Rocking Your World - 29th of 2020

Good Morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

so this time last week me and hubby were heading off to our old home town of Stafford for what should have been a weekend of culture with a Shakespeare play, alas like many other things it has been postponed until next year but I had no option to cancel the hotel, so we decided to venture anyway.

We headed off at 10am and went straight to Shugborough which is a national trust property on the outskirts of Stafford (somewhere back in the depths of time we had membership to the farm which we used to take said 19 year old when he was younger than 4). 

This is the tower of the winds in the grounds themselves, closed up due to Covid at the moment

We had a wander around the gardens and grabbed a selfie

There are also some strange carvings in the grounds

and some lovely structures

I've always loved the oriental building and the red bridge

It was the first time we'd ever been in the walled garden (we didn't even know that it existed), the house that you can see was the old head gardeners house).

Blue skies eventually as it was rather dark when we first got there, this is the back of the house which is mighty grey in my honest opinion but still pretty against the sky.  It was the ancestral home of Lord Lichfield who I believe was the Queen's cousin, very famous photographer, we've been in the house before and there is still lots of his camera equipment in the house to see.

another shot of the head gardeners house, the triangular shape is where there was an original glass house leant against the house.

The druid statue on the ruins overlooking the river, I assume the ruins were a Victorian folly although I'm sure I read that the stones used came from the original manor house that sat on the site. 

Then around 3pm we headed off to our hotel, we got there fine but were amazed at the quantity of house building that was happening in and around Stafford, we think it has become something of a commuter town for Birmingham in all honesty as the major employers have all gone. 

We had a lovely meal on the Friday night in the restaurant.  Saturday dawned and we headed to Blist Hill for a wander; if you've not been it is a Victorian town that operates as it would in its heyday, a living museum, they'd gone to extra lengths to keep us safe and some of the shops that didn't have an 'in and out' were still closed up but with genius signs on the doors to explain away the closure. 

These are all out of order so apologies if you do know the site

This was the view from the table where we grabbed our early morning coffee (much needed). 

Hubby as we started the walk up the hay incine plane (a method of transporting goods - usually coal) up and down steep hillsides to the river below, this one linked with the Canal at Blist Hill, the weight of the heavy load going down one side raised the empty one on the other side to be filled with coal before being lowered to the bottom to the boats on the River Severn

I've always loved the squatters cottage

This was the sign outside the haberdashery

Me and hubby before we ascended the incline plane

 I bought some of these genius signs for our black and white wall at home

The boat on the left was designed for breaking up the ice on the River Severn, up to 20 horses would pull the boat from the side of the river and the middle platform men would stand and rock the boat back and forth to break up the ice

Blist hill on our canal walk back along 

The locksmiths actually had a volunteer to chat to (which is the first time ever), he was really chatty and informative and told us that locksmiths were incredibly poor, making and selling their locks to big locksmith companies that made the profit, they often had 2 apprentices that they took on from poor houses, but as such that meant the market was flooded with locksmiths (think about the doubling issue with Covid, if 2 apprentices take on 2 apprentices once they were qualified the 2 becomes 4 becomes 16 etc etc quite quickly).  They often had to have a side hustle to make ends meet as the money made selling locks this week was often used to buy supplies for next week. 

I loved the accidentally adjacent statement on this one, apparently the manager at Blist Hill is a trained graphic designer and he put the posters together in the correct style and dotted them around the site, they definitely raised a chuckle. 

This is Jack Sampson, the blacksmith at Ironbridge (he has an instagram feed under the same name if you want to follow his work), we had a lengthy chat with him, qualified to degree level from Hereford University, he was making barley corn in metalwork, mesmerising to watch. 

Me and hubby

Hubby had a beer from pub early in the day, look at that happy mischievous look

We had a fabulous day and have to thank Ironbirdge and Blist Hill for making us feel very safe in these difficult times and allowing us to have a brill time. 

We had a wander around Stafford before our evening meal 

The main church is so pretty

and the walk along one of the back streets

We split our journey home up on the way back and stopped off at Chatsworth having pre-booked the week before, we were treated to blue skies and managed to stay off the beaten path

The house looked splendid with is shiny gold windows

Grabbed a selfie after our epic weekend away

An up close view of the house

Oh and a shot of the church at Stafford, I said it was putting them in a random order - sorry

The rest of the week has tripped along, Monday we had a day off just to recover from the weekend and return to normal (if that makes sense). 

I hit two years of not drinking alcohol this week which I'm mighty proud of if I'm honest (although hubby's wine last weekend did smell mighty fine). 

Said 19 year old and his girlfriend have returned for a few weeks (they are now able to split their time between the two houses, but do it for several weeks at a time to minimise risk). 

Our locality has seen an increase in cases recently, so they've advised everyone to get tested whether you have symptoms or not as they try and suppress the spread, so grateful to receiving the postal tests via Amazon (which did make me giggle) and getting them sent off yesterday, not that any of us feel poorly just because we've been asked to do it. 

and that my lovely people was the week that was, hope you've had a grand week, if you fancy joining in pop back and link up so we can come and visit, I think we have got comments flowing through again, although not sure if Lisca sent one last week, I can't remember lol. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - WEEK 6 OF 2015

Good morning one and all, tis Friday already and the first Rocking post of February

Time to take stock on the last 7 days as I note the positives - it might be a dig deep week I'm afraid.

Hubby for that listening ear, just being there, just understanding - bliss!

Said 14 year old for not rolling his eyes (too much) on the spelling front as I battle with his dyslexia - bless him he does tolerate his Mum!

Evening walks - they are always good for the soul and for the brain, plenty of time to chat and put the world to rights and get some exercise to boot - win win!

Returning to Slimming World and the lovely Lesley, after weeks of not going due to family issues and ailments, we finally returned not only to a weight loss but to a lovely warm welcome from Lesley!

Slimming World 8 syn cake - twas alright - not wonderful marvellous and amazing (it lacked real sugar and real cream), but on the whole if you needed a sweet fix I think it would have done the trick!

The moon on Thursday night (sorry for lack of photos - phone was flat), it was huge and orange and simply beautiful!

A catch up with my lovely friend Melanie, she really is a star, we nattered for several hours putting the world to rights as we do and had a good chat - twas bliss!

My brother and sister for dealing with my Mum over the last week helping her up and downstairs (this means carrying her) so she can shower etc.  It's been a long haul up to now and she's still not done yet, but they have both been stars!

That my lovely people is going to have to be your lot this week, in between tiredness, hospitals, carehomes and visits it has been 'one of those' weeks!

I hope yours has been blessed and fruitful and positive, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back link up, leave a comment and we shall come and visit.  Just so I don't feel like I'm leaving you with no pictures, here is a layout I did a while ago.

I think the title says it all!

MONDAY MORNING - SCRATCH THAT MEAN TUESDAY!

How the weekends tend to speed up and Mondays appear only too quickly, so quickly so now I find myself on Tuesday!  It's a little bit cooler this week in Yorkshire if I'm honest, the winds over the weekend seem to have stripped a lot of the autumn colour from the trees so it's feeling properly like autumn now. Waking up at 6.30am to find it still dark isn't much fun either, but next weekend they give us back an hour that I've been missing since March so that will be nice!

So I'm going to share a layout I did utilising inspiration from UK Scrappers using Simple Recipes inspiration.  This one creates the confetti look utilising the eraser on the end of a pencil dabbed into an ink pad.

The photo was when we visited to Tar Tunnel at Ironbridge last year - you can tell it's over a year ago as said 14 year old is significantly shorter than the two of us, this year - not so much!

Hope you are having a happy scrapping day!

Oh before you go I forgot to mention that I've done a guest post on The Weird Scissors this morning a Halloween inspired mini book (and layout), click here to have a nosey.  The Weird Scissors blog is fabulous and has loads of Halloween inspired posts, don't forget to check out all the other work they've done!

COUNTERFEIT LAYOUTS - SO MUCH FUN

Well it has to be said that I'm having an inordinate amount of fun with the Counterfeit Kit that I put together for the very first time this month.  I've shared 3 layouts with you up to now, but I've done plenty more.

I managed a double page layout, the 'zig zag' on the page comes from a template, I had a sheet of stickers that had a thin zig zag sticker on it, however the trouble with stickers is that they are single hits. However, once used I was left with the other side of the sticker which wasn't designed to be used but still had the shape on it.  As it was self adhesive I stuck it to some scrap card stock and subsequently used it as a template to draw around and cut out to create colour coordinated embellishments.


Up close the red heart was painted some time ago and I'll be honest I never thought I'd use it on a layout - it was just too big, but looking at it as a potential journal block was enough to get me using it up!

The pages document, said 13 year old having a go at glass blowing at the Jackfield Tile Museum when we holidayed in Much Wenlock last Easter, they were a sequence of photos showing the development of the glass.  As there were so many and I'd had them printed so big, I didn't think I'd get chance to showcase them in a layout - but with some careful cutting and a double page it was fairly easy to incorporate!

A QUICK WEDNESDAY POST...

Where are the weeks going too, blink and you miss the weekend, then we're at Wednesday and before you know it it'll be Rocking Your World Friday again - scary stuff.  Well I'm trudging back to work this morning, not sure how that will go but keep your fingers and toes crossed everything is OK, had a few emotional rollercoaster days which are never good so I thought I'd share a quick layout with you.  I'm still steaming along with these layouts, however, this weeks layout obsession seems to centre around orange and bright pink - mmmm Summer of Colour Challenge anyone?  Anyway I've not photographed them so it'll have to be something out of the folder.

This is another one of those 'almost done' papers that I started with the doorway in the bottom left corner had me stumped for quite a while as I had no idea of how to incorporate it into a layout, I settled eventually on using the shape as the base for the photo and then the rest came easy, I added the keys strip left and right of the photo some letter stickers for the title and strips of paper for the journalling.

I had also got some circles on my desk and some offcuts of ribbon which I used to create the embellishment on the page.  It turned out quite fun although I don't think my spacing was perfect.  Finished off with some hand cross stitch elements bottom right and top left.

If you happen by thanks for taking a look hope your weeks aren't flying by as quickly as mine (unless you want them to in which case carry on!).

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Morning, afternoon/evening lovely people, how do we find you today?  Is it warm and sunny where you are?  I wish it was here but we still feel like we are in the grips of winter it's been sooooooo cold.  Anyway tis Friday which means it's time for

I'm going to combine last week and this week if you don't mind because there were lots of rocking moments last week when we were away in a cottage just outside Much Wenlock.

First up the view out of the kitchen window last week - this is what greeted us and that hillside is Wenlock edge, apparently on the equator about 350 million years ago - so we were a tad late if we were expecting warmth!

then the Welcome tray - bottle of cava, some daffies and chocolate (actually the chocolate was one light - said 12 year old had already eaten one of the choccie bunnies before I got the picture taken!).

Blist Hill Open Air Museum - for bringing history to life!

Loved the printers all those printing blocks and look a brayer - home away from home - all that ink!

Hubby howling with laughter at the signage at Blist Hill

You see it made you giggle too didn't it - read it again you know you want to!

Said 12 year old having a go at printing the old fashioned way, no electronic gadgetry here!

 And candle dipping!

 Next up Stokesay Castle - a little gem

 Fabulous carvings inside Stokesay - we wondered if that was a chastity belt - what do you think?

 Said 12 year old photobombing his Dad's photo - this will be scrapbooked very shortly

 Red Kites above Ludlow Castle (we thought they were red kites)

 Stokesay Church

 Snow by the side of the road was a tad scary in places but made for a fun 'on the move' photo.

 I loved the Woolly Mammoth!

 Only bit of crafting I did when away was three postcards for my Mum, niece and brother and sister

We really wanted to visit Wroxeter's Roman Villa that was featured on the Channel 4 series a few years ago, but were saddened to find it only had one room open, the rest was closed and looked more like a building site with lots of scaffolding etc on, whilst they repaired it!

 Said 12 year old trying the purple potatoes when we were away - we liked them - him not so much!

Said 12 year old ready for battle, the woman at Ludlow discussing the weapons and armour etc was fabulous, this was a light weight chain mail the one worn by the blokes there weighed 5 stone and apparently one of them could cartwheel whilst wearing full armour!

A day out at RAF Cosford, I like this missile it had wooden bits on that had been varnished, now who thought varnishing was an essential on such a thing!

Catching up with friends at Cosford was good too!

 The Iron Bridge that we remembered well but said 12 year old could not!

 Spending time with family!

 Doing the tar Tunnel at Ironbridge, a must just not great for your back!

Said 12 year old glass blowing, this was brilliant, spent loads of time with the glass blower who was there discussing glass blowing, furnaces etc - that kind of learning is terrific!

Enjoying a pint in the pub in Ironbridge, this poor pub was flooded 7 times this last winter, their kitchen was still struggling to re-open!

 Glorious sunsets!

Warm days inside when it was far too cold out, this one at Enginuity at Ironbridge, an incredible interactive museum!

I also got to meet Mr Watt there - he's wicked, a blacksmith, some metal, an imagination and the basis for a book!  If you get chance go and look at his work - truly fabulous (click Mr Watt above for link).

the fun of building our own arch

Said 12 year old just chilling at the cottage, I asked if he was OK, he said he was great and was just spending some time in his own company!

The rooms at Attingham brought to life by the fabulous volunteers, such a shame about the temperature in there - it was freezing!

 Family photos

 Dressing up fun - the hat was wayyyyyyyyyyy too big!

 Said 12 year old managing a photo of me and hubby!

The fun of a gallery type landing when you've taken shoe boxes, string and some cuddly toys!

And the guest book we left two full pages and came home exhausted.

This weeks gratefuls in no particular order.

• Mail art from Donna when I arrived home
• Special gifts from Sami - thank you hun much appreciated! 
• Time with my niece
• Making mini-books
• Gifts being received
• Having my hair cut
• Being home 
• Concerned PM's on Facebook when I've been a bit low and absent (thank you, you know who you are!). 
• Hubby taking my car to be washed.
• Not being at work (well for most of the week). 
• Getting through the post holiday washing/ironing pile (well once I got to the end of it).
• Help from said 12 year old to get his room sorted!
• Boost drink 
• Mexican wrap
• Hubby 
• Chatting with my Mum
• Seeing my brother and sister
• Said 12 year old having a friend over for the afternoon. 
• Happify

I hope your week has been good as well.  Apologies for the length of this one (making up for the rather quick post last week).  

If you fancy joining in then pop yourself a blog post together and head back here to link up.  Your list doesn't have to be photo heavy (but it can if you like), it doesn't have to be long (but it can if you want it to be).  It just has to be heartfelt and if you think you've not had many gratefuls this week, then dig deep you'll be surprised at how many little things make your life truly better - go on I dare you!