Happy New Year!!

It's no good, I can't make it to midnight....been up since 3.30am and now my bed is begging me to climb into it! So I just wanted to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year....may it be filled with love,laughter, good health and as much happiness as you can handle....and everything that you could hope for.

I cannot WAIT to see the back end of 2012....its not been a good year for more than one reason and I really want to shake it off and start again...I know its been the same for some of my friends out there too.....sooooo.........bugger off 2012, move over and let a brand new year in and lets hope its a good one!!!

Lots of love to you......Anita xxxxxx

One of a Kind....Linda's class

This was Linda's gorgeous class from the Autumn weekend crop at Cardinal Colours. You can see her lovely original layout and post here
We used beautiful papers from the My Minds Eye 'Sweetest Thing'- Bluebell Collection
 

 I just added a few little odd bits and bobs to finish it off. The photo is the last one I ever took of my darling Daddy, 2 days before he passed away :(. He was sat in the armchair trying to draw a bird bless him....he had always loved drawing and painting birds.
Although the layout looks a bit wonky, I promise you it IS straight in real life....HONEST!!

I really enjoyed making this page, even though it was really hard to scrap my Daddy...I miss him so very much :(.
Thank you Linda for a wonderful class page, its a beautiful design xx

Best Friends.....Lynn's Class Page

This is the beautiful class taught by my lovely and mega talented friend Lynn at Cardinal Colours Autumn Crop Weekend. You can see her original page and her super close ups of the beautiful details here

Although I didn't get to do my page until very recently I really enjoyed creating it. Lynn had given us all a very detailed set of instructions which were easy to follow and it helped me so much with my total lack of mojo!
The photo is of my best friend Sue and I taken at Drusillas a couple of summers ago.
 

I just loved the folded back corner with the flowers and doily, such a pretty touch.

And I loved Lynn's idea to make the trail of flowers down the fountain and to use Glossy accents to create the effect of water trickling down.

Thank you Lynn for a wonderful class and a totally inspirational page xxx

Remembering a special Daddy, miss you so much...

especially you delivering our gammon sarnies for Christmas breakfast!
I made them this morning but they didn't taste the same  :(

Thinking of you this Christmas and how nothing's quite the same,
because there's only heartache now when someone speaks your name.

And sadly, no nice gifts for you, just silent tears that fall,
for our first Christmas time without you is the hardest time of all.

Because the pain of losing you just seems to linger still,
and since you left, there's been a space, that no one else can fill.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There’s an unbroken thread that is woven from love.
 And it keeps us, as a family,  always together.

Merry Christmas Daddy xxxxxx            1939 - 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Gosh I feel like a stranger here!  Its been such a long time....I hope to come back and start posting again ( not sure if anyone will read it or not lol). I just wanted to wish anyone who does have a little peek, a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year....I hope that 2013 holds lots of love, laughter and happiness for you and your families.....good health and good luck and lots and lots of special memories.
Personally I will be very glad to see the back of 2012, its not been kind to our family( I know we are not the only ones) and I will openly admit that I am still struggling to come to terms with certain things ( but this is NOT going to be a maudling post!!).....SOOOOOO....onwards and upwards and roll on 2013!!!

My lovely girlies put a huge smile on my face last thursday....they scuttled off upstairs and disappeared clutching my glue gun and a Sainburys carrier bag....plus sharp knives!!! This is the result....my very own Brussel sprout tree ( even the star is made from sliced sprout lol).

On Saturday late afternoon we popped down to The Crumbles in Eastbourne.....and bumped into a few odd characters......here are Lauren and Jack with Bobafett! I have to say I did love the gorgeous distressed effect he had acheieved on his uniform....Tim Holtz would have been so proud!!!

Dale was most impressed to meet Iron Man.....although he expected him to be bigger lol)

And then we strolled over to see the Coca Cola Holidays Lorry ( which is the reason we went to visit in the first place) The weather was horrid unfortunately, high winds and lots of rain and my pics are not very good sadly. It was lovely to see though and proved to be a real crowd puller despite the weather.

Loved the number plate!

And last night we all bundled into the car and drove out to a teeny village called WestField (not far from Hastings) to see the lights. As you drive through the village lots of the houses have put on a super light display and they are collecting for St Micheals Hospice ( such a great cause), in the last 6 years they have raised £23,000 from visitors to the lights...and although my photos dont show anything much, it truly is beautiful and was def worth the drive out...... it really made us feel ready for Christmas and was a true delight to see the faces of little ones that were visiting too with their families....they thought it quite magical.

4 or 5 of the 20 or so houses that were all decorated up!

Couldn't resist a little pic opportunity before heading home!

So, the gammon is in the slow cooker( cooking the turkey tomorrow), the fridge is full, I have *nearly* finished all the wrapping up and everyone is waiting to open their Christmas Eve pressies ( a little tradition we have lol)....how are your plans going?

Anyway, I hope you all have a very special day tomorrow, wherever you are and whoever you are with and that your day is filled with love, laughter....and of course copious amounts of sprouts!

Merry Christmas.....Love Anita xxxxx

Run, run as fast as you can.....

pheeewweeee it's just TOO hot isn't it! We spent yesterday afternoon sweltering and melting in the heat at a local Country Fair and Terrier Racing show. I have never seen this before and it certainly is exciting.....and so funny to see their little legs going so fast AND they get soooo excited and hyped up LOL.
This was the first race....I had to chuckle at the 2 little dogs in the background who just couldn't be bothered to run....I don't blame them, it was WAAAAY too hot!!

                                                We were standing fairly close to the start.

And here is the end of race number 2...the little dogs were just so funny when they tried skidding to a halt and sometimes they even shot through the hay bales( where the 2 joined together lol)

Awwwwwww, look at their dear little faces, these little cuties all belonged to the same lady.

2 of them were def up for the serious race, but the other 2 we really up for a little amble instead.

After the show we wondered through the park and around the lake and had a lovely ice cream. Then spent the evening with y sister and her family and had a yummy BBQ at their house.

 Then as the sun set we ventured up on to the top of the South Downs and waited to watch the ISS pass over ( International Space Station). Obviously it didn't look like it does in this photo, it was just like a star, except it travelled quite fast across the sky. It seemed strange to comprehend that it was actually this massive, intricate bulk of metal which had 5 men and 1 woman working away inside and that they will be up there til November sometime....fascinating!

And now, here we are this morning....and I have a massive pile of ironing to look forward too! Ces't la vie!
enjoy the rest of your weekend x

5 Months.........

My Dad

If I could write a story
It would be the greatest ever told
Of a kind and loving father
Who had a heart of gold

If could write a million pages
But still be unable to say, just how
Much I love and miss him
Every single day

I will remember all he taught me
I'm hurt but won't be sad
‘coz he'll send me down the answers
And he'll always be MY DAD

--------- Leah Hendrie---------

Miss you more today Daddy than ever before.........xxxxxxx

What a weekend!!! **warning photo heavy**

Jeeeez this weekend has been busy and seems to have blown by soooo fast and now Monday and back to work is here :( It started on Saturday, with a trip down into Eastbourne to see some of this years Airbourne ( its a massive free airshow and its exhilarating to stand or sit on the beach and watch the planes, helicoptors and parachutes that display there)All along the promenade there are stalls and activities to take part in and these extend out onto the beaches and along the western lawns.
Normally the Red Arrows fly in display over 2 of the days...but alas this year they didn't appear as they were in Moscow *insert gutted face*. So the simulator was the closest you could get to experiencing them)

There were a few birds of prey on display, but they were mostly all hiding in the shade under a nice big gazebo ( I don't blame them it WAS boiling!!)

Unfortunately, because I didn't know what time the planes were actually starting to fly, we turned up quite early lol. And by the time we had perused the stalls and ambled along the packed seafront and found a teeny area clear to sit down we actually only managed to see the Sea-king and the new Eastbourne lifeboat, one of the parachute diving teams and a couple of other planes that I didn't manage to get pics of ( gutted :( )

                                      if you squint you can see a couple of the parachutists lol

We strolled through some of the stands ( who can resist men in uniforms ;) ) especially when they carry their fave cuddly toy with them :D

.
Lauren, Jack and Chloe posed for me by one of the static displays :)

Chloe was VERY happy to get her mitts on a marshmallow cone

This was the view from halfway up near the Western Lawns down to the pier....checkout just HOW many people are on the beach!!!!!

.........................some odd couple on the promenade lol............ they let anyone down there these days!

And then on Sunday, it was Madison's Christening Day. Dale, Lauren and I were honoured to be chosen as Godparents. This is the lovely, gorgeous car they arrived in.....

which is owned by this equally lovely man, Jim, who is a good friend of theirs

I couldn't get pics during the service, but Chloe managed to grab a couple of snaps. I love how Maddie is mesmerized by her Celebration candle.

                       
                           ...................even though she tried to blow it out LOL!......................

 Maddie with her Mummy and Daddy, one of her brothers and all of her Godparents.

                             The tower of cakes, made by my very clever and incredibly lovely Sister xx

                           She made sweetie bags and these gorgeous little icing babies too!

 

Love this photo so much of Chloe and little Joshy in the car xx

 and here is the star of the show herself, Miss Maddie ( photo by my Sister).
Thank you Maddie for sharing your special day with us....may you be blessed with love, happiness and joy for all of your days Sweetheart. xxxxx

N is for Netting! Scrapology August Challenge

This month at Scrapology we have the pleasure of lifting a wonderful page by Toni AKA 2 Dogs, you can visit her inspirational blog here

 Here is my DT offering for this month.
I chose to scrap this photo of Lauren, taken by a friend whilst she was on holiday in Italy with her Year 10 schoolfriends. It was on a day trip into Verona, where they saw several street entertainers amongst other things. She had a super holiday( her first time abroad!!) and I really must get round to scrapping more photos of it for her.

 I used a sheet of MME Madison Avenue "Happily ever after" and added a doily, which I misted with 2 colours of Cosmic Shimmers. I also die cut some hinges which I painted gold and heat embossed with clear UTEE, then added butterflies and blossoms( I saw this sort of idea some time ago online but sadly cannot remember where to be able to credit them :( ). I frilled up a long strip of netting and placed behind the photo and also made a flower using the tulle netting too.

I also created 2 flowers using pink organza circles that I singed the edges of with a tealight and popped a gem in the centre. The title was die cut, I popped on a couple of organza bows and then I liberally splashed about some pink Stickles in various places to finish the page off.

Here is Toni's original lovely layout that inspired us...........

And here is the sketch we worked from.

PRIZE TIME

  Jill at Cardinal Colours has come up with another fabulous prize this month.

A4 pieces of textured netting, 2 each of yellow, orange, pink and purple and Liquid Pearls in Rouge. Royal Blue, Cantaloupe, Majestic Purple and Baby Blue. ( Thank you so much for your generosity once again Jill xxx)

Would love to see you enter the challenge by creating a layout using the sketch and some netting please. 

Prize available to UK residents only.

So get scrappy....we look forward to seeing your lovely creations

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oooh a little sneak.....and

a trip to Hastings. This is just a little sneak peak of my DT page for the August Challenge that will be running from 1st August of at Scrapology
 

If you pop along here you will get a little taste of what my other DT team-mate lovlies have got lined up for your delight.

I thought I would share just a few pics of a recent trip to Hastings with our girlies.


 Hmmmmmm.....chloe thought it would be a good idea to go for a massive sugar overload!

 I however didn't! And refused to let her loose inside the shop and said she could lick the window instead!!!! Wicked Mummy that I am ;) LOL

Here is one of the cliffside trams. I did travel on one a few years ago, but I was too chicken to do it again.....not my idea of fun I have to say, although lovely to look at and watch.

Lauren's favourite part of any trip to any seafront is always a visit to the cockle parlours....eeewwwww!

And Chloe's is always ALWAYS a trip to the arcades.....she brought several of these little fellas home with her.

Lauren however liked the look of this machine a bit more ;)

She also spent time eye-ing up the local talent along the seafront.......

                                         ............she just can't leave the boys alone.....................

  

just before we left the skies opened up and the winds blew in, so it was just the right time to leave.

Have a super weekend, whatever you are up to. xxxx