Scrapping Tonight

Wednesday we woke to a lovely sunny day in Paris and a walk through the Tuilerie Gardens where we stopped off for breakfast, and snapped a few photos!



We had planned a day museum hopping, and our first stop was the Musee de L'Orangerie just across the Seine.
Well nothing had prepared us for the Monet exhibition which was breathtaking! The paintings displayed were the Waterlilly collection. I had never realised that they were so huge!
Detail, depth and colour were beautiful. Its a funny thing to see paintings that are so well know, so over produced that the painting has lost all emotion and detail, until you see it for real and actually get to appreciate what the artist wanted to achieve; total calm.



Downstairs was a collection of more Impressionist art including, more Monet, Cezzane, Picasso, and Van Gogh to name a few.

Our next stop was Musee D'Orsay. I will admit that this was far more appealing to me than the Louvre, I am really sorry to have to admit this. Musee D'Orsay is jam packed with Van Gogh, Renoir, Lautrec, Monet Picasso and Cezzane as well as Rodin sculptures includinh The Gates of Hell in bronze. All those paintings you know so well come to life right in front of your very eyes, it is truly amazing. (No photos allowed.)

We then stopped off for a late lunch and headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. The Louvre was open late so we headed over for about 6pm. The Louvre was literally on our doorstep.
As I have mentioned before I am not overwhelmed by the Louvre nor the Mona Lisa. But Peter made me see a different perspective, to realise for its time it was amazing. Paintings prior were out of proportion and mainly for the church. Leonardo De Vinci painted a portrait that was as near to a photograph for its time and is over 500 years old! When I visited back in the late 1980's the painting had its own room, today it is in a huge high ceiling room with many other paintings, still in a glass box surrounded by security, and you are viewing from at least 6ft away.
The Louvre is huge and we only saw a small part of the museum, mostly sculptures. I dont think I would rush back again, I would highly recommend Musee L'Orangerie and Musee D'Orsee as "musts" to visit when in Paris.
Totally exhausted from our Musuem day it was back to the hotel for an early night.

Thursday we woke to blue skies, breakfast at  McCafe and then off to the Rodin Museum. The museum was originally the Hotel Biron where Rodin and other artisits and writers rented rooms. In 1916 Rodin handed over all his work to the State and in 1919 the Musee Rodin was opened, 2 years after his death.
The building is like a chateux and is amazing, and the gardens are breathtaking.



Here are a few of my favourites:

The Thinker



The Gates of Hell




The Kiss



The afternoon we headed over to the Musée de l'Armée; a War Museum and also where Napoleans Tomb is.
Not my thing to be honest, but having said that I found the WW2 exhibition really interesting and also the Charles de Gaulle exhibition. This museum is known as the worlds greatest millitary museum, and I would agree, for someone who is not too interested in military history, it really did hold my attention. Napoleans tomb is not to missed either!



This has been a looong post. back tomorrow with Mont Martre, The Moulin Rouge and The Eiffel Tower!
By the way, I actually do these detailed holiday posts as I use my blog writings for my travel albums; more on that on Crafty Friday!
I hope you are enjoying my insight to Paris.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Yikes, I know I said I would do a Paris update on Friday, I know I havnt done the Crafty Friday project, all will come. Crafty Friday will be this Friday and my Paris update will be tomorrow.
I have just been spending quality time with the girls, Peter and Suki. After a busy week in Paris and then 4 days spent with my girlfriends from up North, I just felt like a chilled Bank Holiday weekend with the family was in order, minus my laptop. It has been lovely. We have been on some lovely walks, picked pounds and pounds of blackberries and plums, went to the shops and have bought all the girls winter school uniforms and coats. I picked up a couple of gorgeous long wool waistcoats and  2 tops from H&M and Peter picked up a suit, shirt, tie and shoes and looks extremely handsome!



We did manage to pop down and see Sue and her girls on Friday.
A meet up with Sue's girls always means a show and a photo shoot. Poor Em had a fall the other day which resulted in stitches on her knee; the poor thing was totally fed up and spent most of the time we were there on the sofa with a book. I couldnt resist snapping a photo though!



