Bellowhead 10th Anniversary Concert

I was sitting at my desk at work one Thursday morning when I spotted an email from a friend. This is someone we have known for a very long time, but who we only see occasionally these days, so the email caught my eye. 

He was kindly asking whether my Better Half and I would be free to join him and his wife at the Bellowhead 10th Anniversary Concert at The Royal Albert Hall that Sunday. They have access to a Corporate Box, which would mean that we would not need to pay for the tickets either. At this stage I only had a very vague idea of who Bellowhead are, so did a quick Google search to discover that they are a folk/jazz/pretty much everything else band, multi winners of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 'Best Live Band' and 'Best Band' Awards; this sounded like it was going to be a very entertaining evening, so I quickly checked with the Better Half and he confirmed that we were free and that he would like to go.



It was a slightly wet evening when we set off to The Royal Albert Hall, but I remembered that there is a covered walkway from South Kensington Station pretty much the whole way to The Hall, so that saved getting the umbrella out too soon, and happily it had stopped raining by the time we left the tunnel. We met up with our friends at the front of The Hall, and made our way to the Box, and then the Bar. As we were in good time, we got to sit and watch as The Hall filled up and also spend some time catching up. 
 
Then the concert started. WOW, I was not prepared for this, it was amazing. The production was just out of this world and I can see why they have won the 'Best Live Band' award so many times. I had deliberately not listened to any of their music before the concert, but even bearing that in mind, my foot was tapping most of the way through the evening and I was very disappointed when the evening finished. What a great night!
 
As for the layout, this was my first foray into using divide page protectors along-side a 12x12 layout (other than 6x4 divided protectors just to include lots of photos). I wanted to include as many photos as I could, along with the ticket and lots of embellishment. I had some of the Glitz Design Wild & Free Collection pack left and thought that the bright colours would work well with the photos from this vibrant evening. I am really please with how this all worked out, although photographing a divided page protector is something I am going to have to work on I think, any suggestions on how to do this without too much reflected light would be gratefully received.

USA

The photos for this layout were some of the ones I had not seen for many years as they had been residing in the attic at my parent's old house. After I had been working for about three years, I decided that I would go back to college to study Fashion Design. It was a fairly mad idea, but was something that I felt I needed to get out of my system. So I managed to find a two year course at the London College of Fashion, handed in my notice and had two of the most enjoyable years of my life.

It was strange becoming a student again and, even though I was still only in my early twenties, I was by far the eldest on the course, most of the other students being 16 or 17; so quite a large age gap, particularly as I had been working and been out in 'the real world', and the others had mostly come straight from school.

One particularly enjoyable part of the two years was suddenly having so much holiday time again. I am sure that when you are at school you really do not appreciate having so much time off, but having worked and only been allowed four weeks holiday a year, going back to long holidays again was a real bonus. The slight problem of course was what to do with them and how to afford to do anything much, particularly as I was getting no grant (which at the time was strange for someone returning to education) and was basically living off my parents and my savings. Fortunately there were ways around the problem, starting with being allowed to 'sign on' during the holidays (something that you could only do if you had already been working and were not getting a grant) and I got a tax rebate as I had paid tax for part of the tax year, on the basis that I would be working for a full year.

Having realised that this was going to be the last chance for many years to have a really long holiday overseas, I booked a place on a camping tour up the East Coast of The States, from Miami to New York. The tour would take about two weeks, but I really wanted to be away for at least three, but ideally for a month. My Father suggested that I write to some work contacts of his, who had been to see us at home a few times and always said they would be delighted to put us up if we were over in The States. So with his introduction, I wrote to them and they kindly invited me to stay with them for a week at their Condominium on the coast in South Carolina. I was to fly in to New York, catch the Greyhound to North Carolina, where their offices were, fly down in their private plane to South Carolina and then catch the Greyhound to Miami. 

Now bear in mind that I had never been to The States before, and had only ever travelled overseas with my family; this was quite an adventure, one I am not sure I really appreciated at the time. I was going to have to travel through some of the roughest parts of New York and Miami on my own, the saving grace being that at least there was no language barrier.

