A wee update

Hi folks just a brief note to let you know that my meds are kicking in well & there is some improvement to be seen in me... nothing drastic but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments & emails... they are much appreciated & have helped cheer me up over the last few days.

Just keeping fingers crossed that I will be back to normal soon.

Happy spooky Halloween.

Hugs

Lorraine xxx

DOCTORS DIAGNOSIS....NOT GOOD....

Well you know if it weren't for my bad luck, I've have no luck at all... here's a prime example...

Apparently the back pain appearing when Smithy jumped on me was nothing more than a coincidence...

Well I've been to the doctors & hospital this week for some chest x-rays & am now on a pile of heavy medication.... doctors diagnosis... are you ready for it... I've got PNEUMONIA !!!!

Needless to say I am doped up most of the time with anti-biotics & pain killers whilst I must rest as much as possible to assist my recovery.... I am not allowed to lie down for a minimum of 2 weeks so sleeping has to be done in an upright position (which is not very comfortable may I add) and hopefully once the medication gets into my system at least the coughing & pain will ease up a little.

Hence, I will try to pop on & off when I can but if I'm missing for a few days then you know why.

Right I'm off to take some more yummy tablets now & hope you all have a great day.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Done my back in.....

Sorry I haven't been posting at all but unfortunately this is the first I've been able to get to the computer...

I had an absolute catastrophy occurred on Friday night whereby my kitty decided to jump on me whilst I was sleeping... giving me the shock of my life.... and what happened... I jerked & done all the right hand side of my back in... very painful indeed.

Well I got doped up to the eyeballs etc & finally made it to the SECC around 10am ready to give it my best shot for the day... I thought that I could manage with the pain medication... but alas that was not to be the case.

Instead I ended up in a very embarassing situation where I was gunning for the toilet so quickly as I was ready to vomit everywhere... oh yeah... it is embarassing let me tell you...

One stall holder very kindly gave me some baby wipes to help clean myself up & sadly I had to call it a day early as there was no way I could continue working.

Well I've been in agony since but thankfully it seems to have eased up just slightly over the last hour so I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery now.

Anyway, fingers crossed it won't be too long before I'm burning on all cylinders again.

Hugs to you all

Lorraine

xxx

IF YOU'RE GOING TO THE SECC

What a lovely day I had today at the SECC.... managed to meet up with my bloggy buddies & have a look around all the stands... only bought a few things right enough.

However... the biggest surprise of the day was when I received a message asking me if I would like to demo... what a silly question to ask me... would rather be working the show any day of the week... I'm going to be covering someone for definate tomorrow & there is a 99.9% chance it will also be on Saturday & Sunday.

So... if you are visiting the SECC please pop along & see me on the "Samuel Taylor" stand as I would love to meet all of you.

Big hugs for now & huge thanks to everyone I've spent time with today as I've had a fab day.

Lorraine

xxx

A DAY AWAY....

Yippee.... I'm off to the SECC today along with my dear buddy Gayle & then around lunch time we are having a meeting of the craft buddies so we can have a good old natter & catch up with what all is going on in everyone's life...

Hope that you all have a lovely day too in the land of blog...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

MR POSTIE ARRIVED TODAY.....

I'm so excited today as on Sunday I signed up to The Open University to start studying Psychology & Mr Postie arrived today with my stuff...

Immediately I ripped the box open & in I dived... got so carried away with it all that I have spent 6 hours looking through everything & have already had a look through the first 2 weeks work... fantastic if this keeps up....

Now I have taken a pic but since my computer was in for repair last week I've lost my camera details so I'm gonna have to reload all the software for it... fingers crossed I may get it done tonight.

Well hubby has just arrived home from work so best get myself downstairs & put his dinner on a plate...

Hugs to you all

Lorraine

xxx

TODAY.....

Like a lot of people during this mad credit crunch I have had very little spare time on my hands to fit in much crafting as I've been helping Rob a lot with his business, but thankfully today I'm stuck at home waiting on a delivery that can arrive anytime up until 7pm tonight....

Fortunately this means that I can set about some much required cleaning in the old craft room & yippee.... I can make a card or two.... at last...

Back with you all later

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS... NEED YOUR HELP

Now I know that many of you are extremely generous when it comes to helping support our soldiers with sending them loads of lovely handmade cards for them to send home to their family & friends.

However... a new request has just come from Save Our Soldiers... they are asking if it is possible for people here in the UK to send Christmas cards out to our troops.... I.e. sign the actual card with your own name... this time we are supporting them by showing we are thinking of them at Christmas...

Obviously some of the troops only have a small circle of family & friends so it would be nice for them to receive some Christmas cheer from complete strangers.

If you feel you can help... here's what to do...

1. Make your card & sign it from yourself

2. Drop me an email & I will give you my address

3. Post your card in an envelope to me & I will ensure they reach the troops...

Many thanks in advance to all those who decide to participate.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

I'm back online...

Thank heavens for that... unfortunately my computer died a sudden death on me mid afternoon on Thursday... thankfully Rob has a super duper guy who managed to take a look at it for me yesterday & even though I truly thought that I had lost everything... these miracles workers managed to save everything for me.

I won't tell you what caused the problem in the first instance as it's just far too embarassing... let's put it this way.... I was a silly silly girl.... dim witted infact...

Alas I am now heading into the office with Rob to put in a good few hours work, but will try to get back later with a little something now that I'm back online...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

2 minute make...

Now I'm relying on good old Mr Blogger to post this for me today... as I'm off to Motherwell College to have a look around & talk with someone regarding signing up for a course in psychology.... oh yes... I've decided to plunge myself back into the old study mode & get myself a degree... only thing is I'm not sure if I want to study at my local college or if I want to do it through Open University who also have a very good course.... hence why I'm off to start my investigations today. Fingers crossed it will help me make the final decision.

This was a quick 2 minute card I made using some more of my fabby snowmen.. very plain & simple as you can see... some ribbon tied around a pale blue card with a knot attached on top using silicone... then 3 wee glittery snowmen in a row.

Snowmen

It does look really bland in the picture but believe it or not it's really nice in real life...

Wish me luck for today... lol

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Quick Make...

By the time I finally sat down last night I was shattered... but withdrawl symptoms were too much for me & I simply had to make something... albeit quick & easy so my new embellishments came out to play....

I took a plain blue then tore strips off a white card, inked & attached to the base card... then used a Sakura Real White glaze pen to create the snow fall. Next up I inked up 2 white snowmen & added a bright pink one so it catches the eye.. these were attached to the card using 3d foam & finished off with some gems for the eyes... Inked around my full card & attached a bright white star embellishment.

Quick, cheap & cheerful....

Sakura pens

Snowman & Star Embellishments

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Fire complete

Well with the exception of the new paint job to be done on the fireplace itself... still haven't made a decision on that one yet... but at least my new fire back is now secured in place & boy did it make a difference to the room temperature last night... it was so much more snug than before... just wish we had gotten rid of the fire years ago & we'd have saved ourselves a fortune in gas bills by now.... we've still got the vent to close over but that will be tackled over the next few weeks as it means plastering & redecorating... yuck... I hate the mess that causes.

Rob did cut the backing for me but apart from that I completed the whole job myself so I'm rather proud of my handy work on this one... lol

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

A year ago today....

Aren't these just gorgeous....

They are from my mums friend who done all of my ironing for me after my surgery which was 1 year ago today.... oh yes.... this time last year I was lying in a hospital bed with a stomach held together with staples... not very pleasant & something which I hope I never have to go through again... far too distressing for little old me & my fear of hospitals.

Sandra very kindly gave me these flowers to celebrate my 1st anniversary after surgery & to say how pleased she is with how I've gotten back to normal again...

