10 on the tenth...............February 2012

Today is the tenth of the month and so today we join the International bloghopping world of Shimelle Laine to talk about ten things of interest/education/prettiness/just likeable.
Today I would like to share ten films which I would highly recommend to you or would like to see...............
1. War Horse

 

I went to see War Horse in our tiny little cinema in Wells with my dad. The last time we saw a film together was there and it was Saving Private Ryan, so not recently. It was lovely to sit with someone and you get tea and biccies as well! It doesn't matter if you've read the book or not, this is a beautiful film. The acting is amazing, even the horses deserve an Oscar. The musical score is perfect and our countryside looks beautiful. Take a box of tissues or kitchen roll as I did.

2. Bridesmaids

 

I don't usually go for this kind of comedy however I loooooved this film on DVD so much. It was funny, poignant and downright nasty at times. The female lead is just so brilliantly cast and her foil is perfect. If you are getting married and want a fun film to show to ur future bridesmaids to show how NOT to behave, then this is it.

3. The Woman in Black

 

This is the next film my dad is taking me to see. Having read the book several times and seen the theatre production, not to mention a TV version, I am looking forward to seeing the film at last. This is a scarey story with lots of psychological and haunting ghosty stuff. I am sure Daniel Radcliffe will be great in the title role. I have to watch myself in the cinema though as I screamed in the theatre.

4. One Day

 

Now this is one of my favourite books of all time and I was worried about how the film would be made. The relationship between the two leads is so important and so I watched this with my heart praying for success. I think Jim Sturgess is amazing as Dex but would have preferred a British actress for Emma. It is a good film, another hankie job I'm afraid, and one I would recommend.

5. Despicable Me

For me the one and only reason to watch this film is for the minions who are cool and yellow. This film is hilarious and brilliant for family watching.



6. Knocked Up

 

I love Katherine Heigl's romcoms and this is the first one I saw. She is brilliantly cast as the beautiful TV anchor woman who get's promotion and meets the man you would never expect to get with her and what happens when 2 months later the gets ''knocked up''. What ensues is funny and life affirming.

7. Enchanted

Ah Enchanted, my fave piece of musical fluff and romance. The Happy working song can get you through the housework any day and what this princess can do with curtains is awesome. A great family movie for the girls with romance and scarey evil Queen thrown in for good measure.

8.Chronicle

This film isn't out yet but looks amazing. Part sci-fi, part psychological thriller, it charts the events which follow three young men being given super powers after falling into a hole.

9. Dog Soldiers

 

A few years old now, but one of my fave horror movies. What happens when an army section finds the aftermath of an attack on their military comrades. Well werewolves of course!!! This film has gore, humour and thrills and although not especially terrifying the CGI is good and the werewolves pretty unrelentless.

10. The Italian Job

 

Full of classic lines and of course Michael Caine, this is an all time classic. You must watch this before even thinking of seeing the re-make which is nothing like the original.



I hope you will find something to your taste in this list and perhaps some new favourites for yourselves. What would you recommend I see next I wonder?

Storytelling Sunday.......................but baby it's cold outside.

Good Morning and welcome to February's edition of Storytelling Sunday. An event brought to you in conjunction with Sian ''From High in the Sky''. If you are new to this event, on the first Sunday of the month many international bloggers come together and tell a story of something which happened to them either in words or pictures, or both. Sian is our coordinator and so if you would like to read the other stories please pop over and see the links at the bottom of her story.

Yesterday it snowed, alot. It was all I could do to get back into our little hospital compound in my car, even in first gear poor Izzie was having a hard time. The cats were not that amused either especially Holly who thought it was rather demeaning for a 17 year old lady to have to go outside in it. Willow on the other hand was slightly more interested in leaving her paw prints in the car park.

Anyway, todays story comes to you with the support of the letter 'C' which is the name of the young lady I would like to tell you about. The letter will maintain her anonymity. I first met this young lady when she about 2 weeks old. She had been born at 28 weeks gestation and she was the first premature baby I looked after right the way through to discharge. In those days, incubators were much less moveable than they are now, these days they have mega-double glazing, special doors which stop the oxygen levels dropping, rubber bits to hold ventilator tubing and drips and are generally much more state of the art. Back in 1988, when this young lady was new born, the incubators were pretty old fashioned but they kept the baby's warm and safe.

I had always wanted to be a midwife but as I came towards the end of my general nursing training I became interested in special care so I spent several weeks working on my days off on the special care baby unit at The London Hospital. It gave me the confidence to apply for a position on the NICU in Reading and so in February 1988 I found myself working as a newly qualified staff nurse. To say it was scarey is an understatement. My second day, I was looking after a baby with so many tubes in I didn't know whether I was coming or going. I nearly threw in the towel.

This photograph is not of any baby I cared for but was a picture available on Google images to retain confidentiality and protection.

However, watching the smallest of babies growing and developing under such tough circumstances was incredible. I have held babies small enough to fit into the palm of my hand and watched babies who we thought wouldn't survive, miraculously pull through sometimes will only the will of God and their parents. It was truly an amazing part of my life to be a small part of the lives of so many precious babies who now like 'C' are grown up and doing incredible things with their lives. Oh did I forget to mention this particular premmie is now a lawyer?

In total I have worked in Reading, Cambridge, Southampton and Salisbury NICU's over a 13 years period and saw and learned a huge amount about love, resilience and courage. Looking back, I had some of the best years of my nursing career caring for these babies and their families.

If you would like to read about other babies cared for in Reading then go to this link where parents share some of their children's stories.

February OLW Blog hop.

Welcome to the February edition of One Little Word Bloghop. You may have arrived here from Erin's lovely blog, if you didn't then pop on over and check it out. Th list of all the lovely OLW ladies taking part with all their blog addresses it at the end of this post. If you want to go to the very beginning then go over to Margi's blog and start from there.

This is my first time hopping and there alot of blogs to get through today, so without further ado I will tell you what I have been up to.

You may recall this post where I explained about my choice of word which this year is ''BE''. I began making an embroidery of that word a few weeks ago and here is the big reveal.

So here is my completed embroidery and I made it into a wall hanging which is softly stuffed. I had some vintage type lace which I have edged the design with and everything was handstitched together. I have mainly used french knots, chain stitch, satin stitch and cross stitch in the design along with a variety of different beads. I added in the flowers because I wanted to have a butterfly and a bee in the mix.

Here is a close up of the bee which is cross stitched and has gold beads for the wings. The back stitch is just to define the shape.

Here is a closeup of the bottom corner with a butterfly cross stitched and Frnech knots and lazy daisy flowers. The red heart in the B is also French knots. These are very easy stitches and fill the space quickly.

On the E I used fewer flowers and there is more beadwork and French knots.

The metallic thread outlining the E is held using couch stitch and then edged with further chain stitch. I really enjoyed making this piece and it has inspired my love of embroidery again.

So next on the hop is Coley

Margie              http://xnomads.typepad.com

Sharyn            www.lavieenchic.com           

Jill                          http://jillconyers.com

Lynn                        www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Jenn                        www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Carmen            http://www.carmenpaulsorthner.com

Marilee            http://rose-brier.blogspot.com      

Kristina            http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/

Cindy            C            http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com

Kelly                        http://mindingmynest.com

Cheri                        http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Cindy                        http://seriousplay.typepad.com

Brooke            www.everysnapshot.com

Naomi                        www.poeticaperture.com

Melissa            http://www.smudgetime.com

Karen                        http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com

Melissa S            http://blog.mshanhun.com

Devon                        http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Donna                         http://holimess.blogspot.com/

Dawn                        sunshineandcreativity.com

Katrina             www.katrinasimeck.com

Sam                        http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com

Monica             http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberlee              http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com

Missus W            http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/

Kaylea                         http://www.myscrappylife.com

Nikki                        Www.inkyart.com.au

Erin                        http://erinsparkes.typepad.com/optimstic-fascination/

Jo                        www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com

Coley                        http://coleybelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-word-for-2012.html

Beth                        www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com

Veronica            www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Jamie                        http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/

Monica B            http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Lisa                   http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Rebekah         http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Jan                  http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com

Veronica            http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Cate                        www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Stephanie              www.scrapworthylives.com

Orange Gearle            http://orangegearle.blogspot.com

Tere                           http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Junelle                  http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/ 

Ruth                  http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Becky                  www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com

Miss Smith in da house.............

So I am currently way behind in my homework for the class being run by Miss Smith of Curiouser and Curiouser . If you read her wonderful blog, or even if you don't, you will need to be aware that she is a true school maam of the Maths teaching kind. Now I was terrified of my Maths teacher, not only because I constantly made glaringly obvious mathematical errors in my homework but also because I barely scraped a C in my Maths O' level. In order to be a nurse, I had to be fairly maths proficient and certainly working out medications for tiny baby's does test your maths ALOT. And you're not allowed to use calculators either. Anyway, if you haven't read her blog, it is a treat of crafting goodness and brilliant teaching anecdotes. She will be published I am sure one day on those alone.

So Miss Smith's class is called ''Just One Sketch'' and is running from 15th January for 6 weeks. We get private blog access and posts twice a week during that time. The cost is an amazing £5.00 donation to The Girl Guides Association which as an old girl is a truly worthy cause. So to avoid detention, I am posting my first homework assignment today.


Our first task was to look at our recent scrapbooking layouts to see the key design features we use and what we actually like about the pages. I have actually chosen some recent and couple of older layouts as I wanted some variety to assess, so here are my six made into a collage, most of which you will have seen before...........

In my layouts I tend to use scraplifting from time to time and also my own designs so these are a real mix. Having them laid out like this really helps to highlight some of the key facets of my scrapbooking design and style:

• I like to have an array of big titles using a mixture of different typography and styles,
• I love bling, whether that be using pearls or glittery stickers, I have to have them somewhere,
• I seem to have begun using more paint and misting recently to highlight parts of my layouts, primarily due to a class I took and also the influence of other scrapbookers especially Heidi Swapp and Shimelle Laine,
• I primarily use one picture although I have on some occasions used more than one, especially when doing a page about a bigger event like S and G's wedding.
• I like to make some of my own elements such as the flowers and I like using fabrics and ribbon,
• Sometimes I journal alot but on other occasions I write little or nothing at all,
• I normally use 12 x 12 paper and cardstock as my size of choice,
• I usually use layers of patterned paper to highlight my photos,
• Most of my pages have some kind of distressing and inking on them be that the photo itself, or the patterned papers.

So using these elements, Miss Smith has now challenged us to draw our own sketch, which will form the basis of our class work and the layouts we make. So I'm to find some scrap paper and give it a go. If you fancy joining in Miss Smith is not currently giving out detentions for late attendance.

And here is my sketch:

 

I have used the design thing from Word 2007 which was quite simple to use. I have kept it simple so I can add things to the page I would like to. The orange shape will be the photo.

By the by, if you are interested in coming along to our second Blog friends weekend away, then hop on over to Lizzie Made for further details of when we are thinking of and where.

One Little Word Project.................the word.

When I chose my word ''BE'' I was really happy as it had taken me a while to decide unlike other years when I had already got a word in mind. As many of you know I have a Pinterest account, who hasn't, and began collating my resources and ideas quite quickly. I have got a number of images and quotes but when I found this I was hooked straight away.

It was a link to the blog of Rachel Sower's ''Blog By hand''  where she creates beautiful things and has a passion for embroidery. She had chosen the word Give has her word to live by this year and had created a beautiful embroidery of her word.

 So I decided to create one for my word. To begin you need to choose a font on your computer to write your word. I chose Castellar and sized it at 350 to get a reasonable design. Here is what it looks like on screen..........

The next task is to choose soem fabric. I have a stash of embroidery stuff, yep I know more stash!!!!!!! I used a piece of linen in cream and found a range of different flosses and beads, which Rachel also used. I then traced the word onto tracing paper and transferred the image onto the linen old school style. You need to go over the image afterwards to ensure it is clear. Then you use black thread and backstitch around the image to make your frame. Mine looked like this..........

Once this part is complete, you are pretty much free to do whatever you like to make the word yours. I foun d some reflective beads in different sizes and chose these to accent the first letter with. These pictures show what the process looked like...........

