Wow wow wow how excited was I last night when I checked the Just Bex forum to see who had won the big challenges, and saw MY name!!!! I couldn't stop smiling! I had won the blooms challenge, only by luck, it was a lucky dip, but heh ho, my prize it's lots of delicious flowers various sizes and colours, oh I can't wait to receive them I am thoroughly hooked on putting flowers on my cards at the moment!

I have had a fab card making day today, I have made 17 in total, I amazed myself! These are birthday and christmas, and I have been using several of my new papers that I bought on my birthday, I will post some pictures tonight others tomorrow.

Lillie had ballet today, made a fuss as usual about getting ready to go but when I picked her up Michelle her teacher said she had been a fabulous help and a brilliant leader, and has therefore been given the leader roll for her classes dances in the show! I was sooo... chuffed, she is following in my footsteps, I loved/love to dance, I used to get the lead dance parts in the village pantomines and was once scare-ely given a solo which I dreaded but actually loved! This is why I am trying to encourage Lillie by sending her to ballet classes as I never had the oportunity when I was younger. I would also like her to take piano lessons as that is something I wish I had of done (mind you I'm sure if mum and dad had of suggested it I would have said 'no thanks' at the time).

I will have to blog earlier for the next couple of weeks as I have just caught the end of 'Celebrity scissor hands' I loved it last year, and Ben who played 'Stingray' in Neighbours is doing it and I think he is a cutie (mind you he could do with having a hair cut himself!) I guess thinking about it he has a resemblance to Danny from Mcfly, mmmm......!

Oooppss... we were late to school this morning, only just!!! The bell rang as we were walking along the front fence, so we had to walk a little faster and Lillie just made the end of the line! We got up in good time as well and seemed to have time to kill.

Charlene and the boys came to visit at lunch time, it was good to have a catch up, and hear all about the messy breakup of her marriage and new/old romance (she is now back with her ex before the husband!), I hope this time things work out he sounds like a decent level headed chap.

We had to dash back up the school to pick Lillie up as just as Charlene was about to leave Ben needed his nappy changing!! Poor Lillie was the last one there but knew we wouldn't have forgotten her!! I then had a thought as to why we were late both times, Matthew changed the clock back an hour yesterday morning and must have took 5 minutes off to, yep checked the clock on the pc and our clock was 5 minutes slow, men heh!!! She had a good 1st day back.

I made these 2 cards when I had a spare few minutes, this seems to be a favourite style of mine, but it's so versatile! The pictures are actually 3d stickers I got from Poundland, I just love them!

Friday not too long after my post sadness struck us once again, yes our baby 'Minime' passed away at tea time. Why did this happen, so many babies? I had been hand feeding it with formula milk and a syringe and it seemed to pick up after each feed, but this particular day when I went to get him for the lunchtime milk it was lying on it's side helplessy struggling, I took it out and in tears sat and held it thinking I would hold it until the end, I even got the girls to say goodbye to him and explained he was dying. Then it tried to get up and move about, so I fed as usual and it got back to it's feet. Was lying down again at next feed, but I put it back and it huddled up to the others, but sadly after tea when I checked he had gone, so so sad.

Yesterday we didn't do too much, well saying that I did do my baking, 12 sponges in total, all ready to be filled this morning ready for delivery. Other than that I made 3 gift cards which have a real pair of earrings that can be removed and worn as embellishments. I had seen the idea in a book, and we managed to find several pairs of earrings in various sales when we went shopping on Wednesday, I showed them to mum and Claire this morning and they thought they were really nice, so lets hope others do!

Oh and I also made these 2 little halloween baskets, to fill with sweety treats!!!

Today as mentioned above I filled the cakes, and after breakfast then baths, we headed of to deliver them before going into town to do a bit more shopping. I had reserved a interactive desk for Hollie for her birthday and wanted to collect it as I was unsure how long they would keep it for, plus it was easier having Matthew there to carry and pay for it of course!!! We also got Lillie a couple of Ratatouille games one for her leap pad and one for her v-smile they were on offer in Early Learner, and a lot cheaper than the game she wants for her ds-lite! We also ordered her a child proof pink digital camera it's quite pricey but she does have her birthday 3 weeks after christmas, I hope she's going to like it, we could end up with a budding David Bailey!!

Oh and I have been posing for photo's as I have been asked if I would like to appear in the new years resolution article in the Quick cards made Easy magazine, how exciting is that?! I have to send in a piccie of myself and some of my cards and a bit of a write up about my resolutions, I hope to get it sent in tomorrow if I have time, as I have company coming mid morning and don't know how long they will stay as I haven't seen them for ages.

Ooppss.. didn't realise it had been so many days since I last wrote, so catch up time.

Tuesday we met Mandy and the boys at Brewsters so the children could play together and then we had a meal, it was ok but never all that special.

Wednesday was my 35th birthday. We had a mad morning 1st thing as Matthew went and had a hair cut, it was 2nd time lucky, as he went round there at 8am and they didn't open til 9am, it looks so much better, but his hair grows and grows so quickly it's annoying! Claire and the boys turned up with another guinnea pig, it was my birthday present, he's called 'stripes' and he's very cute his coat feels so soft almost velvety!

We took the children to where Hollie goes to playgroup as the photographer was going to be there, and I wanted the girls done, last years photo was beautiful, also wanted the girls and boys taken together. Mum had mentioned it a while back as the last time they had a proper photo taken Hollie was a baby, she doesn't know about this so hopefully we can get a good one framed and then it will be mum and dad's christmas present from the grandchildren.

We then dropped the girls off at mum and dads and headed off to Norwich to do some birthday shopping (was going to be christmas as well but no time this time!). We went to the Range on the outskirts of the city and OMG we were in there 2hours and spent a fortune. I usual want loads but buy little as I don't like to spend out too much all at once, Matthew said he would buy me what I wanted for my birthday but I said I didn't really want that sort of thing, then he reminded me of the money I made from my recent card demonstration and that was it I was off, this is most (not all) of what I got

We then headed off into the city, we didn't have time to go all over but I managed to get the girls and myself a piece of jewelery with the money we had when Nan passed away, I wanted to buy something as a momento (not that we need anything to remeber her by). I also got a pair of boots, 2 tops, a pair of trousers, 2 handbags, more costume jewelery, more bits for my crafting oh the list goes on!!!

We finished off the day with a meal at Pedro's which was fabulous as always. When we got back to pick the girls up Lillie was asleep, she had been poorly since 4pm, bad head and sickness. she had a bit of an unsettled night, was still a bit off in the morning but ate some lunch and was better by mid afternoon. By that time I had a killer of a headache myself but thankfully that went with pills.

Yesterday was a bit of a non day we didn't do anything of any excitement.

Today a bit like yesterday, but I have had a bit of an atc making session, I owed a few and got carried away!

I think we are losing our smallest of the baby pigs, I have been hand feeding it since the weekend, sis bought some proper animal milk which I am giving it but today the poor thing is looking so weak. I was so conviced it was going to die this afternoon that I got it out and held it, I was in tears just waiting for it to end, then it perked up a bit and had some milk. The same thing happened at tea time. It will be feeding time again soon. Better bath the girls and get them into bed first.

Baked as usual yesterday morning, whilst Matthew had the job of cleaning out the guinnea pig palace, the girls played outside a lot as the weather was very pleasant. We had a visit from Claire, Jason, Jordan, Ethan and Mum in the afternoon, I thought the boys would be eager to see the new piggies. Minime is still hanging on but I don't think it's going to survive bless it (how sad we are going to lose yet another baby, I can't put them through pregnancy again). Claire and Jordan decided to try and give it some milk from a jam jar lid and it seemed to take it, so fingers crossed.
When they left we followed, as we had arranged to go to mum and dads for tea, and Lillie had booked herself in for a sleepover!
In between baking and visitors I squeezed in a couple of crafty makes. Over on the Just Bex forum it was 'big challenge' weekend they set several challenges Friday through to Sunday, you earn points for each one you complete, and some had prizes up for grabs. I know I could never get them all done so just take part in odd ones here and there.
This is for the JB 'hang it on the tree' challenge, I made a small box from holographic card, with a die cut bauble and some ribbon, believe it or not the bauble is actually gold! These are for the JB 'tagged' challenge, you had to make 3 gift tags!This should be for the JB 'swing card' challenge, but I am not entering it as it way to crappy, the cards and LO's the ladies produce are far superior to anything I can turn out! This was my first attempt at this style, it's ok, but I am not too good cutting straight lines with a craft knife!

