B fortnight

So after A fortnight came B fortnight! This was our weeks menu....

..and our bangers and mash. (They were chipolatas really cos I forgot to get them out of the freezer and Tesco Express only had chipolatas!)

We went to see those boats in Shoreham....

...and walked along the beach.

By the beach was this amazing bench created by people who live locally with all sorts of things stuck in the concrete.

the we saw some beach huts...At the weekend the Guides went to a Thinking Day Celebration at the Brighton Centre. Eliza was carrying the standard for the Buxted Guides.

These were the rather cool lights at the Brighton Centre....

An Alphabetic Year...

Some time ago now I was reading a blog by the talented "Flo" and I saw she was doing this great activity with her family. I am afraid I can't remember where SHE got the idea from so I can't give the correct credit but basically this is how it goes..... 52 weeks of the year, 26 letters of the alphabet so you "do" each letter for two weeks. Now by "do" I mean that you think of as many things as possible to do that start with A, then B etc. Well as usual I was a bit late starting but I thought I would share what we did for "A fortnight".
Firstly Jasper finally made his first Airfix model....

...next we had an American day with pancakes for breakfast...

...homemade burgers.....

...and pecan pie for tea.

Then we saw Avatar in 3D

and our final plans for a walk on Ashdown Forest to the Airmans Grave were completely scuppered by Awful weather! However Ken managed to plant my new Apple tree! We really enjoyed the challenge of finding things to do and now we are about to launch into our D fortnight so I will post catch up pics of the last few weeks over the next few!

CJ...at last!

Finally I have done this CJ (only a week late!) I just found it REALLY hard to do Christmas in March and was totally uninspired! Well yesterday I went to see my pal Gilly who is a font of fab ideas, with a vague idea about a pop-uppy-kinda-thingumy-jig! As luck would have it she had just done a "class" on pop-ups so in about 2 minutes was able to show me what to do! So here is my first ever pop-up....I used distress inks and cosmic shimmers to make the green card and then stamped the Christmas tree on to that. Then I used pastels and glittery paint and blue glimmer mists to do the backgroundy bit!

I quite enjoyed this...lots of thinking required and quite plain but I do like the overall effect! Hope the owner of the CJ does too 'cos the other entries are waaaaay more arty!

Rolling Recipe Tags

Still madly busy here and no crafting time :-( Here are my latest tags for the Rolling Recipe Challenge. For this one the elements were "metal, black and bird". I heated a cider can over the gas flame and it turns it this lovely colour. I shoved it though the Big Shot and embossed it then wrapped it around the tag. Next I painted a couple of grungeboard swirls black and added them along with the bird who was painted with distress inks. To finish off I gave him a painted grungeboard crown and rubbed black Stazon over the raised embossing.

The following week was "black, metal and arrows". I made the wheel from core-dinations card just sanded back a bit round the edge. The centre was just lots of holes punched in usin my crop-a-dile, a metal eyelet added and then attached to the wheel. More painted grungeboard for the arrow. Then I needed a tyre track stamp....did I have one? No! So I borrowed a wheel from my son's Playmobil off road truck, whizzed it throught the Stazon and rolled it across the tag x2! I was quite chuffed with the tread pattern!
Now I am off to see a crafting buddy so lets hope I have some more to show tomorrow. And I am late with a CJ too.....

Mothers Day

I do have some creations to show but I thought that I would show some OTHER peoples amazing artistry for a change. About a month ago we went out for a very disappointing carvery meal (but that is another long tale) that ended up as a curry and the couple we were with told us about some "unusual houseboats by the river in Shoreham". As it was Mothers Day I decided that I would drag my "petits enfants" and my Mum to see them. Well boy were they amazing and barmy and Bohemian and bonkers! This was quite a classy one with a new cabin section...

...this was made in the 70s I reckon from an old coach, a washing machine and various other items including an old microwave as a post box....

....and this one was covered in piecs of mirror as well as a Robin Reliant! The weather was lovely and these homes were fantastic. Many were surrounded by decking with ponds and all sorts of creative windchimes and sculptures. As for the boats, well they ranged from these creations to a 1940s destroyer and a german mine sweeper!
My children want to live in a boat now.....

Scrapbooking

Been absent for a bit...life again! I have had tons of soap to wrap and it is very time consuming and very tiring! Still I just think of it as cash so now I can buy the wood for my raised veggie beds!
Enough waffle...I have managed to squeeze in a DLO for the book of 2009! This is about our centenary party to launch a year of celebrating 100 Years of Guiding. We held a display of tents, old and new and gadgets....anyone who was Guide WILL remember gadgets....and even a lat tent! Then we held a ceremony, tea party and ended with a Camp Fire where we all renewed our Promise, using the original wording from 1910.