Been crafting.... :-)

..... but first... we've lived in Chesterfield for 10 years now, and this is the first time I have taken a photograph of the crooked spire. How bad is that? It is a beautiful church from the outside, and I have no doubt that most people like the inside. Personally I find the colours inside too "rich" - all gold and red; but it is the Parish Church so I guess justified? It's probably because of the church I used to go to as a child and the one we got married in - both fairly simply decorated but beautiful because of the structure and architecture. But like I said - my opinion only and I love the church from outside.

 

This is a card that a work colleague asked me to make for a wedding at which he was best man. The colours were brown and orange apparently! The couples initials are on the outside. When he told us the colours we all yukked and didn't believe him! :-D But google brown and orange wedding and you'll see why we changed our minds.

And finally a planner that I made. I know it's late but it's for a friend who really liked the quotes. It's designed by this wonderful blogger who has shared her ideas here: http://brendaarnall.typepad.com/its_a_new_day
There is a link to the planner on the left hand side of her blog if you want to have a go yourself.
This isn't the first one I've made, but I forgot to take photo's of the others. (One for me, one for DD and one for DS2's girlfriend - which has gone back to the States with her.)
They were all slightly different in that different pages have gone in them, and the covers are all different.


That's it for now. Speak soon. xx

Been a while

Morning! Sorry it's been a while, but I don't seem to be taking many photos or doing much crafting. Or maybe I have!? Had a look and I have these photos to share, and I know I took some photos last night of a planner I've made for a friend and a card I was commissioned for. Will have to get those onto the computer before I can put them on here though - and since I should really be getting ready for work, not typing this, I think downloading had better wait - for now at least.

 Had to go down to check the floodgate so (of course) took the camera with me. Lovely robin - sat there while I got the camera out and then started hopping around the fence... :-D And of course - the only time it sat still I chopped it's head off - not literally of course; the only photo of the whole robin is out of focus because he was about to take off again!

Iced up canal: Not like it was around Christmas and New Year when it was really thick - this is just Jack Frost with beautiful patterns. Reminded me of when I was little and Jack Frost used to visit the inside of our bedroom windows.

And this scene just made me smile; with the light coating of frost everywhere, the sun was shining; people I passed were smiling and wanting to chat rather than complain like they often do when they meet one of us on the canal. To the left is the Highways Department yard and some small industrial units, beyond that the A61. The bridge you can see carries traffic to the travel lodge and beyond that the A619 (or is it the 617? Never can decide - it's the Chesterfield to Worksop road anyway.) To the right is a complex of "apartments" with the main London to Sheffield railway behind them. It was so peaceful. For the first time in I don't know how long..... I was happy. Just happy. I could have stayed out there all day.

OK. That's it for now. Must go and get ready for work now. Not going to be doing anything like this today - going to one of the other offices to start on the archiving - getting rid of filing cabinets and someone has to make decisions about what paperwork needs keeping. I eventually get fed up of asking, someone else trying to make a decision, and me just chucking it in the end... :-D
Speak soon. xx

Finally finished Document 2010 pages

Well, here they are! My final pages for Document 2010. I've really enjoyed doing this. I do need to do first and last pages, but am not getting stressed about them because I have no idea at the moment what I am going to do, but know that I will figure it out.  Thanks for looking. Do leave a comment if you have enjoyed following my 2010. Jude.x

First Page

Collage Page 1

Collage Page 2

Focus Page

Changes!

OK! So I've been playing around because my background is a Shabby Blog one, and I had a message asking me to update. Boy! I so shouldn't be allowed out on my own...... I have spent most of the evening trying to get stuff back because I somehow deleted the "layout" Edit bar thingy! I've got everything back except the font I was using - that's for another evening now! I'm not sure about the background though - doesn't look the same with posts on it! :-\ Tell me what you think?
No photos to share. have almost finished December's Document:2010 but needed to add some stuff to the final page, which was this evening fun..... until Blogger took over! Oh Well! It's my weekend off work so plenty of time, I guess.
Speak soon. Jude.x

Waxwings

Morning! Just thought I'd share some photo's with you. I love working at Tapton Lock because it might literally be surrounded by roads and railway line but we get some great wildlife - especially birds. But in all the time I've worked there this is only the third time I have seen waxwings, and the first time I have had the camera with me. So here are just a few of those photo's - I've not done anything with them other than download and now upload them, and the light wasn't the best yesterday.......

Four or five trees were temporary homes like this one.





 


You can see their "tufts" here; that "just got out of bed" look!

Feeding on the berries on the tree. If I'd spent longer getting to know my camera I'd have got a better photo than this - they kept moving! LOL!

Beautiful colouring not very clear here.

Hope you enjoyed looking? Speak soon. xx

Reflections

No. Not reflections of the last year but of things I've seen, although I will start with the Christmas tree. Only realised that the reflection was there the night before we took the tree down. I'd turned on the lights because it would be the last time for this Christmas, noticed the reflection of the lights on the floor and had to take a photo of it. And the amazing thing is that the floor was clean enough to show a reflection! My "boys" don't realise that floors need to be cleaned normally so it was a pleasant surprise to come home from work one day and find that they had cleaned all the floors downstairs. :-)

The following photos were taken on the canal on the day after New Years Day when I went for a walk. First is a Tufted Duck, which I've never seen on the canal before. And which refused to come close enough for a decent photo, but I'm quite pleased that this is good enough to make a positive ID!

 

Then a swan reflected on the canal  (can't remember if that's the male or female) and a female mallard on the bank side.




And finally trees reflected in the canal. In the background you can see the famous Crooked Spire although it's too far away to reflect in the canal.


I'm so going to have to go through my photos and do some scrapping of reflections.. I know I've always been a bit obsessed with reflections so probably have loads of photos I can use.


I haven't made any resolutions because I never keep them anyway, but I am going to try to craft more and get to grips with Blogger!!! It never looks how I think it's going to... :-( I never seem to be able to get the text match up with the photos and I seem to have two different templates working together!? How that happened I have no idea. And how on earth do you make the title text larger?!  What do you think about the text colour by the way? It's about the only thing that I can make different, and thought it would make a change from the black I usually leave it.  So that's it until next time. Speak soon. xx            

Bluuuuuuuuurh, stuff and thoughts

First up is the Document:2010 pages for November. Can't believe I have completed all this - always full of enthusiasm for stuff but then find it difficult to carry through for one reason or another. Anyway, only one month left and here I am!!!





First page still needs the receipts, etc putting in the envelope, but I tidied up for Christmas and can't reach any of them until I move everything back to what is "normal" mode in the dining room. hehehe! The colours on these photo's are rubbish because it's been misty outside for the past couple of days so no sunlight in the house. Have had to use the camera flash which doesn't show the true colours.

Next up are the two "collage" pages. Such an odd month weather-wise.... started off like a lamb - lovely sunshine reflecting the trees on the canal; then the wind blowing trees over the Trans Pennine Trail - HS and I went out and spent a couple of hours making it safe and removing it from the trail. Being "girlies" instead of the "special ones" we aren't allowed to use any tools that have a bigger motor than a sewing machine, so all we had was a land rover, bosaw and some rope. Great fun though. We left PB to cut it down with the chainsaw - knowing how much he enjoys that! :-) BUT! The REALLY bizarre thing is that the following morning PB went up the trail to remove the tree and..... wait for it..... It had been turned round to face the opposite direction! Seriously. It had taken HS and me and hour to manoeuvre it into that position using the land rover and rope, because it WAS really heavy. Normal vehicles aren't allowed on the trail, so who moved it and how the hell did they move it? :-D Like I said - bizarre!
Then came the snow. Oh Boy! The snow. It was the last Tuesday of November. I've already blogged about it so won't bore you with anymore, except to say...... if we had been able to book the weekend away that we wanted, we'd have been stranded in Scarborough by the snow!

And finally my focus page for November was our weekend in Scarborough. Lovely views. Relaxing time. Good to get away and unwind.











Today I took Phil and Steph to Chatsworth, but with the mist/fog, we saw nuffink!! :-( So we moved on to Harwick, which again, I knew would be closed but that we would be able to get closer so may be able to show Steph a bit more than a misty field... :-)



 So here is the new Hall - in the background. We were able to see a bit more than this... I love the windows... I love the inside when we can get in! :-) Especially the Gallery - my desire is to lie on the floor and just look up at the ceiling - one day I will!











And then the Old Hall. So beautiful in the mist. Told Stephanie that she has to come back in the summer when they are open and we can show her some real history. I much prefer Hardwick to Chatsworth. ???? I find it much more powerful. Does that make sense? I know what I mean... Chatsworth is like mutton dressed as lamb in so many ways; like they are trying to be something they know they can't be (even though the Cavendish's probably ARE something they can be!) Don't know what it is.....

And here they are.... The Old Hardwick Hall IS in the background; you can just make it out. If only the two of them had worn boots instead of Converse.... Steph is from Los Angeles and apparently they don't do any walking over there?!! Mmmmm! I'm sure "they" must do. I admit they don't walk around the city (Philip says there are no sidewalks until you reach the retail areas!) but surely they go for walks? They have parks and countryside. They HAVE to walk in them? But aren't they cute? He's hoping to go back out there in March. This is getting serious! Anyone know if it's easier to get a resident visa for the UK or the USA? :-D
And Finally......
It's almost the New Year, and I don't think I have ever been so pleased to see the back of a year. I can't wait for 2011. 2010 has been total crap. We've never had such a bad year. Not even previous years when one of us has been seriously ill, or had a "condition" diagnosed. 2010? Good Riddance. I have learnt several things though which I will take into 2011 as lessons learned and not to be repeated. I am also going to try to take more time for ME! If I want to do something I'm going to do it! I'm NOT going to feel guilty. It's time to move on. Watch this space.........
Speak soon. Happy New Year. Jude.x