Candy!

Cathy over at Ellieskeepers Creations has some lovely candy on offer. Go and check out her blog for some gorgeous cards. http://ellieskeeperscreations.blogspot.com/2011/03/sugar-addicts-showcase-sunday-and-some.html

Very tired

I hate Wednesdays. They're my Mondays! On the up side though - it's a short week, I'm off on Friday as the kids stop school for the holidays.

Had a party at Anchor Boys tonight as we'll be off for the next 2 weeks. They were given Easter Eggs at the end. Goodness me, I've never heard so many ungrateful children with lots of cries of "I don't like that one".....

No photo to share tonight. Got some cards to do but really can't be bothered moving. Need to make a card to take into work tomorrow as it's for someone at work who shares the same birthday as me :D

Spoke to Jenny today who said that she loved her card so much (the one from Sunday) that she's going to frame it! How lovely.

Susan xx

Parent's Night tonight.....

and I always love hearing the teachers say nice things about my kids. Even if these women are clearly completely deranged.... lol! Both boys are wonderful apparently. I always worry about parents' nights just in case something has gone horribly wrong. Got some oval shapes to cut out tonight for Anchor Boys tomorrow - they will represent eggs on the Easter Egg hunt at the party tomorrow night. The boys have to find an egg to get a chocolate one in return. They all seem to enjoy it but I'm not looking forward to cutting out 45 oval shapes!! Still got some other crafting to do but I don't know what mood I'll be in after 45 oval shapes.... Fingers crossed though. I made this card this morning - my friend is leaving work on Thursday(he works in our Cardiff office) so I needed to post it today. He's taken a redundancy package - I think it was quite a scary decision for him but I feel sure he's made the right one. I had the image coloured in and I was just playing about this morning with some card and it just all came together. Wish all inspiration came like that.

TFL

Susan xx

Spring has sprung...

Well, maybe... It's been a lovely day here but I fully expect that come Friday when the kids have finished school for 2 weeks that it will start raining/snowing/some other horrible weather that I haven't thought about. Had coffee with my friends Sandra and Yvonne this morning (as is our usual Monday custom) which was nice. I say it's our usual Monday custom but with one thing and another this is the first time in about 3 weeks we've done it. And it will be the last time for about 3 weeks as the kids are barely at school during April (ok, I think they might be there on one Monday....) We met up here again at lunchtime and then after lunch but before going for the cherubs we spent some time crafting, which was nice. I had a commission from my friend for her daughter's 8th birthday to do. I used the LoTV "Stroppy Cow" stamp, (yeah, ok I know her name is really "It's My Party" but my name is very descriptive.... I delivered it to my friend this evening and it was met with approval and the words "Oh, that's just like Julie Ann" Hope the birthday girl likes it too.

Got some other things need doing tonight too as they need to go in the post tomorrow.

I'm also signing off now, as this is the 2nd time I've typed this. I started to put labels on the post and somehow managed to delete everything in the post, so I'm quitting while I'm ahead.

TFL

Susan xx

My head hurts :(

and the only drink I had last night was water! Lovely meal at Anatolia in St Vincent Street - it's a Turkish restaurant (my friend's husband is Turkish!) Never had Turkish food before but it was lovely. There was even a belly dancer there and a few of the ladies at the table were persuaded to have a go at the belly dancing too. Thankfully she didn't pick on me! Been a busy weekend so far. Had the Stampin' Up training in Edinburgh on Friday which was great. Really good day, met some great people, including 2 ladies from Northern Ireland who had got up at 4am to make it over for the training - I would have been sleeping by about 10am!!! On Thursday night I had a major panic attack thinking that no one would want to swap with me at the training - it's a tradition at SU training to take along swaps to swap with other demos. Well, I'm pleased to report that actually I had nothing to worry about because out of the 3o swaps I made I only brought back 4. Happy bunny! This is the swap below. It's made using the Vintage Vogue set and the Very Vintage wheel. This is the black version but I made lots of other colours too. Although I think the black was possibly my favourite. I shall take a photo of the swaps I got in return and post it through the week. I also had a birthday card to make this week for a friend, my oldest friend, who I met the day we both registered for Primary school! She lives in Lossiemouth now so we don't see each other very often. I kinda based it on my swaps, you can see the way my mind was working last week eh?! I've used the So Happy For You SaleABration set for the Birthday wishes greeting. I hope she liked it! This last card is the card for last night's birthday girl (although it's actually her birthday today!) It started off as an experiment but I liked what I'd done so it made it to being a card. I've used a Tim Holtz stamp although I've no idea what it's called!

