One day early...

Here is a page I made for Sketches in Thyme. The sketch is coming out tomorrow but I won't get a chance to download it then so I thought I would show you my lay out. You will have to go and check their web site to see the sketch and look at what the other designers have produced. The lay out I made is about our fantastic day out in London, Hyde Park, to watch the Olympics on the Big Screens. We bumped into some long lost friends and we really had the most amazing day. The little envelope hides some journaling and stuff like train tickets and other rubbish ! ( in reality it doesn't yet as I haven't had a chance but it will soon !! )

Anyway here it is..

Not especially my favourite lay out ever but ..hey, you can't love them all !!

Enjoy your holidays.
Anne

Mini book.

Quick post today. Just come back from Cheshire and house needs a complete clean and garden could do with a lot of attention. Now that the Olympics are finished, I have no more excuses !

I made a mini book last week for a very nice gentleman who took Amelie and my nephew fishing while we were on holiday in Brittany. He is a retired head master and I hope he likes his thank you present. Might even remind him of the homemade presents the pupils must have given him for Christmas when he was working !! Good or bad !!

I have a page to make for Sketch in Thymes for this week challenge so better get myself moving.

Anne XXX

A little message...

For a very good friend. She is the bestest friend anyone could wish for and the most amazing inspirational woman and mum ever! But, I forgot her birthday, again !!.So here is a little message for you JANA...

AnneXXX

Do you have time?

It has been a long time, so you might need to make yourself a cup of tea !! The computer was down and Andrew tried to swap it for a MAC. I didn't get on with it so we are now back to the old computer, I like it just the way it is !!
A lot has happened since I last wrote.
First there was the last day of school and the presents for the teachers. I made some Rocky Roads biscuits, added a few strawberry bonbons and foam shrimps, a few pretty labels and tags, and  here they were, looking all pretty ! I can't tell you if they tasted nice but they did look lovely !!

And for the cards, I decided to keep the pattern I had used to make my dad's birthday card a few weeks ago.

And talking about my dad, remember we had bought him a pair of flashy swimming trunks?! Well, the parcel got lost in the post so we were in fact in Brittany when he received them, so I got the chance to take pictures of his happy face !!

No point adding that he never wore them while we were there, but there is hope !! Not much though but  it was a right laugh to see his face !! I took a lot more pictures while we were away and I am sure you will see a lot of them on lay outs soon but here are a few.

While we were in Brittany, challenge86 came live at Sketches in Thyme and here is the page I made for them

The pictures were taken a while back during sports day. This page took a while to finish as I wasn't happy with the proportions and the tittle but it all came together in the end.

Since we have come back from Brittany we have had the chance to go twice to see the Olympics. I only have pictures of our first day but we had a great, amazing memorable time both times.

Right, I think that will be enough for today. I have promise to make a mini book for a friend of my mum who took the kids fishing on his boat so I'd better get to work now that I can print pictures !!

See you soon.

Anne

Oups

I forgot to mention there is a new sketch over at Sketches in Thyme. It is sketch 83 and here it is..



This is the page I made for them...

 

I made this page a while ago, after Amelie's fish died. It probably feels silly to bury a fish but there was no  way she was letting it us flush it down down the loo ( not that we would !! ) ( or would we !! ) but anyway, we had to make a grave for it and two months later, despite the constant rain, the little red cross ( red for a gold fish, see !! ) is still standing bright and strong in the flower border !!. I had a play on Picassa with the picture, probably a bit ghostly like , but it was fun !!

Recently I also made a  birthday card for my dad. He loves stamps and is never happier than when he is at home. So.. a stamp looking card with a little house sounded perfect. I actually love the result !

We also bough him a very bright green flowery pair of swim trunks as a joke because he lives 500 meters from the sea but will never be seen on the beach !The kids had a real laugh  writing the card saying he now has no excuse not to come on the beach and make sand castles with them, and I can't wait to see if he raises to the challenge !! Watch out for the pictures showing the evidences !!

Lovely weekend ahead with a whole day scrapping in our local village hall on Saturday. I think I will make my thank you cards for the teachers.

And in case you didn't know, ... I am officially on Holiday !! Well, I am still teaching evening classes for adults but no more kids for seven weeks !! I know I shouldn't shout for joy .. but I will !!Hooray !!


Happy Scrapping

Anne

Summer fair and Sports day

Nothing to do with scrapbooking, (yet !! ) but for my friends and family abroad, here are pictures of the dancing at the summer fair and Sports day.

We were so lucky with the weather. Well, sports day was rather wet and cold but it still went ahead, so consider ourselves lucky.And on Saturday, for the summer fair, we even caught the sun !

Anne

Neglected little blog !

I am back, the summer fair is finished, my lessons are winding down, it is started to smell like summer holidays !! Well, if you forget the constant rain that is !!
Still, I should slowly get some more time for myself and get some scrapbooking done.
I had a little bit of time yesterday to play along the new Scrap 365 Challenge. I used a picture I took at the summer fair on Saturday. Amelie was dancing a country dance and she looked very pretty with her handsome partner. This picture makes me laugh, as the partner in question doesn't seem too keen !!
This was the sketch


And here is my version. I wanted to try a monochrome look, which I had never done. I will have to make more pages about the dancing as it is really colourful and a bright page would probably do the pictures more justice. Still you have to try !

The picture doesn't look quite right but it is very difficult to take good pictures in this gloomy weather.

And a few close ups

It was a lot of fun making the tea stains, but as usual, they didn't quite fall where I wanted them to!

I will try to add some pictures of Sports day and the May pole dancing later.

Enjoy your week.

Anne

Sketch in Thyme 82

Sketch in Thyme 82 is on line. Here is the sketch..



It is a two pager and you know I am not too keen on two pagers so as usual, I have changed it slightly and made it all fit on one page !! But that's the fun part, isn't it !!

So here is my page...

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago when I went to Windsor races for my friend Patricia's hen do. We had a wonderful fun day, full of Pimm's and girly giggles.

Why don't you go and have a look at what the other ladies have created, and give it a go, there is a good prize to win !

Have a good week

Anne

Art Journaling

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to attend a class taught by the super talented Lisa. Not only did we get a day without husband and kids ( I love them dearly but a day off is always nice !! ) but we also got a chance to paint and mist and glue and spray and stencil and doodle and last but not least eat some delicious cakes !!
I had a wonderful day with very nice and creative ladies. The result is unfinished but looking good so far. I have decided to keep the title of my original book "I 'll always remember" and just added "life is good". I have the intention of writing positive or beautiful things that have happened to me. Small stuff, not life changing experiences. Just moments or words and thoughts that made me smile. So when I feel down I could always read a page or two and remember... So profound, I know !!

So anyway, here is the cover and two pages that I have made so far. I have actually started a few other pages but they are not finished yet, so I will just photograph them as I go and fill them in..

It was fun to do so I hope I keep it up !!

Enjoy your week.

Anne

Give away !!

Not from me, I am far to mean !! but from the very talented Nadia  Go and check it out, she is giving out pizza boxes, full, but not with pizzas !!

Are you ready for my birthday *GIVEAWAY(s)** ???

So as I mentioned in yesterday's post it will will be my birthday on June 21st and for the last couple of years that I have had this blog I have had a big giveaway in June.

I also mentioned yesterday that I made the 2012 Kaisercraft team and today I received my next few month's product and I am amazed at their generosity. This made me generous my self.. More generous I guess than ever because I have done a HUGE clean up of my stuff (yes again! LOL) and I have come up with what I think is my biggest giveaway to date.

It is 5 boxes FULL of stuff. I think you all deserve it after all the love and support I receive from all of you. Its my birthday , and I want to share the fortune I have had over the last couple of years through winning stuff and DT stuff etc. with you all. Now I need to make a point here that yes some of this stuff is half packets or some cut paper etc but most is untouched still in their packs. Please keep this in mind!

1. A pizza box FULL of current and past paper collections.

2. A pizza box FULL of mixed embellishments and tools

3. A pizza box full of alphas

4. A pizza box full of flowers

5. A pizza box FULL of ribbon, Webster's Pages unopened packets of flowers and trim etc.

So what do you need to do to be in the running for 1 of these boxes?

Here are the rules

1. PLEASE be a become a follower of my blog if you are not one already.

2. For a giveaway this big I would LOVE it if you could post about this on your blog or Facebook page IF you can.

3. This is open INTERNATIONALLY to anywhere in the world and postage will be covered by ME.

4. Please link your name using the Linky button at the bottom of this post

5. You have until midnight June 20th. I will announce the winner the next day on my birthday :)

Good luck and I can't wait to send all this to 5 lucky people !!

Looks good, they why don't you go and check out her blog !

Anne

Where shall I start ?...

I know, I haven't been updating this blog for a while. I would like to say that I went on a fantastic holiday but I didn't, just busy, ordinary life !
But I have been busy crafting, little things. First there was a Mother's day card. It was Mother's day a couple of weeks ago in France. I always have to put reminders everywhere in my house not to let me forget. It isn't at the same time in the UK and in France so it is very easy to forget!
So I made a card for the occasion. I couldn't show it earlier as the parcel took forever to get to France.

 I included in the parcel a box of Jubilee Shortbreads, more for the pretty box than the shortbreads! and some goodies that I had found an artisan craft fair near us. A little lady had a wonderful stand full of old bobbins and pin boxes, vintage buttons and old clothes sewing patterns. I could easily have bought the whole stand for my mum and my sister but I restricted myself to a couple of items...

I have also been busy making cards for various birthdays. Well actually, I decided that tags would be better than cards since you can use them as book marks ( should you want to keep them !! ) I made one for one of my famous anonymous friends Rachel and one for my sister. So please Gwen, shut your eyes and scroll down !!

And since it has been raining for the last week or so, Amelie and I got the paint out and got messy. I made a little picture for a friend moving back to Germany. She is very crafty and hopefully she will like the handmade feel of this project, or as my husband says, Anne age 7!!

Finally I also got a chance to make a page for the new Scrap 365 sketch challenge. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take:

The pictures were taking this weekend at a triathlon that Amelie entered. She wanted to do it, I am not that pushy !! ( ok, may be she was persuaded to do it and I am THAT pushy !! ) but the reason I wanted her to take part is because everything is always very easy for her and she never has had to work hard at anything. She is good at school and generally has a very easy life. For once, she had to fight for a result and think positive. As it happened she didn't fight hard and walked most of the way but I think that it was good for her to see kids who really put effort and determination in order to achieve and in the end, she did finish it. And I truly hope that she has learnt from the experience.

Well, I think that will be enough for today.

Enjoy the rest of the half term if you too are on holidays.

Take care

Anne



Let the sunshine...

Now, at last the sun is shining !! I am not going to moan, since we have been waiting for this day for a long time, but honestly, isn't it just a little too hot!!

The new sketch is live at Sketches in Thyme, and it is double page one. I am not too keen on double page so I decided to change it a little to make it fit on one page. I am not overly keen on the result but I do like the idea of Amelie looking back at her bedroom when she is older.
So here is the sketch...




and here is my lay out...

If you fancy giving it a go, have a look at what the other Mavens have come up with, you will be impressed.

I hope you are all enjoying the good weather.

Take care

Anne

What a treat !!

Thank you everyone for my birthday wishes and all the fabulous presents and cards I was given. I can honestly say, this was one of the most special birthday I have ever had ! ( could it be that it is because it is the last one before THE big one !! )
And to top it all up, we decided to finish the weekend in Brittany, having breakfast with my brother. So we got on the boat on Saturday night, spent the night enjoying a lovely meal at the restaurant and watching the magic show ! ( did I ever mention I hate magic !! ) (but Harry loves it ! ) and when we woke up, we had breakfast in St Malo with my brother and his gorgeous wife, and then we came back !! Silly but fun and relaxing, no washing or cooking, no gardening or excuses not to sit down and play Monopoly for four hours !! I am easily pleased !

So I didn't get much time to scrapbook and that's a little shame because I got some pretty cool stuff and new magazines for my birthday but I did get a chance to make a card for my little brother. Not so little anymore you see, he is turning 30 this year. I was so proud with my card. He loves travelling and I thought I would use some of my new Studio Calico paper. Unfortunately, I made a little mistake with the date at the bottom, nothing I couldn't correct after he had noticed, but not soon enough that I had already taken the picture. So you get the original version with the mistake !

At least it looks hand made !!.

Busy week ahead, hopefully I will get a chance to sit down one evening and use my new goodies !

Take care

Anne

And here is.....

one I made earlier !!

This is a page I made at a local crop I went to a couple of weeks ago. The story behind is how proud I was when Harry conquered his fears at Go Apes. We went to Go Apes last year and he just freaked out. ( Now looking back, maybe 6 was a little young ! ) but this year, he did really well, you could see the fear in his eyes but he managed to overcome his emotions and enjoyed himself. The only way is up !!

The sun is shining again today, so I will make the best of it.

Take care

Anne

Happy, happy, me..

Today there is a little bit of sunshine coming through the grey clouds, I am going for a pub lunch with some girlfriends and I am hosting a dinner party with my French girlfriends. Life is good !

I know it looks like I haven't been very creative these days, but, really I have ! It is only that it is top secret work !! Well, it isn't really but it does sound good, so let's keep up the pretence !

But what I can show you is my first sketch for Sketches in Thyme. I find their sketches easy to use and you can add lots to them to suit your style. So here is the sketch




and here is what I transformed it into...

The little confetti were a little bit of a time waster if I am honest ( they are supposed to look like the rain !! ) but I enjoyed making the page and the kids enjoyed jumping into the puddles. Well, it actually looked more like a pond than a puddle. And now, we are all a little too familiar with the rain and I can't wait for the sunshine !

If you like the sketch, why don't you have a look at what the other designers did for inspiration and give it a go !

Have a lovely weekend everyone. Thank you so much for all your nice comments. I am not very good at taking the time to return them but I do appreciate them, a lot !!

Take care,

Anne

Trying to play it cool..

but really excited. I have made it to Sketches in Thyme design team, head over there and see my name !! Yes mine !!

Off to celebrate with a glass of wine made by my neighbours !! ) see it pays to be kind !! )

Marshmallow cake and canoe !!

Since it is raining outside and I will soon need a canoe to leave the house...

(And yes I know, I need to do some weeding but the chance to go outside looks remote !!), Amelie and I made a lovely chocolate and Marshmallow cake...

As you can see there is not much left ( diet will have to start tomorrow !! )

Yesterday, I had the chance to spend the whole day scrapbooking with my friends. The lovely and very talented Lisa, taught us through a messy and colourful lay out. As usual, it took me a while to get into the mood and I even had to trash my first attempt, but with perseverance and faith ( and very encouraging words from Lisa !! ) I kept at it and finished a page, very different from my usual style but ever so great ! I really love it, I love the colours and the texture. I mostly love the idea that scrapbooking isn't just about buying the newest products and embellishments but mostly about creating your own art and using plain paper. So here is my page...

I also got the chance to make a page for the Studio Challenges ( first time ! ) where you had to scrap a page using a song title. I found this cute picture of my sister feeding me when I was little and I had to use the title. We Are Family by Sister Sledge.

I love the page, I like the journaling and the colours, I hope my sister likes it too !!

Well, I shall go and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Happy scrapping every one.

Anne XXX