Now if that's not a real act of kindness then I have no idea what is...

Off to batter on with this fireplace now & with luck I'll be able to show you the finished project soon...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Fireplace Mishap!!!!!

Well I started off yesterday all ready to get my new back panel in place on my fireplace but whilst sliding it in I had nicked the paintwork at the bottom.... out came the old blade to tidy it up before continuing... now this is where it all began....

Oh yes... when I tried to take off the little chip marks... the paint just came away.... you see my fireplace used to be waxed so although the paint had dried it was not really attached underneath... what does this mean.... well it meant I had to strip every piece of paint off of my fireplace yesterday... hell it took about 6 or 7 hours... but not one to be defeated... I won in the end... finally managed to sit my bum down around midnight last night.

Thankfully today I only have a little work to do before I can actually attach my back panel in place then I can take a break from it until I decide what I am now going to do with the fireplace itself... although I do having a feeling it's going to be either stained or varnished.

Can you believe that this is the remains of my handy work from about 10 years ago.... one thing you can't say is that it didn't stand the test of time... lol

See ya all soon

Lorraine

xxx

So glad it's a new week....

Yippee... here's to the start of a new week & hoping that it's a much better one than last week...

It's been a busy old weekend here with looking after Buddy who is back to his old self again thankfully... eating & drinking normally though he is getting used to all this extra attention & when he doesn't get it he is playing up a bit... fly wee thing that he is.

In addition to that we've been working on sealing off our fireplace which I will be finishing today & I must admit that even last night without the final seals in place our living room was a lot warmer than it usually is... hopefully that means our gas bills will be a lot lower this winter.

We also got some new lights for my hallway & staircase... nothing spectacular but they were badly needed... now it looks nice & fresh again.

Rob is doing his final prep at work today for his FSA audit tomorrow & we worked on that for quite a few hours on Saturday... I was pretending to be the FSA & was grilling him on all aspects of finances... he done extremely well as I knew he would... but like everyone else he just panics when it comes to things like this.

Got quite a few things to do in the next few hours but I am so determined to get back here with at least 1 card later today... feels like I haven't made anything for ages so have to make changes to that today...

See you all later

Lorraine

xxx

Buddy update...

Good morning all... thought I would give you a quick update on Buddy as I never managed to do it last night.

Got him home from the vet around 6pm last night & was going to put him straight in his cage so that he could just chill out... poor wee thing was so stressed.... but when I took him out he went everywhere... still under the effects of anaesthesia... so back out he came so he didn't injure himself. Onto the sofa we went for some major cuddling in then after about an hour I tried him on the floor to see how he was... not too bad & he made his way to a spot where he just lay flat out for the next hour... after this we had a little hop around for a half hour before going to bed.

He is doing well this morning & has been eating & drinking which is a very healthy sign.... might be fun later though as he has medication to get & I don't think he's going to appreciate me sticking syringes in his mouth... oh well... has to be done.

Now I'm off to get ready as have to go into the office with Rob for a few hours & then hopefully I can have an hour or two later on to make something.

Have a great day

Lorraine

xxx

Poor Buddy... He's having an op today!!!

Oh my poor wee Buddy had to go back to the vet this morning again as last night I noticed that he was starting to drool again...

Up we went & upon inspection by the vet... his tongue is now looking much better & so the vet managed to get a better look around this time & discovered that he has a massive spur on his 2nd molar which is protruding into his cheek.

Poor wee man...

Seeing as he is still eating just now etc the vet decided that she would rather operate today than wait to Monday whereby his condition may have worsened... thus.... poor Buddy has been left at the vet so that they can operate today.

He will then need to be on antibiotics for another week & require loads of TLC... I'm very good at that with animals so no worries there...

There is always a high risk when a bunny is put under anaesthesia but I am hoping that he may not need to be under for too long & that I can bring him home later today...

Will keep you updated.

Lorraine

xxx

A little better today

Just a quick note to say I am feeling a little better today... had a really good sleep last night which I think helped quite a bit..

Today I've had the gas man in capping off my gas fire & also had to get the toilet repaired as part of the flush system had broken so you had to pump the handle... shocking... but it's all mended now thankfully.

Not sure if I'll get anything made tonight as I may have to head back to the office with Rob after dinner as he has an audit with the FSA next week so massive amounts of work to be done in preperation for that. He may however just go in mega early in the morning..

Well just got a text from him to say he's heading home now for dinner so best dash & get that sorted for him arriving.

See ya all soon

Lorraine

xxx

Under the Weather I am....

Well I haven't managed to upload anything today, nor do I have anything ready... felt a bit poorly as the day went on yesterday... crap by last night... hardly got a wink of sleep during the night... and have spent most of today curled up on the sofa...

One of my friends had popped in last night before she went on holiday & said that funnily enough her husband wasn't great last week for a few days but nothing really came of it & he soon recovered... must just be something to do with the change in the air or something...

Well... I am going to tidy up a little as nothing has been done today & Rob is buying me a chinese tonight to help make me feel better... after that if I feel up to it I'll tackle a card or two...

In the meantime... happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

GET FUNKY CHALLENGE

I'm not really a person who's into Halloween cards but when the challenge is set... off we go... and this month over at Get Funky... that's exactly what we've been challenged to do.

Must admit I did enjoy making this one & even hubby was having his say over where he thought the bats should be... now that says something about the challenge when he's joining in...

First up I layered some black card onto a white base card & then onto this I layered some very funky black & white paper which is from the Funky Seasons 2nd Edition Black & White Collection download. My letters are from the Now That's Funky lower alphas download & are a combination of Pumpkin Patch & Rockstar (added a little doodling myself). Next up I drew a set of batwings & cut out 2 of them from dark blue glitter card, the top one is attached direct to the card & the bottom one has been mounted with 3d foam so they appear to be one behind the other. Finally I decided to give my little bats some funky faces... so drew around a 5p piece & cut 2 of these out... inked them with an orange ink pad, edged with black & then doodled the faces... and attached with 3d foam.

Hope you're all going to be joining in the fun over at Get Funky.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

What a shopping day...

Well after all of the chores were done today... housework, bunny cages etc.... we set off on a shopping trip... the aim of which to get a toaster & kettle...

I will try to remember & post a picture of our new toaster tomorrow... it's so cool as it has an egg cooker attached to the side of it... oh yes I can boil, poach or scramble my eggs at the same as I am making my toast... how cool is that.... gonna try it out tonight for my supper so will let you know how it works.

Next up the kettle... now you would think this is a relatively easy task... into Argos we went, chose a (RAPID BOIL) kettle, paid for it & when we got home.... plug it in & guess what... it took over 3 minutes to boil.... RAPID BOIL my butt..... so back in the box it went & back to Argos I went... explaining that my reason for the return was due to product misdescription. Right.. let's have another look for a replacement kettle... yes I got one... same process again coming home & plugging in... this time it took over 4 minutes to boil my new RAPID BOIL kettle.... would you believe it!!!!

I noticed that the item numbers on the boxes had been changed so I pulled out last years catalogue & strangely enough they were not listed as rapid boil.... then again they were infact £5 cheaper then.... hmmmm makes me wonder if to compensate for the price increase they are simply changing the facts....

Needless to say I quickly packed up the 2nd kettle & returned it directly back to Argos... so with this done I simply asked for my money back as they obviously have an issue with product misdescription...

I will be very alert to this in future & will be wary of what kind of products I buy from them now...

So before I say good night... I'll let you all know that I'm now off to place an order for some new coffee tables, side lamps, throws & yes you guessed it... a kettle... this time putting my trust in Tesco direct... keeping my fingers crossed these all arrive safely & that I do infact receive a rapid boil kettle... lol....

Until tomorrow... toodles....

