It's Show Off Sunday Again!

Good evening folks! Well I got my butt into gear slightly better than yesterday. We've been out vising the rents in law today, so I havent managed to get much done in the way of craftiness. Not only that - but I must get this course work well under way - I am slacking!

So a couple of photos to share with you today, the first taken near to Nicky Nook, Scorton, near to where we live. I love walking by this way - its near to where Shaun asked me to marry him (see bench pic with destructive graffiti c/o Shaun snr), and my Ma loves coming to walk here, so it has lots of lovely memories attached to it. I know now, from looking at this pic, that I increased the saturation far too much - I have reduced it prior to uploading it today though. I had a dodgy monitor at the time, and it literally took me hours to get it to this point - it was far too underexposed in the foreground so had to mess around lightening it and using gradient tools and allsorts. But anyway - we live and learn!

Second is a pic of Shaun I wanted to share - I love this pic and pressed the shutter button without looking through the viewfinder - I really like the angle of this shot, but most importantly - love the expression on Shaun's face, and his little chubby hand holding his Nanny's hat on!

Right guys, I'll skidaddle now, and get done some of what I should have been doing - this bloomin course! TTFN, and hope you've all had a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Sexy socks...

Hello guys. I am having one of the most uninspired, unmotivated days that I have had in a long while! I shant scare you with yet more pics of my miserable mush - couldnt face it today! So I shall share with you my favourite pair of really funky and 'with it' socks lol, that is a joke, of course. I think what attracted me to these was the similar combination of colours used in the 80's/early 90's ridiculous socks - you remember the ones where you used to wear one of each colour? I had a few pairs, and thought i was the bees knees in them as a youngster. Just one of my very many fashion faux pas as a child, another was the cycling shorts that I never had off (I did change them daily, just had many pairs lol). They did a text in on radio one for the worst outfit you had ever worn - and I texted in about my trusty cycling shorts, that I wore to a wedding!!! Needless to say they read that out on the radio!!

My Ma N Pa tried to get me to wear pretty things, dresses and skirts and such, but as I was a complete and utter tomboy, and as stubborn as a mule, I refused point blank. They did actually manage to get me to wear one once on holiday - I hated it! A flowery skirt and top, just not me at all! So when we got back - I stashed said skirt and top underneath the drawers in my room, never to be found again mwuahahahaha - I soon changed tactics though when I started trying to get into the pubs and clubs a little earlier than I should have been doing lol

Final thought - did anyone watch Jonathan Ross last night? I love that guy - he totally cracks me up. Love love love Jamie Foxx - very charismatic. But what do you think of Beth Ditto? She gets a lot of flack, but I think she is really pretty, and came across really well last night. And I love Peter Bjorn and John - that Young Folks song with the whistling - just fab! (Michael Ball ain't my cup of tea though, sorry!)

K guys, TTFN, have a great day, and, if anyone has seen my Mojo, can you tell it to get its a** home please?

Thanks for reading!

My favourite bit about halloween!

My go at the prompt today - our cushion! Shaun loves these, he can sit and play with the fur on them for a good while, usually while he is watching 'In the night garden' before boboz. He finds his favourite spot on the couch and puts a cushion over his legs, and laughs and sings along to his favourite programme!

My favourite bit about halloween now, just like my favourite bit about Christmas, is Shaun Jr!! I hadnt really enjoyed Christmas proper for a long time, until he came along. Not that I didnt enjoy it at all, it's just that Christmas is hard work when your parents aren't together!! It's a time when you should all be together but usually, you end up having to spend one part of the day at one house and another part at another house, and it's horrible having to leave!! And of course we've got Shaun's (snr) parents too. But hopefully we'll get to spend some of this Christmas with us all together.

And halloween will be great too, to see his little face!! I love being a Mummy - a member of the best club in the world, in my humble opinion!! The grandparents - ma let me know when you read this lol - you've got to come to Shaun's halloween party dressed up!! Me and Shaun are, so its only fair that you and Grandpa do too lol

The first of these projects I made there, using the October Personal Shopper Kit was the LO of Shaun in his halloween outfit I got for him yesterday at Asda - he couldn't wait to get it on!! There he is, all kitted out (well kinda if you dont count his cute gingham jammies from Nanny lol), complete with Sparkling Ghost. And of course, he had to have the obligatory nibble at it, just to check it was 'OK'.

Second is this mini index book, made using stuff again from the kit. Am I right calling it an index book? With the little tabs on the sides of the pages? At school we had this English teacher - Mrs Smethurst. She has to be one of the most encouraging and inspiring teachers I have ever known, and I really hope my Shaun is lucky enough to meet at least one like her. But she had a real passion for poetry and I'll never forget her reciting John Keats' Ode to Autumn. She actually managed to get a bunch of 14 year olds interested in the stuff, and whatever else she taught. So when I made this 'Fall' book, I thought Id pop that poem in along with some of my pics from Fall this year, and other little bits and bats.

I cut Shaun Jr's hair last night. Hmmmm. Curly hair is not the easiest to cut AT ALL! Mum, I now understand the sheer hell you must have had whilst trying to cut mine and Mel's hair - we both had afro hair as kids and I tell you - it was a nightmare. I'll have to put a pic up of us for you to have a giggle at! Dont be fooled by that picture - we used to fight like.... I'll have to say cat and dog for now, cant think of anything more vicious off hand!

Trouble with our hair was, you could start cutting it, then comb it out and have to start all over again! Poor ma - I didnt have it that bad last night lol. Right guys, I'll skidaddle - I've waffled on long enough already and I'm sure you've heard enough - if you made it this far!!

Thanks for reading, and have a grand old day!!

HS:MS - Stamp

Did I ever tell you that I love the stamp man? Well I do. I'm starting a new CJ towards the end of next month, hosted by 3D Jean of UKS and 3D Jean altered art supplies and have been on the lookout for the right stamp to use in her altered stamp CJ. I received my little consignment today, and I have to say the stamps are FABULOUS! So today's word is perfect for me - lots of stamps and stamping going on in my space today. Not to mention the stamps of my perpetual tantrum throwing gorgeous son, Shaun AKA Shamus.

We went to Asda this morning, and I bought him a halloween outfit!! I was so impressed with all the stuff they have in - its really inspired us for our party. Dont know what Ill be going as yet, probably a witch or something (less dressing up/makeup to apply etc lol). They have some skull goblets and candy bowls with hands that grab the kids as they go for a sweet lol lol how sick are we, really? There was this skeleton in a coffin, and when you press a button, it pops up, screaming and wailing quite convincingly I thought! Shaun wasn't really impressed, he tried to put on a brave face but then started making his 'rescue me mum, quick' noise, so we had to leave it. If we keep going back, maybe we'll desensitise him to it, either that or scar him for life! I love Asda now it's starting to become more like the Walmarts in America - there's nothing you cant get (is that a double negative? Sounds rubbish!!) from those shops!!



Final bit of news guys then I'll beggar off and stop boring you to tears!! Last night, my Dad came round - I have been comissioned with the task of taking some photos to send to my newly acquired grandad and family (see this post here and this one here for further info). It was a bit tricky really because it was late and it was dark, so I took some anyway and we're going to get together at weekend, in the day, and take some more to send to him. One of my Dad's 'new' brothers goes to live in Costa Rica at the beginning of October, so, he wants to get them to him before he goes. Costa Rica - mmmmmmm that'd be nice!! But here is one for you to have a peep at. So that's me, Shaun and Shaun Jr, My Dad and his partner, and my two brothers and sister.

K guys, I'll go now - have a great day, and thanks for reading. PS - its freeeeeeezing (well not actually freezing but you know what I mean) here!! Brrrrrr....

HS:MS - Jug

One jug, inherited from MIL when we first moved in here...love those flowers on it!!

Is it me, or is jug one of those words that, the longer you look at it, the less it looks 'right'? I seem to remember someone saying that about sponge last night too!

This is going to be a quick one from me today folks - got to go into Lancaster for a few bits and bats - need to try and get back before the postie, just in case The Stamp Man has been super efficient and sent out my goodies yesterday! Hope you all have a fab day - I'll catch up with your posts later - when the kids are safely tucked up for their afternoon nap! Thanks for reading guys x

PS Thanks for your lovely comments for my little sponge yesterday - his phrase for today is 'hang on a minute!!'. Now I definitely know where he has got that from!!

My spongy parrot...

The word for today is sponge!! Now I have loads of sponges around, but none as spongy (?) as this one! I call young Shamus my super spongy parrot, because he takes everything in, digests it, and then repeats it!! Therefore, the new swear word in our house is crikey!

Today, when he had spilled his drink on the table, he muttered 'oh god'. I think. Now this isn't something that I say, so where he has got it from I dont know.

He also says - do you wanna brew? And also sings along to the tune of 'in the night garden'. He quite likes The Gossip - on the way back from school today he was trying to sing along to 'standing in the way of control' - and doing pretty well, I think!!

My head is slightly mashed today - it has been one of those days where you dont seem to get anything done, despite being on the go and not stopping. And I have a ton of stuff to get through tonight - social science and society's fascination with crime. It's really interesting stuff (honest) but I am not up for it in the slightest! Might get a bit o scrapping done instead I think, I havent done any for a day - and am now having withdrawal symptoms!!

I have been rather naughty, and ordered myself some stuff from the stamp man. I am blaming this momentary lapse in my currently 'OK' spending habits, on the fact that I have had a cacky day, and therefore needed cheering up. There's nothing like a crafty parcel landing on your doorstep to brighten your day now, is there? But I promise, I wont be buying anything else for a while, scrapzo's honour!

Hope you've had a great day folks, will catch up with you all now, thanks for reading!!

Size does not matter after all, an inch is just fine!!

This is another LO I did for my book of me (BOM), and was inspired by the weekly challenge over on UKS. But then after I posted my challenge on Blog Til You Drop, and I said that if someone could get a pocket on an inchie I would be well impressed - well this prompted Guv (Beverley Todd of Crop Til You Drop/Blog Til You Drop/ I Love Hot Off The Press) to challenge all DT members to get a pocket on an inchie - there it is, top left hand corner of my picture!! And I have to say - I know its not fabulous but I could quite get into making these inchies!! They're so cute!!

So this LO is about me (obviously - duh, i hear you shout), and basically about where I am at now in my life, what kind of person I am now etc. I think I have to follow it up with a few LO's with pics of me from when I was younger, to give folk a better idea of where I have come from too - my outlook on life has changed a fair old bit, as it does for a lot of people!! And also the dodgy photos that I have of me from when I was younger - the hair, the clothes - I look shocking - and therefore they just have to be scrapped!!

HS:MS - Dog

This doggie - Ben, is my Mum's dog. There are no pet pooches in our house unfortunately (yet anyway, but thats another story...). These photos were taken in Silloth earlier this year. We had gone up to visit my ma when she was on holiday and we went down to the beach at Maryport; thought we'd have a game of baseball!! Check out my wicked baseball attire lol (Shaun snr said to me on the beach - 'loving your beach coat Charl'. Yeah, cheers mate).

But Ben (doggie) had other ideas!! He grabbed hold of the bat and would not let go!! This was probably the most exercise I had had in years, since before my Shaun was born!! I was a bit of a fitness freak in those days. And now, I think looking after the Shauns is exercise enough! So I called on the help of my younger bro, Jack, and still the dog would not let up. So final picture - dog, triumphant, running back to us, or rather round us, waving the bat in a 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' fashion.


Another pic below of us all together on the beach, courtesy of tripod!

And one of my favourite pics from Silloth, my mum and Shaun Jr - they love each other so much - how happy it makes me to see them together!! There were tears when we were leaving!! Today, I am off to find a halloween costume for young Shamus (shaun jr), we're thinking of having a little halloween party for him! And also, I absolutely must get some pics of him for these cute halloween papers from Crop Til You Drop, in the October 07 Personal Shopper Kit!! They are cool and I have created a layout already, its just sitting there, waiting for his pic!!

So I will say good day to yall folks, better go as Shaun is wrecking the place!!

Have a fab day and thanks for reading!

HS:MS - Show Off Sunday!

Well first, I really should tell you that I should be ashamed of myself. Last night, I had a fight. Well I had three actually!! And I make no bones about it, I enjoyed it. I fought three men, and they were huge!! My Shaun (snr) was by my side cheering me on too, but he never stepped in to help me, I was doing fine by myself. Yes, you've guessed it, not IRL, but on EA Sports - Fight Night 3 on the Xbox 360!! You see, as I have now persuaded Shaun to have the occasional scrapping night with me, he has quite rightly said that I should get in there and do some of his 'man stuff' e.g. Xbox, fishing etc etc etc. Fair's fair!!This first pic above - I love to bits!! It was taken whilst we had gone to visit Shaun's grandad at the presidents day for the bowlers in Inskip. I think he looks so mischievous!
This pic above was taken during one of our experimental trips out with my (then) new DSLR - I was so impressed with the photos it was capable of - and this was taken on the portrait mode I must confess, cant take credit for the settings on this one Im afraid.

And this, another one from our Wales collection - I took loads, as I always do! I'm probably one of those extremely irritating folk, you know the ones who are always saying 'picture!!'. The thing is, I love life, and I love my family so much, whenever we're together or doing anything special - I dont want to miss a thing! I dont let my taking pics get in the way of my enjoyment of the actual experience as it unfolds or anything, Im not yet that bad!! But its all stuff to look back on when Im old and wrinklier (note the wrinklier, and not wrinkled lol). And thats where my love of scrapbooking comes in. Pictures are great, but when Im no longer here - who's going to tell all the little extra bits about the day? And that's why, when journalling, I usually tend to bare all on my LO's. In my recent challenge post on Blog Til You Drop, I call it a severe case of verbal emotional diarrhoea!! But thats me, Im quite an emotional person as it goes.

Anyway, I love the picture above, because I think, if Shaun didnt have that big ol plastic beaker there, to me it looks like he could have been found there, just living on the beach like some little castaway - my mum said the same thing!! Leaf has been strategically placed obviously to protect the innocent, and to protect me also, as I am already going to get enough grief from the boy when he is older. Shaun snr says that when Shaun jnr brings a girl to meet us for the first time, she'll have to move in for a few weeks so we can show her all the pics and crafty stuff with him in!

Right guys, enough waffle, I shall depart, and catch up with you and what you're up to now! Have a great day!

PS - Weather - grim.

It's A Boy!!! And another dodgy pic...

Good evening all!! I'm a bit later than usual, I have been uploading my challenge over on the Blog Til You Drop Site, I'd love it if you stopped by and had a go!! There's a sneak peek over there on the left. There have been some brill challenges on there, well worth a peep. And all challenge entries from challenge #6 to #10 are entered into the mothly DT challenge competition!

Now, first things first, my self portrait for today. I used the chalk and charcoal filter in photoshop today, because, as my hormones are running riot, I am spotty as hell. Think pizza only with as many toppings as possible (yuk that makes me feel quite sick lol). And the photo is now a little more forgiving (only a little, mind lol) - I couldnt bear to subject you poor people to another week of dreadfully shocking S.P.S (not that they will vary much from week to week unfortunatley for you poor lot lol)!! The hangover one was bad enough last week - a few people said to me - cor you're brave aren't you, putting that up?? lol.

And secondly - I just want to get one thing straight, for anyone who isnt sure - my Shaun is a boy!! I know, I know, he has long hair - but I cant bear to cut it - its so cute and I love his little curls. He'll probably kick my butt when he's older - Mother, how could you, you weirdo, you have ruined my street cred etc etc? The amount of people who say - 'isnt she gorgeous??' lol lol - I dont dress him like a girl!! I guess it's different for me - to me he is a proper lad - as boisterous as they come, real rough and ready. He looks like a boy in the face, to me!! I would love to know what you think!! That's a pic there of him with his grandad (Shaun's Dad) when we went for a meal for his Nanna and Grandad's 30th Wedding Anniversary. Looking incredibly boyish to me lol

K guys, thats it for now, have a fab rest of the day and thanks for reading!!

Oh sugar - I nearly forgot, I cant leave without having my daily weather whinge!! I know how you all love it...lol - only joking ;o) but it has been much better today, round our neck of the woods. I swear Im solar powered, feel so much better when there's a spot of sunshine about!!

TTFN Guys

HS:MS - Stare

This photo is of my Shaun. We had gone for a potter in our village, me armed with my new DSLR, pointing and clicking at pretty much anything, testing it out!! At this point I was still taking my photos on either auto or programme/shutter/aperture priority modes, and I was so impressed with these!! I was really impressed with the portrait mode on my SLR. But of course we were aiming to get similar effects without 'cheating'! So I started to experiment and use what I had learned in my course, and managed to take some good pics.

Now I know I have cheated, not taking a photo today, but I may be back later with another shot!!

It's my turn to set the challenge on Blog Til You Drop tomorrow - it goes live at 6pm, so come on over and have a peep if you get chance!!

Now we're off to toddle time this morning. It's our first time going to this one so we'll have to wait and see how it goes! I'm sure Shaun will love it either way, and that's all that matters really, isn't it?

So I shall hopefully be back later!! Thanks for reading guys, and have a good ol day. It's raining cats and dogs here!!

HS:MS - Break (the bank)!!

Now how dedicated is this, Ive even broken a pencil especially!! Dedicated, or sad??? Lol

I have had a wee play about with photoshop and tried to make a really boring picture look slightly more interesting!! Comments please on if it's worked - I myself, am not convinced. It's a big improvement though!!

I am ending up with one cold neck, as the scarf is not progressing on as quick as I'd like!! Had to go to a meeting last night, and it was all women. Is this a recipe for disaster when you're trying to follow an agenda or what!?!? You could start off talking about rocket science and still end up talking about 'that Margaret around the corner who does this' or that 'Sharon around the corner who does that'!!

Not that Im not partial to a good old chin wag and gossip - but Id had no tea, and 'Torn' was on on ITV!! Anybody watch it? I thought it was fantastic. When she was following her daughter I just thought 'what are you doing, woman??!!' But I know that if I was in her shoes, I would have done exactly the same I think. What an awful situation to be in!! And I totally agree with what she said - if you were to lose a child at a young age, and you saw them years later, as a mother I think you'd know it was them!!

So still no finished scarf!!

I thought I'd upload a pic of me and my mate Elaine, from our recent holiday in Wales. I met Elaine whilst doing a CJ through UKS. Elaine posted on our CJ thread and we discovered we were going to the same place at the same time!! So it was great to get the chance to meet up. I think we're equally as mad about crafting!! Below is Shaun playing with Daniel and Emily, Elaine's two lovely children.

And I just sent off her CJ the other day - that's the end of it now!! All done and dusted - I received mine back and its lovely! My theme was 'If I knew then what I know now'. Some really fab stuff in there; loads of common ground!! It's really great to see everyone's interpretation of the theme.

