Those shoes were made for walking...

Yes Peeps...I think I've got my MOB shoes!!!!! The are totally STUNNALICIOUS and I can't wait to wear them :-D There's only one tiny glich...there isn't a pair of size 5's in Glasgow BUT Selfridges in Manchester have a pair they're going to send up BUT there's a tiny mark on the heel. Normally they would have cancelled the order so I'm thinking the mark can't be THAT bad if they're going to send them. They should get to House of Fraser's by about Wednesday and I'll get a call when to go in. I'm sooooo excited!!! I loved them from day one but Nic liked these other ones in Dune which I tried on and bought yesterday but just to make sure we went to HOF so I could try 'mine' on and she instantly said they were 'the ones'!!!! I'm hanging on to the Dune ones JIC but I'm thinking it will all be good in the hood lol!!!

I haven't crafted for about a week :-( but I did make this card last Friday for Ben's sister and partner who had a little boy in October. I KNOW...back to my old ways but isn't it really nice to get a prezzie and a handmade card out of the blue? I only met the gorgeous Artie a couple of weeks ago and he's such a cutie patootie and since they were coming up for the hen I thought why not?!

Anywho, here it is...

Mary J is the Queen of small cards and I've noticed some of the Ladybugs making a lot more smaller cards these days so thought I'd have a go. It's funny because when I started making cards almost 12 years ago the average sized card I made was 10cm x 10cm. I couldn't imagine making anything bigger as how the heck was I going to fill it lol??? Now the average sized card I make is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and hardly make the smaller ones.

I've used Bear Suit Baby Baby from the Baby Baby set and the smallest scalloped circle from my Grand Nesties set. As always I've coloured the image in with my Copic markers and cut the little cutie out. I've had the little SU! clip and heart shaped button for ages. The pp is Lasting Impressions...I have 2 drawers full of the stuff! I could actually open a shop with the paper alone ... back in the day I used to buy pp in 5's yikes!!

Don't you want to pinch his little cheeks lol??

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog - Anything Goes
DRS Designs - Shape Up (no square or rectangle)

MAWTT - Cute & Cuddly (hope this counts!)
Creative Belli - 3 Shapes (circle, scallop, rectangle)
Divas by Design - Use A Stamp
My Mum's Craft Shop - Stamp It
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

So what are you up to this weekend? The weather has been gorgeous and I finally got to enjoy it on Wednesday. I had a pile of ironing to do and there was no way I was going to waste such a beautiful day by ironing inside so I set up my ironing board outside and multi-tasked...ironed and caught a slight tan :-D The forecast for the weekend is snow and I do hope it's an April Fool's joke but then anything is possible in Scotland!!

Whatever you do I hope you have a good time.

Catch ya later x

Nicole's Hen - grab a cuppa, it's a long one!

As promised here are some of the pictures from Nicole's Hen at the weekend. There are a lot more but I think I'd get kicked off Blogger if I showed them here lol.

For some strange reason Nicole wanted a Burlesque theme...I've never heard her utter the word before but if that's what she wanted that's what she was going to get. Originally we had booked a Burlesque show in town but it got cancelled which got us in a bit of a panic. Then I remembered my neighbours DIL used to be a Burlesque dancer so contacted her and she gave us some great hints and tips and fab websites to look at. We booked a dancer to show the girls some of their moves (apparently this is very big in the Hen world these days!) and a bartender to make the drinks but also to show how the girls to make them. At 11:15 a bus arrived to take us all into town to a club called Sugar Cube.

The venue ended up being at the Tennis Club in my village because when other venues heard the booking was for a Hen they said no!! I was going to have it at my house but with 25 girls and a Burlesque dancer there wasn't enough room. Unfortunately our tennis club bears little resemblance to Wembley but once we cleaned it and put up the decorations it wasn't too bad.

It was an extremely busy day starting early with taking the dogs a walk, picking up Alanna and Ciara, Costco, Tesco, Off License, venue to decorate, drop girls off for lunch with Nic, hubby and I picking up balloons and dropping off at venue, picking up girls and dropping Nic off then back to venue to finish decorating and me home to cut up fruit, make up h'orderves, cook pizzas, take food to venue, get changed and run up to venue in time to see Nic arrive.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest....

Alanna...Nic's best friend and bridesmaid decorating the tennis club

Ciara...Nic's cousin and chief bridesmaid. She definitely wasn't impressed with the venue lol

Nic and friends on her balcony just before getting ready

Girls waiting for Nic to arrive

Nic didn't know where her Hen was going to be so we blindfolded her...hubby was the chauffeur but didn't speak so she didn't know it was him. She asked one of her friends if the driver was 'hot' rofl

Surprise!

Getting dressed

Ciara putting on the flashing garter

All dressed and ready

Bartender's set up and ready

Luciana and Nic getting a cocktail lesson

French Martini's...my new favourite drink...they were fabulicious!

The cake..the sparklers fizzled out by the time I took the picture

Ciara bought Ben's mom and I MOB & MOG sashes to wear

Not sure who she is lol

Learning a few Burlesque moves

Ciara bought these heart shaped wish lanterns. You wrote your wish, lit them and once they expanded with the heat you let them go and watch them float away

At one point you could see little lights floating away

There were only a dozen lanterns so each one was shared by 3 girls and we all wrote our wishes on it. Unfortunately ours got a hole in it and didn't float away ... I hope that doesn't mean our wishes won't come true :-(

Me and Nic's friend Deniz in Sugar Cube. She is a personal trainer and is partly responsible for my MOB transformation. I'm disappointed there wasn't a picture of just me and Nic...maybe one her friends has one so will keep my eyes peeled as pictures are popping up on FB all the time.

 The club was fun but I don't think I'll be rushing back lol. It was so loud (surely it wasn't like that when I was younger???!!) and dark and the girls wore the skimpiest clothes I've ever seen! I definitely wasn't dressed for clubbing lol. Anyway it turns out one of Ryan's teammates was there and text him to say he'd seen me. I was mortified because I know Ryan would be in for some stick when he went to training on the Monday (for some reason I embarrass him with his teammates??). Sure enough when I spoke to him the next day he'd already gotten a few texts about me being in Sugar Cube. I also got a message from Steven who is back in Milan asking if I'd been in SC the night before!!!! Oh the shame lol.

I managed to get a taxi with Ciara and Penny and arrived home about 4am...I am so rock and roll lol. For some reason I was wide awake at 8 so went up to the tennis club and cleared up then took Ciara to the train station and Alanna to the airport. By evening I could barely keep my eyes open and was tucked up in bed by 10...a record for me lol.

It was a fantastic night and I'm glad I just have one daughter. I'll proabably be 80 by the time the boys get married and I'll definitely not be fit for Sugar Cube then lol.

Thanks for letting me share these pictures with you. I've still lots to do before the wedding...I've started on the favours and I'm going to start on the place cards and Order of service soon. I've seen a couple of pairs of shoes that I've fallen in love with...one in particular but will need a small mortgage to get them lol. There's always the lottery ;-D

Have a great day

Catch ya later x

TLT - Diane's Challenge - Spots & Stripes

Good morning everyone and welcome to TLT! But before I launch into today's challenge  I want to thank everyone who participated in our marathon Reveal. I hope we didn't bore you with the length of time it took to show you the new release and the DT's makes. The Ladybugs wanted to try something different from the usual Blog Hop and I know we really enjoyed it. :-DIt was also lovely to have Mary J as our GD. We had an enormous amount of entries this fortnight...I think Anything Goes is most people's favourite challenge...so thank you so much for taking the time to enter. I didn't get a chance to comment too much as the weekend was a bit hectic so please accept my apologies.

The winners were announced in a post last night on the Challenge Blog so if you haven't already checked to see if you're a winner of the Anything Goes Challenge, using an LCI image, Top 3 or the big daddy... leaving a daily comment pop on over and email me at lcichallengeblog@aol.com if you are :-D

Spots & Stripes is the lovely Diane's challenge and I don't know anyone who doesn't like either! I recently bought a few new paper pads and after flicking through them settled on MME's Miss Caroline to team up with Tomboy Jess to make a card for my friends daughter's 18th birthday. See what you think...

