All Things British

 

Although I’m eternally grateful that my colonial ancestors won their independence from Mother England, I always have—and always will—LOVE all things British…

{a couple of images of British coins featuring Queen Victoria, found online}

Being about 3/4 British myself, it’s no wonder, I suppose…most of my ancestors came here from England in the early part of the 1600’s…the rest in the mid-1800’s…

 

{a pub we visited for dinner on night…built LONG before my ancestors came to America!}

I have only been to England once in my life, but it was a dream come true…during my college years, just two weeks after meeting my husband-to-be on our college campus…I flew of to Jolly Old England with my roommate and her very kind parents…

  {Stamps from Artistic Outpost’s “London Underground” set}

I’ll never forget our first night in London.  We’d just arrived that afternoon…still a little wonky time-wise…

{vintage stamp images found online}

Being later on a Sunday night, the city was relatively quiet…not to many people out and about…we felt like we had the place to ourselves…

 

{found this adorable toy bus image online, too—don’t you just love it?!}

…we decided to take a ride on the Underground to see where it would take us…

{it’s partly because of my love for England that my oldest daughter is Chelsea…sets used: “Loverly London” & “London Underground”}

…as we exited the tunnel in the center of London, my first wish was to see Big Ben…how would we find it?, I wondered…

{the picture I took of Big Ben right at that moment of discovery…a bit grainy, but what a memory!}

…then, I looked up—right in front of my nose—Big Ben, in all it’s late night splendor! 

{me on the tour bus…my roommate was always laughing at me because I was constantly taking notes!}

We visited so many wonderful places during our stay…the Cotswolds, the Lake District…

…Bath, Stonehenge, Shakespeare’s home town…

{another moment I will never forget…Stonehenge was sufficiently gray, gloomy & mysterious that day…perfect!}

{in front of Shakespeare’s birth house…my, what a poser I was!}

{Anne Hathaway’s lovely cottage…}

…but your first time in London is really special…

{of course, being women…the very first visit we made on our very first day in London…Harrod’s, of course!}

…a scrapbook page made this week—a fabulous jumble of iconic British images…all in remembrance of that wonderful time in my life…

Stamps FINALLY purchased from Artistic Outpost…I’ve long admired them, but hadn’t purchased any until now…it won’t be my last purchase!

{Just about my favorite sign of all times—so glad to have it in stamp form! From “London Underground” set}

And just as a little extra…a small card to remind a friend in need—if needed—to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON…

Someday, I'll visit that magical place again…this time with my husband and three daughters…someday…

{Windsor Castle…the Queen was “at home” that day…see the flag flying?}

See you soon with something new.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: England,Artistic Outpost,travel

Crafty Secrets DT Challenge: Retro!

Hello, my friends!

I LOVED the theme this month—one of my favorites—Retro!  How can you not love all the fabulousness of Retro???

 

I immediately thought of kitschy kitchens, aprons, housewives from the ‘40’s & all that goes with them…and decided on making a family recipe book.

{images from Crafty Secrets’ “Homemade” Images & Journal Notes booklet}

All the fun retro paper patterns I used in my recipe book are found in Crafty Secrets’ new “Creating with Vintage Patterns” CD…

What is it about a chunky board book that’s just so appealing?!

{image from Crafty Secrets’ “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps}

I decided to choose recipes from several generations of the women in my family…

…my great-grandmother Anna’s “Cream Cheese Tartlets”…

{images from “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps}

Just a fun page here…no family recipe, but one for “Fairy Cake”…couldn’t resist!

I just love these “buttons” printed from the CD…they really look like the real thing!

Adorable recipe card printed from the CD, along with my mother Karen’s “Creamy Pork Chops” recipe…

{image from “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps}

This fun kitschy kitchen image accompanies my grandmother LaPriel’s “Pinto Bean” recipe…I make a big pot of these at least once a month (and always think of her when I do…)

{image from “Girlfriends” Creative Scraps}

My grandmother Velda’s “Party Lemonade”…she and my grandfather loved to entertain, so I’m sure they used this often…

Another of the cute recipe card designs printed out from the CD…this one features my great-grandmother Estella’s “Quick Spanish Rice”…delicious!

(I just love all the layers on these pages!)

This sweet, motherly image from the “Kitchen Time” Vintage Cuts illustrates my “Scottish Shortbread” recipe…

{image from the “Domestic Goddess” Creative Scraps}

And another page left blank…just ready for another retro family recipe!  I used another recipe card image from the CD, and a perfect vintage soda popcap I had on hand…

Just for fun, another little Retro Kitchen project….a card for a friend with the recipe theme… “What’s Cookin’?”, it says…love those colors together!

Well, that’s it for me today!  Hope you enjoyed your morning dose of retro…if you need a bit more to get your day started, stop by and visit the rest of my friends on the Design Team—you’ll find SO much to inspire you!

Crafty Secrets Blog

• Vicki Chrisman Team Leader
• Pam Hooten
• Heidi Blankenship
• Linda Duke
• Michele Kovack
• Julie Campbell—me!
• Amy Teets
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz
• Fauve van Maanen
• Gini Cagle
• Jan Hennings
• Tammy Roberts
• Victoria Warren Mears
• Viola Mahr

See you soon with something new…

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Design Team Challenge,Retro,kitchen,recipes

One More Taste of Summer…

“It’s apple-picking day!”, I happily announced to my girls yesterday…so ready for the joys of fall…so ready to let summer pass me by…

But Mother Nature had other plans that day.

A short drive took us to a beautiful local farm where you can pick your own berries in the summer, apples in the fall…

 

The website had said that apple picking began in September, so we were off with thoughts and plans of homemade applesauce, apple pies and apple butter in our heads…

“We’re here to pick some apples today!”, I said to the man in the barn…

“Oh, ma’am…it’s a little too early.  They won’t be ready for you to pick for about three more days”…What?!

“You can still pick strawberries, though, if you’d like”, he said, a bit apologetically…

 

I was crushed!  Wished I had called ahead to make sure…but, not wanting to leave empty-handed, we decided to walk to the strawberry fields and pick our fill…

We’d been a bit sad, this summer, as we hadn’t gotten our usual bunch of wonderful strawberries from our generous local farmer friends—we were gone too much this year…but the opportunity hadn’t passed us by, after all…

 

I imagined that there wouldn’t be many good berries left for the picking this late in the season…Oh my, was I ever wrong!

Perfect, succulent, red & bursting, we collectively picked an overflowing flat-full…

{so happy that Daddy had some time off & could join us on our adventure!}

Juice-stained fingers, full bellies and happy hearts…we headed for the car, homemade strawberry shortcake plans for dessert that night filled our heads and our conversation as we walked…

Walking back down the lane through the heavy-laden apple trees, I smiled to myself…

“You should never rush the seasons”, I seemed to hear Mother Nature say…

…and we’ll be back next week for the apples…

{my new hair…what do you think?!}

Sweet lesson learned.

See you soon with something new…

Julie

{Strawberry card made today…just to remind me to savor the sweet summer days…the vintage strawberry image is found in Crafty Secrets’ “Garden” Creative Scraps…paper from their new “Creating with Vintage Patterns” CD}

LiveJournal Tags: Summer,strawberries,farm,Crafty Secrets