The dental saga continues...

Well i went into work today, but half way through the day my bridge fell out again.. so am awaiting yet another emergency appointment. All i need for now is a temporary solution to get me back into work, these bits of time off are just ridiculous, and don't help me get myself established with my groups again. It's so maddening that this has happened now of all times. I think the permanent solution could be very expensive implants, as a plate will damage the teeth i have left.

Enough doom and gloom, what about a nice scrapbook page to look at?

This is the first of the Tracie Hudson pages i made at the weekend crop. I have been hanging onto this self portrait Hannah took for a month or so, and it seemed perfect for this LO. I had seen these Sassafrass papers before, but they hadn't really appealed to me, as they are very bright, busy and quite quirky in nature. we also made good use of lots of stickers too, almost as a replacement for patterned paper. After using them i am glad this page made me try something really different, and i do think the balloons link nicely to the theme of flying the nest. The blue bazzill cardstock seems to match the colour of Hannah's eyes perfectly too.

Another dental update later... let's hope it's good news.

What should have been a fantastic weekend....

.. was rendered awful by the fact that on Saturday evening, when the house was full of family, my tooth holding the bridge at the very front of my mouth broke, leaving me looking about 95 years old, and unable to eat or talk. As i type i am awaiting a trip to the dentist, i am so worried he won't be able to do anything about it, but i can't talk, so yet again am unable to go into work. I just feel as if there is a curse upon me this year :(

So, what was good? Well i went to an amazing crop with classes run by the very talented Tracie Hudson, couldn't do much talking... but as it ran from 10am to 8pm i managed to get 4 amazing LOs made. I will post these during the week. In the meantime here is a page i made for a pre-crop challenge. The photo was taken at the end of May, and seems appropriate for this day which is due to be the hottest of the year so far! I picked up these really bright papers at a craft fair ages ago, and they seemed perfect for this page. Plenty of handstitching too.

It is also my lovely sisters birthday today, i gave her the wall hanging at the weekend, and she was delighted with it, here is the card i made for her. Love the Sizzix XL scalloped card die!!(And Julia you may recognise the little tag attached!)

So wish me luck for later.... and i hope he can save the bridge, as the cost of replacement doesn't bear thinking about.

Update... dentist has glued the offending bridge back on... and although the tooth underneath is broken, he is hopeful that it will stay put. i have an appt next week anyway for a filling, so he'll check it again then.

Teen page

I did it!!! I managed to finish a full week at work, and i feel i have made progress with lots of my groups. Only 17 days to go to the end of time! The only downside is that there are almost no jobs being advertised in my area, and i don't fancy being unemployed again in September.

Hannah went to a concert with her friend a month ago and, clever girl that she is, she remembered to save the ticket for her scrapbook!!! I made the page using a kit I've had for ages, and has been really useful for those troublesome teen pages. Not because the girls are troublesome, but the stash to suit the pages can be a bit limited. So this DCWV Rockstar kit is perfect, great designs, a bit of foiling and flocking too.

The date stamp is a Stampin' Up one, i marked the date on it this time using little shiny blobs of glossy accents for a change. Alphabet is Autumn Leaves, and cardstock is Core'dinations black magic.

Finally..... the writing is on the wall, in a years time Hannah will preparing to leave home and go off to University. Not that i didn't expect it, but it has just come around a lot faster than i thought.... and that started in earnest yesterday.

Hannah spent the day at Liverpool Uni for an open day. She went up by herself on the train, visited the departments she is interested in (Combined Sci.. hooray!!) had a guided tour around Liverpool, and was highly impressed by the Student Union! I'm so pleased she found it all so exciting, and i can't believe it is over 25 years since i went away to college. Tempus fugit :(

I feel like cropping tonight...

Busy night ahead, my in laws are arriving from Ireland later on this evening (house is still a mess) check up at the dentist, have to pick up 2 of the kids following after school activities (guitar lesson and gaelic football), should try to complete my photography challenge, (tried last night, but shots were rubbish) AND there's a crop at my house..... I think it's the house tidying that will have to give, so John and Kathleen will have to take us as they find us (Scruffy!)

This page is one i made using some of Harry's photos from Dol y Moch. As his pics were not too great!! i printed most of them very small, and concentrated on the journalling more. it's been a while since i got him to write on a page, so i thought it would be nice to record his hand writing again on the page. We managed to get some of the photos taken by the Staff to while in Wales, so i might make a second page for a DLO using some of these.

If i get a page done tonight i might have time to post this tomorrow.

A positively GOOD day at work, i enjoyed it for the first time in ages... and i feel like I'm making progress with most of my groups.

A forgotten page

When i posted on Monday i referred to this LO i made back in March, but i didn't realise i hadn't posted it on here. One of my fave things about this page is the corrugated card swirl, painted with paint dabbers, stamped and the distressed and inked. I wasn't too sure about this corrugated look, but i was very happy with the way it turned out in the end.

The journalling explains the title of the page, and the reason Katie made her dad a fathers day card with a badger on it!

A better couple of days at work, but it seems that half the dept has gone down with this bug i had last week, so although i feel bad for them (as it's horrible!) it doesn't make me look quite so workshy!

A final note, swine flu has been detected in 2 local (ie in our postcode!!) school children. Our Head has put out further advice for us should H1N1 hit anyone within school... it's getting closer!!:o

Published page

I received my copy of the UK magazine Scrapbook Inspirations today, and a page i made ages ago about Hannahs GCSE awards night is in the Readers gallery.

After a truly horrible day at work (behaviour as usual) it was nice to come home and find this mag on the doorstep.

Hannah has another audition tomorrow for a part in a production to be televised later this year. I think she'll probably send all night deciding what to wear, and then wonder why she has bags under her eyes!

Hope tomorrow will be better. Funny, this post seems similar to ones written in February :(

21 days to go........

Happy Fathers Day

Is it me, or is Fathers day late this year....?

Enough of that, lets get on with showing the cards that have been exchanged today. Firstly i made two cards on the same theme with very different looks for my Dad, and Kev's Dad. It's amazing how just using different papers and colours produces a totally different feel to the card. As ever i used scraps from my scraps drawer to make these (not that I'm a miser, but if i don't use up these its i will never be able to close the drawer!!!)

Both cards use stamps, the clock is a really useful one i got from Stampin' Up, the sentiment is from this months Unity kit of the month. The first card uses a cuttlebug embossing folder (numbers) to back the stamped image, the second some very old K&Co papers. I did some heat embossing on both cards, not done this for a while... always fun!

Now enough for my cards, here are the best cards of the day, the ones the children made. It was so nice this morning as all 3 of them piled into bed with us (a bit of a squeeze now as the girls are both effectively adults!) I helped Harry make breakfast in bed for Kev, and he had great fun opening his cards and pressies. Hannah's card includes a pic of Kev's hero Ray Mears, but inside a very cheeky stamped message ('Let's hang out') refers to a very rude, and funny, sketch we had seen Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer perform involving 'Ray'.

Katie made her dad a card that you will understand if you saw this LO on the DoCrafts site a whileback (am amazed i didn't include it on my blog!).... love the paper pieced badger (made all by herself) and the moving arms.

Harry made a shirt and tie card with a very random theme of lumberjacks drawn on the front. the best bit were the TWO chainsaws drawn on the back. He was very pleased with his efforts!!

So Happy Fathers Day to all dads, we are off to the natural habitat of dads later today..... a barbecue at my sisters house!

Altered art...

I was puzzling over what to get my sister for her birthday next week, when i saw these canvases at the knock down price of £1.99 in The Range last week. I had an idea of what to do with them, and after a lot of effort (and very inky fingers....!)

...... i made an altered canvas for her for the first time... this is how i did it......

1. Use white acrylic paint and a small amount of brown to cover the original canvas. Leave to dry... i speeded this up with a heat gun.

2. Using Tim Holtz clock masks and SU inks in navy, yellow and teal ink the surface of the canvas. Allow to dry (another blast with the heat gun) This is the really messy bit!!

3. Spray with Cosmic shimmer and allow to dry again.

4. Gather Angelinas fibres in the colour of choice, add inclusions (i added embroidery thread) iron between two sheets of paper.

5. Crop the photo, put onto a card mat, with a scalloped edge (Fiskars punch) add a snap using a cropodile, and some doodling in white. Stick on top of the Angelinas fibres onto the canvas.

6. Die cut the bird using Grungeboard. Paint with paint dabbers, leave to dry (blast!!) ink the raised parts using SU navy ink. Spray with Cosmic Shimmer, leave to dry. Add pearl brads, and a MM tag.

7. Die cut the small title words (I used Sizzix Sunset) and hand cut the larger ones. Emboss, sand and ink the larger letters. Spray with cosmic shimmer, ink the edges using cut and dry foam and navy ink.

8. Stamp a journalling mat and add journalling. Add to the left of the photo, with doodling. I put the bird over the journalling block before adding my writing so none of it was obscured when i finally glued all the elements onto the canvas.

9. Stick on the bird, some bling swirls and title, (raise some letters with 3D foam)

10. Stamp around the edges of the canvas with words or phrases (I used Unity stamps for this) remember to heat blast each side before moving on, or the ink smudges.

I hope she likes it!

First fruit

There really is something about English strawberries that simply cannot be beaten, and if you grow them yourself, and eat them warm from the plant....that's a pleasure worth waiting for! So here is a shot i took of our strawberries earlier this week, (just before i got the lurgy.. which i'm sad to say is back, Kev says i have to starve myself till Sunday) and i think they will be ready to eat this weekend!

I will just have to wait until then to enjoy the first friut from our garden!

Some good photo opps this weekend too, it's Harrys school sports day on Sunday, i might get a few good shots of him running down the track... you never know:)

Poorly

Sorry i haven't posted in the last few days, have picked up a bug, and spent a lot of time in the smallest room in the house :(

It's a shame as i had started to settle back into work, and i worry that this will be viewed badly.... i intend going back in tomorrow as i have a half day, and however i feel, i think i can manage that.

Not done much crafting of late, as i have been back at work. Here are some sympathy cards i made a while back using stickers, leftover stash and stamps. I know these can be hard to make, and mum asked me for one a while back and i had none in my box of cards, so i made a few. The flowers are free stickers that came with a magazine, i thought at the time i would be able to find a use for them.

Nuneaton Crop

I enjoyed myself again at the Nuneaton crop today. Got one 12x12 page done, a challenge LO for a class I'm going to in a couple of weeks, and this small 6x6 LO to go onto a display board in the Exhall crop room. As i used felt flowers and letters on this LO it will do for my SLYMI challenge too. Used BG papers, velvet ric-rac, lace and Prima flowers, pearl brads are by Papermania, and a Unity stamp. It's amazing what you can fit into such a small space!

A big week ahead as i have 3 and a half days teaching to do, then i will be full time after that. I'm sure it will be OK, but the thought of being full time is off putting to say the least. I'll try and update during the week when i can, but my posts may be a bit more sporadic from now!

I might try and make my Fathers day cards once i have finished blogging on here.

Better today...

... and summer's back!! The warm weather has returned, so Hannah and i went into town today to visit an Italian market in the city centre. Some lovely food (if a little pricey.. shame the Euro exchange rate is so bad) and some very cheeky Italians!! I bought Hannah an ice-cream from one of the vendors, and the guy selling said to Hannah 'What would your sister like?'....I just burst out laughing... as if!!!!
Here is a page i made at our mini crop here on Thursday night. A very quick page using yet more of my Cosmo Cricket papers, and the chipboard alphabet that came with them. The busy design of the papers seems to go really well with the busy cake!

Another crop tomorrow in Nuneaton. I haven't decided what to take yet, but I have one sketch i want to get done. Am off into town now (yes at 9pm at night) with my camera and tripod. There is a fantastic new fountain near the theatre that has just been opened, and i want to try and get some shots of it. Low light levels might mean i get some really interesting photos.

Another bloggy LO

I am not in work again today, which is probably a good thing as i've had a migraine since Wednesday night :( It was so bad yesterday that i fell asleep on the sofa when i got in from picking up the kids, and i failed to complete my photography assignment for the first time this week. The weather was so poor at the weekend i got nothing done, i planned to go out and take soem shots on Tuesday... rained again, and then yesterday was a washout with my bad head. I can still feel it now, despite taking whopping painkillers this morning.

Harry has gone off to Dol y Moch, a house in north Wales owned for years by the local authority (owned by Coventry LA for so long that even i did my Biology A level field trip there!!). I'm pleased to see that the weather has cheered up, he and Max have gone together, with a group of Year 6 students, so i'm sure they will have a fantastic time! I remember when i visited i was about 16, I had never seen mountains before, the Midlands and South of England where we holday are very flat. The surroundings to the house are stunning, i hope Harry is old enough to appreciate them!

A quick page today, made a week or so ago about this very blog! I used a screen shot from the day, and Cosmo Cricket papers, along with my lovely new border punch.

An award!!!

I've been blogging just under a year now, and a crafter who lives locally to me has given me this award for my blog.

The conditions of the award are:
I must thank the person who gave me the award
List their blog and link to it.
I must list 10 honest things about myself.
I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.
I must select at least seven other worthy bloggers & list their links.
I must notify the bloggers of the award.

