~ Banana Frog Hop ~

Apologies.... this post would have been up earlier if it wasn't for a car that refused to start during school run! Not wishing to walk 30 mins (just one way), we opted for the bikes. Got home just in time for the RAC man to show up! What a great start to the first day of the school term!

If you have come from Anne, welcome! Anne is one of our latest Froglets to join the Banana Frog team.

For today's project, I challenge myself to use stamps that I've not touched before. Usually in a set, there are certain stamps that get used a lot and a couple that is left on the shelf, so to speak! So I told myself that I needed to get them out of their 'virgin' state! 

As the theme this month is on 'hearts', I chose the It's All About Hearts stamp set: 

I've never ever used the large hanging hearts so I decided to make use of that stamp in a card. 

I cut out the scalloped border and the hearts and adhere them using foam dot on the card. Then I applied glitter on them. A sticker sentiment finished the card. 

For my second card, I used the row of hearts background stamp. Here's the card:

I created a border strip with the background stamp, centre it on the card and adhere using foam dot. Then I added a butterfly ribbon on top of it. Left the sentiment blank so that I can fill it in later.

Now that I've used these stamps, I will no longer be daunted by them the next time I see them. Hope you are enjoying the blog hops. And if you fancy owning a Banana Frog set, leave a comment and it might just be your lucky day! 

Your next hop is Francine! Happy hopping! TTFN!

~ Happy Anniversary! ~

to hubs and moi! 11 years ago, we were formally hitched, although we had known each other for 5 years before! 

Anyway, hubs took the day off and we went down to Poole to visit his sister and his family. They kindly offered to babysit the boys so that we could go off for a meal but not knowing the area well, and which restaurants to go to, we took a rain check and decided to have the special meal when we are back in Birmingham. I already have in mind, our fav restaurant to go!

Anyway, hubs got me this as an anniversary present:

I got the owl and the clips. I won the beetle and the ribbon spacer by opening 2 drawers. Apparently, the Pandora store in Bournemouth was having a promotion whereby if you spend £50, you get a lucky dip. Now all I need is to add some beads to balance it out! I guess this will be a fairly long process of collecting. Just as well I stopped buying SB stash! 

Been doing some research and apparently, there are lots of alternatives to Pandora. Guess that's my next surfing sites! TTFN!

~ Half Term! ~

In the midst of half term at the moment. Enjoying the break especially not having to wake up early. Thankfully the boys luv their sleep too! They aren't too fussed about going out either so we hang out in our  PJs all day long. 

Currently, I'm busy transferring all my digi supplies over to iPhoto. I created a new library (click 'option' button while pressing iPhoto & it will bring up a box whereby you can chose different libraries or create a new one) and have been importing my digi files and organising them into various categories (somewhat akin to real stash!) It is a tedious process, seeing how much digi stash I've amassed in such a short period. Hopefully, this will allow me to find my supplies easily as my current method was getting too tedious and when I bought the same kit twice, I knew it was time to change my storage method! I've to thank a blog article I read on Design House Digital that allowed me to use iPhoto to store my digi collection. 

Anyway, I took a break to test out my new system of storage and created this LO about the boys' furry babes!

Patterned paper & various journaling elements from Katie Pertiet, trimming by Ali Edwards, circular rubon from Scrap Gals, tag from Jen Allyson and alpha from Audrey Neal.

Quite pleased that my new system works perfectly. I can now see what I've got and sorting them out in categories have enabled me to use them more effectively too. I've even grouped the seasonal files together such as Christmas, Halloween etc as it makes more sense. 

My wee one had to participate in a performance at the Gang Show tonite. Basically it's a show put up by the Beavers/Cubs/Scout groups. Little one was given a small part to play but he did kick a fuss about performing. Looks like both won't go down the acting route! Told him it's his last contribution to Beavers as he moves up to Cubs next week! Unfortunately no video or photos was allowed. Show was pretty good and I enjoyed it!  That was our first outing of the week! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 359 ~

This week, we are sponsored by  Guylou's Inimitability Digistamps:

The challenge is Tuesday Trio: blue, distressing and button. Here's my card:

Digi patterned paper by Kate Teague, tag by Jen Allyson. Sentiment by Banana Frog stamps and digi image suppled by Guylou's Inimitability DigiStamps, colourwashed using distressed inkpad.

TTFN!

~ The Beginning ~

Half term is around the corner! Yay! Looking so forward to it. It was also Parents' Evening as well. Fairly good report for the boys but more work needs to be done on the older one before he sits his SATS. Hence, doubt very much I'll have time for any creative stuff until SATs is over. 

Thankfully, that's where digi comes into play as it's easy to churn out a page in less than half an hour as opposed to an hour (or more) for traditional scrapping (and that's if I don't fluff about!) Bought a couple of new digi kits today and couldn't wait to play with them...

LO created using various elements from Robin Meierotto's Kraft Party kit. Journaling stack by Katie Pertiet. Words by Ali Edwards. Swirl & flower patterns by Celeste Knight. 

This was the nite where we (C & I) dragged Jaz (incidentally a renowned scrapper) out. We only met her recently in person although I had already known her (though not that well) via a scrapbooking forum. Anyway, this nite changed our relationship and the three of us became firm friends. Then last year, we added another two into the picture. But I will always cherish that nite outing (where I got really pissed drunk too... but that's another story!) TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 352 ~

This week is a week of sketches. Each DT member comes up with a sketch. Here's mine:

Kept it simple so that it can be opened for interpretation. 

