Woohoo...

...the last two days have finally felt like the summer holidays...lazy days spent out in the garden with the kids playing in the paddling pool :)

Em has discovered that having a tidy room pays as she finally got her mitts on the last Harry Potter...and promptly decamped into the now tidy area under her desk to read it!

Yesterday my sister and nieces came round, trying to get a photo of three children in a small castle shaped pool is not easy...actually it was impossible, without getting somebody's arm or hat in the way of every shot! Holly obligeds though when she popped back into the water on her own after tea!

Today I worked in the morning and we spent the afternoon back out in the garden.I strimmed the front lawn and cut one of the hedges in the back garden as well as painting Em's nails and making gift boxes with Holly.In between that I tried studying the photography books I got from the library last week.What with questions like 'Have you learnt much yet Mum?' and being chief sun cream applier, drink maker and towel finder....I didn't take much in!! I'll persevere....:)

Tomorrow we have to wait in for NTL yet again in the morning (third time lucky maybe?) and then Em has a friend round for the afternoon and teatime.Em's already asked if they play on the Wii and Holly's hoping to get a look in too! Which reminds me, I haven't had a game of cow racing in ages.....!

Cropping day...

....woohoo!! I was actually fairly organised this time having gone through my AMM shoulder tote bag last night and taken out all the paper I didn't need! I managed to get quite a bit done...almost completed my PL sketch for next week (don't faint Anam ;) ), a journal for myself and another layout.I also bought a fab circle chipboard book from Ali.I have started painting it this evening and am going to make a little book of Holly when she dressed up as a pirate!I got so many good photos, too many for a layout, and I want to actually 'do' something with them!
Anyway, it lovely to see everyone at the crop today and I feel 'refreshed' after my day 'off'!

New sketch is live over at Pencil Lines tonight :) Hmm...so last week I used the same tape as Tracie...this week I've used the same paper a Celine...what the heck's going to happen next week?!Unforunately the scanner seems to hate this Autumn Leaves French Twist paper :( , it looks so much brighter IRL!
So this week I used
Autumn Leaves Fench Twist papers
Heidi Swapp tape (again!)
Heidi Swapp ghost alphas
Angel Kiss star flowers
Autumn Leaves journalling panel
butterfly stamp is by Stamps Away

Right , I am off to carry on painting my chipboard!

Still here!!

Just haven't had much to blog about!!

We have spent this week ploughing through all the junk in the girls bedrooms....and it's been painful!How much junk can a 10 year old hoard?? I guess what scares me is that she is so like me at that age....spends hours supposedly tidying but in reality gets nothing done! Anyway, several bin bags later and it's looking better.I just have to persuade her that it's so much easier to put stuff away as she goes along in future.Hmm...I'm not really the best teacher for this tidying lark !

Yesterday I worked on my Pencil Lines sketch for this week...took me an age to find the photos I wanted to use but I got there eventually :)I am off to Anna's crop on Sunday.I cannot wait,I missed last months and seems like an absolute age since I last saw everyone *waves to Ali, Louise and Kerry!* I have a huge list of stuff I need to take for Anna (including Hazelnut Galaxy ;) )

Tomorrow Geoff is taking Holly out in the afternoon for a treat and Em wants to spend the afternoon scrapping with me, I'd better go clear the kitchen table!

I'll leave you with a sneak of my layout for this week.

A Little Bit of Summer.......

