August Scavenger Hunt 2015

Welcome to the August Scavenger Hunt run up! How good am I completing it by the end of the month!

Walk

CBC and I went to Burnham-on-Crouch, a  small town in Essex for the afternoon.  We just went on impulse but ended up having a lovely walk along the river.

Horizontal

Here is an example of a Horizontal maze at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Completed by CBC in 8 seconds after he completed the main maze in 3 minutes (the second time)!

Square

Squares made by the trellis. 4 squares make a larger square at Millet's farm, Oxfordshire...

Diversity

We stayed at my sister-in-law's in Oxfordshire. Check out the diversity in size of those courgettes from their garden!

Rough

A rough edge of the sign showing where Uffington Castle once stood.

Bow


There are Perhaps Contraption taking a bow at the end of their concert (ha, one from the archives!)

Joy

I know many joyful things but this week, joy was having a purring cat next to me! Hello Chloe!

Forgotten

This tyre looks forgotten at Millet's Farm!

Crowd

What a crowd of cuddlies!!!

Colourless

Shudder! Check out this colourless jellyfish we saw on the beach at Burnham-on-Crouch during the aforementioned walk!

Friendly

These birds in the butterfly house at Blenheim Palace were so tame and friendly, they didn't bat an eyelid as I stood next to them with a lens shoved in their faces!

Whatever you want

A waterlily at Blenheim as we took a walk alongside the lake, the walk was designed by Capability Brown! (I have to tell you this story-as I typed this, I SUDDENLY couldn't remember his name, nor could CBC- we went mad trying to remember his name which I remembered as Constance Reliance at first! DUH!)

We saw this Easyjet plane in the sky as we stood by the river, I enjoyed zooming into it!

Thanks to Greenthumb for another fun Scavenger Hunt!

xxx

P.S. Here's September's list if you want to get in on the act

September's List
Woven
Repeating
Greedy
Flowers
Curly
Adventures
Line
Mesmerising
Triangle 
Dreamy 
Day
Whatever you want

My Citrus hearts

It's been a while since I bought a craft magazine.  I used to buy them quite regularly and was bought a subscription to my favourite magazine many years ago. Nowadays, I don't buy them often as I have many craft materials and many designs in old magazines to look at.  

A few months ago, I was quite sad to discover my shed had leaked and totally wrecked most of my craft magazine stash but luckily there are a few still kicking around.

My favourite magazine is Papercraft Inspirations. They give you lots of different card designs, there's always a free gift  and my favourite section is the Quick cards section where you get about 15 designs that don't require loads of expensive resources and often make use of the templates they provide. (plus there are always free papers)

In one of my old magazines, there was this design for making a simple-looking cocktail card. 

It looks pretty identical to what I made.

As you can see, all that was needed was a white card blank and the paper colours and scissors and glue-stick. I used a jam jar and pringle lid to make the circle shapes (serendipitously the right sizes for going with my hearts) and I did use my x-cut heart punch.  

After I'd made them, I decided that I loved the heart citrus effect and wondered if I could use this idea for a different part where the citrus slice was the star of the show.

The x cut punch can be used to punch through funky-foam sheet so I made a lemon, lime and orange circle and then cut them in half to get more from my foam!

I sat and watched 'The Three Doctors' on DVD whilst making them. It was SO nice to finally see it after having read references to it for years. I bought it on DVD from Ebay.

For the background, I just drew tiny triangles with fineliner pens (measured) and then drew the groan-worthy sentiments freehand down the bottom.

On the whole, I was rather pleased with the design.

Funky foam and a simple heart punch are all you need for these (aside from the basics such as pens and card bases) and funky foam can be very cheap, sourced from Poundland as well as proper craft shops. My x-cut heart punch cost about £5 9 years ago and has more than paid for itself.

Linking with Daring Card Makers whose weekly challenge is Feeling Fruity this week and Creative Mondays with Claire Justine

xx

6 words I loathe

I may be a bit of a weirdo in this respect if you read this and feel rather confuzzled by the sentiment with it, but there are certain words or phrases that I hear in conversation that really make me cringe,  irritate me to a great degree or generally leave me feeling a trifle uncomfortable.  I thought this would be an interesting post to do (and I'd love it if you chose to do one upon reading it).

We usually share things we love on our  blogs, so I thought it would be an interesting difference to highlight something I'm not so keen on.  I don't want to come across as a snob or anything, this certainly isn't intended in that way, but irrationally, certain words grate on my nerves.  My sister and I had a great time discussing words that creep us out or irritate us!

1.   Naff - this word is so beige and of a certain time- I think of the '90's when I hear it. I didn't like it then, I didn't like it now!

2.  "On my radar"- I was hesitant to put this in my list as I see it in a lot of bloggers' wishlists or sponsored posts and don't want to offend anyone but it is one of those idioms that I just can't stand and I simply can't fathom why that I dislike it!

3.  "At the end of the day....".  This is purely a contextual one. If it is being used purely in the sense of denoting a particular deed or act or description of something happening definitely at the end of the day, that's fine, but I hear it being applied liberally to conversation in the context where "In conclusion..." or some summative sentence opener/connective could be used. I think it became a trend after some Big Brother inmate used it almost constantly in conversation. Was it Jade Goody or someone else!?

4. "Innit".  This is totally being snobby- I HATE IT! In sixth form, I had a friend who used to say this all the time.  Our music teacher decided he was going to start an 'Innit box'- the equivalent of a swear box to stop him saying it. Mind you, he started one for me too because I used to incorrectly say, "Off of,", (e.g. I jumped off of it.).

5.  Flesh- my little sister shares the dislike of this word with me.  Literally makes my, er.....,SKIN crawl! Especially when said in a mock-creepy voice!

6.  Go to- e.g. "This is my go-to handbag!".  This one is CBC's contribution to the list. He dislikes this phrase. I wasn't bothered until he said it but yes, not keen on it, now he's drawn my attention to it.

Can't think of any more for the moment, so it is over to you:
Either, a) write a blog post about your 'hit-list' of phrases or words you dislike or leave me some in the comments box! I'd love to know!

Incidently, OSTENSIBLY is my favourite word!

x

What is it? #35

Hello there!

 Here we have the 35th anniversary (coral) edition of 'What is it?' and  we return to the old familiar protagonist, the humble cloud.

I saw this particular cloud in the Lake District and felt it reminded me strongly of something or someone.

 I took a few photos of it as it quickly changed just to give you a little variety to look at.

The usual rule* is have a look at it and see what the cloud reminds you of be it animal, mineral, character, object, place, etc and leave a jovial comment in the 4-sided receptacle provided below.  Then we can all laugh at how similar or diverse our minds are in the next edition!
I'll then say what it reminded ME of (because I don't want to lead your thoughts) next time, when a new picture is provided.






Last time, the game was slightly different and I asked for what you imaginatively saw in this lorry load.

8 comments:

1. 
   Shamu Boo5:51 a.m.

   Looks like a wood monster, Little Shop of Horrors Part II maybe. The Wood Is Not So Good!

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   Ivana Split9:27 a.m.

   To me it looks like a smile face! Really...a smiling face that is missing a few teeth so I'm going to go with a friendly red neck:)
   
   http://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   Julia1:59 p.m.

   I think that it's a prefabricated little building that needs to be assembled.
   
   Hugs,
   JB

   ReplyDelete
4. 
   Denise Sabs3:19 p.m.

   Wood, in fact, plywood or something like that for a pre-fabricated house! I really can think about it!
   DenisesPlanet.com

   ReplyDelete
5. 
   Anca3:29 p.m.

   On the truck there are a few summer houses, I'm sure about it :))

   ReplyDelete
6. 
   Rachel10:32 p.m.

   I'm actually hoping that those frames are destined to become the world's greatest tree-house! All you have to do it snap them together and you can start adding the interior and designing your own mini mansion in the trees!

   ReplyDelete
7. 
   Lisa7:20 p.m.

   I saw a face in the pile, a Lego character type, not the answer you wanted though I realise!
   Lisa x

   ReplyDelete
8. 
   Pink Haired Princess1:13 p.m.

   I saw this article (but didn't click on it, think it was advertised on something else I was reading or when I signed out of my emails) about how we are trained to see faces in everyday things. The accompanying photo was of a tray on the back of a seat (i.e. on a train) and the little swizzle lock thing looked like a face. So the holes between the crates make up a face for me (the 2 small ones eyes and the larger or even both larger a rather gruffy looking mouth). Not what you asked, but what I see!

   ReplyDelete

Interestingly, especially if you read Gem's comment, apparently we look for faces in things so I was amused to see a few face references, especially the sweet sounding Wood Monster from Shamu. Aha, pre-fab houses/Summer houses, that sounds very likely! Loved Rachel's genius idea of the tree house. Did anyone else watch the Swiss family Robinson as a child and WISH for an amazing tree house?

Ok, enough waffling, over to you!

*rule? Ha! Sorry, I got all bossy and official-sounding there,non-intentionally. That makes it sound like some official game like Monopoly. Will families play 'What is it?' amongst themselves in years time? And sorry if you are an old pro at this- you know the drill, pip pip!



Linking with Claire Justine's Welcome to the weekend blog hop

Ducks, geese and bird brooches

 During our two week staycation, CBC and I went for a drive to go and take some hire-orchestral music to Faber music in Harlow, so on the way home, we decided to drive on the Essex highway to Writtle for lunch.

Writtle is a delightful village and it has two great tearooms on the same road- one has an idyllic garden with lavender, cute tables and a nice selection and then there is Mauro's which does a mean chocolate milkshake (CBC has now realised that I always order a chocolate milkshake when we are out at a lunchtime place!)

After that, we went to go and sit by the duckpond.

There was a large amount of fowl in what is, essentially, a small pond.

CBC took a photo of me in possibly my latest charity-shopped item- this Topshop crocheted-lace trimmed dress. I wouldn't have bought it but I liked the idea of a long-sleeved light summer dress- great for the type of day it was.

As I told you, brooches every day.  This pink floral one reminds me of soap or sugar mice!

Hmmm, sugarmouse brooch, now THAT's an idea!
xx

Belsay Hall final part: The Medieval Castle!

If there's one thing that Northumberland has a plethora of, it's castles!!! The Belsay estate, not content with amazing gardens and a Grecian-inspired Mansion, has the original Medieval castle!

The Middleton family began owning the Belsay land in the 1200's but the castle itself is a 14th century castle. It is notable for being the oldest surving Pele tower, a defensive method of fortifying ones's castle.  Though the castle was built to defend against the Anglo-Scottish battles, it was also built to be impressive. 

I wasn't sure what to expect but I was not prepared for something that looked so intact and grand!

We walked around at first.

Another floating fireplace from a floor that is no longer there!

This looks like some sort of original kitchen range.

Heading into the main part of the building (with proper floors and roofs despite this castle being a 'ruin'), we walked up a very steep spiral stairway to discover the higher floors.

I was incredibly excited at first because below the bottom of the stairs, I noticed a low little doorway.COULD it be that elusive secret passage discovery that has been top of my mental bucket list all my life?
I crept into it and down to a tiny little dark room.  Was it some secret?

Next, I headed up to join CBC who had not noticed my absence who was on a mezzanine which I struggled to reach.  He also found a little tiny passage way though not as exciting as mine!

Everything was on such a grand scale!  It was amazing to be in these enormous rooms alone.

Finally, we reached the roof!

Hello there!  It was cold and rainy so we were glad of coats and jumpers!

Upon returning downstairs, I discovered the kids activities. I always think these are enormous fun in historical sites.  Like my blog friend Anca, when visiting historical sites, I just love to try on costumes and the young lady who was running the kids activities was delighted to oblige and hunted me out the largest costumes. We had a lovely chat as I tried them on.

I also tried a manly one too. The hat was sadly a bit too small!

As I was chatting, she told me that usually they are in a Medieval style tent, and so I headed out to go and see it! How cool is that?

Finally, we realised we should probably be getting back to Haltwhistle,so we meandered back through the gardens to the car.

The Belsay Estate is a wonderful place and I heartily recommend it for sheer variety.

xx

Belsay castle part 1: Grecian mansion

Belsay Hall part 2:the Quarry gardens