Just because

This is my brother Peter and his girlfriend Tracey.

They have been together for more than 10 years.

They moved to near Cirencester, Gloucestershire (about 80 miles away) a few years ago where Peter found more landscaping work and Tracey carried on her nursing career in a local hospital.

I'm sure Tracey won't mind me mentioning that she had breast implants a few years back as a treat to herself as she was always conscious of her flat-chest.

They have dogs.

Unfortunately Barney (Peters dog) died a couple of years ago but they still have Bobby (Traceys dog) who is grey & shakey on her pins! They adopted two black Labradors from the Labradors Trust not long after Barney died so they now have two lunatics in their little 'family'!!

By the way thats as close to a smile on my brothers face as you will ever see & I think he was taken by surprise with this!

Earlier this year Tracey found a lump in her breast.

She had her breast implants & all surrounding tissue removed on both breasts and opted to have reconstuctive surgery at the same time.Unfortunately due to infection they also had to be removed. This year has been a steady round of treatments including chemo & radiotherapy and she is now due to see her specialist to discuss when they will have her in to remove her ovaries. This is standard procedure as apparently the cancer feeds on oestrogen.

Peter & Tracey live too far away for a 'quick visit' and we don't tend to keep in touch much anyway but I wanted to tell you about them as I do love them & miss them.

And I admire Tracey so much. Her parents bought her a gorgeous wig but I don't think she ever wore it :) Her hair is now quite spikey though she is not too happy that its 'salt & pepper' colours!!

Life can be such a bitch sometimes. Stay strong Tracey xx

Miriams Christmas Ornament Swap

Yep I am a bad blogger!
I will be endeavouring to make more time but to be honest I have got out of the habit & while I feel the need to blog I dont want to feel obliged to blog .... if you know what I mean!
This seems to be a fairly common feeling amongst many of my fellow bloggers so its good to know that Im not the only one. Christmas is going to be the usual crazy, tiring, maddening time that comes with working in retail - especially a card & gift shop! That Michael Buble xmas CD is already doing my head in :( !!

But one thing that has really gladdened my heart is recieving Miriams handmade ornament this week. It really is the sweetest pair of skates you ever did see! And packaged in a really thoughtful way. I love it!! And theres more .... she even included a handmade card & the box was wrapped up in decorated string AND the envelopes were stamped & painted. So nice :)

Why don't you go to to Miriams blog see what she received from Jacky plus a link up with all the other participants who will be talking about what they received/sent.

Thankyou again Miriam!

Happy Sunny Days!!

Hello blog .... and hello readers!

Here in the UK we are enjoying some gorgeous blue skies & high temperatures :-)
Its been a long run of miserable dark summers for us over the last few years so its all a bit exciting! I have just put out some bunting along our fence and the picnic blanket is laid on the grass for later (too hot at the mo!).

Jake has just returned home from a hot day at school so we stayed in the cool front garden where our cat Flo had found a cool spot too!

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine too? Or are you the other side of the world and shivering in winter? I would love to know :-)

And because its a Happy Sunny Day, and I have purchased a few lovely crafty bits & pieces recently I would love to send some Happy Mail out so I can share my good vibes around! If you would like to receive some Happy Mail why dont you email me hethpet@gmail.com & leave your postal address 

Go on!! You know you want to!! 

H xx

2013 Photo scavenger hunt is on!

so here it is. Rindas list of items to be found & photographed during this summer (ending Sept 21st). I have enjoyed other peoples participation in this challenge over the last couple of years but I have yet to join in myself. I mean to rectify that this year & I shall be asking my son Jake & his Dad to help me too! There are one or two items that I am sure we will fail on ... windmill? Dinosaur? lol

1.   Open air market
2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)
3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building
4.   Airplane
5.   A sunset
6.   Someone or something taking a nap
7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny
8.   A tower
9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10.  A bench that is outside
11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.
12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13.  A fence
14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic
15.  A fire truck or police car
16.  A windmill 
17.  Candle(s)
18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19.  A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)
Bonus/substitute items.  If you find any of the above items too difficult, feel free to substitute either (or both) of these items.  You can substitute up to two items, but you cannot substitute Item #21:
A person wearing an outfit (or item of clothing) that symbolizes your country
A sundial

If you would like to join in Rindas challenge why dont you pop over to her blog Gallo Organico. She would love to have as many people taking part as possible - the more the merrier!

Good luck!!

