From Devon with Love

In Which I Attempt to Make up for Lost Time

2011-02-15T16:18:00.000Z

So.

It turns out that gestating another human being is quite the time and energy hungry process. Who knew?

However, I am officially on maternity leave as on Monday and the baby is due in just 8 days (surely that can't be right) I thought at the very least I should stop in with a pre-labour and delivery ward update.

Apart from significant amounts of eating and sleeping, we've been keeping a relatively low profile in December and January as we've had lots to do to get the house in some kind of shape which has included total renovation of the littlest bedroom and lots of finishing off of bits and pieces. I'm not sure why my brain thinks the baby will take one look at the place and refuse to move in if the windows are a bit streaky or the tops of the cupboards in the kitchen not fully cleaned, but there is no reasoning with it. I flew into quite the rage the other day to find I was too fat to be able to bend to reach the bottom cupboards last week which is quite the most irrational thing ever.

Yesterday was a fairly productive day for me, I cleaned the kitchen made two cakes, went to the post office, dried some washing on the line and even did some scrapbooking. I clearly went a bit overboard though as I have spectacularly failed to move from this sofa all day, even having a snooze at 10 o'clock this morning.

These layouts I have casually scattered around are the leftovers from the GoGo Getaway - however, I do have some new things to exhibit when I get round to it and even better that, I have a fab baby scrapbooking kit which I shall be ripping into sooner or later which goes together to make up an album of the first year.

Wish me luck xxx

In Which I Am Too Full of Mashed Potato

2010-11-22T20:09:00.001Z

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

2010-11-15T20:55:00.001Z

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

2010-07-27T20:30:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-13T09:15:00.004+01:00

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

2010-06-11T09:15:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-03T17:08:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-30T21:36:00.000+01:00

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:

Bobby
Kick
Teddy
Jack
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

2010-05-29T22:59:00.001+01:00

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)

2010-03-23T21:42:00.000Z

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

2010-03-07T10:06:00.001Z

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

2010-02-28T21:09:00.001Z

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

2010-02-27T23:36:00.002Z

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

2010-02-23T22:05:00.000Z

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

2010-02-20T11:15:00.001Z

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

2010-02-18T12:00:00.007Z

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...

2010-02-17T16:57:00.002Z

...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'

2010-02-16T14:00:00.002Z

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

2010-02-15T09:00:00.001Z

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...

2010-02-14T13:14:00.000Z

...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

2010-02-13T23:07:00.000Z

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.

SBK Sneak Peaks - Snowdrop Kit

2010-02-10T20:55:00.002Z

I just wanted to share a couple of sneaky peaks of my layouts made with SBK's February kit. I'll publish the full layouts in a week or so but I couldn't contain myself anymore because this kit was so great to work with - perfect wintery colours.

That 70s Show

2010-02-10T20:41:00.000Z

I absolutely love this picture. I know that it can't really be the 70s because I'm at least 3 here but everything from my Mum's hair and the chunky pottery on the cabinets to my Dad's pint mug and massive watch is so deliciously retro in black and white, I feel like English Heritage should just be able step in and list this moment in time.

My Dad used to lecture at an agricultural college and around Christmas each year, he invited his students to come to the house for festive celebrations. I remember being hurried to bed that evening so my parents could get everything ready and lying awake hearing the knocks on the door as people started to arrive. Never one to sleep through a good party, I think I must have been woken later on by the general sounds of merriment and I remember insisting that both Green Geoffrey and I be allowed out to say hello to everyone and join in the fun One of the students must have taken this picture and given it to my Dad which is how it found its way into the family annals until it was liberated in honour of my 30th birthday.

It's capturing and recording everyday moments like this which is the reason I photograph and scrapbook. If this picture hadn't been taken, then the memory of that night might never have resurfaced and that's why I think it's so important to capture life's ordinary and extraordinary moments before they slip away for good. In the end, what else do we have to show for our lives except a collection of memories to relive from our arm chairs in the old folks home and I want to make sure I have more than enough to keep me going well into my twilight years.

This picture and so many like it, deserve layouts all of their own.

Filling in the Blanks

2010-02-07T17:33:00.002Z

So what's been going on? Christmas was merry, gorgeous, relaxing and involved all the sleeping, chocolate and amaretto one could want. We spent Christmas day at home (breaking with the tradition of a full day of pyjama wearing by getting dressed before we even opened our presents) and then went up to Wiltshire on Boxing Day to catch up with family and friends. The big news of the festive season was my homegirl Anna turning up to our festive catch up with a diamond on her finger, courtesy of the lovely Thomas which obviously caused much excitement in the ranks and provided yet another reason to hit the sparkling stuff. It also means that I get to be a bridesmaid not just once but twice over the next 18 months, weddings are clearly like buses so I can't wait to find out who's going to be on the next one.

As you'll clearly already know due to my self pity, whining, whinging, moaning and complaing, a lot of the Christmas break was taken up with lots of essays and revision. While it was basically awful, it's over for this round and with just one more set of modules to go, it'll be all over soon and perhaps one day my rose tinted glasses will fall into place and I'll look back on this fondly. Or maybe not.

2010 got off to pretty much the worst start possible when we had to make a very difficult decision about my soul mate in cat form, Sophie. She'd been poorly and not eating properly all the way through Christmas and despite our best efforts to get her teeth opperated on (in case that was the problem) and feeding her with a syringe for the best part of a month, in the end we had to let her go. I still don't really believe that the cleverest and most beautiful cat in the world is no longer with us. I wake up most days expecting to be greeted by her angry (she was always grumpy in the mornings) miaow and as soon as I get in from work, I automatically look at her old spot on the sofa. There'll never be another cat like Sophie and while I feel to privileged to have known her, it doesn't make it any easier to live without her.

I am clearly the queen of bringdowns so sorry about that. I'd better finish with my first couple of layouts of 2010 made using the weight of Go Go kits which I'd not had time to use which threatened to crush me during the massive tidy up of the scrapbooking stuff (among other things) cupboard over the festive period.

Dawson's Geek

2010-01-24T20:00:00.004Z

You know, I've been finding getting back on the various wagons quite difficult this year and therefore I am seriously considering adopting failure as a way of life.

As soon as Christmas was over, I knew I should shake off the chocolate induced malaise and get the hell on with my revision work and yet, because I am able to procrastinate at a professional level, I put it off and then put it off a bit more until the very real possibility of actually failing my exams finally made me spring into (bad tempered) action. In the week following the exams I was very keen to get the house in order and finally clear away the remaining Christmas debris, but somehow I never got round to it and so there are still paper chains up in the dining room and I strongly suspect there is 1/2 a nut roast at the back of the fridge. Even this weekend, I've really wanted to throw myself back into scrapping and blogging and generally wafting about the place pretending to be one of those bohemian creative types but in reality, I've been feeling a bit rusty and self concious which means I have actually had to force myself sit down and do it rather than waitingg for actual inspiration.

Of course never one to take responsibility for my own failings, I think a big part of the problem lies with one of my Christmas presents and so I place the blame firmly at Santa Claus's door. You might remember that back in September when I was learning something new everyday, I found that Dawson's Creek has stood the test of time and so after dropping a series of (elephantine) hints I was very happy to find this in my stocking (not literally, it's pretty huge and would have compromised the integrity of the elastic) on Christmas morning:

That's right, 34 discs of Dawson's Creek lushness and I am loving every minute of it. There have been a lot of minutes so far even though I've only just reached the halfway point this weekend, and that's with an average viewing schedule of between 3 and 4 episodes a day. However, when I finally managed to pull myself away from the television to tidy the kitchen this afternoon, my shuffling iPod gave me a bit of wake up to call as to what my life has become.

Busted's song (has it really been 5 whole years since they split?) Dawson's Geek is all about someone obsessed with the all things Capeside and while the entire song had a certain apt-ness for my current lifestyle, the line that prompted me to smile wryly to myself was 'naming your dog Pacey was taking things a little too far'. This very morning I was sitting on the sofa musing to myself whether I could persuade Alistair to consider naming out first born child Pacey when the time came and while I concluded probably not, I though I might be able to get away with it for a dog or a cat at some point in the future.

So there we have it. I am officially a loser (after all, you can't of missed the fact that I still have Busted on my iPod!). Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with an update as to what I've been up to whilst on hiatus (apart from revising and watching DVDs), but in the meantime here are a couple of layouts made with a combination of SBK's December and January kits which seem a little irrelevent now Christmas is technically ages away.

Almost There

2009-12-23T13:17:00.001Z

Avast ye festive lubbers, what the hell happened to December? I'm still just about keeping my head above water university work wise, normal work wise and Christmas preparation wise, but at the expense of cleaning, scrapping, blogging and relaxing.

I did however want to squeeze in one last post before Friday to say happy Christmas to everyone - I've a feelling it's going to be a really great one actually. I haven't felt this festive in years (I thought to myself as I sat on my sofa last night drinking Babysham through a straw and eating Chocolate Orange segments) and now all the shopping (food and present) is complete, there's only a this afternoon and tomorrow morning left to do at work and everything is all but wrapped, there's nothing left to do but bask in wondeful relaxing, chocolate-y, amaretto-y, present-y joy of the season.

This is probably the last time I'll be able to check in before the 14th January (when my exam is) so have a wonderful time and I'll see you on the otherside...

It's Going to be a Big One

2009-12-06T12:51:00.001Z

I know, I know, Christmas isn’t even here yet and I’m already thinking about 2010 but there’s going be a lot happening and am getting very excited about lots of it already. Sorry to do another list style post but ½ my life seems to involved working on one list or another at the moment and I’ve got rather good at them (if I do say so myself) so here goes:

1) After I hand in my assignments in January, there’s only one more set of work to hand in in May and then I’m all done with the teaching part of my Masters. The big dream would be to finish and be able to hand in my dissertation in November and be completely done by this time next year. Here’s to freedom (and qualifications!).

2) Obviously the wedding in September is going to be massive and I’m so excited about that and everything that goes with it, but I also predict that the hen weekend which we’ve been pulling together this week is going to be pretty amazing. However, as it’s going to be a surprise I shall say no more at this time (you’ll get no clues here Miss Harper).

3) Following on from that, it’s also going to be a big year for birthdays with both my best friends catching me up and turning 30. I am obviously (and perhaps selfishly) very happy about this as it means that I won’t feel so old anymore, but it also means that we’ll have lots of practice munching cake and quaffing champagne before September rolls around.

4) Now this one may be slightly sad, but I’m waiting on the edge of my seat for Eclipse (Twilight) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, both of which will be out next year in June and November respectively.

5) Last but not least, going on holiday *sigh*. We so enjoyed the sunshine in Greece this year, we’re planning to go to France in June and re-visit a campsite I have very happy memories of in the Dordogne to hopefully lie in the sun, eat (not too much) cheese, read lots of books and splash around in the river. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so relaxing.

You see? I told you. It's going to be massive and now we're on the downhill slope towards Christmas (less than 20 days - eeek), it's going to here faster than we can say happy new year!

Ups and Downs

2009-11-30T21:07:00.001Z

Things have been a bit up and down here on Walton's Mountain lately and I'm starting to get slightly dizzy from all the changes in direction. I think the lack of chocolate may be getting to me...(see point 5.)

Things I Want to Increase:

1. The length of my hair and nails - I'm taking these Holland and Barrett suplements called 'Skin Hair and Nails Formula' which are huge and taste discusting even when you wash them down with huge amounts of water. One of these days I'm actually going to throw up on my keyboard so any recomendations for alternatives would be greatly received.

