TOOT TOOT!!!!! I am so chuffed!

Remember the fire photo? (Next post down)!!



Well here it is on the FRONT PAGE of the local paper!! How cool is that!? My first published picture!! And God did it look good when I walked in the supermarket and there was a whole rack of them, all lined up with my piccy on the front!!

I have been a very bad blogger! AGAIN!

Okay, if anyone knows of a good way to keep me blogging regularly, please let me know! Answers on a postcard.... or just leave a comment! LOL!
Anyhoo, some of my more recent creations;

Card holder, I have been making so many cards lately and had nowhere to put them, so I decided it was about time they had their own little storage case. I used a HOTP Personal Shopper kit for this, I do like working with these kits as there is so much in them and always plenty of contrasting papers and embellies for larger projects!

A page featuring myself and my very dear friend Tina, who sadly died in March, I found this page very therapeutic to do, although I have not included any journalling, I'm not ready for that yet. But it is a photo of her, how I remember her, full of fun, joy and smiles! And yes those chocolates we are sucking on are willy shaped, and I look stunning! NOT!



And finally for today, a card I made a while back, which I absolutely love, It is all vellum and I started making those addictive gathered flowers from organza ribbon again!! And the gems in the middle of them set them off perfectly!









One final, non-craft related thing, we had a massive storm last night and a massive fire started at the end of my road in a derelict old school, it was such a lovely, old Victorian building though and it was so sad to see it burning, but at the same time absolutely amazing. The power of the fire is so intense. It took eight fire engines, over 12 hours to put out, I stood in my back garden and watched the roof collapse, an amazing sight to see but one I don't want to see again! The funniest bit though was when the hydrant across from my house lost pressure, the firemen pulled the hoses off and guess what? Sod's law, the pressure came back full force and sent them flying, thankfully they were okay though and took it in good spirits!!!!

OK! Time to get going again!!

I have had loads on and I have recently celebrated my 30th birthday! And considering some of the poo that has gone on lately, life is great!!! I love it, I look in the mirror and for the first time in my life I like what I see, I feel so confident and able to achieve anything I can set my mind to and it's great! I can't understand why I'm feeling this way but I'm definately not complaining and long may it continue!!
So in relation to that statement here are a couple of LO's I have been doing over the last couple of weeks!
This one is me on my 30th Birthday after a rather drastic haircut!!!

This is the HAIR before and after, can you believe I weighed myself before I had it done and when I got home I had lost 1 1/2lb! I think I may have a skinhead next! LOL!

And the last one of me, (my BoM is full, I never thought that would happen) with new hair and new clothes (birthday pressies) ready for a hen night!! It was a great night and I LOVE that top so much!!!

It's been a while!

And TBH I haven't even considered updating my blog until now, you would not believe what has gone on recently, and for a while back there my Mojo went completely AWOL, it's back now but it needed a swift kick in the dirt-box first!!! Anyway, not posting any crafty makes today but something instead that is important to me right now.

My dear, wonderful friend Tina, suddenly and tragically died on the 19th March, I will miss you always and never forget the times we shared, you always had that sparkle inside you and the power to reach out to others and make them smile, even though you doubted that yourself sometimes. I hope what I have done since is right by you and is what you would have wanted,
I have acted how I thought best and I hope that it may bring some comfort to your family.
You will always be in my heart and in my mind, and I will miss you so much, you have left a hole in my life and my heart aches for you and what you went through. I love you darling, sweet dreams. xxx. I hope you found what you were looking for.
"If love could build a staircase and memories build a lane, I'd climb right up to heaven and bring you back again."

WOW! Check out the wind damage!!

Remember those storms? Well I spent most of the night laying in bed, petrified the roof would blow off or the chimney would come in but thankfully all we lost was the shed window, and then I look out of my window the next morning and see this, apparently a ship had broken free of it's moorings in the wind and smashed into the dock and crane and all that was left was this tangled pile of metal!

And while I'm at it, keep an eye on here because I won some blog candy from Jodi's blog Thanks Jodi!! So now I will be passing it forward, so keep popping back as there will be blog candy coming up soon!!

Catching Up!

I decided that it's about time I posted some of my latest makes up here, as what with one thing and another I have kinda neglected my blog! AGAIN!! I have a couple of new CJ's getting ready to go out and a couple of swaps as well, plus the DT stuff and life in general, I've been making loads and posting none of it!!

I've been playing with charms! I have absolutely loads of them at the moment and I love them, especially the ladybird, butterflies and bees set! Too cute! I love the charm bracelet but as soon as I used up all the hearts on that I got another set through!! So I may go for a matching jewellery collection!! LOL!

This is my first ever Tear Bear and I love them they are so cute and easy to do. Basically you use a wet paintbrush to draw your bear shapes on the paper and tear them out while they are wet, then use a firm bristle brush (an old toothbrush works well) and fluff them up round the edges, be careful not to fluff them to much though or you will wear the paper out and he will end up with a bald patch!!!

And here he is again, with a friend!! I also have made an Easter chick hatching from a vellum egg but I haven't photographed him yet!! I just love doing them, I have a fab tear bear pattern but I need to figure out how to upload the file here! There is loads more to upload so I will try and get it done over the next few days!
As for the matchbox drawers I haven't forgotten the requests for instructions just not had the time, as soon as I get some matchboxes I will make another set and create the instructions as I go!!

Thankyou Fab!!

The wonderful Fab has nominated Beverley, Looby, Alix, Shary and I for the Excellent Award over on the Crop Til You Drop Blog!! Thanks Fab!!
You just have to check out Fab's blog, it is absolutely amazing and incredibly inspiring!