Sharing these layouts today has reminded me that I have SBS again (Slow Blogger Syndrome) . . lol Im blaming the glorious weather we are having . . . . it doesnt happen here in Ireland that often so when it does we have to make the most of it.
Both of these LO’s have been done for the weekly challenges on UKS over the past 2 weeks and they both feature photograph’s from my scrappy retreat to Loch House in April.
This first one features a photo of me which was taken by my lovely friend Lesley. Regular readers of my blog will know that I really dont like getting my picture taken but its something Im trying to overcome so that I can include myself in my scrapbooking . . . as my husband said, its all well and good leaving a legacy of scrapbook layouts behind but your not in any of them!
The criteria for the challenge included using two photo’s for a ‘before and after’ theme, some fussy cutting, something hidden and using a frame. I combined two of the criteria so my ‘something hidden’ is also my ‘before’ photo.
So, here I am caught on camera!
The hidden pink pocket holds my ‘before’ photo:
‘Before’ being the colour version of the portrait before it was converted into black and white! On the back of the insert is my journaling with details of who took the photo and where.
The second LO features 4 out of the 5 of us ladies who were at Loch House. Unfortunately Donna had already left before we had the notion to take the photo’s but we will remedy that next time we are there!
The challenge this time was to use Black and White with a touch of yellow, 2 photo’s, something old and something new and an element from one of the sentences of the Magpie rhyme (I chose Gold) and incorporated it by using gold bling around my bloom centre.
I thought this challenge suited these photo’s perfectly! I was really pleased with how the photo’s came out and didn’t want to distract from them in anyway by over loading the LO with too many embellishments. Clean, crisp and elegant is how I would describe it.
I will share the other photo’s from our mini Loch House shoot in a separate post!
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve not blogged for a while, I’ve not done any crafting for awhile either. Life has a habit of throwing you a bombshell every now and then just to remind us of what's really important in this life so I have been spending lots of time with my family doing family stuff. The unseasonably great weather we have been having here has helped as we have been outdoors so much enjoying the beach and the beautiful woodland area’s we are surrounded by. I always have my camera with me what ever we are doing so the one thing I have been doing lots of lately is taking photographs.
I have my weeks 12 and 13 of the 52 Walks to blog today but as yet I still dont have a LOST photo for week 11 so Im a little out of sync, but hey thats life right?
So, Week 12 and 13 were done during the same walk. We headed out to the beautiful Ness Woods Country Park last week (there are photo’s on my Flickr page) and had the most relaxing day in the woods. The weather was perfect and the sky was crystal clear all day long.
Week 12 – Awakening
Spring is the time of awakening, so many new shoots were emerging from the woodland floor and the trees and shrubs are all starting to awaken. I love these blooms, Im not sure what they are as I am terrible with horticultural stuff but I know they are so pretty. A few blooms had appeared from what looked like a load of dead wood. Im going to go back in a few weeks to see these area when its wide awake!
Week 13 – Nest
When I saw this weeks prompt from Cheryl I immediately thought – great! This is going to be easy, there must be nests everywhere – boy was I wrong. We didnt see one all day long, I had everyone on the lookout. We did spot a few nest boxes but that wasn’t quite what I wanted. Then we came across this old farm building in a clearing just off the woodland walk full of crows. Wow! So I was very happy to get these photo’s of a very large nest:
Long may this wonderful weather continue! Somehow, I think I am wishful thinking, but a girl can dream.
3 weeks photo’s to blog all at once means I am all caught up with my Snap 2012 project.
First up is Week 9 – Home
This theme coincided with a trip back to London to see my sister so I thought it only fitting but to get some photo’s back where I come from. Im a stronger believer that home is where the heart is and my heart is firmly set here in Donegal but I suppose London is my hometown. Im a Bermondsey girl, hence the Welcome to Bermondsey sign!
Week 10 – Green
Now living where I do the ‘green’ theme should be really easy! Yes, I am surrounded by green fields but I decided to go with this pretty lone snowdrop instead, nestled in amongst the grass on the roadside just outside our house.
Week 11 – Relax
Not something I get to do much of lately! So my chosen subject for this theme fell to the adorable Miss Lola La’Finkle who loves the sun – cant you tell ?
Suzie, our host for Snap 2012 also gave us a link to Pixl-r-omatic to play around with different borders, frames and effects. Now I love my Photoshop Elements but this was so much faster and easier to use!
So, there we go all up to date. I cant believe we are well into March now and I am still keeping up with this and my 52Walks projects.
This week’s theme ‘stretch’ had me thinking. Originally I was going to go to Lagg Beach and take a photo of the long stretch of golden sand but the weather has been very wet here (again!) so I had to have a rethink.
The dogs love their run on the beach regardless of the weather so I got this shot (and yes it was ‘staged’ to fit the theme . . lol) between showers. Out of the 7 dogs we had down there Sam was the most willing to stretch for the glove. If we had thought the plan out a bit better we would have taken treats with us then they all would have stretched!!
This weekend I am heading ‘home’ to the UK to spend the weekend scrapbooking with friends in Newcastle before visiting family in London & Essex next week. My camera is packed and I’ll be logging on the find out what theme Cheryl has in store for us for Week 11 of the 52 Walks. It will be great to be away and get a chance to take some photo’s in a different area.
The new format competition is up and running on I Heart Faces and this month is all about Black & White. The photo’s submitted to their challenges are amazing so I feel a little intimidated about entering mine but Im giving it a go!
I love this photo of Tony taken at Culdaff Beach last week. He was watching his dad playing in the waves with the dogs so didn’t see me turn the camera on him which resulted in this very natural smile.
Click on the logo above to visit the rest of the entries!
Our theme this week is ‘New’ and I have interpreted that as New life using a Ewe and her adorable twin lambs as the focus of my attention.
Yesterday we had crazy weather here, Icy morning, sunshine and showers in the afternoon and snow in the evening! Despite all that we still managed to get out for most of the day to Kinnego Bay where the boys spent the afternoon kayaking while I took photo’s (I got some great ones of them kayaking which I’ll share in another post!) At the top of the steep road which leads down to the bay there are some fields where I spotted a flock of Ewe’s with their new born lambs. I set my lens one particular Ewe as she seemed interested in me and didn’t take her eyes off me for a second, even though I was using a zoom lens and I was quite a distance back from the hedge she know I was watching her.
So I took a few photo’s but wasn’t happy with them as I wanted both the lambs to be looking my way I got lots like this:
So I am waiting patiently for the two lambs to look my way, clicking away so as not to miss the opportunity when this Magpie decided he wanted in on the action:
Just as the lambs were starting to cooperate with me they got distracted by him flying in. I love how they both look round at their Mum. I can just imagine the lambs saying ‘Hey Mum you have a bird on your back’ and the Mum replying ‘I know, but will you please smile at the lady with the camera so she’ll go away and leave us alone’ . . lol, me and my imagine!
Eventually though Mr magpie flew off and my patience paid off as I got the photo I wanted with both lambs and Mum posing perfectly for me:
A love seeing the lambs around the fields at this time of year as it’s another sure sign to me that Spring is definitely on the horizon.
