One more sleep..!!

When I went back in to work yesterday, I found this propped up on my desk. It is a gorgeous handmade thank you card and pressie from a group of students at the college. How nice is that..??

Whats really lovely about it is the students have learning disabilities. A very dear friend of my , little Julie, teaches this class and I don't envy her at all. The course aims to be self funding. The idea being that the students work is sold in the college shop. How challenging is that. I have every admiration for her in her patience and determination in achieving that goal. These 7 students have completed a recognised Ed xecel Qualification attending Harrogate College, over 3 yrs, and they wanted to thank me for my help. Unfortunately , and sadly I wasn't there, but I thank you all very much. You are little stars and your artwork is fabby..xx

Here they are , hard at work..

Well preparations for Demo Day tomorrow are going great. The Goddess has worked her magic on the studio. She snapped her fingers twice and clicked her heels 3 times and poof!! just like that it was done. (oops she is objecting profusely and telling me she actually sweated blood and tears in the pursuit of tidiness) The builders are all over the building at the minute, and everything is covered in layers of dust. As soon as you wipe it off , it is straight back. be warned tomorrow, don't sit for too long in one spot, or you will begin to resemble Dickens, Miss Haversham, lol.

We did all the shopping earlier today. This is one of our little purchases. Me and Emmi are just complete big kids when we go shopping. She was trying to get me to go in the party section at Matalan, but I headed her of at the pass and dragged her kicking and screaming back to the car. When she was a child she was fascinated by anything like that, party blowers, streamers, balloons, silly stuff. And that's fine but unfortunately she,s still the same now. And shes 21 for Petes sake. She takes that long browsing that the assistants come out with a megaphone shouting "Step awaaaaay from the party products". You think I,m joking, I can tell, lmao..

Last night I didn't get to sleep till 5.15 am and I was back up at 6.45am. Not sure what happened there, but I was so tired that I think I was a bit giddy from lack of oxygen and so she managed to0 persuade me into buying a Pinatta. Now if theres one thing above all others in the party section that she is drawn to, it is definitely the Pinattas. I even bought her one for her 21st..!!I,m not sure what it is about them, I,m just hoping its not the fact that you have to batter it really hard with a big stick..!! Look at the size of this beauty...

We decided to fill it with mini packs 0f love hearts, and you have to guess how many are in it... The nearest to the actual number gets the prize of a voucher for one of my workshops. A little clue- its a lot because its now far too heavy to hang, and has to sit quietly ON a table. And then at the end of the day we will smash it to see. Not taking any bets on who's baggsying that job, but it wont be me, she will have fast elbowed me out of the way and gained pole position, lmao. All I can say, if you are still there is , STAND WELL BACK AND DUCK...

Here's some more pics of goodies... Ben sent us out for stuff for sandwiches etc, and this is what we came back with...150 Drumstick lollipops .

Big, colour changing, bad for your teeth, turn your tongue blue, lollies... We bought them for the kids, but we are going to have to watch that Bezzie Su doesn't start wrestling them to the ground. She has a severe addiction to these lollies and seems to think that the jar actually is there for her and her only. She is the loveliest , kindest, sweetest , funniest, darlingiest person i know, but you need to watch her closely when these are on display. lol . And I mean closely..!!!!

We got lashing strawberries and are going to decorate some of the muffins with them..l

Talking of decorating, Ben is in the studio early in the morning decorating the rest of the cupcakes and muffins.. I have a workshop first thing , am running through all the make and takes , step by step, with everyone making all their samples for the tables. So that means everyone is tied up with me, leaving no one but him... I don't think he minds really , as he loves faffing about, and presentation is everything...!!

We also bought the ubiquitous white lilies....Gorgeous...

One of the lovely helpers has a birthday tomorrow, and me and Ems have found her the perfect pressie. Well we think so anyway.

As well as guess the no. of mini love hearts, we also have the raffle. here are the prizes..

Grunge number pack + 3 pks of Tim,s idea -ogy .

Blonde Moments mini pads and pearl powders.

40 shts of large Blonde Moments papers and a selection of embossing and Ultra Thick embossing powder. And these can both work fabby on the Grunge board

A selection of 7 gypsies products.

A little bind it all book and tin, made by myself..

4 Archival ink pads

A full set of Tim,s Distress stickles.

11 Blonde Moments shimmer paints.

A Tim Holtz unmounted stamp case.

That is signed by the little sweetie himself, as you can see..

A Rusty Pickle Pop album kit.

And a copy of Elsies, 52 scrapbooking challenges. This was donated by one of my students, the lovely Ruth. How kind is that..

You can purchase the tickets right up to 3 pm tomorrow. HERE. or you can ring us at the Studio on 01423 873739. Remember all this money goes straight to Carers Resource.

If you are coming to see us tomorrow, please note we are not opening until 11am. Anyone who turns up earlier will be given a long handled brush, with which to sweep the corridor...

Don't forget to come in fabulous shoes. Everyone who does will get a complimentary ticket into a surprise draw. i cant decide which ones yo wear so I have thrown about 15 pairs into a box and I am going to rotate them throughout the day, lol. A bit like Kylies costume changes. Well anything for a laugh. And anyway look at the saying on my mug. Except it should say, If the shoes black, high and strappy, buy the lot, lol

So onto my journal. I have nearly completed my front cover an I am really pleased with it.

Did you spot what I,ve done...... Go back and look at it closely.. Yes there are 5 handles on it. How extravagant is that..?? But I felt it needed it to go with the theme, and I just love it..All the knobs are HERE.

I added Tims new ornate corners

I am still in the process of collecting other items of useless paraphernalia to adorn its features.

Here's some more journal pages.

Ok I need you all to pop over to my bezzie mate Kirsty's blog ( just click the link in the sidebar ). She was having a day off with her hubby, the gorgeously grumpy Mark. and they wandered into the new shopping centre, that was built on the grounds of Wigan Casino. This was the place we all used to travel to from all over the country. It was indeed the mecca of the North

I was an oldies girl and so used to spend all ny time in Mr M's. Which was extremely loud, and sweaty. Well in the shopping centre ther are displays in tribute all over. Mementos and posters of the day.. I think that is so great of whoever over saw it that its memory was kept alive. She has taken some photos for me and they are on her blog. And believe it or not she has uploaded some northern Soul videos, specially for me.

Now Kirsty has had a really shit week , this week. In fact she would probably describe it as" the shittiest week of all the other shitty weeks put together in honorary shittiness.." Ha ha you can just see her saying it cant you. Anyway, she is a darling and I love her to bits, even though I suspect she is really a lot more insane and unstable than I am, amd she would do anything for anyone. I would like you all to go to her blog and just leave a nice message or 3 xxx's. None of us can even begin to imagine how it feels . I have four kids, who allthough were all extremely ill when they were little,are now strapping healthy adults, and I cant even contemplate it being otherwise.

Nothing we say or do can alter anything but we can try and put a little sunshine back in her soul, cant we..?? You can blog hop HERE

So heres a little something to raise a smile on that gorgeous little face of hers