Handmade By Kirsty

Counterfeit and hybrid

2012-02-14T09:03:00.000Z

Sounds dodgy? It's not; just a hybrid layout about my sister in law's 40th birthday party using the embellies I made with my counterfeit kit. I used a PSE background and Kate Pertiet masks to make a digi collage then printed it onto card & photo paper and layered the photos up with foam squares. I coloured a doily with black ink then tucked the tag, I'd made behind the photo. The coloured are much brighter than I would normally go for, but that's why it's called a Challenge, right?

February Counterfeit Challenge (and Pass the Book)

2012-02-11T17:24:00.001Z

Thank Goodness Half Term is finally here! Work has really taken over for the last 6 weeks and I am feeling seriously Craft-deprived. So,last night was my first opportunity to look at February's Counterfeit kit. There were 2 to choose from, both by Scrapbook Circle, but I discounted the Valentine One out of hand! That left Note to Self.

The first thing that struck me was the number of small die cut elements, phrases and journalling spots. I have loads of these, but I rarely use them, as I either print my journalling or write directly onto the layout, so I thought this was a good opportunity to unearth them and put them to work.

There are also a lot of tabbed files, something else I hardly ever use, so I found some coloured index cards I've had for ages and some ledger printed papers. Then, because I really can't manage without cardstock, I pulled some sheets in matching shades.

After a rotten week, I badly needed to do some therapeutic cutting and sticking. Not being in the mood for anything as constructive as a full layout, I got out my punches and my scraps box and set about making some embellishment sets. I didn't have any particular projects in mind, I just wanted to play. It was the therapy I needed, but I'm not sure whether they are the embellishements I needed!

I used the Happy embellishment in my SMASH book this morning, to complement a photobooth strip of my children showing off their face painting.

As Carolyn was the only person who expressed an interest in reading 'Scrapbooking Your Faith', the Book is Passing to her. Email me your address Carolyn!

Hehe. that just made my rubbish day better

2012-02-11T13:14:00.001Z

The lovely Gwen at Crochet Capers gave me an award three days ago, but I've been feeling too rotten to give it the attention it deserves. We are now finally on half term and I'm starting to feel human again, but now the rest of the family have got the flu so this will still need to be a quick post.

The rules:

1. Add the award to your blog. Ok. Done that.

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you. Easy. Thank you so much, Gwen

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself. Right-o, let's see:
    I'm a chocoholic
    I teach English to Speakers of Other Languages - most of the time I love my job. Sometimes, I just love the holidays!
     My favourite colour is purple.
     I hate gardening and I can't even keep a pot plant alive.
     I'm allergic to penicillin
    I can speak 4 languages (not fluently, but well enough to get by)
     I've got flu (did I mention that already?)

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog. Done

Thanks again, Gwen. Cheered up what was becoming a truly horrid week.

Smash 2012 and January in Number

2012-02-04T09:35:00.000Z

I enjoyed using my red Smashbook so much for Journal Your Christmas that I bought myself a green version. I intend to use it this year for all the little events of 2012 which won't make it into my 12x12 album for whatever reason. I love how quickly I can put together a Smash page because of the smaller format and the fact that the pages already have a background design. This green one has lovely nature inspired prints and photographic backgrounds.
Here's what I've done so far:

I have also been inspired by Sian and Melissa (who were inspired by, among others, Julie) tyo create a monthly Month in Numbers. I've been looking for a year-long project that is manageable and I think this fits the bill. The Smash book is the perfect place to keep it, so here's my January in Numbers:

Confession time

2012-02-02T16:23:00.000Z

I have 2 things to confess:

1. Today I did something I haven't done in 3 years - I bought 3 birthday cards!!!.
I know!! But I have been soooo busy with work that I just couldn't find time to make them. Officially, I teach part-time - a 50% timetable. Will someone explain, then, why I have spent every waking hour for the last 4 weeks marking and doing college-related paperwork?

2. My second confession is that I received this book from Melissa before Christmas as part of the Pass the Book scheme. I read it (well looked at the pictures, there isn't much text), I enjoyed it, and then I put it away in a safe place and forgot about it!

So now it's definitely time for me to Pass the Book on. If you'd like to be next in line for it, just leave me a comment letting me know you're interested, before Friday 10th February and I'll put you into the draw.
Here's a sneaky peak inside to give you an idea of the content - lots of gorgeous layouts, all with a Faith theme:

Ok, so what is my penance? No... please.... not another set of marking!!

Just One Sketch

2012-01-27T08:16:00.001Z

I still don't have a pinter or scanner so I had a go at creating my sketch for Kirsty's class in Paint. Not great, but you get the idea. I then rotated it 90 degrees, 180 degrees and flipped it horizontally to give me 4 sketches, which I will be able to choose from during this class.

I won't show you them all; I'm not sure that they look very different, because of the triangular formation, but I'll give each of them a go.

Here's my first layout, based on my original sketch. I used most of the design elements I had originally identified but I moved away from my planned triangular format because I wanted to follow the line of the flowers on the Kraft Kuts This Girl paper, which I highlighted with my Sakura Clear Star pen to give them some sparkle. The star paper is the reverse of a My Mind's Eye Christmas paper.

I know that any scrapbooker worth her salt has dozens, if not hundreds, of flowers but I have...er...11! because I resent paying shop prices for them.

I decided to get out the Flower Loom which came free with a copy of Simply Handmade magazine and spent an hour making flowers with embroidery silks. I enjoyed it and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. My daughter loved them (which makes them appropriate for the LO) so I made her an extra one and attached it to a safety pin as a brooch. I like the idea of trying thin jewellery wire next.

H is for....

2012-01-23T14:22:00.000Z

Haircut. Had mine done today, and bought a colour for it.

Ha Ha. My 70-year old Dad trying to blow out his (relighting) candles yesterday!

Harrison. My second cousin, born early this morning.

Henna. Isn't it pretty? First time I've had Henna done - one of my Pakistani students did it for me.

2 More Counterfeited cards and a layout

2012-01-21T15:43:00.000Z

My lovely Dad turns 70 tomorrow, so a special card is in order. (Particularly as I had absolutely no idea what to buy him for a present - what do you get for a man who has everything? - a book doesn't seem enough for a special birthday) I used my January counterfeit kit and another series of pictures from the recycled 'English Through Composition) book. The numbers are by Basic Grey. I'm going to need a lot of zeros this year: 3 40th birthdays, 2 70ths, a 90th and a 10th!

While I was looking through my stash, I found this glamorous lady I'd cut off a shop-bought card ages ago. Some more scraps from my counterfeit kit and a swirl stamp made the background. I drew around the lady and coloured the silhouette in black then raised her on foam dots to give a shadow effect.

The layout uses the only photo in existence of me in Guide uniform. Despite the fact that I was a very keen Guide for 4 years (and then went on to be a Young Leader and a Guider until M was born), my photographically-challenged parents were never able to get a whole picture of me. I remember several in which I was a missing a head and one of just my arm in a salute, but unfortunately I don't know what happened to them. So I was very happy to find this one of my brother and me in my Grandmother's box of old photos.

The layout was inspired by Shimelle's Scrapbook Starting Point a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't happy with so much white space so I added the stamped swirls to give it a bit more definition, but I'm still not sure it's completely finished.

Just One Sketch - Prompt 1

2012-01-19T18:28:00.000Z

I joined Kirsty's 'Just One Sketch' class shortly after Christmas, and then missed the first 3 prompts so I'm playing catchup.
Kirsty suggested that we look through our favourite recent layouts to identify the common elements, then use them to create our own sketch. This is something I haven't done before, but I know my style has changed recently and I was quite surprised to see what the common elements were from my 6 favourites:

A 12x12 cardstock background, with a large sheet of patterned paper on top, leaving a border;
Torn and/or inked edges;
3 photos, with a focal one printed larger or matted to make it stand out;
This means not much white space (I really admire people who use white space, but I can't seem to do it);
One or two journalling blocks - computer printed or hand-written;
A triangular placement, with everything in 3s;
Clusters of embellishments.

I created a sketch from this, but my scanner / printer died last week so I can't scan it to show you yet.

This has been a very busy week - second week of classes, which always means a pile of marking, plus my AS exam. My house is a tip and i have promised myself that the housework and marking must come before scrapping. I'll have a go at using my sketch for a layout as soon as I have some time to myself.

I think this is going to be an interesting class, as I struggle to work with other people's sketches. Is anyone else doing it too?

Introducing....Craft Obsessions

2012-01-18T16:56:00.000Z

I'd like to give a quick shout to recommend the lovely David and Brenda at Craft Obsessions. I have never met them, but if you are looking for an online supplier in the UK, they are great. I do not order stash very often (I would love to, but I have to spend my money on other stuff, like £90 on school shoes today!) but whenever I do I use this site I find it easy to navigate and I usually find what I'm looking for. Their range of stock is impressive, and most of all David and Brenda, who run this business just seem so nice. Their emails are friendly. Orders are dispatched quickly and with every order I get a handwritten note, attached with a pretty bit of (reusable) ribbon and a random free gift.

Anyway, rather than moaning about the service I received in Clarks this afternoon, I thought I'd recommend some good service.

And here's a piccie of my lovely new stash, which arrived yesterday. Can't wait to get going with my SMASH book for this year and those gorgous Kraft Kuts This Girl papers.

A heritage layout with the January Counterfeit Kit

2012-01-15T10:35:00.000Z

I'm enjoying using the counterfeit kit I put together this month. The baby in this photo is me. The gentleman is my Great-Uncle Godfrey, known as Goff and the lady is my Great Grandmother, Alice Maud Wallis.

Goff was a lifelong bachelor and lived with his mum until her death in 1976 when he moved into a small flat. He loved 'a flutter on the horses' and he was a great card sharp. He always got my and my brother's birthdays mixed up, although he never missed one.

Having never learned to drive, he always rode his 'push bike' everywhere. This, sadly, caused his sudden and untimely death whilst I was away working in the Czech Republic. He was knocked off his bike by a car and died very quickly at the age of 75.

I was only 7 when Alice Maud died so my memories of her are just snapshots:

I remember the house stuffed full of stuff. The 'parlour' was full of untouchable treasures, which unfortunately were all sold off when the house was sold. The cupboard contained tins of beans and custard powder dating back several years. When we cleared the house for Goff's move, we found one tin at the back sporting a price label in 'old money'!

My mum tells me my great grandmother would never have let me see her in her nightgown, but I am certain I have a memory of her in a very high Victorian-style bed. I'll never know whether it's a true memory or not, but it's one I'll treasure anyway.

I know she couldn't pronounce my name properly and called me Krusty.

There were huge rhubarb plants in the back garden and, one summer, a swarm of flying ants. I was terrified and I wouldn't go down the path until my uncle picked me up.

Strangely, I now work 2 doors away from their old house, in the converted schoolhouse both Goff and my Grandmother attended.

What(was) On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Using my Counterfeit kit.

2012-01-12T14:09:00.000Z

Hi there all you WOYWDWers. It's Thursday! But I was working all day yesterday so I will show you what I got up to when I finally got the kids to bed after school and karate.

The messy pile of stash on my desk is my January Counterfeit Kit, which I had out to make birthday cards for my nephew and his mum.

The Harry Potter cards which the lovely Melissa kindly sent me before Christmas make perfect toppers for boys' cards. (I don't really do stamping, as you know.) I layered it with some of the small scraps I'd pulled for my kit. The yellow foam letters brighten it up and suit a 6 year old.

My sister-in-law needed something more grown up (although she's also a Harry Potter fan). I cut the daisies from the last scrap of a particularly lovely sheet of patterned paper, which I'd been saving even though it was too small to do anything else with. The drawings were cut from a very old English composition text book which had been shoved to the back of our teaching resources cupboard. When you see the final picture inside the card you'll know why we don't use the book anymore!

10 on the 10th. Cute Things that my Children Say

2012-01-10T15:27:00.000Z

For this month's 10 Things, I've collected some of my children's sayings. They make me laugh. I hope they amuse you too.

1. R to his sister. "You should mind your manners. Use the F Word.' ("Fanks!)

2. M (whose nickname at home is Mouse) "I'm not a mouse. I'm just a M(name)."

3. M (occasional variation on the above) "I'm not a mouse. I'm a cute little sister." (she certainly is!)

4. M "Will I ever be able to skip? I've only got 2 hobbies, and I can't do one of them."

5. M (aged 4 and half, as I was writing a shopping list) "Don't forget the full stops."

6. R "Goopblast is a green alien who can turn fiery." (We hear a lot of this sort of thing. What can one say, other than "Really?")

7. R "Muuu-ummm!" (Even when it's P who's told him to do something, not me)

8. M "You're the best Mummy in the whole wide world."

9. R "Un pain au chocolat, s'il vous plait" (He loves going to the bakers by hime self in France)

10.And the things I say too often to them: "Put your shoes on...now". "Just eat a bit more", "Please stop making that silly noise". I could go on. You'll be glad to hear i won't

January Counterfeit Kit Challenge

2012-01-08T20:29:00.001Z

What a lovely weekend! In between my cousin's Baby Shower, my friend's Black Tie 40th birthday party and a rare child-free pub lunch with my husband , I also had time to make my January Counterfeit Kit.

My camera phone is not the best quality, but I really want to get more photos of P and myself this year, so this is a good start.

I took part in the Counterfeit Kit Challange for the first half of last year and then tailed off a bit, but I decided to come back to it this month. The kit revealed this month is Amber Snowflake by Cocoa Daisy. There were 3 others to choose from but they were all a bit wintry / Christmassy and I've had enough of that. I liked the vintage feel and masculine colours of this one:

This Spring I have 2 40ths, a 70th and a 90th birthday coming up, as well as several other non-milestone birthdays and a have a very sparse card stash at present, so with that in mind I created 'Vintage Amber for Men (which sounds more like an aftershave than a papercraft kit!)

Here are my papers:

The embellishments are fairly loosely inspired by the original kit, but they fit with the projects I have in mind.

I'll probably create some bunting with the scraps as I go along. Visit the Counterfeit Kit blog for some more homemade versions of this lovely Cocoa Daisy kit.
I'm looking forward to some time to play with it, but I'm not sure how much I'll get now we are back into normal school routine.

The last few days of JYC. The first few days of the year (and a leg up for Christmas 2012

2012-01-06T17:30:00.000Z

I combined the last 6 JYC prompts into my last few SMASH pages.

2nd January. The children went to see the pantomime with their Nanny while I did some revision for my French oral exam. They do believe in fairies. They do. they do.

3rd January. A restful day spent naming new clothes for school. P and I shared a Chinese takeaway inthe evening to celebrate the end of the holidays.

4th January. Back to school for M and me. R had an extra day and P doesn't go back until next week. Not fair!!

5th January. R went back to school. My colleagues came over in the evening for a 'post-Christmas Do'

6th January. I took my French AS oral this morning. Not sure how well it went, but I know I was very nervous. Now to revise for the written paper in 2 weeks' time. The tree, cards and all the decorations were taken down today. The house looks very empty and bare without all that Christmas sparkle.

And that's it until next October, when I will start preparations again.

For those of you who expressed an interest in my Christmas 2012 Plan-Along, here's my first tip for you. When you take down all those gorgeous glossy cards you received this year, don't just recycle them. Pack them away somewhere safe and WRITE DOWN WHERE YOU PUT THEM!!! In you JYC journal, perhaps, or on the Decmeber page of your 2012 diary / calendsar. Anywhere as long as you will look at it in 11 months time.

Do the same with any leftover wrapping paper or tags so you can find them again next year (and the paper you bought in the January sales, if you're that kind of girl. But on second thoughts, if you are, you probably don't need my help!)

Here's a look at my finished Christmas SMASH book. I've really enjoyed doing 'll definitely be getting myself another SMASH book for this year. All those little events that don't warrant a full 12x12 page.

It will be nice to get my non-Christmas stash back out, although I do still have some pictures I want to make into full layouts.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday January 2012

2012-01-04T07:58:00.000Z

Look at that! No Christmas paper in sight. No glitter. No red or green. Not a single Santa image to be seen!

I go back to college tomorrow and I have put all my Christmas scraps away in my pink file, apart from my JYC Smash Book, which I will still be working on until 12th Night this year. How nice it will be to do some other crafting. Although I do have a couple of 12x12 layouts to make about Christmas 2011, I have no desire to do them yet. Instead I am keen to get started on a pretty blue New Baby card for my cousin.

If you would like to share your desk, whether it is still covered with glitter or spick and span, post a link with Julia at The Stamping Ground.

I won't open that pink box again until next October, when I will once again embark on a marathon of Christmas cards. Speaking of which; I've had an idea brewing and I'd like to know what you think.

I am often teased for being overly organised about Christmas, usually (I like to think) by people who would like to be more organised. Would anyone be up for following along with my Christmas planning next year? I'm not talking about a class, just a series of weekly posts, starting in early October with ideas and suggestions for simple get-ahead tasks, with a Mr Linky so you can share how you are getting along.

If you are one of those people who always say, mid-December, 'How can it be Christmas already?' please tell me: do you revel in your last-minute preparations and deadlines (if so, I salute you and I wouldn't want to impose my technique on you) or would you like a bit of help from an early starter?

Well, it's back to work with me. Good luck if you or the children are back today too. Look at this sky we saw this morning as we ate breakfast.

Red sky in the morning, Shepherds' warning!!

Roll on 2012

2012-01-02T16:09:00.000Z

I don't make resolutions as such but I do have a few things I want to achieve in 2012:

Read Stieg Larsson's 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' trilogy - shouldn't be too difficult with my new Kindle, don't know how I haven't got round to it before

Conquer my fear of driving in France and JUST DO IT

Get a high grade in my French A Level. I'm not going to specify an A, but if I don't aim for that I'd be wasting my time.

Be more efficient with my blogging time, and include more stories as well as craft photos (OK, I know that sounds a bit like a resolution!)

What about you?

Storytelling Sunday - the (slightly disappointing) story of my first computer

2012-01-02T10:52:00.000Z

Yes, I know it's Monday, but it's a Bank Holiday so it counts as an extra Sunday in my book!! I want to join in with Sian's Storytelling Sunday more often this year. And if Uncle Dave says every story is worth telling, then that's what I'm going to do. In our house, the teacher is always right!

P has just bought himself a Blackberry Playbook; an astonishing piece of technology which reminded me of the story of my very first computer.

It was a Commodore Vic 20 ( not top of the range even then as my parents were not wealthy and it probably cost them much more than I appreciated at the time) and the most impressive thing I could do was program it in Basic to scroll my name diagonally across the screen.

I was 12 or 13 that Christmas so my younger brother, G would have been 8, and 8 year olds in the 1970s did not get given computers for Christmas as a matter of course. (By contrast my 7 year old nephew received a X BOx Kinect this year)

It was meant to be a shared present. But Mum wrote G's name on the tag because I was supposed to be 'old enough to understand'.

I'm ashamed to say I wasn't then, and still am not. Green suede pixie boots, though exactly what I wanted (why?!) did not equal a computer.

'It's not fair' I cried.

'Life's not fair', Mum and Dad replied.

No it isn't, but you're not supposed to find that out at Christmas when you're only 12. It has taken me several decades to conquer my jealousy of my brother (this was not the only example of what I perceived as unfair treatment) but I do try to remember how I felt when I opened those boots as a reminder to myself to treat my children fairly.

I don't think treating them fairly means necessarily treating them the same. There are 5 years between my R and M and they are very different people, but I would be horrified if either of them thought I loved them more or less.

This story does not paint me in a particularly good light, but it's true, and it's part of what I want to do with my blog in 2012. No less crafty prettiness, but a bit more honest everyday life as well. If you don't want to read about that, please comment and let me know because, as Sian's Uncle Dave also said "a story doesn’t become a real story until someone hears it or reads it".

JYC Days 30-32. A Review of 2011 and a Party

2012-01-01T17:50:00.000Z

New Year's Eve saw us celebrating with family. The combined age of the guests was 431, but that didn't stop us partying it up. We ate curry and toasted the New Year, but we were all tucked up in bed by 12.30!

This was I was faced with when I got up:

2011 was the year that:
                                   I spent a lot more time on my blog: 10 regular blog hops / classes
                                   I forgot my PIN and had to wait a week for a new one
                                   We all took part in a family Wii contest
                                   We travelled to France by Eurotunnel for the first time
                                   R graded from 8th to 6th Kyu in karate
                                   R performed in Beauty and the Beast
                                   We celebrated the Royal Wedding with a garden party
                                   M made an Easter bonnet
                                   We picked strawberries from May to October
                                   R got a piece of work on The Golden Board at school
                                   I graded to 7th Kyu in karate
                                   We followed Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor
                                   We went to see 'Rio' to celebrate M's birthday
                         I started the new term on my own while P and the children stayed in France
                                   M started Reception - no more childminder
                                   We put up new bookshelves in the lounge
                                   P used our house in France for a school trip
                                   We discovered new restaurants in France and at home
                                   M gave up her night time bottles
                                   P and I got a new laptop, a kindle and a Blackberry Playbook

Who knows what 2012 will bring? I am looking forward to several school holidays in France, my French A Level exams, the Queen's Jubilee celebrations and a day at the London 2012 Paralympics (ssh- don't tell R, it's a surprise). I'll take my camera, of course, and I'll share it with you.

I hope your 2012 is everything you hope it will be.

2011-12-31T17:42:00.000Z

✫✫✫✫ HAPPY NEW YEAR ✫✫✫✫

✫✫✫✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫✫✫✫¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.✫✫✫✫ ◕▄███▄◕──◕▄██▄◕──◕▄███◕──◕▄███▄◕ ◕▀──██◕─◕██──██◕───◕██◕──◕▀──██◕ ◕──██◕──◕██──██◕───◕██◕──◕──██◕ ◕─██◕───◕██──██◕───◕██◕──◕─██◕ ◕█████◕──◕▀██▀◕───◕▄██▄◕─◕█████◕ ✿♥❀♥❁•*¨✿❀❁•*¨`*•.✿❀❁•*¨`*•.`✿♥❀♥❁♥

JYC Days 24-29

2011-12-30T19:35:00.000Z

Wow, didn't that go quickly? I'd been preparing for Christmas for 3 months and then suddenly it was all over and instead I was nursing a cold. So it took me longer than usual to do my pages for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but here they are, plus a few extra random pages I wanted to include.

Family Photography competition - results

2011-12-29T09:00:00.000Z

Quite a few of my in-laws and family friends are keen photographers, so in the autumn we decided to hold a competition, on Facebook. We agreed on 4 categories (Earth, Wind, Fire and Water), posted our entries anonymously, then 'liked' our favourites. The one with the most 'Likes' was the winner. After final adjudication by FIL (who doesn't 'do' Facebook' or photography- he is a proud Luddite) MIL took the honours. with prizes in 2 categories.

