Some More Scrapbooking

Jamie and I have been scrapbooking again - here are some pages we've done over the past few days. Jamie's scrapbook is due to be handed in at school next week so thankfully he is just about finished it.

I've decided to give the UK Scrappers 'Scrap Like You Mean It' (SLYMI) Challenge a go and although they're now into week 22 , it gives me something to get my teeth into. To complete them all by the end of the year will be my goal. The current challenge is from a sketch with the theme of minimalism - so here are my pages .........

Cute - using a super picture of Jamie, I'm really pleased with this and the combination of colours, really works well, this is now one of my favourite pages. The paper is from one of the MME kits, the red strip Basic Grey.

Doug - another Doug Aldrich page (yes I know - but he does it for me!) I turned the sketch around, I like the stitching under the photo (well rub-on) but not as keen with the way I did the journalling. As a style I like the minimalist approach for some layouts, when the picture is striking and you want to really highlight it or you have some fantastic paper.


Then I did another couple of pages in a minimalist (ish) style using one of the MME kits.

My Husband - love this one, just a great photo of Mike and the masculine colours work well too.

The Way You Look At Me - one from our wedding day, with a bit of a private joke between Mike and I! I like the rounded corners, and I just think the MME papers look so classy. So for about £4.50 I have got 3 layouts and I still have some tags and journalling bits left over, pretty good value!

Finally Argostoli Ice-Cream - a page about our holiday last year when we spent the day in Argostoli and ate some of the best ice-cream I have ever tasted, the journalling reads,

"Saturday 19th July, 2008, Argostoli, Kefalonia. We spent a lovely day wandering around Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia. Jamie is stood outside a bar on the harbour side where we sought refuge from the heat and enjoyed several cold drinks! Mike and Jamie are taking a rest on a bench, hats, sun-cream and water was essential. Later we had some of the nicest ice-cream I have ever tasted. A truly lovely day. "

Another green page, I do love my green, but with lots of layers of paper, I had a go outlining the title and am quite pleased with the result, I will use that technique again. I guess this layout reflects why I like scrapbooking so much, I get to tell the story of that day and just add that bit extra to the photos.

Ciao

Sue

XX
Reading challenge 0/16 - currently reading Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh
UK Scrappers - SLYMI challenge - 1/52

Joseph and His Dreamcoat Again!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at Northampton Derngate - Friday 5th June

Another usual Friday, but doesn't Friday always have that little bit extra about it, I guess 'cos the weekend is coming. All the usual bits done and dusted ready for this evening.

Jamie and I headed out at about 7pm, off to Northampton to see Joseph, yet again. We are fiends for JATATD and have now seen it 6 times (bad I know), but we love it.

We've seen it at:-

Milton Keynes Theatre - can't remember who played Joseph;

Adelphi Theatre - with Lee Mead

Adelphi Theatre - with Lewis Bradley

Dunstable - can't remember who played Joseph

Northampton - Craig Chalmers as Joseph (2008)

Northampton - Craig Chalmers as Joseph (2009).

Jamie and I watched the BBC 'Any Dream Will Do' every week and totally loved it, my fav was Lewis and/or Keith (depending on the day!), Jamie loved Lewis and we voted for him in the final quite a few times, I'm a bit embarrassed to say! Jamie was so into it that we have now also seen quite a few of the 'Josephs' in one show or another.

Lee Mead - in Joseph

Lewis - at Aylesbury in a songs from the musical and then in Joseph

Seamus - in Evita

Anthony - in the touring Joseph

Craig - in the touring Joseph (twice)

Daniel Boys - as support for John Barrowman (I must catch up with the review for that and a couple of blogs around that date),

which now leaves 6 to see, although I have protested that I do not want to see Chris (or as we called him Chris with the teeth) under any circumstances, just one of those things, his teeth annoyed me, sorry don't know why but they just did. Next one possibly Ben, if he is still in Hairspray.

