Tuesday 27 March 2012

Meadow Barn pages

At the beginning of the month I spent a lovely DIY retreat at Meadow Barn with some of the Twilight Group over on UKS. I thought it time I shared the pages I did!

The first page was one of Shimelle's 4x6 photo love pages which used a page protector and then I added embellishment over the top of the photos and down the side. This page includes lots of photos from our day at Seaworld and is another page for the Florida album.


This page is of Alex on stage at her dance show last year. She was dancing along to "Get me to the church on time" and did a fabulous performance!



I love these photos and have another set of Alex in the same field to scrap. It's just on our estate on the walk home from school and on this day we decided to stop and blow the dandelion clocks. Two years on and we hardly walk home from school as my hours have changed at work and Alex is at high school. So glad we stopped on this day.


I haven't captured Alex's favourites for a while so this is her latest list including favourite food - Daddy's roasts and fave subject at school - maths. And she wants to be an author or artist when she grows up...
I used Sarah's Cards kits for all of these lay outs, from way back when, as I am desperately trying to use them all up so I can justify subscribing again!!

I still have a couple more to share so back later this week with the rest :)

Thanks for stopping by.




Sunday 18 March 2012

Weekly Challenge - March week 2

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mum's out there! I have spent the afternoon scrapping (well it is my day after all!) and decided to do the weekly challenge over on UKS.

The challenge was....
1. Use 3 or more photos - 10 points
2. Use paint or mists - 10 points
3. Doodle something different - 10 points

I also set myself a challenge of finishing off another kit (I have so many with only one more page left in them!) so used Sarah's Cards May kit from 2010 Jillibean Soup - Minestrone.


I did use three photos but cheated a little by hiding the one of the den that was built as it didn't suit the front of the page but I still wanted to include it. I have sprayed and dropped mists around the three butterflies. I did try some different doodling but it looked awful so have ended up with just faux stitches so can't claim the points for that.



The photos were taken when A & J built a den during a family fun day at MartinMere in August 2010. And yes I did finish the kit! Yay!!

And for Mother's Day I was treated to the Breaking Dawn DVD so that's tonight's viewing sorted!

Thanks for leaving comments - I do love to read them.
Julia

Tuesday 13 March 2012

My month in numbers - February

I am sooooo late blogging February's month in numbers. I wanted to scrap it first but that was not to be so here they are anyway and I have already started a post for March's so I will be on time next month!

So without further ado...this was February;

20 Oldham Street was the address for this cool shop called Lomography. I went with my friend Susanne (who is an awesome portrait photographer) and we were fascinated. I can't really do it justice but it's all about not going digital and using film in wacky cameras. You can read more about it here.

Alex finally celebrated her birthday at an Italian cookery course so we took 5 girls off to make pizza (from scratch) and tirimisu. Then it was back for the 12 cupcakes I'd made for her birthday instead of one big cake.
At half term we had a few days out. First of all 13 of us went on a day trip to Liverpool - 5 mums, 2 girls and 6 boys - and visited the Museum of Liverpool. We had a wander back through the shops and let the boys loose in Primark. It was very funny to them all (aged 10 and 11) discussing fashion and the best buys! But they chose well and then it was on to Ask for pizzas before the train home.

Another morning was spent watching Josh and his friend climb the wall at the local climbing wall. The highest wall here is 45 feet high (yes he did that one!), there are over 150 separate routes and 14,000 square foot of climbing. Oh and a very nice cafe where I got a mug of tea and a cake :)
Alex and I took off to the MEN Arena to watch Snow Patrol and sat in Block 207 Row L seats 29 and 30. It was a fantastic concert and we had a great night.
I also completed 7 hours of first aid training for Girlguiding UK as part of my leadership qualification, tried 1 new recipe and booked 4 seats to fly us to Portugal in June.

If you want to join in next month then stop by Julie's blog for more info.

Saturday 10 March 2012

10 things on the 10th

As I sat looking around my desk for inspiration for 10 things on the 10th I realised I had a number of commitments to charity and voluntary work around me and this got me thinking about all the good things I do over the year. Plus I've had a bit of a nightmare week at work and this post reminds me about the balance in life and how it's good to put something back :)

So here are the 10 charities I am actively involved with...

1. The school PTA - recently registered as a charity although I have been involved since Alex started there in 2003. Here are some of the lovely mum's after our "Coffee, cakes and carols" event for the senior citizens in the village last December.


2. World Vision - I have been sponsoring Stephen since Josh was born in 2001. He lives in Kenya and I hear from him a few times a year. A simple thing to do for the price of a small direct debit each month.
3. Scouting - Josh has recently moved up to scouts and although I am not involved heavily I ahve always been ready to be a parent helper and volunteer at cub camp. Scouting is such a brilliant organisation for giving boys and girls an active life and new experiences.



4. Sport relief - I always end up buying bits for Comic Relief and Sport Relief in the supermarket but this year, inspired by The Great Sport Relief Bake Off on TV, myself and a colleague are organising a bake sale on the 23rd March at work. Hopefully we will raise a good amount for this fantastic cause.
5. Pink Booby Crop - This is a fantastic event organised by some lovely scrappers and happens only a few miles from me. We shop, scrap, eat and chat and makes lots of money for Breast Cancer Care whilst doing so! Pink Booby 7 is scheduled for the 13th October this year so get on over to UKS and join Golborne Scrappers if you live in the North West and want to go!

6. Breast Cancer Care - Ok I know I have this on twice now really but I also help every year at Josh's school with Strawberry Tea in June. The choir sing and the orchestra play, we bake loads of yummy strawberry cakes and pavlovas and it is always well attended by the school mum's, friends and senior citizens. This summer will be my last one as Josh moves up to high school in the Autumn and once again I will be doing it in memory of my friend, Gill.
7. British Sjogrens Syndrome Association - I have just started selling cards at work for the BSSA using my scraps and older stash. I decided all money I received would go to this charity as my Mum was diagnosed with it in 2010. You can read more about it here. It's work in progress but the fund raising is going well so far!
8. Girlguiding UK - This is one that I am very involved with as a guider for a Brownie unit in the village. I guess this is the one that makes me feel like I am really making a difference as I am not giving money but my time. It's so sad when I hear stories from friends around the UK saying they have no units where they live or the wait list is so long. All it takes is an hour a week and you could make a difference to girls in your area. Read all about how to volunteer here.



9. Mwanjati Village School Trust - Once a month we have a cake stall at Josh's primary school to raise funds for this fabulous project. It came about several years ago when one of the students asked the school to help build a school in Malawi where her grandad was the village elder. Since then we have built the school, added a second classroom and supplied football kits and equipment. The Trust pays for two teachers and the school now means that many children do not have to face a walk of several miles each day to get to school. All I do to help is bake some cakes!



10. Anthony Nolan - This is the last, but my no means the least, of my 10 charities. I don't do anything for this one except be on the register. I've done that for the last 14 years. I was called up a few years back to have further tests to be a match but sadly the donation never went ahead. I hope one day I may be able save someone's life. Could you be a match for someone out there? Find out how to get on the donor register at the Anthony Nolan website.

So that's my round up this month. I hope you forgive my for my self indulgence in sharing these this month and maybe there is something in the list that inspires you to go out and make a difference or maybe you already are :)

You can see more 10 things on the 10th and play along at Shimelle's blog

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Monday 5 March 2012

Weekly Challenge - February week 4


I have just returned from a wonderful weekend scrapping with some of the lovely ladies of The Twilight Addicts group over on UKS. We stayed in a beautiful, converted medieval barn - perfect for socialising and scrapping :)

I managed to churn out 6 layouts and 5 cards and used up yet another kit (there's no stopping me when I'm on a roll lol!)

Here is one of the pages that I did for the weekly challenge which was to use the sketch, make a flower (I made a Tim Holtz rosette using the die which I now need to own!), use butterflies and do some stitching.




Then in true stash busting style I set about using the remainder of my (very old) Sarah's card kit featuring the Kaiser Peachy Keen range and made 5 cards! I only have 4 in the photos below as one is a mother's day card which may be appearing on a doorstep down south very soon!



I then came home, unpacked and then set about making another two mother's day cards for requests from my colleagues at work :)

Off to watch the news now as my sleepy village has turned into something of a media circus since an armed robber was shot dead here on Saturday evening!

Thanks for stopping by.