St Stephens Day

After the excess of stuffing our faces on Christmas Day we usually pick a place local to walk. This year we picked Castleconnell. The weather was fantastic, so crisp. After our walk we fed the swans and even found Santa's robin ;-)

Merry Christmas 2006

Oh what a wonderful Christmas :-) We started the day opening Shona's pressies from Santa Claus at 9.30 (imagine we got to sleep in). Shona and her Dad went visiting his realtions while I got the dinner ready. Buddy, Eve, Louise, Shona and I had a yummy dinner loads of laughs and plenty of drink. Dad went to bed early, so I didn't get any after dinner photos :-(


Merry Christmas to one and all :-)

24 hours later

this is what i've made from my shrunken felted jumper:



This will be a Christmas pressie for my sister. I can safely post it here as she doesn't read Blogs (imagine someone left in the world who doesn't know about Blogs).

Happy Christmas to my Big Blister :-)

Waiting for Mr Postie

I'm sitting here waiting for Mr Postie to arrive, not because I'm waiting on scrappy parcels or even more Christmas cards, but because I've a little pressie for him :-)

Yesterday, as part of my unemployment, I decided Shona and I should Bake! I haven't done any baking for about 4 years, mainly due to work and being so knackered, LOL! And I must say its like riding a bike, except you can't back pedal when baking. We made Banana Bread and aslo Choc Chip cookies :-) We had loads of cookie dough left over so this morning at breakfast I cooked the remainder of the dough. They were in the oven a little bit too long :-) but sure they still taste sweet (must be all the sugar). So this year instead of an envelope of money or a bottle of vino, Mr Postie is getting a box of cookies (slightly over-done ones).

I've set myself a challenge! While going through the wash basket, which holds clean clothes that neve find their way back upsairs , I found a jumper I had shrunk over the summer. I was about to through it out when I decided to re-cycle it. I have an idea of what I'm going to do and I'm giving myself 24 hours to come up with a Christmas gift for my sister (along with her altered journal).

Alter Me

This weeks theme on the Scrap West blog was Alter Me. I've been altering things for the last few weeks and kinda had run out of new ideas so I decided to use the title for a LO. I did however alter the Basic Grey undressed monograms with mini photogrpahs of me and used glossy accents to seal the letters. I alos used the gorgeous Crate Paper which is the most devine paper in the world!

With what happened in work last week, I kept thinking if I just kept my BIG mouth shut I'd still be working, but really and trully I believe they had no intention in renewing the contract. And I suppose learning to stand up for myself hasn't been easy so I am proud that I did do it. So today isn't one of those days!

Deja-Vu

John (Shona's Dad): I have a note here in Shona's bag to bring in her Elf outfit tomorrow

Me: Her What????

John: She's the 4th Elf in a christmas play, she needs to bring in her outfit tomorrow.

Me: Wow, just got a feeling of Deja-vu, right I'll be there in an hour.

This is how the conversation went on wednesday at about 5.30pm, just as I was finishing work for the day. Now where was one supposed to get a cheap elf outfit at this time of the evening??? I headed off to Dunnes Stores in search of anything green or red, trying to picture in my head what an elf looks like, surely anything green and red would do!?

The only thing I could find in the right colour was a green ladies 3/4 lenght sleeve v-neck in a size 8-10 (its been soooo long since i bought anything in a size 8-10, LOL).

When I got to John's I sent him searching for a few other things like a brown belt, some boots, a red top and a santa hat. Et Viola, one little Elf.

This is so cool...

.. found a great online slide show thingie and had great fun messing around with it. Here's what i came up with which has a festive flavour :-). Check out the site rockyou dot com.


| View Show | Create Your Own

Christmas Journal

Yay, got the journal started at last... using the gorgeous SEI christmas papers. Also started the first page of the journal, hopfully i can keep this up :-)

8th December

Tonight is the night for Scrap West blog load ups. This weeks theme is called "Autumn" set by Annamarie :-) Not having a decent Autumn photo i was left with a bit of a problem, so i decided not to do a photo LO, or to even use typical Autumn colours and yes Autumn normally doesn't have flowers, artistic license. yeah right, LOL!


