Ready to Rock! And some Great News!

Home again - and raring to go!
The trip to Lanzarote was short, but sweet. We had a great time and seeing the kids was fab, especially as Ruben had his birthday while we were out there. Yep, the little dude was 3 last Friday and we had a party in the garden to celebrate.

Actually it was a week for birthdays, because Mattie turned 1 the day before we left! It's impossible to think she's one already but there you go - doesn't seem five minutes since I was announcing her birth on here!


Here's the little scamp. She's just started walking so we bought her a lil buggy and a dolly, but she was all over the place on the laminate floor! Bless!! She absolutely loved it when everyone sang Happy Birthday, and we only had to sing it about nine times before she got fed up and set of for another waltz round the shiny floor.... Bambi on Ice springs to mind... ;-)

Such a pretty little poppet, she had a lovely party and had us all in pleats trying to sing along to the birthday songs :-)

And this is Rubie on his birthday - not very excited as you can see!

And blowing his candles out. After this he proceeded to scoff the mini Thomas train off the cake...! Well, it was his cake I s'pose :-)



The baby is just too adorable for words... but she can yell!! Last words Jazz said to me as I was leaving was "don't leave me with her Mum!!" Lol! And I could still hear her crying in my head as we flew home. Poor little scrap is collicky and I can remember too well the evenings spent walking Vinnie up and down the hall in the dark trying to get him to settle, when he was tiny. Hopefully won't last too long, because it's terrible to have a crying baby and no way of making things better.

She's going to be beautiful tho and at the moment still has very blue eyes. Looks like her hair will go fair too, like Ruben's, so with her dark complexion she'll be stunning. Well, I would say that - I'm her nan! lol!



I have some scrapping news too - but mostly it's a bit old now. I just have been so so busy and no time to post on here at all. I even had to work yesterday... and everyone in the world knows I don't DO Fridays!

1st piece of news - I won a place on Scrapping Goodies DT! I am SO excited to be joing Rach and her fab team.

The other girl picked with me was Marja Lindstrom, who is a fantastic scrapper and has the most gorgeous baby pics to work with :-).

Other team members are Rachel Pine - kit club owner, Rachel Millington, aka Taniwha, who I am just totally in awe of, and Ally, who's on a short break at the mo.

Do check out Rach's kits as they're fantastic value for money and beautifully designed and put together. I can't wait to get my mitts on december's kit and see what I can do with it, but in the meantime don't forget to check out the gallery there and see what the other amazing scrappers are currently offering up inspiration wise!

Here's a piccy of November's kit - American Crafts, and also check out the recycled kits on site as Rach has some amazing offers on part kits from previous months. You will not believe the bargains on offer there! Whoops.. bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. The pic on the site is better.


And finally, I won something! Yeah ME!!!!! Never been heard of I know, but I did. I won a gorgeous chipboard mini book by Magistical Memoreis on Scrapajack.

My book is a tall pumpkin and it's blooming gorgeous and just look what Cheryl Mezzetti did with it...

seriously can't imagine mine being that gorgoeus when I'm finished with it... but it's something to aspire to anyway .

Off to scrap now! Happy weekend everyone :-)

Stress levels risin....

What a crappy day yesterday turned out to be....

I knew it was going to be stressful, but I didn't know how bad. I'm just glad it's a new day today and I don't have to go through it again. I'm useless at stress. I just don't cope well with it anymore. If I ever did...

First thing was, I had to take the car for it's MOT. It's never going to be a good day when you have to do that. And I had to take it to a nearby town which meant if it failed, I'd have to walk home - a good few miles - on my own, while the work was carried out, and then back again (only have the one car in our family, don't blame us for the energy crisis...) or hang around for hours at the garage, neither of which I fancied. Especially as I'm so busy and didn't have time for any of it, anyway. Plus - the cost. I really was panicking about how much it would cost...

In the event it passed, so that should have made it a good day eh? Only it wasn't.

Earlier that morning I'd attempted to buy car tax online as it's due to run out while we're away in Lanzarote. Should be simple - you tap in the number etc, pay, and you got it, right? Wrong.
It came up saying I had no insurance....

Well, of course I have insurance so I rang the DVLA to sort it out, convinced it was a stupid computer error.

Nope - the man at the licencing centre says the same.. No insurance. Or maybe I have insurance but it's not on the National database... This is weird because I haven't changed insurers for about 4/5 years.. so why wouldn't it be on there?

Checked the policy... the date is fine - not due for renewal til Dec, so I ring up to enquire. Yeah says the bored girl on the end of the line.. it's there.

No, I say It's not. The man at the DVLA warned me you'd say that....

nothing we can do she mutters..

oh yes there is I say. You can get a manager to ring me. I want this sorted. Now.

She agrees, sarkily, to have someone call.

But of course he doesn't call. Not within half an hour and not within an hour....So, by now I'm wild and decide to ring my local office, where I speak to a manager who says she'll look into it.

She calls me back... Do you have your insurance certificate ?

Yes. I do.

Dates correct?

Erm.. yes. Obviously...

Do you have a fax machine?

What???? You are my insurers.. don't you have the info there??

No, she says, we are the brokers, the insurance company is saying we asked them to let your insurance lapse... but we didn't.... but don't worry... it's ok...

Well! I thought I was going to explode! What?? When?? Are you saying i've been driving for 10 months with no insurance???? and IT'S OK????

She assures me I am insured, I have a piece of paper to say so... oh yeah, like the police will be happy about that if I'm stopped eh? A piece of paper sure, however the insurance company's saying my policy's lapsed!

So where have my monthly payments gone, then?? who has all that money?? why don't the company think it's odd someone's regularly paying them when they're not even insured...???

She says she'll sort it out... but of course it's now 5.30 and the weekend.. and she can't do anything til Monday.

Friggin Hell. I am furious!

On top of all this the loft insulators arrive. The house looks like a tip because everything from the loft is now piled up in the hall and dining room, and is creeping into the living room as well. They do the job and leave... Carl goes up to start putting things back.. where's the lead light he says? Did they take it?? oh ffs! yes they bloody well did. So it's back on the phone to complain, and get them back here to return it.. Fair enough they did come back... but the aggro!!

So, now - dare I drive the car or not? Am I insured or not???

I don't know, because they can't do anything til Monday. And that's just not good enough really, is it?

Anyway, after our shitty day we eventually managed to get everything back in it's place by about 9 o'clock last night... knackered, filthy, Lol... but at least we had somewhere to eat and sit down. A bite to eat and a quick shower and I eventually saw the funny side... but, a word of advice.. when your children grow up and leave home - DO NOT let them leave 'a few bits' in the loft til they're settled... you have never seen so much 'rubbish' stored in your life..... Carl says he's amazed the ceiling hasn't come down before now. And so am I.

Last night's Mojo layout:



There's some great layouts on the blog, and the lovely original from Fiona Beckman as well. Right, that's my weekend blog post. More later if I find time - I'm off to pack... going to see that BABY in a couple of days!! Yay!!

TAGGED!!!!

I am Tagged by Laura - oh Joy!! pmsl.

1- I was once a champion Dwyle Flonker - was even on the telly for it! (proper country bumpkin, me!)

2- I hate moths but they love me! Once in the middle of a pub (when I was 17)I stood transfixed as this huge hairy moth flew all around me and then KamiKazeed down the front of my ample bosom! Yeuuch! I can still feel it's dusty wings fluttering between the cups of my Gossards wonder bra... OMG I yanked the two sides of my top open - buttons flew everywhere, and the boob mad moth escaped... as did I, to the ladies loo, where my mate's mum sewed my buttons back on so I could leave with some dignity (but not much...)intact.

3-I have serious road rage.

4- I know all the words to Albert and the Lion (Stanley Holloway)

5- I eat jellied eels. And whelks. Even Winkles. I know.... tmi.

6- I still have my first ever camera - a Kodak brownie 127. I think I was 7 when I was given it.

7- I cry at the drop of a hat... sad films, books, a story in the paper, cruelty. Even cartoons make me cry... Ice Age, Lilo and stitch... pathetic, I know.

OK - I can't do the tagging thing. Everyone I know has been tagged to death, but if you fancy having a go... consider yourself well and truly tagged.

Now where's that Laura's addy... I need to delete it... :-) NOT!

Just what I needed...

