The Not-So Beautiful Game...

There are some things in life you shouldn't do.

Wear dungerees if you have a weak bladder, eat bugs, enter the Big Brother House or confess to watching High School Musical.

As a woman of a certain age (ahem...) one should know what is right and what is CLEARLY wrong!

On Tuesday night, I lost focus...I blame the blood-loss from my Rambling Rose fight (here) for my addled brain & the subsequent lapse that occurred. I should have been at home eating sweet digestive biscuits, sipping a hot cuppa with my legs up after my involuntary blood donation.

My sons football training was cancelled but one 'muppet' parent suggested that the team could still meet up just for a 'kick-about'.

ALARM BELLS SOUND!!!!!!

'Kick-about' should have read Kids V Adults football match.

Inappropriately dressed in my non-support-bra & hot (heat NOT sexy) hoodie it wasn't pretty trust me. I held my own though against the boys who showed no mercy, my not-so-beloved son took me out & I ended up flat on my back in the mud. Despite only using half the pitch I was suitably knackered when F/T was finally called (when it was too dark to see the ball).

I should have stayed at home buffing my nails being a girlie-girl, but on reflection I can take glory in my momentary lapse. I was able to embarrass my son by playing football alongside the dads...so I guess my work here is done!

Image - Printactivities.com

Promarkers

Rambling Rose Exfoliator - Coz You're Worth It

It's not a well known fact that the common-garden Rambling Rose is an alternative to expensive shop-bought exfoliators.

Up until this morning I had no idea about its other uses...I merely saw it as a cascading, flowery thing of beauty. But, my friends, put your pennies back in your fancy purses, cast aside those Cliniques, Clarins & Santuary Spa containers that take up valuable space on the bathroom window-cill and behold a new kid on the dead-skin-removal block.

Step1. Take one million year old ultra thorny Rambling Rose that has rambled over the fence into an alleyway to flower its pretty head off to passers-by.

Step 2. Take one client who wants said evil thorny Rambling Rose back in their garden being all pretty rather than in the alleyway.

Step 3. Spend 2 hours pruning a ton of deceased skin-shredding Rambling Rose branches in alleyway & squeeze it all in to a small wheelie-bin.

Step 4. Hoick remaining  spiteful live stems back over fence and spend further 30 mins tying prickly under-control Rambling Rose back to clients trellis.

The result...happy client and ...

... 2 ultra-deep exfoliated arms (only 1 arm shown for demonstration purposes .... plus it's impossible to take a photo when both arms are busy)

(Pool of blood on floor & T-shirt not shown...lol)

Showering after this kind of exfoliating is NOT recommended...better to stink!

So here you go...a card...ignore the dots, on reflection they look like she's got fleas hovering around her!

Stamp - Mo's Digital Pencil - Erasmus

Papers - First Edition Dreamcatcher collection

Promarkers, foam flower embellie, Docrafts sentiment

Keep Your Knickers On Please!

Bonjour, Hallo, Salam, Ahoj, привет and Wotcha.

The excitment is at fever-pitch in our house with the annual bonanza that is 'The Eurovision Song Contest 2012' looming. With just over 2 months to go there's just enough time to brush up on my languages and my geographical  / political knowledge. Apparently it's being held in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan this year. If you Google Map 'Baku' and pull out slowly with your scrolly-mouse-thing, you'll see the country looks like the nose of a witch staring at a scary beast opposite with drooly fangs(here's a link for all you lazy-pants), which in itself is almost as exciting as Eurovision.

My cards today are far less interesting, try scrolling in & out with your scrolly-mouse-thing, they may look better from a distance...say...Azerbaijan! (lol)

I still haven't been forgiven by a huge chunk of my family for having my wedding day the same day as Eurovision....it was a hideous crime & one for which I've paid the price!

Some bloke called Engelbert Humperdinck (AKA Arnold Dorsey...) is our entry. (I say 'some bloke' in a pathetic attempt to hide my age & knowledge of him) Apparently he revealed recently that at 75 years old "I still occasionally get knickers thrown at me".

I can assure you Mr Humperdinck, my undergarments will be sellotaped securely to my nether-regions, there'll be none of that malarky thank you very much!

Stamp - Penny Black Flying Stars

Promarkers, sequins from Hobbycraft that despite being pink or green change colour in different lights

PS. Huge THANK YOU to Carol of A Crafting Journey for giving me this award

The Sun Has Got Its Hat On...

...and now you have a really annoying song in your head for the rest of the day!

HA! HA! HA! HA!HA!

Morning / Afternoon / Evening campers...a mahoosive Thank You to everyone who left such lovely comments here after our blog hop for Mo's Digital Pencil last week. I did try to reply to everyone, a thousand apologies if you didn't get a response...poke me if I didn't!

So the sun is out, nope...cloud's come over...no...wait...it's here again...quick! I've been busy gardening & planting up our own supply of crops & flowers seeds but now we are threatened with a hosepipe ban this summer, not that I use one, I'm more of a watering-can kinda gal.

My son (aged 12¼) however,  has a solution just in case we are banned from all water sources. In his science lesson recently they were learning the effect of indigestion remedies on acid, his theory is that when desperate measures are called upon, we should 'wee' on our crops & chuck on some Gavison (other remedies are available from all good chemists!) to neutralise any acidic affect!

At which point, much beloved asked if he could be allocated his own crops....

In case you didn't know already (and apologies to those I've bored senseless with this link), I also write a gardening blog which you can find here... Tidy Gardens by Jane.

Stamp - Sadie - Mo's Digital Pencil

Papers - First Edition Hideaway collection

Promarkers, flower gems & peel-offs

Entering it at -

Sassy Cheryl's - Think Spring

Joanna Sheen - Spring is in the Air

Little Claire's - Spring / Easter

Totally Gorjuss - Spring

Simply Create Too - It's Spring

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - People

I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop!

It's Blog Hop time again for the Dream Team of Mo's Digital Pencil.

Debby is our hostess this month and she cruelly chose Verdigris as our theme...more like verdigrrrrr 

Verdigris is that weathered greenish / blue look that you get on copper (not to be confused with a queezy, haggard police officer!)

Boy did I struggle with this one, I tried being all clever by mixing alcohol inks on shrink plastic in the shape of flowers but they turned into a molten heap stuck to the work top! So I thought I'd just use the inks on glossy card, but no that refused to work too. I reckon my final card took about 10 hours to make in the end with the aid of some alcoholic beverage rather than 'stoopid' alcohol inks!

Ta-Da!

Why I never used my faithful, trusty Promarkers in the first place I'll never know!

So here it is...The Fat Lady, all 'verdigris'd' and looking just lovely.

In the end, a great blog hop theme to challenge me with a new colour idea...I forgive you Debby!

So, if you're joining in with our Hop this month then you should have arrived here from Kerttu's blog and after me it's our Julie. If you'd like to start back at the beginning, then you need to visit Debby.

As always there are 2 x $5.00 vouchers to spend in Mo's digital emporium up for grabs for 2 lucky peeps that leave truckloads of 'lurv' (lol) along the way so be sure to leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy the hop...xxx

Happiness is...

...Stroking a Happy Frog!

Nipping in...Nipping out!

Just nipping in quickly...

It's been the craziest of weeks in our house...we've had moving gnashers, squashed 'cube-boobs' and a possessed lawn-mower to name a few. My emotions have ranged from utter terror to uncontrollable laughter. Thank goodness it's the weekend...need a serious rest & a stiff drink!

Hope you have a good 'un..x

Stash Give-Away

Ok...this is for my regular Followers only...

I have 5 brand new sets of Bear-iations stamps to re-home. They were given to me by someone who has given up crafting & I need to find them a 'lovin' home!

I have...

Sitting Bear

Surf's Up

Rock & Roll

Chef & Nurse

Standing Bear Activity Plate

Google to find full details...they're about £10 per pack roughly

If you want the lot for free & are either a) able to collect from my house (Stevenage, UK) or b) prepared to send me a cheque to cover Signed for Delivery P&P in advance...then they're yours.

I haven't checked out the P&P cost yet but if you're interested let me know & I'll investigate. If they were lightweight I'd offer them as candy & pay the P&P myself but all 5 sets are quite weighty.

Again, this is only for my 'regulars' and I know who you are...mwhahaha! x

International Rescue...

After last weeks sunny skies & warmer days, yesterdays mixture of heavy rain, flurries of snow and moody grey clouds was a bit of a shocker.

I fear gardening this week may be a muddy one.

Last week I managed to create 3 Tidy Gardens and rescue 4 romantically entwined frogs who decided that passion behind the rear wheels of the car was the new bike-sheds. Then when I shifted them, still 'at it', to the back garden & the safety of the large pond they decided to lay their spawn in the small pond. This wasn't really built for them, rather for the birds to splash about in & for passing creatures to drink from. So I've rescued about a millions tadpoles-to-be from a potential frozen demise by transfering them to the large pond, which involved having to prize the blobs of jelly-goo with my hands (eugh!) off the plants they were stuck too.

Hands washed...here's a card...

Stamp - Winter Fairy Halla - Mo's Digital Pencil

Papers - Docrafts Tulip collection

Promarkers, Rik-Rak ribbon, glitter & pearly flowers