Bits and Bobs

Evening!  Well what a busy old week it's been this week.  I've made quite a few cards, been shopping quite a few times, been to the cinema, out for tea and walked the dog plenty.  Not to mention the boring chores of washing and ironing and planning meals.  I'm feeling pretty pooped to be honest.

Today Mark and I took Emily to Lakeside to buy clothes for 6th Form - not my favourite thing, shopping, but needs must.  Emily has had a rough old time in the last few  months and we did doubt that she would be able to go to 6th Form, but she is determined to give it a go.  So she needed kitting out.  Lots of clothes were tried on, a good many of them were discarded but we came home with quite a few shirts, trousers and cardigans, plus boots and a bag.  My bank account has taken quite a battering (the Ally Pally fund!!) but it will be worth it on Tuesday if she goes to school.

I wanted to share with you the card I made Mark for our Wedding Anniversary last week.  I've been meaning to post it on the challenge blog Less is More but haven't quite plucked up the courage.  I am running out of time for that one of my holiday goals, so I hope the challenge tomorrow is one I fancy!  Anyway, back to the card, it's a bit different to my usual style.  I inked all around the edge with Barn Door Distress Ink, and around the outside of the elements.  I also used Barn Door to stamp the heart border and hearts on the sentiment (which is a Paula Pascual stamp).  The main element is from a set of stamps by Marion Emberson - you know I am such a fan.  The grosgrain ribbon was from my huge (and I am not joking) collection of ribbon and the "Just For You" sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  I wasn't too sure of the finished card at first, but I've come round to it.  Mark liked it anyway.

This next card is another departure for me too.  I'm not such a fan of cute images and rarely use them on my cards, but what can you do when you have to make a card for a 2 year old boy?  I don't really have any stash that fits the bill, until I remembered this set of paper that was a free gift from Scrapbook Magazine.  I thought the pirate boy was perfect.  I cut it out and used a strip of the waves backing paper, plus a little bit of plain card stock from DCWV and Bob's your uncle!  The button embellishments were part of the paper pack too and fit in quite nicely.

Have any of you read this book - One Day by David Nicholls?  If you haven't, I can't recommend it highly enough.  I couldn't put it down and was reading it every available minute of the day (just as well I am on holiday!).  I am toying with the idea of going to see the film version, but I have a feeling I may be disappointed - I hope Anne Hathaway can carry off a convincing Yorkshire accent.  We'll see.

Talking of the cinema, we took Emily to see The Inbetweeners film on Wednesday while Edward has been staying with my parents for a few days.  The film was very funny but SO rude!  If you are easily shocked, I wouldn't recommend it.  It is all about four 18 year old boys on holiday in Greece and nothing is left to the imagination!

I'm off to have a facial first thing in the morning - using a voucher that the children bought me for Mother's Day - and I'm really looking forward to feeling pampered.

Take care

M x

Summer Holiday Tasks - Update

Well, the summer holidays are at the halfway point and I thought it was about time to take stock and see how I am doing with the goals I set myself.

1. Complete my Me in my MoleskinE journal.

I've pretty much finished the actual book (more photos to come soon) and only have the tags to do that go in each page pocket. I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to share the rest with you.

2. Make a start on my Christmas cards.

Well, up until this morning I hadn't made any, but this afternoon I have made 8 cards so far, and now feel on a roll to make some more. Edward thinks I am completely nuts to make them in August, but I know there is a method in my madness! Will share them with you over the next few days.

3. Tidy my craft area/make it work for me.

No, not happened yet!

4. Finish my new Flower Garden blanket.

In hindsight I think this was a tall order. However, it is progressing nicely. I made a plan of how it is going to look (it took me an hour and a half to do it!), using my Promarkers. Counting up all the hexagons was scary - I have to make 713 in total!! I have already made about 300, so still plenty more to do.


The thing that is slowing me down, is blocking out all the hexagons. I can only do about 13 at a time and have to leave them overnight to dry. It's definitely worth it as they sit better, flatter.

This is how far I have got in joining them up. It hasn't taken too long but I am glad I made the plan as I have to refer to it constantly.

5. Make more cards/be adventurous.

I haven't really done this yet either, but there is still plenty of time. It's typical though don't you think, that when you have lots of time to be creative, the ideas seem to dry up.

6. To enter a card on a challenge blog.

This has also not happened but I have been looking at the Less is More challenge blog and may give it a go soon. This week's challenge is a One Layer card using ink - sounds interesting, so I may give it a go.

So, I suppose I am quite pleased with how things are going. What I didn't want is too feel under pressure with the tasks I have set myself. If I don't achieve everything it doesn't really matter as long as I feel like I have done some of the things I wanted to do.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

M x

Birthday Week

Another week, another birthday, this time mine. I reached the grand old age of 43 on Tuesday. My birthday was like the Curate's Egg, good in parts. All my family had clubbed together to get me a new laptop as my other one had died, and I have had it for about a month, so I didn't expect anything else. So it was a lovely surprise to get some little gifts from Mark and the children, and a bagful of crafting goodies from my parents (more of that in a later post - I haven't had time to take any photos yet).

At work my fellow teaching assistants surprised me with a voucher for a beauty salon and I am planning on having a much needed shoulder and neck massage, and maybe a pedicure. The two teachers I work very closely with were the only staff members in the whole school to forget my birthday, so that put a damper on the day - made me feel under appreciated - apparently it was too much trouble to even wish me a happy birthday. Anyway . . .

Mark and I had a lovely meal out at Prezzo, they do a divine chicken ravioli, and the gin and tonics went down really well!

I did make rather a lot of cupcakes to take to work - 3 dozen for the staff and 30 smaller ones for the children in my class, and like an idiot I forgot to take any photos. Which is a shame because I bought some really handy cardboard cupcake carriers and they looked so professional, they would make a great gift. Needless to say all the cakes disappeared in record time - my headteacher confessed to having three!

I had to make a 50th birthday card today to go in the post tomorrow. No time at all to think of a new design, so I went for the tried and tested one that I have made so many of this year.

The papers are called Sugar and Spice and are from the Dovecraft range. They are really pretty and were perfect for this card. I popped into The Range this afternoon and saw that they do embellishments and rub-ons to match (no I didn't buy any!).

I'm looking forward to finishing school in three weeks. I am starting to get some ideas together of things I want to achieve during the summer holidays. There will be more of that later. At the moment I just need to get through the next few weeks, because at the moment I feel like I'm pedalling backwards!

Have a good week.

M x

CK Love

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I had the pleasure of going into my first Cath Kidston shop whilst we were in Winchester at the weekend. I have to say, I don't love all things Cath. I'm not too much of a fan of the very floral designs, but I do have a thing about spots. I was really taken with these gorgeous egg cups. The ones we have are a boring grey marble type of thing, which I have never particularly liked. These, however, really caught my eye.

I also fell in love with these really cute glasses. I could only buy two, as the pennies wouldn't stretch, but I will certainly be adding to them. In fact I love the whole dinner service, but I know I won't be able to get everything I want, so I'm going to set myself a realistic goal of owning a breakfast set of this design. What a wonderful cheery way to start your day!

Hope you are all enjoying your day. I am crocheting like a thing possessed at the moment, desperate to get my current project finished. My hands will never be the same again!!

M x

Goals

Some things I would like to achieve in 2011, in no particular order.

• To finish my hexagonal blanket (I've been doing it for over a year, must get it finished)
• To cook more new meals (or to cook more! Mark does most of the cooking)
• To save regularly for Christmas 2011 (I say this every year and never get round to it)
• To finish my stripy Dream Blanket (it's going well, I'm nearly halfway there)
• To blog more regularly (I'll try, but I can't promise!!)
• To be more active and feel fitter (I need to stop being a couch potato and get going)
• To bake every weekend for the children's lunchboxes (must be better than shop bought)
• To make cards every weekend (even if it's just one)
• To start scrapbooking (I MUST get round to this I am desperate to have a go)
• To take more photographs (I never take enough and I always regret it)

I don't think I set myself anything too tricky, but sometimes it helps to have things written down to concentrate the mind.

Have you set yourself any goals for the new year? I'd love to hear them.

M x