A Day in Photos

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Things I love about Mother's Day

1. Breakfast in bed! This year.... Toast, Bacon, Scrambled egg and Mushrooms. Yum! All very Weightwatchers friendly too which is definitely a good thing.

2. Presents! Ok, just one this year but it was good! Poach Pods! Brilliant for my newly discovered higher protein breakfasts.

3. Hugs from my girls! Need I say more?

4. Handmade cards from the eldest! I definitely think she's got her Mummy's passion for creating.... and a certain 5 year old flair.

5. Sunday lunch cooked by someone else! This year, my Mum.... and rather delicious it was too!

6. Being able to have a lazy day.... Priceless!

PS..... I'm not sure why this post didn't publish on the day! I've only just noticed that it was saved to 'Drafts' instead of being published. Sorry!! (10/04/11)

Photography A-Z Challenge

I chat on quite a few forums here on this wonderful web of ours but one of my favourites has to be UKScrappers. It's full of wonderful like-minded crafty gals (and guys!) who inspire me and challenge me to do better, go further and create more.

Each year they come up with a variety of challenges to keep us creative through the year focussing on various media and techniques. Last year I was reading my team mate Jo's blog an awful lot as she was taking part in the "52 Walks with my Camera" challenge and was producing some really OUTSTANDING work. I was in awe of her amazing photography skills. Looking at my sad little pictures I realised that the reason I don't improve is probably because I don't practise enough. So this year, along with Jo and quite a few others, I decided to take part in the "A-Z Photography Challenge". Every two weeks we are supposed to take photo's of people, places or objects that start with a particular letter. 

As usual, I am waaaaaaayyyy behind! However, I didn't want to get all depressed about that so I've decided that while the year is still relatively young I want to do some catching up. My inlaws came up two weeks ago for a few days to visit and we all decided to visit one of Glasgow's many museums - the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. I took along my camera and decided that this was probably as good a place as any to do some "catch up shots" for the letters A, B and C.....

A is for Arches....

.... Antlers...

.... and Art!

(oh and Anthea too, but you saw these pictures in an earlier post!)

I love Glasgow's architecture so B is for Beautiful Buildings! 

These are both of Kelvingrove Museum's external features. This red sandstone is so prominent in Glasgow's architecture as the whole city is full of it. Everything from grand civic buildings to the lowliest tenements were built with it.

C is for......

Curves.....

....Café's... 

 ....Cecily with Grandad's silly Cap on!.....

...Crockery and Cutlery....

... Chairs... (particularly Art Deco ones!)

.... Costumes....

... with beautiful Cuffs...

.... and Columns!

We all had a fabulous time at the museum - even my two girls! I admit that I didn't think it would be their thing but they thoroughly enjoyed it. We didn't even make a dent in it though as we only got to see about a third of the museum so I think a few more trips will be called for.... and while we're there I shall definitely be visiting the café again. The food was gorgeous, especially the Chorizo and Bean soup that I had! Delicious!!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Come back soon as I'm currently working on photo's for 'D'.... and I want to share about my One Little Word for 2011!

Himself the Engineer

For those of you who don't know, I'm married to an engineer... a Civil Engineer. They are the guys that deal with roads, bridges, water, pipelines etc. For the past 12 years or so Himself has been exclusively devoted to the world of Water Engineering. He helps companies like Scottish Water (his current secondment) to design pipelines, reservoirs and treatment works. He is very good in his field and has worked his way up to being a Senior Project Manager with a whole team of people working for him at his every beck and call. However, it may surprise you to know that I think he has completely missed his calling. Yup, Mr Diva is in the wrong job. What he should have gone into is Lego Engineering.

For example, take today's offering... we have all been poorly today with a stomach bug so Himself took the chance to spend some extra quality time with his two acolytes. Herself, being the eldest and currently more demanding, asked Daddy to build her a 'Building site'. "You want me to build you a house?" says He. "No Daddy, I want a building site". Now, having spent a lifetime on building sites of various shapes and sizes, Himself is well aware of what makes a proper building site.... but could he recreate it in Lego scale?

He rose to the challenge I think!

