Ifa Zainon

The Thread that Binds

2012-01-30T06:14:00.000Z

I love these girls! I don't often get to London to see them but when I do, it is always worth the trip. My journalling says, "I only know two of these ladies from my time at TKC but it never cease to impress me how we always hit it off with each other, to instantly bond...".

TKC is a boarding school in Malaysia that I went to back in the 80s. Most of my school friends are back home but some of us who live in the UK or are visiting try to keep in touch by meeting up once a month in London.

Christmas Theatre Trip

2012-01-23T07:21:00.001Z

A theatre trip is turning into a family tradition in our household. A couple of weeks ago we went to see Ghost the musical, in London. It was amazing. Even A who is very sceptical about actors bursting into songs, thoroughly enjoyed it.

In 2010, we saw the Nutcracker at the Coliseum. Do you still remember the weather in 2010 ? We drove down to London in the heaviest snowfall. It was slow going in most places on the M11 but we were fortunate, we got there and back home safely. I have a few photos from our drive, taken from inside the car. It was definitely No Winter Wonderland.

I first blogged about this layout for Sarah's Cards. You can find the instructions to make the layout here.

I hope you like the moose! Are you hoping for some snow this year ? I am enjoying the mild weather right now...I only wish it wasn't so dark.

Remembering 2011

2012-01-16T06:27:00.001Z

I wanted to make a layout to document the little things that might not have made it on a layout in their own right. I was fretting over photos before finally deciding to do without as the journalling is the most important aspect of my story.

My journalling reads, "According to a Johnie Boden flyer, I probably trudged 20 miles behind a supermarket trolley, found 2 new passions and woke up on the sofa 52 times...at least! I definitely worked hard all year for my piano exam, took up Zumba and woodworking, finished renovating the pool only to fill it up again but most notable of all, spending a lot of time with A whilst doing it."

I have used a lot of items from October Afternoon Miscellany pack from their Sidewalk collection...I love that product from all their collections!

Cambridge Croppers January 2012 Sneak Peek

2012-01-09T13:47:00.005Z

We are having our workshop this Saturday. These are the layouts we will be working on.

We will be using papers from Studio Calico Memoirs and Authentique Gathering to complete these layouts.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Missing, Lost to C.O.D

2012-01-09T06:50:00.001Z

My dear son, J, spends a lot of time on the Xbox. What can I say ? At least he is not out at all hours and I know where he is.

If you don't know, C.O.D stands for Call of Duty and the next bit of letters are MW3 or Modern Warfare 3, the latest incarnation of COD which came out early November.

I wrote, "J, this is a photo of you in August, on our family holiday, happy, bubbly and very much part of the family. Then we came home, school started and I was pleasantly surprised. You kept this up. You would come down in the evening to ask if anyone wanted to play a game or watch a movie. Then C.O.D came out in November and we don't 'see' you no more."

Don't get me wrong. I am proud of him and his achievements. He is delivering the results at school ( though Biology leaves a lot to be desired! ), he still plays the piano and he gives some of his time every fortnight to work in a charity shop.

He now has 2 weeks of mock exams for GCSE. Good luck J.

A New Tradition

2012-01-03T10:46:00.000Z

I hope so but before I get to that, Happy New Year. I hope 2012 will be peaceful, successful, prosperous and filled with lots of love for you all. And may it be a very crafty 2012 too.

We started a new family tradition this holiday. A conversation between A and his colleague, Mr M, revealed that during Christmas, Mr M family always has a family meal where every member of the family cooks a dish. A told me, "What a great idea, we are going to do that!". "But what about the turkey ?", I protested. "Not on Christmas day itself, after all the left over turkey has been eaten...New Year", was his reply.

A proceeded to writing on some scrap of papers and putting them into a hat. I drew Starter and the theme is Mediterranean. Not too bad a theme for our first time, plenty of different cuisines to draw from around the Med.

I made some houmous and roasted vegetables that I served in tortilla wrap.

J drew drinks and appetizer. He made fresh pink lemonade. He intended to make blue lemonade but the blueberries turned the lemonade pink. How would you turn lemonade blue without resorting to colouring ? He also served some Halloumi.

H made pizza including making the dough and tomato sauce for main.

A made a black and white dessert, serving milk pudding and chocolate mousse.

I complained about the lack of presentation so A stuck a sprig of mint on mine.

I would love to hear what you get up to for Christmas but please, only family friendly stories.

Some Christmas Layouts

2011-12-19T08:29:00.000Z

How are your preparations coming on ? I have all the gifts bought but then, we have it easy, we only need to buy for the four of us. I am hoping to get the decorations and tree up in the next few days. Then I can start to feel Christmassy. In the mean time, I am reminscing with some photos from last year.

These layouts were made with Sarah's Cards December kit. It contains some lovely Webster Pages, All About Me and Theresa Collins patterned papers. I have to confess I found the Webster papers a little intimidating and too pretty to cut up,to begin with.

Having Butterflies

2011-12-17T08:39:00.002Z

A layout to commemorate my piano exam last week. Or should that be commiserate ? I am still waiting for the result so I don't know. I am not a natural performer...I tried to steer away from drama and dancing when I was at school. I also find counting very difficult as I don't get the beat. Though I try to make up by sheer hard work, going to the piano exam was very scary.

Edited to say: I have just had the email from ABRSM. I passed grade 5. I even passed my aural but only just but there's no shame in that, is there ?

All dressed up and ready to go

2011-12-15T08:35:00.000Z

Remember this sofa ?

I first blogged about it in Feb 2010. It was a wedding anniversary present from A to me.

It spent a few months being stripped and decontaminated (it had woodworm). Then it went away to be repaired and repolished. When it came back, it looked like this. It was quite light, I could bear-hug and lift it about.

I started on the upholstery in Sept 2010. Here are few stages this sofa went through.

Putting on substantial weight,

Nearly there. At this stage, it was really heavy. I needed A's help to get it to class.

And here it is finally done.

I am making something called a sofa table to go with this beauty.

Cambridge Croppers January Workshop

2011-12-14T08:42:00.000Z

We are having our next workshop at Trumpington Pavilion on 14th January, 10am-4pm. Please email me huzaifah_zainon at hotmail dot com for more details.

Sarah's Cards December Challenge

2011-12-12T09:35:00.000Z

It is time for another challenge. This month, Claire has challenged us to mix up the paper manufacturers. Here's mine.

I have used Echo Park, Jillibean Soup and Bella Blvd. Besides the patterned papers, I have used a multitude of other manufacturers for the embellishments. Can't you tell, I love mixing things up! Please do join us.

Silence is Golden ?

2011-12-06T08:48:00.000Z

Did you miss me ? I have been concentrating on getting ready for a piano exam. I had the exam yesterday. Now I am free to indulge in my hobby, go shopping, prepare for christmas, tend the garden...eeek, the list goes on.

Here are a few layouts to share whilst I clean the house...I might be a while.

First is, "Drum boat, wedding rings and the exploding ketchup", a tale from our trip to Aarhus in Denmark. I told the full story at Sarah's Cards blog.

Next are my boys on a ride at Legoland, Billund.

Last of all is a layout about the most beautiful day that I spent with my dearest A on my birthday. I drew the seed heads on the background paper.

A few layouts from Copenhagen

2011-11-14T14:15:00.000Z

This is the view from our hotel room in Copenhagen. We were a good way away from the tourist area but it was exciting to see all of the city like this and trying to guess where the Tivoli gardens might be or even if we can see it. I am not sure we did but on a good day, you could see cruise liners to the left and a very big Oresund bridge connecting to Sweden on the right.

The next layout shows my guys were resting under a tree in the gardens of Rosenberg Castle. It seems appropriate to decorate the layout with another tree.

Lastly are some photos of our walk to see the Elephant Gate at Ny Calsberg factory. This was a good way away from any tourist site but I am glad we made the effort. The elephants were quite stunning. I was surprised to see that some of the elephants were decorated in swastika but my boys enlightened me that the swastika has Buddhist and Sanskrit origin...just the sort of thing they might have decorated the "saddle" on the elephant in India.

Unlucky or Lucky ?

2011-11-11T12:59:00.000Z

Nat wanted us on the Sarah's Cards team to "Think Negative" for the November challenge.

It was unlucky that J tripped playing footie in the first of week of term but so lucky that he landed on his left shoulder. It wouldn't have been so fortunate if he was left handed, but he isn't.

So, this layout is called "Lucky".

As another nod to negative, I have also included a punched out branch and the negative from this punch on opposite sides on the layout.

Do play along with us for a chance to win £20 to spend in store.

Bromsgrove Cropaganza

2011-11-08T08:45:00.000Z

I taught at Bromsgrove Cropaganza last Saturday. I was a little nervous but I needn't have been. Everyone was very excited to come to class and their excitement definitely helped carry me through the day. Thank you ladies.

I taught two layouts.

Followed by something off the page, a Tando Multi Frame.

If you were at class, I would love to see your finished frames. Please leave me a link in your comment.

Thank you again for having me and for being such wonderful pupils.

Storytelling Sunday - Traveller's tale Part Deux

2011-11-06T07:00:00.001Z

You might remember my airport and immigration concerns from a previous story. Ok, so I made it to New York and back, but something happened. Yes it did!

When my boarding card was scanned, the scanner beeped. "Can you wait over here ?". What's wrong now ? What was going on in my head ? They are overbooked, they are going to bump us off. Some cheeky sod has reported us for drug smuggling. Do I look like a terrorist ? Then A's card beeped and I was slightly relieved...at least I don't have to go through this alone.

After what felt like an age (but probably just a couple of minutes), "Can I have your boarding cards ? Here are you new ones. You've been upgraded." OMG! What a relief. Due to my phobia of being singled out at the airport, how we were told we were upgraded was a little uncomfortable and scary.

The photo was taken from our departure gate at Newark airport, as we wait for our seats to be called. The glass window was very dirty so it was not a great photo but you can see New York skyline against the rising sun.

I have used AC Amy Tangerine's for this layout plus some white Thickers that I coloured with a marker pluse 3 Studio Calico asterisk wood veneer that I coloured with embossing powder. And, hurray, I am delighted I managed to include our boarding cards. With online checking, we don't get those very often anymore.

I'm a Creative Girl

2011-11-05T06:00:00.000Z

I have joined the DT at It's a Creative World. I made my first post today, sharing my favourite products, frames.

Royal Jelling

2011-10-27T09:52:00.000+01:00

We visited Jelling to see the large rune stones of Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth. The stones were amazing, though not very well presented when we visited. They were doing renovation work around the stones with much digging and one stone moved aside to prevent futher deterioration to the stones. But we managed a peek ( and we get to say we've done that! ).

