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 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?????

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!

Bleepin blogger.....

I'm typing this, whilst I wait for the blogger to (hopefully) upload my pics again. Somehow - I don't think its going to be happening! I keep getting an error message :(

I'll give it one last try and upload the pics to photobucket if it still doesn't work, failing that I will have to ask for help!! Ah - its done it...

So the above photos were taken on my web cam, as I was suffering from cant-be-arsed-erenteritis, a common complaint I believe - and I therefore had no motivation to fanny about with my SLR - I mean, that would have actually involved going downstairs for it!!! Naaaaa...... anyway, the web cam didn't seem to be working properly. I kept clicking on the darn thing and nothing seemed to be working, until I heard a really loud noise that sounded like a gunshot (almost causing me to fall off my chair) because I had my speakers turned up far too loud. Apparently, the camera had a three second delay on it, and took three photos, one of me normalish, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, one of me getting more confused, and the final one with me getting near peed off, because I couldn't fathom it out. If only it had took another, when the loud noise had happened - would have loved to have seen my scared mush! And on a brighter note, at least it isn't one of those annoying CHEESE!!!! pics that I usually do for Saturday lol
This next one is of my little man - I love it! He was pulling some really funny faces whilst trying to get the lid off his shampoo. I have a few others of him contorting his face into all sorts of expressions. You could be having the cackiest of days, and you just have to look at him and he'll flash you this gorgeous smile, and nothing seems to matter. Discovered yesterday that he is sensitive to something in tomato ketchup, and it cant be the tomatoes because he eats them like apples! Momos, he calls them. His little face came out in a red rash, so shall have to investigate further - it happens with a few other things too.

We went to see our friend's 8 day old baba yesterday - how cute!! He weighed 6 pounds at birth and was teeny, cute chubby little cheeks and he was sticking his bottom lip out!! I was slightly worried that I would get all broody, as us women often do in the presence of cute cuddly wee ones, but no! I mean, I would love loads of kids, but I still remember those early days, well. The ones where my boobs felt like they were going to drop off with the initial pain of breastfeeding and a very hungry baby, the exhaustion of sleepless nights, the pain of going for a simple wee etc. Mind you, it was a wonderful time and I loved it - NO STOP, no more babies for me just yet! Unfortunately, my Shaun is still in the 'getting to know softly' stage, so when he went to stroke the baby on the head, it ended up being more of a hard pat. He then proceeded to ransack the house, pulling off expensive model cars from a table and other mischievous tricks. What fun!

And this final pic, is some of my little man's artwork! He loves painting, getting it all over his face and hands. He ended up with a little streak of green paint under his eye, which ended up looking like eyeliner, with him resembling a young Russell Brand/Johnny Depp in pirates of the Caribbean, minus the facial hair of course - made me chuckle! Only trouble is now - its one of the first things he goes for in my craft room, shouting PAINT! PAINT! And attempting to squeeze it out of the bottles on the floor. Bless. So now, I better go, but not before mentioning its my turn to post over on Blog Til You Drop today - pop over and have a looksee? I'll be doing it shortly, hope the pic upload starts working soon!

Thanks for stopping by - I will catch up with your pics now, and then post my BTYD stuff! Have a good day folks!

Show Off Sunday

Howdi folks! Today I thought I would show off some of my pics from the One Big Weekend in Preston. This was inspired by Bobs' fab pics of Brian May from a couple of weeks back! Now these photos are definitely not technically correct in the least - I had had my DSLR for a few days and was just getting to grips with all the settings, and it was the first time I was actually trying to take photos on it without using the auto setting! And without using flash too - I wanted to try and capture the lighting as it was on the day. I had to crank the ISO settings up to 1600 though and so the pics are quite 'noisy'. I had to hold the camera above my head to take the pics to avoid all the heads in front of us so I was a bit wobbly and there was no way I would be avoiding camera shake!! So the guys above are The Fray - who I love. I liked em before one big weekend but seeing them there live was just amazing. Jo Wiley got on stage with them and played a bit of tambourine which was cool - I think she's a fantastic DJ and listen to her in the week on Radio One.
And above, the mighty Kasabian. Now, we had managed to squeeze and push and wriggle our way to almost the front at this point. But when these guys came on the crowd went slightly crazy, and started pushing in their droves - we nearly ended up on the floor, and with 500 quids worth of camera in my hands I was cacking it a bit, to say the least!! But it was brilliant! Me and my sis (who kindly invited me to go to this fab event when she won tickets - how chuffed was I???) departed at this point, because it was getting a bit much and we were getting trampled on. So we went into the next tent. So glad we did because we saw these guys!!

