Just a warning to anyone who is thinking of swapping their broadband and phone line to BT UK DONT!!

We were with BT many years ago and left because of problems, we went to Talk Talk and although there were a few problems with them too, they cost us much less money, and they sorted out the problems and we had a good speed of broadband and phone line for hardly any cost per month. Hubby then started working from home and we decided we needed High Speed Fibre Optic. Against our better judgement we went back to BT UK with the cost per month at least 3 times that of Talk Talk. 

Since being back with them our broadband has consistently dropped out, sometimes dropping out around 2.30pm in the afternoon and still not being back at 7am the next morning. Hubby has had to hotspot off my mobile phone just so he can work. Adding extra costs to our broadband. 

BT UK sent several engineers around, for several weeks as the problem was never fixed, and eventually it was decided that the cables in our road were over 50 years old and they would be replaced as there was a fault on our line. They came one Thursday afternoon, dug the hole, then came back on Monday morning and filled it back in again. Someone from BT rang and said they had actually filled it in without doing anything about the cables by accident, as engineers had been unable to come out to do the work because of the rain. That was a week ago. Since then no one has been out to fix it, our broadband still consistently drops off and since Thursday we have had no phone line either.

My daughter has recently been in hospital, she has ITP and if she even knocks herself it is imperitive she get herself checked out as her blood count is low and she could have internal bleeding. As I am a Certified Emergency First Aider, I am always her first port of call, and we have had to top her mobile phone up for her so that she can call my mobile now as she cannot call my home phone. More expense. 

Hubby tweeted about it this morning and BT got back to him saying an engineer is on his way to fix the fault. We haven't seen any BT engineer, but I dont expect they will be fixing our broadband.

What an expensive mistake it was for us to go back to BT UK. Please be warned. Will it ever be fixed? Who knows, but we have never been offered a refund or anything. Such a Comedy of Errors....

Edited to add:-  Unbelievable. Including our line rental we pay £40 for line rental and 80mb fibre broadband. We haven't had a phone since Thursday despite BT telling us a BT Engineer was on his way this morning and we are getting 17 mbs broadband. Totally unbelievable. BT UK you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Edited yet again to add:-  Hubby has retweeted them asking why if an engineer was on his way to fix it at 10 this morning it still wasn't fixed, he got a reply saying..... they have a commitment to fix our line by 23rd October and will ring us on 24th October to see if it works.  Hubby said that we will be wanting a refund of our payments as we aren't even getting 1/4 of the speed we are paying for, by Wednesday we will have been without the phone for a week and they said that is something we will have to discuss with an Account Manager.  Not so helpful.

Finally Made It Back

Well I have finally made it back.  Today is the first day they have all gone back to school, but still things here are busy busy busy....... yesterday we went to see Thousand Foot Krutch, an awesome Christian Band, infact, I think they are the best Christian Band.  Heavy Rock, just how I like it, but they have never visited the UK before, so I was so excited to see them when they finally did.  Only took them 16 years, and we saw them in a small 500 people venue.

Friday we are off to Wembley to watch the England Moldova football match with the boys.  Lets hope it is a good one and the rain isn't too heavy.  We have seats 5 rows from the pitch this time instead of upstairs so will get wet if it rains.

I haven't really been crafting lately either, I have still been buying stash though and will one day break it open and use it.  At the moment I am working on a Birthday Card for someone and a little tag book for my son to keep track of the pocket money he earns.  Today I am just too worn out to do anything though.  That will teach me to leap around dancing, jumping etc at my age at gigs.... lol

This is the card I made for my grand daughters birthday, she loves Disney and pink so I hope she liked it.  She is only 2 though so not sure she has so much of an opinion at the moment.  lol

Hope to make this blogging lark a more regular thing now the boys have gone back to school.  See you all soon.... xx

Getting Behind.

I was doing so well for a while there, but then the school holidays started and Hubby gave up his job to work for himself from home permanently, so there is always something going on here.  Well something except for crafting.  I just haven't had time.  But I did make a couple of things which I will show you.

Pink Flamingo

It was hubby's birthday a few weeks ago, here is the card I made him.  A little bit strange for a man you may think, but we kept seeing pink flamingos in St James Park in London and it amused everyone, so voila, a card for everyone's amusement.  It did go down well.  We are definately a strange lot in my household.  The flamingo was a file from Silhouette Studio shop and all the cardstock was from Stampin' Up!  I am loving the new Stampin' Up! catalogue, go check it out to see what all the fuss is about.  

I have one other thing to show you, so will try and get back tomorrow... have a great evening everyone... xx

Address Book

My son was entering a group competition with Cubs and had to make an address book with all his groups name and addresses in.  I thought a tag book would be idea, so cut out the bits on my Silhouette Cameo and he put it all together..... Each tag has a separate persons name and address on it, with more patterned paper on the back.  I think it was okay as his team came 1st.....

This was made using Echo Park Paper and Stampin' Up! ribbon.  And very lucky he was to have me part with this paper, its normally the stuff I stroke and put away carefully....

It was sports day a couple of weeks ago.  We dont get to see the secondary school one but I still have the pleasure of going off to junior school to watch my son compete.  He came 2nd in single running and got a certificate.  They also take part in class events.

Have a great day, enjoy the sun.  xx

Leaving....

Not me, just my grandson's nursery school teacher.  I think it is rather sad as she also taught my 2 younger sons and she is such a lovely lady.  My daughter asked me to make her a leaving card, she is actually retiring but didn't want anyone to know.  I sat down ready to make a card, but came up with something else instead.  She probably got loads of cards so thought something a bit different would be in order.  So here it is......

I made it using a couple of files from the Silhouette Studio Store, it is a little paper pieced vase with a rose and petals placed inside.  The acetate box was also a file which I made a big bigger to accommodate the flower in the vase.  The tag and rose design were more designs from the shop too..... I have so many that I haven't used yet, but the weather is just too hot to work at the moment.

The new Stampin' Up! catalogue is also out and I have placed a nice order with my friend for some very yummy stash, including the new In Colours which I think are absolutely yummy.  I have also joined a Ribbon Share with another friend so I can have some of the new ribbons colours without having to buy a whole reel as I am fast running out of storage space in my craft room.....

So that is it for today, hope you may have got a bit of inspiration from visiting..... enjoy the weather and take care xxx

Looking like a nice weekend....

Hello, and a happy Friday to you all.  It was rather dull here this morning and not so warm but immediately the sun came out the heat turned up and it is now very hot.  Fingers crossed this continues for the weekend.

As promised yesterday, I will tell you about Hubby's latest win.  On Monday he won 4 tickets to see Human League and Kew Gardens on Wednesday night.  So we took the boys and had a picnic on the lawn.  My youngest son absolutely loved it, he kept running down to infront of the stage and dancing, he said everyone was dancing there and he wouldn't get embarrassed.  I think a wonderful time was had by us all, culminating in a spectacular firework display.  Now I must admit that Human League in no way resemble the group of old, but they do sound exactly the same.

They played all their best songs, finishing their set with Dont You Want Me Baby.

But they came back on for an encore and finished with Forever In Electric Dreams......

The whole evening was absolutely awesome....

Even the firework display was brilliant, would definately consider going again another year, even if we have to buy the tickets.

Last weekend was my youngest Grand Daughters first birthday.  I made her some vests (or at least decorated them with vinyl) and made her a cute little 1st birthday card.

This one was made using rhinestones.  I cut the template out of rhinestone material on my Silhouette Cameo, then ironed on the rhinestones.  I think this was my favourite.

A sparkly princess iron on vinyl design, also cut using my Silhouette Cameo and then ironed on to the vest.  In future I think I will sort out my heat press for vinyl work as it works better than using the iron.

A little princess carriage for a little princess.....

And a cute little monkey holding some sparkling hearts.  

This was the birthday card I made for her, lots of paper piecing using a file from the Silhouette Studio Store.  It really is so cute.

Sorry for the photo heavy post today, I hope you enjoyed visiting and pop back again soon..... have a really great weekend and don't get too sunburned.  xx

Busy busy busy.....

Well it has been hectic here, so many concerts, so little time.... lol.  We had an absolutely brilliant time at British Summer Time in Hyde Park last Friday.  Hospitality was awesome, food was awesome and drinks were awesome, but the most awesome thing of all (apart from the groups) were the ice-creams.  I have never tasted such gorgeous ice-cream in all my life, and believe me I have had quite a few ice-creams.  It was so, so good that I never even took a photograph of it.  I guess you could tell how awesome it tasted from a photograph anyway.

This was the yummy Lobster and Salmon Burger I had in a Brioche Roll.... absolutely gorgeous with big lumps of lobster in it.  We also had a Pimms to drink with it and then I had a waffle with strawberries and cream and more alcohol.... lol

I absolutely love the Kaiser Chiefs and was so pleased to be seeing them again, we saw them at Cliffs Pavilion last year and we were at the front on the rail..... awesome.  And he walked straight past us too, climbed a sound booth and then ran back through the crowd.  Brilliant

After that came Bon Jovi, another band we had seen before but brilliant nonetheless..... and Jon Bon came out on the catwalk too..... unfortunately only once....  they were on for nearly 3 hours...

We were only 5 rows back from the front, so were close enough to see them very close up.  We found out when we got to Hyde Park that we actually had Golden Circle access...

Anyway, enough of concerts for today.... I thought I would show you my nails.  I bought 2 more new Konad plates to stamp onto my nails (google Konad Plates if you dont know what I am talking about), and finished my nails off this morning.  I think they look pretty cool and I seem to have got the hang of the stamping now....

And finally a card I made.  I will admit I made it a while ago but it was my son and daughter in laws anniversary this week and I thought this would be ideal for the occasion.

I added a nice insert with Happy Anniversary stamped on it.  All stash used is from Stampin' Up! 

I will try and pop back tomorrow, I haven't told you about Hubby's latest win and news yet.  Watch this space.  xx

So excited.

Our tickets, or should I say Lanyards and wristbands turned up today for British Summertime in Hyde Park on Friday. We are seeing Bon Jovi and The Kaiser Chiefs, and hospitality runs from 2pm til 11pm and we get free hospitality too. Should be really good.

Cannot wait. 

Tuesday nights we go to a General Knowledge quiz once a month, and last night was that night. We were missing my sister who normally comes but we still managed to make third place so very pleased with that, especially as we made second last Thursday at our weekly music quiz. 

And now for the crafty part. I just wanted to show you my boys water bottles. The flasks cost 99p each in the 99p store and I stuck their names on them using vinyl which I cut with my Silhouette Cameo. 

I think they look like they cost a lot more than 99p. What do you think?  

Hope to see you all tomorrow, have a great evening. X

Happy Monday

Feeling tired today so haven't managed to do anything on my list other than the shopping. Have just played Guitar Hero with my daughter, I sang Uprising by Muse and she played guitar. I got 86% which isn't bad. If you have heard my singing you will know why I am pleased with that score. 

Friday I went to my youngest sons school where they were celebrating 100 years of the school. Cannot believe I have been going there for 25 years without a break. When son leaves next year it will be the end of an era. Friday they had a picnic on the field and friends and relatives were invited. Unfortunately it rained so we sat under a tree. We also had my grand daughter with us because my grandson was in hospital having grommets fitted. 

But a good time was had by all. The children then performed songs from different decades for the parents. My sons class did Let's Ger Ready To Rumble by Ant and Dec, followed by the opening of the Summer Fayre. 

Here are a couple of Thank You cards I have made. The same card with 2 colour ways. Paper is My Minds Eye and Stampin' Up!  Ticket is a stamp set and punch from Stampin' Up!  Insides are decorated too, but yet again I have no photos of them. 

Have a good afternoon. I will see you back here tomorrow I hope. X

Got Up Early

It is so sunny out I felt guilty staying in bed, so got up and fed the animals, touched up my nail polish as a couple of toes worth had come off and I was missing a gem on my nails, so that is now all sorted, and one cup of coffee down.

We aren't doing anything today other than going to church, so may buy myself a new book on my kindle, I may also schedule in some work this week as I tend to do things if I have them on a list.  Also need to sort out a shopping list for tomorrow morning and clean out the birds, lizards and tortoise.... Hmmm doesn't seem like nothing to do to me.  Thinking of doing a 10 minute workout with my kettlebells too, I am trying to follow a Kettleworx 6 week program, but am so unfit I have only made it through 1 20 minute workout so far... lol

Today I thought I would show you the photographs of my son before he went to his prom on Wednesday, otherwise the time will be getting away with me and it will be old news.

Jared Prom 2013

Close Up of Jared Prom 2013

Getting ready for his mode of transport

Getting on the Kawasaki Ninja

Glad he is colour co-ordinated

On his way

There is also a really nice photograph doing the rounds on Facebook, but I dont like to put young peoples photographs on my blog without parents permission so you will have to check out my Facebook account for some more (if you are friends with me on there).

I made a few of these cards for the men in our Church, I wasn't sure if it was a really masculine card, but as it had no flowers I thought it would be okay.  What do you think?  The Balloon stamp set is from Papertrey Ink, as are the dies for the clouds and balloons.  The patterned paper is from Stampin' Up! and the sentiment I wrote on with the Silhouette Studio Pens and cut out using the Silhouette Cameo.  I also decorate the inside of my cards but always forget to take photographs of that.  I am fast running out of cards and stuff to post so I guess I had better get making.... have a great Sunday and I hope it is as sunny where you are as it is here..... xx