Just a Quote For Friday

My blog-friend Deb at Paper Turtle has been posting a quote on a Friday for quite some time.
Just a simple quote often accompanied by a photo of something in her garden (sorry back yard!) or of her dog or one of her turtles.
A thought rather than a story.
So when she suggested that maybe people would like to join her today and take one her favourite photos and add a quote and maybe a bit of photo editing well I think I was one of the first to send her an email saying "yes please!!"
The photo in question is one of Debs patio umbrella. I found a suitable quote and then on Picmonkey I added it to the photo. Just a couple of 'tweaks' and it was done.

I love the sunflare!

"...how about a swap of small things?
Let's fill something small with as many
tiny things as we can fit in and send it on..."





A few weeks back Sian at From High In The Sky blog had a lovely idea for people to share their stash of useful small 'things' that any papercrafter could find a use for. The really good thing was that it should be kept small so that it stayed intimate and special. We each gave to the next person on the list that Sian had of all the participants and I was thrilled to see I was to send my little collection to my old blogfriend Mel at I Speak Melsh (I forgot to take photos!)
So this week I was super excited to recieve my parcel all the way from California from the lovely Rinda at Gallo Organico. I could barely wait long enough to take a couple of pictures before revealing the contents!!

I loved the stamped images on the manilla envelope

ok got the photo ... now get the envelope open!

Ta-da!!

lots of lovely bits & pieces

Thankyou so much Rinda!! I'm going to have fun with all of this :-) Hopefully it won't be too long before I find some time to spend in my neglected craftroom!

And thankyou too Sian for coming up with this idea - I know there are many happy crafters out there with some new stash to play with lol

Just a few photos to remind you who we are!!

Jakes 10th birthday in April this year

My Dads 75th birthday in Sept last year (with my S.I.L Tracey)

My stepdaughter Michelle married Gareth in August last year

A very lovely day for a Welsh Wedding!!

snuggles after bathtime - never too old :)

April this year - still only a few degrees above freezing brrrrr!!

goofy photos

Jakes first time at MacDonalds for breakfast mmmm!

me & my brother Peter

Oh yes ..... I celebrated my half century in January eek!

holidays at the beach

igloos in the garden .... well what else are you supposed to do with
 ALL THAT SNOW!!!

day trips (this one was Lichfield)

And lots of cappucinos along the way ;-)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I know I know!!! I have not been blogging for many months but that is about to change ;-)
If I do it correctly I am now claiming this blog from Blogger & should be able to access it (and you should be able to read it) in Bloglovin instead!

Fingers crossed xx

Oooops!!

Oh dear ...... I forgot about the give-away!
So very quickly I will reveal the winner (chosen randomly by my DS)

Jo C. at Sugarandscraps!!

Well done Jo :)))
I will be posting your stash when I recieve your postal details ok?

TTFN xx

My first give-away!

Okay. As promised last week. I would like to give away something to one of my lovely readers/followers :))

Some time ago I met my niece in Shrewsbury and we did some retail therapy (mostly window shopping!) and had lunch together. Of course one cannot go to Shrewsbury and not go in to the QVC shop. That would be too rude.

If I had more money I swear I would by loads & loads of crafty goodness from there as it is all so ridiculously cheap!! The box of goodies you see in the photos below is one of two I bought - in fact these were limited to 2 per customer and there weren't many left in the pile. Each box contains at least 8 sheets of double-sided card/paper and a set each of rub-ons, stickers & brads. The colour scheme is an unusual mix of dark reds, blues, greys & yellows. Very autumnal & very pretty :))



And as a little bonus there is a secret package too xx

If you would like to be included in the draw please let me know in the comments below and please pass the word around! Unfortunately I have to restrict the entrants to the UK & Northern Ireland because of the postage costs :( Sorry!

I will make the draw next Tuesday evening to give plenty of time for people to enter. Good luck and thankyou for reading my blog xx

2 x PPP layouts!

 



Hello! I have actually enjoyed the prompts from Shimelles Pretty Paper Party and I have even managed some layouts!! This one is inspired by prompt 4 to use spots & stripes together. Great fun and the ideal background for a fab photo of my niece & great niece :))

This one is from prompt 2 to use patterned background not cardstock! One of my fave photos of my boy :))

Its great to get some inspiration ........ I've even found time to prepare my JYC already!!

TTFN xx

Pretty Paper Party

 

This layout was made following the first prompt from Shimelles new class in which she suggested using strips of paper as a background. This school photo of me was taken c1969 when I was about 7 years old. I had long hair then & my mum would spend time making sure I looked presentable before I was allowed out of the door! I actually remember the pink & orange hair bobbles as I used to be able to snap them apart with my teeth & I can remember the texture & feel of them in my mouth lol ;-)

 

 

Do you have any peculiar memories you want to share?

Stash!!

