Proof

That i have always loved wooly hats & long necklaces.

(Still loving looking through our old photos and still freaked out & amazed by how much i look like my mum!).

Happy Birthday Mama

Today is my Mum's birthday. i'm sure she wouldn't want me to say how old she is so i shant mention the words five and 0, expecially in the same sentence. Her and Lloyd jetted off to Las Vegas yesterday to celebrate, armed with a list of scrapbook supplies that i NEED and instructions to buy peanut butter M& M's. So, i'm home alone. It's quite & wierd.

i know you won't see this till your back, but i am thinking of you & i hope your having a fun & fabulous time & that your birthday is all that you want it to be.

Sunday was also a day of celebration as my whole family gathered for a meal because it was my Nan & Grandad's 55th Wedding Anniversary on the 19th. How amazing is that!! They are such an inspiration, still love each other so much & take care of each other in every little way.

Last night i went to a crop, organised by Jan & managed to get 2 Lo's done, very much in the style of me. i Love to see what other people are working on, i am especially fascinated by people who scrap in 12x12 because i can ever get the balance right.

Elsie has lots of pictures on her blog of her new Ki line. Her products are scrummylicious and i want them all. i wish i had just an ounce of her talent. Her stand at CHA is amazing too. i also discovered that Ki are realeasing these yummy Heartfelt Albums and the best thing is they come in 8 1/2"x11"!!!!! So very excited.

Very much in love with Kasabian's 'Me Plus One' song at the moment (even though it's just Me at the moment LOL) keep playing it over & over. i always do that with songs i love. Btw, have you heard the new Beatles Love Album? The songs sound so different & modern. Still love the originals.

i decided not to answer the phone this week, because i don't want to be taking messages all the time, i do enough of that at work, all my friends ring my mobile anyway. But yesterday i realised that Mum & Lloyd's mobiles probably wouldn't work in America & so when it rang i thought it might be them saying they'd got to LV ok. It wasn't. It was my mum's friend asking if i could feed her cat this weekend. i haven't answered the phone since.

i've been looking through some old photos tonight & came accross these. This first one was taken of my mum when she was about my age now & the second one is of her with me. I never realised before how much i look like her, it's freaking me out a little, because i even have the exact same expressions as her, which i thought were 'me' expressions and now see are hers. It's not like i've never seen these pictures before, but not in a while & i guess i'm looking at them with new eyes as i know myself a little better now, and for the first time in my life i'm starting to take pictures of myself. Looking through the photo albums i realised that i obviously get my passion for photography from my father, which was difficult, because i don't like to think that i get any of my traits from him. i much prefer to think that i'm like my mum. And i am. Will always be my mother's daughter.

It is no secret that i love hats, particularly beanies. i bought this one for £2 in accessorize.

It took me a few minutes to add a few of my own accessories to transform it into this:

Ok, so it's not exactly a transformation, but i've added a little piece of me. i'm working hard on my Library of Memories Class at the mo and loving it. i've also been making a few bits & pieces for other people, but more on that another time...

Well i actually managed to get some challenges done on time!! But as usual i have deviated somewhat from the challenges that were set... The 'i see life through a lense' Lo is for this weeks Speshal Dares. The Cassie Lo {hi cass. x} is for Pencil Lines (new sketch goes up tonight) and the wee little card is for of Emily's Art Journal Journey. i've never done an art journal before and i've never made art on a playing card before so this will be an experience. Emily is setting prompts every week, but i did my own thing this time around. i'm so glad she started this, i would never have attempted an art journal otherwise and it gives me an excuse to get all messy with paint, gesso, gel mediums and ink, which i don't do very often. So this week's card is entitled 'i miss the summer' and how i miss it. The weather has been apalling in Portsmouth this week, the wind has been pretty scary, i think there's even been coverage on national TV! i miss the sun and it's warmth and my flip flops...
i have been hibernating all weekend, just making stuff and watching tv & films. It was so lovely to have a whole weekend for me. I'm so happy to have my sundays back!
Shipwrecked starts again tonight! i started to apply for this when i was going through a transition period last year, but decided not too in the end, so it'll be interesting to see who's on the islands.

i have to confess...

