WITH MY SOUL MATE, HELLO AND GETTING LOST IN THE COWS CHRISTMAS DINNER

Good evening lovely people, I hope the weekend is treating you well!

Another three layouts this evening for you, first up a photo I took when visiting a local coffee shop with hubby, I played with the original photo on a couple of apps adding filters and writing; it's amazing the things you can do with free apps online.  

I doctored the paper so that the rose overlapped the border rather than being hidden behind it, I thought the papers were quite formal for the photograph and enjoyed hand stitching around the border. 

Next up me and said 15 year old on a walk around a local dam last September, there is a quaint little bridge we use to cross the stream and it's always beautiful, covered in dappled shade from the tree canopy, we love to stop and enjoy the view of the water. I used a star stamp to add to the cardstock a white pen (which has now sadly run out - I need another one) and some die cut shapes!

And finally another fun layout of hubby and said 15 year old when we were traipsing around the Maize Maze last year, the last evening opening of the Maze before it was cut down at the end of the season, the maize is then used to feed the cows on the farm, who produce the milk, that creates the ice cream, so we always refer to the maize as the cow's Christmas dinner!  If you haven't been to a maize maze - I can thoroughly recommend, although on a hot day they can be very warm to walk around, sometimes it's more fun to do the torchlit ones, although we still get the odd question along the lines of 'Is this the way out?' - tickles us every time! 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 2ND OF 2015

Good Morning and welcome to the 2nd Rocking your World post of 2015! 

Well I thought I'd load up a few photos from over the New Year weekend, first up me and hubby on our rather wet - very muddy walk around the local dam.  Said 15 year old had more sense and stayed at home but we did enjoy the walk if I'm honest! 

Then this photo I shared with friends, documenting my niece my Mum and said 15 year old - I have a similar photo of them the year before which really highlights how much said 15 year old has actually grown in the 12 months - it would appear that my Mum is officially shrinking! 

Next up is said 15 year old and his Christmas gadget, in amongst the usual detritus on his wish list was the request for a popcorn maker and not wanting to disappoint, we did actually pick him one up!  It is hysterical to watch it firing the popcorn out, despite the bowl and despite their being an 'escape route' from the machine it still ends up everywhere!

Another positive, crafting time to enjoy making mini books, I'm thinking about setting up an Etsy shop - what do you think?  

And then we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the cinema to see Kenneth Branagh's take on William Shakespeare's 'A Winter's Tale' - it was amazing with Dame Judy Dench taking a key role, it made me cry - really fabulous acting and a great way to set the ball rolling for January. 

Monday arrived and the alarm clock was something of a culture shock, but I was ready to crack on and make a good start on the week ahead.  Job number one proved busy and interesting and the days flew by and my second job has proved just as fruitful today, albeit that the atmosphere is a lot busier and sometimes more difficult to concentrate! 

I've managed to watch what I'm eating, I've also managed to do some exercise, these are fairly tentative steps but good ones nonetheless. 

Hubby has had some blood tests recently that have thrown a bit of a curve ball at us, I'm hoping that everything is OK we will know a little more tomorrow, we have a bit of a plan provided the news tomorrow is OK, we are hoping the blip has been caused by some new medication he was prescribed recently - but we shall see. 

My two men listening to me planning out a busy and eventful month and asking for their help to make the house and home run a lot smoother - they've been awesome. 

Hubby for volunteering to come on a very early walk on Thursday morning - we did good! 

I hope your week has been a good one and that it has lots of positives and silver linings to it.

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

FLY FREE AND BEST OF FRIENDS

Morning lovely people, another couple of layouts from me this morning, this one taken at the Button Tin in my home town, this is based in the original indoor market that has been converted into retail shops, unfortunately it doesn't get the footfall it truly deserves given how beautiful it is! 

I had the chance to spend part of a day there with said 15 year old in the summer, learning how to make vintage flower brooches, we had a fabulous time there, it was like being in a time warp with the vintage music playing, hand sewing and surrounded by the most gorgeous items, Gemma who runs and owns the Button Tin was brilliant, giving us lots of help along the way and helping said 15 year old with his Art Textiles Work!

Next up those two on a walk recently, I think the title sums it up!  I really 'fought' with this layout, it really wasn't doing it for me, not sure why - perhaps the lack of a dark colour was frustrating me, I'm not sure, but I added the hearts and considered this one done, sometimes you just have to walk away from a layout! 

Hope the week is treating you well! 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 41ST OF 2015

Morning all Friday means only one thing what's

So first up an evening at the theatre to see Pocket Merchant performed by Propeller.  If you haven't had chance to see these as a theatre group then you are seriously missing out.  They are amazing at bringing the power of Shakespeare to life in a really engaging way.  Pocket Merchant, meant taking the essence of Merchant of Venice and bringing the key speeches together.  1 hour Pocket Merchant followed by a Question and Answer session with the actors, very powerful, very thought provoking.  Unfortunately, there is a rumour that the theatre company may be mothballed next year and so we did some super sleuthing on the internet when we returned home to find that their Arts Council funding has been cut which means that the full length versions of Shakespeare are now a remote possibility.  I'm hoping for some sort of miracle to be honest because they really are an amazing touring company!

Here is hubby and said 15 year old at the theatre

And we got to enjoy a beautiful water feature although I did add a few neon squiggles to this - the bit in the middle is the real water feature!

Saturday we had a chilled day before we wandered off out on Sunday for a walk around a local dam to blow the cobwebs off.

I saw this notice board on our travels around the dam

Got some photos of nature

And hubby and said 15 year old on our walk, we always have a good giggle and chat on these walks.

All too soon it was Monday, but work has been busy so the days have tripped along at a merry old pace, hairdressers on Tuesday to tame these locks and then packing said 15 year old's expedition rucksack this evening (Thursday).

I've had great fun scrapbooking over the last week as well, managing almost 30 layouts at the weekend (that's as a result of a day off and Rugby World Cup).  So win win overall!

The week has been a good one, this next week might be harder with said 15 year old toddling off for his expedition but I'll try and keep next Fridays upbeat and positive.

I hope you have had a great week, if you fancy joining in then pop a post together, pop back and link up, it's always lovely to share the positives of the week.