Happy 40th Birthday Crop Sue!

On Saturday we had a birthday crop for Sue's 40th. Anita made lots of lovely birthday cupcakes, the cakes were delicious and the cases were a variety of animal prints.

Happy Birthday Sue!!

St. Pancras Station

52 walks with my camera in 2010 - week 49

I travelled to St. Pancras Station to meet Emily off her train from Nottingham, home after her first term at University. As I arrived early I took a walk around the station, I have not been there since the station was restored and became the Euro Star International Station a few years ago.

I found two interesting sculptures, this first one was surrounded by Julie Etchingham and the film crew, I guess they were recording for ITV's Tonight programme.

A sense of wonder ... Martin Jennings' statue of John Betjeman.

Hand clutched to his hat, coat-tails caught by a gust of wind, John Betjeman gazes up at the magnificent arch of St Pancras station's freshly restored train shed.

Cast in bronze by sculptor Martin Jennings and unveiled by the poet's daughter, Candida Lycett Green. From when the Euro star's service began at St Pancras, alighting passengers have passed this image of the writer, lost in wonder at the power of William Henry Barlow's feat of engineering.

Jennings said of his sculpture: "All my choices were led by the station. What Betjeman is doing in the statue is what we all do - we look up, with an intake of breath. I have shown him as if he has walked in for the first time since the station was saved." Jennings worked from photographs and film footage of Betjeman, and was "nudged" in the right direction by Betjeman's family, in particular Lycett Green. She said: "He has captured his sense of wonder on first walking into a great man-made space such as a cathedral ... He always looked up at the roof - and in St Pancras more than anywhere. It is, after all, the greatest station roof on earth, isn't it?"

Around the base of the statue are carved lines from Betjeman poems, chosen by Jennings, including: "Here where the cliffs alone prevail. I stand exultant, neutral, free,/ And from the cushion of the gale. Behold a huge consoling sea."
for more information see The Guardian site

The arch over the station.

Looking down over the shopping area of the Station

This Statue is called 'The Meeting Place' by Paul Day, details on BBC London site.

I could only take this through two sheets of glass at a distance to fit it in. The details in the sculpture around the bottom is amazing.

Sourced store

... and then the reason I was there - Emily's train arrived early!!

Shame the barrier didn't work, especially as I wanted a picture, ....

... but she got through eventually.

followed by a big hug!

Welocme home Emily - I missed you!

Log - 52 Walks with My Camera in 2010 so far: 1. Bexleyheath, 2. Woodbridge River Front, 3. Hall Place Greenhouses, 4. Chislehurst, 5. Bluewater, 6. Theatre Land,7. Leeds, 8. Orford, 9. Snape, 10. Chatham,11. Nottingham, 12. Twickenham, 13. Woodbridge. 14. Red House. 15. Debden House. 16. RAF Bentwaters. 17 Friston and Saxmundham. 18. Ufford. 19. Wickham Market. 20. Greenwich Royal Park. 21. Felixstowe. 22. Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square Gardens. 23. Garden. 24. St James' Park. 25. Hall Place Gardens. 26. Moot Hall - Aldeburgh. 27. Shere. 28. Beer. 29. Lyme Regis. 30. Seaton. 31. Butley Priory. 32. Tewin. 33. Southwold Quay. 34. Framlingham Town. 35. Chillisford. 36. Erith Yacht Club. 37. Nottingham - Jubilee Campus. 38. Salford. 29. Bury St..  Edmunds. 40 Spire House. 41. Manchester. 42. Nottingham. 43. Waterloo Station. 44. Felixstowe Ferry. 45. The South Bank. 46. Snape MAltings. 47. Tunstall Forest. 48. Woodbridge. 49. St Pancras Station.

Mistletoe and Pear

Here is the card I made for my lovely friend Anita, who has been busy knitting her Chrsitmas gifts this year.

The card is from Craft Creations, and folded to make an easel card. The papers are all from the Basic Grey Mistletoe and Pear 12x12" pad. he Stamp is from Kraftin' Kimmie. I also used a Martha Stewart punch, and Card Candy from Craftwork Cards.


