Sunday, February 24, 2013

I love my cat and my cat loves...

Morpheus gave me quite the scare this morning when he decided to disappear for a while. He's a mostly indoor cat and we don't have a cat flap, so when I couldn't find him I wondered if he had sneaked out through the front door when we weren't looking. Normally, he will appear in the bedroom in the middle of the night and I will wake up with him snuggled beside me. Today he wasn't there, and he didn't come down for breakfast either - most unlike him.


I called, and searched, and shook the box of cat biscuits. I wandered around outside looking for places he might be hiding. I went out for a while, hoping that he would reappear in the quiet and be waiting on the windowsill when I got back. Nope.


I came back to an empty house and there was still no sign of him. His food bowl was undisturbed. The litter tray untouched. He must be outside somewhere. I decided to phone Mum for moral support...she offered to come round but really, if your cat is as nervous as mine, two people calling his name is just going to make him hide even more.


Standing in the spare room, I searched through all his normal hiding spaces. No sign of him. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the long dresses hanging in the corner of my wardrobe were moving slightly. Was it a breeze? Then a little sound like someone waking up from a really long nap....'mmmmmmm'. I moved the dresses out of the way and there he was, snuggled up at the bottom and totally oblivious to my panic. I would like to tell you that he jumped up straight away and came downstairs, but no, once he had woken up to see who was making all that noise, he went right back to sleep. He did emerge a few hours later, only to go straight out of the back door. He returned briefly for some food, and is now outside again. He'll be back. Eventually.

Monday, February 18, 2013

January - a month in review


I tried to do 'month in review' pages last year, and I got as far as April. Let's see if I can do better in 2013, shall we? I am trying to make it as easy for myself as possible, so no fixed page layout or number of photos. Last year I tried to type all my journalling, but it's such a pain to measure it, print it, cut it...much easier just to go with hand writing so that's what I am doing. And instead of using a set of papers that I will get bored with, I am using whatever comes to hand from my ever-growing pile of stash. 

So far so good...the proof will be in December if I have 11 more pages to go with this one.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Pages I love


Cold, wet, winter weekends should be the perfect opportunity to get down to some serious scrapbooking. I am following a chat online where people are challenging themselves to do a layout every day in February. At the start of the month, I was all fired up for it and convinced I could do at least 20 pages in February to use up some of my ever-growing pile of paper and photos. But...not quite yet. It's the tenth as I write this, and I'm on page number six, so I have a little way to go.


I don't really mind, though, because I am thoroughly enjoying the process and loving the pages that are coming from it. Good memories + pretty paper = pages I love.


Onwards, friends!

Monday, February 04, 2013

Keeping it simple

You wouldn't think that something so simple could be such a challenge for me. There are really very few elements on this page and it should have come together very quickly. In truth, it would probably have been quicker if I had spent less time procrastinating on the internet and being distracted by my new pet (more on him to follow later). 

For all its simplicity, there are plenty of little details on this layout which I love. The woodgrain embossing behind the title. The individually stamped letters. The chevron vellum heart and little wooden birds. The washi tape. The gold ink splatters. I know it sounds vain, but the more I look at this, the more I like it.


I can feel my style changing with each layout that I do, and I am thoroughly enjoying trying so many different products and techniques. I am very much in love with this hobby of mine right now.