2. How much I understand Travel Demans Analysis - I have an exam on the 15th January and although I'm super organised with my revision timetable, I really don't understand all the complicated equations. Still haveing to refer to the instructions each time I use my scientific calculator has got to be a bad thing.

3. My bank balance - I completed my Christmas shopping yesterday so I am quietly smug about that, while also being left somewhat financially challenged. Luckily I have my clubcard vouchers to buy lots of Chritsmassy treats from Tesco otherwise it might be spaghetti hoops on toast on Christmas day!

4. Time for scrapping - Sadly, all the scrapping stuff in the dining rooms has been piled onto the piano to make way for tedious text books and revision cards. I hope to get a bit in before Christmas, but am finding it very frustrating.

---------------Pictorial Interlude---------------

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Things I Want to Decrease:

5. How much I weigh - This is the big focus at the moment and I'm bouncing around on my Wii Fit and scribbling in my food diary everytime I even look at a cake for too long so I will look pretty in my bridesmaid dress next September . Currently, there are 292 days until the wedding and so I have plenty of time but as I plan to have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off, I need to get ahead of myself as much as possible.

6. The amount of clutter in my house - Honestly, I cannot understand how other people manage to keep their houses looking so lovely all the time. I lurch from one mad panic because visitors are coming to another and I wish that I could have a tranquil organised house to come home to everyday. I need a cleaner, or even better to give up work and stay home being a house wife. God, I'd love that. Truly.

7. How quickly time is passing - Isn't it the end of September? No? Well early October then? Oh. Where the bloody hell has all that time gone? While I'm not going to go on about the inevitable passage of time inching us ever closer to the sweet embrace of the crypt (although you know I REALLY want to), I'm not quite liking how fast things are passing me by and not quite ready for it to be Christmas (apart from the shopping!)

Early To Bed

2009-11-22T17:23:00.001Z

My goodness, the time is just flying by at the moment. I feel like I could get travel sickness just by standing still but Alistair's Christmas shopping has been started and so hopefully mine won't be far behind. I'm having a lovely time chilling out at home today in my pyjamas (I know it's early, but I did get properly dressed for a couple a hours earlier but then I went out in the rain and got soaked) after another great but busy weekend.

I saw New Moon on Friday afternoon which was totally amazing, so much better than I thought it would be and even Alistair professed to have enjoyed it. I'm just wondering how long I need to leave it before I suggest going for again, I'm not sure I like my chances. Yesterday I had another flying visit to London to see my homegirls, make exciting wedding plans and begin the hunt for the perfect wedding dress which got off to a strong start.

Anyway, to the important stuff. Check out SBK's fantastic festive blog candy:

And speaking of SBK, here are a couple of layouts I've made with the gorgeous Webster's Pages. The Christmas stuff is particularly beautiful and has a great Victorian look about it which I love so take a tour round their shop if you're interested:

30 Years of Waiting...

2009-11-19T22:38:00.000Z

...and my time is finally here. Guess what? Never mind, that'll take too long, I'll have to tell you.

I'm going to be a bridesmaid!

Perhaps even more importantly than than (how self involved would I be otherwise?), this means that Lizzie, one of my very best friends in whole world is getting married to the lovely Jarrad.

Aren't they fab?

There's lots going on at the moment as we get all excited about venues, dresses, flowers, cakes, shoes and invitations (think the episode of Friends where Monica gets her wedding book out) and so I seem to have got distracted from lots of things which I really should have done.

I have manged to squeeze in a couple of layouts though which I'll post as soon as I'm home in daylight to take pictures of them. In the mean time, I'm going to get back to panicking over my revision timetable - I'd better not plan on actually having a life until the 15th Janury.

The Road to Avonlea

2009-11-12T22:42:00.000Z

Most things have fallen by the wayside yet again this week, but now the Road to Avonlea kit for November has been published over at SBK, I can share my layouts properly - hurrah!

More BfS this weekend, I promise.

Sneak Peaks

2009-11-09T10:08:00.000Z

I've been hard at work on layouts using the SBK's travel themed November kit - Road to Avonlea and thought I would share a couple of sneak peaks. I'll post the completed layouts later in the week.

The Chickens and the Eggs

2009-11-06T20:29:00.000Z

The bookshop at the Cider Press Centre in Dartington has traditionally been quite a dangerous place for me to visit. They have such a gorgeous selection of lifestyle books there that I never fail to come away with a head full of ideas (and most likely an arm full of books) about things to do or make when I get home. A few years ago, I chose a book called The Country Living Handbook which contains great ideas and pictures of things to do in the countryside for each month of the year and I was quite intrigued by the section about keeping chickens.

I’d always been quite keen on the idea of keeping poultry, but if truth be told, I was holding out for a goose because I love their orange feet and beaks and can’t get enough of their honking noise. The book really sold me on the idea of fresh eggs though and while it was suggesting buying fertilised eggs to hatch at home, it also mentioned that it was possible to rescue ex-battery hens and give them a happy retirement home.

A little googling later and I’d discovered the Battery Hen Welfare Trust and got on their waiting list to adopt some hens. The BHWT work with farmers to provide new homes for their hens which would otherwise be sold off for slaughter and also campaign to inform consumers about the importance of insisting on free range eggs, not just in the actual you eggs you use but also in the prepared food such as biscuits, cakes and pasta that they buy. As it turns out, unless your cakes are bought from Marks and Spencer’s or Waitrose (who use free range in all their own brands), the eggs in your food are probably from caged hens.

However, there are some superstars including Hellman’s whi have just switched to free range in no small part due to the BHWT campaign and strangely enough, McDonalds also only use free range eggs in their mayoniase and yummy Egg McMuffins. The BHWT are now focussing their campaigning efforts on Mr Kipling as one of the leading producers of cakes in UK.

