OK, I'm going to rewind a little, just back to Easter.

We spent part of the morning on the beach with Jeff's parents who were staying with us. The boys enjoyed building sandcastles, infact one was Dunluce castle (a ruined castle in Northern Ireland which Matthew has been fascinated by for years) and next to it they built Stonehenge with stones found on the beach - such imaginations! Here you can see "Stonehenge".

In the afternoon my parents came over and we got the Easter Egg Hunt underway. This year I hid chocolate eggs around the house and made clues to lead the boys on a treasure hunt. (I used to love making treasure hunts when I was a kid - can you tell?) There were 9 clues in all leading them upstairs and downstairs, into cupboards and under tables. And it was their idea to wear their Star Wars robes!

And ended with the best one - an egg in a Star Wars mug! (There got the same egg from my sister the very next day - they love the mugs and now we have spares!)

 

There was also a lot of this going on...

(A 1000 piece puzzle of Polperro in Cornwall which we visited last year on holiday) 

And this ...

The whole family playing games on the Wii. Here Matthew is racing Grandad (my Dad) on Mario Kart. We also played games on the balance board too like Obstacle Course, Ski Jumping and Balance Bubble. It was such a laugh and everyone, I mean everyone had a go!

We had a lovely roast for dinner with both sets of parents around the table, it felt like Christmas having our families together. Although it meant there wasn't enough big chairs around the table for Matthew and Callum, so they sat at their little playhouse table on their little chairs next to us.

When Jeff and I put the boys to bed that night we left our parents downstairs and this is what they got up too...

...playing archery on the Wii, all four of them against each other. After Jeff and I had finished putting the boys to bed they were still playing and continued for a good time after that. It was so funny and lovely to see them 'playing' so nicely together! There's definitely a scrapbook layout in the making for that photo.

One layout I have made of our Easter is of the boys easter egg hunt. I based it on a design layout on Pencil Lines. I haven't used a Pencil Lines sketch for ages, but I read on Elizabeth Kartchner's blog that she was the guest designer so I thought I'd have a go. (You can see the template on the Pencil Lines blog).

I took the colour inspiration from the colours in the photos and that cute bird accent which happily complimented each other and found patterned paper, letter stickers and ribbon that matched. I wanted to include the clues so I tucked them behind the smaller photo which I'd raised up with little foam pads. I printed out my journaling onto off white cardstock and cut it into strips, then inked the edges in brown before I stuck them down. I am really pleased how this came together, the wee bird is perfect for this layout.

{I used Kraft and a coastal blue (not sure of exact name) cardstock by Bazzill Basics, patterned paper by Lili Bee (one of my favourite pp's), brown pom pom ribbon (American Crafts I think) and digital 'Capture the Moment' twill by Ali Edwards. The brown glittery letters and a little felt bird accent are both from the new Dear Lizzy range by American Crafts - love those glittery thicker stickers. Oh and I used the scallop blade on my Fiskars trimmer to cut the edges of the cardstock and patterned paper}.

It's still sunny here, but today there's a cool brisk easterly wind keeping the temperature down - long sleeves and maybe a jacket today! Have a lovely week.