July 06, 2009

I'm on holiday!

Today I have caught up. And I really needed it :)

I've not got too much to share today, except my new project sneaky peak!

Sneak peak 

Like I really need another project, or hobby ;)

Tomorrow is knit & chat and I am SO looking forward to it. I've not been for ages. I'm taking my throw cause I need some cotton and i've neglected it a little.

Tonight is nails night and :( they have to go. I can't really afford it if I want to buy crafting stuff and really i'd rather the nails go than crafting stash. Oh well.

Speaking of not affording stuff, I need to make some extra cash....any ideas? With minimal cash outlay to start with! TIA

Okay I must dash, i've got things to do :)

Ciao!!
Caz
xx

July 01, 2009

I'm not complaining.......

really i'm not! But boy is it hot :) I am totally loving the heat and being out in the garden. It's not so great during the day at work, but we do get to sit out in the garden at lunch so that kind of makes up for being in a hot stuffy office.

I have week 4 UKS challenge...

06 UKS wk4 

and twisted sketch 3 to share today.

06 twisted 03 

I didn't have any soft bling to add so I used some jewels and beads in the centres of my flowers. They are kinda blingy!

I forgot to update on Edinburgh... Well it was such a FAB trip. Danni and I chatted up a storm and we had such a laugh. We met on the train at 8.20am Saturday morning and caught uo with each others goings on for at least half the trip. Then we caught up on family stuff and admired the beautiful scenery from the train. We arrived at 12.30pm and stopped for lunch on route to the hotel. Once booked in we headed back into town to shop, we realised when we got back to the station to leave on Sunday that we did very little or rather NO sight seeing. Saturday evening we spend in Dirty Dicks on Rose Street, which is a MUST visit pub. It was awesome. Check out their single malt whisky collection...

Dirty dicks 

Sunday we headed back to the shops to shop some more, lol. And we both got some lovely goodies including great tote bags from paperchase :)

But all too soon it was home time, but at least we had another 5 hours of chatting time on the train back.

And we did have some sunshine!

Sunny edinburgh 

I must get more photos from Danni.

Anyway now i'm off to make a salad for dinner and maybe open a cold beer :)

Till later!
ciao
Caz
xx

PS, I have harvest flies in the screen of my laptop. How the hell am I going to get them out?

June 28, 2009

There comes a time....

when you just need to sit and write. I've been lazy and a little down and with so much going on I didn't feel up to blogging. But actually it's my therapy so finally here I am!

I have three UKS challenge layouts to share. WK 4 is done but not scanned yet. So loving doing these challenges again. I went through a stage when I didn't do any!

06 UKS wk1 

06 UKS wk2 

06 UKS wk3 

There is a FAB new sketch blog called Twisted Sketches. Each week there is a sketch plus an added twist to use on your project.

This first layout was my DT entry layout but with 84 entries it's no wonder I wasn't chosen. But win or loose I am going to join these fab ladies on their Twisted journey :)

06 twisted 01 

06 twisted 02 

You may have noticed that I am totally loving scrapping my wedding photos at the moment!

Last Tuesday I fell coming out of work. I must try get a photo of my knee cause it's surprising how a little fall can do this my damage. My leg is bruised from the top of my knee down to my shin and around the side of the knee too. It is not so sore now that the bruising is coming out but shit was it sore the day after. I could barely move!

I had a little spend today. Went to the last day of the Dunelm sale and popped into Homebase who had the last of their clearance stock out and of course a quick browse in Hobbycraft. I will take photos of my purchases.

Ooh and operation shed is on the move again. We have a doorframe and the inside partition is almost complete. I just need to buy the paint and get chicken wire for the run, then we're nearly there :) It feels like it's taking an age to get our chooks, but we really want them to have a nice house to live in :)

One week of work and then I have a week holiday! Can't flippin wait :)

Ciao of now!
Caz
XX

June 05, 2009

Off to Edinburgh!

Yes, tomorrow morning, bright and early, I will be boarding the train for a short stay in one of my favourite cities. I will not be alone :) My gorgeous cousin Danni has actually invited me to join her. Good call! I can't wait.

So let me once again play catch up *rolleyes*

IACW have put out a Design Team Call. We are looking for diverse crafters and domestic goddnesses ;) to join our little family.

As far as craftiness goes, i've been making more crochet corsages. My work colleague got one for her birthday as she commenting on mine so much the day I wore it to work, that I figured she really liked it, lol. Anyway she has it on her bag as it's warmer now and in the winter she will move it to her jacket as she says she wants to wear it everyday. I love that she loves it :)

This is mine and the pattern can be found here.

P5030002 

The shawl hanging on the chair is my baby alpaca shawl that I finished in April, just before I started the vintage style shawl as I felt guilty about having two on the go at once. The baby alpaca wool is seriously soft, cosy and SO warm. Which may be perfect for Scotland this weekend!

Speaking of the vintage style shawl, i've not photographed it yet! Sorry.

I also have a few layouts to share.

05 little piggies 

May Wk 3 and Wk 4 UKS challenges.

05 UKS wk 3

05 UKS wk 4 

And other than that lot, I have nothing much else to share.

Ooh no actually I do. I have been elected, by my peers on the branch forum, as their new deputy chair'person'. Our deputy has transfered to another site and I am taking his place. And it gets more exciting. When our chairman transfers in September I will take the chair :) SO chuffed that people think I am good enough to take this position.

Ooh and another thing! I had a totally AWESOME day out in Cambridge last Saturday with two of my work colleagues. We have been talking about a day trip for over a year and finally settled on a date. And what a good day to choose. The weather was FABBO and we shopped till we dropped. Such fun.

Okay now I think I have shared all. Well except garden photos which I need to get off the camera. You will NOT believe how AMAZING the garden is looking. I love it and have had lovely comments on it from neighbours which is great. Pity we're not doing open gardens this year :(

Right I must go finish packing. It's hard packing for one night, lol.
Ciao
Caz
xx

May 26, 2009

Crochet throw progress

I'm on square 78 of a 196 square throw that i'm making for my bed. The cotton that I am using is so lovely to work with.

The colours are fab and seeing a sneaky peek at how it's going to look has given me the push to get cracking and get it finished :)

P5220018  

P5220010 

P5220019 

It's really so lush!

I've not photographed my PURE JOY vintage style shawl yet, but I will add that it's finished (on Friday night) and it's so lovely! I put it around my shoulders last night as the sun set and it turned a little chilly and it was so toastie warm.

I need to play catch up again this week and add pics of layouts done and also photos of the garden, it's so full of colour and lovliness, it's blooming (heehee) marvelous!

But now it's time to get off to work. Till tomorrow, ciao!
Caz
xx

May 18, 2009

Just a quick one!

I've been on a crochet mission and have completed all my full squares AND 1 half square. Just 7 halves to go and then the finishing off! So excited.

Ciao
Caz
xx

May 17, 2009

Do you remember......

the pure joy post??  Well I must update you on my progress. I have done 22 full squares! 6 to go and as you join the squares together on the last round, there will be very little finishing off to do at the end. Reading back to my post of the 29th of April (um actually it wasn't so hard to read back considering how slack a blogger i've been!) I started the shawl on the 28th of April, and on average I do a square a night. Although it's quite 'holey' it's a bit slow going! I'm on a final push to get it done so I can enjoy it through the rest of May and June, before it goes in the wardrobe till Autumn.

Todays layouts are UKS May week 1 and 2 challenges and I have full points on each one.

05 UKS wk 1 chall 

05 UKS wk 2 chall 

Love both of these layouts and chuffed to bits with my handwriting on them :)

Today we are off to visit some really lovely friends who have had a gorgeous baby boy and I can't wait to give him cuddles!

Till tomorrow!
Caz
xx

May 16, 2009

Scrapping up a storm!

This year has been a good one for scrapping although I am a little behind in sharing them! So i'm going to play catch up and maybe next week i'll catch up sharing my other projects.

On the creative world blog i've been on a little journey through the various challenge blogs (and UKS) that are out there for paper crafters. I've only highlighted 5 as they are the ones I visit and take part in.

UKS

04 UKS1 

I used this layout from last month as an example of a UKS weekly challenge.

Mojo Holder

05 challenge 106 IACW 

Daring Card Makers

P5120001 

Pencil Lines

05 sketch 132 IACW

A True Friend

05 a true friend 

It was a good journey and I loved interpreting the challenges.

Work is still pretty hectic and still poop so i'll just skip past it onto other things!

My garden is a joy right now, I am totally loving it and will share more on Tuesday. Come back then :)

But right now I can see that the sun is back out and I need to do go enjoy it.

Ciao
Caz
xx

April 29, 2009

Shed building :)

It's a hard job, I tell you!

13 04 09 

13 04 09 (1) 

13 04 09 (2) 

This is where we left it on Easter Monday. The base and frame were the real tough bits. I had little to do with the building to this point. I was weeding.

25 04 09 (2) 

25 04 09 (3) 

25 04 09 (5) 

And this is how is stands now. It needs doors, the inside divided into shed/chicken house, the roosting boxes and a coat of darker stain. At the moment it's very golden and stands out against the back drop. With a darker colour it'll blend in. Oh and of course the interior must be decorated :) I had the painting job!

I had a day off yesterday :) Of course my morning was spent at knit & chat where I completed a square of my new crochet project and started another which I finished off last night. It's an easy pattern but as i'm just getting used to it, it's slow going. I know it'll get quicker, i'm just not sure how i'm going to cope with one colour. I think that's why the shawl, which is finished by the way, took so long. It's a bit boring.

In the afternoon, I did a bit of weeding and planting out my seedlings. They are all still on the window sills in the kitchen and dining room, because my greenhouse is jam packed with pots and of course it's all torn, so no use as a greenhouse anyway.

But no it's time to get myself off to work for another day at the grind stone. Maybe i'll win the Euro millions on Friday. have you bought your ticket? You have to be in it to win it!!

Ciao
Caz
xx

April 24, 2009

Another busy week

Seems to be the story of my life!

The 'last' day of my holidays was lovely. I spent the morning at Hitchin market and managed to bag a few bargains. My most favourite, whch i've not photographed yet is a Royal Doulton red rose hat pin. or at least I think it's a hat pin. It's so delicate and pretty.
I spent the afternoon sewing! You'll need to wait to see what :)

Then on Saturday Stu whisked me off to Southampton for the night. I finally got to visit family friends who have been in the UK for just over a year. It was so awesome to catch up, as i've missed them terribly. But in true slack scrapper style, I didn't get one photo :(

On Sunday we stopped at Weald & Downland Open Air museum.

S hampton april 09 (5) 

It is such an interesting place, and the grounds are just lovely for a whole day out. We spent about 4 hours walking around, but I really could have spent the day and scheduled to listen to the talks that they give at random houses through the day.

S hampton april 09 (8) 

And this week has been a whirlwind of meetings, trying to catch up from my week off and training one of our team to take on some of our workload. This will be a HUGE help to us!

I've booked next Tuesday off to go to knit & chat, and I hope the weather is good so I can spend the afternoon in the garden!

Oops, just noticed the time and it's getting late, I must dash!
Ciao
Caz
xx