Twisted Towers

Oh look...!!

2011-09-01T17:44:00.001+01:00

It‘s the 1st of September and look what we‘ve got after days of freezing cold and wet... BLUE SKIES! SUNSHINE. YEY :)

Last few days of the summer holidays and it‘s lovely out there. Might as well, because - let‘s face it - the summer‘s been rubbish, all in all. Last year we spent loads of time on different beaches, in the pool, having bbq's and so on... This year... well, let‘s not even go there. We've been lucky to have gotten a few sunny days. It wasn't hot neither, was it? Would‘ve expected more, a lot more (temperature and sunshine wise), from August.

But there we go, in typical British manner, we moan about the weather no matter what.

Just for the record though: Dear Summer, I am VERY disappointed. Love, me.

~x~

And the sky is blue...

2011-06-09T20:59:00.001+01:00

There was this talk of a heatwave... Well, we did get a few lovely days but I wouldn't call that a heatwave. Still waiting for that one...

Not much else to report from TwistedTowers. We had visitors from different parts of the world, we went to see POTC4 and loved it and we re-landscaped (is that a word???) the garden.

Now we just need the matching weather to enjoy it.

In other news, pink treble clusters are the latest rage.... and I'm still working on monster world domination (disguised as summer fair muahahahaha) - all looking good :-)

Yep, life‘s good :-)

Enjoy.

Ttfn

~x~

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T19:56:00.001+01:00

We are having a lovely Easter here chez Twisted Towers :-) The easter bunny has been VERY good to us and the weather is just fab! So most of the day was spent outdoors. We even managed to be a little creative :-) Now it's nearing wine o'clock so I shall crack open that little Easter treat that came with the hamper I won at work :-) This is the life... ~x~

This is the life...

2011-04-17T22:56:00.001+01:00

WOW! How amazing is the weather? It's not even easter and we're sat out till late, it's absolutely gorgeous and warm and we had the first bbq of the year :-) With hopefully loads more to follow :-) Girlie night in with comedy central on tv and sleep overs happening upstairs. We're quite popular chez Twisted Towers lol. Anyway... let the sunshine last! We're off for a fortnight! Yey :-) ~x~

Supermoon

2011-03-20T21:53:00.001Z

I didn't realise we had a supermoon last night until I read a tweet about it... How could that happen? How could I not notice? I love all things moon. Tut. Anyway, thanks to twitter I didn't miss it. Well, then again, that massive moon was hard to miss lol. Went outside and took a few pics which didn't turn out as good as I had hoped but never mind. Watched the moon rise for a while with the small twisted towers residents - mr twisted towers is working nights at the mo - amazing! ~x~

That Friday feeling

2011-03-04T20:19:00.001Z

This week dragged on forever. It seemed like the days would never end, yet the nights were way too short. I just felt so tired... Luckily, workwise it was quite a good week with a few giggles, some carry on, lights on but no one in and practice for our play that went really well :-) And then - at long last - Friday arrived! And what a lovely day i've had so far :-) plant pot for half an hour then I got deployed elsewhere... Ended up playing out with the bluebells and even got a cake in the end. I love my job! Now for a little relaxation and this... :-) ~x~

Pigs

2011-02-25T19:08:00.001Z

Over half term we had some holiday makers staying chez Twisted Towers :-) Bubbles and ... no not squeak lol... Smudge the guinea pigs :-) They seem to enjoy their stay and we hope they come back soon.

I knitted my man!!

2010-02-17T20:54:00.005Z

It all started a while back... One day I took one of the Happy Muffins to work and it was a hit with the children (well... how could it not be???? I mean... a MUFFIN!!! A HAPPY muffin!!!) We used it in Literacy, we used it in Numeracy (choc chips on muffins are great to explain division, you know), we used it in art... the possibilities were endless. Still are... except for... I'm supporting one child now rather than a group... and the muffin didn't work for this one. So, I came up with Plan B... a knitted Happy Cinnamon Swirl :) YUMMY!!!! Could you resist this???

Luurrvvvvly Cinnamon Swirl made of knit!!!

Well... unfortunately this didn't work either :(

Oh well...

On to Plan C then...

Child is very much into dinosaurs sooooooo... all I needed was a dinosaur made of knit!!! Off I toddled to find a pattern (read: I searched t'interweb lol)... I came across a few free patterns that were really good but ... not exactly what I wanted... Then I came across Jean Greenhowe's site and found this . PERFECT!!!!! If you don't fall in love with these guys... I don't know.

Anyway, in a matter of hours after the arrival of the pattern booklet Paul the blue dinosaur made an appearance. Soon (less than two football games later to be precise) he had two little friends to play with - cave boy and cave girl (ever so inventive with names me lol).

They were a hit with said child - hooray!! Cave girl (the one with the flower in her hair... obviously) even featured as Goldilocks and Paul was Baby Bear in our week long exploration of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

When they (Paul and the cave people) are not working, they enjoy playing games like hide and seek (preferably in my bag) and dinoslide :)

When we moved on from Goldilocks... the next story being The Gingerbread Man (run, run as fast as you can you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man... I started saying that in my sleep... I did)... I briefly considered giving cave boy the role of the Gingerbread Man. But somehow it didn't seem right. Cave Boy agreed.

And Gingerbread Sort Of Cave Man was created...

Caveman pattern turned gingerbread man... kinda thing.

Cute, eh?

I just love this caveman/people pattern!!! It's great!!! And the possibilities...

What has all that to do with having knitted my man, I hear you ask... Well, that's the thing! I used said pattern to knit my man :) A mini version obviously... but now I can put him in my pocket and take him with me any time and anywhere I want :) And he doesn't complain lol.

Can you do that with your man?

Ain't he sweet?

I do prefer the original!

But...

as I said....

... mini version can be put in pockets...

... and doesn't talk...

LOL.

(Love you, babe!)

Anyhoo... in other news... kitchens are dangerous!!! That's why I keep out of them as much as possible (and because I hate cooking lol).

And here's the proof...

A nice heart-shaped burn fittingly obtained on Valentine's Day when the grill attacked me viciously!!!

Ok... not really...

I was being clever...

... or rather not...

...sticking my hand inside the grill to get some cheese on toast out.

D'oh!! What do I keep telling the children?? The grill is still hot! You just switched it off!!!

I'll try a palm tree-shaped one in summer, eh?

Ttfn.

~x~

Still here... and still twisted ;)

2010-01-06T11:28:00.004Z

... but in a happy way :) -> Life's good!!!

Espesh when we have THIS!!!

SNOW!!! LOTS OF IT!!!!

YEY!!! :D

Not seen THIS much snow in YEARS!!!

And because of all this snow I'm off work... school's closed... which means I have time to do fun things like....

... building a snowman with the small Twisted Towers residents :)

We also discovered ...

... a MASSIVE cake complete with cherry on top :)

Courtesy of the snow :)

How cool ('xcuse the pun lol) is that???

Long may it last!!! Cake, snowman and snow in general :D I love, love, love snow!!! I might even get round to do something creative... which I have not been able to do a lot due to work, courses and running around like a headless chicken in order to get where we are now... in HAPPY Twisted Towers :)

... And 2010 is going to be even better, oh yes :)

There'll always be setbacks and things thrown our way but... we deal with those as we go along.

So, here's to a good 2010 and ... blogging!!

Missed doing this...

~x~

Still here... hanging in there... and smiling again :)

2008-08-12T11:36:00.003+01:00

Ok... been nearly a month since my last post... bad blogger and all that, I know :S I've got some sort of excuse though. Life's been a right b**ch - happens, doesn't it? A few things thrown my way, at times I felt like staying in bed... but... nah... I just muddle through (or at times just try to forget about it and party!!)... and come out the other end bigger and stronger :)

And... the good news... things are so much better now!! Stuff is being sorted, life's back on track and yes, I'm smiling again :)

Apart from cr@p being thrown my way, what have I been up to?

Well...

a few nights out...

... involving uniforms yet again lol (nope, still not got nicked)

... a few nights in...

...involving this yummy something!!!
(No, not the Happy Muffin!! The drink... Tia Maria and Orange)

... which led to some people being held hostage muahahaha
(she did that to herself!!! Wasn't me!!! lol)

Some more nights out...

... involving more uniforms :D YEY!!!

And when I wasn't partying...

I assembled my new bed :)

(gorgeous, ain't it?)

We also celebrated...

my baby girl's 10th birthday!!
- Where does the time go???-

I also discovered that the 08th of the 08th 08 can be a very lucky day... :D

And for some... and me... it deffo was!

Life's good now :)

~x~

A plate full of happiness

2008-07-16T20:04:00.003+01:00

So, there was me looking forward to a lie in today... cue firm knock on the door at 8 am!!! *Sigh* Opens the door to find a quite dishy bloke wanting to know if he could drop off a few boxes for next door at mine... Errrr yes :) Feel free :)

(Ugly bloke would have been shot! Lol)

And thanks to the dishy one and next door's boxes I didn't miss a favourite sight of mine... big red thing with flashy blue lights :D

Mmmmm nice :)

Ok, I didn't get my lie in (try again tomorrow) but at least it was a good start to the day :)

But the highlight of the day are these...

A plate full of happiness...
CUPCAKES!!!!

Ok... fine... fairy cakes... but I think cupcakes sounds cuter... so cupcakes it is in my house! Ha!

Lol.

YUMMY!!!

Quickly whipped them up just because :)

And my little helper was in charge of decorating them :)

Doesn't this sight make you feel happy?

Works for me :) ... The kids felt happier EATING them lol.

Happy Muffin surrounded by notably fewer cupcakes... Happiness galore :)

~~

And just to finish the day...

Inferno 999 double bill on Virgin1

Have seen it about 15 times but...

UNIFORMS!!!!!

AND BIG RED THINGS!!!!

You know me... ;)

~x~

How it's made... - Milk -

2008-07-09T21:57:00.003+01:00

Where does milk come from? Ask random children and you get some very 'interesting' answers... Tesco... Asda... and the sort of closest... 'cows wee milk' ...errrr... not quite. So... education disguised as fun - Year 5's end of term trip, we were off to a dairy farm :)

Now, to me that's fun :)

Having been brought up in a village, I'm a country girl at heart. I can hand milk a cow, I have worked on farms and in stables, I love all that :)

Our little 'city slickers' complained about the smell... the mud... the cow patches... well, yeah, you happen to come across all that on a farm. Lol.

They did enjoy the day on the whole though :)

And (hopefully) they learned a little.

Like, you can estimate the age of a hedge row by counting the shrub species...

... There is a lot of life in a pond...

...and cows do NOT wee milk...

... and no, the 'boy cows' (cue farmer trying to keep a straight face lol) do not provide us with milk....

... Little chicks are very cute... but YES, they DO poo as well lol.

We had a great time!

Walking up a hill...

Come on, Miss!!!!

Meeting some youngsters of the cow variety
(Cows, meet children... children, meet cows)
:)

And onwards....

... across the cow field trying to avoid these lol
(no, I don't mean the flowers ha ha)

And because it was so much fun, tomorrow it's the ice cream farm with 'my' littlies :D

Only 7 more early get ups (8 counting the INSET day) and then... 6 weeks of lie ins and late nights!!!! YEY!!!

Lol.

~x~

Spot the odd one out...?

2008-07-04T11:17:00.002+01:00

Bad blogger me... :( It's been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted... Life's been very busy and quite mad. I haven't stopped at all but I think I'm slowly getting back to 'normal' (let's just say MY kind of 'normal' lol) and life is so much better now :) There's still a lot that needs sorting but I'm getting there :)

Anyhoo... on to yummy things... Let's play a little game :)

Spot the odd one out....

Which one's the odd one out?

Look closely....

Yep, that was quite easy :) The Happy Muffin is the odd one out :)

The other two are 'just' muffins... very berry ones at that and very yummy indeed :)

And they didn't last long....

Unlike the Happy Muffin :)

It's still there, being happy :)

Makes me smile every time I walk into my living room :)

~~

It's Friday... weekend!!!!!! :D YEY!!!

Have a good one whatever you are doing :)

~x~

He's got a girlfriend!!!

2008-06-16T10:30:00.002+01:00

How did I EVER live without internet??? 4 days without and I was ready to be admitted to the funny farm!!! I am sooooo glad to be back online... PHEW!!!

But...

While staring at the Beast with no connection, we (me and my lil one, have to credit him there... it was kinda his idea...) came up with this...

Meet...

... Twirly Girly!!!! :)

The Happy Chappy has a girlfriend!!!! :) All lovely and pink... and she's called Twirly Girly (as you guessed already lol). Ain't she pretty?

~~

~x~

A brilliant night out!!! - The sequel

2008-06-09T11:32:00.005+01:00

Back in March I had a fab night out with my lovely Jen (and some people still talk about it... hmmm, wonder why ;) hee hee), remember? We had a great time until we were knocked out by Mike Tyson... oops! Well, it was about time for a repeat :) ... Not the Tyson bit though!!! I'm talking about the night out! So, last weekend I went to Jen's...

Friday night (when we finally got there... the train was about an hour late... we were parked in the middle of nowhere next to sheep and cows for ages cos of some signal problems or whatever *sigh*) we stayed in.

The children got on great... and Pokemon battles continued till late at night lol.

The girls entertained us with karaoke...

... and so did Jen and J :)

I got out of it... sort of... lol.

...let's find a song we can make Kae sing... ha ha :P

It was a few bottles of wine and a game or two of Guitar Hero later and about 3am when we went to sleep... :)

Saturday...

Our lunch :)

Moving swiftly on to...

... yummy Buck's Fizz...

... to go with...

BBQ!!!!! :D

Then it was time to get ready for our night out :)

And the now obligatory 'before' photo shoot lol.

