Oooooops!! ............

...... I really didn't mean to leave it so long!! Sorry! :)

:( My beloved sewing machine decided to die yesterday :( so today I took it to a shop to see if it could be fixed - oh yes the nice man said! :) £56 for a service & then whatever for any parts!!!! :( :( it was obvious it was gonna need a new shuttle case.
OK quite expensive - 'so when could you do it for me?' about 4 weeks he said!!!!!! what??? ...... I couldn't live without it for that long - I've had a sewing machine since I was 9 years old and use it quite a lot these days!!!
Anyway, I decided to treat myself to a new one :) :) :)














This is it & it's the best I've ever had!!
It was more expensive than the repair of my other but well worth it, it stitches like a dream & has a cool function that is gonna be so good for me - you don't need to use the foot pedal!! it works with just the touch of a finger so it's gonna save loads of leg/back strain! BRILLIANT!! Also it will get a full service from the shop every single year of it's life - what more could you ask for?
I've been busy playing tonight & have stitched all the pyjama's for my Xmas snowmen - which I was in the middle of yesterday!! Oh and Mick said he will pay for it for my Xmas prezzie - what a guy eh?
I'll take photo's when they're finished and also of the neck warmer I crochted thru the week ............. yes Sarah I've finished it & love it!! ............ think I've got the bug back after years of not doing any crochet!! - I'm blaming you for that one! :D :D

Right I'm off for now, need an early night cos' I need to do lots of Christmas stuff tomorrow & I've got a crop on Sunday!

Be back as soon as I get chance to take pics!

Wanna win a fab e-voucher?

...... here's the deal:-















pop on over to Sarah's Blog and get the details of a fab sketch challenge going on there!
All you have to do is create a layout using the above sketch, take a photo, link it in the comments OR send your image to the email address shown & be in with a chance of winning a £10 e-voucher to spend in the online shop HERE
There's some gorgeous goodies in store right now, with new lines arriving all the time!
So what you waiting for? ............... GOOD LUCK :)

I'm really tired tonight so I'll pop back some time tomorrow & update with a few more photo's!

See you then, Love

What wonderful friends I have..........

.......... Kath & Elsie are so lovely! I went cropping with them yesterday & the gave me this little miss .........

While I was away with the DT last weekend they attended a class to make her & instead of doing their own dolls they made this for me! I was so shocked & delighted at the same time! I love her & my friends!! Thank you!




Here's what I got up to last week at the retreat .........















This was my one hour challenge layout - Sarah chose my photo's & three papers which I had to create with, I scrapping under pressure (and it was a bit of a rush for such a 'bare' page!!) but I'm pleased with the result!

















This one was quite a quick page to do, I used the lovely Lilybee 3 little birds Accent Rub-ons - gorgeous!! and embelished with some old SEI epoxy essentials. Love these photo's of Olivia!













Again I used the Lilybee papers & rub-ons, I added small brads for the little birdies tummies here (much better in real life!) and also used machine stitching to add a bit of texture.






























I wasn't very happy with this page last week so altered it a bit & added another to make it a double page spread at home! I used the gorgeous Basic Grey Lemonade papers, embellishments & doilie papers and a bit of hand stitching.

And finlly as promised, here's a couple of photo's of the houses I've been altering lately for christmas.............






























These are so much nicer in real life, they are covered in fine very sparkly glitter but it doesn't show in these pics!

Oh & before I go I'd just like to show you another project I done a couple of weeks ago ..........















This is a wall hanging that I did as a practice before I start on a full sized quilt. I've never quilted before & didn't want to throw myself right into such a huge project!! LOL I love the 'querkiness' of this little angel, such a cute little thing. Did you notice the fabric? It's Basic Grey Figgy Pudding - love it!!

Right I'm off now to watch I'm a celebrity! I'll be back tomorrow to upload a couple more LO's that I didn't get chance to photograph today with this awful dark weather!
Thanx for visiting!

OK, as promised ........

......... a few photo's from last weekend!