Thats it there below, my cover and my entry in it. The heart front lifts up, as do the little paper flaps that say my shoulda could wouldas.

I have just joined another CJ group - Another Stamp CJ by 3D Jean. Really looking forward to this one - I remember thinking last time it was running - I'd love to be in that CJ group!! Well now I am! The art produced in the last one is pretty amazing!! So I will have to really up my game and hopefully produce some cool stuff.

And of course I have had to order some new stamps. I had a few lined up, I had it all planned out, and then Jean says - 'I have some unmounted stamps in my shop'. Bye bye money, maybe see you again sometime!!

Also we went into Lancaster today, and checked that the shoes that Shaun Jr was fitted with 2 months ago, still fit him properly, as recommended by Clarks shoes. They didnt!! So more money spent there - but well worth it - they are great shoes and he seems to love them (usually - today he was kicking off and threw one on the floor, saying 'Mum! Dropped it!!'. Luckily I spotted this and confiscated said shoe. If we had lost it I think I would have cried, having just bought them and all!! So that explains the break the bank title!! In case you were wondering ...

K guys thanks for reading (if you made it this far without nodding off lol, and have a great day!!

HS:MS - Quirky - the story of my life!

This pic is of a t-shirt I bought when I was pregnant. I didn't actually know at the time that there are chickens on it!! I just thought it was a really interesting pattern at first glance!! So this is my interpretation of today's prompt, as I think it looks a little peculiar, and the chickens were unexpected lol

I am now furiously crocheting as if my life depended on it, as I dont like this cold much at all!! I tried to do a bit earlier whilst downstairs with the kids, but Shaun grabbed the scarf, and pout his fingers through one of the holes, and made it big!! Shant be doing that again!! I was being a bit optimistic I think when I said it wouldnt take me that long, I want it quite long ao it might take me a little more than a few days!! was worried I had forgotten the stitch when I got to it this morning, but that's the beauty of crochet - it's so easy.

I got a brilliant book - 'Stitch and bitch crochet - the happy hooker', by Debbie Stoller and it is fantastic! I found that the trouble with instructions on crocheting was the stitches varied depending on whether you're looking at English or American literature on it! The stitches have the same names but they're different, e.g. double crochet over here is single crochet over there and so on. But Debbie Stoller's book straightens it all out, and really makes you feel as though you're capable of creating something pretty fabulous! And the designs in her book are brill too. Wow, all that waffle on crocheting. I'll shut up now.

Thanks for stopping by - hope its warm and dry where you are!! Have a good day guys!

Crikey - it's cold!!

K, first things first, HS:MS photo prompt for today is 'hang'. This is a charm bracelet I made a bit back, and I thought it would be perfect as there's loads of little bits hanging off it! I know it's a bit busy - but that's how I like my stuff - my cards and layouts usually have loads going on too - perhaps a bit too much sometimes!!

On our way out in the car this morning - it was soooooo cold! I have a jumper and a cardigan on still! I'm a bit of a softie though when it comes to cold - hate it! I started crocheting a scarf a while back, and put it to one side because the weather was quite fine - guess what I'm digging out tonight??!! Should have it finished in a day or two - it's a mesh scarf - I magicked the pattern up myself but it wasn't hard!! Just worked a mesh stitch in the desired width and length, but I was really pleased I had made it myself, without a pattern!! As soon as its done Ill post it here for you to have a peep of!

Have a great day folks, and hope your day isn't as cold as mine!!

HS:MS - Us

This is my photo for the day - and no, of course I wasn't out on the boating lake first thing (i wish)!! This was from our weekend in Wales. We didnt stay like this for long though, as my OH got into a spot of bother down a narrow bit of the lake, and we had to swap - due to my fabulous rowing skills (ha, that is a joke about the skills lol but we did swap, we have discovered rowing is not his one of his strong points). Rowing us along was great - I only wish that we had a lake in the garden, as it kept our Shaun quiet and occupied for a good 40 minutes!! Dont think he was quite sure about it.

The LO on the right is my go at Alix's 'make it move!' challenge over on Blog til you drop, and entry for the house challenge over on UKS - on UKS the theme is summertime. It went a bit wrong however, I was trying to make some beach glass - which went reasonably well, until it came time to put some glitter in between the glass, which went terrible. In fact, looking at it now, I just cant leave it like that so Im getting it out of the album and putting it right if possible! Again, the photos in the LO are from our recent trip to Wales.

Thats it for now folks I think, I have a couple of projects on the go ready for Saturday - its my turn to set the challenge over on Blog Til You Drop, looking forward to it and hope you'll stop by for a peep! And if and when I put that hideous mess right, I'll update the pic on the right!!

HS:MS - Show Off Sunday!

Im showing off my gorgeous baba again today! I know some of you might have already seen this pic in my post earlier in the week, for the prompt 'curious', but had to pop it up again. We just had this put on to canvas for Shaun's Mum and Dad for their 30th wedding anniversary and they love it to bits! It was taken on the beach in Wales, during our recent break there. I love it because when I look at it, it reminds me of how happy he was on that beach, and so innocent, running round with nothing on, totally uninhibited as kids should be! I can almost hear his little giggles and shrieks of excitement as he was going into the water. I love the way the sunlight highlights his hair.

I've seen a little bit of the world, lots in this country and a few in others, been to some scorching hot and beautiful like the Dominican, some fun and adventurous like Florida, but I have never had such a perfect day as I did the day this picture was taken. To see our son so happy and content like that, made it the best holiday ever for us.

And this one above was one I took in our garden - I put this in my panel for my Open Uni end of course assessment. I love Shaun's expression in this one, his big chocolatey brown eyes and again I love the light on his hair! I know he's dribbling a bit in it but I think he looks really cute!

Recovered at last!!

Crikey, what a day. It took me ages to recover from my self inflicted hangover! I was quite sick. Serves you right I hear you cry!! And I agree. And I am never drinking again....lol

A few pics of us when we took Shaun to feed the ducks today - he was throwing another of his familiar wobblies. Hence the pained expression on my face as I had had to go and capture him, after he tried to make his escape. Not good when you feel like sh**! But hey ho... Not done much today, visited the rents, then an 'oh what fun!!' trip to Asda!! Im making a curry for us tonight, and I could eat a scabby donkey, as we say up North, so I cant wait!!

As promised - the card and LO I made using the HOTP personal shopper kit for October from Crop Til You Drop. I made both of these using the fall collection of papers. This kit comes with some really cool embellishments too - I really love the Mondays Metal self-adhesive squares, and there are self-adhesive baubles from Heidi Swapp in there too - you get plenty!!

HS:MS - Hungover....

Sincerest apologies guys for an absolutely shocking photograph.

I am Charlene, and I am hungover. We went out last night for a few drinks in Garstang, and I am feeling very rough. So this is me, warts and all, no makeup apart from the mascara from last night - how terrible, didn't even take it off!! No hair done, nothing! Have the ol peepers closed because I couldn't quite cope with the light from the flash, and did not have the motivation to take this photo on Manual setting! Speak later maybe guys, shall upload a couple of projects I have done with the Hot Off the Press Personal Shopper kit from October, I'll pop a link in to it later.

HS:MS - Tweezers

A quick upload of my photo for todays HS:MS prompt - my favourite pair of tweezers - the pair that try and tame my unruly eyebrows lol. Have loads for crafting but these are my most intersting pair; love the colour of them!

Have a wee trip over to Blog Til You Drop today guys, Im uploading my latest project for the October personal shopper kit over on the Crop Til You Drop webshop!! I'll be uploading a card and a LO using the gorgeous stuff from the kit!

Is it a bird??? Is it a plane??? No, my tyre is flat.

What an eejit. This morning, on my way out in the car, I noticed a loud sound and I thought - what on earth is that?? I looked around for low flying aircraft and there didn't appear to be any nearby - I presumed it must have been out of sight! So a little later, some bloke stops me and says 'Oright love, do you know your back tyre is flat as a pancake?'. Hmmmm....No I didn't! So that's what the noise was then. If brains were made of elastic, I wouldn't have enough for a budgies garter, as my ma would say lol

A lovely man from LBT motors in Garstang came over and changed it for me, he must have seen my puzzled look whilst trying to get the space saver tyre out from underneath the boot thingy. My OH has made me lazy - I used to change my own car tyres and do all that caper, but since he came along I don't do any of it!! 'That's how it should be', he says, dragging his club and freshly caught wild boar behind him.

Just had to share that with you guys, so if, like me, you're a little clueless when it comes to cars, and you hear low flying aircraft - check your tyre isn't flat!!

Our weekend in Wales

Howdi guys, these are a few of the photos taken from our weekend in Wales. The first one is of my son on the beach I thought it was perfect for today's HS:MS prompt!! He absolutely loved it on the beach, he was in and out of the water, and rolling about in the sand.

We had a ride on the Snowdon mountain railway, which was hilarious - it was an overcast day so we could see little on the way up, and hardly anything on the way back down! We were actually in the clouds on top of the mountain - when we got back on the train, our hair was covered with little water droplets! And it was pretty cold up there too!! But it was fun, and I'm really glad we went.

I can't believe just how many gorgeous beaches there are! And they weren't busy, lovely sand - just perfect!

We visited the lovely Port Merrion, gorgeous little place, there was a wedding going on at the hotel there, wouldn't mind that - overlooking the beach and mountains, just beautiful.

Anyway, enough of my rambling on, I could babble for ages about all the beautiful places we saw there!

HS:MS - Kiss

A late night entry from the bad blogger (it's been a while) - a kiss from his Daddy who had just come home from work!! I'll be back with more photos and a few tales from Wales tomorrow!!

A couple of crafty projects

This is the LO I did for Looby's challenge over on the blog til you drop website, there has been some more lovely stuff posted yesterday by KTP, and today by Alix, get yourself over and have a nosy!!

For this challenge I used only cardstock, a journalling stamp, and a teeny tiny bit of ink - didnt want anything to detract from my little man's pic!! This picture was taken in Silloth in August - we went up to see my ma there whilst she was on her hols, it was great - we had a fab time. The pic is of Shaun on a climbing frame, wreaking havoc!!

This second LO is my attempt at the UKS weekly challenge, and Ruth's challenge for last Saturday on the Blog til you drop website . It is of my Dad, and uncle Cecil, who died a couple of weeks ago. My dad is on the left, and my uncle Cecil on the right. Now for those of you who read the bit on my blog where I said I wanted to do a fun and bright LO to remember him how he was - I am going to - honest!! It's just, when I read the challenge over on UKS, one of the elements was to use a book title on your LO. I immediately thought of this book - 'after you'd gone' by Maggie O Farrell. It's an absolutely brilliant book, I read it in about a day - I couldn't put it down. But the title really made me think of how sometimes, we don't realise what we have until it isn't there anymore. Me and uncle Cec weren't really close, but it wasn't until I went to see him when he was so ill, and after he'd gone, that I actually realised all the time we had shared together, the laughs we had, and all the memories I had of him. I was worried that the last memories that I had of him would be him ill, looking nothing like the fit and healthy guy he once was. He was a marine in his younger years!! But thankfully loads of great and happy memories came. So guys, I apologise for fibbing a bit - there is a bright and happy LO of Uncle Cec in the post (pardon the pun)!! Had to do this LO - had to get these thoughts down on paper.

My blog will be neglected over the next few days - we're off to Wales - wahoo! Should have some lovely pics to show you on our return - always wanted to go to Wales, it looks so beautiful.