Looking gorgeous!!! :)

First stop... Yates'...

... and more photos... cos I promised... lol.

Then we moved on...

... to places that had signs like this... hmmm.... I don't know... lol.

I even got my uniform fix :D...

...thanks to local police presence :)

(no red things about... which probably was a good thing... knowing me... hee hee...)

No, they didn't arrest us... shame!!! Ha ha ha :)
(And they didn't let us take them with us either... tsk! Lol)

We had a great time :)

Loves ya, Jen :)

And this is more or less expected of us... funny that lol... why would anyone...???
Hee hee...

Well, we couldn't disappoint, could we??

Lol.

The trip back home went without any stops next to cows, sheep or other farm animals...

...We got home, the kids got showered and then dropped off to the land of nod pretty much straight away :)

... Now roll on Bon Jovi weekend when Jen will be up this way again :D

Can't wait!!!

~x~

Colourful Yumminess :)

2008-06-04T11:18:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was one of those days... no motivation, felt a bit low... probably just needed a hug or something but nobody there... *sigh*

I needed cheering up.

So I decided the littlies and I should do something cheerful, happy and bright :)

And what better to do than play with tissue paper? It's very cheerful, it's happy and it's bright :) And I love it!!

Just to get a little bit of messy in as well, we made lovely lovely tissue paper pictures (which in the littlies' case involved LOTS of glue lol) - flowers for the girls and aliens for the boys (because 'Miss!!! Flowers are for girls!!!' There you have it lol).

My example even doubles as shot for yesterday's HS:MS prompt ~Lumpy~

Scrunched up tissue paper - deffo lumpy!! :)

Does this look like work to any of you? - Nah, to me neither :)

Colourful yumminess!!!
(and spell check says that ain't even a word... do I care? Nope!! I just made it up ha ha)

'Nother flower... I didn't do an alien because 'Miss, you're a girl, you gotta do the flowers' - Right...

~~

The day got better as it progressed, helped by lots of tissue paper, the sun shining when I got out of work and red things passing later on ;)
XXX

And I guess blasting out Scooter worked as well :)
(and if I'd turned it up to max it'd been louder than the red thing's noise ha ha - just about heard it)

Love 'Jumping All Over The World' and 'And No Matches' - the whole CD is fab!!!

~~

Feeling more cheerful led to this...

Twisted Towers' Penguin on a bag :)

How cute!!!

Did I mention, I love these bags?? Lol.

~~

Yesterday's lesson: If in need of a hug and no one around, tissue paper, Scooter and penguins work as well :)

~~

Just to finish this off (yes, she's waffling on again ha ha), here's another love quote Google threw at me :)

Thanks,Google :)

'Falling in love consists merely in
uncorking the imagination
and bottling the common sense'
Helen Rowland

Why does this make me think she likes wine... ?? :)

~~

~x~

Lucky and Happy (Chappy)

2008-06-02T10:46:00.004+01:00

Haven't played for a while... a LONG while... so this morning I ventured over to HS:MS to see what today's prompt is. Happens to be ~Lucky~ (they've been working their way through Disney characters... and at the moment it's the 101 Dalmatians).

Lucky... ok... what to do? Ah yes!!! Shamrock!!! :) How handy to have this...

Celtic Football top... which - on the badge - features a shamrock :)

Lucky for me :)

~~

And now look away, Jen!! Go somewhere else!!!

(No, I'm not being mean!! You gotta wait till Friday for this ner ner ner ner ner)

Knew you would look anyway...

:P

Here ya go then...

Especially for you :)

A brand new Happy Chappy!!!

~~

Happy Monday blogland :)

(Need more coffee... I'm still not awake...)

~x~

Better late than never...

2008-05-31T21:07:00.003+01:00

Last weekend I went here...

Home :)

(or rather got off the train here... )

because of this...

... my best mate's belated (seeing her birthday is/was in December... maybe it was a half way) birthday do
:)

And that cake is soooo her!!!!

The birthday girl :)
(The numbers on the cake are wrong... 21 she is!!!)
Love ya x

We were treated to an extra special performance...

by Col... you were great :) x

And - at long last - I got to meet someone in person I've known for ages...

Awwww... :)

Thanks for a great time, babes xx

We went back to Dons' for afters... and by the time everyone staggered to bed it was daylight (read 6am lol).

BUT (!!!) this time I can remember everything, I could still walk, wasn't sick and didn't get anywhere near any fireplaces!!! What's that all about? Well.... last time (few years back) I had Donna's 'special punch' (rocket fuel more like... bloody lethal the stuff!!!) I was knocked out cold (and yes, there are pics of that :S ... not pretty!!). She must have lost her touch though... This time the rocket fuel was lovely and fruity... and NOT lethal :) PHEW!!! (We worked out after that there was the Pernod missing... lucky for me lol).

And...

Special thanks to KEITH!!! Pickled beef crisps still make me burst out laughing!!

(You had to be there... It was hilarious!!!... Or maybe that was just me ha ha)

~x~

The black stuff...

2008-05-30T16:05:00.003+01:00

XXX

Yes, you were right, it'll feature on my blog ...

...the black stuff...

Liquorice flavoured sambuca!!!
(Sorry about the phone chargers in the background - only place with sorta decent lighting)

Who ever came up with that idea deserves a medal!!!! I LOVE the stuff!!!

And I shall have some tonight :D

Have a good Friday night whatever you are doing :D

~x~

Filler Post...

2008-05-29T17:04:00.002+01:00

While I am still waiting on some fab photos from the weekend to be sent to me, here's a little progress report on my... bedroom :)

No, not THAT kind!!! Lol.

Not so long ago I said the walls needed painting... ready for that mural I've got planned... Well, half the room is done (not helped by having to shift furniture... but getting there).

So, no mural as of yet... but it's looking good (so much better than ripped off wallpaper, eh, Jen? lol)

There's gonna be more pink... a candy coloured bedroom... yummy!!! :)

Spot the munkee...?

Yes, you can safely say, I like my teddy bears lol. And they all have a story :)

Likes it so far :)

~~

Back soon with photos from my weekend away :)

~~

~x~

Bags n stuff

2008-05-22T21:45:00.003+01:00

Let's get this out of the way first... Yes, it was a good game (I even put my i-cord down for the penalties... and knew Ronaldo would miss... too concerned about his hair ha ha). Yes, I did watch it. Yes, you won. Yes, you got the shiny trophy. Hurrah! But NO, not just in my dreams, one day WE WILL get there!! So ha! XXX

~~

On to something more creative...

... and pretty :)

So Asda now have jumped on to the 'Go Green And Save The Planet' bandwagon... good on them.

But even better for me because look what they have!!!

Jute bags!!! Likes them!!! :)

I wasn't too convinced about their choice of design though... Yeah, green heart is very nice and clever slogan wrapped around... but nah...

Doesn't this look much better??

A lovely bright flower :)

Now that makes you want to go shopping, doesn't it?

Sooo much better!!!

(Mr Asda, if you happen to pop by Twisted Towers... If you want happy shoppers who use your super duper bags, do make them pretty!!! - Or let me do it for ya lol)

And... they do make lovely gift bags (eco friendly and all that) or even presents :) At 90p for the smaller ones, bargain!!! :)

(And no, I don't work for them... yet... see what Mr Asda offers ha ha)

~~

And while the paints were out...

(not entirely true)

J, look at this!!!! Bright... happy... no blood... see, I CAN do that (on occasions lol)

'Flutterby Love'
(A present... Don't look now, Dons lol)

Gahhh! That's enough nicey nice and pretty for today!!! Lol.

My kind of nice:
There's a Happy Chappy on the needles :)
(I said 'creative' not 'drugs'!!! Lol)

I should be able to finish him on the train up to Donna's... :D

~~

And just because...

A visitor in my garden today:

Pic not Picasa'd at all; straight from the phone... not bad, eh?

~~

Ttfn

~x~

Work? Fun more like...

2008-05-21T10:20:00.005+01:00

I love my job! I love getting messy with paper, paint, glue and the occasional modroc (that was so much fun!!!).

For the second Tuesday running, we've been getting messy with something else though...

... flour, margarine, butter, sugar, eggs, choc chops, banana chips, apricots (dried ones) and a few other things...

Yep, we were baking!!! :)

Yr5s to be precise.

Cookies :)

Choc chip, banana chip, ginger nuts, flapjacks.

Millie, eat your heart out!! These kids made some very yummy cookies!!!

I was put in charge of this... by the kitchen staff... 'Don't lose the small weights! I'd have to kill you!!' ... No pressure then, eh? Lol.

(As you can see, I'm still alive. All the weights still there ha! I guarded them with my life! Little hands are very much attracted to them...)

So, after weighing their ingredients, the children went to work...

flapjack... I think... lol.

They had to follow the recipes (obviously - as you do)...

Looking good :)

Cleaning up ... (sorry about the sideways pic - blogger seems to think it's funny)

Yummy cookies baking :)

I hate cooking... but baking, now that's different! :) Like it!!

And for a change, I came out of work covered in flour and dough instead of paint, glue and glitter lol.

~~

XXX

And just for you...

Come on the Reds!!!

(Enough of that now... Lol)

XXX

~~

Off to paint some sky... wispy clouds... and stuff... lol.

Happy Wednesday, blogland :)

~x~

Chocolate, love and that red thing... ;)

2008-05-16T21:48:00.002+01:00

When's the last time I had some chocolate? I really don't know... but today called for some... friend in need and all that... So I went and got some Galaxy, my favourite!!!! (See, I was prepared to share THAT with you, hunni!!)

Since when do they do pretty inside of the outside wrapper????

Just look at this!!!!!

Chocolate coloured LOVE quote, hearts and all!!! How pretty is that???

Yes, I know it's just a choc wrapper... BUT... come on... CHOCOLATE!!! AND A LOVE QUOTE!!! AND PRETTY HEARTS!!!!

Do you really expect me to NOT get excited???

Sowwy, can't do that... lol.

And just in case you want to know... (and because I took the pic just then - 10pm - in bad light...) it reads:

'Falling into that beautiful thing called Love

(Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love.)

ATTRACTION, Flirtation, Euphoria, Doubt, The Truth

(I don't know why I want you, but I really do.)

... Here it is. That inexplicable, elemental tug. That surprising sudden feeling you've been waiting for. This is yesyesyes. This is where you find something or someone, and just fall for them. Illogically. Irresistibly. And find yourself thinking of nothing else. Because it's attraction, and the dream of love to follow, that keeps the imagination alive. It's attraction that makes life sparkle and pop and fizz...

GALAXY Never stop falling in love...'

Like it. Like it lots.

Why?

Simple.

Because I am in love.

XXX

And yes, it is ridiculous, illogical and whatever else... but it feels good :)

... And I've got chocolate

... and wine...

:)

And these...

Did I ever mention I like fire engines?

Lol.

XXX

~x~

Make 'em work for their keep

2008-05-05T21:24:00.003+01:00

The children, that is... muahahahahaha.

As operation 'Front Garden Improvement' continues, the girls were put to work wire brushing the old garden bench ready for painting.

They huffed....

... and they puffed...

... and they complained....
(note the extremely happy face of child on the left lol)

... but they got it done in the end :D

Well, done, girls!!!

After this, next door 'borrowed' them to finish painting some fence trellis. The girls were more than happy to oblige... next door's bribe was better than mine lol.

They should sleep well tonight :D

~x~

Summer is here :)

2008-05-04T14:55:00.002+01:00

What a brilliant day!!! :D

We spent most of yesterday outside Twisted Towers in the sunshine :)

We played hopscotch...

Well... the girls and I did...

... until they got bored... kids!!!

The boys meanwhile...

... had a little gamble...
(Poker... gambling for money... Twisted towers are going to get raided by law enforcement soon... *sigh*)

After all these activities I had a well earned rest (and voddies and coke) in next door's front garden, watching people and fire trucks go past :)

What a life!!! :D

My best mate popped by on the way to see Celine Dion in town (the concert; it's not like I would know people who know Ms Dion personally lol... but you never know hahaha).

Later I went out to find the tables and chairs were outside Bar Bibo!!! Hurrah!!! That can only mean one thing:

SUMMER IS HERE!!!!

So, more people watching, more voddies and coke :D

I had an absolute brilliant day - gotta love bank holiday weekends :D

~~

Today the sun is taking a little break by the looks of it... but I live in hope.... tomorrow is going to be sunny again!!!

(says she with fingers and everything else crossed... quite hard to type like this,you know)

~~

Hope you all have an equally fabby weekend :)

~x~

More Happy Chappies... is there no end???

2008-05-03T12:38:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post today... more Happy Chappies :) - the handbag dangly and the pendant... which sorta turned into a whole necklace lol.

Front...

... and back

Necklace

Close up of the actual pendant

The head would work better in shrink plastic, I think...

~~

I'm off now... there's sunshine outside :)

And my best mate is popping by in a bit :D

Happy day!!! :D

Something/one... missing though.... XXX

~~

Happy Saturday, blogland :)

~x~

Skulls and Happy Chappies

2008-05-02T11:57:00.002+01:00

Why pay more when you can do it yourself...and better?

I think we all have gathered by now that I like skulls :) And the lovely (and mad) Claire gave me this luuurvely skull stamp (by Sir Tim... oooohhhh) not so long ago... So, what to do with it?

How about this?

Cheapy George @ Asda top (I paid the pricely sum of £2 for it!!!) becomes a designer piece :D

So easy peasy to do!!

Stamp on the top with Versamark ink, heat emboss with Silver Pearl embossing powder... et voila... pirate-y skull top :D

Love it!!!

~~

And I didn't stop there... the Happy Chappy is taking over the world lol.... Ok, not quite... We were making paper dolls at work this week...

Paper Happy Chappy :)
(No, I didn't make the children make Happy Chappies... they made fairies and princesses and pirates. This one was thrown together quickly during my coffee break... I couldn't resist)

More durable than paper....

How about...

Happy Chappy made of felt?
(bits of Happy Chappy made of felt in this case... he'll be sewn up shortly)

I really like him :D

There's a Happy Chappy domino hand bag dangly drying as I type...

... and a pendant is in the making as well...

Told ya, he's taking over the world :D

(Mrs MM and 007, don't worry, I think the monkees and the Happy Chappy could work hand in hand to achieve world domination... muahahahaha)

~~

Bank holiday weekend... and the sun is shining :D ... and it's going to be a lovely quiet weekend here at Twisted Towers :D

Hurrah!!!

Have a good one :)

~x~

Jen's Happy Chappy.... and HS:MS SPS

2008-04-26T17:27:00.002+01:00

A sneaky peek... Jen's birthday present (well, part of it). I can show it because her birthday's been and gone; she's only waiting for her presents now which I am going to take down with me when I go to hers for a girly weekend :)

Happy Chappy :)
This time in acrylics on canvas... and not finished yet lol.

So far we have... Happy Chappy paintings (watercolours and acrylics), Happy Chappy cards and Happy Chappy jewellery... :)

Hmmm... Happy Chappy stuffy next? Or maybe a knitted one?

~~

Still sporadically playing along with the HS:MS prompts...

Today being Saturday means it's self portrait time...

Me...

In the words of Gabriella Cilmi (Sweet About Me) ' The world's a better place when it's upside down...' lol.

~~

There's some wine with my name on :)

Happy Saturday, blogland :)

~x~

My new tattoo... I love it!!!

2008-04-23T13:40:00.002+01:00

Here it is, my new tatt :) I love, love, love it!!!! Dai (my tatt artist) is a genius with ink and needle!!! He gets it perfect every time :)

I was prepared for a little bit of pain seeing as this one is on my chest (sort of over my heart... ummm... yeah, where else could this go? Lol), closer to bones etc. But... nope... no pain whatsoever :) Just that annoying tickle - as if little ants are marching over my skin, without biting. I kinda giggled my way through the bit closest to the collar bone as that was the most tickling bit (yeah, I know... weird lol).

Soooo.... what'cha think?

Isn't it beautiful?

XXX

You might notice... no bling!!!!
Had to take off my chains (and keep them off while it's healing) - I'm half-naked!!!! Lol.

I've already spoken to Dai in short about the wolf's head I want on my right arm... He's got some designs at home and I have mine in my head... and together we'll come up with something really fab :)

Then there's the pirate skull I want somewhere as well...

And the slipped halo... (yes, Kat, I'm gonna get it done, don't worry!!)

Better start saving, eh?

Happy Wednesday, blogland :)

~x~

Penguin goes cropping

2008-04-21T11:47:00.004+01:00

Saturday - like every 3rd Saturday a month - it was time for the Altrincham crop again :) Lots of chocolate (even more this time round cos we had a few birthdays to celebrate) and lots of laughs and giggles - Sue, I'm still laughing just thinking back :D ... No idea what had us in fits but it was funny!!!!

I managed to stab myself TWICE... paper crafts are a dangerous past time, you know... lol.

Penguin came along, too... He's getting out and about quite a bit... Next he wants to come on a night out... Hmmmm... will have to see about that one!! (Are penguins allowed in pubs???)

Anyway, the lovely (and mad) Claire made each and every one of us a little present...

What's this??
Penguins are curious little things...

He opened the very pretty bag and found....

CHOCOLATES!!!!

And a SKULL STAMP!!!!!!! (Thank you, Claire!!!!!!)

The penguin wasn't too interested in the skull... but the chocolates....

Ok, I'm having these... and that one as well... What'cha mean, you want some???

Forget about that!!!

I'm taking the lot!!!

Well earned tea break... :)

So yes, we all had a really really fabby time :) Including the penguin lol.

Can't wait for next month!!!

~~

After all the giggles and chocolate, I went out on a high Saturday night :)

Had a great night :)

Thanks, Martin... :)

(No pics this time... might be a good thing that ha ha)

~~

Just to finish this off... a couple of more or less random shots... (no, not the alcoholic kind... did that Saturday lol)

Pwetty tulip I got last night... don't ask lol... I come across the weirdest people at times.

A close up of a commissioned jewellery set...

Very girly and pwetty :)

~~

Can't wait for Wednesday!!!! Finally getting my tattoo done :)

Woo hoo!!!!

~~

XXX

~~

Ok, better go and get some stuff done now... after another coffee lol.

I don't do Mondays... very much...

Ha ha.

~x~

Road Trip

2008-04-16T20:05:00.006+01:00

Penguins like going for a ride... they do... uh uh :)

Perfect size for a penguin... could be a little more comfy though...

And where did we go?

Exiting places...

Like a garden centre...

LOL.

The penguin liked it a lot and we had a little sing-a-long in the car... the penguin has a much better singing voice than me... damn and blast!!! Lol.

I can see, we will have lots of fun together :)

~~

I haven't shared a quote for a couple of days...

Let's have one now :)

'Inside the heart of each and everyone of us
there is a longing to be understood
by someone who really cares.
When a person is understood,
he or she can put up
with almost anything in the world.'

Rev Ed Hird

Uh uh... 'tis true.

And I am very glad to have friends and such who do understand me - or at least pretend to at times lol.

Can even put up with penguins stealing my sanity ha ha :)

Loves ya loads!!

Dons, Jen... you know who you are XXX

~x~

One by one the penguins are stealing my sanity

2008-04-15T18:12:00.004+01:00

Gotta blame someone... so why not penguins??

Ok... before you start, Jen... not much sanity left anyway lol... but it's the penguins that are stealing the last bit of it...

Look....

Penguin...

It appeared here at Twisted Towers today...

HELP!!!

Ok... fine... it hasn't got feet... yet.
(Working on those... come on, I have a day job as well lol)

I like penguins... and who needs sanity anyway??

I think Twisted Towers need more of 'em... =)

~~

Remember the little happy chappy? The one who ripped his little heart out to give it to someone...

Well, there are some more of them...

I miss you so bad it hurts... Do you know that feeling???

Please, can I have a hug?

Yes, I do...

XXX

(Jen, the card you ordered will be on its way tomorrow =) )

~~

Penguins and work kept me away from 'tinterweb pretty much all day...

Must catch up now!!

... And get those penguin feet done... not a pretty sight, penguin weebling and wobbling all over the place, I can tell ya...

Glass of wine for me tonight, me thinks =)

~x~

The bunny is dead... and O.M.G. look what's back!!!

2008-04-14T10:21:00.003+01:00

Sunday morning... Time for the breakfast for Champions =)

I fetched the purple bunny made of white chocolate with the cute face from its hiding place...

... and without further ado... killed it!!!

Muahahahaha

(Ok, so that's a lie... the children shared it Saturday night... but let's just pretend that didn't happen... for the sake of a story lol... and I did get a tiny piece of it...)

Yummy!! White chocolate... and dead bunny....

But.... hang on....

What's THIS????

I know that paw!!!!!

And I know those button eyes!!!!

Hands off my chocolate!!!!!

You have been caught, DottyBunny!!!!

I managed to wrestle the remains of the dead purple bunny made of white chocolate now without a cute face out of DottyBunny's greedy little paws! I mean, isn't that some sort of cannibalism really?? Never mind the chocolate... but a bunny eating a bunny????

Welcome to Twisted Towers, eh?

Ha ha ha ha.

Anyhoo, DottyBunny still isn't speaking to me and I'm slightly worried because she's giving me this look... I think I better watch my back... Uh oh....

~~

Speaking of being worried... Earlier this morning I spotted THIS...

LEG WARMERS!!!!!

Neon coloured leg warmers at that!!!!!

OH. EM. GEE.!!!

Now, I don't know if I should be worried or happy about a return of the 80s.... Really not sure on that one....

Yeah, I did have the leg warmers back then... and all the other clothes and accessories....as you did...

And I do have the pictures to prove it...

... which I am NOT going to share because they make me cringe!!!

So, do we really need a return of all that??? And more cringeworthy pictures????

Please do shoot me if I ever even think about buying another rara skirt!!!

They do NOT look good!!

No-o!!

~~

Happy Monday, people of blogland =)

~x~

Breakfast for Champions (says Mrs MM)

2008-04-12T14:28:00.005+01:00

I always knew Mrs MonkeeMaker is a very clever woman. And if there ever was proof needed, she's provided it on her blog. Breakfast for champions... CHOCOLATE!!!! Of course!!! =)

Too bad I read her blog AFTER I had my breakfast...

Hmmm... I guess I can have the breakfast for champions tomorrow, can't I?

How about this little guy... looks good enough to eat...

Purple bunny...

Purple bunny made of white chocolate... YUM!!!

Purple bunny made of white chocolate with a very cute face....

... Kinda puts me off killing him, that cute face.... But then again, I am becoming an expert in killing bunnies (muahahahaha)....

... and THIS bunny doesn't have a monkee protector.

And it won't have one tomorrow because I am keeping it well hidden from Munkee, SockThingy, SockVoodooDoll, the spiders, DottyBunny and any other creatures that might take it upon them to save the purple bunny's life.

Muahahaha, it's mine!! All mine!!!

(And I probably feel sick after eating it...)

~~

Evidence of a very rare event here at Twisted Towers...

...my children playing together... NICELY!!... ALL of them!!!

I just had to capture that for the record lol.

But... POKER???? ... *sigh*

~~

At long last, Mr Fireman got his birthday card... so I can show it here now as well.

He likes it, laughed and didn't kill me for making him look like this...

Lol.

~~

Right, better go and get myself some wine for tonight =)

Rubbish tv and wine...

... and maybe a virtual party...

... what a way to spend Saturday night =)

Enjoy yours =)

~x~

HS:MS Alert... and more quotes (blame Jen for that ha ha ha)

2008-04-11T11:32:00.003+01:00

No idea how long this will last... but here I am AGAIN!!!! Lol. And not only that, no... after gawd knows how long, I've got a shot for the HS:MS daily prompt!! I know... amazing lol. But that's me =) Ha ha ha.

Anyway, today's prompt is ~Recycle~...

... and that's what I give you... recycled paper bag... lol.

I am so clever at times lol.
(No, I am not being serious here... got my daft head on today =) Now that should be fun tonight...)

If you are fed up of all the quotes do NOT read on...

... because today I have 2(yes, TWO!!!) to share =)

*Listens out for the sound of running feet*

Right, I guess you like quotes, too... you're still here =)

The first one is another love quote (gotta love Google for giving me those every day ha!), quite a beautiful one at that...

"Love is when you look into someone's eyes and go all the way inside, to their soul and you both know... instantly."
Angela Chase
'My So Called Life'

Really like this one =) Probably because I have a 'thing' about eyes (noooo!!! Not in the poke-them-out way!!! I'm not THAT bad lol); they are usually the first thing I notice.

... When meeting people obviously!! I know, I have a twisted mind... but even I don't have eyeballs in a jar on a shelf!!... Then again... hmmmm... there's an idea....

Ok, ok... still not going to poke them out!! Not in real life anyway ha ha ha =P

The next quote is especially for Jen and Dons...

"When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness - and call it love - true love."
Robert Fulgham

Here's to 'mutually satisfying weirdness'!!! Love ya!!!!

Will I be back here tomorrow? Who knows... =)

Anyhoo, have a great weekend whatever you are doing =)

~x~

2008-04-10T10:27:00.005+01:00

Hmmm... I must be unwell... blogging again!! Lol.

And I've got yet another quote to share... bored yet?

"Love is just an abbreviation for everything we have ever wanted to say about that one person who truly means something to us, all wrapped up in a tiny four-letter box."
Anonymous

In other news, Orange have FINALLY managed to put me on the right tariff!! Only been going on since December... *sigh*. My old contract (mobile) ran out and I upgraded - as you do. That's when the trouble started... The upgrade went through 'the company with the free laptops...' and somehow between them and Orange there doesn't seem to be ANY communication whatsoever. I ended up on a tariff that I didn't want, never requested and wasn't offered - and that obviously was rubbish! You see, I am a texter... I text all the time. And when I say all the time, I mean ALL the time... You tell me how I was supposed to cope with only 75(!!!!) included txts a month!!! After numerous phone calls and either company blaming the other, Orange said they'd put me on the right tariff... Only for me to discover upon receiving my next bill it didn't happen. Ok, given, it was a slightly better tariff with 200 txt but still not the one I was supposed to be on!! I mean... 200 txts... I use that in less than 10 days!!! Numerous phone calls later, I was supposed to be on the tariff I needed... yeah right! So I've been paying ridiculously high bills since December... but NOW they have managed to sort it YAY!!! Thank you Mr Orange Man who I spoke to last month and who understood that I was about to lose the will to live... I've got my unlimited txts back!!!! Hurrah!!!

Took them bloody long enough... Never thought it could be this hard to renew a contract and upgrade a phone... Gawd! They're dealing with that sort of stuff every day, aren't they??? I probably own half of Orange by now...

Then there's this little... ummm... happy (?) chappy I came up with last night...

Awww...

Well, it's Thursday... =) You know me by now... That means 'quiet' night out =) Although... 'quiet' seems to have turned into 'weird people'... lol. Nevertheless, a night out I need!!!

Oh yes!!!

~x~

A sneaky peek... another Happy Birthday... and yet another quote

2008-04-09T11:12:00.003+01:00

It's my favourite barman's/Mr Fireman's birthday today =)

Happy Birthday!!!!!
XXX

I can only show you a sneaky peek of his birthday card cos he hasn't got it yet... but might check here...

