Christmas Feeling

Here are some of my Chrissy ATC's I made for Jo's swap. I spent yesterday afternoon sprinkling glitter!!! I was pleased with my efforts especially considering my Christmas Block that I suffer from! Jo- I posted them this morning! Looking forward to the swap out for this one (as ever) these iddy biddy cards are WAY addictive!!

I-Spy books - not just for kids!!!

We've been buying these books for the sprogs for the last couple of years having discovered them accidentally on Amazon.
Walter Wickthe photographer of these books is a genius. I cannot begin to fathom how his mind works- but I love the way it does what it does!
Each page is a feast for the eyes, often a collage of loosely related items, sometimes an intricate miniature scene. On their own these pictures would be enough to satisfy but Walter Wick adds another dimension. Rhymes along side the pictures encourage you to search for hidden objects within the image. Nothing is as simple as it seems because Mr. Wick plays with size and depth. Images are often hidden within other objects, or they might be a reflection or a shadow. All cunning and absorbing stuff!

Our sprogs can take these books out time and time again. In fact when the written puzzles are solved they take it in turns to make up their own searches- resulting in a comptitive bedtime redaing session!
Walter's Christmas offerings are a delight and his website has interactive elements that are bound to draw you to the books!

Have fun reading!

The Power of Suggestion

Isn't it strange how the mere mention of head lice sets you scratching *scratch scratch*
YUK!

FAN-tastic weekend!!

What a fabulous weekend I've just had *happy sigh*
After picking up Archie we ploughed through the rain on the M25 and eventually made port in deepest darkest Essex!
We were the first to arrive and so we settled ourselves into our room and unloaded our scrapping stash into 'the Studio' (sounds posh doesn't it??!!)
Soon Lily, SarahK and Maddy arrived to complete our happy band of scrappers.
Friday night is fish 'n' chip night followed by tinned pears.I can't tell you how good it is to not have to forrage for food yourself- such freedom!
The staff are just the BEST and look after us so nicely!
I will post the layouts I did later but suffice to say it was a productive weekend for me- SIX LO"S!!! Sarah, Maddy and particularly Archie were high scorers- we're talking TEENS here!!
But I got to play with my MM glitters and stickers and made everything sparkly- so I was a very happy bunny!
This really is my favourite way to scrap; good company, beautiful surroundings, silliness, chatter and hearty meals- bliss!

Glittery Heaven *sigh*

My beautiful Making Memories Glitters and arrived this week along with Ready to Glitter Stickers. The colours are lush and I cannot wait to get glittery this weekend!

A project this weekend was some special jewellery. I'm lucky that my local wool shop sells a lovely selection of beads and findings so I was as happy as a pig in muck!

...these are my efforts so far!

Going round the bend.

Today I felt a right heel..
..talking about my
sock I'm knitting!
I literally went around the bend and now I'm heading towards the toe of sock number 1!!!

It's been a productive knitting week actually- as I completed the back of my lace wrap-over cardi *imagine beaming knitter here* I've started the right front of the cardi and once my sock binge is over I will return to it but I've made a start!!

My stripy sock disease has spread! Yes a very dear friend of mine has indulged. Can you imagine there was us two with a half dozen kids between us, standing in the car park this morning comparing stripey socks and giggling like a pair of ninnies!! Well we've decided that it is our duty as the stripey sock brigade to fight grown up' attitudes everywhere and bring a bit of silliness and fun back into the day!!

Tee-Hee!!!!

SOCKS 'n' Crocs!!!!!!!!!!!
My lovely stripey socks (3 pairs) were from Sock Selectionon Ebay.
Also check out For socks!

Halloween Fun!!!

I know it's a bit late but we had a lovely Halloween!
For the first time I was adventurous with my pumpkin carving egged on by archie!
Furnished with instructions and tips from Here I got going.
The sproggies were intending to help but the smell from the pumpkin (likened to bodily odours by my Three!!) drove them away with much screaching. I was on my own!!!
It's strangely relaxing scooping out the contents of a pumpkin....I wonder if the Ancient Egyptians or embalmers think relaxing thoughts whilst scooping away *ponders*
Anyway here are pictures of it Scooped,
With design in place,
finished
and Lit!!I was sooooo pleased with the results!
The guests, Super Change~Boy, School Ghoul, Pirate Henry, Witchy-Woo and Glittery Cat all appreciated the ambience the Jack O'Lantern created on the table for our Halloween feast.

......and we're OFF and ATTACK of the Sock Monster

I'm knitting my cardi YAY *happy dance*
Thanks to library Girl for her sensible advice- I Frogged (my new knitting phrase!!) my first attempt as I was awash in a sea of stitches without a life jacket...or a clue what I was doing!!!
I'm ditching the Debbie Bliss cardi idea as it was giving me heebie jeebies- dunno why but there was a mental block formed and that was IT!!!
So I decided to go for the ballerina cardi in the Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation Book I just loved the look of this pattern and thought it would look lovely in the soft drapey Debbie Bliss alpaca silk mix yarn.
Hmmm Debbie Bliss.....Debbie Stoller.....will I be changing my name and joining the Debbie gang???? LOL

So I'm OFF- the cardi is on it's way- HOORAY and I'm REALLY enjoying knitting it and tackling the lace pattern which is actually really straight forward!

So having perused lots of knitters' blogs (and what a lovely and enthusiastic bunch they are!) I decided I had to get into the sock thing that's going on!
After some research I found the yarn I needed- plain colours as I'm not a fan of the self striping sock wools. I ordered my yarn and bamboo needles yesterday and was very pleased when they arrived this MORNING- free P&P too!!

I looked online for a tutorial to show me how to tackle the double ended needles. Plenty were available but they didn't make sense and I kept ending up with all the stitches on one needle!!! I knew I was doing it wrong but I didn't know WHY!!!
So I turned to the old faithful Knittinghelp.com with their wonderful video clips.
Finally it twigged...I needed the fourth needle to knit the stitches-DOH!!!! *embarassed grin*