Sunday 27 July 2014

Sunrise: Summertime Photo Scavenger Hunt

I am collecting photos from the scavenger hunt, but those blasted birds on a wire...

Anyway, I got my sunrise. Last week I decided I had time to get up early and go get it. If I felt like it when my alarm went off then I would go, as it happened I was awake at 3:24am for no discernible reason and so I browsed online and then dressed and got Minty ready and we went down the seafront to catch the sunrise as it looked promising.
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I was lucky, the sky was clear to the west although it was cloudy on the horizon so I had to wait longer. Worth it though. Once I had captured it and had 20 minutes chill out watching it, we walked around the harbour and caught another few shots I liked.
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I especially loved this one. It looked to me as if a volcano was erupting, not a sunrise.
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I used Rhonna Farrer's design app to add a border and text to say what I thought.
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I have scrapped it for Sue's Sketch Challenge using Simple Stories and Heidi Swapp papers and enamel dots.


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Thanks for coming by...off in pursuit of those blasted birds on a wire.

Monday 7 July 2014

Champagne Corks.

On the 7th June our very, very good friends Christine & Tony's eldest daughter Alice married Mark in the lovely Devon countryside, the Yurt Camp near Newton Abbott.

I was so looking forward to it, of course Mum was as she has seen Alice grow up, I nearly have as I am older. The boys were looking forward to it as it is a day out and they haven't been invited to a ceremony before, just one other evening 'do'.

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Louis isn't quite as tall as me, but we are talking nano-millimetres now. I shall stop feeding them now to stunt their growth as I cannot condone such events.

So Tony was there to meet us and he looked resplendent in his waistcoat and Ali's eyes lit up when he saw him as Tony had hurt his knee and was using a stick to help him walk. I am not talking a walking stick with badges from towns visited; I am talking a Gandalf staff. Now anyone that has been around here for a while will have heard me tell of Ali's obsession with pokey sticks, (you can read about it here) and this was the best he had ever seen. "I have got to get me one of those!" he said immediately (and grammatically incorrectly ;-)).

We soon started moving down to the ceremony area which was lovely, set in a nook, a thatched building, benches for us to sit on with billowing sails for cover and a wooden walkway. Louis wanted to use the DSLR and he took some great photos of the wedding party arriving.

The ceremony was a humanist service (they had the 'legal' service a couple of days earlier at Exeter) which I found really moving and full of their personality together as a couple. As it was coming to an end the faint sound of champagne corks popping in the distance sounded like celebratory fireworks and was just perfect.

The boys were so interested which was great to see.

After the photos had been done it was time for champagne, canapés and chat. The Yurt camp has an adventure area with a zip wire so they got changed and headed off before lunch and then we had a scrummy dinner with loads of great speeches from the couples friends and family who are obviously great supporters of them, full of love and humour.

It was such a beautiful day, full of fun and love. I wish the happy couple the very best of everything forever.

Oh and if you are ever in Scotland, they are running The Inn At Kippen and they are doing great things there, I can't wait to go.

Of course it is scrapbooking gold and I have thoroughly enjoyed reliving the day while I have created my pages today. I made a 12x12 layout, 2x 6x12 layouts and a pocket page.

The papers are new Maggie Holmes Vellum and old Prima that I have been saving for a special occasion.

I used Jen's great challenge over at UKS, good better best. You take a photo after each stage to take it from good to better to best.
So here it was as 'good'

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'better'
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'best'
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6x12
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6x12
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and the accompanying pocket page
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Many, many thanks and love to Chris, Tony, Alice & Mark for inviting us to their special day.

Tune in next time for the coastal walk layout, it is done, just needs posting. Have a great day :-)