The obvious explanation?

There has been a story in the news yesterday and today about 'sightings' of a bear in a wood in Suffolk. I truly can't believe that there are bears secretly roaming the UK... the explanation to me is obvious... it's clearly a Newfie! I remember a story of a Newfie in Canada who the owner had to dress in a hi-vis jacket during hunting season as people were forever reporting bear sightings in her town!

There was asimilar story a couple of years ago where a innocent Newfie was mistaken as the 'Beast of Dartmoor'. No wonder some people give us a wide berth on dog walks!!

A quick page of my own Brown Bear to share again today... it's a very serious looking Martha posing by the bookcase. It's mostly using the March Studio Calico kit.

I also knocked up a couple of bracelets over the weekend and grabbed a pic for my 365 yesterday, love the colours of these rich azure beads!

New Arrivals

290309 Sunbathing
Originally uploaded by *karlotta*

A couple of weeks ago I rescued some ex-battery farm hens via the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. They were such sad little souls to start with, having spent the whole of their lives imprisoned in tiny cages. They had never seen the sky, grass, or even experienced wind/rain or sun...

This weekend whilst having a little wander around the garden they suddenly discovered the joys of sun-bathing - they each settled down in a sunny spot and stretched out their very sparse wing feathers and basked in the lovely spring warmth...

I'll post more pics as they gradually regain their feathers!

dr seuss

This week sees the new Challenge over at A True Friend - and this time Shelly has a fantastic challenge for us! It's a Dr Seuss themed one and you can be as lateral as you like to make it fit your pet... of course if you have a Cat in a Hat picture, then you are sorted!

After perusing a wiki list of titles I came across of 'I am NOT going to get up today' - perfect for some lazy pics of Martha. In their defence both my girls get up bright and early with me at 6am, but after the girls are sorted they go straight back into a deep sleep until someting worth getting up for - be that walks or lunch! 

When they are young Newfs are pretty high-energy - always wanting to be entertained, but once they hit 2 they seem to magically transmute into a big lazy thing for most of the day - however they can still leap about with the best of them when the mood takes them!

It won't be long until baby New Forest Ponies start making an appearance  - but it'll be quite a while longer until the donkey foals appear - however the grown up and yearling donkeys are just as cute...



Just for Dawn I think we'll nickname this one Geraldine...

Make a splash!

I've had a manic week - organising a couple of days of visitors at work and generally running around like a mentalist to catch up after - but within the madness I had a chance to enjoy a couple of hours out to take part in a jewellery workshop - I've never really done any jewellery making before and quite honestly I wanted to hate it... I can't possibly find time/money/room for another stash hungry hobby. But as is almost inevitable I REALLY enjoyed it! Damn.

I don't have a pic of the finished articles neatly displayed (necklace, earrings and bracelet) but did snap a quick close up for my 365.

If anyone can recommend any inspiring jewellery makers blogs Id appreciate it! Although my bank balance may not! Leave me a link in the comments section below.

I've come to the conclusion that one of the best value things you can pick up for a quid at this time of year is  lovely big bunch of daffs! These guys were just gagging to be my 365 pic earlier in the week and I love it so much it's also gracing my desktop at work - lovely to add a bit of cheer to a dreary day!

A quicky page to share today.. i've been told i'm rubbish at putting what I've used on my pages on this blog... promise i'll try harder... promise! This is mostly Cosmo Cricket - Girl Friday - taken from the March Studio Calico Kit - plus some Sassafras and AC Thickers alphas.

The sun has got his hat on...

This weekend seemed to herald the start of Spring - with just a few days to go until the clocks change a couple of gorgeous warm days certainly makes the weekend go faster. Once a bit of sun appears the masses seem to descend on all those places that I've enjoyed peace and quiet at for the last several months - hoards of people with dogs who seem to have hibernated all year suddenly hit the Forest. But for my girls it's business as usual...

Even my little nemesis the Mandarin ducks were in a good mood - paddling demurely across the lake just nipping into range for a cute picture.

A little bit of sun is also the perfect chance to grab a few pictures of some colourful displays popping up in the garden - all of which seem to have survived being stomped by Newfie paws! Primroses... these ones grow wild in the garden...

The odd stray dandelion...

And a gorgeous Magnolia  - this one is a Stellata.

Of course it all turned out too good to be true and this morning saw a return to dreary weather... which inturn sees the return of indoor photos taken this evening... hey ho!

In happier news though I've just found a batch re-size feature on Photoshop Elements that has just speeded up blogging no end!

I leave you with a quick page (mostly using last months Studio Calico kit)

Taking up the reigns...

After much hard work Shawna from Scrap Schemes has decided to step back from the challenge blog due to other commitments so I've appily agreed to take over the day to day running - we have a great team so I'm sure it will be a breeze!

My first scheme has just gone live and the girls have come up with some fabulous pages!

This is my take on the scheme - the page is mostly BasicGrey Offbeat plus a few scrummy bits of American Crafts all nestling on some fabulous Core'dinations Whitewash - which I LOVE!!!

Keeping me sane.... ish.

When multiple tasks pile upon you all at once a bit of Green Day always helps!

Oh Happy Day...

