Always belive in your soul

It been another one of those weeks - you know the sort - the minutes roll in to hours and the hours in to days and before you know it - the week has almost passed!
Its been a crazy week with lots going on as the end of term fast approaches.
The guys have kept me on my toes and to be honest I'll be glad when the holidays start and we can all wind down for summer - almost 7 weeks of chillin' out is just what we need :D

We have enjoyed the sunshine that the UK has been blessed with over the past week and have made the most of the warm evenings by firing up the barbie, whilst indulging in a few get together's (all washed down with a bottle or two of Pear Cider :D )

I have scrapped lots this week as CHA is just around the corner and I needed to get some work done and dusted - whilst I scrapped the guys spent every spare minute they had out on their bikes practicing for the Devon Youth Games which took place in our home town this past weekend.
On Saturday I taught a couple of layout classes at my local crop, as well as a quick and easy beading class. The ladies all loved the necklaces they made and good fun was had by all.
I trotted home to an early night as we needed to be up bright and early for the guys to head off to the event.
The weather stayed dry long enough for them to do their bit - and then the heavens opened!
I am pleased to report that our team were the overall winners and both my guys came home with a Gold Medal for their efforts and determination :D
Despite tough competition, J won the under 14's category and Bobs the under 16's :D

Diane Vickers and Ruth Lorenzo (last years X Factor top ten finalists) came along on the day and performed as well as handed out the trophies......

I was a HUGE fan of Diane Vickers when she was on the TV show, but thought she was far better on TV than she was live - Ruth Lorenzo was pretty good and performed an amazing rendition of Purple Rain - which was very apt as it was persisting down at the time!

Tired, sore and soggy we headed off home with two smiley men clutching their medals in the back of the car.....and no one was going to prise them outta their hands for love nor money!

I'll leave you with my layout for this weeks Pencil Lines Sketch which features papers from 3ndypapir which were designed by this weeks Guest Designer - Gudrun

Oops!!!! I forgot to upload last weeks sketch layout here too!

Papers and product are Signs of Spring and Mommy and Me from Prima with American Crafts Thickers for the title.

Thanks for popping by.

T.x.

Always believe in your soul, you've got the power to know, you're indestructible.
Always believe in, because you are Gold - Spandau Ballet.

Back from up North

On Sunday I had the pleasure of teaching 4 classes at Crafty Stash Exhall Summer Workshop in Coventry.

It was really lovely to meet up with so many of the ladies that I had met before, along with lots of new faces too ( and I finally got to meet up with one of my Banana Frog team mates, Michelle - aka The Art Tart aka MJM.)

Michelle, Sharon and I

Whilst I was busy teaching, Tracie and Claire, the organisers of the Exhall Crop were busy in the kitchen whizzing together some culinary delights - the food was amazing - thanks you two for keeping me fed and watered so well :D

Sue's store was jammed packed full of scrapping delights and I couldnt resist popping a few bits in to my basket!



The classes came to an end and I said my goodbyes before heading a little further North to go pay a visit to my Mom, Sis and her family.

Despite it being 9pm when I reached my destination, it was still soooooo warm - so we decided to sit in the garden - we ate supper, drank wine and girlie chatted whilst watching my wee nephew playing rough and tumble with his Daddy.

After we had eaten I was far too tired to drive the long journey back home, so I stopped over at Moms and enjoyed a little TLC from her :D She indulged me with breakfast in bed - something I haven't had for a long time!
The journey back home on Monday morning took a LOT longer than I ever imagined it would, due to the fact that party goers were all making their way home after their weekend spent at Glastonbury Festival.....it took me the best part of 6 hours to travel what normally takes me less than 3!

Its good to be back home with the guys - I missed not having them with me. Usually when I travel up North they tag along with me and go visit the family whilst I teach, but they had to give it a miss this time as they had training sessions for the Youth Games - which are this coming weekend!!!!!

I'm planning on putting my feet up for the next couple of days and doing not very much at all, apart from scrapping of course!!!

Have fun.
T.x.

Sent to Coventry!

I'm just about to head off up north to Coventry to go teach at Crafty Stash Exhall Summer Workshop.

I'll be teaching 4 classes - 2 Prima and 2 Sassafras :D
I'm really looking forward to meeting up with Sue, Claire and Tracie again, as well as meeting new faces too.

I had intended on leaving early this morning - however thanks to Bobs and a bloomin great big splinter, I ended up spending last night camped out in our local A&E dept!!!!
It was pretty scary to be honest as the hospital was overflowing with drunken revellers who had gotten themselves into more than a spot of bother.
Thankfully a rather kindly South African Doc decided that it really wasn't the place for my boy to be, so he whisked us away to a quieter spot - and then appeared to forget that we were there!
Eventually at 2am the procedure to remove the splinter began and by 4.15am we were on our way home - to bed!!!!!!!!!

I leave you with a couple of projects -


Banana Frog Stamps



Sassafras

and a sneak of my LO for this weeks Pencil Lines sketch.

Have fun and thanks for dropping by.

T.x.

You are not alone

Another legend takes his seat beside the greats that have gone before.
May he rest in peace.

T.x.

Party On!

WOW! What a weekend!
The sun shone and we partied long and hard all weekend :)

Our weekend began on Thursday as we celebrated my 40 + 1 birthday with friends and then my Sis and two nephews arrived on Friday afternoon - fortunately for us we were able to grab them last minute tickets to the festival, which meant they could join us as we danced the weekend away.

The live bands were excellent.
Newton Faulkner's live performance was amazing....he is soooo talented and really set the crowd's toes a tapping.....I really wished he had sung "People Should Smile More" - but he didn't *sigh* I would have loved to have heard it live as its my fav from his album.
With over 12,000 in attendance the atmosphere was electric with lots of smiley happy people all around.
Jason Mraz was awesome and sent the masses in to a frenzy with his performance of "I'm Yours".....but for me the highlight of the night was when he sang "A Beautiful Mess" - by the time he finished singing I had tears in my eyes - I dunno why but that song really gets to me.
Im kicking myself because I had charged up the camcorders battery and had planned on filming him as he sang - guess who forgot to pick the camcorder up when she left home - d'uoh!
I found this on you tube tho :D



Hubs had a chilled out Fathers Day as we sat and listened to the Sunday Chill Out session whilst enjoying the odd beverage or two :D

We hardly saw the guys all weekend...they were off having fun with their mates (plus its sooooo uncool to be seen with the oldies you know....well apart from when you need feeding and more money to spend!!! )

I'll leave you with my LO for this weeks Pencil Lines sketch..........


(I used a real mix of patterned papers and page accents from My Minds Eye, Crate Paper and Fancy Pants.)


and a Sweetie bracelet I made on Sunday afternoon.

Enjoy the sunshine and thanks for popping by.

T.x.x.

People should smile more......

I had a fantastic birthday yesterday - a day spent with friends having fun - *smiling*.

One of my pressies from Hubs was tickets to go here for the weekend - *smiling*.

It's literally on our doorstep - a whole weekend of sun, sea and surf with plenty cool tunes filling the air - and I'll be sharing the it with family and friends as my Sis called late last night to say she is heading down for the weekend - *smiling*.

I'm so excited that Jason Mraz is this years headline act - I love his tunes, with his album being my personal number one fav atm - *smiling*.

As well as Mr Mraz, Newton Faulkner will be making a special guest appearance and offering up a 30 min acoustic jamming session on Saturday evening - for me there is no better way to spend the evening of Summer Solstice- sitting watching the sun go down over the waves, whilst listening to two of my fav singers perform - all washed down with an ice cold glass of Bulmers - perfect - *smiling*.

Hope your weekend is full of fun - thanks for popping by.

T.x.x.x.

"People should smile more" - Newton Faulkner.

RAK Winner

Evening all.
What a glorious day its been here today - far too nice to be stuck inside, so Ive been out and about doing stuff - a little beady shopping to stock up on some essentials for a project I'm working on, a new top from Next, a trip to the hospital for blood tests - YACK - and then home to walk the dogs, potter in the garden and enjoy a little scrapping time.

The diet has started today too - Ive invested in a pedometer and have walked 11,137 steps so far today (and I have full intentions to keep moving to walk off the excess blubber Ive been hiding under my winter woollies....I even walked back and forth in the house, whilst I was on the phone chatting to one of my buddies today - she thought I was a nutter but during our chat I walked off over 1,000 steps!!)

My weekend away in Cornwall, teaching at Scrap Angels was wonderful.
I had such a fun time, but unfortunately due to me being a complete airhead, I forgot to pick up my camera at the end of the day!!!*GASP*!!!!!..... it should be "home" with me tomorrow so I can share some photos then!

Whilst I was at Rebecca's store I picked up some of the new papers from Fancy Pants and used them to whizz up my layout for this weeks Pencil Lines sketch

I really love the quote - "Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true" - the photograph is of Bobs and was taken in August 2005 when he was just 11 years old and had so many dreams and aspirations - dreams that I know he will make come true for himself in his own unique way.


Thanks to everyone who left comments in my last post - I have loads of new blogs to go visit now :D
The winner of the Sassafras Anthem class kit and one of my beady little creations is:-

True Random Number Generator Result: 24

Tina Thomas said...
Love those felties Tracie, well done on reaching 500 posts!

Email me your address Tina and I'll get the bag of goodies posted out to you real quick.

I'm off to tread a few more steps....up the stairs to bed!
Have fun and thanks for popping by.
T.x.x.x.