Scrapping Tonight

Pinch Punch, the first of the month. Can you actually believe its February already!!! Panic.....

Every month Nikki Sivils set a challenge for our blog readers and the design team. This month was the first time I have actually joined in with the challenge, shame on me I know!

This months challenge was new resolutions. I usually do a layout with my OLW for the year, and I will in time, but I decoded to go with a crafty resolution instead. Every year around autumn, I start knitting, very rarely completing anything or starting something beyond my means! This year I actually knitted some scraves and neck cowls which I gave as Christmas gifts this year. I really enjoyed and got  alot of pleasure completing a knitting project at long last. So in 2011 I want to improve my knitting skills and try to knit something a little more challenging and actually complete it!

This is what I am hoping to complete; a jacket in the gorgeous Sidar Indie wool. I seem to work well with chunky knits, LOL, they knit up quick, just how I like it!

Here is my layout dedicated to my new crafty love;


Knitting

love the banners in this range

I made the faux knitting needles from paper

Supplies : Nikki Sivils My Friend Birdie papers, alphabet and diecuts, Prima flowers, Jenni Bowlin butterfly, Such Sweet Tierney buttons

Do you have a new craft you want to try this year? Would love to hear about it. Before I go just wnat to say HI to all my new followers. Don't be shy and do say Hi :)

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

I have been January's guest artist over at Get Picky Challenge site, and this weekend was my final spot! I ahve had a blast with the girls over at Get Picky and recommend you visit them today, the design team are super talented!
This weekend was their inspiration post using lyrics from a Bob Dylon song, "Forever Young".
I often am inspired by lyrics for journaling, and after today this challenge it has reminded me to use lyrics more, and are great jumping starts to a title, of which I am the worst for!

Here is my layout:

May you always stay Forever Young





Supplies : Paper 3 bugs in a rug, Flowers Prima and Making Memories, Alphabet American Crafts, Journaling spot Jilly Bean Soup, Such Sweet Tierney button 

Are you inspired by song lyrics when journaling or looking for titles? Would love to hear

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

My new va va voom for scrapping came in handy at just the right time as it was crop day today.

I had a few magazine commissions to do and played with some new Niiki Sivils, Bo Bunny and Basic Grey!

new Nikki Sivils :)

After dropping Sue back at the train station, I came home to Izzy cooking a 3 course meal!
Garlic Bread for starters ( i had to decline), Spaghetti Bolognaise, although I had the sauce only with some scrumptious green beans, and pud was something naughty but awfully nice looking. For me a yoghurt! It was the best dinner I ahve tasted in a long time, and thats because Izzy cooked it!

she also set the table

Izzy has been watching Michele Roux's Service with us and was serving wine and food just like them, was so hard not to giggle a little!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Don't forget to pop by Pencil Lines later tonight for a  new sketch and guest designer.
Thanks for stopping by,
Anna x

Today has been spent doing the usual house work and Suki walking as well as some baking. Its been a while since I had an afternoon baking due to my healthy eating regime. If I cant have cake then no one else can have cake , LOL.
Anyways, I succumbed today and baked 2 lemon drizzle loafs from my Hummingbird cookery book and some more cookies; todays were butterscotch chip cookies, yummy!!

lemon zest

lemon cake in the making

How has your Saturday been? Hope its been a good one.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

I was asked at the end of last year to contibute to Anam Stubbington's Sketches2Scrapbook Winter addition app.
I was very honoured to be asked. Anam was with me at the start of Pencil Lines so it is great to be a part of her new venture.
I was asked to do a layout and a card.
Here are my contributions :

Christmas 2010




Supplies : Echo Park papers and diecuts, Such Sweet Tierney hand painted buttons, Raffia from stash, Gems from stash


Valentines Card




Supplies : Papermania card blank, Nikki Sivils papers, Prima flowers, Papermania gem, Bazzill cardstock



You can purchase the new Winter app here, and also purchase the first app here at a discount price of £1.79. Also Anam is offering a FREE lite version here of the Winter app.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

PS 365/2011 updated click on link at the top of the page

I am so glad that I have started to enjoy scrapbooking again, and have realized that I do love creating and making things, it doesnt matter if I am trying my hand at knitting, sewing or making something with paper, it is , at the end of the day, what makes me happy.

