flying visit...

manic-ness here again!

Just got home from the aquatic centre, after thinking something was awfully wrong with the pond. One koi died last week, and another isn't looking too spritely- but nothing obviously wrong. Not eating as well as normal, but he did eat a bit of prawn yesterday which is good :)

So nitrite and ammonia levels are all perfect, pH is in the normal ranges, but at the higher end (alkaline which I found suprising) so I am doing a partial change to correct that, and then the water levels are totally perfect. If the koi doesn't pick up they have very kindly offered to check him out for me- they are superstars at that place!

To top it all off, it looks like I will have to buy a new pump and filter system, so that's a couple of hundred wiped out on that! It's only working intermittently at the mo- not impressed!

The latest ATF layouts are up and I missed some out on my blog as I have been so busy I couldn't blog!

Challenge 32 was my turn to set the theme...

'I wish I'd known...'
I wish I knew then what I know now. Did you never believe how difficult training would be? Did you just not realise how destructive your chosen pet could be? How full of energy they would be? How expensive? How much of a bond you would have?

and here is my layout- must get some new albums, as I keep all my challenge ones together to build a great portfolio of Simba's life!

The latest one is:

Summer time fun.
Does your pet like to play in the paddling pool or splash around in the stream? Is there a cold treat your pet enjoys or do you even take them on holiday with you? Or do they just like to laze about in the shade?
What does your pet like to do at summer time? I think there is a prize for a readers layout too for this one :)

and here is my take on it:

Next one is due to go up next week :)

Almost forgot to add this...

Lousy photos, as they were taken on my phone (one at night, one in tesco)

Jess kindly brought me this wee guy! Not a mark on him, and he was so tiny and so cute, he hopped up onto my hand while I closed the window to prevent Jess following me, let me take a pic, and then off for his release back into the garden!

Then there was this lil guy in tesco (why do these things always happen when I am around? LOL!)

I think he was a bit confused and needed the branchlets department rather than the twiglets...can you spot him?!

just a quickie...

...to mark the occasion.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful boy who is 7 today :D

My life just wouldn't be the same without him, and every single day I count the blessings that this lil guy brings to my life.

Love you Bubby x



ATF went live last night with the latest theme, confessions/naughty little secrets, here is my layout about Simba's lollipop love!
I should point out that this is a very rare treat. When Simba was a lil baby Mart would sometimes come home eating a lollipop, and him and Simba would share it. As Simba hadn't had one for a looooong time, he had some of this one as a little treat a few weeks back. He has a little lick of it, then I crunch most of it off and leave a little bit on the stick for him to hold and eat himself, and when he is done he likes to shred the paper stick! love him!

Howdy! So- what's been happening in my little world? Well- the pond is doing fabulously, as are all the plants. Strawberries in abundance, annnnd I have little tiny mangetout growing :D

I spotted some *weirds* in the pond the other day, having no idea what they were I had to go on a trawl of t'internet. They are tiddly lil things, that seem to be mostly in the ridge at the top of the pond in the shallower water- they have what looks like three tails, are bloody fast, and seem to change colour slightly to camouflage. Turns out- they are damselfly nymphs! So all that naughty action with the damselflies that I posted pics of a while ago has come to fruition I guess! Baby fish are growing well, I didn't see them for a few days but spotted them on Monday :) One is a real porker!

Crafty stuff- after lots of manic deadlines, I can add some pics now. I am going to try and add as many pics as I can to my blog- after a worrying thought with all the rain we are having.
My scraproom was badly flooded the year before last, and the really upsetting thing was that all of my Best of British winning entry layouts were totally trashed :( If by some chance it were to happen again, and perhaps my hard drives went too, I would have no record of my work, and would find it difficult to recreate some of them if needs be. So I am going to try to get most layouts uploaded on here for that reason.

MTML guest design spot:

little bird house (this makes me happy!)


Flips open at the top, under the flower panel

double flap card








love this one- he is such a darling!



and my other lil cutie



ATF Theme this week was 'Nemesis' as set by Lori I thought it might be a bit tricky to do a layout of Simba with this- but once I thought about it, it was really very easy!





Had a horrid appt yesterday, spent the whole day with butterflies in my tummy but after it was done I treated myself to new shoes (£4.50) in asda sale- amazing how something can make you feel so much better!

Got my consultants appt at the hospital in Sept, should be interesting- this will be the decider- will they/won't they operate. On one hand I don't ever want to have to go through all the pain of an infected gallbladder again, but on the other hand, it may never happen again anyway! Guess my fate is in the hands of the consultant now!

Had the virgin media engineer out this morning to sort out my internet probs- got a new modem (at last) and he disconnected some old connections so it should run faster now *fingers are crossed*

pooped!

That's what I am - p o o p e d!
Had a mad few weeks in one way or another!
I have started my course, and been a good student and studying hard! Loving it!
I have had this god-awful-fluey-cold-tonsilitis-painful chest-cough-bug thing (that's the proper medical name for it yannow). Not loving it! It's really wiped me out to be honest, as well as having chronic hayfever on top of it. On that note though I got one of those medinose doobermies at the weekend, they are half price at lloyds at the mo, £15, and will be money well spent if it helps (you shove the probes up your nostrils which glow bright red and it inhibits the histamines released to combat the pollen- be warned- you do look like a loon, and family members will laugh and are not sympathetic to your plight! lol!)

Had some guest design team work to do for MTML Jackie sent the most gorgeous kit for me to play with and I just loved it-it even had BIRD stuff- YAY! Combine that with Jen Wilson and it is a total 'me' kit! I wished i had done some more bits (I may still do if I can find a nano second spare) but being ill really whipped my time away! Will pop some pics up once it is online at the store.

We had a very sad event last week- I went out to check and feed the fish in the pond, and all was fine. When I got home, from what I can establish, one of the koi managed to flip itself out of the pond and was deaded :( This was just in a few hours, and my nephew discovered it when he went out to see how the baby fish were doing (I found another new one yesterday too).
So, we decided that as that left just one koi, that he needed a friend, so we went off to Stroud yesterday (the only place I will buy the koi from) and came home with two more koi. One the same type as the original one left in the pond, and one silver one with orange spots! As I was a little concerned about the silver one being ostracised by the others I had to check with the staff at the shop who looked rather bemused at my concerns over racism from fish! LOL! As it is, the new blue one, and the original blue one seem to have paired up quite nicely, and silver one is schoaling with the goldies ;)


Here they are acclimatising in their bag, you can see original blue koi on the left (Misty- yes the koi have names!) checking out the new additions to be






One of my goldies (they are normally really camera shy!)


A Mother's meeting going on around the bag!


freeeeeedom!


They have settled in really nicely, and are quite happy- they came up while I was feeding them today and weren't at all nervous :) I think they are to be called as follows- The silver one is Jasper, and the blue one is Samson. I think. that may change!

Been doing a bit of pottering in the garden (internet connections have been a total mare for the last couple of weeks- not sure what is going on but we have had days with no connection at all, so I have been forced outside into the real world!)
Baby corn is coming along fantastically, I chucked the seeds in a propogator two weeks ago and already they are about 8 inches tall, they went outside earlier so fingers crossed!
Strawberries- well, Simba is in his element, some days he can go through about half a dozen or so, and in the last week I have picked bowl fulls! Had some rasperries too. Sugarsnap peas are growing nicely, as is the mangetout and my second pot of garlic chives. These were all new additions two weeks ago, and for a change I have added a blueberry plant too. If you have a wyevale store near you, (presuming they all do the same offers) there was a promotion on the seeds, all seeds (apart from grass seed and bird seed!) are half price. So I have stocked up on more veggy seeds for next year.

New layouts are up at ATF on the theme of 'the soundtrack to your pets life' Now, with Simba, I often have to do a slightly different twist for my layouts to fit the theme, due to parrots having a totally different character to other pets. This is a good thing- it shows that you can adapt the themes to suit any pet! I decided to use his favourite songs, that he whistles and sings and dances to, and as I was writing the titles I realised just how apt they were for his personality! 'Don't worry be happy'- as he always is...'The great escape'...hmm need I say more?! LOL! even I was Bill Kaiser's batman (which is his favest fave song) reminds me of him hanging upside down from the door frames like a bat!

