Hair today... gone tomorrow?

The new challenge has just gone live over at A True Friend. This time it's about about grooming... pop on over and see everyones pages and if you have a fur baby please do join in! We love seeing your pages!

My page actually features one of my Christmas cards photoshoot outtakes. I love Martha's big hairy ears flapping about (even though it's not 'proper' for Newfs... they are supposed to be trimmed so they sit much neater!). The page is using some Cosmo - My Campy which once you get past the bit's with Smores on (which after googling them sound rank!) it's pretty darn cool!

What's in a name?

I'm pretty sure every dog gets called lots of silly nicknames, but I think Martha has more than most... i've been calling her pumpkin (and pumpkin pie) for a while now but it seems to have mutated (the name not Martha!) into Pumpernickel... and weirdly it seems to suit her!

This page was using last months Studio Calico which coincidentally is why i'm up early! It's reveal day on SC today and this months kit looks GORGEOUS... I've added in some American Crafts Stickers too..

Duckin' and Divin'

Feeling rather virtuous today as I got out in the garden even after a long day at work to start organising in earnest for veg growing etc. I made a start on raking up a million twigs and leaves and already it's looking much smarter! Of course I had some little helpers trying to spread the gathered bits quicker than I could accumulate them!

A little page to share too... it features Martha playing with MY bath-duck! But it was such a cute photo-op that I couldn't resist letting her play for a bit!

Shrove Tuesday... er.... Monday.

Shrove Tuesday brings the obligatory pancake and lemon shot... except I had mine yesterday but it's the thought that counts! And very yummy they were too!

Came home to a little delivery today -a big ol' pile of rechargable batteries to keep the Speedlite firing... i'm notoriously rubbish at charging batteries so in this case more is most definately more!

I've got a page to share again today - did this one ages ago and it's been sitting in a draft post waiting it's turn for weeks! So today is the day! It features one of my favourite Lola pics from last year, not to mention some yummy We R Memory Keepers papers and frills.

Spring is springing?

This weekend really felt like spring was on it's way... it was time to cast off sweaters and get out and enjoy sunshine that had unseasonal warmth! After the girls enjoyed a paddle I took advantage of some sunshine to seek our some of the New Forest's residents.

It was a total fluke to spot these guys hiding in the wood as I was driving along, after a quick 3-point turn, I headed back in their direction before pulling off the road fully expecting them to have given it legs... but lo and behold they stayed stock still while I crept towards them up to the dark tree line. 

In a different bit of the Forest I wanted to get a nice pic of the resident Mandarin ducks in the sunshine. I was in for a treat as the guys and girls were out in force.. (along with some Mallards) but a bit far away for my liking (must get on the 'bay for a 400mm!)...

But just as I was about to give up and head for home this little fella took pity on me and scuttled just a wee bit closer and I reeled of a few frames at 6.5fps! He was a right show off diving and then flapping to dry himself off!

The wonderful spring sights continued closer to home with a lovely display of crocuses on the driveway... I suspect my neighbours think I'm a bit mental kneeling on the gravel!

Back indoors and a quick page to share - I received these alpha rub-ons in a kit and they weren't really my cup of tea, but never one to be defeated I decided to use almost nearly the whole package as a background.

I think this picture and page pretty much sums Martha up... she really has got an opinion on everything!!!

Expedit...ion....

A return visit to Ikea last night (seems to be a weekly event at the moment!) saw me finally snag one of the bargain £29 Expedit units! I've just finished putting it together and filling it up... it didn't take long, i've only put my albums on it and it's COMPLETELY full!!! Once I've tidies completely I'll tae some pics of it! I really feel like I want to rip the craft room apart and line one wall with them... it's fabulous storage!

Continuing my spate of quick pages with scraps here's one featuring Martha digging around in her toy box for her favourite toys! Yes... it's even pink! The papers on this are Sassafras again.

Cryptic...

*Someone* who shall go unnamed challenged me to use a combination of bright pink and green (namely the Doodlebug colours - Bubblegum, Cupcake and Limeade) together... never one to turn down a challenge here are a couple of pages featuring those very shades that I knocked up in super quick time! So if my challenger is reading... 'In return I'm going to up the stakes with a challenge back at you mystery challenger! It's just a matter of wating for the *outline* of my master plan!'

Having a ball...

The next challenge is up at Scrap Schemes - this time it was a fab vintage advert in shades of yellow, green and auburn... I've used some of the gorgeous Rose-Moka papers for my page -  they reflected the colour scheme perfectly!

Just a quickie tonight as the second book in the Twilight series arrived today from Amazon so I HAVE to start it straight away!!

Go Shopping!

I had a question from Lou about the speech bubble journalling blocks on my page from yesterday.

They are from Etsy, from a shop called The Paper Pixie - she has some awesome bits and pieces in her shop!

We love...

My page today seems to follow on rather from yesterday... 4 scraps, 4 pics, some journalling blocks from my gargantuan stash of journalling spots and tags and one quick and easy page... As much as I love spending ages on a page sometimes the fast ones are the most gratifying. And I'm quite convinced that if you stick anything to Kraft card it'll look awesome!

Scrapping your scraps...

I'm not precious about scraps, if they are teeny weeny, i'm happy to admit they are beyond being useful and consign them to the recycling bin. But some scraps I find a bit more difficult to part with - Scenic Route is one, and Sassafras is another. And i'm really glad about that. Sometimes a few little bits and pieces can be the perfect starting point to a page. Even better because somehow the smaller the scraps the quicker the page.

So if you have a nice selection of little scraps (maybe the left overs from a monthly kit) whip them out and create a fast page... link them here letting me know if you found scraps made you speedy too!

And so the big day arrived...

Saturday night I decided to take my flu-raveged person off to visit the new Southampton Ikea which opened on Thursday - It's only a short pop up the motorway and was such a treat not having a two hour (each way) haul over to Croydon/Bristol. I was a very good girl and dutifully popped my camera in my bag, but I think I got a bit over excited and totally forgot to take any photos! Southampton had a new shopping centre a few years back (West Quay) which totally dominated the Southampton skyline but Ikea totally obiliterates it from view!

This is a artists impression and it totally doesn't do it justice! The store is over 4 floors and is truly massive!

 

 I was quite well behaved and only picked up a few essential bits that I definately NEEDED - I think knowing I can pop along easily certainly helps the 'it's only a quid' panic buying - I did have my eye on a couple of nice 12x12 Expedit units but I couldn't lift the box so I had to go without! I'll try and find a likely helper to do the hard work before the amazing offer ends!

A page to share today featuring the Jan (i think?) Studio Calico kit - they now include some of their own exclusive papers which strike me as quite 'October Afternoon'. The pics are Martha enjoying some nice healthy fruit! I've just noticed the length of Doodlebug trim at the bottom was flopped rather!

I've decided to keep my various 365 pics on my Flickr account - it's seems a bit mental to upload them to two places so if you'd like to keep up with them you can get their via the Flickr widget on the right hand side - feel free to add me as a contact - i'd love to see your pics too!

Back to Reality...

Thanks so much for all the messages and well-wishes. I've been laid low with Flu and only staggered back to reality today - i've been sharing my 365 pics over at Flickr still, but they aren't terribly thrilling... there's only so much photographic excitement that you can achieve sticking you lens out from under a duvet!

After a little break there is a new Challenge over at A True Friend - this time it's all about how your pet makes you laugh - here's my page!

Cough cough!

I'm feeling pretty ropey this weekend so I've mostly stayed inside and joined in with a bit of the UKScrappers Cyber Crop - Now it's all over I can share one of my pre-crop challenge pages.

I need to catch up with a few pics too! Check out Flickr for all the info!

