{ Week 12 - March 18th to March 24th }

This is Week 12 of my Project Life via Snap!

Here is the two page spread for the week:

Left hand page: 

Right hand page:

Week 12 Date Card:

I find this picture funny!  We actually did have a mouse or two in the pantry last year, that's what happens when you live in the countryside I've found.  A whole new concept for a city girl like me.  However this time it wasn't a mouse but Simon.  In my shopping adventures, as it becomes an adventure sometimes in trying to find things around here, I happened to come across honeycomb.  Now I wasn't looking for it specifically but sometimes when I trip over things in the shop that are American products or American like, I will pick them just because. So I bought a bag of the chocolate honeycomb which I had put away in the pantry.  I went in there to get something else on this occasion for dinner and found the remnants of what was left of the honeycomb. Quite comical. I think in his excitement to get them out of their bag he left some remnants on the pantry shelf.  

Journal card for this week.  I had (2) 3x4 slots for my journaling this week and a bit to fill it up with.

 

The weather here is ever changing.  It was cold enough this week for a fire.  Whenever we have a fire Rupert's favourite place is always directly in front of it, on his pillow from his dog bed along with his favourite red ball.  Pure contentment.

In my wanderings a few weeks back in Marlow, not specifically looking for anything, just doing a little bit of window shopping I had seen a polka dot scarf but couldn't remember which store it was in.  However this week I managed to track it down and found it in White Stuff, so I didn't waste any time in purchasing it.  I have a thing for polka dots, probably go a bit mad with it actually but this scarf will make a nice addition to my wardrobe.

Every night when we go to bed I will typically read whatever book I have on the go at the moment and Simon will play his Gameboy.  He says its his equivalent of reading.  Whereas playing a video game for most people would probably be overly stimulating before bedtime Simon said that it actually relaxes him and helps him fall asleep. Typically he falls asleep with the game in his hand and I have to gently take it out of his hands, turn it off and put it on the nightstand. However he never believes this the next morning, though how he thinks it magically gets on the nightstand I'll never know.  So this time I took a picture as his hands continue to stay like he is holding the game. Hilarious!

And that's all for this week!

{ Week 11 - March 11th to March 17th }

Hello!

I'm posting Week 11.  I try to keep varying the details in the layouts so they all don't look too similar.  This week I went with pulling out some of the colours in the main picture and carrying it over to some of the other cards, like the date card and the journaling card.  As well I try to find slightly different ways to display the "title" on the weekly journal card.

Here's the two page spread for this week:

 

Left hand page: 

 Right hand page:

 

For the Date Card I wanted to use the colours that were prominent in the Virgin train picture on the opposite page.  (This was the first time I had travelled on the Virgin fast train).  I have to say its quite a lovely way to travel and upgrading to First Class, which is a lush cabin, is only an extra £15 - is such a bargain! I used some old 7gypsies paper called Piccadilly, I believe.  I created the "Week Eleven" Circle in Word and then taped it to the card with Washi tape.  I like the way it turned out.

This week the journaling card was very basic but I applied some Word Art Style to the title to reflect the red and black from the train.  Things have really been getting to me and backing up on me now that I am getting closer to my end date at work.  During the past few weeks my relationship with Leanne (our travel agent, or one of) has really come along in spades.  I find myself on the phone to her more and more, simply because she makes me laugh so much and gets my mind off of everything.  We had always talked about getting together at some point (she lives in Manchester - quite a few hours away) and as I would be going soon I couldn't think of a better time than now. When I mentioned my situation to her she suggested we should plan a weekend in "Manc" together and said she would arrange it all. 

We had hoped to get good weather this weekend but unfortunately, as she said, the weather up there is typically worse than it is down here, south of London.  It made for quite an eventful night with Leanne driving around in the rain like a madwoman, doing handbrake turns (unintentionally) when we missed our turn off to the club.  She is a regular riot! I added a tag to this photo with some graph paper from the Simple Stories Snap Life 6x6 Basics Paper Pad and then stapled it to the picture, a screenshot from my phone.

 

There was a spa at the hotel she booked us into. This was specifically why she chose this hotel because she thought I could do with a bit of relaxation and a massage.  She booked us both in for an aromatherapy relaxation massage.  It was an hour in heaven! Afterwards we "retired" to our rooms for a rest before a night out! (All the lettering is from the Simple Stories "Typeset" collection.

 

I took a picture of the Virgin train as I was well impressed with their service.  What a way to travel!  Got from London Paddington to Manchester Piccadilly in two hours.  On the photo I also inserted a text box so I could add "London to Manchester" on the actual train just above where it says Virgin.