Anyhoodle- didn't intend such a mammoth post, and I still haven't wittered as much as I could lol so I shall save some for next time lol! *rolls eyes*
love n stuff x

pondwatch

so not quite springwatch, but in it's own way I guess it is. I sat by the pond for ages today in the glorious sunshine, and took loads of pics. There is so much going on down there and I am amazed at how established the pond is already- we only put it in last year, it was at my brother's new house, and they didn't want it so we took it, and the water, fish, plants etc to keep it as normal as could be. We added a couple of koi at the end of last year, as we only had goldfish and they are doing great too. We did have a newt but not seen him about for a while so he may have moved out. Lots of eggs, think they may be snail eggs but not sure!

So we have a resident toad who moved in at the weekend and is showing no signs of leaving :D




There are some teeeeny tiiiiny fish in there too, not sure what they are yet, or if they will survive but fingers crossed for them. The snails are breeding like wildfire too



as are the damselflies, there were two pairs, plus one more male about today, ignore what they are doing and they are very pretty :D (although they didn't need to land on my arm and stay there lol)















I never thought a pond could provide so much relaxation and amusement! A little tip, if shooting in macro across a pond be aware of where the lens is in relation to the water- OOOOPS! lol!

This is last weeks ATF layout on the theme of bath time. Simba does SOOOO love his showers (and his blow dry with my hairdryer afterwards to stop him getting chilly!) A huge welcome to our two new DT members too who have a fabulous talent for scrapbooking pet pages :D
The little clear rings- no idea what they are but I think Angela gave them to me in one of her fab Granma's pickled inspiration jars (thank you) I filled them with glossy accents to make it look waterlike, also used GA on the letters, and added dots of it on the borders (hard to see in pic) ***GRRR have edited this post 4 times now, and blogger keeps chopping part of the layout off- so you will have to imagine it instead heehee***



Oh and last bit of news (for anyone that cares lol) I am hitting the books again, I am starting my nail technician training very soon! Amazing how a lousy (and expensive- £18 for basic mani, I asked for french polish too and she didn't have any white, I mean come on!) manicure can spur you on!

here comes the bride dadadadaaaaaaa!

and all that stuff!
It has been super hectic here! House guests, both human and animal (current guest is Sparkle the super huge african land snail), christening, wedding, all associated appointments (mani/pedi etc) gift buying, birthdays and so on!
SO Sunday was THE day- christening first then on to the wedding.

Christening pics...

Laughter caused by Amelia SPLASHING with both hands in the font as she was being baptised (thankfully Rev Tim is so laid back, as long as the kids are safe they can wander around the church during the service etc) LOL! It was too funny!



Just look at her- she is such a little imp!



Parents, godparents and the most beautiful girlies (they really did look so so pretty)



So, christenings done, off to the wedding!



Always a cute kid to oblige with photos!












Confetti in the cleavage Chris?


Awww Groom blubbing! (sorry Rodg!)


Me and middle bridesmaid Caitlin, she had a whole box of toys and stuff in her place, and bless her she was so so excited about every single item! More impressed than she was with her dinner which she 'didn't ask for' LOL bless her heart!



More waffle to come soon- gotta go out in 2 minutes and am sat here with wet hair!

hola!

Back again! I have my hospital appointment through (was really quick to arrive which impressed me as apparently GP's are renowned for sitting with referrals on their desks for weeks on end before sending them to the hospital).

So off for scans to see what kind of state my gallbladder is in, whether there are any stones or anything lurking in there, and then two weeks later I get the results and my GP makes the decision whether I am to be operated on or not! *eek*



Onwards and upwards...I was one of the testers for this lil gadget for design objectives...






I have looked at these in the range a few times, as I liked the idea of the teensy little strips that can be used a couple at a time, or in one big line. I have used their mounting tabs before which I loved. To be honest the price made the decision for me, however if refills were an option (at a reasonable price) I would have forked out the £4.99 for the actual runner.
So, I set myself a little challenge with this baby. As I was doing my ATF layout for this week, I thought I would see how much of the layout I could stick using just this product.
This is the layout...








So there is the usual photo, card and paper, and then a flower and chipboard to stick down too. The adhesive coped really well, and I liked the fact that it held well, but had a little bit of a 'give' to allow me to reposition the item fairly easily.
The only thing that this product didn't hold too well was the chipboard, I did find that it popped off slightly (particularly the circle) but I have left it as is and will check again to see if it has 'taken' a bit better as time has gone on. I also decided afterwards to use a foam pad under the chipboard heart, and it was easy to remove after sticking it down with the runner.
Loved the fact that you could use it in a curve, it was ridiculously easy to use, and love that you can use the tiny strips for smaller areas. I will be putting this through its paces I can assure you!

