SIAN'S STORYTELLING SUNDAY

 In case you hadn't noticed, it's the first Sunday in November, and that means STORYTELLING SUNDAY  over at FROM HIGH IN THE SKY hosted by the lovely SIAN...bloggers from all over the globe get together and share happy stories, funny stories, sad stories, long stories, short stories, stories with or without pictures- anything goes- even pictures with very few words, and EVERYONE is made very welcome.

I'll let you into a secret.....the month of November finds me with a huge case of ENVY.....I am SO envious of our American cousins, who get to have pre-Christmas decorating spree- namely THANKSGIVING! 

Since watching 'MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET', another of my 'bucket list' items was seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, so imagine my delight when we decided to go to NYC for Kirsty's 19th birthday...and her Birthday just happens to be  at the end of November...three days after Thanksgiving that year!

We arrived a few days before Thanksgiving itself and much as I enjoyed the shopping and sightseeing, the highlight of the visit was THE Parade. The apartment we were staying in was very close to the start of the parade route and we headed out early on the freezing cold morning to secure our spot.Even though we had arrived early (well we thought we had!) the crowd was about ten deep in front of us...and I was sure we weren't going to be able to see anything of the parade. While we waited among the humungous crowd, we talked with people who had been coming from all over New York state, to the same spot  for over twenty years to see the parade!

I have to confess that while we waited, Craig and Kirsty were ready to give up and go back to the apartment to watch it on TV, but I was determined to wait it out!

Poor Kirsty had about five layers of clothes under this huge hoody!!!

The excitement grew with every minute and eventually the sound of musical instruments heralded the start of the parade!  Admittedly, we couldn't see the marching bands but I was amazed at how HUGE the floats were - they towered as high as some of the apartment blocks...it was well worth the wait! We were absolutely freezing by the end of it, but another box had been ticked!

This layout was made in 2010

To read more stories, or indeed to add your own, pop over HERE.......

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

He really DID make it up to me!

If you read my post HERE, you will know that I said DH made the fact that I had gone with him to a concert (to see a band I didn't particularly like) up to me. Apart from generally making sure we saw as much as possible...and fitted in a good bit of shopping...he sat through not one, but TWO Broadway Musicals- and believe me, this man doesn't like  Musicals!

The first one was CHICAGO, which I was surprised  shocked to discover that he had actually enjoyed as much as I did! We had really good seats for it..just a few rows from the front, and at the end of the show a single (silk) red rose was thrown to the audience. There was a Chinese guy sitting in front of us, and he leapt to his feet to try and catch it ...but he was just too slow...DH had leapt to his too- and just about flattened the poor soul as he reached over to grab it....but the rose was mine!!!

layout made in 2010

Having enjoyed Chicago so much, I managed to talk him into going to see 'Phantom of the Opera'...THAT, however, was a big mistake as he hated it (and, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed in it myself), and he very quickly became anti-Musicals again!

On a totally different subject, GINGER from GINGER'S LIFE OF SPICE has just announced she's organising another MAIL ART EXCHANGE.  If you fancy joining in this time, you can find the details  HERE.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Storytelling Sundays Yr2 - A CHANGE OF PLAN

Firstly let me say how grateful I am to RINDA, whose post on Friday gave me the inspiration for today's story....AND to get a Layout I'd been meaning to do for YONKS done!


You may remember way back last year, I shared my travels through the SW of the USA, ending with THIS POST, in which I intended to be back to share why our plans changed..and where we ended up. Eight months later (give or take), Rinda has unwittingly reminded me to do just that!


In that last post, we had spent a few days in Colorado Springs with the intention of driving south  to Austin TX, to visit with another friend and colleague of DH's. Whilst there though, DH stumbled upon an article about the 'jazz fusion' group RETURN TO FOREVER. They had reformed for the first time to tour...unfortunately nowhere near where we were, but they WERE playing in NYC the following week. 


Although I like some of their music, I am/never was a great fan....but DH is..there was no way I could deny him this (and I DO have to confess that the thought of a week in NY was no hardship for me either!) . 


As I mentioned before, we didn't do much planning ahead on this trip, and hadn't yet booked a hotel in Austin...as our plan had been to drive,  there was no air travel to cancel, nor had we made any firm arrangements for when we were actually IN  Austin...there was no reason we couldn't change our mind about where we were going next! Admittedly, we weren't going to drive to NY and we DID have to change our return flights out of JFK instead of Austin, but after sorting that out we just dropped the car at Denver Airport before flying East. I managed to find us an apt in the Upper West Side, which was really handy for walking everywhere and the weather was glorious. Our previous experience of NY had been in the Winter ( and I had had a broken toe, thus there hadn't been an awful lot of walking!), so it was a totally different experience for us!


Theconcert itself was pretty good OK, but DH did make it up to me...more about that in another post, which I promise shan't be eight months away!


As this was my chosen story, I was inspired to get a LO ( for which the photographs have been printed for about two years!) completed.

I used Shimelle's STARTING POINT for this LO

Why don't you pop on over HERE, where you will find a plethora of tales from Bloggers all over the globe, who come together on the first Sunday of every month for STORYTELLING SUNDAY, hosted by the lovely Sian.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison x

Finished....and Started!

The finished project is DD's NYC album, for her Birthday next week. I scrapped the last few pages yesterday

and finished the cover today!

Now all that's left is to wrap it up and take it to Barcelona with me on Sunday! I do like to see a project finished.

That being finished, I was able to think about my next project...my JYC album! I'm going with a modern American Crafts 8x8 again. I have most of my papers and cardstock picked out, but am waiting for the last of them to arrive....I'll take a pic when it's all here.

I have, however made my date tags

I used my Silhouette to cut out the scalloped circles, hand cut  the numbers from grunge-board, primed them with white paint and used Stickles to cover them  ....and I have to say I don't like them at all!  It's unlikely though that I'll change them, due to time constraints.

Thanks to you all for your encouragement about the Varifocals! I'm still trying to find the right part of the lens when using the laptop...my head is constantly on the move!

I'm off to Barcelona on Sunday, to spend a few days with DD. Before I left last time, I discovered the scrapbook store which DD had assured me existed, but couldn't find again(!), so I intend having a mooch around there, as well as trying to get a bit of Christmas shopping done....mainly for DD herself, as the rest has been done online. I also hope to find something to wear with black trousers, over the Christmas period!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

And we're off again!

Yes, I managed to our local(ish!) Shopping Centre on Wednesday and got the new ink cartridge I needed to get on with DD's album. Between then and now, I've got quite a few pages completed and am definately 'on the home run'.


The only thing is that I'm about to have to go and remove all evidence of it, as I'm off to pick DD up from the bus later this afternoon! She has decided to come home for the weekend, which would be lovely, were it not for the texts I've received this morning telling me she has a nasty cold....in fact 'man flu' she says! I am SO not a good nurse...in fact I get downright crotchety if either she or DH are poorly and expect looking after. I'm one of those people who would rather just go to bed and be left well alone if I'm not well..and therefore expect my nearest and dearest to be the same!

Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple of the LOs I made. This one is made with MY MIND"S EYE papers,as was required by Susanne's  IN GOOD COMPANY CHALLENGE  over at 'Snaps and Snippets'

This one was for a  scraplift challenge over at SCRAPFRIENDZY

Well...am off to get rid of the evidence. Have a lovely weekend.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Would you believe it?!

I have been going great guns with DD's NYC album (which I need to have finished by the end of next week, to take to Barcelona for her Birthday)...but tonight, as I printed off another batch of pics, the dreaded message about needing new ink came up and, yes, the last three on the sheet were no good whatsoever! So I have come to a halt, till I get to the shops to get a new cartridge.


Now I know I should jump onto another project (prepping my JYC for instance), but I have discovered that I only seem to be able to work on one thing at a time...and have to see one through before starting another. I shall now be in a state of panic until Wednesday, which is the first time I'm going to be able to get to the only shop I know that sells said cartridges!


 I know I have plenty of time to finish it, but  it seems that the older I get, the more I doubt my capabilities ( in many areas of my life, not just in this case) and feel a need to get things 'finished'...just 'in case' the sky falls down and stops me!


Anyway, I shall now clear away my scrappy supplies and try to put it out of my head till I can actually do something about it....though it has just occurred to me that I have still to decorate the outside of the album...YAY! I can stop panicking and do that tomorrow- no need for the printer for THAT !


These are a couple of LOs I got around  to photographing today

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Stage Three

After the exercise of choosing papers and cutting them up (breathing deeply and crossing toes...it's hard to cross fingers when you're slicing paper, I discovered!)....Shimelle wanted us to prepare our pages WITHOUT knowing what pics we were going to use (at this point I was wondering about her sanity, but it worked in her video...so in for a penny......). I ended up with about nine pages, which, I have to concede, looked OK- BUT.....now to find some pics that would work with them!


I have a load of pics from the NYC part of our trip to the USA in 2008, so decided to head there first...and here they are

For the second one I decided to use Prompt 6 and downloaded the 'LET THEM EAT CAKE'  digistamps from LITTLE MUSINGS ,and made the little embellishment next to the cake box with one of them!

I am pleased to say that not only did I survive the process, but  rather enjoyed it...though I still have to find another six pages worth of pics (I have another NYC one underway)!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

SATURDAY STARTING POINTS

I had great plans for getting lots of scrapping done yesterday. There was only one problem.....it was 40 degrees here, and my scrapping space is actually our 'naya' ( basically a conservatory/ sunroom without a glass roof)...and it was literally like an oven for most of the day! Even with the fan on, my brain was frying and I had to give up till later in the evening.


In the end, I managed to get another page of DD's NYC album done, using Shimelle's  STARTING POINT

I've adapted the sketch to 8x8, and I'm trying not to get too carried away with embellishments for this album. I'm using BASIC GREY 'SWEET THREADS' collection, as it's quite urban, but 'girly' at the same time. 

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

P.S. I lost 1kg this week (2.2lbs)!! YAY!

The Pieces Have All Fallen Into Place!

You may remember THIS POST, in which I had just learned that I still love doing jigsaws.


Well, between us this week dad and I managed to get from this:

to this:

I have to say that my addictive tendencies  came out again....every time I passed the table, I just HAD to have another little look and another little 'fiddle'...poor dad- I borrowed it for him, and he hardly got a look in!

You realise that now I have a table covered in jigsaw pieces (yes, we've started another one!) and one covered in scrappy goodness...just as well DH is away at the moment! ONE table covered in 'things' is one thing...I just don't know what he'd think about TWO!!

Talking of scrapping, I got another couple of pages done for DD's NYC album..this photograph made me laugh...I could just picture Imane singing at the top of her voice, not caring who was watching!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

In Good Company......

........is the name of a great challenge I found, when I dropped in on SUSANNE over at her blog 'SNAPS AND SNIPPETS'. 


Here's the gist of it.


'...for the next several weeks, I’m going to spend time with some of the various manufacturers’ products that I have buried in my scrapbooking stash – company by company, week by week.'


She then goes on to invite her blog readers to play along.....if you pop over to her blog you will  get the full details.


This sounded like something new and a bit different...'I'm up for this' thought I, and off I went to search through the stash.


There was only one little major problem......Susanne's manufacturer of choice this week, was COSMO CRICKET, and I haven't bought any of that for ages (imagine a very sad face here).  I knew it would have to  be in the VERY OLD stash file...in fact I had convinced myself that I had none at all (now the face is sad and grumpy...I really wanted to play!). After the second rummage through, there - right at the back - was a sheet of CC 'Get Happy'!

As you can see, I was very lucky in that it was lots of strips, which I was able to chop up (and do some happy dancing while I was at it) and produce this

I am actually indebted to Susanne, as it jump-started the album I want to  do for DD's Christmas, of the photographs she and her friends took in NYC last December, while they were there celebrating DD's 21st. I felt the paper had just the 'urban' feel/look I wanted for some of the pics!

Needless to say, as I had no CC embellishments, I had to make my own...and the 'OH BOY!' phrase worked perfectly as the title!

I then went on to do the first page, now having an idea of how I want the album to look...

I used sketch #269 from SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES  for this page.

So my thanks go to Susanne...not just for a 'new' challenge, but for getting me started on the album!...why don't you pop over and play along?

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

P.S. Lost all of 0.2 of a lb yesterday...but given my stressful weekend expected worse, so was happy...back on the bandwagon though!

SATURDAY STARTING POINTS

A great new idea from SHIMELLE ......she had such a great response to this Challenge last weekend, she is now making it a regular on  her Blog.


This is the 'starting point' for this week

and this is my completed version

The pictures are from our trip to NYC, for our friend Elizabeth's 50th Birthday surprise.

I also used the LO for this month's Colour Challenge at SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGES  and for another Recipe Challenge over at SCRAPFRIENDZY.

You can see what  other scrappers have done with this 'Starting Point' at Shimelle's BLOG.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

4x6 Photo Love- April LO

Yes, I do know that it's the last day of May..and that I have therefore missed the deadline for entering my LO into the draw, for  Shimelle's '4x6 Photo Love' class over at TWO PEAS IN A BUCKET .


However, I thought I would share it here.....and mention that Shimelle's video instructions are so  good, it takes no time at all ( once you have decided on which pics to use...always the longest part of the process for me!) to put the LOs together!


I used photographs of our 2009 visit to NYC, for our friend ELF's 50th Birthday

The broad strip at the bottom, is Crate Paper (Paper Doll  Collection-Lizzie), the borders are Bo Bunny (Vicki B) and the for the flap I've used Bo Bunny (Ad Lib) papers and embellishments.

The Alphas are 'Thickers" and I used a 'lacing brad' from my stash as the opener for the flap.

I would also like to mention that on Shimelle's Blog today, she is donating 100% of her class sales to Plan UK's  BECAUSE I AM A GIRL CAMPAIGN . It's a great cause, and you can't go wrong with one of Shimelle's classes! I've signed up for 'LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY'..why don't you have a look at what's on offer?

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx