Happy New Year

There are only a couple of hours left of 2011, so I thought I would share a few more of the christmas cards I created this year, I didn't photograph them all, in fact I didn't make as many as I wanted, alas, I promise to try harder next year.

One of my current bug bears is my messy craft area, I have stolen the back end of our lounge and have a very functional set of drawers, but as for organisation, I am hopeless.

I always start each crafting session with good intentions but the photos here show the state it usually ends up in

Even the window sills behind me and the floor end up piled high with discarded stash or half complete projects

And the weird thing is I HATE working in a mess and Neil will attest to the fact I am super tidy everywhere else ( in fact I drive everyone in the family potty by putting everything away as soon as it is finished with and I LOVE clean surfaces)

So what is it about craft spaces ? I know that I am not alone, I have shared many a messy desk story with lots of fellow crafters

Anyway, the photos above were taken yesterday afternoon, ( the awful part is, they were taken an hour after tidying began !)

I sorted ribbons yesterday before my gym session, went shopping and did the cleaning up around the rest of the house and really intended finishing it all up before bed.

No hope! I ended up being sidetracked by Johnny Depp with Amy and making banana splits and fruit smoothies for the kids ( anything really just to delay the pain of sorting out all that STUFF)

But

I have made a concerted effort today, Amy helped with the papers and some more ribbons, hopefully tomorrow I should have some 'afters' to share

On that note, I will bid you all goodnight and wish you all

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thankyou for your kind words and comments all through the year

xxx

Christmas catch up

I hope you have all enjoyed a happy and relaxed christmas

I must apologise for my absence, I made the mistake of relaxing myself and ended up with the mother of all colds ( not quite man flu but you get the gist)

Neil and I have a theory that whilst you are busy and do not have time to get ill your body kind of just battles on, but, the minute you relax and let down your guard - BAM!!!! the bugs get you

Anyhow, thats what happened to me so blogging, sketching and all things other than family and necessary christmas preparations have taken a back seat.

These cards I share with you today are the ones I made my fellow circle journallers and raggy dolls. As a group we have become very close and have a special friendship which has quickly transcended mere association by art alone.

The papers are all from a 6 inch paper pad by Bo Bunny, the stamps are Stampin' Up and the reindeer are Tim Holtz, very kindly die cut for me by my dear friend Anita - thanks hon xxx

The tree die cut is also Tim Holtz

Although not in the best of health I did have a lovely christmas, received some fabby gifts, ate lots of yummy food and luckily Neil had the week off too, so the family time with us all together was precious and by far the best gift.

Angels but no demons

The card I made for Neil's birthday which was yesterday.

I was going to take Neil out for something to eat and maybe a movie but when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said bring in a KFC to share with the kids and to be home watching a film with us all together. So we bought Super 8 on blue ray and did a detour on the way home from the gym to pick up a bucket of chicken. It's always the simple things in life that give me the most pleasure, so glad we enjoy the same things, love you Neil  happy birthday xxx

All the kids were home and it was lovely to chill out all together, we opened a huge bag of popcorn and a box of choccies and enjoyed a good old fashioned family movie night - bliss !!!

Crafting wise, this week I finished my angels. They were inspired by Laura Dennison who shared the technique on her blog as part of her 12 days of christmas inspiration, you can find her tutorial here if you fancy trying them out for yourself. Thankyou for the inspiration Laura.

I made 7 in total and strung them together with satin ribbon and pearl strands to form a garland for my fireplace, here they are in situ.

Also, I made a second wreath for my mum and dad, I chose slightly different colours for mum's as her living room is a gorgeous soft shade of green.

Also in the last few days we have enjoyed Robbie's band performance as part of his Music AS level. He played electric guitar and did us all proud as he performed a Green Day track in front of an audience at school - proud of you son xxx

Gym Diary

Total visits this week - 5

Bike - 3 x 20 mins = 1 hour

Rowing machine - 2 x 10 mins = 20 mins

Treadmill (max incline) - 2 x 20 mins, 1 x 40 mins, 1 x 45 mins, 1 x 60 mins = 3hrs 5mins

Treadmill flat -  1x 20 mins

Cross trainer - 2 x 10 mins = 20 mins

Walking ( outside) - 1 hours

Total cardio this week = 6 hours 5 mins

Toning plates x 5

Weight loss - 4 lbs lost

Mood - proud

Targets

Did really well this week and stepped up the intensity at the gym, resisted several temptations this week food wise and enjoyed some treats without going mad, delighted with weight loss this week.

Was not able to achieve the self set target of 7 hours in the gym this week but realise this is a hard target to reach with all the christmas preparations, school, work and family commitments I have had this week.

Managed two sessions on the cross trainer and did much better with water consumption although still not drinking two litres.

This next week my targets are to maintain at least 6 hours of cardio over the week and to finally achieve the 2 litres of water per day.

Going round and round in circles

We made this gorgeous wreath in the Stampin' Up class yesterday. 

The design is by YeeTing who guided us through the process of cutting, rolling and gluing 100 squares into cone shapes and adding them to our rings to create this yummy chocolate coloured decoration

I am not going to pretend it is a quick project, it took around 5 hours ( with minimal coffee and bickie breaks)

But we all agreed it was worth the sticky fingers and numb bottoms.

YeeTing hosts regular classes at my shop, this was her last class of this year for me but she will be back in the new year - can't wait ! Details will be posted on my blog and on the shop website nearer the time so keep your eyes peeled if you are up for a little Stampin' Up fun.

On that note I would like to say a massive thankyou to YeeTing for all the classes she has taught this year and for sharing all her talent with us ladies at the shop, thanks hon you are very much appreciated xxx

Bonafide

This weeks class cards, the final two Christmas themed cards this year.

Next week we will be back to making non christmas cards, next week is also the final week for all classes

And now for something entirely different.

All of you who know me well, know I love my music, especially rock. 

Neil surprised me with tickets this week at the Yardbirds in Grimsby to see a band we have only just recently become aware of. Wow what a gig ! Bonafide definitely made it into my all time top ten, and I have seen many many bands play live.

The band had a lot of fun on stage, just the right amount of playful banter with the crowd and absolutely rocked their hearts out. 

Pontius's voice was amazing.

We met the band and had a chat and a squeeze lol. They were incredibly friendly and patient and spent all the time between sets in the bar with us normal folk, they were so humble and unassuming, and appeared completely unaware of just how brilliant they are.

 Neil took Anita backstage afterwards for some photo ops

One of the support bands was called Silverjet and they were pretty good too, again Anita backstage with the lead singer.

So thankyou to Neil for the tickets and Anita for joining us, last night was definitely one of my best ever nights out and it was all the more special because I got to share it with two of my fave people.

Bonafide - please come to Download in June, Donnington needs YOU !

Deck the halls

I have a couple of 'Thankyou' cards to share with you this evening

Papers are Melissa Frances, sentiments are by Stampin' Up

Sketch 365 - Day 25

Inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe, I couldn't resist creating a version of this, as we are all Liverpool supporters in our house

Gym diary

Total visits this week - 4

Bike - 3 x 20 mins + 1 x 30 mins = 1 hour 30 mins

Rowing machine - 1x 20 mins + 1 x 10 mins = 30 mins

Treadmill ( max incline) - 1 x 50 mins + 1 x 20 mins + 1 x 30 mins = 1 hour 40 mins

Treadmill (flat) - 1 x 40 mins = 40 mins

Walking (outside) - 2 x 1 hour = 2 hours

Total cardio - 6 hours 20 mins

Weightloss this week - gained 2 lbs

Mood - happy but not elated

Worked hard in all gym sessions but failed to reach my 7 hour cardio target, mainly due to time issues and a heavy schedule outside the gym

Hit target of increased rowing

A couple of slips with the eating and drinking and a failure to keep up with the water intake

I started using the toning plates  with four  10 minute sessions completed this week

Targets for next week

7 hours total cardio

2 litres of water per day

At least one session on the cross trainer

5 toning plate sessions

All three kids are suffering general coughs and colds this week bless them, nothing too serious but enough to make them all sniffly and a little off colour, let's hope the recent cold snap kills off all those nasty bugs and viruses.

We began the yuletide decorations  last night and are gradually beginning to feel festive ( although the merry and bright might have to wait until all the coughs have cleared up !)

The new tree was an event in itself, I had no idea when I bought it that all the branches came separately and had to be inserted into the trunk in a very specific order, thankfully AJ took to the task with a vigor usually only reseved for scooting escapades, had I been left to do it on my lonesome I would still be assembling it now !

Have you started decking the halls yet ?

MacKenzie

This card I made for AJ's best mate Jack who is 12 today - happy birthday Jack xxx

The boys are crazy about all things scooter and skateboard at the moment, so the image choice was easy.

I added some hardware in the form of eyelets and brads and a mini paper clip 

Next I have a little sketch catch up to share

Sketch 365 - Day 22

Sketch 365 - Day 23

Sketch 365 - Day 24

All these sketches have been inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe, who I wasn't aware of til my friend Darcy suggested him to me( thanks for the suggestion hon) I love his style. All the sketches were pencil drawn with no shading and painted with water soluble crayons.

Snowflakes and bows

Just a quick post from me tonight, Neil and I decided to enjoy an impromptu date night, so all else went out of the window, but I did want to share my class cards

Lots of embossing, a little inking and a Tim Holtz border on this first lilac card

And a more traditional feel with this second card, heat embossing and a chocolate box bow finish this one

I will be back with my sketches and another card which currently lie half finished on my desk.

I cannot believe it is december already. By a twist of fate I have two trees to put up this year, more on that in a later post, so it looks like I may have a busy weekend, we have chocolates at the ready (sustenance of course !!!)