Cars and rain don't mix.....

We had walked into town today as it was dry. That didn't last long as the rain came on very heavily.  We had afternoon coffee, then the rain was light enough to walk home.  We walked home via a local park. There was a lot of police activity at the park entrance, then we noticed some cars were submerged in a huge puddle across the road. They had obviously attempted to drive straight through and got stuck.  Several cars had been parked there before the downpour and got flooded.

Beaded Kumihimo bracelet

I am really liking the Kumihimo technique. I saw a video making a Kumihimo bracelet with beads. I went to the local bead shop to get the thread needed. I had lots of beads at home so used some of those. I am pleased with the result and will be making some more.

Kumihimo!.......

First time using Kumihimo technique. I bought a starter kit from Crafters Companion after seeing Sarah's show on Create and Craft. It was very easy to do. The part that took the longest was gluing on the end caps!!! I phoned my friend Lilian to ask what kind of glue to use. I used UHU glue and it seemed very messy.... I am pleased with the results, hope the glue holds when i try it for size with the toggle clasp.

Serif Craft Artist Professional - Backgrounds video tutorial

Here is the second in the Serif Craft Artist Professional tutorials series. Here you will learn how to merge a photo into the background layer of your project. Here is the background I produced in the tutorial.

I then used a couple of our London photos to make my next holiday scrapbook page.

Been a bad girl.........

Today I bought a Galaxy 2 tablet on contract with Vodafone. I'm tying out listing this post to see if it works. Lilian and I have decided to go to the NEC instead of the SECC. We are so excited, everything is booked! Roll on 9th of November. I have also purchased a laser hair removal system from Ideal World and will be trying this out later too.

2nd post today...Shambala bracelet....

I bought several items from Beaders Companion this week including 4 Shamballa bracelet kits....
I bought a blue one for myself and 3 other colours for Christmas presents.
I have never tried Shambala before but found it quite easy....

Die cutting Morehead and Me to you.....

I have been playing most of the day with the silhouette software.  I have taken in several images from my Morehead and Me to you Cd's and turned them into die cut images.  I like cutting out but this is just so quick.  It takes a bit of time sometimes to draw around some parts of the images but it's worth it. It's saved and ready to print and cut anytime I need another one.
I layered them up and now they're ready to use on a project.

New Silhouette Cameo and Foiling Machine....

Today I decided to have a play with my new Silhouette Cameo which I bought from Create and Craft.
It cut out great but I am having a slight white border to one side when I print and cut.  I have calibrated the machine so don't know why it is doing this!
I bought some cog cuts with my $10 card which was part of the bundle.  I took it into the software and filled the cogs with black.  I then printed the design on my laser jet printer and foiled them with my foiling machine.  They turned out not too bad.  I used 2 different types of foils and one was less efficient than the other.

So excited ....... NEC here we come.......

I am so excited.  Lilian and I have decided to give the SECC a miss in October and go to the NEC in November instead.

I booked the flights and event tickets this morning and Lilian is booking the hotel.
We have said no baggage as we both have small cases within the hand luggage guidelines. Just means we can't buy too much or anything heavy!!!

Home and back to normal....

Well we got home late on Tuesday night.  Stayed up to watch the Olympics and then went to bed.  Yesterday I went over to my Mum's to collect all the things I had managed to buy while I was away.  It looked so much when it had time to mount up over the last 4 weeks.
I loaded all the craft Cd's I had bought onto my computer ready to use but
I haven't opened my Silhouette Cameo yet but will have a go soon.
I bought some cut files from Cupcake Crafting last night too.
I made my first holiday page using my Craft Artist Pro software.

Today we took the bus to Westminster Bridge and had a walk around Westminster Abbey.  The Architecture is just lovely.  They really knew how to build great buildings.

We then walked over Lambeth Bridge to see the Olympic Rings on the Thames.

Then it was a short walk to Whitehall to see Downing Street.

The Horse Guards were on duty at Horse Guards Parade.

We stumbled across one of the post boxes that have been painted gold to celebrate with our Olympians.

We eventually found out what the mascots for the Olympics actually are.  They were 2 pieces of steel which dripped on the ground as they finished the last piece of steel for the Olympic stadium!!!

Wenlock and Mandeville are their names.  They are placed at all the tourist spots and painted to look like something to do with the monument or place.



St.Paul's and scales of Justice....

Today we were going to go and watch the Women's Marathon but it was lashing with rain before we left so we decided just to watch it on TV and go out after it.

We took the bus to Waterloo station and walked along the river and over the Millennium Bridge to St.Paul's Cathedral.  A really magnificent building.

We then walked along to The Strand passing 'The Old Bailey' on the way with the well known Scales of Justice on the top.

We then came to the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand itself.  Another very ornate building.  The streets were deserted in this part of London today.

Late Saturday post

We hopped on a river boat and travelled up the river to Hampton Court Palace.  We were the only people on the boat so we had a one to one talk from the Captain's hand.

This is where Bradley Wiggins won the cycling time trial last week.  Lovely grounds and buildings.  The gates are covered in gold leaf.

We walked around the grounds and came upon a small display of old bicycles.  There were several bicycles which were replicas like the Bone Shaker and the Penny Farthing.  The green Penny Farthing was an original at over 100 years old.  They even gave a demonstration on how to ride a it.

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Lazy day.......

We had a lazy day today.  John did some gardening for Mairi and Simon, while I tried unsuccessfully to get tickets to the athletics.
After lunch we took a walk into Hammersmith along the river.  We had a coffee and then went along to the square and watched the Olympics on a big screen while relaxing in a deck chair.

When we got back this evening I made these bracelets with beads I bought in Covent Garden yesterday.

Lion King and Olympic Boxing.......

Today John left early to make the most of his travel card.  He went to London Bridge and then onto the Excel Centre to see the Olympic Boxing.

While John was at the boxing, Daniel and I settled in at the Lyceum Theatre to see the Lion King.  It was absolutely fabulous!!!!!

The costumes, the music and the singing was out of this world.  Worth every penny!

Regent Street, Sherlock Holmes and Olympic Park...

Apologies for not posting yesterday but we were late home!!
Yesterday it was raining in the morning so we decided to wait and go out after lunch.  We hopped on the bus to Marble Arch and walked down Regent Street.  Daniel and I had a good look round Hamleys toy shop and it didn't disappoint.

We then went on a walk to find the Sherlock Holmes pub as John is a big fan of Sherlock Holmes.



Today we had our visit to the Olympic Park.  When we received our tickets we got a free travel card included to use on the day.  We took advantage of this and left early this morning going first to Tower Bridge,

We then had a quick stop at Whitechapel, famous stomping ground of Jack the Ripper. Then it was off to the Olympic Park.  It was very busy.  Lots of complaints that London is very quiet.  That's because they were all at Olympic Park!!!!

We couldn't get any tickets for the events in the park today, but it was great just walking around seeing the layout and the venues.  My feet and hips have never walked so much over the last 3 weeks and are aching.  Hopefully I will have toned up and lost a bit of weight!!!

We went into the Olympic Mega Store and treated ourselves to a T-shirt each.  John got a boxing t-shirt as this is his favourite sport, Daniel chose one with all the sports on it and I had to take the shirt with the British Olympic dates as they didn't have a swimming one like John's, they had sold out only 5 days into the event!!!! They only accepted Visa or Cash so I couldn't use my M&S card and get my points as it is Mastercard....

Well off to bed now as tomorrow John has Boxing at the Excel centre and Daniel and I are off to the Lion King, front row!!