STRANGE WEEKEND AND SOME CRAFTING

Well there it goes in the blink of an eye - literally blink and miss it - I think I did!  It's been busy - we had dudhi and basa for tea last night (see my weightloss blog for more info), we've been to the Craft Box at Elsecar on mass - Mum, sister, brother, hubby and little one - spent money boooooo - bought craft stuff hurrayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!  Saw the lovely Gill - big waves to Gill - she's an angel - if we found something we didn't know what it was for Gill could answer us, if we wanted something and couldn't find it Gill was there - all was good! 

Saw Richard III at the Lyceum yesterday - done by the same actors as last weekends Comedy of Errors - where Comedy of Errors was slapstick Richard III was gory - with entrails, squirting blood, chainsaws, drills - I kid you not with a slightly queasy niece on our hands it was touch and go as to whether we got to the end LOL - but it was good - I did prefer the slapstick of last week - but they were both spectacular productions!  

Anyway I'm guessing you've not just wandered along here to listen to my Sunday evening ramblings?  Or perhaps you have? So thought I'd provide you with a bit of crafting!  

This layout is another double page spread using the amazingly gorgeous DCWV set DH bought me for Christmas, we were all wearing black bar for my Mum who wore pink!  

 Then the close ups - forgive the garlic bread board at the back leftovers from trying to get the double page to behave itself LOL

 I used stamps, and stickers and die cuts and hand cutting and black cardstock and all was good! 

 Sometimes it's in the detail wouldn't you say?  This stamp was a freebie from the front of the Craft Stamper a while ago - designed by Dyan and it's just fabulous I mean absolutely gorgeous it has to be my most used stamp that I have - it's just so versatile! 

Hope everyone is having a grand Sunday evening!  

ROCKING MY WORLD ON FRIDAY !!!!!

Wow Friday again - I'm telling you these weeks are rocking and rolling along - before we know it we'll be dragging those trees and decorations back out of the loft to put up again - unless of course you buy a real tree each year in which case it would be mighty strange to keep a tree in your loft wouldn't it?  Would it?  

 So without further ado!

Making Christmas cards - yes it may seem madness itself but believe you and me when you don't have the 'pressure' of that season to contend with they are simply lovely to just plod through and make!  My current set are stampotique stamp based with a cheeky acrylic stamp quote - what do you think?  I've added stickles (for that Christmas bling) to most of them bit of ripped paper on this one

 My new nestability die on this one (and some stickers that in all honesty I didn't think I could use)

 Recycled Christmas crackers - yes that's where the gold nestability die cut piece of card came from!

 Then finally some free papers with the last Scrapbook magazine plus using up some snowflake brads I've had forever!!!!!!!!

And before you know it you've got this 

 So I challenge you to use your scraps to make Christmas cards in January - you can slow down and really take the time without any pressure whatsoever!!!!!

Next on the list of gratefuls has to be my new washing machine - it purrs - no I mean it the other one was a monster that would walk across the floor even with the lightest of loads, this one purrs, does a 34 minutes quick wash and has a 1600 rpm spin which means they come out practically dry!  Plus I had to do without one for over a month (thankfully my sister saved me from ridiculous piles of laundry during that period) only negative on this - it still has to be paid for LOL!

Gobblet - nope it's not a new book it's a game, last year (as some of you may remember) we went to a Play in the Park event that was organised by the local council for free in the main park in town and we got chance to play with some unusual board games - now don't groan it's not another monopoly type game it's Gobblet a completely addictive fun wooden game that has kept us amused since it arrived!

A day off (but sshhhh don't tell anyone) yes I did say a day off, after the hectic week I've just had it seemed sensible verging on essential to just calm down a little!  As a result I intend on going on a birthday present hunt with both hubbies and Mum's birthday on Valentine's day I need to get my thinking cap on!  

Work - yes I did say work - for as crazy and mad as my job is and the fact I run on stress levels to the enth degree this week I've achieved quite a lot and therefore work is up there amongst my gratefuls (so is pay day that also happened this week LOL)

My hubby, he rocks - there are no two ways about it - he's on with my weight watcher plan, he gives me loads of crafting time at night when little one has gone to bed, he is just awesome!


