Sneaky peek

Afternoon all.. Can't even remember what day I last managed to blog but it's been all go here. Headed to Edinburgh yesterday as Rob had to attend the hospital so I was booked in to a hotel. A whole 24 hours of running back and forth to the hospital with a lovely bistro meal thrown in.

Anyway, Craft World have one of their well renowned extravaganza weekends on tomorrow and Sunday so looking forward to seeing lots of lovely friendly faces and I'll no doubt get cursed by quite a few for helping them to spend their pennies. Lol.

Now I didn't feel right not sharing a wee sneaky peek of just a few of the goodies I'll be playing with over the weekend so here it is.. Going to make a few more wee bits and pieces up tonight as well.

Guess I should sign off now as hubby has promised to order me a sweet and sour with fried rice for dinner so want to get some stuff done before that arrives. Hope everyone is keeping well and no-one has been affected by these terrible floods. Toodles for now.

Hugs
Lorraine xxx


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In the garden

Morning again all and am glad to report that I got some sleep last night again.. Why is it always harder to fly forward 8hrs in time than it is to fly back!

Yesterday was a pretty chilled out day. We did pop to the supermarket for some bits and bobs and my friend popped in for a few hours last night but apart from that all I really done was some prep work for samples so that was nice and relaxing. Not quite sure what today will bring as the old man is off work due it being the September weekend and it's rather overcast and drizzly outside.

Finally here's the details of today's card and I do apologise for the poor quality of the picture but it was so difficult to photograph the acetate under lighting conditions. Products used are acetate, kraft card, background paper is from the Kaiser Crafts 'Periwinkle' range, some wooden doillies which I painted and I cut one of the gem swirls in 2 to create the flower stems.

Okay folks I'm off for a caffeine boost and to do some more cutting out.. Hope you all have a fab day.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Crimbo layout

Just a quick post to start the day as I've got a pile of work to get on with today so here it is.. Minus personal pictures of course as no-one wants to look at my family when it's on display at demos. Lol. Anyway it's made from more of the gorgeous 'Turtle Dove' collection and the baubles, angels and sentiment all come from the embellishment bag whilst the centre paper bordering the verse are from a 6x6 pad and the verse itself is a section cut from one of the 12x12 papers. I have to say that Kaiser Crafts have done a fabulous job of putting together some very full and complete collections which just keep going on and on and on.

Well that's me for now peeps.. Off to do some cutting prep so catch you all laters.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Christmas Easel

Right folks I had a fab sleep last night and am now back in working mode.. Kinda lucky really with the week I have ahead and I've already made a start today so lots of cutting out to do tonight.

Anyway, I thought I'd get us back in proper working blog manner too kicking off with a Christmas easel card made using some of the gorgeous 'Turtle Dove' collection from Kaiser Crafts. The front layer with Santa on had a journal section on it which I decided to cut out to create a window appearance and I layered another piece of paper behind so the bird appeared to be outside the window. This technique also allows me to use the journal section on another project so a bit of crafty crafting there. Lol. The base paper and border are from the 6x6 paper pad and the little cherries and merry christmas sentiment are the embellishment pack.

The holiday washing is now complete.. Shame about the mound of ironing I now have to tackle! Alas in the meantime I have to sign off as hubby is demanding a neck and shoulder massage and my scissors are screaming at me too.. Think they're feeling a bit redundant as they haven't been used for 3 weeks. Lol. Toodles for now everyone and be back with you again tomorrow.

Happy crafting
Lorraine xxx

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Isn't she cute

Sorry I've been awol the last 2 days folks but have been working my way through washing the holidays clothes.. Have managed to clean the downstairs in the house, spent time with all the animals, dealt with a few work related things and apart from that I've just been chilling. Still not managed to get a proper sleep yet! First night home I slept from approx 10pm-3am then from 4am-9am, last night was worse.. Rob and I were both watching tv at 4am this morning. Lol.

