My first blog award!

Oh wow! Lynne has just given me my first blog award, how sweet is that? I'm really chuffed. I haven't been posting as much as I should lately, because I've been taking Megan on her Uni visits, (we've got another one tomorrow), I've been working, and I've had a jewellery party. Life has been really busy. So having continued support from people means a lot to me.

Please post this award with pride on your blogs.

I now need to pass the award on, I believe, to ten other people, I will have to think about some, because from memory, I just can't remember everyone off the top of my head, how bad is that? Firstly, I'd like to nominate Stargrove's blog (Anne) she always joins in cool challenges, second Card's by Kim as her cards are excellent and of such a high quality, third Phree at Ink Stain Survivor for her knowledge on anything and everything, fourth Rosie at Edna's Place I love her cards and fifth Debbie at Pink Poppy Craft Box. I'll post the other nominations later when I've had a think!

We've got 13 little chicks now, I thinks that that's all we will get, even though there are still some eggs left, because it's too hard for a hen to sit on eggs and have chicks running around. So, when I get home again on Thursday, I'll probably have to take the remaining eggs away. Dizzy (Lizzy) is probably leaving them for too long now anyway, and they are getting cold, which will mean the chicks will die and therefore won't hatch. Sad, but part of the chick rearing process.

That's all for now, I am meant to be packing, as I'm going away tomorrow, and I've done nothing yet! Judith x

End of the holidays

Well, we've got nine little chicks now, five black, three yellow and one brown. Zoe has three eggs left to hatch, and one sadly died. We do lose some along the way, but that's nature for you. We have another hen, Dizzy Lizzy, a Frizzle, sitting on twelve eggs as well, and they're due to start hatching possibly next week. Frizzles look like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards as their feathers stick up the wrong way. The chicks are bound to look funny when their feathers come in.

Some of our chicken have funny names, I confess, all the family take part in helping to choose them. Occasionally I have to take a chicken to the vets, and I always pray that it's not going to be Tinky Winky, or Ziggy Stardust, or Pagani Zonda, that the vet calls out for while I'm sitting there pretending to be someone else! We do have Betty, Jeanie lola, and Niall who are slightly more normal, but can you imagine the fun my teenagers are going to have with this new batch!!!! At least they keep it clean.

This week has been hectic again, I've been making cards, but haven't got any onto the computer yet. I also demonstrated at our Art Club, which was a little daunting as I don't class myself as one of the experts. However, I just did a demo for the kids and some of the adults joined in. I bought some distress inks this week, inspired by Kim Piggott's work, (she's on my blog list). Her work is so good, it's really worth looking at her blog. Also, if you look at Marlene's blog http://mar1ene.wordpress.com/ she has a great tutorial on distress inks if you are a novice. I use lots of other mediums such as H2o's, Adirondack inks, Lyra Aquatones, etc, and the concept is all very similar, but her tutorial is excellent. Marlene also has some gorgeous cards on her blog if you like that style of card making. Me, I like all sorts!

I'm off to Blickling Hall in Norfolk tomorrow with my hubbie to a bead fair, but then we're going to Holt for a drive. He wouldn't come if it was just to go to a bead fair, bless him! Holt is a lovely place, full of art galleries, gift shops, and a great restaurant/deli/hotel called Byfords where we go for lunch. We don't go out as a couple much, so we have a bit of 'us' time.

We're preparing for an extension on the house, it's a slow process. We have planning permission, but our architect is slow preparing the drawings to get building regs. Our builder wants to get going, he built the house originally, and we bought the house from him and his wife. We want to get going, because the room we are planning is a lovely garden room, with a vaulted ceiling, oak beams, oak floor, cream walls, etc. It would be nice to have it done and enjoy it through the summer, but time is marching on. I have to empty my craft room when the building work starts. This is somewhat of a nightmare for me, where will everything go? I feel like a displaced person, and am worrying about my things. They'll get dusty in the garage, moved around by the kids in the spare room, frowned at and grumbled about anywhere else in the house. They won't be available 24/7 in the loft. Life just won't be normal for a while. However, I will be forced to have a sort out, and to reorganise, to put things back in a tidy fashion, and maybe I can get some new storage!!! Thats all for now folks, Judith x

Things to make you go ahhh!

It's Easter, a time for lambs, daffodils and chicks. We have some chicks! At the moment, I think we have four, because I don't like to keep lifting Zoe, our black hen up, to have a look. We have three fluffy yellow ones, which may turn into white, brown or lavender coloured chickens, and one black chick, who will be black, like Zoe. We have three hens sitting on eggs, so it is an exciting time not knowing if there will be another little face popping out from underneath a hen each morning. However, we keep our fingers crossed that we don't get too many little cockerels to find homes for. They are noisy little fellas, and tend to poop more than their sisters too, which requires more cleaning!

I went to a Stampin Up! party today, which I really enjoyed. I'd been to one before, but it's nice to craft with other people for a change. Made a really sweet little card which I'll try and post this week when I post some of my other efforts. I'm busy making lots at the moment, so hopefully I'll get some on the blog! Had a major haircut this week too, and have gone a lot shorter than I've been for years. Most people are doing a double take when they see me, but a change has probably done the old barnet a lot of good. Some medication I've been on for a while hasn't helped and the haircut has given me a boost.

Have a good Easter folks, Judith x

Keeping Busy

It's been over a week since my last post I'm afraid, but I've been so busy. Obviously I went away to my Mum's, and I didn't get back until Tuesday evening. I had a good time at the Bead Fair, and the GNPE at Harrogate. I saw lots of stuff that I really would have liked, took some photos, and got some bits and pieces. Hopefully, I'll be able to get crafting asap now that the Easter holidays are here, but that normally means that the taxi service just becomes busier! I didn't see any Graphicus Guild members at the show despite my badge, so I was disappointed. However, the lure of all the craft goodies would have prevented them from looking for strange women that they didn't know. I did see Glenda and Lynn frm Graphicus briefly though, and it was lovely to say hello to them.

I have had to work since I got home, and also do a jewellery party for a friend, which went well. This weekend I must tackle the house which has been looked after by the rest of the family for a few days...While I was away, my hubbie managed to lock himself out, put the clocks back instead of forward, and was trying to contact me on my old mobile instead of my new one. He is not old, just used to having me around to organise his life! However, the children are still alive, my cat still loves me, and we have a new baby chick, so not everything was a disaster.

I was reading Glenda's blog last night, you can see the link on my blog (Artylicious) and she was describing having to keep all the balls in the air. I feel like that too, because life gets so busy. I've got sooo much to do, housework, gardening, I need to make cards for the shop where I sell them, etc. BUT, at the end of the day, I will find time to play with a new craft item, or rediscover an old one in a different way. I will promise myself a bit of craft time later on today after the cleaning and tidying, so that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Crafting is such a great release valve, and it keeps us sane don't you think? Sorry no cards today, promise some in the week! Judith x