days like this

last night we were out watching our granddaughter in the school choir performing at a local church. It reminded me of a morning just before Christmas when she was singing at the shopping centre and I wanted to scrap the photos. Looking on Shimelle’s blog here I found the perfect starting point to help me do just that.

pretty in pink

I did this layout following a class from “Glitter Girl”, you can find it on Shimelle’s blog here. The idea is to use up your scraps and she gives three different techniques.

I love these photos of my granddaughter so might use just one for another layout as not sure this one shows them off so well, but I did enjoy playing around with my scraps!

cooking

 

 

My daughter bought me this book for Mother’s Day and I have read it from cover to cover. I love the idea of parents handing down treasured recipes through the generations and always think if they are family favourites they must be good. last night I tried the carbonara recipe which looked a bit odd as you used cottage cheese, it was so easy and delicious, definitely one to try again. I have a list of recipes I want to cook, from her coronation chicken to little biscuits and profitoroles, all look easy enough for me to try.

stamping

Stamping seems to be my thing at the moment. My sons bought me the new stamping workshop by Jen Gallacher on 2peas for Mother’s Day which I’m looking forward to doing soon and today Shimelle uploaded her free class on uks which has a lot of stamping. I’ve opened some stamps which have been in my box for ages to use and also a new set which came from Shimelle as a prize for last month’s layout.

I’m now off to look at my new recipe book which Jenny gave me for Mother’s Day, Lisa Faulkner’s Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter.

scraps and layers

I was lucky enough to get the bonus video from Shimelle for her HitchHikers class, by buying the class through the link on her blog. This video is about using up your scraps through layering and I’ve had a little play today. The backgrounds are also old stash, I’m starting to like doing this more than using cardstock.

few days away

We’ve been away for a few days, first to my mum’s to help her with some things and then on to my son’s for a visit.

It was lovely catching up and seeing how Evalina had grown.

She is a little cutie!

on Saturday we went to Slimbridge

Evalina slept for part of the time!

and daddy carried her round for a while

I loved the otters and enjoyed the talk

If we had been on our own I could have spent all day sitting in the hides watching the birds

These fish were great!

Sunday we went to Westonbirt Arboretum, a beautiful place to visit

I gave in and had my photo taken!

Starting to get a bit sleepy, it was time to set off for lunch at Zen’s parents and then begin the long trek home.

10THINGS

 

 

It’s that day of the month again and I thought I would share some of my teddies with you. I want to make it clear that I love all of my teddies, especially the ones given to me but these are just a few I’ve chosen for today.

 

1.

    Ian’s childhood teddy, Tricky.

 

2.

    This bear was left out with the rubbish until a friend rescued him and gave him to me!

 

3.

    A parent at the nursery I worked at was getting rid of “too young” toys and thought I might like  Paddington.

 

4.

      My Titanic bear.

 

5.

     This little bear is very special to me.

 

 

       A cute little bear, you can’t help but love him.

 

7.

     My latest bear, a Christmas present from my son.

 

8.

    A birthday present from my son.

 

9.

    A present when we left the church we’d been attending for many years.

 

10. 

      Everyone laughs at this one but I love him.

 

So there are a few of my bears, I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting them, to read more 10THINGS go to Shimelle’s blog here

a fun day out

  

                front                                                                     back

I wanted to scrap a lot of photos from last years trip to Longleat to put in my album so turned to Shimelle here again for inspiration. Her 4 x 6 photo love class was just the thing as this one used 10 photos. I really enjoyed this idea and can see me doing it again when I have lots of photos to scrap.

beach huts

another layout for Shimelle’s HitchHikers guide class, this time using one of her starting points.

First love

I was still in Junior school when I fell in love for the first time to a 5ft 3ins ex jockey. I lived for our date early every Saturday evening and spent hours listening to the radio longing to hear his voice. My bedroom walls were covered with his pictures and it seemed like every waking hour was spent thinking of him.

Our relationship only lasted a couple of years and then being a fickle teenager I moved on but for that brief time he was the centre of my universe.

Davy Jones 1945 – 2012 xx

This story is part of Sian’s Storytelling Sunday, you can read more stories here

another class!!

I don’t buy many handbags and I hate buying shoes, my only weakness it seems are Shimelle classes. I really wasn’t going to buy her latest one but caved in this week with the encouragement of my dear hubbie.

The class can be found on Shimelle’s blog here

I’ve only looked at the first chapter so far and watched the video which has encouraged me to look out some papers not in a kit and get scrapping.

quite a simple layout following one Shimelle had done but I really can’t think of anything else to put on it.Another page done for my 2011 album, can’t be bad!

month in photos

February has been a funny sort of month but I’m determined to look at the positive things.

Signs of spring in our garden with the snowdrops and crocus.

Another new recipe tried and enjoyed.

An invitation from our grandchildren for a quiz afternoon prepared by them, what little stars they are!

A cross stitch project finally finished, I do get there in the end,

and always a walk by the sea whatever the weather

The free template has kindly been provided by Rebecca Cooper and more month in photos posts can be seen on her blog here