The Wicked Cybercrop

Did you join in ? I was going to, I even bought the mystery kit but sadly we had a house full of poorly people and any thought of scrapping remained just that. I am not sure I could have glued anything straight anyway.

I am delighted to have been asked to design a class. Did you see this ?

Having just moved house, I was sorting through my stash and found myself to be in possession of a lot of ribbon scraps. This layout puts those scraps to good use.

I also managed to do the pre crop challenge. We were challenged to create a LO is the theme of "Home is where the heart is". So here it is, a LO about our 'old' house that we've just sold.

I hope to catch up and do a few of the classes once the coughs have departed LOL.

Layouts from Exhall

I have had a couple of people asked to see these layouts. I have ran out of space on UKS so here they are. I must remember to clear some space on my UKS gallery before the cybercrop. If you haven't seen it...I am doing a class for the CC. Hope to see you there.

Sneaky for Exhall

I am getting excited about the crop at Exhall this weekend ( and even more nervous LOL ). Here are some sneaks of my classes. Claire did the image for her mailing and I think it is rather COOL.

It is almost half term

Where has the time gone ?

I have been busy meeting other parents at school, going to various parents' evening, taking up upholstery, fitting out my new scrap room, doing the garden ( well, A did most of this! ), making curtains, sewing a Greek toga for H...

I have also been asked to do classes for a couple of crops YAY. Claire Wheatley (Weetabix) has asked me to do classes for her crop in Exhall (Coventry) on 25th October. I am so excited to have been asked, thank you Claire. If you go to Exhall and you see one nervous person at your crop next week, please say hello! The classes are ready, I just need some sun to photograph. I am not at liberty to disclose information about the other crop though LOL.

All the news are great but a bit dry without some pictures, right ? So here are a couple of LOs that I can actually share.

We went to see Marlins vs NY Jets game in Miami. It was our first baseball game and J had to explain the rules and the scoring to us. Ok, he was a first timer too but he acquired all these playing on Wii Sport! Next is an H LO. We were on Hunstanton Beach and H was treated like a toy by his father and brother...they buried him, carried him, put him in the water....but as you can see, he smiled through it all.

First day of school

Both of my boys are at new schools this year. J has just joined a 13+ intake so he is with many boys in the same boat. Unfortunately H has joined Year 6 at a prep school, all on his own. It is a tough year to be moving school as it is the final year of school but I know he will cope well as he is a very sociable and likeable boy.

I haven't done anything with their photos but here is another "first day" LO that was in SBM Issue 40. I wanted to take on a slightly different angle to first day by extending it to first week. J's school was part of the town of the same name...in fact, the school was the town! School buildings were set out all over the town, much like a university campus. He had to do a lot of walking to get from one lesson to another. This LO shows some of the places he had to go and some of things he had to contend with. I have also included a map of the school and his prep timetable. He was very tired by the end of the week!

Summer 2009 update

Ok, that makes it sound as though summer is over. What do you think ? Are we due some more good weather ? The boys are due back at school this week and whilst I love having them home, I missed my creative time. Anyway, this is going to be a long post about the long hectic summer holiday we've had.

