Wall hanging

Just a quick post as I've already been on here today LOL! Thought I'd upload a pic of a wall hanging that I did a while ago. There are 1 or 2 that pop on here from time to time that said they wanted to see it so here it is!

It is painted entirely in pigment from the Rousillion ochre mines in Provence onto a piece of fabric and hung on a broomstick, of all things. It measures approx 39" deep by 29" wide and was inspired by the many fabulous wall hangings readily available to buy in Provence (much, much better than this one I'll add but I fancied a challenge, LOL!)

Anyway, thought I'd share so ta for taking a peek.

Frogs

Morning!! Very early, couldn't sleep as usual. Looks like it's going to be another gorgeous day but I've got jobs to do today so not sure how much creativity will be achieved. Sooo looking forward to the footy season starting (1st non prem matches next weekend - yey). I will have so much more time to myself.

Came across a frog in the garden last night, just a diddy one and he didn't seem to mind me taking a few pics.

I've been looking at the gallery quite a bit on UKS and although it is incredibly inspirational it seems to make my work a little dull. I just don't seem to get the idea of scrapping yet, all my LO's seem too uniform and regular, I sort of feel I need to be more mish mash (if you get my drift). I think I might try a collage type LO and see how I get on with it, maybe I'm just not being adventurous enough. I guess my personality and lifestyle has always been a bit too organised so that is showing through.

Anyway, I'll have a go and post my results on here, hopefully soon too LOL!

Well I have the dreaded housework to do first thing, house looks like a tip, I guess the sooner I get that done the sooner I'll have a bit of time for myself.

Busy, busy, busy

Noooo, not at work!! LOL! Just finished the ATC's for the newbie swap, thoroughly enjoyed doing them. Piccie below.

Another CJ arrived on Tuesday called "What do you believe in". I really, really wanted to do Father Christmas because I adore Christmas, it is the best time of the year. I normally start planning for it in August (how sad is that). Unfortunately Jilly has just done Father Christmas as her entry (it looks fab, as all her entries do) so I don't want to do the same theme straight afterwards so I'll have to think of something else.

I've got another project on the go which is a gift but I can't mention too much on here and I've still got my altered kiddies board book to finish.

I really want to do a couple of LO's as well, feel like I haven't done one in ages. I was going to do the weekly challenge, got lots of pics of Pip I'd like to use but time is running out, got til Sunday night mind you so I still might get one done.

Diet's going well, lost 3lb in 2 weeks, ideally I'd like to lose another 13lb but another 6 will get me back down to my "before giving up the weed" weight. A friend took a couple of photos of Tony and I last Friday and we both looked at them horrified. Just worked out the Weight Watchers points on a curry that I normally cook and without rice or poppadums it was 19 points (that's my whole allowance for a day) sheez! so I've cooked a WW recipe one for tonight, it smells okay and only 5 points without the rice and popps.

The weather is still pretty humid here, we heard a few cracks of thunder earlier but didn't get any rain, not as bad as the other night anyway. It's just too hot to do much really, never known a summer like it.

Anyway, off to stir the curry, yum yum.

Yey, got broadband

Just a quicky note, got broadband today, long story, not as easy to set up as I first hoped. It would help if the engineer had made sure I still had a phone line before he left LOL!!

Got quite a bit more tweeking to do yet but getting there!!

Anyway, tired, hot and in need of a rest, catch up soon.

Woo Hoo - storage jars

Finished them, really pleased. Only trouble is, I don't know what to put in them now!! Guess I'll have to buy some bits LOL!

I painted the lids and the holder and then covered the lids in sparkle mod podge, can't really see that in the photo but it looks okay. I think I might eventually stick punched out flowers or beads to it eventually to jazz it up a bit, I'll have a think.

It's been a warm one today, we've had a guy round to paint the back of our house, he's nowhere near finished yet but it's getting there. I must admit he looked a bit lobsterish when he left today - oops, bet that's going to sting in the shower tonight.

Had a good day today, work started off a wee bit stressy but improved as the day went on so not too bad at all really.

