The postman has been very busy here bringing me all the gifts I’ve ordered online so what a lovely surprise to have one just for me. Miriam, who organised the Christmas decoration swap over on her blog sent me a cute little button tree as a thank you for taking part. It was a lovely surprise.
My pretty decoration from Alexa has also got a prominent place on my tree.
Now back to the preparations!!
my daughter gave me a cute stamp set from lawn fawn called Peace Joy Love to play with this week and I made these cards following the Holiday Card Workshop. This particular card was designed by Shari Carroll.
I’m entering these cards for the challenge over on S J Crafts here
November ended up being quite a busy month.
Our team won the school quiz night.
David and Evalina came to stay for a few days.
I received a beautiful tree decoration.
Jenny and Jamie both had birthdays and two long days were spent tidying bedrooms and getting rid of a vast amount of rubbish and grown out of toys and books.
It was all worth while though as we were treated to a delicious meal as a thank you.
I’ve been sorting things out ready to start this years journal and found I had some layouts to finish.
our anniversary meal
mum’s 90th birthday
a trip out with Evalina
All layouts were inspired by a class over on 2peas, by Shimelle of course!
It’s Sian’s final Storytelling Sunday over on her blog today. The year has gone by so fast and I would like to thank her for making me think about what I find precious.
I’m not really a great one for material things, it’s the special little family memories that mean the most to me and so at the start of December I have to make my Christmas Journals my precious for this month. Little snippets of our family Christmas’ over several years. The presents, food, games, music and most especially the people, my family that turn those few days into something really wonderful.
Whether your family is large or small I hope you can all share this special time of year with them.
Thank you again Sian for all the fun I’ve had over the last couple of years sharing some of our family stories (and secrets) with you.
Do come in or better still let’s pop out and indulge ourselves with one of these muffins and a latte, after all it is nearly Christmas.
How have things been with you, have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I’ve got my lists drawn up and have a few little parcels hidden away in my bedroom, no peeping now!
We will have a full house here, as usual and I’m trying not to panic thinking about where everyone will go, I know it will all work out fine in the end. I’m looking out the Christmas music and my special mugs and I’m ready to embrace the season.
I know you can’t stay long, you have so much to do so thanks for sharing a few precious quiet moments with me. Take care now and don’t tire yourself out after all it will soon be January!!
Thank you Abi for starting this meme, I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas x
Blog friend Miriam very kindly hosted a Christmas decoration swap this year and I have just received mine from Alexa
This pretty little parcel arrived
inside was a festive looking box
when I opened it I found this lovely decoration, thank you so much Alexa x
I posted my swap to Alison on Monday so hope she receives it soon.
A holiday in Devon, a local food festival and preparing for Christmas, just a flavour of my month.
I’m a day late again but still joining in with Sian’s Storytelling Sunday.
I held off for a long time saying I needed to feel the pages of a new book between my fingers but I have to admit since receiving this last Christmas I have been hooked. All those books waiting to be read, the hours of pleasure ahead and the enjoyment of browsing for new books all under 99p of course!
If we had to leave the house suddenly this would be one of the first things I would grab which makes it precious in my eyes.
To read more stories do go over to Sian’s blog here
On a cold, wet, miserable day it’s fun to scrap some photos taken in the summer.
I used a class by Shimelle or should I say Glitter Girl, for inspiration.
As it is only 9 weeks until Christmas I thought I would have a go at making some simple cards which will be easy to post. A set of stamps from My Mind’s Eye, ink pads and even a very dusty heat gun were found and I soon had six cards made.
I’m entering these for the six cards on the 6th challenge over on S J Crafts here
I have to accept it, summer is over and Christmas is on it’s way, so I looked at some blogs I like and found this design by Lucy Abrams and made a couple of cards!
Trying to be good we didn’t buy any snacks this week, we have been eating far too much chocolate and biscuits. It does get a bit boring though so I looked on the internet and found this lovely recipe here. As you can see, we are enjoying it!
September was a mixed month for me but it’s good to take something positive from even the bad days or at best draw a line under them and start again.
I took the format from Shimelle’s finished album last year as I liked the idea of it going in my yearly album.