Onto the Q&A bit-
1. How often do you use adhesive? Every time I craft, so not a huge amount at the moment (whilst I have been poorly), but usually most days.
2. What is the main type of adhesive you use? Gosh- I have a massive collection of adhesive, but I guess the most used is herma runners (repo and permanent), followed by DST, pva, glossy/matt accents and foam pads depending on the task in hand.
3. What do you look for in an adhesive? Good stickability, price, ease of use, a product that is not wasteful.
4. How easy is the product to remove from its packaging? very easy
5. Does the product appeal to you - i.e. does it look good? It's ok, I don't really pay a lot of attention to the aesthetics of things provided they have a good design for usability and storage, which this did.
6. How easy is the product to use? Very very easy, it has a really comfortable, easy to use design.
7. How well does the product perform? Very well, apart from the chipboard which I will check on again once a bit of time has elapsed.
8. Do you like this product? Very much so!
9. Do you consider it good value for money? It is good value in terms of usability, but too expensive for a non-refillable dispenser.
10. Would you consider buying this product in the future? Yes I would.
11. What would make you more likely to buy this product in the future? If the price came down a substantial amount, or if refills were available for a good price.
12. What would make you less likely to buy this product in the future? If it stayed at this price I would certainly think twice about buying it.

I would rate this at 8 out of 10 only losing points on the price and being non-refillable.

Well- photos of this gorgeous wee munchkin! Check her out!

cocky madame, closing her eyes and pointing whilst walking!


scrummy chubby legs!




being a smarty pants and carrying 'doggy'


she got really into walking the entire length of the lounge and diner between me and Amy (just under 40 steps yay!), spinning round and off she would go again. Unfortunately, just after this last photo she was chortling away (my fault!) and fell backwards straight onto her head :( Hoping it hasn't put her off, I think she is getting Jasmine's share of bumps, as she was a cocky so and so when she started walking!

back soon

sorry for the absence but for those who don't already know my life has pretty much been looking like this for a while





yup I have been pretty darn ill! In so much pain I could barely stand, and generally just yuk.
Didn't help that I was misdiagnosed twice, once at the doctors, and once at the hospital :( So by the time I was correctly diagnosed (minus a fair thwack of the ole red stuff too) and they realised it was an infection it had really set in and I was in agony. I often think Amy was plonked in my life for a reason, and yet again my theory worked out. She arrived (flowers in hand) on a really awful day when I had been sobbing in pain all bloody day- she spoke to the nurse at my surgery when I couldn't talk through the tears, and got me seen again immediately, this time with the right diagnosis! Love that girly (thanks darling, you always get me fixed!)
So I am now feeling a lot better than I was *crosses fingers* but get so tired really easily, I must listen to my body more, and stop at the right time rather than pushing myself and being absolutely wiped out as a result.
Got a date for scans to be done at the hospital to confirm if it was my gallbladder that was infected, and then back to docs again to decide whether I am to be operated on. *lallalaaaalalaa* not thinking about that now!

Good news (Ali you listening?!) Amelia finally walked last Tuesday! she wobbled a couple of steps in the kitchen while I was making a cup of tea- she was heading for the pantry! After that she was up to 15 steps in no time at all!
Will try to get some pics of her tomorrow, managed to catch loads on camcorder too *yay*

I am slowly trying to tackle the tip that is my scrap studio too- everything is being hauled out and resorted, will get pics when I finally finish- it will be slow going (so I don't knacker myself again lol) but I will get there and finally conquer the organisational hell!

Love and hugs x

a lil freebie for you

I seem to be forever making stuff in photoshop but never get round to sharing it- so here is a lil freebie for you- they are A4 size and you can download in png or jpeg :) They are a bit of a mish mash of colours- 3 brights, and 3 slightly more neutral (and good for 'man stuff')


Usual 'rules'...Personal use only please UNLESS you have my permission, just drop me an email- I don't bite (honest!) A credit would be nice if you use them and upload projects to a gallery
If you use them- please link me up to pics just so I can be nosey lol!



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