CARMEN CAN YOU HEAR ME?? CAN YOU HEAR ME CARMEN????

Yes if I recall correctly the 15th is Carmen day - yep she should be back on line, getting the little hamster in the hamster wheel inside the PC whirring away as it hooks back up to the great big thing we call the internet...

Fingers crossed she arrives safely, I mean Carmen you've missed so much there's been cruises and birthdays, phases of Noel Coward, Kaftans, sport, books being read, loved ones home creating chaos and that's all in others households, here well I've gone into mental meltdown, still trying to sort the utility room out, eating like it's a new found fad and it's Monday morning which means work - I mean honestly what is happening to this crazy world!  Rocking Your World has been ongoing and we've had some great posts, so tell us is the new house still a vision of cardboard boxes, or are you serenely sat in your new stu-stu-studio, looking out over Carmenville thinking how completely up to date and sorted you are?   Sipping a cuppa and wondering how to plan your day creatively because you've nothing else to do??  What do you mean no LOL?

Anyway fingers crossed you are back today and we can find out about your fabulous time away from us?

Right best post something crafty too - hold up let me see what's in my bag of delights this morning, a bright and sunny morning in August there must be a Christmas layout somewhere

yes found it, I had to scrapbook this page, the sheer and utter delight on said 10 year old's face is an absolute dream to me.  The paper is a really old one but it seemed to go with the paper Father Christmas saw fit to wrap presents in.  I did the journaling in one of the blogs on the page.  Navy blue and red is one of my favourite colour blends - it is I tell you!

Then another art journal page that I've done recently I enjoyed 'filling in' this missing components on this one.  

its not finished as it has no 'words' but I might leave as is sometimes the pages speak for themselves.

I stumbled across Shimelle's cybercrop over the weekend which had a timescale of - wait for it - one week - now that's my kind of cybercrop I can't abandon ship completely to just scrapbook out but I can manage some scrapbooking of an evening so I'm looking forward to doing more of these layouts this week - head over to Shimelle's blog to see what she came up with.

I am considerably behind on Darcy's 52 words I got stuck on the word 'community' - well actually I got stuck on an image to use - I did I really did, but given the riots over the last few weeks and the discussions that have been had around the situation I'm thinking of discussing that to get me moving forward, I was hoping that a certain Sunday newspaper would have images in their magazines but I forgot that the magazines are often several weeks in front on the printing side of things, so I'm going to have to settle for a few newspaper images.

I've also started thinking about the 'C' word now I don't know what word you were thinking about but I meant the one that happens on the 25th December - honestly - NOW STOP THROWING CUSHIONS AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, I know it's early to be thinking about it but I like making homemade gifts, it's something I've always enjoyed doing so now I'm trying to find things I can make?  What kind of things have you made for this event?  Do you prefer to make or buy, do you get satisfaction out of buying or out of making?  I'm assuming that everyone celebrates it but I'm aware that some won't so for you do you celebrate something else and do you have similar gift giving?  I for one don't like the 'commercial' aspect of it, it drives me insane which is why I like making and giving because then it is a gift from the heart.

Right need to get dressed 7.36am - 24 minutes til we set off and I need another cuppa to put my slap on (my version of make up is more akin to clown than beautician hence the statement slap), and some clothes  (I'm sat in PJ's at the moment - honestly where is your mind) ! 

If you happen by here to listen to my ramblings leave me a comment, it's lovely to see who has been visiting.

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY YOU'LL NEED A CUPPA - YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

Good morning and what does this fine day greet you with - well for me it's a grey and dreary Friday morning and it's 6.40am and I'm at the computer so both of those statements are all kinds of wrong but hey lets deal with it, accept it and move on

It is most definitely time for

Well this week has gone a little slower which is nice and I seem to have kept up to date on blog postings recently which is always a good thing and to be honest it really has kept me sane over the last week, so my very first grateful this week is you lot - you keep me sane, I love reading about your lives whether it's jaunts on holidays, new scrapping layouts, beautiful cards, challenge blogs that you're involved in, hubby spending far to long at work or days out enjoying artwork I love it all - so the biggest cyber hug to you all ((((((((((HUG)))))))))))))))) just for being you!

Next up is going to be hubby who despite my protestations claimed he could 'repipe' the utility room to 'fit' despite my reservations (and believe you and me it's usually the other way around, you know when your adamant that the piece of furniture isn't too big only to get it home to be proved wrong!) he spent most of the weekend drilling and re piping and mending, which has unfortunately meant the utility has been out of action all week (no dishwasher or washer) but means that once its done its done - so a big whoop for hubby all I need now is for him to finish it off which I know means relaying the floor etc but he's good I'm sure he can do it and before I hear you cry "what did you do" I papered and painted it which is no mean feat given the tiny proportions of the room and my rather over sized derrier working around the remaining two pieces of household kit still in there.  And as for helping with the flooring - well I'll be at work, have decided the only way to retain my sanity chip is to go into work tomorrow - yes I am that mad but I have to keep that sanity chip firmly in place, which means work - but we're not going to mention that today now are we!

My mum for having said 10 year old for a couple of days at the beginning of the week and taking him into town for a wander around the shops and to purchase some items, including those awful rubbery aliens - for those of you who are completely bewildered by these items, they are small plastic eggs that come apart that are see-through, inside is a jelly type slime (I kid you not) and two tiny rubbery items in this case one that is a silvery pearly white colour and the other a dark obsidian black colour that look like tiny alien foetuses and these are bought to 'play with'.  Because I find them soooooooo repulsive I've always banned the purchase of them, however my Mum isn't quite as strict and these were her special "treat" for him because I had offered to buy him £10 worth of stuff (guilty mother syndrome) whilst they were out shopping, so he bought two 'used' games for his old xbox and a book (to appease his long suffering mother who pleads to him to read all the time) and the aliens took him over the ten pound so my mum bought them!  Up to now the clear gloop they come in has ended up spread all over my coffee table twice and as soon as those rubbery little aliens have any signs of excessive dust or dirt accumulation I'll be none too pleased believe you and me, however Jo informs me quite candidly that they don't get any better as she's got a 6 week wait for a foaming lobster!  The mind boggles Jo and you tell me your son is 16 almost 17 - what you're telling me is that there is no hope I'm just going to have to accept this!

Talking of said 10 year old which we were, a big shout out for him because unfortunately our lovely Wednesday plan of opticians, hour in work and home to create all kinds of magical things from Alice creations to cushions didn't quite go according to plan - why you may ask - work - the one hour jaunt in was 4 hours and bring some home and I took said 10 year old with me and he was an absolute star!  so a big whoop for said 10 year old - thank you hun you are amazing!

Then there is my sister for coming along with us yesterday afternoon I decided I needed to take said 10 year old out and have some fun and I invited her along so she came, always good company, we put the world to rights, I'm still immensely worried about her because she has always been some fragile but she knows we are here for her whenever she needs us and we know that no matter how much we want to fix everything for her it really is down to her and she will do it in her own good time.

Talking of afternoons out - we headed to Karmaclay at the Elsecar Heritage Centre, set up fairly recently it's a paint a pot shop, strangely enough there used to be a paint a pot shop in the exact shop some time ago so it's awesome to see it used again for the same reason.  We had a blissful couple of hours letting said 10 year old paint a 'cauldron pot' with its removable lid and drinking absolutely divine coffees - honestly best couple of hours I've spent in quite some time so if you are anywhere near Elsecar and fancy doing something with the kids and have a few spare pennies then I thoroughly recommend it!  Studio fees are £2.50 and cover the usage of paints and the firing of the item and costs for items range from tiny little plaque like hearts starting at about £3.50 going up to much larger items, the cauldron said 10 year old was painting is £14 just to give you an idea.  Apparently they also hold childrens parties and last week had a whole host of female adults down one evening last week at 6pm painting vases through the evening and drinking wine - they didn't leave til midnight and it sounds like they had a fabulous time!  So here is to new business may they succeed and flourish and continue to rock peoples weeks!

