Day 335 - Sunday 30th November

Love, loving - Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection

I don’t think I have ever experienced such a strong and intense love since I have had Zoë. She is the most precious thing in the world. Need I say anymore?

Day 334 - Saturday 29th November

Cry/crying - The term crying most commonly refers to the act of shedding tears as a response to an emotional state in humans

I have felt like crying a few times today. We have a lot of work to do for the VAT decrease and some of it caused our network to crash. I went into work this morning for 8.15am to reboot the firewall and router. However this killed the firewall and I had to wait for an engineer to come from Harlow to fix it. This took until almost 3pm and then I went over the cafe for a late lunch where I got calls from all the other centres for the rest of the afternoon because the credit card authorisation was up and down like a yo-yo. So all in all, I have had a rubbish day and am looking forward to going to bed.

Other Christmas Cards made today

Sorry about the amount of the same Forever Friends stamp but I coloured in a batch of them last night and managed to make 13 cards today.

Friday Sketchers # 30

This week's sketch is:

Here is my card:

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #27

This week we had a sketch from MichelleO

Here is my card:

Papertake Challenge - Dawnys Sketch #3

This week's sketch is:

And here is my card - the papers are from Basic Grey Wassail range.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #8

This week's challenge was to use decoupage. I have used the Forever Friends christmas stamp and coloured it using Prisma pencils. I have decoupaged the bears to 2 layers and the star to 3 layers (not shown very well on the photo).

Day 333 - Friday 28th November

Anger, angry - Anger is an emotional state that may range from minor irritation to intense rage

I do have a terrible temper. I tend to blow up really quickly and then am fine again. I have noticed that as I get older it is getting worse and that I can get angry about quite silly things. I don’t stay angry for long though and I often apologise for my outburst – unless I was in the right of course.

Day 332 - Thursday 27th November

Laughter/laughing

Laughter is an audible expression, or appearance of merriment or happiness, or an inward feeling of joy and pleasure

There is no better sound than that of a child's laughter.

Journal Your Christmas 2008

On the 1st of December, Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas starts again. I have done a few of Shimelle’s classes in the past but this is the first time I have done this one. I recently met up my fellow 365’ers and looked through some of their journals that they made last year and they totally inspired me to join the class and have a go myself. The other reason I decided to take part in the class was that my little daughter will turn 3 in the week before Christmas and I am determined to really get her into Christmas this year and I want to be able to journal the build up and excitement of it all for her to look back on in years to come.
If you wish to see what this project is all about go to http://www.shimelle.com/classes/389/journal-your-christmas.

Go on sign up, you know you want to!!!!

Day 331 - Wednesday 26th November

Sad/Sadness

Sadness is an emotion characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, and helplessness. When sad, people often become quiet, less energetic, and withdrawn. Sadness is considered to be the opposite of happiness

As I said yesterday, I hate feeling sad. If ever I am feeling a little bit blue, I give myself a strict talking to and pull myself out of the doldrums. I guess I am quite lucky and I have not had to experience much sadness in my lifetime. There are many things that make me sad in the world – such as child cruelty and poverty etc but these are things that apart from giving to charity I cannot do much about. If someone else I know is feeling sad, I would go out of my way to try and make them happier.

Day 330 - Tuesday 25th November

We are on the home stretch now, with only a few weeks left, before our year long project is completed. This week we are going to look at our emotions.

Happiness/Happy - Happiness is an emotion associated with feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense joy

I think, overall, I am a happy person. I think a smile or laughter is the best medicine and makes you feel much better. I find it very difficult to be around grumpy or miserable people as I think life is too short and you need to make the most of the time that you have on this earth. Why spend it being miserable?

365 Challenge - Week 47 Layout

Once again I have rebelled. Anna asked us to scrap the photo from Day 327 but I have already scrapped the photo from this day so I used my Advent Calendar photos from yesterday.

Day 329 - Monday 24th November

If you woke up this morning, it's time to celebrate!" - Joe Takash

What are you going to celebrate today?

I love the quote but unfortunately there isn’t much to celebrate today.
We have had our broadband swapped to a new provider today and it hasn’t gone very smoothly and we are still have no connection to one of our garden centres and no emails. So that is all still to be resolved tomorrow.
Also the government announced a reduction in the VAT rate from 17.5% to 15%. This isn’t much in terms of monetary value on most transactions but for retailers it is a complete nightmare. Customers will expect us to pass the saving on to them but the amount of work that this will involve is tremendous.
The only thing good to have happened today is getting my portrait photo from Anna. It is fabby - bearing in mind the subject!!!

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Blooming Marvellous & Friday Sketchers No 29

I don't like to do this normally but I have so many projects on the go at the moment that I have combined 2 card challenges. Firstly the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge is called Blooming Marvellous and they asked to see flowers or floral papers on the card. I then used the sketch from the Friday Sketchers challenge.

The card is for James' Grandma who is in hospital with terminal cancer. We have been advised not to visit her but I thought I would send her a card.

The stamp is a Penny Black one and I have used paper from a Basic Grey pad.

Day 328 - Sunday 23rd November

"A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.” - Plutarch (46-137), historian, biographer, essayist

What’s filling your mind today?

I am determined to get Zoë really into Christmas this year. I have bought the Polar Express DVD to watch with her and I have made a matchbox advent calendar. However I saw a fabric advent calendar and I knew I just had to make her one.
I haven’t used a sewing machine for about 10 years, but I have managed to make the calendar – well almost, it is not quite finished yet. The stitching is a bit wonky but I like to think of it as “rustic” – as long as it doesn’t fall apart when I put goodies in it.

Sketch Saturday # 26

The sketch for the week is:

This is my card.

Cute Card Thursday - Snow and Snowflakes

This week the challenge was to see 'snow' or snowflakes on the card. This is my effort.

Papertake Challenge - Let it Snow

This weeks challenge is Snow! Anything snow related - snowmen, snowflakes, snowy scenes etc!
So here is my card:

Day 327 - Saturday 22nd November

"Baby it's cold outside" - Dean Martin

It’s freezing cold here in the UK, whats the weather doing where you are today?

Brrrr it is definitely cold today. We met my brother, his family and my mum down on Poole Quay for lunch and it really was cold. It was dry and there was no wind about but it definitely felt cold. After lunch we had a little stroll along the quay but we didn’t go far as it was just too cold.
I am really hoping for snow as I would love to see Zoë’s face when she sees it and I know I would get some great photos with her and Daddy playing in it. However, we are too far south and we never get snow – but I can live in hope!!!

Check this out...

I have just found an amazing blog http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com/

She has done some amazing things and makes me very envious. She is giving away the most generous blog candy. Have a look.

Day 326 - Friday 21 November

"There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behaviour, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. ‘Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night’s lodging. ‘Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. ” - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), philosopher, poet, essayist

I like to think I fit in with this prompt and that I am charitable and courteous. As I have said before I try to treat people in the same way as I would like to be treated. It would be unfair to expect to something that you are not willing to do or give yourself.
Last week we had a tombola with supplier samples for Children in Need and I won this lovely big plate which has a matching vase and some vanilla pot pourri.

Day 325 - Thursday 20 November

Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart and your story will touch and heal people’s souls – Melody Beattie, author and journalist

If I understand this prompt correctly, it is about being open and honest. I think I am both of these and sometimes it works out to be detrimental to me. I like to always think the best of people and then am always surprised and hurt when they turn out to be different to how I expect them to be. I can’t play office politic games and have been caught out several times. I have learned, the hard way, that it is better just to keep your head down and just get on with things. Trouble is, I have a big gob and tend to say things that I shouldn’t!!!!
So I would love to be like the prompt, but I am just not sure that in this day and age, it is feasible to do so.

