WOYWW 30th November

Not a lot of paper crafting that is for sure!

My JYC/December Daily album hasn't even been started so as it's 1st December tomorrow I will be winging it again and making the pages as I go along. But whilst rummaging around for Christmas stash I did find a Kaisercraft wooden advent tree to decorate - if I start it now it might be finished for next Christmas!

So back to what I have been doing. I have dusted off my knitting needles and have made myself a scarf using some funky ribbon web yarn which I bought in the most gorgeous wool shop in Aberlour the other weekend. I popped back into the same shop this afternoon to buy some more wool to make another one as a Christmas pressie and I took my completed scarf along. Mine is a lot tighter knit than the ones in the shop and the shop keeper had a look at it for me. She says I have made my stitches closer together than her - so the dilemma is do I unravel it all and start again or leave it be? Would only take a couple of evenings to remake it so I might just give it a go.




































Please pop over to see Julie at The Stamping Ground to see what everyone else has been up to.

I ♥ my Kindle

And I love it even more now it has a gorgeous new cover.

This was my first ever purchase from Etsy - you can get all manner of loveliness from that site and I took a long time deliberating over my choice.

I bought it from Crabtree Lane - you should pop over for a look.

Made to snugly fit the Amazon Kindle 3 / 3G this cover is hand-made with black and cream Japanese linen, printed with a 35mm style camera motif. The cover has a cream cotton inner.
The cover has a matching envelope style flap with black and cream dots, black elastic loop and matching button.
This would make a great gift for people who like to have something a little different and more original from all those black carry cases on the market!

It was exactly what I was after - so much more funky than the standard mass produced fake leather ones I had seen everywhere.

Even better was that the new Agatha Raisin novel was the Kindle deal of the day yesterday - a steal for £1.14!!

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I am reading Lessons In Laughing Out Loud by Rowan Coleman. I have only read one of her books before which was The Happy Home For Broken Hearts which I thoroughly enjoyed. It has taken me longer to get into this book - I think it is because I can't seem to warm to any of the main characters that much - but it is picking up sped now I am just over half way through it.



Willow and Holly are identical twins. They are everything to each other. Holly calls Willow her rock, her soul mate, her other half. And Willow feels the same about Holly. They are alike in every respect except one - Willow is afraid on the inside. And all because of a secret - one that binds the sisters closely together and yet has meant their adult lives have taken two very different paths.

Willow often feels there are large parts of her missing, qualities she only knows she's lacking because she sees them in her sister. For a very long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time - a moment that meant Willow's life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it's finally time for her to face her fears, and - with Holly's help - learn to laugh out loud once more...

Pop over to The Book Journey to see what everyone else is reading today.

52 Weeks In B&W : Week 48

A headstone in a churchyard in Aberlour.

Skywatch Friday

A wintry Findhorn Beach taken on my birthday.



See more skies from around the world here.

WOYWW 23rd November

There appears to be a lot of "stuff" on my desk today - but I have to be honest and say that there isn't a lot of action to go with it!!!

I am working on one of Shimelle's sketches of the week in an attempt to scrap some more holiday photos - this is one of Sam on the beach at Destin in Florida. Funny I was looking at these photos last night and I have just found out that my brother in law and his family are on their way back down to Destin as I type for Thanksgiving - they are staying in the very same hotel we stayed in - not jealous at all!!!



An almost completed page from Pretty Paper Party - it is missing something but I'm not sure what.



I am still procrastinating about Journal Your Christmas/December Daily. I bought this kraft A5 ring binder, some kraft pages and some divided page protectors in Paperchase last month - and then spookily I read that Laura is using the very same thing for her album (I'm not copying honest!) I'm not buying any new Christmas papers though as I probably have more than enough if I look for them. I tend to buy Christmas papers as they are so lovely but never use them - might use this "vintage" October Afternoon Be Merry ones. What do you think???



Pop over to The Stamping Ground to see what everyone else is up to today.

Pretty Paper Party : Prompt 2

For prompt 2 we had to be brave and use a whole sheet of patterned paper to become the background for our page.

I picked out the only remaining whole sheet from the Basic Grey Origins range - I only had scraps left of the rest of the papers. I used one of the sketches Shimelle provided and turned it into another page for my holiday album.

