Tuesday, 24 February 2015

WOYWW - Holidaying Not Crafting !

Well in my ongoing litany of excuses for not doing any crafty projects - here is the old "well I went on holiday" one now !

But as excuses go it was very enjoyable !
We escaped the dreary wet cold British winter and had a lovely 10 days in sunny tropical Barbados !

We have a great mix of relaxing by the pool, wandering barefoot on the sandy beach and also seeing the sights of the island like the unique Chattel Houses, the Rum Distilleries, the famous Cricket Ground (Much Beloved's choice !) and the famous Oistin's Friday Night Fishfry. 


And watching the amazing sunsets whilst sipping a rum punch - well it is always important to embrace the local culture !


 The sunsets were gorgeous - just a ball of fire sinking into the Caribbean sea - you could almost imagine you could hear the sizzling as it sunk into the waves on the horizon !








Even once the sun had set the scenery was so lush, tropical and evocative !











We went up to the Flower Forest in the centre of the Island - a lush tropical rain forest - gorgeous trees & flowers !


And the coastlines were stunning too ...
Do you see the bus stop beside us - all the bus stops either say "to city" or "out of city" - it made us smile !

 And my morning walks on the beach before breakfast were a highlight of my day !

What an amazing view !

As we flew back into London Gatwick in be greeted by 2" of snow, drove home to tackle 10 loads of washing & back to a busy office on Monday - we were back to reality with a bump !
I will be scrapping all those happy memories as soon as I can believe me !

Have a great week !
Ali x

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

WOYWW - Eating Not Crafting

Well here I am for the second week running with an enjoyable weekend under my belt (literally - more of that later !) but very little crafting done !
Messy Desk this week !



My desk has clutter rather than much in the way of projects - and the one I do have I can't show you !
I have bought a new project zip up bag and pencil case from Paperchase to take some crafty bits on holiday next week ! Who could resist the tropical print ! On top you can see the back of 2 tags. These are the first of the monthly challenges that Lynda & I have embarked on this year. This month's challenge was "crackle glaze" and "tag on tag" - can't show you before Lynda sees them obviously ! But they have a January theme !



I did scrabble a little time together on Sunday when I got home from my weekend away to try to catch up on my 2015 Journal - the diary day page for the previous week harks back to the photos I showed you last week of celebrating the winter sunrise - with my rather wonky silhouette drawing !!








And the Journal Page is based on the Colour Wheel challenge for DLP.

I made up this quote as I thought it was apt for the page !

It is a bit messier than I expected but I had a bit of a barney with the Cosmic Shimmer sprays which were bunged up at the spray nozzle and then splurged !!
But hey it is all colour !!


Obsession January 2015
The reason I was away this weekend was that I was lucky enough to be invited, by the lovely ladies who run one of the ingredients companies we deal with at work, to an evening celebrating the work of 4 Michelin star chefs from Portugal. The festival called Obsession is held at Northcote hotel in Lancashire - itself famous for it's food - and features 27 days with 27 Michelin star chefs. We were served totally delicious & visually stunning food with selected Portuguese wines with every course.
Just amazed us how great seemingly simple ingredients could taste ! It featured lots of fish & fresh vegetables - so quite healthy if we hadn't been enjoying the wine quite so much !!

Our hosts had booked the Chef's Tasting Table which is located in a special room off the kitchen - so we got to see all the service being prepared & served and were hosted by Nigel Haworth - Chef at the Hotel who has held a Michelin star for nearly 20 years and is being instrumental in training young people into the industry.
We had a fabulous & memorable evening !

You can see myself (red frock!) and Helen who so kindly invited me with our souvenir menus.
Below that is a picture for any of you who are into Sugarcraft - an amazing cake designed to show the produce being celebrated at the Obsession event. A delicious salmon dish was served with chive dust !
And our favourite dish of the evening was the lobster in the centre right - totally gorgeous !

Well that was my excuse for no crafting - and I enjoyed every minute !
Have a great crafty week ! Ali xx