I have been playing with some fabulous new releases at Pickleberrypop this week
Pages of Possibility Bundle by Chunlin Designs
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Joyful January Collection by Palvinka Designs
Today I am thankful for
I have been quietly scrapping away and painting and drawing and generally having a lovely, non-descript time. We have had some nice walks, some lovely drives, we have braved the cold and we have eaten out and January, thus far, is proving a rather nice month for us.
I will share some of the scrapping if typepad allows
and as that only took 20 minutes to ad!!!! maybe some art pictures will be acceptable to the tyupepad gods too!
and that one of Corfe is already up on display - for sale - at The Nest along with 12 others - here is one selection of paintings displayed there
Today I am thankful for
We just introduced a new Challenge Game at PBP called SCRAP♥Bingo! Some of you may have lost interest in traditional challenges, but this is anything but traditional! And HEY! Who doesn't love BiNGO?!? So read on, and then give them a try!
YOU will have complete control over the challenge cues you choose to complete, how you interpret the cues & what kind of layout you create for the cues. I'm excited to see your creativity! Oh....and did I mention that several of the cues include a FREEBiE that you can find in our SCRAP♥Bingo Challenge Forum?
Start the New Year off by committing to complete at least 10 layouts per month with us. You'll have loads of fun and and win discounts and a beautiful Berry Blends Kit while you fill up your scrapbooks!
All you have to do is head to the forum and download your SCRAP♥Bingo Game Card from the tracking thread and start scrapping! We have included full instructions in the forum.
If you have questions, just leave them for us in the SCRAP♥Bingo Information Thread.
This is my page with the FWP kit and images of the kits you can snag. It's seriously too good to miss
Happy new year everyone.
I hope tat 2025 treats us all with kindness and brings many happy times and few troubles for everyone.
Our new year was quiet but just the way we like it and we have enjoyed a few lovely walks in the beautiful January sunshine.
I also have scrapping to share
These are all digital pages from Pickleberrypop. There is a gorgeous new free with purchase pack running all month and a fabulous new challenge - scrap bingo - where it is really easy to win great prizes.
and these are a couple of paper pages
Today I am thankful for
It is that time of year when I do my annual review of the past year. I make no apologies if it is not of interest - though I hope you might enjoyt he pictures - but I always say this is fr me - it's my record to look back on.
2024 had been generally a good year. I have stayed cancer free in all areas. Nigel had a little brush with a skin cancer that has now all been removed, and apart from the aches and pains of aging (they are way better than NOT aging) and a nasty bout of flu over the Christmas period we have stayed well and active. We have much to be thankful for on the health front.
We have not been away this year (thanks to Koda but we don't mind at all) but have enjoyed many days out and made the most of our beautiful local area. When you live in a holiday destination the need to go away isn't great. Plus we love our home. It is safe, it is filled with love and we just enjoy being homebirds with the boyz.
Nigel has continued to enjoy his speedway and is so good at what he did and was there to commentate on his team doing the triple this year. Poole Pirates really are amazing.
I continue to love my art., I have scaled back scrapping but have loved doing what I do and I have more time for painting, including teaching many art classes this year.
So a round up via scrap pages.
The beach in no matter what the weather - a favourite
We both attended protests over the dreadful and unnecessary closure of part of our park Sadly the corruption of the council is such that it remains closed much to everyone's horror.
Terrible rain and floods in February
Visits during the year to see god-children we adore
Lots of days out in our truly wonderful county of Dorset
Celebrating anniversaries and naming days
We made the most of our annual membership at Longleat with so many terrific visits
and not only safaris at Longleat - we enjoyed three very different boat safaris around our beautiful harbour - the biggest natural harbour in Europe and second biggest in the world. It makes for a unique and diverse habitat and we enjoyed watching all the birds but especially the ospreys and the incredibly huge white tailed eagles.
Many many trips further afield
and enjoying our home and garden including full renovation of the lounge and spare room
There were three exhibitions and lots of art
and a whole heap of other fabulous memories
so to summarise, we have been very very blessed again this year. We never take for granted all we have and our greatest blessings are in the joy we share together, be they little daily things at home, day trips and adventures or just sharing laughs together. We really do have a wonderful life.
Thank you for still reading - though thanks to the technology that is typepad I blog so much less. I wish you all health and happineass, love and laughter for 2025.
I am fast losing patience with typepad so I am sorry I have been posting rarely.
It's not because I don't want to post - it's just that it hates me adding pictures so that makes for very boring posts.
But I am trying here again
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Wrapped in Memories Collection by Chunlin Designs
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Wintry Collection by Tiramisu Designs
Wonder of Winter collection by Cindy Ritter
Well it kind of worked.
In other news we have both been ill. We think probably flu as it knocked us for six, though we are recovering well. But it has been a hard old week with little sleep due to excessive coughing. I think we were both run down because of the hard work of a month long renovation project. We are too old for the physical effort really. However, whilst it was never going to be a pretty room, since it is the boys' room with all of their paraphernalia, it looks neat and clean and loved. It was filled with mismatched furniture, dated wallpaper and a broken floor. It is clean and bright and functional and a lot more spacious. The plaster came off in chunks so we had to replaster a lot of it - Nigel did it - and we had to paint and paint and paint and then have the new floor laid then the carpet then build all of the furniture but the cats approve and that is the main thing. I will try to add some photos of before, during and after
The deadly before
The hellish during ...
and the new room with furniture carpet and cats!
It has been incredibly busy here with all the decorating and we are both exhausted. I am almost ready to share pictures but we have one more thing to build and so it will wait.
But we are both stiff and way too old to be doing all of this.
I have also been bust scrapping and painting. I am doing the de Winton paper company advent calendar again this year and playing along with the Christmas event as Scrap a Sketch, the 12 days of Christmas at Scrap Squad and the stuff your stockings event at Pickleberrypop
Digital pages first
Paper pages
and we did pop to Winchester Christmas market. This was one seriously huge vat of mulled wine!
Today I am thankful for
We had the most amazing day at Longleat on Monday. I took two of my best photos of animals - both of which I plan to paint and the festival of lights was utterly amazing.
I will try and add a few photos but I am guessing typepad won't like it
and I will try a couple pf lantern pictures
yes the castle and the pyramnid are silk lanterns but this year you could walk through them - it was amazing
You will have to imagine the others - there were dozens and dozens - as typepad is soooo slow.
We had a wonderful thanksgiving meal yesterday and went to Mottisfont today to see the Nutcracker display
And these are new releases out today
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Silver Frost Bundle by et designs
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Count your blessings bundle by Carol W designs
Today I am thankful for
wonderful days out
Chinese lanterns
Thanksgiving - I try and be thankful every day but it is good to have the mind even more focussed on gratitude
There are some great berry big deals to snap up today at Pickleberrypop
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Enchanted November BBD Bundle by TirAmisu Designs
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Here and Now BBD Bundle by Chunlin Designs
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Frozen Lace BBD Bundle by et designs
I will start with the positives, but I do try and find the positives in everything really. So perhaps it is all positive
First of all - we went to an amazing evening at Salisbury Cathedral. It was an exhibition/experience in sight and sound and light and was amazing. On the theme of time it featured 8 light and sound installations inside and outside the cathedral so amazing lights and projected images on the medieval architecture. It is hard to describe but was like being inside a giant kaleidoscope.
I have some photos but they really don't do it justice
So typepad doesn't like the images of Salisbury and simply won't add any more.
Onto other news without pictures obviously.
I am now the chairman of our local PPG group - not quite sure how that happened but it did. In a year I appear to have become the chair of two groups and the secretary of a third. Still, it was a good way of being able to give something back to the community.
I taught another art class at club for 25 people and a beginners class for 10 people and we have started major work on the boys room.
We are having to do it very very slowly because Koda cannot stand change at all, so we are spreading it over four weeks. We are in week 2 now. We thought 4 weeks was ages, but it turns out it is not as long as we thought because when we took the wallpaper off it took a considerable amount of the plaster as well so we have a LOT of work to do to make the walls good.
The good news is that we are still pacing it for Koda's benefit - and for ours as we are old - and so have days off between work days to give him 'recovery' time.
Today was glorious and we had a fabulous day out in Sherborne.
And the autumn colours are still beautiful
I also took a cold porcelain class and made some poppies which I thoroughly enjoyed
and I have been working hard to make lots of new things for craft fairs which are coming up soon
and typepad has decided no more pictures. I was going to share scrapping but it's not keen
Today I am thankful for
