.K's.

Just one sketch: Rotate & Monochrome

2012-02-14T14:50:00.000Z

For my rainy picture I wanted colours that gave the feel of rain, went on Design Seeds & found this...

I mentally made the colours slightly bluer, and rotated my original sketch to come up with this page.....

I added rain droplets onto a sheet of blue card, using glossy accents, I also cut 3 rain drops from the same card and glossy accented that as well.

I made wellies from card, and used a foam umbrella for the page.
The photo was mounted onto fawn brazzil which brought out the colour of Kai's face & his coat, firmly making him the feature of the photo.
I chose the colour of the letters of the title to blend in with the brown mount. This way the main word (jumping) shows up against the blue but the rest (in the rain), less important writing, blends in more.

I really like how the colours worked on this page & shall be using Design Seeds again to help choose colours another time.

12 goals for 2012 - 1st update

2012-02-12T08:05:00.000Z

So how am I getting on? (to see my goals please check out my post HERE)
1. Lose weight
So far I've lost 8lbs, thats over 5% of my body weight, woohoo!

2. Exercise
Well, I started off ok, I've been doing Zumba on Kinect, but for the past week I've had various forms of a cold/flu so have had no energy to exercise, when I have tried I end up weazing. As soon as I'm upto it I SHALL start exercising again.

3.Get ebaying
So far I havent ebayed BUT I have made money in other ways. I sorted out all our clothes that I didnt think would sell well on ebay & sold them to cash 4 clothes instead, I've sold some of my craft stock that I havent been using on facebook AND I had my first sale of an item I've made, woohoo!

4.Clear my roof
As I said in number 3 I sorted out our clothes, this includes the ones in the roof so I have made a start.

5 & 6. Scrapbooking
I have so far scrapped 3 pages, which is a start. The first one being HERE, you'll see more this week.

7. Blogging.
I have had only 1 week where I havent blogged ... I'll forgive myself that slip up & keep on going.

8.Out & About.
Those of you who read my post Rocking MY World Friday will know I caught a bus this week, for those who dont, I caught a bus this week! lol. I have also been doing Party Crafts with Kai at his school. and have signed up to do a card making course starting after the hols.

9. Career
Lots of thinking going on about what I'd like to do as a career. I think whatever I do I need a car. I'm leaning towards teaching crafts, I would like to combine crafts with a job somewhere ........ someone want to pay me to just test out craft products for them all day?

10. Cards
Well, as you can see from yesterdays post I have made my Mothers Day cards already, yay! go me!

11. Extra income
I refer you to number 3 ... I have so far made nearly £60, a nice little start.

12. Debt Free
As above ... I am currently concentrating on my catalogue bill, aiming to clear it by the end of March. One catalogue has already been cleared.

2012-02-11T08:05:00.000Z

Told you you'd be seeing these easel cakes again. This time I used items from February's Creative Craft World Kit - 2 of the doilies and some of the MME Love me Papers. I've hand written "Happy Mothers Day" on them & used a white brad to act as a stopper for the card. Its hard to see but the cupcake case bit has been run through a crimper to give it that cupcake case feel.

Rocking My World Friday

2012-02-10T09:39:00.000Z

First off has got to be my barginous new toy

Its second hand but that doesnt matter to me, I have a new toy!!! The Big shot express I mean, not the cat ;-) I bought it to mainly use nesties & embossing folders in, I've really been wanting to try them out. Well I've bought a set of nesties & am now broke, so if anyone has any unloved, FREE nesties or embossing folders you know where to send them, lol... if you need a reason then I have a birthday in May ;-p

I CAUGHT a BUS!!!! Yes, ladies & gentlemen, this silly pink haired person actually managed to get onto public transport. its the getting off that I have most problems with, or rather knowing when to ring the bell & where to get off so minor panic attacks as we got closer to our destination but everything was ok. I say We as Zacks was with me, kind of, he wasnt going to sit by his weird ol' Mum on the bus so sat on the seat right behind the driver away from me, lol. On the way back I was fine, all the buses end up at the Town Shopping Centre so no need to ring the bell or anything.

We caught the bus to Zacks school for his parents interview, i.e I get to hear how he's getting on. Bloomin' Marvellous, thats how he's getting on, improving nicely in all subjects, joining in, confident (yes, he is actually related to me & not adopted ;-) His tutor (whose also his Maths teacher so she's got to luv himseeing he works at Gcse level already) has given him a nickname "The Dictionary", if she needs a word defining she turns to Zack. He had a bit of a problem with one of the lads but thats been cleared up very quickly since I spoke to his Tutor. I think she's definitely a credit to the school.

Today I have both kiddies at home as we're all poorly :-( This is kind of a positive though as we're in high spirits (Its the start of the holls, yay!!!). When I'm ill I'll do what housework I can & then say "blow it" to the rest & relax or craft (almost 1 & the same). Yesterday I got 2 cards made & today I plan to scrapbook.

We had snow! not last night, just freezing rain last night, but last weekend we did get a small amount & Kai certainly took advantage of it.

There wasnt enough to make a snowman so he filled up his bucket & made a snow castle instead .. but first snow angels were needed :-)

So whats been rocking your world this week, come & join us over at Celtic House

Party Crafts - Cards & Invites

2012-02-09T08:05:00.000Z

We made 3 cards this week in Party Crafts

This is the "rocking card", quite simply a circular piece of card folded in half and decorated. Can you tell Kai likes sticky gems?

This is my favourite, the cupcake easel card. I crimped the paper to form the cupcake case, I thought it made it a little bit more cupcake like - & Lynne (our teacher) is nicking the idea to use again **polishes her crafty halo & sits smuggly**. & of course we needed sticky gems on it ;-)
You shall be seeing more of these when I make them as I think its a lovely card to make.

This party invite I made in the hour before the kids came into the room (along with preparation for the other cards.

As you can see it splits into 3. The holder, made from 2 cards, stuck together at the back & cut diagonally from the creases so when they are closed they look as pictured. On the back is stuck a strip of magnetic tape so it can be stuck to the fridge & therefore easier to find.

The actual invite, printed off & stuck to a coordinating piece of card - note to self, read invites before sticking down, this one says HER party, well I suppose it could be for me :-)
I also added a loop of ribbon so its easier to pull out.

Lastly, the image, stuck onto circular card & acts as the rsvp. There is a paperclip attached to the back so it can fasten to the holder.

Due to the half term holidays we get a bit of a break now from party crafts, but have been told we have 2 more lessons left after half term, woohoo!

Handmade Hedgehog costume.

2012-02-08T08:05:00.000Z

The school put in their weekly newsletter on monday that on friday Kai's year could dress up as either a fairy, a hobgoblin or some other magical creature in connection to them learning about A Midsummer Nights Dream.
I discussed it with Kai, who wasn't in the mood to dress up as anything so I suggested we pack his dinosaur all in one which could slip over his school clothes if he felt like it (it easily passes as a dragon).
On wednesday there was a notice put on the class doors saying that they could dress up as Fairies, hobgoblins or WOODLAND CREATURES, so once again I discussed it with Kai, this time he wanted to be a robin.
A Robin right, so he would need a red tummy, a beak, brown clothes & wings that wouldnt get ripped. The following day I popped up the shops & grabbed a brown fleece blanket from primark to turn into wings & feathers.
On the way home Kai states he wants to be a hedgehog, luckily I hadnt had chance to start sewing by then.
Hmmm, a hedgehog ... I could smell of burning as the gears slowly began to move in my mind.

I cut the blanket into a sports bib shape and checked it would fit over Kai's head.
Then I began cutting layer after layer of zigzags out of the remaining blanket before attaching these onto the back.
I also made 2 small ears & attached to hair clips that would be hidden underneath, & a cone nose, covered in the brown fleece & a black felt tip.

Kai's hair was spiked & he decided he didnt like wearing the ears but he was very happy with his costume.
Being a very chilly day I had to put a jumper on him which didnt go as well as the brown T-shirt underneath, but rather that than be cold.
Finally he wanted to add his own touch..........

But I told him there was no way he was going to school in my brand new, 4" high boots!!!!

My First Handmade Card of 2012

2012-02-07T08:05:00.000Z

This is the card I made for my nieces birthday. I had to get this sizzlet when I saw it, it just screamed "lil kiddie cards" to me. Its not the most feminine of colours but I wanted a jungle kinda look.

Finished it after the sun went down & had to take photos under electric lights so have added a photo using & not using flash so you get a better idea of the colours :-)

But look, LOOK! I used yellow, a bright lion yellow. Over at "Notes on Paper", the lovely Julie is having a month of sunrays, she might even convince me to wear yellow (hmmm, not sure a yellow ribbon would go with my pink hair, but we'll see **walks away smelling smoke as the cogs turn**)

Party Crafts - Decorations

2012-02-06T08:05:00.000Z

Banner

The S fell off from Kai's original name plaque & as of yet hasn't been replaced

Kai & I had great fun making this banner. The yellow jungle paper wrapping paper cut out with nesties. I also cut out the parrot & elephant from the wrapping paper to use as well. The largest triangle nestie wasnt large enough for what we wanted so these were measured & cut out to size. The letters were stamped and Kai coloured them in before I cut them out & they were stuck on. Finally we threaded the curling ribbon through holes we'd punched. I think I've finally got the banner bug!

Cup hugger

These cupholders can be used with a drinks cup using a straw to actually drink from it, or on pen holder etc.
These were so simpe to make but very cute. Lynne had a biiiiiiiiig die cutter at home to cut the body shape, which we then drew around head templates and created our characters. Kai thoroughly enjoyed colouring his in & putting it together.
I chopped the thumbs off mine coz, well, elephants dont have thumbs! & applied circular stickers for its nails.

Card Holder

Using the another on of the body die cuts as we had used on the cup hugger we made card holders. We stuck 3 envelopes together, the flap behind the one above. In the top one we slipped in the die cut body & stuck it down. Finally we stamped some letters onto punched out flowers to spell out KAI & attached them.
Cards can now be slipped inside to show them off, Kai actually uses his to keep his spelling cards in.
Once we got home Kai wanted me to decorate his a bit more, so here is its makeover...

I also made my own...

Heres' a close up so you can get the idea of it a bit easier

There are 12 envelopes, each one has a letter of a month on it, on the right are the birthdays/celebrations in that month. I plan to make cards in advance & slip them in the pockets all ready. The colours match the ones that my kitchen will be & it hangs on the back of the kitchen door below my calendar. When the doors open it cant be seen, and usually its only me whose ever in the room when the doors shut so no-one will be getting a sneak peek at their cards ;-)

3 party craft lessons over & only 2 more left, monday mornings shall be a whole lot emptier & tougher once we finish :-(

Storytelling Sunday - A story of love & loss

2012-02-05T08:05:00.000Z

The sounds of a text rang out, she casually picked up her mobile, checked the message and her heart felt like it had stopped. Her vision began to darken, she could hardly breath, she just couldn't believe it, he'd dumped her over text! In hindsight she should have expected it, he'd dumped her after dating for 2 weeks via text, he'd even proposed to her over text, so it was kinda fitting he'd finish with her the same way.

As her vision cleared she grabbed the phone & rang him... immediately it went onto answer phone. She tried again, and again it went onto answer phone, she yelled down the phone, how could he dump her like that, what a spineless chicken he was not to at least give her some respect by saying it to her face. With her head still a blur she quickly got hers & her sons coats & shoes on before hurridly leaving the house. It was the house they'd shared for 5 months .... it hadnt been the easiest of months. He expected her to be the perfect housewife, either that or get a night job, it was the first house she'd ever tried to maintain, the first time she'd had with her 3 year old without the support of family living with her, it was a big learning curve.
He had told her they couldn't afford to live together, that the money just wouldn't stretch - out of blind love she believed him, even with him buying videos and going out on the odd evening, she WANTED to believe him, and naivety let her do just that. She had text him that day, saying that she felt he was being distant & what was up, of course she got her answer, very clearly.

As she rushed over the bridge towards where her Mom lived an embarrassed, indignant anger washed over her, how dare he be that unfeeling, that much of a coward, with such little respect for her. So out came the mobile again, she didnt want to talk to anyone but she wanted everyone to know what he'd done before he got the chance to sweet talk his own story to them. Everyone on her contacts list received a text which simply said "He's dumped me, over text! Again!!". It was her way of grabbing some sort of control again, making him pay a little bit for what he'd done, right now she needed to feel that ounce of control, even if it was in the tiniest of ways, as she felt like her entire life was falling apart.

She sat in her Moms kitchen, on the old rocker that could no longer rock, and cried, her son sat in the lounge oblivious to it all. He was almost 3, hers from a previous relationship, and she really didnt want him to see her so distraught. She begged her Mom to have him for a few nights, just until she'd calmed down, got her head a bit more straight. Her Mom agreed.

Alone in the house she cried until the tears would no longer fall. Everywhere reminded her of him, so she grabbed a black sack & began filling it with his things, gifts he'd given her, photos, everything.
That night her mobile once again rang, it was a friend of a friend, they'd spoken upon occasion but didn't really know each other. He had just finished his shift & was worried about her after the text he'd received. They chatted for a while but she wasn't really in the mood to chat.

The next few days were hard but she made her way through them. She went with a friend to drop all his stuff off at his parents, he refused to speak with her. That night he had rung her, he wasn't happy she'd let everyone know before he had chance to explain to them, he was actually quite angry over it which amused her no end. He told her that he was gay - something that she later decided was purely to ensure she wouldn't try to get back together again, Bi-sexual, yes, she'd always known that, but he used the same line on another girl a few months later. He let that her know he'd had fun going clubbing, something she'd never really enjoyed being more of a pub goer. She missed him, but also began to see the arrogance in him, she began to see clearer & spot the things which weren't right in the relationship.

Later that night her friend of a friend rang again, he rang on almost a nightly basis after he'd finished work. She began to look forward to his calls. They chatted easily, & he always made her laugh. She casually invited him over one day, while she was decorating the house. Decorating was her way of putting her own stamp on the house, especially with hers & her sons hand-prints as a border in the kitchen.

As the days went by she thought less of her ex & began to enjoy life again. For once she had money, something her ex wouldn't let her have, she went out with friends, out for walks, enjoyed playing messy crafts with hers on.

Her friend of a friend came round on a regular basis & she found herself falling for him, but she wouldn't let herself totally fall for him, or make a move, not yet, just incase he rejected her, just incase she was on the rebound. But after 4 months it was clear, these feelings were not rebound feelings.

They've now been engaged for 7 years, added another child to the family.and shall be celebrating being together for 10 years in July. He's made her so happy over the years that the things that happened before they met are barely more than a bad dream. It certainly taught her what kind of a relationship she didn't want to be in. 10 years ago she thought her life had fallen apart, little did she know it was just the start of a beautiful new rebuild.

This true story was brought to you inconjuction with Story telling Sunday over at From High in the Sky

Party Crafts - Cupcake decorations

2012-02-04T10:26:00.001Z

Lesson 2 of party crafts was to decorate a cupcake, make a cupcake holder and "flag" to go in the cupcake, along with a cellophane bag, complete with tag to carry them in, and a party bag.

We parents made the cupcake holders ready for the children to decorate before making our own, just so we know how to do everything of course ;-) Mine had a night time theme to it so plenty of stars, blue & yellow.

Kai decided to go for an animal sticker/toy story theme.

The cellophane bags were actually clear folder pockets with the white edge cut off & the bottom corners stuck underneath.

It was a simple crafting activity but we both really enjoyed it, especially eating the cakes afterwards ;-)

Just one sketch - The sketch!

2012-01-23T13:35:00.000Z

Thank you to all who commented yesterday, it seems I also like to use blue a lot, who knew!! (well Nicky & Jem did obviously ;-) I think this may be because it's such an easy stereotypically boy colour.

Heres the sketch I came up with.....

You can see the horizontal line, the strong placement of the title, journalling & the photo. The layering of the stars, which could be paper, embellishments or a mixture of the 2. The layering of paper over the background creates a border effect. I shall keep in mind textures, pale background & blue.

So heres the first page I created from it....

Can you believe I didnt have any banana related craft stock!!! Thank goodness for fimo ... not sure how it'll last, especially on the "peeled" bananas but we shall see.
I started off looking for a yellow that would go with the banana in the image, but all my stock seemed to clash, then I found the sheet I used for the back ground (Alla-Prima collection "Aquarella"), and decided to match up the other colours with this instead as the pattern on the majority of the page seemed quite internal-banana-ish. As it happens I couldnt match the mustard/brownish yellows tones up, grrrr! so I inked over a fawn coloured sheet instead.

The ribbon matched the teal plants perfectly, and it all seemed to go very well with the photo, making the banana yellow really stand out. I finished off with the yellow title, the journalling done in brown, and finally the little doodle of the banana as I felt the space here made the page look unbalanced.

Just one sketch

2012-01-22T11:00:00.000Z

I've dedicated this weekend to following Miss Smiths prompts from Just on Sketch.

So I have initially looked at my favourite pages....

Baby Blues

I like the simplicity of this page, the central photo with the space around it. I also like the pale back ground making the other colours stand out, and the border around the edge. I like how the title & journalling are as important if not more than important as the photo.

Rub a dub dub

On this page I like the pale background (ooo, maybe a theme here!), the left strip for the writing, and the movement in the splash. I like how theres plenty of space to write my journalling & its just as important as the photos

Memory

In this one I like the layers, and how the white words make a border (I seem to like borders then)

Kaidy

We have another pale background here & I like the horizontal lines. The story is yet again given as much significance on the page as the photos.

Every thing is fun with "U"

I like the texture on this page, the layering up on images, paint, letters etc.

Hide & sleep

On this page I yet again like how the title & journalling are as important, if not more than the rest of the page. I like the 3dness of the shirts, buttons etc & I like the layering. I like the initial straight lines which are then blurred slightly by the embellishments.

So, in summary, the things that usually make me like my pages style are.....

Pale background sheets
Borders
straights axis (predominantly horizontal)
a space for both journalling & title that make them clear and stand out.
texture & 3d
layers

Join me tomorrow as I look at making a sketch encompassing these ideas; until then, can you spot any other similarities in these layouts?

