My Month in Numbers - July.

Wow x the end of the month has come around again way too fast for my liking! here is an alternative way of looking at the past month using this fab system devised by Julie Kirk.

July.

1936 - The last year a British man won Wimbledon till now WTG Andy.

10 blog posts written.

2200.8KM driven in our 2 weeks in South Africa.

24 chicken eggs = 1 ostrich egg we learnt!

95 Nelson Mandela celebrated his birthday during our visit.

3/4 matches watched by us on Dan's rugby tour.

18'28'26" East 36'21'25" South at the most south westerly point of Africa.

4 of the Big 5 seen on our Game Reserve drives.Including this baby elephant only 24 hours old.

2 new recipes tried - cookies & cream fudge brownies & soft pretzels.

17 loads of washing post holiday!!

This month Julie asked for us to add a communal number to our list...

9996 photos taken by the 5 of us over a 2 week holiday & so far none have been printed!!

Pop on over to Julies blog to see more MMIN x

Scavenger Hunt Time part 1

You may remember in an earlier post I talked about a Summer scavenger hunt over on Rhinda's blog. Well I printed off the list & set the children on the hunt for the items whilst we were in South Africa. So this is the first instalment of found items :)

All these items were found in & around Cape Town.

4)Airplane - taken at Heathrow Terminal 5.

5)Sunset - this was taken one evening at Camps Bay whilst we sat in a cafe over looking the sea.

9)Something that is out of place - A penguin on Boulders Beach!! I never would have believed this if I hadn't seen it myself.

7)A sign that is unintentionally funny - This sign tickled us! Please look under your vehicle for penguins.

12)A cloud in the shape of something - Can you see the flying bird here in the centre? beak on the right, wings out stretched, tail pointing left ?

6)Someone taking a nap - my two cat napping on the ferry to Robben Island. 

16)Windmill - Apologies for this poor photo but this was something we never dreamed of spotting in SA & it was beside a motorway so my Son managed to get this pic from a speeding car! On further investigation it is Mosterts Mill built 1796 & the only complete windmill in South Africa.

I'll continue this another time as we have till september 21st to find all the listed items x

Speed scrapping

When we arrived home on wednesday I had a moment to catch up with my emails & I saw this weeks CSI challenge. It was just my colours so despite being over run with washing, ironing etc I've managed to find a free couple of hours to scrap. I'm not a fast scrapper but I certainly surprised myself with what I could do when there was little time to be had.

Our Sanctuary.

The journalling says " I love the way our bedroom makes me feel surrounded by memories & treasures of our life together x

 This the case file I used .

To help make the process even quicker for me I used this sketch from Sketchbook 365 as inspiration & rotated it 90 degrees.

I'm pleased with the result considering the time spent but know at heart I'm a leisurely scrapper :D

Playing catch up...

Well we are back from our holidays & I've realised this poor blog looks a little neglected :( I'd had great plans before we flew to schedule some posts here & write a few posts out there but time & lack of internet access put paid to that! So please accept my apology dear blog & lets move on ;).

So here are my May's project life pages, another busy month so added 3 extra inserts!

Including...

... lunching with friends, BBq's, holiday injections...

...our new hens & hen house, a visit from the lovely Eileen, Dan - players player...

... 20 years of marriage celebrated...

...enjoying the day...

 ...Amsterdam, Anne Frank museum, canals...

 ...markets, eating out & Keukenhof...

 ... A day at Chelsea Flower Show...

...loving the Show gardens & the Gnomes allowed in for the very first time...

...Dan finishing school, recipes, visiting friends & family, Hairspray the Musical...

...London, seeing the Queen twice!, shopping, Wicked...

Wow x we did do a lot now I look back at all this. Thats what makes PL special for me, it helps me to remember this life I love.

Saying Thanks.

Over on the Scrapology blog today you will find this months card challenge. We challenge you to make a "schools out" card. You can take this any way you want. I made a thank you card for a teacher.

Simple but striking...I hope.

The pencils were really simple to make using oddments of cardstock & with the lead end cut using a circle punch.

There are still a couple of days till the schools break up so why not give this idea a go.

Scavenger Hunt Time

I found a link to this Scavenger Hunt on Julie Kirks blog when I was sorting my month in numbers &I thought it would be ideal to play with the children whilst we are on our holiday. If you hop over to Rindas blog, Gallo Organico you will find all the details of this wonderful summer challenge she has organised for us.

My children have already broken up for the summer & we are at present in South Africa sightseeing & watching our eldest play rugby so I hope to achieve a few of the item photos whilst we are here.

I'll post pics on our return x

Story Telling Sunday - Evoking Memories.

Welcome to my blog on Story Telling Sunday devised & run by Sian at High in the Sky & today I'm going to share another of my most precious things with you.

When I wrote my post last month about my Mum's guide badges it sparked off a trail of thoughts & reminiscing that have lead to this post today.

My Camp Blanket.

Despite a little charring on the reverse this blanket charts my life through the Girl Guide Movement , my travels & scouting since then.

The Brownie badges (brown, on the left) & the Guide badges (on the right) plus my Queens Guide Badge (top central) remind me of the most wonderful times.

In particular they evoke memories of camping to me... cooking damper over a fire on peeled branches then smothering it in jam, singing songs from around the globe as our Guide leader was a music teacher, doing handicrafts whilst lying under the shade of a tree, building "gadgets" from found wood & string to hold up a washing up bowl & our rucksacks, a hanging larder dangling from a tree, sausages black on the outside & barely cooked in the centre, living in wellies, porridge for breakfast then trying to wash up the huge billy cans in luke warm water, telling spooky stories by torch light... 

All this from one precious blanket:)

I loved my time as a child in this Movement.

This the only photo I have from a camp( I'm on the right), well we just didn't take many back then!

and here I am in my Guide Uniform being presented with my Queens Guide by the District Commissioner. 

Many thanks for sticking with it & please hop on over to Sian's to read more delightful stories. Till next time xxx

Date Night

Last night Paul & I attended an event run by Heart FM Radio. They called it Date Night & I won the 2 tickets for us in a draw via Facebook.

The event was held at The Vault in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham & on arrival all the Ladies were greeted with a red rose.

We all watched a demonstration on making cocktails by the bar staff & Steve Denyer from Heart, then we all got to go behind the bar & have a go for ourselves.

Then the best bit... we got to drink them :D

All in all a lovely evening with lots of couple chatting, relaxing, eating canapes & enjoying an evening out. I'll certainly enter this type of competition again x

Inspiring Team x

Recently to help my mojo & fill my albums I joined a sketch group on UKS. These Ladies have made me very welcome & I was keen to get started. Each month a member chooses a sketch & then challenges the rest of the group to scrap it & put it the gallery by the 5th of the month. This is mine.

Strike a pose. 

I've used mainly Glitz products plus photos by Anna Bowkis of my daughter.

I sewed the circle adding buttons as I went. I typed my journalling to fit in all I wanted to write!

This was the original pagemaps  sketch & I've stayed pretty true to it.