Today I am paper cutting. I am keen to learn this art but its proving very painful on the fingers. This is my first attempt, this is a very simple paper cut, I am in awe of some of the talented people that practice this art, there are some amazing images. 

Once again my blog has been neglected and I still cant sort out the followers button so am pretty much talking to myself, nothing new there then lol.....If anyone can see my post please let me know :)

Everything Will Be OK

YES....................... Everything will be okay     thanks Karen :) for confirming that you can still see me
I know I'm not alone lol

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY......this page may look a little familiar to someone out there and I
apologise, I'm sure it was an image on-line but lets just say its A piece of altered 'ART' the original image is
under there somewhere. I used pastels to accentuate the colours and embellished with lace and buttons
(2 of my favourite things ) and the little trail of hands sooooo cute. I'm still enjoying this journalling
lark but the pastels...........gawd what a  mess I get in when I use these great fun and very theraputic.
Happy Journalling.......

NO Excuses

No excuses from me this time you've heard it all before..........I have neglected my blog and that's it. It serves me right really its taken me a while to get used to the new interface again !!! 
I cant say I like this new layout its very bland and boring and to cap it all I've lost my followers.
I'm very sad about that, although I didn't really deserve any as I have  been soooooooooo lazy.
If any of my blog buddies do see this post will you leave me a little comment PLEASE.....Just so that
I know I'm not waffling on to myself :)
Does anyone have a similar experience with the followers gadget and if so can you correct it ? I really hope so.
I'll wait to hear from one of you before I decide to continue further. xx

Where was my Mind !!

I told you recently that my journals were a reflection of how Iam feeling on any given day, If thats the case what
do you think was going through my mind when I did this ???
These journals could so easily be a bit gloomy cause sometimes thats in my nature, but I was determined
to try and fill them with positive images and not negativity, ha..... not sure I was entirley successful here, I did the underpainting which as you can see was a bit manic....I realised this and then tried to re-invent it to something more positive.


I am sometimes tempted to pull out pages that I don't think work......but really what would be the point of that
this is how I was feeling on that day......anyway perhaps thats what it looks like OVER THE RAINBOW !!!!!

Now this page is a lot different......my hand (lots of messy play whoooooo) and plenty of
advice about how I would like them to conduct themselves, this process has been very theraputic
for me too because encouraging others to be more positive and be the best that they can be
also makes you think about the choices you are making.

Journalling

These journals are for my 3 children, something they can look back on when I'm not here any more,
(morbid I know)

Each journal is different and each page is a reflection of how I am feeling at the time, but I mostly want them to be full of positive pictures and words. The two large journals In the picture are for my daughters and the two smaller ones at the back were my experiment in book making, not entirely successful but I'm not unhappy with them. (I cant cut straight to save my life).
When I was working on one of these journals recently my son stood in the doorway watching me. "Do you think I'm weird" I said to him.... he thought for a moment and said "Yes...but in a good way"....that will do for me I hope he'll always have that memory of
watching me make these journals and how much I enjoyed them.

This is the first page of my daughters journal, I will constantly go back to each page adding extra bits and pieces until I am happy with it. I love this creative process everywhere I look I am seeing bits of inspiration.I love words and I am always cutting out magazines and I'm sorry sometimes books EEEK........ only very old books that are no good anymore honest !!


Can you see the Kookaburra. I thought my daughter would smile when she saw this as she was born in Australia. She has a toy Kookie that she has always taken to bed and I must say he is in pretty bad shape now, she is 27 after all !!! I think he only comes out now in times of desperation when she needs a good cuddle. I must try and get her to take a photo of him so you can see I offered to make a new body and WASH him but nooooooooooo chance she likes him just the way he is.

I Love this Angel/Fairy I haven't quite decided what she is yet, this is still a work in progress.

Another work in progress, this page is more about me I love music, I love flowers, and colour and of course my cat, can you see him there at the bottom of the page? I say these are works in progress because I don't always have the things to hand that I want to include on the page, as I find them they will be added.

