Sunny Sunny Smiles and Sunflowers...and some new stamps too!

Hello there.
Well, I hope you have had chance to make the most of the beautiful day we have had today, it's certainly made a change from what the recent days have been like. we spent a lovely day yesterday down on Hastings seafront....I had to work as usual first thing, but then came home, changed and off we went before it got too busy. We had a smashing time floating in and out the little old shops down in old Town and along the seafront into the amusement arcades....and then enjoyed hot dogs, chips and Dale and Chloe also had some fresh doughnuts!


The sky was absolutely beautiful and I thought I really should take some shots of Chloe's sunflowers that she has grown this year ( I guess I really should have taken photos of its growth progress all along the way...oh well, maybe next year eh LOL!)
Here is one of the blooms, there are 4 more that are starting to open too....I really loved the contrast of the bright yellow against the stunning blue of the sky.

Later in the evening i was scouting through my photo files and found this one of my gorgeous little nephew, Joshua.....and was struck by the similarity between the 2 photos....well, apart from the fact that he hasn't got a deeply tanned face and leaves LOL. He is such a happy little soul and gives the sunniest of smiles bless him.


I thought I would share this new card with you too. I popped up to the Glitter Pot the other day and took my lovely Mum along for the ride as she hasn't been to the new location yet. After having seen Liz's beautiful cards on her blog and also the stunning examples at the Glitter Pot I actually bought myself a set of stamps!!!!! And, more unlike me....I actually got them out and used them THE VERY SAME DAY!!!!!!!

So this is my first card using them....and I have to say i really like it...it makes a change from the other cards I normally do. I coloured the image with my Promarkers and then added some Stickles to finish it off.

Right, that's it from me tonight....I need to pop up to the shops and grab some strawberries, melons and other bits as I am determined we WILL get a day at the beach tomorrow befor ehte girls go back to school on Thursday....it's supposed to be a nice day again, so keep your fingers crossed! Then tomorrow evening and Thursday evening I have classes at Jills ( Cardinal Colours) to look forward too......I can't wait!.xxx

Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

OOooopsss! I forgot a birthday.....

Karen....I am so sorry I forgot.......Happy HAPPY Birthday girly.....proper card to follow when I see you on thursday (grovel grovel)..xxxxx

Beach Belle *Bo Bunny*

Hello there.....

Well...I have to say I cannot remember the last time I made a double layout! But here is one that I thought Iwould share. I have used one of the newer releases from Bo Bunny...its from the Sun Kissed Collection and is GORGEOUS!!!! Such a lush mix of colours...and so very easy to work with.

The sunshine and rays is printed on one of the papers and made it so easy to cut out and place where required and I just cut the photos down to the sizes I wanted to fit the pages. Quite a few parts are raised with foam pads and I have used small dollops ( techincal term that ;) lol) of Glossy Accents on the 3 little squares in parts to highlight and give interest to the objects in them...actually it looks almost like they are enamalled( sorry, I know it doesn;t show in the photo).
The strips across the base of the page are sliced and rolled at alternate heights

and I finished it all off with a string of bunting that joined the 2 pages together. The photos were taken at Walton on the Naze last year when we were there on our hols....and it was really lovely...eventually....when the tide went out...... and there was actually some beach to sit on LOL.

Right, I am off to bed...totally tired out......enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone :)

warmet wishes Anita..xxxxx

The Cherry On Top!

I feel so lucky.......I have been awarded this lovely Cherry On Top Award, not once, but twice in a couple or so days...from 2 very lovely ladies....so a heartfelt THANK YOU to both Sarah and also Sheleen for bestowing this kind award on me. Please take the time to visit these lovely ladies blogs and see their wonderful creations...its well worth it and I always find it a real pleasure.

Now, there are a few things I have to do now upon accepting this kind award.

1). To thank the lovely ladies who awarded it to me....yep, done that :)

2). Pop the given award onto my blog.....Yep, there it is ^^^, worn with pride :)

3). I must list 3 things about myself.....ok...here goes.

:- I am a Big Brother fan...I just LOVE it! Yes I know its car crash tv and each year I say " I am so NOT going to get sucked in by it!"....but guess what? i DO lol!!! And I am already starting to suffer withdrawal symptoms now that its all over ( except for the celebs bit and I am bored with that already!)

:- I am scared of the dark.....amongst other things....and trees( well woods to be precise), so if you put the 2 together it's not a good place for me to be!

:- I cannot wait for the winter to arrive...I just ADORE being cold, I love frosty mornings and I really enjoy being out and about with my camera and capturing some shots. Don't get me wrong, the summer is nice for going out, but I really don't like being hot...there is nothing nicer than being cold and then snuggling up in a layers of warm jumpers or a thick fluffy duvet.

4). Post a picture that I love.......jeez, I have hundreds and hundreds....but let's go with this one.

I know its a bit of a cop out, but, its got something of everything that I love... my family!


5). And lastly, I need to pass this award onto some other lovely ladies whose blogs hold something special...now I know the rules say 5....but...I have a few more lol. So, here they are....... and the awards are sent with lots of love

Lynn Jo Linda

Karen Jill Liz

Jakey Sarah Karen

so there we go...all done....Thanks again Sheleen and Sarah, I am chuffed to bits with my awards..xxxx

Baby on Board...and other cute critters!

Hello there. :)
I keep meaning to post these photos from a day out we had a week or so ago. We live local to a lovely small animal zoo and play park called Drusillas and for several years we all had annual membership, which we made good use of. We haven't renewed them however for the last couple of years and so hadn;t been for a long time. So, we decided to pay them a visit....and what a wonderful day we had!

There has obviously been something in the air as there were several new babies to be seen inc flamingoes, meerkats, prairie dogs and these little fella's in the next few photos.
There has been a lot of work done on the zoo and its made a real difference. There are now huge viewing windows all around the squirrel monkey enclosuure and it was such fun to see these cute little characters at play. This teeny little baby was so adorable and had to grip on tight whilst Mummy was bounding around and climbing up and down all over the place

This little cutey is a baby Sulawesi black crested macaque and is one of 2 that have recently been born there.Black crested macaques are native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi where they are now regarded as critically endangered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). In the last 40 years it is estimated that the population has been reduced by more than 80% due to habitat loss and hunting pressure and they now face a very real threat of extinction in the wild........ isn't that just so sad :( They reminded me of little old gentlemen lol.
These tiny little creatures are Silver Marmosets.The baby was born on the 26th Feb and is now thriving under the watchful guidance of proud parents Captain Jack and Hester. Silvery marmosets are native to the forests of Central and South America where the population is declining mainly due to habitat destruction and the pet trade. The group at Drusillas is part of a European breeding programme.
Sorry the photo isn;t all that great, its really hard to try and capture these little guys, they are soooo fast!

The racoons are just adorable....and I couldn;t tell if this one was asleep or just shy lol!

Next we strolled around and came across some Fennec Foxes. these are pretty little creatures with tiny facial features.....but as you can see they have THE hugest of ears! Triplets were born on 19th March, the arrival of the cute canines is a real achievement. Not only is this the first time that fennec foxes have been successfully bred at the zoo, they are also believed to be the first litter born in Europe in 2010 and the only surviving cubs in the UK since 2008.That is quite an achievement isn't it!

My oh my Chloe.....WHAT BIIIIIG EARS you have!!!





Another new feature that has been built in the park is Eden's Eye which is a maze adventure where you go in search of the ledgendary treasure....a golden apple! As you can see.....I found it he!he!he!

And on the way towards the exit of the zoo I discovered this pair of strange creatures.....Hmmmm, now i am sure one of them is quite familiar!

Halloween Blog Candy

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning this selection of Halloween stash, all you need to do is pop over to Scrapology and comment on this post and make sure you are a follower of the blog. The winner will be drawn out of a 'hat' and announced on next Monday evening - 30th August. If you have a blog, please add a link to this month's challenge.



and what a corker of a candy it is too! How great would it be to win this and have it all ready for this years Halloween celebrations, there really is everything you could need to make some fab layouts or maybe a mini album. The candy contains none other than :

Papers from Basic Grey's Eerie collection, Making Memories, Karen Foster and Reminisce. Cardstock form Coredinations and Bazzill. Stickers from Jolee's Boutique, Doodlebug Design, EK Success, Sandylion and Bo Bunny. Various ribbons, some themed, some plain, black lace and fibres. Buttons, themed and plain. Charms, brads, and eyelets. In addition Halloween die cuts from QuicKutz and Cricut, with words numbers and images.

How fantastic is that! So, go on, get yourself over to Scrapology and enter to win, we would love to see you.....what have you got to lose? And whilst you are there have a looky at our August challenge...we would LOVE to see you create a layout and upload to the competition, there is a brilliant prize this month.

Warmest wishes Anita..x

Flutterby Wishes...

Hello there :)....I hope you are having a great weekend so far? Well, better than I have been having anyway LOL. It started last night....after spending the whole day sorting out stuff for a garden sale and totally shifting all the furniture round in the lounge( and hurting my blinking back!!) I then went on to accidently flood a fair portion of our kitchen :(. I started to run the water in the sink for the washing up and popped in the lounge....then I got side tracked.......ooooops!

A little while later I walked back into the kitchen......to see water and bubbles streaming out from the cupboards under the sink...all across the worktops and dripping down through each set of drawers....and all across the carpet :( :(....!"!??!*!!

....and so BEGAN THE MASS EXODUS OF ALL ITEMS FROM SAID CUPBOARDS!!!!!!
Today the carpet is still sodden....BUT the cupboards are nice and shiny inside....NOT impressed and very angry with myself....Ho!Hum!!!! And it was wet and horrid this morning so no garden sale either.....and now the nicely shifted round lounge is full of boxes and bags of *stuff*....so maybe we will try tomorrow....weather permitting.

Anyway, enough of soggy things....I thought I would share a card I made the other day with some left overs from a layout. Its bits and scraps of Scenic Route, some bazzill, a prima blossom, some bling and some lush lime lace from my lovely blogging friend Sarah ( thanks Hun :) )

The flutterbys are double layed and punched from cardstock and a layer of vellum, their bodies are made from wire and beads and the left over wire is twirled to make the antennae.

DON'T FORGET YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO GET YOUR ENTRY IN FOR THIS MONTHS CHALLENGE OVER AT SCRAPOLOGY......AND THERE IS A FABULOUS PRIZE KINDLY DONATED BY JILL AT CARDINAL COLOURS......GO ON...YOU KNOW YOU WANT TOO!!!!