I'm sure my husband will agree that this is a very fitting title! Pictures from one of our shopping trips to the Mall at Millenia in Orlando last year, it's full of very swanky shops like Tiffanys, Jimmy Choo's and Louis Vuitton, but I know my strengths and concentrated my efforts in Bloomingdales and the Quiksilver shop!
I've used Scenic Route papers, KI cardstock lace, AC and Scenic Route alphas, and a few buts of bling and buttons. The Billabong label came off one of the purchases - I just thought it was pretty!

I was trying to upload this yesterday, but Blogger was sulking and didn't want to play (apparantly there is some problem with photo uploading on Blogger at the moment, it's a bit hit and miss as to whether it actually works!).
I have been playing with my new Banana Frog stamps again; Budmo Jiggler for the title with some teeny crystals, Take Note on the journalling spot, and the hearts are from Paperchains, papers are K&Co Amy Butler...

So glad I finally got to use my AC Jewellery Box Thickers - they are just right for this title! I was going for a mythical kind of look on this layout and I am really happy with how it turned out. The Queen & Co felt swirls really set it off nicely, well, I think so anyway! I used Basic Grey Obscure papers, a bit of Technique Tuesday chipboard and a Bazzil Edge with my pictures of the Duelling Dragons coaster at Islands of Adventure in Orlando (or, as I like to call it, the "dangly legs" coaster!)
You know, I really wasn't sure about the Obscure papers when they came out, I thought they were a bit TOO obscure, but they have definately grown on me...

Last Sunday we went out for lunch - of course I had to take my camera! Unfortunately as I am still getting used to shooting in something other than automatic, I completely forgot that I had been taking pictures outdoors the day before and had the ISO set to 100, so most of the pictures came out a little dark. Still, you live and learn!

I thought I would share some of the pictures I have taken this week as part of the Painting With Light workshop. It took me a while but I am happy with these ones! First is my desk lamp - I love the way you can see me and the whole room reflected so clearly in the lamp!
Next is one from the garden - the remnants of a blackberry bush that my neighbour chopped down last year...And finally - my CD tower! I was lying on the living room floor for this one...

Now that the weekend is here I finally had some time for scrapping - so I thought I would have a play with my new Banana Frog stamps.

The pictures are from a trip we took to Southport last September, I think we had just got the new Sony point and shoot camera so we were taking lots of pictures to try it out! There was a fab european food market on Lord Street, we stocked up on all sorts of goodies (in fact it's making me hungry just thinking about the garlic potatoes!).

Patterned paper is American Crafts A La Carte (Pesto, I think!), and I used Budmo Jiggler and Take Note stamps from Banana Frog, along with some lovely Queen & Co felt ribbon.

I have had that paper for aaaages - another one of those that I HAD to have, and was saving for a special layout! I think Kate must have inspired me to use it with her layout here...

Thanks for the award Lainy! This is the Art y Pico award for creativity, design and interesting material. So thanks Lainy, it's really nice to know that someone reads my little bloggy! (Oh yes, and I am supposed to pass this on to 5 people but I don't know 5 people so Kate and Lucy can have it...)

Unfortunately I've not had time for any scrapping today. Well, OK, I suppose I did have time but I was too busy surfing the wibbly wobbly web and stroking the new stash that arrived today. I treated myself to some Q&Co felt ribbon (it's self adhesive now, thank goodness!), some Thickers and some KI lace cardstock, and a set of Basic Grey precision files, which is one of those things that I kept meaning to buy but never quite getting round to it, and then kept wishing that I had. If you know what I mean....



And if they are reading this - hello to Mum and Dad! Just back from Benidorm and sooooo glad to be home, no doubt ;-)

I have been a busy little bee tonight - I have been helping Kirsty from UKS redesign her blog! It took me a while to do mine last week but once I worked out what I was doing it's pretty easy...(LOL, yeah, it's always easy when you know how!) have a look at Kirsty's blog here and see what you think - I used the Bear Necessities kit from Nitwit Collections to make the blog banner with, as Kirsty is a fan of bears!

I finished this LO last night - but couldn't think of a title without resorting to something cheesy like "Laugh" or "Smile" - how many LO's must I already have with those titles! So in the end I just went with a "J" for Jessica. I used it as part of my Painting With Light portfolio to illustrate a shot that I wasn't very happy with, but then CJ worked her magic and showed me that cropping the photo actually worked really well! So of course, I had to scrap it after that....
I was inspired by a LO by Kelly Goree in the 2 Peas gallery for this one.

Pulled a couple of old sheets of paper out of the stash pile for this LO - SEI Penelopes Potpourri and Aunt Gertie's Garden (where do they get the names from!). Spent ages cutting the flowers out and doodling outlines on them, then completely changing my mind about the entire LO and changing it to end up with this one, which I actually quite like!