Hard at work... lol
(I might just about survive this one... you'll know what I mean when you see the whole thing lol)

(Yes, I know... creativity... O.M.G. .... Must go and lie down!!! Lol)

Another lovely quote...

"When you like someone, you like them in spite of their faults. When you love someone, you love them with their faults."
Elizabeth Cameron

Happy Wednesday, people of blogland =)

Have a lovely day, B!!!
XXX

~x~

Happy Birthday Jen... thank you... and evidence from the weekend

2008-04-07T16:55:00.002+01:00

A very Happy Birthday to my lovely Jen!!!!! It's her 21st today... again lol.

She who said she wouldn't drink ever again after a boozy weekend (yep, you Jen ha ha), sent me a text earlier saying she might have a beer to celebrate... GO FOR IT, GIRL!!!! =D We shall have another celebration when I come to see you - not that we would need an excuse... but maybe we can do the dressing up... hee hee ;)

Here she is, the birthday girl =)
(pinched the pic from her blog)

And because it's her birthday and she is such a wonderful, great, lovely friend, I just wanted to say....

Thank you for being there for me... always =) And for putting my head straight when I need it... or just putting up with me lol. And for the virtual parties!!! =D Cheering me up... telling me off... or just chatting about nothing and everything...

And especially for those times when I felt lost... broken... or just plain out of my mind (YKWIM), you were there and put everything back into perspective... or just listened and told me to get a grip =) ... and maybe a drink lol.

THANK YOU!!!

Have a fantastic day, hunni!!! Love ya!!!

Now then....

Evidence from last weekend...

Girls night out =)

We started with a pub crawl in Didsbury... FUN!!! =)

Then we had this bright idea of going to Fridays...

errr... next time we'll go to town, yes?

(People, that place stinks... public toilet smell is like perfume compared to that...)

Nevertheless... we had a really good night =)

See? All smiles =)

Gotta say though... last Monday was a hell of a lot better than this one...
XXX

Is it Thursday yet???

~x~

I'd put a clever title if I could think of one... =P

2008-04-06T16:44:00.004+01:00

I'm a sucker for quotes, just love them!!! Why? Dunno... one of those things I guess =) I just found this one and thought I'd share... Because it's really nice... and oh so true!!!

"Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived."

William Parrish - from the movie 'Meet Joe Black' (1998)

Nice, eh? (There ya go, Jen... quote lol)

In other news... It's back to work for me next week... and back to being creative! About time, I hear ya say... No creatures, no cards, no jewellery for a while here... bad, bad me!!!

I have been doing 'something' though... I've designed my next tattoo and drawn up the stencil as well. But I'm not going to show you until it's inked =) I'm booked in to have it done in just under 3 weeks' time and I can't wait!!!

So, for now I'm going to leave you with another painting...

'Hands'
(I am soooooo imaginative with painting titles... ha ha ha)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday =)

~x~

Monday...

2008-03-31T23:05:00.004+01:00

After all the drunken escapades of late, I have been REALLY good this weekend and stayed on the shandies (Thursday) and vodka and coke (Friday), despite certain people trying to tempt me with other stuff - nope, I didn't bite... or drink in this case lol. Besides, the black Sambuca hasn't been re-stocked... so there!! And I have fallen out with Mike Tyson... that's it! No more!! Ha!

Here he is...

... in all his tempting glory... but NO THANKS!!!

I haven't been all that creative lately... Off work... struck down by yet another cold.... doesn't really help...

But last night while talking to my mate Kat (who by the way is amazing with the camera; go look!!!) and telling her about a mural I want to paint, inspiration struck (and I wasn't even standing at my back door... wow!). So I quickly scribbled my idea in one of my sketch books. It needs a few more little tweaks but it's gonna look good :D I'm not going to share my idea just yet... First things first, I need to paint the wall(s)... *sigh*

I've mentioned it because I know there's a couple of people who will keep asking about this and I guess that's the kick up the rear I need to finally get it done... this side of Christmas lol.

So, for now I'm going to leave you with a painting that I might have shown some time before... Oh well, I like it :)

And it's better than no creativeness at all...

Innit?

Coastline

In general, I hate Mondays... but today has been a particularly good day :D And funny, too...

If only all Mondays were like this...

Mmmmm mmmmm XXX

Col, be afraid, be very afraid!!! I'm working on my cunning plan... hee hee :P

J, I do NOT do Earl Grey... EVER!!! Yuck!!!!

Was a laugh though :D Muahahaha....

~x~

A brilliant night out!!

2008-03-24T14:54:00.004Z

After many virtual parties and drinks, Friday was the night to finally meet up and have real drinks with my lovely friend Jen :) We both were (ever so slightly) excited in the run up and couldn't wait for Friday to come around...

Around 6.30pm she turned up at my house, bottle of Malibu in one hand, bag of clothes in the other - that's my girl :D

No, she wasn't moving in lol...

She got changed... we had a couple of Malibus...

... and a quick photo shoot :D

And then we went out... Bar Bibo, watch out and all lol!!!

It started harmless enough...

We had a few of these....

... and some more....

... we had a fab time...

... as you can see :D

Unfortunately, then we made the lethal mistake of having a Mike Tyson to finish off the night. Not a good idea at the best of times... especially not after having all sorts of other drinks!!

We shall not do that again lol - Mike Tyson that is... We certainly will have another night out :D

Loves ya, Jen xx

Back to the sickbed for me now... No, I'm not suffering from a week long hang over lol. I'm full of a cold!!! Yuck!! Pass me the Lemsip...

~x~

P.S. Personal request from Jen: Follow the link to her blog and find out why you shouldn't go on shots with me... and the result when you do...

I blame Mike... that's all I say to that. Lol.

~x~

I killed the Easter Bunny...

2008-03-19T22:08:00.002Z

Yup, I did. Not entirely my fault though. I had an accomplice. Or rather I pinched the idea from somewhere else. There are more people with twisted minds out there, you know. Oh wonderful blogland!!! And - if you wish - you could always blame Miss Vicious Chicken... it was via her blog I came across THIS... How cool!!!!

Had to make my own... So I asked (manners and all that lol) if I could pretty please kill my own bunny...

Marti kindly said yes :D

And so I went to work....

... and killed the Easter Bunny....

Muahahahahahaha

It isn't called Twisted Towers for nothing ;)

Disturbingly, I really really really like my new little (dead) friend....

I think I might be past help... lol.

~x~

A new 'inmate' @ Twisted Towers

2008-03-18T23:52:00.005Z

First of all... GOOD NEWS!!!! I found the missing USB cable :D Hurrah!!!

Yesterday an exciting looking parcel arrived here at Twisted Towers. It had flower tape securing it on the outside....

... and this was inside...

Something wrapped in beautiful dotty tissue paper, secured with a dotty ribbon... What could it be???

Well, the dots kinda gave it away... It had to be my Bunny-Hop-Bunny-Swap parcel from the lovely Sally-Ann @ Dotty Designs :D

How exciting!!!! Happens rarely enough that I get something lovingly handcreated...

And look who scrambled out of the dotty tissue paper...

'Hello' :D

A DOTTY BUNNY!!!! Isn't she beautiful?

She came bearing gifts...

... chocolate-y gifts :D YUM!!!! (They didn't last long...)

OI!!! Paws off!!! Those are for me!!!!

Welcome at Twisted Towers, Dotty Bunny!!!!

She also brought beautiful Easter cards :D

Look...

Pwetty!!!!

I love this bunny!!!

Thank you so much, Sally-Ann!!!! :D

~x~

2008-03-16T15:31:00.004Z

First of all, thank you thank you thank you for all the lovely comments and cyber hugs :D Very much appreciated!! :D It just proves again that blogland is full of wonderful people - loves ya!!

Anyhoo, blog business...

I was going to share a sneaky peek of the bunster that's going to live with the lovely Sally-Ann and a photo of my new friend Mike (Tyson) =) ... but I can't for the life of me find my USB cable!! And without the cable I can't upload the pics from my phone... *Sigh* (Yes, I am still refusing to use any other camera than the one on my phone - hey, that's why I got this specific phone in the first place!! And it was a VERY good idea to do that... I loves my phone!!!)

So, for now you will have to imagine a fluffy bunny with fluffy bunny ears.

And you will have to imagine a glass filled with a shot Jagermeister, a shot Tia Maria, a shot Pernod and ice cubes... MIKE TYSON... Yum!!! He took over from Freddy (Kruger) as my new Saturday night companion lol. I wouldn't recommend having more than one... because in true Tyson style, that would knock you out lol.

Something I can share is this...

A little facebook graffiti I did the other day :D

Phew... not completely pictureless this post... :)

'Tis St Pat's Day tomorrow... as you might have noticed... green everywhere... hard to miss lol. That means I shall go and collect this year's edition of Guiness' St Pat's hat. Kinda tradition despite me not being Irish - but do I need an excuse for having a good time? Errr... no, think not. :D

Happy St Patrick's Day!!!

~x~

The storm that never came... here

2008-03-10T10:51:00.008Z

Well, well, well... so there was this big storm approaching... The worst one in gawd knows how many years... It was all over the news. We were supposed to get 60-70 miles an hour winds, rain, hail and lightning (down south to be the worst affected area)... So where's that storm?? According to the news, everywhere else but here... We've been lucky then. Everybody out there ok?
Yesterday evening, before the storm, the sky was absolutely beautiful. The sun was setting and the sky turned a darker shade of blue every minute. The moon appeared and could be seen as a sphere; kinda eerie looking - beautiful! By the time I could take a pic (I was on taxi duty and couldn't just stop in the middle of the road, could I?), it was pretty dark.

Moon over Altrincham

Ok, I didn't get the 'proper' storm - but I still got some sort of thunderstorm... Twisted towers were - yet again - a lot more twisted than normal :( The sooner my living arrangements* change, the better!! It's not much fun sleeping with one eye open.

I keep deleting what I am putting here... I don't really want to talk about it - except for a couple of people, nobody knows how bad it really is. But maybe I need a reminder... and this is my journey after all.
There is no excuse for violence. There is no excuse for bullying. There is no excuse for frightening someone.
I spent one and a half hours locked inside the loo upstairs on Saturday because I was too scared. And I don't like it!!! I don't want to be scared any more!! I don't want to have someone shouting and swearing at me, right in my face, threatening me. I don't want to not know when the next time to be beaten comes around again. I don't want to feel threatened. I don't want my children to see me like this. I don't want to think/know he's going to kill me one day... I have had enough!! And a simple 'I didn't mean to...' doesn't make it better, it doesn't!!!
Unfortunately, there is not much I can do right now. Hope for the best... hope he's moving out soon... make sure I have some sort of safety net...

I am sorry if this upsets anyone... Believe me, it upsets me a lot more!

Right... done...

Back to the usual cheery/moany/knitty business lol.

* Forced to share a house with my ex partner...

P.S. It seems some people feel the need to 'spy' on me... Feel free. But please remember, this is MY blog! I can put on here whatever I like. If you choose to read into things... fine by me. I have nothing to hide. And if you don't like what you see/read... well... simple... go elsewhere :) It says it up there ^^^ - my banner... 'A Journey into the Unknown (and now the important bit) MY Art MY Crafts MY Life' ... So there!!

Above comment is NOT directed at any of you lovely 'lurkers' :) Or indeed my blog friends!! Heck, no!! Please do feel free to lurk, read, enjoy my work and follow my journey :)

I love comments... hint hint lol.

~x~

2008-03-07T19:06:00.006Z

Heck, it's Friday AGAIN!!! I AM turning into a friday blogger... not intentionally though and I am going to try and update more often...

This week I've been away - makes a change!! And I mean away as in away from home!!! Like holiday kinda thing :D I went to visit my best mate Dons for a few days; I so needed a break and get away from Twisted Towers. As much as I like 'twisted'... it was getting a bit too twisted even for my taste... As expected, I had a brilliant time :D On Tuesday we stayed in and caught up on 'essential gossip' and just had a right laugh... and some of this....

Cactus Jack's Schnapps Shotz Candy - oh so yummy!!!!

Apparently Iceland do these... Very very sweet and very very nice :D So much so, we finished the whole bottle... and had some red as well... and lasagne...home made... and trifle... home made as well... the best in the world!!!!! I'm still stuffed just thinking about it lol. And the hangover next morning wasn't too bad... although... apparently I fell out of bed... ooops!

Even the cats felt the effect of the 'pink stuff' lol.
('Twas my magic touch that sent them all to sleep... so Dons says lol)

Having recovered from the 'pink stuff', we went out the next night and had a brilliant time :) We pretty much took over the place, hogged the jukebox thingy and sang along... rather loudly lol. Poor Dons ended up a little worse for wear that night... poor thing....Still, it was great!!! :D And now that I'm back home, I'm feeling homesick and want to go back... I so love the place!! And I miss living close to Dons and family....

And this...

Angel of the North...

And Durham... gawd, I miss that place so much!!! Cathedral, Celeb spotting in the Fighting Cocks and all....

Seaham harbour...

Freezing cold....

Thanks for the fabby time I had... Means so much to me!!!
XXX

Dons, love ya loads xxx

I'll be back for your birthday party :D

~x~

What Kae Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life.

You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip.

People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

2008-02-29T22:26:00.004Z

Am I turning into a Friday blogger??? Another week gone and I haven't blogged... Not that I don't have anything to blog about - I've been very busy at work making Mother's Day cards with the littlies all week. And I am now officially sick of flower pots and flowers and love hearts and pink card!!! Lol.

Then there was THE EARTHQUAKE... Yes, I've always said I'd like to know what an earthquake actually feels like... Now I know... And I didn't like it very much!!

For last night's peace and quiet night out, I - rather involuntarily - provided the evening entertainment... by being chatted up by some Irish bloke *sigh*. Glad that everybody ELSE seemed to find it highly amusing... No, I am NOT going on a date!! Thank you very much!!! Bet'cha I haven't heard the last of it...