Well that's my introduction to journalling and I will be back very soon with some more pictures (I charged the battery in my camera) YEHHHHHHHHHH. See you soon.

Here I am

What a lazy monkey I am, I forget to take pictures, I forget I have a blog, I remember I have a blog, then have no pictures,
urghhhhhh..... I have been busy the past few months and I have started some art journals (I will get round to posting some pictures)
I am really enjoying these although my spare room looks like an explosion in a bead factory, I have to apologise if anyone stays in case they find beads/glue/sequins/ribbons in their bed....although I could think of worse things to sleep with.........
The lovely picture above is me with some of the choir rehearsing for a concert, this is our local shopping centre, its looks we are in a tropical rainforest doesnt it. The choir is finished for the summer holidays now and I'm already having withdrawals.
I will try harder and visit your blogs and update my own,I thankyou for your patience if you do pop in to visit.
See you soon xx

Party Time

We had a great time this weekend with a party organised by my daughter for her boyfriends birthday. It was fancy dress and everyone looked great people really made an effort I loved watching them all have such a great time these kids certainly know how to let their hair down. My daughter is very good at maintaining friendships she's a wonderful friend and manages to find time for everyone and that certainly showed on the night over 100 people turned up. I'm quite often a bit uncomfortable around so many people especially people I don't know but this was a really relaxed fun noisy evening and we had a great time.

Its hard to tell from this picture what I was but if you look closely you can just see my wings and my halo....which was black cause this Angel isn't always as good as she should be !!!!

My other half and son as the pirate and Wheres Wally.

My daughter as an Egyptian.

My other daughter and boyfriend and of course my grandson who was an Easter chick.

Happy times........................................

Cookie Monster

2 posts in two days...good grief it must be Spring.......................

Who stole that cake.....come on own up..........grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. These cookie monsters were great fun to make I have to make some for a party next week and thought I had better have a trial run..... well you have to dont you !! just before I was due to take a picture one went missing they were obviously just too good to resist.

GOOD MORNING........... I was looking back on some old posts yesterday and it wasn't 5 minutes since I was talking about my birthday and well...here we are again....today I am errrrr.... mmmmm well you'll just have to look back and see, so what have I got planned for my birthday today. Nothing...zilch...nada..... Its a work day and nothing changes its a bit of a non event but next year I have decided that from now on I am going to have a days holiday on my birthday and do something special. Hopefully I will be seeing my children later and of course my grandson so I will look forward to that. At choir last night they all sang happy birthday to me and I got to pick a favourite song and I really enjoyed that, which song....oh yes it was "Electricity" from Billy Elliott my favourite favourite song and it sounded wonderful...I love the choir it makes me very happy. See this stitchery.....I must have done this two years ago, how lazy I am not to do anything with it but I think I should dont you ? My work room is just not working for me at the moment I seem to have STUFF everywhere so its being decorated and sorted out and then maybe I might be able to be more creative. I need a bigger house....anyone got one spare ???

Lazy Lazy Lazy thats me.....I am still here, I am still crafting I just keep forgetting to take any pictures at least not of my crafts...this little boy is taking a LOT of my attention he's 10 weeks old now and doing well as you can see. When the camera is out its snapping away at him....well could you resist ?

I have started to paint again...what you didnt know I painted too...oh yes

I flit from one thing to another never quite mastering anything. I promise I will get round to posting some of my pictures, although for every one thats

half good there are another 10 that are not lol.... no I'm not just saying that Its a trait I wish I could overcome if only I had more patience

I moan about it constanty but never do anything about it sometimes you have to accept thats just the way you are.

The special place

When you are stressed do you have a special place in your mind where you can retreat to ? I want to share with you my special place, if I'm upset or I cant sleep or I'm stressed I start at the gate and work my way through this beautiful place. I usually don't get very far it works it magic on me almost immediately.
Of all the places I have ever been in my life I wish I could re-visit this one GULP !! oh how silly I am get a grip girl.... This was my dad's garden and this is how I remember it 45 years ago sadly it no longer exists only in my memories and this grainy photograph.When other men were growing vegetables my dad was growing flowers and it was a beautiful place I have so many strong memories of that garden.I am so thankful that I inherited my love of gardening from my dad and when my own garden is looking good I have a few moments knowing that my dad would be proud of my efforts.
The Robin always pops in when I'm gardening and we joke that its my dad telling me what I'm doing wrong.

I have been ver lazy with my blog lately...I just feel sometimes I havent got anything interesting to say....but today I have....
Welcome to our grandson Christian born on Sunday 12th December weighing 7lb 11oz.
We couldnt be happier although I am farrrrr to young to be a nanny lol...

 

Well finally I have got round to posting....sorry for my absence I have no excuses.
Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my daughter, I had quite a few sleepless nights worrying about it I have never been to a baby shower so had no idea what people expected.I organised a couple of games and an activity that involved craft (of course) we bought some plain babybrows and some fabric paint and asked people to decorate them, I also did some pages for Natasha's scrapbook and asked friends to fill them in with words of wisdom for the mother to be... it all seemed to go well
and everyone enjoyed the activities. I also did a bit of baking and made some lovely cupcakes which everyone was very complimentary about. All in all a great day I started off taking photographs and then things became so busy the camera got forgotten but here are a few pictures I did take.

Pressie Time

How exciting to get a parcel in the mail thankyou to Lisa over at Periwinkle (I would attach a link but I don't know how doh..... so if anyone would like to enlighten me !!) I was apprehensive about joining in a swap,what should I send, how much should I send,will she like it, what if she doesn't like it.... on and on and on
goes my little mind but in the end it was fine my swap partner Lisa was from my neck of the woods (Sunderland) so I knew we would be ok.
I'm very pleased with my parcel,each item was wrapped in lovely tissue paper and I feel very spoilt my husband and teenage son stood and watched me open it and my sons response was "I hope there's chocolate" and yes there was a lovely bar of Lavender chocolate,cant wait to try that. I love the knitted chicken and the lovely kitchen
cloths although I wont be using them to lift anything out of the oven (too nice for that) they will just hang around looking pretty.
So all in all my first swap went well and I hope Lisa liked my gifts to her.

The most fantastic Merry go round is in Milton Keynes at the moment. Its a french artwork called Magical Menagerie that has been created from scrap items and made into this beautiful fantastical ride. I adore it, it appeals to my sense of shabby chicness (my sons words lol) I cant describe how wonderful it is you have to really see it and I hope if you live anywhere near MK you can come and see it. Its here until 8th August and then it moves on. At first when you see it you wouldn't think you can actually ride on it it looks so mechanical but all the creatures have seats in them and lots of levers which make the animals do things as you go round.In the centre of the ride there is a massive buffalo (my favourite) an elephant a huge fish which has a hydraulic arm that takes it up to the ceiling. Around the outside the creatures are smaller, frogs,prying mantis,ladybird, and bugs. On the corners of the ride there is a cage that you step into and you are in the body of a wasp or fly you can operate its wings as the cage goes up and down. My other half and I had a ride on it(yes that is me on the buffalo the big lever between my legs made the buffalo's head go up and down )and we were the only two on it....... As we got off the music that was playing was the clown circus music....very amusing. I have attached lots of pictures so you can see for yourself although I have to say these pictures dont do it justice.

Well I said I would be back and here I am...... the clue I was going to give you about my surprise is not ready...typical lazy me.......so I think if you look at the picture you can see quite clearly what my news is. Nooooooooooo....I'm not pregnant BUT I am going to be a Nanny whoooooo....

My daughter Natasha is expecting and hopefully it will be here around 8th December.

My husband and I are both delighted after a few horrible years of losing people around us
this was very welcome news. In fact when she told me I sobbed like a loony....everyone who was there couldn't quite understand was I was so overcome but I make no apologies............

I cant wait and up until recently I would have said I'm not ready to be a grandparent yet but
actually YES I AM....

