The rain in Spain....

Aaaargh, why won't my pics upload..???? Its telling me the site has gone over its quota...Wtf..???
Oh well theres not a lot I can do about it, because I,m off on my jollies in the morning... Yes you heard me correctly, we booked it late last night and we are off.. I will be in Malaga this time tomorrow and away for a whole week. We are taking one of the lap tops with us so if the photos upload, I,ll keep you updated..!!! If anyone can give me advice on the problem, please do.

I had a really nice Christmas Day, even though we were all really dreading it. The girlies came round in the morning and we had a great time with Maisie opening everyones pressies..!! Ben had the hangover from hell, but managed to do a fantastic job of the lunch. Tom actually managed to stay with us all day, he was hilarious. After lunch James, me and the boys all lounged and watched a film, whilst slowly getting sloshed. The lovely Katie came about tea time and the festivities continued. I hope you all had a beaut day as well.

Today was spent trying on bikinis and falling about laughing. I was veering between hilarity and despair, lmao. But we are fully packed and ready to go. So its a quiet night in, in front of the telly. Yayy can,t wait.
Dont forget the shop and studio are closed until the 5th Jan. Yes I am a wonderful boss , aren,t I, lol

Whatever you are up to....

Enjoy xx

Just one more sleep..!!!

I think the world and his wife are blogging tonight as at the moment it wont let me upload more than three photos..Wtf..??? and as usual I have tons to show you. So we'll see what happens..

Yesterday was shopping hell. I set off at 7.30 to pick our Ben up to do the Christmas dinner shopping at Asda. The car park was heaving and it was a struggle to get parked. I then discovered I only had about £80 cash on me and Emmi had my cards...There was no way |I was losing my car park space, so we had to do the shopping whilst counting a running total, lol. I had also planned to go into town shopping so rang Emmi to drop the cards off for me. Town was heaving and I'm not very good with hordes of women shopping, but we accomplished what we had set out to do, so we set off back to Asda, to do the remainder of the shop. Big, BIG, mistake, it was trolley hell..We only bought wine and beer, but I could have brewed my own for the length of time we queued to pay. I almost lost the will to live..!!!!! I phoned James to tell him I was on my way home and that I was never, ever, leaving the house again, and he informed me it was 11.45 am. I had been out for 4 hrs.!!! But the best bit was, apparantly (and I can vaguely remember it now, lol) I had told him to get ready for the gym and I would be back about 9ish to give him a lift..!!! Ooooops

Of course tonight its Christmas Eve and we have all been busy, busy, busy...We had 8 inches of snow overnight and this morning which really slowed us down a bit, but I am all caught up now, thank goodness. The pressies are bought and wrapped, the stockings are filled, the house is tidy, Maisie is snoring, Tom is merry, James is sleeping next to me and I am blogging..!!! I am trying to eat a chocolate orange without making a mess and failing miserably, lmao

I went shopping with the girlies this afternoon for last minute things and then they came for tea. They had sneaked into the kitchen earlier to investigate what James was preparing. The minute they saw it was sausage casserole and yorkshire puddings, they gatecrashed the proceedings, lol. Maisie is sleeping over and she was a delight. Jay helped her write Santa a letter to put with the carrot and milk, and she spread Reindeer food all over the front garden. I wish it would let me show you the photos, cos they're gorgeous.. This is the only one of her that uploaded. She's playing on my Iphone. She can work it better than me, lol.

The only other photos were these three of my journal. Only a couple of pages left before New Year..

I would also like to say a big thankyou and a VERY Merry Christmas to all my blog followers, where ever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope it's a good one.  And remember, a journal is not just for Christmas, its for life....!!!!  lmao

Enjoy xx

Peace, if only for 5 mins

Well it's 6am and I,ve been awake since 3.30 tossing and turning..!!!!! But it is just a blip and I am not going to worry that it is old habits resurfacing. I have a lot on my nind, and as the day draws nearer I am getting more agitated. I am trying to be calm and just go with the flow, but it is obviously affecting us all. Luckily I had a fabulous day in the studio yesterday. Pam, The Goddess and me had the wonderful pleasure of 15 little cherubs. And no I am not being sarcastic!!!! They were beaut. When you think how near it is and how excited they are, we were expecting mischief and a riot, lol. But, no, they were a pleasure to teach and always sooooo funny with the things they come out with. Here they are proudly displaying their goodies.

