>>> Junction 7 Crop! <<<

Hooray, another day of 'me' time again! This time, together with Morag and Nikki, we went to Junction 7 Crop. We had a great time as it was the Crop's 1st Anniversary and Chris and Andrea made it memorable. We had a group photo and were told to choose any 3 papers from Scrapajack's store, and to create something with the photo. I did a 6x12 LO with the group photo!

I chose papers from Webster. They are ever so lovely.

Birthday cake followed shortly after. In all, it was a great crop and enjoyed myself immensely! After the crop, we headed to One Stop Shopping Centre to search for chipboards in the Pound store.... but they were completely sold out!

Got home to the boys who informed me that they found Ben 10 toys at the Entertainer! Great! No need to get them from Hambly in London!

Slight excitement.... my DT kit from Back Porch Memories arrived this morning in the nick of time! Gosh was on edge the whole week and there was a postal strike on Friday. Managed to work on 2 LOs and will submit one for early reveal tomorrow!

Thoroughly exhausted so will call it a nite.... TTFN!

Thursday

I enrolled the boys in a karate class. Surfed the net to find a martial arts class in Birmingham and it brought this site up. Made some enquiries and brought my boys there. Both boys tried it but I think Zac was a wee bit frisky and I was told to wait till he's a little older. Oh well, will try him when he turns 5 next Feb!

Ollie did enjoy his session and wants to go again. We are given a couple of free sessions to try out before committing as they have to wear the karate kit for their session. Definitely will sign him on. It would be nice if I could find a kungfu class!!! Ok, I admit, a great admirer of Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jacky Chan and anything kungfu!!! Boy do I miss those movies like hell... really miss my Mandarin movies since I don't get it readily here in this country!

Friday

Hubby came back early from work. I got fedup of cooking and wanted to go out to eat. Somehow, we ended out watching a movie instead. Went to Star City and we gave the boys a choice as to what they wanted to watch and both chose Fantastic 4, the Silver Surfer over Shriek the third! After getting the tickets, we spied a Chinese Buffet Restaurant and had a meal there. Can't say it was great to be honest. It was ok but nothing special and definitely won't go back!!!

Movie was great. It has been ages since we last saw one and the boys enjoyed it!

Here's Ollie imitating the Silver Surfer

After the show, the boys went to the arcade and played some games. Well, they desperately wanted to win a stuff toy and we did managed to get a Spiderman doll after 3 tries which Ollie immediately coveted. That left Zac in tears so we had no choice but to play again. After shelling out £5, we managed to get a Ninja Turtle toy. Both boys then decided to swap with each other!

There were a couple of times we managed to get hold of the toy with the clasp but dropped it somehow! I think it's a big con! Oh well, the things we do for kids! Stupidly I forgot to capture it on photo... I was so tensed up each time the machine picked the toy and then promptly dropped it that I failed to whip my camera out.... gosh, that would have made a great scrapping topic! TTFN!

>>> Altered Arts Display! <<<

Been dabbling in altered arts and here are some ATCs!

This is an altered dolls ATC. First time I've done something like that. Played with all sorts of media and kinda enjoyed it! Gave these dollies names too. Made this for a swap on UKScrappers.

This set of ATCs is based on the theme 7 sins. Made this for a particular Circle Journal that I'm in. Again, had great fun doing this and might do another set for myself.

Boys went to their Nan's after school. We usually go on Friday but as she's off to her daughter's, she asked to see the boys earlier instead. My boys love her to bits as she spoils them silly! The little one in particular sure knows how to twist her around his little finger! TTFN!

>>> Gourmet Guest Chef! <<<

I was asked by Caroline to be a Gourmet Guest Chef on A Spoonful of Sprinkles blog. Here's my LO that is featured:

Played with SassafraLass papers Serendipity. This is pretty bold for me but kinda like the effect!

Took part in a sporting activity in Zac's Nursery. They had a sports coach in to show the kiddies some soccer skills and we parents were supposed to take part together with the kids. I had great fun actually and was shown how to handle Zac as he was a left foot kicker and the coach showed me how to place him in order for him to kick the ball into the goal post. That was one brillant technique as he was kicking out of the goalpost but after positioning him properly, he kicked straight into the goalpost! Now wondering if I'll have problem with him being a leftie! He's becoming more prominent in the use of the left side of his body! Lefties are quite common in my family... my dad, MIL, SIL and her 2 boys and a host of relatives! My dad was forced to write with his right but apart from that, he used his left hand for everything else! At the end of the sporting activity, he was given a certificate as well as a bouncing ball! Gotta luv the Nursery! They are absolutely brillant in organising extracurricular activities for the kids! When I went to pick Zac, he came back with a gingerbread doll which he had made and was so proud of! Too bad he didn't like the gingery taste! LOL!

I was alerted to this stamp:

Oh man what a cutie!!! They are from SassafraLass and they are new, based on their Serendipity paper designs! And I managed to get my grubby mites on them! Yeehah! Obviously not in the UK as I doubt if any retailers have them yet! This country is one of the slowest to get anything new!!! Nah, the impatient person in me had to source it out on Ebay as the US online stores are completely out of stock. Typical! I just had to get them! So much ideas flowing in my head for using them! Rite, off to daydream what I can do with them.... TTFN!

>>> Crop! <<<

Went to the Birmingham crop and was pretty productive. Completed an altered project and 3 12x6" LOs. Weather was crapped although it did brighten up in the afternoon!

Check out Banana Frog Blog where I've got 2 LOs there! Anyway, here's the LOs that I did!

Made use of papers from Polar Bear Press Cherished Friends collection! Had to add a dash of pink to brighten it out!

Not sure why the main photo and patterned paper appear lopsided... must have been the scanner as I noticed it doesn't scan straight these days!

TTFN!

>>> I'm Featured! <<<

Ohhh, I was alerted by my friends that I'm a featured reader on Scrapbook Inspirations, the local scrapping mag! Thanx to Sally who kindly scanned me the article too:

Didn't realise it was going to be featured so soon as I was interviewed by them and asked for photos of my scraproom. Had to do a quick cleanout as it was dead messy at that time!

Now this is a surprise! Kinda flattered that Shimelle would include me in her LO! Met her at Olympia, London in March and she's lovely!

Check out Banana Frog blog! Wrote an entry there regarding using their Postage stamp set! Here's a couple of my projects:

Made use of a nursery rhyme here using days of the week!

Here's a card made using the Postage stamp set!

Weather held out today and it was a wee bit sunnier! Brought Ollie for his Mandarin classes and then hubby and I headed for an Indian takeaway. Didn't fancy MacDonalds (which the boys had) but was craving for Indian. We didn't have time to go to a proper place to eat so had to settle for Macs for the boys. Oh well, been ages since they had one really. I don't allow them to have it often!

Gosh, the Indian fastfood centre is fab! Had a chicken tikka roll and it came with nan bread and salad! Absolutely delicious! You could tell it was authentic as there were were a lot of Asian customers who went there with the entire family! Will definitely go back for more! And it wasn't pricey too!

Was so knackered when we got home that I had an afternoon nap! Gosh it has been ages since I had a nap in the afternoon!

Rite, off to create sketches for the Homegrown Summer Survival kit! TTFN!

>>> Just Plain Busy! <<<

Haven't blog regularly as I've been busy with DT assignments! Since the arrival of my kit from Homegrown on Monday, I had the Summer Survival project, June and July kit to do and was busy churning out LOs literally everyday! Have to say, I managed about 7 LOs so far for all the requirements. I've now got the projects to complete!

Here's Homegrown June kits. I can share June LOs as they have already been posted in the Homegrown gallery:

Played with Rusty Pickle's Guinivere papers. Boy those papers are exceptionally lovely. A mix of purple, green and brown. Such an unusual colour combo!

For my July kit, I had chosen to play with .... guess what! Rusty Pickle papers again! This time it's their latest range Mayflower.... wow! those papers are just dead gorgeous. Mix of black, red and cream. Absolutely delicious! Managed to whip up 2 LO within a day! I think I can easily do more LOs.

Regarding the Summer Survival kit, I played with papers from Rusty Pickle again! This time, Island Summer. That paper brand company has got the most coolest papers around! Also played with We R Memory Keepers Silver Lining, Love Elsie Toby and Creative Imagination Narratives. Received a new tool from Around the Block, Tagger. It's a tag akin to those you find on clothes in stores... where they tag the price tag to the clothes, the plastic thingy. Well, it's the same thing except you tag it to papers! Luv, luv, luv it so much!

I had Zac with me today as he was off school due to his Nursery receiving the new intakes for Sept! I wanted to bring him to a Playgroup but he wasn't interested. Instead, he wanted to go to his Nan's. Called her and she was in so we went over. The weather was horrid! In fact, it rained the entire day! Halfway in the the morning, we popped into Marks & Spencer as I had this craving for their chocco chip cookies! Managed to spied a lovely jumper and bought that too. It helped that MIL's possess a 20% discount card! We then led Zac loose in ELC to browse about. Can't say there was anything worth buying in that store! My boys are into Lego, Power Rangers and Ben 10 big time and all of which doesn't appear in that store! Didn't bother to browse other stores as it started to rain again.

Managed to get 2 hours by myself in the afternoon as I had to sort the washing. After picking Ollie, we went back to MIL. Ollie wanted to stay over at his Nan so I took Zac home. Poor chap must have been knackered by today's events that he went off to sleep without hassle! Rite, I'm off to catch up on my assignments. Need to finish them by this weekend as my Jul kit from Back Porch Memories will be arriving next week and I'll be busy again! I don't mind really as I much prefer to be busy than be extremely bored! TTFN!

>>> A Li'l Toot! <<<

It's official! I'm part of the Design Team for BackPorch Memories! Yay! I was their June Guest Designer and played with their Medley kit. Then I was later invited to join their DT permanently! Quite chuffed! Been getting their kit for quite a while and mighty pleased now I will get a chance to actually use them for a purpose! Here's what I did with their June Medley kit:

The above two were based on a sketch. I rotated the sketch on the first LO.

Made use of papers from Crate Brunch

Papers from KI Surprise

Papers from Li'l Davis Endless Summer

Papers from KI Surprise

My project: decorating MM oversize chipboard using Li'l Davis Endless Summer papers.

My kit from Homegrown finally arrived. In it contained the Summer Survival kit, Jun and Jul kit. Gosh, I'm gonna be busy for the next few days. TTFN!

>>> Finally, Online Again! <<<

Friday

Sheesh! It was sheer nitemare on Friday to find myself unable to get online. I managed about an hour in the morning before discovering that any attempts to connect was unsuccessful! Couldn't have come at the worst timing as the Asian Dare was due to be up! Thank godness I had managed to shop during the one hour I was on!

Well, it must have been bad as it knocked the cable out too. It wasn't until Saturday evening that all was back to normal. Sure as hell left me a cold turkey which led me thinking that I'm seriously addicted to being online (that and scrapbooking, another serious addiction too!) I suddenly left isolated at the mere thought of not being able to go online and it sure as hell spoilt my mood the whole day! Even hubby commented how long my face was when he came in and laughed when he heard the broadband was down!

Saturday
Zac went for a friend's birthday party at Wacky Warehouse. Gosh, he met his best friend from Nursery there and played like mad! His hair was literally soaking wet!

Prior to going, he was so excited about it and since then has asked that he has a party to celebrate his birthday next year! After the party, went to Asda to get my hot chocco, Milo! Have been without it for a week and suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms! Managed to grab a Father's Day gift as well!

Sunday
What a shocker! It didn't rain at all and the weather was kinda brillant for the BBQ hosted by hubby's company. There were a few activities for the kiddies... bouncy castle, face painting, sporting equipment i.e cricket, tennis etc. My boys were off in a shot. Oliver found himself a playmate and Zac simply zipped about. He even had his face painted!!! Eventually he found a gal a few years his senior and hunted with her for rabbits! As for myself, got stung by nettle that was growing near the fence in the tennis court! Just goes to show how badly kept it was... imagine having nettles in that area! The kids were about too. Thank goodness for dock leaves!

Moi messing about in the bouncy castle with Zac!

Of all animals, Zac has to ask for an elephant, the one that doesn't appear in the painted face guidebook! The gal who painted him did a great job though! Later he changed his mind and went back for a tiger face!

Ollie hates having his face painted but prefer balloons instead. Somehow managed to get himself some fanciful ones!

The boys and their father having a tug of war... on the other side were kids! Hubby lost to them!

Food was typical... hot dog, burgers, bacon and chicken in a skewer. I took the latter and I despise eating the typical BBQ spread! Chicken was good though! There was an endless flow of drinks (now wondering how much the company paid for that! As usual when there's free flow, people tend to abuse it. However, as it was hubby's work colleagues, hence, there wasn't much debauchery around... doubt if that would reflect well on them!)

Have to say, the day went well. Must have been a miracle for it not to rain. TTFN!

>>> Back To Reality! <<<

Wow! After an eventful weekend, it's back to reality... back to folding clothes and putting them away! Ohh really hate that chore... I've got no problems putting them into the machine but I absolutely hate folding them and I had 3 basketful of unfold clothes to sort out! Don't even venture into ironing...

I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs while waiting for a parcel from Homegrown where I've got tons to do, May/June DT LOs as well as Summer Survival projects! So annoying when you having ideas flying around but no kit to work on! Darn the postal system..... sometimes wish we could just beam parcels about! How cool would that be!!!

So in the meantime, I've decided to make sketches of the LOs that I've done. I always sketch before scrapping hence, thought it would be a cool idea to collate them on file. Here's one that I've done:

Decided to call them Sketchomatic. These sketches help me to scrap real quick as I hate fluffing around with papers and bellies and wasting precious time. When I have time to scrap, I just wanna get down and do it. The huge circles are chipboards buttons but they can be easily substituted for something else. As the sketches will be done on Publisher, hence it will be kept simple. Haven't mastered using any Adobe software yet! This is a 6x12" LO. Luv that size. Quick and easy to do a LO for photos just wanna scrap without much journaling. I used them during the cyber crop and they came in real handy! Incidentally, out of this sketch came this LO:

My two cropping friends are back from their holidays... both went to the US though not together and have bought tons of scrapping stuff! Who wouldn't since most of the scrapbook supplies come from there!!! Gonna be cropping with them tonite. Rite, guess I had better pack my stuff... TTFN!

>>> Cropped Out! <<<

Gosh! What a whirlwind day it was! Never scrapped so much and so fast before. Managed 3 LOs for the cyber crops. Thankfully hubby occupied the boys so that I could scrap in peace. Have to say I used up photos that were lingering in my photo wallet and also some old stash, papers from previous months' kits! Really had a blast with this cyber crop. What made it fun was the people involved. It's a small group and we just had so much fun chatting with each other.

This challenge require one to use 5 different circles on the LO.

This LO was inspired by an Advert. I lifted the labels from the Advert.

This LO required one to use ribbon creatively, as an embellishment. Finally scrapped Zac's Pre-school portrait.

I did my class on stamping and it can be downloaded here. Luv that Postage stamp set! Rite, fun's over and got some DT work to do.... TTFN!

>>> Scrapitude Cyber Crop! <<<

Today marks the start of Scrapitude Cyber Crop! It's gonna be fun and exciting with lots of challenges and classes!

I don't fare well at cyber crops as I can't really speed scrap! In the past I've done stuff during cyber crop but 'cos it was done too quickly, I ended up not liking it at all. Hence, this time around, I'm gonna take my time doing stuff that I enjoy and will probably like it later too! Hence, managed a couple of challenges and a class:

A challenge to do 2 tags with photo on each, chipboard, patterned papers, stamping and ribbon! The boys have been clamouring for bookmarks so these will come in handy!

A challenge to do 2 Father's Day cards in non-traditional colours i.e. no blues, greens or browns. On the left, I coloured the background using my newly acquired Twinkling H20s in gold, red and lavender. On the right, made use of orangy inks and papers. Yah! For once got these cards sorted in advance!

A class by Kimmy to use transparency. It was required to use a particular font as a title, printed on transparency and a dingbat!

My class on stamping is due tomorrow at 1545. As the class is sponsored by Banana Frog, I've chosen the Postage stamp to play with. Hopefully it will inspire people how to use that particular stamp set.

I've written an article on alcohol inks as there was a request from those who wanted to have an idea how to play with these little beauties. I've released it as a challenge.

Rite, off to see if I can manage another challenge or class.... TTFN!

>>> Busy! <<<

Won't be blogging much as I'm pretty busy with DT work. Currently waiting Homegrown Summer Survival kit as I'll be working on some class LOs/projects. I'm also in the midst of working on a class for Scrapitude cyber crop which is taking place this weekend so if you're free, do join in! Lots of prizes and I understand Banana Frog is one of the prize sponsors! TTFN!

>>> Just Chillin'! <<<

I had a great lie-in this morning! Another scorcher of a day. Popped into Asda to get the kids some racket games i.e. badminton and tennis. Got the boys a packet of mini water pistol too. Darn store sold out of my fav chocolate drink, Milo! I'm already near empty on the current tin... mental note... always have a spare tin on hand! I'm not a tea or coffee drinker so Milo's is my only hot drink and luv to have one in the morning and before bedtime! It's one chocco drink that doesn't leave a sweet after taste unlike most brands that I've tried! For those who have not heard of it, it's a tin with chocco grains (that I even put on bread and butter and it makes the best sandwich!). You simply add water that viola, hot steaming chocco drink. You can add sugar to sweeten but I much prefer adding condensed milk.... ohhhh makes the drink taste even better!

Got home and hubby and I engaged in a game of badminton! I had a game yesterday with SIL and it was fun. However, I woke up this morning pretty stiff and sore with aching muscles... that's what happens when one doesn't exercise often. Anyway, with my sore limb, engaged in a game with hubby.

Moi, trying to hit every shot!

The boys engaging in their own water pistol game!

Glad to know that my skills aren't rusty. For someone who used to be a Physical Education teacher to one who sits on her arse all day, I feel pretty much embarrassed at my state of inactivity! Think I need to get down to the Leisure Centre to see what's sporting activity is on! I miss my yoga sessions!

Check out the Banana Frog Blog. Every Sunday there's a highlight of stamps used in various projects. Here's what I did this week:

Papers from Jack and Jill collection by Piggy Tales, and stamps: Fanciful, Journaling & Elegant Swirls.

This ATC was done using Pharmacy font as background and flowers, leaves and swirls created using Tropical Garden and Fanciful.

TTFN!

>>> Family Reunion! <<<

Another brillant day and we were invited over to SIL's house in Leicester where another SIL from Poole was there! So off we went with MIL too. The boys were mighty pleased to see their cousins (2 males & 1 female) and they had a wild time together. In the afternoon, we headed toward the park where they spent a good 2 hrs playing in the playground and generally basking in the warm sunshine!

The rose among the thorns!

Playing on the balancing beam. I was giving them instructions on the different ways of going on it!

Ollie & Grace

The boys on the tree and stepping over each other!
Ollie on the swing... think he's a little too big on it!

We stayed for dinner where hubby did a Chinese meal for 10 people (5 adults and 5 kiddies), no mean feat but he managed! At 9pm, we headed back to Birmingham. The boys were wide awake throughout and didn't get to bed till 10.30pm. Let's hope they will somehow do a lie-in tomorrow! TTFN!

>>> Sun At Last! <<<

What a brillant day Friday was! Sun was out and it was just lovely. Took the kids to Melbricks Garden Centre to choose a potted plant for the garden.

Thankfully, there was a hunt the Teddies' name contest so the boys had fun looking in various departments for a teddy's name. I had to have a nose at the craft section and came out with some stamps and Dewdrop inkpads!

More layouts to share, this time from Scrapitude kits! There are 2 kits available, June kit and a Hambly kit which can be seen here. I was given a Hambly kit to design and had great fun playing with them!

Ollie in his super mega pose!

Story behind this LO... Zac wanted to cycle so we took him to a cycling park and he moaned how bumpy it was and drove us bonkers that day! Man, that boy can really whine!

Ollie and Zac in one of their Power Rangers pose!

Just me and some stamps: Fontwerks and Purple Onion Designs, two of my fav stamp brand.
A card I made with leftover scraps! Can't bear to throw away any usable Hambly scraps!

TTFN!