20 questions

just found this Christmas list of questions on Rachels blog

1. Wrapping paper or giftbags? mostly paper & ribbon but sometimes a bag
2. Real tree or artificial? artificial - I can't be doing with the needles!!
3. When do you put up the tree? as soon as possible - end of November this year
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day! fed up of it by then lol
5. Favourite gift received as a child? Teeny Tiny Tears doll
6. Hardest person to buy for? my Dad - plays golf & loves red wine - boring! (sorry Dad)
7. Easiest person to buy for? have to say my Mum as she only ever wants "nice shower gel"
8. Mail or email Christmas cards? I could never send an email card :( not personal enough
9. Favourite Christmas movie? 'Its a Wonderful Life'
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start picking up stocking fillers in November
11. Have you ever recycled a present? No
12. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Boxing Day lunch of cold turkey/beef with pickles ....... mmmmmm yum!!
13. Coloured or clear lights on the tree? clear
14. Favourite Christmas song? I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizard
15. Travel or stay at home for Christmas? travel 10 miles to my parents for lunch!! it used to be 70 miles when we lived in Leicestershire & we would stay a few days.
16. Angel, star or ribbon on the top of the tree? Angel on main tree & a star on the other!
17. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? oh Christmas morning of course :0)
18. Most annoying thing about this time of year? having to work in a card & gift shop - madness!!
19. What do you want for Christmas? I would love an iphone but it aint gonna happen! :(
20. Traditional red/green or modern colours for decorating? trad in living room & modern in dining room

I had great fun doing this list so why don't you have a go? Thanks for the questions Rachel!

TTFN xx

Winterscape

Goodness! Its the 7th of December already & this is the first blog this month ..... eek!!

We (in the UK) have all had snow in various depths over the last couple of weeks. I love snow :) but now we seem to be stuck with old snow that cant thaw yet because of the crazy air temperatures. Yesterday & last night we had freezing fog & we woke to a beautiful 'winterscape' with everything covered in an amazing hoar frost. I couldnt resist taking some photos on the way back from taking Jake to school this morning but I didnt hang around too long!! Brrrrr

The pools are frozen over still - I wonder where do the ducks & geese go??

The downside of all this prettiness is the paths are now treacherous so I walked on the roads where I could!! Or failing that tried to keep on the snow on the grass where it isnt compacted. I managed to maintain my dignity thank goodness & stayed upright lol :))

Sadly (but predictably) Im already behind with my JYC project :(( though I do hope to find some time tomorrow before I go to work.

Hope you all stay vertical on the pavements xx :)

I have to share this!

seriously I'm smitten by this site
I'm not going to tell you what it is but you wont regret taking a look!! Some of you may already know it ..... isn't it great?!!
Let me know what you think :)))

Kitchen update

following a windfall a few months back we decided our top priority was a new kitchen. The timing was just right as our oven was starting to lean alarmingly to the left and we had suffered a leak behind the units (undetected for goodness knows how long)!! Also Homebase had their summer sale on AND a further 15% off the weekend we bought it :))
The pic below shows the 'dining room - but mostly Heathers craftroom & laundry' separated from the kitchen by an enormous 'breakfast bar - cum - dump area'


next is the tiny U-shape kitchen minus the tiles & wall units already. This is when we discovered the gas pipes from the boiler in the garage were hidden behind the old wall units & now they needed to be moved so we could fit our new chimney hood above the new oven & hob!!

next is Jake having a go at lifting the old floor tiles

Believe it or not the next pic is of the first of the new units & the oven in place - gas pipes moved!

(hardboard sheets on the floor ready for some lino)

and finally the extended kitchen area to make one big kitchen/diner.

LOVING the colour we chose for the walls.

Its way off finished but its already a massive improvement on the old one :)))

Thanks for looking xx

Better late than never!

Oooookay I know its November ........... but look at his little face!

Because I was such a lazy ***** last month I didn't get to share this pic. It was a date well worth noting as it was the

1oth minute of the

10th hour of the

10th day of the

10th month 0f the

10th year of the new millenium!!!

I hope to make a layout for this photo too - one for posterity :)

Thanks for looking xx

JYC 2010

its getting to look a lot like Christmas!!

