Alghero, Sardinia - Highly recommended

Good morning all. Well we are back from a well earned break and refreshed and ready to get back to some serious crafting lol.  But before we do I thought I would share with you some of the sites from our holiday. As the title says I can highly recommend Alghero in Sardinia if you haven't already been as it is simply stunning. 

This was the view from the front of our hotel when we arrived. 

Doesn't look too bright but believe me it was very warm and sunny. 

As it was Jude's birthday on the day we went, my son D and his girlfriend Staci had arranged for us to go out for a special meal at a local restaurant. They had researched it online and booked a table for us, to have the restaurant speciality; Suckling Pig. It was a four course meal, which started with cold meats and cheeses, with bread. Followed by Pane Fratou, which is a local dish, a lot like lasagna but made with a local bread instead of pasta. Served with a poached egg on top. Absolutely delicious.

Then came the suckling pig, and roast potatoes. There was enough to feed an army never mind four of us lol. 

Then a dessert called semi freddo. Really creamy and delicious. It was an absolutely fabulous meal, in a lovely restaurant and we had a really good night. 

The next day we went in to the old town which is commonly known as Little Barcelona. It is absolutely beautiful, really old with cobbled streets, hardly any traffic and a really nice atmosphere. 

We visited the Cathedral Santa Maria, where we lit a candle for Dad. 

The inside was gorgeous and so peaceful. Then we had a good wander around the town exploring all of the little back streets etc. 

After a week of doing this almost every day, we were still finding new things and new places to eat and drink. 

This is my son and his beautiful girlfriend outside one of the little trattoria's that we had lunch at. 

And this was the view from our table. Stunning. 

One of the boats in the harbour. 

and finally a sunset over the sea. 

All in all we had a fantastic time, there is so much to see and so many beautiful places to visit, I'll share more soon.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Take care

xxx

Sardinia

I thought you might like to see some pictures of our holiday destination.

Alghero, is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants in Italy. It lies in the province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The name Alghero comes from the medieval Latin Aleguerium, meaning stagnation of algae on the coast. (Wikipedia)

This the Cave of Neptune, which we are visiting this weekend.  Isn't it stunning?

This is the tower of Porta Terra, ancient entrance to the city and about 10 minutes walk from where we are staying.

For more information on this beautiful part of the world visit http://www.alghero-turismo.it/en/

TTFN Jude xx

It's such a lovely day

Happy birthday to Me! Happy birthday to Me!

Happy birthday dear Me-ee! Happy birthday to Me!

Guess what today is?  Yep it's Thursday lol [and my birthday ;)] It's also the day Jen and I fly off to sunny Sardinia for 7 days, so forgive us if our posts are a little sparse over the next week.

This is my latest creation to share with you.  It is the lovely 'Lovely' by Krista Smith.

She is coloured with Promarkers and didn't turn out too badly.

I layered her on several papers from the stash, then added rolled flowers and leaves cut from matching card stock.

I really like this colour combination.  What do you think?

TTFN Jude xx

Lost photos

Good morning all, hope you are having a lovely weekend. Today's post is a little bit different for me. It's a scrapbook page that I have framed. 

There aren't many photo's of me as a baby as my parents had a bad house fire when we were young, and a lot of treasured memories were lost. But after Dad passed this year, my uncle was looking through some old photo's and came across some which originally came from my Gran. 

Lurking in the depths of them, were a few of me when I was about 6 months old, at the seaside with Mum, Dad and Jude.

These are very special to me so I wanted to use them to make something to keep. I was just going to frame them but then Jude suggested a scrapbook page. So I decided to do both lol.

Needless to say a few tears have been shed over the one with Dad, but I love it anyway. 

Not sure exactly where we were on holiday, but it was probably either Bridlington or Scarborough. So I have used a piece of an old road atlas to show that piece of coastline. 

I kept with Tealy blue for the main bits so that it can either go in the living room or bedroom. 

I found this little sentiment in a box of shapes and loved the saying.

Hope you like it.

See you soon, take care.

xxx

Sweetheart Abbey

Apologies for the tardiness of the posts this week, but as we said, the Internet connection where we have been has been a little hit and miss lol. Hopefully normal service will resume tomorrow.

 

Yesterday we took a trip to Sweetheart Abbey where our 2x great grandparents are buried.  It is a beautiful setting not far from Dumfries.

 

 

Mum's family are from this area of the country going back quite a few generations, so there are possibly more ancestors buried in the surrounding areas, but we're not sure.

 

 

Although you can't read it very well, we do know this is the grave of David and Sarah McCubbin who were Mum's great grandparents.

 

 

If you're ever in the area do pop in and see the Abbey, it really is beautiful.

 

Take care, see you soon,

 

Jude and Jen

xxx

 

 

 

Heading North to Scotland

Morning all.  We are off on our holibobs today and are very excited.  The cases do contain some crafty items to fill the quiet times, but don't expect there will be too many of them lol.  There are 6 adults and 2 dogs staying in a four bed cottage on the coast below Dumfries in Scotland.  It is right by the beach so may be a bit blowy but I don't think we will mind too much.  Anywhere which is away from work and our usual routine has to be good for us.

 

As I have been in London for work this week I haven't had any crafting time :(  It was made worse by two awful train journeys and a foul up with my hotel booking which saw me staying at Heathrow when I should have been in Kensington!! Still last night I took half an hour and put together a little birthday card.  Back to one for the girlies :)

 

This is a 5x7 card blank inked with tattered rose DI and matted with a pink shimmery paper and a polka dot.  I also inked the edge of the spotty paper but it doesn't show too well on the photo.

 I think you can see it a little better in this one.

The sentiment is from a freebie set received with one of our crafty magazines. 

The dress form is from a set of Kanban toppers I bought ages ago, as are the little roses.  The topper was raised on foam pads to give a little dimension to the card.

Down the left hand side I stuck two pieces of redline.  On this I added a pink ribbon and some lace, lightly coloured with the tattered rose.

 

That's all I have for you today as I have to go finish my packing before we set off. We will be back to share some of our holiday photos over the next few days but until then take care.

TTFN Jude xx

 

A Norfolk Broad......

.......or a Yorkshire woman on her holidays.  Not sure which I can say I am today lol.

I'm spending a few days in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, not far from Diss.  I've spent a fair bit of time in Norfolk over the past 24 years as my ex husband is from Gorleston near Great Yarmouth.  Unfortunately I don't think it so great anymore as the sea front is very commercialised and to be honest a little tacky.  Only my opinion and I would hate to offend any locals, but I won't be booking a holiday there any time soon!!

Obviously I don't have anything crafty to share with you today!  I did consider bringing some bits with me but decided against it.  Instead I thought I'd share a few snaps of the local area.

I'm back home on Friday evening so I'll 'speak' to you all at the weekend.

TTFN Jude xx