Blog Changes...

Instead of the usual Sunday ‘Peek Of The Week’ I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about some major changes to the blog…

I find myself in a position that I’m sure most of us have been in regularly, and that is, no matter how I approach the problem, I don’t seem to have quite enough time to be able to do everything that I should get done.

A combination of my TV commitments, doing all the preparation work for the shows and more mundane things we all have to attend to such as housework etc., means I never seem to stop rushing around trying to cram everything in.  It’s got to the stage where something has to go.

Regular readers will know that I’d committed to writing three pieces for my blog every week, and the updates appeared every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.  But coming up with the ideas for the articles, doing the accompanying photographs and actually writing them takes up a surprisingly large amount of time.  The stats say I have produced exactly one hundred blog entries, not including this one – just thinking about that makes me feel exhausted!  So reluctantly I’ve come to the decision to stop regularly updating my blog, and from now on I will write a blog article only when I feel I have something important to say.   

So it’s goodbye to ‘Peek Of The Week’, to the usual Wednesday update, and to ‘Photo Friday’. Going forward, when there is another blog article I’ll tell people about it through my Facebook page.

I’m also toying with the idea of taking up other forms of social media that don’t take as long as a blog – maybe Twitter, for example.  But first I would have to learn what Twitter is all about!  Again if I do become a ‘Tweeter’ I’ll talk about that on Facebook and I hope you’d be able to join in on that.

I’ll say goodbye to the regular blog updates with mixed feelings – happy that I’ll now have more time in my life, but sad because I’ve really enjoyed the creative process of producing a blog and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of (mostly!) hitting the three times per week deadlines.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads these pages, because without you there would be no point in doing it! And thanks for all the lovely comments people have taken the time to leave about the blog articles; they are always a real pleasure to read.

So it just remains for me to say, Happy Crafting and maybe I’ll see you over on my Facebook page!

Beauty And The Beast

I don’t want to complain – I love my job and I realise I’m very lucky to be able to do what I do – but I’ve been very busy as of late.  By close of play today (Wednesday) I’ll have done nine TV shows (or is it eight? I’m confused!) in just three days.  While that might not seem very much (after all, a show is only an hour long) eight or nine shows means I’ve had to do an incredibly massive amount of preparation work – ‘prep’ work for them… these shows don’t run smoothly all by themselves (and sometimes they don’t run smoothly at all, but that’s the joy of live television!)  I’ve been so busy that I haven’t seen hubby since Monday morning and I won’t see him again until this evening.  And talk about ‘hot off the press’ – I’m writing this just minutes after coming off air from the Tuesday evening 9pm show with the lovely Martyn Parker. 

But I want to talk to you about the subject of the show I’ve just done – Beauty and the Beast – and to show you some cards I made based on that theme.  Sadly I can’t use my lovely light box to take the photos because I’m in a hotel room – but hopefully you’ll get the general idea.

As we launched Beauty and the Beast some time ago, the show I’ve just done was able to offer some really good discounts on the Beauty and the Beast range… and it was REALLY popular.  So much so that just a few minutes into Tuesday’s 9pm show we heard that 50% of the stock allocated at the reduced price had already flown off the shelves. 

We are so lucky to be able to bring you Disney licensed products. When introducing the Beauty and the Beast Theatrical A Romance Beyond Words Limited Edition, Martyn explained the concept of ‘Limited Edition’ as far as the Disney products are concerned.  It sounds a little stark, but there is a finite amount of these Limited Edition products and dies, and when they’re gone, they’re gone – it’s not a case of us having a word with the buyer to see if we can get more stock in for tomorrow; they only make a certain amount and then they destroy the mould.  Sounds harsh, but then again doing that makes these products quite collectable in their own way.  

On a personal note, I feel a special affinity with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast because I have many fond memories of cuddling up with my eldest daughter when she was about four years old in front of the TV to watch the movie. She and I used to love watching that, over and over again.  She used to be absolutely terrified of the Beast but still insisted on watching it!  Beauty and the Beast was her introduction to the world of Disney. 

I always love to hear from viewers, and one lady emailed in to say she’d gone to watch the Beauty and the Beast movie with her Mum, her daughter and her granddaughter… no less than four generations all eager to see that movie – and that’s a shining example of the enduring appeal of Disney! 

