New Flat!

Well im here in Bristol, all alone *sob* and ready to start my new job. It's so weird being this alone though. It'll be better once i know the place and i've made some friends but right now? I kinda wish I was back home in Brum - especially after the saga of moving in.

Last week I phoned and asked them to confirm all the paperwork was sorted and everything was ok to move on monday (today) - yes not a problem they said. Then yesterday morning, I get a phonecall when we're half way to Bristol saying that I can't move in because they havent recieved my job reference! ummm pardon?!?! so I phoned my new manager to be and asked her about it - slightly hysterical by this point - and she assured me it had been sent but that she'd get a secondary copy faxed over asap. Duly done, the estate agents phoned back and said that the completion could go ahead. Great! Then I get here and discover that teh sofa, which was broken when we viewed the property and asked to be replaced before I moved in, was still here and still broken! Pardon? seriously what was I paying the agency £275 in fees for? they don't appear to have done anything. Anyway - after a phonecall or two, the new sofa is being delivered on Thursday for me, but until then i'm stuck using my computer chair or the seats at the table (not the most comfortable of things). Ugh! But having said all that, I do know that this is a step in the right direction, however strange its feels and however much of a nightmare today has been! So I thought sharing might help my blood pressure and stop me feeling quite so alone- so here's my flat!

Hallway, yeah - nothing unusual

Bathroom - isn't it pretty?

Bedroom - Double bed, wow! been a while since i've had one of them.

Lounge - The evil broken Sofa!

Kitchen - Not  a bad little space, I just need to learn how to use an electric oven!

So thanks for listening to me rant and I hope you've all had a good day. Take care! xx

My NEC Goodies

The NEC yesterday was packed! I swear I am one solid bruise from all the elbowing and ramming! not impressed! *sigh* but other than that? great fun! well, with the exception of the seriously limited budget :0( but that is what happens when you have to move and spend hundereds of pounds on stuff to live lol!

But anyhoo - I took £70 and spent it all very easily as you can imagine - so this is what I got:

25 Promarkers - the two sets designed specifically for stamping plus the skin tones set (skin tones curtosy of my brother whose set I had been stealing - he phoned when I was debating which ones to buy as I couldn't afford all 3 sets, so he asked mum to pay for the skin tones at the show and he gave the cash back to her when we got home - isn't he the sweetest? he said it was my housewarming present! hahaha! )

Five 12"x12" papers for a £1 - no real reason for them except they're pretty

Blank cardstock - slightly bigger than I normally use but it's all about change :0) 4 rolls of double sided tape and a new glue roller and refills

A box of boxes - bargin at a fiver! and 2 packets of candy pips (or whatever it is you want to call them)

2 LOTV stamps and 2 of the new Tildas - but as you can see, no moose stamp *cries* I went to collect it and they had the envelope with it in and when the sales rep opened it for me to check he realised that someone had packed the wrong stamp!!!! it was Tilda's sheep instead. He was very apologetic and promised to get the moose stamp sent a.s.a.p to my home address and as a gesture of goodwill he did the new Tilda's at £5 each.

House Mouse Decoupage - I had so much trouble choosing just one set of these, I wanted all of them!

So that's it! doesn't look a lot when I see it all in 1 bag and wonder where the money went but i'll have great fun playing with it all once i'm settled in Bristol.

Hope you're all well this weekend, don't forget to change your clocks this evening! Not sure when i'll be around to post now - hopefully Monday evening once i'm moved in, but thats pending the internet working so keep your fingers crossed!

Take care and Happy Crafting all! x

Look What Mummy Made!

I'd love to say I made these little fellows but I can't knit to save my life! lol! Mum's made these a couple of times before, I just failed to get photo's until now.

Their bellies are made to fit over a Cadbury's Cream Egg - which also gives it the stability to stand.