Anyhoo... besides Mother's Day cards at work and commissioned birthday cards, I have been creative on the jewellery front :) Find me an earring and I'll make you a pendant... :)

The silver butterfly etc bit used to be an earring... until I got hold of it that is :)

'Nother one...

This used to be a dangly loop earring... now it's what I'm going to wear tomorrow night (and some clothes as well of course!! Lol)

Big thank you for finding pretty things for me to make even prettier :D
XXX

Am I going to blog before next Friday again? Watch this space to find out... lol.

Have a great weekend, dear blogland friends :)

~x~

A Night with Darth Vader and Freddy Kruger... and other concoctions

2008-02-22T17:18:00.004Z

So... I went for my usual Thursday night out yesterday... this time with a twist though. A Jaegermeister twist lol. Ever heard of/tasted Jaegermeister? Lovely stuff (although 'some' say it smells like cough medicine... tsk); it's a herb liqueur which I usually drink mixed with diet coke YUM :D

BUT... thanks to the fantastic invention that is t'interweb, I came across a whole lot of Jaegermeister recipes, handily composed in a pdf file :) ... which I promptly downloaded ... of course :D Some weird and wonderful concoctions in there, I have to say... And last night was the night to sample a few of them... I did say BEFORE going out, I would only have one or two seeing it's a Thursday and would leave the more potent ones for a Saturday... the intention was there... but who am I to refuse a lovingly prepared drink put in front of me for research purposes? Lol. I couldn't, could I?

Anyway, I started with a drink for my lovely friend Jen... as requested... She wanted me to have a 'Dead Rabbit' - 1.8cl Jaegermeister and 0.2cl Pernod layered in a shot glass - and she wanted me to announce that this drink was for her and the poor little dead bunny wabbit (yes, I DID say that, Jen... Good job most people think I'm a nutcase anyway lol).

And here it is, the Dead Rabbit...

... before being killed...

... it was actually quite nice :D

Note to remind me what Jen MADE me say... and her drink... cheers hun x

Pete got right into the spirit and even went into the cellar to get a cocktail shaker... and promptly put it to good use whipping up another concoction for me to try....

Please note ALL those bottles in front of him... Yup, all that went into the shaker...

... to make this....

DARTH VADER!!

- 1cl vodka, 1cl gin, 1cl rum, 1cl white Tequila, 1cl triple sec, 4cl lemon juice, top up with Jaegermeister -

Yes, I know... I drank half of it and then remembered to take a pic... it does affect your brain, you know? Lol.

Next one put in front of me was this...

...which was one of those I was going to leave for a Saturday...

... they didn't tell me until after...

... and it's got to be one of my favourites :D

Meet FREDDY KRUGER... in liquid form... YUMMY!!!

- 2cl Jaegermeister, 2cl Sambuca, 2cl vodka, ice and nothing else -

After spending some (not very much!!) time with Darth and Freddy, I thought (maybe not the right word... was I still capable of THINKING???) it would be a good idea to finish the night with some LIQUID ASPHALT... pretty harmless mixture...

- 2cl Jaegermeister, 2cl Sambuca layered -

Where's the layers??? Try again... Saturday...

I am happy to report that

a) no, it didn't kill me
b) the hangover wasn't half as bad as expected... I woke up with a headache that sorted itself after a couple more hours sleep
and
c) I discovered that Freddy and Darth are pretty good companions for a night out :D

You know :) ... XXX

Have a good weekend, people of blogland :D
I know, I will :D

~x~

Lucy's Valentine's Swap - THANK YOU!!!!!

2008-02-15T17:41:00.005Z

The lovely Lucy Locket hosted a Valentine's Swap and yesterday I received my goodies :D Yummy goodies at that!! A BIG THANK YOU to Lesley for making my Valentine's Day :D Thank you so much for the gorgeous pin cushion - I love it!!! - for the cookie cutters, the yarn, the beads, the candle (too pwetty to light!!!!), the thread and last but not least, the choccies!!!

Look at all this loveliness!!!

All mine!!!! :D

Love my pin cushion!!!

Soooo pwetty!!!!

Yummy cookie cutters :D

Again, thank you thank you thank you, Lesley :D You made my day :D

Also, a big thank you to Lucy for hosting x ... I believe her next swap is up already :) ... Gotta check that out :)

~x~

Wednesday Stamper ~Charm~

2008-02-01T19:09:00.001Z

This week's Wednesday Stamper challenge calls for something to make ourselves even more beautiful :D

Make a charm using stamps...

Do I need any more encouragement? Nope! I love making jewellery!!! Inspiration struck while standing at the back door of my house having hail stones chucked at me... That back door usually is very inspirational; I have my best ideas there :D (Told ya, I'm different and slightly weird lol).

Anyway, this is what I made....

The sea glass pieces Gwyneth (thank you x! I knew I would need them one day!!) gave me a while back; they make a very pretty 3-piece pendant, dont'cha think? This pendant is kinda personal because it depicts things that are important/meaningful to me - the heart (stamp by SeeD's) stands for love; to love and being loved ... the number 6 (stamp by PE, I think) is my favourite/lucky number ... the eye (stamp by me); it's usually the first thing I notice about other people and the window to the soul.

Perfect for a night out :D

~x~

Did it!!!

2008-01-31T17:27:00.000Z

I told you yesterday that I wouldn't be beaten by some DPNs... so I persevered... and at around 10pm I had a ...

CUPCAKE!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!! :D

I can knit with DPNs :D There's no stopping me now!!!

Happy little cupcake :)

It's Thursday again... which means it's my quiet night out :) Fancy joining me?

~x~

Hands up, baby, hands up...

2008-01-30T13:15:00.001Z

... gimme your heart, gimme gimme your heart, gimme all your love... tra la la la la laaaaaaa :D
(showing my age here again, aren't I? Lol)

It is very fitting though... I never ever thought I would say this but ... THIS is a very cute....

GUN!!!

Yes, I've finished the 'LuvGun' and it's deffo on the cute side :D

Look...

HANDS UP!!!!

Who wouldn't surrender to this cuteness??

The little hearts from last post fit snug in it's barrel (and contrary to some dirty minds... it does look like a gun ... a knitted one... but nevertheless a gun... I'm quite glad I used 'gun colours' for this first attempt lol), ready to be fired at some unsuspecting victim hee hee XXX.

After finishing Mr Gun last night, I attempted (!!!) to knit a cupcake... I do like cupcakes!!! And knitted ones are even better because they have no calories :D BUT - and this is a very BIG but - the pattern calls for DPNs... and they are driving me mad mad mad!!!! (Yes, I know, I'm mad anyway... but this is taking it to a whole new level... gaaaaahhhhh!!!!).

I shall not be beaten by some needles... oh no!!! I am not giving up!!! I WILL knit this cupcake and if it's the last thing I ever do!

I shall report back....

Time for a little catch up on the HS:MS front..

Monday's prompt ~Snooze~...

My favourite button in the morning...

Tuesday's prompt ~Think~... yeah right... think with that frazzled brain of mine thanks to those blasted DPNs!!!

Solution: Let someone else think lol... preferably of me ;) ... awwww <3>

I am using fairy dust today :D Makes me happy... and maybe de-frazzles my brain.

Happy Wednesday, people of Blogland :D

~x~

I spy.... cuteness!!

2008-01-24T11:11:00.001Z

I spy with my little eye....

a handful of love :D - Aren't these the cutest? I found the pattern on the mochimochiland blog. You gotta go look! There are free patterns as well as even more cuteness in the shop :D And these little darlings are so easy and quick to knit; I definitely will make loads more!

Lots of love... <3

Happy Heart, Angry Heart, Sad Heart and another Happy Heart... one for every occasion :)

You tell me these are not cute...

I also spy..... orange munkee got stuffed :D - and this doubles as yesterday's HSMS prompt ~Tube~ ; taken through a toilet roll (tube) :)

Munkee ahead!!!

And for today's HSMS prompt ~Overflow~ no cuteness but my drawer of tissue paper...

Overflowing goodness :D yummy tissue papers!

Happy Thursday Blogland!!

~x~

Quickie

2008-01-22T18:52:00.000Z

Things are a little more twisted than usual here at Twisted Towers right now hence only a quick post with yesterday's and today's HS:MS prompts...

Yesterday's was ~ring~...

The Beast's on/off button with a lit up ring around it - pwetty :D

Today's prompt is ~wrinkles~ which had me thinking for a while. I wasn't going to post a pic of my wrinkles (as if I had any ha ha ha ha) but then while having a look around I found this....

Close up of a part of a painting called 'Lost Light'

I do realise I haven't posted any Munkee or Sock Creature pix in a while and I apologise for that... I miss them myself :( Soon....

Better go and untwist my knickers.... lol.

~x~

Monday Mish Mash :)

2008-01-21T20:20:00.002Z

A little bit of a round up post today, the gloomiest day of the year apparently... Hmmm, can't say I felt particularly miserable. Ok, all the rain doesn't make one feel very cheery but I didn't get soaked today - makes a nice change :) I could, however, do with a little brighter weather (yeah right... as if...) cos the lighting is awful and I can't get a decent shot for either the HSMS prompt or Jen's Challenge over on UKS... grrr!

Anyhoo, the cave is finished! Hooray :D The finishing touches (pink flowers) were applied on Friday - with the help of the little boy who requested said flowers. The cave now has a pretty purple inner lining and comfy cushions ... and of course I didn't take a pic of THAT, did I? *Sigh*

Cave/mountain with pwetty flowers (BEFORE lining and cushions...)

Pwetty :D

And now, especially for Claire... Proof that we actually DID do some sort of productive stuff on Saturday :D

Exhibit A: Siobhan... she got a LO done!!!! Hooray!!!

And me, being the good girl that I am (*cough cough*), I did a digi LO and THIS... which incidentally fits the theme for the Wednesday Stamper Challenge ~King~... aren't I clever? LOL

Altered CD

Stamps are by MM (letters) and Catslife Press (crowns - admittedly hard to see but they are there lol)
The heart shape is an earring I found in the street a while back - I knew it would come in handy for something :D

Enjoy your Monday evening :)

~x~

We have an orange.... thingy lol.

2008-01-17T18:41:00.000Z

I couldn't possibly be held responsible for the first ever depressed munkee, could I? So I knitted and knitted (and had to re-do the nose 3 times.. *sigh*) and here's the result... Still doesn't look very happy, does he? Maybe he feels better with a little stuffing, some ears, arms and legs... I really hope so... getting a bit worried here... :S

Meet... orange... ermmm... thingy...
(he doesn't look too convinced here, does he?)

I didn't bother with yesterday's HSMS prompt which was ~Indulgence~... My indulgence is a quiet night out on a Thursday (hey, that's today!!! :D )... The place I go to is usually quite empty on a Thursday; it's like home just without the hassle and there's someone filling up my glass at a wave... ok, so not like home... but very relaxing :) But how do you capture that feeling in a shot? I mean, yeah... I could take a pic of the nearly empty place... or the bar... or my glass... but that doesn't really capture what 'my' Thursday night out really means to me...

I shall so enjoy it later :D

Anyway, today's prompt is ~Numbers~... and what else would you expect from me than something mobile/cell phone related? (on a second and third thought... I could maybe have collected some spiders and drew numbers on them... or random numbers on a skull...oh well, next time lol).

What would I do without...????

Well, that's me off to have a pint or two... watch telly... have a little chat if I feel like it... and generally just enjoy the peace and quiet... :D - You'll find me in my little corner of the bar :D

Enjoy your Thursday night whatever you are doing... and if you fancy some peace and quiet, feel free to join me :)

~x~

Some sort of progress...

2008-01-15T14:06:00.000Z

The cave underwent a transformation from iceberg to... errmmm... mountain with the help of a little (actually LOADS) of paint. Looks a lot more like it now, doesn't it? It's still not finished though. The children want it to have pink flowers on... ok... so pink flowers it will be (I refuse to paint them all over as was suggested by one little BOY... - they'll get some grass and tiny pink flowers around the bottom... that's it!!! Lol). As soon as I've finished painting, the cave will be moved into the corner behind it and furnished with comfy cushions and bean bags - I want one for my room!!! :)

Is it me or would it look so much better with some monkey and sock creature mountaineers???

Another (very slow) progress is the orange munkee I've been knitting since beginning of December (and which was supposed to be finished before Christmas but.... ho hum). In my quest to get back into the swing of things I shall finish this poor thing NOW! Can munkee bits feel depressed??? I am sure these look a little deflated and disillusioned about their sorry state...

FINISH ME!!!!!! Come one now, get KNITTING!!!!
(I can hear them shouting at me... or is that just the voices in my head?... )

And before Jen starts shouting at me... Yes, I am still playing along with the HS:MS prompts :) (Aren't I a good girl? ... No, there is NO need to comment on that one lol)

Yesterday's prompt ~CD~ ... a VERY SMALL proportion of OF's CD collection...

^^^ Gonna go and see them!!! So excited!!! (Linkin Park that is...)

And today's prompt ~Away~... yeah, I'd love to be 'away' sometimes... and then I'd love to be a bird and just fly off to somewhere else... :)

Kinda like the dramatic clouds in the background :)

Off to do something about these voices... KNIT THE ORANGE MUNKEE!!!

~x~

Cavewoman

2008-01-12T11:21:00.000Z

Do need a good work out? Don't like the gym? I can recommend building a cave!! It has the same effect... you end up aching all over lol. Thursday was my first day back at work and I spent it having great fun getting messy :D ... Building a cave... for our 'Magic Room'. Our handyman was good enough to build a wooden frame and cover it with mesh; then it was my and Toni's turn to have fun with modroc (essentially plaster of paris). We as well as the cave ended up covered in the stuff - and believe me, you do get funny looks when you pick up your children looking like someone who'd fallen into a massive pot of white paint lol.... And it takes a lot of scrubbing to get the last traces of modroc off your hands... and face... and hair... But it was fun!! Monday I am going to start painting it which means I end up covered in greys and browns... funny looks again lol. The parents should be used to seeing me like that by now really...

Just to give you an idea of dimensions... this one is about 6' at its highest point.

Iceberg ahead!!!!

Messy fun :D

... and not only my hands ended up looking like this (they were actually worse when I finished lol)

It's going to look great when it's finished :D

HS:MS prompts... Thursday's was ~Thread~....

Yesterday's ~Cold~ prompt...

Have a great weekend everyone :)

~x~

Back again... HS:MS prompts

2008-01-08T22:42:00.001Z

In my quest to get back into the swing of things, I shall play along with the daily prompts over @ Her Space: My Space again (and I'm sure Jenn will keep an eye on me lol).

So, here we go...

Yesterday's prompt was ~Fold~ ... a folded paper Christmas tree on one of the lovely hand made cards I received :D

Today's prompt is ~Bling~ ... well, I do a lot of bling every day lol. I love my jewellery and I wear loads all the time (except for work... I wear a lil' less there). For my ~Bling~ shot I give you the chains around my neck :D

Munkees and SockCreatures will feature in future HS:MS prompt shots, promise :D

~x~

Back to 'normal'

2008-01-06T15:42:00.001Z

Back to 'normality' here at Twisted Towers... if you can call it normality lol. Christmas over and done with, the new year is here and tomorrow school starts again. I'm not back in work till Thursday which gives me a chance to finally catch up with stuff. Lots of stuff. Lots and lots of stuff that had been sidelined in he mad dash that is the run up to Christmas.

No January blues here; I like the fresh start of a new year... and getting back into the swing of things :) 2008 is going to be good :D

Remember Munkee #3? The bribery munkee for my mam... Well, he was very well received and has now settled into his new home :) And he made some new friends as well....

My dear sister and her fiance ... note the expression on her face; apparently she is now petrified she'd get a munkee of her own for her birthday... which is exactly what's going to happen muahahahahaha

Another Sock Creature - the first of 2008 - was born the other day as well :) A birthday present for a certain young man :)

Meet... BunnyThing :)

That pesky cold I caught the first day of 2008 seems to finally release its grip on me... I attribute that to the amount of alcohol intake over the weekend - purely for medical reasons of course :D My head no longer feels like the well stuffed behind of a Sock Creature that is being tortured with knitting needles... On a second thought - did someone get hold of my Sock Voodoo Doll and made me suffer that way???? Would SVD do that to me?? Surely he would refuse to be used in such evil way against his creator.... I hope... :S

~x~

Happy New Year

2007-12-30T17:50:00.000Z

That's another year nearly over... Is it just me or does time go faster the older you get?? This year has just flown by... which - sometimes - wasn't a bad thing. It's been a good year and a bad year... There have been changes' some things are still the same... All in all, I am grateful for the experience that is life :) It might not be a smooth ride all the time.... but wouldn't that be boring?

So, my dear blogfriends, I want to wish you all the best and lots of happiness for 2008. May all your dreams come true and may you always be creative.

Here's to a wonderful New Year, friends, monkeys made of knit and... SockCreatures :D

~x~

A very happy Christmas

2007-12-23T21:41:00.001Z

... to all my blog friends!!!

Ho Ho Ho

All the best and lots of love
from
me, Munkee and all the other creatures
here at Twisted Towers

~x~

No, I haven't fallen off the earth...

2007-12-11T23:32:00.000Z

...I've just been super busy!! Ugh!

It never said in my job description... but I seem to be in charge of building an entire scenery for the Christmas play... It started harmless enough with being asked if I could possibly make a spindle... Yep, can do that, I thought... Well, I spent most of last week fabricating/painting said spinning wheel (spindle... yeah right... proper fairy tale spinning wheel they wanted... lol). Having made that, 'could I make a star as well?' - Which then was scrapped... but now is back on. (For goodness sake, who is in charge of that flaming play???) So I made the star, a lovely shiny one... huge! Now they want a stable!!! Made of a card board box... talk about being creative lol. It's coming together though :) Just waiting to be asked to make the donkey and the ox as well... with no card board boxes left... that could be fun lol. Oh, and I need to make a cave as well before we break up for Christmas. Not any old cave... nooooo... one for the littlies to hide inside... Just waiting for the modrock to arrive... should be fun.

Oh yeah, and then there's Christmas creeping up on me at incredible speed... Anyone ready? Well, not me... I am unbelievably behind with everything!! When's the last date for sending Christmas cards??? Ok... panic setting in.... Aaaaaaarghhhhh....

I did have a good weekend last weekend though (it didn't end as good as it started... but that's the story of my life, I guess... roll on the New Year!!!)
I went to see Status Quo at the MEN and boy, they were brill - just like 20 years ago when I saw them last (scary that!!!) If I could, I would go see them again RIGHT NOW they were that good :D
Saturday saw me trying (and failing despite copious amounts of coffee) to stay awake to watch the Hatton fight... The party in the run up was good though :D Thanks, Kirsty and Jay x

And - just for good measure - her it is... I give you...
THE SPINNING WHEEL (that doesn't spin actually lol)

Need some sleep... and then get on with the stable... pic to follow...

~x~

A new addition chez Twisted Towers :D

2007-12-04T11:58:00.000Z

One fine morning - well, actually THIS morning - Munkee awoke to some commotion. The spiders had spotted something so interesting/odd, they even left their spot in front of the tv (front row viewing is very important to them, you know) to investigate... It was Princess and her green striped (and still nameless) friend who woke Munkee by loudly discussing their find. The orange striped (still nameless as well... shocking, I know) spider was too frightened to come closer. So after Munkee climbed down from his bed on the chair to see what was going on, she hid behind his back, covering her eyes...

Look!... What could this be??... I'm not looking, it's too scary!!!

Even Munkee seemed a little concerned....

What if it bites...?? ... Oh no, I'm even more scared now!!!

The creature they discovered decided enough was enough and came down to greet Munkee and the spiders. It's a friendly creature, you know... made from.... socks :D Yes!!! Another sock creature was created :D ... A Sock Voodoo Doll... (my little twisted mind went into overdrive and came up with it while watching Blue Murder.... Son looked at me, looked at the tv, then looked at the creature, shook his head and announced I was scary! Ha ha, I've scared a 17 yr old!)

Hello everybody :D And a very good morning. No need to be scared; I am very friendly (unless we are dealing with some ex husband/boyfriend who'd not deserve better... I come with optional needles... muahahahahahaha) - What did he just mumble??? - As I said, I'm friendly :) I would never harm Munkees or spiders.

Munkee shook the Sock Voodoo Doll's hand and the spiders (ermmm... 2 of them) were quite taken by their new friend as well.

Yeeee Haaahh!!! Spider Rodeo....

The 2 spiders, Munkee and the Sock Voodoo Doll got on fabulously... The orange striped spider was still scared...

The spiders didn't stay long to play though because their favourite programme was about to start. They returned to their front row viewing position but the orange striped one still keeps looking over her shoulder... hmmmm.

~x~

Munkee goes cropping

2007-11-24T16:33:00.000Z

At long last... Blogger lets me upload... hurrah!!! :D

So... last Saturday Munkee demanded to come to the crop with me. How could I resist his pleading eyes? Along he came... and had lots of fun :D

Playing with bits of paper and a (unfinished) voodoo doll (thanks Ali x) while munching a fairy cake

Getting messy with glue and paper

Light refreshments :D

Munkee's newest friend: Ginger :D Awwww...

3 cheers for Blogger... lol.

Have a great weekend everybody :D

~x~

Aaaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!

2007-11-18T21:51:00.000Z

This is ridiculous!!!! I am wanting to scream!!! Blogger won't let me upload ANY pix at all :( Mean... nasty... poobag Blogger!!!

I've got some pix to share from Munkee's day out at the crop... we had a fab time... lots of giggles ... and lots of chocolate... an all round great day... For the time being you will have to imagine it :( Not fair :(

Anyone else got problems uploading???

**************************************************************************************

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my son who's 17 today and to Munkee Maker!!!!! :D (imagine a Munkee Happy Birthday pic here... :S )

**************************************************************************************

Will try again tomorrow...

~x~

Couple of cards... while Blogger lets me...

2007-11-13T19:48:00.001Z

I've been fighting with Blogger more or less all day (well... ok... apart from when I was at work) to upload some pix... grrrrr!!! You can see how long it took me to get these to upload when you look at the time stamp from the last post.... So much fun... NOT!!!

Anyhoo... cards... The first one isn't strictly a card... it's a tag... as you can see lol. It's for DCM's prompt, set by the lovely Jo:

Use some corrugated card on your card... which I did :D The Christmas tree is cut from an old pizza box (yes... funny that... loads of them in my house lol) - which kinda makes it fall into last week's dare compartment as well... lol. Bit late, but hey :D

Papers by Dovecraft
(and Miss Mint... I think)

The second card (which incidentally IS a card) is for the Wednesday Stamper's challenge 'Leaves'

Munkee and Lillibeth playing in/with leaves :D

Leaf stamp by Personall Impressions (I think...)
Papers by Syndee Nuckles Hoot and Annie Kit

Now fingers crossed this doesn't disappear into cyberspace... :S

~x~

Meanwhile.....

2007-11-13T11:08:00.000Z

Meanwhile... in the madhouse... Munkee celebrates the arrival of a new member of the family :D

Meet....

Munkee #3

Looks like he fits right in... chocolate, wine (note the straws - they are sharing awwwww) and the remote control as well... what a (Munkee) life!!!! This was them last night :D Luckily, they like watching IAC!!

The poor thing is still waiting for his second arm and his legs but I couldn't wait to introduce him :D Isn't he cute??? And there was me all worried he wouldn't look munkee-like at all... He turned out SO cute, I want one for myself, too!! This little guy is for my mam (remember, bribe for teaching me how to use the sewing machine?)... Straight back to the needles for me then :D

~x~

Munkee #3 progress report...

2007-11-09T10:47:00.000Z

My head still hurts from trying to work out how to knit a slightly smaller munkee... but nevertheless I am getting on with it. Still, I'm not too sure it turns out a munkee... lol. The body looks alright... but... the nose...??? I don't know... I think I need to tweak it a little (says she who has no idea what she's doing to start with...)... And looking at the PG Tips monkeys - they don't have a 'shaped' nose... Hmmm...

Anyway... munkee bits....

I could always use the face/nose bit as a snail sleeping bag if it doesn't work out...

Meanwhile, Munkee thought it was a nice enough day to play outside...

Leaves... woooooooooo :D

(this snail seems to be getting everywhere!!)

It's Friday... which means Munkee and I shall enjoy a glass of wine (or two) tonight :D This time I will make sure he isn't left alone with the bottle though. Don't want a repeat of last weekend :S Munkee hugging the loo isn't a pretty sight...

Have a lovely day, people!!! :D

Oh, and please do leave me a comment here... I'd love to make someone a handmade present :) It's gonna be something really nice... promise!!! :D

~x~

Lillibeth

2007-11-07T13:10:00.000Z

Once upon a time... there was a very clever lady who wanted to crochet a ... SNAIL! This very clever lady made up her own pattern and crocheted a cute little guy. And from the immediate response she got, she knew the little guy was special. So she decided to share her pattern on the internet... (clever AND kind!!) ... One day, a mad woman (a.k.a. me) came across this pattern and immediately fell in love... grabbed some yarn... and a crochet hook that happened to be on the side table... and this is the result:

Lillibeth :D

On her (slow - she's a snail after all) tour of the house, she came across Munkee and she liked him instantly...

Get that THING off me!!!

Maybe it wasn't love at first sight on both sides....

Hmmm... she's kinda cute, isn't she?

... but Munkee soon warmed to his new friend :)

Does my ... ummm... body look big in this?
(Oi, snail! This is a MONKEE bag!!)

There's space enough for two... :D
(Look at those little happy faces :D Awwwww...)

I am just glad that snails made of crochet don't leave a slimy trail...

Oh, and MM... my brain hurts!!!! I've been (trying) to convert the monkee pattern to HP size (TRYING!!! I said...) ... divide by 3 and then times by 2 and all that... Well, we shall see what I am knitting here at the moment... I am not entirely sure what I've done... gulp!

~x~

Pay It Forward Exchange

2007-11-06T17:17:00.000Z

I've seen this on a few blogs before but I've always been 'too late'. Until now... :D

So here's my pledge:

Pay It Forward Exchange

The Pay It Forward Exchange, where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness pass it forward too.

I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but I promise that it will be sent (within 6 months).What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!

And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!

Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join.

Let's spread some happiness :D

~x~

LOOK what I got!!!!!! :D

2007-11-06T10:38:00.001Z

This morning a parcel arrived...

beautifully wrapped in pretty paper...

... and The Queen was stuck on it as well :D

Inside I found this...

More beautiful wrapping... and a moo card (or should that be 'monkee card'?)

After carefully removing the tissue paper....

I found....

MY MONKEE TOTE!!!! :D :D Oh, happy day!!!! :D

But wait... that wasn't all...

This is like Christmas!!
(Well... actually better... :D I buy my Christmas presents myself so I know what I am getting beforehand)

Inside was...

CHOCCIES!!!!!!!!! :D :D
Yummy!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, MonkeeMaker !!!!

~x~

Wednesday Stamper ~Wild West~

2007-11-05T12:13:00.001Z

Modeled by Munkee... a card for the Wild West fanatics amongst us :D
(for Wednesday Stamper's Wild West challenge :D )

Stamps by Tanda Stamps
Paper by Gin-X

~x~

Munkee's Weekend

2007-11-05T11:34:00.000Z

In true MMOK fashion, Munkee set about to spend his weekend in style...

Lots of sweets and snacks....

....and beverages of the alcoholic kind....

... led to poor Munkee feeling... ummm... a little delicate... :S

It didn't take him long to recover though... phew!!!

A new friend made an appearance :D Munkee now has a cuddly toy - a knitted kitty :D

Cupcakes are such friendly things!!! :D

So are spiders :D - This cool little thing of the crocheted variety is a button-on spider (and I'm wearing it now! :D)

A fun-filled weekend :D But now it's back to business... munkee business!! My mam is coming to visit in 2 weeks time and I'm going to knit her a munkee of her own (yeah, ok... she could do that herself seeing she's the queen of knit in my family....). It's gonna be my bribe to get her to teach me how to use a sewing machine without sewing myself to any projects... You see, SockThingy is feeling a little lonely being the only sock creature here... And as much as I enjoy sewing by hand (not), it's probably quicker by machine (and longer lasting I'd imagine)... Plus, I developed this genius plan of making some Christmas presents myself... like sock creatures and maybe some little bags (if they prove easy enough to make - hey, I'm still looking at the sewing machine as some alien object...).

First things first though... on the needles... get set... ready... KNIT!!!!! (another munkee :D)

Happy Monday people :D

~x~

Happy Halloween!!!!

2007-10-31T19:50:00.001Z

Happy Halloween people!!!
(Yes, there's a munkee in the pic lol)

What have I created????

2007-10-30T20:50:00.000Z

Well, first of all... I've made a card for the weekly dare over @ DCM 'Make a Christmas card featuring some ribbon'

Then this little fella 'appeared' ... :D

Pingu??!!

And finally... at long last.... meet...

The - so far - nameless munkee :D

I think he already spent too much time in my company... I mean... HELLO-O!!! ... First thing he did, he grabbed a mobile and started texting!!!

Just WHO are you texting, munkee?? (Any other monkeys made of knit have a mobile?? There is something going on...)

Next thing I know, he's hugging a bottle of wine!!!

Munkee partyyyyyyyyy :D (Note the big grin on his face!!)

So, that's what the texts were about... hmmmm.... Yep, definitely spending a lot of time with me... He is LIKE me!!!! I love this munkee!!!!!! :D :D

'Tis Halloween tomorrow :D My favourite day of the year!!!!
Happy Haunting, people :D

~x~

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2007-10-27T12:35:00.000+01:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Most Serene Highness Lady Kae the Indefatigable of Ofsted in the Bucket
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I do insist that the Bucket bit is pronounced in best Hyacinth Bucket fashion!!! Lol :D

Legless Monkee

2007-10-27T01:02:00.000+01:00

Noooooooooooo!!!! He is NOT drunk!!! He is literally... ummm... legless.... I knitted and knitted... and finally... at long last... managed to nearly complete monkee #2 :D Just got the legs to do tomorrow. And I better do them tomorrow... this primate keeps looking at me very unapprovingly... :S

Oh the shame!!!! She's making me pose like THIS!!

Today's.... ummm... by now more yesterday's prompt over at HS:MS was to show our favourite spot in the bathroom... Gotta be my fishies and shell decorations I made a few years ago :D Likes them a lot :D They make me smile :D They were made using window colours... Don't think anyone notices them much any more... apart from me. They are not only on the window, they are on the tiles as well :D

The monkee is still staring at me... :S ... I'm off to bed now... don't tell him though!!!!

I WILL knit monkee legs tomorrow... can't do monkee stare :S

~x~

Hallway

2007-10-25T17:44:00.000+01:00

Today's prompt over @ HS:MS is ~Hallway~ What hidden treasure or favourite spot do you just love about your hallway?
Hmmmm... ummmm... well... I wouldn't think of anywhere in my hallway as my favourite spot to be honest. I do like the colour of the walls; it's a sunny yellow which even on a rainy day gives it a happy feel IYKWIM :D But a picture of just yellow wall wouldn't be very interesting, would it? So I give you this instead... one of my paintings (inspired by someone special) called 'Hands' ... not very original that title, I have to admit lol. It hangs in my hallway though... and it might be treasure when I'm dead lol.

Yes, I went and bought PG Tips today!!!! :D (Spot the monkey lol)

~x~

Happy Birthday DCM!!! ... HS:MS... and a bowl full of monkey bits :D

2007-10-24T10:38:00.000+01:00

It's DCM's first anniversary!!! Doesn't time fly? So for this week's dare it's a revisit to the very first dare - but with a twist. The original dare subject was 'Friends', this time round the title is 'Circle of Friends' :)

Happy Birthday DCM!!!

And because I feel very creative, I've done this week's extra dare as well :D (I am such a good girl ha ha ha). This is a little hybrid card... the main bit is digi... printed out and then stuck on a card blank and doodled around.

Today's HS:MS prompt was to find our favourite spot/piece in the lounge... EASY!!! THIS is my favourite spot - my corner!! It's got my craft stuff, my pc and my chair - what more could I want? :D So there you go... my craft space IS NOT tidy!!! It's... ummm... organized mess... at least that's what I like to call it :D

I made good progress last night :D And I present you with... ta daaaaaa.....

a bowl full of monkee bits :D

Happy Wednesday, people :D
I'm counting down the days to Saturday... Why? Because it's CPDS time, that's why!!!! Wooo hooo!!! :D

~x~

Moving on to Plan C...

2007-10-23T13:34:00.001+01:00

Plan C being... just get the monkee finished!!!!! Obviously, I didn't manage to stick to Plan A (finish monkee #2 on Sunday).... even Plan B went pretty much out of the window... ho hum. For today's HS:MS prompt ~Pink~ here is my knitting bag (pretty in pink with skulls on - what else did you expect?) and monkee #2 in its sorry state of unfinishedness (is that a word???)

I am a bad knitter .... *hangs head in shame* ... I don't even have a good excuse except for the temptations of yummy papers, glue and chocolate...

Must go and knit!!! :D

~x~

Smile! It's Friday :D

2007-10-19T15:32:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday, people!!! :D

It's weekend hooray!!! And it promises to be a good one, too :D For my usual wine intake tonight I shall be going round to P's house... peace and quiet... silly music... just a good girls' night in (good as in good time... don't think I could get away with putting 'good girl' and me in the same sentence ... do I, Jen?? Ha ha ha :P )
Tomorrow I'm out all day cropping :D Well... knitting in my case! The plan is to finish knitting all #2's monkee bits so I can make him up on Sunday. Let's call that Plan A... Plan B would be to knit as much as possible in between chatting, laughing and eating chocolate... and probably no finished monkee #2 on Sunday... ah well...
Tomorrow night I'm going out... (un)fortunately there's the Rugby World Cup thingy going on... and I'm not into Rugby... really... but if I remember rightly, there could be blood involved... and deffo men in tight shorts... not all bad then, I suppose :D

And now that Blogger let's me upload pics again (thank you!!), here are yesterday's and today's HS:MS prompts... Still doing the rainbow colours....

Here we have green (yes, they look like fluffy socks - fluffy BARGAIN socks at that - but they are really another SockThingy... just not made up yet)

And for blue I give you... a footy top... a City scarf... and Sidney :D NOPE, I am NOT a blue!!! Although I do happen to like the colour blue... a lot!! These items all have their story... The top, a Stalybridge Celtic one, I got because I once got stuck in Stalybridge late at night - and apparently they have the best pub in the world there at their train station; dunno about that but the people there were all very nice and helpful to us poor stranded train travelers. The scarf I got given by a City fan (thanks Darren x) as a wind up for all the reds in this house (hee hee). And Sidney, a dear friend (Kaz x) gave him to me a while back :D

There ya go, I like fluffy things and the colour blue and I'm always up for a (friendly)wind up - and no skulls or spiders in sight (shocking!)... lol.

Have a great Friday night :D

Cheers :D

~x~

Needles and pins... tra la la la laaaaaaaaaa

2007-10-17T19:01:00.000+01:00

Today's shopping list:

one tapestry needle (they keep disappearing... needle fairy anyone???)

Halloween fancy dress bits (did I ever mention I LOVE Halloween???)

and last but not least...

a pair of black skinny jeans

Easy enough... or so it seems... First stop Tesco for the Halloween bits (been to Asda, got most of their stuff lol) - Success! Got what I wanted :D
Next stop Craft Central... 'tis on the way... for the needle - got that, well, a packet :D I should be ok for a while... I hope.
Now... the jeans... Just how hard can it be to find some skinny black jeans???? Are the shops hiding them or something??? I saw some last week (why oh why didn't I buy them then??? *sigh*) - today there was none, nada, zilch!!! I went/drove pretty much everywhere... Bet you, they were moving the jeans as I went just because... lol. Not giving up just yet though - but shhhhhh, don't tell 'them'!!! - gonna go an look again tomorrow :D

At work nearly everybody is going bonkers in anticipation of tomorrow... Paul Scholes (yep, THAT one) is visiting... Super... I suppose... If you are a red... Now if they'd gotten Mr Shearer to drop by, that would be a completely different story. They would have to prise me off him with a crowbar lol. Now that's eye candy :D (plus he used to play for a decent team hee hee).

Anyhoo, here's today's HS:MS prompt... YELLOW :) Can't get away from work, can I? Lol. My 'yellow' shot is the entrance gates - well, a bit of them. I do like the yellow/blue combination, really do :D

Monkee progress :D Everything going to plan, he'll be completed on Sunday. Can't wait!!! Cos he's MINE ALL MINE!!!!! Trust me to knit myself a monkee in chocolate colour... was that a good idea??? YES!! I love chocolate (nearly as much as cheese lol) - and no, I won't eat the monkee!!! Doesn't this remind you of Galaxy chocolate?? YUM!! (Ok, someone called that shade of this particular yarn 'Walnut'... but to me it looks more like CHOCOLATE!! So there)

Have a good evening :D

~x~

Colours of the rainbow

2007-10-16T19:29:00.001+01:00

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with string
These are a few of my favourite things

Cream coloured ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleighbells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favourite things

When the bee stings
When the dog bites
When i'm feeling bad
I simply remember my favourite things
And then i don't feel so sad

(My favourite things ~ Sound of Music)

The Skoda advert was just on... and I love that song!!! Makes me smile :D Every time :D

Anyhoo, over at HS:MS we work our way through the colours of the rainbow... I like rainbows :D And it's about time I play again :) So, here we go... yesterday's colour was red... And because I just 'topped up' my hair colour (Warm Intense Red it's called) I thought I might as well use that :D

Today's colour is orange. My first thought was my phone bill (wonder why lol). It's not really a good shot and on second thoughts I didn't like the idea anymore...

This is much nicer :D Orange autumn leaves :D (would have worked even better with a blue sky but no such luck here today... ho hum)

Promise to self: Play along every day! I need the practice!!!

Progress report on monkee #2: I finished the front part last night and am now working on the back :D I'm aiming for completion on Sunday... It's crop time this Saturday and guess what I'll be doing... Yep!! I will be knitting!!! Must make more monkees... and there's a cute little cat pattern I've found... and one for a skull scarf... Ok, I'm hooked!! :D

Back to the land of knit :D

~x~

A beastly dare :)

2007-10-15T17:21:00.001+01:00

This time, there's a beastly dare set by Kathy over @ DCM:

Hellooooo, Kathy here to set you a really Beastly dare this week! The theme is ANIMAL and you can use anything that's animal inspired - not those diddy little ones like bugs, birds and butterflies (though you can include them in your design of course) but what I'd really like to see is bigger, wilder, more fabulous or fantastic creatures So you could maybe use animal die cuts, animal prints on paper or fabric, or maybe animal words or phrases "grrrrr get down tiger"!!!! You could invent your own wild and wonderful beasties, or go back in time for dinosaurs, or into the world of mythology for all sorts of incredible creatures. How about a card in the shape of a tiger, elephant or monkey? Now, there's a challenge for you.... I'd love you to all go really wild over this one and have loads of beastly fun

So I made this... :D

The monster is hand drawn (inspired by a monster on the McDonald's Happy Meal box) and coloured in with watercolours. Papers are Kirsty Wiseman's Rather Spiffing Betty Loves Adrian Kit. The phrase is a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder :D

And because I think that monster is too cute, I made another one; this time a felt version :D

Someone's gonna get a beastly birthday greeting, me thinks :D ...

On the monkee knitting front, I can report that my monkee number 2 is coming along nicely :D I will upload some pics tomorrow... if I get a chance lol.

Happy Monday everyone :D

~x~

Houst... ummm...Bristol, we have a monkee!!!

2007-10-12T13:53:00.000+01:00

Wednesday night at 5 minutes to one (1AM!!) it was done. The Funkee Monkee was completed :D Poor SockThingy got a bit scared by all the monkeying around and hid under the arm chair!

I am a flying monkee!!!! (... omg!!! Be careful... you're gonna fall!!... Sheesh! It's like having another child!!!)

Making friends with the spiders... They are tv addicts!!

Now I only need to catch the monkee again and wrap it up for my daughter's birthday tomorrow... Easier said than done! FM didn't stay long with the spiders; it was soon back to monkeying around... and up... and down... :D

And yes, monkee number 2 is already in the process of being knitted :D A lovely shade of walnut brown he'll be :) Yummy!!!

Back to the monkee hunt... wish me luck!!!

~x~

A slug (????) with no eyes...

2007-10-07T14:00:00.001+01:00

Nearly done :) My funkee monkee that is. Right now it resembles more a slug than a monkee... an eyeless slug at that, poor thing. SockThingy isn't too sure about the whole thing yet and it took quite some persuasion to get it to pose with ... ermmm... funkee slug...

