On my bedside table

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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!