Tonight I thought I'd share a picture of one of the dogs we met on holiday as I've never seen this breed before. She's called Roxy and is a Shiba Inu, apparently a form of chinese mountain dog and she's absolutely adorable. Another thing I forgot to tell you about was my discovery whilst packing the cases. Rob had done his usual and thrown some stuff in which I hauled back out again (the way women do) thank goodness I did.. When I lifted his jeans to fold them what fell out of the pocket?? Wait for it...... A bullet!!! And a live one at that. Daft numpty had put it in his pocket when he was at the gun range and forgot all about it. Can you imagine what would have happened at LAX when security saw that on the xray screen!!! Doesn't bare thinking about really so was glad I'd found it and saved us from a whole load of hassle.

So tomorrow I'll hopefully finish the holiday washing, clean upstairs and have another few bits of business to sort before getting back to crafting mode. Next week I'll be working on samples for a soon to be released CD from Cupcake Crafting, then Saturday and Sunday I'll be demoing at Craft World in Glasgow. Rob has to attend Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Thursday and Friday so we'll be doing an overnight there. Busy wee week ahead I guess. Lol.

Well folks I'm signing off for now and will be back tomorrow again.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Back to normality

Evening all on my first night back in the UK.. What a journey that was and I've now been awake for about 29 hrs. I'm surprised at how quickly life has returned to normality as Smithy cat normally ignores us for a day or two before attacking us both then he deems his revenge is complete and can be friends with us again.

Unusually though when we got home tonight he came straight over to see us and has stuck by one of us since. For some strange reason I'm feeling a little tired and worn out tonight so have gotten in to my pj's and housecoat early and as you can see from the pic Smithy was very quick to join me. Lol.

With that said I'm signing off for the night and apologise for any spelling errors but the brain is going a little numb now so going to chill in front of the tv for a half hour then get off to bed. Toodles for now.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Home time

Well peeps we're homeward bound now.. Had a fabulous time but sadly all good things must come to an end. My wee mammy for some strange reason has missed me! Guess my ears will be nipping for a few days till she updates me on everything that's happened in my absence. Lol.

It's almost time to turn off again and next time I post it will be from the UK and life will return to normal in the wind and rain.

Take care all
Lorraine xxx

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All I'm taking home!

Well folks this is my last full day here in sunny Huntington Beach as we set off for home tomorrow and this is all the craft supplies I have to take with me! I've been to a few stores and have to say I was nothing less than shocked at the lack of card making supplies. It was as you would say very slim pickings but I did manage to find these stamps and it only cost me $19 (approx £15) for both sets so how could I refuse. Lol.

Our rental car gets returned today and I'm going to pack the cases too and may have to double check we have everything as one of the cats likes to steal stuff and hide it under the beds.. It's really funny to watch as he'll take anything like money, jewellery, clothes and just runs out of the room into another and adds them to his stash pile under the bed. He's so adorable though and it's hysterical to watch him in action.

Well I'm off to pour my 2nd coffee of the day as it's just turned 9am and the temp is 77 degrees. May need to chill in the garden for a few hours today seeing as we won't have a car. Hope you all have a fab day.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Advent calender

Good day all.. Having a fabulous time here in Orange County CA but sadly it is almost at an end and life will soon return to normal in the cold and rain. Anyway whilst I'm still basking in the sun it's time to share another of the samples I made for the recent trade show in Perth.. This time around it's a fabulous box advent calender.. Forget all about the paper ones you buy every year just to pop the door for a crappy piece of chocolate. This one is lovely and sturdy so it can be stored away and used year after year after year and because it has box drawers you can fill them with candies, chocolates, miniature toys etc so a lot more variety can be offered to your loved ones. I also think it would be wonderful done up as a baby treasure box which you could give as a new born present to the parents so they can store their memories away over the years. They come as flat pack so all you do is a quick build and decorate as you desire. Defo one of my all time favourite things to play with.

So folks it's another sunny day here.. It started out overcast but the sun soon burned the cloud away but it's still a lot cooler than yesterday as it's currently only 79 degrees so I'll be in heaven if it stays like this for the rest of the day. Waiting on the washing machine to finish just now, will hang the clothes out to dry then toddle off out for a few hours before coming home to clean up then out again to a restaurant for a family meal tonight. Hard to believe tomorrow is our last full day here!

Well folks I'm off to get an ice cold drink and cool down a bit so catch up with you again soon and behave yourself in the meantime.. Toodles for now.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Views of LA

You can see both in this and the previous picture what looks like mist or smog but it is actually coming from the hillside fires that are currently being tackled in LA at the moment. They are sending water planes over head and have fire crews tackling it from the ground too.. The land is so dry but that's not surprising when today's temp in LA was around 102 degrees. I felt like I withered as the day went on even though I was taking a constant water intake to make sure I didn't de-hydrate.

Well that's the last of the pics from Universal Studios so hope you like. Will fill you in more when I return from my hols. Hope you've all had a fab day too.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Another view out over LA

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View out over part of LA

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Can't remember the movie this was used for but they actually used a decommissioned plane and broke it up for filming.

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Wisteria Lane

One of the houses used on the set of the popular show Desperate Housewives

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Mega cool

We got to go behind the scenes on this one where they filmed a scene from Tokyo Drift where cars were shot at from a helicopter, explosions occurred and the cars flipped in the air. It was amazing to see how it was all set up and how using mechanics gave them the ability to re-shoot as much as they wanted without destroying the cars.

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Another of the cars from Fast and Furious. Love the colour of this one.

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One of the cars used in The fast and the furious. Shame there was no sign of Vin Diesel today. Lol.

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Universal Studios

Well folks here's a picture of how they create rain in the great Universal Studios.. They just turn the taps on.

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Melting!

Spent a cool day with Rob's mum today. We had a wee hour in the house for a quick catch up then headed out to the mall.. So wish we had malls like this back home as I may enjoy shopping then. Lol. Anyway, we started off there with a lovely lunch followed by a few hours wandering the shops. I was disappointed I didn't manage to find any shoes I fancied but did manage to get a few things from Abercrombie Fitch.. One of my all time favourite shops and I love the fact it's cheaper here.. always my excuse to spend more. Lol. So finally around tea time we headed back to the house where we just sat around chatting till somewhere around 9pm before deciding to make a move and head back to his Dad's house. Now were sitting upstairs watching Kindergarden Cop chilling out before bed. Hopefully we'll be heading off to Universal Studios in the morning for another fun day. I have to say the temperature here is a bit on the high side for me during the day and I constantly feel like I'm melting. Being as I'm such small chested it's always a bad sign when I can feel the sweat roll down my cleavage. Lol

Quickly before I sign off, this is another page layout I made using papers from the Kaiser Crafts 'Periwinkle' range combined with one of the wooden accents which I painted and added some flakes to.

So with all that said I'll sign off for now but be back again soon. Keep up the crafting folks.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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Thursday already!

Wow folks I can hardly believe it's Thursday already and I'll be packing my cases for the return home before I know it. Thankfully not before I squeeze in another few days of sunshine though. Lol.
Well we're off to visit Rob's mum today so there will probably be some shopping on the agenda. I know she also wants to take us for a visit to the animal shelter she volunteers at but think I may need to sit in the car for that one as I really don't like shelters and it breaks my heart to see all those animals without homes.

We had a fab time in San Diego yesterday on the HSS Midway, it's worth looking that up on the internet as it's a massive carrier ship which has now been converted to a museum since it's retirement. What was really cool was that when we returned home we got to see a picture of the boat that Rob's Dad served time on when he was in the Navy.. Boy you wouldn't believe how small this boat was and they went all the way to Japan on it!

So.. It's just after 8am, I'm ready to pour my 2nd coffee of the day so before I do here's the details of today's project. As you can probably tell it's a scrap page, minus any personal pictures as it's for demo purposes. I've used stash and paper from the Kaiser Crafts 'Sears and Sons' range. The rosette I made myself simply using my Hougie Board and a strip of paper from the range, the miniature ties, moustaches, hats, playing cards etc are all from these amazing bags you get that are just filled with bits and pieces to use in your projects.

Right folks it's time to sign off now, fill the coffee cup then get my butt in gear and get out of here. Hope everyone's having a fab day and I'll be back with you again soon.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

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