The Art of Teabag Staining (and other stories)

Poorly sick

2011-05-22T16:15:00.001+01:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a teacher with a school holiday coming up must be in want of a cold.

I feel awful. I went to bed with a sore throat and woke up with a head cold. I had vaguely hoped that it might be an attack of hayfever, but antihistamines have failed to have any effect, so it's on to the Lemsip Max and acceptance of my snotty fate.

So today, other than waving mum and dad off this morning, has consisted of me sitting on the day bed in the spare room, knitting more of my swing jacket...

...watching period dramas on YouTube and eating Marks and Spencer's Jaffa Cakes...

...and providing moral support for Ed who is trying to finish one of his Open University essays.

In the meantime though, I do have another layout to share. This is one of those rare pages I made last year totally for myself - no design team, no magazine, just for me. It records some fabulous sand sculptures we saw in Portugal on our holiday in 2008 - it took ages for me to get round to scrapping the photos! I love the colour combination on this one, and I managed to use some scraps from that lace paper to make some embellishments for it - how thrifty of me.

Anyway, I'm off to work on getting better, and at least it's given me a good excuse not to be hoovering the stairs!

Knitter's Paradise

2011-05-20T18:28:00.002+01:00

It has become very clear that over the last year I didn't spend quite as much time scrapping as I used to, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't being creative. When you are naturally an artistic or creative person, if you don't have an outlet for that you can get really frustrated! So as I mentioned a few months ago, I picked up my knitting needles again and used this slightly more mobile (and less messy!) hobby to bridge the gap.

I have always knitted, I think I probably first got given a pair of very short pink knitting needles when I was about five, and between my mum and my nan I was taught the basic knit, purl, increase and decrease stitches. I still remember a Textiles lesson at school when the teacher decided to teach us to knit. Some of the other girls were still struggling to cast on while I had a perfect square of striped knitting all finished by the end of the lesson (I'm sure they all hated me for that!). My nan used to knit lots of Jean Greenhowe toys which we all loved as kids and I've knitted a fair few in tribute to her over the years - my project page on Ravelry is testament to that!

So it's hardly surprising that I decided to make a page dedicated to one of my first crafty loves. This page was made with some quite cheap lilac paper from a multi-stack, and some scraps left over from an ancient range of Basic Grey (I think it was called Scarlet Letter or something similar). This page was also made for an ill-fated issue of Scrapbook Inspirations, and again I had failed to share the page even though it got returned to me some time ago. I wanted to add the flash of yellow as an accent colour, and because I staged the photo I was able to select exactly the right yarn shades to match my page - convenient!

I don't often scrap in purple - nobody does - but sometimes I like to do something a bit different, and I was pleased with this page in the end. Mind you, those diamante swirls are so stunning, you can't really make a bad page if you add them on somewhere!

In other yarn-related news, this arrived on my doorstep the other day:

It's called A Stitch In Time, and is an absolute delight. It's like a social history of knitting. It includes old knitting patterns from the twenties up to the forties, along with updated instructions and photos to match our modern yarn and body shapes, and each chapter has a section on style and fashion for the era. I could look at this book for hours - even the old magazine pages which are perfectly replicated are fascinating to read.

I thought I'd include some snaps of my favourite patterns in the book, which I may or may not get round to knitting some day - though I very much doubt I'll ever pluck up the courage to cast on that dress!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a lovely weekend as my mum and dad are coming to visit - I always love seeing them, and it's been a while since they came up to my house. So I need to go and clean the bathroom and hoover up in preparation...my Friday nights are just one long party!

Always look on the Bright Side

2011-05-18T18:31:00.008+01:00

For various reasons, today could have been pretty downright crappy. And in recent months, with my glass-half-empty personality type, I would most likely have been at this moment sitting wallowing in my own self-pity on the sofa, wasting my evening. But with new leaf duly turned over, I actually feel pretty happy - because when I really think about it, quite a few good things have happened today.

First of all, this morning this little beauty arrived. A long time ago, I subbed to a US kit club called Cocoa Daisy, and really loved the kits. But due to a combination of the recession and my complete lack of interest in doing all those things which have for so long made me happy, I stopped my sub. Well, after my weekend away (and miniature epiphany), I decided to re-sub. And I'm so glad I did - this kit is gorgeous, and I can't wait to break into it.

Secondly, just when I was trying to decide what to wear this morning, I realised that my Dorothy Perkins order had turned up yesterday, and so I put on this lovely top, which is bright, cheerful, has birds on it, is green, and won me lots of compliments. Including my very nice work colleague informing me that she was going to buy it too, while also promising not to wear it to work! So all in all a very successful spend of about £14 which made me feel rather good about myself.

And when I got home, I remembered that I hadn't yet put this CD onto iTunes. It was a birthday present from my sis, and is an album I'd wanted to get hold of for ages, so I'm now happily listening away with a big smile on my face.

For those of you who have never heard this album before, I challenge you to listen to this song and then tell me you hate it!

So finally, here is another page to share, which is all newly photographed in nice natural light. My 2010 was made for a January issue of Scrapbook Inspirations that unfortunately never got published, so finally I am sharing the layout with you here - it is now over 18 months old. It is basically a little page about my hopes and dreams for the coming year, and I have to admit to loving this one. That lace paper just doesn't get old for me.

So there we go, a post that definitely looks on the bright side, and reminds me that I have lots to be very happy about. And even though I'm now going to go and spend an hour or so planning a potentially very under-appreciated year 11 revision session, the thought of it doesn't make me want to throw myself out of the window. Happy days.

Jump!

2011-05-17T22:40:00.002+01:00

Since I appear to in fact be blogging again, I thought I would look back through my albums and see how many pages I didn't already share on my blog. It turns out there were quite a few more than I realised. I was more productive last year than I thought! I have tried to take pictures of most of these pages this evening, though having done so in artificial light, they haven't turned out all that well so I might have to repeat the process tomorrow. Suffice to say, I definitely have a few blog posts worth of pages to share!

This page is one from Eddie's album. It shows him at about ten I presume, jumping into the pool on holiday (I really like the legs of one of his sisters sticking out of the water in the bottom photo - great shot!). The page was actually made and sent off to Future Publishing for the ill-fated third ideas book, which was all designed and put together but never published - a crying shame. It turns out I was lucky to even get this page back - it's only thanks to the hard work of Shimelle, whose professionalism should be praised to the rafters, that a lot of contributors got their layouts returned.

The swirl is off course meant to represent the sun, but also the energy of little Ed leaping into that pool - I positioned the end of the swirl to look like it was a movement line trailing from the back of him. I have just spotted that some of the ribbon has got a little out of position in my album - that will teach me not to secure my work properly - I have a tendency to rely on staples if I can!

I really like the way this page turned out - it was just like I visualised it in the end, which is always nice. It's often so difficult to get the idea in your head onto paper (due to such problems as the laws of physics and the material properties of paper).

In the meantime, my knitting is coming along nicely - I'm almost done on the right front of my cardi now. I'm off to do a few more rows now before some shuteye - hopefully I'll be back to update again in a day or two, fingers crossed!

Eddie's Album

2011-05-15T12:51:00.001+01:00

Seeing as I didn't blog for most of 2010, I thought I would share some of the projects I was working on last year with you now. Probably one of the biggest was an album for my husband. Ed turned 30 last year (he has turned 31 since, showing how poor my blogging actually was!), and his family started a tradition of making albums of old photos for each other's 30th birthday. Now because I'm a scrapbooker, they naturally expected that I would put one together for Ed too.

The trouble is, not being scrapbookers, I don't think they really understood the amount of time I usually spend putting just one page together! I knew I had a big job on my hands, so I decided I was going to have to pare my usual scrapbooking style right back to basics. I wasn't scrapping as much last year anyway - for this I would have to also limit myself to times when Ed wasn't around! I'm not really a fan of this sort of scrapping really - I prefer a more messy and cluttered style with a bit of stamping for preference, but needs must.

So here is what I came up with. I didn't exactly finish the album - there were other photos I could have included, but I think I might have gone mad if I'd tried to do them all. And these pages are by no means complicated, or represent my best work. But I think they suited the purpose fine, and at least Ed now has some pages to record his childhood memories (after all, I've got dozens!). But it is surprisingly hard making pages about photos that you have absolutely no memories or assocations with. Journalling goes out of the window for example. I suppose this is what it must be like for heritage scrapbookers!

So there we have it. Eddie's 30th birthday present, a lesson in how to send yourself bonkers trying to put together some sort of album in less than a month!

I'm addicted!

2011-05-12T21:23:00.001+01:00

So I discovered Pinterest.

I'm sure many people reading this will probably already use Pinterest, but I'm a little bit of latecomer to the phenomenon.

But boy, am I hooked now! It's just so easy to make lots of pretty mood-boards that all look wonderfully inspirational. Trouble is, I think I'm going to spend so much time getting inspired, I won't have any time to put it to use! I've only been using it two days and already have more than 150 pins. What a lot of happily wasted hours!

So now I'm going to force myself to shut the app and do something productive. I think maybe knitting this evening, I've got two big projects on the go though I'm a bit tempted to cast on another one...

The one I've decided to work on tonight is this:

This is the back of a cardi/jacket I'm making from Artesano Aran yarn. It's a fairly straightforward cable design but makes for a lovely bobbly texture. The pattern is from a past issue of Simply Knitting - it's a short swing jacket. I don't own anything this size or shape so don't know if it will suit, but I'm enjoying the knitting of it in any case.

Anyway, I'm off to do a few more rows...

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seaside Layouts

2011-05-11T19:18:00.001+01:00

Today I'm in a good mood. Or at least a better mood than I normally am on a Wednesday. I use an app called Mappiness on my iPhone - it's a kind of research survey which I've been taking part in since last October, and it lets you see lots of stats about how happy you rate yourself. And Wednesdays, according to my stats, are officially my most miserable day - too far from the weekend in either direction!

However today, as I said, I'm in a good mood. You can tell this because when I got in from work, I did the hoovering, and cleaned the cat bowls, and emptied the dishwasher, and all sorts of other tasks that normally I have to be practically held at gunpoint to complete! I think it stems from the fact that I finally said 'no' to something at work the other day. It wasn't exactly a big task, but I feel suddenly liberated, as if I have taken a bit of control over something, even by refusing to do it!

I'm also in a good mood because a huge Photobox order which I made a couple of evenings ago arrived today, so I've been happily flicking through photos of my engagement party, weekend in Bath, trip to Paris etc etc. These all bring back great memories. There is something about having the physical photos in your hands - it makes them more special than looking on a screen. But then I guess that's why we scrapbook.

So anyway, I thought I'd share a couple more of my Papermaze layouts - these are some from the Isle of Wight last year. I think the papers are October Afternoon. I really like the 6x12 one - it's very simple, but just really suits the photo.

I may even scrap tonight - I've got work to do (as always) but I think most of it might be able to wait for my free period tomorrow. Anyway, I'm definitely pursuing the work/life balance dream at the moment, so I think I deserve a bit of crafty time...

A weekend away...

2011-05-03T21:34:00.002+01:00

Well, after the seriously poor attempt at blogging last time, when my photos didn't even show up, hopefully this post will be a bit more successful!

I'm blogging tonight in a bit of a bad mood. Sometimes work stinks. That is something I have definitely come to learn! But at least this time I had some lovely memories of the weekend to think back to, and so I decided to come along here and blog about them.

Last weekend was me and my wonderful scrappy friends annual jaunt to the countryside to scrap in a cabin. Except this time it wasn't a cabin - it was a proper cottage with lots of space and lovely countryside walks all around. I haven't been too good at keeping up with this lovely bunch of ladies recently - I missed our last outing due to being on holiday in Paris (shame, I know!) and my social networking has been, to coin a phrase, absolutely pants! And since I don't live near any of them, it means that beyond the odd comment on Instagram I had become something of a hermit.

You wouldn't have known it though - everyone was just as welcoming as usual, and in fact more than that, they made me feel so much better about a whole heap of things. I can only say to them - thankyou so much for a lovely weekend. You have even managed to get me a bit hooked on the scrapping bug again. I have (gasp!) purchased some stash. I may even use it. Though I will probably need to go through a whole lot of old stuff and sell it to cleanse my tortured scrapbookers soul, which is weighed down creatively by the guilt of so much unused and unwanted old stash hanging around. Watch this space - I think ebay might be getting a visit from me soon!

Anyway, thought I'd share some of the pages I made. These were done using on old Cocoa Daisy kit (from about 2008 I think) which we decided made it officially vintage which is kind of cool. These pages are all about our weekend in Paris with my mum and dad last October - we had such a good time, Paris was beautiful, even in the Autumn. I would definitely go back there, although I would definitely avoid going back the bar opposite the Opera House which charged me nearly £20 for a small and very disgusting cocktail made of whisky which I then felt obliged to drink. Mental note: always work out what exchange rates are before you start - the euro is NOT the dollar!

So first up we have Notre Dame, which we did queue outside of in the cold and then proceed to climb up, despite the woman in front of us nearly collapsing with an asthma attack (unfortunate!)...

And next we have the view from the Eiffel Tower (which we didn't go righ to the top of because my Dad nearly gave himself a coronary when he saw the length of the queue. He is not a patient man, my father!) As always with Cocoa Daisy, the kits are put together so well that the pages almost make themselves.

I made a few other pages, but they are going to go up on the Papermaze blog before I can share them here. Who knows, maybe this will be the start of something beautiful again? And if not - at least I've blogged Rach!

Slow and steady

2011-04-02T16:45:00.002+01:00

Okay, so I'm not blogging every day again, but that was never on the agenda. However, I'm hoping I'll be able to keep up a more regular post, once a week perhaps? I've definitely tried to keep things in perspective a bit more over the last two weeks. I've tried to get out of work a bit earlier, giving myself nights off from marking and say no when people ask me to do stuff (one of the hardest things to learn how to do!). And I feel much better for it.

Yesterday was my birthday - 29, just one more year before I hit the big three oh and become an official grown up (in my eyes at least!). I don't want to spend the whole last year of my twenties stressed out and feeling ill because of it. New leaf officially turned, hopefully I can keep it that way for more than a fortnight!

So I thought I'd share two more pages here today - both appeared on the Papermaze blog Scrap Paper Scissors in the last six months. The first is my other half doing his level best to ruin a photo, a common occupation of his when I have the camera around. If you can't beat them, scrap them is what I say...

Next up is hubby, his sister's boyfriend and their gorgeous little boy Luca - all these were taken on the same day as the photos in the last blog post, and show us at the bottom of the valley having climbed (or in my case slid!) down a rather treacherous hill in the Peak District...

I do like these little 6x12 pages - they are really quick but also quite striking. 12x12 is still my favourite of course, but if you are struggling for time or inspiration as I have in the last year, these are ideal. So hopefully I will be back blogging in another week or so. I will be on Easter holidays as of next weekend so I'll have no excuse, will I?

Edit: Oh dear, only just realised these photos didn't post properly! Seriously, how often do I check this blog? Hopefully they are now all there...

Feeling inspired

2011-03-21T21:19:00.001Z

For a number of reasons, I feel inspired to do a bit of blogging today. Life has not been so enjoyable lately, or for much of the last year if I'm honest, but I am gradually coming to the conclusion that I can't let my job rule my life. Blogging was always something I enjoyed doing, so I should really start doing a least a little bit of it again. So I thought I'd start uploading some of the pages I have been making. The majority have been done as Design Team work, and so may have already appeared over on the Papermaze blog, but it will be nice to have everything on here as well.

This page is recording a very lovely day last April when I went away with my hubby's family to the Peak District for a weekend. The sun shone beautifully on our last day there, and we were treated to spectacular views over a valley (which we then proceeded to climb down into, but that's another story!)

I like a bit of paper-piecing now and again - it appeals to the child in me who used to enjoy making pictures and collages from pieces of paper - and I've been using the technique a few times recently.

Who knows, maybe I'll blog another page this week - I do most of my blogging via Picasa now which appears to have an annoying four photo limit, but is infinitely less frustrating than uploading photos in blogger itself, which always seems to crash part way through. I guess you can't have it all. I'm also planning on sharing some of my knitting projects as well - they are many and varied in terms of success and closeness to completion, but are probably my main creative outlet at the moment so are worth sharing anyway.

In fact, I'm off to do a spot of knitting and relaxing and not thinking about work now, so I'll close this short and sweet post here!

Still learning...

2010-09-20T17:15:00.005+01:00

I think I have to resign myself to the fact that I am never going to be a regular blogger during the week. Especially by the end of the week when the majority of my lessons are timetabled, I come home so tired it's enough to actually be bothered to cook dinner and load the dishwasher, let alone scrap and blog about it. But one blog post a week is better than nothing, and I need to share most of last week's lessons.

First up is a lesson I think everyone should have in their book, because it's one that I think too many of us (certainly the kids I teach) forget. I was reminded last Tuesday that I am valued for my contribution at school and my work, no matter how often I am overly critical of myself. There is always room for self evaluation, but you should never underestimate your value. If you don't believe in yourself and your capabilities, noone else will.

The lesson for last Wednesday was a reminder to myself for the rest of the year. My Wednesdays are absolutely manic - I teach every period of the day, in lots of different rooms and from year 7 to year 12. It can be really hard to keep track of what you are doing - planning is absolutely essential for these days and I will have to get used to spending Tuesday evenings getting ready for it.

Day 16 is about a lesson when I felt totally out of control - I hadn't felt so frustrated with a class (not just an individual pupil like last week) for about 4 years, even more surprising because they were year 7. I was a bit shell-shocked, and it inspired one of those dreams at the weekend when you wake up crying. (Bizzarrely in the dream, the kids had run riot in the classroom and broken my bedroom mirror. God knows what my bedroom mirror was doing in the classroom, but that's dreams for you!)

Day Seventeen is about sometimes forcing yourself to make the effort to go out and socialise, even when you are knackered and feel like vegetating in front of the TV. It was a friend from work's birthday and she had organised drinks at a local pub. I ended up having a nice evening, and was glad I had got myself into gear and gone out in the end, even though my eyes were a bit droopy all night!

Saturday was a very frustrating day. I have been doing a Developing Leaders course for the last two years, and the last assignment is due in this Friday. A 4000 word assignment. You can't just conjure one of them out of thin air! So I had to give up most of my Saturday to write it, and I wasn't happy to say the least. But I got on a did it, and have so far managed about 3300 words. Just a few finishing touches to put together during the week before I submit it in a few days. My lesson was that however much you want to, you can't leave an essay to the last minute - there is no way I'd have been wanting to write this on Thursday night!

Finally, we have my page for yesterday. Apart from a trip to the supermarket, I spent quite a lazy Sunday catching up on some scrapping, while Ed cooked a gorgeous roast dinner. He really is good at cooking a roast, and it really made for a lovely Sunday evening when I normally get the Sunday blues really badly.

So, all caught up again. I'll probably try to do today's page this evening, but after that we'll see...

A plethora of pages...

2010-09-13T19:36:00.002+01:00

I apologise for not blogging my pages for a few days, but as this post will prove it doesn't mean I haven't been learning something new every day. My mum and dad came up for the weekend, and I spent a lovely couple of days catching up with them after various holidays/honeymoon meant we hadn't been able to see each other since the start of August. However, I managed to craft a few pages while they were visiting and finished the rest off this evening. So I'm now totally caught up again!

First up, we have my lesson from last Thursday. It was our nephew Luca's first birthday, so we went round after work to see him and give him his present. Unfortunately, due to my appalling school timetable I teach the majority of my lessons at the end of the week, so by Thursday evening I was exhausted. A couple of glasses of wine and I was nodding off on the sofa at my sister in law's! So my lesson - don't get drunk on a school night. I just can't cope with alcohol during the week!

My page for Friday reminds me of a very important philosophy which I had started to lose sight of last year with my new job but I'm determined to keep in mind this year. I don't live to work, I work to live. Therefore, I stopped myself from marking books at 4pm and gave myself permission to go home and enjoy the weekend. I need to make a concerted effort to chill out more this year, I was so tense by the end of last week that my shoulder was totally knotted up and it took a whole weekend and a lot of Deep Heat and Nurofen to sort it out. I might have to keep looking back at this page!

My lesson for Saturday was a simple one - it's important to spend time in the company of family and good friends, as these are the best times, even when you aren't doing anything particular. Mum, Dad, my friend Corey and me spent a whole afternoon enjoying lunch and coffee at a local bar. It was so nice to chill out with them. I miss my parents terribly and I need to make an effort to get down to London and see them more often, because it makes me happy.

My lesson for Sunday was 'Try not to give into the Sunday blues'. I felt so down yesterday after my parents left as we had to go and do the food shopping, then I had to spend several hours planning lessons, it felt like a bit of a come down. I got a bit weepy, but it doesn't make you feel any better really. In the end I got my lessons planned, Ed cooked dinner and we enjoyed a bit of TV and I did some knitting. So it wasn't such a bad Sunday after all.

Finally, my page for today. When I got home and opened the front door to find Ed had cleaned the house and was making me a cup of tea, my mood lifted considerably and I felt quite cheerful. I love coming home at the end of the day. My house is my refuge during the week, once I'm in the door I hate to leave it again. I have to make sure I go out at the weekends to avoid being transformed into some kind of hermit!

Ups and Downs

2010-09-08T22:25:00.000+01:00

I've been a teacher for more than five years now, and the first thing anybody says when I tell them what I do is 'I couldn't do that', or 'I bet that is SUCH hard work' or 'The kids must drive you mad!' And while it IS hard work sometimes, the majority of the time I really enjoy my job. You have to be pretty patient and definitely thick-skinned, but working with kids can be one of the most rewarding things you could ever do. And contrary to popular belief, most kids are not evil or uncontrollable. There are some who are very difficult to teach, and some who are downright rude, but fortunately they are in the minority.

This makes it all the more disappointing when you have a bad lesson. The kind that makes you leave the class wondering why you put yourself through it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about kids running around, throwing things and generally causing chaos. I'm talking about a kid you thought you knew and had built up a relationship and understanding with suddenly deciding to disrupt at every possible opportunity. It is VERY wearing, and leaves you feeling exhausted and a bit of a failure. So yesterday, when I had a lesson like this, I came home feeling disinclined to do anything creative. I moped around for a bit, until my hubby reminded me that these lessons are few and far between and that most of the time my lessons are well-received (or at least not actively sabotaged!).

So I set about sorting the problem out. I planned a decent lesson, I talked to their pastoral manager and I set a few detentions. And today I went once more into the breach and faced them again...

And they were a different class. We had a successful lesson. They all learnt what I wanted them to. I left work feeling a whole lot better and feeling like I WAS a decent teacher after all. I had learned from the experience. So today I set about recording it in these two pages. First up, the page for yesterday, with the words of wisdom(!) that Ed used to cheer me up:

Second, the page for today, which reminds me to pick myself up after a fall and find a way around the obstacle, rather than sulking like one of my pupils about the problem!

So, lesson learned. All's well that ends well. And I have managed to catch up with my journal again...

Taking Stock

2010-09-06T22:50:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post today - I want to get off to bed, but I didn't want to break the run of scrapping and blogging or I'd never start again. It was very tempting - as of 10pm, I had just finished watching Who Do You Think You Are and hadn't started to scrap my lesson of the day! I doubt I'll be this determined later on in the week.

Anyway, my lesson of the day is a simple one, and one we all too often forget. I'm not a negative person as such, but I can tend to dwell on the potential difficulties of life. I have been fretting over whether we should be selling our house and moving up the property ladder, or staying put for a few years where we are happy that we can afford the bills whatever happens. Ed and I realised after a lot of discussion and investigations into mortgages and property websites that while moving up is always the 'advisable' thing to do, there is a lot to be said for being content and comfortable with what you have - there is no 'right thing to do', as long as you are happy.

So my lesson for today was to take time to appreciate what you have and how happy you are, and to avoid the pressure of what you think you should be doing. Gorgeous Sassafrass paper for this page, same format as before. Now I'm off to get some shut-eye!

Please don't vomit!

2010-09-05T18:51:00.000+01:00

Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am NOT a hopeless romantic. I don't go all gooey at romantic films. I don't cry at weddings. I don't get upset if we don't do anything for Valentine's day. It's just not me. So I can only apologise for the unashamedly loved-up nature of this lesson - please blame the fact that I am recently married and have spent the best part of the last four weeks more or less solely in each other's company.

Ed is in a marching band and has been away in France for the weekend, blowing his trumpet and marching around French villages (as you do). So I've spent a weekend without him. I'm not normally too bad in my own company. I've spent weekends without him before, and have happily filled my time slobbing round the house, going shopping and watching DVDs that he would hate. But this time, I have seriously missed him. I actually cannot wait for him to get back this evening. So my lesson of the day had to reflect this. And to make it all the more romantic (and vomit-inducing), I phrased the lesson using the words of a Labi Siffre song, which was one of the ones we had playing at our wedding ceremony. All together now: bleeeurgh!

I thought that while I was blogging, I may as well start sharing some of the layouts that I haven't documented on here. There are quite a few, and the majority haven't had their photos taken yet. But there are a couple from the Papermaze blog that I can share here too. Today I'm sharing this one, The Ruin of the West Pier. This layout is really simple, but I actually adore it. I'm very sentimental about this pier. I've spent a lot of time in Brighton during my life. Ed calls it London by the sea, and to be fair there are an awful lot of cockney accents apparent as you walk along the seafront, mainly due to its easy accessibility to much of South London. So I have slowly watched the degradation of this pier until it has become not much more than a few struts of rotting wood emerging from the sea. I think it's really sad, but that's the history teacher in me.

The layout is using Girls Paperie, I really liked working with this range, it was new to me when I got sent it but I will keep an eye out for their stuff in the future. The little paper flags were really fun and easy to make, and just perfect for the theme of the page.

I have no idea whether I'll have time to make my page tomorrow, but I will certainly make every effort as I'm really enjoying putting this little book of life lessons together. Even though there are no photos, it'll be good to look back at a month of my life and remember what I was up to each day. And I really need to start scrapping some of my wedding and honeymoon photos too, so here's hoping my mojo really has been kickstarted by this.

A cat-based calamity

2010-09-04T21:59:00.000+01:00

As people who have followed this blog over the last few years will know, I am a bit of a cat lover. I have three cats - Bert, Ernie and Elmo - who are now, unbelievably, four years old. Time really flies doesn't it? Anybody who owns cats will know they have their own little foibles and fancies, and behave in totally different ways. One of my cats is very motivated by his stomach, and will come into the living room to announce to the world and his wife very loudly that he is hungry and needs feeding, right now! He is nothing if not persistent. Another one likes to perch himself on the shoulder of my hubby like a rather heavy parrot, if only Ed's back could take it.

But Elmo, the baby, is a total housecat. She only ever wanders as far as the garden, and is often to be found on the kitchen windowsill catching some rays. Which is why it was very odd when she disappeared last night. Odder still, when I got up this morning, she still wasn't around. By midday, I was getting very suspicious. I took a wander down the garden, she wasn't anywhere to be seen, so I thought I'd get the washing out of the tumble dryer which is in our garage at the end of the garden. I opened the door to be met with plaintive cries, and Elmo appeared, absolutely covered in cobwebs and thoroughly traumatised by her night of accidental imprisonment!

After phoning hubby to berate him for not checking the garage before he locked it last night, I set about spoiling her all day to make up for her ordeal, but not before picking all the cobwebs out of her fur. Here she is enjoying a bit of a fuss on the sofa. I think she has just about gotten over it all now.

So my lesson for the day was an obvious one: Don't lock the cat in the garage! I also got to make use of some of my gorgeous cat stamps, which are from a set by Inkadinkadoo - I bet they would make lovely images for cards too.

I've had a pretty lazy day today, though I did manage to fit in cleaning the bathroom. Sometimes you need a total chill out day. Tomorrow I'll have to make up for it though by doing all my lesson planning for the week - great fun. I'll make sure I fit in a page for this book though - four days and still going strong!

An Awareness Day

2010-09-03T22:55:00.000+01:00

Today was the day that every teacher dreads - the day the kids come back to school after the six week break. I'm not sure why we dread it exactly, the kids are probably at their best behaved at this time of year, with many promising that THIS will be the year they turn over a new leaf and do some work. Their resolve holds out for a couple of weeks at most, but is fun while it lasts.

Today, the powers that be decided that we would have a 'College Awareness Day.' The school has changed from year groups into mixed age colleges, and many of the kids would need to get used to this. I meanwhile was experiencing some changes too. I have always been a Key Stage Four tutor - Years 10 and 11 - and I'm used to the monosyllabic grunts and almost overwhelming lack of enthusiasm when asked to do anything, including raising a smile. However, as part of my job coordinating the Year Seven curriculum, I have now become a tutor in the Year Seven college.

I have been apprehensive about this ever since I found out my fate. I had visions of wiping tears (and noses!), dealing with a whining rendition on the theme of 'he stole my pencilcase', and being repeatedly asked if they need to underline practically everything they write. I thought I would be drained of the will to live by the end of a whole day in their company. But it turns out my new Year Seven form aren't irritating at all. Considering it was their first day at a very big new school, they all took it very much in their stride. They were fun, enthusiastic, well-behaved, and not one of them asked the dreaded underlining question! Whilst I did finish the day exhausted, I was also pleasantly surprised at what a great day I'd had, and it was over before I realised too.

So I suppose I learnt my lesson today. Don't take any preconceptions into the classroom. Not all Year Sevens are the same. Things never turn out as badly as you fear they might!

As you can see, the format of the page stays, with the common elements of a scallop circle of book paper and some punched butterflies. The paper was one I would probably never have chosen myself, and I admit it is a bit dark for the stamping to show up (there are some wise owls on there believe it or not!), but I actually really like the rose design so sometimes it's good to work from a kit and force yourself to try things outside your comfort zone. It's not my favourite page so far, and took far longer to create than the others, but it didn't turn out too badly in the end.

I'm going to be doing a bit of work for Papermaze over the weekend, but will hopefully manage to fit in the next couple of pages of this book as well, so keep an eye out for my posts. Happy weekend!

The problem with doors...

2010-09-02T23:04:00.000+01:00

So I spent a little while this evening when I got in from work wondering what my lesson of the day would be. There were a couple of work related lessons taken from the always scintillating INSET training today, but let's face it, that's a bit dull to scrap about. And then the lesson arrived at my door, so to speak. We went to take our plates out to the dishwasher after dinner, only to find the kitchen door was jammed shut. Totally stuck, no amount of handle wobbling would do it. I am fortunate enough to have a handy hubby who keeps screwdrivers in his car and he eventually managed to remove the entire handle, allowing us to finally regain access to the kitchen and put the kettle on. It could have been a lot more disastrous - all the rest of his tools had been locked in the kitchen!

So I decided to scrap about our little adventure - though my first instinct might be to bemoan my house and all its fixtures and fittings when these little irritants occur, the house is not about to fall down around our ears and most problems can be easily solved, provided you have a screwdriver to hand...

I kept pretty much the same format as before - purple cardstock today, which was interesting to scrap with as I'm sure, like me, you will have noticed that purple is not the most popular colour in most scrapbook ranges. I have scrapped with it occasionally before though, and I think it works great teamed with this light aqua colour. The stamps were from an old Back Porch Memories kit subscription - I thought the little line of houses was quite cute. The little 'stay open' sticker made me laugh - it was one of the only stickers I had left from a 7Gypsies 'Inspire' sticker set - while I think the sentiment is meant to refer to your outlook on life, it works pretty well as a plea to my kitchen door too!

Learn Something New...

2010-09-01T21:01:00.000+01:00

Yes, this really is a blog post. I know, on MY blog, the one that has been so cruelly abandoned for many months now (cue tumbleweed drifting past and the howl of a solitary wolf). I have no excuses really. Life got very hectic in the last year, my new job was a lot harder work than I had originally anticipated, and of course I went and got married and went on honeymoon in the middle of it all! Yes, I'm not even Chloe Harp anymore: it's Chloe Watson now - and I can't quite get my head around that myself yet, I admit.

So a pretty action packed year all round really. But seeing as I spent a lot of it feeling a bit sorry for myself or hugely stressed in pretty much equal measure, I didn't really want to come on here and share my work worries with the whole world. For one thing, it would have been a bit monotonous to read!

But that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything creative all year, far from it. While I haven't perhaps been as productive as I might have in former times, I have scrapped a few pages, and have done quite a bit of knitting too, which is much easier to pick up and put down in short intervals without creating a big mess, perfect when you only have fifteen minutes or so to spare. I managed to put together a thirtieth birthday album for my hubby earlier in the year too, none of which has yet graced the pages of my blog. So I may even see fit to do a bit of backdated sharing, if I can wedge a hefty bit of crafting back onto my schedule.

In the meantime, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to commit myself to finishing an online class. Yes, I know you've heard it all before. And this may well go the way of so many other classes when the reality of term time hits again in the next few days. But I can at least try. And I think I've made a pretty good start by completing both the front page of my book AND the first lesson.

I decided to maximise my chances of completing this little project by keeping things as simple as possible. In the past, I have intricately stamped and cut out whole alphabets, layered up patterned papers, experimented with a variety of page layouts. All of this has fallen by the wayside. I am using a class kit from a former year of Learn Something New which I didn't even START to complete - Shimelle helpfully provided card and papers, colour-coordinated and cut to size. I have added a few choice sheets of my own, a couple of sheets of old book paper and then whatever random bits and bobs are left on my desk. I've decided to go with stamping as the main embellishment, because I think it provides maximum impact with minimum effort, but it is straight onto the page - no painstaking cutting out to be seen!

I will probably stick with pretty much the same page layout for most of the pages, and if I manage to take photos then I will easily be able to slot those in with this format too. I'm even using my iPhone to take the photos because I'm more likely to blog them if I don't have to go and find the camera!

So, hopefully the perfect project for someone who suffers from time poverty. I very much doubt I will get around to blogging every day, but a couple of days a week will be an achievement for me at the moment, and who knows, I might even manage to finish. Keep your fingers crossed for me! x

A Seventies Wedding

2010-02-13T16:05:00.000Z

Ok, I've not blogged once a week as hoped, but this is an improvement on my last little break from updating! This page went up on the Papermaze blog the other day (which, by the way, has some gorgeous cards and other Valentines bits by Wendy which would be great for last minute cards).

The photo is from my parent's wedding day in the Seventies. It wasn't exactly a large-scale affair - Mum and Dad opted for a registry office wedding, flared trouser suits and the reception at my grandparent's house. They don't have an album full of photos to scrap - this is one of the only ones I could find, and it's not the highest quality snap. But it deserved a page, even if just to record Mum and Dad's humble wedding and the 35years of marriage they have enjoyed as a result.

I used Basic Grey Nook and Pantry - it's a little bit twee, but quite suitable for Seventies photos I think, and of course the cupcakes make lovely little embellishments.

I have an afternoon free to myself today - I was going to construct a Valentines mini-book for Ed, like I did last year, but our wireless internet has messed up and I have a wireless printer which equals no photos! So I'm going to have to settle for a Valentine's day card instead. I'm not the best cardmaker, so unless inpiration strikes I may have to go on a little internet trawl to find one to copy from somewhere...

AWOL Blogger sneaks back in, hanging head in shame...

2010-01-23T20:30:00.003Z

So, I'm back. Once you stop blogging for a while, it's surprisingly difficult to come back - a bit like when you miss a workout on the Wii and then are afraid to go back on it in case it tells you off! I started a class encouraging me to blog everyday and ended up not blogging again for nearly 3 months. That's reverse psychology in operation for you.

I do want to come back and start chronicling my life again though, so this is the start. It may be intermittent, as my job is a lot more demanding of my time these days, but at least I'm going to try for once a week. And you can always follow my mundane existence on Twitter in the mean time...

I have been doing a bit of crafting, mainly knitting, so I thought I'd share some of my trials and tribulations over the next few weeks. The item I'm currently working on is this (apologies for poor photo, it was taken with my iPhone):

It's going to be a hooded poncho, one of the largest items I've ever knitted. Trouble is, this is the third time I've started it, having made mistakes and unravelled it twice before, the last time when I had knitted at least fourteen inches! A valuable lesson for the future: always read the pattern carefully before you start.

I've also discovered the awesome Ravelry, so intend to start more projects soon too. Don't worry though, I haven't completely given up scrapbooking. Some more of my work should be seen in print very soon, and I'm designing more pages for the Papermaze blog over the next few days. I'm also planning a little Valentine's Day book for Ed. It has been proving a little difficult though, mainly because Ed took it upon himself to strip our bedroom to decorate it at the start of November, and then kind of lost motivation at that point, so we have been sleeping in my scraproom ever since, blocking the desk, computer and printer and driving me gradually insane. Men - you gotta love em (or you'd kill em!).

So I'm blogging from my parents computer, and undertaking some more mobile craft projects to try and maintain the remnants of my patience until I have my bedroom back! Wish me luck...

First day of class...

2009-11-02T19:21:00.000Z

...in more ways than one! It was back to school today after a VERY lazy half term. I hardly slept a wink last night (I never do on the last night of the holidays for some reason, I'm always thinking of all the little things I forgot to sort out at the end of the last half term) but everything was fine as always, and the kids were just as thrilled as us teachers at having to be out of bed at 6.30 in the morning again! (Yep, that's sarcasm for you).

Another class that starts today is Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers. Now I know I've been keeping a blog for two years now (originally set up when I took part in my first ever Shimelle class, When I Grow Up - Shimelle, you have so much to answer for!) but regular readers may have noticed that in recent months my posts have been less than regular. Now some of this is down to the inevitable work overload that can come with a new job, but its also been down to a significant reluctance to either scrap or blog that I've been suffering from since the Summer all told. So I wanted to take the opportunity of a short, three week class of daily prompts to actually get me blogging again. Let's see if it works!

Our first task was to blog our intentions for the class. So my intentions are as follows.
1) To blog at least every other day.
2) To try and scrap at least two layouts each week (this intention might be a little more difficult to maintain!)
3) To visit some new blogs and get some blogging and scrapping inspiration from others.
4) To not feel guilty if all these plans fall by the wayside! Blogger's guilt is NO FUN.

I have a number of obstacles that may stand in the way. First up, we have the job, and the mountain of marking than can form part of my evening several nights a week. Second, we have a few busy weekends coming up during this class, with Ed playing the last post at the Remembrance services and my sister coming to visit. Thirdly, Ed's near obsession with playing Age of Empires III which hogs the computer for several hours every night (I've had to kick him off just to do this post!). And finally, my own sheer apathy. I'm hoping that by identifying the obstacles at this stage, I'll have more chance of overcoming them. Wish me luck!

A dent in my marking...

2009-11-01T18:03:00.000Z

...has finally been made! I put off the dreaded marking for most of the half term holiday, and when I actually sat down to do it this afternoon, it wasn't all that bad! I built it up in my head to be such a dull task, that the reality could only be an improvement! So it isn't all done, but it nearly is, and I can relax a little this evening and prepare for the onslaught of being back at work again.

Just a couple of layouts to share this evening, the first one was started on my weekend away (two weeks ago now, can hardly believe it!) and finished at the start of this week. The photos were taken on holiday by Lake Garda. I think that scrapbookers are obliged to take certain cliched photos when they are out and about, and the 'obligatory photo of feet' are one of them! I really like the way the title came together - I don't usually do such long titles, but the different letter stickers look great, so maybe I will start doing a few more.

The second layout was made a week and a half ago, and was a reaction to the way I was feeling at the time about my job, while I was having a little crisis of confidence. It needed to include a lot of journalling, since this was my way of getting my head straight and really deciding what I wanted. The photo was taken while I sat at my desk and printed out straight away - and it definitely looks the way I was feeling at the time! The papers are the gorgeous Basic Grey Lemonade line - perhaps an odd choice for this subject, but you don't have to always go for the obvious.

Now, I'm off to eat my dinner, and find something to do this evening now that I don't have a gorgeous costume drama to whisk me away into a world of escapism on a Sunday evening!

If you go down to the woods today...

2009-10-28T17:52:00.001Z

Today I thought I'd share a few different bits and pieces I've been working on over the last couple of months. First up, we have some of my knitted production - this is Jean Greenhowe's Teddy Bear's Picnic.

I knitted this in the Summer for Ed's little niece Olivia to play with when she visits us - she is nearly three and loves playing with the little sandwiches and drinks cups. Jean Greenhowe makes such sweet knitted toy patterns - my Nan taught me to knit using her patterns many years ago and you can sit knitting for just one evening and have a lovely little knitted doll finished by the time you go to bed. I have knitted several other toys since this which I will share with you another time.

Back to scrapbooking, and I don't think I ever shared this layout from Scrap, Paper, Scissors on my blog, so here goes. Strawberry Plant does exactly what it says on the tin - records Ed's foray into 'growing your own'. We have done this for a few years and have had some successes - the strawberries and the blueberries - and some unfortunate failures - the greenfly ate our raspberry and gooseberry plants alive this year! The paper is some beautiful Scenic Route, which I advise you to pick up while you can as the company will no longer be producing any more. Some more of the great Basic Grey chipboard in evidence, this from the everlasting Offbeat pack, which I think has to count as my favourite ever Basic Grey line.

I was really pleased to find out so many others are Jane Austen Emma fans - and also pleased that I managed to encourage one reader to watch the whole thing on iPlayer - well worth it in my opinion, I've watched it several times over before it disappears at the weekend. I tried to wean myself off Johnny Lee Miller by watching another favourite of mine on DVD, North and South, but even the great Richard Armitage is not succeeding in knocking Johnny of the top spot at the moment!

I've also been re-reading my Austen and am struck again by the fact that years go by but human nature never changes. I love reading Austen, because she could have been writing yesterday when it comes to describing people's follies and insecurities - it's only the costumes and situations that have changed. I think you have to be fascinated by human behaviour to become an historian in the first place, and I think it is the most difficult thing as a History teacher to make children understand that people two hundred years ago had the same thoughts and feelings as they themselves do, and weren't in fact alien beings!

And to another former teacher who commented on my blog - Caroline, I do remember you from that tough PGCE year! I definitely know teaching is not for everyone, so I'm glad you are now happier - congratulations on getting married, and enjoy the scrapbooking, it's a fantastic hobby even though your stash can tend to take over all available surfaces (and I should know!).

Feeling a little bit lovesick...

2009-10-26T21:20:00.002Z

How gorgeous was the BBC production of Emma? Trouble is, now I'm feeling all lovesick and gooey-eyed over Johnny Lee Miller - if Mr Knightley had been following me around all over the place looking like that at me I'd have put up with all manner of scolding. I'm rather sad it's over - now I have nothing to look forward to on Sunday night before another hard week of work. Will just have to wait till the end of November when my DVD boxset arrives instead.

A quick blog post tonight, just to share another layout from last weekend. I can't remember which of the Cocoa Daisy kits I had that was predominantly black and green, but I do know that I love that kit - I produced some great layouts with it. This one is about giving in to Ed's annoying habit of constantly pulling a face when I'm trying to take a photo of him. I've now decided to adopt the philosophy of 'if you can't beat them...' and just scrap the stupid photos! This one was on holiday this year when we were taking a walk by the lake in the evening.

The little chipboard bees are great - they come from a pack of Basic Grey chipboard elements. Speaking of Basic Grey, I just got hold of a pack of the new Nook and Pantry range which is very fabulous. I have plans of recording my Raspberry and Apple Candy Cake photo with it - perfect subject matter (and the cake was very tasty by the way - and so big it got shared by me, Ed, Mum and Dad!).

Tomorrow may have to involve a lot of housework and other boring stuff like marking Year 11 coursework (yawn!), but I aim to finish a layout and do some knitting as well, so hopefully I can keep up this run of blogging too.

The Bag

2009-10-25T19:27:00.000Z

It's been a busy old day - I've caught up with the folks, been to the transport museum and currently have a raspberry and apple Candy Cake from the shop of the same name in Covent Garden waiting to be devoured alongside a cup of tea.

In the meantime I thought I'd share with you my 'crafting on the road', the handles for a bag I have been knitting. It's nearly complete, I just need to buy some lining fabric and wadding for making it up. If anyone has any idea where I can find some cheap online supplies of either, please let me know as I'm not very knowledgable about fabrics or what they should cost!
This is my first ever attempt at blogging from my iPhone, so I hope this works!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

End of an Era

2009-10-24T14:14:00.000+01:00

So the official announcement was made yesterday that Scrapbook Inspirations is to cease publication, bringing to an end the run of a magazine which really introduced 'proper' scrapbooking to me (before I had been relying on Dawn Bibby and co on QVC and a couple of pages in a DoCrafts magazine to give me inspiration!).

I had subscribed since my first discovery, and always looked forward to it arriving on the door mat - those were always the good days, when I would sit after work with a cup of tea and browse through. I loved the stories, the layouts, the style of the publication. So when the Best of British Scrapbooking competition was announced in 2007, the leader of the crop I attended at the time (which I discovered through Scrapbook Inspirations) told me to enter the New Talent category, and astoundingly I won! This led to a relationship with the magazine which involved regular contributions and commissions, and more recently the opportunity to spend a couple of months as part of the extended Design Team. This magazine fuelled a hobby which led to friendship, beautiful albums full of memories and helped me to develop my skills as a scrapbooker immeasurably. I'm just not a fan of browsing online all the time (it gives me a headache!) so to me this mag will be irreplaceable - I have never regularly bought Scrapbook Magazine which I found too basic, or more recently Scrapbook Trends which is far too American in style for me.

What is most sad however is that some very talented ladies who have helped to put together such a fantastic magazine will now be looking to move onto pastures new, breaking up a fantastic team. I hope they all move onto bigger and better things, and know how sorely they and their publication will be missed and how much fun and enjoyment they have brought to me and many others. I fear that this will see a real decline in British scrapbooking, as there are so many people who do not take part in online activities and would not necessarily have found out about scrapbooking without this magazine. Let's hope that this is not the case.

In happier news, I do have some layouts to share from last weekend. This snap is of my sister by Lake Garda on the first evening of our holiday earlier this year. It was such a serene shot, and we all felt so instantly calmed by our surroundings, that I decided to record how desperately we were all in need of the relaxation.

Secondly, we have my boy Bertie in this gorgeous shot of him that I took earlier in the Summer, sitting on the garden table and looking for all the world like he owned the place. Hence the title! Unfortunately, all my three cats get mercilessly bullied by the ginger Tom next door, so Bert is kidding himself if he thinks he rules anything around here! All the papers and some of the embellies for these layouts came from past Cocoa Daisy kits which I was trying to use up.

In other news, I am very happy that I am now on half term holidays - I was at breaking point earlier in the week and this will give me the opportunity to collect my thoughts and take a breather. I am also really looking forward to the concluding part of Emma on the BBC tomorrow - I think I can safely say that I am now 100% in love with Johnny Lee Miller as Mr Knightley and I think the actress playing Emma, Romola Garai, is perfect and very loveable as a character who Austen herself thought was very difficult to love. I have been re-reading my copy, which I hadn't picked up since secondary school - I always love it when an adaptation encourages me to get reading again. This has been the best adaptation I have seen of this novel - I'm not a Gwyneth Paltrow fan and I didn't like the Kate Beckinsale version. Catch it on iPlayer if you haven't already seen it - it will be several hours pure bliss, I promise!

Hiatus

2009-10-21T17:43:00.000+01:00

I'm not usually one to get wildly stressed out by things, but I have to admit that this week I've been letting my new job get on top of me. It just feels like there is a neverending amount of things to do and I could work non-stop and still never get it all done. I was already to jack it in today and go back to my simple life of teaching. But fortunately, I have sensible friends and family in my life who help to put things in perspective for me. So I'm taking a break this evening. Not because I don't have things to do (I have plenty) but because I need this right now and my sanity is just as important as those sixth form essays!So I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some of the weekends layouts with you - we are limited to four pics a post when using Picasa to blog (I don't know why this is - please tell me if I can change this!) so I will upload in batches.

Today we have a layout about Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight which I visited in June. I took a series of photos of the architecture which reminded me so much of Italy, particularly as the weather was so nice there was a beautiful blue sky backdrop in most of them!

When I went away with my friends last weekend I decided to make a dent in some of the Cocoa Daisy kits I had purchased almost a year ago now but never got round to using. ~There are some really lovely papers in them which I would never have thought to buy myself but its always good to challenge yourself and sometimes you find papers and ranges you really like this way. The best thing about this page is the gorgeous butterfly lace paper though, and I would definitely have bought that!

My second page of the weekend was this one, the photo was one I took when me and Ed were both a little worse for wear after a night out a few months back, but I made the page more for the message. Ed has been suffering with his diabetes lately and I wanted to remind him that I'll always be there for him no matter how bad it gets. Hypos can be scary things and they are definitely not something you want to suffer in silence, which is something he does too often. The title was built into the paper, I just outlined it with a journalling pen, added a rub-on and some stickers and really not too much else. I made the scalloped circle by drawing round a dinner plate and a salt mill from the youth hostel kitchen! Well, need's must.

I will aim to share the rest of my layouts from the weekend in the next couple of days - I've also got some DT and magazine work that hasn't appeared here yet so I'll get on to photographing that as well. I've signed up for Shimelle's class to help you get blogging. I know I won't be able to do much blogging in November when the class is running but at least I'll have plenty of ideas for when I do get some time to blog again, and may even learn how to tart up my blog a little bit too! Check out Shimelle's blog for info - her classes are always worth a try.

A walkthrough of my recent scrapping history...

2009-10-19T21:00:00.005+01:00

I've decided to give up apologising for a lack of blogging. It makes no difference to the amount of blogging I actually do and therefore only results in the posts on here getting rather repetitive! Suffice to say, I've won a promotion at work, with all the extra work that a promotion normally entails but without any extra time to actually complete it in. Cue lots of after work meetings etc meaning that all I seem to be doing at home in the evenings is catching up on marking and planning that I haven't had a chance to do during the day.

I have been scrapping a little however and here are a few of my achievements. First up, a couple of layouts I did for Scrapbook Inspirations magazine - The Circus commemorates the awesomeness of a Take That concert I went to in the Summer with my sis. I love the paper I used for this one - I think its by Scenic Route who I hear have sadly succumbed to the recession along with so many other wonderful companies. I will sincerely miss Scenic Route, they have always been one of my favourite paper manufacturers and their designs grace more than a few of my layouts. This layout is actually about work, not a common scrap topic for me I have to admit as usually I scrap in order to forget about my day to day existence. I had the idea of drawing a big apple design which I copied from the Basic Grey Recess backing paper and enclosing all my photos inside - a bit different, a bit funky, a bit striking, or at least that was the idea anyway!

Next up, some layouts I made for the Papermaze blog: Scrap, Paper, Scissors. This one is using the My Mind's Eye Ooh La La papers - such gorgeous designs if a little overwhelming. I have written a post about how to go about using such bold patterns on the Scrap, Paper, Scissors blog so if you have always found them a bit daunting, have a go!

Two 6x12 layouts now, which is a size I've fallen for a bit in recent months - with less time to scrap, it isn't half easy to complete a page when its only this size - everything you add seems to fill up the page in no time! This one is about my gorgeous fella and uses Fancy Pants Kraft papers and Jenni Bowlin giant bingo cards:

This one uses more of the My Mind's Eye papers, nicely toned in to match the glittery eyeshadow I'm wearing in the pic.

I've been away scrapping this weekend with some girlie friends so I actually have quite a few more layouts to share that just need photographing now - I may even attempt to do that this week, though I'm not putting any pressure on myself as I have meetings all week till Friday including a rather nasty presentation on Thursday to senior leadership which I'm not overly looking forward to :/So it may have to wait until half term. But hopefully that is enough to satisfy for the moment, and to my friend Rach: there you go, I finally blogged!

So much news to share...

2009-09-15T18:56:00.003+01:00

What a busy few weeks it's been. First up, my scrapbooking news...

Quite a few months ago now, I was asked to be a part of Scrapbook Inspiration magazine's extended Design Team. Of course, I was thrilled to be asked and agreed to be a part of it. Abovei is a little piccie of the new DT - lots of talented ladies. There is a much bigger range of styles that will hopefully appeal to all sorts of people, and because there are so much more of us we will all appear in there less often, so people won't get as bored!

This news partly explains my lack of posts here. Most of my scrapping now is either done for Papermaze or the magazine which means I have little else to share! For those people who read that don't get the magazine already, here is a link to the website: http://www.scrapbookinspirationsmagazine.co.uk/

The next issue is out on the 18th September if you fancy a look.

On to my other, more personal news. A couple of Saturdays ago, I was woken up with breakfast in bed. Which was lovely in itself. But even lovelier was the diamond ring sitting on the tray! Yes, I am now officially engaged - I will some day in the near future be known as Mrs Watson, not Miss Harp. Now that will take some getting used to...

A trip round the lake...

2009-08-28T12:46:00.000+01:00

Some more beautiful photos to share from my holiday - these are mainly for the benefit of my folks who are missing Italy very much - these are for you mum and dad! First up, a view of the lake from Riga...

Next, we have a shot of my Dad and sis taking a break from the midday sunshine in one of the quiet little streets, in Salo I think it is. We had just eaten some of the best ice-cream imaginable from a shop just outside the massive church/cathedral there...

This is a kind of gothic palace/mansion on a tiny island in the lake. It's owned by some Duke or something - us mere mortals can only get this close by boat. Very magical...

Finally, this is me looking all hot and bothered in front of one of the Scaligieri castles in Sirmione - just after a motor boat trip round the peninsula there which had been a welcome relief from the heat that day.

I will share just a few more trips from our holiday - from our trip to the Dolomite mountains. These are breathtaking, and probably some of the best photos we took.

In other news, my GCSE results weren't too bad - a couple of the kids predictably bombed out, but the others all did pretty well and I'm proud of them. History is definitely not the easiest subject to study, so they can all feel deservedly proud of themselves. Just a few more days of Summer to enjoy and then it's back to work - where has the holiday gone to?

I think this may be paradise...

2009-08-24T12:06:00.000+01:00

Believe me, that is not an overstatement! I've recently got back from a trip to Lake Garda in Italy and it's just breathtakingly beautiful - such diverse scenery, sweet little towns and fantastic historical sites to see. If you've never been, you MUST go, Italy is just my favourite place in the world.

I thought I'd share a few pics - these were taken by the lake in the resort of Garda that we stayed in - my sis with one of her trademark expressions, Ed enjoying the waves lapping the shore of the lake and me in one of those self-portrait shots that actually turn out ok. I have more photos to share, but Picasa won't let me at the moment so expect another blog post soonish.

I do have a couple of scrapbook pages to share, and I am working on another few as I type, but I have also rediscovered my love of knitting again in the last week and am just finishing a teddy bear's picnic for my 'niece' Olivia to play with. So if anyone is interested, I can share pics of the finished masterpiece here too. I know this is mainly a scrapping blog, but all craft is good, right?

School

2009-08-06T23:27:00.003+01:00

Ok, before anyone starts prodding me via the comments box to remind me to update my blog again, I have another little project to share. This one was originally intended for the magazine, but it didn't quite fit the brief and so I came up with something else instead. But I do still like this page - it uses Sassafrass Lass Anthem paper, as well as a bit of Basic Grey Mellow I think, and that beloved piece of orange KI memories lace paper which has featured on about four of my layouts now I think but is finally finished!

The layout shows some little pics of my place of work, in particular my lovely (orange!) classroom with all the posters and tea-stained newspapers and so on. My classroom is great - our school is in desperate need of being torn down (which is in fact happening in the next couple of years) so you really have to do your best to cheer up your surroundings and I think me and my colleague have achieved that in this room.

Was pleased to receive some of the My Little Shoebox letter stickers in the post the other day - I will now get to make titles in colours other than black and white! It's the first purchase I've made in a while - unfortunately I've been on a bit of a spending spree in Outfit recently, so my wardrobe is looking great but something's got to give and stash is that thing. I do have plenty to use up however, so this is probably all well and good.

Will endeavour to update again presently - but for now, I'm off to try to make my iPhone sync with iTunes - it's not playing ball at the moment!

Back from self-imposed exile...

2009-08-02T14:58:00.004+01:00

Firstly, a big thank you to Shimelle. I have been inexcusably terrible at updating my blog recently. I haven't completely stopped scrapping (though I haven't been as productive as I would like) but I just haven't been sharing on here.

The trouble is, once it gets beyond a few weeks, you start getting that guilty feeling about it. I imagine my little blog staring at me, arms crossed, with a disapproving expression, chastising me for the lack of attention I have paid it. And then updating it becomes a chore, not a pleasure. Which is ridiculous really, because it is MY blog - noone is forcing me to keep it! I guess what I'm trying to say is that I needed Shimelle's gentle push in the right direction to get me sharing and chattering on again. Whether that is a good thing or not is another matter - perhaps I have actually spared the world the inane workings of my bizzare mind!

But anyway, back on topic, and the first page I'm going to share is this one I made for Papermaze ages ago. It's some pictures from our trip to the Isle of Wight this year, Osborne House to be specific. These statues guarded the front entrance and me and Ed just had to take some comical photos with them.

The background paper is officially gorgeous - I defy anyone to make a less than sensational layout with it for very little effort. The finished layout is one of my favourites of late - everything just came together perfectly with little to no stress on my part. I didn't even have to shuffle the papers around much!

I will be back to share some more long-forgotten layouts with you all - once I have take some decent shots of them. I have a few magazine layouts that have found their way back to me that I need to photograph, as well as some layouts completed just for fun (believe it or not!). Feel free to tell me off via the comments box if I take longer than a few days to update again - I think I need the kick up the proverbial to get me to do it at the moment!

A Nice Cup of Tea...

2009-08-01T20:30:00.002+01:00

Right, let's get this straight right away. I'm not a digi-scrapper. I never will be a digi-scrapper. Digi-scrapping is completely alien to my philosophy of cutting and sticking and getting really messy and hiding smudges and random glue smears under various cunningly positioned embellishments. I don't even type my journalling!

However, when Shimelle asked me to take part in her weekend inspiration party over at her blog, I was intrigued. Could my computer really be more to my scrapping than a glorified photo editor and printer? Would I actually be able to use a pdf file full of images on my layout? I decided I had to have a go.

Shimelle kindly sent me a gorgeous set of 'hot-drink' themed images. I'm a big tea-lover, and had immediately jumped at the chance to use this set as I had a layout in mind commemorating my very important work mug (which has my name and a rhyme on it and everything!). When I opened the pdf, I loved the images, but started wondering how to use them. I'm not that confident using photo or image editing software beyond Picasa really, so I knew I wasn't going to be doing any image manipulating on the computer.

So I decided to stick with what I do best, and went back to basics. I printed out several sets of the images on good quality paper. I wanted to use the journalling spaces on my layout, but I didn't want to 'lose' the sweet hot drinks images amongst my scrawl! So I cut and layered the images up, using foam pads to make them 3D, meaning that they really stood out above the journalling. I then cut another tea cup away from the journalling spot to use as another embellishment. The beauty with pdf embellishments is that you can print out as many as you like for layering up without having to spend anymore - and of course use the images for other projects if you wish. I'm thinking of using them to print a set of cool notelets and envelopes...

So here is the finished project - it's not digital, I don't think you could even describe it as hybrid, but it does make good use of my printer for the bulk of the embellishments. So even if you are as dedicated to cutting and sticking as I am, don't completely dismiss the idea of digital - you might be pleasantly surprised...

If you think you'd like to have a go, check out this class running throughout August - you'll get all the pretty printables as part of the deal.

2009-07-31T20:46:00.002+01:00

I'll be there, will you?

Take Time to Smell the Flowers...

2009-06-20T15:56:00.000+01:00

I created this page last week for the Papermaze blog to show how papers from different manufacturers can be easily combined. On this page there is My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey, Bo Bunny and a Making Memories notesheet for good measure. I love this photo - Ed took it in the walled garden at Osbourne House and the weather was just perfect - it brings back very happy memories of a chilled out day in the sun.

I love these American Crafts fabric thickers - think I may have to treat myelf to some more of these, they bring great texture to the page. I will have to see what other colours they do.

I've been scrapping again this week too, again for the Papermaze blog though it will end up on here eventually. Work has finally quietened down a bit and I feel like I can safely devote some evenings to my hobby rather than marking for a change! I will however be rather busy over the next few weekends - I've got Race for Life and a Take That concert at Wembley to look forward to, but at least it means more photo ops...

Judgemental Who!

2009-06-11T20:25:00.003+01:00

This layout brings back very funny memories - the game of Guess Who, updated for a cynical and slightly drunken modern audience. Guess Who is all about judging on appearances, I guess Judgemental Who takes that a step further...

Again, my love of orange shines through - I don't seem to be able to scrap a layout without orange recently!

And just to use up more orange paper, here is a quick layout I made with a snap from Portugal last year - me and Ed taking a break after a day trip into the mountains. I just love these Basic Grey Offbeat chipboard pieces - the pack seems to go on forever which is great value for money with the way things are these days.

Hoping to get more layouts done in the next few days - got my wireless printer to work today and it prints out gorgeous photos which have really inspired me to start up again. Sometimes I go through phases of inactivity with scrapping, but I always come back in the end, and since it was the last GCSE History exam today I feel a little bit of the pressure has lifted - thank goodness! Here's hoping they all do fantastically, bless em.

Where have I been?

2009-05-30T23:38:00.004+01:00

I have fed these little guys...

I have visited this amazing holiday home...

Where I met this handsome chap...

I have enjoyed one or two glasses of this...

And remembered to smell plenty of these along the way...

Yes, it was the annual trip to the Isle of Wight with the folks in law (well, not quite in law but I don't know how else to describe them!). I can't remember if this is my fifth or sixth visit, but it's become something of a tradition to spend this half term holiday each year on the island. The weather this time was gorgeous, which made a change from the storms and perpetual rain of the last few years, and I made my first visit to Osborne House, Queen Victoria's holiday home and, incidentally, the place where the great lady died.

So plenty of scrapbooking fodder, and I have now managed to aquire a new snazzy printer, so layouts may start again in earnest! Let the celebrations begin ;)

A New Look

2009-05-18T19:53:00.003+01:00

Thought I would finally get around to updating my blog with a page I made for Papermaze recently, about Ed's new look glasses. We spent ages in Specsavers so he could try them all on, and he finally went for two funky pairs of Osiris glasses. I thought the event deserved commemorating since he had worn the previous pair of glasses since he was seventeen!

As you can probably tell, scrapping hasn't been top of the agenda recently - preparing the kids for exams and getting their coursework up to date has taken centre stage, but that is as it should be - this is, after all, a hobby! In my spare moments though I've returned to another crafty love of mine which is easier to transport around and pick up for a few minutes, my knitted afghan squares - I've now completed one row of squares, only about 11 more rows to go! Its a labour of love, but I don't know when it'll be finished - I'm setting myself a deadline of another two years if that gives you any idea of the extent of the project. To give myself a more instant result project to work on, I've ordered some yarn to knit a bag, so I'll let you know how that comes along if and when I get started...

One more reason scrapping has taken a bit of a back seat is that we have bought a new computer. Its absolutely fantastic - so quick and the fan is so quiet its a revelation, but unfortunately its a bit too high tech for our old printer, so I think we are going to have to order a new one. This means I only have a few photos already printed for me to scrap, but at least it means I won't keep printing out new ones before I've done them. It doesn't allow for those random moments of inspiration when you realise you have come up with the perfect layout for a shot though. Still, not too long and we will go shop for a nice new wireless printer and then I'll have much more choice again.

Going to have a nice lazy night tonight, and watch the next instalment of Ashes to Ashes, which I am totally loving - random concept for a show it maybe, but I'm intrigued!

Paella!

2009-04-26T20:16:00.004+01:00

I made this layout ages ago now - not for a DT or the magazine, just for me! I took the photo last November on a day out in London with the folks - this was actually in Covent Garden, and I loved the sight of such vibrant, summery colours on a cold winter's day so much that even though I didn't actually get to taste any of the paella, I decided I had to scrap it anyway.

For some reason, I did something I have never done before, which is to fail to measure my page properly before I started. It was supposed to be an 8.5x11ins layout, but I cut it too wide and didn't realise until I had stuck a whole bunch of stuff down so it doesn't fit into that size page protector. I'm not one to be phased by that sort of thing though, and it sits happily in a 12x12 protector until I think of something else! I think the papers are October Afternoon Nightlight (please correct me if I'm wrong!). I have to mention my friend Leanne here who totally inspires me with her scrapping style and was the inspiration behind my use of paint, applied with my fingertips in true Leanne fashion.

Aarghh! Just realised that when I photographed my layout, the little yellow asterisk has moved up the page and is not where it is supposed to be, next to the title. Off to sort that out now...

Back to work tomorrow, and guess what, its going to rain. Typical, after all the gorgeous weather we have had. That'll bring us all down to earth with a bang. But its only four weeks till the half term, and I know that's going to just flash by in a whirlwind of revision classes and invigilation. And its Ed's birthday tomorrow, so at least the first day back has something to look forward to :)

Catching up

2009-04-25T19:23:00.004+01:00

So, on Thursday I posted some of my recent DT work for Papermaze, today I thought I would update some of the pages I have made for the magazine recently.

First up, we have a page I created along with a bunch of themed embellishments for the Just the Thing article that the magazine runs. It had to be spring themed in my case, so I went with these gorgeous Heather Bailey papers made by Autumn Leaves. The lyrics and title are inspired by one of my favourite Moody Blues numbers.

The second page was a challenge to use a particularly bright piece of paper from the Basic Grey Urban Prairie line. I used it as a backdrop to this photo of me and Ed out last year when I sprang a kiss on him. Yes, I was a bit drunk at the time! This layout was a bit of a pain in the making - I just couldn't seem to get it right, and ended up chopping it up with a guillotine a few times before I was happy...

Only one more day of my holiday left - I do feel like I've had a good break, but I also don't know where this last week has gone. I've been very unproductive and will have to make up for that in the next few weeks unfortunately. Back to work on Monday, but at least I have the second episode of Ashes to Ashes to look forward to - the plot thickens...

Some DT stuff

2009-04-23T21:01:00.003+01:00

Thought I would share a few layouts that I've made recently for the Papermaze blog. Well I say recently, some of them are quite old now but I've been so bad at blogging I've never shared them on here!

First up, we have a layout inspired by the terrible snowy weather we had earlier in the year. The flowers were trying to start their growth and then got covered in ice. The papers were Dream Street I think, and I created some little springs out of them by cutting rough spirals by hand.

Next is this layout, using the same range of papers, about the Pottery cats my mum bought me. I'm a bit mad about cats, so what better than a money box shaped like one! They sit on the windowsill in the study/scraproom/spare bedroom so I thought they deserved a layout (and of course, the colours went perfectly with the papers!).

Finally, we have a layout I completed yesterday, All Bar One. Its just a random collage of photos from our night out on Valentines day this year. They were all bad photos, so this was the best way of displaying them - none of them too big or prominent. The papers are Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday, which is a gorgeous range.

What else have I been up to? Getting the garden tidied up for spring. Well, I tell a lie, I've been watching Ed get it ready for spring! I've also been doing a bit of spring clothes shopping. And I've been watching the first episode of Ashes to Ashes on Monday - yay, the conspiracy is back! Back at work on Monday, not so yay, but at least this time I feel like I've had a proper holiday to recharge the batteries, and some lovely weather to enjoy the time off. So it shouldn't be too bad...famous last words!

And breathe!

2009-04-13T15:33:00.003+01:00

What a manic few weeks its been! Appallingly bad blogging again I'm afraid, but when you are desperately trying to get year 11 and 12 prepared for exams something's gotta give, and unfortunately my hobby was that something. No worries though, I've now got two weeks in which to scrap to my heart's content (as well as writing a 2500 word essay, but I'm pushing that to the back of my mind for now).

So, we West Midlands teachers only broke up for Easter last Thursday - that meant one very long term behind us, but a very short one to come. It also means that as my Easter hols fall later than most people's, I'm hoping that the weather will be better than normal (unlikely, I know).

What have I been getting up to since I last blogged? Well, other than working, I've been engaged in the serious business of turning 27. I have been 27 for approximately two weeks now. It was the first time I approached a birthday with feelings of trepidation. I'm now officially in my late twenties - I don't think I can hang on to mid-twenties any longer - and it feels like thirty is just around the corner. And thirty just seems ever so grown up to me. So I had a bit of an early mid-life crisis, but have now managed to get over it.

This was helped by the absolutely fantastic present I received - a Wii fit! This little baby is so much fun - me and Ed are ultra competitive so we have been hula-hooping and ski-slaloming like gooduns in a bid to get to the top of the leader board. I need to lose about 5 pounds to be at the ideal weight for my height - which for 5 foot 7 is apparently 10 stone - so I'm hoping I might be able to achieve that this holiday with regular Wii fit sessions. The Easter egg eating probably hasn't helped in this goal though. My theory here is that if I eat all the chocolate now, I can start with a clean slate. Or something like that...

I do actually have a few pages to share still, mainly because of my terrible blogging. I've had a couple of pages published in SI magazine, and another coming up (so there is proof that I have actually scrapped a couple of times in the last few months) and I also have a couple of layouts that are just made for no reason but to please me (the best kind). Here is one of them:

Got the Lurgy

2009-03-23T14:31:00.005Z

Feeling sick and sorry for myself today - am off work with a horrible headcold that I've had all weekend. However, seeing as I've dragged myself out of bed and feel mildly better after a lemsip, thought I would finally get round to updating my blog with another page to share. This one is about a night out in Coventry last November with my sis and her boyfriend Ross. We were a little bored with the live band that night and entertained ourselves by taking stupid photos instead!

In other news, I havent' been doing that much scrapping, though I do have a few pages to share on here still due to poor blogging recently. I have, however, been getting excited at the prospect of series 2 of Ashes to Ashes which will be arriving on our screens again mid-April. I have become just a little obsessed over the last week, including watching my dvd box set of the first series several times in preparation. Roll on Easter...

We're going down the pub...

2009-03-10T21:07:00.004Z

My third layout of the weekend was this one - taken in a pub in London last November when we went for a walk to blow the cobwebs away the day after my grandad's funeral. It was a real old-fashioned pub - dark, dingy and perfect! This layout was made using some October Afternoon and Sassafrass papers - the little collection of flowers and animals were cut out from a Sassafrass paper.

Speaking of October Afternoon, I can't wait until their Cherry Hill collection comes up - I love the embellishments that go with it. In the meantime, I think I will satisfy myself with the new Sassafrass ranges which are winging their way to me at the moment...

Carousel

2009-03-09T20:04:00.003Z

Time for another layout completed last weekend, this one is called Carousel and the subject matter is pretty self-explanatory! I took this shot last year on the Southbank when out walking with my mum and dad. It took ages because it was so busy and people kept walking in front. This was the best of a bad bunch!

The paper is gorgeous Sassafrass, and the colours were perfect. I have also used some BG Offbeat chipboard shapes and rubons. Its quite a simple layout all told but with such a busy background paper it would have been unwise to add too much embellishment.

In other news, check out the Papermaze blog for another of my latest layouts using Dream Street papers - I will add it here later in the week, but for now you can see it at Scrap, Paper, Scissors. You should also check out some of the gorgeous new stock, especially the My Mind's Eye and Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday range (which may have slipped into my shopping basket yesterday, having seen it in all its glory last weekend).

Now I'm off to eat chocolate dessert...

Starting to share...

2009-03-08T16:55:00.003Z

I have managed to create seven layouts this weekend, which is a bit of a mammoth amount for me as I tend to be a bit of a slow scrapper. I know I will never create as many as my friend Leanne who has me in awe at the speed with which she can put a gorgeous layout together, but I'm getting more decisive and procrastinate less than I used to. So, I will now start to share my layouts.

Today, we have this lovely photo of me and my mum, taken last half term at a pub we went to for lunch. I couldn't remember if it was called the Ramblers Retreat or Ramblers Rest as we always call it the Ramblers, but I guess I can always change it when I find out!

The papers are mainly Basic Grey Offbeat (which is my absolute fave Basic Grey line!), but the flowers at the side are a Scenic Route paper which I cut out with a craft knife. I actually find the cutting out process really relaxing, hence starting with this layout on Friday night when I really needed to wind down. The letter stickers are American Crafts Thickers, the Platform range.

After this weekend, I have come to the realisation that I am absolutely obsessed with orange! It features on half of my pages...

I absolutely loved the opportunity over the last few days to relax, forget about work and scrap all day - I hadn't scrapped in two weeks due to lack of time and a busy schedule. Sometimes you need a bit of a break away from your routine to kickstart your creativity. So thanks to my friends who made my weekend a very fun one!

Over the Rainbow...

2009-02-28T15:32:00.003Z

When I started teaching four years ago, I was always busy - never-ending marking, unfamiliar lessons to plan, yampy kids playing up for the NQT teacher. But this last week has thrown all that into perspective - its been non-stop work, reading and getting prepared for my first staff residential. I had a folder full of the latest educational thinking to read (if anyone suffers from insomnia, let me know and I can send you this folder to read through - it'll soon solve the problem!) and then we had to plan for the curriculum changes that will take place when we move to the new school. Much as I missed my Friday night vegging out on the sofa, and come to think of it any free time in the whole of last week, I really enjoyed getting to see the vision for our kid's education in the next few years. Its exciting, its dynamic, and hopefully it will motivate EVERY child to learn. As a teacher, you can't hope for anything more.

So scrapping has taken a bit of a back seat. I managed to miss taking my pictures on the 25th for Scrap Your Day, so I plan on taking them tomorrow instead, I don't think it matters too much really. And then next weekend, I get to scrap to my hearts content - I'm going to aim for 7 or 8 layouts over the course of two days, which would be a record for me! So I haven't totally disappeared off the face of the planet, and plan on being a better blogger over the next week.

Friends

2009-02-23T19:53:00.003Z

Here is a page that went up on the Papermaze blog a few days ago - I made it with the leftover Kelly Panacci papers from my Valentines day mini book (which went down very well, by the way!). I don't do so many pages of my work mates, but I got this photo of me and my friend Emma at our friend David's 30th a few weeks ago and I just really liked it. Sometimes, there isn't that much you want to add in journalling - I don't like being overly sentimental or gushy - but Emma is often there with some sage advice or a few words of wisdom whether I'm deciding which diet plan to follow or moaning about the fella! So I recorded that aspect of the friendship.

I went mad with the white pen doodling and even a bit of stitching too. I just love the Kelly Panacci love words paper - I've been cutting out bits of it for all kinds of layouts - very versatile :)

In other news, unfortunately my iPhone gave up the ghost during the half term holidays, which means its had to be sent back to Apple to be fixed - grrr! Which also means I'm now the proud temporary owner of an o2 courtesy phone, which can only be described as a brick. It doesn't have a colour screen, a camera, basically anything except a phonebook or the ability to send a text message. But there is something a little bit refreshing about the total lack of gadgets. There is just so little that can go wrong! Even so, I have yet to work out how to put it on silent, which led to some embarrassed apologies to my class when the electricity board rang up during period 4 today...

Busy Bee...

2009-02-15T23:17:00.002Z

That's me! I've been up to lots this weekend and have had a lovely start to my half term break - I definitely needed it. Had a great time on Valentines day going out with Ed, my sis and her man Ross - photos to follow, probably in the format of a scrapbook layout! Part of the reason we had such a fab evening was this film:

If you haven't seen it already, you have to go! I have to admit, that when me and my sis were discussing which film to see I didn't really fancy this one. But it was on at the right time to fit in a trip to the Thai restaurant afterwards, and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. It wasn't at all what I expected - it was much better!

Today I have also managed to get my layouts done for the Papermaze blog for next month - lovely Dream Street papers - and hung out with friends at the same time, so all good. Here's hoping the rest of the week shapes up...

I hate rude kids!

2009-02-12T21:22:00.004Z

For a teacher, you might think this was just an everyday reality. But believe it or not, most teenagers are not that rude, impolite or disrespectful, and certainly know where to draw the line once you have warned them. Not a kid I encountered today in a cover lesson though - mad just doesn't describe it! So I ended up coming home in a foul mood, having raged at his year head demanding an apology and DT from said kid. Fortunately, tomorrow is the last day of the half term and I'm on a school trip to a medical museum in Leeds with Year 11. I really enjoy this trip, despite the distance we have to travel, and I'm just hoping that the weather isn't too awful on the way!

Speaking of weather, we thought we would see what photographs we could get of the snowfall last Sunday night - a compact camera is not the best piece of kit for difficult shots like that. These were our attempts (any tips on taking better photos of snow would be much appreciated!):

I've been doing a bit of scrapping this evening, but its for the Papermaze blog for March so not likely to be seen for a while yet. I will however be spending some time scrapping with friends on Sunday when I take a trip down to my parents in London, so looking forward to having more to share after that...

Missing: Peace of Mind

2009-02-08T18:52:00.002Z

Things have been quite crazy for me over the last few months - quite a few really sad things have happened and work has been very busy, and in the last week or so I've felt like everything is getting on top of me. Because we shouldn't always scrap the happy stuff, I thought I'd try and cheer myself out of my woes by creating a layout reminding me that it isn't always so bad!

The photo of me was taken by SJ who takes spectacular photos and has made my eyes look blue and sparkly which in real life they are not. I was really happy when the photo was taken, at a retreat with friends and scrapping all weekend. So looking at the photo reminds me of that.

The papers I used were Scenic Route and Scrapworks - I've also used a multitude of different stamps on there from my collection to create the embellishments. A bit of bubble wrap paint stamping also thrown in for good measure. I love that ribbon printed to look like a tape measure too - I found it in my stash, I think it came with a kit.

It has been snowing here for the last hour and we have quite a blanket covering the ground. Not enough for another snow day, but it does look pretty. Just hoping the drive to work isn't too treacherous in the morning!

My name is Chloe...

2009-02-08T00:29:00.004Z

...and I am a total slob! I thought I would share with you the bombsite that is my desk as I prepare to go to bed this evening. Yes, I have had a desk for all of a week and already I have managed to cover it in paper and letter stickers. Not to mention the floor underneath. But what some may call a mess, I call creativity in action! At least, thats my excuse ;)

You can just see the layout I have been working on at the front of the mess. I'm just waiting for Ed to fetch my Dymo labeller down from the loft tomorrow morning, then it will be complete and ready to share on here. But for now, I'm off to sleep!

Why I love my iPhone...

2009-02-06T22:32:00.005Z

Despite the fact it had been playing up a bit recently, I really love my iPhone - all the 'gadgety' phones I'd had before had been too difficult to use, but the iPhone is so user-friendly and lets me download all sorts of applications and browse the web - I wouldn't be without it now! So when Laura pointed me in the direction of the Category Stories inspiration blog, I knew what the subject of my layout would be! Now don't get me wrong, I love my partner, but sometimes its fun to do a 'love' layout about an unexpected subject, and use up some of that Valentines paper at the same time...

Here is my effort, with slightly strange colours from the scan for some reason, its a bit brighter in real life. It's quite busy and with lots of different papers from Love, Elsie, Kelly Panacci and Sassafrass as well as some cool doodle alphabet stamps and various stickers (which I'm really getting into again recently - is it just me??? They don't have to be tacky do they?)

I've actually managed to complete two layouts this evening, but the other one is for the Papermaze blog first so will have to wait a few days before uploading here. I do believe I'm on a roll...

A Love Mini-Book

2009-02-05T08:33:00.003Z

I am currently sitting at the computer in my new scrap room, looking at a Winter Wonderland outside. School has been shut, and I plan to go out and get a few snowy photos later on, as well as wander up to the post office. But first I want to share this mini book I made for the Papermaze blog this month. I plan to give it to Eddie for Valentines day, though I have to admit he has seen most of it during construction so it won't be much of a surprise unfortunately!

I adapted the book from instructions in a book I got for Christmas, Mini-books in Minutes. There are loads of different ideas in there, and you can make them your own just by making small changes to the instructions or materials. In this example, it is easy to change the number of pages by adding more or less accordion folds to the bindings. This book is made from the gorgeous Kelly Panacci papers by Sandylion - I really love the little man and woman figures on several of the papers in the range.

Hope you have a good day if its a Snow Day near you, I may even get to scrap later!

Nearly there...

2009-02-01T18:25:00.002Z

The worktop is up and the units are back in the scraproom. Just a few more things need to happen - we need to go and pick up some more units from my parents in two weeks and assemble those, and then the room will be ready :) Can't believe how good it is looking already. Now tonight I'm going to chill, scrap and watch Lark Rise to Candleford. A very satisfactory Sunday evening!

A bit of family history...

2009-01-30T19:54:00.004Z

I created this page over a month ago now - it was for the Papermaze blog and has only just gone up over there. I managed to get hold of a copy of the only photo we have of my Great-Grandad at my Grandad's funeral in November and I wanted to scrap it. I can't believe how much like my brother he looked - I think he was a handsome chap and its such a shame to think he died so young in the trenches in 1918, leaving behind 4 little children.

I obviously wanted to include quite a bit of journalling on this page, so I decided to use a page from a Making Memories spiral journalling notebook. I wanted to keep the rest fairly simple, but I didn't want to make it too oldy-worldy, so these Scenic Route Sonoma papers were just right - the colours are fresh but not too bright as to take away from the subject matter. The lettering is American Crafts vinyl thickers.

My parents are up this weekend and we managed to get the bed built in time - my dad is going to help Ed put a worktop up tomorrow and then it will be time to move my stuff back in to the scrap room - yay!

My Ipod Nano!

2009-01-28T18:43:00.004Z

I couldn't go long without scrapping about my ipod nano, and this layout was the result - I had some more of the Imaginisce Fairest of Them All papers to use up for the Papermaze DT and decided to make use of them! An Ipod is such a cool toy and the tunes you have on there really say a lot about you - the most interesting bit is finding out what your top 25 played tunes are. I wonder if mine will change a lot over the year or if I have set tunes that I will like throughout?

Tonight I refuse to do any work at all - I didn't stop all day yesterday and could hardly drag myself out of bed this morning, I so very nearly pulled a sickie but I always feel way too guilty to do that! And work wasn't too bad in the end.

I'm on a bit of a health kick so this evening I'm going to try and make myself a lemon and pea risotto - the results could be interesting, so I decided to experiment on a night when Ed is out at the football and only I will have to eat it! TTFN

Scrapping more 6x12

2009-01-27T17:45:00.004Z

I've been scrapping more 6x12 for my DT work, partly because I'm home after dark and its easier to scan pages than it is to take a decent photo of my work! But I do like the size too, and I created this page for Papermaze using the Imaginisce Fairest of Them All papers - really cute and girlie! I decided to record this photo of my childhood jewellery box with a little clockwork ballet dancer that played the song 'How much is that doggie in the window' as she turned around. Very girlie, I think you'll agree...

I love these green glitter thickers - I had to buy another pack because I used up all the vowels and t's out of my first batch! They add the perfect amount of sparkle. And that little stamp that comes with the range is really sweet too :)

Tonight I have loads to do, but unfortunately none of it scrapping! Marking books, planning lessons, washing dishes and cooking stirfries will form the basis of my evening, while Ed finishes laying the floor. The countdown to the scraproom continues...

Lushalicious - the Retreat!

2009-01-26T22:22:00.003Z

One of my latest DT creations for the Papermaze blog was this page - dedicated to the Lushalicious Retreat last October. I love these October Afternoon Hometown papers - they were perfect for the colours in the photo, and the diecut shapes make it easy to put together layered embellishments. If you want step by step instructions, check out the Scrap Paper Scissors blog.

The spare bedroom (or scraproom!) is getting closer to completion - the floor should be finished tomorrow, and then we just need to assemble the sofa bed and put up a worktop and I will be able to move my stuff back in! I can't wait. And my parents will be the first to test the new room at the weekend when they come to stay. After that, I will make sure I get pictures to share...

Skate!

2009-01-24T17:06:00.003Z

I put this layout together this afternoon while Ed had taken over the living room to listen to a football game on the radio. A really quick little layout, but I like it - I never scrap in purple so this was a bit of a challenge, and the photo was a really poor, blurry shot I had tried to take of my whole family out skating, which wasn't an easy one to do anything with!

I used Chatterbox Eclectique which I had received as part of a kit some time ago - the paper is really thin which I hate normally, but as I was going to be layering it up on cardstock it wasn't too much of a problem. One of the papers had these funky doodled speech bubbles on it which were begging to be cut out as embellishments, and they fit the theme really nicely.

The photo was, believe it or not, the best of a bunch I had taken on December 27th when my family and various others went ice-skating at the outdoor rink at Hampton Court. A really beautiful setting and a fantastic evening, but taking photos with a compact in those light conditions was next to impossible! I got a bunch of blurred photos with strange light effects. But I didn't want to forget the evening, so I had to scrap one of them, and decided to highlight the strange lighting by using purple and light blue.

I'm off out this evening to a friend's 30th birthday party, but I'm on roll now so expect to see more pages in the next few days...

Grief

2009-01-23T22:17:00.003Z

I created this layout for the Papermaze blog last month and found it really cathartic to create. While the photo is of my partner Ed playing the last post on Remembrance Sunday at the Coventry Memorial, the journalling is actually about the way I felt in November this year soon after the death of my Grandad when the memorial services were taking place. The paper was perfect for it, as the flowers had a look of poppies about them and the red and brown tones were very autumnal. I created my own 'lace' cardstock by cutting round the design and layering it up on foam pads. I was really pleased with the finished result - if you want step by step instructions they are on the Scrap Paper Scissors blog.

Today I finished a page for Scrapbook Inspirations - my mojo is definitely working again...

Life got in the way...

2009-01-22T21:25:00.004Z

...but its been for a good reason. The scrap room is well under way and we just have to lay the floor and put up a worktop for the computer and then I will be able to move back in again! Suffice to say the house has been a little chaotic - the computer has been moved downstairs to the dining table and the internet only works sporadically - but there is an end in sight and I feel really proud of Ed for getting it done. Maybe this means that I will have a burst of creative energy! I have been scrapping whilst the decorating has been going on, but I've had to stick to a corner of my bedroom floor, next to a ladder and a pile of tools, so its not exactly conducive to my best work. But DT commitments mean I can't give up entirely for a month, and I wouldn't want to.

In the meantime, here are the remaining pages of my Christmas Journal (which now seems like a distant memory), and tomorrow I'll share another page I did for my DT. I've created four more which will be up on the shop site next week, so I'll share them here too. Lets hope I can get at least a few posts done at the end of this month!

A step closer...

2009-01-04T21:53:00.004Z

...to doing up my spare room! At last I might be able to scrap at a desk! Me and Ed have decided that next weekend we will clear the room out and then he will get started in the week after. We went to choose some flooring and a bit of furniture today at good old Ikea. I won't get too excited yet, as this could take longer than expected, but watch this space...

In the meantime, here are the next four pages of my Christmas journal. There will be five tomorrow as that will take us up to the end of my completed journal .

I haven't yet finished the thing in two attempts, maybe one year I will but I think I've got to start doing other things now or I'll get depressed that Christmas is now over and I'm back at work. I have a few things to do for SI and Papermaze, so that will keep me busy too.

Christmas catch up part deux

2009-01-03T15:18:00.003Z

As promised, here are four more pages of my Christmas journal. I have gotten totally into using American Crafts Thickers whilst doing this project - there are so many gorgeous styles and colours - that I just blew my resolution not to spend loads of cash out of the window and bought a load more from Papermaze yesterday! A girl can never have too many thickers. I also discovered whilst working on this project that I hate rub-ons (I now have bits of them stuck to every surface, apart from the pages of my journal), which is just as well really as I have so many stamps that there is no conceivable reason for me to buy rub-ons anyway.

Just one and a half more days till I'm back to work, and I plan on enjoying them as much as possible. I'm going to scrap a little bit for an hour now, and then my newly engaged friends Mags and Mark are coming round for dinner, vino and a catch up. So at least I won't be tempted to spend the evening working! Tune in tomorrow for more journal pages...

The wanderer returns...

2009-01-02T23:06:00.005Z

Ok, ok, no excuses, I've been a terrible blogger this month! Work was manic up to the 19th, and then I had a few days to get all my presents sorted and clean the house before spending a week with my folks down in London. The blog kind of took a back seat. I've been back for a few days now and I've actually been putting off updating my blog - because I have SO many Christmas journal pages to upload here! I managed to get up to and including Christmas day this year - I may try and do Boxing Day but that may be just a pipe dream with all the work I have to get done to get ready for school on Monday (boooo!). I've decided I'm going to upload them in four page chunks, so I don't go totally insane scanning them all in :D So here are four more pages for your perusal...

I have in the last month completely embraced the awesomeness that is the iphone, as well as being given a little pink ipod nano by my Dad for Christmas. So I've been rediscovering all my favourite music - a very random mix, currently I'm enjoying The Animals, The Lovin Spoonful and a bit of David Bowie. As they say, variety is the spice of life!

So any New Year's resolutions? Other than the obvious - lose the mince pie weight and keep the house more tidy - I have also thought of a few scrap-related resolutions. Since I am no longer subscribed to a kit due to the appallingness of the current exchange rate, I'm going to try to curb my spending a little for a few months and spend the money I save on making the spare bedroom more hospitable. I know, I've been saying this for months but this time I actually mean it! I also mean to finish all the scrapping projects I signed up for over the last couple of years - I have three more double pages of the My Freedom project to do, and I also want to get on with There's No Place Like Home, as well as printing out all the photos I have taken for Scrap Your Day (at least the album is finished for that!). So expect to see bits and pieces of these over the next few months. I'm not saying I won't sign up for any new projects this year, but it would be nice not to have unfinished ones all over the place...

More journal pages...

2008-12-10T19:57:00.003Z

I've not stopped journalling, don't worry! I just haven't had a chance to blog my pages yet. I'm not quite caught up - I have two pages to do this evening - but here are four more pages of my journal for your perusal. I'm really enjoying these, they are really quick to make and so bright and funky.

The fifth page in my journal shows my advent calendar this year - Cadbury's Dairy Milk, bought on a two for one offer in Sainsbury's so both me and Ed got one.

Next up we have my Christmas Memories page - probably my least favourite so far - I like the muted colours but didn't really have any appropriately coloured embellishments for the page. The green stickers aren't quite that bright in real life!

Next we have my To Do list page - still way too much on this one unfortunately, Christmas has snuck up on us a bit this year, so I'm hopelessly disorganised :(

Finally there is my sights of Christmas page - the only sight of Christmas around our house so far are the mince pies which we keep buying on a two for one offer from Somerfield! So I snapped a box for my page for the day...

So not quite caught up, but not too far behind either. Things are about to get even busier over the next few days though so not sure whether I'm ever going to be totally up to date with this project...

Christmas Journal 2008 begins...

2008-12-04T21:51:00.005Z

Having been extraordinarly unprepared for my Christmas Journal this year, not even deciding to do it till the last minute, I finally got up to date this evening with the prompts. I have to admit to not having read the prompts for day three and four - I used last year's pages as a guide! From my experience of last year, I knew I needed to keep things simpler as all the title stamping and handcutting, while it looked great, took forever and stopped me completing the journal. So I decided to stick to some simple techniques for each page which would unite the pages whilst also allowing a little bit of creativity each day.

I stocked up with various shades of Doodlebug Bazzill (which are my favourite Bazzill colours and in my opinion can be made to go with everything!) and also an 8x8 pack of the Fancy Pants Happy Holidays range. I originally intended to do my album in 8x8 again, but having seen some of my friend Laura's pages, decided to go with the slightly different 6x12 which also allowed me to be more economical on the cardstock front! I returned to my trusty Autumn Leaves Rhonna's Christmas swirls stamps from last year, but used subtle shades of ink rather than the black of last year's album. I decided to use various packs of my mounting collection of AC Thickers, as well as my ever-loved Making Memories Tiny Alpha stickers. I grabbed some Scenic Route photo mattes which came in a kit a while back. Finally, I went for a common theme of punched scalloped circles and ovals to carry through the pages.

The first page is the Christmas manifesto - what you hope to achieve in your Christmas album. I wrote my own manifesto for this. I want to make this years album a little bit more 'personal' to the year - last year's album was a more general reflection on Christmas past.

The second page, about Christmas snow, was quite timely as we had half expected to get a flurry of the white stuff today, but it never quite reached down to our part of the country. I did however include a photo that Ed took on his phone of the freak snowfall we had in October this year! There is some hidden journalling behind the photo.

On the third page, about Christmas cards, I decided to include one of the cards I have bought to send out this year. I don't make cards - its just not my forte - but I really loved these ones I spotted in Marks and Spencers a few months ago. They have a lovely contemporary style, as well as being glittery. Perfect!

Finally, my fourth page is about my perfect Christmas celebrations this year. I'm sure in years to come my idea of the perfect Christmas will change dramatically, so I wanted to write down exactly what I would choose to do right now so I can compare it with (hopefully!) future Christmas journals.

So that is me up to date - I bet you can't believe it after my complete lack of scrapping for the last couple of weeks. Lets hope I can keep up over the next few days...

Days

2008-12-03T18:55:00.003Z

Life continues to be busy, and dark, and cold...but I did have a fab weekend with my sis and her boyfriend Ross, and then on Monday I actually got around to doing some scrapping! Yes, can you believe it? I attempted another 6x12, a size I'm coming to like though it takes a while to get used to it at the start. The photo was taken in May this year on the Southbank and is of me and my mum. We had such a great day, and on my layout I just wanted to record the fact that sometimes its the little things that give you the most happiness. Its made mainly using scraps from the August Cocoa Daisy kit, of which I still have plenty left believe it or not!

In other news, I decided I'm going to try and keep another Christmas journal this year. It will have to be a lot simpler than last year as I just don't have the time to dedicate to it. But I'm kind of missing the excitement that it created last year - it definitley helped to get me into the christmas spirit! I have ordered most of my presents online this year - just my mum's and part of my sister's to get, and then I just have to wait for Ed to finally decide what he wants...

Albufeira

2008-11-25T19:04:00.003Z

A few days absence from my blog, due entirely to me trying to catch up with school work and doing very little scrapping. I did manage to fit in a badly needed trip to the hairdressers on Saturday - my hair is gradually getting shorter and funkier - Colin, my hairdresser, styled it brilliantly, I haven't yet been able to replicate it at home, but isn't that always the way?

I'm off to a conference in Birmingham tomorrow for a developing leaders course I am on, but thought I would just drop in here and share my latest layout which is up over at Scrap, Paper, Scissors. With the weather the way it is at the moment, its almost impossible to remember our trip to Portugal in August, but here is a layout to prove that not so long ago I was enjoying blazing sunshine and leisurely days at the beach! I used a Crafter's Workshop template on this and sponge-painted the leaves through it - it all went a bit wrong when I smudged paint all over the bottom of the layout! A sneaky bit of cutting and sticking over the offensive smudge saved the day though - I was fortunate that two different bits of paper in the Fancy Pants Daily Grind range had exactly the same bottom left hand corner!

Tired, tired, tired!

2008-11-19T19:44:00.003Z

Whoever believes teaching is easy, with (to quote my Dad) 22 weeks holiday a year, start at 10am and finish at 3pm, should really have been a fly on the wall in our department in recent weeks. We seem to be constantly on the go, with pantos and trainees and parents evenings and trips and all kinds of stuff to organise. If I just spent my days teaching my classes I would be happy - that is the easy part of the job!

So I have achieved very little in the way of scrapping in the last week. I did enjoy my weekend in London with my parents though, and discovered a shop in Covent Garden, David and Goliath, which had the most amazing PJs and T-shirts in it. Possible crimbo pressie alert, my dear family???

Passing it on...

2008-11-15T11:38:00.003Z

Ok, I will tag the following lovely ladies to share 7 random facts: Micayla, Gem, Helen, Emma, Cleo and Julie xxx

Tagged!

2008-11-14T23:04:00.006Z

My Grandad's funeral took place today. It went well, very emotional and draining but also lovely to see family I hadn't seen for a long time and also for the opportunity to share memories and stories about my Nan and Grandad that we might have forgotten.

A short post tonight, as I'm exhausted, but I've been tagged by Katherine and have to provide you with 7 random facts about me. So here goes...

1) I'm a massive fan of Agatha Christie's Poirot. Yep, that Sunday night staple is one of my favourite shows. I'm also getting into Agatha Christie's Marple too. Its probably the history teacher in me - I love all the sets and costumes, as well as the fabulous acting.

2) I can read and translate Latin and got an A in my Latin A-level - a very random skill these days, but it comes from attending grammar school where they still teach dead languages, who knows why? I have never really had the opportunity to make use of this skill, apart from a vain attempt to translate the wallpaper at my aunties (which I was unable to do!).

3) I can play the saxophone, the guitar and also the drum kit (very badly!). I rarely pick these instruments up anymore, but could probably still pick out a tune...

4) I wear dodgy J-Lo style chavtastic velour tracksuits around the house. I wouldn't be seen dead leaving the house in these, but they really are the comfiest clothes for lounging around on the sofa. I am wearing one as I type!

5) I am probably the unfussiest eater I know. I will eat practically any food (not those freak foods you get on I'm a Celebrity, but all normal foods). The only food I can't bring myself to try is kippers, because they stink the house out. But if I wore noseplugs I could probably eat those too!

6) I have read the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte more times than I could count. My copy is in bits. I love all classic literature, but this is most definitely my favourite. However, it is not my favourite TV adaptation - that accolade goes to North and South (yummy Richard Armitage...)

7) I am a fan of Neighbours. I'm just not happy if I get home too late to get my fill of preachy moral messages and wholesome storylines.

So thats it, 7 random facts about me. Now I'm off to bed - I will tag some folks in my next post!

Fairy Mary

2008-11-12T18:39:00.004Z

Thought I would share with you the latest page I did for Scrapbook Inspirations Magazine. Its for their December issue and therefore had to be made with a Christmas theme - not the easiest when the commission comes in at the end of September! There was a really quick turnaround for this page, and to be honest its not my favourite - I normally like to make something a little more elaborate. However, time was against me and once I'd got hold of a suitable photo from my mum (I didn't have any christmas photos in the pink and silver colour scheme the magazine wanted) I only had a couple of days before I would need to post it off! Talk about last minute. Still, I'm happy with the design - its clean and simple, and I do like my mosaic tree which used up some scraps which would otherwise have been consigned to the rubbish bin.

I've been off on a course today - was ok, apart from realising I have to write an assignment for it by January! Not so fun. Still, I used to be good at writing essays. I just haven't written one for around 4 years. Could be interesting!

I hate the winter!

2008-11-11T21:42:00.003Z

Well, not exactly hate, thats a strong word for a season that brings Christmas, cosy jumpers and a good four months of not having to epilate your legs every week. What I do hate though is getting back from work in the dark. Which means that photographing my layout made for a challenge on our lushalicious thread is more or less impossible. I've done my best with a mini easel and the room with the most artificial light in the house - and here is the result. Expect a better photo after the weekend. Its also made with the October Cocoa Daisy kit which I used to make yesterday's socks layout, and is the first page I've done about the retreat - we all had to scrap the same photo and see what we came up with.

Also in the news, my new stamps arrived today from ebay! Just look at the gorgeousness. Along with an Inkadinkadoo alphabet stamp set that arrived the other day, I'm in stampy heaven. Did I mention I love stamps...?

Half Size

2008-11-10T15:42:00.003Z

What a horrible few hours I had over last night and this morning - I got a terrible upset stomach (not sure from what!), ventured into work but felt so queasy I came home before the day began. Feeling a lot better now and hoping to brave a bit of food which doesn't come in the form of dry toast later.

In the meantime, alongside getting on with some school work (within reach of the bathroom!) I put together a quick layout - my first ever 6x12 in fact. Apologies for slightly awful scan - there is no light to take pictures in my house though!

I can't believe how quick it was to make - there just isn't enough room to put too much on the page, so I had to be quite careful about what I chose to include and what I left out. It does mean that you can get away with only using a couple of embellishments, so you can choose quite nice ones (like the fuzzy ric rac on this layout which I adore!). The bits and pieces are mainly from the last Cocoa Daisy kit, and this is the first outing for my new Dymo labeller too. If anybody knows a good place to buy the tape from, please let on, I can't seem to find much anywhere.

I may have a go at another layout later, but probably back in the usual 12x12 format. I like these 6x12, they are perfect for small or slightly dodgy photos, but nothing quite beats the space you get to play with a normal sized page.

The Night of the Weakest Link Machine...

2008-11-07T22:35:00.003Z

I love the memories associated with this layout. Its one of the latest I created for the Papermaze blog, using the swoonworthy Basic Grey Offbeat range (which I have since gone out and purchased - naughty me!). The picture is of me and my friends in our uni days, when we went out to drown our sorrows one night in Leamington Spa and I ended up rather battered and started a rather violent competition with a Weakest Link machine. That night, my housemate Sarah got together with my workmate Luke. I like to think of myself as a rather drunken Cupid, as the two of them are still together now some 7 years later.

I decided I wanted to create a layout with lots of little details - not something immediately striking but one which draws you in to look at the elements. I ended up having to be thrifty with an American Crafts alpha I wanted to use too - if you look closely the second 'e' is made out of a spare 'c'!

In other news, I have managed nearly a full week back at work - I returned on Tuesday, and it was probably the best thing for me. The kids have been great, and I've been so busy its kept my mind off things. I've felt a little down this evening, as its the first time I've had a chance to stop, but Ed took me out to Pizza Express for a nice meal so I've cheered up a little now. Its amazing how the credit crunch has affected the town - it was nearly dead on a Friday night, which is so different to a year or so ago. Several bars had closed down. It will get back to normal eventually I guess - these things always do. But its still a shame that people have to suffer so badly in the mean time.

Gone

2008-11-03T18:25:00.005Z

My Grandad passed away in the early hours of the morning. While I was expecting the call at any time, I was still devastated, and can't quite believe I will never see him again. Apparently, just like his life and character, his death was calm and peaceful. This is the way I want to remember him now - as the happy, down to earth and loving person he was. Thankyou to everybody who has left kind messages over the last few days.

Yesterday, while trying to keep my mind off the inevitable, I sat down to finish the layout that I had been working on but not finished on the last day of the retreat (which seems like so much longer than a week ago now!). Here is the finished page - the pictures are of my Dad earlier this year when he took part in a bit of street theatre with a squeaky man in a box on London's South Bank. When we walked past, all we could hear was a squeaking noise, like Sooty's friend Sweep, so curiousity got the better of us and we put money in his collecting plate. This was the result of that encounter!

I love those American Crafts puffy thickers!

Still here

2008-10-31T12:09:00.002Z

My Grandad is a fighter and is still with us. I spent most of the day yesterday by his hospital bed. He was less confused, and able to recognise all of us and even have a joke. The doctors let us bring him some beer which he kept asking for, and we put it on a sponge so he could taste it. We could only find Carling in the local Tesco Express, which he said was 'ok to clean your teeth with!' The funny thing is, Grandad was never a drinker - he obviously just had a fancy for it! Although I know the inevitable is very near, it amazes me how strong my Grandad is. And it was lovely to see him with so many members of his family around him. It just shows what a wonderful person he is - there is no one nicer in the world.

To cheer myself up, I decided to treat myself to these while browsing the net last night - a set of Sassafras clear stamps called Snail Mail. Aren't they cute? While I love the new Christmas line that Sassafras have brought out and everyone is going nuts over, I just don't make that many Christmas pages. So I stuck with these little fellas, which will make sweet embellishments, just like the owls I have already.

Sad

2008-10-29T21:41:00.002Z

Thats the only word to sum it all up for me at the moment. After a really great weekend, I got some really bad news. My Grandad had a bad stroke at the weekend. Grandad is 92 and obviously I have half expected a phone call like that for the last few years. But it still isn't nice when it comes. I went to visit him today in Chichester. And it was very emotional. He did seem to know who we were. But he is kind of in different times of his life all at the same time and was very confused. Grandad has been a stable feature throughout my life and it almost feels like a turning point. Now its just a waiting game, and we carry on with a vague feeling of uselessness. But that is life, I suppose.

Lushalicious scrapping

2008-10-27T20:47:00.005Z

Over the weekend, me and some girls from the Lushalicious thread over on UKS went away on a scrap retreat which we organised ourselves. There aren't many young scrappers out there, and a bunch of us had met through UKS and decided it was time to meet in person. We stayed in a YHA cabin in the woods outside London, which was very pretty although also very dark, especially if like me you are a city girl used to the eternal glow of street lamps. Finding the toilet block in the dark at 3am was certainly an experience!

We had an absolutely fantabulous time - lots of scrapping, lots of sweet and chocolate munching, lots of Guess Who playing and even Bazzill Bingo! We didn't do any classes, just scrapped our own thing, but the level of ability in that room was high and whenever we got stuck, there were 7 or 8 talented girls there with plenty of advice and inspiration. I got so many ideas just watching the others scrap - Cleo was the texture and fabric master, SJ was the doodle queen, Leanne has an amazing funky freestyle method of her own which was a joy to watch and Laura is definitely the one to go to for fabulous colour inspiration. I was probably the slowest scrapper in the room, but even I managed six layouts - five of which I can share on here today. Most of them were made with various Cocoa Daisy kits, though the first one was just random papers from my stash...

Believe it or not, this lady was printed on one of those disposal bags you get in ladies loos! I decided to take up the challenge of including her in my layout. I think she fits in nicely!

I have definitely decided that I need to be a bit more decisive when I'm scrapping my layouts - they can be put together more quickly and I don't need to mess about with papers in every possible combination before I stick everything down. After all, it is just paper and you can always layer up and change your mind about things afterwards. We are already planning our next Lushalicious retreat - I can't wait!

A bit of bling...

2008-10-23T18:55:00.003+01:00

I created this page for the Papermaze blog a couple of weeks ago, before the whole subject review and Ofsted thing began and I actually had some time to myself in the evening! Now I have my time back and I don't know what to do with myself - I feel I should be working/marking/planning every available second. The department got an overall good with outstanding features which was excellent - our school got a satisfactory in its last whole school Ofsted inspection so we are a leading department and it felt good to have our efforts recognised.

The page showcases a few snaps taken back in April, for Ed's 28th birthday night out. Seems ages ago now, but we had a really good time and I remember the night really well. I never work with much bling ordinarily so it was a bit of a challenge, but these swirls were just gorgeous, you could hardly go wrong with them!

Just one day left till half term (and boy do I feel like I deserve it!). And then I'm leaving Ed at home with the cats and going off on a scrapbook retreat with some girls I met on UKScrappers - I'm really excited to get to spend a whole weekend doing exactly what I love, especially as I haven't really had a chance to scrap for the last couple of weeks. So there ought to be a lot of layouts to share when I return...

Ofsted have left the building...

2008-10-22T17:00:00.003+01:00

What a horrible week - my department have just been Ofsteded and the inspector is feeding back to the head of department as we speak. I got watched twice - and in the first one the kids decided to play up, constantly asking to go to the toilet and one broke a pen and got it all over his trousers. That class will feel my wrath later on in the week, as it hardly made for the best observation. But this morning I was observed again and it went really well, so some good and some satisfactory overall for me, which I was not happy about! But the department in general should have done pretty good which is the main thing I guess. And now, its the first night in about two weeks when I am not going to sit and do 5 hours work at the computer till eleven at night and go to bed thinking of lesson plans. I almost don't know what to do with myself! I am definitely one for keeping a work/life balance - I don't see how you could stay in this job if you didn't - and this has shown me how important that is. Work may be a part of life, but it should not take over. Or at least, not until the next Ofsted...

Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!!

2008-10-14T21:09:00.002+01:00

Just when you think you have got over your subject review reasonably well and you are ready to ease into half term with some simple lessons along comes a piece of news that well and truly scuppers all that and leaves you working harder than ever before! Today, the head came to see my department to inform us that he had received a letter telling him that Ofsted are coming in next week to assess the History department. After all the work that went into the review, it couldn't be worse timing. And in the last week before half term, when the kids are hardly working at their hardest! Still, these things are sent to try us and all that. So no scrapping for me tonight unfortunately - bookmarking and frantic lesson planning instead.

I can however share the latest layout to appear in Scrapbook Inspirations with you - the Earrings layout was a bit of a rush commission and was part of a challenge to create a page with no lettering products. Which is actually more difficult than you might realise! I decided to make my title using wire bent into shape with pliers, and it turned out better than I thought it would. Here is the finished layout for your viewing pleasure (love that green and pink combination - I was inspired by the My Freedom pages I was creating at the time):

Anyway, this will have to be short post as I'm off to lesson plan - wish me luck!

