Ooh I won a book!

I love reading Sian's From High in the Sky blog, so of course when she was offering a giveaway if you commented on what you liked about it, I had to have my say too (to tell her how great it is of course!)



And now I'm very chuffed as my name was picked out of horsey's hat as the winner. Here's the photo of when he'd picked it out:



It makes me feel quite honoured to have my name on his nose! The prize is the book you can just peek on the left, 'Blogging for Bliss' which I've seen advertised / mentioned in a couple of mags and thought it looked interesting, so I'm looking forward to getting it in the post.



Thanks Sian, both for the opportunity to win, and for writing such a funny, moving, inspiring blog that we all love!



x

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my sunshine and her abstract art!

I really liked one of the pages I did for my This is why I scrapbook album - the page with a gorgeous photo of my little girl, and lots of lovely bright and swirly colours. It used some papers that have been waiting in my stash for ages - they were the first ones that I ordered online at full price, because I loved them so much when I saw them on a layout in scrapbook inspirations! It's the Basic Grey Phoebe collection.

I didn't have enough of exactly the same papers as I used in the mini album, but I had very similar ones and I think the layout works as a 12x12 interpretation of the original. The title uses Papermania sticker and chipboard letters to spell out 'I Love You':

I used an orange WRM eyelet which says 'you are my sunshine'.



Journalling reads:

This photo sums up your personality, fun and cute and happy. I hope you always find joy and laughter in the little things like you do now. You are my proper little sunshine, such a lovely sweetheart ~ you bring so many smiles and special moments to me each day. I will love you always xxx


I think the layout looks nice and bright and lively which is perfect for a pic of my daughter!

Speaking of whom, she did some painting this afternoon with some poster paints I bought from ELC. She won't wear plasticy aprons as she doesn't like the feel of them, so whenever we're doing something messy she has to wear an old t-shirt of mine!

She had fun creating a masterpiece, though towards the end she really just wanted to tip the water pot all over the page, luckily it was a non-spill pot!

Here's the finished piece of artwork! I'll have to find a place to stick it up for a while - but it's a bit too big to fit on my fridge!

Off to do a tesco's shop tonight whilst a friend babysits - what wonderful dates me and hubby go on these days!

bye for now x

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Family outing to... Ikea!

It's been about 5 years since I visited an Ikea store, and since the Southampton store opened a year ago I've wanted to go, but my hubby doesn't like to take me there too often as I tend to buy lots of little bits that add up! But he relented this week as we had to pop to Southampton for something else, so today we went there with our little girl.

Not quite the outing for a toddler you might think, but she loved the place! Trying out the beds and chairs (esp rocking chairs) helping mummy put colanders and pink pottys and various other items into the trolley, and opening lots of drawers and cupboards! Of course this was driving us crazy by the end, as she'd dissapear every two minutes and we'd find her trying to climb on something in the next aisle / showroom, and as we were there for about 5 hours this got a bit tiring! Here she is posing in a bedroom which I think was mainly appealing because of the toy monster on the bed:



They also have cool kiddie stations which she loved the touch screen computers on, she was making very pretty pictures:



I bought lots of lovely stuff including a little wooden table and chairs for her (on sale for £12.49!) which I shall get a photo of when she uses it tomorrow (hubby has just put it together). One thing I loved but which didn't come home with me is this material:


I really, really loved it but I couldn't think of anything to use it for, so couldn't justify purchasing any! I did get some cute birdie material which I gonna try to use to make some clothes for my little one though.

Hubby says it will be at least 5 years before he takes me there again. We'll see!

x

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This is why I scrapbook - voting!

Voting is now open on Shimelle's blog for the 'This is why I scrapbook' projects that she inspired. You can see my mini book explaining the reasons why I enjoy this hobby here. If you like mine enough to vote for it then you can do so here, but you should check out the other brilliant interpretations on offer - the competition is steep so I won't feel offended if you prefer another!

My five favourites (other than my own!) are:

Cal at Clearing the Brambles
(for the doodled-edges folding mini-book style which I'm dying to copy)

Helen at Loving the Traditional
(for the different page shapes + sizes, and the way they seem to be coming to life)

Alissa at My World
(for the 'white space' she leaves on her pages that really show off the papers, esp on the 'pretty paper' page)

Annie at 365 Creative Days
(for the fact I love love love the colour scheme she uses, and the chandelier and birdie images)

Angie at the Arty Cottage
(for the messy, fun style with quirky retro touches)

Now I just have to decide which one to vote for! You can vote every day this month so perhaps I'll vote for a couple!

On another note, I've been using the leftovers of the 'kit' I made for the project to make a couple of cards, a birthday card for my niece:



and a birthday card for a currently unknown recipient! :



I still have plenty left in the kit, so I'll probably get a couple more cards and a layout or two out of it!

I have also just made a valentines card for my husband:

Which I really like as it is more simple than my usual style, I like the boldness of it. (Thanks to Leanne's blog for inspiring me to try to declutter my cards!)

I even managed to use up some of the itty-bitty little scraps for some embellishments for future cards / layouts!

Finally it's been a while since I posted any pics of my gorgeous little girl. She's going through that stage at the moment where saying 'cheese' means gurning some very funny facial expressions! Here she is this morning in her new dressing gown:

Ain't she the cutest?!

Bye for now,

x

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