Toodle pip to 2007

Im sure some of you who stop by regular (like momma and poppa!!) will know this year has been weird and fun and annoying and busy and frustrating and exciting. I really don't want to go in to the dull side of the year and don't want to make a spectacle of myself by regaling you all of my triumphs and jubilation's. All I will say is that 2007 was emotional (to quote a line from one of my fave films, Lock, Stock and 2 smoking barrels) . Im hoping 2008 bring lots of smiles like the one below.As for scrapping, this was my first layout of 2007
and this was my last. Based around a pic I took of Corinne Delis back in November was crying out to be used with these Scenic Route papers and some fancy pinky fluffy pipe cleaner-ish gift wrap that I found in the sales at John Lewis. I enjoyed making this layout as being around Corinne when she is in a giggling mood is so infectious and I made sure the layout reflected that. Ooooh get me, using flowers!! Still!!! My answer is this. If scrap suppliers continue making them and if nature insists on nurturing them, them then I am going to use them. They make me happy (except when they die). But scrap flowers never die - they remain cheery forever. But perhaps that by now I should get me an imagination or something.

My best buy was my 50mm F1.4 lens, 7 gypsies stampers, American Crafts D ring album, Elsie Papers and the flaming Bind it all that became a bit of a bind to finally get one. My worst buy was the chatterbox doodle templates (pants to be honest) and having my hair darkened was definitely not a good buy. Cor, I could go on.

These are my guys leading up to New year - on their respective gadgets. Mark pre-sending his new year text wishes (I havent done any texts yet!) and Belle on her beloved Pippa Funnell game.And here are fireworks behind big ben at midnight (thanking the TV for the pictures really. Its weird taking pictures of the telly, it looks like I am there!) Belle went to bed after the big ben chimes and fireworks and mark and I bimbled around flicking from tv station to station. It was a quiet night in but more importantly we were together.Happy new year to you all. Ive a feeling its going to be a good one ;)

I do not do "The Sales"....

... no matter how much money I may be saving.

Flippin heck, the queues in Debenhams were horrendous today. I left mark to it whilst I wandered off to "The Pier" to snap up yummy housey trinkets. I bought myself my Christmas presents from mark in Trafford Centre today. I hate him buying me something one minute and the next it being half price in the sales. I only bought a new Selphy printer (t'other one died the other day and they are invaluable), some hair tongs to curl my flowing tresses, some sockies etc. Belle on the other hand got a brand new coat from Debenhams which is brilliant as its one of the rare things that doesn't have fur on the hood. I can't stand fur on the hood on little girls coats. Why do they insist on putting it there? It serves "ball all" purpose other than to get caught in your mouth or impair your vision. She also bought herself a Pippa Funnell Horse game for her DS which she hasn't put down neither. I must remember to take pictures of her new slippers too from the Next sale. I do love a Next sale but the time I get there for me, they only have size 6 left and I wont even get my little finger in a size 6. And not an American size six as an American size six is an english size 10. Whatever. Poor mark ended up with new grundies and withstood belle and me rummaging in Claires and various other shops.

We took a trip over to the Mac shop and spied our next purchase. I'm thinking that once Mark gets a Mac he deffo wont go back on a G5 with a 24 inch screen. Saying that, you know, I made my new header on a Mac and when I look at it now (on my pc) its all weird. Head scratching at the moment, must re-work it). So anyway, Macs - they are moderately priced but I have to say the 24" screen swings it for me but then to really butter me up I might have to get the Intuous Wacom tablet. Tee hee. Who are we kidding, we didn't win the lottery yet. Its one shop Id love to work in... all geeky and smart with a cool staff uniform plus access to mac consumables all day long. sigh. Somebody give me a 2 minute trolley dash in there and I'd do serious damage.

So last night? Well I scrapped for me. I have a hoard of stuff I discovered in a pizza box I had left aside in October. Do not ask me how I would notice a few things go missing but in recent weeks I have really had a hectic schedge. I whipped this number up whilst listening to War of the Worlds. I downloaded the entire album the other day and have to say its one scarily magnificent collection of music and "Forever Autumn" is superb. The picture is of Belle snugging up to Mark after a hard days being a Bridesmaid at my sisters wedding 4 years ago.

Talking of my sister, she is paying a fleeting visit to us tomorrow. We don't see each other much and it will be a good couple of hours I can get to squidge my niece and nephew. Belle is quite excited about the visit and is preparing a collection of her gifts for inspection upon their arrival. I love that she gets a lil organised now and again.

