Join me for a handmade Christmas!

Like so many of you out there, money is a rather large issue this year! So I have decided that where possible Christmas will be completely handmade. I will be making as many gifts for the boys as I can and what I can't make I have a plan for! The lovely Garreth from ScENT has started a swap shop on Creative Connections here. This is where crafters like myself can trade my items with those lovingly created by fellow members. This should hopefully keep costs down. 

I have also started having ideas for some gifts. I will probably make cuddly toys for each of them (if I find time) as I have done that for years and they seem to like them. I will update you on this when I discover what they want. This morning I also picked up a couple of chocolate moulds on ebay. One for dinosaurs and one for Christmassy shapes. The plan is to make some festive chocolates for them, sound good?

Another idea I had was to fill some nice jars with some of their favorite sweets. Yes, I know it sounds like lots of confectionery but it is Christmas! Here are the jars I got (plastic)

 

Now I need gifts that aren't edible. Any ideas?

Keep Calm It's nearly Christmas!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Well, actually it isn't all that bad. I say this because I totally miss out on Christmas sales EVERY YEAR! Usually because I am too busy with CRAFTfest and Creative Crafting. By the time December comes along and everything slows down it is way too late to actually think about getting Christmas Sales from my jewellery.

Well, not this year! Oh no, I am going to be prepared. STOP LAUGHING! I AM!
I am so prepared (I need the money, I really do!) that I have opened a WowThankYou shop and listed a few bits on Etsy. I will also be actually taking all of the advice (if I get time) that we give out during the CRAFTfest events about internet marketing. Sad isn't it that we give all the advice but don't take it ourselves. Sad or downright stupid! So, I am going to actually make an effort to have Christmas sales this year. I shall let you know how I get on.

Now, has anyone actually got to grips with Google plus as it seems a handy platform that people are flocking to from Facebook but I'm having an issue with it? I can't stay on it for more than five minutes before the boredom kicks in. Anyone?

Right then, I am off to continue with the mission. I shall leave you with a little inspirational message.

There are WAY too many dinosaurs in my house!

There are WAY too many dinosaurs in my house! The small boy loves them - along with bugs! Eww!
We have hundreds of toy plastic and rubber ones, cuddly ones, pictures, books, magazines, computer games, you name it! And I have also discovered that under foot they are even more painful than small cars! Ouch!

Now when he has a bath he often takes a couple of the small ones and the odd bug or two in with him. So when I asked him the other day to choose a dinosaur to take in with him that is what I was expecting! How wrong was I!

It took a while but I did manage to talk him out of this one. I shall be putting him in the bath again later! 

Wish me luck!

Before I forget. The August issue of Creative Crafting came out today!
Enjoy!

Some mornings it takes more than that cup of coffee to get you up and going!

This was how I felt that I looked this morning!

I'm hoping that in reality it wasn't quite so bad but you never know. I couldn't sleep last night and decided to read from 1am hence the green around the gills look. I did eventually drag myself out of bed however when a friend and work colleague sent me a text message asking if I was OK! It was only 8.30 but that is late for me. No rest for the wicked. ;)

Anyway, I'm not going to apologise for not blogging since the spider incident as I do that all of the time and it never helps so I intend to just blunder along as if I've been here everyday. (What me! Neglecting my blog! NEVER)

So what am I up to? Well, now that you ask, quite a bit. I have the usual stuff, the next issue of Creative Crafting publishing tomorrow, The Professional Crafters Guild, the odd bit of jewellery for Mystic Earth. I really want to totally revamp Radiance Crystals site with a totally new range but am struggling to find time to do it.

Of course the bulk of my time is taken up over at Creative Connections Crafters Network getting everything organised for the next two CRAFTfest events! This time we are taking bookings for our Anniversary event in September and also the MEGAfest in November for Christmas! So don't miss out if you want a very reasonable way of promoting your business and making new friends at the same time. It is a networking MUST!

On other fronts, it is of course the Summer holidays! So although I am loving having both of my boys home with me it does make getting any work done rather challenging. Partly because I get interruptions every five seconds but also because I would much rather be playing games and watching DVD's with them.

I thought of so many funny stories to tell you all today and I can't remember a single one of them now! So here is a cute picture of an owl in a hat! Just because ...

I was also thinking that Mr CL should take up writing his blog again. Well, I was actually thinking this as I was listening to him the other evening reciting a very long conversation with someone at work word for word! How does he do that? I'm lucky if I can remember it just after it's happened. I think it is a short term memory thing. (I refer you to the paragraph above the owl, what owl? oh that owl)  Mine died many years ago (my short term memory, not my owl, that isn't mine!), if I ever indeed had one! Now ask me what I was wearing on a Tuesday in May in 1991 and I could probably tell you but not what I had for tea last night. That is a huge blank hole in my mind. Strange huh!

I may never sleep again!

OMG! OMG! The most awful thing happened last night! I need to share as an alternative to therapy which I'm sure people have for things like this.

Last night I was sat in bed reading, as you do. I was perfectly happy until Mr CL came to bed. (That sounds bad doesn't it but read on) He pulled back his side of the duvet to get in bed and exclaimed "OH WOW, LOOK AT HIM!) Yes, you guessed it, I wasn't alone! There was a huge, black, bulbous spider in bed with me! Well, I shot out of there like I was on FIRE!

Mr CL disposed of the interloper and got in bed, then spent ages trying to convince me to come out of the corner. I'd like to say that he fully understood my terror and was nice about it, but he preferred to go down the route of "Get in bed quick! I think there may be more on the floor!" (Evil, evil man!)

I did eventually venture back between the covers, only to spend the next several hours itching and stressing about the intruder. I was tempted to ask Mr CL which direction it had been facing so that I could console myself that it hadn't actually come from MY SIDE! But I didn't, which is probably a good thing.

I'm not sure how I'm going to face going to bed tonight. Fresh sheets? (of course), full body armour? Perhaps. Valium? (If I had some!)

I trust you all slept far more soundly than I did. I hope I haven't made you all itch as well.
But just remember....
Before you get into bed tonight! Check between the sheets! ;)

It was like this one, only black, and bigger!!!

Small boys 'very special brain'

The small boy has been at it again and Sal says I MUST write all of this down. So blame her, not me!
We have all just had a discussion about liking and not liking food. (Note: the small boy is horrendously fussy and doesn't eat anything that he is supposed to)

Older one:  He says if you eat something, you have to like it! He doesn't believe me when I say that I have tried pear yoghurt and don't like it.

Small boy:  Yeah, but I have a very special brain that tells me whether I like something or not before I try it!

Am I going to win with this? I don't think so. Does anyone have a child as stubborn as mine? If so, please let me know how you got them to eat anything with any nutrients in. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

Going to be one of those days!

The Great Chicken Debacle of 2011!

I have now been told by Sal that I have to explain how the small boy came to acquire Ducky!

So here it goes...

It was the Friday before Christmas (23rd Dec 2011) and I had taken both boys to Tesco to get the chicken for Christmas Dinner. I had left it until the last minute to try and avoid a repeat of the year before when I'd had to rush off to Tesco just before they closed on Christmas Eve to replace the chicken we had purchased which had gone off! "What is that terrible smell? Oh no, its the Christmas Dinner"

So, I decided to leave it to get the chicken as close to Christmas as I could without actually stressing myself out by going shopping on Christmas Eve! Good idea? I don't think so.

What actually happened was this. We got to the section of the chiller where the chickens hung out in their bags only to discover that the bags were all blown up with air. Now I didn't trust this as I was having deja vu about the previous chicken. I asked a member of staff, only to be told that it was a new way of packing them! Does that sound right to you? No, me either!

So, we checked out the freezer section and found the smallest chickens I've ever seen! Definitely not suitable for Christmas dinner.

I then had a brainwave! I would regret this but there you go. I suggested to the boys that we go to Darts Farm which is an organic farm shop. Not to be visited unless you have a large credit card limit!!! So, off we went to Darts Farm. 

As soon as we got in the door I realised my mistake! I'm sure you've probably already guessed. The wonderful butchery counter had a queue ALL the way round the shop! The queue was so long they had people handing out numbers and giving you free chocolates. Lots of people in the queue had also already ordered their meat! Sigh!

So, there we were, stuck in this huge queue on the Friday before Christmas. One 10 year old and one 4 year old and me! (considerably older) After about 45 minutes the boys were well and truly fed up. I was carrying the small one (oh my aching back) who had now commenced singing Christmas carols extremely loudly with all the wrong words. By this point I was ready to give up, so I decided to bribe him to be quiet. With Ducky. Who cost £14.99!!!

However, by the time we finally got to the counter and ordered our chicken I nearly passed out at the price! I have never paid that much money for a chicken before. In its defence I will say that it tasted fantastic and unlike the store bought chickens I usually get it didn't shrink at all! There is a good possibility that I will not be in charge of buying the meat this year!

On another note, look at the fantastic ham that Mr CL cooked on Christmas Eve! Isn't he clever! :)

Ducky! We are nothing without him! :)

As requested by my friend Sal, meet Ducky. 

