Love this!

I have to share this site with you! Its a blog of free wallpapers & I totally adore the Christmas designs - I think the snowman is so cute!!

Other news - I finally have ink for my printer so no more excuses for not getting my Christmas book done. I only managed the first page & its now the 10th so its going to take some dedication on my part to get it done!

Onwards & upwards as they say. See you soon :)

Old Santa/ New Santa

I would like to introduce to you 2 Santa's who hang on my tree. The first is in the photo below & he is at least 40 years old (if not more). I have seen this Santa every Christmas for as long as I can remember as he belonged to my Mum before I claimed him as mine! He is made from metal & he is a bit bashed & missing some paint in certain areas but I love him & I would be quite upset if he ever disappeared.

The second Santa is brand new (well last years actually) & he is very brightly coloured & has been given an 'aged' look to try to look very old. I'm sure he will become just as loved in the future as the other Santa but theres no contest really is there!!

Hooray the tree is up!!

I know........... I'm an early bird for some people but I cannot wait............ so the tree HAD to go up on Sunday! Jake was so excited too - so much that I had to tell him to calm down as it was still November & what was he going to be like by Christmas Eve??!! My nerves cant stand it :)
Anyway, my excited son & I got his Daddy to fetch the tree & boxes from the attic & we spent the next hour or so ooohing & aaahing at all the things that we forget about for 11 months of the year! Jake pretended to be a tree with the angel on the top - I think he would make a great tree don't you?

I love decorating my Christmas tree but this year we didn't get to do the rest of the room as we went to my parents for lunch & by the time we got home again I couldn't summon up any enthusiasm. But today I finally finished everything & the house looks gorgeous at last!!

Elf yourself!

I remember this site from last year when we had so many giggles! I cant wait for Jake to get home from school so I can show him this.

Introducing Cheesy Grin Elf, Grumpy Elf, Boooooored Elf, Just call me Happy Elf & How many more photos Elf. Lol

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Christmas box

I've seen so many lovely boxes that have been altered that I thought maybe its time to have a go. So I did. I bought a box of cards from a souvenir shop in Ironbridge, Shropshire. The box was reduced in price & I used papers that I already had in my stash so it wasn't going to be an expensive mistake!

There were times when I got so frustrated with the darn thing especially trying to work out where the folds had to be or whether to use wet glue or double-sided tape but I managed in the end .......... & I love it!

The only problem with it is that the lid wont close down properly as the extra layer of paper is wedging it open but thats a lesson learned for the next project. I can live with it.

As to what its going to be used for ......... probably nothing til after Xmas when I can use it to pack away my most precious tree ornaments - some are as old as me!!

Remembrance Day

I forgot! I didnt even realise it was the 11th today!!

We had a 2 minute silence at the shopping centre & for the first time that I can remember the 'Last Post' was played over the centres loudspeaker system & everybody stood still. I was almost weeping with the emotions that come over me whenever I hear the 'Last Post'. I managed to control myself by grabbing a spare piece of silver ribbon off one of the displays behind me & quietly pulling it to shreds!!

The chap pictured is my 2xGreat Uncle Norman who joined the Manchester Pals Regiment in Manchester.

R.I.P

A Christmas memory

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Originally uploaded by He told me

My paternal grandparents lived a couple of hours drive away from us so it was always a special time whenever we visited. As I was a January baby (1963 vintage) I was 11 months old on my first ever Christmas & apparently I had already learned to walk 2 months previously! My parents & I travelled up Manchester to stay with Gran & Grandad - being their first grandchild it must have been a special time for all concerned. Gran & Grandad never had a 'proper' Christmas tree. Instead they had a large vase full of white branches with snow sprayed on them and lots of bright & twinkling lights & decorations. Apparently I was completely in awe of this fantastic display & uttered one of my first words ......."titty"!!! This translated to "pretty" but it must have been a shock to my poor Gran to hear her precious grand-daughter come out with something like that!

I remember the 'tree' as an older child for many years and I always loved to hear Gran or Grandad repeat the story. We dont have any photos of it unfortunately so I found this picture on Flickr - its quite a nice substitute.

Prompt 4

...... give meaning to the mundane.

I have chosen a couple of photos from a recent walk that my son & I took while the weather was still warm enough for him to wear shorts (as he insisted!) but far enough into the autumn for quite a few leaves to have fallen already. Normal everyday stuff. Not necessarily mundane but hardly exciting headline stuff!

I love to alter photos to give more depth & interest & my favourite photo editing website is http://picnik.com/. The photos below have been altered slightly with the "lomo-ish" option but there are many many more & I have spent many hours tinkering happily away.

Thanks for looking xx

P.S my Mum comes out of hospital today after having that nasty gallbladder removed!!

Trying to keep up!

........... and failing already....... :(

I have a day off from work & my boy is at school so I am determined this morning to catch up with the blogging class before I abandon it out of frustration! If I could only stop spending hours blog-hopping or Facebooking I might make it easier on myself.

Prompt 3 from Shimelle is to make a list of 5 favourite things. They can be anything from fave films of all time to what makes you happy today. I would like to list my 5 things to be thankful for

1. I still have my parents

2. I have a wonderful 6 year little boy who still calls me Mummy

3. I love my job & the girls I work with

4. My other half & I are happy together

5. Its nearly Christmas!

Okay no.5 was a bit of a cop out but I couldnt think of anything else & I do love Christmas so there you have it.

