My month in Numbers - April.

Wow another month gone so quickly. Here is my Month in Numbers following the example of the lovely Julie Kirk x

April.

2 new recipes. Chicken Cacciatore from Jamies 15 minute meals & homemade meatballs.

70yrs We celebrated with my Dad.

£310 raised for Children's Liver Disease Foundation at Dads party. A charity that helps support Jack & his family :)

151 Level reached on Candy Crush Saga!!

5 performances Harriet was in for Coventry GangShow.

14 blog posts written.

1135 points scored a win for Dan & his network team at the Apex Challenge.

£179.99 cost of a new screen for Paul's iphone5 after he dropped it !

1-1 score of matts last footy game of the season.

Many thanks for looking & hop on over to Julie's blog for loads more numbers for April :)

End of an Era

April sees the last ScrapaGoGo kit go out to it's customers. As a member of their Design Team for the past 3 1/2 years I will really miss receiving their amazing individual monthly kits at my door but all is not lost as Lorraine & Janice will continue to run superb events up and down the country & their GoGo Getaways at Theobalds Park.

Here's a page made using Aprils kit.

I have lots of photos like this one & this kit was perfect for showcasing it with the embossed cloud tag & metal charm.

Can you just make...

... this is a phrase I hear from my children from time to time. I'm not complaining by any means as I take it as a sign that they think I have the knowledge plus the skills to perform the task they've asked without just getting on the internet & ordering the said item! As a youngster I believed  my Mum could do / make anything & I love that my kids feel the same way about me too.

This week Harriet went to a post Gang Show party & wanted a little help with the costume she & her friend had picked.

Out came the sewing machine & 1 utube tutorial later I was merrily cutting up some of my fabric stash.

To make Mario and Luigi caps!

Harriet was thrilled with them & was happy to pose before we set off for the party.

 The Girls ready to party!!

 I wonder what the next request will be ?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

There is some satisfaction...

to be had from sewing in all the ends from my crochet and making a pile of the ends just to see how far you've come !!

 This collection will be a scarf...eventually :D

Inspired

Earlier this year I saw a post over on Shimelle's blog on different ways to use mists written by Corrie Jones.

I was totally taken with the way she used them to "draw" on cardstock that I had to have a go for myself & this is the finished result.

Dance like nobody's watching.

I limited the colour palette to tone in with this photo of our daughter. I love the effect of using the mists this way & even though I did get a little stressy during the process I would certainly have a go at doing it again.

The word Dance was cut on the silhouette with vellum using a font of my choice & melding the letters together.

Gang Show Time :)

It's that time of year when the members of Coventry Gang Show put all the months of practise onto the stage & perform their hearts out.

This will be our daughters second year in the main cast & this year I joined too. I'm not a great performer so I'm working backstage with the wardrobe team. We have spent months sewing, altering and ironing the costumes & this week I'm working as a dresser, taking charge of a group of children & all their costumes, making sure they have the right clothes on at the right time,doing running repairs... It's more tiring than you'd believe!

If you are local please come & see them x There is a performance tonight & 2 more tomorrow. You won't be disappointed. I watched the show on opening night & it's full of old & new tunes which will have you clapping along, sketches which will have you laughing out loud and a bit of Beyonce that has to be seen to be believed :D

CSI 65

A couple of weeks ago I did one of the weekly challenges over on the CSI challenge forum based on this case file.I was thrilled to find my Lo had been put on their "watch list" so thought I'd share it here to.

A very interesting Conversation !

I'd had these photos printed for a long time & they were just perfect for this challenge & it encouraged me to journal all about how our son  Matthew has always had something to say & how he loves chatting as an equal with adults.

I added various veneer shapes to help tell my story.

Many thanks for looking.

Getting Blingy with the Silhouette!

Is that a word or did I just make it up ??

Over on the Scrapology blog today you will find our latest card making challenge... you guessed it, Bling is our inspiration for our creations.

Congrats.

To make my quick card, I used purchased files to use with my Silhouette to cut both the gold ring & the "diamond" shape which I then backed with glitter paper before adding sparkly letter stickers as my greeting.

Hop on over & see other great examples :)

Project Life - Feb

I'm still managing to keep up with this project pretty much & here are our February antics...

including more snow, scouting Gold Award, Cirque du Soliel at the Albert Hall...

Valentines day, School Rugby triumph, new recipes tried... 

Pancake day,a sewing class, a poorly girl, Siri!, CH & S retreat...

weekend scrapping with friends, Dan at Twickenham , New Masonic master...

 Now to tackle our March pics x

CSI ...

I'm not talking about the TV but I do really love that programme & Ted Danson is filling Grissom's shoes well...

Actually I wanted to mention the CSI challenge blog I recently found here. They offer a weekly challenge in their own unique way. They even offer printable hybrids for you to use on your work.

This week is case 66.

I had a go & this is the result...

I used a photo of Dan which I totally love as it shows his passion for playing Rugby.

This challenge really made me think about the supplies I own & how I could use them to fit the brief. I will certainly be joining in again when I have time.

Special Birthday

Today my Dad celebrates his 70th birthday.

Here he is as a toddler x

and this is him & I at the Harry Potter Studios recently :)

We really wanted to mark the occasion. So at the weekend we had a lovely lunch we had organised with lots of family & friends to celebrate the past 70 years with him.

A scouting friend made  this wonderful cake which tasted as good as it looked.

We decorated the venue with bunting & balloons and I had printed & framed photos spanning his life for all to see which proved to be a great talking point. 

I know he had a wonderful time as did we & we hope to celebrate many more birthdays in the future xxx

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Story Telling Sunday - Keeping precious memories alive x

Here we are again on the first Sunday of the month & following the fabulous format devised by Sian I'm sharing with you something Precious - Memories, old & new x

This month I wanted to show you one of the ways we have been keeping  memories which we hold Precious, alive & in the fore front of our minds.

This is our kitchen wall. We acquired these printers trays from different sources but grouped them together to hold little bits & pieces. These little things represent holidays, people, moments...none are valuable in the monitory sense but to us they are priceless. Being in such a prominent place they get lots of attention which in turn sparks spontaneous story telling to the admiring audience :)

Now for a closer look...

a wooden church from my childhood.

a jade elephant from China Town, Singapore.

an elephant made by our daughter at school.

glass santa from Venice.

a boomerang from Sydney.

a MGM badge from the Harry Potter Studio Tour...

a pyramid from Egypt.

a masonic stamp.

a Merlion from Singapore.

a book from my Auntie.

angry birds!

pin badge from Disney, Florida.

2 chickens, like our pets...

wooden icons of new York.

a Russian doll from Warsaw.

a glass turtle from Australia.

a camel from Cairo.

Fawkes the phoenix - our family mascot!

a thimble like my Gran used.

a rock from the Salt mine in Krakow...

When we look at these trays I can't help but smile as the memories come flooding back.

Project Life 2013 - January!!

I seem to have been so busy since Christmas that it wasn't till I started work on my PL March pages yesterday that I realised I'd not shared any of the pages I'd made for this years album. So here they are...

I sticking to the same format type as last year, as it worked for me & I don't see the point in changing it TBH as last year was the only time I've completed this type of album as I went along rather than spending the next 6 months or so trying to fill the gaps ... which is sooo stressful.

January 2013.

including honours for both boys at school,sale shopping, visitors,trips to the tip!..

 snow days,igloo building,keeping warm...

crafty weekend away, designing for the GoGo Getaway,lunching at Jamies :)

cooking, cinema trip, dan passing his driving test & big garden bird watch.

I will share more soon xxx