Camera love....

Remember {{ this post }} way back in April?
Well, yesterday was the day when my newest best friend was put to the test. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad of a day weather-wise, in fact I would say at times is was TOO freakin' hot. And why is it that the sun is at its most fiercest and no refreshing breezes are about, when you walk UP a hill ?!!?? As soon as you get to the top and start the descent, breezes appear from out of nowhere and the sun hides behind clouds..go figure.

But I digress.

The Isle of Wight is famous for being one of the very few places in the UK, where you would still be able to find the {{ Red Squirrell }}. Sod's law dictates though that in my life time I will never see one....Mr P spots them all the time and even his sister and mum when they came over the other month, saw one as soon as they walked towards the little East Cowes park....hmpfhhh.

picture by Ray Eye, taken from Wikipedia

So we thought it would be nice to go to {{ Parkhurst Forest }}, where you will find an abundance of Reddies - unless I am part of your group, in which case you will see anything but...

But, there were many other things we saw - and thanks to my new zoom lens, I got some amazing pictures. Brace yourselves for a very picture-heavy post. As always - if you want to see some of the pictures enlarged, just click on them to open.

First stop - elephANTs...seriously those suckers were HUGE, I have never seen ants this big before and quite frankly, I never want to see them again. The forest floor was alive with thousands of them in places and it was quite interesting (from a distance) to see what they were up to.
House move, much ??? Look at the size of the twig compared to the ant...

The next thing we saw was a crow attacking a huge bird of prey - we couldn't quite make out what it was but think it could have been a hawk. They were quite far away and even with my zoom I only got as close as this. Anyone know what bird of prey that may have been?

Moving on, I got terribly excited that now I could get some super fun shots of butterflies, basking in the sun. Usually they bugger off as soon as you get close to them. Now I could stand way back and got fabulous close ups.

We even had a couple of butterflies starting their mating process right in front of us (the swines....), at least I think that's what they were doing...

The only thing that I didn't consider before setting off was that I should have also taken my normal lense for the shots that don't require such a strong zoom...when Mr P wanted to take a picture of me, he had to walk towards the neighbouring country to get the cam working, and vice versa. So we only really bothered with two pictures this time.

After a straight four hours of walking, we collapsed on some benches in the park and found this little fella took a hike on Mr P's shoulders...aaaawwwww

By then my legs were really hurting, so we made a quick walk towards the Red Squirrel hide. Needless to say none of the Reddies showed up and we walked back home, to enjoy an evening with a BBQ on our Phase #1 balcony :)

Balcony love....

Considering that we moved into our flat way back in 2003 - it was about freakin' time that we started to re-decorate/re-furbish some bits and bobs. One the the most ignored parts had been the balcony.
For a start it overlooks the main road, and whilst it is not that bad (after all, we are only a small town here) it can be a touch noisy at times.

The main annoyance though is the neighbouring balcony - we are only separated by a low metal bannister and so far we had nothing buy loud and nosy neighbours, the last one being the worst: As soon as I would just open the balcony door to step out - he was there "Hi, how are you..yada...yada...yada". He liked to talk - A LOT, he liked to curse - A LOT and he loved to drum his hand on the metal bannister - A LOT.

So, our balcony in the past had be a no-go-zone. But since the last neighbour left, we decided now is the time to do it up, but some partitions on there, which should give a clear sign to future occupants next door "back off...we are not interested to hear your life-story".

There are some things we simply cannot change at the moment - one being the awful tiling, which was done to all the flats a few years back. I HATE them - they are a bastard to clean and they look ugly...but IKEA has a good solution for that - {{ snap on decking }}, which we may invest on in bits and bobs....but for now the red ugliness has to remain.

And the blue tarpaulin - again something that all flats have (why BLUE, is beyond me though). Maybe one day, it will "accidentally/on purpose" disappear...

So this is where we are right now:

You may have spotted the bit of reed screen on the picture above - that is what we are working on right now, as Phase #1 of the balcony is taking shape :).

Oh, before I forget, I simply have to show off: I was featured on the {{ Cards Blog }}...with my {{ You Rocket My World }} card...yay!

Have a great weekend all - we are off to finish Phase #1 and hopefully enjoy a BBQ on the balcony later on.

Whoaaaaaa

Geez - I can't believe just how much mojo-overflow I have at the moment, cranking out layouts and cards left, right and center. So, prepare yourself for a picture heavy post :)

First off here are a few layouts I created just because - just free-flowin' chuckin' it all on :)

I also finally made use of many of the deco tapes I bought off Etsy {{ here }} and {{ here }}. They have been screaming at me to be used for ages!