I've decided to jump into another class from the lovely Shimelle. This time its her Journal Your Christmas class which I've shied away from in previous years as I get overwhelmed the nearer xmas gets especially working in a card & gift shop!! Hopefully I can learn to make notes & take lots of candid shots to help me describe our lives at this lovely time of year :))

I have already made one error though :(

I got carried away with the title on the cover....I didnt need to put all that..... why didnt I think to put just JYC 2010!!! Nevermind its done now lol. Ive made some pages & got lots of embellishments ready to use as & when I need them - I just hope that i can keep up with this one as it will be a lovely book to look at again over the years.

Im off to decide what photos to show you of my new kitchen (not quite complete but getting there!) so I'll blog again soon xx

..... and another one!

thanks to Jo for putting this on Facebook!

Another give-away this time from Scrap Rat here. I love the look of those stamps & I shall have to have a look at the Scrap Rats Etsy shop now!!

Heather xx

Fab giveaway from Gen

Hi everybody!!

just been reading Gens blog here. You should take a look as she is having a fantastic give-away. I've always admired her family trees but she has come up with brilliant silhouette idea for a favourite photo.

Back soon xx

Lets start again......

.... shall we?

I have been out of the blogging habit for too long. I just got sidetracked I think.
Maybe I felt I had nothing to say?
Or was it that I just couldn't be bothered!? lol

I haven't been scrapping either...... or taking photos.
After our week in South Wales (spoilt by being stung on the lip by a wasp - thats another story!) life became a muddle of work/school/planning new kitchen etc.

And here we are in the last week of October already!!!

My craft stuff has been relegated to various rooms in the house while we change our kitchen & dining room into a proper kitchen-diner (iykwim)!!! We have no flooring down so we are on cold concrete until we finish the units & then we will lay some lino.

The other news in my life?...... menopause....... enough said!
Actually I'm cross about it because I'm only 47 :-(
Maybe that was another reason for not blogging because I had to get it in my head that it was actually happening to me before I could talk about it!

Mother Nature has a LOT to answer for.

So here I am back blogging again. There won't be much crafty/scrapping stuff for a while but I'm thinking this should be more of family blog too.

Now where is my camera?

new photo tricks

I have just been reading through the posts I've missed lately & found this site Dumpr as suggested by Sian. I have had a quick go with one of my favourite photos of Jake & I love it!! I will be playing some more on this site soon :)

Thanks Sian :))

Hxx

I need this holiday!

At last its finally time for us to go on our trip to South Wales! We have been looking forward to this for so long. Its been a stressful couple of months & I am completely drained of energy & enthusiasm so keep your fingers crossed I find some mojo while I'm down there :)
We are staying in Tenby for 4 nights next week but before than we are travelling to Swansea tomorrow to see Neils daughter Michelle & her fiance Gareth whom we haven't seen for months! They have kindly offered to put us up for a couple of nights to extend our break.
I am so looking forward to getting to a beach & just relaxing (weather permitting of course!!) & Jake can't wait to see his big Sis!
The only downside is that I will miss the beginning of Shimelles "Learn Something New in September" class. I did this class last year & thoroughly enjoyed it ... and I actually finished it!! I will be taking lots of photos & notes though so it won't take too long to catch up when I get home :)

See you next week (I'll bring you a stick of rock)

Hxx

Hello blog

...............still here? lol


Me & my boy went to Ironbridge yesterday. I had promised him we could go while he was on school hols because he didn't go on the school trip in June (I didn't think he was ready for an overnight trip yet). Its only 10 mins away so we hopped on the bus, another of Jakes fave things to do, and went to Enginuity for some interactive fun. It was a fair old walk down to Ironbridge itself so we stopped at a pub for lunch! The rest of the afternoon was a lovely wander around the bridge & Jake was chuffed to find a couple of books in a charity shop.


mmmmm........... really should think about losing weight!!

My little bookworm :-))

watching a river boat turning under the bridge

I love perspectives

Me & my boy

A collage for Holly

On December 25th 2009 my niece Holly celebrated her 21st birthday. On Boxing Day the family gathered at my parents for the traditional meal of cold meat & chips & pickles ( it just isn't Christmas without it!). We all gave presents & cards to Holly ............. except me because in all the rush I had forgotten our birthday card!!!!!

Holly still teases me about it.

