Life and Layouts

A bokeh experiment

2011-01-09T23:29:00.001Z

Last year, I came across this amazing bokeh tutorial by Amanda of kevinandamanda.com. I'd always wondered how photographers created this incredible effect...but at the time, I didn't have 1) a 50mm f/1.8 lens 2) a DSLR camera. This year, I'm lucky enough to have both, so I decided to have a go at creating my own custom bokeh before my Christmas tree came down.

I almost exactly followed Amanda's instructions to create this effect. I would, however, recommend using the 'manual focus' setting on your lens if you have one...focusing on a particular object and then moving it at the last minute was pretty challenging (and I had a lot of botched photos). If you do alter the setting, just make sure that you very gently push your custom hood over the lens after you have manually adjusted the focus...I found that even the lightest touch could reset it and lose the overall effect.

Of the four punches I used, I think the stars were my favourite. I'm looking forward to trying this again next year with some different punches (maybe some more Martha Stewart ones?) and perhaps even my Slice (although that might be a bit ambitious). I loved how pretty the multi-coloured fairy lights looked, but I'm excited to try it with white lights next year...I think they look so very romantic. And a little less '80s disco.

Amanda also suggested using a tripod or resting your camera on a flat surface for this kind of photography, but I snapped away by hand without too much camera shake. And the best part of this tutorial? As a scrapbooker, you can pretty much use everything that you already have in your supplies!

Let me know if you're a bokeh fan, too...

Have a wonderful start to the week :)

Dusting off the cobwebs...

2011-01-06T23:33:00.001Z

...and popping in to say hello :) More importantly, a very happy New Year to you! So much has happened since I last checked in that I'm not entirely sure where to start, so I thought that today I would share my New Year's resolutions with you (my One Little Word will follow in the next couple of days).

Last year, I put this layout together to record what I hoped to achieve in 2010. I've never really been a fan of making 'resolutions' as such, but I do like to have some goals that I can work towards as the year progresses. I didn't do too badly in 2010, but you'll see below that I carried forward several resolutions into 2011...here's hoping that I finally get round to taking my driving test this year (and, of course, passing it!).

*Click on the picture to enlarge

Made using Studio Calico's Metropolitan kit (December)

More than anything, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a happy, healthy 2011. I started 2010 with high hopes and equally high expectations...but for the most part, it was a very hard year, as I think it was for many people. 2011 brings with it many changes and a new beginning of sorts, and I'm excited to share the journey with you as it unfolds over the coming months. I suppose, like so many others this year, I'm hoping that the best is yet to come.

Just to say...

2010-12-25T23:01:00.000Z

December Daily/JYC Day 5

2010-12-19T00:07:00.000Z

Sooooo....after worrying that I would be marooned in Scotland by the imminent adverse weather, I made it back to London without any problems at all. And then today, it snowed. Big time. London had about 3 inches, which might not sound much...but trust me, that's a lot of snow for London. It meant that we left work early this afternoon, so I had a welcome couple of hours this evening to work on my December Daily (although the 'daily' part is probably a bit redundant now. Oh well).

For day 5, I wrote about how - for me at least - the annual Coca-Cola Christmas commercial marks the start of the Christmas countdown (using Shimelle's prompt as a starting point).

Here's a close-up of the envelope on the left:

I'm excited about how this album is coming together - I think I'm finally starting to find my groove. And hopefully I'll be able to catch up over Christmas itself...is it really only a week away?! I'm slowly chipping away at my to-do list, but I honestly can't wait to have a few days to 'pause' and enjoy the festivities as they reach a crescendo next weekend. How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Happy Sunday!

Off on an adventure

2010-12-11T18:05:00.000Z

I'm currently sitting on a train, hurtling towards Edinburgh. Loving the pearlescent skies and snow-covered English countryside. Also loving the opportunity to wind down after another hectic week...right now I'm sipping a cup of tea and watching Pride & Prejudice (the original BBC version). As a side note, I have a bit of a crush on Mr Darcy.

I'm spending the next few days in Scotland and I can't wait. I should still be able to check in from time to time, so expect an update soon :) And here's hoping I can get back down to London - with another dip in the temperatures predicted for next week, I have a feeling that Edinburgh will get more than its fair share of snow and ice for the second time this month.

*And yes, after professing my undying love for the Hipstamatic app just a few days ago, I am celebrating a new love affair with Infinicam. Sharyn, I place the blame squarely at your feet :)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone...and thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my last post. I know I've said it before, but you guys rock.

December Daily/ JYC Days 3 & 4

2010-12-09T23:44:00.001Z

Before I started putting my foundation pages together last month, I spent a few happy hours researching Christmas albums from years past. Needless to say, I came across some fantastic and equally inspiring albums, but the ones that stayed with me the most were those that incorporated photos + journaling + memorabilia (like Molly Irwin's beautiful December Daily from last year). This year, I decided that I would try to use this formula to tell a more rounded and more complete story of Christmas 2010. And, since I've shared scans of my first two pages with you, I thought that I would do a post about the 'bits in between,' which will hopefully give a more complete picture of where I'm going with my album....

Day 2:

You've already seen the page on the left, but I also included some photos that I took on my iPod Touch (Hipstamatic and IncrediBooth apps) in the snow. The 'Baby it's cold outside' stamp is from the AC Dear Lizzy Christmas collection - love it!

Day 3:

And the before:

Day 3 is about the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia (back in November). I collected a lot of business cards that day, so I put a few of my favourites inside the envelope. Attached to the back is my journaling and a metal 'season's greetings' tag, which I purchased from one of the stalls. I also included the Spirit of Christmas pamphlet...I've got a lot of bits and pieces like this to go inside my album (I'm just hoping I'll have enough space). I included just one photo of the fair itself, but I might put a couple more inside a divided page protector if I have the room.

Day 4:

Images from Victoria magazine.

And the before:

Day 4 followed Shimelle's prompt about 'perfection' (click on the image to read the journaling). The twill ribbon is from a local art shop. If you look closely at the last image on the left (taken from a magazine), the name on the table setting is Genevieve :) I thought that the list on the right (a hand drawn brush by Ali Edwards) would finish off this page nicely...it pretty much epitomises everything 'perfect' about this time of year.

And that's my album so far. There have been a couple of hiccups along the way and the 'daily' dimension lasted for all of 24 hours, but that was to be expected! Otherwise I'm happy with how it's coming along. I have a feeling it's going to be a slow process, but this fabulous post by Sian reminded me why it's so important to persevere. How's your album coming along?

December Daily/JYC Day 2

2010-12-04T23:01:00.001Z

Webster's Pages and American Crafts papers, Bazzill cardstock, Fiskars punch, number tag from every jot and little

On Thursday morning I peered groggily through the gap in my curtains....and there before me was a winter wonderland. I spent most of the morning snapping pictures before my parents and I risked a walk to the station to investigate the train situation (I had a presentation in London on Friday that I couldn't miss). As we plodded down the lane towards the centre of town, we were overtaken by a small group of kids chattering away whilst hauling their sledges along behind them. For me, that almost timeless moment pretty much epitomised everything that I love about this time of year...and just for a minute, I wished that I was 8 again.

I wanted my page for day 2 to capture that sense of nostalgia, so I used what turned out to be the perfect piece of scrap paper from the Dear Lizzy Christmas collection alongside my photo of the retreating backs of the kiddos and their sledges (edited with the Pioneer Woman's PSE actions - it looks a lot more sepia in real life!). It also helped to tone down the busy pattern on the foundation page, which I felt detracted a little from the photo. Also for that reason, I decided to let my journaling stand alone on the adjacent page:

I also included a divided page protector to accompany this prompt. I'm going to do a bulk order of 4x6 prints from Photobox once Christmas is over...but in the meantime, here are two of the pictures from Thursday that I will include:

And on the other side (from Friday):

Even London had to get to grips with snow and ice! I took a detour through Trafalgar Square on the way to my seminar on Friday afternoon and snapped these photos on my phone. It was freezing....

And here's a look at the original:

Thank you so much for looking! I'll be back soon with day 3. And I hope you're having a fabulous weekend...perhaps you've been working on your December Daily too?

December Daily/JYC Day 1

2010-12-01T07:58:00.003Z

Echo Park and October Afternoon papers, Bazzill cardstock, October Afternoon cardstock stickers,

number tag from every jot and little, Ali Edwards 25 Days of December Overlay.

Happy December everyone! Can you believe it's only 24 days until Christmas?!!! I know the next few weeks are going to fly by, so last night I thought that I'd make a head start on the prompts for Journal your Christmas. In fact, that's what I love about doing JYC in conjunction with a December Daily album...you can mix things up, do the prompts out of order if you want/need to (especially if you're having your photos printed in one bulk order)...and you have something to inspire you on those December days when you've tried to catch up on laundry. Perfect.

A couple of quick words on my system: I'm doing an internship, a part-time job and a Masters at the moment...so I know that I won't be able to stay ahead of the prompts for long. On some days I will post multiple pages...but there will likely be long gaps in between. But that's ok, because as I keep reminding myself, live first and document second. A combination of the big freeze, winter weather and a basement flat mean that daylight is scarce in my neck of the woods, so I won't photograph the actual album in its entirety until it's pretty much finished (or at least half way through). I think I'll try and post a picture of the foundation page as well, because a little 'before and after' action is always fun:

And last but not least, thank you for your wonderful comments and words of encouragement - they never fail to make my day :)

It's a relationship thing...

2010-11-30T00:26:00.000Z

{Click to enlarge}

I often get asked what it's like to live in London. Usually I come up with a fairly generic response...something along the lines of "it's amazing." Short and to the point, etc. etc. You'll find that most Londoners will say something similar...or they'll simply start complaining about tube strikes, which is fair enough. But after Keshet asked me this very question a couple of months ago, I started thinking....and a layout was born (thank you, Keshet!). I have a feeling that you might think my answer is a little unconventional, but that's ok :)

By the way, iPhone/iPod Touch 4 users, have you tried out the new Dali Museum Goodpak for the Hipstamatic app? I love how surreal and unexpected each photo is:

Piccadilly Circus, the BT Tower, Big Ben

{click to enlarge}

The film has a canvas-like texture and looks awesome printed on cardstock. I'm starting to wonder how I ever lived without Hipstamatic...is anyone else a convert?

Only 24 hours until the start of JYC! Already there are some seriously inspiring projects appearing in the forum...I can't wait :)

December Daily/JYC foundation pages

2010-11-29T00:48:00.000Z

The blogosphere has been buzzing with anticipation over the past couple of days...December 1st is just three sleeps away, which means that Journal your Christmas is very nearly upon us! I've seen some amazing albums (both past + present) on various blogs and I'm so excited to see how they come together over the next month - it amazes me how people can interpret one prompt in so many different, unique ways. So cool. I put my own album together a couple of weeks ago. Since then I've been waiting for the right light to photograph the foundation pages, but the weather has been conspiring against me, so apologies for the not-so-great contrast on the pictures.

I'm using an A5 kraft ring binder from Paperchase this year, along with a mixture of papers from last December...and (of course) some new releases, too. Any excuse to shop ;) I thought about pre-embellishing the pages, but I tend to use the photograph as a starting point, so I'll add bits and pieces as I go along. I'm also using these number tags from every jot and little (you might recognise them from Ali Edwards' December Daily albums from years past)....they arrived a few days ago and I. love. them. Anyway, without further ado, let's get started!

*Be warned, this is photo heavy!

Paper from Echo Park.

Paper from Webster's Pages + Echo Park. Envelope from Paperchase.

Paper from Making Memories + October Afternoon. Envelope from Paperchase.

Paper from Crate Paper + October Afternoon. Scalloped notebook paper from Making Memories.

Paper from Crate Paper + Echo Park. Envelope from Paperchase.

Cardstock from Bazzill. Transparency and paper from Making Memories. Bingo card from Jenni Bowlin.

Paper from Cosmo Cricket and American Crafts. Postcard by Belle & Boo (available from Paperchase).

Paper from Echo Park + Crate Paper.

Paper from Echo Park. Envelope from Paperchase.

Paper from Making Memories + October Afternoon.

Paper from Echo Park.

Paper from Echo Park. Transparency from Making Memories. Envelope from Paperchase.

Paper from Crate Paper + October Afternoon (just seen). Envelope from Paperchase.

Paper from Echo Park. Bingo card from Jenni Bowlin.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! I'm still not sure how I want to document the days between Boxing Day and New Year's, but there is a little bit of room left in the album if I need it. Throughout the album you can probably see some divided page protectors peeking through as well...these are also from Paperchase and give a little bit more flexibility in terms of how many photographs I can use. December is already looking hectic and it hasn't even started yet, so I'm relieved to have finished the foundation pages in advance (the major lesson that I took away from JYC last year). Now I'm just looking forward to getting started!

Celebrate the season: autumn banner

2010-11-19T23:25:00.000Z

With Thanksgiving less than a week away, autumn feels as though it is rapidly giving way to winter. I wish this season didn't feel so short.

Anyway, a few months ago I bookmarked this project with the intention of making something similar...only to discover that the Maya Road Pumpkin Coaster album is very hard to come by in the UK. After tracking it down a few weeks ago at Bubbly Funk (they have an amazing selection of Maya Road products)...I set an evening aside earlier this week to make my own 'Fall Banner à la Katie Watson.'

In the end, I switched things up quite a bit. After experimenting with several different painting techniques, nothing looked quite right...in fact, it was a mess (maybe the quality of paint? I'm not sure). Instead, I traced around the pumpkins onto AC cardstock and simply adhered it to the chipboard - much easier, no drying time...and no getting stressed out. Perfect. I used a combination of Bazzill ribbons and ribbons from a local craft shop to embellish each pumpkin, along with some of those felt leaves you can see in the pictures above (20p each from an arts and crafts shop in Scotland!). Some miniature leaves from Paperchase, a selection of buttons and a black outline to give each pumpkin some definition completed the project.

Owing to the problematic lack of a fireplace/mantle, I decided that my parents could offer the banner a much better home. It is currently strung across their fireplace, with a log fire and some pheasants for company :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

They're here!

2010-11-09T23:25:00.001Z

Yup, it's that time of year again! I had my first Eggnog Latte of the year on a fittingly freezing day (while listening to the Pogues, no less). The Christmas countdown has officially begun!

I have lots to share with you over the next few days, but I've got some sorting and editing to do first...so, in the meantime, I thought I'd do a quick post about the beginnings of my 2010 December Daily/JYC album...

As you can probably tell from the mess, I spent most of this evening putting the album together. It was an uncomfortable few hours on the floor, but it was definitely worth the time and effort! After doing Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class last year, I knew that the only way I'd be able to stay on top of the prompts was if I prepared the album well in advance. I'm using a Paperchase kraft album with a combination of current and past papers from October Afternoon, Echo Park, Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories and American Crafts (among others). I just have a little bit more to do it, but I'll hopefully be able to do a post about the foundation pages some time next week. Here are a couple more photos...

My big box of Christmas embellishments (which is currently expanding by the day)...

...and a sneak peek of the pages I've put together so far. It feels good to be organised (for once!).

How's your Christmas album coming along?

Fright night festivities - part 2

2010-11-03T02:19:00.000Z

So, here we are again. It's November, which pretty much means that the countdown to Christmas has begun. I've started to pull papers for my December Daily/JYC album and daydream about Christmas decorations (I can't wait to put the tree up this year). That said, right now I'm munching on the remaining few pieces of candy corn while the scents from my Halloween-themed Yankee Candle samplers waft through the flat, so indulge me one last time as I share some 'fright night' photos with you! And then I'm done. I promise.

Jamie and I managed to squeeze in some pumpkin carving before leaving for the San Francisco 49ers V Denver Broncos NFL game at Wembley on Sunday morning. I grumbled my way through the design/carving stage, but loved the result (mine is on the left, Jamie's is on the right). Always a classic, we watched Hocus Pocus at the same time...it's still one of my favourite films.

Some more pumpkin shots, iPod Touch style (using the Photobooth app).

Some Halloween decor - I tried and failed to successfully photograph the whole display, but it grows each year.

More Halloween decor.

Two staples - Halloween isn't quite the same without large quantities of candy corn and the Martha Stewart Living Halloween issue. By the way, if you're in the UK and enjoy the unrivalled Halloween treat that is candy corn, try American Soda - their customer service was fantastic and the shipping is pretty reasonably priced.

Krispy Kreme donuts. The pumpkin-esque donut on the left was delicious...it had green ooze inside!

Jamie and I didn't have a chance to wear costumes this year...instead, we spent the evening at Wembley watching the 49ers beat the Broncos. The atmosphere was amazing, and we had a wonderful time with Jamie's family (who came down from Scotland especially for the occasion).

And that was Halloween, 2010. I love this holiday, but nothing beats the next month and a half. I can't wait for Christmas.

Fright night festivities - part 1

2010-10-29T19:41:00.000+01:00

Oh dear. I barrelled into October with the best of blogging intentions, but failed (miserably). With the start of the new academic year and the rhythm of a new routine, there hasn't been much time for 'me.' October's Studio Calico kit is sitting enticingly on the kitchen table, unopened and unused...and I have 1000+ unread items in my Google Reader (gulp). So, bear with me as I drink copious cups of tea and settle down to catch up on what I've missed...and be prepared for a barrage of comments over the next few days!

One autumn tradition that I couldn't bring myself to forgo this month is a trip to Secretts Farm Shop. In the run-up to Halloween, the Farm Shop is full of fresh, festive produce, all beautifully and thoughtfully displayed. It is one of my very favourite places to visit...and it has become something of a tradition for my mum and I at this time of year. In fact, I love it so much that I had a *little* bit of trouble narrowing down the photos to post...so apologies in advance :) Here we go....

...on the way there, we spotted an almost perfect toadstool by the side of the road!

This was just the start of the pumpkins....I love that they keep so much of the stalk in tact.

Oh my goodness...for a Londoner whose local supermarket is a teeny tiny Tesco Express, this was almost too much to bear.

Not the best photo in the world, but this little cart was too cute not to share :)

We both loved this floral display...that's some pretty impressive pumpkin carving!

More pumpkins in pretty much every shape and size imaginable.

I bought a couple of munchkins....

....and tried very hard to resist buying some of the more weird and wonderful squash.

I also had a lot of trouble resisting one of those blue squash, but in the end the £8 price tag and the 4kg weight made the decision for me...there was no way I could take it back up to London on the train :(

Enormous quantities of Halloween candy.

This is impossibly hard to buy in the UK, but the Farm Shop had cans and cans of it! I'm looking forward to making some more pumpkin cupcakes soon...yum.

If you made it this far, thank you for sticking with me! I'll be back with part 2 over the next couple of days, but in the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!

Drawing inspiration from fall fashion

2010-10-02T11:00:00.003+01:00

Now that Autumn is officially (and finally) here, it's time to start thinking about my Autumn/Winter wardrobe! To be honest, there's only so much that you can achieve when you're a student on a very tight budget, but it's nice to dream...and I have had lots of eye candy drop through my letterbox recently, which only enables me further :) Two of my favourite catalogues so far are from Toast, which is beautifully photographed and full of autumnal goodness...and Jack Wills, featured in the layout above. I knew I wanted to create some sort of autumnal mood board after flicking through my ever-increasing pile of catalogues, but when I read this week's challenge on the Studio Calico blog, I thought it would be fun to do a layout, too!

Cardigan & Slippers

The challenge this week is to create a layout or project inspired by fall fashion. I already knew what I wanted the layout to be about, so I drew inspiration from two of my most recent purchases for the layout itself. The stripes in the cardigan really appealed to me, so I decided to go for a linear design. And when I saw these slippers in Accessorize, it was the chain of hearts that swayed me...so I recreated the same effect using my heart punch and the B side of one of the Sassafrass papers from Studio Calico's September kit (love those little hearts!). This was my first Back 40 layout and I'm loving the kit so far...it was definitely worth the wait! To finish off the layout, I chose my five favourite outfits from a duplicate Jack Wills catalogue that I had lying around. Those boots? They are at the very top of my wish list.

Source

Also on my wish list...the Sewing Basket Apron from Anthropologie (you can also buy a matching pot holder) and the Continental Hello Wallet, also from Anthro. This is actually a Hobo International Lauren Clutch...they were so popular when I was in high school and I've been trying to track them down in the UK ever since so that I can replace my very worn out original. I practically blew out Jamie's ear drum when I saw them in the store last week! They're a little pricey, but I'm wondering whether I should splurge anyway...or maybe I should sleep on it. *Ahem*

What's on your wish list at the moment?

And just like that...

2010-10-01T22:40:00.000+01:00

...It's October. Mother Nature clearly got the memo - it's been pouring with rain since early this afternoon, with plenty of wind thrown in for good measure. I joined the ranks of disgruntled and disillusioned Londoners battling with their umbrellas as I my made way to the gym, but I made a quick stop to take this picture because blustery conditions aside...I love October. This is my absolute favourite month of the year (although April and December are close contenders)...the leaves are turning, the air is crisper...and then, of course, there's Halloween.

But there's also a lot to look forward to this month: I'm starting the final year of my Masters (insert a resounding hallelujah here), the annual Topshop student lock-in takes place, there are plenty of Halloween decorations to be bought and made...and we're lucky enough to have tickets for the NFL at Wembley, too. I have a good feeling about this month...here's hoping it lasts :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Studio Calico Sunday Sketch

2010-09-25T19:42:00.001+01:00

I hope everyone's having a fabulous weekend so far! Just a very quick post today to share my take on Studio Calico's Sunday Sketch (19/09). To be honest, I'm not entirely happy with how this layout turned out, but I am trying very hard not to let my perfectionism get in the way of my productivity at the moment (if that makes sense).

I tried to make the overall tone quite subdued because of the subject matter (a trip to the Imperial War Museum a couple of months ago). The patterned papers are from August's Studio Calico kit...I wasn't immediately drawn to those BasicGrey papers, but they definitely grew on me as time wore on. Almost everything else on the page is either from Partly Sunny or Continental. The photos were taken on my Retro Camera app for my HTC Desire...it's not quite the same as the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone, but it does the job :)

Anyhoo, I'm off to watch the X Factor and play around with this. I have a bit of a thing for gadgets at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Some Tumblr favourites...

2010-09-23T16:21:00.000+01:00

By Raceytay

By lauraamiss

By dearcolleen

By Toast

Right now I'm loving: 1) simplicity 2) autumn weather (if you're anywhere near London today, you know what I'm talking about) 3) wise words 4) this outfit...and those colours.

You can take a peek at some of my other Tumblr finds here.

Revisiting my 'roots'

2010-09-22T23:53:00.001+01:00

If you look through my albums c. 2004/2005, you will see lots...and lots...of 12 x 12 layouts. Not only are they 12 x 12, they are also two-pagers (mostly). Oh, how things have changed! Since the start of 2010, every single layout that I have worked on has been of the 8.5 x 11 variety. I'm not entirely sure why I made this leap...I suppose in some ways the smaller size seemed much more manageable after a 4 year scrapbooking hiatus. But at the same time, I sort of missed creating 12 x 12 layouts...so a few days ago I decided to revisit my 'roots.' It was a lot less stressful/daunting than expected. In fact, it was pretty fun :) And that MME paper from Studio Calico's August kit? Love it.

Thank you for looking!

Lately I've been...

2010-09-19T23:47:00.000+01:00

Making Shimelle's amazing pumpkin cupcakes...and devouring cupcakes from Lola's (shown below are the scrummy red velvet and peanut butter cupcakes. I may have accidentally consumed the other two before I remembered to take a picture).

Ordering a LOT of Yankee Candle samplers. My current favourites are Farmer's Market, Apple Cider, Autumn Fruit, Cinnamon Stick, Moonlight Harvest, Macintosh Spice and Cinnamon & Sugar. I also ordered Witches' Brew and Candy Corn for Halloween. I think I might have a new obsession.

Finishing Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life for Me: The Abridged Version. I cannot recommend this book enough...it's both original and unusual. I loved it.

Source

Playing with this sweet little guy. Winston has been a member of our household for approximately a month and a half. He's a long-haired Syrian hamster...and he's very cute.

Listening to Songs from Dawson's Creek and Lady Antebellum - a rediscovery and a new discovery. Both of them are comforting and cozy ('Feels Like Home' is one of my all-time favourite songs)...perfect for the season ahead.

And wearing my new favourite jacket. The weather has been much cooler over the past couple of weeks, but today it was cold. I love Autumn.

What have you been up to lately?

Five years (and two layouts)

2010-09-17T23:05:00.001+01:00

This year, I'm celebrating two anniversaries. Both take place at the end of September. The first is slightly less conventional than the second, but in many ways it means just as much:

I honestly can't believe that I've been living in London for five years. It feels like yesterday that I moved here...I had just turned nineteen at the time and I was so. very. NERVOUS!! I still remember exactly how I felt on that late September evening, so I decided to record these feelings in my journaling (click on the layout to make it bigger).

This layout turned out very differently to the one that I had envisaged beforehand. I was really inspired by Vee's challenge on the Studio Calico blog - to create a monochromatic or semi-monochromatic layout using neutrals - but as I started to put everything together I realised that I had a sheet of OA patterned paper that would be perfect for the overall theme! I particularly love it because if you look very closely, you can see both where I live at the moment and where I lived three years ago. So, instead of going for complimentary creams, I settled on kraft for the title, journaling and bottom half of the layout and added a splash of colour with the B side of the OA paper.

And for my 'second' anniversary:

Yup, Jamie and I are celebrating our five year anniversary this month :) This is another one of those 'it feels like yesterday' moments...probably because within a week of moving to London, I accidentally bumped into Jamie (I'm pretty sure it was on a Thursday evening) during Freshers' Week. I was lost...he was with a couple of people that I recognised from my course...and because we were all going to the same place, I tagged along. We've been together ever since. It really goes to show that you can find love in the most unexpected places...

This is another layout inspired by Studio Calico - this time using this week's Sunday Sketch (based on Jen Jockisch's lovely layout). I wanted this layout to feel warm and homely, so I picked out some corresponding papers from SC's August kit and some embellishments from Partly Sunny and Continental. The Maya Road envelope will eventually contain some journaling, and I stamped the title using these stamps and then embossed the letters with gold embossing powder. I can't decide whether to do some stitching on the layout, or leave it as it is...any thoughts?

TFL and have a wonderful weekend!

LSNED: days 1 & 2

2010-09-08T14:23:00.000+01:00

I am so very glad that I signed up for Learn Something New Every Day. I haven't been able to commit to anything crafty for over two months...and I didn't realise just how much I missed the catharsis of cutting and sticking (etc.) until I sat down and pretty much emptied the entire contents of my stash onto the kitchen table. It felt good.

Pictured above is my first page for my LSNED album. I had some difficulty deciding what I wanted to document from that particular day, so I chose the three things that stood out most in my mind. A word to the wise - Indian tapas really is amazing.

And my page for day 2 (the saga of the massive phone bill):

Those AC Thickers have been sitting in my stash for a while, but I absolutely love them. And I'm still obsessed with Thrift Shop...it's another one of those paper collections that I'm hoarding by the sheet. Speaking of which, I'm so excited for Seaside to make it across the pond! It's one of my favourite releases from CHA so far...

When I've made a bit more progress with the overall album, I'll start sizing and printing photographs as well. The album itself is fairly haphazard, with no specific theme or colour combination. Instead, I'm just choosing bits and pieces that I love. Sometimes I think I work better with restrictions, but this time I just wanted to try something different. In any case, this is one album that I'm determined to finish! How's your LSNED album coming along? Post a link in the comments section...I'd love to see it!

Coming up for air!

2010-09-02T19:25:00.000+01:00

Is it really September?! 2010 has flown by....and so has this summer. For the past month I've been consumed by lesson plans, teaching practices, multiple assignments and the intricacies of English grammar, but I have since emerged from my CELTA course as a fully qualified English language teacher! Sadly there hasn't been much time for blogging or any other creative outlet (even my Project 365 has been badly neglected), but September brings with it a welcome change of pace and some exciting new changes (more on those later!).

September also marks the start of two new classes: Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday and Cathy Zielske's Me: The Abridged Version (which doesn't start until the 16th, so there's still plenty of time to sign up if you want to play along!).

I love the premise of Shimelle's class...with the weather taking a decidedly autumnal turn and the start of a new school year, it is so appropriate to kick-start our creativity with a class focused on acknowledging and learning from life's daily lessons. Yesterday I made a start on constructing my album...I decided on a 4x6 size with some book rings, so that I can add photos and mementos as I go along. Here's a close-up:

And here's a look at the front cover in its entirety (click on it to make it larger):

I'm so excited to get started on yesterday's page! And if you haven't signed up yet, I'm sure it's not too late...just head on over to shimelle.com or sign up here.

Thank you for looking!

Nothing beats....

2010-07-21T22:18:00.000+01:00

....A gentle nudge from the nose of a familiar furry friend.

Love at first sight!

2010-07-19T16:10:00.000+01:00

CHA Summer 2010 sneaks have been coming thick and fast over the past couple of weeks! There are so many new lines that I have fallen in love with, but several new releases have particularly caught my eye (and have duly been added to my already extensive wish list!).

Togetherness is by far my favourite new release from Cosmo Cricket. Love those patterned papers! And I'm so excited about their new line of stamps.

There were fewer sneaks of Cosmo Cricket's Wanted collection, but I thought these chipboard stickers were awesome when I first saw them...with their rugged theme, I think they would be perfect for card making (masculine cards are so much harder to create and embellish!).

I've developed a bit of an obsession with Tim Holtz products lately. It started with his Distress Ink Pads and cemented itself with the Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folders (which are currently on sale at Craft Obsessions if you're a fan!). It looks as though my obsession is only set to continue with the arrival of his seasonal paper collection and those amazing license plate salvage stickers.

October Afternoon is one of my favourite manufacturers at the moment. Although Seaside is a themed collection, it looks as though it has a lot of practical applications as well. It reminds me (just a little bit) of On Holiday by the Girls' Paperie, which I am currently hoarding in great quantities!

These printed tags for the Dear Lizzy Enchanted and Dear Lizzy Christmas collections caught my eye immediately...so very pretty and perfect for gifts! I also LOVE those stamps and the plastic rose brads.

I'm so excited about Studio Calico's Elementary collection. Each new release from SC is incredible (I can't wait to pick up Documentary during this month's reveal!). Also, I bought July's Magellan add-on because I couldn't resist the label stamps that co-ordinate with the Photo Labels punch from EK Success....so I can't wait for the new Label Stamp set to be released!

Before I head off, I just wanted to thank you so very much for your kind comments on my previous post...they did so much to lift my spirits. There are some difficult months ahead, but I am doing my very best to remain optimistic. In the meantime, I am so thankful that I have this outlet...I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging over the coming weeks :)

Have a wonderful week!

The road ahead

2010-07-12T17:30:00.002+01:00

You never know what hazards lie on the road ahead. I sat down on Friday night and tried to write a post explaining my prolonged absence...After a frustrating 45 minutes, I gave up. I just couldn't find the right words.

But then I remembered these apposite words by Joseph Campbell that recently arrived in my inbox, which convey almost exactly the thoughts that have been circulating in my head for the past two weeks. So, why try to say it any differently?

The one thing that I would add is this...it is frightening how fast and how unexpectedly your life can change. What is more astonishing, perhaps, is our ability to cope in the face of great adversity. That, for me, is the most reassuring thought of all.

The anatomy of a night out

2010-06-24T17:07:00.004+01:00

I finally got a chance to play with June's Studio Calico kit last night! As I was looking through my photos from the past couple of months, I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw these. Even though most of my friends from university are *almost* in their mid-20s, we all seem to revert to our inner 19 year old selves when we get together. So, I thought it might be fun to dedicate a couple of layouts to our various shenanigans (hopefully a couple more to follow!).

I really wanted to emphasise the photos, so I decided on a neutral background and simple colour scheme. After using the SC stamp (which came with the main kit) with Mustard Seed Distress Ink, I finally understand why everyone is so obsessed with these little ink pads...they are awesome! And even though I think I might have gone a bit overboard with the scrapbooking supplies this month, I am totally, unashamedly in love with Studio Calico. The kits are amazing...I can't wait for July!

I have so many blogs to catch up on, so expect lots of comments in the next couple of days! I start my new job this weekend and then I have a week before I start an intensive teacher training course...It 's going to be a busy few weeks!

Thank you so much for looking!

Ever been a tourist in your own town?

2010-06-17T23:20:00.005+01:00

A friend of mine is travelling in Europe at the moment (she's originally from New York). To make the most of the expensive airfare across the pond, she decided to hop on a Eurostar and pay me a visit in London for a few days! It was her first time in the UK, so we had a packed four day itinerary to make sure that she saw the 'best of British.' We were exhausted by the end of it, but I had a lot of fun being a tour guide and seeing my hometown from an entirely new perspective. I was looking through some of the photos this evening and thought it might be fun to play around with the Pioneer Woman's PSE actions (which are awesome!). Here are some favourites....

I got so frustrated with the lighting whilst we were out and about...my little point-and-shoot camera couldn't handle the brightness of the sun behind the clouds and most of the photographs I took at that time of day were pretty disappointing. I originally discarded this photo of the London Eye, but came back to it later on and tried out the BW Beauty action. I love how dramatic it looks!

After we stopped by the Eye, we meandered along the Thames and then crossed Westminster Bridge. This was a view looking back towards the Eye and County Hall, which is now the London Aquarium (I think PW's Seventies action might be my favourite).

That afternoon we spent a little while exploring Westminster. I always marvel at how elaborate Big Ben is...the attention to detail is totally mindblowing!

The next day we decided to visit the Tower of London. I had never been before and was giddy with excitement (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this ~~once or twice~~ quite a bit, but just in case...I'm a massive historical fiction fan!). And wow....it didn't disappoint. We joined a tour given by a Yeoman Warder (otherwise known as a Beefeater), who was surprisingly funny and amazingly knowledgeable (as a side note, I had no idea that they lived in the Tower compound! How cool?!). We saw the infamous ravens, the Crown Jewels, the Bloody Tower and also Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey were executed. Jessie was also keen to see Tower Bridge, pictured above.

Something else I didn't know...soldiers are still stationed at the Tower of London, mainly charged with the duty of protecting the Crown Jewels. And for the record, the door to the vault was H-U-G-E (as were the various jewels which adorned the crowns).

As we left the Tower, we saw the Naked Bike Ride go past (I think the finishing point was actually the Tower of London). I was speechless...and still am. We also went to the British Library where we saw the Magna Carta, as well as the British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. A massive highlight was watching Les Misérables...the actress who plays Fantine knew one of Jessie's friends from New York, so she kindly met us for coffee, gave us a backstage tour of the theatre and gave us two tickets to watch the evening performance! She was the nicest person you could possibly hope to meet (she even signed my programme!) with an absolutely phenomenal voice. And Les Mis was incredible...I would 100000% recommend it if you haven't seen it!

And that was our whirlwind tour of London! Thank you so much for looking!

Over the past two and half weeks I've been...

2010-06-09T01:03:00.004+01:00

Eating:

1. Chilli con carne at La Perla (seriously delicious, but a massive portion).
2. Irish cream and tiramisu ice cream sundae at Patisserie Valerie (amazing).

Ordering:

I have a confession.

After six months of sitting on the fence...of telling myself that I 100% could not justify the additional expense of a kit each month (even though I lusted after each and every one since January)...I gave in.

I am now a bona fide Studio Calico subscriber.

I experienced my first reveal at the end of May thinking that I would just supplement the main kit with some adhesive and possibly some add-on paper, thereby honouring my promise to Jamie that I would be abstemious.

Fifteen minutes after the kits went live I was hysterically debating the relative merits of Shade Tree vs. Rec League on the phone with my nearest and dearest. Five minutes after that, Rec League had sold out (problem solved). That was, until I decided that I couldn't live without Front Porch. And some items from the shop. And some add-on paper. And then Studio Calico kindly decided to do a 20% offer...so I got the 7 Gypsies receipt holder for my living room...and some more stuff from the shop.

I need an intervention.

Here's hoping I can stay on the straight and narrow next month (I'll keep you posted).

Inspired by:

I signed up to Tumblr a few weeks ago. I. LOVE. IT. I cannot recommend it enough. Here are a couple of things I've been eyeing up recently:

By dearcolleen - found via decor8.

By tagteamtompkins - found via decor8.

Finishing:

I finally finished the first year of my Masters on Friday! It's been a hectic two months....but as I watched the last couple of minutes countdown on the clock in the exam hall (opposite Westminster Abbey - such a cool location!) I just felt so relieved to have some respite from deadlines and revision. Jamie and I celebrated with curly fries, Desperados and the itbox. It felt good to be free :)

Creating:

More on this later in the week! But in the meantime, you can find out more here and here....

Happy Wednesday!

Some Flickr favourites

2010-05-23T01:33:00.002+01:00

Flickr is one of my absolute favourite places to find inspiration. Here are a few things that have caught my eye recently:

MayaLee Photography via Decor8

Love, LOVE those colours together. Perhaps it's the warmer weather we've been having recently, but I'm becoming increasingly drawn to turquoise (cerulean?).

By nanaCompany

Another pink/turquoise combo. Loving the use of white space...and that frosting looks amazing.

Sea Shanties via Decor8

I just love how whimsical this is! That fabric makes me so happy.

Sweet Sweet Life via Life Through the Lens

Banners of all shapes and sizes are so huge at the moment, but I particularly love this idea by Sweet Sweet Life. There's a sentimental story behind these words which you can read about here.

By kristenaderrick

Kristena Derrick has so many awesome and original ideas...I love how something so simple is so striking at the same time. Check out her amazing Etsy shop to see more!

What's inspiring you at the moment?

A questionnaire!

2010-05-19T00:30:00.004+01:00

The lovely Meghann, who also happens to be the fabulous guest designer over at Sketchy Thursdays this month, tagged me in a very cool questionnaire that has been circulating around the blogosphere recently. I couldn't wait to play along! Here we go:

1. If you could own any car, regardless of cost, what would it be?

A Range Rover Autobiography in white, preferably with spinners. It's my dirty little secret.

2. If you could spend an hour with any person in the world, living or dead, who would you spend it with?

As a general rule, I'm not a huge fan of stand-up comedy. The one exception, however, is Michael McIntyre...I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life! So, if I wanted to laugh, I would have to say him. Otherwise, Winston Churchill and Jackie Kennedy Onassis are at the top of the list.

3. What color is your living room?

A nice, neutral white with a touch of maroon surrounding the fire place (a little random, I know!).

4. What vacations/trips do you have planned for the summer?

Nothing is set in stone at the moment, but Jamie is really keen to go to Spain at some point (I also really like the idea of visiting Marrakesh). I'm pretty sure we'll be making a trip up to Scotland as well.

5. What is your favorite flower?

Daffodils! Every year that little shock of yellow fills me with enthusiasm for the summer months ahead.

6. Chocolate or vanilla?

Chocolate. Without a doubt.

7. What person do you think knows you best in the world?

Hmmm...It's a toss-up between my mother and my boyfriend...

8. Do you have a laid-back or keyed-up personality?

Unfortunately, I'm Type A all the way.

9. What goal do you want to accomplish this year?

I have a huge list! Right now I'm focusing on my fitness, but above all I am 100% determined to pass my driving test. It's an uphill battle learning to drive in London...

10. What is the best photo you've ever taken? If you can, share it!

In terms of composition etc., probably this photo:

But for the 'cool' factor, I love this photo:

Your eyes do not deceive you...it is indeed of three fish floating around in a telephone box. I took the photo during Lyon's la Fête des lumières when I lived in France in 2007. For three days or so, Lyon was full of light installations and projections against some of the city's beautiful old buildings. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. My favourite installation by far was this telephone box (which I had walked passed several times previously) that had been transformed into an aquarium. SO COOL!

Thank you so much, Meghann, for the opportunity to participate! Be sure to hop on over to her blog...you won't be disappointed!

So, technically I'm supposed to tag seven people too...but instead I'm going to open the floor to you guys :) Are you a Type A or a Type B personality? Who would be your ideal dinner party guests? Are you secretly addicted to reality TV? What one food could you not live without? Are you double jointed? What's the one film that you could watch over and over again? Feel free to play along!

On my bedside table

2010-05-13T03:15:00.003+01:00

In addition to watching the election coverage pretty much non-stop since last Thursday, I've recently been reading a lot of fiction in my spare time. I practically devoured The Pact and Redeeming Love (blogged here)...both kept me awake well into the wee small hours of the morning. The Pact was my first Jodi Picoult novel and I was totally blown away by her writing and the sophistication of a seemingly predictable storyline. Redeeming Love was just beautiful...I think perhaps every girl is subconsciously seeking out her very own Michael. In any case, I cannot recommend them enough.

Image credits: here and here

I have three weeks of revision ahead of me, so I wanted a couple of books to counterbalance the monotony of my Masters reading. I was seriously tempted by the Vampire Academy series (yup, I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon!), which I first heard about on Jennifer Johner's blog. I just wasn't 100% convinced that it was entirely my scene, so I settled instead on another Jodi Picoult novel, Nineteen Minutes, and The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (one of my go-to authors, along with John Grisham). Despite its inaccuracies, I love historical fiction...The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance were both fantastic. Has anyone read either Nineteen Minutes or The White Queen? Any other recommendations?

Before I head off, if you're a Twitter fan, Oscraps (@oscraps) is running a promotion at the moment...each new follower is sent a link to a Twitter-themed freebie digital kit! I downloaded the kit this evening and used a couple of the digital elements to create this little button for my blog:

One of these days - when I get a little less stressed out by PSE - I'm very tempted to give digital scrapbooking a try. Digital kits are scarily addictive!

Happy Thursday!

One spring day

2010-05-09T13:28:00.004+01:00

Just a quick, colourful layout to share with you on this dreary Sunday! I was really inspired by Stephanie Howell's Studio Calico challenge on National Scrapbook Day...to Scrap your Opposite. As a general rule, I like to use neutral cardstock (white, vanilla, grey, kraft etc.) with just a few embellishments (usually punches). I tend to avoid bright, vivid colours...and even though I LOVE the layered, distressed look on layouts, I find it difficult to recreate myself.

Sooooo, I decided to use some Dear Lizzy patterned papers against a nice, bold background (American Craft cardstock in Grapefruit). I based the overall layout on Sketch 183 from Pencil Lines...

....and pretty much went from there. I did my best to 'scrap outside the box,' with varying degrees of success (I ended up pulling everything off the page and starting over). I don't really have much in the way of co-ordinating embellishments in my stash, so I used several different punches to accent the page, along with a couple of cut-outs from the Dear Lizzy papers. Can you tell that I have a bit of a thing for butterflies at the moment?! Love, LOVE the Martha Stewart Large Double Butterfly punch and her Monarch Butterfly Edge punch. I also used my brand new Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, which was on sale at Craft Obsessions. Those staples really are tiny!

So, does colour scare you too? Do you like lots of white space or do you like to layer different elements on your layouts? I'd love to know!

Happy Sunday!

A new blog design!

2010-05-07T22:26:00.004+01:00

The blog redesign is FINISHED!! I was so unbelievably nervous about plunging into the unfamiliar world of HTML and CSS...but it has been a lot of fun (unexpectedly so!). I was determined to move outside of my comfort zone, so I started with a white Minima template and went from there. There were a few hiccups along the way, but I am so excited to have finally finished it!

Here is the before:

I loved my original template, but ultimately I wanted to have more input into the overall design and feel of my blog.

And...after sitting on the fence for months on end, I decided to sign up to Twitter! (@gen_bateman). Very few of my friends use it (they're Facebook fans), but I was so intrigued that I had to try it :)

If you encounter any problems...if the text is too small...or the alignment is off...I would really appreciate it if you could let me know! As I said, there were a few hiccups along the way...

Thank you so much for looking!

Revisiting Blogging for Scrapbookers

2010-04-30T12:46:00.006+01:00

When I started my blog (in October 2009), I had very little expectation of anyone actually reading it. I suppose you could say that it was an experiment of sorts. A few days later, however, Shimelle announced on shimelle.com that a new class would be starting in November. It was called Blogging for Scrapbookers. I had never taken an online class before...but I decided to take the plunge. I'm SO glad that I did.

Of the classes that I have taken since, Blogging for Scrapbookers left the greatest impression. It helped to cement a whole new dimension of my life...and through it I was lucky enough to 'meet' some incredibly talented and inspiring people. My subscriptions in Google Reader skyrocketed from about 14 to 165...and I realised just how much the blogosphere can compliment and even facilitate scrapbooking.

After the class finished, I decided that I wanted to document it in a mini album. And, since I am redesigning my blog at the moment, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so! I'm using a 7 Gypsies 5x7 Ringed Board Book, Bo Bunny's Kitchen Spice collection, a variety of alpha and letter stickers, and some AC Remarks transparent accents. Here's what I've come up with so far:

It's funny how different things look when they've been scanned! The screenshots and overall detail are a lot clearer on the actual page. For each prompt, I've taken a screenshot of my blog post and the prompt itself, along with one or two comments. Some journaling printed onto note paper and a couple of accents finish each page off.

I didn't want to spend ages arranging the elements on each page, so some things are thrown together in a slightly haphazard way! I wanted to focus instead on the totality of the album...so I'm hoping that it will look semi-presentable when it's finished. I have another 8 prompts to do, and I also want to do a page on my Google Reader and possibly a Wordle of all 12 prompts that I completed (were there 15 or so in total?). I guess I'll have to see how long my supplies last....

Thank you for looking!

Where in the world?

2010-04-19T19:32:00.008+01:00

Every year in April, my family packs up the car(s) and does something quintessentially British...we spend a week by the seaside. At this time of year the weather can be pretty unpredictable, but so far we've had sunshine and blue skies. Having a change of scenery feels good...so does the sand. The sea? Not so much (it's FREEZING).

Seeing as I'm out of context, I wasn't 100% sure how to approach Week in the Life. There's no real routine...no chores...but I'm enjoying the process of documenting something that brings us all together, which is becoming harder for us to do each year (with the possible exception of Christmas). I'm taking fewer pictures than I expected and concentrating for the most part on the journaling - I think Ali Edwards' Week in the Life Journal Cards will be the perfect way to record the different aspects of each day. I'm so excited to see how it all comes together next week! How's your Week in the Life project coming along?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Getting ready for Week in the Life

2010-04-14T20:26:00.005+01:00

I tend to scrapbook the 'big events,' but I love the idea of documenting the everyday. Next Monday marks the beginning of Week in the Life (organised by Ali Edwards), which guides us through the process of doing exactly that...recording our daily routine for one week. This is the first time that I'll be playing along and I am so excited to get started!

*Many thanks to Laura and Sharyn, whose recent posts about Week in the Life have inspired me to get organised well in advance. If you haven't checked out these posts out already, head on over to their blogs - both have provided some fantastic insights into their processes and thoughts on the project.

Instead of splurging on a dedicated album, I have decided to incorporate the layouts into my American Crafts 8.5x11 cloth album for 2010. For each page, I'm going to use either Ali's Story of Today overlays, or her new digital elements (which will be available for download this weekend from Designer Digitals). For the patterned paper, I have chosen 6 coordinating papers from AC's Letterbox line:

I was a little bit worried that the colours would be too 'cute,' but the papers arrived this morning and they look lovely (and seasonally appropriate!). Baseball card protectors aren't widely available in the UK, so I'm either going to attempt to make my own from 8.5x11 page protectors, or use vellum envelopes to store my memorabilia. For the font, I'm toying with the idea of using either Geo Sans Light, Arial or Verdana.

For the majority of next week I'll be away (with limited internet access), so I'm planning on taking along seven plastic wallets to store my daily bits and pieces and a notebook to record what happens each day. Although I'll be documenting the entirety of each day, I particularly like the idea of recording my outfits and what I'm watching/listening to/reading - things which I'll want to look back on in years to come (suggested in this post on Ali's blog).

Will you be playing along too? I can't wait to see how everyone interprets and documents this project...such a cool idea!

Happy Wednesday!

One manufacturer per month update

2010-04-13T21:00:00.005+01:00

Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned Paper: Studio Calico; Letter Stickers: Studio Calico, Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin Studio; Punches: Fiskars and Martha Stewart; Font: Traveling Typewriter (from dafont.com).

