It's Chrisssstmassssss!

I have been lucky enough to get a place on Cheryl Johnson's free "12 Days of Christmas" photography course and as usual have had to upload a Self Portrait this time with a festive theme. Here's mine:

Christmas just isn't Christmas without a bit of tinsel and the obligatory advocaat - Snowball anyone? I wonder how long it will be until the next post?!

Our First Find!

After reading about Geocaching on several of the blogs I hop across months ago the other day I finally got around to looking up some local caches. I was really pleased to find for urban areas you know well you don't need a GPS device to pinpoint a cache. So off we went yesterday afternoon with details of several caches in our local area armed with some small trinkets to swop. After failing to find the first 2 and with all of us feeling just a little bit silly poking around in the undergrowth we carried on to the 3rd none too confident of finding anything. But yay! after only a few minutes Erin found it. The kids loved looking inside and deciding what to swop. Unfortunately that was the only success of the day but we will be off later today for another treasure hunting session. This is definately going to turn into a whole family hobby....looks like we will be investing in some Geocaching kit!

Our first find.

(Rubbish photo but the light was pants in all the dense undergrowth!)

Completely Candid

Over at I ♥ Faces the photo challenge this week is Completely Candid. I don't get many really candid shots because as soon as they see the camera they either hide or pose!

Check out the other candid shots at

Holiday pics

Here are just a few of my favs from our holiday last month. (Note the footwear essential for a British summer holiday !)

The waterfall at Clovelly

Postbridge, Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Having a paddle

Take photos while the sun shines

as this is what happens 20 minutes later!

What the.....?

What's happened to my my visitor counter? Last time I was on here there had only been about 200 visitors and now there's nearly 12,000! Wos going on? :o

Bubbles

This weeks Photo Challenge is "Bubbles" and I love this photo from Noah's 2nd birthday party a couple of years ago (although he's not actually in it!)



Check out the other bubbly pictures over at I ♥ Faces.

This is a long one....

As I have recently finished a couple more of Cheryl Johnson's online photography workshops, Painting with Light The Sequel and Masterclass V I thought I'd post some of my favourites shots here for posterity!


This was taken very last minute for the Leading Lines module.


I had fun with the Light & Dark (ie shadows) module and so did the kids.


Even Paul joined in! (Who's the fatty with the camera??)


It's a good job it was sunny that week.


Posing at Portsmouth.


Third module was Reflections so here's a reflection of the boy.


Fourth module was all about water. This is a drip from my kitchen tap.


And another.


It took ages to get this and I gave up in the end but it did get chosen as a fave of the week!


Fifth module was to do with perspective. At last all 3 together!


This makes me smile every time. Inspired by the Twix advert.


Sixth module was called Human Cloning. Had great fun with this - must do it again soon.


We had a couple of bonus modules the first was Natures Canvas. Love the clouds in this one.


Taken at the edge of a muddy field which I had to clamber up a steep slope to get to. Chosen as a fave of the week.


No points for guessing where this was taken!


Final module was artificial light. A last minute effort.

There were four modules to the Masterclass - Exposure, Aperture, Reflections and Black & White. We had to choose a theme and mine was School's Out.


Aperture - playing Monopoly on a rainy day.


Aperture - picnic at Cookham.


Reflections - Eden reflected in a long boat at Eton.


B&W - Eden (not quite) jumping at Marsh Lock in Henley.


B&W - grass by the river in Henley.

Nature's Beauty - Day 5 - Red

This is my first effort at colour selecting. It's not a great shot but thought I'd post it cos its red! :D

Natures Beauty - Day 4 - Pink

Haven't played along recently been busy on Cheryl Johnson's PWL The Sequel. Like the different format of a weekly theme. Here's mine for today. This shot was taken at CJ's Bootcamp back in May.

Tower

A tall, usually square or circular structure, standing alone or part of another. Find 'Tower' in your space:

My niece's birthday party came up trumps for todays word!

Woodland

An area of dense trees and shurbs, find woodland in your space.

No woodland around today so here's one of Becky Falls in Devon back during the Easter break.

Tall

More than average height, or a story difficult to believe. Show us 'Tall' in your space.

Relax

To become active, calm and happy, find relax in your space today

DS kicking back after a hard day at school:)

Purple

A mixture of red & blue, find purple in your space today.

DD1's birthday card still up from last week.

Tuft

A bunch or collection of something, typically hair, grass or threads. Show us a tuft in your space today.

The kids had their hair cut today so I rescued a tuft for todays prompt!

Staple

A principal commodity or u shaped thin piece of wire for fastening - find 'Staple' in your space.

Not much to say about this other than - staples!

Fierce

Hostile, angry or intense, show us 'Fierce' in your space today.

DS loves pulling faces for photos so had no problem getting him to pose for this.

Street

A public road, usually lined with buildings. Find 'Street' in your space.

A different type of Street but my favourite sort.

Shadow

A dark area produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface. Find a shadow in your space today.

Plenty of sunshine at the minute for some shadows.



Looks like I'll be weeding the patio this weekend!

Sprout

To put forth shoots. Find a 'sprout' in your space today.

Just got as far as the fridge for my 'sprout'!

Spotty

Adorned with circles, find Spotty in your space today.

The kids have all spent the day in their pjamas at school today in aid of Comic Relief and DD2 in her spotty PJs was perfect for todays prompt :)

Consume

To eat, drink, use up, obsess, or expend. Find 'consume' in your space.

DS consuming the sweetcorn he grew at Nursery last summer.



Note to self: get your camera out and start using it again!!

Three

The cardinal number that is the sum of two and one and a prime number. Find 'Three' in your space.

An easy one for me today. Everything in this space has to be multiplied by 3!