This is very true……. and I should know, having four of the furry monsters! Last week I watched Hoarders USA because, as I told my son Gary, it made me feel better about my less than perfectly tidy home. Gary said that I am a cat hoarder! Mmmmmmmmmm…….. he has a point! 🙂 
Here is something that you don’t see very often……. a cross stitch project that I have actually completed! Yes, that’s right, you sit down now. Also, I like it, mostly. It took hours and hours so I am sort of respecting myself for it, weird thing to say but fellow crafters will get it! Hope the new owner likes it. 
This is the little card that I made very quickly for Georges birthday today. More use of the bargain dinosaur stickers, as you can see. I also finished my  ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ cross-stitch piece, which ended up being a picture rather than a cushion. I will reveal this tomorrow. It has been a funny day, mainly because of plans going awry…. as they do sometimes. You see, we were going to an anniversary ‘do’, a sort of an afternoon drop-in, which is what the cross stitch picture was a gift for. The boys had also been invited to Georges laserquest party. No problem, it was arranged that we would drop the boys off then get on our way to the other do. For reasons that I won’t go into (gggrrrrrrr!), we ended up taking the boys to laserquest, and staying there for the afternoon. Now, I wasn’t too impressed by this turn of events, but it was important that the boys had a fun, stress-free afternoon and they love all that mad-running-around-in-the-dark-shooting-stuff, so it was a case of getting on with it. We met up with our lovely friends Jo and Ian, and their son- birthday boy George, and several noisy, excited boys (and two girls- the lovely Natalie and Katie) in an old warehouse somewhere in deepest Stourbridge. And, we had a really fun time, really! Especially the men, who just had to join in!  I met a new friend (hello Lorraine!), and we all had a real giggle. Most importantly, all the kids had a great time. Funny how things turn out isn’t it. 
Help! Apparently……… we’re on! Baby is on her way, which is rather inconvenient as I haven’t finished the VERY pink blanket yet. Can you believe it? Well yes, you probably can, seeing as how babies never do things to plan do they? Anyway, I need to get on, excuse me won’t you, I have urgent sewing to get on with! 
It is so NOT fun to be awake when everyone else is asleep. Especially if your alarm is going to wake you at 7 am, no matter what, for a full days work.  As you know if you are a regular reader, I’m having a bit of a tricky time at the moment, and unfortunately my brain thinks it’s okay to start going through an exaggerated version of ‘things that are going wrong’ as soon as my head hits the pillow, which is at around 11pm. Of course, in the dead of night everything seems so clear! Yes, that would be a great e-mail to send to the boss, and while you’re about it, write to a multi-national company with your CV- they’ll love it, oh and don’t forget to rehearse that conversation with a colleague that you’ve never liked- can’t think why you haven’t done all of those things way before now! Meanwhile, it’s now 2.30am……. only another four hours until you can leap out of bed and put all of those meticulously laid, well thought-out plans into action! Yay! More like YAAWWWNNNN! Please brain, give me a break, tonight would be good, pleeaase! 
Sorry for not posting craftiness today, just feeling a bit low. So thought I would show a you a collection of such cuteness, that a smile is guaranteed. I defy anyone not to have a little “ahhhh” moment when looking at these.  A Sunday Smile with a soft centre. Enjoy 🙂
Today I made these cards, they are the same but different! What I mean is, they have both been worked to the same template in different colour ways….. oooh, get me! I used my new (ish) scalloped circle punch to cut out the shape in the top corner of the cards- setting aside the shape for later. There are a couple of butterfly papers in the ‘Vintage Floral’ paper pack (free with Card Inspirations magazine this month) which I thought would be just the job. The blue paper has birthday greetings messages in type font with butterfly silhouettes, beautifully subtle and pretty. I placed the paper halfway across the card and used the off-cut to stick inside the card to show through the ‘window’. Then I stuck a piece of die-cut border along the top of the blue paper, with the scallop circle at the edge, using foam sticky pads for a 3D effect. On top of this I attached a Craftwork Cards circle greeting, then for a bit of texture glued some mini bobble trim along the border. Using my Martha Stewart butterfly punch I cut out three butterflies which I folded and glued the middles to the cards, so that they stood out. Along the border, scalloped circle and on the butterfly wings I gently rubbed gold ink from a pad. On the multi-coloured card I used my Docraft chalks, picking out colours from the paper, and stencilled three butterflies across the white section at the top of the card, as well as onto the butterflies, border, and scalloped circle. I finished it off with a small ‘Best Wishes’ peel off. Pretty simple or what! 🙂 
Yes folks, bit of a trip down Memory lane today. I’m going back to the 70’s and these pics just about sum up those days, for better or (probably, more likely) worse! So we have the TV programme that we all had to get home for after school on a Friday- Happy Days, and can someone explain WHY exactly we thought that’The Fonz’ was gorgeous? I mean, looking back, the guy was about 40 then! I loved Holly Hobbie, and she has made a bit of a comeback recently, what with all things ‘shabby chic’ being so ‘in’. John Travolta, in the film that all my friends were sneaking into the cinema to see….. but as I only looked 10 years old when I was 15 it was never going to work for me….. boo hoo! The Sweet- Blockbuster, Ballroom Blitz…… ahhh they don’t make them like that anymore, so some things have improved! Jubbly ices, when we had summers, these were amazing. So, they lost their flavour after about a minute but hey! Sweet peanuts, we used to sneak out of school without a chit (that was a pass, in case you were wondering!) at lunchtime to this amazing sweetshop (Georges, I think?) and buy gorgeously tooth rotting sweets. These were my faves!  And especially for my BF Suzanne …… B A Y, B A Y, B A Y C I T Y, with a R O double L E R S, Bay City Rollers are the best! Last, but not least, Topcat…….. ’nuff said!
A special order today for a very special delivery, twin baby boys! Never made a twin baby card before. I really wanted to get it right so had a couple of false starts that ended up on the cupboard floor, but I’m happy with the result. The background is bumpy textured cardstock, with a Papermania die-cut checked edge to add some interest. Then I went with the whole bunting theme with a couple of die cut romper suits hanging up alongside the flags. Each suit has one of the boys names on (Joel and Dylan….. aaaaahhhh) and the flags are decorated with cute buttons. Along the edges of the light blue section I’ve used felt zigzag ribbon, and a banner says ‘Bundles of Joy’. Sparkle is added with silver peel-off stars, blocks, buttons etc from a ‘Forever Friends’ baby sheet.
I have not been to work today as I had a monster headache when I woke up, after a bad nights sleep, think I was so wound up yesterday like a little spring. I hate being off work, but recognise that i needed to take some time to settle down on the sofa dosed up with painkillers. Tomorrow is another day, and I’ll be back! 
Yay! I finished stitching my ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ sampler. Oh yes! I enjoyed doing this because it was fairly simple, even the tricky bits, and there were areas of ‘brain-friendly’ no counting. So, the plan is to attach this to a small  cushion cover- I’ve got the fabric ready to make it. Then possibly edge it with crochet, and give it as a gift….. to someone who shall be nameless at this point! On the next pic is my next stitchy project, already (just about) started, which features in this months ‘The World Of Cross Stitching’. I’m afraid that the blue cat project has been postponed, mainly because I went to buy the threads and discovered that I needed a lottery win- there are so many of them! That will have to wait until I am a little better off 😦
I am relying a little on my crafty hobbies to get me through at the moment. They really are a form of therapy, both relaxing and giving a sense of achieving something- better than Prozac! I have sold some cards over the past few days, and had a couple of orders, which gives a bit of a feel-good factor. I know it’s not for everyone, but getting creative is form of  relaxation and healing for me. Thank you for joining me! 
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