My Town Monday - Around my Town

This week I am fresh out of interesting stories, so I have decided to show you a few shots of the town and one of the reasons I like living in a 'Garden' City!!
Above is shot of the main Campus looking towards the white bridge, called the white bridge as its a bridge painted white!! (That said you can't see it in this shot!!!) The council have recently taken out a load of huge Laurel bushes and replaced them with a pleasant circular paved area with seating which is great for open air meetings, its also the venue for the Christmas Tree.

This shot is looking towards Welwyn Department Store - John Lewis, this is a huge store over three floors. When it was built there were apartments and a social club build on top. As recently as the 80's the club boasted a couple of squash courts plus a bar and function area primarily for the employees of the store. The club and courts have now gone and are used as offices however the apartments are still there. My daughter and her partner live there. Its ideal for them, right in the heart of town, they don't drive so no parking to worry about and her partner works for John Lewis, so they get a reduced rent. There are all sorts of flats up there ranging from studios to three bedroom flats, the down side is the lack of lifts meaning a trudge of around 80 steps to get to where they are and there are two further floors on top of them!!

We visited Laura for her birthday and on the way out caught a Church Parade which started in one of the roads off of the Campus and marched via the Campus to a nearby church. It was great to see so many Cadets joining in!!

This shot is looking towards the council offices (on the left) The building in the centre distance is the multi storey car Park and the building on the right is the other end of John Lewis.

Although this shot looks very similar to the first , its not the same. This is a shot of 'Campus West' This building houses the main town library, The theatre and Roller City. There are also many function rooms where all sorts happens. On the other side of the road is the college and the Police Station.

So A quick tour of my town on a pretty Autumn afternoon!!

Nice Evening!

Last night we had a house full, we don't have a very big house so nine of us really filled it up!! Debbielou and her family and my friends kids Ali and Emma. Emma has ended up staying for a sleepover. We hadn't really met up with Debbie and Malc since our holiday in the summer. (If you don't count me popping into Malc's office and 'breading' his desk!!) We took a look at their photos (they were clever enough to avoid looking at ours!!)AND we celebrated Georgies Un Birthday, having missed her birthday completely in September!
This morning Tom is at work and I have just put the dish washer on for the second time, we seem to have generated a ton of washing up.
Carl has been away all weekend camping, so I can't wait until he gets back stinking of campfires and putting my washing machine into overdrive again!!
I think I might try and wrap a few presents while its peaceful.

I can't even shop in peace!!

Today Tom and I went to Watford to do our Christmas Shopping, I was standing in the queue of the bargain shop of the century, Primark, when Sue (as in Suebaru, ELC girl) Turned up, I am sure she is stalking me!!!!
I shopping trip was successful, we managed to get just about everything and I even bought some silicone muffin cases, WHY??? Must be having a sudden rush of blood to the head!!
We have a busy weekend planned, with Debbielou and her family coming over for tea. A chance to catch up on all that's happened since our holiday.I have nearly finished scrapping my summer photos so thats a bonus!
My Baby Boy is away for the weekend, not really too much of a problem, except he is camping!! I think he is mad. He is a young leader for the scouts and he and two other leaders are taking a group camping. Its been dark since 4. So I have no idea how they will cope. At the moment its 5 degrees C, I hope he has a load of clothes to wear to get him through the night!!
Hope everyone has a good weekend.

This weeks Sketch from Di Hickman.

This weeks sketch is a little different to cards that I usually do, to start with I have trouble getting curvy things right, they really don't please my eye, I seem to prefer regular shapes with straight lines. I was worried when I saw this sketch, but its turned out fine once I was underway!!

The main patterned paper is from Laura Ashley, The purple paper from papermill and the ribbon from Offray. the heart is a cuttlebug die cut and the gem is from paperchase.

I have used the Studio G stamps and chalk inks.

Pop over and look at the cards by the other designers HERE.

My Town Monday - Elstree Studios.

This week I have been made aware of a theft, not just any old theft, this is the theft of THE 'golden gun' As in Man with the Golden Gun of James Bond fame.

Hertfordshire has long been the home to Elstree Studios where lots of famous films are produced. I suppose the most world famous are the Bond films.

