Memorial Day weekend sale ...

Included in the sale over at mscraps is Che's latest kit ... Lazy Days.

This kit is about those lazy summer days that you just relax, sit under a shady tree, sip cool lemonade, watch clouds roll by and enjoy all the beautiful little things in life. Bliss!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are and whatever you're up to!

Football got me thinking ...

... don't worry, this isn't another football only post! But I am starting to get excited about the forthcoming World Cup tournament and my excitement grows each time I visit my local supermarket, which is now stocking a MASSIVE array of products all sporting the red & white cross of St George. Now this is all well and good, but both DH and I are actually Scottish, so as I'm sure you can imagine, it is incredibly difficult for us to walk by without feeling a slight tinge of regret, as once again Scotland haven't made it to the finals in South Africa next month.

But I started to wonder how I could combine my two passions ... football and scrapbooking. I didn't want anything specifically "sporty", so that ruled out any balls, goalposts or pitches etc, but I did want to somehow share the great sense of national pride that is currently sweeping across Britain (well some parts of it anyway!) in the run up to England's opening match of World Cup 2010.

And here's what I've come up with ... Passion & Pride #1 is a FREEBIE collection of 4 beveled edge wordart (2 with drop shadows and 2 without) featuring the flag colours of England (St George's Cross) and Scotland (Saint Andrew's Cross) ...

Click here to download

Here are a couple of layouts I created using them ...

click here for credits

click here for credits

Now, I realise that many of you reading this may not want England & Scotland themed wordart, so I'm intrigued to know which country you would be interested in. Just leave me a comment with the name of the country you either live in and perhaps a little slogan to go with it (such as "Pride of England" or "Flower of Scotland" etc) and who knows, I may just be inspired to create Passion & Pride #2!!!

It's so nice to see ...

... Leiko again! I've missed her designs so much, so when I saw she'd commented on my previous post, I just couldn't wait to find out what she'd been up to. She's just set up a new blog / website which you really must check out, if only to grab her wonderful Stroked v.1 wordart freebie.


Welcome back sweetie ... it's lovely to see you out & about again!

One month from today ...

... and here's where I'm gonna be ...

Nice, huh? :-)

I've done it again ...

... left it too long between posts! Ooopppsss, it's been more than a week again, where does the time go? Seriously, if anybody has an answer I'd love to know, so feel free to leave a comment.

Anyhoo, let me jump right in and bring you up to date on what's been happening on a digi-scrapping front. Firstly, the monthly challenges are in full swing over at oscraps and so far I've completed pages for Ona's Creative Techniques Challenge (changing photo backgrounds) ...

click here for credits

and Linda's Colour Challenge ...

click here for credits

Che (Che Yang Designs) has released Simple Templates 5 & 6 ... a super set of four easy to use templates. Here's a page I created using Simple Template 5a...

click here for credits

Now I don't know about you, but I really struggle to create "clustered" style pages ... you know the kind I mean, lots of elements and papers, all beautifully layered and shadowed and looking totally divine!!! Well, Sasha (Busy Bee Designs) has come to my rescue with her beautifully clustered / layered Easy Breezy templates. Here's a page I created using Easy Breezy Part 1 template ...

click here for credits

And last but by no means least, have you been keeping up with the Apprentice? No not the TV show silly, I mean the Apprentice contest taking place over at Little Dreamer Designs. My friend and fellow CT member, Tina O'Flynn has been creating up a STORM and has made it through to round 5 ... congrats girl!!! Now things are really hotting up ... Tina's new kit, One With Nature is available EXCLUSIVELY at Little Dreamer Designs at the bargain price of just $2. Now, not only do you get a fab kit packed to bursting with papers and elements, but you can also get 2 x quickpages + 1 x complete funky alpha!!! This is a fabulous offer ... but if you want it, you're gonna have to be quick as all the competition kits are only on sale for TWO WEEKS ... yup, you read right ... that's 2 weeks only!!! Here's a page I created using Tina's kit ...

click here for credits

Well my friends, I think that brings you up-to-date ... the weather here has finally started to behave more like spring / summer round here, so I'm gonna make the most of the warm sunshine and dig up the weeds in my garden and trust me, there are loads of 'um! I hope you're all well ... so what's been happening with you???

It all comes down to this ...

... the last day of the season. Please note: if you're not a football fan there's probably no point in you reading any further, because this post is all about football!

I love seasons like this, the passion and tension runs high, right to the very last kick of the ball and the last shrill blast of the referees whistle!

There are 20 teams in the English Premiere League, but only 2 remain in the running to be crowned champions. In the blue corner you have Chelsea; looking to become winners for the 4th time and the bookies favourite. Then in the red corner you have Manchester Utd; themselves multiple times winners of the league and one of the most well known football teams in the world ... they've both been swapping places at the top of the league table for the last month or so, and either could still clinch it today.

I'm a Chelsea fan and we're currently top of the league ... but only by 1 point. With today being the last day of the season, all matches kick off at 4pm this afternoon. Will Chelsea still be top at 6pm??? I sincerely hope so!

Come on you BLUES!!!!

********** EDITED **********

Woo-hoo ... Chelsea won and were crowned champions of the 2009 / 2010 Premier League season ... woo-hoo!!!

A meeting of like minds ...

... yesterday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed (so-to-speak), I headed into town to meet "the girls". The rendezvous was to be Baker Street station at 12:15pm. How would we recognise each other? I'd jokingly suggested carrying a copy of Wuthering Heights with a pink carnation flower as a book mark ... very Brief Encounter-ish!

Before arriving, I was thinking to myself do I go for the whole long-lost-friend-big-hug welcome or the-more-reserved-classic-British-hand-shake welcome??? The BIG HUG won!!!

I wondered what we'd talk about? In the end it was a bit of everything ... but not surprisingly we talked a LOT about our shared passion for digiscrapping! We all use different software packages, we have different camera preferences, we each work on a number of designer CT's, we have very different styles of scrapping and we admire each others creations! We talked about our families, our children (or lack of in my case), our homes and a little about girlie things!!! It felt natural, it was easy, it felt comfortable, it felt like we'd know each other for a long, long time. There were definitely no dreaded silences and we could've easily chatted on for HOURS!

But all too soon, real life kicked back in and work desks needed to be returned to, children needed to be picked up from school and trains needed to be caught. I feel very lucky to live close enough to be able to meet up with "the girls". I'm certain we'll do it again and next time, with luck, it'll be for longer!!!

So have you guessed who I met up with yet? Have you figured out who "the girls" are? Who else could it possibly be but ...


Can you believe I've got no photos of our get-together?!?!?! There is a reason ... but maybe next time, eh Selena & Lorraine? What do you say? Just one photo .... please??? LOL!

In real life ...

... do you ever wish you could meet your online friends in real life? I know I do! Well guess what??? I'm gonna meet two of 'um tomorrow and I'm sooooooo stoked by the idea that I finally get to meet these girls for real!

Do you fancy playing another of my silly little games? OK, all you need to do is guess the names [real or forum] of the two lovely ladies you think I'm meeting for lunch tomorrow!!! Simple, huh? Just post your guesses in the comments section and check back here on Thursday, when I'll reveal all!!!