Out with the old - and in with the new

So - this is it- the last day of 2010.It's funny when you think to yourself- 'I haven't done much this year' and when you look back you actually have done quite a bit!

So here's to all my lovely friends in Blogland and everywhere else...Let's hope 2011 is a very good one ..and may there be lots more blogging .....and this next photo is especially for Deb  over at Paperturtle in USA ......wonder if she has one of these....

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

  

The In between time

I'm sitting here today and the dustmen have just been to empty the overflowing bins,life is getting back ever so slightly to normal. Himself has gone off to work and it's raining....
Being in the Acounting world,January is always very busy and 24/7 for us so I decided to use some hoilday over these three days to charge my batteries ready for the next month....
Still, I've got two good things to look forward to afterwards in February - a class withTim Holtz and ...this....

It was one of my presents from himself and I am Soooooooo looking forward to it.It was a total surpise. I had some lovely Cath Kidston goodies too -

I hope you all had a lovely time with your special people too.

Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com  

Christmas Day

♥ Hope you had a good one :-) ♥

Hippitty Skippitty - Happy Christmas

Christmas Eve and all is reasonably calm here.I finished  work at lunchtime, got the last bits of food - iced the cake, wrapped the last pressies and we have had a lovely family meal out together. Just the veggies to peel and a few odd things to do...the one thing that has made me a very happy girl and made me all skippy today is that I have just found out I have a place on TIM's workshop in February so that has made my Christmas...I had given up all hope but a place has come up..perfect!- and now I would like to say   HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all my bloggy friends - wherever you are -have a wonderful time  ♥

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas ...

Snowy garden and snowy dog walking............

Crocheting these little snowflakes -pattern courtesy of the ever inventive Lucy at Attic24..............

Wrapping up to go shopping and spending a fortune on 'bits'.........

de-frosting the car every morning....

Silly Christmas jumpers...and......

Wizzard on TOTP Christmas special on BBC singing 'I wish It could be Christmas Every Day ....yep it's definitely feeling a lot like Christmas....

Christmas Club - Ghostbusters

I've been meaning to write something for ages with a memory of mine for Sian's Christmas Club. I really couldn't decide which memory stood out the most,one from when I was a child or one from when the boys were younger. One Christmas back in the early 1990s, out of all the toys that could be had,all the boys wanted was  a Ghostbuster's Fire Station.Nothing - but nothing else was going to be right. No Ecto car, no Slimer,no Marshmallow man - it had to be the fire station.They had the model men,but desperately had to have the station.
So - that year - what was the one thing that sold out everywhere weeks and weeks before Christmas ? - yep the Ghostbuster's Fire Station, if anyone has boys around the 23-25 age they will probably know what I mean.
We started at the local Toys R  Us - who were supposed to stock tons of everything but of course no luck. We went slightly further afield to Woolworths and John Lewis and various other toy stores. (Internet shopping was not around then).
We asked Nannies and Grandads to look out for one, Sister and Brother in Laws - friends but no one could get one.How on earth could we say that Santa couldn't find one ?? Horror of horrors!
Anyway,about a week before Christmas someone at himself's work said they had some the other side of the river.Off we went one evening all  the way down to Kent and woo hoo we got one.
We were so thrilled to get this bloomin thing - it was tucked safely in the loft and the boys were duly thrilled and excited on Christmas morning. Dad assembled it - they got their men out and a pot of 'ghosty slime'.
They tipped the slime all over the top floor and waited for it to drop through the floors- which it did - slowly,and put the men in the bottom - that was it ,they played with it once - or maybe twice.All that aggro  and they played with it once.....I'll never forget that Christmas !

Probably not a very exciting story, but a real memory for me !

Organised ? - er no !

Well, I have managed to buy one of these in readiness for baking the cake that I was going to make last year.....

and some of these.....to put on top..

and I have actually managed to make some cards

I made more but didn't photograph them before I gave them to the recipients..I finished another layout from the GoGo crop too...

it was a page designed by Nicola Kerridge using acetate to create a 'window'...oh and I made a birthday card for eldest son's girlfriend too

So three guesses as to who found their Forever Friends card kits in the dark depths of the craft room!

So how's everyone else doing with their Christmas plans?

Where did this week go ?

I seem to be saying that a lot lately but really- where did the week go? Apart from the fact that I spent quite a bit of it sleeping in between work and other things- trying to get rid of this nasty fluey bug thing,which finally seems to have packed it's bags and left.
I made a couple of odd Christmas cards over a couple of evenings and managed to finish one of the 5 layouts we started at the GoGo through the keyhole crop a couple of weekends ago. The photos required for one of the classes were fun and playful- childy.I was a bit lost at first as to what to do then I thought-'why not do some of the boys when they were young'- so I did! Here's one designed by Lorraine ..

and here are the couple of cards I made

Been a poorly girl

I've had a totally craft + blogless few days -one minute I was fine and the next minute,I was laying flat out with lots of these beside me ...

