Pots of colour to go in muddy slope

Not a lot of progress on the slope front. It was so hot this week end and we wanted to enjoy the garden so put down a green plastic grass to sit on...

Lots of flowers waiting to go.

ipod love and the cakes have all gone

I was able to buy a new ipod yesterday to replace the one stolen by the evil burglars. It is a thing of such beauty and complexity and perfect design ... and that is just the packaging. I have kept the peel off protector as it will be perfect for scrapping a lo about my love affair with all thing apple. I took the extra cakes into work and I think I surprised some of my cynical male colleagues as they did not see me as the domestic goddess type. They must have liked them as they all went within ten minutes.

Sneaky peek at circle journal

Here's a sneaky peek at the circle journal pages I completed using my Yin and Yang cupcake pictures. I stuck to the colour scheme of green and red - finding a lovely cherry paper and am pleased with the results. As I had taken step by step pics of the baking process I added an extra pull out flap with the these pics to the double page lo.

Muddy Slope progress

Brother in law began work with the digger this week. I was going to blog this earlier but we had a disaster earlier in week when we found out original plans were way too expensive and I was well cheesed off. But... new plan involving circles, terraces like rice paddy fields and walls made of railway sleepers now under way. Looking at the muddy piles it is hard to imagine. No work next week as Brother in law putting in a bathroom for someone but the next week we might see some progress. Meanwhile I pick up cheap plants on offer whenever I see them and look for cuttings etc.

Cupcake Frenzy for Circle Journal

Spent yesterday afternoon in a totally chaotic Cupcake frenzy. I had to put a cake recipe into the circle journal I am doing with All New Lost Girls over at ukscrappers. I decided I had to photograph the whole process for the journal. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and youngest daughter made peppermint creams and we had friends for tea (dinner actually but I am in a "The Tiger who came to Tea" vibe). I made Neenish cupcakes - but I renamed them Yin and Yang cakes. They are half chocolate sponge and half vanilla and half vanilla and half chocolate icing. I also made Macadamia, honey and carrot cupcakes (much nicer than they sound).

Marking out the muddy slope

Progress on the garden front. We have now become very technical and marked out the different features of our garden. If you close your eyes and imagine it is flat you get the idea. The digger is coming this week so Lens Guy and brother in law can get all macho and manly and be at one with the mud and the digger. We have even found a bricky who can start to build the walls to hold back the earth. I can even imagine some of the plants really planted rather than growing in pots sunk into ground to stop them blowing away.

Symphony in Green at the Trossachs

Lens Guy and I managed a day trip to the Trossachs today. Unfortunately it was not the sunny day we had hoped for but we had a lovely drive to Aberfoyle and beyond. We carried on passed Kinlochard to a place called Loch Chun. We had a lovely picnic and a walk before heading back to city life and work tomorrow. The one thing that struck me today was the infinite number of greens around us as we walked through the forest. The other is to remember to put my walking shoes on next time as fit flops and brambles and bracken don't go.

We saw the very weird fungus below on a tree. It was hard to the touch and just bizarre. The other picture was taken into the trees and has an etheral and otherworldly feel - or did when we were walking through the trees.

Old family pics

Am in crafting withdrawal as had no time to craft in last 2 weeks.  Had 30 min to spare today and was thinking about what to do next. It might be time to scrap old pictures of my brother and sister. It's two years since he died now and I think it's time to tackle those pics. So many are old and faded so may need a different type of approach to my usual colour explosion approach.