....the size of the naan bread at the Indian restaurant last night! It was hubbie's 50th birthday last weekend, so last night, our eldest son and his girlfriend took us out for a curry to celebrate. We went to this amazing restaurant in Birmingham, possibly the curry capital of the UK. The curry was scrumptious, and the naan bread to die for! We actually only went for the medium naan breads, which were probably 18 inches in diameter (we shared a couple between us), but the large ones...well, they had to be carried on two plates/baskets and they must have been 3 feet across! I mean, just what size of cooker do they have to be able to make those?!!! The large naan bread was as big as the table!

I must say, though, that they must have been the best naan bread ever, so if you fancy a try, nip over to the Punjab Paradise on Ladywood Road. I would definitely recommend it.

I've been trying to catch up on various things this week without much luck. Have you ever had those occasions when no matter what you do or how hard you try, you end up getting nowhere fast? I'm trying to get my son to finish off my new website so I can start designing in earnest but I also need to get more kits, etc made beforehand. Then I need to make some reward tags for a group I am in, plus I have been asked to write another tutorial for Bellascraps and am tracking my brains to come up with a useful one. Plus there is the never ending pile of work, always something to be thankful for when you are self employed though!

I did manage to upload some papers to 4shared though:




I tweaked the gingham overlay I have made and made the squares slightly smaller. Let me know what you think and you can download it by clicking here.

I'm off now to try and do some paint pages in photoshop. I am convinced a can get a realistic paint effect and am determined to find out how to do this!


....get the desktop for July finished!!! It's only 16 July today, so obviously I am totally up to date and on time, as per usual, lol! I'll leave the preview and download link later in this post

Things here seem to be even more hectic than usual but at least it is almost the end of term. Only one more day to go and then my youngest son finished until September, which will make life a lot easier as there will be no school run over the summer. Of course, the other two still need taking to work, but that will mean only a 12 mile trip instead of the current 24 mile trip. Gotta love those school holidays!

My youngest is really looking forward to the holidays. I reckon he needs a break from school and some time to just "chill". He's been working hard these last few weeks and whilst his school report was both good and bad. How can someone be so good at maths, history and science, achieving better than the national curriculum level for year 7, and yet have grades just below that for English and geography? He is not a stupid boy, far from it, so is this the school or the teachers or what? You have to wonder.....

We start our summer holiday sessions at church this week. This means that the house groups, etc each take a Sunday Service and it is cafe church all through the summer. So, lots of tea and coffee, with different styles of service to look forward to:).

Well, I'd better get back to work. I need to get three sets of accounts finished by this weekend and only have today and tomorrow to do it in! If you know how to squeeze an extra hour out of each day plus an extra day in each week, please let me know, I could do with the extra time! In the meantime, here is the preview of the desktop.





It is made using my part in the Summer Garden blog train, and the photos are of the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. We saw them in action at Cosford Air Show last month and I managed to get a couple of decent photos out of the umpteen I took. Most of the others were too blurry or far away to be any good, but I was really pleased with these two photos. Due to my camera not being the fastest around (or maybe it's the photographer!), there were many photos of the sky, the clouds, some smoke as the planes moved too fast for me to get them in shot an press the button before they flew away! One day (in my dreams) I will have a digital SLR camera with zoom lenses and all that stuff, and will be able to take millions of photos in seconds, but until then, I have only a limited ability to take photos of fast moving objects!

So far, the desktop is only in 1280 by 1024 size, so if anyone wants a different size, just let me know. Click on the preview to go to the download page.

Bye for now!

Well, I have been out all day at a client's trying to get a VAT return finished, but because of the quantity of invoices, etc to input, I still have to finish reconciling the bank account. Plus I have another set of accounts to complete for another client, so I guess this weekend will be busy with work, again!

I was hoping I would be finished today by lunchtime, but that was not the case :(. I really wanted to spend some time just messing on the computer as I was up until 1 am this morning trying to get some accounts finished. I managed to do the accounts, but need a couple of hours more to get the covering letter finished. Due to working late, I ended up oversleeping this morning, so couldn't go for a run with the boys (as if they would have got out of bed extra early for that anyway!).

We actually haven't been running for two weeks now due to work, colds, and other factors. So, in a vain attempt to get some exercise and lose some weight, I have bought myself the "30 day shred". Have you got this/seen the video/tried it out? I read some good reviews of this so thought I'd give it a go yesterday.... Oh, boy, are certain muscles aching today! I thought my arms were going to collapse when doing the press ups, but the workout was really good. It was quick, very efficient (or at least Gillian Michaels and her helpers were efficient, not so sure whether the same could be said of me!) and I definitely felt better afterwards (once I'd got my breath back and had a good rest!). I don't think I'll be doing it everyday though, maybe every other day, so I'll have to let you know how I get on. I have only started at level 1, after all, I don't want to overdo things!!! So the 30 day shred is about to become the 60 day shred, so in two months time, I should be fitter and, hopefully, thinner!

Anyhow, exercise apart, I did do some designing at the end of last month for the Summer Garden kit and here is the first of the extras I promised:

It's a set of basic papers in the Summer Garden swatch colours, so feel free to download by clicking on the preview. I was hoping to finish a desktop (my current desktop is still showing June and here we are nearly half way through July!) for you but haven't had the time to complete it yet...maybe at the weekend?

I've also found some brilliant paint brushes for Photoshop online and really want to make some plain painted papers. Oh, the things I want to do this weekend! Plus, it is also my Dad's birthday on Sunday so I need to make him a card. Now that I have taken up card making I refuse to buy cards...of course, if you costed out all time it takes me to design and make a card by hand, it would be far cheaper just to go out and buy one, but then where's the fun in that?!!!

Ok, I'm going to leave you now with the basic papers download, and hope to be back with painted papers some time over the weekend! I need to go get some sleep now, plus youngest son has promised me a back massage in return for me ungrounding him! That means, of course, I have to grab him whilst the offer is still good, otherwise I will miss out and I will have ungrounded him for nothing!!



Well, the latest ADSDesigners blog train is released today, and here is a preview of my share of the kit:

I've seen most of the other previews and they all look awesome! My part contains:

  • 5 papers
  • 2 frames
  • 1 bird
  • 1 ricrac
  • 2 knotted ribbons
  • 3 flower buttons
  • 1 tulip
  • 1 butterfly and rose overlay
Looking at the preview, I've actually managed to omit the ricrac, but it is included in the zipped file. I've been in such a rush today to get it all uploaded and everything but have to go out shortly. I'm also in the middle of trying to cook tea. Since I'm trying to do a cheese sauce, it is kind of difficult running from the computer in one room, into the kitchen and then back again!

There's not a lot in my share of the kit, but I have more goodies for later in the month so keep checking back!

Just click on the preview to go to the download page and then follow the links below to the rest of the stops on the blog train! The links will be up all of July, so you have plenty of time :).

http://beaconscrap.livejournal.com/
http://beckmoorescrapalittle.blogspot.com/
http://nutnbutdezigns.blogspot.com/
http://candystreasures.blogspot.com/
http://cattscrapps.blogspot.com/
http://desertgirl-blog.blogspot.com/
http://foxyladycreation.blogspot.com/
http://www.digicyberscraps.com/
http://digital-keepsakes.blogspot.com/
http://fairydustprincess-magicmaker.blogspot.com/
http://heavenlycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://kikkinkreations.blogspot.com/
http://lindasdreamdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://living4him2.blogspot.com/
http://magsgraphics.blogspot.com/
http://studio-mamaecha.blogspot.com/
http://mytreasuredscraps.blogspot.com/
http://pinkmaryjane.blogspot.com/
http://pixiemamadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://scrappingwithjen.blogspot.com/
http://themathematiciansassistant.com/


Happy downloading!