So I did the next best thing & created something from the card. I was lucky to get a lovely design for the background from a folder that I had at work. It was from a company called Five Dollar Shake who make the most exquisite greetings cards. I used the front cover of the folder & cut a wavy 'horizon' & stuck that to the pink back of the folder. I added some crystal flowers to the trees to give it a 3D effect. Then I cut out the figure of the young lady in the silver dress from the birthday card ............ the one that I forgot ......... & attached it to the 'scene' I had made. I love the background image of the little girl reaching up to post a letter - it reminds me of Ella!

The title 'Step Into our World' is really apt for Holly & her daughter :) ....... and a complete fluke!!


(There are some light reflections on the glass that makes the pink background look a bit untidy)

I loved doing this 'one-off' project & I am assured that Holly adores it too.

She still teases me about forgetting her birthday card though!!

I shouldn't have done that!

I started fiddling with my blog layout & now I've completely messed it up & I don't know how to start over!

Please bear with me & my gloomy looking blog.

I also need to stop blogger feeding to my facebook as I'm sure most of my fb friends aren't interested any of my creations !!!!!!!!

Hxx

Yes I'm still here ....

...... but rather embarrassed at how I've neglected my poor blog :(

But I'm not going to dwell on that subject ........ nor the fact that I have completely run away from Shimelles class ..... I got behind within the first couple of days & then I got scared!!

I know, I know ..... I can go to the class anytime & do it in my own time so maybe I will soon.

Sooooo back to the present. Clean slate & all that :)

I spotted this on my trawl through my fellow bloggers blogs (also neglected)

and thought I would have a go. I do get fed-up sometimes of paying out for embellishments. Maybe this tutorial will save me some money as well as providing pretty flowers! Click on the picture to be taken to the site.

See you soon xx

3 more!!

I really must get used to blogging more often so you don't have to see my LOs all together!
So here are three more



"SHE SAID YES!" This is my own design. The journalling reads
'Thursday 26th June 2010 Whilst celebrating their 3 yr anniversary together Gareth asked the question & Michelle said.............YES!'


"27 AGAIN? ...... IF ONLY!" a photo of me in 1990 aged 27. My own design again

"HELP........THEY THINK THEY ARE MY PARENTS!!"

I really enjoyed this layout. I got the colour inspiration from The Colour Room palette #12 and the layout design from Colour Combo challenge #148 where they asked for LOs using any border, trim or scallop.

The boy with the megaphone is cut out from a piece of Fathers Day point of sale from work! Reduce - reuse - recycle :)

Thankyou for looking & bearing with me through the pictures :)

H xx

new layouts

I've been enjoying some renewed creative energy around here just lately!
Here are some new layouts that I would like to share with you.



"OUR GRASS". This was my own design. The journalling round the page reads
'June 2010. At last Jake has some grass to play on. Neil has been working on the garden and laid new turf at the end of May. After a few days of constant watering & frowning over, the grass soon showed new growth!!'

"BIG SIS" Dec 09. Jake & his big sister Michelle who was visiting us from Wales. The colours & design of this LO were from Creative Scrappers #109 .

"FUN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU"

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Ella & she loved to blow bubbles. But it was very hard work sometimes. Great concentration is required. Ella in Grandma & Grandpas garden May 2010.

The colours & design were from The Colour Room pallette #11

Thankyou for looking & your comments will be gratefully recieved!!

Hxx

Thankyou....

....to all my blog mates who commented on my last post! We are having a much better week this week (so far!).
It was Jakes sports day at school yesterday & I gave him a few words of encouragement & told him as long as he did his best we would be proud of him & he would be proud of himself. I wish I was there but I had to work. He surpassed everyone expectations & came 1st in the obstacle race & 2nd place in two other races!!!! To say we are chuffed is an understatement as last year he lost his temper whenever he failed to get a place & he really hated the whole day.
So from one of the worst weeks we have ever had to this is really good news.
I wanted to share it with you too :)

