The Karate Kid 2010

Yesterday I went to see the new version of 'The Karate Kid' (PG). I was fortunate enough to get free tickets from 'seefilmfirst' and it meant the entire family could go.

The film stars Jackie Chan (well known for his roles in martial arts films) and Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) and is set in China.

It is the age old tale of good versus evil and dealing with bullies with the bonus...learning Karate. At times the fighting borders on being somewhat violent but I did not feel it was gratuitous. There is a strong sense of the importance of friendship and this surpasses the barriers of age/language and culture. Some of the filming and photography is visually stunning with scenes in the mountains and at the Great Wall of China. It was a pleasure to watch the young boys progress with his older (and wiser) Chinese tutor. His journey made me both laugh out loud and feel tearful at times. Although the film is over 2 hours long it seems to pass pretty quickly.

I took my DD age 11, hubby and DS age 9 and we all enjoyed it, probably for different reasons but it made a good family film for my aged children, though the fighting scenes may not be as appropriate to younger or more delicate children. Try and it and let me know what you think.

A scrappin' challenge

Shimelle has invited everyone to take a photograph that they love and 'make something of it'. What can be better inspiration for creativity... something you love!

I chose not one but 2 photo's of me and DD. If you follow my blog you will know I don't post many pics of me, I am so NOT photogenic! Therefore I am really not keen on having my picture taken as I am so self critical and always think I look fatter, uglier, stranger etc etc than I thought possible! Sadly DD is becoming more self conscious and is not keen on being in front of the camera most of the time either (unlike DS who seems to be a right poser but also the camera seems to love him!).

So, when we were away in Egypt earlier this year, myself and the kids were mucking about with the camera, taking it in turns to take the shots and sometimes I just held the camera at arms length. I actually really loved these 2 photographs and had to make them into a layout.

There are 2 fabulous new scrapping challenge blogs and I want to enter this LO into both of their challenges...

scrappin' silhouettes uses a sketch (which I have adapted to suit my ideas..I love sketches!)

scrapping with I did it creations asked for a green and brown layout (My favourite colours!)

How could I resist....

Happy Fathers Day!

We have just been to a church service/ cub parade for Father's Day. It was held on the green outside the church and was great fun, but a bit cold!

We started off the day with coffee and warm croissants all made for 'Dad' and cards and presents too. Both children made their own wonderful cards this year and decided on the designs completely independently....

DD went with a footie/England theme

and DS went with the more than merrier approach when it came to stickers!

I made a card for my dad and hopefully it will have reached him by now, I followed the great sketch from stampin with the dragon challenge blog and the stamp is a charity digi image that I bought after reading the story here. He's called 'relaxing Ronnie' and I thought he was a perfect image for a male card and reminded me of my dad!

I used a new MS punch, my largest scalloped circle nestie, I coloured with promarkers (I am such a beginner with this but hopefully will get better... they are still on offer in Hobbycraft in packs of 5 for less than £5!) and used a couple of stickers from my stash (I think they are PM).

I would like to enter into the following challenges:-

Stampin with the Dragon sketch challenge

Creative Inspirations one for the boys

Magical Crafts something for Father's Day

Fab n Funky just for Dad

Cards for Men Fathers Day

DaisyDoodles Fathers Day

Incy Wincy Designs one for the guys

Crafty card makers cards for men

Cupcake Craft Challenges one for the boys

Creative Craft for the men in your life

Pear Tree Designs Fathers Day

I may be too late to enter some of these challenges as I found them all a few days ago and thought I would try and enter them all as I finally got round to making a card!

Wishing all the Fathers everywhere a wonderful day wherever you are and whatever you do xxx

Shimelle's summer class

I just popped onto Shimelle's blog and realised she is offering an early bird discount for her next class!
It starts on July 5th and runs for 4 weeks and is about photography and scrapbooking.
All the details aren't released/revealed as yet and if you want to wait and see the information in full you will miss out on the discount.
I did her last class and it was really inspiring with fellow students from all around the world, who were just amazing!
Needless to say I have jumped right in and paid my £12, as, if it is anything like the last class it will be money well spent.
Why not look for yourself at Shimelles blog here and join the class with me?? Or have you already signed up for the next Shimelle spectacular?? Let me know I love to 'see' people I 'know' in class!

Fathers Day Layout

This is the first layout I have made for a while. I was encouraged to enter into a challenge by a friend, so I decided to get the papers and photographs out and get scrapping!

The photograph was taken in February this year whilst we were on holiday on the Isle of Wight. Our cottage was yards from this pebble covered beach and it was an easy stroll along the seashore. The image captures my dad on an overcast day looking wistfully out to sea with DD in the background. I am lucky that I still share holidays with my parents and we all really relish the time we spend together as a family.

I finally used up some old 'pebble' paper but hubby says it just looks like a pile of potatoes at the bottom of my LO (what do you think stones or spuds???) I am going to add a tiny bit of journalling but the printed words at the top say 'my father, my family' and at the bottom 'devotion, the best time, thoughtful and fun', which sum up many aspects of my dad.

I would like to enter this lay out into the following:-

Creative Craft World Fathers Day challenge

One stitch at a time boys to men challenge

C.R.A.F.T Fathers Day Challenge

me again

I seem to be running out of time again! But I do have time on Monday mornings as I drop DH off at the station before 6 am which means I am up early and have time before I head out to work (or Uni as it is Tuesday, he was here an extra night as it was a Bank Holiday yesterday!)

The last crafty thing I made was this card

it was for the card swop over on Crafty Place and the theme was sunshine. I went really bright, which is somewhat out of my comfort zone and I even handmade the felt flower!

I need to look at my June card list and get making as I am always leaving things til the last minute which is so annoying! I know my mum's birthday is at the end of the month and I have a couple of ideas for a mini scrappy project for her so hopefully I will get that done in time!

I just had 100 photos printed from photobox so I have no excuse not to make some Layouts as it has been weeks since the last couple I made. They were both for challenges from the fabulous 'something from (almost) nothing' class with Shimelle. I highly recommend it and would definitely do a class with her again.

This was for a monochrome challenge and I went with pink which it totally not me.

The blue layout was for a challenge about borders and as you can see I managed to use up a few!

Finally, can any of you help me???? I really want to try out some Distressed Inks as I have seen them on a few cards and love the effect. I don't have the opportunity to see them in 'real' life so I am not sure which colours to buy online. Can you recommend your favourites?? I have an idea of a couple of colours I like as I like the greens and browns but I am not sure if these are the best to work together. Any ideas? Many thanks xxx

Why no blogging???

This is the question I have been asking myself this weekend. What has happened to my blogging addiction?? I had a fantastic time this afternoon following a blog hop set up by Mel. It was themed 'All about me', so it got me thinking all about me!! (Do pop over to her blog and look at some of the fantastic projects there is a whole lot of talent out there!!)

I think I have great excuses not to blog, the usual 'I haven't enough time' springs to mind immediately. This is truer than ever as a few things have changed recently at the house of Furrypig........

DH got a job (hurrah... was nearly 6 months) but it is in Worcester (boo hiss.... not at Worcester as it sounds a wonderful place) but this means he is away Monday to Friday and just back for weekends. He also took the lappy with him, which is great as we can skype every day and the kids love it, but I am left with the desk top so it means I cannot multitask whilst blogging/surfing . I often used the pc whilst cooking, watching tv, supervising kids etc etc but the desk top is upstairs in the study so not as easy and I have been nipping on in the evenings before bed time and then I just end up going to bed!!

I take DH to the station every Monday morning and this means getting up at 5.15am which seems to leave me tired for the rest of the week. (it saves £11 on cab fare though so I do it so I can spend £10 on craft stash...... well that was my reasoning!)

I have just started a university course one day a week that ends in December. It is called 'Independant and Supplementary Prescribing' and basically means I can write prescriptions like a Doctor if/when I pass. It is all day Tuesday and means I have to have childcare for DS pre and post school and be more organised. Plus it is not an easy course with 3 written assignments, practical assignments, and 2 written exams!! Tuesdays used to be a quiet day with just 3 hours at work now it is my longest day of the week, though I should be getting the time back from work.

Work has been stressful as there are loads of changes happening there and I am nervous of change! The future is unclear for us at the moment but I am trying to remain optimstic, but sadly a really wonderful colleague has resigned and this will be a huge loss for the clinic. Not gonna waste any more blog time discussing work as it makes me start feeling anxious again.

I had a funny patch of skin and a Dr at work suggested I ask the GP for a dermatology opinion. I had that the first week in May, followed by a skin biopsy the second week in May and my stitch came out the third week in May. As we approach the fourth week in May I am waiting for the results, I know what the likely diagnosis is and although it sounds awful, it should be fine and it should involve just a simple treatment and therefore a simple cure. But it is unknown at the moment and it is a bit of a worry and I didn't want to discuss it with people which made it harder. It actually made it impossible when I turned up for work with a big pressure dressing on my head that stayed on for 48 hours!! I did get lots of questions so now everyone knows I have had a biopsy and we will wait and see............

My camera broke! I was gutted and meant an end to project 365 for me as got all in a muddle trying to use DH's digital SLR, tho' I am getting better but I do miss my little point and shoot camera as it was so easy to have in my bag/take everywhere. I may get it mended so will get a quote and see if not will ask for a new one for my birthday later in the year. In the meantime I need to learn how to use the big one!

I have managed some Layouts from my first ever Shimelle class that I loved and can't wait to do another one! I have also made several cards so will get round to blogging pics at some point. I have missed keeping up with all your blogs as I felt so many of you were my friends as I had daily insights into your world. I am trying to get back on track and keep up and also think it will help me to blog through some of the experiences as writing things down has always been a helpful therapy for me and hopefully it will mean I won't need to access any real therapy as I do feel I am getting rather anxious at times. Reading your posts also is a form of therapy for me as the insights and creativeness are just what the doctor (or independant prescriber!) ordered!

So I will make more of an effort to blog....... I hope xxx