Suzie Boo Crafts

Zach's Smash Book, kids love Smashing too!!! :)

2012-04-29T04:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

Those of you that follow my blog and are friends on the FB Smash groups, will know just how much I adore Smashbooks and all things Smashy :)

I thought you would like to see my Son Zach's Smash book (who's 11) and the pages he has decorated so far.

I think it is such a wonderful way for kids to share a hobby with you, and crate and capture memories of their own, and keep things that are meaningful to them.
It's great to know they can look back in years to come, and see the things that ment so much to them as a child,
and a wonderful way to capture memories, that over the years, are so very easily forgotten.

I only wish I had had one as a child, I would soooo love to look back now, and re-capture some wonderful memories of my childhood.

My other child Robbie (who's 7) also loves Smashing too, but perhaps not as much, the Wii and Football seem that bit more appealing to him at the moment, lol! But, still he manages the odd pages now and again, and loves it when he does :)

I urge any parents out there to give this a go with their children. Remember, Smashing is for ALL ages, and such fun too!

Anyway, hope you enjoy Zach's pages, he is so chuffed with his Smash book, and would love to see your comments and encouragement.

Hugs and more soon!

Suzie xxxx :)

My Craft Room, More Stash & my Handmade Smashbook :)

2012-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my wonderful blog friends and family :)

It's Sunday and such a wonderful spring like day. Feeling a bit rough around the edges though, as we had friends round for dinner last night, and after a major house tidy and lots of food, drink and a rather late night,feeling very much pooped today. Oh well, thank goodness for chill out Sundays and time to recover, lol!

I thought today, I would share with you some pics of my Craft room, ofcourse I had to take full advantage and show you whilst it's tidy, as it is NEVER! usually this tidy lol!:)

I have also included more pics of my latest Smash stash purchases. Yes I know, more Smashing!! I really do have it bad! This was very naughty!!!

And finally....My handmade Smashbook!

Having recently joined a couple of Smash book groups on Facebook, where we share ideas and our love of all things Smash!
I noticed someone had covered their book in a wonderful whimsical style of a little girl flying above the roof tops and loved it!

So thought I would have a little go myself at making my own as she said it was easy to do :)

So, here's my version...

This idea was not my own, and has been copied so full credit for the idea has to go to someone else, but I did decide to add a few little touches of my own, like the little hat and flower, sparkles on her shoes and wings, skeleton leaf wings, chimney pots, my own words and a magic wand. I loved making the houses too, cut out of scraps of old paper, the little windows and doors are hand drawn :)

I have to say I really am so chuffed with it, although I think I need to practice drawing faces a little more :)

Anyway, that's all for now, hope you have all had a good week-end, back with more soon!

Happy Crafting!

Hugs
Suzie xxxx :)

A peek inside my SMASH BOOK! :)

2012-04-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hello again to all my lovely followers and crafty friends!

Thank you so much for such a warm and wonderful welcome back to the world of blogging, as mentioned before, it's been far too long, but hey, I'm back now, and with two posts in one week, Woo Hoo!!!

As many of you have asked to have a little peek inside my Smash book, and see what all the fuss is about, I thought I would happily share some pages with you all.

Not the clearest of pics I'm afraid, but there was lots of sunshine streaming through the window at the time, so not a bad complaint really, I suppose, lol!

It has to be said, I am totally HOOKED!! on these little books, why is that? you may ask? because they are soooooo much fun!!!

I adore scrapbooking, and have made many layouts, both 12 x 12 and 8 x 8, which I love too!

But.... as much as I love them, and I do love them!! they tend to take a bit of planning, picking the right photo, co-ordinate papers, embellishments and so on.
Where as this, is "messy" scrapping, if you like. Not that I think of my scrummy Smash books as being messy, oh no! but love the fun of just not worrying about what goes where to much, and everything looking perfect.

I have a few Smash books now, infact, rather a lot!! See I told you I had it bad.
One big order arrived yesterday, and another HUGE one on the way, gulp!!!

This really is getting out of hand, and trying to find hiding places around the house is proving difficult too, as I think if hubby finds out, and takes a peek at the bank balance after my sneaky crafty spends, he might just keel over with shock! lol!

Anyway, no more crafty spends for me for a while, but will let you know when everything arrives, and take a little pic to show you all :)

But for now...here's a peek inside my PINK Smash book :)
All very random, filled with bits and bobs I like and love, tickets, photos, tags, little drawings from my children, happy quotes, and anything really that makes me smile :)

I may try a themed Smash book next time, but for now, I am having huge fun with this one :) Oh, and anyone thinking of getting the Wedding Smash book, go ahead, it is STUNNING!!! Oh yes, I'm afaid I've got that one too, he! he!

