Merry Christmas

Gosh where has the last couple of months gone too? I hope you hadn't thought I had fell off the face of the Earth, lol. Sorry for being absent, I am not the best blogger in the world, life can sometimes be very hectic here.

Just wanted to pop on and Wish all my friends, family and customers a Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a fabulous New Year.

Now that all the Christmas prep is out of the way I am starting to get organised a little on doing some more crafting projects. I know my blog has slid by the way side over the last couple of months, but I am going to make it a New Years resolution to blog a bit more, even if its just little ole me waffling away.

Also there is another reason why I am here today, to share with you one of the BEST offer's ever that Stampin' Up! do each year. That as some of you may know is Sale-A-Bration. Here are some details for you, and as normal if you want to know more or place an order you can contact me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Here is how Sale-A-Bration works;-

SPEND - When you spend £45 on Stampin' Up! merchandise you get to choose a stamp set FREE, YEP you heard me, FREE. So if you spend £90 you would get to choose two FREE stamp sets.

HOST - Host a workshop of £300 net sales and choose one free set from the Sale-A-Bration(you don't have to have one in your home, you can also do a book party, if you want more info please email me and I will explain). All this is in addition to the hostess benefits.

JOIN - Join Stampin' Up! during Sale-a-Bration and choose a FREE stamp set (excluding hostess sets) from the idea book and catalogue (valued up to £38.95)

If you would like to see the Sale-A-Bration sets click Here to view them.

Its here!!!!!!

Well its finally here. The new catalogue. If you want to view please click on the picture of the catalogue to the left. I must warn you though there are some scrummy stamps and punches in there though. You may need a coffee or something stronger to sip while your browsing ;-)

I already have my wish list written and its VERY long!

If you would like to place an order with me, not a problem, I take cheques, postal orders, Paypal and even bank transfers. Please get in touch on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

Enjoy your browsing!

LAST CHANCE ---- HURRY!!!

This will stay at the top so you can see what sells out. Please scroll down for new posts.

Before they all go. Stampin' Up! have released the last chance list which is basically what it says, last chance to buy retiring products while stocks last. Here to view the complete list. There have already been a few sell outs which I will try and keep updated the best I can:

All wrapped up, item number 104036

Happy Hearts, 100319

Be Happy, 107009

Mixed Bouquet, 105755

Flaky Friends, 101850

As much as I hate to see some sets go there are some gorgeous scrummy sets and also some fabulous new things coming up. Just watch this space for news on those. Also the NEW catalogue will be out 1st October, if you would like to reserve your copy please email me for price. Don't worry if you are in my stampers groups, your have been reserved for you.

Justice for Pleural Plaque Suffers - long post

Sorry this post is not really craft related but it is something that is so close to my heart. I believe these men involved should be treated fairly and the government should stand up and help these men. As some of you know I lost my brother 'Alan Clark' to this horrible disease. He was one that has campaigned for all those men out there and their families to get compensation. Please read on

