MORNING ALL

Well here I am again Wednesday morning - can you tell that you lot are keeping my sanity chip in place, honestly everything else is mad the only sane place to be is here and even then we get get a bit quirky sometimes don't we! 

Tuesday - well Tuesday was Tuesday after doing a 75 bullet pointed "to do list" (work related) I decided a chat with boss was a good idea, we put the world to rights and both agreed that everything on the list was essential so nothing ticked off the list but certainly made me feel happier that he understood how silly things are getting.  So I'm now planning a jaunt into work with said 10 year old this morning (after the opticians) and a full day on Saturday - yes I am that crazy, but when the list gets this bad I start losing the plot and the only way to re-synch myself is to blitz as much work as possible so I can make some progress forward - its the nature of what I do.  However, I am eternally grateful for all your positive thoughts that you sent following yesterdays posting - your comments made me smile and make me realise just how grateful I am to have blogging friends who are all absolutely fabulous, added to which Jo is back from her hols which means even more wonderful blog reading - woo hoo - ah should have saved that one til Friday - now all we need is Carmen back and we've got a full set!

Anyhow the plan for today looks like this

• Breakfast
• Make up 
• Opticians
• Cushion purchases
• Work
• Dash to see Mum and pay her the £10 I promised for said 10 year old who saw fit to spend it on those awful rubbery alien things in eggs grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr wouldn't have happened on my watch believe you and me! 
• Home 

Now the question is what to do when we finally 'land' back here, we're on with fabric painting, cushion making, Alice drawings and Alice book as well as apparently a bit of photoshop!

So here is my question - if you were to draw something Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass  inspired other than the obvious what would it be - up to now we've got

• Alice
• The Red Queen
• White Rabbit (in waistcoat)
• White Rabbit in Hearts uniform
• Caterpillar
• Mad Hatter 
• Fob Watch 
• Cheshire Cat 
• Tweedledum and Tweedledee

So what else do we need to do to really bring these to life - pretty please - they don't have to be 'people' essential objects also needed just can't think what.

Right crafting a layout after a day out at Brodsworth Hall, used the promotional leaflet which costs nothing, extended the picture and journalled the day! Not that I'm any artist but must admit I quite liked this once done!

And a 12 x 12 layout, I'm hoping i haven't share this before, I think it was on the desk of one of my WOYWW so apologies if it looks familiar, however, discovered that I'd not scrapbooked the Clock tower so threw this layout together to document it! 

close ups, stamped journal blocks and actual stitching apparently next to my cups rack - yes I know everyone else would use it for wine but we discovered that we emptied it faster than we could fill it so we didn't see the point!

Hope you're all having an eventful and busy day - don't want to look at the news figure if I stay here I won't know how bad it got last night and then I can live in my bubble again for a bit longer!  I hate negative news I really do - anyone got any good news? 

SSH DON'T TELL ANYONE I'M POSTING ON A TUESDAY...

Well you might be wondering how on earth I'm managing a post on a Tuesday because it's a work day right?  Yes it is and I'm usually run off my feet?  Yes I am - yesterdays day went something like this - woke, took child to my Mum's arrived at work 8.40am - left and travelled to Sheffield via car and tram, had a meeting - left at 2.30ish, arrived back at work 3ish having collected child (don't ask)  - finished work at 5.15pm - travelled home, started work again at 5.45pm finished work at 10.15pm - climbed on sofa, climbed back off sofa at 10.30pm - asleep by 11pm - awake at 5.20am - GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I don't do mornings - ever!  Got up at 6am because really really couldn't get back to sleep, read blogs, checked face book, updated UK Scrapper CJ board, - time now 7.30am - porridge in microwave, child eating in other room - blog post me thinks - hold on need to stir porridge ...

I'm back did you miss me?

Anyway crafting been thin on the ground, our Alice in Wonderland book is not taking as much shape as I would like - need some more inspiration - grrrrrrr - despite watching the Tim Burton version of the film last week - still struggling, need some more 'props' me thinks!  anyway hoping to make progress on that tomorrow - after I've slept!

