Scrapping Tonight

Just popping by to let you know that tomorrow I am heading down to London for a craft workshop with Danielle Proud in association with Amber Pur! I am going down with Sue and cannot wait. My camera will be with me and I hope to snap a few piccies to share on here.

Sue and I have opted just to do the half day due to childcare and we will be doing an embroidery class. We are hoping to have time to pop by Selfridges for a cupcake!

Catch you later with photos from the workshop

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

I am having a HUGE clear out of my craft room and have bagged up 50 + papers to sell. Manufacturers include, Basic Grey, MME, Nikki Sivils, Prima and Sasfrass to name just a few.

I am asking for £12.95 incl postage. (thats about 20p per sheet!)
 
Email me if you are interested albowkis@hotmail.com

Thanks
Anna x

Its half term here, and I have one poorly girl in the house, so most of our plans have been cancelled this week. Instead we are choosing the warmth of home and the sofa and lots of cuddles!

photography challenge I did yesterday to capture love and heartache

This blog is getting seriously neglected as of late. I am going to try my best and sort some kind of routine out for it. Start sharing some of my favorite finds on the web, as well as the usual home life posts!

If you are looking for photography related posts from me, then do pop on over to my new photography blog here, would love to see you drop by!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

As some of you may now be aware I have closed the doors on Pencil Lines. 

What started as a few friends challenging each other with a sketch to produce a layout each week, turned into 15,000 visitors a week, an amazing and talented group of scrapbookers that formed my design team over the last 6 years. Pencil Lines has had 267 amazing guest designers, 267 unique sketches and a published book.

Pencil Lines and its design teams have been featured on numerous blogs and websites all over the web as well as magazines from the UK, US, Russia, Brazil to name a few countries!

Pencil Lines has worked with gorgeous products sponsored by the best in the business, and you the readers have also received amazing prize packages from our sponsors over the years.

sketch 1 provided by Becky Fleck

my first layouts for Pencil Lines, eek!

This is not a decision I have taken lightly, it has been months of decision making on my behalf, and close friends listening to me talk things through with them.
It is no secret that my passion for scrapbooking is dwindling and my love for the craft is not there like it was.
I resigned from my design team spot with Nikki Sivils and I blogged here not that long ago that my heart just wasnt in it.
I have spent the past 7 years scrapbooking on demand, with deadlines and for manufactures, magazines and design teams. I rarely, like many scrapbookers out there like me, have the time to scrapbook for me, for pleasure. I could see that I wasnt dedicating 110% to Pencil Lines, to the many readers out their and to my design team. I knew the time had come for me to hang up my coat and call it quits.




I am sure it has not come as too much as a shock for alot of people, and for some I know it has come as a complete surprise.
I will be working on putting all the 267 sketches into a PDF format and selling for a nominal fee where a percentage will go to charity.
I also have a few books left and will sell those at the reduce price of £9.95 incl postage in the UK. Overseas will be plus postage. Drop me an email at pencillinesketches@googlemail.com or leave a comment here if you would like to purchase one of the few remaining Pencil Lines books left.

I have had the most amazing 6 years, so many people to thank, amongst them are Sue Deacon, Annie Hafermann, Tracie Hudson, Anam Stubbington, and Leah Fraquharson. Each of these ladies worked extemely hard behind the scenes to make Pencil Lines the success it was. From contacting sponsors, readers gallery winners, guest designers spots and our facebook fan page, all of these were possible because of the amazing team I have had behind me, thankyou form the bottom of my heart.

Thank you typepad for making us a featured blog, we are all so proud of that achievement.

Finally, thank you to everyone who let Pencil Lines grow, the support you gave myself and the design teams over the years. It is you that made Pencil Lines the success it was today....

Thank you for reading this far....
Anna xxx

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

As you can see my blog is being neglected, but its that time of year when I am busy in the kitchen and wrapping pressies, which I am sure you all are too!
We have a full house this Christmas which will be lovely. I love hosting and love being busy in the kitchen.

It was my birthday last week and Sue bought me the new Lorraine Pascale book and I have already bookmarked a few recipes, including a twist on the traditional Rocky Road this time with maltesers and no marshmallow, perfect for me as I dont like marshmallow!

I love my cookery books and this week I have spent many an hour lost on the sofa pouring over my books for the holidays. My go to books this year have been, Nigella, Lorraine and Ree!


With 2011 coming to an end, and another year of ups and downs, I wonder what 2012 will bring the Bowkis family?
Whatever it is I know we will cope and as long as we are all still happy and healthy and all together in one place, I will be the happiest girl alive!

So today will be spent baking galore and filling the house with festive smells and Christmas spirit.

Have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, and may we never forget those that are no longer with us.

Merry Christmas, with love from my home to yours
Anna and family xx

I am at last beginning to feel some Christmas cheer. I am no scrooge but I am so busy at the moment I havnt had time to even think about Christmas. This week though Peter and I did some Christmas shopping on Monday and today I had a good sort out of what I had got the girls, and as usual I have spent more than planned and had gifts hiding I had forgotten I had bought! Anyone else like that?

The other week I did our Christmas card shoot and today they arrived from moo.com. I now have Micheal Buble's Christmas album and the tree and decorations are going up on Saturday!


Cake is baked and being fed, so all in all Christmas is finding its way into our home.
This year we have a full house Christmas Day and I cannot wait. I have to be organized this year as I am shooting a renewel of vowels on Christmas Eve! How romantic is that, just quietly wishing for a winters scene as my backdrop.

How are you getting on with the Christmas plans? Are you all wrapped and packed ready for the big day, or totally disorganized and have nothing bought!?

Would love to hear
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

Its FRIDAY!! The weekend is upon us, and I feel like doing a Five Fav Friday today!
I am a huge lover of Pinterest and can spend hours lost on that site. i use it for photography shoot inspiration, baking inspiration, crafts and just to make me smile!
Here is some felt love:

these make me smile

love  flower headbands at the best of times

love this so much, must make some

how cute are these!

beautiful and simple

If you havnt discovered Pinterest yet, what are you waiting for, go get yourself over there and start pinning..... Check out my Pinterest page for plenty of more felt love!

Have yourselves a fantastic weekend. I have my girlfriends coming down from Newcastle on Monday, and a house to get in some sort of ship shape order, LOL.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

A couple of weekends ago I had a day of shooting for a client, both her girls birthday parties. The first was Georgia's Mad Hatter Tea Party which the girls were invited too.
Of course Lilly went as The Mad Hatter again and thanks to an online friend, Izzy had the loan of a fab Red Queen outfit (made by said friend!!).

I was shooting general party photos and a party booth was set up, complete with faux grass!
Here are some photos of Izzy and Lilly aka Red Queen and The Mad Hatter...








How much fun are Photo Booths, I really enjoy doing these. Pop on over here if you would like to learn more about booking a photo/party booth at your next kids party/ Christmas party, any party, LOL

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

The Quick Step

Last Thursday Peter was dancing at a charity Strictly Come Dancing event for Ricard House Childrens Hospice. After having his chest waxed and having a spray tan he had already raised a mighty sum of about £600.00, amazing how badly people enjoy seeing others in pain, LOL!

I was already in London for another event, so met the girls and Peters family at the hotel in Russell Square to watch Peter and his partner Diana dance the Cha Cha Cha and the Quick Step.

25 couples from Richard House and The Olympic Stadium trained for only 6 weeks, an hour a week with professional dancers for their dancing debut. Peter and Diana were opening the show!


We were all dead proud of him, the girls waved their banner "go go Daddy go go" whilst us adults waved our "7" boards in the air.
It was a fantastic evening raising money for a very worthy cause.

Dead proud of you hun xxxx

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

Its with great sadness and after months of decision making, that I have stepped down from the Nikki Sivils design team. I have had an amazing year with Nikki and the girls and feel really honored to have worked with Nikki. My photography business is keeping me really busy at the moment and I just havn't been dedicating the time that Nikki and the DT deserve.

I was the only UK girl on the team and worked hard to get Nikki Sivils designs showcased in our UK magazines.

I thought I would share a few of my fav Nikki Sivils projects with you :

one of my first projects

a more recent layout using the new Get Well Soon range

love this range of papers! Published in TSBM

another oldie. Published in TSBM

a cute mini book using Nikki Sivils papers and mini book

I will not stop visiting Nikki Sivils blogs and seeing what the DT have been up too, always inspirational.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Yikes, been to long I know, hope to improve on this shortly but life and business has been manic!

Do want to share the Glee poster I did for all Izzy's friends who came to the party. Each poster was framed ready to hang on the wall!

Everyone loved their gift and Izzy's sits proudly in a birthday girl pink frame to go in her room.

Are you planning a birthday party soon? Do click on the tag "celebrations" below for previous parties I have done with my girls that may just spark of an idea!

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