Armed with this information, I stopped eating food made with eggs from caged hens and also set about looking for a suitable house for our new girls as and when they arrived. When I stumbled across the Omlet website and the wonder of hen-house engineering that is an Eglu, I was hooked. A few weeks later our (pink) Eglu arrived and our first batch of hens followed soon after.

They weren’t the featheriest, strongest, healthiest or happiest hens you’ve ever seen but it was such a joy to seem them stretching out their wings, enjoying the sun on their feathers and scratching about in the garden, knowing this was the first opportunity they’d ever had to just be chickens, rather than part of an egg producing machine.

That’s not to say our ex-batts don’t lay us plenty of lovely eggs, but they sometimes have a bit of holiday, particularly during the winter months when they tend to focus a bit more on growing feathers which is fine by us. We’re now up to 6 hens and also have a lovely purple Eglu Cube in our garden too and we love to spend time with our hens as they each have such distinctive personalities.

Over the last year or so I’ve been working for the BHWT in my spare time, talking people through the adoption process, taking people’s bookings for hens and occasionally helping out with rescues the weekend which means I’m pretty busy in the evenings but it's totally worth it.

I don’t really want to go into the terrible conditions in which these poor hens generally live their short lives now as it would be a bit of a bring down but if you’re interested, you can read more about it here. Othewise, I would urge you to consider your shopping habits though, to see if you can become a caring consumer and cut out battery eggs from your all food (I warn you now, it does mean sometimes turning down cake). The BHWT also have co-ordinators all over the country and so if you think you may be able to offer some of our girls a happy retirement, get in touch. You’ll be so glad you did!

Current Sources of Fabulous-ness

2009-11-05T21:23:00.001Z

A few things which are currently filling my world with light and happiness:

1. Straight in at number one is the Twilight saga which has been occupying at least 75% of my brain at any given time since I first started to read it while we were on holiday – Alistair couldn’t understand why I suddenly had no interest in leaving the hotel whatsoever. I love stories that continue over multiple books anyway, but Twilight had taken it to a whole new level. I’m totally captivated by the beautiful love story surrounded by dark themes and gothic imagery, so much so that I found myself looking at Forks on Google Streetview to see if it might be a good place to go on our next holiday, although I was forced to conclude probably not. Needless to say, I’m completely in love with Edward Cullen and I can’t wait to see the film of New Moon which is out on the 20th November.

2. The second thing I’m currently obsessed with is the Crabtree and Evelyn home fragrance in Noel which is only available for a few months of the year and as soon as I catch sight of the little red boxes on the shelf (I get the oil), I start hearing the jingle of sleigh bells and the rustle of wrapping paper inside my head. It smells of everything that is great about Christmas, a mixture of pine trees, satsumas, chocolate coins, mulled wine and mince pies and puts me in the festive mood whenever I come home to the scent of it. I buy mine from Place Settings in Topsham which is chock full of gorgeous things (as is Topsham itself for that matter) and well worth a visit if you’re in the Exeter area.

3. On a more practical note, I’m totally in love with the little Innocent Veg Pots which I’ve been having for lunch the last few days. There’s a range of flavours but my favourites are the Indian daal and Moroccan giant couscous one and they’re full of lovely fresh veggies, beans and herbs and leave you with a full but virtuous feeling of being at one with nature and brimming with healthy loveliness. Essentially, they’re just grand.

4. I’m not actually feeling super inspired in the crafty sphere right now, largely because of the state my dining table is in yet again but I’ve a very strong feeling that the imminent arrival of the Handwritten Fonts design card for my Slice will reawaken the slumbering beast of creativity because I do so adore handwriting fonts and can’t wait to be able to use them on my layouts and, with the added bonus of never ever running of Es (eek, nasty run on sentance). Making Memories have brought out lots of new design cards recently and other favourites include Farm Life, Mix and Mingle and Home Sweet Home(are you listening Santa?)

5. Finally, and perhaps this should take it’s rightful place at number one, is this little fellow who we adopted from the Cats Protection League on Saturday, although we’ve only just lost out little Tessykins and still miss her dreadfully, we’re suckers for an emergency appeal for new homes and decided it couldn’t hurt to look, in case they had someone we thought would fit in with the rest of our furry (and feathery) family. I’d seen his profile on the internet before we left and planned to check him out, but I was not quite prepared for the huge, fluffy and purring ball which jumped into my arms as soon as I opened his window. It’s always heartbreaking to go to the CPL and pick one cat, when you have leave so many behind, but they’re so good at finding homes for them all we knew that he was the one for us.

He came in a from family who couldn’t afford to keep him because he’d been hit by a car and needed expensive surgery to pin his back leg in place and he’d been on cage rest for a couple of months before being available for adoption. I can safely say he is one of the softest, floppiest, cuddliest and most inquisitive cats I’ve ever met and he just follows us around the house trying to climb into various appliances and cupboards to see what’s going on. The other cats are still a little unsure of him and coming around very slowly, but Morrissey (we changed his name from Bandit) is taking it all in his stride.

This has gone on far too long now and I can’t imagine anyone is still reading. Hello? Anyone? Thought not. Anyway, because that was the day we got Mozzer (that seems to be what we’re calling him – all our animals have stupid nicknames – Elvie answers to the name Schnibble, Sophie is referred to as Snuffalupps, Clementine gets called Clomp or Wumpus and Tessy was always know as The Weasel), my Halloween pumpkin had a fairly dominant cat motif (i.e. was a cat) and this seemed like an appropriate arena in which to share it before I forget and Halloween becomes irrelevant (actually that may have happened already).

'You Must Remember This...'

2009-11-04T19:52:00.000Z

This picture takes me right back to the winter of 2005/2005 when we'd just moved to Devon. We were still exploring the local area and in those few magical free days between Christmas and new year, we ventured on to Dartmoor to enjoy the winter sunshine. The first few months after we moved were a bit of struggle for a number of reasons, but I remember this being the first time I was sure we'd made the right decision and that Devon was the right place for us to be.