Right best leave you with some crafting, here is my Rosette Stone layout, we found this copy of the Rosetta Stone at the Science Museum in Glasgow.  My son thought it was amazing because he'd been doing about hieroglyphics just before he broke up from school because his friend in Stafford sent him in a letter in them!  As a result said 10 year old delivered a 'lesson' at school on hieroglyphics when given the opportunity, so to see a copy of the stone that had resulted in the translations was pretty awesome stuff.

close ups showing how I highlighted the page design with glossy accents - I'm thinking this is actually quite a boring close up so to take two pictures of it seems a bit mental?

And a journal page of a Mill we found just by accident and didn't have any 'cash' to walk around the museum bit and they didn't take cards, we had to scrimp and scrape bits of change together in the car - but it was worth it!  I started out doing the page brown and hated it, kept adding layer upon layer - eventually it turned quite red and then I could just about cope with it

then another journal page that I simply am not happy with but hey I shall just have to deal with it, I enjoyed extending the picture - just didn't get the journaling right, might just keep adding to it - just in case!

So I've shared with you an OK layout and two rough journal pages - on second thoughts maybe this post wasn't such a great idea and the reason why I'm sharing - because I'm going out of my head at the moment and I need sane crafting creative people to talk to me and tell me that I'm not losing the plot and that life is just sometimes a bit weird - so here is your bit!  Tell me that everything is going to calm down - pretty please!

TEACHER GIFTS

Morning all thought I'd do a quick blog post showing the teacher gifts I made for end of term - quite literally the night before they were due to go out - nothing like leaving things to the last minute.  The instructions came from the "Making Gifts" magazine which I only managed to get a couple of copies of before it seemed to disappear out of circulation.  Shame really because unlike lots of the magazines I buy where I admire but never 'do' these did actually result in some creativity!

Anyway I made a notelet box well three in total, two teachers and a teaching assistant

which when opened looked like this, made from A4 card and scrapbook papers, I was sceptical that they would be really difficult or really flimsy and they weren't either!

I just used some basic letter paper inside stamped up and a few small 'cards' converted into notelets to match!

Then add the cellophane

Earlier in the week the breakfast club staff got 'altered' chocolate bars (I know only me) but they looked OK when they were done!

Now what on earth am I going to do for Christmas - added to which said 10 year old's teacher this next year is male.

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY!!!!

Woohoo made it - it's Friday it isn't it - wow didn't know if I'd get here this week - it's been a strange one!

Honestly life doesn't half throw some crazy things at us sometimes!  But we're not here to dwell on the negative but to celebrate the absolutely positives that we get to enjoy.

First up on my list this week is my 10 year old son - he is utterly amazing and has made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion!

The first occasion on Thursday morning was when he set to with the Morph set that I got bought as a present to make this 

 - and the question was "what is that coming out of the hat?" His answer - "Morph's legs" honestly!  He makes me laugh out load so much!  The reason - well when you make Morph with a body that heavy and you give him legs that little man falls over - so what better than a magical hat to have his legs coming out of - complete genius, he's also done some stills that if you run through them quickly makes it 'animated' think Nick Parkes and Wallace and Gromit, need to see if I can find me a bit of stop start animation program to stitch it together because it is quite seriously genius!

The second occasion was when we went passed an empty office complex on our way back from shopping yesterday

"Mum that office over there says - high quality office space available £5 per square foot - how big is that?"

So I'm trying to show him with my hand roughly the size of it with the statement  "it's bigger than 3" x 3" and smaller than 4" x 4""

"Wow Mum that is a seriously small office"

Laugh til I cried

and the third one

In M&S looking at desserts and he spies the Banoffee Pie - which has the curly writing on it - "Mum what's banobbee Pie"  Laugh out loud constantly - love it!

So he's first on the list, second has to be hubby, it was our 21st anniversary of meeting this week and it was lovely to celebrate last night (even if I do feel a little slow this morning).  Susie on the halo tarnished side of things my 'teetotal' halo hasn't just slipped it's fallen off my head, but we're not back to where we were and it was a special occasion last night, not sure what the excuse was for last weekend mind!

