Beadazzled!

I've been the bargain hunter for a new swimsuit and decided to go with the colours turquoise, white and silver for my hols this year. I saw a plain turquoise one in the sale at Debenhams recently - and then I saw a beach bag with gems and beads on it which I liked. It gave me an idea. There was also a pretty pair of flipflops which I thought would complete the outfit, so I had to have them! *Ü*

A couple of weeks previous, I had seen a turquoise 'kaftan' top in a charity shop.... I wouldn't wear the top but the beads on it were pretty and LOTS of them. At £1.50, I thought it would be worth buying, taking the beads off and sewing them onto my new swimsuit! If I had bought the same pack of beads in a dept store, I am sure they would have cost me double that.

I designed a simple pattern on my swimsuit with a pencil and got threading. Voila! The finished product.

Closeup...

The bag.....

The flipflops.....

...sandals...

....and some turquoise jewellery that I rather liked. *Ü*

I think that will do for starters! *Ü* Thanks for stopping by....toots for now.

My 1st DT project!

It has been worth the wait for my Design Team package to arrive from Australia after the 1st one went to the wrong address but I am now happy to say that I am thrilled with the contents and got to work immediately. *Ü*

I recently spent some time with my youngest granddaughter Ashley and took her to the park where she played in the fallen petals of the blossom trees. She got me making her a daisy chain and we gathered blossom and I decided to use this photo for the layout.

The papers I used are from Girl's Paperie by Margie - one inparticular looked like a Cath Kidston pattern!
I wetted the edges and rolled them to get a 'shabby chic' look and then used fluid chalk along the edges.

Then I used a tea plate to draw a circle, Fiskars circle cutter to cut the circle and again, fluid chalk to define the circle edge.

I believe it's the first time that I have used all patterned papers together without cardstock, so it was a challenge for me! *Ü*

There was a variety of embellishments, lace ribbon and the glass buttons were the exact match to what Ashley had on her t-shirt! I used one of my two and half thousand fonts - 'Alpha Flowers' for the 'FLOWER' part of the title 'FLOWER Girl'. Then I cut the sharp pin ends off the 'flags', added beads to cover the pointed end, joined them and added letter stickers to the flags.

 Thanks so much for looking... and for being patient! *Ü* It was worth the wait for me.

Toots for now,

On Cloud 9!

Another busy weekend has left me on Cloud 9! *Ü* A friend that I made 35 years ago at a Mother & Toddler group when our children were babies, invited us to their youngest daughter's wedding. We have kept in touch with visits and even spent a couple of weeks on holiday together in Florida several years ago.  The wedding was one of the nicest I have ever been to and Leah and Ken looked so much in love. *Sigh*.

Of course, my camera was attached to my hip and I took every opportunity to capture the essence of their day. I am sure that they wouldn't mind me sharing just a couple of photos with you.

We stayed overnight in a Travelodge that just happened to be in the flight path of Heathrow Airport.....ooooo.....I was in my element.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, flying and aeroplanes and I am soo looking forward to going on holiday this year to my sister in law's apartment in Menorca. It will be the first holiday I have had abroad for 9 years, so I am really excited. *Squeal*.

Our middle daughter - Michelle had her birthday on Saturday as well as her wedding anniversary and spent it at a hotel for the weekend whilst Cameron spent it with his cousins! Lots of birthdays this week and celebrations.

My bestest news to date is......my DT package eventually arrived from Australia...welll...it's the 2nd one as the 1st went to the wrong address, the postman tried to deliver at that address but no answer...left a card...no collection, so it was returned to Australia! The 2nd package had the same procedure but neighbours were warned and hey presto, they popped the postie's card in my door and I had to collect my package....but I am soo happy. Now I have some work to do, so watch this space for my first ever DT assignment. *Ü*

Have a wonderful holiday Monday peeps.

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM*** 97 TODAY!

Who would have thought that my dear old mum would have lived to this day?! She has truly been an inspiration to me and has survived soo many falls and mishaps in the past couple of years that I never thought she would have made it to now!

It was so nice to spend the time with her on her special day but she has deteriorated so much since this photo was taken of her and myself in December 2009.

Just for the record!

It has been a weekend of non-stop fun! Friday evening, I went to a 'Well Woman' evening at my Zumba teacher's son's school. It was most relaxing as I had an Indian Head Massage and there were other treatments to be had too - reflexology and lots of pampering. There were lots of stalls - ladies selling their wares - beauty products, cupcakes, scarves, jewellery, handbags and nail art. The first 30 women to arrive each received a goodie bag with Body Shop body butter in Coconut and lots of samples - lucky me! *Ü*

Saturday, there was a film showing on the beach in Broadstairs, on the giant screen - 'Mama Mia'. The beach was packed but the film was delayed as a child went missing and it didn't show until she was found, which was a good thing. I went with Michelle and Cameron but I didn't take a chair, so sat on the sand - not a good idea!

By the time the film started, I was pretty cold and there were people walking back and forth non stop directly in our path! That and the fact my back was aching made it quite distracting, so unfortunately, we didn't stay until the end!

Sunday was another Abba event - 'Dancing Queens'! It was a Guiness Book of Records quest to get 1000 people dancing to 'Dancing Queen' in Broadstairs but just as it was half way through the song, the heavens opened and it poured down, so it was done again 5 minutes later and it was achieved! *Ü* The mayor and mayoress of Broadstairs was in attendance and so was Laura Sandys - a local MP.

Toots for now....

A proper little madam!

I've been enjoying playing with my new camera and whilst I had some time with my youngest grandchildren, I was able to take some much wanted photos of Ashley inparticular. I raided her wardrobe for clothes that I wanted her to wear. She has a pretty butterfly top with pearls, so I gave her my pearl necklaces to wear and lace ribbon for her hair. Then I had a play with editing and giving this photo an aged/sepia look about it. What do you think?

LOVE this one of Ashley. *Swoon*

She had planned for me to take her to the park! LOL. We made a daisy chain....as you do with princesses - and she played in the blossom petals that had fallen.

Flower Girl

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. Have a wonderful weekend.

Good times!

Oh myyy...the time has flown by soo fast but it has been good. I have spent muchly time with my family and enjoyed their company. *Ü*

Eden stayed on for one week after her family's visit and as the weather has been glorious here, we took the opportunity to spend a day on the beach. There was a trampoline there which Eden couldn't resist. Oh to be that supple again! *Gasp*.

Eek! It makes my eyes water! *Ü*

Other news. Unfortunately, my DT package still hasn't arrived from Australia which was sent over 5 weeks ago. I'm gutted as I couldn't wait to get stuck in. I live in hope that it may turn up some time soon though.

Have yourselves a lovely weekend.

Toots for now,