Roll Over, October

It's half term here; and, to blow away the cobwebs on Sunday afternoon, I talked everyone into going out for a walk. We live in the city, but a few minutes in the car takes us to a truly beautiful spot. As we rustled leaves through the rain, I realised that we had reached another stage in family life. We weren't pushing buggies or holding hands or looking for conkers or even urging everyone along with the promise of an ice cream at the end. We were all there, together, because we chose to be. And that was good.

A few Hipstamatic pictures from Sunday

It got me thinking about October, at the end of this favourite month of mine, and how it has found me through the years:

- The delicious danger of the dark when we were little: chasing round the garden dressed in our costumes and lighting our way with a lantern we'd carved ourselves.

- The happy hazards of teenage years when there was promise in the lights going out. And when we came to the city to shop; searching out Christmas gifts in the starry lights of streets scarred by Troubles, but brighter and braver than anything we knew in the country.

- The first years of a working life, when the swirl of leaves round our feet cheered a wait at the bus stop in the morning; and a homemade apple tart to carry on the family tradition became a personal culinary achievement.

- And then we wrapped babies up snugly and pushed them to the park to look at the trees. We sent them to school dressed to thrill and we waited for the mid term break to calm us all briefly before Christmas.

I guess that part hasn't changed. The woods soothed us all on Sunday; and we're having a good break this week. And maybe the rest hasn't changed too much either. Granny still celebrates her birthday at Halloween with apple tart and witchery; and we'll be there, hoping Little E has brought his costume. There's a school Fling on tonight and maybe the lights will go out. We'll be at home, sweeping leaves from the path so the miniature ghouls, goblins and the rest know where to find us. Whatever you are up to tonight - have a good one!

Storytelling Sunday - this weekend! If you are interested in a theme I'm suggesting " a dark and stormy night" (and very much hoping that everyone across the ocean from us here won't be drawing on personal experience this week..) But all stories of any kind are, of course, very welcome.

I'm a Calendar Girl

I've never been a Calendar Girl before! But when Annie the Felt Fairy asked me if I'd like to act as hostess for the November Monthly Makes, I jumped at the chance. So I'm Miss November! 

You'll have seen my Monthly Makes popping up through the year, and the year before, when Annie started her Monthly Make campaign.2012 has been a tough one for our Mistress of Making; and I have so much admiration for the way she has handled everything life has thrown at her - without a pinch of self pity, just a healthy handful of dark humour. I'm proud to help her out this month; and I'll be checking out the other makes on blogs and in the flickr group. It's not too late to join in! Make something, take a picture, add it to the group. It's that simple.

November is going to be busy; and I'm hoping that I won't have to come back and add these cards as my Make.

After I'd used some of the skull fabric on my layout last week, I decided to take the same basic idea and turn the Pink Paislee frames (also from the Quirky kit) into cards. It's a twist on a card idea I spotted on the Pink Paislee blog and pinned to my Sweet Scrapbooking Pinterest board

The second one, with its "captured" motif got me thinking along a sheriff theme; so I made a badge with some ribbon and echoed it with a sunburst cut with the Slice. I spotted I had a left over piece of pink with a cut already made in it, so I used it to line the inside:

And that's me for today. All I have to do is remind you that next Sunday it's Storytelling Sunday time. Yes, really! So get thinking - for a theme how about "It was a dark and stormy night.."
But, of course, as always, stories on any subject at all are very welcome.

A Hoover of a Halloween

As you know, Little E often phones for a chat. He always has something useful to say. Lately, though, he's been so busy he hasn't had much of a chance to get to the phone. Take the other morning: he was caught up in running his handbag shop. Wouldn't you love to be three again? When you could take any career path you chose and no one would laugh?

So, he didn't stop for a yarn. But when that happens I sometimes get a follow up text message instead...

...half an hour later it arrived. With his Mum's help, of course.

I'm getting ready to open Christmas*. Can you make me a beard, please?

*"opening Christmas" = when the preparations start. See this post

Now, don't tell. I haven't started the beard yet. I'm waiting to find exactly the right sort of fluffy white fur to make supreme Santa whiskers;

and so instead today I have a photo I was sent of Little E's Halloween costume, custom crafted from a red plastic tablecloth by his loving Mum and Dad. He's very fond of Henry Hoover, is Little E. Maybe when the handbag market goes down he'll move into vacuum cleaners. People will always need vacuum cleaners..

The Kool Aid Twist

So, it's no secret that every month I love to get a kit of scrapbooking supplies and see what I can do with them. I like it when I find something a bit different inside that pizza box. Fabric with skulls on? Now that's a bit different; and it came with the latest Quirky Kit. 

It gave me a chance to try something I've had in my head for ages: sewing fabric to a page and then creating a bit of dimension by adding some stuffing behind it. It's sort of basic trapunto for scrapbooking.

I sewed the fabric down with a zigzag stitch to echo the shapes on the skull and then I cut a slit in the paper behind and used a pencil to push in a little wad of polyester stuffing. A bit fiddly, but it worked and now I'm wondering how it would look on a bigger scale. I only wanted one little stuffed square here as part of a border to my layout; and the inspiration for that came from a page I tore from a magazine a couple of weeks ago. Here is the original alongside the border I made

Ooh, if you look too closely you'll be able to see a few little pencil crosses I haven't rubbed out yet. There's a good reason for that. I can't find the good eraser, the one that actually works..

for a layout about the Kool Aid Twist:

During the summer holidays The (Not So) Small One and a friend decided to dye the ends of their hair by dipping it in concentrated Kool Aid. I can't even begin to tell you what my Mum would have said if she had come into the kitchen one bright summer's evening and discovered me with the ends of my hair dangling in a mug of hot lemonade. So I won't. I didn't say much. Mainly because I didn't think it would work.

It didn't work. And, of course, that just made them more determined. After another trip into town for further supplies and several hours in front of youtube, they tried again. This time they got lucky. They changed the colour of the bottom three inches of their hair by several startling shades two days before school started. That's against the rules. Big time. But their luck has held. That big brother with the detention slips in his Prefect-ly, power crazed hands? He hasn't got hold of them. Yet..

pink bottle cap from the previous Quirky Kit

The Man Sweater - My Monthly Make

"Uncle Dave warned me about mothers like you," said The Tall One, as he eyed my knitting book with suspicion. "He said once you start talking about leaving home, they start talking about thermal underwear and woolly sweaters."

Which was harsh. I thought. Harsh. But also true..maybe he does need me to start now? if I knitted all winter, and right through the spring, I could have a whole woolly wardrobe ready for next September. Mmm..

After all, I've got the book for it: the one I made the page about for September's Month in Numbers. Knits Men Want; The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man. I've even worked out how to use the patterns and I've finished up my sweater and everything. And it's not for The Tall One at all: it's for his dad. A man sweater for doing manly things in - so I took its picture like this:

..and I'm resigned to the fact that, despite the book (which does have lovely, basic-shaped patterns), there really is only one rule to remember. Men don't mind if you knit for them - they only mind if you mind when they wear it for gardening.

I don't.

And that is my Monthly Make for October. Annie the Felt Fairy, whose idea the monthly making was, is still in need of all our best wishes for her recovery - keep it going Annie! And if you would like to see more makes, the place to start this month is with Miss October, Joy of Perfect Little World

The Excellent Bikini and Leaving Clues on Pages

This Summer The (Not) So Small One and I bought new swimsuits for our holidays: age appropriate for me and a most excellent two piece for the teenager. I thought she looked fabulous; and she must have been pretty pleased with the effect herself because she let me take photos. They're all safely tucked away in the album and I have chosen a simple picture of her face for this layout:

Because sometimes I like to make pages with clues; pages where the story isn't obvious to everyone right on first glance. It's there in hints and references; and, if you lift the flap, you'll find the words.

A Jenni Bowlin rub on which is at least three years old. Some of the first ones I bought have lost their "rub" but not the JBS ones. They still go on perfectly.

It's a page between us: the girl in the excellent bikini and her Mum who took the pictures. No, maybe it won't mean much to everyone else. But maybe that doesn't always matter when it's for a personal album. 

I used one of my tracing paper butterflies here

Maybe sometimes a little trigger (the colours, the shapes copied from those on the suit, the wet hair, straight from the pool) to get the personal memories going is simply enough. Swimsuits are pretty personal things, after all. Aren't they?

Lift the washi tape flap and you will find some words. I put the typewriter in as a clue

It's Wednesday

..which seems as good a day as any again this week  for Thinking Out Loud. And today I'm thinking about what it takes to make a good page.

- what does it take for you to finish a page and lean back and say to yourself - this one works and I like it?

- or, when you look at a page by somebody else, what makes you say - wish I'd made that one?

What works for you?

• Let's start with finishing it because I bet somebody's thinking it. It's a good point.  It's not often I start one page before finishing another; but it has happened and then it's harder to go back. Or is it? Anyone make lots of pages and then add all the journaling, say, in one sitting?
• Is it the design? Of course there are tricks you can learn to help a page look pleasing to the eye; and if your brain likes what it sees. it will make you stop and look a bit more - but maybe a page with heart is just as attractive? Certainly it's just as important. Fifty years from now, someone dipping into your scrapbook will be there - probably- because they want to find out something about your or your family and not just because they like pretty pictures

• The photo? It's no secret that I like to make pages with any photo I can get my hands on. If I have no photo at all, I do without. And I'm happy with that. But there are many, many talented photographers out there who take gorgeous photos and add them to layouts and make us stop in our tracks. Their success isn't only in pulling me in to look at their pages, it's in their pushing me on to try to take better pictures.
• The story? Would you be surprised if I said I don't think all pages need a story? Maybe you don't agree? Year ago, scrapbooks were repositories, like day books for recipes and quotes and thoughts, scraps of fabric, even, or postcards. I'd like to see more of this kind of scrapbooking today. Pages with memorabilia or a great saying or line from a song? They are good pages!

• and I guess that means that I don't think you need a lot of fancy stuff to make a good page either. I love to shop for it, and I get pleasure from using it; but what I don't need are lots and lots of special exclusives or limited editions. Because I love to see scrapbooking as a leveller.I think it shows us how alike most of us are underneath it all. We all - mostly- face the same challenges in life, look for the same good bits, try to get through the same bad bits. Pages we can all relate to are good pages. And you don't need fancy stuff for that.
• So, what does that leave? Crazy pages about one off funny incidents? Pages about feelings? about life changing events? The subject, then. And if the subject matters to you, then you'll turn it into a good page, with or without any of the extras. And you'll have had fun doing it. What do you think?

What do you need for a good page? I bet I've left something out...

My pictures today come from a little album I made for a Scrap365 article Twenty Things Good Scrapbookers Need to Know which originally appeared in April this year.

Fast, Fancy, First

Sometimes, after Storytelling Sunday, I think - I should have made a page about that. And sometimes I actually get round to doing it:

This is the only photo we have of the Thomas Train Triumph; but at least that means I don't have to think about how to get more pictures on my page. Despite my best efforts to change, I'm still a one photo kind of girl. I always have been. I think it goes right back to the beginning, when I found a stack of 6x4 photos in a folder, and I took one , and I stuck it on a page. The main draw now, for me, is that working with one picture over a couple of hours gives me a chance to really look at it, really take in the little details and remember the things I'd missed. On this one I remembered:

- that crazy flower patterned fleece she is wearing, which we bought while on holiday in Edinburgh. It replaced one we'd bought in the same shop a couple of years earlier. One with a big red heart on the front and a pair of ears sewn into the hood. Everyone loved it.

- the little girl standing next to her. Who travelled for miles every day and, at the end of that first year, decided it was just too far. She changed schools and we never saw her again.

- the train driver cap which was popular with every kid who visited; but not with its original owner, because, even in those days, his hair was too big for a hat

- and Thomas himself. We used the same cardboard box idea again to make Robot Wars robot costumes for a family party. Robot Wars was very popular in our house for many years..

..and so it goes on. That's what happens when I start with one photo and spend a bit of time with it.

The brightly coloured papers here are a move away from the paler pages I've been making lately. Almost everything came in a kit from Citrus Twist - what about those crazy shaped flowers? I cut those from a piece of Prima paper which seemed to suit.

The red washi tape was in there too, so I used it to create a flap with my photo

In the end a different part of the story came out in my journaling, so it looks as if I'll be printing out the full Storytelling Sunday version and sticking it to the back of my layout. That's one post preserved - if, like me, you are starting to wonder about keeping the rest, you could have a look at the simple instructions from Blog Guidebook on how to back up your blog. I think it's definitely worth it, don't you?

Loose Ends

Thank you everyone for weighing in on Wednesday with your thoughts on blogging! You know, when I published that post I was pleased with it. It said what I wanted to say. And then, about two hours later, I realised that I'd made a bad mistake..

Not everyone who reads blogs writes a blog of their own. I ought to have remembered this. maybe the question I should have been asking was - what does blog reading do for you? Because it's certainly true that I read for two years before I started to write, and I saw figures for it somewhere recently: averagely speaking, a third of your readers will blog and the other two thirds won't, I think it said. So I especially want to thank one of my "readers-not-bloggers", Susan, for dropping by to leave a comment and I'd love to hear from anyone else who does the same thing.

I have other loose ends from Wednesday, and several posts before, to catch up with today:-

• Helen asked if I knew anything more about the schoolgirl who was raising money to feed students in Africa. She's Martha, she blogs at Neverseconds and she raise money for Mary's Meals. I think she's a star!
• Lisa-Jane wanted to know if I had ever got round to trying to cut tracing paper with my Slice. Yes, here it is. You can see that the cuts are perfectly crisp and it gives a good impression of fancy vellum die cuts. The only precaution I took was to doubly make sure the tracing paper was well smoothed down onto the cutting mat.

• A couple of weeks back I was asked if we still had Gary the Magnificent, our hamster. Yes! Gary is coming up to his second birthday, and we know that's a good age for a hamster. His fur has always been a perfect sandy shade, but now we can see little flecks of grey and we understand that time is moving on..but for now he is fighting fit.
• My Photo365 photos: I've been asked if I'm still taking a photo day. Yes! I still check the blog every day for the prompt, but I've discovered that if I don't blog the results it leaves me more free to take really personal photos. We'll be up to number 300 very soon.
• The sweater I was knitting? Turned out I did need to buy an extra ball of wool in the end, just to make the collar look really good. So It's not quite finished just yet.
• If you were thinking of having a go at the Sketchbook365 sketch challenge with the sketch from my page - you have another week to add your link. It's been a lot of fun seeing the entries come in and thank you to everyone who has made the design their own!
• I didn't get a good chance in Wednesday's post to thank everyone who joined in with Storytelling Sunday this month. Thank you! It's always a great one when we have someone new - hello to KathiJo, please drop by and give her a welcome! And if you haven't had a chance to catch up with all the stories yet or even to add yours to the list - this weekend would suit just fine..

..have a great one!

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday, and that seems as good a day as any for thinking out loud. Especially as this is my 500th post! When I hit publish today, it will be the 500th time I've pulled something together and sent it out to the world and wondered who would find it.

It all started with Shimelle's Blogging For Scrapbookers class in 2009; and many of the bloggers I met then are still blogging partners and friends today. We keep in touch and that seems like a good reason to keep on blogging.

Last night I heard the news that one of those friends, Deb, had lost her dear Mum Marti who had been living with Ovarian cancer for the last year. Everyone here is so very sorry for her loss. Through the final months Deb has been using her blog to highlight the curse that is Ovarian cancer and it has been a privilege to see Team Teal at work. Now that seems like a good reason to blog too.

At the weekend I was reading about a girl who started to blog about her school dinners and has ended up raising thousands of pounds to feed students in Africa. Another good reason to blog.

My photos today come from a little album which originally appeared in Scrap365 magazine May 2012 along with a piece about blogging

And I often turn to some of the experts I have highlighted here before. Blog Guidebook, Pugly Pixel and the rest. If you know how to do something really well and you are able to share that with the world? Good reason to blog.

That's where the rest of us come in. I started blogging because I wanted to find other women who liked to make the kind of things I like to make. Turns out I found a whole lot more. It turns out that there are lots of bloggers out there who love their family and friends the same way I do; who enjoy the little things in life; and a moment to reflect; and a roof raising laugh when we can find one. There's a good reason or two to keep on blogging. What we have in common is greater than the distances between us.

It's true. Some of the most gratifying comments I get aren't about what I make at all. Instead they are the ones that start with - I know what you mean or I feel that way too. I guess we all want to feel that someone else out there gets us. That's what blogging at five hundred does for me. That's what, I'm wishing, blogging does for Deb, and her daughter Carrie,and the others out there who have their troubles this Autumn.

- Now, what does blogging do for you?

Storytelling Sunday Two: The Words The Pictures

Welcome to Storytelling Sunday! It's our first-Sunday-of-the-month gathering of storytellers, tale spinners, journalers and memory keepers. I'm ready to make a start if you are..

The Fastest Fancy Dress

On Friday I told you about our family's love of dressing up. Fancy Dress holds no fears for the Fairs! And we start 'em young..

So: start of October. The talk about costumes for the family Fancy Dress Party begins; and, in the middle of it all, the Parent Teacher Association send out their flyer about the Annual Fireworks and Fancy Dress Parade. It's The Small One's first year of school, and we can tell she's tempted. Last two, we didn't go, Loud and Bangy Things being at the top of The Tall One's Big List of Things to Avoid. So, we talked about it and considered it and in the end we decided not to go: we would stay at home, under the kitchen table in our hard hats.

And that was that. The day of the Fireworks display arrived and I spent the afternoon cutting out costumes for the family party (Pirates of the Caribbean, I think it was that year. One miniature Jack Sparrow, one even more miniature Elizabeth Swann) before serving up a big shepherds pie in time for tea. As we ate, I watched a very small Small One slump in her chair. She stirred her potato round her plate. She sighed loudly for added effect; and eventually we just had to ask her what was the matter..

"I want to go to the Fancy Dress," she said. "I want to go."

"But you don't have a ticket. Or a costume," we replied.

"I really want to go," said a very small Small One, in an even smaller voice, and she pushed her plate away and looked at her toes.

"I suppose I could take her," said her Dad. "But it starts in twenty minutes and it's a sell-out, no tickets left, i'd have to talk our way in..and then there's the little matter of her costume..."

It was true. The Pirate costume was still in pieces on the Dining Room table. 

We looked at each other. Thomas! we both said.

I told you we never throw anything out. "Thomas" was a four year old cardboard box fashioned into a steam engine to suit The Tall One's fancy, and it was sitting ready in the attic. We fetched it. It fitted. She got in the car, clutching an old cap for her head and with Thomas beside her, and they drove off into the night...

..and about half an hour later they were back. With First Prize! They had arrived with seconds to spare. The Fancy dress Parade was already parading and the judging was about to begin. The Small One had clambered onto the stage and joined in at the end of the row. Her dad had popped the cardboard box Thomas over her head and stuffed the train driver cap on her head. It had been enough. The judges had liked it. She accepted First Prize and, as the first fireworks flared in that dark October sky, The Small One was carried home to bed.

And that's almost the end of the story. Almost, but not quite. With a bit more preparation, she won the next year..and the year after that..and the year after that the PTA decided I'd better do the judging instead. But that sounds like the beginning of a different tale entirely..

..and that's my story for today. Like to join in with one of your own? We'd love to have you! Everyone welcome. Simply write your story, with an introduction to Storytelling Sunday and come on over. add your link and we'll come and enjoy...and don't forget - tell your story your best way: if that means photos, not words, then that will do very nicely indeed. We'll take our stories any way you care to offer them! If you make a layout to go with your story, i'll pin it to the Storytelling Sunday Pinterest Board: it's beginning to fill up very nicely with reminders of Sundays past. Now, let's  tell stories...

Once I Was a Witch

Friday already? And Storytelling Sunday is two days away! I know some of you are already prepared and some of you are still thinking..

If you are still on the hunt for an idea, how about going with my October-ish plan? Let's Dress Up!

Regulars round here have probably already worked out that I like thinking about clothes and I love to dress up. Every day dressing up is good. Fancy Dress dressing up? Now that's the best!

Not taken at a Family Party. I've been asked to judge the PTA Fancy Dress a few times. They make me dress up. They make me choose a winner. It's one of the hardest jobs I've ever done..  

I get it from my Mother, I've decided: my Mother and her Fancy Dress Parties. Oh, yes. Every year, when we were little, I would look forward to the last day of October, Halloween; and the chance to up-end the dressing up basket and pull together my costume. When my own two were born I was determined the tradition would continue; and, with the willing help of my sister (the-best-auntie-in-the-world), we did, for many years, hold a Family Fancy Dress Party every Halloween.

Now, there are many ways this story could go from here. I could tell you about The Fat Lady from Harry Potter Year; or the Giant Walking Baked Bean from the Year of the Letter B; or the small Willy Wonka in his Mum's best brown velvet evening coat. But, for now, all you need to know is that once we did Thomas the Tank Engine. And also that we never throw anything out. Oh, and that thing about getting a love of dressing up from my Mother? I think it has moved on a generation. Because Sunday's tale isn't about me at all..

See you there?

My Month in Numbers - September

When you live with an accountant, it can be easy to dodge the numbers if you want to: easy to let someone else do the counting. And that's why Julie's Month in Numbers always feels like a fun challenge to me. For once, just once, a month  instead of pulling together some words, I have a go at thinking numerically.

Here, September for me was dominated by one set of numbers. And it was all down to a sweater.

At the beginning of the month I bought a new knitting pattern book: Knits Men Want. I blithely, blissfully ignored the Amazon review which said don't buy this book if you live in the UK, you won't understand a word of it and I sat back and waited for it to arrive.

It arrived. I didn't understand a word of it. 

So, I had one new knitting book Knits Men Want: The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting For A Man (plus the only 10 patterns she'll ever need). And the 10 patterns were very nice. I just couldn't see how to make them work. I'd never come across a knitting pattern presented as a table of numbers before. It took me two nights of scratching my head and wondering before I decided to get stuck in and order twenty x 50g balls of chunky blue wool so that I could experiment. ..

..and experiment I did. I wanted to end up with a 40 inch chest sweater. The 40 inch example in the book was knitted on US size 8 needles with a tension of 18 stitches and 16 rows over 4 inches. The wool I had ordered wasn't the wool specified in the book. Mine was bargain, 50% off wool and it took me another two nights to decide what size needles I needed to use (4.5 mm) and which line of numbers I was supposed to be following in the table (are all US patterns like this? it's easy once you get the hang of it). So easy that I ended up knitting in one ball a night and the whole thing has taken me just under three weeks. I'm sewing it up now and I have one small hurdle left. The neckband is knitted on one circular needle. I have less than one ball of wool left. It might not be enough..

The table of numbers..

Month in Numbers runs over at Julie's - every month, of course - and a good place to start is with the Pinterest board full of fascinating numerical round ups right here.

The yarn? That's what we call a good story round here and it reminds me that before I go I want to give all of you a reminder that it's Storytelling Sunday this coming weekend. The theme, if you fancy it, is Let's Dress Up! But, as always, stories about anything at all are more than welcome.