I can't really pinpoint what it was, dry throat, temperature,backache and being oh so sleepy...I've now hopefully seen off the sleepiness and cough and dry bitty throat,but have a sniffly nose and have been sneezing lots today - so will probably have to have some Night Nurse tonight.

Okay - so enough of the ailment 5 minutes. I haven't got any crafty stuff to blog but the crochet blanket I've been making for a friend's baby girl is coming on nicely.

56 rows so far and the pattern says go up to 90 so a few to do yet...and I've been making some little squares too ...

and now I'm off to do a bit of catching up on blogs - I've missed everyone lots !

Journal Your Christmas - my intentions

I wasn't sure if I was going to have anything to journal and scrap about for JYC this year as there are only the two of us at home at the moment and it seems that life hasn't really changed a lot since last year and is a bit boring.But then I think that's the whole idea really isn't it? You may think that your life is boring but maybe to others it isn't.I actually fancy doing a little book with some nice papers and nice embellishments with all the things I like in it,and to kind of do it just as I like it. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm sure Shimelle's main aim is for us to do it as we want it and if we digress and don't do it exactly as prompts say, it doesn't matter.I'm going to take each day,take some guidance from the daily prompts and take it from there.So you might see some random pics popping up in the next few weeks!

We got In !

Well, what a fab,tiring weekend I've had. We got to the BBC tv centre at about 1.30 - the queue was very long already,but  we decided to give it a go It  was also bitterly cold and how pleased was I that I had my nice warm downy coat with hood on. Anyway to cut a long story short, after about an hour and a half we were given stickers on our e-tickets and the fact that ours was the right colour meant we'd get in. The queueing didn't seem so bad then - ( and I'm not one to do queues- I'd normally rather not have what I 'm queueing for than to queue!

this was the queue behind us...

and it was as long in front of us

.Anyway - I just had to take a piccy of this. as I loved Ashes to Ashes ...

and this.....

Sadly we were not allowed to take photos in the studio but I really really enjoyed my day . I was shattered when we got home at 11 o'clock though !

Strictly too excited !

In a couple or three hours I will be standing outside the TV centre in London with this in my hot little hand

I applied for tickets last year for various weeks and had no luck - so imagine my surprise when I got this a couple of weeks ago.

This doesn't guarantee me to get in as there are more tickets issued than places but please keep your fingers,toes,eyes and anything else you can crossed for me that I get in. Sadly there are no cameras or phones allowed so I won't be able to record it for posterity but never mind...then tomorrow I'm off to do some scrapping at a day event run by the lovely GoGo ladies...busy busy - have a great weekend everyone x

Patience !

I've finally got the laptop back to some sort of normal that I can work with. Isn't it weird how just having a new 'Windows' can throw you?? I's taking me a while to get used to this Windows 7. Thankfully I've got it   back with  data intact - BUT It's now with  this Windows 7- which is ok and I'm getting used to it. The main probelm which is driving me mad and probably needn't - is that my old Windows photo viewer was brilliant. I could merrily crop and resize and adjust contrast and brightness etc all in one place. Now I'm struggling to manage it.Has anyone got Windows7? and if they have - am I missing something or has it not got the 'fix' option at the top of the toolbar anymore ?Anyway, I'm now having to go to separate programmes to crop, then back to another to resize it. I shall be here till the year dot at this rate !

I've had a go at re sizing the previous photo to see what happens so bear with me ...

on to other things- I've finally finished the cot blanket I was making for someone - in rainbow colours...it's folded in half here.

After being at the retreats for two weekends -I decided it was time to upgrade the table top tote thingy that goes every where with me and holds everything but the kitchen sink. It's been great but the handles get in the way when it's on the floor beside me or on the table top and the lid really does get in the way - so I went for one of these....

I could have gone for a Zebra or a Giraffe- the Giraffe won!  I bet everyone has made their Christmas cards ? I really really must get stuck in and make mine - can't believe how these weeks are whizzing by....and does anyone know how to do those kind of signatures at the bottom of their posts ? like you've signed your name ?.. ♥ (thanks Deb!)

Scrappy Sunday

I spent a lovely day today in the company of Deb at the latest Craftystash crop . It went really quickly,we made two layouts - designed by Sue.I've only finished one so will blog the other one when It's done..

I've been a bit lapse on the  blogging and crafty front this week, I've  finsihed one of the projects from the ATDML retreat, Clare Brown's lovely wall decoration- not a brilliant photo as the light's not that good ..

and then to top it all off tonight, we have been out for one of these with two of our boys and one girlfriend....yum ...