Sunday 28th February

Goash the end of February already!  Well it is nearly 5.30pm and still quite light out there – so Spring is really trying hard!  Still very wet, and we have that puddle on our lawn again today.  Roll on summer!

I have just had a lovely nap in bed (well actually a real proper sleep, been there all afternoon!)  and I was going to take a picture of the bed with the lovely new bedlinen I have recently bought – but it is too dark now.  So here’s the funniest book I have read for a while! (Bit tricky when you’re on a packed train and trying not to laugh out loud! )  Just listening to him on Radio2 he’s great!

Saturday 27th February

Phew!  My busy week is over!  I spent over 12 hours out of the house today – something I very rarely do.  I caught the 7.30am train out of West Worthing to get me into London by 9.15am for the Who Do You Think You Are? exhibition in Kensington Olympia.  I was  manning our Anglo-Italian Family History Society stand.  We had a very busy day, loads of enquiries at our stand, and people dying to tell us their stories!  It is a great day, but exhausting!  Especially after the other things I have done this week.

These are the 2 members who helped me today.  Lorraine on the left shares the same great-great grandfather as me – Giovanni Fumagalli, who came over from Italy in the 1870s!  Not sure what relation we are, cousins 3 times removed or something like that!  On the right is Kathy.  We packed up our stand about 5pm, so I didn’t get home until nearly 7.30pm!  Luckily I had prepared the dinner on Friday, so all Maurice had to do was cook some vegetables, and we relaxed with a couple of glasses of red wine and the winter Olympics on the telly!

Friday 26th February

I finished making this bag last weekend, but have been waiting for a sunny day to photograph it.

 

I bought the fabrics at Sandown quilt show last year.  They are so funky!  I used up the leftovers to  make the lining:

Thursday 25th February

More rain!

It hasn’t stopped raining today!

Wednesday 24th February

oooooo!  Only one more month to go – 4 weeks exactly!  And then I will have finished POTD for now. 

Here’s my entry for the challenge over on scrap Weekly:

Not my usual style, but one I do like – plenty of white space.  This LO documents the decorating of our bedroom, and how it took nearly all summer!  I am really drawn to doing a ‘home’ album, and am taking out old photos of previous houses as I organise my photos under LOM.

Tuesday 23rd February

Been to London again on another training day UGH!  But at least it was very close to Victoria train station this time:

Monday 22nd February

Rain, rain go away!

This is not a pond!  It is my lawn!!!!  And we are expecting more heavy rain this week!  (Expect more photos like this as the week goes on)

Sunday 21st February

 

Continuing my mini series of things I love – here’s my favourite box.  We have a small collection of boxes that Maurice really loves, and they mostly have bits and pieces of his inside them! (This box houses a pocket watch that we bought for Maurice’s Dad on his 65th birthday all the way back in 1982!)  I bought this box for Maurice a number of years ago from a little antique shop in Worthing.  The owner used to restore boxes and paint a little scene on the top.  Isn’t this a gorgeous little scene!  It fits so well with the grain of the wood.

Saturday 20th February

I have a very small collection of Midwinter pottery.  I have a few plates and a few cups and saucers.  I love the 1960s style of it!  Here’s one of the cups with a ‘vegetable’ plate in the background.

Thursday and Friday

I am doing LOADS of scrapping at the moment.  This is for week 5 of 52in10.  I used my Cocoa Daisy kit that was designed by Ali Edwards.  Not my usual style, but I love it!  The prompt is about the family NOW, so I journaled about how our family life is changing, with Nicholas gone to university and Lucy not at home very often!  It’s just US 2 now!

 

I decided I would try and photograph some of the things I love in my house!  Here’s a bowl we bought on one of our mediterranean holidays, and I love the colours!  it sits on my dining room windowsill, but here it is placed on a cushion for photogrpahy purposes.

Wednesday 17th February

Sorting through some old photos the other night I was so inspired to scrap these 2!  These were taken on the children’s birthdays in 2001, Lucy was 10 on 8th December, and Nicholas was 14 on 27th December.  These photos just capture the fun that they both had.

 

We took Lucy’s 2 best friends to London for a go on the London Eye, then back here for tea and a sleepover.

 

Nicholas and his chums played computer games in the local computer shop.  They look like a right load of lads don’t they?  A bit un PC, they were playing a game which involved being terrorists and storming a jumbo jet!!!  Not that long after 9/11!!!

I have used my December kit from Cocoa Daisy – just the most scrummy kits!. 

Tuesday 16th February

I love these trees outside my bedroom window.  When I sit in bed in the morning drinking my tea, I can see them.  This time of year they are just bare silhouettes.  This morning I tried to capture them as the sun was coming up behind them.

Monday 15th February

I forgot to take a picture today!  But, as I am sorting and purging years of old photos for my LOM class, I thought I would show one from way back.  This was taken at an open air concert at Polesden Lacey back in June 1997!   It shows me with Nicholas (10) and Lucy (6).  I love their faces!  If I remember correctly it was a great concert, Peter and the Wolf, with Johnny Morris himself doing the voices!

Sunday 14th February

We have been up to Maurice’s brothers today in Kent. It’s the first time we’ve met the new cat – Amy!  She is about 10 years old, and so sweet!  I am not usually a great lover of cats, but this one melted me a little!  Here she is in her favourite place on John’s lap!

 

And on the rug!

ooops! I forgot Friday!!!

Perfect recall!

 

Actually I have a funny story to tell you about this.  It was a bit dreary and misty up at Highdown so I had my headlights on to drive there.  Guess what I did?  When I got back to the car after my 30 minute walk around Highdown hill, I found the headlights still on!!EEEK!  Not one drop of juice left in the battery!!!  So I walked home – took me a whole hour!  Merlin loved it though!

Saturday 13th February

2 foodie photos today!  Guess which is which?  One of these is my lunch and one of these is Maurice’s lunch!

Butternut squash soup.

All day breakfast!

Thursday 11th February

This is my ‘winter scene’ for a calendar I have made.  I will make 3 more scenes for the seasons and will be able to change them as the seasons progress.  The quilted cream backing is what I will hang the scenes and calendar from.

Wednesday 10th February

It’s got into a mess again!

Here you can see from (back to front), my dolls house, my ironing board (in here for sewing projects such as the tea cosy I showed you the other day), an American Crafts D-ring album, and in fron some different sizes of page protector.  This album is from Shimelle’s class ‘Everyone has a Story’, which I have started working on again lately.  Finally you see my cutting mat (green) underneath, and a few bits of fabric from a sewing project I have got to show you tomorrow.  The little tiny bit of purple album is an old album, which I was reviewing as part of my LOM class!

Snowdrops

I am on the last few weeks now of my project 365.  I am afraid to say that I have missed quite a few days :(.  But I am determined to do one last big effort for the last 6 weeks!

Here are some snowdrops peeking through.  My they are late this year!

Christmas in February!

Had an evening at Burnice’s craft cabin last night.  We had a go at Tim’s no 1 tag from the 12 tags of Christmas!  What fun!  Here’s a sneaky peek, cos we need to order some Distress Crackle paint Clear Rock Candy.  Just off to ask the sponsors on UKScrappers!

Sunday 7th february

I have been sewing today:

It’s for my friend’s birthday that was just over a week ago!  I am quite pleased with how it’s turned out, especially all that cross- hatching!  Pretty straight for me, and no puckers! 

Saturday crop day

How I love my Brighton crop!  Each month we  have a topic to create a LO for the page of the day.  We all vote for our favourite, and the winner gets a small prize (out of a pile we have all donated).   This month’s theme was ‘10’.  My LO is a list of 10 things I like to cook.  It is for my Everyone has a story album from a Shimelle class I did 18 months or so ago.  (I have decided to finish off this project) It also qualifies for last weeks’s Scrap Weekly challenge and fits the bill for our teams UKScrappers weekly challenge!  3 challenges in 1 LO!!!

 

We also like to try a technique.  Ths month Lorna bought her ‘shaving foam’ technique along and we got messy!

We squirted ink onto a plate of shaving foam, then placed shiny card on top.  When you wipe the shaving foam off you get a marble pattern.  Ours were a bit faint and hard to photograph.  Nice backgrounds though!

Friday 5th Feb

I went to Brighton todya for a craft show.  (Don’t I lead a lovely life?)  I went with Sara from my Brighton crop, and we met the others for lunch, then had a look round and bought a few things:

The only thing I really didn’t mean to buy is the paper!  But it is the ‘Venice’ range from 7gypsies, so I am going to scrap my Venice photos!!

 

Here’s one of the displays, all made from fabric and thread!

Thursday 4th Feb

I started Stacey Julian’s Library of Memories (LOM)class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking today.  It cost me a lot of money so I am determined to get the most out of it.

You gotta watch this!

Wednesday 3rd Feb

I didn’t take a photo today so here’s an old one I have scanned in to help me finish Shimelle’s ‘Everyone has a Story’ album:

It’s me in January 1977!  I was nearly 18, so I must have known Maurice for about 6 months.  This picture was taken in London.

Tuesday 1st Feb

Here are some of my purchases from Ardingly.  It is great fun to arrange them and take photos like these!

 

Monday 1st Feb - Another snowy day

We woke up to more snow!  Not much and it was gone by lunchtime.  Pretty cold though and a bit slippy on my bike!