Toad Hall 2012 - part 2

So to follow on from my last Toad Hall post, we had a mini photo shoot, I wanted to get a photo of us as shadows, but it didn't work out as well as I wanted, but I did manage to get these.

me & Julie

Sam, me & Sheena

the gang

Both me and Morag were taking photos so these are just mine, and hopefully I will be able to share some more with you soon.

We had a couple of the stray cats visit,

I just loved this one, I called her 'Marmalade' and she was beautiful.

On the Sunday morning, the lovely Bernice gave us all an Art Journalling Lesson. We certainly stepped out of our comfort zone with this one, and it felt great. I had opted to take some photos, has it was beyond me getting so messy, but when I saw what they were all producing I decided to give it a go, and boy did I love it. I can't see myself getting into this side of crafting, but I loved the end results all the same, and would definitely do it again.

Here are our finished 'art work'.

A big, big thank you to Bernice for having the patients to teach us, and let us use all of her products.

The girls had got together and presented me with a thank you card and a gift voucher as a thank you for organising the weekend. It was unexpected and very much appreciated - Thank you again !!!

The tulips are from Sam and Julie made the thank you card, using some of the latest MME products.

And finally, I leave you with this sign that I noticed when we where walking around the town of Much Wenlock ...

It was pointing up towards a hill, so I dread to think what went on up there - lol.

Thanks for stopping by and I will try and upload the layouts I did shortly.

Sarah's Cards Blog Challenge - Feb 2012

Over at Sarah's Card blog they have set this month challenge to complete a layout using a film title, see the full post here.

and this is my take.

Product used: Echo Park Papers - This & That - Charming 6x6 pad; Studio Calico Alpha stamps; October Afternoon - miscellany & buttons; Tim Holtz Ticket; AC - Dear Lizzy chipboard & stickers.

I took the photo of me, hubby and our son on a recent visit to the Botanical Gardens, and the title is from a 2009 film called 'Shadows in the Sun' and set in Norfolk, which I felt was appropriate as we love going to Norfolk.

Thanks for stopping by..

sarah's Cards Blog Challenge - Jan 2012

A Fab Weekend of Scrapping ..

with these lovely ladies.

My 3rd visit to Toad Hall but this groups 1st, so I was very pleased that it all went well and we had a brilliant time.

So to start off we met in Much Wenlock for lunch, Julie and I arrived early so we took the opportunity to have a quick wander around the town.

If you are ever in Much Wenlock or in the area, I would recommend visiting the Olympian Trail Museum. Its only small, but very interesting - tell you the history of the Olympic Games.

Had a cuddle with 'Wenlock' the official Olympic Mascot.

The Priory - unfortunately this was closed and this was as close as we could get. It was really hard trying to get photos without trees in the way, but it gives me an excuse to visit in the Summer when it open.

We then drove to Toad Hall for a fun filled weekend of scrapping.

The room is idea for crafters, large spacious pages, and plenty of room.

We ate loads, the fridge was bursting at the seams, we could have stayed the whole week and still had thinks to eat - lol.

OMG - I could have this every week, made by the lovely Sue - it was even more yummy that it looks (if thats makes sense)

Hope you like these photos, but please come back tomorrow to see some more and my 1st attempts at art journalling background paper.

Thanks for stopping by ...

Twisted Sketches - Layouts - White

This weeks sketch is up on Twisted Sketches here

The theme this week is 'white' and here is my take on the sketch.

The photo was taken whilst we where on a holiday in Norfolk in March 2008 when it snowed on Easter Sunday, and we ended up going for a walk in the wood, if you look closely my nephew was behind James when I took the photo, hadn't noticed till I printed the photo out - lol and saw his arm on the tree.

Hope you can hop over to the site and play around with the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by.

Solihull Getaway - Feb 2012

Before Christmas I was asked to organise a getaway for a few of my scrapping friends from the Solihull crop, so on Friday we will be making our way over to Easton Manor, Shropshire, and staying at 'Toad Hall'.

