YAY!! I used my poppicrafts blog candy voucher...

Yep, I only went and used it... I was becoming as maternal about the blog candy gift voucher as Emma over at Elf was... !!!

I thought it was only fair to let others know what I purchased with it... I did add a further ten pounds to it (including postage) but considering how much I got for the money. I'm pleased as punch.

I needed to treat myself so an extra special thank you to Emma for picking my name out in her blog candy....

10 Ribbon slot brads
12 Jumbo round brads - festive
2" daisy blooms - Black (5 pack)
2" spotty daisy blooms - White with Black spots (5 pack)
20 gold crown brads
20 holiday themed brads
20 jumbo round brads
20 Mixed chipboard flowers pack
20 piece metal eyelet charms - swirl
20 rose circle clips
20 Truck Brads
25 bright loopy brads
25 mixed buttons - Browns
25 mixed buttons - lilacs
3" spotty daisy blooms - White with Black spots (5 pack)
40 metallic screw top brads
6" Chipboard Daisies (2 pack)
Large shopping charms

I received this in an email and just had to share it.. :]

What, you ask, is 'Butt dust?' Read on and you'll discover the joy in it! These have to be original and genuine. No adult is this creative!!

JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: 'Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?'

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more. Melanie said, 'If you don't remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six.'

STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom good night. 'I love you so much that when you die I'm going to bury you outside my bedroom window.'

BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: 'How does it know it's me?'

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. 'Please don't give me this juice again,' she said, 'It makes my teeth cough.'

DJ (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: 'How much do I cost?'

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: 'Why is he whispering in her mouth?'

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, 'I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?'

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: 'The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.' Concerned, James asked: 'What happened to the flea?'

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, 'Why doesn't your skin fit your face?'

A Sermon I think this Mom will never forget...

This particular Sunday sermon began...

'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust...

'He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

Spread the smiles!!

Half price punches.

http://www.craftsuperstore.co.uk/sale/crafts/li_51_p0.aspx

I am around but falling to bits slowly!!! Had to pay a visit to the doctors the other day and must have caught a virus as feel urgh with an earache and sinus headache that will not shift.. well it will but just have to give it time..

I had an email from the craftsuperstore and thought I would give anyone who has'nt heard of them, the link especially as they have half price punches at the moment..

Happy shopping :]

In the good old USA... well NY to be precise

...... where is the best place to buy craft items...... really really cheaply.

I spoke to my god daughter mum earlier and she only went and booked a really quick holiday for her and Sarah (18) to have some bonding time in America... they go tomorrow!! Shes known for a week but forgot to tell me...

Shes taking her laptop so will await instructions from me as to what to get.. with not a lot of cash and morever not a lot of space... so they will have to get whatever on the last day there, they are going for two weeks and doing a lot of traveling as well as Y/Hostels...

So please can you give me some hints about places for her to visit - craft item wise!!

Thank you xx

Either Im tired or my eyes need testing...

You know when you go to the dashboard thing to publish comments.. and there is a bit that says...

You are not Spam...

I read it as >> You are not Sperm...

the keyboard is now wearing a mouthful of tea...

Do you ever get so hacked off with yourself you want to rub yourself out and start again??

IF so, let me know.... I probably wont be able to do anything to help you but just knowing that you are'nt alone might help a tiny bit...

I joke about being a bit of a hermit but to be honest its something about me that I really do not like.. yes I like my own company and being without children or a partner does allow me to stay stuck... or is that it allows me the refuge that people with children and other halves can not get when they are feeling like urgh?

I so wish I could be the person I was before the thing that I cant discuss for legal reasons.. and even when its all done which will not be for some considerable time yet, I know that I will never be the same person. I have had so much taken from my soul... ( deep man deep )

Anyway... moving on... miserable git that I was up there^^

Anything black on the cards below was cut from a GHD box... XX>> for my sister who knew I would want the box! I have some more cards to up load but for some reason blogger isnt letting me again...

Isnt embossing cool.... to think of the hours I sat there with my fiskars boards........... therapeutic though

Its Emmas fault

Yep I blame Emma for my 4th blog background re vamp! I had a look at the cutest blog widget thingy on her profile and that was it... I was off!!!


I just wanted to say that... as I just changed it again... I'm even confusing myself which isn't hard to do anyway..... ;-)

The little things make a huge difference

Verifying comments on Saturday.... talk about huge smile... I was drawn as the winner on http://elf-creations.blogspot.com/ Emmas blog... it more than made my day, week and even had a bit of a rounder off in part of the year. (that sounds so cryptic!)

I went out on Saturday night... first time on a 'out on the town' evening... for well over a year.. boy, am I? getting old... it all seemed a bit desperate... but my friend enjoyed her birthday evening which was the main thing... Maybe if I had had a drink it would have seemed a bit different but not only was I driving but am on medication that doesnt need alcohol interfering with its work!

Turned into a bit of an insomniac lately and am trying to get myself back on a better sleeping pattern.. its a case of - DON'T look into my eyes, DON'T look around my eyes... ;-)

Anyway onto a few cards I have made but not put on my blog....









The first two are the card I made for my sisters birthday and the 3rd is the one that Jordan made for his mum and the 4th is Chloes card for her mum and the 5th is one I made for a friend.

Missed you all

My pc did that breaking down thing again... (insert the look of despair) and then when it was well healthy and back home on its little desk that had missed it so much, I got a sty on my eye (poet or what!) and couldnt manage to look at the screen let alone type anything coherent ( like I do anyway!!!???) but its better now.. still hurts underneath but I'm 'ard and can bear it... ( watch me moan later!)

Update >>
No appointment yet for mastectomy. Received a letter for my pheo check up which I will ring tomorrow to find out the date of the appointment (hosp using a different booking system now )

I have also been cat sitting, bless her Chalky is a pretty white cat who spent the last week here with me, took a few days for her to settle in but then she got well settled and seemed very much at home. Took her home today :( I had her an extra couple of days as I had a pirate day yesterday (pirate day = couldnt open my eye properly) so driving was a bit of a no no.

Have been giving my sister a fair bit support as she copes with her exhusband doing the emotional pressure thing on the children at the same time as threatening her with stopping maintenance/losing their newly built house.. I won't print my thoughts on this here as its an open page, suffice to say I'm sure that I am not alone in my thoughts about the mentality of exes who use their children at the end of a relationship. Its sad enough for the children to know their dad chose another woman over their family life.

I havent done very much crafting.. due to the pirate eye thing... but did today go to the local craft shop, how good was I, I only bought 4 single doodlebug papers... It was quite funny whilst I was there as I was doing the chatting to another crafter about how lovely some papers were but that we were not taken with the prices. All of the sudden she slipped her hand in her pocket and like a secret agent passed me a business card about scrapbooking lessons... I was expecting a steam train to pull away next to us... and for me to fall over in a pair of high stilettos whilst tilting my trilby and adjusting my flasher mac.

I also had a lot of emails from my solicitor to answer so fully expect my system to go all out of sync again as this is what normally happens... I can make a bit more of a start on my book now my eye is not so bad...

Thanks to Emma for her comment that I logged onto earlier on... it does show how blogging is a community ... :o)

Sale at Poppicrafts till the 13th

15% off everything at Poppicrafts... >>> see link on side panel.

I have bought masses of buttons and brads via this online store with great service.

A £10 voucher for Poppicrafts is the scrummy candy over at http://elf-creations.blogspot.com where you will find a giggle worthy blog with lots of bright inspiration...

The next few days

I want to catch up with blogs... :-)

and carry on decluttering here at home.. I really really am fed up with 'things' and how I have spent so much money over the years on replacing things just because... buying clothes, bags, shoes, makeup, etc just because.. I have clothes with tags on in size 8, 10, 12 and 14... and they dont fit... yep I might get down to the 14 but the rest... I seriously doubt it!!!

And the small sizes are things like Laura Ashley dresses bought in 1987!! so good for Ebay almost vintage section.. ;-) so have to get my backside in gear and list them!!!

I also have a very large box of fabric that has been with me for 10 years that I have done nothing with... so tomorrow its going to the Macmillan centre where I know one of the ladies is always wanting good cotton fabric for quilting...

I have four bags of clothes for charity shops..... do you share your charity bags out? I do... luckily they are all close to one another... I feel guilty if I don't...my friend laughs at me.

What are you doing in the next few days?

