Saturday 15 December 2012
JYC Day 15
Im so proud of myself today because not only have I done my page but its the first one posted in Shimelle.com's Journal Your Christmas Forum - my entries usually appear on page 12 but today Im on the front page, which means Im scrapping faster and I like it! OK I have an 8 hour advantage over the English girls and a whopping 14 hours head start on the American girls - by virtue of the geography - but even that doesnt usually help me to get my entries completed and posted early! No today is a first and a happy one - keeping the theme simple and done rather than complex and never finished is working - I hope I can keep it up until the end of the class!!!!! Im just off to do a little happy dance down to the nearest mall - if it has stopped raining yet outside
JYC Day 14
I have always enjoyed large family gatherings and as a child Christmas was the time it happened most! I still love having a family Christmas - a houseful of my nearest and dearest make my Christmas dreams come true every year!!!! Im so pleased to be keeping up so well with my JYC at the moment - I think its because we have had really dreadful weather this week! Not the snow and ice I remember as a child - but tropical monsoon rain which you really dont want to get caught in either!!!!
Friday 14 December 2012
Journal Your Christmas Days 10 - 13
I have to admit Im feeling quite pleased with myself, not only am I keeping up with JYC this year, but Im actually liking a lot of what I am doing, and Im doing it faster than usual! As Ive said before the key to completion is simplicity, so a limited number of supplies that co-ordinate are a good start and a common theme to link the pages together is all it takes - for me thats my knockouts notebook punch (which I love) and a bag full of lovely stash from Papermarket in Vivo City Singapore! The staff in there are soooo friendly, they carry a good range of stock and they have great offers too - if you happen to be here - its worth popping in - just saying!
So here are my most recent four pages
My lists at the moment are very high level because I really havent thought enough about anything! I have started packing my case ready for the off, but I still have a ton of stuff to do to be ready - please can we put it back a week or two?
You have to see the Christmas decorations here to believe how truly amazing they are, however when it comes to wrapping paper we have a problem! Singapore is not primarily a Christian nation, although all cultures celebrate parts of each others festivals! So present giving is not as widespread in most of the population as it would be in the UK for example. The only place you can buy Christmas wrapping paper is in chemists shops and even then not easily!
Pictured here is my Christmas role model - my Aunt who has shared every Christmas I have ever had with me in one form or another! She helped me to develop a love of the holiday and has often worked tirelessly too, to make our Christmas magical - she is baking for me this week as I wont have time when I return to the UK! She really is the best!
Christmas weather in the UK and Singapore - my mind sees Christmas as snowy and white, just like the photo of our garden here! However, in Singapore the only snowmen are made of concrete and they generate fake snow for the kids to run around in, wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip flops - how different would they need to dress if that was real snow?
So here are my most recent four pages
My lists at the moment are very high level because I really havent thought enough about anything! I have started packing my case ready for the off, but I still have a ton of stuff to do to be ready - please can we put it back a week or two?
Pictured here is my Christmas role model - my Aunt who has shared every Christmas I have ever had with me in one form or another! She helped me to develop a love of the holiday and has often worked tirelessly too, to make our Christmas magical - she is baking for me this week as I wont have time when I return to the UK! She really is the best!
Christmas weather in the UK and Singapore - my mind sees Christmas as snowy and white, just like the photo of our garden here! However, in Singapore the only snowmen are made of concrete and they generate fake snow for the kids to run around in, wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip flops - how different would they need to dress if that was real snow?
Sunday 9 December 2012
JYC The Story So Far!
Life has once again got in the way of my blogging - but Im hoping to get back on track - OK its nearly Christmas (I cant believe I just typed that) Its still 30' outside and boiling hot! It cant really be Christmas can it?
I guess since I am 9 days into JYC it certainly is Christmas and I still have a ton of stuff to do! I started my JYC album on 27th November as this was the British Association Ladies Christmas Lunch - but have decided only to post the entries that were initiated with one of Shimelle's prompts!
So to draw the line between that which went before and that which is true JYC I did the dividing page below - which I quite like!
The Christmas lights are stunning every year in Singapore, and on 1 December we walked the entire length of Orchard Road - in fact we walked from Little India - which is a very long way - but the lights were fabulous and it felt like all of Singapore had the same idea as us! Once I get some prints - this page will be complete!
As a child I couldnt understand how the weather could be freezing in Yorkshire, England and boiling hot in places like Australia! Even having lived in the tropics for almost 4 years it still feels strange to have Christmas in the sunshine - although when I get back to England I will miss the warmth!
My Christmas plans this year are about travel in the main! We have about 40,000 miles of travelling to do before we have our family Christmas - so its probably time I started packing and making lists and checking them twice!!!!
The best bit of every Christmas for me is having all our family together and I still love having the kids over and watching them open their presents! Having everybody under one roof is the best Christmas present I could wish for!!!!
I bought this lovely baubles stamp in Houston, made my cards in Singapore and most of them are on their way to England - now that has to be a global effort surely?
The lights and decorations down Orchard Road are amazing - I took these photos last year of the ION tree and this little boy outside Tanglin Mall who could hardly contain his excitement at seeing real concrete snowmen!!!!
Putting up our Christmas tree is something I used to love doing as a family. Although the decorations didnt match many of them had been passed through the generations and had memories attached to them - maybe I should put them on my tree again this year when I get back to England!
Then there are special things we only eat at Christmas - including sprouts stir fried with garlic and bacon and red cabbage with orange and honey, I love warm mulled wine after a cold bracing walk and no buffet would be complete without a chocolate log and Andrew's Mexican King Prawn thing....... you'll need to wait until Christmas itself for photos of that one! However here is a glimpse of Christmas Dinner last year - look away if you are feeling peckish!!!!
I guess since I am 9 days into JYC it certainly is Christmas and I still have a ton of stuff to do! I started my JYC album on 27th November as this was the British Association Ladies Christmas Lunch - but have decided only to post the entries that were initiated with one of Shimelle's prompts!
So to draw the line between that which went before and that which is true JYC I did the dividing page below - which I quite like!
The Christmas lights are stunning every year in Singapore, and on 1 December we walked the entire length of Orchard Road - in fact we walked from Little India - which is a very long way - but the lights were fabulous and it felt like all of Singapore had the same idea as us! Once I get some prints - this page will be complete!
As a child I couldnt understand how the weather could be freezing in Yorkshire, England and boiling hot in places like Australia! Even having lived in the tropics for almost 4 years it still feels strange to have Christmas in the sunshine - although when I get back to England I will miss the warmth!
My Christmas plans this year are about travel in the main! We have about 40,000 miles of travelling to do before we have our family Christmas - so its probably time I started packing and making lists and checking them twice!!!!
The best bit of every Christmas for me is having all our family together and I still love having the kids over and watching them open their presents! Having everybody under one roof is the best Christmas present I could wish for!!!!
I bought this lovely baubles stamp in Houston, made my cards in Singapore and most of them are on their way to England - now that has to be a global effort surely?
I love having all the neighbours kids over to help me with the Christmas baking - funny how quickly they disappear though - when it comes to clearing up!!!!
The lights and decorations down Orchard Road are amazing - I took these photos last year of the ION tree and this little boy outside Tanglin Mall who could hardly contain his excitement at seeing real concrete snowmen!!!!
Putting up our Christmas tree is something I used to love doing as a family. Although the decorations didnt match many of them had been passed through the generations and had memories attached to them - maybe I should put them on my tree again this year when I get back to England!
Then there are special things we only eat at Christmas - including sprouts stir fried with garlic and bacon and red cabbage with orange and honey, I love warm mulled wine after a cold bracing walk and no buffet would be complete without a chocolate log and Andrew's Mexican King Prawn thing....... you'll need to wait until Christmas itself for photos of that one! However here is a glimpse of Christmas Dinner last year - look away if you are feeling peckish!!!!
Saturday 1 December 2012
Journal Your Christmas 2012
OMG Where did 2012 go whilst I was scrapping and napping? Its that time of year again and this year its come around really fast - dont you think? In November I attended my first Christmas lunch - that feels a bit early even to a Christmas lover like me!