Peek Of The Week - First Class!

I’m really sorry there was no blog entry last Friday, but I had a prior engagement I wouldn’t have missed for the World. There was no time to write and upload a blog. When my alarm went off at half past five in the morning hubby and I had to leap out of bed, get ready, put our glad rags on and head off to the railway station as we had a very early train to catch to London.

The reason for the excitement?  Last Friday was Graduation Day for our son Kern.  He’s finished a three year degree course studying English Literature at Greenwich University. I hope he won’t be too embarrassed when I say he’s worked really hard, put long hours into his studies, and reaped the reward of achieving a First Class Honours Degree!  It’s a superb achievement and for once I am lost for words when I try to express just how proud I am of him. 

Celebrations were definitely the order of the day, which would involve my favourite tipple of Shiraz, and that meant forgetting about driving and instead catching the bus to the railway station at a time when most people were going to work.  Hubby and I felt very self conscious – him wearing his new suit, me dressed up to the nines, looking totally out of place on a crowded bus!

The train journey was nice and uneventful, and once in St Pancras we had to head across London to Greenwich.  London was the usual noisy, dusty, overcrowded jostling place it always is. I believe my attitude to London is shared by most of us who don’t live there – which is, it’s nice, even exciting, to spend a short time down there getting up to anything and everything you don’t see in provincial cities… but it’s nice, really nice, to get back to the relative peace and quiet of home. London is great in moderation, but maybe I’m too old to enjoy the relentless pace of actually living there full time.

The Royal Naval College

Greenwich University uses the very impressive Royal Naval College, and the graduation ceremony was held in the beautiful chapel – the chapel of St Peter and St Paul. I won’t waste words trying to impress upon you just how breathtaking this building is; instead I’ll just upload a photograph and you’ll get the general idea!

After a combination of the Tube and District Light Railway we met up with Kern, thanks to copious use of mobile phones – it struck me just how difficult this kind of meeting up must have been before mobiles were invented! He went in to get fitted for his gown and mortar board and then it was time to join the queue to have his photo taken holding a scroll. Shortly after it was time for Hubby and I to decide how many photos of this once in a lifetime achievement we wanted – what a lovely problem to have!

Kern’s partner, a lovely lady called Hannah, joined us, and we thought it a great shame that she couldn’t join us for the actual ceremony – due to the size of the venue and the amount of students there, tickets were limited to just two each. Fortunately she met up with a friend and spent the time shopping and having coffee, then met up with us afterwards.

At last it was time to go in, and we joined the queue, clutching our tickets. For a reason that was never explained to us, we were ushered upstairs into a box rather than sit on a pew on the ground floor.  This gave us something of a strange, birds eye view of events…

Very nervous students, seen from above...

Anyway, there’s lots of pomp and circumstance and ceremony to these occasions, and it does add a great deal to the whole presentation. At the start there was organ music then no less than three ‘processions’ – a procession of academic staff, then a procession of civic dignitaries headed by the Mayor, then finally the Chancellor, Pro Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor’s procession.  When these were all seated, it was time for the speeches.  I won’t lie, I think everyone there was so keen to see their son or daughter receive their degree that not much attention was paid to most of the speeches – although I was smiling at the speech by the Pro Chancellor – a chap I would guess is on the wrong side of seventy - when he explained he had come from a poor background and was honest enough to admit he spent far too much of his time at university in the bar but had somehow still managed to make something of himself.  A lesson for all of us there I think!!

 At last the great moment arrived, a massive procession of students going up on stage to receive their degrees.  Hubby let out an almighty shout of celebration when it was Kern’s turn.  I don’t mind admitting I cried, and Hubby did too - but he's always been a softie anyway where the kids are involved!  It was a fantastic thing to see and I felt so privileged to be there. At the end the Chancellor officially conferred the awards on the students and the end of his short speech was the cue for everyone to whoop and holler and basically raise the roof to celebrate the end of a marvellous few years of the students’ young lives. 

