Top ten things about Budapest...

So went on on an Easter weekend mini break to Budapest and thought I would share my top ten things about The Pest (as it is affectionately known.) I spent hours last night editing them all!

1) The trams - it was so easy to get around this city due to all the different forms of transport.

2) The Langos (a local speciality) used fried dough, sour dough and grated cheese topped by spicy pickled cucumber.

3) I liked the grimy elements with all the graffitti.

4) The Children's Railway was one of our favourite activities. A railway run by teenagers (although the driver is an adult luckily) this girl was trying to sell us a whole variety of different soveneirs.

5) Szechenyi Spa - we spend two days here. It was bliss. The biggest spa in Europe with over 30 pools, rapids, saunas, steam rooms and an icy plunge pool!

6) A Hungarian style pretzel coated in cinammon.

7) The swing bridge leading across to Buda.

8) The hop on / hop off tour bus. It was the tour from hell as they were so disorganised!

9) The funicular leading to the Children's Railway. I loved all the different forms of old skool transport.

10) The architecture was amazing - especially St.Stephen's Basillica.

Linking up with Shimelle's Ten on the Tenth

What are your guilty pleasures?

I decided it was time to make a layout about my guilty pleasures.
The journalling is all about my embarrassing habits, like:

• watching Joey and Dawson slideshows on youtube
• baking just to eat all the baked goods myself
• Facebook stalking (I think we're all guilty of this?)
• Reading old diaries
• Dying my hair copious times

The month scrapjacked are jacking Michelle Clements layout which I had just pinned a few weeks ago. I took inspiration from the idea of stacking layers under the photo - this seems to be a popular trend in scrapbooking at the moment. I also added the doilie to give it a vintage feel. The rosette took me ages to make with cutting and sticking of ribbon. I replicated the washi tape with strips of paper as I didn't have any washi to match the layout - I need to stock up on some more!
So now let me know...what are YOUR guilty pleasures?

The one about camping in Carnac...

I am linking up with Sian's storytelling Sunday - if you want to join in just link up to her post. 

We were very lucky growing up in that every summer we packed up our car and headed off to France for a week or so on holidays. One of the most exciting parts of the trip was waking up at the crack of dawn to catch the ferry - somehow as a child this made it a real adventure for me. Looking back camping couldn't have been the biggest rest for my mom but we loved it. The camp sites always had pools and adventure playgrounds and so we could have all sorts of water slide fun.

On a recent visit to my parents I was robbing my mom's photo collection as I wanted to start documenting some of these stories. In fact my mom has decided to start recording her life story - is this what happens when one if over 60? I find it a bit morbid - but I guess it's where I get my love of journalling and recording memories from! So I found a slightly blurry but very cute picture of us all on one of the most memorable trips.

The one where my granny and grandad from South Africa came. I had met my granny a few times but aged 8(ish) we got to go on holiday with my grandad and meet him for the first time.

Some memories of this trip:

• My grandad was a big Margaret Thatcher fan and would often discuss politics - which always went over our heads!
• We loved playing cards in the evening and my grandad taught me how to play rummy
• My grandparents couldn't get the hang of using 'francs' and so would just hold out a hand full of change to the shop keepers
• The tide went out one day and so we filled out buckets with cockles. My granny was most annoyed as a French lady was trying to give her a pate recipe - but she couldn't understand a word of it! I am not the biggest seafood fan, but I got carried away in the moment and was ill the next day.
• One of the funniest moments was when my grandad went down the fast water slide for kids and got stuck halfway down and these little French boys went down after him and just climbed over him and carried on leaving him lodged in.
• We travelled in our old school white Mercedes Benz - you know the one with the seats in the back? The thing that always baffles me is that on this trip there was four adults, four children and lots of luggage, tents etc and yet we travelled in just this ONE car. I do remember that one of us got to lay across the luggage in the back and this was the most coveted seat in the house. I guess it was pre-health and safety and some of us were quite little!

Now onto the layout. I am not entirely happy with it. I think I just threw everything at it and hoped for the best, but looking at the finished product I may start all over again. But since I told the story I will share it for now....

I am having some technical issues - so I will just post this for now. 

What is one of your favourite childhood memories?

A crucial mini break...

I hinted in an earlier post about some life changing decisions and interviews. Basically my husbands been having a tough time getting a job in England - or in fact deciding which career he wants! I know that many Brits are in a similar position and since Christmas he made it clear he wants to move. He's Belgian and speaks five languages, including of course English, and so I always felt this was the skill to place him at an advantage in the job market.
I started researching international schools and was quite tempted by the finantial package, but also the ethos. Controlled assessments, early entry examinations and so much red tape has dominated my teaching career in the last two years and I just want to be able to teach again. I had an interview for Hong Kong and wasn't successful, but it was good practice for Monday when I will be interviewed by the British School of Brussels. I think there are the best chances for the Belgian here!
This layout is all about 'laying roots' our wish to actually have a place to call home. Or indeed just our own home! The journalling makes light of the fact that we never actually discussed where we would live before we got married! So Mel! Let me tell you. But here I am blogging in Brussels and I am ready for a new adventure.

 Here are some pics of my snazzy hotel room - I can highly recommed it. Hotel Bloom! Each room has a unique painting on the wall and mine is all Jack in the Beanstalk-esque and very cool. It promises to make me the star in my own fairy tale - sounds good! I just wish that my Prince Charming was here too! ;)

I am watching the new BBC show The Voice. I can get all my fav things the other side of the channel.
Fingers crossed for Monday hey!

Jelly Belly World Layout...

Since our first taste as kids we LOVED Jelly Belly jelly beans. I think we first tried them at the delicious food hall in Selfridges. My favourite flavours have always been lemon, coconut and of course root beer. For authenticity I have always loved the watermelon flavour and how it's green on the outside and redish pink in the middle - yum! We even joined the Jelly Belly club too and used to get sent little bags of samples of new flavours before they were released.
So when we were in California for Lewis' wedding last summer and saw a leaflet for Jelly Belly world in Fairfax, just a few miles north of where we were. So once we got the wedding over and done with we zoomed up there and it was worth the detour.

The tour was FREE and you got plenty of sample - see photo below - our favourite part. It was interesting to see all the different steps that went into it.

I went for lots of polka dots and bright bold colour.

The cafe even had jelly bean shaped food and although it was a cute novelty, it was pretty bland pizza!

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The layout for this page was inspired by a starting point of Shimelle's

What is your favourite flavour Jelly Belly? 

Does anyone actually like the chocolate pudding one?!

Loving the banter...

I am loving scrapping with photobooth pics.
I decided to make this page about the English office banter.
The photos feature some of colleagues and I messing about.
I matted the title with gold paint.
I used a mish mash of old papers from my scrap bag.
I even dug out some old brads - remember those?
I used a journalling spot and cut a robin off an old Christmas card as I felt that it was missing something.

I like the festive feel of this colour combo.
We have some great 'in jokes' about the scarcity of glue, other colleagues (naturally) and funny anecdotes about the kids we teach. These jokes would not be funny to anyone esle. We also have a lot of rage over the photocopier malfunctioning, but I suspect this is common place in most offices!?

In other news I am also loving the spring sunshine and went on lots of pretty walks this weekend.
What are you loving at the moment?

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Linking up with Sarah's Cards challenge about your job

10 Things: An ode to my love of scarves...

Some scarves I own are floral don't you know?

Some are cosy to keep me warm in the snow.

Some keep me blinging in glimmer and glitz,

Whilst others remind me of romantic bliss!

Lepord print and navy for feeding the ducks,

Skull 'n' crossbone for the girl who has guts!

A polka dot pressie for Christmas day,

A mild but voluminous number in grey,

Big, bold polka dots for New Years Eve,

Tiny little polka dots and style is achieved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not entitled?

Okay so a very cheesy pun in the title. My students would all be rolling their eyes!
Are you like me and often get stuck on the title? The above layout of a photo shoot we did for our two year anniversary and although I was happy with the composition I was struggling to think of a title. I already had 'two years' on the card in the pic and so I didn't want to repeat that. So I went with lyrics and made the title 'You got the Love.' I kept thinking of a lyric from Ben Folds song  Still Fighting it which is 'We're still fighting' but I felt this sounded too negative. In the song it's meant as in we're still doing alright and that is the sentiment I feel about us. I'm a realist and not overly soppy. I love my chick flicks, but think in real life after two year we are still fighting fit!

So I thought that I would look back at some of my scrapping and do a feature of titles for layouts.
I love thinking of creative ideas for presenting the title - but the first stumbling block is thinking of the perfect title for a layout. I often use poems, song lyrics or phrases as they are short, snappy and can bring back memories linked to the layout.
I will share below some different ideas for presenting your title...

The title is hand cut from patterned paper and then backed on black. I do not have the patience for this anymore but think its effective and chunky. The was to scrap one of those 'just because' pics and so I needed quite a generic title.

This is a straight to the point title stating what the pics are actually of. I pained the chipboard with paint and I liked the random effect of only painting some of the letters.

Mini letter stickers and then paint on stamps. I used my foam stamps which I don't mind getting too messy. This title is a common phrase and was perfect for a pic of us all on the bench on holiday.

Chunky title using American Craft thickers and the first part of it on letter stickers on a mounted doilie. The doilie is backed up by distressed cardstock. 

Do you have a 'default' setting with your titles? Do you always reach for the thickers when there may be a more creative option?
Ever wondered what to do with all the random left over thickers on the sheet? Check out my post here.

A treat from the Carmel bakery...

So on the return leg of our California trip we stopped off in Carmel for the day. It was an overcast day and so our beach pics were not as stunning as we'd hoped. We wondered all round, along the beach and enjoyed using the self-timer on our camera to get a few 'group' shots.
We stopped off at an exclusive looking bakery. My husband said he didn't really want anything and so he waited outside with our stuff. My sister and I were licking our lips and chose some tasty pastries and cakes for ourselves. At the counter a bowl of colourful gingerbread biscuits caught my eye and so I requested one for my 'husband' who was waiting outside. A very camp shop assistant informed me that unless I was married to a dog they wouldn't be appropriate. My sister and I couldn't stop laughing at the thought that we had almost brought a dog biscuit for Arne! I expressed my surprise that people would actually buy biscuits for their dogs and he shrugged his shoulders and said,
"Welcome to Carmel!"

So I have used a sketch from an old copy of Creating Keepsakes to make this 'epic' double layout. It took me months to complete it and to make sure it was all balanced. I used stickers and lots of punched out butterflies to embellish the layout and give both sides unity.

Would any of you buy a biscuit for your dog from the bakery?

Linking up to Sian's fantastic storytelling Sunday.

Hump day hippy van...

Did that title catch your attention?
Our post Ofsted slump is really hitting in.
Our Head of Department had to ply us with kettle chips, jaffa cakes and malteasers in our meeting after school.
There is some sort of big football match on telly so I have been outsted to the scrap room.
Not a bad thing.
I am watching some reruns of Educating Essex.
I must be a glutton for punishment.
So here is an 'out there' layout that I made about the hippy van in Santa Barbara.
I stamped a title, stamped a border, used bottle caps for a title map, layered paper and patterns.

I think it is quite fitting for the subject matter.
The hippy van was awesome and I circulated it for ages to check out all the little details.
The guy who owns it is raking it in as he charges a dollar for a photo and obvs all the tourists want a pic.
Roll on Friday...

Valentines Snack Bar: Mini Me!

Above is the sight which met my husband when he got back from his week in Belgium. I got lots of ideas from pinterest and had a lot of fun decorating the table fancy for him.

I included some layouts of the two of us to decorate the wall behind and chopped up some nice fresh veg to dip in the hummous.

Above are greek salad bites with feta cheese, black olives, cucumber and a cherry tomatoe - they were very tasty and very easy to make. Although not always to stand up! Do you notice the chocolate dipped pringles in the background? A super tasty and indulgent snack and a good way to use up the leftover chocolate from the cake pops.

 Our fav parmesan and olive bread above, recipe found here it is so easy to make and I even prettied the butter up by cutting it with a heart cutter. Below the cake pops that I have already posted about:-

 This candle, table runner and napkins were all 50% off at Asda - it's always good to celebrate a holiday after the event if you want some bargains! I filled heart patterned cupcake cases with little heart shaped chocolates and jelly sweets.

Click on the picture for a better look - I spent ages putting labels on this pic with photoshop but it says that the file is too large. Its annoying!

Blueberries and cherries in little finger bowls, malteasers in a pot decorated with a bow, I covered as box in wrapping paper to try to jazz up the table and add dimension.
 So let me know - have you ever made a dessert bar? Or themed snack bar as mine is!
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Linking up to BruCrew Life and Sumo's Sweet Stuf, Crazy for Crust and Six Sisters' Stuff

Legally Blonde, Lola's and other adventures in London!

So along with nail painting, baking cake pops (see previous post) and making a crazy valentines snack bar for the Belgian's return I also procrastinated my pile of marking with a little layout making post London.
My sister and I had a fab time in London and due to the wonder of Instax I could make a layout very quickly with some of our snaps. The pics showcase an Ella's Bakehouse cupcake (overated), Whole Foods Valentines display, Pinkberry delicious and low fat frozen yogurt from Selfridges and last but certainly not least LEGALLY BLONDE: The Musical! It was the highlight of our trip by far and we've both been avidly downloading the soundtrack and listening. My fav songs are So Much Better and Chip on my Shoulder. We checked out online and found if you go to the Savoy at 10am then the first ten customers get front row tickets for £10. What a bargain! The only drawback of the front row was that you sometimes couldn't see their feet and the little doggies (not a big deal as I'm not the biggest animal lover and they always got picked up too!) It was good as you felt part of the action - one of the super camp dancers even winked at me! Plus you can see the orchestra pit as well and so feel like you get a behind the scenes view of the show too!
I wanted this layout to be bright and use sweet, sugar encrusted girly hues. I used Shimelle's latest tutorial of creating bunting with paint swabs and am very pleased with the result. I stamped the title in bright shades so that it would pop and I like doing title in two lines now!

Anyone else seen the show?