And finally winally. 28th Dec saw the launch and complete sell out of the Jan Kits Studio Calico. It awesome to be a part of a team where the kits are hot off the press and the DT girls rock the kits senseless. I live for launch nights reveal, so I can see all my fave scrappers work in one rolling gallery.

New years eve to prepare for... totally ready to sling most of it out as I make way for 2008. Planning on it being a good year for Belle - I just know something good is going to happen for her.

Fit to burst

Are you heaving over your jeans and skirts (thus creating a currently trendy "muffin top") like me? Where exactly has your svelte waistline gone, erm - like mine?
Not that I ever had a svelte waistline. That went a loooooooooong time ago. No thanks to these babies on Crimbo eve. Burp. Pats belly(s) contedly.

So.
We have had a fantastic christmas. Prolly made all the merrier with having my yummy mummy and poppy over. Mum brought over a Turkey crown the size of an ostrich and pork loin the size of Belgium whilst we supplied the beef, the lamb and the gammon. Between oven changes I even managed to make fresh mince pies on the day too. It was a gorgous sunny day and baking these babies in a warm kitchen with lots of Cava was just heavenly. Like me, the pastry turned out to be very short and erm, sweet :):):)

After that we e goose fat drenched the potatoes,peeled and cooked a menagerie of veggies plus created a divine home made stuffing

which gave licence to our impending heart attacks but with a pleasurable and satisfying smug feeling of christmas fatness. It was all hands to the wheel for that meal, I tell ya! Mum and I mucked about with the camera during the preparations plus I wanted to take snaps of our meal for my crimbo journal. Doesn't my mum look so gorge in her coolio spectacles?

Lots of money was invested for this one meal alone adding to the the pre christmas stress. The oven burned for 12 solid hours for a feast to toast being "family" was such a sense of worth in one hand and a feeling of "why do we spend so much when a pizza and coleslaw with a game of cards" would have been just as great. It was all worth it but honest to goodness.... its one day of madness. Anyhoo, the little touches around the table made it so cosy and fun.

Our crackers, however, had metal novelties that could kill at the simple tug of each one. Mark claims I nearly had is flaming eye out. More is the pity that I didn't.

Oh I forgot the presents!
Belle got plenty of what she asked for and that's maltesers. She got a ton of them! We had asked her a gazillion times what she might like and she had no idea. What doesn't help is the fact she has her birthday precisely 4 weeks before crimbo. But she had plenty to open and was delighted with the suprises that we had snuck in her stocking.

One of the best things she got was a little game called "20Q". Its a wee thing that asks you 20 questions by which you answer "yes" or "no" and by question 20 it guesses what you are thinking. And really works and its really freaky. I got bits and bats inclusing my long sought after Bind it all (never got round to flaming buying one myself!) but if you ever want to treat me and cheer me up - you never have to dig deep. Yankee candles are so slurpably scrumshus and burn for YEARS. My momma bought me this with the candle shade which I just adore with all my heart. She also bought me my fave smelling "Good Morning". Normally my freind Louise gives me these as a treat and she could never know how much they mean to me. I am obsessed about having a welcoming aroma in our home (prolly to mask the smell of mark, if I am honest... tee hee). Kidding aside, I just love little smelly candles and I got a TON for christmas.

We have also introduced my father to the Wii. We all had such a blast playing bowls over the festive period - so much that now my parents are on the look out for the gold dust that is a Wii. I love my mum's Mii that we created for her too - she looks like sonic the hedgehog. And the one we made of my poppa looks like one of Ellie's old schol teachers. And mine.... nothing like me whatsoever! The power of those Mii's is a new world of fun.
Yest we had visitors in the form of Roz and Ben where leftover turkey got slammed in a curry. I made my own curry base using Marks "Jamie Oliver" shaker crusher thingy. I was dead chuffed with myself as I just bunged in coriander seeds, mustard powder, fennel seeds, paprika, chilli flakes, cumin and garlic in random quantities to make a slightly molten lava hot curry. The trick with using left over turkey is to add your meat towards the end as it will mush otherwise. A lesson learned over the last 12 years of turkey recycling. We played games practically all evening and got more tipsy thatn I anticipated. Im getting too old for drinking these days! Before she came, I wanted to make Roz a special gift from myself and gave her this little trinket. Its a putrid colour replication as it was taken in my poo poo lit office. I reckopn it looks better in real life. I have enough to make another for myself which wil look nice snuck in a corner to cheer it up.

Does anyone know where I can get more of these peggies without costing the earth from creative imaginations? I think £4 is steep for 2...... am thinking of using standard wooden pegs but bulking them up.... am thinking real hard about that. Anyway, Roz left this afternoon and both Belle and I didnt want her to go. Its weird having an empty house after so much company over the holidays. I have moped about this afternoon catching up on putting stuff away, chucking stuff out and tidying up.
Talking of chucking stuff out, Belle's bedroom decorating continues and we gave 8 black bin liners FULL to the brim with toys to charity on Christmas Eve. There was a ton of hardly used toys in there (which is embarrassing come to think but I have to admit she is a good girl and doesn't lose stuff and the stuff she did have, she looked after). Im grateful that a charity will benefit from her unwanted belongings. We did stash away some collectibles such as "my little ponies" and "care bears" in readiness for a blast on ebay. Her bedroom is not even half done as the carpet is coming from Belgium and Belgium is clearly 5 million miles away, her bedroom drawers are being made to order but obviously made by slow people from the slow planet in the slowest galaxy in the universe and her bed is taking forever as the company have obviously fallen asleep. By the time we have finished decorating our bedroom next week, Belles might be finished. I think by completing our bedroom that all of marks possessions that he brought back from the Army might finally be housed and our house will resemble normality. Although the house extension in the summer will throw us all into turmoil so I might as well kill myself now. To sweeten the mood, Ive decided on this paper for our room (chocolate lime... YUM)

and although mark has not given me the thumbs up, I shall bully him into it or he will face the consequence of death. Basically. Anyhoo, Im hoping the pattern repeat on this is so generous that I wont have to buy 60 rolls as its not cheap. But I know that I will have the best dreams surrounded by chocolate and scrummy paper like this. And a hideous invoice to proove it. I'll hide that under marks pillow.

After that post, I need a flippin lie down. See soon xx

PS: Forgot to mention that both my momma and I are off to see (well, listen to) the works of Strauss in january. I LOVE Strauss, I was brought up listening to thelikes of The Beautiful Blue Danube, Radetzky Marsch, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, Die Fledermaus, Emperor Waltz, Freulingsstimmen, Waltzes from Gypsy Baron, Vienna Blood, Wine, women and song, Tales from Vienna Wood and Unter Donner und Blitz (You Tube the lot to reminisce these babies). I am besides myself and come this time next year Im hoping (more likely dreaming) to get her to come with me to the Kaiser Imperial ball in Vienna to don ball gowns and waltz to this music. Its bizarre isnt it, who would have thought I loved Johann Strauus I and II... IM SO EXCITED!

A Merry iBooth Crimbo

From the 3 wiseman's.

Im going to take a bit of a well earned respite with my momma and poppa coming over to double the festive fun. You do not know how much I have been wanting to take some serious time out .... as the world stops for 2 or 3 days, so can I!

We hope you have a splendid holly jolly and if you are of the praying kind, please spare a thought one of my DT freinds over at Studio Calico. Her husband has terminal cancer and this will be his last christmas. She is a tower of strength with a profound dignity. I admire her and love her. Bless you Christine.

As I am talking of Studio Calico, I can release the sneaks of this months kit. The range of kit in this box is beyond comprehension and all so usable. One of the layouts took me 4 hours to build which pays homage to my father, I know he will be proud when he see's it. The kit's release date is the 28th Dec - so get in there quick xx

And lastly, I almost forgot to share these with you. Charmed Cards and Crafts asked me to Guest DT at the beginning of the month using a fabulous array of K&Co Margo and Saffron papers. I LOVED using all the embellies - the whole kit was just so usbale, bright and matchably scrumsh.




PS: This doesn't apply to everyone but if there are any questions you feel you need to ask me, please do email me here at kirstywiseman@hotmail.com - I believe there are some concerning comments being bandied about right now. Its all the much better to have words coming direct from the horse's mouth - don't you think?

New friends to play with

Where has the time gone?

So much has happened since Thursday night and zero time to blog, scrap or read. All I have manage to do is nod, doze and snooze at every opportunity. One is feeling a cold coming on - how typical it happens at Christmas. All that and the fact Belles bedroom aint nowhere near finished. The carpet is delayed, furniture delayed etc etc yawn. Still, the woodwork and the walls are pinked up and she is happy.

Anyway.........
Finally, the new DT over at Scrapbook Mate's blog has been announced.

Its all so exciting with wonderful, creative scrappers coming from Sweden to Germany to France to the Nederlands to the UK. And in answer to some queries of late, there were a ton of European entrants and surprisingly very few UK scrappers in comparison. However, there will be another opportunity for applicants next year as these DT spots last for 1 year. I encourage all of the British girls to apply for DT's everywhere; I see lots of talent on UKS. And I mean LOTS. I often think that most UK girls think they dont have any chance in DT but its clear that lots do.

I was invited to join the SBM DT Admin a number of weeks back to set up the blog of which I will administrate and was fortunate to be asked to join the DT as the coordinator as well. Believe me, my entry layout took 2 hours to make. I cannot, for the life of me understand where people think I chuck layouts together. I wish life was that simple. But there you go, truths up. Ah well.... so anyway, the initial call for 10 DT members was just no mean feat, so a draft for 3 more scrappers was added to the mix to give a truly European flavour (times 14) of things to come. This will be my other DT aside to Studio Calico - two is just as much as I can handle right now!

The plan is to provide a new project everyday using a range of products from Scrapbook Mates stock from each of the team. Heidi has generously supplied fantastic kits to help kick start this new venture which I hope will flourish into a daily source of inspiration to knowledge thirsty scrappers all over Europe... if not the world!!! In addition to this I have been invited to teach at Scrapaganza next June. Now teaching is a job I love the most because of the social aspect but this event is ultra special as there is a superstar teacher coming to head the event. Anyone heard of erm, Donna Downey? Yeeeeeeehaaaaaa. She cometh to the masses to impart her scrappable yuminess to all who come alongside Karen Burniston and Vicki Boutin. Such a throng of mental creativity will no doubt provide enough energy to light the whole of Holland for 4 weeks, me thinks.
Aside from dealing with the aftermath of such an announcement we have been so busy with Birthday celebrations for Mark. Our cards to Mark this year made his day, he loves some colour ranges of papers but prefers the more masculine finish. Ok, that's obvious as he is a guy but the two girls in this house are pouring Oestrogen in his direction to try and at least get him to appreciate pink.

Anyhoo,we all went out to our favourite Chinese restaurant where flavour is key and not over ridden with mono sodium glutamate and salt. Belle practically ate a full adult portion of Chicken in Oyster sauce with noodles and didn't have room for this monster afterwards.

I also took pictures of the last of my dying flowers. As the wife of a serving soldier, just taking his retirement, you receive a bunch of flowers for your trouble. Now, hear me out without judgement on this. 12 years you kind of deal with the rigmarole of putting up and shutting up as a second class citizen as the "wife of". And for your credit in being this nobody, you receive a fabulous bunch of flowers, that in effect dies. I LOVE flowers but I hate that they die. I actually think a flaming medal would be more appropriate. Joking aside, its a shame we don't receive something with a little bit more shelf life for this accolade and, ok, taking photo's can be your lasting memory but flowers die. They just die. THEY DIE. It makes me sad.

So here is a tulip petal that looks like a heart. Now that's more like it. Happiness from a dying petal - you see, Im handling it!

And Belle played with this dying carnation as I was pratting with my ISO (its so dark here... is it dark at 1pm where you are lately?) She was talking to me also about how sad it is that flowers die. Thank god for Prima's, they last forever.

And finally did I mention Donna Downey is going to scrapaganza next June?

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

that is all.

I arted from the hearted

I have not been to my favvo studio, Art from the Heart for like - ever! So I took a trip with my friend Jane to go and see Dyan and all the fuss over her delightful new papers. I LOVE Dy's studio, its just packed to the brim with yummo scrummo stuff (some of which fell into my shopping basket cos, like, I NEED new scrap supplies?). I got to work with her two new lines which, in real life, are just so FAB to work with. I have not had the chance to fully appreciate the papers until today. With Dyan being my friend you would think... she is bound to say that just to be nice. Well I am not nice anymore. Im sick of being nice. I hate being nice. Instead, I just find myself being VERY deliciously nice these days with a cherry on top and a sprinkling of choc powder.

I maded this flour tin into a hand baggy type storage. The colours and pattern of this kit is so much fun. I love this tin - I want to be this tin.

I also maded this wee book with veritable tags and ribbons... can you imagine how much creative heaven we were all in?

Judging by Jane's face, it was a great day and Dyans love of her studio is apparent... I love this picture of her.
And finally a decent picture of all 3 of us (kind of think I look about 12 in this picture.... good, the face cream is working wonders on my old age).

All in all a VERY creative day with stomach clenching laughs that make you burst vessels in your neck, party food fit for a king and friendship as wonderful as life itself.

Gotta go, Ive a card to make for Mark - its his birthday tomorrow (21st) and Belle can't wait to give him his tube of Toblerone and other gifts.