DT final

Blogger hasn't been letting me in for the last few days but it's obviously decided to 'play nicely' tonight LOL!

The ribbons arrived from Natalie last week for my DT final. I've really struggled with this one... The colours and quantities seemed much better suited to cardmaking or scrapping so it was a struggle trying to do something altered! The actual ribbons were gorgeous - a mix of orange, yellow and green - but I found the half metre lengths very difficult to work with. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the finished item (wine bottle gift wrap) but it's too late now as it's been submitted!

IKEA day

Myself and DD had a trip around IKEA this afternoon to check out things for her bedroom. Good job we did really as everything we had chosen on the catalogue was just not right LOL!

We did manage to get a net canopy for above her bed but that was it - amazing, I normally come out with a full trolley and a very large bill!

New colour scheme

It's about time Sian had a full size wardrobe as her trousers are all dragging along the bottom of her teeny-tiny child sized wardrobe.

A new wardrobe means re-arranging the furniture, which also means buying a new bed as her HUGE cabin bed (which seemed like such a good idea at the time LOL) is just so big and overpowering in her not-so-huge bedroom.

I've also managed to convince DH that since we're replacing all of the furniture it would be a shame to leave the same old carpet (complete with Ribena stain) when we could easily throw down a laminate floor :) He seemed OK at this point so I thought I might as well totally push my luck and suggest that we redecorate at the same time - that didn't go down so well!!!!

"We did it less than 18 months ago" he grumbles and then I throw down the trump card....
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"Ah yes darling, but don't you remember? When we decorated YOU told your 5 year old daughter that she could paint a wall, all on her own - that wall is currently hidden behind the huge cabin bed but will be on view when her furniture is moved!!!"

With this, he clearly remembers the absolute horrors that are hidden behind the bed! you can imagine - a 5 year old totally let loose with a large paint brush and a pot of purple paint....



RESULT - we get to decorate too :) as long as I agree to wait until Easter.


Sian has already been having a think about her new colour scheme. It's currently lilac and apple green (you'll have to trust me, it's much nicer than it sounds). Her favourite colour is lime green so that is definately NOT happening!

She is at that awkward in-between age now - getting a bit old for 'character' themes but not really old enough for a more grown up style. We've decided on beech laminate flooring (to match downstairs), white wooden furniture and predominantly white wall - Sian gets to chose the rest!

She has decided on a colour scheme of orange and hot pink - pretty sophisticated choice for a 6 year old! Good choice, Sian :) She's already spotted 2 duvet covers in Argos (great prices so I'm not arguing on that!) - both have a white background, 1 has large flowers in orange and hot pink and the other has large spots in orange and hot pink. Apparently she is also having white roller blinds (blackout variety of course, so she will sleep beyond 6am!) and orange curtains. Not sure where I'm going to find orange curtains so let's hope Fablon have a bright orange dye in their current range...

And then someone (guess who gets this job!) is going to paint large flowers on the walls!!! Somehow, can't see DH getting that job! Sunday, so I've been informed, we're going to Ikea to check out the accessories, not that I'll ever grumble about a trip to Ikea :)

Bet you can't guess who rules the roost in our house LOL!

Altered Canvas

I set myself a challenge at the start of this year to have more faith in my own scrapping and altering abilities. I decided that as part of this I would either submit for a design team or submit to a magazine.

Last week there was a DT call for a ribbon shop called Ben Madigan Crafts. The brief was to design and submit one item using ribbon - either a card, layout or altered item. I decided that I might as well start my new challenge resolution early and submit.

Saturday was spent getting all inky and messy creating an altered canvas for submission. DH wasn't too sure about the finished canvas but I was pleased with it - and I guess that's what really counts.

I was delighted, and amazed, this morning to find out that I've been shortlisted for the DT :)

Natalie is now sending me a parcel of ribbons that I have to use to create something with. The only hint she's giving is "think freshly cut grass and daffodils" so I'm guessing the ribbons
will be green and yellow..... Hopefully once the ribbons arrive I will be struck by inspiration.


Excuse the white edges - it was still a bit wet when I took the photo!

Jack's back....

After what sems like an eternity the new series of 24 started last night - a whole 2 hours of Jack :D

9pm Sunday evening and life in our house STOPS. No-one would dare phone me or think about coming round - it's MY time, got it LOL!

