It's a funny old day over here in Deb's World. Today is the day our daughter moved out to live in a lovely new flat with her boyfriend. So we've spent the day loading up cars, unpacking cars, building flat pack furniture and generally helping them move in. I was very conscious of not outstaying our welcome and as soon as I could see that the worst was done and all furniture built and in it's place I made sure we said our goodbyes and left them to finish it all off on their own.
Coming home to the house seemed a bit strange, and when I looked in her room, it was as if she hadn't left! Still clothes hanging out of drawers, bed unmade, various pots of make up on the dressing table - obviously all the stuff she doesn't think she will be needing but can't bring herself to throw away. I went to put a load of washing in the washing machine and found a large batch of clothes that she had put in the machine last night, still there - waiting to go in the tumble drier! I suspect she'll be back very soon to collect them.
Our son, sensing that the full burden of being parented was going to fall on his shoulders, beat a retreat to his girlfriend's family's house on the pretext of needing to see one of her sisters. Hmmm - I know his game! He could tell that the absence of his sister would mean more mothering for him.
As we were leaving the flat, I suddenly remembered that I needed to get a photo of them by their new front door and although eyebrows were raised and sighs were heard, they co operated and I will be using that for a new layout very soon.
Meanwhile ... there's an empty bedroom in need of spring cleaning ....
Monday, 11 April 2011
Sunday, 10 April 2011
B&W - It's in the news
Whilst laying in the swing chair in the garden enjoying the sunshine I suddenly remembered that I had intended to try and post a black and white photo every week. (let's not mention me missing last week - ok?)
Being as lazy as can be, I picked up my phone and took a photo from where I was laying! We've been sitting out in the garden reading the weekend papers in the sunshine. And with under a month to go, you can see that the newspapers are already getting Royal Wedding fever!
Saturday, 9 April 2011
A full nest
This weekend is unusual in that we have both chicks in the nest at the same time. Son chick is home from uni for a couple of weeks and daughter chick is home too. Not for long though! She will be moving into a flat with her boyfriend on Monday and our house is becoming a depositary for boxes, clothes and flat pack furniture – you should see the state of our landing and garage! I’ve been looking for a suitable ‘new home’ card for them but couldn’t find anything that I liked until the husband looked at me in a bemused fashion and said “but surely you’ll be making them one”. Hmmm …. maybe he has something there. So this morning I got to grips with card and paper and glue and glitter and came up with this
The quote inside says ‘It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home’ which is very true. I suspect that Monday will be pretty chaotic, but very exciting for them both. I also suspect that our house will feel pretty empty by the time we have unloaded everything and returned home!
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
3 x 4 x 6
No don't worry, this isn't turning into an arithmatic lesson - trust me, adding up and messing about with numbers is NOT my strong point! We're into the third month of Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love classes and this month we had to fit three 4x6 pictures into a layout. So, just when you thought you had seen the end of the photos I took at the Cologne Christmas Markets in November ....
Normally I would think that this was all a bit 'busy' but you know what? I kind of like it! It suits the photos and it sums up the fun and festivities of the markets. Instead of using 3 identical motifs by the title I decided to use up the last of the little tags that I bought with a Christmas theme to them. I don't often take three photos to make a sequence of shots for a page, but I'm thinking that I ought to do it more!
Now even with my poor grasp of maths, I can see how three 4" wide pictures will fit perfectly onto a 12 x 12 page, but I'm wondering how we are going to get along with four pictures next month (cannot begin to get my head round what we will be up to by December!).
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Mother’s Day
So to complete my weekend, this Sunday was Mothering Sunday in the UK. As our son was up in Sheffield at university, my daughter was in total control of the celebrations! A few years ago she cooked me the most amazing lemon curd and mascarpone gateau and it has become a tradition for her to cook it for me every year now! I didn’t get chance to photograph it before it was sliced up but she had taken a photo on her phone so excuse the quality but I can assure you it was delicious:
She had bought me some lovely, thoughtful gifts and put them in such pretty gift bags:
Monday, 4 April 2011
A weekend of two halves
So let’s concentrate on Saturday first!
We never quite know what to expect from an Eclectic Keepsakes crop. The only thing guaranteed is a a delicious cupcake:
How pretty is this? And those little jelly beans were the tastiest jelly beans I have ever tried!
So that got things off to a good start, and as usual, we were left to our own devices in the morning. I decided to do a layout showing my offspring with their ‘other halves’ as I don’t think I’ve ever made a page with them as couples.
In the bottom left hand corner you can see a ‘Love eye test’ picture that I downloaded from Mel’s blog. I photographed the page from a new location, who’d have thought the quarry tiles in my kitchen were exactly the right size to frame a 12 x 12 layout?
So after lunch, Karen revealed our project for the afternoon. Was it a layout? No. Was it a mini-book? No. Was it a picture frame? No. It was a pretty canvas bag, just the right size to transport 12 x 12 papers/cardstock/layouts etc etc. We were given the basic bag, which Karen had kindly stencilled a lovely green swirl. I’m guessing the thought of 20 scrapbooking ladies getting giddy over the fumes of aerosol paint didn’t pass health and safety rulings and so she had done that bit for us! Our task was then to make a variety of fabric flowers to stitch on.