I love these yummy papers from the Twirl Collection from Crate Papers. I was very careful when cutting the scraps, so as to keep as much as possible for future projects.

By the way, a little birdie told me there is something happening at Scrap West in the next few weeks. Keep posted, I know I will! LOL!

7th December - a little hiccup

Headline:

"Irish Charity leaves Single Mother go 3 days before Christmas"

Could you even imagine that??? They wouldn't, would they? Well I can tell you, yes they can!!! I have been given notice today, that my contract will not be renewd on the 22nd of December. The reason? Not for my lack of work, not for lack of puntuality but as a few of you reading this will know, for being bullied. I stood up to the person that bullied me and it has been thrown back in my face. I was told he can no longer work with me..... So there you go!

I still reckon, if you are being bullied you have to face up to them, for so long i got stressed because i let bosses Bully me, in fear of loosing my job.... ok i know i still lost my job in this case but i took the control back. I'm am very proud of the way i handled this as its only a job!!! My mental health is much more important.

I'll be celebrating with my gorgeous daughter tonight by eating chinese and drinking beer. Christmas will be a little smaller but i have been given the best gift today. Self Esteem.

4th December

Just began making our Christmas Cards and have decided to do a mix of styles, mainly so I don't get bored making the same card over and over and over, here are 2 samples of this years cards.... so far!

A simple and quick doodled card using a little glossy accents to high light the berries and leaves.

A gorgeous stamp from Craft Supplies, screaming out to be used. I decided not to use traditional colours and go with pink and blue instead.

3rd December....

... i know its the 4th but was slightly hung over on Sunday and really had to finish my list of things to do over the weekend...

1. drink huge amounts of beer x2
2. have a hangover x2
3. sleep til 12 (10.30 and 9.30)
4. Get Crimbo Deco's down from attic Done
5. Clean the house some what Done - to be honest 2 rooms
6. and if there is time left over .............. might get a bit of scrapping done :-) No :-(

Our tradtion (of 3 years LOL) is to put up the decorations while watching the re-run of the Toy Show, which we did again this year. Shona as usual helped with the first few decorations but after awhile it was left to me, which of course i don't mind :-) Another tradition we have is to have little crackers on the tree (2 euro store types) and Shona gets to pull a cracker every day on the run up to Christmas day. This year we have Dennis the Menace, Shona's favourite character!

Anyways here are a few photos of our Christmas Tree:

My favourite decoration: I love this little angle, her knitted jumper and her wooden wings. I bought this while I was working in Carraig Donn about 3 years ago. She doesn't get put up on the tree but has pride of place on the mantle.

Over the next few weeks Shona and I will pick up a few new decorations which will get added to ther tree :-)

What will my Obituray say?

Not to sound too morbid but I thought this was hilarious!!!

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The muppets thing I understand as that's the ringtone on my mobile (freaky) but a hot tub??? LOL!

What would yours say?

2nd December

1. drink huge amounts of beer Done
2. have a hangover Done
3. sleep til 12 (does 10.30 count LOL) ... and I've got to do it all over again tonight with John and Ray!!! The photo above is my drunken attempt at a capturing Ray and myself, it looked more in focus at 2am this morning, wonder why that was, LOL.

Also went to Curves this morning, to sweat the hangover out :-) so I reckon extra bonus points.

Was in a bit of a rush last night uploading the Scrapwest Blog but it got done on time. Yet again wonderful work by all the talented ladies :-) The theme was If The Hat Fits set by Noelle.


Ok off now to have a cuppa and start cleaning the house for the Crimbo decorations..

1st December

Happy First of December.... I have major plans to make this the best Christmas EVER... mind you I say that every December 1st , then next thing its Christmas Eve and nothing is done. As we are having Christmas in my house this year I want to chronicle as much of the holiday as possible. So camera and 5x5 album are both at the ready to be inspired.... On the subject of inspiration Coco is doing a wonderful project on her blog, i may not be able to do something every day, but will be certainly be using as much of her ideas as inspiration for the Christmas Journal.