Fun 'days out', we always try and do things in the six week holidays that isn't just 'work' so last weekend after an amazingly busy day on Saturday we decided to have a 'day off' on Sunday and headed to the Fire Station museum in Sheffield followed by a wander up to the Botanical Gardens (which is one of those places that have appeared on the "we'll go and have a look" list forever).  The Fire Station Museum has some amazing pieces in it and is completely run by volunteers so only opens on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays and isn't particularly cheap to get in when you consider how long you are in there but said 10 year old wanted to revisit because he couldn't remember the first time we went a few years ago.  We had a thoroughly good time, but it makes me sad to think that this is what museums used to be like, glass cases filled with memorabilia and no interactivity with items, this is when you start to realise that the national lottery has made such an amazing difference to the museums that are around us, not only making them more accessible and brighter, but also providing interaction as well, if they could get some lottery funding in there I'm sure that what is an amazing collection of historical pieces would be off the scale!  Nevertheless we did thoroughly enjoy it as can be seen from the photo and are ultimately grateful for the volunteers who give their time up to run it - so he's a big cheer for volunteers!

then we wandered up to the Botanical Gardens to have a look, it was far too warm for really doing anything other than a picnic but as we hadn't taken one we just wandered around the gardens as said 10 year old got grumpier - bless him!  This is the main 'building' which has now been restored to its former glory, my hubby remembers it from when he was younger and said it used to be in a completely ruined state with no glass in it etc, so it's gorgeous to see it back to its full Victorian splendour

 the inside was amazing with plants from around the world

 but my favourite part of this has to be the roof, thousands and thousands of panes of glass put back into place - absolutely gorgeous!

Other things that have made me seriously happy - little sis back blogging even though it's not the happiest of reads - she is at least honest, if you feel like giving your fellow human a bit of support then please visit her blog and support her, she's going through a really rough time at the minute! Here is her link - Melanie

Next up has to be lil bro and his gorgeously talented girlfriend Fi, now both of these are bloggers but have a poor internet connection at the moment (or should I say none existent) so they haven't been on for a while, Fi lived in Ireland until earlier in the year when she headed over here to start a new life.  Both of them attended the Sonisphere festival recently which is a seriously heavy metal festival and whilst there they dressed as Zombies - yes I know I know but it's what they like - my brother has always been into special effects on a grand scale - anyway they got their photo taken in all their zombiness and they can now be found on Page 26 of the FHM magazine for September which is on the supermarket shelves now, so even if you don't fancy buying it go check them out!  And answers to your questions in advance - no they aren't his real teeth - they are Zombie teeth and yes he did make them himself and no he doesn't work in dentistry!  the photo is awesome because it's the biggest on there - go check it out and report back when you've seen it didn't they look truly amazing!

Next on the list of great things is Alisa Burke - her blog is truly inspirational and I did a class of hers some time ago called Graffitti Chic which I adored and resulted in a significant change in my journaling style, anyway home with said 10 year old yesterday and we decided to do some cushion covers with fabric pens and paints which are coming along fantastic and they were inspired by her course and her truly individual style.  She has a new book due out and I'm so excited to get my hands on it because it comes with a DVD - bring it on and it's about sewing - woo hoo!  I'll post some cushion cover shots once they are completed!

So there you have it - my Rocking Post for this week, if you fancy joining in link with Mr Linky below and let us come and visit and find out what you are up to.  If you don't want to do a blog post or you haven't got a blog then just leave a comment and let us know what's been good in your week and don't use the excuse that nothing has, even in the darkest and hardest of our days we do get silver linings that make everything a little easier - don't believe me have a think and then dig deep!

Can't leave you without some crafting goodness so another picture of me and him enjoying his birthday on Valentine's day earlier in the year, next to the fountain in the Peace gardens as you can tell it was a little blustery!

The clip on the photo was a gift from Susie earlier in the year, I've had such fun with the blog candy I won, both the clips and leather corners are almost gone and I used the butterflies on a card that needed that little bit of something special but I'm still struggling to use the hands - but it'll come hun I promise!

