30/11/2010

We got In !

Well, what a fab,tiring weekend I've had. We got to the BBC tv centre at about 1.30 - the queue was very long already,but  we decided to give it a go It  was also bitterly cold and how pleased was I that I had my nice warm downy coat with hood on. Anyway to cut a long story short, after about an hour and a half we were given stickers on our e-tickets and the fact that ours was the right colour meant we'd get in. The queueing didn't seem so bad then - ( and I'm not one to do queues- I'd normally rather not have what I 'm queueing for than to queue!




this was the queue behind us...
and it was as long in front of us




.Anyway - I just had to take a piccy of this. as I loved Ashes to Ashes ...

and this.....
Sadly we were not allowed to take photos in the studio but I really really enjoyed my day . I was shattered when we got home at 11 o'clock though !

27/11/2010

Strictly too excited !

In a couple or three hours I will be standing outside the TV centre in London with this in my hot little hand
I applied for tickets last year for various weeks and had no luck - so imagine my surprise when I got this a couple of weeks ago.
This doesn't guarantee me to get in as there are more tickets issued than places but please keep your fingers,toes,eyes and anything else you can crossed for me that I get in. Sadly there are no cameras or phones allowed so I won't be able to record it for posterity but never mind...then tomorrow I'm off to do some scrapping at a day event run by the lovely GoGo ladies...busy busy - have a great weekend everyone x

24/11/2010

Patience !

I've finally got the laptop back to some sort of normal that I can work with. Isn't it weird how just having a new 'Windows' can throw you?? I's taking me a while to get used to this Windows 7. Thankfully I've got it   back with  data intact - BUT It's now with  this Windows 7- which is ok and I'm getting used to it. The main probelm which is driving me mad and probably needn't - is that my old Windows photo viewer was brilliant. I could merrily crop and resize and adjust contrast and brightness etc all in one place. Now I'm struggling to manage it.Has anyone got Windows7? and if they have - am I missing something or has it not got the 'fix' option at the top of the toolbar anymore ?Anyway, I'm now having to go to separate programmes to crop, then back to another to resize it. I shall be here till the year dot at this rate !
I've had a go at re sizing the previous photo to see what happens so bear with me ...
on to other things- I've finally finished the cot blanket I was making for someone - in rainbow colours...it's folded in half here.
After being at the retreats for two weekends -I decided it was time to upgrade the table top tote thingy that goes every where with me and holds everything but the kitchen sink. It's been great but the handles get in the way when it's on the floor beside me or on the table top and the lid really does get in the way - so I went for one of these....

I could have gone for a Zebra or a Giraffe- the Giraffe won!  I bet everyone has made their Christmas cards ? I really really must get stuck in and make mine - can't believe how these weeks are whizzing by....and does anyone know how to do those kind of signatures at the bottom of their posts ? like you've signed your name ?.. ♥ (thanks Deb!)


21/11/2010

Scrappy Sunday

I spent a lovely day today in the company of Deb at the latest Craftystash crop . It went really quickly,we made two layouts - designed by Sue.I've only finished one so will blog the other one when It's done..
I've been a bit lapse on the  blogging and crafty front this week, I've  finsihed one of the projects from the ATDML retreat, Clare Brown's lovely wall decoration- not a brilliant photo as the light's not that good ..
and then to top it all off tonight, we have been out for one of these with two of our boys and one girlfriend....yum ...

14/11/2010

Where did this week go ?

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone, Sunday again already.

Yesterday I went to a class in Shepreth on the way to Cambridge. We made a gorgeous journal with 7Gypsies papers. The class took all day and involved lots of techniques including waxing the cover and book binding. The book binding was a tad fiddly - I wasn't expecting it-but it was a good technique to learn. We made the front and back covers by tearing lots of old book pages then stuck them to the board,as one lady said- it reminded us of when we used to cover ballons like that when we were younger We then waxed over it with hot wax.
There's still a few embellishments to add to the inside but you get the idea. We cuttlebugged the bird and birdcage for the front and made a few more for the inside of the book too.


I really enjoyed the day and it was nice to meet up with Hilary and see Sandi too- the book binding was right at the end of the class took a bit of concentrating for me but was a lovely way to finish it off..Overall a thoroughly messy, inky, gluey day!

09/11/2010

A lttle bit of Michael


Last night I went to see this....