Day 324 - Wednesday 19th November

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” - Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician and orator

You don’t seem to get Thank You cards anymore when you send a gift to someone, so imagine my surprise when I opened this lovely thank you card from Zoë’s little friend Joshua as a thank you for his birthday present. I am guessing he made it and he is only 3.

365 Challenge - Week 46 Layout

I retook most of my photos for last week as I wanted to do all the James Bond prompts with photos of Pudsey in different guises. I then couldn't choose which photo to scrap so I used them all.

Day 323 - Tuesday 18th November

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses." - Ann Landers (1918-2002); advice columnist

Well I think this sums up James and I, although I think love came before friendship. I was in such a waste of a relationship before James as I had such low self esteem and I felt it was better to be in any relationship than be by myself. Luckily James came along and rescued me from this. We have been together for 10 years now and we have gone through good and bad times but this has only made us stronger. He has his imperfections and weaknesses but luckily my lack of these balance his out!!!! ;-)

Day 322 - Monday 17th November

Having had the layout prompt today and not being overly pleased with any of my pictures for the last week other than the Pudsey ones, I had a brainwave. The prompts this week have all been based on James Bond and so I have retaken the pictures for the week with Pudsey as the 007 agent.

Day 322 - "Where are You?" - Theme tune from MoonRaker

Day 321 - "Casino Royale" - Daniel Craig 2006

Day 320 - "For Your Eyes Only" - Roger Moore 1981

Day 319 - "Tomorrow Never Dies" - Pierce Brosman 1997

Day 318 - "Never Say Never Again" - Sean Connery - 1983

Day 317 - Gold Finger - Sean Connery 1964

Day 316 - Diamonds are forever - Sean Connery 1971

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #7

This week's challenge is called As Cute As A Button and we were challenged to make a card using a cute image and buttons. Well you can't get much cuter than a Simon & Lola stamp coloured in using Prismas. For some the ink smudged a bit when I was colouring the image especially around her cheeks. The image is matted and layered on brown card stock using Nestabilities. I ahve added various buttons from my stash in coordinating colours.

Sketch Saturday # 25

This week's sketch is this:

I found this sketch much harder than I thought it would be. My card is made using Basic Grey papers from the Wassail pad and dark red cardstock. I have used a Magnolia stamp from the Autumn kit (kindly stamped from Jo) and the log too. I have embossed using the Cuttlebug Snow Dots folder and rubbed metallic powder over the top. The sentiment is a Stamps Away cut and mounted using Nestabilities. The flower is a felt one.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #23

This week's challenge was to make a monochromatic card. Seeing as I just lurrvvvve pink... ... an easy choice to make.

I have used the Uplifting Occasion stamp and coloured it in using Prisma pencils. This made a nice change as I have been using alot of Promarkers recently. The papers are all from the Papermania Raspberry Champagne pad and I have mounted them on two shades of pink card. I then added a pink ribbon and a Stamps Away sentiment.

Day 321 - Sunday 17th November

"Casino Royale" - Daniel Craig 2006

Are you a gambler, or do you play safe?

I am not a gambler at all in the traditional sense – too tight to waste money like that ;-) In terms of life, I like to weigh up the options before I make a final decision about a course of action.
I do like a game of cards for pennies though. For the photo I had to use Zoë’s fairy crown and her CBeebies cards.

Halloween Mini Book

This mini book is so easy to make - thanks to Shirley for the template for it. I have used some Halloween paper for the cover and then purple, green and orange Bazzill card to make the pages.

The photos are from the Halloween party that Zoe went to at a nursery friend's house.

I have used various Bazzill Just the Edge strips, halloween stamps from Clear Art Stamps, gems and flowers. The font used throughout the book is Dymo (thanks to Alli who had this in one of her mini books and I loved it.)

The pages of this book interleave with one another.

Front Cover:

First page as you open the book:Next pages: