What a Difference....

.....a year makes!!!!

30th November 2010 - snowed in!

30th November 2011 - sunny and dry!

I am not getting any better and it's getting me down now, like a trooper, I'll be back at work tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping by
Jo xx

I Have Returned!

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I last blogged, the time has flown by.

I have been busy:

Knitting a hat for Paul - because it's getting cold and I want to make sure he keeps warm :)

Baking Christmas cookies - yes I'm aware I'll get through a few more batches before Christmas is here :)

Baking coffee cupcakes - because we're having a "Bake Off" at work and I want to practise :)

Spending time with my nephew, Gorgeous George

Having more ink added to me - Paul is so talented, didn't sketch it out just inked it straight on :)

Cuddling up with Alfie

And I even managed to squeeze in a layout

I love the look on Maddie's face when she realised she was sitting right behind the horse's rear end when we went on a horse and cart ride in Weymouth.

I used papers and embellishments from Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends range that I got in one of my Gotta Craft kits.

And some very old flowers!

Today I am off work ill, Maddie was ill yesterday and, on top of the cold I already have, I've picked up her lurgy!

I hope you're all having a great week. I'm sorry the post is photo heavy I won't leave it so long next time :)
Jo xx

Gulp!

I was telling a friend the other day about a little superstition I have, well it's not really a little one, it's a MASSIVE one.  To cut a long story short because of heartbreak in the past I have a very silly superstition and it's to do with photos.  I have about two photos of me and Paul together, just TWO in the four years we've been together.  I'm scared that if I have lots of photos of him then I could be tempting fate for the relationship to end.  I know that it's stupid but even as I type this I'm wondering if I should post it!

Anyway, my friend knew I was going to see him this weekend and demanded suggested that I take a photo of the two of us, so I did and it's here:

Me and Paul together, looking happy after a great weekend together.

There, I did it :)

Hope your week has kicked off to a great start.
Jo x

It's Been a Hell of a Week

This week has been really awful and I haven't had a chance to be creative or blog.  Firstly I noticed a really bad smell of gas at work, then the boiler blew up! So we've been sitting chillin (literally) in the office.  Then the computer system went down closely followed by the phones.  Then yesterday, to top it all, my iPhone stopped working, it seems that if you don't sync or upgrade the software for 2 years then it will do that.  After 8 hours of it being hooked up to a life support machine, AKA iTunes, I managed to revive it. Whew.

Anyhoo, my last blog post talked of me having to do a layout for a deadline that had just whooshed past.  I did that layout and I did it in 45 minutes, not bad eh?

It tied in nicely with the spots and stripes prompt for the Pretty Paper Party and it's Maddie panning for gold, by the look on her face I'd say she was successful :) Terrible photo of the layout I know, it's the only thing I hate about winter - no good light to photo layouts.

Another trip down the motorway for me to see Paul later, can't wait because he's been in Bruges today and rumour has it that there's some chocolate heading its way back to me.

Hope you have a great weekend.
Jo xx

Another Weekend Fast Approaching!

I can't believe how quickly this week is going, I have a million things to do though so would appreciate it if my free time didn't go quite so quickly - I guess that's something we all wish for!

I have another layout I did at the weekend to share.  It was inspired by either prompt 2 or 3 from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party - I've got a bit behind on the prompts but I am hoping to catch up soon.

I love this picture of Maddie, taken at a picnic in Windsor.  Every time my friend Lynne arranged a picnic we always seemed to get bad weather!

On this occasion Maddie was so cold that she wrapped the picnic blanket round her so we had nothing to sit on apart from damp grass, wouldn't be any good for my poor old bones nowadays :)

I had fun cutting the trees out of the Jillibean Soup, Apple Cheddar Soup range and although I wanted to screw the papers up and throw them away when I first started this layout over a week ago, I'm quite pleased with the end result now.

I now have to dash and try and get two layouts done that have a deadline of....erm......yesterday!

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Home Again

I had a lovely few days with Paul and didn't want to come home :( We had a couple of nice days out, did some baking (well I did the baking and Paul did the eating!) and even managed to get some layouts done!  The time just went too quickly and I can't wait to go back and see him again.

This week I set the challenge over on UKS.  The challenge is to use at least 90% patterned paper as the background, to either use an embellishment associated with time, how you like to spend your time or the word time in the title and lots of bling for Bonfire Night! :)  Here's is my example:

I have always loved this picture of me and Maddie taken one evening in Weymouth all the way back in 2004!

I had bling on my ribbon and on my flutterby :)

Glittery Thickers and a lovely swirl, in fact I think I went to town with the bling on this layout!  If you have a go at my little challenge then don't forget to give me the link to your layout.

Now that I'm home I'm loving that the clocks have changed, that the evenings are drawing in and that I don't feel guilty when I climb in to my PJs as soon as I get in from work :) Obviously missing Paul though :(

Tonight I plan to catch up on the Pretty, Paper Party prompts and all of my blog ready.

Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

Warm Again

I'm off to see Paul later this week but was a bit worried about Maddie getting cold so I thought I best test out the heating.  Tried it on Sunday and it did not fire on all cylinders, only one radiator became lukewarm, the others were cold :(  Today I came in and, on advice from Paul, gave the water pump an ickle tap with the hammer........it worked and I am so pleased :)

I managed to only do one more layout at the weekend because, for some reason, my mojo stomped off slamming the door behind it :(  Before it departed I did managed to get the weekly challenge over on UKS done.  We had to scrap ONE different size photo to normal, use Halloween colours and a stamp we'd never used before:

Maddie becoming a Rainbow many moons ago.  I thought the picture would be great for the Halloween coloured papers that all came from my scrap box.

I think she lasted all of two weeks in the Rainbows before deciding she didn't want to go back!

Right, I'm off to pack for my little holiday and I am so excited.

Hope you have a fabby week.
Jo xx