I love how tiny Elvie looks in this picture and how I'm bundled into my old university coat, because I couldn't afford a new one at the time. This is the picture that Alistair has on his desk at work and so I know it holds happy memories for him too, although who knows? That may be as much to do with the fact it preceeded our first taste of Molly Mac's ice cream (as much a Dartmoor institution as Hound of the Basketmeals) by just a couple minutes. Now that's another very happy memory and maybe my story for another day.

Blogging For Scrapbookers

2009-11-03T13:51:00.004Z

I have returned from my mini digital hiatus which was I actually rather enjoyed because it reminded me of a simpler time and was a bit like having an accident and waking up in 1973 (but with less Gene Hunt). All good things must come to an end though and it's not like I could really live without the internet, it's just that with the hinges on the computer having gone to hinge heaven, looking at the screen requires a great deal of commitment and possibly a PhD in the art of propping.

Anyway as my sidebar has been telling people while I've been away, I've signed up for Shimelle's new class (anyone who mentions my as yet unfinished LSNED will be escorted from the premises) which is Blogging for Scrapbookers and also very exciting. I'm really hoping that taking this class will encourage me to blog more often, without necessarily having a layout or specific photograph to share in order to record memories and details of my day-to-day activities and special events which I might otherwise forget. I also want to try to be more present in my life and take the time to notice, think and hopefully blog about the little things that make me happy (while glossing over the things that make me cross because I don't think I want to remember them).

I'll be adding a picture to this post later when I have access to more than just work related photographs so watch this space (unless you like pictures of roads, junctions and traffic lights in which case email me, I can make your day).

UPDATE - OK, here's the picture now. Sadly not of anything scrapbooking related but it is a picture of the world's largest mirrorball (allegedly) and that green blur in it is me - hello!

Time Flies

2009-10-26T13:11:00.001Z

I love it when the clocks go back, a whole extra hour in bed is like a wonderful super-early Christmas present and always leaves me feeling brighter eyed and bushier tailed for the following week. A feeling which persists despite being patronised by my mobile phone when I tried to change it’s clock manually before I went to sleep, apparently it had the situation completely under control and my interference was entirely unwarranted.

I had a lovely weekend in London, particularly meandering about in the Harrod’s Christmas shop buying tree decorations, resisting the very strong urge to make a frivolous purchase from the Ruby Slippers Boutique (imagine – a whole shoe shop full of red sparkly shoes) and eating my body weight in grilled cheese sandwiches and coke floats from the American style diner.

Still so sad about the loss of my little black and white friend, but the sharp and intense pain of having to make the decision and say goodbye is receding towards the dull ache of adjusting to life without her; and while stopping myself from pouring cat food into a 3rd bowl and catching myself wondering if she’s been given her daily injection brings it rushing back, I suppose it’s one of those things I’ll learn to live with in time *sigh*.

Anyway, that was a bit of bring down so sorry about that. Before I get even more maudlin, perhaps I better finish with the last couple of layouts from my holiday picture scrapping frenzy from last weekend.

Tess

2009-10-23T14:28:00.000+01:00

So sad to say that we had to have our little Tessykins put to sleep last night. She just wasn't getting better and her liver had started to fail so we had to say goodbye which is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. At least we were both there to cuddle and stroke her so she knew that she was loved right to the end, but we will miss her more than I can put in to words.

The Very Best of Weekends

2009-10-19T19:09:00.001+01:00

Even though today is Monday and no one, not even Bob Geldof likes Mondays I'm still a happy little button, because I had such a nice weekend relaxing at home and recovering from the last few weeks. On Saturday, we stayed home and I scrapped holiday pictures to my heart's content whilst making the (seeming permenant) mess in the dining room quite a lot worse (but in a good way).

I really like how this layout turned out actually, particularly as I wasn't super keen on the ScrapaGoGo kit that a lot of the stuff came from. Shows how much I know, I suppose because it really suits these pictures.

On Sunday, we decided to take advantage of the fact that now October is here, dogs are allowed all over the beach at Exmouth and took Elvie down for stroll and a few throws of a tennis ball. We even managed to enjoy some turkish delight flavoured ice cream, despite the fact it was freezing already and had to follow it up with a few seaside chips just to warm our fingers.

Both evenings, we snuggled up in front of our log burner (not that good at heating, but old, beautiful and locally manufactured) and took in turns to chose films to inflict upon the other. I chose Twilight for Saturday night which was of course, amazing but the downside of which was I had to sit through the Shawshank Redemption last night when I really wanted to watch the Mighty Boosh.

So all in all, exactly what I needed after the frantic time we've been having since we got back from Greece and a welcome break (not a service station) before I head off to London on Saturday.

Random Picture of the Week #7

2009-10-18T20:52:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since we've had one of these isn't it? I'd forgotton all about it until I had a mid-stairs revelation on my way down this morning.

Another Place, Crosby Beach - September 2009

Exciting Times

2009-10-15T17:15:00.001+01:00

I'm finally able to reveal the exciting news I've been muttering about in my last post and non-post and the news is that I've been invited to become of a member of the design team for Scrapbook Kit Club (SBK) which is a monthly scrapbook club specialising in small kits, with enough beuatifully co-ordinated supplies to create a couple of pages - perfect for busy scrapbookers and people with tonnes of stash already but who can't resist the lure of monthly pizza box fix (actually, I think I'm both).

Originally based in Hungary, the kit club is now going international and the beautiful new website has gone live today so head over and check it out! The first monthly kit – A Walk in the Woods is available from today and is deliciously autumnal (and we all know how I feel about autumn) and fantastically easy to work with.

As well as the kits themselves, the SBK site includes a member's gallery to show off your work, a forum to chat with scrapbookers from across Europe and a monthly challenge which this month has been set by me - hurrah! And is all about lovely autumn-y pages and Keats - double hurrah!

