Happy Holidays!

Well Santa has been and gone and the week has passed so quickly! We hosted the Christmas celebrations this year for the first time ever and were a bit apprehensive about the cooking side of things, not because we can't cook but just because we hadn't ever experienced cooking Christmas dinner. However, everything went according to plan - we weren't stressed, cool calm and collected and everything seemed to go down a storm so good practise for next year! lol Lewis was delighted with what Santa had brought (he was in Toy Story heaven!) and we now have enough musical instruments to start a band - drum kit, guitar, keyboard, saxophone. We'd like to say a big thank you to all of the lovely relatives and friends who decided to purchase these wonderful gifts. NOT! We'll be needing a set of earplugs to hear ourselves think, all good fun! I wasn't as organised as I would have liked to have been this year in the week before and leading up to Christmas as having the flu really set me back and all of my plans went out of the window, including making Christmas cards. I didn't make anything like the number I would have liked and I would have liked to spend more time on the ones I did get around to making. But hey ho, maybe next year! I'll need to start now!



Santa was very good to me in the crafting department. I was lucky enough to get a cuttlebug machine and some dies (I so wanted one - thank you Santa) some round nesties to use with it, a 1" scallop round punch, the doily lace edge punch from martha stewart crafts, a threading water border punch and a ribbon slit border punch from fiskars and a scor-pal (which hasn't arrived yet). I did pretty well, didn't I? But, my best present of all was a hot air balloon ride with Steven which I need to do in the next 12 months. This gift was from Steven. I was so chuffed and excited with this as it is something which I have always wanted to do, so my dream has come true! I can't wait to get up in the air but think I'll restrain myself until the summer months, so forgive me if I mention it quite a few times before that big day arrives. I'm so excited!



Anyway, here are some of the Christmas cards I made. The light hasn't been that great when taking photos so they're not the best quality unfortunately.



The two cards above were made using the new Sugar Nellie stamps which I bought recently: Hug in a mug and Snowflake. I also bought Daisy and Rope Swing but haven't gotten around to using them yet! The paper is from DCWV Rose Tinted Christmas. I absolutely love it, there is such a great selection of papers. The sentiment is a Studio G stamp which I bought at the Papermill shop a while back.


I made this card with a Whiff of Joy image given to me by Linda when I did a recent image swap with her. She sent me an amazing selection of images so I need to get around to colouring more of them during the holidays. I think I will need to buy some of these stamps as they are gorgeous. The snowflake dies were kindly given to me by Mar also as part of an image swap and I just love them. Now I have my own cuttlebug, I'll need to get some tips from Mar on how to ge the same as hers as I loved the sparke of the card she has used.

I made this card for Steven using an image kindly given to me by Tab when I did an image swap with her recently. She makes the most amazing cards.


I made exactly the same card as this one for Lewis as I loved the paper and the image so much. The image is a download from Pollycraft called Wilbur and Albert and the paper was from a kit by Summer Driggs called Giving.

Well, this has been a long post for me for a change. I normally don't have as many cards to show! I do have more surprisingly but they can wait for another day, maybe tomorrow. I have lots of thank you cards to make next for the lovely presents Lewis received so I have started to have a think about what I might do and I also want to get started on making birthday cards so that I have a stash and I'm not running about like a heidless chicken as I normally do! We'll see! That's the plan anyway. Tomorrow Steven and I are going to Register House in Edinburgh to do some more research into our family trees, another one of my passions but again don't get enough time to do it! I have been researching for 3 years now and still have lots to do.

Anway, I'm off now to do a bit of blog hopping and catch up with everyones news and creations. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa was good to you!

Lainy xx

Birthday card

Evening all,

Just popped on here before the final of Strictly Come Dancing quickly to post a card that I made at the beginning of the week for Steven's aunts 60th birthday. I haven't had a minute before now to post it as I have been so busy at work this week trying to get things wrapped up for the holidays due to being off work all last week with the flu. Have recovered now but still have quite an annoying cough which I think may linger for a while. Thank you to everyone who left me get well wishes last week, that was very kind and cheered me up.


Anyway back to the card, I used a rubber romance stamp called "Girls Night Out" which I absolutely loved using along with liquid pearls for the first time on the number 60. Quite liked the effect of them, think I may need to buy some other colours. I was really happy with the card I made and Steven's aunt loved it too, so that was a bonus! There's nothing better than seeing someone really happy with something you have made or given to them - brings out the child in me!

I was busy making some other cards last night for family members and will post pictures of them tomorrow along with a picture of the fabulous Secret Santa gift that I received on Thursday from one of my SBS sisters! I was delighted with the contents and can't wait to use the scrummy goodies I received so a huge thank you to my "secret santa". My secret santa gift is on the way to my Secret SBS sister and hopefully they will receive it soon. I also got a gorgeous secret santa gift at work on Thursday so Thursday was a great day for me for receiving gifts.

I'm off now to watch the final of Strictly Come Dancing, my favourite programme as dancing is my number one passion. RACHEL to win!!!! I've voted several times already and will be again shortly.

Have a great night whatever you are doing and wherever you are!

Lainy x

Flu!

Apologies for my lack of blogging again! I had hoped to get lots of Christmas cards made at the weekend as well as getting my tree and decorations up but unfortunately I have been floored with a flu-like virus and have been in bed since Friday afternoon. Have been to the doctor this morning and guess what .....he wouldn't give me any antibiotics ...told me I'm doing all the right things and that I won't be any better until the middle/end of the week! Typical and so ironic that I was supposed to get the flu jag at work this morning! So it was back to bed for me on my return home and I have sneaked on here for ten minutes while Steven is away to the doctor as he now has it too and while Lewis is having a nap (he's been ill since last Thursday). I hope to be back at the end of the week!

Hope all is well with you wherever you are!

Chilly night! Brrrr!

Evening all,

Well, it is absolutely freezing here tonight and has been pretty cold all day today. It is forecasted to get really cold during the night, temperature predicted to be -7 so that will make driving interesting in the morning! I hate driving in icy conditions, I would much rather be tucked up in bed. Chance would be a fine thing - roll on the holidays. 13 days and counting!

I was a rebel last night and managed to get lots of crafting done in one night. I managed to make lots of cards which is highly unusual for me as I normally spend so much time making one. I seemed to be on a roll last night and fair enjoyed myself I have to say! I deliberately didn't bring any work home as I spent most of my Sunday working on things for school although that is the norm for me I have to say!

Anyway, here are my creations. The first two are a get well card for my mum as she has been in hospital for some surgery recently and also an anniversary card for my mum and dad (slightly late as you can see from the message!)

I have also been busy making some image wallets for some very special ladies who very kindly sent me some images and who won some PIF candy from me. I have been so slow in getting this done so many apologies! I hope it's worth the wait when they arrive!


The pictures were taken late last night so aren't the best quality! Well, that's it from me for tonight. I have lots of work to get done tonight as a result of having so much fun last night! The new Magnolia stamps I bought at the weekend from the Glitterpot arrived today and I'm desperate to ink them and turn them into Christmas cards, maybe tomorrow night if I'm lucky!

Woo Hoo!

I've managed to sort my site out and remove the strange bandwidth exceeded message out, thanks to some advice from Debbi! Much appreciated. While I was at it I thought I'd have a bit of a blog spruce up in time for Christmas! Off now to get some Christmas music sorted! How sad!!! Hope to be back later on tomorrow with some creations if I can! Have a great eveing whatever you are doing!

TESTING TIMES

Evening all,

Just popped on quickly same story as usual, busy, busy, busy! I can't remember the last time I actually was able to sit down and make a card. I'm hoping that I will get the chance to do this at the weekend!

I haven't even had a chance to do some blog hopping so I am WAY behind what everyone has been doing and getting up to. I hope to be able to stop by soon for a chat. I seem to have an annoying message on my page saying that my bandwith has exceeded and some of the text seems to have disappeared from my blog until you run over it with the cursor. Extremely annoying!!! If anyone knows how to fix this, I'd love to hear from you.

Congratulations to Denise, Mar and Debbi who have won my PIF candy. I will be rustling something up for you this weekend and I'll get it popped in the post asap.

I haven't forgotten about you Belinda or Tabitha - a wee something will be on its way to you both too! Apologies girls!

Well off now to enjoy my evening - lots of marking, marking, marking! The joys!

Lainy x

Yippee! The weekend is here!

The weekend is finally here - Yipee! I've had another manic week - seems to be the story of my life at the moment and I can't see it letting up before Christmas unfortunately! I did try posting yesterday afternoon as I was home from work early for a change but I was having a problem with blogger. Lewis is away this weekend to stay with his grandparents for the weekend so yesterday afternoon I had a wee bit of time to have a play although sadly it was work related. I was playing around with bits and bobs trying to come up with something relatively easy which the kids in my class could have a go at making for our forthcoming school Christmas Fayre. We do this every year and each class has to make something to be sold as part of Enterprise. So far, I have created a santa sleigh which I thought we could fill with some sweeties and a little pouch gift box. Will take some photos later. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

I have been so lucky recently as I have taken part in a few image swaps and have posted the beautiful cards as well as a selection of the images I have received as I now have an abundance to colour in!

Here they are:

From Linda:





























From Mar:


































From Tabitha:

































From Belinda:



































I was also lucky enough to win Mar's PIF and what a great PIF it was. This is what I received from her, she is so generous!



















The first three people to comment on this post will win a little PIF parcel from me, although not quite sure what it will be yet!

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The lovely Janet who designs the most gorgeous stamps for Spiral Whisper has decided to set up her own design company and to celebrate she has a couple of her new stamps to give away. Go and visit here and I'm sure you'll love her work. I have a couple of her stamps already and I'm planning on buying some more as they are great to work with and her cards inspire you to make your own.

Having a wizard of a time!

Good morning,

Once again it has been such a long time since I posted. What am I like? Must try harder is always my motto where blogging is concerned! I find little enough time to browse and check in with what my blogging buddies are up to and never enough time for myself to post or to even create. Well now that my moan is over, on with what I have been doing ....... think this is going to be a long post.

We were at a Hallowe'en party on Friday night organised by my husband Steven as chairman of our Residents Association. Lots of great costumes worn by both adults and children, great games and lots and lots of fun. Lewis and his wee friend Paul had a ball, they didn't stop dancing all night. Lewis was in his element as a wizard after much coaxing in the morning to get his costume on for his nursery party and then he wouldn't take it off for the rest of the day!! The magic wand he had helped, he loved the sound and they way it lit up. Some photos below:



This week I posted some images and a card wallet to hold them in to two of my lovely blogging buddies Linda and Mar who very kindly agreed to swap some images with me. Here are the card wallets I sent to them:

I in turn received a gorgeous card and lots of fabulous images from Linda which I will post later on once I have taken a photo of them. Thank you so much Linda, I love them!

I have been tagged three times now by four lovely and incredibly ladies, Tracey, Chris, Mar and Belinda but have never gotten around to posting it. So here goes!



The Rules -
1. Link your tagger and list the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Interesting facts! Don't know about that!

1. I'm a qualified dancing teacher in tap and modern dance.
2. I was almost born on 29th February! So glad that I wasn't!
3. I love brussel sprouts, can't get enough of them at Christmas time. I know lots of people will
wretching in disgust as they read this! lol
4. I absolutely love watching Strictly Come Dancing and would love to be a celebrity so I could
take part! Wishful thinking I know!
5. One of my passions in life is researching my family tree but same as crafting I never get
enough time to indulge due to my occupation. Just as well I love what I do! Well, most of the
time!
6. I was 30 weeks pregnant on my 30th birthday. How was that for good planning?
7. I would love to do white water rafting. That's the daredevil in me coming out!

Well, over to you now. I hope that you haven't been tagged before, if you have I hope that you don't mind! So I'm tagging the following: Steph, Sue, Linda, Mel, Kath, Emma and Stacey.

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing! The sun is shining here today despite the fact it's bitterly cold. Off now to get the shopping and housework done before taking Lewis to a birthday part this afternoon which he is most excited about! Bless!

Lainy xxx

Chill Out Time

Once again, it has been ages since I last blogged - two weeks to be precise. Far too long. Why does work have to get in the way? Not this week it's not anyway, as I am on my October holiday although have been pretty exhausted most of it so far and have been taking it easy for once. The last three weeks have definitely caught up with me big time and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I was literally on my knees. Anyway, feeling bit better now apart from having a dreadful cold (aaargh) and have been catching up with everyones blogs and trying to ignite some inspiration. I'm sitting tonight colouring some fab new stamps I bought from Spiral Whisper by the terrific designers Christine Dark and Janet Roberts and can't wait to get creative with them. I admire their work constantly and I just had to make a start with collecting some of them, I have many more on my wish list! I can hear Santa calling. I also bought the "Royal Mail" Penny Black stamp and have been busy inking that up too - I couldn't resist as I have seen this stamp so often when blog hopping recently. I had planned to have more Christmas cards made by now but same old story - plans don't happen as I want them to!

I recently took part in a Magnolia swap recently on Splitcoast Stampers which was organised by my SBS sister Monica and received lots of great images a few weeks ago. Thanks Monica! I'm looking forward to having a play with those too and maybe getting a scrapbook page or two completed too!

I love receiving new images to play with, well don't we all? Just wondering if there are any crafters out there who would like to participate in a wee swap? Let me know if you do!

Hope to post again tomorrow! Here's hoping!

Lucky day!

Can't believe how long it has been since I last posted - seems like forever! Life has been so hectic and busy and I am gearing up for two long evenings of parents nights on Wednesday and Thursday this week, it always seems like you've run a marathon by the time you stop. On top of that we have also had a pretty horrendous situation happen this week. On Wednesday night we were plagued by Juvenile delinquents who were up to no good and for some reason targeted our house by running through our garden and banging on our windows. This happened 3 times in a row 15 minutes apart until the fourth time, a 14 year old girl decided that she would instead throw a very large stone at our patio door and it smashed to smithereens! They didn't bank on us catching them red-handed, well two out of the five anyway. The police very promptly came and took them away as we had already called them earlier on the night to say what a nuisance they were being. We also managed to get the other three names out of the two girls that we caught and the police think that they will have enough to press charges. I hope so anyway if there is any justice in the world. We live in a lovely area, or so I thought, and have done so for the last seven years without a problem. We now feel a bit on edge in our own house which is really horrible, as they may come back. We found out the next day that two other houses in the same vicinity had their patio doors smashed too, so we weren't the only target, not that that makes us feel any better. And to top it all we will have to pay an excess on our home insurance of £50. Anyway, enough of that!

I was so happy when I came onto my blog this morning and saw a lovely message from Jakki to say that I had won a little prize in her blog candy competition. This raised my spirits instantly as I never win anything normally. I can't tell you how happy it made me feel, so a big thank you to Jakki. Go and visit her blog if you've never visited below, it's fabby.

The weather has been atrocious here today. After Lewis had been for his weekly swimming lesson this morning, we went to do some shopping and get some bits and pieces in Costco. While I was there, I came across this great Scrapbooking Gift Set for £25, a cracking buy so I just couldn't resist and thought that I'd indulge to make myself feel a bit better!


This is what was included:

Scrapbooking organiser
8" x 8" Scrapbook
8.5" x 11" scrapbooK
36 scrapbooking papers
3 paper edgers
26 chipboard alphabet letters
24 buttons
92 glitter stickers
10 chipboard embellishments
160 assorted brads
6 woven labels
180 paper flower embellishments
10 feet of decorative ribbons
17 feet fibres
1 metal bucket

Hope to be back later tonight!

