Monday 30 April 2012

Here's my News!


Good afternoon, and a Happy Monday everybody,
According to the news programmes on TV the weather is pretty awful over in the UK at the moment.  I'm pleased to say here in the Isle of Man it's not too bad.  We had a rainy day yesterday but the sun is shining again now. I do hope it's not too bad where you are.  It's always a good excuse though, to lock yourself away and craft  if it's not nice outside.

Ok, I'll try and make this quick, as I really should be packing boxes.  On my last post I promised I'd be back this week with some exciting news.  The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted on my side-bar, a new addition - the Indigo Blu logo.
I am thrilled to say that I have been asked to join their Design Team - whoop! whoop!
The lovely Kay rang me last week and asked if I'd like to join the 'family'.  You can imagine my reaction - Yes! Yes! absolutely Yes!
If any of you saw their show on Create and Craft on Sunday morning, the 'Linda' that Kay was referring to as the new DT member was ME! She even had a couple of my samples on the show.  Good job I was taping it!
For those of you who don't know, Indigo Blu are a relatively new BRITISH rubber stamp company. Check out their designs and products over on their website http://www.indigoblu.com/  Take it from me, once you try their stamps you'll be hooked!  I was lucky enough to get nearly the full range available, at the time, as part of the prize for winning 'Craft Stamper of the Year 2011' in Craft Stamper magazine. (Wasn't I the lucky girl!) Indigo Blu were sponsors for the competition amongst others.  I've added quite a few more from their range since then.  Their designs are so versatile and easy to work with.  I love them all.

Here are the samples that were shown on the TV
Sewing Mends the Soul stamp set

love this saying ...
the detail on the stamps is amazing - this was using the Flitter Glu and flakes

 You'll be seeing more of my designs for Indigo Blu over the next few months.  Check out their Blog for regular updates and new projects, and see what fabulous designs the other members of the team come up with. Indigo Blu Blog

Well, that was my news. Probably not as exciting for you as it is for me.  Thanks for popping by.  Not sure if I'll manage many posts this week.  we get the keys to the new place on Saturday, so it's a bit crazy round here.
Bye for now
Linda
x


Friday 27 April 2012

Last minute as usual

Hi again,
Nothing for a week, then three posts in one day! You'd think I'd nothing else to do.

It's Friday again, that means it's Challenge time over at  Simply Less is More . One of these weeks I will get my entry in BEFORE Friday.
It's Week 64 and the theme is HOW CHARMING. You have to make and/or use a charm on your project. This month the challenges are being sponsored by The Ribbon Girl , they stock some beautiful little charms, as well as all the gorgeous ribbons and things, to add to cards and other projects.
Here this weeks entry ....

Even though it wasn't a one layer week I still kept it clean and simple.
The embossed panel was done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Kimmie luvs) and then trimmed slightly to fit onto a 6x6 card.  I threaded the silver grey ribbon through the wedding bells charm and then attached it at the back of the panel.
sweet little wedding bells charm
The whole thing was then mat onto silver grey pearlescent cardstock and the bottom edge was finshed with a fancy border punch from Stampin'Up.  I added a matching bow to the charm and stamped my sentiment on the bottom corner of the card.
Quick and simple but very effective.  Hope you like it.

Well I think that's it for this week, short and sweet.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.  I'm starting on the packing I think, well there is only 18 days to our moving date!  I'll be back next week though I have some exciting news (ooh!!)

Thanks for stopping by

Linda
x









A new challenge for me

Happy Friday everyone,

It doesn't seem five minutes since I said that last week!
It's another glorious day here on the Isle of Man.  The sun is shining even if it is still a little chilly out there.  Hope we get another nice weekend.  No doubt we'll be out and about at some point. Stephen will want to take his new toy out for a spin.  He's just bought his first 4x4, and he'll want to put it through it's paces (great!).  I suppose I'm going to have to drive it at some point, not looking forward to that. I don't really like driving that much and I'm certainly not used to driving something that big. Ah well, it's not a brand new one so it won't be that much of a disaster if I bump it!  It's going to be a challenge for me I can tell you.

Speaking of challenges, I'm entering a new one this week.  It's the Penny Black Saturday Challenge http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/   I have loads of Penny Black stamps and I must say I haven't used them for ages. I was catching up with one of the Blogs that I follow and saw it, so thought I would give it a go.  It's a good excuse to use some well loved stamps.