Party Crafts - Place names & a game

2012-01-21T10:24:00.000Z

On monday Kai & I made place names on our family learning course, these also doubled up as counters for a game.

I coloured in my figure & he coloured in his, we then cut them out & stuck them to a lollipop stick. The lollipop stick was pushed into a bottle top full of plasticine. We could have used any shapes, and also added our names onto the image if we'd wanted, I think you can tel which ones mine & which ones Kai's though ;-)

The game was using the clock you can see in the background, its made from a disposable plate . The hands are a lollipop stick, cut in 2, and a hole punched in the ends for a brad to go through, the plate also has a hole in the centre for this as well. The plate then has the numbers put on & gems stuck on for decoration.

The aim of the game is to get to number 12 first. 3 dice are rolled, if one of them is a 1 you can move to number one, then its the next persons go. If you dont roll the number you need then again its the next persons go. If your on number 1 you'll then want to roll a 2, then, the next go, a 3 etc etc until someone reaches 12. For older children you can use sums, they must use at least 2 of the dice to make the number they need. For even older children/adults they must use all 3 dice to create a sum to make the number they need (very countdown).

Cant wait to find out what we'll be making next monday.

Rocking MY World Friday

2012-01-20T10:59:00.001Z

Hi everyone, phew, what a week! By the end of Monday I already felt like it should be Thursday.

Monday morning I attended Party Crafts, a family learning course at my local primary school. It caught my eye in the weekly school newsletter purely because it said "crafts" so I though hey ho, push myself forward & go join. Its a 2hour session where we make things for parties, half way through our children (Kai in my case) get to come along and join in. I'll show you what we made this week tomorrow. Its a small group, no more than 14 adults can join due to space, safety etc, who seem nice, though there's a bit of a click at the moment due to some of them attending a different course last term together. There's even a woman who went to school with my brother & kind of remembered me (she initially asked if I'd lived near her as a child as she recognised me). **Its a small world after all** It was lovely to listen to adult chatter, to do something structured with Kai that I hadnt organised, & to feel a warm glow of pride afterwards that I'd managed to push myself into a situation I was certainly not comfortable with & had caused panic attacks the night before.

That afternoon I had a phone call off Zacks school, which started off with "he's ok but we think he needs a trip to A&E". One of his friends passed his bag to him by throwing it, the zip, or similar, had caught his cheek below his eye making a rather deep cut. Though it wasn't pouring with blood it wouldnt fully scab over so was weeping blood. It was also very swollen and a lovely shiner of a bruise developing underneath.
So why is this in my positives? Because my MIL was home & able to give us a lift, as well as offering support & being chatty. Because it only needed a couple of butterfly stitches (4 in total, but 2 were used to hold the initial 2 in place) and wasn't worse. And finally because there were barely anyone in front of us in the queue at A&E meaning we got home within 2 hours, as we were leaving the waiting room was suddenly very busy. I do wonder if this was because it was by then just after the kids had finished school & accidents were occuring on the way home or people were arriving with things that had happened at school that teachers hadnt thought needed an A&E visit but parents thought were.

Boots 75% off sale! woohoo!!! Wednesday morning I checked the boots website as I wasnt going shopping that day but knew the boots 75% off sale was due soon & didnt want to miss it. There was the "75% off instore only" sign, changed from the previous "50% off instore only". With a woop, a surge of adrenaline & excitement I quickly got dressed, & enthusiastically hurried Kai up so he'd be in school on time & at the front of the queue that always forms to get in through the reception class doors.
I bought £240 worth of stuff for £60. All of it presents which will be spread through out the year. It doesnt really alter my present budget, but means I can buy a much bigger present for so much less.

Weightloss - yesterday I was weighed & had lost a further 2lbs, yay! I'm not too impressed that I think this may be from my top half but a loss is a loss and I shall keep on going (excuse the pun ;-)

My blog followers - I get such great support & advice off my followers - you guys are GREAT!!!

Fancy putting fingers to keys & tapping out your weeks positives & then linking up for us to have a read? Then link up with the rest of us rockers over at Celtic House

Halloween Scrapbook page in January

2012-01-19T08:05:00.000Z

2 weeks into 2012 & I have finally had a moment to make a Scrapbook page. This ones been in the form of printed out photos, sheets of paper, stickers and a sketch for a couple of months

The images in the corner are all layered up, a mixture of stickers, die cut images and photos.

The journalling is on a tag, one on each page

I'm still considering ageing the title, browning it up a little so it blends in more.

Have you managed to do any crafting yet this year?

Bookbinding

2012-01-18T08:05:00.000Z

Look Lizzie, I did it, I did it!!!!

The front

Lizzie gave us a great lesson on book binding with Japanese side stitch when we met her in Coalport. Just before Christmas I gave myself a few hours off and decided to finish off the book I had started. Its not the neatest of books, but it taught me a few things and I'm sure my next go will look far better. What I was very happy about though was that it worked! Not only did I manage to bind my own book but it isnt falling apart, and is totally usable! I even scored the front cover so that it opens easier.

Inside

So what did I learn....

I need to pay a lot more attention to making the covers so that they are neat without the odd gluey finger print on them.
I need to buy a smaller needle, though mine worked the eye made the holes too large for the thread. This makes it look rather untidy.
That book binding is really fun & not only do I want to make more but I'd love to learn more techniques as well.

The back

Thank you Lizzie for giving me a new hobby (I'm sure Ryan (my other half) will be far less enthusiastic that I have another hobby to spend money on ;-)

Home made Baileys

2012-01-17T08:05:00.000Z

One of the gifts we gave at Christmas was Home made Baileys

400g (1 tin) sweetened condensed milk
375ml (1 tin) carnation creamy evaporated milk
2tsp Vanilla extract
2tsp glycerine (optional but gives it a smoother feel)
1tbsp coffee granules mixed with 1tbsp off-the-boil hot water
Whisky (quantity to taste)

Mix everything together except the alcohol, add this a bit at a time, tasting as you go.
I added Tia Maria instead of Whisky as I prefer the taste.

As soon as I find the link I'll let you know which blog I got the design for the stickers from as they truely are beautiful and came in very handy over Christmas.

Mmmmmmm, homemade baileys really is delicious, though its not particularly good for your waistline :-)

PIFs in 2011

2012-01-16T08:05:00.000Z

A long long time ago, in January 2011, I signed up for a Pay It Forward. I sent a lot of these out in December with a christmassy theme

I made these lil robin hairclips out of felt, carefully sewing them together. The beaks cover the end of the clips

Being late they were a bit of a pain to take photos of but heres one I made for myself.

I also made this Jack Skellington christmas ornament from felt for Carmen, I think he makes a lovely, cheerful Santa & I am so glad she liked him so much.

12 goals for 2012

2012-01-14T12:51:00.000Z

I've snagged this idea from Ruth, who snagged it off someone else ....

So here are my 12 goals for 2012 (along with a bit of waffling & explanation :-)
1. Lose weight.
My motivation is a photo my MIL took of me that I hate..

gah, cant believe I'm putting this up here, ah well, we'll call it extra motivation.

You can see my double chin, flabby arms, big thighs... I know an hour glass shape is meant to be sexy but when you have an hour glass shape from the side view as well its not a good look.
My measurable target is either to fit into the red dress I wore when I got engaged, or lose a stone, maybe even both.

2. Exercise at least once a week.
My motivation is again, the picture above, toning up is needed, I also want to feel healthier & be able to do more
My measurable target is to do at least 20minutes of extra exercise a week, this will be counted as anything out of my normal routine that is physically exerting enough to bring on a sweat, raises heart rate & makes it hard to talk.

3. Get ebaying
My motivation is the items I can buy with the money raised, we need a new oven as mines wearing out, its Ryans big 30 this year & our 10 year anniversary, our garden fence also needs replacing ....... and of course there's always new craft products on the market and new things to try.
My measurable target is to have a new fence paid for out of ebay money.

4. Clear my roof
My motivation is my dislike of clutter, and the embarrassment of when people come into do maintenance or checks that its full **blush**
My measurable target is to have 1/4 of the roof clear by the end of the year, this does not include moving items around. Most of the stuff I hope to ebay off.

5. Finish Scrapbooking 2010
My motivation is that I started off so well last year doing this until about 1/2 way through the year, my memory is also awful so memories are slipping away so I want to get them recorded.
My measurable target is to have all 12 months of 2010 scrapped.

6. Scrapbook 2011
My motivation is similar to above, memories fading etc etc
My measurable target is to have all 12 months of 2011 scrapped .... this is a lot of scrapbooking!

7. Blogging
My motivation is my enjoyment of blogging, and even more so, my enjoyment of reading YOUR comments.
My measurable target is to have at least 1 blog post written per week, rain or shine, migraine or non, busy or not I aim to have it done.

8. Out and about
My motivation is to stop my social anxiety affecting my life, it does rule it quite considerably & though I'm seeking help with it it primarily comes down to ME to fix it.
My measurable target is to join a club, catch a bus, a train, take the kids out to an event/activity with just me, and go somewhere I havent been to before.

9. Career
My motivation - Kai is now at school and I'm in my 30's I not only need to think about what career path I want to take, how to get there and DO something about it, before I'm passed my prime.
My measurable target will be to research a career and make steps towards getting there.

10. Cards
My motivation is the mad rush I used to get into last year to get cards finished, this year I want to get ahead with them
My measurable target is to have cards ready at least a week before the upcoming birthday/event.

11. Extra income
My motivation is rarely having free spending money to treat us or get something we want.I'm going to do this by filling in surveys, using vouchers, cashback sites & entering competitions. Possibly even selling my own crafty makes.
My measurable target will be to raise £100 or equivalent in goods.

12. Debt free
My motivation is similar others I've mentioned to do with lack of cash.
My measurable target is to not be in our overdrafts, pay off our loan & have nothing on the catalogue.

So those are my 12 targets, I'll keep you up to date each month on how I'm getting along
What are your goals for 2012?
If you fancy joining in & blog your 12 goals for 2012 please leave a link in the comments so I can come have a nosey :-)

Rocking MY World Friday

2012-01-13T08:05:00.000Z

Well hello there! I know, I know, I've been a tad absent this week, phew, its a busy ol' time of year, trying to get everything sorted and back on track after the end of year celebrations etc .... add in the odd stress head aka mind numbing migraines = K staying away from the lappy. But I'm back and better than ever .... well, one can always hope.

So, my positives, my first weigh in! I was weighed on the 5th Jan at 10st 3&1/2lb - lighter than I expected, I thought I would be over 10&1/2 stone. Today I weighed in at 10stone exactly, woohoo!! This was all from adding more fruit & veg into my diet & cutting out more of the carp (please not, that IS carp, NOT a typo for carbs). Next week I'll be adding a bit of Zumba-ing into the mix as well.

Cheap christmas decorations & shopping with my Mom - While putting the Christmas decorations away I'd first sit in the room I was about to de-xmas and see if we need anything added. While taking the decorations down I'd fix anything that needed fixing, and make a note of anything I couldn't fix. While out shopping I've been picking up replacement decorations dirt cheap. And shopping with my Mom means that if there's something a bit too pricey I can go "MmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmoOooooOoom" in that up & down way kiddies get :-) Sometimes, just sometimes it works, like yesterday when I got some stunning metal pressie-outline decorations, I'd need 2 packs but was only willing to pay the price of 1 pack, so my lovely Mom paid for them for me, yay!

Talking of kiddies, mine have settled back into school nicely after the hols ... I however am struggling with the early, fast paced mornings but I'm sure I'll be used it just in time for the next holidays.

Having a good general ingredients stock pile so that when Zack brings me a list of ingredients last night for a recipe he's making at school I have everything needed, woohoo!

Whats made your week that lil bit better? Join us over at Celtic House.

365+1 - Day 2

2012-01-03T19:54:00.001Z

So I'm already behind, but I've decided putting up the photo a day after the prompt will give me the WHOLE day to get a photo, & get it blogged :-)

Todays Prompt: New

As I put the Xmas decorations away I fix and alter the old to make them like New.

To join in or see others photos click on the camera piccy in the bar on the right.

Gift Money Wallets

2012-01-03T08:05:00.000Z

I usually give my niece & nephews money at Christmas along with sweets to open. Though this part is a no brainer I put my thought behind how to present these gifts. This year I opted for wallet style cards to hold the money

The outside of the boys "wallets", I tried to make it look similar to the velcro ones they normally have.

A purse for Layla, a bit more colourful and girlie. These were stuck to a wrapped roll of sweets

The inside, side view. All made from a single 30cm x 10xm piece of card (so 3 made out of 1 sheet of 12"x12")

A slot made for the money to sit in, It stays in here quite nicely.

Instructions can be found on Craftdee Donnas blog HERE

The sticker on the inside was printed from a design by Mommy by Day ... Crafter by night blog HERE I hust digitally signed it from us :-)

365+1 - Day 1

2012-01-01T19:27:00.000Z

I'm joining in with Suzies 365+1 photos in 2012 .... sometimes I'll be going by her prompt & sometimes using a special photo taken on the day. I'll try & keep up blogging daily but if time prevents this may turn into a weekly summary.

I'm not the best photographer AT ALL so I'm hoping that this will improve my photography skills but mainly be a record of everyday life in 2012.

If anyone else wants to join in go look HERE

Todays prompt is CELEBRATE...

Part of our New Years celebration is to wash the previous year right out of our hair LITERALLY .... Kai is holding a little bath fizzer here which refused to totally disappear.

My Little Pony - A Biography

2012-01-01T11:17:00.000Z

A pony sat upon its shelf, wrapped in its plastic & card container. It was warm, dry & usually an interesting place to sit, much more interesting than lying in her packaging in a pitch black, musty smelling box.
Though surrounded by other Ponies, each in their own packaging, she was very lonely.

One day a woman came in & picked her up, before taking her to the counter where she was placed inside the bag. She lay in the bag for who knows how long, it could have been hours, days or even weeks. There was no way of knowing, no way of tracking time passing by.

Suddenly the pony felt a jolt as she was lifted out of the bag & out of the packaging. Fresh air!! The air was warm & she could hear the laughter of children in another room. Adults were chatting away & there was the aroma of freshly cooked food. The pony was gently placed down on her hoofs, the ground was sticky and soft, not particularly big & circular in shape. The pony stood very still, taking in her surroundings when suddenly the lady who had taken her from the shop stood behind the Pony & lifted the circular ground up with the pony still on it.

Through a door & into the hallway went the lady, still carrying the pony on her circular mound. As a second door opened the lady began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you...", Others joined in the singing & the pony was placed on a table facing a little girl, still standing on her circular mound. The girl, with short brown curly hair gave a grin & blew towards the pony, it was then that the pony noticed that there were 2 candles either side of her which, by the spiral of smoke arising from them, had obviously just been blown out.

The pony was taken off her circular mound, which she could now see was a birthday cake, covered in butter icing, and taken to have her hoofs washed before being given to the little girl.

The pony was over joyed, here was a little girl who would play with her, & be her friend! Not only that but she would finally have a name, her own name, not Cherry Jubilee like all her identical sisters but one of her very own.
The little girl placed her down and ran off but another girl quickly grabbed her and helped the pony gallop around the room.

Later that day, when it had all quietened down & most people had left, the birthday girl picked the pony up again. She dressed her in a tennis outfit, brushed her hair & put a head band on her.

She then swapped it for a rain coat & hat.
Over the course of the next few days the pony found she had several new outfits - a bedtime outfit, complete with slippers & a roller skating outfit, which the wheels really turned so she could glide along.

The pony sporadically had her hair brushed & plaited, sporadically had her clothes changed, & sporadically played with in the bath along with another pony & a sea pony, but was never really played with. The little girl seemed happier drawing, gluing or playing lego than paying attention to a little pony.

As the little girl grew up the Pony was given to her younger sister, who played with her a little bit more before the pony was packed away in a box, along with barbies, doll furniture & lots of dolls clothes.
There the Little Pony lay, wondering if she'd ever see the light of day again, feel the small hands of a child, hear giggling laughter. Years went by, every now & then the Pony felt the box move. She would hope & hope that she was going to be taken out by a child, & at the same time dreaded it incase she was destined for the dustbin.

Even more years went by before she felt the box move again, she slid from side to side but thankfully the dolls clothes padded her from potential damage. Then the box was again still, she could see a chink of light from the gap in the box where the flaps of the lid didnt quite meet. Who knew where she was now.

A month went by before the box was opened, there stood a woman with green curly hair, it reminded her of her sister, clover. There was something familiar about this woman, something the pony half recognised. "Oh my gosh!!!" the woman said "its my old My Little Pony, ooooooooo, I have plans for her!!!"
"plans?" another voice asked before another female came into view, it was the woman who had bought the pony, older, yes, but definitely her.
"Yep, there are some amazing altered ponies out there, AMAZING, I've been wanting to give one a go at somepoint"
The pony wasnt sure she liked the sound of it, a make over would be lovely, she felt grubby having sat in a box for so long ...... but how far did this woman want to alter her look?
Into a handbag she went, along with a sea pony generically called Sea Winkle & her sister Bow-Tie

On a warm day the woman took her out of a bag & handed her, with the other Ponies, to a little boy who'd got a tub of bubbly water outside. The little boy carefully washed them, dried them & combed their hair. He then placed them on the outer ring of a trampoline.
The pony could see him at a little desk, drawing them.

As the woman came out the little boy showed her the picture & pointed at the pony saying "I'm calling that one Mario"
She had a name, a name of her own, not a name she would have guessed but it was hers.
The little boy often played with the ponies, galloping them over the hills of the sofa, across the grass of his bed and "Mario" was finally content, here was someone who played with her, someone who'd given her a new name, someone who was her friend.

2012-01-01T00:05:00.000Z

Another year over......

2011-12-31T18:35:00.002Z

...well, nearly.
2011 brought a lot more scrapping, meeting & making new friends as well as old ones, new crafts were tried, some fell to the wayside & others continued. Its been a year of some ups & a few downs but nothing majorly bad for which I am thankful.

So what will 2012 bring to Ks Crafty Corner?
Well, I still need to show you a few of the Christmassy makes from 2011 so I'll be post about them this week
Ruth & I are bringing back Scrapinspire starting in february, a lil bit of scrap ispiration that we'd love you to join in with.

I have signed up for Kirstys "Just one Sketch Course". There's still time to join up, check it our HERE

Hopefully a couple of crafty meet ups
I shall be trying to take a photo a day, though whether I post them all will yet to be seen.
A lot more crafting :-)
As for the end of the world & the olympics ..... well, we'll see how these impact on my life, I'm sure it being a leap year will have more effect than them.

So, my dear readers, I wish you all a belated Merry Christmas & A fantastic new year, thank you for all your comments & support in 2011 & welcome you all to join me again in 2012.
(((big hugs)))
K xx

I'm writing a list, checking it twice.

2011-12-23T09:05:00.000Z

It was a busy busy day yesterday, with 2 weeks worth of food shopping delivered I wanted to prepare a few things to make the following weeks a little bit easier so yesterdays main jobs involved....

Getting the turkey out to begin defrosting
Cleaning the oven
Put the shopping away
De-boning 2 chickens & dividing up into tubs of white meat & red
2 meals worth of meat balls made up
Made pigs in blankets, put them in a baking tray & put them in the freezer, ready to defrost on Xmas eve.
Started making a batch of mincemeat - it is currently sitting, absorbing the flavors ready to cook & Jar tomorrow.

Jobs yet to be done before Christmas....

Wrapping the last few presents
Writing my Christmas Dinner timetable
Writing a couple of cards for the Christmas eve visitors
Christmas day food preperation on christmas eve.
Bake mince pies
Give the house a last thorough clean through, no more housework to be done (except for the dishwasher) until the 27th.

Woohoo, we're almost ready!!!!

13 squirrels, 3 robins, 4 ponies & 4 dinosaurs..

2011-12-21T15:47:00.000Z

..thats what we saw on our Yuletide walk, HONESTLY, its true, thats what we saw & I have the photos to prove it.

The other male folk were all out so Kai & I took our Yule walk together. We talk about the way things have changed along our route, whether by nature, the seasons or by man. We also spot wildlife as we go. Establishing this curiosity, a link with nature from my children, is very important to me, how can you expect someone to respect nature (or anything else) when they dont know about it.

We were out for about an hour & a half, it was fairly warm for this time of year and very peaceful.

"These are going to take FOREVER!"
Kai while walking up the steps.

Having spotted 3 squirrels in a short space we decided to start keeping count of them.
Kai also kept count of Robins, this Yuletide definately has a Robin theme due to Kai being a Robin in the school play, I have made robin hair clips & have robin ear muffs now as well ;-)

Along the route we walked past Wonderland. I'd already told Kai that if we were lucky we might spot some dinosaurs, he gave me his "Mom, are you being strange again?" look and queried "Skeletons?", "No", I answered "dinosaurs!" I did tell him they'd be behind fences so he'd be ok though.

As I spotted the diplodocus I excitedly said to Kai "ooo, I think I can see something!!!!" He warily stepped forward looking nervous, until he spotted it & realised it wasnt real

See, proof, a real dinosaur!!!

We came across a bench so took some time out to sit down & listen to the bird song, look at the greenery, as though its winter there was a lot of ivy, ferns and holy around giving almost a fairy glen effect.

Further along were four ponies, very cute, short & stumpy, just the way ponies should be :-)

By the time we got home, Kai had worked up an appetite so I let him help get some toast spread. It definately wore him out as by 6:30, an houe before his usual bedtime, he started to fall asleep on my lap & asked to go to bed early .... well I wasnt going to argue with him now was I ;-)

Christmas Decs

2011-12-21T15:12:00.001Z

A Blessed Yule everyone :-) We've been enjoying our small celebrations here, but I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, as for today

Having done a BIG tidy up the other day our place is still tidy, woohoo!! So a good time to take photos of the decorations

My lounge ...... from the door

...from my seat in the lounge.
A candle in the middle of the table, ready to burn tonight..... & as if by magic, the photo currently on the digi frame is a snowy one (total coincidence that I've only just noticed).

The hallway, with stockings down the stairs, & a big red bow outside the front door

Little tree in the kitchen, with table runner, made out of 2 thin scarfs.
The purple table cloth you can see is actually a kind size sheet & is big enough to nicely cover the box of pressies under the table, shhhhhhhh.

What is it with my cats & wanting to get in the photos!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Dinner

2011-12-18T14:02:00.001Z

I often hear that Christmas dinner is just a big roast, well I dont want it to be JUST a big roast, I want it to be THEE big roast, the best, most special roast of the year. In striving for this exceptional meal I have made mistakes, got timings wrong, made it too complex so by the time its all done 1/2 of its stone cold so this year I will simplfy it slight while still making it a special roast.

I prepare as much as I can on Christmas Eve, & then follow a timetable on Christmas day to have it all finished by 1o'clock

We're starting with a small sea food starter - cherry tomatoes, cucumber, prawns, mussels, crab sticks (cubed) & squid rings with a homemade thousand island sauce

For the main we're having a traditional roast turkey with packet stuffing (yes, I'm cheating on this one as I havent mastered stuffing making yet), roast pork with apple sauce, roast potatoes, carrots roasted in OJ with rosemary (these are the lil touches I dont normally do to make it special), honey roast parsnips, boiled sprouts which are then fried with a little garlic, what I call sprout mush but is actually a creamy sprout bake, boiled carrots & peas, pigs in blankets, & finally, it isnt Christmas for me unless theres bread sauce.

We sit in the lounge, pulling crackers between courses, watching a good christmassy movie.

Pudding comes later as we're normally very full, in the mean time the dish washer is filled & turned on (thank goodness for dish washers). The kids play with their new toys, Ry normally has a nap & I craft.

When we get peckish again theres a choice of puds, Mint Vienetta (a perfect contrast after a rich, heavy meal), mince pies, black forest gateau, chocolate trifle, fruit or chocolates.

Theres always plenty of left overs, non of it goes to waste, but I'll share that with you another day.

The Perfect Gift...

2011-12-17T22:33:00.002Z

...thats the aim when we go buying presents, frequently things get in the way though, price, avalibility and probably the worst mistake, misinterpretation, & getting the wrong one. I find the last ones the worst as I'd get soooooooo excited at the thought of their face when they see it & then the disappointment of their disappointment.
But sometimes, just sometimes, with a lot of listening & a bit of luck that perfect gift is achievable, & I think we might have one of those this year, or maybe even 2 of them :-O Of course I cant say who or what just incase they read this, though I dont think they do.

I've had a few gifts over the years that were perfect for me, but probably the most important & memorable one was on Christmas Day 2005

We were going to Christmas dinner at Ryans parents, he'd already told me that my Christmas present was there, a tv for my craft room, as it was too heavy for him to carry home. It sounded a bit suss to me as his parents bring the kids presents over in the car on Christmas eve anyway, but I went along with it.

We arrived, settled down & Ry told me to close my eyes & hold my hands out. I heard he & his Mom whispering & I was told to open my eyes. I looked round, his Mom was in tears & so was his sister. There in front of me was Ryan on bended knee holding out a ring in a box asking me to Marry him.

Rocking My World Friday

2011-12-16T21:10:00.000Z

Phew, what a day its been!!! I spent a fantastic morning running around Jungleland with 2 coach loads of kids & adults (a ratio of 1 adult to each 6 children). While climbing around the place I'd pause to help smaller children climb up the levels that were a bit too tall for them ... or just to speed them up. We positioned ourselves at the top of the big wavy slide to ensure the children went one at a time, at times sliding down ourselves to then take up positions to make sure they kept away from the bottom of the slide (or at least it was a good excuse to have a go ourselves). I did get a bit over zealous with this roll & ended up helping kids up & moving them along when they werent even in our large group, oops! With a break for hot chocolate, lovely company and lots of fun it was a morning well spent. It has got to be my highlight of the week.

At about 2 I got a phone call to say Kai was ill with a funny tummy, could I go & get him, but even this was fun as we got to walk home in a blizzard of HUGE snowflakes before it turned back into rain.

Lastly, to make the day even better, the last of the pressies have arrived, woohoo! I'm not a smug "its all finished, I am soooooooooo organised" kind of person because its not over until the fat lady sings, or should that be until Santa goes to bed after a VERY long night. Theres still a few things to wrap, & the food delivery closer to Christmas day, plenty of time for things to go wrong if I get a bit too lax, over confident, or cockey.

Other things Rocking My World this week are ....
Posting out the last of my PIFs (pay it forward's), fingers crossed they arrive on time, this also means I got some crafting time in woohoo, they shall be revealed once I know they've arrived.

My bed, its lumpy, needs a new mattress but, o it is divine when you snuggle down after a hard day.

Zack for saying "your not THAT old", closest I'm likely to get to as a compliment like that from him, and Kai's friend Cloe for saying I was barely an adult ... seeing she's only 4 I'd have thought she'd see me as an ancient, I know I would have done at that age, lol. Or maybe I'm just that immature ;-)

Ryan for bringing in a big gooey chocolate brownie on a cold evening to share, mmmmmmmm.

Soooooooooooo what are your positives of the week, dig deep, have a think & join us over at Celtic House to link up.

Christmas Visitors

2011-12-15T21:35:00.001Z

Today was spent with my Mom & I sitting on my lounge floor, watching Neverland, with a cuppa, wrapping presents. Mom had brought over the presents she'd bought for us to wrap (except for mine which she wrapped last night :-) to save her having to carry loads on Christmas day, & being the last School Day that I had totally free I wanted to get as many pressies wrapped as possible.

No more visitors are pencilled in until Christmas eve, though others are likely to turn up before then. In preperation I do a quick tidy up & clean each morning, rewarding myself when done with a cuppa, bowl of cereal & an internet break. I'm also planning on making mince-pies & ginger biscuits to give out. I've stocked up on different types of drinks to suit all tastes, but shall also be making mulled wine & home-made baileys .......... I like to be prepared.

On Christmas Eve its usual for people to pop by to drop off presents, to see us & have a cuppa. For us its a very lazy, peaceful day so I make sure all housework is done the day before, then our visitors take us how they find us. This year I've bought Connect 4 & Guess who for the kids so I'm sure visitors will join in for a game or two of those. I've been told that the atmosphere is very warm, welcoming & relaxed in our house that day, which I took as a huge compliment, and exactly what I wanted :-)
I do a few simple steps to create a festive atmosphere, all the air fresheners in the house, be they sensor sprays, times sprays or simple press-the-button spray air fresheners, are all swapped for spicy apple/mulled wine scent. There are Christmas lights & decorations going up the stairs, in tha hallway, kitchen & largely in the lounge. The place is tidy but not overly immaculate, I like people to feel like they can relax, then I can relax.

Then theres the most important visitor of the day ... SANTA!!!! Of course we dont see him but we do leave out a mince pie and a glass of Pepsi for him. Leaving out a caffinated drink started when Zack was young & didnt want a drunk Santa flying around so we give him a drink with caffeine in to keep him going. We also leave a carrot out for the reindeer.

Christmas Past, Christmas Present & a Yule Future

2011-12-12T13:19:00.000Z

Christmas Past
When I was very tiny, too small really to remember, Christmas day was spent at my Grandparents. My Moms side of the family was only small by the time we'd come along so it was Wowah (my Grandmother), Gramp (my Grandad), Nikki (My aunt) as well as my Mom, Dad & Marcus (My big bro). From the photos it looks a big tado - Lots of presents, the place fully decorated all christmassy, & knowing how Wowah liked to entertain the Christmas Dinner would have been a wonderful spread.

With my lil bro on his way we began staying home for Christmas day. I was always felt a bit miffed as we would have to have breakfast, get washed & dressed before being allowed into the lounge ..... which my parents would want to vaccum etc as well before opening the door. I understand now this was so they could have a bit more sleep, & so the place would be tidy for visitors.
A traditional Christmas Dinner was served at around 3, & if we felt hungry in the evenings we'd have pickles with left overs.

Christmas 2000, the first one without my Dad, we wanted Christmas to be totally different so Marcus, who'd moved out by then, thought it would be a good idea to have everyone round there for Christmas Dinner. After that he took it in turns going having Christmas dinner at his in laws & at my Moms, we did the same when I moved out, though the first Christmas in our new house we did invite my Mom & younger siblings over for Christmas Dinner. We'd get up, wake up Zack (if he wasnt awake already), exchange gifts & then get ready to go out, returning late evening.

When Kai was born we decided it wouldnt be fair to pick a parents house to spend his first Christmas at, or rather it wouldnt be fair on the grandparent(s) who'd miss out on it so we stayed at home. We did go out the following couple of years but decided that it was better on the kids if we had it at home, it meant they could play with all thier new toys rather than taking one with them.

Christmas Present
Christmas eve is spent relaxing in our new PJs, I always get the kids something to do such as a new board game or creative activity, & I prepare as much of the Christmas meal in advance as I can. To maintain the relaxed feeling I dont cook that day, we have crackers and cheeses for lunch (or as I grew up calling it "snacky"), and then the big treat of Pizza delivered for Tea. In the evenings we all settle down to watch a film after having a bath each with new toilettries, as the kids are too excited to sleep we allow them to each have a new dvd on in their rooms to watch in bed

Christmas day we wake up & slip on yet another set of new PJs (helps with everyone looking nice for photos ;-) the kids have a little present in their room, just incase they wake up early. One of them usually ventures into the others room.
I try to get downstairs first, initially to pop the Turkey in to cook & then to sneak into the lounge so I can get a photo of everyone walking into the room, with that curious "what have I got?" look on their faces. Presents are opened before I set about getting breakfast - croissants with a couple of pieces of chocolate melted inside.
The rest of my morning is usually spent cooking the Christmas Dinner & helping kids open the boxes to get to their toys ..... isnt it mad how much packaging they use & how annoying the plastic ties are.
Phone calls are made to family to thank them for presents & wish them a Merry Christmas.
Christmas Dinner starts with a sea food starter (Ryans opting out of his starter this year as he gets too full other wise :-) followed by a traditional Christmas Dinner. We then ususally have quite a bit of a break before having trifle or chocolate cake for pudding. If anyones hungry later they can help themselves to left overs.
The afternoon is spent playing, napping & watching TV.

A Yule Future
Even though we celebrate Christmas I'm not a Christian, I am Pagan & therefore my religious celebrations are held on the 21st of December - Yule.
Currently in the UK we are fairly well geared towards celebrating Christmas, almost everywhere is closed that day, there are decorations everywhere, its when the best programmes are on etc etc etc & it is a time of year I love. Its not something I want to see change, and think that there is a lot of hype that the PC police are slowly destroying it - personally thats all I think it is, hype, I see no proof of it.
Christmas to us is not the story of Christ, you will not find anylink to it in my celebrations or decorations, they are all pagan based, which is very easy to do but my post would be HUGE if I started to explain that. Christmas is family time, a time of fun, to exchange gifts & show our appreciation for our loved ones. Its a time of togetherness.

It was the best of times & the worst of times...

2011-12-06T21:11:00.001Z

...Christmas reminds me a bit of friday the 13th, odd I know but bare with me while I explain.
On friday the 13th, if we spill something its "because its friday the 13th", its a day where we focus more on the bad things that normally we'd let slide with barely a thought. At Christmas we can dwell on things that have gone wrong, wring our hands & exclaim "all is ruined" when really no-ones really noticed, or laughed it off.

My favourite Christmas was Kai's first one, it was also the first one I'd done at home for my kids & Ryan. It was so relaxed, Ry & Kai were still asleep so Zack and I made Christmas morning muffins (nigellas recipe) & I popped the turkey into cook, by the time they were cooked everyone was up. We opened our presents, each receiving things we wanted - I got my infamous long leather coat. As I prepared dinner the kids played with their toys, all of us still in our PJs, except Kai who was in an elf costume.

The christmas dinner wasnt quite upto scratch, it was nice but not quite Christmas. It was something for me to work on & practice for the upcoming years.
The cats sat outside the closed kitchen door, wanting the left overs.

While Kai & Ryan had a nap I watched tv & Zack played on a new game.
We had visitors towards evening, exchanged gifts & had fun
It was a peaceful, easy day in contrast to our usual Christmasses of getting ready & rushing to a relatives house to have dinner there & coming back late.

My worst memory of Christmas is the one I cant remember, its not so much because it was a bad Christmas, its just I wish I could remember the last Christmas with my Dad.
I can remember the build up to Christmas, I was almost full term with Zack due on Christmas eve. Dad let me have some of his Christmas bonus, originally it was going to be for baby stuff but as that was all bought he said I could use it to buy presents for the family.
I know he was rather moody at the time but being preoccupied & rather used to Dad being a bit moody due to tiredness (he would work long days) I paid little attention to it.
I can search & search my mind for memories of that day but there are non, maybe due to it being less important at the time than the following events.

My local midwives werent working on certain dates over christmas & new year so on the thursday (new years eve) we saw the dr who was quite amused to be giving me a check up which the midwives would normally do. He said if the baby wasnt out by Monday I'd be sent to hospital to be induced, obviously Zack didnt like that idea as he was born on the sunday.
3 weeks later my dad unexpectedly died.... I'm just glad I have so many other memories of him, maybe in a way I'm blessed not to remember that last Christmas, because now I cant pin point that single memory, ripping it apart in my mind, focusing on individual parts & have it almost tainted by the thought that our last Christmas together wasnt the perfect Christmas

Advent Calenders

2011-12-05T18:56:00.001Z

My memories of advent calenders as a child are vague, I can remember them sitting on the piano (I say them as I'm 1 of 4 siblings), I can remember wanting to fold down the in built sheet music holder on the piano to place my advent on. We had the bought chocolate advent & my biggest decision was whether to remove the door after eating that days chocolate, leave it open or close it again.....I usually left it open wheras my older brother would totally remove the door. & if I was very lucky I'd get a comic that came with a free advent calender, the sort where you'd turn back the door to see what picture was below, then I'd have 1 more advent then my other siblings.