** click on any of the following images to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs - #BLO011. Awakening, #SYLA013. Everglades,  #UDD0158. Love; Scribble Scrabble * Stickers: Making Memories, Jenni Bowlin * Pearls: Papercellar* Border Punch: Stampin' Up *

Ingredients:
Papers: 3ndypapir; Daisy D; My Minds Eye * Stickers: Dymo; Making Memories; Rusty Pickle * Buttons: Rusty Pickle * Pearls: other * Paint: Jones Tones

Ingredients:
Papers: My Minds Eye * Stickers: Rusty Pickle; Making Memories; Dymo * Pearls: Papercellar * Stamps: Catslife Press; Hero Arts * 

And then there are some cards, which were created for a few fun challenges, across the net.

The recent challenge at {{ Allsorts }} is asking for the use of tags/tickets on your card, for which I dug deep into my old Rusty Pickle stash box for some vintage tags. I used the {{ Yummy Cupcake }} stamp from {{ Some Odd Girl }} and a selection of my ProMarkers.

Mrs {{ ODDity }} pointed out a fun challenge for me straight from the {{ cards }} blog, who were looking for creations with punny sentiments...Now THAT is something I don't need to be asked for twice.
Enter my feathered friend {{ Birdie Hatch }} another stamp from SOG and more ProMarker action :)

This card also qualifies for the recent sketch (I flipped it 90° to the left) over at {{ 2 Sketches 4 You }}, who are celebrating their 2nd birthday this week - and there is no doubt that {{ Kazan }}, {{ Laura }} and their DT are an EGGcellent inspiration week in, week out ! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY my lovelies :)

Phew...I guess that's it for the moment. But I am sure I will have more to post soon.

We have a winner!!!

Remember {{ this post }}? I asked how many different lines from {{ Upsy Daisy Designs }} did I use to create this layout?

The first person to guess the correct amount was:

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Leah the Orange said...

oooh, YUM, and WOW! gorgeous page, luv! these photos you've been sharing are TOO fabby!

i'm gonna go with 9 different lines on this page... and that's SO up my alley - love your style, girlfriend! xo

10 May 2010 16:45

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WOOT WOOT girlie your pack of ribbons is on its merry way to you.

And for those interested, these are the lines I have used:

{{ See You Later Alligator }}
{{ Blossom }}
{{ Man About Town II }}
{{ Man About Town }}
{{ Fantastic Freeway }}
{{ Tweet }}
{{ Cupcake }}
{{ Vroom Vroom }}
{{ Vogue }}

Upsy Daisy Designs - DT May, Pt III

Since I have changed my preferred scrap size to 6 x 8.5, a fresh breath of productivity has been going through my craft room. I just cannot stop - at least once a day you will find me at my desk, pondering about another project...

When I looked through all my old official documents and had to giggle at the passport sized photographs - most of the time I look like a deer in headlights, other times like a full blown criminal. So I thought it would be fun to get them all printed out again and make a layout about it. Well, here it is - using oodles of {{ Upsy Daisy Designs }} products...and not forgetting to include a touch of fussy hand cutting

** Click on image to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs {{ #VO014. Fashionista }}, {{ #MT2-015. Tyler }}, {{ #UDD0165. Layette }}, {{ #UDD0134. Delicious }}, {{ #SYLA013. Everglades }} * Rub Ons: Upsy Daisy Designs {{ #UDD193. A Little Birdie Told Me }} * Brads: Upsy Daisy Designs {{ #BRD314. Metallic Blossom }}, * Other: Dymo Labelmaker; Paint; Uniball signo Pens; Pearls

If you are looking for a fantastic value Kit - I have one available over at {{ Konfetti }}. Lots of My Mind's Eye lushness in a box :)

£ 9.99  You will receive everything as you see in the picture. RRP well over £16.00

Smells just like ... Fergie

AVON has got some awesome news....they have teamed up with Fergie of the {{ Black Eyed Peas }} and produced a perfume EXCLUSIVE to AVON only!

Say it like you mean it with this bold blend of iced berries, feminine tuberose absolute and daring black leather. Floral, fruity. 50ml

A fresh, rich scent which has really grown on me. Generally I am not one for floral, summer scents but after having sold quite a few bottles to my customers, I have found that I now wear this perfume myself...I adore it. I have never worn a Popstar perfume before but this different.

If you fancy a bit of Fergie, why not place your order with me - you get free delivery if you order now AND I will throw in FREE body lotion and FREE body spray as well!

