Thursday 29 November 2012

100th Post and a Layout to Celebrate

Well, I've finally got to my 100th post.  I was really surprised to see that and please at the same time.  I've been trying to thing of something great for the 100th post but couldn't come up with anything interesting so I thought I'd show you this layout inspired by the Sarah's Cards Sketch Challenge. I've been shopping at Sarah's Cards for about a year and really love the good service and value for money I get from the shop.  I've seen the Sketch Challenge on her blog for a few months but this is the first time I've taken part.

Hope you like the layout.  It's to go in my Document 2012 album for April recording when I was a bridesmaid at my friends wedding.  Going to watch I'm a celebrity and try and think up something cool for my 200th post!

Sunday 25 November 2012

Where did September go?

 Hi.  Please can you help me find September?  No not the guy from Fringe, but the month of September where I'd planned to complete a few mini pages every day!  Somehow it's a week before December and I've hardly completed any and now I'm to busy thinking about my Christmas journal.  I've found a few of the ones I had completed but not blogged so I will be blogging them this week.

Don't start a job until you know you can finish it! Tidying the kids bedrooms today.

Teaching Synchro is going to be quite a challenge. It's very precise! Not like me!

I love my jobs!  I may have 3 but they all give me different types of excitement and fulfillment.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

REVIEW: Green Day - ¡Uno!


¡Uno! is Green Day’s ninth studio album and the first in a series of 3 albums to be released over the next few months.  The album is full of melodic rock songs that will fill a moshpit really quickly.  Stand out songs for me were Angel Blue, Rusty James and Let Yourself Go because of a combination of their catchy music and easy to follow lyrics.  My favourite track on the alum was Carpe Diem where once again Billie Joe Armstrong has managed to capture the feelings of living life every day in his lyrics.  I am very much looking forward to the next 2 albums in the series.

DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Monday 22 October 2012

REVIEW: Ice Age Live, Motorpoint Arena


The Second Ice Age has finally come! The first of six presentations of Ice Age Live! – A Mammoth Adventure took place at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on Friday evening.

It has to be said this stage presentation of the popular film series has been eagerly anticipated, especially when you learn that the creative team was lead by Guy Caron and Michael Curry whose credentials include Cirque du Soleil, The Walt Disney Company and The Olympics.

Both children and adults looked on to the Ice stage in awe as characters familiar with the Ice Age movies including Scrat the sabre toothed squirrel, Manny the woolly mammoth, Manny's Wife Ellie, their cute daughter Peaches, Diego the sabre toothed tiger and of course Sid the sloth did battle with Shadow the prehistoric bird and his minions.


A vast array of colour bounced off suspended icicles as flying birds and acrobatic dancers took to the air to the backdrop of a fabulous and sometimes dramatic score. The character recreations were meticulous to detail and in the case of the Mammoth’s certainly lived up to the productions description.

There were plenty of surprises too, Peaches kidnapping by The Shadow as she took to the air, and spectacularly choreographed fight sequences when dancers appeared from within the main characters.

The coolest Ice Show around, Ice Age fans will not be disappointed when Ice Age Live! A Mammoth Adventure moves to Nottingham later this week before making its World premiere at Wembley Arena on November 2.

DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Wednesday 17 October 2012

REVIEW: American Idiot, Wales Millennium Centre


Having been a long time fan of Green Day, I was really looking forward to the stage version of American Idiot. The original album was written as a rock opera, so it was quite easy for me to put my own minds eye interpretation on it. The stage realisation was much better than even I could have imagined and my high expectations were more than exceeded in this frenetic show.


The story follows the journey of Johnny / Jesus of Suburbia and two of his friends from the small town to the big city with all the trials that life throws at them. The spellbinding cast features Alex Nee as Johnny, Thomas Hettrick as Tunny and Casey O’Farrell as Will, the latter two delivering awesome harmonies when they sing together. Alyssa DiPalma, Jenna Rubaii, and Kennedy Caughell all deliver powerful performances as the boys respective love interests. Finally a mention for Trent Saunders as St. Jimmy who completely grabbed my attention every time he was on stage.


The creative team has excelled in this production with a multifunctional stage that includes a piece of scaffolding that works as a backdrop but also transforms into a bus for the song "Holiday". The AV and Lighting team played an integral part of setting the atmosphere with the lights and helping to tell the story with over 30 onstage TV screens.


DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Thursday 4 October 2012

REVIEW: Sweeney Todd, Dolman Theatre


On this week at the Dolman Theatre is The New Venture Players presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The Tony and Olivier Award Winning Musical recounts the story of Benjamin Barker, a convict who returns to London from Botany Bay to exact his revenge on his enemies who stole his wife and daughter and had him transported for crimes he didn't commit. With the help of Mrs.Lovett and stationed above her Pie Shop, the pair hatch a plan to help Todd reach his goal.

