Pastel Christmas

Today I'm thinking pink. And baby blue. And fresh green.

A friend once told me she hadn't ever seen me wear pink until I had a little girl. I think she was probably right. Now, some years later, I can occasionally be spotted in a little pink something. And there's more - I scrapbook pink too. Last year I made a pastel pink Christmas page for Get It Scrapped. This year? Scrap365 asked me to write about scrapbooking with pastels at Christmas.

My article was published in the Scrap365 supplement inside December's Craft Stamper magazine.

I'm a bit sad as I look at it now because, as many of you will already know, there is to be no more Scrap365. 

Writing for 365 has been a huge pleasure for me and I have to thank everyone involved for inviting me to be a part of it. It's been good.

And so maybe it's fitting that my last page is a little blue? Though the point of that October Afternoon turquoise is to show one way of going pastel at Christmas.

Here's my pink page from last year, too:

How about you? if you are making a Christmas album this year, or choosing new colours for your tree, are you going traditional? or are you pleased by pastels?

Oh, don't forget! Christmas Club again this Sunday. Everyone welcome! Any Christmassy post at all - story, recipe, project - would be perfect. If you'd like to write, I'm beginning with

"At Christmas we..."

and I'm offering it as a starting point to anyone who'd like to give it a go too. See you there?

The Back to Basics Quirky Kit Blog Hop (and chance to win)

Hello, hello and welcome to my spot in the Quirky Kits Blog Hop!

Scrap365 has joined forces with the fabulous Quirky Kit girls to show you how inspirational, exciting and economical subscribing to a kit can be 

Quirky Kits have a choice of three kits - Main, Lite and Embellishment; all of which are delivered bi-monthly and Leonora and her team have kindly given us the beautiful 'It's My Party' Main Kit to give away as a prize!

The DT have all been playing with one or more of the current Quirky Kits to show you just how versatile they are; and how they suit any style of scrapping. Let's get started...

The Blog Hop with more hop than most, I'm calling it, because between receiving a beautiful Quirky boxful of supplies and pulling together a page ....I happened to fracture a bone in my foot. Manageable, you might say, and yes, yes, you'd be absolutely right, except except that I usually do my scrapbooking several flights of stairs up. On the fourth floor. That's quite a way! That Quirky Kit was calling me, though. I've been a fan of the Quirky selections since I made some pages for a spot a while back.

So armed with the Scrap365 sketch we had been given I challenged myself to stay away from all my extra supplies and usual sources of inspiration upstairs. After all, that's the point of a kit, right? Leo put it together so that I didn't need anything else, apart from a little length of twine and a photo to illustrate what I'd been doing in that week I had to keep my foot up.

The sketch showed an 8.5x11 design, and that's how I started; but when I pulled all the lovely papers out of the bag they arrived in, I looked at that fresh white carrier bag and thought..it's so nice I have to use it. It says Quirky Kits on it and so it adds to the story of what I did in this week. The paper bag became my background. I scrapbooked on the packaging...

After all, I did want to do something quirky!  It's 12x12 size, it fits perfectly into a page protector, and I hope it shows just what good value one of Leo's kits can be.

Now you've seen what I did with my kit, please hop on and check out what the other girls have been up to.  Up next is Eila at Dollops of Scraps, but you can find everyone else here:

scrap365.blogspot.co.uk - Ali

quirkykits.blogspot.co.uk - Leonora 

fromhighinthesky.blogspot.co.uk - Sian

dollopsofscrap.blogspot.co.uk - Eila

rukristin.com/blog - Kristin

slightlysquiffy.blogspot.co.uk - Lythan

papierstau.at - Sanna

njmacs.blogspot.co.uk - Natalie

skalovingeek.blogspot.co.uk - Steph

Please make sure that you leave some love on every hoppee's blog; like Scrap365 on Facebook here and follow the Quirky Kits blog so that we can put you into the draw to win the MAY/JUNE 'It's My Party' Main Kit :)The draw will be made and announced on Friday 4th July at 9.00am.

Best of luck!

Cards and Quilting

Over the past few months I've been taking part in a Friendship Quilt exchange organised by the lovely Fiona of Staring at the Sea. I make a quilt square, one a month, and post it off to the next name on the list. Yesterday I parcelled up a square for my friend Deb and I chose a card from my collection to put in with it, and I took it to the Post Office. I found one of my story cards to send, because Deb can tell a great story; but, when I got home I realised that maybe some quilt themed cards might be good to have in store for the months ahead. So I made this one:

and this one:

I stitched overlapping, slightly different sized squares onto my cards because for me the best thing about this swap is that we are all sewing different fabrics with different skill levels and all having fun with the results. I've never done any patchwork before, but I'd only made the first couple of blocks before I realised why many quilters become so passionate about their hobby.