Is it bad to say that I love it and think it's one of my best cards evah lol???!!! I love the neutral colours but thought it needed some colour so isolated it to Jess's dress and socks using Copics.

Teenage girls love their nail polish and unusual colours at that so I gave Jess blue nails and added tiny nail heads for buttons on her jacket.  

I used Die-namics Perfect Petal Trio to make the flower adding a button and twine and Whimsy ticket die and sentiment stamp

Aida and cs Die-namics rolled flower with a Lasting Impressions button added to the centre

So there you have it...one of my bestest cards evah lol!!!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Lollipop Crafts - Anything Goes

Squigglefly - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

CMC Copic Challenge - Must Use Copics/Anything Goes

Di's Digi Challenge - Emboss It!

Totally Gorjuss - Spots & Stripes

Gingerloft Challenge -Happy Birthday

One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes

I've just about recovered from Nicole's Hen party and will tell you all about it tomorrow with some pictures...there are definitely some that cannot be published lol!!!

Thanks for stopping by....

Catch ya later x

Day 13 Reveal - The End!!

Phew...that was a bit of a marathon wasn't it lol. I do hope you've enjoyed the new Teenager release and all the makes the DT have created for you. They've all done an amazing job with Josh and Jess and I hope it gave you some inspiration :-D

I've just seen Sue's cards and they are fantastic...great minds think alike as a few of us used the same paper pad which is perfect for these images. I love the way Sue cut out the images and the layouts she used. The wallpaper behind Jess was brill...a great idea.

Today is finally the turn of Lisa and if you know Lisa she is going to have something extra special. Well it should be as she's had an extra two weeks to make hers (pretty crafty of her when she made up the rota me thinks lol) !!!!! I can't wait till 9 o'clock to see what she's been up to. Remember if you would like to win one of Lisa's images leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG and if you've left a comment on each of the 13 reveal days you could win £15 to spend in the LCI store!!

I really should be tucked up in my bed right now as I didn't get in till....wait for it....4 AM!! I know...shocking huh lol?!!! If you didn't already know it was Nicole's Hen do last night and it was a day that started super early and was non stop. It was a brilliant night and she had an amazing time from what I saw...that girl knows how to have a good time! I was dreading it in a way because the last hen night I was on was mine almost 29 years ago and it was a real eye opener let me tell you lol. I was even in a club dancing with people 1/2 my age...another shocker lol!! But I'll tell you more about that later as I have a bit of a clear up to do today :-S

Catch ya later x

Day 12 Reveal

We're on the home stretch now...only today and tomorrow to go and you'll have seen all the new Teenager's release AND the gorgeous makes from the DT.

Julie's cards yesterday were just fabulicious...the aperature on her Josh card was genius and the bottles of nail polish she made for embellishments were beyond clever!

Todays makes are from Sue and I am so looking forward to seeing them. If you'd like to win one of Sue's images make sure you leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG and remember if you leave a comment on all 13 days of the release you can win a £15 spend in the LCI store!

Two of Nicole's bridesmaids, Ciara (cousin and chief bridesmade) and Alana (best friend) are up for her Hen tonight. Nic's been desperate to find out what is happening and is beyond frustrated she doesn't know a thing lol. Last night Ciara, Alana and I tidied up the Hen venue and decorated it a bit so we didn't have as much to do today. After all we do need plenty of time to get ready!! This morning I'll be walking the pups EARLY...8ish then picking up the girls and first heading to Eat to get the much needed coffees to keep us going then heading to Costco to pick up the food we ordered and Futura where we ordered the balloons. Hubby is in charge of picking up the food from Marks and the cake!

It's going to be a mega busy day and I can see myself curled up in a corner somewhere lol. I am extremely light weight when it comes to drinking so will pace myself so I don't make a total fool of myself! Plenty of pictures will be taken...I'm sure some won't pass Mr Blogger's censors lol but I'll try and make sure there's some to share with you later :-D

Gotta run....have a great Saturday and I'll catch ya later xx

2nd Post Today

I've managed to sneak in 10 minutes to take pictures, edit and upload one of the cards here but I'm going to make it quickish ;-D

Decided to colour up a Floral Delight the other day and this is what I came up with...

Wheelbarrow Delight is just so much fun to colour...the hard part is deciding on which colours to use for the flowers. These flowers are perfect for using colours that aren't natural flower colours which brings me back to the FUN part lol.

I don't know about you but I have lots of paper pads that have a distinctive pattern on them which lend themselves more to scrapbooking and are usually the only pages left in my pad.  When I came across this sheet of pp from MME's Miss Caroline paper pad I thought it was a perfect frame for the image.

The large rolled rose flower was a bit stark against the rest of the card so I sponged a bit of coral ink onto the edges of the petals and added Padparadsha Swarovski Crystals to the centre for a bit of bling.

I used another piece of pp from the same pad and cut out the fancy bit to add to the inside of the card.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Crafty Catz - Spring is In The Air
Our Craft Lounge - Spring
Patti's Creations - Anything Goes
The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Spring
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
Sweet n' Sassy Digi Challenge - Spring
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Handmadeflowers

The clocks go forward this weekend...I'm thinking we've picked the wrong weekend to have the hen...I'm sure it will be a late night already without losing an hours sleep hmph!

That's my quick post...I've got to get back to all things 'Hen' lol. Scroll down to my first post of the day if you want to see the before and after of yesterday's facial!

Have a great weekend.

Catch ya later x

Day 11 Reveal

Hello and welcome to Day 11 of the reveal. Although you have now seen all the images we still have 3 days of gorgeous makes to show you. The Ladybugs at the end of the reveal have been extremely nervous but there's been no need as all the makes have been AMAZING! It's also given the girls at the end extra time to create their 'WOA' for you lol.

Sally's cards yesterday were fabulous, both hers and Catherine's bricks in Whispering Wall were perfect. I have yet to tackle that image but look forward to it when time stands still!!! I love how Sally cut out both her images. If you want to see if you're the winner of one of Sally's images head on over the Challenge Blog.

Today is Julie's turn and again I'm super excited to see what she has come up with. Remember if you would like to win one of Julie's images leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG and if you've left a comment on all the reveal days you could be in with a chance to with a £15 spend in the LCI store!!

I had an amazing facial yesterday...I much preferred this one to the one last week (I didn't lose my earring again lol). The microdermabrasion (no it isn't painful Pinky!) really digs deep (not literally) and gets to those dead skin cells. Kirsty took a before and after picture which after much debate have decided to show you. Let me know if you see a difference and how many months she shaved off lol. Here you go...

Before

After

So do you see a dufference? Not sure why the after picture isn't as clear...maybe Kirsty used a softening effect so it looked like there's a difference lol.

I have a massively busy weekend ahead so apart from the mini reveal posts you might not hear from me until Monday though I will be back to add a card later (it's still to be photographed). It's Nic's hen tomorrow and her bridesmaids Ciara, Alanna and I will be running around today and especially tomorrow getting it all set up. I'll tell you all about it when I've recovered and no doubt there will be lots of pictures...hopefully I'll be able to show you one or two of them!!! Wish me luck :-D

Catch ya later xx

Day 10 Reveal

Weren't Pinky's cards fantabulous yesterday? I was excited to see Computer Geek and I wasn't disappointed :-D The colours in Whispering wall were so pretty and I'm looking forward to colouring up both of these images asap!

It's Sally's reveal today and remember if you would like to win one of her images leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG and if you leave a comment on each day of the reveal you could win £15 to spend in the LCI store!!!

Although we still have another 3 Ladybugs waiting to show their cards from the new release all 13 images in The Teenager range have been revealed!! They are on sale in 3 different ways. First you can purchase them individually for £1.75 OR click on Multi Buy and choose 3 images for £4.50 (type your choices in the comments box at checkout) saving 75p OR click on The Whole Shebang and get all 13 images for £18 saving £4.75!!!

I had a lovely 3 hours at the hairdresser's yesterday...all the grey covered, an inch cut off and some lovely new highlights!! Today I'm using another Groupon Coupon...Dermabrasion and Light Therapy hoping to shave another 6 months off my age lol. Would prefer 10 years but then Rome wasn't built in a day ;-D

Catch ya later x

Day 9 Reveal

It was fab to have Mary J back as a GD Ladybug yesterday...as always her card was fabulicious! Today is Pinky's turn and I am so excited as I've been looking forward to her Josh since I gave it to her weeks and weeks ago and I know I won't be disappointed...no pressure Pinky lol.

I said I would try and get back yesterday with something to show you but alas my day ran away with me. I do have some brilliant news though...I got my earring back!!!! I had to take it into the car dealership and they took the seat out (took 'em 1 1/2 hours!!). The little rascal had slipped through the track the seat slides back and forth on AND managed to find it's way UNDER the carpet so there was no way I was going to find it!  I can't tell you how many times I had my bum sticking up in the air trying to find it lol. It is now safely back in my ear where it will stay...for now!

Now for my card. I realised I hadn't coloured up a Jack in like forever so when I spied Frog Chasing Jack I set to work. This is what I came up with...

I am really loving this card for a lot of reasons. 1) the image...it's just a typical little boy thing to do 2) the pp...I found a fab new (new to me) digi store called Pickleberry Pop...They have the most gorgeous pp and scrapbooking kits. I've bought a few lines and I can't wait to play....this one is called A Simple Day.

3) It's Twisted Easel card! This was actually the first one I made 4) The bunting...it's the first time I've used it on a card

Ain't he cute?! 

I stamped the number 5 from the Sentimental Numbers set onto the pp and cut it out.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Cards For Men - Cheeky Chappy

Always Crafting - Anything Goes

Love To Create Challenge - Anything Goes

Stamp & Create - Paper Piecing

I'm at the hairdresser's this morning for a trim and a colour. I'm really looking forward to sitting and reading a magazine or 3...a real luxury these days!!

Remember if you would like to win one of Pinky's images leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG and if you leave one on each of the reveal days post you could be in with a chance to win £15 spend at the LCI store!!!!

Hope you have a great Wednesday

Catch ya later x

Day 8 Reveal - Guest Designer

So how are you guys doing? Thank you so much for following the release and I'm really pleased you're liking the new images...three more and you've seen the lot!!!

I've got a special treat for you today. I asked former Ladybug Mary J if she would be a Guest Designer for The Teenager release and she said yes so  today is her day! Please make sure you give her some extra Ladybug Love and remember to leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG for a chance to win Mary J's image and if you've commented on ALL the days on the CHALLENGE BLOG you could be in with a chance to win £15 to spend in the LCI store!!

I hope to be back later with something to show you :-D

Catch ya later xx

Day 7 Reveal

 I think Diane rocked her reveal yesterday. I love Diane's 4 sided cards as I call them....I find it hard enough to do TWO sides let alone 4!

Today was Michele's turn but unfortunately she's still unwell and I've ordered her to her bed and told her to stay there until she's feeling 100%! Get well soon MP...we miss you.

Luckily I had already made cards using Michele's images weeks ago.

First up is Hair Straightening Jess

I'm sure this will be a familiar scene to a lot of you. Actually I think that looks a bit like me in the mornings minus the ipod, less wrinkles oh and less grey hairs lol.

Next is Skateboarder Josh

Years ago Steven was into skateboarding and as there wasn't a local skate park near us I used to drive for miles so he and a friend could skate. I would pack a 'crafty bag' and while they were doing their thing I would be cutting, colouring and glittering to my hearts content. The dashboad would have more sparkle than my cards and I would find glitter for weeks afterwards lol. Ahhhh the things we do for our kids.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Craft Your Days Away - Just For Men/Boys + Button
One Stop Craft Challenge - Handmade Flower
Crafty Ribbons - Birthday
Cute Card Thursday - Birthday
Lia Stampz Challenge - Anything Goes + Sentiment
Catered Crop - Stitching
Kenny K - One For The Boys
PanPastel - Add A Flower

I hope you like the new additions to The Teenager's collection. Remember if you would like to win one of these images leave a comment on the CHALLENGE BLOG AND if you leave a comment on each day of the reveal you could win a £15 voucher to spend in the LCI store!