I have also included a picture of the Easter cake I made from a receipe card sent to me by my lovely friend Carole, thank you Carole, it was scrummy!

I followed the receipe to a tee, and was so proud of what I had done, that was until the final stage, where I popped it under the grill to let the marzipan topping toast, only toast it did, infact a little too much!
Whilst chatting to my lovely sister (who came over for a brief visit from Dubin) we suddenly jumped up from our seats to the smell of burning, yikes! "My Cake" I shouted! "It's on fire!!!"

Anyway, after lots of faffing about, and scraping off of burnty bits, a bit of icing sugar and a few little birdies came to the resue, and it looked as good as new, (well almost) lol!

Hugs
Suzie xxx :)

PS. Carole, I promise to include my layouts in my next post :)

And finally....drum roll please.....

The Burnt Cake!!! ahem, I mean the BEAUTIFUL cake :)

SMASH BOOKS! My new love :)

2012-04-12T16:41:00.001-07:00

To all my wonderful followers, it has been far too long since I last posted, so thought it was about time for a little update :)

Lots of crafting has been done, horray!!! but alas not much posting :( sorry everyone!
I promise to try and be a better blogger from now on, with more regular updates and comments on all your wonderful blogs too :)

Since last posting, I have done ooooooodles of crafting, mini albums, tags, cards, I was even given a sewing machine for my birthday, Woo Hoo!
And best of all, I have re-discovered my love of scrapbooking, I had honestly forgotten what fun it could be :)

I have also become totally addicted to "Smash booking" (if that's the correct term) you know, those quirky little books with so many adorable pages. It's basically old school scrapbooking but with a wonderful quirky twist.

For anyone reading who may have not yet discovered the true scrumminess of these little gems, I thought I would include some pics of some recent Smash stash and show some of the yummy papers within these adorable smash books.
Plus, a sneak peek at how one of my smash books is now starting to look, nice and chubby and full of yumminess!

Promise to be back soon for lots more Smash book updates and lots more other craftyness too!

Hugs to you all, my lovely crafty friends :)

Suzie xxxx :)

Happy New Year and lots of random festive pics :)

2012-01-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New year to all my lovely blog followers! Gosh, is it really 2012 already?! Yikes!!! We had a really lovely Christmas and hope that you did too. I'm just cathing up with everything now, and trying to get into the swing of another new year. So, that usually means lots of sorting out, paying new bills, yuck! and generally trying to be more organised than the previous year, well, I can but try, lol! Anyway, here are a few random photos of some the things which helped make our home look festive, along with some of the things we made and got up to over the festive season, plus some of the wonderful gifts we were so fortunate to receive, and even a bit of baking too! Oh yes, I made two Christmas cakes, one for me to decorate in peace, and one for the kids to decorate to their hearts content. Pleased to report this system worked wonders, and we both ended up with two yummy nicely decorated cakes, with no arguments, yippeee!!!! I was a very lucky girl this Christmas and Santa AKA my three boys (Hubby and kids) bought me the most wonderful Pandora charm bracelet. This was such a wonderful surprise, as I'm not really a jewelry person, but just loved this, and each of them chose a little charm which came in the cutest little box too! Oh, and must mention the fantastic fun hats sent by one of my sisters for the kids, they are just soooooo cute, can you work out who they are? Answers on a postcard please, lol! Anyway, here's a few pics as promised starting with our cakes, yum!!!

Some bicester villiage bargain buys. I am soooo inlove with this little jug and pencil tins, they are just perfect for all my colouring pencils :)

Fab fun hats that arrived in the post from my sister Louise, thanks Lou, we love them!!! Can you guess who they are?

My beautiful gifts from Santa :) A heart charm from Kevin, and snowman from Zach and and Angel from Robbie.

The kids got some Smash books and were delighted with them, more on those in my next post. But think they are my new crafty addiction, and kids seemed to like them too!

A few things that helped make our home look festive :)

And finally..... here's a Christmas card and envelope I whipped up for Kevin, on Christmas morning! Yikes! Talk about last minute, lol! I had to think quick in my oh so messy and tiny craft room, but still I think it turned out well, I promise to be better organised next Christmas :) oh, and a few latest pics of Barney our 10 month old puppy.

Pheweeee! Think that's all for now folks, thank goodness says you :) But I hope to be back soon, talking about my latest crafty addiction, SMASH BOOKS!!!! Yes, I'm afarid I crumbled and bought one, infact I bought two, greedy me! Yes, and have to say I'm pretty hooked. Anyway, more about that on my next post. Happy Crafting! Suzie xxxx :)

New Look Recipe Albums, and pressie for my Mum :)

2011-12-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog pals, I thought you would like to see some of my recent crafting projects. This one has not only proved to be a bit of a challenge but also a real joy to make. Whilst visting my family in Dublin in August this year, my Mum showed me a collection of wonderful old recipe paper cuttings from comics she lovingly collected as a child, along with a rather sad and tatty looking recipe book she was given one year by her Aunt. As you can see by the pics, the illustration on the recipe cuttings are simply adorable, these ofcourse are the real deal and very retro, I just love them! and can see ofcourse how much they would have appealed to my Mum as a child. These (considering their age) were not in bad condition at all) unlike the poor old recipe book, which really was in a very sorry state. My Mum informs me the pages (even when new) were very badly bound together, and kept falling out, hence all the old celloptape marks, oh dear :( oh well, as least glue has inproved over the years. So, I decided to take onboard the challenge of giving them all a new life, and bringing back some of their once loved sparkle. I wanted to keep things pretty simple as I didn't want to take anything away from their original charm, plus, I had to think of a way to rebind the recipe book, giving it a new look, but still allowing you to view the original cover. Plus, there was also a little drawing that my Mum had done as a child, that I wanted to add, but as she had also writen on the back, had to think of a way to include this, so that you could still view both sides. Here are some before photos.....

My Mum also, loved as a child to cut out small and funny pictures and add those to her books, so with all the left over cuttings, I managed to create a little pocket, and popped in some bits and bobs for her to glue in herself and recapture some of her childhood memories. I'm pleased to report this has now been delived to my Mum all wrapped and looking lovely, and am also pleased to report, that she is delighted with it :) so can now share with all of you, so here is what I did....

I also had a wonderful trip to Bicester Village the other day, where I picked up some great bargains. Totally scrummy Cath Kidston bits and bobs, and also some Emma Bridgewater cute little tins to store all my water colour pencils in (thinking of you there, Carole) and all at half price! I will share my goodies with you all soon. So, at this point my dear blogging pals, I would just like to say, if I don't get to blog again before Christmas, I would like to wish you all the most fantastic Christmas and new year and hope that Santa brings you all something wonderful. More soon.... Happy Crafting and Christmas!!! Hugs Suzie xxxx :)

Finally back with a few bits and bobs :)

2011-11-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

A BIG hello to all my fellow bloggers :)

It's lovely to be back in blogland once more. Naughty blogger has kept me away far to long.

As some of you may know, I've had months of on/off problems with blogger, hense the reason for my lack of recent blogging, and my lack of comments on your lovely blogs too.

Anyway, it seems this week, we have become friends again, and blogger has decided to be kind, and not only let me post, but comment again too, hurray!!!!

So without further ado, I shall move swiftly on to all things crafty.
I wanted to share some lovely pics taken on my recent visit home to Dublin, did I say recent? well actually, it was August, gosh! where did that time go?!

The pics include some lovely views of Dublin taken on a family doggy walk, yes, all four of them!!
These pics were taken on Killiney Hill, a beauty hot spot in Dublin, and a big favourite for doggy walkers :)

I've also included some pics of some scrummy owls created by Marcus and Louise (my brother and sister) just love these!!!! And have copied the pattern to make some of my own too! Oh, and must just mention by Mum's lovely granny square throw in the background, she's a utter whizz at these, and they are so lovely and colourful, yep, I suppose when you think about it, we are a bit of a crafty lot, lol!

Finally, I have added some pics of Lou's amazing art work.
My sister Louise is amazingly tallented, and not only has a fashion degree, but also ran a popular craft market in Dublin for some time.
The detail on some of her artwork is simply amazing!! You might even recogise some kitchen utencils along the way, lol!

Also, look out for the fabric and wool details in her shadow box paintings, all handmade and died by Louise, simply amazing! even if not your to your taste.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling, and let you take a peek.

Happy Crafting everyone, It's lovely to be back!

Suzie xxxx :)

Horray!! I'm finally in, and thanks Dr. Phil, your book came in real handy, he! he!

2011-07-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my lovely blogging pals :)

So sorry for my recent lack of blogging, but I've had a nightmare with blogger these last few weeks, which has ment that I have not been able to either update my own blog, or indeed, comment on yours :(

Anyway, after weeks of trying (and nearly giving up!) it finally let me in today, horray!!!

Soooo, moving swiftly on(to all things crafty) I thought I would show you what I've been up to, whilst I've been away (so to speak).

It's been a hectic last few weeks, but with lots of nice things too :)
Which included a visit from one of my lovely sisters last week, and a trip to the Cotswolds, plus, I had my colours done last Friday too!
Not sure what that means?
Well nore did I, lol! But basically it meant a girly night out with lots of drinks and nibbles and colours being put up against your face and finding out what colour pallete suits you best.

Would you beleive, I was a tricky one, there's a surprise, he! he!
And rather than the 80% of people who tend to come under a season of colour, eg. Spring/Summer, Autumn/Winter. I come under everything Light? Which basically means all soft light colours, but NO black, of which I were a lot of, yikes!!!

I've also been kept very busy with lots of crafty things, as some of you know, I'm currenly running a goody bag swap over on the Do Crafts Website, and our goodies are due to be sent this week, yikes!! (again)

I had set the swap to include, handmade flowers, tags, cards, and embellishments, then ofcourse came the challenge of trying to find inspiration, gulp!
Then... as if by magic, my lovely crafty friend Carole, told me about this wonderful website called Pinterest, OMG!!! all I can tell you, is that I'm hooked!!!
And yes Carole, that is all your fault, lol!

Anyway, having discovered so many wonderful and inspiring craft ideas from this magical website, I set to work, and hit my stash, big time!!!

One of the things I have most enjoyed is discovering how to make paper roses.
I noted from the pictures I had seen (which inspired me to do this) they had used old books.
Now, I don't know about you, but I just can't quite bring myself to rip up a lovely old book, there's just something so charming about them.

Sooo, decided to take a peek at any "not so old" books that I may alreay have lying around.
After much searching, I came across the perfect book, Dr. Phil's "The ultimate weight solution", lol!
It was gathering dust on my shelf (just like all my other weight books, which promised to make me a size 10, but never did, lol!) so decided to put it to some good use, so happily tore into it and made loads of paper roses :) the pages were even slightly aged too, perfect for that shabby chic look, lol!
So thanks Dr. Phil, your book came in reeeaaal handy!!!

I've also included a few pics of some mini albums I've started to work on. I purchased a wonderful mini album kit from my lovely friend Alyson, and have had great fun playing with that too!
Not finished yet, but thought you might like to take a peek at how they're coming along, I have including a few bits and bobs from my stash too, which mix and match really well, along with a few stick pins I've been busy making ,oh yes, forget to mention, I adore making them too!

So, all in all a very crafty few weeks. I promise to try and catch up with all your wonderful blogs, and hope too that you've all managed some lovely crafty time also.

Hugs
Suzie xxxxx :)

Lots of bits and bobs and a new family member too!

2011-05-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Thought it was about time I updated my blog :)

The last few weeks we have been kept really busy with the kids being off school and having some of my family popping over for a visit from Dublin, which was lovely!

Not much time for crafting, but can now show you a card I managed to put together in time for my friends Carole's birthday.
Those of you who follow Carole's blog may recognise the little ticket. I know Carole is very fond of using these in her cards, so thought I would see what I could do with it, and here's what I've come up with, an Elephant card! :)

We also took a visit to Butterfly World in St.Albums during the Easter break, which was amazing!!!!
It's an ongoing project, but wonderful to visit such a lovely place, and see such beautiful butterflies fluttering around you in so many different shapes, sizes and bright colours. We even managed to pop some on our fingers, but would you believe it, forgot to take our camera :( defo worth another visit though, and the camera is ofcourse a must :)

We also took a trip to lovely Dorset last week-end which was just wonderful!
So many places to visit, including Durdle Door which is stunning!!
A heck of a walk to get there though, as you can see from the pics, but so worth it! and yes, it really does look like a dragons head dipping into the sea :)

While we were there, we popped into my friends Carole's. Apart from giving her the shock of her life (as she didn't know we were coming, lol!) she and her family gave us a lovely warm welcome, and we all sat in her beautiful garden and had tea and homemade cake (as made by Carole) It was just scrummy as was her beautiful home :)

Lastly, and perhaps the biggest thing of all (at least for us :) was that we now have a new member to the family :) Our little puppy, Barney!
He is just soooooo scrummy!!! but can honestly say it's like having a baby in the house again, lol!
He is a great little boy, only eight weeks and seems very calm, and already loves to play fetch, which is fab!
Anyway, I will keep you posted on the doggy progress, and would welcome any advise on good doggy insurance, but for now, here are a few photos, hope you like them....

Hugs
Suzie xxxxx :)

A few random things, and a bit of crafting too :)

2011-04-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends

As some of you already know, I've not been around much for the last few weeks, as we very sadly and suddenly lost my lovely, kind and gentle father in-law just a few weeks ago, who we all miss terribly. Life has been very up and down for the last few months, but I'm looking forward to the next few months of sunshine (hopefully :) with the summer coming and know that time can be a great healer.

On a happier note, I have finally managed some crafting, hurray!
Plus, my lovely parents are over visiting us from Dublin, double hurray!!!!

I thought you might like to see a few random photos of things we've been up to lately.

I took my Mum and sister Louise (also over for a short visit) to Hobycraft the other day, and whilst there, decided to get some bits and bobs to make a fabric notice board, not sure I saved any money by making a DIY version, lol! But thought I'd give it a try anyway, so have included a few pics of what I managed to put together, I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome, and may even try my hand at a few more :)

Yesterday we took a walk in a beautiful local wood (where we love to visit) and took some lovely pics of my boys and some taken with my Mum and Dad, I love this pic with my Mum and Dad and the boys and think I may even make a scrapbook layout, it's so nice to have such a lovely backdrop too.

When we got home, I decided to display my lovely little bird boxes I bought recently (which I adore!), so picked some branches from our back garden and hung up our Easter decorations, I even popped some chicks inside the boxes, lol!

I've also managed to make a few cards, and have even started working on a banner I am making for my wonderful friend I have known since I was nine. She has recently had two beautiful twin girls (her first!) so have decided to make her something scrummy and girly, so am working on a butterfly banner for their room. Pics to follow....

Anyways, that's what I've been up to recently, it's great to be crafting again (finally!) oh, I've also been working on my little craft room, I'm thinking of calling it my paper panty :) only touble is, it doubles as an office :( but Paper Pantry sounds sooooo much prettier than office (as least in my opinion, lol!)

Hope to give you some more updates from the Paper Pantry soon and other projects I've been working on :)

Happy Crafting everyone!

Hugs Suzie xxxxx :)

More new house pics, as promised :)

2011-03-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends

Thought you might like to see how we're getting on, now that we've finally moved back into our house, and building work complete, hurray!

Here are some pics of our new/old house, each room within our old 1930's house is either new, or has had a complete facelift. The house has had a complete refurbishment, and boy what a journey it has been! The outside has now had a lick of paint, new flashing, guttering, canopy, drive and side gate, and boy what a difference, soooo much better that before.
I have since added a lovely pancy hanging basket, which looks really lovely too, so nice to see flowers after such a long Winter :)

Anyway, still lots to do, and many rooms are not yet finished, but we're getting there and it's finally starting to look like a home again, phew!

Still to show pics of my lovely new crafty space, so keep popping by for the grand reveil, soon to come, lol!

Hugs and lots of craftyness!
Suzie xxxxx :)

Feeling Inspired....

2011-03-08T04:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends

As so many of you know, I've not had the opportunity to craft in soooo very long.
But just wanted to share this with you.

This is a YouTube vid I simply adore!!! and must have looked at it 100 times at least, lol!

I hope to gain inspiration and ideas to create my very own mini album dedicated to my Dad, who (if I've got my dates right) turns 70 later this year.

I've made several mini albums in the passed, some of which I have added to my blog, but they've always been very pretty and girly.

I love the style of this, masculin and some what vintage with a bit of Tim Holtz thrown in for good measure, I just love it!!!

I would also love to make one dedicated to my wonderful Nan who sadly passed away three years ago, and no doubt there will be several other people I will want to make one for along the way, if I don't run out of steam by then :)

I just think this is such a lovely idea and one that I thought I would share with you, as perhaps there is/was someone special in your life who you would also like to dedicate an album to.

Anyway, here it is...
I really love this, and hope you do to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF_8hORGQD0

Hugs and happy viewing :)

Suzie xxxx :)

Our building Journey.....

2011-03-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

Dear friends

Thought I'd finally share with you some of my housey pics and take you through some of our building journey.

Sadly, so, so many of my before and during photos have been lost, I can't tell you how sad I feel about that, mostly because I wanted to make a little mini album to look back on and appreciate just how far we have come, and appreciate all that we have managed to gain from our building experience, hey ho, perhaps I'll manage to find some magic software package that will work its wonders and get them back one day :)

Until then, here are the ones I've managed to save :)

Keep posted, more pics to follow....

Hugs
Suzie xxxx

It's been soooo long, but wonderful to be back :)

2011-03-06T12:48:00.001-08:00

Evening to all my wonderful bloggers!

Gosh, it seems sooooo very long since I last blogged, last September infact!

Well, after many months (and what seems like a hundred years!!!) we have finally moved back into our new/old house, and boy what a journey it has taken to get there, pheweeeee!!!!!

To explain to anyone passing by, or any blog followers I may still have (I do hope I still have a few :)
We moved out of our home on the 1st of October last year to make way for major building work, yes my crafty pals, our poor home was litterally pulled and knocked to bits, I kid you not!
So much so, at one point we only had two internal walls still standing, and were waving at the birdies in the sky as they flew by, OMG! and during all that snow too!

To say I was pulling my hair out at times is an understatement, and yes, I've had a few meltdown moments along the way, one of which I recall sitting on a very wet chair in what was once my old kitchen with nothing but rubble around me, and watching the snow flakes falling inside my house, thinking OMG!!! what have we done?!!!

Anyway....
nearly six months later, we are finally in, yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
there's still some work to be done, mainly snagging, the drive, and we still have the scaffolding up, lol! oh and still no curtains and blinds, yikes! Oh, and the odd door still needs hanging, oh and loads of painting still to be done, hmmm, yes, putting it like this, there still is a lot to be done, but heck, we're in, and it feels FAB!!!!!!!!!!

I promise to post some pics of our new/old house very soon. One thing though, I sadly lost all my before and some of my during pics, I was so upset, but hey, I have my memories, and will post what I can.

I hope you are all keeping well, I have missed you all so much, and promise to try and catch up with your blogs very soon :)
Oooh, forgot to mention, the best bit of all, I have now gained my very own little crafty spot, hurray!!!!

Hope to catch up with you all v.soon!

Biggest Hugs to you all, it's soooo good to be back!

Suzie xxxxx :)

It's about to start, so a little bye bye for now...

2010-09-20T03:56:00.001-07:00

Hello dear friends :)

Just a little note from me to say, I'm sorry I've been such a naughty blogger and not been keeping things up to date, what a pain that life seems to get in the way sometimes, and prevents us from doing the things we enjoy, lol!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my blog I appreciate every single one :) and I'm so sorry I'm a little behind on mine, but will catch up as soon as I can, I promise :)

Well, the time has come to say goodbye for a little while, as our building work begins on our house on the 4th October, gulp!

I really feel a little out of my depth with all of this, as we've never had anything major like this done before, as every room will be altered or changed in some way, yikes!!!

I just can't wait for my home to feel like my home again, as things have felt very unsettled for a long time, but hopefully it will all be worth the effort, as the saying goes... "you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs".

What joy, to chuck dirty dishes in a dishwasher (that works!), open a kitchen drawer without the bottom falling to the floor, or waking up in the morning to lovely piping hot water, and not having to hope that the pilot light has decided to play silly buggers in the middle of the night, so that there's icicles dripping from tap, lol!

As yes, it will be worth it (I hope! :)

So, for now my lovely crafty pals, I will say a little farewell, but not goodbye, as I promise to back as soon as I can, hopefully with lots of before and after pics, and oodles of craftyness.

Lots of love and happy sparkles to you all.

Happy Crafting and chat to you all again very soon!

Suzie xxxxxxx :)

A big hello and a few random things..... :)

2010-07-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, long time, no blog!

And what a naughty blogger I've been too!
Things are still very much up in the air with our house, but hopefully this is the last leg of it before the builders start.

Meanwhile, everything has been crazy in preparation, so I'm so sorry for not being around to catch up with all your lovely blogs.

As you may have noticed, my blog has had a bit of a makeover too. I loved my old blog, but was about to loose the images due to the blog providers site changes, boo hoo!
Oh well, at least I've managed to find another owl to keep me company, twit twoo :)

I thought I would show you a few things I've been up to, along with some packing up photos.

I've been very naughty lately and bought the WRMK Cinch, boy what a whopper! As you can see next to my BIA, but I love it!!!!!!!!!!
I also bought some wonderful paper stacks, two of them are boys paper which is fab for me, living with so many males, lol! And as we all know, crafting for males can be soooooo tricky!

