Look what came today!


A few weeks ago a little Cath Kidson brochure found it's way through my letterbox and in it were the most gorgeous pair of pumps that just spoke to me. I tried to ignore the little voice but it would not go away. Eventually I just had to pay a little visit to the Cath Kidson website - I was very good and did not get distracted by any other pretties on the way, and somehow, in a weak moment I bought the gorgeous pumps from the brochure.

Aren't they pretty! I am going to love wearing these in the summer. I have happy feet!!

Have fun!

M x

Hope this works!

This first card was a special commission for a friend's son. I don't know the boy so it was a bit difficult not knowing his likes and dislikes, but I was pleased with the end result. The paper and card stock are all by DCWV.

This second card is my favourite of the three. Another special commission, a birth congrats card. I don't usually like to go all pink and cute, but the parents have already got two boys so I thought they might appreciate a bit of girliness! It's made from some of the goodies I bought at Stamperama nearly two months ago! All the products are from Craftwork Cards - Sugar and Spice range.

The third card is for my nephew Adam who will be 16 on Thursday (can't believe it - where has the time gone!). Paper from DCWV. I'm really pleased with it and hope he likes it too. The scalloped oval was cut with one of my new Nestabilities and it is the perfect size for all the Craftwork Cards Colour-Me-Ovals that I bought in the sale!

It's been lovely to get back to some crafting - I feel much happier now. Just need to find my crochet and I will be a very happy bunny!

Night night!

M x

What a lovely weekend!

Hello folks - feels like I've been away from blogland forever. We are slowly getting straight after our decorating - we still have two doors to hang and new curtains to buy, but apart from that, everything is finished. I can feel that life is getting back to normal.

I've had a very productive weekend and feel all the better for it. It started well when my neighbour brought me round this gorgeous bouquet of flowers. We gave them our old slide for their two year old (mine at nearly 15 and 11 have totally outgrown it). For me, it's lovely to see someone else getting some use out of it. The flowers are beautiful and brightened my day.

We spent a lot of the weekend unpacking boxes and washing the best crockery and glasses. I have managed to unpack a lot of my crafting bits, and the table has finally been cleared and put back into place. Emily and I spent a while on Sunday organising the CDs (alphabetical order!). We went from this.

To this! Emily was really helpful and it certainly made the job easier for me having another pair of hands.

Technology is letting me down tonight - can't get my card photos to behave! I'm going to try and load them up in a new post - see you in a minute, wish me luck!

M x

Remember Me

Emily and I went to see the new Robert Pattinson film, Remember Me, last night. We really enjoyed the film and Robert was great (I'm a big fan).

I'm having a bit of a Robert Pattinson film fest at the moment as I watched Twilight yesterday as well as going to the cinema last night, and hopefully I will be able to fit in New Moon today. Got to have some little pleasures whilst my house is in turmoil, I have no heating and I can't craft!

Mark is getting on with the painting so things are moving on - just very slowly (he's back at work so it's difficult). The lack of heating is getting me down. You don't realise how nippy it gets first thing in the morning and in the evening until you have no heating. I don't feel fully able to appreciate the spring weather at the moment.

Today is a day of the children catching up on homework and revision. I'm at a bit of a loose end - I have no motivation for anything today. Might have to be a sofa day.

Enjoy!

M x

Yesterday

I took the children to the cinema to see Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It was only supposed to be Edward and I because I thought Emily wasn't interested, but she surprised me as usual! Edward has been desperate to see the film for ages - well ever since he read the book (he wants the rest of the series for his birthday). We had to go to a cinema that I don't usually go to because that was the only place it was showing. What a serendipitous moment - who knew about Kids Club??!! I didn't. £2.50 each child and adults go free - now that's what I call a result!

It was a great film - we all really enjoyed it. Edward pretty much grinned the whole way through it. He's very keen on Greek myths so it was right up his street and Emily thought the actor who played Percy was cute!

I was persuaded to have lunch at Frankie and Benny's afterwards - Emily's favourite place. It was pretty good too. All in all we had a lovely day - it made a change to get out and do something with the children, it seems like a while since we have done something like this.

Still no crafting - I'm feeling really sad about that. I usually have a couple of days to myself during school holidays to get creative but sadly not these holidays. I'm actually getting quite desperate as I have birthdays coming up next week and I really need to make some cards.

On the decorating front, whilst the room is not finished, we are getting there. One of the long walls is completely finished and we have been able to put our big Ikea units back. I spent a lot of Monday unpacking 10 huge crates of my books. Mark is now working on the side of the room where all my craft stuff lives so I am hopeful that by the weekend I can start putting that away soon. (so is Emily as it is cluttering up her bedroom at the moment!!).

I'm really looking forward to having my "ta-dah" moment but I fear it will be a while. We still have to retrieve the rest of our possessions from my parents and Mark's mum. I think it will take a while to unpack it all - I wish I had another week off.

Have a good day.

M x

P.S Finally succumbed to rereading Twilight again - just can't help myself!!

Books

Still no crafting - I am definitely getting withdrawal symptoms. I can't actually get to my table at the moment as it is buried under dust sheets, and tomorrow I have to pack all my crafts bits away (well the stuff that's in the dining room anyway) so that Mark can finish laying the floor.

Talking of which, the floor looks amazing!!!!! I can't even remember what the old carpet looked like - a rather dim and distant memory! Hopefully there will be some colour going up on the walls soon. Had a bit of a problem with the paint this week - we went to B&Q on BH Monday (that was fun!) and chose a colour called Stepping Stone but when we tested it out I didn't like it. Much too dark. So Mark went back to B&Q and swapped it for Duck Egg which is much better, maybe a tad too light, but very nice. Emily doesn't like it though - she wanted a really bright blue.

So, as I have no cards to show you,or crochet, I thought I would mention some books I have read recently.

I have just finished reading a superb book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time written from the point of view of a teenage boy with Asperger's Syndrome. Very readable - funny, sad and it gives you a real insight to how a sufferer of Asperger's thinks.

Another book I have recently enjoyed is Wedlock. It's a historical biography that reads like a novel. It's about a woman - Mary Eleanor Bowes - and her violent marriage. The book is set in the 18th Century. I'm not really into biographies but it was recommend by the Channel 4 Book Club and it really interested me. It took a little while to get into it, but then I couldn't put it down.

The Time Traveler's Wife, one of my favourite books. A book I know I will reread a lot. I think it's like Marmite - you either love it or hate it.

The Lovely Bones - not a comfortable read, but I did enjoy it (if enjoy is the right word). I'm not sure that I would enjoy the film - have seen the trailers and am not sure. Maybe I should give it the benefit of the doubt.

Finally - I gave in and read My Sister's Keeper after lots of talk about it at work. I had watched the film first, but the book is so much better - it actually made me gasp out loud at one point.

My current book is Holes by Louis Sachar recommended to me by my son. We have it at the school where I work - it's used as a Group Read book to provoke discussion in Year 5 and Year 6 children. I'm really enjoying it. so Edward will be happy when I tell him.

I think I must be due to reread the Twilight series soon - it's been a while (well a couple of months!!).

Happy reading!

M x

P.S Have packed all my crafting stuff away into big crates - I am desolate! I had to take photos first so I would know how to put it all back!!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a lovely day today. Thought I had better get festive, so I made these Easter cupcakes. We had a day of decorating - what fun!!

The children have gone to stay with my parents for the week so that we can get the living room finished. There's so much still to do and it worries me that we have bitten off more than we can chew.

I'm having severe card making withdrawal symptoms - so hopefully I can get going during the second week of the holidays. I haven't even been able to play with my goodies from the Stamperama show at the end of February.

Take care.

M x

Green!

Happy Easter everyone! I've been reading all my favourite blogs over the last couple of days - and yes, I am positively green with envy!! (Not a nice trait I know, but I just can't help myself!). While everyone else's blogs show homes that look full of the joys of Spring - beautiful flowers, Easter decorations, lovely craftwork and gorgeous cakes - my home is full of packing boxes, decorating tools and MESS!

This stack of boxes is the new flooring that is going down next week (fingers crossed).

This is my living room - it's chaos! I can't see how we are going to get it all done in a week - there is so much to do. We keep shipping boxes of stuff off to my parents, and tonight lots more is going up to Mark's mum. The problem is trying to work round all the furniture.

On a brighter note, I had a couple of visitors this week. We have a pair of ducks that come every year and they came back this week. They are quite tame and Edward likes to feed them bread.

Signing of now - more DIY to do - wish you were here!!

M x