...finally arrived in our garden today! This year our Budhlia tree has really taken off and today the butterflies finally appeared too :) We had two peacock butterflies fluttering about most of the afternoon.I love them, they remind me of being little and of my Nan's garden.
I am so thankful that we had such hot weather over Easter (bear with me!) Because it was dry we took the oppurtunity then to empty the shed out.I had been searching for a box of photo albums that I hadn't seen since we moved here three years ago.Although I was convinced they were in the loft, I actually found them at the bottom of a pile of boxes in the shed. I took them indoors and they are now safely in my wardrobe.These albums contain all the photos of Em from when she was born til she was 2 1/2.So , following the heavy rainfall over the past week, I noticed we had a bit of a leak at the front of the shed by the door.This afternoon I decided to empty it out again to see how bad it was...let's just say, the box sitting where the box of photos originally was, was an inch deep in water!!Looks like it is seeping through from next doors side (we have a divided shed beteween us...) where their roof is leaking. So I am just so thankful for the hot weather earlier in the year , I would have been heartbroken to have lost all those photos.
Today has been spent tidying the girls rooms (zzzzz.....), a walk down to the lakes and mopping out the shed!I'm trying to make sure that I get up at 'normal' time so that we don't spend all morning getting ready !
I am off to bed as I don't seem to be able to fall asleep til about 1am at the moment and it's starting to catch up with me!

Week 42 is live!

This week our guest DT member was the amazing Jen Hall.
My supplies this week were
Scenic Route Laurel papers (love the stripey one!!)
Heidi Swapp tape
scalloped bazzill
Angel Kiss blooms
Cherry Arte chipboard butterfly
Big bazzill brads
Lil Davis chipboard alphas.

As per usual, I didn't go with my original photo or idea...but I just love how this turned out :)
Make sure you check out everyone's amazing layouts. And how spooky is it that Tracie and I used the same Heidi Swapp tape?!Bear in mind that apart from Anna and Anam, the rest of us never get to see the DT's original layout or the rest of the teams work until it goes live!

Six weeks....

...of no school !!! Just a shame it was such a rotten end to the year weather wise - the playground was flooded at pick up time! The teachers liked their presents and both girls shed a couple of tears at the Leavers assembly - am dreading being there next year !

This afternoon we went with friends to an open afternoon at the local fire station.I was hoping for photos of the girls dressed up in all the gear but it wasn't to be :( They did have a go at the hose practice though!It never fails to amaze me though the amount of kids that don't understand the concept of getting a queue and waiting their turn.....
Whilst there, the heavens opened and continued to do so for most of the afternoon!
I sat up til about 1am this morning doing my PL layout for tomorrow, planning on a lie-in this morning.I was woken by the thud of Holly falling over downstairs!! Thank you for the well wishes for Em, apart from slipping on the stairs (honestly, my house is safe really!)and landing on it again yesterday she has been fine.
I leave you with a sneak of my PencilLines layout, made with what has to be my most fave sheet of paper in a long while :)

Bags , buckets and a trip to A & E......

So I finally manged to get the presents done for the teachers and their assistants :)The buckets are for the teachers and have Thorntons choccies and hand cream in, the TA's just get the hand cream I'm afraid!Whilst part of me is so relieved it's the end of term (no more packed lunches for 6 weeks!), I am feeling sad that it's the end of another school year :(
It's been a weird sort of day...had some stuff bugging me all day which has really played on my mind...and I think there are some 'traits ' to my personality that I am just going to have to accept as part of me being 'me'.Whoops...getting a bit deep there!
I went to the library today and picked up a couple of books about digital photography in the hope of trying to learn about shutter speeds and apertures etc etc! I was just mooching about the shops thinking how nice it was to have a bit of time to myself before school finishes...when I got a phone call from school.Em had fallen off some playground apparatus and hurt her arm.So I ended up walking to the school as quick as I could to collect her.She'd calmed down a lot by the time I got there.Once home I got her an emergenncy dr's appt.From the Dr's we went to the hospital for an xray .We went in to see our GP at about 3.10, from there we went to the hospital,visited childrens A&E,the xray dept and had the results back and were out of the hospital again by 4.15!! Not bad going! Luckily there is no break so no further treatment's needed :)
Right I am off to my bed!

Potato salad anyone?!

Yesterday I thought I'd dig up some of our potaioes as we have no idea when we are supposed to and were curious to see if they'd actually grown! So here is our first little crop! Not sure if they're supposed to grow any bigger than that so I think we'll leave the rest for a while longer!Geoff's veggie patch seems to be doing better than the girls now as the potato plants have completely covered theirs, blocking the sun from everything else they planted.Oh well, lesson learnt for next year anyway!

And meet Ted, the little clay bear that Holly brought home from school ,made as part of their learning about toys subject:)
So far the last week of school has brought on a few tears for different reasons.Tiredness is the main one I think, but Holly also seems pretty unsettled at the moment.Hopefully we will have a few restful weeks over the holiday and she will be happier in September.Roll on Friday......:)

Week 41

...is now live :)
This week we have our new DT members joining us as well as being sponsored by Making Memories and...having Keisha Campbell as our guest DT'er! Phew, what a week!
I was very late in getting mine done this week, so I haven't really done much else today other than the normal stuff - hoovering, cooking etc etc!
Everything on my layout was supplied by MM, except the stamps that I used for the title and my own MM Heidi rub-ons .
Last week of term this week and yes, I still have teacher & teaching assistant gifts to sort out! This time of year and the beginning of term in September always make me feel a bit reflective....even more so this year as Em will be entering her last year at junior school in September.I so wish there were times when I could just pickle my girls and keep them as they are forever.
Quote of the day has to come from Holly who, at bathtime time declared 'I'm going to get a tattoo...when I'm 44.I'm going to get a butterfly on my bottom'!! Somehow I doubt she'll be waiting til she's 44......!!

Oh and being very blog technically challenged,I am so pleased that I have finally got round to adding the PL girls blog links!I just have to go make sure they all actually work now!!

New favourite :)

No news as it's been pretty quiet here, just wanted to share this photo I took of Holly this afternoon, I love it! But when did she get so grown up?!

Sports day

Yes, it is that time of year again...I spent all day running between school and work to catch both girls in action:)
Holly's took place in the morning.She did so well considering she was the only one in her group representing her 'house' and won at least five of her activies.All that throwing & catching in the garden has paid off!
Em was really excited to be helping run the events in the morning, see photo of her proudly holding up her number!
Em's turn came in the afternoon.I'm so proud of her as she really doesn't enjoy running, but she took part in the relay and gave it her all.
Still no sign of their school reports but they did find out who their new teachers will be yesterday.They both seem happy.
No sign of any scrapping going on here sadly....yikes, what'll I be like during the summer hols?!

The trouble with ....

...scrapping friends is that they show you stuff, make you want it....and then you can't find it anywhere!!Anna showed me these fab stamps this afternoon on Martha's blog, and now I neeed them to do some LO's of Holly in pirate girl mode!So if anyone sees some on their travels , please shout me!
Finally got the phone line back today - yipee! Before the engineer guy had chance to drive off I was on the phone to Anna!!You just can't beat a good old gossip whilst surfing and comparing scrapping finds!
Tomorrow the girls find out who their new teachers are.Feels a little strange as I don't really know either of the teachers that Holly could get.

Thought I would share a picture of one of my pink lillies which have just come out :)
Don't forget to check out Pencil Lines as we now have our neww DT girls with us :) We go 'live' on Sunday with some fab sponsorship!

Ahoy there me hearties....

...don't you just love it when the kids dress up?! This evening Holly's Rainbow group had a fancy dress farewell party for the Rainbows moving up to Brownies next term .Holly recently declared that the next fancy dress party she got invited to, she wanted to go as a pirate....so a perfect oppurtunity! I added some tattoos to her arms using an eye liner pencil and she wore the necklace to show she was a 'girl pirate' - sweetie!

Today I got some passport photos done....err....they are are awful!! My hair is the longest I've had it an ages, but being so fine and standing against a white background , it knocks about 4 inches off the length as my hair just goes see through.Yuck, I will NOT be sharing them !

Here's the layout I did last week.Anna's popped it a bit for me as I just couldn't get the colours right.I went a bit mad with the paint as you can see!

Shock horror...

...no rain for two whole days!! Which of course does has it's downside as I now have a whole heap of ironing to do!!
Yesterday I spent time out in the garden, weeding, cutting the hedges and a bit of careless strimming...whoops, say no more! But really...cables should be buried under the ground shouldn't they?!In the afternoon the girls went out with my mum & dad to a village fete, giving me time to dust , hoover and de-junk the living room :)
After all that hard work I decided to take it easy today and we have spent the day lazing in the garden, playing piggy in the middle,running races and tennis!(Maybe not so lazy after all then....!)I think Holly's face says it all....

So isn't it typical that as the summer returns...I got a Winter clothes catalogue come through yesterday!! Still, it did have me longing for some gorgeous jumpers!
As it's Sunday, Pencil Lines is live again with a new sketch (no.40...where did that time go?!
I have to admit I struggled this week...not with the sketch as such but with my supplies.I always seem to use the same things..can anyone recommend something new for me?!
Here's my layout anyway :)
My supplies this week were
Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock
KI Memories Surprise papers
Cherry Arte flower
Bazzill big Brad
Heidi Swapp ghost stars
AL journalling stamp
Sassafrass Lass stamp
white sharpie pen
white bazzill
Sophie alphabet stamps

End of term-itis

This is what Em always used to get at the end of term...tired ,no energy,totally run down.End of term seems to be affecting Holly slightly differently...she broke down in tears and sobbed this morning because she 'only has 10 days left with Miss Picton' She absolutely adores her Yr 1 teacher, bless her! It also reminded me that I need to get my skates on sorting out end of term pressies too!
This evening we went to the open evening at school.Managed to get photos of both girls with their teachers :) Listened to Em's year group singing, no point in videoing it as they weren't up on the stage and we could hardly see anybody! I love it when they have the photos from during the year up on the big Smart board screens in the classromms too !Photo for today is of Holly in the ICT suite this evening.
There is no let up in the miserable weather here...are we really going to have this all summer?!
Finished a layout today (when I should really have been doing lots of other stuff!) Just waiting for Anna to 'pop' it a bit for me (my photos were rubbish!) then I will share :) I got a bit carried away with paint which is a bit unusual for me! It doesn't look anything like how I planned it in my head, but there you go!

Celebrating daughters

.is the Deck of Me prompt this week .following the birth of Emily's daughter Yindi :)

So this was an easy one for me having two of them! I used a photo from the end of a photo session with them , when they were messing around together :) 'Celebrate' is stamped with a KI Verbology word stamp.

Tomorrow we have open evening at the girls school.Em is singing in the Yr 5 choir and we will also be visiting their classrooms.I can hardly believe it's nearly the end of the school year already...Can't wait for the hols (if the sun decides to re-appear) but it feels very scary that Em will starting her final year of junior school in September.They are growing too fast for my liking!

I actually started a layout 'for me' last night...first in a long while! Hopping to finish it tonight as well as starting omn my Pencil Lines layout too.We have some fab sponsors lined up for the future which is really exciting, along with our new DT members :)

Righr, I am off to make a dent in the mountain of ironing in my kitchen!

It's Sunday again....

...so that means a new Pencil Lines sketch :) As per usual I didn't go with my first idea for this sketch ...or even my second! One day I will get an idea ...and go with it!

Anyway, my supllies for this week were

Autmn Leaves Frenxh Twist paper

Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes stamps

Heidi swapp letters

Playing cards from a Christmas cracker!

Doodlebug paper frills

Holly loves playing Texas Hold 'Em...but in her own unique little way calls it Texas Hold Me instead !!

I was planning on scrapping this evening, but I started watching the Diana concert and that was it.I have to confess to blubbing my eyes out at the end just as I did nearly 10 years go :(

Can't believe it's Monday again tomorrow!
Yesterday morning we all went bowling :) Em came out as the winner...though I have no idea how, she has the scariest bowling throw I have ever see...seems to work though!
After lunch Geoff took Em into town to get her ears pierced...she is growing up! Definitely wouldn't have let her get them done any younger.But she has been pretty good at taking care of her brace and seems to understand the responsibility of taking care of her ears too! The Croc shop also finally got her purple Crocs in too so she cane home a happy girl :) Holly and I amused ourselves by making choc chip cookies and then playing with the Hama beads.As you can probably guess it rained non- stop all day!

