A day of aromas

Evening all.. I know it's a little late in the day but I've been a busy wee bee in the kitchen today.

This afternoon started with making 3 big Herman cakes.. 1 was sent over to our friends, 1 went to my mum for her & Eric and we kept the 3rd to munch on ourselves.

Throughout the afternoon and evening I was also working away on some sourdough.. My 1st ever attempt at making any kind of bread so had no idea what it was going to be like! Well after a lot of kneeding, 3 rises and then a division of the dough this is the end result of my hard work. Not perfect in colour or shape by any means but it sure does taste good.. Hubby stole the 1st part as being from the USA he knew exactly what the taste and texture should be like so once he gave it the thumbs up I got stuck in too. Lol. There was 4 in the beginning and now there's only 3!!! Quite proud of myself on my 1st attempt and will defo be making more in the future as can't wait to dunk it in some chicken noodle soup.

Well folks it's 10.30pm and I've still got some papers to cut ready for mounting on samples so I'm off to make myself a fresh cuppa and get back to my guillotine. Taking hubby to the hospital tomorrow so we've got a nice 2 hour drive there and another back again so hoping the weather's nice and we can enjoy the scenery.

Toodles for now and happy crafting all.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Best neighbours..

Evening folks.. Boy do I have the best neighbours or what!!! A huge slab of cake delivered to the door today by my gorgeous wee pal Nicole. I'll return the goodwill tomorrow when I give them a slab of Herman. Lol

Not much been happening here today as we lazed about all morning, done some chores then went to the supermarket. Both Hermans have just been fed ready for the big baking day tomorrow and tonight I think I'll tackle a few samples whilst watching tv with dear old hubby.. Oh who may I add is tackling some Sourdough Bread tomorrow too. Can wait for the aroma in the kitchen.

Well I think I'll finish my coffee and toddle off to the kitchen and make myself some dinner before tackling the evening animal feeding routine then I can sit down for the rest of the night. Hope you've all had a wonderful day.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Sample time..

Having taken some time off the last few weeks then doing wacky races last weekend with the Sincerely Yours shows in Edinburgh and Newcastle it's time to get back to some work again starting with samples for Kay Rutter from the new 'Wedding & Party Ideas' project book. Not that I told you but I've heard there's a show coming up on C&C in a few weeks time to share some ideas with you all.

Once these are done and out of the way it will be time to get organised for the big craft weekend event at Craft World in Hillington which is on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May so if you're in the area be sure to drop in. As always there will be a pile of demonstrators there for the weekend to share lots of hints, tips and techniques with you all.

Well.. Guess I better get the head down and on with work as idle hands make for mischief. Lol.

Toodles for now my lovelies and hope everyone's had as much sunshine as me today.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Massive 25% discount in SHOP

If you happen to be around Glasgow tomorrow (Saturday 21st April) then why not pop in to the Craft World shop and get 25% off all your purchases.

All you need do is print this picture and present it at the checkout..

Offer is in SHOP only.. NOT online.

Any problems with printing leave me a comment with your email address and I will forward the voucher to you via email.

Happy crafting xxx

Show agenda for the coming weekend

Afternoon all and I know it's been a while so I do apologise... there's been quite a lot happening with family the last few weeks so I've not really been doing much craft seeing as I had the opportunity to take some time off between shows so that's exactly what I did and now the house is almost back in order, the family's in order and my holiday is booked so time to get back in to motion again starting tomorrow...  here's a run down of where I'll be Saturday and Sunday so if any of you happen to be visiting the shows please pop by and say hi... I'll be with the mad Kay Rutter on the Hougie Crafts stand so you're almost definately guaranteed a laugh or two between us.  
  

Saturday April 21st 2012



http://www.sincerely-yours.co.uk/show21.php


Royal Highland Centre


Ingliston


Edinburgh


EH28 8NB


Order your tickets for Free Tea/Coffee


Pre booked Tickets £3.00(£3.50 on the door).


Accompanied children under 14 years Free.


Parties of 10 or more, ask for our special rates.




