Rockin' Back Home

Sadly, yes, we've arrived home but only after a wonderful 3 weeks in the glorious Florida sunshine.

So, since my last
Rocking Your World Friday
 we have, once again done so much and I will show you in photos as the jet lag is kicking in and I'm going to be good for nothing apart from zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz within about half an hour...

attended another game...

 surprised my husband with lunch at Rock n Roll Ribs
(owned by the Iron Maiden drummer - DH is a big fan)

played our compulsory game of holiday mini golf

caught these two "at it"

and had a blast at the Kennedy Space Centre

All in all I think this photo sums up our holiday...

Hope you all have a great week...

Well I Never!

 

2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt 

 With 3 items left on my list I've been wondering if I'll ever manage to find the rest of the photos before the deadline of September 21st!

 I honestly never thought I would get a dinosaur so imagine my delight when I found this cheeky one outside a shop in Naples, Florida

Then, whilst playing mini golf this week, this gorgeous creature leaned over and I fed him som locust

 So now I'm down to two, will I need to use the bonus/substitute items?

A person wearing an outfit (or item of clothing) that symbolizes your country
A sundial

Time will tell...

1.   Open air market
2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)
3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building
4.   Airplane
5.   A sunset
6.   Someone or something taking a nap
7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny  

 8.   A tower
9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10.  A bench that is outside
11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.
12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13.  A fence
14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic
15.  A fire truck or police car
16.  A windmill
17.  Candle(s)
18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19.  A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)

USA Stash!

With our USA road trip nearly over I thought I would share the stash I have picked up along the way.

I've visited many a Michaels and Joanns with the odd Hobby Lobby and scrapbook shop thrown in for good measure.

After about 10 days, I packed this little lot away...

Then a few days later I had collected a bit more

There maybe an opportunity or two to grab a bit more before we fly home!

Luckily, I had planned ahead and brought an empty suitcase along, now, where to put it all when we get home!

It should keep me out of trouble for a while :)

Woohoo!

I know I get excited over the smallest things.

Driving along today, DD and DH  wondered why I had screeched to halt at the roadside.

Well of course it's all because of Rinda's 2013 Photography Scavenger Hunt and I finally found

#16  a windmill

1.   Open air market

2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)

3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building

4.   Airplane

5.   A sunset

6.   Someone or something taking a nap 

7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny  

8.   A tower

9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong

10.  A bench that is outside

11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.

12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)

13.  A fence

14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic

15.  A fire truck or police car

16.  A windmill

17.  Candle(s)

18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop

19.  A fisherman

20. A dinosaur

21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)

A Bit Fishy!

Yay! I finally got my fisherman!

Not fishing, granted, but I do like this shot

After finding that one, I saw fishermen just about everywhere I looked.

I really like this one...

1.   Open air market

2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)

3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building

4.   Airplane

5.   A sunset

6.   Someone or something taking a nap 

7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny  

8.   A tower

9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong

10.  A bench that is outside

11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.

12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)

13.  A fence

14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic

15.  A fire truck or police car

16.  A windmill

17.  Candle(s)

18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop

19.  A fisherman

20. A dinosaur

21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)

A Lighter Hop!!!

It's that time of the month again when we all join in with the Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop
Thank you for hopping over from CKCB to see me.
 
I was a bit worried when I saw we had to have something hidden on our projects but then had a brainwave (call the doctor!)

Recently in the post I'd had a brochure from the Peugeot garage with a wonderful diecut cover. 
I kept it in the hope it would become useful at some point in the future.

That point is now and I've used it on my page to partially hide the photographs on my page because, believe me, you don't want to see me standing naked in front of the mirror!

Back in January, I decided to take a photo of myself at the beginning of each month to (hopefully) show my changing figure whilst eating healthier foods and drinking lots less.
I've wanted to scrap this process but never could work out how to without having my body on show for all to see.

Then came that brainwave...

 You can partially see the photos through the word "light" but by lifting the word up ALL is revealed...

Bet you're glad you can't see it ALL!!!

How do you hide things that you don't want others to see?

Hop on over to see what hidden delights Lisa has for you today - she never fails to amaze me!

Still Rocking in Florida

So here we are another week on in our holiday but we're still rockin!

Last Saturday we watched Dolphins playing off Naples Pier and stealing the fishermen's catches!

 Imogen did her very first JetPac ride, I was a little worried but she had a great time and the look on her face made it all worthwhile.

 We went to a baseball game, one of our favourite things to do when in the US.

We also surprised madam with a day at Busch Gardens.
We've been having some great, happy, family moments here in Florida.

 With just 6 days left we're going to make the most of it...

Fabulous

Using my Counterfeit Kit again to show how much fun my sister and I had at the photo shoot.

