T.I.G.G.rrrrr

Its just me and my girl here today because the boys have gone camping so we are doing our nails and getting our craft on and watching lots of girly films :-) 

Miss Bella is very girly, and I don't know where she gets it from.  She loves having her face painted too.  This double layout was about a trip to Beaulieu near Halloween a couple of years ago. 

She sat sooo still and the finished result was amazing.  How can a tiger look so cute??!

I used lots of orange and harvest type colours to reflect the time of year as well as the colours in the face paints.  I also used lots of textures with buttons, felt leaves, sheer ribbon and that gorgeous canvas tag.

I think I made this layout at a Christmas retreat a couple of years ago and just never got around to sharing it on the blog.  I've still got others from around the same time that got missed and because things have been so hectic here with summer holidays and house sales falling through etc (don't ask) my poor old craft room hasn't seen much actual crafting!

This little girl is full of attitude and sass and definitely has some very tiger like qualities.  Me and my little tiger cub are going to do a lot of snuggling up together this afternoon.

What have you got planned for this weekend?  For some of you it might be last weekend before the children go back to school - is that a good or a bad thing? This summer has been a mix of good and bad but I am looking forward to getting back to some sort of routine and definitely looking forward to getting back to some regular blogging!

Bye for now
xx

Season's Greetings!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!  Oh I do love Christmas.  This could well be the last year that both children believe in the guy in the big red suit because Louis is already asking more and more questions about the logistics of our involvement.  Its so complicated!  

These photos were taken last year at Warwick Castle - doesn't it look festive!?  I wasn't there because I was at a scrapping retreat (which was awful!) and when I scrapped these pictures last week I couldn't for the life of me remember why I hadn't been there.  It reminded me to scrap things or at least record the memories as soon as I can because things so easily get forgotten.

 This double layout will be the second and third pages in my Journal Your Christmas album because they really capture the magic and the spirit of all that is Christmas.  Its all about making it special for my family, in particular my children.

 I'm using Crate Paper's Bundled Up collection throughout my JYC and I'll be sharing my method and plans for this in a couple of days.

 I was inspired by this Pin for using large photos so it was ideal for the types of pictures that you get on a day out.  I deliberately kept the background quite muted with the polka dot woodgrain because the pictures were quite busy and orangey.  I did want to introduce my full colour scheme for the album though so I picked out some of the pink and red bits from the ephemera pack.

The little tickets from the pack are perfect for the subject matter here and give enough space for a note or two.  I've added some gold stars here too because I want to run both gold and stars throughout the album.

So how are you getting on with your festive crafting?  Cards all made?  Presents all bought / made and wrapped? No?  Me neither... I'll get around to it... but maybe have another frangipan mince pie first ;-)

Bye for now

The biggest roar!

I've been looking through my computer photo files recently and realising that I've still got a pile of layouts to share...  This one was completed over a year ago at a retreat!

The bright and funky papers are My Minds Eye Alphabet Soup with a sprinkling of brads, buttons and twine.

We used to have passes to the local zoo but often the tigers would be fast asleep or hiding away so we were really pleased to see one of them out and about.  I snapped a few pictures as he did an almighty yawn and then shortly afterwards Louis attempted his own version of a tiger roar.  He has since lost all three of the top teeth you can see there to the tooth fairy - my boy is growing up.

It is only 2 days until the end of term and then Louis will be off to Junior school and Miss Bella starts in Reception.  Big changes ahead.  Which makes me even keener to capture some of the memories we have already made.

Bye for now
xx

You Are Lovely

Firstly I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been in touch recently both in the comments, and by private e-mail.  My Story Telling Sunday post which featured the loss of our first baby, and my WOYWW post about being at my Great Nephew's birth that morning prompted some amazing messages of support and love from people across the world, most of whom I have never met.  I feel very privileged to be part of such a wonderful on-line community that takes the time to show complete strangers that they care.  You are all lovely!  

And with that in mind, I realised that I had one more layout to share from the Scrapbook Getaways retreat in the spring!

Oh ho!  What's this?  Another 6x6 inspired layout?  (Don't forget that the 6x6 Celebration challenge is still open at S J Crafts for a few more days if you fancy being in with a chance of a prize!)

