Make a wish.

Hello little bloggy :-)



It's a gorgeous Spring here in north devon. I hope it is the same where you are?

On Easter Monday Ali and I went out to walk Minty in the early evening and it was so gorgeous we ended up on the cliffs and decided to go up to the top. You don't make that decision lightly, it is steep.










We paused at the top at the lookout marker. 
We also sat on the benches at the viewpoints on the way up, cuddling, watching the birds swoop and listen to them call, we designed our ultimate computer game that we would like to design (if we were 100% more proficient in any area that making a computer game requires ;-)). We just mainly enjoyed the incredible peace and quiet.



Minty was ok with a sit down too.


A dandelion to make a wish on is irresistible to him and to me.




I don't know how I managed to catch the 'wish' but I am thrilled that I did.



I bought Allison Kreft's Sprinkled With Love collection, I adored her christmas collection and I think I love this one more, ombre hearts, gorgeous, I literally sighed and felt my heart catch when it arrived. Does that happen to you?



Here is the accompanying pocket page. The 3x4 cards are a cut apart from the collection too. The honeycomb gold on vellum in Studio Calico. Wooden 'enamel' dots are from MME.


I used my sizzix eclips to cut the swirls and then used the cut out as a layer and also as a mask. I coloured using chalks and mists and shine. Thanks for taking a look.

UKS Challenge: Feb Week 1

This week it is the turn of Sue, my team leader of our team The Bijoux Belles to set the challenge. Thank you Sue, I enjoyed it, especially the glittery element, I love glitter and don't use it nearly enough.



A few years ago, we had a couple of weeks where it felt as though everywhere in the country apart from the farthest south west had snow. The boys really wanted some so we scarpered out after school to find some on Exmoor; this was at Simonsbath.



I used paper and star embellies from Studio Calico Printshop! I distressed and layered up parts, used a MS punch and my fave Amy Tangerine alpha stamps with TH Rock Candy Stickles everywhere. It wasn't my finest stamping hour but never mind =)

Thanks for looking.

Project Life: Week Two

Here are the headlines:

1. Jen - working from bleary hour to darkly hour
2. Mum - learning how to fast
3. Lauren - dealing with bad news maturely
4. Louis - thinking about Options
5. Alex - nailing division sums

Photo Spread:


LHS:
 

RHS:


And in other news:

1. Thrilled with my new coat (seen below) from Fat Face, love their stuff. Thinking of one of these knits next.
This was me on the first morning of my run of earlies that I have written about in the spread. I don't know why I was smiling, it was 4:15am ;-)

2. The blog has had a bit of a makeover, I wanted to be able to do a photo collage for the banner so I took a class from Elsie & Elise.
I hope you like it. The plan is to update it seasonally as the paper snowflake is going to look a bit odd come midsummer ;) 
3. For a photo view challenge this year I am taking shots at Bicclescombe Park. I love this park, I prefer my outdoors as wild as possible but I enjoy a nice park too, this will hopefully encourage us down there. Predictably January's shots are stark, I like that it starts like that, to see the 'bones' of the landscape before it fluffs out and blooms and then fades away again.

Favourite bit about project life this week:
Using my new paper collection for this and the accompanying layouts. It's Studio Calico-Printshop! and it is pretty versatile so far. I have also completed up to the end of week 4 so only week 5 to do. That feels good. I still love the project and all the family have been in this evening to look at it as I was working on it. That is my favourite bit I think.

Project Life: Week One.

Happy New Year.

I hope you enjoyed a lovely end to your year and a great start to the new one.

Welcome 2014.

It has been great to be observing with purpose what the family are up to and what is going on in the world for project life. 

Little things like laughing so hard at your son hitting his head against the wall? 

Ok so to add context to that...Ali has the most enormous sneezes, always has, they were remarkable as a baby and have become legendary in our family. Sometimes they are funny as everyone literally shies from the noise, sometimes they are exasperating as he invariably is near you (I hasten to add for his modesty that he is a 'dry' sneezer), still it is quite a whoosh. So he was sat on my bed and out of nowhere he sneezed and his head flew back and cracked the wall. I am not the sort of parent that laughs at their children's misfortunes. I am really not, but that just did for me. Ali was laughing as well and, of course, I was cuddling him through those laughs =)

So yes, that needs to be part of the story of what went on here this week.

(The ink ran out in the printer so the photos are awful, I will replace them when I get them done 'properly'. Also the photos of the layouts are terrible, darned light) 

The weather has been dreadful, I cannot remember a worse one for such a long time in little old Ilfracombe. I had quite a turn when the dulcet tones of the news reader on R4 told me in the car that we had lost some sea wall. I was very worried as there are lots of buildings next to the sea wall. Fortunately it is in another area of the sea front which is less impactful.
I went down to see for myself this morning and yes I was careful to keep well above and/or away from the walls which as you can see it was still coming right up and over.
The QR Code in the spread above will take our family to the below video so we can see the footage to go with the story. I love including a video, they are my favourite layouts.

In the screenshot it says 06:19, as if I would put you through 6 minutes of waves! It's about 20 seconds =)

The chain link fence you can just see in the distance is where the wall has come down.

A surge and waves coming up over.

All of the benches along the sea front tell the tale with seaweed wrapped around them.

So, that was week one. Thanks for reading.

Sparkle & Jingle #2

As I was saying the other day, I love to make a mini book over christmas, but I love to capture more detail so I have kickstarted project life again. Over the past few months I haven't had time to notice much detail of our lives and I have missed it, so I planned on restarting project life december first.

So here are the first pages.

 Just some patterned paper to divide december from the rest of the year.

 Some descriptions of how December started for me and what was going on the first week. Craft Fair mainly.

