She makes cards...

Well at least she does sometimes...  I've made about 8 in the last couple of weeks and barely remembered to photograph any of them!  They were all a bit.. erm.. last minute!

I made 4 very similar cards for my Dad, my husband, my step-Dad and my Father-In-Law.  2 were in a dark green and 2 were in orange but all in this sort of steampunky feel.  The papers are Chronology by Papermania and the dies are by Tim Holtz.  I do still have one of the green ones so I will endeavour to get that photographed and posted up.  I thought I had taken a pic of it already but I can't find it.  Maybe its with my gym card that I haven't seen since last Wednesday or my large bright pink purse that I haven't seen since Thursday...

This card was for Louis at the start of the month.  I was really ill with another cyst the day before we went on holiday which was the day I had planned to make the card.  I asked him if he wanted a special Mummy card (which he would have to wait until we got home for), or one from a shop and he wanted to wait.

As it happened, this was a great choice as this sticker from Echo Park was perfect!  You might remember from this post that we stayed at Lower Roduish Farm for his birthday.  They played in the field of sheep with  a walnut tree at the top and a tyre swing!  The children collected lots of bits of wool from the fences so I used this to make some sheep and Louis was in hysterics when he saw the card!  "You've used REAL wool from REAL sheep!"  Of course, then he opened the card and realised I had stuck it all on upside down and he laughed even more!  Not very professional....

In other news, I have finally joined Twitter!  If you are a tweety sort of person then you can find me @paperheartcraft

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW213

I'm pretty sure that time is on warp speed at the moment and I wish someone knew how to turn it down a bit!  Things were supposed to get easier once my course finished but obviously I stacked up a load of stuff for "after" and still haven't quite caught up with myself yet.

I have managed some time at my desk this week, to make a card for a lovely friend's 30th birthday.  I hope to goodness that she likes pink!

We went out for a drink for her birthday last night and the night before that I went to see Strictly Confidential with another couple of friends.  Seriously, I go for months without going out at all and then I go out two nights on the trot!  

Today I am doing a photo shoot in Beaulieu with my lovely niece.  She has some great ideas for her and her baby but I hope she is not disappointed.  I get a lovely shot once in a while and then people think I can do full on shoots!

We've also been busy with Bugsy Malone recently which is now finished.  Here is my boy sporting the remains of his pencil moustache after his performance.  Considering they are only just 7, they did amazingly well.

Please link up with the rest of the desks at Stamping Ground if you want to join in the fun.  In the meantime, keeeeeeeeeep dancing!!

(and if you were interested in the viewmaster reel from the scrapbook layout in the previous post, it was in an ephemera pack from October Afternoon.)

Bye for now
xx

Road Trip

Our holiday to Lower Roduish Farm at the start of the month seems so long ago now.  I can't quite work out why life is so chaotic at the moment but I feel like we need another holiday!  We've spent the day at Legoland and we are all exhausted but happy.  I am loving time with my family right now.  I can honestly say that I really do feel positive at the moment and like the recovery plans are actually starting to come together and mean something.  Its taking a lot of time and hard work but I will get there.  In the meantime, with a week in Wales at Grandma's still a good few weeks away, I shall have to be content with looking at photos of our previous Featherdown camping trip at Aller Farm.

This is one of the very early pages from the album because it was the road trip down to Aller Farm.  We stopped off at West Bay for a leg stretch and some lunch and fully embraced the holiday spirit from the off!

Supplies are of course, October Afternoon, from various collections and a little stamp from Amy Tangerine.  I love that projector slide!

I think the alphas are some old Lilly Bee ones but it feels good to be using up some unloved supplies.

Is it wrong that I am having to resist making up the new Lego sets that the children bought today?  They are in bed.  I am itching to open the boxes!  I wonder if I will ever tire of that favourite childhood toy!  Is there anything that you played with as a child that you still love to play with now?  Do let me know.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 211

Happy Hump Day!  It's time for the weekly trip around the desks across the world to see what everyone is up to at the moment.  

This was my desk late on Tuesday afternoon... untouched since late on Saturday afternoon after a day's scrapping.

I'm still working on my Devon album from last year using October Afternoon so that's what you can see scattered across the desk.  The chair on the other side was temporarily inhabited by the lovely Sarah on Saturday and she brought my order of albums with her. It was lovely to craft at home but have some company too as I'd forgotten what it was like.  I bought 2 of the Amy Tan albums in wood-grain chevron print that you can see on the corner of the desk there and I can tell you they are gorgeous so I am in the process of reloading my Devon layouts into that.  I managed a couple more on Saturday and this is one of them.

This is mostly the Sidewalks collection which I just love.  Its the facing page for a split protector about the ice-creams we all had on the way to our holiday.

I'm gradually catching up after my holiday, coursework and various other absences and hopping around lots of blogs to see what I missed.  Put the kettle on for me won't you, I'm gasping for a cuppa!

This post is brought to you in conjunction with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday with the wonderful Julia so head on over and link up your desk and see who comes by.

Bye for now
xx

Adventures in Exmoor

Warning - photo heavy post!

It seems like months ago since we came back from Lower Roduish Farm in Exmoor.  Of course its only been a week but the sun that shone for us all the time we were there has been sadly lacking since we came back and it feels more like Autumn than summer.

So, our adventures at this years Featherdown Farm location were just as wonderful as last year's in South Devon.  The tents were closer together but there was not such a hike between the showers and the tents and the children could play quite happily in the fields with the sheep right in front of us.

There was a bigger mix of animals here too.  Obviously there was the sheep, and let me tell you that sheep with lambs are incredibly noisy!  We ended up having little conversations with them because we listened to them for so long that we thought we could identify words!

