Tiki Tour ~Aberystwyth

Another week I'm not going to do a catch-up, but that's because I really didn't take many pictures this week or get up to much. Dad was away for the later part of the week and we had the house to ourselves. Face has got to enjoy it as he has the week off work, but it's just made me lazier, if that's possible! I've spent most my free time in bed, playing pokemon or just dossing with Face. But I still had to go to work every day, fail!
I thought I would focus on writing about Tuesday as that was the most interesting day this week and we got up to quite a bit! It was Dad's birthday and we'd decided as the weather was going to be good to go to the beach! I'd planned on driving, but something was niggling at the back of my mind...and when I checked, I'd run out of MOT. Oops! Dad had to drive all the way as unfortunately I'm not on his insurance but once he brought his mind around to it he was okay about it :3

We arrived in Aberystwyth about 1.30 and parked in town. We first went for a wander up the promenade then moved onto the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time skipping stones into the barely flowing sea. We sat around for a while absorbing the heat and then realised that the time on the parking was up so Dad nipped back to the car and moved it then came back for us two, just in time to stop us napping against a large rock XD

It was starting to get really warm then so we moved into the arcade on the pier for some classic beach 2p slottie games! We'd collected some 2ps at home so we had to see how long our share would last. Dad managed to keep his going for quite some time, whereas me and Face lost ours pretty quickly. I had my eye on a fish keyring though that Face helped me win so we got something out of it XD

Once we'd all lost our 2ps we were getting pretty hungry so although we considered proper fish and chips from a chippy that was particularly good last time we were here, we thought Face might get sunstroke if he spent any more time in the sun (he's terrible with heat) so we moved onto the local Wetherspoons, which is in a big victorian train station which is pretty cool x3 And guess what we all decided to get? ...Fish and Chips! Aha. Even though you would expect spoons fish and chips not to be able to match up to a seaside chippy, they really outdid themselves and it was all really tasty. And to think I nearly had pasta...at the beach! What was I thinking? ;p

The heat of the day had died off just a little by the time we left and we popped by a Poundland for some sweets for pudding then went back to the beach and played rock throwing games by making targets from piles of rocks then having to knock them down. Simple things! We did that for a couple of hours in between dossing and eventually the weather cooled and we thought it was about time to get moving before Dad felt too tired to drive all the way back.

We had a great day and I think Dad really enjoyed his birthday. I'm so glad I could finally drag Face out on one of our daytrips too, I really like it when we all go out x3 What's your favourite thing to do at the beach? Although we don't usually spend much time on the sand I think this time was a bit of an exception and we all had a good time because of it!



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Project Wednesday ~More La De Dah Smashbook

This Project Wednesday I didn't want to bring back the Thai Smashbook just yet, so I thought I would go through a few more pages in the La De Dah book, it's been about a month, ne?

This was one of the last pages I did as I was waiting for myself to be finished with my Japanese travel book so I could work out what scraps I had left over to put in here. When I saw that the travel journal wasn't going to be done before this I sorted some stuff out just to make this page x3 A lot of the stuff is from the Tokyo Skytree but I also managed to find bits and pieces from all over our trip.
I managed to use stuff I got from Japan for pockets and then put in some travel sheets from a couple of the smash pads from extra details. This page also has built in photo pockets so I put a postcard I sent to myself in one and train station stamps in the other, then decorated them with leftover stickers I had from the skytree and Tokyo tower.

Face's birthday followed and a few of the staff at work made him a card to give him when we all visited the pub in the late evening XD Earlier in the day just the two of us had been to play mini golf in the new pitch that had opened at the local town park, we were the only ones there so we played each hole twice XD
I got the card and golf scoresheet to put in the photo pockets, and used some lined index cards with bunting washi to write on and decorate the page a little more. I also took out my instax during the day and got a shot of him unwrapping his presents first thing, then later playing minigolf x3

This first page came about as an amalgamation of most of the things I got up to around September-November that weren't really enough to make there own page of, but I still wanted to record, so I've stuck in a business card from the tattoo shop I got got my forearms tattooed at, my ticket to go see Seether in Birmingham, and part of a chocolate box that one of my favourite customers gave to the staff when he left for another job.
The other side, which is split with a graze box lid as i liked the autumn theme to it is about all the Graze boxes I'd received up to that point. I really don't like what I did with this page, I tried to use an envelope that came with my first Graze box to hold all the little notes that come with every box, then got some small pictures I printed with my zink printer to show a few, but then I couldn't figure out a place for the pictures in a way I liked, without covering up the picture on the lid of the box page or the picture on the ladedah page that i really liked and wanted to keep. I ended up putting them to one side of the lid as you can see and using cleaned graze pot lids to make sure the page on the right wasn't completely blank under the envelope, and as they're see through it was an effort to preserve the page I liked underneath...yeah it didn't really work out ;d

