And the winner is ....

I tried to think of an original way of drawing the name of the next person to get 'Pass the Book' but owing to the lack of family pets I had to resort to doing it myself.  Whilst making breakfast this morning, I noticed the colourful Nespresso coffee pods in the jar and thought 'Hey, no one else has drawn coffee pods yet!' so I stuck names on pods and put them in a bowl.  Then I thought 'Wouldn't it be good if I could get a local celebrity to do the draw?' but the only celebrities who live within a 10 mile radius of me are David Beckham and Posh Spice and I can't quite see them pitching up to do a home video this time of the morning.  So, you're stuck with me. 
Now, bear with me a while, as I wondered 'How will they know it isn't a fix?  I know, I'll use the video on my camera'  This was not such a good idea!  Not easy to do on your own so excuse the very poor quality of this clip and unfortunate close ups, facial expressions whilst trying not to laugh and oh yes, the sound quality isn't too good either ... but without further ado - drum roll please ....

Congratulations Cheri, email me with your address and I will get it sent over to you as soon as I can!  How exciting, the book is coming over the ocean!

4x6 Photo Love

Is anybody else out there taking part in Shimelle's 4 x 6 Photo Love class?  It's FREE {happy dance} so I think you all ought to pop on over here and get scrapping!  The crop that I went to on Saturday has the format of 'doing your own thing' in the morning and doing a class in the afternoon, so I thought it was a great opportunity to do my first page.  The papers in the Sarah' Cards kit this month were such a beautiful colour (look in my wardrobe, you'll see how much I love these tones!)  and I kept thinking that the aqua colour reminded me of something I had seen recently...

When we went to Cologne we came across the original building where the 4711 Eau de Cologne was made and they have a picture of a bottle of it on the side of the building.  I decided that this would suit the papers and Shimelle sketch well and here is the page I ended up with.  It could have had more embellishments on it but I got a bit carried away chatting and eating cupcakes {you know how it is when you put a group of scrapbookers together in the same room!}

Just a final reminder to leave me a comment if you want to be included in the pass the book draw as tomorrow is the last day! 

Eclectic Crop

What better way to spend a Saturday?  A day cropping with the Eclectic Ladies. Read Karen's version of the day here! One of the many highlights of the day for me and a recurring question going over and over in my mind on the journey up there is ... what favour cupcake will it be this month?  And once again, Karen did not disappoint ....

So good morning was spent settling down, drinking tea, eating said cupcakes, and having a good chat with my friends Denise and Jane.  Although I'm not sure I should be quite so forgiving of Denise for her post on her blog here where we are referred to as Old Biddies and not Old Buddies!  Good job we both share the same sense of humour eh?

The guest designer was Ann Freeman (gosh, lots of links going on today!)  and she had come up with a lovely double page layout for us using some fab papers.  I even forgive her the cutting out of wiggly bits and picture frames because the finished result was lovely

and here are pages left and right on their own

Ann had used black and white pictures on her version and I have to say that I think that it looks even better that way.  They were lovely papers from Echo Park 'Be Mine' collection.  Check them out - but be prepared to end up buying some! 

Don't forget to leave me a comment if you want to be included in the pass the book draw .......

  

Storytelling Sunday

When I was at primary school my best friend was a girl called Nicky.  We were in the same class at school and although we were very different, we got on really well together.  Nicky's parents were (in my eyes) quite glamorous.  Her mum owned a small hairdressing salon and her dad was a professional footballer.  He played for a team called Cristal Palace, not that it meant anything to me at the time, it just sounded so wonderful.  They were the very first people I ever knew who had a remote controller to their TV.  Not like we know them to be now, it was connected by a cable but hey - you didn't have to get up to change channel - how high tech was that in the late 60s?  Funny how silly things stick in your mind.
Nicky was allowed to wear really fashionable clothes .  Her mum once crocheted her a turquoise mini dress - I was so in awe of that.  And she had lovely long hair, almost down to her waist.  Not only that but she was allowed to have her ears pierced when she was only about 9.  I was so jealous.  I really wanted pierced ears but my mum was very against it and I had to wait until I was 16 to have it done. 
Anyway, Nicky's older cousin decided he wanted to learn guitar and he went on to form a band and started doing gigs.  I told you she moved in glamorous circles didn't I?  I remember so clearly walking down the road with her, Nicky in her crocheted mini dress and golden earrings, me probably in sensible Clarks sandals and my red hair in pigtails and she was chatting about her cousin Rick.  He'd made a record, if I wanted to buy it, she would give it to him to get him to autograph it and then if he got famous it would be a collectors item.  As if I was going to waste what little pocket money I got on some single from a band I'd never heard of.  The band didn't even have a decent name.  I mean - who's going to be interested in anyone called 'Status Quo'.
If only I had known ......