I had such a lovely time,we made it to Wembley in good time - had a good seat. The ticket was a present from my son and his girlfriend. The show was just as I remembered it from 12 years ago,althought there were a few changes in the costumes. It was a great evening out to follow a brilliant weekend. I was back to work today so - back to reality!
You know that old saying 'It never rains but it pours? Well,when I came back from my weekend I was itching to get back on the computer to catch up on blogs and emails,facebook, etc etc and what happens ? There is now no 'R' on the one keyboard we have left to use - himself 'accidentally dropped a book 'on the keyboard and the R button 'flicked' off ...hmmmmm so now as I type I have to stop and get a pen nib to push into the gap where the R is in order to make sense out of what I'm writing..why couldn't it have been a 'Z' or an X ??? Still at least it wasn't E or A ...It's amazing how many times you use R you know !!!! Here's a few more Lord of the Dance pics I took..
Hmmmmm - just looking at that last photo - it would be a good one to use on my 'Red' page on the colour workshop at BPS I'm doing.Blogger doesn't want to play tonight and won't let me post it as small so I'll leave it as is .Hope you've all had nice Mondays.

08/11/2010

Back - and looks like I missed a good party...

Wow - yet again what a wonderful weekend of scrapping I've had,am tired but in a really good way.
The classes and teachers have again  been an inspiration. The atmosphere was so friendly and it was lovely to catch up again with people-have a giggle and generally have fun.
Here are some of the gorgeous projects from the weekend......


Mel's class -as always - loved her class

Suzanne's Inky class -we started this off with plain white embossed Parisian Anthology 12 x 12,then played with distress inks to get the colour combination that we liked.This is so 'me' this layout, I love playing with inks and also love a bit of glitzy bling...

This was  Clare's ATC tin we covered and we also made some ATCs to go inside or a mini book - whichever we preferred..


 This was the first class of the weekend, Clare's again, and we made the roses where you cut a swirl then wrap it round a pen or 'pokey tool ' to get the rose effect....


This was Mel's again, using a really zingy set of papers and gorgeous chipboard to mat the photos on to..
I did a few others but the aren't finished yet so will blog them when they are...

These are two cards that I made- one with the leftovers from a class and one with those fab Alice In Wonderland Graphic45 papers...








So now onto bloggy things..
It looks like I missed a really good party of blog friends at the weekend,I'm just off to have a hop and a read,and I would like to add that I too have 'met' some really really lovely people via blogland and funnily enough,I really miss it when I'm away from it. I know lots of people kind of pooh pooh it but I can honestly say thank you to everyone out there,I love your comments and I love your friendship and I love reading all your blogs about - life,kids, home, craft, recipes,thoughts on things, it really is a part of life that I would miss if it wasn't there...now I wonder if anyone has any cupcakes left over from the party...... more pics tomorrow .

05/11/2010

Oh dear and ready for the off again

I've got two 'Oh dears' today - one is that my laptop looks like it may be un repairable (great)
The other 'Oh dear' is a slightly different one,anyone who know us knows that himself is an Alice Cooper fan and has been since the 1970s....and never fails to see him in concert when he tours over here.Anyway he went to see him in concert on Sunday night. When I sat down today in our office to quickly blog before I go- I looked to my left to see what the time was and was confronted by this.....
Yep,, 'Oh dear ' were my words exactly,I just really really hope he didn't wear it !!!!
So now I am off to finish getting organised for this weekend - off scrapping again - can't wait!
If you read this Deb I hope you enjoy the crop tomorrow xx

03/11/2010

A feelgood song

I've  loved watching this on you tube this evening, isn't it just a really 'feeling good' song? -Oh dear - looks like you can't view it here -sorry ! It gave me the option for blogger but for whatever reason it doesn't want to play ball...it will link straight to Youtube if you want to watch it tho '
Here 's a couple more layouts from the Gogo weekend...

This was the last one we did on Sunday.The main technique was the 'waterfall' journalling cards- a really good idea for either more little photos or journalling, whatever you fancy.

This one was fun as there was quite a bit of cutting out involved- which I love and we also made the little stones.
We made them from a special clay which dried overnight and then we painted them with a sandy gritty paint the next day. You can't see so well here but the layout is actually very 3dimensional. I've scrapped this photo before of my beloved dogs who are no longer here but the photo went so well I scrapped it again..