Pretending to be French

Hello on this freezing day, well it is where I live anyway brrrr


Over at Scrapfriends the new Sketch Challenge is up http://blog.scrapfriends.com.au/ I love the sketch so yesterday was a great day to stay warm in my office and scrap. 
As I said my DD surprised me and came home for a couple of day last week. She spotted this French hat that used to be my Mum's in my room and a Fox Fur I had in my cupboard that was an old aunts. She couldn't believe that she had never spotted the Fox Fur before, so she promptly took them both back with her ! Fine with me I am never likely to wear them. I just told her she must look after them , as they are heirlooms. In the pics we are mucking around, me with the hat on pretending to be French. As Chelsea's flatmate was moving out, she was going home to a fairly bare unit. I said never mind who needs cutlery and pots and pans when you have a French hat and a Fox fur Cape :)

Another snippet from the book by Eloise James ~ Paris in Love


This morning I dropped Anna off at school, then walked across the Seine on a lavishly gilded bridge. The wind was fiercely chilly, but the sky bright blue, and the way the sun shone on the river and danced over all the gold leaf opened a door straight from winter to a slice of spring.

Photo a day  1st of July ~ Self Portrait
I am not fond of the self portrait, I can never seem to get a good one, certainly can't pull the duck face hehe. Then I have to think , gees I must look this bad all the time. Note to self must get more sleep, so I don't look so tired around the eyes all the time. 
Should have got teeth fixed when I was young
Not much I can do about the nose, inheriteded that from Dad ~ Thanks Dad . 

the new challenge is up over at Scrapthatsong http://scrapthatsong.blogspot.com.au  the theme this month is Rock Songs, so think of your favourite Rock Song and join in with us. I know what I am going to do, a group that has a lot of energy and some mad guitar playing, so I had better get onto that .

Wishing you a week filled with smiles


Mary x

Memories of Childhood

Hello on this cold day. I can't seem to get warm today, but at least it's good scrapping weather.
Miss Annette set a challenge at Orange Paperie https://www.facebook.com/groups/273187092776575/ and I snuck this one in by the skin of my teeth. The challenge was to use pink, green and a touch of black.I think it was the colour combo that was putting me off, but surprising once I started it all came together rather quickly. I was thinking brights, but I like the softer or earthier colours. So I just had to change my mindset to soft.
I have used MME "Lost and Found" PP, Thanks to Jo http://mycherrypiecreations.blogspot.com.au/ 
  for the butterfly, ribbon and brad :) The frame around the photo & Crochet flower are from Elise . I have slid a journal tag in the side, that basically says, that I spent many a day here at the Borenore Tennis courts, just down from our home. On Sundays all the families would play tennis and enjoy the scrumptious afternoon teas.One favourite was a sponge cake that my Aunty brought . We would all lavish praise on her for the beautiful cake , only to find out years later she brought the sponge, filled it with cream and iced it with passionfruit icing, sneaky hehe. The photo I remember was taken on a day we were having a working bee.

The photo is old and not very good quality and it is a very cold overcast day here, so the colour is a little brighter in real life.

Over the next couple of days I will be posting our first challenge on our blog http://www.orangepaperieandco.blogspot.com.au/It is brand new, so would love you to join us for some challenges.
Another snippet from the book Paris in Love ~
High up somewhere in the milky sky, the snow clings together before it pinwheels gently down in little clumps.Thousands of cotton balls trying to seed themselves on rue de Conservervatoire.


phota a day catch up
Where I slept

From a high angle

on my mind
My Mum's failing health

Something cute ~ My little old dog Scruffy

Where I shop ~ this is where I get my coffee fix

Bathroom ~ where I relax 

On the shelf ~books

A Friend ~ My DD surprised me and came home for a couple of days for my birthday :)

and this is what my Workmates gave me for a birthday cake, knowing my love of lemon tarts 

I had a lovely lunch with my family . My two Beautiful grandchildren and Second eldest ( who had a big night the night before and was struggling)


If you are still with me...... You have done well !


Keep warm and enjoy the rest of the weekend
Hugs
Mary 

Stuck Sketchs

Hello lovelies,


Finally I have got around to some more scrapping and thought I would do the sketch over at Stuck Sketchs


http://www.stucksketches.blogspot.com.au/


This is my DD at a recent wedding, I wanted to scrap it as she looks so happy.

The butterflies are from a serviette that I have Modge Podged on, and I have used rubbons around the pic and used stamps here and there and the French Text tissue paper was a scrap that had fallen on the floor and I thought hmmmm that might look ok Modge Podged on as well..... I like it! I have used canvas strips coloured with Pan Pastels and the Satin Seam binding and lace trim are from Craftqueen http://www.craftqueen.com.au/. The Chipboard is from Twiddleybitz http://twiddleybitz.ning.com/ and I have treated it with Crackle Paint, Smooch and Glimmer Glam . 

I got a lovely surprise this afternoon when DD arrived home for a couple of days :)


I have a few photo's a day to catch up on


Something you don't know about me ~ when I was young I wrote poetry and have a book of poems I wrote

Imperfect ~ A photo of my son and daughter . Christopher had just flown home from London and then a 4 hour car trip , so he looks totally wrecked, but I love the happiness the photo captures of seeing each other for the first time in two years

Fave photo I have ever taken ~ Well I love most of my overseas pics, but I think this one is pretty nice ~ The Cliffs of Moher Ireland

Ok I have probably bored you enough, so will catch up with some more next post

And to leave with a paragraph from the book "Paris in Love" ~ The sky is a cloudless bright blue, and yet somehow little snowflakes are drifting down outside my window. They float sideways, looking fluffy and indecisive, as if they belong in another part of the world and are falling here by accident.


Cheers
Mary x

My Dad

Hello lovely people
This layout is for Another Freaky Scrappy Challenge
 http://another-freaking-scrappy-challenge.blogspot.com.au/
 There is a sketch, the challenge is to scrap a memory of your Father or Grandfather. I was inspired to join in on the challenge after visiting Sandi's blog and seeing her gorgeous layout http://scrappingasigo.blogspot.com.au/  .I have scrapped a photo of my Dad taken on Christmas Day 2006, Sadly this was to be Dad's last Christmas with us. Dad was our rock, I miss him a lot 

A bit of texture , using the craftersworkshop Template, I misted it and then went around with white gel pen. The fence is a Twiddeybitz  http://twiddleybitz.ning.com/ long fence that I broke off and used two different colours of crackle paint. All the trims and Satin Seam binding are from Craftqueen. http://www.craftqueen.com.au/ I don't know why the top lines have highlighted, but oh well, it can stay.
The other challenge over at Another Freaky Scrappy Challenge is to do a layout of a wedding, so here is my  wedding , over 30 years ago! Explains the big blue Velvet bow tie :)

Photo a day ~ What's in my Bag ~ to much !

Struggling with the one for today, have to think about it and see what I can come up with :)
I am currently reading Paris in Love by Eloisa James and I will leave you with this delightful passage from the book ~ Between six-thirty and seven o'clock in the evening, every other person on the street swings a long baguette partially wrapped in white paper. Suddenly,the world is full of crusty bread.

Wishing you all a happy week

Mary x

Happy, Shiny People

Morning!


I just wanted to share a layout I have done for the challenge at scrapfriends http://blog.scrapfriends.com.au/ it is a colour challenge 

I am not scrapping brights so much these days, but these beautiful people certainly are bright and happy. 
I have added journalling on a tag and slipped in the top.I have put two photo's together, so as to get the captain (on the end in the glasses )in the layout as well

The story basically is that we went searching for the remains of our friends Grandfathers flour mill on the Island of Patmos. We found it on our friends cousins property, having pulled up and winding down the car window and saying the words " We are from Orange and mentioning their cousins names , with much smiling, laughing and beckoning us to come inside their home.Luckily Arani ( the lady in the yellow Tshirt) was visiting her family from Darwin and spoke English, so she translated for us all. When inside Freda whipped up food and they sat down with us and we had the best time laughing and talking with Arani translating. They had never met us before and they treated us like family. We also got invited back on the Sunday for Lunch, where Freda cooked up a feast. Her husband the Captain has had a stroke, so Freda looks after him and runs the house (she seemed a very capable woman) The captain, used to be a captain of a boat (hence his nickname) Michael their brother is a Shepherd. After much laughing and talking (loud , demonstrative talking) Arania came with us as our tour guide, showing us around all her special places on the island. She loved every minute of it , sitting in the front of our tiny, teeny rental car and waved to everyone she saw, with a big smile on her face, saying that is my cousin :) I hope to go back and see these beautiful people again one day. I put the little "Postcards from Paradise" embellie on because when I asked Freda if she would ever like to come to Australia she said "Why would I leave My Paradise"


Wishing you all a little bit of paradise today and everyday


Oh nearly forgot ~ updates on Photo a Day June
Door

From a low angle

Art ~ sorry about the shadows off the glass. I am lucky to have a brother who is a artist

Time ~ time spent waiting for appointments

Yellow ~ Sunshine and Happiness ~ the first painting my Grandson gave me when he started pre-school, he is now 10!

If you have managed to got through this long blog , you have done well!


Mary x

Hello Frosty Morning

Hello 

I don't know if you have been having frosts in your part of the world, but here where I live we have some rippers. One night we got a call from our middle son to say that he needed a cover for the paper ( he is a photographer ) and could we meet him at 6.30 am at the Park ( The things you do for your kids!) 

So on a VERY frosty morn, I fell out of bed , rugged up and did my motherly duty. I must say I love the colours in the photo though. I didn't want to do to much on the layout to take away from the photo.

I did this layout for the challenge I set over at the Boxx http://www.theboxx.scrapboxx.com/ . Being a bit Brrrr atm my challenge is to do a winter layout. It maybe a cup of hot chocolate and a good book, whatever makes you think of winter . Would love if you could join us :)

The gorgeous little tile is from Tattered Inspirations http://tatteredinspirations.blogspot.com.au/

a bit of texture

 oh and don't forget the challenge over at Scrap That Song http://scrapthatsong.blogspot.com.au/ , sooooo many great songs from the 80's to choose from.


That's me for the day, hope your day is a good one

Cheers

Mary 

Amazing , Generous Give Away

The generosity of scrappers never ceases to amaze me, such beautiful people scrappers are :) 
Pop over to Nadia's blog and check out her super kind, wonderfully wonderful give away. 
You would be mad not to 

http://samnadia.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/are-you-ready-for-my-birthday-giveaways.html

Wishing you all a wonderful day


Mary