As seen - in the fitting room

I've been into town, just to look around mind you, not to buy anything, after all there is nothing I need. Went into Marks, deadly, I found this lovely skirt, just had to find a top to go with it. Fitted perfectly, oops somehow I have bought it. Will wear it on Sunday when I go out to lunch with the Ladies Club. Just the right sort of pick me up. Retail therapy, when you find something nice, is such a morale booster isn't it.

Topped off the morning with a Traditional Cornish Pasty

As seen - Friendship

I don't get many visitor but it is so nice when I do. Hilary and I have known each since 1979, and although we don't see as much of each other as we used to the friendship is still strong. Having someone coming meant that I did some housework this morning too.
I still found time to play and I have a couple of layouts to share. both of them are for my weekly page using my 'As Seen' photos
Week 3 also double up for the weekly challenge on UKScrappers. The lovely sketch is just perfect to take all the photos and still have space to embellish.



and for week 4 I have used Karen's template (altering it slightly)


My old boy Rudi found the kittens catnip mouse and was having a little play that is something that very rarely happens. The lighting in the hallway was poor and I only had my phone to hand so the photo is not good quality but I just had to get it while I could, I only had the one chance as he then walked away from it and refused to have any more to do with it.

today I am grateful for friendship, for my cats and for a tidy lounge & kitchen :D

As seen - Sunday Roast

As it is Sunday I thought that my photo for today should be my usual Sunday Roast.

Just another lazy day. I did go to church and glad that I did, I was able to worship which I haven't been able to do for some time. But since coming home I have done nothing.
I have tried to do a layout but it isn't going very well. So giving it up for tonight

Today I have been grateful for being able to really worship
Am oven that will switch itself on while I'm out so that I only have the veg to cook when I return from church

As seen - through the window

I was going to go into town perhaps to Hobby Craft, but I got onto the computer and with an idea buzzing in my brain started to create a new page with new ideas and lots of layer. That took me to 2.00 pm. Do I go into town now? No I'll have a stay at home day again. So my photo for today just has to be in taken in my lounge.

Here is what kept me indoors today


This page I did yesterday, certainly didn't take me as long but then there are not as many new things in it just revamped and recoloured elements that I have already in my digital stash.


While I am adding pages here I might as well add the heritage one I did with lots of distress inking and wet embossing with glittery embossing powder.


Today I am grateful for ideas that flowed so well

Solace for being alone

Did you hear the Great Tit as you walked along talking to your friends,
or really see the detail in hedge and verge.
There is something to be said for strolling on your own
keeping ears and eyes open to what's around.
The wood pigeon calling 'wood all wooooo, wood all woooooooo
and the twittering of sparrow near and far.
The different sounds and sight that greet me
every time I take that pathway to the shops,
make up for any loneliness I feel
Finding the perfect close up, for the photo comp,
that is my quest for today,
and I believe I've found it
the lichen fits the bill.
Such strange contortions like some alien thing
with trumpet ears and flaps, in shades of green,
so different when viewed through the macro lens.

An OK Day

My day today has been OK, I woke several times during the night with such silly dreams which seem to continue through each time. I thought I was going to be very tired during the sale this morning but surprisingly I wasn't too bad at all.
Though I did have a little snooze in my chair this afternoon it was only for a short while.
I watched a Jamie Oliver 30 minute meal programme and was really taken with the main recipe so decided to do my version of the meal.
The recipe here is enough for one obviously you need to alter proportions for a family

As seen - depart in style

Walking up to the church this morning I spied the funeral carriage and black horses out ready to take a dear departed on their last journey. Don't often see it being used so it just had to be my Photo for the day.

As seen - crop tonight

We had a tidy up day at church today of all the jumble we collect for the Jeremiah sale. It went extremely well and we had finished by 11.00. Lunch was provided a lovely vegetable soup and roll courtesy of what was left over, and frozen, from the Christmas meal. This was going to be my photo for the day but....... I forgot to take one. drr
Never mind it was Abbey Meads crop tonight that will be another good one to have oops nearly forgot to take one and most people had cleared up before I remembered. So glad Alli was still crafting.

I did manage to almost finish a page but I need a bit of information before I can complete the journalling.

As Seen - Puddle Island

It rained hard this morning, the water was having trouble getting away, the drains were probably blocked. The bus sped through a deep puddle on the way into town the spray came halfway up the windows, good job no one was walking along the pavement at that moment. It tickled my quirky sense of humour that there was this big puddle outside River Island in town.

OOPS AND AN OBSERVATION
I bought a new spray mist in the craft shop today. Had to try it out, wanting a different effect I sprayed from the corner.
Oops!!!!

I'm left handed so why is it my left hand that is covered in ink?

As Seen - cuddly softness

I put this crotchet throw on the back of the settee and Rudi has claimed it as his bed looks here like he is cuddling it.

I've had a stay at home day today, just a little bit of house work and a little bit of scrapping.
I am exploring what I can produce with the word Hope, my word for the year.


I started here with distress inks and misting through a mask. I then added streaks with acrylic paints that had gone hard (I've had them too long)
the word Hope stamped with distress ink and heat embossed with a hologram powder, this didn't work too well some of it came off leaving a pattern but not really what I was after so I used a gold embossing powder over the top, I love how each letter is finished so differently.
The cloud is pastels blended and sealed a couple of times
I knew I wanted something else on it I thought a heart a cross and an anchor, but the shell heart and cross seemed sufficient

I also managed to find the new series 'Call the Midwife' on Iplayer and have caught up with the two episodes which I forgot to watch on the box yesterday and the previous Sunday. 2 hours of my day gone, but it was worth it. Brilliant programme and well acted, even Miranda. The part must have been written with her in mind, for she was just the same as she usually is, but perfectly in accordance with the seriousness of the story.

Today I was grateful for not having to go anywhere for enjoying my messy play and for finding the programmes I had missed previously

As Seen - As Sung

Feeling very low this morning, I had to force myself to go the church. The last song we sung really spoke of where I was. The need to worship and praise no matter how I feel.

I came out feeling a lot better than I did going in

As Seen - Saturday at Starbucks

Very unusual to see Starbucks, on a Saturday lunch time, so empty

Layouts and challenges

There is a new challenge from Shimelle, on UKScrappers, called 'and now for something completely different'. She has brought several different techniques together in one layout, splattering paint, layering, stitching, glitter and journalling in several places. It has been done as a step by step instruction which make it easier to do.
I chose to do it digitally but in reality it took as long if not longer to do than if I had done it with paper and bits. Although it wasn't a sketch that we worked to I have copied the instructions pretty much as laid down but using my own papers.


When I digi scrap I often find I am not getting any where with the page so just save it in a folder marked 'work in progress'. Looking in there this week I found several pages I felt I could revamp and make them work. This one I started last August


This one was much more recent for the photos were taken on Christmas evening.


Sometimes I can start and finish a page in next to no time at all and this next one is an example of just that. Took me about an hour to do


Today I am grateful to have been able to just sit and scrap without feeling guilty because I did do a little bit of housework before I really got going.

As seen - Mittens in the bag

A stay in and scrap day for me today. I did think about doing a paper and bits page so went into the craft room to gather what I might need. I heard a rustling behind me and turned round to see Mittens climb into a plastic bag full of material. I grabbed my phone and took a photo then realised she had managed to poke her head through the handle which was rather small. I had to push her head back through. Bless her she didn't struggle and let me do it quickly.

As seen - Mirror from the sale

I love finding nice things at the sale on a Thursday. This mirror give more light and depth to a narrow hallway.

As seen - a good place to roost

I took a trip into town today, not a very successful trip though as my foot was really too achy to do much walking so didn't get many photos therefore today this one, of a white pigeon sitting on the war memorial at the top of town, will suffice. At least it reminds me that I was in town.

As Seen - breakfast at Starbucks

Boy it was cold walking to ASDA today. Mind you the frost gave me some nice photo opportunities so I'm not complaining, especially as I had promised myself breakfast at Starbucks.
A nice bacon buttie and a Mocha with lashings of cream on the top

As seen - a mistake to wear light colour

I should have gone shopping today, I was all ready to go, out of the door and walking down the road when kitten number 1 Muffin I think came charging down determined to follow me, no amount of shooing would send her back and then of course where one kitten is the other has to be too. Both of them following me now and I have to cross a busy main road.
I may well have succeeded eventually in turning them away but, then I realised I had forgotten my phone and my shopping list is on it, I give up I really can't go through that again today.
I scrap instead, well digi scrapping anyway and here are the two horrors


Mmmm..... pity there weren't any dogs around when I was trying to get to the shops.

Today I am grateful to having the energy to do some housework, for two adorable, even if they are a nuisance sometimes, kittens, one lovely elderly cat and scrapping something I enjoy.

Layouts

As I said in the last post I have some layouts to share.
This one a digital one was done for the weekly challenge on UKScrappers which my scrapping friend Hilary and I set.

challenge criteria was to use this sketch (my own design)

use shades of one colour and one word title. A nice quick easy challenge we hope to get lots of people scrapping.
These are for my JYC (gradually filling up the missing pages)



Sitting in the lounge with my computer, makes it more difficult for me to scrap with paper and bits (can't print any photos off for a start) so another digital page using my Counterfeit kit.


and finally my As Seen weekly page for week 2


I will be back later to share my 'As seen' photo for today, when I find what to take :D

As Seen - Dinner not eaten

I had cooked my dinner, roast chicken leg with a jacket potato and stir fry veg in a creamy sauce. Dished it up and sat down to eat, taken a mouthful and the phone goes.
Neil on the phone, "We are going out to lunch would you like to come?" - much better eating in company than eating alone. Cover my dinner, just cooked, with clingfilm and put it in the fridge. Dinner sorted for tomorrow.

I have done some layouts this week, but will post them tomorrow hopefully as two of them are for a challenge that goes live tomorrow.

Today I am grateful for company, where it was not expected and sunshine even though cold

As seen -Frost on the Rosemary

As Seen - In Yate

My lovely neighbours took me to Yate today, a nice change from the usual and I couldn't resist taking a photo of this coat of arms, it seems such a strange combination Pride and Perseverance. The one a pitfall the other a commendable asset.

As Seen - Portrait Gallery

A friend popped in yesterday, I haven't seen her for a while and as we were talking about grand children I pointed out my gallery.

This reminded me of another friend who had a wall of photos of her family and I could never really understand it (this was many years ago) until now.
Isn't it strange how we change not only in appearance and age but in idea, likes and dislikes.

As Seen - Christmas lights lit today

I can understand the lights not being taken down, but to still be switch on today?

Hope

My word for the year is HOPE, I'm finding that by holding on to that word through God's word it is helping me climb out of the depths in which I have sunk. As I said in this post it is a word that my Father God gave me so I know that I am not clutching at straws but holding firm to His reality.



This, of course, is a digital page, the back ground paper I made to look like paint dabbed on a page. The poem I wrote on Sunday, during the morning service in church, the hands are mine but the dove I got from googling.

As Seen - Little Nest

I pass this little bush most days, but I have never noticed this little nest before. Hedge Sparrow I should think

As Seen - Dinner

I love improvising with meals, sometimes they work wonderfully other are not so good, this was one of the better ones.
I gently fried a pork fillet and once browned turned the heat right down and added apple, covered and cooked for about 15 mins. Meanwhile I fried onion and leek in a little olive oil until soft, added rice and cooked till opaque. added soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and a dash of red wine, letting the rice take up the liquid before adding water. cooked this for 10 mins drained the rice but retained any liquid still in pan adding a dash of malt vinegar and a dash more red wine and cooked down. Finally dished up with some raisins added. Think another time I cook the raisins with the rice as they could do with plumping up a bit.

As Seen - Little Drummer boy

It's great that the church is encouraging the children to be a big part of the service.

As Seen - My street by night

Freebie Kit - Bumble Bee

I haven't made a freebie digital kit for ages, but was inspired by one of the kits that Counterfeit Kit Challenge are using this month.
This one from Cocoa Daisy

So here is my digi reveal

and you can download it here


Here are two layouts I have done using this kit


hope you like it and enjoy using it.