I'm a brave girl!

If I have ever got close to having a phobia, it has been with snakes, and quite justifiably so. Being born in Nigeria, and living there till I was 9, I developed a healthy fear to stay awy from the dangerous creatures. I could never really understand why anyone would want to have one as a pet, and especially to touch or have one coiled round their neck!

Luke was invited to a birthday party on Monday, and rather than the mandatory bouncy castle, fancy dress and screaming children, the parents of the girl who's birthday we were celebrating, went down a more creative route. They bought in entertainment in the form of Simon Airey from Corner Exotics. An enthusiastic man who brought various animals and creatures to share. He gave lots of information and tried his best to put people at ease, particularly with the furry 8 legged creatures and the afore mentioned reptiles. I was not prepared for the amount of screaming to be had when Simon flicked a toy spider into the middle of the room - the boys were worse than the girls! Eventually when everyone had calmed down the girls were very brave in coming forward and looked, touched and eventually handled everything that came out of Simon's boxes.

These included a Chinchilla, a desert hedgehog, exotic furry! spiders, huge scorpions, huge cockroaches, tree frogs, a bull frog, lizads, gecko's, a chameleon, stick insect, and various sized snakes. We were constantly reminded that fear is learnt and that all the animals were safe, this however did not put everyone at ease.

Ethan stroking a lizard
Ethan probably touched more animals than Luke, though Luke did stroke a snake. A highly enjoyable evening, highly recomended for a party, wether child's or adult!

"No mummy, I don't want to hold it"

I worked my way up from a small snake to this big mumma!



Below are pics of a beer mat album that will be going on sale on ebay at the weekend.

Note to self: continue making Crystal brooches.

Lemon Drizzle cake...

As I am waiting for the cake to cool down, thought I'd post...

I've had a thoughtful weekend, the front page of The Independent grabbed me on Friday. THe was a huge article about how British plastic waste ends up in China causing pollution. The effects on children and adults are just awful. The article is here for anyone interested. I already seperate my rubbish, and plastic that can be recycled (which does not include yougurt pots and margerine tubs!) is picked up. However I began thinking about how further I could reduce our household waste.

So I've begun a plan...

Try and buy meat only from the butchers = less packaging.

Only buy loose fruit and vegetables unless packaged in recyclable materials (I sometimes buy "nice" tomatoes, and they come in silly plastic dishes.

Cut down on bought cakes and biscuits etc and make more attempt to make my own - hence the Lemon Drizzle cake I made today! Recipie was found here.


I was reminded today in church that although we can sometimes feel helpless against the bigger and darker forces that seem unable to be beaten, that as a Christian I have access to an Almighty God who's power we can tap into through prayer.


My sister has blogged!!! yay, go Esther!!! And I'm going to put her pic here, coz I love it! I took it when she was pregnant with Troy, she doesn't like it, she says it looks like she doesn't have a neck!
Ethans latest words...

Sit (sounds more like s%*t)
Sheep (also sounds like the above)
Stop
Cake
Apple
Book


Luke got his pronounciation slightly wrong when he announced to me that I had a "china", and that boys don't have chinas they have willies... you guess what he was trying to say!

Phew!!! A quick post.....

You know when you just finish a project and you just want to share it, even though you really must get to bed...... Well, this is one of those moments, so I won't say much, will load the pics and head to bed!

Front


Pages 1 & 2


Close up of page 1


Close up of page 2


Pages 3 & 4


Close up of page 3


Pages 5 & 6


Close up of page 5


Close up of page 6


Pages 7 & 8


Close up of page 7


Pages 9 & 10


Close up of page 10


Back


Close up of back


Top view


Inserts for journalling


I will say... Cherry Arte, Brenda Walton, loads of Primas and much much more... The whole swirls coming out of flowers is so inspired and scraplifted from the talented Delaney Gates, I thank you.

For sale on ebay now... click here

I was dared, so i did...

I've been lurking on a fabulous blog called Daring Card Makers. Members of the blog post a weekly dare to the rest of the team and any one else that would like to join in.

The results are so varied that you can not fail to be inspired.

I was officially dared by Kathy today, so I had to oblige... thanks Kathy!

