Home again, thank god

Well last night didn't exactly go as I'd hoped. My niece came round with my Mum and got into a huge row with the kids just before I left so that made a crappy atmosphere, then I had a panic attack before going in. Great.
I used to get them a long time ago, freaked out whenever I was in crowds thinking everyone was staring at me etc but seemed to get out of it. Maybe with everything else lately its a stress thing. Didnt help that when I did go in, Mum txt me asking what medication Caitlin needed and I got told off for having my phone on. Glad I only go out once a year!!!!!
I admit I didn't really enjoy the show as much as I wanted to. There was one puppet however (it was a ventriloquist we saw) which was so cute! It was a little dog called Chichi who only really said 'I'm Chichi' An adorable little girl came on stage from the audience and sang with him which made me smile :) So Mark bought me this mug to cheer me up.

So today is a home day! Cameron doesn't seem to be himself, very weepy and a high temp so keeping an eye on him, other than that just pottering around. Can't wait until the summer holidays and my babies are home all the time :) Remind me of this 3 weeks in and I'm pulling out my hair please ;)

Well it's been a whole 5 days since I shared a hama bead creation, I bet you all thought I was ill! I had finished the ponies but then my Mum contacted me saying that a couple I had done for my neice had broken, so I'm back making more! Tried a different design for Rainbow dash this time which I thought was cute.

Hope these last longer!

Going out out

Well tonight Mark and I are off out. Like proper out, out with a babysitter and everything. Last time we did that was last June so it's kind of a big deal lol. If I'm honest I'm not a big fan of going out. It's always hassle and I'm much happier to stay home with a dvd and some ice cream. Boring to some but thats me!
Before getting ready though I finished off a layout I started last night. I took this photo on my phone a while ago and love how everyone is all cuddled up. Scamp is tucked up under that blanket if you can't see him lol.

Never rains but it pours

Yesterday before the meeting I got a call that my Gran had been rushed into hospital. Shes ok but way back the doctors took her off her blood pressure medication as she was getting dizzy and they thought it might be that. Yesterday though at a check up they found her bloody pressure was sky high so rushed her to hospital and did all the usual checks before deciding the original dr was an idiot, putting her back on the meds and sending her home. Today I get a call my uncle has collapsed and took to hospital and needs a stent put into his heart. So thats two, dreading a third!
On a happier note my next door neighbours came round tonight and as the med watched tv we went through a load of my crafting stuff. She has recently got into paper cutting and wants to do cardmaking too so I was showing her some of the bits she can use.
Bless her she found all the things very overwhelming which I can understand. I remember when I started scrapping and there was just so much stuff! I must have wasted a fortune buying things I HAD to have that I ended up never using and either chucking, giving away or selling for a fraction of the price. Hopefully if she can have a go with my stuff she won't have that problem :) So after stuffing ourselves with pizza we played with punches, die cuts and various other bits and she went home with lots of little shapes and a very large shopping list. I did apologise in advance to her husband while Mark looked on in pity lol
I also managed a bit of scrapping myself :) Every month Jess and I set a sketch challenge for the two of us to do. I was a very bad scrapper and forgot all about it so this is the one I set in May lol.

And this was my take. Not my fave layout, it looked different in my head but I was doing it to try to kickstart my mojo so don;t think it was fully awake yet.
The photos are from back in Turkey, I was sitting on the balcony reading with my feet on the table so Caitlin decided to copy me. When she saw me taking pictures she hid under the table which is where she is in the giggling photo :)
The little journaling tags Caitlin actually wrote, saying 'Mummy and me belong together all the time, all all the time' How cute! :)

Another day another meeting

This morning Cait was late to school because we took her doctor. She's been coughing for a while so thought better best to get her checked out. Turned out to be fine though just advised us to give her her inhaler more often.
Made me laugh though to come back from dropping Cam off to find her and Mark colouring in Caits Hello kitty book.

