Just-Jake (keeping all my balls in the air)

Bad times....

2010-08-23T23:09:00.005+02:00

It's all gone downhill since Friday....

1) I've been really unwell. I've had the mother of all colds, an unbeleivably sore throat and bad head, and have felt totally wretched. I still do tbh, I still feel very under the weather - and now completely stressed as well :-(
Because....

2) Vin's stuck in Lanzarote and can't get home until tomorrow afternoon, well, it will be night by the time he get's here. Ordinarily, this wouldn't really matter, but right now it does as he has forms to fill in for this university place, funding to apply for - stuff which should have been done urgently yesterday and emailed back to them, but which obviously hasn't been done as he's not here to do it. On top of that it's now going to cost him a fortune to get back as we can't risk standby anymore... he's missed work, driving lessons....It's all turned into a nightmare, and I've felt sick with the stress of it all day. I'm gutted he's got to pay a huge flight home, but I can't do this on my own, he needs to be here if he wants to do the degree.

With being ill, and all this going on, I've not been feeling very crafty, but I have started the Chicks album, and by keeping it very simple - as I intended to - I've managed to get a few pages done. The photos are not brilliant, I might try again when I feel better.

Had to smile to myself using the TWIST TIE, i'm sure that's one of the things we laughed about on UKS... fancy me still having some of those tucked away - truth is I've got LOADS! lol.

Over on Scrapology we are offering some blog candy in the form of lots of gorgeous halloween goodies, all you have to do is leave a comment and follow the blog... simples!

Plus there's still time to enter to win this prize in the August scraplift challenge! Get over there!

more soon

All good here...

2010-08-20T22:15:00.007+02:00

The boy's on holiday with his mate, out visiting his sisters in sunny Lanzarote, but we heard today that he has an offer for uni, so when he comes home we'll have it all to do filling in a million forms and applying for every grant, bursary and scholarship going.... Wish us luck with that then.

Here he is celebrating his success in his usual laid back fashion... way to go Vin!

I've been pretty busy this week, so not much crafting or blogging done, tho I did make my LO for September's Scrapology which will go out on the first monday of Sept. Still time to enter August's draw btw - there's also a fabby prize on offer and not many entries yet - so get in and have a go while you can, your chances are good!

Today i've felt proper poorly... and no, family - it's not wine flu, before you ask!
I've not felt up to much but did dabble a bit with some stickles and stuff and made a pretty butterfly card - maybe i'll send it to myself... as a get well card lol. Sincerely hoping I feel better tomorrow anyway! I don't really do 'ill' very well...

The secret garden's coming on fine and keeping Carlo busy... and as for me, well, tomorrow it's back to the chicks album, assuming i'm well enough of course!

More soon

you know when something sets you off...

2010-08-15T15:13:00.007+02:00

... for me it can be a set of colours which I like together, or a line of papers... a new technique, or some sort of embellishment that inspires me. Then I seem to get stuck using that thing over and over. I liked the colours of my August Scrapology LO and found myself looking for scraps to make a card with the same colour scheme, anyone else find they do that? A while ago everything was hot pink, lime and B&W together, now I seem to be a bit stuck in an autumny pallete. Dunno why tho.

Today I have a LO using pix from our hols in March - I really can't wait to get back out there in a few weeks for a bit more of this :-)

Oh, and here's the card - using those colours I mentioned.

I also have some news about Scrapology - Jill at Cardinal Colours is kindly sponsoring the blog and will be providing a prize each month for the LO we like best! All you have to do is enter, obviously, and sign up to follow the blog! This month (AUG) the prize is a 'Craft Mates, ezy locking caddy!!' So if you wanna win this fantastic tote get over to Scrapology and check out the A is for Apertures post!

New prizes every month! C'mon and play!

more soon

rain rain go away!

2010-08-14T01:03:00.003+02:00

Are you fed up of the rain? I know I am. The other half is too... he's still trying to complete the patio up the top of the garden, fitting it in after work and any odd hours he has and his efforts are being severely hampered by this sodding weather. Mind you, what's the rush? Just read this morning that we have this weather to look forward to until November.... erm... and then what? Sudden blue skies? I don't think so, Mr Weatherman!

Well, at least if he gets it done we might sit out NEXT year.... Just don't know why I couldn't have been born somewhere else... like Spain...or the desert... or anywhere warm and dry *sigh*

As it's all glum out there, I'm in here making things so there's an upside I guess.

Yesterday I made a card for Daring Card Makers - I do love their challenges :-)

You had to put a TREE on a card, lol.
A tree of all things...! Anyway, I made a baby card in the whimsical style I seem to be developing of late... I actually made a Christmas card as a well - being the obvious thing, but it's a bit rubbish, prob be confined to the bin or the back of a drawer later. I was quite disappointed in it anyway.

And then this morning, I made another card loosly based on this challenge at Get Sketchy. I think if there were no challenge blogs i'd never get anything done.

And talking of challenge blogs, you still have two weeks to get your LO done for Scrapology if you're playing along this month - New Challenge up first monday of September :-)

I'm trying to eat healthily for the next four weeks for my holiday... I made my favourite seafood pasta last night and I'm having baked trout with lime and coriander tonight. Tomorrow it'll be salmon in chilli and garlic - I might lose a few pounds but i'll look like a blummin fish by the time I get there!

Anyway, happy (wet) weekend everyone
More soon

Scrapology is go!

2010-08-09T09:04:00.003+02:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I am part of a new venture in scrapping - a lovely friendly blog, offering a bit of inspo and fun on a monthly basis. Sooooo.... if you've lost your mojo recently - as many of us on the DT have of late.... pop along and join the adventure with us! There's only one challenge a month so you have plenty of time to join in, and we'd LOVE to see your work, we can all support each other and get some scrapping done together :-) You can link to your blog, or email us with your LO. Details on the blog - Scrapology - come and check us out, here's mine :-)

more later

news and views

2010-08-08T17:24:00.008+02:00

I am surrounded by Leo's in my life. My brother, sister, daughter, son, grand daughter and son in law were all born under the zodiac sign of the Lion so as you can imagine, July and August are expensive months for us.

I actually sent my sister a card from Moonpig because this company is a favourite of our family as we like to personalise things where possible, however I couldn't resist making her a little card too and as she's fanatical about her allotment and mad on gardening in general, I knocked this up for her this morning:

Other news is Carlo has cleared the top of our garden which was nothing short of a wilderness tbh, and has started making a new patio. We've had the millstone for years and always intended making a water feature of it with pebbles and a fountain, something like this......

.....but since we never got round to it, he's decided to use it as a centrepiece and build a circular patio instead. This is up the top of the garden and is bathed in sunlight morning and evening now we've had the tree surgeon in to blitz the huge ugly sycamore which has blighted the garden for years. I am SOOOOO happy about this! We're going to make it really lovely up there, paint the wall and put all our pretties we've collected on our travels on show so when we sit down to relax we can remember all the lovely places we've been and all the nice hols we've had. It won't quite be the Med, but we can pretend ;-)

It's nowhere near finished of course, but at least it's started and i've completely abandoned the idea of keeping chickens altogether now.... don't want to share my tranquil area with a bunch of noisy messy hens do I!

And my final piece of news is that I've been invited by some friends to join a new blog where we will be offering up some inspiration and asking people to share their ideas with us too. It's been a while since I was involved in anything scrappy as a few months ago I took a big step back from everything crafty and gave up all my DT's and commitments due to overload and burnout. I totally lost my mojo and with it all interest, and well, basically I just needed a break, but I'm back crafting again - even blogging! - and I think i'll enjoy the challenge, so I hope you'll pop along to Scrapology - Adventures in Scrapbooking... when it goes live tomorrow to see what you think of our new project :-)

more soon

Chicken Talk!

2010-08-07T14:19:00.015+02:00

At work we took part in the 12 day experience - friends on facebook will have seen the pix. On a pre-arranged day an incubator arrives from Living Eggs containing 10 ready to hatch eggs... and within a couple of days you several have gorgeous fluffy chicks!

They can't guarantee how many, but I understand it's usually around 6-8. However, in our case all 10 hatched, much to the delight of the residents and staff. I began recording their progress from the day the eggs arrived, and I've decided to put together a scrapbook album so the residents and their families can reminisce about the event as often as they like.

I intend to keep it very simple:

1. to save time, because much as I love the resi's, most of it will be done at home and my time with my family is precious to me.

2. The vast majority of my residents have some degree of dementia, and clutter on a page can be very confusing for them. If I want them to look at it often ( and I do) then I need clear, clean lines and nothing way out or whacky.

To keep it coordinated i'm sticking to a fairly simple monochromatic colour scheme, but to add a little fun i've chosen a few simple embellishments, and will use stamps throughout to carry the reader from page to page.

Just hope it turns out ok, and they love it as much as they love the chickadees themselves!

I've also been busy cardmaking, and can't believe how much i'm enjoying crafting again... mind you, let's be honest, the weather's been naff so i'm not interested in being outside. I read that Summer's on it's way back, and next week's gonna be nice again, so might as well take advantage of the bad weather to catch up on projects indoors while it's grim!

I made this this morning, just a quickie card for DCM's latest challenge. I have a number of August birthdays coming up, and Peridot is the birthstone for August born folks, so this will no doubt be useful for someone. Thanks to Debra for the stickers, told you i'd find a use for them one day even if the oldies couldn't!

And this for Card Patterns sketch no 75

more soon
have a lovely weekend everyone!

get the flags out!!!

2010-08-06T16:56:00.005+02:00

I made a layout at last, lol!

I have my lovely friend Lynn to thank for getting me back in the scrappin saddle...And now i'm back in the craft room, I find i'm enjoying it again. Maybe I just needed a little break, who knows... but in the last three days I've made two layouts and a card - not bad for someone totally without mojo last week! :-)

I couldn't resist making a LO featuring the gorge little flags I see everywhere lately. Obviously, mine are home made, though i'm sure some enterprising soul is selling miniature bunting for layouts on ebay or etsy. Come to think of it, probably the big manufacterers are too, but as I had some old diamond patterned paper kicking around it was easy enough to cut some out and chop them in half, and they were perfect for the pic of my little grand daughter Jen being the clown that she is and making everyone round the pool smile.

Thanks for popping in!
more soon

Daring Cardmakers, Nat's challenge.

2010-08-05T00:55:00.001+02:00

So much for getting back to blogging! No sooner had the idea come to mind than everything went crazy and my time disappeared again - how typical!

Anyway, I have managed a couple of things. One thing I really wanted to do was to find time to get back into making cards... I'd barely started to learn this craft when it all went pear shaped and my hobby time got put on the back burner... but... I'm trying to change that now. With this in mind I thought a chllenge would help, so hopped over to Daring Cardmakers, as I always like their ideas. With luck I'll try a few more challenges from other sites this week as I find putting a card together comes easier at the moment than making a whole layout - although I HAVE even managed one of those!

Here's my card for DCM

The theme was sister or friend... and as it's my sister's birthday on the 10th - and she is without doubt one of my very best friends, I had no prob having a go with it :-)

Thanks for popping by
more soon

Canal Festival

2010-07-31T20:59:00.012+02:00

We popped along to the Canal Festival today. I wouldn't say we are exactly moping with Vin away at Sonisphere... and Don and all her lot out in Lanza with the girls...but the idea of a colourful fun afternoon surrounded by water and boats was a welcome break, so we jumped in the car and shot down the bypass after our jobs were done.

Apart from the barges, there's a lot to see. Loads of country crafts, stalls and entertainments. Carl loved the little boats powered by candles, and I loved the bright rag rugs and basketware. We walked along the tow path for a while looking at the narrow boats, and stopped to pet daft dogs excitedly running the length of their boats barking at everyone in a very important way :-) We had our lunch there too from the hog roast... hot pork rolls with apple sauce, crackling and coleslaw, and Carlo had a highly potent scrumpy while I sipped a delicious fruity Pimms.

There were birds of prey, and I snapped a lovely photo of an owl who had the most beautiful orange eyes, and we cracked up at the tractors who all bore a sticker proclaiming them Old Farts... made us feel quite at home, that did!

Anyway, here's a few pics from our day out. I might even shake myself into making a mini book of the event - such a colourful day out deserves recording. Just hope I can hold that thought.... fingers crossed anyway.

anyway, enough for tonight :-)
More soon

It's been awhile....

2010-07-27T08:54:00.006+02:00

....it's been several months in fact since I blogged.

I haven't blogged because I've really not been doing anything crafting wise, I've been busy outside, have felt pretty down on and off...and also because I got too caught up in facebook - which sucks a lot of time if you let it... and I confess I did.

In the months I've been away I closed the blog down to visitors, but I had an emal recently asking if I'd like to become part of a new project - which really interested me - and so out of the blue I got the kick up the bum I needed to get back to crafting, and as a result, hopefully, blogging :-)

As I have nothing creative to show, I'll show you me being an idiot, along with with my nutty sister and my darlin Carlo, last weekend at the British Music Experience if you haven't visited this expo at the O2 yet, you should. It's a fantastic place, stuffed with music memoribilia, costumes, instruments and info - you can also dance the decades! Which as you can see, we did ;-) But where is my son and his friend... who we took to celebrate his 18th birthday....? Hiding, obviously! Oh the shame... mum dad and godmother/auntie doing the twist in front of hundreds of tourists.... ha ha - bet he was glad there were plenty of places to lose yourself inside!

British Music Experience Video Removed

more soon!
hugs

home at last!

2010-03-20T20:42:00.011+01:00

It's been a busy busy time!

Had heaps going on with work stuff, family, and my dad especially, but all's good now, and we've also had a lovely holiday with the family in Lanzarote, and in fact only got back 24 hours or so ago.

I'd love to have something crafty to share today, but sadly there's been no time. I wish there had. I do still love to play with my pretties when I can, but sometime's there's just no way and i'm learning to accept that, if reluctantly.

Have a few holiday pics tho, mainly for the family, but feel free to have a gander if you've nothing more interesting to do.

THE DOGS!

