** Look @ the views!! **

Happy Good Friday to you!!!

I hope you are enjoying the lovely, long Easter Weekend.

I have been away from Blogland for a while as we have been away to stay for a while with our relatives over in Northern Ireland, but I'm back now and having loaded up the hundreds of photos that we took I thought I would share a few.

Look at these amazing views over Lough Eske. Hubby and I treated ourselves to a night in a hotel overlooking this stunning scenery.

On the way to the hotel we stopped in the famous pub, Biddy O Barnes. I loved it, a roaring fire, old flagstone floor, traditional decor & furnishings and fab coffee!!! Hubby had to have Guiness of course!!



And the beautiful beach at Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal. which has to be one of my favourite places ever! Not the best photo due to the overcast skies but I love the way it captures the waves crashing in and how there is hardly anyone else on the beach.



We had a fabulous time catching up with friends and family, shopping, walking and generally relaxing and chilling out. But after almost 2 weeks living out of a suitcase we're now happy to be home and enjoying the wonderful sunshine.

I'm sure I'll be scrapping some of these very soon!

* What's On Your Workdesk *

I haven't joined in with WOYWW for a while, but this morning as I was sat doing some scrapping I thought it would be fun to participate this week so grabbed the camera and took a few pics to share with you. So this is a pic of the table in the dining area part of our living room which is as it looks most days .... a mess! We rarely use the table for eating, although I do clear it from time to time but I will admit that most evenings we eat our dinner sat on the sofa in front of the TV. I love working at this table as it's beside the patio doors so I get lots of daylight and today was lovely with the sun streaming in. So on my table there is the obligatory cup of coffee and the new issue (purchased this morning!) of Scrapbook Magazine but more interesting are the 3 storage boxes/baskets that you can see at the back of the table. I have a set of shelves just behind the table which stores some of my stash, with the rest upstairs in the spare bedroom. But I like to have the things I use the most close by. It's a case of if I can see it I will use it! So I have these 3 on the table whenever I'm scrapping.

• The cake tier stand which stores my favourite punches in the bottom and glues, adhesives and my acrylic stamping block in the top two tiers.


• The little white basket holds some of my stickers and embellishments.

• This plastic storage box is overflowing with Thickers, alphabets and more stickers. Anything new goes into either this box or the little white and lilac basket.

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to know more about WOYWW pop over to Julias blog to see more crafty desks.

* House Renovations Part 2 *

I had hoped to post Part 2 yesterday but just didn't get chance. The day started very early as I was woken around 7.30am with pressies, cards and flowers. Then it was off to the Dance School as H had a tap dancing examination. Fingers crossed she did okay! It was such a lovely sunny day we decided to go out for a walk on the beach and I was treated to lunch out as it was Mother's Day. Hope all Mums had an equally fabulous day!

So, anyway on with Part 2 of the lounge renovations!!

Once all the replastering was done, our builder fitted a new radiator!!

With the structural stuff done it was time for us to take over with the painting and decorating. We painted the walls, wallpapered the feature wall and painted the fireplace white! A new electric stove finished the fireplace and looks really cosy with the flame effect on. If we had known how difficult it would be papering around a chimney breast we would have had a rethink but it was a case of now we've started .... we have to finish!

So, now that the walls are painted, the feature wall done, window frame painted .... we could start laying the new wood floor!!

This is about where we are up to. It's a long, slow job as we only have the weekends and hubby has managed an hour or two some evenings.

We STILL have to finish the floor, fit skirting boards and the door architrave, put up the new curtain pole and ceiling lights. I'm sure it will be worth it when it's done!

* House Renovations Update ~ Part 1!! *

When I said to Hubby back in January "I think we should decorate the lounge" and he readily agreed, I honestly never expected it to become the huge renovation project that it has, and to still be going on in April! Initially we thought we would just paint the walls, put down new flooring and curtains/lighting etc. We liked the idea of a wall papered feature wall and maybe a new fireplace if our budget would allow.

It all started here and then we started stripping off the old wallpaper which you can read about here and see the "Before" pictures. Once we had got all the old wallpaper off we could see the room really was in a bad way and we had some decisions to make, do we try to patch the plaster up, hang lining paper, paint and hope for the best or do we get the walls and ceiling replastered and "do a proper job"? Decisions!!

We got some quotes for the work, priced up the materials and after some serious number crunching and a generous input of cash from a lovely relative we decided to go for it!!

So the old red brick fireplace was ripped out, I think my hubby enjoyed the demolition! The skirting boards and coving had to go, the horrible ceiling wall paper ripped off (why on earth did people put paper on a ceiling in the1970s & 80s??..Pointless!!)

Then, the builder/plasterer came in and quickly got started. He pulled down the old window that previous owners had put into the wall between the hall and lounge (where originally the door was), which so many visitors commented on as it looked so odd.

and replaced it with a door (yes, back to how it was orginally!)

He sorted all the walls out, repairing the holes and loose plaster and replastered all the walls and ceilings. The replastered chimney breast and fireplace was already looking so much better.

He sorted out all the odd jobs as well, like removing old, disused wall lights, put in a new TV aerial socket as well as repairing the archway through to the dining area, which once a spirit level was used was clearly not straight!! I'm pleased to say it now is definately straight!! lol! It was a lot of work and our house resembled a building site whilst it was going on.

As this is a long post, and photo heavy I'm going to be back with part 2 over the weekend! If you've got this far, thanks for reading and have a great evening!!

* Look what the Postie delivered! *

I've been stalking the Postman this week!!! Then on Wednesday the doorbell went and there was Postie with my box of new goodies ...... Well, a girl needs to treat herself once in awhile doesn't she? I have several Layouts sitting waiting to be put into an album but as my albums are literally bursting full I needed a new AC D Ring. I love all the new recently released papers so just had to get a few ... there's some Crate Emma's Shoppe, Crate Neighborhood and Echo Park Little Girl. Some Kraft and 3 Packs of Thickers fell into my basket too. Right off to sort out some photos to go with my new papers!

* Two Layouts *

Hello .... How are you? .....Another beautiful, warm and sunny day here and today I have not one, but TWO Layouts to share with you.

First up, these photos were taken a couple of years ago on a day trip to the New Forest Wildlife Park, where we were able to get very close to some of the beautiful tame animals, our favourites being the Deers.

I used some of the lovely October Afternoon Papers, my Martha Stewart Border Punch, Hero Arts Journalling Stamp and a few other bits from my stash (gems, brads, stickers etc).

This next page is based on a sketch in the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine. The photo was taken a couple of years ago and one of the few that I have of the 3 of us together where no one has closed their eyes or looked the other way! lol!

I didn't waste much time in cutting into the MME Stella & Rose papers that I got last week for this page. I also opened a new packet of glitter Thickers that arrived in a yummy box of new stash yesterday. I will share the rest of my new puchases later or tomorrow!

Looking at this page again, I feel as if the space on the left needs something ... I'm not good at leaving "white space" on a layout. Maybe I'll put some journalling there, what do you think?

Before I go, if you have arrived here via Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class please do leave a comment so I can stop by your blog too!

* Spring is in the air *

Well, it definately feels like Spring is here, with the lovely weather we have had this week.

I love this time of the year. I love that the sun shines but it's not so hot that my car becomes almost sauna like (sadly I don't have air con!). I love seeing the flowers and in particular the daffodils. I love that I can hang the washing out to dry on the line in the garden. I love that we can get out to enjoy the local parks, beaches and country side without needing to pack wellies and brollies and wrap up in several layers of clothes. I love that I get to take lots of photos!

Here's a few from last weekend!

Beautiful Daffodils!

We took the stabilisers off of H's bike ... she got the hang of it quite quickly!

Having fun in the Play Park!

I have finished another scrapbook page and another almost done so will be back soon to show you!

Hope you are having a lovely day enjoying the sun, enjoying some craftiness or anything else you may have planned!