>>> Great Day Out! <<<

Had a great day today. Firstly, at 11am, went over to a friend's place to crop till 2.30pm. Then we went up again at nite and crop till way past midnite. Pure bliss! We enjoyed it so much we are thinking of making it a weekly event! How fun!

Today marks the start of the new CSI series. Channel Five showed the 7 series of CSI Vegas and it was smackingly good! Oh gosh, I was completely glued to it while scrapping at the same time! Roll on Saturday as it's the new start of CSI New York, Series 3. Yah! So when is CSI Miami starting???

Right, off to bed! TTFN!

>>> Simply Scrap! <<<

Some layouts I managed to do in between DT work! Nice to just scrap for fun!

Had fun using my Rouge de Garance papers (which I got for an Xmas swap). Gosh, the colours are just pure joy to play with. Made use of my Purple Onion new calendar stamp. Really enjoyed doing this LO!

Played with all the new stamps that I received recently. Not so sure of the outcome as on a sketch, it looked perfect but after doing it, didn't appear how I wanted to be... oh heck, I'm not perfect!

Rite, off to watch Prison Break.... that programme rocks! TTFN!

>>> Sunday Crop! <<<

There's nothing like a crop to make you happy! 7 glorious hours of non-stop scrapping with like-minded people! Pure Bliss! Managed to create 2 LOs again, all DT related but will be shown in due course. Managed to get myself invited to a mini crop with friends so looking forward to Tuesday! Yah!!!! TTFN!

>>> Exciting Day! <<<

Spent the wee hours of the morning trying my Imagepac stamp kit and had little success. Well, this time, got some image but scrubbed too hard and hence, some of them was scrubbed off! Still failed to produce one that I'm pleased after 4 attempts. If I had known how difficult it would be, would have been better sticking to bought ones instead!

My SIL with her 2 boys came over and so we went to China Court to have tim sum! Man, it was delicous.... as usual, gorged myself silly (I do eat a lot seriously.... just that my size doesn't show it!) My nephew's such a cutie... he could actually hold a chopstick and eat with it! I'm dead impressed as he's only 4!

After picking Ollie up from his Mandarin class, we went to Wing Yip to get some Chinese groceries as we are completely out of rice. I only eat Thai Fragant rice. Hubby did suggest getting American rice but got a good stare from me.... there's nothing nice than the smell of cooked rice and the taste of it. American rice is just so smelless and tasteless! Yuks! No wonder it's half the price of Thai rice! Sorry but if you want good rice, nothing beats the Thai!

Back home, the boys' cousins came over and riot ensued! Try keeping 4 energetic boys quiet is an achievement. By the time they left, it was 9pm. Then SIL's car decided not to cooperate! Apparently the alternater gave out so she couldn't go home. They had to call AA and he took about 2 hrs to arrive! Anyway, hopefully it will be sorted tomorrow as her eldest has to play in a rugby match in Leicester!

As for me, worked on a DT layout. Suddenly find myself inundated with tons of assignment! TTFN!

>>> Dishonest Seller! <<<

Word of warning... avoid this online store Justletmescrapbook.com. Since placing an order on 19th Dec 06, and having money taken out of my Paypal account, I've yet to receive any good from the store. My attempts on contacting her via email hasn't been successful either, only had one response saying my order sounded familiar and she'll check and let me know later... Well, I have had no news from her nor any goods! What surprise me most is that she used to be prompt in her customer service and response. Hence no idea why she has suddenly turn the table upon herself. Anyway, I've initiated a Paypal dispute and she will now have to answer. Failing that, I will escalate the issue and claim it back from Paypal. They are pretty good at giving refunds from errant sellers.

Did a LO in the afternoon using my new stamps. Will need to sort out my stuff for the second hand table as I'm going to a crop this Sunday.

Ollie was invited to his friend's house today and I was to pick him up at 6.30pm. So I picked up Zac and headed to MIL's house. There, he asked his nan if he could sleep over which she agreed. Little bunny was so happy. He luvs the attention he gets from his nan, even better without Oliver around.

Rite, will give my Imagepac a try tonite! Been dragging my feet for fear of failure... which reminds me... I've yet to receive my replacement pack that they were supposed to send me! Sigh! Need to chase up again! TTFN!

>>> Stamps Galore! <<<

It's the day of stamps today! Postie brought me envelopes of yummy, scrummy stamps from Purple Onion Designs, Li'l Davis and Back Porch Memories Jan stamp set. I think that's my latest craze now.... no longer interested in embellishments but prefer to use stamps as embellishment! Oh and papers of course.

