beat C&C). Rest of the stuff they were showing didn't tempt me at all, not even the TSV which didn't do anything to tickle my craft buds. In fact it seriously disappointed me, more like crafting by numbers. I know it had bits that you could the personalise, but didn't see the point of having a kit that thousands of others also had, so all would be making the same cards.... or was I missing the point? I did a straw poll on my craft group, and found I wasn't the only one left unimpressed by it, not even the selling point of it being a good kit for beginners swayed us. None in my little craft group started off with an easy to make kit, in fact some had gone the long way round, using wrapping paper to make decoupage!

I did like the designs in the kit, but wasn't prepared to spend good money on it. Pity they'd not just offered the designs as punch outs, some card stock and left the rest to us. Proof I guess that you can't please everyone. Hey ho, there is another 2 hour slot on Saturday, 8 to 10 pm, for International Women's Day.

Now got a whole week off.... :-))

DIY Wednesday

No crafting, just much DIY - was thinking of taking a pic of my handy work, all done with my new electric drill! I installed an intercom system - fortunately the work did not include any wiring, just a case of drilling holes, screwing bits and bobs in and then plugging it in. And it works!

Had to install it for mum, she's not too good at the moment, awaiting a hip operation. Our front door is down a flight of stairs, and it takes her ages to negotiate them, often callers such as postmen won't wait.... ! So the system hopefully be useful, at least the caller will know mum is on her way. Only a mini moan about posties, they have a tough job, and I don't often complain, and I guess this is aimed more at their stupid management with their targets etc... but it does annoy me when they deliver a parcel, wait for a few seconds, stick card thru the door then shoot off... I actually caught one postie exiting the path with my parcel, he had shoved the card thru the door and quickly made his getaway. I explained to him nicely that I lived in an upstairs flat, that it does take even me more than ten seconds to get down the stairs. He took it in good humour, but I was annoyed, especially since they have closed our local sorting office, so if I miss the parcel post I have to drive 4 miles to the nearest sorting office to get my goodies.

Pic: The Sunset Years, made it last year for my BiL, but then found I was a year early, so he will get it this year, tho he did retire early on 1st Jan. I used a papernation seniors kit, covered the card with vellum, then added the decoupage, then used some scrapbook letters to add the title.

Back at work today.... only a lunch time shift. That was enough! Ever had that feeling that you are somewhere you really don't want to be? That was how I felt, longing to be anywhere but where I was, stuck at work. And stuck with a bad back, which has been like this for 20 years, well not like 'this', as it has got worse over the last few months. I was coping fine with it, doing my pilates, watching my diet... then all of a sudden it decided to take revenge. Driving is really painful, in fact doing anything is painful. Even the DIY... but that had to be done. Had a chat with boss, and have altered my hours, so I'm not going to be working full days, but will have to go back to doctor and see what is going on.

One more day of work, then a week off. Car has to be taken in to be fixed after wally bumped into it, the rear passenger door - annoyed about that, really annoyed. Means I am going to be without car for a whole weekend! However, car fixer has been told to also deal with a rusty bit near window, car pranger will be paying for that, as recompense for my inconvenience.

Now off for cuppa and to catch up on last night's CSI - missed beginning, so need to know what the heck Warwick was getting up to.

Recipe for a perfect day...

Recipe is: not having to go to work, having a mini lie in whilst watching the repeat of QVC's craft day launch... getting supermarket shop done in record time, being served by nice checkout assistant... and crafting all afternoon whilst watching QVC!

Decided I wanted to play with my pastels, the die cut cat is actually the pop out bit of an Iris folding card - waste nothing! Had fun colouring her in, shading the pastels, then used my post stamps to make the corner, cut out a bit of grass and popped cat onto some 3D foam, to finish off I found a small silver flutterby! I'm calling the card: Easter Cat!

Funnily enough QVC was showing some animal stamps, the presenter was desperate to get her hands on the cat stamp, but the set sold out... wanted to text in that she could buy it at Hobbycraft... but somehow think the text wouldn't have made to the screen!

Making the cat card gave me an idea for another Easter card... using the LMC stash, there are some lovely egg shaped gems in the kit... will see if I can make it tomorrow after work.

Like to say thank you to Martine for mentioning me in her list - and congrats on the award, well deserved (you have a fab blog).

Still watching QVC, not a lot I want... well so far, still another hour to go. And they've got more craft on Saturday!

Hooray!

At last, finally got to grips with a pop up card! Found an easy set of instructions in Papercraft Inspirations and set to. Took a while to cut everything, and a bit of fiddling with the path, and greenery... but got there in the end, and yes, it does POP UP! I then used my pastel set to stencil in some flowers on the front.

The card is for my niece, who is always moving! She has found a nice flat, tho this time she will be on her own, she's always shared before. She is in homemaking mood at the moment, she needs to buy a few bits and pieces, and some furniture. Got to make another, may use the key template I got with the new mag (NOT LMC, Papercraft Inspirations).

QVC made me laugh, they featured the pastel set I'd bought a few weeks ago, they were boasting in the show that it was 'back in stock', mmm, true, but it has been 'in stock' for quite some time! But it has been a good buy, they're so easy to use, and they really are 'non smear'. You do have to leave them to set for about five minutes before removing the stencil, but that's a good excuse to go make a cuppa. Nice to see Leonie doing the crafting, I like her, she is more my type of crafter, messy and chaotic. See that there is another Craft day tomorrow - and it is my day off!

Had to take the day off sick today, drove over to my sister's yesterday, my back is always a bit sore after driving for an hour, but this time it was really painful. I was dreading having to drive back. I didn't think it was a good idea to go to my sister's for mother's day, but mum wanted to go, but her arthritis is really bad, her hip operation can't come soon enough. So the pair of us were in agony by the time we got back home, and both paid for it dearly today. I was in no shape to go to work, I did wake up at my usual time, but the back said: NO. So I took a couple of painkillers and went back to sleep, intending to wake up at 9 a.m to phone work, instead they rang me at 9.30! Bless them, they were worried, as it isn't like me to not turn up, or not phone. Back as finally settled down, and luckily I have tomorrow off so can rest a bit more.

Not sure I would have gone to work anyway, mum was really in pain, worst I've seen her. Trouble is she is very independent, hates asking me to do stuff, so it is a case of walking on eggshells. Tho we had a laugh, since we were both hobbling around at one point. I told mum to use her ice packs, they help ease the pain - luckily she agreed to obey my instructions, and it worked a treat, she is now much better.

Busy Day

Was up, out and at 'em by 10.30 a.m., a record for me on a Saturday, normally I just laze around. But had to get out early and hit the shops in search of a Mother's Day present. I had in mind buying mum a Pam Ayre's CD or DVD, but couldn't find any new ones... so fell back on the tried and tested and went to M&S. Saw a nice cardi, one she could wear for posh occasions as well as every day. She'll kill me if she finds out how much I spent on her! Then, miracle of miracles I saw two nice tops, one a T shirt affair, the other a nice shirt, so grabbed them while I could. I've hated what all shops have had to offer in tops for the last few months, a right motely assortment of hippy dippy blouses, or tightly fitting shirts.... Now just need a few pairs of new trousers.

Was hoping to pick up a few bits and bobs craft wise, but blow me WH Smiths were moving everything around, so they had lots of blank spaces where stuff should be, only it was packed into trolleys... seemed dumb to me to start something like that at the weekend! So to Papermill, who seemed to have abandoned Do Crafts, well I couldn't see any evidence of any Do Craft stuff, not even a goody bag, and they had a demo last week. So I only bought a new piercing tool, my current one is decidedly wonky, and some ribbons. That was it, was all I could find. The owner said she was reorganising the shop, I'm hoping it improves, else it will be internet shopping for me from now on. If I had a few grand going spare I'd open a craft shop, the area is crying out for a decent, well stocked craft shop. It was tho a rare day, I'd spent more on clothes than craft stuff!

Also got a book, and two craft mags... got Papercrafts as I fancied the freebie, ten templates in a swatch book - very neat. The other was my scrapbook mag, which has a nifty idea for making metal letters - will be having a go very soon!

Finished making my first card using the LMC stash, the star card, first time I've made one from scratch. Have started another, but only based on something, saw one of the projects had used ribbon but threaded thru the card, that got the juices going. Amazing how time flies when you are crafting, one minute it was 2 pm, next it was time to start cooking dinner. A junk food dinner, sausage and chips! Tho they were posh sausages!

Off to Wales tomorrow, not my idea... would prefer to be staying at home. Typical, QVC have a craft slot on a Sunday, and where will I be, eating bloody sunday lunch in Wales. Am annoyed, as had my mother NOT called my sister I very much doubt that the invitation would have been forthcoming. Also miffed that my sister forgets that I am NOT our mother's taxi service. She chucks out these invites, and thinks mum and I are joined at the hip.... no we aren't. If it weren't Mother's Day then my sister would have been told to come and get mum. I'm going to have a few words with her tomorrow. I treasure my weekends, they are the only time I get to really indulge in any crafting, so I get really irritated at being expected to give up my own stuff so my sister can salve her conscience.

Off to finish unfinished card...