This page was done for my longest term fandom- My Little Pony! I knew I was going to miss out on the 2014 convention and was pretty gutted, so I gathered together all the stuff from the 2013 con and stuck it all in with some writing about my collection and missing out ;p This page didn't really have many design elements to it, I pretty much did just 'smash it all in'! I did try and make little bits a bit bolder though with using washi tape to bring them out the page more.

This page was a year in the making as we did a night every month with another couple from work, going out and trying restaurants we'd not tried in the local area but heard a lot about. It kinda lost it's point towards the end of the year as we ended up getting takeaways a couple of times and staying in. Still, I managed to collect enough stuff from the various places we did visit to make this page X3 I got some business cards, which most places do, and even pikey'ed a napkin from Zizzi's just cause it had their name on it. Sometimes I wonder where the line is between smashing memories and just plain hoarding...

I'll leave you with this two page spread- about the ComicCons I attended first in Telford, then in Birmingham! I had a great time at both, there's just no beating a good con x3 I used stuff that I bought when I was there, like the Isabelle print, and also cut up the con magazine, because we went to see the Red Dwarf panel x3 On the other page I mostly stuck in business cards i collected from the stalls I either bought from or wanted to buy from and put in the receipt from the japanese restaurant we went to after to complete our evening x3 Well, I hope you enjoyed another more detailed look at this book, hope you liked these pages! If you found them inspiring let me know! X3



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Sunday Catch-up ~A Little Late

Awww man, sorry I'm so late on this post...I went to do it yesterday but what can I say? I totally got caught up in a Steven Universe marathon x.X I'm a sucker for cartoons. Anyway....

I had a busy enough week, on Monday I did a lot of washing and unpacking from Download and basically just relaxed the day away after that XD I got a few photos of my babies, they only stop still for sunflower seeds! Really, they are a strange couple of gerbs, they don't like any other treats! At least they're better for them than yoghurt drops I suppose XD

On Tuesday I went out with Dad for a bit of a tiki tour as we haven't had a chance for one in ages. We went first to Pistyll Rhaeadr falls in Wales. I'd not been in so long and it was good to see it again. We usually walk to the top but neither of us were feeling it and instead we went to the local shop and picked up some bits and pieces and had a picnic while watching the falls X3 It was a really nice relaxing way to spend part of the afternoon, I really felt I needed some time to just doss and watch something different.

When we decided to move on we went over to Lake Vyrnwy and discovered a couple of things over that way we'd not visited before- a small church up on the hill and a sculpture park on the other side under the shadow of the dam. It made the place a little more interesting, we even did a little bird watching in the hut built up near the tourist shop x3

The next few days it was back to same old, same old as I returned to work and got used to seeing lots of newbies around the place, usually a good thing as the old ones get a little complacent and we need newbies to refresh the lines, you could say! On Friday I got a Graze box...I used to post these every time I received them but lately I guess I've got used to getting them! They are still looked forward to though and this weeks was another good selection x3

Lastly on Saturday before I had to go into work as Dad was away I decided I needed to get out and get him some presents as both Fathers day and his birthday were fast approaching! I had some ideas in mind with a little help from my sister so had a good couple of hours mooching shops XD There were one of his 'main' presents- he loves the Kinks and this band is made up mostly of old members so I'm hoping it'll be a good show.
And that was my week pretty much. The weather has been up and down but I'm hoping it'll give us a few good weeks soon so we can get a little more time outside x3 Did you have a busy week?



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Overview of Download Festival 2015

So, Download Festival! This is the 4th year in a row I've gone now, though I had been before that too as a camper.

On the Friday we were hyped to set off so we got up quite early, put ourselves in our best rock festival outfits and were in the queue to get in by 12.00, ideally, as the gates were about to be opened! We ended up waiting in the queue for an hour and a half...ouch! They have a new system of cashless payments which require your tickets to be registered to the wristband you are given, and it turns out it takes a while x.x
Once we were finally in though we set about exploring. Not too much changes between years but you have to explore about to make sure, right? ;p And one of our party hadn't been before so it was a learning curve for her too. We didn't really have any plan to see a particular band until Lacuna Coil so we had a good afternoon wandering about looking at the merch and seeing random bands we passed.