Then a wander around the corner found us at the Hive Art Gallery, a small privately owned gallery showing the pen and ink works of several local artists, this was sheer heaven to me, beautiful artwork in a simple setting allowing you to explore artwork, another great time was had.  In particular the work of Jade Morris (if you click on her name you go to her blog and get to see the artwork we admired yesterday), took our breath away, the attention to detail was absolutely phenomenal, very hard subjects dealt with to be honest her artwork felt like art journaling without the literal words using a different medium, she put down her emotions and feelings into these pen and ink pictures and although sometimes the subject matter was hard, or the artwork felt aggressive and cruel it was also incredibly honest which gave it an innocent quality. 

The other work we absolutely adored was the work of John Ledger who it turned out was the guy wandering around greeting us into the exhibition - we had no idea only realised when I was wandering the internet last night! Click his name to get to his work, this work was incredibly thought provoking as the views of the individual indicate that the ways of capitalism aren't working (his interpretation not necessarily mine, I don't think I'm well read enough to give my view point on this, however the artwork did make me think and I always think that that is enough, to create a thought that then filters down and affects the way you are and your being and that of other people) he had four pieces of artwork visible, the first completely blue, the second red, the third predominantly black and the last one a mix including green, what made them completely awesome was that they were created with bic biro pens - I kid you not!  The work was intricate and detailed and must have taken hours and hours and hours!  Some of the work was marking the year 2045 - 100 years after the second world war and the fall of facism and questioning how far (if at all) we had come.  His take on this wasn't a positive one but it was one that helped me question lots of things and for this aspect alone I am grateful to explore the thoughts in my head!  If you fancy heading over to their blogs bear in mind that there subject matter or their take on it isn't the usual 'happy gratefuls' we deal with on a Friday but I did love the fact that they challenge who we think we are and why!

Then a wander around the corner into the craft shop on site, honestly I didn't 'need' anything, I'd seen Sir Tim's video on distress stains and thought - should I? but thought they might end up like my alcohol inks gathering dust!  So I refrained but oooh I must buy something, surely, after endless wandering I got stuck next to the sale table (again) and found 'goody bags' these are when Lynn (bless her) is bored with all the sale stuff and needs to get shut, so she chucks a load of things in a bag and puts them out at £4.99 a piece so I bought one for me and one for little sis - it was like Christmas when I got home oohing and ahhhing over it's contents, even though they are in see through bags you can't really tell what you've got til you get home - lets put it this way might be jaunting back for a second look today if I get my way!

Finally grateful for the cinemas keeping Harry Potter on for a bit longer, it meant we got chance to drag my lil bro and his girlfriend along last night, Fi only watched all the other Harry Potters in the last couple of weeks can you believe and they thought they might have to wait for the DVD so were well up for coming out when we offered and a thoroughly good film was had by all and DH has now finally seen the film all the way through! 

So there you go I've run out - you still here?  Wow that's awesome, might change my title - currently saying Rocking Your World - might indicate a cuppa might be in order if you're in for the long haul - getting to the end of the post. 


So a bit of crafting for you really am going to have to start 'creating' again because haven't done enough recently and I'm running out of things to share!  This particular layout taken earlier in the year after a trip to the theatre shows me, hubby, sister, niece and son sat on amazing carved bench in the entrance to the Crucible theatre and the reason we had our 'feet up' was because the bench was so long in the leg, to actually use the back rest, the rest of your legs were laid out - hence the picture!

Up close me trying to change the 'almost done' aspect of the page, with punched hearts, hand stitching and extra lettering!

and art journaling gives you this little delight done at Center Parcs questioning the meaning of wine (not life just wine)

So if you are joining in here is Mr Linky, please leave a comment as well as I'm a cheapskate and haven't upgraded Mr Linky so he disappears after a week, even if you don't join in leave a comment - I know there are some people lurking out there - nod now if you're on your lunch hour and can't actually comment because you're not allowed but enjoy the read anyway - yes I thought so - hope your world is rocking also!

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"