ATF

New post is up at ATF on the theme of Dr Seuss (in honour of his birthday) set by the lovely Shelly, using one of his many fabulous book titles. I chose 'Oh say can you say' for my layout, it would have been silly not to with a talking parrot!



I am struggling a bit with not being able to get into my scraproom properly (still) so having to grab what bits n bobs I can reach and make do!
Oh and there is a prize up for grabs this week too courtesy of the lovely folks at Helmar, all you have to do is create a layout following the same theme used for this challenge and link us up in the comments :)

Workmen have all finished in the kitchen now, it ended up being a tad pricier than first anticipated what with one thing or another, but tis done! Just in the process of sorting out all the kitchen stuff and finding homes for it all (and washing everything before it goes back in) plus finishing the decorating. Will add pics once it is done :)

Off for a very exciting evening out on Tuesday, as a special (very) early birthday treat for my wonderful Mum...cannot wait, and will share info after the event!

hugs x

Sorry, I am well aware how much I have neglected my blog lately.
Things have been so ridiculously busy (and mostly not in a good way!)

Where to start...
We are having some work done on the house, so have been living without a kitchen for a few weeks- NOT FUN! No running hot water, so lots of kettle boiling even if you just want to wash your hands...we have set up temporarily in the utility room, but my goodness everything takes about 10 times longer, we are having to prepare meals on a space of about 10 inches, and so on...it's ok but hard work! Of course as the kitchen is essentially just a shell of a room, that means its contents are in the garage, the conservatory, and my studio- so I can't even get out there to do my DT work etc, which is a huge 'mare! I can just about get into the room itself, grab whatever I can manage to reach without causing a kitchen appliance avalanche, and set up in the lounge, which is also filled with kitchen stuff and worktops.
I am fed up with the constant noise, mess, dust, clutter and not being able to make a cuppa when I want to.
In fact the kitchen resembled a bombsite until a couple of days ago (plasterer is here now so it will look better by the end of today - I hope)






Had a bit of a nightmare week last week...won't go into that really but again it was manic and not in a good way. Things are resolved there though.

Yesterday my Grandma passed away. I haven't seen her for quite a long time, another long story, but it was a shock to say the least. I am ok with it, but feel incredibly sorry for my Aunt who is also facing losing her husband soon. They all lived together in the same house, my Grandma had her own 'appartment' upstairs, and they were very close.

On a lighter note... I managed to get to the NEC on Saturday, it was so nice to just get away from things for a bit.
Bought loads, I save up for this show through the year and really enjoy having a guilt free spend!
It was a shame to see so few stands this time round, but I still enjoyed it.

ATF went up the other day too, here is mine (created with the few things I could reach in my scraproom)...



And a wedding card I made...



I thought it would be nice to stamp and colour on the inside too...



and whilst I am at it why not jazz up the envelope as well...



and one exciting thing did occur last week...
The proud Mama and her babies,



Now the plan was that in a few weeks the pond was going to be totally cleaned out, I have left the fish to go into their lil hibernation type thing that they do, not fed them, had the pump off etc, and it now needs a spring clean ready for the new season, however I now really don't want to disturb Mama frog and her froglets. I couldn't give it a thorough clean before everything slowed down for the winter last year as we had tiny baby fish in there...typical...now not sure how to tackle it but it needs doing one way or the other.
Really need to look at a bigger pond for this year too, thankfully when we bought the new pump and filter system we got one that was strong enough for a much bigger and higher stocked pond...
you see, this pond was a rescue effort from my brothers new house...one pond, and some goldfish, and that was how it was meant to stay. Since we have had it the fish have turned it into playfish mansion and bred like crazy, and so has the local wildlife, there are loads of damselfly nymphs in there too, along with the lil froglets. Plus of course we have Bertie the little koi in there too who will need more room as he grows. We'll sort it somehow, just not sure how yet...

Hoping to get working on some new stamp designs today :)

Anyhoodle, 'nuff blathering, not sure when I will be back to update...hopefully a lot sooner than this time round!