Sad.

I wasn't sad at all today. The weather was pretty sad, just persistent heavy rain with spells of persistent light rain.

I haven't taken any photos of that so I will add the one I have of Ali making a home movie with his lego.

Gloomy.

Great word Suzie :)

Today has just gone on forever, I didn't sleep well last night, and it seems as though I took these photos days ago, not this morning. I have been on a late, late shift and now feel wide awake!

For 9am it was pretty gloomy.

Hillsborough. Otherwise known as Elephant Hill, can you see why? I hope so or you will think us mad here in the sticks! 

Paint.

If I had to pick out a product from my stash that means a lot to me it would be my pearly paint palette. I have one in colour that I have photographed below and I have one in shimmer colours. I don't use them all the time but it is something that I bought when I first started crafting/scrapbooking that I still love as much as I did then.

Crowd.

I had a really long arduous day today, into work at 1pm and then a long drive to South Devon to help out at Newton Abbott store again from 5pm - 1am. Then a 2 hour drive home in the rain and gales. It was horrid and to top it off I managed to get a poorly tummy. You know when you have trapped air and it pierces your tummy? Horrible. Anyway, I have a photo I took which is of their stash of choc tins in the warehouse that we took as a joke for my grocery manager. He has been asking me why he can't get enough stock to make a really impactful display in the shop and I had to say well Newton Abbott have them all!

He knows why really, we take 350k a week and they take £1m a week! But I still had fun showing him this today and seeing him in despair!

Bridge.

Poor Suzie! It has gone haywire this week, of all the words in the english language and they are repeating for her somehow!

I was at work all day apart from a trip to the dentist which was with a new dentist and instead of the usual psycho dentist that I enjoy doing battle with I had a really rather fab man that really looked after me. Not to mention hat he also built my poorly tooth back up which was great as I thought I might lose it.

The sunset was stunning outside the shop.

Free Choice:

Baking today, I am feeling a bit stuffed now, I only had one of the buns that I made but I feel as if the sugar and other ingredients are coating me, including my throat!

I finished baking the christmas cake, happy with it and now it is all wrapped up and held together with one of my new christmas washi tapes :)

I also made a recipe for a Christmas Wreath from The Great British Bake Off book. I didn't have the right size tins so adapted and so ended up with some individual buns as well as the wreath. Absolutely delicious, it is a brioche dough mixed with sultanas (which I might have steeped in amaretto ;) ) chopped nuts, marzipan and orange zest. You then make orange curd and pipe it into the middle. That was a faff too far and next time I will cut them in half and spread the curd. But they were delicious :) 

Playful.

It was playful today.

Louis had a new game to play so we only saw him for homework and feeding times.

Mum was scrapbooking.

Lauren was watching tv.

Ali was re-writing and re-writing his christmas list for the ten zillionth time.

I played as well cooking and baking and crafting.

I made a recipe box, for the meal lists when we are stuck and our favourite recipes that we use time and again.

We have a robin visiting our garden now and we couldn't be more pleased.

Books.

I have copied Anne today, I showed paper last time too and so this time it is digital. Most of them are samples as I have a try digitally and then buy in paper. I am reading Great Expectations mainly on the phone which is nice when I am tired and can hold it easily and I don't need a light on either.

Fence.

Didn't see the prompt today and so I have a photo of Ali with his Pudsey face. I didn't have any white face paint and although I did consider white paint for a moment I dismissed it :)

Uplifting.

Crikey, it's been a long time since I was this early with the prompt :)

The withdrawal from diet coke is painful and I have needed pain relief from the headaches and lots of water and this in the morning.

I have found that by the evening I am craving something fizzy, I have been making myself a nice mocha instead.

Anyway, I am sure you are riveted lol. Have a good day everyone!

Nostalgic.

I think I will be nostalgic for evenings like this, chilled out after school together then all hanging out upstairs with tv, scrapping, crafting etc.

I have finished the bases of the advent trees, made some snowflake decorations, Ali has just found the jingle bells I am using and wants to have one as a necklace...ok I am back, he now has a jingle bell necklace. Saints preserve us.

Louis is having some chill time in bed.

Mum is making a scrapbook of all the events this year for her sister for Christmas.

It is going to be cracking, I cannot wait to look through it, she has scrapped all the jubilee stuff, the torch relay, the olympics and paralympics, the mars landing,  loads of stuff. She has also put in lots of family stuff as well as her sister turned 70, her aunt turned 90 and my cousin turned 50. We lost Richard my brother and my cousin's wife (whom I have known since I was a little girl) lost her dad to cancer this year as well. So lots going on. 

Ali, well he is watching Lego Ninjago stuff online as that is what he is dreaming of for Christmas.

He is doing this on the stairs, bizarre little thing.

Yes, I will be nostalgic for this, even this bit where I am blogging and they are supposed to be going to sleep next door and they are clearly not.

Off to berate them :)

Thoughtful.

Is Minty thoughtful? She often dreams, squeaking as she does so!

Refreshing.

Great prompt for today in the end, I struggled all day with it though, but then I have struggled a bit all day with anything. I had to go back to bed and have a nap, that is very unusual and I could have slept again this afternoon. I then realised I was probably in withdrawal because I haven't had any diet coke. I am addicted to the stuff and I was thinking about how if I could save another couple of quid each day then we could have something extra at christmas. I don't think I should have gone as far as to have none though...

Louis and I went to se Michael Morpurgo's Farm Boy at the theatre tonight which was fab, fab, fab. I heartily recommend it. It is a follow on from War Horse which we saw at the cinema (although would have loved to have seen at the theatre), they explain the rest of Joey's life very well through another story.

 Louis was very dubious about me dragging him out but he loved it and declared it better than playing x-box! Anyway, being a disorganised sort of person when it comes to my kids (never have dinner money, or forget to give it in, no clue where their p.e. kit is, sort of disorganised), I forgot to take cash with us to the theatre and they didn't take a card at the refreshment stall so we couldn't get a drink :( We were glad to get back for a drink.

Rubbish photo of us in the theatre waiting.

Now, how many days can I go without my diet coke? I think I will just have to cut down :)

Memories.

We have been working on Christmas plans today and it has been fun but so hard, my brother loved Christmas so he will be especially missed at then. Lots of memories, including last christmas when he bought so much food to the house, we in no way could eat it all but he was happy knowing it was there.

Anyway, I also made the monthly challenge layout for UKS and used a sketch for Shimelle's Scrapbook Remix class I am taking. Good memories of taking Ali up the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. He toddled across the glass platform quite happily.

Here is the original photo.

He has grown a bit.

Warm.

Lovely warm colours out on our walk today. It has been a lovely day today, started late due to my late night working yesterday and then not being able to settle.... it has had a knock on as I can't sleep now!

Started cleaning the insides of the car but then it started raining so we came indoors and started planning Christmas instead :)

Ponder.

I have been pondering today along with Anne and Kathi how our new blog for next year's challenge. I think you will like it, we are certainly tweaking it so that you will hopefully find it easy to use :) As soon as it is sorted of course we want to show you. I'm really enjoying the process of the team work.

Ok so the screenshot didn't work too well! I cut off the bottom, but I did ponder Anne's comment as to whether she should have a recognition from Google. I agreed!

Domestic.

Yes, I have had a lovely domestic day. I even had my welly boots on at one point.

Mostly I have been indoors though cooking and baking. I made Spiced Autumn Stew, which was ok, but more of a sturdy soup than a stew. I know that's a fine line :)

I also made some fairy cakes for the kids for tea and a very naughty tray of peanut butter squares (a fab recipe from Nigella that replicates Reese's Peanut Butter Cups). Yum.

Creature.

I love it when Anne visits Google for a definition, I don't often think about what the word of the day means, just what comes to mind. I always get something that I didn't know, like today she explains that it is alive, but not human. Thanks Anne :)

Anyway, I am sure that Ali is human, I spent long enough growing him :) However, I will use some photos of him at Halloween as I haven't taken any shots today.

