ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY AND GOOD MORNING

Morning my gorgeous Rockers and Rockettes, how fair thee this morning? Yes can you believe it's Friday again already?  Where does the time go?

Right let's see what we've got up our sleeves this morning.

Well last weekend saw me work straight through clocking up in excess of 60 hours, so there's not much to report from the weekend other than work, exhaustion and sleep! 

But there have been positives, let me think mmmmm, (still thinking) 

1. Said 11 year old enjoying his first electric guitar lesson, he came home grabbed his electric guitar and showed me what they'd been learning - awesome stuff.
2. A fun maths booster class at school (I know that doesn't seem possible really does it), but both me and hubby went, we both did a mental maths test that the kids have to sit have 20 questions fired at them and 5, 10 and 15 seconds to answer them, it was interesting to see how this really works.  We also played with co-ordinates and word problems, a great session and said 11 year old said he felt a bit more confident once he'd done.
3. Aardman Entertainment for Pirates, we headed there on Wednesday to watch it on 3D because we'd promised said 11 year old at Easter and hadn't got around to it.  Great stuff, I can see a whole host of stop start animation happening some time soon again in this household, just need to find some 'free' software to upload the photos and glue them together as it were, if anyone knows of such a thing please let me know, it would please said 11 year old no end.
4. Hubby, for just being him, honestly he knew I needed to 'create' this week and so gently coaxed me into getting some paint and things out and just having a go, it was utter bliss and before I knew it I'd created loads of different pieces, they're not done, but they are on their way to being finished. 
5. My blogging friends, the comments I've had this week have had me grinning from ear to ear and really lifted my spirits when I most needed it - thank you from the bottom of my heart - they really have made me smile! 
6. Cups of tea in bed, DH had to get up really early one morning and managed to not fully wake me whilst he was getting ready (which is a rarity) he also left me a cuppa which I managed to wake, drink and go back to sleep after, it made me giggle when I realised what I had done.
7. Marks and Spencer for saving us from having to make tea at the beginning of the week, meal deal for 2 - bliss and no stress.
8. BBC for free yes I repeat the words FREE tickets to the The Big Bang Theory Live, we had to put in for the tickets and see if we were lucky enough to be picked - which we were!  Hurray - so that's bank holiday Monday sorted.
9. Joanna for a great video from You Tube of a Mob Dance in Russia - loved it - really and truly I loved it - just what I needed Thursday morning - good for the soul! 
10. Hubby for cleaning the hob
11. Great books to escape into when things get a bit much
12. David Guetta's Nothing But the Beat album which we listened to on holiday we seem to be flitting between heavy Rock and Dance music at the moment, it's proving interesting.
13. The Mary meets the Romans program on BBC2 has been really interesting - thoroughly enjoyable!
14. The True Blood finale on FX - all I can say is OMG - great end to the series! 
15. Said 11 year old for his subliminal hamster messages - whilst he continues to try and twist our arms into letting him get a hamster! 

I think that my good friends will have to be it for today - not bad - 15 gratefuls to reflect on, joining in put yourself a blog post together and tell us what 'rocked' about your week, then pop back here and link to Mr Linky (at the bottom of the blog post).

Finally crafting (as always), it's a good job I've got a back catalogue of unshared layouts is all I can say! 

Now no complaints I know it's a Christmas layout but hopefully the pale colours will lull you into a false sense of security.  The picture is of said 11 year old next to the 3 'giant' wise men inside Chatsworth House last Christmas.

And finally before Mr Linky, a big thought out there for my Dad, it's the anniversary of him passing away today, I always feel a little raw and a little sad (as you can imagine), 23 years since he went and it still hurts as much as ever it did, but this is a Rocking Your World post, so let's try and put a positive slant on it.

Here is a photo of my Dad, he is at the front on the right with the youngest sat on his lap.  They are sat on one of his go carts that he loved to build when he was young.  He decided at one point to actually have a go at making his go cart go faster, so he decided to put a sail on it, he set off on the road so he could really give it a thorough run and set off, he built up some speed with the wind going in the right direction and then raised the sail he'd made.  He was going really fast when he saw a car up ahead, he wasn't sure what to do, so decided to overtake, quite successfully I might add.

