Shimelles weekly LO challenge

Shimelle said - It’s a page from almost nothing – a single photo (landscape 4×6), a few strips or scraps of patterned paper and a handful of mismatched die-cuts. Easy on the stash and pretty quick to put together too!

Shimelle was right.  It was a few scraps of patterned paper, a few odd letters and some embellishments that have been sitting in a drawer for as long as they can remember!!

Here's me and The Girls on our sponsored walk last Friday.

Sponsored Walk

Yesterday the school had a sponsored walk for all pupils and staff.  That roughly means that 850 of us walked the 12 miles to Lossiemouth and back.  We left school just after 9am and headed towards the old railway track.  The weather didn't look too promising but picked up as the morning went on and after about half an hour the sun was shining.
We walked past farms and fields of cows and of course Spynie Palace but apart from that there isn't a great deal to see.  The area around the Palace was once a swamp/marsh but has since been drained.  There are places though that still have a lot of water and look a little on the spooky side!!

Once we reached Lossiemouth we headed for the football ground where we could rest up for an hour and have lunch.  It's the first time I've eaten my lunch at 11.15 but I was famished by the time we got there.  There were refreshments for the kids, a tuck shop and an ice-cream van, which must have made a killing as the queue was massive the whole hour we were there.  Here's me, Elaine and Sharon enjoying a wee sit down before the 6 mile walk back.

The kids were really good and apart from a few blisters there were no major problems.  I think a day out of the classroom, the lovely sunny weather and the chance to get ice cream was OK with them.

The kids who stayed behind in school made fantastic banners and bunting and had them all outside the front of the school on the finishing line.  The kids were high fiving you as you walked down the hill and there was a really good atmosphere.  I think they were pleased to be able to sit down as we had to coax a few stragglers to the school gates by the end of the day.

For me, Elaine and Sharon it was back to work and then later on, after a good foot soaking, it was time to put on the comfy slippers, put my feet up and watch Andy Murray playing on Center Court at Wimbledon.

All in all a good day :0)

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Spynie Palace, Lossiemouth, Moray

A peaceful half hour

At lunch time today I went and sat in the Biblical Gardens opposite the Cathedral.  The flowers were blooming, the smell was divine, the sun was shining and apart from a few birds there was silence.  A perfect place to sit and read for half an hour.  It's a shame you can't tell by this photo just how sunny it was.

Hooked again

My new crochet project.

SAG Challenge 1

Over at Simple Aussie Girls they are having their first challenge.  Now I will be the first to admit that I (personally) don't really like "Simple" scrapbooking.  I've never been one to add loads of stuff to a layout but I do like to add a bit of bling here or a flower there...... BUT..... I actually enjoyed this challenge and I'm really pleased with how my layout turned out.

 The sketch, as you can see is very simple but that doesn't mean your layouts have to be.

By adding extra card to the background and matting the main photo it left space for the title and a little flourish and a flower to finish off.
Will I be doing more simple layouts?  Probably.  Will I add a bit of something here and there?  Definitely.  :0)

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These ladies came to investigate when Moss and I went for a walk today.  Mr Bull in the background however, gave us the cold shoulder!!  I love the one at the bottom with the curly hair :0)

Shimelles weekly LO challenge

This week the idea was to use a BIG image as the central point of the layout. Shimelle says " Larger pictures are great for adding contrast to an album and the pages come together very quickly."

So here it is and she was right.  The longest part was covering a Riff Raff chipboard coffee mug.  I don't know if you're supposed to cover them as they are a lovely brown chipboard and not a horrible grey but I thought it looked out of place with everything else.

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All the papers I used were October Afternoon in varying patterns.  A Prima flower and left over paper that just happened to have a cupcake on it.

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And for those of you that are wondering what Tiffin is, it's a divine biscuity, chocolatey, fruity slice of yumminess.

TIFFIN

Ingredients:
4 oz (or 125g or one stick) butter or margarine
1 tablespoon sugar (note that US tablespoons are 20% smaller than the UK so if you are in N America, use more for this and other tablespoon measures below)
2 tablespoons drinking chocolate
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons Raisins or dried Cranberries
8oz (250g) Rich Tea or Digestive biscuits (crackers/cookies in US)
6oz (170g) good quality milk or white chocolate

Method:
Melt the butter and sugar with the syrup in a large pan. Add the raisins/cranberries and drinking chocolate and bring to the boil. Allow to bubble gently for two to three minutes to thicken a little.
Crush the biscuits (crackers) with a rolling pin (putting them in a plastic bag beforehand cuts down on the mess). Don't leave the biscuit pieces too large, however, or the finished slab will tend to break up when cut. Mix the crumbs well into the melted mixture, coating thoroughly. Press into a lined 8 inch by 11 inch (28cm by 20cm) shallow Swiss roll tin and level out, pushing down the mixture well.
Melt the chocolate carefully (avoiding getting it boiling) and spread over the top. Leave to set in a cool place then cut into 15 or 24 pieces with a sharp knife. You can cut it into squares, rectangles or into triangles.

Enjoy :0)

Peace

After the day we had a work yesterday and the stone chip on the way home I'm hoping for some of this today.....

 This little fella was in the post yesterday from my Mum (along with some other crafting goodies).  He's now hanging on my kitchen door.  I have an idea for Christmas after seeing him hanging there!!

Just my luck...........

Driving home from work and wham a lorry going past on the other side flicked up a stone and I now have a chip in the windscreen of my 4 week old car that is going to cost £75.00 to fix!!!

What are you reading?

It's a while since I asked that question and in that time I've read 4 books (which for me is truly amazing!!).  I read the first three C J Sansom books back to back and then stopped to read Make, Take, Murder by Joanna Campbell-Slan and now I'm back to Master Shardlake and his goings on in Tudor England.

Revelation, the fourth book in the series is set in 1543 – King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, whom he wants for his sixth wife but amidst the machinations at court a serial killer is on the loose in London and once again the lawyer Shardlake must bring the killer to justice ….

While the cat's away.........................

Mum has a blitz!!

I don't know about you but my teenage son seems to live in, what I would describe as, a pigsty.  He has a washing basket but stuff still ends up on the floor.  All his DVDs/X-Box games all have covers but still end up in a heap and his bed never seems to get made.  And as for what is under the bed......I won't even go there!
So while he was out with his pals all yesterday afternoon I got the black bin bags and set to.

It took while but it's now done.  All the discs are in their proper place, all books back on shelf, all washing in the laundry basket and bed made.

Wow I'm good :0)

12.6.11 - ETA.  Samuel just cleaned the car in repayment for tidying his room!!  A fair trade I'd say.

Sunset

We had a beautiful sunset the other night so I snapped this shot from Samuel's bedroom window.

Shimelle sketch of the week

I took part in Shimelles Sketch of the week again this week as I seem to have found my scrapping mojo once more.  Her photos overlapped to make one big panoramic view but I don't have any pictures like that so I opted for two from the same theme.  Samuel's 14th Birthday (I thought it was time to add a layout to his album!!)  As you can see he's now allergic to the camera!

I used a sheet a Bazzill card and odds and ends of any papers I had in the drawer.  Turns out I have a lot of leftovers so this sketch was perfect.

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Sun glare behind a stone water feature.

10 Things

In an attempt to keep blogging and to keep crafting I'm joining in with Shimelle's "10 Things".
Ten Things on the tenth of the month. Something brought to you by the participants in Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers starting today. Each participant will share something totally of their own creation – but always ten things. Some will share ten photos, ten crafty ideas, ten sources of inspiration, ten recipes, ten things in a collection… always ten things and always on the tenth of the month.

This month I thought I'd start with 10 things I've made over the last few years.  In no particular order:

1.  Felt name badge for a Scrapagogo retreat.

 2.   Blackwork

 3.   Fabric owls.  (Great to do if your sewing machine is working)

 4.  Knitted egg cosies or Neds as I like to call them.

 5.  Lavender scented felt mice.

 6.  Paper wreath. 

 7.  Name plate for my friends little boy.

 8.  Scrapbook page.  A rare sight at the moment.

 9.  Covered chipboard door hanger.

 10.  Various cushions.  Some crochet, some fabric.

And that's your lot for this month.  Not sure what I'll do next time but at least I have a month to decide.

Note to self

Enough said!!

Shimelles weekly LO challenge

I've taken part in Shimelle's weekly sketch challenge again this week, even if it is a little last minute.  It's amazing what papers you can find in the box when you rummage long enough.  I'm not sure what it's called but it's double sided and not too dusty!!

I wish blogging had been around when Samuel was little as now it's really difficult to get a photo of him.  As soon as he sees the camera he's off like a shot.  This LO is the before and after (if you like) of his dislike of the camera.  The left photo was Easter 2010 (aged just 13) when he would happily pose and the right photo is Easter 2011 (aged 14 going on 40!!) when I had to sneak out of a bird hide to get this shot!!

I cut up the bit of paper that had both 13 and 14 on it and used some acetate from a sticker book (I got at a Scrapagogo class) to make stars using the Creative Memories star cutter I got as a present from my sister.  I inked all the edges in dark brown chalk inks and fastened them on with some brads.

The star is made from a left over piece of paper which just happened to have these "Reserved" stamps on it already. Oh and I turned the LO on it's side as my photos were portrait.

Two layouts in just over a week.  This could a record for me :)

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Aberdeen skyline.

Look what I won

Who's a lucky girl then?  That would be me :0)  I left a comment (as always) on my sisters blog about what I wanted to be when I grew up and my name got picked to win a Shimelle class.  "When I grow up".  I just hope I can finish this as the only other one I bought several years ago still needs finishing!!

Missing in Action

Last week was a VERY busy week here at The Gables.  Mainly with work related things and spending the weekend in Aberdeen but I'm hoping that it will all settle down now and I'll be able to blog more.

I'm still keeping up to date with Project Life and I've even got another LO to do.  I've even looked at getting new papers!!  I can't remember the last time I bought any.