After the dignitaries had left we were ushered out for drinks in a marquee, and that’s when it was time for hubby to marvel at the technology on show; he was amazed that a DVD of the whole proceedings was available to buy just fifteen minutes after the end of the ceremony; and photos were available to buy of each pupil receiving their award ten minutes after the end of proceedings.  Also on sale were lots of Greenwich University souvenirs, ranging from sweatshirts, rugby shirts, tee shirts, mugs, pens, cufflinks, coasters… at this point it would be easy to become cynical and see the whole thing as a money making circus, but to me that would be missing the point; everyone I’ve spoken to says University was the best three years of their life.  Students have made great strides towards finding their place in the World in that time and as such some have developed a great affinity with the place, not to mention the friendships they have made with a vast amount of people.  But from graduation day they might never see their University again, and more importantly might never see their Uni friends again… so it’s only natural that people would want to buy mementos, souvenirs, reminders of this hugely influential time of their lives, so who would want to discourage that?

So there was mingling, handshakes, claps on the back, and perhaps some very final conversations.  When we were absolutely sure Kern wanted to leave, it was time to start the celebrations and so we all repaired to The Gypsy Moth pub.

This was a revelation to Hubby, who is an unashamed beer snob, because he had his first ever taste of a beer from America made with Cactus and Grapefruit!  Much more importantly Kern’s twin sister Jessamy was able to join us… she is also studying in London but was delayed because she was unfortunate enough to be selected for Jury Duty!

It was great to be able to kick back with two of three of my children and just have a laugh over a Shiraz or two.  After a while it was time to make the 15 minute journey to The Brookmill, where we had a table booked.  This is a real ‘local’ family pub, Hubby gave the thumbs up to the beer selection, and the food was really good ... not many pubs offer rabbit on their menu, and Jessamy was brave enough to order it and loved it!

Yet more drinks, yet more laughs, then all too soon it was time for us to say goodbye and start the journey home.  We would have liked to have stayed overnight but hubby had yet another 5.30 alarm call for work on Saturday. I have to report we were still in Celebration Mode when we got on the train, so had yet more red wine! 

Back in Nottingham, we treated ourselves to a taxi home.  I think it’s fair to say we fell asleep the moment our head hit the pillow, and how hubby got out of bed at half past five the following morning to get to work on time, I’ll never know.

I’m aware that to some people reading this, they might be bored, and (maybe rightly) think of this as just yet another self-indulgent mother bragging about their offspring. If you’ve read this far, then thank you for sticking with it.  I make no apology for my pride in my son.  Kern hasn’t had things easy; he once had disastrous A level results (he had too many friends and too good a social life to be bothered with study!!!) but he buckled down after that and really got stuck into his studies.  I remember, years ago, him telling me that he would never study English Literature at degree level “because English Literature is for squares.” Years later, here he is, absolutely loving English Literature and picking up a First Class Honours Degree in the subject.  He’s starting his Masters course in September in Creative Writing and can’t wait!  

It just goes to show, you never know what Life has in store for you!   

Let It Snow!

Hello! I make no excuses for yet again talking about Christmas makes in July.  The clock is ticking and there are so many cards to make!  During a recent show Grace from Manchester emailed us to say she’s already made nineteen Christmas cards.  She’s got the message – well done Grace!  Come to think of it, that was the same show in which Andy Love likened crafting to various sporting events and said that Christmas is the card maker’s World Cup… and how right he is!

This card is one I made during the recent Christmas Fantasy shows.  These dies are a completely different style to the ones I normally reach out for, and as such they took me out of my comfort zone.  That’s no bad thing of course, and I enjoyed the challenge.  Judging by the feedback we’ve received it seems clear that many of you love these dies. In the set you get the Queen of Snowflakes, Snow Castle, Regal Swan and Snowglobe Card Shape, and I had great fun mingling the dies in different combinations. If you’re into Fantasy, Game of Thrones, Narnia, The Lord Of The Rings or whatever, I’m sure these dies will appeal to you.

This card, which I’ve called ‘Let It Snow’ for obvious reasons, uses the Snowglobe set together with the Queen of Snowflakes. I coloured the Queen of Snowflakes myself but you can download the Charisma images by clicking here which means with one pass of the die through your cutting machine you have one fully coloured die cut.

While the Snowglobe makes a fantastic stand-alone card, on this particular make I’ve attached it to a large (8 inch) card base.  The snowflakes were cut from 250gsm card covered in Sticky Roll and after being cut I dipped the sticky die cuts in glitter.  As you’ll see from the photo I managed to tear my snowflake… and the moral of that story is, once you’ve made your Christmas card, look after it much more carefully than I have!

TOP TIP: These dies were brought to you as part of the Pick Of The Week offer so if you like them be quick as the price will go up on Friday!    

Peek Of The Week - Hubby's Birthday Card

Today I thought I’d show you the birthday card I made for my hubby recently… this card also featured in my blog about making a lightbox.

Sometimes it can be difficult making a card for someone who lives in the same house as you because there’s always the danger that they might see it before it’s ready. Luckily I had no such worries – hubby always stays out of my craft room because he knows if he wanders in there is every chance I’ll give him a job to do!

I used an eight inch square card base – I know it’s larger than usual, but it’s become my favourite size.  I used a nice cream colour as I was looking for something muted - I just wanted to avoid the harshness of stark white.

I cut a black and cream mat layer and embossed the cream layer using a watch embossing folder.   Then I applied my Rare Earth inks – Desert Sand and Henna Brown – to my blending mat, dusting these over the embossed images to enhance them. I added a little bit of black to give that ‘shabby chic’ look.

The large pocketwatch and cogs were cut from Tattered Lace dies and gilding wax was added to these.

The focal point of the card was, again, a black and cream mat layer but this time I embossed the cream layer with the Tattered Lace script embossing folder.

The key and ‘Happy Birthday’ are pre-bought wooden embellishments which I coated with Rare Earth black pigment ink before applying their clear embossing powder and heat setting.

Then it was just a case of layering up all the elements and adding some metal cogs I had lying around to further enhance the ‘shabby chic’ look.

The die across the centre is Tattered Lace Love Birds die.  I used this as I thought it was a good contrast to the other more ‘Steamed Punk’ elements – and I like the two little birds!

Photo Friday – Sometimes The Background Steals The Show!

For this particular Photo Friday I’d like to show a lovely picture taken by my hubby, some years ago.  At first glance it’s just a picture of a tree but  I think this photo can teach us a little about our card designs…

I hope you’ll agree, it’s an eye-catching picture…

Eye-catching it may be, but at the end of the day it’s just a picture of a tree.  A nicely shaped tree, yes, a very old twisted tree, but still, it’s just one tree among thousands.  So the question is, what makes this picture stand out?

The answer, as you’ve probably already guessed by the title of this blog entry, is THE BACKGROUND.

If this was a photo of a tree against a background of greenery, or yet more trees, it would be unexceptional.  But look at what is going on behind the tree; it’s a Winter’s day and the Sun is setting on the horizon at the bottom of the picture. In a couple of minutes the Sun will have gone and darkness will quickly creep in – but before that happens there is one final glorious encore of sunlight, lighting up the steel blue late afternoon Winter sky, highlighting the white clouds and putting the tree in silhouette. Absolutely marvellous, a lovely fleeting moment caught in time.  

So how does this help us when we come to design our cards?

I feel it’s a reminder that we should think of what’s going on in the background of our cards as well as the foreground.  For example, let’s say you’re making a Christmas card with Robin Redbreast.  So you put Robin front and centre of the card.  That’s great as far as it goes… but what is going on in the background of your card?  Nothing at all?  Or is Santa flying high in the sky on his sleigh in the distance, being pulled by Rudolph and his friends? Or is there a snow-covered village or church behind the Robin? Or maybe a frosty beautiful countryside scene of a patchwork of fields and hills?  

If you put interesting detail, no matter how small, into the background of your card, you might find people are drawn towards that detail and that becomes the reason why they think the card is so great… Robin Redbreast suddenly becomes merely a supporting actor and not the star of the show we all thought he was!   

Fantastic Foamiran!

Today I want to tell you about the wonderful day I had at the Foamiran workshop with Ewa Constanga, run by Love to Craft and Create. We all had a great time. The workshop was very popular too – although it was held in my home town, some people had travelled a very long way to be there.

The lovely Ewa is Polish and doesn't speak any English; not a problem, as our host Monika is a brilliant interpreter.  

The day was split into two workshops to create two separate projects and attendees choose whether they wish to attend one or both classes. I wanted to learn as much as I could and get as much as possible out of the day (some might say I’m just greedy!) so I opted to attend them both.

