Happy Halloween

Today has been fab, my youngest Sam had his first real Halloween celebrations, hes 3 and this year he dressd up as a pumpkin and had a little pumpkin pail to collect candy in, we went trick and treating with his brother and sister and his cousin Evan (who is the same age as him) they all loved it, it took ages for Sam to get his costume on as he didnt want to wear it at first, but boy i couldnt get it off him tonight i thought he was going to sleep in it. We had a little party before venturing out in the freezing cold, after visiting friends and family we came home and continued the celebrations with people knocking on our door, some of the costume were quite scary, i even jumped myself a couple of times. on another note not even anything to do with Halloween i got some lovely stash delivered yesterday from the US, lots of lovely christmas chipboard goodies and bags of buttons, so last night and today ive been creating more christmas cards, almost done now i've only got about another 30 to do LOL.

wonderful layouts

at last ive scrapped some of my brilliant photos of our photo shoot, they are not over done with loads of embellies, just plain and simple so that the main focus is still the photos, i love the way they have turned out.
i went on a marathon shopping spree at the weekend and bought a whole load of christmas pressents and for once am pleased to say im almost finished buying everything, im usually still rushing around christmas eve trying to find something for someone who has everything.
Its the kids half term holidays which means im also off work we havnt really done much this week yet, weve stayed home and played board games, crafted together and been on a few walks but we havnt actually been anywhere, we were going to go to the cinema tomorrow but didnt fancy any of the films that were on so instead we are all going bowling so that should be fun.
adios amigos i will leave you with the pics of my recent Layouts.

loving our photo shoot

oh boy where have i been for over a month, i didnt realise its been that long since i blogged (note to myself, make sure you blog more regular)
its been so long i dont remember what ive been up to. but i do remember at the end of september we went to a photo shoot that was arranged at DD's school, the money for the sitting was all donated back to the school, (which is so cool) . As soon as we saw the proofs i wanted all 90+ pics! it worked out much cheaper to buy the disk and have them printed at my leisure 90 quid for the disk, thats less that 1 pound a pic, and what was even better was my sister was on the same shoot as me as we wanted pics of the cousins together, so we shared the cost of the disk and only paid 45.00 each. now thats what i call a bargain, big thanks to success photography you did a great job, you even took a good picture of me and i hate pictures of myself.
ill try to upload a few of them here

All DIY'ed Out

wow this has been a very busy week on monday we started our DIY mission, the kids wanted to swap bedrooms so it ment new carpets and decorating (it was about time anyway as the kids are getting older and they still had child like bedrooms) monday saw us paint gloss and carpet the small room for jonathan, we completely finished it at about 10.30pm, cleaned up and went straight to bed. Tuesday we started to strip the wallpaper of the big room, we thought great as the paper was coming of in huge pieces, untill the last wall it took the rest of the day and tyhe next morning to get it all off, then it was off to the carpet shop for me while Martin finished the paining, we finishe painting and even got the carpet fitted that night, we finished at around 10.30 again. Thursday myself and Ashleigh put her room back together and threw loads of old stuff out so she could have the room of her dreams. Now the kids rooms are done its time to start our room, but i think we are all DIY'ed out as we cannot motivate ourselves to start it, maybe after the weekend we might start again, the only trouble is Martin goes back to work monday so he will be even less inclined to want to start painting.
on another note over on UKScrappers we have our old team (SCRAPITUDES) almost all back together again, yesterday Marja joined us again and at the begining of the week Jane joined us singing songs, its just like old times, lots of sillyness.
Hopefully this week will see me scrapping again as i have all my lovely holiday pics.

home from holidays

Well we are home from our holidays and back to reality, we had the most super time in Turkey. we went to Altinkum where we have been several times before as we just love it and its great to know you are staying in the best appartments you could ever want to stay in. We stay in the Golden Villa Appartments that we book ourselves they are not available through travel brouchures, very friendly owners, nothing is too much trouble and they sleep 7 which is great for us as we take my mum and dad along too.
The pool was fantastic and we needed it as it was no cooler than 45 degrees everyday and 29-30 in the evenings, ive got lots of pictures to upload if blogger will let me! We even managed to get Sam confident in the water by the middle of the week he was getting in and out himself and just swimming about in hi armbands (he is only 3)Martin got some good pics of the kids jumping in and fooling around doing bombs in the water, oh what it would be like to be back there now, infact when we got of the plane, we passed the checkin desk and it was still open for the flight back out and i wanted to jump back on it. 1 weeks holiday is just not enough, we normally always do 2 but funds couldnt stretch this year.
Ive arrived home tanned and refreshed ready to start a new term at school, the kids are ready to go back (i think), everything is ready apart from Ashleighs school shoes and Jonathans football boots, as Jonathan starts secondry school this year its been exspensive to kit him out, but weve got it all. ive been browsing the online stores for some scrapping stuff but ive got to resist as ive got a big order winging its way from my friend in the US, and we need some cash to re carpet and completely revamp the kids bedrooms next week, work, work, work.