They have a few cows there and this wonderful beast - Marcus the Bull.  He "works" for one month of the year having fun with his girls.  Its a tough life... ;-)

They have 3 larger pigs and then a little brood of piglets turned up in the afternoon.  The children absolutely loved throwing in all our food scraps for them.

It was Louis's 7th birthday while we were away so he had a few presents in our tent.

We were able to eat breakfast outside every morning.  Bella and I certainly enjoyed our fresh eggs from the 2 chickens we looked after for the week.  We are both big fans of "tappy eggs"!

The birthday boy chose to spend some change in the amusements at Minehead.

He ate LOADS the whole time we were away.  No more children's portions for this growing lad - yikes!

We walked up on the moors and looked for deer and The Beast.

The children were taught to groom ponies.

We had a delicious stew cooked in a cauldron.

Louis's birthday treat was to go pony trekking.  Can you believe they just let us walk off with two children and two ponies!  We expected someone to come with us but they told us the route and off we went.  They absolutely loved it and can't wait to go again.

We looked after 2 guinea pigs for the week.  This little one is Eilish.

I'm not a fan of these animals but I really fell in love with them and probably held them as much as the children!  One of the other children on the farm wanted to have a pet show so we all got our guinea pigs out and paraded them around and he judged a winner!  It was hysterical!

We were able to have camp fires and toast marshmallows on long sticks.  The close proximity of the tents meant that the adults could put the little ones down and then chat around the fire with a bottle or two of local cider.  Perfect.

We visited several beaches.  This one is Porlock and the stones were all huge and very rounded which made walking on them pretty fun!

Its a pretty little area with some really quaint houses and a tiny harbour.

Basically we had a ball just being together without work / school / coursework / housework etc.

Even though the tide was pretty much out, the children managed to catch 21 crabs in about 25 minutes!

 We hunted for fossils on Doniford beach.  There were quite a few set into large rocks on the beach.

You literally can't go more than a few feet without finding one.

 

We brought a few home for our bathroom collection but had to leave behind some truly beautiful and large ones too.

The kids had a great time on the farm with the huge walnut tree and the rope and tyre swing.  They played for ages with the friends they met, just romping around the field but where we could still see them.

Our other guinea pig was called Podge and she was the winner in the parade!  She got a carrot for her prize from the little boy - bless!  I have to admit that I rather fell for this soft little bundle.

I think our favourite thing was the little stream that ran through the field that they played in.  It was shallow enough that they could paddle happily with their wellies or crocs but flowing enough that they could race daisies and dried sheep poo along it!

It was wonderful.  All of it.  The relative peace (other than the wildlife!), the fresh air, the sun, the s-l-o-w way of life, the cream teas, the campfires, the Pimms, and generally just being together without the normal every day stresses.  Coming soon to a scrapbook near you ;-)

Happy days!

Bye for now

xx

Devon, this year and last.

We are back from our wonderful holiday in North Devon!  This was the view from our amazing semi-permanent tent on Lower Roduish Farm.  You can just about see Louis and Bella heading off up the pretty stream holding hands.  All the children spent a LOT of time playing in that field and paddling in the water and floating random things in it.  

I'm still sorting through the pictures so expect to see more of them very soon but suffice to say that we were very jammy with the weather again and we had a wonderful time, slowing time (as much as we can with 2 lively children) and just being together as a family after a very busy few months.  Sadly tomorrow Management goes back to work and Louis goes back to school, Bella on Tuesday, and I have a tonne of work in the pipeline so its back to crazy busy again.  At least I have my crop on Saturday to look forward to and I can do some more work on my album from our holiday last year with Featherdown Farms!

This is the title page of my Aller Farm album.  I wonder if I will ever catch up!

*sigh*  I love holidays but I don't like coming home to mountains of washing and we miss our friends on the farm already.  Is it possible to get jet lag travelling North Devon to Southampton?  I think it is.

Bye for now
xx

Big Foot and Jaws!

We had an amazing BH weekend with lovely weather and some rather exciting activities.  

On Sunday Management and I went to Twickenham to watch the Premiership rugby final.  It was never going to end well when we were cheering for opposing teams but as it happened the match was rather tinged with controversy usually reserved for football matches.  Leicester Tigers (my team, naturally) won and I don't think Management will ever get over the manner in which it happened (his captain was sent off at the end of the first half).

He couldn't wallow in his upset for long though as it was straight back to work on Sunday with a very busy day at Beaulieu.  It was the first time for a new event called Trucmania and there was a couple of very special visitors too.

Richard 'Jaws' Kiel and Blanche 'Dolly' Ravalec came to meet James Bond fans and the queue was over 2 hours long at many points.

The children knew he was from posters but are too young for the films as yet.  That didn't stop him terrifying my normally very brave Bella!  He was 7'2" in his prime but he struggles to stand straight now.  He has a hormonal condition which is the reason for his incredible height and features - look at the size of his hand on Louis's shoulder!  He seemed a genuinely lovely guy and stayed well over his allotted time to see more fans.

Part of the new Trucmania event saw lorry cabs doing agility tests with a bath tub of water on the back!  There were trucks through the ages, remote control trucks, big trucks, little trucks, you get the picture.  We were really excited to see the monster truck Big Foot though.

We've never seen a real monster truck before so this was a big treat for us.  My goodness though my heart was in my mouth the first time he went over the cars because it looked like he was going to come off the side several times.

Of course the children thought it was AWESOME!

Poor Management didn't get to see any of this as he was so busy with other stuff.  However, it was probably a good thing as he is the person in charge of health and safety!

We're very lucky to be able to visit Beaulieu so often and especially on sunny days and special days like these.  We are very grateful for Managment's job, particularly in these extra difficult times.  When I am busy counting my blessings, this is right up there.

Bye for now

xx