She is coloured with my Promarkers

JYC 13th December

Journal Your Christmas - 13th December 2010

Today's journal entry is about a favourite Christmas song. I choose to write about Enya's

'White Is In The Winter Night'

 

Have you seen the mistletoe,

It fills the night with kisses

Have you seen the bright blue star,

It fills your heart with wishes

Have you seen the candlelight,

It shines from every window

Have you seen the moon above,

It lights the sky in silver

Green is in the mistletoe and red is in the holly

Silver in the stars above that shine on everybody

Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers

White is in the winter night that everyone remembers

Have you heard the boys outside, when all the girls are skating

Have you heard their sweet hearts cry for all this time they're waiting

Green is in the mistletoe and red is in the holly

Silver in the stars above that shine on everybody

Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers

White is in the winter night that everyone remembers

Have you seen the children playing, tiny hands are frozen

Have you seen them hurry home, when suddenly it's snowing

Green is in the mistletoe and red is in the holly

Silver in the stars above that shine on everybody

Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers

White is in the winter night that everyone remembers

Have you heard that bells are ringing, ringing at their story

Have you heard the choir singing, Glory, Glory Glory

I also made this layout

This is a scraplift from a layout by Ronda

I used Machine stitches, Basic Grey Dasher paper and American Craft Thickers letters.

Happy 40th Birthday Sue!

It's Sue's (Doogle007) 40th birthday on Tuesday! I made her this card and gave it to her when we celebrated her birthday yesterday at our crop:

When I saw this stamp I thought of Sue and had to buy it to make her a card. It is a Stamping Bella stamp from The Craft Barn.

The papers and letter stickers are from Basic Greys 'Olivia' papers, think Sue will appreciate this girly animal print looking paper, from Cardinal Colours.

JYC11th December

Journal Your Christmas - Saturday 11th December

The prompt from Shimelle for today is all about Christmas Trees.

We normally get our tree up at the beginning of the month, but were delayed this year. We had been stuck in Suffolk due to the snow, and didn't return home until Saturday 4th December. Catherine came home for the weekend, we met her off the train and went shopping for a tree.

We love a traditional real tree and feel it's worth spending a little extra for a good quality tree with needles that don't drop before you even get it home. We spent some time picking a good shaped tree and came away with a 7 footer!

I have spent years struggling to get a tree to stand and stay upright, and shaping the stump with an axe to get it to fit into a plastic stand. So I was relieved a few years back when I discovered clamp type stand that copes with any width of tree trunk (within reason!) and holds water to keep the tree fresher for longer.

We made a few changes to our lounge this year and as a result the big tree would not work well in this room - not if anyone wanted to watch the TV! We decided to have the tree set up in the dining room instead.  Here it will be enjoyed at meal times and by those playing games etc. around the table. We spend a lot of time in this room over the holidays. It also has a large corner to stand in away from the radiators. On the same day we purchased the tree we got it up and decorated, and the wrapped gifts placed underneath.

As for colour scheme I love the traditional red, white and green decorations and purely plain white lights. I'm not a lover of tinsel but I have collected some lovely ornaments over the years.  Some of these I have received as gifts, others I have purchased and many I have made myself. So as Shimelle puts it, I have what she calls a 'sentimental' tree complete with bits the children made at nursery and school. 

I plan to tell you more about the decorations in another post. I also plan to make a layout about the this year's tree when I have some better photos.

We All Want Some Figgy Pudding!

I have had fun making lots of Christmas cards with the remains of my Figgy Pudding (Basic Grey) collection pack. Here are a few of the results.

This first two use a Magnolia stamp from the Craft Barn. They are both coloured with my Promarkers. This first one uses a Martha Stewart border punch and Stampin' Up scalloped circle punch.

This card also uses the Cricut Christmas cartridge.

The next three are also using the Cricut Christmas Cartridge

I thought the reindeer might be cold so these three have scarves instead of harnesses!

This card uses the Story book Cricut Cartridge and the Martha Stewart heart punch

Off to make some more...