I'm not too sure what project to do tonight, I may have another think about my BOM and also the ATC's for the swap.

Oh, and as promised yesterday here is a piccie of the wine, still full, although we did drink it last night and it was absolutely yummy scrumptious.

The only problem is I probably drunk just a little too much of it and had trouble sleeping, so I guess I'm in for a good nights sleep tonight.

Right, think I'll get stuck into some ATC's.

Bye for now.

Blog banner

A real quick post, about to start work - yuk. Did another blog banner this morning so that'll do for now but they are soooo easy to change I may do a different one yet.

Catch you all later
x

English Wine - yum yum (well I hope so)!!

Had another fab weekend. Had loads of scrapping time yesterday cos Tony went off to footy (I just love footy - means I get loads of time to myself) LOL!

Went out for a wander this morning and ended up at a car boot sale, bought some Pokermon cards, a huge pile for £1.50 - they are ideal for ATC's, a tacky gold necklace that Tony has now taken apart and there are some nice little link thingys that will be useful, some used stamps from all around the world, quite a pile of them for 60p, again useful for ATC's and a really natty storage jar set, 12 glass jars with wooden lids on a 2 tier wooden holder, ideal for storing stash and it only cost £1 - bargain!!

My job this afternoon is to paint the lids and holder and generally spruce them up a bit - I'll take pics when I've finished.

We went onto a vineyard, it's not far from us and we'd been meaning to visit for ages. It was actually really nice there. We had a BLT roll for lunch and there was masses in it not just a thick layer along the front where you can see it that leaves you with just mouthfuls of bread at the back.

We bought a bottle of wine too and we're going to have some with our dinner later, "oh how cultured darlings". Here's a piccie of it - obviously still full at the moment!! - Edited to say, I did have a piccie on here but wanted to change the size and now I can't get it back - oh well! I'll take a piccie of the empty tomorrow!

Got a busy week this week, Mr BT is coming on Tuesday to swap our line from ISDN back to an ordinary one and leaving me with a broadband package to install and get up and running - eek!! I'm really not that much of a computer wizard and something is just bound to go wrong.

I want to try and get work as up to date as possible so I can get a few days off for the mini cyber crop. I know Tony is off to footy on the Saturday so that's 1 free day at least but I haven't really had a holiday this year so I could do with some time off.

I seem to be finding more and more stuff for me to do, I've signed up for a newbie ATC swap and my team mate Nina is on the same swap. Really looking forward to doing some ATC's, I've done a few but I've just put them in a file here and get them out from time to time to have a peek. We only need to do 5 so that's not so bad.

Also, I'm going to have a go at a banner for this blog at some point, I've printed off the instructions that Natalie directed me to so I'll see how I get on, "watch this space". Edited to say, well I've done a really quick one at the top, I'm not going to keep that one but I was impatient to see if it would work!!!

Anyway, first coat of paint is dry, I'm off to do another.

Friday at last

Well at last the week has come to an end. Looking forward to the weekend and to this evening, going out for a walk along the river later (I think anyway) so there will be some photo opportunities hopefully.

I've been pushing on with my altered kiddies book but it's taking forever, probably cos I keep going on the internet and not doing any to it at all LOL!

Piccie is a preview of the front cover, the feather was found on the day of the piccies inside. Only done 3 DLO's inside, another 4 to go and each SLO is around 8" x 8" so it's taking awhile!!

Signed up for the BOM bus on UKS, I've already done a couple of LO's for my BOM but I hate my photo being taken so it's quite difficult to find pics I actually like. Still, I try and pick a few out and perhaps get Tony to take one or two of my best side (if I have a best side that is LOL).

Sort of trying to get Tony interested in photography, I think he might be, well perhaps only just a little bit but hey, I'll work on him.

Anyway, must get some grub down me before we go out.
Catch you all later
x

More doodlin'

It's too hot to do much else really! I'm starting work about 6ish each day so I can finish by early afternoon, suddenly the temperature in here just flies up at around 12.30 onwards - phewy!!