The Gossip - I am a big fan of theirs and Beth Ditto in partic - I think she has a fab attitude, although I'm not struck on the 'flashing her bits' routine. She didn't do this when we saw her thankfully, although she did nearly spill out of her dress a few times when she was dancing for her life on stage. And the mad woman actually climbed into the crowd - no mean feat for such a short lady. The pic above was her shortly before she 'connected' (her words) with the crowd.And then these guys above -one of my favourite groups of all time - Groove Armada. This pic reminds me so much of waiting there, at the very front of the stage, waiting for them to kick off, the crowd going crazy, and just thinking - wow - I'm so lucky to be here!!
And finally, how can I leave without showing off a picture of my boys? This was taken on a walk at Ingleton Falls. Now we didn't take a carrier for young Shamus, so his Dad carried him most of the way - up hill mostly, about 4.5 miles!! And Shamus is a good solid lad - so it was hard work! And he was fed up and kicking off but who could blame him. His Dad was knackered also - hence the sweaty head lol and bear in mind we hadn't even got a quarter of the way through the walk at this point!! But I still think he looks gorgeous, sweat and all. Poor Shamus is not up for looking at the camera, and is probably eyeing up his escape route.

So I shall say TTFN guys, weekend nearly over now, sob sob, enjoy the rest of it wont you?! Thanks for stopping by!

Errrr....No, cant think of a title for today!

First off, autumn watch - an update on the rapidly deteriorating leaf on the tree in the garden. I am sure by now the woman across the road thinks that I have completely lost the plot - photographing leaves and other things in the garden. Is she right? Probably! lol
And the first of the tongue pics. Trying to capture a photo of a moving child with his tongue stuck out is a little more difficult than I imagined!! I did take a photo of my own, pierced tongue, but it was awful! So I omitted that from today's offerings.
He looks so cheeky, doesn't he? He was dancing around in circles at this point, bless! What a day yesterday. It was fab! Saw Sherree Murphy - the girl who played Trisha in Emmerdale, wandering around with a cute little baby bump. I have seen John Thompson (cold feet, the fast show et al) in Selfridges there too, with his partner Sam. Would love to hear about who of the rich and famous you have seen whilst out and about!

The kids were a bit hard work yesterday - scrapping (and not of the good, paper type) with each other, inflicting scratches etc on each others faces. Look at his picture up there - you'd think butter wouldnt melt wouldnt you? Ha! Dont be fooled by this cute exterior - he is a mischeif maker of the most mischeivous kind!

I started again with the CJ covers. I havent finished them yet but I have started on my entry, which so far I am pleased with. It's totally different to how I usually work, and I really think this CJ group is going to get me working out of my comfort zone, which is great.

I shall depart now, because I am starting to waffle even more than usual, thanks for stopping by and I will get to everyones blogs after lunch, didnt get chance yesterday, I was pooped after a long day, shopping for my life!

Have a great day!

Don't you just love it when....

.....you 'get it'?

I am really enjoying life as a 'mature' (lol lol) student. The first time round, when I went to Uni - I was really unsure of myself - not confident at all. I would rarely speak up - unless forced into it by some lecturer - you know the ones who 'pick on' the ones who don't involve themselves!! Thank god for those lecturers. I always hate it when they say - so Charlene, tell us a little bit about yourself, and why you've chosen to do x, y or z. I hate being put in the spotlight like that. Now on here, as I'm sure you're aware, I can babble endlessly, but its so easy without an audience right there in front of you!

So last night was a tutorial for the social science course I'm doing. It was tricky at first - I have a spot of performance anxiety (probably the understatement of the year). But it got much easier as the night went on, and most importantly, I involved myself - a lot - and actually understood everything that was being said - hooray! It was such a great feeling to know that I had grasped everything so far. I think I'll really enjoy this course - I might eat those words later on lol but for now, I'm just going to make the most of it.

We went to playgroup this morning, and what a nightmare. Poor Shamus was busy ransacking the place, getting involved with everything - he's the kind of boy who loves to grab everything. They were making these pizzas for their snacks - and of course he's only 22 months old - I thought he did really well. But he was trying to grab the cheese off the pizzas and pick them up and all sorts. It was a bit hard work, because the little girl who I look after was also into everything - as all good kids should be!! And the playgroup leader said - can you just come and grab Shaun - she's lovely BTW - but I thought - aaaargh! I haven't got enough pairs of hands here, I need at least another five pairs lol, so I was mighty stressed by the time I left. Has anyone got any opinions on how often you should take kids to these things? Twice a week is more than enough for me!! But I'd love to know what people thought. I often feel a bit guilty because I don't get to more - but I do take them out plenty everyday. I think its probably all part of the - 'other mums seem to have it sussed much more than me' syndrome.

