How fast..

is this year going?! It seems way too soon to heading towards the end of term,Sports Days,reports and the like.

This week Hollys year had a visit from the Rain Forest Roadshow ,where she got stroke a tarantula (!!) and had her face painted :)Tomorrow she heads off another Brownie adventure,this time to Lemsford Springs,fishing for fresh water shrimp!Sadly I won't be able to go and watch this week though :(

On Tuesday it was Geoff's birthday and after having tea at Frankie & Benny's (yum!) we came home for birthday lemon meringue pie and a photo shoot :)

I also got to eat out again on Tuesday as went out to ther Waffle House for lunch -yum again!

As well as eating lots I've also been out on the bike every evening and it seems to be making a difference :)

I was supposed to be cropping this weekend but have had to change the plan.A certain 12 year old really needs some new summer clothes which means a trip to a decent sized Primark.If we don't go this weekend, it'll near winter when we do ,what with dance festivals,parties and Geoff working all happening over the next couple of weekends.

I am off to finish watching the series finale of Greys...tissues at the ready!

We've had a relaxing day today,just being home :) That said,the girls and I went out for a bike ride this afternoon and I then went out again on my own for a bit this evening.
As it was Fathers Day we left Geoff to have a lie in and the kids gave him their presents when he got up.We don't go mad with presents so they were just small things,a box of M&S Nougat from Em ad a hand painted mug from Holly which she decorated at Brownies for him a couple of weeks ago :) I didn't notice at first,but it has the sweetest note written on the bottom of it :)

Over at Pencil Lines this week, we decided to pay tribute to Fathers Day :)
Our guest this week is the amazing Elodie Touze
For my layout I used
Cosmo Cricket Happy Ever After papers
Doodlebug letter stickers
Prima Voila felt
Angel Kiss blooms
Martha Stewart punch
I have to admit, that after packing all the retreat kits using this paper I was sick of the sight of it! But being double sided,it worked really well for this layout so I'm pleased I found a use for it :)

Picture heavy post!!

Yesterday evening I and a few other mum's stayed to watch Holly's Brownie pack make rafts down at the lakes.And honestly,it was so good! There is no way I would have done what they did at their age!It took them a while to get kitted out as they all had to put on wet suits,waterproofs and life jackets :)Then they were split into groups to make their rafts as well as donning their helmets.The rafts were made from big blue barrels and then they carried all the poles over and were then shown how to tie them all on.Lastly they had to carry their raft into the water...and all try and climb on at once! I'm a bit gutted that it didn't occur to me to take the video camera as well as my normal camera.They were supposed to paddle out to some buoys further out in the lake but lets just say they need to practice their steering skills a bit! Once they'd been guided/dragged back to 'shore' they had to dismantle the rafts before their final treat...jumping off the jetty into the lake!How Holly managed to swim back to shore I will never know as she was probably knackered by that point ,the water was freezing and they still had the helmets on! We finally arrived home over an hour later than expected,even manging to cycle home too :)

Anyway, some photos ....

As well as that ,she also had a great day at the Roald Dahl museum too :) Hopefully we'll try and go there during the holidays as Em has never been and it sounds great.

Operation Bike Ride is going well ...so far! I'd actually forgotten how much I enjoyed riding a bike.I rode down to the lakes yesterday with Holly and this evening we went round the block a few times...I'm building up slowly to going any distance!

Wednesday wonderings

Hmmm, very imaginative title ...not!
All is well here,and the kids are busy :) Today Holly got to go to Em's school for an afternoon PE class with the sixth formers.It seemed a bit pointless her walking there,then walking back to her school and then having to walk back here ,as we are only round the corner from Em's school so I picked her up from there when she finished.Tomorrow she has a swimming test and then on Friday she is off to the Roald Dahl museum on a school trip.Followed by making a raft at the lakes at Brownies in the evening! And then a swimming party on Saturday...oh to be 8 again!
On Tuesday I got some lovely post from Florida,a lovely box of stash,including Martha Stweart punches! Sadly the box had been opened and someone had taken the Prima Rebellious stickers (errr....why??!)Thank you Jenny :)

Holly's runner beans are still growing well and they're starting to get a few blossoms:) And my lillies that my mum gave me are starting to flower.Shame they got blown over in the wind this afternoon and a load of petals fell off!

