ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 42ND OF 2023

 Morning all this one is technically only a day late, but after the pretty hard journey home yesterday I couldn't face writing the post. 

So what was Rocking my World yesterday?

Well last Friday despite the fact I really didn't want another break away we'd booked a cottage in Wales and hubby insisted given the dreadful week that I'd had that I really needed to take some time away from home.  We hacked our way across the country and arrived a little after 4pm, the reduced speed limits down to 20 mph proved an interesting experiment in Wales, to be honest, not sure when we will return Google maps that we rely on for satnav seemed to have every speed limit programmed except the correct one, it has made for an entertaining week. 

We also learnt later in the week that the Welsh government are changing the 70 days of letting period for people who own holiday homes to 6 months of letting, this means that the property has to be let for a 6 month period in any 12 months otherwise they will have to (currently) pay double the council tax, they have the ability to increase this to 4 times the council tax amount which for many holiday let owners will make this an untenable business option.  I appreciate that this is to free up some much needed housing to allow people to get on the property ladder, but this carte blanche approach does appear a little short-sighted.  Furthermore we also learnt whilst away that Wales is considering charging a per night fee for staying in Wales (similar to some of the countries on the continent), I'll be honest I genuinely don't feel that this bodes well for the travel industry to Wales.  But I digress away from the positives for the week.

The cottage was on a working farm on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park in a little village called Rowen.  The cottage itself was small and quaint, very clean and fit the bill for the week.  The only real issue was the split levels there were two steps down to the kitchen and out of the only bedroom 2 steps down to the bathroom which wasn't great in the night when you needed to visit the bathroom.  However, we managed which is good. 

The week's forecast was definitely changeable but we carried on regardless if I'm honest.  We had a list of places to visit if we fancied and set too ticking these off.  We headed to the National Trust held castle at Pendryn, this is a stunning Victorian Gothic castle but the locals fell out with them 120 years ago and haven't let their grudge go if I'm honest due to the 3 year slate mine strike, but more importantly the money it is built on links back to the slave trade and despite having been here before I hadn't appreciated by how much.  The owner having the largest number of plantations.  Nevertheless it is good to see the history around and to acknowledge what some landowners did.

The second day was dry and sunny so we headed to Bodnant Gardens which were a riot of colour and the walk was very much needed.  We enjoyed wandering the grounds and finding the different areas from the formal garden down to the huge redwoods growing in the ravine. 

Monday and the weather seemed to be changing so we headed to Portmeirion one of our favourite places to visit, we had a wonderful day wandering the beautifully coloured houses, enjoying the fresh air and just spending time together.  An utter joy if I'm honest. 

Tuesday we headed to Conwy which was only a 10 minute drive, we wandered around the castle and then the walled town, it really is a sight to behold.  We found a wonderful bakery and bought the softest tastiest Welsh griddle cakes, freshly baked that day and enjoyed a cuppa in a 17th century building. 

Wednesday and we had a day trip to Llandudno, as we arrived an air ambulance helicopter landed on the beach which isn't something you see very often, we headed around the incident which seemed to relate to the RNLI, we wandered the pier and realised just how blustery it was as we got to the end of the pier.  We had a wander around the town, hubby found a new book (he'd not taken enough variety) and we had tea and cakes at the Mostyn Gallery, unfortunately they were between exhibitions which was a shame. 

Thursday our final full day and somewhat inclement weather we headed to the copper mine on the Great Orme near Llandudno, only rediscovered back in the 1990's they initially thought it a Victorian mine, but discovered tools dating back thousands of years back to the Bronze age and over years have identified that there are over 5 miles of mined tunnels below where they extracted the malachite crystal to grind down to extract the copper.  The walls are still full with the crystal malachite, which for those of you who know me is incredibly close to my heart.  

We then headed back to Conwy to a little Turkish tea shop where hubby tried Turkish coffee probably for the first and only time and I had a cuppa.  Then we did the wall walk around Conwy. 

 We had a little jaunt to Conwy Water gardens which aren't at their best but enjoyed a Dutch apple cake and Lemon Dream cake at the Pancake house there so not a complete waste. 

Friday was our return day and with Storm Babet battering the UK, it made for a stressful journey home.  We passed 3 or 4 sections of road that were flooding but managed to pass thankfully, the roads were full of water and spray and so it made for a very very long journey home.  

We landed back I got on with some washing and then we put things away before collapsing on the sofa.  

I hope you've had a wonderful week too, I'm behind on reading so will be catching up.  

Hugs

Rocking Your World Friday - 42nd of 2019

Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

So last week saw me and hubby toddle off for our first holiday on our own for 19 years.

We didn't really clock that fact until we were there. 

We just wanted a break and that is what we got.  

We stopped in a beautiful place called Deganwy, just the opposite side of the bay to Conwy, in an apartment with the most amazing picture window!

Now as I've got so many photos, I'm going to split them up and do half this week and half next week as the whole week was so utterly positive, I'm definitely enjoying the post holiday reminiscing if that makes sense, so my cup runneth over (for quite some time all being well). 

Despite the weather forecast (which said we were going to get very wet all week).  We literally dodged all the rain, by either finding somewhere without rain, finding the forecasters got it wrong or being inside! 

So first grateful is for incompetent forecasting - hurray! 

The first full day we went the furthest from where we were staying to the place known as Portmeirion, made very famous in the 60's by a TV show called the Prisoner apparently (I don't remember as I was a 70's child, but hubby does).  It is an Italianate styled village in the north of Wales

As you can see we found blue skies that day

It is the most extraordinary place to walk around

And almost looks like a model village from high up! 

We've been several times over the years and have fond memories of said 19 year old at the age of about 3 sitting on the pool edge at Portmeirion. I was amazed at how many memories it stirred up! 

Hubby managed to get this shot of me, wearing my brand new rain jacket - which is absolutely perfect, roomy and slightly longer length than I'm used to! 

We walked down to the waters edge and looked back towards the town

Back home that night we enjoyed this view out of the picture window! 

The following day the forecast was much worse, so we headed to Penrhyn Castle, a Victorian Gothic delight and was the castle that we visited when we joined the National Trust! 

I knew Lisca would enjoy seeing the giant door as we share a love of doorways!  It was beautifully carved! 

Inside there was a myriad of stunning architecture, ornate plasterwork and beautiful glass windows

Believe it or not this was the base of a lamp - how cute are they! 

Outside you can see the remnants of the red vine that grows over the castle

The sun came out after our tour of the castle, so we made the most of it and had a walk around the gardens, finding this little hut undergoing renovations in the bog garden. 

Outside once again, the history is interesting and was part of one of the longest strikes in the UK back between 1900 and 1903, the people of Bethesda (a local town), where the owner of Penrhyn's Castle mine was went on strike for three years.  It literally changed the fortunes of so many there as over 2000 miners moved away from the area due to the strike.  The local community recently attempted to reconcile with the castle as many locals will still not visit the castle because of the strike!

Back at the apartment, this was our evening view. 

The following morning we woke to this

Thankfully the rain disappeared and we headed to National Trust's Bodnant Gardens, given the dry day we had, we loved walking around this beautiful garden. 

Finding little vistas and view points and the odd bench to just sit and enjoy the surroundings to re-charge our batteries! 

The Poem is the Mausoleum within the grounds, it isn't open to the public, but the building from the outside is beautiful in its woodland setting! 

The more formal gardens were also a delight to sit and enjoy, despite the fact the ornamental grasses had gone a little crazy at the end of the season! 

Back at the apartment, this is Dave the Seagull, he would come tapping at the window for food whenever we opened the balcony blind!  Sometimes bringing his baby with him, whom we named Dave Ja Vu! 

The evening photo! 

The third day we had in Conwy, only a 5 minute drive from where we were staying.  We enjoyed Conwy Castle (always one of my favourites). 

Including the wall walk around the top

The King's Head Sculpture inside the royal apartment area of the ruined castle

Another work of art inside a tower

And the evening sky that night! 

I've loads more to share but will save those for next week. 

So other highlights were James Arthur concert on Tuesday evening, which was absolutely spectacular! 

Having a lovely crafty day at home with my Mum on Thursday (as I'd taken a day's TOIL).  Although she got a lot more done than me, but we managed to finish off some mini books she'd started.

Getting the house spic and span (yes I know that means I cleaned but it feels so lovely at the moment). 

And finally date night with hubby seeing a Midsummer Night's Dream - NT Live absolutely stunning, I would go and see it again tonight if I could.  This particular take on the play unlike any other we've ever see, the laughter was face aching and it's still making me smile this morning. 

I hope you've had a beautiful and blessed week with some positive moments, silver linings to count your blessings. 

If you fancy joining in, pop a post together come back and link up and we can come and visit. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Good morning lovely people - Friday - here already and so time to relax and sit back and take stock - I'll pre-warn you this will be a short one, it's just been one of those weeks but that is fine, short list, long list, detailed daily routines or just general amazingness - all is good if you are taking stock of the happies in your life - time for

So the weather allowing the work on the outside of the house to be completed!  Hurray!  Just need the scaffold down now and we'll be back to normal (whatever that is).

Aerial man being able to arrive quickly and sort whilst we have scaffold up (difficult neighbours - don't ask).

Carpet man been and gone and come back to sort a glitch and gone again, the stairs are finally starting to take shape.

Finishing off a few mixed media frames (mind you deciding when they were finished was the hardest bit).  We've enjoyed playing and adding layers - etc - might still add more later, but for now most are back in situ!

Said 14 year old for being very tolerant of the fact that he hasn't really had a proper lie in this week, what with the builders, the carpet people and the aerial bods - really has been one of those weeks if you know what I mean.  Mind you he has still managed a couple of PJ days when it suits!

Meal out on Thursday night - I've had quite a rough week and I'm not currently very well, so to escape from the house have no cooking or washing up to do and a gorgeous if not very SW friendly meal was a lovely change.

Having a few hours with said 14 year old Thursday afternoon wandering around the shops with me was fun too!

Needle felting and machine stitching this week - santa stockings for me and cushion covers for said 14 year old - it's lovely to see him enjoying the process if I'm honest!

Managing a couple of layouts in the middle of the week and the world's grumpiest craft group on Monday (aka my Mum, sister and niece who were all in 'one' of those moods)!

Looking forward to some quality time with my hubby and hoping my ailments leave the building - had enough of them now if I'm honest!

I hope you've had a good week, if you fancy joining in and taking stock and reflecting then pop a post together, pop back link up and we can come and visit!

I'll leave you with a layout I did this week (because there are no other pictures this week - promise to try harder next week). I've been wanting to scrap these photos of my sister and niece for an age, they are such fun pictures when we were trying to get them to smile nicely for the camera.  Taken at Portmeirion last year (where niece spent the day saying "I don't get it!" - I was struggling for papers (I know me struggling for papers whatever next) and hubby said - make your own, so stamps, masks and ink at the ready I created the background and then added little bits to finish it off!

ADORE YOU LAYOUT

Morning all, going through my blog folder and came across this layout, the photo was taken on my phone and is of hubby when we were at Portmeirion last year, I can't tell you how giddy I was to take this photo as I loved the colour of the wall and how the window grill matched hubbies t-shirt - how sad am I LOL! 

This is a real blend of different papers but I like it, sometimes it's fun to mix things up!  

The together forever element is from some Bo Bunny papers I received from Jen at Wear Crafts, the whole page is made up of mini polaroids!  Check this link out if you want to find out more 

http://www.wearcrafts.co.uk/department/bo_bunny_/

Hope you have a happy scrapping day!

TUESDAY LAYOUTS

Good morning one and all Tuesday greets us with a cool overcast morning in Yorkshire, but it's destined to turn brighter later in the day so I've put a line of washing out in the hope the forecasters have it right! 

I thought I'd share some of my older (not yet shared) pages.  This one uses the now very old DCWV Far East paper stack, but I only happened across it last year when we were on holiday.  My sister and I 'split' the pack as she loves no adores everything oriental.  I think it's the first paper stack I've ever used completely in its entirety - but maybe that's because I only had half a stack to begin with.

Photo taken by said 13 year old when we were visiting the large treehouse at Alnwick Castle and Gardens!  

And next up don't you love it when you have papers that match your picture!  Even though technically speaking the lighthouse in the photo is actually an upturned pig boiler if I recall reading the write up correctly.

This lighthouse is at Portmeirion and is at the very end of the coastal walk before you head into the woodland!  It was a glorious day to explore!

I hope Tuesday is treating you well! 

WEAR CRAFTS 12 PLEDGES KIT - FEBRUARY LAYOUTS

Good morning, I've been sharing what I've done with the Feburary 12 Pledges kit and it's add on partner over the last few days, check out the Wear Craft button on the right if you want to find out more.

The first layout documents a photo of my niece last year, I love the angle at which the photo catches her smile, she looks beautiful and very relaxed!

As promised, the layout using the spray heart doily that I mentioned yesterday - can you see it? Yes I split the doily by taking out the centre piece which you can see on the top right mat with the word gorgeous stamped in it. I then used the remnants of the heart split in two to create the element to the right of my niece's photo.

I made some more little cards similar to the ones I showed you the other day and added my favourite heart punch to the layout too.  A little hand stitching and it was done!

Next up hubby at Alnwick Gardens again last year, I had to document this as when we were stood there the water seemed like a perfect arc of water, but when we got to view the digital photos you could see the shape of the water spraying which made us giggle (hence the title).

I didn't want to 'lose' the frame that formed part of one of the sheets of paper in the kit, but when I tried to add it to other papers in the kit it kept feeling like it was getting lost.  The easiest way around this was to make it the focal point.  I matted it on lilac cardstock from the add on kit and then stuck it down to some white card stock.  I adhered the rik-rak ribbon above and the block and the beautiful lace ribbon that I inked with distress inks below.

I went for the 'confetti' look again but in a diagonal way and included different elements rather than just one.  Buttons, blingy pieces from the kit, punched hearts and stars.

It didn't feel quite finished, so I sat and doodled a wiggly line around it but realised there was a gem stone and button in the 'way' so at regular intervals I added hand drawn hearts to try and break the border up and distract the eye from the break where the gem was.

I hope you like what I created, check back tomorrow for a final layout - happy scrapping!