Been looking at all the new stuff that will be coming out from CHA! Some papers are just amazing! Autumn Leaves have at least 20 new stamps coming out! Wow! Got my eye on 1 already! Sigh! Pretty expensive hobby I have! TTFN!

>>> Freezing Cold! <<<

There's nothing worst than having to scrap the ice off your car in the morning! Hence, took the shortcut of throwing a jug of warm water instead. Problem solved! Ok I know it's not supposed to be done but when you're in a hurry and you don't wanna freeze ya butt off, that's the easiest route to take!

Yup, winter has truly descended upon us. Autumn was so mild but winter is deadly. Some areas in the UK already have snow! Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it will snow here.... can't wait to see the boys playing in the snow. It would be so great, not to mention all those snowy photos too! Tons of wintery papers waiting to be used! TTFN!

>>> Rouge de Garance! <<<

Oh man, those papers rock! I caved in and got the Series Limitee from Banana Frog and they are absolutely gorgeous! Just too yummy to be used so I'm gonna stroke it for a while before tearing them! LOL! But seriously the colours are just so rich. Check out the site to see it!

Still no sight of my elusive stamp... sigh

Yah, the new series of CSI starts next Tuesday! Man these days TV programmes are starting to get better! Why is it that during the autumn/winter months that they show great programmes but in summer, utter rubbish! Anyway, here's a recap:

Monday - Prison Break (new series is great) & American Top Model (coming) I actually do like that!

Tuesday - CSI Vegas and NY (I think)

Wednesday - Desperate Housewives

Thursday - Grey's Anatomy

Friday - can't think of any at the moment but re-runs of CSI!

Yup, as you can guess, they are all American programmes but then I grew up watching American programmes and find them 1) easy to understand & 2) great entertaining value. Somehow British programmes does my head in... trying to reconcile all the different accents and then having to concentrate sometimes on the show itself. But I think the main issue is the accents. How I utterly dislike when you get one of these sales call on your mobile and you have an accent that you are trying your best to understand let alone answer any questions they ask!!! What's worst when you ask them to repeat, they say it even faster... in the end I just give up and tell them I'm too busy to take their call!

Rite, off to create.... mojo's calling + CSI is on .....TTFN!

>>> Frustrating! <<<

Received my Catslife Press stamps today and in the process of sorting them out, somehow managed to lose one piece! It just completely disappeared and despite my best efforts in looking for it, I just couldn't find it. Really pissed me off big time as I usually stamp them onto an A5 sheet then laminate it so that the stamps are stuck on the back. The whole sheet is then kept put into a page protector and stored in a folder for easy access. I found that since doing it that way, I tend to use them more as they are now accessible. So now I can't laminate the sheet and it's annoying me that my best effort at organisation is being thwarted by a missing stamp! Checked the bin, checked myself too but to no avail. Just hope it will turn up somehow!

Was checking out Maya Road DT blog and found to my surprise, that I'm a recipient of a RAK. Cool... and it would be the new CHA stuff too.... pretty chuff to bits as I luv Maya Road stuff!

Rite, need to finish off some DT stuff... TTFN!

>>> Cars! <<<

Brought Ollie for his Mandarin class and with 2 hours to kill, hubby went to look at cars. Headed for the Mercedes showroom where he was attracted to a particular car. He's due to change his car and he looking around to see which is his next car. My only request is that there is space in the backseat as currently his Audi is flippin pathetic at the back! Poor boys hardly got any room when hubby pushes his seat way back. Hence, that is my only requirement... space at the back. Other than that, I'm not too bothered what car he has as I never ever touch his car. One of those chaps who's particularly obsessed with his car and moans if it's not in tip top condition, even though it's merely a company car!!! Anyway, I do have my own car and am very happy driving it.

Then we checked out BMW but it was just plain awful! I wasn't impressed and neither was he. Finally hopped over to the Audi showroom. I don't really like Audi cars... they may be nice on the exterior but their interior just doesn't do for me! Anyway, shall let him do the choosing since he's gonna be driving the car, not moi! I kinda like the last car he had... VW Passat. Great car with loads of space at the back! We even drove the car in Germany and it drove great... as you know, there's no speed limit on the German motorways and that car flew so silently! Fabulous! Might hint to him about looking at VW. TTFN!

