So my card making is confined to when I have time. Saturdays are my day to spend on making cards or trying to sort out the chaos of the spare room that I use as my card making space.
I keep promising myself I will get organised, but saying it and doing it are two very different things. I wish I could wake up one morning and be one of these tidy people who have immaculate homes and who don't burn the dinner occasionally (ok, quite often) and who never forgets to do the things like clean the oven or tidy the drawers in the kitchen - oh come on there is more to life than cleaning the oven................... saying that I did clean mine a week or so ago and it does look pretty amazing when you open the door and see the gleaming shelves lol.
So enough talk about what I wish I was and how things are supposed to be - I live in the real world and I am who I am. Happy, laid back, slightly mad, creative and untidy...... deal with it, I can't see me changing now! As they say 'a creative mind is an untidy mind' at least I keep telling myself that!
The cards that I have added today are: - a memorial card (well A4 laminated sheet to be framed at a later date), a leaving card, a few birthday cards, valentines and an engagement card. Further into the page are March birthday cards, well, the one to date. I will be trying to get the rest done this weekend.... watch this space!
So what's been happening?
I had to laugh last week. Hubby phoned me at work and asked if I would like a cleaner to come in to our house once a week. The idea does appeal but I don't feel comfortable about someone being in my house when I'm not there, I don't even like it when my mother in law comes in and cleans when we are on holiday (apart from the fact I usually make sure the place is clean before we go on holiday!). Also there is the fact that it's our mess we should clean it up ourselves, I say we meaning it is me that does it apart from hubby mostly does do the ironing. Well, all things considered I thought it would be ok for somone to come in and do the bathroom, kitchen, living room, hall and stairs. So I asked hubby to get a price......it was his friends wife who was asking for the work - anyway the price came back and she was asking for £8 an hour............. OMG I am a medical secretary and don't earn much more than that! So it looks like I won't be getting a cleaner in after all..... I may think I work hard and deserve a little help but basically I am too tight to want to pay for it!
I did have a card order so I got that made before I started getting ready for my mum coming to visit.
Back to the real world!
It has been a busy week with only a very small amount of crafting, but I am hoping to change that today.
My mum arrived on Friday 11th March for a 6 day visit and we did all the tourist stuff. It was great having her here especially as it was my birthday on the 13th and hubby's on the 18th. We had a fab time and it was hard to wave goodbye to her at the airport on Thursday when she left. We ate out quite a lot to celebrate both birthdays but I did my best to stick to my eating plan and only gained 1lb (even after eating a cream cake!) during the week of eating out a lot.
Talking of birthday cards - I had a mad scramble to get hubby's cards made this week - he did get them on his birthday - eventually!
I am still doing the Slimming World plan but I have stopped going to the classes because of the expense and since the 5th January I have lost 18lbs in total. I am happy with that and happier still that I can now wear the jeans that only a few short weeks ago I couldn't even get on! I still have a good way to go to get to the weight I want to be but I am making excellent progress and I am back on the wagon so to speak.
While my mum was here I treated myself to a skirt and top for the summer and also a pair of shoes to match. The total price for all of that was a whopping £36. I am the last of the big spenders. It is hard to believe that it was only last Saturday and now my mum is back home again. I wish the weather had been this good last week!!
The only crafting I did when mum was here was my great niece's birthday card - Tia will be 6 on 22nd March and had pre-ordered what she wanted on her card! Mum was taking it over for me so I needed it done before she went. As she was staying in a hotel and she liked to be there and settled between 8-9pm it meant that I had the opportunity to do a little crafting on an evening.
I got an order for wedding invitations so I had planned a day out to get the supplies I needed from the Paper Mill Shop at Junction One in Antrim. We arrived at Juction One and had a look around slowly - grabbing a bargin or four on the way around to the shop - the bargain was 4 pairs of Tom Tailor jeans for a huge £10!!!! Unfortunately not for me - for my lovely son! We got around to where the shop should be and............................... it was gone!!!!!! GONE! After the initial panic and thinking 'where do I get my supplies now?' we went for a coffee. I think I was in shock - it was one of my favourite places to buy craft products! I know they have a website so after going for a lovely carvery to the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena we headed back to Belfast and home I got on the pc and looked into ordering my supplies. The prices were ok but because I didn't spend over the £30 to qualify for free delivery the delivery cost was £11.95 - ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? So back to the hunt for the lovely irridescent card online! I have found another supplier but until I get a deposit I won't be ordering the card. I was also going to buy a punch (yes I am addicted to punches) that does circles, ovals, squares or straight edges. I searched and searched all my usual websites and beyond. Eventually I found a site called Craft Room (http://www.craft-room.co.uk/) and ordered exactly the punch I wanted on Monday evening. I got a lovely email back to say my order was dispached the next day and it arrived on Friday. We had no postal deliveries on Thursday here because it was St Patrick's Day and lots of things close for the day here. I also got some lovely free paper and ribbon with my order and contacted the owner of the site, Julia, to thank her for the prompt service and the lovely free gift. This is one site I will use again if there is anything I want to buy. Highly recommended - thanks Julia. I am planing on disappearing up to my craft hide away shortly and not coming out for a while so I can play with my new purchase.