I also decided to treat the kids to some crafty bits, so with the help of some fun paint and large stones from the garden, we set to work on making some rock people, and we think they look great!
My youngest (Robbie) who's nearly six loved making these (as you can tell from the photo, it was very hot that day, lol!)
My eldest who's nine is in sunny Dublin visiting his grandparents at the moment, but I know he will love these too! Hi Zach, if you're reading this xxx :)

Also, I'm still deciding on worktops for the kitchen, I think we may go for real wood, as I just love the warmth of wood.
The only problem is.... the kitchen fitter brought round walnut and oak, oh no!!! I love them both!!!!!

Anyway my lovely crafty pals, sorry once again I've not being around to catch up with the news and all your wonderful blogs, promise to sort that out soon!

Big Hugs!

Suzie xxxxxxx :)

Feeling overwhelmed with STUFF!!!!

2010-06-29T02:37:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm afraid I don't have anything crafty to show you today, as the big sort out/ pack up has now begun!

As some of you may already know, we're about to embark on having our whole house extended and renovated.
This mammoth task involves packing up the full contents of our house, shed and attic and moving out, whilst the builders move in, yikes!

Over the last few days, I have powerwashed all our decking, and yesterday was spent repainting it all, pheweeee, it was soooo hot too!

Why?! I hear you ask, if we're about to have our whole house done up?
Well, it was in urgent need, and as the decking will be staying, thought best to do it now as we may not have the good weather to do it once the builders are finished.

I honestly never thought we had soooooo much stuff though!
Not so bad when everything is tucked away, but once you start pulling out cupboards, drawers, little hide away places, out of season clothes, kids toys (passed and present) not to mention emptying the shed and attic, it all starts to become a little overwhelming (to say the least :) and that's without even starting going through all my crafty stuff,lol!

Seriously though, I hate clutter, so how has this happened? It really makes you start to look at things in a whole new light.
Where did it all come from? do I really still need it all? so many things we have are still in beautiful condition, but have either been outgrown by my children, me, or my waist line, lol! What's a girl to do???

As much as I hate clutter and love the sense of calm and order, I somehow never seem to get there. I think I need to be more ruthless, but soooo many things have sentimental value and memories, and then ofcourse there's the stuff you never seem to use, but hold onto it, just incase it comes in handy one day, lol!

In a quest to be more ruthless, I've been watching a lot of UTube vids on clearing your clutter, mainly with Peter Walsh, he's just brilliant!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, I'd better plough on with sorting out the "STUFF"
If you don't see me blogging for a while, perhaps send someone round to find me, I be hiding under all the C L U T T E R!!!!!!!!

Big hugs to you all!

Suzie xxxxxx :)

PS. I will try and take stage photos to give you some idea of the major task before us, that's if I can find the camera under all this stuff!

My Latest Recipe Tin and a few cards too :)

2010-06-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone :)

I thought you might like to see my latest recipe tin.
I've made some of these before, but this one was made for my Mum for her recent birthday.
They do take a while to make, along with all the recipe and index cards, but I'm chuffed with the end result, and thankfully my Mum was too.

I also made my Mum and little mini album to go with it, but sadly forgot to take pics, before it was sent off, silly me!! I may have to ask my Mum to get snapping, and send me some pics so I can share with all of you :)

I've also added the Birthday card I made for my Mum along with a Good luck card for my lovely pal Tinks, who's sitting her GCSE exams, good luck Tinks!

Hope you're all continuing to enjoy the sunshine...

Big Hugs!
Suzie xxxxxx :)

Storage can be glam too, take a peek :)

2010-06-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're enjoying all this wonderful sunshine, pheweee, it sure is HOT!

I thought you might like to have a look at my recent little crafty transformation.
I've only recently got into making ATC's and love it! Thanks to our lovely Susie J and and her organised ATC swaps.

Now that I'm starting to build up a little collection, I thought I'd better think about somewhere to store them all, but to my amazment found there were very few storage options. So settled on the little papermania ATC storage folder. I really like the size, it's very cute :) but thought it could do with a bit of a make over.

So with some of the lovely stash recently sent to me by the lovely Sue Bubbles (see previous post for the full array of goodies :) I set to work on giving my folder some well needed glam and sparkle.

I also wanted to create a closer, so Sue's large brads and elastic sent by another lovely crafty pal, Alyson, were just perfect!

I'm really chuffed with the results, so now I have somewhere pretty to store all my ATC's :) Hurray!!!!

Hope you enjoy the rest of the sunshine everyone, and happy crafting...

Suzie xxxxxx :)

Some fathers day cards :)

2010-06-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would share these with you, as I know many of us stugggle with male cards, including me!

