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