I've been here twice before and not only does it offer a great crafting area, its set in beautiful surroundings, so why not return again with a different group. I will have two of my scrapping buddies joining us as 'honorary members' Sam and Sheena, but has we all know each other anyway, it won't be a problem.

So 9 of us will be spending a weekend crafting - I put down crafting because we will be doing all our own thing and hopefully learning a few new crafting skills along the way, crocheting, art journalling, messy painting, but most of all we will have a few days doing what we like the best - crafting with friends.

I've organised the catering so we will be having our meal delivered, and we don't have to think about cooking for a whole weekend - yah, and a photo shoot for the Saturday, but apart from that we are there to relax, laugh, eat and enjoy a few days crafting.

Right better go and start to pack my bags.

What a Surprise ...

WOW, I was just checking up on some of the blogs I follow and noticed that Sarah Jane from SJ Papercraft has choosen my layout as one of her top 3, more details here.

This was my layout.

Twisted Sketches - Cards - Red

This weeks sketch can be found here

As it was valentine week and the twist was 'Red', i struck with that theme and here is my take on the sketch.

Why not hop over to the site and join in, I'd love to see what you make.

Child Play Challenge Blog

This week is Team B turn to produce their layouts, and the inspiration is the child book ' Guess How Much I Love You'.

and here is my take., I used Studio Calico November 2011 kit

I got my inspiration from the book cover, the placement of the colour stripes around the sides of the layout, as well as the placement of the embellishments.

On the book cover you can see, the blue and green, so I misted the colours in the centre, using Mr Hueys - Apple Jack & Bonny Blue.

Hope you can find some inspiration and hop over to the blog here and join in the fun.

Thanks for stopping by

Project Life - January 2012

I'm really loving the fact that document your year or Project Life (PL) has taken off in the scrapping industry, well obviously it's not new, but it seems more and more scrappers are taken part and uploading great pages and inspirations.

I think one of the big things this year is Becky Higgins Project Life, you can find more information, here.

I was grateful a few weeks ago that a fellow scrapper, Sally, was kind enough to send me some PL page protectors to get me starter.

But like I've mentioned in a previous post, PL is all about documenting life on a day to day, week to week basis, something I know I will never keep up so I've opted to do my documentation on a monthly basis, but using the PL format. Again, like last year I will be using my Studio Calico kits, stamps and other bits and pieces I can add.

So here are my January pages (sorry for the glare of the page protectors)

Key points

- celebrating Jon birthday

- noticing a rose blooming in my garden on 2nd Jan - amazing.

- yearly hospital check-up for James.

- Dentist check up for me and James

- James - Eye Test - resulting in him getting some glasses (he's still getting used to having these - I've managed to get a few snaps on my phone, which I will upload soon)

- new photos of me

- taking crochet lessons

- another cinema trip

- a visit to Sheena

- getting 'hooked' on crocheting.

I had decided not to do it on a weekly basis, but I did do four sides - one for each week, so there goes my plan already - lol. So I think the best thing for me to do, is just go with the flow and see what I produce each month.

The other thing about PL is that the format uses 'filler' and journalling cards, which is great if you haven't got any extra photos, so the other day I had a spare hour and made these, using my washi tape as decoration.

Done these on 6x4 card, so I can either add journalling or a photo.

I also received these from Two Peas in the post, 3 new sets from My Minds Eye (MME) and a fab one by Ali Edwards. love em.

love these ticket stamps - will be great for PL and my scrapbook pages.

love the hexagon design

and the set from Ali Edwards - love the sayings on these stamps, again great for PL and my pages.

Then I had a trip to Paperchase and came away with these,

More washi tape - love them

a mini tray - found this is the Valentine Section, not sure what I'll use if for, but it looks nice on my desk - lol.

And some butterfly and heart paper clips - well who can resist these.

Thanks for getting to the end, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and sorry for such a long post.

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