Twisted Sketch #111!!

So much to write about!! We went away for a couple of days to Amsterdam and had such a great time. first though here's a layout I did for Twisted Sketches last week. Take a look at the sketch here....

The twist on this weeks sketch was BUTTONS!!! Here's my layout:

I kept the layout pretty simple using one sheet of patterned paper. Used my favourite blue glimmer mist. Used the sewing machine to sew some wavey patterns along the bottom of the layout which I highlighted with BUTTONS.

Twisted Sketch #109!!

Well first up a bit of house keeping, the Twisted Sketches website has had a little problem with its domain host so has had to move site. It can now be found on www.twistedsketches.org, make sure you spread the word!!

Secondly I've been so flat out lately working on getting through my ETM and Body Combat Qualifications that I haven't had much time for scrapping or anything else!!! I'll post about that another time, more about scrapping now.

I finished this layout at 1:30am Wednesday morning, the day its meant to go live, but I really enjoyed doing it and am pretty happy with the finished result

This weeks inspiration can be found here

I used my Emmas Shop collection from Crate Paper......

 

Twisted Sketch #107!!

Another amazing sketch from Twisted Sketches to be inspired by! Have a look at it here....

I LOVED THIS SKETCH!! The problem I had was my mind was racing and kept going off in different tangents. I kept changing my mind which photos to use and then of course that changes what papers you want to scrap with....etc etc.

This weeks twist was 'time' which lead me to thinking about how much Kenny and I value each moment we have with our boy Samurai, he's getting quite old especially for a Rottie so each birthday is a major milestone for him.

For his 12th birthday I made him a very special victoria sponge cake and gave him a whopping piece to eat.

Twisted Sketch #105!!

I'm a couple of days late blogging this layout but at least it was on the TW website on time!

This weeks twist was 'Summer' so I immediately set out to look for a suitable photo....I found a fun family photo that I've wanted to scrap for ages taken in Australia last time I went home for a visit.

Have a look at the sketch where I got my inspiration from here.....

and heres my layout,

Iceland - Grimsvotn Volcano!!

What an incredible last day!!! We headed over to the glaciers on the other side of Reykjavik to do some serious driver training....and crikey that was fun. Started off driving ever so carefully, really worried about damaging these incredibly expensive trucks...then after being yelled at profusely by Gisli I began to realise how indestructible these trucks practically are!

We spent most of the day burning around learning how to get 'unstuck' in the snow. How to drive safely over minor crevasses, most importantly though I guess what NOT to do!!

After a days training and seeing as we were in the area we decided to head up to the active volcano to say g'day!! it'd be rude not considering we were in the area!

small step for woman kind

big step for scrapping layout!!! 

We stopped off numerous times to have a look at the ground, couldn't see too far ahead of us as the higher we got the thicker the fog.....a very strange atmosphere! It was quite exciting seeing the changes to the glacier the closer we got to the volcano. You need to remember, we're ON A GLACIER that is usually completely WHITE!!! All that black muddy stuff you see is actually ash!!!

The amazing thing was you could dig into the ground and feel how warm it was! Really bizarre!

Emil showing us
where not to stand!

The closer we got to the crater the more crevasses appeared we even found these gorgeous ice caverns, the fun bit was crossing over the ice bridge to get to the other side!!




Luckily there were no trolls hiding underneath and we managed to pass safely.




We got to the top and kept walking out, probably a lot further than we should of , but it seemed like a good idea at the time ;o)



We crossed larger crevasses still and then we spotted her!! The top!

The frozen lake completely blasted away and there still bubbling away in the middle is the top of the volcano, seems small and insignificant in this photo but it really was massive, and just mind blowing to think that the hole above it was completely frozen and level with the rest of the top!!

Managed to grab a quick photo of me before we legged it....we heard ice crashing down underneath us so figured it was time to move!! Love my big puffer jacket, had to borrow it of one of the guys as it was FREEZING up there!






Spent the night in this little geologists hut at the bottom of the glacier, it even had a matching toilet!!

So ..... had an absolutely thrilling week, full of all sorts of emotions. Pretty knackered when I got home, had a nice hot shower and was brushing my hair in the mirror when I think I caught a glimpse of a woman I used to know; strong, active, confident. Maybe she's still there after all??!! Will have to make the time to get to know her again J

Iceland - Antarctica Training

What a week!!! I’ve been lucky enough to meet and train with some of the amazing people that Kenny has worked with going to the Poles. I also got to know the most incredible female explorer, Felicity Aston.  Look her up here to get an idea of what some women are capable of....truely inspirational! Make sure you show your daughters, nothing is out of reach for them!

The red truck was my baby to play with for the week!!

My week started off at the Arctic Trucks factory, I was introduced to the trucks we were going to be using in Antarctica and we had a reminder lesson on basic climbing skills. Then the real fun began as we headed up to the glaciers to throw a truck down a crevasse!

Check out the 'monster truck' fueling stop, could you imagine seeing this at the local BP???

As for my week, it consisted of a lot of 'firsts'

The first time I saw glaciers ....beautiful!

The first time I looked down a crevasse ....nerve-wracking!

More importantly the first time I abseiled down a crevasse .... exhilarating!!

Top of crevasse

The idea was to practice rescue techniques should the worse happen and we lose a truck down a crevasse. The guys from Arctic Trucks had already been out and found a large crevasse to use, they were hoping that the truck would crash though the crevasse and maybe reveal a cathedral crevasse underneath as well as total the truck to give us a really good rescue scenario. 3 times we threw this damn truck down the crevasse and each time it ended upright on its wheels, looking like it had been driven in!!! NOT what we were hoping for!!! But it did give us a good laugh though.

Crash Attempt 1

Crash Attempt 2

Crash Attempt 3

Never known a truck fight so hard to live!! In the end the guys ended up just turning it over...hehehehe

We learnt how to abseil down safely and use specialized rescue equipment to cut people out of the car, quite an intense training session and hopefully the skills I learnt out here will never be needed!

After a long cold day we headed back down the glacier to a 'country cottage' to spend the night, the best part was a hot tub outside powered naturally but the hot springs in the area, the perfect way to end a busy day. Oh and a nice glass of red!!

Twisted Sketch #103!!

Oh its feel so good to be scrapping again!! I've missed a couple of weeks because of my exams and assessments but thats all over now!

Another fabulous sketch from Twisted Sketches website, check it out here....

And heres my interpretation, I used photos from my birthday day out at Going Ape, there was no way that one photo alone could capture how much fun I had in the day so had to work out how to add loads more :o)

Now the twist on this sketch was "stop" .....had to admit I did just that, confused me to think how i could incorporate the twist, all I could think of was a stop sign! So from that I got a hexagonal shape which I used on my layout instead of circles in the sketch. I just ended up covering half of it though with embellishments.













I used the lovely Emmas shoppe collection from Crate Paper. never used this brand before and have to admit I really like the quality of the papers, will definitely be keeping an eye on their collections in the future.

Grapevine Queen.....It's Official!!!!

How excited am I!!! EXHAUSTED but excited. After many months of study and exams, thousands of step-touches, box-steps, grapevines, squats, lunges, hamstring curls, jumping jacks, crunches, press-ups etc etc etc etc and more ETC I so relieved to be able to say I passed my final assessment.

I am now allowed to teach "exercise to music". Well actually this is only step 1 to my final goal but every step counts!!

Royal Wedding

Oh could she be anymore beautiful!!!!! I've had a good cry watching this wedding, gorgeous service....don't you love a good wedding!!!!

Twisted Sketch #098!!

Another fortnight gone already and my turn again to produce a layout for twisted sketches. I'd been looking forward to this sketch and had some lovely new papers from 'My Minds Eye' Stella and Rose Collection to play with. I'll definitely be buying some more from that collection, they're just gorgeous!

Check out the Twisted sketch here...

Here's my interpretation of the sketch, the photos were taken on a jetty at lake Conniston in the Lakes District, where we did our Body Balance stretches. it was a glorious sunny morning and felt adapt to be doing "Sun Salutations" :o)

Make sure you go to the website and have a look at what some of the other girls from the design team are producing, their layouts are amazing!

Happy Good Friday!!!

Isn't Easter a lovely time of year! Especially when we have weather as gorgeous as it has been this year!!

And so today is Good Friday and traditionally its the day we tuck into hot cross buns. Theres loads of varieties in the stores to pick from but you just can't beat freshly home-made hot cross buns. I've been baking most of today, and baking myself in the sun in between dough rises :o)

This batch is glazed and ready to go, I bake a large batch every year to distribute to my neighbours in our lovely little village.

Always interesting seeing a grown man cry as all these buns walk out the door and not into his belly!!!! My poor Kenny.....;o)

On a more traditonal note....they may be delightfully yummy, but take a moment to remember what the cross on the bun represents, and in our household as I was raised a good little Latino girl .....there will be fish for supper...ok it'll probably be Fish Pie but its still fish!!

Have a blessed and safe Easter Weekend everyone! xxx