I've always bought my children a chocolate advent each, when Zack was younger we'd have to put it out of his reach otherwise he'd open it up at one end & nick all the chocolate out of it. Kai enjoys sitting on my lap after school & going through all the numbers until we get to the date, we then have to study the design on the chocolate before he eats it.

I tried refillable ones one year thinking they'd save us money in the long run but found they actually cost us more, 50 individually wrapped sweets cost more than a £2 for 2 calendars

My favourite advent though was my advent swap with Ruth & Noonie a couple of years ago. I had so much fun making & choosing items for them. I was sooooooooooo excited to open my gifts each day, it felt like I was 5 years old again, with all the excitement & magic of Christmas.

You can see what I gave them HERE

& what they gave me HERE

Baby Blues

2011-12-04T11:56:00.001Z

Heres the page I made in coalport, the branch took quite a while to draw from a template I'd made, then cut out, arrange etc, especially as I kept getting distracted :-)

Christmas Cards - an explanation

2011-12-03T20:59:00.001Z

I enjoy handmaking my Christmas cards, I want them to be a little bit different from the usual, to reflect my personality along with a bit of humor thrown in.

Inspiration doesnt normally hit me until mid november, I dont push it, I dont stress over it, I just wait, I know it'll come when its ready. I also tend to mass produce them, I say mass but this year will be the most I've needed to make in a while, a grand total of 28+2spare. I add a personalised message in each to show I'm thinking of the person. The 2 spare are just incase I recieve a card from someone I've ruled off my card list purely because our friendship has run its course & faded out.

Writing Christmas cards also gives me a chance to make sure all addresses are upto date, I shall be adding them onto my ipad this year & making sure I have a paper copy as well, just incase.

I always keep the card design a secret, though I did give a few clues away while out last weekend, until they've all been posted & in theory received, then I share them with you guys.

Heres last years...

Blogged about HERE

I have made circular card holders for the cards I receive

More details about how I made them can be found HERE and HERE

Handmade ones are always my favourite & get kept :-)

Altered book: A Melshionary with a secret

2011-12-03T09:11:00.001Z

I'd been mulling over what I could give to Mel for her Pay It Forward, while looking around pinterest an idea formed in my mind. I know Mel likes books, as well as Green & Blacks chocolate so why not combine the 2.

I started off with an old dictionary
I attached some chipboard which would become 3d detail, and using thick twine I made a few large stitches over the spine
Then I watered down some pva glue (50% glue 50% water) and painted the outer covers with it before placing on top of a sheet of tissue paper. I used a dry brush to smooth it over & get the tissue paper around the chipboard. I didnt worry too much about creases & wrinkles, it would all add to the finished effect.

Next I mixed up the colour I wanted, I was aiming for a tan brown, like the traditional leather bound books of old, so I mixed up my poster paints, add a drop of pva & covered the book with it. This took a little while to do as I had to wait between coats & also to the front & back.

Once dry I started on the inside, I found a page with what I thought had a relevant word in the corner, "bake", and carefully cut out a rectangle using a ruler & craft knife. I repeated this until I got to a satisfactory depth, removing the inner layers as I went.

I then pasted the edges with pva glue & put a large book on top so they'd glue nicely together.

When all dry it was time for the finishing touches, the title along the front & spine along with "a K publication" on the back. I used peel off letters for these.

To give it added durability I sprayed with clear plastic spray paint.

I bought the choccy bar, laid it in & ... aghhhhhhhhhhh....it was too long. I contemplated nibbling the end off but that just wouldnt be nice now would it, so I cut a bit more from the bottom of the gap.

& so it was finished, a Melshionary with a secret hiding place.

Mel was very happy with it, she tweeted these photos she took of the finished item, Green & Blacks retweeted the photo of the inside!! My books famous ... well, kinda :-)

I'm dreaming of a White Chritmas...

2011-12-02T20:14:00.001Z

...just like the ones I used to know.
Really & truely my memories of white Christmasses here in Shropshire are rare, we're far more likely to get grey weather with the odd sprinkling of rain. I dont mind this though, a grey background makes the christmas lights shine even brighter, it makes the colours pop & creates a warm cosey atmosphere inside. Then theres the excitement if it DOES snow on Christmas day.

Today felt like the coldest day of the season so far, it is the first day that I really felt like I needed to put all the different winter woolie layers on. Of course I have multiple wooly hats to choose from because, as many of you know, I do like my hats.
Its suddenly feels like things are getting festive. I love curling up in my chair with a warm drink at the end of a cold cold day, or sitting at the kitchen table, craft items out, feet on my tigger hot water bottle.

I love it when it actually does snow & I can take my lads skiing, sledging, builing a snowman or simply making snow angels

I do miss the winters of my youth, maybe its nostalgia clouding my memory, but I remember the snow being deeper, & I dont mean just in comparisson to my smaller self. My dad used to build an igloo outside our house, it always seemed huge to us & we could crawl inside with a few friends. He would use a hose in the evening to water it which in turn turned to ice & strengthened it. The igloo would last far longer than any of the surrounding snow. I wish I had a photo of one of them.

Journal Your Christmas - Day 1

2011-12-01T21:35:00.001Z

This is my first year doing Shimelles JYC. I've decided to start by doing a daily blogpost based on the prompts to find my feet, then turn some of them into Scrapbook pages.

So lets get started.....

Why did I join Shimelles JYC?
I've made a few Christmas pages in the past and they are starting to threaten being repetitve so I'm after a few new ideas, a different perspective and to learn, while recording the fun we've had.

What will I be journalling about?
December is a busy magical month for us, theres making the house look magical with decorations and the traditions that go with it, school plays & events, making & writing christmas cards, visiting family, having friends visit, birthdays, celebrating Yule & then Christmas....all the way into New Year & Zacks birthday. I want to record these special times, record the smiles & fun we've had so my children can look back with their children, to remember & see how times have changed, as well as what stays the same. Its a time that appeals to all the senses, the smell of baking, the sounds of carols & laughter, the sight of lights a flickering, the taste of spices and the touch of wrapping paper, I want to get these across on the paper, in the words.

Hopefully from all this I can come up with a nicely worded manifesto

All things must come to an end

2011-11-29T21:43:00.001Z

Its cuppa tea again, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin
(Part 1 is HERE, & part 2 HERE)
Sunday I was up at 6, unable to sleep. I wasnt sure when the other crafters would be up & with a lack of signal in coalport I couldnt really ask, so decided to leave mine at 8:30.
I almost got the time right as when I arrived everyone was just finishing breakfast, I was offered some but I'm not really hungry until mid morning. So I sat & listened to the chatter until everyone was ready to go into the craft room.

I managed to finish the layout I was doing, well, except for adding to the backing layer that I decided it needed & started on my bookbinding. I was then asked to cut my cake so we could all have a slice, and I was very happy (and a lil abashed) that they said it was so nice.

Lizzie got us all to sit round Clair for her to show us how to decorate presents in a beautiful manner. This gal should work on QVC.....after the watershed. She is fab at showing techniques, though turns the air blue a few times which fits in perfectly with her being totally hilarious. I'd love to have recorded it. Its exactly what QVC could do with, upbeat & funny.
Clair, please please please do some video tuts in the same manner as you taught us, I think they would be EXTREMELY popular.

This was followed by both Clair & Julie showing us how to make ribbon roses which have sooooo many crafting uses.

Lizzie handed out a lovely present to us each, I got a fabulous christmassy beer mat book

Shortly afterwards Ruth & Julie had to leave so Ruth could catch a train back home. There were hugs given and the odd tear shed. After they'd gone the rest of us retired to the kitchen for lunch, much easier than carrying it down to the craft room. We sat in the dining area & chatted away before sorting out the left over food & dividing it up, there was still quite a bit.

We returned to the craft room but I dont think any of us could really get back into crafting. We seemed to take it in turns visiting the gift shop. I bought a decorated star christmas ornament to put onto a thin ribbon & wear as a necklace .... later on Mel returned with the same one with a similar idea in mind. Great minds & all that ;-)

As we sat we ended up having a good ol' heart to heart, we learnt a bit about each others lives & I've received some great personal advice from the gals which I shall be following up.

Mel made us each beautiful little, personalised cards, heres mine....

Lesleys other half came to collect her so he was bribed with chocolate cake and other goodies.
We slowly packed up and divided the rest of the food, I made sure I had a sample of each of the homemade cakes I hadnt tried. It was lucky I'd packed a spare bag as it was filled with craft swaps & food goodies which I was very grateful for. Tables & Chairs were all put back in place & the room began to look more like a classroom & less like a craft room.

Within a short time of each other Lesley, Joe, Clair & Mel left leaving myself, Lizzie & Jem
Both very kindly offered me a lift home which I left to them to decide who actually would ... it didnt take long as Lizzie had a lot to get in her car and Jems car was bigger. Cars packed, room clear, keys returned, it was time to go.

It was peaceful outside the hostel as I waited for the gals to return the keys, the odd car & ducks quack broke the silence, it seemed a rather final, yet almost fitting end to the weekend.

As Jem drove me home we chatted & she kindly helped me with my bags. As he heard my voice Kai came running to the door before spotting Jem & shyly edged into my craft cupboard while Zack came for a nosey & a brief introduction. With a hug she was out the door & starting her own journey home.

For the next couple of hours I barely had a chance to look back & contemplate all the goings on at the weekend as Ry was feeling rotten (man flu was my guess, shhhh, I didnt say that ;-) and needed help with tea, the kids wanted my attention & finally I began to doze off.

I started this post with the title "All things must come to an end" and so they do, but this is just the end of this chapter, there is talk of another meet up, a bit further south this time & I'm determined to attend

Thank you lovely ladies for making the weekend such a wonderful event, I feel I have learnt loads & made new friends, I hope you all keep in touch xx
p.s if I havent got it already PLEASE can you send me your email addy so I can keep in touch by using the contact box on the right :-)

Meeting the Telford10

2011-11-29T13:30:00.000Z

Now, have you got your cuppa & choccy biscuits? coz this is going to be a long one.
(part 1 is here)

I awoke Saturday morning fairly early so I could concentrate on the tasks at hand rather than my nerves. Ryan joked that it was like I was getting ready for a date, I told him my underwear said otherwise ;-p If I felt I looked ok it would be one less thing to be anxious over.
Kids ready, everything packed, & off we went in the taxi. With them dropped off I chatted on & off with the driver who was most amused at a bunch of women meeting up to craft together from around the country, a comparison to the WI was made, which I laughed at & answered "well, I have the starts of the stereotypical purple rinse so why not!" (The tips of my now Pink hair are purple). I went quiet as a panic attack struck, my subconcious has a lot to answer for as though nervous I really didnt think it warranted the chest crushing, mind numbing, heart quickening panic attack.
I concentrated on my breathing, calming myself down, concentrating on the rational positives and with that we rolled into the car park of Coalport Youth Hostel.

As the taxi left I stood in the car park, fumbling to get my phone out while trying to balance the chocolate cake so I could ring Ruth & find out where I was going, praying I wouldnt stumble & drop the cake (we all know how clumsy I can be). A door opened & a rather excited Ruth & Mel hurried upto me. Big hugs all round before we entered the designated craft room.

I was greeted by smiling faces and hellos. The room was a buzz of creativity and humour. Jem came forward with a hug for me & having hugged 3 of the 9 I thought it would be rude not to hug everyone, lol, all rational thought leaves me when I'm nervous so I am sorry if I intruded into anyones personal space, I'm sure they wouldnt mind so much now they know me (or maybe they would even more, lol).

I was told that Mel & Clair are an old married couple, & they are! They are best friends who obviously know each other so well that they will bicker, and make comments like an old married couple, but love each other really. Its almost like when you look at an old married couple holding hands, you cant help but say "awwwww", they dont hold hands but you look at them together & they're friendship warms the cockles of your heart.

A space had been cleared for me on one of the tables, you know how we crafters can spread out :-) So I unpacked while listening to the conversations going on around me, getting my bearings and the feel of the place. & what was the feel of the place? Very friendly, the tables were in an oval shape so you could see everyone, conversations were open so if you wanted to chip in you could easily.
With such a good atmosphere & everyone crafting it was decided we'd take our walk to ironbridge in the afternoon. Ruth gave me a tour of the hostel as I'd never been before. It was spotless, staff were lovely and everything in a good condition - I thoroughly recommend the place.
I gave Mel her Pay-it-forward item, which she gushed over, which was lovely for me - I shall do a seperate post on it later this week so you can all see it but for a sneak peek @Green&blacks retweeted a photo of the inside yesterday

I also gave Ruth her Pay-it-forward which she attached to her camera. Lizzie asked where I sell my stuff (bless her) & of course I answered I dont, I'm worried my finish isnt up to scratch. I was told I was being silly, so I'm now thinking I might start making 2 of most of the things I make, 1 as a gift, to use, etc, the other to see if/how well it sells .... watch this space!

A swaps table was set up, or rather a we-dont-like/need-these-so-please-anyone-take-them-away table. Mel very generously had brought with her a quickutz with a few dies that she didnt use anymore which she happily let me have, I felt very lucky (thank you again Mel xx).

Alexa arrived, was greeted, and we sat down for lunch. Lizzie commented that we better get the rest of the food from the kitchen. I turned round & looked at the food table & said "what, thats just snacks???!!!" Lesley laughingly answered that it was. We had enough food to feed an army, AND give them all pudding. Mmmm, lunch was divine, mostly fingers foods, some homemade, some shop bought but all scruptious.

With full stomachs it was decided it would be a good time to walk off a bit before pudding (though most of us nicked a slice of Mels malteser cake, mmmmmmmm)

Clair & Mel decided to catch up in a bit of sleep, well, after such a wonderful meal who wouldnt feel a bit sleepy!

We trotted off along the canal towards Ironbridge, me giving little bits of history of the area that I could remember from year 10 "the industrial revolution". We stopped off at Maws craft centre where a few items were purchased, though I sat outside trying to get a signal to let Ry know I'd be home later than I originally thought. Lesley & I chatted about online shops, craft makes etc - this lady has ~~some~~ a lot of lovely craft papers, and thickers, and may have convinced me to get a kit subscription or 2, its a shame shes not on commission
Alexa & Lizzie returned to the craft room as Julie, Lesley, Joe, Ruth, Jem & myself carried on towards ironbridge.

Having always been used to walking on the otherside of the river severn I wasnt 100% sure of the route but knew if we kept alongside the river severn we'd end up at the bridge.

As the top of a bridge came into sight Ruth excitedly asked "is that it?" "No" I replied with a grin, "thats Jackfield bridge, its a tad more modern. Its so the cars can get across as they were causing too much damage to the Ironbridge" We continued on.

We could see the furnaces on the other side of the road, and read the display/info sign on the path. Here Lesley left us to go back, and we continued the last of the route.

As The Ironbridge came into sight Joe said "is that IT?" in a thats-not-much-rather-a-small-bridge type of tone, lol. The ironbridge is fairly small compared to modern day bridges, but in its day it really was an accompishment &, with all its decorative components was really something to show off about.
It was by now close to dusk, the christmas lights were on in Ironbridge, setting the scene perfectly. Ruth & I hurried across to get a better photo of the ironbridge

Sorry the quality isnt very good but this is Joe & Jem pulling faces at us :-p
I so hope Ruths photos comes out clearer

We rushed back to have pud & for Lizzie to show us how to do bookbinding with a stab stitch. She was very informative, and gave very clear instuctions (not easy with a few naughty school kids in the group ... you know who you are!!! lol) & though it was distressing to see Bambie having its legs & head removed at times we percervered. Please note, no REAL animals were harmed in the making of Lizzies book, it was christmassy craft paper. I havent quite finished my book yet so you shall have to wait to see it, I do suggest you go to Lizzies blog & take a look at hers, even more so I would suggest you go to her etsy shop & buy some as gifts. They are made to a high standard with a lot of love & attention to detail, even more so if you get one personalised.
Alexa then had to unfortunately leave, we kept her a lot longer than originally thought, though we did bribe her hubby with plenty of cake to let her stay a while longer :-D
We all went for Tea at the hostile which was GORGEOUS, I had a soup starter followed by curry, with both Naans AND a poppadom. By this time most of us were full but really wanted to try the sticky toffee pudding, so Ruth got a bowl & 3 spoons so myself, & Jem could have a taste of hers without anything going to waste.

Then it was back to crafting ... or more like chatting & noseying what everyone else was upto. Clair & I chatted as she found out the pro's of using a glue gun ... she unfortunately found out the cons when she caught her nail in the glue, OUCH I think most of us know that scalding pain of the hot glue from the glue gun. I have to admit that I was probably most nervous of meeting Clair, a bit in awe maybe. I've been following her blog for quite a while now, & not only was there a lil bit of envy that she was (so I thought) younger than me (I always like to be the baby of the group, I tend to get away with more that way ;-), but her blog is soooooo professional! Shes like blog royalty, she's been on design teams I follow, done makes & tutorials that I love etc etc etc ... not saying the others who attended hadnt, its either I've chatted to them before via the net or havent been following them for as long. I had nothing to be nervous of though, Clair is lovely, funny & down to earth. I think we both had a mutual appreciation of each other as we both thought the other was around 25, lol. And of course we all had a good giggle about Clair & her ruffles, I'm sorry but its one of those "had to be there" jokes that would take a lil while to explain.

As I crafted I suddenly thought "I'd better check the time, I told Ry I'd be home before 9", EEEEP it was now 10:15, time flies as your having fun. With NO signal in the place I hurridly packed up, planning on walking round the car park to get a signal to call a taxi, hoping they werent too busy with it being a saturday night. Thankfully Lizzie came to the rescue & gave me a lift home. I must have got in at about 11ish, though Ry was just happy I had had fun (damn, should have stayed longer!!!)

