She's got Specs Appeal!

No.....she doesn't really need glasses LOL....these are just a pair she poses with! Heck, they don't even have any lenses in them LOL.

For this layout I have used 4 papers from the Crate Paper range called Restoration, its just so pretty, each and every sheet is gorgeous...the only problem is deciding which side to use( as they are all double sided). I have done lots and lots of cutting out for this page, each doily is cut singly and placed round the edge. I gutted the inside of the striped sheet and made a frame for the whole page, then cut some of the strips up into various lengths and placed across the page, but beneath the photo( I had cut out loads more, but love the look of the wood background and took some strips back off as it covered way too much of the wood). I also cut out a few flowers and raised some on foam pads and punched out some butterflies. I then just finished the page with a Papermania Alphabet Sticker sheet.

I hope you have had a lovely Bank Holiday Monday?

Busy Weekend?

Have you had a busy weekend? I know we have :).....a very blustery one too!
Yesterday saw us hitting Eastbourne Seafront where my Sister had a stall at the Spring Fayre on the Western Lawns....
she was face painting and my Mum and Little herbert Chloe were selling the luscious cupcakes and cake pops that Donna also makes.
After wandering around the stalls Dale and myself decided to stroll along the prom for a bit....well the gusts of wind nearly took us to the lighthouse at Beachy Head!!!!

Chloe came home at the end of the day with her face like this!
Gorgeous eh :)

She returned to help out again today and Dale drove me out to Burgess Hill to visit the GlitterPot , we took a picnic and stopped on the way back which was very nice.

So, the rest of today consisted of some of this.....
(yes I like to use old boots as plant pots lol....
these have Mesembryanthemums starting to grow in them)

and a few of these to go in some other boots!

I have also had chance for a little scrapping....
so there was some of this..........

and some of this!
........all on the same layout ;)

Also had some beady fun too!

Unfortunately there was also LOTS of this !!*!?**!
Waaaay too much infact!

So.....what did YOU do over the weekend? I would love to know :)

Spring Baby.....Let's keep her!

Hi there :), hope you are having a lovely weekend so far....even though its grey and blustery! We are holding onto the hope that it will be nicer tomorrow.

Here is a layout that I entered into Charmed Cards and crafts spring competition ( not sure when the judging is held....maybe it already has been lol) Chloe, our youngest, was born on 24th March, so she is very definately a Spring Baby. The photo was taken with Lauren cuddling her baby sister after having decided that she would like us to keep her lol ( after having been excited about me being pregnant, planning all the things she was going to do as a big sister and then being dissapointed that we didn't call her Ariel LOL) Lauren had decided that she didn't like the idea very much about bringing Chloe home with us.....but after a couple of cuddles she changed her mind.
I used Basic Grey paper from the Curio range and cut lots out to create a large frame for the entire page.


I used Icicle Stickles and glass seed and bugle beads to decorate the flowers and also Stickles and Liquid Pearls to decorate the lace that I used to create a mat for the photo. I cut the title using some glittered cardstock and the Sissix Round-a-bout alpha, which I then sponged with alcohol inks to obtain the colour I wanted. I also used some MLD mini alpha stickers to finish it.


The butterflies i printed off after finding them on this fantastic scrappers blog, you simply MUST go and visit Lisa at What a Beautiful Mess her layouts are breath taking.




So, what have you got planned for the rest of the weekend? Anything exciting? I have a week of work now....whoooohoooo and I have a few plans for next week....but for now I am going to prettify my nails with some lovely varnish. It will be such a treat as I am not allowed to wear even clear varnish at work....oooooh posh and pretty pinkies here i come!!!

Lynn's Birthday Card

On Monday it was my lovely friend Lynn's Birthday and I am totally ashamed to admit that I got the date wrong ( I thought it was yesterday....sorry Hun!)
Here is the card I made for her....and I soooo enjoyed making it :) ( even though it was late getting to her :( )

I used some of the stunning papers by BoBunny....from the Gabrielle range....which I purchased from Cardinal colours and I made an easel card.
I cut out the aperture from one of the frames on the die cut sheet and placed this photo of Lynn inside ( its one I took on an early morning stroll whilst away on our team retreat earlier in the year and I love the ethereal effect and how the light falls on Lynn as she is standing in the frosty gardens)