Sarah & Lianne, what wonderful ladies eh?
Thanx to them we had the most fabulous weekend, in the most lovely place, with amazing views, delicious food, fantastic company & tons of inspiration to boot!!












The rest of the DT, Vanessa, Rachael, Sarah, Rachel, Lianne, Tracy, Lou, Cal, Nat, Jen and Sarah (Gerties) arm & shoulder .............. I'm behind the camera! :)











From another angle!











A fun one taken at the back of the barn & including Sarah (Gertie), again I'm behind the lens! :)











And finally, our Oli, he's such a cute little guy, handmade by the very talented Gertie and fostered out to Cal.

Right that's me for now, I'll upload a few pics of what I created while there tomorrow, oh and I might take a few photo's of my christmas houses that I've been making too!

Thanx again for coming to see what's happening in my world, it means a lot!

It couldn't have been better ..........

....... last weekend that is!!
WOW! what fabulous hostess's Sarah & Lianne were, we wanted for nothing!!
The company, food, accomidation, view & laughter was just perfect!
It was the break I needed but it will certainly take a long time to get over! hahaha! ......... it was well worth every bit of pain I'm suffering now!

I was just about to upload a few photo's but for some strange reason Blogger has stolen the 'Add Photo's' button!! :(

Nevermind, I'll have to try again tomorrow!

Off to bed now to try & catch up on my lost sleep from the weekend!

See you soon & thanx for popping in :)

Ashamed!!!!!!!!!!

........ thats what I am for leaving this blog unattended for so long!!
I WILL try harder to make time to update!!

Right, whats been happening in my life since I last posted?

I've been scrapping, cropping, been on holiday, been busy doing granny things (my favourite!) I've done a bit of altering, some sewing, etc, etc.

Here's a few pages that I've created using the fab kits from Sarah's





































These pages were done using the July kit - I love the photo's of Olivia & Henry chatting & giggling over the rocking horse, I wonder if they'll be as friendly the next time they get together??

The photo of Olivia on the 'Sweet' layout is one of my favourites so far, it makes me laugh every time I look at it! :D The colours here on the blog are not as bright as the are in real life, these papers & embellishments were such a pleasure to work with, all bright & summery!

Personality - well that little lady certainly has her own personality - which I love!




Here are a few more items I've worked on for Sarah's Cards




































Here I used the gorgeous Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection - this was a dream to work with & right up my street!
'Remote Control' has a real story to it - Henry was on my knee one day and was after the TV remote which he knew he wasn't allowed to have, so after many kisses & hugs (creeping!) I let him have a play. He pressed a few buttons, switching it from channel to channel when all of a sudden he pressed something that made the screen go blank & all blue - I captured every expression perfectly & as he passed the remote back to me saying 'bwoke' his face was so funny :D the poor little fella really did think he'd broken the TV!!

The next page was taken in our garden at the begining of August, I was trying out some 'trendy' shots of Henry & his daddy Joe. I was quite pleased with the result & will have to try a few more soon.

The last one is Natalie before she became a home-maker/mum.














This is a cookie holder that I made from the leftovers, just a simple little project that would make a lovely gift - the little whisk image was my inspiration for this, I think I'll make a few more of these for Christmas!

Well that's me for now, I will make time to come back soon - well I'll have to, because I'm off for a weekend away with the girls on the DT so you'll want to hear what we got up to won't you? LOL

Take care & thanx for popping in!

A couple of sneak peeks -

from the July kit at Sarah's


























These kits get better & better every month so if you're thinking of or already sub to the kits then believe me you won't be dissapointed with this one!!

I've loved this one that much that I'm going to carry on til' every last scrap has gone!!

Had a few techno problems this past week with my TV loosing it's sound & thinking it dead forever & my printer going crazy with allsorts of wavey photo's & staggered text - TV now back to normal & printer better than it was but I'm going to take it somewhere to get it serviced anyway!! I like printing at home & would go mad if I couldn't do just that again when I want to print & scrap straight away!

I'll be back very soon to upload the pics of my DT stuff in full, thanx for visiting me, love