Sketchy scrapper challenges - all caught up!

So over the wet and dreary bank holiday weekend (well Sunday and Monday) I managed to scrap a little and catch up on the Sketchy Scrapper challenges.  They have all been made with the My Minds Eye Cut and Paste collection which was a bargain find in TK Maxx and some added bits from my own stash.  The first was May's sketch...

And I made Snow much fun.  A fab picture of Alex on her 11th birthday tobogganing at the local park.  Not totally in love with this page but glad I got it scrapped :)...

Next up my favourite layout of late using July's sketch...

We were away in the Lakes for our wedding anniversary earlier this year and we walked another Wainwright - Black Crag.  It was a pleasant sunny day for most of the walk but when we got to the very top it was blowing a gale. I had to don my bobble hat and Tony was squinting against the wind as it was drying his contact lenses!  I nearly had my phone blown out of my hand taking this selfie! Black Crag...

Lastly this was August's sketch...

This sketch was perfect to document a walk along the canal with lots of photos- we've done about three now along the Bridgewater and I'm determined to walk it all but this day we didn't quite get it right and ended up walking the Leeds Liverpool canal up to the point it met the Bridgewater!  It was still a pleasant walk even so.  Not the Bridgewater Canal...

Me on a Monday

Despite knowing it all day I seemed to ignore that fact that yesterday was Monday and so I am here again on a Tuesday.  Back to work tomorrow and the kids are back to school and college (yikes!) so hopefully some routine will sort me out!

So the weekend was a fun one and a wet one...it was a volunteering kind of Saturday as I spent several happy hours promoting Girlguiding at Manchester Pride.   Check out the bright t-shirt we got as a souvenir!  It was a real carnival atmosphere and I met some other lovely leaders from all over the North West.

Once home it was a put my feet up kind of evening so I sat in the sun for an hour and read my book (nearly there!) and enjoyed a glass of wine while Tony prepared dinner.

It was a friends to stay kind of Saturday night with Chris and his son Thomas staying over having been to a local match.  Thomas' disability does not stop him having the most amazing amount of fun and I love my two so much for the patience and kindness they show him when he comes to stay...  It was definitely a "let me chase you" kind of evening!...

It was a lazy morning and fry up kind of Sunday.  Having said good-bye to our visitors we settled down to reading, TV and scrapping as the weather had closed in and was wet and 'orrible...

And it wasn't much better on Monday!  So it was more reading, TV and scrapping with a few jobs thrown in and some sorting out of shoes and clothes (Is it just me that feels like a spring clean at the beginning of the term?) .  It was also a polishing off the CV kind of day for Alex...

So today finds us dodging showers and doing last minute prep for back to school - trying new hairstyles for her and buying a school blazer for him!  Plus delivering the aforementioned CVs in person at selected businesses in the village - we got a few "nos", a few "maybes" and one "possibility".  

And now it's off for a late lunch/early tea as an end of the holiday treat followed by The Man from U.N.C.L.E....

Hope your bank holiday was good and not too wet.  I'm linking up with Sian today and wishing you all a happy new school year!  (I know everyone craves summer but secretly I love Autumn - crisp leaves, sunny walks, finding a good tea shop for a cuppa and cake and warm cosy nights in watching...Strictly! Bring it on!)

Me on a Monday...but a bit late!

Sorry, sorry a bit late here as having a busy week!  Off work and making the most of it :)  I'm linking up with Sian's meme Me on a Monday to share my weekend....

The weekend started Thursday with some fabulous GCSE results from Alex.  I know a few of my blog visitors were in a similar situation so I hope there was joy & happiness in your homes too.

So on to the real weekend which carried on straight into Friday as I am now off work for two weeks. It was a meeting up for lunch with a friend kind of day.  We are responsible for the itinerary for the "girls' weekend" away this year.  With 12 of us and 4 days/3 nights to fill we always have an itinerary or we'd never decide on anything! The planning went well and was accompanied by some tapas to get us in the mood...