February B&W

The weather for this weekend was forecast to be horrible and so I used my day off on Wednesday to take this week's black and white photo. I decided to go back to where I grew up to take a photo of the church in which I was Christened and married.

It's a really lovely old church and it hasn't changed too much since I was little.  In fact between 1963 and 1969 I went to school in the church building right next to it and that building looks very similar to the church!  It wasn't the ideal building for a primary school, massively high ceilings, windows very high up so at child level there was little natural light and of course as a historic building it wasn't divided up into classrooms, we just had partitions in between the classes.  The church is REALLY old, built in 1190 and I love the fact that it is still regularly used and well maintained.  My parents and great-grandparents are buried in the churchyard and as I walked down to the grave to place some flowers, I came across an old grave that is normally well hidden

There are a pair of these stone memorials with a smaller one in the middle.  They are memorials to John Watlington, his wife and infant son.  When I was growing up I lived near to a road called Watlington Road but never knew who it was named after.  Turns out he was the vicar at the church in the late 1800s.  His gravestone is inscribed by all manner of celebrations to how wonderful he was and glorifying his life, but I wondered why his wife was only given this particular sentiment that I photographed.  "She did what she could".  After the wonderful send off that her husband had, it seems a bit unfair that it was all they could say about her!

The time has come ...

... and I have to (reluctantly) pass on the book that I adopted from Sian.  It is called 'Inner Excavation' - Explore your self through photography, poetry and mixed media.  There's a picture of it on my post here and I have to say that I have really enjoyed reading it and dipping in and out of the chapters.  Even though I have no great knowledge of poetry I enjoyed learning how to match words with pictures and I feel that I can carry this through when adding journalling to my pages.  Her suggestions for photographing subjects and methods have been really good and I've learnt how to look at subjects in different ways.
So - in the spirit of 'Pass the Book' I'm now supposed to say who this book would appeal to.  Well let the book answer that, here is a paragraph from towards the end.
' The people I have met through art retreats and through my blog - people who started out as 'online friends' who have become deep, real, true friends are my creative circle.  They are the people I turn to when I am stuck or need support or just want to brainstorm the new crazy idea brewing inside of me.  The truth is that they live all around the world, so getting together to create for a day or weekend just doesn't happen as often as I would like.  Perhaps you experience this as well.  Maybe your closest creative friends are a phone call/email away instead of a short drive.'
Does anyone out there associate with that?  Then this book is for you! 
If you would like to be the next adoptee - just leave me a comment here by Wednesday 9th February and I will draw a name the following day.
(of course if no one comments, I could get to keep it forever ........!)

Daffs

When I turned on the TV this morning, the news was about parts of Australia bracing itself for a terrible storm. When I turned my phone on this morning and checked Facebook, my friend's daughter who lives near Chicago posted comments about being snowed in. The weather report showed huge amounts of snow falling in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The local weather report here said that we were to expect bitterly cold weather over the next few days, strong winds and a band of snow/sleet coming across the country.

I went to the shops and right as you come through the doors they had a display of daffodils for sale. They were tight little buds but on an impulse I bought a bunch and put them in a vase on the table in my hallway. I went out for an hour or so and when I came back, as I opened the front door I saw that one little bud had opened up completely while I had been out. There's something about a bright yellow daffodil that makes you smile and I finally believe that spring might be just around the corner.