Happy birthday to you!

The wonderfully talented, gorgeous Kirsty Wiseman was teaching at my place today, working her magic with the preview of her new product. It is a printables cd, but unfortunately is not available to purchase for a fortnight . It went down a storm and I think it is gonna fly when it is released. Don't worry we will be stocking it as soon as it is out. Today was her birthday but she didn't want a cake. Tough I say so compromised with some scrummy Thornton's individual buns. Bit confused when I collected the plates in at the end, 2 of the candles were missing!!! Do you think they were eaten by mistake??


I love it when she is teaching as it means I can get on with lots of other jobs. Last time she was here she only blooming went and posted photos on her blog of my messy desk. How dare she?? Any way its a well known fact that that us creatives are a messy lot. Something to do with having left sided brains?? I don't know but it sounds like a really good excuse to me! Well I decided this week to move the studio around a bit. Make a bit more room for Tim's visit. So today's job was finishing off tidying one of my areas. Hey don't expect miracles. The other area is still messy but conveniently hidden around the back lol.

I'd forgotten what this table looked like!!

How long do you think this will last ?lol.

I have had a mad rush of making journal pages today, so I will show you more in detail tomorrow.

Yes shes here!!

Well she arrived and although I was looking forward to a girlie chat, ten minutes of the trials and tribulations of my love life put her in snoring heaven.!!! Charming.

She eventually awoke from her beauty sleep ( much needed in my opinion lol) and we decided to go shop for tea. Its Kirsty's birthday tomorrow so we were going to treat ourselves to a birthday tea. Ooh what shall we have , Thai, Chinese, Mexican, something exotic??? Oh go on then 2 ready cooked chickens and a pot of sour cream. What the f***. Any way we enjoyed it and it will do for dinner tomorrow. If you haven't booked on Kirsty's class tomorrow just leg it down to the studio for 10 o'clock to join in the fun. We have cake!!!

I finished of the other mosaic display board, so here's the finished result.

I just love it. I can see lots more of these coming on.

As you can see Kirsty was suitably impressed, don't think she quite understands my altered creations, do you?

As you can see a good time was had by all!!!

Tags of texture

Lovely busy class today . Mind you it was a trek for everyone to find the way in. First they had to brave the sheet of glass that was masquerading as a car park. Then they had to find the alternative entrance around the side of the building ( my entrance closed due to asbestos removal!). Then after climbing 4 flights of stairs and trekking along unknown corridors they finally made it to a welcome cup of tea ,ready to start work. today's workshop was Tags of Texture and I have to say these pics don't do it justice. It was full of paint effects and little tricks of the trade.

Ha ha I didn't let them have lunch until nearly one o'clock as they had soooo much to do.

Messy aren't they??

They were working so hard they didn't have much time for snacking. I have never seen this many biscuits left at the end of a class!!

Just thought I would put this pic in of the tulips that Emmi bought me last Sunday. Yes 6 days ago!! Can you believe they have lasted this long ??

Right I am going to put the kettle on my bezzie Kirsty is due to arrive any minute. She is staying at mine ready for her class tomorrow and I just know it will be a late one!! I'll report back later for sure.

Best laid plans??

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans!!! That was today. We started off with a snow storm which made it really difficult for me and Ems to get to work. Ben didn't make it at all lol. When we finally got there, most of the corridors were blocked off due to asbestos removal!!!! Nice eh. So we gathered supplies, mounted the huskies and set off home again. I went to the hospital to see Mum and ended up spending hours there tracking down information. Its like getting blood out of a stone. Got home to find my best mate had been rushed in with suspected meningitis. By the time I sat down to work it was 5.30. What happened to the day???

So I gave up trying and decided to play instead. I loved the display board that I made the other day from odds and sods so decided to make another larger one. The squares on this are 3 x 3 inches. I haven't mounted them yet but thought you might like a little peek.

I,ll show you more tomorrow.

As many of you know I have a real passion for Northern Soul music and decided to treat myself to some new Cd's. I have had my eye on these for ages and was so excited when one arrived in the post today. Needless to say I will be playing it nonstop in the studio lol.

It has been pointed out that I haven't done a shoe watch for ages , so here we go with a fabby sales bargain.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Dyan has gone home poorly today, so I thought I would do a quick blog entry for her, and tell you that the latest rusty Pickle products landed a couple of days ago. In gorgeous shades of chocolate and cherries. There are 6 double sided papers in the range, 2 shaped and scalloped edged papers, card stock stickers and card stock coupons. Although perfect and just in time for Valentines they are extremely versatile. I know Dyan is working on a project for the next brochure already. You can find the whole range HERE.

Hope the bad weather isnt affecting you all too badly.

Lets hear it for the Girl!!

I have just come back from a fabulous concert at the International Centre in Harrogate. For Christmas my girlies bought me Sharleen Spiteri tickets. I loved her when she was in Texas and I love her even more now. I have been waiting for this day for nearly 3 mths and so was gutted when it started snowing even heavier than before. Panic stations kicked in, was it going to be cancelled, how were we gonna get there, how were we gonna get back??? My fella lives miles away so there was no way he was going to make it over, so The Resident Bit of Glamour was my lovely companion for the evening. We set out in the car but driving conditions were really bad, so we gave in turned around and ordered a taxi. Changing into flat boots and thick coats in case we had to walk home afterwards lol.

The snow had really mucked up a lot of peoples plans and the centre was half empty. The support were a Scottish group called Kizzy Star, who is fronted by, would you believe, Texas's own Tony McGovern. How cool is that. They were brill , he sings lead and has an ace voice. They reminded me a little bit of The Killers ( another fave group of mine).

Sharleen herself was full of cold but gave a fantastic performance, and had the audience on their feet clapping and dancing for most of the evening. She sang a mix of Texas songs (with Halo being my personal fave), her new album , Melody, and also threw in a few curve balls , These Boots Were Made For Walking and a fantastic version of River Deep Mountain High. Her voice is absolutely amazing and she also proved she has a cracking sense of humour. After 2 encores the concert finally ended at 10. 30pm.

We trudged to the nearest taxi rank and after waiting hours and hours, actually it was only 20 Min's but felt longer. As the taxi got nearer to my house we saw a strange sight. Completely blocking the road was a line of snowmen, about 8 in total. I know it must have driven motorists mad on such an awful night but it really made me smile. Wheres the camera when you need it ??

Dark clouds and silver linings

Yesterday did not start out looking good. It was my dads anniversary which , of course, always makes me sad. But to top it not only is mum in hospital at the moment, but by a strange twist she is in the same ward that dad died in. You cant make it up can you?? But thanks to a fantastic bunch of ladies on the workshops a good day was had by all. It was a bit of a mix in the class. 2 people were doing the Year Ahead album from Saturday, 2 people were doing last weeks Journal workshop and we had 7 new people just starting out on the Art Journal Journey. Tea, chocolate and laughter kept us all going, throughout the day.

Emmi has been really poorly for the last few days and she surprised me by appearing in the shop with a large bunch of tulips. She didn't want me to be on my own. Awww bless her!!

I had really good intentions of going home and journalling all evening but couldn't pull myself out of feeling sad. So instead treated myself to steak and spinach and strawberries and cream. Whey hey. I also watched 4 episodes of Project catwalk, back to back. What a treat!! I just luuurve that programme and I can hardly wait for the next American series to start this week. I have to say that Sky + is the best discovery ever, watch what you want whenever you want and skip all the adverts. Wouldn't that be cool in life some days if you could just fast forward all the bad bits???

Woke up this morning to beautiful snow everywhere. Picked Emmi up from her house ( they always seem to cancel the trains in this weather) and we just had to stop and take some photos.

Whatever you are doing today, just make sure you drive carefully!!