Hobbycraft opens in Aberdeen

Technically the Hobbycraft store in Aberdeen opened on Thursday, but they were giving away freebies allegedly to the first 100 people this morning. So I left the house in plenty of time, and after a wee bit of faffing around, parked the car right outside the store at 20 to 9. Only to find a ridiculous queue of people waiting to get in. So I figured there was more than 100 people there so just waited in the car - I get too sore from standing up, and forgot to take some Tramadol before I left.
Anyway, I never saw anyone getting anything, does anyone know if they did it? did anyone get anything?
Well I went with a list of things I needed and got most of them - couldn't find any foam tape though. So I got some silver curb chain and jump rings for putting charms on my cards, some of my trusty core'dinations card - a selection of pinks this time, finally got some Bloom & Grow and thats pretty much it really. 
The queue to be served at the tills was right to the back of the store, but the girls on the tills were flat out so it didn't take too long.
But I was in the store for an hour, and all that standing up without drugs isn't good - so I slept almost all afternoon. Yup, I'm a complete waste of space. 

You're probably thinking I'm a bit of a lazy ass, there hasn't been much in the way of proper posts or crafting going on, but you'd be wrong (about the lack of crafting at least, you'd be right about me being an idle toad lol) I've been beavering away with DT work and the other exciting thing I haven't told you about, more about that soon hopefully. Am hoping to share some cards with you in the week, cos tomorrow is Pepsi update day.
Hope you all had a good halloween
Debz
x 

Exhausting!

Ugh I hate driving around town with this stupid exhaust burst.
Everyone is gawking at me and I want to put a big sign on the roof saying "Yeah, I HAD noticed my exhaust is burst - DUH!"
***UPDATE***
Its fixed woohoo.
And I'm so proud of myself that I managed to walk all the way home from the garage, and proud of Princess Pepsi who walked all the way home too. 

And things were going so well

The exhaust has burst on the car, and Its booked into the garage, BUT I still have to do the school run with this horribly noisy PARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!!

I know its not Pepsi Day but...

I just had to tell you that Pepsi has turned into a martian, she's a little green dog!!

I had the gardener round to cut the grass today - haha that sounds so pretentious, and when he knocked at the door to get paid Pepsi decided that she wanted to speak to him too. Pepsi just loves everyone! So I let her out without her lead so she could get plenty of attention and a bit of freedom.

Well, freshly cut, wet grass and puppies whose bellies nearly touch the ground do not mix! And to add to the excitement the kids all thought it would be fun to run around on the grass too. So not only is Pepsi now a lovely shade of green, but she also thinks she's a greyhound and was flat out, tearing round the garden like she was running on Duracells.

You would think, after all that exercise that she'd flake out in her bed - but no, she's now chasing me around the house while I sweep the floors and tidy up ready for Graham coming home tomorrow.  

Passion for Promarkers #23 - Any Colour and Animals

We have a fabulous challenge this week, as chosen by Helen - any colours plus animals, and you're in for a treat when you go and see all the other fab creations from the rest of the Design Team PLUS our 2 brand new Guest DT's, Manda and Barbara.

This weeks prize is a pack of 5 promarkers from Letraset themselves. Perfect for all those of you who don't yet have all the colours

 Image: Purrfect Playmates from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Caramel, Cocoa and Umber for her hair, Blush for her skin, Raw Sienna, Terracotta, Ice Grey 2,3 and 5 for the cats, Orchid, Purple, Cocktail Pink, Salmon Pink, Cerise for her clothes and Arctic Blue and Sky Blue for her yoyo.

matted onto mauve and black core'dinations card.

Papaers are all Basic Grey Porcelain, lace is from stash and coloured with Cocktail pink promarker, greeting is Daisy & Dandelion. Green gems are papermania

Here's her close-up...

Xmas Mini Candy Winner

Thankyou to everyone who entered my mini xmas candy - it was really interesting to find out what you'd all like from santa, gave me a few ideas for things to pop on my list. Although the Santa who comes to my house refuses to buy any crafty stuff for me - bah humbug.

Anyway, I won't keep you in suspenders any longer, the lucky winner is......


Tracy

Please email me your home address and I'll pop your goodies in the post.  

Xmas Mini Candy

CANDY NOW CLOSED
CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE WINNER 
Seeing as I recently passed 15,000 hits I thought I'd celebrate by offering a mini-candy. And as xmas is fast approaching I thought I'd give away some fabby xmas goodies to help you get cracking with your xmas cards.
So here's the goodies...

Included are: adhesive xmas ribbons, various xmas papers and vellums, various xmas stickers including fabric stickers, xmas card blanks, embellishments, a huge bag of foam xmas embellishments, and stack of xmas diecuts. 

So what have you got to do to get your sticky mitts on all of that? well I'll keep it simple... you can either take one of the pics and post about it on your blog, or you can stick one of the pics on your sidebar - remember to link back to this candy. And once you've done that just leave me a comment telling me what you'd like Santa to bring in your stocking this year.

The candy will close on Sunday 25th October at noon GMT and the winner will be drawn by random.org on Monday 26th October. 

Pepsi Day - 12 and a half weeks

Just a quick Pepsi update and we're a day early because my blog candy is ending tomorrow. 
Pepsi is officially a primadonna! We have had torrential rain and gales this week in the NE of Scotland and little Princess Pepsi DOES NOT like that combination. She refused to go out, so i had to drag her round and round the garden until she did something. But obviously she was just doing a token pee so that i would take her back inside again - needless to say we had quite a few accidents inside.
The rain stopped for a day - well I don't think it was an entire day lol - so she was quite happy to go out again. What is it about the wind that sends kids and puppies a little bit mad??
Anyway, the rain was back with a vengeance today again - but Pepsi has decided that maybe its not so bad after all, especially when there are so many fallen leaves to chase and kill.

It was Graham's birthday yesterday he's XX years old - I don't think I'm allowed to tell you lol. Unfortunately he's offshore and even though I went into the rig operator's offices and hand delivered his cards, he didn't get them and as there's no helicopters until Monday he won't get them until then. And I forgot to take pics of it before I sent it too. 

TFI Friday

well technically this is the last day of the kids tattie holidays - thank goodness, back to school on Monday. Its not much fun when the weather's so miserable and you're trapped inside with 3 kids suffering from cabin fever, especially when the other half is in the middle of the North Sea.

anyhoo, I might have something terribly exciting to tell you soon, so watch this space.

and in the meantime, pop over to Passion for Promarkers and see the latest promarker image tutorial from Helen, its outstanding. And you might even notice the blog has had a bit of a makeover. 

Happy 40th Birthday Gina!!!!

yay its our boss at Passion for Promarkers, Gina's 40th birthday today! woohooo
and all of us on the team have been sneaking around for weeks organising something special for her, so I'm hoping she has it by now and will be posting it on her blog today. 

This is the card I made for her, and I'm actually quite chuffed with it, I was going to be evil and plaster a huge 40 on it, but then I decided not to in case she sacked me lol 
Oh did I mention that she's 40 today?  haha, she is so gonna kick my bum lol

 Image; WS Dahlia from TGF, coloured with promarkers; Tan, Caramel, Cocoa and Umber for her hair, Blush for her skin, Mulberry and Plum for her tights, Pink Carnation, Fuchsia, Cerise and Amethyst for her clothes and flowers.

The image and mat were cut using labels 9 nesties in the cuttlebug, all papers are Basic Grey Bittersweet, and the branches and mat are also cut from the same paper. The flowers were made with EK Success retro flower punches from the Bittersweet papers, and I punched the petals of the large flowers with the MS doily lace border punch. Which I also used to punch the edges of the papers on the left. The flower centres are craftwork cards card candy. The greeting is Daisy & Dandelion and the gems are coloured with cerise promarker.

Here's a close up of Dahlia and the flower...

Gina's Early Treat

Tomorrow is Gina's 40th birthday - our boss at Passion for Promarkers and we arranged a little surprise for her, all of us on the DT chipped in to  buy her some goodies from SU and Sarah delivered it this afternoon...


Here's Gina, Sarah and all Gina's SU goodies...

Passion for Promarkers #22 - Poppy & Forest Green

Good morning folks, and we're getting right into the spirit of xmas with this weeks fab colour choice of Poppy and Forest Green on Passion for Promarkers, as chosen by one of our GDT's Claire. This is the last week for Claire and Sam as our guest designers and they've produced some fabulous work to inspire you, so thankyou very much ladies.

This week our sponsor is Yellow Moon who have donated a £10 voucher to spend on their website. Yellow Moon have a super selection of xmas crafty stuff for kids and crafters as well as some fab toys, games and stocking fillers. And if any of you do place an order with Yellow Moon I would ask that you use the Source Code SSH10729 so that our charity, Extra Special Parents receives the commission at no extra cost to you. ESP is a support charity for parents and carers of children with additional needs that Graham and I started in 2006.

Remember to pop over and see all the fab creations from the rest of the DT.

Image: Milly singing Carols from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers:  Poppy, Crimson, Forest Green and Pine for her clothing, Ice Grey 1, 2, 3 and 4 and Baby Pink for Milly, Oatmeal and Tan for her Carol Book, Walnut, Sunflower, Poppy and Crimson for the Robin, Pastel Blue to outline Milly and Arctic Blue to highlight the snow. I also added glamour dust to the white trim areas of Milly's clothing.

Papers are all papermania Home for Christmas, green core'dinations card cut using circle scallop nesties in the cuttlebug, red grosgrain ribbon is Smirk and the oversize gems are from my stash

Here's Milly's close-up...

Marianne's 1st Blog Candy

Pop on over to Marianne's blog and see her fab cute cards - and enter her very 1st blog candy. She has some fantabulous goodies to give away.

Happy Birthday Michele

Michele, one of my fab PfP teamies celebrated her birthday last week, and even though I was a wee bit latchy in sending her card I'm hoping its arrived by now.
And before I forget you must pop over and see her new blog that she's set up for selling her fabulous handmade flower embellies - there's a huge amount of work goes into them and they're terrifically priced. You'll just have to have them.
So here's the card I made for her...

Image: Manga Girl from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Mulberry and Plum for her hairand boots, Blush for her skin, Arctic Blue and Sky Blue for her top and bow,  Baby Pink and Ice Grey 3 for her tights and sleeves. The image and mat were cut using Labels 7 nesties in the cuttlebug, the mat is core'dinations card.

The spotty paper is from the pink xmas DCWV stack, the pink panel is whitewash core'dinations card run through the cuttlebug with the paisley embossing folder and I've torn one side to expose more of the core colour and sanded.

The large flower is from craftwork cards and the smaller one is punched with the EK Success retro flower small punch from core'dinations card. The oversized gem is from my stash, the branches were punched from core'dinations card. The 3 gems at the bottom were coloured with Plum promarker and the greeting is a Hero Arts stamp cut out with oval nesties.

And here's her close-up...

 Hope you had a super day Michele xx

I followed the sketch over at I heart Promarkers, so I'd like to enter it there. This is the first tiem I've actually managed to enter one of their challenges. 

Pepsi Day - 11 and a half weeks

good grief, is it really a week since I did the last update? it just seems like 5 minutes ago.
well, what's happened this week? well Princess Pepsi had a run in the car, taking Graham over to the heliport - which is quite a journey really as its on the opposite side of the city. She sat in Graham's lap all the way there and then in Scott's lap all the way home again - although she was desperately trying to get over to my lap the whole time - she's definitely my dog!
With the sunnier weather (although its bloody freezing) the girls have been coming out with me when I take Pepsi out for a pee and they've been running around like loonies. Our garden isn't secure so I have to take Pepsi out on the lead, but when we're in the garden I put on the extending lead so she can run about more and I don't have to break a sweat - heaven forbid lol
 She can also now be taken for a decent walk, outwith garden - although I'm going to leave that until the kids go back to school - don't think I could cope with trying to keep 3 kids and a puppy under control on country roads.

So here's your weekly does of Pepsi pics, and I just want to explain about Faith in the first pic. Faith is being potty trained at the moment and her logic is, if she doesn't have a nappy on then she's be as well be naked completely. And while totally naked she likes to indulge in a bit of body art with a biro!! what can I say?!

Happy Birthday Ana

Today is the 15th birthday of Ana, my chum in Ibiza, Rachel's daughter. Hopefully we might get back there next summer to see them all. 

 Image: Hippie Anya (kindly stamped for me by Gina) coloured with Promarkers: Lime Zest, Lime Green, Mango, Amethyst, Purple, Cerise and Ice Grey 3 for her clothing, Blush for her skin, Crimson and Burgundy for her mouth, Tan, Caramel, Cocoa, Burnt Sienne and Umber for her hair.

I also used a Quickie glue pen and glamour dust for her jewellery

Papers are all Basic Grey Lime Rickey and the cerise organza ribbon is from my stash. The stamped greeting is Hero Arts. The image and mat were cut using Labels 9 nesties in the cuttlebug

Here's her close-up...