This is just a christmas card I made to add to my stash, I am totally hooked on adding flowers at the moment, perhaps you can tell!?!!

This is a simple christmas card using 2 co-ordinating papers edged with peel offs, and topped with a Lili of the Valley fairy, looking at it I need to put a greeting on the bottom left hand corner to finish it.

This is for a friend from the CM&PC forum, wasn't sure if it was going to look right when I was putting it together, but now I love it! How fab is the topper? Mum and dad just brought Lillie home and Mum said she wanted it to send back to me for my birthday, as it's sooooo..... appropriate!!!!!

Well today has been touched with sadness once again, our dear sweet little 'Diddie' guinnea pig passed away this morning. He was born the runt of the litter, and was quite weak, the others used to climb on it and I guess the little dear didn't stand a chance a feeding time. I took him out with Poppie yesterday in the hope that she would take notice of it, but didn't really get anywhere, and I did the same again this morning, even putting her titty near it's little mouth but nothing, I guess it was too weak.
Matthew's mum and dad came round this morning and we showed them the babies and I couldn't find 'Diddie' then I did, lying helpless underneath the hay right beside the cereal both, I knew it wouldn't be long, so kept an eye on it. And saw Treacle sniffy round it, then pick it up, as I watched she looked like she was chewing it's ear so I stopped her but she started again, by this time it had passed away bless it so I removed it from the cage. So sad, it was such a sweet little thing.
Other than that we went shopping this afternoon, nothing exciting mainly groceries and a couple of storage boxes for my cards.
The girls had Md's for tea and we got fish and chips from Matthew's friends chippie, he always gives us loads! He came out to the car as he had never seen Matthew's eldest daughter (most of the time I wish I didn't, ooppss..!). He phoned a while ago and said he thinks the girls are fabulous and would like to invite us all round for Sunday lunch one weekend uugghh.., and has put an order in for one of my cakes next week!
Well that's about it, here are piccies of yesterday's cards,

This one I made today, for the 'blooms' challenge on JB they are having a challenge weekend, last time I looked they were up to no.8 so far I have managed 2!!!

This morning Hollie and I stayed at school for a short presentation ceremony for the children. They were all given certificates of their achievements over the past seven weeks (I can't believe it's been that long). Lillie's said that she can recognize no.s up to 10 and some higher, 10 sight words and letters, she can retell a story, and has learnt to share, take turns and be brave at lunch-times. It was a nice little do, and they couldn't believe the amount of parents that turned up. Afterwards the children acted as the hosts/hostesses and gave out drinks and biscuits, bless them. Then off they went into their classroom, I stayed back to thank Lillie's teacher for helping sort her out at lunch-times she has been so much happier this week, as she has been sitting with the girls, her teacher said it was her pleasure, she adores Lillie. She had to dash off as she had filled up and was going to have a few tears, bless her. God there will be LOADS of tears when it comes to the children moving up a class next year!!

I have got my crafty mojo back these past couple of days, I made 10 cards yesterday and 5 today I will show them below.

The piggies are doing well, the littlest is getting stronger, I hope it survives it is sooooo..... cute, I took it and Poppie out to have some 'them' time and to hope that she would let it feed whilst they were alone but she wouldn't keep still enough, so I took the stronger 2 out and left the other 2 with her in the cage and I think it worked so maybe I will do this again tomorrow.

The following pictures are of cards I made yesterday.

This card I have sent my my sis and BIL as a belated wedding anniversary card, as it was actually last week, ooppss... and I was bridesmaid, tutut....!!! I love black, white and red together.Another of the same sort of style using my new PM insoirations paper, this card is scrummy!Simple but quite attractive, have started adding these flowers and ribbon a lot! Thought I'd better make a christmassy 1, using a Lili of the valley topper.Another simple but quite striking card.The following 2 are following Sue's template over on the Just Bex forum, I struggled at first and then really liked using this template, I love this card, I've cut a fabric pointestia flower in half and I just love those little gingerbread men!This 1 uses the freebie flower and decorative ribbon/wire, I added glitter to the edges of the flower and ended up with it everywhere!!2 very simple and quick cardsA gate fold card here, folded at the side instead of in the middle, 1st one I've done like this, I punched a couple of holes on either side and tied it with an organza bow. I'm not sure if it looks finished yet or if it needs more?!?I will add todays cards tomorrow to save you from getting too bored!!

We have babies!!!!!
Since our sad episode with Treacle loosing all of her dear little babies, we have checked on Poppie a lot 'just in case'. So this morning when I came downstairs I peeked through the glass in the door and saw a little piggie just lying there and thought 'oh no not again please'. There was Poppie bless her heart with 4 gorgeous little piggies sadly no.5 didn't survive which is very surprising as it was a bigger 1? Up until today the babies Poppie has produced have been brown, but today we have 2 brown piggies with touches of white, and 2 brown and white piggies, one of which is the spitting image of it mummy! They are sooooo..... cute I can't help but keep going to look at them and smile at them all huddling together and climbing on each other. Treacle is alright with them, we had the other cage on stand by incase she was a bit off, but she's ok she keeps having a look at them and a couple of them follow her around sometimes!
Poor Lillie was a couple of minutes late to school with all the excitement she just wouldn't get dressed, then I had forgotten to make her pack-up, so I dropped that in on the way to playgroup.

Four beautiful little piggies

Proud mum with her new additionsShouldn't have favourites but these 2 are mine! Little one on the left is half the size of the biggest piggy, soooo..... cute!!Eating greens already and only 1 day old!Hollie hadn't been too well last night so I thought I had gotten away with not taking her, but this morning she said her tummy felt better and that she wanted to go. It was absolutely heaving, I had never seen so many mums and kids, we only stayed an hour, which was enough!
Hollie and I then picked mum and dad up and we went shopping, mum only wanted a picture frame as a present for a friend and I wanted a pair of trousers for Hollie as hers are too short. We ended up turfing Hollie out of the buggy to load it up with shopping, christmas presents!!! I also got Lillie a pair of school shoes as she has wrecked hers and also got the next size as they were in the sale.
As I mentioned on Monday I went to see Mcfly. We arrived just after 5 so we went to the pub for a drink before hand, and also had a nice meal. Just after 7pm we headed to the theatre and there was no queue, how weird, back in April the queue went on for miles (well sort of). We hadn't heard of the warm up band and they were absolutely crap! We saw Lil Chris in April and he was really good. Then the boys come on, we were a bit further back this time and on the other side so I don't think we could see them so well, and my pictures aren't at all good. But they were brilliant again and we danced and sang the whole time they were on. Not sure if I will go again for a while, have now seen them twice in 6 months. Maybe in a year or so and consider taking Lillie with us, as there were a lot of youngsters this time, also older people (well my sort of age that is!).

Mcfly here we come!!! Well in a while anyway!!

Yes that day has finally arrived, I remember sitting on the beach when Paula sent me a text telling me that Mcfly were at Ipswich again. asking if I wanted to go, daft question!! Just given the car a bit of a muck out inside, omg it was soooo.... messy. All I need to do now is sort my bag and get myself ready, not going until 3.30pm so got a while yet. Hopefully we will beat a lot of the traffic, we have already decided to go to the same pub we went to last time and have a bite to eat to kill a bit of time. The theatre is seated so there's no need to rush to get in the 'massive' queue. I have promised Lillie I will bring her something back, and asked her to be a good brave girl at lunch time. I spoke to the teacher and asked if she could make it possible for her to sit with the girls, as she seems to always end up with the boys, Harry in particular and he has 'smelly crisps and burps a lot!' I do hope this works and she feels more comfortable, we've also promised her a new game for her nintendo if she has a good week.

Here is a piccie I took in April when we last saw the boys! aaahhh... the lovely Danny!

Not a too bad a pic considering we were upstairs about 6 rows back!!!

