Paper bill, what paper bill...????

Saturday arrives, and I jump out of my bed feeling pretty perky as my plan is to take a quick trip over to Colemans, pick up some sparkles for Gina, and just one or two bits for my stash collection.....then my moby rings. Its Babs...'You going to the warehouse today' says she, 'oh yes..just finishing my cuppa and I will be setting off' I says. 'Oh well, if you're going I will head over there too...just need to dry my hair' says Babs. And from that moment on, I KNEW my scary paper bill was doomed!!!! lol!

My shopping list pretty much consisted of this:



But once I bumped into this pair....



...the lovely Babs and Cheryl... the next thing I know, this little lot has fallen into my basket:



It doesnt end there.....the queue was so long - I think the woman at the front must have bought half the warehouse as Babs and I were stood still for yonks...so much so, that I was looking at a certain box for so long, I formed an emotional attachment to it...so it was added to my haul:



...how could I resist!?!

Not bad for someone who only went over there for a pot of sparkly glue! And the best of it is....you would need a magnifying glass to see what Babs and Cheryl popped into their baskets!!!!

To top the morning off nicely, when I got home my piggy tails kits had arrived from QVC....'piggy tails?' say the office chicks....sorry girls, another wait and see for you lol!

The rest of the day has gone by in a bit of a blur...lots of drooling over stash, watching Total Wipeout...(aw, thats finished now, shame), then X Factor, The Cube..followed by CSI...and more CSI!

My sister has gone off on her holidays, so no Sunday crossy for us....goody, Ive got it all to myself!

Have a good Sunday...lets hope the weather is nice for all those venturing out! I will be heading down to the paper shop for milk....in disguise....the paper bill will have to wait a wee bit longer!!!

Sue x

So...what happened to Friday???

I lost most of it thats what....not dragging myself from my nest until gone midday! I was SO tired, and only really woke up about tea time...not good!

I was only just up in time to get myself together in time to head for my physio session....oh, but what a nice session it was today! Instead of pummelling me to within an inch of my life, my nice man David treated me to some ultrasound...it gently massaged the naughty muscle that is giving me pain, and I have to say...it was VERY nice! Instead of coming away feeling that I must be black and blue, I felt really quite serene...mmmm! I will be looking forward to another session of that! Oh to win the lottery and be able to have a massage every day - how cool would that be!

Crafting-wise, I have spent the last few days covering bits of card in pretty paper....and so I continued today. My little slide show shows the packaging from a pile of flowers I purchased recently...only 20p a pack, bargain...followed by my delicious K&Company pad of paper - all 360 sheets of it! This is then followed by a random sample of the cards when covered - these are going to be turned into a very special album...eventually - so watch this space (but for goodness sake, dont hold your breath as I could be some time lol!)

But here we are, having drifted into Saturday - I need to go and have a little sleep to recharge my batteries so that I have the oomph to hit the crafty warehouse tomorrow (rather, later today)! A quick visit ...no over-flowing baskets, or repeat visits into the store for me this week....I have a very scary paper bill to pay so Im on a tight budget....shame!

My special sparkles this morning go to Gina, who feels like she's gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson, and to Lesley...hoping that your piggy flu has oinked off!

Have a great weekend folks!
Sue x

The Emporium now has a throne!!!

Okay...a posh office chair, but its a throne to me...and to Bubbles, the real queen of the house who had to try it for size first! My new throne came from my sister...a freebie - how fabby eh! Its so comfy too...thank you Carol!

I have more new toys too...well, I had to have a little comfort buy to take my mind off of my injured fingernail [which one was it now...looks closely at them all, oh yes..that one lol!] I am now the proud owner of a baby die cutter:



Aint that just the cutest! It came with a nice new alphabet...as one can NEVER have too many alphabets! I used my new toys straight away [despite my poorly finger which stops me zapping, but not from crafting], and made this little notecard:



I made this to send to my friend Sue, who, along with her friend Mandy run a crafty club in St Neots. They are having a 8 hour crop in a few weeks, so Im getting my payment in now...what fun - Im SO looking forward to it!