'GMB has been at the heart of the campaign to get justice for the victims of the work related disease Pleural Plaques. I’m writing today because I need your help in getting justice for sufferers of this terrible disease. A petition has just been launched which calls for victims of Pleural Plaques to be fairly compensated for their injuries – you can sign it at: http://unionstogether.org.uk/justicePleural Plaques are scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and prolonged exposure to asbestos. Employers have long known about the dangers of asbestos. But instead of providing the protection required to safeguard their staff, many simply decided to turn their backs on their workers, and hope they could get away with it.Until a few years ago, workers with Pleural Plaques were able to claim compensation. Crucially it meant that a company had admitted liability to exposing a worker to asbestos. But in October 2007, the law lords outrageously scrapped this precedent – meaning that thousands of people with Pleural Plaques would not be entitled to a single penny, whilst insurers profited to the tune of £1.4BN. A truly disgusting decision and a real abdication of duty. Now thousands of working men and women suffer from entirely avoidable disease, and those who are diagnosed today aren’t even entitled to compensation. The petition calls on the Government to do the right thing for victims of Pleural Plaques and restore the compensation. The Law Lords decision that the lung scarring caused by asbestos isn’t worthy of compensation is clearly wrong. The whole process was dubious – one lawyer on the payroll of the employers’ insurance companies had the audacity to claim that Pleural Plaques were a “good thing.” As if a lawyer knows the reality of suffering from lung disease caused by asbestos. The reality is that Pleural plaques are a sign of deep scarring to the lungs. Real physical injury, caused by long-term exposure to asbestos. And it causes significant mental anguish as well. Pleural Plaques victims have a dramatically higher chance of developing Mesothelioma – a lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Many victims describe this as a ticking time bomb that infects their lives with fear – imagine living with the knowledge that your lungs had been irreversibly damaged by asbestos and you might be diagnosed with terminal cancer at any time. And tragically, I know of at least one sufferer who couldn’t live with the fear and took their own life. You can make a difference. We want the Government take action to reverse the Law Lords’ judgement and restore justice to those who deserve it – whose only ‘crime’ was to work with or near asbestos. The Scottish Parliament and the devolved administration in Northern Ireland have already done this – with your help we’ll get Whitehall to stop dragging their feet and get this sorted in England and Wales too. We are calling for justice for these working people who need our help. Please sign the petition http://unionstogether.org.uk/justice – and then ask your family and friends to sign it as well. Together we’ll send a powerful message to the Government – justice now.

Thank you for reading!

Sorry nothing today...

... my little girl is home sick, so I am playing nurse. I was hoping to get something done today to show, I did start colouring some images yesterday but you know when you get that 'DAY!' when nothing is going right, well yesterday was one of those days. So today I am going to do some relaxing, well as much as I can inbetween sick duty.

I managed to play a largish order for some stamps yesterday from PapertreyInk. Boy I love there stamps but for it to be visable in ordering, you really need to put in a big order. The postage can be a bit extreme for just a few sets. So I have those coming sometime, hopefully soon. Plus some other stamps I am going to try, Pink Cat Studio and also some Manga stamps from Funky Kits. Oooo I just can't wait for them all. Hopefully I will have something to share tomorrow, all being well with my little darling.

FOR SALE!!!!

It is with deepest regret that I am selling all my cartridges for my cricut. Now if you have one of these cute little machines and don't have many cartridges, then look no further. I am selling these purely because my cricut has died on me and I don't want to buy another because I don't use it very much. So here is the list of what is available:-

Accent Essentials

Paper Doll Dress Up

Walk in my Garden

Mini Monograms

Celebrations

Christmas Cheer

Tear Drop

George and basic shapes

Alphalicious

Tags, Bags, Boxes and more

Fabulous Finds

I would like £30 for each cartridge, this includes P+P (within the UK only) first class signed for. If your international you will need to email for postage as it would be more expensive.

Please email melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com if you are interested in any of them.

Little Peeps!

I have had this set for a while and haven't used it until now. My darling daughter has had her eyes on it though. For those who have children and are into crafting will know what I mean. I love my bright colours, so I though to use Rainbow Sherbet DSP.

Don't these stick people look cute, reminds me of LS Lowry, painting those match stick men.

Temping Turquoise, Apricot Appeal and whisper white cardstock. Rainbow Sherbet DSP, ribbon.

Enjoy!

Time......

....for some relaxation me thinks. The kids are at school, hubby is at work and its my ARRRRRHHHH!!!!! time. Just thought I would share another creation I have made.

Its using Sense of Time stamp set. Very basic layout and I have used one of my hodgepodge items. I know shock horror, I have used an embellishment. But these are so nice, I just couldn't resist. The card is real red, very vanilla and Kraft (which will be in the new catalogue, ssshhh). I love Kraft cardstock and its becoming one of the most popular colours for this season. I think I may be using this a bit more ;-)

Challenge!!!!

Well each week I get together with my ladies for a bit of craft and chat. Usually more chat than craft. Well last week, while chatting, I was making some samples and one said, she would like to see me just make a card at random using things SHE picked. So anything for a laugh, I agreed.

