ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Morning all - completely useless at posts at the moment - so sorry - life has been a little bit strange, weird and tough at the moment which means I look like I'm MIA when in fact I'm just head down getting on with things - not a great reason for being missing so I'm going to try and post more - I promise!

But now we've got the usual Friday post

So what's been Rocking my world this week - well this might be top heavy on photos because last Friday after posting my Rocking post we toddled off to Center Parcs for a long festive weekend - but before we went we managed a quick jaunt into our local church for the Christmas tree festival - this years theme being Christmas films - don't you love this Grinch?

And this one

This was the whole tree, decorated by the local Junior School and one of my favourites!

Liked this one too

Then the infants tree

and outside we found this delight, we photographed this the night before when we popped along for the opening but the church was full unfortunately so we went back to see the trees the following morning.

Center Parcs provided sights of gorgeous birds

We had fun on the squash court

enjoyed the festive lights in Foresters

And managed a card making session at night - not because we wanted too but because Melanie has decided to run a stall at Sheffield University next week as part of a potential additional award she can get and she's opted for Christmas cards, you have to bear in mind how rubbish I am at making cards, it was definitely a joint effort - next time Melanie can we have more notice!

Then on with the rest of the weekend - gorgeous Christmas lights

I would have this tree at home if I could

the 'fake' reindeers that all the kids went mad for - not our kids as they are now technically too old to ummm and ahhhhhhhh over such things (just so you know they had real reindeers too)

Me and him - love him sooooooooooo much he's been an utter rock for me recently when I've been in mental meltdown - him and my sister - both utter rocks and I love them so much!

Blurry lights

 This is the whizzy woman with her light filled hula hoop that made great photos - because I can't take photos of fireworks!

 The patronuses dotted around the park - these would appear to be Professor Snapes

Other gratefuls - Amy for coming and collecting Melanie from Center Parcs (because if she hadn't Melanie wouldn't have been able to come because Uni beckoned on Monday) even though Amy managed to get lost with it being pitch black when she came to collect her!

My Mum for being her usual funny self whilst we were away - love you Mum

My niece for her witty teenage humour in the making - you are utterly amazing!

My son for just being himself - love you hunny

Grateful to Shimelle for sending through the Journal Your Christmas posts - despite massive printer issues I'm still plodding with this one - bit behind but let's see what I can do at the weekend.

Grateful for Royal mail getting the next circle journal to me safely

Grateful for beautiful Secret Santa recipients for sending me giddy messages of thanks - Susie it was an absolutely pleasure (and yes before you ask she knows I was her secret Santa)

Grateful to Carmen for being there and offering support and organising the Secret Santa - you are utterly amazing and I've thoroughly enjoyed gearing up for this!

Grateful to bloggy friends and non bloggy friends for their words of thanks for Christmas card - words like that make me smile!

So there we have it my gratefuls for this week - what's yours - fancy joining in pop a post on your blog and link back, no blog - no problem just leave me a comment to publish telling me what rocked your week!  If you happen by don't forget to say hello - but before Mr Linky we have to have a little crafting - crikey we're definitely thin on the ground on this front at the moment - I must craft I really must craft!

this photo looks like me and my sister on phones but we were actually at Bolsover Castle listening to the audio guides - honest!

Up close hand stitching and simple embellishments with stamps

The lettering with faux stitching around (don't faint yes that isn't real stitching Carmen)

there we go - all done for this week - it's been a blast, linky, leave a comment, have a read, have fun, think about the silver linings in your week - dig deep if you have to there will be something that will have made you smile and lightened your heart!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Well this has been another trying week, predominantly from a mental basis, you know how it is when life is hard but there is nothing you can do about it - well that sums up this week.  But it is Rocking Your World time so let's think about the positives.

First up has to be Pinterest, when I was feeling low at the beginning of the week and nothing seemed to make a lot of sense I saw a statement on there that made me realise that for the time being this is how I have to live my life the statement went along the lines of

WORRYING ABOUT TOMORROW
DRAINS THE STRENGTH OUT OF TODAY


So for now, I've stopped trying to over think anything and I'm going to try and take back this festive season as mine, because I love this time of year, the build up to the big day, the time with my family, creating new memories and journaling my Christmas.

So next up has to be my Journal Your Christmas, this is the least prepared I've ever been for this project but I'm going to go with the flow up to now I finally have some papers, now unusually for me these are A4 but I didn't like the 12 x 12 packs to cut down, so I'm now a little confused on the size of my project, I'll let you know where I head with this one.

Next up has to be Amazon for coming through in the face of adversity, for a few years I've considered buying a Lego advent calendar for my 11 year old Lego addict but they always seem hellishly expensive, this year however I decided regardless of cost I was going to treat him and a certain on line retailer who shall remain nameless but whom I won't be using again (it's obviously not Amazon) saw fit to advertise a 10% discount in early November making the new 2011 Star Wars Advent Calendar a sensible price, however, as the weeks progressed and nothing arrived I started to worry before getting the inevitable e-mail telling me it was out of stock and they couldn't get further supplies, I was gutted, by this time Amazon too had run out but had lots of sellers on there selling it for twice the original price.  So I almost gave up, but then decided that as he hadn't had one before it wouldn't matter if it was a different one that had been out for a couple of years so I promptly ordered one from Amazon and in a matter of days - this arrived!

So I wrapped it up and he opened it as a present last night and Thursday morning he set too on day one of the calendar

Which resulted in this first character a bank robber!

Goodness knows what else he's going to find in the packs as time progresses but his smile this morning was worth the effort!

The next grateful is hubby who asked whilst part way through cooking tea one evening this week, if I wanted some soup, it was a strange question and he'd very obviously had a thorough conversation in his own head that he'd not mentioned to me, anyway he just fancied making some soup, so we have some delicious homemade leek and potato soup courtesy of DH!  Now it might not look that appetising but take it from me its yum!

Next up has to be finally getting hold of my book people order, I've waited FOREVER for this, first of all it was sent and delivered - just not to here and despite wandering around the neighbourhood asking people who lived at similar addresses (we're a 'close' but there is also an 'avenue') if they'd received it we were turned away empty handed.  So we contacted them and they despatched again and when I checked on line on Wednesday they'd apparently tried to deliver it on Monday - oooh no they hadn't (ooh yes they had - just not to our address - can't you tell we're in panto season).  I was in when they tried to deliver, there was no note through the door, I was losing all hope of ever seeing it.  Anyway Thursday afternoon and I made contact with Parcelforce and the lady was very helpful and said it had been taken to the nearest Post Office, so off I went with my Internet print out and my ID and look

my parcel, all mine, full with things I really really really really wanted - woohoo - so a big grateful for Parcelforce for sorting this issue out and doing a logical thing ie taking the item to the local Post Office who'd have thought!

Speaking of parcels, look at what arrived today, utterly gobsmacked I was when I opened it up, it's my Secret Santa gift organised by Carmen who is utterly amazing for thinking of something so awesome.  Thank you Carmen, can't give too much away about the reciprocal parcel after all it's a secret!  My thoughts are also with Carmen and her family at the moment - thinking of you hun!

Then we have this little beauty that I picked up at the Craft Box earlier in the week, a little bit of reading material for my weekend away!

So there you go these are my gratefuls for this week, I keep digging deep to find the silver linings that are occurring at the moment.

So what have you got going on in your life, are things ticking along or are things up and down at the moment, if you're not having the best of times don't forget to reflect and find those little things that have brought a smile to your face or lifted your heart.  If you fancy joining in don't forget to leave a link and a comment at the bottom with Mr Linky so we can come and visit.

Family Funny - My Turn this Week
Yes I know it's usually said 11 year old, very occasionally it's DH but rarely do I make those kind of errors!  But given that I've been so poorly it's not surprising.  Last week I had a read of Toni's blog posting about a 150 item list of long term things to achieve, I was astounded at some of the ideas - visit all 50 states (I'm assuming it started as a US list for someone which has been used by others), holding a tarantula - not my idea of something I'd want to achieve but one item did catch my eye - Climb the stairs in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, now I know that's what it said but my brain registered Eiffel Tower, I don't know why but this is how the conversation went

"Look at that, climb the stairs in the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I didn't know they have stairs I thought there was only a lift to the top"
"What?" says DH looking somewhat perplexed
"How would a lift work in that?"
"I thought there was only a lift I never thought you could get to the top with stairs, that might be something I could do" (bear in mind my lift phobia)
"but a lift would scrape all the way to the top" DH said laughing his head off
"what?"
"It can't hang straight so it would scrape all the way up, if it worked at all"
By now I was losing it, then I realised my error, we did have a serious giggle about this one.

Finally a bit of crafting to share this is a monument near Sledmere that we discovered by accident at the beginning of the year when a road was closed and we were forced along a diversion!  Now I don't mind diversions when you mind something as awesome as this!

Close ups, hearts punched and inked

 And hand stitched hearts with a contrasting thread run through them.

ROCKING MY WORLD FRIDAY - it's been a strange one

Yes officially it's Friday what is going on - where are these works going too?  It's all a little crazy today is pay date and this means the last pay day before Christmas ARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Anyway I digress (as usual) this is

the place where we put a list of gratefuls, where we look back over the last 7 days and note the moments that lifted our spirits and raised ourselves up amongst the norm.  This week has been a hard one to put together and I'm actually quite low, but these are the times when digging deep really does help and puts things into more perspective.

So first up has to be the moment over the weekend (last weekend obviously) when we were out in the car and I felt like someone had painted me a picture to really appreciate.  The colours in the trees and the depth of the landscape in front of me, together with a fine mist led to a beautiful painted picture of the countryside around me, it almost made me feel like I could paint it - dull grey sky, pale trees on the horizon, then some darker trees in the middle, then the darkest almost silhouetted trees before a blaze of autumnal colours, it's a sight that gave me thanks for being out and about that day and for witnessing the beauty of nature.


Family Funny
Then there is hubby for having a great sense of humour when making Christmas cakes last weekend, I shouldn't tell you really I shouldn't but we did giggle, making two was maybe a bad idea, the first one looks great - only problem is he forgot the glace cherries, half the almonds and half the flour - but apart from that it's fine - decided he's going to drown it in alcohol!  He almost considered adding the missing ingredients whilst it was in the oven - honestly - he did make me smile - this is a rocking moment, when hubby is fighting with a Nigella recipe and telling me what's missing - laughed til we cried.

Argos for having a sensibly priced desk, we tried a heritage place - £345 for a nest of tables - I think not!  Argos bargain desk for £90 and hubby put it together in just over an hour, now in situ so I'm back in the TV room, still little crafting going on but hey you can't have everything!

Said 11 year old (almost put little man but at 11 that seems a little unfair) bringing home buns from school which were lovely, this is the day after his first attempt at a CBBC recipe making cookies - now he made these on his own whilst I was supervising desk assembly and hubby was doing desk assembly and he did them to the letter, the only issue - they made more than 50 biscuits what kind of recipe is that?  Honestly 50 biscuits between three of us, with one of us not being a sweet fan and we wonder why I have weight issues!

Ant and Dec on I'm a Celebrity - the only reason we watch this program is for those two they are just so funny!

Said 11 year old for keeping his bedroom tidy so that the pre-Christmas clean up didn't take us more than an hour which is awesome stuff.

Our charity shop at work providing sensibly priced frames, my sister Melanie has been meaning to sort some frames all year and managed one up to now so I'm attempting to sort the remaining ones that are in the bag, so she can put them up on her stairs.  She's always fancied a black and white staircase and finally she's getting around to it.

So there we have it, that took some digging deep but there you go this weeks list of gratefuls.  If you fancy joining in - put your link on Mr Linky at the bottom so we can come and visit.

Right crafting a layout from our break in York at Easter and yes that is a swimming pool, it was probably the only positive about the place, that and it's close proximity to York

 Sometimes it's the tiny embellishments that make a layout, this was some peel offs - now stop don't run away I know I'm not a fan either but occasionally you can make them look ok on a layout

Right here is Mr Linky hope you all have a beautiful and blessed weekend.

MORNING ALL - HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Well I'm still here, payroll was awful - 8 hours fighting with 70 employees to get it to work properly - not firing on all cylinders proved taxing as you can imagine, but I beat it into submission.  Yesterday I collapsed into a heap again, the day before proving a little too much and I had one of those restless days - you know the ones that you could get loads done if only you engaged your brain but brain was fighting any type of engagement so I went with the flow and accepted that that was how it was going to be, felt a bit low by time hubby came home mind and fell asleep on the sofa early on - but I was wrecked Monday wreaked absolutely havoc on me.  But I am still upright and nearly almost level for that we'll do a happy dance - well actually you can do the happy dance for me because if I did it I might fall over. 

Today I'm going to head in for a couple of hours and make sure everyone has lots and lots to do and then come home - the plan is 11 o'clock leaving time - this was the same on Friday when I left at 12.45pm - so any guesses as to what time it will be today?  I promise I'm going to aim towards 11 o'clock - honestly!

Anyway we are hurtling towards Christmas I keep going on Toni's blog and she's got a Christmas countdown at the top which makes me gulp every time I see it.  I'm in mental "must sort house" mode we've done a few rooms (this will be the royal we as to be honest most of it has been done with me saying what to move and where and DH obliging bless him - he really is a star and knows how bad I am at this time of year).  What I'm actually attempting to do is to give me a clear December - no stop laughing that's my aim, if I do loads now then December should be fine and dandy shouldn't it?  Shouldn't it?  Problem is I started out with a 141 point to do list which still stands at 70+ so still loads to do, think I might have set the bar too high?

Anyway how's your Christmas planning coming along?  Any Secret Santa's out there in mental melt down - I e-mailed Carmen yesterday with the crazy question when is enough enough?  When will I know it's right - bless her she came back telling me to calm down and everything would be OK - struggling to agree with her mind - but I'm now gathering a little pile of goodies on the spare bed upstairs.

OK so enough of my waffling - here is some crafting to show you what I've been doing - I don't think I can call it recent, with being poorly crafting really has been the very last thing on my mind (literally the last thing).

Here is a layout of DH and said 11 year old making pizza during the summer, said 11 year old was doing a cookery course at school and came home talking dough and DH went into mini strop because he's never made bread and before you know it there on with home made pizzas - there was flour everywhere!  I went for blank space on this one for a change and I'm really pleased with it - however said 11 year old kept saying it needed something at the top - bless! 

 Close up I attached the buttons with embroidery thread and you can just see the little bit of stitching on the left hand side.

Have a beautiful day every one - hugs

A BIT OF CRAFTING AND SOME CARDS I DIDN'T MIND

Good Morning my beautiful blog friends grab a virtual cuppa and pull up a seat to share some crafting with you. 

This will be my first day attempting to go to work - think about me because I've got payroll to run for over 70 people - let's hope I get it right, might not be up to work on Tuesday though - we'll see!

Anyway, I've been aware that I've not been as active on my blog recently so thought I'd try and make an effort to get a few more blog posts on here now I'm upright and level again (nearly almost).

So I thought I'd share a double page spread that I did from earlier in the year detailing parts of Scarborough and my gorgeous hubby and said 11 year old!

I love blending blues and greens together and using up older papers - I'm loving that but haven't done a 12 x 12 layout for an absolute age so must get back particularly bearing in mind that I've had two photo deliveries recently.  I seem to be on with Christmas based items at the moment, really busy sorting things out for that so have had very little personal scrapping time! 

Up close you've got this edge which I've managed to get upside down for my blog post - but let's not stress LOL

And my stamped title using a favourite Papermania alphabet, matted and raised on sticky pads

A while ago I did some cards that I was actually quite pleased with and because I've got bored of seeing them in my blog folder thought I'd include them on this post.

Now I never ever profess to be a card maker so it's always nice to be able to show off ones that I don't mind, this is one of the card and the matching envelope

I used offcuts of paper, punchinella, peel offs (because I was using them up), embossing folders and little stamps and as you can see this set of cards turned out into little easel cards which I was mighty pleased with. 

So there you go a little crafting for you I hope you enjoy

ROCK IN PEACE RESURRECTED JOURNAL - THE FIRST ENTRY

Morning all, as some of you might be aware I'm involved in the second rock in peace CJ which is known as Rock In Peace Resurrected, it started last month and I was the first to receive Sian's beautiful circle journal.  Her theme was lyrics so I trawled through lots of music to find some of my favourites to include.  Now one of my 'issues' with mini books is that I like maxi books not mini - I love lots of space to create and Sian's journal was quite small so this proved quite a challenge, however I came up with a way of creating more space.

My first page documents lyrics from a Staind album, the page ended up quite 'art journally' but that doesn't surprise me given the type of work I've been creating recently

 Close up you can see the font, paint and clear embossing that I've done.

 The opposite page is words from Stone Sour's Through Glass with an acetate sheet in between to create a 'class effect' I've used a crackled glass edge to the acetate as well. 

 Up close

Then I've created a 'hidden' page behind the Stone Sour page 

I've included the lyrics from a Metallica track, explanations included in the book - I won't spoil the reason as you should all see the book before it's returned to Sian!

And finally, a Linkin Park page, using a Chester stencil that I've used on my own but this one has been made smaller and then using two different types of Linkin Park type fonts that I found.

I was actually really pleased with my entries into the book once I'd finished and that usually takes some doing!

ROCKING MY WORLD FRIDAY

Morning all I'm preparing this on thursday evening as hubby sits here trying to get some items for me for Christmas by click clicking his way through the world LOL

So what's been Rocking Your World this week?

Firstly mine has become more level - hurray!  I'm loving the world the right way up so that's top of the list, although I'm not fully back to 'normal' (whatever that is), being able to get in the car without being a danger to the world at large (well no more than usual) has been lovely.

Next up is hubby and son for putting up with me over the last few weeks, I'm getting more bolshy so must be getting better!   Also for both of them tackling the TV room this last week without much input from me, they've both been fabulous and just got on with the task in hand, the room is almost done just a few things to resolve but it's feeling more homely at the moment which is great. 

Then there is my sister for the phone calls and the chats and the visits, they've all been awesome and I feel very privileged to have had some quality time with her recently.

Then there's Royal Mail for delivering my click click shopping that I've been doing recently, it's been nice to receive some of the items that have been coming through the post and feel like I can tick the items off my lists.

I know my list is short this week, but in all honesty being cooped up in four walls hasn't meant much 'difference' when its come to my week, just a slow time back to normal - however, I am grateful for all of the above and for all of the lovely wishes I've received from you recently - you are all amazing and remind me that I am truly blessed.

A little crafting for you lovely people this layout documents us finally finding the skyspace at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, there are only a few dotted around the world, you go inside and sit on the concrete seats and look up, there is a closed in roof with just a square section that is open to the elements and through this square then you can see the sky which on a whispy white partially cloudy day gave us an ever changing skyscape that we loved!  I added little tag punches for the title and hand sewing to create some dimension, simply magical

Up close you can see the title and the handstitching, I used a running stitch and then threaded a co-ordinating fabric through at the same time.

So there you go another post completed, I hope you all have a truly blessed weekend.

Mr Linky for you all