BAM diddly POP!

Oh Oh Oh.....I've some exciting news to share!

A couple of weeks ago I summons up enough courage to post a LO into the gallery over on 2 Peas! Ive been a lurker over there for over a year and am totally blown away by the work which is produced by the 2 Peas girlies. The standard is so high and like many scrappers I know, I really do not have very much confidence in my own work at all. I was scared to share my work....dunno why really??? I was just scared to do so....how cwazy is that?

Anyways....I posted up the LO, which was inspired by the fab monthly BOM prompts that Roz and Kirtsy post on UKS.....Do you know me?)

I was mighty stunned to see how many comments were left after I posted up my LO on both UKS and 2 Peas.... a big Thanks to everyone who took the time to post comments...IMO people dont comment enough....take 5 mins out of everyday and go take a look at the work out there...dont just look...POST!Ive digressed...sorry...where was I? Oh yes!...
You have to believe me when I say my jaw hit the floor as I discovered that Jen Harrison, the designer of the BAM POP! papers I had used, had seen my LO and left a comment too!
I just adore Jen's work and have admired her from a far ever since I started scrappin.
Well theres more......a couple of days later an email landed in my inbox from none other than Jen herself! She wanted to know if my LO could be used on the new BAM POP! website!!!!! The website was being updated and due to go live in the near future.....
Today whilst battling against electrical failure, I managed to have a wee surf and there it is....the new BAM POP! website is live! Whooo hooo! My LO is there!

I just adore the papers and have used them lots for my own work....by my "own work" I mean LO's that are far to personal to be shared online....the really nitty gritty personal stuff thats meant only for my eyes....heck when Im dead and gone then anyone can see em, but not right now, cus they is my thoughts and feelings and are best kept hidden away.

So what have I done today?????

This arvo I wandered over to Pencil Lines to have a peep at this week challenge and as much as I love love love Elsies sketch I just couldnt get it to work for me.....so I created this LO instead using up the scraps of my BAM POP! stash.

The piccies were taken at Scrappers Paradise where I met up with some of my scrappin team mates from UKS.

Nothing else to report really....its been a bit of a "same old, same old" day....battling with the laundry pile, walking the dogs and trying to stick to my goal of scrappin something every day!

So what did you do today?

Tx

Symbol Dare

This weeks prompt from Emily Falconbridges 52 week challenge was to create a piece using a symbol you love.



I chose to doodle this symbol which was given to me by my friend Columbias mother. I was privelledged to meet with her during my last trip to the Kerkennah Islands. Our meeting was such a magical experience.
The family live in very hunble surroundings and cope on a daily basis without any of the modern convieniences we take for granted. Hubs and I were invited to join them for supper one evening. Columbia's father, Aban, is a fisherman, therefore the supper consisted of his catch of the day. We sat crossed leg on the floor of their courtyard eating the most amazing meal which his mother, Kamilah, had cooked over an open fire.
I'll admit that for a few moments I did feel uncomfortable when she started to stroke my hair and clothing but Columbia expalined that his mother had never met with a European woman before and was amazed by the colour of my blonde hair and blue eyes....
As our evening drew to a close, Kamilah gave me the most adorable silver pendant which was engraved in so much detail.

Columbia explained that the pendant would offer protection from all things evil and was often used by the local fishermen whilst out at sea. I have the pendant hanging in my kitchen and often take it down just to look at it. I remember with great fondness the evening we shared together.....despite the language barrier Kamilah and I have become and will remain great friends.

Have you seen the revamped Speshals blog?
WOWZERS! Its fab. Their are loads of new Speshal girlies on the team including my fellow UKS team mate Debbie...I just adore Debs work....she is way talented and such an inspiration to many....me included.

This weeks dare was to take something from the kitchen and scrap or alter it! I have a collection of assorted glass jars which have been stored on a shelf in my kitchen...all patiently waiting to be gotten at! I spent ages yesterday painting, sticking, cutting and I even got hubs to drill the glass jar for me! It was almost finished when guess what I did......I bloomin well dropped it! ARGHHHHHHH!
Oh well.....Ive got plenty more to attack!

Whilst rooting through the kitchen cupboards I found this Werthers tin!
Its perfect for storing my buttons in....so I have quicky altered it this morning whilst waiting for Parcel Force to turn up with a delivery!


The delivery has now arrived so Im off to brave the cold and take the pouches for a stroll on the beach!

Have fun and be happy.
Tx

Monday! Monday!

I crawled into my bed last night totally shattered after our weekend away. All snuggled up under the duvet I felt sleep begining to wash over me when all of a sudden there was an almighty scream...poor J is not well. He took up residence in our en-suite all night long. I hate it when the guys are ill. The poor wee mite is now sleeping it off whilst I catch up on the mountains of washing, emails etc etc.

I had packed oddles of stash to take with me to Tiggers, with the hope that I would get lots done.....we managed to chat a lot but wasnt very productive on the creative front!
My A-Z of Me journal is now covered and just needs to be embellished.
I started a LO but gave up on it because I had forgotten the essential item I need to carry on....I did however make a French Fries thingymebob from the Fairies with 'Tude blog.

As I was making it for Tigger I just had to use her fav colours of Orange and Black!
I embellished the cards inside so she could add photographs of her choice......I titled it "Families who play together stay together" because the Tigger family certainly do play.....their household is such a fun environment to be in and its evident by the continual smiles on their faces that they are all high on life.


The flower embellishment is made from flowers and the titling and small index tabs on each page were made using my Dymo.

Its not too long now til I fly over to Ireland again with my buddie Kathryn. We are heading off to Crafteire and Im sooooo excited to be meeting my buddies from Craft Supplies. I managed to book my classes last night....yipppety skips I got confirmation in my inbox today that I get the ones I wanted :)

Anways Im off to go collect the pouches from the kennels......have a stroll on the beach and then Im hoping to have time to craft a little this arvo before I start this weeks task of tidying my craft room!
Ive amassed so much stash over the past few months that I forget what I have got!

I'll be leaving you with a few more piccies of our weekend away....including a shot of Tigger, Eva and myself saying Ta-ra at Shannon airport. Eva drove up specially to wave me off....what a sweetie.


Can you imagine waking every morning to this stunning view....Tigger does everyday!

My buddie

My Hubby

and me!

The gals 'n me saying bye :(

FUN! Tiger Styley

Fun! Fun! Fun! Thats what we had this past few days. I cant begin to tell you how wonderful it has been to spend quality family time together in the company of the most amazing people.

From the second we passed the threshold of Casa Tigger the guys bonded. Its amazing how at ease they were with one another. United they stood for the whole weekend. There were a few teary moments when we had to wave bye bye and my guys are already planning the adventures they will have when they meet the lil' Tiggeroos again.

Friday was spent at Fota Wildlife Park. I could never tire of that place....how lucky the locals are to have it on their doorstep. It definatley ranks highly on my list of "must see again" places.....for me getting close up and petting the Roo's was awesome....the guys loved hand feeding the Squirrel Monkies. The Lemurs....well they just made us laugh laugh laugh.


Friday evening we sat around the dinner table exchanging tales whilst Granpappy Tigger plied me with real proper Irish Coffee, made with Irelands finest Jameson Whiskey which is produced locally to the Tigger household....yummy it is too.



Saturday was a chilled out day....filled with much merriment, a walk on the beach,

followed by even more hours of fun and laughter whilst the guys battled it out on the dart board (sorry Tigger for the extra holes!!...a tube of Pollyfilla is in the post!)The beautiful day ended with a huge Waltons style supper cooked by Eyore aka Daddy Tigger. Top marks go to Mr Tigger for keeping us well and truely fed and watered....my waist line has expanded so its weight watchers here I come!

A big thanks to my special friend for a fantastic weekend....you are the best.xx



Ive got so many photographs to share but blogger isnt being kind tonight.....I'll upload more tomorrow.

Im tired and need to catch up on some ZZZZZZ's .....
Laterz.
T.x.

Greetings from the Emerald Isle

Just a very quick hello to you all from the wonderfully beautiful Emerald Isle!
Our flight was fantastic...we arrived at Shannon airport to be greeted by the fabtastically bouncy Tigger and her wee man Issac.