I have been playing with some more Nikki Sivils from her last release, My Friend Birdie for the January challenge over on Nikki's blog.
I am sharing some sneaks today before the blog post goes live at the end of the month :)

love the banner!

Supplies : Bazzill Basics cardstock, Nikki Sivil paper and embellishments, Prima flowers, Ranger Ink, Such Sweet Tierney handpainted buttons, Jenni Bowlin butterfly

Its nearly the weekend, and I am looking forward to a relaxing Saturday and a Sunday spent cropping with some scrappy friends!
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

21 DAY ORGANIZING CHALLENGE

Yesterday I had some layouts featured on the Nikki Sivils blog, using her new valentines line, Sugar Cookie.

Pop on over to Nikki Sivils blog to see all the other amazing creations by the design team.


The Sweetest Thing - Love this photo of Peter and Izzy having a sneaky kiss, whilst we were out on a walk. The pair of them with their matching hats, so cracks me up!





Supplies : Pattern Paper Nikki Sivils, Diecuts Nikki Sivils, Burlap Buttons Nikki Sivivls, Ribbon Dear Lizzy, Alphabet American Crafts 



My new love Suki - Its been a while since I scrapped Suki, and she is certainly my new love.







Supplies : Pattern Paper Nikki Sivils, Diecuts Nikki Sivils, Large flower Prima

Finally I made a Valentines Cheque Book. So easy to make and I have given you the cheques to print out as well.





Supplies : Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie range, Flowers

To Assemble:

Cut 2 pieces of chipboard 3” x 8.5”
Cut 4 pieces of Sugar Cookie pattern paper 3” x 8.5” and cover front and back of chipboard
Decorate front cover with diecuts and stickers from Sugar Cookie and add a flower.
Decorate inside covers and back cover if you wish.
Download valentine cheque printables.
Using a Bind it All machine put your book together.

Voila, one easy and quick project for Valentines Day :)
Next week I will be sharing some more quick and easy Valentine Projects for the home, from the kitchen and for your loved ones! 


Download the PDF's here

 Hope you enjoyed my Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie Projects.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Pencil Lines is live with a sketch by myself and guest designer Lisa Saunders from the UK. I stumbled across Lisa's gallery over at UKScrappers and just loved her style and had to invite her over to guest with us.

I chose a photo of Izzy in her Dad's hat to scrap, and kept papers simple and loaded the embellishments! I have kept to the sketch, but quite loosley! I didnt add a shaped piece of paper as I love the shaped edge on the background paper I used. I used little flowers instead of the circles on the sketch.





Supplies : Pattern Paper Prima, embellishments, Sassafras Lass, Paper Mania, Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants, Jenni Bowlin, Alphabet Prima

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a lovely weekend
Anna x

dream space!

I am totally addicted to Pinterest. It like having a virtual inspirations folder, pin board at your finger tips, all catergorized into boards for you.

I have spent quite a few hours browsing and being totally inspired
Here are a few favourites:

Pinned from onecharmingparty.com

so true!

Love Paris, love the post processing on this photo

If you would like to visit my Pinterest board, follow the link here
I am definitley going to be creative with the rest of the weekend, i am totally fired up, LOL

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

With Valentines day just round the corner, why not spoil you and your loved to a Valentines Photo Shoot.

The photo shoots will be on February 5th and 6th, and you will have your photos by February 14th.




Details :

1 hour photo shoot within 30 mile radius of PE19
15 - 20 photos to view on a private gallery
1 x 8" x 10 print
5 photos on disc


£100.00

Email me at albowkis@hotmail.com to book your Valentine Shoot.





