>>> Already Thursday? <<<

Sheesh, it's already Thursday. Where did the time go? I had a busy day today as my SIL and her boys came down and we spent a good hour in the park. The weather was perfect too. My boys luv being with their cousins (they are of similar ages). As for me, I had a good time practicising my shoots on them, not that I'm an expert but it gets better with more practise!

Note to self: wipe his snog off before taking a photo!

Why is it so difficult to get all 4 boys to look into the camera and smile!!!

No doubt some of these photos will make their way into my pages. I was running out of photos to scrap!

I had this sudden urge to bake and I did.


Made 2 trays of banana cupcakes and half was topped with chocolate buttercream while the other half with vanilla buttercream. Added a Malteaser at the top for good measure. This went down well with the kiddies and adults! The only problem when you bake is the urge to finish up what you bake! I'm resisting the temptation to wolf them down. I've been keeping my waistline in check and so far I'm pleased with my progress. But it's so difficult to keep slim, especially moi, who luv to eat!

Did a shedload of cooking as well. I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow as it's the hubs' turn to cook! He's a much better cook than I am.

I've been addicted to the music channels these days. Been catching up with the latest pop videos and enjoying them while I'm in the kitchen or craft room. I'm so luving Britney's latest hits and her videos. That gal is sure as hell talented and I'm glad she back in the music scene.

Postie brought me 2 mags that I enjoy... Stampington Inspirations and Stampers' Sampler. I would have gone for Somerset Studio except that I didn't fancy the current issue... didn't appear interesting and these mags aren't cheap either. However they contain tons of inspiration and are worth keeping. My only grouse with Stampinton Inspirations was that 1/4 was the mag and the other 3/4 was a stamp catalogue. I seriously don't understand why they had to do it ... to bulk up the mag? Imagine if I had to order from the States and pay high postage for a mag where 3/4 was simply a stamp catalogue.... I would have been pissed! Well, they did mention there was a stamp catalogue but 3/4 of the mag simply on stamps was way too much for my liking. Oh well...

I've been keeping a rein on my stash spending (well, I've got so much at the moment) but I couldn't resist these stamps when I saw them. I just had to have them.

Basic Grey Porcelain Aviary (aren't those bird cages cute!)

Basic Grey Marrakech Morocco (these remind me of an Asian flair... luv that peacock feathers)

Technique Tuesday Loving Words by Ali Edwards (had my eye on these a while back and when they came back in stock, I went for it)

Can't wait to have a play with them when they arrive! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

It was my turn to display my project for Banana Frog blog and this was what I did. It was also my birthday pressie to Zac:

I had this blank canvas lying around my craft room and decided to put it to good use. Luv the photo I had taken of Zac during our advent of snow and had to use it. Pulled out a few Banana Frog stamp sets and they were put to good use. The stamp sets used were I Heart You, It's All About Flourishes, It's All About Stars and Steelfish lowercase. The butterflies were cut from KI Memories lace cardstock.

A closeup of the cut out heart images. Patterned paper used was from Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letter collection which was so appropriate for this project.

TTFN!

>>> Half Term! <<<

I'm so loving half term at the moment. I can't tell you how nice it is not to rush in the morning but best of all, not to have to get up so early! The boys and I spend a lazy time in bed in the morning, watching cartoons. The afternoons are spent doing a bit of homework and in the evenings, they practise their violins. In between, they play either their DS or Wii. We haven't really gone out as there is nowhere to go really. Hubs was supposed to take time off but suddenly he had meetings and he has to go to London this Friday so there goes his leave! Oh well, the boys and I will just continue our lazy sessions. It's nice not to have to do anything as opposed to normal routine where we are simply rushing all the time! Bliss!

>>> On Display! <<<

A couple of projects on show:

A last minute card that I made for Scrapitude forum Card-athon. I had to follow the theme 3-2-1 i.e. 3 of something, 2 of another and just 1 item. It was more difficult than I though but I've got 3 trimmings, 2 patterned papers and 1 blossom. Sentiment will come later when I decide what the card is for.

This LO was done for my A-Z BOM entry. I'm now onto letter 'S' and I've chosen to focus on sprinting, the time when I was an athlete in my late teens! I ran competitively on a national level too. It was fun and I certainly enjoyed it. I also did cross country too. These days, the only time I ran is after my kids!

LO created using Scarlet Lime kit (not sure with month though but luv the background paper which is from GCD)

TTFN!

>>> The Party! <<<

Zac had his birthday party at Scallywags, an indoor softplay area which is miles nicer than Wacky Warehouse (which I find is getting rather jaded and dirty). This place was huge, bright and cheery!

Best of all, when I was checking it out, they allowed me to go in and take a look unlike the other two places, Funky Monkeys and Hickory Dickorys who merely told me to just look from the reception area. Tough luck, if I'm gonna spend money on a party, I definitely wanna look at the play area and also to show it to the birthday boy to see if he likes it. And if company take a dim view of that, too bad, they lose my business! So I thoroughly recommend Scallywags. A great place for children's party and the food is good too. They offer free flow of drinks, free face painting/tattoo for the birthday kid and free hot drinks for the birthday kid's parents. The customer service was great too. Meal was served buffet style and there's a choice of cold, hot or mixed buffet. We went for mixed buffet and I like the fact that the kids have a range of food choices as opposed to just a singular meal. I think they ate more. Cakes were served after the meal as well as ice-cream.

I leave with a few photos of the event:

Zac's birthday cupcakes

Meal time. A mix of cold and hot buffet.

The birthday boy blowing out his candles! Can't believe he's 6!!!

TTFN!

>>> Happy Birthday Zac! <<<

My little boy turns 6 today (on the 13th!). Sheesh, where has the time gone? I can still vividly remember him making his entrance a wee bit too early for comfort as he was due on the 14th but decided to cause me anguish on the 12th instead. Unfortunately I had just had dinner and therefore, they couldn't do a C-section immediately so I had to endure 6 hrs of labour pains! As I had problems giving birth naturally for my eldest, I opted not to do it this time. Eventually I was wheeled into the surgery and out he came on the 13th in the wee hours of the morning.

His school celebrated his birthday (& the others) during assembly and parents are invited to witness it.

After blowing out candles, the birthday gal/boy gets a pencil

Later during home time, he gave out sweets to his friends. In the evening, we held a mini celebration for him. Instead of getting the traditional Chinese cake, I decided to make him cupcakes instead.


Hubs got him a Wii for his birthday pressie.

As usual, we are always the last to get such stuff as his cousins already do have a Wii and other games stations as well. Hubs set it up in the living room and both boys had a go at it. It took Zac a while to get use to the controls but once mastered, he beat Oliver at most games (much to Ollie's annoyance!) I'm intending to get the fitness board so that I can do some exercises or rather, have fun doing exercises! :)

Tomorrow is Zac's party and it's held at Scallywags, an indoor softplay area. I've been baking all nite as he's having cupcakes for his birthday cake.

The kiddies' cupcakes, vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream, topped with jelly beans.

The adults' cupcake... banana cupcake with vanilla buttercream, topped with a walnut

Can't wait for all this to be over.... haven't scrapped for a while and getting withdrawal symptoms! It's also half term too ... hooray, no need to get up early. I certainly need a break from that. The boys will be busy next week practising their violins as they have a concert in London next Sunday! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Some LOs created using BackPorch Memories Feb Medley kit:

Papers by SEI Lovebirds!
Made use of a Cuttlebug snow emblossing folder on the circle.

Papers by Little Yellow Bicycle Love Letter. This LO was based on a sketch (which I rotated a little) by Becky Fleck. Have to admit, the sketch kinda hampered my style!

Papers by Collage Press Jackson Lodge.

Birthday card using Collage Press Jackson Lodge scraps!
'Birthday' word created using Cuttlebug birthday embossing folder.

All created under extreme adrenalin! Stress works! LOL! :) TTFN!

>>> Duh! >>>

What a dork I am! Got all my dates mixed up and I was thinking that today my son had to dress up in an Egyptian costume. I only read it on Saturday nite and by then it was too late to order any costume for him. So I decided to make a few bits. Managed to dig out a pj that nearly resembled a costume. Then proceeded to make a head gear, bracelets and belt.

Not a great shot! The headgear that I made. Think I will now get him an proper Egyptian costune instead!

Got him dressed and when we reached school, realised that no one was wearing any costume!!! Suddenly it dawned on me that I might read the date wrongly so drove back to check and true enough, it was supposed to be on the 24th Feb! Duh!!! So Ollie got back into his uniform and I had to send him to school late. So crossed with myself! And to think I wasted my time making all those things... I could have done my BPM DT assignments!

Yeah, postie brought my BackPorch Memories kit yesterday! So I only had a day to create my stuff. Good thing I work well under pressure and managed to produce some reasonable LOs! He also brought along some Cuttlebug embossing dies which I had gotten in the US at sale prices! I've fallen in luv with these dies and have been using them a lot in cards.

Need to prepare for Zac's party this Sat and his actual birthday on Friday! I've got plans but whether or not they take shape remains to be seen. Better make a start now! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Here's the challenge that I set for the Card-athon at Scrapitude forum. Found the basic instructions from Spiltcoaststampers site and tweaked it a little to suit me.

The stairstep card. Used stamps from Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo, Purple Onion Designs and BackPorch Memories.

Here's another card that I made based on a sketch. This was Kimmy's challenge:

Took out my Basic Grey clown stamps to play. Other stamps used are from Autumn Leaves and Purple Onion Designs.

I will be tackling more challenges as soon as I get my DT assignments done! TTFN!

>>> Chill Out! <<<

Another chilled out weekend.

Sunday started out as a brillant day, with sunshine and it looked promising! We had to get a sack of rice from the Chinese supermarket, along with some snacks as well. Then we hopped into Costco to get some water where hubs found a pair of Levi's jeans. He had gone to town yesterday to buy one but couldn't find a suitable pair and Costco provided him with one, even cheaper than what was sold in town! Final hop at Fort Shopping Centre to check the price of Wii. That will be Zac's birthday pressie this coming Friday.

Scrapitude forum held a Card-athon this weekend and I was involved. I created a card challenge. The other gals chipped in as well so we have a week to complete the challenges. I seriously need some cards as birthdays are coming so this will be a good time to do them.

There is still snow on the ground and I took a few of Zac trying to fatten the snowman we had in the garden.

After all his efforts, the snowman is still skinny! LOL!

TTFN!

>>> More Snow Yet Again! <<<

So it happened! More snow fell and this morning I received a text from Zac's school announcing it's closure. Yah! So I waited for another one from the Juniors.... nothing! And I was thinking... they can't do this... aren't both schools supposed to collaborate with each other... how can one be opened and the other not. So in the end, hubs brought Oliver to school. His school was opened alright much to the annoyance of a lot of parents who had to drag their little ones along as well.

Had a very uncrafty day... the boiler man came to repair the boiler and spent a good 4 hours doing it. I even provided him lunch as he came about 11am and didn't leave till 3.15pm! Poor chap must have been starving as he was working non-stop! He did accept the offer of a sandwich and a banana and loads of tea!

Seeing that I was stuck at home, hubs offered to pick Ollie up from school. Heard from him that he had only 6 pupils in class today and almost every class was the same. Looks like a lot of parents kept their kids at home. Anyway, I wanted Ollie to go today as he had violin lessons and his music teacher actually turned up!

