So...this Project Life thing

Like all projects I start with good intentions there was a certain amount of fear that I wouldn't be able to keep it going. I'm working a month behind and I've nearly finished February, so things are on track so far. Most of January was our holiday in South Africa and I'm going to record that in a separate album. To make our '2014' album fit together, I printed three of my most favourite photos and did a summary page of our holiday, and then began with the 'January' spread.

I looked everywhere for monthly title cards that I liked, and I couldn't find any. So, I've experimented with white card and black gouache to create my own. Although I do lots of sketching and painting, those things don't seem to make their way into my scrapbook albums very often. I like this change in style, and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

An unexpected bonus of pocket page scrapbooking is that I really like the small, defined areas to experiment with. I'm using papers I would never have thought of putting together and they are working far better than I ever thought they would. I am stamping, embossing, stapling, layering and having a grand old time. 

Thanks for checking in!

Two takes

It's no secret that I love my boys. I never thought I would have small fluffy animals in my life, but they are such a wonderful addition to our household. Their cage sits next to the sofa and we often open the door and the boys will come and say hello. I often seem to scrapbook the boys in greys and blues, which isn't a deliberate choice but just seems to happen. Something about the pale delicacy of grey seems to suit their sweet little faces and tiny paws. The splash of red on this layout provides a nice contrast.

Big stickers appear in lots of scrapbook collections but I find them quite hard to use. The quote on this one was so perfect that I couldn't resist, though, and I adore that typography.

On this page I decided to abandon trying to match my colour scheme to the photographs, simply because this was taken indoors at an animal park so the lighting was terrible. If I had planned in advance I would probably have converted this to black and white, but I get all my photos done in one batch from here and I wasn't planning the layout when I sent them for printing. Inspired by this layout from Erin Stewart I used a 6x6 paper pad to create the column of colour on the left. Bringing in the black patterns and elements helped to tie the papers to the photos.

That mouse on grey was from a sheet of paper, which I cut apart to make the perfect embellishment. Degus are just adorable, and baby degus even more so. I wish we could have more but I will have to settle for photos for now.

Total scraplift

There are lots of ideas for scrapbook pages on my Pinterest board that I can turn to when I'm stuck for inspiration. I often look through and pick out one or two ideas, but I rarely scraplift a page completely. This one was an exception, however. Something about the combination of graphic pattern with the textured, artsy background set me thinking...

Every time we see meerkats at any of the zoos or wildlife parks we visit, Chris will tell me how they look innocent and charming but will gladly attack anyone who threatens their family. Including humans, if they happen to get in the way. 

Plain cardstock backgrounds don't seem to be the fashion at the moment, but I still love them. Sometimes I want my page to be restful, and despite the textured white paint, gold paint and liquid pearls (in 'bisque') I do feel that this is a calm, simple page.

Sunnier times

It feels like it hasn't stopped raining since we got back from South Africa. (Spare a thought for the people who have been really suffering). So I've been scrapping a few sunnier photos just to remind me that the sky isn't always grey.

Those bits of blue in the text are an interesting design technique that also conveniently covers up a mistake. Then once I'd done it once, I repeated it a few times to make it look deliberate. Only now I've told you, so that kind of defeats the object of the exercise.

I don't want to think about what the rain is doing to the garden and the allotment. Well, I only have to look outside the door to see that the garden is rapidly turning into a quagmire. Nothing is planted yet and it's too wet to do anything. We can't even inspect the bees when it's raining. When we had a brief sunny moment last weekend; so many bees flew out of the hives in the garden that we thought something was wrong - but they just wanted to enjoy themselves and make the most of it.

And so do we. As soon as the sun comes out again we will be outside digging, planting and growing new things. However wet and miserable things get, there are always sunnier times ahead.

Long time no blog

Oh dear, my friends. I am rather rubbish at this blogging thing, aren't I? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. No need to answer and make me feel worse. In my defence, if there can be such a thing, I managed to blog more in 2013 than 2012. By one post. That's something, I suppose.

The last months of 2013 were a whirlwind of activity, and there was a definite sense of trying to reach the end of the year 'intact' - physically, mentally and emotionally. It wasn't easy, and I'm forever grateful to the people who held me together while times were tough.