How cute is Miss Bella standing by the... erm... pink flowers at Beaulieu?  I seem to be doing more and more double layouts at the moment and the 6x6 pads are cracking for this.

I used My Mind's Eye Lime Twist here which isn't available now but they have just released their new 6x6 collections called The Sweetest Thing.

Once again I used my bunting punch by Stampin Up and changed the look a bit by stitching through it.  I also borrowed someone else's teeny Stampin Up punch for the little flowers on it.  If you are interested in any Stampin Up stuff then I do know a lovely person (Fiona) who can give you further information.

I used up some random bits from my stash (I am REALLY trying to use up odds and ends) including this cute but very cheap umbrella charm and some but expensive shiny brads.

I'm particularly fond of that folding ribbon embellishment there.  Layouts often don't feel finished to me without ribbon.  I went to the Artful Angels crop yesterday and a wonderful little shop called Handmade Treasures visited us with the most delicious collection of ribbons and buttons.  I...ahem.. may have purchased an item or two so expect to see some glorious and more unusual pretty ribbons coming up here soon.

Bye for now
xx

Life is pretty amazing

She's here again with another page!  Its one from our retreat as I didn't get anything actually finished at the crop on Saturday (despite.. ahem... plenty of planning!)

The page was inspired by a sketch from Shimelle using 2 photos top left.  Its not something I would have done without the sketch but I will definitely use it again.  The papers (This and That Graceful) make me want to lick the screen and I was really pleased to finally put that wonderful Jenni Bowlin butterfly to perfect use.

The chipboard title was perfect to sum up how we felt on the day these photos were taken over 6 years ago.  I was VERY VERY pregnant with Louis and we went on a Babymoon (pre-baby final holiday as a couple) to Bradford-Upon-Avon.  We were excited and nervous and had absolutely no idea just how much our lives were going to be turned upside down.  

And yes, if you can manage to read the journalling, it does say that I had a fight in a car park.  I blame the hormones.... I went into Mummy Tiger mode.... Management was NOT impressed.

This was the first time I used washi tape on a layout!

Despite a cracking headache on Saturday, it was lovely to see Sarah again from S J Crafts and actually stroke, touch and sniff her shop.  We hatched a plan for a series of projects involving the new Everyday Eclectic collection which I'm very excited about.

Talking of hatching and life being amazing, we finally got to release our painted lady butterflies.  I admit, I was quite emotional.  They had lived with us since they were caterpillars and had become part of our family.. sniff.  This was an amazing experience and in Louis' own words "the best birthday present EVER!"

How beautiful is Bob?  Bob was the largest of the caterpillars and the first of the four to hatch.  He was quite happy to sit on Louis' finger while they had a chat about going off into the big wide world.  Bob was less impressed when Bella started shrieking loudly when she tried to cuddle him and he fluttered his wings.

Good luck Bob and friends!

Bye for now
xx

Story Telling Sunday - The One About The Tigers.

I've had this story scrapped since the retreat and when I popped in to see Sian at High in The Sky, I was reminded that I had intended to share it by joining in with Story Telling Sunday.  This event happens on the first Sunday of every month and hence, I share it with you now.

I've mentioned before about Management and I taking a round the world trip about 10 years ago.  In all we spent about 7 months travelling around South East Asia and in that time we saw a LOT of temples of various  denominations.  Whilst in Thailand, we wanted to visit Kanchanaburi to see the Death Railway and the Bridge Over the River Kwai.  Unfortunately as we were pushed for time by this point it mean't we had to take an organised trip and this included, oh no, another temple.  And it wasn't even in the Lonely Planet.

During the journey though we found out a little more about Tiger Temple and discovered that it was newly opened to the visiting public and wasn't much of a temple at all.  The big draw here was the fact that the monks had taken in some orphaned tiger cubs and raised them to be calm enough to interact with humans.  They were very clear that these were not trained tigers, just calm, well fed, happy animals.

On arrival, we had to walk through the forest for a bit and we could hear the odd roar now and then.  Our pulses were racing slightly already by this time and we hadn't even come face to face with these big cats!  We were introduced to some 4 month old tigers which was an incredible experience.  The boy tiger had to stay in his cage as the males are already bigger and more boisterous but the little female cub ran around us and we could stroke and play with her. There were other random animals around too like a strange goat called Bin Laden and a gibbon who came up for a cuddle.  Gibbons are incredibly strong and the keepers in our local zoo don't even get in the cage to feed them because they can turn so easily and yet here we were with one wrapped around us.

If that felt unreal, we were going to be blown away by what happened next.

We were led to the small cages that the tigers are kept in for the vast majority of the day.  The monks calmly got 3 tigers out on leads and started walking them down the lane.  Then they handed us the leads.  These are fully grown tigers weighing up to 300kg on the end of a thin bit of leather with only a wrinkled monk for protection.  I don't know if I was more scared or excited.  After a short walk, the tigers were let off their leads to play in the quarry area.  They were about 20 metres away and so when they had a bit of a roar and a tussle over a tyre, the sound went right through your chest.  It was incredible.

These monks are not trained tiger tamers and yet they were all that stood between a handful of tourists and 3 stripy killer cats.  The phrase "Health and Safety" just had not been invented here.  Strangely we always felt safe though.  We were assured that tigers are naturally lazy animals and they will only attack if hungry or threatened, neither of which they were in danger of here.  These awesome animals really felt like giant house cats that day.

I wish I could say that that was the end of the story, well it was until I came to do this layout.

This was the layout that won me a runner up prize at the crop but I had to wait to do the journalling until I got home.

I couldn't remember the name of the area so I had to look it up on our Travelpod blog.  When I tried to search Google I saw that there were hundreds of links about Tiger Temple and so I had a little read around.

I had noticed that a few friends had recently had their photos taken sat with a lazy looking tiger while on holiday in plush resorts in Thailand.  It appears that this temple started a trend and when they appeared on Animal Planet things really took off.  Visitor numbers increased to up to 300 a day and over time the tourists had to be kept further and further away from the tigers at the temple although the resorts had caught on to this idea by then.  The temple itself and the head Buddhist there (seen in the photo) were investigated by a wildlife organisation and found to be in breach of several laws.  The tigers were sometimes abused, kept in inappropriate cages, they were illegally traded and bred.  Although no proof has ever been found, many people believed that the "tourist tigers" are drugged.  Although Buddhists are not supposed to have any money for themselves, there are "irregularities" surrounding the funding and finances for the temple.  The suspicions are that what started as an innocent way of helping a few orphaned tigers, quickly developed into a incredible cash machine. I'm glad we were there in the early days but I'm really sad that it has evolved into such a controversial tourist attraction which has led to the probability of resorts drugging tigers too.


In a way I'd like to go back and see how it has changed but for now I am happy to remember the amazing experience we had back in the times when there wasn't such controversy and when we were able to get up close and personal with one of my favourite animals.

Yellow Ribbons

Just a quick post from me this evening.  I feel like I want to curl up in my bed and not come out until the sun shines properly and there is some good news.  

This is just some of the horrid stuff:  Yesterday I had a minor car accident and narrowly avoided a serious one where a car had turned over.  A friend of a friend was found at Beachy Head last week.  Timmy Macoll, a local Naval chap, is still missing in Dubai and it is now 3 weeks since he was last seen.  With Father's Day tomorrow, I am hurting on behalf of his 2 children (same age as ours) and his pregnant wife.  We have friends in common, one of whom is a serving police officer who must be beside himself with how helpless it feels not to be able to go searching for him.  As a show of support, thousands of us have tied yellow ribbons to trees and lamp posts near our houses.  We just wish we could do more.

As it happens, I still haven't shared all of the layouts I completed at the retreat and this one is about all about love and includes a yellow ribbon - my friends, Pete and Nina on their wedding day 5 years ago.  I used a sketch from a friend so I apologise that I can't remember who it originated from.

I used My Mind's Eye in a variety of collections because they all seem to mix and match well together and this is why I love them!  I'm pleased with this layout - it has lots of texture and I love the colours and the layers.  I'd forgotten how much I like to use ribbon roses too.

I always get emotional at weddings because it reminds me of my own wedding day and how I would love to do it all over again.  I am so lucky to have married my soul mate and to still be excited to see him when he comes home from work, even after almost 19 years!!  With so much bad stuff going on recently, I am counting my blessings and holding onto them with both hands.  To have my best friend and husband right by my side, my crazy kids sleeping soundly in their beds, all of us happy and healthy - that's an awful lot to be grateful for.