Feeling rough as, I was so glad to see Carlos home tonight. Though I was off work poorly, I found I couldn't just lay down and rest, as everytime I tried, I either couldn't breathe because my nose was blocked up, or I had the snuffles so bad I was up and down like a yoyo grabbing for the tissue box every 2 seconds.... I hate colds and flu's!

Instead I went into the garden and harvested all the apples that the squirrells hadn't eaten and shared them out with my elderly neighbours. (We'll all be eating crumble and pie every night for the next two months I should think!)

So anyway - I'm back indoors and Carlo comes home. He says.... "I've got something for ya..." and I remember he was paid today....and I smile and hold my hands out expectantly.

Wine maybe??

Chocolates?

Some trash mags to take my mind off my cold?

Nope! He gave me a packet of Beechmas flu plus and a box of Kleenex Ultra balm... !

What a man.... He always knows just what I need, eh? :-D


All about Eve is live tonight and the news that Maria and Hagit are stepping down is posted up. I'm very sad to see my teamies go, but totally understand where they are coming from. Sometimes it's just time, that's all. On a happy note though - we have a NEW DT member, and it's someone who's work I just love. Sarah Youde, otherwise known as monroegirl is joining us from tonight and has posted up her hysterical secret for this weeks challenge on the blog :-D Clearly as mad as a fish, I have to admire her wit and bravery... but we are expecting lots of other juicy secrets.. so if you're in a sharing kind of mood get over there and check out how you can put yourself in with a chance of winning a gorgeous Fall themed kit from Sara at The Paper Pixie.

here's my layout, and the secret about how I love this lil mutt more than most of the people I know... all 4 and a half pounds of her!

Dear Me...

... I get worse at blogging every week. Used to be everyday, now I can't even manage once a week. I just don't have the time to be up here tbh... or if I'm really truthful , the inclination! Lol! ;-)

I don't scrap as much; don't chat as much, never surf, rarely shop, even more rarely blog hop - and as nothing ever happens in my life of any interest, what the devil do I have to blog about LOL!!!! Nothing!

Today I'm blogging coz i'm ill and therefore hanging around. I have the dreaded flu bug, which Carlo very kindly shared around last week and I feel wretched, so no work. I don't want to kill the poor old dears off completely, do I?

No. I do not ;-)

So, today AAE goes live, and we have some news to share and... well, you'll see, when you get there.

This is my Mojoholder from Friday where we scraplifted Emine. Her work is fantastic - very fresh and different, and I really didn't do her lovely layout justice, but as I said - I'm ill. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it... hee hee! But I did scrap a picture I've wanted to scrap for ages, and I don't often scrap ones of the kids when they were little (as I just have too too many) so i'm glad I had a go. You should check out the other girls work though - there's some proper yummy stuff on the mojo blog - trust me.


Pop back later for news from AAE.

weekend blogging

Well, I feel a lot better today than I did this time last week. Last weekend was a nightmare... and not a time I'd like to go through again anytime soon. Heaven knows how bad it was out there, but me, Carl, Sanna, Don and Vin were in a proper state here. It was so awful knowing how bad things were and not being able to do anything because we were so far away.. At one point Donz and I discussed just flying out - there and then... Let's just say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

But what a difference a week makes!

Up to now this week I've been completely knackered, and going to bed really early as I couldn't keep my eyes open. Jazz said Erk's been the same. I think we must have both been so emotionally exhausted from the stress that we kind of just shut down... I don't know. But today I feel good and have decided on great advice to ignore anything that is likely to burden my heart. So there!

I've got a couple of things to look forward to too, and I plan to concentrate on those, as scrapping just doesn't seem to be doing it for me in a way that it once did. In fact I don't scrap anywhere near as much as I used to, often prefering to just curl up with my book or even watch the telly - and I've never been a telly watcher lol! Maybe it's just a phase.. or maybe i'm simply scrapped out... who knows? All I can say is, I don't have the enthusiasm or interest anymore... Perhaps it's what scrapping has become in the last couple of years that's putting me off. Could be I guess, as I know a few others who say they feel the same.

Anyway, having said that - here's one I made earlier...It's my mojo from last night. We used a layout by dolly as our inspiration and while mine looks little like the original, it was made for the challenge, and draws on Karen's design in some respects.

My Girl (with her girl)

Hugs to all - wishing everyone a smashing weekend.

love jk x

All About Eve challenge number 8 went live on Monday night. Our challenge this week was to make a layout about Music - what it means so you... could you live without it...a favourite song or the memory it envokes... or perhaps just the top 10 playlist on your Mp3 or iPod....

I chose a song that me and Carlos have always loved - 'Shine on you Crazy Diamond' -not exactly 'our song' but one that holds meaning for us, and I felt this photo of us looking so chilled on holiday that we almost shine, was just perfect (besides it gave me an excuse to use a bit o bling!)Incidently, My BF at the time actually bought me the Pink Floyd album this track comes from for my 17th birthday, so you can see it's true, i've loved this song forever... ;-)



There's some incredible layouts on the blog - as always - and Karen Cousins who was our Guest DT member this challenge, made a really stunning page - well worth a peek. Karen (Kazc) is a very talented scrapper, who I think too often hides her light under a bushel...I've known her a long time and have always admired her work, and was chuffed to bits earlier this year to find myself back in contact and working alongside her on mojoholders DT.

See the layouts here

And this is a little layout I knocked up when I was nibbling my nails and hopping about on pins last weekend waiting for news about Jazz. The papers and yummy ribbon suff came from a kit from Carolinez ages ago when I was on the DT there, and the big 2 was cut from one of Rubies old T shirts. Stamps from scraproom FTM kits.
Rubie's birthday 2006 - complete with cake on his nose!


jk x

wait til you see....

.......this new little girl...and her happy family :-)














But my favourite one of all.... and this IS the smallest size, like size nought....
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LOL!!!....Now, how cute is that??? Don't tell me you're not smiling! I told you she was a dot.

The baby is born

YAY!!!!

The baby is born and it's no coincidence I'm writing in PINK!!!!

Ok, so we knew she was a girl - well the doctor said it was going to be a girl, but you can never be sure til you see, can you? :-)

Anyway, of course I haven't seen... but i've heard her voice! Yep! Erks was holding her and said "say hello to nannie", and i heard her little wimper and then she started to cry and I heard her good and proper - and trust me, she may be tiny, but she can yell alright! I can't wait to see her, and hold her, and fuss her.

She was born at 12.56, and is about 6lb 8oz, and they are planning to call her Jenna Leigh. There's a story here, but not for today. For another time maybe.

Hayley said she's the image of Ruben, with gorgeous skin, and not much hair - though she had a hat on so she can't tell really, and she has teeny little dainty blue feet! Crikey, hope she has some booties on now :-)

I will post pics as soon as I have them - Mum and babe are in observation for 2 hrs, and after that she can keep the baby with her in her room - My, how things have changed in 3 years ;-) . No photo's allowed yet, as another Mum is in there too, but I expect i'll have plenty by tonight.

Such a relief that baby is here and they are both ok after everything.

My girlie is absolutely fine apparently, and according to Hayley and Erkin, looks like she's just about to go out for dinner.

How Jazz is that! ;-) Lol!



FIRST PIC EMAILED FROM HER DADDY'S PHONE!!!

keeping my mind occupied...

Ok, nothing to report on Jazz. Still at the hospital, and we're hoping maybe today is the day. If she were having the baby here in England it would be here already, that's for certain, but they do things differently in Spain, and even more differently in the Canaries.... :-(

I must try not to worry, but with the situation, her history with this baby, and being so far away, it's impossible not to fret.

***********

Other things.
This is my Mojoholder layout for last night:



We lifted Emily Falconbridge this week, and you can see her page and the other DT takes on the layout here

waiting and worrying.

Jazz has gone into the hospital today.
I'm worried sick. Hope I can post happy news very very soon.
Those who know me well, know why i'm so worried. Please keep us in your hearts and prayers this weekend.

jake x

No strings attached......?

.....No, quite the opposite in fact. 12 strings - as opposed to six.....

Yep. Vin has a new guitar. I know I said no more... there are 5 in the house already... plus an assortment of other stringed instruments like a mandolin and a mini harp thingy etc, but this was a bargain - and he's never had a 12 string - and he paid for most of it himself.

