Merry Christmas

Just a short message from me to you and yours, wishing you a very Merry Christmas :) cheers!

Gayle

Christmas aaaargghhhh

Christmas is coming! Eeek!  I am being thoroughly freaked out by unexpected signs that say 'x more sleeps til Christmas'; it's gone from 'next month' to a mere matter of sleeps.

And I haven't done a thing!

I'm yet to find a Christmas where I haven't got four million other things unrelated to Christmas cards, Christmas shopping etc etc that keep me busy right up until the last few days before Christmas, when it's too late to mail anything out and you have to hope you see the important people in time :-D

This is my 2nd year of Journal Your Christmas; I have been keeping up only by taking a few photos and adding some text, so with all this time off between Christmas and New Year's (too late! could have done with it much earlier!) perhaps I will put together something resembling an album then :) I have plenty of Christmas supplies at least!

I have been posting away at The Scrappy Tree and The Stamp Attic, and do have a few projects to share :)

I love seeing it all together like this, makes me feel very productive LOL

Hoping your festive season is flourishing, and that you're not too far behind ;)

Gayle xx

Friday catch-up

So today it's time for a crafting catch-up because as usual I've posted everywhere but here :-D

This is last week's and this week's posts at The Stamp Attic, here:-

...and here:-

...and also last week's post at The Scrappy Tree here:-

I've posted more details about making them at the respective blogs so won't bore you with that again here :) If you like them I would love some comments :) I've got another post to share at The Scrappy Tree this weekend but wanted to let the current very lovely Thanksgiving post stay up a little longer :)

So this week I have been writing a book review, collating information for a presentation, finishing up some craft projects, freezing my butt off and getting rained on!  Oh wait, I also catheterised a plastic dummy!  That was a first! I think the 'best' bit was getting video'ed and having to watch the playback to see everything we did wrong!  Happy days, don't you just love technology :-D

Well that's my week, hope you had a good one :) hoping to meet with my bestie tomorrow after her trip to Oz, and maybe accompanying my Mum to the craft shops for a browse while she spends her vouchers :-D

Plus another book review, more crafting, more research blah blah etc etc etc
See you next weekend!

Gayle xx

Vegan food swap

So earlier this month I took part in the UK Vegan Food Swap for the first time; the idea is to package up a parcel of about £10 worth of vegan foods, add little notes saying why you like them, serving suggestions etc, and send off to your partner, who will be sending to someone else, who sends to someone else, etc etc etc, who sends to you!

Having not taken part before I'm not sure if I got everything right (I got the mailing date wrong for example, and may have leant heavily on naughty snack foods!) but I will know for next time ;)
The person I sent to is called Justine, and the person I received from is called Claire; here is a pic of Claire's lovely parcel!  Loved the coloured tags attached to each item.

It contained hazelnut waffles, a hemp Spacebar, curried kale crisps from Saf, gingko green tea, a raw chocolate Bliss bar, and a Clif chocolate protein bar.

Let me talk first about the hazelnut waffles - absolutely gorgeous with a cup of coffee! Excellent sat on top of the mug for a bit to warm them up too :)
Kale crisps I have tried before and liked; these curried ones from Saf (a vegan restaurant) were also yum :)
The hemp Spacebar I have never seen before but it had a smoked flavour that was right up my street, I do love my savoury stuff!  Never seen them around here but may look online.
I have more things yet to try, looking forward to tasting :)

Will definitely take part in this again, it was lovely to try some new vegan goodies - animal-free doesn't have to mean it's not tasty, you just sometimes have to work a little harder to seek out your treats!  Definitely worth the effort :)

Gayle xx

Ten things on the 10th - November

November is the month of thanksgiving so my ten things this month will be ten things I'm thankful for :) I've seen a lot of gratitude posts this month so it's time I joined in!

I am thankful for...

1. Warm socks and a Slanket.
2. My husband. Sometimes he really surprises me!
3. My family - the family that I'm close to are some of my favourite people in the world.
4. My friends - these make up the rest of my favourite people.  Some I've never met in person but have 'chatted' with online for years!  Others I met at school when we were kids a looooong time ago ;) Some are nursie friends who understand nursie things and giggles. lol
5. My darling Kitty - she is my baby, loves to converse in miaow and loves cuddles, sometimes in bed. Aaaah.
6. Having enough money.  Not for everything, but for the important things like food.
7. Having a job that I love and I want to do well at.
8. Being able to study and keep learning all the time.
9. Wine, ink and paint.  Not all for drinking.  
10. The internet.  Possibly google especially, for answering the forty plus questions that pop into my head everyday.

You can find ten things on the 10th with lots of links to other such list-y posts on Shimelle's blog here.  Thanks for visiting!

Gayle xx

Ooh, I did craft this week, I posted yesterday at The Stamp Attic:-

 ...and The Scrappy Tree...

This is my crafting proof for this week LOL! Posted more details over on the blogs themselves so won't share those here.  Have a good weekend! I am at work today but planning on crafty time when I get home :) happy days!

Saturday catch-up

Thank you to the recent commenters on my blog! So nice to see you here :)
I tend to repeat myself a little with the projects I post here and at The Scrappy Tree and Stamp Attic because I just don't produce enough to do something different for all three (plus it's nice for me to keep a record on my own blog too!) so thank you to those of you who managed to visit me at any of those three places, much appreciated :)

For today's post I'm sharing my Scrappy Tree piece:-

and my Stamp Attic piece:-

...from Halloween to Christmas in one short leap!  haha :-D
I've posted more details about what I used at the respective blogs, so I won't repeat here.  Have to admit I did rather miss Halloween as I had an assignment due this week followed by an exam, but I have been getting excited for Christmas already with my Christmas projects for The Stamp Attic, of course I have been listening to Christmas music to get me in the mood!  I found a rock version of Walking in the Air by a band called Nightwish - actually quite love it!

It's a bit of a slow Saturday for me today, I am beagle sitting this weekend (for four beagle babies), doing some chores and finding the answers for a workbook on catheterisation(!) before going to work for a long shift tomorrow.  Wahoo!  Now the deadlines are all passed I must get myself back to the gym, feeling weak from weeks of exercising only my mental muscle :-D

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend :) have a good one!

Gayle xx

Signpost Friday

Just a quickie message today for signposting purposes!  I blogged my book cover from last week's Andy Skinner class over on The Scrappy Tree blog -

...and I've also posted my DT project at The Stamp Attic - here comes Christmas!

It's been a busy crafting week but a busy study week too - pleasure and pain!  I have an assignment due Monday and an exam Thursday so they're keeping us busy :) I'm looking forward to getting the assignment done so I can play some more with the goodies I had last weekend at The Stamp Attic! Plus I really want a bunch more stuff with that gesso carving technique on it ;) lol!

It's getting chilly here now ready for the traditional autumn celebrations at the end of the month :) it's not Halloween or Bonfire Night if you don't need to wear a scarf and gloves to go out, and you should be able to see your breath in the air!

I made pumpkin walnut loaf and a carrot cake in the past week, so there have definitely been autumn smells and flavours in our house :)

It's been very windy though, so the trees are already starting to look more like winter than autumn already!

I am going to crack on with this assignment so I can get my life back sooner rather than later ;)

Happy Friday! Have a good weekend

Gayle xx