Another month has passed by and once again its time to talk numbers.
If you want to know what this is all about - check out Julie's blog.
I have to say March has not been a favourite - a black mood and throat virus made me want to crawl under the duvet and not come out. However the sunshine has lifted my spirits and I'm feeling more positive for April.
Anyhow here are how the March numbers stacked up;
42 - the numbers of candles on my cake this year, when I celebrated my Birthday early on in the month. Sadly I was feeling under the weather and did not really enjoy it - it kinda set the tone for the rest of the month. However I did receive lots of lovely presents in the form of money which I intend to spend on craftiness at this years Ally Pally!
3 - the number of awards my company won at this year's industry awards. This years dinner had the theme of "Alice in Wonderland" and we were encouraged to bring a table display. My brother-in-law produced the subtle number you can see in the centre!
16 - the number of eggs we managed to find when we went Easter egg hunting around London for the afternoon. We had a great time and enjoyed a lovely meal at the end of the day.
at least 20 - the number of wrong turns we made before we found the centre of the maze, managing to lose both Granny and Grandad along the way! Eventually we were all re-united, and made it back out to enjoy and icecream in the sunshine.
So those are my numbers - what about yours. If you stop by the Pinterest board, you can see some other "Month in Numbers".
Not sure what the collective for a group of owls is but a hoot sounded appropriate!
Here are some little friends I made a few weeks ago but forgot to show you.
They are from a pattern found in "Sew Hip" - a magazine I used to subscribe to. They are very easy to make and I think are quite cute. The blue one now belongs to the oldest and is called "Nathanette" - in honour of Nathan from the wanted. The pink now belongs to the youngest and is called "Owley" He has visited school a few times and has also undergone major eye surgery on both eyes! The yellow one now sits on my craft room desk, keeping a watchful eye. As yet he has no name - any suggestions!
I know, I know its been far too long and I have missed you but not much been happening around these parts, hence the lack of posts. I have recovered from the virus I mentioned earlier in the month, however it seem to drag my mood down and I couldn't motivate myself to do anything crafty (well if I'm honest anything at all!). Now I know that if I do get my craft on, it makes me feel better but sometimes a black mood swoops over me and I seem unable to do what I know is good for me. Does that ever happen to you? Then I find the longer I'm away from my craft desk, the harder it is to get back. Thus starting an unproductive vicious circle which can be hard to break.
However the lovely warm sunshine over the weekend, seemed to be enough to lift my mood a little and I competed this page.
It is in response to lesson four of Just One Sketch, where Miss Smith encouraged us to concentrate on a monochrome colour scheme. The good news is, after this page I felt my mojo begin to rise from the ashes, and feel April will be a much more productive month!
Not much happening around these parts at the moment. I have had a virus for over a week now, which has zapped all my energy and booted my mojo out of the window. Just about fed up with it now and counting the days down to Easter as we are going away.
However before the lurgy descended, I did do this layout using Shimelles 4x6 photo love April prompt which uses four photos.
Now I'm not a huge fan of lots of photos on layouts - you will probably have noticed two photos are about my limit. However I did want to record my oldest daughter's endevours as she learnt to sail. My in laws run a sailing school and so are obviously quite keen for my girls to learn. The oldest has been quite reluctant but last summer decided to give it a go and thoroughly enjoyed herself. I'm so glad she managed to overcome her fears and give it a go.
If you lift the flap, it reveals a further photo and the journalling. These are photos from the last day, when they have to do a compulsory capsize in order to get their certificate!
Hopefully my mojo will return soon and normal craftiness will be resumed shortly!
For the third lesson of Just One Sketch, Miss Smith encouraged us to use our sketch in mirror image.
So just to remind you here is my original sketch;
And here is my take on the sketch in mirror image.
Just love this photo - my youngest is in the stripy top and her friend Tilda! They were both enjoying a pamper session whilst we were away for New Year. You can't it but they also both had their feet in foot spas as well.
The next lesson is all about colour. Hopefully I will be able to work on that one soon.
to me! Yes today is my Birthday and I'm 42 years young. I'm spending it quietly at home - it is my day off - fighting off a cold.
As it is my birthday, I thought I show you a layout from my 40th Birthday celebrations. I was lucky enough to enjoy a private capsule on the London Eye with my close friends and family, with champagne and canopies served.