Duvet Days!

2008-10-13T16:09:00.007+01:00

I bet you didn't know that cats could get bullied? Well unfortunately they can, and one of mine is currently suffering from this problem. Ernie keeps getting beaten up by the ginger tom from next door (who is both smaller and younger than Ernie but this doesn't seem to help) and this has led Ern to have a couple of little 'accidents' in the house. As horrible as this is, I decided to create a page about Ernie just to remind myself how gorgeous he is. Even though he has ruined a chair...

So here is my page. Recently Ernie was playing with me while I was changing the covers on the bed and I wrapped him right up in the duvet like a sausage roll. He looked so funny I had to take a photo of him before fishing him out, and this is the finished page:

I really enjoyed creating this one - I did a sketch of it about a week ago because it was so clear in my mind how I wanted it to look. Loving those Heidi Swapp letter masks and Making Memories teeny alpha stickers (again! but this time in colour). The embellishment are a random collection from the drawer which all needed using up - so I was even being thrifty!

I got my copy of Scrapbook Inspirations through today and realised one of my layouts was in there, as well as some by my online scrapping friends Laura, Katherine and Leanne - they rocked the readers gallery and two of the challenges too! I will share mine here tomorrow...

Ssshhh, don't tell...

2008-10-12T23:37:00.005+01:00

I've been naughty. Having finally had enough of my rubbishy old paper trimmer I bought from Hobbycraft nearly two years ago, I decided to treat myself to a new trimmer. I'm now awaiting the arrival of my new Purple Cow 2 in 1 trimmer. I fancied having a guillotine and rotary cutter in one, and so decided to splash out. And of course, I couldn't resist a trimmer which goes by the name of Purple Cow.

Today Ed and his Dad finished replacing our grotty old guttering which was unlikely to live through another Winter of torrential downpours, and while they were at it I did a bit of scrapping (which I will share tomorrow) and also took these gorgeous shots of one of the furballs in the garden:

So, tomorrow sees the start of another week, and all I can hope is that it is less stressful than the last one. We shall see...

Secret Garden by the Sea...

2008-10-11T16:28:00.003+01:00

So on Wednesday, I was checking what time the crop was and realised I'd got the wrong date! It's next Wednesday instead. Typical me, but at least I checked before I drove there. In a bid to be productive anyway, I sat down in the spare bedroom and scrapped away for a few hours on my own, and ended up creating this layout with the August Cocoa Daisy kit. I have really enjoyed working with this kit - the greens, blues and browns tone so nicely together and suit so many of my photos.

I took the photo this June when we were holidaying in the Isle of Wight. We had been out for Sunday lunch in a pub in Bembridge, and me, Ed and Ed's mum went out for a walk down a little path outside. We spotted all these beautiful private gardens right by the sea, many of them with little secluded beach houses. Oh, how the other half live! Unfortunately, its something I can only dream of - we spent some time discussing which one we'd have if we won the lottery. But its the kind of memory I might have forgotton and so deserved its own little page.

After the manic week from hell, where everything was more difficult than it needed to be and I stressed myself out completely, I've spent today tidying the house up from top to bottom, which has made me feel a little bit better as it was a total tip! I think an hour watching Merlin this evening followed by some scrapping time is just what I need...

Girlie fun and a little bit of bling...

2008-10-08T16:45:00.004+01:00

I thought I'd better share a layout that has been up on the Papermaze blog for a while - Girls was really fun to put together using the Creative Imaginations Narratives line, and the colour scheme was perfect for a girlie photo of me and some friends on a night out a few months ago. I went with the idea of creating a paint 'frame' for my layout and while it was a bit scary to do I think it worked out well in the end - I like the grungy effect.

Work has carried on being busier than I've ever known it - I can't remember working so hard since being an NQT! This week our subject has been under review so books have all had to be marked up to date (fortunately most of mine aren't too bad) and on Monday I got observed (which went well I'm happy to say after all the planning I did for it last Sunday!). I have to have an interview next week to review my responsibility and I sat down last night and spent hours making sure everything is in place. I just hate it if I've forgotton something and feel unprofessional, so better to be prepared.

I have been doing some scrapping too - more work for the Papermaze blog but here is a sneak peek...

Tonight though I'm off to a crop so I actually get the chance to take a few hours out a scrap for myself - bliss!

August Memories...

2008-09-29T21:02:00.006+01:00

Some of my latest DT work has gone up over at Scrap Paper Scissors so I thought I'd better share it here with you too - if you want more detailed instructions about how I created the pages, then check out my article over there. They were all created using Making Memories Noteworthy products which I think are really lovely and quite diverse - both these pages turned out really different, despite the fact that they were created using the same range. Big Grins records the photos from our meal in August to celebrate my mum and brother's birthdays. Portugal Paradise showcases a picture of the pool on our holiday last month (it seems like so much longer ago!) and the fact that we all burnt to a crisp playing in it on the first day! Typical Brits abroad - mad dogs and Englishmen and all that! I got really into my doodling with these two pages, especially since I had just received a selection of Sakura pens from Singapore (via ebay) not long before creating them...

I managed to pop into Hobbycraft yesterday and picked up a bunch of Making Memories Tiny Alphas there. Finally, the biggest crafting store in the country is starting to acknowledge us scrapbookers and stock a range of Making Memories and American Crafts products. Not exactly an extensive range, but its better than the poor excuse for a scrapbook section they used to have. I also managed to pick up some uniball fineliners of varying thicknesses for journalling and doodling on a 3 for 2 offer - so if you need to stock up on pens, it might be worth a visit.

I still feel utterly exhausted at the moment - not sure if its because we are heading into Winter and all I want to do is hibernate. However, despite the fact I want to crawl into bed right now, I'm determined I'm going to scrap at least for half an hour this evening. I'm actually starting to feel really inspired again - you always know you haven't scrapped enough when you fall asleep thinking of layout designs!

My Little Brother At Twenty

2008-09-25T18:16:00.004+01:00

I've been scrapping again - I know, two posts in a week, could we be getting over the start of term stress finally? I was still playing with my Cocoa Daisy August kit (which is gorgeous by the way) at my crop last night and put together another quite simple page - the photos were taken of my brother at the meal we had to celebrate his and my mum's birthday's in August. I can't quite believe how much he has grown - I left home for university when he was about 12 so for most of his teenage years I would see him after weeks away and he always seemed to change so much every time. He has now left his teenage years behind him and has become a stubborn, opinionated, argumentative but totally loving brother with a heart of gold.

I wanted to record my feelings about him at the moment on a layout which also got across a bit of his personality, so I also decided to put together a page with lots of doodling and sketchy handdrawn journalling. I used several papers layered up, including a piece of notebook paper which I also used to journal on torn strips. I hand drew the 'twenty' and the stars on blue paper and stuck them on with foam pads, and then doodled some swirls to add a bit more interest too. I decorated the notebook paper with little stars, a bit like you might doodle in a lecture (my brother is an architecture student and I can imagine him doodling all over his notes - if he takes any that is!).

I'm really pleased with the finished page - there is nothing too complicated but it suits him really well and is one of my more successful 'boy' pages - I'm so used to scrapping girlie subject matter I don't often get a chance to go more masculine!

Endless peace

2008-09-23T20:21:00.003+01:00

I'm guessing the subject matter of this very quick layout I put together last night is evidence of my state of mind at the moment - craving a bit of peace and quiet! I really enjoy my job and working with the kids but sometimes the things they do get me down and I have to remind myself that it is only a job after all. There has been a bit of a spate of violence amongst the kids, one or two in my tutor group included, and what seem like perfectly reasonable young people show a side of themselves that is less than pleasant. Hopefully we can sort out some of the issues and get them back on track, I certainly hope so.

The layout is of a photo Ed took of me in the Isle of Wight a couple of years ago - I had scrapped it before as part of a mini-book but I felt it deserved its own page. The photo instantly takes me back to that quiet graveyard on a sunny hillside, and I can feel the peace and tranquility of the moment again. I wanted to capture that in the layout, which I put together using my August Cocoa Daisy kit. After a while of putting layouts together for design teams and commissions, I wanted to do something simple and easy, and this layout fit the bill - it only took an hour, which is almost unheard of for my layouts!

I really like stapling ribbon to the page at the moment and letting it overhang the edge - while it can be annoying when you are trying to fit them in the page protectors, I hate the idea that I have to fit everything into the straight edges of the cardstock. I am also LOVING those Making Memories tiny alphas - they suit so many layouts, and they are much more readily available now, they even sell them in my local Hobbycraft. A year or so ago they were like gold dust! The paper was one of those sheets that I would probably never have chosen in a shop because the detail is all around the edges, so you can't really cut into them. But I am trying to use the 'less is more' approach with these and letting the patterns on the paper speak for themselves. Not exactly my usual style I know but its always good to try something different and it really makes you think about the design of the page more carefully as every element can make a difference to the look of the layout.

Sneak peeks...

2008-09-21T16:25:00.003+01:00

Believe it or not, I have been busy scrapping amidst lesson planning, marking books and getting back into the swing of being a teacher. However, most of the scrapping I have done has been for magazines or the Papermaze blog, and I can't yet share them. But I thought I'd let you see a few sneak peeks, just to prove I haven't been completely lazy! So here are some close ups from layouts which should be appearing over at Scrap Paper Scissors in the next few weeks...

Boo hoo...

2008-09-03T16:30:00.003+01:00

...I'm back at school - I am now officially very tired and very busy, but I thought I'd make a quick post just to update my readers and let you know I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet! In a week or two I know I'll be back in the swing of things and back to my old creative self, but at the minute its panic stations over new Year 12 courses, renewing displays and getting off to the best possible start with all my classes.

I have been getting my Scrap Your Day album sorted, so hopefully either tomorrow or the next day I will be able to share my July and August pages - the album is all decorated, I just need to print the photos (which can often be the most tedious part of scrapbooking, especially waiting for them to dry so they don't get smudged and trimming them all to size neatly). So check back for those photos.

In other news, I've been doing a fair bit of knitting (sometimes I just get the bug!) and have been happily knitting squares for my afghan. I was enjoying myself so much, I actually ordered two new knitting books and they arrived on Monday. They are GORGEOUS! Totally inspiring with beautiful modern patterns - I've already ordered some yarn for knitting a bag and I'm definitely going to have a go at knitting my own wall art at some point. So check these out if you fancy some knitty goodness (pictures aren't great but you get the idea)...

Playful Pursuits!

2008-08-26T19:23:00.002+01:00

Well I finally got round to completing my Playful layout for the My Freedom class - just four more double layouts to go now, that is if I complete them all which will mean adding extra page protectors to my album. The photos might seem a bit of an eclectic bunch, but they make sense if you read the journalling, which for this page had to be done in a 'pictures as words' way, replacing some of the text with little symbols. I didn't replace too much, for fear of not having a clue what I was going on about in ten years time when I look back on this page!

Because the theme was all the stuff we do to enjoy ourselves, I wanted to make the page a little bit brighter and funkier than some of the others, so I included all my main colours - pink, turquoise and green - on the one page and used some gorgeous scraps of BG Sultry paper to add a bit of life. The stamps I used on this page are from Back Porch Memories, which does the best stamp collections and I subscribe to these monthly - its worth taking a look if you are a stamp addict like me!

Not long to go till I'm back to school now - it would be awesome if I could actually finish my album before then but I fear it is unlikely. Oh well, I'll do as much as I can, and then its time for Learn Something New Every Day - the return!

Mum's Birthday Card

2008-08-25T17:09:00.006+01:00

Obviously I couldn't share this one until I had presented it to my mum, but here is the birthday card I made for her this year. Those who have read my blog for a while will know that cardmaking is not my strong point, but I like to have a go now and then for important events, usually the birthday's of my immediate family. I decided to make things easier for myself by using a cardmap from Page Maps, couldn't tell you which one it was now I'm afraid and it didn't end up looking much like the sketch in the end, but it was great as a starting point when you are less than confident like me! So here it is (I couldn't resist the scrapper's urge to include a photo of my mum inside)...

And here are a few photos of us around the dinner table...

I've been taking my Scrap Your Day photos - I have now taken July and August photos, though have yet to scrap my July ones yet! Might try and get onto that this week. I think this is going to be such a great project to look back at when its done :)

Serious(ly late!)

2008-08-21T20:32:00.005+01:00

So finally, here is my Serious layout for the My Freedom class - completed ages ago but I only got round to scanning it last night! I really enjoyed making this layout as I decided to write the journalling as a conversation between myself and the inanimate objects that are constantly used in my working/serious side of life. It made the tasks seem a little more fun somehow! The script idea was a really different way of journalling and I'll probably try it again in the future.

I've been busy today getting a layout finished for the Scrap, Paper, Scissors site - I'm a bit behind with my DT work due to my holiday - but that is now done so hopefully I can get on with my Playful layout in the next day or so :)

Just you and me...

2008-08-20T20:56:00.003+01:00

I've been wanting to share this layout for ages, but it only recently appeared on the Scrap, Paper, Scissors website. It was created using Fancy Pants papers which, although a little bit 'pastely' for my usual tastes, were actually quite sweet and had some cute little designs to cut out and use as embellishments. I had been wanting to scrap the photo for some time - its not the best shot of us both, but I really like it as it captures us just chilling out together on the sofa. I created the little letters for the title on my computer as I can never seem to get hold of those Making Memories mini alpha stickers which I see being used to great effect by other scrappers!

Tomorrow, I will share my Serious layout from the My Freedom class, and hopefully I'll be able to share my Playful layout on the following day as I really want to get the class completed before the end of the Summer hols if I can.

Portugal Memories...

2008-08-19T19:32:00.004+01:00

So I promised an update, and here it is! Apologies to my blog readers for leaving you for a few weeks, but what with packing for the holiday and then actually enjoying it, I had very little time to myself to scrap and blog and all the other stuff I'm usually so much better at doing. I promise to make up for it over the next few weeks...

Our holiday this year was spent in Lagos in Portugal, a really cute town with a gorgeous Marina and beautiful beaches. We went with my mum, dad, brother and sister - the first time we have all been away as a family since I was about 15! We all got along surprisingly well considering we are all a bit argumentative and loud - I blame it on us all being fire signs! :D The apartment was really comfortable, and we had a really nice shared pool which was often more like a private pool there were so few other people using it. We all managed to burn on the first day, and my shoulders are still peeling now! We had hired a couple of cars which meant we could travel around a bit and visit places like the spa at Monchique in the mountains, the little beach at Burgau and the bustling Albufeira, where we saw the awesome sand sculptures. All these places were really pretty and of course sunny.

I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, mainly because in the first few days of the holiday I thought I had done the ridiculously stupid thing of leaving my camera behind (there is always something!) but several days in I discovered it in the bag and managed to get some shots (I will rely on my sister's photo taking for the rest of them).

It was all very relaxing and I've got a nice golden glow, but I've also managed to put on some pounds after eating at some really lovely restaurants, so unfortunately the diet is back on in earnest now!

In other news, the latest issue of SI arrived while I was away and I have a page in it - this one was for the Make and Take and I had to create a layout using a ribbon kit from Angel Crafts and a piece of pink cardstock - shock! horror! no patterned paper! Still, I did the best I could with it and the layout turned out to be quite cathartic in the making - at the time I had been going through quite a bit of soul-searching about what I wanted and where I was headed and the layout was a way of letting some of that go in a creative way.

So where have I been....?

2008-08-19T01:43:00.002+01:00

Sunning myself in the glorious Algarve! Too tired to update much now, but I will be sharing tomorrow - don't worry, I haven't totally abandoned my blog! Off to catch up on some much needed sleep now though...