>>> Gales, Storms & Chaos! <<<

The weather today was awful... so windy and it caused chaos on the roads and led to unfortunate accidents too. Thankfully, the only driving I did was to send my boys to school and back. I refused to drive anywhere else. Now a little worried that the fences at the back might blow off as it did a few years back with the strong gales that we had. Gosh, never before I had experience such ferocious winds i.e before coming to this country. Since being here, have experienced the tremors of earthquake.. and will never forget it. I've skidded on ice and it was a frightening experience, never mind the fact that my parents were with me then and since then, dad has always warned me about driving slowly during winter! Oh and having a tornado in Birmingham! Thankfully I wasn't affected but it was too close for comfort! TTFN!

>>> More Stamps! <<<

Creative Scrapbooking returned all my layouts today. Sad that the magazine is closing down as they were starting to get interesting. Oh well, such is the trend of scrapbook magazines in the UK now....

Received my Li'l Davis clear stamps today from AMLT and got to work with them:

These days we don't get much opportunity to go out without the kids. I think it was the last time we went out as a couple when Ellen was around. Having kids in this country is a liability.... it's like you become stuck with no social life and all your time is spent with the kids! No surprising, I'm lobbying/persuading hubby to leave .... life sucks big time here! TTFN!

>>> Tuesday Rambling! <<<

Postie brought me 2 parcels today! One was from Homegrown Dec Trilogy kit but still no sign of my Nov kit. A very strong suspicion that it might have accidentally be sent off via surface mail. It happened to one of the US kits before especially during the Xmas rush! Sigh... more waiting to do! The other was from 2peas where I had bought some stamps. Instead of using an envelope, those idiots use a pizza box! Just can't bloody believe it... what a waste of postage! The stamps and a little journaling book was wrapped in a plastic with a hardback so it could easily have gone into an envelope. Sigh!

Did two layouts but all DT related. I'm so loving stamping on transparency... a la Hambly style. Luv their transparencies but so difficult to get them in the UK. Some stores do sell them but not all the range. Hence, decided to make them myself instead. After, need to justify the cost of my stamps!

Ollie went for his usual violin orchestra practice after school. Have been drumming into him to put on his best behaviour but I think he will from now onwards as he has seen how pleased his teachers are with him when he's good. Plus on my side, lots of bribing too! He has been warned if he misbehaves, he will be kicked out!

Today marks the start of the Asian Dares.... the Asian scrapbooking community gals have come up with the Dares with a slight Asian flavour so check the blog out! TTFN!

>>> Sunday's Ramble / Monday's Stash! <<<

Sunday

Brillant day, sunny and bright so hubby brought us to Birches Valley Forest Centre for the boys to cycle. We adults walked. We had such a lovely time, great walk but very muddy! The boys enjoyed their rides.

Stayed off the PC the whole day as hubby's moaning how much time I'm on it. Oh well, good to have a break to avoid repititive stress injury! The right thumb does ache at times.

Monday

Postie brought me a parcel from Cocoa Daisy featuring Ali Edward kit. Ohhh, the contents were just so yummy. Luv the fact that is a mixture of different patterned papers. Wish I had the ability to mix up my papers but slowly I'll get there. Gosh, tons of stuff in there. Then later in the day, Parcel Force brought me another parcel, this time from Zany Zinnia featuring Autumn Leaves Black Red and Cream papers. Ahhhh, have been waiting over 2 weeks for these papers and was surprised to find it took so long to arrive seeing that it was sent off on the 28th of Dec! Gosh, had to just use those papers immediately and this is the result:

Those papers absolutely rock! Had difficulty getting them in the UK and most US kits featuring them sold out like hot cakes! So darn lucky to get hold of one!

In total seventh heavens now..... TTFN!

>>> Routines! <<<

Brought Zac for soccer lessons as he had wanted to go after seeing a flyer but when we were there, instead of joining in, he merely stood around and absolutely refused to play. After half an hour, we took him home. Doubt if I'm bringing him for anymore soccer lessons.

Today marks the start of Mandarin classes for Oliver so we brought him for his class. After that we went to the Big W to look for a lunch box for Zac as his isn't in a good condition. Found the Annuals going for half price and bought them a Spiderman and Power Rangers. Then, other stuff fell into the basket as well. There was a large section of clearance sale too. We had a bit of time and went into DFS to look at the sofas as hubby fancied a corner suite. However, as we hardly ever use the living room, I didn't fancy getting one. Pointless buying a corner suite just for showcase.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing about. The boys watched Cbeebies on cable while I was in between sleep. I tend to feel rather sleepy in the late afternoon these days. TTFN!

