Storytelling Sunday - October

Sian is hosting Storytelling Sunday over at her blog From High In The Sky. There are always so many lovely stories over there to read.

Yesterday was so beautiful that Alex suggested a trip to Woolacombe Beach. It took me about 2 seconds to agree. No other member of the family could be persuaded of this and so we set off on our own.

We had a fab afternoon. Digging battlements each and having a war. For the record Snakey Seaweed Castle fell to Feather Kingdom ( I wasn't allowed to name either, and really, he had it covered there).
He was thrilled with finally being able to make proper sandcastles by himself, seems 8 is the perfect age for patience, listening to your mother, co-ordination and strength for the big buckets to be flipped into the perfect shape successfully.

So the story today was sparked by watching this video when we got home of one of his trips to get water for his moat.

'I will fill my moat' from Jennie Hart on Vimeo.

Since he was a toddler he has tried to fill his variety of moats. With his hands as a little toddler and as an older toddler it made me smile to watch him struggle with the bucket with water in and by the time he waddled to his moat, there was very little in that bucket. 

As a small boy, he used a variety of buckets and on one notable occasion he used some nappy sacks that we had in our pockets for the dogs, ahem. That was make-shift as I forgot the buckets and spades. What a superhero Mother I was not that day, especially as it was spring and the shop wasn't open to get any! I could not believe how long he wanted to carry water in a nappy sack up and down from the river into the moat. 

I guess it is one of those things, you know it won't work, everyone tells you it won't work, empirical evidence collated by yourself tells you it isn't working, you even describe it as "I know it will fade away", but you need to just do it.

There he is, just 8 and still trying to fill his moat. I love the optimism.

I made this for a scraplift challenge we are having in our social group The Bijoux Belles on UKS. You can see the challenge here on Sue's blog.

I've also used up some of the lovely buttons that my other teamie Susi makes and you can take a peek at her Etsy Shop here.

Have a lovely Sunday. Coffee is brewed, bread is toasted, i'm off to read the stories that are up so far.

“and be you blythe and bonny.”

It is my first time setting the weekly challenge over at UKS this week. With my recent interest in Shakespeare it had to include a Shakespeare themed challenge. I decided to scrap this photo of Lauren that I took on her birthday last November.

I do love the photo, but also it matched one of my favourite quotes so far from Shakespeare.
From Much Ado About Nothing:
“and be you blythe and bonny, converting all your sounds of woe into hey nonny nonny.” She has a lot of woe, and she does look on the bright side of life and I wanted to encourage her to carry that on into life.
The thing I mostly have been reflecting on is despite how powerful the writing is and I am still enjoying break-time reading with the complete works, this line was brought to life by Emma Thompson half-reading half-reciting this to music in the film version that I mentioned I loved here.

He wrote them as plays and should be performed as such, so I will carry on reading but also watching as much as possible.
I recorded The Hollow Crown on Saturday night, it was Richard II, I had already got into bed, fully intending to watch it on Sunday. However, after watching the first scene, I was up out of my bed and did some scrapping whilst I watched. It was fantastic, Ben Whishaw was brilliant as all the rest were, I, felt prickles on the back of the neck as Patrick Stewart as John Of Gaunt gave the Act Two Scene 1 Sceptered Isle speech. Can’t wait until the next one on Saturday, Henry IV Part 1.
Anyhoo, here is the layout.

I took lots of inspiration from all over the place, Two Peas, mainly for the negative title, layered bunting etc. I used the brilliant papers from Echo Park Summer Days, I have nearly used it all up now as well which makes me happy
Thanks for looking xx

Team Leader Sue

Sue invited me into the Bijoux Belles social group over at UK Scrappers, she was so lovely, gracious and open when she invited me that I felt straight at home.
This is how I choose to add her to the Hall Of Fame!

5 things I love about Sue
1. Her calm and diplomatic manner which is twinned with a naughty, funny and precise point of view.
2. She knows just when you need something extra, whether it is an extra hug, email, ‘shout out’ on the thread or a parcel.
3. She links up the things that she finds interesting which give me lots of diverting pleasures.
4. Her crafting is superb and she puts so much work into it, the detail is extraordinary and no part of her layouts are left ‘untouched’.
5. She is so supportive of the family unit, whether it is her relatives or friends in whatever shape or form (online or next door), she is interested, involved and ‘in there’.

This entire layout is made with patterned paper that Sue gave me recently to cheer me up and some spotty ribbon that she sent at christmas. 
I have used the Saturday Scrap Map Challenge over at Creative Craft World, which Sue designs for, thanks for the sketch Lou.


So this is for you Sue.