He is the best friend of my small boy. Little did we know how important this little chap was until the other day when the small one came rushing into my bedroom all upset.

"I was in bed and Ducky was with me, then I got out of bed for a wee and when I came back he was GONE! I can't find him anywhere and I HAVE to find him, because I am NOTHING without Ducky!"


It's OK, we did find him. He'd taken the opportunity to hide down the side of his bed! A few days later, just in case I had forgotten how important Ducky was, he reminded me again. This time I was on the loo myself! No peace in our house. A little head came round the door and said that he had to go back in his room to get Ducky ....

"Because as you know... I am NOTHING without him!"

I have no idea where he gets all this from. By the way, do you like this little fella?
He's called Panic, and he lives on my desk. :)

The small one really does come out with some of the best stuff. Only this morning we were having a conversation on the way up to school about slugs. He thinks that they are far too cute to be killed! And also they are kind of special, because slugs and snails are the only things allowed to come out in the rain.
Bless him.



Before I go, I just want to share a photograph from my garden. This really is my favourite time of the year to look out of the window as my elusive patch of Bluebells are up. Every year, they erupt from the lawn and create this beautiful display. Then they totally disappear again!

My technical attachments!

A few years ago, I remember thinking that I was NOTHING without my laptop! It was my work, my social life, I wasn't to be parted from it.
Unhealthy attachment?
Quite possibly.
Was it going to end there?
Unfortunately not!

Over the last year things have changed quite considerably in my technical world! My laptop became unreliable. (I wore the poor thing out) so I purchased a wonderful All In One desktop which I loooooooooove and won't let anyone else near. (Well, occasionally, under supervision.)

But it didn't end there. From January this year I began to carry a little technical entourage around the house with me! This little bundle of goodies has slowly grown until it became the collection that it is today!
I am not proud of this, in fact I feel a little awkward about it and hope that the rest of the family haven't actually noticed. (How naive I am!)

So, when I move around my very small bungalow I now carry with me:
My Blackberry phone
My Blackberry Playbook
My Kindle and
My DSi since I acquired the Carol Vauderman Active Health game and I have to track my diet!
Oh and in my pocket I have the health monitor that goes with the Active Health game.

Is there anyone else out there that does this? Or am I going quietly crazy all by myself!

Updated

I've now realised that I have outed myself as a technology geek! So I will try and explain -

My phone is always nearby as my emails all come through to it. This is highly necessary as my work is all online so I need to be contacted constantly. I also find that when I am drip fed my emails as they arrive it saves the stress that can be caused by 13 email address all leaping out at me from my PC inbox in one go. (This was proved in the great Blackberry Blackout of 2011) The sheer horror of all of those emails attacking me all in one go of a morning often got too much.

The Playbook is by me because my mum and dad spend lots of time out of the country and contact me via their playbook. So it is with me in case they 'call'.

My kindle, really doesn't get used much at all during the day as I tend to read in an evening and in a morning in bed. It is there for the occasions when Mr CL decides to switch the TV over to something uninteresting. ;)

I think the DSi speaks for itself really and is only there for as long as I continue with the new health game. lol.
(Watch this space on that one)

There, is that better? Or am I digging myself an even bigger hole?

A Spot of Creation

Yes, well, I failed miserably at those weekly updates didn't I!!

Let's move on... Despite being busy with the other sides of my work (magazine, network, CRAFTfest, PCG etc) I have managed to make some new jewellery for my website. Yay! I hear you cry, the crafter has actually made something for a change. Yes, I have - quite a few things actually. I have acquired some crystal rondelles that I've been having fun with and also started a new project to raise awareness of a good friend of mine Sal.
Sally-Jo creates beautiful Lampwork beads. So I purchased some and made them up into a bracelet to go on Mystic Earth. Take a look at Sals website The Bead Bounty

Sal joins me most days in the chatroom on Creative Connections so feel free to pop in and say Hi! We all have lots of fun.

Here are the beads as I purchased them from Sal. (Beautiful aren't they!)

Here they are again, with the addition of some 8 mm Smoky Quartz Gemstone beads and some Swarovski Crystals.

I also received a gift a few weeks ago. (From Sal) I was rather taken by some beads that she had made. I thought they looked like an Eyeball. :) So the lovely lady sent them to me.

 Here they are with some Chrysocolla Gemstone Beads.

I will add some pictures of the jewellery that I created with my new rondelles later. Lets keep this post just for Sal. :)



Don't forget. You can find Sal on Creative Connections and also on her website The Bead Bounty. Sal has recently started a blog too so please scoot over and be some of her very first followers. You won't regret it, she's a hoot! :) http://thebeadbounty.blogspot.co.uk/