Wishing it was summer!

You might say that I'm not a big fan of the winter... once the clocks go back I don't really see the light of day (and only first thing in the morning!) so it's no wonder that given some cheery and bright papers I couldn't resist breaking out some pictures from my summer break...

Back in July I had a week's stay-cation (hate that word!), bumbling about the New Forest with the dogs and just couldn't resist getting my feet wet for a nice paddle with the girls.

Most of the page is made using the Papermania 52 All Occasion Card Kit. It features some gorgeous plain and printed paper flowers, plus heaps of cute die-cuts and loads of A5 sheets of cheery papers.

Of course this kit is designed primarily to make loads of pretty cards, but being me I had to make a layout too! I grabbed the opportunity to use the smaller sized papers and sliced them up to make a chevron design across the page - just loving that look at the moment!

If you like to see more of the page or grab my full walk-thorough of how I made it pop on over to docrafts.com right now!

Not so deadly...

There's all sorts going on the the garden at the mo... the potatos are in bloom and nearly ready to dig up... (but I am slightly alarmed how much like Deadly Nightshade they look!)

The pond is in bloom...

And of course some indeterminate shrubs...

And of course I grabbed a few pics of Martha Moo enjoying the sun...

 

  

Talking of which, her ladyship features on the docrafts site this week as Project of the Week. It features the scrummy yum WRM Madame Royale range that is now gracing the warehouse! Do pop on over and leave me a comment if you have a min... it makes it all worthwhile!!

There's another page of Martha at Scrap Schemes... the new challenge went live a little while ago and this is my offering...

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!

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!)