I Love my Friends

I really do love my friends. My friends are so important to me, I cherish them all so much.
As I'm Guest Designer over at Butterfly Crafts this week, I got to join in with the team for this latest challenge of scrapping 'Best Friends'. It reminded me of earlier on in the year when I got together at Sue's for a crop with Nicky and Steph. All of us have been friends for years through craft forums and now try to get together as often as poss for a good chatter and scrap. These girls are great, love 'em to bits : )


Speaking of friends, my lovely friend Sue is having a challenge week over on her blog all about using up your stash. Do you know Sue? If not take a peek, one very talented lady ; justperspective
Sue designs for Cocoa Daisy, Bella Blvd and has just moved over to the UK too.
Her challenge today is using a grid. I haven't scrapped but desperately needed to make a card for a birthday today. Thanks Sue, this one came together very quickly using some old Sassafras and Scenic Route scraps. I've attached a matching strip inside too to slot a 'Game' gift card in aswell.

Ade's off this week so we are trying to have family days out. Proving to be very difficult with my volume of work at the mo. Hoping to get to Richmond Park this afternoon though.

Enjoy the sun xx

Bedtime Stories @ The Studio

The Studio's next challenge has gone live this morning. Fancy a challenge along with some amazing inspiration, go take a look.
The challenge this time goes like this:

1. Use a book cover as inspiration (please include pic of your chosen
book cover when you post your entries!)
2. The layout can be based on any theme but the main subject should be an inanimate object!
3. Your journaling should be written as a story about the inanimate object (example: Once upon a time there was a car named Gigi… she loved taking her owner on drives in the mountains… etc.!) Have fun with that one!

I took my inspiration from 'We're going on a bear hunt' We love that story and based my LO on our favourite bedtime story. Click the photos to see and read closer up if you like.

All my embellishments are handmade and cut. The tree as greyboard. The trunk was painted with distress crackle paints, the top on the tree is painted with gesso and sprayed with shimmer mists before drying and I've doodled on it.

Lots of stitching on this one. These flowers are so easy, just cut out circles from felt and stitch a button off centre.

We went to see U2 Friday night at Wembley. Great great concert. Had lots of fun.
ooohhh have just had a latte made for me : ) Betta dash.

TFL and hope you are having a great Sunday.
Don't forget to go check out over at The Studio xx

The Easiest Pet and an Announcement

These have to be the worlds easiest pets. Like them???? The kids love them : )
We had a real cozy weekend. Just nice stuff, no rushing about, played board games, watched movies together, went on long walks, just chilled. Sunday afternoon, all 4 of us sat on the lounge floor and made these fish tanks (Louis made one too) together out of lolly tubs, tissue paper, card, some green mesh for weed, a clear thread to hang the fishes. If you look close enough you can see a castle that Hollie made out of a loo roll tube too. I think they are great!


During the chilled weekend I finally started my Cocoa Daisy prompted BOM. My Book of Me. They others started on Aug 1st so I have some catching up to do as the prompts are daily. I'll do mine in my own time though. I've started by making the book it's self. I've decided to start from scratch (or off by scratch as Hollie calls it) It's a cardboard box and I cut some 12x12 kraft in half for the pages.
The first promp is a page of facts. I decided to do mine over the cover, inside and out.

Quite pleased with my start. Speaking of Cocoa Daisy. I applied for the DT as alot of my friends know and the team was announced last night, I didn't get in, but I was a semi-finalist. Oh well. Gotta try these things : )

Now for my announcement.
I received an email a couple of weekends ago from Vanessa at Papermaze asking me to join their DT. I was really shocked. I was actually in the post office at the time and read the email on my phone and felt so excited but couldn't tell anyone. I don't think the ladies behind the counter would have quite understood.
I'm really pleased as Papermaze offer a really good selection of brands that I love. I have already received a lovely box of October Afternoon which I've been playing with this week and have ordered other yummy bits too : )

It was announced that I've joined the team on their blog which you can see here:
Scrap,Paper, Scissors.

Off to watch BB now, I've missed the first half. Nite xx

Show us your Blinkie ....

And you could win this lovely stash : )
Simply visit The Studio, upload the blinkie and leave a comment. Wish I could enter.

I've taken part in this months Butterfly Crafts challenge again. Scrap a fave food. Now I'm not so fond of cake but I do love the baking and decorating part. This was one of Hollie's birthday cakes this year. The decorating wasn't going so well, so I used sassafras papers and made the flower myself. Was rather chuffed with the end result : )

I've used the latest Cocoa Daisy kit for my supplies. Perfect to go with the bright decorating of the cake.
This other LO was made a little while ago using the same Cocoa Daisy kit. One of Sue's prompts over at Cocoa Daisy to cut up the cute owl paper...I LOVE IT !!!! and need more more more.
I do just adore this kit. It's one that's been so fun to cut up. I think that's now 7 LO's and a project that's been made using it. Pretty Good : )

A wii night for us now....the kids sound like they are getting excited. Better go and get thrashed. I never win anymore.
Speak soon xxx

A Long Tiring Day

It's 6.30pm and I feel like bath and bed. It's been one of those days and I feel shattered. We left the house at 8.45am, collected my friend's 2 boys and went straight off to a nearby country park. It's called California Country Park...wish it was in California. Not quite so glam, but we fed the ducks, had a walk, played Britains Got Talent and the kids played in the adventure play area for a bit.
The kids played pretty well today I even managed to make the above LO.
The title is taken from OLW...the word being 'SWEET'.
I love that photo with the windmill in the background. It's about 1hr30 from us set in a mass of beautiful hills. I grew up in a teeny weeny village and used to be able to see this windmill in the distance from my bedroom when I was a little girl. We've taken the kids there for a picnic a couple of times now. They love running and rolling around the hills.I used the recent Cocoa Daisy Kit.
I love the summery colours of this kit. I've really enjoyed playing with it. I've now made 5 LO's and 1 project using it : ) Not bad eh?!!

My other latest LO is the latest Colorcombo challenge

I used my July 4th Cupcakes for this challenge.

I think it's time to bath those grubby kids of mine. I plan to chill tonight and nothing else : )
Enjoy your evening xx

A Couple of LO's and Prizes to be won....

After a couple of loud and crazy days my sis and her gang left last night. The house feels very quiet today. I miss them though.

I made the LO of Louis before she came. It was one of those LO's that just happened. Sue did a prompt on Cocoa Daisy last week to scrap a LO using a song title as a title.
When Louis was having a cuddle on my lap, the Michael Jackson song 'I just can't stop loving you' was playing in the background. I was kissing his little head and singing along thinking what a lovely boy he is. And that's how this LO was born. I've used the journal cards from the recent Cocoa Dasiy kit and cut them up and layered them. A bit of paint and spray mist for the background. A really easy LO.

This next one is this weeks SLYMI challenge from Shimelle on UKS.
The challenge this week....

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.

I've never scrapped any of these photos before. We got married in Orlando in 2007. I had a lovely dress for the ceremony and then changed into my blue dress to go to Seaworld for our Wedding Dinner at the Under Water Shark Grill. I thought this photo was perfect for this challange. We were officially a proper family with Ade now properly joining us.

Something Old - My papers, I've had these for a while now with bits and pieces from old kits.

Something New - My New Husband

Something Burrowed - A friend gave me the rubbon, ok, so not really borrowed : )

Something Blue - My Dress

And lastly for today. Do you fancy winning this prize?????
If so, head over to the new challenge on The Studio
You have until the end of the month to join in. The next challenge will be launched on 16th August.

ooohhhh I nearly forgot to say, I found out at the weekend that I won last months Butterfly Crafts challenge. So exciting !!!! Can't wait to receive my goodies and I get to be the next Guest Designer too....yay!!!!

August 1st...Challenge Time @ The Studio

I've been looking forward to this day so much, ever since Amanda assigned us our first challenge.
So here it is the first Design Team Challenge at The Studio. The girls have come up with some amazing LO's.
The challenge runs until the end of the month and this first one goes like this:

1. Use a non-scrapbooking item as an embellishment.
2. Use borders – be inventive! Unusual items as borders, layer them up, funky techniques, anything goes!
3. Combine your journaling with stamping. For example, stamped journal spot, stamp all your journaling with alpha stamps, include stamped images with your journaling – again, anything goes!

I've used cardboard torn and painted to matt my photos onto and also used a newspaper to punch out my flowers. These have then been inked for a pink effect. This was my non scrapbooky bit.

I've combined the creative border and stamping in with my journaling. The borders have been used to draw the eye to my journaling. I have handstitched them to add some extra pink. Beneath the journaling I've stamped a scalloped edge and added a few stapmed daisies too.

If you fancy having a look at what the other girls came up with and want to join in too come visit us here: The Studio. The gallery is taking shape nicely there now too and the forum is really friendly and worth a visit.