Cup Cake Anyone??

I've been baking this evening..... All evening!!!!

I've made three batches of Cupcakes (Black forest, Strawberry dreams and Vanilla cream) two trays of Sausage rolls and a large batch of Beltane biscuits (ready for Sunday). I am going to a Royal Wedding Garden Party tomorrow and am really looking forward to spending the day with a lovely group of ladies :)

What ever you have planned for this lovely four day weekend I hope you enjoy it as much as I plan to enjoy mine :) Take care and be safe :)

TFL

October Afternoon Scrappy Scavenger Hunt!

I saw this challenge over the weekend on the October Afternoon blog. I'm not one to pass up a challenge that interests me and trying to gather 25 items together for one layout really appealed to me. I made a good effort and manged to get 22 of the 25 listed items.

Taking it all in my Stridecan you see them all?

(1) Your favourite October Afternoon paper.
(2) Your favourite October Afternoon alphabets.
(3) An October Afternoon tin pin and/or a button. -NO
(4) An October Afternoon wild card and/or a playing card.
(5) At least one October Afternoon label sticker.
(6) An O and an A.
(7) A photo of yourself taken within the past month.
(8) A piece of paper with your handwriting on it.
(9) An excerpt from a poem that you love (since it is National Poetry Month, after all).
(10) Your favourite colour.
(11) A list you have made recently.
(12) A number that holds some significance for you.
(13) Ribbon, thread, string, or cord.
(14) A postage stamp. -NO
(15) A stamped word or image.
(16) Ink, paint, or mist.
(17) A dictionary definition that describes you or relates to you in some way.
(18) A ticket stub or a receipt.
(19) A drawing or doodle.
(20) A symbol that represents you in some way.
(21) Something folded.
(22) Something shiny.
(23) Something springy. -NO
(24) Something that brings a smile to your face.
(25) A hidden message.

Morris Dancers and Ice-Creams

I love long weekends, don't you?

This weekend I have spent so much time with this bloke.
You might think we were married or something ;) (we are by the way).
It's just not often that we get to spend a lot of time together just doing "stuff"

Saturday morning we went to see Blood Stone Boarder Morris dancers in Newport. They are the most amazingly bizarre group of people when they get together and dance. Lots of stick bashing and shouting goes on! We took Bella and Suki with us, Suki wasn't bothered a bit with all the noise but Bella wasn't sure about the sticks at all, she spend most of the time either hiding under my chair or curled up on my lap.

The were Dancing for St Georges day. raising money for a local primary school. They dance all over the island and take part in competitions on the mainland.

In the evening we went out (I can't remember the last time we went to the pub together!!!!) to see The Crew play. most of the members of the crew are also Bloodstone members. It's funny to see them without their face paints, there were also a few of the Bloodstone dancers in the crowd at the pub I didn't recognise them as they look so different! in normal clothes. They play mainly sea shantys and English folk music. We try to go and see them play as often as we can as they are a great band. Sunday was another day blessed with beautiful weather. We took a pic-nic up on to Culver Downs and spend the afternoon and evening with our lovely friends the Colties. It was Mummy Colties birthday (just two weeks after mine) This spending time together over our birthdays is becoming a new tradition for us it's the third year running we have been out for birthday stomps together.

It was defo the day for a stop at the ice-cream hut. Carys tried her first ice pop and was not impressed that she had to share it with her Mummy. Trav got some brilliant photos of her eating it, so plenty of scrapbooking material for me :)

There was also a point when I feared for the safety of my homemade cherry and almond cake!!!!! Oh I do love cuddling this little lady!!! She is 6 months old now and at the stage where she is reaching for everything!!!! from food to dogs ears. Luckly our dogs love having their ears stroked and Carys has been really gentle with them so far :) I also had the pleasure of spending all evening with her and giving her a bath. I even coped alone with the post bath tears, the over sized PJ's and getting the nappy to stay on!!!!! It's all in preparation for the day when her mummy leaves her with me solo for the first time :S It's a day I'm looking forward to but also worrying about :)

Today was beautiful again, we are so blessed here on the IOW. It was in the news this week that we officially get the most sun shine in the UK :) but then us islanders knew that already :) Trav and I spent the afternoon and early evening up at the plot (where our handfasting will be held) with friends. De-wintering the land, getting it ready for our summer festivities, which will start next weekend at Beltane (May Day). I'm really looking forward to next weekend as well. So much planned and only four days off work to do it all in ;) Royal Wedding Garden party, MayFest on Saturday in Yarmouth. Beltane festivities on Sunday starting at dawn at the longstone, going on through out the day and possibly a barn dance in the evening. Then there's more May Day fun at the Parade and beer festival in Gurnard on Monday!!! I'll need another holiday to get over next weekend!!! When's half term???

this week I made.......

some Bunting for a garden party-0-

a 12x12 layout from this sketch on the October Afternoon blog

I love these big green polka dots they are so summery and so very versatile (I've used the same paper for a xmas layout as well). All the paper and stickers on this LO are OA except the 5 in the title that's a felt thicker.

-0-
and a Layout with paints!!! I masked off a few areas with butterflies and circles before splattered and misted the white cardstock. I used My Minds Eye papers for this layout, each piece was edge distressed and then layered. I then stamped a few dotted spirals on the CS, the patterned paper and a journal spot. The title is a mixture of OA mini market stickers and Basic Grey chipboard. Both journal spots are Stampin' Up stamps.

ABC Liams book post #4

I'm almost finished with this album. I have just six more LO's to complete and a front page, then I'm ready to buy the album and wrap it all in birthday paper.

Layouts 16-20

N= Newborn

K= Kiss

I= Incredibly Cute!

H= Hug

D= Daddys Boys

TFL

ABC Liams book post #3

My Robotz cart "kinda" got stuck in my cricut last night :) It did take me a lot longer to complete these LO's as the Robots are all little pieces that need sticking down but they are so worth it!! Aren't they just so cute!!!!!
Here's five more Liam ABC layouts.

L= Liam
(of course)O= Oh so cool

(mummy's a real designer labels girls looks like Liam will be as well)

T= Teeth

(of which we have two right now,
I made the robot with just two as well instead of a full set of four)

U= Ultimate friendship

Z=snooZing
(Major cheat I know!)

TFL

ABC Liams book post #2

Five more layouts to go into Liam's birthday album.

M= Mummy and Me
I missed his seeing him born by just one day :( Q=Quiet time
(The only LO I'm not happy with so far, this one might get put on the reject pile for a remake)

R= Rubber Duckie

X= Xmas Baby

Y= YumYum pigs bum
(something my Mum used to say all the time)

TFL

A to Z version 2.0

It's Liam's (my youngest Nieces son) first birthday in a few months, and I thought it was about time I made a start on his ABC album. I did something similar for my eldest great-nephew's (Jack) christening here I stayed on the same theme trying to keep the pages simple so they are quick to assemble. Each page is 8.5x11" and I have sorted a selection of papers into a project box so there is only a set amount of colours throughout the album, this also cuts down on choosing time for each page, as I only have a limited number of papers to sort through rather than my whole stash. I also have my cricut this time so won't have to use quite so many alpha stickers this time.

I start by writing out a list A= Aunty, B= best buds........... Z= snooZing (cheating I know but you find something that a baby does starting with Z!!!). I tend to do this at the same time as sorting through the photos I know I have. If I have any missing letters I'll normally email my sister (Nanny Tanya) and get her to send me any that might match the letter I'm looking for. Once I have all 26 photos (and a few spare, as I always change my mind) I resize, crop and colour correct them before printing them all out. I actually find this is the most time consuming part of the whole project. But now I am ready to start so the gluing and sticking fun can begin!!!

In order of work here's what I have completed so far.......

A= Aunty
(this is Jack and Peytons Mamma)

B= Best Buds

C=Crawling like a Caterpillar


E=Explore your own way
(Liam happily spent hours looking like a Darlik, wheeling himself about the new house)


J= Just like Mummy I (heart) my Ginny
(Ginny= our family name for a muslin nappy; as in "wheres the thingy")
TFL

Scrap with Us final challenge

Here's my make for the last week of the Scrap with Us, Year long challenge. Although the challenge officially ended a few weeks back it took me some time to come up with something for this challenge. The prompt was "Outside the Box" I took it literally and scrapped the outside (and the inside) of a box.

I am really into baking at the moment and I thought that a recipe box would be the perfect addition to my kitchen. I used a box that had bath gels, body creams and a pretty soap in (a xmas gift) for the main box, covered with October Afternoon papers. each recipe card (index cards from staples) is covered both sides with OA papers and then has the recipe printed on the front and I space on the back for a photo of the baked item. I plan to laminate each card once I have added the photos. hopefully this way they will have a longer life in my kitchen.

TFL

4x6 Photo Love, month 3

Marches sketch uses three 4x6 photos on a single LO, I wasn't overly sure about it to start with but am really happy with how the finished LO's look. I don't think I have ever used three large photos together before but I will most definitely use this sketch again in the future.

Zoom Zoom

I used October Afternoon and Studio calico papers along with two different tones of Bazzill cardstock, a OA journal card and a Stampin' Up stamp for the smaller journal spot. The larger letters in the title are WRMK.

POOPED PUPPY

For my second layout I used October Afternoon, WRMK's and Cosmo Cricket papers. This time I used four different colours of Bazzill cardstock, two greens and two jades. I cut my title on my Cricut using the design suite and Mini Monograms cart to weld the letters together. The punched hearts are a Stampin' Up punch. I used an OA journal card and a kraft journal spot I made on my computer and a jillybean soup journal spot for the date.

after completing these two layouts I was still feeling a little creative, so I cropped and printed these new photos of Carys and completed my third layout for the morning.

You are my SUNSHINE

I used Sassafrass and October afternoon papers. I cut the centre square out of a sheet of pink Bazzill and used the cut-out to matt the 4x6 photo. I then mounted a sheet of trimmed Sassafrass paper on the rest of the pink Bazzill. Then I layered strips of OA paper and the pretty Sassafrass paper boarder. I cut the title and the 6 on my cricut using the DonJuan cart, cutting the words in both normal and shadow. I then cut 1cm strips of bazzill cardstock to journal on. I cut little flags out of scraps of patterned paper and glued them to bakers twine, to make a cute little bunting banner. I then added ribbon and lace to finish the layout.

I'm loving LOVING the Easter Holidays :)
TFL
Px

April Crop Layouts

Saturday was our monthly crop up at the Sherborne centre, I was slow getting started (might have been something to do with gazing at all my lovely birthday gifts :) but happily I did manage to complete four layouts through the day.

I used one of Sam's art journal stamps to create this fab image on my title. I took inspiration for the title from BeautifulLily's lovely page here

This one I finished off at home with sprays, glossy accents and a cricut design suite made title.

again I used some of Sam's stamps and paint to give the kraft title some interest.

Felling brave I got messy with the paints and sprays, and spent ages making these layered punched flowers.

Look at that!!! not a piece of October Afternoon used all day!!! (that must be a first).

TFL.
x

I'm a BIrthday Girl

Today is my birthday I have decided that I'm staying 38 (again) I really can't believe that I'm so close to turning 40, so plan to ignore it at least until all my friends are almost there with me ;)

Thanks to my wonderful friends I have had a wonderful weekend. Saturday started with our monthly crop, where my lovely crafting friends spoilt me with some stunning gifts and a yummy carrot cake :)

The on Sunday I got the spend the whole day with this little angel and her mummy and daddy. We walked for miles and miles (we were out for five hours!!!!!) through some of the Islands most beautiful countryside. I was treated to a picnic, a cream tea and a day of fun with some of my favourite people :)Although I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with the dogs idea of a birthday present!
The joys of bathing five very muddy smelly dogs!!!
This morning I was woken with a cup of steaming coffee, a handful of lovely birthday cards and more pressys :) I got a beautiful Goddess pendant from Trav, a gorgeous bracelet to help with my migraines, some Wicca books and some pennies from the old folks back home. I'm spending the day with Sami and her lovely kids today, just chilling out and enjoying myself. I feel total spoilt!!! and very loved :)

before I sign out
I must say a huge!!!! HUGE thank you I LOVE her, to Sami.
She is so so talented. This beautiful piece of art work is called
Paige's Dream and is my birthday present from her.

isn't she amazing!!!!!