Kool Kitty Musings

The Jubilee celebrations are in full swing...

...in Saltburn.

Because those wonderfully creative yarn bombers have been at it again!

And I definitely wanted to get some pics before the weather changed.

I just love what these talented knitters have done for their community and I hope they remain a mystery for many more yarm bombings to come. :)

So on with some pics - the weather was a bit hazy in the evening but they've come out ok:

The centre piece of the entire creation.

My favourite knitted depiction - the crown on its regal cushion. :)

I also loved all the red, white and blue rosettes along the piece.

Corgis, there had to be corgis...

I particularly loved this one, the Queen still has her fancy ear bobs in. And the hair! Fab! There are even Hunter-esque labels on the wellies.

Of course there had to be a moment to enjoy some tea.

Loved the handbag and posies. :)

The famous outfits sported by the royal princesses at last year's wedding - including The Hat.

There had to be a horse in there somewhere. :)

All in all a fabulous display and well worth a visit! You will love it. :)

My weekend looked a bit like this...

So in the run up to my scrappy weekend away I was adding the finishing touches to my packing, the star attractions for my planned projects arrived in the post:

The remaining bits and bobs of Crate Paper's Story Teller and Pretty Party lines. I planned to get at least 2 mini-books made.*

*I always seem to be good at the big thinking, not so hot on the "doing".

Come Friday morning I was packed and ready:

...for what must have looked like a 3 month expedition rather than a 3 day weekend away.

Considering the monsoon weather forecast I didn't think I'd need to pack these:

There was a moment where this was consumed:

Which could have adversely affected productivity, it certainly affected the speed with which I could stamp the individual letters of Polish names! Polish Countdown must be a barrel of laughs... can I have a consonant please Carol, and another.... and another... and another....

But it was probably why I never got round to using these:

We did take a break from scoffing cake and shuffling paper on the Saturday afternoon and even managed to see some of these:

Plus have a moment in the sun:

But then it was back to work in order to actually finish, ok... mostly finish the one and only project I got done!

There are just a couple of little finishing touches needed then I'll get it photographed. :)

The thing I learnt this weekend (apart from the realisation that yes, you can indeed have too much cake) which I shall pass onto any other Crate fans, was not to use Staz-on, chalk ink, dye ink, Versafine or pigment ink to stamp onto the new shiny Journaling stickers.

NO INK dries on these stickers; I went through an entire arsenal of inks trying to find one that worked - nada, zip, zilch.

The only thing that works is a journaling pen. :o( I really wish these stickers were still matt as you could stamp away to your heart's content, but shiny stickers... do not like.

So you may have seen it in the newspapers and on Daybreak this morning

But I have been lucky enough to see it in real life.

What am I talking about?

Well, the wonderful Olympic-themed yarn bombing that magically appeared last week along Saltburn pier.

I already posted pics to Facebook but a few folks asked to see them so here they are again. :D

We had glorious weather for our little Saturday outing, felt almost like summer except for the cold wind! LOL Ah, but this is the north east and we are tough ol' birds up here. hehe

Anyway, here are some of my favourite scenes:

The olympic rings.

"The Human Race" complete with knitting needle to hold up the banner. :D

A paralympic athlete.

The synchro team which I just loved!

Mr Pommel Horse

Love those swimming trunks!

Not sure if these are divers or water polo peeps, but great legs! hehe

Love the weightlifter and the detail on those trainers.

Miss Beach Volleyball is looking very energetic.

I had two partners in crime on our little outing:

Can't beat a trip to the seaside and of course fish and chips and a Beckleberry's bubblegum ice cream, the best bubblegum ice cream I've had in a long time. Apparently sold by the tub in the MetroCentre, will have to take a freezer bag with me next time! hehe

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday after some rain in the morning things turned decidedly brighter:

They also involved a good few steps - and a certain two little girls and one very excited Jack Russell who made it to the top in very short order!

But the climb was well worth it - I even wished I'd brought my shades it was so sunny.

We had a lovely afternoon stroll round the park and then home for tea and an evening in with:

In complete contrast I have been having a rather lazy day today since the weather has been really yucky - snow after rain and it has been pretty cold. So I managed to get one of the books due back at the library read from cover to cover and also finally got my defrosted Quorn mince into a lasagne for tea. :)

Anyway, I think a soak in the bath is imminent and then I look forward to enjoying Homeland tonight. I also see that Ingolrious Basterds is on right after so not a bad TV night. :)

Think I shall put my new Emeli Sandé album on while I enjoy my soak:

Then it's back to the grind tomorrow - ah Monday's don't you love 'em?

