And breathe....

...well, it is Stitches trade show in a couple of days, so life is always frenetic in the lead up as well as at the actual event! I'm travelling down tomorrow morning, God and weather willing, and am just about sorted now. There are still a couple of items of clothing drying over radiators that I have to try and cram into an already full to bursting suitcase and then the final few last minute things to throw into my bag tomorrow morning. All this without squashing any of my samples of course!

I hope everyone is coping with the terrible weather conditions okay. On Wednesday this area was hit by the massive winds that struck the west coast. It was quite scary, listening to the house making strange noises as it was buffeted by the gales. I thought the conservatory roof was going to lift off several times, but, thank goodness, the house stayed intact. There are a couple of trees down in the park and there were lots of people replacing fences yesterday. Today it's cold, pretty windy and sunny but we had torrential rain and hailstones from midday which was exactly what the weathermen had predicted...they are so accurate these days - shame they can't actually do anything about the rotten weather though!

I'd set aside the morning to get the house ship shape...well, my neighbour will be coming in to look after T&T and I would have been embarrassed for her to see the state that everything was in! I confess that housework is not something I'm very good at, especially when I'm tied up with getting things prepped for a big event. So, it was a nice early start to my day and then a methodical blitz! I started in my bedroom and decided to really have a good clear up. I filled a big bag with rubbish and had a box to empty into the paper recycling bin - that felt good! Dusting, polishing and hoovering and the room looked so much better which spurred me on.

The conservatory was next, followed by the kitchen and I managed to clear quite a lot of counter space before cleaning the surfaces, sink and floor. The bathroom only needed a quick once over and then I tidied and hoovered the living room and porch. The spare room is just a dumping ground at the moment so was the one room that I left as it was!!! The bad weather had left my windows all looking pretty dreadful (ie, could hardly see through them!) so I gave them a really good wash followed by my favourite job of getting the water off with my trusty squeegee - very satisfying! Of course, the rain came down not long after, but hey ho, that's housework for you!

Thomas is already looking at me very suspiciously and Tara has been climbing onto my lap this afternoon - they always seem to know when I'm going to be leaving them for a few days. I do hate leaving them.

Well, here are just a few more pictures to share. I haven't photographed most of my new samples yet, but I'll be sure to take some snaps whilst I'm away. This is a card using Dylusions sprays for the background and my Zendoodle fish as well as a sprinkle or three of Distress Glitter.

The words are from my Quips set.

I've been having fun using my new "Hippetty Hoppetty" stamp set - I always like using silhouette images. This tag also features images from a set called "Change is in the Air" and I stamped the rabbits with various shades of Distress ink to make them fade into the background more.

I was trying to capture the essence of Watership Down with the faded look- I love the book, the film and the music. Here are more rabbits from the set, this time I inked them with Distress ink and then applied my Zendoodle Fillers patterns to the rabbits with a darker ink before stamping, rather than having just a plain silhouette.

So, not much to share today, but I will fill my posts with photos when I get back from the NEC. 

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and it's always a great event for recharging the batteries despite all the hard work! 

Take care everyone, keep warm and dry and safe.