>>> Friday Again! <<<

Did 12 ATCs today. I'm in a swap doing Months of the Year and chose May. As deadline is looming up, had to do it by today and sent it off.

Went to the newsagent to check up on my CK mag but no sign of it. Picked the boys up as usual and went to MIL's house. Was so tired that I actually took catnap there! Doesn't help that the weather is awful... terribly windy and cold too. Enough to make you want to hibernate till spring!

Gosh, it's Friday again... time is just looming past so quickly. Zac's 4th birthday is coming up soon. Doubt if we will have a party but will see if we can bring him out to celebrate! He sure as hell doesn't act his age... he's definitely more mature than he looks! A little boy that can easily out-talk you and twist you around his fingers! But so stinking cute!

Rite, off to do more creative work... TTFN!

>>> Just Cruisin' By! <<<

Wow! Had a couple of items arriving in the post for me! The main one was the return of my layout from Creating Keepsakes. One of my LOs was asked for the Ideas Book vol 10. Unfortunately they had completely sold out the book so I didn't get a copy but they replaced it with a Photography book by Tracy White so that's not too bad! Looks like I've to get the book now.

Currently very busy with DT assignments as they are now trickling in. However, it does get a bit boring doing DT work so took a break today and scrap my own stuff:

Thought I do something funky and scrapped our photos of us as babies.... now anyone wanna guess who's who? There moi, hubby, Oliver and Zac!

Have put a hold on clearing up... well, will get down to it some day! TTFN!

>>> Another Mundane Day! <<<

Got another parcel from Scrapbook Inspirations, the Take Five challenge plus another free complimentary magazine. Grea to have a free mag to read!

Been busy churning out 2 layouts for DT assignments. Glad my mojo is still about. Best get on as I got an ATC swap to do as well.... sigh, why do I get myself into it!

Oh... something big is brewing on the Asian scrapbooking scene.... stay tune! TTFN!

>>> Tuesday Mumblings! <<<

Got a surpised parcel... it was from Scrapbook Inspiration returning my layout plus a free complimentary magazine. Cool!

Routine started today with bringing Ollie for his violin class after school. For his lessons in school, there's talk about changing the time again. Sigh! Wish they could stick to schedule instead of constantly changing it.

Still no sign of my Homegrown Nov Hybrid kit... sigh.... that was posted in early Dec and it's annoying when you know that other people has had their kits.... so where the hell is mine! Gosh, dying to use those Daisy D's Romance papers! Got a project in mind for it! TTFN!

>>> Heating Failure! <<<

In the midst of crafting when the phone rang at 10.30am. It was Ollie's school asking me to bring him home as the heating had failed! So off I went! Boy was he ever so pleased as he had pleaded not to go to school in the morning. Anyway, gave him some craft homework to do at home.

Phwee! My orders for Purple Onion stamps came today and boy are they gorgeous! Hence, did a sort out of my stamps and arranged them neatly in a folder so that they are accessible for use. I find I use them more if I see them. I now need to sort my clear stamps as currently they are in their own packaging in a basket but they are rapidly filling up and I might put them in a folder soon. Luv my stamps... find I don't need to use embellishments if I have my stamps around as they do act as embellishments! Later in the afternoon, tidied up my buttons as they are rapidly increasing and getting a wee bit mix up. So sorted them out by colours.

Still find my craft room a mess despite sorting it out... sigh... need to do a major clearout and sell out! TTFN!

>>> Sunday Happenings! <<<

Gloom and dreariness
Greeted us as we woke up
Didn't hamper us though
As we went out to shop.

Got ourselves a carbon monoxide alarm
Chinese groceries at Wing Yip
Had tim sum at Wing Wah restaurant
And a visit to MIL's house.

Day was still awful
But that didn't stop us
From having a little fun
And shopping therapy.

(Oops! Discovered a parcel sitting out the front porch. Postie apparently delivered a parcel yesterday but failed to ring the doorbell to inform us and as we didn't go out, never realised about the parcel. Thank goodness it wasn't stolen or worst, got wet from the rain! It was my Bingo Xmas win which I participated at the Scrapitude forum. Great scrapping stuff in there! Thanx Cathy!)

TTFN!

>>> What A Dreary Day! <<<

What a dreary day
Rained all day
No bike rides
For the boys.

Xmas tree came down
Decorations kept away
Xmas cards to be recycled
House completed hoovered.

So the day passed
Us completely chilled
Doing nothing much
What a day!

TTFN!

>>> More Clearing Up! <<<

After completing a LO in the morning, spent the afternoon clearing the mess in my bedroom. Gosh, there's tons of rubbish under the bed, besides the wardrobe etc. So armed with a black bin bag, started going thru the rubbish.... can you imagine month's old newspapers, letters, cards, magazines (mostly hubby's and mostly unread, still in their plastic covers! Why on earth he buys them I just don't understand!). Had no time to hoover up as it was time to pick the boys but the amount of dust is just unbelievable....!

Boys spent the afternoon with their nan's . They usually visit her every Friday after school. However Ollie wanted to rush home so that he could watch NumberJacks on the Cbeebies channel. Sigh! These days he's getting more demanding, wanting to use the computer to play games online etc.

Next task to tackle is the clothes... load of unworn clothes that need to be sorted out and given away... running out of wardrobe space now. Gosh, that's a thankless task as I've got the 4 of us to sort! Moreover, being a sentimentalist, I've this tendency to keep clothes for memory sake...just have to toughen out and throw it! TTFN!

>>> School Started! <<<

Whee! The boys went back to school today but I had a difficult time getting them up for school. Anyway, had my 6hr free to myself and did a LO. Hard to scrap with them around as you are constantly interrupted.

Have been clearing up my craft room too. When hubby created this room, he brought my stuff from downstair to here and simply chucked them in boxes. Hence I had to go thru each boxes and threw out loads of rubbish! Even re-organised my scrap supplies into colours. Sorted my patterned papers into colours too. Well, not all though, certain brands are by themselves e.g. Basic Grey, Daisy Ds, Urban Lily, Chatterbox etc. In fact, papers which I had a fair amount of the same brand were kept together for the time being. Then I went through all my kits and separated the papers and the embellishments. New kits are still kept together but those used ones are filed away. Did a quick stock check and realised I've got far too many papers... enough to last me a lifetime seriously! Not much in terms of embellishments but loads of stamps which are currently my all time favs! Oh and loads of ribbons and alphas in any form! Scratching my head as to how best to store them efficiently! By colours, separately each letter etc.... sigh! How on earth did I get into this hobby......

Mission for this year... to try and use up my bellies, sort out papers I no longer or will not ever use and get rid of it. Pointless keeping them. Scrap more too... currently averaging 15 LOs a month... see if I can do another 10 more. Do more projects like mini albums! More altered stuff too. Most importantly spend less online... they do eat into scrapping time!

Best get on with the clearing up while the mood is there........ TTFN!

>>> Last Day of Hols! <<<

It's the boys' last day of the holidays... they go back tomorrow. Well, actually school has already started but it's teachers training day so they are off!

Didn't really do much apart from keeping them entertained. We had to nip out in the afternoon to get a loaf of bread but hurried home as the weather was so foul!

The evening was spent at MIL's house as we were invited for dinner. Hubby's dad was off work and had cooked a spread! As usual, it was just delicious! Wish I didn't have to cook almost everyday.... that's when I really wished I was in Singapore where I eat out cheaply and be swept off by the enormous variety of food! Sigh! TTFN!

>>> Jammies Day! <<<

We spent a lazy day in our jammies, just chilling out playing games and watching TV. The boys didn't want to change out from their jammies. It felt good actually, just lazing around knowing other people had to go back to work, namely hubby! Thankfully he came back pretty late and by then the boys were already asleep. Don't think he would be pleased to know his sons were lounging around in their jammies, including their mom!

Wow! Just a mini toot! I've been taking part in the Scrapitude year long Goals contest last year and the result was announced today. Initially there were quite a number who took part but by December, it had whittled down to 3. I didn't win the overall contest but I was asked to become a permanent Design Team member. Wow! I'm truly honoured and of course said YES! Nice to have a purpose for scrapping! What a great start to a New Year! TTFN!

>>> Happy New Year! <<<

The Year 2007! Well I only knew when I started hearing fireworks at midnite. Caught the fireworks display in London on TV.

SIL in Leicester had invited us over so we were there by 12 noon. As she has 2 boys too, so it was like a mad house with 4 raging testosterones, accompanied by noise! Well, they weren't too bad really. At one stage, we got them 4 sitting quietly in front of the TV, playing an X-box game. Now that was a photo opportunity not to be missed!

By the time we got home, it was late and we got the boys to bed. So that's how we spent our first day of the year! TTFN!