I know things come in 3s......

but all 3 girls have been ill together - what joy!!!!!! they seem to have picked up some kind of virus, started with alisha getting up in the night screaming with headache, stomach ache, feeling sick....... then its moved on to laura and Hazel! Alisha had 1 day off school at the end of last week, hazel's had 2 days off and poor laura's been off all week. she went in to school wednesday and by 10.30 they'd sent her home!!! so as you can imagine its been a bit chaotic to say the least - juggling sick kids, college and assignments is no easy task - but fortunately i've got very understanding tutors!!

I know I'd planned on going into nursing but not this way lol - though after what I've heard about the degree course from my friend who had her uni interview last week I don't think I'll be bothering - its not family friendly at all - especially as I'll need days out every few weeks for Declan's hospital appointments. Soooooo uni's on hold now while I decide exactly what I want to do!

Happy Birthday Declan!!!!!

Happy birthday Soldier!!!

Mummy's little man is 2 already! Can't believe how quickly the time's flown! For those that don't know, Declan was born by emergency caesarian as he was in distress, which was scary enough, but at 2 days old he was on the operating table having an emergency ileostomy, as unknown to anyone he had a perforated bowel and everything was poisoning his system and he came close to not being here! It was touch and go for a while, but he finally came home on 27th Feb 2007 aged 5 weeks and 3 days and boy did I celebrate.

No-one's sure why the perforation happened but the hospital seem to think its Cystic Fibrosis although tests done before and after his stoma reversal are still inconclusive so they're treating him as CF until they know either way, even though he's showing none of the expected symptoms - ie not growing/gaining weight, constant chest infections etc

All that matters to me though is he's here, he's fit and healthy - has barely had so much as a runny nose lol - my chest is worse than his, he's got an appetite like I've never known and he's certainly growing!!!

a few of the christmas cards I made......

But was in such a rush to get them out I mailed them, and gave them to friends at college - without taking pics. these are a few which friends who received them in a group posted so I snaffled some pics!!! serves me right i guess for leaving everything to the last minute. i'm gutted really though as they were some of the nicest cards i've done :-(

pollycraft candy

This one is absolutely amazing!! Take a look here for Paula's candy and if you haven't seen the pollycraft range of stamps and downloads you're in for a real treat!!!

candy

Claire is celebrating over 36,000 hits on her blog by giving away the most amazing candy!!! go check it out here and take a look at her fab cards!

congrats Claire and here's to the next 36,000

Darrell's birthday cards

Thought I'd share the cards I made hubby for his birthday lol! The boy is a stamped image from Jo, coloured with prismas, papers, gems & peel offs all from stash. the wolf is a stamp I've had for ages but never found anything really to do with it lol! stamped it onto cream textured card with walnut stain distress ink, then cut into a circle, used backings and ribbons from stash and stamped a sentiment from one of a see d's set :-)

my new whiff of joy stamp :-)

Isn't Lizzie just the sweetest little girl lol! I absolutely love this stamp - just can't believe that 'cos of all the college work I had to do she's been sat here nearly 2 WEEKS without me using her!!!! How bad is that! I really enjoyed making these, it was so nice to be able to sit and do some crafting without having to stress over assignments - have to make the most of a limited amount of 'me' time

All images are coloured with prismas, white sakura souffle, glitter glue and sakura stardusts for the added sparkles - though they don't show up so well on the scan! Papers on the blue cards are docrafts (I think) and the red one is a one I downloaded and found sat on the comp - can't remember where its from but think its one of the Summer Driggs kits, but wouldn't swear it under oath lol. Ribbons and embellishments from my stash

good news :-)

been feeling the pressure recently - a lot lol! been really stressed with all the college work and finances etc but got a little bit of good news today for a change! My eldest daughter Hazel who's 11 sent an application in to Britain's Got Talent and she just got a letter this morning telling her she has an audition on 26th November - not sure how well she'll do or how far she'll get as the competition will be tough - but its always been her dream she lives to sing so here's hoping lol!!!!!

a few cards I made last night

All these are with some of the images Jo sent me, the little girls are sweet ebony images, these stamps are definitely going on my 'after christmas' list. The little dragon is called Daphne and is from Lilac Lemon Designs - I love Beckie's stamps they're gorgeous, for anyone who hasn't seen them go over to Lilac Lemon and take a look.
All backing papers and embellishments are from my stash :-) All of them are coloured with a combination of prismacolors and whsmiths blendables (great pencils for anyone on a budget!) The clouds and hi-lites on Daphne Dragon are coloured with white sakura souffle - I love the effect those pens give, adds a bit of depth and texture lol

sweet ebony

I love this one, its one of my favourite images :-) I'm not fortunate enough to have been able to buy the stamps yet, but Jo sent me some gorgeous stamped images and this was in with them - I couldn't wait to get colouring, so here's the first card I made. Coloured with prismas and whsmith blendables, backing papers are from my stash and the little flowers are punched from the backing papers with a little gem in the centre for a bit of sparkle :-) I'm really pleased with this one - its one of the best I've done for a while