Random Picture of the Week #5

Lavender fields, Brittany, France - July 2008

The Reason I Need Two Cameras

You've got to let sleeping cats lie - especially this one.

As an aside, are two Tesco Finest meal deals for dinner in as many days excessive? Good, I'm glad we've cleared that up.

Learn Something New Everyday

Just a quick one to post the cover for my Learn Something New Everyday project which I made while watching the telly last night. Sorting out the supplies into a manageble container is such a great piece of advice and made it so much quicker and easier to assemble. I also spent sometime cutting my cardstock pages to size which will make it a lot quicker each day so roll on September.

The papers I've used are all from the LSNED kit and the only things I added were the cardstock which all came from off cuts from the project pages and the tiny alphas from Making Memories. I also got a lot of use out of my Slice machine in order to make the best of the bits and pieces of cardstock and I still have lots left. These muted colours aren't what I would normally use but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (and that I did it all from the sofa).

Back to the Future

I think I’m fumbling my way towards making a decision about what I want to do this year to mark my birthday and while it is very tempting to spend the whole year self indulgent scrapping pictures of myself in a padding pool, I’ve decided to take heart from the cheering comments and emails I’ve received, stop being so maudlin about rapidly descending towards death entering the next phase of my life and undertake a project that looks forward as well as back, hence the title.

‘Back to the Future’ is going to be my umbrella term for a project which looks at the past, present and future of my life (thanks Emilie) and while each element will be relatively ‘stand alone’, hopefully together they’ll tell the overall story (without making me look too self-obsessed). I'm thinking a 4 phased approach along the lines of 'Childhood Memories', 'Teenage Kicks', 'Right Here, Right Now' and 'Wherever Next?' 

More on that in October I think as tonight, I am blithely casting of my cleaning schedule in order to pursue crafty satisfaction by getting everything ready for Learn Something New Every Day which starts on Tuesday. As per instructions, I will be cutting 30 pieces of cardstock to about 5x8 and then I also think I'll knock a cover together which I'll post tomorrow. In the meantime, thought would share this, just because it's a bank holiday. Why not?

The Countdown Has Begun

I have 8 days of being in my 20s left and then, as everyone delights in telling me, it's all downhill from there on in.  I feel like I need to make the best of  what I've got left with a bit of unbridled hedonism, but unfortunately I'll have to make do with cleaning, gardening and if I get time, sleeping.

I've been starting to wonder what sort of project I want to mark this occasion and although a 'this is me now' minibook would seem like the obvious answer, they sometimes make me feel a bit constrained and I want to  to include lots of journalling.  I'm also going to be doing Learn Something New Everyday in September which is going to be done at 6x6 so I may be small formatted out.

I have lots of pictures of me a child which my Mum sent to make me feel young again so I've had those scanned in.  I also have lots of sepia toned memories which I want to record before I get so old I forget them so defintely something in that area involving lots of distress ink, vinatge-y paper and crying over my lost youth reminiscing.

Random Picture of the Week #4

Carlsberg Glyptotek - Copenhagen, 2006. Loving those palm trees.

Piracy is in My Blood

Pirate Day (I assume not Interational Talk Like a Pirate Day), 1986. Aren't I swashbuckling?

Cerulean Blue

Actually the colours I've been painting with today are 'artic skies' (pale turquoise) in the bathroom, 'english mist 4' (mossy green) in the conservatory and 'Theresa's green' (blue green) in the hall. I also used 'black' masonry paint on the window sills but that name's rather lacking in imagination so lets pretend it's called obsidian or something. No cerulean blue at all in fact, but I'm watching the X-Files episode with The Pusher and his mad sister in so it seemed appropriate.

Thought I would share a few pictures of the objet trouve de plage from the bathroom window sill while I was washing them in a collander. I love the look of the pebbles when they're wet and the little plastic doll we found a a beach in Brittany mixed in there always make me smile.

To Quote Dauntless II...

...'Eeeks' (he's a parrot). Didn't meant to vanish for 5 days but it wasn't by choice, it was a whole big DNS record, domain name, internet-y related issue which I don't even pretend to understand but that didn't stop me solving it which is surely the best sort of problem to have.

Ahem. Anyway, here we all are and I've spent the last few days (not) tidying the house, cutting the grass on the paths at the allotment to avoid being evicted, doing a little bit of scrapping and making my first submission to the reader gallery at Scrapbook Inspirations (as well as stressing about my blog not working).

It's the second time I've scrapped these pictures and this is much better than the first effort (accidental spectacuarly ugly layout) and there is this central flipping panel so you can see both the winners and losers of the game. If only I hadn't spelled it 'loosers'. Oh well. I also really REALLY love the October Afternoon woodgrain paper so much in fact, that I've ordered 3 more sheets today, you know, since it's going to be autumn and all.

And speaking of autumn, as further proof (if it were needed) that it is upon us:

Random Picture of the Week #3

Baseball in Central Park - New York, 2007

One step forward....

...and two steps back. You'll probably notice that the tidy house pictures have yet to materialise and there's a reason for that. Had managed to make a tiny bit of progress clearing off the dining table and folding clothes in the bedroom, but rather got distracted as seems impossible to just move piles of pretty paper around without actually using them to have a bit of fun.

Today it's gone from bad to worse as we had to rip the sitting room apart this morning when the strong suspicion developed that one of the cats had invited an unwelcome visitor into our humble abode. While there's nothing like the suggestion of a rat in the house to make one want to do cleaning, now everything is stacked up in random places and there's a big metal trap (humane) taking pride of place under the woodburner. Who'd live in the countryside?

However, the breadmaker is on and hopefully the smell of fresh baked bread will awaken the latent domestic godess in me. I really hope so because time is definitely running out.

It's Almost Here

There was an unmistakable scent of autumn in the garden this morning. Just the slightest trace hinting at the beginnings of decay perceptible beneath the fresh morning smell of the garden and the wood smoke lingering from last night’s bonfire. The heavy dew covering every surface seemed like a portent of the coming ground frosts and the bright berries forming on the shrubs and brambles were sparkling the early morning light, throwing the simple beauty of the changing seasons into sharp relief.

Sorry, came over a bit lyrical there but it was the first time I’d felt even slightly autumn-y this year (apart from that week a month or so back when I really wanted it to be Christmas) and so I wanted to make the most of the feeling.

I love autumn. I know lots of people don’t feel the same way, mourning the end of the summer and the nights drawing in but to me, autumn is the season of new coats and shoes, pencil cases and geometry sets, kicking around in the leaves and gathering conkers and chestnuts. Autumn means that we can get the thick comfy duvet back out and start scouring the hedgerows for bits of firewood. Autumn means that we can enjoy Devon’s beaches in the sunshine without queuing for hours to get there and autumn means that the good telly will start again and we can sit cosily in the sitting room with the fire blazing (assuming we find some wood) and the curtains shut tight.

I know it's nearly the end of summer but that means that autumn is almost here so I say smell it, embrace it and love it - I know I will.

Of Beans and Birthdays

It's my dad's 65th birthday on Monday and since you can't get good birthday cards in France, I was despatched to buy an appropriate card for my Mum. Unfortunately, non-ugly 65th birthday cards are quite thin on the ground so while Alistair found a nice glittery one at Darts Farm yesterday, I thought it best to make one myself.I even did it in best scrap challenge style and used only the things that I had out on the dining table already which means that technically I didn't make any additional mess, just re-arranged an exisiting one.

Apart from card making, I have recently been crowned the official Queen of Runner Beans - I picked two full armfuls last night which apart from giving me rash on my chest where I was holding them, is a pretty impressive sight

On Standby

I’m prepared for this to be a very frustrating few weeks – Go To Press is carrying on without me and while I have all the materials, the photos, the ideas and the inclination to participate, sadly I just don’t have the time right now. I am squirreling away all the prompts and ideas though and so I will get back to them, but maybe not until October.

