PGL

 

Got back home on Friday night from a fabulous week in Wales at PGL.  The children had a brilliant time, and so did I.  Apart from dealing with homesickness, sickness and sleepwalking, it was great.  Although I have to say, I have never been so tired.  We were pretty much on duty 24 hours a day.  The first night, after going to bed at midnight, we were woken 6 times by various children, and finally got to sleep around 4am!  It did improve after that.

 

I didn't take part in all the activities, but I did have a go at Jacob's Ladder (so hard), rifle shooting and abseiling, which I absolutely loved.  Please excuse the less than flattering harness in the photo below - it wasn't very comfortable either.

 

And as if I wasn't tired enough, I went to Ally Pally on Saturday for the day with my mum.  We didn't stay until the end because I was exhausted, but I'm glad we went.  I managed to get some Harry Potter themed paper for a scrapbook layout for Emily's album.  I also picked up one or two other bits and pieces, but I found it all a bit samey.  Lots of decoupage papers, not my thing at all.

Today has been the usual - homework, ironing etc.  Nothing too thrilling.  Back to work tomorrow.  I'm really hoping that next weekend I can get on with some card making.  I have so many new Stampin' Up goodies to play with and no time at all.  C'est la vie!

Hope you have all had a good week.  Sorry I've not been commenting on your blogs for a while.  Hope to get back on track soon.  Thanks for visiting.

Take care

Michelle x

Busy busy

I've been so busy crafting over the last week or so, but sorry, I have no photos to share with you at the moment.  I started to make some gifts to sell at the Christmas Fair at the school where I work, and I have made sets of note cards, and little note books.  I've also been crocheting some flowers for hair clips and bigger flowers for corsages.  Going great guns I have to say!  So I was a tad disappointed yesterday to be told I couldn't have a stall because of new legislation from the local authority!!!  Apparently the school have to apply and pay for a license for private sellers because they are a charity, and it's not financially viable for them.  I can see all that, and am not cross with the Parents Association, but honestly bureaucracy gone mad!!

Anyway I have found another location to have a stall, just had it confirmed tonight, so I am back on my mission to craft!  So over the weekend I will photograph the things I have made so far and share them with you.

I am obviously back at work now half term is over.  We are now in the mad half term leading up to Christmas, where the only talk is Christmas performances, Christmas panto, Christmas blah blah blah!  One high point is the Year 5 trip to the BBC next Thursday.  Last time we went we met Chris Hollins and Carol Kirkwood - exciting stuff!

Oh I forgot to tell you, that I crochet myself a hat for the winter.  If I can pluck up the courage I will get Mark to take a photo of me wearing it - we'll see.

Take care

M x

Yippee!

The summer holidays are here!!

Well, it's been a roller coaster of a year but it finally came to an emotional end yesterday. I've had a brilliant two years with this group of children and it was hard saying goodbye and sending them on their way to secondary school. There were tears and hugs, presents and cards and lots of photos. The children and parents gave us some lovely gifts - lots of chocolates, flowers and some very generous Cath Kidston vouchers. I feel very lucky indeed.

And now the pressure is off and the holidays are here, and I've been thinking about setting myself some goals for the six weeks, and a few spring to mind.

1. To make my ME in my MoleskinE Journal from this clever lady here .



2. To enter into a challenge blog as suggested by the lovely Autumn Mist (check out her blog here .



3. To complete my current crochet WIP (more of that later).



4. Making a start on some Christmas cards.



5. Spending more time in general on my card making, trying out all my new products and being a bit more adventurous.



6. Tidying up my craft area and making it work more for me.

That's turned into quite a list - I didn't expect that. And the other thing is to find more time to share things with you.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

M x

Nearly there

One more day to go until the term and the academic school year is over. It's been a pretty long week with all the leaving activities for Year 6, but fun - we've had a leaving disco, the production of The Wizard of Oz and a leavers' picnic (and rounders match). We still have a very emotional leaving assembly to get through tomorrow.

One of my colleagues is going on maternity leave tomorrow so I made her a good luck card to wish her well. I played it safe by using pink and blue (papers are from Craftwork Cards as are the templates I used to make the letters), with a bit of glitter glue to give it a lift.

My boss turns 40 during the summer holidays, and he is a keen Arsenal fan hence the theme of the card I made for him. Mark is really good at getting the photos, all I did was assemble it.

Tonight will be the first night of no obligations for a good few days. I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and catching up with some TV programmes - gathering myself for an emotional day tomorrow!

Have fun.

M x

And the end of another busy week . . . .

Thank goodness! As we near the end of term, work is just getting more and more frantic. This week I have been making props for our Year 6 production on The Wizard of Oz, backing display boards, mounting work, painting a rainbow and making an Emerald City for the display, not to mention dressing up as a Victorian school teacher. It doesn't look like it's going to ease up anytime soon. I've got a list as long as my arm of jobs to do on Monday. Two more weeks and counting.

I never got round to posting some photos of my birthday presents. This first one is from a friend at work who knows me so well. Unfortunately they have all gone - boy could I have done with some of these yesterday!

Mum and Dad, as well as contributing the lion's share to my laptop, also gave me some more Promarkers to add to my collection. The colours are lovely. I'm going to need a new storage box for them soon, as I can't get the lid on the tin I'm currently keeping them in.

My parents also gave me four packets of Candi, some fancy edge blank cards and a storage box for the Candi - all from Craftwork Cards.

Mark and the children gave me The King's Speech on DVD and a couple of packets of Thorntons chocolates, as well as a contribution to my laptop of course. Can't wait to find the time to watch the film, as it is fantastic (and the chocolates didn't last long!).

Hope you are all having a lovely, relaxing weekend. Ours is very busy - just what I need after an exhausting week, but heigh ho!

M x

Once upon a time . . .

Last week at school was Once Upon a Time week, to coincide with World Book Day. Obviously no themed week would be complete without a dressing up day, and as a member of staff, it's pretty much obligatory to dress up too. Not my favourite thing.

I wracked my brain over half term to think of something that would feel comfortable to wear all day and also something that I wouldn't feel like a fool in! I had a brainwave and decided to come as Cinderella before she got made over by her Fairy Godmother! So I made myself a skirt with a ragged bottom, an apron and a headscarf, then raided my wardrobe for a peasanty type blouse - job done! No photos though I'm afraid - couldn't possibly share that delight with you!!

I spent a good part of the week creating this little masterpiece below, with 29 children as my helpers (not all in one go I might add!). We ended the week with a tea party and the cake was piece de resistance!

It was quite adventurous to make, certainly with the children all having a go. Some helped with baking the sponges, some helped with the construction, others helped make the roof tiles (coloured white chocolate would you believe!), while another group did the icing and the final group added the decoration. It was exhausting for me, but also good fun. I've never tackled anything like this before, but I was thrilled with how it turned out (and it tasted delicious too).

The one thing that worried me was when one of the turrets started to lean away from the cake,but a quick bit of thinking and a clean knitting needle soon fixed that!

And they all lived happily ever after. The End!

M x