That evening, there was a visit from the local policeman warning my Grandma that he'd been seen overtaking a car, she explained he was too young to drive and didn't have a vehicle, when the policeman informed her he was on his go cart.  Apparently he got a good hiding for it bringing disrepute to the family by having a policeman turn up on their doorstep, but the story has become something of a legend!  Miss you Daddy!

MID WEEK POST - A QUICK UPDATE

Morning all, well finally I've broken into crafting again, it took some time and perseverance but hubby realised I was starting to lose it, so gently encouraged me to basically do something, anything, so I did, I got some card and some magazines and some paper, some baby wipes and a glue stick and basically made a mess for a few hours, then I moved back to my craft table and added to it and played and sorted and played a bit more, it was great fun and now I have officially started my mail art.  However, I had to giggle because I sat there wondering what goes on the other side of mail art?  Does it create a post card, or do you decorate both sides to confuse the postie and then I thought does it matter?

Anyway I arrived home yesterday to a gorgeous piece of mail art from Shirley and this answered one question which is how she does it!  I love it and have admired it's depth and colours and well everything about it since it arrived.  So now I'm even more focused to finish off the ones I started, the downside is that the cardstock I used wasn't really thick enough and the paint I used was nice and wet - which means I'm currently trying to flatten them, which meant that I started another batch of mail art cards last night before falling asleep, absolutely exhausted not much better this morning if I'm honest!

So there you go, I finally broke back into my crafting hurray!

Layout to share this morning? I loved this silhouette photo hubby took of me and said 11 year old at Chatsworth last year but thought I might struggle to scrap it, however I found throwing enough black and grey-ish papers together and matting everything did the trick nicely!

Hope you're having a great Wednesday (even though I thought it was Thursday grrrrr)

MONDAY MORNING TIREDNESS AND A BIT OF CRAFTING

Well after doing in excess of 60 hours work last week I found myself struggling to get out of bed this morning - I mean what's wrong with me.  So I didn't - get out of bed - well not initially anyway - I decided to sit and savour my morning cuppa in bed and rest my eyes a little.  Then I dragged myself out (finally) and got ready but with no speed at all.  I woke said 11 year old and told him "you're not going to breakfast club" and then headed downstairs.

I look dreadful, fit to drop and a full day ahead with a meeting half way through the other side of Sheffield, not exactly what I need on a Monday.  I was so tired last night I actually felt poorly with it, this morning I'm just very very tired so might end up feeling that way again come this afternoon. My job is mentalling taxing but physically it doesn't get me moving around an awful lot (I sit at a desk), so I've got back pain from lack of movement and my brain is so very tired.  Added to this I've done zero - I repeat zero crafting since returning home and it's making me quite a sad person at the moment.  So if you have the luxury of crafting time today - create - anything - just create and if you do create let me know what you made so I can admire, because I can't see me heading to my craft table any time soon.

If I had the day off I'd get six photos I've been wanting to scrap (any six) and then I'd go and find some papers and cardstock to match, I'd probably use the sketches from the scrap 365 magazine from this month as a starting point (which are downloadable from their website) and play for a bit.  I might cut myself some cardstock into postcard sized pieces and then throw some paint at them - literally, maybe add an image or two, some squiggly lines, a mask to create a little mail art, I might rummage through my alterables box and start on something "I've been meaning to alter"  - ooh to create - I would I'd do all that.  I'd play my music loudly or I'd put on a film to keep me company and I'd keep my cup constantly filled with hot tea.  It would be bliss, but today, well today I'll go to work instead and dream of a day off all to myself - the luxury!

Sharing a layout from an age ago now (ooh and I forgot to mention but I'm aware of a local crop that meets once a month on a Saturday in a church hall at Broom in Rotherham, they charge £5 half day, £10 full day.  There is plenty of space, hot water on tap and refreshments all day long.  Lots of encourage and lots of great chat too.  If you live local, let me know if you want the details of the next one and I'll post on here.)

A photo from an age ago (taken on the duck bread eating day by said 11 year old on my phone!)  It was pink so it's poor on the red's again but I took the photo ages ago and have since learnt I need to work with my white balance

 Up close photo even worse on the 'red' tinge bit but you see up close what I've done used some ribbon that had wire running through it, so scrunched it up to add texture to the page!

Hope you have a great Monday!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Morning one and all I'm back safe and sound and ready to let you all know that it's

now you are going to have to forgive me because, this week has been predominantly work work and a bit more work - with a weekend of well work - so I'm going to cheat (only a little bit) and tell you about what a fabulous week we had away with a dose of this week added for good measure!

So in no particular order me and said 11 year old at Beamish - next to an egg shaped boiler that had been converted into a little office for the workers next to the Locomotion

 The quarry garden at Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens - simply gorgeous!

 Mischief one and mischief two!  Like I always say - two peas in a pod!

 Exploring the quarry gardens with hubby!

 The angel of the north - she's gorgeous and huge!

 And this cool little guy who basically fancied any bread and biscuits that were going!

We actually took over 800 photos - so the above is a tiny selection of the photos taken!  The above and some of the 800 (although I hasten to add not all the 800) will be appearing on a scrapbook page very soon!

So what else has been great this week - well the week away was bliss - the 6 foot bed we stopped in completely bliss and we've missed it when we returned as ours is decidedly less comfy and definitely not 6 foot!   But being home back in our home surroundings enjoying time with my family is always awesome!

This week has also brought a smile to my face from Sarah for an invite - thank you sweetie - I'm very giddy about it all!

This week has also seen a grand announcement from Carmen our fellow Rockette - squeeeeeeal I'm so giddy for you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wedding Anniversary on Wednesday - 14 years - awesome stuff, we had a couple of hours in the afternoon where we had some time together which was bliss!

Art Journaling - I art journalled my way through our break - taking an hour every night to just jot down what we'd done - it was only half way through the week when I thought I might actually want to read what I'd written for scrapbook pages and started to try and make my writing decipherable - whoops!

Anniversary flowers!

David Guetta - for his album Nothing But the Beat - which kept us occupied on the way up to Beamish where we were staying last week - his track The Alphabeat is awesome - even if hubby did decide it would be the advert for the Renault Twizy when we came home having seen the video - and he is absolutely correct!

Right there's chance I'll be adding to this before Friday but for now - I'll pop on a bit of scrapping, these photos were taken on my phone and I had them printed out and because I didn't crop the photos - when they arrived they had a thick white border which I removed and got two photos on a single layout!  And the statement - well technically the bread was for the ducks!  Not that it bothered him!

 Up close, letter stickers and stamping, black pen, stuck down, layered up etc and a bit of hand stitching - using up existing stash!

I hope you all had a fabulous week if you fancy joining in throw a blog post together and come back and post your link here that way we can come and link - we welcome everyone - Rockers and Rockettes alike - if you don't feel you've had a great week - cast your mind back, think about the positive, no matter how small or infrequent if they made your heart lighter and most positive then they were Rocking moments and those are the moments in our week that we grasp with both our hands and write down so that we can think of the positives in our life!

May you all have a truly beautiful and blessed week ahead

Sometimes you just want to connect - don't you?

Good Morning - yes I know a Thursday post what is happening with the world - and yes before you ask Rocking your world will be here on Friday, but this morning I find I have a little time on my hands and I wonder what to do, so I wander around the fabulously inspiring blogs that I follow and am amazed and delighted with the creativity, I add myself to a mail art list and promise myself I'll start some post cards later, I have a stack of photos that arrived from bonusprint that I can now start work on.  I have an art journal page open on my desk, these are all things I could technically do before I leave for work, but I find myself sat here inside my own head, the TV's blaring in the other room - Spongebob or something of that genre, other than that all is quiet, a bunch of anniversary flowers sits in front of me and my kitchen window shows that we're in for another wet and dismal day and I think what next, I've checked UKS, blog and facebook and then I think - I'll put a quick post together because I knew you'd pop along and have a quick look when you got chance, so just thought I'd say hello and how's your week been and to say sometimes I just want to connect with people.  Is it just me or do others do this as well?

Right crafting I'll pop a page on here as I have many still sat in my blog folder waiting to be shared, these three photos were printed off my phone, they are such a great size when they arrive as I never let them be 'cropped to fit' so they arrive with large bands of white either side and when they are trimmed you can actually get three across the page!  Great if you've got a sequence of photos! 

Up close, the journalling was done along the strip of green at the bottom, the title hand stamped and layered up several times (due to the tiny stamping)

Hope you had a good Thursday - see you tomorrow!

I'M BACK -HELLLLOOOO AND FAMILY ART!

I have been meaning to post since we got back, but to be honest I'm struggling to pick up the threads of normality at the moment - so you'll have to forgive me for not having posted sooner.  I'll tell you all about last week on Friday as have a feeling I might need 'two weeks worth' of Rocking moments to make a decent post - this week looks likely to be wall to wall work - but we won't dwell on that.  A few weeks ago we finally got around to creating the family canvas that we wanted for the TV room.  First off we needed a theme.  First thoughts were films (made sense) then potentially TV (also made sense), but then we decided on a Shakespeare themed canvas and before we knew it this converted into a Macbeth themed canvas, firstly because this is mine and hubby's favourite Shakespearean play and secondly because we'd seen an awesome version of this at the RSC last year.

The colour scheme for the canvas was already technically set because it had to go with the room - so we were looking at creams and browns and reds - sounds pretty awful but hopefully you'll see how we got away with it!  I'd already 'attempted' this canvas (unsuccessfully) last year, but had subsequently painted the same cream, what you can see is the texture as I'd added some pieces of paper onto the canvas at that point.

Next up was the base - key people from the play on the canvas, we took it in turns to create the same.

Then on with parts of the play we loved, using my Manga Macbeth book to create the words we wanted to include we used a different sized writing and a slightly different coloured paint for this

The finished second stage

We then decided to include our hand prints - remember Lady Macbeth's speech where she is constantly ringing her hands - it made sense

Then some stencils a crown and a comedy/tragedy mask created by hubby himself!

Next up the dripping red paint down the entire canvas!

 Another stencil representing Birnham woods introduced in the bottom and to create a focal point

 We added some more depth to the canvas in the way of colour!  And the three daggers at the top made of grey chipboard painted with black, brushed with silver and the handle wound with some black and grey electrical cable we were throwing out - attached with a hot glue gun!

 Up close you can see the dimension of the same

 And finally the three witches hung on chains strapped around their waists on the left hand side!  Similar to the play we'd seen where the children who played the witches were lowered down from the ceiling!

 And finally - the photo I found on the camera a couple of days later - do you think he was pleased with it?

 So there we have it - another massive canvas created and it looks fabulous where it's hung a piece of art that we all created!  My influences for this as always massive credit has to be given to Alisa Burke - whose Graffiti Chic course sent me on this path some years ago, her Canvas Remix book is fantastic and really lets you explore your own style!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

Morning Rockettes - how are you fairing this morning - tis Friday (again I know where is the time going to).  So it's

Now I'll let you into a secret - this is being done in advance because we're away Easter week for a weeks break - so I'm going to guess what I'm grateful for, when I'm back I'll head back over and tell you how close I was to my list!

1. Family time
2. A break from work
3. Time to listen to my mind and my soul
4. A lie in bed with no alarm clocks
5. Days out exploring 
6. Playing card games at night
7. Reading books
8. Taking photos 
9. Fresh air 
10. Exploring castles
11. A trip to Beamish (the must for the week)
12. Art journaling my week 
13. Using those English Heritage cards to get the most out of the week with minimum cost

Right I know that list is short but I promise I'll update when I'm back, as I'm preposting this I can't put Mr Linky on til I'm back, so if you're joining in - come back and leave a comment and your link so we can come and visit - again I'll sort when I return! 

On the usual final note a bit of crafting - said 11 year old pratting about last year, he had us in stitches

 Up close the layered title and hand stitching around the circles with hand written journaling off to the right!

I hope you've all had a beautiful and blessed week and have many gratefuls and positives to write about!