Spent yesterday doing some more doodling, not so sure about this one but it was good practice and I really enjoyed doing it. I'm still altering a kiddies cardboard book too but that's taking a while.

Apart from that it really is SO HOT but apparently we're getting a thunderstorm or 2 tonight so with any luck that'll cool the air down a bit.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, I think Tony's off to footy on Saturday and cricket on Sunday so I'll have the whole weekend to myself, bliss, I'll be able to scrap as much as I want (I normally feel a tiny bit guilty if I scrap for too long normally), only a tiny bit mind!

I haven't had the best of days today, is the world just getting busier or what. It seems whoever I ring I'm either shoved in a queue for half an hour, or I constantly get through to an answerphone or I leave messages for people to call and they don't ring back! It's so frustrating, just feel I'm not getting everything done. Oh well, hey ho, guess I'll just scrap instead LOL!

Have fun one and all.

Strange plants!!!

Well, I'm having a really good weekend so far. The weather has been absolutely glorious, who needs to go abroad when we've got this stuff hey!

Took mum out shopping yesterday, went in about 6 or 7 charity shops on a mission to find scrapping stash. Got loads of leather strands, beads and old jewellery to take apart and recycle as embellies.

Bro and SIL came over last night (the one that hates footy) and yes, he still hates footy!! Had a really nice relaxed evening with a couple of rum and cokes with lots of ice and lemon (mmm heaven).

Got up early today and went to Pagham beach and then onto West Dean Gardens.
Pagham beach was fab, really quiet, mind you, by the time we left it was starting to get busy.

We had a hunt for shells and looked in the rock pools. There was a lovely breeze so perfect for a bit of sunbathing.

Went on the West Dean Gardens and they had these huge greenhouses with all sorts of weird and wonderful plants.

So here's the quiz question for this week - what are these plants? I couldn't find a name of them anywhere so answers on a postcard please! Tie-break question - What do they remind you of?

Doodlin'

Another fab day here today, haven't done any work yet, me thinks a day off might be coming on!!

Finished off my first doodling attempt on a LO this morning. I'm actually chuffed to bits with it and have this urge to doodle more and more as I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Just think I may have to invest in some more decent pens (a rather limited amount in my possession at the mo)! Note to self - don't spend too much money, been a little self indulgent already this month.

Anyway, sort of hoping we might pop out for a drive or a walk this afternoon. Seems a shame to be stuck indoors on such a lovely day.

Fruitless Broadband

Hmmmm, I am not a happy bunny today!!!

Got a leaflet through from a well known mobile provider offering Broadband for free with a minimum contract amount on a mobile. As I still live in the dark ages and have only been adventurous enough with the internet to go as far as dial up I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to enjoy the whole broadband experience that everyone raves about.

To cut a long story short, after spending a good hour yesterday in the shop organising this I was then told this morning (having spent another 2 hours on the phone), that for one reason and another this particular Broadband is just not suitable for us.

I'm flaming mad, one person tells you one thing then after you've signed a new contract they tell you something else. So, another hour spent down the shop today cancelling everything!!!!

Anyway, I've now decided to get Broadband through someone else so fingers crossed it will work out okay. (I'll keep you posted).

Finished the next DLO of a cj that I'm doing, I was quite pleased with it, I'll upload the pics tomorrow probably. I'm feeling the need to just sit and get some serious scrapping done. I just keep buying more stash and adding to my scrapping "to do" list but never actually getting too much done.

Ooh, and another thing, while I'm on a gas bag roll, hung some washing out yesterday, lots of it in fact and it poured with rain. Never mind, left it out there, glorious day today so it got nice and dry, only to find that most of it had peg streaks on it (great invention wooden pegs)!!! so I've got to wash it all again - grrrrrr!

Anyway, thought I'd add a pic of me with one of my more attactive poses. Tony insisted on taking a pic of me.

In fact, I had an even worse one to upload but lost my bottle, might do that one another day.

Bye for now
x

Back from Bro's

Just had a fabby weekend. Went down to Cornwall to see bro, they had the Liskeard show on down there in the field next to his house. We went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it so went again this year.