Today has been a better day weather wise - I even got to sit out on the sun lounger this afternoon!

Week 25

This weeks challenge has been done by Tara Whitney ( my photographing hero!) as Emily has moved and is without internet.

I knew straight away which photo I would use.I've already scrapped it but it still means so much to me.This photo was taken a couple of days before we were involved in a car crash in which our car was written off.Although we escaped with minor injuries, it brought to the surface a whole lot of personal issues, secrets that were being kept....basically it was a turning point in my life.And this photo will forever remind me of that time and how precious my family are.

Lucky lucky me :)

Oooh, I am having a good day today!
I took a trip to Dunelm Mills after finishing work today.Managed to pick up some lovely new bed linen (keep reading, my day did get better than this!) Also picked up some more scissors (black & white spotty this time:) ), glittery pink felt...and a cupcake sugar bowl! They had a whole tea service range in a cupcake theme :) I am so tempted to clear out my cupboards (because they are full of unused stuff!) and get the two tier cake stand.It so reminds of my Nan who had one.She would always declare that she 'didn't have much in' when we visited and then would bring this cake stand out laden with various cakes and biscuits!
When I arrived home from shopping the postie had been with my stamps that Anna ordered from the US for me :) Let's just say..I have been after the KI stamps for ages, but they've always been out of stock or far too expensive(until now!)
After a quick half hour at home at walked into town to meet Caz .
We had the most lovely lunch of macaroni cheese and chips which I think we both definitely needed! But even better than that...she gave me this gorgeous pink felted bag, made with her own fair hands! It is the perfect size for my camera , keys and mobile.Thank you so much hun! (And as predicted the kids are eyeing it up!!) We also had a good gossip and discussed the joys of having children /teens around the house!;)
I then went onto the school to watch Holly's Spanish assembly! Despite telling me she didn't know what she was supposed to be doing she did so well!
And that is my day so far!

So today was finally the day of Holly's trip to Gullivers Land.She was awake at about 5.30am singing Supercalifragilistic...(I can't spell the rest!!) They had a fab day and came back happy and tired.Well, Holly was happy until she told me of her 'arrangements' to go there again on saturday with her friend and Daddy was going to take her.Let's just say she was not impressed when I told her it wasn't going to happen! Hence she stomped all the way home about 6 feet behind me !Photo today is of her getting on the coach (yes, I am the only parent that does this every time...!)

I seem to be coming down with a cold and sore throat :( Having spent 30 mins on the phone to Anna this evening it feels even worse! Have to also give her a little toot for the fab scrappy stuff that is happening for her at the moment - remember me when you are famous!;)

Tomorrow I am working for a couple of hours and then taking a trip to Dunelm Mills in search of a couple of things :)

Then I am off to meet a friend who sent me a very intriguing text today which has me very curious!

This will be followed by going into school to watch Holly's Spanish speaking assembly.And on that note..... buenos nochas!!

Yikes....

...I haven't been here for ages - whoops!!

So what's been going on...hmmm, well Friday and Saturday I felt grumpy...no idea why, just in a mood! Friday itself was a good day though :) We went out for lunch to celebrate Geoff's birthday.We were considering either Fatty Arbuckles or Frankie & Benny's...the decision was made for us when we got to Fatty's and discovered it closed!!This was probably a blessing in disguise though as F & B's was fab! We have never eaten there before (I know...where have we been?!) but I'm already planning my meal for our next visit! I had the most yumptious pudding I've had in a long while, a cinnamon waffle with ice cream and tofee sauce:)I must admit that I nearly always get sucked in by any brownie on a menu but I'm so glad I broke with tradition on this occasion!

On Saturday night the new Pencil Lines DT members were announced.A huge thank you to everyone who entered, I honestly hated having to pick just a few faves when there was so many amzing layouts to choose from.Huge congratulation sto our new members!


I had resigned myself to not getting my Pencil Lines LO done this week due to the bad mood and lack of mojo.But ..I am almost too scared to miss one incase I never scrap again!So I got my scrapping butt into gear and scrapped! I used

Scenic Route Laurel papers

Heidi Swapp & Cherry Arte chipboard letters & heart

Doodlebug paper frills

Angel Kiss flowers

May Arts ribbon.



It does look much brighter IRL! I love the bottom photo so much (look at those lashes!) that I think I'll be scrapping it on it's own too :)

Didn't make it to the monthly crop yesterday and am jealous of the stories about cake! However I will be definitely be back next month :)*waves to Ali, Louise & Kerry!*

Tomorrow Holly has her school year trip to Gullivers Land.She is so excited and I am just hoping the rain holds off for them :)


I leave you with a photo of one of my yellow lillies (which has now been snapped off...grrrr) taken on Saturday.

Anna took delivery today of some stamps that I have been longing for for a loooong time so I'll be stalking the postie from Wednesday!

Yawn......

So, I didn't blog last night or Tuesday...because really, I have nothing to share...!! But I can't sleep...so here I am :) Hate it when this happens, I know I'm going to be sooo tired in the morning and I have a horrible habit of munching when I can't sleep!

I have no photos to share...well, I could but I'm sure Lyzzy and Caz would never forgive me for them ;) Though I think they look fine , I'm the one with hideous wind blown hair!

More work today then home to doing exactly the same around my own house.Ah well...at least I now itr's clean!

Friday is Geoff's birthday.So what do you buy a man who doesn't want anything?! Well if you're like me...nothing! Well, the kids will be giving him some tiny bits he wanted to go with his phone (not all of them as one hasn't turned up...grrr)and I guess I'll just hand over the contents of my wage packet on Friday! We are at least going out for lunch anyway , which will be nice!

Right, I am starting to send myself here (hopefully!) so I'm off for now!

Oh, I may as well add this pic of Geoff & Holly as it's resized and ready to go!

Wow!

Well, last night was the closing date for entries in our search for a new Pencil Lines DT member.

166 entries....oh my word!!How amazing is that?! It is not an easy job believe me, my eyes are aching from searcing through them all...and I still can't choose my faves from soooo many.Thanks you so much to everyone who took the time to enter, we really do appreciate it.It's at times like this that it hits home what a huge thing I am involved in - another scary thought!!


Here's my Pencil Lines layout for this week :) Love how Anna changed this photo to 'true' black & white for me...it was a wishy washy grey & white when I did it! And yep, those diamantes were all stuck on individually..gotta love Ki Gloo and cocktail sticks....!!

I used

Creative Imaginations narratives cardstock

Diamantes from WH Smiths (really!)

Heidi Swapp mask

Autumn Leaves journalling panel

Autumn Leaves stamps

MM stamps

Doodlebug paper frills

Angel kiss flowers



First day at work today and I think it went well :) As I've said before, it's not rocket science, but it is easy and stress free, fits in around the kids...so what more could I ask for really?!

I am off as I have promisd myself an early night for the last four nights and not managed it!!

Nice weather...for ducks....

Hmmm..if we have a hose pipe ban later in the year I will wonder what they've done with all the rain from today alone!! It has chucked it down on and off all day...and I mean all day! Not good on school summer fete day...but then I think they've been pretty lucky over the last few years.Actually, maybe today was the last five years rain all in one go?!
Holly was at a cinema birthday party all morning so missed out on the numerous soakings! Em had her nails painted as well as going on the inflatable jungle run and the electric mini cars.

Once back home I put the finishing touches to my Pencil Lines layout for tomorrow ,thanks to a postie delivery from Anna this morning - thanks hun! :) The Galaxy was much appreciated too;) Then I supervised the girls making Fathers day cards for tomorrow...I always get worried when they get their hands on my inks!! Many muckyfingers later , both cards were signed and sealed and I could breathe easy again:)
So pictures for today are a sneaky of my layout for tomorrow and Em driving very sensibly round the netball court at school!

