Sarah Youde

It's Raining Hats

Well it's not actually raining as the weather has been beautiful in the West Country for the last couple of days.

Many people will probably know that Mark is in the Navy.  He has recently been working at HMS Raleigh as an instructor to the new recruits.  He loves doing that job because it is really 'hands on' and as someone who loves going to the gym and generally working out it gives him the opportunity to join in with the lads and help show them how to get through the grueling physical aspect of the training.  Not all of the instructors do this, some just sit and watch - I think it is a testament to Mark's character that he feels that if the recruits are doing it then the instructor should show that they are 'up for it' too.  Anyway, I am incredibly proud of him and yesterday I went to HMS Raleigh to watch his final class pass out.  It was a great ceremony, Mark's class had won every trophy available due to their commitment (and, I believe, Mark's excellent leadership ;) ).  This also meant they won 'The Guard' meaning that Mark as their Instructor had to lead the passing out classes onto the parade ground - he was brilliant.  My Mum and Geoff came with me too and it was lovely to see the pride on their faces when they saw Mark in his working environment.  I didn't take many photographs as I just took my little compact camera, but I was thrilled to catch the moment when the recruits finally finished the parade and threw all their hats in the air.

I also got this photo of Mark marching up with them, shame I seem to have caught it when his eyes were shut.

And finally, this was Mark's class.

I had a great day out and we are out again with the kids tomorrow :)

I have some scrapping stuff that I just need to photograph so I will share that with you soon.

Happy Toys

Why do kids love McDonalds so much?  It must be an in-built desire that whenever they see those golden arches they ask for a McDonalds!  We don't go that often (although I am partial to the Chilli Chicken Deli Sandwich) but when we do they can't wait to eat their Happy Meals so that they can play with the toys.  The photo in this layout was taken just after Christmas when McDonalds had a massive queue, Mark was in the queue and I had found a table to settle the three kids at.  Charlotte was thrilled when two teenage girls gave Ben and Charlotte the toys from their Happy Meals, I was thrilled too because it kept occupied whilst Daddy was in the queue (Amy was asleep in her pushchair anyway).

This is my Mojoholder layout for this week.

We had May Marix Marte as our guest this week and this was the challenge. 

Don't forget to pop over to the blog to see what the other girls have done with this layout and sketch inspiration.

Happy Birthday Mum

It's my Mum's birthday today and I don't have anything to give her because her present hasn't arrived yet :)  I have ordered her some gorgeous embroidery scissors by WASA but they are coming from America.  She knows that they are on the way and I did make her this pretty card so I hope she is happy.

The stamp is one of the Gorjuss Girls stamps from Funky Kits, she's adorable.  The flowers are from the Hero Arts Nice Little Border stamp I just cut them outand adhered them with dimensional tape.  Everything is coloured with Prisma's and the papers are, again, from the Making Memories Just Chillin' girl range (6' x 6" pad).  Other supplies are Bazzill card, Hero Arts sentiment, Quickutz Silhouette, Nestibilities and Stampin' Up ribbon.

Right, I am typing this at 7.30 am but not publishing until Mum has received the card, must go and get the kids ready for school :)

Holiday Kids

I had some random photographs on Ben and Charlotte from a holiday we took in 2004, I just wanted to scrapbook them and (yet AGAIN!) the Just Chillin' papers matched perfectly so I whipped up a quick layout to get them scrapped. 

It took forever to sew the buttons on!

Just Chillin'

Well, yesterday was a bit of a washout!  Mark came home from work on Sunday morning and said that he would take us all out for lunch - woo hoo!  I went upstairs and got changed out of my 'Sunday lounging around the house' clothes and put on a bit of make-up.  On the way to 'lunch' we needed to stop at Halfords so that Mark could have his bike fixed.  The kids and I stayed in the car (for about 40 minutes!) whilst this was being done.  I began to feel very sick and had to get out of the car - just in case.  Mark came back, smiling because his bike was fixed and got in the car, we were on our way NOT!!  The car wouldn't start, it has one of those card key things so we were a little confused as to what to do, Mark doesn't know anything about cars and the dashboard was going beserk.  Anyway, the upshot is that the day was then spent getting towed home by Geoff (Geoff to the rescue once again!) who then helped Mark to sort the car out (needed a new battery) whilst I cooked our dinner.  I then collapsed on the sofa and slept for a few hours so perhaps going out for lunch wouldn't have been such a good idea anyway. 

Just so that I have a picture in my post, here is a card I made last week using Making Memories gorgeous Just Chillin' collection.

It features that lovely Hero Arts birdy stamp too.

I did a layout this morning using the same range of papers, I will upload it tomorrow when I have scanned it.

Ok! I know I am a bad blogger

But here is a link to the 109th Mojoholder challenge.  As usual we have picked a truly talented scrapbooker as our guest this week, so thanks to Lizzy Wurmann for being a Mojoholder!

Here is a taster of what we have in store for you this week...

...and here is my interpretation of the challenge:

I thought I would scrapbook a photograph of myself for a change, look at the little Hero Art's birdy stamp - he is my new favourite!   Don't forget to pop over to the Mojoholder blog to see what the rest of the design team have come up with for this weeks challenge.

Print Your Blog

If you would love to have a PDF document of your blog, then go and read this post by Cathe Holden.  I have already bought my blog in PDF format and it is great to know that I can just print it out like a real life diary.

Smooch Makes Glimmer Mist!!

I have been playing with Clearsnap's Smooch Accent Ink today and I love it!

If you haven't tried it, you really should - especially the Gold Lame one - it's gorgeous.  I need to get the white and silver (well all of them!).

Whilst creating I thought the layout I was making could do with some Glimmer Mist but as it was for some magazine work I was unable to use my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist because it is not distributed by Design Objectives sooooooooooo I thought,  'I wonder.....'.  I grabbed a mini mister and squirted a few big drops of Smooch into the bottle and topped it up with water, then I gave it a big shake and sprayed it.  It's AMAZING, it works just the same as Glimmer Mist.  The ink settles to the bottom of the bottle when you put it down for a while but when you shake the bottle it is all ready to go again.

I am sure someone else has done this before but I am feeling v. clever for thinking of it lol!  By the way Smooch makes a gorgeous accent when just painted on as it is and looks fabulous on fabric too.

I am in love........with an ink..........weird!

The Mojo Challenge is Back

Following a short break Mojoholder is back with a great guest and a fabulous sketch to follow.