Okay so I finally got round to updating my blog again!!
We have all enjoyed the last week off together for the half term break (Neil & I decided to book time off work too) and we have been busy visiting Neils daughter in south Wales, trips to the cinema, lunch at my parents and catching up with my niece & her whirlwind daughter!! All very lovely :)

But best of all I have rediscovered my mojo ... hoorah!! Thanks to the very lovely Shimelle and her wonderful inspirational Pretty Paper Party we have been given some great ideas as to how we can best use our stash and some very useful tips too.
Firstly she invited us to share photos of our stash so here we go with mine

scraps or partially used sheets of patterned paper are sorted(ish) by colour
and in magazine holders

                              

cardstock, patterned papers, alphas and embellishments in two
3 drawer units from Asda Home (just about 12 x12)

my desk which is actually a wardrobe door found in one of those wonderful
 'gloryhole' type places where you have to rummage & delve to find treasure!
I think I'm overdue a tidy-up ;-)

So now you know where I work and some idea of what stash I have in there!
I have some layouts and another project to share in future posts ....... and a giveaway to be announced soon! So see you back here soon xx

Pretty Paper Party

WOW!! Thats a big photo isn't it?
But then she does love her cupcakes (and I have no idea how to alter the size of the image!) so its going to stay that way :)
Yes I have signed up for another class from the ever so clever Shimelle .... hopefully I will manage to stick with this one especially as we will be using lots of pretty paper that we all seem to have tucked away somewhere. 
Shimelle promises  "A four week celebration of pasting pretty paper to other pretty papers in an aesthetically pleasing manner." Which sounds just up my street ...... maybe my mojo is listening & will show up at some point! I think I belong to the Scrap Sorter kind of scrapper - I hate waste.

                    

The Scrap Sorter:

An inevitable part of papercrafting is

the partial sheet. The off-cuts, the left-overs, the

scraps. Call them what you will, but it’s rare that there

are no extra pieces of paper on the desk once a project

is finished. Now what to do with all those small pieces?

Scrap Sorters are dedicated to keeping all these small

pieces in case they come in handy for another project.

The most advanced Scrap Sorters have intricate

systems of filing these off-cuts by colour, pattern, size

or manufacturer; other Scrap Sorters tend to place all

these papers in one place without worry of further

organisation. The merit of this philosophy is widely

acknowledged as a strong return on the paper

investment... but it can be overwhelming to find the

scrapheap never stops growing.

Now all I have to do is replace a couple of colour cartridges in my printer & get printing some photos to scrap ;-)

What would you do?

I don't like waste. I am always bringing magazines/brochures home from the shop to save interesting bits & pieces before recycling them. I always ask if I can have any cards/wrap/boxes that have been 'written off'.

I think I have probably listened to my "creative soul" just once too often here though!!!

Theres no way I could let this display unit get thrown out! It served its purpose last year for displaying some hanging angels from the Willow Tree range but this year the owners have decided against using it & so were prepared to bin it. It had to come home with me didn't it?

the display unit without pegs for hanging the angels on
(plus gratuitous shot of my lovely bunting)

the pegs are cute but do I need them?

hey bunting! and butterfly!
AND sunshine spots :))))

So the question is folks ........ what would you do with it?

I have a couple of ideas but mainly I think it would make a great stable for my Nativity figures. It will need some straw or lolly sticks to cover the wording on the roof and its too tall so Neil will have to very carefully cut the sides down. I would then be left with a handful of pegs!!

It would be great to hear what your plans would be :-))

10 on the 10th

Goodness its been a whole month since I posted! I have decided to ditch Facebook again because it is a complete time/concentration eater and I have so many things I would rather be/should be doing ;-)
The 10th of September has crept up on me (due to lack of concentration) and even wishing my Dad happy Birthday yesterday didn't sound any alarms!! Therefore I am totally unprepared for 10 of anything lol. So I will have to give you 10 of my favourite photos from our little holiday in Wales last month - and get myself sorted in time for next month!!

I love doing these :)

Jake delighting in stamping on his Dads sandcastles

some of the beautiful sand dunes at Ynyslas Nature Reserve

lol!!

one of the gorgeous butterflies at the Butterfly House



icecream tastes so much better by the seaside!

The day we went on the Funicular Railway ..... and parked the wrong side of town!

me & my boy :)

I love the sunlight on the waves

the day we went on holiday was also my
 nephews wedding day so we had to dress up first.
Jake insisted on a red bowtie & I think he looks lovely
.......but too grownup!!

So thankyou for indulging me & my apologies again for being an absent blogger!
See you soon ....... I'm off to see what everyone else has been blogging xx