Easy-peasy idea for Fathers Day

I just had to share this straight forward suggestion for Fathers Day (or your DH's birthday) - though I totally lifted the idea from Martha Stewart, here.

Grab a bucket & fill with the man-of-the-hour's favourite treats, new DVD's, gadgets, things for his hobby or, as in my husband's case, things for his second love: his motorbike.  Add a simple tag, fun banners, ribbons or even get your children to put painty hand prints all over it & voila!

I used Susan Bartolini's Mission To Mars kit to decorate mine, plus lots of ribbon, mini star buttons, even a little hessian-style ribbon (all of which will mysteriously disappear back into my craft stash when DH has 'opened' his gift of motorbike cleaning goodies (trust me, he'll be putty in my hands after he sees this lot - he's a little OCD about cleaning the bike!)

Bye for now!

Book clubs & other things

Hello!

I recently joined a book club - my first ever.  Its an on-line club run via the Sweet Shoppe's community forum, and we're just into the second month of books, so its all new, fresh & welcoming new readers all the time.

This month so far I've read 'The Girl Who Cased the Moon' by Sara Addison Allen - and just loved it.  Its a really light, charming & simply happy book to read.  I've already ordered another of hers.  I'm finding myself progressively reading more & more light-hearted books, rather than the more 'educational'ones. I find I more & more appreciate a little escapism in my choice of books - too many harsh things going on in the world without reading about them in a novel too.

Truthfully I rarely read books - I listen to them instead! ...which is precisely what I'm doing with a second of the book club book choices for May: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I felt like I'd given into popular demand & downloaded a heavy, deep book, but about 4 hours into the audio unabridged version, I am a total convert.  Its a beautifully written story - the audio version is told by 2 actors, an older Jacob & a younger version, and it works splendidly.  If you've never tried listening to a story - give it a go with this book, its worth joining a club like Audible for this one alone.

I hope you like the 'lil Love Bot box above (the little robot makes me smile) - the papers worked perfectly to make this more masculine themed gift box, don't you think?  Its complimented by this card - perfect for your man on any special occasion :)  The designs are all by Ju Kneipp, though the box template is by Heather Roselli.

Have I mentioned Heather has a new-look blog??  She's also beginning to sell her templates for commercial use too!!  I've been pestering her for this for ages!  Her range of Stick Learnings are also worth a peek if you've small children - made in happy collaboration with Rebecca from the CT team.  I've a couple of how-to's on the blog if you're interested too :)

Finally, in response to a art journal themed challenge this month, I had a go at making a journal cover in this new-to-me style.  This was the result:

I didn't have a journal to actually cover so I made one with recycled card & key rings.  I will definitely try this style again - including the 'she would...' quote idea.  It was fun & nice to try something a little different :)  Its made with lots of SuzyQ Scrap's goodies!

I'm off to dry my hair after swimming (30 lengths this morning!), and get more washing on the line :)

Wishing you a sunny day too,

Happy iNSD!

Happy {inter}National Scrapbooking Day - when we all have a lovely excuse to shop the extraordinary sales, play games & hopefully have time to scrap, create & have fun using all the lovely goodies in our stash or on our hard-drives!

Everyone is having a sale today, and have created new goodies to pop into their shops too.  Here are some of my personal fave goodies:

  

   

Heather Roselli has just launched her gorgeous, new-look site, plus a new range of fun and very colourful teaching aids called Sticky Learnings - well worth a peek if you're home schooling or simply want another play resource for your little ones - you can see one of the previews above.

I have a little something in stores today too!!!  I have had the sincere pleasure of playing with Kate Hadfield's wonderful doodle designs again to create these two mini sets - available only at The LilyPad:

These mini ready-to-print and assemble sets are perfect for Mother's & Father's Day, but are also suitable for birthdays, or any time you simply want to give a little something special.  Lots of how-to's are included if you're new to 'hybrid' :)

I'll leave it there for now, and let you go shopping!  ...oh, but I should tell you that there is a fun blog train departing from DigiScrap Addicts, with fun & lots of freebies along the way!