Just one sketch 8

Time to minimise our sketch this time and about time I included the Grand-puppy in my layouts!  I had a photo of her which was not centralised well in the 6x4 print so it was a great opportunity to square off the photo and work around a smaller image.  

I even did some stamping on this one ... straight onto the cardstock ... and on the luggage label, now there's something you don't see every day!

Frozen

Look what the weather app on my phone said this morning

MINUS fifteen degrees Centigrade!  I've never known it this cold before.  It was very hard to bring myself to leave the warmth of the bed this morning.  I'm not sure this snow is ever going to melt.
So, I've done the shopping, popped over and taken Coco for a walk, {took longer than expected as that puppy certainly does love running in the snow!}  had lunch and settled down to finish making my butterfly for Deb over at Paper Turtle.  Have you seen her post on the Butterfly Project?  I loved the ideas of all those butterflies, each and every one completely individual and set to work with felt and embroidery thread.  Here's the finished butterfly which will be winging it's way out of frozen Britain and across to sunny Arizona very soon.

Kind of wish I could hand deliver it!

Just one sketch #6 including penguins

I feel so lucky to have 'met' so many lovely people via the Blogosphere and today's post is brought to you via the kind of actions of two lovely ladies who I have never met in real life but know that if I did, we would become firm friends.  

Firstly to Alison over at Life in the Slow Lane.  I have just realised that she lives in a village about 20 mins drive from where one of my husband's relatives has a holiday home so you never know, we could maybe meet in real life sometime!  She read my post about worrying about the forthcoming trip to Africa that my son is planning and sent me a lovely note and fridge magnet with a beautiful sentiment.  

Then onto Deb at Paper Turtle who saw a beautiful jewelled penguin embellishment and remembered that I have a soft spot for penguins.  I've been holding onto it, just waiting for the right layout and yesterday that layout appeared as part of Just One Sketch.  This prompt was to fill your page, and I printed out two pictures from the snowy conditions on Sunday and what do you associate with snow and freezing temperatures?  Penguins!  And so the next layout was born ...

Storytelling Sunday - Toasted cheese

It's Storytelling Sunday again, as hosted by Sian over at High in the Sky.  It's the perfect kind of day to snuggle up next to the computer screen with a mug of hot chocolate and enjoy the stories that people are sharing.  Well, that's if you live in the UK; for those of you in warmer climes, maybe a glass of iced tea in the shade!
I had two stories relating to my primary school days but as we have woken up to 6" of snow this morning, I shall choose one that is set in winter time.  This is the school I went to between 1963 and 1969.  It was part of the church buildings and after it closed to relocate in a new building in 1970, it was converted into housing.  It was a really old building and every class room had two huge water pipes that ran around about 3' from the floor.  One was hot water and one was cold.  So to set the scene, it is a cold day in the 1960s.  The only heating in the classroom is from the hot water pipe and that pipe was scalding hot.  (Today's Health & Safety would have had a fit!)

Mrs Bishop:   Michael Cheeseman!  Stop balancing on the back legs of your chair, you will overbalance and fall.
{Sound of crashing}
Boy sitting next to Michael Cheeseman:  Miss.  Michael's fallen off his chair and his face is awfully red.

The rest of the class immediately turn to look at Michael, whose chair has slid from under him and in his fall, his elbow has wedged between the very hot water pipe and the very cold one.  Michael is well and truly stuck.  The fire brigade is called.  Mrs Bishop has the not so good idea to grease Michael's arm with butter from the school kitchen to try and make it slippery enough to be pulled out.  This was not one of Mrs Bishop's better ideas.  Michael is now cooking between the pipes.
Fire brigade arrives, class is sent out to play in the playground and Michael is finally removed from the pipes and taken to hospital to have his burns dressed.
It happened over 40 years ago, but I can still remember it as clear today as it was then. And I still shudder when I see kids balancing on the back legs of their chairs!

365+1 Week 5

Another week of pictures for 365+1 complete.

Today the temperature has not risen above freezing and the forecast is for up to 4" of snow to fall in this area overnight.  Wasn't hard to think of something to use for the 'liquid' prompt today, that bottle of de-icer has been well used by the whole family!  

We are going to a 40th birthday party this evening and I must admit that at the moment, I don't feel too enthusiastic to get out of my warm sweater and jeans and into a dress, and the thought of braving the elements isn't too appealing either.  Not to mention the fact that I have been wearing a woollen headband/hat for a fair part of the day and that hasn't enhanced my hair style I can tell you!  I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there but at this moment in time, staying in front of the fire, having a nice bottle of wine with dinner and watching the tv is higher on my wish list.  This is the price you pay for having friends much younger than yourself!

Hopefully I will be home again safely and not stuck in a snow drift in time to join in Storytelling Sunday with Sian tomorrow.  See you there ...

Just one sketch # 6

Keeping it plain and simple this time around, but I'm a bit of a plain and simple scrapbooker anyway when left to my own devices so it wasn't easy to cut much out.  

But I also got to use up a bit more paper I wouldn't normally use as I realised that I needed to pick up on the yellow of the flowers in the foreground.  

So we've done plain and simple, I think I know where this is going and I think I'm going to be well and truly out of my comfort zone sometime very soon!

Passing inspection

Today is my day off from work and I had arranged to join some friends to become 'Ladies who lunch'.  It was also the day that the 365+1 word prompt was Accessory and I chose to photograph the scarf that I was wearing as at this time of year, my first choice of accessory is a woven scarf.  I eventually chose the close up picture for the project but also experimented with a self portrait.  This will illustrate my story.

Turns out I was early for lunch (that was a first for me, I'm normally running late) and so I sat at a window table and ordered a nice glass of Montepulciano to drink while I waited for my friends and browsed the menu.  I looked out of the window and saw my daughter walking down the street.  As I was feeling a bit like 'Billy no mates' or someone whose date has stood them up, I waved to her and she came over to step into the restaurant to say hello.  I stood up and she immediately took a step back to evaluate how I looked.  Mothers of older daughters will know what I mean by that statement! Approval of how you look is not necessarily guaranteed. 'Oh, I see you've taken trouble to blow dry your hair properly' was her first comment as she fluffed up one side and turned me to check on the back.  Followed by 'Oh, that dress looks really nice on you'.  The dress was her Christmas present to me so I knew it would be approved.  'I like the way you've added that scarf' she said.  'And it looks great with opaque tights.  Well done Mum'.  By now, the other people in the restaurant had noticed my appraisal and as we both looked round, everyone immediately put their heads down to concentrate on their meals!  Satisfied that I was dressed appropriately she went on her way.  Anybody else out there whose kids feel it is their job to check that they are not getting 'frumpy'?  Or is it just me?!