Another Local Landmark

Another LO for the London album ... St. Mary's Church is extremely prominent on our local skyline and is beginning to crop up on TV as well ... but in dramas that are set elsewhere! A recent example was last Sunday's "Lewis" on ITV: Lewis & Hathaway were interviewing a suspect in a coffee shop in Oxford. In actuality the scene was filmed in Manana's coffee shop (which used to be the bridal shop where the owner told me I wasn't a size 8), which is next to the church and the church was visible through the window. In the last series of "Lewis" there was a scene on an allotment ... with St. Mary's highly visible in the background!

Our Little Boy

... our wee man still shows no sign of wanting to talk properly, although in the last few days he has added "car", "ball" and "boy" to his meagre repertoire. DH and I have discussed what to do next and we've agreed that if there is no sign of a marked improvement by the end of April, then we will go back to the health centre and ask them for a referral to the speech therapist. Now, I know that some children can be 3 years old or more before they speak clearly, so there is most likely nothing to worry about. However, it seems that the speech therapy waiting list in our area is very long so if he is going to go on it, then he should do so sooner rather than later. In all other areas our lovely DS is as any other 2-and-a-bit toddler, with an amazing zest for discovering life and all that it can offer. These photos were taken after teatime today - evidence of DH's spag bol is obvious - and if you think he looks tired, you'd be right because he didn't have a nap this afternoon.

More Scrapping Stuff

I had a go at this week's challenge on UKS this afternoon while DS was asleep and this evening I've had a go at copying a beautiful accordian minibook sent to me by my nephew on Mother's Day. (The card was made by his extremely talented mum!) I was surprised at how easy the minibook was to make so they may start turning up as JBPs ... Here they are.

Oh, and BTW ... I've managed to lose/misplace my craft scissors at some point this afternoon ... do you think I may have recycled them by mistake???

A Boy & His Dog

Robert Benchley said, "Every boy should have 2 things: a dog and a mother willing to let him have one."

The Boat Race

This afternoon saw Oxford University romp home to an easy victory, beating Cambridge University by 3 and a half lengths, in a time of 17 minutes dead. Mind you, there were 5 Olympians in the dark blue boat! Oxford's reserve crew also beat Cambridge earlier in the afternoon, so my Oxford man is a happy man!

SLYMI: Week 13

This week's challenge was to use stamping on your LO, something that I've never been confident about. Anyway, in the end I managed 3 different sets of stamps and even some paint! And a small toot, toot to myself - my SLYMI LO last week - Today Was Good - has won a prize! Chosen randomly, I think, rather than on artisitic merit but still!

A Few More LOs

Here's my final DLO from Scrap Your Day and a LO about Prague for my "Everywhere" section of Shimelle's HTE class ... IRL the white alphas show up much more clearly. For the spare page in the SYD album, I'm planning on doing a review, with the best photo from each month. Still need to write the intro for the 1st page as well. (Did you spot that I forgot to add the AM clock shot top left of page?)

Snapshot Of Scrap Your Day

Here's some of the best images from today's Scrap Your Day. We were lucky in that DS hosted a playdate this afternoon but unlucky in that it rained and the 3 children had to play indoors.

Shimelle's Here, There & Everywhere Class

This online class is now its 5th week of a 6 week run and we are working on the "Everywhere" section - places that we've still to visit or experience. Here's a couple from my list. (Note the tag/ticket stub on each LO - that's where I'll add the date when I've been there or seen it!) But you know what the best thing has been about this class? The making of a new friend. I had coffee this morning with a lady who lives in Shepherd's Bush, a mere 3 miles away and all because she is also doing this class. She's on UKS but our paths hadn't crossed.

The Final Scrap Your Day

Tomorrow is the final Scrap Your Day - where has the last 12 months gone? This has been a project that I've really enjoyed so am thinking of continuing with it and just adding a DLO for each 25th of the month to our "Year" album.

A Local Landmark

The opportunity for getting up town this week didn't present itself so I settled on scrapping a local landmark for the London Landmark album ... the lovely Walpole Park, where we spend a lot of time. I'm pleased that I'm having a go at this "white" space malarkey and I'm even having a go at doodling around the edges - that's Sib's influence, her doodling on LOs always looks fab.

The Luck Of The Irish

Did you see the rugby this afternoon? In particular, Wales v Ireland? Oh, my goodness! Ireland won by 2 points in the 80th minute after Wales just failed to score a penalty from 47 metres out. It was shades of Rob Andrew during the World Cup in 1995 and Jonny Wilkinson during the World Cup in 2003 all over again. A very well deserved win for the Irish; we were supporting them because we decided that we had more Irish blood in us than Welsh.
(Oh, and England beat Scotland in the Calcutta Cup...)

Saturday

We had another lovely Spring-like day here today so we made the most of it. Apparently it will go back to being cold next week. DH gave the lawn a clean - swept and jet washed - who'd have thought you could jet wash artificial grass? I got DS's trike out of the shed and we dismantled the harness and armrests. I think we'll need to move the seat back as well because DS looks a little cramped when sitting on it. I'm also going to get him a crash helmet now that he doesn't have the harness ... think poor Natasha Richardson.

Craft Room Photos

So here it is, my lovely new office/craft space. I need to put up some pictures and get some wall mounted shelving units but then I'll be done. The walls are actually a beautiful pale pink colour but that hasn't shown up so well.

SLYMI: Week 12

This week's challenge was to follow a sketch - I flipped it so I've produced a mirror image to the original sketch. For some reason the cardstock hasn't scanned evenly, IRL it is a lovely "butter" colour.

A Craft Room Of My Own

... it's almost a true statement! This evening we moved my desk into DH's old office, which is now painted Blossom White and awaiting new curtains. We had to take the door off so you can imagine all the huffing and puffing going on! I've also inheritied DH's old desk so now I have a desk for scrapping and a desk for the PC. How lucky am I? Mind you, the most obvious thing is that I have moved into a smaller space so I'm going to have to do some careful planning in order to get everything in. I'll take photos tomorrow so you can have a general idea of how the space is shaping up.

A Mother's Day Card

Just look what DS made for me at nursery this morning! So lovely. When DH saw it, he said, "Oh, good. I won't need to go and buy a card on DS's behalf now!"

UKS Weekly Challenge

I've not done one in a while so I thought I'd have a go at this week's challenge over on UKS. You needed: 12 or 1 of something, random alphas, stamping and contrasting colours. This is what I came up with.

And More London LOs

Here's 3 more for the album ... still using scraps of patterned paper ... and now planning on adding LOs of our area of London at the back of the album.

Awfully Big Adventures

Oh, to be two years old! I think that DS has had a fab day today! This morning at nursery he made his first ever cake (see the photo of him eating it at teatime) and painted & glittered (is there such a word?) a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day. After his nap this afternoon, we took the dog to the park and DS had a wonderful time running here and there. I think the dog enjoyed himself as well! I'm reminded of that film, An Awfully Big Adventure ... can't remember a thing about the actual film or even certain that I've actually seen it but I do remember the title for some reason.

Mummy's Little Helper

It's another glorious day here so we are making the most of it. I had a line full of washing by 9am, first time this year. DS has been helping me to sweep up and clear all the leaves, as it is garden waste recycling day tomorrow. As you can see, he had great fun!

Fun In The Garden

DS must have spent a good 2 hours outside this afternoon. He even went back outside after his tea but we had to call it a day at 5.30pm because it was beginning to get dark and chilly. Roll on the clocks changing at the end of the month.

A Mae West Moment!

I finished clearing out DH's old office (soon to be my craft space!) this afternoon prior to Jim the decorator coming tomorrow. DH decided to have a daft 5 minutes with the old Mae West lifejacket which had been hanging on the wall for years. He wanted to know if it would still inflate so yanked on the D-ring and away it went ... much to DS's and the dog's delight!! Shame DH looks as though he's been on a sunbed for far too long!!! Orange is obviously so not his colour!

Sunday

It's been a beautiful day here in West London. We all managed a trip to the park this morning and DS must have walked/toddled/trotted a good half of it! But guess who left the camera on the kitchen table? DH wanted to do some work this afternoon during DS's nap time so I took the opportunity to scoot up to Kensington (30 minutes from here to Gloucester Road on the Piccadilly line, including the walk to the station) and photograph the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial. I was in luck because behind the Albert Hall on Prince Consort Road, I discovered 3 lovely Routemaster buses parked up (and all were the #9, my favourite route, Hammersmith to the Aldwych). I was back home before DS was awake and then we spent an enjoyable couple of hours playing in the garden. (More of those photos later when I've downloaded them from the camera.)

SLYMI: Week 11

This week's challenge was to use fabric (and was set by my very talented UKS friend, Julie (aka Nabview)). I actually cut up one on DS's rompers - how brave am I! It was always a great favourite of mine, Sib bought it for DS and I can't bring myself to throw the remnants away.

Grandad Paddy

Our lovely Chelsea Pensioner friend Paddy came for his supper this evening. I'm ashamed to say that we haven't seen him in months. DS adores his Grandad Paddy and spent the whole time at his side. We always ask Paddy to come over around 4pm so that he gets to spend time with DS; otherwise he would arrive and within half an hour DS would be going to bed. Paddy got me to speak to his sister on the phone and when she thanked me for befriending her brother, I told her that I was sure that we got just as much, if not more, out of the relationship than Paddy did.