Eek! Does anyone else feel like 2010 is flying by? It feels like yesterday that I was munching on a box of Guylian Belgian Chocolates (I'm addicted to the roasted hazelnut praline) that came with my Easter egg...and now it's almost the middle of April. WOW. Anyhoo, after a busy couple of weekends away things are pretty much back to normal, which means that I've had a bit more time to catch up on my 2010 album. As a quick recap, for this album I decided at the beginning of the year to use one manufacturer per month (blogged here). The manufacturers that I have used so far are:

January - Jenni Bowlin Studio (Town Square and Red/Black Line Extension)
February - Pink Paislee (Cupid)
March - Studio Calico (Home Front)
April - American Crafts (Dear Lizzy)

And for the next few months I'm planning to use:

May - Basic Grey (Nook and Pantry)
June - American Crafts (Botanique)
July - Lily Bee (Hello Sunshine)
August - Cosmo Cricket (Material Girl)

I definitely had some reservations about the idea of limiting myself to just one core manufacturer each month, but so far it has worked out far better than I could have possibly hoped. It has especially helped to constrain my spending on supplies (this was a major motivating factor for using one manufacturer). I'm also enjoying the challenge of using the same patterned paper for multiple layouts in ways that will ensure my album isn't too repetitive. Perhaps the one drawback at the beginning of the year was the monotony of using predominantly the same collection from one manufacturer...but now that it's April (and now that I have collections from four manufacturers), I can switch for a while and work on layouts for February or March, until the 'fatigue' has worn off.

The layout (Muffin's Ritual) at the top of this post was put together using Studio Calico's Home Front. I don't naturally gravitate towards these colours, but I love how they blend together so well...and I love those letter stickers! I should probably mention that Muffin (the chocolate Labrador featured in the layout) is Jamie's family pet. She is quite the character, and over the past few years we've bonded on my visits up to Scotland :) Muffin loves attention, so when I found this apposite quote online I knew I had to create a layout dedicated to her quirks.

Cardstock: American Crafts; Pattered Paper: Pink Paislee; Punches: Ek Success, Fiskars; Letter Stickers: American Crafts, October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin Studio; Bling: from stash.

I created this layout using Pink Paislee's Cupid collection (to accompany this layout). Jamie and I tried in vain to take a couple of self-portrait photos over the Valentine's Day weekend (the sort where you stick the camera out in front of you and hope for the best), but sadly none of them came out particularly well. I was still keen to document them, so I edited them in Picnik and settled on a unifying black and white for both. I'm still obsessed with those October Afternoon Mini Market Stickers..and I'm super excited about ordering these. I am ridiculously addicted to letter stickers!

I'm spending the rest of the week in the library researching another essay (luckily this one is the last!). I'm also working on a new blog design, which will hopefully be up and running in a couple of weeks....I'm excited!!! I'll keep you updated....And I'm catching up on my Google Reader, so expect lots of comments very soon!

Thank you so much for looking!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T02:16:00.004+01:00

I'm heading off for a weekend away tomorrow (with limited internet access), so I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Easter :) Can you believe that it's April??!! We've had sporadic showers and thunderstorms since Thursday, but spring is definitely on it's way...Yesterday, Jamie brought home some of these (my favourite flowers):

And this afternoon, I walked past this little park:

Such a happy sight! Hopefully next week I'll have some more of my Celebrate Life album to share with you, but in the meantime, I started to make some 'Easter' cupcakes this evening...

...They (and I) have quite the journey tomorrow, so I'm postponing the decorating stage until Saturday evening. I'll let you know how they turn out (but so far so good!). I've also bought some bits and pieces to make an Easter chocolate cake, including the obligatory Cadbury mini eggs and Lindt bunny. I gave up chocolate for Lent (along with crisps and Haribo), so I fully intend on making up for lost time over the next couple of days...

I hope you have a fabulous Easter and Bank Holiday weekend!

Project 365: February

2010-03-30T21:43:00.002+01:00

I think everyone occasionally finds that their creativity ebbs and flows with the demands of everyday life. February and March have been strange, frenzied months...and looking over my 365 photos for the past few weeks, I was struck by just how much these pictures reflect this. More than anything, I think I've just been feeling a bit uninspired, with a stop-start routine making it difficult to settle down and switch off. Luckily, the Easter holidays officially begin on Thursday. Teaching for my course has ended, so I have just one more major essay (to be submitted at the end of April) and one exam (in June) and then I have completed the first year of my Masters! It has definitely flown by.

Anyhoo, despite February's lack of inspiration (I took nine photos of various meals and foodstuffs), I took a few photos which have become some of my favourites so far:

1. Every time I walk through this little square, I fall in love with it all over again. It is at its most striking in the evening, when the street lamps are lit and the buildings are illuminated with a gentle glow. Round about this time of day, it reminds me of Sherlock Holmes and the London of yesteryear...so very cool.

2. If something exciting is happening on a particular day (such as the Super Bowl), I'll try and take a photograph that acknowledges it in some way. We have some Saints memorabilia lying around the flat, so I grabbed this football and experimented until I got a shot that I liked.

3. As I was walking out of the library on a dreary and depressing day, I noticed this little blossom, which was a happy reminder that spring is on its way. I was dashing off elsewhere, so I whipped out my camera, put it into macro mode and hoped for the best. With a little bit of editing in Picnik, it came out much better than I originally expected.

4. Walking home one Thursday, I noticed that there was lots of activity outside of the Royal Opera House...a couple of days later, I realised that they were making preparations for the Baftas, the British equivalent to the Oscars. So, on the big day, Jamie and I wandered down to Covent Garden to see what was going on, but sadly it was impossible to get a close to the action. I did manage to get this photo though...and the following week, it was pretty exciting to think that I was walking in the footsteps of Kate Winslet and other hallowed celebrities :)

Something from Almost Nothing: Prompts 1 & 2

2010-03-21T19:02:00.007Z

I am so very glad that I took the plunge and signed up to take Something from Almost Nothing. This class is amazing, not only for the inspirational prompts that Shimelle sends us three days a week, but also for the enthusiastic and supportive atmosphere that it has fostered so far. It's so exciting to see so many blogs abuzz with such incredible creativity!

I decided to use an American Crafts 6x6 album with a customisable chipboard cover for my Celebrate Life album. For the theme, I wanted to use some of my favourite photographs from the past four or so years (while I was at university). I realised the other day that I have been so focused on my future that I have been neglecting the past...so this is a good opportunity for me to take stock and remember the good times, while at the same time celebrating what is (hopefully!) to come.

I don't have much in the way of metals, so prompt 1 was a bit of a challenge. I do, however, have a Big Bite and some eyelets, so I played around until I came up with something I liked. I'm still in love with those American Crafts chipboard frames...I originally wanted to use some AC Fabric Thickers (By the Yard in Bubblegum) for the title, but they just didn't sit well with the rest of the layout. Luckily the frames complimented the October Afternoon patterned paper, so I printed off my title and journaling (font used is Learning Curve from dafont.com) and left it at that.

*Apologies for the slightly blurred image - my scanner can't handle raised surfaces or kraft!

For prompt 2, I used the patterned paper scraps from my 'This is Why I Scrapbook' layout. I love Basic Grey's Lemonade collection and was so sad to see so much of it go to waste, so it felt good to stretch it a bit further :) I was really inspired by the circles used by Tara Anderson and Laura Buckingham in the prompt, but struggled to create the same look with such a small medium. I settled on a linear design instead, embellishing each circle with some bling and some butterflies, and used foam pads to give each circle some dimension.

For each prompt I am doing a double layout, so that the 6x6 photo will feature separately:And, because I was the epitome of all things pink at university, I have tried to co-ordinate my layouts with my style and personality as it was between the ages of 19 and 22/23. Needless to say, pink will feature throughout the album to provide some consistency, along with the same title and journaling fonts.

I can't wait to get started on the next prompts! I have some ideas for the ribbon and cardstock prompts, but I am a bit stuck on how to incorporate a page protector into a layout...

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Welcome to my little corner of the world...

2010-03-21T15:18:00.009Z

Back in January, Kelly Purkey wrote a post on her blog called 'Where I Work.' Have you read it? One comment that she made in particular really stood out for me:

"So I want to tell you that you don't need to have a big elaborate scraproom or a mini scrapbook store in your house to really rock it."

Although I definitely don't 'rock it' just yet, I was vigorously nodding my head when I read Kelly's post. Even though I find myself longing for higher surfaces (I prefer to scrap standing up), less condensation (my scrap space is in the kitchen) and a slightly more 'free flowing' and methodical space (things can get a tad cramped at the moment), I have grown to love my little corner of the world. And, since I am taking Shimelle's Something from Almost Nothing class at the moment, I thought that this would be as good a time as any to share it with you. So, here we go:

At the beginning of last summer, I started out with just one set of those handy plastic drawers. They aren't pretty (at all), but they are very functional. Since then, I've added various bits and pieces as my stash has grown. The house-shaped Cath Kidston sewing basket, for example, appeared after I resurrected my sewing machine last August (you can find it here). I bought the box underneath it in a W H Smith sale - it's going to store 4"x 6" photos once I get around to printing them online from Photobox. The white boxes from Ikea behind my sewing basket contain small punches and my stamping supplies (which are growing by the minute).

As you move to the left, the stuff propped against the drawers mostly consists of my patterned paper (in the plastic accordion folder) and various 12"x 12" plastic wallets which contain cardstock scraps, patterned paper scraps, layouts that went badly wrong, and bits of photo paper that have been guillotined but are still usable. I also have a 12"x 12" glass cutting mat for my Slice machine wedged in there, along with some cereal boxes, which are useful for all kinds of scrapping shenanigans (mostly messy stuff).

In the drawers (labelled with my Dymo Embossing Label Maker) from left to right: Tools, including my heat buddy, my Xyron Create-a-Sticker (from Mrs. Rose!), refills, heat gun, my Big Bite and the label maker, among other bits and bobs; Stickers, including AC Thickers and various other alpha stickers; Embellishments of all varieties; Cuttlebug accessories, including embossing folders, dies and cutting mats; and my Slice machine, with my three design cards (Mistletoe, Spook Alley and Words & Expressions). I have another drawer that I can expand in to over the next few months...although it's already getting some overspill.

On top of the handy plastic drawers, I store my Cuttlebug and easel, scrapbooking-related books and magazines (holders are from Muji), my collections of ribbons and scissors (also from Mrs. Rose!) and my go-to supply of cardstock. I'm a big fan of AC cardstock, if only because I bought this a few months ago - seeing as I buy most of my supplies online, it's a huge help being able to use the swatch book to compare the colour on the screen to the colour in real life. You can also just see this stamp peeking out at the front, as well as my Slice tool kit (also very useful).

For the past few months I have monopolised the kitchen table as my makeshift work space (you can read more about it here). On one side, I have set up my laptop and printer (which is very small, so it can be moved around easily). My scanner also usually sits here, but I wasn't using it on this particular day so it is tucked away elsewhere.

On the other side, I like to collate all the things that I know I will need as I work on a layout: my Making Memories paper trimmer, which folds out to become a 12"x 12" surface (this was a birthday present from Jamie last year after my faithful Fiskars trimmer finally packed up); my 'punch bucket' (love those die-cut hearts! It's from Paperchase); my tool organiser; and my cutting mat, which is supposed to protect the glass surface on the table from getting covered in glue....but which doesn't always work. When I'm working on a layout, I like to take a step back from it every now and then to see how it is progressing, hence the easel. And I store my 'one manufacturer per month' papers, cardstock and embellishments in 12" x 12" plastic wallets (you can see my January supplies laid out on the cutting mat) so that I have easy access.

In case you're wondering, my work space looks like that for all of ten minutes. After said ten minutes, it looks more like this:
And that's pretty much it. A few bits and pieces have migrated to other parts of the flat, but 95% of my supplies live along one small wall in the kitchen. It's not always ideal, but it works. And when space is at a premium (which is almost unavoidable in London), you have to make do with what you have :) That's not to say that I don't want my own dedicated scrap space one day...I've already sort of mapped out in my mind what it will look like...and I've already started hoarding things from Etsy to decorate it! Case in point:

Image credits: here and here

I LOVE THESE. I originally discovered the 'Get Inspired and Make Something' print (from stellagirl) via Kal Barteski's blog....and seriously, Stella is the nicest person you could possibly hope to 'do business with.' She was so very patient with me as I vaguely mentioned that "some sort of pink and lime green" for the text would be perfect (until I found the exact colours on lillypulitzer.com). And, when the prints arrived, they were beautifully wrapped. Check out her Etsy store here.

Anyhoo, I think that I've rambled on enough! Thank you so much for looking, and have a wonderful weekend!

Back in the blogging saddle

2010-03-17T23:22:00.006Z

The all-consuming essay has been handed in (YEY!!!). I've spent the last few days catching up on sleep and laundry, all the while worrying about how badly neglected my blog has been over the past few weeks. My aim at the beginning of the year was to blog a minimum of three times a week....and so far I've failed miserably. But, sometimes life gets in the way of documenting life. I think that can be a good thing.

Anyway, now that I'm back in the blogging saddle, I thought I would share a few photos with you. In between the sleepless nights and the caffeine boosts (of which there were many), Jamie and I ventured out of London to go to the Craft Barn Craft Fest. The Craft Barn is my 'local' scrapbook store. By 'local,' I mean that it takes us about an hour and a half to get there by tube and train....and the same to get back. But it's worth the effort :)

While Jamie consumed a couple of coffees in the adjacent coffee shop (the photo above with the book shelves and tables), I mostly pottered around. I went to the November Craft Fest last year so I had seen most of the demonstrations, but it was a good opportunity to replenish things that were close to running out. I did get some new Cuttlebug embossing folders though, as well as some Bazzill cardstock in Jet Stream (LOVE that colour!). I always seem to put hundreds of things in my basket and then put them back...do you tend to splurge in scrapbook stores too?

After I finished up in the Craft Barn, we did a little bit of exploring in the town and then settled down in the local pub for the rest of the afternoon, where we had a few drinks and a couple of snacks before heading back to London. As we were walking back to the station, the sun was setting behind us - so pretty!!!

So, do you enjoy going to classes/demonstrations held by your local scrapbook store, or do you prefer to do everything online?

Wishing for tranquil waters...

2010-03-08T22:31:00.002Z

It's that time of year again...essay deadlines are looming. The kitchen table is covered with books, photocopies and discarded cups of tea. The backspace key on my MacBook has become my best friend...and my worst enemy. This essay has become all-consuming. I miss scrapbooking...and blogging...I even miss the ironing. But I'll let you into a secret: deep, deep down, this is my favourite part of being a student. I love the adrenaline rush, the caffeine, the late nights and the early mornings. I love that feeling of frustration and even desperation as you attempt to construct and argue your thesis...and the elation as you finally push 'print.' In some perverse way, it makes me happy.

That said, I'm ready for life to return to normal. I'm so excited to take Shimelle's new class, and to spend some much-needed time getting caught up on layouts and blog posts. I recorded E!'s Live on the Red Carpet on Sunday night and I can't wait to devour the dresses (I got a sneak peek at Kate Winslet and Sandra Bullock, who both looked STUNNING). I'm looking forward to watching my new favourite TV shows: The Good Wife and True Blood. And I can't wait to get stuck into these:

If you've read either of them, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Jamie and I are going up to Scotland at the end of the week to watch the Scotland v. England rugby match at Murrayfield (he's Scottish...I'm English...and I'm guessing that this won't be conducive to domestic harmony), so hopefully I'll be able to catch up with my Google Reader on the train. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful week! Are you enjoying the sun where you are? It's so exciting to finally see some blue sky :)

Valentine's Day (ShakeItPhoto style)...

2010-02-27T12:40:00.002Z

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee; Letter Stickers: American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Making Memories, October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket, Dymo; Punch: Dovecraft; Fonts: Another Typewriter, Traveling Typewriter, American Typewriter; Adhesive: American Crafts

Sometimes (but rarely for me), a layout just falls into place. This was one of those layouts. I spent a good ten minutes staring at the Pink Paislee patterned papers (the 'one manufacturer' for February), my collection of Thickers and letter stickers...and finally the photographs. Oh how I love the ShakeItPhoto app for the iPhone! For those times when it is completely inappropriate to whip out your camera and take 250 photos of the contents of your plate, the ShakeItPhoto app (and the iPhone in general) are a scrapbooker's/aspiring paparazzo's dream. Anyway, ten minutes later the layout was pretty much in place. This is highly unprecedented - it was very much a 'ta-da!'/hallelujah moment. I'm keep my fingers crossed that I have more of them...

I tried three new things on this layout: the new Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type letter stickers; the October Afternoon Mini Market letter stickers; and American Crafts' This to That permanent glue runner. All three are awesome. I would definitely recommend the AC adhesive - it was very smooth, very easy to use...and it actually adhered all of the glue to the page, rather than half of it...although I have a feeling that my problems with glue runners are more to do with the person applying them than with the product itself. *Ahem.* I had a lot of fun putting the grid together - to give it a bit of dimension I used two different sizes of 3D foam dots (applied haphazardly to the page). I think those Lullaby Glitter Thickers are my favourites so far...I just wish they were available in more colours!

We had such an incredible Valentine's weekend. Luckily for me, Jamie figured out pretty early on in our relationship that the fastest way to my heart is through food, so he took me to the Palm restaurant (an American Steakhouse) for dinner on Saturday. WOW. The food there was unforgettable. We did a lot of laughing...I sampled a Razzmopolitan (or two) and the waiter gave us free desserts. We will definitely be going back! On Sunday morning we had bacon sandwiches and exchanged cards, Jamie gave me five beautiful red roses (one for each year of our relationship) and then we wandered off to Starbucks for hot chocolates and mocha frappuccinos before settling down to watch TV.

I may have also themed my socks to the occasion.

Have a wonderful weekend!

This is Why I Scrapbook: Part 2

2010-02-19T12:18:00.006Z

Have you ever thought about why you scrapbook? Maybe you've done so 'accidentally,' when someone asks you what it is that you do for fun...and why. Perhaps, as you attempt to explain away another scrapbooking-related purchase to your husband/partner/boyfriend/friend/parent/yourself (I tend to find that they're either enablers or just make you feel really bad), you cry, 'but it makes me happy!' Or maybe, like many of us, you've just never really given it any thought.

[You might be wondering at this point why it's even worth it, but here's my theory: scrapbookers document things that are meaningful to them. And I'm guessing that if you asked almost any scrapbooker, they would rate scrapbooking as pretty high on their 'things that are very important to me list.']

Before I participated in 'This is Why I Scrapbook,' I had never organised my reasons into coherent thoughts, but I'm so glad that I made the effort to do so.

For myself - and others - it was an opportunity to take stock...to look at how we process and document our lives through a layout. In this vein, I would argue that a scrapbook isn't just a pimped out photo album. Rather, it is a genuine labour of love (apologies for the cliche)...which provides stories and insights into times gone by. Yes, a photo speaks a thousand words. But when you have thousands of photographs, those words get lost.

For the most part, however, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to thank someone whose passion and enthusiasm for scrapbooking left an indelible mark on my life. Thank you again, Mrs. Rose. You rock. (My credit card company thinks so, too!).

So, go make yourself a cup of tea/coffee/whatever keeps you sane and head on over to Shimelle's blog. Take a peek at each of the entries and vote for those people whose reasons resonate with you. Hopefully you'll be inspired to put pen to paper and record your own thoughts on why you scrapbook....I'd love to hear them.

And thank you so much to those of you that have voted for me. You rock too :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T19:19:00.003Z

Cardstock: American Crafts, Bazzill Core'dinations; Patterned paper: American Crafts; Letter stickers: American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin Studio; Embossing folder: Crafts Too; Punch: EK Success

'You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.'

Dr. Seuss

Scraplifts and other stories

2010-02-13T00:09:00.003Z

Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper; Jenni Bowlin Studio; Letter stickers: American Crafts, My Little Shoebox, Jenni Bowlin Studio; Punches: Fiskars, EK Success, Martha Stewart, Woodware; Felt star: Paperchase; Buttons, pearls: from stash.

Owing to the loss of Scrapbook Inspirations and the closure of Borders (pretty much the only stockist of Creating Keepsakes in the UK), I recently started buying the UK edition of Scrapbook Trends. Even though I have a sneaky suspicion that it is a couple of issues behind its US counterpart, I 100% LOVE IT. And I was particularly inspired by Ronda Palazzari's layout, featured on the cover of the February 2010 issue (entitled 'Logan'). I decided that it would be perfect for three photos that I had struggled to incorporate into a layout, so I scraplifted the basic structure of Ronda's page and switched in my own colour scheme (based around JBS papers).

I think what particularly appealed to me about Ronda's layout was the effortless way she combined so many techniques and elements without detracting from her photos. I would definitely recommend taking a peek at her blog, which is full of incredible inspiration.

Anyhoo, I was so obsessed with Scrapbook Trends that I decided to try out an issue of Cards magazine as well (of the same publisher). I should probably mention here that I have never been particularly interested in card making, although I always marvel at what other people produce.

And yes, I may have developed a bit of an obsession with this magazine, too (it's serious eye candy).

So I decided to try my hand at making a card....

This was very much an experiment. It meant that I got to play with my Heat Buddy, which always provides hours of endless embossing entertainment. It also meant that I got to play with these cute little American Crafts chipboard frames (from its Letterbox line) and my new American Crafts 'Thanks' stamps (which are very awesome indeed). But, most exciting of all, I got to play with this:

I have to give a massive shout out to the lovely Meghann for this. Back in November, she posted this gorgeous card, complete with signature stamp. I coveted said stamp. And then I came across Sweet Papery on Etsy, which sells reasonably priced custom made stamps such as the one above...and they ship internationally (this was very much an hallelujah moment). I couldn't resist it! I am totally thrilled with how it turned out....

Sweet Papery also has a website, which has some lovely stamps, many of which are self-inking. It's all very drool-worthy! My current favourite is the abigail stamp, but seriously...there are so many to choose from...

I just beat Jamie at at archery on Wii Resort (this never happens), so I'm off to revel in my glory!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Who dat?!

2010-02-09T15:38:00.003Z

For someone who doesn't understand the first thing about American football (despite the best efforts of Jamie and my friends and host families in Memphis), I have a perverse obsession with it. It might have something to do with the atmosphere, or possibly the food (I am pretty much addicted to funnel cake). Whatever the reason, I was super excited about the Super Bowl this weekend.

I was especially excited because I saw the New Orleans Saints play the San Diego Chargers at Wembley in 2008. This was my first NFL Wembley experience...and it definitely didn't disappointment! The Saints were the dedicated home team, providing thousands of themed flags for the crowd to show their support (you can sort of see my flag in the photo above).

I have it on good authority that it was a pretty good game, with the Chargers attempting a Hail Mary pass in the final second (although it didn't quite work).

Characteristically, I was a big fan of the half time entertainment! There was a mini parade, complete with floats and marching band (and cheerleaders of course).

I loved the Saints cheerleaders! I practically fell over with excitement when we found out that they were selling and autographing calendars before the game.

I originally wanted to support the Chargers, but I was swayed by the enthusiasm of the Saints fans scattered around us - it is amazing that they travelled so far to support their team! The Saints won 37-32, which I'm told was pretty impressive given that Reggie Bush was having knee surgery at the time.

For me, the highlight was definitely the merchandise...Jamie and I bought miniature helmets and footballs, as well as an NFL London 2008 pennant. And, being the hoarder that I am, all of this was on display for the Super Bowl this weekend! Jamie was away on Sunday, but we watched it last night while munching on a KFC boneless bucket.

And you know what? I almost understood American football by the end of the game. Almost.

I'll be back later with a crafty post!

Project 365

2010-02-02T15:47:00.002Z

Can you believe that it's February already?! I'm a little bit relieved...January always feels very anti-climactic after the fun and festivities of December. And it's so very dreary - I'm definitely ready for spring :)

On the up side, the end of January also marked the successful completion of the first month of my Project 365! I decided to do this at approximately 23:55 on New Year's Eve, having done no research whatsoever and having no real clue what it precisely involved, other than you had to take a picture everyday for one whole year.

And that's exactly what I've been doing. I didn't set out with a particular aim or theme. As I have progressed with the project I've started to make an effort to photograph things that I might not necessarily document, which is especially the case since I've been back in London.

But generally I just photograph things that interest me...as well as those parts of my daily routine that I usually ignore or overlook. I've also noticed that I photograph 'things' as opposed to people...and that I curiously gravitate towards reds and creams, which was totally unplanned.

I wasn't sure what to expect, or even if I would stick with it. But I can honestly say that I've loved the experience so far. It has taught me to look rather than to simply see. And, had I not been doing a 365, I probably wouldn't have taken these photos, which are two of my favourites from January:

I've loved seeing how other 365 projects have progressed since the start of the year. If you're doing a 365 or if you're interested in starting one, I really recommend checking out this post by Ali Edwards and this post by Sharyn Carlson. Both Ali and Sharyn have been documenting their 365 projects using Becky Higgins' Project Life, which sadly isn't available in the UK at the moment (although Becky mentioned on her blog that it might be shipping internationally in the coming weeks). Sharyn's idea of using Shuttercal is a brilliant one - it helps you to keep track of your photos in a calendar format, which makes life a whole lot easier! Also, if you have an iPhone, Lisa Truesdell mentioned a very cool app on her blog which is sort of like Shuttercal - just search for Project 365 on iTunes and it should come up with the link.

Are you doing a Project 365 this year? I'd love to hear about it if you are! You can take a peek at mine here. And here is the photo for 31/01/10, because January just had to be awkward and have 31 days:

This is why I scrapbook

2010-01-30T10:11:00.011Z

Like Shimelle, I don't fit the conventional stereotype that is so often associated with that curious enigma...the 'scrapbooker.' I don't have any children. Or grandchildren. Or pets. I am, in fact, an unmarried, 23 year old postgraduate student.

So, why scrapbook?

Had it not been for one person in particular, it is highly likely that I would never have discovered scrapbooking as we understand it today. That person is Mrs. Rose.
Back in 2004, I spent a year living and studying in the U.S. (Memphis, TN to be exact). As a high school senior, I lived with 9 host families who had daughters in my class (I also lived with my AP English teacher), changing families roughly every three weeks. Mrs. Rose was one of my 'host moms.' She was also a scrapbooker.

When I mentioned to Mrs. Rose that I wanted to make a scrapbook of my photos, mementos and memorabilia from my 'Senior year' (it's always such a novelty for me to be able to say that!), I envisioned some sort of album, some scissors and a glue stick...nothing fancy or complicated...just a simple keepsake to acknowledge my own 'American dream.'

But then Mrs. Rose led me through an innocuous door...to reveal her very own scrapbooking room. This, for me, was a total revelation. I had never, ever heard of such a thing. And, as she gave me a tour of her scrapping space and her supplies, I realised that I had pretty much died and gone to heaven.
Mrs. Rose equipped me with my very own pink post-bound scrapbook album, a Fiskars paper trimmer, a pair of Cutter Bee Precision-Cut Scissors and some Tombow adhesive. She gave me her permission to delve into her supply of cardstock and patterned papers. She even let me use her original Sizzix Personal Die-Cutter, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever...And then she took me to Michaels.

I was smitten.

Of course I realise now - six years later - that my first foray into scrapbooking didn't just satisfy my life-long stationery addiction. At the time, it helped me to get through several bouts of homesickness. It became a catharsis. It was a way of processing an incredible and totally life-changing experience. It was a way of preserving this experience...and, most importantly of all, it was a way of doing it justice.

And this is why I scrapbook.

I scrapbook because I am blessed with a fantastic family, a wonderful boyfriend and some fabulous friends. I scrapbook because I love this life that I lead. I scrapbook because one day I want my children to understand who I was...and who I am. I scrapbook to process and preserve the past. I scrapbook because I want to do my experiences and my memories justice. I scrapbook simply because it is something that I love to do. And I scrapbook because of Mrs. Rose.

Thank you, Mrs. Rose.

*Click here to view this layout in full...

Where has the time gone?!

2010-01-25T23:02:00.003Z

Wow, has it seriously been over a week already? The last few days have honestly gone by in a blur - after being snowed in for 8 days, things are definitely back to reality! Speaking of being snowed in, I have a couple of layouts to share with you:

Cardstock in Rouge, White and Stone, American Crafts; Kraft and white Dotted Swiss cardstock (inner circle), Bazzill Basics Paper; Apron Lace punch, Fiskars; circles and snowflakes cut using Making Memories Slice Cordless Design Cutter (with Mistletoe Design Card); letter stickers, Jenni Bowlin Studio; snowflake peel offs, Stampendous; font is Another Typewriter from dafont.com; bling and ribbon from stash.

We had a phenomenal amount of snow at the beginning of January! As you can probably imagine, there were plenty of opportunities to photograph the snow-covered landscape/our garden, so I selected a few of my absolute favourites for this particular layout. I was originally thinking of making a grid in Picasa, but then I came across sketch 169 by Susan Dupre over at Pencil Lines....

Image credit

...which seemed to incorporate enough photos without looking too cluttered (if you know what I mean). Susan's own layout was also snow-themed, which pretty much cinched it for me! I scraplifted some elements from her original layout, such as the snowflakes and the ribbon, and then adapted the remainder of the sketch to suit the photos and the overall theme of my layout (I was going for an 'Aspen,' 'log cabin' sort of vibe).

As a side note, I should probably add that I am pretty much obsessed with Pencil Lines at the moment! I love the versatility of their sketches and the incredible inspiration that their design team provides each week. And, I'm SO excited about the release of Pencil Lines, a Sketch Book for Scrapbookers...I'm a big fan of the original Scrapbook Page Maps, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Pencil Lines book will provide some new ideas!

Anyhoo, here is the second layout:

White Dotted Swiss cardstock, Bazzill Basics Paper; patterned paper, all Jenni Bowlin Studio; glitter cardstock from stash; Scallop Sentiment punch, Fiskars; font is Another Typewriter from dafont.com; letter stickers include Jenni Bowlin Tiny Circle Alpha Cardstock stickers, My Little Shoebox Mini Alpha Stickers and American Crafts Thickers (Subway).

I just want to reassure everyone that the hat I'm wearing in these photographs is 100% faux fur!

I was so excited to finally be able to wear my scarf and mittens set that I bought in the January sales last year, hence these photos! It turns out that British winters are ordinarily just a bit too mild for such a big, thick scarf...but the 'big freeze' provided the perfect opportunity to wrap up warm! This layout actually came together quite quickly, which is a bit of a rarity for me...I suppose I love the process as much as the satisfaction of finishing the 'end product'...

And, just in case you were wondering how much snow we had at the beginning of January, here is a 'before and after' comparison of the snow we had in our orchard just before Christmas (blogged here) and the snow during the first week of January:

A little known fact about me: meteorology is my guilty little pleasure...Storm Chasers is one of my absolute favourite TV shows (I have a bit of a thing for Reed Timmer) and I check accuweather.com pretty much everyday. Yup, I'm a self-confessed nerd.

Ooh, and if you want to see some more snow photos, check out my 'Snow' Flickr set.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Special delivery...

2010-01-14T19:19:00.005Z

I LOVE getting things in the post. I get particularly excited about magazine subscriptions and catalogues, but even bills have been known to get my heart racing (mostly because they make me feel like a grown up). Today was such a day. This morning, our poor postman toiled through the slush and snow to deliver this:

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Wow. Let me say first that I love Elizabeth Kartchner. I love her blog. I love her layouts. I practically fell off my swivel seat when I found out that she was collaborating with American Crafts to create her own line of patterned paper and embellishments. And, I love this book. Yes, it is visually stunning...and yes, it is full of fresh, inspiring and innovative ideas. But, more than anything, it just makes me unashamedly and deliriously happy.

And then, round about midday, the doorbell rang. This materialised:

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Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond). Another wow. I am totally, completely and utterly in awe of her achievements. This woman makes me marvel...how does she find time to be married to a rancher, raise four children, homeschool said children, plan and publish a cookbook (which made it to the no. 1 spot on the New York Times Best Seller list), maintain a blog and pursue her interest in photography??? I haven't even included the delectable Charlie in this list, who deserves specific mention, mostly because I am very taken with his droopy ears and Eeyore-esque demeanour. I have a newfound love for Basset Hounds. Like her blog, The Pioneer Woman Cooks is accessible, endearing and tantalisingly mouthwatering. She posts recipes on her blog almost daily, so head on over and take a little peek if you haven't already done so. While you're there, be sure to check out From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be there for days.

Before I head off, I have couple of links to share: the first I found via Kevin and Amanda (always a favourite) - www.kuler.adobe.com. This is a scrapbooker's dream...it allows you to experiment with different colourways and themes. It even allows you to upload pictures from your computer or Flickr (and picks out the corresponding colours for you). Very cool. Also, with CHA Winter 2010 fast approaching, I am loving the sneaks and reveals that are cropping up all over the blogosphere at the moment. I think that this line by Cosmo Cricket might be one of my favourites of all time (seriously):

Image credit

It reminds me just a little bit of Studio Calico's Home Front. I L-O-V-E it.

