10 May 2010

Recent scrapping

I seem to have done quite a bit of scrapping recently, so here are the most recent of my creations. The first two are from Sandie's  March and April classes at the North Swindon Craft Club crop and the last one is inspired by a sketch from Anna Bowkis' Pencil Lines sketchbook, which I did at the Abbeymeads Scrappers crop on Saturday.
     
 

Busy, busy, busy

As ususal I seem to have been too busy to get around to blogging. What with rehearsals for our big show coming up at the beginning of June, and lots of other enjoyable events happening, I just don't seem to have had any time to sit down at the computer & tell you what I've been up to. However, this morning I took a picture of a layout that I had just finished and I decided that it was about time I caught up.

So here is a quick run-down of why I haven't blogged since Easter!

Easter Saturday at the Organic Farm shop was great fun (if a little damp). Here is Sam making a bird box to be put up in the farm's woodland. We hope to go back to try and find it soon!

And here are Anthony & the boys on the egg hunt trail in the absolutely pouring rain. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that every egg had a question on it and we then had to find a matching rabbit to get the answer which we had to write down - very difficult when your piece of paper is so wet!

The weekend after Easter was Anthony's birthday and my parents kindly had the boys so that Anthony & I could go away for the weekend. We found a great deal in the Radio Times so Friday morning we headed off to Dorset to stay in Corfe Castle at Mortons House Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel and just a minute's walk from the castle itself.

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend, as the weather was glorious. We walked some of the coastal path from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door and even paddled in the sea (which was freezing cold - so much so that it hurt!) Visiting Durdle Door is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I'm very glad we did it without the boys as it was a hard walk. To be honest I wasn't at all sure I was going to make it, especially as we made the mad decision to walk down the 100 odd steps to the beach. That was fine but then we had to climb back up again! It was worth it though, as it was as beautiful as I imagined and I felt great having achieved it. We rewarded ourselves with huge ice creams when we got back to Lulworth. I paid for it over the next few days though as my calf muscles aren't used to it!

We spent the rest of the weekend looking around Corfe Castle and Corfe village, spending lots of money in the Ginger Pop shop and the National Trust shop (thanks to Liz in the Corfe Castle visitors centre for persuading my husband that joining the National Trust would be a good idea!), taking a trip on the Swanage railway (catching the steam train and even getting to change the signals in Corfe), eating lots of gorgeous food and then on the journey home we visited the Tolpuddle Martyr's tree and the Cerne Abbas giant. It was a wonderful weekend and we were so chilled out it felt like we had been away for ages!

The second half of the Easter holidays wasn't quite so good as I went down with a dreadful viral bug and spent 3 days in bed with a raging temperature & losing half a stone in the process. On top of which, Anthony got stuck in Germany due to the volcanic ash cloud!

Fortunately by the weekend I was feeling better, so was able to join in with the trip to Swindon Town v Walsall that we had organised for my sister's birthday as she supports Walsall. Its the first time we have managed to get to the football as a family & the boys loved it, so much so that we have been again since and I'm taking them to the play-off match on Friday night as a treat!

We've had a new sofa delivered and bought a new flat screen TV, so after 3 years the lounge is finally beginning to look like we want it to. Now all we need to do is find some oak furniture that matches our bookcases and it will be done.

Bank holiday Monday saw the 10th birthday of Geocaching, so we attended the event at Lydiard Park organised by the Lyford Locators. We missed the downpour as we were a bit late getting there and then the sun came out, so although we were a bit chilly, it was a great event. Here is the group photo, although its not everyone that came as a few turned up later. The boys had a great time playing football while I managed to grab all the caches in the park that we hadn't done & we all shared a lovely picnic at the end of the afternoon.

If you have stuck with me this far you are now up to date, apart from all the scrapping that I have done recently, which I will post separately!

2 April 2010

A GOOD Friday

This is what we had for breakfast this morning.

I tried out a new recipe this year (combination of Lakeland's ingredients list and River Cottage method) and they were so successful that I have got another batch in the oven as I type.

These are much more the consistency of the shop bought variety (mine are usually much more stodgy & crispy on top) and are very moreish, especially when spread with lots of butter!

I have to say I am very pleased with them!

After breakfast we had a great morning at North Swindon Baptist Church. Fraser's sermon on sin was very challenging but really good and as a result of some of challenging things he said, one of the ladies from the bible study group I attend gave her life to Jesus and became a Christian. What a great start to Easter!
The service was followed by an indoor picnic as the weather was too awful to go to Lydiard Park as planned and it was lovely to be able to spend time chatting while relaxing over a meal with friends.

Looking forward to the rest of the weekend we are going to the Organic Farm Shop for an egg hunt and other activities tomorrow, then we have lunch with Anthony's family Sunday and on Monday we are off to Gloucstershire to visit my parents for our annual orchard egg hunt. Hopefully pictures to follow.

Wherever you are have a blessed Easter and enjoy one or two of those chocolate eggs, but remember Easter is a celebration because of what Jesus has done and not because its a long weekend and chocolate eggs are yummy!

23 March 2010

It was worth it! (And no this isn't a l'oreal advert)

Well all the pain & hassle of the dieting that I have been doing for the past 5 weeks has been worth it, as on Saturday 13th March I finally managed to get into my bridesmaid dress for my sister's civil partnership.

 
I must admit that sitting down was a little painful as the boning in the bodice stabbed me in the stomach, and by the evening reception I really had had enough - couldn't breathe (and therefore couldn't dance), couldn't eat (not even a cupcake & you can see how gorgeous they were - all handmade by my amazing mum!) and couldn't wait to get it off!


Although I wasn't looking forward to wearing it (because of the colour) I don't think I looked too bad, even if I do say so myself. But what do you think -and be honest!

As promised

Well as promised in a previous post here is the LO that I did at PaperArts.
I still haven't finished the other one as it involves a lot more fiddly work than this one. Am hoping that I might get it done this weekend, if I get half an hour to myself.

I might even take it to the North Swindon crop this Friday & see if I can get it finished there after we have completed Sandie's class. In which case I will try and post both LO's over the weekend.