Bye Bye 2011!

Well, I must be honest and admit that I'll be glad to say farewell to 2011! There have been some good times, but it has mainly been a year of heart ache, stress and discontent. I feel I've been to some very dark places this year and have really touched rock bottom, only to fall lower time and again! I'm ready to climb back up again now! 2012 will be my year of HOPE... Happy New Year blog friends! May it be a good one for all of us! xoxo

JYC 12-14

I'm still enjoying this project which is great as usually by this time in month long project I have started to fall behind!! Although I must say I have a 100% completion rate on JYC over the 2 years I have done it. I sometimes fall a day or two back, but am always happy to catch up and keep on track!

So far I am happy with my 8x8 page format and the use of page protectors.  I am LOVING the D ring album as I can see if I was using a post bound one I woudl already be needing extender posts!

Here are my recent pages:
Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Hope you like :0)

xoxo

I've discovered Rad Lab, and guess what ...

IT'S RAD!!!!!

I haven't edited my photos for a while. I've slipped into the habit of snapping on my phone or DSLR and then just uploading to My Pictures and printing my favourites.
I've ressurected my PSE files and have downloaded the free 30 day trial from Rad Lab.

It turns this:

and this:

Into these:

{Swoon!}

JYC Days 8,9,10

I've had a bit of a catch up session with my craft pages today.  I must be honest, I'm still not feeling very Christmassy at all.  Things in our house are very strained at the moment and its not really helping my not-so-festive mood :-(
I'm hoping things will get better next week.  We have a visit to the solicitor and bank to come and then I'm hoping we will finally get some good news about the mortgage extension I need. Finger's Crossed!
Anyway, here are my pages!  (I've decorated at least now so the fairies are sadly in storage and replaced by long-legged Santa and Ruddy!!!)

Day 8:

Day 9:

Day 10:

Day 11 has been delayed by a mistimed ink disaster! (ie We've run out and i can't print out my photos!!)
Hope you like!
xoxo

JYC Days 6 and 7

Sorry to have missed a day with this.  I'm having a real problem with my page for the 6th December to be honest :0( I just can't find a tale of Xmas I want to write about at the moment. I don't know what is the matter with me. I'm not feeling at all Christmassy!  I'm hoping that when I decorate on Saturday I will feel inspired so until then will put off Day 6 and post that page when its done.
In the meantime I found day 7 useful as it spurred me on to starting my list of things to do!! The pocket on the page has strips of paper in it that break up the vague list into achievable tasks:

I took this last night so excuse the darkness of the photo.

Journal Your Christmas - Day 5

I used to always have an advent calendar as a child - one of the ones where there is a small picture hidden behind the door, never a chocolate one. I don't say that as if it was a hardship though, to be honest I never even wanted a chocolate one!
When I was a teenager I decided adcent calendar were childish and enjoyed feeling grown up when I was allowed an advent candle to burn each day! Although, to be honest it was a little stressful making sure the flame didn't burn down the next days number too!!!
As an adult I stopped the advent count down a while ago. And then in 2009 I did my first JYC album.  Without realising it the excitement of counting down the days of December returned to my life as I rushed to the Inbox each morning to check for my prompt email!
This excitement continues!! Although now I have an iphone the process of picking up the daily email is even easier!!  The extra treat that comes with the JYC prompt is flipping through it to see if any of my own pages from the previous year have made their way into it!
This excitement is what I decided to celebrate on todays page:

JYC pages so far

I've decided to photograph my pages on the shelf next to my scrap desk.  It has two fairy statues on it that I love. They aren't very festive, but they are pretty! I hope you like them as you'll be seeing them alot this month!
DAY TWO

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR

Hope you like! Night night!
xoxo

So this is how I'm going to do it...

The format of this years JYC will (as I have already mentioned) be 8x8 pages. I have a D ring Album to put the pages into. I've learned from the past two years. Year 1 was a post bound album (that required extender posts and broken nails as I tried to fit them etc!) Year 2 was held together with book rings (as I made the cover myself from chipboard). Of course the album became huge, the book rings were in time too small, so it is now held together with plaited bakers twine. Pretty but not what I visualised!
I'm hoping this year with be the  year for the correct album!!
I have already fallen out of love with my supplies (and my format) but I expected this as this is something I go through when I do a daily project like this.  I decide what I want to do, pick the supplies, love the idea in my head...and then I look at other peopkes projects! I always fall in love with other peoples formats, other peoples supplies or colour schemes and then feel let down when I look at my own!!
Because I vaguely expected this I had planned to add to my stash today ('shopping' through my own stash
for more papers), and thats what I did.
My original stash was cream, red and black cardstock.  The papers generally cream, red and green.  I added some brighter greens today and some pinks.  Just those additions added a lovely injection into my page and my working space.
I'm planning on using square photos taken on the hipstamatic app on my phone (or using the normal camera and edited using camera + or instagram).  I hope I stick to this square format of photos, but we'll see as the month progresses ;0)

I have been having issues with my blogging in 2011 and I'm hoping to use JYC to resurrect my blogging routine.  With this is mind this is how I plan to craft and blog through the project.
Each morning I will read the daily prompt on my way into work - saving the PDF into my iBooks.
                        I will blog and forum the photo of the page for the day before. (This means that unless it is the weekend or my day off my blog may well be a day behind the prompts but this is fine with me!)
During the day I will snap photos on my phone of anything in mind when I think of the prompt (and of the In Focus prompt from the day before - as they are arriving each evening )
During the evening after work I will create my page for the day and take a photo of it.

This year I finally took a bold (and distressing step) and moved out of my Craft room for the winter.Readers of this blog know that my craft room is a beautiful peppermint green shed at the bottom of my garden. Its lovely, but cold cold cold in the winter!!
So I've vacated until spring and moved my furniture and supplies into our very small living space:

The view from my scrap desk looks onto the patio and garden:

Not bad! :0)

Poor Little Blog!

I have neglected this blog so much since I bought my ipad. Its such as hassle to turn on a laptop now you know! Thats the rationale that has been in my brain. Stupid, stupid, stupid thought!!
Today I have logged in to Blogger on a computer for the first time in ages and its all so different! What once was familiar and simple looks so complicated with a new posting page etc.
I'm planning a lovely scrapping session this afternoon, and this evening.... a re-vamp of my lovely blog and a few photo heavy posts!
See you later :-)

Day one...

Phew! It's late again, and u have another late night tomorrow so just a quick post now.
Because of the format I have decided in for my pages this year I will be adding photos when I get them printed. So pages may look a little bare at first.
I'll go into detail about my format tomorrow :0)
For now here is today's page:







The page will have a photo to the right of the journaling card. This is the photo:



Yep. My plan was hipstamatic photos this year. Alllllllll of
The square. ALL! Until I spotted camera + app in the prompt! Swoon!!!!
It turns this:



Into this:



Cue dance if delight at awesomeness if photo possibilities!!!!
I'll pop by the forum ASAP and share a link to my blog as I've missed chatting to people recently. Looking forward to seeing everyone's work too!


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Impatiently watching inbox...

Yes, it's officially December 1st (although I haven't been to sleep yet!) I thought I'd check my inbox a few dozen times after midnight in the hope that the first JYC prompt would be there!! Alas! Nothing yet, so to sleep I go! Is anyone else stalking their own inbox?!

Shimelle's Christmas Crop - An old favourite!

Last year was my second year doing JYC with Shimelle. I loved both years. It is my FAVOURITE project and actually fast becoming my favourite thing about December!!! Last year I combined it with Ali Edwards December Daily project. So I used Shimelle's prompts and followed online,  but I use Ali's format. This basically involved a double page spread that was separated by a transparency.  The pages were printed in advance on cardstock and you cut paper or photos to size to match.
I LOVE this album! I loved doing it and I love the very feel and touch of it even now.
It was difficult for me to get into the format at first as it wasn't what I was used to.  But in the end {swoon}!!
I'm not going to follow this format this year. I decided last year that I wanted to do a more traditional 8x8 this year again.
But this format is definitely one I will go back to!
Here are a few snippets:

Long time no blog!

No excuses. I've been low for a very very long time and really haven't wanted to be part of the online community in an active way. I've remained a blog reader however, and have enjoyed seeing all the projects my blog friends have done.
I'm hoping Shimelle's online crop this weekend is just what I need to get me going again!
I'm sorry I've been away so long, I doubt anyone is even reading this!!! But I started this blog for fun and for me and want to resurrect that (and hopefully get some blog friends back!)

Today I will...

be strong! I promise this to myself.




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Today I have learned...

• that just staring at my "To Do" pile really doesn't achieve anything but hysteria :0(
• that I don't like it when my feet are too hot! Today is not a boots weather day!!
• that I'd rather be at home creating than at work any day!

Today I have learned...

* to step outside in the morning before getting dressed so I dress for the day and not my perception of the day!!!
* that I love, love, love my hair blonde {swoon!}
* that I have a good job
* that I have a lovely garden
* that I love September (I always knew this but it's great to have that reminder each year!!)
* that I have more scrapbook stash than I thought I had {blush!}
* that I NEED more scrapbook stash!!!!

Adventure Stage 2... The Bus

Ha ha! It may have been cheap... but it's broken down!!!! Luckily it did so before the coast road and the replacement arrived in no time!! Next stop New Quay! Hopefully I'll get chance to dolphin spot!!


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Mini Aventure

I'm on my way to my best friend Laura's house for her hen weekend. It won't be the tacky silliness of some hen weekends as we really aren't those kind of girlies!! Instead we are having a lovely garden party with a BBQ and then out for an evening of live music.
The extra fun part (for me) of this weekend is that Laura lives in Wales! Yay! My favourite place!!
I set off from home this morning at 9.20 feeling perky perky!



So far I have enjoyed a lovely train journey that I never bore of however many times I visit her! Unlike normal times however Laura is working so I find myself in Aberystwyth without the normal lift! Cue adventure!! A 45 minute wait for the bus meant time to sit on the beach and treat myself to chips for lunch! Yummy!!


A stroll back down into town and then the anxiety of making sure I get the right bus and being convinced I don't have enough money for my ticket! I mean, come on, the bus journey takes well over 2 hours... It'll cost alot! This anxiety is followed by the excitement when the driver says that the ticket costs £4.50!! Amazing!!! And I'm off!!!

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Hello Blogland

We'll I've been in my new job for a month now. Its all still new and exciting and also very very challenging! I'm enjoying it but finding it a little tricky to get to grips with some of the personaililties I now work with! And of course as I'm the manager everything that goes wrong is my fault!!! So its been tough! Good...but tough!

A major downside to the job is the travelling :-( I've never regreted not driving before but I do now.  Although the town I work in is only 20 minutes away from my home, the bus times don't work out well. I'm finishing work at 5.30 but not home until nearly 7! Yawn! Except Mondays when I finish at 7 but don't get home until 9!! Double Yawn!!
What this has meant is that I never craft any more - sob!! I'm so drained when I get in and get changed, eat food, tidy up, that I just sit and then go to bed :-(
One of my major goals for myself is to bring back regular crafting into my daily life. It brings me such joy and I feel so sad without it there.
Thats me for now. I haven't been on the blogs I read for so long and I have missed you all alot. Thats hopefully going to change now my computer access is sorted and I can blog at lunch times again. Yippie!! Byyyyye for now x

Hello Mojo...where have you been all year?!

I have FINALLY found my scrapping mojo!! It's a little dusty for being all neglected but is alive and well :0)
Over the past 2 weeks I have attacked and destroyed my backlog of kits and created lots of layouts. Yippie! I feel like me again!
WARNING- PHOTO HEAVY FROM HERE!!!!

















A layout celebrating my childhood!














A double page spread for Shimelle's free 6x4 Photo Love course.  Below are the pages separately:























































From our holiday. I am loving working with smaller prints at the moment. They're patricularly great when the photo quality isn't top notch!!!

















As you can see from the next layouts, I am continuing to love Hipstamatic photos!!

















Not that keen on this Ludlow layout :0(



































The first of what will be many layouts from my brother-n-laws wedding last year! The bride wore black so tis allow for some great alternative layouts!!


















The following two layouts are back to back on a double sided piece of pattered paper as I loved both sides so much I couldn't chose between them. Woudl you believe these are only the 3rd and 4th layouts in my 2011 scrapbook (Oh, the shame!!)




































And thats it for now lovely blog land.
PS/ the photos appear all blurry and I'm nto sure why :0( I'm having bad experiences with uploading via Blogpress on my Ipad. Anyone got any advice????

Help ladies...advice needed!

Ok blog friends, I need help! I currently subscribe to one scrapbook kit (Scrapagogo). I have no local scrap shops for buying stash from so rely purely on this kit. I've just spotted that Sarah's Cards also do a monthly kit (swoon!)
The question is...is subscribing to two kits overkill????! I don't want to cancel my GoGo kit so this would be a second kit each month ( which I could easily use up!) I guess I'm just looking for a) justification to spend the cash or b) people to tell me no!!! Help......


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Exciting news!

Guess what... I've been given a promotion at work :0) It is a maternity cover post so is temporary for 12 months (my own job stays safe during this time) but it is a big step up for me as I will be managing a much larger library than the one I currently do! I will miss my lovely little place but I really do feel ready for the challenge!
Yippie!!!


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Confession time...

Right, here I am in my craft room. Preparing to scrapbook. Feeling a little apprehensive and unsure. Scrapbook. Hmmmm. You know, that thing I used to do everyday. That thing that I haven't done for, oh I don't know, about two months! Looking around. Lots of pretty things everywhere! Just not sure I quite remember what to do with them! Right! Photo, paper, double sided tape. How hard can this be...


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Art Journaling

I am LOVING my art journal! I only discovered art journaling fairly recently and have launched myself into it as part of the amazing 'Soul Restoration' class over at Brave Girls Club.
There are some great technique videos and inspirations over there if you are like me - someone wo never did art at school and really hasn't got a clue!!
One thing I have discovered is art is one thing, journaling is another but art journaling... thats a WHOLE thing on its own!!
Does anyone have any favourite art journal blogs or websites they can recommend to me?
I'm really looking for inspiration and am collecting links on Pinterest to inspire me.

Awkward silence ...

Well, I blogged everyday...then I went AWOL..then I came back and promised to blog everyday again...then I went AWOL...now I'm back again...cue awkward silence!









































































This time I am back :0)


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