My Month in Numbers - August x

Here we are at the end of another crazy month, where the days & weeks have whizzed by in a flash. Here is our August in an alternative style created by Julie Kirk :)

August.
66 Gromits found in total on our 2 day visits.

1992 The year the Bodyguard Movie was released - Harriet watched on line clips before we saw the stage show in London.

208 miles driven to attend Michelle & Steve's wedding & a chance to catch up with the "Swimmin'Women"

14 blog posts written - about average for me.

21 name tapes sewn in. Much less than usual- don't think Dan wants his stuff labeled for Uni!!

1093427156. Dan's UCAS number notifying us of his successful entry into his 1st choice Uni.

1 new recipe tried - Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

46 candles - well there should have been on my birthday cake but it would have meant getting a bigger one!!

£260.70 spent on new gardening equipment & plants in our first wave of the garden sort out.

Finally a communal number Julie asked us to count...

26 Visitors to the house for meals, friends of the children & to celebrate my birthday.5 of us live here...but not for long!

Pop on over to Julie's place to see what everyone else has been up to x

Two Grand Days Out.

Over the summer Harriet & I have travelled down to Bristol twice to take part in the Gromit Unleashed Trail. A hunt for 80 decorated Gromits distributed all over Bristol & surrounding areas.

It's been great fun for us both & a real adventure shared in the pursuit of finding as many as we could. Here is a selection from our travels...

Searching...

Enjoying...

Posing...

Photographing...
Exploring...
Discovering a new city...

Tracking...

Admiring...
Achieving...

I'm thrilled with how many Gromits we found  & photographed but more so by the fun filled days we spent enjoying Bristol & each others company :)

Sketchy Scrappers Time.

This UKS sketch inspired group of scrappers I belong to have made the move over to Facebook as most of us are regularly on there & posting pics there is so easy using your mobile.

This months sketch was chosen by my team mate Jo.

I dipped back into my Singapore album for this one.

The journalling tells that although we are trying to smile in the photo, how painful it was for us all trapped in this cage on the elephants back & how with each step he took we were thrown about!!

I'm using American Crafts Amy Tan paper pretty much through out the whole album for continuity & loving the camera motifs to cut out.

I found my first use of the stitch template really easy for this page.

Scavenger Hunt part 3

We all got in the spirit of the hunt during our holiday in South Africa & we carried a list with us in our hire car so we could cross off what we found & remember what else to look out for & it really worked well.

Here are some more of our finds x

SH15 - Police Car.

We spotted this police car up by Table Mountain, I chickened out from photographing it from the front as their police are armed & I didn't think they would understand my need for a photo!!

SH13 - A fence.

This barbed wire fence was at the prison on Robben Island. It was there to separate the inmates in each block.

SH 10 - A bench outside.

During our visit to Kirstenbosch national botanical gardens in Cape Town, we made good use of the benches provided to sit, relax & enjoy the grounds.    

SH20 - A dinosaur.

We found these on a market stall. We loved the back pack especially :) shame my lads are too old for it!

SH14 - A stained glass or mosaic .

We found this Bed & breakfast sign in the Bo-Kaap district famed for its brightly painted houses. We love the sign but think it's quite hard to read!

We came across this little fella in a craft market highlighting their plight in this part of the world. The sign on it caused a snigger or two from at least one of our group!!

This leaves us 6 more & a bonus item to show you before the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt closes for the summer on september 21st. All the details can be found over on Rhinas blog . Happy Hunting xxx

Scavenger Hunt & the winner is ...

I know a totally random name for a post but I'm multi tasking today :D 

Firstly many many thanks for all the birthday wishes I received by card, txt & FB yesterday I had a lovely day & felt thoroughly spoilt x

SH17- Candles. The cake wasn't big enough to fit all the candles on!! ( only 7 left to find)

A couple of weeks ago I offered a Giveaway of a copy of the Australian on line Mag ETZ, to be drawn on my birthday so here we go...

My trusty assistant pulled the winning name...

Thank you to all the Ladies who took the time to enter & many congrats to Jess :)I will need an email address for you x

Marking Milestones

The card challenge over on the Scrapology blog this month is Milestones, set by my team mate Sandra.

So far this year we have had a number of special birthdays & anniversaries in our family & these are 2 of the cards I've made for them.

 This is a silhouette file I purchased.

Hop on over to the blog to see loads of examples & why not join in too x

Project Life - June.

As this summer holidays fly by I realised I haven't shared my PL pages for June yet. It was a busy month for us all & it stretched to 4 page protectors ie 8 sides!! So I apologise in advance for this photo heavy post.

June.

Including...revision, exams, Barncrafters lunch, Ram Run competition...

...Fathers Day, recipes,Diamond anniversary...

...Great night out...

...paul's golf holiday... 

... visiting Toft Alpaca Farm with Jackie...

...scrappy weekend with Sam & Jackie...

...School trip, full moon, old friends... 

...Cricket winner, Prom night, 50th party, cinema...

 Many thanks for sticking with this post :)

What a Day !

I think I will remember today forever. I've never been so nervous for someone else as I was this morning as we waited for UCAS to open to see if Daniel had got a place at his first choice University, Warwick. We decided to check their website first before going in to school to collect his A level results. I'm so glad we did as we were greeted with the words...Congratulations.

I can't truly express how thrilled we are for him & how proud we are that all the hard work he put in really paid off with great A level results :)

As a little surprise we had a framed shirt signed by Jason Robinson from the 2007 Rugby World Cup for him.

So as he starts this new chapter of his life we wish him every success . Love you lots Son xxx

Summer Holiday Fun x

When the children were little I used to really plan for the summer holidays, sorting places to visit, people to see, wet weather fun & free things to do both indoors & out.

Now the boys are older they want to spend less time with us & more with their friends which I totally understand.

This gives me more time with my girl & with the help of Groupon we have had some great days out.

We queued together when Coke came to Coventry.

Got our names on Coke :)

 We went to the Toft Alpaca Farm on their open day, toured the farm & harness walked an alpaca.

 Enjoyed the sunshine.

Made a needle felted alpaca on a half day course there.

Today we went on a half day cupcake icing course & learnt new techniques to give our baking a professional finish.

Then brought home our examples to sample later ;)

There are still a few weeks left & I have a few more ideas of Grand Days out to share x