The End

Well finally is the last LO in this holiday album. It shows us on the last day and just before we left the park to go on the Eurostar train back to Ashford. Our bags were waiting fo rus at the train station so what you see is what we bought. That's the trouble with buying daily and over 6 days.

Come the end of the week you gather it all together and it's more than you imagined. The girls both bought large cuddly toys and the best way to get them home was in their suitcases. DH had room in his bag luckily for their clothes lol.

By the end of this day we were ready for home and totally shopped out.

Bazill bling, CI epoxy bottle caps stickers, Fancy Pants felt swirl, mickey sticky brads, Chatterbox alphabet stickers.

PoolBabes / Surf's Up

This had to be about the best afternon the girls spent. The hotel pool was open from early morning until late at night but most times when we got back to the hotel, the girls were tired and didn't have the energy for the pool (neither did we).

We promised them an afternoon before we left to spend time in the pool. Dad was the lucky parent to go in with them and I became the photographer.

DD2 loved the flume but DD1 wasn't brave enough for it choing to go on the smaller uncovered slides. We never knew which way up DD2 was going to be when she landed in the water. I can safely say she thoroughly loved every minute.

Paper Crate Paper 1, Chatterbox 2, stickers from CI, flower from Papermania.

Love is ........

DD1 just loves her Pooh bear collection. They had their own money for the holiday and were allowed to spend it as they wanted. First day and DD1 bought the biggest Pooh she could. Well she would have gone bigger if we'd let her but we had to put a size limit on it in the end. He's very soft and squidgy though and she loves him.

Paper K & Co, flowers Imaginesce, C I epoxy stickers, Chatterbox alphabet and assorted brads.

Relax

Walking round Disney takes it out of you (especially after a few days at it). Here are a selcetion of shots of us relaxing. DH took me and the girls with out us knowing as you can see. Men !!!

Paper is the reverse of the Grandad LO with Mira embellishments and a few Jolees bits.

Grandad

The girls first met Buddah in Epcot in 2005 and that was when they christened the statues of him as Grandad. Okay it bears a pretty good resemblance to their Grandad, so it's no wonder they did it.

This one was out in the car park area by the bus stop in our hotel, and was big enough for the girls to really pose with it. DD1 rubbed his belly for luck of course but DD2 just wanted to sit on it.

Papers from the Mira collection by K & Co. (Paper too nice to embellish so I haven't lol)

Explorers

This is our hotel that we stayed at this trip. For the first time we went off Disney and chose the new Thomas Cook hotel - Explorers.

It turned out to be a good choice and for the girls the best feature was the pool I'd say. (Even though they only got to spend one afternon there). It was a shuttle bus ride away from the Disney complex but the buses ran sooooo frequently that it wasn't a problem at all.

Would we go back. ????? Yes we would. !!!!!!!!!!!

Paper, ribbon and die cut shape are Far East collection, DCWV. Lo was done using a sketch.

Phew! What a view.

So just when you thought I'd finished my French holiday LOs on my blog, here I am again with the last few. (just haven't found much time recently for crafting so haven't much new stuff to add here anyway lol).

Paper is the revrse side of the paper on the Long Climb LO. Gorgeous Kaitlin collection from Crate Paper. Felt shapes are Fancy Pants and alphabet is Chatterbox.

The view is taken of the various stages of the long climb up to Sacre Coeur. From the crowded area of Montmartre to other parts of Paris in the distance.

Part 2 of this LO is missing as I haven't taken a photo of it ........ yet !!!

Pigs

This is Bubbles. Now there is a bit of a story to how she came to be with us.

Cindy was the only pig we had and she got on very well with Butts the bunny. After we lost him she looked so sad and lonely that we decided to get her a friend. Plan A. A friend at work had some pigs and offered one of her 'spare' pigs to us. We jumped at the chance and so her baby pig was to come and live with us. When it came to it though she couldn't catch the baby and turned up with baby's Mum. We named her Sprocket. She was just 18 months old. Until we could introduce them we kept them apart in seperate hutches.

First introduction seemed to be going well until Cindy bit Sprocket. We tried a couple more times and found the same thing happening. Plan B was to have yet another pig from my friend at work. This is where Bubbles comes in. She is a year old and Sprocket's baby.

