OMG!

Call a doctor and fetch him quick!
I fear I may be very sick
'Half price' it said which drew me near
That I should NOT have even been near that aisle is now clear!
T'was not just the price that made me think
I was mesmorized by the scrummy pink
Feeble excuses however, will not matter
I know my reputation will be in tatters
Have you yet guessed what my purchase might be?
Tis utterly unspeakable, so a photo for you all to see...

...I only went in for a cooked chicken, and even Dads reaction was 'what the *&$*!'

I need a lie down, a very very long lie down!!!!!!!

Woohoo...I DID win the lottery!

Only a tenner mind...so I wont be heading for NYC, but I might just take a little peek at cuttingedge...he he!

No begging letters please!

Sue x

Shopping..bleh, dentist...bleh, little lambs...aw...!

Well, I thought I had gotten away with it and was happily playing mahjong on the pc while daydreaming about stash (as you do), when Dad mentions the 'S' word...sigh! Thats shopping and for those who dont know - as an experience when accompanied by Dad, thats up there with the 'i' word....bleh!

So we set off for Tescos and how bad can it be, its not five minutes in the car - but unfortunately in the middle of that five minutes is a little roundabout...and nine times out of ten that equals whiplash for yours truly! And he has the cheek to tell me that Im hard on the brakes...ggrrrrr! Today was a corker...kind of two or three staggered whiplashes in a row as we approached said roundabout, so I was a wreck before the ordeal had even got going...sigh!

Around the store things do not get any better. Dad refuses to get out of anyones way, and grumbles...rather too loudly at times, about the various people milling about - comments mostly consist of "just look at the state of that" referring to just about anyone not dressed by Bon Marche or Man at Burton! There are other less savoury comments too, but I couldnt possibly print them here, but suffice to say....I try to keep my distance and pretend that Im not with him! One day he will get a punch on the nose if he's not careful!

At the checkout of course, its a bit tricky to disown him, so I just huff and puff and try to keep him quiet as he is groaning about the people in front, who...the cheek of them, take more than 30 seconds rootling for their money!

From Tescos, I then usually plant Dad on a bench while I pop into Subway for yummies. By the time I come out, he has seen so many versions of 'look at the state of that', and I hear all about it - quite loudly, as we travel down the escalator with other customers ear'oling and head back to the car.......for the journey home.....sigh!

This can be the scariest part of the experience to be honest, as it involves backing out of a space, negotiating through a car park which is stupidly designed, driving over a zebra crossing - at which Dad will not stop, pulling out onto a little road (when its your turn ideally!), and then another little roundabout. I just cover my eyes now and hope for the best...its all too much to bear, and to some extent, Im beyond caring by this point!

I would like to add at this point, that my fears are not totally ungrounded - he does have history! Not least when we took delivery of the new car before this one - it wasnt 3 days old when he scraped down the side of it on a barrier - in that very car park! And he has gone into the back of a bus, another car at a roundabout - I wasnt with him then, that was my poor late mothers bad fortune (oh Mum, I know what you mean now!!!)...and absolutely of course - it was THEIR fault, not his....yeah right Dad!

Anyway, today we survived unscathed (apart from my nerves) and arrived home just in time for a quick cuppa before I headed out for my next highlight of the day....the dentist....again! However, this was not as stressy as most visits as it was just to fit my new crown - no pain, no arguments...for a change! It is however a bit of a long drive away, so I decided to take my new camera with me and on the way home, stop off and take some piccies of the beautiful countryside that we are blessed with in these parts. I have made a little slide show below, and you will find sheep and horses aswell as lots of trees and fields lol! It was a shame that it was so cloudy as the views are so much nicer on a clear day....but its all a bit of practice with my new toy, and I was thrilled to find the mummies with their cute little lambs! These are the kinds of lovely views I enjoy on my way to work each morning...lucky me eh!

Oh well, I think I have a free day tomorrow - no appointments and definitely NO shopping! Hopefully I will find my way back to that layout...my week is running out!

Righty, I just have to check my lottery tickets....so if you dont see me again, I will probably be jetting off to NYC!

Take it easy and thanks for popping by!
Sue x

My big thank you...and some weird stuff!

I have been published dont you know! I can be found adorning page 68 of the latest issue of Creativity, but not showing off anything crafty - I am a 'Readers Story' as this lovely mag gave me the opportunity to thank all my buddies for the support they gave me through all my sticky moments.



Here is a photo of the page...I havent shrunk this one, so if you click on it you might actually be able to read it... [I just tried it...if you click on the photo, then click again it will magnify it and make it readable - then back space to return to blog]







The photo is of Babs and me, the day we first met, and my very first visit to Colemans....a red letter day thats for sure!

Now onto the weird stuff...you know me, I take photos of anything!

Firstly, yesterday my thumb had an argument with my guillotine...



Ouch!

I just needed to share that lol!

Next I need to ask THE question....Country Crafter, are you looking in? What I NEED to know is.....are these sandalized (old lady) shoes?



...and a side view...



????????

I will tell you what they definitely are...they are a pair of shoes which should have come with a job lot of plasters - a little light shopping up Tescos and my toes and heels were blistered to hell!

In case they are indeed old lady shoes (therefore destined for indoor use only....once my wounds have healed), I have bought some back-up footwear to see me through the summer....some sparkly flip flops...



Much more trendy yes...but not a lot of use for driving...oh well...

Note the 'crop' trousers that reach my feet!!!!

I can hear Lee saying now...get back here and zap missus...you have way too much time on your hands if you can be standing there taking photos of your FEET.......and you could be right lol!

But no, I have sleeping and crafting to do! Yesterday (Monday) was a sleepy day - not slithering out of my nest until a few minutes to twelve...ooo how slovenly! But then I wouldnt have gone to bed until the wee small hours - having been busy playing mahjong on the pc and reading some murder and mahem - I do love my murder and mahem! Im reading my way through all of Mark Billinghams books - they are brilliant if you like that sort of thing (and very cheap on Amazon)!

Last night however, I made myself head off to my nest rather earlier and set my alarm so that I would see the morning. I was up at around 8 and the birds were singing and the sun was shining...how lovely!

Craft wise, I have been pushing some photos around a page for two days and maybe by the end of the week I will have made a layout. I was distracted for a little while as this morning I took delivery of a new die set...



These are really natty as the top flower has cuts in it through which you thread ribbon - something a little different. Here are two I made earlier:



There is a swirl die included too, but I forgot to add this to the photo. Odd colours you might think, but these will match the layout Im making if I decide to use them on it.

Anyway, there you go...thats the first two days of my holiday done, and wow all this excitement - taking photos of my feet and a poorly thumb! Oh but it all hots up tomorrow - Im at that blooming dentists again, hopefully for the very last time!

Tune in again soon for more fun and frolics at Chez Bubbles!

Take care folks, Sue x

Hugs for Gina and weekend purchasing news...

First, oodles of hugs for our lovely Gina who is a poorly bunny just now...







We are all thinking of you sweetie and wishing you a speedy recovery!

Well, Friday brought pay day, and we know what that means.....HIT THE STASH TRAIL!!!

As luck would have it, Colemans the crafty heaven had emailed to let me know that it was demo day yesterday...AND that they would be having a selection of Martha Stewart punches at half price! Well, I love these punches but they are a dear do right, so the chance to nab some bargains was too good to miss. So I set my alarm and dont fall off your chairs, but I was up and atom at 6.30 on Saturday...thats 6.30 A.M...on a Saturday!!!! Plenty of time for tea slurping and the uncreaking of bones ready to be at Colemans as the doors open.

In the event I was two minutes late arriving and there was already a gaggle of ladies milling around the warehouse. But I didnt panic (much), I just looked here and there thinking 'where are they, WHERE ARE THEY??????', and eventually found them at the back of the store...phew!

Of course, as substantial as Marthas punches are, they did look a little lonely at the bottom of my basket, so I simply had to add a few bits and bobs to keep them company....



Here we have two large and very beautiful punches, one small one...a HUGE bag of flowers...what a bargain at only £8.99, a bag of Flora Doodles felt butterflies (as used on Ginas card above...gorgeous!), some tassels for dotees, a couple of bags of jump rings and there is a sneaky bottle of Tims ink in pink in there too.

But thats not all...bring on piccie two...



A lovely K&Company pad full of die cut flowers, leaves and birdies, some flowers for dotees and a cute set of clear stamps...surprise surprise, more birds and cages! Not a bad mornings work eh, and it was only half past nine!

I spent the morning decorating a match box for a swap we are doing over on docrafts. We are to fill the matchbox (the large Cooks matches type) with as many embellies as we can fit in it and we have been partnered up for the swap...such fun! Gill is my partner...poor Gill...what will you make of my creation? lol! I will post piccies, but of course this will be after all has been revealed to Gill.

It got to about 2 O'clock and it was all I could do to stop myself putting my pj's on...normally when I have been up for these many hours on a Saturday, this would be heading for bed time lol, so as I had to fill some time I decided to take myself up to Weston Favell (the shopping centre not half a mile away for my non-local viewers) for a mooch about to see what I could find. Its quite nice going up there on my own - I can go in and out of the endless clothes shops trying things on, without anyones (Dads) impatient sighs and groans. Mind you, I do find trying things on so exhausting...undressing, getting dressed again - mostly to go back out and get the size that is more likely to fit than the one you chose (sigh!), followed by more undressing and dressing....phew...hot work! But, I found myself a nice t-shirt and some cotton crops - well I say crops, but me being such a short arse, crops on other people are like regular length to me! However, a nice fresh cool new outfit for the summer, and Im pretty sure they will be tumble and hang - none of the ironing malarky, perish the thought! Speaking of which...you know that shirt I bought the other week, and which forced me to do the unspeakable - well, its a crumpled heap in the tumbler at the moment and Im wondering if those ironing services that you see advertised will take just the one item???

I say that, but actually I might have two items for them as I went up there again today with my sister and bought a pair of cotton trousers and another shirt which may or may not need the 'i' word.... Maybe I will get discount for a job lot at the ironing service eh!

Anyway, the result is I have practically doubled my wardrobe overnight - what a treat!

I have news on the possibly/probably sandalized shoes too. They may be comfy when you try them on, but I actually wore them out of the house today....and came back with savagely blistered little toes - ouch! Maybe that means that they are not sandlized shoes after all.......ah well, every cloud...lol!

Well, the good news is that I have a week off from work...yay! (sorry Lee!) I have the dentist on one day (what week dont I have the blooming dentist?!?), and on Friday I just might be going for a little trip to IKEA with Lesley as she NEEDS one of those baskets...you SO do Lesley! Other than that, lots of crafting, sleeping and more crafting...and NO zapping (sorry again Lee!)

What else......oh yes, I have been published in a mag!

But more about that next time.....!

Have a great week folks, and lots of sparkles on their way to Gina!

Sue x

Happy Birthday to Me....lol!

Well, for a month ago...but hey, who has birth-DAYS when you can have birthday seasons!

At last I have photographed, cropped and shrunk all of the beautiful cards and goodies that my lovely friends sent to me for my birthday last month and I have made a big fat slide show below....no mean feat when one has such kind and generous friends, AND one is trying to figure out how to do the 'skew' thing on Windows 7, and the crop thing on a new version of Paint Shop Pro....but I got there in the end...phew!

Thank you all for your lovely treats, they will be treasured always....and you've seen how beautiful they look in my altered wooden box!

Group hug!
Sue xxx

Time to meet the Misses Raspberries and Cream!

But first, just take a look at the state of the dotee that I've had dangling from my handbag...

What a grubby little face you have Miss Dotee...sorry, but Im in an evicting kind of mood....so move over as here comes Miss Raspberries and Cream...



However, she is not alone...she has sisters - see how pretty they look...