Here is the report from the local paper:-

Police were called to the Hertfordshire studios at Friday lunchtime to investigate the theft of the prop, believed to be worth £80,000.
The Man With The Golden Gun, which also starred Swedish star Britt Ekland as Bond's lover Mary Goodnight, was Moore's second outing as 007.
Christopher Lee played his enemy, Scaramanga, a three-nippled assassin who only ever needed one golden bullet fired from his golden gun to kill his target.
In the film Scaramanga played a game of cat-and-mouse with Bond, whom he had been contracted to kill for $1 million.
The impeccably mannered Scaramanga would carefully assemble the weapon in the film from a pen, a cigarette case and a lighter before dispatching his foes.
The gun was being cared for by Elstree Props, a tenant based at the studios.
Its website states that it offers storage of film props, as well as a service to "police the internet, dealer network and auction sites to counter theft and piracy".
Stephen Wickenden, its managing director, said: "I'm hoping the gun will be offered to one of the memorabilia dealers and from them we can trace it back to the thief.
"We have no idea who stole it or when it was stolen but things do not usually go missing."
It was being housed in a cabin at the studios.
Nicolas Cage's latest film Kick-Ass is being filmed there. It is thought a crew member was being shown around by Mr Wickenden when the weapon's absence was noticed, although he would not confirm this.
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said: "We were called to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood at 1.25pm after a report of a theft of a prop, which was the golden gun. Inquiries are ongoing."
Asked about the theft, a spokesman for Sir Roger joked: "You'd better ask Christopher Lee about this. Search his house."

So there you are, I nearly live in the Hollywood of England!!

Party Time - Going Underground!!

Last night we celebrated the 50th birthday of my long time friend Sandra!! I can hardly beleive that its been ten years since her last big bash. Being a love of 'Birthday Games' Sandra had started the whole thing off by making it a themed party. The theme was London Underground stations. We didn't have to go the whole hog on the fancy dress, a hat would do. So just about everyone joined in.

There were some very good outfits and brilliant hats, loads of stations cleverly represented. Tom went as Kings Cross, Sue was Queensbury (Tiara and Strawberries) Richard was Wimbledon complete with shorts and raquet. Beth came with us and dressed up as Arsenal. I was Green park, I wore Beth's communion headdress with a swing on the top! Sandra on the other hand dressed up as shepherds bush, and I'll have to leave it to your imagination how she did the 'bush' bit!!!!

It was great to see what the others had come up with. One man dressed as Black Friars and his face was PITCH black, I am sure it will take him a month to get that off. We had a fair few Angels for Angel Islington, Oxford Circus, Clowns carrying dictionary's. We had several Cockfosters, which you will have to imagine!! High Barnet was very popular with lots of BIG hair do's. One of the cleverest was Burnt Oak, they guy turned up in bandages with the odd oak leaf poking out.

This morning is Remembrance Sunday, 90 years since Armistice day. Always a very emotional service at the Cenotaph in London. Its sad to think that so many died in such terrible circumstances. It is best that we never forget.

Break Through!!!!

I have a few hobbies, best not to have nothing to do!! One that I pick up and put down quite often is my family history. I really enjoy looking into my history, it somehow helps to ground important historical events when you can relate it to a person in your own history.

Anyway I had reached a real brick wall with one of my oldest couples, Benjamin and Susan Botwright. I had traced them back to 1819 when they arrived in Hertfordshire from Suffolk. I couldn't find a marriage for them and the first time they came to light was when they registered the christening of their son Benjamin Jnr in 1819 in South Mimms. I have been looking for years, checked out all sorts of books and references always coming up with nothing. The only clue I had was that Susan said on the 1851 census that she was born in Walpole in Suffolk. I have even travelled there and to the county record office and failed to find them. Today Genes reunited threw up a 'hot match' so I went and had a look and Eureka, the match was with a lady who I have met who is a distant relative. She had been struggling with the same brickwall, but had made a break through.

This lady, Pat, had discovered my pair through the magic of Family History on line. The reason that they had eluded us was a simple spelling mistake which hadn't been picked up on any of the 'near misses' or 'wild cards' on searching. Benjamin Botwright had been recorded as Batright. Susan was in fact Suzannah. Pat has cracked the mystery. She has located their marriage in 1810 in Saxmundham in Suffolk, They were recorded as widow and widower. Another surprise was that Benjamin Junior was not their eldest child, they had a daughter,Sarah, born in 1815 in Bengeo in Hertford, but she died as a baby.

I now want to try and find out about Benjamin's parents, I will have to see the marriage entry for myself and see where I can go with it. Its so exciting !!
One of the strange things is the places in Suffolk, My friends Fran and Pete have moved there and we have visited them a few times, it now seems that Suzannah's family came from Henstead which is a small village where Fran and Pete moved to first of all!!

I am so happy!!!!

Di Hickman - Card for this week!!

This is my offering for this weeks sketch over on Di Hickmans Blog (Check out the rest, they are great!!)

This time all the papers are odds left over from other projects the only identifiable one is the patterned one from DCWV Glitter mat stack. Plain Purple from papermill, The crazy 4U plaque is unknown origin. This is a great sketch to use up all those scrappy bits of paper left over from other projects (I have loads of those!!)

My Town Monday - Guy Fawkes Night

In England we 'celebrate' Guy Fawkes night every November 5th. I really think that the true origins of this celebration has been lost, Beth doesn't really have much of an idea what its all about, although she does know its something to do with trying to kill the royal family a long time ago.
The real story goes something like this......
Guido Fawkes, known as Guy, was born on 13 April 1570 at High Petergate in York, Yorkshire.
He was born in to a notable family that had connections with the Church of England, his father was either a notary or proctor of the ecclesiastical courts. Fawkes father died in 1579 and his mother remarried in 1582, this time to a Catholic Denis Bainbridge of Scotton. The family were known to be recusants, resisters of the authority of the Church of England, and it is probable that his stepfather's influence contributed to Guy's affiliation to Catholicism; Fawkes finally converted to Catholicism around the age of 16. In the same year that Fawkes converted to Catholicism (1586), he would be made brutally aware of the repression the English Parliament enacted on local Catholics.
In 1605 Fawkes and his co conspirators planned to blow up the protestant King, James the First, at the houses of Parliament, They hid barrels of gunpowder beneath the houses of Parliament and planned to detonate them. Unfortunately for them they were discovered and on the instructions of the King they were tortured until they admitted their plans. They were eventually tried for treason, found guilty and hung drawn and quartered.
The planned day of the plot was 5th of November 1605 and the plot has been celebrated since then.
Part of the celebration involves Children making a 'guy' usually clothes stuffed with newspapers and sporting a mask. When I was young we we often see kids asking for 'penny for the Guy' They would then go and spent any money they made on fireworks. Now a days people under 18 can't buy fireworks and the PC brigade have said that penny for the Guy is begging, so it has dropped off.
We still celebrate with Fireworks and you can't beat the smell of a damp night, burning wood and the fireworks, Pure start of Winter time!!!

So on the 5th all the towns surrounding ours will be having their celebrations, WGC will be refraining, some years ago the council cancelled the event citing Health and Safety concerns. We all know that they cancelled it because they are saving money. Miserable wotsits!!

Home Again.

This picture was taken by me at around 3.30pm yesterday in the beautiful city of Brugge. The reason that I took it was that back in the summer when we visited with Debbielou and her family we found that it was extremely easy to get lost in the back streets that are all very pretty and somehow look the same. As it turned out it was lucky that I did, as we wandered around the squares and chocolate shops, we mis judged and couldn't find the car!!! Luckily with the assistance of a sat nav and my photo we were happily reunited!!



We had decided to call in on Brugge as we had a late ferry crossing, 10pm from Dunkirk. The weather was really chilly and it got dark very early. Brugge is so pretty with horse traps all over the place, clattering through the cobbled streets. The passengers wrapped up with bright blankets. It would be beautiful with a covering of snow!! We had a good look around and even managed to revisit the Hamburger place that boasts a 'Crusty' Burger on the menu!! (only to use the loo!!)


We came across this really tiny chocolate shop, it was a tiny really old building that looked like it had been left over from a different time. It smelt absolutely beautiful and it felt like I had stepped into the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!

We finally sailed at 10pm last night the ferry was on time and seemed to be nearly empty. We sat in exactly the same seats as the way out. We finally arrived home at 1.30am driving the poor dog into a frenzy of excitement!!

I intend to blog hop and catch up with all your news as soon as I get a minute!!

Nearly Going Home Time

Where has this week gone?? I am sure that its less than a week since we left for Belgium. We have had mixed luck but all credit to our friends they have not let the burglary get to them and have carried on without too many worries. We have made the most of the dry weather and been out and about. We have walked some of the way around the lake and tom and Rick rode around this morning, Tom measured it at 4 miles. The kids went to the rafting again this morning and had a whale of a time, they really love doing the rafting and its well worth the extra euros to have the whole pool complex to just 6 of them.
So far they have been swimming every day at least once and often twice. They are in for the second time now!!
Yesterday we decided to go out for our evening meal. We decided to travel into Germany for a 'Gyros' This is a type of kebab made out of cooked while you wait pork, along with sauerkraut, cheese, tomatoes and the secret ingredient garlic tzatsiki (sp). These had come highly recommended by our friends and they had been lusting after them all week. We set off for Germany, the mecca of Gyros and an hour and a half later arrived at a grill place opposite a Army base somewhere near Dusseldorf. We had our Gyros and enjoyed them although our friends were not thrilled with the quality. I am all garlic'd out and it must be a pleasure to be near me today!!! This has to be one of the longest journeys to eat dinner out, a round trip of 4 hours!!!!
This past year we have been jet setters, and can now count France, Belgium, Holland, USA and Germany on our list of countries visited!!

The kids wanted to hire the bikes, we refer to them as Chuckle bikes after the Chuckle brothers. They had them for an hourand wentallover on them. Beth had the easiest part, she sat on the front and let them do all the work!!!

So tomorrow pray for dry calm weather for our crossing back to England!!

'Scary' Card!!

This week just has to be a 'scary' card. I though that I would use up some of my odds and ends of stickers that I have left over from my scrapbooking. Lat year we were on the way back from Florida for Halloween, but due to a huge delay with the flight we missed the 31st of October!! This year we will be returning from Belgium so will miss all the trick and treating again. Its a shame that Beth won't be able to dress up.

This card has a black background, Orange and black 'bats' ribbon by my old friend Offray. I have used a sakura gold pen around the outside, all the stickers are from Poundland, real left over bargains!!

Check out the other cards HERE.

Good Holiday - Bad people

Here is Beth enjoying a huge ice cream in the burger bar. We had just had a burger meal consisting of the most enormous portion of chips I have ever seen and they only described them as 'large'
Anyway the reason for the bad people title is that our friends who we are travelling with have had their villa broken into and have lost all their electrical bits and pieces, laptop, camera, mobile phones, electric razor and binoculars. We are so fed up as it has caused us and them a load of problems, waiting in for police, making statements and finding something else missing only when you go to use it. The thing is if they sell the stuff they won't get much as its English and of limited use in Belgium without the chargers etc. I hope that they blow up in their thieving hands.


We have been a fair few walks around the site, and we have found loads and loads of different 'fungi' here are a couple of the more stunning ones!!

While we have been away the weather at home has been brilliant, Snow and more snow so its a shame that we are away experiencing only frosty mornings!!

My Town Monday - Grandads Back Garden!!

For this weeks post I am staying very close to home, in fact in my dads back garden!! We have lived in Welwyn Garden City for some time and around 8 years ago Mum and Dad decided to move closer to us, so close that they now live in a house which is literally at the bottom of our garden!! When they were looking for a house one of the considerations was the back garden. Dad has always been a gardener, everything he touches grows. As we live in a town the gardens are generally not too big. When they found the house that they eventually bought the garden was smaller than they were used to and pretty much all laid to patio with a pond in the middle. In total it measures around 12 feet by 20 feet.Within a year of moving in dad had converted it to a lush area with plants of all sorts growing there.

In the spring he makes hanging baskets, these baskets have become very popular with friends and neighbours, he plants up their baskets and the money he makes from it funds the purchase of new plants. One year we all ended up with very exotic baskets. He had loads of orders and wasn't able to keep them all in his green house. He ended up lining them up the side of the garden path all around the garden. Some of them were under the bird seed feeders. So we all hung up our baskets and started to find these strange plants growing, and growing and growing. One of my baskets had 12 or so of these plants. I checked out our neighbours and his neighbours and they had them as well. I asked him what these plants were as I had never had them before. He didn't know. Then the penny dropped, he had sold us all baby cannabis plants!!!! We think the seeds must have come from the bird feeder!!

So that was 'My town Monday' bought to you by Travis Irwin and your local cannabis dealer!!!!

Hello From Belgium!!

We have arrived in belgium, their version of Centre parcs. We have got a lovely villa a stones throw from the centre and we are enjoying ourselves!!
So far the weather has been reasonable, chilly but not wet. The kids have been living in the pool and this morning they have been rafting down the rapids. Tom and I took a run out to a market in nearby Mol. Not understanding the language we thought we were going to car boot sale type of market but it turned out to be a livestock market with boxes and boxes of rabbits, chickens, budgies and turkeys!!
The park is covered in fungi including the fairy tale red capped variety with white spots that you only see in picture books. There are loads of them. Beth thinks its like Super Mario land!!

You're the Best

Here is this weeks sketch for Di Hickmans design team. I have used Junkitz Shabby Chic blue flowers, the brown paper is by Papermill, blue and brown spotty ribbon by Hobby Craft. Cream spotty ribbon is by East of India company. Wooden flower from Hobby craft. Greeting sticker by QVC.

Please check out all the other designs on Di Hickmans Blog.

First one of the season???

Tonight is cold, very cold, my temperature gauge thingy is telling me that it is 1 degree C outside, it has been dropping steadily for the past few hours. I expect that if the weather man is right we will have a frost in the morning. I'll have to charge the batteries on my camera!!

End of an era - My Town Monday

Today is my eldest daughter, Laura's birthday, she is 23 years old. I can't believe that it was 24 years ago that I found myself pregnant and attending anti natal appointments at my local hospital, known locally as the QE2.

This week it has been announced that we are one step closer to having no maternity provision at the QE2. This will be a dreadful shame for the towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield and the end of an era of children born at their local hospital.

The QE2 was built in the 1960's and at the time was a medical flagship, with cutting edge facilities. The way that the health care was funded was different back then and most large towns had their own hospital. As time has gone by local area health authorities have been amalgamated until we have arrived at what we have today which is the East and North Herts National Health Service Trust.

The trust have decided that they can only fund one major hospital so some of the major functions will be transferring to Stevenage a town around 10 miles away. Over the past few years this has been gradually happening, the latest department that they have announced will move is the maternity department along with Special Care Baby Unit.

So Happy Birthday Laura, you are going to become one of those rare people who were actually born in the town that your parents live in!!

Happy Birthday Laura!

Today my baby is 23!! TWENTY THREE??? I mean where has that time gone? Its barely five minutes since she was born and here she is 23 and all grown up. Today she was not feeling too well she has the start of my cold. We took her a birthday cake and we did the traditional singing and blowing out! She asked for a DVD of Red Dwarf which we got her along with some scrapping bits and some money. Happy Birthday Laura!!

Good News.

Remember the hassle we had at the end of August when Carl had his car broken into?? Well the Police have been very good, they have called us back a few times with property that they have recovered which might have been ours. In the end these have been dead ends.
Today we had a change of luck, I was at work when I got a call saying that they had a man in custody and that he had admitted to the theft and damage. They wanted a quick statement so they could charge him. I was more than happy to help out AND I asked for compensation from the offender, we'll see if that ever appears!! (I expect it'll be a pound a month for the next 200 years, but I don't care as long as it makes life difficult for him)

Beautiful Night

I love the Autumn, I love the crisp mornings, the 'smell' in the air, the promise of cosy evenings at home but most of all I love all the celebrations, Halloween and Guy Fawkes night. It seems that the moon is always stunning and some how seems closer to the earth around this time. Tonight the moon was stunning, with beautiful clouds reminding me of traditional Halloween views!! I am hoping that this year we will be able to take part in Halloween celebrations, last year we missed it due to the delay coming back from Florida.

That's the other thing, I can't believe that a year ago today we had just arrived in Florida, I want to go back for some more Florida fun!!! (mainly craft shopping really!)

Best Wishes Card.

This time The card sketch was quite a simple one, but sometimes simple is more effective!!

The back ground paper is by Paper Adventure, from a mat stack. The spotty and green stripe paper is from an acid bright 8 by 8 stack by paper mania. The coloured stripe is by Junkitz. There are three prima flowers and three pink gems by paper chase. Brown chalk in and Best Wishes Sticker from QVC.

Check out the cards the other ladies have done over on Di Hickmans Blog.... HERE.

We were Rumbled!!

Not actually discovered but we were prime suspects when he got up this morning!! It was well worth it though!! We received a text message at 7.30 this morning probing us to see if we would 'cough' to the offence, we stuck it out. A couple of hours later his mum tricked us into admitting it!!
I wonder who will be next??

Made Me Laugh!!!

Well tonight in the deepest darkest part of night before we had gone to bed, Carl and I decided to recycle some of his banners from his 18th birthday. By a strange fluke I have a friend called Sue who is precisely 4 days younger than me. We were both expecting at the same time and Robert was born precisely 4 days after Carl, how strange is that??
Anyway because Carl and I are green Eco warriors we set off for his house and decorated his car. In the process we managed to lock ourselves out of the house and had to wake Tom up to let us in (This was no mean feat, we had to knock and ring the bell, the dog was going bonkers, but Tom slept on!!)
On our arrival we commando crawled up the road being careful to set off absolutely every security light that there was, and there were a few. We had to stifle our giggles while trying to find the end of the sellotape which broke off every couple of centimetres, We adorned the car with yards of 'Happy Birthday 18 Today' silver foil banners. As a nice finishing touch we added the contents of two cans of silly string and a bang free party popper - Giant Sized!!! Unfortunately we thought it too risky to photograph our handy work.
Carl popped his card through the door and then ran back to our car, sounding like a herd of fairy elephants. I would love to see his face in the morning!!!

My Town Monday - Breast Cancer Awareness Month - October.

October is Breast Cancer awareness month and all over the country lots of folk raise money for cancer research. Pink is the colour associated with this charity so for the past few years the council have reminded everyone by dying the water in the town centre fountain PINK . It certainly makes the fountain a talking point. Sometimes on a dull day it just looks muddy but on a sunny day it looks very striking.

This post was bought to you by My Town Monday, brain child of Travis Irwin!!!

Its Funny........

Its Funny how when you are holding the camera, that you never seem to star in any of the photos of any family celebrations. I took this one last night using the tried and tested 'long arm' method, so as you can see large chunks of me are missing, which I don't think is a bad thing!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet 18!!!!

Today Carl was 18, I can't believe that this time 18 years ago I was in hospital looking at this little tiny baby, well not that tiny really. It all seemed unreal at the time.He was a good baby and has been a good kid and now he is eighteen and starting out in life!



Beth decided this year to make him a unique present, in fact she made him two. She decorated a wooden figure for him, complete with a picture of Carl's face. Her 'best' present was a white T shirt that she thoughtfully decorated with a photo of herself for him!!!!!



At Lunch time we went out for lunch with mum, dad, Laura and Scott. We had a lovely three course meal at The Stanborough in town. We took a little cake with us but we were forbidden to sing the 'tune' , we had to wait until we got home.



So here is the mini cake along with his first legal alcoholic drink, a pint of Magners cider!! He was very lucky with his presents, he was given around £300 plus gifts of jewelry, Pens and of course his prized T Shirt!! Tonight he is off to a night club with his mates. I hope he doesn't return home needing a bucket.

Busy Day.

It has been a glorious Autumn day, crisp morning followed by sun and bright blue skies. I was lucky that it was still beautiful when I got home from work, because work has been a real chore today.
We had known for some while that we had to move office, but it seemed to be some way off until yesterday when we realised it was upon us. We had prepared by chucking out loads of old rubbish, but we still managed to fill around 35 crates. We also had all the usual office equipment to move as well. Just to make things interesting I started with a really heavy cold yesterday and this morning felt like a sneezing snot machine.
The removal guys turned up at 9am and three of them loaded all of our 'office' into the back of their lorry. The old office was well past its best and we were the last occupants in the whole building. It felt quite sad to be going.
Once we got to the new place we decided that we would butter the removals men up with a few bacon butties, it worked, they were very helpful and set all the furniture up in the right place. We slogged through stopping only for hot tea and biscuits. By 5pm we had emptied every single box and had set up 3 computers, two printers and a fax machine. We are all exhausted. Tomorrow we continue to work as if nothing has happened!!
On the plus side the new office is quite nice and we have already made it our own, pictures back up on the wall, drinks chilling in the fridge (I mean Coke!!) and everything in its place. The real bonus is that we now have a kitchen and nice toilets!!
I took these two photos when I got home, its amazing what you can find on your doorstep!!

Sponge Bob Says Hi!!

I love this sketch, I like the look of straight lines and regular angles!!

Sponge Bob is a picture from a piece of ribbon by offray. Two bottom papers by paper adventures mat stack, top paper from Do Crafts acid brights 8 by 8 pack, green paper by TLC. Yellow circle paper mill paper, brown chalk ink, and brown sakura pen. 'Hi' Sticker from a pack by QVC.

Please check out the other cards over on Di Hickmans Blog .. HERE.

I can't understand where the years have gone.

Saturday October the 11th will see my 'young Man' turn into an adult. He was born at 10.43am on Thursday the 11th of October 1990 at The QE2 Hospital in Welwyn Garden City. I had been lucky enough to share my pregnancy with my life long best Friend Madeline. Her daughter Gracie was born on 24th of June 1990. Carl and Gracie have been friends from their very early days. Madeline and I have been friends since we were 5 and at Brownies in Bedmond where we both lived. So we have been friends for 43 years. I hope that Carl and Grace will beat our record!!

Carl (left ) and Grace aged 6 weeks and 4 months!



Carl and Grace Aged nearly 18 at a fancy dress party!!

They are both now making plans to go off to University Carl to do teaching and Grace to do media. It only seems like 5 minutes since they were born.

My Town Monday - Just like a London Bus.

There is a saying in England that you can wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time. Well those of you that read my MTM posts might feel a bit of deja vue now.
Last week I reported that after around ten years without a swimming pool that a major super market had put in a planning application for a supermarket and a swimming pool, the cynic in me believes that the pool was a sweetener to get planning permission for the shop.

Anyway guess what?? this week we have news of a second planning application for the land on the opposite side of the road to the original application, this is from the YMCA who plan to build a centre for young people (We already have a YMCA but as its popular it would make sense to enlarge the provision) They envisage a sports centre and a swimming pool!!! So as I said if you wait long enough without one, two will come along at once!!! (I bet neither will actually materialise, we are not bought that easily!!)

Feedback on my day.

Well I arrived at the venue in Huntingdon after Stella took me on one of her more exotic routes, she decided that I should take in the glories of the English country side with all of the slow moving farm vehicles which inhabit the roads in that part of the world.
On arrival I was shown to my area along side Do Crafts and Create and Craft. I set up my table and was given a cup of tea.
Then it started............
Hundreds of people all crammed into a small space all interested in what we were doing and wanting a go.I was well prepared, I had all my samples on the table (which continually fell over as the space was tight and people kept bumping into it!!) I demonstrated the things you could make using one of our CD's, I showed them the Rocker blocks, the envelope maker and the box maker. I must have said hello at least a million times and my jaw ached from smiling and answering the same questions over and over again.
I now know that there are several types of crafter and you have to change your line depending on the type. There are some crafters who line the more for less approach, some like production line simple but effective cards, some like to send their friends cards that are all totally different (I mean why?? unless all their friends live in one house and get together to compare them!!!) Some want to make exclusive cards to show off their talents. Throughout the day I had to either love or hate peel offs depending on who I was talking to.
All in all it was exhausting for a job carried out almost exclusively sitting down. I think it was not knowing what you would be asked which was the problem, having to wing it when you didn't actually know the answer. (I have had years of practice at that but not in this particular area, still I feel it is a transferable skill which once I settled down I was able to put to good use!!)
Around half way through the afternoon I had a surprise visit from one of my Friends Mel who popped in with her daughters. She was a very welcome friendly face!!
So would I do it again?? Yes I would, I now know what I would do different to make the experience better for me and the guests. That said the lady organising it said that sales have been high for the day and that's what counts in the end!!

Exciting Day!!

Today I am up bright and early, I am going on an adventure!! My friend Claire Hamer who is even more famous than me. (She is a designer and has loads of stuff published in magazines, I just partially appear on QVC!!) works for a great company called Crafters Companion. This is a British company based in the North East. Claire has the whole of Great Britain as her sales area so she asked if I would do some demonstrating for her this weekend.
So I am off to Huntingdon to a garden centre where they are having a 'craft event' to show off her wares. Claire came over on Thursday to show me the ropes and I have all my samples ready to be inspected by the crowds. I have a ton of paper so that people can try out the new 'rocker blocks' I am really looking forward to it, wish me luck!!

Its Been A While

This is my interpretation of Di Hickmans latest sketch, I like bright colours and I am quite sad that Junkitz are no more. This card is made from Junkitz Sugar Plum Series, Hobby craft ribbon and Lake land paper lace.

Please check out Di's Blog HERE

This is Summer.

I love this photo, I took it in Holland on the beach at Wassenar. It was the one and only day that we managed to get a spell on the beach. It seems even nicer now that it is positively autumnal outside. I wish we were back there now building sandcastles and laughing at Svens cruddy jokes!!

I now feel in the mood for booking next years holidays, but we will have to decide where and when. We really need to be around for Carls A level results in July/August so that we can help him with his University placement. We will need to plan carefully!!

On with the plans for Christmas then!!