I used Glossy Accents to highlight the blooms on the flowers and the butterflies wings and I then drizzled it round the frame also.
One of the die cut sections has 4 disc shapes with butterflies printed on them, I coated 2 with a thick layer of Glossy Accents and then when dry I cut them out and stuck a length of jewellery wire in between 2 of them, sticking them back to back to hold the wire. I then threaded on some beads and then crimped the ends and fixed to the card. I finished off by covering the gluey end bit with a teeny butterfly I cut out and GA'd.
I used some cream velvet AC Thickers to pop Lynn's name on the card and then grubbied them slightly with some brown ink just to take away the starkness of them.

I really did enjoy making this card for Lynn :)

Double the prizes, double the fun!

This month there are, once again, 2 fab prizes on offer that you could win.

For the scrapping challenge we have another fabulous prize this month from our lovely Jill at Cardinal Colours.

This lovely set of Butterfly stamps along with a sheet of U-Mount and Chalk cubes in Indigo, Cardinal and Canary.

I'm sure you will agree that this is another brilliant prize from Jill - Many Thanks for your support! - so, what are you waiting for, get scrapping :)

Dont forget to follow the blog to be in with a chance.

Prize available to UK residents only.

and that brings us onto our 2nd card challenge....and fab prize.
One lucky person could be the new owner of this super Stampin' Up set of stamps,
very kindly donated as a prize from the lovely Zoe Pierson

Thank you Zoe for your very kind prize and for setting us this months challenge :)

Entries by the 15th June so plenty of time to gt those creative juices flowing and submit your card.

Prize available to UK residents only.

You must be a follower of this blog to win.

Baby Cakes....and a ramble round the Reservoir!

Hello there :)
I hope you have had a super weekend? We have had a lovely time here....and some of it was even child free!!!!

Friday evening whilst Chloe was staying with her Nanna and Grandad and Lauren was out partying with friends, we took the opportunity for a lovely walk....just the 2 of us :)....but more of that in a moment!

Yesterday, Lauren and I made Rainbow Babycakes! We used the tiniest of paper cases that I found in Sainsbury's....they really are weeny. Made up a standard sponge mixture and split it into 4 bowls, then added some mega bright food colouring lol. After baking them we made the topping using melted white choclate, icing sugar and cream cheese.....OMG! We have now found a NEW favourite frosting lol.

The larger cupcake is just in a standard sized cupcake case, so you see just how teeny the baby cakes are.....soooo sweet! Lauren snaffled 6 of them to take to her boyfriend's house lol and the rest didn't last very long.

Now....back to friday 'child free' evening. We decided to go for a romantic stroll and headed up to Arlington Reservoir . It was a beautiful, sunny, clear evening and the reservoir looked gorgeous. You can see The Long Man of Wilmington in the background here, nestled on the side of the South Downs....if you squint.....and click on the photo to make it bigger lol.( he is there...i promise. Look for the 2 long sticks he is holding up.)

I for one, am very guilty of taking the beautiful area we live in for granted. And its on an evening like this that we really see the true beauty of our country side.
However, we also see things that are not quite so beautiful....well in my eyes anyway! We were just strolling along when we saw this monstrous creation! I tell you it was huuuuge...even Dale was taken aback at its size.....and the size of the furry beasts that had eaten their way out of the skillfully woven contraption.....uggggghhhhh!!! Shudder!

I just LOVED these daisies....now why can't I get them to grow like this in MY garden?????


We strolled through the woodland walk area and came out in the open.....when we went round the first little corner we found these little...or should I say BIG, furry critters! There were loads of them....everywhere....and it was so funny to see their white, fluffy little 'bobtail's bobbing up and down when they scarpered for the hedges

When the sun started to drop it fell rather quickly, but the colour change was magnificent. this photo was taken on the opposite side of the Reservoir to where we started....there is almost a little beach area.
So we knew we needed to get a move on before the sun dropped right down......a little further along we saw some more of these......it made me think.....it's YEARS since I ate a rabbit pie....MMMmmmmmmmmm! he!he!he!


This was the last photo that i took that evening and I love it....it was a really lovely evening out and only cost the fuel to get there.......we shall be doing more of those visits i think for sure!

Happy Birthday Lynn!!!!