My last few days

Friday..... Had my pre teen niece and teenager nephew over to stay for the evening to go buy their mum a birthday present and to make her cards and a gift... we had Buddy with us too.... I have realised that although in my past I may have had to mediate between feuding young women in a hostel I worked and lots of similar establishments... the fights that those you love have are far more harder to contend with... it involved Buddy's toy being slapped across my nieces leg... and her doing her demon from the sea impression and whacking him across the head(OUCH) with a chewy thing on a rope, it was hard plastic. It was a defined crack and I grimaced, him being the Hulk when angered I thought was going to turn green and show his wrath.... instead he cried and I spent ages consoling him and throwing her daggers as she sat smiling... whilst we were discussing, bonding and having some hugs, the three of us were unaware that Buddy had chewed through the lead to my carpet cleaner.. little bu**er.

They made up... thankfully... Its not been an easy few months for them as their mum and dad spilt up 11 months ago...lets just say Jordan my nephew has no respect for his dad considering his dad played away whilst working away... J has clear values and principles and no amount of excuses etc will shift him. Chloe is more confused..

A few months ago my sister started seeing someone else and by accident the children met him, hes a nice guy, good values and not about to rock what stability the family are holding onto. The children are super cool with him. as he doesnt push any boundaries and shows an interest in them. He has no children himself. He listens to J's biking stories of which he has many!!!

We were meant to be putting one of the mattresses on my bed on the floor for J to sleep on, yep! I have two... just call me Princess G ;-) . It got a bit late so they just ended up top and tailing.. and I ended up a couple of hours making a bed up on the floor... so didnt sleep well....

Saturday saw us getting up early for J paper round and myself and C wrapping their mums gifts in the car after taking buddy for a long walk... and then the winkles surprising their mum with their hand made cards... :-)

Their mum had been out the night before to see Jimmy Carr and had not made it back to the car park in time before it closed!! so had to be in on the Sat morning to get it... so that sorta put things back a bit... we went to collect it and then the four of us went for a brunch at 1115....

We had a really nicely relaxed time before I took J to get some euros as he is going to Germany tonight with the school... he has to be there at 2350....

After meeting my sis and C back at their house and my sis opening her presents from the winkles, I came home, went to the library to collect some books I had had reserved. ( am being a good girl and using it instead of opting just to buy a book whilst shopping... and its literally 3 mins walk away from me.. so how bad have I been in the past when I did have a fair bit of spare cash.... VERY BAD)

I ended up going to bed at 8 pm last night.. how exciting eh! alone with a book...

Today I got up, cried at the Holly oaks omnibus ( I used to detest this soap but my niece got me into it and we have discussions about it so I have to be up to speed on who is who and who is doing what) had a mini sort out of my card and paper scraps.. ignored the house work and went to bed to read for a few hours as I couldnt be bothered to do anything else...

This lethargy will pass

I have spent a bit of time being annoyed at my ex bro in law this weekend as he didn't even think about how the children would feel about making sure their mums birthday was special... well he may have thought about it but didnt do anything for the kids... They do get a fiver pocket money and J does have his paper round.. but bearing in mind he is off to Germany and C is going to Spain at the end of the month with her best friends family.... he could have done as my sis did when it was his birthday and continued to go with them to get something and cards... . He does have a new girlfriend which probably is taking up a bit more of his attention..

I will post their cards and mine for their mum in the next few days... we forgot to take some pics!!! though we did take some stunning ones in Matalan of all places with them wearing chicken head and rabbit costumes... its good to have fun that costs nowt!!

I shouldn't have done that...

Eaten a whole packet of Haribo kiddies supermix. >>>>800 calories worth <<<<< just before bed when I was really tired... as now my eyes are sore but my mind is on overdrive...

Bad bad bad girl!!!!

Will be back tomorrow to catch up with blogs...

By the way...... THUMBS DOWN TO VERIFICATION!!!

My first Challenge Card- Spoonful of Sugar

I was drawn to this one in particular as I have a bit of a thing for circles.. its that never ending thing and what I say to my niece and nephews about how much I love them... it does'nt stop there is no end...

I used
DCWV paper stack
Sweet Ebony picking apples stamp
Prismas to colour with a smattering of stickles on the flowers..
Nestibilities for all the circles apart from the actual card which was cut around a milkpan!
Bit of doodling around outer circle
Tag attached to ribbon via circle loop brad..