A makeover and some holiday layouts

So, what do you think? Danyale gave me a makeover - well my blog! I love it, thanks so much Danyale, most appreciated. (She also did my Project 365 page too, you should have a look there too, its great too, aren't I lucky to have such great online friends!)

I was allowed to play with another great DSO kit, this time the Collab Kit "April showers", it was perfect for some of our holiday photos (still working on getting all the holiday pictures scrapped and into a photo book)

This first layout is from the day we spent at my uncle's house. We barbecued, relaxed and enjoyed seeing oneanother again after a year. And here are some of the pics of the boys on that day.

and this one, well, I found a paper in the kit that just screamed for these photos. Every day the men went out onto the golf course of the place we were staying at, and played golf, and unfortunately not many of those matches (are they called matches?) were dry, most of the time they seemed to be out in the rain. I wandered over to get some pics of the "die-hards"
And here is what the kit looks like and a link to go and get it if you fancy!

Bye 4 now

Heidelbeerfest 09

Right after I blogged last night, I went back to playing with my fun new kit from LouCee, and in no time at all I had this layout all made up. The title of the kit "Country Living" had me thinking about just that. We live in the country, what makes it the country, apart from the fact that we are surrounded by nature. Well, the country festivals, and of course only two weeks ago we had ours - the Heidelbeerfest. Ideal pictures to use with the kit.


The Heidelbeerfest has been a tradition for a long long time now, it is always the second weekend in August and goes from Friday to Monday. Fridays and Saturdays are the party days for the young ones (strange not that long ago and I thought I was one of them), Live music for them and a sort of disco. Sunday is a procession, the sale of "Heidelbeerkuchen" (blueberry cake) and more live music in the evening, only this time for the older generation (not quite there yet either). And Mondays is the day for the locals, where we get to see all the villagers and catch up on gossip. That is Country Life! And by the way I LOVE it!

Country Living

Do you remember the photo I took of my men at the weekend, the one where they were walking in the woods away from me, all wearing the same t-shirt etc...One of my new favourites. Well, it seems that LouCee at DSO had seen my picture too (just kidding) but her kit Country Living was just made for my picture (image linked to store)


Anyhow, lucky me, for being on the DSO CT team, I was able to request to play with the kit, and here is my first layout using it.
Journalling reads:
Whilst on our way to the park, Richard got a bit too close to the stinging nettles, so Robert put his arm around him to look after his little brother.

I'll be back soon with another one using this kit, I still want to play with the cute animal stickers! Watch this space!

A starry Night...

is the name of Charlie's Digiscraps new kit. And I got it pre-release to play with!
But today I can finally show off my layouts with it.
This first one is one of my favourite pictures of Richard from our holiday, he was reaching out for me, for one last cuddle before lights out. So cute!
and this one is a picture from Xmas 08, we took the boys on a night walk (don't think that is quite the right word, but you know what I mean) and we had REAL torches, as in with REAL fire. They loved it, I think we will have to do it again this year too.

And today I played with it again as I realised that the browny orange paper matched the owls eyes exactly. Its an owl from the Bird of Prey Centre in Newent, UK.

And here is the kit, I used to make these layouts, on offer at the moment with 30% off.
(image linked to store)

have a great weekend, I know we will, barbecuing with the family tomorrow, breakfast with friends on Sunday, can't be bad, eh?!

Andrea's having a sale!

Remember the layout I did yesterday, well I have done another layout with the same kit today
I got some great shots of Mia swinging whilst on holiday, and here they are

Credits:
Hokey Pokey by Andrea Dickinson at DSO

And if you like the kit, Andrea is having a sale at the moment, celebrating that her kids are back at school, I can understand that sort of celebration I have been having one of my own since the kids went back to Kindergarden this week *grin*!
Well, I tried hard to get the cute ad she has made posted here, but it just won't work, so I'll just tell you that she has 25% off everything in her store until August 16th! So click here to go shopping!

I have a few more layouts, but I want to post them at the right time...another friend might just be giving something away soon!
CU tomorrow

Exciting news!!

You know how I love all the DSO girls and their challenges, well last month they had a CT call...and after my stores closing I decided to try out for the Store CT there, and...
Yep, you've guessed it!

I got in!!! I have been doing a happy dance since then, but I wanted to wait until I had done the first layout for them, before I posted on here.

And here it is, more photos from our holiday only this time the girls (my nieces).
I managed to find a challenge to enter it into to, the Scraplift challenge.


And this is the fun kit I used, it's called Hokey Pokey by Andrea Dickinson (image linked).

I am still working on another layout, so I should be back soon with that. And I have some more layouts to post for DSO, but not until Friday...stay tuned!

CU soon

Sad and Good news all in One!

Sad news first - DigitalArts Cafe was hacked one too many times and Melo the owner has made the hard decision to close the store. As of today the forum and gallery are closed, you can still view the layouts but no more can be posted.

Melo was great and gave me a great opportunity to try my hand at designing which I have really really enjoyed. But I have decided that from now on I will be mainly scrapping as I missed it when designing and occasionally I will have a freebie or two here on my blog.

But the good news.... Well, I can't leave without some noise being made can I ...
so from today til the 15th August my complete store is on sale for 50% off! So click on the image to go shopping, and whilst there, check out the other designers stores for more amazing deals!



Here are some of the kits you can get now for a GREAT price...

Thanks for being with me on this adventure and keep checking back, I am sure I will still be designing on for free in future! ;)

Dinphy "SHINE"'s

Dinphy has done it again, a new kit for me to play with, and if you want, you could too, check her blog here for more details (www.dinphy.blogspot.com)!
Anyhow here is what I made with "Shine"

These are both with pictures from our day in Porthcawl whilst on holiday, I still have to make a page for Robert, but for now I have a page for Richard and one for my brother!

Credits:
Shine by Dinphy at DigitalArts-Cafe
Wordart by Sue Cummings at Oscraps

Credits:

Shine by Dinphy at DigitalArts-Cafe
Handy Dandy Dates by Danielle Donaldson

And here is a layout of my goddaughter which I did for the Animal Kingdom Challenge at DigiScrapObsession. Sunny, our cat, let her practise her stroking techniques, it was so cute to watch, he was so good with her, considering she was slightly heavy handed, but he seemed to be enjoying the massage!

Credits:
Shine by Dinphy at DigitalArts-Cafe
Wordart by Elegant Wordart by Bethany

And if you like the kit I used...You can get it here at DigitalArts Cafe (click on the image)
Back soon

new layouts

Well, having been on holiday for a fortnight in the UK, I have thousands of photos to scrap, and what to I do, one-picture-layouts! I'll be busy for a LONG while at this rate! But I like them so who cares!

These are in no particular order, this first one is Mia after they had been spending their holiday money. She looked so cute when she showed me her pussy cat (Marie from the Aristocats), I had to take a picture!

Credits:
Melon Twist by Sweet Digi scraps at Gotta Pixel

This is the kids having a picnic at the indoor playground. Florian and I were having a fun day too, whilst Mum and Dad looked after the kids. We went shopping (til we dropped) and we also went to the cinema to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. But as you can see the kids had fun too. (thanks again Mum and Dad for our extra break!)

Credits:

Pretty little picnic by Nicole Seitler

This one is Richard on the ferry to England, he was so excited he just had to point it out to Daddy. I was inside with Robert who wasn't feeling himself. He had a fever when we started our journey, but it all disappeared once there, so we assume he just got overexcited, bless him.
Anyhow here is Richard and Dover.

Credits:
Background Paper - Bren Boone - Year of the Tree
Wordart by Sue Cummings
Star Amanda Heimann - Summerblues Mega
Stitching - Ziggle Designs - Summerblues Mega
Font - Pea Mystie

And this last one is me engrossed in my book, even if it was only for 5 minutes, but it never takes me long to fully immerse myself in a story. I never even realised that Florian had taken a picture of me and not the kids, who at the time were dragging oneanother on a towel down the beach (watch this space for a layout of that!)

Credits:
Unda-da-Sea by Kimb's Designs at DSO
wordart by Elegant wordart by Bethany
Font - Pea Lydal

CU soon

Scrapping slump!

So I have been in a scrapping slump these last few weeks, so much so, that when I did finish a layout, I sat back and said - "Wow, I can still do it!" Florian thought I had lost it, I think! He reckoned I had never lost the knack!
I am so pleased that I can still scrap, I am going to post the layouts on here.
This is the one I was so pleased about. I used my birthday present from my friend Leigh. She got me the June Daily Digi Files. For inspiration I found some old Speed Scrap Rules at Scrap Orchard and this is what I came up with.

Credits:
Pippi's Happy Doodles by Stephanie2 at The Daily Digi
Beachy Keen by Leora Sanford
Glee by Rachel Young

Today we all went to the hairdressers, and this is a shot I got of the boys and I even felt the urge to journal, so I must be out of my slump now!

Credits:
Growing Up Boy by Sweet Digi Scraps and Valerie Ostrom
Alpha from Flying High by Misty Cato

CU soon