Shanna's Sanctuary

Week 6

2012-02-13T09:04:00.000Z

six weeks down 46 to go

I’m still finding this really easy to accomplish especially with my iPhone as it saves me pulling my big camera out everyday.

Shanna.

Progress.

2012-02-12T09:04:00.001Z

Remember that list of things I should have scrapped by now well I’ve made a little progress.

Kieran’s 4th birthday party (thank god, since his fifth birthday party is on saturday)

Echo Park A Walk in the Park

Sketch Support sketch

Christmas 2011 – I did the two normal pages I do everything else can wait until I feel like scrapping an extra story if I feel so inclined. (And yes I did use the same sketch as above they are going to be in different albums so who cares)

Shanna

Ten on the Tenth

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000Z

Last year for valentine’s day I chose my top ten TV men. This year for 10 on the tenth. Five of them are still from last years list and the other five are from programs that are no longer on air but they were still great guys. To quote many popular British phone into vote shows In no particular order.

1. Marty Deeks

Played by : Eric Christian Olsen

On: NCIS: Los Angeles

Reasons I love him: There is something annoyingly charming about him. He has that surfer/bad boy look but is sweet and funny with a sarcastic sense of humour. He is very loyal. He got out of his hospital bed after he got shot to save Kensi and then he bought her beer and burgers after he punched a guy who hit her in the face.

Character on the show he should end up with: Kensi Blye (they have the ‘thing’ right?)

2. Peter Bishop

Played by : Joshua Jackson

On: Fringe

Reasons I love him: There is something about they way he handles how his life gets being blown out the water. They way he is with Walter. His sense of humour and fact that he never gives up on getting it right with Olivia.

Character on the show he should end up with: Olivia Dunham (if it happens in two realities then that’s got to tell you something right?)

3. Noah “Puck” Puckerman

Played by : Mark Salling.

On: Glee

Reasons I love him: I get chills every time he sings. He’s trying to be the quintessential bad boy but he’s actually incredibly sweet in a 17 year old caveman type way.

Character on the show he should end up with: Rachel Berry (I know they only lasted a week but I think Rachel is exactly what he needs).

4. Special Agent Seeley Booth

Played by : David Boreanaz

On: Bones

Reasons I love him: He’s charming, has a great smile and a gun. He manages to be exactly the right mix of best friend and boyfriend. I mean he bought a Christmas Tree when her father was in jail, so they didn’t go without.

Character on the show he should end up with: Temperance “Bones” Brennan. (They seems to have worked that out for now).

5. Shawn Spencer.

Played by : James Roday

On: Psych

Reasons I love him: He’s annoyingly charming, he managed to moon over Juliet for years and then when he manages to screw up the moment he doesn’t tell her he loves her, he tells her that he’s been thinking about giving up his beloved bike. He’s loyal to Gus, he has a great sense of humour and being a fake psychic that actually does help solve crimes is the coolest job ever.

Character on the show he should end up with: Juliet O’Hara

Now on the men from TV shows past.

6. Leo Wyatt

Played by : Bryan Krause

On: Charmed

Reasons I love him: He’s angel (quite literally), he’s a great dad. He’s protective. He makes the cutest fake pregnant man. He loves Piper enough to go through all the trials and tribulations and annoying guys called Dan that the elders put them through. (I’ve just watched the entire 8 series on Netflix I forgot how much I loved him).

Character on the show he should end up with: Piper Halliwell (which he did very happily)

7. Jack O’Neill

Played by : Richard Dean Anderson

On: Stargate SG-1

Reasons I love him: Even though he was old enough to be my father when I started watching Stargate SG-1 I loved Jack from the beginning (I hated the movie but Stargate SG-1 is my favourite TV series – I missed him when he wasn’t in it regularly). I love his dry sarcastic sense of humour, the fact that he can be a big kid, but knows how to take control when necessary. I love how he hates paperwork and doesn’t understand technobabble. I love how he always wants to do the right thing.

Character on the show he should end up with: Colonel Samantha Carter (several dozen other realities should give you a hint and the fact that when time was stuck in a loop and he could do anything he resigned so he could kiss her).

8. Jess Mariano

Played by : Milo Ventimiglia

On: Gilmore Girls

Reasons I love him: Jess came into the show as the wayward bad boy who drew a dead body outline just for a little entertainment. But it turns out he was well read, had a sarcastic sense of humour, thought Starshollow residents were as crazy as I did. I love the fact that showed up when he was need and was willing to be brutally honest when needed.

Character on the show he should end up with: Rory Gilmore

9. Pacey Witter

Played by : Joshua Jackson (2nd appearance I know)

On: Dawson’s Creek

Reasons I love him: Even though when the show started he was just Dawson’s male screw up friend Pacey turned out to be different than that. He was sweet, thoughtful (he gave Joey a wall), adventurous, willing to take the first step, a great friend and incredibly cute. Did I mention he can cook?

Character on the show he should end up with: Joey Potter (and he did).

10. Angel

Played by : David Boreanaz (2nd appearance I know)

On: Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel

Reasons I love him: He was dark and brooding. (I had his picture up on my wall most of my teen years). In a world where Vampires were evil and needed slaying he was the one good one with a soul.

Character on the show he should end up with: Buffy.

There are my ten for this year.

Shanna xx

Procrastination aka things I should have scrapbooked by now.

2012-02-08T19:01:00.001Z

I’ve been thinking about things I should have gotten around to scrapbooking now but still haven’t. So I decided to make a list.

Kieran’s Birthday Party (February last year – Is next birthday is less than a week).

Trip to Bristol Zoo (last March)

My trip to Bristol (last April)

Trip to Folly Farm (last April)

Trip to Dinosaur Park (last June)

Trip to Manor House Park (last June)

The three week fire in the tyre plant near where I work (last June)

Holiday in Edinburgh (last July – still not a page scrapped)

Holiday to Disney (last July – I scrapped four pages – none of which I like I think I want a Kraft background theme)

Getting Bones the dog (last July)

Aidan’s Birthday party (Last August)

Trip to Bristol Zoo for Rachel’s birthday (last August)

Trip to Bristol with Mum (last September)

Ashley’s Birthday (Last October)

Ashley’s first day at school (Last October)

Halloween (and I have some really cute pictures of my niece and nephew too)

Going to Joseph and the Technicolor dream coat (last November)

Nanny's 80th Birthday (last December)

Going to see Aladdin with Jimmy Osmond (last December)

Christmas (I usually have a general Christmas page and Christmas dinner scrapped by new years eve)

New Years Eve Party

Going to see Sister Act (I know it was only last month but I should have scrapped it by now right?)

I should probably get started on that list before I have another years list worth of moments to scrap.

Week 5

2012-02-06T19:55:00.001Z

5 down 47 to go.

Shanna

Family History.

2012-02-05T19:03:00.001Z

For the past three or four years I have been researching my family history on Ancestry off and on. I now have nearly six thousand people in my tree. I finally figured I should do something with the information.