Earlier in the week I dug out my instructions for a piano hinge album, as that type of album takes oodles and oodles of photos which will be ideal for the piles of photos I rescued from the garage recently... a little worse for wear, but thankfully most were saved just in time. They are of my boys when they were a lot younger - all very random, and can be plonked in a piano hinge album randomly too. Here are two albums that I made this week....one ends up with 6"x6" pages, and I made a diddy one, about 2" square:



They dont look much when they are naked, but they are gorgeous when they become filled with photos and embellies. I've made a start, and here is my first page:



The main photo is set onto a paper pocket, into which I have placed tags made using related photos matted onto card, with ribbons stapled at the side...voila:



Well, thats my week so far. Physio tomorrow...mmm...I could use a good massage, but less of the pain, then its crafty warehouse on Saturday..woohoo! I wouldnt go except that my good friend Gina is in dire need of some sparkly mod podge and is MAKING me go...ha ha ha!

Before I sign off, I would like to send some special sparkles to Lesley, who has been suffering with a horrid flu bug...possibly of the oinking variety, for a week or so! Get well soon Lesley - you need to be all better for your horse-sitting duties!

Nighty night folks, and sweet dreams to you all!
Sue x

My Papergator bit me!!!!!

Looks innocent enough doesnt it.....okay, no it doesnt so much, it has a very very very sharp blade! Warnings are plastered ALL over it...caution - very sharp blade...but what they dont warn you about is this innocent looking screw:



Whilst happily 'papergatoring' a pile of card...all in one go (oh yes!), I placed my finger into the corner - carefully avoiding the blade, to keep the pile flat...then YOW (and other words)!!! Down came the handle, and boof...my finger nail took the impact of what I have now discovered my not inconsiderable strength!




Okaaaaaay....I know it doesnt look much, but it blooming hurt...*sob*! I think I might need more time off work.....ha ha ha ha ha!

Gina's faaaaaaat book!

Here are the beautiful pages that just some of Gina's many friends on the docrafts forum created to make her her very own fat book. Thank you to all of you, on behalf of me and especially from Gina, for joining in!

At last....a little more light crafting!

But first, lets look at some scrummy buttons eh! lol!

Phew..talk about hot, apparently it is 90 degrees in my kitchen just now...and its hotter in my living room - where I am sitting - in front of the million degrees radiating from the tv...aaaaaggggh! BUT..I just remembered my can of Magicool - what a relief - Im spraying myself with a little mini ice-age every 5 minutes - its lovely!

Anyway, the day started off a lot cooler, with a lovely breeze blowing through the house....so I was able to get some crafting of sorts achieved today. Firstly, I finished the pen pot which I had prepared with paint the other day....turning this:



..into this:




..with the help of a selection of the above featured buttons - Foof A La of course...scrummy! The little drawer is perfect for storing spare craft knife blades - things I am always losing...so thats a bonus!

I then moved on to embellishing the crafty emporium itself - sticking things on walls and hanging up my lovely birdhouse - my little slide show below shows my progress. Out came the drill, and all manner of DIY 'stuff', and lots of fun was had - with no loss of blood at all....result! The only downer was the little hangy-uppy things I stuck under the shelf - inbetween the birdies....wonky or what! I should have gone to specsavers eh! I dont even know what Im going to hang on them...they just looked so cute in the shop!?! After that debacle I armed myself with a spirit level before moving on to others tasks. The room looks so much more tidy with these bits and bobs no longer lying about, Im so pleased with how its all looking...and its lovely to work in. Im one lucky moo - I do know that! A little bit more sorting and I think it will be time for an official opening - the cutting of the ribbon and all that....I wonder if Johnny Depp would care to officiate...??? Ah..I can but dream!

Anyway, before I sign off...I havent forgotten to dig out an 'interesting fact' of the day. Given the heat, I thought it might be nice to have some chilly thoughts to cool us down, so here it is:

In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.