And the lil PEEPS!

more soon, luv to all

third month already!-

2010-03-01T21:52:00.007+01:00

1st March already... Surely that's not possible?
Where does the time go?

At work we held our third theme day of the year. In Jan we did Burns night, in Feb it was celebrating Chinese New Year, and as I'll be away on annual leave for Paddy's night later this month, I decided to do St David's Day instead. Yellow napkins, daffs on the tables, Welsh food, a quiz, some history of the great man himself - they loved the story of David and the leeks in battle, lol, and a CD of a male Welsh Choir. I can't pretend I don't enjoy our theme days. I think I probably enjoy it more than the oldies, but it is a lot of work getting it right.

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of preparing during craft Club. We made daffodil brooches out of egg boxes for the ladies, and leeks for the gentlemen, out of crepe paper. I've got photos of them all in their daffs etc but obviously I can't put them up here in case the PC brigade see it and come and arrest me ;-0

Here's our Welsh griddle cakes tho - and very nice they were too!

and a few of the daffs and stuff, they did look lovely in them...

And a quick lil card to mark the occasion.

So... I hope all my Welsh friends enjoyed their special day, and hope the rest of you had a fab time doing whatever it was you did today... Me? I'm off to watch the box. I'm knackered after all the excitement! ;-)

hugs

Is it summer yet?

2010-02-27T09:55:00.009+01:00

Feeling all Summery?
Nah, me neither, so it honestly lifted my spirits to see Daring Cardmakers
challenge this week. Don't know about you, but nothing says 'Summer' to me louder than finally getting my flip flops out, so naturally I made a card using a cheeky lil pair of my fave footware :-)

And because I was so inspired by the idea of sunny skies (...and also because I'm off to the Canaries on holiday myself very soon for a bit of much needed sunshine and sangria...) I made two cards on this theme! Get me!

I also spotted a summery looking little bargain on my shopping trip to Hemel yesterday, tho i'm sad to say I found no nice holiday bits to pack, even tho I looked very very hard! What I did buy was this brill set of acrylic measuring cups in the pound shop - absolute bargain, and even better as they match my kitchen's lime green colour scheme :-)

This is actually really good because I've found I'm always having to bypass great recipes if the ingredients are measured by the cup or half cup - being a bit dim in this department I personally having no idea what that relates to in ounces etc - but hey! No more! My handy little set here will do me for many a year I reckon - and all for the princely sum of 99p!

I've also been playing with the robo a lot today and cutting lots of mats and frames out - as is evident on these latest cards. Oh the fun i've had poking all the holes out... I just can't tell you, you must try it for yourself... ;-) but I like the result, so I guess it was worth the time. And mess!

Hmmmm what can we say?
Roll on summer eh?
Happy days to you all whatever your weather

is it any wonder I get nothing done?

2010-02-24T23:29:00.010+01:00

365 Cards:- ..."find inspiration in modern styles..."

Ok, I freely admit i've taken a bit of a licence here.... ;-) Definitely nothing classy or stylish about this tongue in cheek card - but I do see it as contemporary.... - ok, at least of modern design then, lol. And I've sort of scraplifted Kristie's design too, just turned it on it's side, and more or less followed the plan :-)

Anyway, it's impossible to do anything with the pup in here..... Look at her!!
I'm trying to write at my computer... and she's having none of it...
"Sausages Mum! Play sausages! C'mon!"

She's under my feet, under my chair, nibbling scraps of paper and blossoms on the floor, worrying at wires... she's a proper nightmare.

The only way I can get a picture of her at all is to use the 'sport' setting on the camera. And even then they're blurred - because she's a blur!
love her to bits tho... She's my baby :-)

til next time, take care and thanks for popping by my blog :-) x

and there's more!

2010-02-23T00:52:00.003+01:00

Guess what? More snow! This was completely unexpected as the good old Beeb got it wrong again... but we woke up to a white world Monday morning, and then it went on to snow pretty much all day. I was thrilled, as you might imagine.

Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, I had more to worry about as I'd been awake most of the night with the mother of all colds which hit me like a ton of bricks and left me very tired very fed up and very very sorry for myself this morning. I've felt rubbish all day, and even without the snow I could never have gone to work. I just felt too damned ill. Anyway, Carlos has now brought me home some meds and ultra balm tissues and while I feel no better in myself, it's nice to know he cares enough to go back out in the snow to get them, bless him.

So I haven't been up to doing much today. Basically just rested as I was so knackered, but I did make a card later, based on this week's CPS sketch, # 155.

I keep thinking about making a layout but somehow it never happens, I think if it does it will have to be in a different size, I just don't have room to store any more 12 x 12's!

Hope to feel better soon, take care all til next time

Is it too late to hibernate?

2010-02-21T19:46:00.008+01:00

Blooming weather! I'm fed up of being cold, and I can't wait for my holiday. Totally given up on trying to lose weight for it tho - it's just not the right time of year to starve yourself is it? Today I baked a lovely crusty parmesan and tomato loaf, and we had that with huge bowls of spicy turkey and spinach soup... real stick to your ribs grub!

I'm stll tweaking the old pc after yesterday's operation, but it wasn't as painful as I expected. The new XP sp3 went on fine, although we had to completely format the drive instead of just fixing the prob as we'd hoped. No matter, i got rid of a lot of junk and it's running faster now, but I lost ALL my address book in the process, along with all my links and fave's which for some reason didn't save :-( Just saying, so's you don't expect any funnies from me... not unless you mail me first anyway lol.

Haven't had much time to craft, tho you'll notice i've played about a bit with the blog. That black background was doing my head in!

I did makea couple of little cards today - One for Card Patterns, Challenge # 52

And another quickie based on the challenge over at The Sweet Stop - Think Spring!
It's kind of hard to do anything with a 5 month old puppy constantly scrabbling to get on your lap tbh, and this little shadow is never far from my side since she discovered the stairs... honestly, my craft room is tiny enough as it is and now i've had to move a bed (and half her toys)in here it's even worse!

Anyway, hopefully more tomorrow. I've got a bit of a cold and don't feel so great so it's bath book and bed for me I reckon.
Til next time...

Total Blowout!

2010-02-20T00:48:00.012+01:00

Dear Dear... overeaters anonymous, please contact me, I think I need your help. Ate the mother of all meals tonight... and you know what? it was deeeeelishious!
Seems I am in a rebelious mood. Take note those that need worry.

Two cards today, but it appears I get lazier by the week as I've done nothing else, shame on me.

DCM, Winter Birthday card theme:

Very simple but it's actually quite sweet irl.

And one that I made for my stash of 'might need one days':

On this one I used some of katie's doodles, check out her new designs on the lilypad, she's always got something fab on the go.

My Bargain of the week?
This mini spidery tripod - makes photographing cards so much easier! Guess how much it cost?

99p! Gotta love those pound shops eh?

Pray for me tonight pls, got a man coming to wipe and install a new OS tomorrow... Talk about jelly legs! I'm terrified!

Can you say Happy New Year... in Chinese :-)

2010-02-14T21:06:00.012+01:00

Finally got to use the new stamps!
But I haven't really had much time to play today, as apart from it being Chinese new year, it's obviously also Valentine's day, and I do have a honey or two to think about...

Actually tho, i've had a lovely day. Our treat was to see Avatar, which we absolutely LOVED! and boy do I want one of those swishy tails... and erm, I have to say, I want it now! Carl thinks it's so funny that I was completely fascinated by the tails all the way through the film... but I just thought it really clever how they managed to convey how the Na'vi character's were feeling by the activity of their tails... and I don't think that's particularly funny at all. Having owned cats all my life, i'm used to judging their mood by their tail movements and have managed to avoid being mauled many a time by an aggravated cat just by watching for that angry flick which comes nano seconds before the strike lol :-) Any cat person will tell you that!

We've also cooked (and scoffed) a massive roast beef dinner and very naughty gooey brownies.. yum yum... and drunk wine, lots of wine, and well... just done the whole valentines thing, as you do ;-) xx

But I managed to squeeze in time to make one little card. It's a Happy New Year one for the Chinese New Year, which incidently, this year is the year of the Tiger.

The translation for these words comes from Google Translate which is a fab lil tool to have around

and the card itself was inspired by papertake challenge #34

Cherish the rest of your valentines day - and remember to enjoy yourself... as the old song says...it's later than you think ;-) xxx

heart to heart

2010-02-13T13:08:00.009+01:00

I've been having a heart to heart with myself this morning. Giving myself a bit of advice. If I was a friend i'd give me a kick up the bum, because God knows I need it. Hopefully some part of me will have listened, and by tonight the mess all around me will have been (at least partially) sorted into some order and I'll be able to move and find things again. I can't use the Robo, I can't use the cuttlebug... even the scanner's buried... it's a disgrace and so am I. How does it happen? No one sets out to deliberately sabotage themselves do they? No one thinks "right, if I just dump all this crap on the side I'll bury all the important stuff and then I can have all sorts of fun searching for my new stamps/best scissors/ paper piercer/ heat tool...."

I mean, I can't even SEE my cuttlebug! It's not like I lost a pair of tweezers... I lost a whole MACHINE for God's sake!

But I'm on it. I am.
I am really really ON IT today!

On a teeny lil corner of my desk... the only part that's visible... I managed to make a card for Daring Cardmakers heart challenge. It's here

And these babies are what I'm going to reward myself with later when all the trash is cleared and I can actually USE them! It's Chinese New Year tomorrow, but we're celebrating it on Monday so I have a little time to make something hopefully. Depending on how the big tidy up goes of course!

Have a great day guys whatever you're up to
more from me tomorrow - I hope! lol :-)
jkxx

what a week!

2010-02-12T13:24:00.006+01:00

Just after publishing my last blog post - a week today, I lost all internet access. Sat on the phone for hours with very helpful BT people in India, 4 different ones to be precise, to no avail. No internet for me, although the broadband signal was allegedly fine... no wireless access for Vin, no Bt vision TV for Carlo, or indeed anyone in the family. This went on for days. My pooter whizzkid buddy couldn't find anything wrong either, tho Bt insisted it must be a software issue. We checked everything. Tried re-installing windows over the top, but obviously couldn't connect to download anything useful. What a palaver! Eventually decided to order a new Windows disc but even had trouble there as I refuse to buy Vista because of all the probs people have had, and let's be honest, Windows 7 is too new to really know... so it was Windows pro sp3 I needed, and can you find that anywhere...?

Actually, you can. In germany of all places! Anyway, after all sorts of fannying around transferring everything to an external HD, suddenly it all decides to play nicely again!! Grr! I'll still install the new disc when it comes... but honestly - it probably WAS BT all along! How damned annoying. I wasted all sorts of time... blew several gaskets... I could go on, but you get the picture I'm sure.

Anyhow. I'm back. Back with a card for CPS #153

and a pic of the gorgeous (huge) bag of cream and white antique lace and broderie anglais I inherited yesterday! I feel a few LO and cards coming on using some of that!

Happy weekend everyone, thanks for popping in.
jkxxxx

whatever came over me?

2010-02-05T01:01:00.001+01:00

I always enjoy the challenges on Daring Cardmakers . Friday's my day off so I usually spend some of it crafting or doing something I like to do, and the last couple of weeks i've popped over to DC first thing to check what the new challenge is. This week the theme is 'Amethyst' so I decided to go with the colour and teamed it with lime and soft teal as I like the combi. It's a real detraction from my usual style but hey ho, give it a go is my new motto.

Not sure who'll end up with it tho - it's awfully girly for my lot! They've also got a FAB giveaway going on.... and wouldn't I like to win it lol! They've teamed up with Craft Obsessions to give a Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch and Stamp set as a prize, so pop over and scope the rules of the draw if you fancy having a go yourself... but please don't win it! Coz erm....I wanna do that! :-)

Ok, here's my frothy card:

have a fab weekend everyone, hope the sun continues to shine on you all
thanks for popping in
jkxxx

minus 10...

2010-02-05T00:14:00.004+01:00

Yep, that's me. Minus 10lbs. Lost since my D day on the 4th Jan.

Go Me!!

Don't worry tho, i'm not in any imminent danger of fading away... there's plenty more where that came from more's the pity. But it's a good start. All I have to do is keep it off and keep at it. Wish me luck with that then ladies.

Just one lil ole card today. This one for the 365 challenge to use a large heart on a card. This'll do nicely for my anniversary card for Saturday. Carl will either not notice that i've cut the heart out on the music paper upside down... or be far too polite to mention it... Doh! Why didn't I notice it til I scanned it! losing my sight as well as going senile now.... ye gods! is there no help for me?

Anyway it's late and i've had a long old day
Hugs to all, maybe more tomorrow.
Hoping to use some new stamps I have my paws on!

thanks for coming by
jkxxx

funny how things change

2010-02-03T01:21:00.007+01:00

It amuses me how much I enjoy making cards these days. I mean, I never used to make cards. I couldn't understand why anyone bothered to. I know that sounds totally ridiculous, but all I can say is, I was stupid. I was even a little bit snobby, like I thought people who scrapped were somehow better than card makers...

"oh no", I'd smile, "I don't make cards..."

"Noooo... I'm a scrapbooker see, it's what I do..."

Honestly...! What a plonker!! Of course, I'm embarrassed now.

But don't despise me - because people change. They wise up. And I love making cards so much now that the truth is I'd rather make a couple of cards than a page any day if I happen to find myself with little spare time. That might have something to do with the fact that I have a gazzillion pizza boxes crammed full of layouts that no one ever looks at tho, to say nothing of the dozens of bulging albums getting dustier by the day on my groaning shelves. Also, I absolutely can't afford new products, new papers, or new anything, but with all my old stuff kicking around and a few odd scraps of ribbon I can make a nice card without breaking the bank. I'm not saying that i'll never scrap again... it's just that right now i'm having more fun with something else - and isn't that what hobbies are supposed to be all about?

So, two today for this weeks ColourQ challenge. This is another challenge site i've just found and I like the look of it - love me a bit of colour, I do!

The first one I took a bit of a liberty with... so I made another to comply a tad more :-)

The butterflies wings actually stand up, but you can't really see that in the first pic.