 I didn't go with a plan just went for it, as Rachel suggested be organic, so I was. I will next choose some different colours and begin filling out the design with different images and stitches. I am primarily a cross stitcher but can also do chain stitch and French knots so will use those. I plan to put a heart shape in one of the B holes and also some flowers and a bumble bee of course.

 My other idea came from JimJams who had shown how to make a card using different languages and the words Thank-you. I hopped over to the design site called Taxedo and made a foot shape using the definition of ''Be'' I had found in the online dictionary. I chose a foot as it represents my footsteps and prints over the coming year. Here is the end result.................

So have you done something a bit different for your word this year?

Glimmer misting fun...................

If, like me, you love using glimmer mists on your projects, or even if you are a novice Shimelle Laine's new project as Glitter Girl solver of all problems scrapbooking has a new video and tutorial this week over at Two Peas in a bucket. There is an excellent description and demonstration of the different mists available and how you can use them, and also a bonus video of other techniques from other Two Peas tutors. Not bad for a free class.


Last weeks challenge was using memorabilia on a layout so go check that one out too. Personally I tend to use Tattered Angel's glimmer mists primarily because I started off buying those at my local crop and have a few now which I use regularly. This is one of my favourite colours       I also love Glimmer Glam by tattered angels which is highly glittered type of paint on glue/varnish. It makes bows and paper ruffles firm and protected with that all important shine. I use chandelier as it goes with everything due to it being clear. The glitteriness is brilliant if, like me, you adore that glittery bling. They also have a great list of video tutorials on how to best use the products.

So go forth and experiment xxxx

10 things on the tenth: books to read and live by?

Today I would like to share 10 books with you which I aim to read this year and either make something from, learn from or just simply enjoy. This list is brought to in association with Shimelle Laine. So in no particular order we have:

Super-cute felt by Laura Howard or as many of us know her ''Lupin''. This is Laura's first foray into the publication world and is a beautifully written and designed book using her skills as a felt stitcher. She has further expanded into knitting over the past year on her blog. She sells beautiful pieces of felt creations on her Etsy site and is definately worth a read. I am hoping to make her owl egg cosy into something more stuffed and their are over 35 projects to try.

Second is Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. This book was a buy after the inspiring workshop we did with Lizzie at our weekend away. I was so excited to finally see her doing her thing as it were and wanted to learn more so got this book from Amazon. There are over 100 projects to try and I am lucky enough to have found some great thread locally which Lizzie recommends, and with the stash I have I will hopefully learn and use this skill in the many minibook projects I have planned.

Thirdly Patch by Cath Kidston. I had this book for Christmas and it has 30 projects to complete, including some free materials to make a cute tote bag featured on the front cover. Having previously tried patchwork ages ago, it is another skill I would like to learn.

Fourth, The Slimming World Little Book of Soups. As soup stays longer in ur stomach thus making you feel fuller for longer, soups have become a dietary staple as I lose weight. I plan to try out some more recipes Cauliflower Cheese soup anyone?

Fifth, the latest from Stephen King. A story of what could happen if you could turn back time and prevent the death of JFK. But what then? I am looking forward to that one.

Sixth the recent novel by Anthony Horowitz about Sherlock Holmes. Waiting for my Dad to finish the last 100 pages, which seems to be taking him a inordinately long time, so I can read it myself. Did anyone else feel cheated by Sherlock this week? I mean where was the scary dog? Get real, there is ALWAYS  a scary dog in the book. Left me rather dissatisfied I must say.

Seventh, another gift for Christmas, the inimitable Kirsty Allsopp's Craft which follows on from the series she completed last year. Although I didn't enjoy much of the TV part, the book is really great with lots of tips and ideas and some good projects to try. I fancy trying out the Applique cushion and maybe some Birdseed cakes.

Eighth,The Hobbit because I need to refresh my memory before the film arrives this Christmas.


Ninth, my Bible. I have tried to read it in a year several times but this year I really must do it.

And last but by no means least, this is abit of a cheat please forgive. The other hundred or so books I must read to meet my Goodreads challenge.

What books are you planning to read this year?