Paige Evans scraplift.

I watched a YouTube video by Paige Evans using her new collection 'Horizon.

The papers with a rainbow sunray design is one of my favourites; I didn't want to cover much of the paper and was puzzled about how to do the paper justice.

Of course Paige had the wonderful idea to cut the segments and embroidered them, so I just scaplifted it. 

In her style I added sequins tone on tone to the page as I wanted the rest of the layout to stand out.  Of course, the stitching took for ever, good job I was off school for the Easter holidays when I made the page!

Bond's Hospital

My godparents are both well into their eighties now, but are still very sprightly and they live in one of the medieval Alms houses in our ancient city.

During Heritage weekend every September you can go into some buildings normally closed to the public, including Bond's Hospital where they live.

I used Maggie Holmes papers for the layout and the title was handwritten using brush script by me.😀

The Knife Angel.

With the current concern about knife crime, a sculpture made from knives confiscated by the police has been installed outside Coventry Cathedral.

As the Cathedral encourages peace and reconciliation, having the installation outside seems the perfect place for it.

Christmas Time in the City

I do love looking in shop windows in the run up to Christmas; the city centre decorations and those in the independent shops all make me feel so festive!

The title come from the Andy Williams song Silver Bells, ideal for this layout!

He's Back

Around the centre of Coventry is a dual carriage ring-road.  Anyone not from the city finds it tricky (to say the least!) to navigate as you get very little space to pull on and off the slip roads.  

Last year, lots of work was carried out on the junction closest to the railway station and it does look and function more smoothly now.  A sculpture a horse (Trigger!) was visible from the ring-road on Greyfriars Green at this point, but when the work commenced he disappeared.  

Little did we know, he had only gone to be repaired and refurbished and early this year the horse was reinstated.

I hadn't seen him close up until the summer, when I got this snap of Trigger on a trip to Birmingham.

The page is a grid layout using a Dovecraft pad of papers and embellishments from the Box of Crayons range by Shimelle. 

 

The arrows are stamped (Altenew) and cut out. 

Dug Up.

Last summer, I took some photos on a grassed area outside the front of my parent's house.  The council had planted lovely wildseeds, so the green looked really lovely. 

This year, Mum and Dad received a letter from Severn Trent in the spring, letting them know that major works would take place on the green to prevent flooding and that the road would be closed for 6 months.

When we took a look at the digging, I couldn't believe how huge the hole was, and the sign about ball games on the green still being present just made me laugh. 

No idea about the papers, I made the layout back in August, but Paige Evans Turn the Page is ringing a bell.

The stamps for the title are definitely by Paige Evans and I did cut embellishments from the 2x2" card pads.

Title Page

This photo taken inside Coventry Cathedral has been sitting in the first page protector of my Midlands album waiting to be scrapbooked for longer than I can remember.

As I decided to get this book up to date this summer, I began with this photo.  I found a ready made cut file in of my 12x12" Paige Evans books (I don't have an electronic cutter...or the time to work out how to use it.) The file looked a little like a stained glass window, so I used papers from the pad to back it and others to put together the layout.

The title is stamped directly onto the page using a Stamps by Me script alphabet and a few added letter tiles.

As the papers are a little old, I used more up to date stickers from the American Crafts booklet, so useful!

Another page done.

Summer in the City

Outside the house where I spent my childhood is a large green, we used to play on it as kids.  Sadly, the council has far less money than it used to, so the grass does not get mowed as often as it used to.

To keep it looking good, patches were seeded with wildflowers and left to grow into meadow.  These only need cutting a few times a year, so save the council money (while providing habitat for wildlife).

I used the Basic Grey cityscape papers by Kelley Purkey for the layout and black Thickers for the title.

The buildings fussy-cut for the top of the page were from the packaging for the papers, waste not want not!

Childhood Exhibition

Last summer, our local museum held a temporary exhibition of children's television characters, so we went along.  It was lovely to see both things from my own childhood (looking a little moth-eaten due to their age!) along with some more recent characters that the children remembered.

 So, from my childhood were Humpty and Little Ted from Play School, and its replacement gave us Peggy Patch and the Why Bird, both fondly remembered especially by the girls.

To make the page I used Shimelle's True Stories, some chipboard by MME, washi tape geometric capsule collection by Papermania and I die cut the title using an XL Sizzix die. the rest of the title was handwritten using brushscript.

The Start of the Summer.

You may remember this post from way back in early July, most of the summer stretching out ahead of us (sigh). Well, I took lots of photos on that day, and decided they decided a place on a double layout and near enough full size.  Thank goodness Shimelle had run a series of classes called 4x6 photo love, where she shows how to get increasing numbers of 4x6" photos onto one or two layouts.

All this effort resulted in another double layout for me with lots of pictures on it.

 On the left is the title and journalling around the sides.

On the right. lots of photos and a tiny amount of embellishment.

The title is made up of Amy Tan translucent stickers and stamped letters cut out with a circle punch.  Just hope next summer is as good as this one has been.

Godiva Festival

A few years ago, the council in Coventry decided it would be a good idea to organise a festival in the Memorial Park at the beginning of each July.  In the early days of the festival, it generally attracted younger members of the city, and sadly this led to trouble, especially in the evenings.  Far too many took alcohol onto the site; this led to rowdiness, fighting and no-one with any sense would go to the festival in those days.

Back in 2008, festival goers were banned from bringing alcohol into the park, and although this caused some to to campaign against the ban, trouble at the festival is now really a thing of the past.
Year on year. the Godiva festival has become increasingly popular, with additional entertainment in the day for families, it attracts all generations for miles around to get out and enjoy themselves for a free weekend of fun!
Here are a few photographs I took this weekend at the Godiva, I went on Sunday afternoon with my husband and daughter.

Alpacas for the children

 A Ride with a View

Meeting a gladiator!?

Hello Kitty headwear.

Enjoying the sunshine.

Trying out wood turning the old fashioned way.

Strawberries and Cream

Veggie falafels

Vintage choice

Godiva festival... well worth a day out (if the weather is good!)

Welcome

Now, poor old Coventry gets a bad press at times, after all, there isn't much left of our historic past, and at times it seems that the planners in the mid 20th Century finished the job the Luftwaffe started. Our railway station can seem a little bleak, and for many visitors to the city it is their first view of what is, after all, one of the oldest cities in the country.

Just before the Olympics the station was spruced up a little, and the large plate glass windows decorated with these graphic figures.

As I collected Hannah from the train in the summer I couldn't resist snapping a couple of shots, and the cyber crop page designed by Jemma back in October suited the pictures perfectly.

A much more interesting welcome to Coventry.

10 things....

....I want to remember from the summer of 2012:

1. So very much rain in May and June.. and a very damp Jubilee

2. Great weather once the school holidays started :)

3. Celebrating a golden wedding with the in laws

4. Weymouth so quiet without traffic... lovely

5. Bunting everywhere

6. Fabulous performance of team GB

7. Dining al fresco with Hannah in Derby

8. An amazing sunset over Chesil beach

9. The Olympics coming to Coventry

10. Watching Olympic sailing from the beach.

You can see lots of other 10 things lists if you join Shimelle today.
A definite autumnal nip in the air this week, I hope you had a fabulous summer too.