27 February 2010

Kitchen Notice boards and the strange things they attract

Our Kitchen Notice board 8 December 2009 – What a Random Collection?
 We moved house on 10th December 2009 and one of the last things I did was pull off the contents of the two Ikea notice boards and throw them into a canvas bag. I was investigating the contents of that bag today as I knew it contained an assortment of stuff and thought I might find my missing diary in there. I didn’t find that but what I did find was the following…
 5 Russian Items
  • 100 rouble note
  • No smoking sign
  • A postcard of St Petersburg
  • Another “propaganda” style postcard
  • A brochure from the submarine restaurant in St Petersburg 
  • 6 Photographs
  • A photograph of my nephew from 2003
  • 3 successive photographs of my niece and nephew sent as a thank you for Christmas presents.
  • A photograph of my niece in primary one
  • A photograph of the sail of my dad’s boat taken on a trip to Knoydart.

5 Tickets
  • Concert at Glasgow Green with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters, Eminem and others
  • T in the Park 2004
  • T in the Park 2005
  • Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Hampden 2008
  • A ticket to Alwnick Gardens in Northumberland

1 postcard from Milan
1 school computer drawing when youngest daughter was in primary school.

I was wondering what on earth this all means and I am struggling to make sense of it. I wonder if other people have such a collection of random items on their notice boards? Why not take a picture of your notice board and send me the link. I think it might suggest that I collect ephemera for scrapping without even consciously thinking about it. What does it say about me? I like to travel. I enjoy looking at photos of family members. I enjoy going to music concerts. I sometimes hold onto pictures created by my children. I must turn this into a scrapbook page – but there is so much stuff. Do I photograph each item? Create a double page LO collage or…

More playing with paper, stamps and stuff


My first experiment was a piece of coredinations card that I doodled on with glossy accents and then stuck face down into some pearlising pigment powder. I love the grunge effect. Then I mucked about with the colour of the photograph to create a second piece - I could use these as paper, digital or hybrid...

Then I decided to stamp on a piece of faded floral paper I had found in my box of leftovers. I used brown pigment ink and tried stamping a couple of times to get different depths of ink. I then painted over using glossy accents with obvious brush stokes. I think I will cut it up into individual squares and use for something...
Finally I had some pva glue lying in a dish and an old Banana Frog Paisley Pattern stamp that was a bit perished so I painted glue onto the stamp (well it was done in) and then stamped this onto card. I then added various types of glitter - I like this pink one here.

26 February 2010

Giveaways at HandmadeHeartFelted

There is a giveaway here - still a surprise - but judging by all the lovely stuff featured I imagine it will be lush. 

Paperwork and making embellishments

Had one of those days today when I wanted to blog and craft but had other things to do first. Since we moved to this house in December we have had a wicker tray where all our opened post and miscellaneous junk has gone until it could be filed. We also seem to have grown a pile on top of the microwave and one on the work top. Today I decided enough was enough and I attacked that pile (not that I've been avoiding it you understand, just that life seems too short to deal with stuff like that) and created order again. The photo shows the top of the filing box with everything put away.

Last night I decided I wanted to play with paper, inks, embossing, glue, glossy accents and glitter and you can see some of the results here. More to follow tomorrow. I love the tree and think it so much prettier than its original chipboard shape that came as a magazine freebie. I covered it in pva and then poured on the Martha Stuart vintage glitter beads.
I then found a piece of an old capiz shell light fitting and sprinkled more beads and gems on top to create a pretty embellishment. The picture is a bit fuzzy but it's too dark now to take another.

25 February 2010

Signed up for Shimelle's new class

Have just signed up for Shimelle's new class called Something from Almost Nothing. It sounds perfect as the idea is that you don't buy new stash - just use up old bits and bobs. This should be great as I am really trying to not buy any new stash.

Too late for Sketchy Thursdays - digital layouts and milestones

I didn't manage to submit this sketch in time to Sketchy Thursdays but I still like it. I wanted to use this sketch to challenge myself and really use white space. I tried out numerous colour backgrounds but kept coming back to white. I used iscrapbook to create the layout and the digital elements were all from Peppermint creative. The heart was from Pop Rock Graffitti and I made it negative and added stitching. The flourish was from April Morning and the title is Vintage alphabet. Not sure where the other elements came from.  The picture is of my brother and his youngest daughter and this is the first picture I have scrapped of him since he died on 17 April 2008. He adored Lily and I think the picture is just beautiful. This is the most restrained layout I have ever done but I think the pictures needed this.

24 February 2010

First Day back to work after 16 long weeks - Snow morning...aargh!

Woke around 4.30 am and could not get back to sleep as kept thinking about today. Looked out window and saw the snow. I took a quick snap and if you look closely you can guess where our road is supposed to be. Left at 7.30 with youngest daughter in tow as even I didn't feel I could make her walk to the train station in that snow especially as she insists on wearing "silly shoes" (aka skimpy pumps) and will NOT wear boots for whatever fashion diva reason. Crawled into city where the snow magically disappeared. Came home and there is even more and it is still snowing, in fact it hasn't stopped all day. Should say that wonderful Lens Guy drove me there and picked me up. I was so glad to see him at the end of the day as he was quite right (hate to admit it) and I was very tired.
Work was the usual mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Lots of lovely people giving hugs and being supportive, hyper teens and oh god the smell. How had I forgotten that pungent teen aroma confined in a small space. What were they eating at lunchtime, or did they always do that? Got marking to do so same old same old but it was good to catch up and share news and interact with more adults. Even the teenagers were pleased to see me - won't last past tomorrow but need to appreciate it whilst I can and write it down so when they driving me gaga I can look back and remind myself of their better side.

23 February 2010

Detail shots


Here are a couple of details. I was so busy trying to get the pics where I wanted that I did not put them all up.

Bo Bunny Sketch Double Page Layout



Here is the finished layout and as usual I had to have layers and hidden journaling. I used the circular motif and ideas of horizontal strips in the sketch and the circular elements and then it became me. I loved using this sketch.







As well as the K&Co papers mentioned on previous post I used red and cream card stock, lime green handmade paper. The chinese lanterns are from the Brenda Walton set. I flocked and painted black foam thicker letters and a chipboard c. In the detailed shots you can see the Martha Stewart vintage glitter beads I used on to highlight the birds and circular image. I also cut out fish and had them swimming round youngest daughter's face like the fish in pools there. I have put extra private journaling and pics under the die cut circle on the red card and another set of pics under the red card. The rabbit, dragon and tiger are cut out photos and match our years. Not sure I am a rabbit but they are meant to be creative and compassionate so maybe I am.





My only problem is that I didn't have any Bo Bunny products to use as I have just discovered them. At present I so want to get their new Mama razzi papers and mini edgy papers as I think they would be ideal to scrap about Lens Guy and our travels. What do you think?

Cutting pretty paper and work in progress


I was looking for paper for the Bo Bunny sketch and found some K&Co paper I have been hoarding for over a year. I decided I just had to go for it and cut it to make a start on the double page LO. The papers are Mira Golden Swirl die cut which I cut in two (screams), Mira Bird Floral that I cut into lots of bits and the wildflower which I almost couldn't cut. The pics show the papers and work in progress. Yes I know my workspace is a total mess and it is always that way when working. LO not finished yet and not stuck down so will probably change. It does strike me as odd perhaps that I'm using papers from one company to do a sketch for another but although I adore the Bo Bunny papers I cannot buy anything else. Repeat after me... I must not buy anymore stash. Oh and the other thing I need when scrapping pics of travels is my journal so I can remember what I was thinking/doing.

22 February 2010

Surfing the blog world

After speed marching for 40 mins have sat and caught up on all the blogs I've been following in Google Reader. I am loving Country Heart and Home as I find it very inspiring and if you become a follower now you might be in with a chance of winning some fab goodies.I am also enjoying  Handmadeheartfelted as there is so much to explore there. Another good read is cut.colour.create. I like the typographical approach on Waltzing through Life. I love the simple design style of Nichole at Capture the Moment but do wonder if I could ever do anything this simple. Because I find this simple neat style a bit alien to me I have decided to try and do a couple of sketch challenges, the first is at Sketchy Thursdays and the second is over at the Bo Bunny website. I'll post the results asap.

You're only supposed to dye your hair...

In honour of my phased return to work on Wednesday (1 day for 1 week, 2 for next etc) I decided I'd better remove all traces of grey from hair. As still very skint hairdresser out of the question and home dye job only option. I really should remember that I have a very good friend who is good and doing this - I just don't get organised to ask her and she has enough with her three kids and job etc. Anyway followed instructions on packet and died hair and face and neck and shoulders and arms and basin and wooden shelf by basin and the floor and... I was careful but the stuff just seemed to fly around the place. Anyway if you look at my cheeks those are not large freckles or beauty spots but bits of dye that won't come off. Aargh! I can just hear the comments on Wednesday. "Miss, did you dye your hair again/Why have you got marks on your face etc" Oh well what's new.
Just heading out for a brisk walk with Lens Guy as part of my physio. Keep telling myself it is good for me and may even help me shift some of this weight I have gained over last two months but really just want to sit at my mac and read crafty blogs and avoid stuff.

21 February 2010

The Road to the Isles


We travelled back down on Friday and it was the most amazing journey. It had snowed in the morning but had not lain for long as we were too near the sea. The sky then cleared and we had one of those fabulous clear winter days. Youngest daughter and I had agreed that as it was such a gorgeous day Lens Guy could work on the way home. She was not happy that this turned a 4 hour trip into an epic day on the road. I was quite happy as whenever he stopped to take pics I would hop out point and shoot (leave the technical stuff to him) and then get back into Louis Louis (the motorhome) brew up some tea and read a book. Youngest daughter watched the first series of the OC and muttered darkly about uncaring fathers who made teenage daughters freeze their ass all day. Another fun family trip out. Enjoy the pics as they really show this part of Scotland at its best. Hopefully he took some good pics too but I've not seen them yet.



The pictures show the viaduct on the road from Arisaig to Loch Ailort. A stop just before Glenfinnan, Glencoe and Rannoch Moor. The sun setting over the snow was beautiful but I left LG outside as it was far to cold to hang about with a tripod.

The finished card and where I was last week...

My finished valentine's card turned out okay although went a bit mad with the glitter. It was a hit with Lens Guy but confused the hell out of him as we never give cards but I think he got how much I appreciate everything he has done recently. I have been away for the week staying in the West Highlands near Arisaig but here is a picture of the finished card. We were staying at the house with friends and went for long walks on Camusdarach beach everyday. It was very cold but beautiful as you can see. The girls could not resist paddling and as usual the water came over the wellies. Youngest daughter had a bit of a crisis as she was wearing drainpipe jeans which were covered in salt water...If you have ever tried to remove skin tight jeans that have dried on salty water you will understand her predicament. Looking at the pics of the beach I wonder why we still go elsewhere in Louis Louis.

11 February 2010

Valentine preparations - yet I don't do Valentines

I found some blue and deep pinky tissue paper that had been wrapped round some wine bottles and decided to play with it. I tore it into strips and stuck onto pieces of card. I then decided to stick on a heart shaped tissue and then added blue layers on top of this. Numerous layers later I carefully exposed some of the red below to give a rough heart outline. This is now going to be used to make a valentine's card although I'm not sure why as I don't like these commercially driven holidays and I'd rather not be forced to be romantic on just one day. Anyway now covered in glitter - any excuse. I had to pop down to local Lidl store to pick up some bits and bobs and saw these silicone rose cake moulds and couldn't resist. Now all I need to do is fill them with vodka jelly or cupcakes or... I think all this focus on Valentine's is because I have far too much time on my hands and Lens Guy has had had to put up with an extremely grumpy invalid since I came out of hospital. The guy deserves some love.

9 February 2010

DIY in the house and playing with Scraphd and turning hybrid.

Lens Guy's brother was round today doing some diy for us. If you have been following this you will realise that whilst LG may be fairly domesticated he hates diy with a passion so his brother who is good at it comes and does stuff for us. We look after his youngest whilst he works. Our nephew is super cute but believes he can do whatever his dad does. I took some pics of him today - some a little shaky as he was not posing and I was trying to catch him naturally and yes... his dad thinks it's fine if he plays with the tools. layout created using scraphd. I have been enjoying using this site and so far it has all been free. You can sign up and not become a member of the club and it lets you use lots of free papers from some great designers and companies. I think what interests me most is that you can print and create hybrid projects. I am going to try that next.

Shimelle's this is Why I Scrapbook Vote

Wow the standard of the work at this contest is amazing and so varied. My current favourite is Jamie but I also love Cal, Helen and Katie. Here is the link what do you think?

Thank you tech people

I belive it is fixed and you can follow the link in the posting below but in case that is a problem here is a photo of my computer screen showing the page. If you try out the link below you can find the page - although now if appears to be the first page I created minus the journaling...Thank you to the very helpful people who explained I had jiggled with various privacy settings.

7 February 2010

A Walk In the Woods - breaking scrapper's block

I have been struggling to find any inspiration to scrap. I think it is the Elephant in the Room syndrome as I have literally hundreds of pics I can scrap. I want to scrap our holiday in Spain July 09 but just can't seem to make a start apart from a couple of digital pages. Instead I spent time mucking about with sprays and different techniques for cards. Tidying up I felt the scraps went well together so stuck them down. Today I decided I needed to do something... I found a piece of cream card stuck the strip down and then searched for pictures that might go well with them. I found these pics and it all started to come together. The pics are of youngest daughter and Lens Guy on a trip to Loch Lomond in May 2008. As I began to journal I remembered the reason we had gone there was to spend time at a place with memories of my Dad and brother.  Dad had died three years before and then my brother died unexpectedly the month before. I can just about get my head around Dad but am still struggling to come to term with my brother's death. I have many photos I want to scrap of him but I just can't do it. I wonder if anyone else has the same problem?
Anyway I think the finished page works well - the first pic shows my starting point and the second one the finished article. The papers are ones I used to make the owl card. I just added some pink ink round the edges of the mats and stamped some pink trees. I didn't have  suitable soft coloured pens  to write with so I just applied a white water colour wash over my writing. I like the finished effect. Need to go now as youngest daughter and I going shopping then meeting a friend and going to see "It's Complicated".

5 February 2010

Papertrey Resist Emboss Challenge

I was all set to do something else and was reading a few blogs I like and I saw this at Country Heart and Home. The challenge is from the Papertrey blog. I just had to give this a go and I was a little behind with the thank you cards. I used the Dawn Bibby stamp with Adirondack Earthtones and Bottle Green inks for the owl and the tree. I embossed with Heat It Up Silver Pearl powder. I then got in a total mess using Glimmer Mist sprays in Moonlight Copper, Gold and Green. The first pic shows  the finished card and the second one shows it before the ink dries. In some ways I like it better before it dries. The card is made from double sided SEI Aunt Gerti's Garden Sidekicks (dots inside), the mount is a piece of travel themed paper I found in my scrap box and the owl was stamped on a khaki coredination sheet. The velvet ribbon is from my large box and I came via QVC.

My favourite most recent reads, anyone else like these?

I think I should make a note to self to avoid posting when tired as it tends to be more negative. On the other hand to pretend we are all relentlessly cheerful is also wrong. Anyway one of the good things about being confined to the house is that I get to read lots and lots of books. I love reading and as a child I would read anything I could find which led to some eye opening reads. In fact I still do this and have been known to read cereal boxes and tattered magazines and posters when I have no other reading matter available. I usually have at least one book stashed in my handbag. "The Children's Book" was an unexpected book that worked on so many levels from family saga to fairy tales, an historical overview of Fabian Society, Women's Suffrage and the creation of the V&A and pots and much more. I don't think that gives justice to it but if you have the time read this. The cover artwork is beautiful and the Lalique dragonfly brooch is exquisite - I think someone needs to design some Art Nouveau inspired papers."Little Stranger" was scary and I did have to stop reading it late at night - it is very clever as it is all psychological and plays with your mind. Finally the last in the Millenium trilogy "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" - wow, this book is even better than the previous two and if you have not read any of this get "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" before Hollywood destroys it in the film version.
The one thing I would say about books is that what you read is such a personal choice. At University I read all the classics and it is only now many years later that I feel I can say that I don't like them all. I hate Hardy, love Austen and Shakespeare but would rather not have to read Milton or Larkin ever again.   As to forcing young people to read old fashioned, irrelevant texts that I found boring as a pupil ... if we want to encourage young people to pick up a book let it be enjoyable like HP, Twilight or something by Zephaniah. Let me know if you have read any of these or have any suggestions for me. TTFN.
 This is a pic of the packaging used to protect chocs that I have started to play with. What a contrast in colour, shape and texture.

4 February 2010

Visiting the Caravan and Camping Show, driving again, being patient

As soon as some people read that title I can imagine some mixed responses. She went where? Why?What I did not mention in my "Why I Scrapbook" mini is my other hobby that compliments the scrapping and the blogging...travelling in the UK and Europe in Louis Louis. I just ran out of time to create that page and feel over the coming months that this guy and our travels in him will become known to all who read this. I have yet to start scrapping our trip to Northern Spain in the summer and then there are the weekends away round the UK.
This pic was taken at a beautiful site at Dunvegan on Skye, the sun was going down and we were sipping wine and admiring the view. 
We went to the camping and caravan show and I was pleased with myself as I was able to drive there - my hip is getting stronger every day. After walking round for several hours and climbing up and down endless steps into vans I was tired and let Lens Guy drive me home. So tired in fact I fell asleep for several hours. I find this very worrying as the show was full of older retired couples using sticks to hobble about. I am sure if we went at the weekend there would be younger people like us. Did not see any outstanding new vans but there was a Nexxo van that is on our wishlist once younger daughter has left home and no longer travels with us. 
Now all I have to do is to get strong enough to drive twice as far to work every day and put in a full days work. I never thought that having my hip replaced would be so tough. I think that is because I was just so desperate to be pain free I ignored what was going to be done to get rid of the pain. 13 weeks on I can walk without crutches (bit of a limp) and if I concentrate can walk up and down stairs properly. I keep being told I have to be patient but that is not one of my virtues. 
I have been playing with the inside of chocolate box layers and hope to show experiments tomorrow. I have been peeling and pulling the stuff apart and then trying to print with it. 

3 February 2010

Wanna Win a scene - illicit blog surging


Meant to be entertaining elderly parent but she is playing on computer so snuck off to see what's up. No time to post as entertaining her yesterday. Saw this just now via two peas and other jumps... as I so want to win this fab paintable chipboard.

1 February 2010

Finished book, Monday musings, Watch Glee







Well here it is the finished mini book. Am quite please that I managed to get all the colours from the word scrapbook into the mini book.
It is another freezing day in Scotland but at least the sun is shining. I am looking out over our back garden which is a sloping mess of churned mud. At least when we had snow for 4 weeks it looked quite pretty. We have just moved to this house which is brand new and a major change from our old, charming, leaking, flaking and very chilly victorian house. Now there is only three left of the family we thought we should get something easier to manage. Plus we moved out the city so far that it is not even the leafy suburbs but a whole new town. Anyway I will put up a picture of the muddy slope soon and then maybe over many months, years etc it might be possible to watch it grow. LG has decreed no grass. Whilst he maybe a whizz at the cooking and the domestic chores he does not do diy and as for gardening, especially cutting grass that is a no no. Youngest child and I quite fancy grass. LG's dad suggested we try the latest in plastic grass - and he could get us a discount. Not sure about that. Part of me wants low maintenance no hassle but I love growing things and am really going to miss the greenhouse from last house.
One of the great things about the move was I have been able to get a room to myself and I was fondly thinking of it as my "craft room". But then...I watched "Glee" and have decided to call it an art studio or study. Don't like to be associated with the crazy not pregnant lady. If you have not watched Glee you just have to catch it - funny, satirical and music. It is like a very dark and ironic high school musical with adult bits thrown in.
Need to go now and try and so more physio exercises to get this hip to work again. Hoping to make it back to work in a couple of weeks. TTFN