On the road

We are off to Southport tomorrow for a few days. We usually go once a year, this time we are meeting my parents up there, Mum hasn't been there before so it should be a nice little break for her. Then on Saturday Charlotte and I are going back with them to stay at there's for about 10 days. I'm looking forward to catching up with family and friends and have several days out planned. We are off to Great Yarmouth, hopefully punting in Cambridge with friends, visiting the Salvanian Families shop, going to a local lavender farm that Sue Deacon recommended. Dad is then bringing us back to get ready for our holiday to Croatia, although if you ask Charlotte what she is looking forward to the most she will say Southport, all she wants to do is go on the carousel!!!. Oh to be 6 years old!!

Whilst we are away our bedroom is being decorated so as well as packing for 2 weeks I've had to pack all my craft stuff away (mainly it's all stacked up in Charlotte's room). We have been in our house 8 years in November and is the only room not to have been decorated (some other rooms have been decorated several times since). It is a large room with loads of dark wood, awkward angles and I have hated how it makes the room dark and depressing for ages. We have decided to paint it white so it should lighten the room up no end. I'm so looking forward to seeing the end results. As it's a large job we have got a decorator in that Les knows to do it. So here is the before shot and then I will post the after shot when I return home.

Last week I signed up for Shimelle's new class Explore, I haven't really managed to get started with it. I have some good ideas but just need a few more hours in a day.  I did manage to complete the sketch on Friday though just need to add some journalling under the flowers. I love Shimelle's work and I find her so inspiring, I was clearing some of my old Scrapbook Inspiration magazines out and tore out loads of her layouts and sketches which I plan to scrap lift. I really miss that mag and in my opinion it was the best.

We have just recently joined the National Trust and plan to see as many as places we can in a year.  Last Sunday the weather was lovely so we went over to Droitwich to Hanbury Hall, it's absolutely stunning and well worth a look even if you aren't a member.  The gardens were amazing and so well cared for.

Righto I'm off to the shops for garlic bread cos we can't possibly have pasta without it!!!. lol.

Take care all.

Cx

Don't faint.....

Your eyes do not deceive you!!! Twice in one week that's pretty good for me. This week has been very busy and I promised that I would share with you the crown I made for Charlotte's themed morning on Thursday. She looked absolutely gorgeous and seemed to be enjoying herself, we had a few tears at school but she done well. As normal if it is out of the routine she panics and doesn't know how to respond, to give her her due she seems to be getting better at it.

Here she is, such a darling and I know I'm biased.

On Thursday we received Charlotte's school report. We are so pleased with her progress she has made in all subjects, she really does seem to enjoy school, let's hope it stays that way for the future.

I even managed some Scrapbooking this week, I decided to set aside a morning so I could sit down and craft. I really enjoyed it, and even managed to keep the mess and stash to a minimum and cleared away as I went along. I had seen this sketch on Kirsty Wiseman's blog last week and loved it. I had just got some photo's developed and they were perfect for the sketch.

Yesterday was an Inset day at school so we decided to go out for the day. We hadn't been to Oxford for a while so we caught an early train to make the most of the day. We bought lunch in the indoor market and walked down to the river to sit and rest our weary legs. We watched people trying to punt along the river some really didn't have much of an idea and then others looked like pro's at it. Charlotte and I love milkshakes and very often share one when we are out, we came across Moo Moo's which I think my Sister in law has told me about. I have never come across so many flavours before Charlotte chose the Cadbury's caramel and it was very moorish the little bit I had of it!!. It was a very long day but really enjoyable, hence today has been spent chilling out.

Have a lovely weekend.

Cx

Yeah I know, where have I been again?

I'm hopeless at the moment,I don't seem to be in the mood to create anything much at the moment, although I am enjoying taking pictures. I think this time of the year life is really busy especially working at the school as well as all the other things that come with having a 6 year old. Last week was a busy week with a Birthday party, sports day, meetings, and having friends round.

So Sports Day at Charlotte's school went really well, and the weather behaved itself, only one heavy shower. I managed to divide my time helping out serving tea and coffee and watching Charlotte in her races. She done well and tried hard, not sure whether sport is really her 'thing' but she joined in and had a go, which is what it's all about.

I mentioned we had friends round at the weekend. Well we always eat out as it's so much more enjoyable, we went to a local hotel and had a fantastic buffet and the desserts were to die for. The grounds were fantastic with old trees, colourful shrubs, and loads of things for the kids to do. It was so lovely siting in the sun sipping a cold drink, what a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? The best thing is that it's 5 minutes down the road from us, so we don't need to drive.

As I say I have been enjoying taking pictures. I took some photos of Charlotte one evening in the garden, she had just had her hair washed and it looked so beautiful.

Not much creating has been going on at all, I want to and have the best intentions but somehow it just doesn't materialise into anything, shame really as I am happiest when I'm creating. Although I don't think it has helped people visiting the house I've wanted to keep it as tidy as possible and having my craft stuff in pretty much every room of the house (apart from the bathroom) doesn't help. I just wished we had a spare room that I could store everything in it would be so nice, still I have to be grateful for what I have.

So what else, I'm still running, definitely got the bug and am going every morning and still enjoying it, I've increased the route. I did invest in some new running trainers at the weekend, what a difference it makes, it's like running on air now.

We are going into school on Thursday to see Charlotte's work, there topic has been castles and have worked really hard. We had to go and get a dressing up dress for Charlotte as they are allowed to go as Queens and Kings. Most of yesterday was spent making a crown, very pleased with it I am to, obviously pictures to follow with that.

Right enough of me waffling on, if you have made it this far thank you.

Take care.
Cx

Sorry blog

It's been a while again (whoops). The hours in a day just seem to whizz by at the moment. I can't believe we are at the end June next week. I wish this weather would improve and warm up just a little, am I really asking to much??

Well what have we been up to. Before half term I decided to walk every morning after taking Charlotte to school, only I felt the need to run so that's what I have been doing most mornings for the past 7 weeks. I'm really enjoying it and feel great (if a little out of breath) once I have achieved my planned route, and I try not to be too hard on myself if I'm a little slower one day, as long as I keep going.

What else, half term Charlotte and I went to Mum's for the week. I think I mentioned that we were all going out as a family for a meal to celebrate Dad's 65th Birthday. Dad didn't realise that there was a present waiting for him. Now myself and my Brother had been so looking forward to seeing Dad open his present, knowing that it was an iPad inside. He opened the parcel so gingerly (all eyes on him, me nearly wetting myself with excitement) taking his time, still a blank expression on his face. He finally opened it and said 'oh it's an iPad'. Poor Dad I could see the fear in his eyes, the cogs in his head going over, thinking 'am I ever going to be able to work this thing'. I'm so relieved to say that he is quite a pro on it now and even sends me emails!. I was so impressed when I played on Dad's that I treated myself to one. I love love love it. It's the best purchase I have made in a while.

I have also been taking part in the Christy Tomlinson 'she has 3 hearts' journal coure.  I haven't even had the time to watch all the videos yet but I'm sure I will find time over the next few days.

Les flew out to Singapore on Sunday to do his yearly exhibtion over there.  Mum and Dad were planning to come up to keep me company but sadly poor Mum went down with this sickness bug which seems to be doing the rounds at the moment.  So it's just me and Charlotte this week.  I do have to say though that she is a really good girl and is doing more jobs around the house to earn an extra pound this week, so she can spend her money in the Salvanian Family shop in London, which is planned in the Summer holiday.

For a while Les has been wanting to go to Croome Park which is just about 10 miles from here.  So when we had an offer in the local newspaper to buy one adult ticket and another gets in free we couldn't really say no.  I loved the daisy meadows and took some lovely photos of Charlotte sitting in them.

We saw these rain clouds coming and thought it was time to head home!.

Charlotte wanted to take some photos, I have to say I thought they might have been really wonky but she managed to capture this one, which I really like.



I downloaded the Sketches2Scrapbook app on my iPad which is ace.  I had some time on Saturday night and thought I would use my time creatively.  I took one of the sketches and came up with this, I used some of this months Scrapagogo kit to create it.

