Scrapping Tonight

During the Easter Holidays we had the great pleasure of entertaining the Deacons!
We decided that we would have afternoon tea.




Menu :

Open cheese and cucumber finger buns
Open cucumber and ham finger buns
Brownie and cheescake topped cupcakes baked by Holly Deacon
Scones with clotted cream and Jam
Oat and honey biscuits



As you can see a lot of fun was had!
Thank you to Sue, Holly and Em for coming to see us, we loved having you!! Why not invite your friends over for an impromptu afternoon tea.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna xx

The Bowkis family are huge, and I mean HUGE Roald Dahl fans. We have the books, we love the movies and we love all things Roald Dahl.
So this Easter  at long last we found the time to go and visit the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire.

After some time trying to find somewhere to park we eventually gor parked and made our way up the road to the museum. I was rather glued to all the gorgeous Interior Design shops and general gifty shops.
We queued and got our tickets as well as paying to attend a story telling workshop in the afternoon.

As you enter the Museum you are greeted to the Enormous Crocodile bench and a map of the museum.


I had to get a photo of the girls together and this was a perfect place to stop!


The museum goes through the ages of Roald Dahl's life, each room a chapter of his life.
I loved all the details throughout.


Peters favorite Roald Dahl book and movie is The Fantastic Mr Fox. So much that he has his own book and DVD copy!







Check this out! A replica Roald Dahls writing chair for kids and adults alike to try out. The real chair is behind glass.
Lilly had to try for size. How tiny does she look!



We had great plans to have lunch in Cafe Twit and try out some familiar dishes like oompaloompa sandwitches and bogtrotter cake, but it was packed, so we headed out into the village to find somewhere else to eat.



We found an amazing Tapas restaurant. Not so good for Peters pockets but we all thoroughly enjoyed the dishes. The chorizo in red wine was  a great hit and we had to order another!

We had a great day and bought a few bits from the gift shop. We all got a note book and a box of Roald Dahl magnetic words so we can all make up our own whizz bang stories on the fridge!

If you and your family are Roald Dahl fans do make the journey to visit Great Missenden and visit the area and museum. We didn't have time to visit areas of interest in the village as we had to get back for Suki.
I will leave the last word to Mr Dahl himself
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”


Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

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The girls are on holiday and Peter has been off for the week. We have had such a lovely family week.
With Easter weekend just gone we spent quality time at home as a family enjoying our house and lots of home cooked food.

Easter Sunday morning we started with an Easter Egg hunt but with clues this time. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, the girls or Peter and I!
We hid eggs all over the house with a clue placed with each egg. Starting with a drop off form the Postman, ending with a BIG surprise in the Studio. the girls had great fun working our where the eggs were and its was lovely to see them working as a team.



After the Easter Egg hunt Lilly helped me make up the table favours; cute Easter boxes I found in M&S, that I filled with mini chocolate eggs.



To finish our Easter decorations I bought Tulips and Daffodils and Lilly added yellow shredded paper and chicks!



I hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday. I will be sharing out trip to The Roald Dahl museum later in the week, a must for all Roald Dahl fans!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Today I waved goodbye to Izzy as she embarks on a weeks holiday with school at West Runton in Norfolk. Two years ago Izzy last went on a weeks school trip and was so tearful it was a horrid experience to let her go. Infact all the mums and children were teareyed and it was a really emotional affair!
This year 40 odd year 6 kids , all smiles and enthusiasm got on the coach to spend a week away for the last time as a group of classmates and friends. Parents were emotional but the children were excited and looking forward to the adventures that await them! The weather is going to be stunning all week, and today they start their holiday off with a pool party!!
Yes you heard me right, a pool party! Izzy has gone complete with kaftan top and lip gloss to complete her look.

So here she is, my independant 11 year old, all packed and ready for her school trip.

love this quote, so apt for me right now

If I am still blogging in 5 years time, I am sure there will be a similar post about her off to Uni or something!

I know she will have a wonderful time and I cannot wiat to pick her up on Friday and hear all about her week.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Last Thursday I had the great pleasure of being invited to a workshop at Homemade London hosted by Ambi Pur and Danielle Proud. Sue came along with me and we met at Kings Cross Station at 9.30am.

