Pollen hell

I don't know how pollen works.
You would think after suffering with hay fever (since I was 3) that I would know how it works and when its about to attack. But yesterday was a bit rainy so you would think that this morning it would have been low. But NO! I woke up with a very swollen eye and very itchy skin. So random and so annoying. And then, if I wasn't a glutton for punishment enough, we took the dog on a huge walk (in the sunshine) where I came back as itchy as in itchy thing from the planet itch-a-lot. So these next few weeks looks like Ill be dosing up on Clarytyn. Grrrr, annoying.

That didn't stop me from finishing off layout number 7 of this week and of course I have rehashed layout number 5 (as I mentioned yesterday). Im in love with my devotion to scrapbooking this week. I even think I could do one a day for a month but like everything else in my life, something else always crops up and I spoil my own dare!

This photo was taken when I met the Studio Calico design team in 2009. We met at an open night where we had cheesy pics taken with star wars figures. I was going to give the layout a ridiculously crazy name but Momma Sensible came to me just before I adhered the letters. I wonder if you could even guess what that would have been?! The chipboard flourish is from Tando and has been adhered beautifully with Letratac.



And this layout - oh my! It was during one of Eddy's first walks as a pup. And he had his first dig! The picture isn't in the best exposure as he was digging so furiously, looking for buried treasure (naturally) but it brings back such a lovely memory. He was such a beautiful pup, sob... i miss that cuteness about him.

Ive used Amy Butler papers which I initially bought just to drool over. Hello? Are we supposed to even use Amy Butler papers? I think not but they match my piccy so perfect so all is not lost. However, I would like to know if anyone has any more of this paper in stock? Just so I can love it and adore it for a little bit longer :)


The little bird and branch is from Tando and was stuck with Letratac for a super sticky finish.

Ok, going to finish up on tidying my bombsite of an office, for the 83755623920475638 time.

A non descript day

Well, it was - sort of. I surfaced out of my pit at 2pm. I know! It must have been all that fresh air from the day before. I have not been that lazy since I was in my teens. What, with no running around for Belles (she is not here, obvs) and Mark, doing his marking, I felt guilt free to re-charge. My mother would akin it to festering in my pit and she would, of course be right. Heeeeeeeeee!

I got up, had a bath, went boring snoring food shopping. I Facebooked for a little while, got me some happy and spread a bit of happy. Had tea, finished off this layout and watched BGT. I mean, nothing life changing happened to my day but it was lovely all the same.

Here is layout numero 6 (layout 5 is looking a bit crap right now, will make changes to that before I share). I'm on a scrapping roll, as you can see - its like heaven on a glue stick and very therapeutic.

Fave papers ever (by Amy Butler) and fab chipboard butterflies by Tando.


I bet most of you had fun by the sea, picnics in the park as a usual bank holiday monday - right? **sigh, that would have been us if squidge bum belles had of been here**

100 (naked) iron men ....picture heavy post

For a good while I have been promising myself a trip over to see Antony Gormleys "Another Place" exhibition at Crosby beach (he is the fella behind the Angel of the North). If you have never heard of this peculiar array of sculptures then let me just touch base with you. Or rather point you in the direction of Wikipedia (LOL).

Sooooo, 100 iron men (taken from the cast of Gormleys body himself - complete with the dingly dangly bits for ALL to see - nice touch, I feel) stretch out as far as 2 km wide and 1 km long. From the very beachy shore right into the sea. At full tide you only would see a dozen of them and at low tide, well - obvs, all of them. Its bizarre but its also very intriguing. I was actually quite impressed and I'm not the "arty farty" type, you know?

The observations started as he stared at the sea, the wind flapping his ears (to the point where he almost took off)


And we look down the beach and see a hundred of identical iron men, facing the Irish sea. My camera (nor anyone elses, for that matter) could capture them all in one shot - they are too widespread to appreciate in a single crop

The dog, however was NOT impressed. He barked at every single one of them. He really did give each one of them some of his best vocals. Mark and I did nothing but laugh at him.


