Twaddle & Piffle

For those of you that aren't from Norfolk it basically means to blather on or talk a lot. Well it's been a funny old day for starters it was my youngest Abi's first day of her last year at school so a real milestone day & she was trying to get out of the door to school this morning when I had her posing for pictures, being a scrap booker that's definitely one for the album.
I headed off to work awaiting many deliveries but it was okay as Dan is still at home as University doesn't start for him until 27th September.
I came home to a packet of lovely Christmas fabrics for my bunting hire venture,

Kate Spain ~12 days of Christmas

So that's something else for me to be getting on with & as I put the kettle on I had a delivery from the UPS driver with the first order from my Stampin' Up pre order, did I say that as a demo I can order some of the product early? Well the new catalogue has something for everyone.
The kettle boiled again and the courier that delivers the Amazon orders was at the door, now by this time i'm in a real quandary do I start cutting out the new fabric? or do I mount the new stamps & make some samples? but I cant upload the sneak peeps yet so that has gone to the bottom of the list or do I eventually make that cup of Lady grey tea & start on one of the three books that has just arrived? I do wish that I could read more than two books at a time. I usually have one by the bed for the evenings & another that I read at work, but they do have to be completely different in story & theme or I do get a bit confused.
Well for a few weeks I haven't had much at all to read & now three books two from my favourite authors and one whose title absolutely fascinated me, but I will get to that in a minute.

I Love Sophie Kinsella books they are so humorous & I can see a little of people I know in the main character Becky Brandon.













The next book that arrived today is 6 Rainier Drive, I found this author by chance as one of her books was on a 3 for 2 in Waterstones & I have to walk through there everyday on my way to work. The books are about an idyllic sounding place called Cedar cove, although on second thoughts maybe not so idyllic because a lot happens there, but I wont say any more just in case you take my recommendation to read the set. If you like easy going family stories & human life observations you will love these.

 Well this book just jumped off the virtual bookshelf at Amazon & into my basket. I love beach huts & everything about them, not that I have one, but they just fascinate me & If I won the lottery I would go on the waiting list for a beach hut In Southwold.

Well I guess if your reading this in any other country than the Uk you may wonder what I am talking about so here is the Wikipedia definition of a beach hut.


A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming costumes and for the safe storing of some personal belongings. Some beach huts incorporate simple facilities for preparing food and hot drinks by either bottled gas or occasionally mains electricity.

They are just so unique I even found a website where they hold a beach Hut of the year competition.
http://www.beachhutoftheyear.co.uk

Only the British would pay £100,000 for a beach hut in Southwold ( a brightly coloured timber shed approx 8ft x 10ft that can only use to its best advantage when the sun shines.

So I look forward to reading this book & sharing the stories of the Beach Hut.


You may wonder what has happened to the crafting today!! Well I had a crafting disaster, I saw yesterday a technique called "Josephs coat" well I tried it tonight & to say it was unsuccessful is a minor understatement, I have black ink everywhere & a nice Brayer shaped stain on my desk.....oh well tomorrow is another day & maybe I will have another try at the Joseph's coat technique & actually have something crafty to share with you.

Well Goodnight all i'm off to start a new book & I have just realised I never did make my cup of tea.

Queuing to see Katie

Nearly at the door now, camera ready

Yesterday Katie Price was in Norwich to do a book signing & as Abi has read all of her previous books she really wanted to go & see her & get the latest book signed & I have to admit being a keen photographer I was more than a tad curious too see just how much Katie was airbrushed when you see her in magazines. That probably makes me sound like a total bitch but I used to admire her as a working Mother until she split with Peter Andre & had the very public airing of her dirty washing.

We arrived in the city just after 9am to find there was already a long queue & when they came round handing out the tickets so the could keep track of the queue we were number 176 in the queue.

Katie arrived fashionably late, though that's not exactly how be felt when we had been standing in the queue for 3 1/2 hours. But once she started signing she whisked through them, it was a shame that everyone was rushed past her after waiting so long to see her, but i did manage to fire off some pictures so Abi was happy & especially happy when Katie said " Thank you Abi ".

Well in the name of research I have to say she was charming & smiley & the photo's that you see in the gutter press do not do her justice I thought she was very attractive & didn't seem to be the fake plastic wreck that the press have portrayed her as recently.

A happy Abi with her signed copy of Paradise

Crop day

Saturday was a bit different as I was invited to a new crop, well it's been going a while but i've never been before.


Looking up the hall to the gallery.
It was in a really lovely old barn on a place called Horstead.


Abi & Angie scrapbooking, looking down the hall from the gallery.

Looking down from the gallery

Abi & Angie Scrapping & eating sweets

It ran from 10 ~ 4 so I actually managed to get a couple of projects nearly completed.
here is the first one its a flip flop book from a 12" x 12" piece of Stampin' Up Kraft card.


Cut the 12 x 12 card into three strips measuring 4" x 12"


Score all three strips in 3" from each end, so your panels are 3" ~ 6" ~ 3"
Crease all of the folds well, when they fold too the centre if the ends overlap trim them with a knife & metal ruler or guillotine so there is a tiny gap.


Then put two pieces together and using a wet glue stick the two 3" panels together & hold for a minute to make sure they wont move whilst drying.


Repeat at the opposite end an stick the two 3" panels together, when the book is dry fold all thel flaps over until your left with the folded book in the first picture, then using a ruler and scoring tool score 1cm in from the spine on what you want to be your front cover, this allows room in the spine for the pages to expand & embellishments to be added.
With my book I added papers and inked all of the edges as I am very much into the vintage look from inking at the moment.
The new Vintage vogue stamp set looks lovely with the flowers matted to make vintaged paper flower embellishments.
I will add another picture as soon as the book is finished.


Kraft card is available from Stampin' Up & is available to purchase through me.

Crop day

The third Saturday of the month is crop day at Alisons crop.
In the morning Alison had arranged a photography workshop with Suzanne from Inspired Norfolk.
I now have my camera off the auto settings for probably the first time since paul bought it for me.Abi was our model & after she got over her initial shyness she did enjoy the experience.
Everyone took some beautiful pictures & Alison has put some on her blog.
Here are some of my favourites that I took.

Before photoshop

After photoshop with deep blue & split toning ( Thanks Dan )



Alisons Montage from yesterday
If you are interested in the next photography workshop, you can contact Alison via her blog for further information.

No layouts to show from yesterday as I didn't manage to finish anything during the crop, but the way the snow is coming down today I will probably be able to find some time today to sneak up to my craft room & play.

A day off !

This week being half term I have had a few days off to spend with Abi, Dan has been in Paris on a photography trip.
We decided to make a day trip to Cambridge, me to have a wander round as I love Cambridge, Abi on a mission to find the Jack Wills shop.The journey out too Cambridge was a little bit of pain as it was part train & part coach as we wanted to shop I didn't take my DSLR camera just my point & shoot.We left Norwich with the threat of snow & arrived in Cambridge to clear blue skies although it was very cold.

When you get off the train & on just about every spare railing in the town there are bikes hundreds & hundres of bikes everywhere, You have more chance of being run over by a bike than a car.



The amazing kings college.


I did manage to persuade Abi to pose for a couple of pictures for me outside kings college which is the most impressive looking college.

And finally outside the Jack Wills shop proudly sporting her purchase in its beautiful bag.

Christmas portraits

Christmas Portraits

I had the kids do each others Christmas portraits for the last page of my Mum's scrapbook album.I love the results.

The weather is changing

The weather here in the east is really changing & abi is beginning to feel the cold.
All this time i have been trying to persuade her to wear a hat as the winters here are harsh & she shunned hats for the sake of fashion, now hats are in fashion ...... Thank you N~Dubz.



Abi is ready for winter.

Where did October Go?

Where did October go?

October thankfully has gone & we hope for a better November with more highs & less lows. Its always a hard month for us as a family as we have the anniversary of both my dad & Pauls dad. Then Pauls Birthday he turned 50 this year and we went out for a lovely family meal to one of our favourite restaurants mambo Jambo's.

Earlier in the month was a definate high when I did a day retreat with Dawn and made some lovely projects.
Then we had the low of my Mum being rushed into hospital, she had been in hospital for 4 days before anyone contacted me so you can imagine how I felt & only when she had to sign the consent form for major surgery did she tell them I was her next of kin. So a trip to Reading to see her & try & get to the bottom of what was happening, all of this was just 2 days before the anniversary of my Dad, so the train journey was filled with apprehension. Thankfully she is now hme from Hospital & is recovering as expected, hopefully the battles with social services over her care are now sorted & she will continue to make progress.

Then we did manage a few days away at Hopton but sadly during our few days away we had the news that Pauls uncle had died, this affected Paul badly as he is now the oldest male member of the family at 49, so we came home from holiday early.



Half term was lovely as we had Abi's Boyfriend Jakee visiting & Pauls 50th Birthday. On the Saturday after half term Jake went off to make his first run on the drag strip in the Camaro, he said it was an amazing experience & once Abi had spoken to him she stopped fretting.


Twins




Last Sunday we went back to Bracknell to visit my Mum & try to sort out her care package. Whilst we were there we had a lovely family lunch with James, kerry & the boys & pauls cousin Louise who had come all the way from Australia for the funeral.



Wednesday saw us back to Bracknell again for the funeral which thankfully went without a hitch & gave us a chance to catch up with family & friends.




So all i can say is I am glad it's now November & hopefully back to somewhere near normal. You never know maybe the next post may actually contain a craft project or two, I think I will need a map to get to my craft room.

From a kit

At a risk of repeating myself I am loving Sarahscards ~ scrapbooking kits

.

I love these kits as they take me out of my comfort zone, as they contain items that I am not naturally drawn too. If I chose all of my own scrapbooking stash I think it would follow the theme of pink, glittery, loads of flowers and bling by the lorry load, this has made me very consious to try & not bling every layout.

Sweetie pie

Abi has the biggest, most beautiful eyes ever, they change colour when she cries or is ill, but she does like to make them look bigger still. She can even do her make up on the move.



She does make me chuckle, she was wandering around the house doing her make up.



Papers from Sarahs card kit for July
October Afternoon
Lettering is Doodlebug