Some grainy pics....

Hello guys - have been absent for a couple of days due to OU caper. And this is a really quick one today you'll be pleased to hear - with much less rambling from me for a change!! First of all, thought Id share with you a LO I did for the latest challenge over on BTYD - a scraplift challenge. Apologies for the really annoying white spot due to bad lighting, and flash usage lol. Obviously of my little man, while we were out walking in our village a couple of weekends ago now - the one were the 'away' pic was from and the SOS ones I uploaded at weekend? And second and thirdly (?) my grainy pics for todays photo prompt over at HS:MS. The first is 'grain on grain' lol - apologies for the rather cacky close up shot of a grain of brown rice upon a slightly grubby, ready for washing chopping board.
And second - and prepare for 'sadness' guys, but this is the latest addition to our 'home corner' for Shaun and the other little people I look after. Its a wooden kitchen, and {I} he loves it!! Ive been dying to get some stuff like this for us to have a play with, and when we went into the ELC at weekend - to get his other bits and bats - there it was, and he was straight in there playing with all the wooden fruit and veg, and wooden pieces of toast and pans and all that stuff. So here it is now, in our front room and getting plenty of use already!! Only trouble is, its rather pink. It does have other colours, blue and yellow, but I think it should be a bit more neutral coloured - as cooking is not just for girls, as my good man found out when he met me lol.
Then these next two cards, the first I made for a fellow DT member and also used it as part of a challenge as it had all the requirements of it - for Shary's bows, buttons, and brads challenge a couple of Saturdays ago.
And this one, rather childlike, I know, but its for our postman Pete, who is retiring on Friday. Pete has been a great postman - i think I like him so much, not just because he is a lovely guy but also because he has brought me so many lovely crafting goodies over the past couple of years!! I have looked forward to him turning up many a day, stalking for my much awaited crafty bits n pieces. So I'll be sorry to see him go!! I asked him the other day 'do you drink Pete?' and he said 'why can you tell!!'. I meant so I could get him a little pressie lol but I did feel a bit of a pillock!!
Right guys, must dash, tea to sort and then its OU all the way tonight. I said yack to my OU course the other day - not because its rubbish but because I am - I have left things a bit late this time and am now in panic stations. But this has been the way I have worked all through Uni when I trained as a nurse, and did my degree modules!! Not good for stress levels but I must need the pressure to motivate me or something!! Weirdo.

And there was me saying less rambling.....have a good evening guys and thanks for popping by!

Charli

x

A quick show off...

Helllloooooo. A very quick upload of my photos for today! Taken last weekend of my little man, two of the very few I got, where he was actually playing ball IYKWIM! You saw the 'away' pic the other day, well thats mainly what he was doing, trying to escape and evasively manoevre out of mine and the cameras way. But I love these pics of him!! I think I have somewhere in the region of 6000 photos on my puter, much more than 3/4 are of him! Is that sad/scary/weird? I have enough photos for a flicker pad of his life so far lol, but I just love having photos of him. I think it'll be great (mind you he probably wont think so for a while lol) for him when he's older, to see how much he has changed and to see himself at all the various stages of his life. We have had a quiet and chilled day today. He has been great - so well behaved and mischief making at the same time, but in a good way! I am going to get my Christmas shopping done this week, for my family. If I can get sorted it'll be great, and minimise the Christmas panic I get most years thinking - what on earth am I going to get for ......
I'll also upload a couple of things I popped (just had to go back and change popped from pooped - i keep doing that for some reason) over on the BTYD blog for my DT post for this week. The first, a little mini book, and the second, a felt frame using some friendly (and it is really friendly lol) felt. Its really easy to use, to pierce for stitching and to punch - stick it through your bind it all - get the crop a dile on the case etc - its great stuff!!

Right guys. OU stuff beckons. Yack. Not into it at all at the minute!! I think my studying days are over.

Thanks for reading - shall check out your blogs quick, and then get on with the OU stuff. Hows that for procrastinating eh? Lol TTFN

Charli

X

The mighty boosh...

Beware!!!! Humongous gob approaching!!