Now before I show a close up, I have to ask Karen, if she is reading this, NOT to look too closely! I managed to do one ribbon rose bud correctly but the other two refused to co-operate and so I have ‘free styled’ them into carnations ;-) The white flowers were fun to do and yet another H&S risk – we cut circles of organza fabric and then held the edges to the flame of a tea light. As the organza starts to melt it curls up and makes a cup shape. Very pretty, especially when you put a little glitter around the edges. Oh, and I seemed to have only cut out two felt leaves instead of three….
We never quite know what to expect from an Eclectic Keepsakes crop. The only thing guaranteed is a a delicious cupcake:
How pretty is this? And those little jelly beans were the tastiest jelly beans I have ever tried!So that got things off to a good start, and as usual, we were left to our own devices in the morning. I decided to do a layout showing my offspring with their ‘other halves’ as I don’t think I’ve ever made a page with them as couples.
In the bottom left hand corner you can see a ‘Love eye test’ picture that I downloaded from Mel’s blog. I photographed the page from a new location, who’d have thought the quarry tiles in my kitchen were exactly the right size to frame a 12 x 12 layout?
So after lunch, Karen revealed our project for the afternoon. Was it a layout? No. Was it a mini-book? No. Was it a picture frame? No. It was a pretty canvas bag, just the right size to transport 12 x 12 papers/cardstock/layouts etc etc. We were given the basic bag, which Karen had kindly stencilled a lovely green swirl. I’m guessing the thought of 20 scrapbooking ladies getting giddy over the fumes of aerosol paint didn’t pass health and safety rulings and so she had done that bit for us! Our task was then to make a variety of fabric flowers to stitch on.
Now before I show a close up, I have to ask Karen, if she is reading this, NOT to look too closely! I managed to do one ribbon rose bud correctly but the other two refused to co-operate and so I have ‘free styled’ them into carnations ;-) The white flowers were fun to do and yet another H&S risk – we cut circles of organza fabric and then held the edges to the flame of a tea light. As the organza starts to melt it curls up and makes a cup shape. Very pretty, especially when you put a little glitter around the edges. Oh, and I seemed to have only cut out two felt leaves instead of three….
Friday, 1 April 2011
April Fool?
Does anyone have any good April Fool stories to share? I'm pretty sure that I haven't been hoodwinked today but only time will tell!
Some of the girls at our school tried playing pranks, one of the more successful ones was when our deputy head (who is also a language teacher) went to teach her Year 9 class and they were all sitting there silently. Arms crossed. Not a murmur from anyone. Much as we would like to think that this is how all Year 9 classes are anyway, trust me, they are not! She was very suspicious. Started the class, asked a question and then one of the girls in the front row held up a card which said 'I am on a sponsored silence'. Then the next girl did the same, and the next - until the whole class were holding up signs. She was almost taken in, until one of the girls couldn't stop herself from grinning and the penny dropped ....!
Not so successful were the girls who thought it would be fun to send their parents a prank text at break time saying there had been 'an incident at the school, but don't worry I am ok'. Followed a little later with one that said 'April Fool!'. We had a call from a frantic parent who was at work, had been in a meeting when the first text came through and in the time between that and the one they sent 5 minutes later the battery on her phone died . She came out of her meeting, saw the phone needed charging, plugged it in, and the first message flashed up. Can you imagine?!
Well, tomorrow is the Eclectic Keepsakes crop and I have bags to pack, photos to print, sandwiches to make. Ooooh I wonder what flavour cup cake it will be this month? I think we will be learning different ways to make flowers etc to decorate a linen bag, big enough to transport 12 x 12 pages and papers. That could be a lot of flowers! So, thimbles at the ready .....
Some of the girls at our school tried playing pranks, one of the more successful ones was when our deputy head (who is also a language teacher) went to teach her Year 9 class and they were all sitting there silently. Arms crossed. Not a murmur from anyone. Much as we would like to think that this is how all Year 9 classes are anyway, trust me, they are not! She was very suspicious. Started the class, asked a question and then one of the girls in the front row held up a card which said 'I am on a sponsored silence'. Then the next girl did the same, and the next - until the whole class were holding up signs. She was almost taken in, until one of the girls couldn't stop herself from grinning and the penny dropped ....!
Not so successful were the girls who thought it would be fun to send their parents a prank text at break time saying there had been 'an incident at the school, but don't worry I am ok'. Followed a little later with one that said 'April Fool!'. We had a call from a frantic parent who was at work, had been in a meeting when the first text came through and in the time between that and the one they sent 5 minutes later the battery on her phone died . She came out of her meeting, saw the phone needed charging, plugged it in, and the first message flashed up. Can you imagine?!
Well, tomorrow is the Eclectic Keepsakes crop and I have bags to pack, photos to print, sandwiches to make. Ooooh I wonder what flavour cup cake it will be this month? I think we will be learning different ways to make flowers etc to decorate a linen bag, big enough to transport 12 x 12 pages and papers. That could be a lot of flowers! So, thimbles at the ready .....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)