And this is the other one. It'll probably be my anniversary card to my Carlo, as we're celebrating 23 years this Sat... or is it 24...? we can never make up our minds!

Thanks for popping by
jkxxx

Eeek!

2010-02-01T07:26:00.008+01:00

My hols are looming. Not that I don't want to go, it's just that i'm starting to panic about the thought of exposing myself to the elements out there looking like I do. I've a nice comfortable padding at present which has been invaluable this bitter British winter with all the cold and ice etc.... but for the Canaries in March? Not much call for a muffler and overcoat out there I fear.

The time's come. I have to drop some pounds, fast.

Don't laugh....I've bought these.

Very cheap on Amazon (£15 for the lot), and i'm just going to have to make myself do something every day. That, a diet, and lots of walking - it's all got to help eh?

I'll let you know how I get on....
wish me luck.
jkx

no thank you!

2010-01-31T16:20:00.012+01:00

it's been trying to snow again today... but I said no thank you. Have you got that mr weather man? I said NO THANK YOU!!!
ok, feel better now that's been settled :-)

So, for anyone who's interested, yes I did get the telly going. And I feel thoroughly ashamed as it was so easy. I can't actually believe I never got to grips with it before - Not that there was anything on the box, obviously...

So, I came up here and made a cute card instead. It was originally destined for CPS, but I missed the challenge deadline as something weird happened to my computer and it shut itself down and wouldn't come on again. Disaster! Carl got it going again this morning. Something about the plug? I dunno what he did, and nor do I care. As long as it's fixed i'm happy. I can't bear life without my pc. When it breaks i'm on a wobbler til it's mended again. Embarrassing as that is to admit I have to, coz it's the truth. The thought of a day without going online would kill me ha ha.

Here's my card:

Gotta love that poodle eh!

Captured this on our way home from the Downs walk this afternoon. Sunset over the fields, just a couple of minutes from our house.

Beautiful.

Right, off to have a go at organinsing and doing my preps for my 365 album. I've had lots of help from Deb who's fantastic completed book prompted me to have a go myself. Do check hers out - her photos are amazing and her book is a real inspiration.

later
jkxx

I am my Dad...

2010-01-30T11:56:00.006+01:00

....or that is the joke in the house today, anyway.

The reason for this uncommon mirth is that the boys are off to an event in London shortly and I, being left behind on my own, will have no idea how to operate the TV. Vin has offered to write me a detailed guide - with diagrams if necessary - so that should I decide to settle down later with the pup on my knee I will at least be able to turn the damned thing on, if not find something worth watching. Unbelievably, I haven't always been this useless. Once I could flippantly flick between channels like the best of them (when we only had four, admittedly), I could turn on and off... well it was manual those days, see? I could even switch to aux and insert, play and watch a video. Probably even a DVD! But all that was before we had 77 handsets which all look the same, but apparently operate any number of functions and aspects on a television set, and the peripherals which go with it.

We go down my Dad's quite often to re-acquant him with the buttons and whatnots on his own handsets. He forgets what does what and thinks things are broken, and last time I found him sitting with a whole draw full of batteries, sadly trying one after the other - all to no avail, before we realised he'd actually unplugged the blooming thing before he went to bed the night before, and somehow it had slipped his mind. I did ask why he had so many batteries, and did any of them actually work, but got no satifactory answer and to be honest I was so grateful we'd got it going again without WW3 erupting that I decided not to pursue it... if he's happy to have more batteries than Wilko's in his drawer who am I to argue?

Anyway - you can see why they think I'm turning into my Dad, can't you? I can't work the telly it's true. And most of the time I don't want to, but tonight...? Yeah, maybe I will.

So, i'm off for a crash course in domestic technology. Just hope we've got a few spent batteries kicking around in case I can't work it. It'll give me something to do trying them all out til the menfolks get home to save me from dying of boredom.

Couple of things today: My first card for Card Patterns . It's a great template so I thought i'd have a go :-). And a layout of the boy with the pup. That dog is spoiled rotten, and very very much loved!

it's on the cards

2010-01-29T17:20:00.006+01:00

I've got the card-making bug...there's a lot of it about.

Checked out the Daring 'schooldays' challenge this morning and couldn't resist. Also made another valentiney type card.. God knows what I'm going to do with them all - it's not like I have that many sweethearts!

This is my take:

And this is the other one:

On the home front all is well. I've done a few extra hours at work in an attempt to limit the financial damage the snow days (weeks...) wreaked on my pocket. My menfolk are off to TNA in London tomorrow so i'll be hey there lonely girl I guess. Oh well, at least I have the pup... that's a good thing... right?

I love her really, just wish she wasn't such a little mare all the time!

have a great weekend all, more soon.
jkx

2010-01-26T00:52:00.007+01:00

The (daytime) Burns night celebrations went down well at work yesterday :-) My oldies obviously can’t stay up late partying, so I threw them a bit of a do in the afternoon instead. We had Haggis with tatties and neeps which I addressed of course ;-) That came in to the sound of bagpipes...and the chef also made a fantastic Raspberry Cranachan all steeped in scotch whiskey.

We followed this with a few of Rabbie’s poems, a fun Scottish quiz, and a good sing-a-long of all the old faves to round it off. Great fun!

I popped over to Daring Cardmakers earlier and was inspired to join in their latest 'What's the Point?' challenge. I made a valentine's card, tho I won’t be able to give it to Carl now as he’s blooming well seen it! Doh!

It's my intention to make ALL my cards this year... One, in an attempt to use up some of this mountain of stash which is threatening to engulf me if I'm not careful, and two, because the car payments are gonna cripple me and I won't be able to afford to buy any !

I’ve also been trying to organise my 365 pics today on Deb’s advice – crikey, what a pickle I’m in already! Methinks that advice came just in time. I aim to be fully sorted by the end of the week - and have caught up on my weekly pages before the begining of Feb.

ok, that's it from me
take care all
jkxx

Diet....? What diet..?

2010-01-25T01:46:00.006+01:00

My holiday's looming... less than 7 weeks now - and the diet's gone to pot. I don't know why. I have good intentions every day, but somehow, somehow, I never quite manage to get by on a leaf and a sliver of steamed chicken. I seem to have a built in self sabotage button. If it's not wine and nibbles, it's something else.

Today it was the choc chip cookies. Now, I made those for the boys.... I made myself a sugar free jelly which I was of course, happy to share. Unfortunately for me - and my diet - the boys generously offered to share their warm, crumbly and moist confections too, and I very nearly succumbed! Which is quite mad as I'm not even a sweet eater!

It's the word diet that does it I reckon... as soon as I say i'm on a diet, I just wanna scoff! Anyone else find that?

Anyway, I DIDN'T eat them. Didn't even taste them... so while the rest of the day might have been a disaster, at least I resisted the treats. :-) But boy, did they smell good!

EASY CHOC CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients
250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
325g chocolate chips

Preparation method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / Gas mark 4 and grease a baking tray. I'm thinking of buying some of those non stick liners you can get which you just wash and use again. If anyone spots any in Lime green please let me know where!
2. Sift together flour, bicarb and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough. Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
ENJOY! ( or not, if you're on a diet! lol!)

doesn't get much warmer does it?

2010-01-24T18:34:00.009+01:00

Took the pup for a lovely long walk today. Long walk for her anyway. Someone said they thought Chi's got enough exercise just running round the garden. All I can say is, they've clearly never owned one! We walked right along the old railway, past Sewell turn, and down towards the abandoned quarry at the lower end of Totternhoe - a good few miles, there and back. Think she was tired? Nah.... I mean,I was.... but her? No chance!!

I'm still trying to find time to do a bit of crafting, but my free hours just run away from me. I have a new crochet set( xmas pressie) and I really really want to learn. Anyone been buying the new Art of Crochet Partworks on sale now? I was tempted but being skint had to say no. I think i'll try google and youtube instead, never know what you might find there. And I also found this place - which might be good too - need to check it out.

In the meantime, I made a LO - I have so few pics of me and Carl and all the kids together, seemed a shame not to :-)

anyway - gotta run, got a roast on and i'm starving... it's all that exercise see... just makes you hungry! :-)

jkxx

Ka'nt believe it....

2010-01-22T21:28:00.010+01:00

I'm going to do something tomorrow that i've never done before.... and that's no small feat for a scaredy cat old bird like me who resists change at all costs.
I'm going to pick up a brand new car.

That's a 'New' car...

Yeah.

Me.

I know....Don't really go together those words, do they?
Everyone knows I'm the original banger queen... never had a decent car in my life as i've never really been that bothered what I drive as long as it gets me there, and hopefully back again in one piece. But the time has come - and with the gov't scrappage scheme, it'd be mad not to - so I'm finally saying farewell to my ancient fiesta - which I love... but with luck, also waving goodbye to all the horrendous garage bills she constantly saddles me with.

In honour of this momentous event, I made a LO to mark the occasion.

I'm sure photo's of the sparkly machine will grace this blog before very long - well, assuming I manage to make it home from the other end of town behind the wheel of something which actually goes, without mishap....

So! Stay tuned!
jk xx

late start

2010-01-19T08:31:00.007+01:00

So, I fiiiiinnaaally got my 2010 family calendar!

I'd wanted the 2010 Mum's Family Calendar by Sandra Boynton...

...which is the one my daughter gave me last year, but it seems they're like gold dust now and as I couldn't find that one anywhere, I opted for this one from Lakeland, instead.

Same pocket idea which I found brilliant for stuffing receipts, coupons, letters from the college with dates etc and lots of other useful bits and spaces for an airhead like me who has a memory like a seive :-)

I feel I should mention that my return to blogging hasn't gone too well so far.. the truth is I've just had no time to make anything even faintly interesting, lol. Why I imagined I would have is the question here, obviously!

Anyway, I did actually manage to make a couple of quickie type cards last night, so here they are. I made them for someone at work who's feeling really sad and down, but as I don't know her that well I haven't made up my mind which one to give her yet. I only know her predicament as she confided in me out of the blue, but from my own experience I know when you feel that way even the smallest kind gesture from a colleague can make you feel world's better. I hope so anyway.

Hopefully be back tomorrow with something more creative as I'd really like to do something crafty everyday - just to keep my own spirits up!

til later
jake

Pants on the ground...

2010-01-15T11:15:00.005+01:00

...Looking like a fool with your PANTS on the ground!

Hysterical - Who doesn't love General Larry!

And in a bid to bring some summery cheer back into my snow filled, windy, rainy, cold and miserable old january life - I made a layout - Hope it cheers you up too, if only coz it reminds that summer WILL come again soon... we have to have hope!

jkxx

{LOVE} in a cold climate

2010-01-13T22:22:00.003+01:00

With cold on the brain - it's absolutely bitter here, and no let up in sight - I decided to scrap the picture I took this morning as today's 365 photo. I was feeling a bit down. The snow's been a nightmare and I was again unable to get into work. I don't have the luxury of being paid when I'm not there so obviously I was thinking about losing money again, and feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Just after Carl left (he walks) I looked out of the window to see how bad it was and check on state of the road outside. Looking down, I spotted a message on my windscreen... 'I love you' scrawled in the snow :-) Now, anyone will tell you, Carlo's not the most romantic man... but c'mon... how sweet is that? I just had to take a snap, and then I thought "why not scrap it too?"

So here it is:

{Love} in a cold climate

It's not hybrid, though it looks it. It's not rocket science either... nor cutting edge. But it's done - and as it's the first i've done in months, I'm happy. I'm back!

Back to blogging - at last!

2010-01-13T12:36:00.003+01:00

After a four month break, i'm back.

Life's been manic to say the least, I don't know how I've got through it all, or where the time's gone but after a four month break I've realised miss my blog and really miss crafting, so for now, it's back to both of them :-)

NOT that anyone will notice, so it's really just for me, but then what does it matter who sees/reads/responds anyway? It's just somewhere to put my pretties and hopefully motivate me to make some more.

Ok - off to try and scrap a page - yikes! it's been a looooog time!

panicky times

2009-09-18T17:19:00.005+02:00

Ho hum...not coping too well this week...
True, there's some good things happening - like me getting my puppy... the chi puppy i've yearned for for almost 5 years now... but there's also a lot of other stuff going on, and after the crap year i've had it's taking it's toll. I'm utterly worn out and feeling pretty damn close to breaking tbh.

I keep trying to push it all down and stay on top but it's hard when you constantly feel on the verge of being engulfed. I need that Euro lotto win tonight... I know they say money can't buy happines but it can buy a lot of other stuff! Like a puppy passport...And a ticket round the world.... and that sounds pretty damned tempting from where i'm sitting.

PUPPY UPDATE: cha cha is now eating solid food and is growing bigger every day!

Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

And somehow I managed to do a quickie Hybrid LO, though really i've no time at all at the mo. It's just a simple page, though there was quite a bit of cutting out, but I loved the doodles.. and I LOVED the pics - and how could I resist when they went together so well?

Doodles are Kate Hadfield's. Safari Malarky and Spring Greens available from the Lilypad.

later x

Pedal Power

2009-09-13T15:49:00.010+02:00

So the holidays are well and truly over. Vin's back to college this week and my tan's fading fast... Still, we had a lovely fortnight in Lanzarote with the family, met our brand new Grandson, spent lots of time playing with our other Grandkids, chilled out, got sunburnt, and ate and drank too much. Yep - heaven :-)

I've managed to get a quick hybrid page done this morning. These doodles from Kate Hadfield were just perfect for the pics of our day out in Matagorda on the 4 wheel bike. If you've never ridden one of these let me tell you it's... an experience. Lol. Absolutely mad - but such a laugh. The truth is whoever was steering - and I never knew who it was but I knew it wasn't me... then we were all over the place. Great fun! However, I spent most of the time taking the pictures... I value my life - crap as it is much of the time ;-).