In Search Of.... ISO

There's a fun new challenge over at Scrap Schemes  - here's my page, featuring my photo from a couple of weekends ago with Martha enjoying Dancing on Ice. As much as I enjoy inking/flocking through old sequin waste, and as much as I say it's hideous in it's raw form.... I think secretly I loves it!

Tonight was Hydrotherapy night for Lola, we ventured off into deepest darkest West (well ok mid) Dorset afraid that it would still be knee deep in snow, but weirdly my little village is the snowiest place for miles around! Lola features in my pic of the day - it's surprisigly bad light and I was using my old 400D rather than the 40D that can handle higher ISO's much better - so it's a bit noisy - my tip if you have to use a higher ISO (which I much prefer to blur thankyou very much!) is to enbrace the noise and go for a nice grungy mono-coversion!

In the pool room it's really quite hot - and coming from the brass monkey weather outside resulted in a nicely fogged lens/viewfinder and sensor! It took and age to de-mist... Note to self - stuff camera down cleavage in cold weather!

Not to be left out I grabbed a couple of pics of Marth once I go home.. love those big squishy nostrils!

Winners!

Better late than never I asked the lovely Adrian (who sits at the next desk to me) to pick three winners for the Core'dinations from last week - he picked numbers 3, 9 and 12 and that correlates to... Claire, Alison5 and Alison.

Drop me an email with your addresses and i'll get them in the post once the snow subsides!

And so it snowed...

With nearly all the snow turning to mush I thought I might be nearing the end of snow pics and that this might be the last for a while... but as I type this it's chucking it down again - my little car is buried and it's a veritable Winter Wonderland outside!

All that frolicing about in the snow is proving to be too much for Martha to take! She could only just manage a half-awake pic today!

Bit I do have a Martha page to share - yet another January pic along wth some scrummy spotty Rose Moka!

The perfect toy...

Plenty more snow overnight  and throughout today, but no more pics as the only proper daylight I saw today was through the office window! So I had to content myself with a few indoor photographs today... first up Martha seeking out the perfect toy from her toy box... the unwanted ones were scattered far and wide in the search for her favourite!

Next up is my yummy scrummy dinner of homemade chicken tikka and Bombay potatoes! Yum!

Continuing my pact to use some of my old stash, I broke out the last dregs of some of my favourite old Scenic Route papers (think they are Loveland?) and made a cute Martha page. What a cutie!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

Woke up this morning to the very rare sight of snow in Dorset! After sorting out the creatures I dutifully crawled through 5mph traffic to work... Once there I was glad of my lovely new boots as I had to trudge aross a very snowy and slippery car park!

After watching fluffy flakes falling (woah.. loving the alliteration!) all day I was sure that with a bit of luck i'd be able to grab a few pictures of the girls having fun in the snow once I got home if only the light could hold out! Well... my luck was in! It was a bit dismal so these are noisier than i'd like but they do the job! Lot's of lovely snowy pics to let me break out the Sassafras 'Life at the Pole'!

It's still snowing outside and all track of snowball fights and big newfy footprints... it's about 4-6 inches in the garden... god knows what it'll be like by the morning!!!

A page to share as well today...it's using Dream Street papers plus a few or my favourite bits and pieces from Doodlebug and Prima. I think the title might need some explanation...Martha is a totally soppy beast and you can quite happily pretend to munch on her nose.. Lola Rose though won't have any of it... and you get a Newfy glare if you even dare to ask!!!!

Pinch punch..

Quick update of pictures only today - twas a grey ol' day today so my shots outside are deeeeepressing!

On the way to her walk/swim we stopped by to pick up some doggy biscuits... and naturally Martha thinks the open 'bins' are provided so she can try before we buy....why else would they be at such a handy level? 

In the bathroom I have a little collection  of shells - as a child I used to collect them and could have told you what this one is... but of course that knowledge is long gone!!