Well, I have nearly finished my CJ front cover - but me thinks its looking a bit cack, so I don't know what im going to do about that! I might post it up here when its finished and get some constructive (or any lol) criticism on it.

Sherman is still not well. He is going to be fixed - AGAIN, for the third time in 2 weeks. I miss the old reliable Sherman. This new, unreliable let down Sherman keeps deciding to say 'engine system service - urgent', which can't be good news. It smacks a little too much of expensive repairs to me. Yuk.

I have a painting that I must upload too, when it is dry - my Shamus did it for me today at another group we went to. This is one where I can relax with my friend Crystal, and have a brew and a danish, but still keep a good eye on him and let him have a good run about the place - at a wacky warehouse. It's my favourite of all the play places we visit! Also - they let parents go down the slide with the kids - its fabulous - Ill have to get some pictures of us next week for you to frown and tut at lol

Thanks for reading guys - I shall toddle off and get ready for round five with the kids! Have a nice, relaxing rest of the day!

Tis the season to 'fall' in love with - groan

Top of the morning to ya! Ay up cockers, thought I'd share some of the pics of my leaf ridden garden. Honest - they do get swept up regularly - there's loads of trees in our garden though so no sooner than you have swept the leaves up - its full again! But I quite like it. I love the colours of autumn - they go well with the ol barnet lol

The first and second picture I took of the same leaf, just three days apart, and you can see from the pic that it is more 'autmuny' (?) in the second shot, the green is fading and the yellows and goldy browns are coming through much more. And check out the difference in the sky lol, yup, its here!

So today, I am going to get started on my LO for KTP's challenge over on Blog Til You Drop, posted Saturday. Get yourselves over and have a go - there are prizes up for grabs!! I'm using my SPS pic from Saturday - my OH Shaun thinks its incredibly freaky, which was even more reason to scrap it lol, as a permanent reminder of my freakishness.

Whenever I do that effect on my pics, I always end up with blue hair!! And blue eyebrows, as Chris pointed out!! Never noticed those lol, I'll have to pull the old socks up and do a proper photo next week, warts and all. We went to Beacon Fell yesterday for a wander, and a brew and cake - hmmmm, I had bakewell tart and it was lovely and fresh, not like the cake at Williamson park!

Here is a pic of Shaun, being a boy, and hitting the tree with part of another. He decided he couldnt be bothered walking at one point, and kept coming to me and his Dad to carry him, which is no mean feat - he's a solid lad! We thought we pretend to carry on walking, to see if he thought - 'oh well, I'd better start walking if they're going to leave me!' - but no. He sat there, stubborn as (his mother) a mule.

Well I shall skidaddle - Ive got a few minutes of peace whilst they're asleep, so I'd better get something done, hadn't I?

Thanks for reading guys, and ta ra for now! Have a great day!

Sunday Showoffery...

Good morning! A quick pop on before we disappear out for the day, to share with you my SOS photos for this week. First and foremost, my beautiful boy. I took this in Silloth when we went to see my ma there a little earlier in the year - some other photos from the trip can be seen here, in my 'HSMS - Dog' post. I haven't had to alter this in any way - I thought the colour was great on it and didn't think it needed anything else! I love his expression on this photo - it reminds me of how much he loved playing there on the park with his Nana and grandpa. I have scrapped this pic too, here.The second picture, as you can probably tell, I have altered the saturation in the colours far too much - I am blaming my previous rubbish monitor, but truth be told, I think it's probably just me, getting a bit carried away. Its a common feature of photos from people who are 'new' to digital photography - oversharpening or oversaturation of images. But anyway - I was really pleased with it at first! I love this place - its the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster, within the grounds of Williamson Park. I think the place is beautiful, I really love bringing the kids here and having a potter around it. You can get a brew at the cafe, along with a stale piece of chocolate cake if you're into that sort of thing lol. The Memorial never fails to make me think - wow - whenever I see it.

'The Ashton Memorial was commissioned by Lord Ashton as a tribute to his late wife. Born in Lancaster, Lord Ashton became a millionaire producing oil cloth and linoleum which was exported from the port all over the world. It serves as reminder of the importance of Lancaster as a thriving commercial centre, not only in times past but now in the 21st century.'
taken from the website - linked above

So there you go, that's me for today! I'm going to have a go at this weeks challenge over on Blog Til You Drop a bit later on - have a look see!! I found a quote by Marilyn Monroe that I'm going to use for it - here it is:

'I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you cant handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.'

Good day to yall then folks - :( Monday tomorrow. And in the words of Bob Geldof.....

Thanks for reading!

PS I dont know if I mentioned it but I got some pictures of my Dad's brothers and sister who live in London!! I may or may not be popping them up here - just checking out that its OK with them first.

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!

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!!