As you know, there are always trends in crafting and Foamiran is definitely the current 'Must Have' craft. And I can totally understand why. The projects that you can pull off with this simple product are nothing less than awe inspiring. A five minute browse on social media brings up a host of pictures of some truly beautiful Foamiran flowers that people have made and shared. If you’re anything like me, while looking at some of those pictures you’ll be thinking the same thoughts I did  – “I could never do that!” – BUT let me tell you… you can. I had never made anything with Foamiran before the workshop and look what I made:

Ewa wanted to get us to make two projects using Foamiran ‘cold’.  What I mean by that is, without using an iron. (An iron is very often used with this product). Also, you might be surprised to hear we didn’t use any Dies - all petals and leaves were cut by hand. Trust me, it isn't difficult!

We then coloured the foam. Ewa gave us some guidance but left us to choose how we added the colour. We used pastels and small pieces of kitchen foam pad - nothing complicated or technical. The ‘Top Tip’ that Ewa gave us in my opinion was to add green or yellow to the innermost tips of the petals where they would form the centre of the flowers. This really lifts the finished flower. Our aim was to make realistic looking flowers and I think this was achieved.

Making the flowers without heat is tough on the fingers! There is a lot of rolling involved to get the natural look on the petals… but don’t be put off, it CAN be achieved. When shaping the petals care needs to be taken not to flatten the edges- all that hard work shaping and rolling can easily be undone by a bit of over enthusiasm!  

I have to admit, I’m hooked. In between prepping for my shows I’ve made time to make this lovely poppy in the comfort of my own craft room. I didn’t use any Dies to cut the petals, but I’ll put my hand up and confess right now to using an iron – I hope Ewa doesn’t consider that cheating! The iron heats the foam before the shaping process, making things even easier.

......and I also made this smaller flower using my Fleurs flowers fries from Tattered Lace 

By the end of the day, everyone’s finished flowers looked so great that anyone would assume they are difficult to make.  But that’s the magic of Foamiran – they really are not difficult.  All you need is patience, and away you go.

If you don’t believe me, have a go – pretty soon I’m sure you’ll be hooked just like me! 

Peek Of The Week - A Little Gold Can Go A Long Way...

Just for a change this week’s Peek Of The Week is very current.  VERY current, as this die was launched in last Thursday’s Blockbuster, I demonstrated it on air yesterday and again at 9am this morning.  I’ll be showing you my take on the die on air on Monday evening at 9pm… I hope you can join me.

The Tattered Lace Spun Sugar Collection is a really beautiful set of dies that work fantastically well with the images on the accompanying CD ROM. The CD ROM includes ten colours for each design with matching backing papers, and has been created especially to coordinate with the dies in the collection. 

I set out to make a totally feminine birthday card; an almost completely white birthday card.  I don’t know why I fancied an almost completely white card, I just did… but almost as soon as I got that idea, I decided that, no, let’s have just a splash of colour to enhance it. That’s the great thing about crafting for me, the freedom to do just about whatever I want on a project is very liberating and certainly increases the fun factor!

My splash of colour came in the form of a little gold; although I added in the gold card, obviously you could substitute this for any colour you like… anything goes with white after all.

I cut the Lavish Floral Die twice – once was in white super smooth card and once using white card covered in good old Sticky Roll (where would we be without Sticky Roll?) which I then dipped into my mega glitter pot.

I must admit I do like my flourishes, and I thought the rather neat elegant ones in the picture tied in on some level with the pearl chain on the flower, even if they are almost imperceptible.

The spun sugar frame die is a really versatile die set, consisting of five dies in all. Stephanie has thought of everything; including the two frames separately means you can cut the detail into or out of your card stock, if you see what I mean. I decided not to use these frames and cut the detail into the card, and I’m very pleased with the result.

The sentiments are new, and are also from the spun sugar collection.  A very clever aspect to these sentiments is that including the flourishes on the words gives us crafters so many options – we can trim them off in part or fully, to give basically as much detail as we want.  A great idea!

Photo Friday - Moon and Willow

I was really pleased to receive an invitation recently to put something together for Create and Craft, and my piece appeared on their blog yesterday.  If you missed it and if you're interested, you can catch it by clicking here. I've never been asked to write for other people before and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hopefully they'll have me back again sometime! 

But now it's back to business as usual, and so without further ado...

In this week’s Photo Friday I’d like to share with you a picture I absolutely love. 