I had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday. After my morning with Sadie I came home and vacuumed, hung out a wash and ironed...ok so that wasn't so lovely but I met Nicole after her work at Yo Sushi for dinner and then we went to see 21 Jump Street at the cinema.

Against the odds Kilmarnock beat Celtic to win the League Cup 1 - 0. Joy quickly turned to sadness as one of Ryan's teammates dad had a heart attack in the stand just after the final whistle and later passed away in hospital. Ryan was distraught and our thoughts and prayers are with Liam and his family. Puts a lot of things into perspective doesn't it.

Thanks for visiting me today

Catch ya later x

Day 6 Reveal - Happy Mother's Day!

Hands up who loved Pam's cards {hand waving furiously!}...Wasn't her Josh card just superb...I loved the scene she created with the buildings in the background and the map. And stop the bus!!! What about those eyelets on her Jess card? For a minute I wasn't sure what Pam was talking about...eyelets..what are they??? LOL...remember those??? Maybe there will be an eyelet revival thanks to Pam...must blow the dust off mine and dig out my Crop a dile...might have to get the oil can out for that lol.

Now onto other matters of the day...

Happy Mother's Day! I know we're a bit strange here in the UK having MD in March when it really should be in May like North America. Father's Day is the same so not sure whose idea it was to have separate MD's??? I guess it gives me a bit of a head start on making my mom her card...could I really make it a double and produce AND send 2 cards EARLY lol???

Wee Sadie has been like a surrogate mom to me since I met her 25 years ago. She started out as my cleaner until I had to put her out to pasture 8 years ago because of arthritis and her eyesight was failing...hubby was always finding one sleeve un-ironed when dressing for work lol. She's now 81 and getting a bit frail. Sadly she had 3 mini strokes the week before Christmas and thankfully only has slight speech problems (she stutters if she gets excited) and numbness in a couple of her fingers. It could have been a lot worse. She's since had another couple of mini strokes but she's not lying down to them though she really should rest more than she does! She's still a firecracker and keeps me on my toes.

I made her card on Thursday afternoon as I was seeing her that night. I picked one of my favourite images from the Floral Delight Collection and teamed it up with some very pretty pastel papers I bought from Dunelm Mill (it's a homewares store that has just started selling craft goodies) of all places. I am so disappointed in my photography skills of late ... I really must get my tent out but it ends up with permanent residency on my dining room table and drives hubby mad...because they don't do this card justice at all. The colours are so dreamily soft and lovely. Then there's the wall peeking through hmph! Anywho, enough whinging...here's what I came up with...

Yes another twisted easel card...I told you you would be seeing a few more of these lol. Can you see how lovely these colours are? I had it sitting on the high counter in my kitchen as I do whenever I finish a card. I leave it there and walk past it as I go about my business to see if it needs anything or try and fall in love with it if I'm not all that about it. Well hubby came in Thursday after work and walked right by it...stopped suddenly and walked back to look at it and after a few moments gave it the thumbs up lol. He's not a lover of all the pp I use as he says it detracts from the image so I was really chuffed he like it.

I coloured Watering Can Delight with my Copics...I'm going to have to work on my grass cuz it looks rather pathetic lol. The image actually looks like it's floating in the clouds...must remember not to make them so low!

Back to using Aida for my flowers...this batch is a lovely snowy white.

I hope you have a lovely Mother's Day whatever you are doing. I'll be on my own :-( Steven went back to Milan last Sunday (I'll tell you more about that later), Kilmarnock are playing against Celtic in the Community Cup today and although he's not playing the Manager included him in the squad (more on him later too lol) so he stayed with the team in the hotel last night and after the game will hopefully be celebrating and even if they don't there will be something on for them back at the club's hotel. Nic is working until 6 so I'm going to pick Sadie up this morning and have a coffee somewhere then take her to her friend Katie's for the afternoon. I'll make a bee-line home and hopefully get to craft for few hours before Nic and Ben come over. I think it will be takeaway as my only stipulation on my birthday and Mother's Day is I don't cook!!!

 Thanks for stopping by :-D

Catch ya later x