We had to push each other with our hips to see who would win.

It looks like she did but really it was me :)

Another Tick on the List

Have you been joining in with Rinda's

2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt?

I can tick another one of my list today :)

#11 An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve etc

Whilst travelling through the Everglades we saw quite a few of these...

You still have until the 21st September to catch up and play along....

1.   Open air market
2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)
3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building
4.   Airplane
5.   A sunset
6.   Someone or something taking a nap 

7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny  

8.   A tower
9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10.  A bench that is outside
11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.
12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13.  A fence
14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic
15.  A fire truck or police car
16.  A windmill
17.  Candle(s)
18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19.  A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)

The Pitch

A few months ago, a letter came home from school with details of a school trip to South Africa in 2014.

The opportunities for school children these days is amazing, if you can afford it!

My husband, being part of a big family, never even got to go on day trip with school and therefore wants to give DD the best in life.

Now although I do agree with him, I don't believe in putting everything on a plate for her.

A few days after the letter arrived I returned home after being out for the day and she had put together a whole presentation on how the trip would benefit her education and ways that she could raise at least half of the £1400 to contribute towards the cost.

She sorted out all her cupboards in her room with a huge pile of things to sell (she's a bit of a hoarder so this proved that she was keen) and started raising the money.

Two weeks later, she changed her mind and decided that she would go when she was in year 11 so the trip would have move benefit on her Geography GCSE.

Take Note

I love the photograph of Imogen in this layout.

She absolutely adores profiteroles.

Back in May she walked 36 miles in 3 days 

along the Montgomery Canal with her Gramps

 and despitehaving a really rough first day and feeling sick, 

she didn't want to let her Gramps down and leave him to do the

walk by himself.

We were so proud of her and they had a lovely time together with

lots of stories to tell.

On her return home and after a nice hot bath

 we got out some of her favourite foods for her to indulge in

and this photo shows her delight in knowing she was allowed to eat them all.

SHE couldn't!!!

(Another layout created from my August Counterfeit Kit although I did need to add the numerals)

Enjoy The Everyday

My Counterfeit Kit is rather large this month and rather than mixing it back in with my stash I would really like to use most of it up.

So, here's a boring warning ... my next few posts will be mostly made up of my kit and whatever else I need to throw in...

The first is of me and my Sis enjoying a nice cold Smirnoff Ice before the Robbie Williams concert back in June - the sun was shining and we had a lovely day out together.

The layout shows what a good day we were having "enjoy the everyday"

the hidden journalling expresses my feelings about how little time we spend together and how we should see each other more often.

I don't know what it is lately but I'm feeling the need to be with my family more and more.

Is it than I'm getting older?

Is it that they are getting older?

Do you feel the same?

Or is it just me?

...

Saturday Rock!

Rocking Your World Friday

has been and gone and forgive me for being a little late but our whole week has rocked since we left home last Friday.

Here are some of the highlights of our trip so far...

Airboat Ride

Real Alligators

Watching a Beautiful Sunset in Key West with my family
Swimming in gorgeous waters at 9am
Saw a panther - just how cool is THAT!?

So, we are definitely rockin' how about you?

NO Patterned Paper...

...just what is a girl to do?

Yes, Challenge #3 for August at the Counterfeit Kit Blog is to create a layout without using any patterned paper - do you think you can do that? Why not challenge yourself and link back to us so we can all see your patternless paper page!!

When I started this page, I really didn't like hoe the orange looked against the yellow but once I's played around a little I started to like how it was turning out. Perseverance can pay off sometimes!

So what are you waiting for? Put that patterned paper away and get scrapping!!!

I Believe in Magic!

Back at the beginning of June, our monthly crop fell on my birthday, you can read about it here.

My "birthday card" has been sitting on my desk for weeks and when I saw that our word for today on the Use Your Words blog was "believe" I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

How will you be inspired by "believe"?

Don't forget to link up and show us - you could be chosen to be our Guest Designer next time!

Those Photos Again!!!

Yes, I'm still scrapbooking the photographs we had taken back in February when we got together to have some professional shots taken.

I love this one of Imogen, she has that "know it all" look on her face, well, she is a teenager!

I'm using the paper I created and printed for my August Counterfeit Kit.

 I wanted to keep this layout simple so as not to take the focus away from that look on her face!!!

The trouble is, I know exactly who she gets those looks from!

Sunset

A sunset is #5 on Rinda's 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

and I couldn't resist this one taken at Carfest last week.

I love how I've caught the silhouette of the person on the bungee as the sun goes down behind them.

I'm working my way through the list slowly, only 7 to go!

You've still got over a month to play along ...