I quite like how it turned out so I might be brave and have another go!!

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

A bit of a slow reading week last week for some reason.

I am currently reading After The Party by Lisa Jewell which is the follow up to her earlier book Ralph's Party which I read recently.



Eleven years ago, Jem Catterick and Ralph McLeary fell in love. They thought it would be for ever, that they'd found their happy ending.

Then two became four, a flat became a house. Romantic nights out became sleepless nights in. And they soon found that life wasn't quite so simple any more.

Now the unimaginable has happened. Two people who were so right together are starting to drift apart - Ralph is standing on the sidelines, and Jem is losing herself. Something has to change. As they try to find a way back to each other, back to what they once had, they both become dangerously distracted - but maybe it's not too late to recapture happily ever after ...

I have to admit not particularly liking the main characters of Ralph, Jem and Smith in the first book so wasn't expecting great things from the follow up. But I have been pleasantly surprised- maybe because the writing seems a bit more down to earth and the storyline a bit more believable.

I am sure I have another book in my pile from this author - quite looking forward to starting it now.

Pop over to The Book Journey and see what everyone else is reading today.h

Just the 2 of us.

On Saturday Andy and I found ourselves on our own - Sam was off to Glasgow for a kickboxing competition and Callum was taking part in the Moray Primary Schools Badminton challenge at Speyside High School. We had a few hours to kill so here is what we did:

We had a wander around the village of Aberlour. I am ashamed to say it is a place we normally drive straight though on our way down south.

We walked up to Linn Falls:










































We then walked back down and along the river - and whilst we were walking we heard a splash. So we stopped and looked and was amazed to see a large trout navigating it's way up the River Linn. As we watched we saw a total of 4 salmon all trying to find their way through the stones in the shallow water. They must have swum up the Rover Spey and into the Linn in order to reach their spawning grounds. I was so pleased to have seen them as I have never seen Salmon in the wild before - one day I hope to see them leaping. You will have to look closely at the photos in order to spot the fish - but they are there - honest!!




Then we popped into a local cafe called Fresh for a coffee and the most delicious (and huge) fruit scone I have had - but neither lasted long!!























Finally I popped into a magical wool shop - I have never seen so many different sorts of funky wool - you can forget your balls of DK wool in single colours - this shop had a rainbow of the most beautiful balls of multicoloured wool. Now I'm not much of a knitter but the lady in the shop was so helpful and enthusiastic that I have come away with some wool to make a gorgeous lacy scarf - but whether or not I actually finish it is another matter.




































On the way back to the car I spotted this stunning "shed" in a back garden - wouldn't it make a perfect craft room??

52 Weeks In B&W : Week 47

Dandelion head.

Skywatch Friday

Season 5, Episode 19.

Early morning - the view from my house earlier in the week - the sky was so beautiful.






















See more skies from around the world here.

Team Crop Night/Pretty Paper Party

My team, the Scatty Scrappers, hold a team crop night once a month. This time the challenge was set by Dawn.

She used this page from the Elle's Studio blog for inspiration and lucky for me it included the following sketch:



Dawn also added that we had to use a photo of ourselves(eeek) and it had to be either one large photo or a couple of smaller ones. We also had to include some journalling about ourselves on the page - I haven't yet done that part but the one side of my photo isn't stuck down so I can add some hidden journalling. A big thank you to Christel for the lend of her fabby butterfly punch.






I also based this page on prompt 3 from Shimelles Pretty Paper Party which challenged us to make pages with plenty of patterned papers. Her idea was as follows:

Start with 11 full sheets of patterned paper which could include 5 x small one colour prints, 3 x small multi colour prints, 2 x large multi colour prints suitable for cutting and 1 x multi coloured stripe to pull it all together.

From this selection Shimelle managed to produce 6 pages and a card - wonder how many I will manage? I have used a Scrapagogo kit from last August called Tokyo Garden and have added some papers to it - this is my first page from that selection.

WOYWW 16th November

It was my local crop on Sunday - and a good time was had by all.

As per usual I took too much stuff with me but managed to make a start on 3 more pages for Shimelles Pretty Paper Party class - Sharon who was sitting with me had the same idea and she kept prompting me when I was stuck for ideas!!

