A card for Jack!

My darling Jack is 12 today, goodness how quickly has that gone.

I did make a start on his card a little while ago, downloaded and printed a few images, chose my paper, coloured the image, got the frame ready and made up a few embellies. BUT then it sat in a polybag waiting to be assembled...which I managed at about 12.30 last night! (BLUSH)

As organised as ever! Still I was quite please with the results, especially as my mojo is still missing. I have done very little crafting recently apart from a bit of knitting.

I used papers and embellies from the Basic Grey collection I won from Card Making & Papercrafts via Facebook. On first impressions I didn't think I would have much use for the Life of the Party collection but I have loved working with these bold but grungy colours, thought them ideal for a 12 year old boy.

Loved this image, Paul Texting from Mo Manning - first time I've used it.

I inked some of the little stars and then applied some glossy accents to add texture.

This card meets;

Basic Grey Challenge 51 - Anything goes.
Cards for men -G is for ...... grungy, Glossy Accents, Grey (as is Basic) or even GRRRR he is on his mobile AGAIN! LOL
Challenge up your life - 51 Something for men.

More Waffle and walks in Wales!

Monday 1st August

The weather looked rather ominous so we decided to take another walk directly from the cottage. The start of the walk was on road and was hard going with Amelia moaning that her foot hurt, her legs, her tummy, her arm......I considered that we might be expecting too much of her but we weren't exactly climbing Snowdon! LOL

We got to a small clearing, had a quick "refuelling session" with a few snacks and some drink and then the "real walk" could begin! The woodland path was lovely and shaded and we stopped almost immediately to watch a little rabbit hopping around in the undergrowth. Not long after that, Amelia's moaning started again as the path suddenly took a steep incline! With constant encouragement Chris and me took turns with her, supporting her up the hill. After a few twists and turns, the path markers sent us on a small detour and the terrian became rather rocky. ( It was at this point Amelia told us she didin't like rocks! Hmm, perhaps Wales wasn't a good choice after all!)

My mountain goatof a son, Jack swiftly scrambled up a very steep bank of rock, somehow I followed with Amelia clinging to my arm, leg, neck...basically anything she could...and Chris stood behind in case we needed help in the form of a shove!

Once at the top of the ridge, it took our breath away. We stopped for a while and admired the view of the Conwy Vally, nearly 500 feet below from where sat, "Cadair Ifan Goch" or Red John's Chair! It takes its name from a legendary red haired giant who is said to have sat there to bathe his feet in the river, Afon Conwy!

Stunning, but sorry the pic just does it no justice at all!

More catch up waffle and some crafting to come.

XXX

Snowdonia catch up, day 2

Sunday 31st July

My first night in the cottage was rather unsettled. It suddenly dawned on me that we were (in my opinion) in the middle of nowhere with no way of contacting anyone if needed- our phones are all on hte same network and we have no service available, not even the convenience of the "World Wide Web" seems to work in this part of wild Wales!"

Once asleep, I slept as snug as a bug but was rudely awoken at 6am by the walking alarm clock we call Amelia. As I made Amelia's breakfast one of the sheep greeted me loudly just outside the kitchen window and I watched two pheasants make their way up the field as I drank my first cuppa of the day. As the men of the house slept, Amelia coloured and I took in more of the scenery from the comfort of the little conservatory.

After a nice cooked brekkie we decided to try a 3 mile circular walk from the doorstep of the cottage. It was lovely to see the cottage from a different perspective. The weather was cloudy but the scenery was stunning, shame the full beauty is just not captured in my photgraphs.

Our walk took us passed a lovely little chapel, Capel Salem, and we spent a little time chatting to some of the locals coming out of their Sunday service, so glad we did ponder for a while as this was followed by a rather steep hill...which Amelia moaned about all the way up!

The children seemed quite relieved when we were nearly back at the cottage....

.....and Chris was quite relieved to find that he briefly got phone reception at the very top of the lane!

At the bottom of the lane we stopped to say hello to these little ladies.

Then the children discovered a nice little step just outside the cottage, perfect for sitting on waiting for mum and dad!

Playing "Snowdonia holiday catch up!"

We are back from our hols and I am now playing catch up on some blogging and sharing a few holiday snaps!

Saturday 30th July!

After an early start we set off on our journey to Cae Llwyd, a cottage near Llanrwst, nestled in the Conwy Valley and on the outskirts of Snowdonia National Park. The children struggle to sit for 5 minutes without bickering, so a 5 hour journey was not something we were looking forward to. In anticipation of this we decided to get some in car DVD players to keep them both occupied but instead we should have just got some travel pillows!

We made very good time so as we drove through Llanrwst we detoured across the bridge and stopped off for our first cream tea! We followed with a short walk along the river and a quick pit stop in the park for the children to let of a bit of steam!

On our approach to the cottage my heart went into overdrive several times as we encountered some very steep, narrow and winding lanes. (Please remember I am a Peckham girl originally!) Perhaps following the SATNAV route was not such a good idea! Once at the cottage we were not disappointed, in fact I was rather overwhelmed by the views of the surrounding countryside!

The inside of the cottage was lovely too!

The neighbours are rather noisy bleaters though!

Later on we opened a bottle of wine and sat in the garden watching the sun go down and the housemartins zooming around above our heads.

And to finish a very long day we lit the wood burner and chilled out feeling totally relaxed!