Thanks for stopping by
Anna x
PS : 365/2011 updated

After what feels like a good couple of months I believe I have found my passion for scrapbooking again. Its has been a long and winding road to get here, but I believe I am back!
Its hard when a hobby turns into a kind of job, you sometimes loose the passion, because you have to do a layout etc, and you find less and less time to actually scrap for you. I have felt that my layout designs were deteriorating, and that my heart wasnt in it any more. I started to question whether I should give up all my design duties and pack it all in! Thankfully this weekend I have scrapped, and it has actually been for DT duties but I have so enjoyed myself!
Here are a couple of snapshots of 3 projects I completed this weekend.

sketches2scrapbook

nikki sivils

nikki sivils

Maybe all I needed was a few months off after all to renew my passion.
If you are in a scrapbook/creative rut dont worry, maybe you need sometime out. I did alot of knitting whilst I wasnt scrapping. Maybe a change of craft is needed. If the passion is still there it WILL come back, and if it isnt, well maybe you are ready for a new passion!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed my snapshots of my scrapping weekend.
Anna x

Just a quick post to let you know I have added a page now for my 365/2011 if you fancy checking out my daily life, LOL.
Look above next to the "home" link.
Hoping to have 365/2010 done by the end of the month...
Here is day 16

Lilly made some sausage rolls today

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x
PS: Dont forget to check Pencil Lines out, new sketch and guest designer has been posted :)

I am really excited to be the January Guest Designer over at Get Picky challenge site.
Get Picky upload to challenges a month, the first is a sketch challenge posted on the 15th and the second is an inspiration challenge posted on the 30th of each month. The design team are super talented and  they have great sponsors each month offering prizes for luck readers!

Here is my layout:


My Valentine

just love the colour combo, chocolate, purple and cream

Supplies : Nikki Sivils Sugar Cookie papers, stickers and alphabet, Prima flowers, Camera embellishments Kitschy Digitals, Vintage lace and buttons from stash


This my seem like a photo of Peter and I on an ordinary bench, but this spot in Hitchinbrooke Park is wher we had our fist proper date; a picnic with champagne and strawberries. I had come down to Cambridge to meet Peters parents for the first time and join Peter for his birthday night out. WE had been out clubbing on the Saturday so on the Sunday we chilled at this spot. The bench wasnt there then, it was just a patch of grass under a tree. I have photos of us then and will add  a copy of those photos and journaling to the back of this layout.

Thanks for stopping by
Enjoy your weekend!
Anna x

Although the weather is awful here in the UK at the moment, I am still keeping up with my 365 photos. Today is another dull, dreary, damp day! No fun at all :(

Here is yesterdays photo

instagram lomo 5

Yes that is a potato, a new potato that fell out of the bag when I was cooking dinner, LOL. Just had to save it for this photo.
But it wasnt as plain sailing as it should have been. Suki came out with me and decided she wanted the potato, I had to chase her to give it back to me before she ate it!
Oh the joys of a 365!

Winner of the Project 365 app is

CAROLE

Carole, please email me your mobile phone number so i can "gift" the app to you.

Thaks for stopping by
Anna x

Every year I embark on a 365, and I don't always complete one every day, but that does'nt really matter does it, its still a record of my year, and along with my blog I have some great memories to hold onto.

Last year I did my 365 but only published 90 days of them, I will get round in the next week or so on uploading to a gallery for you to view.

This year, with the help of my new toy, my IPhone, I am taking a photo a day with my IPhone using many of the wonderful apps available.

My fav photo apps to date are:

Hipstamatic

taken with the Hipstamatic app and an Instagram filter

Hipstamatic app

Instagram




I use Instagram for filters and you can view and follow me with my username Anna Bowkis.
But the perfect app for my 365 this year, is the Project 365 app! How cool is that!

Here is my 365 so far. Each month I will do a digital layout using this calender and add some journaling for each month. the other great thing with this app is you can add loads of text to each photo!



Are you doing a 365 or 52 week project? Do post in the comments what you are doing, would love to hear.
I am going to RAK  a Project 365 app for your phone so you too can join in the fun. Just tell me why you would love this app! I will draw a random winner tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x