I wonder whats in store for tomorrow?

Blogging class begins!

Its finally here. Its official. I am about to learn how to make the best blog in the world ...... well in my little world anyway!!


I tend to struggle with what to write & get the terrible feeling that everyone would be bored with my attempts so hopefully I will find a bit more confidence through taking this class & I'm sure all my classmates have suffered with the same 'nerves' at some point.


I have a long list of blog-mates now ("waving" to you all!)


The photo below shows my latest LO on my computer desk - its a trick of Shimelles to help us realise that a blog is like a LO only in words not pictures IYKWIM ? The LO isnt quite finished as I'm loathe to add any journalling (as usual) so it is going to hang around for a while in the hope that inspiration will come through one day. Any suggestions gratefully recieved.




I've just realised that I worry far too much about finding anything to say - I think I'm on the point of gabbling too much now lol!!
See you tomorrow xx

Christmas countdown

Okay so Christmas will soon be here & I cant wait! I love Christmas. Our Christmas tree goes up on the 1st of December. Even working in a card & gift shop doesn't spoil it for me .... though I must admit by the last week leading up to it I'm ready to stop listening to the same old songs on the DVD player!!!

I loved doing the 'tag books' & I decided to make something similar for myself but with Christmas in mind. I searched the internet & found instructions for making a Christmas countdown at http://www.makethemomentlast.co.uk/ which fit the bill. Its only half of their project but I decided I didnt want my countdown to be fixed to anything. It was a very easy & enjoyable project using allsorts of bits & pieces already in my stash or freebies printed off the internet - I have already made another for a friend & I have plans to make one for my niece & her 2 yr old daughter! I love the childishness of the 'sleeps til....'

Just Testing!

I’ve just downloaded the Windows Live Writer as recommended by a fellow blogger in the ‘Blogging for Scrapbookers’ class and this blog is hopefully my first of many!!

I won a raffle!!

I went my local scrap crop at Broseley on Friday night & spent a very pleasant couple of hours with other scrappy ladies. Not a lot of scrapping gets done because we natter so much! We all get entered into the raffle automatically when we pay our 'subs' & there are usually 3 or 4 prizes to chose from. My number was the first to be drawn so I chose a kit from CraftyStash that Liz had purchased online from their website. Its a lovely collection of papers & embellishments and it also had instructions for a layout to follow - so I did & this is what I made

I had great fun cutting out the trees from one of the papers! The photo is of me & my Gran taken circa 1965 in Manchester where my grandparents lived.

Hope you like it! xxx

The tag book

This is the 'tag' book that I made for mum while she was in hospital recovering from her major hip replacement/leg fracture"!! I found the instructions on the scrapbook-crazy website & it took just a couple of hours to do.

Sample pages from LSNED book

These are just an example of the pages in my LSNED book of September 2009

LSNED completed book

OMG! its October already?!!

Okay . . . . so I knew I would have trouble keeping this blog updated but August & September were completely ignored! I do have a good excuse though - My Mum broke her hip then decided that wasnt painful enough & fell again this time breaking her leg under the new pin in her thigh! She is finally at home recuperating & my Dad has become quite efficient at looking after the house & the cat & himself!!
My other excuse is that I joined an online class called 'Learn Something New Every Day' at Shimelle.com - We made a page for each day of September & showed what we had learned on each day. The pages were then put together to make a brilliant book to keep & look back on. I also made a lovely 'tagbook' of photos for Mum whilst she was in hospital which she loved (the nurses were very impressed too!!)

Doesnt time fly!

I admit to being a little reluctant to add to my blog purely because I dont think anyone will be that interested. Having said that I must find how to get people to visit & read my wafflings!!

Its a year since Neils Dad died & I wanted to remember him not as we saw him in pain last year but as he was way before then. I did the LO a couple of weeks ago & this is the right time for it to go on show. Bless him x

Lets see how long it takes me to do the next post!

Hxxx

Another week gone!

Well thats another week gone! Got a day off today after working 6 days in a row ( can you hear the violin in the background?)

I havent done any scrapping as I've been contacted by a cousin of my Mums who has started researching her family tree so consequently I've been bitten by the bug again & opened all my family history files & photos.

The layout above is one I did a couple of weeks ago for the 'scrap like you mean it' (slymi) weekly challenge on ukscrappers website. The challenge was simply to use stickers on your LO & only that morning I had bought a pack of iron-on/self adhesive embroidered vehicles so it was great to be able to use the little airplane straightaway!

I've got a hair appt & dentist appt this afternoon so mustn't stay here nattering - suppose I should be doing some housework really but hey.... it will still be here wating for me when I get back!!

Hope you like the LO

Heather x

My new blog!

Oh dear I haven't a clue how this is going to turn out as its my 1st attempt at blogging! Hopefully it won't be long before I'm a pro at this. :(

I did this layout yesterday of Jake engrossed in Thomas the Tank Engine when he was about 3yrs old - bless him. He's outgrown Thomas now & has asked for his bedroom wallpaper to be changed to Ben10. Hmmmm we'll see.

I will be showing new LO's as they are done & will get round to the older ones too at some point!

Hope you enjoy my blog (hope I will too) & thanks for looking