The rules of this dare were to create a card with
: 7 brads or eyelets
: 6 flowers
: 5 letters

As you've probably guessed, I love flowers and my flower punches! I punched loads out to make some toppers, so I raided my saved bag of them. The Dream stamp is by Anna Griffin. The leaf stamp is by Rubber Stamp Tapestry and from the Ginger Hearts Set. i really must save up to buy some more, they are so versatile and useful.


Actually, I discovered it's ok to miss an episode of Neighbours (not that it rules my life, its just one of those treats I allow myself). It has inspired me to give up more `empty' pleasures in favour of more creative and meaningful ones.

Has anyone been watching Five Days on BBC1? My friend David Oyelowo has a brilliant part in it. It's been gripping, and great to see how his talent is being used.

babies and all that


Had my 20 week scan today, well technically it was 19wks+6.

All is well.

Did try to see if I could see any appendage that would indicate the sex, not that it matters!

The process of pregnancy and birth never ceases to amaze me.

Really enjoying being a Breastfeeding Support Counsellor at the moment. We had a record 8 mums to the last drop in. There was such a lovely buzz of chatter and babies.

Latest toppers listed on ebay...

I love punching out a whole load of flowers and create paper floral arrangements!
It's so simple and so satisfying.


...more toppers...

As I enjoyed making the heart ones so much, I've been experimenting with different colour combinations. This lovely blue anna Griffin paper looks so beautiful against this peachy orange colour.

Ilove using the contrast of black against bight colours, it seems to help the really stand out. These are fun and girly!

Blue and Brown together just look so sophisticated, these verses are just lovely to give to friends.
All of the above are for sale on ebay here

Friends...


One of my unofficial New Years Resolutions was to try and stay in touch with friends. Not by just a quick text, but sending a nice hand made card to say something special.

I had a spare moment this afternoon and got playing with some lovely new inkpads I got on ebay for a bargain price.


Ingredients: scraps of pretty papers, ribbon, prima flower various stamps

Ingredients: Stamp tapestry and Anna Griffin stamps, Prima flowers, squares cut out with Fiskars Shape Cutter


The wonderful world of blogs and friends and goodthings...

Our sweet friend Nigel popped over to say hi tonight, and told us his family had got into blogging in a serious way. I have just whiled away a good few minutes reading his, Beth's and the kids blogs. Fantastic stuff!

It's inspired me to write more on this one. Particularly about current things that I know I'll forget, like words that Ethan is saying, or latest jokes Luke has made up.

So... here goes, Ethan's current words are...

whaaaat? (said very often)
Dad!
Mum!
dook (luke)
nen (again)
hot
cat ( said with a funny CH sound at the end...very good for Welsh pronounciation)
cow/moo
horCH (horse)
see (usully when we have the camera out, he likes to see the picures we've taken)
watch!
ner - which is usually accompanied by pointing which means "That thing over there"
oc (chocolate)
Hair
Nose
shoes
oc (again! this time it means sock)
no
yess (yes)
fineesh (finished)
o oh (tellytubbies style means broken/spilt etc)
tawl (towel)
bach (bath)
choo choo (train)
jooce (juice)

Those are all I can think of for now.

Luke has a lovely sense of cheeky humour. He likes calling his friends funny names when he says good bye... So at the top of his voice he'll shout bye bye chocolate giant silly, or bye bye power ranger. He also takes great pains to assure me that any "guns" he makes or draws are "only toy guns mummy, they're not real". He's really taken on board my dislike for the objects!

Things I really have to do this week.

Sort out the record of Volunteer hours done for B'feeding support group (I'm writing this here so I'll feel guilty if I haven't done them!)
Make 2 brooches for an order

Some priceless recent pics

Luke pulling one of his funny faces
Tom and Ethan mid tickling session


Last lot...for now

I love the colours in these, so romantic!

Up for sale on ebay, click here

I'm on a roll...

You can't stop me!!!





I'm quite chuffed...

Whilst doing my shopping yesterday I happened to flick through a magazine and be inspired! The picture was of stuffed fabric hearts, with ricrac stitched into the seam. I loved the idea and thought it would look nice replicated with paper for a topper.


I cut the heart shapes out with my Fiskars shape cutter and templates and just layered the different elements. I am really pleased with the results! They're on sale here.

Also made these, Ilove this Anna Griffin paper!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...