Finally found what I'm looking for

as Bono once didn't say!

I have looked everywhere for xmas day outfits for my kids and have come up empty every time. Usually I hit Next, but I found their selection very dreary this year - its xmas, where's the red???

Amazingly I didn't have to go far in the end and got all this in Matalan - although its still not perfect, it's the best I can do.

And I would just like to apologise in advance for the crappy photography - its dark o'clock and I had to use the flash

This is wee Fayfee's dress, it comes with a silly red hat with white trim, which I might just make her wear for photo's :)

Willow's outfit is a pretty tunic top and leggings - the picture doesn't really show off the sparkle in the top

And Scott picked out this shirt and I chose some black cords to match

I thought I would also show you what Santa is bringing for Willow and Faith - I got my mum to pick it up from Costco for the super bargain price of £99.99 (+ VAT). Now I realise you're probably all shouting at your PC's "call that a bargain???" but when you consider that Toys R Us are selling a far inferior, and smaller version for £130...

This one is HUGE, and is wooden, AND comes with all the wooden furniture and accessories, AND both the girls can play at either side at the same time.

Right, am going to hit the sack soon I think - now that I have spoken to Mar and got all her news of her visit to the Crafty Show at Ingliston today. And another thankyou to Dawn for hopefully bringing me home some Burken jars from Ikea tomorrow.

Nighty Night xxx

I won an award

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award!
I received this award from my good friend, crafty buddy, and fellow blogger and Aquarian;  Mar - thankyou very much, and I love you loads!
So I am in turn, awarding it to:

1. Beckie
2. Dawn
3. Kath
4. Kirsty
5. Lainy
6. Crafty Whippet
7. Lori
8. Caroline

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad

My mum and dad celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary tomorrow so I thought I'd quickly throw up a post with a pic.

I used a pearlescent gold card blank, the flowers were made using 2 different shades of purple Core'dinations card which was embossed using the swirls embossing folder in the cuttlebug, distressed using the BG files and then punched with various sizes of Woodware daisy punches. The pot was cut from terracotta coloured Core'dinations card and again embossed with the swirly folder and distressed with the BG files. The leaves and curly bits were cut freehand from some olive green Core'dinations card. And there were a few glittery brads from Papermania and a silver greeting peel off.

Ugh, its all gone

Well, the snow has more or less disappeared now, just a wee lump of it where the snawmannie used to be. But Graham's home today and he always seems to miss the snow.

I spent Sunday evening running the first payroll run for a client of mine. She opened a brand new beauty spa this month and I can't wait to go try it out. So I have to try and run over to the other side of town before I pick up G, to drop off her pay advice slips for her employees.

Dawn, has very kindly agreed to get me some Burken jars from Ikea this weekend, so I can finally organise my buttons and ribbons - woohooo. So I need to nip in past and drop her off some cash.

Busy busy this week, I have to attend a mediation meeting on Thursday with Scott's dad, I'm on 2's group duty on the Thursday morning, on Friday Willow has a nursery trip to the theatre to see We're going on a bear hunt, then Scott's singing in the choir at the school's xmas fayre evening.

Right, better go make a start on the dreaded housework

Meet Mr Snaw

Kids Playing in the Snaw!

The kids were on at me all morning to let them out in the snow to play. So I got them all done up in hats, scarves, jackets and welly boots and...... they lasted about 10 minutes before they started complaining about it being cold (well, duh!)

Fayfee was not at all keen, and did exactly the same as Willow did at the same age - stood and wailed for mum.

Do you see how black the sky is out to sea? behind the trees?

Even Mair Snaw

Mair Snaw!

woohooo it's snowing

BG Wishes

woohooo, just received my BG pack from Becks as my prize for winning one of her wish-making wednesday's

Now this is not the kind of thing I would normally buy, but I'm really looking forward to playing with it. I have a load of ideas floating round my head right now - so might even pack Faith off for a nap this afternoon so I can play. I used to think that the 6x6 pads were only any use for card making, but I think it just might be the perfect size for scrapbooking too - just the right amount of bright colours on a 12x12 page! The buttons, brads and fibres are all lovely too - i really must get myself some storage jars to display my buttons hmmmmmmmmmmm

Spotted in M&S - these gorgeous wee jotter books - I just need to find out if they're acid free, failing that, they'll still look awfully cute on the desk. I think my favourite has to be the strawbery jam one  

Was having a nosey

and I found this! Its Bo Bunny's new Winter Whisper range and I think its gorgeous - I just need to hope for 2 things now;

1. snow, so I can take lovely snowy pics
2. being able to find somewhere that sells this range or that santa will bring me some :)

Update:

a-ha! have found some for sale at Craft Island,  Graham won't notice a wee order coming off the bank account, will he??

Aren't kids wonderful......:)

My youngest - Faith - who is only 2 years old melted my heart last night and reduced me to tears and I just wanted to share it with you.