1.   Open air market
2.   Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)
3.   City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building
4.   Airplane
5.   A sunset
6.   Someone or something taking a nap
7.   A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny  8.   A tower
9.   A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10.  A bench that is outside
11.  An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.
12.  A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13.  A fence
14.  A stained glass object or a mosaic
15.  A fire truck or police car
16.  A windmill
17.  Candle(s)
18.  Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19.  A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21.  A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you cannot substitute for this item)

Scrap Memory!

I don't know about you but I have a huge box of leftover papers that I usually dig into for card making. I had a good clear out of this box a while ago but it's filling up again rather quickly.

When I saw the new challenge on the Counterfeit Kit Blog today

 Use a leftover...go through your paper scraps (not from your kit) and pull a scrap to add to your project.

I got the box out, got carried away with my layout and guess what?

Yep! I forgot to use a scrap on my page - doh!

So, do you see that pink polka dot zigzag?

That's the scrap I've used on my project!

I hope you will make a bigger dent in your scraps than I did!

Don't forget to link up to Mr Linky so we can all see how you use your scraps...

Remember That Flower?

A few days ago I posted a tutorial on how to make a flower from hexagons.

The one I made was far too big for a scrapbook page so I mounted onto the front of a card for a friend's birthday!

My printer has gone dodge again but I'm pretending the writing is meant to be like that!

Punky Reveal

Today you find me jet setting across the pond on our travels to Florida State.

(If you fancy following our travels please do so HERE)

This month at Punky Scraps we were given this wonderful mood board to inspire us.

Those are probable my most favorite colours right now so using them on a layout felt good.

We also had to use chipboard. I have so many chipboard shapes thrown in a drawer that I never get around to using so I hopped in and saved one by half covering in washi and using it to highlight part of my title.

Fancy joining in? Link up and you could win a prize...

Rockin' All Over The World

Not literally all over the world but across the pond.

Very excited as today is the start of our 3rd USA Road Trip.

More on that next week...

So, what has Rocked Your World this week?
My week started off at CarFest, Oulton Park. Our very first festival! We only live 5 minutes down the road so instead of staying, decided to do daily visits and enjoy our home comforts!






The Vulcan Bomber was spectacular
The weather was glorious
The free samples were in abundance

 

Mr Hollywood waved at ME!
The music was great
and
we spent the weekend together as a family.







Imogen's Zoo School was a success and she had a great time playing with penguins, getting up close and personal with rhinoceros, mammal trapping, butterfly counting (there's an app for that!) and much more...

Nick's shift changed which meant he had more time to (help me) prepare for holidays.

Following on from last week re the assault and since the independent witness came good, the police will now be interviewing the alleged - I would like to be a fly on the wall when the police knock on her door!!!

All the paint is out and ready as my wonderful Daddy is decorating for us whilst we're away!

The packing is nearly finished and we head off to the airport hotel tonight for our flight to Miami.

My post next week will be full of holiday rocks...(if I haven't been eaten by an alligator)

(Apologies if I don't comment on your "rock" posts for 3 weeks but I will do my best to catch up on my return)

I saved a hedgehog :)

Rocking the other way is the fact that my Godparents have taken a turn for the worst and being told that they don't want me to visit anymore due to the embarrassment of how they are living is quite hard to take and makes me very sad.

But, even though I am not next of kin (they don't have a next of kin) their doctor has spoken to me about them and I now hope that there will be some intervention - fingers crossed...

Have rockin' good week, I know I will!!!

I Don't Do Flowers!

If you read my post on August 1st you'll know that I deliberately left the flowers out of my Counterfeit Kit because I don't really use flowers on my layouts.

Having said that I had already decided to attempt a tutorial and it became my worst nightmare!

Ribbons, paper, punches, string all went flying as I tried and failed several times to make a flower.

"If at first you don't succeed

try, try, try again"

So I did!

It worked but this one is far too big and bulky to add to a layout but maybe a smaller one would work?

I'm always trying to think of different ways to use my crafting items and this was a good opportunity to see if I could use my hexagon nestabilities to make a flower...

 Mark a faint line down the centre of each

Fold each side into the centre

 Pinch together at arrows

 Stick with Glossy Accents

 Sew through each petal...

 ...until you have something like this

 Tie carefully ensuring petals are in the right place

Cut string, or add a button to finish.

I don't really fancy my chances at making a smaller one but you never know... 

  

Did You See The Same As Me?

Yesterday I posted my cloud photographs for the

2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

did you see the same as me?

A puppy?

 A plane flying over the sun?

A rabbit?

Isn't imagination such a wonderful thing?

 Unfortunately my imagination wasn't forthcoming when it came to making a friend's birthday card. I saw something similar on Pinterest and as she's a big tea drinker, I couldn't resist...