Card 1 ~ Stamp~a~stack

Mini card

Stamps ~ Sparkly & Bright
~ A tree for all seasons
~ sentiment from Occasional greetings

Ink ~ White
~ Basic Grey

Punch ~ Scallop circle

Cardstock ~ Whisper White
~ Not quite Navy
~ Brocade blue

Ribbon ~ Brocade blue

Glue pen
Dazzling diamonds




All procducts are from Stampin' Up & available through me as an independant Stampin' Up demonstrator.

Homemade Christmas

I am having a homemade Christmas
Which one of the kids do you want?

Only joking kids,,,,,,,,,,,Love you loads.

Joking aside I have say at the table and made up 6 batches of cards with Abi. I had prepped everthing ready for an open house Stamp~a~stack that I had to cancel, due to a Migraine.

So we had everything ready in boxes to make cards & tags, I just love the Kraft card from Stampin' Up as it works so well with he americana look I am working towards.

So far we have made 60 cards and about the same number of tags.

I will add the cards & recipies in seperate posts otherwise this is going to be a post of mamouth proportions.

There all up now

Lula was trying to help Dan do the outside decs, or maybe she didn't want to walk on the decking as it was freezing out.

Feeling very Christmassy now all of the decorations are finally up, the weather here has been foul all week so during a break in the rain paul & Dan managed to get all of the outside lights up, I managed to get someaction shots of them doing the lights, but sadly by the time it was dark enough to see how effective their handiwaork was the heavens had opened again so I will have to try again tonight to get some light shots.

The weather is changing

The weather here in the east is really changing & abi is beginning to feel the cold.
All this time i have been trying to persuade her to wear a hat as the winters here are harsh & she shunned hats for the sake of fashion, now hats are in fashion ...... Thank you N~Dubz.



Abi is ready for winter.

December daily ~ day 1 & My Little treat

I have just treated myself to a new photo printer, it was an absolute bargain at £18.99 and even better it arrived within 48 hours, just in time to start my December daily inspired by Ali Edwards



Its the Fujiflm Finepix QS-7

Size (H)6.78, (W)14.7, (D)6.78cm.
Prints in colour.
Compatible with pictbridge, Ir simple, USB.
6 x 4 print size.
40 sheet pack paper supplied.
Compatible with 40 and 120 sheet paper.

I have spent the evening working out the technical side & have finally cracked it, I am sure that others would find it a breeze but I hit a slight hitch when I realised I couldn't load the drivers as the CD drive on my laptop is jammed & I cannot open it anymore.



I asked Dan to take a portrait picture to use on day one of my December daily so I have printed it off to use when I put my daily together tomorrow. The inspiration for this picture is from Alisons blog.

What a month

We are so glad that today is the last day of November & the month is finally over.
It has been probably one of the hardest months we have shared together as a family, I guess it really started in October with my Mum being rushed into hospital and having major bowel surgery & being in hospital for nearly three weeks & the battle that followed to get a home care package in place was totally draining.
At the end of October we managed three days away out of the week we had planned, we came home on the third day as Paul's uncle had passed away very suddenly, Whilst not the closest of family members in later life this had a profound effect on Paul who at 49 years old was now the oldest Male in the family. So a few more round trips back to Bracknell for the funeral, one good thing too come out of Dereks passing was Louise's visit from Australia, so Paul got to meet his cousin who was so funny & such a spirited lady on her first trip outside her own country & flying solo, the kids all thought she was cool & she much enjoyed her first trip overseas.
November also saw the birth of our 7th grandchild a baby girl called Caitlyne Angel , but it was tinged with sadness as she only lived for 9 hours, so we were all very sad & with another funeral, probably the most beautiful service we have ever attended, but something I hope that we never have to do again.
So you can see it was a tough 6 weeks, so if anyone thought we were crazy putting all of the Christmas decorations up last weekend you can see that we needed something to look forward too. So here's to a happy December & an even happier new year.

My guilty pleasure

As many of you know our family life has been something of a rollercoaster for the last few weeks, but during that time I have found a couple of guilty pleasures to keep a smile on my face.
The first is Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but they are not available locally & they dont do mail order so I am going to start a campaign to get a Krispy kreme doughnut outlet in Norwich, so when i am off down south tomorrow I will pop into Tesco at Royston and pick up a dozen or two!!

The second is Starbucks eggnog Latte............Anyone that knows me will be surprised at the second as i haven't drunk coffee for about 6 years, but I heard Jane talking about it at the crop on Saturday & gave it a try whilst having a comfort break from Christmas shopping on Sunday & am now totally hooked.
I suppose it's just as well that the Eggnog latte is a seasonal special & will go back under the counter on New years eve, for another year. The downside is I work in the city & there are 4 Starbucks that i pass on my way too & from work so i could need a large dose of will power over the next 36 days.



Maybe as my wedding anniversary is New years eve I should celebrate with a double or two.

Spotlight on Christmas

Well I have eventually had some time at home to have a play with some time at home to have a play with some of my new stampin' Up sets & punches.

Without really thinking abot it I have gone for the same colour ways as many of the previous Christmas samples, I am working on autopilot at the moment & although I love the colour combination it wasn't a consious decision.



The cards & decorations are made using a a variety of Stampin' Up punches & products please contact me if you would like further information about any of them.

Where did October Go?

Where did October go?

October thankfully has gone & we hope for a better November with more highs & less lows. Its always a hard month for us as a family as we have the anniversary of both my dad & Pauls dad. Then Pauls Birthday he turned 50 this year and we went out for a lovely family meal to one of our favourite restaurants mambo Jambo's.

Earlier in the month was a definate high when I did a day retreat with Dawn and made some lovely projects.
Then we had the low of my Mum being rushed into hospital, she had been in hospital for 4 days before anyone contacted me so you can imagine how I felt & only when she had to sign the consent form for major surgery did she tell them I was her next of kin. So a trip to Reading to see her & try & get to the bottom of what was happening, all of this was just 2 days before the anniversary of my Dad, so the train journey was filled with apprehension. Thankfully she is now hme from Hospital & is recovering as expected, hopefully the battles with social services over her care are now sorted & she will continue to make progress.

Then we did manage a few days away at Hopton but sadly during our few days away we had the news that Pauls uncle had died, this affected Paul badly as he is now the oldest male member of the family at 49, so we came home from holiday early.



Half term was lovely as we had Abi's Boyfriend Jakee visiting & Pauls 50th Birthday. On the Saturday after half term Jake went off to make his first run on the drag strip in the Camaro, he said it was an amazing experience & once Abi had spoken to him she stopped fretting.


Twins




Last Sunday we went back to Bracknell to visit my Mum & try to sort out her care package. Whilst we were there we had a lovely family lunch with James, kerry & the boys & pauls cousin Louise who had come all the way from Australia for the funeral.



Wednesday saw us back to Bracknell again for the funeral which thankfully went without a hitch & gave us a chance to catch up with family & friends.




So all i can say is I am glad it's now November & hopefully back to somewhere near normal. You never know maybe the next post may actually contain a craft project or two, I think I will need a map to get to my craft room.

Christmas extravaganza promotion

Buy a gift & get a gift free

This special offer from Stampin' Up is brilliant
Just spend £45 on products from the current catalogue & receive one of the tag punches for free OR spend £90 & get another of the tag punches free.

Join my Stampin' Up team & grab a bargain.

	Become a Demonstrator and Get 10% Off the Starter Kit! In conjunction with our participation in the Hobbycrafts show, we are offering new demonstrators 10 percent off the cost of the Starter Kit from 22 October-13 November! That’s over £240 worth of stamping and business supplies for only £125--10 percent off the regular price of £139. The Starter Kit contains Four complete stamp sets Stampin’ Around jumbo wheel, ink cartridge, and handle Ribbon Card stock Love Notes and envelopes Five Classic Stampin’ Pads Stampin’ Pastels Craft & Rubber Scissors Stampin’ Scrub and Mist VersaMark Pad Blender pens Adhesives Business supplies To join the Stampin’ Up! family today, contact your demonstrator. But you must act fast because this is a limited-time offer! Just contact my at lovellsinnorfolk@hotmail.co.uk 01603 462057

As an added bonus I will also add a free stamp set of your choice to the value of £25
{ this additional bonus is added by me & is in addition to the above special offer}

A little bit of scrapping

Life is funny, a couple of weeks ago I went on a scrapbooking retreat & did two Annie Hafermann projects & I was completely enthused and felt so creative, during the following week I finished the 4 projects that I started during the retreat & since then we have had so much going on family wise that I haven't managed to sit & complete anything.


Well on sunday afternoon, fortified by a plate of reese's pieces cookies I managed to complete a couple of scrapbook layouts, I am not enthused with any of them & feel totally at a loss as to where to start with my scrapbooking again, i have had the magazines out, cruised my favourite blogs & nothing seems to jump out at me..........I really dont like this feeling of being in a scrapbooking no mans land.

Sunday is baking day at our house

Sunday is baking day in our house, paul makes us treats it used to be muffins, now we have moved onto cookies after being loaned an american cookie book.
Our current favourites are white chocolate chip cookies & peanut butter cookies, this is not helping me with my wish to loose weight, but the smell of the cookies baking totally seduces me.



Peanut Butter & Reese's pieces cookies
In a medium bowl add and combine with a fork or wire whisk
350g Plain flour
2 teaspoons Bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon Bakng powder
200g Soft demerara sugar
225g Dark brown sugar

In a large bowl cream together & blend well
225g Soft butter
250g Smooth peanut butter
2 Large eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence

Gradually fold dry ingredients into butter mixture. Because the cookie dough is very stiff we find it easier to use a wooden spoon. Mix just long enough to combine all of the ingredients, dont over mix.
Add 1 small bag of reese's pieces
Using a tablespoon drop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet covered with a silicon non stick mat & flatten the dough with a fork.

bake in a pre heated oven Gas 5 / 190c / 375f

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until golden brown. When cooked move to a wire cooling rack.

Learning curve

Technology is not my forte so for the past few weeks............no make that months I have been struggling to get the hang of Photoshop, I now have photoshop elements and it is so cool, I wouldn't go as far as too say that I have mastered it, but I am getting the hang of it & am very pleased with the results, I have even managed to load brushes, use brushes & add text.



I am pleased with the 4 pictures I have managed so far.

stampin' Up Christmas extravaganza

Stampin' Up have a very special promotion starting on 1st November & it lasts all of the way through until 29th December.
You will love it

So make a note in your diary to check back on 1st of November or book a party with me to benefit from this promotion.

Paul has been busy

Paul has been busy this morning making up some bracelets





I am loving the bungee style bracelets with the cane slices.

When your wearing hese bracelets they jingle beautifully & are so tactile.

A few days away

Well we did manage a few days away despite everything & before we came home prematurely today we went down to the beach so I could try out Dan's lens & take a few pictures.


The tide was coming in & the sea was spectacular







Abi looks so deep in thought


Paul was caught unawares




Family time
Hopton October 2009