Monday, March 31, 2008

No post yesterday as there was a lot going on here...

I've asked Carlo a couple of times recently about extending my desk for me - because I simply have no room. Now bear in mind this is the man who wanted to make the desk room length when he set it up, and I wouldn't hear of it, no way accepting that I'm a shocking hoarder and that my desk would soon have no room to even make a card - never mind a 12 x 12 layout. Anyway long story short, way back then, he rounded the edge of and put it up as I asked. Fortunately for me - he is a bit of a hoarder himself - so when I started whining for more space he remembered that he still had the wood he'd used, and yesterday cut the piece to fit our area and lengthened my scrap space by about 3 feet x 2.5 feet.. bliss! I can see the table!! yay! I was doing the happy dance big time!

The downside to all this glee however, is that he accidently left a large headed screw on the carpet... and when I kneeled down to attach the lil wooden spice racks which are going to house all my paints... I plonked my (not inconsiderable bulk) right down on it.... Ouch Ouch Ouch!!! I was on my knees, with a very gluey spice rack in my hands, so couldn't even fling my arms out to get up off of it.. oh the pain.. you ever do something like that?... Jeez... it CANES!

Seriously guys, I can't describe the pain. I mean it's laughable really. The excruciating agony i've been in is totally out of all proprtion to what I actually did! I kneeled on a screw... FFS - no one cut my leg off! Yet last night I couldn't sleep... every small movement I made caused me to yelp... My knee's really puffy, and swollen and bruised... I cannot bend it to get in the car. I swear it's that bad.


Some of my paints in their new home!
So I now have a scrap room with a fab huge desk... but the floors thigh high in stash as I'd already starting transferring everything to the new plastic sorage drawers when calamity struck.. and now I'm disabled and can't do a thing!

How me... I mean really... how very bloody me...


Now - Anyone want to help me sort this lot out??

Please...?? Pretty please???


And a quick LO of 2 of my girlies... Hanging out near the beach, doing what they do best!
!
Later jk x

Ooo..... nearly forgot!! one of my fave scrappers, Sarah Youde is our guest on
IACW today - and she a has a fab tutorial for a gorgeous lil book in a box made out of a matchbox - it's lovely, and i'm itching to have a go!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

am i helping?

holy crap... the world went dark!

Good on you guys doing your bit for the planet...but you scared the bejaysus out of me, til I worked out what was going on.... most scary of all was google... going all black like that...

I agree with earth hourof course - just give us more notice next time please!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

saturday post

Funny old week for weather eh? One minute I'm driving home with the windows down - the next is flippin Antarctica again.

Jeesh!

Can't wait for summer....

Ok, here's my LO for last night's mojoholder. We scraplifted a lovely page by Kelly McCaleb, and there are some yummy lifts on the blog from the rest of the team, if you wanna check those out too.


Also live today on the IACW blog, are the G pages in our A-Z art journal. This week we are joined by my nutty mate Lemon who has agreed to place on the DT! And very nice it is to have her with us too :-)

Here's my 6" x 6" G page

and there are some gorgeous examples from the team and all our fab readers in the DT gallery and readers gallery here and here

On the home front, I've got visitors for brunch tomorrow when my sis and her partner pop in before driving home to Cornwall, and in less than 2 weeks Jazz and Hayley will fly in with Ruben and Jenna Leigh for a few days - Wow! So excited bout dat jazzabelle... lol !

I bought loads of baby plants in Netto's last week - just £1.99 a box! So now have the massive job ahead of me trying to pot them all on... at the moment they are on windowsills because it's too cold to put them in the greenhouse but hopefully it'll start to pick up soon - before they get too big for the house!

have a fab day everyone!

jk x

Monday, March 24, 2008

Monday 24th

Blimey, Easter Monday already... don't time fly?

Our Easter's here's been lovely, and I've enjoyed the holiday so much I don't want it to end. It's not that we've done anything special, just a bit of family time, a few jobs and some relaxing, but it's really been nice. I think we needed the break.

Oooh.. excitement! Yesterday, we went and collected two old Butler's sinks which I was offered on Freecycle!
The lil one here is approx 12 x 18 "

And this bad boy's 18 x 24", so definitely more hefty!

