I've been very bad at updating my blog recently, sorry! I keep getting told off! I thought I would have a bit of a play around this morning, so I have designed myself a new blog header, updated my Slide with some more recent layouts, changed my blog template, and generally just had a bit of a change! What do you think? I'm quite pleased with the blog header!

I used some of the lovely Pink Martini Orange Creamsicle papers from Banana Frog, and the circles from the Banana Frog Build A Bloom stamp set.

What else....oh yes, I am famous! Ha, not really, but I have got my picture in the local paper today. I went to a Chocolate Evening hosted by my sister Tracey (*waves* hi!) at Thorntons on Thursday evening which was part of the Bolton Food and Drink Festival, and had a fabby time tasting lots of different choccy's, doing a rather testing quiz, and icing a chocolate plaque (which is SO not as easy as they make it look!). Oh, and tasting some chocolate. And did I mention the chocolate? Here's a few pictures....

I had a brilliant day yesterday at Cucumber Cottage Studios "Scrapool 07" in Lytham. I was really pleased when Julie asked me to teach two classes, sadly she had been let down at the last minute by the original tutors for the day, so it was all a bit of a mad rush to get sorted! Still, it all turned out great in the end, I was really pleased with how the classes went, and I think that the group enjoyed them too.
The next class was with CherryArte papers, and we did some stamping and glittering, and used lots of bling too! Here are the LO's - again we had two different kits to choose from....

Then we finished the day off making a lovely minibook with BamPop papers - I have my kit here for that one and I can't wait to get started! Will post piccys when I have done it!

So, all in all I had a great time, met some lovely people, and hopefully will get the chance to do something like that again in the future!

And a big thankyou to Julie and everyone else for making me feel very welcome!

Here we are again! Have got a couple of LO's for you that I did for the Banana Frog DT gallery. The first one I made with Polar Bear Press paper, Banana Frog Teen lower case stamps, a few buttons and my corner rounder....piccy is from our wedding back in 2000.

And this one uses Pink Martini papers, and the circles are from the Banana Frog Build a Bloom stamp set (I lurve those stamps!). The paper is lush too - lovely and bright!

I got a lovely surprise when I got in from work yesterday - a new camera! My fantastic hubby had got me the new Sony T200 digital compact camera, and let me tell you, it is bloomin lovely! 8.1 megapixels, 3.5 inch touchscreen, and all sorts of clever things like smile detection and what have you! Its all shiny and pretty and I wubs it! Look.......(and yes, it is black!)

I am a very lucky chicken!

I thought I would show you my latest LO for a DT competition. The brief was to only use cardstock and basic tools, and my Bam Pop stamps were just right for this one!

Goodness me, I have been neglecting poor old bloggie again haven't I? So, what have I got to show you......

This was one of my entries into a DT comp, and considering I finished it with only 10 minutes to spare I'm pretty happy with it! And I LOVE this sign that we saw in a shop window in Celebration - every store should have one! The challenge for the next round is to complete a LO using only cardstock and basic tools, no patterned paper or embellies, I've still got my thinking cap on at the moment for that one....

And here's another piccy for you....seven years ago today! Happy Anniversary Chicken! (my goodness, don't we both look TOTALLY different LOL!) Check out the couple on the top of the wedding cake, yep, its Mickey and Minnie! Very fitting for our wedding at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club at WDW, Florida....now you know where the Florida obsession started!

Well, its been a while so I thought I would do a little update type thing! I have a couple of things to show you....The first one was my entry for the 2nd round of a DT competition - I got through to the next round, yay! And I got another nice LO for my Florida scrapbook!

Then I used up some more of my lush Amy Butler papers along with a digital stamp by Katie Pertiet, and MM grommets and alpha's for the other LO. Shame the colours didn't turn out so great in the scan...

I took a trip out to the newly re-opened Cucumber Cottage in St Annes last Saturday with my Mum (Hi Mum!) where we stroked a lot of stash (and purchased a lickle bit too!).

And (cue fanfare!) I submitted a LO to the Basic Grey gallery and it was accepted! Woohoo!

Last but not least - Happy Birthday Victoria! 21 again, is it?!

Lots of lovverly things to show you today.....first off, here are some things that I did for Banana Frog with the gorgeous Build A Bloom stamps. I lurve these stamps, and I have just splurged on some some fabby new ink colours so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to try them out!

I managed another two LO's this weekend - making full use of the new printer of course! Liberty Belle uses K&Co and My Minds Eye papers, along with Technique Tuesday stamps, and I can't remember where the brads, photo turns and blossom came from! Title was printed straight on to the patterned paper (of course!)

Whale of a Day uses yummy Crate Paper Brunch collection (Love these papers!), Queen & Co felt ribbon, various brads and American Crafts foam Thickers. The rest of the title and the little stamp (by Katie Pertiet) were printed straight onto the paper again.

Definately a couple of new favourites there!

Its great being able to print titles and journalling straight onto the cardstock or patterned paper. I used 7 Gypsies paper, some MM Clears flowers, and Technique Tuesday stamps.

