Your so vain?: selfie obsession

Since I got my iPhone for my birthday I have certainly been taking more photos especially because thanks to apps like Instagram & A Beautiful Mess a not so good photo soon looks a lot better with a filter! 

This also means I'm blogging and reading blogs more. The girls who created A Beautiful Mess (one day I will learn how to link blogs with the blogger app) have a great blog showing their taste in fashion, decor and photography tips. At the moment they are holding a 30 day selfie challenge to try and help you get over the fear of being in front of the lens and to be creative with how you take them. It's iPhone & Instagram law that you have to take at least one selfie. I felt a bit self conscious & vain at first bit now I can't stop! So here are a few I've taken

Laying your phone on a table & leaning over it selfie:

Damp hair, make up free selfie:

Home from work, tired selfie:

Front & back selfie:

And finally the obligatory funny face selfie:

I see a sign

Hello my little blog have you cooled down? I love the summer and welcomed the warm weather, but after a week of temperatures over 30 degrees I'm glad for a break. At first it was a novelty, a chance to get my toes out and get a tan but soon I was coming home from work exhausted, the heat had zapped me of all energy and I felt quite ill, not feeling like doing anything let alone crafting or blogging!

But I'm back now with what I hope will be a mini series of posts every now and then. I love seeing where people live when I post parcels for Ian, the unusual street names or the names which make you say "I'd like to live there". Or sometimes you just see a sign which makes you chuckle out loud. Over on Julie Kirks blog she has done a series of posts about funny signs and this has inspired me to share any I find with you. 

I went with Ian one evening this week to return a bike he had repaired to Pilsgate just outside Stamford. Whenever I drive through this village the is a small lane which makes me smile and say "I want to live there" and low and behold that was where the bike lived! 

The name conjures images of small, thatched, gingerbread type cottages springs to mind! 

This second one is a silly one I'm afraid! Time to lower the tone, at my age I should know better than to find this funny

So that's my silly and pointless mini series. I'll keep my eyes peeled for more signs. 

Scorchio weekend

Summer finally arrived this weekend. What is it with our weather? It never warms up or gets cold gradually, it goes from one extreme to the other! This weekend was one such example of this with scorching hot temperatures so we had to get out and make the most of it. 

On Saturday a long walk was in order. Whenever the sun comes out I always catch it on my nose, and a red nose only looks good on Rudolph! So a hat was in order 

I looked as though I was going hunting but as long as it did the job it didn't matter! 

We decided to go to Fineshade Woods, but rather than walk the woods itself we parked in nearby Duddington and walked the perimeter, and when I say it was a long walk I mean it was a looooong walk! Not to worry though was the sun was shining, and as we rounded one corner we could hear the bells ringing in nearby Kings Cliffe and the wedding of my good friends brother which made me smile. 

The smile soon faded though as we reached a field which the path went through which had these guys in it

Cows!! Which as soon as we climbed the stile walked towards us and followed us! I  will admit I'm scared of cows so walked v  fast! 

On Sunday I went to a local antiques fair with mum. Another hot day meant another hat

The fair was at nearby Grimsthorpe castle which despite the name is not a castle but a rather nice house

Mum looking for a bargain. Yes I know we had similar hats on lol! 

It was a good fair bit didn't buy anything but it was nice to look. It was also nice to sample the tea and cakes on the tea room

All this did came at a price though, serious tan lines lol! 

Two cards in one night surely not!

As some of you may know I'm not much of a card maker. I spend too much time thinking about what to do, wether the recipient will like it, etc that before I know it it's their birthday the next day and I resort to buying one! 

However for the past month & a half I've been trying the 5:2 diet and on fast days I need to keep myself busy to resist the temptation to nibble on a biscuit! Yesterday was a fast day so last night I decided to sit down and make cards for two friends who have birthdays coming up. I say decided but in honesty I've been thinking about making them for a week, planning ideas in my head changing my mind, and was about to do my usual "oh I'll have to buy one instead, it needs posting tomorrow"! Anyway I'm going off on one. I wanted to try my new MFT Polaroid die & has recently found an Amy Tangerine 6x6 I brought some time ago and used these as a starting point. 

I love the bright colours and patterns in this pad so pulled some of my washi tape out to use. Yes I said use, no more just stroking it! These are my cards, I went for same but different with different background papers

I ran the washi tapes along the card cut from the centre square of the frames, as well as a banner on the frame. The alphas are Making Memories stickers I've had for ages. 

The cards came together quickly once I got going. That is if you don't include the week of planning & tooing and froing lol! 

Sketchy Scrappers: All the fun of the fair

Welcome to the second half of 2013, scary huh! Well it's July 1st which means Sketchy Scrappers time. This months sketch was chosen by Julia who chose this sketch from Page Maps

I have to admit it took me a while to think of what to do, I don't know wether it was the photo size suggested or the circle but it took a while for my brain to get into gear ( no rude comments please!) Eventually though I found three photos I liked and decided to cut them to 4x4 instead and came up with this

I have blogged these photos taken around Stamford's Midlent fair, and I think used the title for the blog post, before. 

All the papers & the alphas are Amy Tangerine. The base paper is from Ready, Set, Go and came in Octobers Quirky Kit, the blue & red paper are both sides of the same sheet of Yes Please paper from the current Quirky Kit. The alphas also come in the current kit. After I had stuck them down I felt I needed to outline them to make them stand out, this kind of gives them a water colour or pencil crayon look in my opinion. 

I added buttons, sequins & punched hearts to create the invisible circle which originally had me stumped. 

Few new goodies

Hi, thought I'd do a quick post to show some new goodies I brought recently from Crafty Charlie. I do a lot of posting for Ian when he sells things so I run up a tab & then treat myself to lovely things with the money lol! 

I love the MFT stamp set with Audrey Hepburn sayings. I thought this would be ideal for making "just because" cards, ie none birthday, anniversary? Etc cards. 

I also ordered the MFT Polaroid die as I thought this would be handy to add frames to any Instagram photos I print off, but again would make an interesting feature on any project. 

Finally I ordered some staple October Afternoon mini market stickers. I like using small stickers on titles and have been using some Authentique letter stickers but I'm getting to the annoying stage where key letters are missing lol!  

Highs & lows of summer

I had intended to do this post last night but alas just as we are finally given a hint of summer I was hit with a Summer Low:

Hay fever: I love the summer, being able to sit outside first thing in the morning to last thing in the evening; getting out and about without numerous layers on, but it doesn't like me. As soon as June and the dreaded yellow fields arrive I get a heightened sense of smell around flowers like Superman and start sniffling & sneezing, and if I'm really unlucky as I was yesterday puffy alien bug eyes! I think because we haven't really had a summer as such I've been taking it for granted and not always taking a tablet first thing each morning. I learnt my lesson yesterday. I took a tablet just before we left the house, and I mean just, and had my sunnies with me (a hay fever survival essential as well as to look stylish) but didn't have them on all the time. Within half an hour I was sniffling but thought it would ease once the tablet kicked in but come the afternoon my eyes were itching and puffy all because I didn't wear my shades for a few minutes, rookie mistake! As a result I sat all afternoon inside rather than in the sun with cold flannels & spoons on my eyes! 

But where there are lows there are Summer Highs: 

Strawberry Picking: 

think of summer and what do you think of? Ice creams on the beach, Pimms, Wimbledon & strawberries & cream! Luckily we have a PYO strawberry nearby at Rutland Water golf course. So off we tootled yesterday morning to the little blue shack in front of lines of poly tunnels, grabbed a punnet each and went picking. 

 When you enter the tunnel you instantly smell the heavenly smell of fresh strawberries, and even though one of the rules is that you must pay for your fruit before you eat it, I defy anyone not to pop the odd one into your mouth! After all we're only human! And boy oh boy do they taste good, we were picking at them in the car I'm surprised we had any left when we got home!