My funny Friday!

Hello all, back as promised with a few pictures and to hopefully give you a bit of a laugh with my funny Friday story, which started after I checked into my room in Chester-Le-Street. This was a "superior" room in the pub/hotel that I usually stay at when I'm in the area. It's cheap and cheerful, if a bit (well, quite a lot) noisy up to about midnight. However, this room had a whirlpool bath, a four poster bed (without the scary drapes!) and an extra large TV as well as a sofa.
Never having been in a whirpool bath I had no idea how to use it, but one of the staff told me what buttons to press and advised me not to add too much bubble bath. As there were no toiletries in the bathroom I brought some back with me after my usual few hours walking round the shops stretching my legs. I was going to call David but found my phone had switched itself off for some reason. However, it came back on okay and I rang to say "hello" before filling the bath. I added a tiny drop of the bubble bath and then got in and pressed the button to start the whirlpool effects. I then realised that the flat disc beside the button was to set the force of the jets, so I cranked it up and was all set to enjoy the relaxing massage. However, despite the teeniest amount of bubble bath, I watched in amazement as, within a few seconds, the soapy suds began to rise alarmingly! Within moments I could just about see over the top of the bubbles which had now become the consistency of meringue - I felt as if I was inside a Baked Alaska!
Needless to say, I had to switch off, empty the bath and then spend about ten minutes or so showering the suds away before refilling the bath with plain water. It was very funny and I wished I had had my camera as I could easily have taken a picture without showing any naughty bits! The massage was lovely and I was all set for a relaxing night. I set my alarm for 8.15 - almost a lie in!
Unfortunately the bar had "music" thumping out which was directly below my room, so I just turned up the telly and tried to ignore the noise. I eventually got into the big bed which had heavy, carved wooden posts at each corner and was quite high up from the floor. I soon drifted off but woke shortly after to nip to the bathroom whereupon I cracked my head on one of the posts and nearly knocked myself out - as David said, good thing it was my head!
Back into bed and I was out like a light and looking forward to a good sleep. Next thing, I heard my phone alarm going and could tell it had been going for a while whereas I normally wake as soon as the alarm tune starts. I felt really groggy, (unlike me) flicked the lights on and stumbled into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, had a wash and then put the kettle on, putting my fruit tea bag into a mug. I started to get dressed but felt so unusually tired that I sat on the bed while the kettle boiled. It seemed a bit dark and I checked my phone which showed about 8.25am now, so I put the BBC news on and carried on getting ready. My eyes still felt sleepy and I was looking at the TV and the time and trying to figure out what the first digit was......and, you guessed it, it was a three!
Yep, I had got up at 3.15 and spent fifteen minutes getting ready before the penny dropped! When my phone had switched itself off it had then gone to the default time and I hadn't realised. After a mixture of annoyance and relief that it was still a good few hours before I really needed to be up, I got back into bed but it took ages to drift off again. Then, to cap it all, at around six fifteen the darned street cleaning machine came down the main road and that was it, I was wide awake again!
What a night. Needless to say, I didn't exactly feel at my best on Saturday! Thankfully, the bed at the hotel on Saturday night (in Scunthorpe) was the most comfortable I have ever slept in and I made up for the previous night with a really marvellous sleep. Oh the joys of travel!
Anyway, here are just a few pictures of some of the samples I have been making for the coming weekend's demonstrations in Kendal and Poynton. Here are a couple of different cards featuring my cheeky elf stamps... ..."Merry" Christmas seemed very appropriate for this little chap!
Next up is one of the Gorjuss stamps. This character makes me laugh as he looks as if he is melting away beneath his scarf! I coloured him with Promarkers and added pencil scribbles to give him a texture. I've used the Donna Salazar die cut alphabet again for the word. Everything has been Distress inked or Stained to give a more grungy look to this card. Next up is a card that features a combination of stamps by Andy Skinner and myself. I created an alcohol inked background that I spritzed with Stazon spray cleaner. I then stamped Andy's fir tree (from his Winter's Tale set) several times, masking off the base to achieve the varying sizes...this stamp is brilliant for this effect. Some torn card made the snow and I then added the Postbox from my Christmas Post stamp set. I made a couple of "envelopes" to pop into the post box and added the greeting from my Silent Night set. To finish the scene I swooshed some watered down Faded Jeans Distress ink for shadows and highlighted the trees with Liquid Pearls. The last featured card is made using my Build a Snowy Scene stamps to create the focal image. I then cut out the postcards from Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium paper (Believe) and layered everything up. A few extra details were cut from the paper and added and then I simply scribbled the red lines around the card to frame everything. A proper Victorian card! Finally, for feline fans out there, I thought you might like to see our little (quite big actually!) charmer, Thomas, in his current favourite spot on the box seat where he can keep an eye on me working whilst he's lounging on his favourite blankie - thank you Joanne! I love the way the sunlight has just caught his white fur and whiskers. He's really got a lot softer in the last month and has finally stopped nipping and scratching...he's just giving my finger a gentle suck here!!! Aaaah, what a sweetie pie!
Well, must go as dinner is almost ready and I need to tidy up a bit before I relax for the evening.