Joe Tulloch gives a convincing portrayal of the demon barber himself while Rebecca Evans adds extra menace as his accomplice Mrs Lovett. Michael Lowe makes a return to the Dolman Theatre after a year with the Welsh National Youth Opera to play Judge Turpin and James Price plays Tobias Ragg.

The set itself perfectly captures the moody eerie atmosphere of 19th Century London and makes a perfect backdrop to this musical presentation.

The first evening of this production was well attended so if you missed Sweeney Todd when it graced the West End earlier this year, be sure to catch this production.

DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Saturday 22 September 2012

Awesome night with Cerys Matthews and Ballet Cymru

Tonight Seren and I have seen one of the best ballet's ever. I'm not a huge fan of ballet. I really struggle with classical music so most ballet's I won't sit through. When I heard about a ballet set to music by Cerys Matthews I thought this might be good. From the Ballet Cymru website I learned that they like to present ballet in an unpretentious and original way so decided to give this a go.

Good has ended up being an understatement. The dancing was amazing from the opening piece "Cold Running" where the ballet was set to a rhythmn rather than music.  Cerys Matthews took to the stage to a huge ovation so you knew the audience was there more for her and her music rather than the dancing.

As soon as she got on stage Cerys was chatting and really friendly even though she had some technical issues to sort out.  From the opening song you know this as going to be an amazing evening.  Seren and I loved the fact that she was singing Welsh and the dancing added an extra factor to make the song complete. The evening ended up being a history lesson as well as a performance as Cerys was so knowledgeable about the history of the music she was playing.

My favourite songs were Migldi Magldi and At Lan y Mor but my favorite ballets were to Myfanwy and the Daisuke Miura solo (sorry can't remember the name of the song). One of the best features of the evening was every time Cerys sang she faced the ballet to make sure the attention was on the dancers not her. They added so much to every song.

The performance ended with Calon Lan, one of the most well known welsh hymns. Cerys sang it brilliantly but I was really disappointed with the audience net singing along with the chorus. That would have made a hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and been an absolutely awesome finale.  My one complaint from the evening is that is was much too short.

Thank you to Cerys MatthewsBallet Cymru and The Riverfront for an awesome night.  You catch the show later in the year in Caernaforn, Cardiff and London.

DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Monday 17 September 2012

My cover page and September 1

It's September, which means it's Learn Something New Every Day time.  I'm running over a week behind already! but I am determined to catch up this week and post more of my pages.  Today I'm going to show you the cover page and Septermber 1 and you can see Sept 2 and 3 here.



Wednesday 5 September 2012

Learn Something New Every Day

I'm attempting to do Learn Something New Everyday again this year and I've decided to do 3 ATC sized cards a day to tell the story.

Here are Sept 2nd:


and Sept 3rd:


All I need to do is put the numbers on and they are completed.

Are you doing LSNED or another class at the moment?  Let me know in the comments and I'll come and look at your pages.

Friday 31 August 2012

My Favourite Summer TV Programs (Friday Five 31/8/12)

Here's a list of 5 of my favourite summer TV programs this year.


1. Hart of Dixie - the first season of this series shown on the Really Channel in the UK. It stars Rachel Bilston as a New York doctor moving to be a GP in a small village in BlueBell, Alabama.  I love the mixed up relationships between the 5 main characters and can't wait to see why the 2 leading ladies end up in wedding dresses in the Season 1 Finale.  So pleased this has been picked up for a second season.


2. Royal Pains - loving this one since I found the first series episodes starring Andrew McCarthy. It's on Universal Channel in the UK and features a Doctor who visits the rich and famous people in the Hamptons.


3. Fairly Legal - found this one during the trailers for Royal Pains what caught my eye was that the main character categorised her nearest and dearest as characters from the Wizard of Oz. What kept me watching was awesome storylines showing the main character trying to negotiate delicate situations. Great Sunday night telly.


4. The Finder - this is a new Series that I've just started watching. It's about a guy who loves "finding things" and he never gives up even during a hurricane.


5. Sea Patrol - I fell in love with Conrad Coleby when he was on Home and Away and knew he moved onto Sea Patrol. When I found the first episode of season 3 on Universal channel I found myself instantly hooked. Knowing that Conrad didn't appear until series 4 the episode when ET is killed and watching the rest of the cast especially Nav deal with this every day got me instantly hooked. Also as a huge Neighbours fan seeing Jay Ryan and Kristian Schmidt in the episodes really helped. I'm now starting season 5 gutted to know its the last season as it ended last year in Australia and looking forward to catching Season 1 and 2 soon.
What has been your favourite shows this year? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Saturday 25 August 2012

My Week in Instagrams







1. A trip to the Wetlands, Newport  2. Painting my nails  3. Weekly shop arrives  4. Late night CSI  
5. A trip to St Fagans  6. A day spent baking  7. A evening out

Friday 24 August 2012

Creative week

With the kids home there's not much time to be creative but this week I've managed to find quite a few quiet minutes to do a couple of projects.