We made our way across London to Marble Arch and the shop Homemade London. We were greeted by lots of smiling faces; the lovely Emily and Helen from the PR agency for Ambi Pur and a warm welcome from Nicola the owner of Homemade London.
I immediately fell in love with these beautiful pompoms made from tissue paper. I can see them hanging in trees with bunting for a photo shoot!



We settled down to our seats and were served fresh coffee in the most exquisite china teacups and fresh orange juice. Scrummy brioche and croissants and bowls of fresh fruit were on the table for us all.



Sue and I were only able to stay for the embroidery class where we learnt several different enbroidery stitches, I can now chain stitch!! Our project was a tea towel. I stitched a couple of strawberries on mine, and was really chuffed with my finished tea towel!
Sue the expert taught the class how to do a french knot, I am still trying!!




Homemade London is a treasure trove of a crafters heaven! So many trinkets and touchy feely projects laying around. Downstairs where we had lunch, is a room dedicated to sewing machines!!!
Do visit their website as they have some lovely courses coming up and they do kids tea parties!!



Danielle Proud was Ambi Pur's guest also, and she was so lovely. Danielle came and sat with everyone chatting, she is so down to earth and I just loved hearing about her Interior Design projects she is working on.



After lunch Emily presented Sue and I with a hamper of crafting goodies and some Ambi Pur goodness!

Finally it was time for Sue and I to go, but not before a quick photo!



My Ambi Puri gift was the Ambi Pur 3volutions product Seabreeze scent. It is so easy to use, it just plugs into a spare socket. The new 3voloution has not one but 3 complimentory scents. The clever idea behind this is so you dont become accustomed to one smell! Genius. The plug in will rotate the 3 scents at intervals. I love mine, it is plugged upstairs in the hallway by the girls bathroom!
The 3volution is available in 3 fragances.

I had such a wonderful day and met a lovely group of ladies.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Mothering Sunday/Mothers Day was yesterday here in the UK. I was spoilt with a cooked breakfast in bed by the girls!!! Peter has officially announced that Mothers Day is the best, because he also got a cooked breakfast in bed!!

Izzy and Lilly made me the most beautiful cards and the poem Izzy wrote in hers bought a tear to my eye.

Dinner was cooked by me and burnt by Peter, although he will say that I didnt make it clear that it needed stirring so will blame me for dinner burning! But it was saved by Peter and his mash was the best!

And then the girls had yoghurt for pud, I conveniently forgot to mention the scrummy lemon tarte in the fridge!
Then this.....

just love this so much, even though it did end in tears for Izzy :( click on image to enlarge

I love my family! My crazy beloved mad family. There is nothing more a mum could ask for!

Hope you ahd a lovely Mothers Day and was spoilt rotten

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Its been a well overdue visited, but today I made it to the hairdressers! I did go yesterday but my appointment was today. Izzy helped my colour my hair last weekend and today I got a restyle!

I had my fringe (or bangs to my friends across the pond) cut in again.


So what do you think?
Thanks to Izzy for taking this photo for me. My iPhone attempts were hideous!

Anna x

I know it was last week, just got round to sitting down and actually blogging about it.
With only 24 hours notice (dont you just love schools!), to come up with 2 costumes for World Book Day, I think the girls did pretty well!

Izzy went as Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, thanks to my prop box and a skirt of Lilly's!



Lilly went as the Highway Rat, thanks to some help from Izzy. We have a black blanket for a cloak, a pirates hat instead of a highway mans hat, a lightsaber for a sword and a handmade mask to complete the look! Oh and some whiskers as she was a rat!


Did your kids school take part this year in World Book Day? What did they go dressed as?

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Yikes where has 2012 gone already! Sorry for the lack of posting. Like most working mums the past few months are hectic with school activities, the kids, getting orders out for Christmas and Christmas itself!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a full house and between sickness bouts, a lovely Christmas was had by all. We all got spoilt rotten and I must have been extra good as I was presented with a new lens I had been hankering for (the 85mm) and an SB900 flash amongst other things.

Mustache on a stick!

New Year we had a black tie do complete with a casino and a photo booth. Due to illness we only had a few people on the night but still alot of fun was had, and drink consumed!

mmmmm

thats more like it!

me and hubs!

the gorgeous Moons

The beginning of the year has been good to me and I have shot a styled shoot for a magazine and a fashion shoot with a pro model. I have lots to look forward to this year with a Burlesque workshop to attend next month in Brighton and I have been asked to be a mentor/team leader for a workshop in the middle of the year!