Of course, if I am going to be pictured with naked dingly dangly man, I am so going to cover his modesty (and note that I didn't TOUCH it......eeeeeew). And whilst we are here, please do not attempt to ask your hairdresser to copy my fabulous hairstyle!


We managed to calm Eddy down after a while, but he would gruff as we past more of these fascinating things.
Some were covered in barnacles from salt water erosion

some were red from just wind erosion

We loved it! The beach was also awash with little gulley's like this


and approx 8.4 gazillion jelly fish
After we had enjoyed the spectacle, we head back to the car where I was graced with one 102 butts in my face

Nice!

Finally.......
here is layout 4 from the weekend with layout number 6 almost complete.


ooooh, doilies? Just for a change!

Clean, simple and executed in the shortest of short times. I plan to have ten layouts done before Ellie gets back and that, my friends, is more than I have done in the last few months!

On a simple scrapbooking roll

Ive given up with trying to keep up with all the "new and latest expensive scrapbook fiddly faddlies" this weekend. Ive just gone with finding a picture and scrapping it any old how and Ive really (and I mean REALLY) loved it. I'm on layout number 4 and whilst that is in progress I wanted to put these new 2 layouts up here, to share with you. I loved yesterdays layout which took minutes and these two below? Minutes, again!

Ive took receipt of the Stampin Up star punch from Jane last weekend and I think I will love this forever, so be prepared to get sick of seeing it! The layout below features one of many beautiful chipboard shapes from Tando Creative - I encourage you to go and take a look at their HUMONGOUS stock range....something for everyone! Of course, I'm working the doilies to death too, seeing as I took receipt of 500 x 4" ones (for a song) off Amazon. Again, you WILL get sick of seeing these soon as you will with bunting and spray inks. I wont apologise....I LOVE these things - they make me happy zippy doo daa.
Not one jot of patterned paper on this layout (and the one yesterday). That saves, at least, 80p per project. However, this will never stop me buying patterned paper again. You know that I would be mentals to stop doing such a thing.

I even dug out Basic Grey papers from yesteryear for this layout below which is novel for me. Not one jot of Kraft cardstock in sight. Im trying to use up all my old Prism and Doodlebug cardstock, so Im feeling incredibly thrifty! Oh yes, there are the stars and doilies too! LOL and the chipboard piece is from Tando again



I'm hoping I can share two more layouts tomorrow night, I'm soooo making up for my lack of dedicated scrapping of late.

Sooooooooooooooo, today?
Well Belles (note to the ridiculous anonymous poster: she is not my "tot", she is not dying of an incurable disease and I'm not her grandmother) went off to her Nanna's today for a week by the sea. Of course, I was at a loss. She and I are home buddies and when she is not at home, I don't want to be at home. So I decided to take the train to Liverpool to spend a gift voucher at Cath Kidston. SHRIEK! Excitement. I left the pooch in Marks capable hands as he did his marking (he has a lot of marking to do at the end of term...books and books and folders and books in there bajillions)......... I love that Mark, marks! lol

I took a train one stop after our local station which saves me almost £3 for the effort and read my book. Well, I say read....I couldn't concentrate. As I don't often get out much (I sound like an old lady, don't I?) I couldn't help but "people watch". Some might say I'm a nosey old cow for doing so but people just fascinate me. The half hour journey went by in a wizz and suddenly I was in Liverpool. Oh I can't tell you what a mix of people who shop there. Girls shopping in their jammers, girls with rollers in there hair, lads with pants round their ankles, hen nights, stag do's - its a right mix of culture. I just put my head down and made a beeline for Cath Kidston. **sigh** That shop is a sight to behold. All spotty and floral and decorated like a kitsch 50's wash house in one corner and a old country wardrobe in another. The voucher I had been given was generous and I didn't know where to start. I think I was in there for an hour before I picked up this


and these beaded food savers - pretty pretty pretty


and a metre of this


and a metre of this


to make this


To add some diversity to my day, I nipped into Primark to pick up a pair of sunglasses, a scarf (always a scarf) and a polka dot flower broach to go with the bag I am intent on making.