I didn't know this but did you know the bluetooth symbol

is actually the runic letters H and B, for Harald Bluetooth's initials.

This layout was done for the Bubbly Scrumptious challenge. I have used the colours from the board and as I was drawn to the arrow on the inspiration board, I made some of those for my layout too.

Sandwich and Sandwich Police

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000+01:00

LOL, still can't help laughing at this. We stayed in a B&B in Sandwich, MA when we were in Cape Cod last July. And guess what they painted on the side of the police cars ? Sandwich Police! Ok, maybe it wasn't that funny but we giggled a lot that weekend.

Here's a layout from that weekend.

I've used a sketch from Scrapology for this layout.

Report from Camp

2011-10-21T14:00:00.001+01:00

H is due to go to Winter Camp in a few days so I thought I had better record his summer camp stories before they get all muddled up in the next installment.

Unlike J, H is always full of stories of his adventure though J is getting better. In fact J is probably the most animated about his camp trips. Anyway, today you get to hear about H's trip.

H went to Somerset for about 10 days last July with over 100 boys and some girls. They packed a lot of activities in those days. H spent a lot of time sleeping on his return.

I wrote on the layout :-H, aged 12 of the Water Buffalo patrol, your IPod got seriously soaked, you did cliff jumping, into the sea. You did sea kayaking, you surfed (ish) and you sailed but mostly, you walked. You had an overnight hike. Luckily your pack wasn't too heavy. You ate a clove of garlic because you were very hungry, you ate the dough because the bread was never going to cook. You must have been hungry to eat fish and chips which ended up making you sick.

I have used a lot of Amy Tangerine...I adore those tapes. Inspired by the typewriter and reporters, it is called Report from Camp.

I did this layout for Created by ATDML Thirsty Thursday, playing with the letter G...G for Games and all things ourdoorsy.

Sarah's Cards October Kit

2011-10-19T14:14:00.000+01:00

I have been working with October's Kit which is full of autumn gorgeousness. This is my favourite layout, Folk Fest.

H and I were left on our own as J and A went to listen to another act at the Festival. So we filled our time taking some photos on timer.

Dina Wakley Fabric Mini

2011-10-14T12:41:00.000+01:00

I got to spend a day getting messy and inky with Dina last week. She taught us about colours and how to avoid getting a horrible brown mess. Here's what I made.

I wrote all over the book with what Dina called a magic pencil. I think I started a trend with "love is all you need". We got to road test Dina's stamps. I adore the heart and the star so guess who now has them ?

Bromsgrove Cropaganza Sneak

2011-10-13T14:53:00.003+01:00

Are you coming ? Would you like to see what I have been working on ?

This layout is called You&I and features a 6X4 photo of DH and I. The & ampersand is quite a prominent fixture, so a photo of 2 people would be perfect. The size of the photo is not critical. You could use a smaller or bigger photo or even use 2 photos instead.

The next layout contains a 6x4 photo and a 3x3 photo of our visit to a garden at Egeskov Castle. We were trying to complete the Maze. For you own layout, you might want to bring playful, summery, outdoor photos.

We are working with American Crafts Garden Cafe supplied by Sarah's Cards. I adore those varnished accent papers!

We are also working with Tando Creative Multi Frame but that is not ready to share yet. If you want to be photo ready, you can check out the measurements at Tando's website. I am using 3 photos to go into the largest aperture, two ovals (3.5 cm x 4 cm ) and the centre circle ( 3.5cm ). You could use four photos to go into the four largest ovals or even 5 photos. Due to the smallish size of the photos, you might be best to go with clear head&shoulder, passport type photos.

Please bring your normal tools such as pen, ruler, knife, scissors and adhesive. You also need wet adhesive such as PVA or diamond glaze. If you have it, please bring a heat gun for embossing, wipe clean mat and some brushes for acrylic paint.

Bad boys at the Museum

2011-10-11T13:55:00.001+01:00

Why did you write "Bad" on a board and held it up to be photographed ? Should have known, A did it and photographed the boys holding the boards. This photo was taken in the Children Museum at the National Museum in Copenhagen.

This layout was done for Sarah's Cards October Challenge. Do join us for a chance to win £20 to spend in the store.

Cambridge Croppers Memories of Summer Layouts

2011-10-11T09:05:00.002+01:00

These are the layouts we made at Cambridge Croppers last week.

Memorabilia challenge winner

2011-10-10T14:04:00.000+01:00

Is Helen B. Helen, your parcel is going out to you this afternoon. Enjoy. Thank you all for taking part.

Posing statues in Copenhagen

2011-10-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

It started with this.

A asked H to imitate this discus thrower at Copenhagen's Botanical Garden.

Then I was asked to pose with this lady in Rosenberg. I had an easy pose and yet I didn't even do a good job of it.

Lastly, here's J trying to look cool next to 3 bronze men.

I made this layout with J's photo, "Can you hold that pose ?" based on the Scrap Map for October challenge on Creative Craft World.

This layout gave me the perfect opportunity to use those Maya Road chipboard cameos which I painted and glazed with Diamond Glaze. Even the queen's sneaked in with a stamp! I also took the opportunity to use my favourites at the moment, some Cavallini Post-it notes.

Storytelling Sunday - What's your diagnosis, doctor ?

2011-10-02T12:13:00.000+01:00

Over ten years ago, I started getting red rashes all over my face whenever I exerted myself. Nothing like a marathon or extensive work out, just running to catch the train for work, that was just there, on the platform. Over time, I could feel the itchy rashes spreading to my scalp...eugh! Not sure what I look like but can't be pretty, can it ?

Over time, the unsightly rashes came with less and less exertion, some times just cycling a small hill in Cambridge. I also started getting a headache a few hours after the exertion. I couldn't even play boxing on wii. Running up the stairs on London underground meant I would have to pay later.

The headache got so black after a bout of tennis coaching in 2006. Something is very wrong! I went to see a doctor. I had various test but everything was normal. She offered to refer me to a hospital but reckoned it was merely the stress of moving to the country. Since she put it like that, how could I be so hysterical ? I decided to suffer and exert myself as little as possible. But sometimes just walking on holiday could give me the blackest of headache and at times, heat stroke.

By the beginning of this year, I was getting a headache nearly every week. I am now in a different area with a new GP so maybe I can get a second opinion. In April I went to see a doctor. She examined me, ordered some blood tests and said, "You are just dehydrated". I let on that drinking a glass of water seemed to bring temporary relief from the headache.

So I went home and drunk plenty of water ( but I was also permanently needing the toilet ) so I decided to give up on tea. I had the worst one week of withdrawal symptoms. Yes, including those headache but at least the water was helping and I didn't need to go to the toilet quite so often.

After that week, I am almost free of headache and I don't get those rashes, cycling. I am now doing Zumba (lol, on the wii ) without fear of later suffering. I miss my tea but I don't miss those terrible headaches.

ps:I have tried decaf tea but that brought on the same symptoms so it is not the caffeine.

This story was written for Sian's Storytelling Sunday. Please join us.

First post, first post...

2011-09-30T13:13:00.000+01:00

I am so excited, I have to share with you. I made my first post on Sarah's Cards blog.

This is what I made.

Still in pain, still posing as Napoleon...

2011-09-26T11:43:00.000+01:00

First week of school and J had a tumble playing lunch time football. He collided with another boy who ran across. J tripped and landed on his shoulder. The school nurse phoned, "Mrs G, J has injured himself playing football. Can you come get him and take him to A&E ?". I picked J up, I thought he would be able to walk to hospital which is practically next door to school but he couldn't even make it to my car in the car park.

We arrived at A&E, J looking very pale. Fortunately we don't have to wait as children are seen immediately at this hospital (beats King's College hospital in London where stabbing and gun shots are the emergencies! ). They dose him up with painkillers, took an x-ray, proclaimed, "you have fractured your left clavicle!", slinged him up and sent us home.

He is still in some pain but the left is a blessing because he is right handed and will not miss out on school. He is gutted (NOT!) about having to take time off piano but his XBox trigger fingers on both hands are working in tip top condition! This afternoon he is going to work at a local charity shop for his community service...I hope he will be ok.

Cambridge Croppers Memories of Summer Sneaks

2011-09-26T11:23:00.000+01:00

We are meeting again a Trumpington Pavillion this Saturday 1st of October. See you there at 10am.

So, were you the wiser ?

2011-09-12T08:39:00.010+01:00

So, did you guess ? Could you read his expression ? He is not a very emotional boy.

This layout is dedicated to J for his recent exam successes. When I told a good friend of mine his results, she said,"Now, why is that not a surprise?". Maybe, but it was good to get the confirmation. Onwards to 8 more next summer.

I made this layout for Sarah's Cards September challenge. Hope you will take this opportunity to take part and win for yourself a gift voucher from the store.

Memorabilia

2011-09-10T09:30:00.003+01:00

What do you do with them ? I don't mean the precious, historical ones but those tickets, leaflets, postcards and maps that you pick up on your travel ?

These are just some of the stuff I picked up from our last trip to Denmark. My boys and A are very good. They always save these things for me. I have a few drawers in my scrap room that are filling up.

I do use them, some times. Remember the Wembley layout ? I used a ticket on that. And I cut out the ladies and gents from a Versailles pamphlet. Whale Watching was inspired by Dolphin Fleet's leaflet and a lighthouse on a crisp packet.

I decided to make an accordian mini book using a tri-fold leaflet from the Eiffel tower.

I used the leaflet itself as the base of my minibook. I glued a 6x6 black cardstock cover to the front and back.

The cover was made by cutting a 12x12 cardstock into four. I glued two together to make the covers thicker. For the front, I cut out a window on one cardstock to accommodate the plastic cover from a Crate Paper button pack. I carefully removed the plastic cover from the card back of the button pack and used these to contain a small display for the title. I added these to the front cover before I sandwiched the two cardstocks together.

Now the book contains a running commentary of what we did in Paris as well as some of the other leaflets we picked up.

What have you done with your memorabilia ? I would love to see them. Add your projects below for a chance to win a kit from Cambridge Croppers workshop. You have until the end of the month to join in.

Embracing Technology

2011-09-09T09:08:00.000+01:00

Even though I was a Computer Programmer, I am what you would call technophobe. Not anything to do with work, but more to do with gadgets in my personal life. I have a bog standard mobile phone, albeit with pretty pink blossom print and jewels. I try not to pick up the remote control, if I can help it. I avoid the Kitchen Aid unless I know I absolutely cannot beat those eggs for a cake ( though I avoid baking as much as I can ). Ok, some times I sneak a browse on A's iPad but only when we travelling because that is the only device around.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still prefer to read a real book! But I have "discovered" the Kindle. I am currently reading Conn Iggulden's Conqueror Series. I love that I can quickly purchase the next book in the series without having to wait till I am next in town.

