It's a Christmas miracle - lol x

And by miracle I mean that yes I am actually writing a blog post after goodness knows how many months. But I do have several excuses. Want me to fill you in?................. Ok then, well for starters I had
Noah's flood  through my bedroom and then I got given notice at the flat so I had to move.

So Willow and I scoured the Estate agents trying to rapidly find a new home which is no mean feat when you are on Housing Benefit I can tell you. But luckily for us the House finding fairy worked overtime and we have moved here..........

Isnt it pretty? We now live in a small village 9 miles from the old place, we were very sad to leave but we have loads of fab memories and we hope to build a whole bunch of new ones now we are here.

The village is just far enough away from town to feel like you're in the country which you definately are. When I look out of my bedroom window I seem fields and hills. There are chickens across the road and when I go for a walk there are donkeys and miniature ponies up the road. It is truly lovely here.

the view from the churchyard 

Trying to actually live here was a struggle as I developed the worst laryngitis I have ever had and spent a month unable to speak, I mean seriously a month? But thankfully I can now speak exactly how I used to which means tons of chitchat.


Then Willow got assaulted by a badger, we think, and needed operations and stitches and trapping in doors, all in all traumatic for a cat who thrives on her independence.

Anyway we have now been here for 6 months, and just signed up for another six, and Christmas is upon us so that means Journal your Christmas 2014. I love this time of year and JYC is perfect for exploring your Christmas time and gaining new things too. So I am armed with my little notebook to write things down, my camera and my scrapbook supplies ready to document my Christmas 2014.


Speaking of scrapbooking a bunch of us crafters and bloggers all met up in September and had fun and frolics in Cirencester, you've probably alreay seen some pictures but I had a wonderful time and may do a little post about that of my own, I know late but better late than never.

One of the biggest changes for me this Christmas is that somehow after almost 49 years I met a boy. Well in all honesty he's a man cos he's older than me. We have a long distance relationship at the moment as he lives beside the seaside but as I love the sea I don't mind that. We walked along the coast in his town all summer and he is just the bees knees. Now that is my Christmas miracle if ever there was one.

So I hope you are enjoying the beginnings of the season and I look forward to having fun reading all the blogs I love and some new ones too. May I wish you all a Happy Christmas season and a lovely blogging time of the year.

Goals!

Now I am not the best person to set myself goals fro certain things as I normally fail abysmally. Case in point is losing weight. I set off with good intentions however I get easily sidetracked by the lack of interesting stuff to eat, counting points and other people putting pressure on me to continue. I find it all a bit stressful. But there are other goals I will stick to and mine this year is to record my reading. Luckily for me there are some great challenges around and and Book Chick City has a fair few on her blog so Im signing up.







Firstly I am signing up for the Murder and Crime challenge. You need to read 12 books in the 12 months from Jan 2011 to Dec 2011, dead easy as it is my fave genre so I will be able to achieve this.





The second challenge is to read 100 books in the same year. Bearing in mind, that you can choose any genre and it can be ebooks, print and also kindle books I think I've read a fair few so far. This will be more of a big challenge to keep reading but I will record each book I read and scrapbook the process as well.

My other goals are to catch-up with my scrapbooking classes I've been doing and to organise my scrapbooking supplies because at the moment they look pretty messy to say the least. If anyone has got any ideas for storage and organising please do let me know as I could definately use the help. So what goals are you setting yourselves and why?

Finally I am listening to this song alot at the moment and its not my usual thing at all. Love the video..............please enjoy Mr Tinie Tempah with Miss Ellie Goulding.............

More tea Vicar?

or should I say ''More tea Bishop?'' This weekend has been filled with lots of lovely events, some planned, some unplanned. So I thought I'd blog about them today as a weekend roundup.

 So yesterday dawned, not as warm as predicted but neverless sunny. It was arranged that I would meet the parents in town as dad was involved with a charitable event raising funds for Save the Children and Help for Heroes. They had openned the Bishop's Palace Gardens and private chapel for the day and there were teas and coffees provided by Inner Wheel. So me and mum went off to support these 2 excellent causes. The first person we met was the Bishop, hence the quote, who my parents know well as my dad used to be church warden, all very ladeda. Anyway he was really lovely, and welcomed everyone as they came in. The gardens were beautiful, all the daffodils and trees were in full bloom and as the palace is part ruin and part lived in is really well cared for.

 Here is The Mother modelling dutifully under the magnolia, she does it beautifully dont u think?

 This is one of a number of unique statues in the gardens, this one depicts the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden.

 This is the cathedral from the back

 This statue is beautiful and depicts the sins we have to carry, but each sinner is a child. Each child is meant to represent something terrible affecting children eg AIDS, infant mortality etc.

As you walk around, you can see the cathedral and also the moat goes all the way to the back and the only way to see it fully is to come inside the palace grounds. As my mum knows loads of people it took a while but I got some beautiful pictures. We also had some fab cakes.

