Nuts About Sketches week 337 - School Days

This is my latest layout for the Design team over at Nuts About Sketches. 

These photos are of my Mum, as a school girl. I don't know why the photos were taken, whether it was for a school newspaper or magazine, or as a project, or for a local newspaper. But I love them. I love seeing my Mum as a girl, and seeing her at her school is just priceless. The school she went to - Henry Cavendish School - no longer exists, either in name or as a building. 

My Nana kept these photos - as she did with many others, and a tons of other things useful or not - and we found them when we were going through her house after she had died. I don't even think Mum can remember why they were taken, or who that other girl is with her. But to have a snapshot of her school day is more than I have of my own school days. 

Check out what the rest of the Design Team has done with the sketch at the Nuts About Sketches blog.

TTFN

Sarah x

Nuts About Sketches week 336 - Baby's Day Out

It's Monday again, so time to share my latest layout using this week's sketch over at Nuts About Sketches. This week is a two page sketch, but I chose to do the left hand side of the sketch as a single layout.

These pictures are of my grandparents and the baby is my Mum :) I'm not too sure about who the other two women are, but I think they are my Nana's "half nieces" - the daughters of a couple of my Nana's half sisters. I'm not sure where the photos are taken either, it could be Leicestershire, or Derbyshire or anywhere really. Just looks like an afternoon out with the baby to get some fresh air LOL.

Take a look over on the Nuts About Sketches blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to with this sketch!


TTFN

Sarah x

Nuts About Sketches week 335 - Whirlwind D.C.

Here is my layout based on this week's sketch over at Nuts About Sketches. A two pager, that was just perfect for a recap layout about our first weekend in the US.

We really had a whirlwind visit to the capital. We were jetlagged, and really wanted to see as much as we could out and about in Washington DC. We got in all the major sights, a couple of museums at the Smithsonian, riding the Metro all over - from Arlington to the Zoo LOL.

I loved adding a bit of handstitching to this layout - those arrows on the top border were so much fun to do :)

And that margarita? Yes, it was as amazing as it looked!

Don't forget to head over to the Nuts About Sketches blog to see what the other Design Team members have done with the sketch :)


TTFN


Sarah x

Nuts About Sketches week 334 - Sgt Harris

This is my layout for this week's sketch over at Nuts About Sketches. 

Another clean and simple layout, heavy on the journalling ;) I adapted the sketch to a 8.5 x 11 page, mainly because I wanted to use a 4x6 photo instead of the 5x7 on the sketch.

This is my Papa. He was a Sgt in the Royal Army Medical Corp during World War Two. This photo, I think was taken in Burma (now known as Myanmar) where he was stationed from 1941. He was blind in one eye from childhood polio, but this didn't stop him being drafted into the Army - he was assigned to a clerical/admin job instead of being a front line soldier. His own father was a gunner during World War 1, and was proud to follow his footsteps into the Army.

He loved telling Mark stories about his service days, although he always stuck to the same humorous stories - having his drinks spiked and waking up to find half his moustache had been shaved off, letting his pet monkey loose to collect up all the shaving brushes and lick them, his monkey getting loose and ripping all the cigarettes in the stores apart and my Papa had to re roll every single one. He never told us about the horrors he saw - he was in Coventry during the Blitz in 1940, and was sent as part of a search and rescue team to a maternity hospital that had suffered a direct hit.

I hope to get a copy of his service record one day, to find out exactly where he was and what he did. But I'm glad there are a few photos that I can tell his stories with - both the humorous and the not so humorous.

Pop on over to the Nuts About Sketches blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have done with this weeks sketch :)


TTFN


Sarah x

Nuts About Sketches week 333 - Jags vs Bears

My first layout as DT for Nuts About Sketches. I'm so happy to be back on the team. Shawn's sketches are such fun to work with, and I feel so comfortable working with them - they are like a pair of comfy slippers LOL. 

This layout is pretty much my MO - clean and simple, with a ton of journalling. One of my personal goals for myself this year is to write more - I have a diary I write in every night, I also have a gratitude journal, and I also have a journal that I use as a brain dump. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, a way to deal with emotions caught up in my head. This layout, although not emotional at first glance, was actually bitter sweet for me to do.

In October 2012, my parents visited us in Florida for the first time. My Dad had just retired, and was about to have his 65th birthday. He has been a long time football fan - American Football to the Brits out there - and has watched the Superbowl in the wee hours of the morning for the past 25 years or so. As he was visiting during football season, I bought 2 tickets to see a Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game for his birthday. We were the very last row of the stadium - the only thing behind us was the stadium wall. But Dad loved it. He stood the whole game, scanning the whole field of play, checking the big screens. The whole circus that comes with an NFL game annoyed him a little - no fast forwarding the adverts available in real life ;) - but it was an experience he'll never forget.

And now the bitter part. Dad was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (ALS) in June 2014. My parents visited in March this year, and I saw what my Mum had been describing to me all too clear - there was something wrong. His left arm had no strength, he couldn't lift a cup of coffee to his mouth without holding the cup with 2 hands. Even a forkful of food was too much. I told him he needed to see his doctor when he got home. He did, They sent him to a neurology ward for testing, and the diagnosis was made. I don't know how long my Dad has before he loses control of all his muscles. I do know that he probably won't make it back to Florida to visit. Or get another chance to watch a live NFL game in a football stadium. 

Getting to do this layout was cathartic for me. I'm so glad I have an outlet to write these stories about my Dad. 

Head on over to the Nuts About Sketches blog to see what the rest of the team have done with the sketch :)

TTFN

Sarah x