April Goals revisited.

Back on the first of the month I decided to make public my crafty goals for April.  You can read about them here.  So now we have reached the end of the month, how did I get on?

1.-  the quilt which I started at the end of March - well its finished. 

Do you like it - I do?  This is only the second quilt I have made, but I do enjoy the process.  The fabric is flannel, so it is a baby quilt.  I do not have a recipient in mind, so may donate it to my church for the Summer Farye raffle.

2. Remember this?

Well I turned it into bunting. ( The eagle eyed among you may have spotted it on this post.)

 

I enjoyed this project and am pleased how it has turned out.  I am going to make some for my office in the loft.

3.  My 2011 album - mmm not much progress here apart from buying some pp at Ally Pally!  However I have given the format some thought and also decided to do March first, as this is fresh in my mind.  The photos have been printed.  Watch this space.

4. Five layouts.  Well I have done one so far!  You can see it here.  

5. Continue to blog - well a big tick here! I have been blogging over a month now and am absolutely addicted!  I am currently taken Shimelles "Beyond Blogging" class, which is giving me lots of food for thought for the future.  I'm not rushing into make any changes, but concentrating on my content and finding my voice.  As this develops, I am going to use the ideas from the class to move my blog forward.  Thank you to all my vistors and followers - I really appreciate your kind comments and feel like I am making some lovely online friends.

So did you have any goals for April and if so how did you get on?  

Check back tomorrow, to find out what I have planned for May.

A surprise trip!

Those of you who visited yesterday and saw "my day in photos", may have guessed that we were preparing to go on a trip.  Yes my lovely readers we are currently here;

How exciting!  The children were given an extra weeks Easter holiday by virtue of the school moving some inset days and so we decided to take advantage.  We kept it a surprise and only told the children on the morning we left. 


The photo above is from the journal I managed to make before leaving and I'm really pleased with it.  I used October Afternoon 'Fly a Kite' papers and a selection of stamps - it is 7.5"x 5".  I am really pleased with it and happy that I will be able to record all the details whilst there.  


Here are some of the inside pages.

I am really pleased with it and happy that I will be able to record all the details whilst there.

My Day in Photos

My morning cuppa.

Watching TV before breakfast

  Money Sorting

 Working in my loft of loveliness

 Getting Ready

Messing around at tbe bus stop.

Dinner at Giraffe

A rare photo of the two of us.

Thank you for dropping in.  See more days here.

Monday Memories

Today my calendar has revealed, my youngest, investigating whether a giant block of chocolate is real!  Rather appropriate for an Easter post.  It was taken in September 2009, when she visited the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden.  She was taken there (along with her sister) by her Uncle Simon and his partner Frederick. They spent the whole day at the Museum and really enjoyed it. The photo was taken by Frederick, who is a great photographer with a fantastic eye for detail.  I just love it and have always wondered what she is thinking!  If it were me, I would be hoping that the chocolate bar was real and how long it would take me to eat it - but I am a chocoholic!

Have you ever wondered what the Easter Bunny looks like?

If you are enjoying an egg hunt today, I hope you find them all.  We did.



Five steps to a successful Easter celebration!

1.  Decorate the house with Easter loveliness!

2.  Hang up some bunting!



3.  Prepare a feast!

4.  Lay the Easter table!

5 Sit back and enjoy with all the family!

Enjoy your Easter whatever you are doing.

Whilst I'm away working......

As I reluctantly travel into London for another Wednesday in the office (I so hate working whilst the children are on school holidays) I thought you might like a glimpse of what I have got up to on Saturday.  Have you ever visited Borough Market?  No - neither had I until Saturday.  I can't say it would have been my first choice as I'm not really a foodie but it is well worth a visit.  It was frantically busy, so not the ideal place for small children in pushchairs.  The sights and smells were fantastic - I could have spent the whole day snapping photos.  Here are just a few....

I was with there with others celebrating a friends 40th birthday.  Whilst wandering around we all  bought bits and pieces and then sat outside Southwark Cathedral and had a picnic accompanied by a few glasses of fizz!  

A very pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

Monday Memories

Hello - yes I'm still here.  I have had a busy busy time since my last post - I will share some details over the coming week.  However in the meantime, here are some more Monday memories.  My calendar revealed this picture today;

A photo of my three favourite people!  It was taken last May on hubby's birthday - right at the front of the picture you can just see a tray which had cupcakes on which my eldest had iced, spelling out "Happy Birthday Dad"

Hubby and I had just arrived back from a weekend in London - his birthday treat - and so the girls were excited to have us back. The cakes were a birthday surprise. This is a favourite photo of mine and is currently on my desktop as my wallpaper!  Some more to add to the "i must scrap" pile.


ps  Thank you to those who gave some tips for photographing layouts - I will try them out soon and hopefully get some better results. 

And I sometimes scrap!

Yes its true, I do sometimes scrap and here is the proof!

