Tuesday 14 September 2010

How ever hard you try....


Since I started art journaling I have been collecting a few phrases as sometimes I don't want to pour my heart out on a page, but I still want to create something that has meaning to me.  This is one of those phrases "However hard you try you end up like your Mother" .  I would like you to note the stamping on the page though "results may vary" and "potential side effects".  I consider myself a very different creature to my Mother and wish to remain like that.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

A few more learnings....

For starters, these quick pages are brilliant for me.  It's meant that once I've decided what my lesson for the day has been, I whip out the alpha stamps and ten minutes later the page is finished!

So, my lessons from the 3rd to the 6th then....



Oh - a day of deep cleaning some of the rooms in the house.  Far too long have we put this off.



On Saturday evening we went to the theatre.  Nothing too cultured you understand...we went to see Rhod Gilbert.  During the interval I was astonished by the number of mobile phones that appeared.  As soon as the word interval was mentioned by the support act (sorry - Andy something...he was funny though), a plethora of back lights appeared as people reached to switch on their mobiles.  I'm not sure what they were all going to achieve in 15 minutes, in fact a lot seemed to be playing games on them. What did people do before mobile technology? Oh yeah, I know - LIVED THEIR LIVES!

 Sunday - the perennial dilemma faced me in the form of a quick shopping trip to buy a new purse.  I think Chris thought I'd lost the plot but was glad I chose one in the end and didn't walk away with two.


By Monday I had relaxed and was fully enjoying a weekend without the kids. Oh how I miss peace and quiet. 

That's all from me for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  I'll do another LSNED round up at the end of the week.

Friday 3 September 2010

So good so far!



I'm keeping up!  OK - so it's only day two but that's good given my track record with these things.

Yesterdays lesson then.  "There is no adult space in this house".  I was merrily minding my own business, happy in the knowledge that the TV was switched off (for a change), and I could hear no bickering.  The joyous sound of my two playing happily together was ringing through the house.  I then realised the sound wasn't coming from it's usual place, i.e. their bedrooms.

Our bedroom door was closed. O-Oh. 

I opened it to find Rosie rolling round on the bed, Jamie sitting in a moses basket (one that's usually home to Rosie's soft toys and in her bedroom) and our carpet transformed into a toy factory.  

My question is this... Did you ever dare go in your parents bedroom?  I know I didn't, and Chris didn't.  It was a sacred place, an adult only space.  You didn't play in it. If you were lucky you may have sneaked in the occasional bounce on their bed, but generally it was off limits.  Even now as adults it seems wrong to go in your parents bedrooms.  So how did this happen? The kids have taken over and we need to reclaim our space.  I don't think it's going to be a tear free affair.  Wish us luck!!


Thursday 2 September 2010

Learning Something.....


Yesterdays lesson - Nothing makes me smile like the sight of the delivery van driver pulling up outside.  Nothing makes me frown quite like opening the door to the Royal Mail "you were out" card.  Not sure if it's strictly a lesson on this page, but I'm planning to write a note about the day's lesson to pop inside the envelope.  Maybe today will sound more like a lesson... think I still have my art journal head on!  Onwards and upwards!

From making a very simple book I've ended up making very inky, messy collage style pages for my LSNED book.  Last night I sat and started to created pages ready to go up to the 4th September, aided this morning by some new 7Gypsies stamps and my trusty Tim Holtz tissue tape.




Right, I'm off to wash my inky fingers now!  Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Love her or hate her...?

I know I have literally just posted but I left blogger to check my email where I found one from Waterstones.  As a book lover who likes to eat (more than she should!) I had to check it out and I can't tell you how excited I was to see that there is a new Nigella Lawson book due out.  I know a lot of people hate her, but I love her.  She a cook who looks like she eats! Yay!!  I hate skinny cooks.  I have a collection of her cookbooks and have yet to have a recipe fail me, so you can imagine just how keen I am to get my hands on this.  I won't blindly order it though, I want to read through it first.  Looks like a trip into town then.  Oh no, what a chore.


I'll leave you with the blurb about the book.  If you get your hands on a copy before me, pleeeease let me know what you think, especially if you are a Nigella fan!

"A big, compendious, comfortable, informative and utterly engaging book, "Kitchen" brings us feel-good food for cooks and eaters, whether Express-style and exotic-easy during the week, or leisurely and luxuriating (in the spirit of How to be a Domestic Goddess and Feast) at weekends or for occasions. Divided into two parts - Kitchen Quandaries and Kitchen Comforts - Nigella gives us the wherewithal to tackle any situation and satisfy all nourishment needs. But real cooking is often about leftovers, too, so here one recipe can lead to another...from ham hocks to pea soup and pasties, from chicken to Chinatown salad. This isn't just about being thrifty but about demonstrating how recipes come about, and giving new inspiration for last-minute meals and souped-up store cupboard suppers. As well as offering the reader a mouthwatering array of new recipes, both comforting and exciting - from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread, from Asian braised beef to flourless chocolate lime cake, from Pasta alla Genovese to Venetian carrot cake - Nigella rounds up her kitchen kit must-haves (telling us, too, what equipment we don't need) and highlights individual ingredients - both basic essentials and modern-day life-savers. But above all, she reminds the reader how much pleasure there is to be had in real food, and in reclaiming the traditional rhythms of the kitchen, as she cooks to the beat of the heart of the home, creating simple recipes to make life less complicated."

I wasn't, but I am now....

In the last six to eight weeks I am guilty of doing no scrapping at all.  Not even the tiniest bit since my last crop which always at the start of the month and we skip August.  Hmmm, Art Journaling has seriously taken over my crafty time, my me time.  It's generally all I think about and I feel cheated if I don't at least get a doodle in on a page.  This is the reason, along with not getting any further than day six last year, I had decided some time ago that I wasn't going to take part in this years Learn Something New.  

That was until I got today's prompt.  It's all changed now.  When I read the prompt I loved Shimelle's idea of using envelopes, and guess who has a box of hundreds, all leftovers from my old card making days. So, i whipped out 31 of them and the back of an old notebook.  Had a quick rummage through last months scrapagogo kit and knocked this together....... 


I will confess part of me wasn't going to join in because i couldn't be bothered to make or prepare a book for it but this took me a grand 15 minutes to put together.  I know I've copied, or should that be lifted, the idea for the book from Shimelle but I sure she wouldn't mind at all, and it's an idea I think I'll use again after all I do have at least 169 envelopes left!  All that remains to be seen is if I can get past day six this year.  Wish me luck!!