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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pngs;
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Happy mothers day :) Hope all you mammies are well and truly spoilt :)

Had a gorgeous day friday- nearly 5 hours of pampering and slumping in the bar. Had an espa facial, arm/hand massage, neck shoulder chest top of back all massaged too as part of the facial, then apart from the gorgeous face part, the most wonderful head massage too. I have never ever been so relaxed, and yesterday I struggled a bit- I was pretty much good for nothing! I have real trouble relaxing, so it was very good for the body and soul. Plus who doesn't feel great about spending over £300 on pampering and not having to worry about the cost?! LOL! It really was heaven! And my skin is still glowing!

Grey and dreary here, lots to do so a quick post with another film poster...mwahaha!

what a bliddy night for those of us unfortunate enough to experience our 5.3 earthquake!

I was sat in bed on the lappy, and someone in a chatroom I was in posted that they had an earthquake- I read it, and then it hit. The cat fell out of bed, I leapt out of bed to go and calm Simba downstairs, knowing what a panic he would be in having experienced the last one in 2002 with him. The force almost knocked me over! Simba was way more freaked this time round, poor lil sausage had grazed both sides of his face, and as he came out of his cage he flew in a panic, hit the floor then flew back up to mama's shoulder where he stayed. Got him back in his cage after about 20 minutes soothing him, but he was so scared he would only hang from the top of the cage, so I had to make the decision to sleep on the sofa with him. I couldn't leave him on his own in that state love him.

Finally managed to settle him at around 3am. He is coping fine today on the lack of sleep- me, not so much!

Poor Jess had a bit of a week, another cat attacked her and resulted in most of one of her claws being ripped out of one of her back paws. She is a lot better now, after much limping and cleaning it up. It certainly seems less sore tonight. To top it all off I woke up on Sunday morning at 5am to find the very same cat in my bedroom having chased Jess in there. I was not impressed. The cat then tried to get out, but as the cat flap was set to 'in only' it smashed its way through instead. Proper smashed too, snapped all the fixings off the door so I now have a draft coming in where the cat flap was- trying to find another the same but it's not easy!

Got a new speedy laptop on Saturday, so am whizzing about now- 2gb of ram heaven!

Off on Friday for a girly afternoon of facials and spa treatments, then we are gonna go to the bar and bistro too- can't wait and my poor skin really needs it!

Discovered some great pics last night (thanks Rob!) there was a comp running to change a movie title by one letter...I roared at some of them til I cried heehee! So I thought I would leave some of my faves in my next few posts. Some are far too rude to post on here even though they are side-splittingly funny. Thanks beta!

howdy doodly!

Less than a month- whassup with that?!

Busy busy busy here. Went to the trade show at the weekend, was great to catch up with people, that's always the best bit. There were some gorgeous stands there, but nothing really jumped out at me :( Although I did reeeaaaaally like the Laura Ashley stamps! It was nice to see how many more stands there were, since I last went (3 years ago!) but it was smaller than last year apparently.

Had a nice lil surprise in the post on Friday. Got home from the stables to find a special delivery package on the side...no idea what that is...opened it up to find two little embossed boxes wrapped with lashings of ribbon....a little folder...and a letter- telling me that I had won a competition (from vicks)- cool beans! Thinking it would be a little prize, I was still really chuffed...as I read further I realised this was a biggy...£1000 to spend at hotel du vin- OH YES! So on Friday Amy and I are off for a facial and a slump in the bar and bistro- all gratis! ANNNNND with no kiddos! Much as I love 'em, sometimes a little child free treat is just the bees knees! ;)

Talking of the kiddos- how proud am I of this munchkin?! VERY! Jas has been really pushing forward with her riding- we had a great lesson out in the field the other week, she rode with a couple of oder children and adults, and did FAB. She was flying over the same height jumps that the adults were doing :DBut check this out- on Tuesday- her first triple jump ever! *beams* Hard to believe she is only seven.

Onto other things- this cushion is being privately auctioned on Kirsty's blog here to help raise money for Belle's trip to the US, with the hope of finding a diagnosis for her.

It is approx 8" square (ish), backed with black and white spot fabric, sewn on a vintage (early 1900's) singer machine, and a bit of hand sewing too. The front is felt embellished, with a little made with love charm and a little bit of swarovski bling...it comes as a complete cushion (no removable cover) and is finished with a bit of wonky stitching for that lovin' handmade feel ;)

ATF went up again on Tuesday, this weeks theme was exercise- Simba flies about to keep him fit, then we have plenty of lunatic acrobatics too- while he shouts 'reeaaddddy...steadddddddyyyyy GO!' If you would be interested in doing a guest design spot for us this year, leave me a link to some of your work, and your blog/email addy :) We are always on the lookout for inspirational pet stuff, lets face it, the blog was started due to a lack of inspiration and nice products for those of us who like to have albums of our critters.

Lastly a cute pic of my lil guy- playing on the windowsill in the sunshine :)

what a month!

seems this is turning into a monthly blog at the mo lol!


It's been a manic one!


Besides decorating and having a mare of a time with faulty stuff that has to go back (yes another broken bed lol and grrrrr), and being poorly (still not right) I have turned another year older this week. So now I am 28 and 12 months old. And next year I will be 28 and 24 months- I am not hitting that big milestone- nuh-uh. *shakes head*


Monday (day before my birthday) Mum took the day off work to take me out for lunch. fab food, fab time. On the way back there was a big crash, which we narrowly escaped. So I attended the wounded, gave my statement etc, and this morning have a massive book of questions from the solicitors to answer, and they would like me to stand as a witness should it go to court- ack- hate it. (but will of course do it)


Tuesday- gorgeous day with amy and my girlies, and the stables too :) Apart from my gorgeous gifts, I had some special gifts from my girlies- Amelia sneezed yogurt in my face and hair, I laughed so hard I cried, and then she was roaring cos I was laughing too lol! Jasmine- well- what can I say, she tried in vain to fart 'happy birthday' to me- dontcha just love 7 year old humour?! :D


Will leave you with the last two atf layouts :) Plus- I was very proud to have done 31 layouts, that is one for every day in january, as part of big picture scrapbooking LOAD class :)

mucky pets

your home from your pets view (no way was I climbing on curtain poles to take pics lol!) it is straight in real life- pants weather means using the scanner. and yes, simba is upside down in those pics (I didn't turn them round lol) he is hanging upside down off the door frame which he just loves to do lol!

a whole month!

since I blogged- but I am not gonna dwell too much- been ill for the last month, and just as I was getting over it BAM I got another flippin bug! Feeling a little better...getting there slowly!

ATF is back as of this evening. On the theme of resolutions. I can honestly say that Simba is being a real superstar at the moment, such a well behaved lil chap love him, so from both sides- NO resolutions!

credits:K Pertiet card and frame, miss mint word labels, staple and paper heart, R Penn paper, Lynn Ridge paisley paper

Bye bye

My nutty friend.
I will you so much- more than you will ever know.
You show 'em how it is done in the big crop up in the sky- goodness knows you always did everything in true 'Jan style'
Love you- god bless -x-

smells like christmas?

oh yes indeedy! Went to Swindon for the day yesterday with the aim of buying Christmas presents...well I bought lots of things for me but not a lot else! No pressies! I did indulge in a couple of eggnog lattes, Mum had gingerbread as per cacky pic taken on my phone, and in the first shop they over-indulged me and gave me an extra freebie- masses of whipped cream atop my already calorie laden giganticus latte! Oh yummers indeed!


Great day with Mum though, biggest bargain? Four bras in next for a whopping tenner (yes for all 4 of them!)








This pic is for Amy- yes this is your daughter on the shelves of Borders! I got a couple of weird looks when I took this pic- but if they had been brash enough to look closer they would see that the person taking the photo is the very same person in that little pic at the top of the page! Surely that is allowed!





Couple of random pics!






This is Lola- aint she gorgeous? She really is a beautiful pup- and I love her! She belongs to my God-daughters Willow and Caitlin, and the rest of the household.





Random pic of Amelia from last week, nowt like a chocolate coated baby! YUM!








My ATF layout for this week, theme was habits. Simba is truly defined by being a creature of habit. Everything involves some level of habit with him.
Used- bazzill, anna griffin papers (I am down to my last couple of inches of these papers, and I need more, they were a purchase many moons ago from a sale at hockles with Kirsty and Jen!) lots of misc brads, buttons and poundland velvet alphas :)
I am using my layouts to build a sort of portfolio of Simba, and the album is looking great so far, I love having a record of stuff like this :D

ATF are having a break now over Christmas, but will add some projects to keep you pet lovers going over the festive period, so keep checking the blog, or sub to bloglines.com to find out automatically when we have uploaded.
If anyone has any ideas for future themes we are working on the list for next year now, so let us know. I will also be scouting for guest designers soon, so link me up to your layouts, we like to use everyone, known, unknown, published, not published, on design teams or not, everyone is welcome :) We already have a couple of people lined up, but want more and more! So please, please show us your stuff!