Awesome Blog Candy!!!!!!

There is blog candy being offered over on Karen's blog! Pop on over to her blog and have a look and see what to do for your chance at winning! Karen you are so generous and such a Gem!

I would like to thank my friend Lea for giving me this award. I would most certainly pass this back to Lea. Thank you :)

The award comes with the following sentiment:-This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.I would like to pass this to:

Sarah C

Debs

Wendy

Amanda

Sian

Juliet

Karen

Mellie

Its been awhile....

Wow seems like forever since I have been here and thats not good! Work is keeping me so so busy these days and I seem to just not have any me time anymore to spend crafting. :( Here are a couple layouts I have done in the past couple weeks and very soon I will be photographing my Christmas cards I have made and adding the pics here so you all can see that I have not been sitting idle on my days off.

"Upside Down" was done for a UKS weekly challange and for me to use pink is so not me but I do like the way this turned out. The photo was taken in Spain by my dh while he was there working this past September.

"Mon Fils" was also done for a weekly uks challange where we had to use french for a title which mine means.."My Sons"

"Sunset" was done for a member sketch challange 3C's. TFL :)

Craft stamper blog candy

One of my favourite crafting magazines "Craft stamper" is giving away blog candy here pop on over and have a look if you'd like! :)

Blog Candy

Juliet has some blog candy up for grabs..please hop on over there and have a look..and also browse through her gorgeous creations while you are there! Alot of inspiration lives there! :)

Have spent some time crafting :)

Hello all once again...my MOJO has returned and I have taken full advantage of it by doing a few Layouts. I have decided its time I got seriously busy on scrapping the hundreds of photo's of my sons from birth upwards since they are now all in their 20's and do I dare even say one is 31!!! Ouch..I feel old sometimes! I hope you like what you see and please do leave comments :)

A little explanation of the Layouts ..Beachy Head...not much to explain..I love the sea and seaside and with that goes light houses...I love this photo of the lighthouse at Beachy Head the red and white against the white and black wall just to me is amazing. Then we have my eldest son Ryan (now 31) dressed as a cowboy to have his photo taken, he loved it! and that leads us to my second eldest Dan (now 24) catching sunbeams as the title states....and was very serious about it may I add until he caught us watching him and gave us one of his gorgeous smiles! Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. xx

Last Walk with Grandpa

This is a LO I did for a weekly challange over on uks. We were to use a sketch provided, use an outside photograph, use autumn colours, and use 10 of something..I have done all of the above. This lo was harder for me to do then I thought it would be, alot of emotion came flooding back to me while scrapping this. The photo is of my 4 sons, my Nephew and my 2 great nephews carrying my father, their Grandfather to his final resting place. TFL

Guardian Angel

I took this photo while in Swansea at one of the cemetaries. I couldn't help but do a LO with it.

A couple more LO's I have done.

I have been doing a bit of crafting....here are a couple LO's I have done over the past few days...also have a third but will show that one on my blog later.

The Queen's Cat's I did for a UKS weekly challange which was to: use a royal theme, use yellow, use circles, use some shine and use something new...these Lion heads I spoted on Windsor castle and couldn't resist snapping their photo!

The second is a LO for Carmens sketch challange on 3 C's..its of our godson on boxing day 2007 trying to catch the bubbles! tfl! :)

blog candy?

Karen from Charmed cards and crafts has blog candy up for grabs on her blog...run on over and have a look!

Also Juliet has some blog candy up for grabs.....hop on over there and have a go! :)

I have been given an award from Deb what a sweetheart she is to think of me :)

And I have also been given this award Lea ...thank you so much, it means alot to me to know you like my blog and enjoy coming to look at things I have done. xx

The rules of the Award are as follows...

1.) The winner can put the logo on their blog.

2.) Link the person you received your award from.

3.) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4.) Put links of those blogs on yours.

5.) Leave a message on the blogs of the ones you have nominated.

I shall update this later with those I chose to nominate....soooooo watch this space. :)

All for 1

This is a LO I did for a challange using a round sketch and we had to use 5 of something and the photo had to be one of an acheivement or celebration....so here is what I came up with...I honestly didn't think I would enjoy doing a round LO but I really love this one..perhaps its because its of one of my son's (the short one on the left end of the photo). Thank you for looking. Love and light to all.

A couple LO's I have done, Long Jump is of my son Dan when he was in grade school on a sports day...participating in the Long jump! The other lo is of my brother, and was one of the last photo's taken of him before he died in a car accident while on a weekend pass from the army.

Hey everyone....Deb has blog candy up for grabs so get on over there and join in for your chance to win!

Christopher

I have done a couple more Layouts...the one entitle Low Tide was for this weeks Team challange on UKS. The photo is of my husband last weekend looking out at the River Orwell.

The second LO is of my second youngest son Christopher when he was about 18 months old. He is now 21 yrs old. :)

I've been Gold carded!

Thank you so much to Juliet and also to Sarah for this award--you've both really made my day!

The rules are:

1. Only 5 people allowed.

2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog

3. one has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world

.4. you must link back to whoever gave you the award.Quite simple really it is a way of saying thankyou to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

I'm giving this to:

Lea

Sian

Mellie

Karen

and last but definetely not least Sarah as she said..because I can!

ok...this first one is of my Mum and Alan walking outside of Windsor Castle...my mother is shrinking and Alan looked sooooooo much taller then his 6'2" next to her!
How could I resist scrapping this photo?? This is of my youngest when he was only 2 1/2 months old smiling at his brother whose head you can barely see in the photo!
This was for a challange on UKS of to use a cd cover to scraplift..I used Gorillaz, we also had to use material and it had to be a holiday theme. What better one then my favourite holiday to Spain??

This is a photo of my Mother at I believe around 17..it was her graduation from high school photo. I have always loved this photo.

This lo was done as a challange I set over on the charmed forum my challange was to do a lo using foam on it, ribbon and visible journaling...and yep I did all of the above!

I have been lucky enough to have my friend Sarah come to spend a night with me this past week. She was nice enough to pick me up from work and after popping back out for some nibbles and wine we went back to my house and had dinner then began our evening of crafting, chatting and laughing, we crafted well into the night and then again Friday afternoon. It was so nice having someone to craft with! Well please leave comments if you feel so inclined..I would love it if you did. :) Love and light to all who cast their eyes here. xx

Hello all...There's blog candy up for graps over on Susies blog celebrating 15,000 hits! pop over and have a look! Love and light to all.

I've been tagged by Sarah C and I have taken up her tag so here goes....


WHAT WAS HAPPENING !) YEARS AGO? I was working doing private care in the USA, being a mum to my 4 sons and at the time still married to my ex husband.

NAME 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY: 1)Take a bath and wash my hair. 2)Work on the work rota's for my job. 3)Try to pick out papers for a LO I am trying to do. 4) Get ready and walk to work.
5) Give my hubby a big kiss when he picks me up from work at 9pm!

SNACKS I ENJOY: My most favourite snack is popcorn. I am not a huge snacker but when I do feel like a snack I prefer savoury to sweet.

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE: I would pay off my bills, help my sons financially if they needed me to, buy a cottage by the seaside or run a B&B by the seaside.

PLACES I HAVE LIVED: Kalamazoo and Midland Michigan, Las Vegas Nevada, Upland Ca., Dekalb Illinois, Llandrydladd Anglesey Wales, Hadleigh Suffolk, and now in Ipswich.

Here are the friends I have decided to tag, please ignore it if you don't wish to do it, and please have fun if you wish to participate. :)

Wendy Amanda Sian Juliet Lou

Yes I have managed to get another LO done, I am using it for my Elsie Flannigan challange number....24 I think lol, I am reallllly far behind on there. Anyways it was to Design with White cardstock...and here is what I came up with. This is of my eldest son when we were living in Upland, California playing on the Slip-n-slide! :) Love and light to all who happen upon my creations. xx

Another LO I have done and half of it is for the June House challange on uks...I couldn't resist scrapping these photo's and couldn't pick just a couple favouites so I have done a double lo. These are photo's of my hubby and my youngest son actually working as a team to get the tent up for my son to sleep in while visiting relatives in Wales a couple summers ago.

I have had a visitor at my house this week....my mate Sarah C has been to stay for a few days..we celebrated her birthday on Monday with chinese food and a couple bottles of white wine. We went shopping monday afternoon before the meal to work up an appetite! We spent a fair amount of time crafting and here are a couple LO's I have managed to get done...plus I did a CJ lo but haven't photographed that yet. Thank you for having a look!

The "Attitude" lo is of my son Chris (next to youngest) showing off his split chin...with a bit of a look added in...I couldn't resist scrapping it!

