URGH - smell of paint.

Sorry I haven't posted in nearly a week - TUT TUT!! No excuse for not posting during last week but I have had a VERY good excuse for not posting this weekend!!!

Our office was in dire need of a bit of a freshen up - paint the ceiling, walls, storage cupboard and paintwork etc etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday afternoon we emptied the office which means:
a/. No internet (EEK!) and
b/. No crafting space (ABSOLUTELY HUUUUUUGE EEK!)

Saturday spent painting (well Tony did) and sorting out paperwork (my job).

Sooooo NO internet or crafting on Friday or Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!

We did watch War of the Worlds on Saturday night, it's the first film I have watched in months and I actually quite enjoyed it - recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it yet!!

Sunday morning - started to get the office back to normal and actually useable by just after lunchtime. I'm happy now, got my internet back and access to my stash again except..........................it's Monday again tomorrow - YUK!!

Ooooh, just to let you know. The Bubbly Funk Christmas Inspirational countdown starts on Thursday 30th November so do take a looksy at B.F's forum. I sort of got involved in doing........well.............pretty much most of it!!

That's it from me for now :-)

Ha ha this is great!

Found this on Gayes blog, ha ha ha, loving the "Damp Sponge nicknamed Leaky" LOL!!

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Misty morning

We got up early to go for a walk this morning. We had to drive towards Chichester so we went up Bury Hill which isn't far from us. It was quite foggy but when we got to the top of the hill the landscape was amazing. We'd risen above the morning mist and I managed to get these shots, I think it must have been about 8.30ish this morning.

We had a fabulous walk for a couple of hours and then popped back to McDonalds. Now I haven't been to McD's for a long time, I'm not normally all that keen on their food but they've now brought in a range of deli foods and we had a beef and red onion relish roll. I have to admit it was absolutely delicious and has changed my way of thinking about McD's.

Now back home I'm settled into a spot of creativity, I really must finish the cj entry I started a few days ago and I have a whole host of things I want to get made and organized for Christmas and time is just passing me by way too quickly.

Seez you all later xx

Bubbly Funk at the NEC

Well, here we are, ha ha ha. From the left we have Mel, Caroline, Me, Rosie and Di.

We had a fabby, fabby day, none of us had met before and it was great to see each other for real.

Caroline got the T Shirts made AND guessed all our sizes correctly (especially Mel, as she needed XXXXXXXL). Not long to go now Mel!

A big, big fanks to Rosie for emailing the piccie over so I could put it on here.

First Christmas prezzie made!!!

Well I've finished my first Christmas Prezzie. This is a little tag book for Tony's mum. We took his parents away to Cornwall in June and, of course, I took loads of pics. We've given a set of pics to them already but I picked out 6 of the best ones and mounted them into a little tag book.

The cover paper is some of the fabby wrapping paper I buy for silly amounts of money in a local shop. It only gets used on special peeps so I guess Tony's mum is a special peep.

I've actually started making a card today for the Bubbly Funk Christmas card swap, thankfully I only have to make the one!! I'm quite pleased with the way it's going but I'm just not a fan of making cards these days.

No other news at the mo, except I am counting the days down to the 1st December, I am sooo excited about putting the decs up. We've already planned our menus over Christmas because we've now got confirmation of who's coming when. Once I've decided once and for all what my colour scheme is I'll be able to buy the co-ordinating wrapping paper - WOO HOO - can't wait.

Busy, busy, busy

Where has this last week just gone! In fact what is happening to November?

I've had a really good week, well the tail end of it was anyway.

Tony and I went to Birmingham on Thursday afternoon to meet Caroline and Rosie of Bubblyfunk at the travelodge we were all staying in.

There was a bit of a hiccup with telephone numbers but we got together in the end. It was so nice to meet them after all the cyber chatting we'd been doing.

We went off to the NEC on Friday, Caroline and Rosie had already been there on the Thursday, they were demoing the Xyron Personal Cutting System and myself, Di and Mel, also from the Bubblyfunk Design Team were meeting us there.

It was a fab day apart from the fact that my bottle went and there was no way I was going to do any demo's. Actually, I was all keen to have a go until I watched Rosie do a demo first. Well, she is a complete natural and, quite frankly, I would have looked like a total berk along side her so my confidence went down to zilch.

Anyway, it was great to meet all the girls and I'd love to meet up with them again sometime, Tony took pics of us all but our camera died just as we took ours so I'm hoping Caroline or Rosie will email theirs so I can get a piccie on here. And, the biggest surprise of all, I didn't spend any money there - phew, what a shock.

