>>> Asian Dare #7! <<<

The Asian Dare #7 is out! The theme is 'Inspired by Fashion' and each of us had to take a photo of a fashion item and use that as inspiration for the LO. Here's mine:

I was inspired by the buttons on the jacket. Let's just say I say the jacket worn by a girl that was in my son's Nursery and we were at the Library organised by the Nursery. I politely ask the girl's mom if I could photograph her jacket.... she probably must think I'm mad but heck, when you see a scrapping opportunity, you do anything!

Here's the inspired LO! Made use of My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie papers... they are absolutely gorgeous to play with! Incidentally, that Ollie who decided to dress up in his nan's and aunt's outfit!

TTFN!

>>> Crop! <<<

Attended the Birmingham crop and had a great day all to myself with like-minded gals playing with papers, glue and other bits and bobs! Who would have thought playing with paper could be so fun!!!

Managed 2 LOs, one done for Banana Frog and the other for the Asian Dares due out tomorrow. As usual, another last minute work! TTFN!

>>> Pencil Lines! <<<

Check out Pencil Lines. It's an inspiration blog for sketches and it's mega cool if you are stuck or mojoless! I'm this week Guest Designer and feel honoured to be asked. This was the sketch I came up with:

And here's my LO to accompany the sketch:

Made use of Autumn Leaves Black Red and Cream papers, Hambly screen prints, Doodlebug frills, 7 Gypsies stuff and a few stamps!!

Spent the day at home with Zac. Hubby and Ollie went to watch some racing car event which I didn't feel incline! Would have bored me to tears! Instead, printed out some photos and worked on a LO using Banana Frog stamps! Bliss! Zac occupied himself watching Power Rangers Mystic Force. He absolutely loved that DVD! Couldn't get him off it! TTFN!

>>> Busy! Busy! Busy! <<<

Look what came in the post this morning! The latest stamps from Banana Frog! Just joined their design team and am delighted to have these stamps!

The morning was spent in Birmingham town centre. I found a store that sells Crocs shoes for kids and we wanted to get one for Ollie. We got a white pair for Ollie, a khaki for hubby and for myself, I got another design called Prima in fushia.

Isn't that lovely! I wanted to get a design called Mary Jane but they didn't have my size! So went for the above instead. I'm now on a mission to collect as many designs as I can. Can't live without my Crocs!

We had tim sum at our usual restaurant before sending Ollie off for his Mandarin class. Then it was off to Asda to get some groceries. When we got back, it was time to sort the boys' clothes as they were staying overnite at their nan's. Hubby and myself had a wedding to attend at nite.

As I was wrapping up the present, I realised we forgot the card so I made a quick one using a Becky Fleck's card design and a stamp from Banana Frog:

It was fun to go out for the evening. Thank goodness for satnav as we would have gotten horribly lost as the hotel was located in the deepest countryside of Coventry! Wish there were more nites like this but it's so difficult when you have kids. TTFN!

>>> ATCs! <<<

Did some ATCs today. I'm venturing slowly into the altered arts following my love for stamping. I just want to make full use of my stamping technique and play as much as I can with my stamps.

The top two are for a coloured ATC swap at UKScrappers. The bottom two are for an ATC group that I joined. Hope they will be well-received. It's fun doing ATCs as you get to use up your scraps effectively. TTFN!

>>> Nite Crop! <<<

Cropped with friends in the nite. We all decided to do altered arts and I completed altering 5 postcards for a swap at UKScrappers. Played with my oriental stamps bought during the days of cardmaking. So glad to put them to good use.

TTFN!

>>> Library! <<<

Zac's nursery organised a visit to Sheldon's library so I took him there. I supposed it was to introduce the kids to books in the library and to get more signup! Both Ollie and Zac already do possess library cards as I had them done when they were babies!

The librarians began by telling the kids a story and then it was followed by biscuit and drink.

Then the parents had some time with them, reading books to them. Finally another round of story telling session ended the visit. Zac enjoyed it and wanted to borrow some books but as usual, didn't have the card with me. Later brought Zac back to his nursery. TTFN!

>>> Back To School! <<<

Zac's back in school although Ollie's off due to teachers training day. However, got him to do some writing and Maths.

Worked on a LO using Scenic Route Metropolis papers. My BPM kit is sitting untouched at the moment so took inspiration from an Ad challenge that was on BPM forum:

Here's my version , adapted for a single LO:

Left the arrow hanging down as I couldn't bear to cut it!. Absolutely 'luv' Heidi Swapp journaling spots!

TTFN!

>>> Another Brillant Day! <<<

Woke up to sunshine! Another fab day. We had lunch in the garden before we took the boys out cycling to their nan's place. It's great when the sun is out and it feels warm. I'm not really a sunworshipper and will stay out of it but just love having the sun shining.

God knows what they were thinking of when I ask them to pose! Probably trying to imitate the Power Rangers which they are deep into at the moment!

Managed a LO using Scenic Route Laurel papers. Made use of stamps by Autumn Leaves, Fontwerks, Rubber Soul, River City, Back Porch Memories/Wildflower and Catslife Press.

It's the Asian Dare again and this was the LO I did based on the theme, Geometric Designs in Asia. Gosh, it had me thinking deeply about it and has to be one of the hardest LO I've ever done. Luckily managed to find a chinese motif stamp in my collection to use:

TTFN!

>>> Woo Hoo! <<<

Did this LO for a March competition at Back Porch Memories where I do get a monthly kit from and it was picked as a winning entry! I've won a Basic Grey file set (now changed to a Making Memories Grommet kit as I've already got the file set which I had purchased a month earlier. Paula, the owner kindly offered the Grommet kit as she knew I had the file set... isn't she lovely!!! Also won a $15 voucher to spend at the store too! Mega cool!

LO dedicated to Ellen.... miss your company a lot! Incidentally it was picked by Basic Grey gallery as well! Hoots! Made use of BG Pheobe papers and Heidi Swapp writers block. TTFN!

>>> Baking! <<<

Another brillant weather again. Did 3 loads of laundry to take advantage of the sun!

Kids didn't fancy going out so we stayed in. They got busy baking a cake instead.


TTFN!

>>> Pottering About! <<<

Spent some time with the kids... popped into the shops and got them some crafting materials to keep them busy!

Meanwhile was busy doing a LO:

Made use of Scrapworks love papers. Part of Homegrown DT work. TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday Hubby! <<<

It is hubby's birthday today. Another brillant day but we stayed in and hung outside in the garden. MIL came over and we later had the cake. Pretty tiny the cake but then it was a chocolate cake. The usual shop that I buy from was closed so had to go to another but never again. Although the cake is lovely, it's not worth paying so much for such a tiny cake especially when you can get a bigger one for the same price! :)

Cake I made for hubby's birthday. Made use of stamps from Fontwerks, Invoke Arts and Autumn Leaves.

Cake that I bought. It's absolutely delicious, just a pity it was a tad small.....

TTFN!

>>> Easter Egg Hunt! <<<

Weather was absolutely brillant! Great day for Easter Egg Hunt!

Brought the boys over to MIL's place where together with their cousins, they made their baskets. Then it was back to ours where hubby had already hidden some eggs for them to find. Had them lined up for photo session and off they went!
The two bigger boys were busily hunting and shouting with delight at every find while the two younger ones hunted in the shadow of their brothers. The adults had to help them a little.

Each had a big egg to hunt with their names on, a smaller plastic egg, again with their names on and tiny ones which was free for all. It was so funny seeing them search and hooting with glee!

Eventually the two younger ones had enough of hunting and were eager to tuck into their eggs. The bigger boys were competing to see who had more eggs!

Hubby decided to do a barbeque and thankfully we had food in the freezer for that!
We managed chicken wings, streaky pork, sausages, mash & baked potatoes and brocoli.

I had to nip out to get hubby's cake from the bakery as it's his birthday tomorrow. Didn't realise that shops were closed!

We had dinner on the patio. It was fabulous, great food, sunshine... what more could you ask for!

The afternoon was spent sitting out in the garden while the boys played and made a lot of noise! Thankfully Spiderman 2 came on at 5.30pm and we got them in to watch. SIL and her boys left after the show.

Ollie and Zac went off to sleep almost instantly after their bedtime stories... well, not surprising since they had such a good afternoon! TTFN!

>>> Legoland! <<<

Went off to Legoland with the kids. MIL, SIL and her two boys came along as well. We booked a hotel near Legoland so that we could spend 2 days there. Great hotel and we managed to spend one day using the pool facility. The boys had a great time, going on most of the rides. Thank goodness Zac got through the height restriction (0.9cm) and was allowed on most rides. As for me, hurt my back slightly on a roller coaster ride! To be honest didn't know it was gonna be one until I went thru the ride! One of those where you couldn't see what sort of ride. Anyway, here's some photos....

Day 1: Spent a day at Saville Garden before making our way to the Crown Plaza hotel.

Day 2: Legoland

This ride was fun!

The mega roller coaster ride. Poor Zac wasn't allowed due to height restriction so I had to bring him onto another ride.

The little ones on the cars

On the paddle boat.

We were lucky that there was a special lazer show at nite during the Easter holiday so we got a chance to watch it.

Day 3: Legoland again!

The boys stopped at a room and built cars that could race on a ramp.

The miniatures!

Ollie on the digger! Can't say it was easy to control.

The bigger boys on the cars. They must have gone on it at least 3 times!

Zac at the playground

Legoland was fun but not the waiting time for we had to wait at least 45 mins on any ride that we wanted to go on. We went back on the 2nd day to go on rides that we didn't manage to do on the first day. TTFN!

>>> Busy! <<<

Hubby took time off today! Had a couple of errands to run before we go off to Legoland tomorrow! We booked two nites stay in a hotel near Legoland and will be going with MIL, SIL and her boys!

Been busy with DT assignments this week and here's my DT work using Homegrown kits:

Feb Hybrid kit: Rhonna Farrer's Holly Jolly papers

Feb Trilogy: Rhonna Farrer Superstar papers. Couldn't help playing with my stamps and went a little overboard! LOL!

March Trilogy: 7 Gypsies Hudson Valley papers. Luv 7G stuff! Again mega stamping involved using stamps from Heidi Swapp, Fontwerks, Banana Frog and Invoke Arts.

April Hybrid: Scenic Route Laurel papers. Made use of Heidi Swapp playing card as the background. Boy are they huge... 5x7". Luv them actually! Will have to find a shadow box to house this creation.

TTFN!