Zooming Towards The End Of Scavenging

Rinda is linking up the Scavengers again as the deadline draws ever closer.  I thought I'd better see how many I have left.

I nabbed this lovely lamppost fairly a while ago in my local town:

#17 A Lamppost

And as I'm still not brave or sneaky enough to get a stranger's tattoo shot, I asked my colleague to share with me:

#8 A Tattoo

I cannot imagine how painful that must have been to do on her side - well done to the tattoo artist for keeping the lines straight!

I already have a rural landscape, so this shot isn't for #7:

#3 Birds On A Wire

Zooming in a little you'll see that it's for those (elusive for many) birds on a wire!  Which allows me to join in with Helena's 35th week of ZIZO too :-D

However I still have SEVEN to go ... #1 A Welcome Sign, #6 An Urban Scene, #11 A Horn, #12 A Mascot, #15 A Juggler, #16 A Foreign Language Sign, #19 A Public Garden ...

August's Book - Hard To Swallow

August's been a lean month for reading: just Daine Setterfield's "The Thirteenth Tale".  This was a book I'd apparently given to my Mum, which she hadn't managed to get through!  I have no memory of that, so it must have been a while ago but I was up for a challenge!  However, I could quite see why she got bored with it, as the first half is uphill all the way with too many hints at secrets, too much atmospheric description and very little actually happening!  In the end it did acquire a bit more pace, but left me cold, despite a twist at the end.  Two narrators, two time-lines, two authors (Diane Setterfield and her character Vida Winter) ... to be expected in a book featuring twins I suppose.

Here's hoping that September's books are a little lot livelier!

Zoom In Zoom Out #34

A quick ZIZO from me - just in time to join in with Helena's 34th week.  Hubby had a Boxed Set of DVDs for his birthday.  Six series worth.  We're watching together; sort of.  I like to watch one episode at a time and think about it.  Although if it ends on a shock cliffhanger the temptation to carry on and watch another is huge.  Occasionally we succumb.  I draw the line at three episodes in a single sitting though, so occasionally I'm left behind if things have been particularly exciting.

It's lucky that a second viewing of an episode is apparently acceptable to Hubby as long as he doesn't have to wait too long.  We're on Season Four now and I cannot believe how much I have engaged with methamphetamine c(r)ooks and junkies.  Anti-heroes doesn't quite do them justice.  No.2 Son & Child No.3 keep telling me "It's not real Mum!" as I sit there urging Jesse not to do it!

Have you watched Breaking Bad?  Can you watch a boxed set slowly, an episode a night or do you binge on it, watching back to back episodes?

40 Love

Welcome to the start of August's Members' Blog Hop from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog.  I chose the first challenge: to keep to just one layer for my project, adding only embellishments.

A friend turned 40 recently and I decided to send her a card made using Tagxedo:

Just one layer of printer ink ... glammed up with a few small crystals so that it can still be posted as a normal letter (the Royal Mail is annoyingly picky about all three dimensions).

I wonder which of this month's challenges will feature on the next stop on the hop: Tina's blog.

If you get lost whilst hopping the full order is published on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog today.

Raised From The Deep

Do you ever get frustrated that your holiday photos simply haven't worked?  Or realise whilst taking them that you haven't got the right lighting/vantage point/equipment/skills?
If in doubt buy a postcard!

This page uses two postcards from the Vasa Museum because, although I took lots of photos of the ship and the surrounding museum exhibits, I simply couldn't get the whole ship in my viewfinder!

My page started life as Sketch 'n' Scrap's sketch #62 but I merged the lower two photos to accommodate my second postcard!

Then, as is my habit with sketches, I decided to put the journalling elsewhere and tucked it behind the top postcard with a chevron pull and added more chevrons to mimic the sinking of the ship on its maiden voyage!

Back when I worked in Sweden, the Vasa was in the final stages of nearly 20 years of preservation work, having been raised from the harbour bed in 1962.  I missed seeing it then, so I was really excited to visit the museum last year and it did not disappoint - though it's best not to visit on a day when the huge cruise liners have already unloaded hundreds thousands of tourists! Luckily, having seen the enormous queues, we had the time to change our sightseeing plans and returned early the next day!

Supplies are from my August Counterfeit Kit, including some blinged up children's stickers I showed here on the CKCB. 

Zoom In Zoom Out #33

Another weekend away ZIZO from me today.  In fact I have two for you.  We met up with friends from Holland holidaying on the South Coast of England.  We split the distance between our house and their campsite by meeting up at Stonehenge!  It's probably 40 years since Hubby and I last visited and things have changed (several times).  There is a newly opened English Heritage Visitor Centre which explains some of the timelines, artefacts and theories around the stones and has models with "Please Do Touch" signs!

It's a nice detail, especially as you cannot feel the real thing, nor even walk amongst the stones (except by paying extra and booking ahead or joining in with the solstice celebrations).  Instead, regular tourists are driven (or can walk) up to the ancient henge and can then walk around the stones at their own pace, listening to hand-held multi-lingual audio guides.  With millions visiting every year it's important to manage the tourist flow and allow everyone a clear view to take their "selfies" proving that they were there!  I even saw a pair of girls take turns with a selfie-stick ... and wondered why they couldn't just ask each other to take the photo?!?

I'm glad we had free entry with National Trust membership as the price is pretty steep otherwise.  We took our friends over to Avebury after lunch so that they could get up close and personal with sarsen stones erected around the same time as Stonehenge ... for free!

See that large rock nearest the foot of the path ...

... that's us in front of it!  It was quite mind boggling to realise that we were touching a rock of that size that was put there 5000 years ago with nothing but primitive tools and manpower!

I wonder what other spectacles people have zoomed in on with Helena ... check out week #33 here.

Little BIG Brother

My latest page with my current Counterfeit Kit* fits the final challenge this month over at the CKCB because I have incorporated some vellum.  Not just any vellum, but Crate's Boys Rule Starry vellum ... the final scraps.  I received a full 12x12 sheet of it with my DT package from S J Crafts back in February and it has featured its loveliness on four or five pages now.  It makes me sad that there is none left, but one look at my pages and I am happy, especially when I look at this one:

The photo is from our Disney 2004 holiday which was full of photo opportunities and there isn't always much to say about them other than where we were or what day it was.  However, when I looked closely I realised that this photo represented No.2 Son's ability to put others first, especially his little sister and I felt that some journalling was required to celebrate his thoughtfulness.

Which also ties in nicely with Merly Impressions current challenge to tell a story on the front of your page.

*I have added a couple of papers from MME's 6x6 Cut & Paste Charm pad allowing me to use  smaller versions of the 3x4 cards in my kit and grabbed some white BG Chocolate Chip and Woodware Chippies alphas for a contrasting title.