Sunday, Sunday

It started off wet today but we still took the dogs to the park because Day 6 of my 12 Days of Christmas photo assignment was to get out and take pictures of nature. As soon as we got to the park the sun came out and I managed to get a few shots before Alfie started attacking the camera.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to hand when a squirrel fell out of a tree right next to us!  The look of pure horror on its face when he saw Piper and Alfie was fantastic, he still managed to get back up the tree before they got to him though!

Yesterday I caught up with Journal Your Christmas and got Days 3, 4 and 5 done:

I've been to my niece's Christening today so I haven't had time to do any crafting.  I've got lots of ideas for Day 6 of JYC so I'm hoping to be able to settle down and do them this evening, hopefully while I watch yet another Christmas film!

Freezing Thursday!

I was one of the very few who ventured into the cold, wet park with Alfie today, I felt better for it even though we looked like we'd been over some sort of assault course!

I spent the rest of the wet, dark day snuggled indoors watching all 3 Santa Clause films topped off with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation!  My time was not wasted though because I did Day One of JYC:

I also managed to do Day Two and it was great to be able to included some pictures I'd taken over the park the day before:

Today's 12 Days of Christmas assignment was to take close up photos, to really crop the image before taking the picture.  I had a great model, he hardly moved and didn't need refreshment breaks!

Tomorrow I'm going to, hopefully, get up to date with JYC.  I'm looking forward to the 12 Days of Christmas assignment and I've told Maddie that, as she's got an inset day at school tomorrow, she can be my model for the day!

On The 1st Day of Christmas

I'm so excited because it's the 1st December, Christmas is my favourite time of the year and my favourite day of the year is Christmas Eve when it's full of anticipation and excitment!

I've done the front cover for Journal Your Christmas

I'll start the rest of it tomorrow when, hopefully, my kit will arrive.  I was so disappointed that it wasn't here today that I made Paul drive me to the sorting office to make sure it hadn't turned up after the van had left the depot!  It hadn't and I'm starting to think that I'm taking 'stalking the postie' to the extreme!

I dragged Paul, kicking and screaming, to bingo tonight and he obviously had Lady Luck smiling down on him because he won, not once but twice.....Christmas drinks on Paul me thinks!

Monday, Monday

The weekend was a total washout.  Alfie put his nose out of the door and then refused to take another step into the rain!  He did far better than Maddie though who barely managed to put her nose out of her bedroom!  Fantastic for me because I could spend the whole weekend scrapping!

On Saturday I worked on a layout from a job I did in 2003.  I took 300 passengers, by train, from Ashford in Kent to the Eden Project in Cornwall.  It was hard work but the weather was great, Eden was fantastic and I saw bananas growing!

On Sunday I did a layout which was very suited to the weather.  The picture was taken at a picnic in 2005 at the Alexandra Plantation in Richmond Park.  We had to shelter in a tree because it was pouring with rain, a regular occurance on picnics arranged by Lynne!

Today I've started working on Cheryl Johnson's 12 Days of Christmas Photography Course,  I've taken my Self Portrait and I'm quite pleased with it, I'm an amateur though so we'll see what the feed back is!

Now going to do the prep work ready to start the Journal Your Christmas course by Shimelle. I'm hoping to get the album cover done and the inside pages cut ready for kick off tomorrow.  Watch this space!

The Final Countdown

I've finally finshed my Advent Box from matchboxes!  The instructions can be found on the Bubby Funk website and it was great fun to do.

The box:

I decided to use toned down colours rather than bright Christmas paper.  I did add a little bit of bling because you can't be without sparkle at Christmas!

I hand wrote the numbers on the drawers:

And lined them with co-ordinating papers:

Each day, rather than take a chocolate out of the drawer, I'm going to put a memory in it.

Then next Christmas I'll have my memories to look forward to each day.

Anyone got any ideas on what to do with thousands of matches?!?!

Bad Boy, Bad Boy

Another bleak day with howling gales!  Alfie ran outside this morning but, as soon as the first drop of rain touched his body, he ran back in again!  He's been enjoing a lazy day in the warm instead of chasing squirrels.  I did wonder just why he was being so quiet and here's what I found!:

If he's not destroying his bed it seems he's taken quite a shine to cross dressing!:

We love him so much though that we really don't care what he does as long as he's happy

Lazy Sunday

On Friday I had a nice soak in the bath, washed my hair, had my dinner and was ready to settle down to some serious scrapping when Queenie phoned to say that Nicola had broken down and we had to go to her rescue!  Problem all sorted, flat battery, but scrapping out of the window!

Saturday was a great day for crafting.  Wet and windy outside but warm and cosy inside.  I managed to come up with a layout for the Scrap Like You Mean It, week 47 challenge.  The challenge was to use leaves or trees and it just so happened that I had recently taken pictures of a lovely oak tree purely to use with a poem my brother has etched in his garden pathway.

The wise old owl sat in an oak
The more she saw the less she spoke
The less she spoke the more she heard
Why can't we be like that wise old bird!

I also had a look on the Sarah's Cards blog where they currently have a sketch competition, here's my entry:

The weather's bad again today so I popped to Tesco to get some matchboxes to make an advent box for Christmas.  I'm going to be left with a ton of matches that I have no clue what to do with!

Off to paint and watch the darts.............come on Taylor!!!

TGI Friday!!!

At last it's the weekend and for once I have nothing to do but enjoy myself. The weather's been up and down, Alfie's been asleep all day and Maddie made dinner in food tech - what a great start to the weekend!  I've got the wine chilling & the water heating so I'm going to have a nice soak, a good drink, watch Children In Need and scrap!

Wicked Weekend

I had the best time this weekend joining in the the UKScrappers Cybercrop.  Spent most of the time in my pjs surrounded by paper, glue, glitter, chocolate and wine.  It was great fun and here are some of my creations.

Fabulous Friday

Today has been wet and windy so I stayed in and baked a cake! I'm participating in the UKScrappers CyberCrop this weekend so needed to make a treat for Maddie, it's her favourite - chocolate cake!

If my energy levels fall during the crop then I might have to tuck into a piece myself!

Alfie hasn't been out for his 2 hour walk today and he hasn't missed it. He's only venturing outside and away from the fire if he absolutely has to, that dog sure knows where his bread is buttered.

Rain Drops Keep Falling

The weather's changed and it's lashing down outside. It's my favourite type of weather but it's even better now that I'm snuggled up indoors nice and warm.

Would be lovely to be curled up on the sofa joining in the cuddle with Alfie and Paul!

What a Beautiful Day

Another beautiful day in the park this morning. Alfie met up with Bingo and they were playing for an hour, running around in their jock straps - harnesses - and showing off!

I got side swiped by the pair of them and nearly hit the deck. Luckily, on this occasion, I managed to stay upright which makes a change but that's another story!

Welcome

This is my new blog where I plan to bore you to tears with tales of Alfie the wonder dog and Maddie the brat!

This week the dog managed to catch a squirrel over the park. He looked so proud of himself until it started moving, the look of shock on his mouth as he released it and the look of shock on the squirrel's face as it hit the ground was priceless but as usual I didn't have my camera on me.

His ordeal hasn't stopped him chasing them, he's even learning to climb trees and has put a hard hat and hoist on his Christmas list!