Sunday's a walk in the park

After yesterday's snow I decided to venture over the road to the park today armed with my camera and a bag of bird food for the duckies.

Ahh, there is nothing quite like treading in fresh snow:

The sun wasn't really out when I started my walk:

But the hill behind the bandstand was already in full use with kids on whizzing by on their sledges.

I walked on down to the lake to feed those poor hungry ducks and geese:

One goose got a bit to interested in my bag of bird food and wandered behind me:

The sun finally came out when I was over the other side of the lake, transforming everything:

At least the lake isn't totally frozen over, but it looks flipping cold:

Last but not least, there was another little guy out looking for breakfast:

But alas I didn't have any seeds left to throw his way.

Must say it's nice being home and snug in the house. Just hope all the snow melts off my street before tomorrow!

Some more jolly moments

Well I've been rather remiss in sharing more festive pics here on my blog.

Here are some more entries from past JYC projects:

Still loving my M&S chalkboard advent calendar I bought last year. :D

When it comes to chocolate calendars, I am still rather partial to a Milkybar one!

But I seem to be managing fine without a chocolate calendar this year. In fact I am really loving some of the advent ideas I've seen on Pinterest:

Source: allsorts.typepad.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

 

Love the little pocket bunting. I wish I could sew as neatly and uniformly as that!

Source: assets4.designsponge.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

This takes it to a whole new level - how wonderful must it be to open one of those unique little boxes each day?

Source: marthastewart.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

I do very much love an advent calendar with proper little windows that reveal meaningful and beautiful images.

Source: lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com via Natalia on Pinterest

 

This one gets my vintage-festive-sparkle-lovin' heart a-fluttering! Just love it.

The entry for the 6th looked at Christmas past and Christmas present, and this was my merging of two traditions, Polish and British:

Now I rather wish I'd gone and bought that set of Nativity Russian dolls in John Lewis, but they were £20...

The baby Jesus is just so cute!

On the 7th last year I was not having a stress-free time of it:

Snow = no going anywhere, never mind shopping in an actual shop! My car at that time was living under a couple of feet of snow in front of the house.

So there definitely wasn't much chance of things being simple!

On the 8th I managed to get out and about with the camera and took some lovely photos in town - I just love shop displays, I am sure in another life I would be a window dresser... how cool a job would that be?

Just delightful:

And talking of Windows... the window this year at Fenwick's, Newcastle was a sight to behold, the pics aren't too bad considering it was dusk and there was the glare of other shops on the windows:

Cinderella in her pumpkin carriage.

The white rabbit who seemed to be very late for an important date!

Plenty of choice at the Mad Hatter's tea party! Bet there was some cheeeeese cake on that buffet table.

Me and ma tried to get in on the action talking to the mirror, but didn't quite manage it!

Right I'd best scoot as I'm supposed to be out for dinner tonight!

This week I have mostly been shopping...

So like I said the other day, my Christmas shopping has so far been a bit of a failure. For other people.

But not for myself and the house.

I finally got my little Sheep-deer from TK Maxx. The first time I saw him I thought he was a reindeer, but on closer inspection when I went back to TK Maxx this week, he is in fact... more of a sheep. I may yet make him antlers...

 

I managed to stock up on some nice baking items. Some fab baking cases plus accessories, including mini cases which needed a mini muffin tin. Some silicone jelly like baking moulds in Ikea, some nice sized silicone hearts that can either make 4 separate heart cakes, or 2 heart sandwich cakes... festive jelly beans for decrating, and some Christmas sprinkles in Lidl that looked just perfect.

I also finally have a domed cake stand - for £9.99 from IKEA. Hurrah.

More seasonal tableware was purchased in M&S with these red felt coasters and matching placemat.

Keeping on the red theme, I now have a lovely little slow cooker to get me through the winter months and free up the hob and soup pan for other things. :)

I finally managed to find a long and wide scarf in Zara... and didn't break the bank on it. To date all others were too short for wrapping round a few times and creative knotting...

Yesterday the delight that was Boundary Mills yielded a nice shoe shopping experience - so many pretty Hush Puppy shoes in one place. I bought the above in purple, plus:

...in dark brown, and these:

Which are a little bigger than the others, but I think will be fine with an insole or even thicker winter tights. :)

And finally, thanks to Jean, I have been reunited with a good-sized bag of Candy Corn M&Ms:

In addition to the shopping, there has been some making:

It started last weekend with our "annual" gingerbread house-making afternoon... which included an emergency dash for new gingerbread cabins when the IKEA gingerbread houses were opened up and all broken, but will make great cheesecake bases! So as we got to work on these little houses, complete with the white gunky icing included, it was a real fight to keep all the walls and roofs attached...

