How I discovered scrapbooking (and my first ever page)...

It was many moons ago (c.2004).  My friend Vanessa and I were partners in crime at card making, toddler taming and drinking wine.  We saw an advert in the local art shop (sadly no longer there) for a Scrapbooking workshop and thought...why not?

This is the very first page I made (no laughing please)...It's 6x6 (I don't know why, I was following the teacher's instructions!) and has a photo cut into a shape, some shrink plastic and a Making Memories phrase (I bought a stack of those in the early days).  It's not seem the light of day for some time!

I remember asking if I could take a few extra papers home and then stopping in the art shop to buy my first scrapbooking stash - I bought punches, ribbon, some letters and some magazines (with free paper!) I was hooked!

Next I made a double page spread at home about Alex's first day at school (still 6x6 - I'm not sure I knew any other size existed!)  This photo I embellished with some nattily punched shapes in the corner!  

The rest followed - all 6x6 - until I discovered the larger sizes when I read my magazine and I've never come back to finish this album.  This is Alex's first Christmas play at nursery...

Her infamous ice-cream face on holiday in Lanzarote...

An uncanny likeness between she and me at the same age on our school photos...

A photo of my Mum as a small girl...

And my all time favourite photo of the two of them from nursery...

It was while sorting out my PL page protectors that I rmembered these pages as I found some style E protectors with 6x6" pockets.  Just perfect for displaying the above little lot and getting them out of a small album and into my AC 12x12 ones.  So now they look like this...

And can be seen with all their other early childhood pages (of which I need to do more!) 

Am I slightly embarrassed by the shaped photos, old style embellies and cutting with decorative scissors? - just a tad - but I'm more grateful that I found such a wonderful hobby that has kept me sane over the past 10 years and continues to be my "happy place" when things get tough.  I love playing with pretty paper and glue and reliving the memories on each photo.

Sadly Vanessa emigrated to Australia in 2006 so I lost my scrapping buddy but I am also grateful for the other buddies I have in Blogland and having met some of you in real life.

So here's to this fabulous hobby.  Will you share your first page and your discovery story? (Warts and all!) I'd love to read about it.

Sketchy Scrappers - Jan sketch

I had a lovely time at The Haslington crop and was quite productive!  I was trying to catch up on Sketchy Scrapper sketches as I am woefully behind! 

This was January's sketch...

And after some deliberation I realised I could use it to capture something that is very current in our family - The yellow car game. I used some MME papers from TK Maxx and lots of embellies from my stash to make this...

Does anyone else play this game or is it just our mad family?!  Back soon with another page once I've thought of a title!

Me on a Monday

It's been a chilled weekend but Monday finds me at my desk realising I have a ton of FCA checks to complete before I finish on the 19th!  Oh the joys of the finance world.  So putting that to one side here is how my weekend looked.

It was a "we've still got no kids to worry about" kind of Friday evening so we headed up to the pub to share a bottle of wine and some (not so tasty) food.  It's fair to say the pub food has gone downhill!

It was a try a new crop  out kind of Saturday.  I was up early, three page kits packed and positive I'd not forgotten anything (it's been nearly two years since I've been to one!) and I hadn't!  I managed 1 and 1/2 layouts and one set of pocket pages for December last year.  It was a lovely day adn I will definitely be going back :)

It was a pick the prodigal son up from scout camp kind of Saturday evening. He was tired, smelt of camp fire and had a bag of dirty washing but it was soooo good to have him home :)  He had an early night.  We watched more House of Cards!

It was a lazy Sunday kind of day (if you discount the food shop in Asda, lol!) however I made a list, planned the meals and bought some diet shakes.  It's the start of a strict regime this week to get rid of some pounds.  The rest of Sunday consisted of watching some TV whilst sewing on badges to Alex's camp blanket, finishing the other 1/2 of the aforementioned page, sorting out some items to post, reading blogs and enjoying cuddles with my boy.  Tony meanwhile prepped and glossed the spare bedroom :)

It was also a five loads of washing day (including the sleeping bag AND the small rucksack) and smiling as I found this t-shirt in the pile.  He has been on every camp whilst at Scouts and I love that he gets a week away from screens and phones and gets to swim, canoe and play with bows and arrows. He's moving up to Explorers in September so I hope he sticks with it.

It was also (again) a weekend of staking Facebook for posts from India.  They have had a busy week working at the orphanage school - sanding desks and plumbing toilets as well as playing with the kids - and have headed off to Jaipur for a weekend away.  This has included a visit to a Bollywood film, shopping in the market and an elephant ride up to the Amber Fort.  I can't wait to see pictures.

Hope this Monday find you well and happy.  If you would like to join in with this brilliant meme of Sian's then head over to her blog From high in the Sky.

Summertime Photo Scavanger Hunt 2015 - The Conwy edition

I'm linking up with Rinda today to share some of my finds from the hunt this year.  If you've not come across it before it's a list of items to take photos of in the summer.  Sounds easy doesn't it? Well I've still to find the ornate door knocker and the overloaded car or lorry!

But what I did find was a few things in Conwy on a weekend away.  The same weekend we go on every year with a ton of families; some camp, some have their own holiday home there and we stay in a B&B!  Conwy didn't disappoint again this year and here is what I found...

6. A metal bridge

This one is owned by the National Trust and has a lot of history.  Built by Thomas Telford in 1826 it was one of the first suspension bridges in the world and originally held a road.  It was very photogenic as bridges go so I took a few!

12. A public restroom, bathroom or toilet

Again I went for the historic version.  The ladies is in the square building on the left but the gents get to relieve themselves in the posh tower.  What you can't see is that they have a beautiful view of Conwy estuary (see next find!)

20. A natural body of water - the estuary of the River Conwy 

15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it.  Later in the day we had a late lunch at the marina around the corner.  As we walked towards the pub I spotted the flag pole with several flags flying.  I remember someone else spotted a very similar flag pole at another marina during this hunt so I did some research and found out they are called gaffs!

They were 9 families/couples away for this weekend, all with various extra children and dogs!  While the lads and dads headed off to watch Conwy Town v Bolton Wanderers us ladies (and small girls!) chilled on the beach and entertained the aforementioned dogs before walking them round to the marina.  So here is my last Conway find...

3. A person walking a dog or other animal.  Well, 9 people to be precise and 6 dogs!

Still lots to find on the list but I'm hoping to cross a lot off when I take a break from work later this month and I know of two occasions coming up where I can get numbers 10 and 17.  Wish me luck!

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST

1. A bouquet of flowers
2. An ornate door knocker
3. A person walking a dog (or other animal)
4. People playing a board game or card game
5. Architectural columns
6. A metal bridge
7. A turtle
8. Someone "plugged in" to social media 
9. A tent
10. A college or university
11. A cellular tower or television satellite dish
12. A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet
13. A merry-go-round or carousel
14. A traffic signal
15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it
16. A panoramic view, taken while standing someplace high in the air
17. At least two people wearing matching outfits or uniforms
18. An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle
19. A ticket booth
20. A natural body of water21. A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger 

Back to some scrapping...

This was a sketch set by the a Sketch Scrappers group I belong too back in May for NSD. It was perfect for using up some Simple Stories scraps I had left and a fun photo of Alex and Josh from our weekend in Conwy last summer. 

The journaling reads; It happened in a flash. You had just visited the smallest house in Great Britain. I asked you to pose for a photo but Alex had other ideas. So you grabbed her and I clicked!

Thanks for visiting. Please pop back soon as I'll have more to share as I'm off to my first crop at the weekend in absolutely ages. In fact it's been so long I've forgotten what to pack!

Me on a Monday

Hi, hello, how are you?  Welcome to Monday and a chance to share what's been happening in my world this weekend.

It was an up early on and wave good bye to Josh kind of Saturday morning.  He's away at his last Scout camp for the week.  The Australian flag on the van?  Well it's the "I'm a Scout, get me out of here" camp of course!

It was a let's walk more of the Bridgewater canal kind of Saturday.  With the house to ourselves we got a few jobs out of the way and then headed off - 3 1/2 miles, a quick stop for lunch (opposite this lighthouse?!) and then 3 1/2 miles back.

Then it was a sit in the sun in the back garden kind of afternoon and read a book (heaven! I've not read much the beginning part of this year and am enjoying it again) .  Followed by a gyros supper kind of evening and several episodes of House of Cards.

It was a very wet and rainy kind of Sunday with a not very exciting but essential trip to the Supermarket, some sorting out of the spare bedroom and some more House of Cards!  But I did manage to sneak in a bit of scrapping. And yes, that is Christmas paper as I'm working on my December pocket pages.

Last but not least it was a stalking of Facebook kind of weekend as we waited for updates from the Alex and girls out in India.  They are posting a blog post each night and it's fabulous to read their news. Sunday ended on a high with a fabulous photo of them at the Taj Mahal.

So how was your weekend?  If you'd like to share some news and join in with Sian's meme then jump on over to her blog From high in the sky and find out more.  Thanks for coming to visit and read about mine.

One photo & Twenty words

He's been waiting quietly in the wings and now it's his time to shine. Congratulations on your Environment award Josh!

PS it was a big celebration at the high school and whilst he didn't get one of the academic awards he was more pleased with this one (for his 3 year service to the Eco committee) as it came with a £10 Amazon voucher!

I'm joining in with Abi's meme to find a photo and describe it in just 20 words. Look forward to seeing yours!