*UPDATE* Owing to popular demand (by Bev)...I sought out a photo of this giant snowman...and I think this picture explains how they got his head on...ha ha ha! Go HERE to have a look!

Thats one heck of a snowman...I bet it wasnt as cute as my Barney though!

Thank you for popping by and sweet dreams to you all!

Sue x

Unlucky for some....

After a very sleepy day, I figured that I might need something to get me nodding off tonight...and I think I found it lol! Some mildly interesting...or should that read, just plain boring facts about the number 13...here goes:

The fear of number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia and it was derived from treiskaideka, the Greek word for thirteen and phobia. There were thirteen people at Christ's Last Supper before his captivity, it is recorded that Christ was crucified on Friday. Routine mission to the moon goes drastically wrong on Apollo 13 [great film!]. Some hotels skip number thirteen when numbering rooms. In Formula 1, there is no car with the number 13. [I wonder if people in rooms 14 and in the 14th car KNOW that they are no. 13 really?]

But…they didn’t skip number sodding 13 in the street I lived in last, although they did miss out 17 and 19? I had the misfortune to live at no. 13 for 13 years…the most miserable years of my life for so many reasons…probably 13 of them!

Whether 13 is actually an unlucky number or not will forever remain a mystery [to some, not me!]. There are many truths about the number 13, though. For example, it is a prime number. That means that it is only divisible - without there being a remainder - by the number 1 and itself. It is also a "Fibonacci Number." [what???] A Fibonaci Number can be defined as "a number that is the sum of the two preceding numbers." If you begin with 0 and 1, the sequence would run 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,45,79, and so on.

Oh dear, that sounds like ‘maths’ stuff to me…time to make a hasty escape! And if that lot hasn’t put you to sleep Sall, nothing will lol!

So why the photo of the plug......?




Its 13 amp of course...ha ha ha!

Sweet dreams!
Sue x

З РІЗДВОМ ХРИСТОВИМ і ВЕСЕЛИХ СВЯТ!

"What the ****" I hear you say?

No, Daisy hasnt sat on the keyboard again, and I've not been at the bottle (sadly)! While we wait for creations to dry and/or come out of top-secret status, this is day two of 'sue-bubbles weird and wonderful interesting (or not) facts', and today's question was posed by none other than our 'thirsty-to-learn' Sall, and is to name an interesting fact (I might fall down on the FACT bit?) about Christmas.

Firstly, a few websites claim that the above gobbledygook means something along the lines of Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays in Ukraine...who indeed celebrate Christmas on January 7th. Two snippets of info already....but wait, there is more to come! Here is an utterly fascinating (?) piece of folk lore I found while trawling google for interesting facts about Christmas:

In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck! [Not in my house it wouldn’t….such a find would be accompanied by much squealing and shouts of “where is the BEAST…kill it!”]

There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family [I know the feeling love]. One Christmas morning, she awoke to find that spiders had trimmed her children’s tree with their webs [nice excuse for her lack of dusting…must remember that one!]. When the morning sun shone on them, the webs turned to silver and gold [or……the woman had spent all her Christmas decoration money on vodka which she had necked the night before]….[mmm…also know THAT feeling!]. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. (Aw bless…just don’t try that in my house!]

...and do you know what, now Im not sure how good this close up is going to look, but I zoomed in on the above Ukrainian Christmas tree, and it is indeed embellished with many fake webs and spiders.....



....well, I hope they are fake...or...aaaaaaagggggh!!!!

Oh no, now none of us will be able to get to sleep Sall...lol!

Sweet dreams folks!
Sue x

Do octopus have teeth?

This is a very interesting question...one posed by my very good friend Sall from dc...who also commented that, no... make that demanded...that us bloggers post EVERY DAY, as blog-hopping is how she whiles away her time when sleep wont come lol!

I havent got so much to write about today...the reason being, as some of you know, I couldnt sleep last night, so gave up trying and came downstairs for a cuppa and a little blog-hopping myself, and didnt get back to bed until gone 6! Needless to say...today has not been the most productive day of my life...much mumbling to my sister as we did the crossword...and OODLES more moaning about being too hot......which I still am by the way!

