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

Happy Birthday Pam!

A very happy birthday to my SBS sister Pam today. Sending you lots of love and birthday wishes. Hopefully my card will arrive soon if it hasn't already!

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Being back at work is exhausting! I'm absolutely shattered tonight after a hard week of getting back into routine and taming some wild little monkeys! I've got a very demanding class this year who require a lot of firm handling shall we say! lol Oh, such fun! I am hoping to get some much needed crafting done this weekend as I haven't had a chance to do anything this week apart from sleep, work, moan, moan some more, eat, sleep and more moaning. Fed up listening to my own voice, hence the reason why this is short tonight as you will be too reading this no doubt.

Thank You Emma!

Just popped on here quickly to post a card that I sent to my SBS sister Emma to say thank you for being such a great friend and for all her hard work with our new SBS blog along with another of our great sisters Sammi. I can now post it as Emma received it today. Sammi, yours is on its way to Australia, just has a bit further to travel than Elgin! It'll be there soon I hope! I'm very tired tonight as I have been into school setting up my classroom and have exerted myself a bit too much, so I'm off for a quiet relaxing evening with a big glass of red wine!