Cherish

Here is another pre-digital photo, taken so long ago that I could hardly remember the occasion it was taken.

The children look so sweet in the picture, and smart so I think it was taken at a special service i church, either a first communion or confirmation.

Another #clearthescrapdesk page here; the papers are by Amy Tan and Teresa Collins and I embellished the page using stickers from the American Craft sticker books, mainly the Maggie Holmes set.

The title is from the Shimelle Glitter Girl set, ideal for this picture; looking at it I find myself wondering where the years have gone.

Cathedral Page 2

Here is the second of the double layout about the catholic cathedral in Liverpool.

I loved the view of the church as we walked up the road towards it. The journalling on the page is about the unusual design of the church, with the altar in the centre of the congregation.

I used the same papers as for the first page of the layout, just a pity we didn't have time to attend Mass there.

Liverpool Cathedral Page 1

Kevin took me away at half term to help me on the road to recovery from an illness, it was nice to get away for a couple of nights as I had not visited Liverpool before.

On the second day, we visited both cathedrals, finishing with the modern catholic building.  The organist was practising as we went in, but as the weather was poor there were few people who had bothered to go out, so it was quiet inside.

I loved the modern style of the church, the altar in the centre must make it a wonderful place to attend Mass.  The windows were geometric in style, a little like those in my own church.  After being unwell, I hadn't scrapbooked for a while so a sketch from Michelle really kick-started me into getting the layout done.

Do visit Michelle's blog, she regularly posts sketches most weeks.I used a really old set of stash with geometric patterns on it from MME Jubilee.

I made a double layout from the photos taken on my visit; using the patterned papers on both papers so the pages would co-ordinate. This is the first of those pages.   I also used the same set of chipboard 'Thickers'... I picked these up at B&M Homes for £1.49 a pack.  They had letters in 3 different styles from about 3 years ago. Needless to say, I picked up a good few packs!

Parisian churches

You can't visit Paris without seeing its famous churches, so on the last day of our visit we went along to both Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur.

Notre Dame is sited on the Isle de Cite, with a beautiful original Art Nouveau Metro station,

and still a few padlocks around the churchyard railings.

As it was Sunday and we went into Notre Dame, the cardinal no less had just begun Mass, so we decided to stay.  I had never heard mass said by a Cardinal before.

 Although I speak almost no french, I could join in with the service as it follows the same order as the mass in the UK.

Afterwards we had a look in and around the cathedral, Kev had fun with his backpack pretending to be Quasimodo!

In the afternoon  we hopped on the Metro heading to Sacre Coeur, with an amazing view of the city.

 By late afternoon when we got there it was extremely busy, so we only stayed a short time.
So finally we hopped on the Eurostar Premier service (meaning we were fed on the train) at around 6pm, and were home at just before 11pm.

Goodbye Fr Des

Our priest moved on to another parish earlier in the year, and he returned at the weekend for a presentation and special mass.

I looked out the photos I took on the day of his final Sunday mass with us and made a scrapbook page to remember the day.

 His stole (the part with the words on) was a special presentation from the school chldren,

 I made the page using papers by Shimelle (Starshine) Basic Grey and chipboard by MME.

A turned gift.

Our parish priest, who had been with us for almost 12 years was moved by the diocese a couple of weeks ago, and Kev got busy turning to make him a special gift.

He turned a chalice and communion plate, coating the inside of the chalice with gold leaf, and simply waxing the outsides to show the grain.

I hope Fr Des liked them.

Chalice and Plate

My husband got interested in wood-turning when I bought him a lathe for Christmas a couple years ago.  Since then, he has made many handcrafted items: from plates and bowls, to a pair of bespoke bedside lamps (ordered by me!) for our newly decorated bedroom.
When we heard the sad news that our old parish priest, who had retired a while back, had died, Kevin decided to find out about the traditions linked to the burial of a catholic priest.  One of these involves the communion cup, so Kev asked if he could make a chalice and plate to place upon the coffin during the funeral from wood, as a final gift to Fr Donlan.

 He had been our parish priest for over 18 years, and presided at our wedding 25 years ago. The chalice is our final gift to him and then the parish I have been a member of since I was 4 years old.

Team page

Following the previous post all my UKS friends and I gathered around our computers and craft spaces last night to complete this LO as part of our first monthly online crop.

The page is made using a circle cut from a dinner plate, with scalloped circles punched, cut in half and slid underneath to make a faux die cut paper. A little bit of inking, distressing and stitching, along with a lot of hand cutting of flowers completed the page.

The photo is of me (looking a lot thinner!!) and Hannah about 9 years ago, with my nephew at his baptism.

Off to Derby today taking Hannah back to Uni.... when she gets out of bed that is! Ahhhh teenagers, don't you just love 'em!

Almost a year later...

Harry was confirmed last February, so I thought it was about time i made him a scrapbook page and uploaded it! I made this at the retreat in Shropshire last November, using the papers I won in the raffle, love the little birdhouses :)

Hannah was Harrys sponsor, so I included a photo of the two of them together too.

It's a while since I uploaded a page that wasn't Christmas themed!!!

One of my teammates on UKS has set this weeks challenge on the site, so I'm hoping to get that done this week too.

Busy, busy!

Such a busy week....

And now it's Saturday! Well my in laws have gone back to Ireland for a few weeks, then they will be back in the spring house hunting as they are moving back to England! It will be lovely to see more of them, I have missed the impromptu family get togethers we used to have, and i know the children have missed them too. It was nice to go over to Ireland to visit, so I'm glad they went for that reason, as i don't think we would have travelled over there without family to visit, but it will be good to see them more often.

On Thursday was Harry's confirmation, we had a houseful of visitors, thank goodness John and Kathleen were here to help out as i was working most of the week, the mass was nice (and not too long!) and we have loads of leftovers to get through now! The Invitation card was made using all Unity stamps, the papers are from the Zen garden paper pack.

With the 14th looming tomorrow, i have a certain card to make today, I did play with my fabulous Martha Stewart punches that arrived yesterday, so now it is half term i should get time to upload a few things!