No special reason, I just love Fridays!  Favourite day of the week, with anticipation of a weekend ahead, sweet-day for the boys after school (and for me), and wine-o’clock comes extra early .

We had Sam’s sports day at school yesterday, it was our first experience of the junior school sports, and I was very happy to see that they fully embrace the competitive spirit, none of this non-competitive nonsense for them .  Paul, as usual, got some superb photos of Sam and all his friends, here’s a few of Sam:

Last night was our monthly village crop, and since it was a Thursday I decided to have a go at the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch:

and my version:

I love those little Jenni Bowlin banner stickers!  I used the June Cocoa Daisy kit, really love this one .

Home-made pizza for dinner tonight, just need to put the toppings on and we’re good to go .  Have a great weekend!

xx

I’ve had a new post on the Papermaze blog this week, Scrap Paper Scissors, with a tutorial on making paper spiral flowers.  I loved the clean graphic look of these, and they’re very straightforward to make – which is good, ‘cos I haven’t got enough patience with fiddly!

I used the lovely Crate Paper Brook line, just my colours , and did a page about my little fella with the cheeky grin:

Check the blog here for how-to pics.

And this is a page I finished off at least 3 weeks ago (how slow am I at getting stuff onto my blog??? Don’t answer that ), quite a bright one for me using the gorgeous May Cocoa Daisy kit:

I do love that October Afternoon paper, the one where I’ve cut and layered the diamond shapes, people have used that in so many different imaginative ways.  I love this photo of Sam, my dad took it at the beach last year, and I wanted to record how whilst Sam is not naturally an outdoor type, he really does love the beach, and can occupy himself for such a long time just playing around in the sand and water – typical Pisces, I say .

And today, it’s the water again – this week I bought one of those garden water slides that you connect to the hose, and Sam was just itching to get outside and play.  Most unlike him, I can tell you!  Here’s the evidence……

…and I mean a real one, in the garden!  And not just one – I discovered about an hour ago that there’s a whole family nested in our flower bed!  Paul spotted a grouse on the lawn a few days ago, we were quite surprised and haven’t seen one since.  Then tonight it was back and going crazy, squawking away madly for over half an hour.  I realised eventually that it was protesting at the cat (not ours, we don’t have one) hanging around in the garden.  Once the cat disappeared, the grouse quietened down, and I spotted that it had a load of tiny fluffy babies with it on the lawn!  So cute, about the size of golf balls.  I grabbed the camera and managed to catch them before they wiggled off back to their nest, the pic isn’t great but you can see the babies (click the pic for a bigger view):

My word, they’re cute!

I realised this morning that I didn’t blog my Inspired Blueprints LO in time, I think it was meant to be up by the end of June.  But I ended up working two full days at the playgroup this week, instead of just mornings, it’s thrown me a bit!  Here it is anyway, better late then never…….

The sketch:

and my page:

All about my favourite drink!  We went to my favourite ever cafe in May, Byfords of Holt, and Paul took this fab photo while we had a marvellous brunch.  This is the first LO from the rather gorgeous and different June kit from Cocoa Daisy, I love it.

Back to birdie-watch, I hope they come out to play again tomorrow

xx

My title couldn’t really be anything else, given that the Daisies that I had a day out with used the very same!  I’ve just spent a totally lovely weekend with my fab friend Lis, and while there, we drove to a lovely craft centre near Swindon (where we discovered Sparkle Dreams, a little gem of a scrapbook shop), to meet the equally lovely Laura.  I defy anyone to call it ’sad’ to make friends online, I would never have met these two (and other) fab friends otherwise .  And the photographic evidence (with Laura’s lovely little Beth getting in on the action!):

I’ve finally managed to scrap a bit, and what’s more, remembered to take photos, LOL!  I haven’t done a Sketchy Thursdays sketch in a while and thought it was about time I did. I have to admit I wasn’t sure about this sketch, not something I found easy to envisage, but I challenged myself to do it anyway, and I’m really pleased with the result!

The sketch:

and my interpretation:

I used the gorgeous Cocoa Daisy May kit, I love that bunting paper!

TFL, back soon with more………
xx

Ok, while you’re waiting for something crafty from me (I’m in a bit of a scrapping lull at the mo), here are some photos for your entertainment .

I took part in the Norwich 100/50 charity bike ride a couple of weeks ago, needless to say it was the 50 mile ride that I did, and not the 100!  But still 50 miles!!  Never thought I would actually really do it, but Lindsey, Jo and I made it round in about 4 hours, and even enjoyed it .  I’m so pleased with myself that I made it, it’s a real personal achievement for me.  Here we are coming in to the finish at Norwich Cathedral:

and proudly posing with bikes and medals:

This is my latest cupcake adventure – I was intending to frost in green and purple, but I tipped up the red food colouring a bit enthusiastically, and ended up with a strange dark maroon, oops!  Still went down well with the boys, though :

And lastly a photo I think I will treasure forever.  Sam and Max are great friends and get on so well together, but they’re not very physically affectionate, just the occasional pat on the head from Sam (!) and always a goodnight hug.  But Paul happened to find them snuggled together on the sofa one Sunday, watching a DVD.  One of those heart-melting moments!

xx