So every Saturday on HS:MS, tis self portrait Saturday. And for a while I became quite sick at the sight of my smiling fromagey mush, which got me thinking about different things I could do - and this, lol, is what i have come up with for this week!! Big, aint it? Lol

We have been shopping for some of Shamus' christmas pressies today, and it was great! Until we had to put something that he had picked up back on the shelf. Ooh he didnt half kick up a right stink!! Im trying to find the Pinky ponk, tombli boos, and higgle piggle. Oh and the ponty pines. Has anyone seen any anywhere? I got Macca pakka and the Ninky nonk today, but the others were outta stock! Darn. They're characters out of 'In the night garden' by the way, in case you're wondering!!

We got him a little keyboard, complete with stand and stool too - he had a play on one they had out in the ELC today and he loved it!! He was banging on the keys like a good un and had a go with the mic too - cant wait to see him on Christmas day!! Thats our entertainment sorted lol and another one of his favourites - Postman Pat. Him and his van - think Jess is in there too.

Now Jonathan Ross wasnt on last night, was it, due to Children in need. I caught a bit of it - and saw the Spice Girls performance. What a load of sh***. I have, at times, felt sorry for Vicky Beckham, but lately there is something about her that really gets right up my nose!! That stooopid face she pulls, looks rather like she is constipated but I think she is trying to pull off sophisticated. And as for the rest of em, chancers now, in my opinion. They were alright once over, but they have well and truly had their day, I think. Take that - glad they're back, though I dont think its for good - ti ti boom (crikey). That rant about the spice girls said though - fair play to doing their bit for charity and all that. Wonder what they're getting out of it though?? Hmmm...

Right, better dash! Have a little something I need to get sorted before tomorrow for my Blog Til You Drop post. I am doing v.v.v. not good with the OU course now. I have two assignments due in in a couple of weeks. Havent even looked at it properly. I think I seriously underestimated the amount of time it would take to get the stuff done for it!! Oh well!! We live and learn.

Au revoir, mes amis, and see yall tomorrow! Shall have a quick peep at your sps's for today, have a fab rest of the weekend!! Its over far too quickly isnt it. Someone should write someone a letter about that, cant we have 3 days for weekend instead of just 2? A bit of collective action, mebbe? Lol TTFN

Charli x

The great escape, actually....

Well and truly stumped for trying to get a fresh brand spanking new pic for today. So here is my little man, last Sunday, getting rather fed up of Mummy and camera, and deciding to throw a spanner in the works. No, mother, I will not pose for you, nor smile, nor do anything you ask of me, in fact! So there! Of course he didn't actually say this, only being 22 months of age, but I could so tell that that was what he was thinking! I did manage to get some good shots of him though, one of which I am planning to use on a LO for this weeks challenge over on BTYD.

Today has been a fraught day with the kiddies. Shaun has scratched t'other baba's face, as she was trying to pull his hat off, and pull his hair, and generally put her hands in his face etc. This does not excuse his behaviour, of course! But the whole shopping experience was hard work. The other day when I went into Lancaster - we went into the works bookshop. What a nightmare! The aisles are far too narrow for any decent sized pram to fit through - I think I would have struggled to get through with the Quinny anyway! But as I leaned over to look at something, I heard a crash, and thought, hmmm...what has he done now. So I turned round to see he had knocked a highish pile of stacked notelets over, and was reaching for a large pile of books on the shelf next to him. So I expertly (or so I thought) swung the pram round and managed to stop him from pulling them over, as I bent down to pick the mess he had made up. As I placed the last notelet on the pile, I heard another crash. Yup, he had pulled something else over. I could feel the eyes of the shop assistant burning lol so I quickly tidied up and then got the hell outta there.

Today has been a similar day! Bless him, he wanted me to give him the car park token to hold, like a good boy, today. Ha! Wont make that mistake again! The last time I did that, he pushed it into the teeniest gap in between the rear bumper of the car. That'll be £10 please love! Said the car park attendant. I don't think so love, its right there, says I. I managed to get it out by dislocating my wrist, and squeezing my gret big banana fingers through the gap, with the aid of said car park guy. Really uncomfortable times, with my hand brushing his frequently, and then the fear I had got my hand stuck. Oh what joy!! And, you have to laugh.

Ha, and there was me thinking I wasn't going to be doing much rambling today. Big liar, I am.

At the moment, I have a grown manchild, whinging about not being able to get a %*'@*#*&% Nintendo Wii as they have all sold out. I swear, if it gets mentioned again, a certain can of whoop ass will be shook vigorously, and then opened. So there you go, that is the long and short of it round our way today!!

Right, I shall skidaddle!! Have a great weekend people, whats going on tomorrow? Oh no!! Its SPS. Will try and get my thinking cap on to do something different, but I fear it shall be CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE! from me tomorrow!! Ne'er mind. There'll be the Jonathan Ross review to look forward to at least!! Lol

Take care cockles.

Mini Me.....

I thought I would have no problem finding lots of cute mini items to capture today, but I was wrong! Initially I was looking for little bits of stuff around the house and having no joy, til I thought - I know a replica of something in a much smaller scale - or at least for now he's on a smaller scale anyway! My little man. 'Cept he is a new, and much improved version - of me!! I'm sure you've guessed that the first pic is me - I do think we look alike in these photos.

He has been full of mischief today - which isn't a bad thing in itself but he isn't responding that well to being told no - as a lot of kids don't I expect though? I mean, he's not quite two yet - I forget how little he is sometimes - he's so clever for a lad of his age, and he looks much older than he is because he is so tall! Sounds daft, that - how can I forget - I'm his Mum!! But I do.

I am excited. Because today, is Thursday. That means tomorrows Friday - catch on quick, don't I? And that means the whole weekend to spend with my boys. I really appreciate my weekends with them, its mad, you can spend a whole day milling around and going from place to place with the people in your life, but not really spend quality time with them. We get that at weekend though; some but its never enough!! We're getting some of Shaun's Christmas presents on Saturday - I cant wait!

Tonight, I will be doing a wee bit with the stuff in my DT kit. There are loads and loads of cool things in there - one is friendly felt - its great stuff and much stiffer than normal felt, so easier to cut and create with it. So shall see how that turns out!! I'm posting on Sunday, so pop over to Blog Til You Drop and have a looksee? There's great stuff being uploaded over there every day so its worth a pop over!

K guys, ta ra for now, and thanks for reading!

Will get round the blogs in a wee while, missed getting there last night as I was playing at being studious Charl, which Ill have to do a bit of again later. Why on earth do I sign up to these things, please someone remind me?????

Collect/hoard/acquire.....

Collect is the word to describe what I do whenever I start a hobby. I try and collect/acquire/hoard as much stuff to do with it as possible!! Below is a collection of my alcohol inks. And a collection of my wool - this is just the top of the box, mind lol

And a few of my pens.......
And collect, is what happens to the leaves at our front door. And in the garden generally - its full of em at the minute, and no sooner you sweep them up - there they are again!! So its not us being lazy (much) lol

Well, yet again, I am behind with my course work for the OU degree I am doing. I have had a million and one other things to do, so it has taken a backseat for the most part. But tonight (I'm sure I said this last night...but I ended up blog hopping instead lol tut tut) I am definitely getting on with it. I have to now!! Anyway, quietish day today - went into Lancaster and got some gloss card and other matt card for stamping onto. Really cheap too - at Uptown Crafts in Lancaster - a fab shop and the girls that own it are lovely - Sandra and Mary. They run a crop there on the first Tuesday of every month - Ive been a few times and its great!! I'll put a link in here to their shop when I get a spare minute!

Right, I am going to beggar off now, finish feeding and watering the childer and be really really productive and get up to date with my course!! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of the day!

Probably the most annoying scissors in the world...

Good evening all! A bit later tonight. Was going to pop this up earlier but I thought I'd wait and let you have a peep at this latest CJ entry I have done. Its for the Another Stamp CJ hosted by 3DJean of UK scrappers. But anyway, first things first, back to the snip pic for today. These are my 'don't use if having a bad day' scissors. They wouldn't cut **** red hot. If anyone knows what I mean there :), don't know where the heck that saying comes from but there you go.

Busy day today - had playgroup this morning, which went pretty well - Shamus was incredibly well behaved! Twas t'other babe, who I look after who was 'tricky'. She was trying to show a small baby a shape cutter, but was getting a little too close to his head! Yikes.

