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!

Away She Goes Layout!

Just popping by very quickly to show you another layout from my scrapbooking weekend away!

 

This one uses a real mix of papers and collections. There's some AC Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic, October Afternoon Woodland Park, Echo Park So Happy Together, MME label stickers, washi tape, Studio Calico wood stars and chipboard arrows.

The journalling reads: "We took your new big bike out to the New Forest. You really got your confidence and enjoyed cycling along the paths. Up until this day you liked to have one of us alongside you for reassurance but today you were happy to go it alone!"

My daughter had outgrown her old bike and we had got her a new one but she found it so much bigger than her old one and it took a few outings on it to get used to it and get her confidence.

I'm loving the current scrapbooking trend for arrows!

 

 

I included the little "Goals" tab on this page as she had definately set herself a "goal" that day and didn't stop until she had acheived it!!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Rain or Shine

I've finally managed to photograph my layouts I made on my scrapbooking weekend retreat!

 

This was the first page I made and was based on Shimelles sketch two

I used some Simple Stories Vintage Bliss papers and stickers and had lots of room to journal the story of a day trip to a local country park when H was small and Daddy took her on the little steam train. They bought tickets and hopped aboard, all smiles in the sunshine (left hand photo on the layout). Within a few minutes of the train moving off, the grey rain clouds that had been threatening couldn't hold off and it began to rain. It was only a short shower - but trust the good ol' British weather to choose that moment to rain!!

 

For the rest of the journey, H had her little hood up and snuggled into Daddy. She still loved her train ride!

 

I love how cute she looks, sucking her thumb and just look at Daddy's sad face 'cos he got a little bit wet!

 

I sheltered on the platform keeping nice and dry, waiting for the train to return!!

 

I'll be back to share a few more of my scrapping weekend layouts soon.

 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!