Sunday April 22nd 2012



http://www.sincerely-yours.co.uk/show17.php


Gateshead International Stadium


Neilson Road


Gateshead


NE10 0EF


Order your tickets for FREE tea/coffee.


Pre booked Tickets £3.00(£3.50 on the door).


Accompanied children under 14 years Free.


Parties of 10 or more, ask for our special rates.


There is a cafe on site for lunch, etc.




Now if these shows aren't near you then check out the Sincerely Yours website to see where other shows will be held over the coming months...   right need to make a move as lots to do and will catch up with you again later.
 
Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx
 

Happy Easter

Morning all and blessed Easter wishes being sent to one and all. Hope you have a wonderful day and not too many of the kiddies get poorly eating their chocolate eggs. Gosh it's amazing how memories come flooding back isn't it. We were always allowed to look at our eggs but were only given permission to open 1 egg at a time and even then we were only allowed to eat a portion of it a day.. Think it took us about a week to make our way through just 1 egg. Lol. Obviously there was the annual egg rolling race too which was a time of high excitement, hysteria and occasionally a little disastrous when we had to tackle torrential rain during the race. Nothing better than reaching the bottom of the hill to find a pile of boiled eggs with all their colours running and trying to figure out which one belonged to who.. Being the baby of the family with a brother 9 years older than me, I think you can probably all guess who tended to win the race.. ME!!! Lol

Well I felt rather poorly over the last week with a nasty virus but thankfully I felt a lot better yesterday and even managed to get out for a few hours so I'm glad to say that normal service will resume in the craft room next week.

Hope everyone has a wonderful time today and build some amazing memories to ponder over in years to come.

Happy Easter and love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Perverts in your postcode | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish News

Map showing pretty scary figures for some areas where sex offenders are being homed!

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/article4232550.ece

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

More Tbag folding

Alright folks that's the last of the Cupcakecrafting samples uploaded for now and my cup is almost empty so time to make a move and get on with today's chores. Have a great day everyone.

L xxx

Tbag folding

Posie box

Blowing bubbles

Snoozing Ted

Rugby Card

Birthday gift bag

Afternoon all... Having a wee cuppa just now before I started on afternoon duties so thought I'd go through my pics and upload some samples I made for the Tumble Ted and Tumble Tizzy cd's from Cupcakecrafting whilst I'm sipping away.

Have a happy Sunday all.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Wee treat to myself..

Well folks I've finally taken a wee break from work this week.. Well the crafting kind that is. Lol. We've had glorious sunshine this week so I've spent a lot of it tidying and sorting out the front garden amongst a pile of other duties that needed tending to.

Anyway.. I'm sure you know by previous posts that although I was at the SECC & NEC the one thing I didn't manage to do was buy myself very much.. So today I took a few hours out to go get some new stash and I've come back with papers, canvas in various sizes, tags, inks, embossing powder, stickles and some fragments. Feels sooooo good to have been shopping and now I'm ready for action when the sunshine decides to disappear which from all accounts will be in the next day or two.

Apart from that I've not been doing too much as I've had a bit of a swollen gland and tickly throat which means there's been quite a bit of coughing going on but thankfully so far I've managed to avoid this dreaded virus which seems to have been doing the rounds and making folks really quite ill. Fingers crossed that the easter school holidays will help stop the spread too and if you're one of those affected just now I hope you feel better soon.

Well, that's my wee update done for now so think I'll float off and make a wee cuppa before putting my feet up for the night. Toodles for now everyone.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Criminal damage to woodland area in my estate!!!

Morning all.. I'm so disgusted by this malicious act of vandalism in my estate that I just had to share a picture showing a small part of it. This was previously a beautiful woodland area providing foods and shelter to a great deal of wildlife including BATS!! Yes, it is illegal to disturb or destroy an area where bats are known to feed but some mindless vandals have simply gone in and completely destroyed a large section of it. There were a mixture of trees some of which were 20-30ft in height including birch and fir and several varieties of bushes.

Sadly this act has upset many residents in our estate as it now means that they will be billed for the removal of all the debris left behind and possibly for the reinstatement of all the trees unless we can obtain help from the forestry commission, bat society etc. We are also having to apply for a tree protection order. The good thing is that if we get the tree protection order in place if any further act of vandalism is carried out and the culprits caught then they could actually face imprisonment, and the bat society will also register or woodland area so it will be a protected area on their records also which will make legal proceedings much quicker and easier.

Today, I need to contact the police, bat society and local council to get all the investigations and paperwork started but hopefully I can do most of it from my phone whilst enjoying some sun in the garden.

Hope you're all enjoying the sun too and sorry for the rant but I just find it disgusting that some people think they are above the law when they so clearly are not.. What goes around comes around though!! Lol

Toodles for now all.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

What a week..

Hi again folks and sorry for my lack of posts over the last week but I really just didn't have the time and to prove how busy we were on the stand.. Here is a picture of all I managed to purchase at the NEC.. A pack of grunge from A1 crafts who we were back to back with, the papers and glossy accents were from our own stand (Craftworld)and a wee scrubbie from Craft At Home which has a funny story attached.. Know how when you're going away and you check, check, and check again that you have everything.. Well daft old me who was working with distress inks forgot to pack her scrubbie! Not a huge ordeal during the day when you're working but when on the Thursday night I had to go out for dinner with multi coloured fingers it was slightly embarrassing. Lol.

What an amazing time we had at the show and huge thanks to everyone who stopped by the stand to say hi and also to all the new people I met too. There was a lovely cheerful atmosphere every day and lots of ideas being exchanged.

Need to say also that Birmingham has the most amazing restaurants including Jilabi, The Real China and Peachy Keens, I've certainly came home a few pounds heavier. Thanks also to everyone we shared a meal with including Jill from Hobby House and her lovely husband, also David and the rest of the crew from Samuel Taylors.

My main thanks though go to Donald and Gaynor from Craftworld for inviting me along in the first place.

Well it's time to sign off I guess as I'm still in the old comfy pj's so going for a quick shower, got paperwork to sort for a meeting I have tonight then I'm off out to cut the grass and do some gardening seeing as the sun is shining. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Day 1 of NEC show

Good morning all and what a glorious one it is.. Blue hazy sky so looks like it's going to be a warm one.

On way to the show now so will post again later.

Stand B22 if you're coming along.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Good morning Birmingham

A very good morning to you all from a slightly overcast and rather tepid Birmingham.

This was my wee bed for the night and what a lovely bathroom I have too.. Finally figured out the heating this morning. Lol.

Right now I'm outside getting some fresh air, waiting on Donald coming back with a McD's which I'll eat on the way to the NEC as the sooner we make a start on set up the earlier we'll finish tonight and we're currently 1 man down so there's only 3 of us.. Defo a case of all hands on deck and full steam ahead but this is where the real fun begins so bring it on.. I can't wait.

If you're coming to the show, mind pop by B22 and say hi to me.

Right, time to go so I'll post again whenever I get a chance.

Have a fab day all and happy crafting.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx

Easter surprise

Afternoon all.. Quick post whilst I'm waiting for the van to arrive to whisk me off. The lovely Lynda is back on air just now with her last show of the day so here's another wee gift bag I made.. This time around it's a cute wee Easter gift bag to give away the eggs. Can you tell my brain was in overdrive when I was playing with these cd's. Lol.

Anyway, my house is sparkling, all the washing and ironing has been done, this afternoon I've dealt with a pile of paperwork and emails relating to my estate's residents association as I'm secretary so I've been clearing my feet of that seeing as I'm returning to an AGM and hate being disorganised. My case is packed and now I'm just waiting on a wee text or call and I'm on my way to Birmingham. Can't wait for Thursday so I can see lots of happy smiling faces.

If you happen to be coming to the show, please pop by and say hi.. I'll be on B22.

Right, saying bye bye for now and will post again later.

Love 'n' hugs
Lorraine xxx