Lorraine

xxx

Blog Candy.... Silhouette Machine worth £299

Oh yes you are reading this correctly.... this amazing Silhouette Machine worth £299 is up for grabs in a blog candy giveaway.... what are you waiting for... you just have to join in...

You have to pop over to visit Jak Heath at Crafters Kitchen and follow the very simple instructions to stand a chance of winning....

You have until October 29th to join in the fun & the draw will take place on October 30th...

Good luck to everyone who enters.

Lorraine

xxx

I'VE WON......

I have to admit that I am one of the most unluckiest people... I really do not win very much at all so can you image my shock & surprise when I found out that I've won... not one but 2 things...

When working my way through the challenges & checking all the delicious winners I found that I have been chosen as one of the Fab 5 over at Get Funky... and for my prize I have won a yummy blinkie... can't wait to upload that to my blog as I am such a big fan of the Funky Hand designs... then next up when I arrived at the Stamp Something challenge blog I found that I was the winner of last weeks prize which is 5 digi stamps from Gina at Hand Crafted...

Can you all see the massive smile I have on my face today...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

COLOUR CREATE CHALLENGE

It's been so long since I last joined in the fun at Colour Create that I feel totally ashamed with myself... and don't dare to think of all the fun colour combo's I've missed... but.... at least I've managed it today which is a bonus...

The current challenge is to use, hot pink, dusky pink & ice chocolate...

Time for a little fun I thought so used some hot pink card which I distressed to show the dusky pink core... then I used a Craftwork Cards template for my branch & owl. This was cut from a lovely paper which if memory serves me right is by Daisy Bucket... attached this to my card using a Sakura quickie glue pen. Used some card candy for the eyes & Fiskars mini punches for my moon & leaves.

What a fun little card to make...

Well I'm off to watch some tv with my hubby... not been a very good day for him so he needs to get some attention paid to him....

See ya all tomorrow again

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

2sketches4you challenge

Boy has my computer been playing up today or what... was beginning to think I wouldn't getting posting at all but thankfully the problem seems to be clearing up slowly but surely.

Here is my entry for the challenge this week over at 2sketches4you and what a fabby sketch it is to work with... (as always)...

Very simple this one.. some matting & layering with black, white & pink cardstock, some of which has been distressed to show the core colour. Next up the baubles were made using a free template that came with one of the craft magazines & I simply traced, cut, distressed then added some funky fibre. These were mounted using 3d foam. My snowflakes were made using a Fiskars punch & attached using my beloved Sakura quickie glue pen & a few gems to finish off.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy as you may very well say...

Got another one to share with you later but right now I'm off to get hubby's dinner on the go as he's due home around 8pm & no doubt will be starving.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

STAMP SOMETHING CHALLENGE

Well I didn't make it back yesterday as I had planned... unfortunately some things happened that turned a good day to bad & there were higher priorities in life than blogging... sad but true. Does anyone have a magic wand they can wave to make this credit crunch go away???

Alas I attempted to put this card together last night just to take my mind off things... didn't quite turn out like I wanted but hey ho... that's the way it goes sometimes.

Biggest thing I don't like about the card is my inking.... yuck....

As for the layout... that's all my own work so it fits perfect for the challenge this week over at Stamp Something challenge blog.

Image is one of the Popcorn christmas stamps & I have water coloured it using Sakura Metallic pens so it has a nice shine to it.

Christmas trees are made using Cuttlebug die cut & embossing plates.

Card Candy obviously from Craftwork Cards

Ribbon & snowflakes from my stash

Would you believe that I've had to take about a dozen pictures to get one where you can see the true colour of the trees... for some reason they kept showing up as deep red on all the pics... needless to say my apologies for the strange angle etc but it's the best I could get today....

Now I'm off to finish another challenge card which is about 60% done at the moment, some housework & shopping to do also but hope to get back later... yesterday really sucked so I fancy quite a bit of crafting today to cheer myself up...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx