When the veil is at it's thinest

So far we have had, Vampires, skeletons, witches, monsters, a cat and a dead doctor knock on the door.
A dead Cheerleader took the last of my sweeties :( I had thought there might be some left for me to munch on this evening :)

Borrowing children and animal cruelty

I borrow both of Sam's children again today :) They had a go at carving the pumpkins that will grace my garden this evening, and I must say I think they did a marvelous job! much better than i would have managed!Caleb had bought a set of pumpkin carving tools with him so all I had to do was cut the lids out and they got on with the mucky part.

I think they look really cool and can't wait for it to get dark so I can light all the candles in the back yard. after carving the pumpkins we dressed the dogs up in halloween costumes and took some photos of the poor babies.

Suki really wasn't very impressed at being dressed as a cat, but Bella was fazed by her pumpkin costume at all. We are about the curl up now in front of the telly and watch Alice.

A blessed Samhain to all

The Pups are two weeks old

I'm fed up with not being able to see which pup is which when I look at the web cam so I know the new mamma's and Daddads are gonna be as well. so this afternoon I sat down and made these. I hope they last at least until he pups are big enough to have the normal cat collars that I use. But I'm not sure they will!

The colours are all as before except Oakley who is now wearing a pale green collar rather than Orange (sorry Sam I couldn't find any orange wool in my wool bag)

Both the Girls now have names as well now so in all we have three named and five still waiting. Annie is wearing Purple and Margo is wearing Pink.

Just call me Nanny Dog

My best friends had their first child on Monday evening, and last night Trav and I were invited over to the hospital to meet Carys Ann. We arrived just as Grandad was leaving so I got right in there for a cuddle.

Now normally you wouldn't find me within cuddling distance of a new born baby..... they scare me! they are far too small and they cry!!! every time i pick them up, look at them or walk in the room a new born will cry! maybe it's an aura I give off (of terror) or it's just new borns and I can't cope with baby tears? whatever it is. It didn't effect Carys and me. Yes she had a cry, a sweet little squealy type thing, but for some reason I didn't feel the need to panic and pass her back to someone more confident than me. I had a good ten minutes of getting to know her before the mid-wife came and told us she needed feeding and changing so basically "sling your hook".
I have been named "Nanny Dog" by Carys Daddy and I can see that one sticking. Not that I'm worried about that :) after all I am a Nanny to quite a few puppy dogs, so Nanny Dog it is! I'm looking forward to plenty more cuddles once they bring her home.

The bringing of JOY

Yesterday I spent the day with my lovely chums Sam and Zoe, we set the day aside to start working on this years JOY project. JOY stands for Journal Our Yule - a take on JYC and December Daily, mixed up with some of our own ideas. I started recording my Decembers in 2009 when I joined JYC for the first time I made a huge 8.5"x11" album which I found really hard work keeping up to date with , so last year my JYC+extra was 4"x6" and I loved working in this size. However this year I have gone a little bigger and my album measures 5"x8.5". I have put aside a range of old and new christmassy papers to use and plan to use my cricut for as many of the dates, titles and shapes as I can. The main part of the book is complete, all the pages are in order (although that may change if I add cards and list like I did last year). Each page has a ATC with the date on. I have made two covers for the book one as a protector and one is the main cover.

Sadly now though it has to be packed away for a month :( Otherwise I'll be tempted to start sticking PP in ;)

So the sticky monster has arrived!!!

After a few false starts with buying this on eBay finally I have a sticky Monster!!! This is what it will remain named as compared to my little stickit snail this ATG is a MONSTER!!!! It took me a minute or two to figure out how to load the tape but I got there finally and I've already figured out the trigger and roll action! LOving it!!!!! I also had two of my favourite series of books delivered this afternoon burned by PC and Kristin Cast (yes I know they are teenagers books but I love the stories) and the final Sookie Stackhouse Novel........ Now which to read first???? I'm sorting out Christmas papers and cardstock to make a start on my JOY book this weekend over at Sami's JOY is standing for "Journal Our Yule". we have decided to change things about a bit this year and will be doing a mix of about four online projects we have seen online and adding something of our own as well. Both Sami and I Celebrate Yule rather than Christmas over the holidays and though JOY had a nice ring to it :) Here's what I have collected together so far. I'm sure that i will spread out of these two boxes but I want to try and keep things to a minimum so that I can work on the diary each day.

I had some fab news yesterday!!!!!! I got a job at the high school where I used to work :) I start at the end of November working a 30 hour week as a TA in the SEN dept. I'm over the moon at this job change, and although I will miss working at the dentists I just can't cope with the ten hour days any longer.

The pups are 1 week old today and I took their first individual photos this morning here's a taster. All the pups are called by their collar colour until named by their owners.

YELLOW (boy)

RED (boy)

PURPLE (girl)

PINK (girl)

OAKLEY (Sam's new baby boy)

GREEN (boy)

BLUE (boy)

AQUA (boy)

Maggie is doing a superb job with rearing them they have gained so much weight they are almost all at their two week targets!!!

Paige :)

Borrowing children and rolling nappies

Saturday morning found me driving over to Sam's house to borrow (Steal) her daughter. Shelby is a star with the cricut and I needed someone to help me big time!!!!! I was attending a baby shower that evening and had agreed to make a nappy cake for the event. Other than buy the nappies, a pair of booties and some dummies I had done nothing else. So as I rolled 75 nappies Bee cut out a huge amount of babies from the everyday paper dolls cart. She was a little star making sure that no two babies were alike! every face is different and she rooted through my scraps box looking for pieces that were just the right size for a baby grow, so as not to waste pretty paper :)
Here's our finished work of art! I have to say I'm quite pleased with it and the new Mummy and daddy liked it as well. I also managed to completed the blanket/shawl I made for my friend just in time hooking the last stitch on Friday night.


Bee was super lucky as well, she got to have the much coveted "first cuddle" with her families new puppy Oakly.


My friend sent me this photo Sunday morning showing her gifts from me all set up in the nursery, We are hoping that Shrimpy (they haven't yet told anyone the new babies name) comes along soon, He/She is due at the end of the month But I think Trina just might pop if she has to wait that long :)

and just a few extras to cheer up a monday morning :)

The pups are all doing really well, Maggie is being a super mum and I couldn't be happier......... well maybe if I could stay at home and puppy watch all day :)

Puppy update

Trav has just text me to say we now have six pups. Five boys and a girl, Maggie and pups are all well. He isn't sure if she has finished yet (this is his first solo whelp) but I thought I would share this photo with you


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

From the bedside of Maggie-Mae

Maggie started whelping this morning at 6:35. So far we have two little golden boys.


she is doing really well with the first two pups. She is very calm and very attentive mamma. I'll kept you all up to date as the whelp goes on. Px


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cockers on the Beach October 2010

We picked the perfect day for our twice yearly gathering of cocker mad friends on Appley beach. The sun was shining down on us and the wind was too strong. Although it wasn't as big a turn out as in past years there were still plenty of us there with our lovely little furry (wet and sandy) friends to make the beach goers stop and stare. Trav as ever took his roll of photographer very seriously and took some great shots of everyone enjoying themselves. These meets are very special form me, I love meeting up with my wonderful dog parents and finding out how my grandpups are doing.I'm lucky enough to have met some wonderful people through breeding Cocker Spaniels and although I only see some of them once or twice a year I class many of them as good friends.
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Amy and her girls
Pat, Chris and Rolo
Sophie (my star kennel girl) and her friend GemmaShelby another wonderful little kennel/puppy girl.
(also the little friend who Beebee was named after)

The lovely Amilia
Louise with Bessie and her Daughter with Uki
(not sure if that's spelt right?)Me and Clara

Me and Sam :)

Sam, Me and Gilli playing with the shadows on the walk homehave a great week!
Paige

Crop Crafting

Yesterday was our October Crop, so soon after our retreat most of us were all scrapped out ;) , Sam took her art journal and created two more beautiful pages, T made a huge pile of Christmas cards and Sarah punched out and assembled so many mini owls for her SU swaps I think she will be dreaming of owls for weeks to come :) Also feeling the limits of my photo box I only managed to create two LO's but I'm really pleased with both of them.

The first is of My Nieces step son and her new baby.
Big Bruv

and the second LO is for last weeks WCC challenge scrap a secret; I have journaled on the tag that are peeking out behind my photo. Although my new path isn't a secret really it's not something I will be shouting from the rooftops, I don't need approval from anyone else about my decision to follow a Wicca lifestyle, it's something that is very personal to me and thus the journalling is tucked away from those that don't need to see it.

Following a new path

I also completed another 10 Halloween treat bags, so that's another job ticked of my October list :)

A haunting we will go.......A haunting we will go.......

Oh I do love this time of year!!! I know the evenings are drawing in and we have lots of cold dark days! But I love curling up on the sofa on a wet Sunday afternoon in a lovely warm lounge, having a cuddle with a few cocker spaniels watching an old black and white "talkie" on the telly. I also adore Halloween!!!!! Not that I answer the door to the grunting Teenagers in our area, I'm afraid we always try and go out on the 31st and turn all the lights out (that way the dogs don't get bothered by all the door banging). But I do love making Halloween things, I had a fair few Halloween papers left over from last year (and have ordered more from MME this year) so I thought I would make some treat bags for friends and their children.

I watched a few different tutorials on YouTube and mixed a couple of them together to make my own treat bags. they have a little plastic card bag inside (trimmed to fit) which I have filled with a handful of mixed sweeties. This can be seen through the punched hole.

I ordered a new SU stamp set last month and it arrived last weekend I have been waiting to have a play with it and this was the perfect project. I love the little owl and toad they both fit inside the journal spot just right. I painted each image with SU inks, cut them out and layered them onto a scalloped punch out. I used this topper to cover the staple I have used to hold each box lid closed.

Don't you just love this little witch!!!!! I think she is great all warty and fun!