Our Christmas lights are on and they are (as always amazing) so I'll be out with my camera to capture the magic because we are (as the song says) going West! 12,000 miles west to Houston Texas - next year! And this time of year brings me to Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class - being the Shimelle groupie that I am, it wont come as a big surprise to anybody that this is my fourth year doing the class and until today - I hadnt really given it much thought - Well maybe a little thought because I got one of Shimelle's kits delivered to a relation in the UK - kinda thinking I was going home early as my DH is away to the USA next week - he is now coming home early so I wont be in the UK until 22nd December! On that basis I headed into my Local Scrapbooking Store - and they were having a 50% off Chrismtas items if you bought a minimum of 5 items promotion - you just know what's coming dont you?
Ok so having had a look at all of the Christmas Collections - and most of the rest of their inventory! I have decided to go vintage this year! I have an American Crafts Modern Album 8 x 8 - Im doing some 8 x 8 pages and some 6 x 4 / 6 x 4 / 2 x 8 divided pages - because I have never done them before and I like to try something new each year!
So what did I buy .......... Well the Christmas stuff .......
Fancy Pants - Home for Christmas Collection Pack - its yummy!
I have Bo Bunny Noteworthy Christmas Numbers Tags and Embellies!
Websters Pages Calendar and Journalling Tags - These are gorgeous too - so I bought 2 packs of these!
And a Kaisercraft 6 1/2 " Paper Pad - Turtle Dove Collection which is also really lovely!
My page bases are going to be a pale Kraft dotted swiss cardstock ..............
and Ive finally got my hands on black and brown American Crafts Precision Pens for journalling!
There didnt look to be much in the basket in the craft shop - but it looks like a lot more than I thought I had bought now its sitting on my desk!!!! What do you reckon?
So this evening I turned up the aircon - and got into the Journal Your Christmas Mood by making my album cover and this is the finished article - I just have to fill it now - and that fun starts tomorrow!!!!! - I used and American Crafts Modern 8 x 8 album, but the red was too bright for the vintage look I was after! I toned it down with some Pumice Stone Distress Stain - Love that stuff! Which I used on the red binding and on the red and white check adhesive fabric tape that I used to cover the join between the cover and the PP (or cardstock on the back and inside covers) which I have also done! The PP is from the Fancy Pants 'Home for Christmas Collection' - Merry Tree! The white painted wooden Snowflake was from the local Chinese Bead Shop and I'm still waiting (not very patiently for my stickles to dry)
For anybody who needs to get into the Christmas Scrapbooking mood - you can listen to May Flaum, Noel Hyman and our Very Own Scrapgoddess Shimelle on this weeks paperclipping round table podcast too - just sayin!
http://www.paperclipping.com/category/roundtable/
Finally - if you want to join the class and you havent yet done so (is there anybody who hasnt joined?) you can check it out by clicking on the blinkie
Our Christmas lights are on and they are (as always amazing) so I'll be out with my camera to capture the magic because we are (as the song says) going West! 12,000 miles west to Houston Texas - next year! And this time of year brings me to Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class - being the Shimelle groupie that I am, it wont come as a big surprise to anybody that this is my fourth year doing the class and until today - I hadnt really given it much thought - Well maybe a little thought because I got one of Shimelle's kits delivered to a relation in the UK - kinda thinking I was going home early as my DH is away to the USA next week - he is now coming home early so I wont be in the UK until 22nd December! On that basis I headed into my Local Scrapbooking Store - and they were having a 50% off Chrismtas items if you bought a minimum of 5 items promotion - you just know what's coming dont you?
Ok so having had a look at all of the Christmas Collections - and most of the rest of their inventory! I have decided to go vintage this year! I have an American Crafts Modern Album 8 x 8 - Im doing some 8 x 8 pages and some 6 x 4 / 6 x 4 / 2 x 8 divided pages - because I have never done them before and I like to try something new each year!
So what did I buy .......... Well the Christmas stuff .......
Fancy Pants - Home for Christmas Collection Pack - its yummy!
I have Bo Bunny Noteworthy Christmas Numbers Tags and Embellies!
Websters Pages Calendar and Journalling Tags - These are gorgeous too - so I bought 2 packs of these!
And a Kaisercraft 6 1/2 " Paper Pad - Turtle Dove Collection which is also really lovely!
My page bases are going to be a pale Kraft dotted swiss cardstock ..............
and Ive finally got my hands on black and brown American Crafts Precision Pens for journalling!
There didnt look to be much in the basket in the craft shop - but it looks like a lot more than I thought I had bought now its sitting on my desk!!!! What do you reckon?
So this evening I turned up the aircon - and got into the Journal Your Christmas Mood by making my album cover and this is the finished article - I just have to fill it now - and that fun starts tomorrow!!!!! - I used and American Crafts Modern 8 x 8 album, but the red was too bright for the vintage look I was after! I toned it down with some Pumice Stone Distress Stain - Love that stuff! Which I used on the red binding and on the red and white check adhesive fabric tape that I used to cover the join between the cover and the PP (or cardstock on the back and inside covers) which I have also done! The PP is from the Fancy Pants 'Home for Christmas Collection' - Merry Tree! The white painted wooden Snowflake was from the local Chinese Bead Shop and I'm still waiting (not very patiently for my stickles to dry)
For anybody who needs to get into the Christmas Scrapbooking mood - you can listen to May Flaum, Noel Hyman and our Very Own Scrapgoddess Shimelle on this weeks paperclipping round table podcast too - just sayin!
http://www.paperclipping.com/category/roundtable/
Finally - if you want to join the class and you havent yet done so (is there anybody who hasnt joined?) you can check it out by clicking on the blinkie
Saturday 24 November 2012
Im Dreaming of a Safe Christmas!
I was looking at some of these images, http://www.digsdigs.com/76-inspiring-scandinavian-christmas-decorating-ideas/ following a link from one of Dan99's posts on UK Scrappers today and realise Christmas is just around the corner! I just wanted to do my bit to remind everybody about staying safe during the holidays - so here is just one small plea for
everybody at Christmas - after my many years working in the fire service -
PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEASE - follow these simple rules to have the kind of Christmas
you'll want to remember for all the right reasons!
Place candles carefully and do not leave burning candles unattended. Make sure candles are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be easily knocked down. Keep candles at least 12 inches from anything that can burn. Never leave a room or go to bed with candles burning.
Never Put Lit Candles on a Tree
Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame – candles, lighters or matches.
Better still - Consider using battery-operated flameless candles, which can look, smell and feel like real candles.
Check your tree lights - make sure the wires are ok Inspectlights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up.A new set of tree lights are cheap change them, if you're not sure!
Do Not Overload Electrical Outlets
Do not link light strands, except in accordance with the directions, where they indicate it is safe to do so. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires – they should not be warm to the touch.
If you're lucky enough to have an open fire - use a spark guard
Selecting a Real Tree
Needles on fresh trees should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and the needles should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long and, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.
Caring for Your Tree
Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. The heat will dry out the tree, causing it to be more easily ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree. Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.
Use Only Nonflammable Decorations
All decorations should be nonflammable or flame-retardant and placed away from heat sources, heating vents or lights. If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB6zJUkDsIs - These points are pretty much covered in this video
One final thing - We also used to get an increase in Road Traffic Collisions, particularly those involving people who were driving under the influence! Be aware, that the Police often run early morning breathalyser campaigns - during the party season - you can still be over the limit the next morning if you have had a lot to drink the night before!
Also, even if you dont drink and drive - others on the road might still be driving under the influence - so be extra careful when out - personally - if I can, I avoid driving at night during the festive period - its not always practical I know, but if you're not on the roads, you're much less likely to be involved in a drink related accident!
Wishing everybody a very early safe and Happy Christmas!
Place candles carefully and do not leave burning candles unattended. Make sure candles are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be easily knocked down. Keep candles at least 12 inches from anything that can burn. Never leave a room or go to bed with candles burning.
Never Put Lit Candles on a Tree
Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame – candles, lighters or matches.
Better still - Consider using battery-operated flameless candles, which can look, smell and feel like real candles.
Check your tree lights - make sure the wires are ok Inspectlights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up.A new set of tree lights are cheap change them, if you're not sure!
Do Not Overload Electrical Outlets
Do not link light strands, except in accordance with the directions, where they indicate it is safe to do so. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires – they should not be warm to the touch.
If you're lucky enough to have an open fire - use a spark guard
Selecting a Real Tree
Needles on fresh trees should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and the needles should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long and, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.
