Guy Fawkes Night

Matthew had some sparklers in the garden this evening. We don't buy fireworks, not only because we have a small garden, but they're much too expensive and a waste of money. So he is happy with a few packets of sparklers each year.
The dogs were in the garden with us as well. Abby loves fireworks, but she was disappointed this year as there wasn't very many of them. Sophie used to be terrified of them, but since she's now going deaf, she can't hear them, lol.

Click on the photo's for a better view.

HALLOWEEN 2009

Matthew got dressed up to go out Trick or Treating.












Matthew calling on a friend from school, Megan.



I should have taken a photo of the man who opened the above door, he was dressed as the Grim Reaper and looked fab! He was really into the spirit of things.




Two really friendly witches who came out of their house to hand out sweets as no one was knocking on their door.







Matthew back at our house with our pumpkin on the doorstep.

Below are two photo's of Darryl popping in after work tonight dressed as The Joker. He'd been to work since midday dressed as this, lol. You looked good Darryl xxx

It's almost Halloween!!

First of all I have to show you all a card that I made with one of the stamped images that my lovely friend Dawn Marie sent me. Thank you so much Dawn, I love all the images that you sent to me.

The following are two ornaments from a pack of three that Matthew got from our new 99p shop in the old Woolworths shop. It opened here on Tuesday and the stuff they sell is so much better than the pound shop sold, lol. Matthew still has santa to make, then there's another pack of three he can buy and that one has an angel in.

Below are photo's from the evening that we babysat Elijah on Monday just past. He managed about half an hour sleep, lol.

Elijah and Matthew.

My 3 boys! (From the previous day!)

Me and my son and grandson.

Candle holder now bagged!!

I have now added snow to my candle holders and bagged them in celophane, and added a ribbon and a tag... lovely! The snow looks lovely on them when there's a lit candle inside...
I have been offered £4 for one, woohoooooooooooooo!

Forever Friends candle holder.

Here is a Christmas "little extra" pressie I made this morning... well this is my "prototype" lol, as this one I'm keeping. I have been buying Sainsbury's conserve at £1.43 a go just to get some nice jars!!! I've got another two jars empty, and I bought another one this morning. The Hedgerow one is lovely, lol. The Forever Friends image is from a transfer sheet, so I can get three out of each sheet at £1.50, then of course I've got to supply the tea light candles... I'll probably put about 6 of those into each jar, so by the end of it each one will probably cost about £2.20. Oh, and then there's the ribbon for the top!!! Need to buy more of that!

Ok, so what else is in the news.... I've just cooked a lemon sponge cake that I will fill with lemon buttercream and a slither of lemon curd, and I think I still have some teeny weeny orange and lemon slices that I bought when Sainsbury's were having a cake making clear out.

We babysat Elijah last Monday night, and he was as good as gold. He is such a good baby, they're so lucky!! Darryl was a right old whinge bag till he was three months old, lol.

Oh, and yesterday at work I got to press the fire alarm!!!!!!!! I've wanted to press that for I don't know how long, lol. Little things make happy you see.
You got to picture the scene... left for work at 7am commenting to dad that it smells smokey outside, dad said it was probably someone's bonfire, lol... anyway, walking through A&E I can still smell it, so it's more than a bonfire, but no one of us have a clue what it is. So about 4 hours later the smell finally goes... Helen says that if the smell has gone she's nipping out for a cigarette, I said that the smell had gone so she should be ok... 2 minutes later she's back in the staff room saying that the smell is even worse!! Then someone's yelling that we DO really now have a fire... there's a taxi on fire outside the main entrance of the hospital right next to A&E and the smoke is horrendous. The smoke is pouring in through the doors to the hospital... so then.... I got to PRESS THE BUTTON!! Wooohoooooooooooo, lol. I could imagine all the staff moaning about the alarm going off coz it really is deafening.
So anyway... fire brigade turn up and take about ten minutes to put it out. The driver of the taxi was a woman, and she had to be told by someone else that the car was on fire as she was reading the paper waiting for a patient, lol.

If you go down to the woods today...

...is the title of my latest scrapbook double layout. Doesn't it make you just want to take a stroll along the pathways treading on the crunchy leaves under the trees? There are lots of squirrels running around in here too, but I couldn't get close enough and they just wouldn't sit still for their portrait to be taken.
Click on the picture and it's a better size.



I have entered this into the new challenge blog open to all types of crafting.
By the Cute and Girly challenge blog.

An old friend.

Today I met up with an old friend that I hadn't seen for about 27 years! I'd known her at school, beginning at primary school way back in the seventies. I'd been in the same year as her sister, but always got on with both of them.
We have been chatting on Facebook, and last night Amanda asked if we could meet up today, so we did. Both armed with our digital SLR camera's, off we went to Hinchingbrooke Park. The following are just five photo's I took trying to capture autumn.

Amanda.

Just a bench I liked the look of.

Three more...

Here's just three of the latest photo's.


Great grandad with Elijah - Sunday October 4th, just before a roast dinner cooked by Justin!! Yum! (He always cooks the roast on a Sunday as I'm at work till half four)

Looking at his nan wondering what on earth she keeps pointing the camera at! Wrapped up in Auntie Dorothy's blanket.

Justin and Elijah... awww, he was having a good nibble on his hands.

Little cutie!

This photo was taken in between crying, lol. He cried for about half an hour, and then fell asleep for around 2 hours, so I got a mega long cuddle last night!

