>>> The Weekend! <<<

Friday

Bummer! Accidentally scraped my car against the wall and it left marks on it! Blame it entirely on the hubby and his bloody Jag! He is so gonna fix those marks! I was so mad with him that I opted out going to SIL's place. Stayed at home and crafted instead and cooled down. Nice to have the whole house to myself. Anyway, it turned out he had to stay overnite as SIL's youngest suffered a mild concussion (hit his head on a tree branch in school). So SIL spent the nite at A&E while he looked after the 3 boys at her home. Poor soul! (NOT!)

Saturday

Brought Zac to a birthday party held in MacDonald's. It was a fancy dress and he took over Ollie's pirate outfit. No doubt he now thinks it's his!

So hard to get him to cooperate for the camera!

Hubby brought Ollie for his violin's practice. He usually goes to a Suzuki workshop held once or twice a month, organised by his violin's teacher. Zac goes as well but this time he preferred a birthday party over a violin workshop.

Sunday
Popped into M&S in Leicester as hubby wanted to buy a pair of shoes which incidentally he couldn't get in Birmingham. As the M&S in Leicester is quite huge, we went there to check it out. Unfortunately, he still couldn't find one in his size but I ended up getting a cardi instead!

We had lunch with SIL and her boys. Thankfully her youngest is alrite. Then we popped into the Leicester museum for a look around.

Another weekend that passed so quickly! TTFN!

>>> New Baby In The House! <<<

Hubby finally got his grubby mitts on this today!

The Jaguar XF.

All I can say is I'm terribly impressed with the technology inside and in awe of the car! Also, nothing beats the smell of a new car! :) Now what's the chance of me driving it? Probably more chance winning £10 on the lottery! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

A LO and sketch created for Homegrown blog:

Here's a sketch I created for the blog.

And here's the LO.

TFL. TTFN!

>>> Away In La La Land! <<<

Been busy these few days, trying to cram as much as I can before I leave for Singapore in 5 weeks time! Sheesh, time really flies. It didn't seem long that I booked and bought the air tickets in January and now it's already June! Oliver is dead excited about going to see his grand-dad. He knows he will be spoilt to bit by my dad! I'm looking forward to spending some time with dad and chatting away with him. Also simply to chill out and relax and not do any housework or cooking for 6 weeks! Now how bliss is that!!! :) I'm getting fed up of cooking these days and I'm already starting to plan what I'm gonna eat when I'm in Singapore. Top on my list is chilli crabs and yong tau foo. Sigh! Not long to wait.......

Time of the year to make end of school term gifts for teachers. I've already gotten 2 lunch tins for Zac's teachers. Will have to hunt down something suitable for Oliver's male teacher (men are much harder to give gifts).

As for DT assignments, will be working in advance for Banana Frog. I'll probably be bringing Homegrown Summer Survival kit with me so that I can work on it while I'm there in Singapore since the programme falls during my vacation. As for BackPorch Memories, Paula will have to send Aug kit to Singapore so that I can work on it as well. I guess I'll have a lot of scrapping opportunities as I do have scrapping friends in Singapore and will no doubt be meeting up with them to scrap!

Let's see how this coming 5 weeks go.... so much to do and so little time. Knowing me, I'll be completely stressed out before boarding the plane and suffering from lack of sleep. I just can't sleep the nite before flying. Why? I've no idea but in the past, I've been known to pack and repack and just fretting about. Oh well..... TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Some LOs created for BackPorch Memories June Medley kit. The kit feature Tim Holtz' grungeboard and I luv them to bits. Not surprisingly, they were thoroughly used!

Using Little Yellow Bicycle papers.

Using Jenni Bowlin Trendy papers. LO was based on a sketch by Becky Fleck.

Papers by Daisy Bucket. They were just so usable.

My project, an altered canvas frame of my boys. Noticed I don't possess one as I'm always doing one and giving it away.

Finally, an article about doodling on stamped images. This was the LO I created to showcase the examples.

Another LO for my A-Z BOM challenge. The letter H which I've chosen to signify Home. This LO was heavily influenced by Claudine Hellmuth! Thought it was appropriate for this theme.