Here, with the authors' permission, are the winners:

EARTH - 'Termite Mound', by Sue

WIND - 'Ducks' by Sue

FIRE - 'Fireworks' by ME!!!!

WATER - 'Reflection' by Nicola

I was very flattered to win the Fire category. There was some really stiff competition. We are working on'Snow and Festive Fun' now. Results to be decided at the end of January.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

2011-12-28T08:23:00.000Z

Welcome to WOYWDW at the end of the year. Unsurprisingly, there isn't much crafting going on, given that I've just spent 3 days celebrating and one day nursing a horrid cold. You can see Christmas wrapping paper that I haven't put away yet and my new 2012 calendar ready to have 4 different school holidays transferred onto it.

There is the box my new Kindle came in. I've fancied one for a while but I didn't know I was getting one so it was a lovely surprise. I've already loaded half a dozen books onto it - all free classics which I ought to have read but haven't.

The round black and white box contains sheets of note paper and the mauve tin has my JYC supplies. That's my plan for today - get up to date with JYC and go shopping for a new handbag with the money P gave me (he, quite rightly, wasn't prepared to risk buying me a bag by himself!)

Images of a lovely Christmas

2011-12-27T20:46:00.001Z

We've had a lovely few days filled with food, family and lots of presents. Hope yours was full of joy too. I was struck down with a cold this morning (I've been fighting it - toobusy - but now it seems to have won) so I'll get up to date with my journal, but for now here are a few pics from the last few days.

Tracking Santa's progress on Christmas Eve, with website and atlas.

Stockings - first thing Christmas morning. Ours started at 4am, can anyone beat that?

Father Christmas brought us all new socks

Children's lunch (in the utility room at my SIL's house) before we adults ate

More presents

M with her cousin J

Flaming the Christmas puddings, after a delicious turkey dinner

Giggling. Boxing Day at my Mum's house.

M with her Nanny

The aftermath, this morning. A huge pile of presents.

I was a very lucky girl this year. Among my presents were a lovely scarf, the cash to go shopping for a new handbag, and a Kindle. Love it. Wasn't really expecting that, although I'd dropped a few hints. What was your favourite present?

JYC Days 21-23

2011-12-24T10:19:00.001Z

The prompt for Day 21 is always a photo prompt, showing the house, Right Now. I looked back at last year's and it showed all the snow that closed the schools on the last day of term. However, this year the 21st was the first day of the school holidays and we were LAZY. As M said, 'It's the weekend until next year!' So lazy, in fact that I thought it would too boring a page so I didn't even take any pictures.

Then I changed my mind the next morning and, as nothing had changed at home, I took some snaps and made my page retrospectively.

We went out on 22nd to see the film Happy Feet 2' and did some baking so I made pages about these activities. There is a list of last minute jobs tucked behind the cinema ticket, but it'sa very manageable one.

Today is Christmas Eve. There will certainly be pages of stockings, Christingles and Norad Santa Tracker, but they will not be made today. Today I am enjoying the magic with the children.

I will be back after the festivities have died down. Meanwhile I wish you and yours the happiest of Christmasses. Have a wonderful time.

JYC Days18-21

2011-12-21T17:40:00.001Z

A quick round up of my pages, which unusually were approximately on prompt this week:

18 - Christmas food - a collection of recipes to try and a note of our Christmas Day breakfast.

19. Letters to (or in my case, from) Santa

20. Surprise! A performance of 'The Night Before Christmas', starring the Mouse. Not what we expected!

21. Right Now. The first day of the school holidays for me and the kids (P's school broke up last week) so we had a very lazy day. So lazy, in fact, that I haven't even made a page about it, but I did do a couple of catch up pages.

A double page about gifts and wrapping, now that I've finished it all:

And a single picture of M posting the cards.

Something to look forward to

2011-12-21T15:51:00.002Z

I've just signed up for a new class which starts in January. It's called Just One Sketch and there were 3 things which sold it to me.

The first was that it is run byKirsty at Curiouser and Curiouser and I love her blog. I've never taken a class by anyone other than Shimelle so I will enjoy some new input.

The second; I need something to look forward to when the magical mayhem of Christmas and Journal Your Christmas are over.

Thirdly, it costs just £5 which, as Kirsty says, is the price of a magazine. Now I buy quite a few magazines, especially in December, but I hate the January issues which are always full of worthy resolutions and diets! So, I thought I'd save myself the guilt and depression of buying and reading them and have some extra scrapping / blogging fun instead. As a bonus - the £5 supports Kirsty's fundraising for GirlGuiding UK and, since I was a Brownie, Guide, Young Leader and finally leader myself until M was born, I know what a very good cause that is.
So, if you fancy joining Kirsty and me, get over to her blog and see what it's all about.

JYC Days13-17 music and drama

2011-12-18T07:23:00.000Z

I love, love LOVE Christmas music. I love carol singing in church (or in the car park.) I love cheesy Christmas songs in the shops. I used to love singing in school concerts; now I get to watch my children doing it.
There was a carol I sang at school called 'Child for the World (as I know now) of which I could only remember a couple of lines. I asked P, who sings children's hymn every morning in assembly, I asked friends, I even Asked Jeeves if he knew the words, to no avail. 24 hours after posting about it on the Journal Your Christmas forum, Crystal came up with the goods. So I had to put the lyrics into my Journal.

We did some carol singing at the weekend with the church (inspiringly billed as Carols in the Car Park) and I took the opportunity to fake a photo of my glove-clad hands.

M was an enthusiastric and adorable icicle in her school nativity. She also, amusingly, was 'M is for Mary'. Her friend Angel was 'A is for Angel'. You get the idea!

On Sautrday afternoon we went to see a production of 'The Night Before Christmas with some of R's school friends' families. It wasn't what I expected; despite starting predictably, " 'Twas the night before Christmas / And all through the house / Not a creature was stirring / Not even a mouse" - the mouse then went on to star! We call M our mouse, so a photo was a necessity!

We have been to see a Christmas performance with these people for the past few years and it's a tradition I hope will continue as these children are good friends.

My presents are still unwrapped - the only major job I still have to do - so that entry will have to wait but I did do one on on Gratitude. I always enjoy this prompt, although it is not my favourite page ever.
The list of things for which I am grateful reads: (in no particular order) Christingle service; Lebkuchen; Baileys; Christmas music; wrapping presents; opening presents; JYC; Turkey and roast potatoes; Christmas Eve; school plays; children's excitement; cards from abroad; 'A Christmas Carol'.

December Color Combo Blog Hop

2011-12-17T14:00:00.001Z

Happy December!

As soon as I saw the color combo Amy gave us this month, I knew the My Mind's Eye Christmas papers I'd bought would come into play. Isn't it the most decadent of combos? and they are the most decadent of papers. All glittery and lovely.

I had intended to make a layout, and I probably still will, but I needed a last batch of cards so that had to take priority. I got out the Lost & Found papers then raided my scraps box for anything else which fitted the colour scheme. then it was just a case of punching 30 small squares, inking the edges and arranging them in a grid pattern. The MME toppers and a scrap of ribbon finished them off.

You are nearly at the end of the hop - just the lovely Rebekah to go, but just in case you miussed anyone, here is the full list:

http://www.abstractsmixedwithextracts.com/

http://www.suealthouse.blogspot.com/

http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/

http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

http://scrapyourlife.net/

http://www.michelleroycroft.blogspot.com/

http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/

http://spudpickle.blogspot.com

http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com/

http://www.scrapworthylives.com/

http:/handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com YOU ARE HERE

http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

JYC Days 8-12 - a Very Busy One!

2011-12-12T19:08:00.000Z

This page is made with photos from last year, but it shows traditions which haven't varied much over the past 4 years: the Pantomime on Ice, nativity plays at school and church, advent calendars and candles, and end-of-term celebrations. We opted to give the Ice Panto a miss this year, but we're going to see The Night Before Christmas instead with the same group of friends - so not much of a break from tradition.

Shimelle's challenge for the Traditions page was to use some hidden journalling - I think I've done plenty of that! Each photo is mounted on a flap with the detail on the back. I did consider a double page spread for this many pictures, but I like how this single page has turned out.

Silly season has begun. This was taken at 9.15 on a Thursday morning! I looked back at my entry for 8th December (always the 'Sights of the Season' prompt) to see what has changed and, honestly? other than the weather, nothing has. I went shopping for my last few presents on exactly the same day last year, and in all the previous few years my tree was already up. I thought I had done it earlier this year, but obviously not. This is interesting (to me anyway) but it meant that my 'On This day' journalling would have been a bit pointless, so I just printed my photo of the poor Tesco employee large and added a date, title and embellishment cluster.

This weekend was very full and merited several pages in my Smash book. I'm glad I decided to do without numbers this year. It is remarkably liberating!

R had a LAMDA drama exam on Saturday and they both had a final rehearsal at Church for the nativity play. Attempting to instill some 'down time' in the afternoon, I got out the paper chains and M spent an absorbed half hour making decorations for her bedroom. She then sighed resignedly as I got out my camera. "Are you really going to take another photo of me?"

"But, of course, I am. It's what I do!" ("and anyway, Shimelle has challenged me to take a portrait with a Christmas prop, but I'm not going to tell you that!")

Our tree was put up last weekend and I certainly 'embraced impefection' this year as the tree lights didn't work when we got them out and my husband responded to my SOS for 100 white lights with 50 coloured ones.

After a small tantrum I just let my children get on with it and decided to go with 'Primary School Chic' as my theme this year!

Sunday saw us at Church again; 2 excited children performing and 2 proud parents watching the nativity play at the Family Carol Service.

Then in the afternoon, R graded for his karate Green belt, and I achieved my Orange belt.

The final of the X Factor completed a tiring but rewarding weekend. The patterned paper pocket (try saying that quickly!) ,to keep all my extra ephemera from the events, was again inspired by one of Shimelle's challenges.

10 cards on the 10th

2011-12-10T08:02:00.010Z

I can't do mass, production-line crafting. I admire people who can make 50 identical cards, but I get far too bored so my maximum run on any card design is between 6 and 12. Makes them exclusive, what!?

For December's 10 Things on the 10th, I thought I'd share 10 Christmas cards I've created over the past couple of years. For more '10 Things', go over to Shimelle's blog.

1. 10 of these made for my close family. The photo was taken in the 50s of my twin aunts. I don't know who the boy in the background is, so I covered him with an embellishment after I'd taken this picture.

2. Stamped, embossed and coloured with Promarkers

3. Tags, inspired by Shimelle's Christmas Preparation Weekend

4. Quick and easy with a recycled topper

4. Using my ribbon stash

5. A traditional design using some lovely stickers which Cath sent me last year

6. And another one

7. My favourite photo from Christmas 2010: our Advent candle with Christmas tree lights in the background

9. Heat embossing and glitter highlights make a pretty card out of the front cover of an obsolete textbook which I saved from recycling at the end of term

10. This was the lower level of the same textbook. I made 4 of these for my colleagues, who will appreciate the joke.

My cards are finished, written and mostly posted. This is my least favourite Christmas chore so I try to get it over with early. The children were unusually enthusiastic about the task of writing theirs this year and have done over 50 between them!

8. I made this one last year, and then I lent the stamp to a friend. I still like it though - will have to reclaim it for Christmas 2012

JYC 8 Sights of the Season.

2011-12-08T17:50:00.001Z

This just about sums up my 8th December. It was taken at 9.15am. Nothing else to say!

JYC Days 5-7 A 'smashing' Christmas so far

2011-12-07T17:18:00.001Z

I'm still enjoying 'smashing' Christmas and I'm keeping up, although not always on-prompt or in-order! This page is about using JYC as my version of an advent calendar, which I blogged about last week. A very simple page - Print my blog header, journalling from my blog post on Day 1 and that day's JYC prompt. Cut them to size. Ink the edges. Stick down. I changed the journalling a bit but that was it. I actually quite like it though.

This one is my daughter writing her Christmas cards. M and R both sat down this week and wrote to all their schoolfriends in 3 sessions. I was mightily impressed! The Santa stamp is the one M chose from my collection to use on her cards.

The next page is just a collage of logos from my favourite catalogues and websites.

I usually start browsing through Christmas catalogues to kick-start my Christmas shopping in late October, then I order the majority of my gifts on line. Hawkin's Bazaar is my favourite for silly stocking fillers and Amazon, of course, for books and DVDs. This year I also ordered craft stuff through Baker Ross for both school fayres. Some sites (like The Giving Machine and Chocoholics) even raise money for the schools at the same time - bonus!

The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that this page is stamped 10.11.11. That's when I finished most of my internet shopping, and when I made the page! (That's my not-very-secret secret to keeping up with Christmas - do as much as possible before December so I have time to enjoy all the madness of December)

Finally, the To Do list, which is my least successful page artistically - it needs more colour - but it is a very useful page and I am steadily ticking things off the list.

JYC Days 2-4

2011-12-04T19:00:00.000Z

This project is such fun. I love it every year. My first 3 JYC albums have a quite a 'timeless' feel, mixing elements of Christmas from my past and present. However, this year, using a Smash book has given me a different focus and I am going much more off-prompt to record the minutiae of THIS Christmas. It's quite a special one - with children aged 4 and 9 it is almost certainly the only year they will both be excited by the build up and the magic. Last year M didn't fully understand what it was all about; next year R will probably have stopped believing in Father Christmas.

This calendar page is on the back inside cover so the colour scheme matches the front inside. I stencilled the snowflakes using irridescendant paint and added some glitter and a few gold snowflakes. The calendar is only there temporarily. At the end of the month I'll print off the final version and add a bit more colour.

This time last year, here in the South of England, there was snow deep enough to close the schools and disrupt our exams. This year, I have not yet needed to scrape frost off the car. In M's short experience 'Nearly Christmas' is synonymous with snow and she doesn't get it when I tell her that in my 40 odd years, I only remember a handful of snowy Decembers.

2011 has been unusually mild, which suits me very well. A dusting of the white stuff on Christmas morning would be magical, but otherwise it can stay away as far as I am concerned!

The butterfly is not very Christmassy, but it fits the theme of mild weather and it matches the glittered alphas I bought for this project (Making Memories) and the doodled shaped on the background. The tickets are by Tim Holtz and I will use them as well to give some coherence throughout the book.

This year, due to various changes in timetable and routine, I have been much more involved in both schools' PTAs than I have since R went up to Junior School. Though I try to limit the amount I volunteer for, I can't resist a Christmas Fayre so I was on the committee for 2 of them. Over the last few weeks I have blown up about 50 balloons, , wrapped 50 Lucky Dip prizes, made hampers and manned 2 stalls, as well as spending money at both fayres. I feel as though I have 'done my bit and I wanted to record it.

I was organised enough to take pictures of the setting up as well as during the events themselves. I made similar collages for each side of the double page with a mixture of detail shots and portraits of happy children. The bunting was cut from a sheet of Berry Merry paper.

In Church on Sunday 4th FDecember, I realised that I am always very shy of sharing my Christian faith, but that above all else, is what makes Christmas so perfect. It doesn't matter if the gifts are not as lavish as I'd like, or the Christmas tree isn't colour-co-ordinated (more of that later). Christmas is perfect because of Jesus. This page in my Smash Book and the 'Perfection' prompt from Shimelle seemed the Perfect place to record this publically.

Storytelling Sunday

2011-12-04T11:40:00.001Z

This is not my story, but it deserves to be told, especially at this time of year.

You may know that I teach English to Speakers of Other Languages, many of whom are Muslims. More and more, in recent years, the British Government has been misguidedly trying to avoid giving offence to non-Christians by denying the religious significance of Christmas. However, I have never had a Muslim student who is offended by my Christianity. In fact, I have received more Christmas cards (and gifts, including bottles of wine) from my Pakistani students than any other ethnic group I teach.

My story concerns a 24-year old Saudi woman, whose name I am sorry to say I have forgotten. I'll call her Saha.

Several years ago, I was teaching in a private language school and running the children's summer school programme. The school was exclusive and expensive and the management rubbed their hands in glee when an eminent Saudi family signed up their 5 children for 3 weeks.

They arrived with their father and mother, who wore a black veil from head to toe. With her eyes cast down, she did not speak a word and left her husband to make all the arrangements. Then he returned home. However, she was staying with the children as the youngest was below our minimum age.

As soon as he left, Saha came to me and asked if she could join the English classes as well. I had no idea she spoke even a word of English, but of course I agreed. Asking the usual questions to assess her level of English I found out that aged 24, she was a second wife (his first wife lived with them) and already had 5 children. She was worried that her husband was considering taking a 3rd and that would make her life more difficult.

I placed Saha in an adult intermediate class and over the next 3 weeks, she joined in all the summer school activities. Still wearing her full length black veil, she ice-skated, played football, watched cartoons and visited museums. She had the time of her life and was so friendly and open with me that I know she couldn't wait to return the following year.

Fast forward a year to the beginning of July. I was looking foward to meeting Saha again. However neither she nor any of their chidlren came back to Summer School. I don't know, of course, but my gut feeling is that she enjoyed herself too much and that her husband disapproved. I hope I'm wrong.

For more Sunday-told Stories, go and see Sian at High in the Sky

JYC - the start

2011-12-01T19:16:00.000Z

Hurrah!!

It's finally December!!!

R and M rushed to consume the chocolate in the first pocket of their Advent Calendar this morning and I rushed to open my Inbox and read my first JYC Prompt. Their chocolate was scoffed in a few seconds. I actually got 2 messages from Shimelle today and spent a good hour responding to them- much better value!

This will be my 4th Journal Your Christmas. It is as much a part of my seasonal preparations as cards and shopping, and it suits me well as I finish most of my teaching next Wednesday so I have time to devote to it, unlike LSNED in September.

This is the cover of the SMASHbook I've decided to use this year. Fairly plain at the moment. I've left space for a family Christmas portrait when I get one. I will also do 12x12 layouts of the main events for my 2011 album as my last few years' albums have been short on Christmas LOs while I've been concentrating on JYC mini books.

Here is my front page and inside cover with Manifesto and Declaration.

I've made a good start today but I am planning to keep you all updated with my JYC progress in weekly posts rather than daily ones. Life is so busy this time of year, that I think blogging might have to take a back seat for a month. I don't imagine I'll have a finished page to share every day anyway.

The First WOYWDW of Advent!

2011-11-30T09:00:00.001Z

30th November. My Mum's birthday and the last day of the most depressing month of the year.
And a bonus day off, due to the Strike Action today! My son is at home too, but unfortunately my daughter's school remained open, which put paid to any thoughts I had of taking them out for a treat day. It wouldn't be fair, so R and I will spend the day catching up with homework (his and mine) and go into town later to buy wrapping paper and some last cards. I will probably run to a McDonald's for lunch.

Meanwhile, back at the desk, all is fairly tidy as I had a blitz on Monday. You can see my JYC Smash Book, all ready to go for 1st December and a layout about the first day of term. I've discovered these pre-embossed Core'dinations sheets, which are great as I don't own an embossing machine. This one has an alphabet running through it, which I have started to sand.
If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, scroll down and take part in my Christmas MeMe.
Enjoy your day, whether you are working or not. To visit some more desks, go and see Julia at the Stamping Ground.

A Christmas MeMe

2011-11-29T18:13:00.001Z

Found this one here and thought I'd share my answers with you, since it's almost December:

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate, with marshmallows but no cream. Or Baileys.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps them. In a different paper so there is no confusion and puts them in a stocking at the end of the beds. Mum and Dad still have stockings too, but it is understood that Santa only visits children so Mum and Dad have to do each other's. BTW, he's called Father Christmas chez nous.

Coloured lights on tree/house or white? They were always coloured when I was growing up, but white nowadays.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put your decorations up? Usually the weekend that that I finish teaching, around the 8th December. We are very busy that weekend this year though, so it might be later.

What is your favourite holiday dish? Turkey with all the trimmings, of course.
Favourite Holiday memory as a child? Oh so many: Going with Dad to choose the tree and then decorating it with Christmas carols playing. Watching Christmas films like 'National Velvet' and 'The Wizard of Oz' whilst tucking into a box of chocolates. Opening my stocking with my brother in Mum and Dad's bedroom (the only time in the year we were allowed in there)

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don’t remember finding out but I remember the first year that I 'knew' and my brother (4 years younger) didn't. I felt so proud and grown up because I didn't give the game away.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No. Christmas morning.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? It starts off colour co-ordinated, then I can't resist adding all the handmade stuff the children produce at school. Never tinsel, though, I just don't know how tro make it look right.

Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love the idea, but dread the reality.

Can you ice skate? No, Not at all.

Do you remember your favourite gift? Not really, there were so many.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The birth of Jesus, giving and receiving gifts and eating a delicious meal together.

What is your favourite Holiday Dessert? My grandmother used to make a delicious concoction called Lemon Thingy, but sadly she dies without passing on the recipe. These days I love Christmas pudding with brandy cream, although I'd never touch it at any other time of year.

What is your favourite holiday tradition? I love Christmas Eve almost as much as Christmas Day. The Christingle Service at Church then putting out stockings and making sure there is a mince pie for Father Christmas. I love making it magical for my children.

What tops your tree? A gold or silver star, depending on the year's colour scheme.

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I'd like to say giving, but who doesn't love receiving thoughtful present? So, both.

What is your favourite Christmas Song? 'Fairytale of New York' for secular song. 'The First Noel' for carol.

Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yuck. Pretty to look at, but not to eat.

Favourite Christmas Show? 'The Vicar of Dibley'

Saddest Christmas Song? 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'

Thanks, Nightwolf. This really got me in the mood for Journal Your Christmas. If you'd like to play along too, copy the questions and post your own answers. Please leave a link here so I can make sure I go and have a look.

Catching up with some scrapbooking

2011-11-28T16:21:00.001Z

Patterned paper: DCWV (with a 6-legged spider originally!); Hallowe'en stickers: blog candy from Cath in Cyprus: alpha stickers; American Crafts; felt flowers; self adhesive gems from leftovers box

Although personally I am not a big fan of Hallowe'en, my children love an excuse to dress up and eat sweets.
This year, I caved in to their pleas and took them out Trick or Treating in the neighbourhood. We respected the 'No Trick or Treating' signs (of which there were many) but they still had a bag full of treats after an hour. When we came home, M enjoyed doling out sweets to the Trickers at our door. She carved the pumpkin at a friend's party so I left it out until she went to bed then took it in to discourage later teenage visits.
It was simple, unthreatening fun; no trouble at all and, whilst it may be hypocritical of me as a Church-goer, I see no harm in allowing them to don Cat and Vampire costumes once a year.

Especially if it makes a cute scrapbook page!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-24T07:52:00.000Z

TO ALL MY FRIENDS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND

Getting ahead, and Nature's Tinsel Decorations

2011-11-20T17:41:00.000Z

Over 40 cards written, addressed and rerady to post, about half of them are handmade. This is my least favourite Christmas job, so I like to get it out of the way as early as possible.

Look at these beautiful, frosted cobwebs I saw this morning - who needs tinsel?

November Color Combo Blog Hop

2011-11-19T19:18:00.000Z

I will have to start with an apology. Something wierd is going on with my email so Ihad to wait until Amy posted and steal the inspiration mood boardand list of participants from her.
If it hasn't worked, you'll need to go back to Amy to pick up the trail. Sorry.

Ok - I think we have the mood board here from Design Seeds.

I was working from memory, but manged to produce two browny-taupy-goldy Christmas cards. the second one is actually closer to the inspiration colours in real life, but my scanner seems to have tinted it blue! Techology is not my friend right now!

Products? Almost none: lots of double sided tape, scraps of ribbon, a sheet of manuscript paper I've been saving for ages and upcycled toppers from last year's Christmas cards. The pennant alphas are by My Mind's Eye.

Enjoy the rest of the Hop. Here is the order:
http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

http:/handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com

http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com/

http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/

http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/

http://www.michelleroycroft.blogspot.com/

http://scrapyourlife.net/

http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/

http://scrapworthylives.com/

Artistic Endeavours

2011-11-12T17:40:00.001Z

His, not mine! This isn't my favourite-ever page, but I'm happy to have got another photo scrapped from the summer, and especially one of P, as they are few and far between.

I took an afternoon off recently. I had no classes and I wasn't feeling too good, so I decided to skip my French lesson and come home. However, I'm useless at doing nothing and I'd had enough of 'Judge Judy' and 'Nanny 911', so I decided to get my stash out.
This photo was taken in France, where P spends a lot of time oil painting. He is getting better and better, and I love this picture of a house reflected in the water. The house is in Normandy and was apparently once lived in by the poet John Donne.
I made the background for this LO at a recent crop and then left it for a couple of weeks. I think the circle is My Mind's Eye and the green cardstock is Core'dinations, distressed with Vintage Photo ink and Forest Green Glimmer Mist. I matted the photo and painting onto My Mind's Eye paper (I'm certain this time) from which I had long since cut the glittered element so it already had a shaped edge. The 2 dark brown strips are the reverse side of the glittered paper and the journalling is an old one from Making Memories.

Then, because it's my favourite thing to do with leftover paper, rather than put it back in my scraps box for 6 months, I used the last piece of the glittered paper to make a Christmas card. I used 3 recycled tags and another My Mind's Eye element to bring it together. Simple, but all my cards are simple this Christmas.

Last year's Christmas project

2011-11-12T12:26:00.000Z

I don't think I ever shared my finished Journal Your Christmas album from last year, so this challenge from Shimelle is the ideal opportunity to do so. I think this one, made with a gorgeous book from Mel, is my favourite JYC book so far, although I've completed the last 3 years'.
I really, really enjoy this annual project - it's my version of an Advent Calendar, which exciting prompts to open in my Inbox each morning, but it lasts much longer than a chocolate Santa. Jit is also my motivation to get my Christmas cards made by the end of November so I can focus my crafting on my album.
Here are my pages from JYC 2010.

Roll on December 2011!

The Princess and the Boy

2011-11-10T19:14:00.000Z

I completed these two layouts at the Scraploonies crop on Sunday. I did 4 other partial layouts and a mystery gift album, but I'll share those as and when I finish them.

My daughter and neice playing dress up. It would have been a crime to cover up any more of this delicious Once Upon A Time paper, so I contented myself with 2 small embellishment clusters.

RThis is my son who went canoeing, for the first time, in the pouring rain with his Cub pack. They were all thoroughly soaked by the end, and he had had the time of his life. I am so pleased that he enjoys Cubs, where else would an 8-year old with a disability get the chance to do something like that?

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-11-09T07:30:00.000Z

Hiya, WOYWDWers, how are you all?

Apologies for the rubbish photo, but it's 5pm onTuesday and it's dark already. I DON'T like November. To paraphrase a more famous wordsmith than I; NO light, NO fun, NO Christmas yet.

Anyway - to business (and if you don't know what the business is then visit our hostess Julia for the gen)

You can see I got my heat gun out to do some embossing. I bought a gorgeous nativity stamp from Papermania but it's too big to make toppers so I tried stamping straight onto the card, and they just don't look finished but I don't know what else to do with them. Answers on a postcard, please!

M came to join me as I was stamping. She produced 8 Christmas cards in the time it took me to do 3. You can see hers in the basket, top right.

Also on my desk, next to the laptop, are a pile of catalogues; I've done about half my Christmas shopping already without having been anywhere near a shop! Love Amazon! and, on the printer, my red SMASHbook which I have started prepping for Journal Your Christmas

And last, but definitely not least, myshiny lovely new laptop, bought last month with my birthday money. I don't know whether I mentioned this, but I LOVE it!

BTW Only 7 more WOYWDWs until Christmas!! Just thought I'd mention it. It always amazes me when people say "I can't believe it's Christmas already".

Newsflash: It comes round at about the same time EVERY YEAR!!

Happy Wednesday!

Round up of October half term

2011-10-31T14:54:00.000Z

This was the week:

I was on my own with the kids as P went to France on a school trip;
we had lunch with my Mum;
we met up with several friends;
we ate McDonald's and Fish and Chips
M said goodbye to bottles of milk at night;
I bought my long-desired new laptop;
I raised £62.50 for White Lodge;
both children went to Hallowe'en parties;

I took M to the Leisure Lagoon for the first time, and she discovered there's a cafe at the pool she has been swimming at for the last 18 months!;

I finished 4 layouts and made 5 Christmas cards;

R went to the Fish and Chip shop by himself *;

we celebrated Guy Fawkes night and FIL's birthday with a low-key fireworks party in his garden and a yummy chilli;

I gave in and took the kids Trick or Treating.

as well as doing my half term reports and lesson planning, and giving the house a better-than-usual clean up. All in all, a good half term holiday. Now I'm fired up for the madness that is the 8 weeks (that's right, just 8 weeks) until Christmas.

*think this might need further explanation. the Chip Shop is across the road (yes, I know, not good for the waistline!) and R is 9. It is time he became more independent, but when you have a child with Special Needs (physical or otherwise) it is a harder line to cross.

Two reviews

2011-10-30T08:55:00.000Z

I went several months without reading a book that I would describe as more than OK, then I read two back-to-back. And, as you are probably thinking about Christmas shopping I wanted to share my thoughts on them.

Firstly, 'A Discovery of Witches'by Deborah Harkness, the first in the All Souls Trilogy. Set in the eponymous Oxford college, this is 'Eclipse' for grown ups.

Diana is an American scholar, and expert on Alchemy, and a witch. Matthew is a 900 year-old scientist and a vampire.

Their love is illicit and the future of both their species is threatened by Diana's discovery of an ancient manuscript. They are forced to flee, but where, or when, will they be safe?

I was completely gripped by Harkness' narrative and, as soon as I finished the last page I found myself searching on Amazon for the next installment. Sadly 'Shadow of Night' is not available until next June, so I will have to wait. But that's OK. The anticipation will only heighten the experience, as it did with the Harry Potter series.

My second book is 'The Brutal Art' by Jesse Kellerman. Narrated by Ethan, a New York art dealer, this part detective novel, part psychological drama. When Ethan discovers the amazing drawings of reclusive Victor Cracke, he has no idea that he will be dragged into a story of crime and deceit spanning 4 decades. It changes the way he feels about everything; his work, his on-off lover, Marilyn and his estranged family.

Kellerman mixes past and present deftly, making this a real page-turner.

So, if you're at a loss for what to buy certain people this Christmas, I would recommend 'A Discovery of Witches' to any adult with a secret passion for Harry Potter and Eclipse, I don't think it would appeal so much to adolescents, due to the academic context. 'The Brutal Art' would be perfect for any lover of psychological thrillers.

Enjoy. I'd love to know what you think of these books.

Taking Stage A to Stage B

2011-10-28T07:51:00.000+01:00

I'm sure I posted these a few weeks ago, but I can't find them so here they are again (that will teach me not to use labels precisely enough).
These are what Shimelle called 'Stage A' layouts. They were not quite finished but I was able to put them away in my album until I got round to doing the final touches.

Last night, waiting up for P to come home from France, I got them out and added journalling and embellishments. It was quite strange scrapping in this way, as I usually focus on one from start to finish, and i don't think I like quite as much as I like others, but it was comforting to have another 4 layouts finished as I am feeling a bit daunted by the huge pile photos I have at present.

I didn't take a picture of this last one at Stage A:

Gift Swap. Update

2011-10-26T20:36:00.000+01:00

It has been pouring with rain here most of the day, but we have drunk tea, eaten biscuits and chatted.
The Gift Swap //Bring and Buy Sale thingy made a grand total of £62.50 which will be sent to White Lodge. I will divide the remaining gifts between my two children's schools for their Christmas Fayres. I bought 1 Christmas present and a children's Paper Rippling kit for myself. Everyone's a winner!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-10-26T09:30:00.001+01:00

Actually, not much, as I had a big tidy up yesterday.

Instead I have a dining table full of unwanted presents (not all mine - how ungrateful would that make me look!) which I am hoping to sell over the course of today. I'm hosting a 'Gift Swap' - a little like a Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale, for Brits old enough to remember them - in aid of White Lodge.

Most of you probably don't know that my son has hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy. You won't know for the simple reason that I haven't mentioned it much on this blog. It's not like it's a secret but crafting and blogging are my escapes from real life and so I haven't really wanted to spill loads of personal stuff.
Suffice it to say; when R was 8 weeks old he suffered a brain injury severe enough to keep him in Great Ormond Street Hospital for a week and leave him with hemiplegia. If you want more details, look at this website - even after 9 years, I'm not good at answering questions about his condition without crying.
R was cared for from the ages of 2-5 at White Lodge Centre, a fantastic facility in Surrey whom we thank for allowing him to cope now in mainstream school.

Anyway, today's Gift Swap is to raise a bit of money for White Lodge, so wish me luck. I'll update tonight with how much we made.

The Stamping Ground is the place to go to see more productive desks.

Saying Goodbye to Babyhood - postscript

2011-10-24T09:23:00.001+01:00

She did it!
I went back upstairs 3 times at bedtime to settle M who was missing her night time bottle, but she was asleep by 7.30pm and didn't wake until 7.30am. 12 hours straight through definitely earned M her second present:

I feel such a mixture of emotions this morning:
Proud of M - she really loved her milk and yet she made so little fuss
Proud of myself - I must have chosen the right time and method to do this
Foolish - why didn't I do this a year ago if it was so easy?
Slightly cheated - I had geared myself up for a battle of wills which only my strongest parenting power could win
Sad - M will never be a baby again
Relief - maybe I can start sleeping through as well now.

Another parenting rite of passage gone through.

Saying goodbye to babyhood

2011-10-23T18:37:00.001+01:00

My baby is 4. She has just finished her first term of full time school and is remarkably mature in terms of her speech and understanding of the world. I have gleefully said goodbye to nappies and buggies for ever (or at least until I have grandchildren!) I can leave the house without sterilised bottles and spare knickers in my bag. And I am very happy about all that.

The only vestige of babyhood still dominating our lives is that M has still been having a bottle of milk (with teat) at bedtime and still wakes me at least once in the night for another. It is not good for her teeth, although it hasn't affected her speech as she gave up daytime bottles 2 years ago. I have long known I needed to put an end to this habit, but I have been reluctant to do so, partly because she loves it so much, and partly because I couldn't face the sleepless nights it might cause.

However, some weeks ago, I made my decision and put plans in place to do it this holiday. I bought presents to reward my 'Big Girl' and I told M that it was going to happen so she was not surprised when I told her on Sunday morning to put all her bottles into the bin, in exchange for a new pair of fleecy pyjamas. She did it without tears. I didn't!

Now, at 6pm, she is wearing her new PJs and asking for bed, because she is tired. I am dreading the tears, but I have to keep a positive face for her. She knows there is another present waiting for her if she can get through tonight.

6.30pm. I have read M her favourite story, sung her favourite song and snuggled her down with her favourite pillow and teddy. All as normal, except for the absence of a bottle of milk. No tears yet. I'll keep you posted.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-10-19T18:04:00.000+01:00

Is it really Wednesday again already? How can that be?

I had a session on the dining room table last night, sorting out last year's Christmas papers and some new purchases ahead of Journal Your Christmas. I have decided to scrap 12x12 this year. Over the past 3 years, I've produced 3 small JYC books I love, but missed out on including a lot of important December events in my ordinary chronological albums. It would be foolhardy to try and produce a 12x12 layout every day, so I'm not going to even attempt that, but I'll use the photography and crafting tips to inspire the LOs I do make.

I recently bought a My Mind's Eye kit of gorgeous Lost and Found Christmas papers and die cuts. Just to warn you if you are looking at the same kit; there is a spelling mistake on the DECEMEBER (sic) calendar die cut, so I'll have to position it cannily to hide that extra E! I have also found a few DCWV papers from last year's All Year Round pack and a collection of other random red, gold and green sheets. If I keep them all in one place, I find JYC much more manageable. My Christmas embellishments are still in a box file from last year. Maybe I'll show you those next week.

You can see the beginnings of a 'Traditions' page using some of last year's Christmas photos, which I couldn't resist starting while I had the papers on the table. I probably won't finish it until December, though.

I have also bought a new set of Papermania nativity stamps, and some more card blanks. I know I said I wasn't going overboard on Christmas cards this year, but I like the cards I do send to reflect the true meaning of Christmas and I'm planning to make a gift set of birthday cards for my Mum and Nan as Christmas presents. They send cards throughout the year and they often ask me to make them some at short notice.

My last purchase was also for a Christmas present. P admires my scrapbooking and he is a great hoarder so he keeps photos and memorabilia all the time. Unfortunately, he is also very untidy so none of these photos are even in an album, so I've bought an 8x8 album to scrap them for him.

Enough of this waffling. I need to clear the table now so my children can eat. If you want a nosey at some other workdesks, head over to the Stamping Ground

My birthday

2011-10-18T17:03:00.000+01:00

It was not an important birthday, but still it is nice to celebrate, so 20 of my nearest and dearest got together in the upstairs room of a local pub for a lovely Sunday lunch. Tasty roast, yummy apple pie and a relaxed atmosphere. It doesn't get much better.
For the first time ever, R stayed at the table (rather than getting down as soon as possible and running amok with his younger cousins - that's why we book a private room instead of eating in the restaurant) and he actually ate a good deal of what was put on his plate. It is so gratifying to see evidence of him growing up.

I saved my cards until my actual birthday (I'm good at defered gratification!) and was very lucky to be given over £200 to put toward my much-needed new laptop as well as some gorgeous pieces of jeweellery, chocolate and flowers. I felt like a very lucky girl! Although Monday was business as usual, I took cake with me to Church Home group and to International Club at college and then I had to eat more cake at teatime!

This photo was taken by R on his new MP4 camera. M, of course, had to 'help me blow out the '41' candles!

Christmas crafting

2011-10-15T20:36:00.002+01:00

I finished my first 10 Christmas cards today and I've written them and addressed the envelopes already. The countdown has officially begun!

These were the work-in-progress I showed on Wednesday, using an old photo of my aunts as a topper. I made 9 of them for my immediate family.

I often use the scraps leftover from a scrapbooking session to make cards, but today I used the card scraps to make a layout with the same photo for my heritage album. The papers were 6x6 Hot Off The Press Christmas ones so I had several 6x1" strips left over. My heritage album is A4 so I didn't need much else apart from a second tag for the journalling and a few extra HOTP motifs.

Colour Combo Blog Hop

2011-10-15T16:00:00.006+01:00

Hi there. Welcome if you have come from Alysse's blog. The lovely Amy gave us a choice of Autumnal colour combos this month. I went with this one:

I love autumn leaves and deep brown colours, but I couldn't find any recent photos to work with them, so I used these pictures of a conker-collecting walk with my son 4 years ago. The papers are also old, old, old; from the days when I went for big bold patterns. I think they are the remains of a Papermania bundle I bought when I first started scrapping. I've cut into them and used the individual leaves as the title. The alphas are Papermania too and the tags are DCWV, I think. I always mean to keep my papers together so I know what manufacturer they belong to, but I always end up storing them by colour so then they get mixed up.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-10-12T08:19:00.000+01:00

On my Work desk, I can see..........A French AS paper, a pile of college paperwork and, yes, the beginnings of my first Christmas cards. The tag-shaped toppers feature an old photo of my twin Aunties meeting Father Christmas 50-something years ago. I dug the picture up when I spent an afternoon looking through my Nan's photo box so I'm fairly sure the 'Twinnies' won't have seen it. I'll make 10 similar cards with these toppers for my immediate family.

I have already decided that I am not going to stress over homemade cards this year. Card making is not my first love anyway, and I really don't enjoy mass makes. It doesn't save me money. Birthday cards do throughout the year, but not in the quantities I send Christmas cards and there are only a few people who really care whether they recive a handmade card or not. So I will make what I can for those people in the next 6 weeks and then buy charity cards and fundraisers from both children's schools to make up the numbers.

This will give me time to make some jewellery for gifts and to sell, and even do some scrapping during December. Hopefully!

What about you? Share what's on your desk here and share your thoughts on handmade Christmas cards.

My Birthday List

2011-10-11T18:14:00.000+01:00

It's my birthday next week. It's good to dream, so here is my wish list.

1. More time. I would love to join this class of Shimelle's, it sounds right up my street but I am just so busy at work at the moment that it would probably be madness to start something new just when I should be tackling Christmas cards
2. A Martha Stewart border punch (or two) I have a collection of shaped scissors, but they are not as good. I love what other people do with their punches.
3. An IPad, but that really is wishful thinking, I'd settle for any new laptop
4. A macro lens for my DSLR so I can do those lovely things with a low F-stop
5. Sleep - I need to get my daughter off her night-time bottle in the Half Term holiday and it is going to be HARD!
6. Better eyesight. I have recently noticed that I have to remove my everyday glasses so I can read. Next stop - bi-focals (and yet another birthday is not going to improve that!)
7. A cleaner, and a gardener...oh and someone to do my laundry!
8. A good grade in my French AS in 3 months.

Meanwhile, back in the Real World, I can look forward to a nice pub lunch on Sunday with all my family and some birthday money to put towards the laptop, which is the only thing on the list I actually really NEED.

As my husband is fond of saying, If you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it!

2 Art Journal pages for October

2011-10-06T18:43:00.000+01:00

2 pages I haven't shared here yet. This first is an experiment, which I quite like. I embossed a sheet of Core'dinations with stars and then went around some with a white gel pen. I added star gems to others. I then stamped a school raffle ticket and tore it into strips. The quotation from Jostein Gaarder is one I particularly like. The chances of us ever being born are tiny (if any of our ancestors had died before having children, we would not be us) but we only see the 'winning tickets', the living people. That makes me realise how lucky I am to be alive.

This page is a photograph of a suspension bridge in France. I mounted it onto a sheet of paper with a stripe at the 'horizon' and then simply extended all the straight lines with a white gel pen, once again.

How would you explain your favourite hobby to a novice?

2011-10-04T16:39:00.001+01:00

I have just had the most lovely Facebook message from an old friend. She is not a scrapper and has just read this Blog for the first time. In addition to the lovely warm feeling I always get when anyone is interested enough to comment multiplied about a thousand times, I was also amused at the number of questions she asked. We must seem like a really wierd bunch to the outside world! I have her permission to reply to her message here so that you can share it with me.

I learned from your blog that you have now been scrapbooking for 5 years (?) and that you typically spend 5 hr per week crafting and 16 hrs computing which included blogging amongst other activies. How much do you think you spend blogging, just out of curiosity? I will see how my average week divides up on activities and email you the reply!
I hate to think how much time I spend blogging - much more than I should! I typically spend 15-30 minutes each time I post but an indefinite amount of time visiting other people's blogs. I rarely have time to comment every visit, but I try to leave a comment if I have anything to say. I don't post every day, but my minimum is once a week, more if I'm taking a regular class. Look at this series of posts when I did a really detailed analysis of my week.

I don't think I could ever be a Blogger - my lack of arts background means I don't have the confidence to express my ideas and feelings well in writing. I'm OK writing factual stuff though. Your blog has warmth and interest and something of your personality shines through. Holiday/ family pics look lovely! It was your FB post that said check out the blog for family pics that spurred me to track down the blog!
Thank you so much for saying this - it is what I strive to do, but mostly I don't feel like I've achieved it. You are way more traditionally 'artistic' than I am - I can't draw or paint to save my life!

Reading your blog I felt like I had entered a private world of scrapbookers - a totally new sphere for me. Reminds me of a FB post a 20 year old friend of mine posted "just been to car boot and made £70 selling old crap.... and met a whole race of people I never knew existed" But whereas this was a derogatory comment, I felt the world of scrappers looked like a very nice place to be (and much better than car booting). Not sure I could ever fully be part of it though as I don't have the time, or more importantly, the patience for the intricate fiddly bits.
Oh yes, we're a wierd old bunch, and it is only since I started blogging that I realised how big the scrapbooking world is. But every blogger I 'know' (ie:that I visit) is lovely. It really is a warm and fuzzy place to be where everyone is nice to everyone else (if they don't like what I post, they simply keep quiet!)
The intricate fiddly bits are growing on me - I used to be a lot more Plain and Simple in my style. You'd be really good at Digital Scrapbooking though. Have you or J got Photoshop?

The world of scrapbookers seemed also to have its own language. Sometimes I felt completely lost - WOYWWers? Workdesk Wednesday.... crops.... hops? (is that like chain blogging??)... SMASH books....
OK, let me explain:
The Bluffer's Guide to Scrapbooking' Chapter 1
WOYWW = What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday is a group of over 100 scrappers from all over the world who take a picture of their work in progress once a week and post it on Wednesday. The Blog Hop (see Hop) is hosted by Julia Dunnit. She is partly responsible for the number of hours I spend blogging, though I am never able to visit more than a tiny proportion of the WOYWWers, and I don't post every week because I work all day on Tuesday and Wednesday so I rarely have anything exciting on my desk except marking!
Crop= a group of scrapbookers who meet regularly to craft together, usually in a village hall. I go to Scraploonies who meet on the first Sunday of every month-in West End . (See also Cyber Crop - an online crop in real time)
Hop, or Blog Hop = an online event in which a series of bloggers write a post based on a common theme (colours, topics etc) Each blog links to the next person in the hop.
SMASHbooks = a new product more akin to the original idea of sticking lots of randon memorabilia into a book. Here is the link (since it's a brand name, I'd better advertise it, but I did my version with a plain notebook)

I think I got the gist of what a SMASH book is and realistically that is the one I could most likely do. As I always think of scrapbooking only at holiday time. Perhaps you could enlighten me further and maybe I could even see your Summer SMASH book?
Of course, see above.