Im so pleased at how these little ladies turned out. All thanks to my apprentice Lesley who NEEDED a new dotee to hang on her gorgeous new pink handbag - a nice little bonus spend there Lesley! At our last visit to Colemans we loitered in the 'pink bits' area and picked up ribbon flowers, sequins and beads (you can never have too many sequins and beads!), and those gorgeous tassles - I SO need more of those tassels! I rootled in my fabric pile for just the right pink, and came upon these pretty raspberries...in fact I found I had fabrics with all manner of fruit and veggies on - I could make a little range of dotees lol! I made four so that Lesley and I could refresh our handbags, and the others were for two lovely ladies on the dc forum who had recently lost loved ones and needed a little cheering up. You can think happy thoughts of your loved ones ladies, when you see your dotees dangle!


While I am here, let me tell you about my day yesterday....aaagggghhhh! I had an appointment for a little cosmetic surgery. No, not on my face...though boy, could I do with it, but just a little tidying up of my battle scars after my boob reconstruction. Firstly, I told Dad to just drop me off....we are only 5 minutes away from the hospital and I could ring him to come and collect me when Im done. But no, he insists on waiting with me....so no moaning Dad about the waiting, and waiting.....and more waiting!!!

We are sitting in an empty waiting room - no tele, radio or water fountain...for an hour and a half before I get called in. But that was just phase one of the waiting game it seems as I am ushered into a room to gown up, have my blood pressure taken, a fetching little bracelet attached before I am left to wait again - assurred however that I am the next one in. I stare at the walls for what seems like another hour before I am moved into yet another room...but this time the operating theatre is in sight so this must be good. But oh no, another era goes by before I hear my name called, but then there is some kind of kafuffle and they decide to take someone else in before me! Four hours have passed by this time and honestly, I could take no more...I was getting rather tearful by now so I had to beg for my clothes back (which they had hidden) so that I could make my escape. I know they are busy people, but these werent emergency cases...I just kept getting bumped down the list which just wasnt fair. The lingering in those waiting rooms was taking me back to other long waits I have had there which were not so pleasant or stress free....and it was getting to me - so I left in a huff and they will send me another appointment....tut!

How lovely it was to get home....then I nipped up the chippy for fish and chips, made a cuppa or three and all was well!

So I sit here still sporting my bumpy bits....but at least I have a gorgeous new dotee to dangle from my bag!

Thank you as always for popping by!
Sue x

Move over hyacinths...Im in an altering kind of mood!

If Im not evicting kitties out of baskets, Im chucking bulbs out of boxes...!

I bagged a nice little bargain at work some weeks ago - a lovely wooden box filled with hyacinth bulbs - it was reduced as all the peat had tipped out [it wasnt me guv!]

I brought it home and said "Here you are Dad, a prezzie for you.......but I want the wooden box back when you are done!" lol! Well, we enjoyed the beautiful blooms...and dont they smell so divine, and then I got to work and it turned out like this:



It needed a good scrub, then I applied some ink, mostly where the paint had peeled right off, heat embossed in copper here there and everywhere..then I stuck on some random bits and bobs from my bits and bob box. I coated the whole thing with matte mod podge and added some clear crackle glaze and some sepia accents in places. The wonderful thing about the 'distressed look' is that it can turn out rather tatty and manky in places - and thats a GOOD thing lol!

I have filled it with the beautiful cards and tags that I received for my birthday [slide show will be along shortly...promise], and it sits by my desk as a wonderful source of inspiration...much nicer than tucking them in a drawer!

My green-loving friend Alma asked to see more angles of my altered box, so here is a little slide show with befores, durings and afters...

Bubbles in a basket...the layout!

I know, I know...Im a naughty blogger again, and I have so much to show you too! But having over strained my brain cell with the crossy today...and believe it or not, some TIDYING UP yesterday (whats the world coming to...the 'i' word last week, tidying this!?!), I am going to show off my latest layout and work on my slide-shows later. Here it is, my totally over-the-top, 'I cannot fit another embellie on' layout of Bubbles in THE basket!

Move over Bubbles...ribbons are on their way.....!!!!!



Now dont go reporting me to the RSPCA ...she is just as happy in a cardboard box!!! lol!

Have a great week peeps, hope to be back soon!
Sue x

Breaking News!!!!!!!!!

I just IRONED something!

Now then, anyone who knows me...and even anyone who doesnt but sees me as I am out and about, will know that I just dont DO the 'i' word.

So what brought about this moment of madness? A visit to a garden centre of course! Not any old garden centre, but one of those that sells all sorts of (expensive) goodies. I'd only gone along with my sister who had bought a pair of shoes half price and wanted another pair. But these places have ways of sucking you in - especially with 'offers of the week'...and so was my fate.

Firstly, I had to have a pair of half price shoes too...I mean, how can you pass up such a bargain! Im still not sure if they might be old lady shoes (Im not even convinced that they are not SANDALIZED shoes - OMG CC!)...they are certainly comfy enough - but they will look nice with my crops I thought. Along with the 'half price for this week only' shirt set that I purchased. This included a vest, shirt and a kind of over the shirt kind of shorty cardy - I dont have the shape for that, and I wont see 17 again so that wont see the light of day, but the other two bits seemed like a bargain so I snapped them up before it was too late.

Now the clue should have been in the name of the store - Cotton Traders - which explains why, by the time I got my goodies home, my lovely new shirt looked like it had been through a creasing machine....you know, that machine our kids own, judging by the state of them when they come to visit, or men whose wives are away for a few days!

Well, it has sat languishing in the carrier for a couple of weeks now, and I figured the time had come to face the inevitable and fetch out the instrument of torture and be rid of all the wrinkles. I shall wear it tomorrow, with my sparkly crops and my probably sandalized shoes....

....and then it will go in the wash...

....which means it will want ironing AGAIN...

Good grief, is it worth it....bring on the polyester!

Anyway, after my ordeal I think I need to pop an extra pill and have a lie down...

Happy April and a bit of a catch up!

Hello to Kate if you are looking in...this is your April page which will be in the post shortly!

So then, where have I been??? Busy taking photos of everything that moves with my shiny new camera perhaps??? Actually nope - one flick through the instruction book and I felt rather defeated - this doesnt bode well I thought! But, it was not a week for me to be figuring out things as complicated as rocket science - I was tired...so tired, and brewing for a migraine or three...sigh!

But I got all those out of the way by Friday, and psyched myself up to tackle the camera at the first sign of sunshine....I mean who wants to take photos of the rain? Well, actually I should have, as the theme for the challenge this month over on docrafts is rain...doh...a missed opportunity, never mind...

Today however, saw some sunshine so I braved the cold, stuck my zoomy lens on and took a few piccies. This is my favourite...



...and this one, I just love Daisys' cheeky face...'you looking at ME?'



...oh and there's this one where I caught her with her tongue sticking out!



Oh the indignity of it all!!!

I tried to get Bubbles to play too...here is a piccie I took with the old camera - this is the IKEA basket that Ive wanted for absolutely ages, and that my sister got for me this week. It was a lot bigger than it looked in the brochure, as demonstrated soon after its arrival by Bubbles who claimed it as her nest!



But as she was prompty evicted from said basket to make way for stash - when it came to posing for the posh camera....this was her attitude...



"Mommy...you can kiss my fluffy ****!"

As Im sure you can imagine, there are many many more photos - leaves, trees, more and more of Daisy - the little sweetheart who is such a poser...but I will let you off!

For now! lol!

Of course, since my last post I have had a birthday...woohoo! I was a very lucky bunny and received lots of lovely hand crafted cards and goodies, and I will be photophraphing them individually for a little (or maybe a big) slide show to follow - it could take some time! Thank you to all my wonderful docrafts buddies and my Waitrose buddies - dull birthdays are a thing of the past with you gals around!

Inbetween all this excitement, I have been doing rather a lot of crafting...which makes quite a change for me eh! Lots of experimenting with Tim Holtze inks, and most recently his new dies....which are to die for to be honest! Ive made a little slide show below showing my cards - as you will see, my current obsession is now bird cages aswell as the birds lol!

This week I plan to make a layout...if I can remember how!?!

Have a great week folks, and thank you for popping by!

Sue x