Now I never actually manage to complete a page while I am at the crop - I always have to finish them off at home - usually because it either needs a title or some journalling.

I have managed to finish 2 out of the 3 pages I started and here is the last one. It is for the 2nd of Shimelles prompts (yes - I am that far behind!) so I am using spots and stripes, I have had to remove the letter stickers once - as I have real problems in sticking anything down so that it looks level!





Pop over and see Julia at The Stamping Ground to see what everyone else is up to today.

It's Monday. What Are You Reading?

I have 2 books on the go at the moment - one a proper book and one a Kindle version. I don't usually read 2 books at the same time as I am easily confused!!

First up is Blood, Sweat and Tears by the adventurer and TV personality Bear Grylls:



Bear Grylls' prime-time TV adventure series is one of the most watched shows on the planet, reaching an estimated 1.2 billion viewers in over 180 countries.

Bear has authored eleven books and, as a former member of the UK Special Forces, was made an honorary Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy. He continues to lead record-breaking expeditions to the world's extremes, and these missions have raised over £1.5 million for children's charities.

Bear recently took over as the youngest ever Chief Scout to the Scouting Association, acting as the figurehead to 28 million Scouts around the globe.

He lives with his wife, Shara, and their three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry, on a Dutch barge in London and on a small remote island off the coast of Wales.

The boys enjoy watching his programmes - and I have to say there is something quite endearing about him - despite the claims that he doesn't always really rough it out doors - preferring to be taken to hotels overnight!! But quite interesting so far - he knew James Blunt whilst he was a student and went to Eton.

I am also reasing Off Leash by Jenna Anderson - an e book which I won over on the Chick Lit Challenge.













Candice Gunderson and her purebred pooch, Phoebe, are driving through the Indiana countryside on their way to an appointment with a dog breeder. If all goes as planned, the “meeting” with Charles the Conqueror will result in a lovely litter of puppies.

Unfortunately, Candice is hopelessly lost, the GPS in her car has gone haywire, and she needs to find a bathroom in the worst way. The pair pulls up alongside a little house in hopes of finding some helpful inhabitants.

What she finds is Bull Ramsey, a cute farmer, and his mutt, Jack, who is more than happy to have a “meeting” of his own with Phoebe.

Candice is determined to maintain control of the situation and prove she is an independent woman. A few unexpected events and mischievous farm animals won’t interfere with her plans. She can handle this, right?

~ * ~

Dear Reader: Are you on your way to sit through another soccer practice? Looking forward to a soak in the tub? Did you just finish an intense read and your mind is a bit frazzled? Well, I’d like to suggest this sweet romance novella for your reading pleasure. Off Leash is a light, quick read full of silliness, dogs, budding romance, and maybe even a goat or two. The story is 27,000 words or approximately 80 print pages. You have just enough time for that.

Enjoy.

~ Jenna

This is only ashort book but perfect for reading when you have the odd five minues.

Pop over to The Book Journey to see what everyone else is reading today.

52 Weeks In B&W : Week 46

A dried seed head of a thistle like plant we found on our nature walk.

11.11.11

n Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Today I have learnt something - that the Scottish poppy is different to those sold in England and Wales. In Scotland, about five million poppies are distributed each year by Poppyscotland, but they look slightly different. Unlike the standard two petals and a single green leaf, the Scottish ones have four petals and no leaf and "is botanically correct" There's also a financial reason for the difference - adding a leaf would cost an extra £15,000 ($24,000) a year.

This is the more usual poppy sold in this country:



And this is the Scottish version:













I will be wearing mine with pride today. I like the idea of these wristbands which have also been on sale but haven't been able to find one:

Skywatch Friday

Another photo from my birthday stroll across Findhorn Beach at the weekend - only 3pm and the sun was starting to go down.

See more skies from around the world here.

10 Things : November

Have got our Internet back up and running - and I can heave a sigh of relief as this mean the boys can plug back into their X Boxes to play Call Of Duty and Battlefield 3 with their mates.

And for me it means I can play along with Shimelle and her 10 Things.

It was my birthday at the weekend and I spent a lovely day with all my boys. I had some great pressies including a Kindle which had been on my wish list for ages. The after the most delicious Sunday lunch at The Mossett Tavern we went for a walk along Findhorn Beach - and here are 10 photos from that walk: