It's Always Sunny In Here

Saw this today and loved it. Very retro. Very christmassy.



Love

It's Christmas Journal Time Again

So if you aren't signed up for this class yet then get yourself over to Shimelle's and do it - pronto!

This is an absolutely fab-u-lous class and great value for money. Not only do you get a daily prompt, every day from 1st December to 6th January (Shim takes you right up to include the 12 days of Christmas!), in the form of a superbly put together, fully illustrated pdf file, access to an online forum to post questions/chat with others, but you get to participate in the class every year afterwards AT NO EXTRA COST!!!

This year there will also be some extra little things thrown in, like some fabulous photographers who are going to share their secrets for taking our holiday photos to the next level...

Can't wait...

Friday Night Crop

It's that time of the month again (yes, that time too but that's probably tmi! LOL) and I'm off to the fabulous Friday night crop at PaperArts. Except for I'm going now, 12:51pm, not tonight. Night crop is a little misleading as quite a few of us take advantage of the fact that the shop is open all day on Fridays - in fact I'm normally there by now not at home typing up a quick blog entry.

I used to wait until the children were home from school but as Richard was coming home at the same to look after them so I could push off at 3:30pm I suddenly had a 'lightbulb' moment and realised that if he was coming home in time for the children coming home why was I waiting until then to leave? I could leave and get there for when PaperArts opened? Couldn't I? Now, I'm not saying I'm organised enough to get there for 10am but I do try and get there so I can sit and have lunch with the lovely Christine!

On my agenda to do today? A baby album for some good friends, Bruce and Suzie who have just had an adorable baby girl, Amelie Grace (don't you just love that name?) who I saw, and held, yesterday. She is adorable, just like her 1 year old baby sister Josselyn!

Box of Delights

So I succombed. To buying some of the new Elsie line. I wasn't going to. Didn't want to jump on the bandwagon of buying stuff just because it's 'cool' or 'in' but I have to say it's gorgeous stuff. So bright. So colourful. So me (I'm saying I'm bright and colourful but that I scrap pretty bright and colourful). And it arrived. This morning. Here it is, along with a couple of other things that just happened to fall in to my basket, in all it's glory:

Now I can't wait to start using it but I have to tidy my scrap room first! I just can't be creative in a messy space... 
 

12 Hour Crop

And this time I am determined to have something to show for it!

Photos have all just (in the last minute or so) been ordered from Photobox, I now have to pray that they will arrive tomorrow morning. They normally do but you can bet Sod's Law will raise it's ugly head and this time they won't.

ScrapFever: A Review

I had planned on writing a long post about this but now, quite honestly, just can't be bothered - LOL!

So instead, here's a quick summary! Donna Downey was lovely. Very down to earth, easy to chat to and a great teacher. No airs, no pretensions, just a downright lovely woman. We made and covered our own 12"x12" album made from chipboard and brown wrapping paper which we then decorated with our choice of patterned papers (which we could choose from the Willow Tree Crafts shop on site). Inside there were 12 pages 8.5"x11" in size for which we had to think of 12 words and, if possible, bring 12 photos to best represent those words. I semi cheated on this, although I would say 'thought imaginatively' and my words were: 1995, 1996, 1997 and so on through to 2006 and I used a photograph of myself and Richard from each year. Boy, did this make me realise how little photos I have of us together. In fact some years I had a choice of ... actually no choice, just 1 photo!

[I'll upload photos of the project here later today - as and when I've scanned/photographed it]

Stacy Julian's took 2 classes, the first one was a lecture on how to be 'ScrapHappy' and I really enjoyed it. It made you think about what/how/why you scrapbook and I will certainly be working on some of those and making some changes in my scrapping life. It came at quite a timely moment for me as I've been doing quite a lot of thinking lately about why I do what I do and what things I want to change. The other class was completely not 'me' as it was super quick class, creating 20 pages in less than 2 hours! Yes, I admit, they were only 6"x6" LOs but I am a slow, thoughtful scrapper and just don't work in such a hectic fast paced way. However, having said that, and having not finished that number of pages, I do think the technique/advice was useful and a great way to complete a mini-memory album very quickly, easily and painlessly so I may well sit down one day and give it another go. I can say though that I love Stacy's philosophy and approach to scrapbooking and for that reason alone it was great to meet her and very inspiring.

The other 2 classes were fab. Alison Drummond taught a very different sort of class, not a LO, in fact not scrapbooking at all - we painted! Five 6"x6" paintings on acetate and all then placed in a great frame from Ikea. I really enjoyed this, the getting out the paints, splashing it on and getting mucky - shame I forgot to take an apron!!!

[I've still to photograph this but will upload it later]

And finally to Venessa's class and yet another great one it was too. So nice to meet Venessa, who now lives in South Africa. Loved the colours for this class and I knew straight away which photos I wanted to use. The class was for a single LO (the LHS) but as I had so many photos of Noah playing on the space hopper I ended up creating and extending the design to a double LO. This doesn't always work but because Venessa's design was quite graphic it was easy to carry on to another side and I think it works quite well.

So, my overall thoughts on the weekend? The teachers and the classes were great, it was lovely to meet up with old friends and also to meet some new ones. The venue was OK, the food was OK too (despite some awful problems on Friday night but as we were compensated with 2 bottles of wine, well, I'm not complaining), my only criticism was the busy pace we had. It didn't feel like you had much time to sit and relax, chat with friends and I didn't even touch any of the photos/projects I had brought with me. But then I suppose you can say it was definitely value for money as we got to do all the classes on offer. For myself a weekend crop isn't just about the classes though, it's about the opportunity to socialise, relax a bit and, if I'm lucky, complete a few pages. But having said that I had a great time and came home with finished projects (unheard of for me!) so it was a success.

And I've just realised that once I got started I actually did write a rather long post :D

Lots To Catch Up On

But instead of whacking it all in to one post I'll spread it over the next few days or so.

First off, as promised, albeit late, the photos of my gorgeous knitted felted bag. The first one is pre-felting and the second one post-felting. I'm really pleased with how it turned but will add that I reshaped it further after I took the second photo as I realised it wasn't quite 'right'.

The Cornflake box is for size comparison!

Happy Easter everyone. The weather here is glorious and has been so for the last couple of weeks. I love Spring, I think it's my favourite time of the year. The daffodils are out, and I've also seen a few bluebells. The days have been those perfect Spring type days, starting out really fresh and crisp, with blue skies and then warming up. Perfect. The last few days have been around 15-18°reaching a balmy 20° today! Bliss - off to sip a glass of wine in the garden.

To come over the next few days: ScrapFever: A Review, The Emotion Lion, a couple of layouts, geocaching update and whatever else I can think of. LOL.

A Possible New Venture

Wish me luck. I have a meeting at 1pm today to discuss a new work venture. Don't want to say too much at this point just in case it all goes belly-up, but I'm quite excited about it.

As for other things happening at the moment, well, I'm still waiting on Sainsburys to get their act together re: my new fridge/freezer. I haven't bored you all with the saga that is 'The New Fridge/Freezer: A Tale of Frustration and Despair suffice it to say 3 delivery attempts later and it still isn't sorted!

As for other happenings lately? Well, I had a great day out with Cherry on Friday, to Bristol. Not, as you might think scrapbook shopping (although we did manage to squeeze a quick one in) but to a knitting shop. Get Knitted. Knitting within my circle of friends is the current passion du jour, although we are assuring ourselves it is just a passing faze and scrapbooking is still dear to our hearts. But what are we knitting? Bags. But not just knitted bags, felted and knitted bags. I finished my first one yesterday (I'll upload photos tomorrow) and am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I've got my next knitting project lined up, another knitted bag, but this time using some of the gorgeously fantastic Noro wool. But what I really want to knit is one of the fabulous Noro knitted jackets, but having priced it up last Friday and realising that it was going to cost around £100 for the wool alone, well, I've put it on the back burner for a while.

I didn't think Richard would be too pleased either and wanted to reduce the possibility that he will soon put a ban on all excursions involving Cherry! After all I blamed her for my need of a TomTom One... I mean I've got to travel to Watford this Friday and negotiating the M25 and trying to read a map to see where I'm going at the same, well, it would be highly dangerous. Wouldn't it?

Which brings me neatly on to the next thing on my horizon. A scrapbooking weekend away at ScrapFever, organised by Willow Tree Crafts. There are going to be some great teachers there. Donna Downey, Stacey Julian and Venessa Matthews to name but 3. I'm really looking forward to a weekend away, not just for the scrapbooking side of it, but the chance to get together with some friends and to relax. The scrapbooking is an added bonus.

That's all for now as I've got to go press the button and order my photos for the weekend and pray that they arrive tomorrow morning!

A Couple of LOs

The first, Wide Mouthed Frog, done a few weeks ago at the PaperArts birthday crop and the other, Watch Out Watch Out There's A Dimple About, done last weekend.

They've Arrived

My 2 new Cricut cartridges that is. Fabulous Finds and Going Places. Who knows, perhaps I'll find myself going to fabulous places, LOL.

OK. Off to have a play and see what I can do with them.

The Birthday Crop

So, last weekend was the PaperArts birthday crop, held over 2 days. Friday from 10am to 10pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm.

To be honest by the time Friday rolled around I was so NOT in the mood for scrapping and it took quite an effort to get myself out of the house and enroute to the village of Brimscombe (home of PaperArts). I had a lot of work on last week and absolutely no time to get myself organised for the crop. It took all my energies just to get to grips with pulling my own classes together let alone think about what I was actually going to scrap over the weekend. To give you some idea of how busy/bad last week was I didn't take any photos for Shimelle's class until Thursday and I finally got around to uploading them Thursday night, around 11pm-ish! Quite clearly I wasn't going to be going to the crop armed with those on Friday morning...

And Friday didn't start too well either. I woke up at around 7am to the realisation that I hadn't done the class instructions for the class I missed teaching at the end of January (the one where I had laryngitis - hmmmm, that sounds like an episode title from Friends). Fiona had, albeit very gently, nagged me about this earlier in the week but I just hadn't had time to do it. And as I didn't feel that I could in all good conscience go off to the crop without putting something together 7am Friday morning found me at the pc trying to type up instructions. The problem though is that it wasn't a basic class and I knew that I would have to do a step by step set of instructions with accompanying step by step photos. Which in theory sounds simple right? No. It would have been if I had still got some of the supplies left! Cue me ripping my layout apart trying to retrospectively record/demonstrate how I had put it together in the first place - not good! To say I wasn't in the best of moods by the time I had finished and then realised it was 9:30am, the crop starts at 10am and I have yet to have a shower, pack my scrapping stuff up (and here you need to imagine that my stuff has been spread to all 4 corners of the room in my attempt to find stuff to complete the retrospective class instructions!) and I have no idea of what photos I'm going to need/take.

To wrap this up quickly, because by now even I'm bored with my typing, I arrived, somehow, miraculously at around 10:45am, feeling not a little grumpy and wishing I could have a quiet day at home. But I forgot about the power of the people, the people at PaperArts. I can count on these great friends to make quick work of a 'blah' mood - I defy anyone not to have a good time with friends such as these, not to mention gorgeous Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a couple of Shimelle's famous cupcakes thrown into the mix and fish and chips! Yum. By the time Saturday rolled around I was well in the right frame of mind.

As for the classes, I can't speak for my own and what people thought of them (people will say all the right things to your face - LOL) but I can say that I loved Shim's. I have yet to finish either one of them but that's the nature of a scrapbooking weekend when you are not only teaching 2 classes but also have the lovely pleasure of completing 2 layouts for other people as a raffle prize (although not sure if getting me was more of the consolation prize???).

Friday I taught my acetate book class and once people got over their initial shock/horror I think they enjoyed it. I must make a special mention of Cherry, whose take on the class, with her New York brown bag book, was absolutely gorgeous and I love, love, love the bags she used. FAB! I can't post any pictures of this as yet as it is due to appear in an upcoming issue of Scrapbook Inspirations but once it's been published I will scan and post it.

On Saturday I taught a class on beading. Quite an old technique but one that hasn't been used in quite a while and you know the saying, what goes around, comes around. To be honest the layouts are not my usual style (if I have a style) but I thought it would be something a little bit different - and it had the added bonus of keeping all those rowdy scrappers quiet (you know who you are!!! LOL). We used the gorgeous My Minds Eye, Bohemia range of papers and the Queen & Co, Beadifuls and I completed 2 class samples. The first was a little more simple and the second a little more complicated. I am by no means a beader but the beauty of this class is that you can keep it as simple or make it as complicated as you'd like:

Scrapping Like Mad

Breathe, girl, breathe. I must keep reminding myself of this.

Next week is PaperArts' 4th Birthday Crop and I'm lucky (or should that be unlucky?) enough to be teaching the weekend, along with the fabulous Shimelle. Obviously I can't speak for my own classes, because I'm just not that way (self-promoting LOL) but I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Shim's classes look fantastic!

So I'm busy scrapping away, trying to produce something that won't look too shabby next to Shim and on top of that I've also put the additional pressure on myself of producing no less than 3 sample LOs for one class and another sample of my acetate book. No pressure there then.

On top of that I've got a CJ to complete (the last and it's all over, hooray!) and I do really need to get it out in the post this week. Not to mention putting together some class notes for the class I missed last month due to laryngitis. On the one hand I thrive on challenges/pressures like that, well, I say I do but I'm beginning to think that I used to but that as I'm getting older (oh, so old) I'm not thriving so much as stressing.

So, I've promised myself that as from next weekend, when it's all over with, I'm going to take a step back. Some time out. Get myself organised. Not take on too much. Part of which has sort of already been set off in motion as I've handed in my notice at work (although at the moment it looks like they don't want to accept it...) and hopefully will be the first step in de-stressing (which will please my doctor).

OK, nose...grindstone...me...later!

Cricut Complaint

No, not that I'm unhappy with my Cricut - I'm not. I love my Cricut. But what I am annoyed about is that they've now announced that they will start shipping, in May 2007, a new larger format Cricut. One that will cut on either a 12"x12" mat or a 12" x 24" mat!!!! If I had know this I would have seriously have thought about buying that size as opposed to the 12"x6" one I have.

And they must have known for quite a while that this was going to happen. It really annoys me when they do this. Grrrrr!

On a happier note they are coming out with some FABULOUS new cartridges which I will have to have. I'm particularly loving these ones:

I know the last one is a bit left field for me, considering I have never been to Disney World - but I plan too! LOL.

I am also desiring one of these:
This will not only carry your machine but has room for 12 cartridges, tools, accessories and a cell phone. Cool!

Luckily I'm having a 'round' birthday this year so I am now starting to lay the foundations of my rapidly increasing wish list! Obviously all of these will feature prominently on that list! So, Richard, family, take note!

Borders

So I popped in to Borders last night, like you do when you only really need to go to the chemists, but hey, it's right next door and it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

I was very lucky to not only find a copy of Creating Keepsakes BUT also Simple Scrapbooks, a magazine that I haven't managed to put my hand on to in many a month! Result.

But even more intriguingly as I'm paying for my purchases (OK, I threw in a couple of books for Kat, for me and for others) the guy serving me casually remarks "oh, you're one of those scrapbookers!". Or words to that effect, my head is still feeling a little woolly from recent illnesses. To which, after I get over my shock that he even registers what scrapbooking is, I reply that of course I am. We have a very brief chat about magazines (he commented that the UK mags are not as good as the US ones!) and he then says that he is trying to give the scrapbooking look to a website he is trying to set up! The long and the short of it is that he asked for my email and this blog address and is going to check things out and, maybe, be calling on me for some advice!

So if you are reading this Borders Guy "hi!".

Class Sneak Peek

As I've been nagged, I'm posting a sneak peek of the class I'm teaching this Saturday (20th January) at PaperArts. And it is only a peek as it's just about a 2" square of the layout. Mean aren't I? LOL. We'll be using the scrummy Blush papers from BasicGrey.

Confession Time

Fancy doing a little project? Fancy using up some of your own stash? The fantabulous Shimelle is doing a mini-book project AND, because that's the kind of gal she is, it's FREE! Yup, free. So get on over there, grab the badge and sit back and wait for Friday


.

Layout Catch Up

I know, I know, I'm not blogging very often at the moment. But I'm going to try harder from now on. I'm not going to make any promises about being a better blogger, about writing more often. Someone once told me "Never break a promise so... erm...never make a promise!". I am, however, hoping that home/work/scrap life will now settle down to a better rhythm now that Noah is at school full-time. In theory I should have more time. Funny thing, theory!

So, layout catch up. Even though I haven't been blogging I have been busy on other things, not just work or family life but I have been scrapping. A little. These 2 layouts were for a class I taught at the December 2006 Scrappers Unlimited Crop using acetate, glitter and paints. The acetate shapes were cut out using my CraftRobo (boy did it have steam coming out of its ears by the time I'd finished) and then Stickles glitter glue applied to create definition and dimension. I then used the negatives left in the acetate, once the baubles/snowflakes were removed, to paint a band of pattern across the background cardstock in varying shades. The red strips were created using my favourite scalloped edged decorative scissors (see they can still come in handy!). You can't tell from these photos but they really are VERY sparkly in real life.

This next layout was based on a cyber crop layout by the wonderfully talented Shimelle. It wasn't a 'do this, put that here' type of class but more of a design principle, one based on keeping everything in the middle of the page and the balance of white space around. I love this style anyway so this was no hardship to me. The hard thing was actually scrapping this photo. It was taken WAY before scrapbooking was a twinkle in my eye and so is a terrible shot but I love it. Love what it represents and the emotions it stirs when I look at it. It also went great with some Imaginisce papers that Fiona had given me at PaperArts which I had been feeling very guilty about every time I came across them stash hunting as I had done nothing with them (orange is not a colour I do!). I mix of hand-cutting and CraftRobo-ing on this one and some colouring in (how therapeutic is that?) on the little Jenni Bowlin journalling card.

The next was for a Scrapbook Inspirations feature in their January 2007 edition. They asked 12 different people to each cover just one month and come up with a calendar page to represent that month. The results were really interesting. Interesting on how people had interpreted 'calendar', the thing they focused on (some the season, some the month etc.) and there were some amazing layouts. Really inspiring. I've never done a calendar page before, thinking they would be boring but now I might have changed my mind. I'm not saying I will do one for every month of every year but they could come in very handy if you need a 'filler' layout in your album.

Finally just a couple of random layouts. The double layout 'Splashdown' and 'The Many Faces of Harriet' were both inspired by a Becky Fleck sketch. 'Splashdown' really is straight in real life and does line up - honest! I loved the sketch for 'The Many Faces of Harriet' and in particular the placement for all the little photos. Such a great idea. 'Christmas Concert' was a layout I did for the ScrapManic weekend, back in November, for my Ad Inspiration class. Obviously, it was inspired by an ad. Got to love ads, such a great source of free inspiration.

Well I think that's it apart from a couple of layouts that I just haven't scanned in yet. I will get to them eventually so watch this space.

Journal Your Christmas

"Manifesto: Noun. A declaration of one's intentions.

Starting December
first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every

day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present
and dream
about the holidays of my future. To some, this will be a stack of
papers and trivial
scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas,
I am letting it be something I
relish and, most importantly, I am giving at
least fifteen minutes every day to myself no
matter how crazy this season
becomes. I hope you will share, encourage and understand
as I make something
with my own hands, my own words and my own memories.

I may post some or
all of my entries here. Other artists are doing this with me, and you
can
see there work here. Or
you may join
us.

Above all: enjoy the season. I will."

Now, I was supposed to post this on the first December obviously so you can imagine how well I'm managing to keep up with the whole 'giving at
least fifteen minutes every day to myself' side of things. The fact that it is now the 8th December and I am only now just posting the manifesto stating that I'm doing this will give you some small indication of what I've done so far. Yup, nothing. I hang my head in shame. I have got a book to journal in to and I have written up some notes from the daily prompts but have done nothing else. I am therefore taking it with me to do tonight at the PaperArts crop in the hope that I might be able to do something towards catching up.

Apart from that I've been very busy. Not much scrapping getting done but I have got a class in the pipeline to prepare for and a couple of CJs to complete, oh, and I have started on writing out my Christmas cards so who knows? I may actually get to send some this year (a whole other story for another day).

Anyway, that's all for me at the present as I have to go now and buy some presents!
   

A Couple of Layouts

It's quite amazing. It really is. I actually managed to do a couple of LOs at the ScrapManic weekend. I really didn't think I'd have the energy but more than that, I didn't think I'd have the inclination to scrap anything.

I'd been so busy with the run up to the weekend, putting together my 'I Can See Clearly Now' class and creating sample LOs for my 'Mad About Ads' class that one of the last things I said to Richard before I set off for Barnett Hill was, and I quote, "I don't want to even think about scrapbooking for ages, at least not this side of Christmas!".

LOL. That didn't last long. Not only did I scrap 1 double and 1 single LO but I also got half way through another double (it just needs some finishing touches). There's something about spending time with so many talented scrapbookers that just rubs off on you. Walking around and seeing the fabulous stuff being created really inspires one. I was even inspired by a few things that people did with my classes.

I've been scrapbooking in such a way lately that I've just forgotten
that it's supposed to be fun! Yes, it is. Anyone else forget this
sometimes? I promised myself this weekend that I was just going to
relax and enjoy my hobby. Every time I found myself
deliberating too long over something (and boy do I do this ALOT) I just
asked my fab scrapping friends around me a simple question and then
just did it. No deliberating, no agonising over this embellishment or
that. Nothing. Just threw stuff together. It was very freeing. Not
every LO has to be fantabulous and I think we all at times can get a
little precious over our scrapbooking. They're just photos and memories
and we don't have to create 'WOW' LOs all the time.

I did this LO, Country Life, on Saturday morning whilst everyone was off taking their first class (I didn't have to teach until Saturday afternoon) and decided to do another ad inspired LO. Love this photo of Richard and our niece, Billie-Ray, which was taken a couple of weekends ago when my sister and her horde came for a visit (she knows we love her coming to stay really). You can't tell from this LO but it is based on an ad for steak - honest (if I remember I'll try and find the ad to upload for comparison). At one point I found myself pondering over whether to use squares or circles, a quick question later and 'circles' was the answer. LO done. Supplies were all from my recent Jenni Bowlin kit and I just LOVE those Thicker stickers. Didn't think too much of them in the packet but once I used them ...

The only downside to scrapping 'in public' is that I find it hard. I don't know why, my mind seems to just dry up and all creativity goes out the window. I've learnt that if I want to be productive whilst cropping with friends that I need to use sketches (or ads!) and do a little bit of prep work first - it's probably got a lot to do with spending too much time gossipping chatting and my brain finds it hard to do 2 things at once?

This next LO used a Becky Fleck sketch and even though I didn't follow it to the letter you can see the basic structure is there. I've got soooo many gorgeous photos from our trip to Bermuda that I just feel I want to scrap them all and so I am. LOL. I usually have my albums by year not themes but I think I might have to make an exception for Bermuda. The only problem is that I don't really have much to say, journalling-wise, as how much can you say about going to the beach?

I'll get the other double LO finished which is a similar LO to the one above but this time Harriet on the beach as opposed to Katarina and no doubt I will do another similar one for Noah.

Manic at ScrapManic

Just me though. I was the manic one.

I can't believe how nervous I was at the thought of teaching this weekend. Must be something to do with knowing the calibre of the scrapbookers attending and just feeling totally not worthy of standing up and teaching them - it should have been the other way around! LOL.

I did have a great time, as usual, though. And once I'd calmed down I 'think' my classes went down well. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the results of what everyone else has done/created with them. I will get around to scanning and posting my 'I Can See Clearly Now' class as requested but for today I'm going to sit back, relax and drink lots of latte macchiatos using my fab new coffee machine.

It was absolutely brilliant to be able to spend some quality scrapping time with my best scrapping buds, Cherry and Carole, and also having the opportunity to get to know some other on line friends better too, especially Jackie, Cherry's sister. I had a blast, once I'd got my first class out the way.

Oh, got to go, just had a call from school to say Katarina has been sick... I need to go pick her up. The joys of being a mother. ScrapManic seems so long ago now...