I guess that thought is what led me to make this page for Scrap365

How good it is when one creative activity leads to another.

My Giro

It's back to scrapbooking today. It's unusual for me to make an "events" page so close to the - event; but I'm surprising myself here by saying that I wanted to make the excitement last a little longer.

Over the weekend here the Giro d'Italia, one of the biggest cycle races in the world, came to town. When it was announced, I didn't know anybody who knew anything about competitive cycling. But, as the preparations began, most of us started to realise that we could expect something big. When they told us the roads would be closed we started to get intrigued, and by the time we heard that school would be closed because nobody would be able to get there, we were cheering before we'd even seen any cycling.

And the roads were closed: close to home on Friday, and on stretches across the country over the weekend as the racers flashed down the coast road, twisted through the city and finally headed south. All along the route, every step - or is that pedal? - of the way, we all went mad for bright pink, the Giro colour.

There were electricity pylons painted pink, pink kerbstones, pink pillar boxes, wigs of pink, faces turned pink: you name it, it was blushing. Rumour has it one enterprising fan had been collecting old bicycles for months. he spray painted them and offered to set them up outside shops and restaurants, for a fee, and then take them away after it was all over. Smart.

All too soon, it was over. We watched on tv as familiar landmarks appeared on the screen - it was strange - and we stood at the side of the road and cheered as strangers looked around at the streets we know so well. And when everyone had gone home, I went out to take a few extra pictures before the decorations disappeared. Which I think brings us right back to knitting and crochet. I liked the cycles, I really did, and the cheering, and the everybody-liking-each-other-and-getting-along; but I've found my favourite bit. Yarn bombing, Giro Style.

Before I go toady is it okay if I give a shout out to the new issue of Scrap365? That's my layout on the front cover. Out now!

A Few Things to Pin: A Scrap365 Project

Today I have a project over on the Scrap365 blog. I've been making things with the Scrap365 wooden shapes and you can find my card and gift idea here at A Few Things to Pin with Wood Shapes. The moustache made me do it..

Check out the other posts in the series to see lots more ideas!

First Things First

Oh, quite a while back now I wrote a post here about scrapbooking firsts - food firsts I started with - and it's an idea I've been meaning to get back to ever since. So, last week, on the very first week of the year, I munched on the end of the turkey sandwiches and looked at my new surprise-Christmas-present Polaroid camera

and I wrote up a few "photo firsts". The list, and the layout I made, are appearing on the Scrap365 blog today as part of a new Scrap365 Tuesday Tutorial series..

...every Tuesday!

Title? Who Needs a Title?

"Sooo.." said The (Not So) Small One. "I know you've been working on some stuff you aren't ready to blog about just yet, and I know you had a really busy weekend. Does that mean you are a bit - stuck?"

"Well," I said "If I had managed to make a start on your fox hat I could have written about that. Or if I had finally finished off the neckband on your Dad's sweater, I could have taken a picture of that. But I haven't. So I can't. BUT  that does give me a great chance to show a couple of Scrap365 layouts

For an article on an alternative viewpoint. I journaled a dream house. The text is under the two flaps. This layout was used to create last month's Sketchbook365 challenge.

which is also a good way of telling everyone to look out for the next issue..

For the series PDQ Pages about layouts you can make in under an hour

..and of asking anyone not in the UK - where have you seen Scrap365? Where can you get hold of it? I'm intrigued..

ps..It's lovely to see that the swaps are starting to arrive already. Thanks, everyone!

Another Man's Treasure..for Sketchbook365

It's my turn this month again to have Sketchbook365 create a sketch from one of my pages. Thanks 365!

This time round it's taken from a layout I made for an article in the "Viewpoint" series - on scrapbooking from an unusual point of view (almost said "angle" there: but scrapbooking from an unusual angle? sounds a bit extreme). My point of view? A dream - of a house to decorate, all of my own. a fantasy page, which you can find in this month's Scrap365

When I saw the sketch, I decided to have another go at the same design and this is what I came up with. I wasn't ready to let go of the house theme just yet: this one is about the bits of treasure I find when I go poking around at my Mum's. Every visit, lately, I seem to have found something to bring from her house to ours. In local terms it's called "pruch" and you can say it with as much spit as you want to. It simply means "lucky treasure" - maybe from an attic or a car boot sale or even a bin - anything you fancy holding on to when someone else wants to throw it away. My pruch a couple of Sundays ago included:

- Ronan the Donkey, who always seems to travel with James the Falorie Man (from Storytelling Sunday), so he had to come home. he is felt, very lovely and made by my Mum many years ago.

- a hand puppet I started when I was about ten, obviously with quite a lot of Mum's help, by the look of that face.