She came running through from the lounge, wrapped both arms tight around me and said.....

"I wuv oo mummy" (translates as I love you mummy in case you hadn't worked it out)

Well that was it, I was in bits.

Its the little moments like that, that make you forget that they're holy terrors the rest of the time lol.

Bad Bad Blogger

I've had my wrists slapped yet again for being a bad blogger, but haven't had any time at all really for crafting - so I was waiting until I had something to show.

Have made a good start on the xmas shopping - not had time to make it back to Costco for the dolls house for the girls, but I'm getting there. Got the girls a my little sister and my little cousin doll each from Argos, and something for Scott. And I have quite a few bits for friends and other family.

Graham is offshore for xmas this year so I thought I'd be having a quiet xmas with just myself and the kids. Mum suggested I go to them, but I find it all a bit too much hassle; getting the kids to rush through opening their parcels so that we can all be showered and dressed to drive 30 miles out the road, then have to drive home in the dark when all I want to do is fall asleep in front of cheesey telly with a cup of tea/glass of wine and a huge box of quality street. So we've decided that mum and dad will come here for lunch - yay, I get to put the new dining table to good use! So mum's bought the crackers and is making the trifle and I just have to make the scotch broth and the turkey and trimmings. So I'm quite looking forward to it all.

I have 11 teacher's presents to give this year!! I know, blooming ridiculous isn't it?? Faith has 4 group leaders, Willow has 4 nursery teachers and Scott has 2 teachers and a classroom assistant. I have loads of Bodyshop miniatures, body butters, moisturisers, body lotions etc so I made bonny wee boxes out of a sheet of 12x12 paper each, filled them with tissue and added the wee gifts, so all I need now is some cellophane from the florist to wrap them.

I made a get well card for a friend of mine from ESP who was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer, thankfully things are looking quite good and she is terribly brave. I wanted to incorporate some pink ribbon without it being the actual pink ribbon logo.

I'm waiting for a load of buttons coming from babyhippo on eBay. I think I have a bit of a button fetish - now I just need a trip to IKEA for some storage jars haha. Graham will have heart failure if I let that slip.

And finally..... I thought I'd share this pic of my wee angels/toerags :D

Bargains

Am all goosepimply :)

We took a trip over to Costco today, I find they are usually pretty good for unusual gifts before xmas and I've spotted a few things for the kids that I'm going to go back for, there was a fantastic huge dollshouse that looks pretty sturdy an d suitable for both Faith and Willow.

Costco have some great crafty stuff, I spotted 2 different scrapbooking sets - one of them is about 30 quid, but its not really my taste so I left it. But the other one was only just under £17 and what a bargain, it contains:

• scrapbooking store-it-all (box)
• 8x8 post bound scrapbook album
• 8.5x11 post bound scrapbook album
• 36 plain 12x12 papers
• 3 paper edging scissors
• 26 chipboard alphabet letters
• 34 buttons
• 92 alphabet glitter stickers
• 10 chipboard embellishments
• 160 flowery brads
• 6 woven labels
• 180 paper flowers (in a bonny wee bottle)
• 10 feet of ribbons
• 17 feet of fibres
• 1 metal bucket

The manufacturer is Portafolia and it all looks pretty good stuff, and of course is acid free.

Wish Granted Wednesday

woohoooooo, I won one of the QVC kits on Becks Fagg's blog this week - I can't wait to get my hands on the BG paper pads.

I love reading Becks' blog to keep up to date with whats going on in the crafting world and of course for her Money Saving Mondays and Wish Granted Wednesdays

Clooties, dining tables and other stories

I've been super busy again this week and have neglected the blogging terribly again - I consider my wrist well and truly smacked!

Much to Graham's annoyance, I had the great idea of replacing the breakfast bar in the kitchen with a dining table so that we could all eat as a family. Of course this ended up being far more complicated than it looked, as our breakfast bar stretches across the middle of the kitchen, so involved removing the work top and using it to replace a stretch of worktop along one wall; removing the drawer pedestal in the middle of the room and using it to replace the cupboard next to the cooker. Graham then had to lift half the laminate flooring to re-lay it so that there wasn't a big gap. And he then had to tile more of a splashback along one wall. At least I helped put the dining table and chairs together though.

And what a difference!!

This is the before picture (from 6 yrs ago)  

And this the after.....     

This week I also had the second last of the Earlybird Plus Workshops and Scott's school review meeting which went quite well.... academically Scott is coping fine; with maths and reading. Writing is a different matter though and the school are going to refer him to something similar to alphasmart, so that he will be able to do his writing tasks on a keyboard. The Ed Psych and Scott's class teacher have the planning in place for the "circle of friends" strategy, so as soon as Scott's teacher is back from sick leave they will start that. There is also a playground initiative starting soon, and they plan to ask Scott to volunteer for that too. So they seem to be trying a few things to help him and he will also continue with the motor skills group that one of the teachers runs 2 mornings a week before school.