Arrived back at base to be welocmed by the rest of the Tiggeroos and the guys all hit it off instantly.

So many piccies later we can barely belive that tomorrow morn we will be flying back home :(

I'll be uploading the 1001 piccie's tomorrow just so you can see just how beautiful this spot on the globe is.

Laterz hunniez.
T.x.

Ice Blue

Back in the summer I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop hosted by the amazing Emily Falconbridge....I have admired her work ever since the day I stumbled upon her gallery over on 2 Peas.
Emily has launched a 52 week challenge and I have finally made a start on my art journal using Emilys weekly prompts.

Week one = Something you are proud of....


I am so proud to be my guys Mom...Im proud of Bobs schooling and sports achievements and Im am sooo proud of my little sweetpea J. He has so much to contend with in his life and yet always manages to bring a smile to the faces of those around him. I am so very proud and privelledge that Hubs and I were selected to be their parents.

Week two = What is powerful to you?


Hubs and I sat talking about this last night....I said that I thought the most powerful thing in my life is to be always true to myself. Truth to me is the most important thing. Without truth there is no trust, no respect, no happiness....Hubs thought that for him to be able to teach was the most important thing...we have to teach our kids the right way in life...so for him the abilty to teach would be the most powerful thing...we sat really discussing this prompt and in the end Hubs decided that actually truth would be way more important than anything else because without it there would be nothing......we have to be true to ourselves and others around us before we can be...we have to teach our kids this or else where would they be?

Week Three = I am.....


I am Travelling Life's journey....I really believe this. I believe that my life is already mapped out and that I am here to be tried and tested. The challenges I have faced I think have made me a stronger and wiser person....lets hope I make it to a higher level in the next life.

Ive really enjoyed making these wee cards and will be safely storing them away over the next year in a wonderful little tin that Tigger bought me back from the States.

And talking of Tigger......only one more sleep til we hit the Emerald Isle! Bags are packed...I just need to pack some stash! I cant go all that way without taking at least one project to work on.

Today I wasted a whole three hours today sat in the hairdressers! I hate hate hate just sitting there having someone wrapping my hair up in a ton weight of Baco Foil whilst the junior attempts to make light converstaion....I really wanted to say SHUT UP WENCH.....Im not actually interested in your boyfriend Duanes MX5 or the fact you are heading of to Costa del Cack for your holidays....leave me in peace...I wanna read this months issue of Scrapbook Inspirations....I didnt say that thought....instead I sat there listening to the budgerigar twittering on and on and on and on and gritted my teeth - FIRMLY!
Gems (my usual hair stylist) is backpacking the globe til March.....come back Gems I need you!)

After enduring the torture in the salon chair, I treated myself to a new bead for my Troll bracelet..... its been icy cold today...Im going to see my buddie this weekend and well blue is one of my fav colour's....so I just had to have Ice Blue Bud.


Thats it for now.
If your still awake well done....cor Ive waffled a bit tonight...LOL!

Laterz hunniez

T.x.

Ive Confessed too!

I have to confess......
 

Have you seen the recent class Shimelle has posted on her blog? If not then go take a peep here.

This project is a so easy to put together and is a fab way to use up scraps of cardstock. I made my ickle book using the off cuts of Bazzill I have amassed since scrapping more in 11x8.

I wub the Making Memory Glitter alphas Shimelle used but didnt have any at hand! As I am on a self impossed stash diet I made my own glittery title using Tulip Crystals painted onto Cherry Arte Chipboard alphas....then gave em a thin coat of Gloosy A to add more shine. You cant see the glitter so well in the piccie but it deffo is there!

Here are the rest of my confessions.....






Life has been pretty hectic the past couple of days with me helping out a friend in need, so it was fab to sit down last night and make this ickle book.

The packing is almost finished....I cant believe it is only two more sleeps till we fly off to Ireland.....Oh Im so excited :)

Laterx.
T.x.