Well first up, sorry for not keeping at the confessions all week, but i've been doing stuff like seeing friends, eating pizza and going to the cinema. i've had a few good mail days this week. Tuesday my Scrap-Room kit came, which included the cutest ever stamps from Wildflower. Wednesday the final bits from my Daisy Bucket Designs kit arrived. You may remember i ordered one in September and not all the bits were delivered in time for the usual dispatch, well after months of chasing, i finally got the bits i was owed!! On Thursday i was thinking about how the CK top 10 issue was due out soon and how i must order one, and i got home to find that one had been delivered. It seems that because i am a subscriber through Artbase, i automatically get sent one!

i spent most of this morning burning all my photos to disk, which i ave been wanting to do for ages. i've been super paranoid that our computer would break and i'd loose everything, so i don't have to worry about that any more. This afternoon i made this little book for Shimelle's class. i broke the rules as usual and used index prints instead of 6x4 photos, because i'm very into them at the moment. i chose my confessions to go with the photos, but i've thought of quite a few more so i might get snapping pictures to fit some confessions and do a full size book another time. For this though i decided to do the book 6"x3" and i dug out some old papers from Ki and Chatterbox. The buttons, rub-ons and ribbon are from American Crafts and the stamps are a mixture of Wildflower, Paper Salon (alphabet). 7Gypsies & Hero Arts.
































So my confessions are:

i wear hats to disguise my bad hair days

i don't say 'i love you' enough to the people i care about

i want to loose weight (but i can't stop eating chocolate, cakes, biscuits, biscuits, crisps & pizza)

i own too many eyeshadows (35 to be precise but i'll never stop buying them). Bourgois is my favourite btw.

boys confuse me (enough said!)

Confession No2

You may have noticed that Shimelle's class this weekend is called 'i have to confess'. So i've been trying to think of some confessions in preparation. Yesterday's 'confession' wasn't really a confession, it was just something that i knew no one else really knew. i mean, how often do you really notice someone else's handwriting? Today's confession is something that, if you know me in real life, you probaby already know.

I HATE FRUIT & VEG.

And.

i rarely eat it.

The only exception to this is potatoes, which are probably the worst of the vegetables. Apparently as a very young child i 'loved' veg and 'ate loads of it'. i cannot recall a period in my life when i have ever liked fruit or veg or enjoyed eating it. i know this is wrong, i know it's bad that i don't eat a lot of it, blah blah blah. But i just can't bare to eat it. i don't like the texture, i don't like the taste, and i don't like the smell. Of any of it! There are a few things that i eat, but don't actually enjoy, i generally try to disguise their taste with other food, this includes: peas (but not more than say a tablespoon), mushrooms (must be fried and preferably seasoned with garlic or stuffed with something), cauliflower (i don't actually like this at all. i eat it so that my mum has some vegetables to give me when she does a Sunday roast and even then i don't eat the stalk and i mash it in with my roast potatoes), butternut squash (must be mashed and seasoned with salt and i can't eat much of it), leek (if it is thinly chopped and put in some kind of stir fry) baby carrotts (but only on aeroplanes), strawberries (must be soft, but not too soft, and eaten with meringue and cream) mango (must be blended). There are also some fruit and vegetables that i like the taste of but not the texture, this includes tomatoes and oranges. So i will drink orange juice (if there are no 'bits' in it) or eat jaffa cakes, but not an orange. And i will eat tomatoes if they are diguised as a puree or pasta sauce, but please don't put one near me because their seeds freak me out! i don't even like baked beans, because they have skins. i do try new stuff & stuff that i've tried before every now and again, but i've pretty much come to terms with the fact that i'm never going to really enjoy it. And i realise that you probably think me very odd & very fussy, which i probably am, so i will admit that i have food issues. But they are a part of me & are likely never to go away.

So to my page entitled, "this photo almost makes me want to eat vegetables" Because i love, love, love, this photo. It is one of my favourites of last year. i took it in a market off La Ramblas in Barcelona. The colours are amazing, fruit & veg in tesco simply does not look like this. Maybe if it was i might be tempted to try it a bit more often. i wasn't really planning to scrap this tonight, but i scrapped backwards. Usually i'll pick photo(s)/journalling first and then spend ages choosing which products to use. Tonight i was sorting some of my stash and making a pile of cardstock when i noticed these three colours thrown together (orange, green, red) and loved the combination straight away. So i went about finding a photo to match the combo and came accross this. i kept it simple because i think the photo deserves it. i also got another page done and i'm working on a minature project, but it's not dry yet, so will have to wait for another day. Ciao for now!

Confession No1.