And... SMILE!!! ... - Who said that???? -

Do I detect a cheeky side to ST here?? ... - What's going on?? I know you're doing something!!! Stop it!!! -

Hmmmm... I think I better get on with arms, legs and ears... and - not forgetting - eyes!!! These two are still bickering...

~x~

Wednesday Stamper and DCM rolled into one... :)

2007-10-07T13:53:00.000+01:00

This week I managed to do 2 challenges in one go: The Wednesday Stamper challenge was to use autumn colours and the DCM dared us to make a postcard (and send it... which I haven't done yet; sending it that is). So, here it is... a postcard in autumn colours :)

Stamp is Winged Goddess by Stamp Oasis, coloured with water colours and highlighted with Sakura Glaze pens... and a few doodles to finish it off :)

~x~

I had been warned...

2007-10-05T11:19:00.001+01:00

Yup, I had been warned that Monkees of Knit are addictive. Oh so true!!! I haven't even finished the first one (it's progressing very well though) but I have already bought the supplies for the second one :D The plan is to finish the first one before next Saturday and give it to my daughter for her birthday while No2 is going to be mine all mine!!!! Well, that's the plan...

But before I show you the monkee in the making, more creatures appeared at my house... not home made ones *shock horror* though... but courtesy of Poundland's Halloween aisle. Meet Princess, the black and purple hairy spider, and her friends :D Isn't she cute?

Princess

Princess and her - so far - unnamed friends playing nicely together

watching tv... they are very interested in fashion!!!

I have to say, they are very well behaved little (ummm... ok... rather large) spiders. My self administered spider therapy seems to be working! I used to be scared to death of spiders; now I kinda develop a spider obsession!! I've got spider rubber stamps, designed my own (pink) spider stamp (Elmira, the cutie pie) and keep buying all things spidey I can find... I still don't want a tarantula as pet though and am still squashing real spiders (but only the big dangerous ones) that jump out and try to attack me with their daggers (they DO carry weapons, you know, and they have dread locked hair!!) But apart from that... yep, gimme spideys :D Hmmmm... that makes me wonder... are there any spider knitting patterns?? Must investigate...

Back to Monkees of Knit now... I've knitted the front and the back of the very funkee monkee and the first side of the head gusset... and I needed the help of the Powers that Knit (aka my mam) only once - over the phone. I'm proud of myself :D

Funkee Monkee progress...

Back to the world of knit now :D I've got 2 meetings later and want to get quite a bit knitted before that. Addicted? Moi??? ... Lol.

Happy Friday :D

~x~

DCM ~Frame~ and HS:MS ~Tray~

2007-10-03T21:25:00.000+01:00

This week's dare over at DCM was to use a frame/frames on a card... I've gone all black and white this time with a hand cut circle frame, arrow (also hand cut), flower (Xcut punch), some fibre and ribbon from my stash, letters (Sizzlits Wet Paint Alpha) and some papers I had lurking in my Robox :) To finish it off, I made beaded earrings to give as a little gift with the card :D

Today's HS:MS prompt is ~Tray~ ... so here's my long suffering laptray - not only does it endure hot plates, it frequently gets covered in ink and glue and has been subjected to the craft knife and other torture instruments lol. Yes, I do have a craft desk but when that is overflowing with all sorts of stuff I use the laptray as an extension sort of thing. Poor thing...

Must really go and knit now!!!! .... Knit??? Yup!!! See post below :D (contains SockThingy images...)

Laters...

~x~

Excitement overload!!!!

2007-10-03T20:23:00.000+01:00

I was going to blog about SockThingy's day at work (my work; SockThingy doesn't really work) but today's events mean a little change of plan... MY MONKEY KNITTING SUPPLIES ARRIVED!!!!!! It took 2 (yup TWO) posties to deliver them (one small ish parcel) - do they need to hold hands now what with another strike imminent??? Huh?? Ah, never mind! They got my supplies here safely, that's all that matters :D

Of course SockThingy wanted to know what all the excitement was all about...

Ok, so it's a parcel...

... with stuff in it...

Wool??? ... And a monkey????

A VERY Nosy little monkey!!!

Sockthingy wondered what this was all about... so I explained the quest of knitted monkey world domination - For a second ST was a little concerned about its own kind but I assured it there would be plenty of room for all creatures :D With that it returned to the computer to continue surfing the net... apparently SockThingies like the internet very much :D

Unfortunately work, school runs and chores delayed the start of my adventure with wool a little bit ... not too much though :D

And so it begins....

Monkey in the making...

Must go and knit!!! (This is already becoming addictive...)

~x~

SockThingy's first morning...

2007-10-02T11:20:00.000+01:00

Everybody should have a SockThingy; they are such friendly things!! This one started the day with a bowl of cereal...

Yum!!

... then checked e-mails (it didn't get any so SockThingy checked mine instead - I can see a career as PA)

Junk!!! ... Delete...

After that it helped me by modeling a folder full of card stock for today's HS:MS prompt ~card~

Now what do we have in here?... Oohhh, pwetty colours :)

SockThingy wants to see the outside world so I'm going to take it to work with me today. It's a lovely autumn day, crisp air and sunny skies... I won't have to worry about SockThingy getting wet :) ... and might even get some nice shots (read: photographs! I'm not literally shooting the SockThingy!!!!) on the way :)

~x~

Waiting patiently... ummmm.... yeah right

2007-10-01T19:33:00.000+01:00

While I am waiting patiently (... don't be fooled, people!!! Lol... ) for my monkey knitting supplies to arrive, my brain seems to have gone into creative overdrive. I am starting to think that I've not got a cold but rather some creative bug... hmmmm... might keep it :) Last night I felt the urge to make something felty... So I made this:

Pink Skull Handbag Charm - pwetty!!!! :D

And then today I came up with something else... it seems to make itself right at home here:

Meet... SockThingy!!! ... so cute!!!

Apparently it likes diet coke... Dunno if that's good or bad (yet)... I like diet coke, too, so we get on brilliantly. But if SockThingy drinks all my supplies I might have to change my mind. Or buy more coke... Do SockThingies like wine? Does anyone know? If this one does I can see many happy times together coming up... hee hee :D

Lastbut not least... today's HS:MS prompt ~Wheel~ ... a dusty one at that... maybe I should clean??? *Shock horror* ... Nah! Just don't look too closely ha ha ha :D

Ok... back to chanting 'I need monkey knitting supplies, I need monkey knitting supplies, I need monkey knitting supplies' :D

~x~

Lost the plot??

2007-09-30T15:21:00.000+01:00

Have I finally lost the plot (no comments on that one, please!!! Lol) or can I get away with attributing my latest bout of madness to my stinking cold with fuzzy head?? I can try... It's the fuzzy head that made me think my life wouldn't be complete without... wait for it!!!... a KNITTED MONKEY!!! Yup, a monkey... of the knitted variety... knitted BY ME at that!!! I must be mad.... completely bonkers!! I haven't knitted since... umm.... probably 20 years (yeah, I know... I'm THAT old lol)!!! But since stumbling upon THIS blog I feel the need to knit my very own monkey. I could maybe blame SuzyB because it was via her blog I found Monkee Maker's... Or I could maybe blame Monkee Maker herself for showing me (and others) the world of knitted monkeys (thank you!!!!!)... Or I could just state the obvious and admit that I've just fallen in love. Fallen in love with knitted monkeys. So much so that I've gone and ordered some wool and knitting needles (because I wouldn't have a clue where to even start searching for mine...) and am thinking that I actually can do it!!! Delirious state of a fuzzy head full of a cold... Yup! So, I've printed the pattern (the easy peasy one... cos I'm not that delirious), ordered the supplies and am still kinda confident - probably because I haven't started knitting yet lol. Well, watch this space... I shall blog about my trials, fights and hopefully not failures with ... WOOL!

I'm gonna eave you with yesterday's HS:MS S.P.S. shot... my fuzzy head, dosed up with all sorts of cold remedies.... bleurgh!

~x~

Moo Cards and Vroom....!!

2007-09-27T22:45:00.000+01:00

This week's Wednesday Stamper challenge is to create a moo card... and no, they have nothing to do with cows. They are tiny cards, measuring 2.8 x 7 cm (about 1.1" x 2.8"). Why they are called moo cards, I have no idea! But they are highly addictive!!! I've made 6 of them already and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make a load more :) Cool little things!!! :)

The first set features 'altered' MAMBI stamps - I had to make them a little more 'me' lol - coloured with watercolour pencils and Glaze pens.

The second lot: Stamps by me (first), Stamps Away (second) and LeLoDesign (third); again coloured with watercolour pencils and Glaze pens.

Vroooooooom... Cars, boats, trains and planes is the theme for the DCM's Extra challenge this week. Of course I had to use my cute little Cuttlebug plane :) And a few doodles for good measure :)

I still haven't been to any charity shops... my card for that challenge will be late... story of my life ha ha ha.
How fast has this week flown by again? Tomorrow is Friday already... WEEKEND!!! :D Can't wait for next Sunday; I'm going to go and see The P.L.O.T. again :D Wooo hooo!!! And the next CPDS gig isn't far off either YAY :D

Oh, if anyone fancies a moo card swap, let me know :) Both sets/lots are up for swapsies :D

~x~

HS:MS ~Dog~, ~Sponge~ and ~Stamp~

2007-09-27T12:08:00.001+01:00

Yep, I'm playing catch up yet again... and - I don't know - again am not too happy with my efforts. No composition, lighting is rubbish, out of focus... all sorts. That's what you get when you just go and point and shoot :( I do like my close up shots but for some reason my phone's gone off them. I can't for the life of me get them right!! Must have a play... when I get a spare minute... ha ha ha.

Work (is still fun), school runs, after school clubs, being a personal chauffeur (something went wrong there, I want to have a chauffeur not BE one lol. Tomorrow's Euro Millions have my name on them!! 88 million quid... now that should give me my silver Bentley with chauffeur called Les - having that kind of silly money I can call my chauffeur whatever I want lol) ... keeps me out of mischief :) And - unfortunately - limits the amount of time I can spend creating... there's only so many night shifts I can cope with lol.

Well, here we go then... HS:MS prompts :)

~Dog~ ... my baby showing off his fluffy belly :)

~Sponge~ ... my dish sponge... not very interesting, I'm afraid, but at least it's blue lol. (Must try and find a pink one....)

And today's prompt ~Stamp~ ... a VERY SMALL fraction of my rubber stamp collection :) I just love rubber stamps ... and their digital equivalent, too :)

Time to go and play... ermmm... I mean work :)

Laters

~x~

Wednesday Stamper ~Fish~

2007-09-25T23:26:00.001+01:00

Another last minute job... not the card itself, but the upload. I've been out all day yesterday and today wasn't much better... After work I had to run back and forth to take and pick up children from after school clubs and hockey training. In between I had visitors and I managed to swing the hoover around quickly as well - at least make it look like I've done some housework lol.

So, without further ado - and because I am knackered and need my bed - here's my effort for the Wednesday Stamper's ~Fish~ challenge.

Stamps used: The fish is hand drawn and cut out of funky foam to make my own 'fishy' stamp :) and the sentiment is by Creative Expressions

Nighty night :)

~x~

DCM ~Golden~ and another card - just because

2007-09-21T19:26:00.000+01:00

A card for DCM's Extra ~Golden~ ...

And another birthday card... I got the cute teddy die cuts from evil bay a while ago and finally got round to having a play :)

~x~

And tonight I will be mostly....

2007-09-21T19:14:00.001+01:00

... drinking wine lol. And look what I will be drinking it out of... cool, eh? Got them from Asda. Plain see-through plastic glasses (hmmm... not really glasses then... are they called plastics instead??? Lol) in skull shape. Sooooo cool!!! I pwettied them up a little with window colours :) They are even fitting for today's HS:MS prompt ~Stare~ Yeah, I know, skulls have no eyes and therefor can't stare... but with a little imagination they can :D HA!

I'm off... there's some wine with my name on... lol :D

~x~

Rubbish shots for HS:MS...

2007-09-20T12:03:00.000+01:00

I am sure someone stole a few hours from my days... There is so much to do and not enough time!! A day used to be a lot longer... or is it just me??? It would help if my family would pull their weight a bit instead of being on a mission to make more work for me... really would. But I guess I made my own rod over the years by doing everything myself because that way things got done.... *sigh*

Time to catch up with the HS:MS prompts... I am so not happy with these shots; they are rubbish!!! Can't blame anyone else but me... they were all taken in a hurry and just for the sake of it... and this is what you get...

~Hang~... A dreamcatcher hanging from one of my kitchen cupboards :) I have quite a few dreamcatchers dotted around the house; I love all things Native American :)

~Quirky~... My new cardigan; it's got a skull and crossbones on its back - how cool is that????? ... Guess it can be seen as quirky as well... lol :)

~Break~... my family is on a mission to destroy the house!! Until yesterday I used to have two doors on my cupboard in the utility room... then one of them 'just fell off'... funny how things fall off all by themselves...

Having re-read what I am about to post I realize I sound a right cow, always complaining... I am not, honest!!! So, on a brighter note... I am about to toddle off to work (and I still find it weird to refer to it as work... it's fun!!!) to get messy with paints and things :) It's the last day of our underwater world pictures and the littlies have created some really great art works :) They have put me and my demo picture to shame with their octopuses, jelly fish, sharks and whatever else they thought fitting. Fantastic :)

Also, last night I got a message I've been waiting for... Confirmation of a 'secret gig' date for a band I really like :) Ok, not many of you would have heard of Cheese Puff Death Squad (I suppose) but if you like rock with a punky edge these are for you!!! Soooo.... me is looking forward to a fab night out at the end of October :D

Time to scoot.... ttfn :)

~x~