I'm sure I'm a winner!!!

If you know me, you'll know that I'm very competitive. I like to call myself motivated and driven, but in it's basic form, it's really just that I like to win.

And I'm positive that my icicles have to have been the biggest around!!! Our house was absolutely covered in icicles, but the ones on the back of the house were the best. Maddie and Bella both have rooms at the back, and spent days competing (oh god, that DNA!) for the title of longest icicle! Maddie won with one which went past her windowsill!!

Anyway, the start of this post was written before christmas and of course so much has happened in the past week.

We had a lovely christmas eve with the crib service where the kids were angels (yeah right) and cam was a shepherd. Followed by a lovely evening at a friends house before coming home and leaving the mince pie and port etc for Father Christmas. Check out the footprints he left in the morning!

The children all enjoyed opening their presents (I was woken at 4:45 am but we've forgiven Cam as in the 7 years we've been parents this is the earliest we've been woken on Christmas morning by at least 3 hours). Bella was underwhelmed to say the least with her dolls house. Her list had all along been a pet elephant - a real one, a pet ladybird - a real one, and an aeroplane - a real one. She sets her sights high. And when all presents had been opened she couldn't understand where her pets were!

Christmas Day was the best we've had so far - very relaxed being just us, and after Jon had spent a couple of hours at the pub, we had a gorgeous, relaxed lunch just the Chances.

The rest of the holiday has been spent mainly with friends, with some family thrown in the mix too.

We were incredibly lucky, as usual, to have such wonderful parents, and in the case of Jon's parents, their gift to us was some peace and quiet. We had some money and dashed up to Ikea as soon as we could to kit out our new sitting room#2. It's going to be decorated in the New Year, but is all kitted out with new TV, DVD player, wii, sofa, gorgeous rug etc, and the double glazed doors ensure that kids and adults can entertain themselves in peace! Lovely!!

I'm sure I have plenty to share, but it's all gone from my mind now. We are now busy preparing to NYE, and ready to start those resolutions. I have lots. Do you?

Here are a few pics from over the past couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS, have you booked onto Skrapz yet?? My mini-book class is perfect for scrapping those snowy/christmassy memories!!!

Snowy Mini Book!

Earlier this year, Skrapz invited me back to do a class for them. This time, they asked me to do a mini-book, which freaked me out a little as I don't "do" mini-books! Still, it was a good challenge for me, and once I saw the kit they sent me I couldn't wait to give it a go! I immediately knew that I was going to use my snowy pics from last year, but now want to do it all over again with all my new snowy pics from this week!

The end result is really lovely, in one of my favourite colour combinations - teal, brown, white and a splash of red. The kit was huge with loads of Fancy Pants papers, stickers, bling, ribbon, and more, together with a 7gypsies board book. The book is really versatile - if you'd prefer to make a banner it's perfect to be adapted for that. And with all the snow the past week or so, there's no way you can't have the perfect photos just waiting to be scrapped!!!! I've incorporated some stamping, cutting, banners and a lovely bling window (you'll have to see it to understand!).

So, on Saturday 15th January I'll be in Shrewsbury showing the Skrapz ladies how to recreate this lovely festive project! We'd love to see you there, I know there are a few places left, so pop on over to http://www.skrapz.co.uk/ for more information, or leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

CANCELLED

CROP CANCELLED TONIGHT SORRY, SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR

......sorry :(

.....I know I've been horrendously slack in blogging the past few weeks, in fact it's been almost a month since I last posted. Believe me, I have been busy creating and have "done lots", but I must admit that a) since my camera broke I have been a bit off blogging, b) I haven't felt I've had much to say, and c) I've been busy. We're all busy, I know that, and none more than us mums, but we're all working and we've all got lives and things to do, so there's no excuse really. So, sorry.

Anyway, since I last blogged these things have happened:

1. I made 40 christmas cards, 6 teachers gifts, 3 friends gifts, various birthday cards, 4 LOs, a mini-book and I'm sure there's something else.....

2. I've very nearly finished my christmas shopping, written my cards - including 75 for the kids! - started to wrap my gifts.

3. Had a lovely weekend for Jon's birthday which included a girly night (while he was playing poker) and a great Raclette meal with some really lovely, genuine friends.

4. I assembled the dolls house, nearly killed myself trying to get it into my wardrobe, measured it up, realised I most probably can't be bothered to decorate it and then hid it.

5. Spent a huge amount of time and worry over the December crop!

6. I got sucked into I'm a celebrity on top of The Apprentice, X Factor, Misfits and Desperate Housewives, meaning my eyes are almost square.

7. I got Jon a Kindle, which has to be the first present he's actually truly liked.

8. Began the Wednesday night gymnastics run. Birmingham, rush hour, rain/snow/dark, 3 and half hour round trip. Now that's dedication to your kids. This week we took homework with us and realised how we could really nail that during an otherwise waste of time.

9. Had a few fireworks. That was fun!

10. Did a bit of cooking and wished I had more time to do so.

11. Had a rather large leak downstairs causing the wooden floor to squish and squelch. Not nice. Floor = ruined.

12. Went Up North to visit Our Friends In The North. Jeez it's grim up there and I swiftly made a mental note Never To Relocate Up North. Lovely to see them though and the kids cried all the way home.

13. I went back to work, which I love, and continue to gain weight all down to their amazing school meals!!!

14. Oh and I made 3 christmas baubles!

So now I'm back in the land of blog, I hope to be able to keep on top of posting. Here are a few pics of my recent crafty achievements!

My layouts - 2 using my lovely Sassafras Indie Girl which I luuurrrrrve. I can't remember now if I used a sketch, so please accept my apologies if I haven't given credit. The third., with me as a baby....only those alphas would do but I just couldn't find a title I liked with the letters I had. So it had to be Libby which is a name I like for other people, but it doesn't sit right for me (although I know mum loves my Libby name). So, it's not my fave LO. But the papers are lush!

BTW, if you're coming to the crop on saturday, please bring something warm to wear and, if you have one, a portable heater. There is heating, but not much :)