A Christmas Layout

My Christmas LO done and dusted already. Will be a mini book to follow at some point. Thank u Alix for the Merry Christmas which ended up here as my title.

Dare I say.....STASH DIET (aaarrggghhhhh)

OK I have done a very silly thing and signed up for the UKS stash diet. Here are my rules:

• I have a budget for non-essentials of only £5 per month, all other spends I must earn;
• I can buy essentials as and when I need them (not counted in budget) - these are: adhesives, mats for robo and sizzix, blades for trimmer and knife, printer inks, photo paper (am tempted to add 'anything by BG' but i'll be good...). Crops also excluded from budget;
• I will continue my sub to Scrapmagic but when it ends will either not have a sub or will look for one under £10 a month;
• I will only buy one papercrafting mag each month;
• I can earn extra stash money by doing LOs using stash I already have:--£2 per 12x12 LO-£1 for smaller LOs-£3 for a mini book - £2 for a CJ entry;
• I can earn £2 for every pound in weight I lose BUT can't have any of it until I have lost 5 pounds;
• Any money from selling unwanted stash goes back into the stash fund;
• I get a bonus £5 if I earn more than 150 points for my team in a single month;
• I will make lists of LOs I want to complete and only buy stash needed for these, not randomly buy nice stuff with no purpose in mind;
• I can only do one swap at a time. Postage for RAKs and PIFs is excluded from budget;
• I can have extra spends for the NEC of £50 BUT only if I stick to the diet between now and the show in March.

Mmmmmm, want to take bets on how long I manage to stick to this?

Such a very Merry Christmas!

Am back from Norfolk where we had a wonderful, fabulous Christmas holiday. Walks on the beach, and scrummy pub lunches. Christmas Day it took us three hours open our pressies! I got a new Lumix digicam as my main pressie but Gus really spoiled me with lots of other pressies including a beautiful Radley frame with pics of us and Leo in it, a Nightmare Before Xmas calendar, some little lights for the bath, HSM2 CD, and a divine little birdcage for my scraproom. I also got HSM2 and Hairspray DVD from Gus' parents, a Papermania storage case and shimmer chalks from Gramps and DKNY Be Delicious from my bro. Gus was pleased with his telescope and especially with his chilli hamper and Leo got lots of toys and yummy treats.

Also got a fabulous stuffed stocking from my secret santa on UKS, which was filled with wonderful goodies. Thank you santa. And from my wonderful advent santa I got Chip Chatter Gellies which I have been lusting after for ages and ages! Yay all around for Christmas.

Scrapliftin'

Quick post to show you my Nuts team scraplift of my talented teamie Lisa's work (she's been in SI don't you know). Not sure it is worthy of the very lovely original ('Emotions' shown below) but I am pleased with it :). Here is her gallery: http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=9678&thumb=1

Got some lovely crochet ribbon today from my not-very-secret advent Santa, also got a gorgeous Bazziil letter K yesterday which is perfect for my BOM welcome page which I am yet to do.

Xmas shopping tomorrow - am dreading it....bound to be manic....

Crop til u Drop challenge

Decided to do Alix's challenge today, instead of making cards which frankly was probably more important (but less interesting). So after filling up on a rather substantial Sunday lunch I set to work. The challenge was to scrap a wish - I scrapped several so I hope that's allowed... It's for my BOM. I used MM Boho Chic PP and my new Sizzix flowers die which I just love to bits!

Busy, busy day

Phew, didn't stop yesterday. Cropping with the folks at Upton (missed u Alix!) all day, then shopping for food, just time to eat and off to see Beauty & the Beast on ice.

It was the Christmas Crop and we had nibbles and mulled wine (note to the wise, keep Paula away from the mulled wine at all costs!!!), and Secret Santa. My santa got me Color Me Silly and a fun minibook which of course resulted in a big grin as I love BG and don't have any papers from that collection.

Also managed two LOs, partly because I used sketches and scraplifts but hey, if it works! sorry the pics are really poor.....

Advent Santa update: 7th - Souffle Pen; 8th - Liquorice Alsorts (mmmm, my fav sweeties); today the most gorgeous lush Mickey stickers I haven't seen before, fab vintagy ones :). Thanks Alix :D.

(ETA: think I will make a Mickey thru the Yrs minibook with my stickers - starting at 1986 (first visit) and with spaces for future visits :) :) :).

Advent days 5&6

Thank u Alix for more yummy stash :)

Fa lalalala la la la laaaaa

Advent pressies are v cool :). Below are my first and third ones for you to see, and a pic of my bauble just for you Alix. Today I got a Sunrise bubble bar - smells edible, and is one i've not had before. Is, appropriately, rather lush :). Am saving the mini book to take on hols as a little portable project, am in the process of getting some black and white pics ready for it.

Am feeling like poo today but Leo is thwarting all my efforts at getting some sleep. Bloody dog.

December=Christmas

Don't allow myself to get Christmassy until December, but is now December - woo hoo!!!

Got a ickle tree today (soooooo cute) and a Nightmare Before Xmas bauble for it on Saturday :).

Today I made my Doodlebug house, which you can see below. Am rather pleased with it. Also finished a LO today as the PP I needed was delivered.

And can of course now open my advent santa parcel (which Gus had to hide cos I am a prodder...) - so far the cutest little minibook and some doggie paper which am itching to use already.

Not blogged for a very long time, but not sure where the days have gone. Is the crop again Sat - surely not?!!

Cropping

Spent today at Rosie's Upton crop. Had a lovely day - hello Paula, Ruth, Alix, Rosie et all, lovely to see you today :).
I made two LO's, the doggie one for this week's 'A True Friend' blog challenge, which was to scrap those pics you would normally chuck away. My theme is all the pics of Leo where he refuses to look at the camera (which frankly is most of them!). Used my new Sizzix die to make the curly brackets.

Pooped!

Been to the NEC Hobbycrafts today from 9.30am to 4.30pm! My feet hurt and I am pooped but I had a fun day with Jo and family. Got lots of new stash, although less scrapbooking choice than I would have liked and no good subs offers on SI or SBM :(. Also got some secret santa pressies but can't show you them else I would have to kill you ;).

Fireworks Fun!

On Sat we went to the fireworks display at the Three Counties Showground. Bonfire was impressive and very hot, Angus bought some sparklers to play with and we had a fun evening! Here are some pics I have yet to get around to scrapping.

Am off to the NEC Friday so expect pics of my stash haul later in the week :P

Finally some scrapping time!

'Cos poor old Gus was stuck on a train for nearly 5 hours...

But every cloud - here is the result of my unexpected free time. Done for A True Friend where I haven't played for a while but keep meaning to.

Pumpkins and Pals!

Not blogged for ages, lots and lots going on that I haven't felt like sharing. But am back!

Last night we had a wee Halloween celebration with Alix and Dave. We had 4 pumpkins!!! I cooked french onion soup with bat croutons, squash risotto, and pecan pie. Then we watched Nightmare Before Christmas - haven't seen that for ages and had forgotten just how fab it is. Had such a fun evening was sad for it to end.

Here is a pumpkin picture:

A very quick update

Phew, there is such a lot going on at the moment. Not sure if I am coming or going. Barely getting a chance to look at my emails, never mind UKS and my blog...

New job is going quite well, jury still out but I don't dislike it so we will see how things go. Seems to be a wee bit hectic, some peeps need to chill them beans methinks. Surprised how little it is getting to me - gosh I have changed such a lot in the last year! Still not plucked up the courage to talk to many people yet.....

Tonight's first crop was a great success, I had such fun, AND completed a CJ LO. What a lovely bunch of peeps you are my cropping friends. I shall look forward to more evenings of chat and tea drinking.

And finally, I won a prize for my LO on 'A True Friend' pet scrapping blog. Am sooooo chuffed and rather surprised (there were some nice LOs in the competition).

Life is good!

Yet more scrapping

Actually not done much today, but decided belatedly to enter a competition to be 'DoCrafts Crafter of the Year' (Scrapbooking category, obviously). Perhaps I am driven by my recent success in being published - certainly a confidence boost. Anyway, you have to use DoCrafts bits and bobs so I was stuck with what (limited) stash was available at the local craft shop.

I was suddenly struck with an idea and came up with this. I used - wait for it - peel offs! I really despise peel offs but think these look pretty cool. For once I am really pleased with it, and think I have used the products quite imaginatively.

You can vote for me if you like at http://www.docrafts.co.uk/ :).

A feast of Bazzill (and other things...)

Am finding the HS:MS prompts very hard at the moment, so today I have totally cheated and have killed 2 birds as the saying goes.

So here is a pic of my smashing Bazzill Mono kit from ScrapMagic. It is a feast of sorts - just not of the edible kind! Am absolutely chuffed with the contents and value. Very pleased I subbed.

Only 1 more day of work to go (hurrah!), and Gus has got Prosecco to celebrate tomorrow night - isn't he a sweetie? Am a bit scared about starting my new job on Monday though...

Love is in the air...

Wedding Fayre was a bit packed out but we did get some useful bumf and I found someone who might be able to make a dress for me at a very reasonable price. Most of the dresses there were meringue-i-fied; so not me. Also picked up a planner which is scary (HOW much is there to do????).

Of course we spent most of the time talking weddings (poor Gus and Dave) - mine and Alix's weddings will be chalk and cheese but both beautiful :). On the theme of love, I just love Dave and Alix, they are such a perfect couple.

The hotel where the thing was held was very nice (converted glove factory apparently) giving us another possible reception venue to consider.

And if there wasn't already enough love in this room, I also did this LO for the True Friend pet scrapping blog challenge, about our fur baby Leo.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee

Show off Sunday

Hewooo peeps,

Up bright and early today, off to a wedding fayre in Worcester with Alix and Dave (well, technically with Alix as Dave and Gus as slinking off to the pub). Hope to find lots of ideas to steal. Some good news too yesterday, Kirsty is able to do my wedding photos, so am chuffed about that. We are fairly sure the venue will be the Cricket Club but just mulling over the pros and cons before we commit.

That's quite enough rambling - here is my SOS photo. I took this on hols in Scotland. Know nothing about photography really, so don't know if it is any good but I was pleased with it :).

SPS

Mmmmm, I really don't like SPS - who wants to see my ugly mug every week??? Anyway, today you are treated to a picture of my shoes. I love these shoes, but they are getting on a bit now. They saw me through many miles of walking in the USA in 2005 and they are sooooo comfy. Sadly I think they are destined for the bin quite soon...

We went to Witley Court today. This stately home burned down in the 1930s and it is a glorious ruin. English Heritage have restored this awesome fountain which fires on the hour. It is a wonderfully atmospheric place and I love going there.

Finally, that old mojo is still here! Done yet another LO today, based (very loosely) on a sketch I cut out of SI mag.