As soon as the weather picks up, I'm so onto these, I just can't wait to get them planted. First thing I'll do is paint the sides and rims with natural yogourt to encourage moss to grow over them, then they'll look great all year round. I have another one too that I picked up last year - probably the size is somewhere in the middle of these two - so I'll have to make a decision about where I want them and what I'm going to plant, because once they're filled with soil, plants and rocks they'll be near on impossible to move.

Later today we're off to collect a large tumbling composter, which'll be brilliant as we have two hulking great leafy trees of our own, plus the overhang from our neighbours yards as well. I gather these composters can turn all your garden and kitchen waste into super compost in a matter of weeks, and as we have terrible chalky soil here it'll be fantastic for digging in - or even just as a mulch.

Might watch a film later and chill on our last day as the weathers a bit grim again. Oh, talking of films...Anyone seen Bee movie? Brilliant one liners - a fab film for kids and grown ups alike. We also saw Enchanted - which Vinnie hated!! Lol!

His words were ... " Well, that's 132 minutes of my life i'll never get back again...."

Tbh, the film is pure Isabelle... It might have been written for her! A definite must for all the lil disney princesses out there... :-)

On It's a Creative World I have a project today, making a jewelery holder out of a junk find. Here's a piccy of the finished product and simple step by steps can be found on the blog if you fancy having a go. Dead easy and cost next to nothing :-) I like that!

So, i'll leave my post here for now coz I got some things I want to get on with.

Hope you all have a lovely day

jk x

Saturday, March 22, 2008

misery loves company....

This is my Mojoholder layout - updated because I wasn't happy with the one I submitted for last night's posting. You know when a LO doesn't feel right.. doesn't feel finished? Well, I'd left making the layout too late so never had time to leave it and let the scrapbook fairy come by with her magic dust. Anyway, I won't make that mistake again...


All it needed, I thought was a few of Vin's quotes from his songs. I'd stamped things in the wrong place... I was unhappy with the placement of bits... i'm a fussy bugger, I guess. But I feel better with it now, and there's Vin's emo period documented... lol.

He'll laugh one day... Can't now of course - he's an emo, and they live in a dark place....



...until they need a handout anyway ;-)!

Yay... made it!

Well, I'm here, and tbh, I didn't expect to be.

Today we fitted the new BT home hub, and being total twits at technology, I expected trouble. However, it was a breeze. Carl's now setting up the vision box, and I'm keeping out of it. One lot of stress a day is enough for me.

I did fail miserably at setting's Vin's wireless connection up, but I'm going to call my mate who may be able to help. He can always get on here for a couple of days til the PC whizz can fit us it.

Edited to say that I called the help line and Vin's up and running too... yay! I'm not as thick as I thought lol :-D

Here's an Easter personality quiz for ya.




What Your Easter Egg Says About You



You are whimsical, spontaneous, and fun loving.

You connect well with people, but nature is your true love.

Changing locations and scenery is important to your creativity.

You are inspired by the surroundings around you



Take the test.... I thought mine was quite apt.

Hope you all enjoy this Easter Saturday, we're off to DD1's later for a meal and games night!

jk xx

Friday, March 21, 2008

Good Friday

Happy Easter everyone!

I've just been over to IACW to download a gorgeous freebie Kate Hadfield gifted today for our post on the blog. Can't wait to print it off and cut it out, because I love doing hybrid and Kate's stuff is always adorable and very easy to make use of!


I'm also going to go back into the folders and folders of stuff I've collected over the years from PCCrafter, because there's some scrummy stuff in there - bought and paid for years ago most of it - which I ought to be using more of. In the past I never thought of it as hybrid scrapping...well, I don't think any of us even knew the term then, not in connection with scrapping anyway. As far as I was concerned hybrid was a sorta mix and match Rose or something in the garden! :-D Lol! But I've always printed things off and cut them out to use on paper LO's so there you have it I guess... a hybrid pioneer... and I never even knew it! Lol!

