UKS SUMMER SNAP COMPETITION

Hello it's been a while.....

Over at UKS they're having a summer photograph scavenger hunt.  As all things scrapping and crafty are limited by circumstances at Hamilton Towers I thought I'd join in the fun and try to earn some points for Scrap Happy.  I'll be popping back in to update the list as I manage to find the perfect picture, please feel free to stop by and say hello.  

Here's the list:

1.     Vapour trails or clouds 

Low cloud over the Shanghai financial district 2nd July 2016

2.     A horse drawn vehicle

A lucky find on my way to the village shop.  8th August 2015

3.     Flowers in bloom

Flower garden at the entrance to the Shanghai Science Centre

Hall Place 19th July 2016

4.    A summer job in the garden

Living on a farm means having a pretty big garden!

 Bringing in the first batch of hay 9th July 2016

5.    Something typifying your holiday destination, or your home town if you are planning a staycation

A view of Dorking from Box Hill 17th July 2016

6.    Hats

Gorgeous Panda Hats A.P. Market Shanghai 2nd July 2016

Bangkok 25th August 2016

7.     Ice Cream

Coconut Ice Cream served in a coconut and smothered with chocolate sauce

Bangkok 125th August 2016

8.     Kites or balloons

Random kites on a wall outside A.P. Mareket Shanghai 2nd July 2016

9.     Bubbles

Hot tub fun int he garden 24th July 2016

Pink Champagne after a long day
Johannesburg 17th August 2016

10.    Ducks, swans or seabirds

River Cray running through Hall Place, Bexley 19th July 2016

11.    Summer sunrise or sunset

Sunset over London at 30,000 feet 9th July 2016

12.    Eating al fresco

Sunday evening at the Plough, Rusper 16th July 2016

13.    Somewhere you would only visit when the sun shines

The gorgeous pool at Palazzo Monte Casine, Jo'berg

14.    Flags or bunting

Patriotic Rabbit, The Plough, Rusper July 2016

15.    Summer shoes

14th July 2016 - will it ever stop raining?

16.    Fruit growing, in the garden, on a tree, or in the hedgerow

Anyone who knows me and my gardening skills will recognise this achievement!

July 9th 2016

17.    Water

Bangkok 25th August 2016

18.    Umbrellas

Palazzo |Monte Casino, Jo'berg 18th August 2016

19.    Glasses

Cocktails!  Jo'berg 17th August 2016

20.    Fete, fair or festival

Battle Proms, Highclere House 6th August 2016

And don’t forget the photo of you.

ME! Hats and Glasses

ME! Glasses (Again)

BB Bird

Let me introduce you to the rare and beautiful Lesser Spotted BB Bird.  

Easily recognisable by her beautiful plumage she is rarely seen during daylight hours, although

 there some rare sitings of her in the Queenwood Library,  mostly during the day she recharges her batteries to enable her to sparkle at night.  She can often been seen at all the well known watering holes in Brighton and Eastbourne during the hours of darkness especially on a Monday.  As with all rare species it is hard to determine her diet.  It is thought that during the day she lives on the eggs of other species (hens in particular) and at night she will feast on the delicacy known as KEE BAB.   

Although fiercely independent, she often returns to the mother bird's nest for free laundry and endless fridge opportunities.  She is also known for her hunting and tracking capabilities.  It does not take her long to track down the father bird when grant and bank let her down to enable her to continue her sparkling activities. 

Another trait of her uniqueness is her ability to call the auntie bird during the hours of darkness (in particular between 2 am and 5am) without even trying!  The auntie bird will always smile fondly accepting karma and the rite of passage as will the BB bird when the Megan or Shannon birds spread their wings.  

As you can see she is beautiful, unique and loved by everyone who knows her. 

A story with a Happy Ending

Life hasn't been kind to me lately.   Last August I lost my Dear Dad while I was in Las Vegas. Getting home for his funeral in Spain was a nightmare.  Fortunately BA did their best and I made it with hours to spare.  A week later my sister's husband passed away, also in Spain. 

On 20th January 2015 the thing I had been dreading most took place, that is my dearest friend, confidant and sister slipped away.  This has been the hardest thing for me to cope with.  We laid her to rest last Friday.  I thought all the bad stuff was over. How wrong was I, on Wednesday another friend, who was looking forward to a new job in the skies, passed away after a massive heart attack. He was only 40 and had just passed his flying medical. 

Sorry to bang on about all the bad stuff.....   There is a reason!   I begged the universe to give me some good news and here it is 😄

My adopted Grandson Taylor's favourite toy, Duckie, went everywhere with him.  It was the last gift his real grandma gave him before she died (stick with this, it IS a happy story).   

Last August he managed to leave it in the hotel room before flying home from Tenerife.  Both his Mum Shelly and Taylor were distraught.  Numerous calls to the hotel didn't turn it up.  Poor Taylor has missed Duckie daily and Michele has felt sad both for Taylor and for her late Mum.  

Duckie wasn't expensive, he came from Asda but after 8 years was no longer in production.  

This week, Shelly found him on eBay!!!   She was the successful bidder and took a gamble on telling her seller the story......  Look what happened next

Yes!  The lovely lady selling Duckie took Taylor's story to heart and made one little boy and his Mum very very happy.  

Thank you Universe.   Good things DO happen

What better way to spend a wet Friday

other than messing about with paper and glue!

I've been invited to my first Baby Shower on Sunday.  It's my first because when I was having babies the craze for all things American hadn't quite hit the UK.   My lovely adopted daughter Shelly asked me to help her make a nappy cakefir her brother Mark and sister in law Tammy.  My first thought was yeuuurrrkkk why would anyone want to eat a cake that looks like a nappy whether it was full or otherwise.  Anyway a quick explanation as to what it actually is "Diaper Cake" to use the correct description had me heading over to Pinterest for inspiration.

At about the same the wonderful guys at SVG cuts published their newest Tiny Miracle file.  So I was all set to go.   The first big shock was that the "cake" requird SEVENTY diapers!  sorry disposable nappies.  With only a couple of days to get this thing underway I made an order from Tesco.com for delivery first thing.  In the event, because they couldn't honour my original order so they sent substitutions and a got  enough to make TWO nappy, sorry Diaper, cakes :) for less than £13!  So if anyone out there wants to invite me to a baby shower..... 😍

Meanwhile I got to watching the video and cutting the bits I needed.  As always, these things take much more card stock than you realise but  I was determined to use only stuff in my stash.  I have to start using it up to give me an excuse to buy more.  I used the dimensions offered by SVG cuts but this left me with a "cake" I was embarrassed to own.  It showed too much of the diapers, I mean nappies for my liking.  After a quick trash of the card stock used to date and an improvisation with my own measurements I finally succeeded in something I'm happy to give. 

Hope you like it too 

More Scrapping...

I had an afternoon to relax before setting out to run the Race for Life in aid of Cancer Reseach.  I'm not sure I'm fit enough for it but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Meanwhile, I had time to relax at my Craft Desk so I thought I would attempt the UKS Weekly Challenge.  The theme was "NEGLECT".  Use neglected stash, photographs, techniques and equipment.

Once again I was inspired by the lovely sketches at Stuck?! Sketches.  If ever you need inspiration, this is the place to go!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my LO.

Thank you lovely ladies at Sketch!? Now I'm off to run :)

Hold on to your hats.... I'm back within a month!

So, I'm determined to try to keep my blog up to date until the end of the year.   Not sure I'll succeed but I'm going to give it a go.

I've still got lots of WIPs on the go, a knitted heirloom shawl from a 70 year old knitting pattern, my AJ pages as always, a basket of baby vests and socks meant to resemble roses but I've had too many scathing comments from Mr Tinks and Master Tinks to continue with that at the moment :(  Meanwhile I've scrapped!  Yay!!

I was inspired by Stuck?! Sketches with this sketch

 and used it to enter their June Challenge.  Meanwhile over at UKS the Monthly or House Challenge as it is formally known merely asked us to use this colour combo:

Papers were selected:

and I got to work.  I used a very old photograph of me and my bestie Julie taken when we were about 13/14 in a photobooth in Woolworths.  We look so young and innocent and its incredible that we are still the best of friends all these years later.  This is also a poignant LO because I won't have Julie in my life much longer.  She is incredibly poorly suffering with an untreatable Grade 4 Brain Tumour and I'm looking for the positive in every day.  

Taa Daa!  here it is :)  TYFL

It's been a long time....

As many of you will know, my life is quite hectic and busy at the moment.  What with flying here there and everywhere (and loving almost every minute of it!), my Best Friend in the world is quite poorly and I'm trying to spend as much time with her as possible.  However, that should be no excuse to ignore my blog for over a year!  I have been crafting during this time and I've fallen in love with Art Journalling and Doodling.  I often spend time down route in my room enjoying myself with pens and paper.  Of course, taking inks and stuff away is not an option but I want to share a recent AJ page today.

I used  Dylusions inks and a tutorial from the lovely Michele at Crafts4Eterity , some Bo bunny and other random stamps with Ranger inks, a picture cut out of a magazine and a wonderful Dylusions 

stamp for the head. 

This is just one of the many AJ pages I've been creating but its good to share. :)  Thank you for looking.