It's been gorgeous this weekend, warn enough to go without a jacket and the perfect opportunity to spend some time out in the garden and in the New Forest with the girls... And to reflect the vibe of the day here's a page featuring Lola (I think from last weekend) having a lovely time splashing about in her favourite pond!

I've got a couple of days off at the beginning of this week, so i'm hoping to squeeze a bit of scrapping in - luxury!

She rules...

There's a new challenge over at the fantastic True Friend challenge blog - if you've not played along before please do pop along and have a go! We have great fun challenges every fortnight and I think this month the girls have excelled themselves! This time Lori set us a fab challenge - to explain what life would be like if our pets ruled the world. My page is here - i've used the very subtle Teen range from American Crafts.

It occurs to me that you don't even need a pet to do these challenges! Why not create a page about how things would be if you (or one of your kids) ruled the world!

Red Nose Day...

Not watched any of Red Nose Day so far... but Sky+ is merrily recording so i'll check it all out over the weekend! Of course the red nose itself was the perfect subject for my pic of the day!

And continuing the red theme is Martha making herself at home on my new Ikea rug - it's already a firm favourite, with both dogs wondering why they didn't have such an appropriate place for someone of their celebrity to lounge!

Surprising...

Normally the arrival of Oriental themed papers would have been a total non-event (these are from last months Studio Calico kit) but this time I was over the moon! And it's all because of a little group of Mandarin ducks that frequent a local pond in the New Forest. This page features my favourite picture that I've managed so far and it works a treat with these papers!

It's just a shame capturing a good pic of him wasn't as easy as the page turned out to be!

Bittersweet...

After three and a half years of sitting miles away from the nearest window, I recently moved to a different area of the office and now have a lovely big window right behind me. While it's fantastic to have a bit of natural light (peeking from behind piles of samples of course!) it's a little bit bittersweet. Now I can see when it's bright and sunny outside whilst we are hard at work indoors!

Recently though the weather has literally been taunting me... imagine the scene... The end of the day arrives and after a quick peek over my shoulder to confirm the sun is out and the birds are singing (yes... the office is clearly situated somewhere near Narnia !) I skip downstairs to jump in my little car... but in the 2 mins it has taken, somehow the weather turns and i'm greeted by hailstorms, blizzards and tornados (i've told you a million times I hate people who exaggerate!). Paranoia?? Quite probably...

But just to prove that I sometimes beat the odds and I do get to glimpse a bit of sun here's a page of Martha enjoying a quick dip. It's hard to see on the scan, but the flowers are accented by some Ranger Distressed Stickles - I quite like them... maybe a mini shopping spree is on the cards!

080309 Splash

080309 Splash
Originally uploaded by *karlotta*

I might be a bit blond but I've finally realised that I can blog direct from Flickr... this has to be the perfect way to keep this blog updated!

Of course this is Martha - I'm doing a 365 of her and will try and keep blogging them! For the days already past pop on over to my Flickr!

Everyone's a winner!

A bit of sunshine meant two very happy dogs this weekend, lots and lots of paddilng was to be had and I'm sure that I got nearly as wet as them!

Despite the BBC's shortsighted view to not screen Crufts this year I enjoyed a few snippets from their online coverage (I for one hopes that the Kennel Club look for an alternative broadcaster in future years even if the BBC come crawling back - I couldn't believe the hypocrisy of critisizing certain breeds like the St Bernard only to cast one on their flagship show - Eastenders!)

I was delighted to see a Sealyham take the top honours this year, it's one of the British Breeds that is at risk of disappearing due to low numbers. Hopefully it will encourage people to look beyone the obvious choices and enjoy this fun little breed. There is always a increase of people wanting a puppy just like the BIS winner and I can't help but be relieved that it's a breed that wouldn't be harmed by this with a bit of luck. Although I do have to admit to cheering for the Pharoah hound - he was totally stunning!

Back to my girls and a page featuring an extreme close up of Miss Martha's big snozz. The page looks decidely wonky here but I promise it's not in real life!

Let it snow...

Woke up this morning to a surprising layer of the white stuff... lot's to scrape off the car and enough to pile high on the trees and a few quick pictures in the drive before rushing off to work.

Not a lot left once I got home and Martha paused to pose after tiring herself out with a good run around in the little bit that remained.

Today saw a new challenge go live at Scrap Schemes, it was based on a lovely black and white image and this was my take on it.

I loved the colour (or lack of) scheme and simply added some touches of red and grey to set it off. Most of the bit's i've used are from the last Studio Calico kit.

At long last...

Just a quickie tonight as I'm cream crackered and am off to bed in a mo! But I can't go without sharing a page... When the last lot of BasicGrey papers came out I confidently proclaimed that this blue woodgrain one from the Granola pack (along with the pink woodgrain in Eva) was my favourite, but it's taken until now (and the arrival of another sheet in the Studio Calico kit) for me to actually get round to using it. I'm not precious about 'saving' papers - there is no such thing as one that's 'too good' to use, but it just never made it onto a page before.

The page features Lola mid paddle (terrible scan... the photo on this one is lovely in real life - check my flickr if you don't believe me!!!) having lots of fun on her favourite walkies.