A few others in brief - the weight watcher plan despite the fact I did lose a morsel on Monday I'm still enjoying this healthier lifestyle, clean house - it's amazing how when you keep top side of things it makes life so much easier, blueberries and banana porridge at breakfast, chocolate options of an evening, JR Ward's Covet book - completely addictive reading and finally craft nights with my Mum, niece and sister.


Leave you with a bit of crafting and yes I know it's not Christmas any more but for a change I'm trying to get my Christmas photos scrapped!

And a little bit of detail

So what's Rocking Your World this Friday morning!  Hope you've had a great week, feel free to join in - leave your link in your comments and we can come and visit, if you don't have a blog leave your list in the comments, don't fancy joining in then just say hi!

A BIT OF MID WEEK CRAFTING

Actually can you call Thursday mid-week - I suppose really Wednesday would be mid-week but I didn't get round to doing this post then!

So thought I'd share the Kelburn Castle layout that I've done, I know I've shared the pictures before this is to prove that they do get converted into layouts LOL!  I loved this castle - it was awesome and made for a great layout - double page of couse! 

 Used some whimsical papers - mermaids and unicorns on them from my giant K & Company stack!  Stamped title which I then coloured in (it's just the outline) and then lots and lots of photos, found a few old embellishments to play with and all is good!

I'll be back in the morning to let you know what was Rocking my Week!

SATURDAY CRAFT POST!

Good morning everyone thought I'd pop on a quick Saturday morning posting of a double page layout I did recently documenting a weekend at Center Parcs! 

I decided on a double page layout, because we've been a few times I didn't want to do a mini book for it but had enough photos to warrant putting a double page together! 

 Page by page

 and then close up of the stitching and glossy accents - completely addictive glossy accents - love them!

 Had a great evening - hubby managed to make a three course meal for tea last night which was all pointable - how amazing is he - together with a gorgeous drink to boot that was non-alcoholic!  Love him!  

Today - bit of cleaning then off to the theatre this afternoon to watch 'Comedy of Errors' wonder what said 10 year old will make of that! 

ROCKING MY WORLD ON FRIDAY !!!!! and some crafting

Wow - blink - yep missed it - a whole week gone in the blink of an eye - how on earth did that happen! 

 So here we have it this weeks list of gratefuls, what a joy to look back at the positivies and celebrate them - it feeds my soul!  Fancy some of the positive feel good factor join in, leave a comment and a link to your blog then we can all be grateful together, no blog?  Don't worry leave a small list of gratefuls in the comments box that way everyone wins!  Woo hoo

Anyway this weeks list in no particular order

Bumping into Liz in Meadowhall last weekend, Liz was on art journaling two course at Dyan's last year, we bumped into each other as we were heading out of/in to Paperchase, it was so lovely to see her!  So big wave to Liz!!!!!!  Funny thing was Liz said she'd only been reading my blog that morning and yet I didn't know she had because she hadn't left a comment, I was amazed people out there that visit my blog how surreal I assume it's just the handful of people that leave a comment (if I'm lucky) but apparently not!

Weight watchers, the new system seems to be working eight pound weight loss in week one is something I was mighty glad of - really got me off to a positive start!  I'm writing a blog on my weight dilemmas on a different blog because let's be honest you're here mainly for the crafting!

Clarity - it may seem a strange thing to be grateful for but time to be clear in my own head is something that I love, at times I seem to run around my life busy 'doing' without 'being' so mental clarity is something to be grateful for because it allows for clear thinking me time!

Family reading, teetotalness, menu planning, hubby's homemade soup making, fruit, milky coffees, options hot chocolate as my daily treat, my glider (even though I still hate getting on it), MP3 players, headphones, crafting time, film watching ...

Just thought I'd list a few one liners all together, the ability to craft at night whilst hubbies watching films is proving brilliant - he gets to watch what he fancies (even if it's not my cup of tea) and I get to craft.  It also means that I get to watch films that in all honesty I'd have put off otherwise, this weeks film list has included 'Shoot Em' Up' which is a crazy crazy film - recommended by my sister to my hubby who absolutely loved it - my thoughts - it was very strange!!!!  Lock Stock because we haven't watched it in a while and last nights little number Revolver now there is one very very deep film!

So my list of gratefuls is full and plentiful this week, you might think that you haven't got anything that you could list, so dig deeper and think harder.  Did someone pay you a compliment, did you have time to read a good book?  Receive a phone call from a friend?  Have a happy moment that made you smile?  Enjoy a good meal?  Whatever it is if it lifted your heart and fed your soul then it's something for your grateful list and let's be honest the greatest one to be grateful for "I'm alive, I've had another amazing week living on this planet in the middle of a huge universe and for that I am eternally happy"

Crafting because let's be honest I've made you wait long enough haven't I

 

This little number was made using the paperpack my hubby Craig who the photo is of, bought me for Christmas I absolutely adore Die Cuts With a View paperpacks, so utterly versatile, high quality and utterly gorgeous so it seemed only right to document this gorgeous photo with them as I broke into the pack!  

So what's Rocking Your World this Friday?

CRAFTY MONDAY

Good evening bloggers how do I find you this fair evening - well I think it's fair - fairly mild, fairly dry - yeah definitely fair! 

Thought I'd do a brief Monday post because I can, had a positive day managed to lose some weight - woo hoo - have to see my other blog for the details yes I've finally succumbed to using my other blog again - let's hope it's more permanent than the last few attempts at losing weight LOL!  

Just thought I'd share another double page layout with you again from Beatrix Potter world in Bowness this time documenting the gorgeous bronze statue in the garden.  I was so pleased because I finally managed to use a 'free' stamp I got with a magazine ages ago of Jemima Puddleduck never thought that would happen!

 the other page 

 I'm loving the double pages at the moment, they are such fun to do I'm also enjoying my nestability dies that I bought recently - hadn't realised just how versatile they actually were!  

I was asked an interesting question yesterday - when buying a Big Shot - if you were to buy three versatile dies for it what would they be?  Mmmmm what do you think?

 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY...

Good morning Rockers and Rockettes how are we all this morning?  Friday - the word "phew" comes to mind.  It's been a busy busy week primarily work, but trying to get into better habits at home have meant evenings have looked a little different this week, not in a bad way, just in a - 'this is going to take some getting used to' kind of way.

Anyway this is the time of the week when you slow down and take a little while to glance over your shoulder and make out what positives and gratefuls you've got for the week.

The first grateful has to be the arrival of my weight watcher pack, (despite the points calculator not working) I've still managed to work through on the plan this week and wow has it changed!  I'm still ploughing through the reading material, but seem to be set on the right path at the moment (despite there still being Christmas cake in the house LOL).  I'll let you know how I get on.

Hubby for embracing the changes I'm making - these may seem normal to everyone else, but sometimes when you get in from a long and usually stressful day at work, are tired and have to face making tea from scratch its become all too easy to reach for a quick processed meal from the freezer or worse still a takeaway - but not now!  We've worked together to put some great meals together and get this - have prepared in advance lunch for work - again something we haven't done in quite some time, so big thank you to hubby for that!

Long long long evenings of crafting, sheer and utter bliss if I'm honest, once little man is in bed, I sit at my craft table, hubby finds a DVD to pop on and we while away a couple of hours in each others company.  Wednesday night's film was "The Bone Collector" which I've not watched previously and with it being a thriller it meant that I didn't get sleepy in the slightest whilst crafting, sat on the edge of my seat yes - sleepy nooooooooo!!!!

Blogging friends because I love to see glimpses of your lives, its wonderful to find out what you're all up to, what you're creating etc.  I've learned this week that my scrapbook class has been permanently cancelled (boo hoo - just waiting to find out the details).  It isn't that I 'needed' to go and learn new techniques etc, although it has to be said that when new ones arrived Sandra was amazing at getting us in the 'know' but it was the friendship that I've built up with the other participants and I'll be sad now that they aren't going ahead, it was my two hours of girly chat on a Monday evening.

Finally blueberries - yes bet you weren't expecting that one, they've been a welcome and new addition this week into our lives and make porridge that little bit more interesting - who said I can't be grateful for a fruit LOL

So that's my list this week albeit brief, have a go yourself, think about what has made your life that little bit better and nicer this week and join in, leave your link in the comments so we can come and visit.

Mustn't leave you without crafting as I'm getting into better habits on this front also, problem I've currently got is that I've gone into double layout mode and as a result show you twice as many pages in half the time - so I'm running out of pages to share - must get on with some more lol and yes that is the great leaning tower of clocktower in the background, alas it is no more!

The papers I used were from a scrapbook that I bought at TK Maxx after Christmas, the papers are gorgeous as are the embellishments etc, only problem is there was only one of each page, so with a little imagination and little of my own stock I managed to get them to work on a double page!  Another page from the Chatsworth country fair.  Hope everyone is having a grand Friday

WEDNESDAY ALREADY????

Good morning all and how are you this fine Wednesday morning, I like Wednesday's primarily because there's no breakfast club (so a slightly later leaving time) and I pick little one up from school which means a three o'clock finish - hurrah!  After a mighty long day yesterday it's nice to allow me to catch up with me - if that makes sense!

So the weight watcher pack finally arrived, and I read and searched and searched and read and then rang them and said - "How am I supposed to work out how many points I can have?"

The answer - the electronic points calculator in the pack - mmmm me confused then the damn thing didn't work grrrr - but I'm on plan nonetheless trying to get my head around what's allowable, what's manageable and definitely what's changed!  I've also managed two nights doing two miles on my glider - I hate that thing, the only way I don't hate it is to have music playing in my ears (MP3 player) and be reading at the same time, but I've discovered it becomes more leisurely gliding in those instances because I can't glide fast and read grrrr - so I'm having to cope, plus the time I've been using it at is usually little man's TV time where he watches repeat after repeat of utter rubbish on TV - the last two nights have been 'stealing, accident crash' type Police programmes!

So still doing the whole teetotal-ness it's bliss if I'm honest not missing it one bit, only difficult part of last two days was hubby cutting himself the world's largest slab of Christmas cake last night - I have a slight weakness when it comes to such things and it smelt absolutely divine - but he's in Christmas crap eating mode hoovering up what rubbish is left so he too can join me on plan come next week so I shouldn't grumble (much)

Anyhow thought I'd share a couple more layouts, I'm galloping through pictures - which is brilliant - I'm loving getting things scrapped!

This is another double page layout from when we visited Beatrix Potter World in Bowness, the garden outside in the height of summer was simply magical!  I managed to use my new nestabilities dies on this (next time something new comes out I'm going to find out about them - I assumed they'd be hard work to use in my big shot but turns out they aren't - what they turn out to be is utterly addictive!)

I chose subtle peaches and greens with a hint of pale blue, I used sequin waste to colour the peach paper, I stamped dragon flies and cut them out, I stamped the lettering and covering them in glossy accents

 Used a bit of ribbon in the main picture on the second page to help tie it together and overall I'm really pleased with the outcome! 

Finally I'll leave you with another Christmas gift (yes I'm still trying to show you these) 

I made two of these both different but similar (I'll share the other later) this one for my brother, I scanned photos from a holiday we had in 1997 and had them printed, then I created this book using a Voodoo Vixen template that I adore.  I created a document of the holiday, I don't think my brother had any of this information or photos so it was an unexpected gift.  I kept a diary that holiday so I used the information to create a mini book, although I had to laugh I seemed to document what we bought and what we ate more than what we saw - how times change when it comes to journaling!  Apologies for the slightly blurry picture

 The inside of the book looked like this!

So there you have it a little mid week posting, I'm enjoying blogging more frequently!  Hope everyone is grand this morning!  If you pop by say hello - particularly if you always pop by and never say hello then leave a message I'd love to know who is out there today?

SUNDAY MORNING MMMM....

Good morning bloggers, today finds me in a particularly positive mood primarily because of my awesome family, we've sat and had a chat this morning a little reflection on the week, how we are doing with our pledges and plans for 2011, making little adjustments along the way and keeping positive.  

Tomorrow sees the official start of my healthy eating in 2011 - I am so tired of eating the rubbish that's been around the house just ready for some nice clean eating and new points system to boot, I'll keep you informed of my progress.

I sat last night looking at some photos and some papers but it just wasn't coming together (it was looking rather twee argh!!!!) so I worked on the circle journal that I'm behind with I found a little piece of paper was waving at me out of a box and suddenly paint and paper and ink and stamps and the page was done - quite impressed if I'm honest LOL wasn't expecting that!

Got to head to Melanie's in a bit - my washing machine died before Christmas and she's been my saviour over the last few weeks letting me use her machine in the interim whilst I'm waiting for the new one to arrive!  Bless her.

Another layout to share with you this one was fun to do documenting little man's lack of enthusiasm to actually shoot a gun with bullets.  We were at Chatsworth's country fair and we paid for him to shoot at a target, when he realised the gun had little bullets in them he simply freaked out and Craig ended up using his "go", however he was quite happy to use the air rifle as can be seen in the layout.  It was nice to journal the story as it shows that despite having a few games on the PS2 and Wii that involve fighting (namely lego characters I grant you but still fighting nonetheless) that he wasn't quite so enthusiastic when it came to the real thing. 

Another teacher gift from before Christmas, this one done for his main teacher, with a little of my arty Christmas photography to boot (ie tree in background)

 How's everyone this morning and how's the weekend?

A BLOG AWARD AND SOME MORE CRAFTING

Ooh I've received a lovely blog award from the fabulous Susie

 I haven't received one of these in absolutely ages so it was a lovely present surprise when I got home

The rules are to tell you 8 things about myself and pass the award on to 4 bloggers 

1. I have a fierce temper but a long fuse 
2. I write my Christmas lists in shorthand so OH can't read them and then struggle to read them back myself.
3. I like to make Christmas cards in January - it's stress free and great fun
4. I'm not sure that I like my current hair style primarily because I think it looks a little like "lego" hair (you know the ones on the lego characters LOL - although mines not removable)
5. I'm re-reading the last Harry Potter book having watched the last film because I can't remember the ending 
6. I've dragged out my glider to get fit on and my 10 year old has spent longer on it up to now than me LMAO! 
7. If I write a to do list I have to finish it regardless of the time or how much damage I do to my back - so I have to be ultra careful when I write them now!
8. I have atrocious eye sight and everything is blurry when I'm not wearing glasses!  So much so that my Mum claimed once in church that she couldn't read the numbers on the hymn board and I took my glasses off and said I couldn't see the hymn board! 

 

Right now I need to pass the award on so here goes

Fi

 

Carmen 

Sandra

Jude

So hop on over and have a look

Now on with the crafting

This 12 x 12 documents the gorgeous carved monument at the top of Robin's Hood Bay which was part of a treasure hunt that we did, which was placed there in the year 2000 hence the title.

I'm so loving time to do layouts at the minute, its a joy to spend evenings doing this although I'm starting to need to turn to paint as I am following the Union Jack layout I did the other night - I'd forgotten how much fun getting messy with paint actually is!

A busy day ahead with a busy and lengthy to do list so I'll leave you for now, hope you're all having a grand weekend.  If you pop by leave a comment I love to here from you.

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY!

Good morning Rockers and Rockettes - tis that time of the week when we take a breath, followed by a large step back and summarise the positives and gratefuls of the week!  This is the first "Rocking" post of 2011 so eyes down starter for ten no conferring

Extra days off before starting back to work - means I've got a two day week which I can sooooooooooooo cope with honestly!

Warm milky coffees and cups of tea - being perpetually drunk as the evenings extend into these lengthy hours that I'm simply not used to!

Little man having a great school trip out to the theatre and arriving back safely!

Catching up with cousins and Aunts even if only for ten minutes tonight was lovely!

My amazing sister who is starting 2011 with a very positive proactive outlook - I'm liking the new Melanie!

Having a teetotal week - it's been great and meant loads of crafting which I'm liking.

New Year pledges - awesome stuff, we as a family have taken to sitting and reading in our bedroom for half an hour a night, little man reads a page to us and then we all sit and read in silence for the remaining time, in essence it was to encourage little man's reading but if I'm honest it is simply bliss for all of us just to have some quiet time away from square noise box that sits in the corner of the room!  

So there you go my list of gratefuls for this week.  

And not to leave out a little bit of crafting and let's be honest you've been well and truly spoilt this week LOL another double page layout and a little bit of upcycling in that the ribbons came off the Christmas crackers - it was a lovely layout to do - really enjoyed it.

and the leftovers as I said in previous posts I'm trying to use the off cuts up as I go rather than waiting until I do a batch of cards - trying to make some of them more masculine so that I've got some male cards in stock!

So there you go another Rocking Your World done - if you join in put a link in the comments, I've previously used Mr Linky but when you go back over the months they disappear off the page so I'm not able to go back and look at your lovely postings so going to ask you to put your link in the comments - OK officially waffling now! If you're not joining in but want to say hi just leave a comment - I love hearing from you all!

SSH DON'T TELL ANYONE - I KNOW 2 POSTS IN 2 DAYS ....

Good morning bloggers how are you all this morning?  It's still dark outside and I'm sat all ready for work, another half an hour before we have to venture out to school, first day back at work - going to feel mighty weird after almost three weeks off me thinks.

DH went to start the car this morning and spent an absolute age trying to get her to work but to no avail - then we both had the same thought as we are picking a new car up (new car to us that is not new as it were) later on - is he insured to drive the old one?  Mmmm maybe a bit of divine intervention or what?

Anyway, these new longer evenings are so long................... they're great, getting loads of crafting done, at this rate I may get to a point (eventually that is) where I run out of photos to scrap - but that is still a long way off.

Feeling a bit better this morning, still not a hundred percent but definitely getting there and only a two day week this week - yay!!!!!!

So on with the crafting which is the reason you came for a look isn't it!

Last night's layout 

 This is a really vibrant layout which sort of fits the photos.  Taken at Chatsworth country show this 'stall' was basically a large swimming pool full of inflated balls - little man had great fun in it - which is a good thing given that this little amusement was about £6 for 5 minutes!  

I did the 'film' strip using my bind it all to create the edge of the strip primarily because I liked all three photos and there was something of a family debate as to which one to use, ended up I managed to use all three albeit that I cut two of them down!  I also hand cut the bracket and used my circle cutter to cut all the circles!  

In an effort to be less 'wasteful' when it comes to projects like this, I've taken to converting the 'leftover' papers into cards - now these papers had to be converted into bright birthday cards (rather than Christmas cards - another story that I'll tell another day) so this morning my evenings crafting looks a little like this.  Don't get me wrong I don't normally throw away the leftovers, they go in a 12 x 12 plastic wallet where I always promise myself that I will use them up at some point - but let's be honest, sometimes this just doesn't happen, so by converting them immediately it means my intention turns into reality!

I've already got a few more papers and photos ready for later, so watch this space.

My weight watcher pack has still not arrived and we still seem to be eating up the rubbish that's left from Christmas, can't wait to get started properly now.

Finally I'll leave you with another Christmas gift, this started out as a pack of party bags and a sheet of wrapping paper from Paperchase - now I know I could have simply bought a Paperchase book in the range, but where would the fun be in that?  So I cut off the handles, cut some cardstock down and rounded the corners, had hubby cut me some chipboard covers which I covered in paper and bound it all together with book rings and then presented it to my niece at Christmas!

Inside looked like this

and this

 

So how's your week this week?  How's the crafting going and the New Year resolutions and pledges, how's your blank canvas doing?

See you tomorrow for Rocking your World Friday! 

LIFE RESUMING NORMALITY?

Good morning one and all - my last day off before returning to work and I've woken not feeling a hundred percent, running a temperature during the night - thinks I must have picked up a bug!  Drat!  Not how I wanted to spend my last day off, so I'm drinking copious amounts of tea and avoiding food like the plague (most unlike me).

The last of the Christmas decorations are down and although the house now looks clean and tidy it also looks just a little bit bare!  I really miss the lights on the stairs when we take them down.

I was amazed and so pleased that everyone "got" the blank canvas feel to my last post.  I have an Aunty that I rarely see these days who used to get into the new year and have something happen or occur and then simply write the year off - stating it was going to be another one of those.  I always feel it's really sad to do that, life can be difficult as I stated but there's no need to decide that the entire year will be awful just because of a single issue!

So how's life this new year for you?  

For me I haven't made any new year resolutions - why?  Because I've made pledges!  The word resolutions makes it sound like something you have to do not something you want or choose to do and for me this has signalled quite a big change, why would we want to make ourselves do something that we don't want when we can pledge to make changes that we do!  Are you following me or have I lost you?  

This year I have made quite a few pledges to make changes, the first of these is to be teetotal in 2011, I've done spells of about six months at a time when I don't drink at all and they've always been so fruitful and positive that I've decided to make 2011 a teetotal year.  I sometimes feel that life races along so quickly that I struggle to keep up so I'm wanting to be completely awake and aware of every moment so I can feel that I'm living it and so I decided to stop drinking, primarily this is to stop me falling asleep on the sofa at nine o'clock which is the norm if I have a glass of wine LOL.  I'll keep you posted as to how I'm doing.

I'm also re-joining Weight Watchers but doing it from home I often find the meetings evolve around a long list of things we can't eat rather than focusing on the positives - again I'll keep you posted - I'm still waiting for the pack to arrive to get my head around their new system - should prove interesting.  

In these new longer evenings I've been enjoying, I've also managed to do a few layouts - I know step back in amazement so I thought I'd share a bit of crafting for a change.

This is one that I finished last night - part of a double layout 

the second page looks like this

it documents the Red Arrows at Chatsworth's country fair - they were simply spectacular, I decided to imitate the Union Jack flag, did a bit of a painty base and then hand tore the design for the top!  It's a real onslaught on the senses because it's so busy - but I think it captures the essence of the acrobatics on the day!

I thought I'd leave you with a few more homemade Christmas gifts that little man made, the first is for Aunty Melanie who is a momiji doll fan - when he did the outline initially I was somewhat distraught as he said it looked like Shrek LOL however, that changed once he'd add the detail! 

 The second one was for my Mum - can you guess who she works for?

 And the last one is for his Grandma!

They all went down a treat and were really good fun to make, I'm really impressed that they've now brought out new porcelain paints that you don't need to heat up in your oven for them to set as the aroma that comes off

the oven isn't always that great!  However, we have loads of the 'old' sort left so for now we'll continue using up!

So if you meander along to have a read and you get to this point - post a comment or send me a little wave!  If you've made resolutions (or pledges) this year how are you doing with them?  Or if you don't make them do you think naming changes and choices pledges might make them more person friendly?

Hope everyone is having a grand day on this rather wet and cold Wednesday morning here in Yorkshire!

A BLANK CANVAS KNOWN AS 2011

That is what you have in front of you a blank canvas a beautiful clean sheet, you've turned the page and it's all pristine and beautiful and perfect, you could choose to stroke the page for a while as if it was beautiful new scrapbook paper - but wouldn't that simply be a waste of your beautiful life.  You could choose to let the ink and paint from last year dribble over and start to spread along your canvas and if that ink and paint is filled with joy and happiness then carry on - but if it's not use a piece of blotting paper and take up the residue don't allow anything to spoil your clean new sheet.  

Now let's be sensible this page will get messy, it will end up with footprints being walked over it, there will be days when the water pot gets tipped over and it makes a mess, there will be times when you glue your elbow to the page and you have to prize it gently off the surface, there will be occasions when the paper will feel thin and fragile - but that is all to come and when it does you can deal with it - but at this moment what you actually have is a blank canvas on which to paint your life!

What will 2011 bring?  What do you want from life this year?  Do you want family time? Do you want to make amazing memories?  Do you want to take stock a little?  Work hard?  Play hard?  Do you want to reach for the stars?  Do you want to go back to learning?  Set up a new business?  Work less?  Have fun?  Whatever you want is achievable if you take each day at a time, don't expect things to be perfect, life is for living and it isn't perfect!  Just take time to enjoy the little things and acknowledge them along the way!  

I'll still be "Rocking my World" this year each week - join in it's fun - and if you don't have time to do a blog post just take ten minutes out of your week to have a cuppa and think about what you have to be grateful for that week - it makes your heart happy!  

I have so many things I want to do and challenges I have set - but for now, I'm going to enjoy my big blank canvas and I'm going to take each day as it comes.