Up close on the page the clip in question which I obviously straightened after I took the picture above LOL

and finally a journal page - I love advert pages - honestly I do

So there you have it - another Rocking post but I do have a final note, earlier in the week the beautifully talented Michelle put a post up on her blog pleading for help, this is the link Midnight Crafter all she's asking for is five minutes of your time to write an e-mail - have a read and if you think you can help then a five minute e-mail could make all the difference and when all is said and done I think each and every one of us enjoys the chance to make a difference, if you have a blog put a link their so your followers can do their bit and if you're on facebook - well enough said!  So people that's it for this week hope this next week is truly amazing and rocking!  Can't wait to here about Jo's adventures on her cruise and Carmen's adventures on moving - anyone else missing these girls?

ANNIVERSARY TODAY - STRANGE WEEK AND "ILLUSIONS" PAGE

Good morning one and all I thought in my infinite wisdom that I would be doing more blogging during the holidays but that just hasn't happened, I also thought I'd be doing more crafting and that hasn't happened either (I could get grumpy!) and I thought I'd be keeping up with all my lovely blogs that I follow and that hasn't happened.  So what has happened, well work work and work (we won't go there), misunderstanding between me and other half the other day when I was strung out on work meant it's taken a day to synch back into the norm of life added to which I'm poorly so a trick to Doctors - sorry doom and gloom but I need to bring you up to speed otherwise you'll all be under the illusion that my life is 'perfect' in every sense of the word, because my main post each week is my Rocking post and I try not to dwell on the negatives but in turn this might distort your view of my life!

Anyway that's enough of a catch up - so today it is officially 21 years ago today that I met my now hubby!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone and although we've had a difficult week (you know the ones when you're not in synch properly) we've come out of it the other side in time to celebrate this fairly monumental date for us (and yes before you ask it gets more monumental each year LOL).

I honestly don't know where the time has gone but then we have done so much and enjoyed so many fantastic memories together! 

Anyway the plan today is to find a nice meal to cook for this evening (any ideas?  want something simple but really nice at the same time or is it just a jaunt off to M&S for a wander around their aisles LOL).  Try and find a small gift and make a card - not a difficult list I note but one that needs some work! 

Thought I'd post a layout I did of me and him recently this is one of those papers that seemed "almost done" that I sit and admire and then get grumpy because just sticking the photo to the paper isn't scrapbooking to me, so I had to work hard to make the paper "mine"

Think you can tell just how much we still absolutely love each other from the photo - he is completely and utterly my everything and I could not ask for better.... ever!!!!

Close ups with - step back in amazement - fake stitching, (I'm only posting this now whilst Carmen is in the throws of moving because she might have had to sit in a darkened room for a while with fake stitching on one of my layouts).  For anyone who knows my normal style it's always proper stitching on my layouts not fake - I'd forgotten how quick fake stitching was LMAO!

Journal page anyone? My illusion page in my 52 word book, this one was 'hard' work as I combined more than one image then extended it then added a Celtic Knotwork border then panicked thinking I couldn't pull it off, but perseverance left me with this - a page I love!

Hopefully I'll get chance to come and visit you at some point in the next few days, I'm just going to start at the top of my blog list and work my way down, but you've all been so busy - which is really good but means I have lots of catching up to do!

Hope you're having a grand day today see you tomorrow for "Rocking Your World Friday"

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY !!!!

Well this year is certainly Rocking along at a fair pace at the moment - and the end of the first week of School Holidays!  So what's been Rocking My World this week?

Well we've had a day trip to Harewood House, and what a fabulous day it was, we had been so busy on Saturday that we thought a day trip out made complete sense, so we toddled off up the A1 getting to Harewood just after it opened and a thoroughly good day was had by all, we saw most of the park from the walled garden, to the penguins (yes I did just say penguins) to Adam ( a giant statue inside the house) to the Himalayan garden and my absolute favourite the beautiful terraced garden in front of the house, simply breathtaking!   Add to that a quick and simple picnic, one gorgeous hubby and a fabulous 10 year old and what you've got is a pretty awesome set of ingredients for a fabulous day out!