Thank you so much for your comments on the post below! If you have any hints or tips about how you go about accumulating your stash in an inexpensive/cost effective way, be sure to let me know!

Snowed in = scrap happy

2010-01-13T17:30:00.004Z

So, after this post about the snow that we had just before Christmas, it started to snow again...with a vengeance. To date, we've had about 15 inches of snow...and we've been snowed in for the past week (as I might have mentioned, we just can't handle snow in our neck of the woods). And, like most self-respecting scrappers with too much time on their hands, I've been getting busy with my glue stick.

* Once my laptop is fixed I'll scan these layouts and upload them to Flickr - despite my best efforts, Picasa and Photobucket keep removing my edits. I hate technology sometimes...

Cardstock in Rouge and Vanilla, American Crafts; Kraft, Bazzill Basics Paper; patterned papers, all Jenni Bowlin Studio; Subway Thickers, American Crafts; Tiny Circle Alphas, Jenni Bowlin Studio; scalloped circles cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Scalloped Circles Small) using a Cuttlebug; font, American Typewriter.

'{2010}': Inspired by a layout featured in the December issue of Creating Keepsakes (I left the magazine in London, so my apologies for not providing specific credit!). My resolutions are organised by theme in each of the scalloped circles, e.g. scrapping, cooking, budgeting etc. - I wanted the layout to be simple and to the point.

For my 2010 album, I've challenged myself to use just one core manufacturer a month. I think this idea might require some explanation, so bear with me...(!) I originally started scrapping in 2004, but took a four year hiatus while I completed my BA. After graduating last year, I resurrected my passion for scrapbooking, only to find that a lot had understandably changed! And so...my experimental phase began. I wanted to try everything...every product...every technique...I was (*shudder*) out of control. More importantly, my endless enthusiasm was costing me a small fortune. But, by using one manufacturer a month, I still get to play with new products and pretty paper lines...my spending is just that little bit more sustainable.

Cardstock in Rouge, Vanilla and Coffee, American Crafts; Apron Lace punch, Fiskars; square punch, Woodware; patterned papers, all Jenni Bowlin Studio; Cardstock Alpha Stickers (Red Bookprint), Jenni Bowlin Studio; tiny Alphabet Stickers, My Little Shoebox.

'Believe': My One Little Word layout - I couldn't find the quite right words for my journaling, so I used some inspirational quotes instead.

I should probably mention that this isn't supposed to be restrictive - it's supposed to be cost effective. There are some products that I know I couldn't live without...including:

The obligatory Thickers.
Punches. I. LOVE. THEM.
Any kind of alphabet stickers. My current favourites are Tiny Alphas (Making Memories), Tiny Circle Alphas (JBS) and Alphabet Stickers (My Little Shoebox).
Bling. I have a sneaky suspicion that I was a magpie in a former life.

I've already included all of these on my 2010 layouts so far (I have a couple more to post later on in the week). I can also pretty much guarantee that this list will get a whole lot bigger as the year progresses, because I'm learning what I love to use (and what suits me best). And, if you're anything like me (a chronic perfectionist), having just a few papers to hand - as well as a limited colourway - makes life a lot easier. I also love the consistency of the layouts...which I'm hoping will work well for Project 12 @ Scrapbook & Cards Today.

Cardstock in Stone and Rouge, American Crafts; Dotted Swiss cardstock, Bazzill; butterfly punch, Martha Stewart; patterned paper, Jenni Bowlin Studio; Tiny Alpha stickers, Making Memories; Effervescence punch, Fiskars; adhesive pearls, from stash.

'2009 Facebook statuses': I originally got this idea from Molly Irwin's blog. I was amazed by how my facebook statuses so accurately depict my 2009 - panicking about my dissertation, booking my first driving lesson, taking my last ever French exam, graduating...the sad passing of both my hamster and my dog (I'd had him since I was five years old!). If you haven't done it yet, you can find it here.

I'm curious - how do you go about accumulating your stash? Do you buy impulsively or do you plan ahead? Do you have a favourite manufacturer? I'd love to get some different perspectives!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

On the twelfth day of Christmas (sort of)

2010-01-06T14:09:00.004Z

On Christmas Eve:

We finished decorating the tree...

...and we finished decorating the rest of the house.

We spent a little while admiring our handiwork.

We had mulled wine after Church.

I wrapped stocking presents...

...and big presents.

On Christmas Day:

We opened our stockings.

We had some of this.

We opened these.

We had some more mulled wine.

And then we rolled off to bed.

The end. (I promise).

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

2010-01-04T22:54:00.006Z

Snow is a rare and wonderful thing in my neck of the woods (London/South East England). If it snows at all, it usually does so in February or early March...and we are woefully ill-equipped to handle it. So, imagine our collective surprise when the first flurries of snow appeared in the week before Christmas. Not only did it settle (which is pretty exciting in itself)...it just kept on snowing. And then imagine the disruption and mass hysteria that followed. People found themselves snowed in with 5cm (2") of snow. The roads and pavements were treacherous. Waitrose - the local supermarket - could not receive deliveries. Those people who weren't snowed in were advised to stay indoors. The media was busily making inflammatory and accusatory comments about the sorry state of the local infrastructure. Weathermen (and women) pretty much predicted that the apocalypse was coming.

And I was giddy excitement, because only the day before it had started to snow, I had put together my 'Wintertime' layout for my JYC album, which bemoaned the lack of snow in December.

Luckily, just as the snow started to descend from the heavens, I returned to my country mouse roots. Don't get me wrong...I love London in the snow (it's almost as though someone has pushed the mute button it becomes so deathly silent), but there is something so totally magical about the countryside when it is blanketed with snow. Pretty much the first thing that I did when I got home was 'borrow' one of my mother's winter coats which sort of resembled a snuggly quilted duvet (because I'm far too impractical to own such things) and traipse around outside with my camera in hand.

I love how snow tells a story. More often than not, we have absolutely no idea what goes on in our garden (with the exception of the occasional sightings of foxes, rabbits and deer). But the footprints left by wayward furry visitors painted an exciting picture of the Disney-esque happenings when our backs are turned. The orchard looked as though it had survived a stampede in the morning, while cold little birds congregated outside our kitchen window, grateful for the bird seed and bread that had been laid out for them.

I also love how even the most mundane, seemingly uninteresting and unremarkable elements of our everyday lives become beautiful in their own right when it snows. Our brown and bedraggled hydrangeas were transformed by the glistening snow, as was this pile of tree trunks.

Sadly, the snow had almost completely melted by Christmas day. But, the cold weather has continued into 2010 and it is supposed to snow again tonight...and intermittently over the next few days. It is very, very chilly indeed. Bring on the mass hysteria (part 2).

Blog love

2010-01-03T11:07:00.008Z

Photo Credit

Yesterday evening I gave my blog some much needed TLC. If you're reading this post in Google Reader, hop on over to Life & Layouts to check out the amazing blogs that I have added to my blog roll!

Since taking Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class, my list of subscriptions in Google Reader has increased to ten times the size that it was three months ago. Madness. The blogs to your right are those that provide me with endless hours of entertainment and inspiration. Some are on my wavelength, some make me think outside of the box...all of them inspire me to become a better scrapbooker, cook, photographer and person. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I would also quite like to live on a ranch. I know that the list will grow in 2010, and I seriously need to think up some imaginative titles for each section (any suggestions will be gratefully received).

So, thank you ladies, for broadening my horizons and for setting the standard to which I aspire. And yet another THANK YOU to my readers, followers...those of you that take the time to comment and to those of you that simply stop by from time to time. You rock. But I'm going to stop there, because this isn't the Oscars.

Anyhoo, my proudest achievement to date is adding a divider to my blog! I even fiddled with the HTML. The needle and thread is from I Love My Blog Makeover, which also has a very handy tutorial on how to install it. And then I got thinking. I have come across some really fantastic and informative tutorials on how to edit and improve the design of your blog in recent months. Most of the time I forget where I originally found them, so I end up spending hours trawling through my Firefox history hoping that something will remind me...I could, of course, bookmark them like a normal person, but that's just not my modus operandi. Organisational issues aside, they might be helpful for those of you like me, who are just starting out and want to run and hide from their blog's HTML code, or who simply want to give their blog a makeover in the New Year. So, here we go:

Useful resources:

The Cutest Blog on the Block - (TCBOTB) loads of pretty backgrounds and headers/banners.
Shabby Blogs - gorgeous backgrounds, buttons and blinkies, dividers, headers, etc. Be sure to check out the Shabby Blog, too.
I Love My Blog Makeover - more lovely backgrounds and blog accessories.
Aqua Poppy Designs - lots and lots of backgrounds.
Just Something I Made - check out Cathe's Free Blog Buttons, Gadgets and Goodies section!
April Showers - April's tutorials are very helpful for beginners.
Kevin and Amanda - Amanda's famous Fonts for Peas and Scrapbook Fonts are 100% unmissable (and very useful for signature tutorials).
Webs - Amanda, from kevinandamanda.com (see above) uses this website in a few of her tutorials, which I've linked below. I'm not entirely sure what it is or how it works, but I know that it's important.
Photobucket - most people already have a Photobucket or Flickr account for their blogs, but, since most of the tutorials referenced below use Photobucket, I thought I'd mention it here.
My Live Signature - create your own signature for your blog, for free!

Although a couple of these websites do custom blog design, the majority of the backgrounds and blog accessories are FREE!

How to get a 3 column Minima template in Blogger:
How to get a 3 column template @ TCBOTB
Make your blog three columns @ April Showers

Adding a Favicon to your blog:
Tip of the week: How to add a favicon to your blog @ April Showers

Making that pesky Blogger nav bar disappear:
Disappearing nav bar tutorial @ Shabby Blogs
Tip of the week: How to delete the nav bar @April Showers

Using custom fonts for titles/blog posts:
How to use a cute font for your Blogger post titles @ Kevin and Amanda
How to use a custom font for your entire Blogger/blogspot posts @ Kevin and Amanda

Adding a signature to your blog:
Add a signature to every blog post on your Blogger/Blogspot blog @ Kevin and Amanda
Tutorial on how to add a custom signature to your blog @ I Love My Blog Makeover
Tutorial: How to add a custom signature to your Blogger posts @ Shabby Blogs
Tip of the Week: How to make and post a signature @ April Showers

Adding a divider to your blog:
Tutorial: How to add post dividers to your Blogger blog @ Shabby Blogs
Tutorial on how to add post dividers to your blog @ I Love My Blog Makeover
How to apply our post divider images @ TCBOTB

Adding buttons:
Blog buttons! @Kevin and Amanda (scroll down)

I've got some more photos from the past few weeks to upload in the next couple of days, as well as a few layouts to share! Progress is being made...

Have a fantastic start to the week!

Christmas in London, December 2009

2010-01-02T16:49:00.007Z

For as long as we have our Christmas decorations up (until 6th January), I am in Christmas mode. So, before the whole world returns to normal after the excesses and excitements of the festive season, I thought I better upload my Christmas photos...my JYC album, however, might be a bit more problematic (due to my laptop's aforementioned nervous breakdown on New Year's Eve, which is conveniently set up for my scanner).

Anyhoo, to start with, I put together a (rather massive) collage of my favourite Christmas lights/decorations that adorned the many streets of London at the end of 2009. I LOVE London at this time of year...it takes on a different kind of energy...and the lights seem to soften the city somehow. I suppose it becomes just a little magical (apologies for the many clichés in the coming few days! I get very sentimental at this time of year).

I was going to write a list explaining what each photo involves (some aren't entirely clear) and where each one was taken, but it became so long that I was 99.9% sure you would very understandably lose interest. Lists do that to people. So, here's the short version instead: these were mostly taken in the West End, including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Covent Garden, the Strand, Piccadilly Circus and Knightsbridge. The reindeer with the white background was a poster by Transport for London, taken at Knightsbridge tube station. It was love at first sight:

The green store front is actually Harrods - this year the Christmas theme was the Wizard of Oz, which also explains the red shoes. Each window borrowed an element from the Wizard of Oz story:

I have to admit...I sort of loved it.

Today I was in country mouse mode - we went for a pub lunch (cottage pie and sticky toffee pudding) and a brisk walk through the countryside. It was very cold. But, the lighting was beautiful. We've also had a very small sprinkling of snow, with more expected over the next few days. Yey!

Before I head off, here is a link for my Project 365 gallery over at Flickr. And here is a very cold leaf:

Happy weekend!!

And a very happy New Year!

2010-01-01T20:23:00.002Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Wow. I honestly cannot believe that it is 2010 already. I've spent the last few days thinking about resolutions, aims, intentions and goals, as well as my 'one little word' (I love this idea). In between the cogitating and the list-making, I've realised just how much I am looking forward to the New Year. It is a blank canvas and a fresh start...and it is so easy to be optimistic and hopeful as the clock strikes 12 and 2010 commences with an explosion of excitement and enthusiasm. Or, in our case, rockets and sparklers.

New Year's Eve was a family affair this year. We ate, we talked, we celebrated...it was wonderfully relaxing. And, although I have loved watching the fireworks that illuminate the London sky from the Victoria Embankment in previous years, I definitely did not miss the freezing temperatures and the L-O-N-G walk through Central London (due to the congested public transport) at one in the morning. This year, I very much appreciated the warmth of the log fire and the delicious kick of an Irish coffee....my stamina, it seems, is depressingly waning with each year.

As usual, I have lots to catch up on. I need to finish Blogging for Scrapbookers. I am still working (and massively behind on) on my JYC album. I have decided to do a 365 project this year, which was a snap decision yesterday evening and which I seriously have not thought through. I'm very excited about it though...especially because I got Photoshop Elements for Christmas. Luckily I was also given Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows: The Missing Manual, because PSE is totally, completely and utterly baffling to me. Every breakthrough - big and small - has been a momentous occasion, which is somewhat diminished when I realise I have no idea how I got from A to B. Rubbish.

Some progress is being made though (thankfully!). Do you remember my scrapping resolutions from yesteryear? Well, before Christmas I ordered my supplies...and they have been patiently sitting in boxes ever since. Today I made a start on my 2010 album - I am doing a few 'year in review' layouts, as well as a couple on my hopes and resolutions for the coming year. I have challenged myself in 2010 to use one manufacturer a month for the album...sort of like an inexpensive kit. January is Jenni Bowlin. I will let you know how it works out! Watch this space for the layouts over the next few days.

I have a few blog posts that I have been meaning to complete as well (Christmas lights in London, pre-Christmas snow and our Christmas festivities) but my laptop helpfully decided to expire on New Year's Eve. Ominously, when I rebooted it after trying to rouse the cantankerous bit of plastic (putting it mildly) from its slumber, the screen remained black and it emitted three, piercing beeps. Apparently, this means that there is a major problem with the motherboard or the graphics card. HELP. I'm terrified that I'm going to lose everything. I determinedly did not allow it to ruin the end of 2009 or the start of 2010 though ...despite the horrific customer support from HP. Grrrr. But that is a story for another day.

Rant aside, I hope that you had a wonderful start to 2010! It is amazing how you can be buoyed by other peoples' enthusiasm - over the past few days, I have been browsing through my Google Reader and feeling so enthused by the excitement and anticipation that everyone has had for the New Year. So, THANK YOU!!! I can't wait to see what 2010 brings...

Christmas time!

2009-12-25T02:52:00.003Z

A very merry Christmas to you all! I hope that you have a fabulous, memorable and stress-free day!!! I just wanted to say a massive thank you for stopping by over the past couple of months, for leaving such kind and encouraging comments (which never cease to brighten my day) and for sharing your creativity with me. I am so very fortunate to have become a part of such a fantastic online community! Take time today to enjoy good food, good company and many memories in the making...you deserve it!

Love and hugs,
Genevieve
xxx

Liberty's Christmas windows (day 12)

2009-12-18T01:47:00.003Z

So, how many of you watched Kirstie's Homemade Christmas on Channel 4 a couple of weeks ago? Wow. I LOVED it (even though I've only managed to watch the first episode so far). I was so inspired by her ideas...next week I 100% plan to make salt dough tree decorations (which I haven't done for years). I also think that the idea of blowing your own glass baubles is amazing, but a lot less practical than salt dough. Next year, perhaps.

Anyhoo, while I loved Kirstie's emphasis on a crafty and creative Christmas countdown, what I loved the most was her visit to Liberty, a beautiful old department store in London nestled in between Oxford Street and Regent Street, which you can read about here. This year, Liberty has some gorgeous Christmas window displays that feature all of the elements that you might associate with a 'traditional' (or non-traditional, depending on how you look at it) British Christmas. Kirstie used these displays as her initial inspiration in the programme, and I was so overawed by them (you should have heard the squeals of excitement) that I decided I had to squeeze in a trip to Liberty before Christmas. These were my favourite displays:

The attention to detail is incredible. I love the retro wallpaper...and the Queen's speech on tv...AWESOME. Here is a close-up:

Such a familiar sight on Christmas day!

This was possibly my favourite. Look at that wallpaper! There is also a fabric equivalent...I was SO very tempted. However, it was not quite within budget.

Not the greatest photo in the world, but the kitsch decorations were too good to resist.

How many of us went to see pantomimes as kids at this time of year?! I love this humorous take on a kitsch classic. You can just about see the beginnings of some quintessential 'panto' graffiti (I think this was 'oh no he isn't').

Again, I couldn't get over the attention to detail - everything was over-the-top!!

The contrasts in colour really appealed to me here - as well as the various decorations suspended from the bows. Very cool.

Altogether, the displays were eccentric, quirky, kitschy, and very tongue-in-cheek. They were most definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But I loved how Liberty incorporated those subtle and not-so-subtle traditions into the overall themes of each window, and (as I may have mentioned several times!), the detail was just amazing. I also spent a little while pottering around the Christmas department, where I saw these:

Generally I'm not a fan of trophies adorning the wall (it sort of spooks me), but I liked the shadow effect of the three on the left - very dramatic. And look at those penguins! Too cute for words.

Afterwards, I stopped by the haberdashery. It was heaven...the fabrics were STUNNING (but had a starting price of £19.95 a metre) and there was so much eye candy. I bought some dinky little ribbons for my JYC album and had to stop myself from begging the lovely sales assistant to hire me. I would get way too over-excited working in a haberdashery.

Today, Jamie finished his exams and both of our terms officially ended, so we celebrated with some Christmas shopping on Oxford Street and a Nando's takeaway this evening. Tomorrow, we are having our 'mini Christmas' - after the end of term, both of us go our separate ways to spend the holidays with our respective families (in Scotland and the South of England), so before we head home, we cook a Christmas meal, watch festive films (we have Polar Express and the Muppet Christmas Carol this year) and open presents. We're also planning a trip to Harrods, Hamleys and the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland if we have time. I'm so excited! On Sunday my scrapbooking supplies and I are relocating for the holidays, but snow is expected and the M25 will no doubt be a nightmare. Fingers crossed!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Playing catch up and days 1-4 of JYC... (day 11)

2009-12-16T23:42:00.006Z

My poor, neglected blog. The last week has been frantically busy, but......(drum roll)....I HAVE SUBMITTED MY ESSAYS! In fact, I submitted one on Friday and one on Monday, with very little sleep in between. I spent yesterday and today relaxing, tidying, and catching up on everything that got pushed to one side over the last month and a half. Christmas shopping is very high on my to-do list...as is laundry. Chores etc. aside, I have LOTS to share with you over the next few days - you shall (hopefully) be inundated with blog posts! And, I have yet to finish Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class, but I am still 100% determined, because I have loved every minute of it.* Bear with me.

*Technically, prompt no. 11 is all about blog trains, but, being so behind, this is a tad tricky...so we're switching it up today!

Which conveniently brings me to today's post: my Journal your Christmas album! Ever since the start of this class, I have read and reread each prompt, daydreaming about themes, layouts, supplies, photos, mementos...In all honesty, it was just a little torturous to have to wait until my coursework was finished before I could start working on the album itself. Every now and then, I would take a little peek inside the pizza box full of October Afternoon, Making Memories, My Mind's Eye and Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, stickers, die-cuts, Jenni Bowlin bingo cards, ric rac, ribbons...the list goes on. But it was my encouragement and my motivation, and I have had so much fun working on it over the past two days! So, here we go...

Day 1: 'Manifesto'

Patterned paper and 'Merry' Wild Card, both October Afternoon (Very Merry), cardstock, Bazzill and Bazzill Dotted Swiss, #1, Elle's Studio, scalloped punch, Fiskars, 'Manifesto' title cut with Slice Machine using Mistletoe Design Card, vellum laid paper, Ryman.

Day 2: 'Wintertime'

Patterned paper, 'Snow' Wild Card and 'let it snow' sticker, all October Afternoon (Good Cheer and Very Merry), 'Wintertime,' Cosmo Cricket (Jolly by Golly), snowflake peel-offs, unknown, glitter cardstock, unknown, Apron Lace punch, Fiskars, vellum laid paper, Ryman.

Day 2: 'Wintertime' (contd.)

Patterned paper and 'let it snow' sticker, both October Afternoon (Good Cheer), #2, Elle's Studio, Word Fetti, Making Memories (Mistletoe), glitter cardstock, unknown, Apron Lace punch, Fiskars.

Day 3: 'Merry and Bright'

Patterned paper and 'Merry and Bright' die-cut, My Mind's Eye (The Merry Days of Christmas), 'Joy' sticker and journaling sticker, October Afternoon (Good Cheer), #3, Elle's Studio, vellum laid paper, Ryman, felt star, Paperchase.

Day 4: 'Daydreaming'

Cardstock, Bazzill, Tiny Alpha stickers, Making Memories, #4, Elle's Studio, felt star, Paperchase, bling, unknown, ric rac, local haberdashery.

Image credits (clockwise from left): I'm Dreaming of a White House Christmas, Light up the Night, Little treasure, Color me Pretty @ Decor8, Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg, Twinkle.

I'm using a 7Gypsies naked album (19.5cm x 18.5 cm, or 7.6" x 7.2"), and, surprisingly, I love having the small, contained pages! And, I just signed up for a flickr account, so you can visit my JYC album uploads here.

I will be back tomorrow to share some of my favourite Christmas window displays with you, but in the meantime I want to say a massive thank you to Christy, who emailed me a fantastic link about 'bokeh' photography from Write.Click.Scrapbook. Thank you so much for sharing, Christy!

And, we had REAL snow in London today...
Happy Thursday!

Oh Christmas tree (day 10)

2009-12-06T19:58:00.004Z

Right now, I'm sitting next to the twinkling lights of our Christmas tree, listening to the Ronettes singing Sleigh Ride and getting ridiculously excited about the Christmas countdown! Last night Jamie and I took the evening off to put up our Christmas tree...and I spent most of the time pretending to be 'artful' with my camera, with varying degrees of success! Deary me. Anyway, we've decided that our tree needs some more tinsel (because you can never have too much tinsel, apparently), so I won't post the 'finished tree' photo until we've made a trip to John Lewis. In the meantime, here are a few festive photos from last night....

Fairy lights!

An action shot of Jamie attempting to sort out the fairy lights (which actually didn't get too tangled whilst in storage). Last year we decided to buy an artificial tree, seeing as a good-sized Christmas tree is pretty hard to come by in Central London. We found this 'snow covered' tree in Next, which I love! It looks as though someone has frosted the branches with icing...

Hopefully you can tell that this is a Christmas tree....

He he! This photo makes our Christmas tree look very 'loud'!! I'm actually big on tradition at this time of year - red and gold ornaments, white fairy lights etc. - but Jamie LOVES coloured fairy lights, so we compromised with a hybrid tree. You'd never know it looking at this photo though!

Remember this little guy?! He has taken pride of place on our tree (and he's safely anchored between two branches, because he's surprisingly heavy!).

So, in yesterday's post you may recall that I was rambling on about bokeh photography. After fiddling with practically every setting on my camera, I managed to produce this photo...which sort of captures what I was going for. Practice is needed, I think.

On a non-related subject, I have a couple of questions which I'm hoping someone might be able to help with. First of all, can anyone recommend an adhesive (available in the UK) which I can use with vellum and acetate? I'm using some Making Memories acetate for my JYC album, but right now I'm stuck on how to adhere it to the front cover...Secondly, does anyone have experience with any of the following:

Zutter Bind-It-All
Cricut
Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool

Would you recommend these products? How useful have they been? Are they worth the investment? Would you recommend a Cricut over a Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool? Your help is massively appreciated! Thank you!

Enjoy the start of the week!

Inspiration (day 9)

2009-12-04T21:02:00.007Z

It seems that the whole of the scrapbooking blogosphere is consumed with JYC albums, December Dailies and other holiday-oriented classes at the moment! I have been so inspired by other people's creations and how they have interpreted and personalised these ideas - I just can't wait to get started on my album in the next few days. In the meantime, I've spent a little bit of time searching online for some seasonal inspiration, and I have found a few things which have really struck a chord:

From Martha Stewart Living

I originally found this photograph in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. I just love how evocative and uncomplicated it is...the stacked logs, the wreath, the sledge, the snow...you can practically feel the cold but for the 'Joy' sentiment which adds just the right amount of warmth.

From ChelseaVictoria

I love how this is so completely simple but still seems so festive. I'm obsessed with bokeh photography at the moment...there are some stunning photos that I have found on flickr, such as this one and this one. Definitely check out ChelseaVictoria on Etsy - she has some gorgeous photographs for sale. And she has a buy one get one free offer this week!

From alicebgardens

One of my favourite seasonal prints. The shops are full of it at the moment - it well and truly seems to be synonymous with the holidays! It reminds me of warm and cosy log cabins surrounded by snow. A definite winter warmer.

From Raceytay

The Making Memories Mistletoe collection is one of my absolute favourites for seasonal layouts, and this little cardinal reminds me so much of this sheet of patterned paper, which I can't wait to use in my JYC album! A really beautiful photograph as well - have a look at this photo of the Empire State Building when you take a peek at Raceytay's Etsy store...awesome!

From irenesuchocki

I think this might well be one of my favourite photographs of all time! So completely and utterly beautiful and surreal and a real winter wonderland. Irene's photography is incredible...I already have about 6 things from her Etsy store on my wishlist! I should also mention that I found Irene's Etsy store via the amazing and always inspirational Decor8.

So, happy December everyone! Only 19 days until Christmas...can you believe that?! It feels like yesterday that it was Halloween....

In need of fun (day 8)

2009-11-29T16:56:00.003Z

It is so appropriate that prompt no. 8 is all about fun (yup, I'm still persevering with the Blogging for Scrapbookers prompts...I'm so completely determined to finish this class!). This week my laptop and I have spent a whole lot of time wrestling with two essays and not making much progress. It is so frustrating, because I was really hoping to get them finished in time for the start of Shimelle's JYC class and the countdown to Christmas. Wishful thinking, sadly! Anyhoo, every cloud has a silver lining...because in between checking my word count and making extensive use of the thesaurus facility on my MacBook, I like to sneak online and spend a couple of moments 'reflecting' (or procrastinating).

When I was writing my dissertation, my procrastination method of choice was Puzzle Bobble. I was OBSESSED with it! And funnily enough, since handing in my dissertation in February of this year, I have been too traumatised to play it. These days, I mostly like to spend a few minutes faffing around on YouTube, but all in the name of legitimate 'research' (naturally). For the past couple of years I have been desperate to get a dog, and I've spent countless hours YouTubing various breeds. No. 1 on my list is a Shih Tzu (which I had growing up) - I've found some adorable videos and I'm excited to share them with you!

Every time I watch this it cracks me up!

Ridiculously cute.

I just loved this video!

Another favourite.

I hope you enjoy them! Here's hoping next week is a productive one...

Thank you for stopping by!

Feeling thankful (day 7)

2009-11-26T20:39:00.005Z

My first Thanksgiving, Memphis, TN, 2004

A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you over in the U.S. today! For the past couple of weeks the majority of my subscriptions in Google Reader have been discussing Thanksgiving - whether it be the preparations, the menu or the anticipation of being reunited with family and friends - and I have so enjoyed being able to share in the excitement! Mostly, however, I've loved reading about what everyone is thankful for. I think that it is so important to take a moment once in a while to appreciate the good things in our lives; a holiday dedicated to doing exactly that is even better!

Carving the turkey

I am thankful for so many things in my life, but I am particularly thankful for the opportunity to experience Thanksgiving firsthand while I lived in America (five years ago). I was fortunate enough to spend the holiday with the most amazing family...for me the Roses epitomised Southern hospitality, and the welcome that I received was unsurpassed! In all honesty, I was totally baffled by the meaning of Thanksgiving before I arrived in the U.S. For us in the UK, turkey is synonymous with Christmas, so the Thanksgiving meal somehow seems to pre-empt the festive season (only without presents). It was only when I was in Mrs. Rose's beautiful kitchen, with all of the incredible cooking smells and her extended family chipping in with the preparations, that I truly appreciated what Thanksgiving is all about. I loved how it brings people together. I loved seeing different generations share and enjoy family recipes. I loved trying sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping and pumpkin pie. I have such happy memories from my first Thanksgiving, and for that I am truly thankful.

Our combined purchases on Black Friday!

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up at 5 am to make the most of Black Friday - something I had never heard of...but I thought it was AWESOME! We went all over Memphis, stopping by Target, Best Buy and then spending the afternoon at Wolfchase Galleria. I especially loved the GAP sale. An exhausting and expensive day, but we had so much fun!

Thanksgiving feast 2009

Knowing that I love Thanksgiving, Jamie made a veritable feast this evening. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed carrot and swede, broccoli, stuffing and gravy. For dessert Jamie made a delicious sweet potato pie, which we had with Green & Black's Vanilla ice cream and clotted cream whilst watching two of my favourite episodes of Friends: The One Where Underdog Gets Away and The One With The Football (which just happen to be Thanksgiving themed!). I am so thankful for such a talented boyfriend!

Sweet potato pie!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Plotting and planning (day 6)

2009-11-20T23:07:00.005Z

As I was walking home from the library yesterday evening I peered through the archways of Somerset House...and I was SO excited to see that the skating rink is open for the Christmas season! It is London's equivalent to the skating rink at the Rockefeller Center in NYC, and it just looked so festive and romantic. Luckily I had my camera with me from the night before (I almost never remember to put it in my bag), so I spent a little while wandering around and enjoying the atmosphere.

I loved seeing couples tentatively edging forward...as others whizzed by and others still stayed as close as physically possible to the barrier! I haven't been ice skating in years (something tells me I'll be the 'clinging to the barrier' type) but I can't wait to book tickets! It is open until 24 January, so if you're local or perhaps planning a day trip to London before Christmas it's definitely something to bear in mind! And, just because I L-O-V-E-D Christmas in New York, I thought I would include a picture of the Rockefeller Center as well:

Over the summer I spied the Belle & Boo Christmas postcards in Paperchase and made a mental note to get some for Christmas layouts/projects. I went in a few weeks ago and they had almost completely run out of the 'Happy Christmas' postcards! Major disappointment followed. After hunting down a member of staff (who I am pretty sure thought I was 100% crazy) and enquiring whether they expected to get any more in, she assured me that they get deliveries every week and that they would be replenished soon. I was not convinced. They had the Belle & Boo Christmas cards upstairs which had a much higher mark-up, so my cynical side assumed that the powers that be had simply decided to take them off the shelves. To cut what could be a very long story short, I popped in yesterday on the off-chance that the postcards might have been restocked...AND THERE THEY WERE!!

I just think that the illustrations are gorgeous - I love the muted colours and the innocence and simplicity of the sketches. I also love the Belle & Boo buttons and Christmas Boo tags...so cute! Definitely check out the Belle & Boo website, Etsy store and blog! I just can't get enough of it...

I want to decorate my teeny tiny craft corner with some creative inspiration, so I also picked up these postcards while I was in Paperchase. I was really inspired by an idea I found via Lushlee via another blog post which I haven't been able to track down (if it was yours, please let me know so I can give you credit!):

Such an inexpensive and inspiring way of making a bulletin board! I was thinking of using some Amy Butler or Cath Kidston fabric...Definitely a project that I can't wait to start in the New Year!

Speaking of which, prompt no. 6 for Blogging for Scrapbookers focused on 'setting goals.' I have imposed a moratorium on all things crafty this month so that I can concentrate on finishing my postgraduate essays due in the middle of December (although I am aiming to get them done by the beginning of the month). Although I spend a lot of time staring wistfully at my scrapbooking supplies, my 'time off' has actually given me some time to think about my hobby and how I want it to 'evolve' over the coming months. I say this because I have been struggling to finish an album that I started over the summer - I just can't get the tone right and I am so frustrated by the lack of coherence and consistency. It is possibly because the memories that I am committing to paper are particularly precious, and I think my standards are unreasonably high as a consequence. But, I have an idea (or several!):

My scrapping resolutions for 2010:

I am going to invest in an Americans Crafts 12"x 12" D-ring album and some divided page protectors (with 4" x 6" slots for photos) and finish this album! The page protectors make the organisation and structure more consistent while simplifying the design. A D-ring album allows me to include other bits and pieces which would be difficult to include on a normal layout, such as acceptance letters, essays etc. (this album is supposed to record my 4 years at university).

2. I am going to start scrapping the 'present', as well as the 'past.' I want to get an 8.5" x 11" album (in my mind smaller is more manageable...although I'll probably regret saying this!) and do two layouts a week about what has happened during that week...whether it be something exciting or something unbelievably mundane.

3. I was so inspired by Natalia's beautiful Journal your Christmas ATC spinner in the latest issue of Scrapbook Inspirations. I really love the idea of creating a little spinner full of 'happy things' - little snippets of good news and exciting happenings, for example. It's sort of an embryonic idea at the moment, but I'm excited!

4. Upload my layouts to my blog!

Tonight I am going to an early Thanksgiving dinner, tomorrow evening we are going to see New Moon...and in between I have to write 3000 words. Help. But, if you made it to the bottom of this post, congratulations! It was a little longer than I expected....

Enjoy the weekend!

'Tis the season (day 5)

2009-11-14T16:21:00.007Z

I am officially so excited about Christmas! Last week there was such a transition in the seasons - it suddenly became cold, which was so refreshing after feeling uncomfortably lukewarm for most of October. I dug out my scarves and gloves; I finally decided that our pumpkins needed to be thrown out (it was a massive mistake naming them); I had my first Starbucks Gingerbread Latte in my first Red Cup of the Christmas season; I chose supplies for my 'Journal Your Christmas' album; I watched all of the Christmas decorations whizz past on Oxford Street as I sat on the bus on my way home; we ate stews and baked potatoes full of comfort food goodness; and we rounded off the week with a trip to Harrods to wander around Christmas World, which filled me with so much joy and lots of inspiration!

The Harrods Christmas department was totally overwhelming...I have never seen so many Christmas decorations in one place (apparently there are over 2000 for sale). The decorations that I did manage to take in were beautiful, and I have so many ideas for our Christmas tree this year. I dashed around taking as many pictures on my iPhone as I possibly could (with my favourite bits and pieces shown in the collage above). I do, however, have two absolute favourites that I want to share with you:

I was 100% obsessed with these super-sized lollipops! Don't they remind you of so many different Christmas films? But, they were almost £100 (which I thought was madness). I don't think they would be too difficult to make - perhaps the trickiest part would be finding a suitable 3D 'lollipop' background...

When I saw this Coca Cola ornament I almost collapsed with excitement! For me, Christmas officially starts when I hear 'the holidays are coming' on TV. In fact, Jamie and I joke that we epitomise the 'consumer' generation because we equate Coca Cola so strongly with Christmas! It is also the only time of year that I drink regular Coke (from the traditional glass bottle, of course). So we just had to buy it...and it will look very much at home next to my Starbucks Red Cup ornament from last year! I have a feeling you might be rolling your eyes right about now...

Anyway, I have once again fallen behind in Shimelle's class - life completely got away from me this week and I am only just starting to catch up! In prompt no. 5 - 'learning from your surroundings' - Shimelle talked a lot about the different ways in which a scrapbooker's home can be incorporated into their blog. I love seeing how other scrapbookers/bloggers choose to depict their lives online...some people are completely candid, such as www.kevinandamanda.com (you can pretty much take a tour of their lovely home!), while others are more guarded, showing little snippets which give just enough away for the reader to get a small sense of what that person is like. However, what I love to see - and what I think is particularly revealing - is someone's scrap space/room. Whether it is minimalist or cluttered, organised or an 'organised mess,' what colours that person has chosen and what they have surrounded themselves with for inspiration...it is all so telling about not only what kind of scrapbooker that particular person may be, but about that person in general. So, I thought that for this prompt I would include a picture of my own scrap space, where I feel 100% at home and 100% happy. It may be the kitchen table, but it's my own little corner of the world!

Before I head off, I wanted to say another massive thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read my blog. I have been so unbelievably thrilled to receive such lovely comments...I am SO excited that I have 5 followers...and I have gone from 4 subscribers on Google Reader to 181. To those of you that have left comments, I promise that I will reciprocate in the coming few days as life slows down a little. I haven't been able to locate blogs for a couple of you, so please let me know if you have a private profile...I can't wait to stop by!

You'd never guess....(day 4)

2009-11-11T19:02:00.007Z

...that we live in London.

How the mundane can be misleading.

Five things (day 3)

2009-11-06T01:31:00.016Z

Picture credits: Two Peas in a Bucket, Basic Grey, CraftCritique.com, Bo Bunny Blog, www.amazon.co.uk

Well, prompt no. 2 definitely forced me to step out of my comfort zone, but I am so excited about prompt no. 3 (yup, I'm a little behind) because it gives me an opportunity to talk about scrapbooking! Since starting my blog I haven't had much of a chance to upload my layouts because the lighting in the flat is so uncooperative. I have tried to photograph my pages in multiple spots, in different lighting and in artificial light, but it just isn't happening for me at the moment. This is sort of problematic since my blog is called Life & Layouts, but as you soon shall see, I have a plan.

Anyhoo, the image above is a collage of some of the things that have caught my eye recently. By way of explanation:

Coveting the Slice Tag Maker Kit - I am a big fan of tools, and I think that this is such an awesome idea for scrapbooking layouts and cards. If money was no object I would snap this up in an instant (along with the Slice Tag Maker Design Card and these sparkly rims), but sadly I have put myself on a strict budget for the time being. It is definitely on my Christmas list though.
Too cute! The Basic Grey Nook & Pantry collection - Cooking themes are cropping up all over the place at the moment (Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird and October Afternoon's Farm Fresh come to mind). I particularly love this line because the colours are so very pretty and versatile, but mostly because of the 'Cupcakes' patterned paper, which looks good enough to eat.
Saving up for the Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool - Wow. This actually makes me giddy with excitement every time I read about it. Just the sheer amount of things that this machine can do is incredible...
In my shopping basket: the Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice collection - I love the contrast of the rich autumnal colours of this line against the more delicate pinks and blues. And, because November is the dreaded month of essay-writing (7000 words), I have no time to do the accompanying scrapbook pages for each prompt. So, I was thinking instead that once I have submitted my essays at the beginning of December I would celebrate by making a Blogging for Scrapbookers mini book using this collection, which I have decided sort of matches my Blogger template.
Big investment: Canon LiDE 200 Scanner -This blew my budget a little bit (or a lot) but I deemed it a necessity for two reasons. 1) I have hundreds of photos from 'back in the day' when you got your camera film printed which I want to archive/back-up and use for some projects that I have planned for next month. 2) No matter how hard I try, I'm never going to have the right light to photograph my layouts. A scanner is the next best thing, and I have it on good authority that the included software has a stitching facility...here's hoping...(it arrives next week).

In other news, I took a day off from reading and note-taking to go to the Craft Barn Mini Craft Fest today. The demonstrations were very inspiring - I had to stop myself from buying up a whole load of Dreamweaver stencils and embossing pastes after watching Carol and Cheryl, and I got so many ideas from watching Carole Cann's demonstration using Glimmer Mists. Sticking to the budget theme, I tried to be as restrained as possible in my purchases:

Glimmer Mist Spring Limited Edition in Dew Drop
Distress Ink pad in Black Soot
Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Embossing Powder in Arctic Black
Cosmic Shimmer Lustre Embossing Powder in Lapis Pearl
Inkadinkado clear stamp set (Chandeliers)
A6 pack of white gloss card

And I can't wait to try them out! Tomorrow is another day of reading, catching up on some more of Shimelle's prompts if there's time, and eating some more of these:

As a reward for my hard work, I am very tempted to get a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte...it seems so appropriate in these cold temperatures!

Wrap up warm and have a good weekend!

Blogging for scrapbookers: day 2

2009-11-04T17:49:00.007Z

For today's prompt, Shimelle encouraged us to write a post on a topic that we want to scrapbook. It can be on anything at all from any period in our lives - either a recent experience or a distant but treasured memory. So, I decided to do both...not out of indecision but because I want to juxtapose two parallel experiences (if that makes sense).

The aim is to write the 'story' of the experience, much like doing the journaling for a layout. However - and despite my love of words - I am not especially good at journaling. I think that I become too absorbed in the 'creative process', and by the time I have stuck...unstuck...restuck...started all over again (you get the general idea) I am so exhausted that I'm pretty much happy for the photo to speak for itself, along with the prerequisite 'when', 'where', 'who', 'why' etc. So, for prompt no. 2 I wanted to challenge myself.

Whilst leafing through the November issue of Creating Keepsakes last night, the title 'Looking Back, Moving Forward' caught my eye. This perfectly encapsulates the message that I want my journaling for these photos to convey. Although it isn't entirely clear, both of these photos have something in common: graduation. But it doesn't stop there. Because in my mind graduation implies so much more than wearing a funny hat and a horribly unflattering gown (or, in the case of my high school graduation in Tennessee, beautiful white dresses with garlands in our hair). Graduation means change, success, climaxes, anti-climaxes, achievement, uncertainty, goodbyes and new beginnings. It is a day of elation and apprehension. And for that reason I want to document how I felt, more than the experiences themselves.

For me, there was an enormous sense of finality, but also a massive sense of relief and achievement. And there was a distinct sense of sadness that it was all coming to an end, which was tinged with a growing sense of uncertainty about what lies ahead. I spent so long working towards a goal, but 'anticlimactic' seems a strangely inadequate way of describing how it feels to reach that light at the end of the tunnel...only to emerge into a labyrinthine maze of confusion. I was both 'elated' and 'apprehensive'...anxious to enjoy every moment, but quietly saying a farewell to one phase of my life and trying to prepare myself for another.

The second time round, however, these feelings were not unfamiliar. I had definitely been here before. I remember being so desperately nervous about returning home from my gap year and starting uni, but four years later I had not only survived the experience...I had the absolute time of my life. And for me this was a huge reassurance because I knew I would be able to handle the next upheaval. So, I suppose that looking back has enabled me to move forward, which for me says a great deal about the value of 'sticking', 'unsticking', 'resticking', and 'starting all over again.'

Blogging for scrapbookers: day 1

2009-11-03T14:33:00.012Z

So, yesterday was the start of Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class, and I am already super excited and massively inspired by what she has prepared for us so far! In yesterday's prompt, 'paving our way to pastures new', Shimelle asked us to think about why we want to take this class and what we hope to achieve through it. As part of the prompt, she suggested that we photograph our workspace (or create a layout about it if we have enough time). I should say first that I don't really have a dedicated scrapping space. Instead - and much to the bemusement of my boyfriend - I have taken over the kitchen where I scrap, read, take notes, write essays, browse the internet...I suppose you could say that it is a 'multi-functional' space with the added advantage of being a stone's throw from the kettle. And although I would one day LOVE to have my own scrapping room, I quite like the fact that the differing facets of my life pivot around the kitchen table.

In terms of my intentions and objectives for this class, I have several. I want to:

Learn how to get my head round HTML (which completely baffles me) and, by extension, how to personalise my blog and really make it my own.
Connect with other scrapbookers and experience a small part of the online scrapbooking community that has emerged in recent years.
Document both my scrapbooking (and other) creations, as well as meaningful experiences that will inevitably be turned into layouts in the not-so-distant future!

I am hoping to do a post about prompt no. 2 later on today, but it all depends on how much reading I manage to get done....

And, most importantly of all, I really want to thank those of you stopping by! Yesterday I received my very first comment and I also found out that Life & Layouts has 4 subscribers - I was SO unbelievably thrilled and excited, so thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog...I hate to end on a cliche, but it really makes it all worth it!

All Hallows' Eve

2009-11-01T11:35:00.021Z

I'm so sad that Halloween is over! Yesterday was a flurry of activity - I pottered around in the morning making the cinnamon cream cheese icing for my yummy pumpkin cupcakes (inspired by the very talented Shimelle) and spent some time fiddling around with yet another Halloween project. In the afternoon my Mum and I met up for the most incredible Serendipity-style ice cream sundaes at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly (which you can see above), where we also wanted to look at the beautiful Christmas decorations that they already have on display. Afterwards we went for a quick wander around the Harrods Pet Kingdom, where we saw some adorable Shih Tzu and Chihuahua puppies! It was especially sad for us because our 17 year old Shih Tzu died earlier this year, and these puppies bore an uncanny resemblance to him when he was just a little puppy. In the evening Jamie and I finally got around to carving our pumpkins after hauling them back from the Whole Foods Market in Camden on Friday...the lack of a car is a definite disadvantage in London. Anyhoo, this is the result:

From the left: Country 'Pumpkin' (designed and named by Jamie), Winifred (named after my favourite of the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus), Count 'Pump-cula' (also designed and named by Jamie), and the little guy in the front is called Casper (as in the ghost), because he just looks so happy.

Jamie carved all but the one in the middle, which I very ambitiously started at 8pm and immediately regretted five minutes later. I don't think I scooped out the pulp properly, and the pumpkin was way too thick to carve using a little precision saw that I found in Waitrose. So Jamie heroically stepped in and we pushed and pulled and tugged until it was eventually finished! Once we got the tea lights inside I was so glad that we perserved because they all looked so awesome lined up below our Halloween display. In honour of Halloween we watched Hocus Pocus whilst eating A LOT of junk food - by the time we started watching Interview with a Vampire I was definitely in a sugar-induced coma, which is probably a good thing because the bits of the film that I saw were just a little creepy...

Before settling down to gorge ourselves we nipped out for a few minutes to (randomly) watch the BT Tower. Over the past couple of days it has been beautifully lit up - complete with Batman-esque spotlights - and every time I have walked past it at night I have unsuccessfully tried to photograph it. During one of my attempts last night, a guy walking past us mysteriously said to stand under the Tower at 8.50pm, so Jamie and I interrupted our pumpkin carving and dutifully stood underneath it. And this is what we saw:

It turns out that yesterday marked 1000 days until the start of the 2012 Olympics in London, and to celebrate the BT Tower got a makeover and a very impressive fireworks display. It was so cool to watch, but sad that it hadn't been particularly well advertised - there were only a handful of people there. I should also thank Jamie for taking the photos (I still had serious camera shake despite his best efforts to change all of the settings on my camera).

And, finally, a couple of the Halloween projects that I have been working on this week:

Again, not ideal photos! But I'm so pleased with the end result. I got the idea for these hanging panels from the Imaginisce Idea Gallery (click on Spooky Town for some more Halloween ideas). I L-O-V-E Imaginisce papers - although I'm not always initially attracted to the designs, the heavyweight cardstock and the 'glossy spot UV accents' (as described by the Craft Emporium) add so much dimension to whatever it is they are used for. For this particular project, I used the Boo Buttons, Bestitched, Boo Whooo?, Fraidy Cat and Trick or Treat papers - all from the Craft Emporium - with some Bazzill cardstock for each background. The accents are all cut out from the patterned papers and attached with foam pads. I used repositionable glue dots for the photos in case I want to switch the photos next year. For the corners, I used my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper and to make the holes for the ribbon I used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite (both purchased from the Craft Barn).

For this quick and easy project, I used the Pink Paislee Twilight collection, also from the Craft Emporium. I found this "spooky" card in the 'Pink Projects' section of the Pink Paislee website, but it is also worth checking out their blog, which is showcasing some really amazing ideas at the moment. This card was literally so easy to make - I varied the design just a little bit, using two pieces of ric rac from my stash instead of the suggested twine, and I cut out the skull and the crow (along with the nested circles) using my Slice machine and the Spook Alley design card (purchased from the Craft Barn).

Well, that pretty much sums up our All Hallows' Eve! Today was spent watching Saturday's X Factor on Sky Plus with a Starbucks Hazelnut Hot Chocolate, which seemed appropriate for such a miserable day. I couldn't believe how many leaves covered the roads and pavement on my way to the gym this evening - it's amazing how quickly the season changes in London!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2009-10-31T22:21:00.004Z