Here's a layout I made about the books I read...with photos of some of the books. I have used loads of Crate Paper labels and cut out flowers from Crate's Potrait Collection.

I should make a technophobe layout too, shouldn't I ?

Back to School

2011-09-05T09:22:00.000+01:00

They indulged me this morning. J has lost his big hairdo but the barber did ask, "when did you last come ?"

And H will not be in the youngest year in school anymore.

Photos from Denmark

2011-09-01T09:13:00.000+01:00

We are back. Here are a few photos from our trip. We went to Copenhagen (though didn't make the trek to Little Mermaid ),

stopping off in Odense for Hans Christian Andersen house

Egeskove Castle

and Svendborg.

On the way, we had to cross this looooooong bridge, the Great Belt Bridge.

We also saw "Hamlet's" castle at Helsingor

Then we went to Billund for Lalandia water slides where the tunnel was 3 storeys high.

and the original Legoland.

And then it was time to come home. The free Wi-Fi at the airport meant an end to our five days without internet so J can get his fix and check his IGCSE results. Look at him. What do you think he saw ?

Hope you all had a great summer holiday. Are you ready for school ? We are...I am looking forward to Monday.

Have you heard my news ?

2011-08-16T17:22:00.002+01:00

I have a new gig.

Shimelle's Scrapbooking Weekend

2011-08-15T13:11:00.000+01:00

I managed to dip in and out of the challenges Shimelle set at the weekend.

The Stickery Challenge, you saw earlier.

The Add to the Story Challenge features a LO from my "minimal" days so plenty of space to add some journalling.

Half Page Challenge is a LO about my trip to NY Botanical Garden.

Chop Your Paper challenge gave me "permission" to cut and use a lot of patterned papers.

Cape Cod Adventure

2011-08-13T10:02:00.006+01:00

After New York, A decided to take a couple of days off work so we can have a long weekend together (aaahh). We looked at a number of options before he had the inspired idea of going whale watching off Cape Cod.

We picked up a car and headed north. We made Woodbury Common our first stop. I picked up a new handbag from Coach...my summer handbag because it is white. And couldn't resist a 7 jeans, in petite fit...made just for me! Woodbury Common is fantastic but not as good as Sawgrass Mills near Miami.

We stayed at this Victorian B&B in Sandwich. Very cute, with rickety floorboards and wonky walls.

Our whale watch was with Dolphin Fleet who operates out of Provincetown...right at the end of that tip of Cape Cod. Didn't realise this but it is still 60 or so miles from Sandwich so we set off early.

I handed the camera to A because his height enabled him to shoot over everyone up front. And we were so fortunate to see over ten whales. This whale was waving her fins about

and a tail...

from which I made this layout.

I have used Truprint collage again, copied the whale and flags from Dolphin Fleet's leaflet, drew the lighthouse based on one on a crisp packet that I saved and used a lot of broad nib markers to colour in.

This layout is inspired by Shimelle's Stickery Challenge.

Newmarket Race Night

2011-08-11T15:10:00.004+01:00

This is the layout from the Newmarket Nights we went to a couple of weeks ago. I found a Crate paper label, labelled "Field Notes" which prompted me to go with the field notes style.

This layout was done for a challenge at Creative Craft World.
Besides the 2 photos positioning, I departed a good deal from this page map. I have used a lot of stamping, my fingers are truly Distressed.

My field notes are titled Horse Racing (beautiful beast), Tote Betting(lost all races), Fish & Chips(oily, argh), Dressing Up(we were not) and The Wanted (should have gone to see Tom Jones instead).

The photos were printed collage style by Truprint. Have you tried this option ? It does not cost any more that regular prints so when I last ordered my prints, I made a collage for each event. I am not sure I will use them all but they were cheap.

10 for the Tenth

2011-08-10T14:31:00.000+01:00

Today,

one..I had a lie in.
two...the sun is shining but not too much.
three...the boys are playing, together, with good humour.
four...my fingers are truly distressed from doing a lot of stamping.
five...my David Austin's William Shakespeare roses are unashamedly beautiful
six...the spring bulbs are arriving in shops
seven...J is cooking Chicken Pie and Chocolate Mousse for dinner.
eight...I wondered if I will survive the 3 hours kayaking tour in Copenhagen.
nine...I am reflecting on how things have gone the last few weeks and yet,
ten...I still have school shoes to buy and my MOT to arrange

H Cooked Dinner

2011-08-10T11:38:00.000+01:00

Last night H cooked dinner. He shopped at Tesco and the local green grocer for ingredients. He made Salmon bake with some salad and Banoffee pie from Jamie's 30 minutes meal. Asparagus is out of season so he used an orange pepper instead. I think this meal came in under £10. We used a tray of value Salmon from Tesco and the veg man donated some tomatoes and chili. We also used some home grown salad.
They were both delicious. The boys talked dreamily of having a second round of Banoffee pie at lunch time.
H reckoned Jamie had his book very well laid out and the instructions were easy to follow but how did Jamie Oliver make chocolate curls for the Banoffee ? In 30 minutes ?
We made the pastry case ourselves so we ended spending an hour on this menu. And because the pastry is hot out of the oven, the fillings ended up being too runny but we live and learn.
It is J's turn tonight. Is it dinner time yet ?

Walking the West Highland Way

2011-08-09T16:36:00.031+01:00

Early in the holidays, J went on an expedition with school. They walked 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William on the West Highland Way, over a period of 10 days.

His journey started at Cambridge train station where a group of 25 boys caught a train to Glasgow via Birmingham, I think, taking something like 6 hours. I sent him off, making him promise to take some photos for me.

He survived but got bitten by midges all over ( should have used the Avon's skin-so-soft I sent him with). Despite this, he seemed to have enjoyed himself. But, there is a but, he did state, "I am never going on an expedition again!".

He also took a lot of photos for me so Yay, here are a couple of LOs. In the first one, he is just setting off from home, so I grabbed him for a couple of photos.

These are some photos he took and the information he divulged. He doesn't talk much so to call this LO Snippets from Camp, is very appropriate.

Amongst the things he told us was how his patrol served up pot noodles for cooking competition night which was rejected in disgust by the leader, the waves in Scotland were THIS (hands above his head) high though we are unconvinced, the camp sites were positively luxorious with hot showers and how they would spend time in the adjoining hotels' toilet to warm up.

I drew and made the tent out of BG Out of Print papers though my ropes and ties are woefully inadequate for Scottish wind, I am sure.

Storytelling Sunday - An outstanding year

2011-08-07T09:30:00.001+01:00

Nearly three years ago, things went very wrong at school for J. He went up to a good ( allegedly!) old school. He arrived in year 7 with a top academic scholarship so we know we didn't have to worry on that front. How wrong we were! It was an old school but still trading on old reputation, unfortunately.

The root of the problem was a family, or perhaps the remove-the-opposition-at-all- cost Competitive Mum and her son Precious.

Precious came from a different area and thus diffrent primary school. We knew of them from competing in county chess competition. We took chess competition as something that J did, some he won, quite a few he loss. But at county level, he was champion. At old school, Competitive Mum confessed that they were always looking for ways to eliminate J. Please! Precious wasn't even runner up!

At the beginning of year 8, Competitive Mum started to put her plan into action, a barrage of, J took Precious' school shoes and hid it, J threw banana at Precious, J was nasty to boy A, J said something to B...all carefully documented and emailed to the demon house master. We paid for new shoes and dry cleaning. Though J's blazer was similarly smeared in banana, J chose to keep his side of the story to himself.

We believed that the school would be capable of even-handedly handling a group of 12 year old boys. We also believed that boys need to learn to resolve some of their differences themselves. We were wrong. This school do not do even handed or fair. I didn't think J was completely guilt free in all these episodes, six of one and half a dozen of the other, sprang to mind. Old school appeared to have a soft spot for butter-would-not-melt Precious.

We were summoned to the house master, emails went back and forth, J was sent up to the head master. "This can't go on," so I searched for another school. At the end of Year 8, we moved to Cambridge. We appreciated that you might get the same kind of family again at new school but how the school handled these situations is key. I am glad we did.

Whilst the episodes above prompted the move, we were not entirely happy with the schooling. A maths teacher told us, eyes refusing to meet ours,"Even though he came top of the set, I gave him a C because he didn't do any of the extended work I left at the back of the class." We would have let it slide and hope J would be more motivated later.

He is a different boy, thriving at a school with inspiring teachers and inspiring students to boot. This is a layout I have done to celebrate his achievements.

I wrote, "The jury is still out on that hair but undisputed is how well you've done this year. You have even taken the time to write out your scores for me so that I will hear it first. Your form prize on Speech day was richly deserved".

Are you storytelling with Sian ? If not, why not ? You will find more great stories at her blog.

An Exploration of Colours

2011-08-07T08:55:00.007+01:00

The prompt this week from Shimelle's Explore class was about colours and how we use it in our work. Sure, she also gave us permission to pretend we were comic book super heroes for a day. What colour costume should I make ? What should I call myself, conquering the laundry mountain ? Super mum ?

My favourite colours are blue, which I use both in my pages and I wear in copious quantity; red which I scrap with and used to wear a lot when I was younger; yellow which I work with happily and yet never wore. I love bright colours.

On my pages, I like a lot of contrasting colours. I don't really work with what goes rather more what clashes. This week I decided to try something different.

Here I have a photo of H in school uniform wearing black blazer, purple tie and white shirt. I don't like purple and it is unfortunate that the boys' school colour is purple. So I have used these colours and very small amount of patterned papers. I stamped some circles, added some purple watercolour with a cut out Basic Grey Out of Print in the middle. I even wrote with a purple pen. In my pallette of 8 water colours, purple is the one that is hardly used.

H was asked to represent school in the Time Spelling Bee competition. The school didn't do well overall so the layout doesn't mention results, merely "You might not often be invited to represent school at sports but at spelling you are very good. So proud of you when you replied "I'd love to" when Mr G asked you to be in the spelling bee."

An Event Full Year LO

2011-08-04T09:04:00.002+01:00

An Event Full year

2011-08-01T10:28:00.012+01:00

We were at Cambridge Folk Festival yesterday. It is a very well attended event and for the last two years, when we saw people going to it, often wondered why we didn't have tickets. So this year, well prepared, A bought tickets before they were sold out.

It was fun, the weather was kind and we had a very chill out Sunday. Though the same couldn't be said of the Monday! A has sun burn on his feet whilst H and I are aching all over from sitting down/laying on the picnic blanket. Haven't heard a complaint from J yet, so he might have escaped unharmed.

On Friday we were at Newmarket for horse racing followed by a concert by The Wanted. We enjoyed the races, picking a horse and cheering for it. I picked a horse called Jubilance in the third race. Here they were riding out to the starting line.

And then a hundred yard to the finish line, they were a touch ahead.

But sadly they came second by 3/4 length.

Last half term, we saw RSC's Macbeth at Stratford-upon-Avon. That was an outstanding production but there were at least four bored audience.

In the Easter holidays, we saw Gadget Show Live at the NEC. That was truly in the spirit of the show on tv, so my guys enjoyed it. I would say, I tolerated Suzi!

In February half term, we saw Maurizio Pollini at the Festival Hall. He played 3 of my favourite Schubert's Sonatas. I said to J, "Aren't you impressed ? He is playing three whole sonatas from memory ?" To which he answered,"But mummy, he has been playing them for at least 50 years!" J and I enjoyed the recital whilst H and A dozed off.

At Christmas, we saw English National Ballet's Nutcracker. I think we were all reluctant audience for this one. J asked,"Is this the one with the giant rats?" We didn't know but I don't know how he knew. Probably something he saw in his youth, with school perhaps ?

In September we saw England play Hungary on our first trip to Wembley. That was great, somehow helped by the many goals scored by the home team. In August we saw Jools Holland at Audley End's Picnic Concert. What a beautiful summer's evening.

And the point of me retelling all these ? J asked me, "Why do we have to do all these things ?", to which I replied,"Because you refuse to join in any school trips, I have to enrich your life."

I was prompted by Shimelle's Explore class when she prompted us to make a daily list. I have just extended my day a little LOL.

Does it sound perfectly Perfect ?

2011-07-22T18:07:00.003+01:00

A friend commented that my "Alone in New York" post sounds perfectly perfect (Hello, H!). So what could be more perfect ?

I am doing Shimelle's Explore class. This week our prompts involved maps, circles, self portrait, adventure and perfection. Actually her prompts are more detailed and quite thought provoking so I am summarising.

So, there you go, some maps, some circles, plenty of adventure, four days to do as I please, sounds perfect, no ? Actually, I've just realised, it is not that perfect as I forgot the grid of 9 circles.

Alone in New York

2011-07-19T14:39:00.014+01:00

The children were both going away to camps so I very tentatively asked A if I could accompany him to New York and he said,"yes". But he warned me that he will be working and I have to entertain myself. Me ? I had four days to discover New York. Easy! The weather was very kind (if a little too hot). As you can guess, the immigration officer let me in.

On the first day, I walked up from 26th St up to 100th to find Michaels. But there were many stops along the way, mainly beads and trimming shops but noteably, for a coffee and a slice of heavenly NY cheesecake. And couldn't resist a self portrait in Times Square ( though I must say, I need longer arms to avoid that big chin/neck look! ).

I also encountered a group in front of the Lincoln Center waiting for Dan (Radcliffe). Some of them were holding up posters and one even said,"Harry Potter saved me from illiteracy". One girl claimed,"First in line and I've been here 6 days".LOL. I didn't stay...Michaels was calling me.

On my second day (and the hottest day of the week ) I headed out to the Bronx to visit New York Botanical Garden. The best part is the area around the Conservatory which was right next to the entrance (for train!). I should have made my way here straight away, instead, I took the land train, got off when I saw the rose garden and then couldn't figure out a quick way to get to anywhere interesting. I felt a bit lost and very, very hot walking in the forest.

The conservatory ( or very large glass house ) houses all the usual tropical and arid plants and the area around has many herbaceous borders. My favourite! Elsewhere they have a rose garden and many collections of tree. Honestly, it is more an arboretum with magnolia, rhodos, lilac, cherries...best visited in the spring.

Next day, I headed south to Katz's Deli. This place was heaving and slightly intimidating with their ticketing...I didn't know what I have to do. In the end, I just sat down and waited for waiter service. And I was worried when the waiter took and kept my ticket. There were signs saying I have to pay a min $50 penalty if I don't have the ticket to give up on exit. Eek. But he returned it when I was ready to go.

Can't imagine them clearing out the place to film "When Harry met Sally".

I didn't have any plans for my last day. I just ambled around the Fashion district, discovered some cool shops and the Fashion Institute museum. I love the Tinsel Trading Company. They sell a lot of vintage cool items...most probably over priced but that's New York for you. At around 3, A finished work so it was time to head out of New York for a long weekend. I'll tell you about that later.

Today, H is home from camp. It is now ten and he is still in bed. J arrives home from Glasgow later this afternoon. Both boys will have a lot of sleep to catch up on.

Cambridge Croppers First Workshop

2011-07-09T19:17:00.000+01:00

We made two layouts in class today. We made a lot of embellishments, got a litte bit sparkly and quite messy with paint.

Our gorgeous kits were supplied by 3JollyScrappers. They are also selling some kits, if you are quick, you might be able to bag one and join in.

We also ran a layout challenge in class with a prize so it is only right that if you got the kit, you also have an opportunity to win a prize. I'll post the challenge next week.

Now that our thoughts are turning to the summer holiday, I also made a little mini book from a trip to Paris. I will post the instructions for this next week. For now, all I can say is, "Please detach the plastic case from the Crate button pack carefully and save both the cardboard backing and the plastic cover."

This is my projects table.

And now I leave you with the lovely ladies, deep in concentration. Do you think I make them work too hard ?

Previews for Cambridge Croppers July workshop

2011-07-04T13:45:00.006+01:00

I have been busy working on the projects for Cambridge Croppers workshop this Saturday. Can't share them yet but wanna have a peek ?

Storytelling Sunday - A traveller's tale

2011-06-30T09:09:00.014+01:00

Many years ago, I used to travel for business. I worked for a software house that provided computer programs used by commodity traders. Whilst most of these traders choose to carry out their businesses in Europe, one intrepid coffee trader did it right where the action is, in Costa Rica. I was asked to come out to install the program and run through some training.

A colleague who was in-between trips, M, kindly offered to sort out my travel. "Ah, that's cheap!", he said before it transpired that the San Jose being discussed with the travel agent wasn't the same as San Jose that I want to travel to, in Costa Rica. First warning sign though I didn't see it then.

Being Malaysian and still toting a Malaysian passport, the next essential step was to check for visa requirements."Oh no, she doesn't need a visa", he was told.

So with my tickets and bag packed, off I went to Heathrow for a flight to Miami.

Nothing to report from that comfortable flight until we hit Miami. A hurricane was also hitting Miami! Oh no, my connecting flight was in a couple of hours. We were left circling in the air for what felt like a long time before finally touching down to a completely chaotic airport. Miami airport isn't the most wonderful place at the best of time. If my incoming flight is delayed, then the outgoing could still be here so I rushed to the transit desk.

Alas, the flight to San Jose has left. "Don't worry Madam, we will put you up in hotel. Wait there and a bus will pick you up. I have booked you on tomorrow's morning flight at 10.05." I was relieved to have been found a room, considering all the delays, a room can't be that easy to come by.

Nothing to report from there either. I went to sleep, got picked up in the morning, duly checked in for the American flight to San Jose and we were off. I remember vividly the blue of the sea of the Bahamas and thinking, OMG, Cuba IS that shape in real life and how sparsely populated the Carribean islands were compared to the Florida Keys.

Easy flight... till the arrival at San Jose. Naturally, I had to join the longest queue at immigration, queued for what felt like hours only to be told, "You don't have visa". "But I don't need a visa", I protested. "Come with me", he said. Ahh, at last, we were making progress. He marched me straight back to the departure lounge for the flight I came in. Just like that.

I asked the airline employee what's going to happen. I was told that they will take me back to Miami, I can get my visa there and then I can come back. Oh no, I was nearly in tears. I asked if I could phone the people I've come to see just to let them know. In the days before mobile phone, I was kindly provided with a phone. I phoned S and he said, "Don't worry, wait, I'll sort it out". The flight left without me, my passport was removed from me and when I was reunited with the said passport, there was a very nice Costa Rican stamp in it ( the postage kind ) and just like that, I had a visa and was let into the country. It turned out S had connection and contacted a minister for help. ( ps : I also get another stamp on the way out )

Now, I have fond memories of Costa Rica but I am not sure I will ever go back. Right to now, I still double and triple check my visa before I travel. We are going to New York soon. My 10 year B1/B2 visa expires next year and yet the visa is in an expired passport. Googling it, apparently I am still good to travel but until they let me through the immigration gate, I will worry. Though not enough to stop me travelling, obviously.

So that's my story. Hope you can join Sian and tell your own story.

He loves Mandarin

2011-06-22T16:45:00.008+01:00

H started going to Mandarin club in September 2010. This involves staying after school until 5.30pm. Initially, I encouraged H to go because this coincides with J's Thursday afternoon activity. Now, coming to end of the school year, I am pleased H's enthusiasm for the club and the language has not diminish. During the year, I always have plenty to look forward to at pickup. H being H, the quality of reporting is excellent! Added to that, a "Tiger, tiger" sang in Mandarin to the tune of Frère Jacques and H's own poem, an "Ode to Miss H" ( Miss H being the Mandarin teacher ).

The school wants to encourage the pupil to take up more languages. This years Year 7 embarked on something labelled International Studios on their time table. This involves a rotation of Arabic, Russian, Portuguese and Japanese. H has enjoyed the brief taster but out of the languages, he loves Mandarin most.

The idea for this layout started with a Chinese newspaper that I picked up in a local shopping centre. The newspaper has been sitting in my scrap room for a while. I wasn't too sure how to incorporate it into my layout until I saw Suzanne's class on ATDML cyber crop. I photo copied a section of newspaper and used it in place of the "type" patterned paper that Suzanne used. I also omitted the stitching and elected for "dots with a pen" instead.

I have used an old collection from Crate Paper called Little Sprout so that's another kit broken into. I am slowly working through my paper stash that has been sitting idle this last year. I find that Crate Papers always work for me...I love Crate Paper. What about you ? What's your fail safe paper line ?

Inspired by a colour combination

2011-06-17T10:03:00.003+01:00

I saw this on PunkyScraps. I love the yellow against the blue and decided to use that on my layout.

The layout is about H who is undergoing orthodontics treatment. He started with removeable braces which didn't work very well because he hardly wore them. After six months, our orthodontist decided that it wasn't working so we went the fixed brace route. Much to our relief as the my nagging to H was causing a lot of family rift. The removeable brace would have corrected H's jaw without having to have any teeth out but the fixed brace route meant he had 2 out to make some space. But I guess that was a small price to pay.

I have used some pretty Webster's papers for this layout, just because I wanted to. The only justification I have is, one of the papers has clocks down one side. Do you think H would mind ?

Play along to UKS Scrap Factor Week 9

2011-06-17T09:26:00.005+01:00

I have decided to play along with UKS Scrap Factor this week. The challenge is to create unique texture on your page.

My garden is what you would call a cottage garden. There are a lot of plants ( or there will be one day!) jostling for space, there are a lot of colours and texture too...for me, the more clashes, strike that, I should say, the more contrast the better.

So taking the cue from my garden, I have gone for a lot of contrast and haphazard arrangement.

Firstly I created 3 circular focus points (3 to echo 3 photos) that will run through my journalling. I die cut some of those white grid thingy that also masquerade as non slip matting. I added individual Maya Road roses that I cut from a length of ribbon...2 textures, 2 colours!

Next, I cut out my title from that trusty, scrapbookers' supply, the pizza box. Maybe not very unique anymore now that scrapbooking supply companies produce alphas in corrugated card! I wanted the brown to echo the earth in the garden with flowers bursting forth in the form of some jewelled wires.

Lastly I sprinkled some clear beads and added drops of diamond glaze for some haphazard jewels effect...Monty Don and his Jewel Garden, eat your heart out.

You can see it better here.

But at the end of all that, it turns out I haven't used patterned papers at all! Do I qualify for next week's challenge, I wonder ?

I love wired flowers

2011-06-15T14:47:00.007+01:00

Can you spot it in the layout above?

How about now ?

I have combined a burgundy wired flower with a spray of diamonte. My wired flower even has a tiny diamonte in the middle but I haven't been able to find anymore of this variety. Had to resort to these from ebay. I think John Lewis also do them. The diamonte spray did come from John Lewis, from the wedding supply section.

Remember my other Versailles LO ? This also sported some wired flowers around the Thickers title.

I love these tiny gems from unconventional source! What about you ? What have you spotted on the high street and lovingly used in your layout.

Zig-zagging down the Cam

2011-06-13T09:42:00.004+01:00

We went punting at half term, from the Mill to Granchester Meadows. Not quite all the way to Granchester but half way there, pass the nudist swimmers! Nudist swimmers ? Have you seen them before ? If you are familiar with the river, on your way to Granchester, you will see 3 piers to your right. This is where they congregate. We saw a man with a towel around his waist patrolling on land and calling the swimmers out of the water when rowers and punters approach. We saw a man got out the water, completely starkers. And behind the hedge, I sneaked plenty more naked bottoms... LOL.

Anyway, back to the punting. This was our first time punting. We've been before but we did not do the hard work. It is definitely not as easy as it looks. It must be fun to work at Scudamore, to be able to watch the tourist bang left and right against the banks{, to secretly laugh}. We had a ticket for all day punting from GroupOn but we needed an early start because there is a limit to actual availability on the day. So we were there at 9! Ok, maybe more like 9.15 but we were the first to be off. Which was lucky because we can practised our technique without worrying about bumping against another punt. On the way back, we smartly punt to the Mill, thinking,"Oh my goodness, don't these people know how to punt!"

Blog hop at Punky Scraps

2011-06-10T08:35:00.000+01:00

Nat invited me to the blog hop at Punky Scraps. The challenge is to create a LO using the sketch above ( I am sooo rooting for those flags! ). So here it is.

The photo is H on Christmas day looking very cute in paper hat. I made some paper hats using tissue paper and added them to some letters in the title. Even the bird was crying out for a hat. I did get out some paint but wasn't brave enough to let rip LOL.

A Workshop in Cambridge

2011-06-09T17:02:00.003+01:00

I am doing a workshop in Cambridge. It is on 9th July, 2011 between 10-4 at Trumpington Pavillion. Please email me huzaifah_zainon at hotmail.com for more information and to book your place. Hope to see you there.

Fall in love with Paris all over again

2011-06-06T13:27:00.007+01:00

Remember this layout ? The photo was taken over 20 years ago, on the first trip to Paris for me and A. Over the years, we have been to Paris many times, more often than not, as a side trip or stop over or something to do when not screaming on Space Mountain at Disneyland.
Last year we went back with the boys, destination Paris. FULL STOP. We had a blast doing some very touristy things; catching Mona Lisa ( and the Louvre) for the first time, going up the Eiffel Tower as always and posing on the Champs-Élysées. We also did lunch at the rooftop restaurant at Lafayette. And discovered Pierre Herme's macaroons. And visited, absolutely heaving Chateau de Versailles. Want to see some cheesy tourist photos ?

I am loving the clean and simple

2011-05-31T10:44:00.007+01:00

Do you have one of this ? The teenage boy who grunts and umphs ? But I am grateful, because he also quietly gets on with life in general. And when he speaks, he usually says something worthwhile.

What about one who is sunnier but also suffers (ok, we suffer!) stormy bout ? But then, he lights up my life. He would also gladly pose for me for some photos.

Lastly a family trip to Wembley last year. What a goal fest that was and we were right behind the goal. I have also included a ticket from this visit. I keep collecting tickets and leaflets from our outings, I really must use some of them.

I have enjoyed hunting out little contrasting embellishments for each one. For the Wembley LO, it had to all be red. The little England flag is one of those embellishment for Crocs shoes. So what do you think ? Too white ?

Back to scrapbooking

2011-05-24T08:47:00.007+01:00

I haven't been scrapbooking since my last post. Then last week I went to Scrap-a-mia in Southampton. I had such a great time,I came away brimming with enthusiasm. I have since finished my projects from the weekend which I will share later but here are two layouts I have made since. Now I wish I didn't stay away.

First up is my little one on the first day of school. Well the photo is but the journalling is more recent. I always do the first day of school photos but aside from the good photo, handsome chaps in their new (too big) uniform sentiments, I don't really have much more to say for a layout so I tend to expand the story a bit to say what's school like for them. I am thinking, I might also do an "end of year" report for this one.

Followed by our pit stop trip to Giverny last August. We were in Paris for a long weekend and we saw for the first time, Mona Lisa ( disappointing! ) and Versailles ( far too busy ). We had a whole day to kill between checking out in Paris and taking a late afternoon shuttle from Calais so we made a detour to Giverny. There were no paintings of great value left in Giverny but they had some prints. I love the scale of Monet's waterlily paintings. And to be able to see the landscape that inspired his paintings especially that lily pond (complete with a man in a little boat tidying the planting).

I am sorry I was away. Will you forgive me ? Will you still visit ?

First day blues

2010-09-06T09:44:00.004+01:00

My boys have gone to school and I am missing them. I am feeling the blues when I play "Jackson Street Blues" (Incidentally, that's the grade 5 piece I started at the beginning of the holiday and guess what, I had a lesson on Saturday and I've pulled it off! But let's leave that for another day ).

The house feels huge and empty without them. H starts at the Upper school today so with both boys at the same site, only one drop off point for me. There will be a few after school headache though but I am sure we will cope. The major point will be trying to motivate J to join more clubs! But we can't be too pushy, he has some IGCSE to contend with in June.

It started with this

2010-09-01T09:30:00.004+01:00

I was asked to do a layout for Scrapbook Magazine and the brief was to try a new style. I made Angkor Wat that you can see above. It uses very little patterned paper and generally "very light". I started by stamping the 3 frame stamps to form anchors to the 3 separate areas on my layout. This gave me 3 areas around which to group "stuff".

Centenary Ball followed, in the same vein. The photo was taken when we arrived for the Ball at school to celebrate the Prep school's 100th year. I don't usually like to do B&W but we were dressed in black anyway, so. I added very little to the page. Some saving stamps, K&Co die cuts, some Prima flowers, an old Daisy D journalling spot...

And whilst I was feeling nostalgic last week, I made Anticipating Paris. The photo was taken (and printed) 20 years ago from our first trip to Paris ( aaahhh). I didn't use a lot on this layout either, just my favourite chicken wire stamp from Prima and some Cavallini & Co stickers.

So what do you call this style ? I am enjoying doing this. I have far too much little things that would go unused otherwise. But what do I do with all my patterned paper ?

3 layouts from Alton Towers

2010-08-23T11:02:00.004+01:00

My class is on at The Studio

2010-08-21T15:55:00.002+01:00

Check this out.

You can fly

2010-08-19T16:05:00.001+01:00

We went to AirKix in Milton Keynes last weekend. And, H could fly.
He went in, smiling all the way and he flew like a natural. On his helmet was a monkey and if you imagine one of those "cymbal banging monkey", the monkey on H's helmet was doing the same throughout. It looked as though the monkey was clapping. So the Superman award goes to H.

I did ok, I managed to fly but I kept sinking to the bottom. Because I am very flexible, I managed to curve my whole body backwards rather than bending my legs. My, how I hurt the very next day. When I got into the wind tunnel, initially I was a bit apprehensive. I was even holding my breath. Then I thought, I can't do anaerobic respiration for a whole 1 minute 15...even sprinters can't. So I took a deep breath and I was fine, I even managed to enjoy myself. I don't think I will be taking this up though...I don't look good in a jumpsuit.

J and A didn't do very well. Their legs were all over the place. Perhaps it does not help to have endlessly long legs to do this ?

We exchanged our Tesco clubcard vouchers for a family flight ...more fun than a bag of groceries, that's for sure. And very good deal with the 4x value.

And I made this layout with the photo.

The Studio is having a cybercop

2010-08-16T12:44:00.003+01:00

Will you join me ? I am doing a class. If you fancy having a go, check out the supply list.

We rode on Fourteen or was it thirteen ?

2010-08-13T21:06:00.008+01:00

Imagined our surprise to see Thirteen that we rode yesterday is now called Fourteen. Alton Towers renamed their new roller coaster because it is Friday the 13th. They have replaced all the labels on the shop and coaster just for one day. They even had some limited edition Fourteen mugs and t-shirts. Personally, I think the 13 inserted into the word works better in Fourteen because it is missing an I in Thirteen.
Sadly, we didn't get the photo. J said, "Nope, we are not getting that. I don't look good in it." LOL. He has actually been excellent in posing for the photos. Whilst we were all screaming down a steep fall, J retained his composure and smiled. We bought the photos in digital format on USB bracelet. I did try to ask what quality the photos would be ( to general laughter from my family ) but they "photographer" thought I was mad. Here are a couple from our family favourite rides.

You were not expecting Nemesis, were you ?

Does Kraft = Lack of Sunshine ?

2010-08-09T12:01:00.004+01:00

I looks like that for me! I did 2 layouts last week and ended up using Kraft as the background to both.

I printed some photos for H to put in his minibook and had a couple left over from his ski trip...that went into "First Ski Trip". H had a great time and will probably want to go again ( as opposed to J who vowed never again! ). Everything was great except the monotonous meals at the hotel, soup for lunch and pasta for dinner. H usually loves pasta and soup but, everyday ? He had enough by the end of the week.

Next, a layout with a photo. I wanted to record my musical milestone but didn't have a photo of me handy so I opted to go without. I am scrabbling about on the piano trying to play a jazz piece that was a grade 5 exam piece a couple of years ago. It is marked "easy relaxed tempo", 1 crochet = 76 beats/minute. Eeek...if I could play it at 50/minute I would be happy. I am so struggling moving my left hand up and down the keys and finding big chords. I am also playing a Rondo, "this is proper Mozart", said Jenny but that ended up being ok. Well, I have all holiday to practise.

and Sevilla completed our trip...

2010-08-04T10:55:00.013+01:00

We also had to do Sevilla. We set off early one morning. As we drove pass Gibraltar, I couldn't help commenting on how grey the sky always is, over this little spot on the Costa del Sol. Actually, to begin with, it was a slightly grey day over Sevilla too.

This is a view from the Giralda. It was a long way up. Fortunately you walk up ramps rather than steps. Can you see the river ? Do you know that Christopher Columbus ( Christobel Colon ...cue the laughter from my guys! ) set sail down this river on his journey to discover the Americas.

I didn't like the cathedral very much. Apparently it is in the Guiness Book as being the largest cathedral in the world. That is is but it is also squat and unattractive. I am not sure Columbus was even buried there! I think, this is a rare attractive angle to the cathedral showing the Giralda. I thought the Giralda looks remarkably similar to the minaret at the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh. It turned out, they had the same architect.

After the cathedral, we walked around the shops, had coffee, stopped at a pastry shop ( though I elected to forego as I had too much churros in Marbella yesterday ) before visiting the Alcazar. I like this place better.

Can you spot the fake frontage ? Quite remarkable.

But those churros thought me a lesson in not to be too greedy...my boys are getting thoroughly fed up waiting for me LOL.

We finally did Alhambra

2010-07-30T08:58:00.010+01:00

We have been visiting A's M&D on the Costa Del Sol for a number of years now. We usually stayed quite local in terms of the places we visited whilst we were there. So we've done Gibraltar, Marbella, Jerez, Ronda and many, many white hilltop villages ( the roads to which usually make me very sick ). A couple of years ago, we made the effort to go to Cordoba so that's another tick on my must see Andalucia.
A's M&D are in the process of emmigrating to Australia. This summer might be our last trip to Andalucia. So my other must see ?

First is Granada and the Alhambra. (Did you know Granada means pomegranate in Arabic ? I didn't ).

We flew to Madrid and picked up our hire car. They definitely have a better class of cars at Madrid compared to Malaga but I am not sure why we decided to start from Madrid when Malaga is closer to Granada.

We arrived in Granada and it was a scorching 41C. I nearly melted walking up to the Alhambra that first evening. We wanted to pick up our tickets but it turns out the ticket machines were closed. Luckily we spotted the Alhambra bus so we took this on the way down. The next morning was an early start. We have booked the 8.30 entrance to the palace. We took the sensible way up was on the bus, queued for the ticket machine, queue to go in and after a short walk, got to the castle. We were one of the first in so the palace was still very quiet. If you are going to visit Alhambra, I recommend you book your tickets and try to go early to avoid the crowd.

Have you been ? What do you think ? Was it what you thought it might be ? I like it, but it wasn't as great as I thought but then, I have seen the "originals" in Morocco. I have also been to smaller Alcazars in Spain which are similar. My favourite Moorish building is still the Mezquita in Cordoba...now that is truly something ( and different! )

My son is leaving primary

2010-07-27T17:29:00.000+01:00

H has just finished primary school and is excitedly waiting for September. In the mean time, he was set "homework" to present his autobiography. He has decided to make a mini book ( wow, what a surprised ? We reckon it could be one of the most original presentation at school! ). He asked me ( I am blessed! ) to take a photo of him on his last day at prep school so I get to make a layout too.

Next up are some elephants photos from Kenya. I am always amazed to spot a family of elephants, moving gracefully through the plain, hardly making a sound...practically gliding for an animal so large. And yet, if you spot giraffes or zebras, the sound of their hooves...I didn't expect that.

I have just noticed that I have made two layouts on yellow cardstock! The sun must have some effect on me.

Island adventure

2010-07-15T08:35:00.001+01:00

This is another layout I made with the left over from Exhall. When I cut out the motifs from the Webster's papers, I saved the boats. I also had a spare map paper unused from which I cut out the legend. I had to pull out a sheet of cream cardstock from my stash and with the addition of Webster's lace and alphabets, here is one very co-ordinated Webster's layout.

J was quite brave, posing within snapping distance of these stuffed crocodiles whilst H was a bit unsure. There was also another photo where a couple of crocodiles were pulling a carriage. H was definitely worried in this setup but then he was only 3 years old.

The photos were taken many years ago, in the pre-digital camera years and were scanned, hence the patchy quality.

Challenge for The Studio

2010-07-13T12:26:00.004+01:00

I forgot I was due to join in this challenge at The Studio. The last couple of weeks have been a bit manic but luckily I did the layout way back when Rebekah asked me. Here it is.

It is called "Listen to your dad". My boys didn't want to play nice when this photo was taken...hence the long face when A said, "You might as well look nice as she is going to use it anyway". Actually he might have said it on another occassion but hey-ho...that advice would have been perfect here too! This photo was taken in front of the John Lennon wall in Prague last year.

Exhall Summer Workshop layouts.

2010-07-05T11:35:00.003+01:00

Sorry, I have been busy with end of term activities, I have neglected to post these layouts that I did for Claire and Tracie for the Exhall Summer Workshop.

Here's a funny story or two.

2010-06-21T10:46:00.004+01:00

I took the photo of my boys sitting in front of a statue at Angkor Wat. They looked a bit fed-up and maybe a tad embarassed too. Not sure if you can read the journalling but it says, "you two were inspecting this statue very closely. You were touching and wondering what the hanging bits under the body of the statue were till it dawned on you that this statue is male". Eugh!

I made this with the left over kit from ScrapRevolution Crate Paper kit that I worked with last month. I love the multishape label stickers that Crate Paper produce with their collection. Very reasonably priced and so much fun.

The next one consisted of some funny photos of my boys. They were practising their "beheaded" look at Alnwick Castle. Alnwick castle had a box with a cleverly placed mirror which means when you look from the front, it appears as though your head is missing the body.

When I was picking out supply for this layout, I picked up the journalling block that says, "10 reasons to smile". I didn't want to list 10 reasons to smile ( I have hundreds! ) so I decided to alter the usage of the journalling block by incorporating it into my title. My, as usual, very long title is, "don't need 10 reasons to smile, I have two".

Exhall Summer Workshop 2010

2010-06-16T08:40:00.001+01:00

Want to see what I've made ?

I've done 2 very different samples but I will be teaching the same techniques to cover both. Everyone will be able to decide which layout to make and maybe even do the second in their own time. One is pretty, one more whimsical.

Can you guess which is which ?

The paper line is very pretty, totally lush. Can you guess which it is ?

So, are you coming ? If you haven't booked, I think we are sold out but you might be able to buy the kit from Stephanie at Indigo Mill after the event.

I forgot to share

2010-06-15T13:31:00.003+01:00

You didn't think that was the last of the holiday photos, did you ? They are not!

But today, you get a little break. I made this little "wall-art" many moons ago. He snaffled it and promptly put it on the wall in the kitchen and now that it is practically "fixture and fittings" of the house, I completely forgot about it. I was going to hang it in my scraproom, some words to live by, perfectly framed by an Ikea box frame.

I've used loads of pretties ... tissue, fabric, lace, jewels, beads, pink, stickles...you name it, if I love it, I included it. Why not, it was for me afterall!

Holiday photos

2010-06-10T10:43:00.005+01:00

What ? Again ?

I go through phases. When we go on holiday, I tend to take hundreds of photos. When we put it all on the hard disk at home, the numbers can be slightly overwhelming. Can you remember granny showing you hundreds of her holiday photos ? Now, I never want to bore everyone with all the photos so I pick out something like 10% ( or less ) to post.

Which ones to immortalise forever (LOL) in my scrapbook ? I will firstly make a mini book. Or if I am organised, make the book before the holiday, take it with me, fill it with writings and stuff and finish with photos on my return. This will use most of that 10% selection. It also enables me to consolidate stories that I want to tell. I will also make 2-3 ( at most 5 layouts ) whilst I am still reminiscing and "in holiday mood".

And then many months later, I might look at the photos again, notice some new details and something that might spark my imagination.

One of the details recorded in my mini book was what the boys called the islands in Venice. We did a tour of Murano, Burano and Torcello but they preferred to say "Murano, Burrito and Tortilla". Obviously, most of the photos during the tour were of the boys and their dad so when I saw a photo of me on the hard drive last week, I decided to use it for this story. This photo was taken when we were just setting off on the tour...you can see St Mark Square in the background so the photo is "very Venice". Well, I think so. And this is what I made last week.

The next photo has no story whatsoever! Besides the fact that it was taken on our tour of the "Water Village" in Siem Reap, Cambodia in 2007. The river runs into Tonle Sap which is a vast lake that is so big, it felt like the middle of the ocean except the water was grey instead of blue! I love the rare whole-of-family photo, taken by our tour guide. So, last week, I also made this layout ( I know, half term was a slow week, wasn't it ? ).

The weekend at Scrap-a-mia

2010-05-24T10:03:00.011+01:00

I got to spend Saturday at this amazing property. I love all the dark beamed ceiling and the beautiful glass windows ( make me miss our old village! ). We were in the new modern annexe for most of the day but I did go the main building for dinner. Thank you for letting me join you all, Cleo, scrapelephant, the lady who is a nanny, the expert with Morse Code from the Force, the lady who makes prosthetic legs...what a mixed bunch you were! Then Kirsty joined us whilst she waited for her next photo shoot. Big wave to you all. Sorry if I didn't get your name.

Here are some photos of the ladies who were in my first class. It was due to start at ten but I was delayed due to TomTom sending us to the wrong place! At 9.30, she (the TomTom lady) proudly announced, "You have reached your destination!" and I could have sworn, this couldn't be the location of a country house, on the side of a very big dual carriageway! A quick reentering of location shows that we are 25 miles away...eek! Anyway, we made it, and these ladies patiently waited for me. They were just picking out photos and thinking of colourways at this stage. Claire and Margaret have provided a few different colourways for people to choose from.

I was sent a black and red kit. This is my sample for the class. I still have some journalling to do.
The photos are of us going around in this "thing", a carriage pulled by a motorbike, in Angkor. If you know what the "thing" is called, please let me know.

I also did this layout way back in January this year, when I make a proposal of what I could teach at the retreat. The photos are of a male elephant ( they wander alone whereas the females and young male travels in family group ) who was spooked by us and looked like he wanted to charge at us. In the end, we drove and hid in a bush before he went away.

My apron is finished

2010-05-14T11:47:00.005+01:00

Or is it ? I am not decided! If I see a nice brooch, I might buy one to pin to it. And I might even get the bejeweller out...we'll see. I've downed tools for now.
Here it is again, modelled by me.

And a little close up.

In the end, I found a stash of fabric under the bed ( is that a surprise ? What would be surprising is the fact that I didn't go out and got some more! ). I am quite sure I will have to cut on the bias for the frill and I didn't have enough scrap for that sort of thing. Instead, the frill got a few patches to match the pocket. What do you think ? Am I sorted ?

Scrap-a-mia is drawing closer

2010-05-13T10:45:00.004+01:00

Less than 2 weeks to go! The initial email about Scrap-a-mia arrived many months ago. Ok, that was not good! I should go check.

Claire from Your Creative Moments asked me to teach at this event in September 2009 but the "exploratory" emails started much earlier than that. In my mind, it has always been is some distance future. Then, this arrived!

Well, not exactly that, but I can imagine, right ? All the teachers at Scrap-a-mia have been sent a canvas Donna Downey apron to decorate. I think I am going to copy the fabric frill at the bottom but not sure what else. What's that ? Do you think I should go fabric shopping ? Now you're talking!

If you've missed the chance of attending Scrap-a-mia, I am also teaching at Scrap Revolution on 13th June followed by Claire's and Tracie's Exhall crop on 27th June. I look forward to seeing you there.

Because he talks...

2010-05-05T11:30:00.003+01:00

A lot!

My dear H has never been short of something to say, ever since he started talking aged 18 months, he hasn't stopped. I remember a conversation that went along the line of, "bla, bla, bla", more "bla, bla, bla" followed by mine,"you haven't stopped talking!" which got this retort, "well, I have a lot of words inside me" when he was just a toddler.

I must say I am grateful for this. It means I get a full ( a very full! ) report of what went on at school.I decided to capture one of these conversations in a layout. Why this one ? This was a rather unusual conversation!

H is in the last year of primary school, and finds most things boring or stupid or {insert any negative word here}. I think he is definitely ready to move up to secondary! Anyway, science week was a departure from the norm. No disparaging remarks, AT ALL! Everything was wonderful, interesting, amazing, etc.

Here he is, extracting DNA from a strawberry! Do you think he is going to be a scientist ?

What a beautiful weekend

2010-04-26T09:40:00.007+01:00

How was yours ? We were busy out in the garden. For most of the time, H and A were on top of the shed, extending and reinforcing the roof so that we can install some solar panels on top. H nailed all the roofing felt into place.

I had intended to do the cybercrop on UKS but it was too sunny to stay indoors for long. I did manage to finish a LO that has been lying on my desk though. I love these photos of J & A at Disney. They got delayed at the start because there was a group of less abled bodied drivers ahead of them. H and I managed to start without a hitch and finished the course (ahead) comfortably. We were sitting at the end, wondering whatever happened to them when they rolled up. But I was ready with my camera, hence the smile and laughter. I've called it "Sunday driving" because I found a strip of patterned paper with the word Sunday on it.

I decided to go light with the patterned paper which means I get to drag out more embellishments. But whatever am I going to do with all my patterned papers ?

My dining chairs

2010-04-19T12:07:00.016+01:00

I promised some pictures of my first upholstery project so here they are. Our upholstery classes finished for the year at the end of March. Our teacher is having an operation on her shoulder this summer so she will be out of action for a good few weeks. You do need a lot of muscle power to pull and tighten when upholstering...I am pleased to hear her injury it is not upholstery related.

I started with this. These chairs ( and dining table and welsh dresser ) came from A's mum & dad and we've had it for nearly 20 years. They bought the chairs at auction. They enquired about having them re-upholstered but decided against spending £200 on just 2 chairs. I hate to think how much an upholsterer would charge nowadays but I have to say, I wouldn't begrudge them their fees...it does take a long time to do them properly. We have 4 chairs like this, 1 matching carver and 2 smallers chairs to make the numbers.

The chair is now strippped down. This chair didn't have a traditionally built seat to begin with. It was basically a few layers of wadding on top of the wood, a layer of calico followed by hide. I was adamant I didn't want leather to replace the top cover.

After stripping, I started putting the layers back on. I started by building up the seat ( called first seating ). There is about 2lb of fibre under there that I stitched and cajoled into shape. Originally you would have used horsehair but animal hair is very expensive so I resorted to coconut fibre.

Here is the finished chair. In between all the stuffing and stitching, A also put in a lot of work to remove the dark varnish. He finished the oak off with clear wax. I have covered the chairs with some left over from the curtains that I made for the dining room. A little bit too matching for my taste but at least I didn't have to go out and look for some new fabric.

Here is a layout I made about my new found hobby.

My journalling says, "Upholstery isn't quite as they make out on Changing Room, armed with a staple gun, you could do anything. You could, but it would take you longer than a weekend. These 5 (+2) chairs took me two terms."
My sofa is now with a man who is replacing some woodworm infested tack rails and french polishing the whole thing...it should look amazing.

Visitors at Easter

2010-04-08T13:00:00.010+01:00

How was your Easter ? We've had 2 lots of visitors. First was Shera & Co from Oman. Shera joined TKC into form 1 when I was in form 4. She reminded me that she was my messenger to my pet sisters. I won't explain here, PS is too difficult a concept to comprehend if you weren't there LOL. So I haven't seen Shera since 1985 but you know what ? She looks just the same and I wouldn't have problems recognising here anywhere.

We went into the city on Good Friday but unfortunately, the colleges were closed. The BBC was at Kings recording the Easter concert.

Here we are on a bridge over the Cam, taken by Shera's DD2.

On Saturday, Nina visited with her crew. She is going back to Malaysia in August. Nina and I shippped over the UK on the same flight back in 1985 and now she is finally leaving. We visited a few colleges with her.

Here's Nina, having a little conversation with Darwin in the gardens of Christ's College.

And just to prove that the sun does shine in the UK.

And a little easter threat, the shop window of Ted Baker is featuring a large animated chicken, hunting for worms that pop up and down. The kids were impressed.

And the winner is...

2010-03-23T08:36:00.002Z

TracyW who said...

That is a gorgeous book Ifa. Agree with someone earlier who said the book screamed 'nature' to them - do you have photos of pretty things, places that you visit on days out etc.?

Tracy, please email me with your address so that I can post it to you.

Thank you for visiting

2010-03-22T10:50:00.002Z

I am so pleased to have been invited by Rebekah to play this weekend and even more thankful that so many people have visited and left some great ideas. I am loving the nature inspired ( perfect for my visits to the Botanic Gardens ), the childhood memories ( though I am really lacking in photos until I went to boarding school aged 12 ) but my favourite at the moment is a book full of pretty things that inspire me.
I will get my random number generator ( my little H ) to pick a winner this evening and will post the name of the winner tomorrow morning. I hope that's ok. See you tomorrow.

A little nothing...

2010-03-20T06:00:00.003Z

I have made a little book. It is currently sitting here, empty, just waiting to be filled with wonderful memories. I don't know what that is. For now, I am calling it "A little nothing" hence the title of the post.

I started with a sheet of Prima paper ( Shabby chic morning poetry ), a Hambly overlay ( big vintage circle ), 3 sheets of Bazzill Cardstock with an edge ( Small rectangle ) and various embellishment. Some embellishment from this stage made it on the minibook, some didn't but plenty more appeared!

I started by marking holes for the cover. I marked a line right in the centre of the Prima cardstock. I marked at 1" interval along this line, starting 1" away from the top edge and ending 1" away from the bottom edge. So there should be 11 marked points along the centre of the cardstock. With some paper clips, clip the clear overlay under the cardstock. This enabled me to punch straight through to the overlay without having to mark out again plus the overlay would have been too slippery to work with independently. Punch out those 11 holes. I've used a Clikit hole punch but I guess you lucky owners of the BigBite would be laughing LOL.

Then I did the same to the centre of the Bazzill cardstock with an edge. These are 6" tall so I made 6 holes on each.

Next comes the binding. I have used a thin ribbon for my book. It helps if you have an emboidery needle with a large eye that you can thread the ribbon through. Unfortunately I couldn't find mine and had a torturous task of threading the ribbon through each holes. I got there in the end. You ribbon needs to be about 30" ( 2 x12" plus a little bit extra! ).

If you havent, fold the pages and the cover in half. Arrange the pages inside the cover. You might notice that the overlay doesn't really want to fold...that's ok, it is quite nice as it is.

Starting from the inside, push the ribbon through the top hole, leaving about half the length of ribbon on the inside. Your needle should now be on the outside at the top hole.

Push the needle through the second hole, go over the ribbon on the inside and push out again. In the photo above, can you see the loop over the ribbon ? Continue like this until you have all sewn through all holes.

The book now looks like this. I simply tied the two ends at the bottom. Can you see in the photo above ?

I then added some pretties to the front of the overlay. I have been unsuccessful in the past when I've used glue on overlay so I resorted to a stapler. If you think stapler is too harsh, you could also sew with a sewing machine or by hand. I have used a Prima canvas tag, a little flower and a Tim Holtz ticket.

On the flower I added a little bit of Prima lace, a sparkly buckle, and a little red leaf ( previously, looking unloved and lonely ).

I don't often get the chance to do pretty so I am a bit stumped as to what I could fill this book with. Leave a comment for me here with some suggestions, please. I will put all your names in the hat and draw out one lucky girl who will get the book ( I will make a duplicate! ) plus some more pretties to finish it off, some Cavalini butterfly stickers, some frames, some pretty brads....you can check them out below.

Happy birthday Rebekah. Laura Godfrey is next in line. Please check out what she has made at Talking Scrap.

You're invited

2010-03-15T08:34:00.004Z

I have been invited by Rebekah to participate in a blog hop on occassion of her birthday ( shh, she is waaay younger than me! ). She kicks off at 7PM GMT on 19th March. I hope you can make it. I don't know who else is joining in but it should be a fun. I am putting the finishing touches to a project to share with you all. I am hoping it will be all pretty and girly (sigh, wistfully, you know, I don't get enough opportunity to do pretty. )

Wanna see ?

Wishes do come true

2010-03-08T09:40:00.003Z

Ok, slightly soppy today. Actually the word that came to mind is Malaysian se -mo-nel, a word from my school days. I am not even sure this is a proper word or even if it still in used. Funny how, being bilingual, some words come unbidden in one language and not the other LOL.

Right, back to the LO. This is for A, celebrating our 19 years together. I don't have a recent photo of us together so I've used one that one of the boys took during a holiday a couple of years ago. I know it misplaced the photo somewhat but better get the story down, is my mantra.

A has always been great at making my wishes come true, from the time he baked me a black forest gateaux over 20 years ago, taking me on holiday to places I wanted to go, nearly buying me a flash car ( but I changed my mind LOL ) to buying me a sofa to do up this year.

I have always struggled with black and white...or rather I struggle with black. So this layout is trying to conquer that phobia. I have left the Prima paintables pretty much as it is and didn't even used any other patterned paper. And then I introduced loads of colours using embellishments. As you know, I love to put loads of little embellishments on my layouts so there you go...the more the merrier.

Life changing choices ?

2010-03-01T09:03:00.002Z

This might the first of many! J is currently in year 9. In September this year, he will start his 2 years of GCSE courses. Admittedly, in most subjects they have already started doing this but we have now been asked to decide what subjects he wants to do for GCSE. All the boys have to do the 7 core subjects ( maths, englishx2, sciencex3 and french ) and have the option to select 3 others.

Greek and Latin were the obvious options. He has been doing Latin for 3 years and does really well at it. I am not sure where he got this from because his dad hated Latin and got through 'O' Levels by memorising text for his translation exercises.

J's Greek teacher has said that J has a real gift for Greek and should he decides to do Classics, he would sail through it. Whilst J enjoys Greek, I think, the thought of sailing through something really appeals to him. LOL. His teacher also said that she is having to brush up on the Greek to keep up with J. Well, she is not the only one, I had to brush up on my maths to do a Cayley Olympiad paper yesterday but that is a story for another day!

The third choice could have been history (he would definitely get an A* said the teacher), geography ( he needs to up his game and the course involves doing coursework and field trips...yuks! ) or religious studies ( didn't get to speak to a teacher because they all left early from this department ). And he has opted for RS. I think this is a wise choice. I love how RS is taught, how religious believes aren't necessarily gospel and it is a matter of looking at a point of view from all aspects. I think a lot of good life skills could come out of this one...arguing a point and yet showing understanding and tolerance. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all have this ?

ps: sorry, nothing pretty to share but my sofa came. I have some woodworming treatment to do on the frame but it looks pretty much like the photo...like a bird's nest.

19th wedding anniversary

2010-02-15T10:54:00.004Z

It is our wedding anniversary today and he bought me this sofa. No, we've not gone mad. I started doing upholstery in September and have now finished (well, nearly! ) our dining chairs. I'll share that soon. In the mean time, I've been looking for my next project and found this at an antique shop the other side of the country. It is being couriered over in the next couple of weeks and I can't wait to get ripping all that apart. I am very excited.

2 weeks, 2 stores, 1 layout..

2010-02-09T18:01:00.011Z

That sounds cryptic. Let me explain.

Hilary asked me how I go about creating my layouts. I am not sure I came up with a convincing reply. I don't really have a set procedure, my layouts take shape as inspiration strike. Here's how one layout came about.

About 2 weeks ago, I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep (don't worry, this is not a bedroom story! ). Lucky him, he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. My mind started wandering, I started thinking about the day's events. I usually get a comprehensive report from H as to what went on at school and today was no exception. He told me how they were researching interest rates and a home for their money for 2 years without exit penalty. Woo...I was impressed. He said they were going to do shares next. He was full of enthusiasm. Wouldn't that make a great LO ? So the next thing going through my mind is the LO. Though I didn't get very far ( I assume I was asleep very soon ), I thought about what I am going to say...something along the line of "you find maths tedious but as soon as they stuck a £ sign infront of the numbers, everything change.working on interest rates and shares really captured your imagination".

A couple of days later I was in PCWorld and saw a boxed software entitled, "I hate maths" where the word hate has been scribbled out and replaced with love. Right, perfect title for my layout too.

Last Saturday I was in the "new" Anthropologie store on Regent Street in London. They had a sign by the till saying "Please queue here". Shame I haven't got a photo to share but I will attempt to describe it. It is made of a beige card, with a sheet of grid paper in the middle and a few strips of masking tapes going across the page. On the masking tape strips, they have "stamped" the words "Please queue here". And you know what, that became the basis of my layout.

On Monday, I went to pick up from school armed with my camera. I persuaded H to let me take a photo of him.

Yesterday I set about making this layout. I have rephrased the journalling a bit so I get to mention the positive (enthusiasm) before the negative (tedious). It is called "love maths". Otherwise, it is pretty much as I had seen in the stores and planned. I stamped "hate" on a strip of masking tape, scribbled out and wrote "love" instead. I have also used a sheet of square ruled paper.

And here it is. Funny how this layout is a result of a visit to 2 very different stores. You must think I am forever shopping ! How do you make yours ? What is the best place for inspiration ?

For my Valentine

2010-02-08T12:35:00.003Z

I have made this canvas. I recently "discovered" Claudine Hellmuth whilst perusing craft books on Amazon and bought Collage Discovery Workshop.

The canvas was first covered with a sheet of piano music ( a love song, of course! ) before I added gesso, acrylic paint and tissue paper. Then I added "us", with book page upper body as per instructions in Claudine's book. I added a tree cut out (that was intended for another project but didn't make it on there ), some Glitz roller stamp, the two love birds in the tree and some distressed inky edges. Lastly some stickles for sparkly shoes and diamond necklace and "all you need is love" stamped discreetly at the bottom.

It still feels a bit bare and sparse for my taste but I hope he likes it. Next project is a little card to go with it. Or maybe two cards seeing as it is our wedding anniversary the day after Valentine's day. So, what have you made for your beloved ?

A frosty morning

2010-02-01T09:28:00.004Z

It usually takes us 15 minutes to arrive at school but this morning's journey took us 45 minutes. I hope J wasn't too late for first lesson. I was queueing for most of the four miles there but the scary part was the journey back. My traction control came on several times but the worse part was when an idiot on a bike decided to cut in front of me whilst I was turning down into our road. Some cyclists seems to have a death wish! Supposed I couldn't stop ? I also saw a car and several bikes stopped at one roundabout ( no serious injury that I could spot ) but I am guessing the driver couldn't stop her car ?

We had a sprinkling of snow on Saturday and the days have been sunny and frosty since then. Unfortunately, not enough to provide pretty photo opportunity! So here are some photos from last year. I made this LO for Scrapbook Magazine Issue 43.

Those poor horses provided a very pastoral scenic photo opportunity. Old house, old village ( we were fighting BT to keep that red phone box! ) and a day off school. I think everyone stayed home that day. The village felt very festive, everyone was out playing in the snow followed by lunch in the pub. I managed to use some "old" fabric tabs, I can't even recall the name of the company who made them. Are they still trading ?

Judith, this is for you...

2010-01-25T09:58:00.005Z

My friend Judith celebrated a big birthday last May. I promised to make a little book of the photos I took at the party. Many months later ( I am embarassed to say! ) it is finally ready to give. I am meeting Judith tomorrow, I hope she will like it.

The book is Daisy D's that I covered with Crate Paper. I added loads of stickles, some stickers and plenty of Kraft paper journalling pages for Judith to record her own memory of the event. I hope she hasn't forgotten!

What did you get in the sale ?

2010-01-19T08:29:00.007Z

I bought some grid and ledger Scenic Route papers (before they go out of print! ) and splashed out on a few bottles of Glimmer Mist in the sale. I got some of the Winter 2009 Limited edition. And I have been playing...

First up is H in his costume for French day at school last year. He was very specific (and boy, he is fussy about what he wears! ) that he wanted to be Sans Culotte, obviously in the tricolore. I made the hat, the waist coat and belt. Then I rescused one of his "soon to be recycled" trousers and added patches. I sprayed the journalling block. This is my first go with the spray bottles so I opted for simple and easily replaced journalling block.
Next are some photos from last summer in Florida. The cardstock is a lot more sandy brown colour but for some reason, the photo of the layout has come up very yellow. I started with plain cardstock, added some Hambly rub ons and the title using alphabet stickers. I sprayed some Glimmer Mist before adding some beach type words using clear stamps.

Last up is the photo I showed you last week, of my year group at school. It is called My Good Fortune.

When are you too old to start something new ?

2010-01-14T19:12:00.006Z

Is it true that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks ? I don't think so, which is why I took up playing the piano two years ago. This has always been something I wished I had the opportunity/inclination to learn when I was younger. I am not musical and cannot read music, H even go as far as saying I am tone deaf! LOL.

Two years later, I have to say reading the music is easy. The problem is my fingers are no longer nimble. I particularly feel this right now, trying to learn a piece by Tchaikovsky. Ok, actually I am learning 3 pieces by him. I started playing "A Sick Doll" which I love, especially the last dying breath. I really felt the emotion coming through, I said to my piano teacher Jenny, "The doll must be dead by now" to which she replied, "there is Dolly's Funeral". So I rushed out and bought Tchaikovsky Opus 39 Album for the young. And you know what, once Dolly is dead and buried ( with one big sob in the middle ), you go out and buy "The New Doll". The first piece and the last are ok for my not so nimble fingers but "Dolly's Funeral", I didn't know anyone could move their fingers like that required for this piece! Need more practise, I think!

It would be easy if I have young and long fingers like those that J possesses ( is that too many S ? ). He is currently playing his first Beethoven Sonata. I am a proud mum. He did and passed his grade 5 exam last term. Since then, his playing and ethics when it comes to practising has improved somewhat. I guess you could say he has matured. Here is a LO documenting a part of his piano journey. I am delighted that he posed at the piano for me to enable me to do this LO.

This LO is called "No more measles" but you might be wondering what piano has got to do with measles. Right ? It is just a phrase our piano teacher used, she described doing piano grade exams as some sort of long illness and now that he has passed, he is so over it.

Ok, the butterfly die cut sheet didn't come out to play. I am saving it for your visit Hilary, if you are reading. I did however blow out on the Sassafras products. I did wonder how many felted monsters I would ever use and I only have a couple left! The Anthem papers are just perfect for a piano layout.