Bye for now
xx

You Are So Sweet.

Do you ever have those times when your craft area is such a mess that you can't even bear to go in there?  I'm having one of those times right now.  The craziness of the last couple of weeks has led to things being piled up in my room, both craft and otherwise, and I don't actually know where to start!  I know that I won't get a chance for any real crafting time until Wednesday at least but when I can grab a moment I am doing a few minutes of sorting at a time.  The last few months have been pretty chaotic generally with holidays, operations, birthdays and illness etc, and it will be nice to get back to some sort of normality.  Having said that, normality doesn't seem to be something my family can do very well.  My dear old Dad, after months of us plaguing him, has finally been to the doctors.  As we suspected, he has been diagnosed with Parkinsons which is awful of course but hasn't come as a shock.  His answer to everything is that he is getting old anyway, which makes me laugh as not many 77 year olds still work full time on a farm!  He is at least talking about slowing down and retiring now though... one day.

Of course the other thing adding to the recent craziness was the retreat I attended with Paula (who has just set up a blog, go see her, tell her I sent you).  I still have a few layouts from that weekend that I haven't shared so I've chosen a sunny one to cheer us up after the recent rains.  It features Miss Bella on the beach at Newport, Pembrokeshire, doing what both of my children love best.

Please excuse the funny angle, I think I mush have been slightly inebriated when I took this (I wish!) but I can promise you that the waves on bottom edge are actually straight...  I used This and That Graceful by Echo Park and the gorgeous blue doilies were a perfect match for the small amounts of blue in the collection (thank you Paula!)

I made a rosette flower using some washi tape which really adds interest to these wonderful embellishments. I also used some old flowers and gems for dimension.

More dimension in the shape of chipboard stickers and these groovy buttons which I've been saving for yonks.  Sometimes when you save stuff, you finally find the perfect place for it and this was one of those times.

I could actually lick these papers, they are so wonderful.

Time to catch up on some blog hopping I think!

Bye for now
xx

Something a bit different...

Here's another layout from the retreat weekend.  Its not my normal style at all but I really like it.  The photo was taken while we were getting ready for my wedding in September 1999.  The girl in the black dress is my step-niece and she was busy putting on her lipstick, watched VERY closely by my littlest bridesmaid, my youngest niece Charley.  She was totally absorbed in the magical thing that the big girl was doing and copied her mouth movements, completely unaware of what she was doing.  This little girl is about to have her own baby - how time flies!

I managed to use a really old and previously unloved patterened paper that I got in a lucky dip bag at some point.  I never thought I would use it as it is one of those pieces that has things already designed on it with very little scope for your own placement.  The colours were ideal for the picture though and it came together quite swiftly.  I curled the edges of the main patterned paper using the water and rolling method.

I used various punches and hand cut flowers to layer up into clusters and then added some bling for the centres and a couple of my precious resin flowers for dimension.

I think this is probably the oldest picture in my album now but goodness what a lot has happened since then!  I wonder what the next 14 years will bring?

Bye for now

xx

The longest layout

I make no secret of the fact that I like to use sketches and scraplifts for my layouts.  It is supposed to make life easier but sometimes it can be just as tricky as designing something from scratch!  The layout below was inspired by Amy and I stuck very closely to the original but heck I made hard work of it!  It was my first layout of the retreat weekend and I think I worked on it ALL afternoon and evening!  I found the heart strings very fiddly, I couldn't get a random pattern on the papers for the hearts and pennants (some of you know that I don't really "do" random), I may also have said a rude word when I kept missing the right spacing on the border punch.  I got on rather better after a late dinner and got a second wind and could have kept going into the early hours!

I did however, manage to use some very old stash, in fact I don't think there is anything on the entire page purchased less than a year ago.  Certain items may actually be pre-2006!

I have yet to do the journalling, partly because it is from our first holiday with Louis (aged about 9 months) and I can't work out why it is the only photo I have of that time!  I was trying to get a "nice" photo while we were on the beach at Woolacombe but he was grumpy with teething, covered in baby Biscotti, and the wind was freezing and he just wanted to get in my face instead!  I do love the close up of his eyes though.

Even though it took an inordinate amount of time, especially considering I was scraplifting, I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I'm looking forward to making some more layouts that I love this weekend at the Artful Angels crop and then we are off on holiday next week - its all go go go here!

Bye for now
x

One from the weekend

I have a number of layouts to share from the Scrapbook Getaways retreat and I thought I would start with this simple one using October Afternoon's 5 and Dime collection.  There is no journalling because it is part of a series from a mini photo shoot I did at Beaulieu in September.  This particular photo was taken inside a grass hut in the Victorian gardens, hence the darkness, but the children loved it inside there and insisted on having their picture taken.  (Special thanks here to Jaki Morris who sent me that gorgeous twine which is a perfect thickness).

So, having said there is no journalling, and having explained it a bit, I now feel I need to add some journalling!  I think I will jot a little note opposite the lower pinwheels.  I think Shimelle's Cover to Cover class is rubbing off on me!  (More on that in a forthcoming post).


We were away this weekend at the Out-laws so they could look after the children while we went to watch a rugby match.  It was for Management's birthday, very late as we couldn't get to any other matches.  Sadly Northampton Saints lost in the final few minutes but we had great seats and could clearly see ourselves on the TV when we watched it back.  Management was also interviewed just before the match but we still don't know who it was for!  All this reminds me that I still haven't scrapped our rugby tour adventures from last year... another "gap" to add to add to the list (for those doing Cover to Cover)!


Bye for now
xx

Scrapbook Getaways Retreat

Goodness, where do I start?!  I had such a lovely weekend at the Scrapbook Getaways retreat and I came back refreshed and a little warm and fuzzy inside (as well as a little porkier... ahem...)

This was my first retreat with no classes because I've only even been to Scrap-a-Mia before.  I guessed it would be a bit like an extended version of the monthly Artful Angels crop I go to and luckily for me, this first one was close enough that I didn't have to stay overnight.  Paula and I arrived on Friday afternoon at 2pm and scrapped until about 11.30 that night.  After a bad night (couldn't switch off, shoulder ached, wind rattled), I didn't get there until about 9.30 Saturday morning but I kept going until about 11.00.  I had another really bad night that night too so I found myself back at my table by just after 8am and we were one of the last to leave at 5pm when it closed.  Phew!

Christine and the other regular retreaters (yes that is a word) were very welcoming and the hotel itself was surprisingly lovely (a new Holiday Inn).  The food was actually wonderful and as they are just down the road, I shall be taking hubs back for a House Burger!  We had unlimited tea and coffee all day, plenty of space on our tables and access to various tools and equipment etc.

This was our crop room.

There's Paula in the middle there, busy busy.

I love sitting next to Paula.  We do like a good chat but it never interferes with the job at hand and she never makes any comment when I talk to my supplies ;-)

That's me, trying to keep my mouth shut and not look gormless when I know a photo is being taken.

Most of the ladies there were scrapping chronologically and aiming to get as many photos completed as possible.  The lady opposite me made 52 pages, yes pages, not photos.  That was in direct contrast to how a tiny minority scrapped there, myself included.  I think I completed about 11 pages the entire weekend.  The difference in style meant that people were often popping over to have a look at our pages and it was lovely to receive some really wonderful comments.  People took photos, used our inspiration for their layouts, asked for help with various things, I showed some people how to make the rosettes - by the end of the weekend my confidence had had a huge boost!  Paula gave one lady some embroidery thread and it absolutely made the lady's day.  She had been putting off scrapping these particular photos but the addition of the right coloured thread mean't that they ended up being her favourite.  It was a really nice experience to be able to inspire other people, even though our style was VERY different to most of the scrappers.

On the final afternoon there was a layout competition which was voted by way of putting coins on the layout that you liked best.  Paula and I were tickled to come joint second!  What are the chances of that?!  I wanted to tweak my layout a bit more but I will share that next week.

 Sadly we had to go home at some point.  As I was still recovering from my op and struggling with my shoulder, Paula loaded up the trolley to take our stuff to the car.  This is both of our stuff but we did see people with one of these trolleys overloaded with just their own stuff!

It was a lovely weekend but it was gone in a flash.  Time sure does fly when you are having fun huh?!

Bye for now
xx