Hubs decided to let the boys try sledging. We bought this sleek sledge a couple of years back and never got the chance to use it. When we got there, we were dismayed to find that most of the snow on the hill was gone as they were a few number of people sledging . Anyway, we decided to give it a go. The boys had a whale of a time. They have never done it before and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Having their first go!

They soon became pro in no time!

So I had a go... sheesh, it was scary initially but it was fun! Here we are on the slightly higher but rather muddy hill.

We ended with a snowball fight!

All of us ended with muddy clothes, frozen extremities but we had so much fun! As I said before, we hardly get that much snow so we just have to make the most of it!!! Now that is what winter is all about! TTFN!

>>> On Display! <<<

Now that it's out on Banana Frog blog, I can reveal my LO:

LO created using Scarlet Lime kit (not sure which month though). Background was sprayed using glimmer mists and Tattered Angels masks were used.

Flower embellishment created from stamping heart image from BF I Heart You stamp set, cut out and arranged as petals.

With some spare time, I created this LO using Scarlet Lime Nov 08 kit. They came out with exclusive papers and I simply luv them:

Added a few extras such a ribbons and laces. Dusted my sewing machine and got it to work as well.

TTFN!

>>> More Snow! <<<

Thankfully the heavy snow meant that schools were closed today and we had a lovely time indoors, more precisely, in bed, watching TV and playing with our DSs! In the afternoon, got them out to play in the snow. It's rare that we have so much snow and it's a sin if we don't play with them! So we did and I made sure my camera was on remote so that I could get in on the action as well.

Oliver doing the butterfly action in the snow!

Preparing for snowball fight!

Building our mini snowman.

The snowball fight!

Putting the finishing touches to our snowman. Ok, he's a little on the skinny side!

This came for me today. Bought it from this site where they had 40% off Crocs shoes during Jan sales. They are my most fav pairs of shoes. I own at least half a dozen different pairs at the moment. There are a couple that I have to say aren't comfortable, notably Sassari and Prima. The rest are great!

Unfortunately when I put it on, my toes were hitting the front part and I was so disappointed. I called them up and they were willing to exchange for the next size up so I sent it off. It's weird but usually size 4 fits me but some different styles require me to get size 5, notably, Endeavor. Anyway, can't wait to get it .... they look so hip and funky! Seeing that I already own a brown and black pairs of boots, that's why I went for hot pink!

Hubs came back with a big smile on his face... the Jag is back! He had an accident in December and it was sent for repair. In the meantime, he was given a Golf GTi to drive, which sucks! The front passenger seat was ever so uncomfortable. I'm glad it's back too... miss it!

Right I'm off to do some scrapping! Got a few projects to complete... TTFN!

>>> Snow! <<<

This was what greeted me this morning!

Snow and tons of them! Unfortunately, the boys' school decided to remain open! What a bummer! So had to get ready although Oliver stayed in as he wasn't feeling too well. It was treacherous driving through the snow. My car skidded a few times and I wasn't even driving fast! What was worst is that the roads around the school wasn't gritted so I had to go at 10 miles as there was snow on the ground. It was sheer madness!

Came home and took more photos of the snow:

Our front drive! That slope is lethal!

Look at how thick the snow is. It's amazing but very seldom do we have that much amount of snow.

The plants covered in snow.

Finally the trees. It does provide a lovely scenary!

Well, the boys' schools came to their senses and decided to call it a day at 1.30pm. As a result, parents had to bring them home. Fingers crossed they are closed tomorrow. It's stressing me out driving in such icy conditions. I guess probably I'm not used to it. I get so frightened when the car skids and have had a couple of close shaves. I just can't go out again.

On a lighter note, Banana Frog, UK stamp manufacturer, has come up with new designs for their stamps. Check this out:

These are absolutely gorgeous and can't wait to lay my hands on them to have a play.

Think I will go to bed early. Caught the fever/flu bug from my boys! Just heard on the news that all schools in B'ham will be closed so hooray! Look forward to a lie-in tomorrow! Thankfully my boys aren't early risers! TTFN!