She picked a set and two colours. Live your Dream, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and very vanilla. I wasn't allowed to use anything else. So this is what I came up with

Sorry about the photo, I am terrible at taking them. Should really go for some lessons. There was no backing paper, so I made my own using one of the stamps and my stamp-a-ma-jig.

Anyway, this has got me thinking. If you would like to see something made from your choice of stamp set (providing I have it of course, I have quite a few but shush don't want hubby to know) and colours from Stampin' Up! just leave me a comment and I will see what I can come up with. I think this could be a whole lot of fun, and If I pick your challenge, the card I make will be posted to you. I will contact you for addy, so no need to leave any details on the blog comments.

OK I am off to spend some time with the kids as they are home for the weekend.

Chrimbo......

......Is just around the corner. I know its a daunting thought but it will soon be here, 15 weeks to be exact. So I have made a start on my Christmas cards, didn't know where to start at first. So i checked out some sketch's and found the MojoMonday's Blog and took the first one I came to. I have never done these before, so its something I would like to keep doing. Mine is only a very simple take compared to the most advanced.

Stamp set used, Loads of Love and the accessories. Chocolate chip card, Holiday Treasures DSP. I used the paper piecing technique for the truck with some card to match the papers. Enjoy!

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!

Oh don't you just love that song, lol. Well actually it should be red, red, red, red! A friend of mine and her hubby are celebrating their Ruby Wedding Anniversary, Yes 40 whole years of marriage. Boy I will never get to that. Its such an achievement. Here is a card I have made them, just hope Royal Mail do there job and deliver it before they get back from their jollies.

I have used Real Red, So Saffron and whisper White cardstock. The designer paper is also So Saffron. The stamp set is Bloomin' with Beauty. Ribbon Real red grosgrain.

New Baby!

Well my niece finally parted with her baby and gave birth to a lovely baby girl. We all knew want she was having, hence the colours choosen on the nappy cake in a previous post.

So as my pre-order stamp stuff hadn't arrived I needed to make a card double quick. Here is what I made,

Both sets are now on the last chance list, Bundle of joy and Wild about you. The colours are Pretty in pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red and Whisper white.

I need to get it in the post today as she has just got home with new baby. I have some more cards to share but need to upload them. I now have to prep for tonights class and my NEW goodies have just landed along with my copy of the NEW catalogue, yippeee, I can see me working really quick now ;-)

Silhouettes?

Another of my favourite sets has to be Pocket Silhouettes. Its only small but the projects you can make are stunning (well its Stampin' Up! products aren't they ;-) )

I run a small class of crafters in my home and I made these three cards for our class. Now I cannot remember if one of the layouts was cased from another person's card or whether it was a sketch that I followed. As these where done some time ago now. So sorry for not given credit to that person.

This first one may of been a sketch from MojoMonday, but not 100% sure on that.

This second one I just wanted something simple and also to use my new nesties at the time.

This third one could be the one I cased, so if I did and you are reading, sorry but I just can't remember. That's one of the problems of nearly being 40, you loose your marbles. Hubby says its with having kids, lol. Anyway I am at the end of my scheduling blog posts for today, better get on with some creating. Back soon.

Summer

I know we haven't had much of it this year but then when do we?

I hope we get some sun soon, probably when the kids go back to school. Thankfully time is nearly here. Oh! Do I sound desperate for some peace and quiet?

A couple of months ago, I organised a swap on my Yahoo group that I run. There are some fabulous ladies on there, very talented. Anyway the theme was holiday. So I choose a summer one (well a girl can wish can't she, lol).

I have used Summer by the Sea stamp set along with Typeset Upper case, the papers are Junior Varsity. This was then posted off to my lovely swap partner, Pat.

Yes two days in a row, fingers crossed mr blogger works with the scheduling, lol.