I seem to have lost my crafting mojo a bit at the moment, I want to make cards etc but when I sit at my desk surrounded by my bits I just can't create anything.
Most of the time I feel as though I have a grey cloud hovering over my head and I just can't shake it. I don't know what's wrong, I'm always shouting at the kids and get annoyed with Matthew sometimes over the littlest thing, I know it upsets him it upsets me to, but I just seem to do it; why? I often think maybe I should discuss it with the doctor, but it seems daft I'm not ill, I wonder I don't know why, I have a great hubby and 2 lovely girls that maybe there is a bit of depression there?
Anyways I made my cakes this morning, only 8 today, they've got to be delivered soon. I made a card for my friends son to give to his brother, I did this scrapbook style with a photo of the birthday boy on the front.
Off to see the lovely MCFLY boys tomorrow I can't wait!!! I'm driving this time which is ok, will just be a bit nervy when the road breaks into 3 lanes (only used to 2), hoping we will miss a majority of the traffic. The show starts at 7.30pm, shame Paula couldn't get closer seats than upstairs again but it is sure to be fab just like last time, I hope they play for longer this time, it went way too quickly before.
Will update you on how it was on Tuesday.

It's been a bit of an odd day.

It started this morning as when I we got to school one of Lillie's teachers (who adores Lillie) told me that yesterday was the first time she had seen her cry. Aparantly she had been given a bop on the nose by another girl (who I've since found out is one of her friends from nursery) and it really did make her cry. This then played on my mind all day, so I decided to have a word with the teacher again when I picked Lillie up. Lillie has been saying she doesn't want to go to school anymore she wants to go back to nursery, and that she doesn't want packed lunch, thing is she won't eat a lot of the cooked meal if we paid for that. So I asked if she was getting on ok and she said yes she was doing really well, and is usually full of beans, until it comes to lunch time? She explained that for some children it is a bit daunting and some still don't like it in the older years. She suggested maybe let her choose a hot dinner she may like have a day or 2 a week or to help do her packing up, I said I didn't want to start having her home for lunch and she suggested not to as if we do it now it will be a bigger problem later down the line. As for her learning there is no problems at all she is doing really well. I have asked her why she doesn't like lunch time and she says there is sometimes no space to sit with who she wants to, she wants to sit with the girls and ends up with the boys, and at play time some of the girls she wants to play with don't want her to join in. I hope it settles soon as I don't want her to be unhappy. I can remember my 1st day but then not much after that for a while, I had a good group of friends, we went to a village school and socialized together, then we moved up to high school and were still together, and now my best friend from my school days has moved into town so we're together again. It's not like that now, we live in town and the children are all spread out, but a teacher in nursery said they don't really form proper friends not at this early age that happens when they are a bit older. Out of my group of friends I was quiet and had a couple of girls in one of my classes pick on me a bit, not nasty, but would throw screwed up paper etc at me, and I never had the bottle to say anything my friend did. Unfortunately I think Lillie is going to be like that, bless her.

On a lighter note the postie delivered my Quick Cards made easy mag which my bookatrix card appears in, it's not a bad little piece!! Have a feeling I will be getting some more silk cards boohoo typical the prizes are good this month! Still should be happy to get published and get anything at all!!!

Apart from that I haven't been able to muster the will to do a lot, I've caught up on the CM&PC forum had a look on JB and some other sites but that's it. I have managed to make a few atc's that I owe for swaps, I may have to keep the halloween one as I love it!!!

Got to do the shopping tonight as Matthew is working all weekend, so may have to cheer myself up with a chinese or kebab for tea!!

Todays atc's

The 2 following pics are of the bookmark I made for the swap on CM&PC forum, I only made one as I struggled to come up with ideas.

Catch up time! Tuesday was spent preparing for the dem, printing off inserts and putting them in the cards, bagging them up, trying to quickly make new ones! It just took ages. Then after the children had gone to bed I got Matthew to help me sort my made cards into catagories then I put them into my baskets, hoping to make some sales?

Wednesday I took Hollie to playgroup only for an hour mainly so she could do the crafting, she made a ladybrd mask (piccie below) I'm glad we were there for less than the usual amount of time as all the children seemed to be so miserable, so many were in tears, a couple of little sods who were shoving others about especially if they wanted the same toy. Luckily Hollie wasn't amongst any of it, but poor Luke had a run in with a little boy who wouldn't let go of the car he was in, and his mother just sat there and called his name, like that was going to do anything.

One ladybird mask, I hasten to add I helped again this week!!!

I dropped Hollie off at mum and dads and picked my auntie up and off we went to meet up with the 'farmers wives'. I laid my cards out on a table and the ladies showed a keen interest in them straight away which was good. I sold a few cards before lunch which I was pleased about and others said they would look after the demo. We had a nice buffet style lunch, then I did my bit, funnily enough I wasn't at all nervous. They asked lots of questions, and loved the 2 cards I demonstrated. Several ladies had the packs and made 1 or 2 cards themselves others looked on and said they couldn't do the fiddly bits because of bad hands. I sold several more cards and in all it went very well.

Mum and dad picked Lillie up from school as I wasn't sure what time I would be finished, and Matthew and I had planned to go out for a meal as it was our '7th first date anniversary'. We went and had a mexican at a pub an old friend of mine has, I'm not sure if he recognised me or not or maybe wouldn't say anything as Matthew was there (but I don't think that would stop him!) it had been maybe 8 years since we last spoke, and I now have dark hair not blonde and have put on loads of weight. But anyway the meal was nice, but I prefer Pedros where we will be going in 2 weeks for my birthday.

Today I've caught up with a lot of swaps I have taken part in on the CM&PC forum, and went to the PO to get them all posted off before the next lot of strikes.

I demonstrated the card on the left and this oneBig thanks goes to a friend (craftymumof3) from the CM&PC forum for very kindly lending me some dies to use with my cuttlebug, the bauble die got used a lot, and the ladies particularly loved this card.

We had a very sad day yesterday, we had planned to take Poppie and Treacle our 2 pregnant guinnea pigs out of the 'guinnea pig palace' and bring them inside so we could keep an eye on them, we was planning to do this next week, but thought we'd do it this week instead. We kept the large cage in the porch as we had wedged it in anyway. How so ever, I went to get the sawdust and hay out of the palace and as I opened the door saw a row of little lifeless bodies (one of which had been mutilated), one of them had given birth. After screaming at Matthew who wasn't quite sure what was going on, he got them out, it was dear little Treacle who had had them, their were 5 dear little brown piggies all with her little white tuft on hair on their heads. Bless her heart she was a first time mum and now she has nothing to show for it, I feel so sad for her. She may have left them unsure what to do, but I am adamant it was the boys Ripple and Dottie they are nasty little sods.

Poppie and Treacle are now inside being checked on regularly, Hollie and I went and got a sack of moist cereals for them and we bought the 2 girls a popcorn treat thingy, not that they seem the slightest bit interested in it. Treacle is on the left and Poppie on the right, the picture doesn't really show how big she really is!

On a lighter note I have been making my card packs for my card demo on Wednesday, I have finally decided on the 2 cards, the one in an earlier post with the mini card and ribbons, and the 3 bauble card in a more recent post.

I had Matthew at work with my cuttlebug last night!!! I was cutting the card to size and he was cutting various shapes, we must have been there an hour and a half. I wanted to cut out several pieces as I want to return the dies I've borrowed as soon as the postal strikes have finished, well this one anyway.

Lillie came home from school today with a card she had made for daddy, it had a picture of her at work on the front with lots of 'scribbles' some sequins and feathers of different colours around the edge. She also came home with a fish she had made, they do 2 and staple them round the edges with some padding in the middle.

Well that's it for now.

A quick one tonight.

I managed to make 4 different christmas cards today, 3 of which were inspired by the free book that came with yesterdays mag, 1 for a JB challenge and the other just playing with a die I have been lent.

Nothing else to really say today.

These 1st 3 are using ideas from the book, the 3rd has no greeting as it can be used for many occassions (well female that is!)

This is my 1st attempt at 'blocking' it is for a JB challenge, I struggled with it at 1st and nearly gave up, but am actually quite pleased with the finished article.

This is using the bauble die, lent to me from a very lovely lady over on the CM&PC forum, I am awaiting a parcel of blue/green/red and gold holographic card so I can cut out a load more before I have to return them. Will hang on until the current postal strike is over as I don't want them getting lost in the system. Bless her Hollie is getting a dab hand at helping me with the cuttlebug she places the card on top of the dies, and puts the plate on top! I told her she would have to show daddy how to use it, as I could do with him cutting me loads of the shapes whilst I get on with something eilse, especially now I am thinking of doing this for the demo. Oh I just can't decide on card no.2.