Thanks for the lovely comments on the previous posting, they are so much appreciated.

Cx

Sarah's card sketch challenge

As I said in my previous post, I'm loving sketches at the moment and again I haven't played along with Sarah's card challenge for a while.
I used some of the new Jillibean Soup papers (Dutch Mustard soup) and embellishments on this layout. I have opted in buying the 6x6 mini pads as they are also ideal for the 'She art' girls as the patterns are slightly smaller. I love the colours and think they compliment this photo of Charlotte really well. 



This photo is rather mystical, I could imagine fairies floating by in the background.



I hope you are all having a good week.  I can't believe that another week is nearly through, there just doesn't seem enough hours in the day at the moment, one more week and it's half term again. yay.

I will be back soon to share another 'She Art' girl.

Cx

This spacing is still driving me nuts!!!!!!

Pencil Lines Sketch 237

I'm absolutely loving playing along with sketches right now. I joined in with last weeks Pencil lines sketch and created it with some new and old patterned paper.  I'm finding that storing my papers via there colour works really well for me, it enables me to find the fight colour and pattern for the layout.

These photo's are of Charlotte in the sea at Lyme Regis.  We had spent a scorching hot afternoon fossil hunting and what better way to cool down than to go for a paddle.  She loved it, I had to keep calling her back as she kept going in to far. 

So today, Les and I have been married for 6 years. It's gone so quickly, I can't believe we have been together for 10 years. This isn't a terribly good photo, and that is my only regret about the day is that we didn't have any professional photographs taken. Charlotte was 6 months in this photo such a cutie, although I think she was teething as she was miserable for most of the day.

Right I'm off to organise packed lunches and Charlotte's school uniform for the morning.

Thanks as always for stopping by.

Cx

Happy Birthday Dad

It's a special day today as it's my Dad's 65th Birthday, it seems quite a milestone in his life and he's looking forward to a long and relaxing retirement. :)

Isn't this the cutest picture ever? I love it, apparently my Nan was behind the box with her arm up his back supporting him to sit up. 

As some of you are aware, I'm not lucky enough to have my family five minutes down the road, it's a 2 1/2 hour trip (it could be worse).  Most days I get on with it, and deal with it and get on with my life, but on a day like today it's hard, I really wish I was able to go and see him to drop off his cards and presents and spend the day with him.  But hey I have happy thoughts and I'm so looking forward to us all catching up in a couple of weeks and going out for a meal.

I do this blog to obviously share my layouts and other creative things with you all, but I also do it for my family so they can see latest pictures of Charlotte and so I feel it bridges the gap slightly.  Although I do get nagged if I haven't updated it lately (which I guess is quite often).

So today I'm dedicating my post to YOU Dad for all the love and support you give me, I love you to bits.

Cx

P.S  Sorry just got a bit gushy there :)  Hope you are feeling the love!!!

Pencil Line Sketch 236

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  We have just got back in from visiting friends in Droitwich, we see each other often and enjoy going out for dinner, we have given up on cooking at home, it's just to much work and takes all the enjoyment out of it for us girls.  So we went to the Nailers which does a fantastic carvery and a fantastic cherry cheesecake for dessert, my poor waistline I guess I'm back on the Rivita's this week!!.

I haven't played along with a Pencil lines sketch for ages and to kick start my mojo I thought I would take part in last weeks sketch.  I really enjoyed getting back into the swing of it again and have treated myself to some new papers to help my mojo along a bit, (not that I need anymore).

These photo's were taken at the Black Country Museum back in February.  It was my Birthday and it was so cold.

A little close up shot.



I used some of the new October Afternoon papers for this layout, and some old stash too.



Do you ever get that Sunday evening feeling?, just knowing that we are back to work and school in the morning.  The thing is that we haven't had to work a Monday for quite a while with all these Bank holidays, still only 3 full weeks at school and then it's half term again.

Have a good week and thanks for stopping by.

Cx

She Art

I hope you are enjoying our long weekend if you are here in the UK. Did you watch the wedding on Friday, lovely wasn't it?

This is just a short post today but I said I would share my 'She Art' girls with you. I am in love with doing these girls at the moment, loving getting paint everwhere and really taking on Christy's motto which is 'she is what she is'. So here they are.

My first attempt. In hindsight I really should of started with a smaller canvas as the girl looks lost.



Love the red stencil in this one.



This girl is my favourite, love her dress, although it was a little tricky.



I finished this one off last night. I took a photo around 6 years ago of a huge row of beach huts so that was my inspiration for that canvas.



Well I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend what ever you may be doing.

Thanks for stopping by.
Cx

Howdy

I hope you had a great Easter weekend. We have had a lovely couple of weeks off and hasn't the weather just been the best. The first week of the Easter hols was spent down at my parents, visiting friends and generally catching up with family. Last Sunday we set off from Mums heading for Windsor were we spent a lazy afternoon by the river and just chilling in the park. We had booked into a Premier Inn (at a cheap rate) at Heathrow so we could easily go off on Monday morning to Legoland.

We had lunch in this little cafe.

We cashed in our Tesco clubcard vouchers and ordered 3 tickets for Legoland. It is so much cheaper to do it that way and most of the people in front of us had done the same, as it is so expensive to go into these places. Les and I had been to Legoland before we had Charlotte so it was great this time going with a child, although she didn't want to go on any of the water rides!!

It's hard to tell from this photo that it's all made out of Lego.

I loved this little fellow, which was on the crazy golf course.



Crazy was definately the right word when this little one was attempting to play golf!!!

The clown was my favourite figure and thankfully in the shop you could make him up.

On Tuesday we headed down to Bridport, which was a bizarre little place, but very picturesque. The weir and marshland was on one side of the road, and then you crossed over to find the sea and Harbour. Again another warm and sunny day, sitting eating fish and chips at the seaside is just the best thing ever, love it, although my waist line doesn't. haha

In the afternoon we went to a little place called Broadoak were we had booked into a real working farm for a couple of days. Again the views were breathtaking and of a night time it was so quiet and peaceful, but by nine o'clock it was pitch black outside, because of course there was no street lighting.

This is the view we woke up to.

The last photo (promise) is of Charlotte on the beach at Lyme Regis.

I am running out of time and do have some 'She' art girls to share with you as well as a layout, I know I can't believe I have created so much over the weekend. I definately think we need more Bank Holidays for us crafters.

I will be back in a couple of days to share my stuff with you all.

As always thanks for stopping by.

Cx

P.S I don't know what is going on with this spacing it is driving me crazy. If anyone knows what is causing this leave me a message, pleeasssseee.

Another week has gone....

by, I think I must be getting old as the weeks just seem to disappear. Last week saw parents evening. We were able to look through the work Charlotte has been doing and the amount is unbelievable, these children work so hard. Her report was very good, and is gaining confidence all the time, she also likes to help organise her teacher by doing jobs for her.

I've had a few projects on the go, but to be honest aren't really pleased with any of them and am not prepared to even show the layout on here, unlike me really but I just seemed to have lost all enthusiasm at the moment. This is one of them, that isn't really finished but I'm just left it as it is for the time being.

The 'She workshop' starts on Monday and I'm looking forward to watching some of the videos and techniques, although I won't be able to play along as I will be at my parents house and need to travel really light this trip :( So I'm off to Mum's on Saturday for a week. We are then taking Charlotte to Windsor and Legoland which she is looking forward to, Les and I went around 9 years ago and had a fab time. She is going to love all the models and buildings built of Lego, I'm not sure whether she will want to go on any of the rides, but we will see how it goes. From there we are spending a couple of nights on a farm just outside Lyme Regis, it looks fab, you can help them collect the eggs in the morning as well as watching them milk the cows. It should be an experience to say the least!!. The real reason for going is that I want to go fossil hunting again, I have been before up North and it's such a buzz, this time I have booked us onto a tour and then plan to go independently at a different beach.

This Friday is the last day of term (thank goodness) and as it's Easter they have asked the children to make a decorated bonnet. This is what we have come up with, naturally I have helped quite a bit, but I'm pleased with it, and she looks so cute in it.

I hand stitched the little chicks on so hopefully they will stay put.

Right be good everyone.

Cx