Lola just watched on hoping to hoover up any victims of the gingerbread house collapse...

Wednesday night I went with Becky to a craft night at her church and we made:

This lovely little flowerpot snowman, who I am sure will appear in many upcoming Christmas-themed snaps.

And this lovely felt heart ornament, in which I finally learnt to blanket stitch - it could have been tidier, but I am sure I could make some more of these with different felts, especially in nordic colours... and cut the hearts with my nestabilities. :)

And although not made by me, had a lovely lunch out in Tynemouth yesterday with my friend Kel, hot chocolate dessert for her:

And the most delicious cherry and almond scone for me:

I loved the chintzy decor in the shop and it was like a real Christmas shabby glam grotto. :D

And speaking of making, I had best get on and get a few projects done while we still have daylight available!

Since it's more autumnal this morning

I thought I'd share some photos I took this past week while the weather was glorious.

First up a couple of shots in my garden where autumn colours have definitely arrived:

 

The blueberry bush all red now complete with a very welcome visitor.

 

My former white hydrangea now in very Prima-like shades.

Then I took off for a stroll round the park - it was seriously hot, but an interesting combination of summer heat and autumnal smells and colours and leaves.

 

It took a lot of walking, but I finally found a leaf that wasn't green or brown!

 

The light was just lovely through the trees, there were crunchy leaves everywhere.

 

All the way to the bandstand.

 

I experimented a bit with the AF mode to try and get the leaves on the ground in focus and the rest blurred, really like how this one turned out, just a shame the leaves aren't more interesting leaves. Can't have everything! ;o)

 

This is what they looked like from a distance, so it shows things can look a lot more interesting when you shoot from ground level.

  

I did have a go at trying to capture the sun coming through the leaves but it was a bit hit and miss.

 

And finally as I was just nearing the end of my stroll, a conker fell from the tree in front of me and the spiky shell broke open to reveal a shiny new conker. Alas didn't catch it in a photo, but I picked up the conker and took a photo of what was around. Yet another pretty leaf. LOL

Now I'm just hoping the promised sunshine returns this afternoon. It's a bit cooler this morning with the rain, but I would still like the sun to stick around a bit longer!

Is that the sun?

After a bit of rain this morning (which I made the most of by reading the book 3 in Julia Quinn's fab Bridgerton series from start to finish) the sun has been shining ever since.

The other day I managed to get a few shots at the park on my long walk before my camera battery died.

 

It was really beautiful. A tad breezy but it was so gloriously early-autumn weather.

 

I just loved the way the light fell through the willow trees and the sky reflected off the water.

Almost a shame to think that we are gradually saying goodbye to the summer...

Mind you I have plenty to keep me busy as the nights start to draw in.

It's back to photography class on Monday plus I received my latest order from A Million Little Things filled with lots of new additions and some restocks of old favourites.

 

In fact most of my order was MME papers I'd not managed to snag, as I am a real MME addict now, I also finally got the collection pack of Emma's Shoppe from Crate and yes, my most favourite AC Christmas papers. Those glazed snowflakes are just delicious! I really hope Jill can keep the shop going - it's hard times but it would be awful to lose such a wonderful store that has served so many scrapbookers all over the world all these years. Faultless customer service and amazing value. I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

But in the meantime I need to get my latest AMLT stash hit sorted and arranged into its new home. :)

Almost the weekend!

 

Time sure is flying at the moment - the weather has been mostly glorious this week. Why wasn't it so beautiful when I had my two weeks off work eh?

Bit difficult to enjoy it from a seriously hot office at work. :o(

However I am hoping Saturday will have some lovely sun to enjoy.

I have some pics I need to go through from a couple of Staycation outings.

But since I seemed to be in a bit of a stash shopping mood last week, I decided I needed some new stuff to go with the stamp purchases!

 

I think any packing for tomorrow night's crop will be revolving around this little stash. I am so happy with the MME pads in particular as the designs in the Away We Go pad are by none other than my fave MME designer - Zoe Pearne, lots of chevrons and fab background designs and even a bit of woodgrain. I'd not been able to find pics of the contents of these pads so I am really happy with what I went with. The Lost and Found 2 pads are lovely too - lots of card ops there! And the Echo Park one will be nice to play with, I bought the 12x12s of my fave designs as a back up plan.