Disneyland Paris

Morning everyone. I have been trying to post some pictures all this week from our trip to Disneyland Paris last weekend but haven't managed as I have been so busy since I got back with work and catching up on sleep. I'd forgotten how exhausting it is walking around the parks. We had a fabulous time and the sun was shining which was a huge bonus. Lewis had a terrific time and couldn't stop smiling although he didn't like going too close to the characters as he has a bit of a fear of toys/people dressed up who walk and talk, but he was happy enough to see them from a distance. His wee friend Paul on the other hand was beside himself when he met the characters, particularly Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse. Such a magic moment! Can't believe that it was a week ago now. Well the sun is shining here today for the first time in ages so we are going to take advantage and get out and about today so I may well not post again this weekend.

Off to see Mickey!

Just a short post tonight as tomorrow we are heading off for Disneyland Paris. Lewis is so excited as are we, big kids that we are! I made a start on some Christmas cards when I was off work on Wednesday which are going to be making their way to my SBS 15 sister Emma soon along with some more hopefully! Emma began a Christmas card appeal for British troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. All you have to do is make some Christmas cards and leave them blank inside so that members of the forces can then send a Christmas card home to a loved one. If you'd like to get involved yourself, go and visit Emma's blog for further information or to let her know that you're getting on board. Come on ..... what are you waiting for? It's a great cause!

Well, I'm off to get some packing done and hopefully an early night! Have a great weekend whatever you are doing and I'll be back soon hopefully with some great pictures to show of my weekend!

Lainy x

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge

My goodness, a second post in one day! That's unheard of for me, only because I've been under the weather! I've been desperate to join in with the A spoon full of sugar challenge blog for ages but same old story never have the time, until today! I saw my good friend Nikki's sketch for this week's challenge and decided to give it a go as I have so many Sugar Nellie stamps now, although
you can use a variety of stamps in this challenge now. I absolutely loved the sketch that Nikki produced and will definitely use this again as I was pleased with the end result, even though I was almost out of space for my rub on sentiment at the bottom!

Tilda with Ruffled dress

Morning everyone. I'm off work today as feeling really poorly. Again! Trying to keep some liquid down as the moment so thought I'd pop on here to distract me a bit. It's safe now to post this card that I made from my SBS sister Sammi's birthday as she received it yesterday. PP was downloaded for free here. I'll definitely be using these papers again as I really love the bright colours. The Tilda stamp is a new one I bought recently as I thought it would be perfect for paper piecing (which I haven't tried yet!), the prima flowers are from my stash, the Happy Birthday tile was a freebie with a magazine I bought (can't remember which one!) and the Happy Birthday embossed card is from someone who sent me a PIF gift a while back (sorry, can't remember who!) I absolutely want a Cuttlebug and I'm hoping desperately that Santa might bring me one. In the meantime, I think I'm going to have to buy some embossed bits and pieces from someone on Ebay to keep me going until then as I really would like some of the snowflake and swiss dots for making Christmas cards.

On another note, I'm wondering if any bloggers out there have ever held a Creative Memories party? I've agreed to have a party, but don't really know too much about what to expect other than it's a bit like having a scrapbooking session and you can spend lots of money (if you wish) buying some lovely scrapbooking materials. I'd be interested in anything you know about it.

My lovely blogging friend Nikki is celebrating reaching 20,000 hits on her blog and is offering a Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper pad, High Hopes stamp "Snow Sweet Snowlady" (s0 cute!) with "Glorious Day" sentiment stamp. Nikki is such a talented lady who constantly inspires me when I visit her blog and she leaves the loveliest comments on my blog too which I really appreciate. Go and visit her today and add her to your blogroll if she isn't already on there! Leave her a comment on her her blog candy post before 17th September to be in with a chance of winning!