I cannot wait to really get stuck into 2012, hope your year has started off well. Don't forget to pop on over to my photography blog as well...
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

My poor baby girl really hasn't been herself these last few weeks. It always breaks my heart, as I am sure it does all mums, when our children are sick. I don't believe there is anything serious wrong with her, but she is so not herself!
Lilly has been in and out of school these past 3 weeks and today woke up to a bloody face and sheets from one hell of a nose bleed! So another day she was kept of school.


My crazy girl just isn't her crazy self at the moment, but did manage a crazy photo last weekend , LOL

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Scrapbooking has been my life for the best part of 7 years. I started scrapbooking when Lilly was a baby using handmade papers I sold on Ebay, fibres, and paper flowers. cool stuff eh?!
I plodded along doing my thing and I got picked up by a new magazine called Creative Scrapbooking. I became a features writer and even had a cover with a winter layout of Izzy. I bought so many copies , LOL, and my Dad proudly had his copy next to his bed at all times.

Things were really good and I put my heart and soul into my craft, I was amongst the winners of Best of British, made it on to some amazing design teams, manufacturers and kit clubs as well as many magazines here in the UK and Australia.
I have been featured in a Russian magazine, German and Brazilian and am pretty chuffed to be honest!

In 2006 I started Pencil Lines, the sketch challenge blog and wrote my first book that was published in 2010.

Scrapbooking has bought alot of happiness and I have been to America teaching and all over the UK meeting the most amazing people and met many good friends.
Scrapbooking has also bought alot of bitterness by others towards me and this has saddened and upset me many times.
But at the end of the day the good has always outshone the bad times.

This blog of mine that I started in 2005 after we moved from Newcastle to Cambridge was a place for me to document our daily lifes for our friends up North. It soon became a place for me to share my layouts, and has been a place for me to vent, share celebrations and chat about allsorts.

Lately scrapbooking has taken a back seat and I have noticed my blog posts and layouts are becoming less and less. Its a seven year thing I reckon, I am just not so into it anymore. After spending so many years scrapping for deadlines I started to lose my love for the craft and I know I am not the only one amongst my peers that feels this way.

So I have to be honest with myself, scrapbooking is no longer a way of life for me anymore. I hope over the holidays to find some me time to scrap for me, as I do have quite a few personal projects I want to do, like my Paris album, Barcelona and Florida! So its not out of my life completely but has, and is taking a huge back seat. I actually cannot remember the last time I scrapped.

Today I went into my craft room and I have way too much stuff. I am going to sort some grab bags out and start selling my craft bits here on my blog.
Tomorrow I will add a few bits here and add a new page to the blog updating whats sold and available.

What I do want to get rid off asap, is my Sizzix machine and sidekick. The sidekick has dies with it and has hardly been used and my Sizzix machine has been well used so will need new pads at some point, LOL, and I have a bunch of dies to go with the machine as well.

Check out this page for all details.

I guess my blog will now return to my daily life, some baking, some crafts and updates of the girls for my friends up North!
My photography blog is where I will be alot more so do pop by and see what I am up too.

Thanks for stopping by and for reading this far!

Hugs
Anna x

Today in the UK is Children in Need. Kids all over the UK will have dressed up, done something silly, had a mad hair day, or gone spotty to help raise money for children less fortunate than ours.

This year the girls decided to turn fashion designers and decorate a white Tshirt and for Lilly a pair of white leggings!

Thank goodness for my promarkers!




Model : Isabella Bowkis
Designer : Isabella Bowkis
Stylist : Isabella Bowkis
Photographer : Me/mum




Model : Lilly Bowkis
Designer : Lilly Bowkis
Stylist : Lilly Bowkis
Photographer : Me/mum

What did your children do for Children in Need today? Don't forget to visit Children in Need website for details on how to donate!
I will be watching BBC 1 all night..... Just love it!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

I really am not doing a very good job of updating my blog at the moment. Life is hectic, photos need editing and orders need to be placed. last week I had visitors form up North and a poorly Lilly on and off and the week just went by in a puff of smoke.

And already we are heading to the middle of another week!

