I got a new toy!!!

It has a rechargeable battery and moves about a bit...

...can you tell what it is yet...

...the new Making Memories Slice...and I likes it...I likes it a lot...I think I may be high on the glue fumes though!!!

This little beauty fits into the palm of my hand, is fully portable and cuts like a dream, even through acetate and shrink plastic...can you spot it on my desk...which unfortunately has been visited by very naughty fairies...just look at the mess they left me to tidy up....

So far I have made a mini album, using the slice to cut the pages...not finished yet though...also made these little 3D flowers which I will obviously be using to embellish something lush and beautiful!!!

Was teaching a Scrapbooking class today at Edwin Allen and decided to go vintage...not usually my style but have lots of beautiful old photos of my lovely Nan that I am planning to scrap, has taken me a long time to look at photographs of her and not cry but managed to scrap this layout with a little smile in my heart, there is a hidden pocket behind the black that has some journalling on, mainly about my childhood memories of her and how I wished she was here now so my kids could see just how wonderful she was and what a beautiful influence she had on me.

...and finally...this is my Jewellery making class next week...little bracelet complete with coils as promised!!!

Off now to tidy up behind those naughty little fairies!!!

Nineteen...

...minutes, past the nineteenth hour on the nineteenth day of March 2001 my lil baby girly stole my heart with her beautiful blue eyes, tiny little toes, perfect little fingers and bloody screams...she was born screaming and I don`t think she has shut up since!!!

Mia`s eighth birthday today, eight bloody hell, although she still only wears age four to five clothes!!!

Poor little thing had to spend the whole day at school while her Sing Star High School Musical sat unopened on the table...Oh dear god I am regretting buying that now, I hate HSM with a passion, and to have her and Ella murdering the songs while I was hiding in the kitchen was almost too much for my poor little ears until I stuck my ipod on...does that make me a bad mother I questioned...no because she didn't notice muwahahah!!! They did however discover...while I wasn't looking, that the mic for Rockband can be used too so they can duet...!!!

Had one of those totally "wipe out" days...everyone seemed to be having a crisis and wanted to talk to me and everything seemed to go wrong, I literally spent half the afternoon after my classes on the phone chasing up paperwork and trying to sort out several problems that students had...the unpaid hours!!!

Thank God it is the weekend tomorrow, and I am off out on Saturday night to watch friends in a band perform their second gig...watched their first a couple of weeks ago and they were awesome so can`t wait to see them again.

Off to assemble my groupie outfit for the weekend!!!

Kids...Do not disturb!!!

...Why is it, as a mum, the minute you sink your aching bones into a bubble bath, chilled glass of wine in hand and ipod playing blissful tunes...you get bang bang bang on the door...bloody kids guaranteed if I try to relax in the tub before they are in bed they want to use the toilet or "chat"...

They do not tell you this stuff at parenting classes I can tell you...oh no...how to make up a bottle...which I think I have forgotten now and how to hold a baby...hmmm not sure what happened to me but I lost that gooey feeling you are supposed to get when you see a baby, I can appreciate that they may be cute and tiny and they have toes that used to delight me...All I think now is they grow up and make a mess and laze around like slobs, trying to get Harry to actually help around the house is as painful as a tooth extraction!!! Was screeching at him earlier poor little thing only asked me when I was making tea and I went into one about how I had been at work all day come home and blah blah blah is all he heard because he actually turned up the television while I was ranting!!! Bloody kids

So... sorry whitter over...made this little canvas that I am going to hang on the bathroom door every time I want "me" time...and god help anyone who knocks on that door!!!

Also completed this layout for the scrapbooking class I am teaching tomorrow...

Have just joined Twitter too...see top left, add me if you feel you want to...I am loving this modern technology stuff...good init!!!

Off now for a relax in the tub...luckily all kids are present and correct under their quilts!!!

Family Pics, Hair Straightners and Boy do I feel old!!!

Took a few family piccies on Sunday as all of the kids were together in one place for more than five minutes!!!

Me and my little guy...

Me and my big guy...My heels were three inches high and he is still taller than me, so not fair!!!

and a pretty rare shot of all my little people altogether, looking sleek and stylish too!!!

Onto the hair straighteners...I have a fantastic pair ...not only are they used every day to sleek my curls, I often use them on Ella and Mia`s hair too...has even been known for Jack to want his hair straightening too...like this morning!!! However I have another use for them...read somewhere that they were fabulous for straightening ribbon too and bloody hell it actually works...even on ric rac, tangled crinkly ric rac...straight as a die!!! Happy little me, can now straighten all my crumpled and tangled ribbons...easily pleased aren`t I !!!

Ella has a boyfriend!!!

I am not going to spill all the juicy details but I think its LOVE...they are planning on dancing at the school disco together tomorrow night, and he called for her earlier tonight to see if she "was coming out to play" Oh dear god, I can just about cope with seeing Jack holding hands with whichever girl is his latest squeeze but Ella...kept checking earlier that she had not been snogging and she just kept saying "Eurghh Mum"

Have to finally admit defeat and realise my kids are growing up...not babies anymore...my baby will be eight on Thursday so feeling a little old and sorry for myself...but then there is always the fact that they may start moving out soon and I will finally get myself a craft room ;-)

Mourinho in Manchester...mmmmmmmmmm!!!

He may be arrogant and completely passionate about football...but oh my god he is scrumptious, and I think he is the sole reason that I became so interested in Football a couple of years ago...funny since he left Chelsea I have not really bothered much with the beautiful game!!!

But he is here...not twenty miles away staying in Manchester...so near yet so far...so for now I will have to make do with this little bit of eye candy...although I believe I may watch the football tomorrow night!!!



Ladies stop drooling!!!
Okay my heart rate has returned to normal I am taking deep breaths and I am calm ;-)

Got myself a solid four hours sleep last night, I have decided this insomnia thing has gone on long enough and I am just going to stop stressing about it, if I sleep I sleep, if not I am going to stick my ipod on and listen to my new White Noise App that came very highly recommended by a friend...Imagine laying in bed with your eyes closed listening to the sound of waves crashing on the beach or of a real wood fire crackling as you lay next too it...Mourinho is optional of course!!! So I lay in bed reading...yep not picked up a book for months either so it was good to loose myself in someone else's world...listening to the ocean through my headphones...sheer bliss and the best 59p I ever spent...well apart from the chunky Peanut Kit Kat I bought and ate earlier...apparently all this chocolate must be good for me because I finally did my body test on Wii fit tonight and I have lost 4lbs...I have eaten six bars of chocolate in three days and still managed to loose weight...god I am a bitch aren`t I ;-)

Crafty Chocoholic Insomniac!!!

Thats what I am, yep thats me!!!

Crafty...in more ways than one probably, but I have spent the day planning all my lessons for the week!!!

Chocoholic...I am sat here eating my third bar of the day, well I am blaming the Co-Op for having three bars for £1.25 ;-) and proper chocolate too, Mars Duo, Twix Extra and Snickers Duo... god I am going to be so fat!!!

Definitely insomniac...again... because I have not had a proper nights sleep for a week. Have been out and ordered a new bed...one of those fab ones that mould to the shape of your body...can just see the impression of my backside in the foam now!!!

Now I have realised these things all go together, the crafting because I am trying to take my mind off the fact that I am exhausted and could quite happily fall asleep whilst doing the dishes or hoovering and the chocolate because a constant lack of sleep really does affects your mood, and not in a positive way either...it affects your ability to make decisions and your thought processes and when you lie in bed desperately trying to relax and fall asleep realising you are completely and utterly wide awake, its just so frustrating when it happens every night...hence my need, yes my unabated, desperate need for the chocolate!!!

These are the lessons I have been working on today, have my embroidery class tomorrow and we are doing chain stitch and making these little drawstring bags...Mum I can so tell you are impressed!!!

And my workshops this week at Edwin Allen are this 3D piano which featured in a recent issue of Making Cards.

This scrapbook layout using some gorgeous new stamps that I have water coloured...just for a change.

Also made this book of the kids a few weeks ago, I had the bind it all out, Jesus...I remember "needing" that when they first came out had loads of good intentions of making my own books, and I have actually used it less than a dozen times, now they sell a pink version which is just so pretty, don`t "need" it though!!!

Off now to dish up the Beef casserole that I prepared at stupid o clock this morning and rearrange my Studio...that's when I have cleared everything off the floor so I can actually get in!!!

Ouch!!!

Sat here writing this whilst Ella is plaiting and un-plaiting my hair...apparently Mia says she will turn to stone if she looks at me because I remind her of Medusa...bloody ancient Greece school projects...at the moment I have 16 plaits in my hair!!! Kids!!!...hopefully the GHD`s will repair the damage in the morning!!!

I am ready for the weekend, no partying, no hangovers...hopefully...but plenty of washing and ironing no doubt...oh the joys of parenthood!!!

I got the dreaded letter this week...the one where Ella has been accepted into the high school of my choice, which is good news as it is literally at the end of our road but bad news because she is my little girl and I don`t want her to grow up as fast as she is...where on earth has the time gone, eleven years old already...jesus...does not seem five minutes since I held her in my arms. Now all I get is hormonal backchat and tantrums and Mum I need to borrow your straighteners and can I wear make up!!!

And...believe it or not I have been told things get worse as they get older!!!

Ikea, Volvo and Abba....................

........................all things that have put Sweden on the map, apart from it actually being on the map of course!!!

but my favourite thing from Sweden, well apart from Ikea, has to be Magnolia Stamps

These gorgeous little stamps featuring Edwin and Tilda are just the cutest and I lurve them, have been very busy water colouring and making cards tonight and this is what I have come up with.

I am doing a craft fair in a couple of weeks so trying to build up some stock to sell, these little cards will be lovingly wrapped in a cello bag ready to be re-homed...their new owner carefully picked by myself!!!

Not blogged for a while as honestly had nothing to blog, nothing interesting to share, no funny stories...unfortunately at the moment Est is all work and no play...I would so love to have a day off work, one of those days where the kids are at school and I can self indulgently sit on my backside all day on the PC or reading or playing with my new stash that came last week that I still haven`t even opened yet!!!!

I have new stamps and papers that have not been drooled over or stroked, is that even legal, they have been sat in my house for nearly a week still carefully packaged in the jiffy bag they arrived in!!!

Off now to rip open that jiffy bag and gently whisper apologies to my gorgeous new papers and stamps!!!

I know I really need to get out more!!!