Well this afternoon was another social services meeting and as usual it raised more questions than answers. Money still isn't sorted and nobody seems to have any idea who is responsible for what. Almost lost my temper when we were told it was unlikely we could go on holiday though. See Mollie is classed as a Looked After Child, and has been since she went into my Mums care last September. True to social services form however nobody told us that, so when we booked a trip to Spain we assumed it would be the same as when we took Evie to Turkey, a letter from Nicola to say it was ok and that would be that. A couple of weeks ago though we were suddenly informed no, we need permission from the county council and that usually takes weeks which we didn't have. Brilliant. I did my usual thing, ringing around, making a pain in the ass of myself until someone said they would sort it but apprently that was just a 'go away' promise.
So today in the meeting we were told not to hold out much hope we could go. Um, no, not happening. I very calmly informed them I would be there every morning, ringing on the hour, every hour to make sure we got those papers. Funnily enough a couple of hours later we got a call saying we got them and could go! Ok so until they;re in my hand I won't fully relax but it's something ;) Now to get Mums money sorted.......

Sports day!

How did sports day come around so quick again?! This year seems to be speeding by at a crazy rate. Before I know it I'll have to be planning Christmas craft projects, yey! ;)
Luckily weather was nice compared to last year so we got to sit in the sun while we watched :) Caitlin wasn't too fond of the idea of taking part but she enjoyed it in the end.

Caitlin didn't place but Cameron came third in the running race, bless them I think they take after me in the athletic department. ;)

Still battling with social services. Seriously it's just a constant round of phonecalls, refusing to leave the office reception until someone listens etc. At the moment it's very one step forward, two steps back which is so draining it's unbelievable. Latest battle is that they lost the CRB checks they did back in January, and Mum isn't entitled to any money until those are done so I've been ringing round trying to find out who is responsible for that. It's always someone else though iykwim never the person I'm talking to. Not much alternative though so got to keep going!

More Hamas and obstacle course!

More hamas today :) Actually managed to make 3 different models but one still needs ironing so will share that tomorrow.
I did the top part of Camerons door sign a while ago but he wanted one with his name on so did this :)

Spike the dragon, as requested :) Caitlin loves the episode where he gets a magic mustache so I did that one. She was thrilled and jumped up and down squealing when she saw it, yey :)

Cameron homework this week was fun :) It's all about health and fitness at the moment so he had to build an obsticale course, run it then figure out who was fastest etc. We were lucky as just after the last person ran it the heavens opened and it poured down!

Sports day tomorrow so hope it stays dry for that!

No more ponies!

Well almost lol. I still need to do a twilight sparkle for Mollie, and another Applejack after the tail fell off and Mum used normal paper to iron it rather than grease proof paper and this happened:

I have no words lol. Caitlins however look a lot better :) I did it so I looked like Twilight was holding up one side of the bunting:

and Rainbow dash was holding up the other side.

Caitlins now asked for a Spike for the middle, and Cameron wants some Mario stuff for his walls, so not hanging up the Hama beads just yet!

Blast from the past!

Well this mornings car boot sale went quite well :) Made £30, bought the kids some goodies and cleared out a load of stuff which was cluttering up the garage. I also got very badly sunburned but oh well lol.
One of the things I got the kids was this!!! I had this same alarm clock when I was a kid and thought Cam would love it so snapped it up :) Trouble is now I'm home and set it up, we have no idea how to stop it going off every 2 hours!
Maybe it can just be a statue ;)

I also got a little coat for 10p, not because I needed a baby girls coat but because these buttons were so pretty! Love a good bargain ;)

Well regular readers might have noticed my blogging, and everything really has fallen by the wayside recently. If I'm honest its been a rough time. Not that times have been easy over the past couple of years with my sister etc but it's really been everything at once. More rubbish from social services, Mark having a lot of appointments recently. feeling very unappreciated at 'work' and I finally agreed to go to the doctors about some problems I've been having recently and turns out could be more serious than I thought :( I've had some bloods drawn and been prescribed some meds etc but waiting on appointment with the hospital for scans etc to find out whats going on. Funnily enough the straw that broke the camels back was the bills popping up so my birthday 'fund' is now empty. :( Was dreading turning 30 as it was but it becoming a 'non event' felt a little like the universe telling me I didn't matter. Daft I know but with one thing on top of the other....
Anyway I've had a week of wallowing and I'm done :) Time to pick myself up and get on. Luckily I have a million and one things coming up which need organising, planning and implementing so that will keep me busy! Hopefully will get some mojo back too ;)

Poor cam

Last night the kids were out playing until gone 9 so by the time they came in, got ready for bed etc was wayyyy past bedtime. This morning they slept in until 9:30 so yey! lol. They went out playing this morning but poor Camerons hay fever seemed to be on overdrive so his eyes were so swollen he had to go in and couldn't play :( He does take hay fever tabs which usually work but not today. Quick trip to Asda to get some piriton and fingers crossed he'll be better tomorrow.
While at Asda I did manage to cross another off my Scavenger hunt list :)

I don't know about you but I think gnomes are creepy! particually these ones are they're huge, to each their own though, I wanted to get a photo of the Asda gnome which wares a mankini but oh well. lol
1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
2. A garden gnome
3. Birds on a wire
4. A group of tourists
5. A rack of post cards
6. An urban street scene
7. A rural landscape
8. A tattoo on a person
9. A bakery
10. A photo bomb (someone found lurking in the background of photo; the lurker may have intended to disrupt the picture or may be doing it unintentionally, but the background lurker is a surprise to the photographer)
11. A horn
12. A mascot
13. A sunrise
14. A parade
15. A juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English
17. A lamp post
18. A water fall
19. A public garden
20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season (recognizing that the season will be Winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere). Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.

Tomorrow Mum and I are hoping to raise a few pennies by doing a car boot sale. :) 5:30am start! Oh well, compared to the Next sale its a lie in ;)

Lucky girl :)

I'm Marks carer, we all know this and it's really my full time job. As a result we obviously don't have the same 'husband/wife' dynamic as most other couples but nobody can say we don't love each other :) Today bless him Mark did his absolute best to take all the weigh off my shoulders he could. It's been a difficuilt week with a possible long road ahead so safe to say I've not been 100% Mark went round almost all the shops up town with me begging for donations for the school, despite the fact he was obviously exhausted and struggling. OK it might not be the chocolates and flowers other wives class as romantic but it shows me how much he cares and tries his best to help. :)
OK that mushiness over I think we're both exhausted tonight! The PTA had a lot on today, we first had a 'bring a bottle' mufti day, where the kids had to bring a bottle of anything, wine, mouthwash, tomato sauce etc in order to wear normal clothes instead of uniform. OMG we were overwhelmed with the response! One parent donated 72 bottles of juice! Took a fair while to move stall them all before going town. After all that was done we went begging, then shopping for 130 hot dogs, rolls and onions etc ready for bingo!

It's always hectic organising a big event like this but I love it when it all comes together and we get to sit and watch everyone else enjoy it. We have loads more coming up this week so will be busy! I love it though, keeps me distracted.

Ugh day

Well today I was supposed to be getting a much needed haircut, but after an unexpected bill that went out the window :( So today was spent doing housework and packing up the winter clothes to go into the loft. Fun.
After all the layouts I managed to do over the weekend with Jennifer Grace, my mojo has flown out the window, I did this one ages ago but hadn't shared it yet. It was for a challenge in Scrapbook magazine to use the words 'love who you are' somewhere on your layout. I picked this photo of Mark and the kids from fathers day a couple of years ago.

I used lots of old bits and while its quite a simple layout I quite like it :) I focused mainly on the title so that did most of the work for me.

Well tomorrow is Bingo night at the school, the PTA is running it so another hectic fun night I hope!

Finished

Last week I started helping a girl decorate her daughters room. Unfortunately she suffers from a disability so wasn't able to do it herself so I stepped in to help. Over the past few days I've redone the room so it is now a pretty pink, will get the carpet laid tomorrow ready for me to put the furniture in at the end of the week. :) Nice to help out where I can.
Which makes me think of my friend Lesleys meme, Make A Difference. The idea being that you do anything, however big or small to make a difference in someones life. If you would like to join in the info is here :)
Well other than that today has been a nightmare. :( Big bill we didn't expect so I had to cancel my hair appointment tomorrow which I was really looking forward to, then a drs appointment resulted in meds, blood tests and an ultrasound appointment. Joy. :( Really could do with some good luck soon please!!!!
After all the layouts I managed to do over the weekend with Jennifer Grace, my mojo has flown out the window, I did this one ages ago but hadn't shared it yet. I managed to finish these a while ago but hadn't shared them yet, more hama bead creations! I did a glow in the dark Pinkie pie for Caitlins room and...

a glow in the dark Minecraft sign for Camerons door :)

No idea what I'm doing tonight but can see a book and a cup of tea in my future ;)

Official rainbows member :)

Well its been a long day but relaxed this afternoon meeting my Mum for a coffee. I decided to try the Mocha mint coffee cooler which was yum but very minty! The guy was very careful with the topping though, was like a little work of art :)

Tuesday is Rainbows day and when I dropped Caitlin off I was told they were all being enrolled tonight! I wish I'd known in advance I'd have done her hair a bit nicer :s

Caitlin was very proud of herself though and got a badge and certificate to take into school.
Almost finished the large Rainbow dash hama bead figure I'm doing, actually had to order another bag as ran out of blue, after this I've only got Twilight sparkle to do and I'm done!

Counterfeit kit

Ok better late than never! I did actually make this on the first of the month but have only just got around to photographing and blogging it (obviously not used it yet lol)
This was the kit we had to work from, love the bright colours in this :)

So thats minaly what I took. I had some papers similar to the ones in the kit so obviously put those in.

And these are my embellishments :) There were some die cut butterflies so I used my punch to make some, the papers seemed kind of autumnal (is that a word or did I just make that up) to me so I included a sheet of Autumn themed stickers. :)

Still not touched last months and considering how quick this month is going I doubt I will this month either! Fingers crossed for next month lol.

How to train your dragon two :)

We're huge fans of how to train your dragon in this house, so for Marks fathers day I booked tickets to the preview showing of the sequel today. Cameron was so excited bless him I thought he was going to pop!

The film was amazing! When it finished Cam asked if we could get it on DVD and was gutted when I told him it wouldn't be out for months lol.
Don't know if its the week catching up on me but I'm sooooo tired today. Can see an early night coming so I don't think I'll be finishing all the challenges on Jennifer grace on time like I hoped :( Did do this one last night though :)
Challenge was to use orange and teal which I think I've covered :) The photo is Caitlin in her Merida wig with her bow and arrow. Being my daughter she was bound to be a Disney fan but with her Scottish heritage Merida is the perfect princess for her.

Used the paw print as obviously bears are a huge theme in the film, and changed the journaling tag by putting buttons over the pictures of ladybirds that were on it. One has moved at some point though so a ladybird is peeking out.

Well this week is busy but nowhere near as busy as last week so looking forward to a break and hopefully some much needed good news :)

Crafting again :)

Well Caitlin spent most of this morning nagging me to do some crafting, obviously I couldn't say no to my baby girl so after cleaning, bills etc we hid upstairs from the boys and made a mess ;)

But we did do some crafting too! Caitlin made some bits for Mark tomorrow, while I attempted the 'Can you resist it?' challenge on Jennifer grace. I didn't have any resist items in my stash so tried to make something myself using glossy accents. :)
I've since been told vasiline works better, oh well!

Ok so its not a perfect sunburst but I quite like the effect and you have to try these things don't you!

Next was a fathers day card for Mark using the following be inspired prompts

Make a project with just washi and words

Do something on the diagonal

Send a bright and colourful card to someone

Considering how much I hate making cards I really like this! Can see me using this a lot more in future :)

Pamper night

Yey it's the end of the week!!! It's been a looooong week lol. To end it on a high we decided to have a pamper night :) Caitlins been asking to go to a spa for ages but shes a bit young IMO so thought we would bring the spa to her!
Girls enjoyed their face packs, manicures, foot massages and sweets!

Caitlin did my nails too, aren't they pretty? (where did I put that nail varnish remover?!)

Didn't manage to finish the garden today as had lots of volunteer work to do but fingers crossed tomorrow! That said it's supposed to rain so doubt anybody will be in the garden anyway!

