More July catch ups!

August was so busy workwise, that this is me just sitting down to scrap for the first time in ages... and catching up on another July page! This was our team challenge on UKS for the Bitty Blossoms, where we are running a Book of Months (or seasons) with Willow setting challenges. July was about the Celtic tree month of Holly, so I took these photos at Alnwick Castle when we were on our hols in July - looking through the castle doors to a big holly bush! It was strange as I always associate holly with December and Christmas, but of course it's all year round, and the young green leaves were so vibrant.

April and May

Up to date again! Wonder how long it'll last for this time ... These are the next two in the Bitty Blossoms book of months/seasons, following Willow's prompts. April was about spring, flowers and space. May was about Mayday, Beltane, male and female together and partnerships.

And the months go flying by...

In January my UKS team - the Bitty Blossoms - decided to do a book of months with prompts set by team member Willow. They're great prompts, but I have only now got round to starting. Well, work kind of gets in the way of playing sometimes. But having finished Shimelle's No Place Like Home class, and made the book for Save the Day (still to bind and take piccies) I thought I should try to catch up. I love the feeling of being caught up - it's very special as it's so fleeting!

So the January prompt was 'something that makes you smile in January' - something we all need! And this is me dancing with my nephew just after the bells on Hogmanay!

The February prompt was that as the moon was in Virgo it's a good time to break bad habits, so focus on a bad habit on a lo and leave lots of white space. This is my thoughtful pressie from above nephew to help my bad habit breaking - a little diet police radar - it shouts at you when open the biscuit tin!! My bad habit is of course that I eat too much.March saw the Spring Equinox, new beginnings and rebirth - so we had to focus on something new. Here I am in my new shirt painting easter eggs.

The mind boggles...

That's me caught up now on all of our UKS team challenges too - and hey, I even cleaned my kitchen floor today ... I'm either on the mend, or going seriously stir crazy. Perhaps the latter as there isn't even a photo on this lo! The challenge was to scrap your favourite game, and to draw something on the lo .... well, it seemed like a fun thing to do when I set the challenge, but er, got a bit harder when I had to sit down and actually do something. The game, now, that was a hard choice between my two loves, Boggle and Scrabble. But I probably play boggle more often, as I have it on the computer, so plumped for that. I've loved this game for years, and will play it til I die. I like it best when I win though.

A girl needs champagne! (and cake, lots of cake)

Yay! Finally - first one (or two!) in 6 whole weeks, I managed to scrap today! My UKS team runs in-house challenges on a 'favs' 6x6 theme. So here are two together. The first is "comfort food - but not chocolate!", and had to be monochrome. So..... what's next after choccie? Has to be cake! This was taken on holiday in Yorkshire this year, when I discovered there was a bakery in the village we were staying in. So guess where our walks in the park lead to.... needless to say the nephews were willing accomplices. The second challenge was your favourite tipple, and had to feature circles for bubbles. So, no contest there. I drink many things more regularly, but hey, there are certain times when a girl's just got to have champagne .... so here's a few of those times. The bottle of pink champagne I carried back from France to celebrate the arrival of nephew no 2, welcoming the millenium, last Christmas, and well, er, just another bottle opening sometime! Great memories.

Team Challenges

Over at UKS my team the Bitty Blossoms, run a fortnightly challenge, in which we all take turns to set a challenge, usually involving a favourite something and a technique or media. The top one was favourite flower and to use ribbons. I'm also working to a personal challenge to use exisiting photos rather than take any new ones for these challenges, so I sometimes struggle! The rose photo was taken in Anhliac in the south of France a few years ago, and I've always liked it. To be honest, I'm not sure what my favourite flower would really be - I love the yellow broom (gorse or whin) that blooms along the roads in springtime and seems to call you away, and any kind of wild flower flowering in the fields, but roses are always gorgeous, especially wild ones.This was my challenge to the team. To scrap your favourite building, and to use a pattern as well. This is an old photo of the Mariners' Home in Greenock. I used to walk past it every day, and thought it looked so gothically romantic, I'd have loved to see inside!

What season does this say to you?

My UKS team do fortnightly challenges in a 6x6 format, and this one was to scrap your favourite season or time of the year, but, wait for it (and this was hard for me) without words... So, hopefully this piccie taken almost 20 years ago, will say summer to anyone looking at it (I think the hat helps!), long lazy days sitting beside a waterfall.... ah if only!