The words guaranteed to strike fear into most peoples hearts....take a self portrait! For CJ's Painting With Light class we have to put together a bit of a portfolio, part of which was the dreaded self portrait. The portrait also had to include our name in some way, but not added in later in Photoshop (foiled again!). I armed myself with tripod, gorillapod and remote control for the camera and got snapping...
Here's some of the ones that didn't quite cut it! First location was the kitchen. Quite liked these but I think the light in there was making me look a bit washed out...

Number 2 came very close to being picked!

Numbers 3 & 4- I changed locations and went up to the bedroom. This is me sat on the bed, facing the window, camera on gorillapod on the window ledge. I know these are totally overexposed but I actually really like them! If I had managed to get my name in the shot I think one of these would have been it!

Then I started messing about with mirror shots (after I had cleaned the mirror and got rid of all the stuff on top of the chest of drawers behind me)Which wasn't going to badly till SOMEBODY wanted to come and join in!And then I couldn't take a decent picture for laughing. So the one I finally decided on was the next one - again, sat on the bed, camera on window ledge, but this time I actually managed to get my name in the shot!Phew! Thank goodness that is over with!

Here's the layout I created from todays prompt for No Place Like Home (crikey, think I will just put NPLH from now on. You'll know what I mean, won't you?).

I managed to use up some older stash on here too, you know, all the stuff that you buy and then save for a special layout....that never gets used! So the Heidi Swapp ghost letters and the MM scrabble tiles have finally had their day ;-)

The rest of it was just scraps really, and I also discovered that I don't have ANY pictures of our house AT ALL, and at this point it was too dark to go and take any! I made do with a picture of the view from our living room window instead...

I am (hopefully!) going to be a busy girl for a few weeks as I am not only participating in Shimelles online class There's No Place Like Home but I have also signed up to Cheryl Johnsons Painting With Light photography workshop!

We have received our first class prompt today from Shimelle, so I need to go and jot a few ideas down about that, and I also have some homework to do for PWL - I need to take a self portrait (oh no!) and find some photo's as part of my portfolio. I'm really looking forward to both of these classes!

Another little bloggy revamp - thought I would have a new blog header, courtesy of Rachelle Anne Miller, who does the most gorgeous illustrations...trouble was that there were sooo many to choose from! I can see that I may be changing the banner weekly for a while!

...you try to sign in to Blogger using your work email address and password. D'oh! And then stare at the screen for a good minute wondering why, WHY is it telling you that your password is wrong, when clearly it isn't....oooops.

Have used Scenic Route and Rusty Pickle papers, Queen & Co felt ribbon (lots of!), Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, bling and tree stamp from the March Scrapagogo kit. The label is from a digital kit by Jennifer Pebbles which I traced and cut with the Craft Robo.

The pictures were taken last May in Epcot, it was the Flower and Garden Festival while we were there and we saw some gorgeous displays! Winnie the Pooh and friends were in England, just near the Rose and Crown and Harry Ramsdens fish and chips ;-)

Had a bit of a bloggy revamp! (Well, OK, I just went from black to white but hey, it's a change!)

I think the cocktail bar reference is quite apt aswell, as this is a piccy from Tenerife last year and we certainly look like we have had a drinkie or two, LOL! Used some of the papers and thickers from my Scrapagogo Feb kit, along with the Technique Tuesday frame from the pack I bought in Florida last May and have been saving for that special LO - grrrrrr, just use the bloomin stuff! And those velvet Thickers look fab but my goodness they are a pain to use, they just don't stick.....

Next, another Tenerife layout, showing one of our favourite holiday pastimes - the mini golf tournament! We played almost every day I think, I can't remember who the ultimate champion was now!

Have used K&Co Amy Butler paper and some scraps of Scenic Route, Q&Co felt ribbon, foam Thickers (at least these ones stick!), and a little journalling spot from Feb Scrapagogo. Oh, and some buttons ;-)

And then heres one that I did yesterday - again, its a Tenerife pic, but it really makes me giggle, the way that you can just see Claire jumping out from behind Ste's shoulder! I used Basic Grey Obscure papers, Chip Chatter alpha and some Technique Tuesday chipboard circles.

Thats all folks - am off to play with the contents of my March Scrapagogo kit that arrived on Friday....

Just a quickie to share the card I made for Mothers Day last week - I was inspired by the lovely hybrid cards on this blog and this is what I came up with! I used the Waddles and Whimsy kit from Nitwit Collections, there are some gorgeous digital kits on that site, can't believe I have never seen them before! I cut the flower and border from the kit on the Craft Robo and mounted them on little foam pads to make them stand out a bit, and finished it off with a bit of ribbon and some little sparkly gems. The letters were Making Memories glitter alpha stickers.