Popped into Lancaster this avo to get some double sided sticky pads from the pound shop. A quid for 320 - you cant say fairer than that! Since I stopped working 'properly' (although I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life lol) I have turned into Charl, the bargain hunter. Take a butchers at these shoes for example, on this entry I did in Monica's Shoes(passionflower over on UKS) CJ. 2 years BC (before child), when I was Charl, the weekend millionaire, I bought these shoes one night (about 4am actually, nothing like a bit of night shift delirium for getting me spending, I can tell you). Now I get them out, gaze at them lovingly and stroke them from time to time. I would never in a month of Sundays (?) consider spending so much on a pair of shoes. There's just no way. Just couldn't afford it!! So now I hunt around, and if I can save a good few quid, I'm there. I'm waffling and straying off the point probably lol but the pound shop has loads of good crafty bargains anyway, I think that was the moral of that story!Right a quick one before I beggar off then. This altered Circle Journal (CJ) I'm doing. I still don't know if my work is qualifying as altered but I'm giving it my best shot! I'm enjoying it because it is putting me out of my comfort zone, entirely. The stamp for this CJ, belonging to Veronica (or Godiva on UKS) is the fleur de lis stamp top left hand corner of the right page. I used the stamp around the edges of the page on the left too, to give a leafy type effect. The idea of this CJ is that you choose a stamp, and that stamp goes along with your CJ, to the 10 different people in your group, with you ending up with 10 different interpretations of the same stamp. I have seen the second entry in mine, by Annie, and it is absolutely fantastic. I cant wait to see it back with everyone's contributions in it! I can highly recommend having a blast at this CJ business - it is great. Anyway - here it is.......

Oky Doky then folks, TTFN and thanks for stopping by! Shall have a pop and see your blogs for a little bit, then I must get butt in gear and do some more course work, or it'll be coi-tuns fer me!

Not another bloomin scarf...

Yup, I'm on with another scarf!! Now is it me, or do these scarves look fab in the book, then when you see your finished article, it never quite looks as good? lol, well that's how it is for me! It will probably look better when I have got all the other little bits finished and added to it - will update when its done. For those of you who read my blog regular-ish, I was going to give you another autumn watch update, of the empty branch with no leaf on it, but thought it might not make for interesting blogging!

So I said I would share a few of my other bits and bats I have been making - the sketch below is one I uploaded for my challenge last week, over on Blog Til You Drop.

And here is one of the LO's I did for it below, the other one is here if you fancy a peep! There's another fab challenge on the go, set by our Shary - have a looksee! Its buttons, bows and brads - her examples are lovely too.

An altered cigar tin below, used alcohol inks for the tin, which was a lovely shade of blue before, and used some vintage sarapapers from my DT kit, available at Crop Til You Drop.
And last but by no means least - my little man again! A LO with a pic of him from last Christmas - I cant wait for this year - just keeps getting better now we've got him to share it with!

Right, its rant time. What is it with technical support? I lost my t'internet connection last night, and phoned the guys at Netgear to help me out, as I was sure it couldn't be my broadband line. After about 30 minutes of 'press this' and 'do that', which I honestly didn't mind, as I mistakenly thought they were helping me lol, they said - change the adaptor to another power outlet. Now I can understand unplug, to reset etc., but change to another power outlet? What, like a different plug socket will make all the difference will it? Eejits - I don't think the woman helping me had a clue.

And another thing. My accent. I know its Northern. But I do speak fairly clearly when I'm on the phone, and I don't think that its that hard to understand me when I say 3, 4, 5, etc. I think they must have been taking the mick, personally, as I must have had to repeat myself about 6 times. Needless to say, technical support did not support me in any technical way, at all. And I was left to figure it out for myself, which thankfully, I managed today, hence me being here now typing this codswallop! Lol

So thanks for stopping by folks, and I am going to spend the next bit o time i have getting round the blogs, which I didn't manage last night. And all being well, I should get round them all - Ive missed seeing everyone's pics! Have a good day!

Forgive Me Bloggers....

........for I have sinned. It has been 12 days since my last blog post!!

I was struck down by man flu on the night before our Halloween party, transforming me into Charl - the snot nosed witch (sorry). I have been so busy trying to get my OU course stuff done, that I haven't really had much time for anything else! Apart from taking lots of photos of course, always time for that.

So I apologise in advance for lots of photos, and lots of rambling!

I'll upload my SPS from yesterday first of all, then get on with the Halloween pics and share some from Bonfire night, if you're interested!!

Don't ask what is going on with the SPS pic, I just get so fed up of seeing my geeky smiling mush every week that I now try and think of something a bit different to do. And of course, pouting is not allowed is it, according to you know where lol, however, if I had a pout worthy of sharing, it would be thrust upon you like it or not!

So this was me (below that is, just to save any confusion lol), at our Halloween party! Half my makeup came off (believe it or not lol) due to me blowing my nose constantly. I even took the 'tooth wax' off (this cool black stuff you can stick to your teeth instead of actually colouring them in with something, as I was contemplating doing) eventually, because it was slowing down the scoffing/munching process. I made a pumpkin soup, which was lovely, and a pumpkin cake too! Now I was worried about how the cake would turn out, because of my problem cooker, but it worked!! And it was good - did some orange butter icing for it - yum. I was in a mad rush so didn't end up with my broom, left on my 'a bit high tech for a witch' digital watch, and also one hoop earring. I did make a mental note whilst I was doing my makeup and before I had put my witches outfit on, to remove the earring, because I was starting to look a bit like a pirate, but it slipped my mind! And the hat that I so loved. It wouldn't stay on my humongous head, complete with wig. I still think the scariest part of my outfit was my fringe.

Now, as you can see from these pictures below of me and my sis, we absolutely hate Halloween lol, this is us, getting into character.

And this is Shamus Snr. in his home made 'just been attacked' come 'one of the affected from 28 days later' outfit. His makeup was fantastic - he really looked like he had been hurt!! The cuts and bruises, bits of torn skin - ewwww - looked a little too real. Freaky bunch - aren't we? This is my Ma and Ray posing for a pic as Catwoman and Frankenstein - loved both their outfits! Young Shamus was a bit freaked out by Grandpa Ray's mask at first, but he got braver as the night went on.This is Shaun snr below, with his Mum and Dad, and my brother Jack, far left at the front. Note the ghoul that Shaun is holding onto at the back, created by his fair hand, to scare the local children coming for 'Tricks or Treats'. This year, I thought I'd mix things up a bit and get some plastic spiders and worms and stuff to put in amongst the sweets. I saw a few unimpressed faces, when some kids pulled out spiders instead of sweets!! TRICK mwuahahahahaha. Some kids don't really want tricking do they, they actually just want toffees or money. In fact most kids!! I read something on my sisters my space page which made me chuckle the other day - talking about swapping parts of outfits to maximise profits when out trick or treating.



Just have a look at my sisters face on this pic below. She was in character all night, and it was hilarious. Shaun Jr looks slightly worried I think - she looks like she is about to kidnap him!
And this is my little man in his skeleton outfit. Well part of it - he wouldn't wear the rest! He had a load of fun, and was mischief making and making the most of having two sets of grandparents around. My Dad should have made an appearance and didn't bother. Shame that, because he missed a really great night.
And the award for costume most likely to make you pee yourself with laughter goes to......Melissa, my sister. I swear, I was double over with laughter most of the night. She reminded me a bit of that granny of No 42 with the Kumars, and she does a mean impression of her too! Its the teeth that do it! But she was hilarious. There's something about being around my sis, that makes me feel like a giddy teenage girl again.

To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each others hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. Clara OrtegaAnd here are some of my pics from our bonfire night last weekend. Having a play with shutter speeds and what not - here's my ma .....


...and here's me trying to get an impressive sparkler picture. Check the one after out. Can you see what I was trying to achieve, and failing a bit miserably?

I was trying to write my name in the pic below, but I ran out of space, and only managed 'Cha'. Ay dear... Have a look at our 'hard as nails' friendly neighborhood heron below! Never moved a muscle whilst these fireworks were going off! Might be because he is made of stone lol didn't even notice it when I was taking these pictures!

So there you go. That is it from me today (that's it?? lol), I have got a couple of crafty things I want to share with you but Ill pop them up tomorrow now!! A layout and a few other bits, and another scarf I should be finishing fairly soon too.

I'm really looking forward to catching up with you all - I had a peep at a few blogs last night, but I will get round them all by the end of today! Have a great rest of the day, and thanks for stopping by!