Onwards and Upwards Blog Hop

It's the weekend!  A special welcome if you are hopping as part of Jennifer's Onwards and Upwards blog event. Details of the hop and the giveaway etc can be found at the bottom of this post.

Up until a week ago I had no idea what my post was going to be about for this event.  I had lots of bits of ideas and I definitely wanted it to be about sharing positive messages but I had nothing concrete.  Until Thursday morning.  It was a crazy day going from place to place but I felt the need to pop home mid morning and I'm so glad I did.  There was an e-mail from Shimelle about being a guest artist on her blog event for National Scrapooking Day on Saturday.  I leaped off of my chair and squealed.  Then I panicked.  Then I scrapped.  Then I changed my mind.  Then I scrapped again.  Then I went back to my computer and double checked and triple checked the message in case it was a fake.  Then I sent my husband a text telling him my exciting news.  But he doesn't understand creativity.  Then I picked up my 6 year old son from school and he jumped up and down and "Wow, Shimelle's blog?  Really?  Wow!" which was more the sort of reaction that I was feeling myself.  I felt really positive about my scrapping and I would love for other people to feel that too.  We just need to tell them :-)

Very few people can say that scrapbooking is their job but Shimelle can and I admire her for that.  I also admire her style and her passion for the story.  I have followed her since I met her when I started scrapbooking at Scrap-a-Mia exactly 3 years ago.  Good grief what a baptism of fire that was!  Since then I have had ups and downs with technique, style and general ability and had days where I liked my layouts and days when I wondered why I bothered to even try.  

About 18 months ago I applied for a Design Team place with S J Crafts in a moment of "why not?" and I was over the moon to be chosen.  Seizing that mad moment of thinking I might be good enough to be on a DT was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  Being selected restored my confidence in my ability as a scrapbooker.  Someone else liked what I did.  About a year ago someone asked me to make an album for a colleague as a commission, completely out of the blue.  A few weeks ago I won a competition with Echo Park papers.  This week I've been featured on a website that I would have never thought possible.  I am never going to make a living from crafting but in the words of a very wise 6 year old "Its not about the money Mummy".  So what is it about?  Its about feeling positive about something you've made.  

We need more layout love in this cold hard world that we live in.  We need to tell people when we like what they do.  Hearing from other people about things we have made makes it all worthwhile, whether it is a cup of tea, a bowl of soup, a card, a layout, a tutorial or a wedding dress.  If you've been enthused to create something, tell the person that inspired you.    If you've entered one of the many many challenges from last weekend, tell them why.   Make someone's heart swell and face beam like mine did this week.  Share the love people :-)

So... my challenge (all open until Sunday night) was to create a double layout.  In a hurry.  I scraplifted myself by choosing the first double I came to in a random album I picked up with no deliberations over "what about this one or that one".  It was this layout that was originally a quadrant design for a 6x6 paper pad and I mirrored the placement and then tweaked the embellishments to suit the larger structure.   Choosing the layout gave me a strict plan for the photos and I did the same thing again - choosing the first batch that fit the orientation, style and number.  Same with the papers.  Studio Calico Snippets was to hand (being obtained recently) and it was ideal so I didn't try and find anything possibly more ideal.  I spend far too much time trying to find something even better when actually it just makes me go around in circles!

  
The photos are from Ta Prohm in Angkor, Cambodia, about 10 years ago on our Round The World Trip.  We often wonder how much more damage has been done by the invasive roots but they can't stop them because they are all that is holding it up!  Such a tough battle of man versus nature but it does make a wonderfully atmospheric temple.

It makes me laugh when I look back and think of us shooting a whole reel of black and white film there and then a whole reel of colour, with no idea how any of them would turn out.  The children can't get their heads around the idea of waiting for film to be exposed and not seeing the photo instantly on the screen.  How things have changed since then.  Onwards and upwards eh?!

If you comment on all the blogs in the hop, finishing at Jennifer's to let her know you've been all the way around, then you'll be in with a chance to win a prize pack of cheerful Glitz Designs Color Me Happy and Simple Stories 24/7, worth over £25! 

All entries must be received by Monday the 13th of May at 10.59pm BST. 

Your next stop along the hop is Julie. Have fun!

Bye for now
xx

Jennifer - http://jennifergracecreates.com/
Rinda - http://gallorganico.blogspot.co.uk/
Meghann - http://www.meghannslittlecorner.blogspot.co.uk/
Louise - http://scrapbook-me.blogspot.co.uk/
Lisa-Jane - http://comeinsidemycrazyhead.blogspot.co.uk/
Julie - http://www.icreatepurtythangs.blogspot.co.uk/
Jo S - http://www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.co.uk/
Jo B - http://www.buckinghamspalace.blogspot.co.uk/
Jenny - http://dragonllew.blogspot.co.uk/
Jacky - http://scrappyjackylive.blogspot.co.uk/
Fay - http://beautifullilysramblings.blogspot.co.uk/
Daphne - http://dapfniedesign.wordpress.com/
Abi - http://creatingpaperdreams.blogspot.co.uk/
Jennifer - http://jennifergracecreates.com/

Another Starting Point

Shimelle is back with her sketches and starting points and they do give me a wonderful place to start from.  Of course though, they are no guarantee of success though as you can see from the layout here.  I was at a crop on Saturday and it was the first time that I have felt like I didn't want to scrap, maybe because of the amount of work I did in the previous couple of weeks.  I had planned my pages before I went but even so I found myself floundering at every decision, cutting the wrong parts of papers, dropping things on the floor time after time, even kicking over a whole cup of precious tea.  I had such a headache by the afternoon that I called time slightly early, but not before I had attempted the current Starting Point.

I love the papers and the picture but the layout has no dimension, doesn't sit easily on the eye and is probably too chaotic.  Today I tried to fix it but quickly got to the point that I felt I was fighting a lost cause and I should just move on to something else (like planning a small young lady's 3rd birthday and trip to Peppa Pig World).  In the last few months I have been spending SO much time reading craft magazines and blogs, talking to other crafters, browsing in craft shops, watching craft on TV, decorating my craft room, and also lots of creating too, but I think I overdosed.  I think I need a few days away from my scissors - shock horror!

Bye for now
x

WOYWW 146

I did it!  I finished the album and it is sat next to me waiting to be posted in the morning.  Its been a labour of love but I hope that it goes down well with the people who are giving it and to the person who is retiring.

I had so much planned for this week but both children have had a bit of a cold so my tip of a craft room will have to stay as such for a little while longer.

This was desk once I had finished the final page.  That gap in the middle there is where I was working on the pages so it doesn't count as clear space at all!  And just pretend you can't see that half eaten slice of cherry cake there... ahem...

I ran out of space and my plug sockets are in daft places so I tend to do my embossing on the floor.  I embossed a number of cogs / gears in a copper coloured powder to hopefully fit the theme of the car.

Oh my.  This is my die-cutting area which saw a fair bit of action of the past week.  All the teeny pieces from inside the gears and the left overs from the scraps are mixed up with dies and packaging and Cuttlebug plates so I need to be really careful when I clear this little lot up!  It looks a LOT worse in real life.

The result of all that hard work is a pile of 40 layouts ready for the chap with the fabulous purple 1974 MGB to fill up with photos, ephemera and journalling.  The top one there is the first page and they are all in the corduroy album and well protected now.

I'm cropping on Saturday so I need to get sorted quick smart with what I'm taking.  I can tell you that it will not involve grungy  MME papers, cog dies, the colour purple, a pie crust border punch or a double page layout.  I thank you.

Time to check out what's on everyone else's desk this week I think, and say hi to Julia while you are there won't you.

Bye for now
x

WOYWW 145

Okay so last week I said 143 and it was 144 - I admit, I'm a wrong un.  Today is definitely 145 though, isn't it?

So, this was my desk this afternoon...

The commission for the retirement album is well under way despite only really starting on Sunday.  The album itself arrived today so I've put in the 18 pages that I've completed in the last few days.  You can also see the remains of the papers and cardstock that I've used so far, some plans for further pages, the beginnings of some rosettes and of course, that all important cup of tea.

And just so you know its me, here are the spots!  You can see that I'm joining in with the Crafters Waltz (push to the back, squash to the left, squish to the right) and there are some more of the papers I'm using for the album there and some lovely bakers twine which arrived today.

But because I've been crafting for hours, I thought I would take another pic tonight to show the progress of another set of pages.  The album has lots of purple in it as the car that will be featured is a fantastic shade of purple but there are also lots of blues, reds and browns too.  The papers are all slightly grungy and masculine from a wonderful set from My Minds Eye.

By this time next Wednesday, the entire thing must be finished ready for posting first thing Thursday.  Its been incredibly interesting to do and I've learned a lot but heck my mind has been a whirl of decisions and planning and working out ways to get a few more minutes of work in.  I was even cutting and folding during B's ballet class and my Slimming World session!

I'll leave you with a very special layout (for SJ Crafts) about a subject close to my heart, in case you missed it the other day.  Its about our weekly jaunt around the desks with Julia which has become so much of my routine and I had all the photos on my hard drive so I felt compelled to record it!

Right, 20 more pages to go......

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 143

Hurrah!  I am back in my craft room, scrapping away.  I have a new desk but still no chair as yet.  The table that you saw in last weeks post was the one hiding underneath my spotty tablecloth and has gone to my Dad's.  It has been replaced by a pristine, height adjustable white one.

You can see the 2 layouts I am currently working on and my basket at the top right which houses the things I need all the time.

But wait, hang on.... where are the spots?

Ahhhh, here they are!  The tablecloth didn't work at all on the desk but I managed to mark the drawers within seconds of building them so it sits there now.

I intend to cut a piece to fit the desk top with no overhang, somehow.  I had wanted an L shaped affair but I suddenly realised that I wouldn't be able to have my spotty cloth and so after a mild panic in Ikea I completely changed my mind.  Management just raised his eyebrows when I said I had to be able to use my table cloth because otherwise no-one would recognise me!

I took away the large open shelving and replaced it with 2 bookcases.  It means I have room on the walls for a few bits that I am part way through.  The drawers need some embellishment but I'm happy with the colour, especially against the new colour on the walls.

So there is still work to be done but it will have to go on hold for a bit because I have been asked to create a scrapbook for someone as a retirement present.  I am literally sick with nerves but so happy that someone thought of me when the idea came up.   The deadline is soon though so I best crack on.

So what's on YOUR desk today?  Come on share it with us, don't let my tidy table put you off, it won't stay like that ;-)

Bye for now
xx