Experimentation

I had a thought that maybe I shouldn't be posting photos of other people on my blog (and in my scrapbook pages) without their permission. Especially Gran, because she doesn't even have the internet and I'm not sure she knows what a blog is? Maybe I've just spent too long working on publications at work. Next thing you know I will be asking people to sign photo release forms. Anyway - that meant that I couldn't put some of my most favourite recent layouts on here. Which is annoying. But entirely self-inflicted, so I am not sure why I was annoyed. I mean, after something like five years of blogging and 14 of being on the internet, it's a bit late to be worrying about over-sharing now. 

So...where does that leave me? With a page that has a photo that's not of a person, of course. There's only so many cat photos I can share with you all, so I decided to use one of my favourite pictures from a visit to Owl & Monkey Haven in September. This poor guy looked like he'd had enough!

Style-wise, I am still trying to experiment. There are lots of lovely pages out there using very pale, monotone colour schemes and I wanted to try and replicate that here. My inspiration was this page which I think is lovely, and so very different from my usual style. I managed to find some pale, delicate papers, and also different textures - using ribbon, ric-rac, washi tape and sticky gems to add some dimension. The stamped dots on the left are maybe a little darker than I would have liked, but that's all part of the charm of stamping directly onto your page. And those dots please me more than you can imagine, because they were made using a stamp set I bought in 2007 and is still going strong. I knew my hoarding would pay off one day.

Happy

Things that make me happy right now:

• Creating scrapbook pages.
• Walking in the crisp autumn sunshine.
• Singing cheesy Christmas classics.
• Wearing warm boots.
• Chatting on the phone to Gran every night.
• Shopping for Christmas presents.
• Snuggling under a crochet blanket.
• Eating packed lunches made especially for me.
• Planning things I am going to make.

I rarely scrap 8.5 x 11. In truth, this wasn't either until I tried to put it in the album and realised that I had cut the page to 8.5 x 11.75, which was no good at all. Thankfully, I managed to rescue this and the other pages I had done in the same format without too much trouble. That big journal card is a new thing, too. Lately I am just trying to make my pages look different. I can make page after page with bright colours and layered paper and they are always square with one or two photos...it is easy to get stuck in a rut. And so I am trying to use new papers and different embellishments and change the layouts of my pages. I think they might always have butterflies on, though. 

Rolling towards the weekend

I think the clocks changing a couple of weeks ago has put me more out-of-sorts than I care to admit. I am struggling with the cold mornings and dark evenings, and craving comforting food that is hot and full of carbs. Last night I slept for nine hours, which is just ridiculous. I never do that. Where has all my energy gone? Maybe this is just the downhill slope to 30 and beyond.

Clearly, I am behind the curve on scrapbooking trends here. Bunting? So 2011, darling. Washi tape? Well, it's definitely not a new trend even if it hasn't reached the point of being passé yet. Come to think of it, what are the current trends? If I could only think of the one that hasn't happened yet, I could make my fortune...

Still scrapbooking

Is it really November? The last couple of months have passed so quickly; it feels like summer was just a few days ago and now we are preparing for Christmas. I think I am ready for winter - I have a stack of crafty projects lined up and am looking forward to some rainy weekends that might give me the chance to work on some of them. I also have a big juicy pile of photos just waiting to be scrapbooked...

If this was a proper lifestyle blog, then I would have done a tour of my home by now and shown you lots of interesting details and carefully posed ornaments. A proper craft blog would have done a tutorial on crochet blankets and how to make your own candles. Since this blog is neither of these things, I don't have any of those to show you. The shameful truth is that I still have things in boxes and I buy my candles from gift shops. But what I do have - is a house that feels like home. Far more than anywhere else I've lived, and despite the fact that this place is rented, I've managed to make a space that works for me and feels unbelievably cosy. When I come in from work and close the door behind me - I am safe, warm and comfortable.

There is still a lot to do. Unpacking those boxes for a start. And maybe one day I will get around to putting something on the walls. In the meantime, I have come to realise that what makes a place 'home' for me is not stylish design or fancy furniture. It is about having a space that works for the things I love, that I can feel in control and comfortable in, and sharing it with people I care about. This house definitely feels like home.