Oh dear

My son has had a difficult week so far.
He is having difficulty with controlling his temper & has been getting 'stroppy' (as we like to call it) everyday at school but without having a valid excuse for his behavior. He was told by the headteacher on Monday if he disrupted class again he would have to send him home. That means either Neil or I having to leave work to be at home with him. It didn't come to that.
Until this afternoon. I had to leave the shop to get on a bus to get him from school because he hit one of the teachers. Mrs Kirby is a teaching assistant & is there for Jakes benefit to help him with his social skills & she takes the pressure off the class teacher so the other children don't get too distracted by Jakes tantrums. He hit her in the chest.
He has already been banned from playing on the wii this week & now that ban has been extended to the 1st of July. We talk to Jake about his behaviour but he just doesn't have the ability to stop himself 'losing it'. He is always genuinely sorry afterwards & it breaks my heart. I don't know what else to do.
Do we go back to the paediatrician & ask for more help? He was never officially diagnosed but we kept hearing that he was on the autistic spectrum.
I don't expect anyone to come up with an answer, I just needed to get this off my chest :(

Thankyou for 'listening'!! xx

Toilet roll mini-book is done!

At last I can reveal my little bog-roll book thingy ............. sorry .............. toilet roll minibook!

Its called Baby Love ( sorry about crap pics again ) & I made it for my god-daughter who is expecting a little girl in a couple of months. It was her birthday yesterday so I gave it to her today as a little pressie along with 2 little cardigans my Mum knitted for her .

You don't need a list of supplies I used do you? Good. Cos it was all from my stash & I haven't a clue :(

Did you take part yet? Its not too late if you fancy having a go yourself. Heres the link again.

TTFN xx

I'm on a roll :)

Get me. Scrapping again. Loving it!!
Apologies for the picture heavy post but I had to blog while I was in the mood lol.

This first LO is of my gt niece Ella when she was about 6 months old. When I showed my Mum the LO I did a couple of weeks ago here she seemed quite disappointed that it wasn't for her album :(
So this is especially for Mums scrapbook (& the one below of Jake)

Hot Legs!!

Oh for those legs ........ I know I still have the same legs ......... but they ain't the same if you know what I mean!! I wish I hadn't stamped the title but its too late now. The design & colour scheme are from The Colour Room palette #10.

Sorry about the dodgy pic.
ETA the picture was taken c1985 when I was about 22 years old (yikes!!)

My SONshine.

My only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey.....

And finally.......

Father & son/best pals.

Neil has always been a great Dad & I thought that this would be a great LO for Fathers Day for him.

Thanks for looking & actually getting to the end of this post!! :)

And do leave a comment cos I loves them xx

A Jake-ism

My boy is so funny sometimes. Not intentionally .... though he can be very entertaining when he's in the mood!

Jake & his Daddy collected me from work this afternoon & when we got to the car on the top open-air deck of the multi-storey I spotted an insect on the car that I hadn't seen before.

"Look Jake" I said "look at this" pointing at the car door.

"Whats that?" said Jake.

"It seems to be a ladybird but I've never seen a yellow one before" I replied.

"Is it a man-bird then?" asked Jake.

Lol! Out of the mouth of babes.

The Colour Room challenge #9

Hello again blog-pals. Hope you are all well?
Its been raining again. In fact this afternoon it rained so hard I felt quite sorry for my new tomato plants being bashed so hard by the torrential downpour!! lol
Thank goodness we had already picked up Jake from school otherwise we would have been a sorry sight too :(

Anyway......
I have just found out about & joined 'The Colour Room' a new(ish?) scrapbooking challenge site & I made this layout following the pallette #9 which was to use Eggshell Blue, Lolly Pink, Burgundy Red & Light White. I have wanted to scrap this photo for ages & took the plunge lastnight. I was a bit unsure about using pink on a boys LO but I think it worked don't you? I'm also chuffed that I finally got to use the M&S label from his jeans months ago!!




Sorry about the small photo but blogger didn't want to load the bigger one for some reason. Naughty blogger.

If you haven't been to The Colour Room yet then I thoroughly recommend you do. There are some gorgeous LO's in the gallery & some great colour combos to have a go at.

Bye for now xx

Bounce!!

We have finally got a trampoline for Jake. It was promised for his birthday back in April but due to the remodelling of the garden we had to wait a while! We all got up early this morning & as soon as Neil had put it together Jake was on there bouncing away :) We will of course be putting the safety enclosure on to stop him falling off. He couldn't wait that long though!

Unfortunately we didn't realise just how big the trampoline was (lol!!) & we will have to move it when we have resurfaced the other side of the garden as Neil is fretting about his new lawn :)

But its all worth it when you see the smile on my little mans face. The biggest grin I've ever seen :)

TFL xx

Mini album contest!!

Just a quick reminder about this little competition over on Scrapbook-crazy.com
Click on the picture to be taken to their page (scroll down to find the info!)
I am in the process of making mine so I will post pictures when its done! I think its a great way to recycle the inners that otherwise just get thrown away on to landfill.

Are you going to have a go? I hope so. If you do will you let me know please? xx

PS the postman delivered a pizzabox today. I finally bought the Cosmo Cricket paper collection called Lil Man & its gorgeous. Cant wait to start scrapping with it :)

Happy days xx

Scrummy recipe

I have just read Mels post here at I Speak Melsh which led me to googling the recipe for potato & carrot rosti. The result was this page from Brian Turner on the BBC Food website!
I dare you to read this recipe & not drool ......... its just too scrummy & its going to be cooked one night this week for sure :) I've never cooked rosti but its always something that I've wanted to have a go at.
Thanks Mel for the idea xx

A mini-book for Jake

2 posts in one day! Whats the matter with me?? lol :)

I have had this plastic wallet for a while. It was a little catalogue from a supplier we have at work & when I took their pages out of the sleeves I thought it would make a lovely little book about Jake. There are 12 sleeves so that gives me 24 pages (less the 2 for front & back covers) which is a good number for making it a book for just this year. Thats why I have titled it "Jake in '10"

I used chipboard alphas stuck to the outside of the front with a piece of plain paper inside. I will post some more pics as it progresses through the year - hopefully!!

See you soon xx

Not one but two new LO's!!

Oh my!
I have been struggling with finding inspiration for months now & I was beginning to wonder if I would ever scrap again.
I was messing around lastnight on Picasa & printing a couple of photos for a mini-book for Jake when I chose these two pics but printed them 5 x 7 by mistake! When I saw them I was horrified at wasting the photo paper & ink but soon calmed down when I realised I could do a couple of quick 12 x 12 layouts ;-)

The first one is of Jake at the poolside. The tag reads "April 2010 - Jake loves to laugh at the geese & ducks. We are so lucky to have these pools at the end of our road"
The pair of geese don't have any babies this year but they were being very protective of a family of Coots instead!

The second LO is of my greatniece Ella who is now 3 years old (going on 23!!). We had a lovely day last Sunday at my parents house & Ella and Jake played together in the little paddling pool for hours. We haven't seen much sunshine since so to see this picture brings back lovely memories!!

So hopefully my creative block has shifted at last & I can get happy with my paper & glue again :)

Hoping you are enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend xx

Purple boxes

Hello again! I don't know about you but I have had a lovely trip round the world on todays bloghop!! Its been great to see everyones projects & how differently they have all turned out. Its also been lovely to recieve some wonderful comments about my own effort - thankyou so much!!

Now. I would like some help. I keep 'rescuing' these box lids from work as I can't bear for them to be thrown away!! But I'm getting quite a pile now & I know that there will always be more coming (they come as part of a christening gift to protect the plastic until its out on display)....so...... I need some ideas as to what I could do with them! I know I could do something like a pen/pencil pot but is there anything else?

Some measure 8.5cm all round & others are slightly bigger at 9cms all round & they are all open at the top as you can see from the photo!

I look forward to hearing your suggestions (keep it clean though lol)

Bye for now xx

All About Me blog-hop

Oh boy its 2.20am & I've finally put my project together ...... its due to go live at 6am ....eeek!! I have suffered this week with a stomach virus from hell & its taken me till today to even consider thinking about doing anything let alone summing up any energy to get anything done!! lol.

Fortunately I had already decorated the box that contains the concertina mini-book otherwise I might have had to throw in the towel & lose my place on the 'hop'.

The plan is that we all get linked up by including a link on our own blog that connects with the next participating 'blogger' & so on until we get to Mel who started all this. We all followed the design idea of the minibook but there are no rules as to how we stick to the suggestions or if we come up with something completely different.

Mine hasn't turned out as I imagined as I literally ran out of time but maybe I can spend some more time on it tomorrow.

Check out the rest of the bloghoppers & see what different creations have been made.

Here's Nancy to get you on your way (if the link doesn't work click here to get to Mels blog)


Have fun!!