December - really??!!

I know it's a sign of getting old but where on earth has this year gone.  This year just seems to have flown by although you wouldn't know that from the lack of activity on my blog.  Unfortunately when life gets super busy my blog is the first thing that seems to get neglected.  So I am really sorry to those of you who pop by here occasionally to see what I've been up to.  So before I show you what I've been up to today I can tell you since my last blog post, I've been dancing in London and malmo (Sweden), had a fabulous holiday in the US visiting Julie, Eric and Jane, been on two crafting weekends with my lovely friends and taught an amazing group of ladies how to make a wall hanging and a cute card at Craftaganza.  So as usual just a quiet couple of weeks!!

This weekend, I've had a very relaxing weekend at home.  I've caught up on lots of mundane bits but also my My Life scrapbook, one page for each week of the year for 2012.  Then I decided to get a little Christmassy and make a decoration for the hearth.  I'm covered in glitter but so happy with the way it turned out.

All files from SVGcuts.com and the paper is My Mind's Eye I Believe collection.

I've entered this into a competition over at SVGcuts.com but I'm also popping it into challenges at:
Totally Gorjuss - Anything goes with Glitter
Totally Papercrafts - Anything Christmassy but a card 

Thanks for popping by.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge Blog

As it's time for the Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge Blog it must be the 1st of the month again and this week it really feels like winter is here with all the wind and rain.  However before we move in top Christmas we have our Crafter's Companion birthday to celebrate in October, so this month the challenge is BIRTHDAYS.   I've had these SVGs from SVGcuts (Happy birthday To You set) a while but not got round to cutting them with my beloved eCraft machine, but now I'm completely hooked.  I love the K-card (or sometimes called a lever card) and it literally took minutes to cut and assemble and how cute is the little cupcake that can be filled with a gift or choccies.

An inside view

How cute are all those buttons?

A cupcake that's syn free - my kind of cake

The flower file that comes in this SVG set is definitely going to be a favourite and I can see it popping up on all kinds of projects!

The papers are from Fist Edition papers and can be found in places like The Range.

Don't forget to come and enter at the challenge blog, there's a great prize up for grabs.

I can't wait to go and see all your fabulous work.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

Rolf Harris and the Circus

You've got to love any day that starts with you knowing you're off to meet Rolf Harris and then later you're going to the circus. For those of you that pop over to read by blog ramblings regularly you will not be surprised that this is a weekend with my lovely friend Anna.

So after a great breakfast (yes I'm still obsessed by food) we went into Cheltenham to the Whitehall Gallery for the VIP meeting with Rolf. Yes it meant we went in first and Anna got to buy some original line drawings and get them signed too. He's genuinely funny and was lovely to everyone. Here he is with Anna.

Then we came back to Anna's to relax and have some dinner. A new recipe for me out of the one pot cookbook from Slimming World, creamy mushroom pasta - delicious.

Then it was off to Giffords Circus at Cirencester. If I'm honest I had no idea what to expect, but whatever I did expect it wasn't the amazing magical experience I had tonight. Just driving up to the field made my heart skip a beat. The tent was beautifully lit and all the caravans and trailers were the old fashioned ones all painted the same. It was adorable. The tent wasn't huge and I loved that and we managed to squeeze onto the from row. From the moment we took our seats I was either laughing, clapping or just aghast at the whole spectacle.

How cute were the band?

At first we thought the white suit people were just going to dance but no this is the circus after all! The chap danced up and down those stairs on his hands - totally amazed.

During the interval Anna grabbed a cup of tea and we also got a peek at where they serve dinner after the show. Next time the circus is in town we so want to do this.

Then there was the kooky bird girl, she was so expressive.

Last but by no means last we're the acrobats that had us enthralled and catching our every breath.

Anna and I even got involved at the end when we got up to dance in the finale. Thank you tap dancing lady for coming to get us. Gifford Circus is really something special and magical, so if ever you get the chance to go, jump at it.

Thank you for another fabulous day Anna, you book the best adventures. Now it's time to play with some paper and glue.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

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Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns

How do you a follow a night at Carfest with a night out with your swing dance friends of course. Meschiya Lake and her fabulous band were playing at Gateshead Town Hall, so we went along to listen and dance. Luckily they'd left us plenty of room to dance. They're such a great band to dance to, they even have their own dancers on stage, the lovely Amy and Chance.

After they'd finished we decamped to Hoochie Coochies for more dancing and I even had a dance with Chance. Jazzy took some great photos - Flickr

So all in all a fabulous weekend.

 

Also big thank you to a friend who was there when I needed a virtual hug :-)

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

 

 

 

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Carfest!

Oh my what a fantastic day. I had a great demo day then rushed down to meet Anna so we could go to Carfest. She really is the best friend a girl could have and knows me so very well. We're both avid fans of Chris Evans and his breakfast show on BBC radio2 each weekday morning and when we found out he was organising a festival we knew we wanted to go. One slight problem, tickets were like hens teeth. But Anna to the rescue via the florist in Nailsworth and at the last minute 2 day tickets were obtained.

So we arrived rather late in the day but that didn't stop us having the most fabulous time and being rather excited. We got to see the cars, including the magnificent seven and even chitty chitty bang bang

 

The great setting of Cholmondeley Castel (pronounced Chumley)

Even the food was good

The atmosphere was electric but family friendly too, with lots of little people being there. We got to see The Proclaimers, Paloma Faith (swoon - she is amazing) and Texas, all hosted by Mr Evans himself.

The Proclaimers - 2 guys with guitars that know how to start a party.

The beautiful, kooky, hilarious, super talented Paloma Faith

He even got the local constabulary dancing to YMCA!

I'd forgotten what a great voice Charlene has, I'm off to search spottily for some Texas.

We ended up pretty much at the front, not bad as we were last to arrive. I don't think I stopped, singing, screaming, dancing and jumping up and down for hours. Well it was only when it was time for the. Fireworks before we left that I calmed a little, but not much as they were great fireworks.

Thank you Anna for making this night happen and thank you to Mr Chris Evans for giving up bread for Lent and because of it, making Carfest happens and raising lots of money for Children in Need.

The only regret I have is I had to cancel on another of my bested friends to go to Carfest, sorry Gwyneth. I will make it up to you.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

 

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A week at the NEC

Yes we've been at the NEC in Birmingham since Saturday, at Autumn Fair. I think it's not seeing any natural daylight for days that confuses me and leaves me not knowing what day it is! Either that or it's the jäger bombs taking their toll. The nights in the bar have definitely been interesting and I've met vets, farmers, a man who sells bulls you know what for a living and a chap who paints rubber ducks! Thank you to lovely Anne-Marie and the fabulous Anna for keeping me in check, well just about! I'm definitely in the Ginger zone right now and can cause trouble without trying.

Talking of which this photo was taken while we were setting up the stand. It's one way to get me to be quiet!

Here's the stand before show one morning, looking all slick and span.

I'm glad to be home and back in my own bed. I need the sleep before getting back into the office and catching up with everything.

 

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

 

 

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Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog

If it's time for the Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge Blog it must be the 1st of the month and hurtling towards Autumn, we welcome September. This month the challenge is gold. So after a little panic at not having anything gold, I remembered I'd done a gold leafing project for a magazine ages ago. So armed with some gold foil, an eCraft machine, a file from SVGcuts.com and some card, I made this fabulous bird cage

I've got say as with most of the eCraft projects that I tackle, I'm totally amazed that this 3d project is made from little more that 3 sheets of 12" x 12" card. Here it is in bits:

And part assembled

Don't forget to enter the challenge to be in with a chance of a fabulous prize.

Today has been another exciting day with a couple of major unexpected things coming out of the blue. But it is the night for a blue moon, so maybe I should have expected the extraordinary to happen. Anna and I are going to Carfest North, courtesy of the florist in Nailsworth. Ok I'm working that day but I'll get there as fast as I can as it was an opportunity not to turn down, as we both so wanted to go. I love that I have people as crazy as me in my life and who look for adventure wherever they can. Also tonight I love Facebook. If life really is all about random adventures then Facebook can really help in just helping guide the way and making plans.

Goodnight

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

 

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More Festival Fun

After a relaxing morning starting with French toast, Jen and I headed off into Edinburgh with no real plan other than getting Jen another pair of jeans and finding fun wherever we could.

So we walked up the Royal Mile where we saw a great street performer, he was only a bairn with the skinniest legs but pretty talented and funny too.

I also got to touch Chris Hoy's golden post box

With it being the last official day of the festival there were still plenty of people out distributing flyers. Our favourite had to be the one with a moustache on.

 

We had lunch at Porto & Fi before moving down onto Princess Street and Primani! New coat for me and plenty of tops for Jen, even the owl one!!! Shopping done we headed over to Udderbelly. I've had a secret desire to visit an upside down cow.

Bribing the staff with sweets we got in to see Barry Morgan and is Amazing Organ (OK no bribing required for this one only 2 rows full). Jen and I have definitely found our level in comedy and we loved Barry and even took part in the show and got to play on his organ.

 

Our last show of the weekend was Ian Stirling, a funny young chap (not helped by the 2 women who left part way through the show and really didn't get it!) who apparently as a day job is on kids TV.

So all round it's been a fantabulous weekend and I'll be back for the festival again, well if Jen invites me. She's the best pixie friend a girl could have.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

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Fantastic Fringe

Being in Edinburgh at this time of year means it's festival time. This means that the city is more bonkers than normal and that's without Miss Jaffers and I heading out into town! But before comedy it is time for fun and dancing. It just so happens that it was Balboa Brunch at the Meadows Hotel up here this morning, and Miss J kindly let me go out and play for a couple of hours. I stepped and twirled to my hearts content - thank you to all the lovely leads for a great time. Talking of lovely leads, Miss Jackie was there and joined Jen and I for lunch at Reverie afterwards. Yum, rather delicious Scottish mussels.

Jen and I then hit the shops and somehow I came home with 3 new dresses. The rather good news is that I'm almost set for my Titanic themed fancy dress that I need for the end of September.

A quick turn around and it was time to go out to see Rhod Gilbert - yes Welshmen can be funny, very funny. Shopping for potatoes will make me giggle for a long time.

After that we headed to the Three Sisters which becomes the Free Sisters during festival time. We stumbled across the show Bogon Bingo and loved every minute of it, even if we didn't get to win a prize and suffer the appropriate humiliation! Fab soundtrack, great dance moves and genuinely funny.

 

The adventure home on the bus was slightly more scary but only due to a few drunk locals.

Another good day.

Love ya

Ginger

xxx

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