Caring for Your Tree
Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. The heat will dry out the tree, causing it to be more easily ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree. Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.
Use Only Nonflammable Decorations
All decorations should be nonflammable or flame-retardant and placed away from heat sources, heating vents or lights. If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB6zJUkDsIs - These points are pretty much covered in this video
One final thing - We also used to get an increase in Road Traffic Collisions, particularly those involving people who were driving under the influence! Be aware, that the Police often run early morning breathalyser campaigns - during the party season - you can still be over the limit the next morning if you have had a lot to drink the night before!
Also, even if you dont drink and drive - others on the road might still be driving under the influence - so be extra careful when out - personally - if I can, I avoid driving at night during the festive period - its not always practical I know, but if you're not on the roads, you're much less likely to be involved in a drink related accident!
Wishing everybody a very early safe and Happy Christmas!
__________________
Monday 19 November 2012
Thanks for returning my Mojo Shimelle - Scrapbook Remix Update
Do you ever have times when you just dont get time to scrap - of course you do, we all do! I also have times when I could scrap - but life gets in the way - and recently - that was my story! So much going on and never quite enough time to sit down and make some magic happen!
Happily though its all changed since we got back from our trip, and I have made 20 LO's - in just over a week! I have had jetlag and scrapping helps me pass the time when I should be sleeping but simply cant! Might as well do something more productive than watching terrible Singaporean TV all night right! Sorry but its just not my kind of TV, not that Im much of a TV kinda girl in the first place to be honest!
I had signed up for Scrapbook Remix with Shimelle (of course) and hadnt had time to scrap any LO's but I have now started and am very happy with what I have done so far! Being challenged to look at my stash and my process in a different way is making me really excited about scrapbooking - and I am using stash like a mad woman at the moment! I find Scrapbooking is a joyful and happy thing to do and its a big part of my life (not least because of the amount of space my stash and completed albums take up!!!)
However, I have two sticking points when it comes to scrapping - I get the basic page done very quickly - then I spend ages on the embellishments! I usually scrap 6 x 4 photos, although I often crop them, and Im pretty good at working out where they need to go, and clusters - they often take forever, so Im working on that too! So if you fancy taking a peek at what I have done so far - here are a few of the LO's Shimelle has inspired me to do in the last week!
I've been working on colour - its an interesting thing to explore the possibilities and to limit yourself to something quite narrow - this one is explores using just one colour and one neutral !
This was an journey into monochrome - and I enjoyed it!
I then spent some time thinking about B sides! Patterned paper B sides - I bought this Scenic Route paper for the B side which is a pretty green grid, a very long time ago! I bought four sheets of it! I never thought I would find a way to use the A side as it was soooo busy, but with fairly plain photos and not a lot of anything else I think it works quite well and would have been done in no time at all, except for those couple of clusters - that took longer than the rest of the LO to put together!
OK now you have seen I havent been slacking - I might just go and explore Shimelle's next Scrapbook Remix prompt - and enjoy another spot of stash diving - I could be some time!
Once again Shimelle - thanks for helping me to find my Mojo - its sooo good to have it back!
Happily though its all changed since we got back from our trip, and I have made 20 LO's - in just over a week! I have had jetlag and scrapping helps me pass the time when I should be sleeping but simply cant! Might as well do something more productive than watching terrible Singaporean TV all night right! Sorry but its just not my kind of TV, not that Im much of a TV kinda girl in the first place to be honest!
I had signed up for Scrapbook Remix with Shimelle (of course) and hadnt had time to scrap any LO's but I have now started and am very happy with what I have done so far! Being challenged to look at my stash and my process in a different way is making me really excited about scrapbooking - and I am using stash like a mad woman at the moment! I find Scrapbooking is a joyful and happy thing to do and its a big part of my life (not least because of the amount of space my stash and completed albums take up!!!)
However, I have two sticking points when it comes to scrapping - I get the basic page done very quickly - then I spend ages on the embellishments! I usually scrap 6 x 4 photos, although I often crop them, and Im pretty good at working out where they need to go, and clusters - they often take forever, so Im working on that too! So if you fancy taking a peek at what I have done so far - here are a few of the LO's Shimelle has inspired me to do in the last week!