Wishing a very Special Friend....
a Very Special Day!

Happy Birthday Hun and here's hoping you get totally spoilt....just like you deserve!
Love and Hugs
Anita..xxxxx

p.s. apologies your card will be a day late getting to you I had the wrong day written down :(

Scrapology May Card Challenge

Over at Scrapology this month we have a new card challenge....set by our lovely and super- talented friend Zoe Pierson

The theme was 'Thanks' and this one of my 2 cards that I created for the DT. Its to celebrate mine ( and Zoe's lol) absolute love for those delicious little green orbs...AKA brussell sprouts lol! Well ok.....its only me who loves them ;)
( for some reason the photo looks blurred, but if you click on it and see it full size its better)

this is the sketch that we worked from and you can see the other DT members beautiful creations if you look here

Why not join in with the challenge yourself? You could win this gorgeous prize, very kindly donated by Zoe ( thanks for your generosity Zoe)

I used a lovely fairy from Kraftin Kimmies ( thanks Linda) and coloured her in with my Promarkers and cut out with a scalloped edge nestie. The background is sprout wrapping paper ( from a lovely birthday pressie from Linda and Lynn, thank girls xx) and then have added some angel hair mesh, crochet net, various blossoms and crystals....and LOTS of Stickles!

I made the decorative pin using some beads from my stash.

Hope you like the look of the challenge and decide to have a play along with us.

Warmest wishes

Anita..xx

Terrific Teef!

It seems almost impossible that 21 months have passed since Lauren had her braces fitted!!!!! And we have seen a lot of changes over that time, so I hope you will indulge me whilst I lay a record of it on here for me to keep ( and yep, I hope to do a double layout about them too lol).

So, here she is all those months ago, the evening before we went down to have them fitted. Personally I thought she already had a beautiful smile!

And this is just after we came out of the clinic after having the posts fitted. Her Orthodontist is SUCH a lovely man, very gentle, kind and explained everything he was doing as he went along. He really put Lauren at ease ( which was good, as over these many months we have had lots and LOTS of visits to him!)....and he wears the most amzing bow ties!

Over the past few months she has had various colour bands put on hot pink, baby pink, red and green for christmas ( these days I think braces are such a fashion statement and kids don't mind wearing them....not like when I was younger and you used to get picked on for it lol) For the last 5 months however she had to have what was called Powertrack on them and couldn't have colours :(

So, here she is with Dale on the morning we went to have them removed....she was so excited and had been counting down the days to 'Brace Off'

Ok, so this isn't the greatest photo of her( I think she was feeling a bit off colour) but her teeth are just so lovely and she is pleased as punch. She then had 4 days of no brace which was fantastic and I kept getting her to smile lol. Also I chuckled as I kept catching her smiling at herself in the mirror each time she walked past ( I don't blame her....do you?)

And now she has had a retainer fitted ( top and bottom) which she has to wear day and night for 3 months.....then hopefully at night only. Gosh, how I wish now that I had been given braces when I was younger....I would love a smile like this!

On a side note, please can you send good luck vibes for Lauren please? 6 weeks ago she discovered 2 lumps in her neck, we visited the Dr's and he said not to worry, he was sure they would go but to come back in 6 weeks if not. Today we went back with 3 of them :(. So tomorrow she is having blood tests done and then we wait......Initally they are testing for Glandular Fever and if that comes back clear then onto other things. I am sure it will all be ok, but fingers crossed anywhere would be great :).xxxxx

Have a lovely evening

Warmest wishes

Anita..xxxx

Belated Sunday Scrapping and Strawberry Spongecake

I know, I know...it's Monday today...yep I am a little late blogging this.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend? I know I did. I spent a lovely day out in Lewes on Saturday with 2 lovely friends of mine. It was really nice to just mooch about, grab lunch, mooch a little more and then sit by the riverside in a Brasserie for a lovely cuppa,chat and put the world to rights!

Yesterday I went to a booty in the morning and then came home and ironed a mountain of the dreaded crumpled stuff before sitting down to finish this layout.
I can't believe how simple and plain this page is for me....no tonnage of flowers, or Stickles or ripping or scrunching.....but I quite like it!
Its all about Lauren and 2 awards she won last year ( yes I i know I have boobed on the layout and put 2009....I have since changed it to 2010 LOL)
The journalling is tiny and is printed onto transparency and laid across the bottom of the page. I spritzed the background white bazzill with some Cosmic Shimmer Mist from Cardinal Colours
and then using a variety of colours of acrylic paint I then used some star shaped cookie cutters to stamp some stars onto the background.