In the meantime my Social life is gone from 0 to 60, its like a feast or a famine, between the Dream Ball last weekend, 2 Birthdays this weekend and a Christmas "Do" next weekend I'll be exhausted. Oh I love this time of year :-) all I need now is someone to kiss under the mistletoe :-x

Ok, so the plan for the weekend is:
1. drink huge amounts of beer
2. have a hangover
3. sleep til 12
4. Get Crimbo Deco's down from attic
5. Clean the house some what
6. and if there is time left over .............. might get a bit of scrpping done :-)

Christmas Banner

Yipee, at last i got a banner done with help from Scrapfairy and it was really simple :-) I decided to do a Christmassy one, which means I'll have to change it in the new year....

Christmas came early

Ohy i just had to come back and post!!!! The postie just arrived with my early Christmas Pressie to myself :-) I saw a gorgeous tote on Tracies blog and when i saw the website i couldn't help myself (shock!!) LOL! check out www.elisalou.com I dare you to browse the site without purchasing!!!

Oh I'm so good to myself :-)

Crimbo

All thoughts are now of Christmas and especially pressies :-) This year I've decided to make as much as possible, might as well put the creativity to good use, LOL! After altering a few notebooks as pressies I really wanted one for myself. I doodled on black cardstock (which took 2 evenings in front of the TV) and then covered a spiral bound notebook.

For the friday night challenge on Little Cottage Crafts I altered an envelope to make a frame as a Crimbo pressie...

Finally, yesterday I made a little tree decoration, which opens up to show a photo of DD last Christmas. I really like this one as its interactive, LOL!

Right, now off to make the most of a day off work and school and maybe do some more scrapping, see ya later :-)

I'm not blonde!!!

Ok, so I haven't been truly blonde for a long time now more of a ratty brown. And anyway being blonde is a state of mind really, LOL! So while at the hairdressers on saturday Robert asked would i like blonde highlights (or low lights), i suggested maybe pink or red..... so we went with blonde and red!!! Now with curly hair its not so defined and when the curls mix its looks more like pink. I still like it and I'm thinking about going a bit more red.

Today I had to out and buy new clothes to go with my new hair :-) and i bought a gorgeous jumper in a colour i normally wouldn't wear.... GREEN and so with the RED lowlights I'm looking rather festive :-)

However deep down I will always be blonde :-)

The first of many (no doubt) LO's from Halloween. The scrummy papers are part of the November DT kit from Bumbleberry Crafts. They are the delis Cosmo Cricket. I'm not a fan of ORANGE - sorry Tiggs, so this was a real challenge.....

.... also more Halloween photos, since blogger wouldn't let me upload them last night.... GRRRRRRRRRR!

The Princess from Hell - as she called herself. Oh how close she is, LOL!

The Boyz and their sparklers :-)

Coooooooool! Messing with the settings on the camera...

Robert again, kindly posing so I could take some photos, aren't kids great :-)

All Hallows Eve

Hello all spooks and ghouls, hope you all had a wonderful Halloween filled with high spirits, treats and very little tricks. We had a spooky time at my sisters house even if it was short lived when my "princess from hell" came home early from being spooked a little too much.

When the boys came home from trick or treating we had sparklers for them to play with, certainly the hight light of the evening. However when the spooky movie came on Shona and I made a quick exit!

Could only load up one photo from last night, something spooky going on with blogger..... anyways here is the one i have for the moment.


Mwahahahahahahaha......... Can we talk CHRISTMAS now?????

My Princely Cook

Even though she wasn't a prince, she still wore the crown while she said her line in the play, then passed it over charitably to the "real" prince. When I collected her from after school care she was still wearing the crown. I had to pry it off her head going to bed last night. She's wearing it now eating her breakfast... I think she fancies herself as royalty.

While making the sambos for school yeserday morning, I glanced out the window and saw the most amazing sky. grabbed the camera and shuffled outside in my slippers and dressing gown to capture it. Wow isn't nature magnificent!

Last night I made a gift box and card for my Aunt, who we are going to stay with at the weekend. Can't wait to get to the beach and breath in the atlantic sea air. The yummy papers are the October kit from Bumbleberry Crafts. They are gorgeous Cherry Art papers, kinda vintage looking.

Right off for another day at the grind stone, y'all have a great day and see ya later!

"Mammy can you make an outfit for school tomorrow?!

Shona: "Mammy can you make an outfit for school tomorrow?"
Me: "For tomorrow???? That doesn't give me much time, what kind of outfit?"
Shona: "Its for a play in school"
Me: "For tomorrow??? Who are you in the play?"
Shona: "Not really sure, Its either a Prince, a Cook or Custard. I think i'm a Prince and then a no body"
Me:"Are you sure you need it by tomorrow? Okay, will give it a go"

half an hour later, glitter glue stuck to my hands and face, cardstock cut into bits for a crown, dinner burning in the oven....

Shona: "Mammy, you're doing a great job, I love you"
Me: "I love you too babes, just give me a second while i stick this ruby onto the crown"
Shona: "Can you come to the play tomorrow?"
Me: "Oh babes, not sure with work, what time is it on?"
Shona: "I dunno"
Me: "I'll talk to your teacher tomorrow, but not promising anything, ok?"
Shona: "Ok, love you mammy"
Me: "Love you too babes"

This morning, I eventually found the teacher and told her about all the fun we had making the outfit about nearly eating glitter for tea and how Shona said she was a Prince and then a no-body, which of course i thought was so funny

Mrs Patterson the teacher: "....but Shona is the Cook "

The moral of the story, next time make an outfit for a Prince, a Cook and a bowl of custard!

Scrap West Blog

Ok its official Scrap West has its own blog, yipee!! So whats it all about??? Each week a theme or a title will be posted up along with the interpretations. The idea is to try and think outside the box... Each week we will have a guest on board to give us their version of the title. We are looking for you to join in too. Leave a link to your LO's, cards, ATC'S or altered art in your comments. Have fun :-)

A Beautiful Day

What a gorgeous day it was today - in between the showers. Gorgeous blue skies with a touch of grey. Shona and I went to Castle connell to meet my parents who have arrived back from spending the summer in Kerry. My Dad was looking brilliant, the time in Kerry has worked wonders for him. After a spot of lunch and catching up with my Mum, Shona and I headed to the river (Shannon) to see the Swans and Ducks where a lovely lady gave Shona some bread to feed the birds. It's simple moments like this that make life great!

A Day Off

My darling daughter is away with her Dad for the weekend so I'm spending they day being creative....Yipee!!! Of course I'll miss her.... but I love this ME time!

I've spent the mornning making Birthday cards for girls on Craftsupplies . This gorgeous paper used for the card is from Silkes in Limerick. It has this beautiful Batik look to it so I didn't want to add to much to the card.

Gonna be spending the afternoon scrapping. Have 2 entries in CJ's to do and a LO for a new project, keep posted for details really, really soon - hee hee.

Scrap West

I now its very late in the day but I thought I'd put up a the LO that I gave a class in at Scrap West 2 weeks ago. My Gosh..... what a fantastic turn out! All those wonderful women who supported the first ever West of Ireland scrappy event. Thanks a million girls..

The class was called"Things I love Today" for a Book of Me. One of the ladies at the Crop did a version with each of her kids, wonderful idea, especially since their tastes change from second to second.

My sister went too - she's nutter, i think she is offically hooked. She rang me later in the week to tell me she has done up her craft room to become a scrap room. Yipee!!!

The first of many?

It was only a matter of time wasn't it... my first blog entry..... what will it be full of? Ramblings and bad spelling no doubt..... so here I go:

Spent a wonderful weekend scrapping my little heart over at Little Cottage Crafts. I was so chuffed when Tracie asked me to do a class. To be amongst such talent was a thrill. Thanks Tracie :-)

The photos I used are of my little woman when she was in Italy with her Dad a few weeks ago. She is lookng up in all the photos, totally engrossed in her new surroundings.

Oh wouldn't it be wonderful for one day to see things as if for the first time again....