Anyway, the journey went pretty much as planned, and other than my luggage ending up on one bus to Miami and me on another, it was all very uneventful (happily my luggage was waiting for me when I arrived in Miami). I managed to pick up a broad Carolina accent along the way, which confused my fellow travellers on the camping tour. I got to see at first hand some of the race issues, particularly on the bus from South Carolina to Miami, where I was told I was sitting in the wrong seats as the back of the bus was for 'Blacks' only; I remember having a real issue with this as I was perfectly happy sitting next to a very kind lady who made sure I was OK the whole trip, the colour of her skin had not registered with me as being significant. I continued to sit next to her for as long as she was on the bus.

This is another layout I can confirm the supplies for, as they are pretty much all from American Crafts 'Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party', other than one small piece from Maggie Holmes. The Thickers are from American Crafts and the Enamel Dots are from Studio Calico.

As every, my thanks go to Shimelle Laine for the inspiration that she has brought to my scrapbooking - this is a layout of hers I have used time and time again. I commend her blog to anyone looking for inspiration.

Shard of Light

For many years now, I have worked in The City (being the City of London); since 2011, close to The Tower of London. In the past three years I have tried a variety of routes to get to work, some were driven by the need for an easy, convenient journey that allowed for a period of recuperation after an illness, some by time involved. My current journey came about following a Tube Strike earlier this year that meant a few days of very unpredictable commuting (more of that on a later post).





As often happens, the result of this enforced change has become my regular routine. So now when I travel into The City on the four days each week that I am there, I have a great walk over one of London's iconic bridges and along part of The Thames Path. This route means that I get to see St Paul's, Tower Bridge, The Gherkin, Hays Galleria, The Tower of London, to name but a few. In fact, just watching what is happening on the river itself keeps me amused during the fifteen, or so, minutes to the office. It is one of my greatest pleasures of the day, and has the added benefit of keeping me really quite fit as I walk very fast, and my whole commute includes about 150 steps up or down each way, which is the equivalent of about 12 flights of stairs, just getting to or from work.

I have spotted all sorts of things during this walk, some of them are very easy to spot, some less so; some are very fleeting, as with the site I captured of The Shard. You had to be standing on exactly the right spot to see it in quite this way, and it only lasted for a very few moments before the sun moved on and the angles no longer provided the same level of drama. It was one of the many moments I have been grateful for a Camera Phone.



This is one layout that I can actually confirm the details of most of the supplies I used, helped by the visual clue, but as it is a very recent layout, I also made a note of what I used. So I can confirm that the papers are from the original Maggie Holmes Collection for Crate Paper, the die cuts are from the Styleboard Ephemera Pack, the 'You are my Fave' sticker is from the original Accent Sticker Sheet. The label sticker is from Crate Paper 'The Pier' collection, the enamel shapes are from My Minds Eye Cut & Paste and the Thickers are from American Crafts. So for once, I think I have managed to include details of everything I have used.

La Tour Eiffel

Many of the photos I take are what can only be described as 'arty' shots, so not necessarily a standard shot of the subject. I had been under the impression that this was a recent habit, but these photos were taken over 20 years ago, so clearly it has been in my blood for a while.

The layout is a straight lift from one that Shimelle Laine did just over a year ago. I loved the papers and the fact that you could use up a number of scraps to such a great effect. It worked perfectly with the photo taken straight up the inside of La Tour Eiffel.



This is a fairly recent layout using a photo I had forgotten I had taken until my Parents downsized a few years ago and decided it was past time for me to store all the bits and pieces I had acquired while I had either been living with them or in my one bedroom flat. This was a wonderful trip down memory lane because I have always enjoyed taking photos, and had been fairly organised about writing down what pictures I had taken, and then transferring that information into a photo album. So I not only rediscovered lots of long lost memories, but many, if not most of them, included the details that otherwise my memory would  have struggled with. It has been great fun scanning these pictures and then scrapping them with the added perspective of time having passed.

These photos were taken on a long weekend in Paris that my Parents kindly treated me to soon after I had had my appendix out; they felt I needed a bit of a break after a fairly rough few weeks and, as I had only just moved into my flat, my finances were a little stretched (this was at a time when mortgage interest rates were at 15%, which is eye-watering to think of now). I certainly appreciated both their generosity and their company and I remember we all had a really enjoyable time, spending much of the weekend laughing.

St Paul's

St Paul's has to be one of the most iconic images in London and of London. If you see a picture of the Dome you know exactly which City you are being shown pictures of, don't you? Or is that only because I grew up and live in and around London?

As I have worked a significant amount of my career in The City of London, the sight of St Paul's has been in my sub-concious most of my life more than for many. But it has to be one of the greatest sights. It withstood heavy bombing during World War Two and although there are many more modern buildings around it now than when it was first built, there is a sense that there has been a degree of sympathy and consideration in the designs of these, particularly in more recent years. There is one building that is only just being finished now, that was designed specifically to ensure that the view of St Paul's Dome from other parts of The City was not interrupted.


The Cathedral is additionally special for our family as my Father is a volunteer guide and travels into The City once a week to share his knowledge and passion for the building and its history with tourists from far and wide.

There is something about this layout that just worked. Sometimes it happens that way. The photo is in colour, although because it was taken in the dark, it has a feeling of black and white, and I think that is why the basically monochrome supplies work, with just a hit of very pale aqua to lift the design. Unfortunately this is yet another layout that I did not keep a note of the supplies I used, so am not able to provide that information. Eventually, when I have caught up with recording my older layouts I will be able to include that information. I will try to include some more recent layouts amongst the older ones so I can include some of these details.

Happy Couple

One of the things I am thankful for, and there are many, many things, is that both sides of my family clearly loved taking photos. As a result, I have pictures on my mother's side dating back to the 1880s and on my father's back to the First War and beyond. Every now and again, my parents will find another envelope full of goodies and I will then spend a few hours scanning them so that we have a record of them for future generations.




I think it is fair to say that my mother has been better at digging photos out and letting me scan them than my father, so for some years I had a very 'maternal side' heavy scrapbook. But a few years ago my parents moved house and as they were going through various cupboards and drawers, my father found lots of photos from his family, including this photo of my Grandparents Wedding. It was quite a society occasion and the wedding dress was very much the fashion of the time.











The layout was done for a National Scrapbooking Day Challenge a couple of years ago hosted by Two Peas in a Bucket in January 2013. The challenge was for the layout to be monochrome, but not necessarily Black and White. The papers are from a Papermania Capsule Collection, I think it was called Lincoln Linen. It seemed to lend itself to this photo, being a twist on classic monochrome. The Flower was cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Dies, the doily was an X-cut die, the border around the journalling was a Martha Stewart punch around the page set, and the gems are Papermania. I imagine the the mist was Studio Calico.

Monarch of the Glen

There is a park near us that we rarely go to, but in it there are lots of Deer, and because it is a suburban park, they are all very accepting of people. As a result of this it is fairly easy to get close to them with out them getting spooked.

On this occasion, we were actually cycling past one side of the park and I spotted this white deer. Now I accept that they are not that rare, indeed I understand that in Fallow Deer the 'white' colour is not that uncommon at all, but I had never seen one before, so I came to a halt and got the camera out to take a few snaps.




The layout is one from my 'before journalling' phase, so the only writing other than the title is the date. This is a layout that I am very tempted to go back and change slightly. There is a perfect spot for journalling under the title and then down the left side of the photo. I am also tempted to add a bit more embellishment. I will have to have a serious think about whether to change it or not. I am always a little reluctant to change layouts as they are as much a record of my style as a scrapbooker as the photos as a record of what I found inspiring. This one would just be such and easy one to 'fix'.

Watch this space, the layout may appear again in a new guise one of these days.