Giveaway winner...

Thanks for all your kind words bloggers about my sunshine jars, my (our) anniversary, my outfit post (would you like more of these? I enjoyed doing it!) and my layouts.
I used random name picker - which is found on classtools.net a great tool that I use when I teach to decide who has to answer a question or who has to give a presentation first. One of my students is really shy and HATES speaking in front of the class and she told me that she has a panic attack every time I bring out the random name picker - so sometimes I sneakily omit her name and give her a knowing wink. I'm not here to cause panic attacks am I??? My younger students LOVE it though and they will do anything if their name comes up on the fruit machine- a great bargaining tool.
So without further ado the winner of giveaway...

(I tried to add the screen shot and it amde blogger go a bit crazy so...)

Louise22 July 2012 13:01

what a lovely idea Mel....looks like i'll have to make a trip to Wilko's too xx

Well Lousie no need for you to go! Louise is one of my most loyal and 'devoted' followers so it could not have gone to a better person. Please email me your address Louise - melide18@gmail.com
I will mail your package out at the end of the week as I am in London for the Olympics - yay! I will be posting some pics up soon of the handball and the view from inside the Olympic Park.
Hope you all enjoyed the opening ceremony as much as me.
'Brilliant, a little bit bonkers and very British' one of my friends tweeted and I couldn't agree more.

Three year Anniversary: PicMonkey photo collages

Although I am predominately a crafty blogger my guilty pleasure is checking out fashion blogs and so I thought I might indulge you with an outfit post - especially since I've just learnt how to make photo collages. I was pleased that the weather in England was actually nice enough to give my new zebra print dress an outing!

 Outfit details: dress - current range at H&M, cardigan - Primark, shoes - Zara, sunglasses - free with a magazine

Here is how we spent our day:

We took a steam train from Keighley to Howarth and back. We got the adult day rover ticket so that we could roam around for the day between all the stops and so that we could take the open air bus tour across the moors. It was a fab idea and a really fun experience.

In Howarth we went to our fav cafe Cobbles and Clay (which I will review soon on my other blog) and we decided to paint some gingerbread men as we like to collect Christmas tree decorations when we travel and of big events so that when we decorate our tree it is like a great trip down memory lane. So as you can see I was concentrating hard and even painted a 3 on his pocket so that we could remember that it was our third wedding anniversary. The Belgian, of course, painted his in the Club Bruges Kit. He is nothing if not dedicated!

If you are visiting Yorkshire anytime soon I would definitely recommend it for a day out - with kids or otherwise!

Check out the giveaway in my previous post - ending Sunday and open to international bloggers too!

Sunday session: Care packages giveaway!

 I have been musing over the last few weeks how it really is the small and thoughtful things which means the most. I recieved these three care packages over the last month and they really made my day and cheered me up when I recieved them. The third was biscotti all the way from New York and it was delish! Do you know the funniest thing two of the senders were total strangers and they were just blog related RAKs? So I think I am going to pass along the love...first to people I actually know and then to...well...relative strangers via a giveaway. So make sure that you comment on this post to qualify.

 I got some of the ideas for my care packages from this blog she sent some friends packages of sunshine and I felt that my fellow Brits would appreciate some sunshine in all this rain. Although today the sun has made an appearance an the pub gardens are overflowing and badly fake tanned flesh is endemic in the high streets of a town near YOU!
So I headed to Wilkinsons to get some cheap and cheerful yellow coloured little pressies to fill these packages. And oh my gosh how cool have Wilkos gone? They even have some scrapbook worthy stationary like these post-its for a pound and lightbulb shaped paper clips - yay! Those were MY treat!

 So recipient number who has two little boys is getting this stash of goodies...

 Recipient two, who is off on a camping trip with her daughter, is getting these goodies...

 I packaged them like this...

So if you want to recieve a package filled with sunshine then comment below...will draw the winner NEXT SUNDAY at 8pm!
International friends welcome. Real friends welcome too!

Ode to happy mail!

What a beautiful little package to arrive hime to on a soggy Friday night when the only entertainment seems to be a certain footie match on telly...

 And even happier to discover these goodies inside. One of these will be perf for scrapping about our Jubilee weekend.

Aren't some bloggers so lovely and generous?

Giveaway results and Happy New Year!

Roll up, roll up the results of the giveaway are here... The winner of the Christmas scrap stash is...Julie! And the winner of the baking stash is...Hippychick! Congrats ladies. Email me your address - melide18@gmail.com. Here are some pics of what our New Years in Shropshire looked like... Sparklers and fireworks were a first for us and made the new year feel a lot more festive - we really enjoyed ourselves and Asda afforded us quite a show! In my sales bargain £7 shirt from H&M. Colour co-ordinating with the drink. In the past I have trekked down to London for parties and waiting in the freezing cold for the fireworks and endured the mad crush on the tubes...in my single days. I am glad I don't have to pretend anymore and can just enjoy a "quiet night in" with the family. It was a fab way to see in 2011. We are back in chilly Otley now and I completed three whole layouts today which I will share with you soon. Thanks for all the comments over the last year they fuel my blog and make my day! Happy New Year!!!

Singing, singing all the day, giveaway, oh giveaway!

So to thank you all for being such loyal followers and in celebration of my *almost* blogiversary I have decided to do a two-tier giveaway. The first RAK up for grabs is for all the scrappers out there and consists of: * Ten patterned pages in red and green with Christmas phrases * Four sheet of stickers - borders and phrases * One set of silver tag letters and brads The second RAK is for all you bakers out there. It is a gingerbread patterned apron and three different sized gingerbread men cutters. Cute huh?! In order to qualify (and it is open to international friends!) you must leave a comment here and state whether you want to qualify for scrap stash, baking stash or both. Also state whether you are a follower or not as followers will be entered twice. If you "big me up" on your blog then let me know and you will get another entry.

* In your comment either share you fav Christmas pressie you ever received or your biggest baking disaster! *

Good luck!

(It will close on the 28th)

Duvet day * Sniff! *

Since Friday night I have been riddled with this awful sore throat, tickly cough, aching joints and head ache and I battled through school yesterday but am now having a day off as it doesn't do my throat any favours shouting at kids all day long. So this comes from my duvet...my poor neglected blog. The funny thing is I have scrappped a lot recently but the borrowed camera is now having a few technical issues and i still can't figure out the SLR I got on ebay. So I can't share! Good news is I won this RAK from the lovely Darlene. It is coming up to my one year blogiversary and I am planning a RAK for that. So tell your friends. I am hoping to get up to 40 followers by then as my blog has hit a plateau. Here are the goodies I will be recieving - yay! In other news my sister Mara has arrived safely in Turks and Caicos to spend Christmas with my little sister Gems and her husband. I am *trying* not to get too jealous. Check out her blog if you wanna see more.

How clear is that water?? Seriously?!

However if baking is more your thing at Christmas then check out her baking blog where she has just made these delicious looking brownies - hello! Trouble is I don't even have an appetite - now that is how you know that I am sick!

So there you have it. I am still alive, perhaps not kicking, and wanted to share a few pics with you.