So picture it, Sprocket and Bubbles in one hutch and Cindy in the other. We tired to introduce the pigs to each other by just going for it and putting them all in the run in the end (as suggested by a friend). A bit troublesome at first and then things seemed fine. They were all laying down together and looked like they had bonded. DH and DD2 had been out to buy a new 2 storey hutch for them whilst we were doing the meeting. That's when it all went pear shaped. Cindy went for both the new pigs in the hutch and the end result was they had to be seperated.

Now we have 3 pigs, still, and in 2 hutches but at least it's not the war zone it was. Phew.

This is Sprocket

Bunnies

Meet Leon and Smudge our 2 lovely bunnies we've adopted. Smudge is the black and white girl (English Spot) and Leon the brown boy (Lionhead.) They are great fun and are becoming more and more friendly everytime we spend time with them.

Today they had to come inside for a run. (More rain than we could even dream of asking for !!!!) Smudge is much more adventurous and found her way to the stairs. She slowly went up a couple and came down then got braver and in the end was happily hopping round upstairs from room to room. Leon was more cautious until we put him upstairs and then he was off. Catching them is a bit of an art as they love to run, and when the alternative choice is sitting in a hutch in the rain outside, who can blame them.

Yahoo

Today DD1 and I got to adopt our lovely new bunnies. They are gorgeous (you'll have to agree once you see their photos here I'm sure) and are soooo friendly. We are on 6 months probation with them as far as things go with the Blue Cross. The one bad thing that DD1 didn't like about the contract was that as they were both strays if their real owners come forward then we have to give them back. *eek* After the 6 months we are officially their owners though. Fingers crossed (although in the 3 weeks since we first chose them nobody had come forward to enquire about them even).

Long climb

So here is DH with DD1 & 2 towards the top of those steps. Lots of people stop here for a breather and to see the view so they did the same. (Plus they were waiting for me as I kept stopping for photos lol)

Paper, stickers, chipboard letters and shapes are Crate Paper from the Kaitlin collection

Sacre Coeur

Our last stop on our day out in Paris was to the Basilica in Montmartre. Sacre Coeur sits high up o nthe hillside and looks beautiful. There are 2 ways to get up to the top, a little railway or the steps. We chose the steps (of course). After a long climb we went for a look inside and were glad we did.

Arc 2

The Arc was too big to get a good photo of in the one shot, so I stuck 2 pics together. Lol.

Paper by Doodlebug, chipboard die cut Arc De Triomphe.

Arc De Triomphe

The Arc De Triomphe is situated in the middle of what is claimed to be the largest roundabout in Europe. It has 12 lanes of traffic and the rule seems to be go when you want to and just watch what everyone is doing.

Next time I want to actually go into the centre and see the arch up close.

Paper by Paperhouse Papers. Sandylion sticker and chipboard.

Tower 2

Last time DH and I were in Paris this was the place we stood to see the Eiffel Tower from after being dropped by the tour bus. This time we walked here from the Tower, stopping on the way up to take yet more photos.

Paper from Doodlebug, sticker Sandylion, and chipboard Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower

So finally I am back to adding to my blog with the holiday LOs.

It was an amazing thing to walk right through the centre of the Eiffel Tower and gaze up at it. I took so many photos (as of everything else lol)

Paper is from Paperhouse Papers, Papermania flower and the tiny Eiffel Tower is a Memory Mates button.

More news

Tried to upload the last of my LOs the other day and could I get them accepted, could I heck. !!!!! Did everything I could but they would not accept the pictures. I will keep trying though and hopefully one day I'll get them here.

Ordered 217 photos today so the next batch of LOs should be happening as soon as they arrive. Wonder how long those photos will keep me occupied. Summer hols are approaching. 6 weeks almost of doing as I please. Woo. There are good things about working in schools.

The girls have been given a new guinea pig by a lady at school. She's a grey and white girly and that's all we know about her but at least we don't have long to wait. She'll be here tomorrow. The hutch is all ready for her and then we have the introductions to start. Should be fun.

The rabbits are still at blue cross but hopefully they will be starting their introductions this week coming. Raindrop had her op and should be going for her final injections this week. It might still be a week or 2 before we get them home with us but it will fly by.

News

Not had the time to get here to put the news about Tots pups yet. Sunday 1st June our Boxer Tots had 6 lovely babies. All boys *jaw dropped at that*. She had 1 white, 2 plain brindle and 3 flashy brindles. Only 1 has a name so far and that is the one that the breeder is poss keeping as her new dog after recently losing her boy Bosun. The named pup is Rider. My girls will be naming the pups when we see them this coming weekend. Pictures will follow.

On a much sadder note. My DD1's gorgeous Lionhead bunny died last Monday after a very short illness. He was a very friendly and beautiful bunny and we all miss him, even DH said 'it's a shame he had to go, he was alright'. Now from him that was a compliment.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is a fabulous building. There are so many carvings all round the building and other aspects to look at on it. Thinks like the gargoyles

and the 3 statues on the central spire not forgetting the windows.

It was so busy that we didn't have the time to go inside for a look round this trip, but we would go again and next time wait with the hoards of people queuing to see the inside.

Papers on the first LO are Gin X - He sings at weddings and DCWV -from Once upon a time. Chipboard embellishments, Doodlebug sticky alphabets and some self adhesive ribbon.

Paris Metro

The biggest fun we had on the Paris Metro was on the RER double decker trains. Unfortunately for us we only got to go on the one.

We'd never used the Metro before (other than DH for a couple of stops when at the Paris office for work) and at first it was mind boggling. How the heck did people know where to go to. We found our way out to street level and visited Notre Dame. Then we had to get back on the Metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. Choosing a different station was a good idea as there weren't so many different ways to choose from to go. However it took us a while (and letting a couple of trains go by) to work out how to get the train we needed. With that sorted it was a breeze and Paris became so easy to get round for us. .

Paper from Paperhouse Productions - Paris Map. Die cut Metro embellishment and tickets originals (minus the one for DH which he managed to lose somehow on our return to DLP !)

Street Life

I was so engrossed in taking photos of the tourist sights that I forgot to take many of the streets and metro signs etc. In fact....... this is it. The one and only photo of a Parisian street (taken from the garden alongside Notre Dame with the Seine to the side)

Paper is from the gorgeous Sweet Berry. Note I couldn't even cover the slightest bit of the pretty flowers and butterflies, so I cut carefully with my craft knife to lt the photo sit behind them. Lol. Sticker embellishment is C I and the alphabet is Kelly Panacci. Also added, but not really noticeable are some K & Co Grand Adhesions from Sweet Berry too.

Paris

We spent a great day wandering around Paris. It was the first time the girls had been there and although DH has to go to the Paris office sometimes he doesn't often have the chance to sightsee. Last time DH & I were there we were on a coach tour out from Disney, so were taken on a drive round and a boat trip. It was great to do it for ourselves this time and see what we (well I) wanted to see. Lol.

These were the main sights I wanted to visit.

Paper HOTP, Chipboard shapes from ?? (Scrap Your Trip), sticker tab from C I.

Let's eat and shop

A lot of the restaurants and shops are gathered together in Paris in the main soundstage style building. These are a few of the ones on offer there.

Paper CI - Silly Plates and sticker embellishments from the same collection, alpha Chatterbox.

Motors Action Stunt Show.

We missed this show in Florida (clashed with something else we wanted to see) so it was good to be able to see it here. We knew a lot of how things were done but it still didn't take away from anything the show. Even the girls sat glued to the action.

Paper is Oh my stars by Adornit Carolees, alpha stickers from Chatterbox.

Far, Far Away

The girls love the Narnia film and were quick to jump up to the photo spot and sit in the chair. DD2 thought the 'man' was real lol.

Paper here is from Once Upon A Time by DCWV with a BG rub on. (Couldn't over embellish the paper lol)

Walt Disney Studios the back lot

There are lots of things we've seen before in Florida in this park and some new ones. It's a smaller park than MGM but gets busy enough that even in 2 visits we didn't get to go on absolutely everything. Hmmm!

The newes rides were Tower of Terror and Crush's Roller Coaster. Neither of which we got to go on. The tower we got all the way to the lifts to go on the ride and the girls bottled it and Crush's was always over an hour's wait. !!!!!!!!!! No thanks.

What an adventure

After going through the gate, security check, front lot and soundstage you come to the park and there to greet you is Walt and Mickey, statue style of course.

Well obviously you have to have the photos taken there. (this LO is awaiting a couple of smaller ophtos when I can print out again ..... grrr!)

Your Passport to Adventure

This is the girls with their Dad about to enter Walt Disney Studios for the first time in Paris. Last time we were here it was just being built so it was good to do something we'd done before (in Florida) but were going to be seeing for the first time here.

Paper is from EK Success and is Mickey beaded heads. What you can't see is all the dots are red foil that shine in the light. The big ticket comes from K & Co Mira collection.

Rainforest Cafe

We love to eat in the Rainforest Cafe. The girls love the way the animals 'come to life' as you are eating. Me and DH love the food. This time we were lucky enough to eat here twice. (Once curtesy of his works as he was employee of the month for Feb so we could eat out up to an amount. We managed 2 lovely meals for the money.)

This paper is part of the CI Goofy range but with the colours in the restaurant and that frog it had to come in to use with these photos. Die cuts are the gorgeous Sweet Berry from K & Co.

Mushroom Magic

These concrete mushrooms outisde the Rainforest Cafe are something the kids love to see. With this gorgoeus K & Co paper, mushroom world, they had to have a LO of their own. LOL.

N-ice

We all love ice cream but DD1 has a unique way of eating hers.

Papers and Chipboard sticker are Creative Imaginations. Alphabet from Chatterbox.

This LO was made using a sketch from the Craft Diner forum.

Party on (the new version)

Here is the updated LO with the muchrooms photo taken out to star in it's own LO.

Party On

Disney Village is the place to eat and shop if you don't want to eat in your hotel. There are all sorts of choices there. Our faves have to be Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe with Anette's Diner coming a close second to the other two. I have changed this LO since I received my Sweet Berry papers so that the mushrooms outside Rainforest Cafe are on the gogeous Mushroom World paper and Buffalo Bills show photo fills that spot. Just haven't taken a photo of that yet so have put the original version on for now.

Photos are of Planet Hollywood, King Ludwig's Castle, giant Mushrooms outside of Rainforest Cafe and the Disney Village sign.

Paper is Magical Night Sky by Adornit Carolee's Creation, chefs hat stickers from C I and alpha from Chatterbox.

What are we wearing?

These hats were so much fun but as they were expensive we made do with a quick photo session with them. (Cheats eh!)

DD1 has Scrooge McDuck on her top hat, DD2 is Goofy and I have Goofy the cowboy on my mat.

Paper is glossed images of Mickey Mouse by .... ? (someone lol), Stickers and bottlecaps are from CI.

Blast off!

Tomorrowland is where the best ride is for me. I just love to go on space mountain. Unfortunately this time there was no one able to go on with me. DD2 was too small and DD1 too chicken, even DH couldn't go with me as someone needed to stay with the girls. *doh* We had to make do with 2 goes on the ageing Star Tours. Thankfully Orbitron was always busy (and with Dumbo done there wasn't the need ha!). We only managed to see the Lion King show once (and in English) but it was very good.

Paper is left over from the Florida trip in 2005 bought in Magic Kingdom. Stickers are from CI. Not really much of a LO but this was all about the photos.

Funsville

Fantasyland is home to all those bedtime stories rides and the carousel of course. The girls wanted to do all those 'little' rides but they are so busy that we didn't get to do them all. Nearly but we failed by just one or two.

Favourites rides here are It's a Small World, the Teacups and DD2 loves Dumbo (aargh!)

Photos here are of Toad Hall restaurant, the castle in the Labyrynth (Alice in Wonderland), Sleeping Beauty's castle and Storybook land.

Paper is from C I black streamers (foiled and lovely), embellishments are also CI and the alpha is Chatterbox.

More Pirates.

Adventureland is home to The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We all love that one. Cool in the summer and warm in the winter and spring.

Adventure Isles has a couple of ariel walkways. I don't do ariel walkways !!!!! Too swingy and high up for me. Funny enough the kids felt the same way.

Paper is from DCWV Once Upon a Time range. Buttons are Memory Mates and alpha is Chatterbox stickers. I left this LO quick under embellished as the paper is just too nice to fully cover up. Lol.

Western ho!

This is Frontierland, home to the cowboys side of things really. The girls fave ride is Big Thunder Mountain. Boy can DD1 scream her way round there. And I mean all the way round. Lol. These photos were taken as we sailed round on the big paddle steamer. (DH still likes to do a bit of sea time being ex Royal Navy- not sure this counts really.)

From top to bottom photos show the gateway to Frontierland from Main Street area, Phantom Manor, The geysers complete with dinosaur bones (sadly not working this trip) and the other paddle steamer.

Paper and the gorgeous brad are from the Wild Saffron range by K & Co, stickers are ..... ? (can't remember atm), Papermania flower and Chatterbox sticky alpha.

Pirate Girl

Well finally I have got it sorted and here is the LO I have been trying to upload for a week. I made this one using a sketch on the Craft Diner forum. Papers are Sandylion and Karen Foster pirate related of course. Stickers are Sandylion and Creative Imagination. Alpha stickers are Doodlebug.

This mask that DD2 was wearing (yes it is a mask honest!) we found in a shop at the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Well it was too good a photo opportunity to miss. Lol.

Skull rock

This LO uses the April sketch 3 from the Craft Diner forum.

The paper I thoughwas so appropriate for this photo. Stickers are from the same manufacturer. (Memory and the botton strip gone but I think they are Sandylion) Letters are Chatterbox stickers. (Flash from the camera optional!!!!)

These are todays uploads but stay tuned and the next pages will appear real soon. (Honest!) Thanks for looking X

We all love a parade

Papers are by Creative Imaginations. The red is Magic and the other is Black Streamer (which is silver foiled), embellishments are C I, witha Mickey Mouse hat brad and Minnie Mouse ears brad. Prima journalling pad. Now everyone who has been to Disney knows that 3pm is parade time, well in Paris it was 4pm the first day and then after that it was at 5pm. This was on the first day and yes it had been raining, but the magic of Disney doesn't stop for rain (in this case the end of some drizzle.) I have loads more photos of the parade. Heck I have loads more photos of Disney but atm they are in the photos wallets as I have no room in my book. (They will be done as soon as I can though)

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

There is a very pretty castle in DLP with extras. Not only are there the shops (of course) but there is a dragon down in the dungeon and on the first floor you can see the story of Sleeping Beauty in little characters. (neither of which we took photos of this time.)

Paper is Dreamland from Sandylion, Stickers are 7 Gypsies - Girls, Prima flowers with Papermania gems, 2 Disney brads and pink glittery peel off alphabet stickers

Main Street

First thing to take a photo of in Disneyland is of course the castle at the top of Main Street. Here Main Street was decked out to celebrate it's 15th birthday (still). As some of our days were a bit grey you could see that the banners are llit with tiny lights on. The castle lights up at night too.

Paper is a left over from a big book of papers I got in Disney World in 2005. Embellishments and journalling sticker are C. I. and the letters were cut out using my Vixen alphabet and my Big Shot. (Well I used it for something lol.)

Eurostar train trip

Papers are Creative Imaginations and so are the embellishments.

We got to Disneyland Paris via the Eurostar train which we caught at Ashford International Station. The great thing about it is the journey is just over 2 hours and goes direct to Marne-la-Vallee, Chessy. Once there you hand your bags in at the Disney Express desk (if youhave that service) and off to the park you go. Your bags are takento your hotel and wait for you there whilst you have fun. Brilliant. It meant that we had breakfast in Ashford and lunch in Disneyland Paris at 12.50 then wandered round the park until about 6pm.

Holiday scrap pages time!

So here we go then. I have finished the 12" x 12" album that I bought for the holiday LOs. Hmmm stil have hundreds of photos left though and can't find any refills for my Chatterbox album atm.

Front of the album goes to the map of france and records our journey made to get us to Disneyland Resort Paris.

Most of the papers and embellishments I bought from Scrapyourtrip.com, as I had trouble finding Paris specific papers etc in the UK. They had a fab range. I had to be controlled with my buying lol. (I'd have had them all.)

This paper is from Far and Away, Where in the world - France Embellishments are Jolees and jounalling pad is Prima.