I tried to settle down to sleep but my mind was too full of fun, information thoughts ... oh, and I'd been made LOADS of cups of coffee. Normally I stop drinking the stuff once I start twitching but with the cups being cup & saucer size the caffeine had very little effect on me at the time... so I was very wide awake. Ah well, it allowed me to pack the things needed for the next day, and go over the things in my head that I had learnt that day

So, I'd like to introduce you to the Telford10

All copyright of this picture remains the property of JulieJ from the letting the days roll by blog

Front to back - Lesley (my craft-stash queen), Alexa (lovely & petite), Lizzie (our ruler & bookbinding expert), Julie (our non dudley accented Dudlier), Me (ducks & hides), Clair (& her ruffles), Mel (Clairs other other half), Ruth (who does a fine cockney geezer inpression), Joe (who laughs as much as me :-), and last but most certainly not least Jem (I have to do an internal giggle when this lady swears coz she speaks so nicely, lol)

Phew, well done if you've made it through! Part 3 will be here tomorrow :-)

What a Weekend!

2011-11-28T04:18:00.001Z

I have just spent the most lovely weekend scrapbooking, learning how to do a form of book binding (including tassles), making wrapped pressies look pretty, how to make different ribbon roses, lots of scrumptious foods, stroking fantastic craft stock, discussing ruffles, getting inspiration, socialising, & lots of chatting.

Lets start at the very beginning, thats a very good place to start (I'll stop that sentence before I either get done for copyright infringement or told to hush coz its 4:30 in the morning & my singing voice isnt all that)

There was talk earlier in the year of a potential meet up of crafty bloggers, then 2months ago Ruth sent me a link to Curlyscrappers blog detailing information about.....

Ruth kindly did some emailing, querying if a day visitor was allowed to join in (aka me). Lizzie from Lizzie made answered that it was fine, yay! so I contacted her to introduce myself & so started a few emails of arrangements & chatting (once I rescued them from virginmedias spam, aghhh, how rude of it!).

Melsh emailed me asking if I was the person on the list of attendees (thats how I found out about the naughty spam box guzzling my emails from Lizzie). Yes, yes I was that Kirsty, Yay, I get to meet my Cyber buddy Melsh (even when I physically call her Mel I mentally add "sh" at the end in my head)

Friday arrived with me baking chocolate cakes (one to take with me, & another for my lads), checking everything was ready for the next day & chatting to Ruth via text while she was on the train. Oh, & altering the hole in Melsh's Pay-it-forward gift to fit a particular choccy bar thats was 5mm too big! (all will be revealed so that this sentence makes more sense)

Ruth mentioned via text she'd forgotten her umbrella, & then later, if there was somewhere local she could grab a sarnie as she'd forgotten to pack a lunch. As I was waiting for my cake bases to cool I grabbed my coat & rushed out the door. With time to spare I picked Ruth up an umbrella & sarnie from poundland - not the most glamorous of places but the queue was short, on the way to the train station & served the purpose.

I sat on a low wall, leaning on a lamppost, at the corner of the street, in case a certain little lady comes by (oh me, oh my, I'm obviously in a musical mood again). As the train pulled in I stood, hoping I'd put myself in prime position that Ruth wouldnt escape unnoticed (can you say stalker!!). There she was, a grin spreading on her face as she spotted me, blue suitcase in tow. As I said to her, I couldnt have her come to my little town without meeting her off the train. I know if I arrived in an unknown town I'd like a familiar face there.

I walked with Ruth to the Euston (as its known to us locals, its official name is The Euston Way, Beefeater Grill) where she was getting a lift by the lovely Jemma from Just Jim-jams (what a FAB blog name). With introductions over Jem kindly offered me a lift home, which I gratefully accepted as it gave me more time to do jobs; It didnt as they both ended up coming in for a cuppa, with strict instructions to ignore the dust/floor as though I'd tidied (briefly) I hadnt as of yet swept etc. Far nicer to be drinking a cuppa than sweeping in what was borrowed time anyway.

Partially out of shyness (I have an extroverts personality trapped in an introverts mind, I really should give it back one day), partially out of my liking to listen/watch people to get an idea of what they're about, I sat back with drink in hand & mainly listened to Jem & Ruth chat until it was time to get Kai. Another lift, yay, so I was nice & early to get him, which he enjoyed as he could wave for longer from where he sat in the class.

External design of the cake was unabashfully copied from one of Hayleys makes, who also kindly instructed me on how to do the topping :-)

I worked hard that evening decorating the cake, which I think was the prettiest one I had ever done, making sure everything I needed was packed, clothes layed out, school uniforms in the machine, house generally tidy etc etc. I sat down for half an hour & felt a little dispondent that everyone else going would have now all met up, maybe making clicks & I'd walk in tomorrow a stranger. I put it to the back of my mind as I read the magazine Ruth had lent me.

I crawled into bed at 10, absolutely cream crackered, excited, nervous, wondering what the next day might hold.........

......pop back tomorrow to find out! (it does get more interesting :-)

CCWCC - Altered Noel

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000Z

It is my pleasure & Honour to be joining in with the Creative Craft World Christmas Countdown 2011. The standard of projects are amazing, beautiful & theres something for everyone.
So on with my project...

I bought this letters in January, super cheap, yet again they're back in fashion & you can pick some up in most shops selling christmas decorations. I dont know about you but black & sparkly just doesnt say "Christmassy" to me, even if I do have a black christmas tree. They screamed out to be altered.

To start off with sand all the glitter off, & rough the other painted surfaces a bit with sand paper - this gives the 1st coat something to stick to.

See, its not perfect, it doesnt need to be as long as theres no glitter left giving a nice smooth surface to work on.

Paint the letter, I used spray paint. Do as many coats as necessary to cover the letter following the instructions on the paint.

Now to pick some pretty papers, I chose a sheet with words & positioned my letter so "Jingle Bells" would remain whole. I drew around with a thick black pen so you could see it easily, I wouldnt recommend doing this yourself, use a fineline pen or a pencil, otherwise you'll be having to wipe pen off your letters. Dont worry about little mistakes, I didnt :-)

Cut inside of the line & stick onto the letter. I used modge podge, and then covered it all over with a couple of coats. Now you can decorate. I added ribbons, charms, highlighted images with glossy accents, & embellishments.

Here is 3 sets I did to give you a few more ideas.

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-11-05T09:25:00.002Z

Hi all **waves** running a bit behind this week, but I'm here, I'm commited & here we go :-)

First off paracetamol, ibrufen, olbas oil & pepsi are ROCKING my world. I have a touch of the flu (yes I'm ill again, its that flammin' time of year) but I am NOT complaining about it ... welll, not to you guys, to my other half, but not you guys :-) ... its that lil bit frustating kind of flu, the kind that saps your energy, makes your glands ache & swell, & leaves you breathing through your mouth for a few days/weeks. Medication is dealing with it nicely though & the caffeine in pepsi helps keep my energy levels high enough for a short time to do a few jobs - so yay, while medicated I'm feeling pretty good :-)

Halloween is always fab, I love it - so I dont repeat myself to my regular readers if you wanna see what we got upto please check out HERE and HERE

Kids are back to school, yay! I love them being off but I also love them going back, I know I'm fickle. I especially like having time to myself at this time of year as it means I can get on with christmas projects (in theory); Whether that means buying presents, making presents, ornaments, planning activities or just day dreaming, its all good.

Mmmmm, posh cake. I had promised Kai a slice of cake & a drink at druckers after he'd seen me bring one home that my Mom had bought. He was very good while we got the few bits of shopping so we went in there afterwards. I can no longer eat a greggs vanilla/custard slice after having these...

its a Mille Feuille - or a double decker, buttery custard slice to you & me. Ryan was a tad gob smacked at the total price but we could actually only devour the bottom layer of these, so I asked for a box & took them home for pud that night.

A chip off the ol' block. I took Kai to our new 99p store & then went back with him & Ry a few days later. as we walked towards it Kai looks up & says "Look Daddy, theres that lovely 99p store". Shows he's got my liking for these cheap shops, lol.

Treating ourselves to a meal out. With a day child free (well, between school times anyway), Ryan & I decided to treat ourselves to a meal out - we opted for Pizza Hut for their buffet as its fairly reasonably priced, we never leave wanting more & can get away with a light snack in the evening.
It gave us a nice bit of "time out", on Rys day off we're usually either doing jobs or concentrating on our own hobbies so its nice to put time aside for each other.

So whats been Rocking your world this week, do come & join in over at Celtic House

Photo booth

2011-11-02T20:46:00.000Z

Many of my Pinterest followers would have already guessed I was planning on making a photobooth due to the items I've been pinning.

I basically cut the front off the box we had the washing machine delivered in & wallpapered the inside of it (the box, not the washing machine). The central piece of the box (the back) I covered in blue tissue paper to try & resemble the blue background you can get in photobooths.

I printed out several halloween images such as mouths & attached a stick covered in white tissue paper (they were originally green which looked awful so I covered them) Other props I cut out of coloured card, sometimes adding embellishments.

I set up the "photobooth" with a stool inside & my camera set up on a mini tripod & a table. Then I got the kids to take it in turns posing ... heres what they came up with with the props

Kai even began adding his own props.

The kids had great fun with it so watch this space as I'm sure we'll be taking some more shots with different props soon.

Halloween Fun

2011-11-02T20:23:00.000Z

As many of my long term readers know I love Halloween (or as I & many others call it, Samhain). I dont take my kids out trick or treating as I'd rather not take them out in the dark to knock on strangers doors for sweets, it holds all sorts of morally dodgy arguements but I sha'nt go into those. So instead, while Zack was at school I took Kai to his friends house that we'd been invited to & had a lovely day there. Kai dressed up as Mario...

...& I dressed up, minimalistically, as a witch. By minimalistically I dont mean I was half naked, that would have been a Halloween Horror, I mean I wore one of my long black skirts, blouse, green eyeshadow & black shoes. What made it more witch like was my purple & black striped tights, & my little witches hat I'd made...

.....which I slipped onto a head band...

We got home & I put the finishing touches to one of the main events of the evening.... my photobooth & halloween props! I shall show you these in a little while on another post as its rather picture heavy.

I then helped the kids make chocolate apples...

I stuck lollipop sticks into the apples before covering them with melted chocolate....

...before placing them onto baking parchment & allowing the kids to decorate with raisins, hundreds & thousands, and sprinkles.

These set in the fridge while we ate our tea of worms & eyeballs (spaghetti & meatballs)

While everyone settled down quietly I carved the pumpkin

One of my favourite movie characters "you're jokin', you're jokin', I cant believe my eyes"

**wanders off humming**

Recovering a Fancy Computer Chair

2011-10-30T10:30:00.000Z

Ryans computer chair hasn't been standing up to the wear & tear its put through. As a heavy PC gamer, & as someone who watches TV on his computer the computer chair spends most evenings being sat on at somepoint. It also has to endure having cats sitting on the top of its back, clawing away. Then theres the kids spinning around on it, Kai enjoys curling up & falling asleep on it, as do the cats etc etc etc. As you can tell, its a well used chair, & with all the use the fake leather has been peeling off. It was looking shabby, and as its one of the main things you see when you walk through the front door I was concerned how it reflected on the rest of the house. Luckily my Mom had given me a roll of thick denim material ... which goes perfectly with the blue denim curtain at the front door, and I'm sure will wear a lot better than the original covers.

I covered the chair in 3 stages ... the back, the seat & then the arms. I carefully took each piece apart & used the old material as my pattern pieces. I frequently turned the air blue, let alone the seat as it was complex at times, and I managed to get through 15 sewing machine needles :-O

I added a bit more padding to the arms as the foam had flattened too much, I also added a couple more, shorter, internal pockets at the sides so we wouldnt have to reach right down to the bottom of the pockets (not far off the floor) to get anything out, very annoying when its a slim item.

Rocking My World Friday

2011-10-28T16:20:00.002+01:00

Its the half term hols, yay! which means I have actually had a few lie ins, always a plus ..... even managed to sleep until 9:00 the one day :-O

So what else has been rocking my world this week? A few of you asked what new craft I was taking up, well here it is....

My Mom gave me her knitting machine, I totally suck at knitting with needles so thought this would be a good alternative.

so far I have learnt to do a zigzag hem & a plain hem

...how to do different types of stitches

& patterns with a different colour added. Next lesson is to make a wooly hat & a scarf, hopefully I will build up to making gorgeous long cardi's, & knitted jumper dresses.

While we are on the subject of knitting my MIL has made myself, Kai & Zack gorgeous wooly hats for this winter.

Kai's is the same as mine (as above), & Zacks is a beany style hat.

She also made me a fabulous corset...

Made to my figure, fully boned with metal bones (they keep their shape longer) in absolutely GORGEOUS Alexander Henry material, I want to get some in blue at some point to make a summer dress. Click on it to enlarge & see why I think this material is so great.

I am really happy that we have a new 99p store in my area. I love poundland & this place is bigger AND a whole penny cheaper!!! I even managed to pick up a 30cm x 40cm canvas there which I turned into this...

A lil idea I picked up off Pinterest.com.

What else is rocking my world?
Merlin & Misfits

My tigger hot water bottle

Halloween crafts (watch this space)

Olbas oil tissues

So what great things have happened to you this week, even if its a bad week, dig deep & it might make you feel a bit better, jin us over at Celtic House.

Carding Mill Scrapbook page

2011-10-26T08:05:00.000+01:00

A double page spread about our visit to Carding Mill. I started off by planning the layout of the photos & deciding as the main colours in the photos were grey (the rocks) & green (the plants) I'd reflect these in the page. I found I didnt have any green sheets that went together though :-( so stamped swirls onto a white sheet in a matching green to the dotty sheet :-)
I made the outer border by cutting around the outside flowers of a sheet.

Ruth sent me in a fab pack full of black & grey die cuts which worked perfectly on this layout.
I finished off my adding "natures playground" as the title

I have to admit, I'm not sure if the grey & green theme worked, it comes across as rather cold to me when it was actually a lovely warm day ... though the water was very cold :-)

1st Christmas scrabook page

2011-10-24T08:05:00.000+01:00

The latest challenge at Sarahs Cards Ltd is too get inspiration from their pinterest board & create something. Well after seeing THIS picture I knew what I wanted to do. I had seen a layout on 2peasinabucket via pinterest that I wanted to use the layout of so came up with this.....

Halloween Horrors Scrapbook page.

2011-10-23T08:05:00.000+01:00

This months challeneg over at Creative Craft World was to use their scrap map & when their October Scrap kit landed on my door mat I knoew exactly what I wanted to do ....

When cut out the clock centres were perfect for putting photos behind, it also helped them merge slightly with the page so the main photo stood out more... & I can use the bits I've cut out on another project in the future. I inked around some of the edges in brown to age them a little.

All the papers, letter stickers & the journalling circle came from the CCW october kit so made it much easier to match things up, it is easily the best scrap kit they've done so far.

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-10-21T10:30:00.003+01:00

Its suddenly got cold here this week, so cold that I was sitting in my house yesterday, fully dressed, with the addition of 2 pairs of socks on (1 of which was a thermal pair), my dressing gowm, & my hat!(hat was quickly taken off before answering the door to postie) & I could still feel the cold. So the heating HAD to be turned on, not for long, but enough to warm the house through. This might sound a bit of a moan but I can assure you it isnt, why? because this cold weather means I can get my loooooong jumpers out, I can get my ironfist fuggs out & (now the heatings on) I can sit all cosily on dark evenings. I LOVE this time of year, the excited build up of both Halloween & Christmas, the dark evenings, & crisp cold sunny mornings.

My lads did my proud on tuesday - I had to got to A&E with a family member who, while passed out, thought it would be the done thing to wash her hair in the ceramic dog bowl but managed to cut her head open on it instead, doh!!! The men in the ambulance were lovely, & the majority of hospital staff we saw were fab. It was a long day, tiring day but when I returned home not only had the shopping that was delivered put away but also almost the entire house had been tidied & cleaned, including the washing up .... I may have to go to A&E more often! Erm, hopefully not.

I am also glad that said family member didnt have more serious injuries than it was - a blood clot (aka big lump) removed so the cut (about 4" wide, yes I did measure it ;-) could be sewn together & glued at the edges was more than enough thank you very much.

Today is the last day of school before the half term hols, hooray! I am soooo looking forward to a slow morning without having to tell Kai to hurray up or he'll be late, or getting cross with him because he'd rather stay in bed/play than get into his uniform, I am soooooo looking forward to trying a new craft out over the hols especially without having to clock watch.

Now I'm off to Celtic House to add my list to the other rockers & rockettes (nearly put rickettes then, eep!), hows about you join in with us.

Jingle Bell Frame

2011-10-16T17:26:00.001+01:00

As we have entered the last quaterof the year I like to start preparing for Christmas, including handmade decorations.

This is my latest decoration, a 3d box frame, but it started off as.....

...a fairly plain frame from poundland.

I removed the back & the front leaving the insert. To this I attached a cardboard frame I'd covered in blue paper to create a night time scene. & then a back piece covered in the same paper. The back piece also works as a stand when the frames put back together.

From here I could add the rest of the scene. I stuck peel off a peel off Santa scene onto card, coloured it in & layered them up. on the outer card I added peel off letters to spell "jingle bells". I finished off by putting sleigh bells loose into the frame before attaching the glass & putting it all back together.

This can now stand on my mantelpiece when I put my Christmas decorations up.

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-10-14T21:31:00.000+01:00

Is it Friday already? Where on earth has the time gone this week, in the blink of an eye its the weekend ... oooo, my first positive on the list :-)

Next I have to say hoorah for being organised! We have bought all of Kai's presents for Christmas and know exactly what we're getting Zack as well as everyone else we have to buy for. We have also planned what pots of money its coming out of as well. We have found a few bargains this week, but I cant really comment on them incase the eldest decides to have a nosey here ;-x It is wonderful that we now have a Toys-r-us within walking distance though. We've always had very little choice in toys in our area, limited to places such as Asda, Argos & a small entertainer, even Woolies went :-( But within the past year we've had a Smyths & recently a Toys-R-Us open up on the retail park meaning I can compare prices online & then go actually look at the toys to see if they're suitable, what size they are etc, maybe even use a voucher or two!!!!

While out bargain hunting with my Mom today she treated me to this......