We have a whole army of these marching off to a fundraising easter luncheon on Saturday. They sell for about £1.50 and all the money goes to the church fund - as mum never claims the money for anything back- for whichever project is nominated this year.

In other worldly news - it's 6 days and counting until my move to Bristol! Eeeek! The house currently looks like i've raided a cookware store and Argos lol! But I have 2 fab things to do before I move: Firstly mum and I are off to the NEC on friday for the Hobbycraft show and then Secondly, on Saturday; mum, me, my best friend and her mum are going to see Les Miserables! I cannot tell you how excited I am! *starts bouncing round the room*

Oooh well - back to the packing: newest dilema - what Jewellery should I take with me, then which shoes before finally - how can I sneak my entire dvd collection into the boxes?

Hope you're all well! take care and happy crafting!

Mother's Day

Well I actually managed to get my Mother's Day Card made, although i'm still too tired to feel inspired so I hope it's alright.

I used the bunny image from Penny Black's Garden Friends set and I coloured it using Promarkers and Whisper Pens. The Mothers Day sentiment paper I printed off my lappy and the pattern paper (including the flowers) is from my K&Co pad - I think its Citronella.

Thanks for looking!  xx

Update on life!

Hiya!

Oh i'm back - it's been mad since I got the job offer last week - I don't know if i've been coming or going or just been..... but I think *fingers crossed* that everythings settling down again now. I've not got any crafting done as I just haven't been around - lets see, the job offer came in tuesday afternoon, then wednesday I was at the museum working and in the evening I went to see Sleeping Beauty - the ballet with mum (the tickets were her birthday present from one of my brothers). Thursday I was at work in Wolverhampton and then on friday I started making arrangements to view flats in Bristol for the following monday, then saturday I went to see Alice in Wonderland at the Imax - it was incredible! and sunday was church and then various other chores, errands and tasks that needed doing, mainly ironing!

Monday saw my parents and I back in Bristol looking at flats and lets just say, it was the day from hell! other than the fact that renting is so expensive in and around the city centre (which is kind of a given) you don't actually get anything for your money! I was looking at bedsits in Clifton - a good 40 minutes walk from where i'll be working - and they were just short of £600/month! for 1 room with a shower room off it!!!! ok now I know I can be a snob at times but seriously?!? *shudders at the memory* other places we looked at just made my skin crawl, I lived in better digs as a student! So finally we found somewhere, which was just outside the original amount I wanted to pay per month but its really nice and only 10 minutes from where i'll be working - after about 6 hours of non stop hunting. Then we get to the joys of council tax - I feel for anyone living in Bristol - I thought Birmingham was bad on its council tax but in comparison its pittance! *sigh* it must be paid though....So the end result? well the landlord excepted my request yesterday and we sent off the deposit and agency fees to secure it straight after (nearly £900 in total - ouch!) and its all now pending on credit checks and references to see if I get it..... *prays nothing goes wrong*.

Thus, I have not been around- or more realistically in any fit state- to craft so forgive me! I need to make mum's mothers day card so thats the plan for today and then I have a few others I could do with getting sorted to have on hand for next month as I don't know how much crafting i'll get done in the first couple of weeks after I move to Bristol, but my mojo has gone walkies so this could be easier said then done.

Anyhoo, other than the fact I will have no money for the forseeable future to buy new crafting goodies thats the update on things to date! Hope all are well - I think i've caught up on everyones blogs now - lovely cards all round!

Take care and happy crafting!

xxx

I have a job! sort of.... well i'm off to Bristol anyway!

Woop! I have a job - with English Heritage no less, but i just don't know what it is - ok i'm not going mad, I promise! it's just that the job I applied for is mine, but the senior role has also come up and they want me to apply for it - cool! but what it means is that I have no idea when I start....

So, I'm working for English Heritage and I'm moving to Bristol but I don't know for which job or when.

I have one sentiment for all of this - *eek* - I'm excited but scared witless and I'm all of a fluster but I just had to share xx