Morning all, well it's a little dark and grey outside at the moment and the wind is still blustery, hoping for that to calm a little today. Unfortunately I didn't make it to my craft table last night (sob), but I'm hoping I might make it there tonight - fingers and toes crossed.
Three more layouts this morning. First up Mischief 1 and 2 last summer refusing to pose for the camera, thinking in their infinite wisdom that I wouldn't document it - wrong! We were at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, enjoying a lovely walk when we stopped off for a rest!
The shape is a piece of shaped paper I've had forever that I use as a template, I cut it out and matted on cream cardstock, layering up the elements and then finishing with stitching to make it pop!
Next up water fight at the seaside for my niece's 16th birthday last year. Despite being in the middle of their teens they had a fantastic time and had us rolling with laughter!
The photos we took weren't of the best quality but I think the energy is clear in the photos for all to enjoy! I used some Graphic 45 paper I got in a kit from Jen and mixed it with some bright yellow paper shaped in a wave form; you'd think this was down to being at the seaside you'd be wrong I just like using the wavy boards I got in my Secret Santa a couple of years ago!
Then finally the addition of some stitching, if I can't find an embellishment that is just right for the layout, I fall back on hand stitching using my ample (although now diminishing) stash of cross stitch threads!
And finally another layout from the day, this documents two photos taken about 30 seconds apart. The first one at the bottom has my sister and my niece's friend posing for the picture before tucking into their fish and chip lunch, but my niece not posing. She commented on this so I took a second photo where said 15 year old had joined the photo and then three out of the four were too busy with lunch, with only my niece posing - the words I give up come to mind!
It is a full on layout this one with a strong mix of papers, but I must admit I really enjoyed working with this colour scheme. I added a bit of washi tape to it but that was about it! Sometimes layouts don't need anything else!
Have a happy scrapping day and thank you for popping by!
Morning all, well I'm sharing the layout I created of my niece ready for her prom at school last year, how stunning does she look!
I kept the layout simple as I wanted to attract the eye to the main photograph, I double matted the photo, varying the depth of the mat which I think works quite well!
Next up my brother and sister at my niece's 16th birthday - she decided she wanted a seaside day, which is exactly what we had!
and finally a shot taken by hubby last spring, we had a warm sunny day and said 15 year old decided to sunbathe - words fail me!
I hope you are off to a flying start on the scrapping front in February!
Good morning all, well this morning's three layouts (two using yesterday's colour scheme), this first one based on squares lots and lots of squares. Photo taken on said niece's 16th birthday where we had a fun family day trip to Mablethorpe and yes they did swap seats midway round!
Next up exploring the tree house at Alnwick Gardens, it is such an amazing building but totally random, particularly when you end up walking through someone's office to get to the top section!
And finally an evening walk on the sea front at Seahouses, made us stop and absorb the view!
Morning all Friday - list your grateful moments people
Well after four walling it last week, we pulled out all the stops on Friday and toddled off to the coast to have some fresh air. Here is my favourite bit of coastline, discovered last year - Flamborough Head!
It is a tiny beach but lovely, we set off late but didn't care it was about having a jaunt out and enjoying the surroundings. These two thoroughly enjoyed 'skimming' stones - I call it 'skimming' in quotes because if you'd seen the size and shapes of a lot of them the one thing you wouldn't be able to do was skim them - they had fun nonetheless.
Now when you need to write your name on a giant rock - apparently you need a giant piece of chalk! This will be appearing on a scrapbook layout shortly for obvious reasons!
Hubby got this one really low down to the ground - what a fab view!
We then headed into Bridlington and got a fab sunset
And then got to see some of the other less favourable items in the vicinity! All sorts of wrong!
Slot machines - it's the I won bit that had us rolling, they won then they fed it back into the machine!
Saturday saw a jaunt to Eyam - despite only being an hour away I've never actually been. Unfortunately, we picked a really really cold day, which means we will probably have to return to appreciate it fully in the summer, however, we did manage to go to Eyam Hall run by the National Trust.
First sign of spring (although it was just after a snow shower so not sure how necessary snowdrops really were).
Outside the Elizabethan Hall and look at those blue skies!
We saw lots of things inside the house - this one tickled me most!
We even had a stroll around the garden - family selfie!
Afterwards we ventured around the few craft shops and stopped at the coffee shop for a cuppa. Mischief 1 and 2 were on top form as always!
Then the journey back - we were racing the weather - literally - the views over the Derbyshire and Yorkshire landscape was beautiful!
We even got to see left overs from the Tour De Yorkshire last year
Saturday night saw another ice hockey match, which we unfortunately lost (boo hiss) but then managed a win on the return leg in Nottingham this week and got through to the final - phew! Although unfortunately, we didn't get to see the second leg of the match!
Other positives include a fabulous parents evening on thursday night, chatting away to the teachers - said 14 year old verged on having a fan club! Most funny!
Prompt delivery of some photos I'd ordered early in the week.
Work being understanding when I was poorly, I had to have a couple of days off when the lurgy struck, but I'm on the mend now.
I hope you've had a fabulous week and have lots of positives and grateful moments to note. If you fancy joining in pop yourself a post together, pop back link up and we will come and visit.
Morning all, tis time to take a step back and look back on the last 7 days and the positive moment that have occurred. The therapy of taking stock, living in the here and now and appreciating what we have (rather than what we have not) is something that I've done for years, it maintains a positive focus and allows me to enjoy my life to the full. I highly recommend it, fancy joining in pop a blog post together, come back link up and we will come and visit. We love to find a new Rockette, if you can't make it on a Friday don't stress any day of the week will do. If your list is short and sweet again don't stress it, if it's a longer post with lots of photos and detail - fab stuff. Whatever it is we love to read about it.
This week has been a fun one with lots of things going on. First up said 13 year old in front of Bumblebee and Barricade at the local cinema last Friday, I'll blame my lil sis for letting him know about this, but if I'm honest, it was fab to see them and will make for a great layout no doubt some time soon. Plus we bumped into relatives who had also come to have a nosey and so it was a lovely impromptu catch up!
Then poppies, the local council decided a couple of years ago to sow wild flowers into certain areas. On our way to bag packing at a local supermarket for said 13 year old; raising money for his trip to Lesotho, we passed whole swathes of beautiful poppies. I grabbed this shot on the way back whilst hubby was driving!
Then came across some more in the centre of town, how pretty do they look!
Now said 13 year old is on a school trip this week to a PGL camp - apparently stands for 'parents get lost' - but I'm not sure if that is true or not. We decided to take a few days away as well to make the most of time on our own. It happens so rarely, the time before this was when he went to Whitby whilst he was still in junior school so that's 2 year plus and the time before that was before he was born. So we booked a break away and are stopping at a gorgeous converted Granary just outside Aldborough, our journey was pretty trouble free which is always nice and we got blue skies. This is us travelling passed the Humber Bridge!
On the first day we went in search of a supermarket to pick up a few things and ended up in Withernsea we had a walk along the front and found the pier entrance, the pier is long gone, but the entrance is still there in all it's glory. Apparently created to replicate the entrance into Conway - not quite as monumental obviously but I get where they were coming from. Apparently the pier was never really destined to survive, with boat after boat crashing into it during high storms. They did eventually decide that a lighthouse might have been a good idea - go figure. Blue sky days and walking hand in hand with hubby seeing sights - nothing finer!
Being spied on by the locals, I was sat in the car and he was this close - literally - not sure what he thought we had that he might like but glad he posed for the picture!
Aha - I thought I had a shot inside, this is the Granary, recently converted with two bedrooms, an open living space, it really is beautiful!
Our first full day we decided to venture to Flambrough Head, neither me nor hubby had ever been which is strange as I definitely holidayed on the east coast when I was younger. We parked up and headed down to the beach, the views from the top of the cliff are fabulous there were also some fantastic view points and stopping points on the 190 steps down to the beach. The beach we found was full of a geography field trip but they didn't seem to mind us wandering around. With it's chalky cliffs there was an opportunity to do our own piece of seaside art whilst we were there. Maybe I'm missing my crafting whilst I'm away!
And this is a photo of hubby on said beach, yes I did say we were in Yorkshire! It has to be the prettiest beach I've seen in quite some time and definitely the prettiest I've seen in England!
We trudged back up the steps which wasn't actually as hard as it sounds given the viewing platforms and benches on the way back up, we then wandered off along the other part of the cliff top to take a look around. By this time we were most definitely hungry so we headed for the cafe at the top, I ordered a crab sandwich, I love seafood but thought that I might be envious of hubbies butty of sausages with a side order of chips - how wrong can you be - this is quite honestly the nicest butty I've had in quite some time!
Wednesday had us setting off to Burton Agnes a big country home, on route we came across this memorial of 158 Squadron by the side of the road, this was the Squadron that flew the Friday the 13th plane during WWII that we came across at the Yorkshire Air Museum, there was an information board and a visitors book to sign. I was saddened to note the 44% of the men that served the air force during WWII never returned home - a frightening statistic! Names of all the men lost from the Squadron are etched on both sides of the memorial, hubby was in the shot so you can see the perspective of the pieces.
Burton Agnes also has the original hall next to it, now a shell but still open to the public, at the back of this old hall is a human water wheel where the water would have been brought up from the well - never seen one of these before!
Now anyone who follows my blog regularly will know that I have a thing about sculptures, I just love them, so to come across this amazing piece of glass art in Burton Agnes was truly amazing, it 'changed' as you walked around it, the impression that you can see on the right hand side in the dark turquoise is actually a casting from part of a statue on the gatehouse. This was a highlight of the day for me. I love how it refracted the image of hubby so he appears twice.
Burton Agnes was worth the visit for the beautiful house, but add into it the amazing gardens and it really was a treat, add in the fresh air and it was almost perfect. However, I know a 13 year old who would have loved to have played with the giant board games that were in the garden, in particular this chess board.
Next up just to prove he doesn't need Mischief 2 to misbehave hubby sticking his tongue out when I asked him to pose for the picture. This place with this beautiful gardens reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.
And finally the new water sculpture at Burton Agnes, I spotted it from the house and it rotates around, because of the way its designed it appeared to be balancing on the top of the water - fab stuff.
So there we have it absolutely the most fun week I've had in a while, family time, fun photos, seaside, beaches, country houses. Time to read, take stock, sit back and relax and time to miss each other (well hopefully said 13 year old will at some point have missed us). We have certainly missed him. I'm hoping that he's had a fabulous time and hoping fingers and toes crossed that there might be the odd photo of him from PGL - well I can hope can't I.
Now as you'll have gathered I'm actually putting this post together whilst I'm away so fingers and toes crossed that Mr Linky behaves!