...isnt it fab!!! Unfortunately the bats mixed in with the glitter had all landed before I could get a clear photo :-( Its also has a wind up music box with the key below, which plays Ding Dong the Witch is dead. It shall be taking pride of place in the centre of my display cabinet with my lil OOAK witch. She has also pre-ordered/bought me Inheritence, the final of the Eragon books that I've been waiting & waiting to read to finish the supposed trilogy that turned into a quadrology.

I am also very happy that I had no kiddies at home today & ... **goes to touch the wooden bedside table** ...we have finally cleared the house of the tummy bug. As anyone who read last weeks post knows Kai & I had got it, well on Tuesday Zack was sent home from school after being sick as well **holds head in hands** I was emotionally & Physically exhausted, especially after the palava we had to get through to get him home (We havent a car, school didnt want to put him in taxi or a bus, I was on way to get Kai from school, Ry was at work & was in charge of not only his store but all the stores in the district, we didnt want to expose family members who hadnt got the bug to the bug as it is horrendous etc etc etc). We did get him home though thanks to a lovely taxi driver who wasnt particularly well herself. After a few rants about it all my Father in law, sister in law & friend have all said not to be so silly, next time I'm to ring them, they'll pick him up, & not get so stressed out that they/their kids may catch it ... so its fab to know I have them to lean on at such times. np, I was ranting how stressed I was at the school, not about them not being able to pick him up.

So whats brightened your life just that lil bit more this week? Hows about joining in & linking up over at Celtic House with us :-)

Sandpit Scrapbook Page

2011-10-11T14:03:00.000+01:00

I am really enjoying using Scrap Maps at the moment, my latest one is from the Scrapology Blog

I love these foam stickers by Dovecraft

& these yellow letters, arent they beautiful! Beach Bum Alpha by Fancy Pants. Definately a make I'll be buying again.

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-10-07T18:21:00.001+01:00

Lifes been a bit busy lately, which I usually enjoy, so you get two weeks of positives this week as I havent been around :-)

First of all the comments I've been receiving lately on my blog have really rocked me world, they have been so supportive and raise my confidence .... than you all.

The way my lil family pull together when I'm ill - yet again the dreaded tummy bug is lurking in my house, 2nd time since school started, & I'm pretty crook with it. Kai's looked after me most of the day, tucking me in with ALL his blankets (he has a few) while I rest on the sofa. Zack has just popped upto the shops to get me some apples as they have that crisp clean taste that I need at the moment, he's also tried to keep Kai quiet when he came in to find me sound asleep.
& finally Ryan for doing Kai a lunch box so I wouldnt have to go near food while he was at work, for rubbing my back & grabbing warm flannels for me, & checking up on me even though its a jam packed day at work.

I have won 2 prizes this week, a metal borax tin that I already have plans how to alter, and a signed imbetweeners yearbook.

I was taken for my feet to be nibbled by fishes (belated birthday present), its a funny feeling but the fish seem to enjoy it & it left my feet feeling wonderful. Then it was off to the cinema for Rys brithday treat ... mmm, popcorn, coke & sci-fi, who could ask for more!

With the lovely warm weather we've had we had the chance to go to the beach. It was Kai's first time & he loved it. We splashed in the sea, made sandcastles & buried Zack. We had fish & chips on the beach, and collected sea shells. I'm sure you'll be seeing a scrapbook page on it very soon.

I have the crafting bug back and have even been making cards! I think my confidence in card making takes a beating when I look at all the other beautiful cards out there that people make, I just need to get it into my head that that isnt my style, my style is simple & without the "chintz".

So what have been your highlights of the week, how about sharing them with us, popping over to Celtic House to link up so we can come visit :-)

Creative Craft World Card Challenge - Halloween

2011-10-06T08:15:00.002+01:00

After a lovely sunny week we are starting to get that autumnal feel again, the sun is out yet theres a cold crispness to the air, reminding me that we're coming up to one of my favourite times of the year, Halloween!

I love all the gothicy, cliche stock the shops get in, its like the one time of the year the world finally comes round to my way of thinking.

Certain shops have this kind of stock all year though, such as Panda bear designs & Stitchy.
I was asked to Guest Design for the latest Creative Craft World Blog card challenge theme - Halloween, & was sent some gorgeous digis to work with.

The backgrounds are from Panda Bear Designs, arent they beautiful! I printed the bat sheet straight onto the card, I love bats! I then printed it out again, aong with the orange witch sheet & cut to size. I layered them up to add a 3d effect.

On top of these I used this gorgeous witch image by Stitchy. I printed her off twice, using the 2nd image to colour in & layer up. She's got some lovely little details on her such as the spider below her eye & skull hair tyes (I have some very similar myself).

I finished off by adding a bat sticker into the moon & a spider hanging from some wire from her foot just to give it a bit more texture.

You can enter from today until the 14th at 10pm GMT. The sponsor is ....

& the prize for the winner is 3 digi images of their choice, how about popping along HERE to see what the choice is.

Why not also pop along to Creative Craft World blog to get a little more inspiration from the design team.

Hide & Sleep scrapbook page

2011-09-29T09:40:00.000+01:00

With the help of this sketch over at Scrapology & the DTs interpretations for inspiration I came up with this page.....

I used a cloudy background sheet to try & give a feeling of dreaming, then the rest of the papers/embellishments were clothing related. I dry embossed the stitching on the denim paper to give texture. Instead of using a strip of paper down the right side of the page I decided to use a photo to give a different perspective/view.
The clothes are made using origami, I also added shoe shaped eyelets & stickers as well as a button T-shirt.

Hill Top Picnic scrapbook page

2011-09-27T08:05:00.000+01:00

Jen designed this sketch for Sarah's cards ltd's September Challenge

From this I came up with........

The background sheet had pretty flowers on so I carefully cut round the edge of some of them so I could slip the circle & photos underneath them. I've had to hide a couple of details for privacy reasons, I'm sure you understand :-)

Graduating Pre-school Scrapbook page

2011-09-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

Sue over at Creative Craft World designed this layout for Septembers Scrap challenge

I rotated it & came up with Kai's graduation page - I matched the colours to his mortar board & tried to mix a graduation, pre-school feel to it, hence the alphabet coming down the page.
The scroll is made out of a bit of scrap paper & ribbon, the mortar board from black card & a piece of wool from his actual mortar board.

Rocking MY world Friday

2011-09-23T22:14:00.001+01:00

So yet again its friday, a day I look forward to every school day as it means the hope of a lie in the next day... or at least a morning not spent rushing around at silly oclock.

This week I have refound my mojo, I have been able to craft as you shall see when I shop you next week, not only craft but enjoy crafting.

I found money in my wallet that I'd forgotten was there :-)

We've managed to get both the kiddies main presents at bargainous prices, woohooooooooo!

I've started jogging again &, though starting for step 1 again I am really enjoying it.

I have that christmassy feeling starting to grow inside, that warm snuggly feeling, that tinge of excitement. The looking forward to early, cold nights with a warm cup of hot chocolate & crafting on my lap, or a good programme on tv, talking about programmes I've discovered some really great ones. I am loving both Haven & Alphas, I'm also catching up on Chuck (I'm 2 seasons behind). Supernatural season 7 starts tonight in america, & the new season of big bang theory has recently started - fab shows to watch while crafting. Can you tell I like my sci-fi?

So what have been your highlights of the week, how about sharing them with us, popping over to Celtic House to link up so we can come visit :-)

The A-Z of Me

2011-09-22T10:52:00.000+01:00

I have seen LOADS of these around the crafty blog land today so thought I'd join in...

A. Age: 31

B. Bed size: Double, though I REALLY want a European queen size as with an OH who sleeps like he's about to go diving & 3 cats sharing it with me it feels way too small

C. Chore that you hate: All of them! But top of the list is cleaning the toilets, with 3 males in the house including a 4year old whose easily distracted I'm sure you can understand.

D. Dogs: Love dogs but havent got the patience to house train so we have 3 cats instead.

E. Essential start to your day: A quick look on facebook & twitter to wake me up before I have to crawl out of bed, makes me feel like I'm starting the day a little bit more prepared.

F. Favorite color: Black, but my regulars all knew that though didnt they ;-)

G. Gold or Silver: I detest the modern yellowy gold, it looks cheap & tacky to me I much prefer old gold, pink or white gold. I mainly wear silver, it goes with everything :-)

H. Height: 5’4" on a good day

I. Instruments you play: I can play my chords on a guitar, make noise with a Jewish harp, play a couple of tunes on a piano but thats as far as I can get.

J. Job title: I'm a domestic engineer

K. Kids: 2 lads age 4 & 12, & the OH

L. Live: In my own little world.

M. Must haves: Pepsi, computer/laptop, my dressing gown, photos

N. Nicknames: Well as most of you know I'm usually known as K, my Mom & OH call me KT due to my first & middle initials, my OH also calls me "Woman" to which I normally respond "what, Man."
A good friend of mine calls me Kirsty-Lirsty, & to everyone else I'm either Kirst or Kirsty.

O. Overnight hospital stays: I was in hospital over night when I had both my kiddies (well, for several nights really), & also for 2 operations on my neck at about the age of 4 having infected Lymph Nodes removed.

P. Pet peeves: Whats the maximum number of letters Blogger will hold, lol. Ok top of the list are people making noises while eating, I dont mean crunching when eating cornflakes etc, they cant be helped, its things like slurping noises. People yelling LOUDLY at their kids, especially when right in their faces, for gods sake, they're children, they will play up, do things wrong etc, its part of growing up, tell them off by all means so that they learn its wrong but not in a way that could mentally scar them. People not emailing me back/replying within a couple of days unless theres a damn good excuse, even if its just to acknowledge its been received, its called politeness people! Saying your broke when you clearly are not, now I realise everyone has a different definition to "I'm broke" but to me it means "after bills go out, or even before then, I have no money left to spend on anything except essentials (& I mean essentials to actually continue living)". If you say your broke & then go buy a luxury item such as a new game then you were not broke, you might have been saving but you were definately not broke. Oh dear, think I better stop now.

Q. Quote from a movie: I never remember quotes from movies, I dont know if its because my memory is so bad or that movies dont matter enough to me, probably both.

R. Rhubarb or Custard: Both, in sweetie form :-D

S. Save or spend: I would like to save but at the moment its not an option, well, except for things like right now I'm saving for Christmas (spending it as & when I see a great deal on the xmassy things I need to get), then it'll be saving for Birthdays, then Summer Hols, etc etc etc

T. Tea or Coffee: Coffee, slightly milky with 2 sugars please. I have been known to drink fruity teas, & if its the only think on offer then strong black tea - it almost doesnt taste like dish water when like this.

U. Underwear: Sports bra are a MUST when out jogging, otherwise its pretty black bra's with boxer style knickers, or even better, comfy boxer style ones that go over my tum - they make me feel comfy & secure.

V. Vegetable you hate: Courgettes, Marrow, Turnips & Swede, bleughhhhhhh, though the first 2 I can hide the flavour of normally in a tomatoy sauce.

W. What makes you run late: when ~I put something down or "safe" then cant find it.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: I think I've only ever had an X-ray on my teeth.

Y. Yummy food that you make: All of it, how dare anyone suggest other wise :-O lol.

Z. Zoo animal: Bats, I love the bat cave at Chester Zoo & my dream job would be to work somewhere like that & be able to handle the bats (only when necessary ofc but if one wants to come hang off me then who would I be to stop it!)

Feel free to copy the titles onto your own blog but PLEASE leave a link in the comments so I can come have a nosey :-)

Lemon Souffle

2011-09-19T11:46:00.000+01:00

The "Everlasting" part of Delia's "Everlasting" Souffles actually means that they remain light & fluffy after they have cooled ... not that they remain puffed up. I didnt find this out for a while after I had baked them, and after I had already felt a bit down that mine had gone down.

Having found that out I felt a lot better about my lemon souffles & can tell you that for a lemon lover they are DELICIOUS

Mmmmm, a light lemony souffle over a heavier, stronger tasting lemon curd.

I recommend you give it a go, simple to make, & tastes delicious. You can find the recipe HERE.

Dragon Light Shade

2011-09-13T09:43:00.000+01:00

Lilac light shade with a red room, as churchill says "oh no no no no no no no", a change was needed.

So I took the material off to leave the hoop that fastens to the bulb socket, and made another hoop the same size out of florist wire and masking tape.

I then took 4 sticks of florist wire and hooked the ends, making sure they were all the same size.

And attached them to the hoops with masking tape

Get some large sheets of tissue paper, cover it with a solution made up of 50% water, 50% white glue. Now, carefully, cover the sides of the "lampshade" with it. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

If you want a design on the light do it at this stage. I traced some chinese dragons onto a sheet of tracing paper and coloured them in before attaching them to the lamp.

I tried using spray glue, thinking it wouldnt be as wet as normal glue so the colours wouldn't run. My spray glue was awful, not only wouldnt it spray properly, but the gloopy mess that did come out coloured the tissue paper yellow & made the picture run.
Having finished attaching my dragons I then discovered I had stuck them on upside down, aghhhhhhhhh! So I cut all the tissue paper off & attached it with masking tape.

I then hid the masking tape with thick black tape - its not what I wanted to do but it did work.

Tada, one light shade

Chicken Curry

2011-09-08T13:37:00.000+01:00

Curry is one of my favourite meals, and I've been hunting, and playing around with recipes to find one that my family will enjoy. It can't be too dry, or too runny, its got to have plenty of both sauce & meat, full of flavour but not too much, have a kick but not too hot ... see what I have to work with!!!

But I think I've found it! Everyone eats it, enjoys it, its healthy and easy to make. I've just got to work out for myself how much chilli pepper to put in to make it the right temp for them .... a bite without leaving the after burn.

So here it is.....

Ingredients:-
1 whole chicken
3 large onions
2tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
3 large tomatoes, chopped
400g tomato sauce mix
1 medium chilli, chopped
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp corriander powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
yogurt (to taste)
pepper (to taste

Portion off the chicken, remove all the bone & cut into cubes. Of course you could just buy ready cubed chicken, or chicken portions but this is the cheapest way. Its easy, even I can do it!! Theres plenty of tutorials on youtube such as THIS one to help you out.

Fry onions in oil until soft, add garlic, tomato, and spices and cook for a few minutes and then add 4tbsp (60ml) water & allow to reduce until soft.

Add chicken and cook for 10 - 15 mins on a medium heat, then add yogurt stirring slowly, simmer for a further 5-10mins..

Serve. I normally serve mine with rice thats been cooked in the stock from the chicken bones (cover with water, bring to the boil & then simmer for an hour or two before sieving) & a pinch of corriander.

Tree of Life Necklace

2011-09-06T19:46:00.000+01:00

I've seen quite a few tree of life necklaces around the blogesphere & etsy for a while now & kept thinking "My big bro used to make BIIIIIG tree's of life (or rather wire trees as we called them), I'm sure I could make a pendant one". So I did.

I'm not sure of the chain I've put it on, maybe I should try a black one, & maybe it should be a pendant rather than at the side of the necklace. I shall look it on occassion for a few days to see if I either grown to love it or have a blast of inspiration.

Rainbow Salad

2011-09-05T12:49:00.000+01:00

I loooooooooove cous cous, but I'm far more likely to pick up a packet of ready flavoured cous cous & just add water than try flavouring it myself, so its time to start experimenting.

My first try is Rainbow Salad, served with Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable stock
200g cous cous
1/2 red pepper
1/4 green pepper
1/4 orange pepper
2 tomatoes
4 spring onions
200g canned sweetcorn
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp fresh coriander or parsley
Pinch of black pepper
1 clove of garlic (optional)

Pour the stock over the cous cous in a mixing bowl, fluff up with a fork before leaving to stand for 5 mins
Slice the peppers thinly having previously removed the stalk & seeds.
Cut the tomatoes into 1/4s
Slice the spring onions
Drain the sweetcorn & add all the veg to the cous cous.
Put the olive oil, lemon juice, coriander/parsley, black pepper & garlic into a jar & shake to mix it well.
Pour the dressing over the cous cous & stir everything together.
Serve.
I enjoyed it, it was fresh and clean ... next time I wont use Olive oil though, I REALLY dont like the taste of virgin oil
Ryan didnt like it, but it cant have been too bad as he did finish it, if things really dont taste nice he wont finish it, if it isnt to his taste he'll finish it but wont try it again.
Zack didnt like the spring onion in it, so thats easily fixed
Kai fell asleep early, missing out on his tea (He slept straight through till morning, I'm not a mean Mummy who restricts meals to certain times & if you sleep through then tough)

The next day I spread the tiniest amount of mayonnaise onto a tortilla wrap, added a slice of ham, 2 thin slices of cheese & what was left of the rainbow salad.

This made a delicious lunch for myself & the kids, not even a crumb was left.

How to make Foam Frames.

2011-08-31T08:05:00.001+01:00

I spotted a frame making kit at a reduced price & bought it with the thought "I'm sure we can make our own as well". I picked up a pack of foam from poundland as well as some foam shapes. On a day when Kai was getting upset because the big boys were playing big boy games that he couldnt join in I got them out.

Kai started off using the kit, decorating its frame while I cut out frame shaped pieces of foam - I kept to the basic rectangle hole inside a larger rectangle but I'm sure with a bit of time & patience you could cut some really intricate designs out.

While Kai decorated these frames I cut scrap card out, slightly small than the frame and stuck foam sticky pads along the edge, leaving a slight border and a gap at one end.

When Kai was done I stuck this onto the back of the foam

These pads leave a nice gap so a photo or picture can slide nicely in & be changed for another when you want

(Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera refused to focus in on the foam)

Finally I used tape to attach string to the back of the foam so the picture could be hung up

Dyed Rice Pictures

2011-08-30T08:05:00.002+01:00

Dying rice is EASY & I can think of a few ideas for it, one of the main ones being to make pictures with.

So, How to Dye Rice...
You will need:-
Rice (well dur!)
Liquid Food Colouring
Sealable food bags
Hand sanitiser (the no water needed, contains alcohol sort)
a tray lined with baking paper.

Put Rice in the food bag, add a squirt of hand sanitiser and a couple of drops of food colouring. Shake it up & squidge it round until all the rice is covered. If the colour isnt deep enough add a bit more food colouring, shake & squidge again. Repeat until you get the colour you want.
Tip out onto the baking paper, spread it out a bit and leave to dry.
When dry run the rice through your fingers just to seperate it all.

I printed out some colouring-in pictures onto card and let the kids loose on them with glue and the rice.

It kept them busy for hours. Kai's were simple pictures with large areas of colour whereas Zacks were a bit more detailed & complex which meant a bit more control and using single grains of rice in places.

Kids stress heads

2011-08-29T08:05:00.000+01:00

Take a balloon, stretch it & fill it with play dough (you can find the recipe I use HERE). I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the spout off a cordial / fizzy pop bottle & stretch the end of the balloon over it, this holds it open nicely for you to poke the play dough through.
When its the size you want tie the end (without the cordial spout in) & hand to the kids to decorate.
Decorating can be done with marker pens, or items glued on. REMEMBER, gluing items on can impede the ability to squish the "stress head", or they might just fall off.

Heres what Zack & Kai came up with (Zacks is on the left, Kai's "Daddy alien, because it has a beard & Moustache" is on the right)

A Week to the end of the Summer Holidays

2011-08-28T11:38:00.000+01:00

Yes, only a week to go in this house, & my mind is already on the other side, the side that is planning what to do with 6hours kiddie free, even turning towards Christmas ideas :-O But thats a whole other blo post.

So, as I've had a lil break from blogging, how about I spend this week recapping on a few of theactivities I've been doing with the kiddies .... well, more like mainly with Kai as Zacks amused himself a lot of the time by going bowling, playing with friends etc etc

Lets start simple...

We did good ol' painting .... I find a good use for the abundance of charity bags we end up with is to put them over the backs of the chairs - that way, when Kai climbs down to go wash his hands, he doesnt get hand prints on the wood.

Gluing with sequins & confetti .... last year Kai decorated a mini wooden bird house with felt tips & stickers at our local shopping centre; This year he painted it & when dry added sequins & confetti.

I found some kits in Wilkinsons which were paintable plywood jigsaws, they were only £1!!!! bargain I thought. I chose a dinosaur one (Kai is crazy on dinosaurs) thinking Kai could paint the jigsaw pieces & Zack could paint the base. As it happened Zack was busy else where so Kai happily did both.
I'm sure if you are fairly adapt at using a hack saw or a jig saw you could easily make your own.

CCW Challenge - Card for a Child

2011-08-17T09:20:00.000+01:00

The theme at Creative Craft World is card for a child, and I was asked by the lovely Noonie to be Guest Designer. Most of the children in my family are boys so I make more boys childrens cards (obviously) than girls so this was prodominate in my mind.

Our Sponsor is Stitchy Bear Stamps, and I chose to use the gorgeous digi stamp, "got game".

I started off by printing off a few of the digi stamps & colouring in, then chose my favourite .... okay, okay, I chose my 2 favourites as I had ideas for both of them.

I had a sheet of card that had piano keys, musical notes etc on it in large in a kind of grunge style. I t was quite dark at one end & lighter at the other. This meant I could use it to mount the image onto the dark end (after inking the edges in black), and then twice more at the lighter end, finishing off with Happy birthday peel offs and mounting it all onto a dark blue (as I saw it a new-denim colour) card.

The second card I sat there with my thought process going .."football, dirt, mud, brown" So I mounted it onto two types of green to bring out the colour of his green attire. I cut out another piece of card very slightly larger then the mounted image and used it to mask the backing card (again in another shade of green), and placed on a Happy Birthday peel off to act as a mask as well. I inked it all over roughly in chocolate brown, hoping it would look like mud before removing the masks & finally sticking the image down.

How about joining in over at Creative Craft World with a Childs Card, you could win a selection of digi images of your choice.

Summer Holidays Week 1 & 2

2011-08-06T08:05:00.001+01:00

The first couple of weeks into the summer hols are usually fairly quiet. Its spent rediscovering toys at the back of draws, at the bottom of tubs and reclaimed from the shed. This way Zack (12) and Kai (4) can normally keep themselves entertained. Of course for something a bit different I'll make a suggestion or grab something from my holiday stock pile to help them out. So what have we been upto?

The first few days of the holiday were spent visiting the grandparents. While at my moms I was helping sort some of our old toys out and decided to take my old My Little Ponies home to alter. They havent reached that point yet as Kai has taken a liking to them.

Kai gave them a bath...

...& drew them....

Before playing with them. So with finding my old toys out we have had 3 activities, washing them, drawing them & playing with them.

I told Zack I wanted him cooking a lunch, tea, & snack/dessert once a week (I think its very important for children to learn how to cook) so a couple of hours were spent scouring through my cook books & typed up recipes looking for ideas.

He has so far made Wesh Rarebit, prawn toast and both children have helped add topping onto a pizza.

One of the favourite "toys" of the fortnight has been playdough. I shall be posting a link to the recipe late today but it truely is fab stuff ... just like the bought stuff. Both children have played with it and a range of cookie cutters, rolling pins and other items to make imprints. Everything I needed to make it was already in the kitchen, and it took a mere 10minutes to make 4 balls, red, blue, green and yellow.

Homemade skittles! I saw this idea on pinterest so started saving up bottles. Due to having a smallish garden I opted for the smaller drinks bottles, peeled the labels off and swilled them out. When we had 12 I filled them all with water, then add red food colouring to 6, & green to the other 6.

I gave Kai a football and set him up with a set.

Over the other side of the garden I gave Zack a tennis ball to make it harder for him. He opted for a throwing motion to knock them down. They have tried this with them altogether and in placing them in different patterns.

My SIL kindly took us upto Carding Mill valley, I recommend taking the kids upto a stream on a warm day for a picnic (you can read more about it HERE)

A lot of shops are selling off their summer stock already at reduced prices. I bought this sandpit for £7.50p (was £15), and a few toys to go in it for £2.20p - I have since seen it sold with toys for £20 :-O
Kai bought himself a simple plastic golf set in a caddy for £2.50p

The sandpit took less than 1 bag of sand, and being spilt in 2 means there are less "he's got my bit of sand" arguements.

I know a lot of people out there arent keen on kids spending time on video games but I think as long as the amount of time they are on them is controlled then they can have a positive effect - obviously games should be age appropriate. It can help with their hand to eye skills, working out strategys, & working as a team.

My two had fun playing on Mario Karts, a firm favourite in this house.

I had previously thought there werent any cheap, local clubs this year for Zack to attend that would appeal to him, they were either sports he didnt enjoy or too young for him .... until my brother invited him to join his son at a Karate club near my Moms. So twice a week Zack is going to Karate. I've read him the riot act that if he uses it against ANYONE except in class then its over, but I think he's mature enough to use it wisely.

Check back later when I will be picking a few items on my long holiday list to explain a bit more &/or leave links to recipes.

How has your summer holiday been going? Been upto anything fun? Leave me a comment telling me all about it, or if you've blogged about it leave a link, I'd love to hear from you.

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-08-05T21:53:00.000+01:00

Pinterest.com for loads of ideas

Carding Mill Valley with my lovely kiddie winkles, niece, nephew & Sister In Law

1/2 price mini sandpit in the sales (£7.50p, bargain!!!)

Finding new appreciation for old toys

Kai's developing artistic skills

My little Ponies

Zacks developing cooking skills (he made us prawn toast the other night, mmmmmm)
Warm Days
FABULOUS support & comments from both my twitter & blog followers, they really do make writing here well worth it.

So whats been rocking your world? Link up at Celtic House

A fun yet cheap day out at Carding Mill Valley

2011-08-04T08:05:00.000+01:00

Altogether my SIL & I have 6 children ranging from age 3 to 12, on average 2 years between each, so during the summer holidays we try & find the odd day out for them that will cater for all age ranges, & wont cost us an absolute bomb.

Last tuesday, when the weather was a tad mixed but still warm we decided to grab a quick picnic & take the kiddie winkles to Carding Mill Valley, which is part of the national trust. We quickly discussed what we'd each got in that could be shared on the picnic & got ready.

It cost £2.00 to park for 2 hours & £4.20 for all day. We parked up by the top car park, along side the stream that runs all the way down the valley. We then walked for literally 2 minutes past the car park, along the stream, which lead to a patch with a couple deeper parts of the stream (when I say deep, I mean only upto a 4year olds knees) and some lovely clear patches of grass along side, with no one around!! I have to admit, I did think people a bit crazy, the stream along side the car park was busy with children & adults yet 2 minutes walk away it was lovely and peaceful .... except for our little ones of course.

The older lads set about building dams to make one of the pools a little deeper. The two youngsters (Kai 4 & layla 3) were happy to paddle & throw stones in to make the water splash. Nik (my Sister In Law aka SIL) & myself busied ourselves laying down blankets, watching the kids & I even went for a paddle myself ..... water was fffffffreezing but I soon got used to it & when the sun came out it was delightful.

Picnic was water to drink, egg mayonnaise sarnies, ham sarnies, crisps, choc bar, frubes & strawberries - all of which we'd just quickly grabbed/made. We were nicely full after it & the kids were happy to play again. The bottles left from the drinks soon became water squirters & a water fight broke out.

When this was banned due to them getting a bit over zealous with squirting each other they explored the surrounding area. Kai found the slopes were perfect to slide down on his bum, he got a good speed up doing it

& was soon joined but not only the other kids but Nik as well.

Jai found a boulder in the water & I jokingly told him to pick it up to put on the dam .... he took me seriously. He & Zack managed to roll it half way up the stream which was no easy task.

We decided to pack up & see if the stream led to Lightspout Waterfall. It was quite a walk ... Zack & Luis being they're usual selves had to do it the hard way by literally walking in the stream to follow it. We followed the path that got a bit thin & rocky at times. Thankfully it did lead to the waterfall, which wasnt much more than a trickle, but we put that heavily down to the dry(ish) weather we've had. It did have a lovely lil pool at the bottom of it , & by this time the weather was roasting.

Along side the waterfall the path continues up rather steeply which the older lads followed before making their way round the back of the waterfall & down the rather jagged, steep descent over the otherside (this was not an official path).

The walk back was easier, once in the car it didnt take my 2 long before falling asleep.

I thoroughly recommend taking a visit to a stream with the kids if you can, on a hot sunny day its the perfect, cheap way to cool down.

Carding Mill Valley ..... a bit more information.
National Trust - Carding Mill Valley
BBC Shropshire, panoramic view.

Busy enjoying the hols

2011-08-02T21:52:00.000+01:00

Oooo, I wish I'd been in some lovely waves like this, with lovely blue sky but obviously this is just a "make my blog pretty, a lil more interesting & a lil less like just a block of text!"
I know, I know, I'm running late on a couple of blogs but holiday fun (as well as jobs) have been getting in my blogging way.
Normal service shall resume on thursday, stick with me sweeties! (mmmm, sweeties!!!)
Still to come this week
Thursday: A cheap day out in Carding Mill Valley
Friday: Rocking MY week Friday
Saturday: A FORTNIGHT of fun
Sunday: Recipes & instructions on things to do with the kids.
Hope to see you there :-)

Teachers thank you card.

2011-07-27T08:05:00.000+01:00

I needed to make several teachers thank you cards for Kai's pre-school teachers. I kept to a standard style for each card, square white base card, green textured card background with a pink sheet with green dots on top.

On top of this I put a little verse I had printed off with a green border, each card had a different verse ...

"Kind words from a teacher can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are endless"

"To teach is to touch a life forever"

"It is not so much what is poured into a student but what is planted by the teacher that really counts"

I finished off with a green flower & a pink button centre.

Inside I added a personal message for each teacher. I think if you feel happy with the way your childs been taught, if you feel the teachers done a good job, or gone above & beyond the call of duty then you should let them know, actually with any job I believe this. I basically trust these people with my sons life, and they are one of the biggest influences on him so a small gift & card is the least I can give them for being just brilliant.

A little extra for teacher.

2011-07-26T08:05:00.001+01:00

I made a bookmark / keyring for Kai's teacher as a thank you for all her hardwork, support & kindness this school year.

I thought as a Pre-school teacher the jumping child pendant with a heart was perfect for her.

It is made from a strip of ribbon that can be placed within a book to keep her page, but is also long enough so if she isnt an avid reader she can use it as a keyring due to its large lobster clip end.

Finally I made a little backing card for it to slip on to give it a bit of proffessionalism

Tomorrow I'll is the last part of the "teachers" trilogy & I'll be showing you the cards I made for the teachers

A thank you gift for teacher.

2011-07-25T08:05:00.002+01:00

I spotted some blackboard mugs in The Works & thought what a FAB idea for teachers.

Unfortunately I'd forgotten to buy wrapping paper :-( Then **ting!** I had an idea....

What wrapping paper could be more precious than paper decorated by Kai himself so I set him on a looooooong piece of paper with stamps & ink pad. It worked perfectly.

Tomorrow I'll show you the little extra pressie I made for the teacher that had Kai's group & therefore had the most to do with him, plus she is lovely :-)

Fruity, cooling treats

2011-07-24T21:27:00.000+01:00

It has been a GLORIOUSLY sunny day, & I think we could all do with a cooling treat.

Here, have a fruity ice lolly that Kai & I made.

We sliced up any soft fruit we had in ..... I'm sure you could use harder fruit such as apples & pears but I find ones that are softer such as strawberries, grapes & oranges are easier to eat in a lolly.
The fruit was popped into a lolly maker, followed by pure orange juice, then frozen. Tada, fruity ice lolly.

Want something a bit more grown up? Try freezing chunks of fruit & then using them instead of ice cubes

As they defrost, some of the fruit such as raspberries, release their juices flavouring your drink.
We tried it in OJ, but I'll be trying it again another time in lemonade.

You could also use it to teach your little ones about sinking & floating .... see the grapes at the bottom?

Summer Hols "To Do" list

2011-07-23T22:32:00.001+01:00

Its that time again people, & the mood my lil mans been in lately I am kinda dreading how its going to go, so I am hoping being prepared will help a lot. I've been restocking the paint box, investing in foam shapes as well as picking up any extra bits & bobs I've spotted along the way.

This year, with Zack being older (12) & therefore a lot more independant my list has changed a little from last year & is focusing more on my 4 year old, Kai. Most of the activities Zack will still happily join in with if he's around, even if its "just to help Kai" ;-) *wink wink* of course.

I think this year, as the list is so huge & we probably wont get round to doing it all, saturday I'll let you know what we've been upto & leave links to what others have been upto, & on Sunday I'll explain in more details some of the ideas on the list e.g such as a play dough recipe, or/& explain "fake photos"

Indoor play
-Read a book (eldest can read to youngest or you can read to them)
-Write a story (can be done with pictures like a comic strip)
-Playdough
-Salt Dough models
-Paint Salt Dough (when its been cooked)
-Bake biscuits/cake(s) & decorate
-Make a sock puppet
-Put on a play (maybe with sock puppets)
-Collage picture out of old mags/catalogues
-Decorate clothing/shoes
-Make a suncatcher from black card with tissue paper glued over the cut out holes.
-Make scratch pictures - use crayons on card then paint over with acrylic/poster paint. Leave to dry then scratch in picture
-Make beads from fimo/paper/straws - thread onto string for themselves or as presents.
-Finger print pictures
-Make bread (can create their own shapes with it)
-Make a jigsaw
-Face painting
-Decorate picture frames
-Colouring in pictures
-Sketching
-Pasta necklaces - paint, add glitter, leave to dry & then thread)
-Movie day - make popcorn together, draw the curtains & put on a movie
-Treasure hunt (with clues for Zack)
-Scrapbooking - make a holiday scrapbook
-Straws & tape construction
-Foam door hangers
-Egg cup caterpillar - the egg carton "cups" cut off, painted & threaded together to make a caterpillar
-Toilet paper binoculars
-Mosaic
-Pressed flowers (takes 10 days according to Martha Stewart)
-Paint/crayon on pebbles
-Use hand/foot prints to make other pictures.
-Rainbow rice gardens
-Make a dream catcher
-Make pinwheels
-Make chalks
-Make a sun wheel

Outdoor play
-Paint using hands/feet (& normally the rest of them as well, good outside activity)
-Make bubble paint prints (washing up liquid in watered down paint, blow bubbles with straws then place paper on top)
-Plant some seeds
-Paddling pool
-Decorate plant pots
-Turn a jar into a vase - cover in polyfilla or similar, stick on gems, shells etc
-Paper mache mask &/or hot air balloon
-Potato printing
-Junk Modelling - stick together cereal boxes, tubes, bottles etc to make a "sculpture"
-Mini beast hunt - either see what bugs they can find & identify, or give them a list to find
-Scavanger hunt - give them a list of things to find & bring back
-Photo Scavanger Hunt – give a list of items/ideas to find & take photos of.
-Messy play—make gloop, shaving foam (paint)
-Teach old games e.g Hopscotch
-Chalk piccies on the paving slabs
-Make sand stepping stones
-10pin bowling
-Fake photos
-paint in a bag
-Temporary pebble play

Possible trips out (all depends on transport & cash flow)
-Ice Skating
-Cinema—kids club
-Ironbridge Gorge Museums
-Library
-Beach
-The Wrekin
-Pizza Hut
-Blackberry picking
-Apple scrumping
-Picnic
-Visit Family
-Go to the Park
-Fly a kite
-Feed the Ducks
-Welly Walk - go for a walk after the rain in wellies & old clothes to jump in the mud & puddles.
-Mapped walk—Z can make a route to follow or we can follow an already set route
-Photo walk - the kids get to take their own photos, so you get a kids eye view

I would love it if you could get involved with my posts, if you've done a post on what your children have been upto please let me know in the comments section & I'll add it to next saturdays post.
OR
If you find or write a tutorial/idea for something the kids could do during the hols, again, please let me know in the comments below & I'll add a link to it in next sundays post with recognition that you left the link.

Happy Holidays all, may it be fun & stress free

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-07-22T23:13:00.000+01:00

So whats been rocking my world this week?

The Staff at Kai's (now ex) Nursery
They have been so fab the whole time Kai has been there, & made us feel so welcome. Not only have they created an atmosphere that Kai has always been happy & comfortable to enter from day one, but also one that I could also join in. I dont think they actually realise what a difference the way they act to not only the children but to the parents can make a big impact. The staff dont know I'm agrophobic & have issues with mingling with people but because they are soooooo nice (especially Mrs Kelly & Mrs Walker, purely as they were more involved with Kai I had more to do with them), and made us feel so very very welcome I felt able to go on trips with the nursery, & later on attend fun activities within the nursery. Not only within the nursery but if I didnt feel comfortable with the nursery I'd never have been able to go that bit further to attend the FEAST bus.

They held a lovely Graduation today for those leaving nursery, Kai absolutey refused to sing the goodbye song at the end - I dont think think he wanted it to be goodbye. I hope they all realise what a great job they do, how much we appreciate them & how they shall be missed.

Bargains
As many of you know I love bargains & there are some really good ones out at the moment. I managed to get 3 trilbys, 2 black leather lookalike medium sized handbags from Claires for .. bom bom boooooooom £10!!! Original price £67
I've also managed to pick up some goodies for the xmas hampers at great prices so hoping to have nice full hampers this year.

PROUD MUMMY ALERT
On monday we recieved a letter from Zacks head of english saying that at the beginning of the school year they tested all kiddies on their reading & spelling skills. Since then he's progressed by a standard of 2 & a 1/2 years!
But wait, wait, there is more!!!Today he came home with a certificate ... he previously took the "United Kingdom Junior Mathematical Challenge", which is taken by years 7 & 8 out of 3700 schools around the UK (years 8 & 9 in Ireland) - He not only got into the highest 13% score out of the children taking part this year (over 250'000) but also was the highest scoring in his school. I jokingly told him I'm getting bored of all these awards & he's going to make me bankrupt with them all, lol

Back to the Hair
Zack wasnt too fussed at me attending his school events & being seen with me & my green/blue hair ... which I found a little confusing seeing his previous reaction.
Turns out that I actually have cool hair! His mates actually like it, to the point where one of them actually wants to dye theirs the same colour, lol.
In the picture
Kai's artwork is REALLY coming along, you can now see what a lot of the things he is drawing actually are, he's playing around more with colours & techniques. My latest favourite being...

So its not his finest penmanship but its me on a bus ... can you spot my hair, lol, I found it so funny how it was nearly all done in purple but he changed colour specifically for my curls.

So whats been positive in your lives this week? Join us over at Celtic House

Lemon Drizzle cake with a lemon curd & cream cheese filling.

2011-07-20T08:05:00.000+01:00

You will need....

For the lemon drizzle

4 lemons, juice only
75g/2¾oz caster sugar

For the sponge

200g/7oz caster sugar
200g/7oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2 lemons, zest only
3 free-range eggs, beaten

200g/7oz self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

For the filling

2 free-range egg yolks
75g/2¾oz caster sugar
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
2 lemons, juice and zest
100g/3½oz cream cheese

Make the lemon drizzle, in a bowl, mix together the lemon juice and sugar until the mixture is well combined and the sugar has melted. Set aside.

Make the sponge cake, For the sponge, beat the sugar, butter and lemon zest in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.
Gradually add the eggs, whisking after each addition until the egg is completely mixed in before adding the next. Carefully fold in the flour using a metal spoon
Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the sponge has risen and is cooked through.
As soon as the cake is cooked, remove it from the springform cake tin and prick the top all over. Pour over the lemon drizzle mixture to soak the sponge, then set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Make the filling, For the filling, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a pan over a low to medium heat until the sugar has melted.
Add the butter, lemon juice and zest, and continue to cook, whisking continuously, for 4-5 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and is smooth and well combined. Set aside to cool completely.
Using a metal spoon, carefully fold the cream cheese into the cooled lemon curd mixture to create a marbled effect.
When the sponge has cooled, cut the cake in half horizontally to create two thinner cakes. Spread the lemon filling all over the lower half of the cake, then place the top half (the half that was pricked and soaked in the lemon drizzle) on top.

Yeehawwwww Cowboy!!!

2011-07-19T08:05:00.000+01:00

Here's a scrapbook page I made to show off Kai in his cowboy outfit.
Each plank of wood you see has been cut out and stuck on to give the shape of the saloon. I also add black & brown card to add more detail.
The letters "Saloon" are stuck onto the back of a tag I aged with a bit of black ink.
I added a circular journalling circle which reads....
"Kai's nursery class dressed up as Cowboys & Indians for red nose day" & then dated.
As it was only Kai that was important in the photo I cut him out & placed him in the scene I had created.

Sending a Hug.

2011-07-18T08:05:00.001+01:00

A dear friend of mine was/is having a hard time & I thought she could do with a hug, unfortunately she lives quite a distance away and I didnt think a cyber hug was enough.
So I sent her this

Pasta Twist & Cheese

2011-07-17T08:05:00.000+01:00

Recipe can be found HERE

This is what we made on week 2 on the FEAST bus. Its like a macaroni cheese bake, with a very cheesy topping. The recipe says use breadcrumbs but we used oats that gave it a slightly more nutty taste with more texture.

Summer Holiday Fun...

2011-07-16T08:05:00.001+01:00

This time next week my sons will be on their summer holidays ....no school for 6 weeks which is actually quite short compared to the last few summer hols; Its not short when it comes to a childs abilities to amuse themselves so, as many of my long time followers already know, I have a list of activities they can do to keep them busy & having fun. It also helps my sanity, bored kids = annoying kids!

Next saturday I'll share my list with you, and each saturday after that share what we've been upto. I'm sure, with Zack being 12 & spending more time with his friends he wont be in as many photos as last year, but you never know, his friends might want to join in some activities as well.

I'd love it if we could help each other & you guys could share some of your ideas for the summer hols in the comments as well.

To see Summer hols 2010 look HERE

Rocking MY World Friday

2011-07-15T07:05:00.004+01:00

Can you believe its friday again! The weeks are busy at the moment & rather fun at times...

I spent a lovely morning at Kai's nursery last friday morning making a collage.
Kai makes me giggle at times with his clothes. He's very independent when it comes to choosing what he wants to wear outside of nursery, hes definately defining his own style, & I think may even have a future career in fashion design! It was a rather hot day & he decided it was too hot for his t-shirt so instead he came up with a lovely off the shoulder crop top....

....out of a pair of boxers!!!!!

We went to Zacks parents conference (we always called it parents evening but suppose they had to change that as its now held in the day) & when it came to what he can improve on his tutor just didnt know what to put, she is so happy with him (as are we). I did come up with a few points I thought he needed to work on which she agreed with but on the whole he is doing amazingly well, to the point that in Maths he's actually working at a GCSE grade C level, for a year 7 I think that is AMAZING.
Cooking - I am so enjoying cooking again, sometimes I get into a slump where I'm repeating the same meals & really am fed up with cooking anything. With the help of the FEAST bus I have re found my passion. It truely is a shame that this week was my last lesson on it :-( but I have learnt some invaluable tricks.
Kai went round to a friends house for the first time this week, we both had a lovely, relaxed time
Finally, being with my partner for 9 years & 1 day (today). Ryan & I are in many ways total opposites but this makes us the perfect team, we complete each other. I think it was the greeks who believed that humans were once creatures with 4 arms, 4 legs, 2 heads etc. To make these creatures so they werent so strong & powerful one of the gods (or maybe even a goddess) ripped them in two, scattering them across the world. These creatures, now human, spent their lives looking for their "other half" because only then could they be completely whole, can they be at their strongest & most powerful. This is how it is with Ryan & myself, together we are whole. I am the calm to his hot temper, he is the confidence to my lack of, He is the yang to my yin, etc etc etc, we even each other out and become balanced. We've had our ups & downs like all couples but after these 9 years I think we're stronger than ever.

If you wish to join us with our friday postive posts & let us know whats Rocking YOUR world friday then pop on over to Celtic House & link up.

Homemade Fishfingers

2011-07-14T08:05:00.000+01:00

I've been noticing that more & more companies are using potatoe starch in the batters/bread crumb covering on fish fingers & after watching children making them on cbeebies I decided to try making my own.

I defrosted some white fish fillets & roughly sliced into fingers. I then dipped these in flour I'd mixed with a little bit of pepper earlier.
Next was a dip into whisked egg before covering in breadcrumbs
I placed the fishfingers onto a baking tray & popped into the oven at 180C until they turned golden.

Sooooooo easy to make I should have done it years ago.

The texture was lovely & the fish taste so much fresher & stronger than usual.
The breadcrumb topping however was a bit bland (though the lemon I squeezed onto them was lovely), so next time I'm going to try adding Parmasan to the breadcrumbs, or maybe lemon zest & chopped parsley to add more flavour.

Rice Krispie Squares

2011-07-13T08:05:00.000+01:00

I make these as a quick snack or pud, & they always disappear very quickly.

You will need....

50g butter

200g white marshmallows

150g crisped rice cereal

Melt butter (or marg) in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted & well blended. Cook for a further 2mins, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.

Add cereal & mix until fully covered

Using a wet spoon or geaseproof paper press mixture firmly & evenly into a buttered tin (I always line mine with greaseprook paper for ease). Cut into squares when cool.

Tips & alternative versions

While the krispie squares are setting film the saucepan with boiling water to make it easy to clean.

Add raisins, cherries, choc chips or other ingredients with the rice cereal to make slightly different krispie squares.

Strawberry Cupcakes - my new summer fav.

2011-07-12T08:05:00.003+01:00

With Strawberries so cheap this summer these cupcakes are a definate must try & have become a favourite of mine.

You will need...

120g sugar
55g unsalted butter
1 large egg
180ml natural yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
170g self-raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced
60g butter, softened
60g cream cheese
200g icing sugar, sifted
Fresh strawberries to garnish

Cream the sugar & unsalted butter until light & fluffy.

Add egg, yogurt & 1tsp vanilla extract, stirring until smooth & well blended.

Sift in flour, baking powder, salt & baking powder & mix.

Fold in the strawberries

Spoon the mixture into about 12 cupcakes & bake at 180C for about 20-25 mins

To make the frosting cream together the softened butter & cream cheese until creamy.

Gradually add the icing sugar, then the remaining vanilla extract.

When the cupcakes are cool add the frosting & garnish with a strawberry (I used wild strawberries from my garden)

Pasta Sauce

2011-07-11T13:03:00.000+01:00

I tried using the homemade tomato sauce as a pasta sauce as it was

It was rather bland, & definately needed a stronger flavour added so I tried Salami & Mushroom, mmmmmmmm, so much nicer (& rather spicey)
Shall be trying it with sweetcorn & Tuna next.

School FEAST Bus

2011-07-10T08:05:00.002+01:00

On 20th October 2010 Telford & Wrekin Council launched the FEAST (Food Skills And Excellence Training) Bus. With £85'000 raised from grants the bus was converted into a state-of-the-art mobile kitchen with a seating area .... I'd happily have a kitchen like it!

The idea behind the bus was to train school cooks so our children could be offered healthy, tasty, fresh meals at lunchtimes but this is not all it provides. The FEAST bus offers a place to teach cooking where there is a lack of space or cooking apparatus. It is used to teach parents (such as myself) to cook healthy meals, snacks and desserts as well as teaching children and teens cooking skills. Only this week I was taught how to portion off a raw chicken. We removed the wings, legs & breast meat, leaving barely any on the bones which was then used to create a stock. With 2 whole chicken costing as little as £7, the breast meat off 1 chicken alone would have cost us more than £5 by itself.

This is the outside of the FEAST bus (well, durrrrr, obviously!)
We start with washing our hands & putting our aprons on (lovely denim ones) before getting the ingredients out - all of which are supplied for us as part of the course. We get chopping, mixing & cooking, following the recipe while being guided by Debbie, our teacher, & taught some fab tricks of the trade. Deb adapts the recipes & course to suit the group she has & their level of ability.
After each stage we take it in turns to wash up, dry & clean the table, work surfaces etc.
If theres time we all sit round for a cuppa & a natter while food finishes off cooking.
We finish by choosing as a group what we want to make the following week. Its nice to have this bit of freedom. As a group we normally pick a savory dish & a sweet dish - something for Tea & Pud to follow ;-)

Inside the bus ...
Having finished our cooking Debbie wraps up the chicken stock ready to use next week, and Sam takes a lil break. Here you can see the table we use to chop, mix etc & generally get all prep done. Deb (at the front) is standing in front of one of the posh hobs - they only stay on if theres a pan on it, so turn off as soon as you lift the pan off.

Thank you to Deb & Sam for not minding having their photos taken :-)

Behind Deb is the oven. The bin is normally slipped away but is easy to move round as it has been in the photo to easily pop in a boiled chicken carcass. There are 3 pairs of hobs spread around the kitchen area, plenty of cupboards for storage, a fridge & a sink with runing water
To get a better look at the bus when it was brand spanking new follow THIS link.

So far we have learnt to make:- Pizza from scratch, cheesy pasta twists, apple flapjacks, banana flapjacks, chicken curry, carrot & oat fruit muffins & strawberry muffins all in 3 lessons. Next week we're making minestrone soup & fruit pie. Its not only about the recipes though, its the skills we get while making them such as portioning off a chicken, how to seed a Pepper with barely any waste, how to make a sauce from a rue, etc.

If you get a chance to do a course on the FEAST bus I would thoroughly recommend it, it has been an immensly enjoyable course, teaching me skills I can not only use myself but pass onto my children & other people.

The FEAST bus will be at Telford's CultureFest 2011 cooking up some pizza for you to try, & you get the chance to make some bread - pop along for a nosey & to join in.

If your interested in having a go on the FEAST bus then you can contact Debbie Hayfield on:
01952 380964, or email debbie.hayfield@telford.gov.uk (she's lovely so dont feel nervous contacting her)

Within Telford the courses are free, but it can also be hired for a fee outside this area as well.

Pizza from scratch

2011-07-09T08:05:00.004+01:00

The first meal we made on the FEAST bus was PIZZA!! totally from scratch!!! Though we havent been given the recipe folder yet I did find a similar recipe for the base so we could make it at home.
This one

500g flour
7g sachets yeast
1/2 tsp golden sugar
2tbsp oil
325ml lukewarm water
Homemade tomato sauce (HERE)
cheese & anything else you want on top.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl & make a well.
Mix the yeast, sugar, oil into the water. Leave a few minutes before before pouring it into the well in the flour. Slowly draw in the flour while stirring until you have a lovely dough.
Knead for a while before putting into a large floured bowl, put a bit of flour on top. cover with a damp cloth & leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

Remove the dough & knead it again. This amount should make 2 large pizzas - if theres too much you can store it in the fridge or freezer.

Cover a baking tray with baking paper. Add the dough on top & either stretch, push or use a rolling pin to get the pizza base into the height, size and shape you want .... remembering it will rise to double its height when cooked.

I use a ladle to scoop a spoonful of tomato sauce & spread it out with the bottom of the spoon.
This photo shows how much is too much to use, lol, it leaves the pizza a bit soggy. The next time I made it I put a thin layer which worked a lot better,

Add your toppings - I got Kai to do this for me :-)
Bake at 160C until it goes golden.

Enjoy!!

Rocking My World Friday

2011-07-08T08:05:00.064+01:00

Its Friday again, woohoo, so what Positive things has this week brought me?

I'm sleeping soundly again, yay!!! I think if I'd gone much longer I'd probably have gone even more loopy than I am now.

I had a day of crafting & it was glorious. I didnt get much done (2 cards, some rice krispie squares (recipe will be up wednesday) & strawberry cupcakes (recipe will be up tuesday)) but it was lovely to sit & play.

Ryan bought me a bouquet of White Lillies (no, I'm not superstitious). Its the first time he's ever BOUGHT me flowers (we've been together near enough 9 years).

Zack received an award at his school this week. For each subject a girl & boy are chosen from each year who have achieved the most in that subject. They also try & work it so theres no duplication either. Zack won his for Science. I am sooooooooo very proud of him and to be honest, happy that it was a subject other than Maths as this is the subject that he really excels in ... its nice for him to get high praise in other subjects as well.

I was yet again on the FEAST bus this week & learnt not only how to make chicken curry from scratch, carrot & oat muffins & strawberry muffins but also how to portion off a raw chicken!!! I'm not squeamish around meat, as long as its been prepared for me (i.e no heads etc, very sorry to any vegetarians out there) then I'm ok to deal with it. We learnt how to remove the legs, wings & breast meat. It felt a real achievement to me, & works out so much cheaper than buying fillets.
More about the FEAST bus on Sunday when I will tell you all about it with a few photos.

As you will be seeing on my blog these coming weeks I've been baking loads of food from scratch & have been thoroughly enjoying it. I enjoy putting the effort into the food when my family show they appreciate it.

So how has your week been? If you want to share or have a look at other peoples weeks pop on over to Celtic House.

Chilli Con Carne

2011-07-07T08:05:00.001+01:00

You will need:-
Oil
1 large onion
1 red pepper - cubed
1tsp hot chilli pepper or 1tbsp mild/medium (I actually use 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper instead as my lot dont like chilli)
1tsp paprika
1tsp ground cumin
500g minced beef
1/2 pt beef stock
600ml homemade tomato sauce (see HERE)
1/2 tsp dried Marjoram
Salt & pepper
tin Kidney beans
tin baked beans

Method:-
add a splash of oil to the pan & cook the onions in it, on a low heat, until soft (about 5mins)

Add the red pepper, chilli, paprika & cumin, stir. Cook for a further 5 mins stirring occassionally
Add the mince & cook until brown before stirring in the stock, tomato sauce, marjoram, salt & pepper (to your own taste)

Bring to the boil, stir, then simmer for 20mins stirring occassionally to make sure the bottom of the pan doesnt catch.
Finally add both cans of beans & simmer for a further 10 mins.
Taste to see if it needs any more seasoning, if it does then add it.
Remove from the heat & leave for 10mins to allow flavours to infuse

Personally I enjoy it most served on a plate of fluffy white rice.