Summer fun

Yesterday was the Holly's school summer fete (feels a bit strange that it's not both girls fete now!).Following in Em's footsteps from several years back,Holly took part in the Maypole dance display.As the school has a 'no photo' policy (boo hiss),nobody was really sure if we would be allowed to video it or take photos.Apparently though, because a PTA run event,they don't enforce the no photo rule.I can't really see how they'd enforce it anyway,there were loads of people there!As per usual I was armed with both video & normal camera ,so I also ended up being phototgrapher for a couple of other mums who'd not brought their cameras :) Anyway, their dancing was so so good and I was a very proud mum!Once the dancing was over we came home to pack Holly's bags in the car and whisk her off to her Brownie sleepover.Talk about a different experience from last time,no tears ,no sad farewells -phew! Her leader phoned me once at about 9.45pm to let me know all was well :)From what's she told us so far, she had a fab time,including a campfire & sing song with the guides last night :) (Now that takes me back!)I don't think much sleep was had though and she was snoring her head off very early this evening!
I've got loads done today :) Having been woken up by Geoff snoring at about 3.30am, I gave up trying to get back to sleep at about 5.30am and got up! By 7.30 ,I'd done 2hrs of ironing whilst watching a DVD! I've also mowed the back lawn,cleared numerous piles of (other peoples cats) cat poo from the front garden and planted some sweet peas.We also went out and bought a new saddle as I am finally the happy owner of a bike :) One of my very nice neighbours came round yesterday and offered it to me as her husband had just bought her a new one.I might go for a ride round the lakes tomorrow afternoon :)
And finally as this seems like a massive post,this is my Pencil Lines layout this week :)
I used
October Afternoon Cherry Hill papers & stickers
butterflies from John Lewis
Fancy Pants die cut sun
MM journal page
Jenni Bowlin letter stickers
Doodlebug letter stickers
Creative cafe felt trim

Make sure you check out the blog, as we have a new look :)

So maybe

I should change the bit on my blog header that says 'daily ramblings' to twice a week ramblings?!

So today didnt start well, we had a knock on the door at about 8.15am from one of our neighbours telling us that one of our car windows was smashed .Great.Luckily Geoff was off today so he had time to clear up all the glass and sort out the people to fix it etc.The Autoglass guy said it looked like someone had tried to open the window with a screwdriver ,judging by the scratches around the frame.Nice.

In the sfternoon we went to Tescos fod shopping and also to do some recycling.Did you know that you can get Clubcard points for recycling aluminim cans? Now, I like the odd can of Diet Coke (under statement of the year?!) so I have been saving them up...and it was well worth it .No,I'm not going to tell you how many points I got because that will give away how much of an addict I am !

Holly was very excited to come home from school with her outfit for the Country Dancing display at the school fete tomorrow.I took some photos of her as I have a feeling we won't be allowed to tomorrow (boo hiss) She has a busy weekend ahead as tomorrow afternoon she is off on a Brownie sleepover for a night.They are all sleeping in one dorm together so I have a feeling she will be very tired and grumpy when we collect her on Sunday afternoon!

I was supposed to make muffins this evening for the cake stall tomorrow...but I discovered at 9.30pm that I have no chocolate chips...which is strange because I'm sure I bought a couple of bags a few weeks back.They must be with the three tubes tomato puree that have disappeared too...strange!

I am off to dig out the video camera for tomorrow....just in case!

Ta da!!

Whoo,just look at my fancy new blog!! I cannot take any of the credit for it though,Anna has very kindly toiled away for me uploading all the new stuff, designing me three blog headers and let me change my mind several times! So if you're wondering why her own blog hasn't yet been sorted out yet,it's because she's been doing mine instead :) Thank you so much,will re-pay you in Galaxy! The actual blog design is from here.I still need to add and move around some of my blog links,so bear with me!