My fab papermania stamps have come to the resue once again, hurray!
I've also taken inspiration from my lovely pal Carole, with her string and button embellishments, and tried to make a few of my own, these are with paper string :)

These wonderful sentiment stamps came in really handy too, you can download them from the craft cottage website :) Thank you Carole and the craft cottage, your ideas have really helped me put these cards together.

I hope you're all having a lovely sunny and happy day!

Chat soon...

Suzie xxxxxx :)

Some Lovely Treasures :)

2010-06-15T11:46:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Firsty, I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU for all your lovely comments. They are always so encouraging and very much appreciated. It's lovely to know I have so many wonderful crafty pals :)

I have always loved all things crafty, but it was only in the last few years since dipping my toe into the world of cyber crafting (so to speak) that I was lucky enough to meet and link up with so many wonderful people who share the same love as me, craft!!! :)

Since then, I have received so many wonderful gifts and beautiful swap items.
I have decided I must now share them with you all, so promise to pop some of these wonderful things on my blog over the next few weeks.

So....
I will begin this post by saying a BIG THANK YOU to Sue and Donna, my lovely Do Craft pals, who sent me the most wonderful things this week.

Sue sent me the most amazing handmade treasure box filled to the brim with a huge about of scrummy goodies, thank you soooo much Sue! I adore everything, and will treasure my treasure box always! xxxx :)

Also, a big thank you to Donna for my lovely card and fab ATC. What made it extra special was the little message and kisses written by her Grand children, how sweet! Thank you boys, sending you lots of xxxxs back! :)

Anyway, sorry for waffling, but I really did just want to say thanks everyone!!

Big Hugs!

Suzie xxxxxx :)

Long time, no blog :)

2010-06-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Well, while the whole of England sits chewing their nails watching the world cup, I thought I would slip on here and update my blog, afterall, it has been a while, sorry, sometimes the boring stuff just gets in the way.

But, the good news is....
that although I've not recently found the time to update my blog, I have managed to sqeeze in some crafting, hurray!

Here are some pics of the fat page I made for my lovely crafty buddy Tracy. She recently had the most beautiful little baby girl. A lot of us got together and made a baby girl page, which the lovely Susie J very kindly bound together and sent to Tracy when she had her lovely baba. I've also included a pic of the her baby card too :)

It's such a treat for me to play with soooo much pink! as my house is full of males, and lots of smelly socks too, lol!

Dispite all the recent hecticness in our household, I've also managed to make my lovely Mum some crafty gifts, I can't spill the beans just yet, as she may be watching, but once I know they've arrived safe and sound, I will share with you all.

Also, before I go, I must just tell you about the most wonderful gift I received today in the post, something just totally scrummy from my lovely crafty pal Sue Bubbles, oooooh it's just soooooo lovely, I can't wait to show you all, once I sort out a few pics :)
Thank you sooooo much Sue, you really are a lovely pal, and a very talented crafter too :)

Anyway my lovelies, I hope you all have a great time watching the footy, and if it's not your cup of tea (not really sure if it's mine, lol!)I hope you have a wonderful evening anyway :)

Big hugs
Suzie xxxxx :)

Some garden pals and a snoozy cat too :)

2010-05-16T08:05:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I thought you might like to see our little garden visitor, she's a lovely dark rabbit called Jasmine who lives next door, she often pops into our garden has a nibble at the flowers and then bounces off home, lol!
We're very fond of her, and it's lovely to have a rabbit in the garden again:)

I've posted some pics of our lovely little bunny Barley who sadly died a couple of years ago :( but thought you may like to see him too, he was sooooo cute!

Ooooh and I popped in a pic of Murphy our ginger tom, I thought he looked very cute snoozing his troubles away, it's a hard life hey? lol!

Happy Sunday everyone!
Suzie xxxxxx :)

A random selection of recent cards :)

2010-05-13T09:26:00.001-07:00

An early night, and few cakes too!!!

2010-05-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Yesterday, I decided it was time to take action (in my quest to loose some unwanted flab!) so went for a power walk, lol! Well, I walked fast and all up hill too! that's about as powerful as it gets, lol!

Later I again did the same walk (at a slower pace) to collect my kids from school. Well, I have to say, I think it did me the power of good, I felt pooped by 8pm and amazingly enough for me, went to bed at 8.30pm! Gosh! I'm normally such a night owl, but boy do I feel good this morning :) and better still, no late night snacking, hurray!!!!

Anyway, I thought you might like to take a peek at the all the cakes my son Zach who's nine made for his class cake sale. They hope to raise enough money to buy a class pet! They were each asked to bake ten cakes each, but Zach is sooo keen he made a just a few more, lol!

Suzie xxxxx :)