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Friday 22 August 2014

Engaged to be Married

My great grandparents feature in this layout, adapted by class kit designed by Chrissy Tingey of Merly Impressions. I was unable to attend the retreat this summer, but did purchase some of the kits. The one for this design was sold out but with the help of Linda who kindly purchased me some of the papers and gave me her left overs from others  - I was able to put this page together.


My journalling has been printed onto left over scraps and cut into strips then inked, and layered up with more scraps and inked again, I have added it in sequence around the photos. It reads:

"Frederick Henry Holder and Emma Jane Florence Williams.                                                    
These photographs are thought to have been taken in celebration of their engagement. They were married at Hatcham on 9th February 1886. Emma Jane would have been about 19 and Frederick was 25 years old."                                             
                                   
The stitching was created using a Sew Easy tool by We R Memory Keepers, and DMC black embroidery thread.
I used a dark grey sheet of Bazzill as a base.
I used Sizzix dies to cut the photos and their mounts. I kept the photographers details from the bottom of one photo to add to the layout.
The papers and butterfly stamps are from Kaisercraft's Kaleidoscope collection.
I used black chalk ink for distressing the edges of everything.
I added a few tiny butterflies cut with a Martha Stewart 3 in 1 punch. The fronds are also a Martha Stewart punch.
Stickles was added to the wings of all the butterflies to give some sparkle.
The roses were from Snape Maltings last Christmas.
The letter stickers are from Prima.
Under the tears I have added a little antique lace.


Here is Chrissy's delightful original design:

Thanks for looking and thanks to Linda for sharing.
Lynn x

Thursday 21 August 2014

52 Card Challenge and Christmas Cracker 2014 - Week 34

It's week 34 and we would normally be returning to the prompt jar for inspiration this week, but as Natty has been away she didn't get a chance to pick the 3 elements and take a photo of them so she has come up with this clever alternative.  A photo and a list of 3 elements from the photo include on the card:
    Week 34 - 3 elements{Pinterest pin}    


  1. A ribbon or bow
  2. Polka dots
  3. Something furry or woolly (a creature, fabric, felt, etc.)










So here is my birthday card:



And here is my Christmas Card: (please do not adjust your screen - Rudolph's nose has changed colour!)



I used:
Stamps - Woodware
Cardstock - Bazzill
Patterned Papers - Simple Stories and freebies from a magazine
Card Blanks - Craftwork Cards and Craft Creations
Flat-backed pearls and gems, ribbon bows, 3D foam pads, Stickles and Liquid Pearls

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Emma Jane Florence

Time to share another crop kit layout from Papermaze, this one is from the August crop and was designed by Janina.

The photo I chose to scrap is of my great grandmother Emma Jane Florence Holder. My tiny journalling (so it would fit on the panel) reads:


"Emma Jane Florence Holder née Williams born 1866 to David Williams and Charlotte Williamsnée Allen. She married Frederick Henry Holder in Bromley on 9th February 1886 at Hatcham.

Emma & Frederick had 14 children and lived at
 120 Southlands Road in Bromley, Kent."


My page is fairly true to Janina's original with the addition of a title, and a couple of distressed tears with a little of the reverse side of the paper showing through the gaps. I chose to cut out and use the numbers '120' as that is the house number in Southlands Road where Emma Jane lived.

The kit contained:
Cream Bazzill cardstock
Marion Smith double sided patterned papers - from the Nirvana collection (Family Record, Cloud 9 and Typograph)

I added:
Color Box Chalk Inks
White gel pen
Prima Engraver Alphabet Stickers

Here is Janina's original layout 'Reasons to Smile':


Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Tuesday 19 August 2014

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 33

A Christmas card for last week's challenge and it was inspired by a photograph this week - in face it was a collection of photographs. Please see Kool Kitty Musings Blofor details of the challenge.

Here is my finished card:


                                   And here is the prompt photo:

I will add a greeting nearer to Christmas time when I know who I want to send the card to.

I created my wreath card by using:
Bazzill cardstock
patterned papers from Basic Grey
Tons of buttons!
Flat-backed self-adhesive gems

Ribbon



Thanks for looking - now to think about this week's challenge.
Lynn x

Monday 18 August 2014

52 Card Challenge 2014 - Week 33

Last week was time for another photo prompt. Please see Kool Kitty Musings Blofor details of the challenge 
Here is my card - I went for a baby girl card.




Here is the image given for inspiration - lots to choose from here. I took my inspiration from the flamingos and had some Basic Grey Sugared collection papers tucked away in my stash which were ideal. When I opened the pack I found I also had some Chipboard pieces left including - a flamingo!

I used patterned papers, element stickers, alphabet stickers and chipboard pieces all from the same collection.

I added:
Card blank from Craft Creations
Stickles
Flat-backed pearls & gems
Bazzill cardstock.



Lovely colours in this collection of photographs.

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Friday 15 August 2014

Rain'bows'!

The Scrapology card challenge this month is sponsored by Sue Wilson, here are the two cards I made using one of her Creative Expression dies for the design team gallery.




Thank you to fellow design team member Sandra for lending me her die set 'Finishing Touches - Classic 3D Bow set at a recent crop.



I cut two sets of bow pieces in each of the seven colours of the rainbow from Core'dinations card stock. I used A4 card blanks from Craft Creations, and some black and white Bazzill.

I cut the black greetings using the Cricut and the white greetings are glittery 'Peel-offs'. I inked all the edges with distress inks - Work Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Broken China & Dusty Concord.
The only other ingredient was a lot of wet glue!!

Please pop over to Scrapology to see what the rest of the team have made and to find out more about the challenge and the prize Sue is offering.

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Thursday 14 August 2014

52 Christmas Crackers - Week 32

This week was time for another colour prompt using this photo for inspiration. Please see Kool Kitty Musings Blofor details of the challenge and here is the colour prompt photo:

Here is my card:

... and the prompt:

I used Patterned papers from Basic Grey
Cricut and some free shapes and Simply Charmed cart.
Punches - Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up
Cardstock - Bazzill
Other - Liquid Pearls, Peel off greeting, ribbon, gems

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Wednesday 13 August 2014

52 Week Card Challenge - Week 32

For the challenge last week I made a birthday card using a new Pink Paislee stamps and die set - Hello Sunshine from Papermaze for the umbrella. 


This week was time for another colour prompt using this photo for inspiration. Please see Kool Kitty Musings Blog for details of the challenge and here is the colour prompt photo:


Patterned papers - My Mind's Eye
Dies - Sizzix, Elizabeth Craft Designs - 'Happy Birthday'
Punches - Martha Stewart
Inks - Distress Ink & Memento
Other - ribbon, flat-backed pearls, 3D foam pads

Back soon with the Christmas version
Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Monday 11 August 2014

Walking the Monopoly Board


A bit of a rare occurrence these days - but Emily managed to take some holiday to come home from Nottingham and spend some time with Catherine while she is on a break in her tour. I happened to have one day off during this time too.  We wanted to make the most of this day the three of us had together. Having talked about doing the Monopoly board walk - literally by visiting each place on the board we decided to give it a go on Thursday evening after work. We Googled the idea and found a few blog entries by others who had done the same thing. Then with maps, the board game and time tables - we set about planning the route we wanted to take ready for the next day.



When Friday morning arrived, despite the recent lovely weather, the sky turned dark as we prepared to leave. It was pouring with rain by the time Alan dropped us off to catch the train at Barnehurst Station.  However once we arrived in London the rain had stopped. One thing is for sure, go had good value from our rail cards that day!

We discovered a lot of additional places along the way too. I have included a few photos of places other than those we were searching for.

We decided to make a start at London Bridge so this was our GO! (1)  We left the station and walked up onto the bridge via Tooley Street.
We read that just here is purported to be the site of an old WATER WORKS (2), so we took a few pictures around this area. The Borough Waterworks Company formed in 1770, originally supplied water to a brewery and the surrounding area, which spanned the distance between London and Southwark Bridges.

This was the scene looking down over London Bridge and ...


... this is what the same spot looks like after walking down a few steps to go under the bridge.


This led us through Borough Market, known for its international foods .....


.... past the Golden Hind to the bank of the Thames.


Then we walked east along Bankside past Southwark Bridge the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.


We arrived at the next destination on our list - Tate Modern - the site of an old ELECTRICITY (3) power station.


We retraced our steps and took a photo of  The Clink Prison Museum - which we could have counted for JAIL, but we had something else in mind for this.


We arrived back in London Bridge Station via Tooley Street.


After a quick coffee break, we chose to take the tube via the Northen Line and caught the train to Elephant and Castle. We walked from here along the New Kent Road over the big Bricklayers Arms roundabout to the OLD KENT ROAD (4). This is quite a way out from all the other points on the board in South East London and stretches out to Lewisham, so we thought it would be good to do this early on, so we could then head back to central London for the others. It is the longest street on the board.


Not a lot of interest here to photograph - traffic, shops and flats mostly, so at this bus stop and hopped on a bus and headed off back to the Thames and alighted on the south end of Tower Bridge.


We crossed the bridge on foot and this is where we found the JAIL (5) we had been looking for THE TOWER OF LONDON.


We were keen to visit to see The Tower of London Remembers - The amazing ceramic poppies appear to be bleeding from a bastion window - representing infantrymen at the Somme to mark the centenary of World War I. We spent a while here walking all around and taking photos. Hopefully we can return and spend more time exploring another day.

From here we tried to find the Mayor's Office (6) to count for Community Chest, but we had trouble finding it and decided we should have picked the old County Hall building at Waterloo instead. However we found we had arrived at our next destination - FENCHURCH STREET STATION (7). We approached this station from Cooper's Row and I have since discovered it is much more attractive from Fenchurch Place.

We continued walking from here towards Aldgate and found the next street on our list VINE STREET (8).
A very short cul-de-sac we walked the length of trying to find something interesting to photograph. It seems strange it was included on the board game. It is tucked away behind Piccadilly, I read there was once a police station here and the theory is that it was included in the orange group of properties because of its connection with the law.

Then we continued to walk on past Aldgate East Station to find WHITECHAPLE ROAD (9) and a rather sad looking road sign.

  

The area has at various times been rife with poverty and crime. We stopped by Altab Ali Park formerly known as St. Mary's Park it is the site of the old 14th Century white chapel, St. Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel gets its name. The chapel was bombed in the Blitz. the park has been renamed for a 25-year-old Bangladeshi who was murdered nearby in 1978.


Retracing our steps again back to Aldgate East Underground Station we caught a Hammersmith and City Line train to LIVERPOOL STREET STATION (10). We had a short break here for a drink and a sandwich.


Next we could either take a 205 bus or the tube and we decided on the Hammersmith and City Line to Moorgate, then switched to the Northen Line to arrive at THE ANGEL, ISLINGTON (11). The strange thing is, this place is neither a street or a station on the board. It's name comes from a pub which no longer exists. The site is at the junction of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road where there appears to have been a coaching inn, around 1225. It is now known as 'The Angel' and was rebuilt in the 17th and 19th centuries. In the 1920's it became a Lyons Corner House which survived until the late 1950's. It was derelict until the 1980's when it opened as a branch of the Co-op bank. There is now a newer pub called 'The Angel' next door.


Then straight back down the very long escalators to the Northen Line and KINGS CROSS STATION (12).
Platform 9 3/4


We didn't need to move far to capture the other end of  PENTONVILLE ROAD (13) already seen at Angel Islington and ...


... EUSTON ROAD (14) both of which lead away from the station in opposite directions.


The Central Line took us to Baker Street where we changed for the Bakerloo Line and one more stop to MARYLEBONE STATION (15).


We decided to have a break from the tube and took a No. 2 bus to Marble Arch. The bus stop was in PARK LANE (16) ....


... which is set in the heart of MAYFAIR (17), in London’s popular West End.


Walking back to Marble Arch brought us to the west end of OXFORD STREET (18), where we would have been tempted to go shopping but we had many more stops to make and our feet were already very tired, but it didn't stop us window shopping on the way past. Here is Selfridges with it's grand  façade. 


Walking the along Oxford Street we stopped at BOND STREET (19) Underground Station, and just beyond this is NEW BOND STREET a turning off Oxford Street. Bond Street is famous throughout the world for its wealth of elegant stores.

                                                                                            Continuing on Oxford Street we walked to Oxford Circus, which is the junction with REGENTS STREET (20) where we popped into Hamleys, the oldest and largest toy shop in the world.


On the way down Regent Street, before you get to Hamleys, you cross GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET (21) which leads into Soho. It is unknown why the 'Great' was dropped when the board game was developed.


We couldn't resist a quick look in Liberty's as Emily had not been there before, but no time to stay long.


Our walk continued down as far as PICADILLY (22) where we stopped for a welcome cup of tea. Picadilly begins at Hyde Park Corner and ends at Piccadilly Circus, this grand street is a mile long but today we just stayed in Picadilly Circus


Leading off Picadilly Circus is COVENTRY STREET (23), a short but busy street running between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, and is named after Henry Coventry, Charles II's Secretary of State. We didn't get a very good photo, it was so very busy it was difficult to stand still!

Reluctant to stand and walk again after our break, we managed to head off for LEICESTER SQUARE (24). Being August it was difficult to see an unoccupied bench or patch of grass in the square. Originally laid out by the Earl of Leicester II with Leicester House, a mansion on the north side and Leicester Fields in the centre. The main attraction now is all the cinemas and film premières. 


Another walk this time leading us to TRAFALGAR SQUARE (25). 

Famous tourists attraction and meeting place complete with Nelson's column,  fountains and lions. Often used as a venue for concerts, New Year celebrations, public meetings and demonstrations. Also home of the National Gallery.

The next four streets we needed all lead off Trafalgar Square, so not too far to go for a little while.




First we headed to PALL MALL (26). Leading towards the area of London known as St.James. The road is named for a 17 century game called 'paille-maille' played by the aristocracy in nearby St.James Park.




Next came WHITEHALL (27) Whitehall is where many ceremonial rituals of the monarchy and the military take place. Twice a day the Changing of the Guard takes place at Horse Guards Parade. The Cenotaph is where the Remembrance day service takes place every November at the memorial service to remember our war heroes. 




Another road leading away from Trafalgar Square towards the Embankment is NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE (28) is a much quieter place. We saw several Hotels and restaurants.



We left Trafalgar Square via THE STRAND (29) housing theatres, shops, churches and the famous Savoy Hotel in all it's Art Deco glory. With Charing Cross Station at the Trafalgar Square (south west) end it runs through to Aldwych at the other (east) end. 


From outside Charing Cross we decided we needed to catch a bus to FLEET STREET (30). This was an interesting stop as until recently Fleet Street was the centre of the British newspaper printing industry.
It is a major road joining the City with the West End. There are some interesting pubs, Britain's oldest bank, Child & Co. has been located at no.1 Fleet Street since 1673. Fleet Street was also known as the address of Sweeney Todd's barber shop. 




Finally we wove our way through to BOW STREET (31) in Theatreland via Aldwych.


This was our last destination so we stopped and enjoyed sitting down to a lovely meal before heading back along the Strand to our train at Charing Cross Station. 

All in all it took us 12 hours from door to door. Not sure how many miles we travelled or how many of those miles we walked.

If you made it to the end of this post without falling asleep - well done and thanks for looking. 
Hope it has inspired you to have a go one day.
Lynn x