Crop LO's

Finally managed to photograph the LO's completed at last week's crop :)

I love being home at the weekends and actually seeing daylight LOL!

Today I've been making funky foam flowers with Sian :) She has such a fantastic imagination and a really good eye for colour - can't wait to see what she can create when she's a bit older!

Busy little bee...

... that's me! Still not had time to take pics of LO's done at the crop, the world ironing mountain needs climbing again and Sian's got the grumps!!!!

Job interview days for me tomorrow - wish me luck!

Cropping day

Had a fantastic day at the new Warrington crop (DH took DD swimming). Managed at do 3 x SLO and 1 x DLO - just need to add the journalling tomorrow - so should have some bits to post over the next few days :)

Thanks to all the girls for a lovely day

Crafty play day today

I've had a lovely afternoon sat in my craft room with my gorgeous daughter. We've just been chattering, snuggling up, giggling, eating chocolate and creating - what more could I want?

I've been catching up with some swaps for UKS - serendipity squares and Oracle cards, while DD has been making aliens out of wooden pegs, pom-poms and pipe cleaners. She has such a vivid imagination and creates the most wonderful stories that keep me amused for hours.

All of the aliens have names and different 'roles' within their world! Once she's finished playing with them I'll try to get a couple of pics :)

Check this out....

I've been meaning to post this link for a while as I check out his site most days LOL!

Those that know me well know all about my complete obsession with this gorgeous man. Go check for yourselves and listen to his amazing voice....

http://www.myspace.com/nicholasheyward

Scraplift....

This DLO is a Scraplift for the challenge in the last issue of TSBM. I've never done a Scraplift before so decided it was about time I did....

I enjoyed doing it but still have the feeling that scraplifting is a bit of a cop-out

Geisha ATC CJ

The ATC CJ on UKS is now about nearing it's end date, only 3 more posting to go :)

My theme was anything connected to sea/underwater and my original entry was based on Mermaids. Really looking forward to getting the completed CJ back as I want to add some more bits and pieces to my own entry.

This months CJ has just been posted out. The theme was Orienal/Geisha, one of my favourite subjects, so it was a pleasure to work on. The previous entries all seemed to be along the same lines - small patterned oriental backing paper, single Geisha image on each ATC and a metal charm. I struggled to find something that would co-ordinate with all of the previous entries but still be that little bit different.

Not sure if I managed it but I was pleased with the end result.

No news....

... to share today so I'll just add another LO!

Can you tell I'm really trying to post every day....

Recent fave LO

Just thought I'd share a recent favourite LO.

I spent a few hours at my sister's house just before Christmas as we wanted to take some recent picture's of Sian and her cousins. It's hard to get any pictures of them together as they are all little bundles of energy LOL. This is mine, as sis's, fave pic of the day.

I love the simplicity of the page

Just for Sally :)

I bought an unfinished wooden birdhouse this week from Asda (real bargain at only £2.49!). I've spend this weekend altering it to go on Sian's playhouse.

As I'm on a stash diet I've used up lots of old bits and pieces - you know, the stuff you buy when you're first starting out (cardmaking) but just can't imaging ever using now! Lots of rub-on pictures (can't believe I've got so many of them!), acrylics paints (yum) and metallic rub on creams(rarely used).

What do you think - will Sian like it?

Christmas Day pics

What a long day we had!!! From 1.15am Sian was up every 15-20 minutes asking whether Father Christmas had been. We tried telling her that there was no way he would come before 10am but she didn't believe us, can't think why....

Eventually at 3.45am we gave in and got up as we were clearly not going to get any more sleep LOL!

Christmas Eve pics

Just realised that I've not yet uploaded any christmas pics so here are a couple of Sian from Christmas Eve

Resolutions for 2007

Happy New Year to you all - hope it's a fantastic one for you!

I'm not really a believer in making New Years Resolutions as I can never keep them LOL! This year I'm going to make some really simple ones:

1. Continue to make the most of the time I have with Sian
2. Lose some weight. No predictions/promises on how much but I will lose some.
3. Remember the birthdays of my online friends - I always remember RL friends but online ones don't always fare so well....
4. Have some dedicated ME time
5. Do the ironing more regularly so it becomes less of a chore
6. Blog!!!!