And speaking of tomorrow night's crop, there's a cake I need to go and try level - hopefully it's cooled by now and once the frosting is done I can finally pack for the crop... maybe. ;o)

Back to work tomorrow...

Just as I was getting used to being a lady of leisure during my staycation. :o(

However I do have some nice things to look forward to this coming week (but they are towards the weekend - typically!).

 

To round off my staycation I managed to get through a few reads and a departure from the Hist-Ro was a great "chicklit" book - cried my way through much of the latest Ciara Geraghty book - between the funny bits... I loved her first book, Saving Grace, and the second was good too, but this one had me crying very early on and I just had to read it all as soon as I could, didn't want to put it down. {sigh}

I've also got another chicklit to start tonight if I can stay awake long enough:

 

But first I need a good soak in the tub, went up to Bamburgh today in a rather scenic fashion and although it was initially sunny the clouds soon descended so I doubt any of my pics will have come out too well... Not like this: 

Source: flickr.com via Raquel on Pinterest

But it was just lovely to see those sandy beaches at last! And the chip-stop on the way home was very welcome. ;o)

On the creative front I have something lovely and new to play with this week:

 

My new haul of Waltzing Mouse stamps. I think we will be seeing a few cards soon featuring cameos in particular!

 

I couldn't resist the oval frames either as those cameos were also calling to me in addition to the frames!

Right off to pick my bubble bath!

A picture is worth...

A few words at least!

I have been a bit awol from the PC of late but here's how my week has looked.

 

My blueberries started ripening at the weekend, I'm afraid I ate the best before realising I should have taken a photo! Oops.

 

Finally one of my lavender plants has flowered again - the others are still recovering from the snow we had this winter I think.

 

I have a little helper in the garden munching its way through the aphid population, I hope.

 

Saturday I was a busy baking bee - I tried out Nigella's lemon syrup loaf. It was very good indeed! But I am still after a nice crunchy tart glaze for my lemon loaves rather than syrup.

 

In case the lemon loaf wasn't enough for afternoon tea, I also made strawberry cheesecake cupcakes.

 

I needed to borrow a teapot of all things, still haven't bought one, but it was a nice spread with lots of catching up.

 

Afternoon tea also included some Razberri Stolli mixed in with my posh raspberry lemon pressé!

 

The weather was still stunning so we headed over to the park to walk off some of the calories.

 

Sunday was the day for an outing... down the coast.

 

A quick stop at Sandsend before heading onto...

 

Whitby!

Where everyone seemed to have descended. It was heaving but lovely nonetheless.

 

The weather was perfect, well perhaps a bit too hot, there wasn't much of a breeze and I ended up with quite a rosy complexion!

 

We managed to enjoy our fish and chips for lunch without too much interference from these guys. Although that was shortly after one had swooped down and taken a whole burger from someone's hands just as they were about to take their first bite!

 

We even went up to the abbey, where there was thankfully more of a breeze then hopped back in the car for the next stop.

 

Robin Hood's Bay - where I am sure we burnt off the fish and chips from the climb back to the car. We were there just as the tide was coming in but my oh my, I was actually pretty surprised that I made it back up the steep hill considering the trek down seemed so long. LOL

Alas no pics of the sheep on the drive home through the moors but it was a lovely day out, and I just needed a few days to recover! LOL Here's hoping the weather of last weekend makes another appearance - who knows Sunday could be bbq day!?

This and that...

I know I've been a bit quiet this week - well I've not had much to report. The weather has been ghastly but I have taken a few snaps of various things and have been rummaging away in my photo folder today trying to delete the naff snaps and play with the decent ones.

First up, it's Father's Day and I baked a batch of coffee and walnut cupcakes to take round:

 

They're from the Baking Magic book and will hopefully be the perfect post-Sunday-roast treat.

 

Although he professes to having no "favourite" cake, coffee and walnut is apparently on my dad's top ten list... although he seems to have liked all the cupcakes supplied to date! This recipe used glacé icing instead of buttercream so will see how that works overall as I've not made glacé since I was little.

In the garden it's been really easy to miss the changes in my roses (which I totally love).

 

Here's one of the Evelyn rosebuds opening one night, by the next evening they looked like this:

Indoors my mini peppers have finally started to turn red:

 

Wednesday night we were meant to be out and about for photography class shooting at the beach.

Well, 3 of us were there before the weather turned and it was called off and we had to return back to the classroom.

Managed to get some post-fish and chips shots though while the clouds rolled in:

 

The surf was up and a lot of folks were out enjoying the waves.

 

This is my favourite shot of the pier, it's so atmospheric and I love the little raindrops in the corner too.