I'm going off now to do a spot of housework - I'm going to see if I can spot anything that needs doing, lol!

TFL.

Susan xx

Just a quickie...

cos I'm running about like a headless chicken.... Birthday card made for tonight - check Birthday present bought for tonight - check Kilts booked for a wedding in June - check House tidy - er.... Motivation for going out - er..... I'll get back to you on that one. Susan xx

One more sleep

till tomorrow's Stampin' Up! field training in Edinburgh. I'm very excited about it. Swaps are all made. Well, nearly. Got a few things left to finish off and a couple of pictures to take but essentially they're finished. My friend Jen is picking me up tomorrow at 7.20am.... She's doing one of the demos for the training so she's to be at the hotel for 9.30am. Oh well, at least it's not getting up for work, lol. Still got loads to do tonight, not least clear the dining room table for the boys in da house to have their dinner tomorrow night when I'm having a lovely meal without them in the hotel.... Depending on how late I finish I might post a couple of photos later. Susan xx

Oooh and with this post....

in one month I've managed to equal the amount of posts I did in the whole of last year. Thanks to Ali Watson (http://sharingthepassion.wordpress.com/) for making me feel suitably guilty enough to start blogging again...

Here we go again...

I'm off to Birmingham in the morning. Let's hope that the trip to the airport is slightly more successful than last week's experience. It means that I have to miss Anchor Boys tomorrow night as I'll probably not be back in time :( Don't you just hate it when work gets in the way of stuff you actually want to do ;) So, no picture tonight. There's a couple of things I've made and have yet to take photos of. I also feel bad that I haven't posted a friend's birthday card yet. When I say posted, I actually mean finished and posted..... it's started but unlike Magnus Magnusson I haven't finished it yet. Swaps for Friday's training are almost done. And I've a couple of other things need doing but sadly it won't be tonight as I'm going to finish this, dry my hair and go off to bed. It also means that the craft stuff will be lying on the dining room table for another night. Ah well, such is life eh?! Susan xx

It was on a Monday morning...

that the gas man came to call. Again. Another Monday, another family friendly gas appointment. This time I think the boiler may be fixed! Let joy be unconfined :) I used the time productively though. Did a bit of housework, hung a wash out cos it was a lovely day. Made some lentil soup. Well, it would have been lentil soup if I'd had any lentils so it's just vegetable. Still tasty but not what I was after :(

After all that I treated myself to a spot of crafting. Made some of my swaps for the Stampin' Up! field training that I'm going to on Friday. It's my first training with them and I'm very excited about it!

I had to clear all my stuff off the dining room table so it's currently sitting in the washing basket until I unpack it all again and get on with some more later.

I promised the other card I made for my Aunt and here it is. This is the second time I stamped and coloured the wee baby, didn't like it the first time so I started again. This is definitely my favourite of the two cards I made.

TFL.

Susan xx

Where are they?!

The housework fairy and the ironing fairy that is. They seem to have abandoned this house.... And that's before we start on the state of the dining room table. Ah well, creativity comes at a price :p Busy day today. Church this morning and then have just had to drop Craig at a birthday party and come back to the house. Bit of a breather then Scott has a swimming lesson between 3 and 3.30 (which Craig would also have if he wasn't at the party) so I have to leave Andy and Scott at the pool, come back for Craig and then go back for them.... Think I'll deserve an evening crafting after all that. Never mind the housework (again). This is one of the cards I've made for my Aunt. She has two new great-grandaughters who are being baptised within a week of each other - think they were born close together too. Unfortunately it's the same branch of the family - the dads are brothers, so I had to do two different cards. Thankfully it gave me an excuse to go to Craftworld and buy the Ladybug Crafts Ink Baby Baby set of stamps. I just love them, they're so gorgeous (and I'd been looking for an excuse for ages to buy them). Image is coloured with Promarkers and cut out with Oval Nesties. Paper and card from stash (no idea where it's from though), the card candy is by Craftwork Cards. I also blinged up her pram wheels with stickles and some gems. I'll show you the other one tomorrow - which is possibly my favourite of the two.

TFL

Susan xx

Productive day....

loads of washings done and hung out and dried because it was such a lovely day. The ironing basket is groaning a bit now but let's leave that for another day and maybe the ironing fairy will drop by and do it for me.... Boys had a party this afternoon - it was the wee girl across the street's birthday and she was having a bouncy castle!!! Very lucky with the weather, bet they were glad they weren't having it last Saturday in the snow lol! Party started at 2pm and by 1pm I still had no birthday card. I'd been to the shops round the corner but the cards were crap and they were £2.49 worth of crap, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I sat down and.....

came up with this! I used one of the precoloured squares from LoTV. I actually love the way the wee card turned out and it's much better (at least I think so) than the ones I saw for £2.49 in the shop.

Anyway, the boys were shipped off to the party and I asked DH if we had any plans while they were away. I was thinking maybe we could get in and gut the spare room. He had a slightly panicked look on his face when I asked and I realised he wanted to watch the rugby so I said "oh, that's ok, can I go and craft".....

So, kids were at a party, DH watched the rugby and I crafted. What could be better?! Got quite a lot done but I shall share the pictures through the week - just in case the spurt of creativity doesn't last ;)

DH has BFF's DH round on a "play date" (beer) tonight so I have come to bed with the laptop and my book.

TFL.

Susan xx

*needs good talking to*

Seem to have lost my mojo. Has anyone seen it?! Didn't make it to Manchester yesterday. The flight ended up being delayed by so much it wasn't worth my while going. I would have just managed to get to the office when it was time to come home. By the time I left the Glasgow office at 3.15pm I'd done a 9.5 hour day. I thought that was enough! Then when I came home I thought I'd maybe do some crafting before collecting the boys from after school care. Didn't happen though! Still got all those cards I mentioned earlier in the week to do so I'm going to go now and see if I can at least achieve one thing before I go to bed! Susan xx

Bedtime

I'm up at stupid o'clock for a 7am flight to Manchester tomorrow. I'm doing a course through work on Internal Consulting..... yeah, how EXACTLY do I stay awake during that..... the course doesn't finish till 4.30pm..... however, my flight home is at 4.40pm. I can imagine how well it's going to go down but I wasn't prepared to hang about till the next flight which is after 8pm before I got on my way home.

So, in the absence of any crafting photos, here's one of my youngest boy Scott at the recent Anchor Boy fun day with his face painted as a lion! It was painted by one of our other officers, Graeme, who you can just see sitting on the edge of the photo - he's Scott's favourite. I feel I should be slightly aggrieved at this given that I'm also an officer and I'm not his favourite, lol. Apparently it's because "me and Graeme are really good at sports" (Scott's words not mine!!)

Hopefully, some crafting tomorrow, if I'm not too tired after my day's adventure.

Susan xx

There's a giant pink pig on the tv

No. Seriously. There is! I've just come back in from a visit to Brownies (I'm their visiting elder) followed by a Kirk Session meeting. I was full of plans to do some more crafting tonight. Unfortunately DH wants to watch one of the many things we've taped on Sky+ so I can't do some crafting. Hence the pink pig. We're watching Blue Bloods and there was a woman camped outside a philanderer's house using a megaphone to say he was a pig and she had giant pig with her! Need to get something done though as there's very little chance of crafting tomorrow night. Got work :( then Anchor Boys, then home for dinner and probably bed as I have to get up at stupid o'clock the next day to get a flight to Manchester :( Got loads to do and I'm going to list them here so I don't forget - birthday cards for 19th (2) and 24th March, a Wedding Invitation Acceptance, 2 Christening Cards for 27th March and 3rd April, a special card for a lovely thing my friend's wee girl did (more of that when I've made it). I'm sure there's more but that's all that springs to mind at the moment. Oh and help me decide.... should I put in a sneaky Stampin' Up order now or wait until the beginning of April....... Susan xx

Family friendly huh?!

Not! The gas man was booked for a family friendly call between 10am and 2pm today. It was nearly 2.30pm when he came and nearly 3.30pm when he left! Kids need picked up at 3pm. It's a good job my friend Sandra was around, she picked up her small boy and my small boy (the big ones are at badminton club on a Monday) and went back to hers. Not that the small boy minded of course. I did a wee bit of housework this morning and then sat down with my crafting stuff. Didn't achieve quite as much as I'd hoped but never mind. Sandra came round later and we had lunch and then did a spot more crafting before she went up to school. This is a card for a party Craig is going to on Sunday - bit worried, I've lost the invite and apart from being in a local neighbourhood centre I've no idea where it is!! I used the Stampin' Up! Beware Pirates set and the cuttlebug cut and emboss skull and crossbones. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate tearing but just look how much is on this card! I went a bit mad. I love it though.

This second card is the promised Valentine's card I made for DH. Got the idea for it from the LotV Ideas for Inspiration blog. I used the Sugar Nellie Sent with Love stamp ( think that's whats she's called). The I (heart) you is done using Stampin' Up! School Book Serif alpha and the I (heart) Hearts set. Sandra had also seen this card on the LotV blog and thought she'd use it as an idea for my birthday card...... Ooops!

Back tomorrow with some more creations.

TFL.

Susan xx

I have a tidy dining room table....

unfortunately that means that the craft stuff has been tidied up! A blank canvas to start tomorrow though. I'm expecting the gas man between 1oam and 2pm so rather than do housework..... I thought I'd use the time to craft tomorrow :) Well that's the plan anyway. I've been very lazy tonight. I've sat on the computer browsing this and that and watching tv. Can't believe the time and I've actually done nothing constructive for hours! Although now that I think of it I did have a burst of energy a wee while ago. Went into the kids room, and started picking up the dirty washing and putting stuff away - anyway I touched one of Craig's games which suddenly went off and I nearly hit the ceiling in fright!! I covered it with clothes so they wouldn't hear it. Thankfully everyone seems to have emerged from the experience unscathed and the offending game is now sitting with me in the living room in case it goes off again, lol! Then I decided I'd have a wee Tassimo hot choc. The Tassimo decided to have a wee fit to itself and started leaking, don't know what I'd done to offend it. So I then ended up cleaning up that mess and discovered a wee puddle where the old kettle had been leaking but hadn't been mopped up. Maybe it's better just to sit and do nowt of an evening eh?! Never mind. I'm going to have a wee read of my Craft Stamper mag before I go to bed and hopefully get some inspiration for my crafting session tomorrow. Susan xx

Oops,how did that happen

I didn't mean to be away for a couple of days! I have no excuse either, other than complete laziness and my mojo being on holiday :( Have been supposed to be doing lots of crafting this week. Think I've achieved very little though. Haven't even managed to tidy the dining room table. Ah well. Today is another day eh?! Was out with some friends from work last night - had a lovely wee meal at Paperino's in Sauchiehall Street. The tablet ice cream was particularly yummy!!!! I came home with good intentions of crafting but I sat and watched tv instead and then had an early night. Anyway, enough of all that nonsense. Today is the start of a new week. Yeah, I know it isn't technically the start of a new week but let's make it a the start of my new crafting week.... A couple of pictures for you - the first is Craig's birthday card - it was his birthday 3 weeks ago and I struggled with what to do for my growing boy. 9 years old - too big for babyish cards, lol! I used the Beware Pirates Stampin' Up set and some chocolate chip and very vanilla CS. The images are stamped in Chocolate Chip and Real Red. If you want to order any Stampin' Up stuff please feel free to contact me.

This is the card for a friend's husband's birthday which is today. We're all going up to their house later so I'm hoping she's not blog hopping this afternoon - otherwise it won't be much of a surprise! I've used the Stampin' Up Punch Bunch SAB set (just finished) for the greeting, paper and card from stash and I'd be lying if I said I could remember what it was. Quite pleased with it. I hope the recipient likes it too.

I'm going off now to try and tidy up the dining room table so that I have a blank canvas for starting to craft later. I may be away for some time so if I don't appear back send chocolate!!!!

TFL.

Susan xx

Lazy girl...

Didn't do any crafting last night and I'm now sat here in my pj's and can't really be bothered moving through to the dining room. Got loads I should be doing though.... Why do I put this pressure on myself?! DH wanted to watch something we'd recorded on Sky+ so that's my excuse for not moving.. Been at Anchor Boys tonight. Did a spot of crafting with the boys - they're making something for Mother's day! Been using my Stampin Up wheel and fast flowers stamp. They seem to be loving it. Thought I'd share this picture - one of the mums told me tonight that it was published last Friday in the paper. It was taken last year when the kids were at nursery and doing some football training. Scott is in the second row and the furthest to the left, just behind the wee girl! Newsquest Glasgow Herald & Times: View Picture: NMG1825585.jpg

An award

My lovely friend Cass at http://poursomesugaronme-rockchick.blogspot.com/ left me an award on her blog - this is me only just getting round to posting it. Thank you Cass. Mwah xx

There are a couple of conditions for the award. You have been TAGGED and want to participate? Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image. You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award. You can then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light,so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers I'm just going to leave a couple of names though. I look at loads of blogs but these were the two that sprung to mind! Karen at http://cravingcraft.blogspot.com/ Anthea at http://stampin-divas.blogspot.com/

I suppose a pony is out of the question....

DH asked me for a wee list of what I might like for my birthday.... so I did a bit of research and put some Tim Holtz stuff on it..... and a wee book or two. As my birthday is also Mother's day I think there should be double presents don't you?! And of course no birthday or Christmas list would be complete without me asking for a pony... I didn't make this card last night. .I decided not to craft in the end. Might do some tonight though. I found the picture when I was looking through the photos on my phone. I think it's a wedding card for but I'm blowed if I can remember who it was for. Never mind. The photo is especially for Ali, as I know she's a CAS, white on white girl at heart. Sorry that it's skewiff again. Thought I had it sussed. Clearly not. Been playing with it for ages and it hasn't worked. It's been every way but the right way.

Susan xx

It's not where you start it's where you finish....

This card didn't set out to look like this. I was intending to use a design I saw on the LotV Ideas for Inspiration blog that I'd already used for DH's valentine card. Didn't turn out like that though cos nothing I did looked right! It's a card for someone at work whose 40th birthday was last week. I was kinda aiming for spectacular but never mind.

Been at a Parent Council meeting tonight and was told I look tired. Clearly I need to break out the Touche Eclat!! So, I'm now wondering whether to do some crafting or go to bed. There have been too many nights off recently hence my lack of crafting!

Even if I don't craft tonight I can always take a pic of the aforementioned valentine card and post that tomorrow.....

Susan xx

OK, I'm going to have to do some crafting now....

Because this is the last photo of anything I've made on my phone. If I want to blog tomorrow with a photo I'll need to do something tonight..... I have been sitting here for ages trying to turn it round so you don't get a crick in the neck from looking at it. I've tried everything. It clearly hasn't worked!! Sorry. The other 2 photos I've put on recently were fine, don't know why this one should be different! This was a card I did for a friend's birthday at the start of last month. I love the wee image of the boy "reading" his paper. I had also just come across the pack of Tim Holtz tickets so I've been using them on a lot of cards. I just {heart} them. Anyway, I'm off now to see if inspiration strikes. Let's hope so or I'll be forced into blogging oblivion again ;)

Woo hoo - 2 days in a row....

must be a record eh?! Been a busy day today - up early and off to Pollok Park for the Anchor Boy fun day. There were about 160ish Anchor Boys there and I think they all had a great time with all the activities on offer - including a magic show and a storyteller!! The weather was a bit damp and the park was a bit muddy but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of all who were there. The sun came out about 3pm as we were packing up to come home. Just as we arrived home friends arrived for a visit..... so no time for a wee shower or anything to freshen up and I'm too tired to do it now that they're away so I'm afraid I'll just have to wait till morning. Still no crafting done and I'm feeling it might be a bit too late to start now. Maybe tomorrow cos I'm really desparate to play with my stash from the SECC. And I'll obviously take a photo of it to show! Here's a photo of the project I did at a class I recently did at Craftworld in Hillington. It was designed by the lovely Karen (check out her blog at Craving Craft). See you tomorrow...... Susan xx

Goodness me would you look at that!

Look at the time that's gone by since I last blogged. *hangs head in shame* I was at the craft fair at the SECC today. Last night I was like one of the kids on Christmas Eve, I was soooo excited! I went from having nothing on my shopping list to buying loads of stuff. The first thing I bought was a couple of the Sassy stamps from Sugar Nellie, where it was great to meet Ali Watson who I've chatted to on Facebook for ages, lovely to meet you in the flesh Ali and I hope next time we can have a much longer gab!! Ali, however, gave me into trouble for not updating my blog. So here we go, the start of a new me...... yeah, right. We'll see how long it lasts. Can't wait for the kids to go to bed so I can have a play with my new toys. I bought the Sassy stamps, a couple of LotV stamps (one of which I've christened Stroppy Cow) - have a look at their website and see which one it is you think I mean!! Also got some Tim Holtz stuff and DH told me if I saw anything I liked I could buy it for my birthday. I figured the Vagabond or the Big Shot pro were out the question so I went with some Tim stamps and an extended cuts of his tickets. Looking forward to getting to use them in April!! I've been very naughty on the crafting front too, I spend most evenings sitting on the laptop which is not good when I could be crafting! I've looked at loads of blogs but it hasn't transferred into any action! Anyway, here's a photo of a card I did recently for a wee girl in Craig's class at school for her 9th birthday. The image is Pom Pom Fairy from LotV and she's coloured with promarkers. The name is cut using the Groovy Girl Sizzix extended cuts and the wee sentiment is from the Stampin' Up Circle of Friendship set. Hopefully see you tomorrow! Susan x