I thought I'd show you the latest additions to my Christmas collection, the Santas I bought in Scotland when we were up there and the little hanging signs I bought in a shop in town. Aren't they just fabaroo. I keep seeing those blasted brown baubles that are absolutely gorgeous, Tony even asked me how much it would set us back if I added yet another colours to my growing collection. But, I'm not going to buy them before Christmas, I'll wait and see whats in the sales. I've only used the burgundy and gold collection once so I think they should really come out again for a second year.

Look what I won!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited, do you remember the altered CD clock I put on here a few weeks ago. Well I entered into the Altered Art competition on Scrapstars and I won.

My prize came today and I'm sooooo chuffed, there is just so much stuff there, thank you so much to the Scrapstars team.

I can't wait to start playing, I've got canvas bags, boxes and a fabby tin to alter, coasters and a fabby 12" x 12" scrapbook cover and just loads of other things.

Off to start playing now :-)

November ATC's - Christmas

Well I had 9 ATC's to do for the Bubbly Funk November swap and the theme was Christmas. These are meant to be sort of Folk Art style and I really enjoyed making them. I didn't quite finish them last night, I still had a few threads to tie through the buttons. We went for a lovely walk this morning but my hands were cold when we got back and, boy, it was hard work tying those threads.

Talking of walks, I had hoped to capture a few "Autumnal" shots this morning but all the trees round here are still too green so I may have to wait a while longer.

Shimelles Christmas Class is up for sign ups, I'm soooo tempted but it's double the price of the last class. Mind you it is 37 daily prompts which is alot but I'm always so busy in December, I'll have a bit of a think!

Brainy and Curious - ha ha ha

Well, as you can see, my best attempt at looking brainy was to peer over the top of a dictionery ha ha ha!!

So the next 2 pages are done for Shimelles class, I enjoyed doing these to and really getting into this hidden journalling lark. On brainy, the page itself has been built up with thick card as I needed to disguise the steel hinges from the creative page but what I've done is made a recess under the photo and inserted a 3 fold mini book (yet to be decorated and journalled). The mounted photo has ribbon for hinges and a little piece of velcro to secure it.

For the curious page I have created a pocket at the bottom and put in a 4 page mini book (again yet to be decorated etc) and fitted eyelets and used ribbons and beads to hold it together.

The words Brainy and Curious are hand cut but in the same colour as the main card, I sought of felt I didn't want the word Brainy to be too bold. It gives an embossed feel to the pages.

I've got the whole day to myself today and the morning has just flown, why doesn't it go this quick during the week.

I received a rather natty jigsaw piece from Caroline at Bubbly Funk this morning, 9 of us have a piece each and we've been asked to decorate them in a Christmas theme and send back to Caroline. She'll then put them together and put a pic on Bubbly Funks site so pop over and take a look, the completed puzzle should be on there by the beginning of December. To give you an idea of size, the completed puzzle is 12" x 12" so they're pretty big, approx 4" x 4" each piece!!

Right well, time is precious and I can't sit around here chatting all day.

Whatever you're doing, have a fabaroony weekend, catch you all later.

Switched to Beta

Well "SLOW" I may be but I get there in the end and I have now switched to Beta.

I haven't had a chance to really see the difference yet but I was absolutely pulling my hair out just before I upgraded because I just COULD NOT get a picture to upload!!!

Anyway, moving off of my soapbox. One of my latest creations is this altered coaster, or beer mat in my case and I'll give you 3 guesses on the theme ha ha ha!!

I think it's okay but I must admit I seen some pretty darn good altered coasters in my time and this really doesn't make the grade, oh well!

Ooooh and while I remember, I am chuffed to pieces today because my pic of Knockan Crag that I put on here a while ago has made the last 20 of the UKS photo comp - thanks Nat for pushing me in the right direction there.

I don't expect to win because there are so many fab entries but I don't care, it's the first time I've made the top 20 and I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat at the mo!

And while blogger is behaving here is a couple of quick pics of my entry in the rather fabby choc cj I received recently. Now I'm not a fan of chocolate at all really, although I have been known to politely nibble a piece of Galaxy or 2, so I wasn't really looking forward to doing my entry in this one. But, I must say, it did go well and I was pleased with the result, I just hope the owner thinks so too.

Relax and Creative!!

I really enjoyed doing these layouts in Shimelles class, I got alot more satisfaction out of these than I did with Angry and Sad.

Again I had to include some areas for hidden journalling and I'm keen to make all my pages completely different because I think my moods are all so different also!!

On the relax page I have created a little pocket with a top opening and inserted a tab complete with another, hopefully relaxed, picture of me.

On creative I decided to manipulate a couple of pics to try and emphasise my creative side (hope it works). I then added a couple of steel hinges so the photos flap out to reveal a space for more hidden journalling or maybe some more pics.

I now need to think about taking some more mood photos of me, back to the drawing board hey!!

On a normal day to day life in general note! I've had a really busy week but I think next week will be better so I'm hoping I'll be able to focus a little more on some of my crafty projects.

Ooh, and absolutely shock horror, I have to admit I BOUGHT some Christmas cards yesterday. They were on special offer and totally gorgeous and I got 18 for £6.40 so thats 18 less that I have to make - yippee!! I'll take a pic of them in the week and upload.

Right, off out soon, seez you later.

Angry and Sad

No, not literally, I rarely am, thank goodness but these are the next 2 pages that I have done for Shimelles class. (As usual, I finished the LO's after it had got dark outside so needless to say the photography is pants in artificial light).

I found them difficult, as I say, I'm rarely either and it was especially hard to have "Angry" inspiration.

The photos are black and white except for my eyes in both photos, they are my natural steely grey/green LOL!

Again, I want to add hidden journalling at a later date so I have added tabs to both LO's as shown in the bottom pics. I'm glad I settled down to these tonight, I've had a really busy day and I felt I was getting a little behind with Shimelles class so it was good to get 2 more moods done.

I have already sorted out pics for Creative and Relaxed, hopefully they will be a little easier to do!

No stunning news unfortunately, just far too much work on at the moment, I'll be glad when the end of the month comes (the bulk of it has to be done by then) so hopefully this time next week I'll have plenty of time to be creative.

Yesterdays crop

A quick post, off out in a bit.

I had an absolutely fabby day yesterday. I was soooo nervous when I got there, you know, the heart in your mouth type feeling!! but everyone was so friendly.

Emma showed us some layouts using multiple photos so I had a go at one of them yesterday. It was a great learning curve for me as the majority of my LO's are only single photos. I'll post a piccie up later. Vicky cooked up a fabulous soup for lunch (fortunately I'm in her recipe swap, so I'll be cooking some of it myself soon).

After lunch Emma showed us how to make a paper bag book, another first for me. I haven't decorated mine yet (such a slow coach that I am at scrapping) but when I have I'll stick a piccie on here.

I should have a bit more creative time later so I'll sort some pics out, I also need to make a Christmas card - yikes! for a card swap I'm in and I really want to get further on with Shimelles class, feeling a little behind now!!

Of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg on my creative "To Do" list but I'm getting there LOL!

Thanks for popping in Gems :-) I'll be doing a bit of blog hopping later to catch up with all of your news.

Red sky in the morning.......

Shepherds warning! So they say, and they say just right too.

This pic was taken in Aultbea in the Scottish Highlands on the morning we were travelling back to the South of England. I must admit is was an amazing red sky, I couldn't resist a pic, it was taken from our hotel window as we were packing!

The journey started okay but when we reached Inverness and got onto the A9 the heavens just opened. It absolutley chucked it down all the way to Carlisle!!

Anyway, moving on. I haven't done any more to Shimelles class today, or yesterday as it happens. I've been quite busy at work and too tired in the evening but I have managed to take some sad and angry pics of me, I'm having a play with them at the moment!!

I've got another busy day tomorrow but I'm hoping to get some time to look at my sad page for the class. I'm off to my first ever crop on Saturday "EEK". I'm looking forward to it but also nervous but I'm sure it will be fine. I'll let you know how I get on, they are running a couple of classes that I'm hopefully going to do so that will be fab.

Catch uze all later x

Shimelles Class - Happy

Well I've completed the "Happy" entry for my "You think you know me" book. I decided to cut the large photo of me into 4 sections that lift up individually. I will do some more personal journalling there when I've got more time to think about it.

I had to include a picture of Tony cos he makes me happy, so quite fitting I thought LOL!

Still using more of my precious BG, never thought a craft knife would pass over it but hey, can't keep stroking it can I!!

Shimelle's Class

Well Istarted the class today and made my front and back covers.

Used my beloved BG as well as a few other bits and bobs. Although it took me ages to start this I'm pleased with the end result, I sort of based my idea on Kristi's book as I quite fancy a mish mash sort of look which really reflects me!! Although mine isn't a patch on Kristi's but hey ho!!

I'll probably add some ribbons and the like to the book rings when I've finished but at the moment it is just completely empty.

Arrow chucking and a very late night!

Had a really late night last, didn't go to bed until gone 2am. We went to a darts presentation night for a league that I used to run until this year (scrapping has taken over LOL) and I was asked to present the trophies.

Neither of us really wanted to go but once we got there it was actually great to catch up with people, some we hadn't seen in years, so a good night really.

Tony was entered into the singles competition, not his choice but hey!! Although he was a very good dart player in his day he hasn't played in months and didn't have his own darts so we were all slightly amazed when he beat a pretty good opponent in the opening round. To cut a long story short, he progressed through to the final after numerous rounds and he won - yipee!! I was suitably impressed LOL!

I did the dutiful thing and presented all the trophies but because it was sooo late we had to cancel our cab and ended up getting a lift home with an old friend and his wife. In they came for coffee, hence the 2am bedtime!!

Needless to say I woke up at my customary 5.30 this morning and of course unable to sleep, I've normally got 100 crafting things going on in my head so there was no way I was going back off to sleep.

Anyway, after visiting my mum this morning I did actually manage to finish the ATC's I'd started yesterday, Bubbly Funk's October swap, Black and White! So here is a little example!

I have a few other things I want to look at today but I don't think I'll be too late to bed, yawning already LOL.

Knockan Crag and "The Bell"

This pic is of Knockan Crag in the Scottish Highlands. I haven't altered it in any way, it was as black as black above us but the sun was shining on the mountain in the distance. I hope the camera has captured it well!

As much as I love going on holiday I have really, really missed creating and I was desperate to get back to it today.

The Bubbly Funk Design team challenge this month is to use some Angel blooms in a variety of ways but to use at least a couple in a Christmassy theme so for my first effort I have created this rather wacky bell shaped decoration. I was rather pleased with actually, mind you, it was the 3rd bell shape I had cut. The first 2 were absolute pants!!

I also managed to just about finish my cj entry for posting on Monday, I musn't forget to take pics tomorrow and I've also started my Bubbly Funk October ATC's. Black and White theme so something a bit different.

I've still to study more of Shimelles work book, do some recipe cards and lots of other stuff before I can even think of Christmas. Note to self: Don't sign up for anything else!!!

Talking of Christmas, I so love the brown and golds that are coming out this year but I just musn't buy any more decorations. I have a major passion for Christmas and I have decorations in red, blue, silver, burgundy, gold and I just pick a colour scheme each year. Family even ask me what colour I'm doing so they wrap presents to the right theme!! I just love it when everything coordinates but I do wish they hadn't brought out these gorgeous browns and golds, would go so well in my living room too LOL! Oh well, we'll see!

Back from the Scottish Highlands

Well, all can say is WOW! What an amazing place. We had a bit of changeable weather up there, obviously! It is October after all and on one of the days we kept seeing the most fabulous Rainbows. I managed to get a pic of one.

I have never been to the Scottish Highlands before and I would certainly go again. We stayed in Aultbea, between Gairloch and Ullapool (my sincerest apologies if I have spelt anything wrong).

Now I would say it was pretty remote, the locals didn't seem to think so but when your nearest Tescos is some 70 odd miles away, I'm afraid that is remote to me!

The scenery is absolutely stunning, the sheep are suicidal and the local drivers are completely fearless! but we had an absolutely fab time.

When I'm less tired I will post a few more piccies on here to share :-)

Seez ya soon x 

"Happiness" and "Christmas Folk Art"

Can't believe it's Tuesday already, so apologies my blogging chums, for no entries since Saturday.

A couple of little crafty bits to show you. My altered monogram for Linda's swap on Bubbly Funk, I've never done one before so I've got no idea if it's okay.

Also one of the ATC's for Carolines swap on UKS entitled Christmas Folk Art. Yet another new one on me but I quite like the way this one has come out, I must have a thing about clocks at the mo. Mind you this one doesn't tick.

Talking of ticking, my altered cd clock is still going and it keeps reasonable time so I'm pleased about that.

Ooh, really exciting news too. I've signed up for Shimelle's class that starts mid October, I am so looking forward to it. I really feel I could do with learning more about this scrapping lark so I'm gradually going to build up a collection of books and do these sorts of lessons to get to know as much as I can. I still feel very proud to be on Bubbly Funks design team and I want to do my very best so I'm keen to take new techniques on board.

Anyway, busy time coming up so I'll get back when I can.

Nearly forgot, hee hee, don't forget to wish Caroline of Bubbly Funk a Happy Birthday tomorrow.

HAPPY 40th CAROLINE