This weeks challenge is NO PATTERNED PAPER.  The only rule is that you use at least one Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo. Not a problem - I love Penny Black stamps, especially the cute images, and the one I've used this week is one of my favourties (however, I do have rather a lot of those!)
This is the card I came up with ........
no patterned paper
As you can see, I haven't used patterned paper, but I did make my own background, using another favourite PB stamp.  The little flower cluster was stamped with Versamark, randomly around the edges of the red and the black layers and then clear embossing powder was added over the over the top.
I wanted to use red card to bring out the little ladybug, and along with the black and white it's one of my favourite colour combos.
The sentiment is from a PB clear set of stamps, and was just stamped onto white card and then I added a fancy punched border to co-ordinate with the nestie that I'd used to mat my main image onto.
The cute hedgehog was coloured using Copic pens, and the clouds were added to the background using Distress ink.
To finish it off I added a few paper roses and a ribbon bow, and covered the ladybug with Glossy Accents to give her a nice shine. I also doodled faux stitches around each of the layers with fine black and white pens.
I love this little ladybug




Products used ....
Penny Black stamps   Garden Gossip (1448F)
                                  clique (3858E)
                                  salutations (clear set) (30-014)
Copic pens
Black, Red and White cardstock
White pearlescent 8x8 cardblank
Black Versafine ink
Clear embossing powder
Stormy Sky distress ink
Paper flowers
Ribbon
Glossy Accents


Thank you for popping by. 

Linda
x

It's all go over here ....

Hello there Blog Buddies,
It's a little late for me I know.  I don't usually blog at bedtime but I've been out this evening and I wanted to try and post this before midnight. Not happening though!! Never mind, it won't be much after.
It seems like a lot has gone on since I last posted. Not a lot of crafting I'm afraid, just everyday life.  Where do I start.
We had a lovely few days with Lauren and Alex.  They arrived on Friday evening and I don't think I sat still until they left on Tuesday afternoon - I loved every minute of it!
The weather was great all weekend so Saturday saw the BBQ fired up for the first time this year.  Cooking outside is Stephen's responsibility, I try not to get involved. He likes being in charge of the BBQ.  On the menu this weekend - fresh lobster! 
Alex wasn't so sure about them when we got them out of the box, but he enjoyed eating them later.


While we were out on Saturday, Grandad decided to buy Alex a football.  Not quite what I had in mind, but at least the boys had fun ........











 We managed to spend some time on the beach too.  It's a lovely little beach down in Laxey, and it's never busy.  Alex didn't used to like the waves and would never stand in the water, but we didn't seem to have that problem this time.  He wanted to collect pebbles in his bucket and then throw them into the sea, only problem was he hadn't picked up many and as the pebbles are no where near the water, we had to keep fishing them back out again.  The water was a little bit chilly, to say the least.




I did manage to get into my craft room for a short while.  I wanted to get Alex's hand and foot prints onto paper.   It wasn't easy, he wasn't too keen on putting his hands, or his feet, into the paint.  Stephen came in just as I was painting Alex's foot with a paintbrush, and the quote of the weekend was ....

(Stephen) ...  "why are you painting his feet blue?"
(Me)  ......     "because he won't stand in the blue paint!"

At that point Stephen quickly turned around and left.  I think he thought we'd lost the plot!
It worked, we just had to scrub Alex's hands and feet a little afterwards.  The idea is to scrapbook  them along with a lovely poem I have from Clarity Stamps.  I'll let you see when they're done - no promises when that will be though.  It's taken me 12 months nearly to do 5 pages!!  It's definitely a work in progress.
The next few weeks are going to be a little busy I think, so I probably wont be posting on here as much as I'd like.  First off, we pick up a car at the weekend.  That should keep the other half busy for a while - new toy and all that!  Then, I should really start packing as we're moving on the 15th May. But before that we're squeezing in another trip to the UK for the weekend (another craft show - yeah!). Busy, busy, busy.

Well, my computer says its 12.14 so I'm not that late.   I will be back again tomorrow, or should I say later today, with some crafty posts this time.   I've done a couple of Blog challenges that need to be in by Friday evening

Night, night.

Linda
x







Friday 20 April 2012

Happy Friday!

Hi everyone,
What a lovely day we're having over here in the Isle of Man. I do hope it stays like this for the weekend.  Lauren and Alex arrive this evening and it would be great if we could get out and about and maybe spend some time on the beach with them.  Not only that, this morning the other half  placed our first order this year for fresh lobster.  Looks like the BBQ's being fired up tomorrow. They'll be caught in the morning, and cooked in the afternoon  - mmm ..... surf and turf on the menu I think.   Not quite sure how Alex will react to his Grandad cooking a live lobster!!?

I know I should have been doing other stuff today, like housework,  but, I somehow found myself in my craft room first thing.  Well it did need tidying, and I also had a friend coming round this morning to craft, so I had to make some space.  I came across my trial run for yesterdays LIM card and I didn't want to throw it away so I made it into a card.  I stayed with the blog challenge theme of doodling, however it wasn't one layer.
definitely not one layer
This is how I usually doodle on my cards, lots of faux stitching around the edges.  I also added the cute little bee to make up the sentiment - 'Bee Happy!' and finished it all off with a bit of sparkle. The 'happy' was doodled/hand written too.  As usual the inside was decorated to match.

You can see in the pictures the lovely blue skies we've got today.  Hope the weather is nice where you are, and if not, then I hope my happy card made you smile.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next week.

Linda
x




Thursday 19 April 2012

Take a sneaky peek .....

Well, I said I'd be back didn't I.
I've been a little busy in the old craft room again this week, in fact I had to make a list so that I didn't forget anything.  Thankfully, the last item has just been crossed off - phew!!
The weather's been lovely over here, sunny most days, with rain during the night, although it's been a bit chilly out, well it's still only April I suppose.
I've been 'working' all week in my craft room which has been lovely because it gets sun, all day.  From my desk in the window I can see the birds on the feeder in the garden.  It's nice to take a break and just watch them.  They can be so funny. 
this little guy comes by everday
having lunch
 









 A few years ago, Stephen and I used to keep birds.  We had a 20ft aviary in the garden with all sorts of birds in there, parrots, parakeets, finches.  I'll have to try and find some photos to put on here. 
Anyway, I digress.  Back to this week.  I've been trying to get up to date with all things crafty. Two reasons, one, we found out that we get the keys to our new house on May 5th, so we've booked removal men for the 15th.  This means I'm going to have to start packing soon, I'm looking forward to it in a way, but then again I'm not, if you know what I mean.   I'm NOT MOVING AGAIN!  (are you listening Stephen?) I say this everytime we do it, but I mean it this time.
And two, Lauren is coming over at the end of the week with Alex, so I wanted to have everything done and out of the way so that I can spend my time doing 'Grandma' stuff,  which means spoiling my handsome little grandson.  Well that's what grandma's do isn't it!
Alex - such a cutie!
Some of the stuff I've been working on this week you'll have to wait for, hopefully all will be explained soon but, I can give you some snippets of what I've been creating as part of the Design Team for Stamp Addicts. Check out their blog to see samples from the rest of their Design Team The Purple Zone
I haven't done anything for them for a while so it was nice to receive some of their new stamps last week.  These are what I came up with.  I'm not showing full pictures so that I don't give too much away.  They haven't been on the TV yet. You'll just have to wait.


 
 You can probably guess what theme this one was.  It's a lovely set, a really nice one to have in your collection.

This was the other one

 

 






Tune in to Create and Craft on May 10th (Sky Channel 671) to see the full versions. Or pop back over here once the show has aired, as the full photos will be up.
 
Well, I'd better be off, got to do the boring stuff now, housework! (joy)

Thanks for looking
Have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to

Linda
x

Oh my Doodle! LIM Blog Challenge

Hi everyone,
I hope you've all had a nice week and are looking forward to the weekend.
My first blog this week is my Less is More Blog challenge entry.
First off, I'd like to say Thank You to everyone that looks and leaves comments on these Blog posts.  I appreciate every single one of them. I enjoy doing the challenge each week and it's so nice to know that you enjoy reading my ramblings, and looking at my designs.  You are all such a nice bunch of Limettes, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
OK it's week 63, the second week in the month so it's a One Layer challenge, with a 'Doodling' theme.  Some of the entries on there this week are stunning, there's some great doodlers out there.  Check them out, you'll find some great blogs on there that are well worth a read  LIM
Now I don't mind a little bit of doodling, in fact, I do it quite a lot on my cards.  I like to doodle faux stitching around the edge of layers, or add groups of little dots to fill in empty space, but to doodle on one layer had me thinking a little. I must say though, once I 'd decided on the design, this is one of the quickest LIM cards I've done.  First attempt was just right.
Here's what I came up with, not as spectacular as some entries, but I doodled.  The sentiment was hand written too.

