Morning all, well this time last year we were enjoying the beautiful coastline in Northumberland, one of these trips was to Alnwick and they have the most amazing tree house to explore (its also a restaurant) - it is such a magical place to visit and explore!
And I find myself at Friday again - although unsure how that exactly happened if I'm honest.
Given that the week has been pretty much wall to wall work sigh - I thought I'd share a few things that we came across last week that I didn't share last Friday (in effect I'm still riding the euphoria of our week away).
I know Lisca likes to photograph doors as much as I do - I'm always intrigued as to where they lead - so here is one I photographed in Lacock Abbey - I love all the metal studs on the door!
Lacock Abbey has quite a number of gargoyle/grotesques around the premises in various locations. They know one day that these will deteriorate and need replacing, so they've already organised the replacements living them in the brew house for all to see - I loved being able to see these up close, although I'm struggling to choose a favourite! Possibly the second one or the second to last one.
This was the doorway leaving the brewhouse - I loved the view out and how the greenery was growing around the doorway.
Outside this building we discovered this plant - it was the full height of the barn (which was two stories) and had the most amazing smell - I have never come across the flower which such a beautiful citrus like smell. We asked the lady in the second hand bookshop if she knew what the plant was and she reliably told us it was magnolia grandiflora the flower was bigger than my hand - so you can imagine the scent!
This is the seed head after the flower dies off - how amazing is it - it looks like a peculiar take on a pineapple!
And here is one still in situ!
Another shot of the flower!
And the gateway into Lacock Abbey - another stunning piece of architecture - and yes blue skies always helps!
Avebury Manor house provided the opportunity to play Lord and Lady of the house!
And another gateway at Avebury Manor
Avebury was one of our favourites. The Church (just outside the stone circle) was one of the most welcoming and inclusive churches I've been in for a while. The heart tree was somewhere to put your prayers and I think it looks amazing.
They also had a pebble pile that you could sit and hold and think about things and then once you'd done you placed it in a jug of water. Both me and said 15 year old did just that and found it really calming.
On the way out of the church there was also a large storage box that contained lots of items. A note on the outside, for anyone camping, hiking or rough sleeping the items inside the box were there for people to utilise, there were sleeping bags and wetwipes etc - a really thoughtful and useful way of the church working with its visitors - it certainly raised a smile from us!
The final day me and hubby headed to a pub where there was a large beer garden, the whole garden was surrounded by flowering lavender which smelt absolutely divine!
So there you go me riding the crest of a wave with the holiday.
There have been lots of little positives this week - I've just not got photos to document them as it were.
Said 15 year old spending time getting on with a few jobs that I set him, he has just got on with them, no whinging or whining - which means the house runs a bit more efficiently and he isn't stuck to the Xbox for too many hours!
Whilst my scrapping mojo is still missing, I have managed to do some more artwork around the Sheffield herd. I set to last weekend doing these little beasties. I honestly was fighting with them, I got to a point where I didn't think I'd be able to recover them into something I actually liked and you have to remember that I'm not an artist! But with the inspirations of the Hendo's Elephant from the herd I managed to make these.
Other positives are chats with the WW girls.
Said 15 year old coming home and playing Wanted Dead or Alive on his acoustic guitar!
Me and hubby celebrating 26 years of meeting each other - it really doesn't seem that long at all!
And this morning on our way back from our morning walk, finding not one or two but three families of swallows flying in and out of nests and clinging to the wall below!
Morning all and I find us at Wednesday morning already - where does the time go.
I have had a busy old week up to now, mainly due to being back at work, being up at 6am to do a one and half mile walk and being utterly shattered of an evening, the crafting table is still being sadly neglected - sigh!
However, I still have some layouts to share, this one was taken from the beach at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.
The Castle can be seen for miles along the coastline, on this particular day - hubby decided to head down a dead-end street - which I thought was a dangerous move given how busy the road was with cars. At the end we found a car park and meandered along the beach to get numerous photos of this imposing castle.
I first heard of Bamburgh through scrapbook magazines, Jane Dean who was a regularly contributor and one of my favourite scrapbook designers who appeared to to holiday in the area and this Castle appeared on a good few of her layouts.
I miss those magazines and I miss learning about the things other people did in their lives as it prompted us to do something different.
Bamburgh is privately owned and still lived in and you can visit it, so win win. It was recently the filming location of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender!
Layouts wise it was simply a mix of blues and greens and 'using up' some of the papers I had lurking on my desk using my hexagon die!
I hope you are having an awesome day and thank you for popping by!
Morning all, this layout documents the raised embankment by the walkway up to Alnwick Castle, this is where they placed Robbie Coltrane when filming Harry Potter to give the giant perspective of Hagrid. When we visited last year I explained this to my sister, who insisted that we are stand and try 'being Hagrid'
Morning all - well it is the 1st August 2016 - anyone else wondering where the year is going!
A photo of some of the amazing detail at Alnwick Castle to share with you this morning, apparently the lamp on the right was one of the reasons they chose Alnwick Castle to film Harry Potter!
I love the verdigris finish on these, many years ago I used to work in a bed factory and they made verdigris beds using a two colour paint effect, first powder coating the bed in bronze and then splattering the powder over it with a pale green - its amazing what memories come to light when you think about it!
Good morning lovely people, finally sharing a few more layouts I'm hoping it will inspire me to get crafting again but at the moment the mojo has been lost for a while if I'm honest!
Here is a photo of said 15 year old and niece last summer at Bamburgh Castle, they were right at the end of the wall overlooking the steep cliffside onto the beach - the adults felt a little nervous of them being sat there if I'm honest!
Photos of this remind me of how close these two are, being cousins that have spent a lot of time together as they have grown up, which means they are more like brother and sister if I'm honest and I love to spend time with the two of them for they both have a wicked sense of humour!
Good morning lovely people - another layout (finally) to share, this one from the beach walk to Bamburgh Castle last year (we never did quite get there).
The layout is a sketch from Scrapthology - the link to which is
This is a really versatile sketch and at first glance I didn't honestly think I could get it to work, but I was soooooooooo pleased with the finished item as it were!
