Scarlet Lime Kit

Way back, in November, last year... I was tempted by the Thanksgiving/Black Friday sale at Scarlet Lime.  And splashed out a whole five dollars on a sight unseen kit.  Now, the post and packing added another $15, but I thought I'd go for it - my first order from the States!

It took a couple of weeks to reach me, but it was so worth the wait.  There was quite a bit of purple in there, as well as some greens, some wood effects, some trims and embellishments and a set of stamps. 

These are the first three layouts I made using the kit.  I whizzed them up one afternoon, and then realised that I had completely used my fail-safe scrap-booking combo - can you spot it?  Yes, everything on the right hand side of the page!  Nothing wrong with that - but I'm now on a bit of a mission to mix it up a bit. Which includes the layout in my last post, using Shimelle's project. 

I'll be back soon, with some more from this kit, and a move from the right-hand side of the page....

california gurls

I did these LOs a couple of weeks ago, but thought you might like to see them.  California Gurls is mis-spelt because of the Katy Perry song which we sang a lot when we were in California last year.  Mark took the photos on his phone, and there's not a "good" photo amongst them, but when all put together, they show just how much fun we were having at Disneyland, and it's not often that we get our photos taken together.

 

I did take a photo op - and made the girls sit in Mickey's car.  We had to wait a couple of minutes, because there was another family taking photos, we got chatting, as you do...  And the mom told Mark that he was really lucky to be married to me - because I have such a cute accent! Those of you that know me, as well as those that don't, are allowed to laugh at this point...

And, finally, a card that I made for my sister-in-law's birthday...

speak soon, sarah x

September Evening Crop

Apart from the monthly Saturday Bromsgrove Crop, Helen and I also try and go to the Thursday night one. And in September I got these two layouts completed. That was after taking about an hour to catch up with everyone, and settle down.

I had finished these by about 9, and was going to start another one. But, decided to pack up slowly, and carry on chatting...

September Crop

The September crop at Bromsgrove was a long one, 11 till 11, with three classes by Morag Cutts. If you're a Bromsgrove cropper, or you hop around their blogs - you'll have already seen these - but these are mine...

Luu and her boyfriend, Joe, before she went to her Prom. Joe couldn't go, as it was a joint Prom with Luu's school, and the local boys' school, that Joe didn't go to. But he came to see her off, and that's a convoluted way of explaining why he isn't dressed up for Prom! But, look how his shirt matches the papers...



After the classes had finished, Helen and I challenged ourselves to do another layout using the leftovers from the class kit.



Luu and me, taken by Luu on a cable car in San Francisco. Not bad for leftovers?



And a close up of the cluster of embellishments, or "pile" as Helen calls it when she's playing up at the crop...




Then, I finished the day off with double page layout using photos taken at Disneyland, when we were in California.

Minnie is just about my favourite character - so, when I saw her I shrieked out loud, to Luu's embarrassment. I practically ran over to her, only to be politely told she was there for a private party... and could I move. Oh, well. Oh, and Mickey got into the photo, but he plays the supporting role, in my eyes.

The photos of Phoebe are really bad quality. But, just look at her face! That's why I scrapped them. It was the end of our day at Disneyland, and we were watching the awesome firework display, before a last ride then a long drive across LA, to our hotel.

San Francisco Farmer's Market

I'd read about the San Francisco Farmer's Market before we went to California, on the sfgirlbybay blog ( a good place to spend some time, by the way). So, it went onto my list of possible places to visit.

We went to the Saturday one, and were there by about 8.30, just in time for breakfast. A coffee and a cherry pastry for me - yumm.

Then Mark and Phoebe found us some delicious sausage-roll-type things to keep us going…

While I just sat and admired the view…

Then off we went, looking at, and smelling the lavender

And admiring the variety of shopping baskets…

Please, can I take this one home?

And, to round off our morning?

…a bag of strawberries.

Possibly the biggest strawberries I’ve ever seen.  But, hey, this is America…  And they were delicious

American Stash

A quickie, to show I haven't forgotten my blog...

When we were away, I only managed to do a little bit of stash shopping, and this is, pretty much, what I got... Not much, really. But, I had limited luggage space, and lots of other exciting stuff to do!

I only saw one dedicated scrapbook store on our trip, and that was closed. When we drove by the next day, I did point it out again, but it fell on deaf ears... So, the things I did get, were from stores on the high street - they were pretty good, and covered lots of different crafts. One had fabulous fabrics in, more than we generally get in dedicated fabric stores here. Oh, if only I'd had more time, some more dollars and some more luggage space...

California - Part One

So, you worked it out, then? I spent the last two weeks of June in the good old U.S.of A. Specifically, driving Route 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

And, to quote my Facebook staus - "It was AWESOME!"

We first had the idea for this trip of a lifetime last year, when we decided to sell our VW camper. We decided that, if Mark got a new job, and there was enough redundancy settlement left, and the van sold, then we would book a BIG TRIP... Well, the stars aligned for us, and just after Christmas, we booked our trip.

Now, this was a huge decision for us. We usually camp in Cornwall. We hadn't even been abroad for 5 years, and that was 5 days at Disneyland Paris. And here we were, spending a huge amount of money on a holiday!! But, do you know what? It was absolutely the right decision for us, as a family. Lou has now left school, and starts college in September. So probably won't want too many more holidays with us. And Phoebe is old enough to appreciate the trip. And we now have a catalogue of memories. On the way home, Phoebe told me that "It was the best holiday, ever!" And she was right.

So, how am I going to document this? Well, I did a bit of journalling pretty much every day, and I'm going to put together some sort of journal/scrapbook/mini-book of our trip - it's a bit of a loose idea at the moment. I'll let you know how it's coming along over the next, days, weeks or months...

But, for the blog - I think I'll jump right in with some photos from the first part of our trip.

Our plane...


Our local streetcar stop (we had the pretty streetcars)



Chinatown.



Golden Gate Bridge.



Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.



One of San Francisco's hills.



Leaving San Francisco.


Our first view of the Pacific.

Wondering where I've been?

I'll be back soon, with news from my road trip... promise.