Scraptastic

Well one week of the holiday is down, and it's been a fab week. Scrapping wise, you see the LOs above (I love having the time!) and drooling over CHA stuff. Also managed to squeeze in a trip to the Doctor Who Prom, Legally Blonde the Musical and The Comedy of Errors in the Regents Park outdoor theatre. All three were ablsolutely fantastic! Oh, and I've visited my favourite food haunts (the Diner in Soho I love, LJ coffee house and my absolute favourite, Mexican at Wahaca) as well as order take out. Twice. Because it's the holidays and I'm allowed!

To top it all off, I treated myself to a day at the Sanctuary Spa in Covent garden where I luxuriated all day and had a manicure and a massage. All firsts for me as I'd never even set foot in a spa before.

Sadly (and probably appropriately) no cameras allowed in some of these venues but obviously I've taken pictures of myself standing outside them because I really want to scrap the lovely week I've had living it up in LONDON BABY!!! This week is totally why I moved here!

Kisses xxx

P.S. I've almost run out of internet-on-a-stick before the extortionate charges kick in and then I'm popping home to Yorkshire so it may be while now.

CHA and a few questions...

Firstly, some technical questions: do any British scrappers order stuff from the USA? I ordered a box of stuff from 2 peas (which has arrived but needs collecting from the Post Office!!!!) and while it was amazing to have so much choice unlike anything I see in shops or online in the UK, the postage and customs duty make it quite expensive. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm thinking of getting the monthly kit that Studio Calico make but I'm not sure if it would end up being worth it.

On definite up, I will soon have my new box of supplies although I have to wait until I get home on Monday.

All this wistful wanting has definitely been inspired by some of the amazing things I've seen from the CHA sneak peeks - so much beautiful new stash! I thought I'd make myself a post with my favourites in so here goes:

I LOVE the Sassafras stitched flowers - they're so detailed but now overwhelming but they pop up...and I just used up my last packet. I'll take one in every colour please.

I also love their lines "Count Me In" and "Mix and Mend", the former being spot on for a maths teacher and the latter being simply too delicious for words.

Also, I love the Restoration Collection from Crate Paper and I wouldn't mind a pack of their Christmas line Snow Day either!

I'm also totally tempted by new lines from Jillibean Soup, and in fact loads more but I'm going out for breakfast now and will have to return to this later.

Until then,

Kisses xxx

P.S. How much do I love google reader! Now can follow all the manufacturers I want! Why did I not learn how to do this sooner????

Summer Holiday!

And about time too. Although it was a nice few last days at school. I made all my kids pose for cheesy group this-is-our-last-ever-lesson photos and my Year 7s made me a lovely card (bless - why must they grow up into hulking teenagers?) and I had a good tidy up and clear out.

This weekend I went to my first Prom of this season - the Doctor Who Prom! It was extremely good fun with loads of monsters stalking through the arena which is indisputably the best place to be, particularly for this Prom as not only do you have the atmosphere but you have to dodge creatures from other planets and Matt Smith was right there! Score! The orchestra were terrific and put up with a lot and I snapped lots of pics as it's the one Prom where you're allowed. I will scrap them forthwith.

Scrappy Day in tomorrow - looking forward to it before my Perfect Day on Wednesday.

Kisses xxx

P.S. LOs are of the biggest car I have ever driven on a nutty road trip and a picture unearthed on Facebook of all places of me and a couple of friends when we were very young performing at a Ballet recital.

Two more sleeps to go...

Until the end of term! Kind of willing it along now but on the plus side, school is not so hectic. However, managing lots of excitable teenagers and convincing them to do maths when they want to watch videos is less easy. I don't have much marking this week so I can at least come home and do some scrapping.

Had a fab time going home for my brother's 21st birthday barbecue and took loads of pictures thanks to the inspiration from LYPLYP. I find that photography is one of those things that I let get pushed into the background when time is tight. This is such a shame as I love taking photos so much and I spent a long time learning how to use my camera properly and taking a photography class to improve my photos. I'm going really get back behind the camera this summer. I don't realise how much I miss it until I don't do it any more.

Plus more photos = more scrapping. This is the kind of maths I like.

Kisses

First Night

I type this on my lap in front of the telly watching the first night of the 2010 Proms. Very exciting stuff - one of my main reasons for moving to London was proximity to the Proms! I'd watched them on telly with my family from quite a young age and as I got older, I became desperate to go, especially to the hallowed last night. So why am I not there tonight? Well, it was a school day so getting a good spot in the ticket queue would be tricky. Secondly I have to get up at half five tomorrow as I'm catching an early train home for the weekend and my brother's 21st birthday barbecue. So I content myself with many a cuppa, my scrapping supplies and the knowledge that even if the atmosphere aint quite the same, at least my feet won't hurt afterwards.

Anyway, this LO is a picture from the first Prom we made it to as a family, my brother's first Prom, my second year and third Prom ever and the only time we have all queued together. After the year this was taken, my parents decided that they aren't as young as they were and that they preferred tickets with, y'know, actual seats. Swanky!

Anyway, I love the Proms and a couple of years on I still find this time of year exciting and I shall be hitting my second Last Night instead of my second Prom. All being well!

Kisses xxx

P.S. Now a bit behind on my photo taking for LYPLYP due to yucky weather. However, on the plus side, less hay fever and cooler temperature.

Lazy Weekend

The kind of warm weather we've been getting at the moment makes me feel very lethargic, so beyond a trip to Sainsbury's, I've had a very enjoyable weekend in. I caught up with a couple of friends who each stayed over for a night, baked some cupcakes, watched a couple of films, knitted some knitting and scrapped some scrapping. Bliss.

I've taken a couple of Shimelle's prompts. In one, I used one of my still life photos printed small and decorated the page a little around it. Quite minimalist. The other involves a very non-minimalist picture of my Dad and me being silly. So I use the lots of strips of spare paper and cardstock in my scraps box in rainbow colours, switching the sketch so that the strips went horizontally. Both these are a departure for me, the one being serious and minimal, and the other being in rainbow colours.

Sports day tomorrow. Fortunately, after the space hopper saga, Miss Smith is not required to participate in any active fashion in the festivities.

Kisses xxx

P.S. I have started to plan my summer which is now causing me so much excitement that I can hardly believe I have to get through 2 more weeks of school! I have booked a spa day, two trips to the Regents Park open air theatre, tickets to Legally Blonde the musical, planned a road trip, several Proms, a couple of weeks with my family and a house party (not mine). And this just for starters. It's going to be fun!!!! (Plus I ordered myself a box full of scrapping supplies in preparation)

Clover

These are my photos from the first three prompts of Shimelle's class. Braving hay fever for my art, I took a few things I love out into the garden, and shot the clover while I was at it. The things I love, by the way, being cookbooks by Nigella's fair hand, buttons in their cute little pots and my beautiful brown leather school satchel.

Kisses xxx

A day of one's own: Playing hooky

I've had a lovely lazy day scrapping today which is a nice contrast from the hectic amounts of work going on at school. I really wanted to get some done partly because I printed some photos that I love and partly because it's nearly time for Shimelle's new class! These LOs are pictures of me, my mum and my grandma, pictures all taken at arm's length by my artful hand, and I really love them. Still working with October Afternoon because I love them and am consequently reduced to hunting for fragments of left-over Fly a Kite in my box of scraps that are roughly the size of a five pence piece. I'm saving my Thrift Shop for the summer, come on willpower, but the Fly a Kite range is history. Must order some more.

I've actually got the day off tomorrow - it's called an occasional day apparently - so I'm going to London it up a little bit, do breakfast with a friend, visit Cath Kidston for a little treat (or even a big treat?), go to the cinema, peruse Covent Garden and then head back home to scrap! I love days that are totally mine to dispose of as I wish. I get a rush of freedom and independence which is clichéd but that's how I feel. And it has the extra smug factor as everyone else is at work. I feel a bit like I'm skiving. Good feeling.

Plus all week I've been budgeting for and planning my summer. No proper holiday this year what with trying to get on the property ladder, but plenty of planned excursions to look forward to! More in the future.

To finish off, I wanted to commit to posting all my LOs from the new class here. And I look forward to seeing LOs from other class members. Funtimes!!!

Kirsty xxx