I've been working on colour - its an interesting thing to explore the possibilities and to limit yourself to something quite narrow - this one is explores using just one colour and one neutral !
This was an journey into monochrome - and I enjoyed it!
I then spent some time thinking about B sides! Patterned paper B sides - I bought this Scenic Route paper for the B side which is a pretty green grid, a very long time ago! I bought four sheets of it! I never thought I would find a way to use the A side as it was soooo busy, but with fairly plain photos and not a lot of anything else I think it works quite well and would have been done in no time at all, except for those couple of clusters - that took longer than the rest of the LO to put together!
OK now you have seen I havent been slacking - I might just go and explore Shimelle's next Scrapbook Remix prompt - and enjoy another spot of stash diving - I could be some time!
Once again Shimelle - thanks for helping me to find my Mojo - its sooo good to have it back!
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Scrapbook Remix - Catching up
I have been following this class with Shimelle and am loving it, but on the message board was a thread that asked the dreaded question - How much do you spend on your stash? GULP!!! Deep Breath - ok and another one - I'll be ok in a min ...................................................... maybe a few minutes to compose myself............ Ok I'll be honest!!!!
I dont know about you, but Im completely in denial about how much I spend on stash! The last big blowout was in September, I had a great day in Archivers and another even bigger day in Michaels - BUT I was only in the US for a fortnight and everything was at least 40 - 75% cheaper than here in Singapore - so it made sense to stock up whislt I was there - didnt it???? I only buy here when there is a special offer on, and I have a wishlist for things I want so I dont go crazy! You believe me right? Ok well I dont go crazy very often (and if I do, only for things on my wishlist - oh oh did you actually see me add those extra 7 rolls of washi tape to my basket the last time I was in there? OK well I did, but it was half price ............ and it was for a friend - no really it was)
Ive been scrapbooking a long tme, so I have almost all the tools they have ever invented for scrapbooking - the one I use most is my Pazzles - worth every penny btw - as I now spend virtually nothing on Alphas and Embellishments! I have a major weakness for the Chinese Beads and Swarowski Crystals we have here, but since we are expecting a move to the US next year - I guess they will have to last me a long while!
I recently bought a set of Perfect Layers and a Perfect Square, most of my purchases are PP and cardstock, and Oh and I guess, you already know I also have a weakness for washi tape at the moment! Please tell me Im not alone!
I dont know about you, but Im completely in denial about how much I spend on stash! The last big blowout was in September, I had a great day in Archivers and another even bigger day in Michaels - BUT I was only in the US for a fortnight and everything was at least 40 - 75% cheaper than here in Singapore - so it made sense to stock up whislt I was there - didnt it???? I only buy here when there is a special offer on, and I have a wishlist for things I want so I dont go crazy! You believe me right? Ok well I dont go crazy very often (and if I do, only for things on my wishlist - oh oh did you actually see me add those extra 7 rolls of washi tape to my basket the last time I was in there? OK well I did, but it was half price ............ and it was for a friend - no really it was)
Ive been scrapbooking a long tme, so I have almost all the tools they have ever invented for scrapbooking - the one I use most is my Pazzles - worth every penny btw - as I now spend virtually nothing on Alphas and Embellishments! I have a major weakness for the Chinese Beads and Swarowski Crystals we have here, but since we are expecting a move to the US next year - I guess they will have to last me a long while!
I recently bought a set of Perfect Layers and a Perfect Square, most of my purchases are PP and cardstock, and Oh and I guess, you already know I also have a weakness for washi tape at the moment! Please tell me Im not alone!
Saturday 27 October 2012
UK Scrappers Mystery Kit Mini Album and Layouts!
I love doing online challenges and classes - I recently did True Scrap 4 hosted by Lain Ehmann, one of the classes was a Laura Dennison mini album class - and I couldnt wait to have a go at making my own! - You can find more of Laura's fab work here http://followingthepapertrail.blogspot.co.uk/. She has just launched her new blog here http://www.lauradenisondesigns.com/ - There are a ton of amazing tutorials on there and you can easily loose a few weeks looking at her amazing work!
