Saturday 31 December 2011

Journal Your Christmas 2011

Nearly gave up on Journal your Christmas/December Daily this year as I got so far behind!  But spending a bit of time on it last night made me realise that I can catch up and I will finish it!  So here are the pages I have already made:

Title Page

December 1

December 3

December 4

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Latest Reviews

Between the busyness of working lots of  jobs and looking after the family and the house I have managed to fit in 4 reviews in the last month.  Must start making layouts of all these reviews!  The fist one was at the end of November and it was Katy Perry!  I was really impressed by the great set and immaculate vocals!  The next one was Erasure in St David's Hall, it was great to have a night out with my husband and just relax and enjoy the music.  I have never been a huge Erasure fan but I was really impressed with Andy Bell, he had a great voice and really gave a wonderful performance.  Here's some pix from the night:




Finally, this weekend I reviewed Will Young (at St David's Hall again) on Saturday night and All then Fun of the Fair with David Essex on Monday night.  Will Young was amazing, he had so much energy on stage it was a really enjoyable show.  Here are some pics from the night:



Now i'm off to get started on Journal Your Christmas, finally decided to sign up this year, so looking forward to it!

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Big Mistake!

October seems to be the month to do reviews for the paper.  As A works in the offices of the company that runs the local paper he has several shows he can choose from each month.  So far this month we have done 5 and it's only October 12th!  Last night I did one and now I think I regret it.  It was called Street Scene and it was advertised as a musical done by an opera company.  That shouldn't be too bad, I naively thought, I can cope with opera if there's lots of dance routines as well (I actually hate opera).  The poster was beautiful so I thought I'd give it a go.


I can't knock any of the performances as they we brilliant, all talented actors, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.  I could barely understand the singing as I struggle with the style of opera music, but somehow with the help of my wonderful hubbie I managed to get this review put together:

The Opera Group and Young Vic co-production of Street Scene by Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice opened for a two night run at Newport riverfront on Tuesday evening.


An American Opera, Street Scene was written in the post war era of 1946 and is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Rice. The opera follows 24 hours in the differing but interacting lives of several families in a 1940s tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The drama itself covers everything from scandal mongering and murder to victimisation and classification, taking in an elaborate blend of musical and opera along the way boasting a 40 strong cast, full choir and orchestra.


For me, the productions musical highlights were delivered in the first half of the production including The Ice Cream Song and Moon-faced, Starry-eyed which featured the shows only dance routine and utilised the casts amazing talents to their full potential The scene setting 1940s style American street featured several well placed props from strategically placed rubbish bins, staircases and a balcony housing the full orchestra (including the harp!) to the casts authentically styled costumes.


Street Scene is a production that remains both retrospective and modern, setting it apart from other productions of its kind. 

If you enjoy opera music then I'm sure you'll love Street Scene and if you get a chance to see it I would highly recommend it.

Monday 10 October 2011

The Big Splash 2011 (10 things)

This weekend has been a busy one for us as there's been lots going on in Newport and even better most of it has been free! The staff at the Riverfront Theatre have worked hard bringing a sort of Festival atmosphere to Newport. They've arranged for free live music to be on at the Riverfront cafe, free shows and craft stalls by the Red Wave. There's also been a few live shows, funfair, motorcycle stunts and a climbing wall.

My 10 things post this month is based on all the stuff we've seen and done the weekend:

1. Today, S decided she wanted to go on the climbing wall today. It was run by all the hardworking boys at Duffryn Sports Centre so we paid the £1 entry and off she went. Here she is on the difficult side:
 And then she had a go on the easier side and got a little bit higher.
2. We saw the finished version of this (by Kingway Car Park)
3. Yesterday A and the boys saw the healing of brĂ¢n the blessed
4. and we all witnessed the amazing skills on display outside the Kingsway Car Park
5. we saw the Superdragons in the Kingsway
6. and made some flags and a mask at the Market
7. meet some lovely hearts somehow I managed to follow them round town - there were quite a few street perfomers around on Saturday
8. While I was at a party with the kids on Friday night A saw the opening act - Chris Cross the escapologist
9. There was loads of FREE live music at the Riverfront Cafe.
10. Finally, posing outside the chalk drawing on the Riverfront entrance.  Love it.

It's been a great weekend so thank you everyone at the Riverfront Theatre, looking forward to next years event all ready.

My hubbie has also blogged about the weekend as well, he couldn't do just 1 post he had to do 3 so click here, here and here!  And to see more 10 things posts go to Shimelle.com.  Happy reading.

Rach

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Red Velvet Cake and Rhinestone Mondays

Oops! Long time no blog, thanks to summer holidays and now new school routine.  I will get some time doing the thing I love soon!   Just a quick update to let you know about some things I have been doing over the last week.  On Sunday I finally got to make a Red Velvet Cake. I have been dying to make one of these for about a  year and a half and the recipe had been on my fridge for the whole of the summer holidays.  Well, a week last Sunday I got all the ingredients but forgot the red food colouring so the cake had to wait until I got it this weekend.  The cake did take some time (including a blister on my thumb) but it was well worth it and everyone loved it.  In fact it was eaten so quick I didn't get a chance to get a good picture!


Last night S and I went to the New Theatre in Cardiff to see Rhinestone Mondays.  It was a really great night, here's the review I wrote for the local paper:



Going to the New Theatre in Cardiff is always a treat as the building is as beautiful as the shows that go on there - full of intricate beadwork and beautiful colours.
This week the featured show is Rhinestone Mondays, a brand new musical from Joe Graham following the ups and downs of a line dancing group which meet on a Monday night at a local social club. The main story follows the romance between Annie (Faye Tozer) and Tom (Antony Topham) who played some really touching and emotional scenes.
The cast, which consists of Shaun Williamson, Faye Tozer, Ian H Watkins, Lyn Paul, Anthony Topham, Ally Holmes, Phil Pritchard and Pauline Fleming all gave outstanding performances. My favourite part of the evening was the song Dance the Night Away where Anthony Topham wowed the audience with his beautiful singing voice and dance moves.
The show is full of country classics like Crazy, Ring of Fire, A Thing Called Love, Annie’s Song and Stand by Your Man as well as modern country hits 5, 6, 7, 8, There’s your Trouble and Achy Breaky Heart. My only complaint is that the show felt a little short and we could have done with more of a sing-along at the end of the show.
Rhinestone Mondays is a must for all country music fans but you don’t need to be a die hard country fan to enjoy it, what’s more it’s suitable for all ages which is always a plus.
The show continues at the New Theatre until Saturday 8th October 2011

The highlight of the evening for me was definitely Anthony Topham and I was thrilled to see a bit more of him in this advert.  Afterwards we waited by the stage door and met Shaun Williamson, Ian H Watkins and Faye Tozer.  They were all lovely and so accommodating.  Faye posed for a beautiful pic with Seren so thank you Faye.



Thursday 18 August 2011

Crafting Time with the Kids

After being knocked down by a nasty throat infection last week I thought anther week would go by without getting to do any crafting with the kids. Thankfully my husband is very creative and very helpful so on Sunday he cut out 3 letters from my chipboard so they could make these.


Then on Monday morning I emptied a lots of scrapbooking of-cuts, gave them a small bit of Mod Podge and off they went. Here they are, in full craft mode









Just something small but it kept them quiet in the kitchen for ages. Here are their final creations:









I love them and so do they! All are now proudly hanging on bedroom walls.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

My Favourite Blogs

In accordance with it being the 10th of the month I though I would show you my favourite (MUST READ i.e. I never miss a post) blogs, so in no particular order, here they are:

I love they for all different reasons, brilliant and ispiring photography, scrapbook inspiration, honest and meaningful posts about their lives.  Thanks to all of them for sharing so much, so honestly.

To see more 10 Things click here.

Are there any blogs I am missing?  Leave a comment and let me know your must reads!  Thanks.

Monday 8 August 2011

Learn Something New Every Day!

In my tidy up yesterday I realized that I had not finished doing all my layout for Learn Something New Every Day in September. I have blogged a few on my other blog here so here are the ones that have not appeared online before.  The first one (sept 8) talks about getting stuck in a car park without any money and the second is about catching up with family.








So with the kids playing out the back all afternoon I managed to do 2 layouts yesterday, here they are:







Rach

Sunday 7 August 2011

More Layouts!

Summer holidays are here and it feels like my feet haven't touched the ground I had so many plans (see here) and so far none of them have been achieved. This weekend the weather has been all over the place, yesterday it was so warm I made some water with slices of lemon and lime, best drink I've had all summer.



However today the story is really different. The rain has been intermittent, coming and going all day, it's been loads colder and I haven't set foot outside all day. After a lovely lie in this morning, thank you Andy, I spent some time sorting out my craft area and adding to the ever growing list of things I want to do.

I also found some layouts I hadn't blogged, so done sometime in the last few months I present to you:


Meet Roby a robot made entirely of A4 sheets of paper and Sellotape.



Snowbuddies - playing in the back yard in the snow.  

I'll be back in a couple of days with my 10 things.

Monday 25 July 2011

How to make a comic style birthday card

It was my husbands birthday last week, Happy Birthday A! As I was looking around for something different for his birthday card I found some great comic style wrapping paper for his presents from the kids. Then the idea hit me. I could use the wrapping paper to make a matching card as well.

Inspired I grabbed what was left of the paper and covered a A5 white card with it. I then picked 3 of the little square images that I liked and stuck them onto some spare white to give them som stability




I then put foam squares onto the back of these pieces ready to mount them onto the card. (as shown below).


And finally I used the gift tag as a birthday greeting. Awesome!

Here's the finished card:



It's a really quick personalised birthday card that he loved.

Sunday 10 July 2011

Kids Crafts to do this summer

Hi everyone, it's the 10 things post again and this month I'm taking inspiration from Pinterest again.  As I've been browsing Pinterest I've come across loads of craft ideas to do with the kids, and as the long summer holidays start in less than 2 weeks I want to have plenty of ideas ready now.  Here's my favourite 10 (as of now, it may change by the holidays).













Linking up with Shimelle for 10 things fun  today so click here to go and see some other 10 things posts.

Monday 4 July 2011

Hello, How are you?

Wow I can't believe it's July already. I only did one post in June due to a lot of different events taking up my free evenings and a broken computer. Well the computer's been fixed and after S's dance show on the weekend it should hopefully quieten down a bit.

Today I'm sat on the sofa watching Toy Story 3 with a poorly T which has given me a couple of hours to plan some blog posts for the next few weeks. I'd forgotten how much I love the Toy Story films such great stories and so moving.



These last couple of weeks I've hard done any crafting but i have been making some friendship bands. That's something I love about having the 80's back in style, I love friendship bracelets!

Will be back soon with some more crafting updates.

Rach

Friday 10 June 2011

Quote Inspiration from Pinterest (10 Things)

I have been loving Pinterest for a while and am currently using it as my bookmark area for things that I want to use as inspiration.  I have the obvious ones, Scrapbooking, Cards and Craft Inspiration boards for future crafty items, as well as My Style (for fashion/jewellery/hairstyles), Food Inspiration, and For the Home boards for the more general items.  For today's 10 Things post I  have decided to link to my favourite 10 quotes that I have pinned on my Inspirational Quotes board.
These first 5 are what I try and live by.  I have to be happy for myself and no-one else.  Life can be hard, and throw lots of different things at you but I choose to appreciate what I have and try not to look at other people's lives and wish mine was different.  I love my husband and love my kids, and now I love my job too. So I just have to remember that and enjoy every day!





Source: etsy.com via Rachel on Pinterest

These next three are about getting things done. I'm a procrastinator and I always tend to put things off until the last minute and use these to remind me to get on with things.

Source: etsy.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Rachel on Pinterest

These last 2 are are spiritual quotes that remind me about my faith.

I'm linking up with Shimelle's 10 things today, click here to see A's 10 things and there's even  more 10 Things here.

Do you use pinterest?  If so leave me a comment about what you use it for or let me know what you use for inspiration instead.

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