Merlin at five weeks old

Merlin at five weeks old :)

Isn't he gorgeous and growing up.

Playtime.

Shattered, ready for his tea and bed :)

National Cupcake Week 2012

To celebrate National Cupcake Week 2012 I made these for Borge to take to work, Butterscotch and Vanilla Cupcakes.

Butterscotch sponge with white chocolate ganache.

White chocolate and vanilla buttercream on top of the ganache.

Orange glitter and large pieces of Cadbury's Fudge.

Table Tote

Rotating Table Tote that cost £30.00 decorated with damask paper on all sides and on the drawers and blinged with crystals and flowers.

My Bling Box, this has all my adhesive and non-adhesive crystals, jewels and rhinestones, glue, Bazzill jewels, tweezers and bejeweller.  Decorated with Basic Grey Black Tie, chipboard letters and more bling.

Merlin at nearly four weeks old

This is my boy Merlin at nearly four weeks old.  He has now been officially registered with the Kennel Club as Merlin Ambrose of Carmarthen.  I would like to think at some point in the future we will get a chance to show him.  We are taking him to training classes but I haven't decided whether I want to show him or let him do agility which I think could be fun with Rachael.  Will have to wait and see.  He is so cute though.

Newton Rigg before and after

Rachael moved into her new room at Newton Rigg College on Sunday.  I thought I would share the before and after photos.

I know, not a very good one but you can make out the wardrobe and the fact that there isn't that much space.

She has her own sink and was quite pleased that she had privet growing outside the window for privacy!!

Waiting for the makeover, we gave it a good clean before we adding Rachael's stash to the room.

Lotso Bear had to go with her although he looked a bit cross (he always does!)  One of Rachael's favourite films is the Toy Story film from Disney so she has a collection of toys. (Some of which she has pinched from me!)

The Body Shop Satsuma range, it smells lovely and is quite strong, one of Rachael's favourites.

Kept the green and orange theme going, with her pots and bath stuff.

Good luck balloon and cards along with biscuit barrell (no biscuits, Rachael's Special K stash that she loves!), alarm clock and tonnes of stationery.

She has had a great first day yesterday.  Had her first assignment and also been notified of the trips that she will be on this week already.  They seem very organised.

Wooden Ink Pad Storage

I have seen numerous ink pad storage racks but never at the right price or in the UK so I decided it was time to have a go at making my own.  I hope I have put enough information below for anybody else to have a go but if not you can email me for more information.

You will need two large sheets of 4mm MDF which cost a couple of pounds each, some edging with a curve on one side and right angle on the other, I used four and a half strips. Cut the edging into 4.5 " strips and glue them in rows down a 5" x length of board strip of MDF with the curved edge facing down.  Make sure you have left enough room for ink pads to fit in the space.  You will need two edge pieces and then two middle pieces with the curved edging on both sides of the MDF strips.

Place your second sheet of MDF on a cutting/gluing area and put the first piece on, marking with a pencil, place an ink pad in the top slot and one in the bottom slot.  I decided on 16 ink pads in each row and then a drawer at the bottom, place the second piece in and mark with the pencil, add another ink pad to the top and bottom, making sure you can remove them easily but that they do not have room to fall through.  Place the third piece in and mark again, repeating with another two ink pads and then add the far edge in, marking again.  Remove all the ink pads and MDF pieces so that you are left with the pencil markings.  Add on extra if you would like a drawer and as you can see from above the middle two pieces are shorter than the outer sides to allow for the drawer.  Cut the MDF to size.  This can be done with a sharp blade and metal edged ruler for accuracy.  Lightly sand the cut edges so that they are smooth, on all sides.  Use a good strong glue, I used Club Scrap Book Binding glue, which dries very fast and clear but is runny so it stays where you put it.  Place each piece in place and put the ink pads back into the slots so you are doubly sure they fit.  Allow each section to dry, use heavy objects such as books/candle jars to keep the pieces in place and weighed down to give a good strong finish.  Repeat the above process for all the MDF strips.  I left each strip overnight just to be sure but it could be started and finished in a couple of days.

Once the strips have been glued on and have dried thoroughly use a spray paint to cover the whole area, I used a total of two cans to give a good even coverage over the whole of the ink pad stand.  Place an ink pad in the top and bottom rows again and measure for the middle shelf and cut a piece of MDF to fit remembering to sand the edges, glue in place while the rack is laid down.  Once dry, measure two pieces of MDF for the top and bottom of the rack and glue in place, remembering to leave the ink pads ink to make sure they still fit properly.  Glue the top and bottom pieces by standing the unit up on the bottom piece first, then place the top piece on, check the back of the unit and sides to make sure they fit well and then place candle jars or books on the unit and leave overnight to dry.  Take measurements of the gap for the drawer and begin with the base, then the back measurements and then the sides, glue and leave to dry overnight.  

Once you have completed the shelving layout and it is all glued and dried, you can decorate it how you like.  I used black spray paint because I didn't want brush marks on any part.  I used one piece of 12 x 12 with a black/white damask pattern and cut three pieces for the bottom part of shelves and the front of the drawer.

Measure the middle of the drawer and use a piecing tool to make a hole for the screw to go through.  I used a door knob from a stores kitchen range but you could use Tim Holtz embellishments.  I used the door knob because I didn't want the end of screw poking through, I have covered the inside so that nothing can be caught on it.

Once complete fill the storage rack with your ink pads and enjoy.  

Merlin

I am going to need a new companion soon with everybody going off to do their own thing and only having the youngest of our children at home, losing our dog and Bruar going to my Sister-in-laws, so for mine and my daughter's birthday we decided to get a black Cocker Spaniel puppy and call him Merlin.  He is only three weeks old at the moment and not ready until October which gives me time to get over losing our lovely Dane.

Merlin at one week old

Merlin at two weeks old with his eyes open for the first time

Less than one week old

Showing his white beard

and one white toe.  He is adorable and will hopefully be a wonderful companion for me.

Life in the fast lane!

For the month of August it has been absolutely manic, I hope that now we are in September it will begin to slow down.

Kristian got his University results and had a great finish to his first year and a good start to his second year at Teesside University.

James has gone sailing for a week with the Ocean Youth Trust of Scotland, he will be back at the weekend, they are sailing all around Isle of Arran, Campbelltown and very possibly to Northern Ireland depending on the weather.

We had our holiday in Lincolnshire this year so that we could meet up with my hubby's family.

We had a great week but didn't manage to get into The Deep at Hull as it broke down and couldn't reopen.  We have no plans to go back as the management of the place were pretty appalling when it came to dealing with refunds and since it had happened three times in three weeks, you would think they would be better used to dealing with their problems but that was not the case and also no apology.  Bad customer service, such a shame, as it would probably have been good to see around the place.  Maybe if they get to read this they will think twice about how they treat customers.

My daughter got her place at Newton Rigg College at Penrith and has now started her work placement once a week at a local kennels.

The weather was really good all week, but I have to admit I was really stuck to the television for The Olympics, Team GB were absolutely brilliant, third place in the listings, great job and great opening ceremony (other than the weird goings on of the NHS bit!!!)  I hope the Paralympians do as well, I am sure they will.

As you can see from my other post we lost our much loved pet Brandy, this was such a shock to us, she had enjoyed a lovely week of lying on the sofa with our eldest son, but when I got of holiday, she looked like she hadn't eaten, I knew she had, so off to the vets and it was very bad news with losing her very shortly afterwards.  It is such a big miss, no wagging tail in the mornings when you come down and no barking at the   Postman, so quiet.

Our Gorgeous Great Dane

RIP Brandy 11.10.05 - 20.08.12 

Our beautiful Great Dane, 

forever in our hearts, 

never to be forgotten, 

wagging her tail on Rainbow Bridge xxxx

Enjoying a bit of tv.