Happy Birthday to UKS

UKS is celebrating the tenth birthday by having a cybercrop. Are you joining in ? I have a class scheduled for 5pm on 30th of October. Will I see you there ?

Our Harry Potter Studio Tour

Like all you Harry Potter fans, we were excited to see that they were opening a studio tour in London, we promptly booked tickets to go.  We were not dissapointed.  The details from the exhibits were amazing. I didn't think you'd need such good details for the films. I am probably still basing my thinking on how badly the models for Star Wars were made. But that was the 80's right and they were good for then.

 

I have made a few layouts from the visit. I am grouping all my Harry Potter Studio tour layouts here. Sorry if you have seen these layouts as some might have appeared in other blog posts separately.

 

I was so excited to see large posters of film scenes on the walls outside, I just had to snap the guys from the back. I drew and cut out some owls, broomstick, hat etc for my own magic scene.

 

 

The flying car was one of the first thing we saw when we got inside.  I shot maybe 10 photos of it but as it was dark and there were a lot of people around to spoil the shots, I didn't get a very good photo.  I was delighted to find another, outside, in the backlot. I let the boys drive.

 

In the wand room, all the wands are indivually boxed, labelled and neatly stacked up. Each one "belongs" to a cast from the films. One of the visitor at the time was a crew member and she very kindly pointed out her wand from the thousands in there.

 

Did you get a chance to taste butterbeer ?  I thought it tasted just like rootbeer...we used to have a lot of this from A&W when I was growing up.  Diagon Alley was perfect in every detail...especially the book shop...I could spend many hours browsing in there if it was a real book store. I still have a few Harry Potter layouts planned that I will continue to add to this post.

Dark Side of the Moon

You know those first day of school photos that I religously take every year...not all of them make it on to a layout. This year I am delighted to say, I have made a layout for each of my boys and all before the end of September! Honest, it was all done before the weekend but I didn't get a chance to take some photos to share with you till now.

 

You might be wondering about the title of this post and the layout ?  

 

In the first week of term, the school hosted a parents' social to welcome us to school. H joined middle school this year.  The Headmaster in his speech introduced the school counsellor, pointing out that this man might be useful for this age group. He described the age as going to the dark side of the moon whilst orbitting the moon.  There was reference to Apollo 13 mission as well but I paraphrased. 

 

Hence the title of the layout. What is more appropriate than a moon and a few owls to complete the night scene ?

 

 

Next I have J's to share with you. I have so say, J has definitely come out to the light side.  He is now very pleasant and also very helpful...I nearly fainted when he came into the kitchen and said, "Do you need any help, mummy ?". He did help before but only if asked so him offering was a new thing for me.

 

Have you seen the Bits from Amy Tangerine ? They are really cool. Go get youselves some.

Cambridge Croppers September Workshop

Are you coming ?  I have made these for this Saturday.

We are using a mixture of Studio Calico Heyday and Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go...love those Bits!

You need 1 6"x4" photo in landscape for "Awesome Photo Soc". Mine is a black and white school photo of the photo society committee when I was actually at school too long ago. You also need a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" photo for "Sixth Form". Mine is a headshot of my eldest. There is a lot of scope to tailor the layouts to suit your own photos, different sizes of photos or even go your own way.

You will need normal tools such as scissors or trimmers, double sided tape or glue, foam pads. You can expect to get messy fingers.

So see you Saturday, 29th September at Trumpington Pavillion from 10-4.

September Scrap365

Did you see me ? I was in September Scrap365 with my first article.  I was jumping up and down when the magazine landed on the door mat...I guess the thrill of being published will always be my main motivation! I said to H, "Do you want to see a layout about you ?".  "Huh, NO!", was the reply.

H went to sailing school a few years ago and I've just got my new 400mm lens...I had fun observing the little ones from far. We had a week of outstanding weather too! Love those flat bottom boats against the beautiful sky.

You know what I did this Summer ?

 

The summer holiday started off with a camping trip. This is a layout about how I don't like late night campfires.

 

 

We were at Alton Towers.  This is our favourite ride but we have a few others ( very gentle ) rides that we always go on.

The following weekend, we went to the "Best 80's party ever" at Audley End. There were plenty of pink leotards and tutus but I was in fleece and boots, fearing the mightest downpour.  We were lucky, the sun shone throughout before a full moon took over.

Rocking the 80's was done using a sketch by Sian Fair for Sketchbook 365.

This is followed by the trip to the Olympics.  We started our Olympic adventure in Hyde Park, watching the Triathlon ( I always struggle to spell this word! ). Weren't we lucky to see the Brownlee brothers win ?  I am particularly proud on my swimming man cut out on this layout. What do you think ?

The triathlon layout was done for Sarah's Card's Challenge. Why don't you have a go for a chance to win £20 e-voucher to spend in store ?

ps:  I am sorry to report, the low slung suit trousers made its appearance on day 2 of school!

Back to School

I've just dropped the boys off at school.  They went on Monday for a half day induction, stayed home yesterday and after that false start, school in definitely back on!

I snapped these photos of the boys on Monday.

H was acting up and refusing to smile. A said, "How come you managed to make them smile ?" LOL. I was shouting out to H, "Say cheese, Happy Monday, Come on" whilst he was adamant, "No". So when I was jumping up and down to make him laugh, he thought I couldn't possibly be ready to take a shot. That's when it went "SNAP".  He conceded a half smile.

 

J is in the sixth form this year which means they get to choose what they wear.  He is wearing his suit this week but no doubt the smartness will degrade over the year. Can you ever wear a suit trousers low slung, I wonder ?

 

 

So what have you got planned for the day ? I have some scrappy projects brewing in my head so let's see how they translate to paper. Whatever you do, enjoy yourself.

Incidentally, I have something to let you know.  I am having a one day workshop in Cambridge on Saturday 29th September 10-4. Maybe you'd like to spend a day with some lovely Cambridge Croppers ? Why don't you look our group up on Facebook.