Great day today

I've had a great day today, firstly this morning I went shopping for some last minute things for our holidays, and because the shops are clearing out their summer stuff ready for the winter gear I got a few bargains. Whilst browsing in New Look with my daughter Ashleigh we spotted a gorgeous Bikini for her and it was reduced to £2.00, so I popped it in my basket along with some 3/4 trousers, tops and several pairs of shoes (yes I admit I do have a shoe fetish, and Ashleigh is following in my footsteps) we then ventured into Debenhams where I bought some pineapple shorts (for me). We stopped for a rest in a lovely coffee shop called Pacitos where they serve the most gorgeous frothy milky coffee and lemon top ice-cream, I've been going here since I was a little girl, now when we are in town I take my gorgeous little girl with me.
I came home and scrapped a little, then I got a call from my cousin, we always book a girly weekend trip to Dublin every Christmas and its that time of year again so we called our friends and its all sorted we fly off in December for 3 days of fun laughter and shopping, Not bad for what would normally be a boring Saturday.
My Hubby is working tonight and will be all next week but he breaks up for his holidays on saturday so we can spend some quality time together before we all jet of on our hols, so that means I've got a solid week of evening scrapping as I will be all alone when the kids are in bed.
I will post a pic of some of our bargains later (still can't believe the bikini was only £2.00) when i can find the camera, I think Martin has been using it.

babysitting and scrapping

tonight i was babysitting for my nephew Jaccob, he is 6 months old so after his last bottle he fell straight off to sleep, thus giving me the chance to start scrapping, no interuptions all night as he didnt wake up once, i managed to do another attempt at Annies challenge, now i must go to bed as im shattered.

before i go i want to share this pic i took of my oldest boy Jonathan, i dont know when he grew up i still thought of him as my little boy but as you can see hes not anymore, he a good looking young man.

A New Challenge

ive taken up a new challenge by Annie her website can be found herehttp://www.ahafermann.typepad.com/ she is posting a challenge from Ali Edwards book every 3-5 days and this is my first attempt at challenge 1, i enjoyed doing this thanks Annie. Its not a way i would normally scrap and ive decided to take up the challenge to broaden my horizons as they say, im hoping i will try different techniques and learn something new. You can also view more of the entries and info of the challenge at UKScrappers

GRRRRRRRRR blogger!

i hate blogger, ive just been sat ages updating my blog and what have i got to show for it? a big fat nothing. Now i know why i hadnt updated for ages, maybe there is a glitch and it will sort it self out i really hope so, as i dont want to type everything again.

im still here,

oh dear im not much good at this blogging lark after only 2 or 3 entries i forgot all about it, still im here now and i will try and keep it up.
A couple of updates on my life , i have infact changed my job im not doing the cleaning job that i hated from the moment i started it, im now working in office admin. Im working for the same company that i cleaned for, (they said i was wasted cleaning, which is a huge confidence boost) we manage a primary and secondry school so i organise contractors, arrange purchase orders, keep tabs on employers time keeping etc. so far im loving it, there is only me and my boss in an office and it is very relaxed and hassle free.
the other update is ive become super dooper at house keeping i used to be really relaxed and only did stuff when it need doing(lazy i know) now i do everything routinly everyday before i start scrapping, where as before i would start scrapping and forget about everything else. (how long it will last i dont know, but hey im trying)

I will be away on my holidays soon and cant wait, the kids and i are counting down 2 weeks today and will be jetting of on our jollies! it will be sheer bliss nothing to do but laze around on a turkish beach getting waited on, (roll on 2 weeks im getting impatient)

I'm going to have to work out how to do links on here i want to share the blogs i read with everyone, i just found one that i put into my favourites last night it is suzzanes outherwise known as fruitysuet on UKScrappers. i will get some links sorted soon i promise.
i will leave you with my latest purchase of rhonna farrer stamps and my latest LO. see you later peeps.

Thank crunchie its friday!

After a long troublesome week at work im really glad its friday.
Its my eldest sons 11th birthday next friday so im going to the town shopping tomorrow with my daughter and Mam so we can go and get him some scrummy pressents for him. It will be great to go shopping with Ashleigh as its a while since we had some mother and daughter time, i usually have all 3 kids with me on saturday as Martin is always working on a weekend.
Ive been chatting with a friend online (HI Jane if your'e reading this) who i met on UK Scrappers, it was great hearing from her, we used to be team mates but for one reason or another we both left. It made me feel good to see at least some one was reading my blog, even if it is just one person.
On the scrapping front ive just bought some stash from the US from an ebay seller who i have used before craftykitty, i cant wait for it to arrive i ordered some of the queen and co stuff (i think its because i love the makeup style packaging), junkitz papers, mod buttons, MM papers, chipboard alphabets, and some rubons. I will be shopping with her again soon as i have a list as long as my arm for more stuff i need and want.
im also tempted to buy more of the maya road ribbons as the are LUSH, i want every collection, no strike that its not want its NEED!

fed up!

what can i say? today has been the most awful day and for no reason, i just feel fed up.
but i did feel much better when i came home from work and was greeted by Sam (my 3 year old) with the biggest smile and biggest hug for me, now that is worth coming home for.
I am thinking of changing my job and going back to being a teaching assistant, thats something i will have to think about for a little while, im not sure how i could cope with the extra stress.
On a lighter note i have been scrapping some more and have also decided to make a few cards to put in a box for when you forget to go and buy a card and the shops are shut.
Martin is on night shift tonight so ill just go back to scrapping and get an early night, that might make me feel a little more human in the morning.

new beginning

I've decided today to start my hobby of scrapbooking again, I gave it all up around 7 months ago and sold most of my stash, although I did keep all my tools and only my very favorite bits of loot.
I was on a roll today as I produced 2, 12 x 12 layouts and I surprised myself as they are not all that bad to say I've been out of practice for so long.
online craft shops had better beware as now I will be back in my shop till I drop mode. Till tomorrow folks.... See you.