I got my parcel from Mad About Cards yesterday, loads of buttons from their pound shop - you have to have a lookie, its great for restocking your stash. I also got 5 of the papermania colossal pads; amethyst infusion, antique cream, ivory black, olivine and venetian skies - all for £1 each!! my other bargains were the x-cut border punch system for £2.49, and x-cut eyelet setter - and of course the latest Creativity and Creativity Life magazines.

And finally the clooties....... for those of you not from the NE of Scotland, its another name for rags or cloths, and they are used to wind round sections of hair and used like curlers.

Faith sat still long enough for me to put them in her hair this evening - quite an achievement for little miss tornado! She particularly enjoyed helping me to rip up an old flannelette sheet and having her hair dampened with the water skoosher.

She didn't manage to keep them in for very long so I decided to try plaits instead - so I'll see how long they stay in her head :) If she manages to keep them in overnight I'll nip back tomorrow with a pic of her with wavy hair

Blog Candies...

A quick mention about Bev - Bev is giving away some gorgeous Whiff of Joy Blog Candy and is also celebrating having over 50,000 hits on her blog! Well done on all those hits Bev!

Vicky is giving away some blog candy to celebrate her birthday - Happy Birthday when it comes Vicky 

Finally - a batch of xmas cards!

Well, I finally got around to making a batch of xmas cards the other night and another wee batch tonight. We're trying to get the kids into a decent bedtime routine so that G and I actually get some time to ourselves. So this evening G plonked himself in front of the X-box and I took my cuttlebug and supplies through to the coffee table so at least we were both in the same room.

I'm keeping the xmas cards simple and varying each one slightly but sticking to the same overall theme. I used simple plain white card blanks, Anita's gold and silver xmas greeting peel-offs, various shades of pearlescent, mirror and mottled card stock, silver vellum, and a couple of sizzix sizzlits snowflake dies and the ice crystal cuttlebug cut and emboss set.

My good friend Pamela was over this morning for a gossip and a pail of tea, so I spent most of the morning having a shottie of baby Emma - she just gets cuter every time I see her. Pamela fed her and put her down for a wee nap in Faith's old cot, until......... there was an almighty scream and we discovered, when we ran through, that Faith obviously took exception to this and lobbed her potty into the cot at poor wee Emma. Thankfully she hasn't been permanently disfigured, poor wee soul. To stop Faith getting all territorial again, I've dismantled the cot and will be taking it down to the recycling centre tomorrow.

My other good friend Mar has just finished her first day at work, its great to hear her so enthusiastic and her new job sounds very interesting and rewarding. I also noticed on her blog tonight that I've won her PIF, so that will be my job for tomorrow - watch this space...

Another quickie - in the middle of the day this time!

Am soooooooooooooo excited.... I just won something woohoooo.

I sometimes shop at Stamps online as they do a huge range of crafty stuff, and their service is fantastic - regular readers will know how I have a "thing" about decent customer service. Anyway, they recently ran a competition where customers were invited to review some or all of the products they had purchased. This is obviously very useful for other customers to read product reviews from real people and not just company blurb. The prize was 6 packs of Papermania sparkling trims - and I can't wait to get my hands on them to jazz up the next batch of xmas cards I'm planning.

So a big thankyou to Becky at Stamps :)

Just a quickie before bedtime...

Had a quick pop over to The Papeterie today as I was looking for a snowflake punch for xmas card making and ended up buying  2.5" and 1.5" daisy punches from Woodware and a cut and emboss ice crystal for the cuttlebug.

I made a quick batch of xmas cards yesterday using the snowflake embossing folder for the cuttlebug, some pearlescent card and some silver Anita's peel off greetings - pics to follow.

Anyway its 12.30am on a school night so am off to try and warm up the bed

nite nite

xx

Halloween

Because we stay between the village and the town, I don't let my kids go "trick or treating" or "guising" as we call it up here. But we still have carved pumpkins and get dressed up. Willow's nursery had a Halloween theme going, complete with Wizards Brew and spooky cakes at snack time.

 

I had to go and buy another of the deep bookcases from Argos today for my crafty stuff! The plastic drawer cart thingy was starting to disintigrate so it has now been replaced. I had purchased half a dozen of the purple Craft Tonic storage boxes, and spent most of the afternoon sorting stuff from the drawers into organised boxes. So now I'll probably not be able to find anything :)

Also placed a wee order with Mad About Cards so that I could buy the new Creativity and Creativity Life magazines. Their pound shop is well worth a visit for stocking up on odds and ends, I decided to get some of the Papermania colossal pads which have to be the bargain of the day. I got a few packs of buttons, Core'dinations card and the x-cut border system for only £2.49!

Haven't had time for anymore crafting this week, but am just itching to try out the Basic Grey Urban Prairie and Granola paperpacks and the Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste Craft pack that arrived from the US this week.