This is the photo that they take during your flight. As you can see we all crammed in. If you lift the photo, it tells the story of the day. My husband organised that whole day as a surprise - I was told the day before I was going on the eye but thought it would be just my family and certainly didn't imagine it would be private capsule! Although I didn't realise until after the day, the management of the whole thing had proved quite stressful for him. Not least because it couldn't actually happen on my birthday because of various guests being unavailable - I of course did not know this and was a little peeved not to actually be going out on my actual birthday. We were also meant to meet up before hand at my brother in laws flat for drinks but he managed to book a business trip to New York, meaning hubby had to do some last minute re-arrangements to find a suitable meeting venue. All this done without me finding out!
In the end everything was fine - it was a lovely, lovely day. The weather was perfect - blue skies and you could see for miles. However I don't think hubby will be organising another surprise soon!
Time one again to join with Sian in telling our stories.
Every year we take a camping trip with a large group of friends during the first weekend in August. This year saw our largest party with eight families joining in the fun - 12 adults and 17 children! As you may imagine catering for such a crowd is like a military operation, but it is all part of the fun and we all muck in together. The ages of the children range from 6 - 10 and so if we can we do like to spend our days on the beach, as it keeps them all entertained at relatively low cost.
This year was no exception and although the weather wasn't brilliant we manged two days. One of the most important elements of our day trip are regular cups of tea! With the thirst of 12 adults to quench, a couple of flasks will not suffice so now we take a portable gas burner in order to brew up. Obviously there are the inevitable arguments discussions who's turn is it to make the tea, but eventually someone volunteers. There is nothing quite like a cup of tea on the beach!
Funnily enough my inspiration for this page comes from Miss Smith who is a great tea drinker. In the March addition Scrap 365 she had a page published. You can read about it here. The article was encouraging you to use paint on your layout, which I did by dipping the edge of a credit card into white paint and making the grid. I really enjoyed doing this and I think it may be one of my current favourite layouts!
I hope you enjoyed by tale - do hop over to Sian's blog where you will find all manner of stories to entertain you this Sunday.
As regular readers will know I have been creating a 2011 album which I didn't really start working on until nearly the end of the year. In February I challenged myself to get the July and August pages done and I'm pleased to report I succeeded in this challenge.
The first page shows my youngest at her leavers concert for the infant school she attended. The journaling tucked in the pocket tells of how emotional I was (I cried all through!) as my baby was moving on.
As usual - two middle pages.
And the final page shows my oldest's birthday celebrations.
In order to get these done, I am keeping the layouts fairly simple which is not my normal style.
The first August page shows the annual camping trip we go on with 5 other families each year. Its one of my favourite layouts in the album.
Again the divided pages.
And the final page, documenting our trip to Cornwall.
So March will see me turning my attention to September and October. I think I am beginning to see the end in sight!
P.S - many of you have asked if I am doing a 2012 project. Well I am - not quite the same format. The photos are all sorted - I hope to put it together in the next few weeks. Lets hope I can keep up with this one!
mmm - this should have been posted yesterday, however work got it the way......
As it is the last day of the month 1st March, its time to talk February numbers .
Please check out Julies blog (the original number cruncher!) to find out all about it. And also her post recording her month in numbers.
Here are mine;
17 - the number of years Johny Boy (as we call him) as been our next door neighbour - in fact the whole time we have lived here. At the beginning of the month he moved out. We were all sad to see him go - in our ever changing lifes its nice to know that somethings stay the same - thats how it was with John. He was always there with a smile and a wave and now he is gone.
45 - the number of people who attended our first Messy Church of the year. We were not sure what would happen as we have moved the venue from the local school to our church buildings. I think everyone had good time, despite a freezing cold church (ongoing heating problem) and flickering lights (caused by weather conditions we think).
2 - inches of snow that fell at the begining of the month. Just enough to enjoy but not enough to cause too much disruption to normal life.
380 - the number of girls that took part in the amazing Gym and Dance show put on by the oldest's school. She took part in two dances and throughly enjoyed herself. The standard was of the highest order, it was well organised and very entertaining - we were very impressed.
93 - the number of miles that the girls travelled to get to Bristol for their Thinking day event. They left at 7.45 in the morning and did not return until 7pm. They were both very tired but had had a fantastic time.
So that was my numbers for the month - what about yours?
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