So, it's here :-)

His dad chipped in a third (foolishly assuming vin will now allow him to have a go... er.. I doubt it matey. Not if I know that boy!) and we went and picked it up last night.

He absolutely loves it. And it does have a very beautiful sound, and there's a lot worse he could be doing than making music, I know.

Her name (they all have names) is Frances Bean. No prizes for guessing why.... the others are called Layla (first love) Black Betty, Violet, Rubie-guitar and Terry. No idea what the mandolin is called.. er.. mandy? just a guess.. lol!

Anyway - Here they are:























He is no longer am emo kid btw... and has now morphed into total grunge a la his hero Kurt. At least those flannel shirts are cheap enough in the charity shop - when you can find one!

Rude Awakening...

Today wasn't so bad, but yesterday was awful.

For the last 12 months I've been woken with a cup of coffee and a kiss by Carlos, just before he set off for work. But yesterday he started a new job, with a much earlier start, so I had to resort to a more traditional means of waking, and let me tell you a shrieking alarm suddenly clanging in your ear is something of a rude awakening compared to what I've been used to lately.

Particularly as yesterday was about as wild a morning as you could imagine anywhere. Black thunderous sky, howling wind, torrential rain.... I couldn't see a thing out of the window as the rain overflowed the guttering and came across my windows like a waterfall.

Later Jazz text me from Lanzarote: "Mum! Are you guys ok? I saw tornadoes hit Luton on Sky News!!"

LOL!

First i'd heard of it :-D Took my dd, all those miles away to let me know! But no, we were fine. Slightly damp but fine.

Today's weather is sunny with a blue sky... only in Britain, eh?

Using up scraps

I don't know about you, but I can't throw stuff away.

Especially not scrapping bits... scraps of paper... ribbon ends... BG paper... :-)

You never know when you might need them.

So, sorting through some plastic drawers earlier, I spotted a pile of Hang 10 scraps, and thought I'd put a little mini book together to make use of some of the millions of holiday snaps I took which will probably never make it onto a page. I cannibalised a 10 pence carboot sale notebook, which I bought because I liked the see through covers. I actually considered making a transparent book with it, but that would have defeated the object of using up my BG scraps! lol!

(So, I'm still to make my see through book.... one day Lemon. One day.)

Anyway, this lil book cost absolutely nothing to make, because everything used is an oddment left over from other stuff, and took no time to make either - so I feel all virtuous tonight, and happy I had a go.
I even managed to get all the piccies together nicely without tearing my hair out.. don't ask why or how, but something must have finally clicked. There is hope for me yet, perhaps :-)

Book dimensions - 4" x 4".

a load of hot air

Andy Harrison, easyJet's chief executive, said the other day: "Air passenger duty has got to be scrapped. If there is going to be an environmental tax it has to be an intelligent one." The suggestion being that it's the aircraft making emissions... not the passengers Hmmm..... he's clearly never travelled with my boys, who are not too shy about sharing a few emissions of their own with their fellow passengers...! phewie! ;-)

Happy Birthday to Donzo for Thursday. My big girl, my firstborn, had us all round the other night to celebrate with drinks, pizza, snacks and some gorgeous rhubarb and apple crumble, which I greedily had with ice cream, cream AND custard!! But that was ok, coz so so did Great-Grandma, and if it's good enough for her... well it's good enough for me too! The pud was a real family affair with Rhubarb from PeePee's garden and apples from ours. Donz supplied the crumble top :-) and we all scoffed the lot! Naughty naughty!

You can keep your hat on....

This weeks Mojoholder layout was made a bit tongue in cheek. Recently I was talking to a friend on Msn, and at the same time, sending Jazz our holiday photos to look at.

I was telling Jazz how hot it had been walking round the hippy market at Punta Arabi, and how I'd spotted this fab cowboy hat and talked Carlos into treating me, even tho it was loadsa dosh ;-) so I uploaded a snap of me on the balcony wearing the new headgear, so she could see if she liked it... Only I sent it to Irene and not Jazz! Got my windows mixed up, didn't I..? And don't tell me you've never done that. Lol!

Anyway... Irene, oblivious to the other convo going on, was like "Whaaa??? Good God girl! Have you got any clothes on??? You look like you're stripping off!!"

Pmsl.. and yeah, I guess it does a bit :-D

Might not sound funny now, but well, it cracked me up... and jazz and irene, too.

So obviously the title for this week's scraplift layout came easy...
You can keep your hat on!



You can see the other DT girlies fabulous scraplifted layouts on the page by Kimmy here Plus a brilliant sketch by Sarah, to help you put your own version together in a snap. Don't forget to share your work with us by putting a link in the comments section as we love to see your takes too, and there's a chance to win the monthly RAK.

Another year rolls by....

On All About Eve, our theme was a glimpse of the past or future, and this set me reminiscing; particularly as this week, yesterday in fact, marked the 10th anniversary of the day I kissed my little Ma goodbye for the very last time. On that day, it had been barely 6 months since I'd also sat with my sister and watched her slipping away from us too.... I was still reeling, in shock, and no way prepared to lose my darling Mum too. But that's the way it was, and I did. Both lost to the same disease. But somehow I managed to get by, thinking of them everyday...until today. Because you never stop thinking of them and yearning for them, as anyone who has suffered like me will tell you.


I almost did a layout using a picture of my Mum, and me, Sanna and Jen Jen, laughing at a party, a rare photo of the Walker women together...though by no means a rare event. A glimpse of the past... us in pleats of laughter (God only knows what at, coz I don't remember now) all dressed in daft eighties clothes - suits with big padded shoulders... big hair... but in the end I just couldn't do it. Although I fixed the picture up as best I could in PSE, and while i'm no expert and it's still a poor pic, i'm glad I did it.. maybe one day i'll scrap it after all.


In the end I blew up a little photo booth snap, taken on one of my many excursions to London when I was a teen. Actually, I was 16 here, and a proper poser. All my gear had to be bought in London, and I'd go up on a cheap day return, and come home laden with bags, from Carnaby st, Oxford st, South Molton st, Camden Lock, Portobello rd, the King's rd... sporting such names as Naff Naff, Biba, Topshop and Chelsea Girl.. those were the days. Shopping was EVERYTHING! Only eclipsed by going up the Cali that night and showing off my new clothes/shoes/bag/make-up, and dancing the night away with a gang of mates.


Couldn't post this yesterday when the challenge went up, as I just didn't feel like it. No matter how many years roll by it still hits me just the same.


RIP my best girls. Love you still, Mosh and JJ.
jk xx

Major Mojo

What you reckon Woody... think anyone'll notice the Chicken Pops?

http://www.mojoholder.typepad.com/

Oh, go on...Get over there and see for yourself...

Week after week, my awesome teamies truly amaze me - they do. And that's a fact.
Usually, I walk off the blog on a Friday night wondering how I even hold my place, but somehow I seem to get away with it, so do check us out.

This week we lifted a piece of Kimber McGray's gorgeous work, and my lift is below. I wasn't too happy with the way it scanned tbh - it's actually much nicer irl, as anyone who has these papers will know...

...But, the layout does tell a tale, and I guess it's safe to say I'm known as a scrapper who uses my medium to document our life stories, as opposed to someone who does wonderfully glorious pages about the bug they picked off their boot today, or the incredible flower they spotted on their way to work . So as far as I'm concerned, the boy's childhood illness is noted, and really... are his grandkids honestly gonna worry if the paper was slightly off colour for the photo's??

I'll just have to hope not, is all I can say. :-)

Well, we did it.

Euro 2008 qualifier:
(Kept up the standard and beat the opposition, that is!)

England played fantastically well and walked away with a well deserved 3-0 win over Russia. Michael was man of the match and so nearly had a hat trick too - man, that boy's on fire!

But hey,.... Go Rio - Lol! Brilliant goal, even if his shimmy was off... pmsl...!

Woo Hoo!!! I cannot tell you how happy I am!

Congratulations also to Scotland, who finished 1-0 up on France, and commiserations to N. Ireland who lost tonight.

not another green layout!!

I do not know why this is happening!!! Eeek!!

I just seem to be stuck in green mode lately... lol :-)
Time to hunt some girlie pics out I think!

My boys messing about doing their usual swimming pool shark attack game. I could watch them playing together for hours :-)

I just hope they'll always be the great friends they are today.