1) We completed on the sales and purchase of the new house on the first day of the holiday. The packers turned up the day before to pack. They continued on completion day and didn't finish till about 2pm. Luckily our buyers were not moving immediately so they were quite happy for us to take our time. I had to abandon the packers and A & J at home to go for my piano exam.
2) Can you take the heat ? The moving meant I didn't have time to get stressed about the exam. I persuaded H to accompany me and we headed to Dogsthorpe. I was sure the church where the exams were taking place would be easy to find. Not so, I had to stop at a corner shop to purchase a map. Luckily I managed to calm down and the exam went well ( except by the time I was doing the third piece, my hands were starting to shake from nerve! ). The good news is I passed with merit and even got full mark for sight reading YAY.
3) Catherine from the solicitors rang to say we have completed on the purchase whilst I was driving to Dogsthorpe so that was good news. I will be driving to Cambridge after the exam. The removers and A&J were already there when we arrived. The team of 4 strong men, with some help from us, unloaded till about 8pm. 'A' then went on an unboxing spree.
4) A couple of days in the new house and we went to Spain to see the inlaws. Andalucia was very hot and dry but fortunately not as hot as it had been the weeks before. I almost melt in the heat.
5) Then it was back to the UK where the weather had been less ideal ( but perfect for all my plants that are waiting transplantation ). We pressed on with the unpacking and making the house presentable for housewarming.
6) We had housewarming. It was great to see our Oundle friends. Now I just have to make sure I keep in touch as I am terrible at this!
7) A couple of good weeks in Cambridge. We took our bikes out and cycled 5 miles to the Grand Arcade, and 5 miles back. This was my first outing on the bike. I learned to cycle as a young girl but have never really cycled anywhere, least of all, on the roads. My bum was very sore after that but luckily it didn't hurt for very long and even better, I didn't suffer the same on subsequent trips.
8) The pool was finally ready for swimming. I had to call out to the pool man to show us what to do. At first everything sounded very complicated but I think we've got the hang of it by now. We took the opportunity to use the pool whilst the sun was out. H swam nearly every day. The next stumbling block will be to 'close' the pool for winter. I might have to get Richard out for that.
9) Next stop was Miami. A was working in Boca for 2 weeks so we took the chance to experience the sunshine state. We stayed in Delray Beach which is right next to West Palm Beach. Our hotel is at the end of a long road that is full of grand mansions, just opposite the beach. I didn't see anyone famous but I did see a man in the local Starbucks, writing a book. Could he have been a famous author ?
10) A was working from 6am till late so it was nice to able to have him go away to Orlando with us for the weekend. Yep, you guessed it, we went to Walt Disney World. We got to our Disney hotel around 8 pm Friday night and got an early night, to recharge for the weekend. We did Animal Kingdom ( dissapointing! ), Magic Kingdom and Downtown on Saturday. On Sunday we went to the Studio ( my favourite! ) and Epcot. I overheard someone say the Toy Story ride at the Studio is very popular and they tend to run out of fast pass so I persuaded A to get some passes. This was at around 10 am. and the passes were already running at 3pm. By mid-day they were all out of fast passes and the queue for that ride was 70 mins. At the end of the ride, we all thought, "that was fun but I would be p*ssed off if I queued for 70 minutes".
11) We went shopping at Sawgrass Mills outlet mall. This place was vast. People walked around the shops, pulling a suitcase to put all their shopping in. We weren't that organized and not that crazy buying everything up. I bought a couple of jeans for me, some jeans and t for the boys, a couple of Oakley's rucksacks for the boys and some shoes.
12) On the way back to Miami, we had some time to kill. We made our last shopping stop at Pembroke Pines where I managed a Michaels, JoAnn and Target. Hamish wanted to check out Club Penguin's toys. Unfortunately all the ones in Target have had the coin codes stolen. If you are not familiar with Club Penguin, each toy come a coin that allows you to unlock a hidden item from the Club Penguin online game. We looked in Toys rUs and their coins were all intact.
13) Then it was back home to get ready for school. I had loads of school uniform to tag. With my lack of sleep due to jetlag, it was quite difficult to sew straight or even to thread the needle LOL.

I will be missing for a while

We are moving next week and I am going to struggle to post anything let alone create any layouts...I need to start packing my supply. The packers are coming on Tuesday next week to pack but I am hoping to sort my stash so it will be easy to find at the other end. Packers usually just throw everything in a box which might mix stuff up but boy, they are quick.

In the mean time, I have a couple of travel layouts to share.

This layout features photos from the city tour of Prague. We were driven up to Prague castle where we had a walking tour, then back on the mini bus to visit that church with the doll, followed by a walk across the river on Charles Bridge to the big square for the clock tower.

This layout is about a stop we made at a curio shop in Kenya. We were on a road that runs parallel to the equator and all the shops have this sign up. If you stop, the shopkeeper will show you how the water swirls in different directions depending on whether you are in the southern hemisphere or northern. Apparently this behaviour was documented and named after a western scientist but the Masais have always used this behaviour to navigate the vast Mara for centuries. What was even more curious for me was to see that the water stops swirling when you are dead on the equator, under that vast yellow sign.