I used the fabulous Stampin Up! Pick a Petal stamp set, and decided to only stamp in one corner leaving lots of white space.  I didn't stamp by eye on this one either, the old stamp positioner came out of the drawer.  I stamped the flower with So Saffron and Rose Red inks (SU again) and then doodled around each petal in a fine black Sakura Micron pen.   
Now my handwriting is not good, so I took a chance and wrote the word 'Hello'.  Adding the little dots to the ends of the letters takes the 'handwritten' look off a little bit.  I think the finished card looks kind of cute.

Thank you for taking time to look, hope you like it.
I'll be back later with more on what I've been up to this week.
See you soon
Linda
x

Friday 13 April 2012

Oh no! It's Friday the 13th .......

Good morning everyone, 
Happy Friday 13th. I hope today's a good day for you all.
Doing household stuff yesterday didn't last very long. I made the bed and tidied the bedroom. Did a pile of ironing whilst watching 'This Morning'.  Entered their competition to win £50000, not much chance of that I know, but, you have to be in it to win it! Entered online so at least it didn't cost me anything.  I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen, and that was it.  I'd had enough at that point so off to the craft room I went.  Well, I still had my Tag to do for April.
Yes, it's that time again. Tim's tag has been up there for 2 weeks nearly and I hadn't even started mine.   Check out his blog to see what he came up with. 12 Tags of 2012
As usual I didn't have all the products that he's used, I'm still waiting to get my hands on the new Bird on a Branch die.  So I had to see what was in my stash that would inspire me to create a similar look.
Here's my finished tag
It's a little more feminine than Tim's, I like the addition of the flowers and a little bit of pink, adds a touch of Spring.

Products used ....
#8 Manilla Tag
Tim Holtz Reflections Stamp
Sizzix Oval Frame Embossing Folder
Sizzix Caged Bird Bigz Die
SizzixTattered Florals Border Die
Grunge Board
Distress Inks - Wild Honey/Stormy Sky/TumbledGlass/Broken China/Gathered Twig/Vintage Photo/Old Paper

Black Archival Ink
Perfect Pearls Mist - Pearl
Vintage seam binding
Chain/jump rings/tiny clip/Adage ticket
Pearls

I did some of the techniques he used - stamped on the embossing folder with the reflections stamp before embossing the tag through the Big Shot, used the distress inks to highlight the embossed areas and colour the tag. Instead of misting my craft mat at the end, to pick up the excess ink, I spritzed some water into my hand and then splashed it onto the tag. I used kitchen roll to mop up any excess water, this takes some of the ink out and creates a 'mottled' look.  You can just about see this in the photo.
The bird cage was cut from grunge board and then coloured using Old Paper Distress ink.  It was then spritzed, very generously, with the Perfect Pearls.  I was hoping to get a nice shiny metalic look to the cage.  I think it worked.
The leaves could do with a little inking around the edges I think, but it's not bad.
I think I'm all crafted out for this week.  I need to give my room a good tidy and put some things away, ready to start again.

Thanks for popping by.  I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings this week.  Have a lovely weekend wherever you are, and whatever it is you're doing.
Bye for now

Linda
x

Thursday 12 April 2012

Wine and a little bit of Cake

Good morning everyone,
Here I am again, I've had a busy craft week this week, and it's not over yet!
Just want to share a couple of cards today that I've made and sent to very special friends who have had birthdays this week.  Hopefully, the postman will have kept his side of the bargain and delivered them by now.  If not, I hope they're not reading this!!
First off it was our friend Nick's birthday on Monday.  Now I know I was late posting his card, (Sorry Nick!) what with Easter and all that, but, I hope he's received it by now.
I'm not too keen on making cards for guys, I always struggle to come up with a theme. This one wasn't too bad though.
I'm not saying Nick likes the odd bottle of wine or anything but, Nick likes the odd bottle of wine, or two.  We always have a great time when he and his lovely wife Julie come to visit. Good food (Nick always helps me in the kitchen), great wine (we all like a glass or two) and fabulous company.  We don't see them often enough these days, especially since moving to the Isle of Man.
Anyway, here's the card I made for him

I was going for the vintage look - vintage... wine .... never mind!   I went for deep reds and brown shades with a hint of black for my colour scheme, had to really as I'm a red wine lover, anything Italian. Chianti, Barolo, Amarone, and the recently discoverd Montepulciano (think I've spelled that right!). You can't beat a nice glass of red!
The scrapbooking paper was from a lovely old Prima collection and the stamp is Inkadinkadoo.  I love this stamp as it's one of those that looks different depending on what colour of ink you've used.  This time I used Crimson Red Versafine ink and stamped onto cream card, then embossed with clear powder to give it a bit of a shine.  This doesn't show up in the picture I know, but it is there.  I tore the edges and distressed them with Vintage Photo and Barn Door Distress inks.  The sentiment was done on the computer and inked to match.
The seam binding is from SU (Cherry Cobbler) and there's even a cute little cork knotted on there too. Have to be careful with embellishments on men's cards - can't put bows or flowers!

A little bit of stamping was done on the inside too.  I like to decorate the inside instead of putting an insert in. By adding another layer to the inside I think it helps to balance it a little, so that the card doesn't topple over when they stand it on the mantlepiece - not a good look!


 Happy Birthday Nick, hope you had a great day.

The other card I sent this week was to my good friend Susan, whose birthday was Wednesday.  I was ready for this one, I'd made the card a while ago. I was just a little late in buying the gift to go with it.

Susan is one of my lovely crafting buddies across in the UK.  She shares my love of rubber stamping and all things crafty. Shops as much as I do as well!!!   Can't wait to see her again in May, we're off to the Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight.  Another expensive day out, but lots of fun.
Susan's card was made with the SU Designer Papers range Spice Cake.  I love this range of paper, I think it's the colours that do it for me.
When I made this card and matching tag, I knew exactly who I was going to send it to, just had to wait a little while that's all. The picture makes it look like it's only a small card,  but that's not the case, it's the tag that's BIG! (ususal for me)
Happy Birthday Susan.  Hope you had a fab day. 

Speaking of Spice Cake, this is something I did a couple of weeks ago

I had a great evening, along with a couple of other crafting friends, at a Stampin Up! workshop with the lovely Kirstie, who's an SU demonstrator on the island.  I met Kirstie through Facebook and now I regularly attend her workshops. 
The bag was so easy to decorate.  We cut the shapes from Stampin Up! fabric using the Big Shot machine and dies.  I chose the Spice Cake, but there are other lovely designs to choose from.  The adhesive had already been applied to the  of the fabric before we cut it (you just iron it on with a warm iron and leave it to cool - another fab SU product) then the shapes were just ironed directly onto the bag  - simple but very effective.  I added co-ordinating buttons to the centres of a couple of flowers, and then I stitched two of the matching giant buttons to the handles.
The bag is big enough to hold 12x12 papers so I can see this going to the Craft shows with me.  Very handy indeed.

Well I think that's it from me for today - need to catch up with household stuff now. Boring!!!

Thanks for looking

Linda
x

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Добро пожаловать!

Hello again,
As I've spent all day in my craft room, again, I thought I'd share with you what I've been doing.
It's been lovely in here today, the sun has been shining which means it's been lovely and warm with loads of light coming in through the window and patio doors.  For me, it's the best room in the house (and the most messy!!)
This morning was taken up mostly with the weekly Blog challenge over at Less is More (see previous post for details).  Then, after lunch I needed to settle down and finish a card that I'd been asked to make a week or so ago, by one of my hubby's work colleagues.
It's taken me a while but I finally got it all finished this afternoon, sent a photograph off for approval and waited nervously for the answer...........
He likes it!!  Thank goodness.  It's always a bit of a worry when someone asks me to make them a card.  And this one was no different.  I had to make a special 'Welcome Home' card for his wife.  Not such a big challenge I hear you say, but, the text on this one had to be in Russian!!!  Baard was quite specific about what he wanted which was good, and he did the translation for me, so here's the finished result ......


It's quite a large card.  The maps were printed from the internet then given the 'Linda' touch.  The lettering was done using the Cuttlebug, and the cute little plane was cut with the Cricut (New Arrival cartridge), and mounted with an acetate 'spring' so it moves a little.




I decided to do the message as though it was on a flag.  It says "Welcome home, Alena" I think.



 
The inside was decorated as well, using a sweet little house stamp and some pretty ribbon I bought recently at the GNPE in Harrogate.


I hope Alena likes it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Thanks for popping by.  Twice in one day too!

Linda
x

It's all turning green

Good afternoon,
And a lovely afternoon it's turned into here on the Isle of Man.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I've finally got blossom coming on the trees in the garden.  Everything is turning green again.
Funnily enough, that's the recipe for this weeks challenge over at Less is More. http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/  Oh no!! I can hear you all groaning at my link there - it wasn't brilliant I admit but, it got me there.
Week 62's Colour challenge is 'Three Shades of Green'  Now I don't use a lot of green,  never mind 3 shades all together, so it took me a while with this one.  In the end I used inspiration from my good friend and SU demonstrator Sally-Jo, who has posted a video on her blog this week on how to make backgrounds using ink markers and an acrylic block.  I decided to give it go and the result was not bad at all. Check out her blog to see the demo. Sally's video

Wk 62  LIM Challenge entry
I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, and it only took 3 attempts to get one background I was happy with.
I used my Tim Holtz Distress Markers  and coloured directly onto the acrylic block with them.  The shades I chose were Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint. (I love the names of these inks).  I then spritzed the whole thing with a little water before stamping it onto a piece of card.
The leaves are from a Hero Arts clear stamp set and they were stamped onto the background using the matching Distress Ink pad, in the darkest shade of green - Peeled Paint. I inked around the edges using Bundled Sage (ink pad) to soften the look.  It was then mat onto a piece of  Stampin Up! Old Olive cardstock before attaching it to my base card. I think the Old Olive cardstock co-ordinates quite well with the distress inks, don't you.
The sentiment is from an old Penny Black clear set of stamps.  I added some gemstones and a fancy punched border, again in Old Olive, just to finish the card off.
Simples!  Green is definitely growing on me.

Thanks for looking

Linda
x

Sunday 8 April 2012

Catch up - Part 2

Hi everyone,
I do hope you're all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend, you haven't eaten too much chocolate have you.  I've had a lovely weekend relaxing at home. I've managed to get all those little jobs done that I've been putting off for ages, and got a lot of things craft wise done too.  I've even managed to get to grips with the new camera - not perfect yet but better than the old one.  See what you think. These were the first lot of pictures taken with it.
Whilst we were across in the UK in March, we took Alex up to the South Lakes Wildlife Park.  We had a lovely day and the weather was great.  We took a picnic with us too, not done that in a while.  If you're ever up in the Lake District, the park is well worth a visit, we'd definitely go back.  www.wildanimalpark.co.uk
I won't bore you with loads of pictures, but here are just a few.  I never miss a chance to show photos of my gorgeous grandson, he's sooo cute.  (I would say that wouldn't I!)
with grandad
getting playful with the penguins
a friendly wallaby
How cute is this
Hi  Mr. Lemur
Here kitty kitty ....
Dinner time
these little guys were Alex's favourites
Cotton Topped Tamarins playing in the open
 spot the show-off!
 I think Alex enjoyed himself.  Of course we had to visit the gift shop before we left the park.   Alex picked himself a cuddly lemur to come home with us as a reminder of his day.
We also had a family day in Sheffield.  We drove over to see Christopher and took Lauren and Alex.  It's not very often these days that we're all together, so it was nice. As the weather wasn't too bad we decided to get Chris out and about.  Being a student, getting out in the fresh air doesn't happen that often.  You can usually find him in front of a games console!!  Anyway,  here are just a few pictures ......
Along side of Derwent Reservoir - skimming stones with grandad

Ice cream back at the Visitors Centre - I think it was a little cold!
My son - not his best look!
Ahh... young love
Chris is not used to carrying small children, can't you tell.  ooh and a rare picture of Me!

Already planned the next trip over.  It's only a short one though - just the weekend.  But there is enough time to fit a craft show in.  It's the Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight on the Wirral in May. Looking forward to that as it will be my first time there. Can't wait.


Phew!!  Well I think that's just about it.  Thank goodness I here you all say.  Back to craft blogging tomorrow.

See you soon
Linda
x