Monday and Tuesday were just busy busy busy work days but we'll ignore them for now and head straight on to Wednesday which brought me and little man (still wondering how long I'm going to get away with calling him that when you bear in mind he's going to be 11 in September mmmm?)  to a day off together, so we headed into town for an art walk around which was fun, a jaunt to the local library to get little man started on the summer reading challenge so all was good!

Add into that the fact that Little Man and I have been doing our own version of illustrations for the Alice in Wonderland book which has proved fun up to now, I still want to get on with doing a smash book for the two of us to document the holidays but it hasn't come to fruition yet?

Thursday brought a second showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2and we can confirm that this is still just as much fun in 2D as 3D, note to everyone - I cried again what am I like it's just so emotional!

Trying to have some balance with life at the minute, not just work life and home life but what I do at home, spending time with hubby, son, working on house, crafting, days out, sorting - it means things are ticking along quite nicely at the minute!  So Rocking my World this week is life balance, it may be a fine act to achieve but soooo worth while?

So what's been Rocking Yours this week?  Have you done anything fun because its the school holidays or are you up to your eyes in everything at the moment? If you join in let me know what you've been up to and how your world has been Rocking this week and don't forget to link so we can come and read and see what your world looks like at the moment

A bit of crafting, said 10 year old and the face he pulled when we went near him whilst he was eating a double chocolate muffin - let's put it this way - he was very very scary and made us giggle quite a bit!  

and another converted advert that I loved, did this one recently such good fun to play with

right Mr Linky and off we go

THURSDAY ALREADY - TIME IS SIMPLY FLYING BY!

Good morning everyone and how are you on this fine thursday morning?  Me I'm up to my eyes in washing at the minute and trying to keep said 10 year old busy as well as a multitude of other things but off to see Harry Potter again in a short while which should be fun, although I need to remember tissues again! 

Well the six week holidays always prove a challenge in all honesty, how to keep said 10 year old away from the goggle box 24/7 is always a challenge so I've made a huge list of things we could do which should keep him away some of the time from the square box in the corner.  Yesterday saw us venturing into town, the local council earlier last year decided to employ someone to create pieces of artwork over closed down shops to try and create a prettier backdrop rather than boarded shop after boarded shop, one of these shops is now in the process of being 'let' so we decided to go and capture arty piccies before the pieces disappear forever, once uploaded I'll share them with you!

We also managed a venture to the local library for said 10 year old to join in with the summer reading challenge, now all I have to do is get him to read them!  So we're on with the plan, as well as this with all these lengthy days ahead I decided that a general attack on cleaning could be had with not much impact on the day as a whole.  Now last year when I set too cleaning every kitchen cupboard it resulted in my in agony for weeks with a poorly back, this time the approach is different I'm attacking approximately 3-4 cupboards per day, empty, sort, clean, anti-bac, dry back in, up to now I've a whole section of the kitchen done and my back is still working! 

Finally (before I share a little crafting of course) I saw a recent program on TV and it was talking about Dali's illustration from Alice in Wonderland - confused?  Yes I was to be honest, I didn't know that Dali had ever done illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, I managed to find them on line - for the purposes of research of course and I've decided I'd like to do my own illustrations, now let it not be forgotten that I can't draw so up to now I've got page after page after page of backgrounds, said 10 year old has managed far more than me but is struggling with the key character - Alice - however, he does a pretty mean white rabbit in a waistcoat, so I'm wondering whether to make this a joint effort between the two of us?  I'll let you know what unfolds.

Anyway going to have to dash so I'll leave you with this photo, now do I like the photo - no - why not all I'll say are chins - multiple ones that I hate with an absolute passion, however, this photo reminds me of the "Knight fight" me and my sister had in a gift shop recently.  the puppets of the Knights were amazing (and expensive) but we could help but have a quick joust in the shop!  Happy happy times and the photo still makes me smile - right have to dash Mr Potter awaits - now were are those tissues!