Here's a couple of pics, bought myself some great walking boots (yes I do walk from time to time) and a quick pic of a rather cute Llama.



The weather wasn't great but it didn't really matter, took quite a few piccies (just in case I'm getting anywhere near to running out of pics to scrap)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going on a serious diet tomorrow so that'll mean lots of time to scrap, goody goody! I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms. LOL!

Anyway, not much time tonight so I'll update my blog in more detail tomorrow.

Chinese yum yum

Well, the diet is well and truly out of the window today. Popped out for a couple of refreshing bevvies in the pub up the road today, their garden is lovely and when we got back we just didn't fancy cooking (a normal feeling but got the better of us today).

We didn't know what to have so Tony suggested writing down everything we fancy and then we'd knock a couple off!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah right! Well at least we've got enough for lunch tomorrow.

Popped in the craft shop but didn't get much, no need, hardly done any scrapping this week. Must get back to it soon. It's strange, I can't remember what I did with my life before scrapping, it must have been dull whatever it was!

We were sitting out in the garden last night and I had a play with the camera with the settings on it. Now for anyone that doesn't know, I haven't got an SLR (saving for one as we speak) but my camera does have some manual settings on it. Took a couple of pics of a candle we had going on 2 different settings, thought they came out okay.


















Ooh, by the way, thanks Nat, about letting me know about the comments thing on here, I think I may have sorted it now. Hope you're okay hun.

Right, that's me done for tonight, I need to get some serious shut eye very soon.

Phewy!!!

Isn't it just sooooooo hot. I think it topped 82 degrees here today! We were promised a thunderstorm, it clouded over earlier but didn't even get a mild rumble.

Don't get me wrong I love hot weather, I try to get abroad as often as I can, but our heat is just so oppresive. The heat abroad somehow has a fresh warmth to it whereas we have in your face, sweaty, need to sleep all day type of stuff!

Anyway, I've been busy, had a bit of work to get done as I want to have Friday off. Well wanted Thursday off as well but that's just not gonna happen! Went to the hairdressers yesterday and had a cut and colour, I nearly fainted too..... no..... not cos of the heat but the cost...... Mmmmmm, I've been using this hairdresser for a while now and their prices just keep going up and up, think I may need to have a looksy round at some others!

Dentist this afternoon as well, never ending isn't it! Luckily tomorrow I haven't got to spend any money, ooh, except I've got to see a customer who is right next to my fave craft shop - oops!

Right, going to try and do something creative, if I think of anything interesting "I'll be back!"

The Good, The Bad and The Downright Huge

I'm not even going to mention yesterday!! Completely gutted and now I'm not in the least bit interested in the World Cup!! Nuff said!

Got woken up really early today. Our smoke alarm just outside our bedroom door decided to go off. It frightened the absolute **** out of Tony and I! There was no smoke so we reckon that thats its way of telling us its battery was getting low! Very nice of it to do that of course but preferably not at 4 o'clock on a Sunday morning!

Anyway, didn't go back off to sleep so got up. Did a bit more of bro's Roman Blind and then we decided we'd go the a Smallholders Show in Ardingly (no we're not smallholders but I guess we'd love to be if we had the available millions)!!
It was great there actually, took a few pics, one of a cute donkey foal, here he is looking particularly sweet. There was another one in the same pen, you can just see his head bottom left but he was flat out asleep.









There was also this Bird of Prey, didn't get his breed, a right mean looking character he was too. They had a few of them there, they all looked pretty mean!!



And there was the biggest pig in the world! No wonder she was lying down, she was just "HUGE".


Oooh and when we got back I was a bit on the thirsty side so I got a glass , filled it with ice and grabbed a lovely cold can of coke from the fridge (well I thought it was anyway).

Opened it up and out poured lager - OOPS! What a shame that was indeed, so I opted for a nice refreshing shandy - with ice in - lubberly jubberly.

Anyway that's about the extent of my weekend. Oh, I showed mum how to get on my blog on Saturday so if you read this mum - "HELLO MUM".

Right, tired now, been a long one today (blinkin smoke alarm) off to bed.