I have already started a small crib quilt which is coming along nicely if not a little slowly but I have got a few months yet. That was what I was going to show you as the clue but never mind you'll see it soon. We have already visited the baby shops a couple of times oohing and aahing
over all the lovely things.... even my son who is 18 got all excited in Mothercare and has already earmarked what he is buying the baby.

Help get me out......................

I just wanted to say sorry to everyone for dropping off the face of the earth for a while....actually that's quite apt as it feels like what I have done. You see I've been in a black hole ( I blame the Hadron Collider)....Every now and again things become a bit too much for me and I opt out for a while. I still have to go to work and do all the things that are expected but my heart just isn't in anything so I apologise....... I'm sure we all get times like this in our lives when things just seem so hard and I was determined that my blog was going to be full of positive vibes but I believed I owed you an explanation. I had nothing positive to say so its better to say nothing. I loose the joy in everything I don't sew I don't read I don't do anything because my heart isn't in it.

I've always struggled between positivity and moroseness (is that a word I think it is I hope you know what I mean) sometimes those bad vibes are just too strong.

I haven't even been reading your blogs.........no don't gasp..........please I promise I'm heading on upward and I'll be back with you all soon.............anyway I've had some good news Yippee...........

but I cant tell you just yet I'll be back with a big clue soon I promise.

My best garden friend

I thought I would share this action shot of my best garden friend in action.
See all the bits of tuber in the soil.... grrrr............this is what was left of my clematis. It had been lovely in previous years and it was really struggling so I did a bit of investigation and it's roots were completely destroyed by leatherjackets.....no not the ones you wear...... the little grey buggy ones..... they are the lavare of the cranefly or daddylonglegs. What a nuisance they are.........you don't know they are in the soil until the plant starts to die. Shortly after I had dug the clematis up my beautiful little friend turned up to help me clear them out....can you see the little beast in his mouth. Apparently there is not much I can do at this time of the year to get rid of them so now I am paranoid about my plants but other than go round digging them all up I will
just have to wait and see. The clematis although in a very sorry state has been saved yipee................. I put it into a pot
(after giving it a nice bath ) to get rid of any more unwanted visitors
from what was left of its roots and then it potted it in some nice
new compost and after a week it has a lovely 2" long green shoot on it.
I'm having a few days off this week (yes....thankyou) so I'm going to be in the garden and will bring you some more garden shots next week.
Now.....All bow down to the beautiful ROBIN REDBREAST.

Thankyou every one for my birthday wishes,I've had a good time with lots of nice presents and good company. I had a lovely meal with my family on Sunday, I find it so weird to think that I am the parent of these grown up children !!! I certainly don't feel like their responsible parent. I have decided
that 50 is going to be a time for me (and my other half) I'm going to look after myself more I'm going to be more adventurous,I'm going to sing more and laugh more and generally let my hair down...so watch out world cause I'm headed your way.


Now back onto what I have been doing recently.... I made this crochet garland with the help of Attic 24,although I couldn't for the life of me follow her pattern for tiny flowers and the garland that was supposed to be crocheted...well....it isn't
that's all I need to say about that !! but I'm happy with the end result I think it looks cute.
I've NEARLY.. finished this lap quilt
This material was a b........er to work with with some of it had a very fine weave and pulled out of shape very easily. It came in pack from Hobbycraft. Its taken me 12 months
to get round to using it. I incorporated a few of my stitcheries and I'm happy with the results,I have to say I was fairly patient and tried hard not to rush.. BUT.....du du duuuuuuuu.
I cut the border....noooooooo....I stitched it on.....my way.....nooooooooo
and I've made a mess. Look I'm sorry ok I know you have all tried to show me how to do this properly but I didn't...But I will.. I PROMISE, I'm going to unpick it and do it again.
This is the best job I've done so far on a quilt and I will finish it properly.

Can it be possible....no....I cant be....

fifty !!!! FIFTY !!!! how on earth did that happen lol........