Weekends are for FUN

Im just loving my weekends now....I have so much time to spend with the guys and our relationship is sooo much better than when Mom was working all the time. Being really strict with myself and only working Mon-Fri 10 - 2 is so much better for everyone in the house!

Friday night kicked off with Hubs and I settling the house of boys we had off to sleep....sleepovers are such fun but the cupboards sure take a bashing!24 bags of crisps and 4 litres of Coke gone in the blink of an eye....and thats not mentioning the huge supper of M&S spicy platter and two bluberry pies they munched their way through!
Hubs bought home a DVD from one of the lads with strict instruction that the guys must not see it at all....errmmm no it wasnt of the blue variety LOL!


It has to be quite possibly the scariest film I have ever seen. Ive never watched a film before and been really really scared...my heart was pounding and at one point I felt physically sick. I guess it affected me so badly because its based upon a real story and I know people who have had lucky escapes when backpacking. Did you know 30,000 people a year go missing in OZ...90% are found safe and well within the first month...the other 10% are almost never found...well the film gave one explanation as to why so many back packers disappear. Most of the guys around here go off backpacking once the season ends and of course OZ, NZ and Bali are the fav locations just cus the surf is so good...Ive heard tales of people going missing, others have told us of their encounters with weird folk....I guess Hubs and I have been lucky when we have headed off the beaten track cus we have only ever met nice peeps.

My usual Saturday morning stroll on the beach was wonderful....such a bright blue sky.

I feel so healthy and invigorated when I have a stroll along the beach. Ive been walking from Putsborough to Woolacoombe and back every day.

It takes me a wee while cus Im hobbling along with this manky old leg of mine. I have to stop every now and then for a ickle rest but Im addicted to it now. I need my morning 5 mile walk or else I feel grouchy. All the walking combined with my new diet has worked and Ive lost 7lb this week :):)

7lb weightloss meant I could treat myself to a new Troll bead for my bracelet...off to town for Hubs and I:)I chose my bead and then Hubs bought me another, plus a few spacers from my friend who is a silversmith :)


I went off to the cinema on Saturday night to go see Rocky Bilboa....WOW! What a film. I dont really like the Rocky films but this one really got me going. I was bouncing around in my seat during the fight scene. I really wanted the old man to win. Slys got one hell of a fit bod for a man his age....shame about his face...he's starting to look a little too much like his mother!

And finally a piccie of the swap parcel I received this week from Weird Cat....thanks hun...love the canvas.


Sunday night is nearly here...booo hiss....weekends are just too short.

Laterz.
Txx

Blowing a Gale

Well its been very windy and wild down here in the West Country for the passs two days...so much so that we have been without power for most of that time....have you ever tried to scrap by candlelight?
We have a gennie but the bloomin sparkie needed changing so for one night we were in complete darkness apart from the flicker from the 1001 tealights I had dotted around the house.

I dared to take a trip down to the beach just to see the amazing waves...it was persitting down like have never know before so didnt take my camera with me.....the waves were awesome and how I wished I had taken the camera...I could have caught some piccies of the 8ft swells.

Its amazing what 24 hours can do....today it has been warm and the air so still. I ventured down to the beach and was amazed at the contrast between the roaring waves of yesterday to the gentle calmness of them today.

We were lucky and escaped any real damage....just a damaged fence panel....unlike our neighbours who have a new rooflight in their conservatory ceiling thanks to a fallen tree.





Ive got a LO in this months Scrapbook Inspirations....a smaller image of it is on the front cover too :)



Ive been busy working on a couple other projects for mag work which I cant share but Im really pleased with how they have turned out...not a scrap of PP in sight but very very vibrant with so much tecture that I just want to touchy feely them all day long!

Have fun....wrap up warm and dont forget your tissues....the weathers gonna get colder this coming week.....we want snow....lots of snow.

Laterzxx

Make mine a Guiness

The past couple of days have been a little yucky for me....Ive been feeling a little more tired than I should be and after promising to Hubs that I would go get a blood test done, I gave in and made the appointment...I knew what the results would be before I'd left the surgery and today it was confirmed....I am anemic....hey ho more pills to wash down with my OJ at brekkie!

Ive managed to make a start on three projects but only finished one.....grrrrrr its been busy here at the house as we have a problem with springs popping up in the garden, lane, and smack bang in the middle of the garage floor!Its like a bloomin swimming pool in there!
The local water authority are not responsible, the highways people dont want to know....the local council officer stood shaking his head when he came out to take a look at the gallons of fresh spring water washing over my newly laid garage floor....nope...its not up to them to sort it out....had I tried the water company????? Arghhhhh!!!!!
Managed finally to get it sorted and a rather nice gent from the County Council drove up from Exeter to take a peep and yes they will be re-directing the water as soon as possible....it better be soon or else Im gonna start bottling the stuff and selling it on!

Then "The Pash" started to play up again....so she is back at the garage and thats where she will stay....I dont trust her anymore :( As much as I love my ickle sports car....once something fails me I have to let it go....its a trust thing with me....something lets me down and I have to wave bye bye. So tomorrow I am off with Hubs to go test drive a Ford Ka Luxury...alloys, leather etc etc etc.

So what do you do when you start to feel blue....ermmm well I certainly didnt think I would be doing what I have done tonight!

My buddie Vickie gave me a quick call to see how I was doing...we got chatting, as you do, and she told me she had managed to book some cheapo flights via Mr Ryan Air....1p each way to Ireland....ummmm the cogs started whirring and off I trotted to go checkout the deals and yep I did it!

Initially we were going to fly to Dublin....stay over in a Travel Lodge and take in the sights and sounds of the fair city.
Whilst I was checking flight times Hubs was hunting down our passports...phew they are fine and have another 18 months to go till they need renewing! My buddie who just happens to live over the waters was on MSN....I gave her a quick nudge and now the plans have changed.....
We are flying to Shannon aeroporto and staying with her in the beautiful Youghall village....
Oh Im so bloomin excited....I cant wait to tell the guys.....they will be jumpin with joy when they know they are going to be spending a few days in the company of the most adorably funny lady that is Tigger!


At least its full of iron!

Laterz....

Txx

Content with life

The weekend has been one of fun, tinged with a little sadness but deffo lots of reflection.

Saturday.
I ventured down to Scraps in the City crop on Saturday and had the pleasure of being accompanied by Veronica....one of the lovelies who joins in the fun at Braunton Croppers. We headed of bright and early and were making excellent time until we left the M5...following the directions given by the infamous Bunny, we ended up travelling along the A30 back to Honiton???? Orienteering was never my strong point but even I knew we were heading the wrong way! A quick U turn was needed and we moved on back to the M5...ermmmm... welllllll.. somehow, being a total airhead, I managed to take a wrong turning and ended back on the M5 heading northbound!
We took in the delights of the Devonshire countryside as we trundled along....laughing about how totally hopeless we both were at finding our way...Im glad Im not the only one who gets lost!
Veronica rooted around in the back of the car and managed to find my rather battered old map book....we located the village and headed off in the right direction, finally arriving at our destination just an hour late!

The journey was so well worth it....we had an awesome day surrounded by truely wonderful peeps...it was great to meet up with old faces and catch up on their news...even lovelier to meet those from UKS whom Ive "chatted" with but never met in RL...the classes were fabby....the food delish and the company just couldnt have been beaten....
I scrapped one of the piccies I had taken with my fellow Jellie Babe team mates from UKS....


The day ended with me I managing a grand total of FOUR LO's and I sooo did not want to leave when I had to....the guys were all waiting for me to get home so that we could go off to partaaay the night away at the local ASD support groups annual get together.....I was a little later home than I thought I'd be and somehow managed to get my timings completly wrong for the party! By the time I got home it was far too late to make an entrance....so we decided to head off down to the pub for a quick couple instead.

The guys love hanging out in the pool room at the Village Inn....Jane the landlady always makes a huge fuss over the guys....she really does cluck over them and spoils them rotten with huge bowls of pud from the dessert menu!
One of our older farming friends called in to the pub....he and his wife were huge supports to Hubs and I when we were adopting Bobs...infact they were the first non-family members to meet him.
We hadnt seen each other for quite sometime but I couldnt help noticing that my dear, dear friend looked so very pale...I know its a busy time of the year for the community as the lambing season has just started, but he didnt just look pale he looked ill...Sadly when he removed his hat it was evident that this poor man really is not well...yep the dreaded "C" takes hold of another mans life...

We sat chatting by the roaring open fire...all snuggly and warm and in the glow of the firelight this wonderful strong man sat telling tales of the good old days...he spoke of the first time he clapped eyes on his wifey...how young and pretty she was...how he knew that very first time he saw her she would become his wife...the love he has for his soul mate just oozzzed from his body...he reduced me tears a couple of times when held my hand and told me to never give up on my dreams...to never loose hope...to always close my eyes to the bad and look only for the good....these are the things he has done during his happy 67 years of life...the things that have made him be so content with his lot in life.....this poor mans days are short and yet he didnt wallow in self pity....he was rejoicing his life...his love...his passion

Sunday

Both Hubs and I have spent the day today refecting on our life together..its been a quite day....almost as if we havent really needed to say anything to each other at all, because the simpliest touch, the gaze held for one second longer, the smile....they are all that are needed for us to know how very lucky we are to have one another.

We both needed a walk on the beach and although its been a blustery day it has been beautiful....I managed to get one piccie on the sands before my camera battery died....a refection of the clouds in the waters edge.....



I sat on a rock looking out too sea and felt so very content with my life.....


Love 'n light

xx

Do YOU Dare?

I had a go at last Fridays Cardmaking Dare and spotted a mid-week dare that immediatly inspired me...for once I knew exactly what I would use.
As much as it annoys Hubs I cant throw anything away! I save everything and anything just in case!
One of my lovely Christmas gifts was this Country Living basket
which contains all the goodies I needed to make my guys steaming hot mugs of yummy marshmallow topped drinking chocolate...shame I cant indulge..but hey ho...I adore the fabric which trims the basket....and better still the design was printed onto the cardboard packaging in which this wonderful gift arrived. I stashed it for a rainy day and boy did it rain yesterday!



2007 is the year I have decided to make a proper go of compiling my Book of Me. Whilst lurking on UKS I spied Roz's BOM prompt which was to create a layout using 4 PP's and the word you had to feature in the title...gold was also to be used but I dont do gold!

Hubs and I play these silly games where we sit and ask each other the craziest of questions about each other....9/10 we are always spot on with our choice of answer :)
I suppose after 18 years together we should know each other pretty well.
Inspired by our games I put this layout together using Bam Pop papers....which I love, love, love :)



Do YOU Know Me???

Mocha or Latte? = Latte
Duran or Culture? = Culture
Red or Blue? = Has to be the Blues for me...go boys go :)
Red or White? = You cant beat a bottle of Red
Dogs or Cats? = Deffo my hounds
Dirty Dancing or Grease? = Ummmmmm hard one...love both but I guess Grease
Lennon or McCartney? = Lennon without any doubt
Prada or Gucci? = Gucci please....specially the new fall sneakers
Summer or Winter? = Summer...I hate the cold!
Oasis or R.E.M? = R.E.M
Picasso or Monet? = Pablo Picasso always
Burns or Keats? = Keats
Mambo or Salsa? = Salsa
Hot or Cold ? = Hot...warmth, spice and passion

Off to Exeter crop tomorrow and so looking forward to spending the day with Fiona, Sarah, Terrie and the rest of the girlies from the South....cake to bake, stash to pack.....

Laterz all
Txx

Flop!

Nothing exciting has happened over the past couple of days....Im missing having my wee friend to play with...the guys are all back to school and Hubs back to work. Im home alone with the dogs for company!
I love the peace and quiet during the day....it means I can do what I like most....craft!

Ive been a busy bee this week and managed quite a few LO's for mag work, designed the next two crop classes and caught up with a few cards I needed to get ready for next month....we have 7 birthdays!

I leave you with photographs of a Lippy Chick Flop Book I made....these books are just so much fun to play with...I adore them.





Oh and a new pair of yummilicious shoes arrived from Rocket Dog.....how cute are they?



Laterz hunniez.xx