I also used just a thin strip of bright paper and ran it through my MS deep edge punch and used various stickers to make the title and add the date ( albeit it the wrong one in this photo !!!LOL)

After scrapping I thought we all needed a slice of cake, so I whipped up this spongecake and filled it with yummy strawberry jam and butter cream.....and very tasty it was too!


Unfortunately after being in bed for only a very short time I was struck down with very violent sickness and bad tummy :( , thankfully it seems confined to only me...so it can't have been my home made cake!) so I have spent today feeling very empty,uncomfy and sorry for myself. Hope tonight is better.
TTFN..xxx

Pucker Up!

Here are a couple of pages I thought I would share with you.
This first one, 'Pucker Up' is using papers from the Echo park - Life is Good' Collection. I have also added some Papermania glittery Ribbon and a paper doily...oh yes and a dabbing of Cinnamon Stickles. The photo is my Sister and my youngest Nephew at his Christening......he kept pulling funny faces and pursing his lips as if in a scowl....it made us laugh so much and she decided next time he did it she would mimic him!

I pleated the paper strips around the bottom of the shaped section and then placed an inch wide strip across the width of the layout, under the photo and then cut hundreds of teeny slices along it( then popped the glitter ribbon along the top). Then I just cut and layered lots of flowers and added Stickles ( Gosh! I just luuuuuuurve Stickles....don't you?)

My 2nd layout is of Lauren, just chilling out in the back garden. I have used various bits and bobs on this page

I bought some black Tim Holtz birdcage die cuts on ebay, printed some doilies onto transparency sheets, stamped some swirls and Stickled bits and bobs here and there and then just layered the bits where I wanted them :)

Hope you have a lovely day....the sun has decided to hide behind the clouds here at the moment....maybe they will make an appearance again later...

Warmest wishes
Anita..xxx

If you go down to the woods today.......

Well.....Bank Holiday Monday to be honest....I am a bit late blogging this.

I had to work a normal shift on the Monday, but it was such a beautiful day( although VERY blustery) and I said to Dale and the girls about going out for a nice walk. So we drove up to Arlington and went for a stroll in Abbots Wood.

I was a little dissapointed at the amount of Bluebells that were there though, often in the past when we have been there have been carpets of them, with the heady scent that fills you with a lovely feeling as you stroll through the woods.

Although there were a few patches this year it wasn't as glorious as it has been in the past.

When you look at them closely they really are quite stunning, i can almost imagine them being like a stunning little silky ballgown for a little fairy ( hmmm, sounds like I have been on something here doesn't it? I promise i haven't lol)

I was taking some close up shots of some flowers...

when i looked up I saw I had been deserted!

My Belle amongst the bluebells! ( dont you just LOVE the red spotty wellies. I so WANT some but they don't come in my trotter size :( )

Take a closer look at this photo.....I noticed the bluebells were moving and upon closer inspection found it was hundreds and hundreds of ants.....eeeeew!

We walked right out to the lake and on the way the girls came across a clearing with a rope swing and had some fun there for a while.

This is me trying an arty farty type shot.

When we arrived back at the car park I treated us all to an ice cream....and whilst we were enjoying them we noticed this little fella by our feet....how cute is he? He really was a teeny little thing, more like a skinny maggot than a full blown caterpiller. When we looked we found several of them hanging from the trees on the tiniest, finest threads, so not sure what kind of butterfly they change into....but cute all the same.

We then discovered this on too....he wasn't quite so pretty and was a LOT harder to see as you can see in the photo ( such amazing camouflage). I don't like to think what he might turn into....but it probably starts with a M and ends with an OTH.....and makes me feel sick just thinking about it....**shudders**

Right, that's me done for tonight, I need to head off up the wooden hill.

Tomorrow is a biiiig day for Lauren, after 20 months she is having her braces removed, we are all excited for her and cannot wait to see her smile without the shiny bits.

Watch this space!

warmest wishes

Anita..xxx