Sunday Stroll

We found another new place to walk.





I loved all the variation in the vegetation, sometimes we were walking under tall trees





then the trees became more sparse



and it became dry, open grassland



then we came to a stream



followed by more trees and ferns



we came across this boarded walk way that seemed to go on forever



which some considerate person had put there because (as we soon realised) it went through a swamp





Time for a rest!



Ah, some color standing out from all that green



The theme of the day was definitely 'holes'...

Holes in tree trunks



Holes in the board walk



Holes in the ground



Holes in the sign posts





All in all a great walk!

~A

You win some, you lose some...

I woke up last Sunday only to discover that someone had stolen both my car number plates...front



AND back



It is so annoying and irritating and frustrating and such an inconvenience.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

~A

I'm A Winner!

Recently I was a winner in a draw on this lovely blog and yesterday I received my prize, this beautiful Easter wreath.



I'm battling to take a good photo of it and unfortunately you can't see all the sparkle. It's so pretty.



Thanks Kirsty! Thanks dotcomgiftshop!

~A

Alphabet Photography

An article in a local paper caught my eye this week about alphabet photography.



Isn't the pic neat? It's made up of photos of letters and objects in the town. What a great idea!

You can read the full story here.

~A

It's A Boy Card

Inspired by the beautiful scrapbook pages on my sister-in-law's blog I made this card for friends whose first baby arrived over the weekend.



I stamped a postage mark onto the envelope and am really pleased with how it came out.



I wanted to make my own wrapping paper so I stamped onto brown paper. Unfortunately the ink turned really dark on the brown paper. Here's the card and gift almost ready to go.



~A

A Day in London

We went to London on Saturday. Whilst there we visited


Ripley's Believe it or Not

The bizarre artifacts didn't interest me much, I was drawn to the more 'creative' displays




Now there's a girl who knows how to save money!

This picture


made from


used postage stamps


Now there's someone with lots of time on their hands!

This duck made from junk


Now there's someone who knows how to recycle!

Here are a few of my other favorites


a simple poem written on fabric (another keen recycler?)


painting on a leaf.

This really got to me

Below the sign was this tank of FREEZING cold water

Into which we each put a finger. In less than 10 seconds our fingers were aching from the cold. Those poor folk on the Titanic. (My finger continued to ache for ages afterwards.)

After Ripley's, as it was such a lovely sunny day, we took a slow walk along the Thames





as far as St Paul's Cathedral



then over the Millennium Bridge



everyone was out and about.



Final stop


Imperial War Museum

then home!

~A

Easter Treat

I love these South African Easter eggs



They have an outer candy shell (similar to Smarties) and inside they have a layer of chocolate. They look just like hens eggs from the outside!

Using a small terracotta flower pot, one of the above eggs and a stamped image from Elzybells, I made this



Side view



Which I wrapped up like this






Happy Easter!

P.S. Eggs bought from here

~A

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day here in the UK. My lovely family surprised me with a box of my favorite chocolates



What, no picture of the whole box?? No way!!!Because then you would see just how many I have already eaten!!

I love this hand made sign hanging in a shop window in town. I couldn't get the whole thing into one pic and it was really difficult to take with the shiny glass but I'm sure you get the idea



Here's a closeup



Happy Mother's Day!


~A

A Walk in the Woods

I've discovered another new, local place to go walking! The road to the woods is lined with tall redwood trees



Trees......lots of trees



We weren't expecting this



Isn't it beautiful?



Wildlife too



More trees



Interesting sights





And still more trees.......but look carefully



Did you spot this... blending in perfectly in the hazy blue sunshine



Isn't it beautiful?



~A

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you have had a good day! Each year I like to surprise my family at the breakfast table and this year I decided to cut a very sparkly piece of gift wrap into 4 'place mats'.



I also bought each member of the family a small gift - heart shaped pencils for my son who is crazy about pencils (!!)



a tiny teddy for my daughter (sorry about the bad pic)



and for my husband a box of his favorite chocolates.



And for me I hear you ask? Well, I originally bought Hubby a very small box of his favorite chocolates but then I saw the same chocolates in special Valentine's packaging, so I got him those instead and I got the small box.

He's already eaten the whole box!!!!

~A