A me to the world interface system!

Had some fun with a couple of los, seems like ages since I've done any, where has March gone already? The hands one is following Kirsty and Roz's Book of Me prompts on UKS, and this month the challenge was to - use your hand prints! I kept it very simple, partly because I've been doing all my BOM los on 8x8s and I have big hands so didn't have much room left, and partly cos I just thought that well, my hands do everything in my life, so I wanted to sum it up in one sentence rather than keep on stating things. So my sentence is........"My hands - a me to the world interface system!" Can you tell I've been doing computer courses again??

My other lo is for my UKS team's in house fortnightly challenge, and this was a hard one - to scrap your favourite waste of time - I mean how can you choose when I have so many? We also had to use green and orange. So my favourite waste of time is..... words. Yep, in all guises (including blogs!), if I want to waste time I usually read a book. or play scrabble or boggle, or text, or email or......... So, what's your favourite waste of time?

You're my best friend!

Hi folks, back again from the wet one day and strangely sunny the next north west. I was at a yoga class today, so have been kind of tired this evening with only one wee layout and absolutely no tidying up done at all. It's an intensive start up yoga weekend so I'm back there at 10am tomorrow, let's hope I can cope!

So this is what I did tonight. My UKS team, the Bitty Blossoms, are runnng an in house fortnightly challenge, and this time it was to use a photo of your other half or best friend, 4 patterned papers, cut with straight edges like patchwork and stitching. Well, I still don't have a piccie of my OH (I know, I'll get kicked out of the scrappers' club), but this wee bear, which you may remember celebrated his 21st birthday at Hogmanay, is definitely a good candidate for best friend!

Go north and west...my favourite place

Quite tired today, after teaching all day, but feel a bit more refreshed after doing a quick lo before bed! My UKS team, the Bitty Blossoms, is running a fortnightly in house challenge, 6x6 los on a favourite theme. This one was a favourite place, and had to include your own handwriting. I found it hard to finalise on just one place when I realised it was a type of place I love, usually found on the west coast here, so used a few photos and lots of description. Journalling reads:

Pure clean sands, dramatic skies, deep earthy colours, sheep everywhere, standing stones stark against the horizon, everchanging weather and light, lichen and moss on rocks and stones. Waves crashing on a rocky coastline, green and grey against the sky. Scotland, a wonderful place, go north and west...

Today's Favourites

It's been a lazy Sunday today, ain't they just grand? Reading the papers, going out for lunch, doing the sudoku! And of course a wee bit of scrapping too.... Today I did some challenges, the UKS weekly challenge which was to incorporate red, circles, favourite things and handwritten journalling. I chose two piccies of places I love, Callanish standing stones in Lewis, and Am Buachaille Etive Mor, the Great Herdsman of Etive, standing guard on the entrance to Glencoe. They are both beautiful places, Callanish I've only seen twice, but I drive through Glencoe every week so I've seen it in all weathers, and every light, and the Buachaille is always impressive. My other lo for today is the Bitty Blossoms own team challenge. We're doing a 6x6 My Favourites book, with each team member taking a turn to set a challenge theme and technique. This is the first one and was Favourite Films or Actors, and to use stamping. Well, I kind of struggled, I only went to the movies once last year (I know, I need a life!) and have never really been a big fan of any particular actor, but a team mate suggested I do a genre, so with my love of travel it was an easy decision to make, and ended up with a photoless lo!

Bitty Blossoms tag book

My UKS team, the Bitty Blossoms, decided to set challenges for ourselves this year, and we started off by making a tag book. .We each made 10 tags about ourselves, sent them off, and got one back from everyone else. I now have a lovely and colourful book telling me lots about my teamies, and also giving lots of inspiration too! Here's my tags.

Bitty Blossoms

The Bitty Blossoms are my UKS team, and cyber friends who keep me sane and provide lots of laughs too. This was in response to our own team challenge (first one!). The remit was to only use 1 photo (quite hard for me), plain cardstock, scraps of patterned paper no larger than 6x6, and no bought embellies. I'd had this picture in mind for a while and am quite pleased with the cheery colours of it. Another glimpse of sumnmer (I'm getting desperate here, haven't seen the sun for a long time....)