As the day draws to a close, I thought to myself...maybe I can do one small thing that would justify my existence on this day - and what better than answering the need-to-know question - 'do octopus have teeth?' It may come as a surprise, but I didnt know this fact off the top of my head, so I Googled it. Can you believe there were OVER 716,000 hits for this question...WOW! Thats a lot of people who knew the answer to this before me...and Sall!

I didnt check out ALL the hits...in fact I only visited the first one which seemed to get to the point...and you can find out all you need to know about octopus teeth...which, not only do they actually have...but they have four kinds, HERE ...its fascinating stuff folks!?!

Anyway, there you are...I didnt waste my day, I learned something new...and I SHARED lol!

Sweet dreams to all, but especially Sall!
Sue x

Did I mention that I was HOT!?!

That looks just like me - look at my lovely nipped in waist.........in my dreams!!!

Phew..another scorcher today - Im not so sure it was really hot outside, but my internal thermostat is certainly up the wall, so every day (and night) is a sizzler to me...Im melting away, and soon will be 'that' thin (still dreaming)! Come tea time I'd had enough and jumped in the shower...scrubbed all my bits with hot water and lots of bubbles..then gradually turned the temp down until it reached freezing...oh, it was lovely! Then..the icing on the cake, I lay on my bed in front of the fan to dry off - that was pure heaven! I could have stayed there all evening, but Total Wipeout beckoned, and I do love to see them big red balls of a Saturday evening!

Lots of bits and bobs of crafting done today...Im altering a little pen pot with a tiny drawer, which I found in the 99p shop - so far I have painted it shocking pink and mod podged it, and I will show it off when its finished...not sure exactly how it will be (over)embellished yet. Then there were secret projects....busy busy busy with those! Oh, and while I had the pink out, I painted a couple of birdies and sealed them with sparkly mod podge - they are going to be stuck on the emporium wall either side of the cutest little wall hangers that I found down the sweetshop...all will be revealed when I actually finish something!

I really experienced the wonder of having my own crafty emporium today - being able to dabble in a few different projects and have space to set them aside to dry was such a treat. Mind you, I did have to make some space before I could achieve that...as of this morning, I couldnt see the desk - it had all gotten a bit out of control....'no', I hear you say, 'you..untidy?' he he! Anyway, its all looking a lot neater now thank goodness!

So, no crafty piccies for you today....just a heap of waffle! Whats new eh!

Sunday has come round I see...I will have a little sleep then its a little more crafting for me, and the day when Carol (my sister) and I conquer the big Saturday Daily Mail crossword!

Would it be too much to ask for a mini ice-age........?

Oodles of hugs & sparkles, Sue x

52 Q & A....still catching up!

A very weary week for me...it flew by and I didnt feel like I'd gotten anything done! But I suppose I have made an inroad into my tag backlog - a few more are featured below...only four more and I will be up-to-date, although I suspect another will be added to the list before I get on with them...Im kind of 'tagged out'! It feels good to have got back into them though!

This week brought a lovely visit from my Tom and Roz. Tom rootled in the garage looking out for this manky old BMX which he promptly took to bits...

Well, not so promptly in fact...as you can see from the piccie, we were still in the garden after dark! He bagged up all the bits to take home, and Im sure he had a very good reason for this..but I couldnt quite get to the bottom of it - a 'man thing' obviously!

Of course, Marley came too....aw...isnt she sweet:


Marley has great taste in playthings too...she took a real shine to this ribbon, and who can blame her lol!

It was a wonderful evening..lots of giggles, and was the highlight of my week!

So what does the weekend have in store for you? I hope to spend lots of time in the crafty emporium - I've all manner of secret projects on the go!!!

Have a good one!
Sue x

52 Q & A....a little catch-up with tags!

These are tags 22, 26 & 28....I'm all over the place with them now - but its a start eh!