You'll see more about SBK in this month's Scrapbook Inspirations, but in the meantime why not check out the new site, sign up to the forum and maybe even enter my challenge? Hopefully see you there!

Don't Blink

2009-10-13T16:42:00.000+01:00

My goodness, that was a bit of a longer break than I technically meant to take, but hopefully things are getting back on course now and I firmly believe that sooner or later, my life and house will be back in order and I will stop having that struggling to stay afloat feeling.

Tess has been checked out by the vet again today and while she’s still not right, she’s much better and appetite stimulators are being prescribed to encourage her to eat her dinner and get stronger. In the meantime, we'll contiue to feed her with a syringe which is not entirely fun.

The good news is I have signed up for my first scrapbooking retreat and this time next year I'll be super excited about heading off on the Go Go Getaway. I was a little nervous about going alone even though I'm sure everyone will be lovely. However, luckily for me Sarah stepped up an selflessly agreed to accompany me and so I just can't wait. In truth, I wish it was this October but I'll suppose I just have to practice being patient *sigh*.

I have more exciting news to come over the next couple of days, but until then here are a few pictures of my first few pages of travel journal.

Actually, in all honesty these are the only pages of my travel journal which do not consist entirely of scribbled notes and and folded bit of paper hanging out the sides. Oh well, one more for the 'will finish very soon pile' next to my LSNED and the Back to Future Project. At this rate, I may be giving Journal your Christmas a miss this year, but I imagine it would only have been moaning about Doctor Who regenerating so perhaps it's better that way anyway.

Keep On Keeping On

2009-10-06T21:25:00.000+01:00

Well I'm back and I have hundreds of lovely pictures and lots of exciting things to share, details from my Travel Journal and the rest of my LSNED.

However, this isn't a proper post as at the moment as I have a very poorly cat (she spent 12 days in the vet while we were away), I've just started back at University today (Did I mention I was studying for an MSc?), I've still a huge amount of unpacking to do, my parents are coming to stay this weekend and I can't seem to put down the Twilight books (did I mention that I was in love with a vampire?). So please bear with me, normal service will resume shortly.

As no post (even an un-proper one) is complete without a picture, here is Tess my poorly little friend. Isn't she a poppet? I really hope she pulls though.

Wish you Were Here?

2009-09-27T21:55:00.000+01:00

As we've finally found a hotel with WiFi which has justified me lugging my netbook around 1/2 of Greece (information addiction is a terrible thing), I thought a quick mid-holiday update was in order. Mostly I've done lots of lying in the sun, cocktail drinking, tacky souvenier buying and far too much deep fried cheese eating but I have also managed to keep reasonably up to date with my LSNED and the travel journaling has contined (realtively) a pace.

We're starting the UK leg of our tour in a couple of days so will maybe be able to catch up more comprehensively then, in the meantime I have a few(straight of out the camera) pictures just to set the scene. I have around 700 photographs in the bag (not all fisheye) already so there'll be lots of scrapping to do when I get home which makes the idea of coming home that little more bearable.

I'll get back to 'getting away from it all' then...

Preparations and a Welcome Return to Form

2009-09-17T19:14:00.002+01:00

I think this will be the last time I manage to post anything before fleeing the country, and I’m actually strangely relaxed about the whole thing. This morning I even spent a few minutes scoffing coconut cake (balanced breakfast - coconut is a fruit, right?) and reading a few chapters of the adorably un-PC ‘Five Have Plenty of Fun’ – George has just been kidnapped by some wayward gypsies and Anne has to wash up and make beds while Julian and Dick look for clues.

Tonight I need tidy up for the house-sitters, sort out the clothes I want to take with me, probably get those clothes clean and dry and burn a load of CDs of old Russell Brand podcasts for in-car entertainment, so come to think of it, I may not be quite so relaxed later. My holiday crating kit for my travel journal is all packed and ready to go though, so you can’t accuse me of having my priorities in the wrong order!

Last night was spent largely attempting to apprehend a mouse which one of the cats kindly brought into the sitting room. It was scurrying about all over the place and despite successfully trapping it on about 5 occasions, it escaped and so continues to elude us and our (humane) traps. Hopefully he’ll be locked up nice and safely in a little box tonight waiting for a ceremonial release in the garden, otherwise I’m not sure how we explain it to the people taking care of the house.

However, inspired by the beautiful ScrapaGoGo kit and the Martha Stewart punches that landed on my desk yesterday I managed to take a step away from the real-life game of Mousetrap, get over myself and do some scrapbooking. September’s kit is probably my favourite ever – the combination of wood grain, butterflies and rusty brown/minty green tones is a perfect reflection of what I’m all about at the moment. I didn’t really even mean to put this layout together, it just sort of happened as I was sorting through the yellow box and seeing what looked nice together and then I thought I might as well see it through to its logical conclusion.

Everything on here is from the box, except a few tiny bits and bobs which are included because I can never quite work exclusively from a kit and I rarely make anything that doesn’t have at least a dash of Cosmo Cricket on it. If, you can spot where I’ve used each of my new punches on this layout I’ll award ten points to Gryffindor.

That's all for now, I'll catch you on the flip side dudes, or alternativly insert other faux-cool sign off of your choice.

Learn Something New Everyday #15, #16 and #17

2009-09-17T18:45:00.000+01:00

Ooh, I think I almost fell behind there but I may just have caught it in time. Not that it matters really I suppose, because while I will still be learning things over the next couple of weeks, I don't think I'll be able to post them until I get back.

On the 15th, I leant that a happy dog is the very best welcome home you can have (thanks Karen).

Yesterday, I learnt there is an awful lot to learn about digital photography - a 3 volume book of instructions on how to take better pictures arrived and it's going to take a while to get through them all.

And today, I've realised that packing light is defintely easier said than done. Travel hairdryer? Eeek.