 

And there are some of those mad surfers, although to be fair they were dressed for the weather better than us!

Anyway, I'd best get the cupcakes boxed up and be on my way. ;o)

Just unloading the camera...

Since it's photography class tomorrow night, I thought I'd best transfer my photos over onto the PC.

Last week's class was the first one where I actually had a go with manual mode... there were a lot of duff shots (a lot!), but I am starting to get the idea of adjusting speed to suit my aperture.

Here are a few of the pics I took on our evening shoot:

 

I rather liked this guy, it looks like he's standing there with his thumbs in his belt loops... well if he were wearing jeans!

 

Love the contrast of the colours here, I think I am one who prefers things on the darker side so I can lighten them up accordingly - much easier than working backwards from something that is overexposed. Or maybe that's just me.

 

Managed to snap a bit of dramatic sky, wish I'd been able to get more in the shot though.

 

Did try a bit of depth of field shot, but think I should have changed the AF area to a specific segment at the bottom so the rest was then blurred. Plus the sky came out white rather than with a hint of blue so wondering how that can be corrected in the camera...

I also have had my camera on manual since and have been snapping away at home. Especially in the garden before the gales!

 

 

My poor roses don't look quite so delicate and pretty now, and it's a good job I moved the bbq into the conservatory yesterday as I'm not sure where exactly it would otherwise be today...

And in other news for chick lit readers... I have a recommendation:

 

Started at the weekend and definitely an un-put-down-able one, since I stayed up until almost 2 a.m. today to finish it but had to admit defeat for the last 4 or so chapters and finished them before work.

But I put 4.5 stars on it - since if I stay up to read something on a "school night", there's a reason!

Next up on my list is Jill Mansell's latest one and it has had great reviews, so I am very hopeful (but fingers crossed not another 2 a.m. to bed event tonight!).

 

So I took a few photos...

Apparently I took too many photos yesterday...

Well, according to my brother and his stern look (which incidentally meant he needed to stick his forehead in the camera to get his point across)...

 

In fact my mother proved how dangerous taking photos can be when she fell backwards down the garden steps... thankfully no major injuries - but blimey it was a shock and a half.

Miraculously she only has a few bruises today including her pride, but has been laughing it off since the arnica gel started working and there will forever be a joke in there somewhere... 

But there were photos...

And they all started with breakfast.

 

The eggs, including my latest additions from last year's stay in Poland.

 

While I was retrieving items from the sideboard, I unearthed this fish plate which used to be my grandma's, acquired by someone in sunny Spain and brought back to the wilds of Yorkshire... thought it was time for a bit of nostalgia and somewhere to put the egg shells when we cracked our eggs!

My brother's contribution to the table - we had a designated driver at the table and in fact after just two shots my brother and I admitted defeat.... I fear we're getting too old to keep up. ;o)

 

There was plenty of food on hand to assist in soaking up the vodka though.

After breakfast there was time to mellow out and enjoy the morning...

 

Including soaking up some rays in the garden. I think I may have had a teeny nap whilst reading my book... but can't be sure. Whatever happened, the morning passed rather quickly!

 

But it was just so sunny and warm...

 

Even the honey bees were out en masse making the most of the weather.

 

By mid-afternoon it was time for some chocolate - seriously, we lasted until the afternoon before there was any chocolate eaten.

My malted chocolate cupcakes that were a real pain in the proverbial to make due to exploding batter and then ultra-gloopy frosting in the hot weather of Saturday afternoon/evening at least tasted nice.

 

I must say though, this was my favourite sweet treat of the day. The raspberry brownie cheesecake I made. Again the cream went a bit runny in the heat when I served up, but it tasted delish. Next time though, I will halve the recipe as it's a huge pan and then when you have the cheesecake layer and cream. Well.... there was just loads of it!

 

We had a persistent visitor throughout the day. Kizia's nemesis... The Gimzo.

 

Poor Kizia, she was not nearly as impressed to see him around...

And that's about it. Needless to say, no one had much of an appetite today!

I've not even opened my chocolate Easter egg yet.

I think I might be off chocolate for a bit longer. hehe

Roll on the next Bank Holiday is all I can say - rather happy there are only 3 days until my next day off. ;o) I haven't had a lie in at all during my week off, yet today was the day where I really felt like I could have slept the morning away, if it wasn't for the fact I was wide awake at 6.30 a.m. and totally knackered by 8.30...