Venita, Ellie, William and Freya.

Tom, Maisie, Ewan and India.

Serena, Sophie and Ella.

Serena, Imogen, Sarah and Andrew.

Dont they look proud..???

It is sooo quiet in the house, everyone is still asleep, even Maisie. I just love sitting with only the Christmas tree lights on, it always feels kind of magical...

Ha ha, forgot to show you my favourite ornament. Mum bought me this years ago and it always makes me smile.

Someday her Prince will come, I'm sure..!!!

Well I am going to go get some slap on now as me and Our Ben are going to brave the delights of Asda for all his gourmet ingredients needed for his Christmas lunch. If you never hear from me again I will probably be found jammed between two trolleys in the car park whilst trying to escape from the madness I just know will be occurring..!!!! lmao

Gonna leave you with my favourite Christmas song ever, ever, EVER......

Enjoy xx

So this is what you normal folks do on a weekend..!!!

Busy, busy, busy weekend in snowy Harrogate. Went into the shop for a couple of hours with The Goddess, to get any remaining parcels sorted. I went to pick her up at her and Jays apartment and have a cuppa. We all had a real girlie giggle whilst she was getting her face on, chatting about this and that. It was like old times when they where at home with me. Awwww...!!!  Their flat looks gorgeous, with all the Christmas decorations up.

Whilst at work I got a craving, so cooked bacon, mushroom and brown sauce butties when I got home. We then wrapped up and went for a long walk in the snow. How healthy are we..??? lmao. I then got the privelege of watching football on the telly, but soon made my excuses and caught up with some journaling....

We spent the night lounging and watching dvd's. Now you all know I love my Danny Dyer films and I had bought this one a while ago and never watched it. Well its just frikkin fabby dabby.

 Its called The Borstal Boy and it is a love story set in the second world war. It is based on the life story of the Irish Brendan Behan.

The film was actually made in 2000 when Dyer was unknown, and not released until 2008. It is a very poignant and powerful film about the bond of love, but be warned it is incredibly emotional. Heres a little overview of the story. Don't watch it if you want to see the film as it gives the ending away.

Today started off really lazily, we had intended to go boxing and do a good workout but neither of us could be arsed, lmao. Eventually we got our acts together and wandered into town. Now James is a TK Maxx devotee and is always telling me of the bargains. I meanwhile can think of nothing worse than having to rummage, and have called it Takky Makky's for years. So we had a challenge, if he could find me a fantastic bargain, and I mean fantastic, then I would be proved wrong. I was feeling really confident until he appeared at my side with these little beauties. WTF.!!!

Now how cool are these..??? They are Ed Hardy's, and I am in big lurve with them.

 So now, I, Angela Dyan Reaveley, do solemly declare that I eat my words, and officially love the place.

so I,m going to leave you with some of the finished journaling from earlier, I am on a roll and completed 6 pages altogether..!!! Not bad eh..??? Think I needed it to calm me down before the dreaded Meadowhall tomorrow, lol.

I,ve been practising my drawing again and really getting the hang of it now.

This one is all Sakura pens, and I did it in bed whilst he was sleeping..

And this one is no doubt how I will feel after shopping tomorrow..!!!

Enjoy xx

The race is on...!!!

Soooooo.. where did all that come from. I was working from home when the heavens opened and the whole world turned white.... You literally couldn't see out of the window. I had to ring the studio and tell them to abandon ship. Two problems if you are in the studio...

1. There are no windows, so you don't know what is going on in the outside world.
2. If you stay there too long when it is snowing, you get completely snowed in, and there's not a lot you can do to get out.

Not sure how much snow you had, but it was really bad here. It calmed down around teatime, so me and the girlies went Christmas shopping, only to find bedlam when we surfaced back into the open. Getting home was treachorous as the roads were like an ice rink. I had planned to iron all last night, but instead succumbed to lounging in front of the telly recovering from frostbite, lol.

Today was even worse. Guess whose these little beauties are...

Yup they belong to the Goddess who cane down to the house for a spot of snowman painting. Just love her new hat....

I spent the morning thinking about the ironing, but finally gave in to my Art Journal which was winking at me from the corner of the room. It was feeling pretty neglected lately , because now I sleep through my journaling time, lol. So it received a lot of love and attention from me all morning. I am nearly at the end of this A4 journal and I want to start a new one for the New Year, so I started by prepping lots of pages with paint ready.

I then completed two pages.

One of my students, Kate, of Craft Stamper fame, is doing a December journal spread where she journals on a little square for every day of the month. I think it is a fabby idea, but I am running behind as usual, so I have only just started. So mine is now the countdown to Christmas...!!!!

If you like this idea join Kate in January as she starts of a day by day challenge. I'll be joining in , that's for sure.

I was flicking through Kates blog and I noticed that she, amongst many other bloggers are drawing, a la Teesha Moore style, so I thought I would give it a go. I'm quite pleased with the results so far. Mind you, could be beginners luck.!!!

I had an appointment at the hospital today and so we decided to walk there. I dont think I have ever worn so many clothes, wish I had taken a photo. I'll try and remember tomorrow, cos the snow isn't going anywhere fast. I had my fishtail parka on a woolly "Heidi" hat and 2 pairs of gloves...  I hope its cleared up by Monday as we are going to be sat in the car park at Meadowhall waiting for it to open. It is then going to be a bit like a trolley dash as me and James compete to see who finishes the Christmas shopping first. Its gotta be me cause I am a whizz at shopping. But then again he is a man therefore just buys the first thing he sees...!!!! Watch this space...!!!

Now I am going to try and sort out available flights to California in January. Yayy its CHA time again, and I will be joining the lovely Ranger crew on their stand again. I love CHA, and I love being with the Ranger lot as they are soooooo much fun. I will be demoing Perfect Pearls ( Oooh theres a shock, lol). I love it and can,t wait. Ben's coming to carry my bags and restrain me around the shopping malls whilst being the sensible one and looking around the show for lots of goodies to tempt you all with.

Yes this is a late blog from me, it's 12.30, and I,m still awake. Its been 4 wks since I have been awake at this hour. I hope its just a fluke and I am not going back to my old sleeping patterns. Mind you it has given me chance to blog and journal...!!!! Six of one, as they say.....!!

Enjoy xx

Sooooo proud....!!!!

Well the kids in my classes have excelled themselves this Christmas. They have worked soooooo hard for the last term and I am sooooooo proud of them. They have completed 3 hard projects all at once. It has been a hard slog for them, and at times I think they felt they were't getting anywhere. But just look at their proud faces here when they realised it was all worth it.

Here's Dexia

Ella and Serena

Ellie Sarah and Georgina

Hayley, Amelia and Claudia

Ann and Katie.

How fab is all that..!!! They are fabby...!!!

Last night was my regular Tues and we completed two tags. Yes two..!!! They were told in no uncertain terms to get their finger out, lmao.. Heres the tags with alcohol ink plaid backgrounds.

And heres the ladies in all their glory..

Liz, Janet, Chris and Frances

Julie , Elizabeth, Simon and Sophie.

Tanya, Jane and Ali

Ok I,m off now, see you tomoeeow.

Enjoy xx

Christmas Cheer

Today was massive clean up day at home in readiness for ....wait for it.... Yayy the Chrissy decorations. James said he would help me get them down from the loft, ha ha . Half an hour later he couldnt believe we were still at it. I dont think hes seen that many decorations in his life, lmao. With that he made a quick exit to the gym and left me to it. A wise decision. These are just some of the boxes

Bare trees look horrible dont they..??

Yes they were originally lightbulbs..!!!

Baubles

Baubles

and more baubles.

I love dressing the tree, but I had really mixed feelings today. Every bauble holds so many memories, and the tears didnt seem to stop coming. Can,t decide if I,m looking forward to it or not. Its going to be so different this year. On the minus side theres no Mum and Dad, and the girlies , bless them, are going away. On the plus side, James is home and we have Maisie Christmas Eve..!!

Anyway heres how the house is looking now.

I love my hand painted baubles.

And I have a full set of these Gisella Graham dolly birds.

Maisie loves all these and spends hours talking to them, lol.

These stockings hold lots of memories and are draped across the window pole.

Guess what these are..

Yes they started life as wooden candlesticks.

And these are Ben,s favourite of the ornaments.

Wednesday is Christmas Craft Day, so if you are free come along and join us. Elaine the Baker is putting in an appearance so there will be loads of baking..Yayy...!!! And I will be singing along badly to carols all day, woop, woop. See you there.

Enjoy xx