Hope the rest of everyone's LSNED goes well and lots of useful lessons are learnt. Can't wait to catch up with everything in October.

Scrapper's Block

2009-09-14T20:14:00.001+01:00

I tried to scrapbook tonight - I've been thinking about it all day and couldn't wait to get home to start but somewhere between home and work, something went wrong and suddenly I felt all anxious that whatever I did wouldn't be right and I couldn't bring myself to actually cut any paper.

Hopefully it's just a passing phase and while I can't scrapbook, I can work on photography instead. I've been really enjoying my new 'semi fisheye' lens that I got for my birthday and have got some great pictures, particularly of the animals so far...

And of course, some of us at the beach too...

In LSNED terms, yesterday I learnt that carrots you've grown yourself taste better than anything you could ever buy at Tesco. We had our first roast dinner of the autumn last night and believe it or not, the carrots were the highlight! Today I learnt that you won't get what you want if you don't ask - I saved myself £200 of additional Easy Jet fare to make changes to our booking just because I asked them nicely. Hurray for good manners.

Learn Something New Every Day #11 and #12 {and another catch up}

2009-09-13T18:34:00.007+01:00

This has been a really lovely weekend. We've been relaxing after last weekend, spending time with the dog and cats, watching the X-Files and getting into the holiday frame of mind ready for next week. The weather has been beautiful throughout and although, I would have preferred it to been lovely last weekend, the sunshine on my skin was certainly a very welcome end to the summer.

We has a great time at Michael McIntyre on Friday night and I realised that watching stand-up comedy, particularly live is one of my very favoutite things.

On Saturday, I went shopping for holiday clothes and found that it was much harder than I thought to find nice summery things to wear in September. Although there were lots of lovely jumpers, boots, cardigans and bags, sunglasses, straw hats and cropped trousers were rather thin on the ground. I did manage to find a few things though so we're almost good to go on the packing front.

I've also got up to date on my LSNED pages, including the missing page for 7th. I think the page for the 10th (at the bottom) is my favourite so far. It's fairly simple but the photograph speaks volumes.

Learn Something New Every Day #9 and #10

2009-09-10T19:01:00.001+01:00

I don't actually have any pages to share today but hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the weekend. We're off to see Michael McIntyre tomorrow night in Plymouth but the rest of the weekend should be a relaxing one, with just a little light shopping planned for our holiday although I'm not sure how I rate my chances of finding shorts and sunglassess among the lovely autumn-y clothes in the shops. While we're on that subject, I bought a lovely new coat today (in Asda of all places). It's a sorted of 'muted jade' colour and has frills on the bottom. See how pretty it is?

Anyway, the reason I've been falling behind on my pages is that I accidently got involved in another project, planning and creating a travel journal for our holiday next week, inspired by the tutorial Shimelle did on Ali Edward's blog. I plan to do a daily entry and a title page for each place we go using a record card like the one for Greece (where we're going first) which I will decorate with pictures, tickets and other things I pick up while I'm there.

Which leads me to what I learnt yesterday - sometimes planning for a trip is as almost as fun as going on the trip, based on a very satisfying shopping trip to Staples to buy a sketch book, artist pens, watercolour pencils and record cards.

Today, apart from buying a lovely coat I learnt that absolutely everything looks better in the sunshine except for windows which just look dirty.

Random Picture of the Week #6

2009-09-08T18:38:00.000+01:00

Monnet's Garden, France - June 2007

Learn Something New Every Day #7 and #8 {and a catch up}

2009-09-08T15:45:00.002+01:00

Today I am not really on top of my game - I woke up with a migraine and while it's starting to retreat with the age old remedies of drinking full sugar coke, lying in a darkened room and lots of drugs, I still feel a bit weakend. Nonetheless, learning something new has not been completely of the question as I was delighted to find out that Dawson's Creek has stood the test of time and is as enjoyable now as it ever was.

Yesterday was my first day back in real life after the party and while it was lovely not to be up until midnight dusting and vacuuming, I did a touch of light cleaning and in the process I realised that cleaning as you go is highly underated because it is SO much easier that having to tidy up loads of stuff in one go.

I haven't managed to put together a page for the 7th yet, but I have't posted my pages for the last week yet so here they all including a fiddled with version of my page for the 1st because the more I looked at it, the more I didn't like it anymore.

Learn Something New Everyday #4, #5 and #6

2009-09-06T21:00:00.009+01:00

I've had a truly lovely weekend of drinking, silliness, cake, presents and lovely friends and although there has been little time for scrapbooking, it doesn't mean that I haven't been learning things along the way.

On the 4th, I learnt that you're never too old to have a birthday cake in the shape of a pirate's ship and that I'm very lucky I have such good friends who also know that.

On the 5th I learnt that it's easier that you think to get lost in Devon, especially when you're in a maize maze. I also learnt that when in said maize maze, wellies are not a bad idea as there is a strong liklihood that your flipflops will get stuck in the mud.

And today I've learnt that after a weekend of fun, there is nothing better than relaxing in front of Sunday night telly in your pyjamas and enjoying the last of the birthday amaretto.

Learn Something New Everyday #3

2009-09-03T23:32:00.001+01:00

No page to show for yesterday as frantic party preparations have taken up all of the day and much of the night. This will also have to be a quick as there is still quite a lot to do before I can hop into bed.

However, while I'm enjoying a small glass of amaretto in front of The Mighty Boosh as a reward for my hard work thus far, I wanted to record what I have learnt today so I don't forget it during the excitement of tomorrow!

Whilst tidying up the bedroom, today I have learnt:

a) How many clothes I actually have
b) How long it's been since I've even worn at least 1/2 of them
c) That its going to take me about 6 months to get them all sorted out and hung up
d) Buying new clothes is not always the answer to not having anything to wear.

So I'm signing off for the last time as a someone in their 20s - I'll be back on Sunday with details of the celebrations and what I learnt while the party was in sesssion.

Hold tight, I'm off to get 30.

Learn Something New Everyday #2

2009-09-02T18:25:00.005+01:00

First of all, here is the page I put together for yesterday - I kept it fairly simple and managed to restrain myself from cluttering the page with too many words. Luckily I shared the full story here yesterday so it should make a certain amount of sense and the pictures demonstrate the fact that the cakes weren't homemade didn't stop people (in which I include myself) enjoying them.

As for what I've learnt for today, its slightly less profound but is likely to come in handy over the coming winter months. When it is pouring with rain and blowing a gale, there is NO POINT in drying and straightening my hair because I arrive at work looking like a damp spaniel anyway. Clearly it would be better not to bother and enjoy an extra 10 minutes in bed, particularly when it is cold and wet outside.

Is there a theme developing here? I don't think this class is meant to be 'things I would rather stay in bed than do'. Really looking forward to checking out lots of other pages but will have to wait until tomorrow evening when hopefully the house will be in better shape.

Learn Something New Everyday #1

2009-09-01T21:39:00.002+01:00

So here we are then, 1st September. It's officially autumn (in my book), I wore a coat, albeit a short sleeved one (possibly the most pointless garment in the world) and real shoes (not flipflops) today for the first time in about 4 months and I paid extra attention to the world around me in order to try and learn something new. This is what I learnt:

When you are stressed and busy, it is OK to take short cuts. No one expects me to be a Martha Stewart style domestic goddess except myself and sometimes you have to admit you can't do it all and LET IT GO.

For my birthday last year I made beautiful pink and yellow cupcakes to take to work for everyone to celebrate with me.

This year I'm older (obviously), busier and consequetly tired-er (and worse at grammar) and staying up all night baking just because I think people expect it of me is madness. So instead, I've chosen to buy lovely M&S (made with free range eggs - this is VERY important becasuse of this) tray bakes and have a full night's sleep instead.

Random Picture of the Week #5

2009-08-30T18:34:00.000+01:00

Lavender fields, Brittany, France - July 2008

The Reason I Need Two Cameras

2009-08-29T18:58:00.000+01:00

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

2009-08-29T14:55:00.001+01:00

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

2009-08-28T23:05:00.000+01:00

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

2009-08-26T14:11:00.003+01:00

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

2009-08-25T19:15:00.001+01:00

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

Piracy is in My Blood

2009-08-25T13:13:00.001+01:00

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

Cerulean Blue

2009-08-22T22:59:00.006+01:00

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...

2009-08-21T15:06:00.004+01:00

...'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

2009-08-16T18:00:00.003+01:00

Baseball in Central Park - New York, 2007

One step forward....

2009-08-16T17:10:00.003+01:00

...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

2009-08-14T13:15:00.006+01:00

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

2009-08-12T21:55:00.005+01:00

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

2009-08-11T13:13:00.007+01:00

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

2009-08-09T16:39:00.002+01:00

Grumbling

2009-08-07T20:51:00.007+01:00

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

2009-08-06T23:12:00.002+01:00

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

2009-08-05T22:26:00.006+01:00

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

2009-08-04T21:57:00.005+01:00

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

2009-08-02T23:21:00.003+01:00

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

It's Just Another Rainy Saturday

2009-08-01T21:34:00.004+01:00

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.

Cupcake Magic

2009-07-29T21:48:00.005+01:00

Having managed to book out all the hens for the rescue at Gordano next week with a lucky run of phone calls, I thought I would knock up some cupcakes. Got a great book Cupcake Magic from Dart's Farm a few weeks back and having met the lady that wrote the book (and eaten one of her cakes) at the rescue on Sunday, I was feeling rather inspired.

They weren't entirely asthetically pleasing because I think I rather hurried the icing, but the real reason there's no picture is because we were in too much of a hurry to eat them. Even the parrot rather enjoyed the sugar butterflies.

So instead, a couple of pictures from a walk last week a reminder that it has been sunny as some point in the last week, even though it was only for 7 minutes.

Reading Will be Your Next Station Stop

2009-07-28T21:12:00.007+01:00

I've been to Reading today.

On a train.

It made my feet hurt so I am drawing a metaphorical line under the whole experience.

There's a lovely cottage pie in the oven featuring carrots, peas, french beans and potatoes all of which we grew ourselves in our allotment (I think I borrowed this tree from the Banana Frog blog by the way).

I'd been looking to use this lovely Sassafras Lass paper and it just seemed to fit with these pictures which I took from my (very comfy) camping bed. For the record, the trick to a comfy camping bed is to have a thick duvet (not a sleeping bag) to go on top and another duvet on top of the air bed to make you all snuggly. Very hard to get out of which I why I lie in taking pictures instead of getting up.

Well that's the oven timer and there's another X Files with my name on so off I pop.

The Truth is Out There

2009-07-27T21:18:00.012+01:00

Aaah, X Files episodes. Nothing quite like them for giving the place that lovely mid 1990s ambience. Now lets pop on a bit of Take That and dance around in our bedrooms wearing tie dye shall we? No? Just me then.

Anyway there's aliens doing something to someone and Mulder is quite cross about it, or something else. It's not making too much sense, but when did it ever?

Right, to business. Here are some on the things I've been working on lately..
Note the newsprint flowers. They're made from David Mitchell's column in The Observer - always nice to inject the occasional dash of moral outrage into a layout.

This was an attempt deal with a bad case of the sulks about not being able to book flights to America this year. Didn't help, actually made it worse but nice to use the lovely new October Afternoon papers. Also, love the little K&Co aeroplane adventure stamp. Unfortunately, I've now lost it so this may be its one and only apperance which is a shame really.

I think that probably do for now, not least because I want to put my pyjamas on and watch Tim Minchin (why does his eyeliner look better than mine?). Sleep tight - I know I will.