One of the highlights of the day was getting to see Five Finger Death Punch. They had a great show last year and it had encouraged us to look up their music and we've become fans XD This year was another good show! They played quite a few I knew and we left feeling good for seeing them x3
Later on as we were watching Dragonforce the rain began. We'd been expecting it so we weren't super disappointed but after not being able to get into the tent we decided to go find a poncho in an attempt to at least stay a little drier. Unfortunately we later found out we missed their collaboration with Babymetal which was a shame. Face's hair stayed up really well in the rain surprisingly but after a while the rain became too much and we actually had to push it down so he could wear his hood XD I'd really wanted to bring my camera in to get some decent quality pics but I'd wimped out at the last moment which was good really as now it was safely back at the hotel, staying dry without me having to baby it! It does mean that all these pics were taken on my phone though, hence the not-so-great quality x.X
The rain eased off later, not enough that we could dry off, but at least enough that we could watch Black Stone Cherry and Slipknot without getting loads of rain in our eyes! They were both good shows too, Slipknot is always awesome though. We had the massive plus after the bands had finished of being able to trudge back to the car and go back to the hotel for a warm shower and dry clothes and beds. Just that night made us remember why we don't camp anymore!

It rained all night and into Saturday, where when we woke up we just weren't willing to go get drenched again. We looked at the lineup and although there were bands I would've liked to have seen like Parkway Drive and Hollywood Undead, there wasn't anything I was willing to get drenched for, and the others felt the same. So we first went to hang out in a Loughborough Wetherspoons for lunch, then we were going to go mooch around Nottingham again but on the way there we learnt there was a major incident in town holding up all traffic for nearly an hour each way, which would've made it pretty pointless, so we went back to the hotel. I broke out the 3DS and hung out with the others in the lobby area as they all played pool and ate sweets x3 I got a game in too, and it wasn't long before we realised we had better get going if we were to see any of the bands we had planned to go in for!

When we got in we saw some of A Day to Remember, then walked over to drop off all these cups that the others had collected last night! If you collect cups you get a pound for 10, and they were trying to save up for some merch xD They'd done pretty well, making about £25! We watched Marilyn Manson for a while before noticing that Muse's show had started a little early so headed over there.
Even if it had been raining solidly we wouldn't have missed out on Muse, they're such a big band and we'd not seen them before, but luckily the weather was mostly calm and it was a brilliant show! I know there was quite a lot of sniffing going on around the internet this year that Muse shouldn't have been there, but judging by the crowd and their reaction, they were very welcome! It was a great show and we went back to the hotel happy that we'd not given up on the day completely, and ready to pack up all our stuff to put in the car the next day (fun!).

Sunday was looking a lot drier and as we were booted out the hotel at 11 we went straight to Download to see who we could see, although there was really only one band I was interested in for the final day! We wandered about and checked out the stalls more as we'd not had a really good look before that. On our way over to the other side of the area I decided to drag everyone into the fourth stage tent (previous years this has been the Red Bull tent) as it had begun spitting, and we watched LTNT, who I'd never heard of before but were really good! I really like the atmosphere in the smaller tent so it only improved the band, one I will definitely be looking up soon x3

We browsed some more and got some dinner, I was super impressed by this one place that did Katsu curry that I had to take a pic of the place just so I remember to look it up again next year! In fact it's something I think has really improved over the years at Download- the variety for food available and it's higher quality rather than the usual standard of festival food xp

Then came the band I'd been looking forward to all day- Yellowcard! Having not seen them before I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of show they put on, and they didn't disappoint! I had a great time, as did Face, even though I'd had to drag him along to watch, he even admitted halfway through 'that they weren't so bad'! Haha. They didn't play one I'd really hoped to hear but the rest of the show was good enough I'll let them off ;p

Then, all too soon, it was time for the final mainstage headliner, Kiss. None of us are keen on Kiss, but they headlined a few years ago when we were still camping and we walked away, then I watched what I could see of the fireworks from our tent. I always regretted not staying, even if just to watch the show itself, so this time I was determined, even though everyone else was ready to leave. I made them stay and I think they wer alright about it in the end as we all got to watch the finale of fireworks x3
It was a brilliant weekend, even with the weather not being top, I can't wait for next year already! Download is like home.
Did you go? Would you buy your tickets without knowing the lineup like we do? Let me know! x3



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Project Wednesday ~Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

This week I wasn't sure what to write about actually...since I finished my current project, the Thai Smashbook, I haven't really been working on anything else crafting-wise. I'm still in the process of editing the video too so I couldn't post that like I'd planned either :x But then I realised, even with going to Download festival, I have been focussed on something else: my 3DS and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire!

Yep, I love games, who doesn't, right? I'm not really very good at them though so I wouldn't really call myself a 'gamer', more of a handheld player ;p I don't know what it is, but unless the game is super simple I'm just not good at proper console games (I'm super excited for backwards compatibility for 360 games on the Xbox One though so I can play Viva Pinata again XD). My favourite console is nearly always by Nintendo, though I have flirted with the Playstation hendhelds on and off ;p And my favourite franchise? Pokémon!

I got Pokémon Alpha Sapphire for Christmas 2014 but didn't start playing it till January, where I had a few weeks stint battling the first four or so gym leaders. Even though this game is a remake of the original Pokémon Sapphire, I played it so long ago that I didn't really remember the storyline and it feels like a whole new game, with lots of new features as well as the fun of playing with old pokémon I haven't had a chance to battle with in a long time- like my starter Mudkip, who I named Liek ;p After a few weeks though I got distracted and put it down for a while.

I next picked it up when we went on our mini holiday to Wales, where I had a bit of time to play as we sat around relaxing in the late evening and had no reception on our phones! I managed to get through a couple more gym leaders while I was there and bring down a couple of dens of the bad guys, Team Aqua. Aren't I good? ;p I think this game is even more set for younger kids that previous games though as in times when I would've normally found it difficult and had to slog train to beat gyms or get through certain parts of the game, I just breezed through as all my pokémon gained large amounts of experience from the Exp. Share and my attacks seem to pull even more critical hits that ever before. It's played on my mind that it makes things a little too easy but at the same time I've enjoyed being able to get on with the story rather than having to spend hours in the grass battling low levels to raise my stats.

I put the game down for a while around the time Dad got back, but over Download I took it with me again, as I remembered again that phone signal around there is terrible for me too XD I had a good couple of nights while everyone was asleep battling and taking out the last couple of gyms and discovering all the new features they'd put into the game. On our last day of Download I was so absorbed in the game that I even played it all the way there as Face drove, something I usually make sure I do as per tradition! I was battling the Elite Four but didn't get to complete the game until I got home the next day.
It was a struggle, my team did it! We beat the champion and got to go into a second story arc which (without too many spoilers) allowed me to go on to save the pokéworld (again) and catch a couple of legendaries, woop! I even managed to save my masterball, though at this point I'm not really sure what for ;p

So that was as far as I got up to yesterday, my team is getting stronger and stronger and even though I've now completed the second story arc there's still stuff to do, the proffessor gave me a Chikorita earlier so he's got to be trained and I've still got to fill up my pokédex, and I've got to go on this ferry to see what the story behind that is!
Sorry I wasn't crafting this week, but if you want to see more game reviews like this let me know!



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Away Around Download

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I'm sure you'll understand- I was at Download festival all day! In fact that's where I've been since last Wednesday, sort of. It's been an awesome little getaway, as Download always is x3 I'll give you a rundown of the first couple of days before we got the main event:

On Wednesday we set off from home to get to our hotel. (Yeah, we're those kind of festival-goers...) we didn't get there til about 4 so after a little unpacking and doss we were off out again to nearby Loughborough. This is part of our Download tradition- because we don't spend the first couple of days in the campsite anymore, we still go on the Wednesday to enjoy ourselves and get hyped for it x3
So Wednesdays involve going to Loughborough to visit Moomba- an awesome Australian restaurant. We all ordered the 'backpacker's combo'- made up of a kangaroo skewer, wild boar sausage and a citrus and herb chicken skewer, then you could pick a side to go with it of your choice and get a mixed salad too. The others swapped out their salads for another side and the restaurant were fine with that. I got greedy and ordered an extra side of coleslaw too, I remembered it being really good last year :x So after all that I was dying- I had to sit back and relax for a while XD
That night when we got back to the hotel I dyed my hair again, still aiming for blonde but the ends won't let go of their ginger tint!

On Thursday we decided to break away from tradition to check out Nottingham. It's not that far away and we knew there'd be loads to do- should we find it! We found the high street and popped into a few shops, even finding a Blue Banana to get some hair dye for Face.

We then wandered around and found a cave entrance in a shopping centre! So we went for an explore down there, which was an interesting if not very festival-like way to spend an afternoon XD I never knew that Nottingham was based on sandstone that the residents carved out to make extra space in their houses or make cellars, among many other things, but I learnt a lot about it while we went round underneath the shopping centre!

We moved onto more expected things- the pub! We went to 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem', the oldest pub in England. It was really interesting as we went round the place and read all the little plaques about it's history, and wandered into all the rooms, many of them dug out of the sandstone cliff the pub was rested against. We got some food there and sat around for a while just soaking in the atmosphere before heading back towards the hotel as the others had booked to go Go-Karting, another tradition! I decided to miss out this year but as I went to collect some stuff from the hotel so I could sit and watch, I got a call saying that they weren't going to bother. It turned out there were far too many people there and the usual 4 hour karting sessions was going to be more like 40 minutes. It just wasn't worth it. So we went out as a group to try and find something else to waste away the evening with. After over an hours driving about we came to the conclusion that unless we wanted to go to the pub there just wasn't a lot to see without us already knowing about it x.X We tried good old Google for ideas and came up with the cinema, and as we all wanted to see Jurassic World that's what we did! It was a great film too, I really enjoyed the whole thing which is pretty unusual for me :]
When we got back to the hotel it was pretty late but Face needed to dye his hair so it would be ready for Download the next day, so we got onto that! We eventually were all done about 3am XD But his hair was luminous green so I guess it was a success!
The next day was the first day of Download, but I'll tell you a little more about that tomorrow...



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Project Wednesday ~Thai Travel Smashbook

Here it is guys, I finally finished my Thai Smashbook from my holiday to Phuket in 2013! Wow, this thing has been a while in the making, mostly due to my own procrastination (of course) but I'm so pleased it's all done with now! I thought I'd show you through a few pages in lieu of the video I'll make when I get back from Download.

I actully tried to prep this book a bit before I left on the holiday as I was intending to fill it in day-by-day as per a pinterest pin I'd seen that made it sound all so simple. Yeah. I forgot I'm just not that great at being out the loop, particularly when I'm on holiday! I don't want to shut myself away and play with paper and stress about writing when I know my family are enjoying themselves exploring a new place! So saying, I did manage it for a few days- I stuck in the 'Beware of Airship Pirates' printable before I left then stuck in the relevant flight stuff in the airport and plane. Yep, I took this thing in my hand luggage!

This was a page a little further in- we'd been getting our exploring on around some of the sights of Phuket. Here we visited Chalong temple- it was so beautiful, and had so many intricate details. We had a great time looking at everything there and getting way too warm from the heat of the Thai sun. We found a good way to cool off though- not far away was a beach so we went swimming! I couldn't believe the Thai sea was so warm, it had no chill at all yet was still so refreshing. And moped-ing back to the hotel in our wet clothes was actually fun too!
The right hand page of this set features lift up photos which have details and more photos stuck underneath, but I kept this page pretty simple :]

Face and I found a club that suited us to a tee while out exploring one night when the others were ready for bed (good old nocturnalism xp) and spent a few hours in there admiring the decor while watching a guy sing some rock and metal covers. It was a good way to spend an evening!
The page itself was really simple, but I actually really liked how it came out. I found the cards on the right in some stuff that my Dad was about to throw away and figured they'd come in useful somewhere, and this page was born x3

One day we decided to go out on a day trip to something you couldn't get to by moped- James Bond Island. Sadly Face couldn't come as he'd managed to sustain some pretty serious sunburn and wasn't feeling up for anything much, so it was just my Dad, sister and little niece. Still a good group! We had a great day being taken on a long boat, in a canoe and finally to see the island where we went into the water and got some pictures taken by a friendly fellow tourist x3
I bought a postcard for this page and there's writing on the back with more details about the trip. I also have some more lifting photos to the right with even more photos and details. I didn't feel that all the actual pages in the smashbook suited the trip sometimes, like this one with a travel van, but I just sorta covered them mostly when I didn't feel they were fitting with the theme XD

After two awesome weeks it was time to go back home. I collected some paper stuff on the way home in Abu Dhabi which is what I used to try and give this page a little more interest than repeating what I'd already written for the outward journey. As ever, I also ganked a menu from the plane :x
Well, that was a pretty quick rundown but I hope you enjoyed it, there will be more featuring soon so pop back to have a look x3



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