Roadworks Alpha

Are we there yet? doodle pack

Happy Memories :-)
jkxx

long time no post

2009-09-11T10:23:00.012+02:00

Well it's been a very long break without a post from me. I've been unbelievably busy (still am as a matter of fact...) and that's meant I've not had much time for playing on the pc. Not had much time for any kind of playing tbh, so even scrapbooking - once a daily activity, has had to take a back seat. I still love scrapping/crafting etc but unchecked I can let it get in the way of other important things, so i've decided that for now it'll have to go on the back burner until I find time management a bit easier... Also, I'm seriously going to sort this room out and de-junk - it's too small a room and there's too much stuff in here taking up space and not being used. So clear out time at last.

The GOOD news today however... the GREAT news today...Is that one of my dreams is finally coming true.... after almost five years of pining for meemee...I'm going to be getting a Chihuahua puppy of my own!

I am. I am. I am! Not might be... not one day maybe... just... I am. I really am.

Deposit's paid, puppy's chosen, she's named, and first cuddles by us have been shared... So she's ours! :-)

Just need to let her grow a bit now and become big enough to leave her Mum, and then she's here.... with us... forever. I can't wait. Her Mexican name is Muchacha, but she'll just be Cha Cha to us, and the breeders are kindly already calling her that already so she's getting used to hearing her name :-)

Here she is just 12 days old, cradled in her new daddy's hands....

Look at that cute lil face! Still got her eyes shut here.

I can't believe she's mine... I love her to pieces.

And here with Vin, who's besotted already.

At the mo she's only a little over 2 weeks old, and her eyes opened on the 14th day. She's a light sable colour with dark tips... muzzle, ears and tail - what could be sweeter? But we know she could change as she grows, however, we're getting photo updates from the breeders, and we are of course welcome to visit anytime.

Eyes open now - 14days old.

Sooo stand by for the CHIHUAHUA layouts from ME folks!!

Goin WILD with Sanna!

2009-08-08T09:06:00.004+02:00

Lotta birthdays going on round here...
I'm surrounded by Leo's. Lucky I like em, eh? :-)

Brother, Sister, Son, Grandson, Daughter, Son in Law, Granddaughter... like I said - a LOT!

But today's celebration is my sister's... the animal print madwoman we all love to pieces, and tonight we're going wild with her. Oh yeah!You can guess the theme for the party... We've been planning this for months! So today's ultra busy for me - hall preparations, picking up gas for balloons, picking up the cake etc etc. Plus, I still have to help dispose of the old kitchen and all that related crap, and do a million other things as well, Sooooo..... best crack on now!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANNA!
LOVE YOU SO MUCH, YOU WILD THING, YOU!

Last night's MOJOHOLDER , based on a layout by Micayla Metcalf- lots more fabby inspo on the blog, plus Sarah's brilliant sketch :-) Micayla Metcalf

Have a great weekend peeps!
jkxx

coming together

2009-08-07T14:50:00.005+02:00

Yep, things are definitely coming together now. And I'm personally feeling much happier since I cut back on all my crafty commitments. Now when I craft it's when I have time, when I feel like it, and I do whatever I feel like doing - without guilt. Years ago I loved the buzz of beating deadlines, and getting free product, and seeing my stuff in print etc, but all that's just not imortant any more. I still love to look at my friends wonderful creations, and obviously share their joy at their every success - I just want no more of it for myself :-) I guess I simply don't have time... there are just so many other things I want to be doing.

I still dabble, I still enjoy creating, it just isn't taking over my life anymore lol.

I made this little card for last weeks daring card makers challenge in between supervising plumbing, electrics and fitting of kitchen... the kitchen's almost all in now - and i'm going to love it when it's finished. One bad thing did happen - I discovered the tiles i've covetted for months had gone down to half price in the Homebase sale... and I MISSED it! I was WILD! I wanted those tiles badly - now I have to start a new search, and then pay full whack - what a bummer!

Still, I'm not going to moan. All the good Karma from last year is coming back to us finally and a small thing like sold out tiles is not going to spoil it. It's funny... you do good things and try to be the best you can and you sometimes wonder why you get no luck for it. Then suddenly you do, and it's a great feeling.

So, remember today - try to be a little kinder than is strictly necessary to everyone you encounter... at the very least you've been good, and maybe made someone's day. At best, you may one day find your good heart is rewarded in some way. Maybe not in the way you expect, and possibly not when you expect it either. But good may still come your way sometime... you just never know.

looking ahead

2009-08-02T01:12:00.004+02:00

Great news - I think we've found someone to take on the kitchen work. Our initial plan had been to have a go ourselves but faced with such a hugely daunting task we've chickened out and decided we need a man who can... so the chosen one's coming later to take a look, draw up some plans and let us know what it's going to cost. Being poor as church mice we're praying it's not more than we can afford... the fact it's someone we know may help tho... so, fingers crossed for us, pls!

This week's mojoholder guest designer was Jennifer Maguire and you can see her LO, Sarah's sketch and the team's interpretations on the blog here

Here's mine:

thanks for dropping in! :-)

jkxx

dark clouds looming (silver lining maybe?)

2009-08-01T10:35:00.007+02:00

I was hoping for sunny weather as I have a lot to do outside - but no such luck. As a matter of fact we need nice weather so we can EAT outside! Our table - our entire dining room - is engulfed in kitchen fitments awaiting fitting.... not much fun but there's work to be done before they can go in.... and well... i've just got to get on and accept I guess, so no good moaning. That said, I hate eating off my lap in the living room... so need the weather to be resonable so I can eat al fresco - even if it's with my coat on lol!

I tried for insp from daring card makers and joined in with their challenge to make a card with pretty edging... got it done, but forgot to upload and link... doh!

Anyway, it was fun doing the scalloping :-) and I have another card now for my 'just in case' box.

I hope to have a go at this week's too - not that I play bejewelled blitz or whatever it's called on facebook - but only because I have an addictive personality and I wouldn't dare start something else that might steal my (too little) time! I waste too much time on there already.... No, I just fancy having a go at something glitzy and sparkly :-) So thanks to the girls for the idea.

OK, garden jobs now
thanks for popping by
jk xx

Happy Birthday to my Dude.

2009-07-28T19:05:00.006+02:00

It's my son's birthday... 17 today!

He really is the most amazing kid... musically talented, with a lovely, funny personality... A good student, friendly, sensible and honest, kind to dogs and old ladies... honestly, just the sort of boy any Mum would want.... but tell me please, where have the years gone?

One minute they're a babe in arms - the next, almost grown.

I love that my boy's so individual. Proud that he has the courage to be unique, to be HIM. Amused at his quirkiness and amazed at his wisdom sometimes.
Happy Birthday son, we love you more than anything in the world. Well, fact is, you are our world... and that's a true story.

Vin's Card - had fun with this!

And a special (and talented young female friend of his)painted him this canvas :-) WOW!

ok, that's it. Got a lot to do now.

jk xx

mojoholder 119

2009-07-27T20:30:00.004+02:00

Forgot to put up this weeks mojoholder LO. We lifted a great page by Marjolein, and you can see the other girls takes on the blog, plus a fab sketch by Sarah too.

Here's my LO. No digi elements today but I did use some Magistical chipboard. This is from the new release and it's called antique filigree, painted and inked.

A recent pic of Vin who turns 17 tomorrow, and who this summer is growing into the person he's going to be more and more. Can't say it's not without trauma sometimes... but there you go. Kids grow up whether you want them to or not. And he's not the worst boy in the world by a mile. Love him to bits however much he drives me insane on a day to day basis!

At work, 3 people are down with the swine flu and it's kind of like a ticking bomb... everyone's just waiting to see who gets it next. At the mo it's only staff affected... no resi's thank goodness, but who knows.... by tomorrow? Under advice, we are quarantined - no visitors for a week which will be tough on the residents and the families. Also, as people go sick it gets tougher and tougher on us remaining workers, with everyone doing more to cope with the lack of staff. Personally, if I'm going to get it I want it like NOW. I don't want anything to stop me getting on that plane for my holiday and my first glimpse of our brand new baby boy - to say nothing of my girlies, the rest of my fam out there, my grandkids... and my meemee. God, I love that pup and miss her so much... when will I get a doggie of my very own? and could anyone replace minnie in my heart?

Anyway, one tired lady needs a shower, soooooo... more tomorrow. Maybe.

hugs to all
jkxx

the best there is....

2009-07-26T14:33:00.007+02:00

...the best there was... and the best there ever will be!
Brett the hitman Hart's battle cry... as any fan of American wrestling will tell you. My boys are fans. Carl's mate Paul's a fan... they're all going to Wembley to watch TNA, so as it was Paul's birthday barbi yesterday, and the birthday treat was the TNA trip I thought i'd make him a card styled on his hero, Brett Hart.

If you know wrestling you'll know Brett's colours are black and bright pink. He wears a heart on wings on his costume, and Kate & Jacque just happened to have the very thing I needed in this kit Pretty in Punk. Paul loved his card bless him, but he loved his surprise even more. This is the reacton (how staged) lol.... pair of wallies!

We were also celebrating another birthday yesterday, Sue's 50th. This is the card I made her, again using Kate's digi stuff to make a hybrid card. Her fabby doodles are brilliant for cards and invites and things so as i'm not doing much scrapping lately i've been using them on cards instead.

Anyway, enough from me.
Thanks for dropping by.

jkxx

baby cards

2009-07-23T21:22:00.007+02:00

A couple of cards I've made in the last few days.

I've mainly used up scraps, I think this is one of the things I am starting to love about cardmaking - even weeny scraps can be used somewhere! :-)
And because I love em so, some of kate's adorable doodles.
This kit is : Baby Boy Doodles (lilypad)

Hmmm... wonder where these are going then....?

ok, enough of this... CSI calls!
jkx

stave off the last minute panic!

2009-07-22T09:00:00.006+02:00

Some very simple and quickly made cards. I thought these would be handy standby's for when you need a card in an emergency... perhaps I just need to make a birthday planner, might mean I did't need a stash of ready mades, lol.

jkx

lifes a beach....

2009-07-21T09:01:00.005+02:00

.... in my dreams.
In reality it's pee'ing down! Nice weather in July...

Still, I have a summer holday day planned for my resi's today as most are far too old and frail to be able to actually get away to the seaside anymore. I've booked a traveling theatre to come and they're bringing a show called 'Summer Holiday Abroad', which I gather entails lots of quick change as they jet off round the World singing songs and acting small sketches from each place on their stopover. We've had them before for Panto's and stuff and although not cheap, they are brilliant, and best of all they stay and chat and have a cup of tea with the oldies afterwards which they all love... Hobnobbing with ACTORS - Oh my...! ;-0

I've coaxed the staff onto bringing in sunhats and sunnies so we can all get into the spirit so looking forward to a fun day today... pix to follow!

Last year my boy spent a LOT of his life on various beaches.... good for him, but such a hard life for a young man eh...?

Digi/Hybrid elements by Kate Hadfield. - Sandy Toes Kit - the lilypad.

Anyway must dash, gotta look for my lei and grass skirt ;-)
later! jk xx

babies on the brain

2009-07-20T03:00:00.000+02:00

With the arrival of the newest addition to our family, baby Connor George, we've all got babies on the brain! Hayley's doing brilliantly with him and is hoping to go home from hospital today. I can remember leaving hospital with my first baby many moons ago.... and I was terrified! Terrified I wouldn't know what she needed, what her cries meant, how I would cope... a silly frightened young mum with an even dafter younger partner... but we managed. We got on ok. Well, you do, don't you? And so will my girlie as she has her lil sister round the corner - an experienced mum of two, a hubby who will hopefully at least try to be hands on, and a determination and confidence I never had back then.

Good luck Lally, though I know you'll be just fine :-)

On the home front things have quietened down slightly round here and i'm feeling a little less overwhelmed than I have been of late. Sadly in order for this to happen i've had to cut back on more commitments and last week I stepped away from another DT. I will still be using MM's fab products whenever I do scrap, but at least this way I won't feel such angst if I don't have time to play with pretties and make things for them on cue.

I feel miles better now the baby's safely arrived too and it's really a great weight off my mind. I've been feeling so happy since he got here finally, and we know that all is well with him and my daughter. It's great not to have that nagging worry constantly playing on the back of your mind.

Talking of babies I made some little baby boxes to sell at the fete - plus a spare for Connor of course!

I knew our bundle was a boy, but couldn't resist making a few pretty pink ones as well... you never know, we may need them one day ;-)

Anyway, more soon,
got some tv to watch and a meal to scoff!
love to all
jkx

tall story

2009-07-18T10:32:00.011+02:00

I bought some card packs to make cards for the fete... and accidently bought the wrong size. Doh!

Having never been a cardmaker until very recently, I'm not really clued up on it all and just grabbed a pack off the shelf in hobbycraft without checking the size... idiot! Anyway, I couldn't waste them at hobbycraft's prices so had a go, and they're not that bad... but I'll be more careful next time!

I also forgot to take pix before the fete and lots have now been sold (leading me to the assumption that they're not 'that' bad...) but here are a few we had left over... I must say I seem to be more interested in cardmaking than scrapping lately - maybe coz it's quicker? I dunno. Hopefully I'll improve with practice. I didn't have much to make them with either... mostly odd scraps of my own, but it's surprising what you can do when you have to, or when you have a good cause.

Anyway, it's kind of late now and i'm pooped... So that's me for the day I reckon.
My pillow beckons!
sweet dreams folks!
jkxxx

oh well...

2009-07-18T01:50:00.010+02:00

.. after all my trials, I finally got back to making a page or two...

I made my Mojo layout for this week, and you can see mine and the others girls LO's on the blog and also a brilliant sketch by SarahY.

Thanks to Kay Rogers, who provided the inspiration for our challenge.

Seriously garish colours seem to be going on here ... but you know what? I love it! Ha!
The white painted frame is a fancy frame from magistical memories. Papers are mainly Stampin Up! and other ancient scraps. And the pix are of course, from my garden! :-)

maybe more soon, maybe not. Who knows these days?
jkxx

trying to scrap again

2009-07-17T09:18:00.005+02:00

It's not easy at the mo. I'm struggling still.... I just can't seem to find the time or the motivation to scrapbook. I've been very busy with the works fete and that's eaten right into my time, plus I've really been enjoying being out in the garden planting and trying to be creative out there, and well... i'm just not as young as I was. I get knackered more easily these days! Whereas I would once have happily scrapped into the small hours, I just don't seem to do that anymore - I want my bed! lol!

Anyway, I was inspired by Katie's new kits this month, and actually managed to make a LO. It's fairly simple, so it didn't take long, but I was very frustrated that it wouldn't scan or photograph well after the fact i'd actually made something! grr!

The kits are here:

Deckchair alpha

Sandy Toes

and there's a fabby add on which I also used available from Kate's blog - for FREE!
sandy toes add on

Poor photo

dodgy scan
Not much to choose between the two really! Maybe I need a new camera and a new scanner.

'Course, I will have to scrap the picture of my new little Grandson, Connor!
Only got that one pic at the mo, but hoping for more soon.

jk xx

Baby Boy is Here!

2009-07-16T11:25:00.001+02:00

Introducing Connor George Antony Knight.... Congrats to my daughter and her husband Dan on the birth of their beautiful son. 15th July 2009. 10.05pm. 10lbs 2oz. Welcome to the world lil fella, you are so loved.

achin all over...!

2009-06-23T00:08:00.009+02:00

Yeah, I do mean achin, not shakin.

Aching from the garden... and achin a lot!
From lugging and carrying, and stooping and bending... crouching and kneeling, stretching and balancing... and yeah that's not good.

But!

Pretty things are happening - and that is good! :-)

Bear in mind all this is newly planted so everything's new and young and still quite small, but it'll grow! The pots and troughs are filling out already.... we haven't lost any plants that we've put in the ground though one did suffer from Carl's big feet when he was planning his excursion up the tree... It may yet survive - but he's set it back a bit I think :-(

And after all the work.... a small reward!
Note only ONE glass lol! Go me!!! lol! Wine's not for sharing, eh girls?

And when night falls, it looks like this:

So, there it is... some of it anyway. Might not look much, but boy... i'm achin.

happy father's day Carlo!

2009-06-21T09:45:00.008+02:00

Just been reading the online editions of the Sunday papers, so sad to see Peter Andre sobbing on his Mum's shoulder. I've witnessed pain like that on someone's face very long ago, and that terrible look of anguish has stayed with me ever since. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy. I'd never really paid much attention to them before - I thought Jordan was awful tbh, though I did think she was sort of ok-ish when they were together, but this week.... well. Anyway hope he has a nice day today with his family and his kids.

We'll be having a busy day, but spending it together. Just me and Carlo and Vin as we have no daughter's around, lol. Two in Lanza where they live, and one in Menorca on hols. ah well... Had a call from first born already, no doubt he'll hear from the others later on. So, we'll get cracking in the garden, and then i'll make us a nice roast, the clouds look threatening but I think it'll pass.

HOPE it'll pass!

Carl's card, I made yesterday :-)

Finally used my cuttlebug for something! oh, and the flying V guitar is a chippie from Mag Mem if you have rockstars in da house ;-)

If you get some nice Father's Day pics you might want to hop over to the Lilypad to pick this up?

Well, gotta run... the foreman's calling me!
Have a lovely day everyone
jkxx

loss's and gains.

2009-06-20T19:15:00.008+02:00

My blog's loss is the garden's gain, ha ha... :-)
yep, i've been awol again.

More to the point my creativity's been awol - and still is... so I haven't had much to blog about. I really don't have much going on craft wise so it seems a bit dumb to try and blog when i've nothing to say. The sun's been out, i've been outside and it's been a relief just to say sod it, and not even try to scrap. I've had a heap of crap thrown at me this year and it's really starting to have a negative effect on my creativity, so i've gone to ground and just got back to pottering round the yard, greenhouse and garden centre.

We'd let it turn into a wilderness so it's been hard taming it. Plus - it's hard to make good when you have no sheckles... having money makes gardening easy... trying to do it on pennies is harder, but we're getting there bit by bit. Today Carlo went up an enormous ladder to try and tackle one of the trees. Jesus! I thought I was going to die of fright! So much so I ran out - fled to my Dad's and then to the supermarket. I couldn't watch him killing himself could I? His mate who lent him the ladders was quaking... but fortunately they were only 25 feet tall, so he could only go so far... and with just a hand saw it was hard going but he got a good few branches down. I think we'll have to get a scaffold and a power tool... and a flight somewhere for me. My nerves are shot.

Last weekend we enjoyed the sunshine and had a lil barbie, and my boys played for me. I love to sit and listen to them. I love them.....! {maybe too much}.

Mojoholder LO from last night incorporates goodies from my two fave places - Magistical Memories and Kate Hadfield designs @ the Lilypad.

We lifted Laura Price Fiore who is a friend of mine and an amazing scrapper. Check her out here and here .

My LO

Sarah did a brill sketch:

And the hybrid parts of the LO can be purchased here as part of this amazing kit

all you scrappers will surely want this this - it's US guys to a tee!

Happy Saturday from me!
jkxxx

The bucket List

2009-06-09T21:41:00.006+02:00

Made this last night but was just too knackered to scan and upload. Very tongue in cheek LO about a game my 'men' play in the Summer... well, used to play - Vinnie's much too concerned about his hair and being cool nowadays to engage in such foolhardy antics as this anymore.... more's the pity, eh?
Him poor old Dad's got no mates! Stoopid bunny.... ;-)

Anyway the LO:
As soon as I saw Kate's new Comic Capers kit I knew I had to search out these old pics, and I had a great laugh putting it together. The rules of the game - the list - states:

Must be a very very hot day
ICY water only - add ice cubes if poss
Place bucket in freezer for a minimum of 20 mins...
NO running away!
Lower head for max brain freeze effect
NO dodging!
Squeeling however, is allowed....
and last but by no means least.... TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!

Nutters, obviously... and obviously..... I don't play!

Katie's kits used:
Comic Capers
Kate Hadfield
Backyard Bliss
hadfield,miller,young
Spring Greens
Kate Hadfield

jake xx

quite a week!

2009-06-06T16:25:00.009+02:00

we got a lot done in the garden - but as it was so terrible before there's still a looooong way to go. I will get pics if it stops raining.... at least my new plants are getting a good soaking in.

I felt ill for much of last week which was a complete pain in the bum as I have no time for such things. Too much to do to waste time feeling rough so I soldiered on, and i'm fine again now :-)

At work I've been making loads of cards to sell at our fete, but again no piccies. Last time I took my camera to work it ended up broken, and i've never liked the replacement... i'd give my eye teeth for my old fuji back, but you can't get them, the model's been discontinued and they're like gold dust on ebay. what a bummer.

Did my mojoholder late as I had various meetings yesterday and ended up missing the deadline. It's up there now though. We lifted Danielle Flanders who is one of the most talented people I know. If you haven't checked her blog/galleries you're in for a real treat.. Layouts, cards, altered whatnots.. there's nothing this girl can't do well. Her work is just SO lovely! I always leave her blog in complete awe lol!

Anyway, here's mine: Shame it hasn't scanned too well. The piccy's a bit poor too as my dd's camera is failing but Jenna looks so adorable and as Sherry Steveson says, you can't let a poor pic stop you scrapping it!

It is one of those LO's that really does look so much nicer IRL, but I can't get the colour and contrast right, and I can't be bothered to keep trying.

Sarah did us a fabby sketch, and there's loads of takes on the original from my teamies on the blog.

That's it from me for now
happy bloggin
jkxx

2009-05-30T11:27:00.003+02:00

such a bad blogger... but who cares... who reads...? lol

The weather's been LOVELY! well, the last couple of days anyway, and the sun's out again... Yay! Love it!

Today i'll be doing tubs and pots of pretty flowers - and maybe some donkey work too, as I want a patio at the top of the garden and as we've no money, we'll have to do it all ourselves. We've been claiming bits and bobs from fellow freecyclers, like slabs and stones etc as it's really really got to be done on the cheap and we're hoping to pick up a few more slabs this weekend, fingers crossed. Then maybe we'll have enough for the job.

My mojoholder LO this week is a bit mad, but I love it!
Wild colour and brilliant doodles from my fave digi queen, Kate Hadfield. I've used bits from a brand new collab kit by Kate, Gina Miller and Rachel Young called Backyard Bliss, and you can see it at the Lilypad. It's a massive kit and perfect for all your splashy paddling pool type pics... and I hope we all get HUNDREDS of those shots this year!!!! ;-)

Bring on that sunshine, eh girls!

Right, got a big bag of compost calling my name! Hope you all have a gorgeous sunny day and brilliant weekend!
hugs from me!
jk xxxxx

good day sunshine!

2009-05-23T06:57:00.005+02:00

Yay! At last a bit of sun!

I do feel it's been a pretty dark old road lately, but at last we've got a break in the clouds, metaphorically and for real. Things are looking better! :-) hoo bloody rah!

I even managed to get this week's mojoholder challenge completed in the nick of time because I wasn't at the hospital yesterday for as long as I thought i'd be - and the news was better than expected :-) so it was a pretty good day all in all. All I need now is for a few of my other problems to resolve and hopefully life will pick up again. Fingers crossed!

My LO

Sarah's sketch

If you want to see the original layout - a lovely design by Marix Marte, you can see it on the blog, along with the rest of the DT's interpretations.

Oh, just before I go I wanted to pop this on here even though I haven't managed to find the photo i'm looking for yet to use it myself... and don't you hate it when you know you have the perfect photo - yet the darned thing refuses to be found?? Grr! Anyway - anyone looking to scrap potty training pics might like this:

Big Kid Now

I would say our Kate's come up trumps again but i'm not sure trump is a particularly good choice of word in this instance! lol!

Thanks for popping by - got to dash now as we have a million things to do, some slabs for the garden to be picked up ... and later we're off to a barbi - don't you just love sunny days?
hugs all
jkxx

2009-05-21T09:41:00.003+02:00

Magistical Memories challenge - to use the word MOM in a creative way.

So, a layout about my lovely Mum, who I miss everyday...

'...to have just one more 'mom'ent with you...

JOURNALING:

If we had one more day together what would we do? Would we go somewhere…assuming you were well enough? Or would we get a film, get some picknmix, a little tinny and watch the telly? Laugh at your fave shows... all the silly one’s you loved. I can see you now, rolling up at Father Ted, or Mrs Bouquet, or whatever her name was… you loved them all. Perhaps we’d go on an outing. Take a boat trip maybe… feed the customers? You always enjoyed that… we’d get some shrimp, break up bread and bask in the sun…Or would we just sit together, play games, talk… reminisce… I don’t know Ma… I don’t know what we’d do.
I’d do whatever you wanted to do. Whatever made you smile, listen to Bob Segar, sing along… I’d do anything to avoid playing that famous final scene.

But listen to me… "if we had one more day together!"

One more day…?
I’d do anything for one more moment.

I’ll never stop missing you, my little ma. Not for a day, not for a year…Not even for a moment.

I highlighted the letters 'mom' in moment with a metal snap. Not that I use the word MOM - to me it's an American term and in our family it's MUM, but my own mum was always Ma, or little Moshie to me.

tfl

New Spring release MM chippies used too! Check out the store to buy these :-)

blooming heck!

2009-05-16T11:58:00.005+02:00

blooming the garden ain't.... the few flowers that have braved their way out have been dashed by the wind and battered by the rain. My baby plantlets are dying coz it's too cold to pot them up for the big outdoors. Don't think I can face another non summer! Come on blue skies... come on sunshiney days... come on flower tubs bursting with colour and scent...

So in an attempt to cheer myself up and chase the grey skies away I scrapped a pic of flowers for mojoholder :-)

This week we scraplifted Lizzie Wurman who is one of my favourite scrappers. Lizzie's work is always fresh and outstanding, and she's a lovely lady too! See more of her stuff here.

The team produced some very different layouts - I love how we all interpret the lifts in our own way, some taking the whole thing - like me this week, and some just the idea, colour or odd element. Come and join us and do your own thing!

Sarah's sketch

I got a lovely package in the post yesterday from Crystle and Michael at Magistical Memories. Just what I needed, loads of lovely chippies and some new products too, like their gorgeous felt flowers. More on that soon - i'm itching to play!

Have a nice weekend doing things you enjoy :-)
hugs
jkxx

Lord of the Rings.. and other things...

2009-05-09T10:54:00.005+02:00

Today we'll be having Grandson no 1 round to watch Lord Of The Rings. Hot dogs and popcorn and coke... just him, Vin and Grandad... A 'we are mens' day. Grandson no 2 got wind of it recently when he was over visiting and decided he might like to join in.... coz he's not scared of monsters and stuff... and the hot dogs sound good... Bless him, he's only four, and in my book, far too young for LOTR - far from being scared of monsters - he'd be terrified. I was terrified! lol! But anyway, it's not an option.. he's four hours on a plane away... back in sunny Lanzarote where he lives - lucky boy.

So, today it's the big guy. He's just turned 10, and my men think he'd enjoy it. I hope so, because he's staying with his other Grandparents tonight, and they won't thank me for a sleepless night if he has nightmares!

And... this leaves me free of course, to craft.... ;-)
ha ha, I'm not as stupid as I look... but you knew that anyway :-)

Last night's Mojoholder challenge was to scraplift a lovely LO by Chris Millar
and you can check out her layout and the DT's interpretations on the mojo blog.

My hybrid LO - featuring my grandkids, all together for once at a local farm recently. The cousins LOVE being together and have so much fun. It's great how well they get on considering they see each other so rarely. I wish we could all live together in the sunshine somewhere but there you go.... you can't always have everything you want, can you?

And Sarah's sketch:

And these are the elements I used to embellish my LO.
Harvest Hayride by Kate Hadfield at the Lilypad. Gotta LOVE those chooks!! :-)

If, like us, you enjoy visiting local farms have a look at Kate's store - loads of farmy vehicles, tractors, animals etc.

Anyway - gotta run. Need to prepare the cinema and treats ;-)

have a great day!
jkxxx

how much is too much.....?

2009-05-08T15:53:00.003+02:00

......Sometimes not a lot it seems. Sometimes even a little bit is way too much lately. Just like the straw and the camel I feel i'm in danger of serious overload... like when you pickle your computer by having all these windows open and giving it too many commands... and it just freezes up on you and refuses to do anything - even shut down. Yeah, that's me, data overload of the first order. Wish I could just reboot myself or restore my system to a previous time when I had less worry, less probs and less crap going on in my life. Now that would be good. Really good. I used to tease Jazz she was an android. Too often lately I wish her mother really was.

In an attempt to cut off the other day I sat quietly by myself and made a few cards. Sadly, two are for people in my family battling serious illness, and the other I madejust because. The first two I used a template to cut a flower shape in acetate and lined one and doodle dotted both with sharpie pen. Nice effect I think.

And this last one is purely scraps but I like it - I love flowlies of any kind.

I don't know why I don't make more cards, I love using up scraps and bit and bobs and while i'll never win any awards I do enjoy it, and lord knows there's no room in this house for any more scrapbook pages that never get looked at - at least a card will be viewed by the recipient on arrival and hopefully enjoyed - if only briefly.

Anyway - gotta go, still got my mojoholder LO to do for tonight and it's gone three already.

love me.xx

clearly can't leave the paint alone....

2009-05-05T10:08:00.007+02:00

... however much trouble I get into with it.

I made this for It's A Creative World - great fun and completed the whole thing in less than an hour. Okay, I cheated - I'd already cut the ballerina's out, but you could maybe cut them while waiting for the paint to dry if you got a wiggle on.

Jazzing up a plain picture frame is a doddle using digital doodles, printed and cut out.

Images by Kate Hadfield.
Ballet slippers

by Jacque and Kate available from the Lilypad.

right... there's this thing about blue paint...

2009-05-03T20:36:00.005+02:00

...and the thing, is this. you shouldn't ever, ever, look down the nozzle of a bottle of clogged acrylic paint while squeezing it....right? You have to trust me on this. You just shouldn't. Okay?

So, I was extremely lucky in this instance.
It didn't ruin my LO - but nearly....
.... soooo bloody nearly!

Anyway - as you can see - the LO escaped unscathed, even if I didn't.

This has been a completely fun LO to make (paint incident notwithstanding) . I just LUUUURVE kate's alpha - it comes in green and blue, and I love the wishy washyness of it. I can see me using it a lot. If you want it, it's on sale at the lilypad - here.

Other than getting plastered this weekend - last night at the Berry's ;-) and today in my own scraproom... nothing much has happened. So, it's goodnight from me... and goodnight from them - the one's who snigger each time they pass me.... blue is a hard colour to wash out, y'know.

Spring is Sprung....

2009-05-02T12:52:00.005+02:00

and don't the crowd love it....!

The sun's out - we're off to a barbi later. Life is good.

I'm feeling a bit better lately - amazing what a few rays can do. I've been more productive on the scrapping front too and i'm working hard to catch up with some stuff which unfortunately had to slide while I worked through some other things... in the real world.

Anyway - here's a LO I did yesterday for mojoholder. This week we scraplifted a gorgeous layout by a super talented lady who's work I admire very much - Sherry Steveson. Sherry's LO and links to her work and books can be seen on the blog along with the DT's interpretations, and we hope some of you will be inspired to join us and post a link to your own.

Sarah's sketch

My LO, featuring magistical memories circle and art deco stems.

Oooh.... and.... my favourite doodling queen has a fantastic offer on for NSD - check her out at the lilypad. Who doesn't love kate's FAB stuff, huh??

Have a gorgeous Spring day everyone - hope you're all enjoying the bank hol weekend!

Oh, and don't forget the Magistical Memories blog hop this weekend!
Lots of things to be won!

MAGISTICAL MEMORIES - BLOG HOP HERE!!!!!!!

2009-05-01T09:32:00.014+02:00

YES!!!!!!
As a member of Magistical Memories DT I am proud to be taking part in our first ever BLOG HOP! My little blog here is just one blog in the MAGISTICAL MEMORIES BLOG HOP! :-)
Don't worry if you're new to blog hopping - here are the rules to help you win prizes!

1. Leave a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS here on this post and you will be entered into a drawing by ME for a prize kit. I will draw one winner from all comments (on this post) from May 1st - May 3rd. MY personal prize will include coordinating patterned papers, card stock, MM chippies, ribbons, an alpha, embellies and more!

2. Then I will forward all comments from here on my blog to be entered into the GRAND prize draw at Magistical Memories. And there is MORE THAN ONE WAY TO WIN so keep reading!!

3. You need to start at the Magistical Memories blog. Go there to leave a comment for another chance to win AND if you SIGN UP to FOLLOW the Magistical Memories Chipboard blog you get yet ANOTHER chance to win. Cool yeah? But don't forget - here is the starting blog if you arrived on just-jake from somewhere else: http://magisticalmemories.blogspot.com

4. You will next "hop" from my blog over to Amy's

Then from Amy's blog you keep on hopping because the more blogs you make it to the greater your chances of winning. EACH one of the design team members (there are 15 of us) is offering a prize or gift certificate on their blog. So, you have 15 chances of winning from each designer and then a shot at the GRAND prize.

Ohh... and wait for it - THIS IS THE GRAND PRIZE YOU MIGHT WIN.....!!!!!!

Yes really!
You actually have a chance to win a 8GB Ipod Nano *you will be given a choice of your top 3 colors, we will do out best to accommodate, Item will be engraved with Magistical Memories.

To make room for the NEW products coming out though, some old favourites must retire. You can see what is about to go forever right here and bag them for a really great sale price!

And if that's not enough for ya's you will also GET A FREE GIFT WITH EVERY PURCHASE over $25.

Back there I said there is more than one way to get entered into the drawing for the GRAND prize? Well there is, and it's a doddle! All you have to do is upload any layouts/ projects to our BLOG HOP Gallery. These don't need to be new, they might a project or layout you love/choose from your gallery that you would like to showcase - it's really up to you. Obviously we love to see how you use your chippies, but it's not a requirement! ;-) Just load them in our gallery by midnight on May 3rd and have another chance to win.

Here is one of my latest projects made with Magistical Memories Chipboard.

I'm desperately hoping for a Chihuahua Puppy this year and I've made this book to record her early days. You can see the chipboard one i've used here or the Crystle Clear one at the store

Have fun blog hopping with us this weekend!
and GOOD LUCK!

hugs
jk xx

I daren't sit down... or i'll fall asleep!

2009-04-30T21:45:00.011+02:00

Crikey, it's been a whirlwind few weeks round here. The kids have been home... along with their kids, and there's been a LOT of family stuff going on.

DD3's been to visit with her other half and their two tots, and phew...did that make it a houseful or what :-) Heaven knows we only have a little place and thinking back I sometimes wonder how I ever managed to raise four kids here, plus coping with all the various stray children who always seemed to be around, and keep a menagerie of animals at the same time. Still, as noisy and as hectic as the visit was, we loved every minute, and we were all sad to see them go home this morning. Can't wait for August now when we're all back together again in Lanza, and we'll have a new member of the clan to fuss over then as dd2's babby is due in a few weeks time! Yikes! More celebrations I suppose! :-) ah well, that's what family's all about I guess :-)

Anyway - on to other things!

After a long break from blogging I've a lot of catching up to do and the first thing I wanna share is this!

Check back tomorrow to see all the ways you can win prizes in Magistical Memories first ever blog hop! All the DT will be giving you the chance to win on their blogs, plus there's gallery prizes galore and a GRAND PRIZE from the Magistical Store too.

Check out the retirement sale while you're at it, which is making way for the new releases - so bags of bargains to be had - and perhaps your last chance to grab your fave shapes before they're gone forever. I've been having a play today, and have a couple more bits to share tomorrow when I have a better light to photograph in.

Magistical Memories Chipboard

Yesterday we went to Ashridge Forest for a picnic and here are a couple of pics of the gang in action :-)

Hope to see you here and on the blog hop!
hugs to all!
jkxx

love love love holiday times!

2009-04-11T09:51:00.008+02:00

The family arrive this week!!! :-)
Everyone's getting very excited and we can't wait to be together again, tho it means a very busy couple of weeks ahead. My birthday falls in the middle of it all and we have so much to fit in :-) Grandson Sollo's birthday celebrations today, the guys arrive on thursday, and then on friday we're going here!!

Erm.... don't look if you have a sensitive disposition!

We have shopping to do, meals to eat, drinks to drink, games to play and stories to be shared and laughed about for a few days... :-D before Jazz and Erk take the kids to a holiday camp at the seaside... (mainly because Erkin's never been on a caravan holiday (bless him) and Jazz wants him and the kids to experience the sort of holidays she enjoyed as a child.)

On the friday they go, my sister and bro in law will be coming up and we're hoping to barbeque round first born's, then on the Sat me and Carlo head back to London for the British Music Experience; a roast down the pub on Sunday, and Birthday Do for me on Monday! Then we'll have a few more days with the fam doing days out to the farm etc before they fly home to Lanza... phew! I think there's more... but I forget. Photos to follow.

I managed to complete mojoholder last night though I was a bit disappointed as mine looks wonky instead of deliberately set at an angle as I intended. It looked ok... but then I decided to tear the paper, and after that it didn't... lol.

Ah well, it tells a tale. Ruben calls turtles 'dude's' - all of them. Remember the west coast hippy turtles in Finding Nemo....? "whoa dude...!" well, this giant green chap is therefore his 'dude'... and he loves him. So, there you go.. dude love - nothing to do with american wrestlers at all ;-)

Sketch by Sarah

more later, if I find time... ;-)
thanks for dropping by.
jkxx

nearly easter

2009-04-09T09:02:00.004+02:00

I can't wait for the long Easter weekend to start. Hope to try and get some scrapping time over the holiday - I actually feel like I could scrap today... which is unfortunate, as I have to go to work! Typical!

Last weeks mojoholder LO:

Ruben in fits of giggles by Auntie Hayley's pool... probably was Hayley tickling him - I can't remember now, but it was a lovely day... wish I was there now!

It was a scraplift of Rachelle MacIvor and here's Sarah's sketch:

Later
jkxx

where do you look when it's gone...

2009-04-08T08:54:00.005+02:00

Still struggling with time here and as I have my peeps coming over from Lanzarote in a few days that's not going to get better for a while :-) It seems ages since we saw the fam, but we have a few things planned so hopefully if the weather's on our side we should be able to get out and about a bit and maybe get some nice photos of the action. And if not, well, it'll be lovely to see them anyway!

First up is a LO for Magistical Memories

I'm still sorely lacking in mojo so none of the stuff i'm producing at the moment is really inspiring, but i'm trying to get to grips with regular scrapping again, however, it's not coming easy. I've never felt like this before, not ever - so am I finally bored of the whole thing? Or is it just that so much is going on behind the scenes that my creativity's simply blocked? So that I can't get lost in my papers and stuff? I don't know... but it's making it very very hard right now. The bottom line is, I really have no desire or ideas :-(

This LO uses this delicate bird which I painted white with acrylic, and some gorge flowers from a friend... thanks Deb :-)

And this simple LO was made as a tribute to our dear old cat, Henry, who we lost last year and still miss so much. I used the scribble flower, to signify that he is buried in his fave spot in the garden under the flowers.. the old rascal always insisted on plonking himself right there in the sun.

More soon.... maybe.
jkxxx

no apoligies, no bloggin... no time, no inclination.

2009-03-28T17:34:00.004+01:00

I haven't been scrapping, so there's been nothing to post about. I'm sure nobody wants to know that I got up, went to work, came home and went to bed.... so... no posts for a while. I've just been hiding my head in the sand and had no mojo at all. First time I've ever been like that for more than a day or two, but I really had no interest and couldn't even be bothered to try as all that happened was I sat in here doing nothing for hours on end... Buuuut....I have finally managed to break the spell and get crafting again! I thought the scrapbook fairy had deserted me completely... but I feel a little mojo creeping back. Thank goodness.

I managed to do last night's mojoholder LO, but it's not my best by any means... however, seeing as I was making nothing - it's an improvement on that. We scraplifted Kimberley Garofolo Neddo this week and you can find links to her work and Sarah's sketch on the blog.

Then this is what I did with my new Magistical Memories Scrap Easel! These are amazing, and you all definitely need one... really you (and I) need several because you can do so much with them :-)There are some lovely examples on MM's blog here

The piccy's are of my baby grand-daughter Jenna, dressed up to go to the carnival 2009- the family had a cowboy theme. She is such a little dot and SO adorable, everyone loves her to pieces!

Anyway, not much doing so just a quickie today to ease myself back in.
happy weekend all :-)
tfl - and get yourseld an easel if you don't have one!

what a start to the year...

2009-03-14T11:07:00.009+01:00

2009 is not turning out to be such a great year for my family. In fact so far, it's been pretty crap all round, and that's not how I'd hoped it was going to be... not at all.

More bad news yesterday has just about drowned me in a funk. To say I'm gutted is not the word, and I can't see any good outcome from it at this point. I hate being sad, being so down... and I really don't want to be.... but. I just am. And I can't help it.

So...Not much heart in this today but here goes...

A simple quick layout I made from a Janelle Lee sketch, picked up on Magistical Memories forum. We have sketches, contests and challenges all the time - and the chance to win free chippies, so it's always worth having a look to see if something inspires you. Plus - it's a happy, no drama forum... so if you come by, stop and say hello. Lot's of friendly peeps on there and a lovely gallery too with work from some very inspiring gals. Not me - them!

And this is my mojoholder LO - no 102

This week we lifted super talented Marla Kress - see her original on the blog and check out Sarah's sketch.

Lots of different takes on it will hopefully inspire you to have a go yourself, we love to see your interpretations too :-)

As usual my LO's a bit of a pee take of myself... can't be doing with taking myself seriously, and I do love a bit of kicking back and chillin in my flip flops... well, who doesn't?

I can't seem to make a layout these days without using Kate's gorge doodles, and holiday feet has doodles from a kit called Caribbean Sunrise. Not sure if it's been retired or not, but Kate might be persuaded to offer it again if anyone particularly wanted it ;-)

Anyways.. time to go. I want to set some seeds and see something grow. I need to keep busy.

hugs for the weekend.
Spare a prayor for us.
jkxxx

silly and sad

2009-03-11T09:02:00.005+01:00

A silly layout today - and yes, I know i'm a tad early for St Pat's.... but why not? Get you all in the mood and give a bit of advanced info about where you can get some brill St Paddy's doodles ready for your pictures when you get them.

First you can get them here:

Yep, good ole katie-girl's come up trumps again :-)

And here's what I did with the kit - plus a few additions from other kits:

On this hybrid LO are :

Spring Greens.
Happy go lucky
Let's celebrate

also a magistical memories chipboard frame - bubble frame straight frame - http://www.magisticalmemories.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=NLBFS

Enter the comp on magistical memories forum for the chance to win free chippies - and you don't need ST Patricks photos either! ;-)

Sad because it's the anniversary of the day we lost our beautiful jen jen. The pain and sadness never go away, but it does get easier with the passing years. RIP Queen Wah xx

ooops.. I did it again..

2009-03-08T12:31:00.008+01:00

bad bad blogger... No time, and too stressed for words.

I seem to have less and less time to do the things I want to lately, never mind write posts about them. Luckily for me, no one misses me eh?

A couple of bits to add today

First up Mojoholder 101:

A scraplift of a Jill Godon LO - we all loved the clean lines and uncluttered look of her beautiful page and you can see it, and all the team's individual takes on it on the blog.

Sarah's sketch :-)
Then I made this little thing for IACW

Digi Decoupage Pot

You’ll need a regular sized terracotta pot, and holder.

White acrylic paint

Some printed and cut out digi images

Napkin podge, or similar

A couple of lolly sticks

And a potted primrose – usually only about 60-75p

First you need to paint your pot and saucer. I find several light coats are best.

While the pot is drying, and in between coats, print some pretty digi images and cut them out. Normally for hybrid projects I’d print them out on card, but for decoupage, plain white paper is better.

I used Kate Hadfield's

Sunburst Alpha

Spring Flora Doodles

available from the Lilypad

Using napkin podge, stick the images to your pot and smooth out any bubbles gently with your fingertips. It’s pretty fast drying so you might want to mark where the images are to go first.

Print the sentiment onto card and cut it out. Ink the edges if desired. Glue a lolly stick across the back of the sentiment for stability, and another one in the opposite direction – this will go into the soil of your plant to hold the word above the flowers.

Pop the potted plant into the holder and add the word – and you’re done!

You could use shellac or clear varnish to coat the pot but I didn’t bother and the whole thing took no time to make. Might be a nice Mother’s Day gift, or Easter pressie for a special Nan, but as I have neither I put it on my kitchen windowsill - a pressie to myself :-)

happy weekend all
jkx

it's nice to know someone cares....

2009-03-02T21:33:00.007+01:00

My darling sister takes it upon herself to look out for my health (apart from when she's pickling my liver with copious amounts of red wine, of course... which she'll then tenderly repair with milk thistle if I allow her... ;-) ) .

She has trained me in the art of daily Green Tea drinking - something I am now happily addicted to... and regularly sends me little parcels of healthy treats, which she feels will benefit my constitution.

The latest parcel arrived this week, full of wolf berries, pumkin seeds and other delicious nibbles.

And then there's this! yummm...!

Raw chocolate pie:
"Very rich, very moorish but sugar and dairy free... Ingredients: raw chocolate, yacon powder, maccademia nuts, pecans, ground almonds, coconut butter, lucuma, agave, carob flour". And they do a chili chocolate too... which strange as it sounds, is actually quite amazing :-)

She buys them here:

Or more precisely, from their branch at Truro, on the Lemon street Market.

And they do mail order with FREE P&P! Check it out guys ... healthy can be GOOD!

Diversion is the way forward...

2009-02-28T17:44:00.003+01:00

Missing the carnival in Lanza... wish we were there.... oh well.

Mojoholder #100

The beautiful hearts are of course Katie girl's from the Hearts and Flowers Kit, available from the lilypad

Have a nice weekend bloggers.
jkxx

Some things have to be done...

2009-02-24T23:40:00.007+01:00

...but why are they always the things we don't want to do.... eh???

Off topic, but onto Scrappin stuffs:

Just realised I forgot to put my mojoholder LO up last week.... my head's in a dither - senile dementia or stress, I don't know....

Not really sure how I forgot, as this week's designer is an artist I absolutely love, and someone I personally nominated to be featured:

Elizabeth Carney. You can out her awesome gallery here

Sarah's sketch:

The fantastic New Winter release from Magistical Memories is up on the blog and in the store, and if you like chipboard, who have to love these! There's more than just chippies tho, so pop in for a gander sometime.

jkxx

weekends are too short.

2009-02-22T14:13:00.004+01:00

My weekends seem to just fly by - and i'm lucky than most as every weekend is a long one for me, seeing as I don't work Fridays. Still, i'd love top win the lottery and never have to work again... People say they'd soon get bored - Not me! I'd be quite happy, and I'd find plenty to do... *sigh*... a girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway - 2 posts in 2 days.....!! Crikey!

Today's layout:

Cheap chippie letters from the pound shop, old papers, a digi strip of duct tape from Kate Hadfields i robot kit, and the sherrif's badge is a Magistical Memories chippie: Ranger Star.
The cute kid is my grandson... not for sale anywhere... lol.

Happy Sunday peeps xx

I'm a disaster

2009-02-21T10:33:00.006+01:00

I'm a fraud...

My banner quite clearly suggests I'm keeping all my balls in the air.... And actually, I'm not.
I CAN'T!!!

Home, helping my dad, blogs, work, worries, facebook, commitments...life.... I can't keep up, so apologies to the faithful few who pop on here when bored and have nothing better to do.... and discover that once again, i've slipped behind.

No posts from me in days.... :-(

My news:

My middle dd has been told she is expecting a little boy! Wonderful news!! The newest member of the Walker clan should arrive sometime early July, so small blue bits and bobs are finding their way into shopping baskets all over the world :-) This even's us up to 3 of each now, and hopefully that's it! Babies are fantastic, but expensive - well worth it though, coz Nannie loves the pics... ;-) (and the little peeps, obviously!)

Layout featuring one little peep!

This hybrid layout was made using digi images printed and cut out and the bits can be purchased as a brilliant collab kit by Kate and Kaye at the lilypad.

I robot

Kate has another collab out this week, this time with Jacque, which would be brilliant if you have 50's pics to scrap, or just love the whole Grease thing

Be-Bop-A-Lula
So anyway... time to run!
have a fabby weekend bloggy buddies xxxxx

jk

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T07:24:00.008+01:00

We made the Mag covers! Lol!!

Sure as hell wish it was that warm and sunny right here, right now....

Ha Ha!! Carlo's face was a picture! Bless him he thought they were real...!!

So, everyone's opened their cards and pressies now so I can add in the pic of Carl's treat.
No money spare this year so no fancy gifts... but I did make him this - Cupid Poop! ;-)

Yum Yum!

Hope everyone has a lovely valentines day whatever you have planned. Us? We're just staying home. We'll cook a nice dinner... surf and turf I think, and maybe get a film. Too blinking cold to go out anyway!

Happy Anniversary to Jazz and Erk who are celebrating in Fuerteventura... with the kids in tow :-)

Happy days guys!

And i'll leave you with my mojoholder layout from last night:

And Sarah's fab sketch

with LOVE
jkxx

The little things that get you...

2009-02-13T10:22:00.018+01:00

It doesn't take a lot to make me cry.... I'm a cry-baby and freely admit it. Weepie films, a sad ending to a book, poignant stories in the paper about kids, or oldies, or animals... bullying of any kind. Don't offer a kind smile or a friendly hug when i'm teetering, or uh-oh... the tears will flow. Even music turns the taps on if I hear the wrong song at the wrong time. I guess I'm just hopelessly over sensitive, but tbh, I've never been any different. My kids crack up that I sob at cartoons... Ice age, Nemo, even Lilo and Stich! I walk out of every West End show in floods of tears with the emotion of it all... But if you're like me and easily moved, you'll understand. You know what it's like... Having said that, I like to think I laugh as much as I cry, even if I do tend towards melancholy a bit too often ;-)

Anyway, this week there have been tears of happiness in our house! :-D Yay! And all because I got my fireplace back. Backtracking to when the back boiler was fitted many years ago, I lost my beloved real fire. With several small people in a freezing house it was the price I had to pay for modern central heating which warmed rooms where previously ice had appeared on the insides of the windows, and little folks shivered in pj's and dressing gowns and coats. I had to accept a butt-fugly gas fire which I never used, never wanted, and hated with a passion. The radiators may have kept our bodies warm but the heart of our house lost it's ambience and soul.

But now it's GONE!

Oh Happy days!

New central heating, no more back boiler... the fire gone... and in it's place a pretty little stove, which could throw out a bit of heat if we wanted it to, but who's main purpose is to bring COSY back into our living room. Yes, I cried. I cried with absolute bloody joy!

Told you it didn't take much to set me off, didn't I?
(and forgive me if it looks like a shrine - It IS! Lol!)

So here's my little fire... my pretty little fireplace all bedecked out with candles, just as cosy and snug as can be :-) Hah! No one's crying now!

Other things:

I've been making a few cards as most of my scrappy stuff's been packed away to allow the above works to take place.

Digi images:

Kate Hadfield and Lili at the Lilypad

Lots of valentine's.... coz i'm feeling all lovey lovey what with the new fire and all :-)

And an update on the green tea busines - Twinings sent me an apology - and £5 quid's worth of vouchers - result!

Oh but guess what? We still have snow here... it just never goes away. It was snowing again last night, and today is bitterly cold. My dd and I wanted to go shopping today and couldn't, so we're getting really hacked off with it now. Playing in it's fine - but not at the expense of a shopping trip, eh!!!

So, because snowmen get lonely....

(snow) man's best friend :-)

ha ha!! Cute ain't he?

Scrappy goodness! Magistical Memories have released their new Winter 2009 designs - and WOW!

As a DT member I get to play with this stuff and all I can say is it's FAB! Check out the blog
forum and store for ideas, chat, and special offers on stash. We always have competions where you can win chippies and the boards are a nice place to hang out. C'mon over :-)

Green Tea Tales...

2009-02-07T14:02:00.017+01:00

I went to Morrisons....

Alright girls - before you start... I know I go there a lot. (my kids think I live there - I don't! - it's just that it's on my way home so I often pop in and always seem to be there when they ring me after i've just left work...)

So, I went to Morrisons and I bought some flavoured green teas. 25 sachets in a box (nice box, alterers... ;-) ) 5 sets of five different flavours. At least there should have been... but no, out of the 387 boxes on Morrisons shelf, I pick up the only one that has no citrus flavour and two lots of orange and lotus leaf. Which obviously, is the one flavour I find I don't care for!

Aint it the way?

Carl on the other hand, went to Tesco's - which is on his way. He went for onions, bread, a 2litre carton of milk, a block of cheese and some peppers. He came home with a scruffy half dead onion and a semi squashed pint pot of milk - the last pint of milk in the shop I might add! The Co Op was worse... rationing bread - one loaf per customer - people in there with 5 kids... one loaf each...

No deliveries! No food! 6 inches of snow and we go to pieces! England grinds to a halt while society breaks down all around us.... yea Gods! How the hell do Canadians get so big??? LOOK AT THIS!!!!

Now, that's what you call a snowfall eh?
Somebody's house is under there!!
And you never hear about Canadians starving to death in their own homes do you... No.
You don't.

People take note.

Friday's mojoholder - a lift of Mara May
Sarah's sketch

My LO:

Carlo and Vin several years ago in Mevagissey, Cornwall. It never stopped raining the whole week we were down there! In August! Lol... gotta love the great British weather eh?

I've been playing with Kate's Feb BYOC. The place is upside down in prep for the new Central Heating (yikes!) and much of my craft room is packed up in boxes, so I had a go at a digi LO. I'm crap I know but everyone had to learn, and anyone who knows me knows I won't read the FM so I have to learn by my own mistakes. One day maybe I'll learn to read a tutorial or something, who knows.....

Here it is:

LONG way to go springs to mind... ahh well.

Have fun people!
jkxx

Faking it

2009-02-07T08:44:00.009+01:00

A simple layout I made for It's A Creative World.

Pre-made embellies from the £ shop and fake stitching:

One of my fave scrapping tools is my dressmakers wheel - I've actually got three - all with a different sized wheel, and they're great for adding faux stitching.

If you want a straight line use a ruler, otherwise freehand is ok. Run you wheel along and it leaves a little row of stitch holes, then go over the line very lightly with a fineliner. I use Steadtler triplus fineliners 0.3mm, which come in a rainbow of colours.

Still loads of snow around here which frankly, ceased to be fun long ago... tho it's pretty enough I suppose.

Oh well, plenty to do today so i'd better scarper now.

Happy Saturday!
jkxxx

snows still falling... but the clouds have lifted.

2009-02-06T20:28:00.011+01:00

Despite the fact that nothing's changed - if anything, stuff's worse - I feel a little brighter.

Maybe it's because I've actually made something?

See, I had to make my mojo LO..... I love this team and i'd never let them down, and funnily enough, everyone in the team feels the same... I know it's not an important DT in the greater scheme of things, but it's my fave of all time and because I love it I made myself make it - and it got me doing again, instead of all that hand wringing, which I hate. And that's the thing.

So then that spurred me to make something for my post on IACW, due on Saturday....
ooer, tomorrow! And again it's not so hot but it just feels good to be making anything at all!

And then, in an odd moment today, I made a quick card for my darling for our anniversary.
(digi goodies from Queen Kate obviously, lol)

I haven't been able to get to the shops, so no pressies this year. Our show got cancelled because of the snow - oh bum. And we've nothing special in as we thought we were going out, but Carlo's cooking and he'll make something nice, I know... so we're spending our anniversary with 3 teenage boys because Vin was having his buddies round to keep him company while we were out and we haven't the heart to tell them it's off now....