We usually do a day out together and a couple of meet ups, but the holidays have flown, been jam packed for us and whilst Suki is still young we are not leaving her on her own for more than 4 hours. I think we are all going to miss her on Thursday when its back to school and work, boohoo. She has become such a huge part of our family lives now.

Pencil Lines went live last night with our last color combo from Janet and the girls from Color Combo Galores. Its been such a fun few weeks and I hope we will join forces again in the not to distant future!.

Thanks for stopping by,
Anna x

We arrived Monday evening at our hotel which was situated in the heart of Paris next to the Tuilerie Gardens. There was a fun fair there also and a Big Wheel similar to the London Eye. After unpacking we headed down to the Tuilerie Gardens and went on the Big Wheel to see Paris at night; breathtaking!
Took a stroll around the funfair and enjoyed a french hotdog; a huge hotdog in a french stick with cheese, and some Churos, which I had discovered in Florida and had a bit of a thing for. For UK readers, these are a donut stick with sugar, in Florida they had cinamon on them, absolutley gorgeous!!
It was then back to our hotel for the night.

Tuesday morning we woke to overcast skies, but thankfully still warm. Today we planned to visit Notre Dame and the Pantheon.



First stop was breakfast; and we ended up at McCafe, yes that is a MacDonalds cafe, but, and I mean a big BUT, it was so un McDonalds. There was so many gorgeous tartes, mini macaroons and pastries to make your mouth water, and a coffee looked like a work of art, LOL.
After breakfast it was a walk to Notre Dame along the banks of the River Siene.


As we made our way across the bridge we saw an ambundance of padlocks with names engraved on them. The padlocks are put on the bridge as a sign of a couple love to each other, we loved this idea. Peter and I had decided that we would add a padlock to the bridge, unfortunately we were unable to find anywhere that sold padlocks! can you believe that. At least it is an excuse to return, *wink wink*.




The Notre Dame came into our sights and as I remembered, is an exquisite church with amazing carvings and stained glass windows. there was a service going on when we arrived, and the choir was breathtaking.

After a morning spent at Notre Dame it was time for lunch. We found a lovely little French restaurent away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas, and enjoyed a lovely lunch of steak, chips, salad and a glass of red wine. Unfortunatley, after half a glass of red wine washed down with painkillers for my back, i was a little spaced out and knocked half a glass of red wine over.

THE wine glass

I have never seen a so little wine travel so far! It splashed the couple next to us all over the young womans cream jacket!!! OMGG I was totally devestated and her grandmother was not impressed. The waiter seeing my distress came over to let me know it happens all the time!



We made a hasty exit and headed to The Pantheon. The sight that this building offers is quite fantastic. You can see literally almost all of Paris. The inside architecture is visually amazing: it has the Gothic decorations combined with the mainly classical style of the building, creating such an admirable neoclassical monument. The Pantheon is a must-see when you visit Paris, both because of the imposing architecture it has and in respect to the people that made the world a better place. I was totally blown away by the interior.
The Pantheon was originally built as a church for St Genevieve, the Saint of Paris and the main building is dedicated to her life with huge paintings and statues. Downstairs the crypt is used as a burial for famous people. Amongst those buried here is Marie Curie, Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.

The winner of the Pencil Lines Sketch Book is :

Sally said...


LOL well done on the 200th sketch - and here's to 200 more ;)

Congratulations Sally, email me your address and I will post out your signed book.

The winner of the CPS Stores $80 gift voucher is :

Becky

Congratulations Becky, email me your deatils and I will forward to CPS Stores.

Back later with some scrapping!
Anna x

Hello, Izzy and Lilly here. Mum is in Paris so we have done a Crafty Friday project for you, sorry its late.



We hope you like it.
Izzy and Lilly

Nearly forgot about this! I am a guest over at The Studio this weekend, for their weekend Summer Crop. Join Rebekah and her DT for a weekend of classes and challenges.
Would love to see what you do with my challenge sketch!

Catch up tomorrow when I get back from Paris.
Thanks for popping by
Anna x

I have popped downstairs to the cyber cafe to do a spot of blogging. Poor Peter is upstairs shattered form our full day museum hopping!
Today we visited L'Orangery Musuem, Museum D'Orsay and Louvre.
Our favourite mueum by far was the stuuning rooms of Monet art at L'Orangery. There were 2 huge circular white rooms with his Water Lily paintings. The paintings filled a wall each, we were both taken aback and filled with emotion, it was truly spectacular; I will share photos on my return.
D'Orsay is our next favourite museum from today. I am a huge Van Gogh fan and there was an exhibition of his work there, including The Church and his self portrait, both which blew me away.
Also Monet, Renoir, Lautrec, Cezzane, Tisset and Millet and sculptures by Rodin to name a few of our favourite artists.
The Louvre is HUGE. I have visited before when I last visited with the Fashion College I attended, many years ago. It is an amazing musuem, just not my particular taste in art.
The Mona Lisa always fails to impress, I know I shouldnt say this. I think its because you are so far away from her, she is also surrounded by glass and with so many other people trying to see her, its hard to really appreciate the painting.

The weather has stayed dry for us, thankfully. yesterday was gloomy, but that has all changed now so hopefully better light for taking lots of photos!
The girls have been emailing daily which has been really sweet, and Izzy has popped a handmade card in our suitacse for every day we are here. If you are reading girls, Mummy and Daddy love you lots and miss you lots xxxxxx

So far we have visited;
Notre Dame
Pantheon
Place de la Concorde
Tuilerie gardens (right outside our hotel!)
Eiffel Tower (yet to do the climb)
Latin Quarters

On the to do list;
Arc de Triumph
Versailles (looks like we may have to cancel)
Museum Rodin
Museum Artillieres (for Peter)
Sacre Couer
Mont Martre
Moulin Rouge

I think thats about it! I am totally popped. Have hurt my back (tuesday morning) picking up my bra off the bed! Can you actually believe that. Sitting down is agony , as is getting up from sitting, but walking is a breeze!
Night all, and thanks for stopping by
Anna xx

PS: Dont forget to check out this post to win a signed copy of Pencil Lines the Sketch Book
PPS: Karen whats the name and where is the steak and chip restaurent! LOL
PPPS: Sue, we have the most amazing cake shop just around the corner from us! SOOO expensive

Peter and I are off to Paris for a 6 days, just the two of us. Yikes, how will we manage? will we be able to talk without bringing up the children (not likely! ), will we be able to enjoy a lie in, without waking up early because we have too.? How many pain du chocolate will I consume? And what chances are there that I will forget my SD card!!!



My laptop is coming with me for several reasons:

1. I will be emailing the girls daily with photos and telling them whta we have been up to, they in turn will email us with photos of what they have been up to!
2. I have an assignment to complete whilst I am away for the Photographers Workshop
3. I may , just may do a blog update as well, and show you an insight on out week away.

Until we meet again
Au Revoir !

Mademoiselle Anna x

image from Cosas Minimas

You still have time to enter 2 RAKS whilst I am away
$80 gift voucher from CPS Stores here
Signed copy of Pencil Lines the Sketch Book here

Yikes, I cannot even believe it is Pencil Lines 200th sketch tonight, and in a couple of months it will be our 4th birthday. Time does fly when you are having fun *inserts huge grin*
This week, and for the rest of August we have been joined by the amazing girls and the lovely Janet (founder) of Colour Combos Galore. I believe they are on Colour Combo 155! With so many inspiraion and challenge blogs popping up everyday across the web, it is with great pride that Pencil Lines is still going strong, and loved by so many. We have over 17,000 hits a week, thats a pretty impressive number dont you think.

My layout this week is " Photography is my canvas, and you are my Art". I bought a stamp with this quote on a few years ago, and I cannot for the life of me remember where! If anyone knows do post a comment telling me.



I chose to use just 1 photo and not the 3 as shown on the sketch. This is a very rare photo of my girls together. I just dont seem to capture many these days.

And the winner of last weeks Crafty Friday RAK kindly donated by Such Sweet Tierney is:

True Random Number Generator


Min: 1

Max: 34

Result:

12

Powered by RANDOM.ORG
 
 
Tigs said...



Gorgeous buttons! Love the twilight ones too.

Tiggs, email me your shipping address and I will forward onto London. Congratulations!!

You have until Friday 20th Midnight GMT to enter this weeks Crafty Friday RAK, kindly donated by CPS Stores!

Back later with a Pencil Lines 200th sketch post!
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

I have been a really lazy photographer, always had my white balance (WB) setting on auto. I am sure the professionals out there will be shouting at their computer screens right now, I am now publicly apologising OK.
I am very much self taught, although a few years ago I did attend a hands on photographers workshop, but I only had a Fuji 5500 series, not a DSLR, so alot of what I had "learnt" didnt sink in. It was after this 2 day workshop though that I did go and buy my first DSLR, my Nikon D80, which I am now desperatly saving up to upgrade; long overdue.
Alot of what I had learnt all those years ago, had been forgotton, and I have played with settings myself, afraid of some, and approaching others with an open mind. I purchased Brian Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" and I suddenly had an AHA moment when I discovered my exposure compensation button; it was one of those buttons I shyed away from previously.
WB has had that same effect on me. I have turned the dial to correspond with the lighting I am in, ie: shade, cloudy, tungsten etc etc and my photos have been awful! Colour representation has been dire, too blue, too orange, over exposed, so I gave up, and settled with the trusty auto WB; well its there for a reason eh!

This is where my story takes a new turn. Karen Russells photographers workshop, has completly re enforced all that I have learnt over the years, taught me new things and just opened my world of photography to a new level. Her down to earth approach is fantastic, the bunch of ladies all on the course are very supportive and I have had so many aha moments! WB has been one of them.

Check this out:





Settings : Aperture Priority, ISO 250, F1.8, 1/250 unedited SOOC

Izzy was inside our dining room with the window light behind me. Our assignment was to use all WB settings with the same subject in the same place ie: my dining room and Izzy.
My favourite WB settings for true skin colour were :

1.Custom WB
2.Direct Sunlight

Flash, shady and cloudy were too warm, auto was overexposed, florescent was too pink, and tungsten was too blue.
Who would have thought that the direct sunlight setting indoors would have given such a true skin tone!

The aha moment was to try out all settings, and it will surprise you how the direct sunlight might just be perfect for that indoor setting! But my favourite setting of all, was the custom WB setting. So easy to put in place and what a diffference it makes to a photo! I have mislaid my greycard, so I used a white piece of A3 card to do my custom WB setting with.
If you too have WB issues like I do did, then go Google custom WB and have a play, and then try out all your WB settings and see what a difference it too can make to your photos! Maybe you will have an AHA moment like me.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

In our garden we love to grow as many veggies as we can.

The girls Lilly enjoy's planting the seeds, she then can see the seeds grow into something she recognizes, the girls then pick said veggie, and I cook and present on a plate for them to enjoy!
So you may see many a recipe on here over the coming months, from our veggie garden and the fruit in abundance that surrounds us in the fields; apples, plums, blackberries and sloes.



At the moment we have an a lovely selection of green beans, cos lettuce, green chillis and beetroot. Waiting on the tomatoes to turn red and potatoes to be ready. We also have an impressive herb garden; oregano. basil, coriander, mint, parsley and chives
I will be preparing the patches for more lettuce and some purple sprouting broccoli soon.

Our neighbours are organic gardeners also, and handed me a huge, and I mean HUGE marrow. My lot looked at it as if it had landed from Mars! "What is that large green torpedo shaped thing Mum?"

So a stuffed marrow was not on the menu, instead I opted for a chutney; will be perfect on the Boxing Day table! Well thats if it is still around by then!
 