As always I really enjoyed the class and recording my lessons each day, I think this is my favourite Shimelle class and once bought you can join in each year, great value!
It’s the first Sunday of October already and time for Sian's Storytelling Sunday again.
I’d woken up in a bad mood, felt very sorry for myself and had even shed a few tears. It was my birthday this year and we were off out early on the train to London for the Triathlon. My 14yr old grandson then opened his bag and handed me this drawing “I did this for you nan, mum said you like owls”
Suddenly the world was a brighter place!!
and that’s my precious for this month, do go over to Sian’s blog to read more.
an action packed month with visits to London and Devon, visitors and watching our grandson get the school French prize
Sometimes you deserve a little treat so if you’ve time come and join me for a quick catch up on the summer.
there have been birthdays
and music
trips out to London
and treats
walks where we have found all kinds of hidden treasures
and on my birthday I was able to cheer on the Brownlee brothers in the triathlon, ok one was injured and the other came second but it was still good fun.
I have also had a little visitor, always a treat.
So that has been my summer, exciting but tiring, I’m now looking forward to a slower pace as the colder weather approaches.
Abi is hosting a “Time for tea” post over on her blog here so do go over and join in.
A layout I did at the end of August using a Glitter Girl class for inspiration, it seems such a long time since I was able to do some scrapbooking. I have been making notes all month for Shimelle’s LSNED class and plan on sorting that out in October when things have quietened down here.
I’ve also just seen she has a new class out which is very tempting!!!
21. A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply
I’ve not been able to do much scrapbooking this summer and I knew I wanted to have some craft on the go so I’ve been slowly making my ripple blanket following a pattern by Lucy found here.
I’ve finally finished all the photos for Rinda's summertime photography scavenger hunt. It’s been great fun to do and I would like to thank Rinda for hosting it.
I’ve tried my best but we really don’t get good sunsets here on the east coast so I’m substituting this sundial which we found on our trip to Hatfield House last weekend.
Our neighbour is a fireman and has two search dogs to help him.
I was rather taken with this candle picture of my sister-in-law’s as the flames light up.
Now all I have left is that picture of me.
At the weekend we were fortunate enough to go to Hatfield House, home of Elizabeth 1 before she became Queen.
The chapel of her house had this beautiful stained glass window, perfect for Rinda's summertime photo scavenger hunt.
template by Rebecca Cooper
trips out, birthdays, football and music, a fun-packed August!
Last year we dug out an uncle’s old bike, repaired it and gave it to our grandson.
This summer holiday it has come in very useful as he started a paper round to help pay for tennis equipment and save for an art holiday to Rome next year. On Sunday he helped out by doing an extra round, something he does quite often. Reaching the last house he walked to the door and put the paper in the letter box, taking quite a while as there was quite a lot of it. Walking back up the drive to get his bike, you’ve guessed it, it had gone. A tatty, 15yr old bike had been stolen and his means of doing his paper round taken away from him as he’s back to school this week and doesn’t have the time to walk the round.
This annoyed me so much I didn’t feel like telling you the story I had planned this Sunday, but what a difference a day makes. Yesterday someone who goes into the shop and who we don’t know, heard what had happened and offered Jamie their old bike refusing to take anything for it.
There are so many people in this country who don’t want to work and just take what they want with no thought of the consequences but there are also kind, decent people around. I will never forget the little act of kindness from that man.
This story is part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday, a bit late but something I wanted to share.
Rinda is hosting another link-up for the summertime photo scavenger hunt here on her blog, so do go over and look at some of the wonderful photos people have taken.
We had a water festival last week and our little town was buzzing with people. We were lucky enough to see a fantastic air display by this pilot.
It was hard to capture with my little camera but I did my best
The more sedate one that followed
We have until September 21st to finish and I think I have five left to get which includes a photo of me which is the one I’m not looking forward too!!
It’s been a very busy month so far but I didn’t forget the three birthdays in it. I made these cards using an online card class called Pattern Play to be found here for inspiration
this sign made me smile
I love this view overlooking the golf course
for most of the year this is a quiet little pub/coffee house except for one week in August, Folk Week
a few more photos for Rinda's summertime photo scavenger hunt.