Yorkshire Puds.

A few months ago I couldn't make a yorkshire pudding to save my life... now look at the little blighters!! Mmmmmmm...

First scrap page of my grandson.

I created the pages last night. Click on it for a better view. I love these two photo's of him!!
I used some of my old baby background papers that I've had since I started scrapbooking.

... more photos!!

Here are some more photo's of my family, and it's latest addition Elijah.



Great Grandad!

Matthew getting his first cuddle.

The first time Matthew dared to touch him, after about an hour and a half of plucking up courage.

The happy new parents - Darryl and Abby.

How cosy does he looked snuggled up on his Nan's blankets? (Weird reading the word "nan" knowing it now means me!)

Nan (me!!!) with Matthew and Elijah.

Grandad Justin getting broody, lol.

More photo's!

Introducing....

ELIJAH INDIANA JAMES
Born at 1.30pm
6lbs 2oz

In the same delivery room as his father, lol.

Abby has gone into labour!!!

So sometime today I shall become a grandmother... blimey, lol. Dad will become a great grandfather, lol.
Abby's waters went during the night and contractions are coming along nicely. Ouch.
The name they have more or less decided on is............................... Indiana..... he will be called Indy. I'm not that keen on it, but I suppose neither was Shirley Crabtree's grandparents (Big Daddy in the Wrestling world in the 70's). He's more important than his name.

So.... a long day ahead looms.

Update.
Abby went to hospital around 11am.

Disneyland Scrapbook page - Let the fun begin.

I really should do more pages in the Disneyland Scrapbook, but it's such a mammoth task. I have a gorgeous album the pages go in that Justin bought me for Christmas 2 years ago! The album has just four completed pages in it.
I used the Cricut to make Mickey and the text. Mickey from Mickey and Friends cartridge, text from the Storybook cartridge.

Yesterday I got our first two bits foodwise for Christmas. Sainsbury's had the big Victoria tins full of chocolate biscuits and a box of After Eights at half price, so I couldn't resist. Dad has also been and bought 2 tins of sweets... and it's only September!

I'm cooking a beef casserole today. It's been in the oven for half an hour but the smells aren't escaping the oven yet. I do love the smell of a casserole cooking.
Talking of casseroling... the rat man came yesterday about 4pm. I now have a black box full of blue poisoned wheat lodged up the back of my greenhouse. The dogs won't bother it there.

Christmas Eve 2008!

These photo's are from last year's Christmas Eve. I fancied making a scrapbook page today (sorry Uncle Dave!! LOL!) and here's the result.
Oh what a difference a year makes - this Christmas I'll be a GRANNY!

Below is the first page from Christmas Day. I used the Cricut to cut the Holly on both pages, and the reindeer. The little teddy is the stamp from a card making magazine again.

Smilebox.

(click the little triangle on each page after loading!)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pest Control!

Are coming to our house tomorrow to lay down poison... DO NOT read any further if you are squeamish!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday morning I got up for work at 6am, Matthew came down at 6.30 and laid on the settee. Justin didn't get up this morning as early as he'd gone to bed really late.
Around 9am Justin sent me a text message to say that there had been a rat in our lounge!!!! Matthew had been watching telly and had heard his toys move. He looked halfway down the room to where his toy cars were and noticed his train getting knocked over. He got up to investigate - braver than me! He then saw something run under the table and noticed it's long tail. He went up to tell Justin, who thought he was joking at first, until he started moving Matthew craft chests that were under the computer desk and heard a squeak!
He took a photo of it for proof, lol. Matthew opened the backdoor - again, braver than me, and the rat ran out under my tomatoes. The creepy thing is, the rat had been in the lounge all night with the dogs!!! The back door hadn't been opened since the night before.
A few days ago, I'd noticed that the tomatoes I'd got that were on the lower branches were half eaten. If the dogs nibble at them they pull off the whole tomato.
On Sunday we decided to clear out the greenhouse as there were two garden chairs that were living in there for the summer instead of the garage... and in the greenhouse was were the rat had been camping. He's gone now thankfully, and all his food sources have been removed so he won't be happy.
When I spoke to the council they said I could leave it as the rat was gone and wasn't bothering us anymore, but as my dad was so insistant that I phoned them in the first place, I thought I better book them to come out. The council lady said that I was just unlucky, and that rats are on the move at the moment anyway coz of clearing out of a nearby brook and harvesting the fields.
IF the rat comes back, no signs so far that he has, then it will eat the poison. Why don't they put poison in the sewers, brooks, streams and fields? That's where they live afterall...
My cousin, Wendy, just two weeks ago had rats in her loft, lol. Her other half Garry used to bang on the ceiling to shut them up coz he couldn't sleep, lol. They're gone now... or at least they're all now poisoned and dead in her loft.... what a lovely thought to leave you all with today, lol.

Christmas Bears.

I love these two stamps. They were part of a free gift with a cardmaking magazine this month... oh, the same mag as the stamps that I used in the Snow Box card, lol.
I used Anita's 3D glaze on the Merry Christmas part of the stamp. I used some large plasticky glitter, I call it that coz it's not really glitter even though it's labelled that, on the little Christmas hats.

This is my latest blanket. It's bigger than it looks here as it's folded for the photo. I'm making it in various colours with black in between and then I shall use black on the outside as well. I'm using that Wattle stitch again... I do love that stitch!!