I suppose some of that was down to staying up until 2 a.m. in order to finish this:

 

What can I say... I am one of these people that when they get into something they just have to finish it! If there are any more of her books I deffo need to read, give me a shout, I added a few new chicklit titles to my reserves list at the library - there's plenty of room for more!

Anyway, no doubt tomorrow, when I need to be up for work, I shall need the alarm to wake me. But in the meantime, I'm off to chill-ax for what remains of my hols.

We were lucky...

 

The rain held off, in fact the weather was really mild and we managed a long walk down the beach and through the sea mist...

 

Then we headed off for our prize, a lovely ice cream. Or in my case a rather delish bubblegum sundae.

 

Most delicious, I have a real soft spot for bubblegum flavoured ice cream. But next time I will definitely be trying the lemon meringue sundae!

Today I have finished off watching Emma - it has to be my favourite BBC adaptation of any period book... I just love, love, love it! Perfectly cast, the costumes are exquisite, the photography so rich, and the music just wraps it all up nicely. Even the opening credits are fab!

I also watched Iron Man 2 whilst making a few cards, one of which is for a special request from a family friend, so I can't share it until I know the recipient has seen it.

But here is a sneak:

 

The perfect excuse to use some of my new seam binding from The Ribbon Girl. :o)

And now, I'd best go get an envelope sorted for this creation so that I can drop it off with my mum and dad when go round for Sunday dinner.

Escaping the house

So finally the weekend and a very good excuse to escape the house was meeting up with my mum for lunch out on her name day.

But first I needed to get a bunch of photos printed for my Christmas journal.

No problem, I thought. I could try out the little shop at the end of my street that does instant photos.

Ha! Unfortunately plans had to change when the lady looking after the shop couldn't find the key to the Kodak machine and asked if I could come back Monday. The reason companies like Kodak invented instant photo machines was probably because people wanted their photos... instantly.

So I hopped on the bus toward town to meet up with my mum and do some window shopping (and hope that the tiny Boots there would have an instant photo machine).

We did some seasonal browsing:

 

 

 

 

Then hunger prevailed and we went for lunch, which included some very nice desserts!

 

Ma had Crème Brûlée, while I had sticky toffee pud!

 

After more browsing around the shops I hopped back on the bus and went homeward bound but carried on further to the next big town so that I could see if the Boots there had a Kodak instant photo machine which was up and running and waiting to print my photos!

And, thank the lord, it did.

So now I have at least seven days of my Christmas Journal that I can be getting on with. ;o)

On a side note, can I just take a moment to say that I never thought having a cat flap (even though I don't have a cat) would ever be a blessing.

Well, when my back doors got jammed by snow and ice, the cat flap provided the only means with which to remove the ice block (with the aid of a stainless steel soup ladle and a screwdriver). MacGyver would be impressed... Who'd have thought it, escape by cat flap! But at least my outdoor lights are strung up along the back wall now. Just wondering where we'll find my kitchen scissors that my dad put down somewhere, and which promptly disappeared into the snow. Will have to wait for the big thaw I expect!

Still snowed in...

And working from home - but at least there was some sunshine today so I went off for a little wander to stave off the cabin fever!

 

A good few inches of snow fell over night...

 

But walking with some blue sky made it all the nicer!

 

Especially when the sun came out between the trees.

 

It was quite magical.

 

And quite nice to have the park almost to myself!

 

Save the odd group of sledgers!

But it was very nice to come back home into the warmth... even if I had work to do! :o)

And continuing with the snowy theme... Here's the other card I made for the Ribbon Girl colour challenge:

 

Papers: KI Memories
Tag: KI Memories
Twill: The Ribbon Girl
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Die: Papertrey Ink
Pearls: Prima
Other: Stickles, Distress Stickles, 3D glitter paint, 3D foam, Copics

 

Right, I'd best go get my tea into the oven.

Winter seems to be sticking around...

But at least my boiler isn't leaking any more!

However the snow seems to be a permanent feature for the next few days at least.

 

While it kept coming down I did a few things round the house and tried to catch up on my DVD rental list!

 

I finally got out my Winterland candle (fave ever Yankee Candle Christmas fragrance) - it seemed very apt!

 

Before it got dark, I went out with the camera for a walk in the park.

 

It turned out to be a bit of a short walk as the snow started coming down again.

 

Who wouldn't want to live in a Park Lodge like this?

 

The bandstand at the top of the hill looked especially nice, beyond it there were loads of kids flying down on sledges!

If it's going to be like this again tomorrow, I may stay under the duvet to finish my book!

Also today was my day for the Project of the Day on the Banana Frog blog:

 

Stamps: Banana Frog - Christmas Elegance
Dies: Nestabilities
Other: Stickles

 

It's all about masking magic for this one. :o)

Another Christmas card I've not posted yet is this one:

 

Papers: My Mind's Eye
Dies: Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Felt: Papertrey Ink
Bling: Doodlebug
Other: Distress Stickles

 
Right, off to have my tea and see what's on telly tonight. :o)

Still wiggy...

Typepad still seems to be having a little mood on... the post I wrote yesterday didn't publish until today but at least I can add pics to my posts again!

So back to the weekend... Saturday I had a lovely afternoon out on the coast with Zoe and the girls including a trip to a beach I've never been to:

It might look rather hot and pleasant in the pic, but the water definitely wasn't warm! LOL

After a quick stop for chips by the sea on the way home Zoe and I headed out to see this:

The kid in it was very cute, Jason Bateman I rather like, but Jennifer Aniston - still playing the same character in every movie I see her in. There must be a non-Rachel-Green role out there for her right?

Also I quickly overdosed on pick and mix during the trailers, never mind the movie! Not good.

Yesterday I attacked this:

My very well-stocked To Be Read pile from the library, I feel quite lucky that the lending limit is 20 books in my area, it certainly comes in handy when reading series!

And here's what's at the top of my pile and first due back at the library:

Hopefully it'll be tons better than the Elusive Bride (the second book in this particular series and really disappointing) - the first one seemed to be on loan from the library constantly since mid-June so I've only just got it! Fingers crossed it was worth the wait, but I think I will need a break from Stephanie Laurens land so that her writing, characters and plots don't get too muddled and stale.

But who shall I try next eh? 

Post-holiday catch-up and back to real life!

So here we are in September, my fab holiday to Poland via the Baltic coast seems a dim and distant memory now... but I've actually transferred pics from my little camera to the PC and am hoping the pics on the SLR are much better as I didn't take that many with my little Lumix! Oops.

So here is a snapshot of how my holiday looked:

 

A stop off in Bremen centre to see the sights, including the very famous statue of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten (The Town Musicians of Bremen) - I remember this tale from the book of fairy tales I had as a child, it was full of fairy tales that aren't that commonly known in Britain but were great none the less!

 

Next up the view from the lake of our hotel in Schwerin, complete with hot air balloon. Really wish we'd had time to venture into Schwerin itself and its amazing castle - maybe next year as this hotel was definitely a highlight and one to revisit!

 

The reason we didn't stay long in Schwerin was so that we could get to the island of Rügen and in particular Sellin and it's wonderful pier! Another blistering hot day....

 

At the Amber Palace in Poland they had all manner of photo-worthy sights, including a lovely lily pond where at long last I managed to catch a lily pad in full bloom!

 

It was so hot at the hotel when we arrived, the sky was really hazy so no blue sky pics that day... but it was sweltering!

 

After a brief stop by the sea we got to Gdansk - the hotel was perfectly positioned on the river - amazing views, never had anything quite like it. But when we went out for our evening meal I totally fell in love with this lampshade at the restaurant. They had photo transferred imaging on the chairs, walls, etc. of traditional Polish/Gdansk artwork/sights - including Kashubian needlework, I really think Ikea needs to get producing this lamp shade, it would look perfect over the dining table.

 

Gdansk at night - an amazing place, the city doesn't seem to stop, lots of street musicians, lots of looking up at architecture, lots of yummy smells - the sights just go on, and on...

 

One of the views from outside our hotel from a tour boat, that former warehouse is now a nice hotel over the river, not sure they had air con. like ours did (a total blessing when the temperatures were in the mid 30s!).

 

Oh and how could I forget the cake? Many cake-tasting exploits this holiday... yumyum.

 

Quite fittingly for this year we made a visit to Chopin's birthplace in Żelazowa Wola. Beautiful grounds and thankfully it was the perfect weather for wandering - not too hot for a change, only the high 20s!

And there we are... back in the UK...

 

Back to my garden where my Italian beans had finally appeared and were ready for harvesting (they tasted most delicious on Sunday and I had some tonight with my tea).

 

Room made on my dining table for a couple of new purchases - I love the blue and dot pattern of Boleslawiec pottery... I also have a little milk jug and salad/fruit bowl to match. But I am still holding out for the huge vase we saw last year but didn't buy!

 

Also that jug is the perfect excuse to take advantage of buy 1 get 1 free offers on flowers. Nothing quite like some glads to make an impression!

 

And it looks like I'll be on a watermelon diet this week... not that I'm complaining. I bought a small one in Sainsbury's yesterday (nothing compared to the 5.3 kg one I lugged from the shop to my auntie's in Poland!) and chopped it all up ready to eat at home and work. Best enjoy it now while it's still seasonal. :o)

And aside from that?

I managed to read 15 or so books - yes still in regency romance land... and speaking of, I'd best get back to the current one. ;o) I am sure the obsession will end soon!

That time fast approaches again...

Yep, Saturday I'm off on holiday and the past week has been fraught with last minute washing, sorting, shopping, and various other pre-holiday chores... I hate the few days before going on holiday as once you've packed you just want to be going already!

But, I am no where near packed, I will be doing that tomorrow night... oh joy.

Instead I have been busy finishing off some projects for various things before I leave.

And what sights will be on the agenda this year?

Well, off to Poland via the Baltic coast this time, so hopefully visiting Rügen in Germany en route:

For some reason the pier at Sellin reminds me of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...

I think Usedom is also on the planned stop-off route...

We're entering Poland right up at the north, and heading along the coast and staying here:

Hopefully some stops by the seaside en route to Gdansk where we're staying two nights on the waterfront:

Then we head south to visit my Grandma and family... :o)

The camera batteries are all charged so I hope to get some fab pics! Only taking two lenses this year... no zoom this time.

Oh and one of the projects I have been working to finish is a gift for my grandma:

Anyone who goes to my local crop will be amazed to see that I've finished it, because it has come to every crop I've been to since March... gradually being filled up but never finished - until last weekend! LOL

It's a kraft binder from Paperchase filled with their kraft pages (quite thin and I would recommend getting those clear adhesive ring defenders from Smiths to provide added protection for the pages) combined with Basic Grey's Kokeshi and a good many photos from last year. :o)

I am rather partial to these alpha stickers from Prima and the bling/pearls you get with them.

Also I added my first attempts at the Cuttlebug quilled flowers.

The one on the spine isn't great, but I know where I went wrong with this one!

The inside is quite straightforward - same layout on each page...

Plus stickers/rub-ons for extra detail...

And I had and still have a lot of black rub-ons...

...white ones too, to use up!

And there it is standing up...

And now, I'm not sure whether I should head off to bed, or watch episode two of the BBC's recent adaptation of Emma, I really enjoyed it on its original airing, but am loving rewatching the DVD. Excellent cast, wonderful costumes and settings, beautifully filmed... and I just love the silhouette credits at the start and end!

On my doorstep...

There is a wonderful park. It was originally a Victorian park and has been renovated to some of its former glory in the past few years. It's piratically at the end of my street, just turn the corner and cross the road and you're there - I always wanted to live near a park or open space.

Ma and I went for a wander today after lunch. It hasn't been the warmest of days but it was nice to get out and see so much lush green-ness. Here are a few pics!

There's a fab band stand and it looks like there will be plenty of concerts in June onwards so I shall have to take a blanket and book with me and sit out and enjoy - weather permitting!

Ma doing the tourist thing... hehe tennis courts, an excellent play area for kids (I was quite jealous of the tyre zip thing), bowls club, a lovely café with lovely homemade cakes (one to try another time)...

A lake complete with barnacle geese (and babies) and...

Mama swan keeping her eggs warm...

When the sun came out it was glorious.

And I love this time of year with the blossom on the trees.

Just wish the weather would improve - especially temperature-wise, the heating has been on a lot in the evenings!

Anyway, I had a big cleaning session this morning - very domestic goddess, and now that I've had my tea (a more healthy choice over last night's yummy fish and chips) I'm putting a DVD on and getting down to trying to reacquaint myself with my stash. :o)

Where my day disappeared to...

It started with a new dusting of snow at dawn:

The return of the icicles:

A spot of wintry bird life:

A walk around the local park:

Not sure the museum was open but it must have been a lovely place to live back in the day when it was like this:

There were plenty more icicles to admire:

This peacock was trying to get as much sun as possible:

And this pygmy goat looked rather at home in the snow:

There were plenty of folks out having fun, skiing, snowboarding and of course sledging, even a dinghy was being used as a sledge down the hill - looked like quite a ride.

Then went for a walk down by the frozen river, the poor coots and moorhens didn't seem to like walking on the river so much:

It was rather beautiful down there, very enchanting:

The village looked very picturesque up on the hill:

And I have to say, I don't mind if it snows more tonight it's been lovely out there seeing people enjoying the weather for a change! May have to dig out my salopettes!

So, I think I am off for a hot drink and will have to catch up with my card a day creations!