Frosty Festivities 2015

Fancy a bit of Christmas inspiration?  Why not head over to Jennifer's blog as starting tomorrow she's sharing lots of crafting ideas and giveaways all through November.

Pop back here mid November for the blog hop too!

Me on a Monday

This Monday finds me off for a day as it's Half Term.  A day of vet visits and a visit to the local Outlet shopping centre for some bargains for Alex and Josh.  But how about the weekend?

It was a late drive to the Peak District kind of Friday night to drop Josh off for a two day hike with Explorers (It turned out to be a one day hike but more of that in a minute).

It was the first day for wearing boots this Autumn kind of Saturday...

It was a chance to nip into Manchester for a few errands (the ones that could only be done in the city like a clarinet service!)...

Then chance for a sneaky lunch, just the two of us...

My pate came in a flower pot although I'm not sure Tony felt the same about his chicken wings in the mini picnic basket or the mushrooms in a garden trowel!

There was time for a stop at the local farm shop for some fresh veg...

And also the local deli for some cheese for supper (buying local to keep them in business!)

Then it was a drive back to the Peak District again on Saturday eve (unscheduled and interrupting my Strictly viewing!) as Josh had twisted his knee and could not continue with the hike.

Thank heavens for the extra hour in bed as we stayed up late to finish our Strictly viewing (and our cheese... Wensleydale and sticky toffee pudding anyone?)

It was a lazy kind of Sunday with scrapbooking (for me), a local football derby (for hubby), book reading and play stationing (for the kids) and watching Lewis Hamilton become World Champion - Yay!

And the vet visit?  Bruce was extremely curious!  After a thorough check it turns out he has a heart murmur.  Never knew cats could get those.  However it's very mild and nothing to concern ourselves with, just something to watch.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my weekend.  If you want to join in pop over and visit Sian.

Here's to a 4 day week!

Stuck?! sketch - October 2015

With a little spare time on my hands today (well, I'm just avoiding do other jobs really!) I pulled out some old Scenic Route scraps to use up and a couple of photos that had been in my "to scrap" pile for an absolute age!

I'd seen the Stuck?! sketch earlier in the work and the star made me think of Star Wars (plus all the merchandise appearing in the shops at the moment) so it was a sign that it was time to scrap Jedi Josh!

Here is the sketch...

I rotated it to fit with my portrait photos and came up with this...

Can't believe how little Josh looks but then it was 6 years ago!  His light sabre went everywhere with him at this point (but that's another story for another page!)

Thanks for stopping by.  The challenge is still open until 29th October if you'd like to join in and there are great prizes to be won.

Me on a Monday

It was a packing three social engagements into two evenings kind of weekend and a falling off the Stoptober one too (although I had always planned for that!)

It started with a meal in the pub straight from work with my old Vodafone colleagues who were made redundant 12 months back.  It was good to catch up and see where everyone has moved on to.  Then it was a quick whiz home to pick up Alex and head to the Trefoil Guild Quiz night.

Itt was a "glad we brought you" kind of evening as she completed the maths round whilst we all sat and chatted!  Scored 14/15 too :)

Then it was an up for work kind of Saturday morning followed by an afternoon of cleaning and jobs - including converting Alex's snood into a scarf...

Then it was an out with the work colleagues kind of Saturday evening in Manchester.  We get an allowance by the company each quarter for team building but hadn't spent ours for 9 months so we had a fab budget to get through! 

We started off at a beautiful Italian and as money was no object I went with the scallops...

Then it was on to The Alchemist for amazing cocktails - I'd always wanted to try this bar and it didn't disappoint.  They looked like a chemistry experiment more than a drink!...

It was then a bit of a pub crawl round the Northern Quarter in Manchester.  Somewhere I'd never been before but will definitely try again.  I was quite pleased with this shot.  Especially as it was about midnight and I'd had a fair few drinks by this point!...

It was definitely a lie in kind of Sunday morning (after the night before!) and I took it easy catching up on Gogglebox and Doc Martin.

Then it was a dust the cobwebs kind of Sunday afternoon with a walk along the canal.  The Autumn colours were beautiful and we met a beautiful family of swans...

We dragged Josh along to break in his new walking boots ready for his hike next weekend and managed an hours walk.  Then it was back home for tea, researching University Open Day dates for 2016 (I'm just a sneaky bit excited about visiting Oxford - I'm a huge fan of Morse and Lewis!) and catching up on Strictly (I'm beginning to narrow down my favourites, how about you?)

Today finds me back at my desk as usual on a Monday and off to a Science GCSE learning evening. Feels like we've only just finished them (which we have) and now the next one is starting!

Hope you've had a great weekend - link up and share yours with Sian

Scraptoberfest challenge

Have you been following Karen and the girls blogging daily through October? Blogtober is going well and I can only aspire to a daily blog post - let's be honest some weeks I struggle to do a weekly post!  Anyway Gemma who is also taking part in this regular update of scrapping, challenges and life posted about a challenge the other day combining not one, not two, not three but FOUR challenges!

They involved;

Scrap our stash challenge - Create a layout using at least 2 different type of Washi Tapes.
Challenge YOUrself - Create a layout that includes YOU in the photo.
My scraps and more - Color Challenge

The memory nest - Sketch Challenge 

It so happens I had planned a page in my head that fitted perfectly with every challenge.  Happy days!

I'm working through a load of photos from a trip to Barcelona a couple of years ago, mostly in pocket pages but wanted a few 12 x 12 ones to mix it up a bit.  This is the first one and a favourite photo of me at Park Guell - a place I was so looking forward to visiting.

What's even more impressive is I finished this page in less than 1 1/2 hours - a record for me I think!

So if you're looking for a challenge within a challenge why don't you give this a try.  I'd love to see what you make :)

Me on a Monday

It was a fairly ordinary weekend. It was a Saturday of cleaning, tidying, washing and drying. Interspersed by a little trip out to watch the Vulcan bomber fly overhead on its Northern Tour of Britiain. 

One of the last times it will fly. It was passing overhead only 20 mins up the road and very handily near the in-laws so we popped in for a cuppa and a chat. 

 

It was a head to the shops kind of Sunday morning for work shoes (for Alex) but not a successful one. Instead I bought this years organiser as dates are already starting to get booked in for 2016! It was also a food shop for the week kind of morning as I got organised for the week ahead. 

It was an "I'm feeling yuck" kind of Sunday afternoon so I collapsed on the sofa with some scrapping videos (love a bit of Mercy Tiara) and Bruce brought me a present. Thankfully it was one of his favourites - a twig (I swear he thinks he's a dog sometimes!) - rather than anything with fur or feathers!

And then before I knew it, it was Sunday evening and Strictly and Downton for me. Running around for Tony as he took the kids to Ju Jitsu and we have a grading date now. Josh is going for his black belt next - fingers crossed he gets it!

So this morning finds me still aching and tired, wishing I didn't have to go to work. Roll on 5:30!

I'm sharing my weekend courtesy of Sian. Head on over to see what everyone else has been up to. 

Have a good week x

Me on a Monday

After three very busy but fun weekends this one was a catch up on jobs and chill out one.  I'm joining in with Sian to share my weekend...

It was also a very dry one as I've gone sober for (some of) October. I have a couple of things planned in the middle weekend so allowing myself a treat!

After cleaning and tidying bedrooms and filling a charity bag of small kids clothes, cleaning and tidying the study/craft room, doing a mammoth food shop, running some errands and helping with homework. ( phew!) there was also time to bake some Shrewsbury biscuits...

Do a little more pocket scrapping...

And have an afternoon brew at the local coffee shop where we picked Alex up from her first day at work! She works 10-3 and then gets a free lunch! It's a fabulous small family business and she has struck gold getting a Saturday job there...

There was also time for a little Strictly watching and some House episodes - our new family viewing show where we try and call the illness before its diagnosed by the great doctor. Nobody's won yet!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your weekends were just how you wanted. I'm a bit behind on blog reading so sorry if I've not been over to your place recently. Will try and remedy that this week!

Christmas in August

Well, that's what happened around here as I scrapped my December photos when I was off back in August!  This is the 3rd year I have done pocket pages for December and I like the little details I can capture as well as the big ones.

Sorry there are a lot of photos coming but it's always a busy month so there were a few pages scrapped.  I used a variety of papers and embellishments from the Simple Stories Cozy Christmas range plus some bits from my stash and a range of protector sizes this year which mixed it up a bit.

First a title page...

Then some pics which were from Alex's fundraising stalls at Victorian Day and the school play...

The girls after the last night of the show (Alex was on spotlight so in civvies the rest are in costume), Costa festive cups and HP World!...

I always like to do something Christmassy with the kids now we don't visit Santa anymore.  It does get harder each year to find something though!  This year it was a trip to see Hogwarts in the snow...

Picking the Christmas tree, decorating it, the fireplace all festive and a new tradition of collecting Christmas mugs...

Celebrating my friends' 40th, performing the song/rap we wrote for her (it's a tradition in our group!), school pics for the Christmas cards and end of term presents from my Brownies...

Out for a meal with the girls and Secret Santa...

Alex went indoor sky-diving with rangers, loving all things penguin, surprise snowballs and last minute visit to the Christmas markets.  I've also added a card for Christmas Day as I didn't feel like taking photos this year after a difficult bereavement...

Boxing Day and fun in the snow!

A fabulous walk from our village to the next followed by supper and drinks at a friends' house...

Thanks for sticking with it this long!  Back to more summery and seasonal scrapping soon :)