If scrapbooking isn't quite my thing I do nonetheless enjoy card making and photography. I would love to join you in Christmas card making session. Also perhaps sometime over coffee you could show me your digital SLR camera and tell me what to look for. I only have a point and shoot. I liked your macro shots (can't remember which blog post that was) and I like taking these myself. We could even take some shots together on a walk or something. Occasionally I go to see photogaphy or art exhibitions at my local Arts Centre here in Maidenhead (which is threatened with closure due to Govt funds being cut) and last night I went to a preview of a friend's husband's photo exhibition. My favourite photography exhibition ever was Ansell Adams at Hayward Gallery many years ago. If you ever see a photography exhibition you are interested in going to let me know.
Definitely. Let's arrange a date ASAP. It's October, which for me means Christmas cards and Autumn leaves. Combining these with meeting a friend sounds like perfection. I have fairly limited knowledge of the technical side of photography though. This series of posts is good.

Back to the blog. I loved seeing all the scrapbook pages you have done. Hard to pick out particular favourites but I did like 3 June and 9 June (minus the bit about the beauty gene though). Other posts I liked or made me smile, which weren't necessarily so much about scrapbooking (or is it scrapping??) were: 6 June, 17 June, 19 June, 25 June, 10 July, 27 July. The book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" looks a good read and I might recommend it for my book group. The Comely mag sounded intriguing - I'd never heard of it.
Thank you for your comments.
Both scrapping or scrapbooking exist. (v. to spend too much time cutting pretty paper and sticking it down with photos)
You would love the 'Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' and 'Oh Comely'. Glad you enjoyed the reviews. I meant to do more of them, but I haven't actually read that much which was really stunning this year - think I'm getting fussier in my old age.

PS I have noticed you don't put many family snaps up on FB but do on the blog. Is that a policy decision? Do you feel the blog is more secure?
It is a policy decision, yes. I don't know that blogging is any more secure as anyone could visit my blog in theory, but it's much less likely that unsavoury characters would be surfing craft blogs than that they would somehow find me on Facebook. (Hard to imagine a paedophile getting off on the use of distress inks!!) Also, on the blog I only use initials for my nearest and dearest, whereas their names are on Facebook so if someone did want to find out about us it would be much easier if the pictures were there too. I'm probably being paranoid, but in this case I think Better Safe Than Sorry.

PPS Who or what is the mystery "Shimelle" (good word that). As is "serendipity" ; ) Do you watch Miranda? She does this running gag about her favourite words. lol.
The Bluffer's Guide to Scrapbooking' Chapter 2:
Shimelle Laine is a well-known professional scrapbooking journalist and blogger who runs a lot of online classes. She is known by her first name only, which makes her the scrapping equivalent of Diana or Delia!

JYC. or Journal Your Christmas, Explore and Learn Something New Everyday are all Shimelle classes. Find her blog here.
Never watched Miranda, sorry!

PPPS This is the link to one of the Miranda bits about favourite words
Thanks. Very funny!!

So happy to be an ambassador for the World of Scrapping!
..

Storytelling Sunday - The Magic Teapot

2011-10-02T15:18:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Kirsty. She had a granny called Nanny Linda (she still does, Nanny Linda is 90 next Spring) who was very fond of a nice cup of tea. Kirsty often visited Nanny Linda and quickly also learned to enjoy a nice cup of tea. This is also where Kirsty got her love of chocolate from as Nanny Linda worked in a Newsagent and regularly bought all her grandchildren big boxes of Cadbury chocolate buttons and Sherbet Dips. She still never visits her great-grandchildren without bringing a sweet treat for them.

The Little Girl - Me! c1975

Nanny Linda and my Grandad with my Mum c 1960

Nanny Linda lived in a pretty little bungalow all by herself, as Grandad had died when Kirsty was only small. She had lots of beautiful things which Kirsty loved to look at: collections of blue and green Wedgewood porcelain, a Chinese tea set in a shiny glass cabinet and lots of family photos in polished silver frames. Most special of all, though, was Nanny Linda's Magic Teapot. The first thing Nanny did after giving Kirsty a kiss and a bar of chocolate was to make a pot of tea.
And this teapot was never empty! There was always enough for another 'cuppa'.
Always.
Throughout Kirsty's childhood she never saw the Magic Teapot run dry! She believed in the Magic Teapot with the same fervour as she believed in Father Christmas.

Nanny Linda and my Mum 1982

Nanny Linda, aged 89, still lives by herself in a pretty little bungalow, only a few doors away from where she lived then, although she has married and buried a second husband in that time. She is independent and capable, not only does she still drive but she acts as chauffeur for several other 'Old Dears', who are all a decade younger than she is. Her collections has expanded to include Lladro, spoons, and tiny decorative teapots. She will still offer tea and cake as soon as anyone enters the house. The little girl is all grown up now and her own son and daughter are adored and spoilt by Nanny Linda.

4 Generations

(Brought to you as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday - the first time I have joined in. Go over here to read some more stories.)

Learn Something New Every Day. The End!

2011-09-30T14:20:00.000+01:00

30th September.
Finally.
The end of a very long month. I'm happy to have got through all the back-to-school stuff for another year. The kids know (and more importantly, like) their teachers and classmates; the parents know their students and timetables. We have had 2 full 'normal' weeks so we no longer have to check the calendar every day to remind ourselves that swimming starts at 5pm on Mondays and Cubs at 6.45pm. The weather has not yet turned nasty so we are still able to spend time in the park and the garden at weekends.

October includes my birthday, Half Term and Hallowe'en - Bring It On!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-09-28T21:57:00.001+01:00

Oh no, I've done it again. I tidied my desk up yesterday without photographing it and now it's Wednesday again!
Oh well, I can show you the 3 layouts I was working on. I have such a pile of To-Scrap photos at the moment and so little time, that I thought I would try a technique suggested by Shimelle in her recent 'Explore' class, namely, making Stage A layouts. These are basic layouts, not completely finished but good enough to to be put in your album until you are ready to finish them. I like that idea. I hate having half-finished stuff laying around.

I did 3, all using sketches or starting points by Shimelle. This is the fastest scrapping I have done for ages.
The first is a very old photo of myself aged approximately 9 feeding a solitary duck. I don' remember the occasion, but I do clearly remember the pink sundress I'm wearing which was a real favourite. I think I insisted on wearng it every day that summer, and obviously into autumn with a long-sleeved top underneath. The long hair and Alice band look lasted through most of my primary school years.

With this photo of my daughter intently watching a ladybird crawl up her arm, I cropped it in tight and added a vignette in Photoshop. I love the lighting now. The expression on her face looks so like me in the picture above!

The 3rd is a layout of my son'e 9th birthday, at which I was not present having come home from France a week earlier than he did. Fortunately my mother-in-law sent me these photos. Grandma and M made him a Wii-shaped birthday cake and he chose to spend the day at Le Parc Ange St Michel, a nearby theme park. His birthday gifts of an MP4 player and Wii Disney Sing Star were great hits and he karaoked well into the night!

I like that I can finish these off when I have time without the guilt of having them lying around and, oh look, I've got my journalling written now too! Result!

Actually doing some scrapbooking

2011-09-26T09:38:00.000+01:00

Oh such a nice restful evening! P was out and R was watching a film in his bedroom so I spent 2 hours putting this double layout together about our favourite theme park in France. It was the first scrapping I have done this month and so refreshing.

I don't make many doubles these days (click to see it better), although that is what I mostly did when I first started scrapping, as you can see in this post. I really enjoyed working on the larger canvas again, which allowed me another rarity - a large number of differently-sized photos.

It's interesting for me to see how my scrapping style has evolved over the last couple of years, especially since I have been getting so much inspiration from blogs and online classes. I know I would never have thought of the 3 embellishment clusters 2 years ago. I would either have left the layout plain and graphic or just plonked a sticker straight onto the background. I have also learned design tips like the Rule of Thirds which I also use often now and Distress Inks, as you know, are my layout fave toy.

How has your style evolved since you started scrapbooking? Go on, I dare you - publish some of those early layouts. We'd love to see them, wouldn't we?

All Things Bright and Beautiful

2011-09-25T16:23:00.000+01:00

The flower festival at St. Peter's Church, Old Woking. Although we worship here fairly regularly, it was actually the first time I looked around the 12th Century building as a visitor. This gorgeous festival was to commemorate 500 years since the publication of the King James Bible.

Entry by Year 2 of my daughter's school
'Then there were brought unto Him little children, that He should put His hands on them and pray.'

Entry by Sunday School
'Your Word is a Lamp for my Feet and a Light unto my Path'

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twenty Fourth.

2011-09-24T22:04:00.000+01:00

Today I learned thatI have achieved the rating of 7th Kyu (Orange Tip) in karate!

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twenty Third.

2011-09-23T08:16:00.000+01:00

Today I (re)learned something I forget at my peril: neither of my boys, big or small, can admit to being in the wrong. It is always somebody else's fault. Usually mine!

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twenty Second.

2011-09-22T21:22:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that my efforts are noticed and appreciated after all.
A colleague turned up at college with a bar of chocolate to thank me for a few small favours I have done her recently. Made me feel good.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twenty First.

2011-09-21T17:52:00.000+01:00

Following on from yesterday's post about my Control Freak tendancies, today I learned that however organised I am, other people's mistakes have the power to spoil my day.
R's taxi was 15 minutes late this morning, leaving me stressed and very pushed to get to work on time. I started a new class today so I wanted to get there in time to sort out my classroom, however said classroom had been double-booked. So had the room I moved into! Not a gentle start to the day!
The 2-hour lunch break I had planned to use for lesson preparation and photocopying got eaten up assessing a tardy student who should have enrolled 3 weeks ago, so I will have to do the work this evening instead of watching Waterloo Road and Who Do You Think You Are?, as planned.
Grrrr!!

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twentieth. My signature and an apology.

2011-09-20T22:11:00.000+01:00

This week I have finally started my regular teaching (rather than enrolling, which has made my hours much higher than normal since the beginning of the month). My timetable is quite good this academic year and I should be able to drop M off and pick her up from school almost every day; I have met lots of Mum's already who I have never spoken to before as I only picked M up from Nursery twice a week last year. P's school hours also look OK this year; he even has an early finish on a Monday, which is a help as I have to ferry M to swimming and R to Cubs on Monday evenings.

The children have both settled back in fantastically well. This is M's first week of fulltime, including school dinners, and she seems really happy. R says his new teacher is the best he has ever had AND he thinks he is working hard!!

So, all good. But still, very busy so I have been rubbish at keeping up with LSNED this month. I have enjoyed reading the prompts but I haven't even blogged the minimal sentence on some days. Sorry, and all that, but I know you will understand what it's like.
However, today's prompt got me thinking about my signature. My signature colour is definitely purple and most people who know me would say that immediately, but I am also known for being colour-coordinated even down to hair accessories (but not shoes - I loathe shoe shopping so I always buy black) and stationery.

Taking this a bit further, I can identify certain signature characteristics such as a preference for forward planning and control . I stress if I am not well-planned for my lessons and also in my life, although I strenuously deny any allegations of Control Freakery! I tell myself that planning a weekly menu during termtime is practical and efficient (as it undoubtedly is) not overly anal (which it probably also is). Even my scrapbooking is planned. My favourite part of the process is creating a page kit to work with and designing the sketch in my head, sometimes for days before I get time to make the actual layout. For this reason I rarely use other people's sketches.

So, today I learned that planning and purple are my signature - explains why I love this gorgeous purple signature Shimelle made for my blog!

Learn Something New Every Day: The Seventeenth. And another layered layout

2011-09-18T19:45:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that if you have nothing worth saying, it is worth saying nothing!

So instead I'll share a layout:

I put this one together while I was in France so I was still using only scraps. The embellished tag was made for 'Explore' and I have gone to town (for me) on different patterns. I especially love the layered butterflies from Hobbycraft, the Maya Road tree rub-ons which they go on so easily, and the vintage book page, which doubles as a perfect title.

My first ever Distress ink!

2011-09-17T09:53:00.000+01:00

OK. I've succumbed. I now possess 3 Distress Inks: Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick and Chipped Sapphire. I didn't really see the point before, as I'm not a big distresser, but everyone alse seems to use nothing but Distress Inks, so I thought it was tme I had a go. And I have to admit the results are better than with other inks. Smooth, subtle and professional. I think I might be a convert.

This layout of my daughter's nursery sports day uses the Worn Lipstick to ink the edges of all the papers and I like the way it brings all the different elements together. There is a lot more layering and more different patterns on this than I usually use, but it is still subtle and harmonious. I even ripped and distressed the ledger paper!!
I can see myself doing more of this. But that means I 'll need at least a couple more colours, and an applicator, and... Oh dear, more stash shopping!

Q: What's Black and White and Yellow all over?

2011-09-15T17:26:00.000+01:00

A: This layout of my children and their Godmother, Amanda (known as Godmanda!) having a picnic.

The light in the original photo was very harsh so I converted it to B/W in PSE. The sketch was also an PSE funstion. The layout was inspired by a challenge at last month's Scraploonies' crop. I particularly like the addition of the yellow and orange flowers, which were a magazine freebie and echo Amanda's bright auburn hair perfectly.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Fifteenth.

2011-09-15T15:59:00.001+01:00

Halfway through September!!! It has flown, and yet it seems like months ago that I was in France.
In the last few days I have learned:
the weather at 3pm might be very different from what it was at 8.30am!
everything is nicer if you make time to cuddle your children
going back to school is hard on both kids and parents (not to mention teachers).

Learn Something New Every Day. The Twelfth.

2011-09-13T08:24:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that meeting a friend for lunch is WAAAY better than phoning her.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Eleventh.

2011-09-11T17:06:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that sometimes Mummy does know best.
September is whizzing by in a whirl of busyness and R is tired already but I allowed him to stay up and watch 'The X Factor' last night (even though P and I hate it). However, he was still up early this morning and in a particularly uncooperative mood. I insisted he come to church, against his wishes, and his temper was much improved when we returned. I need to be vigilant about bedtimes and activities during termtime.

10 Things I Love about September (and 10 Things I Don't)

2011-09-10T12:41:00.000+01:00

LOVE IT!

1. New stationery and a new Teacher's Planner

2. Crisp, cool Autumn days

3. Fresh challenges

4. The keen faces of a brand new class of students.

5. Time during the day when the children are at school

6. Hearty casseroles with Winter root vegetables

7. Rediscovering clothes in my wardrobe which I haven't worn all summer

8. 'Learn Something New Every Day'

9. Scrapping holiday photos

10. The start of good new drama serials on TV

NOT SO MUCH!

1. The cold, dark mornings

2. Tired, fractious children as they get used to the school routine again

3. Paying for a new term of after-school activities.

4. Having to wear tights again for work

5. Getting my head round a brand new timetable (I juggle 4 different schools)

6. Learning the names of 60 new students

7. Sewing name tabs in new school uniform

8. Overseeing my son's homework

9. Marking

10. Rain

How about you? For some more '10 Things', head over to Shimelles's blog.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Eighth.

2011-09-08T15:45:00.000+01:00

Today I (re)learned stuff I once knew: avoir takes etre; words ending tion are feminine. I also learned that my spoken French is better than I thought it was.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first lesson of French A2. Discussing 'Cest quoi, la culture?' with 17 year-olds definitely made me feel my age, but they were lovely girls and I think I held my own.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Seventh.

2011-09-07T16:38:00.000+01:00

Today I learnt that I would be able to join the French A2 class at college to retake my French A Level, 23 years after the first attempt. Since we have been holidaying regularly in France my conversational French and vocabulary have improved a lot, but my lack of grammatical accuracy has been frustrating me more and more so I am excited about starting this new challenge. I'm aiming for an 'A'grade, but we'll see how I get on.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Sixth.

2011-09-06T17:09:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that a little bribery can go a long way.

Now R is 9 (just), I have decided that he should receive regular pocket money and, being the mean Mummy I am, he has been given 3 rules to follow to earn it: Get ready for school without a fuss, eat tea properly and do your homework to the best of your ability.
This morning, on the first day back at school, R was dressed in his uniform beore I got out of the shower. I think P might have swapped him on the ferry home yesterday! I know it won't last, but it was a good start to the term.

Learn Something New Everyday. The Fifth.

2011-09-06T08:07:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that: Pokemon can evolve!

Learn Something New Everyday. The Fourth.

2011-09-04T18:59:00.000+01:00

Today I learnt that: me time is lovely and necessary, but a week without my children is too long.

Luckily they are coming home tomorrow.

Learn Something New Everyday. The Third.

2011-09-03T19:10:00.009+01:00

TODAY I LEARNED THAT: Family history is always fascinating.

After watching TV's 'Who Do You Think You Are?', I went onto a new website and discovered that Molly Maud Holmes (my husband's grandmother and the Mystery Woman of my family tree research) went to South Africa on honeymoon with her first husband, Paul (Pat) Pentin.

They were both aboard the cruise ship 'Guildford Castle' en route to Cape on 29th July 1926, 3 days after their wedding. I'm guessing that is where she fell in love with Africa, where she later emigrated to after Pat Pentin's tragic death in a motorcycle accident.

Another of her grandchildren, P's cousin, coincidentally sent me today a collection stories of her time as a headmistress of a school in Kenya, which she had put together. I am dying to start reading them.

In addition, I spent 3 hours this afternoon with my 90 year-old grandmother going through old photos of my family. I borrowed lots of great photos to scrap in my Family Tree album. This is one of my favourites - me as a baby with my Great Uncle and Great Grandmother.

Learn Something New Every Day. The Second.

2011-09-02T16:57:00.000+01:00

Never underestimate the power of a new haircut.

If it's September, it must be LSNED 2011

2011-09-01T21:41:00.000+01:00

Today I learned that going back to school (La Rentree, in French) is no easier when you leave school!

I spent 8 hours today enrolling new foreign students at college and 2 hours this evening naming school uniform and finding PE kits for my children. Still, I feel better for having got that particular boring but necessary task out of the way a few days ahead of time.

I was unsure how to finish this as the pattern is so bold, but decided to trim it a little and mount it on bright green The addition of some Glossy Accents and adhesive gems gave it a bit of sparkle.

As P and the kids are still in France, I also found an hour this evening to put the finishing touches on two scrapbook layouts which I started whilst on holiday.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? Back in the Swing of Things

2011-08-31T10:16:00.000+01:00

Hello there, nice to see you all again, whether you are WOYWDWers or any of my other lovely readers! You might have noticed that there has been a distinctly Gallic flavour to my blog over the past few weeks, but sadly I am now back home and back at work. (I don't really expect any sympathy, having had 5 weeks holiday in France) I have left hubby and the kids over there , as they don't return to school for another week. Although it is lovely to have some time to myself after 14/7 family time, I do miss them, especially since it is R's 9th birthday today. I managed to say goodbye without a tear on Monday but I did have a little cry this morning when I wished him Happy Birthday over the phone.

Anyway, I have to work every day this week apart from today so I am using the time to catch up on the jobs which I didn't get done before I went away. One of which was to install my new CraftRobo. I bought it second hand for a song from a friend of a friend at the crop I attend. I've never owned a die-cutter before. It took me 2 hours this morning to manange to cut one title, and I still haven't managed to install the Design Master CD I was given with it. However, I will keep practising because I can see it coming in very handy soon for multiple-make Christmas cards.

September is a very busy time for my family. My daughter is about to start Reception full time so in theory I will have more time during the day, but I will be teaching a new level this year, which will be a challenge and our irreplaceable admin assistant is off for the first month of term. I am also joining a new Church home group, I will have 2 school PTAs to help instead of 1, and Shimelle's learn Something New Every Day starts tomorrow.

I will try to blog more regularly than I have over the summer, but please be patient with me. Crafting usually takes a back seat at this time of year, apart from Christmas cards.

Ok, I have to: hang out the washing; go to the bank; drop a book round to my sister-in-law; buy a new cartridge for my Xyron X50 and some fish food; and have a haircut; then I will be back to visit some other WOYWDW desks. See you soon.

Some more holiday pics

2011-08-26T17:56:00.000+01:00

A few days before I return to the UK and come down to Earth with a bump, here a few more pictures of what we have been doing. Although I will be very sorry to sat goodbye to the relaxed lifestyle here, I am ready to get back to work. I have plenty of photos to scrap, and a crop coming up soon to do it, and it's nearly September, which means Learn Something New Everyday.

Finishing touches from the flea market

2011-08-19T18:13:00.000+01:00

As I am only using scraps for my layouts this holiday, I am finding it quite hard to finish them off properly. I haven't brought any inks with me (on the basis that whichever I chose, I'd need a different one) and I don't like torn edges on every layout.

So, when we visited a huge flea market last week I picked up these bits of haberdashery (one of my favourite words, by the way, what are yours?)

The fabric is destined to be made into tiny curtains for M's dolls house, but I used the embroidery silk and mini buttons to finish off this layout. The triptych (that's another one) of black and white photos is inspired by some French scrapbooking magazines I've been reading : it seems to be a common trend over here so I thought I'd have a go.

Catching up with our Family Holiday Book

2011-08-12T12:25:00.002+01:00

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

2011-08-10T12:17:00.000+01:00

I don't have a workdesk here, I have a table in the living room. I have been able to leave stuff out and make a mess as we have been here on our own so far, but the first of a succession of guests arrives tonight so what you see is all my stash as tidied away as I can make it!

I have produced 4 layouts in the last two weeks and a handful of cards. I'm quite proud to say that, apart from some 12x12 basic background cardstock and my collection of letter stickers, I have only brought paper from my scraps box with me. This has forced me to be creative and some of these layouts are quite different from my usual style:

I don't think this is finished, but I don't what else to do with it that won't cover up the big pattern. Any ideas?

Go over to the Stamping Ground for some other Wednesday Workdesks.

10 Images of Normandy

2011-08-10T12:08:00.000+01:00

All over the region this year, apparently randomly placed sat the side of the road,we have been spotting these decorated bicycles. My son claims to have counted 103 on a 30-min journey. We think they are to celebrate the French Year of the Bicycle. Whatever, he reason, they brighten up a journey or a walk around any town.

These sculptures are in the local village of Le Neufbourg: There are more of these than there are local inhabitatants!

This crest on a house in the same village made me smile. At first glance it looks like the lions of the Normandy flag, but on closer inspection it turns out to be Two Kittens Rampant!

And some other pics to made up to 10 Things on the 10th. Go over to Shimelle.com to see some others.

Playing with the Macro setting

2011-08-08T08:33:00.004+01:00

The sun was shining (not something to take for granted in Normandy) so I took my camera for a walk and got a few macro shots. This is something I'd like to get much better at. I think the door is my favourite.