Here's pages C, D, E & F of my Art Journal




We're supposed to be setting up our new home hub and vision box today, but Vin asked if we could hold off until tomorrow as he imagines for some reason that tempers may become frayed and angry faces might ruin the day today.... where does he get these ideas... ;-) lol!

We'll be doing it tomorrow then...

Thursday, March 20, 2008

My Goodness!

I've been well busy... and my poor little bloggie has suffered consequently.

No posts for days, but that's because I've been frantically trying to catch up on so many other things - like my A-Z Art Journal for It's a Creative World. Of course I always meant to do this but as usual I got behind, and got no further than finding a mini album to use, and jotting a few ideas on paper. THEN...... I got invited to join the IACW team right out of the blue.... and suddenly realised I'd need to get my butt into gear... pdq! lol!

So I've been having a bit of fun with this. I decided to go for a 6x6 mini album with pp's so I could do my pages out of sequence as the mood took me or when I found/printed photo's off.

I'm all caught up now, and everything's been added to IACW blog, and i'll post them on here bit by bit as well.

This is a tiny format for me, and my first proper album in this size - but I tell you what - it won't be my last. It's so quick and easy, and I just love doing these simple grungy pages with nothing by the way of embellies really... it's all just stamps, doodling, and punchies. Makes a nice change.


I must share something else with you now - I've found a new shopI LOVE! It's called ScrapRevolution and Lorraine is a sponsor on UKS. For one thing it's fairly local to me, though I haven't visited yet... but what I love is the incredibly SPEEDY service! I also love the prices ;-), and the range. It's my new fave place for shopping - both orders I placed were here the next day. I was really impressed with that, and Lorraine seems lovely so pop in and have a gander. Well worth a visit I promise :-).

At work we've had a lovely easter week. On Monday we had a palm service and this is our Easter garden...

It's made in one of those big garden saucer thingies you stand pots on and is a bit bigger that a giant Pizza lol! It has the cave where Jesus was placed, and here you can see the it after the resurrection - the little tiny robes and crown of thorns left behind... The Resi's were enchanted, Bless em.

And then on Tuesday, we had year 4 of the nearby Primary school in to sing their Easter songs for us and meet the Residents. At first they were shy of the old folks, but soon got chatting and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They didn't want to leave - and of course, my people loved it. It's just so nice for them to have kids around the place :-)

Anyhoo - must dash now! I've got to get my MOJO layout done for tomorrow night and a couple of other bits finished off as well.

Plus I want to get ahead... cos my family's coming to visit and I want all my time with them to be freetime.... Now let me see...when will that be Jazz... Oh yeah! 3 weeks today!! YAY!!!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Cheepy chicks and egg basket:

A fun way of using up scraps and brightening the breakfast table! This lil project will cost next to nothing as everything used is likely to be something you have to hand. You wouldn't even need styrofoam eggs. Crumpled foil shaped like an egg and gesso'd would be as good. Get the kids involved - nothing like getting messy to make them smile :-) Posted this on Its A Creative World today - simple instructions on the blog... There's yummy Easter biscuits, and cards and bags by Caz too!

Unadorned Eggs
Decorated can

Finished project!

Right - I'm off now to build an ARK......!!!!!!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Continuing my passion for patterned papers... lol, I made this yesterday for the Mojoholder blog, which you can find here.

Lots of eye candy this week from my teamies, and we're joined this week by a new girl on the DT - Candy - and this chickie's stuff really rocks! Look out for candy's work in the coming weeks :-)


On the home front the excitement is starting to bubble coz it's now less than 4 weeks til the girls come home, bringing Rubes and baby Jenna with them! Gram Gram in particular can't wait, coz he's only seen the baby once for a few days, but we're all looking forward to some great family time together, and Don's kids are dying to play with their little cousins too. Ah.... just think of the photo's!

Ok - off to make my first projects for It's A Creative World as part of the team! Yikes!!!

Friday, March 14, 2008

As one door closes...

So another one open's...

Isn’t it funny how things work out? My Mum always soothed my worries when I was young and concerned about missed opportunities by saying “If it’s right for you, it won’t pass you by...” And you know what? She was usually right. Another of her pearls of wisdom was “As one door closes, so another one opens...” And that has certainly been the case for me. I’ve lost count of the phone calls, letters and emails I’ve received offering me something - just as something else in my life has come to a close… it’s uncanny, but true. There always seems to be something waiting in the wings for me…

But just for me? Almost certainly not. Maybe for you too… You simply have to be ready for it when it comes... make sure you’re always receptive to new ideas and chance opportunities. Never say never. And if someone offers you something, and you think it’s for you – smile your biggest smile and say “thank you very much - I think I will!”

With that thought in mind, I am ready to share some news with you today. I have been invited to join a group of amazingly talented ladies, and while I’m still pinching myself (…are they sure they want me?? ) and also cacking my pants about not being up to the job… I’ve accepted their offer – so I guess that makes me the newest ‘Creative Girl’


Yep - the eagle eyed among you may have spotted that my name is now among the DT of the daily inspiration blog ‘It’s a Creative World’ and I'm thrilled to be there too!

So, I just wanna say a huge thank you to the girlies on the team for having confidence in me, and to tell everyone else I’m really looking forward to getting Creative with you all very very soon!

I also recently joined a team on UKS, and decided to have a go at this weeks challenge to up my points a bit.

It's Carlo and me in London the other week. The challenge called for a LO about friendship, and this is my take. Carlos Fandango - my best friend in all the world.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

getting things done

Phew....after weeks of talking about clearing the greenhouse, we've finally done it today.

It's a rickety old thing nowadays, and there are a few gaps in the panes where the floor's subsided and the glass has slipped, but basically it can still do it's job, so we've decided that this year we'll get it back in use. There was a time I lived out there - and as I don't spend nearly as much time scrapping as I used to when I was up to my neck in commitments and stuff, I'm really looking forward to getting green fingered again and pottering around with the plants :-)

It was in a mess tho! But it's much better now and I've found some packets of seeds which haven't been ruined or eaten, and Lemon's promised me some lettuce, tomato, carrot and celery which I can grow in pots so i'm quite excited to get going :-)

We had a great laugh out there tidying up too... Carl said he had no idea I had such a thing for watering cans....

just how many of these things does one not very serious gardener need for heaven's sake??? Er.... Not this many, probably! :-)

And these lil babies are popping up all over the garden now ... I couldn't resist a few snaps of them, they're so petite and gorgeous.


Vin's also getting things done, and has finally had his hair cut! I think it looks miles better, and he loves it too, so he's glad he didn't chicken out at the last minute ;-) He's also been offered an interview at the school we want for his A levels, so presumably his references were fine. He's a great kid and all his teachers love him, so I didn't really imagine they'd be anything but good, but the thing is they want him to stay on there... He needs to change schools tho, as they can't offer him the A level subjects he wants. Ah well, fingers crossed everything goes ok, and he gets the grades to get in.

My mojoholder layout from last night :

This week we scraplifted Ali Edwards, and she gave us a gorgeous layout to use - I'm sure i'll use the layout/ Sandie's sketch for inspiration again as it's very versatile, and a good chance to use smaller supporting pics - something I don't really do enough of.



Tuesday, March 04, 2008

70's colours...

I just love 70's colours.

don't you?

Orange, brown, advocado, sand.... yep they are my colours. The first house we bought in the 1970's was an old Victorian terraced villa. £7,300, for a three bedroom house in a quiet road with a downstairs bathroom - including an advocao suite of course... And we quickly set about putting it 'right'.

Out came the marble fireplaces - how old fashioned!!! Next w knocked the two reception rooms into one, and almost brought the lot down around our ears... saved only by our dads and a timely RSJ....

It had an 'earth' floor in the kitchen, and I had to chip the bare painted bricks clean so they could be plastered, as the mortgage co was withholding funds until I did...what a job. The butler sink was the first thing to go out there - I wanted stainless steel like my sisters had :-) The sanded and varnished floorboards were hastily covered in a beige and brown shagpile throughout... coz heaven forbid people might think we couldn't afford wall to wall...

I honestly think If we'd stayed there long enough the sash windows would have gone next... thank heavens we moved - or we might have stripped that poor old house of every piece of charm it had once ever had.... but in our favour we were still just kids. We knew no better - and anyway, we made 10 grand on it in a year, so obviously there were plenty of philistines about in our town in those days, apart from us.

But all these old memories were conjured up tonight when I knocked this LO up in about 5 mins - purely from the papers and bits... Nothing to do with the pics at all.


Funny isn't it, how scrapbooking evokes memories not just of the photographs we scrap... but from the textures, papers, patterns, and colours we choose to make them with also.....

Happy scrapping to you, long may you get your memory box opened by your stash :-)

Monday, March 03, 2008

Oh what a night....!

Actually...what a weekend.....!

We have had the greatest time! Never stopped smilin all the way home, never stopped singing silly songs from the show yet :-) Carlo forgot to put any Four Seasons stuff on the MP3 before we went so we couldn't play it at our lil after show party back in room 651, but it went on the minute we got home, and we've tortured Vin with it ever since ;-)

The show was totally amazing. In the words of my sister...Brilliant brilliant brilliant... !!

I can't tell you how much we loved it :-) Carl said it's the best show he's ever seen.... 'course, the kids reckon he always says that... but really, it was so good, it just might have been. I had no idea the boys from new jersey had such backgrounds! No wonder Steven Spielberg's bought the rights to film it when the show leaves the stage. It's an incredible story. Grab tickets if you get the chance is my advice. You won't regret it.

But the show was just the icing on the cake, we had a whale of a time anyway. Naturally, there were problems on the tubes with London deciding to shut down half the lines for maintenance on the very weekend we book to visit, so we had a few hairy moments getting around - eventually arriving at Leicester Square on the #38 bus if you don't mind! (which in itself was hilarious, esp the return journey... ;-) roflol. )

But we managed to find everything we wanted to, and our visits to the Churchill thing and the operating rooms at St Thomas' were FAB!

Here we are in a few silly snaps while we were there...



I imagine the table of hats and uniforms were there for kids really... but what the hell... couldn't let an opportunity for a giggle like that get past us, could we?

Carl's 'officer' face...
Obviously, I'd just be one of the lads...

Or maybe not!
In the navy!


This is in the herb garret now, right in the roof of St Thomas' church. You had to climb up there up a tiny spiral staircase - 32 steps, but it went higher, tho not for us, and cling onto a rope to sort of pull you up coz it was very very steep. I was sitting with me bin's on reading all the info on the place, and Carl was trying to show me what he'd look like if we didn't have a break and grab some lunch shortly...


"Er... not anytime soon, matey!!"

It was gorgeous up there tho... all these lovely smells from all the herbs and spices, and there were big jugs and bowls and urns full of stuff, and signs saying "PLEASE TOUCH" so you could just plunge in and bring handfulls up to smell and feel... brilliant if you are a tactile person like me.

There were also loads of cabinets full of surgical instruments... Carl was especially horrified by all the obstetric tools and was cringeing at my descriptions of what they were used for...particularly the decap hooks, which i've never actually seen before but learned about in modules on the history of childbirth and stuff years ago at Uni.

Carlo's actually in the operating theatre here... I took the pic from the spectator gallery, where other surgeons would sit, along with medical students, apprentices, dressers and invited visitors Charming eh?
And then it was time to get prepared for our evening on the town, and we started early... as you do!

Basic provisions kit:
A bottle of bubbly, some fairtrade fudge brownies, and a loaded MP3 with speakers. What more do you need? :-)
It had been quite a hectic day, but after a quick scrub up and a livener, we were raring to go again...
And here's the concierge waving us off.... lol. Lovely place and lovely people. :-)

I took some snaps around the building to remember it coz it was quite swanky after all. Beautiful chandeliers and decor, and a nice feel. We had a lovely ceasar salad with chicken for our dinner in the Club bar, and a couple more drinks... ;-) and it was really cosy and nice. I'd like to stay there again sometime. Well, you never know!






Little snippet: Apparently, it was the first hotel in London to have an electric lift! well, not a lot of people know that.... lol.


And my mojo layout from last friday!

Erk teasing Jazz and Filiz with food at the poolside in Turkey a couple of years ago! Just couldn't resist the title ;-) lol




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