 Then a full 6x12 insert with a description of the craft fair day and how nice it was with the family. 

 On the reverse of the insert is one of the christmas cards I made for this year during Sue's fab Beat The Christmas Rush challenge. I am pretty sure she is repeating it this coming year and I will certainly be joining in.

 The second week with some bits and pieces about Ali coming home with a positive sticker on him. His teacher and I are working hard to communicate about what is going on with him when I can't often be at the school.

 The wish list for Ali and a review of the Primary School Christmas Musical.

 This one hasn't been scrapped yet as the print isn't very good, I will order one when Christmas is over and replace and then scrap it.

 A few more hat photos.

 My take on the UKS weekly challenge. I loved the sketch.

My take on the previous week's UKS challenge, set by Sue too.

I am really enjoying working on it again and it is a definite skill to remember to record stuff, and set aside time to record it. I will get practicing again through January as the albums are something I really treasure.

Sparkle & Jingle #1

I have missed blogland whilst I have been busy with the new store. I am going to jump back in and see how it goes. Thank you for still reading.

I am following along with Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas. I am not actively doing the prompts but using them as a guide to get me thinking and mainly recording the day to day.

I am also using it as the starting point for a Project Life boost. I have only scrapped the 'big' events for a few months and none of the detail that I really love. So, lots of journaling for PL and I am also making a mini book (just because I love them) with a quick pic and sentence.

I'll show you the mini book first. The kit is made up of Alison Kreft's It's Christmas collection, Studio Calico's Magical, Pink Paislee Luxe Collection.

Cover.



Manifesto.

Day 1. My lovely Christmas Jumper *sigh*.

Day 2. Craft Fair Frenzy.

Day 3. The boys were under there all that time. Doesn't Ali look charmed by the experience.

Day 4. New mobile contract time.

Day 5. A view of my neighbourhood that I have taken once a month this year.

Day 6. I had a stall at a craft fair. DIS-AHSTER DAH-LING. Enjoyable though =)

Day 7. Spent hours sorting out the new iPhone including speaking to America for a while.

Day 8. A lovely day just crafting, I put the kit together and got it organised and spent all day working on it.

Day 9. Homemade Cookies and Hot Choc. Like being bludgeoned by a sugar bag. I didn't hear any pleas for pudding after that lot.

Day 10. We went to see Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire. As soon as the boys saw the camera they slunk down their chairs, as if the camera couldn't see them.

Day 11. Ali's Christmas Show: Primary School Christmas Musical. A spoof.

Day 12. Up to date now with some snaps of Louis in front of the tree from our annual "Mum makes us sit in front of the tree for ages to get some mediocre shots that look nothing like the ones on Pinterest"

Phew. Well done if you are still here. And you still have some bandwidth.

I'll show you the Project Life part tomorrow. Consider yourself warned.

Sue's Sketch Challenge.

I love Sue's sketches and her sketch challenge is fab, you can find it here at her great blog Me & Mine. There is lots of inspiration there.

I have scrapped a photo of sunrise on Midsummer morning. You can see the blog post from the day here.

(Love the spot of Listerine I dropped on it; buckling the paper =) )

It was absolutely magic and looking at the layout will always take me back to a perfect moment of calm and peace, not quiet; it was very breezy! I seem to love my hometown more and more as I get older and see as much of it as I can.

I still have some of the lovely Atlantic collection from Studio Calico. I have so enjoyed scrapping with it. I will use it to scrap the last bits of the summer, mainly my shop opening and the new kitchen and most importantly, my dear Louis turned 13 a couple of weeks ago. 

Summer Bucket List #5: Evening Coastal Cruise

Onto #5 on the Summer Bucket List, to find out more about it please go here.

Last of the events to get done from the Summer Bucket List was an evening coastal cruise.

I live in a seaside tourist town and there are a few boats taking visitors out for trips in the day and evening including a speedboat, which now I know Ali doesn't get seasick will be our next trip, it looks like fun. However for this trip I wanted calm and relaxing as it was the last day off before I went into the new store opening.

The boats have been advertising that we might see Dave The Dolphin and I have to say I was quite excited at the prospect, I have never seen one in all my years living next to the sea (and some years working at sea). 

 It was raining but not particularly convincingly and the sky promised better.

 Ali was looking forward to it, a bit apprehensive though.

 A very high spring tide had disappeared the end of the pier landing.

 The view up towards north exmoor, misty and eerie.

 One for my friend Linds, our local girls rowing in the gig. (Her daughter is a rower).

 Smugglers Caves at Watermouth Cove.

After my cynical mind had given up on the promised Dave The Dolphin as a marketing ploy; there he was. 
We spent 45 minutes in Combe Martin bay as he performed for us. The Captain says he (or she, they don't know) has been around about 3 months.

 It is pretty hard to photograph a dolphin =)

 One for another friend Sue, Sandy Cove hotel where she stayed a while ago and on the right hand side is Damien Hirst's house, well one of them lol

I gave up trying to photograph Dave and shot some footage of him instead, then I tried to capture how lumpy the trip home was, it was fantastic, we went into quite a swell and it was a bit like being on a roller coaster, but with less seatbelt =) It was then so nice coming into harbour with the lights all on. 

Dave The Dolphin from Jennie Hart on Vimeo.

Magic, will definitely do that again in the summer next year.

Well, as a family we have ticked off some of the smaller items from the Bucket List as well as the ones I have blogged about. The bigger ones I wish we had got to was the midnight picnic and stargazing on exmoor and the daytime picnic up there too. Never mind, they will be first next year.

I so enjoyed this and it definitely made me think about the things we wanted to do as a family and actually get out there!

Hence I am just about to write my Autumn Bucket List and do the same for this season.