Cute or creepy

You know, I get to a point where I think social services are as usless as they can get, then they get worse. SERIOUSLY!!!! You know that limit everyone has, honestly think I'm close to mine. Don't know if its an age thing or just circumstances but I really don't have as much patience as I used to and tbh I'm just done with the whole thing. *sigh* might feel different tomorrow don't know.
On a good note my gravel came so I managed to get most of that otu and the garden is almost done!!! Hopefully will be done by the weekend so the kids can get out there and play :)
Maybe if they do I can get some scrapping time! Still sharing old ones.
This is a realllly old photo from a theme park we went to. If I'm honest the park was actually pretty rubbish but the kids loved these swings which were like giant monkeys.

Not sure if they're cute or creepy myself, think I'm leaning towards creepy lol/

Well tomorrow Cameron is getting a star of the week award in assembelly then after a busy day we're having a spa night at home, going to need it I think!

Super long day.

Well this morning I woke up aching like mad, but you get on with it don't you :) I went to my volunteer work were it turned out I was needed to move furniture, sand walls, paint and rip up carpets. Considering I have the gravel coming tomorrow which will need to be carried through the garage and laid I think I'm going to really need the spa night we have planned on Friday!
To be honest as hard as it is I love getting things done so feeling great about it :) I love helping out and can't imagine being in a position where I can't do these things for myself so means a lot to help people who are not so lucky.
Still not had the energy to scrap so another old one :) Still from the kit Jess sent lol, its never ending!
Photo was from Peppa pig world, the anamatronic figures were actually really good, they were made of rubber rather than metal so when they talked and moved it looked quite real. Which freaked Catlin out as you can see!

Well tomorrow is all cleaning and meetings so wish me luck this one goes better than the last!

Exhausted!!!

I'm amazed I'm still standing today lol. The skip came this morning so I've been digging out the turf, filling the skip and flattening the ground for the gravel for 6 hours in the blistering heat. When I ordered the skip the weather said cool with showers, didn't work out that way! lol. I'm so excited to get it done though and I admit I'm proud that I did it :)
The fact I saved £300 by doing it myself doesn't hurt either ;)
Still not scrapped so thought I would share the monocrome layout I did the other night. I never usually get black and white photos but loved this one of Caitlin Mark took with his phone as it shows off her eyes.

Was an amazingly simple layout with some washi tape and more goodies from the kit Jess sent me :) Still have a few bits left!

So magical

So today has been pretty crazy at the start of a pretty crazy week! I have SO much to get done this week its scary!
This morning was ironing and cleaning before meeting my Mum to go shopping and do paperwork. Had a shock on the way, was driving and heard a loud bang, looked in my mirror to see the car just behind me being smashed by another into the division railings. We turned around to check everyone was ok but as they were all out of the car on their phones it seemed fine so drove on. We went to Asda, filled out so much paperwork my hand cramped and did our shopping. Driving back the traffic was dreadful and reaching where the accident was there were 2 fire engines, a air ambulence, normal ambulence and loads of police! Was shocked as really didn't look that serious an accident! :S Turned out later the car had turned the corner too fast and hit the other, one of the passengers had hurt their neck so taking no chanced they had cut the roof off the car and took them to hospital. Thankfully everyone was fine but scary to think if I was just a little slower it would have hit me :s
Well off accidents and onto layouts. I admit I haven't had a chance to do any more projects form the weekend so sharing some older ones :).
This is another one I did with the kit Jess sent me. She included a gorgeous overlay so that did most of the work for me

Some strips of paper and a bit of stickles and this photo of Caitlin meeting Belle was finished :)

SO excited about tomorrow, getting a skip delivered!!! OK most people wouldnt get excited about that but our lawn is such a mess I can't wait to dig it all out and get gravel laid. Can imagine I'll ache a bit tomorrow but will be worth it!

Still refeshing :)

Today was a lovely day so we decided to make the most of it by going for a walk and popping into town to grab a few bits. The idea was that I could get it done today and not have to go tomorrow but I've since been asked by my Mum to go up with her so bang goes that idea lol.
As well as enjoying the sunshine I'm still playing along with Jennifer grace creates here. Obviously haven't got quite as much done today as yesterday but better than nothing!
First project I worked on was this:

Be Inspired:

Make some pretty storage for something in your home

Use some rain boots (wellies / gumboots) or your next project

Layer some paint, mist, and glitter

Was a bit stuck on the storage idea but managed to do a layout with paint, mist and glitter, and added a flair button with wellies on to complete the rainboot suggestion. Not my fave layout but I started this very late last night so think my mojo was tired.

Next was:

Be Inspired:

Make something spontaneous without fussing over it

Drip mist (or paint / ink) over an almost finished project

Cut the corners off some paper

I like this one much better. :) I don't fuss over my layouts much anyway tbh but decided to do even less here and managed to make this layout within 5 minutes!
First I grabbed some scraps and stuck them down. Aside from mounting the surf board piece onto dark paper I didnt even trim them. Misted the papers (which doesn't show up too well in the photo :S) quick add of some embellishments from my 'use up' pile and I was done!

Use up pile slowly getting smaller!!!!!

Declutter!

Hope everyones having a lovely weekend :) We're predicted dreadful storms here so can't see me going far! That's fine though as I'm still playing along with the Jennifer Grace Creates blog event here.
I'm soooo behind lol. I remember when I used to do blog hops and cyber crops and I would have finished the first challenge and actually had time to spare before the next one started! Not now, I'm still enjoying it though. :) I've decided to take the theme of the event to heart and use it to 'refresh' my bedroom lol. Regular readers will know I don't scrap at a desk or table I get the floor of my bedroom. Doesnt do my back much good but gives me plenty of space to spread out! Unfortunatly I've done that a little too much and theres stuff everywhere! Not good when trying to get Mark about. *Bad wife* Anyway so I've decided that all the challenges and projects I do this weekend will be done only with what I have to hand. If I need to get up to get it then I'm not allowed to use it.
Hopefully this will help clear up some of the little bits I have scattered everywhere and lets face it it indulges my lazy side. :P
Just to show you how bad the mess is this is the tidy area, and Caitlin keeping me company of course :)

So onto the projects! First to catch up on from yesterday were these inspiration prompts

Be Inspired:

Make a waterfall / river / sea with mixed-media layers

Create a monotone project

Stitch some wavy lines

Now I had never, ever done a monotone project as I never usually get black and white photos developed and I don't think they look as good with colour photos.........then the other night I used my one and only black and white photo to do a monotone project showing Caitlins eyes. So you can imagine me kicking myself when I read this challenge! Cue lots of hunting for a photo I thought I could use; and I found this one :)

I love this layout! Some scraps, an old rub on and some random bits and bobs and it was done. So simple and pretty :) I did have to get imaginative with the title though as had very few alphas int he right colour. The word 'Splashes' was actually '8dbd9y38'
I used stickles and mists to try to make wave like effects under the picture. If I'm honest when I finished they looked more like um, sperm than waves lol. So I covered it a little with some twine and a Turkish charm as thats where we are in the photo. Not quite so obvious now lol.

Lots more projects to do and craft stash to use up! Wish me luck!

Jennifer Grace creates

So this weekend is the Refesh your craft and soul Blog event on Jennifer Grace Creates here.
I did hope over the weekend to get a few projects done but the kids were so well behaved with their friend I managed to get 4 done just this evening! I won't bore you with them all so far but the first inspiration was PL style card.

I don't really do project life so instead turned it into a card for Mark next weekend. :)
He never looks at my blog but watch him look now there's something he shouldn't see lol.

Next was a beautiful card but I used the inspiration points to instead make a layout.

Be Inspired:

Mount two sheets of square patterned paper at the back of your project

Choose two sentiments instead of one

Use your favourite techniques to keep things simple

I scraplifted a layout I had found on pinterest (original layout here)  and came up with this :)

The photo is from last Halloween where Cameron was Mario and Caitlin a princess. 'Double trouble' and 'we are family' are the two sentiments and layering is my favourite simple technique.

Loving this event so far so hope you can come join in too!