Right now....

Emily's prompt this week was 'Right Now...' so I managed to squidge in doing this card yesterday.Had I done it today it would probably just have been totally different as my moods keep changing!

I covered the card with Junkitz paper and sanded the edges.I then stamped the egdes with Autumn Leaves stamps, journalled and added a Heidi Swapp ghost star & heart which I decorated with permanent pen.

Anyway, yesterday 'right now' was the fact that as from next week I will be working again.This means that rather than just managing, we will be able to put some money away each month towards taking the kids over to Disney Land in Florida. Probably won't be next year , but we can dream of winning the lottery!

Have Em at home again today so my list of to-do's is growing longer each day.....Need a huge kick up the bum (or maybe just chocolate would help?!) to get myself going!

POTD!

Well, I was going to try and upload this photo of Holly to SIS Tv as my photo of the day.But having not uploaded anything there yet...I can't work out how to!! So I'm afraid I'm doing it here and linking and tomorrow I will ask Anna how to do it properly!

Took this photo this evening when Holly decided to go out on the trampoline, complete with Cinderella dress on:) Most of the photos were really blurry or dark, but this one is her doing her favourite pose of the moment!

I also picked the sweet peas today, here is the proof! There are loads more buds on them so I should have a load more soon! I don't have any small vases though so a drinking glass had to suffice!

Today I also got myself a part time job :) It's not rocket science, but it does fit in around the kids and also means more money coming in,fingers crossed it all works out okay!

Geoff is away tonight in Leeds so I've amused myself by reeling in horror at the huge amount of card-making stuff I still have and playing on the Wii! Finally got my tennis score up to professional level!

Em stayed home again today so I'm all out of synch with stuff that I need to do.Hopefully she will be fine tonorrow and I can play catch up!

Green fingers?!

Well, it'd be a first as I generally manage to kill any indoor plants we have! But so far, the flowers in the garden seem to be doing pretty well :) I remembered to go out and take photos of the first few flowers this morning.I love the deep pink one especially.Now I know I've been told I have to pick these as they will flower even more..but I'm reluctant to pick them and leave the plants bare! But I will go and pick them all in the morning and eagerly await the new flowers!

No scrapping/crafting done here today hence the floral pics! I kept Em off school today as she was feeling a bit under the weather.She kept herself amused reading and making things with her Hama beads and should be back at school tomorrow.
Upon getting home from school Holly promptly declared that she didn't want to go to Rainbows and burst into tears.My heart sank at the prospect of her deciding she no longer enjoyed it but within five minutes she's changed her mind and was raring to go! Sadly, she wasn't so happy when I picked her up , having fallen over and banged her knee hard on the wooden floor :( She seems to have made a full recovery though, despite the wobbly legged walk she insisted on doing around the garden!
Important-ish things happening tomorrow so I am away to my bed!

Juicy Junkitz!

Oh yes, we were sponsored by Junkitz this week over at Pencil Lines! We were treated to papers from the Salsa Celebration range along with some super embellishments too :) These papers are absolutely gorgeous, so bright and zingy, only trouble is I wanted to use both sides of all of them! Think I may have to invest in some more ;)

Here's my layout in full! All Junkitz except for the chipboard bookplate which is by Heidi Swapp,the journalling tag which is by Autumn Leaves and the epoxy letters which are Creative Imaginations.Photos are of Holly and Izzy taken during half term .

It's been yet another scorcher here today.Em had a dance exam this afternoon , disco freestyle this time.She has been practising for weeks so fingers crossed she gets the grades she's hoping for.Other than that, we've just had a lazy day in the garden and Holly had a splash in the small paddling pool.

This evening the girls excitedly picked the first ripe strawberry of our crop! Here's to a few more soon!A lot of the veggies don't semm to coming to much whilst the potastoes are taking over the veggie patches!The first of my sweet peas are starting to flower in the gardn too which I am very proud of! Must remember to take some photos as proof!

