Introducing Bertie!

I have been toying with changing my car for some time and although there's been nothing wrong with it, in a week I'd have had my mercedes for 6 years!

For a long time I've had my eye on a Fiat 500 - going from large to small you might ask... well, I love the retro look and styling of these gorgeous little cars... plus I calculated for about £30 extra a month I could have a brand new car, taking into account fuel, insurance and tax.

Last Saturday I decided to bite the bullet and visit T J Vickers in Shrewsbury - what a lovely and helpful company! After a call from Harvey to say don't go and buy one then and there, I was extremely tempted to do just that - the girls were egging me on to but I resisted and after a brief discussion, I was back at the garage signing on the dotted line!

I've been and picked up my new little car earlier today which I've named Bertie...

Just waiting now to sort out my reg plate with DVLA - the whole process ought to be made much easier than it is currently!

Not normally one for interiors, I fell in love with the cream and chocolate seats as much as I did the cars' bailey's cream colour!

So cute don't you think!

I did ask the guy at the garage if they sold the eyelashes to wind Harvey up - it worked a treat!

This year is whizzing by...

and we're well into September...

Summer is over, if we are lucky there may be a few sunny days yet to come and the kids are back at school.

So what better way to spend a bit of scrapping time than with the gorgeous September kit from ScrapaGoGo.

Reminiscent of school days past, with quirky little elements such as a pen nib, old fashioned seal and speech bubble stamp, it a perfect remedy as those darker nights eek in!

My first layout features a photo taken back in May by the lovely Anna Bowkis - I opted for a boudoir session with her and was so pleased with the images.

I'd had a pot of UTEE powder in my stash for some time and decided to get it out and have a play stamping into the melted powder. I don't own a melting pot so it took some time to melt enough to be able to make a full stamped speech bubble!

Having been inspired by some calligraphy I recently saw, I decided to be brave and journal using a combination of capitals and scripty style handwriting. I was extremely pleased with the results and hence they appeared on my second layout too!

The cute little envelope was made freehand, although I did make it on a piece of scrap paper first - perfect for housing the old fashioned seal that came with the kit.

We've been back five weeks....

And I haven't shared a single photo!

We really had an amazing holiday - I loved every minute of it, met up with old friends and made some lovely new ones too!

Fo those of you who don't know, we tend to cruise with my parents - this year we tried to keep a theme each formal night on colour - no guesses what the colour theme was tonight!

Group shot - need I say more?

Bless - how lovely xxx

My Mum hates having her photo taken but positively shone in her dress - you look gorgeous Mum and for nearly 80, D doesn't look too bad either! Love you both xxx

New FB photo

Middle and little princesses xxx

Harvey's angels (one missing cause she was in Thailand travelling!)

Me 'n' Nina - love this one xxx

Notice anything different about my blog?

Yep that's right, it's had a facelift... TBH I wanted to upload a new photo of me, then low and behold, I completely lost my header!

I decided someone was trying to tell me something so there you go!

Hooray, I've caught up!

So after feeling very guilty that I had let the Chinese Whispers team down and not completed a couple of my LO's on time, I have managed to catch up and am only two days late in posting this month! (To be honest, it was already done, but the flare on the photo in the early evening sun did nothing for the LO and so I decided to wait for better weather this weekend!)

I should however say that loosely as the weather in sunny Shropshire is far from sunny - I've been brave and put a load of washing out, but if it doesn't rain before it's dry, it'll be a miracle!

As always, I receive a layout from one Ally and send to another Ally.

The lovely LO for this round looked like this...

I know I've said it before but I do so enjoy this clever CJ idea xxx

It gives me an excuse to scrap for pleasure and use items such as the blank postcard sent from Rome to home... this is something I always try to do when on a cruise as you visit so many different places on the trip!

Our day in Rome was amazing, if somewhat tiring in 40 degrees!

It's a place Harvey and I will return to out of season and do the sights properly! The photo is of Nina outside Trevi fountain - I loved how the Instax camera created a lilac hue to the image.

The papers are mainly from Websters and although not one for usually going for broke on blooms, I used about 100% more than I would normally do and actually really like it! Stepping away from your comfort zone isn't always a bad thing!

The month strip was cut last November, by my lovely friend Jackie using a die-cut machine - I've kept it safe waiting for the opportune moment to use it!

Loving white gesso at the moment and so the LO got the gesso touch here and there including on the alpha to soften it!

So now I've got a window to play with the stunning new ScrapaGoGo kit... I've got two very definite ideas for my DT work for this kit, so fingers crossed they translate!

One involves the funky stamp, but I need to experiment first to see if heat melts acrylic stamps! Don't worry, my experimenting will be on an old stamp!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and Go Team GB...