I was listening to an old episode of the Paperclipping Round Table called I Scrap Dead People. Jessica Sprague was talking about her Family History class and how it was self paced. I came straight home and bought. Well that was a couple of weeks ago. This weekend I decided to make my Mum a family history album.

I followed Jessica’s instructions, used her templates and the kit that she included with the class and made a twenty page digital family history album going back to my Mum’s great grandparents which I printed at 8x8 and put in an album in one weekend.

I took some picture of it with my iPhone before I gave it to my Mum. (who loves it by the way)

Shanna

.Books I read in January.

2012-02-01T19:38:00.001Z

Firstly I reduced my target from 300 books to 250. January is over and I realised I may have been a little ambitious, but if it is going well later in the year I can always raise my target.

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

The Becoming by Jeanne C Stein

The Veil by Cory Putman Oates

Existence by Abbi Glines

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Bloodspell by Amalie Howard

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs

Affairs of Steak by Julie Hyzy

Jessica Rules The Darkside by Beth Fantasky

Boys That Bite by Mari Mancusi

Anew by Chelsea Fine

Warriors of Poseidon by Alyssa Day

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Falling For Hamlet by Michelle Ray

The Season by Sarah MacLean

The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal

23 books

shanna

Layouts

2012-01-30T18:59:00.001Z

So I used two Just One Sketch prompts, to flip the sketch and use a monochrome colour palette. I scooted my flipped imaged together and made this layout.

I also was going through some of my old Jessica Sprague classes and made these two layouts. The first is a great layout for my One Little World.

Shanna

Week 4

2012-01-29T09:44:00.000Z

Week four of Project Life. Still going well.

4 weeks down – 48 to go.

Shanna

Dream Job

2012-01-27T18:45:00.001Z

I don’t know why but I was thinking earlier about what my dream job would be. I like my job most of the time but I never really figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I know I had some random suggestions when I was a kid.

A math teacher

Work for NASA

Be Librarian

I’m none of those things. I went to university and studied Accountancy and Computer Programming. (It’s been six years since I graduated and I couldn’t program a thing anymore). I work as a Management Information Analyst (amongst other things). But if I could do anything else I think I would like to…

be a novelist.

a photographer

A TV show writer

But for now I’ll just stick to my day job.

Shanna.

Just One Sketch

2012-01-25T19:25:00.001Z

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Just One Sketch class from Miss Smith. The idea is you take one sketch and just by making a few changes you get a completely different layout. To start with you could make your own sketch or use a sketch. Since I am lousy at making a page without a sketch anyway I decided to pick a sketch from Shimelle Laine. I always love her style but I her one page layouts even if it isn’t always my style and I need to try making one page layouts as most of my layouts tend to be two page recently. So I choose this sketch

Here is the first layout I made using the sketch.

Echo Park Time and Seasons

The next prompt was to rotate the sketch. I rotated the sketch and combined the two pictures and used one picture.

The next prompt is to use a monochrome colour scheme. I guess that’s one I’ll have to try this weekend.

Shanna.

Sister Act

2012-01-24T19:44:00.001Z

So last Saturday my mum and I went to Bristol to see Sister Act the musical. We had decided to take the train as it was easiest only to find part of the journey was a replacement bus. We got there in plenty of time and went to the Aquarium and had lunch.

The show was amazing, it was so funny and there was a really good energy from the audience. My favourite character was Eddie the cop. I loved how everyone ended up in sparkling costumes. It was a long day but we had a great time.

Shanna.

Week 3

2012-01-22T19:42:00.001Z

It seems to be the week of food pictures.

3 Weeks down 49 to go.

Shanna

Instagram.

2012-01-16T19:43:00.001Z

I know practically most scrappers who have an iPhone love Instagram, I used it once when I got my phone a month ago and never really bothered with it until this weekend when I started to play. I love it. So under the guise of my one little word to Be… Creative I played. Here are some of my favourite Instagrams from the weekend.

Shanna.

Project Life - Week 2

2012-01-15T08:21:00.001Z

2 down 50 to go.

Shanna

Only someone attempting Project Life….

2012-01-11T21:25:00.001Z

would take ten pictures of their grandparents new bed which they ordered a few weeks ago on their iPhone as they needed one for their photo for the day. My grandparents think I’m crazy, but I have my picture.

And for putting up with that pointless story here is a layout I made using this weeks 2page sketch from Sketch Support and the Echo Park Winter Park kit.

Shanna

10 on the 10th

2012-01-10T03:51:00.001Z

I’ve had a iPhone for about a month now and here are a list of ten of my favourite apps.

1. Momento (Diary/Journal)

It’s a great app for writing down little memories you want to keep, you can attach pictures, and the feed from your Facebook and Twitter accounts (you can delete the posts you don’t saved). It’s making Project Life journaling really easy as it helps remind you what you did that day.

2. Facebook

I just have the basic Facebook app it’s great for checking updates adding messages and generally what you want to do on Facebook on the go.

3. Goodreads

Links to my Goodreads account, so when I’m out and about with my Kindle if I forget the reading order of a series of books I can go right there and get it and read lots of reviews.

4. Amazon Mobile

I love being able to price check whether it is cheaper to buy things on Amazon or in the store I am in. I also love that I managed to order my brother-in-laws birthday present while I was stood in the pizza queue at Asda.

5. thetrainline

It’s a great app to either buy train tickets, or just to check the time of the next train to your destination. You can set your home station and then just select what time is the next train home.

6. Free App Magic

Everyday it gives you three apps that are usually paid for for free. You can choose whether you download them or not.

7. TV Guide.co.uk

Since I only buy a tv guide at Christmas, it’s great to be able to check what time the program I want to watch is on and you can set reminders to tell you something is on.

8. Paint Sparkles Draw

My three year old niece loves this app, she always want draw on my phone and it’s great to keep her entertained while we’re shopping.

9. Magic Piano

I’ve completed most of the levels – I’ve gotten to the one where you have to play at thousand different songs to 3stars level, it does give you a free song every couple of days so i don’t have to buy them.

10. Magic Guitar.

I’m loving this too, I’m still working through this and you get free songs on this one two.

There are my top ten favourite apps right now.

What are yours?

Shanna xx

Project Life–Week 1

2012-01-08T15:02:00.001Z

Here is my completed layout for week one of project life 2012. I used the Becky Higgins Cobalt Version from www.jessicasprague.com and a piece of wordart from one of the Life 365 kits from www.weedsandwildflowerdesigns.com

I’ve already set up the page for new week. I’ve placed all the journaling spots and date stickers, all I have to do is drop in the pictures and journaling and it only took 9 and 1/2 minutes (yes I timed it). 1 week down 51 to go.

Shanna.

Evernote

2012-01-06T15:11:00.001Z

I’m home sick today, I managed to catch the cold/flu bug that’s been going around which in itself is enough it triggered an attack of my hiatal hernia so every time I sit up it feels like someone is squeezing my stomach and every time I cough it gets worse. So I’m lying here in my bed playing on my computer. I’ve been working through my ancestors on ancestry.co.uk, I’m back to the 11th Century. As I’ve been Googling to do some further research I keep coming up with pages I want to book mark so I can refer back to them. As you can imagine my bookmark list was getting rather long, Googling I to see if I could find something to help I came up with Evernote.

I first heard of Evernote as one of I think Izzy’s product picks on the Paperclipping Round Table or The Digi Show but didn’t really pay attention to it. But since it’s free application (for the basic package) I downloaded it onto my computer and my iPhone.

I’ve been playing and clipping snippets of webpages for a few hours now and it’s great to have the bit of information I want stored in a specific notebook and it has a link to the page I got it from so if I want to go back for more information I can.

So far it seems to be working well.

Shanna.

Fortune cookie wisdom

2012-01-04T20:01:00.001Z

And my fortune cookie says

Be Active

2012-01-03T20:47:00.001Z

In the spirit of my One Little Word Be, I thought I would begin with BE ACTIVE.

I ordered and received Zumba 2 for the Wii from Amazon. I received it December 31st.

I started using it January 1st. One medium intensity short class (30minutes) a day. It’s exhausting but I think it will be good for my stamina so I can eventually get back to Biggest Loser Challenge Wii game. I have the original Wii Zumba but I like this one a lot better.

Also yesterday my sister and I took my niece and their dog for a walk around our local lake. We got caught in a hail storm but luckily we had brought umbrella’s and the ducks didn’t mind.

It’s only been three days but I think this one little word thing is going to work.

Shanna.

Books I read in December

2012-01-02T16:22:00.001Z

In December I completed my read 200 books challenge, I actually read about 215. I’m going to take up the challenge in 2012 and have set a goal of about 300 for the year.

Magic on the Line by Devon Monk (7th in the Allie Beckstrom series)

Guardians of Eternity series by Alexandra Ivy

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Lords of the Underworld Series by Gena Showalter

Illuminated by Erica Orloff

Warped by Maurissa Guibord

Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill

I also re-read the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

30 books

Shanna xx

One Little Word

2012-01-02T09:24:00.001Z

Yesterday there were a lot of posts about Ali Edward’s One Little Word concept. You choose one word and focus on that in all aspects of your life over the coming year. As I read what people had chosen and why this one word kept popping up in my head. So my One Little Word for the year is…

Be can be the prompt many things, I’ve found a few pieces of word art that can act as prompts. (Each are linked to the source)

So that’s my one little word.

Shanna xx

Documenting 2012

2012-01-01T08:25:00.001Z

Firstly happy new year to everyone.

This year I decided to do Project Life again. I did it in 2009 and only missed a few days (I still haven’t printed out most of it but I have it documented). Don’t know what Project Life is this video explains it.

I was planning on doing it again in 2010 but a few weeks into the month and I broke my wrist and spent six weeks in plaster then another couple months not really being able to grip a camera.

As a digital scrapbooker I used the kit created by Weeds and Wildflowers but honestly having to still make a decision what to use was driving me crazy. This year Becky Higgins launched Digital Project Life. As I live in the UK the Shutterfly option would work out pretty expensive so I made the decision to use the digital kits from Jessica Sprague. After a few weeks of trying to make a decision which kit to get I decided on the Cobalt Edition. I choose this edition as I like the journaling cards the best and since the project is all about the pictures and journaling this seemed to be the best option.

I also got the templates so I don’t have to figure out how to arrange the pictures. It’s all about making life easy right?

Hopefully this should give me a good jumpstart and make it easy to complete the pages weekly.

Also in my efforts to document the year I got a few apps from iTunes to use on my iPhone (which I’ve had for a few weeks and love).

The first is Memento it allows me to document the details of little moments I want to remember on the go. I get to add tags and photos to help back up the memories. It also pulls in my Facebook status updates.

The second is Photo 365 which is basically a calendar which you can attach pictures to for everyday of the year.

The final thing I got to help me document the year is a new camera. A Fujifilm Finepix HS20EXR.

I’ve had Fujifilm Bridge cameras for a few years this one takes 16MP pictures and has 30x Optical Zoom. It also takes RAW pictures. You manually have to adjust the zoom with the ring at the front. I only got it yesterday but I’m loving it already (I ordered it from Amazon on Friday morning it was delivered at 9am on Saturday – got to love living in the same town as an Amazon depots.). It’s the next step up to DSLR (which still scare me) and my sister’s best friend asked me to photograph her wedding in April so hopefully I should have learnt how to use it by then.

Last year in this post I had two goals blog more and keep fit.

The blogging regularly lasted well until May we’ll try again this year.

The second goal was to keep fit. I was doing ok with the keeping fit until I got sick and then I didn’t have the energy to do it and stopped. In the middle of the year Claire and I started doing Zumba on the Wii but that only lasted a few months as both of us got busy. But I’m going to try again.

If you’ve stuck this far, I hope that 2012 is happy and healthy for you.

Shanna xx

Year In Review part 2.

2011-12-31T20:24:00.001Z

My goal was to by the end of 2011 finish my Year In Review pages. Now I have. So here is the rest of the year in review.

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Shanna xx

Best Christmas Presents.

2011-12-26T19:08:00.001Z

One of the lists is the Best Christmas Gifts I’ve ever received.

A lot of times you don’t remember what you got for Christmas years later but I do have one Christmas present that sticks out.

In 2008 I received the only existing bound copy of a book I wrote when I was eighteen. It was and is still the coolest thing ever.

The other best gift I received was one I received yesterday. I got a Kipling bag. I have been coveting one of these for years but could never justify paying out the price. But yesterday my mum and stepdad got me one for Christmas. I love it!

What was your best Christmas gift?

Hope you had a great day.

Shanna.

Santa Tracking

2011-12-24T13:27:00.001Z

So early this morning I logged onto www.noradsanta.org and have been tracking Santa. Watching as he preps and is now flying around world. I’ve taken a few screen shots.

Apparently Santa likes to play Basketball and watch the elves skate before he departs.

Then he has breakfast and preps the sleigh

Then he finally takes off

And he quickly delivers presents.

It’s now 1.24pm UK time and he is currently in Papua New Guinea and has delivered 13,600,344 presents.

I think he has a few to go before he gets here.

Happy Christmas Eve to everyone.

Shanna.

Year In Review Part 1

2011-12-23T19:38:00.001Z

So last year I made a year in review album (I still have to get around to printing it, and my project 365 from 2009) using a template I made from an Alison Davies Sketch and used Weeds and Wildflowers kits. This year I decided to use the same template but use my ever growing collection of Echo Park digital kits.

So here are the layouts for the first three months of the year.

Shanna xx

Nativity

2011-12-17T10:05:00.001Z

So yesterday evening I babysat my niece and nephew and we put together this foam nativity scene. We lost a few sheep legs but it was good fun.

Shanna xx

Gingerbread House.

2011-12-14T20:06:00.001Z

Last week my niece and I made a little gingerbread house. I took lots of photos and made this layout. My first festive layout of the season. It uses this weeks sketch from Sketch Support.

Don’t you just love the new Holly Jolly collection from Echo Park.

Shanna.

10 on the 10th

2011-12-10T05:49:00.001Z

So it was my Nan’s 80th birthday yesterday so I thought I would share 10 pictures of from her life.

1. 1930s

2. 1930s (i think)

3. 1940s

4. 1950s

5. 1954

6. 1959

7. 1960s

8. 1985

9. 2003

10. 2010

And here is the birthday girl.

Happy 80th Birthday.

Shanna xx

Best ice-cream

2011-12-07T19:18:00.001Z

The best vanilla ice-cream in the world

layouts

2011-12-03T09:33:00.001Z

Here are a few layouts I’ve made this week.

This layout is based on cutting instructions from Creating Keepsakes Budget Scrapbooking Issue.

Shanna

The books i read in November.

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000Z

So November were all based on the works of Jane Austen, ( I had to throw in a few actual Jane Austen novels too)

Rebecca Ann Collins – The Pemberley Chronicles.

Jane Austen Made Me Do It – Laurel Ann Nattress

Captain Wentworth’s Diary – Amanda Grange

Mr Darcy Takes A Wife – Linda Berdoll

Edmund Bertram’s Diary – Amanda Grange

Colonel Brandon’s Diary – Amanda Grange

Mr Knightley’s Diary – Amanda Grange

Only Mr Darcy Will Do – Kara Louise

Pride and Prejudice – The Wild and Wanton Version - Michelle M Pillow

Definitely Not Mr Darcy – Karen Doornebos

According To Jane – Marilyn Brant

Darcy and Anne – Judith Brocklehurst

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor – Stephanie Barron

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Perfect Bride for Mr Darcy – Mary Louise Simonsen

What Would Jane Austen Do? – Laurie Brown

Bespelling Jane Austen – Mary Balogh

Mr Darcy’s Secret - Jane Odwie

Prom and Prejudice – Elizabeth Eulberg

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler

Jane Austen Education, A: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter

by William Deresiewicz

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

And I could have Jane Austen Month without

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

(Confession I did re-read Anna and The French Kiss mid month when I needed a break)

Only 25 books this month.

184 out of my two hundred books for the year.

Shanna.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2011-11-24T18:03:00.001Z

Happy Thanksgiving to my America readers. Since I live in the UK we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but at work today I was listening to my iPod on random and this song came up. It’s seems to contain a lot of things to be thankful for.

Shanna

Breaking Dawn

2011-11-20T14:12:00.001Z

So in the past two days I have seen Breaking Dawn Part I twice (once with my mum and sister and once with some of the girls from work.

It was great although spoiler the wedding speeches made me cringe, and seriously even though they cut some of it I don’t think under twelves should see it. Now it’s just a case of waiting a whole year for the next movie and hoping they don’t cut out my favourite scene (Emmett and Bell arm wrestling – it cracks me up every time I read it).

I’ve also been busy creating some layouts.

The first is based on a Sketch Support one page sketch and uses Weeds and Wildflowers Sweet and Simple kit

The next is based on a two page sketch from Sketch Support and a Weeds and Wildflower kit

The last is based on a Club Scrap ASLB layout and uses a kit from Scrapgirls

Shanna xx

Layouts.

2011-11-15T06:29:00.001Z

Here are a few layouts I’ve made over the past couple of week but haven’t gotten around to sharing.

Shanna

A Year of Lists

2011-11-12T11:45:00.001Z

I turned 28 last Monday so I decided that I need to do something to mark it. I’ve never been very good at journaling, but I’ve seen several videos about Ella Publishings List It books and I figured I could do that.

I bought all four versions

So over the next year I am going to write my response to the lists. I might not do all of them and in random order, some may make it onto layouts, some may not be blogged, but I am going to have a year of lists at the end of it.

So onto the first list….

My Favourite Family Birthday Traditions

Cake – cake is always the best thing to have on a birthday
Food - For most of our birthdays we either go out for dinner or dinner in (for my birthday we have fish and chips)
No Parties just family – I’m not a big fan of parties (we stopped having them when we hit seven – although my niece and nephew still have them)
Presents – You always needs present on your birthday.

(My niece and nephew made me 28 cupcakes for my birthday)

Shanna.

10 on the 10th.

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000Z

Ten reasons why I love Jane Austen and Regency England

1. Pride and Prejudice – My favourite book. I read it at least twice a year and I watch the BBC version of at least once a month (yes all of it).

2. Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy - (I definitely prefer Colin Firth) - Once you get past the first impressions he’s perfect.

3. The Wet Shirt Scene – If it wasn’t for Jane Austen we would have Colin Firth jumping into a lake and trying to act all prim and proper half dressed and wet.

4. Walking Out of the Mist – If it wasn’t for Jane Austen we wouldn’t have had Matthew McFadden walking out of the mist.

5. I love the dresses, the elegance (although I’m quite sure about the hats)

6. The letter writing. – An art lost in this digital age.

7. Captain Wentworth – After Mr Darcy my favourite male character. (Rupert Penry-Jones is my favourite)

8. The next are a tie between Edmund Bertrum and Mr Knightley.

9. You can’t forget the female characters – I love them. (Especially Elizabeth Bennett and Anne Elliott – I watch Persuasion almost as much)

10. Did I mention the Wet Shirt Scene?

Shanna.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

2011-11-06T13:33:00.001Z

Yesterday as an early birthday present to myself I went to Cardiff to see the touring version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat staring Keith Jack. Keith was one of the contestants on Any Dream Will Do, a TV show in the UK where Andrew Lloyd Webber auditioned people for the role of Joseph (think X-Factor for a musical). Keith didn’t win but he and a few of the others have been in the touring version.

I know the story since I bought my mum the DVD with the Donny Osmond in for Christmas years ago (she still has a crush on the guy) but it was really good. I really love that the Pharoah of Egypt is an Elvis wannabe.

It was hilarious and they were all really good.

Shanna.

Books I read In October

2011-11-01T08:26:00.000Z

I read the rest of the Shifters Series by Rachel Vincent

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (My favourite book this month)

Fateful by Cheri Schmidt

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (I read it all and still have no idea what it’s about)

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Vampire Crush by A.M Robinson

The Marked Son by Shea Berkley

Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent

Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund

As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J R Ward

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

The Candidates by Inara Scott

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

36 books this month. Not bad.

Shanna.

Not So Austen Month.

2011-10-31T08:06:00.000Z

Since my birthday is in November and Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite books I decided that in November I would read the collection of Jane Austen related books I have. Ones that are either based on Jane Austen’s novels, about her or some way vaguely related to her. (I have quite a few that I’ve been collecting over the last few years and haven’t read).

Wish me luck.

Shanna.

Kits

2011-10-29T10:33:00.001+01:00

I have lots of blogs on my Google Reader some that I read everyday, others that I read when I have time and others unfortunately when it gets to over 100 blog posts to read I simply mark all as read. (sorry). Recently I have seen more and more about the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. The idea is to rather than buy any of the monthly kit clubs that are out there to use one as inspiration and shop the supplies that you already own to create your own counterfeit kit.

I like this concept of using what you already have (and it seems most people have a large stash) to create. The benefit of kits is that you have supplies all in one place and you have narrowed your options down. I think sometimes it makes things easier when you don’t have to make a choice from ten rather than a hundred pieces of patterned paper.

As a digital scrapbooker the majority of things I buy come as kits, items all gather together for you. In the last year or so I’ve tended to just pick a kit (lately it’s just been from Echo Park before that it was Weeds and Wildflowers) and use only that to make a layout. In past years I was a member of Club Scrap’s Digital monthly kit club and I still get the monthly Scrapgirls kit (not that I use it often since I have been stuck in an Echo Park rut).

However recently I have been thinking more and more about the idea of creating my own Counterfeit kit from the supplies I have. I mean I still love the solid papers from the Club Scrap kits (before they changed kit format), I generally love the bright colours of the Echo Park paper, the whimsical feel of the Weeds and Wildflowers items (of which I have practically everything). So rather than when I want to make a layout I have to search through all my thousands and thousands of items I have basically organised on ACDSee into categories I can pick. I also think I should start using some of the thousand of word art items I have.

Maybe I just need some inspiration.

Shanna

Enchanted.

2011-10-23T17:54:00.001+01:00

I was going through some of my older digital kits from Club Scrap Digital (I stopped subscribing after they changed the kit format, I liked the fact that you got a digital version of the main kit). I found a kit from one of their retreats called Enchanted (circa 2009). I found the ALSB instructions and made four of the 5 double page layouts which were perfect for some of my pictures from Disney (which I haven’t scrapped despite being back from holiday for over three months).

Shanna

The Creative Aunt

2011-10-22T18:54:00.001+01:00

When my sister called yesterday to see if I could make my nephew a newspaper hat, it didn’t take long. But when I took it to him he wanted a proper pirate hat. Give that I’m a digital scrapper I have very few actual supplies but I do have a pad of DCWV cardstock.

After Googling I found this website which gives a pattern and talks you through making a paper pirate hat. Since I didn’t have any brown cardstock I used red and covered it in brown packaging paper and following the instructions I quickly made a pirate. I also made my niece one in pink.

The kids loved them.

Shanna

Happy 3rd Birthday

2011-10-21T12:42:00.001+01:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to my niece Ashley.

Love Aunty Shanna. xx

Three Musketeers

2011-10-15T19:19:00.001+01:00

Today I went to see the new Three Musketeers film with my brother and sister. This is a rare situation even though we all live in the same street.

It’s a good film, a little more steampunk than other versions, it kind of reminded me of the Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes film. A modern twist on a classic.

Unfortunately the end was one of those films that is a set up for a sequel.

But over all. 4/5.

Shanna.

10 on the Tenth

2011-10-10T06:52:00.000+01:00

10 things I could dress up as for a Halloween (but won’t)

1. A Gothic Fairy

2. Catwoman

3. Corpse Bride

4. Red Riding Hood

5. Wicked Witch

6. Devil

7. Skeleton

8. Zombie

9. Vampire

10. Pumpkin

Shanna

Fish Food

2011-10-02T17:29:00.001+01:00

So yesterday my mum, sister and I went to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft fair in Cardiff.

We bought a few things and took part in a make and take.

Afterwards we went shopping. In the arcade is a shop that provides fish pedicures. You basically put your feet in a tank of a special type of carpe and they eat all the dead skin from your feet. I couldn’t bring myself to do it but I did have fun taking pictures and made this layout. (Apparently it feels like minor pins and needles and it definitely makes your feet look and feel better.) So inspired by the August 2 page sketch support sketch I made this layout using the Echo Park Splash collection.

Shanna xx

PS don’t you just love the sign.

Books I read in September

2011-10-01T05:40:00.001+01:00

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Hex Hall Series by Rachel Hawkins

Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews

Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Iron Fey series by Julie Kawaga

Overprotected by Jennifer Laurens

The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris

Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost

Allie Beckstrom series by Devon Monk

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Heat Rises by Richard Castle

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebrik

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Stray by Rachel Vincent (I'm currently reading the rest of this series)

37 books this month. Not bad. I’m 124 books into my read 200 books this year challenge. (since I didn’t really start until mid year that’s not bad going)

Shanna.

Graffiti

2011-09-24T18:30:00.001+01:00

So yesterday I took my Mum to Bristol for the day. We were walking towards Cabot Circus when we found the street where the Council had allowed graffiti artists to tag the whole street. It’s amazing and beautiful work. I had to take pictures and make layout.

I used a template by Simply Yin and Echo Park Splash

Shanna

My kindle is broken

2011-09-22T20:20:00.001+01:00

My kindle was working fine earlier but when I got home was screen had gone funny.
I called Amazon and its screwed. I talked them into letting me buy a new one at the store near me since I'm going on a four hour train ride tomorrow and they'll give me a full refund when I return the broken one (which they are picking up for free). Not bad customer service.

Proof that marriage can work.

2011-09-17T14:45:00.001+01:00

Back in 1954 my grandfather Arthur married my grandmother Audrey in a joint wedding with his brother Eric and her sister Una. They are still all together today.

While going through my photos finishing up rating and putting them in digital storage binders I found a picture of both couples back in 2007.

Shimelle Lane had just brought out this weeks Starting Point I thought I’d have a go and this photo fitted perfectly. So here is my layout.

Uses Shannon Tidwell’s Joyous collection from Scrapgirls.com

Shanna xx

Scrapping.

2011-09-13T10:28:00.001+01:00

I’ve been reading a lot lately and still working on sorting through all my pictures for digital storage binders as per Finding Photo Freedom, (I’m almost finished with 2008). So I haven’t scrapped as much as I would have liked. But when I saw this weeks sketch from Sketch Support I knew I had to scrap it right away. Here is my interpretation.

Shanna

Grandparents Day.

2011-09-11T10:25:00.001+01:00

Today in addition to being the 10th anniversary of 9/11 it is also Grandparents Day.

This is my paternal grandmother Monica.

When I was about five (over twenty years ago) I was at her house watching TV at her house when Bagpuss came on.

For some reason it clicked in my head that she looked like Bagpuss.

Ever since to my mum, sister and me she has been Nanny Bagpuss (she hates the name so we don’t call it to her face).

Shanna.

10 on the tenth.

2011-09-10T07:12:00.001+01:00

Ten books I have to re-read.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

2. The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver

3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

4. Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins

5. Kate Daniels series by Illona Andrews

6. Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

7. Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead

8. Forgotten by Cat Patrick

9. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

10. Burglar Bill by Janet and Allan Ablberg

Shanna.

Apps

2011-09-03T18:48:00.001+01:00

I have this app Zebra Paint on my phone, it eats up my internet usage for the month but it is great at keeping my niece and nephew entertained. Last Sunday morning it kept all the kids entertained while their mothers slept.

Based on the Sketch Support 1 page sketch for August. Using Echo Park Country Drive.

Shanna.

Magic…

2011-09-02T09:37:00.000+01:00

Growing up I loved watching magic shows on TV. I love watching Paul Daniels and David Copperfield. More recently I’ve loved watching the Masked Magician specials revealing the secrets behind the tricks.

In the last couple of months in the UK they have been showing a show Penn & Teller: Fool Us where magicians attempt to fool Penn and Teller for a chance to go and perform at the show in Las Vegas.

On Saturday it was the last episode and one of the magician’s performing was Martin Daniels son of Paul Daniels performing a trick. I loved it and it reminded me of why I love magic, even if I know how it’s done it is a great art form.

Here is the trick.

Shanna.

Books I read in August

2011-09-01T18:19:00.001+01:00

I finished the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Jekyll Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell

Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby

Heist Society series by Ally Carter

Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler

Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Across the Universe by Beth Revis ( I didn’t actually finish this book)

Remembrance by Michelle Maddow

Perfect Chemistry series by Simone Elkeles

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley

27 books this month.

Not bad.

Shanna.

My weekend…

2011-08-30T18:51:00.001+01:00

So last weekend in the UK we had Bank Holiday which means that I had Monday off work. So my sister and I decided to take her kids to visit our family in Devon for the weekend. When we made the arranagements the week before we remembered was her best friend’s birthday so we all met up at Bristol Zoo.

Four kids under five are a lot of work. Here are some of the pictures from the zoo.

Shanna.

Sean

2011-08-21T17:59:00.001+01:00

So I was going through my photos tagging them for as per Stacey Julian’s Finding Photo Freedom class and I stumbled across a picture of my cousin Sean which I absolutely love from when he was a little kid, (he’s in his twenties now) I remembered seeing a layout I liked in Creating Keepsakes Super-Fast Pages with 4x6 Photos vol 2 by Kelly Purkey called Woot Woot so I decided to lift it using supplies mainly by Echo Park.

Here is my version.

Shanna

Embellishment Clusters

2011-08-20T09:54:00.001+01:00

I don’t know why when I woke up a few hours ago I had the sudden need to figure out how to use embellishment clusters. Looking at digital layouts in galleries I can’t decide whether I like them or not. I understand they can give balance to a layout and work on all sorts of design principles but I still don’t know whether I like them or not.

So anyway I decided to Google it and the first thing that came up was a new class at Big Picture Classes by Sir Scrap-A-Lot called Digital Clustering Like a Pro. Having just finished the Finding Photo Freedom class with Stacey Julian and having heard Aaron Morris (Sir Scrap-A-Lot) on the Digi Show several times and that it was a self paced class that came with a free digi kit and was only $10 I thought it couldn’t hurt to check it out.

So I quickly paid for the class and instant access any time of the day is great. I downloaded the free kit and the two pdfs. The first one walks you through making a layout with the a digital cluster. Here is my attempt.

It’s a cute layout.

I read the other pdf which is all about different ways to use clusters.

But even after a few hours and only one layout I have come to the realisation I DO NOT LIKE EMBELLISHMENT CLUSTERS on my layouts. It looks too busy and distracting.

I have come to the conclusion that even thought I am a digital scrapbooker I like my pages to be simple not overly busy and to look as much like paper layouts as possible. (With the exception of my holiday layouts which I use Yin’s templates for so I can get a lot of pictures on the page. I like more than one picture on the page. I like Allison Davies Sketches, and Becky Higgins sketches and on occasion Page Maps sketches (I own both books but rarely use them).

So for $10 and less than two hours I’m not sure the class was worth it but at lease now I know.

Shanna.

Top 25 Most Played Songs

2011-08-14T16:08:00.001+01:00

Time for another addition of the top 25 most played songs on my iPod. I have a habit of getting caught up on one song and putting in repeat for hours at a time but here is my list

25. Faith Hill – Bringing Out The Elvis

24. Enrique Inglesias – Hero

23. Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

22. Glee Cast – Thriller/Heads Will Roll

21. Bon Jovi - Always

20. Orianthi – According to you

19. Rascal Flatts – What Hurts The Most

18. Gloriana – You Said

17. Cher – You haven’t seen the last of me

16. Celine Dion – Because You Loved Me

15. Glee Cast – Bad Romance

14. Dolly Parton – 9 to 5

13. Westlife – Home

12. Glee Cast – Need You Now

11. Glee Cast – Get It Right

10. Lone Star – Amazed

9. Glee Cast – Beth

8. Glee Cast – Only The Good Die Young

7. Pink – Centrefold

6. Glee Cast – Stop! In The Name of Love / Free Your Mind

5. Celine Dion – Next Plane Out

4. Glee Cast – Shout It Out Loud

3. Whitney Houston – How Will I Know

2. Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad

1. Crossin Dixon – Make You Mine

Shanna

Aidan at 5

2011-08-13T19:50:00.001+01:00

So my nephew turned 5 last Tuesday and I snapped some photos on my phone while we were waiting for dinner at the restaurant we went to for dinner. I thought it would be a good idea to ask him about five of his favourite things and do a layout.

When I had asked him the questions I had him write his name and draw a self portrait on a sheet of white paper with a black pen. I then scanned the paper in and using photo shop I deleted the white background leaving me with just his signature and self portrait.

I had to change the colour of his name to white so it would show up on the layout but it is still his signature. How cool is that?

Shanna.

Bad Aunt….

2011-08-13T09:49:00.001+01:00

So last weekend my niece and nephew over visiting and everything was quiet (not a good sign when you have kids around) when Ashley came in to say ‘her Aidan’ was stuck. We ignored her for a minute until Aidan yelled. So I went to investigate. He had some how managed to lean over the bannister from the wrong side and got stuck.

Being the good aunt that I am I told him to hold still and went and grabbed my camera and took a picture before I helped him down. Oops bad aunt.

Shanna.

Inchcolm Abbey

2011-08-12T20:33:00.001+01:00

Shanna

Ten on the Tenth

2011-08-10T05:25:00.001+01:00

Ten Disney characters from my trip.

Shanna.

Happy Birthday Aidan.

2011-08-09T21:03:00.001+01:00

Today is my nephew’s 5th birthday.

Where does the time go?

Shanna

Creating Keepsakes

2011-08-07T21:33:00.001+01:00

So I signed up for the Creating Keepsakes digital yearly subscription. It’s $19.99 dollars for the year and you get access to the digital copies of the monthly magazine (which is great because the only store I could ever find a copy in was Borders and it closed last year) and access to archive copies back to 2008, and Simple Scrapbooks.

So today I took a break from reading books and read some back issues.

In the June 2008 issue they had this pattern for creating a two page layout, two one page layouts and two cards from only a few pieces of paper. They looked cute and simple to follow instructions using digital supplied from Club Scrap, Weeds and Wildflowers, Echo Park and Scrapgirls I followed the instructions and created the pages digitally in a few hours. Here are the results.

Shanna

Books I Read In July.

2011-08-06T09:05:00.001+01:00

I always read a lot, but with two holidays in July I got to read some more. Here is a list of books I finished in July.

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

To be honest I only read half of this as it is so bad.

The Immortals series by Alyson Noel

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber (the first two I gave up after that)

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

I’m still reading this series into August.

That’s 26 books in a month – that’s not bad.

Shanna.

It’s A Small world

2011-08-04T20:09:00.001+01:00

Some picture from my trip on the ride.

Shanna

Disneyland Paris.

2011-08-03T09:03:00.001+01:00

So I just got back from 3 days at Disneyland Paris. I’m exhausted. Here are a few pictures from Main Street USA.

Shanna

Dream House

2011-07-24T08:19:00.001+01:00

As we are going to Disney this week my two year old niece is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Every time she sees anyone (and it has been this way for the last week) she tells them she’s going to the Disney Castle.

It got me thinking about my dream house. Ever since I was a kid I always wanted to live in the Walton’s House.

I love the idea of the front porch and the giant kitchen and living room. But while the outside would like this I would have to have it modern inside. The grandparents room I would turn into a library and movie room. (I’ve always wanted a library in my house I love books and currently the only way I have them is on my Kindle).

I’d have the entire house wired for internet and music. I’d have a giant America style refrigerator and the big wooden dinning room table. Modern bathrooms and a few more bedrooms but essentially it would a perfect twist. I know the only way I’m going to get my dream house is if I win the lottery but every girl can dream right?

Shanna.

Hunger Games

2011-07-23T14:28:00.001+01:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I started reading this I thought it was a little slow and I was wondering why everyone is raving about it. But once the Hunger games actually started I couldn't put it down. I'm not as in love with as some people but it's a good book. Now time for the next one in the series.

View all my reviews

Ace of Cakes

2011-07-20T19:10:00.001+01:00

While I was on holiday last week I got addicted to reruns of Ace of Cake. One of the episodes that was shown involved making a cake in the shape of a Highland Cow. As a coincidence the next day I went to Glamis Castle they had real Highland Cows.

Shanna xx

Day seven

2011-07-15T18:30:00.001+01:00

Today we to Deep Sea World, we took the train over the Forth Rail Bridge. There was a cuool tunnel with sharks swimming over head. We then went to the National Gallery and saw some paintings by Da Vinci, Botocelli, Raphael. We also went to the National Botanical Gardens.

Day Six

2011-07-14T16:49:00.001+01:00

So today we went to Edinburgh Castle. It is up a very steep hill but has spectacular views over Edinburgh. My feet and back ache from all the walking, but I enjoyed myself. Only one day left

Day five

2011-07-13T17:03:00.001+01:00

Today we decided to go to Dundee for the day. Leaving early we drove to just outside to Glamis Castle. We went on a guided tour and got to see where the late Queen Mother grew up and her wedding dress.

We then drove into Dundee and went to the RRS Discovery, the ship that Scott used to get to the
Antarctic. Afterwards we did a little shopping before heading back to our caravan.

Day four

2011-07-12T19:58:00.001+01:00

So today we caught the train from Edinburgh waverly to south queensferry and went on the maid of the forth boat trip out to Inchcolm Abbey. We then went to Royal Yacht Britannia.
Long day but great fun.

Day three

2011-07-11T21:25:00.001+01:00

Went to Our Dynamic Earth today. We got to travel back in time experience the big bang, a volcanic erruption, we also got to go on a 4d ride through the biospheres of earth. We also got to see a dome show about astronauts.

Had a great time.

Day one and two

2011-07-10T16:16:00.001+01:00

So yesterday we spent ten hours driving to Edinburgh leaving at 5.45am with a few stops at service stations. We finally arrived around 4 and got to our caravan. After waiting for the rain to ease slightly we walked to the shop to get some food trying to avoid giant puddles and the rain.

Today we went Edinburgh zoo. It was great fun but exhausting. I enjoyed the march of the penguins.

10 on the Tenth

2011-07-10T08:28:00.000+01:00

It’s time for 10 things on the Tenth again. However today I am on vacation in Edinburgh, probably planning on going to the Zoo today. So I am pre-posting this.

In honour of the fact that I am in Edinburgh I thought I would post ten photos of places I went when we went there last year.

1. Me at the beach outside where we were staying.

2. My Mum and I at the Zoo.

3. Edinburgh Castle

4. St Giles Cathedral

5. On Arthur’s Seat.

6. Royal Botanical Gardens

7. In Glasgow (technically not Edinburgh but we went there for the day while on our trip)

8. Outside our caravan.

9. In the Park

10. The Scott Monument.

Shanna

Vacation 1

2011-07-08T19:49:00.001+01:00

This year I’m taking two vacations – the first to Edinburgh leaving tomorrow for a week. Then when I get back I’m back for ten days and them I’m going to Disneyland Paris!! Yay!!!

It’s been a busy few weeks trying to get everything done at work to leave the bare minimum for everyone to cover for me.

I need a break.

So I will try blogging from my phone while I’m away. So watch this space looking for some photos.

Shanna.

Another reason I love my Kindle…

2011-07-07T20:24:00.001+01:00

As I pack for my holiday I don’t have to try and figure out how to manage to pack lots of books in a little space. I can take thousands of books with me in a itty bitty space. Got to love technology!!

Shanna

P.S I did try to take a picture but I just burnt my fingers making my friend a birthday cake. Ouch!!

What?!!!

2011-07-02T17:29:00.001+01:00

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh My God!! I'm another one of those people who was screaming at their books at the end.

How could Richelle do that to Dimitri?

Now I'm going to have to read the next book because Richelle has to fix this right?

View all my reviews

Cheeky.

2011-06-28T20:15:00.001+01:00

Shanna

Dragon are scared of sheep!!

2011-06-26T16:57:00.001+01:00

So today when my niece and nephew were visiting we built a castle of our blocks.

Complete with tower, princess and block dragon.

But unfortunately the castle got attached by a big red dragon.

But it was ok because we managed to scare him off with a ….

Sheep. My nephew informed me that that is the only thing they are scared of as he ran away.

And just because it’s cute.

Shanna xx

Kung Fu Panda

2011-06-25T19:36:00.001+01:00

So we took my niece and nephew to the cinema this morning to see Kung Fu Panda 2.

It was good, but since I haven’t seen the first one before I left I asked my two year niece what happened in the first one and she informed me that he ‘kicked people’.

Anyway while we were waiting for the film to start I took a dodgy photo with my camera

The fact that it is a dodgy picture isn’t why i shared it with you. It’s the android app I used to take it.

It’s called Snapbucket, it’s a free app available here.

The app allows you to take pictures, it also allows you to share pictures on twitter or facebook but what is really cool is that it is provided by Photobucket and if you have a Photobucket account you allow it access and it will instantly upload the photos to your Photobucket account. What does that mean? Isn’t back up and no longer having to figure out how to get that picture off your phone and onto your computer as you can download it from Photobucket.

Here are a few other pictures I took with Snapbucket.

Shanna

Tennis

2011-06-23T19:24:00.001+01:00

So we’re reaching the end of the first week of Wimbledon. When I was a kid I used to sit and watch what I could when I wasn’t at school. Now I’m older I don’t have a lot of time to watch Wimbledon, (I will sit and watch the Grand Prix every weekend it’s on) but there is always something I remember (no not Cliff Richard entertaining while it was raining) but it was another event that was shown when it was rained out for the day.

It was the seniors playing – namely Mansour Bahrami playing. He has a great way of making tennis fun and enjoying the game and team him up with Henri Leconte.

So here is a video I found on YouTube of some of his best moments enjoy

Shanna.

Which do you think is better?

2011-06-22T20:51:00.001+01:00

So I’ve been catching up US version of So You Think You Can Dance. I’ve watched season 1-5. I was watching an episode where Melissa and Ade danced to This Woman’s Work and it reminded me that they had done that on the British version too. Which version do you like best?

Or this version by Robbie and Charlie

I personally prefer the Robbie and Charlie’s version. I don’t know if it is because I prefer the way it was shot or just the way it was danced. Isn’t there something so haunting about that song?

Shanna.

My Weekend.

2011-06-20T20:42:00.001+01:00

So what did I get up to at the weekend? I mostly stayed in. The fire is still burning they have it under control but it’s 5000 tones of old tyres. They say it will take weeks to put out as they have to knock a whole in the wall and pull out piles of tyres and put them out one group at a time. So big black clouds are still billowing and you can still smell the rubber burning miles away.

So while I was in I was watching videos on YouTube and some people were discussing the books they had just bought. Some of them sounded interesting so I got them on my Kindle (don’t you just love e-book readers you can get practically any book you want with a couple of minutes no driving to the store or waiting for the mailman.)

So this weekend I read…

Good book, although the ending was a little weird and since I’ve never really read any Edgar Allen Poe (honestly the only work of his I’ve heard of is The Raven and that’s because they had an episode with lots of Poe’s on Gilmore Girls) i missed some of the references.

I also read …

Jessica finds out she is really a Romania Vampire Princess who has been engaged since childhood to Lucius. Who doesn’t love a hot vampire who comes and wants to marry you. (He was even a little less annoying than Edward Cullen in places – why do vampire guys always think they know what’s best for you?)

So that’s what I spent my weekend doing.

Another book that recommended was Entwined which is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses (never hear of it) but I think I’ll save that for next weekend. I’ll go back to reading my Harlequin/Mills and Boon Romance novels which I can usually read in less than an hour when I’ve got time around work.

So what have you been reading lately?

Shanna.

Fire Fire

2011-06-17T18:13:00.001+01:00

(photos by my friend Gareth Jeffs)

So about 1pm yesterday a large warehouse which stores recycled tyres near where I work caught on fire. Thick black clouds of smoke have billowing ever since. They evacuated most of the estate, but they stopped at our road so we had to stay at work. They closed all the roads and the estate down so most of us had to find ways to walk home or walk far enough away that we could get a lift.

They still have 11 fire appliances and 50 fire-fighters there and expect it to still be on fire until at least sunday because as it is burning rubber it counts as chemical fire and they can’t put water on it (despite the fact that they closed the road so they can run giant hoses up it).

Pretty much everyone found a way to walk into work today but by the time we left they started saying the fumes are starting to get toxic. They can cause itty eyes, and coughs and are especially bad for anyone with lung or heart problems. I know the coughing is true as I only had to walk a quarter of the mile and I can’t stop coughing. So I’ve told my grandparents they can’t leave the house until it’s out (even though we live two and a half miles away you can still smell it. It doesn’t help that it keeps raining and there is a 30 mile an hour wind which the fire brigade are saying is making it worse.

Nothing where I work has been despatched for two days as the couriers we used are trapped in as all the roads leading to them are shut.

So here ends an eventful week where also on Wednesday the phone systems at work blew when the electrician tried to do a power test which meant we had to get everyone on mobile phones.

Next week can only get better right?

Shanna.

Lion

2011-06-15T20:50:00.001+01:00

Shanna

Plodding along.

2011-06-13T20:11:00.001+01:00

So I’m plodding along with my Finding Photo Freedom course, purging and rating my images. This weekend I decided I’d work on my photos from my vacation to Edinburgh last year (we’re going again in four weeks and I have already created a scrapbook photobook which my mum stole but never mind). Anyway on this trip we ended up with three cameras (and by ending up with I mean my mum complained about her camera so much that I offered to pay for half of a new one for her as an early Christmas present (very early since it was July!!!))

Anyway when we got back I uploaded the photos from everyone’s cameras onto my computer after deleting the shots that were obviously the floor or some ones finger or were so blurry you couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be I ended up with over 2500 pictures from a weeks vacation. There were tons of duplicates as we all took pictures of the same thing.

So I set myself the task of going through them and purging. So after a busy weekend, (I did a lot of it while the Canadian Grand Prix was rained out for two hours) I now have them down to 1464. That’s over a thousand pictures deleted and to be honest I don’t feel a single bit guilty about it. The pictures I’ve kept are the best ones or the ones that mean something. Give it another year and I’ll probably delete some more especially since we’re going back and i’ll have another 2000 pictures to work through. Or that ten days after we get back I’m going to Disneyland Paris for three days with my sister and her family so you know there will be thousands of pictures there too.

I think this is a step in the right direction. Or maybe it’s just easier to delete pictures of zoo animals and buildings than it is to delete pictures of my niece and nephew (who both have more photos of them in four and two years of life than me, my sister and brother combined (that includes my sisters wedding)).

But there are another eight weeks of class so hopefully I’ll get over the hump and get a much better system going.

However while going through I did find some pictures of the lions I wanted to scrapbook so I’m work on that page right now. Hopefully it will be finished to share tomorrow.

Shanna.xx

Random photos.

2011-06-12T21:28:00.001+01:00

Just some random photos from Edinburgh Zoo.

Haircut

2011-06-11T19:18:00.001+01:00

So I went to the hairdressers this morning. I had 16 inches cut!!

Test

2011-06-11T05:42:00.001+01:00

Just trying to post from my new phone

Ten on the Tenth

2011-06-10T16:57:00.001+01:00

Shimelle Laine has prompted her Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers to make a list of ten thing on tenth.

So here is my ten… Ten reasons I had to get a new phone.

10. My phone randomly dials people while it was in my bag.

9. When it random dials people it doesn’t hang up when they do.

8. It takes forever to switch on.

7. I’ve played all the games and they are really boring.

6. It has a lousy camera on it.

5. It takes forever to do anything.

4. My mum has exact same phone which suddenly one day lost all sound – apparently a common fault after googling to find a way to fix it.

3. I barely use it (i’m on pay as you go I had £70 credit when I went on holiday last july and today I have £49.81 not having topped up in that period.)

2. I really want an iPhone and can’t afford one – so any smart phone will do.

1. Did I mention i HATE my phone.

So today I finished work and went and bought a new shiny smart phone.

Now I just have to figure out how to use it….

Shanna.

you make me smile

2011-06-09T21:26:00.001+01:00

Cow-A-Saurus…

2011-06-07T19:20:00.001+01:00

On our trip to Dinosaur Park Tenby Aidan spotted some cows in a nearby field and insisted that they had to be fake as everything was fake. The cow was real so Nick told him they were cow-a-saurus.

Not my favourite layout but it’s another story told.

Shanna.