Last night I stayed up well past my bedtime to watch the last 2 episodes of ''The Killing'' which I blogged about earlier this week. It has been such a brilliant series however I felt the ending just happened too quickly with too many questions left unanswered so I felt really let down. However, there is a second series at the end of the year and I will definately watch again.

Today, I slept in oops and missed church but spent sometime sitting in the gorunds here chatting to a new neighbour. Then my friend's son came home and we did his homewor, I know I'm a fab person. We had to do literacy and also he had to design a vehicle and build it which had to transport a cream egg, I got to play with Lego for the first time in ages. It was brill.

 This is the literacy homework in progress.......................

 Of course everyone had to complete their census today and here is m ine ready for posting. I love that in 100 years someone in my family can look back and see where I lived and what I did. I have found the census so helpful in investigating family history and identifying where my ancestors lived.

 I thougt I would also share with you my minibook I started making at crop. It is a class my good friend Cleo taught. We started off with chipboard, paper, some pieces diecut and were asked to bring lots of Tim Holtz style recycled items and photos. I decided to do it about the night I went out with Luke for his 21st. We were also given three 45rpm singles which I caused gr8 consternation with as I only wanted decent ones, of the three 2 were fave bands back in the day OMD and Tears for Fears. The idea was the minibook would be grungy and made very much in our own style. Cleo had brought denim and canvas and cotton fabric plus lots of additional bits and bobs to use. It was gr8 fun. These are the pages I have completed so far.......

 I had the key in a kit and it is perfect for turning 21................

 Here is the record used as an album page.

 On this page I stuck sticky canvas on the chipboard and coloured it with distress inks.

 This is a collage of offcuts from papers and also some corrugated card from a pizza box. I used some teal paint on this page.

This page is stuck onto calico and coloured. The ties at the top are denim ripped and tied through holes in the record.

Not bad for one weekend dont you think. So off to cook and eat tea now. See you this week for more blogging for scrapbookers. And Shimelle is back in town so I'm sure we'll hear all about her mammoth trip.

Pretty pictures.

I love photography even though I'm not very good at it and find looking other people's blogs amazing, pictures seem to come so easily to them. One case in point is Amy who takes the most incredible shots of weddings, interiors and children. She has ''that eye'' for the picture which somehow I miss. However, all is not lost as I have discovered the wonderful Hipstamatic for iphone.
I bought the initial app ages ago not really appreciating what it could do but now I lurve it in general. You can buy as many different lil lenses, films and flashes as you want...............I am the proud owner of them all and most only cost 50pence so it's not exactly bank breaking. All the photos come out square and u do have to be careful when you print them as I discovered to my dismay when buying pictures. You need to really print them yourself or else they print as normal 4x6 prints and you lose the context. Anyway, I love using the different films etc and you can get some cool effects, even if your picture taking is bad, it hides a wealth of sins. Here are some examples of pictures I have taken:

 This photo was taken using a red colour picker on Hipstamatic to make the autumnal colours really pop and it definately made a massive difference to the overall effect.

 I wanted a truly vintage feel to this photograph and I managed to get it with a vintage coloured film and camera mode.

 I love the grungy feel and canvas effect I got on this picture

This one of Willow makes her appear very regal, yes I know she loves herself but if you photographed that well wouldnt you? I love the framing on this picture.

Of course if you enjoy tinkering on Photoshop or Picassa for example, you could get similar effects but hey we dont all have the time or talent so why not use a simple but seriously effective alternative.

And finally it's the weekend, so something abit more relaxing and as it's sunny I thought we'd go to the beach today with my musical choice. This comes from a favourite film called Shelter and is used at the end, I only have a clip from the film so you have to watch the ending I'm afraid but the song is lovely. It's called Goin Home by Bill Ferguson...................

Petrol!

Today Shimelle suggests discussing something mundane so I have picked her idea of petrol. For most of us, petrol is a boring subject but for me it is an important part of my financial processes each month. Since the rises in petrol prices, I have found that for me a tank of petrol in my little Seat Ibiza has risen from £30.00 in total to over £50.00 a week. This is because I make a daily round trip of over 40 miles to and from my workplace, and use petrol for my job as I have to go to client's homes and travel up and down for training and meetings. We do get paid mileage but the NHS being what it is, cash strapped it is never really inline with inflation so you never quite break even.

There was a discussion in our office the other day about where was the cheapest to get our petrol, the choices were Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda, and Morrisons came top. I use my Morrisons card to collect points to take off shopping. My dad always swears by them too for his petrol. The other main shops are generally much of a muchness and if you have a loyalty card at least you get money off food. I was lucky enough to get 5p off per litre in Tescos the other week as I had spent enough on shopping.

Another brilliant find has been Martin Lewis's money tips website. He has links to brilliant places to help you reduce the cost of living and there is a great site purely dedicated to finding the best price for petrol in your area. There are also simple tips for improving fuel efficiency. It's a site packed with loads of well researched information.

So today, I think I will share some more fab music, remember important moments in your life, and I remember specific music. This track was playing when I had my first kiss from a very gorgeous lad called Simon at an aftershow party in school. He was lovely.