The production was pretty much the same as we saw last time, Craig plays Joseph very well and has lost a lot of his 'cabaret entertainer' mannerisms and become more 'stagey', he was in good voice and appeared to be enjoying himself. He got a great reception. Sadly The Derngate was only about half to two thirds full, although it meant Jamie and I had a box all to ourselves which was yummy. Joseph was at The Derngate last year and is at MK Theatre in a few weeks time so perhaps the audience was spread out. We know and love all the songs and are singing away quietly!

The real star of the show for me was Sam Cassidy, the young man who played Benjamin, I will be looking out for his name in the future. He had real star quality, the kind of John Barrowman type, can't take your eyes off him when he is on stage thing! He was the best Benjamin I have seen. Now whether it had anything to do with his long blonde hair, good looks and cheeky persona who knows, but I suspect I'm nearly old enough to be his Mum, now behave Sue!

We bought Craig's CD, which we played on the way home and actually it was jolly good, quite a few nice songs on it, and one of my fav's too Run To Me, an old Bee Gees song (I've been playing Andy Gibb a bit recently too, I do every so often, it was tragic that we lost him so young). As Craig was signing them afterwards, I said to Jamie do you want to meet him, so he said yes, although when it was our turn (and the queue was only short about 4 or 5 ahead of us) he turned really shy. We then waited whilst he signed a couple more and then he did some photos, here is the photo of Jamie with him.

We had an enjoyable evening. Now if Andrew Lloyd Webber or Bill Kenwright sees this, do you think you could sort out a production of Jesus Christ Superstar as I would really love to see that one again, TIA guys!

Ciao

Sue

XX
(reading challenge 0/16 - currently reading Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh)

Thursday 4th June - European Election Day

Just a fairly standard day today with all the usual bits going on. My feet are starting to feel better, the blisters are healing, gosh they were biggies and bloody too (sorry gross I know!).

Jamie is having his school photo taken today, and that will be nice as we'll get a piccie of him at his new (ish) school. Jamie went to a private school between Deanshanger and Buckingham but we had to remove him from the school when he was being bullied. Despite several attempts with teachers and the then headteacher, letters, conversations and formal meetings, the situation did not improve and when his Year 4 teacher showed no support to him whatsoever we decided there was no option but to remove him.

He is now at our local primary school and loves it, yes there are problems here and there, it would be abnormal if there wasn't but he is happy and a happy child is going to learn better than an unhappy one. And the school is a happy place too.

Mike and I have questioned whether we did the right thing putting him in a private school, and feel we took the decision with the best of intentions, what we didn't bargain on was the children in that school being horrid! We all know that children who come from underprivileged backgrounds can have problems, but at the other end of the scale children who seem to have all of the advantages can be just as messed up. I personally feel that it there has to be a connection when the father of one of the main bullies of Jamie, let's call him Bryan Rabbit, at AWJS was never seen. Of course people have to make their own choices and if they choose working over their children that's their right, so long as that doesn't affect others, and I believe in this case it did.

My own view on children is there are really only a handful of things parents need to give children but two of the most important are love and time, back it up with a good set of values and an ability to communicate. If I look back and think about enjoyable days I've had in my life then the one I spent with Jamie in London in September 2007 would rank very high. We visited Shakespeare's Globe, the National Portrait Gallery (to look at the Tudor paintings) and went to Pizza Express. It was a really special day.

That got a little heavy! I am really looking forward to seeing his photo and the class photo.

We went off to vote in the Euro Election after dinner, and the polling station was pretty busy. I had to think seriously about who to vote for as I wasn't going to vote for either of the main parties (too angry at them about the expenses scandal), and I hate extremism in any guise, so was only left with 2 or 3 possibilities. I think it is so important to vote, so many people around the world don't have that right that I am going to use mine every time. Whatever happens in the result, I suspect The Labour Party are not going to do well!

Ciao

Sue

XX
(reading challenge 0/16 - currently reading Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh)

My New Scrapbooking Stash

Wednesday 3rd June - Some Scrapbooking Stash


Not too much talk today, just a look through my new scrapbooking stash. I bought a few bits during half term but today some items I ordered off the web have arrived. I try not to buy too much because it's very easy to get carried away and to have stuff stuck in the cupboard and never used, which I don't like doing. I have seen it done to an extreme extent and the hobby seems to be buying the stash rather than using it! For me scrapbooking is about telling a story - be it of the person, the event, the day etc, it is always about the creative process and the end result.



After having a major major spend at Capture the Magic and Calico Crafts over Easter, well it seemed churlish not to call in as we were passing directly by both, rather well planned on my part I think. Poor Mike and Jamie had to wait for about 2 hours whilst I was in both of them! So now I can scrap to my heart's content for the next few months without needing anything (I hope).


So I have bought a handful of papers, I've gone off buying pads, as I find I use some pages and then are left with others I don't particularly like. Whilst being creative, I also want to be savvy about what I spend my money on!

Some Basic Gray, Sassafrass Lass, October Afternoon and 7 Gypsies .....they should be good for about 10 - 12 layouts.







Some October Afternoon embellishments and alphabets, OA is one my favourite companies at the moment - I am so into their products.





All the rest is My Mind's Eye, which is one of my top 3 - but all of these packs were really cheap between £4 and £6 ish which I think is pretty good value. These are older papers, I don't feel the need to 'have the latest' I would rather it fit with what I want to create. I think with the following papers I will be doing lots of family pages, but that's what I do anyway!

My Little Prince - wonder who that might be?



My Husband - I never scrap enough about Mike!

You Are My Sunshine - Jamie, Mike, Binnie

Pals

Love of My Life - Mmmmmm?


The Two of Us




Our Family



I am looking forward to using all of these.

Ciao

Sue

XX
(reading challenge 0/16 - currently reading Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh)

Flowers. Flowers and More Flowers

I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed and get to my floristry class. I'm pleased to say we were doing a line arrangement rather than wiring or anything complicated. I am very fond of line arrangements so was pleased with this one. I really liked using hosta leaves, sadly I forgot to take a photo when I brought it home, so it is now looking a little sad in this photo. In class we also used white Dahlia, but they quickly died and so I've replaced them with yellow chrysanthemums, which also work well.

I had hoped in the afternoon to make an arrangement to enter the competition at Flower Club this evening, but due to my feet killing me (because of my blisters) I didn't manage to make the arrangement, but I will have a go at it at some point during the week, the theme was to be Golden Jubilee.

Here is my arrangement for Golden Jubilee which I made a few days later, sadly by the time I took the photo some of the flowers had just started to go over, but I think it gives an idea of what I was attempting to do. My only regret was that my fav florist didn't have 3 of the large orange gerbera, that bothered me everytime I looked at it, because I could tell it needed the extra gerbera!

This evening I met up with Syliva, June and Rebecca at Flower Club. It was an expensive evening as I joined tonight and also paid for my place on the trip to Coventry, but I am loving my flowers and flower arranging these days. The club is a real pleasure and everyone has been so welcoming.

Tonight there was a demonstration by Susie Barwick, who talked about her life in Africa, and gave us a flavour of African in flowers, her demo was called 'Out of Africa'. She was a fantastic demonstrator, full of great designs, useful tips and a warm and fun personality. Whilst making her creations she regaled us with some very funny stories about some of her exploits in Africa, several of them involving swimming and crocodiles! She was truly inspiring.

She made some truly breathtaking arrangements and it is very difficult to pick a favourite ... Susie started off with this one, which represents a flamingo, it's stunning.

I am so excited by the arrangements she demonstrated that I really want to have a go at them myself, but am going to have to think how I can modify the one below to work in our house or spend some time making a similar structure. Wow I love this one, the Gloriosa she used look so spectacular.

Then came the one below, which I think is my favourite, she has used only one colour, but what an impact it makes, the photo does not do it justice. I am so full of admiration of her abilities.

This arrangement represents an African water spirit (possibly Mami Wata) and I think it is brilliant - I am going to have a go at an arrangement something like this - I just have to work out the mechanics of the spiral.

This is a double arrangement, and again Susie is so clever as this represents the sun setting over water - I am blown away by her creativity. The gerbera and calla look so good together.

She finished off with this amazing pedestal arrangement, which is stunning, the rose is Avalanche and is so beautiful. I love pedestal arrangements and this one is superb.

Ciao

Sue

XX
(reading challenge 0/16)

Aylesbury Friars 40th Anniversery Concert

You may want to grab a drink first, as this may be a long one!

Today was the day of the 40th Anniversary Concert of Aylesbury Friars, the sadly now defunct music club held in Aylesbury, Bucks from 1969 to 1984 (check out http://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/ for a fantastic history of the club - all put together I am very pleased and proud to say by my wonderful husband Mike). Mike, who couldn't hide his excitement and anticipation, though he tried, headed out early this morning to see if there was anything he could help with and to record the day for his website and posterity.

I had heard a lot about Friars, and I am really pleased to have been able to go to one gig for myself, and get my own membership card (Mike and I helped out on the membership desk for the early part of the evening) but more than that it was an absolutely fantastic evening.

In some ways it is difficult to put into words what the night meant to so many people who were there, some people were meeting up with old friends, many seeing people they hadn't seen for many years, some reliving their youth and all just having one brilliant night. People turning up with their old membership cards, having to dig out their glasses to fill in the new membership forms, there was a real camaraderie amongst everyone there. I have rarely enjoyed an evening as much!

I hope that these photos can give a flavour of the evening ......

The stage is being set ...

Rick, Judy and Stuart doing their thing, it was nice to meet some new people (who I had heard a lot about) and meet up with some others again.

John Braley (stage manager) and Pete Frame (yes that Pete Frame of Rock Family Trees fame!)

The lighting rig is getting ready - the lighting was done by the guy who does Coldplay's lighting!



A display cabinet in the Civic Centre showing some of Friars history ...

Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs in action ...

Mike presents the first Friars Award of the evening to The Groundhogs - I'm enormously proud of him for doing such a fantastic job on the night. The feedback he has had has been praising and wonderful.

Richard Carr from Bucks TV interviewing Pete Trewavas of Marillion - check out the Bucks TV coverage of the event at http://www.buckstv.co.uk/buckstv/music/friars/friars_concert_.html, you might even spot Mike, watching it back gave me goosebumps ......

Edgar Broughton from The Edgar Broughton Band


Mike presenting a Friars Award to Steve and Edgar Broughton


Backstage .....

Mike presenting a Friars Award to Paul Riordan of Mandrake Paddle Steamer, who played at the first ever Friars Concert back in 1969

The people who originally began Friars.



Mike with Paul Riordan (Mandrake Paddle Steamer) - who was such a lovely guy.

The legendary Pretty Things hit the stage .....

Phil May

Dick Taylor

and again

The Pretty Things played a great set, it was their second of the night, they had played the O2 in London earlier in the evening and still made it to Aylesbury on time!

"I am the god of hell fire, and I bring you Fire" - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, yes that Arthur Brown joined The Pretty Things on Stage, it was, at times, quite surreal .....

The crowd were having a brilliant time .....

Mike was given 4 guest tickets and we met up with friends Dave and Betty and Lynn and Andrew, here are Lynn and Andrew in the crowd during The Pretty Things set! The night was so hectic we only managed to catch up with them at the after show party in the dressing rooms!

Mike presenting their Friars Awards to The Pretty Things, if you haven't heard them, they are well worth a listen.

Joe Stopps .... who did lots of hard work, including putting up posters .....


The main man, David Stopps, receiving his Friars award from Mike, backstage, it is nearly 1.00 am by now!

In The Pretty Things dressing room, Andrew fulfills a dream!

Me with a young and pretty Pretty Thing!

Another Friars legendary character, Kris Needs, journalist, DJ, musician .....

And then we headed home to bed, what a night!

Ciao

Sue

XX
(Started today The Reading Challenge 0/16 - currently reading Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh)