REVIEW:Cats at the Wales Millennium Centre

When we arrived at the theatre on Tuesday night it looked like the rubbish bins of the Wales Millennium Centre had been tipped on the stage but when the house lights went down, the music started and the rubbish tip lit up you had the feeling it was going to be an enjoyable night.

The show opens with Jellicle Cats meeting for the Jellicle Ball and follows the story from the poems in TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.  Throughout the show the ensemble’s dance and acrobatic moves astounded with the majority of the cast on stage through the whole show. 

As we were introduced to each cat individually (except for Mungojerry and Rumbleteazer, who were introduced together, and provided one of the best acrobatic routines of the evening) we enjoyed a variety of music styles and stunning dance routines.  Inbetween the dance routines there was lots of integration with the audience which provided some of the comedic elements of the show with the performers showing their cat characters.

The highlight of the evening was the singing which included lots of harmonies and the most famous song from the show Memory which was sung by Sophia Ragavelas.

Cats is at the Wales Millennium Centre until Saturday 9^th August and includes many matinee showings so you have no excuses not to miss it.

Project Life 2014 January 3

Here are the next set of Project Life life pages for January.  The first page shows a creative weekend where Seren created a model of Saturn and the boys build a spaceship.  I also documented that NCIS: LA and Hawaii 5-0 started back.

Seren had a phone for Christmas and we quickly got her onto instagram.  Here are a couple of selfie's from her phone:

Finally Tom lost his first tooth.  At 7 he's older than the other two were so it had to be documented as a full page.

You're Pretty Amazing!

One of the fun things about being a Studio Calico subscriber is PreSale time.  It happens on the 27th of every month at 5pm in Wales which is quite a good time for me.  This month's presale has just happened and this month I have been very good.  No extras for me this month, just my Studio Calico Project Life kit coming this month.  

Last month, this was not the case as I bought a couple of dies at Presale, the birthday die and the die featured below were snapped up quickly during Presale.  

I loved the You're Pretty Amazing craft die.  I was really inspired  when I saw it and wanted to make teacher's thank you cards with it.  Unfortunately it didn't quite turn up in time for those cards but last night I made come cards with it anyway.  The funky design of the die ties in well with the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection 

Teacher's Gifts inspired by Studio Calico

With the end of term fast approaching this year I have been super organised and made teachers presents.  I decided to use a beautiful digital template from the Sugar Rush kit by Studio Calico.  Rather than using pictures in the template I filled the spaces with the colours already in the image to create a colourful heart.  At the bottom of the heart I used the Century Gothic font to write "athrawes orau" best teacher in Welsh.  

Once I was happy with the colours and the positioning I printed the design to check everything was ok.  I am so glad I did as the colours looked a bit washed out so I upped the red colours and then was happy with the finished look.  

Finally I could print out the flipped image ready to iron on the bags and after about an hour behind a hot iron I ended up with 9 bags that looked like this:

Here's a close up of the heart (I love this design):

What did you make/give this year?  Let me know in the comments below:

REVIEW: Pudsey the Dog: The Movie

Last night we travelled to the Vue Cinema in Cardiff to see a preview showing of Pudsey the Dog: The Movie.  I hadn't seen any trailers or read anything about the film which meant I was unsure of what to expect but the children really wanted to see the film and as the designated driver I had to go.

We arrived at about 6pm and after waiting about 20 mins for Andy and several other journalists to interview and photograph Ashleigh and Pudsey we finally got seated in the auditorium.  Only to find Ashleigh and Pudsey came into the auditorium to intrduce the film. Here is my really bad picture which doesn't do Ashley or Pudsey justice as they looked beautiful on the evening.

The story  of the film (according to the official movie website) is:
A heartwarming, quintessentially British adventure for all the family, PUDSEY THE DOG: THE MOVIE follows cheeky London stray dog, Pudsey, who is quite happy being a lone ranger, looking out for number one, until he meets siblings Molly (Izzy Meikle-Small), George (Spike White) and Tommy (Malachy Knights).  After losing their father, their mother Gail (Jessica Hynes) is moving the family to the sleepy village of Chuffington and Pudsey tags along, to the dismay of their landlord, Mr. Thorne (John Sessions), and his cat Faustus.  As Pudsey starts to settle in with the family and realize what he was missing when he was alone, he stumbles across Thorne’s evil plan and he determines to save them and the whole village.

The film was an old-fashioned family comedy that had me laughing out loud in some places and feeling really emotional in other places. Izzy Meikle-Small, Spike White, Malachy Knights and Jessica Hynes really gelled together and from the scenes where the siblings argue to where they work together to solve problems I was convinced that they really were a family.  The star of the show for me was Pudsey and the other talking animals especially the farm animals in Chuffington, there were many LOL moments from the farmyard scenes.  

I didn't expect to like this film but I loved it, while the story is simple and easy to follow it allows the characters on screen to really blossom and it was their performances that really pulled me in and I found myself lost in the story of the film.  It opens in Cinemas on Friday 18th July 2014.

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Project Life January 2014 2

Here are the second set of pages for January's Project Life.  This includes our new Saturday morning routine where Seren now goes to help in Dancing classes.  

Finally convinced Seren to help with the ironing, she is very good at it.

Beavers and Cubs started back this week.  Love hoe Tom will always pull a silly face for the Camera.

Las 2 pages document how I "accidentally" subscribed to the Studio Calico Project Life Kit.  December's Kit was already in my basket when January's was launched which means I bought 2 kits in 2 days.  I have to say how much I love the kits, they make PL so easy.