It was a chilling  kind of Saturday for Josh and I as Tony and Alex went off to the match with one of her friends, having been lent some season tickets for the week.  Alex had decided she no longer wanted to scrap so has gifted me her stash which meant a good sort out Saturday morning and a pile for the bin, a pile for charity and a big pile for me :)  It's not anything current but there are some nice papers and embellies in there and I'm on a shopping ban at the moment as still no budget for stash...

So after several hours of a screen (for Josh) and scrapping (for me) we came together for a game of Trivial Pursuit in the garden and read books in the sunshine...I'm slowly getting back into reading and determined to finish The Book Thief before I go back to work. Josh?  Well, he reads about a book every two days!  It was a baking hot kind of evening so after tea outside we carried on with another game "Best of British" where Josh and I were doing so well until we were rained off and had to move inside then the tide turned and our a***s were well and truly whipped by the opposing team!!  At least it gave me the opportunity to grab a photo for the Summertime Scavenger hunt :)...

It was glorious English summer kind of Sunday (the type of day we have not seen enough of this year!) so we headed off to North Yorkshire to walk the Ingleton Waterfall Trail.  The trail is 4 1/2 miles long and takes in several waterfalls and beautiful scenery. There are also a lot of ups and downs so by the end of it I felt like I'd walk twice the distance...

It also meant I managed to capture a quick family selfie - all to rare to get all of us in one pic these days!...

It was a lazy kind of Sunday evening with a quick stop in the torrential rain for food at Charnock Richard Services - we'd been so busy relaxing and enjoying the weekend we forgot the food shop! - and then a settle down for some "House" kind of Sunday evening viewing all together.

Hoping the weather is kind this week too as having a little stay-cation in the North West.  Any other holidays on hold until Tony gets a job!

Sketchy scrapper pages

I have a couple of pages to share with you today using Sketchy Scrappers sketches...

The first is the sketch I chose for June and although it looks simple it has produced some fabulous pages by the ladies in the SS group.

I used some papers I picked up in TK Maxx and scrapped a picture from Blackpool tower last year and the Brownie sleep over we had...

The second sketch was from back in April and set by Jessie ...

I struggled with this sketch; I think it was tucking the photo behind some papers, so once I ignored that it worked out fine!  

When tidying my craft room the other day I found a pile of leftovers mostly from this sheet of paper and a matching frame.

So I just set about piling them and layering them all together added a few other embellishments and came up with this...

One of my favourite photos of me and my Dad scrapped at last!

Me on a Monday

It was an early start to the weekend as I had Friday off.  I'd envisaged a family day out but the weather had other ideas so instead I made a huge list of things to do and ended up doing other things not on the list!

Friday eve culminated in a nice meal with the in-laws at a local pub - my panacotta loved me so much it was smiling at me! (Or it was mocking me as I've eaten healthily for 2 weeks and not lost a pound!!! I took the weekend off!)

So those jobs I wasn't supposed to do?  They included finishing my December pocket pages and another page later on (below) after we got back from the pub...

The page was influenced after finding the above scraps left over when I gave the craft corner of our study a good clean and tidy up (this wasn't on the list either!)

So Saturday was a get up early and take Alex and her friend into town sort of morning - they went off and talked India, college wardrobe and goodness knows what else.  I was in for a whirlwind visit for make-up essentials.  Before we left we'd both made a list of ingredients that I picked up on the way home..Raspberry and crunchy ameratti cake for me...Baklava for her.

It was a baking afternoon for me making aforementioned cake to take to a garden party that evening, It's become my signature pudding - it tastes delicious warm out of the oven with fresh raspberries and cream or just as good the next day with a cup of tea.

It was a very social Saturday evening spent catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Wine, food and fire made for a very lovely night.  It even only rained a little (not a lot!)

It was a let's get back to that list Sunday morning and one of them involved cleaning out the newly decorated spare room.  So Alex and I set about going through some of the boxes and piles.  It was a sad but "it's time" kind of day as we said goodbye to some high school projects that have been on the shelves these past 5 years.

It was also a "listen to this!" kind of weekend as I discovered a fabulous proms on the BBC iplayer.  I like classical music (I like all kinds of music to be honest) and I love dance music so the two combined were a must for me.  Fat Boy Slim played by a classical orchestra? Throw in a bit of Pete Tong? What's not to love?!  I urge you to take a listen!

BBC Proms - The Radio 1 Ibiza prom

It was also a jump up and down moment when we saw this video had been uploaded to Facebook...

And for those asking for photos from Alex's trip she managed to leave her camera at the guest house they were staying in... so photos will follow at some point.  Hope the video entertained you in the meantime :)

Thanks for staying with me this long.  For more glimpses into people's weekends then head over to Sian's little nook at From high in the sky  and see what everyone has been up to.

Josh (aged 14) on the subject of me...

A few weeks back I noticed a few people posting on blogs and Facebook a series of questions they'd ask their (usually small) children about themselves.  The answers were very sweet.  I thought it would be fun to try it on my teenagers and see what I got.  I think you will find this post mildly amusing (I know I did when we did it!)  So without further ado here are Joshua's answers to the same questions...

How old is your Mummy? 49
What is your Mummy's favourite food?A cup of tea (Josh, that's not food) Er, Um, Ok... Lamb
How does your Mummy make you laugh?  I don't laugh with you, I laugh at you
What does your Mummy do for her job? Works in a call centre (Not any more I need to explain to you about my job some time!)
What was your Mummy like as a child? Quiet...and a good kid
How are you and your Mummy the same? Neither of us have spatial awareness (and I can't drive either)  Ooh! the cheek of the boy!
How are you and your Mummy different? We have different colour eyes
What makes me sad?  A cat that dies, a family member that dies, a friend that dies - even the TV, that guy in Downton Abbey that died He was referring to Matthew and the car crash!
What does your Mummy do when you're not around? Scrapbook and go out
If you're Mummy were a cartoon character who would she be? Squidward...Why? Because he's really picky about everything too
By this point I was thinking I love the honesty this questionnaire is given me...Out of the mouth of babes eh?!

What is your Mummy's favourite thing to do? Scrapbook

What do you and your Mummy do together? Watch TV and I'm forced to go on long walks with you OK I'll get you the Childline number now!

What makes you proud of your Mummy? Look how awesome I am and you made me (Love this answer!)..Yeah, you're good at raising kids

What makes Mummy happy? (And Josh you can't answer Scrapbooking for this one) Spending time with your family

So thanks Josh for that insightful view into your head.  I was planning to do the same survey with Alex...just need to think about that for a while lol!

Me on a Monday

It was definitely a chilled out kind of weekend. 

Friday was a movie night and we introduced a Josh to the classic film...Shoreshank redemption

It was a I've got to work Saturday morning but that was swiftly followed (after a few household chores) to a sit in the garden and enjoy the warm weather kind of afternoon. (With the summer we are having here you've got to grab it while you can!) I enjoyed a few chapters of my book. Some blog reading. A cheeky cider and soaking up the sun. 

It was a cloudy kingd of Sunday so Josh and I headed into town to do the ubiquitous school shop. Several shirts, trousers, new shoes, trainers and school bag later we were done. We celebrated with a break in Costa coffee while I berated myself for not having his feet measured sooner as he had gone up a whole shoe size (no wonder he complained his walking boots were a bit tight at scout camp the other week - oops!)

It was back home to a sorting out kind of afternoon. Moving all the stuff out of Alex's room so she can sleep in it this week and back into the spare bedroom. Some has been sorted but some still to do and I daren't do it without the kids involvement or I'll throw out something precious!

More chores done then back to the book (so pleased I'm getting back into my books. I had lost my reading mojo since Christmas) and stopping for a quick snap of Bruce who seemed to have found the smallest and most dirtiest place for his afternoon nap!

Monday found me back at work with a very busy week ahead but also tracking Alex's flight home in between meetings. She landed at 17:21 at Heathrow and is currently winging her way back up north in a minibus. So I'll sign off now as I need to go and pick her up - can't wait to hear all about her trip. 

I'm joining in with Sian and her weekly meme. Do pop over and read about others weekends. It's so good to be nosey!