Well, I didn't realise it had been quite so long since I last blogged! Oops! Still, at least it means I have a couple of things to share. Well, 3 actually! The first one is pics of my good friend Winnie the Pooh at the Magic Kingdom -I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Long Words Bother me! Love Pooh quotes! I have used some Sassafrass Lass paper, Chip Chatter letters that I inked and UTEE'd to make the right colour, MM flower grommets, and the scalloped frame was cut on the Craft Robo, inked and UTEE'd to match the letters. Next up is "Soaked" - journalling tells the story of the day we took Mum on a water ride at Islands of Adventure after assuring her that she wouldn't get wet (well, we normally don't!), but sadly, the boat was half empty and Mum seemed to come off wetter than the rest of us! I think she might forgive me one day! I have used some Junkitz papers, Heidi Swapp tape, Technique Tuesday stamp, and the title was cut on the Robo. And here we have a LO featuring me, and my chickens classic line....journalling as follows... "Picture the scene. It's the last day of our Florida holiday, and me, Ste, Mum and Dad are in the car, on our way to the airport to catch our flight home. Ste and I had been up till about 3am, enjoying ourselves in the hotel bar. I was feeling rather tired and maybe a teensy bit narky at this point, and frankly, the last thing I wanted to do was go and sit on a plane for 8 hours. "Are you feeling OK?" someone asked me. "You seem very quiet." Quick as a flash, Ste turned to them. "What have I told you?" he said. "DON'T POKE THE BEAR!"" Cheeky boy, I don't know what he was trying to say. I used Crate Paper Cowboy, some BG chipboard brackets inked and UTEE'd (thanks Vic!), various buttons, and the journalling and title was printed straight on to the patterned paper from the computer.

Another two LO's for you! My word, I'm on a roll at the moment!
The first one is another 8.5 x 11 - I'm definately starting to like this size now! I have used Sassafrass Lass paper, Heidi Swapp chipboard alpha's, Maya Road chipboard swirl that I have inked and UTEE'd, and a little bit of Heidi Swapp tape. Journalling reads...

"One of my favourite views in the Animal Kingdom - standing on the bridge into the African village of Harambe, looking down the river towards Expedition Everest in the distance. Looking at this photo its hard to believe that you are in the middle of a theme park in Central Florida!"

This one was created without the use of any patterned paper - just some buttons, chipboard and a couple of KI Memories felt flowers. Journalling reads...

"After our first full day in Florida, we decided to eat at one of our favourites, the Nascar Cafe on Universal Citywalk. Chicken strips for Mum, Chicken Caesar Salad for me, and big, fat, chilli burgers for Ste andDad!"

I have two layouts for you today! One I did last weekend, and one today - I have been completely lacking in inspiration all week, so I am pleased that I have managed to complete a LO today, and better still, I am happy with it too!
Here I have used American Crafts A La Carte papers, KI Memories felt flowers and some more Autumn Leaves buttons. Pics are of the ferry across the lagoon to the Magic Kingdom - we much prefer the ferry to the monorail!
And then we have some pics taken during the parade at the Magic Kingdom, I have used Basic Grey papers, Heidi Swapp tape, and American Crafts chipboard punctuation. I really like the bright colours I have used on both of these - makes a nice change for me!

Another LO, this is one that I had originally done in 12x12, but I really wasn't happy with it so I just threw it to one side. But after last nights 8.5x11 experiment I thought I would have another go, so I cut the 12x12 layout up to make this one, which I like much better!
The paper is Autumn Leaves French Twist, with AL stamps, and Prima Flowers.

Here's my next Florida LO, and a bit of a change of format too. I just couldn't get this LO to work in 12x12, so I thought I would try 8.5x11 and I'm really happy with how it turned out! Plus I can still put it in with my other Florida 07 LO's as I got a great scrapbook from WDW which is actually a ring binder album, so I just punched a couple of extra holes in my 8.5x11 page protectors and in they went!
The pics were taken from the top of the SeaWorld tower, and I thought I would use Peter Kays first stand up show as my inspiration for the title. I have used some Sandylion and Crate paper, MM grommets and a Banana Frog stamp, the title was cut on the Craft Robo.

Have completed another LO for my Florida 07 scrapbook - picture was taken at the waterfront at SeaWorld, pretty much at the bottom of the SeaWorld Tower (just in case you know where that is!).
The paper is K & Co (I think!), stamps from Banana Frog, Technique Tuesday and Autumn Leaves, MM grommet, and some more buttons!

Was nice to see some more sunshine today! Mind you, I nearly missed it considering I didn't wake up till about 11.30 - not like me!



Have had another sort out of the craft room today, and also completed another Florida LO - this one is some pics I took of the Tree of Life at Disneys Animal Kingdom. I've used some Basic Grey Scarletts Letter and Hang 10 paper, lots of purdy Autumn Leaves buttons, and some Autumn Leaves stamps too. Might have to try and take a photo of it in daylight tomorrow, cos the colours look a bit washed out on the scan. Never mind - tis beautiful and strokeable in real life!

Have been back for 5 days now, and it almost feels like we have never been away! Hate those post holiday blues....
Did a quick trip to Ikea last night, I had run out of storage space for my stash so we picked up lots of lovely little stackable tubs for me to put things in. I had to get clear ones cos otherwise I forget what I have got! Got some nice magazine files too, such a bargain, £1.49 for 5.

No more stash photo's for you tonight - here are a few that a took in Florida....

Expedition Everest at the Animal Kingdom - this was a new experience for us, it wasn't open the last time we went. It was a great coaster, even my Dad enjoyed it!
Some flamingos being taken for a walk at SeaWorld - how bizarre!
And here's Shamu, just after he had soaked everybody in about the first 20 rows of the stadium! We were clever, we sat at the back!

Some more piccies for you - this time I thought I would show you some snaps of the extremely fabulous Scrapbook Boutique on Sand Lake Road. I asked the (very friendly!) staff if it was OK for me to take some piccies so I could tell people how fabby the shop was, and they said I could go right ahead......