We are going to get our own question & answer project going next year on docrafts...if you have any interesting, funny or just plain bonkers type of questions that would be good to ask..just let me know! The plan is that each week I will pull one out of the hat, so do join in if you fancy it!

Sue x

Happy Birthday Anne!

A very happy birthday to my sister-in-law Anne! I hope you and my bro' are better from your jippy tummies, and that the swine flu was a false alarm...if you get a clean bill of health signed by the Surgeon General, we might come visit you later - we have gifts..lol!

Ive been feeling very sleepy and moody lately, but Saturday morning brought a splurge of crafty mojo which I made the most of! I finished a couple of entries for my loo roll thingy....firstly Joe & Kate, and the now famous plumbrella:



...and the lovely Lesley, from her first visit to my crafty emporium - lots of pink and bling:


Ive still Babs pages to do yet...Im on the hunt for a mini set of handcuffs lol! Anyway, here is how the loo roll thingy is looking so far:



I also made a birthday card and an altered notebook, and one or two other projects which are TOP SECRET just now....and a little catch-up with my tags - I will make a little slide show of those and they will appear above. Still lots to catch up with tag-wise though...the weeks fly by toooooooo fast!

Our poor Gina is STILL without phone and internet....she is now threatening to chop off some very delicate bits from the bloke (of course) who chopped through the cable in the first place! BT...pull your fingers out - we want our Gina back!!!

Lots of appointments this week...docs, breast surgeon, physio, and possibly the dentist, tho' that could be next week...all good fun (not!) Who has time to go to work?!? I suspect it wont be long though...my lovely office chicks, and I will soon be back bothering you again!

Righty, I will just knock up that little slide show of my tags, then head for my nest!

Thank you for popping by!
Sue x

Lesley comes to play...!!!

Hey Gray...see what your missus gets up to when let loose at Weston Favell...he he!

Thank you Lesley, for a fun day...and my beautiful flowers!

Sue x

Is nothing sacred when there is a digital camera to hand???

While the docrafts gals prepare to arm themselves with all manner of pokey tools, cropodiles, papergators, sticky dots and the like, to take on the nasty men at Sky and BT on behalf of our Gina who has been cut off for many days....I dug out a photo I took many moons ago and made this card for her:

...and inside:



That should give her a giggle!

Meanwhile, all the folks at dc are sending oodles of sparkles to you Gina (even though you cant look at this yet), hoping you are feeling a lot more perky ...and begging those numpties at Sky & BT sort out your internet very soon!!!

Sue x

Dragons Den...watch out...Fred has a plan!

Is your plum tree overburdened with fruit?

Does the slightest breeze or knock of a branch bring your plums to the ground within easy reach of all the slimy slugs?

What you need is.......(drum roll please).....

***PLUMBRELLA***



...and a big stick... invented by Fred, named by Kate and skillfully modelled here by Joe Kate and Fred!

And it works too...



Make scrumping easy peasy...bag yourself a plumbrella!!!

As you can see, it was all fun and games at Chez sue-bubbles today - I even managed to stay awake! My son Joe and his lovely girlfriend Kate came to visit...and after a good old gossip, I cordially invited them to play in my crafty emporium...



Worryingly Kate brought her backpack up with her...eeeek...but no worries, Bubbles entwined herself in the straps, so there would be no tea-leafing going on today!

As has become a tradition, my guests to the emporium are photographed, and I have now decided that my loo roll album is to become my 'guest book' - with photos and journalling about the day going in there - I think that will be neat.

Kate's visit meant I could wish her a happy August in person, and I presented her with her calendar page....my theme this month being 'recycled':



This was my first venture into picking at cardboard...very much inspired by Valerie on the docrafts forum, and also featured is a Tescos teabag box - the flower, butterfly and letters cut with sizzix dies. A teeny weeny spritz of shimmer mist gave it a little bit of a glow, but I resisted the urge to bling it up!

So there we are, a very nice Sunday for us....me and sis managed to do the crossword too, and I hope your Sunday was as good for you!

Sue x