ROCKING YOUR WORLD POST

Well here we are again - Friday already, time to think about our week what's gone well, what's been the silver linings, what person has made your week, what contact have you had, what time have you spent in your own time for which you are grateful!  Each and every one of these are 'rocking your world' moments and these are the ones that we document on a Friday to retain a balance in life.

So without further ado this is the positives for my week!

Friday morning brought an inset day for said 11 year old so we had a slow start to the day, so slow he was still in PJ's when hubby arrived home at 11am - having taken half a days leave!  We headed to Meadowhall for a trip to Lush for some new shower gel amongst other things, discovered a 2 for £10 deal at a well known store so that was tea sorted, I had to take it slow because I was still mighty dizzy but I was happy to be upright and sharing time with my family.

Saturday brought about some dry whether so we decided to go and do a geo-cache (or three) for a change.  We headed to the woods that are a couple of mile from us, they are actually ancient woods which was news to me as they are only a stones throw from a mighty busy road and you can actually see the M1 from part of the woods so we were amazed and this is what we found

The entrance to the woods

then in the woods - we found this carpet of loveliness

Up close - how pretty are these

In the wood we found this

And some geo-caches along the way!

 Trying the new camera for taking photos that I can cope with LOL!

 After finding two in the wood we headed to Wentworth to try for a third - and visited for the first time this -

 The needles eye - part of the Wentworth Woodhouse estate this folly is up on the hillside, it's not wonky honestly - it's just the angle it's been taken at LOL, there are more near us but we managed this one and then said 11 year old decided three geo-caches were enough - which meant hubby found a pub for us to visit, a decent play area meant said 11 year old was happy.  It was so surreal, a decent beer garden on a bank holiday in dry weather that was empty - most strange!

A great day overall, Sunday brought another trip out to Brodsworth Hall this time up close - look how pretty these flowers are

 Photo as said 11 year old started exploring

 The quarry garden from on high

Overall a great day, enjoying some fresh air and blue skies - much needed!

Monday brought grey skies but we'd free tickets to Bang Goes the Theory in Sheffield, so off we trundled to an awesome science show with a great after show attraction.  Watching people blow things up on stage is always fun and that's what we got!

So the weekend was positive and fun and only a little bit wobbly!

Tuesday brought work which felt a bit - boo hiss!  But the evenings have brought crafting and discussions with blogging friends, chats on facebook and other niceties so it has been positive evenings and hard work day times.

I had a few crafting positives this week, receiving a blog win from Susie in the form of a scrapbook mystery book was awesome as were the gorgeous crafty gifts included, a gorgeous piece of mail art arrived from Lorraine as part of the Collaborart blog and Donna's journal arrived on Thursday my first pairs journal - and the book is gorgeous!

I've another journal due with me from the rock in peace resurrected blog tomorrow which will finish my crafty week off just grand.  I managed a double page layout this week that I'm really pleased with because I altered the paper so overall on a craft basis things have been good.

To really top my week off like a cherry on top, I've had some positives from bits of mail art sent out recently, most of which was unannounced, it's been lovely getting some positive feedback from people saying how much they enjoyed receiving the art and that it's amused posties up and down the land as they go through the hands of Royal Mail.  So much so that I've now got 20 mail art pieces in hand ready to fly from my hands to another recipient, such a shame Royal Mail has seen fit to charge 50p for a second class stamp, I really do wonder with such a massive hike in fees if this will detrimentally affect their business.

So here I sit on Thursday evening, absolutely shattered, slightly wobbly but overall good with my hubby and my son by my side - what could be finer!

Finally a bit of crafting for you -  entitled Blue Sky Day - I hope your day is full of blue skies

Up close torn strips of paper for journaling, embellishment spots and simple hand stamping create this accents as well as the embroidery thread running around the page!

So there we have it - what's been Rocking Your World this week?  If you think your week had been mediocre or not that great, dig deep and think about all those silver linings, glimmers of positives, little bits of happiness that have sprinkled your life like icing on the top of a cake and join in, throw yourself a post together pop along here and link up and we can all come and visit.  Don't stress if it's not today just when you get chance, it's a gift to give thanks for what we have whilst we have it!  And may you all have a truly beautiful and blessed week ahead.

WOYWW

I thought it was such a long time since I did WOYWW and given that my table is looking relatively normal I'd join you all this week

I've got a double scrapbook layout that I'm just finishing off, working with pink papers is always fun because it rarely happens, the photos are from a weekend to AFTH and so it seemed only fitting to use some Blonde Moments paper, this is one where the circles were actually a combination of pink, green and brown but I was struggling to pull the pictures together so I sat painting some of the circles last night - so therapeutic!   To the top right is the stack of photos I've got to work on, flicking through them last night I can see the need for a minibook or two shortly, at the middle of the desk at the top is some mail art I've been working on.  My time turner is next to my lamp, a stack of stamps that need sorting and the pull out piece under my desk has a stack of prepared layouts ready and some huggies for my inky fingers! 

Hope you have a great day and thank you for looking. 

A QUICK SUNDAY NIGHT - BLOG POST

I know what's this all about a Sunday night blog post, but feeling the need to connect with my blogging friends at the moment and this seemed like the perfect excuse!

This layout came about because I'd got the Papermania Portabello Road set and I realised how 'easy' making a Union Jack was as I kept cutting up their pages, so went for a pink themed one, showing my sister looking really 'happy' barbecuing at my Mum's after the Royal Wedding last year!  My sister was confused when the wooden skewers kept catching fire, so I asked my Mum if she'd soaked them in water which is what I thought prevented them from charring to be told she'd coated them in oil - hence why they kept setting alight and also the reason for my sister looking like she wanted to maim somebody with those barbecue implements.

I used pieces of paper I had lying around and handcut the BBQ title.  The journalling was done in the triangles at the top and bottom of the page.

Up close, you can see how I doodled around the title, and hand stitched around each triangle and yes before you ask it took an age to do!  You can also see part of the journalling in the bottom triangle.  I'm loving all the Union Jack items that are about this year with the Jubilee but no doubt it will be 'out of fashion' again next year.

Had a strange weekend up to now, positive on the whole but I'm going through that 'thinking' side of things with being off from work I think - it's one of those taking stock times again.  So I'm going to ask you a question - a strange one - but still a question, on the mind, body and soul side of things how do you look after your soul?  What do you do that you feel is part of your spiritual journey, I know some people go to church and I know some that don't but those that don't often seem to have a stronger spiritual journey than those that go to church, so what is it that nurtures and feeds your soul - if you don't mind me asking?  I'm intrigued because this is one area that I don't seem to be nurturing enough and I'm not convinced returning to church will achieve what I'm wanting at the moment, so I'm interested to see how other people deal with this.   And finally if you're not spiritual at all and don't have any beliefs on that side of things, please feel free to ignor my question above!

Hope you've had a good weekend up to now!

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY

It's May - yes that's right the fifth month of the year, summer is yet to arrive and we are here yet again on Friday and before you ask - nope I've no idea how that happened either!

So what has this week brought, a time to reflect and sum up the positive of the week, I know it's easy to dwell on the rough side of things, the not so great, the negative but this post is about finding those silver linings.  Fancy joining in just pop yourself a post together, come back here and Linky up and we can come and visit, we are a tiny group of people who enjoy celebrating the positives!