It’s not the most action-packed shot you’ll ever see, I admit.  There’s not anything going on in the photo at all.  But I think that’s probably why I like it so much.

It was taken by a family member about nine years ago. He was out in the countryside getting away from it all.  He found himself standing by a river underneath a clear blue sky. Behind him was a thick forest that carried on for some distance down the riverbank. In front of him was a very wide river.

He wanted to take a photograph to remind him of the moment but the problem facing him was that there was almost too much scenery around him to try to cram into one photograph.  So, what to do…?

The answer he came up with, and I feel it’s a very effective solution, is to go very ‘minimalist’.  What I mean by that is, if you can’t squeeze a forest and a river into one picture, then just don’t bother trying.  Instead, pick one or two or three elements that suggest your surroundings, and put those together in one photograph. 

That’s what he’s done here.  It was a clear blue sky, so that forms the background to the picture.  He can’t photograph the whole forest, but he can suggest the idea of a forest just by including a branch or two in the shot.  At the time the Moon was high in the sky, even though it was late morning. So he decided to frame the Moon using the branches of a Willow.

As a picture I feel it works really well, because it’s clean and simple and unfussy.  It manages to convey a message without cluttering up the frame.

I feel that perhaps we can learn a lot about designing our cards from photos like these; I know I have.  What I mean is, say you want to make a Christmas card – Christmas images run through your head – a robin sitting on top of a snow-capped post box; a child on a sleigh being pulled down the street by his Father; a garland or a wreath of mistletoe and ivy; carol singers.  The list goes on.  Sometimes the temptation is to try to include as much Christmas symbolism as we can in one card, but if you go the minimalist route like this photographer, you’ll find that two or three elements – for example a holly leaf and red ribbon – convey the Christmas message just as well as including all the whistles and bells you can think of.

Plus, it’s a lot cheaper and quicker to make!   

Our Lake District Mini Break

It was my husband’s birthday recently so to celebrate we had a few days away in the Lake District, one of his favourite places.

It’s not hard to see why it’s one of his favourites – the scenery is absolutely spectacular.  There are beautiful views everywhere you look and the pace of life is wonderfully slow (for us tourists it is anyway, I’m sure some of the people who work there, such as farmers, must work all hours).

I’m told the Lake District is one of the wettest places in the UK, and we have had trips there in years gone by when it rained non-stop for days on end.  This time though we were very lucky.

My Mum flew over from her house in France and joined us, as did our two youngest now that their university courses have finished, and my son brought along his partner.  

It’s always difficult to pack the car on trips away, but an added difficulty this time round was having to bring along the birthday cake I’d made without getting it squashed on the journey.  Luckily it ended up there still in one piece!  My hubby is quite older than me, and in his own words, if I’d have put a single candle on the cake for every year of his age we’d have to have the local fire brigade on standby as a precaution… so instead I made do with two sparklers.

Obviously I’d made him a birthday card but his favourite card was a shop-bought one!  He liked it so much because he thought it provided a map of what he was going to do over the next few days – here it is:

Hubby has always been keen to get to the very top of Helvellyn, a mountain which is the third highest point in England. Years ago we had tried on two occasions to get there but each time we had to turn back because of the weather. It’s so high that you can get five different types of weather walking up there!  Mum didn’t feel as though she would be able to manage it, and I was more than happy to stay at ground level with her.  My son and his partner and our youngest daughter went with hubby while Mum and I walked round a country house and gardens.  I’m pleased to say they did make it to the top after all these years! Third time lucky! The difference in the weather was amazing.  When they got to the summit the cloud descended; while they were in winds of between 60 and 70 mph, with rain that came so hard the drops stung their faces when it hit, Mum and I were wandering around a garden wearing a light top, in a gentle breeze…

At the summit of Helvellyn - third time lucky!

We went to the Ullswater Country Fair.  The most interesting thing for me there was the Fell Race.  It started and finished at the Fair but runners had to climb to the top of a very steep, massive hill called Arnison Crag and back again.  The record time was just less than 14 minutes, but looking at Arnison Crag I reckon it would have taken me closer to 14 hours!  

Handmade walking sticks at the Ullswater Country Fair

All in all we had a great time – lots of walking, lots of pub meals, lots of laughs.  Hubby didn’t want to come home on the final day, a sure sign that he’d had a great birthday!