Suzanne who is part of Katharina's Whiff of Joy design team and is celebrating almost reaching 20,000 hits is offering the opportunity to win some fantastic blog candy which includes a gorgeous Whiff of Joy stamp, some basic grey paper, stickles, ribbon, jewels and prima flowers. For the chance to win, visit Suzanne's blog and tell her what your favourite film is before tomorrow evening. She is such a talented lady, you'll want to keep visiting her!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Lainy x

Sugar Nellie - Sweet n Sassy

Quick post tonight. Hurray! I've managed to find a bit of time for myself tonight to get a card made for my best friend Jane's birthday tomorrow. That's unheard of on a school night! I've used my newish sweet n sassy stamp from Sugar Nellie, have had it for about a month now but so far haven't gotten around to inking it up. The paper is from a digital kit I bought at the weekend called Always and Forever from Sweet Shoppe designs. I couldn't resist buying it because the papers were sooo gorgeous and I could picture lots of lovely cards in my head instantly. Getting them made is another thing completely!!!! lol Anyway, I hope Jane likes this card tomorrow night when I give it to her after dinner which I am making for her as a wee treat.

New Baby

Made this card last night for my little cousin and his girlfriend who had a little baby boy Owen two weeks ago. We were meant to be visiting them in Ayrshire today but unfortunately I seem to have come down with a tummy bug and think Lewis may have it too as he was sick everywhere this morning! Never mind, will need to wait until we're fully recovered now and after our trip to Euro disney next weekend. Can't wait! I made this card using a digital kit called "Bundle of Boy" from Sweet Shoppe designs as I remembered seeing a gorgeous card that Kerry had made with this kit a while ago and decided to purchase it myself. Really pleased with how it turned out and I'm going to try making some more with this kit in the future. I love the different range of papers that are available to buy in digital kits and have kind of converted to using these rather than buying paper packs. The weather is miserable again here - Winter is definitely on the way so I think it'll be a quiet day for me doing some work for school (never ends!) and hopefully will get some crafting down later tonight! (if I get all my work done that is!) May be back later tonight with some more cards or tags or boxes!

Happy Birthday Sammi!

Glitterfy.com - Glitter Graphics

A very happy birthday to my SBS sister Sammi! Apologies for posting this today instead of yesterday but I had trouble posting on blogger last night. Arrrrgh! Hope you had a wonderful day Sammi and got lots of lovely pressies!

FRIENDSHIP/SISTER SWOP

This is my first ever ATC which was made for my SBS sister Pam (not sure whether it will have arrived yet or not!). Emma, another SBS invited us to make an ATC featuring the word sister or friend and provided us with a swop partner. I used a bear necessities kit from nitwits collection ( a site which I love) and some cute dinky alphabet stamps. The only problem is that the message isn't punctuated properly as I didn't have an apostrophe stamp to use in the word I'm (tut tut and a teacher too). Hope that you forgive me Pam! The "r" in ever and friend also looks like a letter n but it is an "r", I promise. I really enjoyed making this and was pleasantly surprised. Think I will be making more of these! Thanks Emma for introducing me to ATCs!

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The rules...
1. The winner can put the "I love your blog" logo on their own blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

My SBS sister Monica has very kindly given me this great award which really brightened up my day and made me smile. I love receiving awards, well who doesn't? It just gets so difficult to choose who to award it to as there are so many wonderful people who drop past my blog to say hello. I'm going to award it to the following people (apologies if you have had it before!)

Nikki who is super talented and leaves the sweets comments on my blog which always make me smile.

Mar who I met through the docrafts site and has just begun her own blog. Yipee! I can visit and chat constantly now! Go and say hello.

Debbi, another new blogging friend who is a fab scrapper and is a fellow Scot.

Mel, who makes a wealth of gorgeous cards. If you haven't visited her before go and visit her now.

Kristine, another super talented crafter whose blog I love to visit constantly for lots of inspiration.

Chelle, another mega talented US crafter whose blog I found recently. Her creations are stunning.

Sharon, a blogger who I visited for the first time recently and creates absolutely fab funky cards