"My party dress is the weekly challange on UKS where we were asked to 1. Scrap a childhood photo of yourself. 2. Use something pink. 3.Use something metal 4. Use something recycled and 5. use stripes. I have managed to do all...photo of me as a child, pink paper, metal flowers on the corners of my photo, the flowers are punched out of a pepsi can, and I have added an acetate overlay which has stripes on it.

Love and light to all who read this. xx

Bank Holiday Monday 26th May 2008

Here is a LO of a photo my dh took of me and the cat gazing out at the rain and both wishing it would stop I am sure!

Another LO I did today is with a photo I took of Eton Chapel from the grounds of Windsor Castle, I really loved the effect I got of of it through the Trees.

Here are a few Lo's I have done today.. "Peaceful Solitude" was done for this weeks weekly challange over on UKS...The challange was: Peace theme (with a bird embellishment of some description),2 or more photo's, mostly white, no patterened paper, metal embellishment/s,and to use the sketch they provided. here is what I came up with

Sorry its been so long since I posted...alot has been happening over the past couple months and I am finally feeling like I can breathe a bit now at long last and I am crafting again..yayyyyy. Here are a couple things I have for a challange Sarah C has posted on Charmed forum. To make 2 items.....and we were allowed to us photo's of people or pets, no pink, no bling and no glitter. The first challange was a LO following these guidelines, which as you see I have done, and the second is making a wall hanging, so I have done this also and there were extra points if we used acrylic paints so I have stamped with white acrylic paints..my toys photos are of my xryon machine, my Big Shot die cut machine and my CropodileII Big Bite. Thank you for having a look and please feel free to leave a comment I love them!

I've been tagged...

Sarah C has tagged me with these questions...

1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? And why?
2. You are spending a whole month on a desert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?
3. What are your three favourite crafting products?
4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?
5. What are the last three books that you read?
6. Qvc or create & Craft?
7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?
8. What is your claim to fame?

My answers are:
1. I think I would like Goldie Hawn because I have always admired her and she has a very positive outlook on life and shares the same attitudes about the aging process as I do.

2. Goldie Hawn would be the first celebrity because I think it would be awesome to share some laughs but yet also be able to talk about serious stuff. Least favourite...Arnold S. (cannot spell it!) I figure by the time Goldie and I have stayed up talking for a couple weeks I would need somewhere comfortable to rest and with his muscles he could build me a nice shelter and make me a comfy bed to lie on to sleep!

3. 12x12 patterned paper, Big shot, Crop a dile but as Sarah has said...my favourites change with my moods but these 3 are my favourites most of the time.

4. Since having my mum to visit for the month and talking with her about just about everything and dining out with her I think I would invent a booster seat for the elderly to use when diningout...well actually it could be for any adult but so often the elderly shrink in size the older they get and as my mum has said sometimes she feels as if she has the table at her chin and its really not very comfortable! Sooo this is what I would invent and to be honest and seriously thnking about it!
5.Thats a hard one..as I usually have more then one book on the go at a time..."The Queens Fool" by Phillipa Gregory "White" by Rosie Thomas and "Vows" by LaVyrle Spencer this last title is the type I book I don't read very often but needed a light hearted book after the last two so picked it up at the charity shop after it caught my eye.
6.Either...I like watching them for different ideas but I must admit I probably watch qvc more then I do Create and Craft
7.Don't really have a favourite
8.My claim to fame..not exactly sure what that means...but throughout my life I have written poetry and my last year of high school I wrote a poem for the graduation ceremonies and it was published in the newspaper.

I'm passing this on to:
Wendy Sian Amanda Nicola

ok...I have chosen only 4 of the 5....I think most others on my list of favourites have been picked by others and sometimes twice! Sooo since its ok to be chosen twice...I chose Sarah C .

Please don't be offended if you're not on this list. I've not tagged you all as maybe one of these people tag you instead.

My heart is hurting

Today has been one of the hardest days I have been through. Charlie (my baby) is on a plane back to the states to live with his dad...I say baby..he is almost 20 but he's my baby, this photo was taken minutes before he walked through security at the airport, wow what a rush of feelings that was...but I held back the tears...then my mobile phone rang "mum...I am bored and there's no place to sit and they haven't posted the gate yet....we chatted a bit and then we hung up..both knowing we would speak in a short time again...ok....a few more times....the last call was "Hi again.....I am on the plane....oh, I said...(felt like I had hit a brick wall) I said "will you call again before you take off??????? ......he said....no probably not...omg...this is really it....my baby is about to fly.....slam....the tears wouldn't stop!! Charlie, I and his step dad have had a rough couple of years....and I have shed buckets of tears...but after being a mum with kids in the house for 30 years..and knowing they are ALL grown and flew the nest...DAMNNN its hard to accept this....its gonna feel so strange not being the one he depends on anymore...not being the one he gets an attitude with, but then I am looking forward to having an adult relationship with him as I have with the rest of my son's and I hope once again I am forgiven any mistakes in parenting I have made...I guess time will tell. I did my best..thats all I could do...and the love I have for my sons is endless and very precious! My son's are a great bunch of guys! ok....I have added a photo of the rest of my son's too...a family photo! Love and light to all who read this. :)

