>>> Olive's BBQ Party! <<<

I thank the Lord for giving us good weather. It was sunny for once but hubby put up the gazebo just in case. The morning was spent preparing BBQ food ie. vege kebab, prawns, squids and chicken wings.

Prawn and squid kebab

BBQ started about 2ish.
We invited mostly hubby's relatives and even his sister & family from Poole came up as well. I invited my scrap buddies Nikki and Morag but unfortunately, Morag and family had a camp to go to so Nikki and family came along. There were 7 kids to entertain. I had 4 games spread out thru'out the whole afternoon.

Passing the Parcel

Sticking the Donkey's Tail

The Pinata: this was a hit among the kids but it take a while to break it! Basically a cardboad toy stuffed with sweeties and toys inside and each try to hit it in order to break it. It was fun!

We took a break from the games to cut the cake which had to be done indoors due to the wind that kept blowing the candles out! My little boy is now 7! (oh well, will be on 17th)

The final game was Treasure Hunt. We had hidden 7 water pistols and the kids were out to hunt for them! Obviously, as soon as they were found, they had great fun playing with them!

Anyway, that signal the end of the party and by quarter to 7, the guests left. William stayed over at his request. His brother wanted to but I doubt if I could cope with 4 boys so he was sent to his Nan's instead.

I thanked the sunny weather for making the party successful! So glad it's all over!!! TTFN!

>>> Rain And More Rain! <<<

Today was horrid! It rained! Brought the boys to school and stayed for Oliver's assembly as it was his turn to celebrate his birthday. Managed a few shots but the lighting was bad! Got home and Ellen wanted to check out a particula quilt store so we went to the Cotton Patch. Didn't even realised it existed and I gave in to some Amy Butler fabrics. A 5 fat quarters of different designs!

Mine's the top 5!

Gosh they are so lovely! Don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet but I'll think of something! Then we headed to Birmingham Town Centre for tim sum.

Pretty soon it was time to go back as I had to pick the kids up. Chris and Ellen had to leave as well so we said our goodbyes! Pity they couldn't stay for Ollie's BBQ party tomorrow.

Picked the boys up and left them at Nan's while I went to the local shops to get some last minute stuff for Ollie's party tomorrow. I was running around like a headless chicken with a massive splitting headache, trying to ensure I hadn't forgotten anything. I'm in charge of organising the kids' games so had to make sure there were enough pressies about. No easy organising kids' parties... no wonder, most parents prefer to leave it to professionals! TTFN!

>>> Another busy day! <<<

The morning was spent at Morag's, cropping away. We had a great time. Hubby was out in the afternoon playing golf. In the evening, it was Oliver's open evening for the parents and MIL came along. Basically it was to see his school work and to take away all his stuff. Suddenly it strikes you that school term is really coming to an end!!!

Ellen and Chris came about 7ish from Spain. They arrived at Heathrow and drove up in a rented car. Unfortunately they are only staying for a nite before heading for Swindon to see friends and relatives. As for dinner, we had an Indian takeaway.... what else! TTFN!

>>> New Stash! <<<

Woo Hoo! Received 2 DT kits from Little Silver Hat and Scrapitude. Gosh, Little Silver Hat Aug ribbon kit is packed full of glorious, yummy colours in hot pink, turquoise and green! What can I say but just absolutely fab! Then, there's Kimmy last Scrapitude kit, again packed full of yumminess! Gosh, there's so much papers and tons of bellies in there! Definitely worth getting! The College Press papers are just simply divine.

The flu has left me scrambling to beat deadlines! Got tons of teachers' end of year gifts to make as well as DT assignments to fulfil, not to mention helping out in Homgrown Summer Survival kit!

Had a clean out of the living room today with the help of the boys of course. It's mainly their toys that have been hazhardly thrown about and it's a right mess.

Photo's a bit blurry as lighting was bad! Anyway, here's the tip that that boys were helping to clear out!

As Ellen and Chris are coming tomorrow, need to sort that room out. Hence, the boys helped put their toys away. Got all the Lego tiny bits together, threw away dried out pens and hoovered up the entire room. It's amazing how easily rubbish accumulate without control! Unfortunately, that bit of housework left me gasping for breath as my flu has completely blocked my nose up. Thankfully, hubby did dinner while I went upstairs to rest a bit!

The boys have found a new game online, making Ben 10 aliens! On the Cartoon Network site, there's a section for you to create different kinds of aliens and the boys luv creating their own aliens and printing it out! It's quite addictive and I had a go and had fun too!

I leave with some LOs to share as seen in Banana Frog blog ....

Rouge de Garance Urbaine paper and Banana Frog stamps

ATC using Banana Frog stamps

TTFN!

>>> Oliver's Sports Day! <<<

Hubby took a day off today as it was Oliver's sports day. Thankfully it was bright and sunny and therefore a brillant day for sporting activities!

Oliver was in the Orange Otters group and he had to dress up in an orange outfit. Thankfully I managed to find some orange outfit for him.

There were 6 areas where they had to complete different activities. The teachers taking each group did a great job cheering the team.

Passing the ball

My orange otter!

Egg and spoon race

MIL also came to support her grandson. After the event, all of us went to the Big Woolworth to get some stuff for Oliver's birthday party. Added a couple more pressies and some party stuff. I bought him a pinata, one of those hitting the toy thingy. Then I dropped off at the Chinese bakery to order him a cake! After that we headed to Wing Wah restaurant for tim sum! Hubby had initially suggested going to Ikea restaurant to eat as he wanted to get something there. AS If!!!! Would I trade tim sum for Swedish meatballs??? Gosh he just has no idea!

It's amazing how 6 hours passed so quickly as it was then time to pick the boys. Hubby had a chance to experience the daily routine I go thru'. I think the boys enjoyed having their dad pick them up from school!

Not surprising, I was knackered at the end of the day.... TTFN!

>>> Enraged! <<<

Saturday

Ohhh am I so annoyed! Brought my boys for their swimming lesson at the local Leisure Centre only to be told that I had to book a slot. Well, when I made enquiry on Tuesday, the stupid bitch never mentioned about booking a slot. I asked about days and times and was told there were lessons from Mon-Thurs from 4-7pm and Sat 8-12! I kept asking how to go about booking Sat class and all that bitch kept saying was yeah, classes on Sat is from 8-12! No mention at all about booking a time slot! She gave the impression that you simply turn up and hand in your application! Hence I was mighty annoyed when I was told that there wasn't places available and the only slot open was at 8.30am (by then it was already 9am). So my boys lost out on their first lesson and I had to pay for that! REALLY annoys me when people can't get their info right and give out the wrong info as well! How flippin incompetent!

Later brought Ollie for his last Mandarin lesson for the term. Gosh, they have completed 3 books and is he any nearer in speaking Mandarin.... absolutely not! Still, does him good to be acquainted with the language. I'll be enrolling Zac this Sept!

I think I'm coming down with a cold. Don't feel too good and went off to bed early! All hopes of crafting flew out of the window when I couldn't keep my eyes open after 9.30pm! Ended up in bed with my boys!

Sunday

Hooray! Hubby returns today after a weekend of golf! He left on Friday morning and boy is he lucky to have good weather! Thankfully, the boys haven't been a handful but I guess they are much older now so far easier to handle. MIL has been great! She had Zac overnite on Friday and came this morning to bring them out to the shops!

I was ok till evening when I just couldn't stand up any longer and had to lie down! Luckily the boys didn't play up! As soon as hubby came home, left them with him and went off to sleepy early! TTFN!

>>> Single Mom! <<<

Rite, I'll be a single mom for the weekend as hubby has left for a weekend of golf and he won't be back till Sunday! Now that is gonna be fun... NOT! TTFN!

>>> Day of Activities! <<<

Found this on Toni's blog!

What color is your soul painted?

Orange

Your soul is painted the color orange, which embodies the characteristics of balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, over-emotion, danger, desire, strengthens the ability to concentrate, attraction, adaptability, and stimulation. Orange falls under the element of Fire, and symbolizes glory and fruits of the earth.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Quizzes and Personality Tests

***********************************

Thursday

Had a great day yesterday! It was Family day at Zac's nursery and hubby and I attended. Basically it was a chance to spend time with Zac at Nursery and to see what he does there. Gosh, that boy is a whirlwind! He was just everywhere! He didn't fancy painting or sitting down to do crafty stuff but much prefer the outdoor activities. We can see why he enjoyed going to Nursery as he has so much to do there!

Cut and paste with daddy

Outdoor, on the slide

Building sandcastles

Playing with mummy on the balancing blocks. Gosh, he can really
run fast on those blocks.

Building cars using magnetic blocks

We were there for 2 hours after which, we both headed (in different cars - hubby had to return to work and I had no desire to go home by public transport!) to Birmingham town centre. It's Oliver's birthday this month and he wanted a Ben 10 watch. So we bought a few Ben 10 stuff at the Entertainer. Hubby wanted to buy the same watch for Zac but I argued against it as it's Oliver's and not Zac's birthday. It's not fair to the birthday boy if his brother gets the same toy as him. Anyway, we did get Zac another Ben 10 watch but of cheaper value! Beside, knowing Zac, that toy will be chucked aside once he has had enough! Ben 10 is the latest cartoon that my boys love and we found it on Cartoon Network! Strangely that channel manifested on my cable and Cbeebies have since been forgotten!

After shopping, hubby and I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I was given the choice of Wagonmana or tim sum.... of course I went for the obvious! Nothing like ha kau, siew mai and duck hor fun to cheer me up, top with chilli oil! Mmmmm

siew mai

duck hor fun

Got home to find a slip from the PO about a parcel. So drove off to collect it and it was my kit from Kristina Contes!

Gosh, it's a mini-album kit and she had given instructions for it via email! It contains a rubber stamp from Purple Onion, Hambly, Amy Butler fabric, American Craft 6x6 ring album/felt thickers/papers and other bits and pieces. Now to get down to fill it as I don't do mini albums often but think I've got an idea what to do!!! TTFN!

>>> New Stash! <<<

Ohhh, guess what came in the post the other day!

Stamps from Autumn and SassafraLass!

Gosh absolutely 'hugging' the owl stamp set! Finally got it in my grubby mites! :)

Ohhh, so annoyed with the Postie... been at home all morning and didn't hear the doorbell ring and when I went to check the door, found a slip that informed me I had a parcel! And it was dated TODAY! So why the heck didn't he ring the bloody doorbell!!!! So annoyed as I now have to go to the PO Collection Centre. Thankfully it isn't far but it's a rite pain and a waste of petrol!!! Anyway, went and collect it and it was my altered mags from BoxRoom Booty. She's closing down and was having a 50% sale! Hence, my grab of those mags! It's such a shame that a fair number of shops selling altered stuff is closing down! TTFN!

>>> Charity Crop! <<<

Morag, Nikki and I are organising a Charity Crop on 13th Oct in aid of Cancer Research UK. We got a website up and doing our bit in raising funds for this worthy cause! Hence if you can help out either by coming or donating gifts for raffle prizes, we appreciate it!

The Asian Dares are up and our theme is 'Inspired by Transparencies'. Hence my LO:

Made use of Hambly as the base and used Love Elsie Roxie papers. Add Creative Imagination flowers as an overlay. Kinda like the effect!

Today also marks the reveal of BackPorch Memories July kit and this is my early preview of the kit.

Made use of Paper Salon Sizzle papers.

TTFN!

>>> 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!