Lots to do around the house this week...I have something 'going on' (don't want to jinx it!) on Tuesday which could lead to not so much time at home so I need to get a few things sorted first :)Geoff is working away Tuesday night so no doubt I will end up sitting up really late!

Hot in the City...

...well it's hot in Welwyn Garden City anyway:)When will the weather make up it's mind which season we're in?! It was so cold yesterday morning I sent the girls to school in their winter uniforms yet today it's boiling!
Quiet day here, Em went out for lunch with my Mum & Dad and Holly had a party to go to this afternoon.She came back with a huge pirate ship picture and a dolphin made out of clay (it was an ArtSkool party!)And also a grumpy temperament...!
Two photos today...the first being of the ripe strawberry on our plant in the garden! Doesn't it look fab? I think I will be cutting it in two for the girls to share tomorrow! I'm still surprised nothings eaten it considering the way all the lettuces disappeared!
And the other is a sneaky of my Pencil Lines layout for tomorrow night.Much as I love the end result, it wasn't easy!
Fingers crossed for the sunshine again tomorrow so we can spend the day out in the garden :)

Week 22, I want to learn...

....well, there are lots of things I want to learn...like how to drive,how to use Photoshop,how to use a sewing machine properly ,but the main one right now is how to use my camera properly! I've had it over a year now, ...and I need to be braver than just using auto or 'shaky person' settings! Am trying to keep up with these prompts again now as I seem to be back on track with them.There are still a few I have to go back and do though! I stamped the back of my card using a Rhonna Farrer swirl stamp and Stazon, then attatched a Hambly overlay over black card,using a Sakura Soffle pen for the journalling.

Seem to be all out of synch this week for some reason, can't believe it is Thursday tomorrow already! I'm hoping to sort some of my scrapping stuff out tomorrow, we're back to the point where it all falls out on top of me and I can't find what I'm looking for! Need to start my Pencil Lines layout too ,we have a fab sponsor on board this week and the products we have to use are gorgeous!

Spashing time & full view!

We arrived home from Widnes this afternoon after a couple of fun packed days for the girls :) On Saturday the girls headed straight for the pool at their Nan & Grandy's house and stayed there for a good three hours! They had a fab time just lazing around enjoying themselves. Come Sunday morning, it was definitely much cooler but they still insisted on going back in, making the most of the peace & quiet before everyone else turned up for the family gathering in the afternoon! We also took the Wii with us...let's just say, I'm surprised there is any life left in the batteries as it was in use non stop almost the whole weekend!

This afternoon I met up with Caz & Lyzzy in town.We must do it more often, I have not laughed so much in ages!!

Here's my Pencil Lines sketch in full for this week :)

I used

Tinkering Ink papers from the forthcoming Scrapping Angels kit

Doodlebug paper frills

Hedi Swapp butterfly mask

Heidi Swapp chipboard letters

Cherry Arte chipboard letters

Doodlebug rub on letters

Week 35 sneaky....

Just popping back on to share a sneak of my Pencil Lines layout for this week :) We are away over the weekend so I won't be able to share it in full untill Monday.I think it's a little bit different for me.... I also finished the canvas today so will take photos and share that too!
We've had day of glorious sunshine here so the girls have been out in the garden all day, lots of washing has been done , beds changed, ironing tackled and scrapping done ! Not bad!
Anyway, enjoy your weekend whatever you're doing and don't forget to check out Pencil Lines on sunday!

Emily week 21

...this weeks prompt was redeeming qualities or qualities you aspire to. Not an easy one to cram on a tiny card, and I made the mistake of using a thick pen so I got even less writing on it!So...one of my 'redeeming' qualities I guess would be that I try and be a good friend..., be there for them, listen , through the good & the bad things.I try and see both sides of an argument to the point that I have endless arguments in my head with people before daring to venture into a 'real' one!
I painted the card brown with paint left over from the canvas I was doing.Then I wrote on it with a white Sharpie pen, added a paper heart, Doodlebug paper frill and some Maya Road ribbon.I'm not sure about it, but it will do for now!