In 3 ½ weeks it will be my birthday and I have a party to prepare for. Although we’re planning to camp in the garden, this is Devon, it will rain and so we need to a have a very well developed Plan B which will involved similar activities (cocktails & board games) but on an indoor basis. That means the house needs to be presentable to visitors and right now, it so isn’t.

Unfortunately, this means that for the next few weeks we need to have a blitz on house and garden (just in case) tidying which will leave very little time for lying on the sofa watching old episodes of the X-Files and even less for covering the dining room with bits of paper and ribbon. In fact one of my first tasks will be clearing the dining room table and floor of the bits of paper and ribbon which are already strewn about the place (just as soon as I’ve made a birthday card for my dad).

I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was exaggerating, so this is what the house looks like now:

Hopefully, I will be able to update these with glossy lifestyle magazine style shots over the next couple of weeks. Watch this space…

Random Picture of the Week #2

Grumbling

Tonight I am tired, my finger is hurting and I can't get my printer to print on transparancies. But on the otherhand, it it Friday, I'll be wearing my pyjamas very shortly and there's a bag of Reeses Pieces in my kitchen.

So in summary, a mixed bag of an evening.

Due to my compromised dexterity, no real progress has been made with Go To Press but I'm hoping to catch up on Sunday. I've got my printables on to patterned paper for Prompt 3 and I've ordered sticky back canvas (which looks fab) for Promt 5.

So until I'm back up to speed, a couple of my current favourite layouts for your viewing pleasure:

Disaster

No class (or any other kind of) work tonight - managed to cut the end off my little finger whilst chopping up an orange pepper for dinner. Ouch.

A trip to the (slight League of Gentlement style) hospital in Tiverton ensued and I now have a very big bandange and can't wash my hands, face or hair. Tomorrow morning should be interesting - I predict an even more maverick hairstyle than usual.

Music Makes Things Make Sense

Day 2 of Go To Press and the subject is music - didn't really have any pictures to suit although I've wanted to record my favourite songs on a layout for a while now, so I took pictures of my iPod playing them and scrapped those.

The printables that came with the prompt are quite different in style to embelishments I would normally use and I couldn't find the right paper so the trusty bubblewrap and acrylic paint combination came out. I'm covered in blue paint now, but I think it was worth it!

For the record the songs are Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake, Dance Dance - Fall Out Boy, Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison, Gold - Spandau Ballet, Tribute - Tenacious D, Mull of Kintyre - Wings, Thousand Trees - Stereophonics and Galveston - Glen Campbell. Rock on.

Go to Press

So I'm taking Shimelle's Go To Press class over at Two Peas and considering I'm not a natural 'participant' I'm really enjoying it so far, seeing what other people have come up with. I completed my first layout tonight which is a title page for the Simple Pleasures album.

Had a lovely day off work yesterday despite the weather and went down to Plymouth to get a bit of sea air. Unfortunatly the entire city seemed to be covered in a cloud and so there wasn't much of a view and the camera stayed firmly in it's bag.

In the evening, we went to see Bill Bailey at the Theatre Royal which was really great, with the maddest ending ever. Also loving the merchandise - I now have a Bill Bailey kite. How did I ever live without that?

Random Picture of the Week #1

A highland cow (love them) with excellent blonde highlights - Skye, 2007

It's Just Another Rainy Saturday

So it's still raining in Devon and although it did stop long enough for me to pick enough beans, both French and runner to satisfy even the hardiest bean afficionado. I shall probably make a risotto with them for dinner tomorrow.

We went into Exeter to buy A a load of lovely new clothes today (more than me, unbelievable)and now we're just chilling in front of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip eating pineapple tarts and nachos. We're also 'enjoying' a bit of feathery company from this tatty little (he's moulting) lunatic.