At the same time I made the nappy cake I made two bags for my Great Nephew(3) and Great Neice (8). Now this was a hard task for Elvi as she is disabled. I wanted to make her something she could admire but also something she could use too. Her dexterity was my main concern because I had never met her until the day of my brothers funeral. (That is a long story so won't go into that now). Anyway I made her this

Now I just love this Daisy stamp, she is one of my favourites, just wish Stampin' Up! did stamps like this ;-) Tha background is created with Doodle that, again its one of my favourites but sadly its on the last chance list, boohoo. But I know there will be other stunning sets available to buy when the new catalogue is launched next month.

The second bag was a bit of a brain teaser as I wanted to create something boyish for my dear Great Nephew, who is just a so typical boy. So I followed my main design for Elvi's bag but mase the front and back in the shape of a football. Then each hexagon was cut and stuck down separately.

I filled both with bubbles, sweets and some handmade gifts. I know they both really enjoyed receiving them.

Cake Anyone?

Yes I can't believe it either, I have finally got the photo's off the camera and are going to share them. I know its taken me a long time to do this but with everything else that has going on things have just been left to slide. I have now decided its time to pick myself up and dust off those cobwebs and get crafting, after all they say its a great tonic.

About a month ago I made this lovely cake from nappies for my neice who was due on 27th August, she is still hanging on to that bump of hers, just hope its not too much longer for her. Anyway here is the cake and a few shots of the animals, sorry for the lighting, I really need to learn to take better pics.

Sorry but I wrapped it all before I took photo's,duh!

These are the animals I had stamped and cut out, they are from Wild about You.

I will have another posting for tomorrow if mr blogger lets me schedule it for then. Until then have a great day.

Update and some sad news

Sorry for being missing for absolutely ages. As some of you know my brother was very ill with a rare type of cancer. He has fought a very brave fight but has sadly lost his battle and died on August 3rd. Because I live a half an hours drive away it was a bit tough running back and forth to visit him in the hospice. He was there for five weeks, just goes to show how he fought, as when he was originally admitted the family was told he only had days left. He surprised everyone on that score and kept going for the five weeks. It was only the last couple where he became bed ridden and needed them to help with everything. On the last week, each time the phone went I was just expecting to get 'That' phone call. Then when we did I was just so numb, I didn't know how to react.

My first thought has been my mum, who is nearly 80. You just don't expect to bury your own child. She has coped so well and is coming to stay with us for a while at the weekend.

Well the funeral was a real shocker. We didn't expect so many to turn out. There was that many they couldn't get them in the church, there where crowds all outside. Mum thought they where just waiting for us to go in before all of them. We knew my brother was well known in the industry as he was a very BIG union man and fought for all the men. Their right and also their familes to help them get the compensation that they rightly deserve when they too where diagnosed with asbestosis, or related illnesses.

He has made a documentary about the industry and his life and most importantly his condition and the rights men and their families should have. We are hoping it will get shown on National TV, but we have to wait on that one.

He will always be in our hearts and we will never forget him, just because he isn't here now. He's in a good place with my late father looking after them. now that would be fun to watch, lol.

Just wanted to share what has been happening in my life lately.

I am hoping to get back bloggin soon, as soon as I get caught up with life at home. You know housework and the likes. Everything has been neglected lately. So until than thanks to all who have sent lovely wishes to me and my family.

***** Stampers 6 *****

As most of you know I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in Darlington. Now in July I will be setting up a New stampers 6 group. If you are interested here is the pitch;-

When you sign up you commit to spending £25 per month (plus £3.95 p+p)

During one of those months you get to become the hostess and receive not only a level one (sometimes it can be level 2, depending on sales) gift but also £15 in free merchandise from the catalogue or the mini.

Occasionally you will find a little gift from me too in with your parcel.

This is a fab way to help build up your stash and gain freebies without having to hold a party.

If you think you are interested and have any questions, please email me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

Where did May go???

Well here we are in June, where oh where did May go. I know we have been rather busy gutting and re building one of the childrens rooms. It took forever but since I mainly done most of the work and hubby stood and watched. Yes I have one of those that does not partake in any DIY unless under force. We had stripped it back to the bare wood floors and also took all the skirtings off and replaced. It doesn't sound like a massive task but when I work alone it can be sometimes difficult. But I got there in the end and now all new furniture has arrived and been put in its rightfull place. It looks fab. Kids love it so much, we hardly see them.

I have been doing a few projects but haven't had time to photograph anything as yet.

I did take time out to go on a copic tutorial day with Maddy and Rachel, check out their blogs some great stuff on there. If you can manage to get on one of these workshops, I would really recommend it. Maddy is so sweet and Rachel makes gorgeous cakes. OK so ours was shop bought but it was fab all the same. I will have to take a picture of my now finished card later today. But first I want to do a few jobs while its quiet in the home.

Keep Watching!!!!

Scrapbook in a tin

Well I am not too sure how this is all gonna turn out. My photography is lousy, I really need to take a course but then when do I fit it in?????

Here goes

This is the project I have made based on the card in the previous post. I have left all the photo's off until I get them all from my mum. Plus the lid still needs to be finished with a title. Again I can't decide until I pick the pictures. Hmm.

Well If you want to download the PDF check out ILWS in their tutorials section. Or you can try and follow the ones I will have here.

1. Take your main colour card (perfect plum), compass, pencil and ruler. Set your compass so that you can make a 5 ½” circle. Using the same centre point make another a fraction bigger that the 5 ½”.

2. Cut out on the outer circle, not on the inner one.

3. Using your corner rounder. Take off the guide. Line it up with the outer corners touching the inner circle and punch. Move it along so that one corner matches a corner that has been punches already. Continue in this way until finished. Don’t worry if at the end the scallops are uneven. You can hide this with ribbon or an embellishment. Practice on smaller circles if necessary.

Once finished, you can rub out any pencil lines that are left. Repeat these steps for as many pages as you want.

4. For the decorative section. Make another circle of 5” in diameter on white or cream card. You can do this as we did before with a compass and a pencil/circle cutter or even a Cricut. For every main page you will have two of these, one for either side. If you have 4 pages you will need 8 decorative panels.
5. For the decoration I used two background stamps, En francias and sanded.
En francais I stamped using perfect plum.
Sanded I used Mellow moss.

6. To make it looked aged. I used a kitchen sponge cut up and close to cocoa ink pad. Just dab the sponge onto the ink pad and then onto the cardstock.

Do this with as many pages as you want. You can also do the edges of the main pages.
7. Adhere on to one side of a main page. With the second side you will need take a bit more time positioning the page, so that the text is straight with the one on the other side.

8. For the decorating of the pages, this is all optional. I choose to match a card I had cased from another ladies blog. As I wanted an aged look for the photograph’s I am going to use.
Firstly I cut strips of perfect plum card 1 ¼” (3cm) wide. Lay one over your page where you would like it to be. Take a smaller circle, (mine is 4 ½” in diameter), lay this over and mark your strip of card in pencil. This is then your cutting line. Cut, age with ink (optional) adhere to page.

9. For the next step, again cut strips of card 1” (2.5cm) wide. To make curved edges use a template as we did in the previous step. Decorate as you wish. I used faux stitching and a length of ribbon. Adhere to your page.

10. For the picture section, cut one 7 x 9cm (perfect plum) piece of card, one 6.5 x 8.5cm (mellow moss) piece of card. Mat and layer them together. The picture should measure 6 x 8cm. (this is not shown yet as I am waiting on some family pictures)

11. Using foam pads cut them into strips and place around three sides as shown. Mount this onto your page.

12. For the pull out tab. Cut strips of card (very vanilla) 2 1/8” x 3 ½” long. Punch out a tab punch and adhere to the top. I decorated mine with stamp sets ‘totally tabs’ and the journaling lines stamp from ‘Live your dream’.

The next steps depend on how you want to put your album together.

1. Punch holes in the side of your pages and hold them together with book rings, ribbon or even wires from a bind it all machine.
2. Place into a decorated film tin. I have used this option and made it to match my pages. Again it is left blank for me to add some embellishments and a title.

Measurements for my circles for the tin lid are; perfect plum scalloped circle 6 ½” and 6 ¼”. Make as you did in step 3. For the cream card Measures 5 ¾”. All these sizes depend on your tin that you use.

Cased card with a twist

I have a couple of posts to share, hopefully the second will be done today at some point if not tomorrow.

The first is a card I cased a couple of weeks ago but with a family bereavment and other family issues I haven't been able to get things finished. You will see what I mean in my next post.

Anyhow, back to this card share. I cased this card from Julie Buhler's blog weeks ago now. You really need to check out her blog its fab. This is my interperation

I just loved how it went together and thought, HEY I can turn it, like you do. So here is it turned

I then went on to create something else which is 3D. Will be back in a mo with some instructions on what I made. Enjoy!

Bit of an update on life

Sorry for not blogging at all this month. But there has just been so much happening and I can't see things settling down just yet. Many of you have sent lovely comments and asked how my brother is doing. Well he is hanging in there and has now been put on steroids to try and build him up a bit. This is to see if he would be well enough for Chemo. I didn't know there where different kinds of chemo for different cancers. Anyway he is doing the best he can considering and has talked about going fishing, personally I don't think he could manage it unless he had quite a few helpers. Don't think I would volunteer, lol, thinking pictures here as I can be very squeamish.

We have also had two lots of more bad news. A good friend of ours has just lost there father. He was very old and frail and it was expected. But it still hits you hard.

Then the other was my hubby's mum, she sadly passed away on Monday. So we are having to go up to Scotland this week for a few days. This was also expected as she has been poorly for a while. But again it still hits you very hard. My children have never experianced anything like this, so it makes it a little bit harder to explain what the next few days will have in store for them. I know they will be fine as they are both mature enough to handle this situation.

So for today just grab your nearest and dearest and give them a BIG hug.

I am working on a tutorial for ILWS and hopefully, if camera doesn't play up. I will have it on my blog too. This should be around the 4th May. So happy stamping/crafting.

**** BLOG CANDY **** CLOSED

It will be my little boy's birthday come 1st April and he will be 10, gosh how the years have flown by. To celebrate I have put together a little kit of Stampin' Up! goodies. What a way to celebrate.

Here is what I am offering:

1/2 meter of each of the 1/4" grosgrain ribbons. White blooms from the pretties kit. Felt blooms in all 3 available colours. Metal frames/buckles and other embellishments from the retired hodgepodge kit. Glass beads, brads and pearls from the pretties kit. 5 x whisper white envelopes. 12 sheets of the Tea Party paper size 6 x 6" (this is new and not available to customers till 1st April). 8 x A5 sheets of card to match the paper. Polka dot punches stamp set (no longer available to buy through sale a bration) and a mini catalogue. All of this in an undecorated A5 silver tin. OK apart from the stamp set as it won't fit.

Ok to get your little mits on this lot you will need to leave a comment and tell me. If you where 10 again (I know we can dream) how would you like to celebrate it?

Also If you have a blog can you pop a link on to lead back here. The more the merrier as mum always says ;-)

I will choose a winner on the 1st April. If I can work out the random generator other wise it will be out of the bag. OK I am blonde what can I say, lol.

Blog candy winner

I have tried all morning to upload the winner of the blog candy. And the winner is..........

comment number 6 Aunty Sue

Here is her comment "Hi and Happy Birthday to your son. Well if i was 10 and can think back that long all of 40 years. I would have a night at the pictures with my girlie friends then go to pizza hut for our tea at the trafford centre where there is lots of yummy shops. Off to post a link to your blog from mine."

So if you can email me your address to melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com I will get them in the post to you.

We haven't decided yet on what we are doing at the weekend but it does look like we will be going to ruff and tumble at some point. He would like to take his friend with him who is a girl. Nope its not a girlfriend as such but someone he just cares about. His words not mine, lol. Oh what its like to be 10 again.

Well must crack on as I have a class to prepair for and a birthday card or two to make.

Mother's Day!

Hope all you mum's out there had a faberooney day yesterday, I know I did. My kids bought me some rubber stamps although they never knew till yesterday, lol.

Anyway I would like to share a project I made for my mum. she is nearly 80 and is very fit and active for her age. I think that is what keeps her so young.

This is a Tote that I purchased through Here. Her tutorials are fabulous. I did have to enlarge some of the measurements to fit our A6 cards. I used cardstock rather than designer paper. I also used one of the background stamps to make my card look like designer paper. This one I used the paisley stamp.

Onto the cards.

For these cards I used the Tea and crumpets designer paper. The stamp set is birthday best. This is one of the cheaper sets from Stampin' Up! but the quality is fabulous all the same. I have used pretty in pink, and always artichoke cardstock.

Again I have used tea and crumpets DSP. Chocolate chip cardstock and Always artichoke. The stamp set is Crazy for cupcakes. I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to just stamp two lots of the cupcakes, side by side. This really is a great piece of kit. I have embellished it with chocolate chip and pretty in pink taffeta ribbon. You get heaps on a reel for only £5.50

This last one is using the same DSP. Chocolate chip and So Saffron cardstock. The stamp sets used where again Crazy for Cupcakes (my all time favourite) and the hostess stamp set Best yet. This is available for free if you order products of £150 or more. Obviously the more you order the higher the free merchandise you would also be allowed to get for FREE! If you want to know please get in touch.

Just a little update on my brother. He had a heart attack last Thursday and was taken to hospital. They have since unblocked the artery that has caused the problem. Hopefully he may of been sent home late yesterday but as its a tad too early to ring him, I don't know if he has yet. He seems to be in high spirits considering everything he is going through. Thanks again for all your well wishes, they do mean a lot.

**Update**

Thank you to eveyone who has sent some lovely emails and also replies to the posts. Just want to do a quick update on my big bro. He has been diagnosed with mesiothelioma which is a rare cancer. It is caused by working with asbestos years ago. Not many people know much about the disease but from experiance its not nice at all. Fibres can get into your tissue and grow and turn into cancer, not sure how but it can take 20-30 years to come out. Some people lead a horrible life after diagnosis. He has yet to visit the top man to see if there is any treatment but I know when my father had it, there was nothing they could do as it was too far advanced, but that was 12 years ago. So I am hoping as medicine has come along way since then. That there is hope of treatment.

Well I am trying ever so hard to get back into things. I have just received a delivery of a couple of new sets from the new mini, plus the new mini books have arrived too. So I going to try and create something.

I am also working on putting some nice blog candy together for some very lucky person. So keep watching.

Where oh where is my mojo?????

Ever had one of those weeks when your mojo just goes. Well I am having one of those weeks. In fact I have never felt on top form since we came back from Scotland a few weeks ago. Sadly when we came back, we had some bad news that my BIG brother was in hospital, really poorly. Anyway to cut a long story short he has been diagnosed with cancer as he has tumours in his stomach. They have taken some biopsy's last week but we are still waiting on the results. He has gone down dramatically since Christmas. Loosing a lot of weight. Hopefully when he gets the results they can then start on some treatment but the doctors are hush hush until they get these results back as to what type of cancer it is. As he worked with asbestos years ago, we are almost sure its got to do with this. But nothing has been confirmed as yet.

My mum has been really down and I really feel for her and I am trying to stay strong and focused for her, just in case she needs me. Please keep them in your prayers.

So this is why I haven't been posting very much the last couple of months. I am trying to get back into everything but its just so hard to concentrate on anything else.

So if anyone see's my mojo on their travels please send it back home as I really could do with the therapy of crafting right now.

Another Stampin' Up! OFFER

Have you ever wanted cheaper craft goodies?

OR

Have you ever thought about running a crafting business?

Well this month Stampin' Up! are having special on their starter kits. If you sign up to become a demo between 12th-25th March you would get the starter kit for just £125 instead of £139.

Don't worry if doing demo's are not your thing, or even doing parties in peoples homes You can still be a demo but what we call a hobby demo. If you would like to know more about this please email me melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com and I will give you more details.

Here is the flyer.

Just look at all you get for £125, All this retails at over £240 (this is including all the business supplies too).