- a treasured Christmas present: my "Slideorama" which required darkness (the cloakroom) and many, many batteries before it would work.

- a newspaper announcing the death of George VI. This is the ultimate pruch in that it wasn't ours to start with: a visitor left it with my Mum because she thought we might be interested. Of course we're interested.

Here's the sketch:

There are some lovely, different interpretations by the Design Team on the Sketchbook365 blog and a great prize from our High in the Sky good friend A Sprinkle of Imagination. You have until April 19th to add yours to the linky: and I'd love to see some from all you sketch lovers out there. Best of luck! Someone has to win and you can enter from anywhere in the world....

Coloured cardstock background, just to try something a bit different
Wood veneer houses and grey alpha from Studio Calico
Papers from 5th and Frolic Dear Lizzy
Velvet ribbon and stamp from Citrus Twist
journaling typed on a pull out card

And In the Box...

A couple of weeks ago I got a big parcel in the post: a boxful of layouts which had been published in Scrap365 magazine. We work months in advance, so it had been a while since I'd seen some of these, and it felt like a reunion with old friends...

The pie chart page, from the November 2012 issue, was for an "And Finally" feature: something a bit different to finish up your reading at the back of the magazine. It's definitely worth thinking about if you have a list to scrapbook.

Or, if you have something a bit more private in mind, how about some hidden journaling? In the same issue I did a piece on that very subject:

There is journaling under each of the cards: it's surprisingly freeing to start out knowing that you can keep the words out of sight. Again, worth a try.

Now, don't laugh - this next very simple page has turned into one of my favourites. The journaling is hidden underneath the patterned paper which drops down out of the way. It's about a university experience, so I cut some shapes I hoped look like dreaming spires and lots of blue, which always says "hard work" to me. I'd like to try the same design again with a different mood and new colours, just to see how it looked. There are other possibilities: leaving the words on show over or instead of the patterned paper; or using a photo instead of the shapes. I can see it miniaturised as a card too, maybe?

and, finally, a lighter, brighter look with banners; for a page about a cheerful Monday morning, inspired by an article I did on using songs as inspiration.

A delivery of new supplies might just be as good as a Monday gets. Thank goodness it's Wednesday. Have a good one!

Scrap365 Blog Party!

I have an invitation for you today. Scrap365 is hosting a big, big blog party! It lasts for a full week: there are new designers to meet, giveaways to enjoy and a Cricut Mini Grand Prize. You can find all the details right here at the Scrap365 blog. Definitely worth checking it out!

The new issue reaches the shops today too. My copy hasn't got to me yet, so I'm still looking forward to enjoying the new format..

..and taking a peep at the piece I was asked to write about my Signature Style. Now that was an excellent challenge! Along with a new layout I chose a couple of favourites to illustrate the scrapbooking I love; so you'll see a bit of this:

and a dash of this

I hope you'll like it. But, back to that party. It's here. Now.

The Perception of Pizza

I was on my way to the Post Office, the other day, happily carrying a pizza box and minding my own business, when a friend jumped out of a shop doorway. 

"I'll have a slice," he said. "Is it pepperoni?"

Then he spotted the look on my face.

"Hold on, that's not pizza at all. Is it? You are using the pizza box as a cunning disguise. There could be anything in there...are you smuggling?"

Smuggling? No, just scrapbooking. I explained it to him, a little, and I think he got it because he grabbed his phone and started showing me his instagram pictures of his cats. Which just shows how many of us really are interested in recording things and photographing and taking note of what's going on around us.

I haven't had a similar conversation on the return trip. Yet. The Postman has been delivering pizza boxes to our door for several years now and he has never questioned the lack of tempting cheese aroma or the coldness of the box. Maybe he's distracted by the big smile on my face. Whether it's a box of new supplies, or the return of a page or two from Scrap365, every pizza box is very welcome.

Anyone else's postman show an interest?

Today's layout was originally published in Scrap365 and was used as a sketch for the October Sketchbook365 Challenge. There is still time to join in this month and all the details are here

From My Dangerous Notebook

It's Monday, how did that happen? But maybe it's a good thing. Monday morning seems like a good time for me to pull out My Dangerous Notebook and see if I can raise a smile. If you're a regular here, you'll have heard of it before, My Dangerous Notebook. They call it dangerous round here because they are never sure what's going to go in there next. .

I'm not sure myself, until I find it: something someone has said, a funny Little E moment, even stuff I see  on the street might fit, if I think it's worth remembering, worth considering a page about. A typical days-worth goes a bit like this:

- Just spotted a little boy on his way home from the shops. He was dressed in a Superman cape. I hope he feels like Superman for many years to come..

- A song on the radio in the car: Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Love Back. There has to be a layout in that! It made me laugh..