Mum has arrived

Hello everyone! Well my mum is here and settling in for her month long stay, the time already is going by fast and there's so much I wanna show her in between working, packing for our move, and moving...ahhhh but we will get there! Here are a couple first moment photo's that Alan took of mum and I at the airport when she first arrived. We are hoping the weather gets better as it would be nice to show her some of England in the warmth of spring! Love and Light to all who read my mindmumbles.

Its been a busy time

Hello to all who happens into my mindmumbles...it has been a very busy month for me. I started my new job and ended my old. The lovely ladies at my old job threw me a going away do and bought me £30.00 of craft shop vouchers and two angel statues for my garden..or wherever else I choose to put them...but they are so precious! The craft vouchers are awaiting the arrival of the Crop o dile Big Bite. Unless I find something sooner I want. lol Another item keeping us busy...Alan and I have been busily phoning and going to see rental properties, well last week we heard of one and after I got done working we decided to take a drive by it just to see where it was exactly...well I was hooked from the first look, I couldn't set up a viewing fast enough, we knew from that first outside look that we wanted it. Well the day as come and gone and we have our viewing of it, we will hopefully be moving in before the end of April! We are just awaiting approval from the property owner. So its biting nails time until we get the call. :/ Last but surely NOT least, my Mother is arriving on Thursday to spend the month with us, its her first visit to the UK and also assures she will not be alone on the 1st anniversary of my fathers death. I am looking forward to her visit as she and I have not had the opportunity to spend quality time together as adults since my sons were babies! Love and Light to all who take the time to read my mindmumbles. I appreciate all of you and your lovely comments..they mean alot to me.

On a Roll

My mojo is back in full swing with a little prompting! I scraplifted a sketch from: http://www.mojoholder.typepad.com/ the March 14th sketch. This is of myself with my first and only (so far) Grandson, he was only a couple weeks old in the photo but is now 6 years old....so to say the least its an oldish photo! But one I really like. :) Love and Light to all who read this.

OK....as promised here is the card I made for my son for his Birthday...I couldn't put it up here before he recieved it because he cleverly found my blog on the WWW! This was for his 21st birthday..hence the 21 and the bottle of his favourite tipple "jagermeister".

Another LO I have done..this is my mum when she was a toddler..how old, I am not sure but she sure was cute! I have done this for the UKS March week 4 challange, since I have the day off today I decided to get it done early in the week!

Our George

This is a layout of "Our George" This was for the UKS weekly team challange. George is usually not easy to photograph and its a rare occasion that she ever looks at the camera so getting these "almost" looking at the camera was very lucky! Love and light to all you read this.

xx

I've been a little crafty!

Here are a couple LO's I have done in the past week. The first one is of an old school friend of mine who contacted me a couple years ago after losing touch after High school, she has horses now and always dreamed of riding by the seaside...well last year her dream came too when she and 2 friends loaded the horses in horse boxes and went off to the seaside to ride. She sent me photo's and when asked gave me permission to scrap them. This was done for the weekly challange on UKS. The second one is a LO I did and is of myself and my siblings on Easter Day 1964. I am the smallest of the bunch! Thanks for having a look!

For the past couple days I have had a very special person visiting with my family,her name is Sarah and what laughs we shared and some great crafting times! I am already looking forward to her visiting again! Didn't matter the wind was blowing and the weather cold we stayed in and created.

My son did manage to snap a couple photo's of us winding down yesterday before Sarah had to head for home. So hence the photo above! She and I met through the Charmed forum and our friendship has blossomed from there. I have been busy making cards and doing layouts inbetween working, I have recently felt close to a crash and burn physically so have decided I need to slow down a bit and take time to breathe.

On the job front...today is my last shift at the residential home I work at presently as a carer, I have been there for 4 years(and doing care for a total of 13 years) and will miss the residents greatly, and my colleagues as well but my new job opens doors to so many more opportunities for me personally, I will be working as a Team Leader and my new job which is alot more responsibity and a bit less physical strain on the body so this is a plus all the way around. I will be doing my NVQ3 in Care which is something I have been wanting to do for a long while. I am looking forward to the new challanges ahead of me. I will update my progress of how things are going here as well as continue to add my creations here! Love and light to all who read this.

What have I been doing??

I have had a busy couple weeks and ended up with a major headache by this past friday..crash and burn so to speak...whhhhhhhhoa slow down me! <<<>

Friday even found me making a photo frame for Lizzies challange on charmed and I have uploaded it into the gallery there. I am not 100% pleased with it but its a first try at making one and doing spirelli so I am pleased with myself for doing it. Also friday eve I did a LO for the weekly challange on UKS ..which is the photo above all this typed data. lol The requirements for the challange were ...use a sketch (which was shown), use recycled scraps, use green, and the lo must be nature inspired.

OK...on with my yesterday...my dh and I redid the whole craft room, and I had a major clear out...my Mum is coming to stay the month of April with me from the states so I needed to make a place for her to sleep and relax and call her own area...so she is sharing my craftroom, we bought her a single bed, and have dressed it up for her so she should be comfy cosy in it! So today...Sunday the 9th I shall relax and yes...I plan on crafting!

A couple LO's!

Here are a couple more LO's I have done...the first is a uk challange to use a water theme, use purple, use ribbon, and use metal, and also use 29 or 2+9 of something..which I have done all of the above. The photo was taken last year in Dorset near Anvil Point Lighthouse...as we were walking this is a view I came upon and it was just breathtaking! So of course I had to snap the pic!

The second lo is for the Elsie Flannigan scrapbook challange...it was to write on a photo, so I decided to do the whole lo with handwriting and doodling instead of using embellishments.

I've been given an award!

Thank you so much Sarah, you are so sweet giving me this award and like you I don't know what I have done to deserve it but I do appreciate it ALOT! I love visiting your blog between our phone natters and seeing what new things you have been working on.

Ladies if you already have this award don't worry about passing it on, just display it proudly. I would love to give it to all your comment on my blog because it makes me feel so good that others are liking my creations...but I can only give it to 5 so here goes...

Wendy

Amanda
Mellie

Lea
Sian

Here's what you have to do:
1)Acknowledge a post with Links to 5 blogs you find of interest that inspire you.
2) Acknowledge the post of the award giver
3)Display the logo "You make my day"
4) Tell the award winners they have won by commenting on their blog with the news.

Its 6 Years!

Well today my best friend and soulmate and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! As we opened each others cards this morning we realized we had both written the same thing in each others, just goes to show how much alike we feel and think. He is the best husband a woman could ever hope for, and he is my very best friend, lover, soul mate and my husband..I am so lucky to have him in my life. I still wake every morning to kisses on my shoulder, and end my day with a kiss upon my lips. We would have gone out to dinner tonight to celebrate but I had to work so we are going tomorrow night instead. He bought US a 3 set of CD's of Love songs of the 80's....after I opened it he said to me...read the first few song titles...and as I did he said when he picked up the cd and read the first few songs he thought...this will prove to her how much I love her...so he bought the set....bet you just said awwwwwwwe huh? yeah I did too and I do know how much he loves me but sometimes I ask myself "Why does he love me so much??" I adore my husband, I love him more then words could ever express, he has made me realize I am worthy of being loved. So...as this anniversary passes...I look forward to the next...and tomorrow evening..we will wine and dine and celebrate our love for one another.
Love and light to all who read this.

Here I am again with a couple more lo's I have done..both for challanges with uks..one for the weekly challange and the other for the Elsie flannagin challange...the weekly challange was use 2 photos, I used a song title from Grease as instructed (You're the one that I want) and add a bit of shiney to it, and a bit of white..all which I included! The Elsie challange was use 4 photos (telling the story--so to speak) so I have done this with 4 photo's of my cats playing hide n seek which they seem to do alot of these days....not so sure I am happy with the title paper but its there anyway..perhaps I will change it at some time in the future..or grow to like it!

Royal Albert Dock Promenade

My latest LO, Elsie flannigan challange on UKS, to take an artistic photograph, here is my photo, I love this photo. The journaling reads..."I snapped this walking in London across from City Airport. I found all the contrasting elements, metal, brick, steel, & glass along with the shadows just made for such an eyecatching scene. To look at the world around us in a bit of a different way opens up a whole beautiful world of art."