Lol. At least I can smile. last week all this would have broke me.

happy weekend bloggy babes.
luvy'all - stay warm!
jkxx

It's just not workin....

2009-02-05T20:29:00.023+01:00

Gah...
All my waffle about being positive?
Well, it's just not workin.

Between you and me, i've had a shit week.

I can't concentrate, I can't settle.... Good God.... I can't even sleep.

I've sat in this scraproom for hours... do you think I can scrap? Can I hell....
Ok, ok, I know there'll be plenty out there saying... hush girl... you know you never could... but the fact is, I can't even try.

I don't think being positive is really me. It's just too alien. I'm a cup half empty kind of person... I just don't look on the bright side. I never did.
I'm... well....melancholy. Moping's what I do best.

So today I gave up....trying to be postive, that is. Just thought "oh to hell with this shit" and wallowed. Thing is, I had to do a layout. Had to do it for tomorrow night and I had like NO mojo... I'm crap, and I feel overwhelmed...

But I did have a go. And it's not that bad. So maybe that'll be my new mantra... have a go... have a go... have a go....

I've followed on with this thought pattern and had a go at a bottle of wine too (still having a go as we speak, actually), and I tell you, the world looks a better place than it did this morning...
I'm positive MY kind of medicine is doing me some good tonight :-) Sooo... here's looking at you, kid...

And, here are some piccies (that made me smile) from an appallingly BAD week:

Evidence of my little early morning visitors... how cute are these sweet footprints!?

Jon-Boy Brown after a splattering from the kids

What I saw when I poked my nose outside the door this morning

Pretty!

...Because we have a lot of eskimo's round here, obviously...
(oh, remember the days, girls?)

Hit.....

And run...!!!

And Sollo... innocently re-loading :-)

So tomorrow, maybe i'll be back... who knows?

It's our anniversary Friday and we're off out ( assuming we can get a taxi in this weather) We're going out for some nosh and a show - the Counterfeit Stones... allegedly better than the real thing... Mind you - that was according to the Guardian.... so um.... well. You know....

loves
jkxx

you know what they say about the best laid plans....

2009-01-30T12:48:00.011+01:00

Stuff doesn't always go the way you want it to, does it?

Sometime's when you think you've got it all cracked... when you're sure you're on top of everything... someone comes along and gives you a little nudge.

Or even a clumsy great elbow in the ribs.

And umm... you fall.

Well, the only thing to do if you fall I guess, is to get back up. Even if they push you off again later, you can try and deal with that when it happens. I got a bit of a knock last week, well, maybe more than a knock... a definite elbow... So my great plans to just ENJOY life now seem slightly wobbly, but positivity will have to be the key here, and i'm just going to concentrate on that. I can't really say more now, so best I leave it there.

My mojoholder LO from last night, #96: nearly a hundred....

And Sarah's sketch

More lifts on the mojo blog

I had wanted to share a funny email my dd sent me, the Mom's song - which I sent on to some of my friends because it's so brilliant and really really funny, and if you're a mum, or had a mum, or even know a mum... you'll want to see it. But being the gwap-head I am, I'm unable to work out how to do it... So, sorry about that. Pls let me know if you want me to send it on to you though.... As one of five myself, with four of my own, I loved it.... total genius!

I was tagged by the lovely and over-talented-in-all-departments-Paula, and just want to say i'll get to it when I have time darl. Paula's answers are side splitting but I'll need a while to think on this one. I might not even make the 64 she did. lol :-D

If (like me) you're hoping to shape up this year, you might like to record your progress in LO's, a chart, or a mini book / journal; and if you would, our fave digi doodling guru Kate Hadfield has just released the perfect kit for you - LOOK BELOW

All the clip/word art you need - check it out here as there are SALES too :-)

My own diet is going brilliantly btw. I lost 2 more pounds this week, making a loss of 6lb's in two weeks now. We're going out next weekend so I want to lose at least one pound by then so I've lost half a stone :-) Wish me luck. Apart from the weight I need lots of that right now. Lots.

Have a lovely weekend blog buddies
Love to all
jkxx

Enjoy!

2009-01-26T18:56:00.004+01:00

My word for 2009... is enjoy.

Well.....No sense choosing a word like work.... or diet.... or achieve....is there? Alhough of course I do intend to do all of those things. The difference is this year, I hope to enjoy myself while doing them!

The themed post on IACW today was 'New Beginings' and I made this wallhanging as my contribution. Actually, I really enjoyed making it :-) I like altering, and while I accept I'll never be a frontrunner or any kind of expert in this art, I do like dabbling and playing and making pretty little things from bits of tat.

I jotted down some of my reasons for picking the word enjoy and if anyone's interested you can read them there. Tbh, I don't feel too great tonight, totally knackered, and I can't quite be bothered to replicate them here, right now!

Hugs, and thanks for dropping by
jkxxx

2009-01-25T17:51:00.004+01:00

Busy again today trying to get ahead. I feel like a dog forever chasing it's tail lately, which indicates that maybe it's time for something to go.

It was my turn to post on IACW today, and I thought i'd do a winter warmer recipe for a change. me and Carlo love this cheapie quick dish - give it a go if you're counting the cals... tastes terribly sinful but actually it's not.

From my IACW post:
There’s nothing like some good old stick to your ribs grub at this time of year.
This is a great speedy dish to whip up when you fancy some filling comfort food that won’t pile on the pounds. I usually serve it on it’s own with just a side salad for lunch, or team it with pesto chicken or pork chops for a hearty supper dish.

Serves 3-4.
Oven temp 200/6 ish
Ingredients:

Large baking potatoes (one each)
Good sized knob of butter (or low fat alternative)
Large tub of cottage cheese
Teaspoon of finely minced garlic or a squeeze of garlic paste
Tablespoon of low fat mayo
Pinch or two of salt (celery salt is good!)
Coarse ground black pepper
Couple of ounces of grated half fat cheese.

Optional:
Chilli flakes
Chopped chives
Crumbled crispy grilled bacon.

After scrubbing the skins, I cook my potatoes in the microwave first, (to save cooking time) before popping them onto an oven tray and crisping up the skin in a hot oven. You could of course, cook them conventionally if you prefer.

Once cooked, cut open the potatoes lengthways and scoop out the insides into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, cottage cheese, garlic, chives/chilli/ and half of the bacon, and mayo. Roughly mix the ingredients together and season to taste. Pile it all back into the empty skins. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of each potato, adding the rest of the crumbled bacon if you’re using it. Put them back into the oven to reheat until the cheese is all bubbly and melty.

Enjoy!
love jakey xx

done it again....

2009-01-24T11:40:00.008+01:00

whoops....! i've allowed the week to run away with me and done no blogging again. I'm hopeless.

Anyway, it's been a mixed week. On the plus side i've accomplished all my dt commitments (it was touch and go,lol) and got them posted where they're supposed to be - and on time! - so I feel pretty good about that :-) Also, my first week of dieting has gone well. I officially started on Monday, but I've been a bit careful since last Saturday, so I was chuffed to bits to discover i'd lost 3.5lbs when I weighed yesterday. The man of the house was not so pleased however... He felt he'd really tried and had done very well... until he stepped on the scales. Oh dear. He'd put on 2lbs! Sulking furiously, he declared them broken.

Well obviously.... ;-)

I had some sad news on Thursday. A cyber friend, Janice Nielson, passed away at just 60. I knew Janice from various forums and she was a very popular, very likeable person. Someone who was always interested in others and who just radiated love and warmth. She and her husband were both teachers and lived and taught on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. She left behind three children, her hubby and many many friends in the scrapbooking world. I'm so sad that she's no longer with us, but losing someone so suddenly like that does make you realise how important it is to live each day as if it were your last. None of us knows what's round the corner. My thoughts and prayers go to her family, who were her world.

Mojo went live last night with a lovely lift from a very talented girlie, Jaz.

After a fraught few hours when my scanner packed up, I finally managed to get it going and get my image into the bucket so Sarah could upload it with the others.

My LO - you've been warned!

And Sarah's sketch

Ok, off to town.
Hugs to all, stay safe, stay warm.
jkxxx

I'm getting there guys

2009-01-19T21:49:00.006+01:00

Three steps forward, and two steps back as usual this week... But y'know you can get pretty far on baby steps if you persist... After all the talk about it, I only really started my diet today, although it was meant to start on the 5th..... but Jan's been pretty crap for me so far so I haven't really felt like it... however, I have a few things to look forward to now...! a few things booked up...! and that gives me a bit of motivation ;)

On the work front, i'm ploughing through my DT stuff :-) Ok... maybe not ploughing... but i'm keeping up - and with the pressure i've been under since the new year began, I think i'm doing ok.

I did this last night for January's contest on Magistical Memories and no, the DT are not allowed to win, I just wanted to play along coz it's a fun one!

The rules are that you make a LO using at least one piece of chipboard, and your title has to rhyme. Oh and you can win chippies too - so if you want to have a go what's stopping ya?

Anyway, I used this mag mem sea horse, painted him with 'ocean green' acrylic and blinged him up a bit with silver paint (dry brushed), some stickles and a jewel eye. And those fishies and weed are digi images printed onto acetate, and are from Kate's Fancy Fishies doodles from the lilypad.

In the real world I had me Da on the phone all choked up... no, not because the reds let another chance slip past them (bloody idiots! what are they at??) but to do with Liverpool all the same. You know they were the capitol of culture? well there was this programme on the telly... and he got all emotional, bless him. Daft old scouse... pining for his home town and the old days after all these years.... I don't know, what am I going to do with him...?

Anyways... enough.

more later
jkx

I want one of these...

2009-01-18T13:45:00.005+01:00

I want one of these.....

Just think what a nice place the world would be if it became our compulsory uniform.... :-D
And if you really want one you can get it here:

I loved making my sketches layouts this week - I love tamara's work but this one really inspired me.

I don't think i'd ever have used these less than perfect pics, but I'm so glad I did. Nice and jolly and summery...Can you tell i've had enough of winter and i'm pining for warm days and balmy nights..... sigh.

Roll on Summer
jkxx

get your hand out of my pocket for the last time!!!!

2009-01-17T13:22:00.004+01:00

The sodding tax man's struck again... Customs duty - on stuff that has been sent to me as a commercial sample if you don't mind!!! Am I seething..... ahm.... you bet!

For Christ's sake... I'm going to argue this one. I'll keep you posted. It's not product I've purchased... it's not stuff i've imported - it's items which have been given to me to work with - NO CHARGE.

Grr!

Ok, composure.... breathe...

I got my scraproom kit this week - no customs charge there for a change. Some of it I loved. The Sassafras Lass Hog Heaven especially... oh, those buttons! swoon....

The Making Memories I wasn't too sure of though. I'm not a huge fan of that shade of blue. It just didn't grab me. I resigned myself that it would go in the drawer... But then I wanted to scrap this pic - and flowery or not, it worked! It's the swirly look I think... it put me in the mind of flakes swirling and twirling down.

So at least some of it 's been used. It's a start.

Making Memories Chippies: Folk Stars

Have a great day folks - and hide that stash... eyes and ears everywhere!

time to scraplift?

2009-01-16T21:25:00.012+01:00

As in... do I have time to scraplift...? Well no, not really, I don't.

TBH, I barely have time to fart anymore.

Not that I would fart... obviously. But it would be nice to have time to if I wanted to, iyswim.

This layout (love the zig zag bottom!) for the mojoholder blog was hurriedly put together today, in between a visit with my Dad, several lengthy phonecalls, and A Trying To Fix The PC Adventure with my technical friend.

Sarah's sketch
My scanned layout - This week we were lifting Sarah Klemish

Magistical Memories : potty people scallop plate

It seems the problem with the PC was an embarrassing one, one i'm almost reluctant to share with the blogging world.

I *cough* have dust.

Actually I have DUST.... DUST....DUST!

I have, to be precise - so much dust that my poor old PC was shutting itself down every five minutes in an attempt to preserve it's own life!

We pulled the machine out and Steve says... " hmm... looks a bit dusty..." And it did, there's no doubt.

So I brought the vac up and Steve hoovered round the case... and then he opened her up. OMG!

The fan was like totally blocked up almost... you've never seen such dust... Now - how did it get in there... and where did it come from???? Eh??

Fortunately Steve knows i'm not much of a housewife. He's been in my scrap room many many times... followed me through the house to get there... so he's seen things. He knows. And if he didn't know before - well, he sure as hell knows now, tee hee!

BUT. The good news is... since all the hoovering - there's been NO shutdowns... Yay! So, if you suddenly start shutting down with no warning, take a tip from me.
Get the hoover out. Works like a charm! All I need to find out now is, does it work with husbands.....? ;-)

Happy days guys... happy days :-)

What can you do with a Mullet...?

2009-01-12T20:24:00.009+01:00

Um... a mullet's a fish right?

So how did it get to become synonymous with a dodgy half short/half long hair cut? Is it coz it hangs down the back like a flippy floppy fish tail?

I really don't get it.

I know all about Mullet's obviously.... Hell, my family ran one of the UK's most infamous Rock pubs for over 20 years! I've seen more than my share of mullets, tattoo's, motorbikes and mean MF'ers. I can spot a mullet at the bar blindfolded... and yet. I still don't know why they're called that. You can visit all the mullet websites on the net - and no one really seems to know. It's one of life's mysteries alright.... I really hope you don't all lose sleep tonight pondering.

So....My boy - all Mulleted up, NYEve, 2008.

Tbh... I quite like it :-)
So.. err... what does that say about ME? :-D

Adapted from Tamara's sketches, #78

Ok... enough deep stuff for one night.... maybe more tomorrow ;-)

Wanna win some FREE super digi scrappy stuff? Check out the challenges on Hodge Podge Art. This weeks challenge involves you scrapping YOUR word for 2009 and all you have to do to stand a chance of winning $$$ in gift certs from some fabby talented designers is link to your page. Get over and check it out :-)

jkxx