Hot, hot, hot !

Yes, finally a bit of good weather at last but as usual it has to go from one extreme to the other. From pouring rain and cold winds we go to desert like conditions with the sun beating down constantly! Bit of an exaggeration there but it is blinking hot! I must admit I can't do with this heat as I get very hot and burn easily so I am more than happy to stay inside and potter round doing a bit of scrapping. John is toasting himself outside which is a bit of a sickner as he goes brown at the first sign of the sun! Both him and Tom have such dark skin to start with it doesn't take much sun to turn them even darker.

I am hoping to get the boy's birthday meal sorted this weekend. It is drawing ever closer and I can't believe they will soon be 18. We have booked a friend's restaurant for the evening for family and close friends. Three courses, a bottle or two of wine and great company....what more could you want? I asked the boy's if they wanted us to pay for a party for them but they were not that interested really and to be honest it would be a pretty mixed up do with their totally different friends! So roll on the 12th!

William has his first exam on Monday with another one later in the week and Thomas is in college all week to complete the last bits of his course work. It is going to be a very tense summer waiting for their results!

Although we only live about an hour from Liverpool it is not somewhere that we ever go to but as we were even nearer last weekend we decided to pay it a visit. Although we only managed to stroll along the dock areas there was so much to see. We never even got near the shops! I will be making sure that I have another trip out there soon!

This layout, above, shows some of the sights we enjoyed that day. The other layout, below, introduces an old friend to you all. Doctor Ted was bought for John when he was born and this magical bear has been drying tears and taking away hurts for many, many years! I was inspired to do this layout by a quote I read in Scrapbook Trends. As soon as I read it I thought of Doctor Ted. He is very battered and bruised now and is certainly balder than John but he is still called on in times of need.

Everyone who has seen this layout up to now has had a kind word to say for Doctor Ted. I will go and put him back in our bedroom where he will wait on guard ready for when he is next needed.

Well, the tablets seem to be working!

Finally after two weeks of pain and coughing I seem to be improving. I managed to get some sleep last night which was an absolute 'dream'! (sorry for the pun) Hopefully things will continue to get better and then we can start to work out which treatment is working. I 'm just relieved to feel human again instead of a coughing machine!

Anyway on an up side I have managed to get some scrapping done. I've had loads of inspiration from the new Scrapbook Trends magazine which I have managed to sub to. This is a US publication and it is so much better than the UK monthlies. I have been able to get it on a sporadic basis from the US but finally it is being printed over here and is so much easier to purchase. They do a 6/12/24 issue subscription and these are at great prices. The 6 issue subscription is only £30 and that includes postage. I just couldn't resist a bargain like that.

With it being a US magazine there is such a massive source of talent available. My big bug bear with the UK ones is that it is the same old faces each month who are published and they are so 'samey' and, to be honest, boring. I wouldn't mind but they think they are so great. I have to say there are a couple of UK girls who I think are good but that is about it. I know I have been scrapping for a lot of years now so have seen most of what is going round but the US girls still seem to come up with something new and a bit different. There was some mention on UKS of them asking for UK submissions and this really put me off as I want it purely for the US content. Anyway I emailed the publisher and he has replied and assured me that they will be having a maximum of three or four UK scrappers and that was all. I felt much better after reading that and will continue to sub. If it changes however I will stop my sub and go for the US download one which does not give you an actual book to hold and stroke but at least I will get the full flavoured US one and not a diluted UK publication. Anyway end of today's rant! Gosh, I feel better for that! :)

So what about my scrapping? Well here are a couple of Samhara from out weekend away.

She tried so very hard to get her kite to fly. She ran up and down the camping field for ages until her little legs would run no more but finally she managed it. Maybe it would not have won any competitions for height or duration but at least it flew!

For embellishment I cut out some kite shapes and added ribbon as the tails. I thought it added a bit more interest and dimension to leave them floating a bit rather than being stuck down flat. It certainly seemed to work quite well.

I took some inspiration from the 'Using fabric' section in Scrapbook Trends for this layout. I had some felt left over from another project so added it here as the colour matched well. A bit of stictching and some buttons seemed to give the effect I wanted quite well.


Samhara was always on the go when we were away. She makes friends very easily and this time was no different. She certainly did not have time to sit down and eat! Life is far too busy!

Weekend away.

Yes, we've just got back from a lovely weekend away! We only went about 45 minutes away but it was great. The site at Ormsirk was well kept and spotlessly clean. Our pitch was flat and only a short walk to all the amenities. We went with Kim, Ian and the girls as this was the first time they had been camping as a family. (Ian was a true novice.) They have just bought a tent and are slowly getting together all the things they need. We said we would all go together for their first time so if there were any problems they wouldn't be on their own. Luckily there were a couple of occasions where the 'old timers' were needed but it was great to see that Kim had been paying attention all those years ago when we all went camping!

The weather was gorgeous and we had a trip out to Liverpool and the Albert Dock and another day out to the beach. I am just starting to scrap some of the photos so I will post them later. The girls had a whale of a time and Samhara was busy making new friends with Pheobe and Alfie! They had three late nights so were shattered when they got home yesterday. Hopefully they all managed a good nights sleep......I know John and I did.

Thomas and Adam have been to Wembley this weekend to see the Super Clarets finally get back into the Premiership. What a tense afternoon! John was worn out by the end of the match and he was just watching it on tv. It has been such a long time........ many years....... of ups and downs so I don't think he could really believe it in the end! Thomas was crying down the phone to me and I could hear all the noise from the fans in the background. It was amazing. I remember about 22 years ago going to the wedding of a couple of close friends of ours. Burnley were playing that day and they had to win to stay in the football league. Many of the guests at the wedding were Clarets so the whole day was held up while 22 men kicked a ball round a pitch. Finally they managed to hold on and the wedding could continue. That's all history now and they are back in the top flight. It doesn't matter which division they play in though I just know that I will spend all next season supporting husband and three sons whilst they cheer, shout, swear and cry their way through another 38 games!

That's life!

A cuddle book!

I never thought of it like that before but I suppose it is true. As you may know I am a fan of making mini books of all descriptions and love to give them to relatives and friends. I have made a couple recently for two friends who were just feeling a bit down. One of them just burst into tears and said it was the best present she had ever had (I think emotion was getting the better of her at the time!) and the other who was just as grateful for the gift said 'Thank you so much. Every time I open the book and read it I feel like you are there giving me a cuddle.' How cool is that! I took that as one of the best compliments ever. So I have now decided to call them all 'Cuddle Books'! So here is one of my latest cuddle books:

I bought these papers ages ago and have just never got round to using them but they just seemed to be perfect for a fairly new, but very special, friend. Just a plain cover with a ribboned buckle was all I needed for the front.

I covered chipboard covers and then used cardstock for the pages. I cut them in different sizes so it gave the book a bit more depth and interest.

By just adding appropriate quotes and other small embellishments it is easy to make a very special gift for someone.

Anyway another job well done and loved by it's recipient! I must admit to probably getting as much pleasure in making these books as my friends do in receiving them!

Another bit of news is that a new online craft shop has opened which has some amazing products at very low prices. This is because the lines carried will not be the recently released stuff but just older favourites which are classic and perfect for so many ideas. Called 'Scrapbook Outlet Online' it is well worth checking out for some great bargains! I think I may just have a browse myself later....again!

Happy scrapping!!