100 Up

Funny how one story sometimes leads to another. Leads right to another project, in fact; and it's a project about a scrapbook. This one right here:

It's the book my Mum used to collect together all the ideas for things she wanted to create, pages from magazines, that kind of thing, and that's where the hand puppets came from. A simple, cheap cuttings folder with magic possibilities.

And right up until her illness took hold she produced a steady stream of dolls and toys, wants and wishes. Now, the story of her fight with that cruel disease isn't mine to tell; but I will say that I have the scrapbook now because her hands won't stitch or sew or knit or craft again. It brings me up short every so often when I remember that her fight began when she was only a couple of years older than I am today. So I use that scrapbook; kind of carry the torch, you know? And my new project comes from that.

I've got a pack of manilla Bazzill Basics, a Bind-It-All and a pen. I'm not adding much more. It's going to be my cuttings book with the recipes from my blog, for a start, and anything else I can find. It has to be simple. It has to be written in my own handwriting. And that's all.

Today marks my 100th post, so I'm raising a glass and reflecting a little. I've forced myself to start using my camera properly; I've met some lovely, good, creative people; and I've learned that, if I try, I can make a story turn on a sixpence. I like to pick one little nugget from today or yesterday or before and when I'm telling my tale I'm leaving the rest behind. Sometimes I spend the day washing dishes and ironing shirts. Sometimes I chip plaster from a wall, choose paint colours, or argue with the planners. Sometimes I even shake a hand and make a deal. If it's a good one. But that's not really what my blog's about. It's about the little things. So, here's to the next 100 posts. Who knows where they will take us?

The Auntie Hat

So, said The Small One, If  I have my bath now, and put on my dressing gown and get my own supper, will you tell me what you are going to blog about tomorrow?

Mmm, I hadn't really got a plan. I had been hoping something would just turn up. And so it did, when The Small One returned with her hair wrapped in a big bath towel.

You're wearing an Auntie Hat, I said.

I am? and she sat down carefully so her headgear wouldn't topple.

Oh yes. I replied. That's what we always called a towel turban when I was a little girl.

And did you have an Auntie who walked round with a towel on her head?

Actually?  No. But I did have a teaching Dad who was always asking my crafting Mum to help out with things for the kids. I don't really know what happened the day he asked for the "Auntie" puppet (but I'm pretty sure there was a policeman puppet too, somewhere in the story); it all went a bit quiet when Auntie's hair wouldn't work. And then suddenly, she had a hat. A turban style. Fashionable in the seventies, so she didn't look too out of place.

But from that day on, every time we washed our hair, we asked for an Auntie Hat

It's only a little story; but it's a family story. And now she knows it; and it'll probably end up on a layout; and that's what it's all about.

Today I'm Loving...having a boiler that works again after 2 weeks without. Hot water. Oh. Yes.

The Daily Doily

I don't know when I last enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment project as much as the one I'd love to show you today!

It started at the weekend when I was looking for something to replace the All About Me shaped hole on my desk (thanks again Mel. It was great) and into my blog reader popped another wonderful post from Christine Middlecamp. Her scrapbooking blog was one of the first I ever found; and I'm still captivated by her compelling, honestly told lifestory and her stunning scrapbooking style. Over the past couple of weeks she has been running a series of tutorials on The Embellished Paper Doily : what a wonderful way of getting a little bit of the Christine look.

So, I took my little packet of Martha Stewart doilies (they came in a kit)

and I started to play along with this:

A tutorial is such a great way to try something new - buttons and bling together, for example, is something I would never have tried without a gentle push - and to see how tchniques take effect. I'm really starting to love the extra dimension the black framing gives on these. A new set of instructions went up today and I can't wait to get started..

It's All About Me

Actually it's not really, of course. It's about Mel who had The Big Idea in the first place; and Jo (I'm guessing you've come from there) and Denise (I'm thinking that's where you'll want to head to next); and everyone else who has lined up to tell you something about themselves and their special project.

Because sometimes (but not always) pictures are better than words, I'll show you what I've come up with first.

My answers to the questions? I'll make it snappy because I know you've got other places to stop and other people to see!

• My favourite indulgence has to be sweet chilli flavour kettle chips
• If I had a free afternoon I'd spend it in a bookshop. Any shop.Any place.
• If I had to live without a notebook and pen I could. But I wouldn't want to.
• I buy coffee beans in bulk so I don't run out. That would be a disaster.
• At home I love to be on the top floor creating. Or in the bath.
• I'd find it hard to live without Dunelm Mill. I've got very used to it being around
• To spread cheer, I bring surprise comics and magazines home when I'm supposed to be buying groceries
• Sea green is my favourite colour and Autumn my favourite season
• Apart from reading, I'm not sure what I'm really good at. I can do a little bit of lots of things.
• Three words to describe me? I don't know. That's three

And that's your lot from me! You'll be wanting Denise next (and you can always check in at Mel's if you get lost along the way). Mind the steps on the way out now, won't you?

Tomorrow, Tomorrow..

..it's everyone over to Mel's  for the start of her All About Me blog hop. I'm ready and raring to go; but a little peep of what I've created will have to do for now:

Today I'm Loving...my most excellent blog friends Melissa, Jo, Jennifer and Alexa who have all tagged me this week. Now that's a quite a lot of questions, and probably more answers than you need, especially as we're All About Me -ing tomorrow, so I hope they won't mind if I save my turn for some time when you are least expecting it...

Til tomorrow then.

Help With Hipstamatic..

...Or, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before.

I'm thinking that by now lots of you will have seen Shimelle's wonderful post on the Hipstamatic iPhone app. To be honest, I wish I'd seen it before I started playing about the other afternoon. I did finally persuade The Small One to download it for me (why can't I crack the app Store? I don't know); but with a quick there you go and a brief (but firm) you owe me £1.19, she was off. I had been hoping for a bit more let me show you. But that's what  you'll get if you check up on what Shimelle has to say. Really good stuff.

And once you've got the idea, you can have a lot of fun with the different effects. This is what I've come up with so far:

Before I go and take some more I'd love to take a minute to thank everyone who has wished me well with my Gotta Craft  news. Thank you. It means a lot.

I Gotta Tell You..

...about an out of the blue email I got last Thursday. What a surprise! The lovely Sandra of Gotta Craft  wanted to know if I would be interested in joining her Design Team. After I had picked myself back up off the floor, I had a (very) quick think and then I said Yes. Please. And Thank You. That means I'll be adding some Gotta Craft posts into my regular programming; and I hope you'll enjoy them. You might see me popping up on the shop blog there too. I'm looking forward to making a start because Sandra has given me a little hint about a package coming my way and it sounds very lovely indeed. Thank you Sandra! I'm looking forward to it.

and I gotta show you (because a post isn't a post without a photo) how my knitting is coming along. Round here they're calling it The Hat Factory; and it's true I've made a few. But this one is my favourite so far. I think I'm going to do some more with ruffles..

How To Make Fudge In Two Minutes

You haven't done any cooking lately, said The Small One, looking up from a steaming plate of beef casserole. I was about to point out stew doesn't stew itself when she added On your blog, I mean. And I couldn't really argue with that, so I had a bit of a think and a rummage through my blog-stuff notebook and I found this:

Two Minute Microwave Fudge

You will need:

1lb icing sugar

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup optional chopped nuts, cherries, raisins or any other fudge enhancer you enjoy

• Mix the sugar and the cocoa powder together well in a large microwaveable bowl.
• Make a well in the middle, slice the butter into it and add the milk
• Microwave for 2 minutes on high
• Remove and stir vigorously before adding your extras
• Turn into a very, very well buttered pan and refrigerate

And that is all there is to it. We tested it yesterday and, really, it tastes as if we put quite a bit more time than two minutes into it. Or even five, by the time we'd washed up. That's as fast as popcorn. And that's always a good thing in this house.

If you fancy trying a different fudge recipe I have one for choc and cherry flavour right here

The Wrong Kind Of Grass

When I was looking for that umbrella photograph the other day, I found another couple of pictures. They were taken about a year later, so I'm nearly six and you can see that we've been joined by a new baby brother.

It looks like another glorious summers evening - and it was, I remember it well. But not because we'd made a happy, unscheduled stop to play (we never seemed to do much unscheduled in our family); I remember it because, when I came home, I had the worst combined hayfever-asthma attack of my entire childhood. That grass was bad grass, man.

In the days before inhalers, our last ditch treatment came in a bottle. It was so vile that I had to be seriously suffering before I could be persuaded to swallow a spoonful of "Yellow" as it was dubbed by my mother in a transparent attempt to emphasize its cheerier qualities. And I won't deny it, it had its good points. The weird sense of euphoria it induced, for instance. Seems pretty obvious why they took it off the market, now, when I think about it. It was pretty trippy stuff. And it was the seventies

But I'm wandering off my point, which is this: when you pull out a photo and start to think of the story, make sure you are telling the right story. And any interesting sidenotes: if you look in the top photo you can see the very edge of our car. A sea green Ford Anglia. It's almost exactly the same as the one Harry and Ron fly in the film of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. Not identical, but close enough to be fun. I can feel a postscript page coming on..

Still Talking about The Weather

We're still looking to old photos for our sunshine here today and keeping warm with a bit of brisk scrapbooking. I've finished a page with the photo I showed you last week: you know, the one where everyone thought I was the little sister. That's good new for me because I become two years younger and good news for the real little sister who gains longer legs and becomes the tall one in the family. Here it is:

A scorching hot day in Bristol in the seventies, so I've given it a brown retro look. That's me under the blue umbrella. The beautiful blue just-what-I-alway-wanted umbrella my parents tried to persuade me to leave behind because there wasn't enough room in the suitcase to bring it home. Of course there was enough room! There was the great big Ted Fred shaped space left because someone forgot to bring him. But that's another story.

Today I'm loving ...a new (to me) Australian source for online craft classes: Kim Archer Workshops. I especially like the look of Draw Me Please

Happy Birthday Copy+Paste!

One of my favourite challenge sites Copy+Paste is celebrating their first birthday.

I can hardly believe it's been a year since Kirsty and Julie started bringing us their own special brand of stylish inspiration. I was lucky enough to be a guest poster in those early days and when they asked for Coraline, I gave them the spookiest, strangest Coraline I could come up with:

Since then they've covered everything from flawed works of art to the beauty of Tiffany, with a fantastic 12 Days Of Christmas workshop in between; and this weekend they are holding a big blog party to start their second year with a bang. They've got guest posters (including Dina Wakley) and inspiration and giveaways..do pop over and say hello - you could even introduce yourself with their handy list of questions. Mine goes like this:

1. Everyone knows that I like toile but you'd never guess that I also love gingham
2. I'm proud to admit that I like Morrissey but my guilty pleasure is almost all other 80's music
3. I'm inspired by hard work and it surprises me when I discover how much I can do when I really try
4. I'm always organised but never ready
5. I've got lots of cookery books but I've always wanted a personal chef
6. I've tried to like exercise and it didn't work
7. If I never ate baked beans again it will still be too soon
8. I didn't wash my own car today and now I'm the only one with dry feet
9. It's not that I can't cook but I'd really rather wash up
10. Doing nothing makes me really fed up
11. Someone once told me he'd buy me a bag of chips if I'd let him walk me home and then we got married
12. I'm happy to say that all kettle chips were not created equal and some are even better than others

So that's my list. Have a great party Copy+Paste!

Today I'm Loving...everyone who thought I was my little sister in Thursdays photo. I'm the big one!

When Shakespeare Got Wet

It's a bit dull here today. Definitely exam weather. Though even as I write I'm starting to realise that it won't be the same for everyone. Maybe your exams were always in blazing sunshine? Or even snow? Not here.

A day like today - cloudy, heavy, grim, really - always reminds me of exams. The Big, Serious Ones. The ones at the end. When you only went into school to sit them and then you came home again. I could walk quickly between the house and school in my little country town; but I still got wet.

I can remember starting a English Literature paper with my hair still slicked down into my eyes; my feet still squeaking in damp leather; wiping my fingers against my skirt to stop my pen from slipping. The invigilator took pity on us then; and worked her way quietly through the desks, setting a single sweet like a talisman on the top of each of our papers. Sometimes it's the little things you remember.

Ooh, starting to feel old. Better stop. I've found a different weather photo to scrapbook. One where I'm not quite so ancient. Can you guess which one is me?

Today I'm Loving...everyone who thought after my last post that voting for Horsey sounded like a plan. Although I don't know whether to applaud your good sense or question your sanity. So I won't. I did try to pin him down on policy: so far he has suggested a blanket ban on caravanning (you didn't here about last year's holiday); free apple crumble for all; and limbo dancing as our new national sport. So, if you are in the UK and placing your X today, remember - as Horsey says - Vote Early and Vote Often.

A Bit Of Better Blogging Part Two

And a winner from Sunday. A big thank you to Rinda for her fabulous organistion and to everyone who blogged and hopped and partied and commented. It took Horsey quite a while to fill his hat with all the names (today he used one of the beanies I'm knitting for Helen's appeal) and it's taking him even longer to pull out the name of the winner..

So we'll start with my blogging tips round up for this month. I hope you find something new here:

• I've got Jo to thank for this first one. It's fantastic! So many excellent free tutorials, it's really not to be missed at Adori
• Another excellent stop for blogger fans is Blogger Scrapbook (more tutorials and freebies)
• And its Wordpress sister here. Both by Reflecting The Designer
• We've just missed the Bling Out Your Blog class at Little Light Studio but it's still worth keeping an eye on, and they might run it again
• Likewise, the Blogging Your Way class at A Creative Mint. But the photos alone on this blog make it worth a visit. Really something to aspire to!
• If you like to write even more than you like to photograph, then check out The One Minute Writer for a prompt every day. You can scrapbook it or you can blog it!
• Or check out Seven Days Seven Answers for more ideas
• And finally for this time: a free printable blog planner right here. Love it.
• You can find A Bit Of Better Blogging Part One here

Oh, I knew there was something else. We're still waiting for Horsey to pull out the winner!

Here you go:

Becky..please get in touch and I'll get your prize out to you. I hope you like it!

House Party Blog Hop

Welcome! Welcome! And, as we like to say round here, Come on, on, on in. We've been waiting for you to get here. I'm guessing that tearing yourself away from some of the other houses has been hard! Did you have a good time at Lizzie's? Yes? I'm not surprised! Or maybe you're starting here with me? I thought you looked in need of refreshment! Grab a drink and let me explain.

Our Party Queen Rinda certainly knows how to have a good time. And the thing about Rinda is that she always gives me the feeling that she knew me before she knew me, if you see what I mean. When she suggested the House Party and volunteered to send us all supplies to make a little altered house, she said she had the perfect collection of bits for me. And she was right. She generously sent red card, grey card, bits about books, bits that I loved and so I was able to make this:

How did she know that when I lived in a little house just like it, I was working in the library? We loved that house, hole in the roof, no central heating and all. Look, here it is:

Red brick and reading: two of my favourite things. Thank you Rinda! It's nearly time for you to leave High In The Sky now, I know,  but before you go, I've got a giveaway. After all, all the best parties need gifts. Leave a comment, simply say hello, or really get your feet under the table and start following me and I'll draw a name from a hat to receive a package of book related scrap goodies (oh,and a few house-y bits too). International entries welcome. The more, the merrier! And then I'll have to wave you off and send you on your way to Mel's. Have a good time..and if you get lost on the way, or if you would like to stop by and thank the hostess with the most-est do call on Rinda now, won't you?

The Night Before The Morning After

I'm dropping in quickly today to invite you to join our Californian Party Queen, Rinda and lots of her guests at her House Party Blog Hop, kicking off at 10.00pm tonight if you're in California and early Sunday morning if you're in the UK. We've all got a house to share and I'll have a party giveaway too. Have a little peek: