Scrapping4fun

Good Memories

2009-11-06T11:56:00.003Z

Thought these papers would be ideal for these two photos of Alex taken when he was about two (he's now 17!!!) listening to some music on his Dad's headphones (how big are they!!!!). Just goes to show that at that tender young age he loved music and now he's always listening to his songs even though I don't know who half of them are anymore!!

Autumn/Fall

2009-11-04T14:51:00.003Z

Loving this time of year. The mornings are crisp, the sky is blue and the trees look lovely all golden brown and yellow. Great photo opportunities to be had as well and I couldn't resist buying this Fall Postcard (png file) from Jessica Sprague today for only $1.00. There are some other $1 frames and masks on there as well but only for today.

Jessica Sprague New Free Class Coming Soon - Enrol Today

2009-11-01T20:35:00.003Z

Knitting

2009-10-29T16:17:00.002Z

My Nan is a great knitter. When I went to see her yesterday she had a huge basket full of knitted squares she had done ready to be made into a huge blanket!! Couldn't resist taking some photos of her with her blanket and to do a photo collage telling the story about her knitting ready to put on a scrapbook page at some point. Digital template by Cathy Zielske at DesignerDigitals.com

Half Term Week

2009-10-29T15:47:00.005Z

Been a fairly quiet week so far. Spent a couple of days just chilling at home. Yesterday I went to see my Nan and had a walk round the Cathedral and took some more photos. The weather has been glorious the last couple of days, blue skies and upto 17C, not normal for this time of year. Today I went into the city with my friend Angela to do some shopping and treat ourselves to a nice lunch. We went to a restaurant called Wagamamas and I had a chicken & squash curry with rice which was yummy. Bought myself an early birthday present as well! I need a warm coat for walking Lucy and found one in Next of all places not that its cold enough for coats yet. Love this one though as its long enough to cover my bum, just what you need on a cold and frosty morning!!

This mornings walk was lovely, blue skies, sun and mist, my favourite! Trees are looking all autumny. Hoping to go to Holt Country Park in the morning for a walk and then in the afternoon owl spotting if the weather holds out.

My Prizes!

2009-10-26T17:07:00.004Z

I won a Stampin Up prize a couple of weeks ago on Suzanne's blog and the parcel arrived today. Very pleased with what I got and can't wait to make some Xmas cards this week with one of the sets.I managed to do one layout this afternoon using some left over Cosmo Cricket papers using a 6x12 format which I havn't done for ages.
An evening ahead of watching my programmes tonight - catch up on Doc Martin and Trinity!!!

The Weekend

2009-10-26T11:51:00.005Z

The weekend zoomed by again! Saturday was spent doing mundane things like going to the supermarket, The Range, Staples etc. Sunday was spent tidying my craft room at long last. I still had Kim's shelves and boxes full of her stuff from when we decorated her bedroom months and months ago that she hadn't sorted out so Sunday was the day. I share the craft room with a couple of ladders (don't ask!!!) and a vacuum cleaner so not much room in there really but after a good tidy and sort out looks alot better. One day I will get round to painting it a nice lighter colour and would love some Ikea expedit shelves and have storage all matching. One day.

Yesterday afternoon we took Lucy for a walk to one of our newer places that we found, it was around 3.30pm and as the clocks went back Saturday night it was starting to get dull. I just said this is the ideal place for owls - theres a barn, water, fields - and then we saw one!! A lovely barn owl looking for his dinner. He was across the other side of a field from us so abit too far away for good photos but he was out hunting for ages. We are going to go back and set ourselves up in a better spot sometime this week and hopefully get that 'ideal' owl photo I'm after.

Well all my chores are done. Kim has gone into the city with her friends clothes shopping, Alex has gone to his girlfriends so its just me and Lucy, again!!! Going to have my lunch - fresh picked home grown tomato sandwiches and go and mess up my tidy craft room!!!

She's not limping anymore!!!!

2009-10-23T10:03:00.003+01:00

Fingers crossed Lucy got up this morning and not a sign of a limp, back legs or front legs!!! So for a little treat we went for a shorter walk than normal to one of her favourite places where she promptly went as mad as a hatter, it was like letting a caged lion out!!! Beautiful morning here in Norfolk, lovely mist across the heather and brilliant sunshine, love mornings like this.

