Second Crepe

Posted on | April 10, 2011 | 9 Comments

I made more crepe. A Nutella one and ooooh, YUM!!! This was Jovie’s. She loved dipping the grapes in the chocolate. I figured she would {::SMILES}

Have a great Sunday, all!!

Back Again!

Posted on | February 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

Hi all!!! After weeks of planning and a week of being away the whole family, dogs included, are now back in the UK. We had the most lovely lovely time in Normandy, France and was a bit sad to leave. Although I had my computer with me and the cottage we stayed at had Internet I tried my best to only be online when I needed to check on my students and to post a few pictures for families and friends on Facebook.

The above was Honfleur. Such a beautiful town and we made a little note to ourselves to come back and do more there. I’ll share more pictures later this week!

Anyhow, just a little short note and do check back tomorrow since it’s the end of the month and WPlus9 has some new goodies launching March 1st! Gotta go and make my samples now… a bit behind {::SMILES}.

Stones into Schools

Posted on | January 3, 2011 | 6 Comments

Do you need to start 2011 right? Then keep reading!

A few new years ago, I think 2009, I was in a little bookstore, in the travel section, when Three Cups of Tea caught my eyes. After a few pages I decided that the book was worth the money and that night (or 3 a.m. the 2nd of January) I finished reading it. Yesterday, after telling myself no more books, I found myself flipping through the Kindle bookstore and found Stones into Schools, the second book by Greg Mortenson. I couldn’t resist and less than a minute later I have the whole book on my Kindle. Today I am a bit upset that I’ve read every single word on that book… even the ISBN info on the front and the glossary on the back. It truly is an amazing book, one that you want to read over again and share with your friends, family and strangers.

The last 24 hrs I’ve learned, laughed, smiled, cried, thought, hoped, and felt blessed with this book. There’s not a lot of book I think that have that sort of effect. Reading the book I felt fortunate that myself and the girls didn’t and will not have to go to school in an old vacant public toilet with only sticks and the soil to write one. As a teacher I feel blessed to have textbooks, writing tools and technology (being able to teach online from the UK is pretty amazing!). And as a human being it’s such a blessing (which I sometimes forget and take for granted) that I have clean water, food, clothing and shelter each and every day (and I don’t have to walk miles for any of them either).

To the dreamers out there this book shows that dreams do come true. It might take years and not Cinderella style but with hard work and perseverance they can happen. To those who think they’re just one little person on this earth this book will show you that one little person can make a huge difference — even if it’s just for their own family. And to those who think they’ve got it bad, read this book and you’ll realize that you’ve got it good — if you can read my blog post you have got at least a few good things!

Today I want to share this wonderful book with you in hopes that it will enlighten you as much as it did me. If it does, I hope you share it with people you know so that during our lifetime children everywhere will know how to read and write.

Have a great one and I’ll have the usual crafty post the next time I stop by!

Christmas Eve

Posted on | December 24, 2010 | 10 Comments

I hope by now you’ve all relaxed a bit. If you didn’t get your shopping done there’s always birthdays and whatever day. If you didn’t get all the baking done, there’s still new year’s day. Or like us… Boxing Day! We’re invited to our friends’ house and we’ll be eating and playing games. In the UK Boxing Day is also shopping day. They say it’s similar to Black Friday in the US.

I have chilled out and I haven’t even baked, ha! I think after my marshmallows turned into a sticky mess I just gave up… plus I am not very good with that gas stove so hubby and M’s do the baking ;) I did though shop for a ham and all that so we’ll have a simple and yummy meal tomorrow.

Well, this will be short and sweet. I just want to wish you a wonderful Christmas Eve and so excited for Santa to come tonight and the look on M’s (and hopefully Jovie’s) face in the morning!!!

$1 Wed + Craft Room Pt. 1

Posted on | November 17, 2010 | 13 Comments

I have a couple things I want to share today. The first is the above layout which was created using Echo Park’s digital kits sold at Jessica Sprague’s website today for $1! There are other kits for sale too, like Cosmo Cricket, Carina Gardner and Kitschy Designs. Jessica also has a new FREE class starting Nov. 29th so while you’re on the website do check that out!!

The second is… my still in the making craft room re-organization. Let me share what I’ve got before I ruin my room because who knows when I’ll make it to IKEA again to get the other pieces I need.

When you walk in this is what you’d see. And yes, the corner fixture is often like that. Jovie loves to be read and that’s one thing that hubby insisted on being in this room, his red chair so that he can read while I craft/be on the computer.

Then here’s my oh so clear desk. The two things in front of the chair are the keyboard and Wacom tablet. The desk was hauled from the US. It’s vintage but the two drawers are the new IKEA Alex drawers. I got these on sale, IKEA Family members only, for £37.50 or about $60. The lamp and paper tray are also IKEA. On the top of the right drawers I have a portable paper trimmer, mat, and Scor-It. There’s a 3-4 cm gap between the table leaf and drawers.

Here’s a close-up of the tray. They each slide out which is nice. You can see what’s on the top. On the second tier are embellishments that I need to return to the Clip-It-Up. The last tray are paperwork, mail, photos, etc.

The inside of the left drawers are the goodies below and the fifth drawer, lowest one, is filled with clear or onsie rubber stamps that I’ve randomly purchased here and there.

Here’s the big shabang, the Expedit. I used three different bins: The green and orange Kassett, the black Drona, and the leather looking Kotebo. On the top is a basket filled with felt and yarn, also IKEA but I can’t find it on their website, some framed pieces (the dog is my first dog and my ex-hubby drew that for me since Kato was our dog while we were together, my ex is a VERY good visual artist), and my portable carry-on. I used to have this green thing on my desk but now that I have drawers it’ll stay up there until I go to a crop.

Next to the Expedit is another Alex and the Clip-It-Up.

Below is Jovie showing you what’s in the Kotebo. All three of the Kotebo are filled with Stampin’ Up! stamps. Now, these stamps were in the Drona, which I think was better for the stamps (a tad bit more room), but I had to use the Drona for my kits. The 1/2″ made a difference!! The Kassett has Thickers and the other one refills/extras.

Here are the kits in the Drona. It’s not a perfect solution but it’ll do for now. I think though in terms of this the most perfect thing to do is to use what I purchased!! Three of the Drona are full of Scarlet Lime and Studio Calico kits, one is filled with 12×12 paper and wins and the last has all my Pebble’s DT beautifulness.

Here’s a close-up of the bottles that I have on the Bygel baskets. This is their temporary home.

The above are there now because we still have these to hook up. I have a couple shelves + brackets, a couple Bygel rods, and a Grundtal magnetic knife rack. We’ll put these up after we get a desk or the Hemnes. So that’ll be in Pt. 2 of this post. I just don’t want to hang stuff prematurely because these wall are not easy to put nails or screws into. Plus I want them centered with whatever I purchase. I need something to put here, where all the junk is so that I can replace the bookcase next to it which is falling apart.

I’ve had the bookcase since I was married to my ex-husband. It’s a really functional piece but although not quite showing it’s coming undone. The baskets came from WalMart/Target and the top holds misc. office stuff, the bottom left has cables while the right has unfinished sewing projects. Oh, the center, M made that and it’s a picture of her little penpal Sofie. Ok, they haven’t been writing but M’s got a soft spot for Sofie ha ha… I have a few things I need to put away next to the red basket and after that’s done hubby will have a little spot to put his book (under all my crap, see?) and tea/hot cocoa. I still have books on the shelf too but after the office is all done they’ll all go there. I am considering a desk to replace this piece because I want to put my laptop, sewing machine AND Klik-N-Kut on this table. I ran out of outlet space on the other end. Hubby said I’ve got too many electronic crap! If I go with the desk route I’ll get more drawers. The Hemnes is very nice but it’ll be cool if I can sit and sew. We’ll see…

See where the KnK is? If I merge the two bookshelves together the room will be a bit more spacious and just more organized. Like how I made use of the Cards and Scrapbook Trends mags? Those are the months I got published in he he… I had to lift the KnK up a bit so that when cutting the mat won’t hit that wooden piece (you can see a bit of it on the left) on the back). The piles of things… hubby calls them the Savitri piles. I don’t have homes for them yet. I need more drawers. The two boxes are scrap paper from projects. I’ll go through them soon. Then there are misc. scrapbook kits on that back corner too. Old Studio Calico stuff.

Then there are still things on the window. Yes, that’s another paper trimmer!

On the left of the window are my buttons. I got some Rajtan spice jars for really cheap at IKEA. After I get some shelves these will go up there although I don’t mind them where they are.

This is old but it’s where I keep my paper, clear stamps, Nesties and die-cut + embossing folders. The brown and tan pieces were from Pottery Barn.

Well, that’s it. I still have a few things to do but for the most part I now have a more functional and organized room. Also, just FYI, there was nothing removed from the room before I took the pics. What you see is what I now have. Oh, let me show you what my stuff were in before I go:

The first two bottoms were Stampin’ Up! stamps, the next ribbons, then the big bins held kits. Inside the big bin is another bin that was the home of my Pebbles DT stuff. The smaller ones were other little things. The above were what I lived on since I started blogging and collecting paper and stamping goodness. I’ve purchased a few things before I blogged but it was just the last few years that I really went on a collecting spree.

Have a great one and I hope this post can help you organize your own space!!