You have until 27 May 2010 to get your order in (just email me), make a payment via Paypal (subject to a £1.00 fee) and the perfume plus FREEbies will be mailed first class post on 03 June 2010.

SOG - Challenge #5 - Triple the Fun

For our fifth challenge, {{ Leah }} prompted us to mix things up a bit and use at least three different patterned papers, which had to be from different manufacturers as well. Now this I can do with pleasure :) Mixing and matching paper lines is something I enjoy a lot, so I finished this challenge within a jiffy.

I love the {{ Rocket }} image from the latest release...so I had oodles of fun playing :)

**click on image to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Papermill
Papers: My Minds Eye, 3ndy papers; Scribble Scrabble
Overlay: Sultane
Other: Stickers - Jenni Bowlin, Making Memories; Pearls - Papercellar; 
Tools: Stamps - Some Odd Girl; Promarkers

I hope you all are going to join us again over {{ there }}, the submissions we receive are always totally rockin'!!!

Challenges & London Weekend

*** Picture heavy post ***

Before I bore you with the excitement of the last weekend, let me get the cards I created for a few challenges out of the way...

First of is my entry for the recent {{ 2 Sketches 4 You}} Challenge. Here is Laura's sketch, which is so gorgeous that I will undoubtedly use it over and over again.

And this is the card I created from it - for an upcoming birthday of a guitar-nut :)

** click on any image to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Papermill * Papers: 3ndypapir * Digi-Stamp: Some Odd Girl {{ Guitar Kody }} * Stickers: Jenni Bowlin, October Afternoon * Pens: ProMarkers, Uniball Signo

And then I discovered the {{ 365 cards }} challenge blog, simply because it was a recommended blog through my Google Reader. Based on the subscriptions you have had in the past, Google Reader makes suggestions as to what else may be of interest to me - and yesterday, I stumbled across the above blog - I can see myself taking part over there a lot!

This is the sketch for {{ day #77 }},which is absolutely adorable and versatile.

And here is my take on the sketch. Again a card for an upcoming birthday.

** Click on images to enlarge **

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Papermill * Papers: Upsy Daisy Designs {{ #UDD0040. Right On Track }} * Digi-Stamp: Some Odd Girl {{ Owlie }} * Stickers: Jenni Bowlin * Pens: ProMarkers; Uniball Signo * Other: Pearls; Button; Bling

Mr P and I spent the last weekend in London, visiting his folks and taking some time out to explore London. Not that we haven't done that before when we lived there, but that was like ten years ago...so it was about time.
Of course the end had to be spoiled by me getting a migraine again (they are far too frequent lately, for my liking...) and we had to leave a day earlier than expected...but we are going back again soon.

First off, we went to the {{ Imperial War Museum }} - I was amazed by the sheer amount of relics that are on display, by how much you are allowed to actually touch the exhibits and by the fact that the entry to the museum is FREE! Mr P's nephew became tired after three hours though and we decided to call it a day (and to come back to see the rest very soon).

** click on any of the following images to enlarge **

Entry to the Imperial War Museum

Myself, Mr P's sister and nephew

The inside of the {{ Jagdpanther }}(one of Mr P's favourites) - scary just HOW small the room inside a tank is. Now imagine you are sitting in there, having to keep an eye on the enemy whilst going through rough terrain...ugh

I had to chuckle when I saw the name of this {{ Sherman tank }}...

And then there was my favourite, the {{ Lancaster }}. Ever since I saw it flying during an airshow in 2004, I have been in awe of this incredible piece of machinery.

In the section, where they had all the old signs, cartons, propaganda posters, clothes, etc on display I had another right old chuckle, but only after I said to myself "how typical...that is all we are good for?!?" when I cast my eyes on this sign

But it was followed by this one, which made me feel much better...boys can apparently only be trusted to do SIMPLE things during the war. whilst us girls are trusted with the USEFUL ones...he he.

It was funny to watch that every single adult who went along these signs had the same reaction as I did...the blokes giggled first but us ladies had the last laugh :)

Then it was time to get outside and enjoy a bit of the attractions along the Thames. We wanted to do more, but spent so much time inside the museum, that we only managed the {{ Tower Bridge }} before heading back to Mr P's folks' place for the night.

Myself, Mr P

One thing I really loved and another reason why I need to get back to London soon, is the {{ Elephant Parade }}. Over 250 elephant sculptures are placed in London and we only saw something like 30 odd of them. I did not have my own camera with me, otherwise you would have had Ellie-Overload right now. As it stands, I can show you two of my favourites we saw opposite the {{ Tower of London }}.

I have already downloaded the map on where to find the rest of them...and naturally our next visit will be planned around the Ellies :)