I had a lovely day, just out and about, on my "jack jones" but admit that the 4 hours that I was out, I cam back absolutely knackered. Must be that special stuff called fresh air ;)

Daisy had her Op!

Hooray, Daisy finally had her Op today and is now at home, recuperating. She was able to have this Op because if YOU. Isn't it lovely news? Talking of which, I had more parcels arrive today (for the raffle) and OMG, my hallway is laden with packages so beautiful, I feel a little raffle winners envy! I'll take the pics tomorrow which means I'll be taking a LOT, so do pop back to see the prize pile pic list grow and grow then

Lastly, for today, here is a layout that took 10 stinking minutes! I know, crazy right? I had the concept in my head all day and then tonight, I just clustered it all together and shazam! Done! **breathes on nails and polishes them on my bosoms**



Sigh, if only all layouts could take less time, I'd be done and dusted with every photo I have in no time.

Last nights crop and more schtuff

So, the sketch last night turned into this today. I wasn't properly prepared live on air, last night, as I didn't have a photo. I twisted the sketch a little and I love the finished result that I eventually completed this afternoon.

I did make up for not finishing the layout, live, by making a card using the same sketch .


Additionally, I took pictures of all the prizes (click here to see them being added slowly but surely)

Also, Ive had a couple of surprise donations in the past two days and thought I'd list them below for you - this is on top of the current massive list we have. SUPER GENEROUS?? Please support them buy popping over to check their wares using the links provided.

A Fabulous Quickutz die cut and embossing machine from Craft Superstore

A large selection of craft goods (ie multiple packs of the same product in some cases) from Woodware

An A6 sheet of stamps from Pink Gem Designs

A huge selection of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

Daisy Update
We think that tomorrow Daisy will finally get her op. She is much better which puts her in good stead for the operation. Fingers crossed xx

Its Crop night!

It comes round so quick, doesn't it?
Join me as I crop live on Ustream at this address HERE
Join in with a bunch of crafter's as they chat with me as I create a layout, LIVE, following the sketch below. We encourage you to play along too!

come along and get yourself a scrapbook page done and dusted x

Exhausted

And not from running the raffle, either.
Just from an incident relating to Belles and Schools and the fact that she falls into this huge murky, grey area that nobody seems to want to delve into. I'm too tired to go into it tonight. But there you have it. Some days you wake up and you feel you can conquer the world. Other days you think "not". Today was "not".

Aaaaaaaanyway, despite hauling my backside outdoors for a huge poochy walk, I took therapy in making a few cards tonight. Little things like this makes me happy. I know paper crafting makes most of my readers happy (I'm sure you are all paper crafters, right?). You can't begin to describe the stress relief it brings. If only I could bring this joy to everyone, everyday - who wouldn't like to spend time with other crafters just making "stuff"? Selfishly, I did it just for me tonight and everything is calm again.

The bride and groom embellishment is from Mei Flower (my fave trinkety shop)

A very simple card using leftovers! I LOVE LEFTOVERS!


I thought id photograph this card again as, the other night, the light was dim and shabby. I love the silver charm from Mei Flower

Finally.....
The prizes have started to roll through my door and I'm going to catalogue them and show photos as and when they do. The Craft Robo came from Graphtec, Stamps from LB Crafts and Artistic Stamper and a Canvas scrapbook kit from Your Touch of Craft. Isn't it wonderful? It's really coming together rather nicely.

Thank you once again to everyone who has participated in the raffle. Also, if you did not receive your raffle numbers, please contact me here and Ill help explain where they could be!

£3434.47

That is the total of money you helped raise - thats 1768 tickets sold and over 1000 emails replied to. Not bad, Paypal only swizzed a small amount of that and Im grateful I could use their service (if only for a short while!)
Wowser.
I am stunned. I keep bursting into tears at how fabulously supportive you have been. Your emails and comments have all been read and have kept me going but most of all, that little face of Daisy's makes us know its all worth while.
PS: Those who bought tickets (right up to midnight) will receive their raffle tickets by tomorrow lunchtime.

This is the new prize list for today
A selection of beautiful rose flowers from Wild Orchid
A coupla stamps from Caroline Counsell
A bag of embellishments from Creative Treasures
Scrapbook kit from BellaBoo
A couple of kits from Sarahs Cards Ltd (get well soon, sarah xx)
A scrumptious pack of scrap supplies from Tracie Hudson
Some My Minds Eyes supplies courtesy of Anam Stubbington

And this is how the prize list looks in FULL
A Craft Robo - Graphtec
£35 stampin up voucher from Rachel Booth
A handmade bag from Darcy Wilkinson
A private commissioned drawing of your pet/child 12x14 worth $50 by Jay Korbijn
A MME 12x12 pack, stamps, and embellishments from Dies to Die for
A selection of stamps from Personal Impressions
A £25 voucher from Hobby Craft
A donation from Studio Calico
£50 worth of product from Clever Cuts
A selection of craft supplies from Brenda Pinnick
A selection of stamps from THE Donna Downey - I know, right?
£40 worth of stash from Mei Flowers
£36 worth of stamping product from Artistic Stamper
£50 word of Crafting CD's from me
A free manicure by Rubina at Mother Earth, south London
A handmade cushion from Jaki Morrison worth £20
100ml bottle of DKNY perfume from anonymous donator
£30 worth of product from Marion Emberson of Sugar and Spice Crafts
£106 worth of product from Tonic Studios
A photoshoot for the south of the country from Paula Pascual (worth £100)
A photoshoot for the north of the country from Kirsty Wiseman (worth £100)
A ton of digi product from Vicki Parker (worth £40)
4 sets pf promarkers and aquamarkers from Letraset
A specially commissioned Canvas by Dyan Reaveley at Art from the Heart worth £75
Ive twisted someones arm for a donation from QVC - yet to see what that is
Im working on Create and Craft, Martyn Parker....yoohoo?
5 x digi stamps from Just Inklined
A bunch of stash from Gotta Craft
A bunch of stash from Just a Memory
£20 voucher from Country View Crafts
£30 voucher from Cullen Crafts
£100 worth of stash, including a pink bind it all from Kirsty Brown
A pile of stash from the Glitter Pot
Every digi stamp and image from Little Musings
3 x Tim Holtz stamp sets from LB Crafts
A childrens mixed media Illustration by Rhomany
Stamps set from Sir Stampalot
Stash prize from Craft Superstore
Ribbons from Ribbon Oasis
A beautiful handmade necklace from Hello Gorgeous
Sarah Hurley is donating 3 x cd's and 2 stamp sets
A stash pack from PaperArts
A Stampin Up gift From Carol Bryson
a Stamp and template set from WS Designs
A set of penny black clings from Crafty Garden
Ribbon stash from the Ribbon Reel
£30 voucher from Creative Pastimes, Ellesmere Port
Basic Grey Paper pack from Crafty Pastimes
A signed set of stamps by Tim Holtz, donated via Hels **faints**
An encycopeadia of crafting cds from My Craft Studio
10 x 5 metre bundles of Divine Twine from The Ribbon Girl
Donna Downey canvas page kit from Your Touch of Craft
Sandie Vincent has donated a Nikki Sivils mini craft kit
A years subscription to Craft Stamp magazine
Crafty Stash pack from Papermaze
£100 worth of crafting goodies from an anonymous donation
A selection of stamps and a tim holtz edge die from Ann Rosie
A couple of ribbon kits from Angel Crafts
A craft bundle from Capture the Magic
A stamp set from Scrap Revolution
A craft Bundle from Craft Island
A generous bundle of stash from The Stamp Box
CD's and Embellishments from Sharon Duncan
A craft bundle from Stampeezee
A stamp set and some lippy chick books from Roz Carter
Chipboard galore from Tando Creative
£50 voucher towards Mandy Charlton photoshoot or stash in lieu
A cricut cartridge, unopened "A childs year" from Lizzie Parker
A bundle of Stash from Crafts U Love
£100 worth of stash from an Jaqui Tait
A cuttle bug and some dies from Kirsty Brown (2nd load of donations - wow!)
A free craft tutorial worth 10 Euros from Revlie Schuit
A craft bundle from Crafty Devils
Ribbon and Buttons from Fantastic Ribbons
A selection of stamps from Dimension Fourth
A gift certificate from Kate Hadfield digital scrapbooking supplies
A selection of beautiful rose flowers from Wild Orchid
A coupla stamps from Caroline Counsell
A bag of embellishments from Creative Treasures
Scrapbook kit from BellaBoo
A couple of kits from Sarahs Cards Ltd (get well soon, sarah xx)
A scrumptious pack of scrap supplies from Tracie Hudson
Some My Minds Eyes supplies courtesy of Anam Stubbington