Here's some things I like watching.

So Shimelle's prompt today is around linking to things we perhaps enjoy or have found on the net. I have decided to tell you about some TV programmes I love.

For the last 9 Saturday nights I have been recording The Killing on BBC4. Set in Copenhagen and told over 20 episodes it revolves around the murder of a young student and the police investigation.. To say there have been more red herrings than you would find on board a fishing vessel is putting it mildly, and there are only 2 episodes to go. If you have missed it, I hope you can get it on iplayer because it is one of the best crime dramas I have seen in ages. The story is convoluted but I still dont know who done it.

 Bones, well what can I say. It follows the early professional life of forensic anthropologist Dr Temperence Brennan, a character based on the real-life author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. This crime drama series is based in Washington and has a great cast and well imagine stories which are usually completed within the hour but sometimes have longer story arcs. Fun, gritty and thought provoking.

 Being Human another BBC 3 series, just ended it's 3rd season and now being re-imagined as a USA drama, it tells the unusual story of a ghost, vampire and werewolf sharing a bed and breakfast together in Barry Wales. Orignally in set in Bristol, they moved to escape repercussions from a massive murder. Funny, gory and human in it's characterisations of inhuman individuals, this series is truly an original.

CSI:Las Vegas is the first in a franchise of crime dramas named after the city they are based in. Following the Crime Scene Investigation teams usually on 2 cases in one episode it involves the postmortem, forensic evidence collection and how that leads you to the criminal, through quite alot of complex science. Well worth a dip into.

In view of the TV choices today, I feel some Echo and the Bunnymen might be in order so for ur delectation I give u the Killing Moon, get it?

Blogging for scrapbookers day 2: private versus public.

..................that is the question, as Will Shakespeare so reticently put it. Ever since I began my blog, I have always felt that I wanted to use it as openly as possible mainly because that is the type of person I am. I have been honest about my life and health in many of my posts and have been encouraged by you, my fellow bloggers, in your support and advise. Also in the way you have appreciated my honesty. However over the past 4 months or so, certain issues have cropped up which have made me seriously stop and think about how honest I am here and whether I should be restraining my natural character tendencies to share personnal stuff.
In Shimmelle's PDF today she asks what we are prepared to share online and to be honest, up til 4 months ago I would have anything. However I am now having to be extremely careful about what I am considering sharing with you all, not because I dont want to continue to be myself but because of the impact which it could have on my career.
Many of us work in public roles eg teaching, health service, civil service, banks etc and for us there is a Code of Professional conduct which we must adhere to. Over the past few months, it has been brought to attention, how something you say on your blog can so easily be misinterpreted by another and that such misinterpretation could lead to professional misconduct issues. This is across the board, be it Twitter, Facebook and blogs etc. We have recently had direct instructions from our employer as to what is considered inappropriate activity on these sites and it has been emphasised the importance of being careful about what you share and say. I have been left with a slightly bittersweet taste as I love my blog and dont want to be limited in what I say however for my own safety and professional reasons I will have to be. I dont want to make my blog private and password protected because it then limits who can come and visit and I love meeting new people and I think that would be a shame.
Anyway, this is just a few thoughts I wanted to share with you if you are new to blogging and concerned about privacy and professionalism for example. Please dont be put off, I love my blog and have nothing but praise for all the wonderful people I can count as blogfriends.

Anyway on a lighter note, I had this link sent to me today for some cute dragonflies to make from Amy of Lucy Kate crafts fame. Its for a cute PDF of her pattern which looks like this:

and again some music for Tuesday, today a favourite lady from more recent times Mrs Russell Brand otherwise known as Katy Perry...................

Blogging for scrapbookers part 2

Ah do you remember those decadent days of 16 months ago when we were the guinea-pigs newbies in class? Now we are the 2nd years, how amazing. It's like coming into Hogwarts knowing some spells and potions and not being afraid so much of what Prof Snape will turn u into. I cant believe Shimelle is so sweet and allows us to do her classes again for free, she's the best teacher ever, remember apple for tomorrow. Anyway, todays prompt suggests talking about why you blog, well here goes....................

• to share random facts like did u know that the character of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an imagining of who the grown-up Pippi Longstocking would be? Also did u know that the arm movements in the video for Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants had a meaning? Well now you do.
• To talk about personal issues, although there will be less of that from now on, will explain in another post,
• To talk about books/art/theatre,
• To show crafting activities I have completed and share ideas and great finds both in books and magazines but on the blogs/Internet. There are amazing bloggers willing to share their skills and talents across the world, all at the touch of a button. There loads fo classes available, some expensive and some reasonable to help improve your scrapbooking or whatever craft you do,
• To make new friends across the world and I have now got lots of lovely people I speak with in Melbourne, Belfast, Wales, up North, Colorado both here and on Facebook and if I am lucky enough one day I will meet them all,
• To share stories and challenges and inspiration.
• And today I will share some music as I love the song and used to dance to it..............years ago, its called Blue Monday but I feel very happy so its definately not a reflections on my mood enjoy...............