Melting pot....

Oooh tis lovely, sunny, warm, light breeze just keeping things pleasant. Sadly haven't had much chance to enjoy it, had to check car over for weekend sortie to Milton Keynes, fill it with petrol... then get packing, bound to have forgotten something. Been over route several times, it is all motorway, just trying to think where to stop for a stretch.

Had very confusing conversation with friend, she said last Sunday she'd come over today, so when i hadn't heard from her I sent her a few texts. First one: she confirmed she was coming to my place. Voicemail from her: yep that was same, except she was going on about getting back from caravan... so I assumed she was coming over in the evening... best then to check on time of arrival. So phoned her, and it is NEXT friday she is coming over... tho she didn't really make that clear!

Then boss rang, I'd missed an appointment... oops! I'd got it into my head that it wasn't until end of June.... well I've had a lot to deal with lately. So apologised, and rearranged it.

Too hot and sticky to do any crafting, tho yesterday I did muck around with the shrinkles stuff, had a whale of a time. First two efforts were a disaster, then I began to get the hang of it. Made a couple of key rings for some friends.

Nice and quiet here, I'm on my lonesome and it is bliss... well best go check my suitcase see if I have everything.

Nice weekend

Yup, the sun made an appearance on Saturday and Sunday! Well okay, Saturday it appeared in the evening, but yesterday was glorious. But why is it that when bank holidays occur it seems road works appear? The gas board seem keen to keep ripping up our main road, right at a main junction. It was causing chaos as folk were trying to get to the beach.

Looking forward to my weekend away. Of course that has meant much washing, okay it is only 48 hours, but one does need lots to choose from. Got out rest of summer stuff, so that all needed freshening up, and then ironing... not my favourite thing in the world. And mum has also had stuff to be got ready, she is also off on her travels. Feel a bit funny about this weekend, it is the same retreat I went on last year, and which I enjoyed, but then came home to be told that my neighbour and friend was seriously ill. My regret is that I never got to see Mo before I left, or say goodbye. Should be an enjoyable weekend tho, just quiet reflection, meditation etc. Just what I need. Not sure what the journey down will be like, was going to take the train, but it is cup final weekend... so opted for the car. Hoping that driving on the motorway will be easier, it is all the stop starting that annoys the knee.

Uploaded a card I made the other week, made from acetate. First time I have tried it, I first stamped the cat image onto a smaller piece of acetate, then cut out a double sided frame and sandwiched the stamped image between. Then stuck it on to the actate card. I cut a strip of silver mirri card and placed a whimsical moggy phrase on it, then added a silver peel off border.

Weather is a bit iffy, yesterday it was dull, today it has been sunny but very windy, and much cooler. Typical, I get out all the summer togs and the temperature drops...!

Hope you all had a good Bank holiday.

Okay who has kidnapped the sun?

I did spot the sun the other day, it managed to hang around for a whole afternoon, but since then it has gone AWOL. Not funny, so come on, whoever is hogging it, share it around...

Mind you the dull weather suited me today, car was in need of a wash and brush up. Two hours it took me! But now I have a nice shiny car, she looks very happy, possibly pleased to be clean. Even vacuumed the inside, well with one of those daft hand held vacs, it really needs a good hoovering. If plonker moves his ruddy van then I can park up car closer and get vac to it, and a dry day would also help.

Had to disappoint mum, she was hoping to get a new stroller, one with a seat, the shop called today and said a new model had come in. So we went to see it, it was huge.... and heavy. Chap assured me it would fit in my boot, I wasn't so sure. He let me take it to car, and nope, it would NOT fit! Then he starts saying that the thing comes apart, like I'm going to stand there dismantling it! I can't even kneel down.. I did point this out to him. Think he must have been on commission, as he seemed determined that we'd leave with this stroller. Well we didn't. There was another, but mum wasn't that happy with it, and it was more expensive. I had told everyone that the four wheeled strollers would not go into my boot, but would they believe me - no. I'll have another look round and see if there are any smaller models, at a reasonable price.

