Just a quick post to let you all know about the blog candy on offer from Kath of http://kath-allthatglitter.blogspot.com to celebrate her 2nd blog anniversary! this is what she is offering up:



Isn't it gorgeous?!!!! Lots of scrumptious items there!

If you want to be in with a chance to win these goodies, you need to put a link to the candy on your blog (like I am doing right now ;) ) leave a comment on your blog and leave your name with Mr Linky here. You have until midnight (GMT) Tuesday 9th March to do it ......... so what are you waiting for?

Well, yesterday was a busy day. One of my friends from University was up visiting, so we decided to go to Warwick Castle for the day. It was almost 11 am when we got there and, of course, I took my camera! I had a minor panic on the path from the car park to the castle when I thought my camera battery had run out, as I was trying to take some photos of a peacock on the wall above us but the camera would just not work...... it turned out that I hadn't even put the battery in! Talk about forgetful! I guess that was another one of those senior moments that are becoming all too familiar ;).

Anyhow, there were 5 of us altogether, my daughter and two of my sons, my friend Catherine, plus myself. Apart from the moanings and groanings from the elder of my boys, we had a wonderful day. The only moanings and groanings we had been expecting were from the dungeons but you would not believe how much an 18 year old can complain when he feels hard done to because he is carrying the heavier of the two backpacks we had with us! Anyway, fortunately for us (since we had to listen to his complaints), the backpack gradually became lighter throughout the day....

This is the view of the castle on the approach from the car park:


Once you get inside the castle grounds, you can actually go inside most of the rooms, and here is the dining room leading off the Great Hall:


This is a portrayal of life in Tudor times:


The castle is one of the largest complete castles I have been in and is in remarkable condition. They do carry out substantial renovation work, and it certainly pays off. This is the view of the inner courtyard:



More inside shots:


Everyone was dressed up in medieval costume, and speaking the way people would have spoken back then. We actually got to see the Trubuchet in action. This is like a huge catapult which was used in sieges to attack the town, and it was quite something to see it in action. This photo is of the Trebuchet just as the shot was about to be released:


Of course, I was so busy taking photos, that I actually missed the shot landing on the other side the field as it moved too quick for me to follow with the camera!

We had lunch in the peacock garden, and here is one of the peacocks displaying his feathers:


There were several peacocks and a few peahens, and they came up really close, wihtout any apparent fear of us.

Later in the afternoon, the sun came out so it was lovely down by the river, although it was still cold. This the view from the Mill:


You wouldn't think we were only standing on a narrow platform above the mill wheel as the photograph is deceptive. There are actually fairly high walls up on the left and you can't really see the river that well unless you stand where we were. Looking the other way up the river, we could see the sun going down behind the castle walls.


Of course, my youngest couldn't resist the gift shop, and ended up buying this:


It's a ginormous plastic thing that you stick in a long narrow plastic bottle filled with soapy water, then you release it and it opens up into a triangular shape. If you are very careful, and with a bit of practice, the soap remains on the triangle and you (or at least my son) are able to make huge bubbles!

Well, as a treat for staying with me through all my boring photos (you'll be pleased to hear I did restrict my posting to just 10 although I took over 400 photos whilst we were in the Castle!), here is an add on to my share of the Free Spirit kit:


It is a set of three stems and fourteen blooms that you can mix and match to create your own flowers. I hope you like it and it can be downloaded here.

Happy scrapping!






Well, as mentioned in my earlier post, the ADSDesigners bi-monthly blog train is released today and here are the previews for my share of this kit:




I have only seen two sets of previews so far, but as usual, you can expect some gorgeous papers and elements. You can find my downloads here:


I split the file as it was slightly larger than the target of 40mb, but if you prefer just the one file to download, here it is.

And the others in the blog train are:


Happy scrapping!


Note: edited to correct the link to the combined download file. Thanks for letting me know, Mags!


Just a flying visit to let you know that the ADSDesigners latest kit, Free Spirit, is released today. I am in the process of putting together my previews and uploading my part of this kit, and will be back later today with the download links.