BUT back to the UKS cybercrop and the Mystery Kit challenge, as a member of the Detectives team, my kit came from A Trip Down Memory Lane, and I had a ball putting together my homage to Laura - so here it is - there are a lot of photos here - so please enjoy!
This is the main project I did with the kit - its a mini album of our recent trip to Vietnam
The front of the album!
The album has a flap on the far right of every page, with lots of places for photos and journalling - Page 1
This is page 2
Page 5
BUT back to the UKS cybercrop and the Mystery Kit challenge, as a member of the Detectives team, my kit came from A Trip Down Memory Lane, and I had a ball putting together my homage to Laura - so here it is - there are a lot of photos here - so please enjoy!
This is the main project I did with the kit - its a mini album of our recent trip to Vietnam
The front of the album!
The album has a flap on the far right of every page, with lots of places for photos and journalling - Page 1
This is page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Last page!
Back Cover
Over view of the book!
I also made three LO's a DLO and a SLO of a trip to Pompeii a few years ago!
Im so looking forward to the Cybercrop and really enjoyed putting together this selection of projects from one lovely mystery kit!!!!!
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Shimelle's New Class!
Just a quick post to say Im really excited about the new class from shimelle - her classses are always full of inspiration and great content, and Im sure this one will be too!! This class is about mixing up paper collections and using up your stash - I knew as soon as I saw it advertised, that this was a class I needed to do!!!! Its not too late to sign up - and I guarantee any Shimelle class is not going to disappoint!!!! What are you waiting for?
Shimelle asked us to bear our stash, and show how much patterned paper they have - so here is my Singaporean and English stash - there is quite a lot, but Im reassured as others have more than me, does that mean I dont have enough I wonder?
So this is Singapore - If you look at the middle row in the photo, the far left two cubby holes have my PP in them, and the next one is my cardstock - this is all 12 x 12. above on the top left cubby hole are my bit bags, sorted by colour, I sort my scraps this way, and go here first when I am looking for PP to add to my page! It works for me well, and it means I can find stuff and use more of my scaps this way than I ever did using any other scraps storage method. I also have a bag for Christmas themed scraps!
The second shelf of this unit has 8 x 8 and 6 x 6 paper packs
and this is all the PP I have in Singapore!!!!
Shimelle asked us to bear our stash, and show how much patterned paper they have - so here is my Singaporean and English stash - there is quite a lot, but Im reassured as others have more than me, does that mean I dont have enough I wonder?
So this is Singapore - If you look at the middle row in the photo, the far left two cubby holes have my PP in them, and the next one is my cardstock - this is all 12 x 12. above on the top left cubby hole are my bit bags, sorted by colour, I sort my scraps this way, and go here first when I am looking for PP to add to my page! It works for me well, and it means I can find stuff and use more of my scaps this way than I ever did using any other scraps storage method. I also have a bag for Christmas themed scraps!
The second shelf of this unit has 8 x 8 and 6 x 6 paper packs
and this is all the PP I have in Singapore!!!!
This is my English Craft room, and on the right hand side, is my A4 cardstock, I do have a lot of it as I started out my crafting as a cardmaker!
You will see bags of colour coded bits and embellishments on the shelf below the cardstock! In the expedit below the shelves, there are four cubby holes with paper in them, one that has kits in it, one that has cardstock in it, and two that have PP in it! There is also a futher cubby hole, with colour coded scraps in there! None of these are full, but Im not going to run short in either location, anytime soon!!!!
UKS Cybercrop - Pre Crop Challenges!
This class was called a Patchwork of poison and I loved playing with these fab hexagons!!!! This LO is about a salad I had recently in Texas, it was so big I had it for lunch in the restaurant, and for the next two days for lunch at the apartment we were staying in!!!
Another challenge was to make a red white and blue birthday card, as these are the colours of the UKS site! I still have a few challenges to do - not sure if I will get them all done, but Im having fun!!!
Thanks so much for looking!!!
Sunday 14 October 2012
Another tidy craft room!
Im not posting photos of the before - Im too ashamed - it was seriously bad and did look like an episode from hoarders! Id been throwing stuff in there for ages - everything that didnt have a home went in my craft room until I had time to sort it out! Talk about creating a job for yourself! You can now see that it is very tidy - and its organised and Im very pleased its done - I was seriously fed up of sorting stuff out - anyway - now I know what I have, how much of it I have and where it is! Pure Bliss!!!
