Twit Twoo!

Another new scheme at Scrap Schemes has rushed round and this is my page inspired this time around. It was funny how several chose to use this sort of decorative shape somewhere on our pages (does this shape have a name???) I guess great minds think alike!

I've been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks - getting stuck into writing/creating for the next issue of Creativity Life magazine (the current issue is just out BTW - now every other month inside the pages of Creativity Magazine) hence my sporadic blogging recently! I'm trying to fill the gaps with a bit of Twittering though (there is a link to follow me over in the side bar). Twitter is rather addictive and while I don't have the luxury of an iPhone (or the much lusted after Nokia G1 that my brother keeps tauntung me with!) the next best thing is Tweetdeck, a desktop application that manages your feeds a treat! I think my favourite Tweeter at the moment is James Moran who wrote last nights awesome third episode of Torchwood : Children of Earth. I won't post any spoilers here, but suffice to say if you've not seen it you NEED to get you bum over to iPlayer to catch up!

Update Fail...

The golden rule of blogging is to never apologise for a blogging break! It just draws attention to the fact that your posting has been lax of late.. but as I never take my own good advice, I humbly apologise!

I'm been on a week's holiday from work and I do have a couple of pages to share once I pull my finger out and get them scanned but in the meantime here's my page from the new challenge at A True Friend!

This time round I wangled sponsorship of the challenge from Papermania along with kits as prizes for two lucky participants! Do pop on over and join in for a chance to win! The challenge is about using a quote on your page... I'm afraid mine isn't terribly high-brow... it's a line from Monty Python - The Life of Brian!

A few photos to share also today from my week lounging (yeah right!) in the sun inlcuding a lovely lunch at a Forest pub!

A bit of sun also allowed some pics of the local flora and fauna... including some deadly nightshade!

a foxglove...

some new arrivals of the equine kind...

plus Mrs Mandarin...

And of course the girls... although I only seem to have Martha pics to share today! I promise Lola is fine too!

My veg is also going from strength to strength with Mange Tout and Strawberries being the stars of the moment!

I'll try my hardest to be back soon with some crafty offerings!!

Terrible Twos?

A little while ago I invested in a small (honest!!) pile of the newest Sassafras papers and associated bits and I haven't really made any real efforts to get stuck in... so the last couple of pages I've created are using these scrummy ranges - this one being for the new ScrapSchemes that has just gone live.

The rows of plants/trees were just perfect for the scheme this time around.

I'm also continuing to make great in roads into the chipboard number pack that came with a Studio Calico kit recently as well as diggin out some ancient 7-Gypsies tapes!

Comic Book Hero

The new challenge at A True Friend is a fabulous one! It's all about getting arty with your pet photos and using a photo manuipulation package to alter them. Of course you could alter them 'old school' with paints and inks... the choice is up to you!

My page was inspired by this fun comic book photoshop action from Deviant Art. It's totally free so even better! I've gone with comic-book shapes and colours to complement it. This clever action turned this....

into this with just a couple of clicks!

Do pop along and take a peek - the girls pages are fantastic!!

A few pics from the weekend also - I managed to avoid the rain, dashing out between the showers to let the girls have a dip.

 

  

  

 

And I took advantage of a bit of good light between the clouds to grab some pics of some Forest residents...

 

  

  

  

  

 

Fabulous Friday!

I can't believe Friday has rushed round already, this week has gone super fast but I am glad the weekend is here! I've not done ANY scrapping this week, but have page or two planned tonight! I realise though that I haven't shared my page for last weeks times Scrap Schemes (smack wrists!) so here it is! I've used the yummy scrum WRM Tiffany's collection - and even though it's a terrible, terrible scan you can get the gist!

As yesterday was the local and Europena elections I popped down to my local polling station bright and early ( I suspect I was one of the first!). I strongly feel that voting is hugely important - people died for our right to vote (and people today, in some places are still dying for the right). I'm always surprised when there is apathy among people about voting - I spoke to lots of people yesterday who had 'no interest in politics' - a fact I find really sad and rather worrying. I realise there is a lot of mistrust with politicians at the moment (but then what's new?!) but by staying away from the polls as a protest seems a waste of our democratic rights and is likely to only let undesirable elements seize greater power. Only by voting do we have any right to complain about the system!

Rant over!

And so onto a few pics! I totally failed to get an election related picture yesterday... but instead I spotted this gorgeous canopy of leaves...

 

My veg (a lot of which is in colourful trugs) continues to grow at an ever increasing rate - these are the smaller of my potato batches...

  

And these are my cabbages, with some sprouts at the very back!

 

And of course a couple of newf pics for good measure!

 

 

That's not my name...

The latest challenge at A True Friend went live over the weekend - this time it's all about your pets as parents or yourself as a 'parent' - my page follows but the rest of the DT have some fab pages so it's definately worth a visit!! My page features something I've not done for a long while... Die Cutting!! I just couldn't resist these cute little Quickutz clouds and toadstools!!

Be back later with some pics of the weekend!

I promise.... no spoilers!

Well I finally did it, embraced my Trekkie side and popped to my local Empire to watch the new Star Trek film, and it was well worth a watch, amazing CG, stunning cinematography and a great story... but enough of the pleasantries... It was TOTALLY awesome!!!!! With re-makes (or re-inventions) you never know if it's going to be fantastic or a disappointing pile of dross... and thankfully it was the former! The cast were fantastic (Zachary Quinto especially!) and not once was I disappointed with the choices JJ Abrams (who it seems can do no wrong!) made. I loved Chekov's oh so terrible accent in homage to TOS, had a great time spotting the cast before they were properly revealed (spotted Bones a mile off!) and enjoyed enough obscure fan-friendly references (inc Admiral Archer's beagle) to keep any Trekkie happy. All in all a great night out...!

  

So enough of the fan girl squee..... here's another page in my continuing mission (get it?) to use my Sassafras numbers... This one was easy using a ''#1'. It also includes a yimmy cork deer from Chatterbox - their latest stuff is pretty good!!

My pic of the day last night was a bit of a last minute thing... I'm ashamed to say I'd nearly forgotton all about it! However I did of course have my camera in my bag on the way home from the film last night and grabbed this quick pic of the sun setting over the heath.

What's your number?

The latest Studio Calico kit includes this pack of Chipboard numbers from Sassafras, while I initially loved the look of them, I'm one of those people who has endless sheets of Thickers with a full selection of numbers left over forlornly on the sheet. My gut reaction when I opened the kit was 'what the hell am I going to do with a shed load of numbers??'

But being the cheery optimist that I am (haha) I decided to embrace the challenge and pledge to attempt to use at least one number on each page with the kit... and here's the first!

It features a cute donkey from a couple of weeks ago - the fun coffee mug ring stamp is also from the SC kit - I love their quirky stamps! If you've got the it why not have a go at this challenge too? Link me to your pages in the comments so I can go and have a peek!

Not what you'd call subtle...

The new BG LIme Rickey isn't what you'd call subtle, but I still love it! The cute birds are a bonus of course! I grabbed some yummy green Prima alphas in felt that I had sitting around and created this page featuring Martha and one of her favourite toys. Maybe this page says more about my throwing skills though... her doys do end up in the pond quite often!

I dashed out between the showers over the weekend to walk the doglets and do a quick recee of the forest for any likely subjects - Martha is an obvious choice...

 

But even better was my first Donkey Foal of the year! This little girl was less than a day old, as her mum was pretty darn pregnant the day before!

 

Amongst all the rain a couple of bright periods snuck up on me - just in time to get out and about in the garden (latest additions are Aspargus Peas, Kohl Rabi and the planting out of all my beans) and to grab a few pictures of the girls in soem early evening sunshine.

 

And when the rain did come down I wasn't even that sad as I had a lovely new Studio Calico kit to play with including this lovely addition! (Pages to share soon!)