Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year to you all

Just a quick post to wish you all have a great Christmas this year and to leave you with my last layout for this year.

A few Christmas layouts

Here are a few I made recently for Scrap-n-crop and some from last year using the same paper range. I have to admit to not being very keen on christmas papers in general but absolutely adore these Rhonna Farrer's papers.

Still catching up

First is our favourite ride at Disneyland Paris. We had fast passes that we saved up to use on this ride for both days we were there.

I love how Disney has superimposed the ride photo onto a cute scene. I extended the cutesy theme by using Sassafras and adding my own clouds. The clouds also contain the journalling, "thunder mountain, the ride that we saved our fast pass for". I didn't want to have a block of journalling so I've even utilised the masked area of the title for date and place. I made the title using Tim Holtz's masks and some spray paint.

Next is our visit to Neuschwanstein castle.

This is a bit of a random layout where I experimented with a lot of different "things". I have used vintage music and book page and a lot of non-scrapbook products besides. The vintage pages are not acid and lignin free...in fact I love it more if they are slightly yellow! So, how do you feel about using unsafe products such as these ?

Catching up

A couple of LOs from the last school holidays. I am trying to catch up before the christmas holidays arrive.

The first is from our short trip to Northumberland in the summer. On the way back down, we made a brief stop at Housesteads Roman Fort.This next one is from Germany at half term showing my guys bobsleighing. I was right behind them taking this photo. I was very slow that the boy who was behind me caught up with me, my guys thought it was hilarious. Now, my excuse is this. I was going really fast till I see a sign saying "Slow down" so I hit the brake to be greeted with another sign saying "Don't brake" which got me thoroughly confused and by the 10th sign, my vehicle had lost quite a lot of speed. So there.

Not much to share but I've been busy

Honest! I was busy creating and writing my article for Scrapbook Magazine, unfortunately you can't see the results until January. Now that they are done, I can relax. Here a couple that I can show you though.

The first features a photo from Disney, remember that cheesy photo at Buffalo Bill's show ? It was taken by one of the usher who must have the steadiest hands, my camera registered a speed of 0.6 seconds as it was set on AV ( that is aperture priority on my camera ). Even I can't handhold at that speed.

Secondly is my ColorCombos LO for this week. The dodge blue, pear and cool mint were perfect for these photos of my boys. As for the 4th colour, floral white, well, I managed to fit that in somehow LOL. Having done this LO, I've noticed that I have put my titles in the same place.

Linderhof Castle

On the last day ( ok, supposedly last day but more of that later! ) we had planned on spending the day in Munich but having been completely mesmerized by King Ludwig's castle, I persuaded A that we should visit Linderhof, King Ludwig's Royal Villa.
Linderhof is just the other side of the mountain from us but the shortest route of 28 miles took us through Austria. We were excited about "going" to Austria as none of us has been before. We only stopped to take a few photos at this lake but we resolved to visit properly next time.

This is Linderhof, with my reluctant troop lined up front. It is tiny but the only completed project of King's Ludwig. The outside statues and urns have all been covered for winter, can you see a little tall hut to the side of the photo ? Unfortunately we missed seeing the cascade and Neptune fountain because of this.

The inside was wow, totally amazing! Totally over the top but it is sad to hear the guide saying that King Ludwig spent most of his time alone in this castle. He even avoided the servants, they were not allowed to be in the same room as him. He had an "elevator type" table that was set out in the kitchen and winched up to the dining table on the first floor where he dined alone.

Glad we made a detour to Linderhof.

After we drove up to Munich, the roads and speed of vehicles is quite scary. Not surprisingly, we were delayed on the motorway because a motorcyclist was in an accident. We had a late lunch at Prinz Myshkin ( thanks Alexa ) and went to the airport. We were early so we braced ourselves for a long wait but an hour before departure we saw that the flight was delayed for an hour, not long after, it was CANCELLED...the plane has a mechanical problem. What a nightmare but luckily it was Saturday night otherwise the boys would have missed school. We were bussed and fed at a hotel about 10km from the airport. Another flight has been scheduled for 10am tomorrow. "No, it is not the same plane", we were assured by an employee.

Happy birthday to me

Another year, eeek. Not that I am feeling older than 25, he, he.
A is away but he entrusted the presents giving to H. Boy, he did well, he remembered! I got a troll bead and the trollbead leather bracelet, a box of metal paperclips from Paperchase ( Yay, have I not trained them well ? ) and a set of travel bottles for my cleanser/toner/ moisturiser...all those stuff a girl needs to keep age at bay. I hate dispensing them into smaller bottles but with the travel restriction looking to stay, I hope these bottles don't leak.

I did this layout this morning for colorcombosgalore.blogspot.com. Love the orange, made me think Autumn immediately.
And hope to go shopping as soon as I finish this post. I am looking for a light cashmere cardigan, preferably one that is not too "twinset" looking. Wish me luck. I might even stop at a car showroom...a new car for me is on offer but I am hesitant to spend, what with the world economy the way it is.