He decided that he would do his costume, "can I wreck this old white tee shirt?" erm yes, I was getting excited to see what he would come up with. Then he had been in and pinched my red sharpie. He cut some holes in his tee shirt to represent a creature attacking him and then he decided to colour his tummy in so the blood showed through! I think he had been watching me make 'negative' layouts and understood the show through idea.

Little wierdo!

Dotty.

We must be dotty spending time turning our training room into a present complete with bow :)

We are going to do some customer service training in there and it will be our 'overflow' room when we give all the staff their Christmas dinner party in just 4 weeks!!!!

Bright.

Bright after sunrise this morning. It has been a busy couple of days at work but happy with what I have achieved.

Paper.

Thank you everyone for all your help to get our next years challenge ready, you are fab :)

My new paper, it is not what I would usually go for but I like it :)

Group.

Too many of this group of diet cokes whilst scrapping this last few days!

With the pledge in there randomly :)

Challenge Proposal.

Okay, here we are, the proposal for how we would structure it. Please have a read, and then post on the UKS group or here if you are not there yet or for Borqna, as I know you can get it translated :)

Monday 31st December

Countdown and reminder, maybe Suzie would link us up?

Tuesday 1st January

Full Calendar of events for the next month/5 weeks - I thought the scavenger hunt that Anne did was brilliant with a list of things to do, everyone would know what was coming up and know that there is less time pressure.

Week 1 Tuesday 1st January - Sun 6th January

Theme/Challenge Title of no1 i.e Brainy.

So the prompt is to take/find a photo of the theme that you love and post up by sunday.

If you have more time this week please link up some more photos to fit the prompts:

Prompt 1

Prompt 2

Prompt 3

Prompt 4

Prompt 5

Put up as few or as many this week as you would like.

If you have a bit more time and want to join in with making your photos into a book over the year here is a further challenge.....Link to the challenge on a pdf, an individuals blog, etc. 

Mr Linky

Week 2 Monday 7th - Sun 13th

Theme/Challenge Title of no 2 ie nostalgia

So the prompt is to take/find a photo of the theme that you love and post up by sunday.

If you have more time this week please link up some more nostalgia photos to fit the prompts:

Prompt 1

Prompt 2

Prompt 3

Prompt 4

Prompt 5

Put up as few or as many this week as you would like.

If you have a bit more time and want to join in with telling a story to go with it and making a layout for.....Link to the challenge on a pdf, word document, an individuals blog, etc. 

Mr Linky

Week 3 Monday 14th January - Sun 20th January

Theme/Challenge Title of no 3 ie quote

So the prompt is to take/find a photo of the theme that you love and post up by sunday.

If you have more time this week please link up some more photos to fit the prompts:

Prompt 1

Prompt 2

Prompt 3

Prompt 4

Prompt 5

Put up as few or as many this week as you would like.

If you have a bit more time and want to join in an extra challenge....attach challenge here.

Mr Linky

Monday 21st January - Sun 27th January

Theme/Challenge Title of no 4 ie we all take turns to come up with the prompt or theme.

Mr Linky

Also an add-on challenge to take a photo of your favourite view at some point during the week with an add-on challenge to make the page into a layout and then into a book.

The next week would be a five month week so someone comes up with the weeks theme.

Monday 28th January - Sunday 3rd February

Individuals challenge.

Then back into the cycle.

Monday 4th February - Sunday 10th February

Brainy

Monday 11th February - Sunday 17th February

Nostalgia

Monday 18th February - Sunday 24th February

Quote

Monday 25th February - Sunday 3rd March

Individual prompt

Monday 4th March 

Brainy

Monday 11th March

Nostalgia

Monday 18th March

Quote

Monday 25th March

Individual prompt

The blog would then be the central point where everyone can link up their photos. Everyone is used to doing that now :)

Anyone who is doing an individual prompt can either have the passwords and do it them selves or if they feel they wouldn’t know how to or want to they could give us the information and we could do it for them.

So it could be as simple as thinking up a theme and then having five prompt words for it just once or twice over the whole year if there are those that don’t feel confident or want to do a lot of the ‘admin’.

Anyone who does want to do the admin could run as many of the weeks as they want to. 

I did also think that we could have surprise prompts a few times through the year, with something a bit different......

Primary Colours.

Firstly, a huge thank you for all the great comments and ideas, it is wonderful that we are helping to make a challenge we will all like, we are a great team :D

Well I am ashamed to say that I have not left the house today, and barely left my desk, I was in full cybercrop mode but I am done now, I cannot do anymore and it is time to get ready for Storytelling Sunday at Sian's blog. I will do that tomorrow. I will share my scrapping here, there are primary colours in there.

Tree & Next Year.

Hello, firstly my tree and then please do read on about next year.

Poor thing has had hail, sleet and rain today. It is getting very bedraggled. I was just saying to Viv on her blog that I like to see the shapes of the branches come out again though.

Next Year.

So we have all been thinking about next year and talking about what is going to happen. We know Suzie doesn't want to do the prompt a day again and I wouldn't be looking to join another one of those as I have found the last couple of months difficult to find anything original. So Kathi and I talked to Anne today about preliminary ideas and this is what we have come up with so far.
Now, I do not want to run it all, and I am guessing that no-one else does otherwise they would have said so. However if you have been thinking about it, that will be great, just let us know now please so we don't go on planning it :)
Having said that, I am happy to do the technical setting up and putting it all together as I would love to see us carry on as a group. Kathi and Anne have come up with some great ideas and with your ideas I am hoping that we can all come up with the plan together so that we all run it a bit, if that makes sense?

So the preliminary plan, which has just been some brainstorming, we didn't want to get any further than that before you all got involved with your ideas, likes and dislikes. We won't all want exactly the same things so there will be an element of compromise, but lets see if we can come up with something together.

So the proposal is that we have a weekly challenge, with an option to do more through the week if you like it that way and have time or energy for it.

Rather than it just being prompt based, we thought more along the lines of a theme for the week. We also wondered about having a couple of 'serials', I thought for example that Kathi hosting a nostalgia prompt once a month would be great, and she is happy to do that.

I also wondered whether you would like to choose a favourite view and once a month you take a photo of it so that you have a record through the year of the changes in that view.

If anyone has got an idea for a 'serial' of their own, Anne is thinking about one for example then we can have another serial, we then thought that the 4th week of each month could be for each of us to take a turn at thinking up a prompt/theme/challenge.

These weeks would then roll each month. For the 5 week months we would have an extra week of an individual's prompt/theme/challenge.

It is difficult to describe it sorry. It is clear in my head :) Anyway, please ask any questions, none of this is set in stone, it is just brainstorming. Other brainstorming thoughts are that any less than once a week and we may forget or it become too infrequent for us all to keep on getting to know each other. Please say any likes and dislikes about it, any ideas you have, add ons to any ideas. Also if you like it in principle and would be happy to do it would you want to do a prompt or theme? It could be as simple as thinking up a word, or indeed using one from this year.

We have started thinking up a name, but it would be great to get your input on it. So far we have Lucky Snapping In 2013. There is a blog and email adress available for that but please if you have any other ideas, lets hear them.

I am now thinking out loud, I haven't spoken to Kathi or Anne about this yet. What do you think about advertising it, my instinct is to leave it as us, i.e. we just let people know on Suzie's blog as I think the same might happen as this year we would have a lot of interest that would die away within a few days or weeks, leaving less time for us to get round to everyone. However, that is just my instinct, if the rest of you want to find some new people to swell the numbers we can do that too.

I was also thinking we could have a Calendar of Events so everyone knew what was coming up and how it all fits together.

So answers please to these questions and then add anything else you want.

Do you like the idea of a weekly challenge with an expansion to do more through the week.

Do you like the idea of two or three 'serials' ?

Would you be happy to think up a prompt/theme or challenge?

If so how many would you do over the year?

What do you think of the name, personally, I always think of Suzie's blog as Suzie's blog or photo a day, but if it does matter to you, can you think of anything else?

What do you think about advertising it?

Ok, that is enough for now :) We look forward to your thoughts :)