Here's my card: 

Card is entirely created using digital elements, apart from the heart which I stamped using Banana Frog's Heart stamp set. Robot & papers came from Deena Rutter's Whole Lotta Love kit while the 'Adore' bingo card is from Lettering Delights. 

The entire digi elements were printed,  cut out and assembled on the card. Have to say, that robot is just too cute for words! No surprising I had to get the kit! TTFN!

~ Happy Valentine's Day! ~

Hubs surprised me with an enormous box of choccies from Thorntons! We don't usually celebrate today as our anniversary is later in the month and we much prefer to go out for a meal on that day instead of today as restaurants are invariably fully booked and overpriced! Besides, after celebrating our son's birthday the day before, it's just too much to celebrate today as well! 

So in honour of today, I did this LO: 

LO done using a Shabby Valentine kit by Karen Funk.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day! TTFN!

~ Happy Birthday! ~

to Zac! Eight years ago you came out, exercising your lungs and today, it hasn't stopped! You are loud, cheeky and simply adorable!

Papers by Karen Funk from One Year Older kit. Journaling, alpha & frame elements from Katie Pertiet. Month element from Robin Meierotto. Tab element by Karla Dudley. The 'Z' element from Elles Studio. 

He was certainly pleased with his iPod Touch and his Hero Factory toys! TTFN!

~ New Pets ~

The eve of my wee one's birthday and we wanted to bring him out. He requested to go Legoland but unfortunately, it wasn't open for business during the winter season, nor other theme parks! We did manage to find one in Blackpool but the wee one wasn't interested, as he didn't want to travel far. Instead, he begged, pleaded, cajoled his dad into getting him and his bro, a pet each! Now I'm against keeping a pet as it's too time consuming not to mention the hassle of housing it when we are away on holiday! I like to be away to just jet off at the last minute without having to worry about who's gonna look after the pet! Anyway, their dad promised a small pet, one that is easy to look after!

So off we went pet hunting. We visited 3 places we knew that sold tiny creatures. Finally at the last stop, the hubs fell in love with a Russian Dwarf hamster and got one for each of them. Have to say, they are pretty cute! Got the boys to promise that they would look after them including cleaning after their poops!

So here's a LO documenting their hunt for their new pets:

LO done using Story Time kit by Katie Pertiet. Tape by Celeste Knight and words by Ali Edwards.

I need to find a better way of organising my digi supplies. Have amassed that much that current storage system is ineffective. Might just have to create a new library in iPhoto to house them. The only problem... time! TTFN!

~ Gotta Luv Technology! ~

I seriously don't know what I do without modern technology! Contacting friends and family members who live overseas is so easy these days. My dad gets to see his grandkids more often now that my bro and moi have iPhone 4 and we 'facetime' each other quite frequently! Thanks to wifi! Contacting friends is even easier thanks to the apps that allow communication, completely free! 

I got to know these group of gals thru' scrapbooking. Initially, it was just one gal. Then we got introduced to another and another and eventually, we ended up being firm friends. Last year, we got along so well that we became a group, calling ourselves the Joy Luck Club (or Joylites for short). Despite moi living thousand of miles away, we never cease contact, chatting via Facebook. Then today, we tried video conferencing! We used Skype and we had the most fabulous chat ever! Never mind that they woke me up at 6.33am (blame it on the time difference)! 

So in honour of them, I did a LO documenting today's event!

LO created using Pinfeather collection by Carina Gardner. A sheet from Jen Allyson's Vintage Findings. Calendar element from Kate Teague.

Managed to snap them while we chatted! Luv these gals and can't wait to see them soon! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 345 ~

This week we are sponsored by Digis With Attitude.

The challenge today is to create a card based on a 'rock style'. Here's my card: 

The background image was downloaded from the web. The gal was a digi image from Digis With Attitude, coloured using Copics. 

TTFN!

~ Happy Chinese New Year! ~

It's the first day of Chinese New Year today! Wishing all my Chinese friends and those who celebrate it... 

I'm in for a major celebration this weekend... lots of good food and good company! Cheers! TTFN!

~ Project 365: January ~

I seldom embarked on long term projects as I've a tendency to get bored halfway but when I saw the Project 365 app on iPhone, I couldn't resist it. No harm giving it a go as it's on my phone and I'm so attached to my phone at the moment. Anyway, glad to say that I did take a photo daily in the month of January and as a result have fill all the entire calendar month with photos. And I turned it into a page: 

LO (8.5x11") was created using paper from Splendid Fiins. Numbers by Katie Pertiet & alpha by Jen Allyson. Journaling element by Katie Pertiet and strips by Splendid Fiins.

So January was an eventful month. There were days where nothing exciting happened and I looked at the simple things to capture memories i.e. getting a high score on Word with Friends, chatting with my bro on FaceTime or even making a card! 

I'm now embarking on February's memories. So far so good. Looking forward to creating a page at the end of the month! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 338 ~

This week we are sponsored by SRM Stickers. Have to say, their stickers are a joy to use!

Today's challenge is inspired by the sponsor's name:  S-R-M. Hence the card should feature a Sticker (or several), Ribbon and Masking technique. 

The background paper was created using repositional mesh and mists. Cupcake & sentiments came from SRM Stickers. 

TTFN!