Where does the time go?

I've been so busy over the past 2 weeks catching on lots of bits and pieces! This week I've spent the time putting the finishing touches to this weekends mini cyber crop over on the shop blog. I am sooo excited about this! We have some fab classes and challenges for everyone over the next 3 days!

Here's a little peek at my class ;) It's on sunday morning so I'll have to make sure that I drag my butt out bed in time for it to go live!!!

Aside from catching up on projects and assignments etc I've been trying to keep up with my daily walks! There are some lovely walks in my area... I forget how lucky I am to live so close to the sea, countryside and city! When walking the other day I came upon this piece of art!!! I have NEVER noticed it before.... don't know how! I've walked past it about 50 times and it isn't exactly little (about 10 feet tall!)

The spoon is one of 3 sculptures in the fields surrounding us. Amazing... isn't it? It has "eat for England" engraved on it!

Til next time

Maria x

A productive week...

Well apart from feeling rather icky for the first half I've had a busy old week. Last sunday was the race for life. Angie and I power walked and Vanessa ran! Next year I hope to run at least some of the way!!! Anyhow we had a fab time. The atmosphere was amazing and the rain held off which is quite suprising considering that is the north of england and it's July!

Angie and I treated ourselves to a lovely meal after the race and I undid all my good dieting practices by having a chocolate pudding! It had to be done! So this week I'll be back on the diet with new resolve and still a fair few pounds to shift!

Our new kit went on sale this week :-) I love this kit... I love anything 3 bugs as I find it so easy to work with be it scrapbooking or cardmaking! Have you seen their new summer CHA releases? Oooh delicious!!! Lots of gorgeous stash being launched at the moment. I love the new Crate lines and MME have hit the jackpot with their new lines... they are just divine. I love My Minds Eye... their papers are classic and won't date.


Anyhow here's a couple of bits that i've made using our July kit.

I'm having a good old scrapping weekend and first half of week to get up to date with projects and assignments! It feels like ages since I had this much time to scrap and play and I'm loving it!!! My scraproom is due a HUGE sort out and I'm going to spend a couple of days being ruthless! Anything not likely to be used is going up for sale! I honestly think that even if I scrapped solid til Christmas I would still have too much! And on that note... I'm off to hang my washing out (whilst it's not raining!!!) and get scrapping!

Til next time

Maria x

What a week!

Its been one of those weeks... you know the ones... lots of things have gone wrong but interspersed with a couple of goodies!!!!

Ok yesterday was a day and a half.... managed to get me some nasty spyware on both computers! So spent all day trying to sort them out. Got the laptop sorted but unfortunately the PC seems to be dead in the water so to speak! Mind you I have lots of tips on how to revive said PC so am going to pucker up and try and give it the kiss of life over the weekend. Failing that its off to PC world for some intensive care!!!! On the plus side yesterday my photos from anita plopped through the letterbox... will share some of my faves in a mo ;-)

On to disaster number two yesterday... my car has been fixed! Great I hear you say... well not so great when you are faced with a £670 bill :-(. Especially when very, very skint! So have made the monumental decision to go back to nursing! Not full time mind you... I'm going to do some bank nursing :-) How scary?... esp after so long away from it! But... the pay is good and i can do hours to suit around the shop!

Ok so here are some of my favourite pics taken by Anita!

All coming to a layout near you very soon!!!!

Dad isn't too well again... had a trip to A&E this morning but thankfully they let him go home! He was dreading another hospital stay! Fingers crossed that he'll improve quickly... they say that kids are such a worry but I think that parents are too!

On a lighter note... July's kit is almost ready to go! Just waiting for some gorgeous buttons and then it will be all done. Will pop a sneaky peek up in the next couple of day along with some layouts that I've been working on!

Til next time!

Maria x

Getting organised!

I have spent the last 3 days sorting out shop stock and moving it all into new storage. I am now converted to the really useful way of storing!!! The 35l XL boxes hold 12x12 papers beautifully so all kits are neatly stored in these little gems and they can be stacked on top of each other! This has freed up so much space! I am no longer falling over boxes when trying to get to my desk!!!!


Next task is to sort out my personal stash mountain... this, I think, will be a mammoth task! I need to clear out and declutter... so next week will see me rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in LOL! Am planning to sell lots on ebay ;-).
This morning another challenge has gone live on the SSC blog. It was Angies turn to set the challenge this week and she chose a summer theme. However, looking out of the window this morning I think that was wishful thinking. Summer has disappeared! Its cold and raining. Ah well... at least I'll be able to scrap without wishing I was outside :-) I'll leave you with my sample for the challenge.

The photo was taken by Anita... love it! I used our June kit (so dreamy!) and added some Collage Press stamps plus Doodlebug alpha stickers which I am officially addicted to!!!!

Til next time

Maria x

Lots of things happening....

to keep me occupied and not blogging! Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!!!
Have been having a busy week on the old crafting front... nothing I can share unfortunately as they are mag and DT work...but here's a little sneak of this weekends blog challenge layout.

I've been playing with our June kit for this and loving the soft and dreamy colours in it. Normally I'm a bright colours girl but these gentle colours are making my mojo go into overdrive!!!

Other news.... well its now day 10 of my healthy eating/diet! Won't go as far as saying the weight is just dropping off me (cos it ain't!!!) but I'm feeling sooo much better and have loads of energy! Along with the food thing I've been out walking daily... mainly with Kim and little bobby. He is such a character!!! And Kim's company ain't that bad either. Been clocking up plenty miles in prep for the race for life. There's no way I'm fit enough to run it but am planning a brisk walk over the 5k and that will be good enough for me!

My crocheting is coming along a treat! When Anita was over she taught me the basics as I have always wanted to learn... me being left handed does not help! But fellow leftie Anita got me crocheting circles.... ok my first attempt was not good.....

This was meant to be a circle!!!!!!!! Think my tension was a bit tight!

Tension much better on this one! I even added a lil frilly edge!!!
Next I wanted to do squares... so I bought myself this little book off Amazon. It was only £4.99 and has instructions for left handers....

And before I knew it I had mastered the granny square and working in rows!!!!




So... me being me... wanted to 'do a project'!!! So I picked what looked like the easiest thing in the book... a bottle holder! I know.... what an earth would you want a bottle warmer for! But hey! I'm playing....just wait til you see lil baby....................

I think it wasn't supposed to look like this!!!! Everytime I look at it I giggle... cos I think it looks like a giant willy warmer!!!! So maybe I need to just practice a bit more! On the plus side... I did make this little flower!

It's not quite perfect.... but I am thrilled with it!

Right on that note.... I'm off to finish another project!

See you later

Maria x

Life is a rollercoaster.....la la la

Wow! So long since I have blogged and so much has happened! Dad is now home and doing ok-ish...still not right but getting there. He was in hospital for almost 6 weeks poor thing and was sooo happy to get home and in his comfy armchair with his pipe and sky sports!!!!

Scrapping and work stuff has had to take a back seat to all the family problems which isn't ideal but that's how it is. Family and friends come first with me... always have and always will! I work to live, pay bills etc and not the other way round! I have missed a couple of deadlines which I just hate doing but luckily this was met with understanding so I now need to get caught up on projects!


Last week was a strange old week... I heard the horrific news that one of my closest and dearest friends is very ill.... words just cannot describe how i feel about this so I am not even going try! Life throws all sorts of stuff our way and you just have to try and deal with it in the best way you can. It just puzzles me why the worst things happen to the nicest of people. Sooo not fair.


I have also had a lovely house guest to stay! Anita was over in the uk doing some photography shoots and I had the pleasure of her company for a few days. It was not without mishap... but anyone who knows me will know that is just "normal" in my life!!!!


On the first day my car decided that it needed a little "rest time" and promptly filled with smoke causing Anita and I to exit very quickly!!!! 2 hours later my little car was hooked up to the back of an AA van and towed to Dads with the very serious diagnosis of Cylinder Head Gasket Gone!
So we were stranded without car and had to rely on public transport. HOW EXPENSIVE ARE BUSES THESE DAYS!!!! No wonder people drive! In the end I ended up hiring a car for a few days so we could get out and about. Anyhow enough complaining... this week I am in positive mode (been getting re-aquainted with the secret ;-)!!!) Sooo check out this amazing photo that Anita took of me....




I just love it! we had a blast and anita took heaps of photos that i just can't wait to see!!!!

I honestly don't think that i have eaten so much over a 6 day period! Mind you... not that I was complaining.... although I am now as my shorts are, shall we say, very snug!!!! Healthy eating for me this week!

I haven't had much time for scrapping over the last couple of months but I'll leave you with some recent layouts!

This was for the UK Scrappers homepage class.... love this pic of Ziggy! He looks soooo naughty!

A layout using our may kit and a pencil lines sketch (sorry can't remember what number!)

And finally this one for the layers challenge on the shop blog! I LOVE this photo of my great gran (or old gran as we used to call her!) She looks like a proper biker granny! I used our Out and About kit (Fresh into the clearance section ;-)) and tore the edges and added some ink to achieve that distressed grungy look that is all about at the mo... not sure if its me or not but had to give it a go!

Right I'm off to finish up sorting this months kit.... and its a yummy one!

Maria x

Almost a whole month!!!!

Yup it's been almost a month since I last blogged! But I have got a good excuse... honest! My Dad has been pretty poorly and it's kind of thrown everything upside down what with hospital visiting etc. It's been a rough month and we've been on a real rollercoaster of emotions with no sign of it ending soon. So blogging had to go on the back burner while I struggled to keep up with shop orders etc. Actually it went on the back burner along with scrapping! I have had no time to do anything other than the essentials such as blog challenges and crop classes!


So am looking forward to some scrapping time real soon! I have 2 friends coming over tomorrow evening for a craft night and I can't wait! I have 3 projects on the go and am hoping to get at least one of them finished!!!

A few layouts that I've manged to complete over the past weeks.....

I used Piggy Tales Ba Ba Black Sheep papers for this layout. This is a new company for me and I just love the quality of the papers and the little barn doors are oh so cute! Layout of my late cat Jasper... he used to snuggle up all the time with his paws all curled up over his face... sooo cute!

I used our April kit for this layout! It's of my friend Gillian taken at Cullercoats bay on a VERY cold day!!!

Another using the April kit! Photo taken by Anita Mundt and I used some of the new Collage Press stamps which I just adore!

And finally.... an altered photo frame for the blog challenge! Covered with Sassafras Lass Pocket Full of Rosies papers (loving these new collections!)

And a bit of detail!!!

Right that's me for tonight! I'm off to bed as another busy day looms!

Maria x