In Which I Am Too Full of Mashed Potato

I'd quite like to go and put my pyjamas on but they're all the way upstairs and me and my massive tummy (part mashed potato, part baby) are all the way down here and I can see how we're ever going to get it together so I thought I might as well share a few more layouts instead.

This just about the only layout I managed to complete between May and October this year - I'm nothing if not prolific.  I really love this picture though, but not as much as I loved the food at that place.  As a vegetarian its a joy to find a place that understands that sometimes I do want a fake meaty burger, with plastic cheese and fake bacon and don't even get me started on the buffalo wing salad (seriously, don't do it). 

And (honestly, what sort of poorly educated idiot starts a sentance with and?) this was another fab class from the GoGo Getaway featuring a tea bag.  Yeay.  This is so different from my usual style, but I really like it even if I did have to use an iron which would normally be enough to put a serious dent in my will to live.

Now I think I may have summoned enough energy to get up those stairs and if not, I may be able to find a friendly cat who might pull me up.  Either way, there's enough time for a pyjamas and a quick shower (other way round, preferably) before Miranda which I completely adore.  Thank you for the sweet comments on my last post, I do hope to get round to visiting you all in Blogland as soon as I can.

In Which I Spring Back into Life and Question the Nature of Reality

Actually on second thoughts, I might hold off on the questioning the nature of reality thing.  Just for tonight, you know?  It's late and we're all tired.  Let's just leave reality as it is for now and maybe we can give it a good questioning tomorrow.

I'm also going to spare you the traditional its been ages/I'm a bad blogger/handful of grovelling but ultimately invalid excuses soliloquy and cut straight to the chase.  It's late and we're all tired remember?

So where have I been?

Well, back in September, there was the wedding of the century - Lizzie and Jarrad had a wonderful day and all the hard work pulling together the matching invitations, favours, menus and table plan was totally worth it as it all looked amazing (if I do say so myself).  However even better that, was this:

There were times when I secretly doubted that I actually had it in me to make a wedding cake, but turns out it wasn't as hard I thought!  The worst part was the architectural aspect of it and also standing by as people walked past it the wedding watching the bouncy floorboards making the the whole thing wobble back and forth.  It all went well though, nothing fell down and everyone seemed to enjoy eating which I think really the mark of a good cake.

And after the wedding it was time for the Go Go Getaway which can be crystallised into the following points:

• Nice hotel
• Fab layouts
• Great scrapping
• Brilliant company.

To summarise, I loved it and hopefully I'll be back in March 2013 (it's all booked up for next year).  I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it actually and it renewed my enthusiasm for messing about with bits of paper, gave me lots of new ideas and even taught me some things I didn't know.  Here are a couple of layouts from my favourite classes:

This class was call 'Blooming Ribbon' and focused on making the turquoise-y flower garland - it's so pretty, I can't believe I actually made it myself!  Also a bit of a landmark event in that it's the first time I've ever used sewing on a page.  This next layout was from the 'Welcome to my Garden' class which I just loved and I even got to use one of my favourite pictures of good old Sophiekins - note especially the pebbles made of paper clay, such a fab detail.



Anyway, that's almost all from me as it's late and we're all tired but there's just one last thing that I've been working on which I wanted to share with you:

Coming to a hospital near you (assuming you live in Exeter) in February.  Eeeek.

In Which I Pretend that a Few Photographs Constitues a Proper Update

Hello there - my goodness life is quite a busy thing isn't it?  There's a lot going on at the moment and I have produced a total of one layout in about 4 months (I know, my profligacy is really quite astounding) but I like to think it's a good 'un and one day I'll get a picture of it. 

In the meantine, I've been playing around with the Photoshop actions from the CoffeeShop photo blog as recomended by SJ and they're so fab I thought I'd share a few of my efforts.  Let me know what you think.

In Which I Reveal All

Well by now I'll have fled the country in the manner of a fugitive, except for the fact I'm hoping to be allowed back in a couple of weeks without a police escort. In the meantime, here are the SBK layouts I was teasing you with on Friday.

Now all 3 of us are 30, what could be more birthday-y than a picture of each of us with our respective birthday cakes?  The rub-ons and paper flowers that came with this kit were gorgeous and I love how busy and detailed the make the page.

I've been waiting to scrap these pictures for a while, but when I saw the colours and patten on this butterfly I know it would go so well with the colour of the table cloth and combined with the pink cardstock to match Morrissey's nose, I knew I couldn't go wrong.  I used the rub-ons again on this layout to the frame the tiny bit of journalling and then drew antenna on the butterfly to match the curls - I love it when a plan comes together.

In Which I Am a Bit Sneaky - SBK Birthday Kit

Just thought I'd stop by bright and early to share a preview of the layouts I made with SBK's May kit.  It's called 'Birthday' as SBK was founded 2 years ago in Hungary and what better way to celebrate than with some fab summery stash?

Otherwise, things are a bit mental round here as we're off on holiday and have to make the place presentable for the house sitters as ususal.  All very stressful but soon enough I'll be lying by a pool in the sunshine (hopefully) with a good book and maybe a cocktail.  I can't wait.

In Which I Have an Accident and Wake Up in 1973

With the (brilliant) demise of Ashes to Ashes a couple of weeks ago, I've been feeling the need to relive the whole series from start to finish. So follwing some hasty DVD purchasing, we've started watched the first series of Life of Mars again and I'm really loving it.  Very sad that I was only alive for 3 months of the 1970s, I'd have fitted right in and I really love wearing flares.

Combined with all the walking we've been doing lately (more on that another time) and the allotment finally bursting into life, evenings and weekends have been pretty full up around here.  However, I have finally got around to taking a picture of the layout I put together a few weeks back and so I thought I'd share. 

I'm rather bored of it now as it's been sitting on the mantlepiece in the kitchen for a least 3 weeks - it may be time to consign it to an album.  I actually did a little more scrapping last night, but I'll have to keep you waiting for a couple more days until I get the all clear on the sneaky peaks of the fab SBK June kit.

I'm off to plant sweetcorn and courgettes - I shall be taking pictures as I want to use the lovely garden-y Cosmo Cricket stuff which has been sitting in the cupoboard for AGES.

In Which I Get Confused Between Reality and Fiction

I'm reading this great book at the moment, it's called The Importance of Being Kennedy and is a sort of fictional account of real events in the lives of the Kennedy family.

I've read it before and I really like it, but books like this tend to confuse my brain (not actually me obviously, its a lot stupider than I am)  in the same way that books about the Beatles do.  I get so caught up in the story that it's very hard to take a step back and appreciate that it's not just a plotted work of fiction, but what actually happenend to real people.  You know, in their actual real lives.  There's just something about not-so-distant history which I find hard to contextualise.  Perhaps I am cognitally limited after all.

So anyway, the last time I read this book I went a bit Kennedy mad and bought loads of other books including The Kennedys: An American Drama, The Kennedy Women, Sons and Brothers: The Days and Jack and Bobby Kennedy  and  Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and read them all in a lovely big Kennedy binge. 

I suppose all of this is a roundabout way of revealing that I have a bit of a Kennedy obsession, consider it a type of therapy if you will.  Clearly this is not the same sort of crush that I was talking about yesterday (*whispers* Charlie Brooker)  but more of a slightly unhealthy historical interest which involves pouring over grainy black and white pictures trying to make myself believe that they're really real.

And in case you were wondering (and I simply can't imagine what more pressing questions could possibly exist in your life), my top 5 favourite Kennedys are as follows:

1. 
   
   Bobby
2. 
   
   Kick
3. 
   
   Teddy
4. 
   
   Jack
5. 
   
   Rosie.

 Actually thinking about it, I wonder if this post was really a good way to try and convince everyone I'm not mad.  You know, after yesterday and everything when I knew I was on thin ice.  Today I can hear the cracks starting to spread.

In Which I Make a Very Embarassing Confession

Did you miss me? 

Anyone?

No?

I didn't think so, but I know it's been a while so there was always an outside chance someone might have noticed my absence. Nonetheless, I'm back.  As of yesterday my essays are completed, my exams are over and there's 11 months until my dissertation is due in so I think I'm allowed a couple of months (at least) off from academic pursuits which means that I can recommence my actual life, assuming I can remember who I am and what I do. 

I don't have much to share scrapping wise as I believe I've made a total of one layout in that last 3 months which is not exactly going to redefine the word prolific, particularly as I don't even have a picture to share.  However, I'm hoping to rip into some of the ScrapaGoGo boxes which are piling up in my dining room very soon in order to get my mojo back in time for the GoGo Getaway in October.

In the meantime, I feel the need to get something of my chest. I'm in the throws of an all out, full blown, hugely debilitating celebrity crush which has been extremely distracting while I've been revising and even worse when trying to focus my mind in the exams themselves. 

I am 30 years old.

I need to get a grip.

I've always been somewhat prone to these little obsessions which depart in time, often as quickly as they arrive, but while I'm right in the centre of it, it's like I am 14 years old again and crying into my Mark Owen pillowcase in the manner of the silly girl I am.  

Again, I need to get a grip.  Really.

REALLY.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway.  Here's a couple of pictures to try and draw focus from how pathetic and juvenile I am.

Did it work? 

Oh. 

I'll just have to try again tomorrow.

No News (is good news)

Well hello.  It is I, the incredible sporadic blogger who has much to say in one week and nothing to say in the following three. Part of the problem is probably that this is suppose to be a craft blog but I have done very little (non wedding invitation) crafting because..............well actually I'm not sure and I don't want to insult your intelligence by making up a reason so let's leave it as just because.

Aaaaaaaaaaanyway.

Following my sneaky peak from a couple of weeks ago, here it is.  My layout made with SBK's Festival kit.

Keep your fingers crossed for some 'Inspiration(s)' next week and just in case you're not familiar with beedogs, click the link.  You'll be so glad you did!

SBK March Kit - Sneak Peak

I've had a busy old week, (finally) submitting my dissertation proposal, discussing bridesmaid dresses and starting Document 2010 (quite late). However, I've also pulled together this layout using SBK's March Kit and thought I would share a sneaky peaky.

Diversions Mark II

So. 

How is the dissertation proposal going I hear you ask. 

I'm actually going to pretend I didn't hear that because as you should be able to tell from the title of this post, it might not be completely finished. I could have got on with it last night, but instead I half watched Freaky Friday (terrible film) in the kitchen and scrapped some pictures from last weekend using Go Go's February Kit:

I could have got on with it today, but instead I slept for ages went to Killerton House (to make up for yesterday's National Trust failure) and had a cream tea.  Lush day.

So in summary, excellent weekend for relaxing, scrapping and taking pictures.  So much better to dwell on one's sucesses than failures don't you think?

Weekend Diversions

I've been very busy crafting away this week, but it's all secret squirrel stuff for Lizzie's wedding invitations and so in an uncharacteristically reticent manner, I'll keep them to myself (for now) . I think we're both really pleased with how the prototypes have turned out though so it's just a case of starting to gather the stuff we need to make the really thing. It's all very exciting.

I am actually pushing bits of patterned paper around of a piece of cardstock as I type (multi-tasking rocks) and although I've completed one layout tonight, I'm not currently feeling it for the 2nd so maybe I'll come back to it in the morning. Today we've been out photographing Dartmoor in the spring-y sunshine. The original idea was to explore Castle Drogo courtesy of our new National Trust membership (how old are we?) but in the end the allure of the open moor was too tempting and so we 'accidently' went the wrong way. Here are a few of my favourites:

I hope you're having a great weekend.

Tonight's Top Stories

Firstly, thank you very much for all your sweet weekend-y wishes.  We had a lovely, if frantically busy and exhausting time and while I'm sworn to secrecy on the dress front, if I nod and wink in an indiscreet manner you can draw your own conclusions as to the success of our mission.  Here we all are outside the Bridal Room in the House of Frazer on Oxford Street:

Secondly, if you're so inclined check out TWAGO's Blog where I have guest post up at the moment.  It's a work thing rather than a crafty thing and is part of a project to encourage people from Brighton to tweet about their travel habits as part of a social experiment.  It's worth a look if you enjoy hearing me ramble on about nothing in particular (Anyone? No? I suspected as much).

Thirdly, I'm very VERY relieved to reveal that I passed the exam I took back in January with 80%.  I have no idea how that happened considering I understood almost none of the module's content, but I'm very pleased with myself nonetheless.  I also did well on both my essays which means that's two more down and  I'm inching ever closer to that light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally and perhaps, most excitingly I had an email from Shimelle on Saturday afternoon to let me know that a couple of the layouts I'd submitted have been accepted for the Scrapbook Inspirations Ideas Book due out in May.  Luckily when I found out I was already halfway though a glass of champagne so I was able to celebrate in style and beg the people in the pictures to let them be published in person!

That's pretty much all for now, as I can hear my pyjamas calling my name.  My (optimistic) goal for tomorrow is to start writing dissertation proposal.

Water World

Well if everything has gone to plan I'm in London now, probably at the Wedding Show.  Don't you think scheduled posts are weird?  It's kind of like I'm speaking from the beyond the grave but if I am, things have definitely NOT gone to plan.

As a small aside, am I wrong in thinking that the Pet Shop Boys were like, the best band ever?  Perhaps, by the time you're reading this they will have made a hastily arranged but nonetheless triumphant comeback and I'll be lauded for my perspicacity, or (more likely) perhaps not.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway, back to the topic in hand. Hopefully (again, if things are going to plan) I will have been able to give Anna her house warming present which means that it is no longer massively pre-emptive (and only a tiny bit rude) of me to post a picture of it on my blog.  To clarify, preceding last week's scrapping frenzy, I went through a small (but perfectly formed) watercolour frenzy and while I only managed to produce two pictures (impressive frenzy), I thought you might like to see them so here goes.

This is a picture of a globe artichoke:

This is a picture of a spring onion, an asparagus spear, a pair of French beans and a pea (and also Anna's present):

That's all I have to say right now, so I shall return to Christmas past from whence I came.

SBK - Snowdrop Kit

Following last week's sneaky peaks, I'm finally allowed to reveal the complete layouts made with  SBK's Snowdrop Kit.  The colours in this kit are so right for this time of year and the ribbons and frames were particularly fab to work with - I think this has been my favourite kit so far.

This one shows our newest cat Morrissey at the top of a very tall tree at the bottom of our garden. In the end we had to go out and leave him there but luckily he was able to find his own way down so no need to call the fire brigade on this occasion.

These pictures were taken at Antony Gormley's Another Place on Crosby Beach - what it doesn't record is that very soon after we got stuck in the mud up to our knees. I think I'd rather forget that.

'Death Comes to us All...

...but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold.'  - Ralph Waldo Emerson (who totally rocked but that's a whole other post).

With this is mind (or possibly not, actually), the lovely spring like sunshine on Sunday promted us to make our first ever visit to the Wellington Monument, despite it being about 20 minutes drive away and us having lived here for over 5 years.  We had a lovely walk through the woods, felt the warmth of the sun for the first time this year and then returned home for tea and cakes.  All in all, the perfect Sunday activity.

'Woah There Pickle'

Blogging 4 days in a row? Surely that level of commitment is just not in my nature.  Anyone would think it was some sort of hysterical displacement activity to avoid focusing on the rather pressing matter of researching and writing my dissertation proposal (ahem).  Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, how is everyone?  Good? Good.

{awkward silence}

Oooh, I know.  Rather excitingly, I'm off to London this Friday for a non-stop tour of wedding dress shops, the National Wedding Show and more wedding dress shops, ideally interspersed with as much sparkling wine as possible.  The bride, the mother of the bride and a brace bridesmaids will all be in attendance and so this is THE dress weekend when hopefully we can secure the ultimate in beautiful and elegant wedding dresses for our favourite Lizbag. 

I'll let you know how it goes, in the meantime here are a couple more layouts from last week's flurry of scrapping activity.

In many ways, this layout annoys because it's all smug and summery where as I am stuck in the middle of a miserable February.  That may be slightly unfair, but it's my layout and I can be mean about it if I want to.  LOVE the hot pink butterflies though, they're not at all smug.  In fact they're quite polite and self-effacing, you know, in so much as paper butterflies can be.

I quite the four little pictures arrangement here, but it was more by accident that design since I only had 2 sheets of photo paper left (note to self - buy more photo paper) but I think it has all the razzle and dazzle a seaside fun fair needs.

Dotted Swiss Revival

I (like most other crafty people I know) have always been a be fan of dotted swiss cardstock just because it is so lovely to look at, work with and even say (dotted swiss, dotted swiss, dotted swiss), but over the last few months I just haven't been feeling it so much and I thought my love affair might have reached its logical conclusion.  However, I'm happy to say that that all changed this week and my passion for all things dotty is back with avengence.

This uses up a few bits and bobs from the last few month's GoGo kits which I've been very keen to rip into for a while and I particularly love these letter stamps which are really sweet and under-stated.  I've been trying to stave off the winter gloom with the carnival colours and it was working for a while, but the effects seems to be wearing off a little.  More Mini Eggs are in order I think.

I wasn't so sure what to do with these pictures because they were taken in the basement of a restaurant and so are a little bit dark.  Strangely though, they seemed to fit quite nicely with the gorgeous Cosmo Cricket Eath Love papers which wouldn't have been my natural association.  I'm pleased with how it turned out though so all's well that end's well and I will try not be so closed minded in the future.

I love Cosmo Cricket SO much, maybe even more than dotted swiss (dotted swiss, dotted swiss, dotted swiss) and so I'm keen to get my hands on the new Joy Ride, Material Girl and Garden Variety ranges but am desparately trying to resist untill pay day in the manner of a sensible person.  Being sensible is hard.

Red Roses...

...are massively overated.  Luckily I have a husband who knows that.

I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day, whoever you're spending it with.

Winter Irritations

No doubt winter does have its good points, photo opportunties like this for one thing and snuggly duvets, Christmas, open fires and warming soups to name four more.  I'm all about the progression of autumn into winter and the associated build up to Christmas and I can even get on board with a couple of weeks of icy weather in January and maybe a couple of snow days to make the post Christmas going back to work transition a little easier.  But now, the novelty has defintely worn off and I'm ready for sunshine, daffodils, easter eggs and bouncy little lambs swiftly followed by Pimm's, sunbathing and ice lollies.

I'm sick of gloves, scarves, chapped fingers and lips, wearing layers to bed, getting up in the dark, coming home in the dark, not being able to wear flip flops, having to draw the curtains, tasteless strawberries and tomatoes, the countryside in shades of grey and brown, not being on holiday, pale skin, frozen hair and muddy boots, but most of all I'm currently annoyed by the fact that it's so hard to find natural light to take pictures of all the layouts I've been working on this week when I really want to share them. Essentially, its rubbish.

Remember when it was summer?  Lush.

Roll on tomorrow morning I suppose - photographs, followed by an Egg McMuffin, followed by a trip to Barnstaple to Crafty Devils and maybe even getting the car tyres tracked and balanced (whatever that may turn out to be).  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.