First up is some ATC's I made at the beginning of the week.  There was no real plan behind them just went with the flow. The left one has a  washi tape background and 2 stamped butterflies and the right one



Next up is a layout using some ribbon and thread from the first Crafty Creatives box.  It's really simple at the moment, need to go back through my paperwork to find out when Seren's first Ballet exam happened as I really can't remember, must be about 4 years ago!

Finally, yesterday i agreed to bake with the kids, and 3 kids mean 3 different requests.  Therefore the order of the day was: make biscuit dough and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour, make small cakes and leave to cool!  Once cooled, Jon used half to make cake pops, and then Seren iced her biscuits and Tom iced his cakes. A long but rewarding day in the kitchen. Here's the finished cakes before they were eaten!

Have you managed to be creative this week?

Sunday 19 August 2012

Baby layouts

Since my third child was born I've had little time to scrap. All the layouts I've been making have been current events about them as they are now. I realised in May while doing Shimelle's Cover to Cover course that Tom doesn't have any baby layouts of him. So one morning last month I rectified this and got 2 layouts made in about 2 hours!  Here they are Tom's baby layouts.


Friday 17 August 2012

REVIEW: Legally Blonde

OMIGOD you guys! It can be difficult to get excited about going out on a week night when you’re tired after a long day at work/looking after the kids/*fill with your own hard day!

But from the moment I walked into the Wales Millennium Centre and settled down to watch the musical version of Legally Blonde, I instantly felt myself relax and forget about my stressful day.

From the opening number, you are mesmerized and completely captivated by the non-stop singing and dancing in the show. It really felt like each scene blended into another and each act went by far too quickly.

The songs seamlessly blend together, moving the story of Elle Woods’ transformation from Sorority girl to legal student.

It’s hard to pick out any members of the cast as they all excelled, especially in some scenes where the background actors are completely upstaging the main characters.

I must mention Iwan Lewis, from Llandeilo, West Wales, who was outstanding as Emmett Forrest, performing in his first national tour; as well as Faye Brookes, who played Elle Woods with loads of enthusiasm.

Although the set was quite minimalist, it worked really well with the show, as the story was able to blend from one scene to another without the actors having to leave the stage.





DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Thursday 16 August 2012

A catch up and a new idea


Box 1
I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted on the blog. The end of June and the beginning of July was hectic in one of my jobs and a lot of my spare time was taken up with that, then the school holidays started and we went to Tenby for a weeks holiday. We've been back for just over a week and things are just beginning to settle down into the holiday routine.
Box 2

The new idea is called crafty creatives it's kinda like a scrapboking monthly kit club but you get items from lots of different types of crafting. Here are pix of the first 2 boxes and as you can see there are lots of different things, from material and patterned paper to beads and pendants. I can't wait it to get going and incorporate all these items into my scrapbooking and other crafts.
Have you signed to crafty creatives as well? What have you made with your box?

Thursday 21 June 2012

A Rare Night Out

On Saturday night, Andy and I finally had a night out together!  These are very rare so I do my best to enjoy them as much as possible.  We went to the Riverfront Theatre in Newport to see Talon performing the best of The Eagles.  Only knowing about 5 of the songs they played all evening I have to say it was a really relaxing night and I loved getting to spend time with Andy.

Here's a link to Andy's Review of the evening.

DISCLAIMER: While I am not paid for the review I do get the product/tickets for free

Sunday 10 June 2012

Hand Made Cards

I love to scrapbook but I occasionally make cards for close friends and family when they have birthdays/christmas.  As today is the 10th June it's time for Shimelle's 10 things - a day where bloggers get together and list their own 10 Things on their blogs.  I occasionally take part, here's a link to my other 10 things posts.

Below are 10 cards that i have hand made for people celebrating birthdays and Christmas.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To see more 10 things posts this month go here.

Sunday 3 June 2012

Burnham on Sea Mini Book - Amy Tangerine Style

I've loved the Amy Tangerine Day Books and taking inspiration from this post by Louise I decided to try and create my own. Last month we had a weekend away so I pre-made the mini book with the idea of using my PoGo printer to print photos in the caravan.  I had hoped to get almost all of the mini book completed while we were on our holiday, but unfortunately the printer didn't play ball and I only managed the first few pages.  The rest were completed a few weeks after the holiday and I'm really please to say it's now complete.