And the draw will take place on 3rd June 2011 where one lucky winner will bag a delicious amount of booty and 19 other smaller prizes going to other lucky raffle ticket holders.

Remember - you are amazing

Daisy Update:
Daisy was not quite 100% for her op today so now its been rescheduled for wednesday. I will keep you all abreast, of course, as events happen.

Please be patient :)

The raffle ticket sales have gone bananas since this morning - there are a LOT of emails to reply to. I took a day off yesterday and the donations since then are all backed up. I promise each and every email will be replied to. I am working alone on this matter and it takes roughly 3 minutes to reply to each email as I hand allocate raffle ticket numbers and reply to you with them individually. That's on top of my normal job!

**You can still buy a raffle ticket here ** ..........and when it stops (at midnight) you might not be allocated a ticket number immediately but more on that in this article .

I am receiving a lot of emails querying where raffle tickets are. Most of your replies, it would seem, are in your junk box. Alternatively, please check the email in-box of where you paid your raffle ticket via paypal. People forget they have a separate email account for their paypal stuff. If your query is more pressing, please call me using the number on the contact page of my website. I will answer calls quicker than replying to query emails. The majority of my time is being driven towards raffle ticket allocation right now.

Also and this is QUITE important. I wanted to do the draw tomorrow HOWEVER all the prizes have not yet come in. I didnt think about that, obviously, in my haste to get the raffle going. Im sorry, I failed on that part. I have asked each contributor to get the prizes to me by the 3rd of June. It would be impossible to allocate a prize from the list I have and it not turn up or not even know what the prize is! Plus when a contributor has stated they will send a craft bundle, Im not sure what that bundle will consist of. So when all the prizes have landed here, I will allocate them into nice and even chunks, ensuring the top prize has a good old beef up (The Craft Robo will be a major part of it!). I will photograph the prizes as they come in so you can see what I see and then on the 3rd of June, I will draw the names from the hat. Please understand how tricky this has been. Its been completely wonderful in lots of ways but I have to make sure that this is done as fairly as possible.

In light of this, all the money collected will not be spent on fee's or donated to charity until the draw has taken place. This keeps it fair and above board.

Thank you so so much....... Its been crazy - do I have any hair left to pull out??!!

DOYKS! You people are A. Mezzin.

**Last Day for Raffle Tickets is Monday 23rd May - Raffle closes at midnight on 23rd. Buy your remaining tickets HERE**

So today? You helped top the £3000 mark - I KNOW!! This message below is for YOU!!

Click on it...... it needs enlarging!

Today I turned up at a craft fayre at Aintree. My lovely friend, Shevanny at Mei Flowers invited me to nip over and of course I said yes. I met up with my friend Jane and her friend Sarah too and we trawled the fayre looking for this and that. It was a very small show but I did manage to bag a few goodies from my three fave shops. So today's booty list is below and ok ....its only small but it is a Sunday and I only saw three of my fave shops at the fayre! I'm doing the last of my pleas for donations tomorrow - just one last surge to make the prize pool look a little more spectacular.

Prizes added 22nd May

A craft bundle from Crafty Devils

Ribbon and Buttons from Fantastic Ribbons

A selection of stamps from Dimension Fourth

A gift certificate from Kate Hadfield digital scrapbooking supplies

You can view the entire stash donation list at this link here

Daisy Update
Daisy is not sick as she was on Friday. This means she will be having her Op tomorrow. I forgot the terminology, I think its called a torn cruciat ligament in her leg. It needs wiring up. Janey is not to hand as I type. Not sure if you know but other than Tom (her son) having Aspergers, Janey suffers with Fybromyalgia too. Its just not fair... all that emotion in one house. Anyway, I'll write up the report on Daisy's op tomorrow as soon as I hear from Janey x

So? The craft fayre?
I only bought a super large craft mat and some ink brushes. I also bought some cheese! I know - pretty random! At a craft fayre? Its lush, mind. Its tomato and basil flavoured and my goodness, it like eating a pizza. It was lovely to spend time with Jane again.....that girl gives me the hugest belly laughs, the ones that make you feel like you are going to die from them. It was so good to get out of my long term suffering cabin feverness. Whilst there, I watched a coupla demos and I did come home a little inspired and whipped up these little beauties for some occasions I have cropping up in the next two weeks.

Thanks to Mei Flower for the charm on this card. Do you like the greetings stamp? Its one of my designs. They will be on sale soon!


I love Mei flowers ribbon charms on this card too and those organza flowers? My fave item in Mei Flowers shop.

And tonight, whilst tidying some stuff away......? I grabbed some spray inks and blasted a canvas board with it and then added a touch of paint. No idea what this is going to be yet.

Will get the last of todays raffle tickets to you all tomorrow - I'm pretty much up to date but think there could be a last minute rush for last tickets tomorrow.

A day to catch up

**If you came to look for raffle tickets and the fill story of whats been happening, please click HERE**

Fundraiser is at £2800! This is jaw dropping and dare I say amazing?
Today has been further hectic with email replying but this time I called in the troops. I say troops when I just mean I called in Caren (who worked like an entire batallion!). She and I ploughed through almost all the emails that have been back logged this afternoon. Then tonight I finished the whole lot off. You should have ALL had your ticket numbers by now! Please forgive me....its been brutally hard work.

Ive only managed to grab a few sponsors today because I know Saturdays are a shops BUSIEST day and I didn't want to keep shopkeepers on the phone Plus there are several craft fairs on this weekend of which I am attending Aintree tomorrow. I'm going to ask as many stall owners to spare what they can.

I hope you understand that due to a massive amount of interest in this raffle - I'm going to split the prizes up into one huge one and 19 smaller ones. This makes the odds a tiny but smaller but ultimately it will be fairer.

Today little lot of booty includes:
A bundle of Stash from Crafts U Love
£100 worth of stash from an anonymous donor
A cuttle bug and some dies from Kirsty Brown (2nd load of donations - wow!)
A free craft tutorial worth 10 Euros from Revlie Schuit

More will be added right up until the day of the draw

Finally.........
I wanted to add these pics that my in-laws sent me. They are of Belles when she went to feed some lambs the other week. Its been a dream of hers for years (and mine, if truth be told - But Ive yet to get the chance). She really has a love of small animals, its so endearing to see her interact with them.

The look of adoration in the pic below kills me

Clinging on for dear life at first.... she was a little uneasy to start

Getting a little braver

Look, no holding on!

An expert by now

The owners of the farm have a real cacophony of pets, including this awesome wire haired dachshund. Just look at that little sausage dog loving the attention from her!

Belles was in her element

A cute Jack Russell, rather like Daisy Dog

Awwwwww, animals are such a delight x