Ingredients:
 
1kg Marrow, peeled, deseeded and chopped into 2cm chunks
750g preserving sugar
juice and rind of 1 1/2 lemons
1 chilli sliced in half
5cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped in half
 
Method :

• Peel, dessed and cut marrow into 2cm chunks. Place into a large bowl and cover with 250g of the sugar. Cover and leave overnight.

• Place the marrow and all the juice into a large pan and add the rest of the sugar to the pan.

• Take half a new Jcloth or piece of muslin, and add the lemon rind, chilli and ginger.
• Tie with string and place into the pop with the lemon juice.

• Bring the pan to the boil and keep boiling until the jam is at setting point; about 45 minutes. I used a food themometer to check that my pan was at the correct boiling point for jam. (120c)

• Pour/spoon chutney into sterilized jars, leave to cool before placing the lids on. ( to sterilize your jars, place into the oven at 100c for about 10 minutes)

• The chutney will improve with age! But who is gonna wait and find out, LOL

My chutney is definitley on the chunky side but I rather like the rustic chunks. The marrow chunks do settle. Don't you just love the golden colour with specks of chilli.

Next lets decorate with some vintage style tags.



I have designed a set of tags and recipe cards for you to download for FREE. All you need to do is print them onto white card or use on your next digi project as I have supplied images as both jpeg and psd.

And now for a fantastic giveaway from CPS Stores in America. CPS Stores have a huge range of Dutch Ovens or what I call casserole dishes which is where my money would go if I was allowed to enter LOL. I strongly suggest you have a good browse around their cook shop, because you could be the 1 lucky reader who wins an $80 gift voucher from CPS Stores! This is open to everyone .You will have to pay shipping if you are outside of the US though. Use the voucher in part payment or full payment towards your choice of product.
All I ask of you is to leave a comment for me, and post a link to this post on your blog, and why not spread the word about Crafty Fridays as well!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your chutney!
Anna x

Comments close on 20th August midnight GMT

I am very lucky to have (most of the time) two willing models for me and at the moment I need them more then ever as I am doing weekly assignments for Karen Russels workshop; which I highly recommend.
Just lately, Lilly has been really cooperative, and I wanted to share a few favs from the past week.



I am totally envious of Lilly fashion sense; I would love to pull off an over sized shirt and boots like Lilly does! And her gorgeous blonde locks! Oh I would die for hair her colour. OK so I may be just slightly biased, LOL



Photographer: Mummy
Stylist: Lilly Bowkis
Clothes : Izzy's top, Boots models own, Sunglasses Claires Accessories
Venue : Hitchingbrooke Park, Southoe Farm

And now for a

Suki Update



She is defintiley part of our family now, thats if you had any doubt! Training is going pretty good, toilet training has nearly been mastered, and we have sttled into a god morning routine now. Sunday swims at Hitchingbrooke Park, twice daily walks around the fields that back onto our house, homemade treats by me, and we get back, lots of loyalty, wags, hugs and licks! She is the missing piece in our family jigsaw...

Don't forget tomorrow is Crafty Friday in the kitchen. You have until midnight tomorrow to enter into the Such Sweet Tierney giveaway!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Every Wednesday in August, the girls and I do a craft workshop based on nature. Last week we made corn dollies (must remember to photograph our effects!), and today it was mini mosiacs, using nature to inspire and for making stamps.
The girls thoroughly enjoyed the morning, and I ended up being Paxton Pitts photographer, LOL.




Finally we painted our finished piece.




My neighbour sent round one of these.


Shopping List

1kg of marrow, peeled, deseeded and chopped 2cm pieces ( from the garden or a neighbours garden!)
750g preserving sugar
1 red chilli deseeded ( I used a green chilli that we had grown in the garden)
Ginger piece
2 lemons
2 - 3 jam jars ( I used recycled jars but I also recommend and use Lakeland jars.)
Optional but highly recommended : Strong English Cheddar, crackers

Do remember to stop by for the Crafty Friday project and a HUGE giveaway!
Thanks for stopping by,
Anna x