Before going out for the evening to the club Leanne and I had a nice dinner together in the posh restaurant at the hotel along with a few cocktails.  Afterwards we drove up the road a bit to a local club to watch a colleague of hers (Jon - another agent I sometimes dealt with) play in his rock and roll band.  It was a great show, Jon is very talented and it was nice to have a few songs dedicated to me - Sweet Home Alabama and a bit of Johnny Cash! (Screenshot from my FB status)

 

And of course I had to include a pic of my new B.F.F. - Leanne!!  She truly is superstar!!  She planned a great weekend and I haven't laughed soo much in I can't remember when.  Exactly what I needed.  It was a dead (as they say in Manc) good weekend.  As per Leanne I'm an honorary Manc now! (The super star is from the Simple Stories "Typeset" collection and the BFF tag is paper from the Simple Stories 6x6 Basic Papers Pad)

 

Had a bit of an extreme delay with the trains going home but otherwise the trip was exactly what I needed.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

{ Week 10 - March 4th to March 10th }

Week 10 of Snap Life!  March 4th to March 10th.

Here's the two page spread for the week:

Left hand page:

Right hand page:

Main Date Card: I realise this doesn't have the weeks dates on it, I did add them with the Simple Stories "Typeset" stickers but it seemed to make it look off balance so I took them off. All the stickers are Simple Stories except for the number 10.  This is something I have had in my stash for a long time so not sure the brand.

My journal card for the week. Again, tried to change the title of this weeks journal card.  Added some of the text in brown as it seemed to be a common colour in some of the pictures.

A new toy for Boopsy!  He is more spoiled than a child sometimes and probably hardly ever called by his proper name sometimes.  We named him Rupert when he was a pup but then so many variations on this name have developed over time.  One day Simon was really frustrated with him as he was barking excessively and he tried to say "stop it Rupert" but was so frustrated and his words just simply came out as "Roppert!".  From that we have come up with Boopsy (a woman I used to live next door to actually named her poodle Poopsy, so Boopsy is a variation of that) and as well he has somehow also become Boopert, a cross between Boopsy and Rupert.  And then when he's really in trouble he becomes Rupert Xavier Sarsaparilla (most will probably not remember the reference here but there was a song from School House Rock with a character named Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla for Grammar Rock Pronouns).

 

I created this insert in Word to represent the Values seminar I took this week.  It really hit home for me with all that is going on at the moment.  I found her process very interesting.  The trainer asked us to look at our values as a way of figuring out who we are and what we like.  Not just simply picking something like honesty or faith, not that these aren't good values but more so looking at things we like to do, breaking it down, for example, enjoying scrapbooking and photography to realise that creativity is something that is a core value for you.  I'm probably not doing it justice here.  She also gave the example of if you had to leave your house to say travel on the road for a year, what would the five things be that you could take with it as this will give you better insight as to who you are. A very good course I think.

 

I love the clothing brand Jigsaw but have to say that it is not really something that is within my budget range.  However they were having an annual sale and as I am a big fan of hats, with bowlers being popular lately and having always wanted one I decided to bowl the rust coloured one they had on sale.  Was so excited when it arrived, like a kid on Christmas day.  I absolutely love it.  

By referral from my acupuncturist Gill I had been put in touch with a girl named Sarah who runs her own VA company.  As I was hoping to see if I could make a go of this whole "being a VA" I was pleased that she was offering some work.  She was going to be unavailable for a day or two and had a client that needed some work done.

We were out and about with Julie on Sunday to get her out of the house.  We all wanted a bite to eat but didn't want to break the bank so popped into the café at Squire's Garden Centre and then had a wander round the garden centre.

That's it for this week.  Nothing too exciting!

Thanks for looking.

 

 

{ Week 9 - Feb. 25th to March 3rd }

This is Week 9 of my Project Life.

I injured myself this week like a careless idiot. Below is the two page spread.

 

 Here's the left page

Here's the right page

 

Main Date Card - I didn't realise until I was posting this that I didn't actually put this week's dates on the card. (Maybe I will have to go back and fix that)

Like I said this week I hurt myself like an idiot and this was the result.  As I was getting out of the shower I knocked a glass bottle onto the bathroom floor (as bathroom was still in disarray from the plumber's visit, not all had been righted yet).  So as I was literally stepping out of the shower I stopped mid-step, knowing how accident prone I can be and didn't move an inch for fear I would step onto a piece of glass.  Just stood there one foot in the bath, the other foot out of the bath waiting for the pieces to fall where they may.  Well, as luck would have it, since I did stand completely still to avoid injury, naturally a large chunk of glass hit the floor, ricocheted up and skimmed across the top of my big toe, cutting it open. Sod's law. The pic below is the result.   As it cut me right where the toe meets the foot and bends I could not get a shoe on (any of them, I tried!) nor walk unhindered.  Therefore I spent the next couple days working from home, that is after I visited the chemist.

 

I always love getting my nose in a good book or two, sometimes I can have more than one on the go.  I recently borrowed a book from my friend Chris, which came highly recommended.  I had heard about this book and was curious to read it.  She said it was a very heart felt and compelling story, which it was, so far!

 

Insert card created in Word. 

 

 

My Journal Card for the week.   

 

Insert card created for our Saturday night dinner with John and Sarah.  As we chose Bella Italia I wanted the card to reflect the colours of the restaurant and the font used on the menu.  I think this came out nicely in comparison. (Trying to make my layouts a bit more colourful and interesting.)

 

I have to say, even after living in the UK now for nearly 8 years there are still times that I miss being able to go out to a restaurant, open a menu, see something stereotypically American and order it.  So in those instances, depending on where we are, I can get creative and cobble something together that is a little familiar.  The waffle was actually on the dessert menu and served with ice cream, so asked for that to be left off.  Also asked if they could please heat the waffle and then bring it with a side order of sausage (nothing like Brown & Serve or Farmer Johns) and then added the country fries from another entrée, giving me the final result below.  Wasn't exactly an American breakfast but near on.  Just happy they allowed me to substitute, as some places here really don't like to do it.  Made me happy!

The yellow label sticker is from the Simple Stories "Labels" collection and the "happy" sticker is from the Simple Stories "Typeset" Snap Stickers.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

{ Week 8 - Feb. 18th to Feb. 24th }

Hello!

 

This week I am sharing Week 8 of Snap Life 2013.  Here's the two page spread for the week.

 

Here's the left page:

Here's the right page: I've seen other scrappers online split a photo over two inserts so I wanted to try that here with the clock photo at All Bar One in Windsor.

 

Main Date Card: Created this in Word.  I have seen other date cards with the Week # down the side so tried that this week with Week 8.  I like how it turned out.  Used stickers from my Echo Park kit to list the dates for this week.  

 

The new Love of my Life!!  My New Monk Bench!  If you remember back to Week 3 (mid January) I had ordered a Monk Bench well before Christmas and was still waiting to receive it then.  As I cancelled that order I had searched around and eventually found a lovely place down in Kent that assured me, with no doubt, ifs ands or buts that they could deliver the Monk Bench within 3 weeks.  I spoke with a very nice gentleman, who I do believe was the owner of the company,  so I placed the order right then and there! (I've included the link in case you are ever in the market to purchase a Monk Bench-http://www.beach.uk.com/). It's beautiful and I love it.  No more "hole" in the front hall way and also a convenient place to sit while putting on or taking off our wellies!

 

This 3 x 4 insert that I created in Word for "the week I had been dreading".  Back before the New Year I had really (okay, maybe an exaggeration to say really), I had somewhat been looking forward to turning 45 and was going to make it a memorable monumental birthday.  We had originally talked about going to Venice, or the suggestion I liked, going on the Orient Express, so that's what I had been looking into last year.  But this was obviously no longer an option with my current work situation.  Although it was a milestone birthday I just couldn't rationalise spending that kind of money when I wasn't working. So hence the title for this insert I created.  

Birthday "date" card  (February 21st) and the dreaded age.  Again, another simple insert created in Word with text boxes and printed on Bazzill white cardstock.

 

 

 My birthday card from Simon as it looks in the album. I like the idea now of including things like cards and other items in the album this way.  It gives it another dimension, having something tactile in it, rather than in the plastic sleeves.

 

I included a couple of my favourite cards in the album.  I would love a tea cup pig but don't think that's a birthday wish that will ever be granted.  

           

 

All Bar One - a local bar located in Windsor.  Julie was scheduled to get her results today, midday, so both Simon and I went with her to The Parapet to provide moral support. 

 

Afterwards we decided to go to Windsor to celebrate my birthday and have some afternoon cocktails at All Bar One. 

 

I ordered the Porn Star Martini - nice name!   Basically anything fruity and pink has my name written all over it.

Thursday "journal" card (created in Word)


That's all for this week.