A Family Break

Last week we enjoyed some quality family time on a few days break at Centerparcs at Longleat Forest!!

 

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the millions I took.

 

This lake was lovely ...

 

.... but quite how I ended up out on it on a Pedalo, I'm not too sure!! The Powers of Persuasion of a 9 year old!! Fun though!

 

We had a lovely day out a Longleat Safari and Adventure Park.

 

Hand fed the deer!!!

 

Watched the cute lion cubs as they walked in amongst the cars!

 

This one was literally right outside our car window!

 

 

 

We took a boat ride to feed the seals, enjoyed a train ride, went roller skating, played tennis, went in the swimming pool, played ten pin bowling and ate lots of yummy food!!

 

 

A fun few days away from our usual routine!!

 

I have a feeling some of these photos may be appearing on some layouts very soon!

WOYWW 202 ~ Piles!!

Hello ... so this was the state of my desk table earlier today!

Piles!

And Boxes!!

 

I still have the pile of unfinished layouts that I told you about last week on the top left corner. I've finished a couple of them but also added another to the pile!

 

I've been getting a few layouts planned ready for a crop this Saturday so you can see a pile of photos from my "to scrap" folder and two of my boxes of stash just balancing on the edge of the table.

 

I have two new Echo Park collections that I want to use - Bundle of Joy and the Sisters Mini pack. I've been choosing my papers, photos, embellishments and alphas and creating piles ready to put in 12 x 12 plastic bags to take to the crop. Watch out Lisa-Jane, I'm going to be organised this time!!

 

This post is for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. ... the weekly nosy at the desks of other crafty peeps!

 

Right I'm off to visit some more desks!

Just another day at the beach

Every few months I take the shop to a lovely crop held at Littlegreen School near Portsmouth/Chichester and run by Sue. I'm usually lucky enough to fit in a little scrapping time in between running the shop.

 

This is the layout I made last time I went!

Living quite close to the beach we are lucky enough to be able to visit fairly often and when H was small we would often go and let her play in the sand with buckets and spades and paddle in the sea.

 

I have lots (and lots!) of photos of her playing on the beach and lots of scrapbook layouts of beach photos!!

It's actually getting tricky to come up with different titles for my "beach" layouts ... the title for this one is taken from this layout which I had pinned.

 

The background paper and the pink diamond pattern paper are from the Crate DIY Shop collection kit and I've used some pink polka washi tape, Studio Calico Aqua Thickers and a few tiny alpha stickers and brads from my box of stash!

 

I will add some journalling and the date to this layout.

 

I hope you've had a lovely weekend .... it's the last day of the school holidays here so after a walk along the beach and ice creams this afternoon we are back home to preparing uniform and school bags!!

WOYWW #201 ~ Unfinished Layouts!!

Apart from last Saturday when I had a fabulous time cropping with my lovely friends Lisa-Jane and Paula at a 12 hour All Day Crop and helping to raise a few pennies for breast cancer, I haven't had the chance this school holiday to get scrapping! Last week we had some work done on our kitchen (new worktops, sink, tiling etc!) and there was a lot of dust (how does it travel all over the house?!) so all my crafty stashed stayed carefully packed away and protected from the mess!!

 

My Dad very kindly offered to look after H for the day today so after dashing around like a mad thing this morning catching up on jobs, errands and just a little bit of housework I have settled down at my table this afternoon for a little creative time!

 

As it's Wednesday I also thought I could join in with the weekly blog hop, WOYWW where we all get to have a nosey at each others desks. If you have no idea what I'm on about take a look at Julia's blog to find out and join in!

 

So, on my desk is a pile of half done layouts.

 

Actually there is 10 in total!!

 

I've taken the photo so you can also see how I use the floor and a chair beside me to pile my boxes and bags on so they are near at hand! I craft at my dining room table and hate getting up and down to get stuff from my storage unit.

 

Some of the "unfinished pages" just need dates or journalling .... others need titles and some like the one I'm currently working on (with the banners & pic of H sat on my knees) need just about everything!! I matted the photo and cut the banners last Saturday at the crop but got no further!

 

Do you always finish layouts or do you have a pile of unfinished pages too? I'd love to know!

 

Anniversary Weekend Layout

This layout was another I made on my weekend away and  is a scraplift of this Pin on my Pinterest board. I've only recently started to use Pinterest but already I'm loving it as a great source of scrappy inspiration.

 

I've used just a few strips of patterned paper and the cluster of embellies keeps the focus on the photos! I do need to add the date to the tab on the top right corner.

 

The photos were taken on a weekend away last summer in the New Forest.

My hubby and I rarely get any time away on our own due to the difficulties of finding a babysitter (not sure baby sitter is the right term for a 9 year old but you get what I mean!!) so two days away in a hotel to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary was a wonderful treat!

 

In other news .... It's still the school holidays and I'm enjoying spending lots of time with H ... the non-spring like weather has meant trips to the cinema, shops, library and activities at home but she seems happy with that. We went out for lunch today and to visit a local museum tomorrow.

 

Those of you on school holidays with children ... what activities do you do when the weather is not great? ... I'm grateful for more ideas!

A Scrapbooking Weekend!

Last weekend I spent a wonderful few days away at this converted barn nestled deep in the Dorset countryside with the lovely Lisa-Jane and 5 scrapbooking friends. Well, a couple of the ladies I had actually only met once or twice previously but by the end of the weekend I definately now consider them to be friends!!

 

We ate yummy food, drank gallons of tea and coffee, enjoyed home baked cakes, had the odd glass (or two) of wine,  chatted, laughed, relaxed and of course scrapped late into the night.

Some of the ladies spent time relaxing in the hot tub, swimming or in the gym but the most excercise I got was a lovely walk around the grounds of the farm.

 

Along this lane ....

... and around this lake and the second lake which you can't quite see in this photo as it was on beyond the trees!

 

 

I managed 5 completed layouts and well into a 6th, although some ladies made 10 or 11 pages .... maybe I chatted a little more than I created!!

 

I'll be back soon to show you the layouts!

 

The Lost Village

I realised I didn't show you the other layout I made at the crop a few weeks ago.

Tyneham is a Dorset village which was evacuated in the second world war, but the residents never returned and it's remained deserted ever since. It's now known as the "lost Village"

Many of the building are now ruins but there is loads of information about the  village and the villagers. The school is particularly interesting - as you enter the door you feel as you've stepped back in time - all the school books are laid out and name labels still sit above the coat hooks.

If you want to know more check out this website.

Last Summer, when my in laws were here visiting, we took a trip out there. 

The old phone box was a great background for a few photos with the grandparents.

From the village we walked out to Worbarrow Bay where the photos on this layout were taken.

I layered up patterned papers and washi tape and created my title with my favourite Wood grain Thickers.

I hope you've had a lovely weekend ... thanks for stopping by today!

Snow Day!

It's a Snow Day here today!!

School is open so we set off for the walk to school!

Back home to the warm and dry, where this is the view from my craft table!

Do you have snow today?

Hello 2013

Goodbye 2012. Hello 2013!!

A very Happy New Year to all my lovely blog readers!

 

We didn't go out to celebrate the New Year. But it was nice to just stay at home, cook a lovely meal together and enjoy a glass or two of red wine. I just about managed to stay awake until midnight to see the New Year in! If you celebrated, I hope you also had a wonderful evening.

 

2012 certainly had it's ups and downs. We had a few sad times, some difficult times, plenty of fun times and lots and lots of happy times.

 

Bring on 2013!!

I'm looking forward to the next 12 months and whatever they may bring.

 

I wish you all much happiness, good health and fun times in 2013.

Christmas!!

Things are slowly getting back to normal around here. Our visitors have gone home. H can sleep in her own room again. All the turkey has finally been eaten and my fridge is no longer crammed with food.

 

Christmas was lovely. We had quite a houseful. 7 of us on Christmas Day for a traditional lunch and 9 of us for dinner (a huge buffet) on Boxing Day.

 

I ate far too much chocolate, cooked lots, played games, watched rubbish tv, received lovely gifts, drowned in giftwrap and enjoyed having all my family around me.

 

 

Hannah left out her sack and some refreshments for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I love that she woke early (just before 7am) and climbed into bed beside me but waited until 7.30 before whispering to me "Can I go downstairs and see if he's been?" She still loves the magic at 9 years old!

 

 

Later in the morning we opened our presents with my in-laws. I love this photo of H, looking so grown up. Yes, that big bag was full of pressies for her!

And this pic just captures the delight on her face as she opens her gift from us .... a Little Mix Annual and tickets to go and see them in concert!!

What more could a 9 year old want?! Oh yes, a One Direction annual and CD!!

 

Sorry I haven't been around much lately - life and all the Christmas prep just took over for a little while.

 

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas time too.

Christmas Scrapping

Gosh, almost a month since I last posted on my little blog! I have been busy crafting. I've just not had time to take photos of my layouts and blog them!

So, last weekend I headed off to the Artful Angels Crop and spent a very enjoyable day scrapping some Christmas photos. Well, actually it was just a few hours! It was my birthday and I arrived late (after H had insisted on making me a birthday breakfast!) and left early as hubby and H wanted to take me out for a yummy cream tea!!

But, anyway I still managed a couple of pages at the crop.

I take a hundred million photographs at Christmas but hardly ever scrap them. I'm not sure why that is, but whilst looking through my albums a couple of weeks ago, I realised I had big gaps and a serious lack of Christmas layouts. I decided to fill those gaps and reduce the pile of photos!

For my first page I used a panel of Simple Stories paper, a border and  stickers from Echo Park This and That Christmas, Fancy Pants alphas, stickers and alphas from Studio Calico's Yearbook collection and a few gems. 

Sorry for the dreadful photo of this page! There is hardly any decent light at this time of year. 

These photos were taken last Christmas whilst we were waiting with H to see Santa. The approach to his grotto, where we had to queue was decorated as a beautiful Winter Wonderland. I still need to add some journalling to this layout in the space over on the right hand side!

A close up of the overlapped border stickers, alphas and gems! I also put gems in the centre of the snowflakes - I think you can see them better in the first picture!

For my next layout I wanted to record how H always leaves out drink and snacks for Santa for on Christmas Eve. This particular photo was taken a few years ago when we spent the holidays, staying with family.

This one was quite quick to do, a few strips of EP This & That paper (with the edges inked), green washi tape, a title created with an EP This & That "Christmas" sticker and black glitter thickers, a few buttons, green twine, a journalling card and I was done. Although I think I will add the year the photo was taken.

Do you have photos still to scrap from Christmas past? Or do you scrap them as soon as the festive season is over?

Before I go, don't forget to pop over to the S J Crafts Blog - the new challenge has just gone live and this month there's a prize of a £5 voucher to spend in the shop!

Thanks for stopping by xx

WOYWW 171

I'm very pleased to report that with the house all to myself again I have been scrapping quite a lot lately!! Anyone else pleased schools are back?!

I don't think I joined in with Julia's weekly round up of crafty places all summer so I thought it was high time I played along.

So, as mentioned back here I did have a good tidy up last week but this week I'm back to pulling out boxes (see that tower I'm starting to build on the left!) and rummaging for supplies. I'm still unsure how best to organise my craft space - I'm now thinking I "need" another Ikea expedit unit!

There's my bag at the back which still needs unpacking from a crop I went to at the weekend and next to that a pile of magazines (with my button box on top!) that I had been looking through and are now awaiting a new home - maybe in a new expedit unit?!! 

The rest is just various papers, stickers and stuff I've pulled out of the boxes that I might use on the layout that you can see in progress.

Right, I'm going to make another cuppa and go visit some crafty desks!! 

Happy WOYWW x

Birthday Girl!!

Sorry I've not been around blogland as much as usual ..... I've been busy with the 9th birthday celebrations for this young lady!!!

Photo taken on 9th birthday!!

A few days before her birthday, she invited 3 friends for a BBQ and Sleepover!! They had so much fun playing in the sunshine, painting their nails, eating BBQ food in the garden, eating birthday cake, drinking lemonade and watching DVDs with a big bag of popcorn to share!!

On her birthday we enjoyed a lovely evening out at Frankie and Bennys restaurant with family, followed by more cake!!

Good Times!!

x

Craft Space Reorganisation - Part 1

I haven't posted for a while because there hasn't been an awful lot of crafting going on here just lately. One of the reasons (apart from everyday life and work keeping me busy!!) for the lack of crafting is that the reorganisation of my craft area has finally begun. I have been wanting (and needing!) to do this for a while now. You know how it is when the stash starts to take over the house and you can't find anything - or is that just me?

Anyway, my lovely hubby finally agreed that I needed some decent storage so we took a trip to Ikea. We also wanted to get a desk for H's bedroom and some storage, something a bit more grown up than the toy shelves and boxes she has had until now. I won't go into how long it took us to fit all the boxes, containing a desk, shelves, chair and a expedit 2 x 2 unit, into our medium sized car!! And still leave room for 3 people!!

So, I have built H's desk and chair ....

It's now been moved upstairs to her bedroom, where she is enjoying using it for her colouring, writing stories and drawing! She loves it!

My Expedit unit ....

We just have the storage shelves for H's room to do!

I've started to sort through my boxes and bags of stash and next week, I need to go through the rest and fill my new unit. I'm finding stuff I forgot I had.  I'm so looking forward to getting myself organised, at long last!!

I'll show you some more pics when it's all done!

Don't forget the challenge is still open over on the shop blog, there's a £10 voucher for the random winner!!

I hope you are having a fab weekend, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Yesterday we set about carving our little pumpkin!

Hopefully normal craftiness and blogging will resume tomorrow as H, who is soon to get dressed up as a Halloween witch (pictures to follow!) returns to school tomorrow following the half term holidays and a teacher training  day today!!

A Rare Day Off!

Last week my hubby and I found ourselves with a rare midweek day off together and it was such a glorious sunny day we headed down to the beach for the afternoon!

It was heaven just to sit together at the cafe overlooking the beach sipping an ice cold drink!

Seriously, the weather down here for the time of year is crazy but I'm not complaining that the sun is refusing to give way to winter!

We strolled along the beach, so I could take photographs of the colourful beach huts!

Honestly they were every colour of the rainbow and every shade imaginable!

The sun shine sparkling on the sea on a sunny October afternoon was lovely!

Can't wait to scrapbook these photos!!

Hope you have had a fabulous week!