Well last Thursday I joined the girls school on their KS2 visit to Buckden Towers for a Tudor themed day. The whole of KS2 did such an amazing job as did the staff and everyone seem to have such a great day. I joined the school in the afternoon to grab a few photos of the day.

I was very lucky and a neighbour lent me a beautiful handmade dress for Lilly to wear, Lilly looked beautiful


and then at the banquet


I finally managed to catch up with King Henry and Katherine of Aragon out side for a quick photo!


A brilliant day was had playing croquet, quill writing, making pomandors and lots more.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Not sure how much I can say just yet, only because it has not been publicly announced yet, but tomorrow I am headed down to London as a consumer reporter to a party food launch for a major retail chain. i will be followed by a film crew, (darn why didnt I keep up the dieting!) and will be interviewing celebs and guests at the event.
My main job is to interview a very gorgeous and sexy celebrity chef, eeeekkkkk. And the next best part is I get to take photos as well. OMGG
In total shock to be honest. I will not be allowed to post photos due to celeb laws etc, but they may be added to my report on the retailers website/blog/FB page, not sure which yet.

(Random photo , sorry)

photo credit Ria Mishall Cooke

Really excited and very nervous. It is also the same day that my darling hubby is dancing for charity  for Richard House Children's Hospice. Its going to be a surreal and very long day, but one I cannot wait for!

I havn't been picked out of thin air to do this. I did enter a competition last Friday and have been emailed back and forth about questions I would ask etc, I got the phone call Monday to say I had been chosen.

Wish me luck, and hope to be back Friday with lots of gossip!!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

It is with great sadness that the world loses a great visionary in Steve Jobs, Apple founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar.
There is so much I could post here, words of wisdom, encouraging and uplifting videos, but I am sure with a google of "Steve Jobs" you will find something that will change the way you look at your life by his words.



This is one of my favorite quotes:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary' – Steve Jobs 1955-2011 RIP

We are an Apple family as of last year. Our desktop is an Apple Mac, my phone is an Iphone, Peter carries and Ipod with him and we have an Ipad 2. We love our Apple gadgets, and they have really chnaged the way we live our lives and organize our lives, crazy isnt it!

I spent last weekend with 17 photographers and Dane Sanders, and Dane brings up the vision that Steve Jobs had for Apple and how we can be inspired by his business vision. He also quotes and talks about Steve alot in his books "Fast Track for Photographers".

Although I said to google videos etc, I urge you to go listen to any of his TED talks and this one very inspiring talk at Stanford University.



My heart goes out to his family and friends, he was at the end of the day a family man.
I think tonight I will be watching Toy Story in memory of Steve Jobs

Anna x

Autumn has truly arrived when it's time to start collecting conkers. It doesn't matter how old you are, the joy of finding beautiful shiny mahogany coloured jewels excites as all; well it does in our house, LOL

This weekend I had a photo shoot beside a huge old conker tree near our house. Whilst I was setting the scene for my photo shoot, Peter and Lilly went conker collecting.
Just love the look on Lilly's face!








Do you still love conker collecting? Do share your stories and photos
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

my wedding day

 They say time heals, and it does, its true that the pain is not so harsh as the years go by.
My dad passed away 5 years ago today after a 15 year battle with MS. I am so thankful that I had 9 months with my dad living only a few miles up the road, and was able to visit him as often as I wanted. He had Christmas Day at ours, a huge moment for me, a summer party at ours and many an hour at Riverside Park with an ice cream.
I had a Womans networking conference to attend today, and I was the  photographer for the day. I was kept busy and I was amongst like minded women. My dad was watching over me, beaming....

Love you always Dad,
xxxxxx

I was photographing some skirts for a Folksy designer and went to the Big Top at the Circus in Bedford as a backdrop (more to come on my photo blog). So I decided that we should all go and visit the circus as the girls had never been.

I was a little disapointed, just wasn't as I remembered *sulk*. The girls enjoyed it, thats the main thing.

The colour in the tent was so orange so excuse the colour and image quality, but just didnt seem right to turn black and white.





The last time I went to a circus I was a little girl, so maybe everything seemed more WOW and bigger! There were no trapeze artists, but tbh the tent would'nt have been large enough. This circus was made up of only 6 performers so a very small show. Think I need to see Cirque de Soleil for the WOW factor!

Has anyone else been to a circus recently. Would love to hear what you thought
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x