1. Now most of you know I've been struck with vertigo again, so the first positive has to be my hubby, not a moan or complaint about having to leave later to get said 11 year old to school or pick him up - his only concern has been me - he's been an absolute star! 
2. Second up on the vertigo front is the tablets helping keep me upright too, fingers crossed this feeling just leaves soon and doesn't dwell! 
3. New groups on facebook, I've got two that have started this week, one for extended family (most of which I don't know but am getting to know) to share photos and history, the second have been a close bunch of friends that have simply had me rolling with laughter - you know who you are!
4. Hubby finding the track Too Close by Alex Clare that is on the Microsoft advert, it was driving him and in turn us nuts that he didn't know what it was!
5. Tom Cruise - for Ghost Protocol - awesome stuff - wish we'd seen it in Imax - then again with my vertigo maybe not!
6. Collabor-art, it's been fabulous getting to know crafty/arty friends, I'm in the process of making my pairs journal at the moment, despite the vertigo which is causing me grief, new mail art the laid back tone of the group is awesome, no stress, no hassle just keep communicating - now this I like!
7. My hair dresser providing a recommendation for a slightly cheaper make up - I love Bare Minerals but hell fire it's expensive!  
8. My local craft shop for actually having things in that I wanted to buy!
9. The lengthy loan of the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy books from Susie, which are now on their way (well they will be once I've got to the Post Office) to Jo!
10. Hubby for helping sort the bathroom, new bath mat, new shower curtain - grotbusted the world and it looks spic and span now! 
11. Gym on Saturday afternoon - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it - even though my MP3 player didn't work grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
12. Amazon Marketplace seller for sorting out the error on the caperberries order - not only did they sort the problem within 24 hours but allowed us to keep the original item that was incorrect free of charge! 
13. Hubby for cutting me some book covers out on Wednesday, I've finally managed to finish my journal your Christmas 2011 (it only needed covers). 
14. Jamie Oliver's pan fried Sea Bass recipe converting into pan fried Salmon with relative ease! 
15. Cups of tea in bed in a morning
16. Early bedtimes whilst I've been poorly! 
17. Wednesday for being not only dry, but bright with a slight breeze which meant two loads of washing got dried - yay!!!

So there you go - my Rocking Your World post for this week, before I leave you we need some crafting

Now these pictures were taken in the Stables Restaurant at Chatsworth House last year at Christmas, (Susie they don't look like Christmas piccies so I thought you'd let me off LOL).  The picture is of one of the canvases around the restaurant which are really simple paintings of the house, plus I loved the hanging stars and the shadows they created.  

 Up close, layered embellishments.

And finally Mr Linky 

DARCY'S 52 WORDS - WRAPPED UP

Good Morning, well it's finally completed Darcy's 52 word challenge (which was supposed to last one year - 2011) is finally complete and I'm going to attempt to upload a video of the entire book, problem is it's 3 minutes long so no idea if this will work!  Hey ho - won't know until I try.  A couple of things before you view, firstly I state I can't paint and I can't fact but I like messing and secondly I do have a rather strong broad Yorkshire accent - you've been warned.

SUNDAY MORNING POST

Good Morning one and all, yes I know it's Sunday morning and I'm blogging - what is that all about?

Well I'm enjoying having a weekend off, went to the gym yesterday which was good (first time since I did my back in), had an alcohol free evening (which was nice), painted some giant pieces of paper with no idea of what I'm going to do with them (which is fun), popped to town, sorted lots of little jobs out, have a bathroom cleaning session ahead of me today (with new bath mat and shower curtain), some ironing and some crafting, it's going to rain all day so I'm going to try and do as much crafting as I possibly can.

I have a journal book to prepare, some more mail art to attack and a stack of scrapbook pages, semi-prepared.

The only downside of yesterday was a trip to a national retailer that has a scrapbooking section to find that it was all a bit 'twee' so I didn't buy anything other than giant chocolate buttons and a gift voucher I needed. I also wanted some watercolours - but wow might need to remortgage the house with the cost of those things.

So I might have to have a little jaunt to the local shop today to see if there's less twee and more goodness - or maybe it's just my style changing (again).

So here is a Sunday morning scrapbook layout - I'll try and not make it Christmas layout - but I can't promise for the next one.

This was at the Masham Arts Festival which we discovered when on holiday last October.

Up close, you can see I used a mask to create the effect on the cardstock, used some old brads and did some hand stitching.

I also used a card that I had in a pack from a sale I went to years ago to create the title!

Hope you are having a great Sunday even if it's a bit wet (again to make a change, this drought we are having is getting a little tedious wouldn't you agree).

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!