Wednesday 10 October 2012
WHATEVER POSSESSED ME?????
The next time I get a big idea about tidying up and reorganising my craft room please stop me! I love how organised my Singapore craft room is - it works beautifully and although it is a tiny space - it seems to work perfectly - hold onto that thought for a moment!
We also have a home in England - and I also have a craft room there too! Which is not tidy and not organised - in fact it is a total tip! Having got myself so organised in Singapore, I decided it was time to give the English craft room the same treatment - the germ of the idea started last week when I was doing LOAD up there, and couldnt find anything - and yesterday I started to make plans......... and this morning I started trying to bring order to the chaos!! Stupid, Stupid Stupid idea!!!!!
It is only when I started (and oh how I wish I hadnt) that I realised how much my scrapping habits have changed over the last 3 1/2 years since we moved abroad, and now know the reason why I struggle to scrapbook tidily here - is that my stash isnt organised my room isnt organised and my storage system has no system, in fact to be honest its more of a storage problem!
Now I have started there is truly no going back - I see stretching ahead of me a good week of cleaning and sorting and the inevtiable trip to IKEA - shelf and storage unit building and hopefully a huge sigh of relief when the monster stash mountain is tamed and ordered an neatly organised - but there is much to do before that happens! I have taken before photographs - Im too ashamed to post them at the moment - but I do have evidence and when it is tidy I might be tempted to share them later when its all beautiful again, but in the meantime I best get myself back amongst the mayhem - before even the mere idea of it totally overwhelms me! I might be some time!!!!!!
We also have a home in England - and I also have a craft room there too! Which is not tidy and not organised - in fact it is a total tip! Having got myself so organised in Singapore, I decided it was time to give the English craft room the same treatment - the germ of the idea started last week when I was doing LOAD up there, and couldnt find anything - and yesterday I started to make plans......... and this morning I started trying to bring order to the chaos!! Stupid, Stupid Stupid idea!!!!!
It is only when I started (and oh how I wish I hadnt) that I realised how much my scrapping habits have changed over the last 3 1/2 years since we moved abroad, and now know the reason why I struggle to scrapbook tidily here - is that my stash isnt organised my room isnt organised and my storage system has no system, in fact to be honest its more of a storage problem!
Now I have started there is truly no going back - I see stretching ahead of me a good week of cleaning and sorting and the inevtiable trip to IKEA - shelf and storage unit building and hopefully a huge sigh of relief when the monster stash mountain is tamed and ordered an neatly organised - but there is much to do before that happens! I have taken before photographs - Im too ashamed to post them at the moment - but I do have evidence and when it is tidy I might be tempted to share them later when its all beautiful again, but in the meantime I best get myself back amongst the mayhem - before even the mere idea of it totally overwhelms me! I might be some time!!!!!!
LOAD DAY 9
Well Im back on a roll and yesterday completed my day 9 LO so Im feeling quite pleased with myself! This LO is about my DSD who always falls asleep when travelling - Im pretty similar myself, but dont think even I could have managed to sleep on a third class train with no air conditioning! These photos taken in Thailand in the summer make me smile because my DSS is wide awake (and can never sleep when travelling) - it shows them as they really are and for that reason it makes me smile!
Tuesday 9 October 2012
LOAD DAY 8
Well today was stretch a sketch and I really streeeeeeeetchedd this one! It was a one pager and I turned it into a two pager with the same number of photos because the photo sizes didnt work with my photos and I wanted to scrap these all together!
Ho Chi Minh is a crazy place - from the 3 million mopeds to the hustle and bustle of the local markets and shops! We came across this coconut seller - and Im not sure how it happened, but my boys all ended having a go at carrying his basket of coconuts and as I looked at the photos the words of the song 'Ive got a lovely bunch of coconuts' came to mind! Unfortunately none of us actually care for coconut - although his were truly beautiful - but it was a great photo opportunity and a lot of fun as you can see! You may also notice more Simple Stories paper and Prima washi tape - because Im a bit obsessed with it at the moment!!!!
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