This morning I went out shopping with my mum & dad :) I came home with a pink sleeping bag for Holly for her brownie sleepover this weekend.some lovely cream and pink stocks (because they were the cheapest flowers on the stall!) and at last some sweet peas to plant in the front garden :)
This afternoon Em went to her first cricket practice:) Although only three girls turned up and she claims to be rubbish at it,I think she enjoyed herself!
This is another layout from May's crop,I still have one more to finish off! The owls from these My Little Shoebox papers were perfect for Holly's Brownie Promise day photos:)

Where did the weekend go?!

Must have been the grey skies and rain that made it go so quickly :( That said,although it looked like it was going to pour down several times today, we had one clap of thunder and at times it went really warm and sunny,totally confusing!
This week must have been exciting because I really can't remember what I did...other than having a haircut on Friday...oh well!
Yesterday Em went off to a bowling birthday party in Stevenage.So while she was there we went and did the food shopping and had a quick pop into the town centre.

After a really bad nights sleep last night I wasn't in the mood to do much today :( And as it looked like we'd get drenched,our planned walk was abandoned and the girls decided they both wanted to scrap.Letting them loose with my button jar maybe wasn't the wisest decision I've ever made...!!
Anyway,this is my Pencil Lines layout for this week,a little reminder for Em of her favourite things at the moment :)
I used
Fancy Pants Kraft Cuts
Fancy Pants journalling page
Pink Paislee papers
Kaisercraft pearls
AC foam thickers
MM tiny alpha stickers

Hot hot hot

But I'm not complaining! I have had a nice day today,getting lots of odd jobs done,in between sunning myself in the garden! This morning I finished off two of the layouts that I did at the crop.I did toy with the idea of making a start on sorting some my papers and stuff out but then decided against dragging them all out into the garden and sorted out some of Holly's clothes out out there instead.



So,this is the first layout that I finished .Love this photo of Holly :) I wasn't sure where to put the date and details and nearly left them off,but knew I'd go back and look at it in a couple of months time and think 'nice layout,where's the details?!'


I am off to bed to try and sleep in this heat (and not end up going back downstairs for a midnight feast like I did last night!)

Soaking up the sun :)

Well, yesterday I did anyway :)I feel like I should be out in the sun as you never know how long it's going to last!So I sat there and painted my toe nails,read a book,nosed through my big shoulder tote ...and chilled :)And tomorrow it will be back to the usual routine of housework and catching up on stuff I haven't done while the kids have been home,whether the sun shines or not!
Today I went cropping :) I know,sitting indoors on a day like this -mad! But it ages since I've been and I actually got quite a bit done :) Three practically finished layouts,they just need embellishments and bits adding that I didn't take with me (Because despite the weight of the bag I took,I did try not to take everything bar the kitchen sink with me!)Entertainment was supplied by Anna,who,having dropped a black ink pad on her white trousers,proceeded to smudge black ink over her face by accident too!Just as well we crop around the corner from her house!

This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week,with a sketch by Anna.Our guest this week was Dena Coe.
I used
My Minds Eye shaped paper
October Afternoon paper
Kaiser pearls
Jenni Bowlin ticket
AC flair badge
KI Memories softie
Prima bling & flower
I couldn't think of a title for it,hence the lack of one!

The recipe

for four happy girls is as follows

1.Go and see a Disney film at the cinema

2.Pay a visit to a Claire's outlet store

3.Finish off with a trip to McDonalds,complete with a McFlurry

That pretty much sums up our day! We met up with Anna,Izzy and Lilly at the cinema and went to see Hannah Montana the movie.Despite what she says,Anna secretly enjoyed it ,though I think she may regret buying Izzy the soundtrack - anyone for the hoe down?! The girls also got themselves a few treats from Claire's .Izzy and Holly now have a best friends necklace between them ,a very cool Nightmare before Christmas one at that!

On Tuesday we went Moonlight Bowling ...at 9am in the morning! My kids seem to have the most unorthodox bowling style I've ever seen...that said Em whopped my butt and I came a joint sorry second with Holly! We also popped into Primark where Em stocked up hairbands ,as well as our first trip to Claire's of the week :)

Wednesdays plans were changed due to Holly's friends being ill so she had one friend here instead.On Thursday the girls got to spend most of the day with their cousins before Em went to a friends and Holly and I headed back home.

With the weather being generally dry (except for Wednesday), there's also been lots of time spent in the garden,bikes being ridden etc.Although I suffer when it's gets really hot (very fat ankles!!),I love the more relaxed pace of the holidays in the warmer weather :)

We have more beautiful weather forcast for the next few days ,though Sunday I will be indoors best part of the day as I am finally going cropping! I haven't been since last December,but as per usual have no idea what to take with me .I did tidy my table top tote out the other day though so at least that's a little bit lighter :)

I am off to decide what to scrap...!

Happy half term...

So for once we have had beautiful weather for nearly the whole of the bank holiday weekend,just a couple of showers today :)Geoff has been working away in the garden and the corner of the garden is now all fenced,wooden based and ready for the pool :) It also makes a pretty good stage area...karaoke anyone?! I can see the kids making use of it soon!Holly also gave her Dad a helping hand,she loves doing stuff like that :) I spent yesterday afternoon re-doing all the planters ,we may not have veggies but we will have flowers! Actually we do have one veg,I forgot about Holly's runner beans :) She had planted them in a tub at my mum & dad's and has now brought them round here :) This afternoon Em has had a friend over,one that Holly adores too so they've both been happy :) I made the most of them amusing themselves and took the oppurtunity to properly look through my Scrapbook Trends mag whilst sat in the sunshine.And to end a lovely weekend ,we've had a game of badminton in the garden,something I don't think we managed at all last year!

This is my Pencil Lines layout this week.

I used

My Minds Eye Lola papers

Doodlebug sugar coated alphabets

Angel Kiss flowers

Prima bling

Papermania letter stickers

I borrowed the title from a Jen Hall layout,love the titles on her pages (love her layouts full stop!)

Tomorrow morning we off to go bowling,very bright and early!Might even let the girls loose in Claire's whilst we are over there!That said I actually got some fab little bits in the sale there on Friday.Usually when other people have said they've found things there I've found nothing.Last week though I got some fab charms for £1 each as well as some Rock Star badges and a funky skull keyring topper. Love a bargain!

Surprise post

is always the nicest post :) Yesterday a pizza box landed on my doorstep from Anna with a very cute Momiji apron in it :) The label on the box gave me a giggle as it says it's a 'dainty apron for Sunday baking' Well, if you've ever seen me baking, I most certainly am not dainty,and make a huge mess everywhere! Hopefully one day I will have a Domestic Goddess moment and be able to wear it without ruining it!
We are forecast sunny weather for the next few days -yipee! I think I will be spending the weekend out in the garden cutting hedges and the grass! No veggie patches here this year,no doubt I'll be regretting that later in the year when everyone else starts showing off their homegrown veg! Maybe next year?! Trouble is where we had them a couple of years back is right next to one of the hedges ,so they get covered whenever the neighbours cut the hedge :(

Today Holly went to her first school disco,bless! At her school they don't have disco's until they are in juniors.She looked so gorgeous :) She had swimming last thing so we had less than an hour to shower her,wash her hair ,dry it and curl it!I can remember so clearly though when Em went to her first one and exactly what she wore! Anyway,she was seemed to enjoy herself and happy that they played her request...which was Mamma Mia!
I am looking forward to half term next week :) Though trying to jiggle everything round seems impossible in one week...roll on the summer holidays and six weeks! So far we have planned -bowling (for 1p a game!),meeting up with friends for a picnic (weather permitting!),seeing Anna and probably seeing my sister, as well as still trying to sort out Em having a friend over and another for a sleep over...
Right, Greys has finished and I've almost stopped crying(yet again!) so I'm heading off to bed soon :)

A bit of pink

Today I decided to hop on the train and go shopping in Stevenage.I got a couple things for the girls including those lovely pink pumps in the photo for the bargain price of £2.50! Also got Holly the pink HSM bodywarmer which will come in handy in autumn (or now really considering the weather!) For me I got a lovely long beady necklace from Primark .You can always depend on their jewellery shelves, especially when there only seem to be size 10's left in all the nice tops!

And in the £ store I got some Hannah Montana party ware all ready for Holly's birthday ...in November!

I'm still here!

I just got out of the habit of blogging after I left it for a few days!
The grumps passed over ,though I still have a few 'things' still going on in my head,but I'm not dwelling on them!
So what happened last week....
We had Parents evening at Em's school...parents evening at junior school is definitely a less complicated affair! Anyway, she is doing really well, getting her predicted grades and most importantly enjoying it there :)
Holly has been a busy bee and had a couple of friends round this week,I'm trying to catch up on my list of her freinds we need to have round!Getting there slowly....
Friday evening we all went to a fund raising evening at Brownies with Holly.They had a cake stall, hair braiding,nail painting,tattoos,hook a duck etc etc! Everyone seemed to have a good time and hopefully they raised a fair bit!
The weather her has been pretty unpredictable the last couple of days,no rain when it was forecast and chucking it down when it was only supposed to be light rain!
This is my Pencil Lines layout for this week.I used photos taken of Holly yesterday,basically as she is 'Right now'
She had her braided for the first time and her new Hello Kitty t-shirt on :)I still need to do some journalling on it,but my decent fine brown journallng pen was last seen in the hands of a certain 8yr old...
Anyway, I used
MME Tiny Dancer paper
Pink Paislee Sweet cakes paper
AC puffy thickers
Queen & Co felt
Prima swirls
Prima pop up bird
Heidi Grace hearts
Heidi Swapp butterflies


Nothing major planned for this week.I'm getting the urge to have a huge clearout and de-clutter so I might try make a tiny dent in that big job! Or I'll probably just put it off to another time as I usually do....

Got the grumps

I don't know if it's the fact that it's Monday,or the fact that I'm tired,but I definitely have the grumps at the moment.Maybe it's the fact that the weekends go by too fast? Or may be I'm just getting old and becoming a grumpy old woman?!

Anyway, the weeknd was lovely and I did mean to blog last night but just didn't feel like it.Saturday we did the food shopping aand then had a visit from my sister & her two girls,so there was lots of bouncing on the trampoline!

Yesterday Geoff was working so in the morning the girls and I went down to the lakes.The girls had a paddle in the river ,until Holly decided to jump from one stepping stone to another (which wasn't exactly near to her!) and promptly slipped and fell on her bum! We also went to the playground for a quick go on the wok and the boingy thing ,before walking round the lake.Holly wanted to go to her favourite tree but soon realised that sitting in a tree isn't comfy when wearing a skirt .We also found this lovely bunch of fluffies too :)

The day was finished off with a barbecue,our first one this year (I know, we're so behind everyone else!)

This is my Pencil Lines layout this week.I used October Afternoon and Scenic Route papers

Sassafrass letter stickers

Basic Grey buttons

Jenni Bowlin & My little Shoebox letters.

The photos were taken a couple of years back when it was Holly's turn to bring home 'Learner Bear' for the night.She had to fill in a diary of what he had been up to while he stayed here and add photos, hence we had loads of them!

Not sure what I'm up to the rest of the week,the weather certainly isn't looking great after today.I guess I could just get on with the ironing mountain ,the result of lots of sunny weather the past few days!

I spoke too soon..

...and it rained on and off all day Monday :( So nothing done in the garden and no barbie :(
By the afternoon I was a bit fed up so Holly and I made some muffins,or 'mega massive muffins' as Em as called them! Bad move really as I've eaten loads of them!
Yesterday was a different matter though,loads of sunshine so I got a bit caught up,mowing both the front and back gardens and whizzing round with the strimmer.
I'm still all out of synch and totally confused as to what day it is after the weekend,doesn't take much does it?!
I'm afraid there's not much interesting stuff going on here.Holly was at a friends after school which gave me a chance to tidy her room a little bit.I don't know how an eight year old can end up with so many 'bits' Actually,looking at all my stuff maybe I can see where she gets it from?!

Took the plunge and ordered the Cherry Hill range by October Afternoon today -yum! I usually decide I like their papers too late and half the papers I want are out of stock so this time I thought I'd get in quick! Just need some sunshine and some summery photos now :)

Surprise surprise, a bank holiday weekend without any rain -so far!
We didn't do much yesterday ,I even had a chance to sit and soak and soak up the sunshine for a bit :)We moved a few bits around in the garden ,getting it ready to put the pool up for the summer.Em sat out and did some homework whilst Holly scrubbed the trampoline clean :)Holly and I also sat and made daisy chains and I played with my camera!
Today we spent most of the day at my Mum & Dad's to celebrate my Dad's 75th birthday.Although the weather was dry,it was a bit chilly to sit out so we crammed all 10 of into one smallish room for lunch!The girls had a treasure hunt outside and a pass the parcel:)I even got someone to take a decent photo of Geoff and I together.But how scary is it when you pose for a family photo only to find you can no longer see over your kids head when they stand in front of you!They're growing up way too fast...
This is my Pencil Lines for this week :) We were given some Crate Paper papers to work with for this weeks sketch:)I used
papers from the Lemon Grass range
Heidi Swapp chipboard letters
Kaiser pearls
Pink Paislee letter stickers
Maya Road birds
Prima chipboard flower
My Little Shoebox tiny alphas

Nearly the weekend :)

And I am really looking forward to having a lie-in! That said, I have been going to bed early (well,for me anyway!!) so far this week and I'm nearly caught up on all my missed sleep.It's also a bit scary that tomorrow it'll be a week since I went over to Anna's to set up the retreat...who keeps making time go faster?!
The rain forcast the last two days hasn't materialised thankfully and I'm hoping it stays that way over the weekend :)

Yesterday afternoon Holly and I went out into the garden with the camera.I hardly seem to use it these days for some reason!Anyway,I managed to get some photos that I'm really pleased with (and not a wall in sight Lyzzy,you'll be glad to hear!)
This weekend is my dad's birthday and I've been put in charge of icing the cake...hmm,not sure how that one will work out! We are having a small family get-together on Sunday,hence the need for sunshine :)Other than that,we don't have much planned other than sorting stuff out in the garden a bit more and food shopping.
And if you're on Facebook,have you tried changing your language to English Pirate?! Well worth it just for the fact that I now have a 'bottle of messages' instead of an inbox!!

Still tired...

but today it was back into the routine of school run and housework ...shame!
Anyway, I think the retreat went well and lots of people want to come back next year,which was really good to hear!Not surprisingly,I didn't do any scrapping other than a couple of quick stitching samples for a make & take.Hmm, I say quick,but they weren't really and I spent a long time sat on the floor,ending up with dead legs and pin & needles! I also took hardly any photos either.Oh well, I did drink lots of (free) diet coke,meets lots of lovely people and spend lots of money :) This year we had the 3 Jolly Scrappers shop,run by the very lovely Kim & Jo and I think lots of us returned home which gorgeous new goodies!A huge thank you to Kerry for the lift on Friday,to everybody who came and made it such fun and for letting me be first to the pudding counter each mealtime ;)Oh,and also to Anna for letting me help out!Roll on next year!
School clubs start up again tomorrow so Holly is back at Country Dancing,while Em is over the moon as she is going to a preview showing of Hannah Montana the movie with a freind.To say Holly is envious would be putting it mildy! Not doubt I'll end up taking her at some point too :)
Right, I am off for a glass of wine before I head off for an early night.

So tired...

after a weekend at Wyboston with the Scrapping Angels retreat :) My feet ache ,my eyes are ready to close but I'm sure I'll be doing it all again next year!

So just a quick post tonight,with my Pencil Lines layout for this week.

I used

My Little Shoebox papers

Pink Paislee shaped paper

Queen & Co felt

AC puffy thickers

Doodlebug letter stickers

Love Elsie epoxy stickers

KI Memories softies

Maya Road sheer

Prima crystals

Back tomorrow hopefully!

Packing up..

lots of kits!
Last night I headed off to Anna's to spend today getting things ready for the retreat :) I was treated to a yummy Domino's pizza for tea (I'm easily pleased!) before watching Hell's Kitchen.We then left 'to do' notes with my instructions on for today on all the piles of boxes!
I was woken by Peter slamming the front door on his way to work at 6.15am,though I was half asleep and thought my watch said 8.15am at first and nearly got up! After winning the battle to turn off the shower (long story!) ,I was was ready to start packing.Izzy kindly left the tv on for me so I endured the 'delights' of Jeremy Kyle and This Morning, which I haven't watched in ages (and I obviously haven't been missing much either!)
Although I was sort of working, it was nice to have a night away, I feel like I've had a mid-week break :)
Tomorrow I need to catch up on the dreaded housework and make myself lots of lists of stuff I need to get out,tidy up and pack up before the weekend.

Sunny days

..are happy days :) It's still staying dry and warm here which means the girls are spending lots of time outside :)As well as abit more practice on the skateboards,today they've been bouncing around on my (yes,mine!!) space hopper.We got rid of their kiddy sized ones earlier in the week as they were way too small. So now we need to get them another 'full size'one then there'll be two between them.

Pencil Lines has gone live with a great sketch,one of my favourites I think,and perfect for all the round papers that are out at the moment!


I used

My Little Shoebox papers
KI Memories Sheer Delights
Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies
AC Sprinkles thickers coloured with a Sharpie pen
My Little Shoebox tiny letter stickers
My Little Shoebox die cuts
Prima swirl
Bazzill dotted swiss
Creative Imaginations Holey cardstock
I cut out the middle of the circle paper and the middle (the black polka dots) is the KI Memories Sheer Delight.
Tomorrow evening I am going over to Anna's to do retreat preparations, which means I get to see all the kits,before I head back home again on Tuesday afternoon .I'm looking forward to unpacking the boxes and packing the goody bags !
Still on my 'to do' list are finding my apron and tidying out my tote....hmm,last minute job methinks!!

Making progress

After the rubbish weather of the last two days ,we have spent today getting on with stuff that had to wait for a dry day :) Geoff ,along with a little help from Holly,has painted the shed and also the fence panels.Whilst I have mowed the front grass and dug & weeded three of the four borders in the front garden.Tomorrow Geoff is heading off to the tip with a pile of stuff that we sorted out the other day.I will admit to taking a few things back off the dumping pile though...like the castle shaped sand bucket that was mine was a kid...why do I find it sdo hard to let go of stuff like that? That said ,it was actually my mum & dad that kept it and gave it to the kids to use last year! So maybe that's where I get it from?!

Whilst in Asda today we spotted skateboards...and ended up coming home one each for the girls...what have we let ourselves in for?! Holly has already had her first accident falling off and scraping her elbow,no doubt it will get worse!Other bargains bought included funky Camp Rock raincoats for Holly,Izzy & Lilly at the bargain price of...£5 each!

The girls have spent the last couple of days seeing friends,though I can't believe the holidays are almost over and they'll be back to school next week :( Still , only five weeks and they're off again!

I am panicking slightly at the huge list (in my head!) of things that I need to do before next weekend! Eeek!

We're back:)

Well,we were back yesterday but I didn't get round to blogging then.

So,cue some photos of the girls new love...

Meet Nando (named after the Liverpool player Torres!)

After being a little wary at first (Em more so than Holly),both girls came round very quickly though neither of them are keen on being licked (totally with them on that score!) We had tears when it was time to come home...

The weather stayed nice the whole time we were up there and the sun shone here today too:) I mowed the grass and we got lots of sorting out done in the garden this afternoon,shame I still have the weeding and the digging to do!

Enjoying the sunshine:)

We are away for a few days visiting Geoff's family ,and luckily for us we are missing miserable weather at home! Today the weather has been beautiful,sunshine and blue skies all day :)
The girls are currently on a sleep over at their Aunty's which means a lie in for us tomorrow!That said,we had one this morning too - bliss :)

We will be going home with a car loaded with the kids eggs ,they never get this many as they don't usually see so much family at Easter!
The girls are coping really well at being around dogs all the time here (three at one point today!),but are not succeeding in their requests for us to get one too...
As I'm not on my PC I can't add my Pencil Lines layout but I'm sure you know where to find it!I used some very old scanned photos of Holly that I found earlier in the week :)
I used Scenic Route Sonoma & Loveline papers ,Creative imaginations holey cardtsock and AC puffy thickers .
I'll be back soon with some photos!

The Very Wet Egg Hunt!

Today we attempted the yearly egg hunt at my mum & dad's with my sister and her girls :) It nearly didn't happen as well as it throwing it down with rain,both Em and Holly were fsat asleep come 2pm! They are both full of cold ,so Em went back to bed ,whilst Holly fell asleep on Geoff in the recliner.I would have taken a photo,but she was doing that scary eyes-half-open type sleeping,and I didn't want to wake her!Anyway, we eventually made it round there in the rain.Mum & I ventured out and hid the eggs around the garden ,getting soaked in the process.Most of my photos are rubbish as the camera was covered in rain spots but here's one of Holly in her ears!

And here's a photo of our Easter tree.Which as you can see,really is just a branch in a vase!

Early Easter :)

Yesterday we had a early visit from the Easter Bunny aka Anna who came with bulging carriers of Easter cakes,crackers and gifts for the kids :) I'd completely forgotten about my Easter decs until I saw Kerry H mention her tree,so I hastily asked my Mum for a branch from her garden yesterday morning! So it was done in time for our guests ,and just as well as we are away at Easter anyway!

As per usual Holly and Izzy were happy enough to play around in front of the camera :) The fab thing about them though is that they really don't take much prompting and even grabbed their own props like the hula hoop! We thought we'd put the old armchair to good use too before it goes to the tip,can't beat a piece of council house garden chic eh?!

It's that time of year when we are gearing up for the retreat in a couple of weeks (yikes!),so there are lots of 'must do's ' whizzing round in my head at the moment! The classes are looking fab this year aand I'm really looking forward to catching up with Kerry and Louise (and the infamous pudding counter !!) I need to hunt out my faithful Scrapping Angels apron which is never to be found when I need it!

Spring is springing!

Well, it has been for the last few days anyway!

Friday afternoon was really warm and the girls spent the afternoon playing with their cousins in my mum & dad's garden...lots of digging was done!

On Saturday Em and I went out in the hope of doing a bit of girly shopping, but we didn't really find much to be honest! I wasn't really in the mood either as I was still full of cold and feeling miserable!The only busy shop was Primark...no surprise there! Walking round,I was so envious of all the girls wearing their trendy skinny jeans...I remember mine the first time round! I distinctly remember being dragged across the living room floor by my Mum whilst she tried to yank a pair of jeans off me that I'd asked her to take in ...they were too tight around my ankles! Sadly ,I am no longer young enough or skinny enough (not that I ever was,but it's amazing what a long black cardy covered!) to wear skinny jeans this time round,boo hoo :(

Yesterday we decided to be vultures and go and see if we could get Geoff a bargain chair in the Land of Leather sell off.His armchair was absolutley wrecked , he was practically sitting on the floor it was so low! Anyway, we found a bargain recliner which is what he has been after for ages.It worked out far cheaper to drive home with the chair and then Geoff drive back to pick us up than pay out for delivery so that's what we did :) So the girls and I had an unexpected lunch out and a wander round Lakeside too.We braved the huge Primark which makes the one in Stevenage look tiny! And Holly is now saving for a Hello Kitty toy from the Build a Bear Factory after spotting them and falling in love!

This is my Pencil Lines layout from last night.I used another old photo which I love as it shows how blonde Holly used to be!

I used

Little Yellow Bicycle paper

KI Lace cardstock

Scenic Route chipboard word

Prima crystal corner

Felt flowers from John Lewis

The girls have plenty to keep them amused this week :) Today Holly went to a friends and is off to another one tomorrow ,whilst Em has one of her friends here.Then on Wednesday we're expecting the Bowkis' ladies,which is fab as we weren't expecting to see them for ages yet :)

Right ,I am off to try catch up on the sleep that seems to be evading me at the moment! Three nights of still being awake at 2.30am is enough now...

Bits and bobs

Yesterday I got some cute new 'bits' ,having seen the lists on Laura's blog, when I was blog hopping a few weeks ago (as you do!) Watch out for them on a layout soon :)

And this is the layout I did a couple of weeks back using an old scanned photo of the girls when they were small :) I still haven't checked the date on the original so I'll add it to the layout when I get round to it! Oh and it's not that wonly in real life,i'm just rubbish at getting decent photos!

Not much else going on here really, just looking forward to Friday and the beginning of the holidays :)