Blitz

Today it was time for a blitz of my scrapping area. Although the area didn't look too bad- cause it is our family room I have to keep it reasonably tidy- I knew that hidden behind doors and drawers lurked chaos and disorder. I was beginning to spend more time looking for things, than actually scrapping. The worst part was under my desk. It had become a dumping ground for anything that didn't have a home. So today I went out and bought a set of 6 drawers that fit nicely under the desk, and began a major sort out. (There is still room behind the drawers for squashing awkwardly shaped bits and pieces though).

It was an unusual day because all the family was out, so I pulled everything out, and proceeded to rearrange the storage and sort out my stash. It has to be said that I don't actually have a lot of stash, but what I do have seems to take up lots of space. Anyway, I actually enjoyed the process of weeding out things, sorting this, that and the other, and replacing it all in some sort of organised way. So I have decided to upload some photos of the process. I now have a lovely clear desk to work at, and, would you believe, some empty drawers to fill..... RESULT!

Work gets in the way of life.

Work gets in the way of Life doesn't it? Notice how little blogging I have been doing since going back to work- just too busy. It is a very busy time of the year in my job, lots of assessments to be done, reports to be written, and just little old me to do it.
So what have I been up to? I went to the local crop yesterday, did 20 'oracle' cards for a swap on UKS. I was doing collage in monocolour, and it took forever. then I did my pages for a cj, then started a LO for the challenge at scraptitudes. It is a look back at 2006, and is another LO that took forever, mainly due to cutting 20 small photos and individually matting each one, then doing lots of hidden journalling. Will upload at some point.
On Friday Emily was in a public speaking competition- she had to make a speech about the EU. Her speech lasted about 7 minutes, which I think is a long time to speak, especially when you are only 13, and then she had to answer questions from the floor. She did really well- talking is her strong point. She didn't win, but the point is, what a fantastic skill to have. last night she was at a guide camp in the Pentlands- It was so cold and wet- no wonder it is called the Brass Monkeys camp. She was very well prepared, with lots of layers, spare clothes, socks, gloves, hats etc. One of the girls only had the trousers she wore, no spares and Emily said the girl was wet and covered in mud very soon after arriving, so other girls had to lend her clothes- how stupid are some people, to let their child go out, to sleep in a tent in the pouring rain, without even a change of clothes. Emily arrived home with overtrousers covered in mud, trackie bottoms covered in mud, anorak covered in mud, and her boots, both pairs, unrecognisable under all the mud. I had to hose down all her clothes before I could even contemplate putting them into the washing machine. She stripped off as soon as she came in and jumped straight into the shower. She says sge's not going to a brass monkeys camp again. Oh, and she was so grumpy she wouldn't let me take photos- would have made a great page.
Anyway, my page today is one I did a while ago, and I love it. It has lots of delicate touches, like tulle, organza ribbon, and glass to because I wanted the page to have a fleeting, etherial feel, just like memories.

I bought a Tote

Well, I bought a tote today. I have resisted buying a tote until now cause of the cost, and have carried anything I need to crops in a big IKEA bag. This can be problematic though cause if I brake suddenly, the bag fall over and the entire contents spill in the car boot. However, today on UKS I read a post about the tote in the photos selling in Costco for £14, so I went and got one. Ok, I know it is not huge, and won't fit a lot in, but it should take everything I need, and has to be better than the IKEA bag. So I'm happy. Scrapping wise, all I've done this week is a LO and card for Little Silver Hat, using gorgeous pink and brown ribbons. I printed off a couple of photos to start another LO tonight. Scrapping really suffers when I'm back at work fulltime. Oh just realized I've forgotten to say that I will be teaching some Scrapbooking classes for The Edinburgh Craft Shop, starting 22 Feb. These are beginner's classes, but I'll see what develops from there- another one of my new years scrapping resolutions achieved!

Digi scrapper?

I have been loving some of the digi pages I have seen lately, and especially love some of the hybrid pages, so with that in mind I am trying to teach myself to digiscrap. I have done 2 simple LOs so far, these have nothing to do with design, but are just experimenting with how things work. So far I have worked out layers (I think), resizing, opacity, and rotation. I still have a long way to go, but am happy with my progress so far. I will up load my first two efforts- they will be a laugh when I compare them after I become a whizz kid digi scrapper!

The great thing about digiscrapping is that I can do it on my laptop while watching telly! It is nowhere near as much fun as creating a huge mess with paper, glue brads and ink though..

Mini break

We have just come back from 2 days in Yorkshire. Yesterday we went to Harrogate. I love that place- it is so elegant. I especially love the green belt around the city, perhaps because it reminds me of Adelaide, as much as because it is beautiful. I love the little Montpellier quarter too- small but perfectly formed. And of course, if you are a scrapper, no trip to Harrogate would be complete without a trip to Art from the Heart. I love that shop, so many lovely things to look at and buy. Having said that, I was very restrained, and only bought some 7 gypsies rub ons, some chipboard alphas, some gel medium and some Aussie magazines. I love all the projects they have on display for inspiration, so in honour of my visit I am uploading an old LO using Blonde Moments papers. Had a lovely relaxing time in the Travelodge reading the mags last night. Gotta love Travelodge-£15 for a family room, can't beat it, clean, anonymous, no fuss, love it!

Then today was spent in York. I love York too. We were there nice and early for a great walk on the wall, and a visit to the Minster before anyone else was there. The secret to being a tourist in this country is to get up early. I would have had a much nicer time if the kids were not there, sadly. They are at that age where the most importanat things to them are their friends, and shopping. Emily just wanted to go into clothes shops and kept getting moody when I wouldn't buy things for her. Jack was more interested in Game, and HMV. I would have gone to York museum, but the would not have gone down well with them at all. Plus they won't cooperate with having their photos taken, and that, to a scrapbooker, JUST WON'T DO!