Music fest is on in village, very lound music booming out... not very nice loud music either. No I am not a golden oldie, I like Duffy and a few other singers/groups, I just like the song to have a tune, not to be a racket.

Also wondering why my slide show has slipped to bottom of blog, I mean how it get there? Come on, who was it?

All for now, hopefully the sun will manage to find its way back up north...

Spotted strange yellow object in sky...

After a grotty start yesterday, the clouds eventually got blown away and the sun appeared! Nothing else for it but to get out and enjoy it. The weather has been horrid all week, and today of course we were back to rain and lower temperatures! Good job forecast for weekend is for sunshine.

So no crafting yesterday, and today I decided to give the PC a bit of a spring clean, got rid of unwanted files, ran a full scan... now she is zipping along again. I also managed to find some pics for my next scrap book page, and even printed them out. Been having problems with printer, the colours were all over the place. It now seems to have righted itself. I am tempted to go get that new Kodak printer, which has cheaper cartridges. I would love to know why ink cartridges have to be so expensive! I did once go down the road of using refills, but you never really knew how much ink to put in, waste of money really.

Just been watching QVC and Making Memories new die cutter, The slice, looks intriguing. Had I not got robo I think I may have bought this. And robo owners, the crafty club are now running courses on how to use the robo go to crafty club www.crafty-club.co.uk

Only a week to go and I'll be enjoying my weekend break, and worrying about the cup final... !

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend all.

I's is happeeee

Yep, one hour of reiki equals one happy me. I also managed to meditate for nearly 45 minutes, something I've not managed for years. Meditating that long, that is. I've only been able to manage 10 minutes at most. But today, well I was away, partly helped by Deva Premal, who has the most gorgeous voice. If you want something relaxing, then click on the moolah mantra, that will chill you out.

And my wish was answered, needed some extra bits for my 21st exploding box, and what lands on my doormat? LMC, with the right die cuts! Yippee. My prayers were also answered for one dry spell this afternoon so I could get to my reiki, go to post office and then to supermarket and not get wet! And between 1 and 2.30 was the only dry spell...

So it is hair cut tomorrow, may feel almost human, hair is in a right old state, definitely doing its own thing. But tescos haven't helped by discontinuing their extra strong mousse, which I liked. Why can't they just leave things be?

Would also like weather to improve, this is orrible, lots of heavy showers, windy... ugh. I got all my summer stuff out, washed and ready, so come on weather, cooperate!

talk to you all tomorrow :-))

Mad for meerkats

I'm plugging my friend's new business venture, madformeerkats... Posters, mugs, keyrings and of course, dressed meerkats... who mentioned Aleksandr? Well if you wish to own a meerkat wearing a natty smoking jacket, well you can, £17 postage and packing included. Or any other outfit, well within reason! Just contact me and I'll pass on your details.

In meantime opposite pic is being turned into a poster.... we're just trying to come up with a nifty caption... more wine is probably needed.

Weather was even worse than yesterday, at least then it was mostly dry, today it has been mostly wet, in extremis! Stair rod type rain coming down on and off all day. Yeeeuck. Nowt for it but to get stuck into some crafting. It had dawned on me at 3 a.m., as it does, that I'd promised a friend to make something for a 21st birthday! Yikes... best get started methinks. So I did, went for a box, as you do... well they are that bit more special, she says strangling the English language! Just got two more sides to decorate and it will be complete. Used my new set of stamps as well, quite chuffed with that, they worked perfickly. Even impressed myself by choosing a practise run first, not like me at all, normally I plunge in, either it works or it doesn't, usually the former... so I am forced to cut out more stuff and start over! My defence: well it takes a while for the penny to rattle round and then drop... Will take photos when I've put it all together.

Just a wondering why time is flying by so fast... it certainly didn't this time last year. Then it was just one long worry and time dragged by. Tho I do remember the weather being better. Hope the long for hot summer applies to all of the UK, and is not limited to the South! Get sick of us Northern types being forgotten in weather forecasts, seems to me that the weather lot only care about the weather in the South of the country. Just would like it to start getting sunnier and drier, my preference is for dry and sunny days, and then it can chuck it down during the night time - so saving me having to water the pots.

Thanks to Fe-Fe for info on the forum, I shall join in, well I have joined in! LOL. Have been missing PCJ... do like being treated as an adult!

Hope you all had a good weekend...

Ooer, it ain't alf grim weatherwise...

Got some really angry looking clouds hovering, just had a heavy downpour. Was full of good intentions this morning, it was to be up, out and at 'em... sadly I only reached the 'up' part. Well was put off going out cos of the weather, when I first got up it was blue skies, then slowly the grey ones took over. So I pootled about in the morning, then headed off to the Range to see if they had any decent craft stuff. Did pick up a few things, big pack of coloured card, great for exploding boxes, and another set of clear message stamps (papermania), all the usual messages, Get Well, Happy Birthday... handy to have. Also picked up some nice embellishments.

Then I bid a hasty retreat, think everyone had headed out, car park was chocker, shop was also full. Saw a Dad with two little girls, they wanted to buy lots of craft stuff, but he wasn't so keen, he kept asking them what they'd do with it! Silly man... Wasn't much to choose from, as usual, was thinking of going over to other craft shop, but there was absolutely nowhere to park. Even park and ride was full, probably cos it was free parking. I would have walked a bit of the way, but knee has been very sore ever since I did whatever I did on Thursday, it now starts to burn when I walk.

But at least I got some supplies. Will have a mooch crafting session tomorrow, just see where the mood takes me.

Put up a pic of Lindsay Wagner's new meditation CD, a lot of us have been bugging her to make one for some time, and finally she has. I do recommend it, she has a wonderful voice, perfect for meditation. It costs £10.30, and is available on her website: Lindsay Wagner

Will also be plugging the amazing work of the carer's organisation this week. I've really benefitted from them, and hope that others will to.

Hope you've managed to stay dry wherever you are. And oh, the blog candy will be coming up shortly...

Where is the time going?

Is it disappearing down a black hole or summat? I realised today that next week I'm off for my R&R weekend. I was sure I had another two weeks to wait, so there you go..

And it is Bank Holiday again week after next!

Keep hoping that QVC will tell me my pre-ordered kit is on its way... I'd dithered that much about the kan ban kit that by time I decided to buy it, it had sold out. But it is something to look forward to.

Did manage some crafting yesterday, made a card for a swap challenge. This year it has been interesting as all us members have had to supply the kits. We can only do it cos we're a small group, which is how we like it. This time the challenge has been to use acetate in some way. I wanted to get away from doing what I usually do, so I made the card base using the acetate. Can't put up a pick yet, some of the members do tune in to my blog. Even managed to do some heat embossing on acetate, I'm always nervous that it will start buckling, heating plastic doesn't seem natural some how.

I'm also buy designing a website! Been ages since I dabbled in website desgin, quite enjoying it. It isn't for me, but for a friend. It is nice when it all starts to come together, I'm at the bitty stage right now, designing buttons and logos.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Oh to be...

allowed to be as laid back as this little chap, or chapess, at Marwell Zoo. Sadly I was doing housework, well had put it off for long enough. So flat got blitzed, in bite sized bites throughout the day.

By time I could sit down and relax I was too tired to get out the craft stuff. Hopefully things will be rectified tomorrow and I can scrapbook the photo opposite. In fact I have a lot of meerkat photos, all of the same chap just begging to be put into a sequence!

Have also been going thru craft stuff and realised I may be able to offer some blog candy, got stuff here that I'll never use, and I'm sure someone out there would make good use of them. Really got to get myself organised, got a Big shot to get rid of, along with some dies, that will have to be sold, but got some stamps that would make nice blog candy.

I am still lovely and chilled, in fact feel more relaxed today than I did on Monday after the reiki. For once I was grinding my teeth last night, been doing that for the last few months, plus had this tight knot in my neck, but none of that today. And during the housework blitz I found a meditation DVD...

Can't believe we'll have the 200th episode of CSI tonight and it will be without Grissom! Why couldn't they get him to hang on, it would have been a fitting way to go out on the 200th show. Tho he is coming back next year for a few specials, and there's to be a film! Yippee.

Thanks for stopping by, keep checking back as I will be sorting out the blog candy soon.

Simples

Yep, keeping it simple is the way to go when cardmaking! Sat down at 1.30 pm and by 4.30 I'd made five cards. Okay 3 were straightforward kit cards, well guess there was some imagination on my part. The others were all my own work, with some help from left overs from kanban kit.

This card is a bit of left over, I had already used the bits that were in the circles, so I cut the strip of card down, then put some silver mirri card behind it, and then added 2 butterfiles and a flower, put some jewels on the butterflies, for the card I used some white pearlescent card. The flower is a papermania embellishment, bought from Hobbycraft, the butterflies came from a kit from QVC.

Had nowt else to do but craft, weather is back to being cold and wet. Yesterday I got soaked on a very short walk from car to caravan when the heavens opened! Was thoroughly soggy. Had long chat with sis about stuff, came away feeling much happier. We sort of have a plan of action, and they were also very supportive.

Just got some meerkat pics thru from a friend, they are just begging to be put in a scrap book! And found out that our local zoo, very animal friendly, also has meerkats, so must go and see them at some point. They are so humorous.

All for now, thanks for stopping by, I do appreciate it.

Not sure that was a good idea....

I had very good intentions, to walk to high street to post office... bad idea. Knee is objecting to everything at the moment, last doc said it was 'an unhappy knee' and boy was he right, it is very unhappy! It is hot and swollen, and the er, kneecap, what is left of it, now looks like it is in the wrong place... joy.

I did get to high street, managed to post off card and other bits. But on way back, I felt myself getting slower and slower, pain was really bad, worst it has been in weeks. And the blooming experts keep telling me to walk normally, well I have been, well as normal as I can, putting weight on it etc, and I'm now in agony. What really made me 'laugh' kind of, was the stupid physio when I said that my knee gave way, he asked if I'd fallen, so I said no, only cos i stop myself... and he said well that was a good thing that I hadn't hit the deck... er... what kind of warped thinking is that? I haven't hit the bloody deck as I have no desire to do myself any more damage, and cos I use my crutch outside.

Interesting to see that they are at long last doing something with our old Woolies, it will be a Home and Bargain store, at least there will be something there. I really miss Woolies, it was great to mooch in. If the idiots in charge had realised what Woolies was all about it wouldn't have gone bust. I can remember the old Woolies, and going in there as a kid, buying cheap pressies for the family at christmas. In fact my mum still has some of our cheap pressies. I used to love looking at all the toys as well... all in the hope that they may find their way under our Christmas tree, not that many did.

And the weather is all over the place, this morning it was sunny but breezy, by the afternoon it was quite cold. Tho I did get out all my summer stuff, so blame me! And I was very good and took up the hem on a new pair of trousers, my bargain from last week's splurge at M&S. They were on the sale rack, and were 'long' far too long, but I liked them, so was happy to do some sewing.

I'll also be happy when the triffid is dead... the horrible flower arrangement currently taking up space in the living room. It really is horrible...

Oops think another brain cell has expired...

For some reason keep getting birthdays mixed up, had felt sure that my friend's birthday was yesterday. So I sent her a text, then an e-card... then rang her and... her birthday is on Friday!

Oh well, actually it was a small blessing as I hadn't quite finished her birthday card. Well the box bit, hadn't fathomed out the boxmaker board, so while I had a 'bottom' I didn't have a top. But rectified that today, after making one lid that was way too small... oops! Got it right on second effort, and then decorated it. Mind you I can make boxes, made enough exploding boxes... so I should know what I'm doing but think it was the box maker... I'm still a bit tentative using it. Keep telling myself that practise will make perfect! I may just believe that at some stage. I've never quite mastered dry embossing on vellum, which leaves me feeling frustrated, I'm okay on pearlescent card. Just got to get the hang of the bookatrix board!

Now just got to locate my motivation, not sure where it has gone but it appears to have gone off somewhere... or maybe it is the weather! From all that lovely stuff the other week we've had a week of grey skies and rain. Why can't the weather be sensible, do all the nasty stuff at night, and be lovely and sunny during the daytime?

Bliss...

if you heard a satisfied sigh this morning, it was me, feeling very contented. I got the place to myself, and it is craft day! What more could a girl want? Even managed to stay awake to see launch of TSV, nice but not my thing, think had they been 'normal' size I'd have bought it. I went for the patchwork friends kit instead.

Been busying myself all day, well all afternoon by making a box for my god-daughter who is 30 in a couple of weeks time. This all just came together, couldn't believe it, sometimes you spend ages mulling over how to decorate it. It was a very satisfying make.

Was going to do some scrapbooking, but not sure what is up with photo shop, it isn't printing the photos properly. Not sure whether to unistall the program then reinstall it. Then I tried changing one of the cartridges, of course then the printer needed to run its check... that was fine, but not the next print, it was far too light and patchy in places.

Mum had a good time yesterday, we had the nuttiest photographer taking a family photo, he was nice but bonkers. Then off to restaurant, it being so early the place was empty, so it was lacking a bit in atmosphere. Food was okay, tho today I've had an upset tummy, think the sauce on my mushroom starter was too rich. Felt sorry for nephew, he was so good, didn't let his boredom get the better of him till quite late on, by which time I felt the same, it was time to go! Eventually we managed to make our escape, but not entirely as one of 'us' can't ever stop talking... ! Not me... was happy to get home and have a nice cuppa.

Lots more crafting to come....

I must be running a temperature...

I found myself in M&S buying clothes! I know that is supposed to be normal behaviour for us women, but I loathe shopping. I can never find what I want and just hate the whole process. I even popped next door to Next, and what a waste of time that was, hated all the stuff they had, little wonder it was empty. M&S was however heaving. After much wandering about I finally put an outfit together, even found a nice pair of keks for £15, they were the long length, but I liked them so was prepared to do some sewing.

All this was because we have to have a family photo taken tomorrow, needed something decent and spring like to wear. I only do summer and winter clothes, have got precious little for the other two seasons. I also have a penchant for classic clothes, just want normal shirts, pants... forget all this rubbishy fashion stuff that we'll all end up chuckign out next year. Got quite a nice shirt, plus the pants, and a vest top, well shirt is a bit flimsy as in see thru. Was hoping we'd have some wonder web for the pants, but nope, all out, so it was out with the needle and thread. I can just about manage a hem.

My sort of nice day was almost ruined by mum, there i was all ready to head off for the clothes spree and she asks if I can go in the opposite direction... er, no actually as I also needed to be back handy to take her for an appointment. I just didn't want to be going in opposite directions. When I try to explain she loses her rag... think I bit my tongue for the very last time today. What she wanted me to go and do was something she had the chance to do last week, but she didn't. So why must I be the one who is picking up the pieces all the time?

Then after a lovely sunny start to the day it rains, really pelting down. So I got stuck into some crafting, I really do think I've had a faulty batch of sticky dots, got out my exploding box, to make a new lid and found some other stuff had also come unstuck! Never had this happen before. I used the photo glue to stick it all down and made a new lid. Luckily I managed to prise off the jeweled embellishment without damaging it, and stick it on new lid. Then I made a few more cards.

I've put up a scraplift template, it is for a scrap challenge for a group I belong to, but thought some may wish to use it. I find they do stretch the imagination, and get you thinking outside the box.

Roll on 8 pm tomorrow, when I can have 36 hours of peace and quiet.