- The Tall One got to drive his sister to school on Friday. We ran upstairs out of the way to watch them go. They appeared to be having some kind of disagreement. .."I hope she doesn't distract him," I said.

"They'll be fine," said their Dad, "It'll do him good. Every man has to learn how to drive whilst listening to a nagging woman.." 

I'm saying nothing.

So that's one day's worth of entries. Let's see what Monday brings. My page today first appeared in the August 2012 issue of Scrap365 and was based around a Tall One quote recorded last year. He's not a fan of caravans. But that's understandable, I guess. He finds it hard to fit in..

"And man made caravans because sheds don't have wheels.."

 I'm drawing the winner of the Flair For Buttons giveaway tomorrow morning. Have a good week!

Sketchbook365

Hands up: who here likes sketches? Actually, that's a trick question because I already know lots of you do. I have one for you today! Over at Sketchbook365 a layout of mine has been turned into a sketch for the October challenge.

It's already been a pleasure to see how the Sketchbook designers have interpreted my page - now I'd love to see what all you sketchy experts do with it. 

My original page can be found on page 54 of October's Scrap365; but I thought I'd have another go and I came up with this:

I called it The Curious Incident of the Birds in the Gift Shop, which I now think is probably unfair. They aren't curious, they're remarkable and I like them both very much. But what was curious? the number of other shoppers snapping photos of the displays. I thought I was the only tourist who did that..

So, that's mine. Now, let's see yours! This is the sketch:

and you will find all the details on the Sketchbook365 blog right here. Every month I visit the entries and I'm blown away by the variety of pages - and they come in from all over the world! Please don't think that you have to be in the UK to do this. There is a very pretty prize on offer from Creative Craft World and you have a month to link up your entry. It's worth a go! You could -

- replace the squares with a different shape

- take away the frames or use mats instead

- make it all smaller and really work that white space

- turn it vertically and let the whole block sit on one side of your page

- go digital! This I'd love to see..

- take away some embellishments and go really clean and simple

..but, what am I saying? You're the experts! let's see it whatever way you fancy..

psst..don't forget you can still enter the Flair For Buttons giveaway here. I'll announce the winners on Tuesday next.

It's Thursday..

...and I'm thinking out loud. Last week the comments flew and the chat was fascinating. Think we can do it again? I do. Today I'm thinking about storytelling .

and this is what I've come up with

- That whole beginning, middle, end thing? Writers talk about it because it works. But that doesn't mean you have to write the beginning first. I think you can start anywhere you feel comfortable.

- Tiny details matter. Think back to a great story you have loved. What do you remember about it? Buttons like blackberries, or a creaking gate. .the little things. We need to keep this stuff in our stories! Small counts.

- As do individual moments. (think back to the quote from the knitting book in Tuesday's post). Even in the big we have to find the small. We don't, we can't remember the whole of a big day. Ask me about my wedding day and I might tell you about the bright confetti fluttering to the cork tiles on the bathroom floor as I changed out of my going-away outfit. It's not a lot; but it's good. maybe you don't need more? Little details..

Trying to tell the whole story - a page which originally appeared in the very first edition of Scrap365

Blog posts or stories?  are they two different things? I think we push the blog post boundary with Storytelling Sunday, and I like it. It works, I hope, because we all come expecting a story, or more. We're ready to settle in and read. We aren't looking for a quick fix blog post. We stop skimming and start reading. The everyday blog post challenge, then - and the journaling challenge, too - is to stop skimmers and pull our readers in. Do you think?

So better stories make better pages (though maybe that's a whole new topic..). And if good stories make good pages - how do we find good stories? Practice. The older I get, the more I realise I spent a lot of years undervaluing the practice of practice. If I couldn't do it right away I didn't want to know. Sounds ridiculous now. Now, I like working towards something. And there are books to help with working towards storytelling. I love Marion Roach Smith's "The Memoir Project", which I've written about before. And a new favourite is Natalie Goldberg's "Old Friend From Far Away". If you like Ali Edwards 31 Things class I think you'll like this. When I get a minute I go on Amazon and browse "customers who viewed this also viewed..". It's a good way to put together a book list. So, would you? do you? read books about writing?

..and another from Scrap 365's first issue, working to get lots of words on the page

So, how do you tell your story? How many words do you need? Maybe we'll get to find out on Storytelling Sunday. I hope so! The theme, if you need one, is Too Cool for School . And if you don't need one - excellent! Hit us with anything at all! As always. newcomers very welcome. Show us your story!

Your turn now - any thoughts before you go? Any topics you think we should be talking about? Tell you what, how about an ask-me-anything edition for next week. Ask me anything and I'll give you a ranom-ish answer. How about it?