The decision to go on holiday wasn't that difficult, really. Spend new year somewhere warm and sunny, with the chance to see amazing wildlife and scenery? See - not difficult at all. And so we flew off just after Christmas and spent two and a half weeks in South Africa. My first time on the other side of the equator, and I loved every minute of it.

2013 was the year of the sketchbook for me. I drew more and documented more days than I have ever done in my life. In some ways I can't believe it took me till I was 30 to discover how to do this, but like everything it needed the right time and the right circumstances. Something clicked last year, and my collection of books and journals is proof of that. Our holiday was the perfect way to end a creative year, travelling with my sketchbook and using it to help me record some magical moments.

I know better than to make resolutions for 2014. Making lists of things I want to achieve and rushing headlong into a million activities is a sure-fire way to give myself a meltdown by Spring. Instead, I have learned to take things easy and be kind to myself, and be open to opportunities as they come up. I want to keep sketching, and scrapbooking, and generally being creative. By the end of the year I'd like some more sketchbooks on my shelf, each one filled with stories of the adventures and everyday moments that make our lives special. I'll blog when I feel like it, and I hope you pop in every now and then too. Thank you.

Scrapbook Sunday 5: scrapbooking my pets

I love my pets. Mostly they love me too, but my relationship with Pep the chinchilla is based entirely on tolerance - on a good day, he'll tolerate my presence. I love grid-style layouts and it's the perfect way to use a photo that really isn't good enough quality to print any larger, as it was taken at night on my phone. Normally I don't use elements with Americanised spellings (favorite, ugh) but this one was too cute to resist and I decided it was small enough to get away with. 

If we're talking grammar, then 'Me and the chinch' is wrong too, but it flows nicely and the ampersand balanced out the title. Don't judge me.

Mum was a bit concerned that with all the small fluffies in this house, Morpheus was going to get left out. As if! He is still much loved and very spoiled, and sees all the other animals as there for his entertainment. When he's awake, that is.

Sometimes pages with white backgrounds feel too empty, but in the context of my album they make a nice counterbalance to all the bright colours and patterns. I was aiming for monochromatic here, but this is the best I could do - black, white, blue, beige, a few spots of red and some gold accents. Not very monochrome at all in fact. Never mind.

I am on a self-imposed ban from getting any more pets now, because we simply don't have the space (don't forget the degus who live in another cage.) I dream of a bigger house and room for at least another couple of chinchillas. And maybe a puppy...

Rounding up

This year has gone past so quickly, and it is with definite satisfaction that I am seeing my scrapbook albums build up. Now I am trying to round them all up - looking at the albums as a whole, seeing what gaps there are, checking through my photos to see if there's anything obvious I have missed. I never consider an album 'finished' because there are always other stories to tell, but I like to feel that there is a certain completeness to them.

One of my big projects that is still lingering is my album from our holiday to Somerset in August. I have maybe 500 photos lined up ready to go. I took lots of notes at the time, so even the things I have already forgotten won't be lost. To try and make progress with the album I'm trying a new tactic: instead of leaving the photos in envelopes until I'm ready to scrap them, I've put them all into divided page protectors into the album. No embellishment, no writing. This way I can see as I go what I'm dealing with and how much progress I'm making.

I'll be honest, it sort of looks a bit of a mess right now. More than a few photos are stored sideways and there are lots of gaps. Apart from that, an unexpected bonus has been that this method has prompted me to pull out some of my favourite photos for enlargements - and that's what this one is all about. I just love this photo, and I love that Chris and I went somewhere I've been on wonderful family trips to in the past and it was still every bit as good. And the fact this photo was taken on my phone? Cherry on the top.

Scrapbook Sunday ~4~

Hello there folks. Another Sunday means it's time for me to catch up with my scrapbook pages. I'm a bit behind on posting them, mostly because it is so gloomy at the moment that it's really hard to take a decent photo. So here are two pages to make up for it.

When we visited a local animal park, they let us walk through a lemur enclosure and get up close and personal. The lemurs really liked Chris' feet! There's much less patterned paper on this page than I would normally use, but I enjoyed using the journalling cards as elements on the page. I don't really do Project Life or pocket-page scrapbooking (although I reserve the right to change my mind at any point) but I love all the cute graphic elements that are made for those style of pages.

These letters are blank for you to add your own colour, and I couldn't resist getting a bit carried away with the watercolour paints. I do like feeling a bit artistic on my scrapbook pages.

I've started doing more double pages lately, stretching my creativity and helping me to make sure all those photos get in my album. I find something about the format quite challenging but I'm always pleased when one works. It means there's plenty of space for lots of full-size photos as well as lots of writing. And there was a lot to write on this page about another epic walk.

That sentiment card is kind of ironic, because there was definitely no laying around in the sun on this walk.

I am so glad I put dates on all my photos, because even since August I am starting to forget exactly when things happened. Must be a sign of getting old ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside

Continuing on the seaside theme of my last page, here are some more low tide pictures. Except these are a special low tide, when the sea goes out far enough to let people walk out to the fort and back. I've seen photos and heard people talk about it, but I've never taken part. It was definitely wetter than I expected - the water came over my knees - but well worth it and totally exhilarating.

Still in the 'using up all my stash' mode - see that green sticker with a quote on it? I think that's been on my desk for about five years. Everything else is newer than that, in varying degrees. I guess sometimes it just takes time to be inspired.

Even on a beach page, I can't escape pink and green. And glitter, it seems.

Not quite as many embellishments as the previous page, but I am still using them up. I am really enjoying pushing myself to be creative, mixing products and colours while staying true to my own style. Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Sunday ~3~

Now that we're having a few wet and windy days, it's the perfect opportunity to stay in and catch up on this summer's pages. I have already filled my first volume for 2013, so it's definitely going to be a two-album year. It feels strange to go back and scrapbook good things that happened before Gran died. I feel like I should write all my journalling from the perspective of the sadness that was to follow, but I know that wouldn't really be accurate or helpful. Besides, focusing on happy memories helps me get through. Shall we move on to this week's page?

Enough embellishments? I think so! What started off as a plain and simple page went a bit crazy...and I love it! I used all sorts of bits and pieces that have been sitting in my bowl of embellishments for ages and it feels good. Hopefully it reflects the flotsam and jetsam of the beach at low tide.

Buttons, baker's twine, stamps, stickers, chipboard, washi tape, wood veneer, sequins...I think I have every trend covered.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Sunday (2)

I don't often used 'themed' embellishments, but this deer was too cute to pass up. I bought it especially because I wanted to scrapbook our trip to the New Forest and then when I had it...I got stage fright. What if I used it and it didn't look right? What if I put it in the wrong place? Silly me.

The thing is, if I have a beautiful embellishment sitting in a box, I'm never going to look at it. Eventually I might have a clear out and make an effort to use it, or I might give it away. The only way all these pretty things make sense is if I use them. I am gradually working my way through my stash and turning pretty things into records of lovely memories.

Thanks for stopping by!

Making the best of it

Photos of a small fluffy thing moving quickly? In a cage, in poor light? Never going to be brilliant. But the story was far too important not to record. Little Waldy is one very persistent degu, and quite inspirational.

Loving layered embellishments, stickers and paint splashes. And life with the degus.

Scrapbook Sunday

Photos scrapped within a month of taking them? Yes, it's true. Sometimes I just have to go with what inspires me, and yesterday it was these pictures. I also have a new photo printer, which makes printing small photos for a collage like this so much easier. The photo grid inspired me to try a more streamlined design and instead of layering elements on top of each other, I worked to build a grid with different embellishments and journalling cards.

I've had that card with a sweetcorn on it FOREVER, so this was the perfect opportunity to finally use it. Everything else came together from that, and luckily I had enough elements to make the rest of the grid. The folded circles came from a discount basket somewhere, but they worked just perfectly for this, and I like how taking them outside of the grid adds a bit more movement. I don't normally do double-page layouts, or use 8.5x11 card, but for some reason it just happened with this page, and I like it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Endless sunshine

The mornings are colder, the skies are greyer, and the endless sunshine of summer has come to an end. I've just had a couple of weeks off work and this morning definitely had that back-to-school feeling. The problem is, I just don't feel ready for it. Can we keep summer, please?

I'm still scrapbooking pages from early summer, so I can keep the sunshine feeling for a bit longer. These photos are from July, and I've just had 400-and-something prints of the rest of our summer adventures delivered  to keep me going. I am seriously considering a simpler style of album to get all these memories recorded, maybe with some fancier pages interwoven rather like my Christmas pages. 

Hope you have some happy sunshine-y memories to keep you going through autumn!

Opposite extreme

From the largest size photo to the smallest: a 4x4 print using one of my many photos from Instagram. There are various services out there that will print your Instagram pics, but I've found the best results when I upload them into Photobox on a standard size print and trim off the edges when they arrive. Simples.

Having a smaller photo leaves me more room for embellishment, and in this case also more room for the story of our second date. It's quite a long story, and involves me getting heatstroke and passing out in the middle of a field. Fortunately for me, it didn't put him off :)

I'm all out of enamel dots at the moment, so in a moment of inspiration decided to make my own using Liquid Pearls. This is the White Opal version, and I've discovered that if you put a good fat blob on the page and then flick the back of the paper really hard, the blob flattens out to become a lovely dimensional dot. Perfect for some subtle embellishment layers.

I haven't done so much scrapbooking lately as I've been busy filling my sketchbooks. Those photos aren't going to go anywhere, though!

Big photos

I like 6x4 photos. Or, 6x4.5 if I use the default proportion on a digital camera. One or two fit nicely on a page, leaving me plenty of room to write my story or add embellishment. Printing photos at a standard size means I can get them all done in one batch, without having to think about resizing or cropping or anything complicated. Easy. The vast majority of my scrapbook pages use standard prints.

Every once in a while I take a photo that I really like and kind of want to show it off. But I am decorating-challenged (two and a half years and the walls in this house are still bare) so I print big photos and stick them in a drawer and forget about them. I had this picture from one of our walks in the spring, and decided to make the most of it. It hardly needs a scrapbook page; it's all photo. 

162 days to go...

Yes folks, 162 days is all you've got until Christmas 2013. In the middle of the hottest summer in the UK for the last seven years, some wintery scrapbook pages are just what you need to cool you down.

This bloghop is the brainchild of the lovely Ruth, who has put together an incredible list of ladies all joining to give you inspiration for those Christmas photos that you still haven't scrapped. You should have come here from Catherine, and after me you need to visit Tasha.

The challenge was to create a project that was Christmas-related. And so I turned to me Christmas 2012 album to see what gaps needed filling. Last year as always, I took part in Journal Your Christmas, this time choosing to mix up project-life style divided page protectors with standard 12x12 pages. It began well...using a mix of photos and journalling cards, I put together several layouts that I really love in my album:

Ah, see that there? That's the first gap. And that point around the 17th of December must have been when I lost my way with the project and everything kind of ground to a halt. It gets worse:

That is a divided page protector with two pockets filled and the rest empty, showing the page behind. Grrrrr. It looks unfinished - it is unfinished, and when I look through my album the story of Christmas is incomplete. So this is as good a time as any to crack on and fill in those gaps. I pulled out the stash of paper I was using for this album, and the envelope of photos that I'd had printed and then put away.

First things first. Sort the photos into the ones I want to use, and then start grouping these together. Most of these pictures are from Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and I'm not worrying about the JYC 'daily' format. Then I got to work putting this in to some kind of order!

(Sorry for the strange colours, the light had gone by this point.)

Photos from Christmas Day morning on the left - the back of the previous insert with lots of gaps. I've been using this alternate photos/journalling block layout throughout so I thought I would continue it. The page on the right is a new insert, using three photos I just couldn't choose between. I wanted to make a bit of an emphasis on 'eat, drink and be merry' so I separated each word from the phrase on to a separate insert. To create some repetition, I punched three hearts to embellish the photos, which also filled in the gaps as for some reason I'd had these printed at 5x3.5 inches so they don't quite fill in the spaces. 

One of the best things about picking up this project after such a break, is that I don't feel guilty about doing cards which are simpler. And yet, these are some of my favourites.

Maybe there's a lesson in this: work quickly and worry less. And it's amazing how having a kit can help my creativity.

Am I finished with my Christmas pages? No! I still have another couple of page protectors' worth to do. But now that I've got my stash out and found a working method, I shall probably carry on and do them all. Hopefully thinking about cold winter days will help me keep cool over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for sharing my contribution to the Christmas in July bloghop. Your next stop is Tasha. Have fun!