Linny, Tuck...

(and ming ming too)

OK there isnt a Ming Ming, but here are Linny and Tuck, our precious little baby guinea pigs!

They spent their first night in their new home. The are still quiet frigtened but I am trying to leave them alone as much as I can, which a few strokes and tickles thrown in for good measure. They have been eating, pooing and peeing so thats a good sign. Harvey loves them and Caiden giggles when he sees them.

1 year and 5 days.... we have lift off!

Caiden just took his first steps from the sofa to me, only about 4 steps, but since he did that he has done it several times. He has been so close recently, and just this past week just standing there and not holding onto anything, and its such a shame he couldnt have done it two days ago infront of his grandma and grumps! Oh well, he had a plan, he knew today was the day.

My clever little man. If I catch it on video I will share the link.

Catching up on a few things...

OK were back. Not a great start, unfortunately when I walked through the door, looked upstairs I noticed the fish tank was cloudy. I went up, took the lid off and PHEWY..... 2 dead fish and a very smelly tank and 2 poorly fish left. So I had to quickly clean that up [ ok wasnt that quick as I had to empty it using a jug] and sent the dead fish to the big U bend in the sky. The 2 poorly ones have made a full recovery and are happy swimming in the clean (and unsmelly) water.

Today, I decided I needed to add two new members of the family.... Hmmm.. one would think, OK 2 dead fish, means 2 new fish?! Yeah, that would be the logical thing to do.... but nope, I was thinking cuter and cuddlier than fish.... and we are pleased to welcome. LINNY AND TUCK to the Counsell family.... those with young kids will recognise the names as two of the WONDERPETS! Yeah, we have named our two little guinea pigs after a guinea pig and a turtle! Ha ha They are cute as can be, I have always loved guinea pigs, these are two little boars, only about 7 weeks old.... Linny is white with black and tan, Tuck is black and white. When they have settled in I will share a photo. I just wanna hug them all the time, but I am being "adult" and am letting them settle in although its killing me!

Our holiday was fab, my in laws did everything, all the cooking, washing up ect, which was lovely of them, but it makes it all the harder to come back. It was hard work in that the place is totally NOT child friendly. Harvey was fine, but Caiden who LOVES water and crawls/cruses everywhere didnt understand why Mummy and Daddy were constantly dragging him away from the swimming pool. And Mummy and Daddy didnt understand why he WOULD NOT play in the paddling pool that Grandma and Grumps had specially set up for him! kids eh?

I managed to do some stamping. I took my Stampendous Monkey stamps and my bella stamps. I have to admit, as much as I love the bellas and I do! I just wasnt in a bella mood really. Bellas require background papers, primas, jewels and more... of course I was limited in the supplies I could take with me, so I didnt have any of that with me. So my Monkeys got used and I made some cute cards.

I LOVE this card. It wasnt my idea to put the monkey in a grass skirt, thats Stampendous that did that, but how cute is he?

I love the sunset and the orange card. This was so easy to make and fun all the way.

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Family Pics

Here are a few family pictures. Most days were spent in the pool, we didnt need to leave Darrens parents place. It was lovely.

My Baby boy Caiden celebrated his first birthday in Spain on 15th June. We had a little tea party to celebrate with lots of cakes and yummy things to eat.

We went to the park one evening. Harvey spotted a ride on car and we put both boys on it. Got some cute pictures of them together.












I will add more photos later. I dont want to loose all this info and its doing me head in how when you add the photos it jiggles and text about and you have to keep editing it!! ARGH!!

One thing, UK people, if you want these monkeys contact the Glitter Pot on http://www.theglitterpot.co.uk/ and tell them I sent you! They dont stock all of them, BUT they will certainly add to their order. Once again, please do tell them I sent ya!

Greetings from Sunny Spain!!

This is just a quicky as I have left Darren and Caiden on the beach. Just popped into the internet cafe to say Hello, having a wonderful time and will be coming back to rainy england tomorrow.

Lots of pictures to share, holiday snaps AND cards I made

Hugs
Caz

Hey hey were the Monkeys!!

OK, I lied, I am here :) LOL I found some time and I am soooo excited about my newest arrivals I just had to share. I have always had a soft spot for our little primate cousins and Stampendous have brought out a cute range of Monkeys called Changito! You can see some cards made using these on Beates blog (see my fav blogs for the links) You can see the designs at http://www.stampendous.com/newfdr/407changito.html and you if you are in the UK can purchase these from www.theglitterpot.co.uk where they have 4 of the cutests monkeys in stock now! So give them a call and tell them that Caz sent you :)

Anyway, I have 4 of our chirpy chimps coming to me and I am taking them to Spain for some fun in the sun with my Bellas :) and yes I do have hubbys blessings on taking my craft stuff :) Shame we have to take so many clothes isnt it?? [grin]

Better say Cherio now...

We are off to sunny Spain Sunday and I have two very busy days infront of me packing and getting ready for off! Packing for 4 people and trying to cram in some crafting items as well :) So I doubt I will have any blogging time.

See you on 17th we're not gone for long! I'll miss the blogging, emails and internet but I hope I can get some card bits made, I ovbiously cant take everything so will probably just colour some images and make some elements for my cards so I can complete them when back here ;)

Happy Stamping
Caz

Death of a coconut!

BEFORE AFTER AFTER SIDE VIEW

Caiden has always had a big mop of hair, when he was born it was auburn and sticking up so much his nanny called him "coconut". Since then his hair was straight and down but it always has been very long..... that was until hubby got the clippers out last night and gave him a number 5! This picture makes him look bald, he has got hair, honest.

So, my little mop head has gone and I have a real little rebel on my hands!! He still looks cute as can be, but now there is mischief in those eyes.

Here is my Stamping Chirping Corner

I thought I would share photos of my corner. Well actually its 4 corners as its a whole room. I have mixed feelings on this one.... i LOVE LOVE LOVE having the room, BUT and its a BIG BUT, we live in a three bedroomed house, me, hubby and two boys. Currently the boys are seperate as Caiden is still in with me, but the plan is for the boys to share for a few years yet, by which time I hope to have got a shed installed in the garden for my crafting. I know my heart will break the day I loose my room, but it will come, just have to not get too cosy in there.

Click on Pictures to see them larger First picture is my bookcase, cricut carts, cuttlebug, ribbons, snap stamps and lots of stamps and other bits.

This picture is of my desk. As you can see I like things to hand so there isnt much room to actually work. I have a paper spinner on which I keep folded cards, bazzill scrap packs. To the left of the desk is a plastic container is which I throw scraps of card/paper. In front of me is my stamping shelves. All favourite, new and other stamps I just dont get the time to put away live there. I have today got a new shelf!! This has my primas, bella box, clear stamp sets and other bits. Also on table are pots with pencils, pens, rulers and all other bits I regularly use.

This is my cricut table and 12 x 12 racking. I am terrible at keeping my papers tidy in this rack and really havent worked out a good system using this yet!

This is my second bookcase. On here I have my SU sets, storage for fibres, tag maker discs, fastenator staples and loads more stuff. This is the messier side of the room :)

These are the drawers my stamps are mostly kept in. They need a really good sort out, some are in a big ol' mess.

So thats it. That's where I create my messes and masterpieces :) LOL Mostly messes though! I hope you have enjoyed having a nosey round :) Oh BTW the room was decorated for kids, I would love to decorate but not sure it is worth it and will make leaving even harder!

Purrfect Fluffles

I love Fluffles the cat, today was a time to revisit a few things including my furry friend. The other was my scalloped scissors. I long ago gave or threw all my decorative scissors away but since scallops are "in" I had to go out today and buy another pair! So I felt like making a card and using the scissors and saw my little fluffles stamp sitting on my stamp rack that is infront of me on my desk. I also purchased this weekend a Sizzix pad and new cuttlebug folder so I managed to work these into the card as well.

OK so I need more practise with the spacing on the scallops but I was kinda pleased with how this card turned out.

Spit it out!

What a beautiful morning it is :)

Had a fantastic day yesterday, went to worthing beach for the day with Harvey, Caiden, my friend Karen and Harveys friend Adam and his little sister Isobella. We all jumped in Karens people carried and set off at about 11am, we had a lovely time on the beach, Harvey paddled, I did for a little while but the water was soooo cold! I spent the rest of the time telling Caiden "spit it out" ..... Hmmm pebble beaches and almost one year olds do not mix! He must have sucked every pebble in a one foot radious!

We got back home just gone 5pm. Then it was a rush for me to get ready for an evening out with the girls. It was a "old Barny" meeting a bunch of talented Tutors who I used to work with at the Craft Barn. Corinne, Annie, Julie, Carol, Laine, Jane, Kim and Myself. We had a lovely time, chatting eating and laughing. Annie is leaving to live in Guernsey, we all wish her a fantastic life out there! There was much talk of meeting out there, B&B and crafting, this would of course be fantastic, watch this space....

On a totally different note, but going back to snap stamps a lady called Mary on the message board was willing to sell me her set. But another lady called "brooksmini" emailed me and told me that www.capturethemagic.biz had then in stock and the best thing is they are in the UK so that will save me the postage. So I emailed Mary, explained the situation, I told her if she still wanted to sell them then to post on the cricut shopping forum as I know there are lots of people in the USA wanting them. Anyway, I ordered my set from CTM and hope to ge them next week. So any UK peeps wanting them I suggest running over to CTM and ordering them now, their stocks are quiet good at present but I suspect there will me a rush for them soon! Oh and I "hope" to get something made with them this weekend, but its a busy one. More about that later.

Have a fantastic day everyone! Make the most of that sunshine. Caz

Mini Challenge sign up CLOSED

OK we have more players than I said, if thats OK by all of you thats OK by me.



Players are :



Samm
Shell
Katrina
Kim
Est
and Me



I need you all to email me your addresses - to stampingcaz@aol.com and I will sort the materials out this weekend. If anyone wants to drop out because they dont want it to be so big let me know and I will take your name off. I will be sending a stamped image, paper and maybe some ribbon and other bits... Its going to be fun! Once you have completed your card you will need to scan it and email to me, where possible if you have a blog post it on the blog also so I can link them all to my blog so people can enjoy seeing what WE have done.

Snap stamps are here

OK, I get a bit obsessed with things, and once I decide I want something I cant rest until I do! LOL after seeing and hearing about these stamps on Beates blog I just could wait to get them, one problem though was that they have been discontinued by Karen Foster Designs. Why, I dont know.... maybe they were just slow to take off, but I hear a lot of people are trying to find them. So with much searching, a lot of help of my friends on the Cricut website forum I managed to trace 3 of the 4 in the casual font. They came yesterday and I cant wait to get some time to use them.

Here is a picture of them, they are in plastic cases, that "snap" together so you can.... [cue second picture] Create...

How fantastic is that?? :-D

So I am still on a mission to get the MEDIUM CASUAL snaps.... I have had a lady PM me off the board saying she "thinks" she has the said set and she will sell to me...... I will let you know how that goes.

So I hope to get to play with these this weekend, and if I do I will be sure to share.