Here comes the sun

here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

hmmm, seem to be doing a lot of singing at the moment lol Its actually a lovely day here today - bit breezy, but thats what happens when you live on the coast.

 My chum Mar's eldest son Robbie celebrated his 14th birthday on Wednesday, and I thought I'd share it with you. I kept it pretty simple, cos apparently fussy isn't cool lol

 Image: WS Edward from TGF, coloured with promarkers: Caramel, Walnut, Cocoa and Chestnut for his hair, Blush for his skin, Lime Zest and Lime Green for his shirt, Arctic Blue and Sky Blue for his pullover, Royal Blue and Indigo Blue for his trousers, Lime Green for his shoes.

Papers are all Basic Grey Lime Rickey, buttons from stash and the greeting is Daisy & Dandelion 

Edwards close up....  

 Talking of birthdays, today is one of my PfP teamies birthdays - Happy Birthday Michele xxx Hope you have a super day. 
Feel free to pop over and wish her a happy birthday - if you haven't been there before, you are gonna love her gorgeous creations 

Money Money Money

must be funny, in a rich man's world - yup, I just know you're singing along with me lol

the reason for the title of today's post is that I've been doing some spending. On Tuesday I had a wee jaunt out to see the lovely Jacqui at Simply Create in Alford - and wow!! there's so much new stock since I was last there.  So I just had to pick up one of her gorgeous pink and white baskets and fill the thing didn't I. Oh to have an endless supply of money, I could just go daft in there. Simply Create is a boutique-y (is that a word?) type craft shop and the decor is all black white and hot pink and its an absolute joy to browse - Jacqui has pics of the shop here, but its far more scrummy in real life. 
I thought I'd share a wee pic of what I treated myself to...

 Then the other day I had a bit of a brainwave, it occurred to me that the nights have already started to draw in early and the light is pretty carp, so I thought I'd try a photo-tent. I found one on Amazon for under 15 quid, nice neat size - 12" cube (30cm cube if you're all modern and metric). I just happened to have a couple of £5 Amazon vouchers so it has cost me less than a fiver. 
So I took another pic of my PfP DT card for this week, in the photo tent so that I could compare them, what do you think?

Which one do you think looks better? Its maybe not the best example to show you, but I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Right, its almost time for one of Willow's bowel washouts - oh joy!, so I'd better love you and leave you til the morn.

Blog Candy Alert

My good friend Gina, who is also my boss at Passion for Promarkers is offering some fabulous candy to celebrate 2 things - firstly her 40th birthday on the 22nd October and her 2nd blogaversary on the 23rd.

 

 If you'd like to get your hands on all those goodies, then you'd better go have a look at Gina's blog for the easy instructions . 

And keep your eyes peeled, I'll be back soon with some candy of my own. 

Passion for Promarkers #21 - Any Colours + Sketch

woohoo, its week 21 at Passion for Promarkers - oh to be 21 again myself lol. Anyway, our fabby boss at PfP, Gina has made a super sketch for this weeks challenge. So that more of you can join in, you can use any colours of promarkers this week. Gina's sketch is nice and simple, nothing overcomplicated or fussy - so you can jazz it up or just keep it simple.

Of course I like to be different so I turned Gina's sketch upside down lol

I bet you're wondering what the prize is for this week... well its 6, yes that's right, 6 promarkers of your choice from The Secret Crafter.

 The rest of the DT and our 2 guest DT's have made some gorgeous cards for inspiration, so please go have a look.

 

Image: Santa's Letter from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers:  Blush for his skin, Powder Blue, Arctic Blue, True Blue, China Blue, Denim Blue and Cornflower for his clothes and boots. Caramel, Walnut, Ice Grey 4 & 5 for the post and stones. Crimson and Burgundy for the Postbox. Oatmeal and Tan for his letter. Holly for the holly leaves. Primrose, Pastel Yellow, Buttercup, Honeycomb and Tan for his hair.

The paler blue starry paper was a freebie from a magazine last year, the darker blue snowflake paper was from my stash - it may have been papermania from last xmas, which is matted onto a two-tone metallic card. The image was cut using Labels 8 nesties in the cuttlebug, and I added some faux stitching with sakura pen. The greeting is from my stash and the snowflake brads are papermania 

 And here's the wee man's close-up...