Please note, all builders are compliant with current Health & Safety regulations and are wearing the appropriate safety gear. Correct use of the sack barrow has been ensured by full training which has been given on site. The skip will be emptied regularly by a trained operative. All building materials will be stored in a designated area on site, out of the way of foot and vehicular traffic.

As is normal for a project of this size there will always be someone slacking off for a 'brew'. This site is no exception.

All tools will be stored in the appropriate place and distribution will be overseen by the site foreman.

Ladders may only be used if there are no black cats present.

Unfortunately a recent gas explosion resulted in the deaths of the majority of the workforce, including all the site medical staff and the site skateboarder.... ok I don't know why he's there but he definitely died in the blast!

 Your comments of condolence for the deceased are always welcomed. Please do not send flowers, however, you may wish to send a donation to "The Dead Lego People Foundation" in memory of our fallen colleagues.

(Gosh, it's been a long, tiring day! My sense of humour is having to kick in or else I'll end up killing someone tomorrow)

January Craft Update

I'm amazed! I have actually managed to get some scrapping and cardmaking done this past month. Wonders will never cease! There are a few things which I didn't get any photo's of; the last CJ that I did, for example. I'm working on another one at the moment, but will probably forget to take a photo again. I usually do, simply because I'm usually in a rush to get it to the Post Office. It's only after I have posted it off that I remember - by which time it's too late! The other thing I don't have any photo's for yet, is my weight loss journal that I'm just finishing off at the moment. Once it's done I shall take some piccies for you to look at.

Until then, you will have to make do with pictures of a few cards and one LO that I did this month. It's not much of an output, but it's more than I've done in quite a long time!

I made these three cards all at the same time. One for my friend's birthday and her hubby's birthday (they're only a few days apart) and then also one for my SIL's hubby who is around the same time. 

Then I also made one for my FIL's birthday which is in early February. He's a massive Beatles fan (as he went to uni in Liverpool when the Beatles were still gigging there) - and as he's turning 64 hubby commissioned me to do a card based on the song "When I'm 64" from the Yellow Submarine album. The inside of the card has the words of the song printed inside. Hubby was pleased with the results!

I somehow managed to find a few days where my Mojo returned for a bit of scrapping too, so I did this scraplifted LO. It was based on a LO that has been in my UKS favourites folder for ages! It worked really well and was lovely to do a LO about my baby girl growing up! Unfortunately I can't remember who did the original - so if you know please give me a shout so I can credit her!!

Anyway, I hope everyone out there is having a fabulously crafty time! I'm going to go finish off my weight loss journal so that I can update you all on that a bit later!

December Catch Up : Advent Calendar

 From this... 

To this...

Its only taken me two years to complete, but I finally managed to finish this advent calendar which I gave to my Sister-in-Law and her family just before the Advent season. I have another one waiting to be done for our family. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we get to use ours!

Going Digital

This weekend I was supposed to be tidying up, cleaning the house, putting up rollerblinds and generally getting ready for our visitors who are set to invade next weekend. However, after realising that we are going to be away for a full two weeks over the Christmas period... and that I'm going to be bereft of scrapbooking gear for the duration... and that I will therefore have no way of keeping up with Shimelle's'Journal Your Christmas' class, I thought I would look into Digital Scrapbooking. Ha! "Look into" turned into almost a full weekend of fiddling about with Photoshop, surfing t'interweb for free digital kits and generally having fun in a non-gluey, non-sticky, non-cutting way! So absolutely nothing got done in the way of cleaning or tidying, but I *am* most definitely going to be doing digital scrapbooking for those 2 weeks over Christmas. I'm quite proud of the results of this weekend's labours, especially as last week I couldn't even figure out how to print out my photo's from Photoshop... and yet this weekend, I have managed to suss-out layers, changing colours, using brushes and merging!

The picture is of my brother flying an awesome kite on the beaches of Northumberland in August 2007 when we went camping together for 10 days. The beaches were beautiful, the scenery was stunning and the weather was atrocious! (Except for this particular day!!) Oh, and thanks to ShabbyPrincess for the free digi-kit!

Today I am starting our Christmas cards... and my arm is already sore! Perhaps punched edges and borders for 100 cards was not a good idea!! I'm currently considering buying 'Sure Cuts a Lot' for my Cricut so that it can do the rest for me! Anyone have experience of this software and can tell me if it would do??