So tonight i have made a few layouts which are not my usual style, this being one of them. Even my writing is different. For those of you who don't know (which is all of you), i have variable handwriting (at least i think that's what it's called). Basically it changes depending on what i'm writing with and on, what i'm writing about and what mood i'm in, sometimes it even changes within a pargaraph or sentence, but mostly not. And i sometimes find it difficult to write within lines, but i like to think that this is because of the creativity in me. i have about half a dozen different types of handwriting which i tend to use most often, but this is not one of them. Anyway, i usually keep it as neat as i can manage for my scrapbook pages, but clearly i didn't manage that here. i'm not sure if i like this page yet, but the journalling is there which i guess is the most important thing. i don't want to forget the fads & phases of 2006. It's mad to think where i was at the beginning of the year and where i was at the end.

p.s. i added a counter to my blog today, just to see how many people don't read it.

i managed to get this done yesterday along with another page & two and a bit pages of my Heidi Swapp 'all about me' album. And before you say anything, i know that 24 is not 'old' but i still feel like i'm just not ready to be 24 yet (even though i am) m'kay! Full photo credit goes to Miss Magee. i downloaded the font from Twopeas, it's very originally called 2peas scrapbook and is fast becoming my favourite font ever. This is my first page of the year.

Now i'm sure you've already heard of Mika, but if you haven't then go check him out, because he will be everywhere in 2007. His sound is a bit like scissor sisters & even if you're not interested in him i still suggest you check out his website because it is very awesome.

Shimelle is very generously running a free class next weekend, if you've never tried an on-line class then now is your perfect opportunity! i am definately, definately going to finish this one in a weekend, because my 'you think you know me' album is yet to be completed...

So i spent ages in paperchase looking at everything & ended spending a fortune. oops! But look ~ these journals & notebooks were too cute to resist. What does you need all those for i hear you cry? Well my friends, the little one is for writing my favourite quotes & title ideas in, the black one is for my notes on photography, the stripy one is for sketches & the spotty one is my journal for writing all my thoughts & ideas down & for sticking in magazine clippings, memorabilia & stuff that gererally inspires me. It has some pockets and ziplock bags into it for this exact purpose! How cool is that? i also got some bargains in The Paper Mill Shop, including some 8 1/2" x 11" albums for £9.99 some hero arts stamps i've been wanting for a while for £2 each and these cute tin buckets which cost a grand total of £1.45!! i'm very into open storage at the moment, and these are great for picking up and taking into the living/dining room. Oh yes & i also bought 2 My Little Pony's for a special little girl who will be turning 4 on Wednesday, where did those 4 years go, eek?!?! One of the pony's has it's own scooter! Things have certainly moved on since i used to play with them. Anywho, i'm all revved up & inspired to do some scrapping now so i'm off.

i have been a very bad blogger, but i just haven't felt like it ok! Anna Bannana told me off today for not posting in a while so i felt obliged to write something for her, seeing as she has to work tomorrow... We are having to work weekends at the mo due to the Boat Show which is pants-o-rama! Seriously, last week felt like it was about 2 weeks long! Anyway i have to work Sunday so in order not to waste my precious day off tomorrow i have made plans to go shopping in the am with Nic, because i am desperate to visit paperchase for some inspiration. i spent last Saturday with her too, plodding round asda waiting for our photos to be developed from the night before (none of which are scrapworthy) and then watching Tristan & Isolde which i thought would make me cry, but didn't. Then i spent the evening with Katie, Darren & Richard it was so fun hanging out with them! Richard & i were talking about his travels which got me really buzzing. i was also talking to another old friend last week about his RTW trip and he opened my eyes to another couple of possibilities... Sunday we went to see one of Lloyd's band at Chicago's, he is in 3 at the moment! It's something that makes him really happy, and i think my mum quite enjoys being one of his groupies too!

i have not been creating much lately, no scrapbook pages so far, lots of ideas tho... Tuesday we went to a button evening at my mum's friends, we were supposed to be making button necklaces but the lady who knew how to make them couldn't come. Everyone decided that i would be able to figure out how to do it & handed me the instructions to do a demo! It wasn't as difficult as i thought, but i ran out of wire so only got about half a necklace done, i will definately make another though, they are so cool.

Here's some stuff that i'm watching, reading & listening to right now:

Ugly Betty

The Devil Wears Prada (haven't seen the film yet)

Thirteen Senses

Plus, Desperate Housewives is back & the second series of Prison Break starts soon, can't wait!!!

Thanks for making me blog Anna, i've missed it. x