The letter 'H' - Home.
Quite enjoyed this kind of collage! Might indulge a bit more into it.

Finally, the rest of my LOs created for Homegrown Spring Survival kit. The programme has ended but Summer Survival starts in mid July. Quite pleased that I'll be designing with it. So watch out for it!

Background was glimmer misted. Luv those nifty bottles of shimmer!

A Prima paper that is absolutely gorgeous on both side!

LO created to highlight stamping technique, how it can be used to the best advantage in a page.

Little Yellow Bicycle mini album. Comes in a sheet and all you do is break it apart and assemble it into a mini album.

TTFN!

>>> Evening Crop! <<<

We held an evening crop last nite as we couldn't do a day crop next Sunday due to it being Father's Day! We had a good response and I was in charge of the class. I prepared an altered tin with a tag mini album inside. Techniques used were playing with glimmer mists and creating patterned papers using craft tissue paper. I had to prepare for 20 kits. I was really worried about the huge number as we usually prepare half that amount. Anyway, glad to say it went well. Feedback was that they enjoyed the class and the glimmer mists. Knew that would go down well as they are so addictive!!!

Anyway, here's the class project:


I'm glad I made it thru' the evening as I had a very busy day today. The morning saw me helping out in the car boot sale at Lyndon Green Infants school. The PTA sold refreshements, tattoo, face painting, balloons and lucky dips. We managed to raise about £750 (I think). Gosh that is a huge amount! The headmaster managed to get some cheap but good toys for the school as well. So that's a bonus! I was roped in to do the face painting, my first time and although it was daunting initially, I began to enjoy it later. I will definitely need to find a good paintbrush to do it as the brushes I used were rubbish for painting fine lines!

The afternoon saw me bringing the boys for their violin lessons. They had a great session and the teachers made it very interesting. One thing about learning the Suzuki method is that the kids don't learn music notes. They play using the notes and I reckon this is more fun 'cos they can play tunes learning that way as opposed to reading notes! Even Zac and recite the notes from a tune.

Rite, off to bed. Thoroughly knackered but had a good day! TTFN!

>>> Weekend Getaway! <<<

What fun! We decided to pop down to Poole for the weekend to see SIL and her family. Left on Sat morning for a whirlwind adventure! Here's the proof!

Zac was quite enamoured with SIL's dog.

Oliver luv the beach! Couldn't wait to take his clothes off!

All of us went for a bike ride to Poole town centre.

Zac on the hunt for shells.

A day isn't done without the BBQ!

Saturday saw us heading for the beach for a walk after having dinner at Nandos. The boys went mad and wanted to strip off but as it was getting dark, I insisted they kept their clothes on and their shoes off.

On Sunday, we embarked on a bike trip to Poole town centre, all 9 of us! We had a great time although Zac decided he was too tired to cycle home and hubby had to let him ride on his bike while carrying his bicycle at the same time. After the ride, we had a BBQ in the garden. We left SIL's place at 7ish and eventually got home about 9ish. Nothing beats being close to the beach even if it's for a short while! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Some LOs to share:

The next letter of my A-Z BOM, the letter G which I chose Gastronomic Delights. How can I not scrap about the food back home... chilli crab, steam prawns, kang kong belachan, otak etc. Mmmm, talk about salivating now. So here's my homage to them:

Had to take those photo images from the web hence had to make them small otherwise they would be blurred if they were any bigger. Besides, with so much to show, small was best!

Also here's what I've created using BackPorch Memories June Medley kit:

Papers by Daisy Bucket. Gosh they were so fun to use! Glimmer misted the background.

Finally some stuff created using Banana Frog stamps:

Papers by Rouge de Garance Picoti Picota . Banana Frog stamps used: Greenwich Park (my fav), Journaling, Bensfolk and Fanciful.

Using Jenni Bowlin's Tangerine papers. Banana Frog stamps used: Journaling, Greenwich Park, Scribble Flowers, Fanciful and Steelfish alpha

Papers by Dream Street Papers Near and Dear. Stamps used: Retro Greetings, Tag It and Fanciful.

TTFN!