Now off to do some ironing before work then hopefully some scrapping this afternoon. Half term next week which will be great. Got a few things planned already, day out with a friend, shopping with Kimberley. Hopefully the weather will be nice so can get out with the camera as well.

Blackmail works!!

2009-10-22T16:48:00.006+01:00

Blackmailed Alex into letting me take a few piccies of him this week! Had to promise to take him to 6th Form a couple of times this week which I end up doing anyway! Had to be mega quick while he was playing with Lucy, used the 50mm fixed lens so didn't quite get the photos I would have liked but at least I've got some! Not sure if the one with his tongue out was just me catching him while he was talking or he was sticking it out at me!!! (Click on them for closer look).

Went into the city today and went into our local craft shop and treated myself to some of the new Sassafrass Monstrosity papers. Feel a mini book coming on!!

Love seeing deer first thing in the morning, this one was just that little bit too far away but it stood there for ages watching us.

Photo Canvas

2009-10-20T12:01:00.002+01:00

Forgot to post this one up! Had a play with a canvas yesterday as well. Painted it purple (to match the new lounge!) mounted a photo of Lucy onto mountboard and stuck down on to canvas and then just added a few embellishments. Let me know what you think or if there is anything I could do differently.

Some Layouts

2009-10-20T10:06:00.008+01:00

Yesterday I didn't have the computer all day, had to wait for Neil to do a backup before I used it as we got some sort of virus on Sunday on it. Realised yesterday how much time I spend on the computer, whether its on MSN, Facebook, blog hopping and photo editing = hours!! So after the housework and washing got done, Lucy walked, I did some scrapping. Managed to do FOUR layaouts and all before I went to work at 12pm!!!

All About - used up some October Afternoon tags for this one and some fairly recent photos of the kids.

Take a Break - started this one at the crop on Saturday so finished it off yesterday. Papers are Cosmo Cricket.

Gunton Park - very simple layout that I saw in a copy of Creating Keepsakes Magazine and thought it would be ideal for this type of photo editing. Just some paint round the photos and journalling with a white pen.

Lucy's Taking Over - used a photo from a few years ago taken at my Mum and Dads when they had Lucy for two weeks when we went to Orlando. This layout is for the new challenge on A True Friend Blog. Papers and embellies are Sassafrass.

New Love - A very pink layout!! Photos taken by my friend Judith when we went on our photography workshop day. Layout inspired by Sassy Sasha, go visit her blog if you havn't already she does some brilliant layouts. Papers are from a pad of papers by DCWV.Okay, now off to do some more scrapping after its taking me an hour and a half to take photos of layouts, process, edit, and post up here!!! Our computer is mega slow today again.

Like owls?

2009-10-20T08:57:00.002+01:00

Alot of you will already know or guess that I like owls! Always trying to get that perfect photo of a barn owl (still not achieved this!). Found this great site today http://www.rockscissorpaper.com/weheartowls.html selling lots of lovely stuff. Unfortunately its in the US so postage costs makes most of the items too expensive but you can look.

Its the weekend!

2009-10-17T07:49:00.006+01:00

Today is my scrapbook club day, just a normal crop this time round. Hoping to do an all day crop next month with scrapbook retailers, competitions, workshops etc so watch this space!

Kim is still feeling poorly although she did look abit better last night so hopefully on the mend. She fancied some fruit scones yesterday afternoon so I was a good Mummy and made some!

On the Green opposite our house there are two lovely Autumnal trees with great colour leaves so couldn't resist putting Lucy in the middle of it all, poor dog!!!

Illness strikes the house!

2009-10-16T11:28:00.005+01:00

No, not me, not yet anyway!!! Poor Kimberley is off school with what seems like flu symptoms and is feeling really yucky, so shes snuggled up in bed with her laptop, plenty of juice and a bell just in case she needs attention!!!

Yesterday I popped out to Pensthorpe with my camera for a couple of hours and had a nice wander around and then treated myself to a scone and coffee afterwards!! Concentrated on the gardens and lakes more this time as the Autumn colours were lovely. Spent a long time round the red squirrel area they've got there now as well they were so comical but so hard to get a photo of as they don't stay still, ever!!! Got one really quickly and remembered that my camera has a video function so got a little video of one of them. Will try and upload a video on here soon.

Pencil Lines Online Crop this Weekend

2009-10-16T06:26:00.002+01:00

This weekend the great sketch site Pencil Lines is having an Online Crop, details are:

It all kicks off Friday night with a "pass the parcel" blog hop. Game rules will be posted here Friday 16th at 8pm GMT.
Midday Saturday we start our online crop with some of your favourite past guest designers; from new sketches, to archive sketches and step by steps. There is something for everyone! Whether you are a digi scrapper, conventional paper scrapper, love mini books or even cards, we have something for you all!
There will be prizes up for grabs too from My Little Shoebox, Pink Paislee, May Arts, 3ndypapir and My Minds Eye to name a few!

Been naughty!

2009-10-14T11:15:00.004+01:00

Couldn't resist buying this lens yesterday after seeing it in action on Monday night! And its so good!!! Only used it for a few piccies but the difference is brilliant, can't wait to go somewhere nice to try it out again this week.

Monday night I drove out to a small village near Dereham in the dark which I hate by the way to attend a photography workshop called 'Photography for Dogs'. As it was an evening workshop no actual photos of dogs were taken but we spent over two hours learning about the best settings, looking at examples, showing our own dog photos and getting help and advice. I really enjoyed it. Suzanne the lady who runs the workshop is lovely and doesn't mind answering any of your questions. You can see more of her courses here.

Anyway, back to the lens! The lens is a fixed Prime lens and goes down to f/1.8 for those brilliant blurred background photos you see. Its also very small and very light which makes a change from the other heavy lenses I've got. Going to be great for portrait photos, close up of dogs and the kids!!!

Out of the house early today, walked Lucy about 7.15, just a quick one as she had a longer one yesterday and shes still on quiet walks, then dropped Alex off at 6th Form and then straight to the hairdressers for 9am!!! Got work today as well, an extra shift (need to pay for this lens somehow!!!).

Monday

2009-10-12T09:43:00.006+01:00

Another weekend gone by very quickly. Yesterday Neil and I took Lucy out for a walk as she is getting so fed up with lead walks. We decided to go to Horsey Mill near the North Norfolk Coast where we had been before and knew that there wasn't too much for her to run off and chase! Some parts we had to put her on the lead but walking by the river she was fine. Got some more photos of the mill when we had our coffee and hot chocolate break!!

Digital template by Cathy Zielse, here.

Neil took Kim and her friends to the UEA last night for a concert. Now that they are all 14 they can go without parental supervision much to their delight! He dropped them right off at the doors though which I'm sure wasn't cool!! They went to see Go Audio who were the support band with Mcfly last year and there were also two other warm up groups which the girls loved and Kim got her arm signed!!! Neil took the photo of Kim and her 'signed' arm when she got back!

A quiet Day

2009-10-10T17:09:00.003+01:00

Decided today was going to be a day where I didn't go out - anywhere!! Neil took Lucy out for me for a quick walk this morning to give me abit of a break. I spent an hour or so in the garden tidying it up and planted about 300 bulbs ready for next Spring. Lucy helped. Sort of!!! Then I went and did some scrapping and managed to do three layouts. As my mojo has gone I got some ideas from this month's UK Scrapbook Trends and moved things about abit to make them my own. (Click on layouts to make them bigger).

Love the one of Alex, photos taken when he was about four and he's now 17!! Took Alex to the barbers yesterday as he wanted his hair trimmed and actually had alot taken off, will try and get a photo tomorrow!

Out with the camera

2009-10-08T14:51:00.004+01:00

As it was a lovely sunny, blue sky day decided to go out with the camera into the city to take some photos of some of the many churches in Norwich. The new Norwich 12 Photography Competition is to take photos of some of the churches and this was alot more difficult than I thought. Most of the churches are all locked up, you can't even get into the grounds to walk around them so trying to get a view of one without anything in the way was difficult. Think I will go back at night time and see if I can get some night shots. One of the churches I went to was open - St John's Maddermarket Church - and it was lovely. Very small but with brilliant stained glass windows and a large number of monuments and memorial brasses.

Medieval Norwich had an incredible 57 churches within the city walls, but today only 31 of these still exist. They were built by the wealthy wool merchants as a demonstration of their social standing and wealth. Norwich is renowned for its abundance of churches and boasts more than any other city north of the Alps; however only nine of these are now used for worship. Most of Norwich’s churches were built from flint, which was found locally. It was very difficult to work with and a high level of skill was needed by the craftsmen who used it. The round flint was broken open revealing a dark blue face, which was used to form the outside surface of the building.

Autumn Berries & Leaves

2009-10-07T15:16:00.002+01:00

Took a photo of these berries this morning after we'd had a shower of rain. The red leaves are from my Dad's garden and they really are this red. And these are my new boots! Wasn't really looking for any today but was looking at shoes in M&S with my Mum and I saw these in the sale! Reduced from £79.00 to £39.00, real leather and purple!!!

PhoDOGraphy!

2009-10-05T16:46:00.002+01:00

How To Photograph A Puppy
Remove film from box and load camera.
Remove film box from puppy's mouth and throw in trash.
Remove puppy from trash and brush coffee grounds from muzzle.
Choose a suitable background for photo.
Mount camera on tripod and focus.
Find puppy and take dirty sock from mouth.
Place puppy in pre-focused spot and return to camera.
Forget about spot and crawl after puppy on knees.
Focus with one hand and fend off puppy with other hand.
Get tissue and clean nose print from lens.
Put cat outside and put peroxide on the scratch on puppy's nose.
Put magazines back on coffee table.
Try to get puppy's attention by squeaking toy over your head... Replace your glasses and check camera for damage.
Jump up in time to grab puppy and say, "No, outside! No, outside!"
Call spouse to clean up the mess.
Fix a drink.
Sit back in Lazy Boy with drink, and resolve to teach puppy "sit" and "stay".
DECIDE TO CALL PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.

Autumn is definitely here!

2009-10-05T14:07:00.003+01:00

A miserable, dull, cold day here in Norfolk today, even thought about getting the coat and scarf out but braved it out today at work!

New Lounge - Before & After

2009-10-05T08:40:00.003+01:00

As promised here are a couple of piccies of the new look lounge, nothing too exciting but its so much lighter than before. Need a few nik-naks and want to get some of my photos or more scrapbooking layouts framed to go up on the walls.

BeforeAfter

The Week that was

2009-10-04T12:00:00.006+01:00

Neil's week off last week turned into a very busy one! After Alex's 17th birthday party here last Saturday and spending Sunday tidying up I said that it would be a good idea to decorate now the party was over and so we did! We went from red/orange on the walls with plain Magnolia, that way I could have whatever colour curtains I wanted etc. It took a couple of days to paint the stairs, lounge and dining room and looks alot lighter now. Will take some photos in a minute and post them up later!

We took a break Friday and went out with the camera for the day, taking a little tour round the North Norfolk Coast, stopping at Blakeney, Cley and Cromer. Our first stop was at a place called Wiveton Downs, a nature reserve which unlikely as it may sound for Norfolk was on a hill!!!

Lucy went into the vets for the day Thursday to have a tube and camera put down her throat to see into her throat, chest and lungs - they couldn't find anything wrong so have sent off some samples to the lab. They also took loads of photos of her legs, hips and back but again couldn't find anything wrong thank goodness. She has a months supply of anti-inflammatory drugs and has to have short, quiet walks for a month - on the lead!!!! She is not a happy girl!! Hoping after a couple of weeks the tablets will have worked and we can up the walks abit, she hates being kept on the lead and not able to run about.

Yesterday was spent curtain shopping, I hate shopping for things for the house as Neil and I do not agree on anything. I wanted green curtains he wanted brown!!! We were also shopping for lights for the lounge to replace our orange ones and managed to get them at Dunelm Mill which is now open in Sprowston (piccie later!!).

Back Soon!!!

2009-10-01T09:09:00.002+01:00