good day....

today was a good day bc...
I finished tidying the lounge and it looks SO much better the new way round

I sorted some of the toys in the boys room....

Cleared the accumulation of paper from the dresser...

Had lunch with my friend Verity who I have not seen for ages....

Had some divine chocolate torte from Waitrose..oh SO lovely!!!

made up a recipie which tasted so nice.... put a fish fillet (we had rainbow trout, or you could use salmon) in foil and make a vague bowl shape, squeeze over some lemon juice, cut up some root ginger and sprinkle over, dash of light soy sauce, drizzle of honey, fresh corriander ripped, chopped red or yellow pepper, long chunks of mango, salt and pepper.... fold the foil over making sure it is sealed but leaving room for the steam to expand the foil. Pop in the oven gas mark 5 or medium for 15-20 min depending on the size of fillet. Serve with salad and bread. I'm not a fish lover but I loved this!!

Lastly I am out on a date tonight at a Tapa bar in Camberley with my husband Colin !! yippeee!!

funny week...

I have had a really weird week. I have had lots on my mind so I have really struggled to focus on anything. I have found this really frustrating bc I hate having non productive days or weeks. The house was annoying me...you know when the odd pile if paper becomes more than one and then suddenly its....annoying!!!

So poor Colin arrived home tonight to find the whole lounge in turmoil....and me re-arranging all the furniture!! Not what he wanted to see...anyway now it is all nearly sorted it look so much better!!!! And I feel so much better!! And I downloaded my lastest photos and fell about laughing!!! Just look at these...

Jamies *new eyes*....."

(lotto sign) "Mummy look they have put a sign up to say we can play here!!" Jamie

Lucia getting all hairy!!

look at this!!!

A friend of mine spotted this on QVC and it is lovely...if you like chipboard then wait for it...2,700 pieces!!!! There are four alphabets, scalloped borders, index cards, little flowers, circles, triangles, squares, Christmas trees, hinges, frames,...the list goes on. If you order more than one you pay the same postage. A really good bargain. Find it here

Well busy planning some new things one is a Fri night & all day Saturday crop in the summer (not sleeping over) I will fill you in on more details when I have finalised the dates.

Have a great week!! Enjoy the sunshine and look on QVC but don't spend too much!!!!

class details....

Right for all those who are going to Odiham crop on 14th April.... I have the class details. You will be very pleased to know that this class is very quick and easy not like the last class which was lovely but a bit time consuming!!!

Lots of people ask me how to do page design to use photos that are 6x4. It is very easy to get in a rut so...my class is on designing with 6x4's. These pages are designed to do in under an hour and they look really great.....

Now you know what I am like...miss perfection...well it is true, by learning a few tricks you can produce pages which look great in under an hour, I have tried and tested it.

I will provide 1 cardstock, 1 patterned paper and a selection of goodies and we will concentrate this lesson on two photos but I will give you examples to take away with a variety of LO ideas.

You will need to bring two photos of either landscape or portrait or both. Also you will need to bring a one word title cut out or chipboard letters at least an inch /2cm high. If you go for a white unless you know what colour paper you will like to have. (you could always paint them)

Please let me know as I will prepare the packs before to save time on the day. If you have a colour preference or manufacture preference please let me know.

This is an example of one of my quick pages not the one we are doing just a flavour.

words...

Yesterday a lovely friend of my gave me a card. She had written some lovely things in it, which made my day.

It got me thinking how important our words are...spoken or written and what effect they can have on other people.

How often do we tell people how much we appreciate them?

Why they are special to us?

Thank you for doing something?

Comment on a job well done?

What if we extend this to not just family and friends but people who randomly come across our path...shop assitants...receptionists...postworkers...the list is endless.

Not only does it make that persons day better but you will feel really good. The great thing is...it doesn't cost you ANYTHING!!! How good is that, something for free!

So often our natural reaction is (especially us Brits) to complain, moan, look on the negative side, talk badly about someone, criticise...I'm sure you can think of plenty more.

So this week why don't you...say something nice to people you live/work with, pick up the phone and rig someone and tell them how much they mean to you, write a card...be creative...yes you could even do a scrapbooking project!!!

And before you criticise, moan, get cross...think do I need to say this or could I approach this situation from a different angle...this is something I need to do a lot especially at home and with my family...

Here are some little proverbs about *words* which I found....

Proverbs 15:4
Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

Proverbs 16:24

Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

Proverbs 18:4

Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook

Proverbs 20:15
Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust

Have I made you think?

Ive made myself think!!!

An example of positive words.

Jamie goes to football every friday night. He loves going and always attacks each task with 100% enthusiasm and energy. He never gets upset if his team doesn't win and always shows excellent sportsmanship when someone else gets player of the week. He is the smallest there so does struggle to get the ball in matches and often spends his time *chasing the pack*. Each week he would come back and tell us what happened and who got *player of the week*

Well this week I thought (proud mum) that he was doing really well and had made a mental note to tell him when we got home and give him a special sticker. Well at the end of the session a delighted Jamie was awarded *player of the week* for the first time! It was for listening, playing well and noticing something about a goal which no-one else had.

His little face beamed in total surprise and utter delight. At the end he rushed over to show me his certificate. All the way home all he talked about was his certificate and once home he rushed in to show dad his precious certificate. It went to bed with him!!

Who says words are cheap...they may not cost anything but in my mind they are priceless!!

A few words on a bit of paper made Jamies.... day, week, month, whole training season!!

dinosaurs and flowers in the snow..

I wanted to let the children have a little play in the falling snow today (although is was quite wet snow) so we went to school early. When we arrived at school we found a stranded dinosaur in the snow. Ewan and Jamie had great fun making an igloo for this dinosaur!!! i love hearing their make-believe stories and the voices they make when they are playing. also it is nice to see them playing together without fighting!!

(Poor Ewan has got such a nasty bruise on his head from when he fell over on Sunday.)

On the way to school I was trying out my new camera (old one broke) No unfortunately the nice canon one i wanted was not in the budget, someone gave us this one...just another simple one but it is amazing what you can do with it. I was trying out the macro setting and got some great shots of flowers in the snow

.

Just notice on Ali's website she has posted instructions for a mini book which looks lovely take a peak.

Question 4# from Shauna

If you were stranded on a desert island what 5 scrapbooking thing would you take and why...

Ok hopefully it was a nice island otherwise I would get really bored!!! I would take:

1. Photos
2. Scissors (always useful for lots of things!!)
3. Buttons I love these so much as they are so versatile
4. Ribbon...I have to have colour
5. Paint...I could use the paint for titles, backgrounds and make my own patterned paper.

I hear you thinking hasn't she left out the most obvious? Cardstock!! Why yes but...I'm sure there would be something else on the island I could use for a background. After all I wouldn't be that concerned about it being acid free!!! :)

Good question it was fun...send me your address Shauna...unless I should just send it to the chicken coop?!!! See Shaunas blog if you want to know what the joke is!!