Memory Sparks

Remote Control

Do you remember the Dark Ages when you had to get up to press the chu-chunk buttons on the ole-tv?

I remember how lucky my best friend Lisa was to have her own tv in her room when we were teens. Her family bought a hotel and each room was already kitted out with tv’s so her room had one. Her remote control? A pool cue she half-inched from the games room! She used it to poke the chu-chunk buttons and me when I was audacious enough to fall asleep.

I remember the pink one I had at uni.

I remember how I used to have 4, the tv, vcr, dvd and stereo.

I live everyday with the fact that my sons lost their remote, discovered that mine works their tv and, so, it’s always a grumpy scavenger hunt in their swamp for it.

Memory Sparks rock. Thanks Shimelle.

Sit, Stand, Sleep

I sit here, sometimes. It has a magic button that reclines it at any position from upright to completely horizontal. I loves it.

I sit here more often than not, on the net, scrapping.

I stand here, not to do the washing-up, the machine does that, but to cook and mooch.

And finally, this is where I lay me down to sleep.

Quite a good way to observe our routines and observation is the theme this week for Explore, Shimelle’s class.

Latitude & Longitude

This is the second time I have scrapped this photo, but hey, if you love a photo, why not?

I love the photo and it came to mind in two ways. The first was from the sketches that Shimelle provided for the ‘Explore’ project she gave us this weekend, one of the sketches gave the opportunity to use a large photo. The second was from the colour theme I decided to go with for this explore project which is kraft, red and white. I scrapped the photo in sepia last time, but this colour theme would match the colour version
The projects this week included thinking about adventure, perfection, using maps and making circle embellishments. So great for me as I love maps and I love making circle embellishments.
 Supplies: TH Kraft Resist, red and white papermania cs. TH Walnut Stain and Fired Brick Distress Ink. Circle and Star Nesties. Printable Vellum and Lava Red Cosmic Shimmer. Webster’s Sparklers and bling.

TFL x

Tonic

A new class by Shimelle. I love ‘em.

I haven’t had the best couple of days so this has been just the tonic today.

This is the playbook which is nice and simple.

The first page is the self-portrait of my camera and I. I like everyone else was not too enthused by this, but I think we are all glad we have done it.

As I say, I am exhausted, not helped by my eldest son, waking me at 4:45 this morning having had a nightmare.

Incidentally, my youngest son woke me by banging on the wall between our rooms on Sunday night. I rushed in in my sleepy state to see what was troubling the poor chap.

“Can you put the blanket over me, Mummy?”

Erm…fortunately for us both, but especially for him, it was about 1:50 so I did get back to sleep quite quickly.

Anyway, I’m putting it off.

 

Quick

scroll

down

it

will

soon

be

gone!

There all better now.

Our last ‘job’ was to make a note of how we feel and pop that in, as I had a few choice things to ask myself about how i’m feeling and doing, i’ll keep it to myself. I have inflicted enough upon you.

July Colour Combo Blog Hop

If you have arrived from the lovely Amy’s blog then welcome and what another lovely project. If you haven’t arrived from Amy’s blog then welcome too and if you want to head back over there or you want the full blog hop then it is at the bottom of the post.
This has been my fave color combo so far and I have been looking forward to completing the project…..but you know how that pesky thing called life gets in the way of creativity and sometimes productivity? Yeah that has gone on here and so I finished this project tonight, stressed.

I chose the beautiful Madeline papers from Prima last month. I would have bought them anyway as they are my colours.
My lovely friends over on UKS are sure that I can’t actually scrap anything without turquoise, and I am pretty sure they are right! So I knew these papers were a shoe in for being used and I was right.
So I was cool with the papers, no stretch there and I have had the idea of what the end product would be, but I just couldn’t get there. End of School events have swamped us, and tonight was my eldest son’s primary graduation…..the USA seems to have affected the UK school system. Not a bad thing, and it was done ok. It just mean’t that I was totally behind with creative time!
What is stopping you getting on with your creativity?

Here is the full blog hop.
http://amysoto.blogspot.com/
http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/
http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/
http://scrapyourlife.net/
http://craftygoodies.blogspot.com/
http://www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com/
http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/
http://www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
http://www.scrapworthylives.com/
http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com/
http://www.vsws.typepad.com/
http:/handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com
http://throughthecameralens.typepad.com/
http://1200somemiles.blogspot.com/
http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.com/
http://alyssephotographs.blogspot.com/

Rockpooling

Is one of the best ways to spend the day with a curious 6 year old. I would like to stop him now, just stop him and enjoy his 6 year old-ness forever.

He, Ali, had enjoyed a school trip down to the rockpools. he was so enthused we had to take him again.

Apologies for the poor photo.

He was quite normal for the first part of the trip but when the tide completely receded we could walk around from Larkstone beach where we started to the harbour beach (which is an unpleasant kind of work-harbour beach).

He totally went into school-marm mode and gave me a guided tour as if he was the teacher, he didn’t come out of his role-play and he totally repeated the whole class, and I would say he did it verbatim. He did not embellish or deviate but did the whole thing…..v. wierd. Erm…I learnt a lot though…so much for me teaching him *sniff*

On the way we saw a lobster claw with elastic bands tied around it, it must have come from the harbour-side fish shop, because I can’t imagine any seaside scenario which includes the lobsters putting their hair/claws up.

I suppose though that just because I can’t imagine it, don’t mean it don’t happen

 

I’d also like to say that that very claw is not mouldering away in the crab bucket outside the back of our house, but it wouldn’t be true so I won’t say it.

We also saw a dead fish, a fresh dead fish,

that was having it’s eyes pecked out by seagully gully when we returned The six year old? Not phased at all.

A jellyfish or two, some of them with their stingers laid out

it was superb, if surreal.

Back to the actual rockpooling. I caught an amazing shot on the camera. I couldn’t repeat it if you asked, I can claim no glory, I was so worried about missing a shot by practicing on manual that I set the camera to auto for a lot of shots and I got this beauty.

Erm….for some reason I have just deleted the whole folder of photos.

I have searched the gallery, and I haven’t swiped it into a nearby folder with my clumsiness, I have searched the recycle bin, but I don’t really understand the recycle bin, everything is in there except this folder of photos! I’m off to search Flickr and hope I uploaded them before I did for ‘em.

I did, praise be, now lets see if I can link from there, doubtful

Oooo I did it. Now look how it has stars in the reflections on the top right hand corner. I soooo wish I could say that I did a smashing filter job on it but I didn’t. Just happy happenstance. Of course I had to use stars on the layout to reflect it and the star turn/wierd turn Ali put on.

It was a superb afternoon out and I hope you enjoyed it too!

Storytelling Sunday

Sian is awesome and as part of running her lovely blog she hosts a Storytelling Sunday feature. Now I am guessing you know that already but if you don’t then you should head over there and, oh, take a coffee with you.
I decided to join in when I heard about it but then Dad became very ill and died as some of you will know. I did share that tale/blogpost last month, but it was all very raw and so I was late posting it. If you are interested then it is here.
So I have been ‘humming and hawing’, or ‘umming and awing’ over what to tell you.
I decided that I like photo-heavy or at least photo-included stories so I headed over to my gallery to see what I could see-see-see.
erm…..no that didn’t work,
I then thought I would share with you the first chapter of the book I have tried to write and ask for some constructive feedback from you guys.
So that got me to thinking about where it might be in the ether?
I wrote it when I moved home a few years ago and I loved it, I didn’t think it was brilliant, but I enjoyed writing it and reading it. I haven’t looked at it or worked at it for about 2 years so where on earth is it?
At that point I thought, how awful if Jo Rowling had just let herself lose her focus on her manuscript OR LOSE IT and Harry was never to be in my life.
Then I had a reality check and thought ‘my manuscript isn’t like that’….and here is why not;
1) I am no Jo Rowling.
2) I am not driven like Jo Rowling and do not write every minute to get it done, even in a cafe with a small child.
3) I am not driven like Jo Rowling because I do not know where my manuscript is and it is not on any computer that exists anymore.
4) I have allowed that story to sit pretty much fully formed and sprawling in it’s entirety, in my mind.
I actually have butterflies in my tummy that I have lost it all entirely, I think it was in the back of my mind that one day I would get it out, dust it down and turn it into a quality novel.
2 hours later:  I have found the hard copy!
Now I have butterflies in my tummy because I now want to work on it. I think if that is the first thing I have learnt from Storytelling Sunday then it has to be good.
So I guess that this is my first entry into the Storytelling Sunday canon;
‘How I entered the Storytelling Sunday canon’.

My last scrapmap!

Crikey, where did that 4 weeks go? This is may last slot as guest designer for Creative Craft World. Thanks so much to the great design team for making me feel welcome.

When we go to the beach we go all day, it is so nice to get a good spot and have the place to yourself in the morning, have a nice walk etc. Then in the heat of the day we can enjoy all the swimming, body boarding etc. Then in the evening we can get the beach back to ourselves or at least not many of us and we sizzle some sausages and enjoy the relative cool.
These photos of the boys were on one such evening last summer, we followed their plastic boats down the stream from our ‘camp’ to the sea.
Definitely one of my ‘happy places’ to go to when i’m having a stressy day.