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!!

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...

 

  

  

  

  

 

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!

Adorable!

It's that time again - another challenge at A True Friend! This time we want you to use an animal picture that isn't a pet! We all love our pets, so of course we ove lots of other critters too! My page feature two of my favourite things at the moment, a cute little Canada Gosling and some BasicGrey Lime Rickey! Who could resist this range?? Cute little birdies and the stamps are just to die for! I picked mine up at Craft Obsessions and it looks like the lovely David and Brenda have some in stock again!!

The dotty background is a Spring Burst acetate overlay by Papermania and the scallopy (is that a word?) bit on the right hand side is a bit of raw chipboard that I've coated in Colorbox Pigment ink - I've got loads of these and don't use them that often as I seem to get drawn towards their chalk inks for distressing and I don't do a lot of embossing, but I needed a bright colour so grabbed my Petal Point inkpad...

and swiped it over... I'd forgotton how fab they are and it covered in just the one coat - even better because the chipboard is quite absorbant it dried pretty quick too, which is just as well as I'm VERY impatient! I think I feel a little order coming on - the metallic shades would be fab!

We were so lucky to get another fabulous weekend and I of course was out and about in the Forest.

Martha (and Lola of course!) got nice and wet and muddy...

The goslings and ducklings were out in force again - a few tourists chucking bread in the water always draws them nearer and makes getting a nice shot easier!

 

  

  

 There are also a LOT of VERY pregnant donkeys around too... so it won't be long till the foals start appearing. A bit of hot weather is a strain too, so plenty were having a kip in the sun!

 

And I'm pretty sure this guy is a Mule with a little Shetland tapping along!

 

And talking of Shetlands, one of THE cutest sights at this time of year are the Shetland Foals! They are simply adorable!

Old Friends and good friends...

The new True Friend Challenge went live this morning - it's all about our pets friends, and of course Martha's best friend can only be Lola (and vice versa!)

My page is using mostly American Crafts - lots of it from last months Studio Calico kit.

Talking of friends I've got a few pictures to share from the last few days - the first of which is the two girlies having a cuddle!

The weather held over the weekend and it was great to get out and about (the rain has arrived with a vengance now though!) in the New Forest

Martha made friends with one of the cows in the Forest...

But not these ones... don't fancy those horns close up!

Much safer was this lovely textured bark I came across while having a wander...

Found this camera this evening, lurking at the back of a drawer. It's an old APS film camera and I suspect it has a half used roll inside it, but it's impossible to tell as the battery is dead. So I punted a quid or so on ebay for a new one and if it works I'll be trotting down the developers to investigate some lost prints I think I last used it in about 1997/8 so it'll be interesting to see...

I also found an empty film that might be worth a go if it all goes smoothly! I seem to remember the prints were pretty good from it so fingers crossed!