So, many thanks Katrina for my lovely award, and here are the 10 honest things about myself...

1. I always wanted to be a teacher, so no matter how much i moan about the job, when it's going well, i can't think of anything else i'd rather be doing.

2. I wanted 4 children really, but we started a bit too late, and i was so exhausted after having Harry that i decided 3 would have to be enough!!!

3. Although i can be loud and opinionated at times, if i am in the company of those i don't know too well i feel excrutiatingly shy, and can hardly face talking to anyone.

4. I love Sherbert fountains, and it's bordering on an obsession!

5. I think if i ate fewer sweets, my teeth might not be as bad as they are.

6. I'm hideously short sighted, but don't have the courage to have the operation to get it sorted... and now i think i've left it too late.

7. I've never really lost my baby weight.

8. I love Sci Fi (not a surprise to regular readers!)

9. If i was going to change anything about my body it would be the length of my legs, they are ridiculously short (Thanks Mum!!) and if they were a few inches longer, then i would the right weight for my height!

10. For someone so keen on photography, i really don't like having my own photo taken.

Now my worthy bloggers to receive this award from me are.....

Sue

Caroline

Julia

Gill

SusieJ

Maria

Eagle eyed readers will notice that there are 6 names, not 7, but 6 will have to do as that was hard enough work as it is!!!!

Pretty good day at work today, cracked one year 8 group (at last they have remembered what i expect of them!!), just 2 more to go!! :)

Cakes... and Victorian day.

Well we did manage to get out for a meal last night, the Take That concert was very loud, you could hear the whole stadium singing at the end! My sister(who lives about 2 1/2 miles from the Ricoh could also hear it in her garden! When we got back home we had birthday cake, which was lovely, and as it was so enormous, Kev took the rest in to give to his class at school.

Today is Victorian day at Harry's school. As he had completed a short project in Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this is who he dressed up as. I helped Harry make a cigar, and a pocket watch, painted his face, and sorted out a cravat. Kev made the towering top hat from an old cereal box, and a large cardboard box that had been lurking around the garage for at least a year!!

Harry was so pleased with himself, and i'm sure these photos will make a LO for his scrapbook very soon!

No work for me until tomorrow, the house is an absolute tip, so i think i need to do some tidying :(

Happy Birthday Kev

It's funny to think that my lovely OH was only just 24 when we started going out... in 1987. He had a few grey hairs then, but within a month of us meeting we both knew that this was 'it'!! Well he's 46 today, and as Hannah was not in school this afternoon (she had her last AS exam this morning) she spent this afternoon making Kev this AMAZING cake!!! I had got him the tin after seeing it in Lakeland a few weeks ago... and he was so pleased with it. He is the master baker in our house! Just hope he gets home before Hannah eats it all herself!

The kids also made cards for their Dad, Harry's was this interactive one, with googly eyes and moving eyes!! Mine (at the top of the post) is a bit staid in comparison!

We might be going out for tea tonight, it depends what time Kev gets home. Take That are on in concert at the Ricoh arena, which is less that a mile from our house... if we can negotiate the traffic (heading in the opposite direction!) then i won't have to cook! Much as i like Take that, I'm not looking forward to the next 3 nights of gridlock outside the house, as over 110,000 people try to get to the stadium.

Worked my first full day today, morning was good, my old classes were pleased to see me, and we did some practical science. Afternoon less so, some very poor behaviour to deal with again... but i feel I'm making progress. Back in on Wednesday, I'll crack the Year 8 group then!

A Busy Day....

....in crafty terms yesterday. I made a good few cards, helped Harry and Katie make a birthday card for their Dad, and had a go, for the first time at using the sketch from this site.

A while back i wouldn't have used sketches, i think i would have seen them as a bit of a cheat, but now they help me to concentrate my mind on the little details on a LO. If i had spent lots of time faffing about wondering where to put the bits of paper, photo, journalling etc, it would have given me less time to add the little bits i like about this LO, the Gromlets, stitching, bling and composing the journalling (contrary to popular belief even short, simple journalling does take a little bit of thinking about!)

So this page is about the gift sent to me by Julia earlier this week, and the friends online i know, but have never met. As i spend at least half an hour most days online, an important page for my Book of Me. I used the My Minds Eye papers i bought in Stampeezee (see, i told you i would keep them for my own Scrapbook!), WRMK large gromlets, Stampin Up ink (Coral cameo?) embroidery thread, AC Thickers and white pen, Anitas gems (still lovin' these!) and a Making Memories tag.. thanks Julia!