Rubbish picture of the actual layout.  How do you lovely people get such clear pictures of your layouts.  Any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.  This one was particulary difficult as the background paper is very pale. However I'm pleased with the actual layout - I am trying to get more dimension to my scrapping as sometimes my layouts seem a tad flat.

This is one of my fav photos of my girls, taken in the Park on Mothers Day last year.  I cannot claim credit for the photo - it was taken by my brother in law's partner Frederick who is an excellent photographer.  Just so you can see, here is the actual photo!



Whilst I'm away working.....

Yes its Wednesday again and I must away to London for work - this time staying overnight as I am going to an awards dinner.

However whilst I'm away I thought that you might like to hear about my day at Ally Pally and a wee peep at what I bought.

  

Well as you can see from the photos I snapped on my phone, the weather was absolutely gorgeous - the view from Ally Pally was fantastic.  I wish I had taken my camera, but had removed it at the last minute as I did not want my bag to be too heavy.  Anyway I digress.  I arrived about 11ish and decided to have a cuppa first before entering the hall.  I chatted to some lovely ladies who had  been in and were already laden down with bags - (it had only opened in at 10!).  So after finishing my refreshing cuppa, I took the plunge and headed in.  Boy it was busy - it was hard to get near some stands - but it did thin out around lunch time.  So would you like to see what I bought?  I thought  so.   

Ribbon, ric rack and flowers

Some paper pads and journalling pads

Sissix dies and around the page punch

I also got some pro-markers and ink pads!  I was a bit like a kid in a sweetshop because a) I do not have any craft shops near me so very rarely get to see so much stash in real life and b) I have been on a stash diet since April 2010 when my hubby was made redundant. I had money left over from the Christmas budget so decided to splurge - this will probably be it for another year.  I just can't wait for some time to play and already have a number of projects in mind.

Working at the Car Wash!

Well not quite but you get the idea.  The youngest is definitely missing her sister but is quickly discovering the advantages of getting Daddy all to her self!  Car washing ticks all her boxes - getting wet and having a giggle.

And me - well I have had a very productive day.  In between the usual chores, I managed to bake a cake;

A weight watchers banana and sultana loaf - if you are a WW online member you can find the recipe on the website.  Having now sampled a piece I can recommend it and its very quick and easy to make.

And  I also made a card for a friends 40th Birthday;

I'm quite pleased how this turned out in the end, because for a while I just seemed to be pushing the paper around the desk.

I hope you all had a good day too!

Monday Memories

Its quite fitting that when I turned over the calender this morning it revealed my oldest, as she is not with us this week.  She is spending the week with her friend and their family at Center Parcs - so whilst she is away her smiley face will grin at me all week on my desk!


This photo was taken last year on our summer holiday.  We stayed in a log cabin at Wchynor park in Staffordshire.  The weather was kind to us and although not sunny all the time, it was fairly dry all week so we could get out and about.  This photo was taken at Snibston - a museum and discovery park.  Its well worth a visit if you are in the area - there is lots to see and do and it is very hands on.  The youngest particularly enjoyed the pipe that blew air to hold up a ball - as you can see below!

They also both enjoyed the interactive floor mat.

Another happy Monday Memory.

Definitely not a day of rest!

So the plan was simple - spend the afternoon in the lovely sunshine sewing the binding on my quilt and then take a photo of said quilt to show you all.  Well you can see by the lack of photo, that once again life conspired against me.  Instead the afternoon was taken up with washing, tidying and all manner of other stuff I won't bore you with.  Suffice to say Sunday was definitely not a day of rest here!  So apologies for such a short post but I'm just plain exhausted.  I hope you all enjoyed a more relaxing time than me. 

PS - in case you were wondering I had a lovely time at Ally Pally - a full report will follow later in the week.

And then the day was gone!

So come on, which one of you stole the hours out of my day!  I've been planning to sit down and blog since about 9.30 this morning and here I am at 11.05  Not my ideal time of day to try and compose a post but such is life.  So anyway its Friday (well for an hour at least) and here are five reasons why this makes me happy;

1.  Term finished today! My girls are now off for three weeks!  The school has moved some inset days so they don't go back in between Easter and the Royal Wedding.  So this means a break from dragging them out of bed, making packed lunches, reading the endless letters from school, nagging about homework and all such things related to making mornings somewhat stressful at times. 

2. This gorgeous warm weather! I was nearly tempted to dig out the shorts today but decided the shock might be too great for passers by.  

3.  My Mum and Dad are back from Spain today!  We have missed them, especially the girls.

4.  I'm off to Alexander Palace tomorrow to visit the Big Stamp and Scrapbook Show.  A lovely day to myself, with the added bonus of being able to look (and maybe purchase) lots of lovely new stash.

5.  I managed to squeeze in a few crafty hours today, working on my quilt, making some cards and starting a layout.  Very productive.

I hope you all had a happy Friday too!