Brummie Blogger

Stitchin' and Scrappin'

I did actually get all caught up with the My Little Heart stitch along last weekend just as I'd hoped. Once I'd started stitching I just couldn't put it down and I really liked both charts. June's is a strawberry girl and I think she's rather cute.

I had a bit of a problem with the French knots again for her eyes. One's a bit bigger than the other, but we'll pretend you can't tell, ok? July's pattern was for a beach hut and I loved the colours on the chart. I'd used some colours in earlier months that went well plus I picked out a blue that I hadn't used before so I'm pretty happy with the finished result.

The fish are supposed to have eyes, but I chickened out. I may add some later after I've practised a bit more. The photography is a bit better than last week's. I took these in natural light instead of under a lamp so I think I've found the solution - don't wait until night time to blog...

And scrapping? Definitely mentioned in the post title, and it has been a rarity lately, I have to admit. Yesterday I had a lovely visit from a schoolfriend that I haven't seen in years. We chatted a bit about scrapbooking and I showed her my scraproom and some of my 'scrapping toys'. After she'd gone, I had this strange urge to do something to the layout that's been sitting ignored on my desk for about six weeks. I played with it for about an hour yesterday and again today. It's nearly finished. I may even have it ready to photograph and upload at some point. It's quite good timing to get some interest in actually using my stash again as I'm going down to crop with Chris next week. Might be an idea if I can remember what to do...

A busy week

I swear I seem to have been going non-stop this past week. Compared to a normal week I've had a whirlwind of social activity going on. Tuesday afternoon, Ang arrived in Solihull so I zoomed over as soon as she landed for a cuppa and had a couple of hours catching up and refining our plots and plans for the coming week. I got home just in time for my bedtime.

On Wednesday, as soon as I got in from work, I ran round the house like a loony getting ready to go back out and met Ang at her flat so we could go up Solihull to meet Chris for coffee. We ended up sitting in Costa for about three hours chatting. Bostin!

Thursday after work, I managed to get ahead with some housework as I knew I'd have no chance on Friday, as I had the dentist followed by a day of fun with Ang.

Friday is my day off so after an uneventful dentist's appointment I caught the bus up to Birmingham and met Ang by the Bull. She was late - and I have to say that as I spent most of the day ribbing her about it ;)

We headed for Urban Coffee - quite possibly the best coffee shop in Birmingham, or even the universe, and had Flat whites with our butties. Now Ang tends towards the traditional and goes for the BLTs but I do like their range of slightly different butties. Last time I had something with avocado in which was very nice but this time I was tempted by the Felafel with mint yoghurt. Delicious!

Then, as it was Cupcake Friday, we decided it would be extremely rude not to indulge.

That was the display after we'd attacked it. I had a pink one and Ang a brown one. To match our t-shirts for the photos, of course. *grin*
They were very, very nice. Lots of fluffy, light icing stuff but not sickly at all. Yum. Shame I have to work tomorrow as it's Muffin Monday apparently.

Oh, and we had our cupcakes with a second Flat white

We attempted to walk off our lunch by strolling round Brum in the lovely sunshine but we had eaten rather a lot. We went and said goodbye to Created in Birmingham as it closes this weekend, and spotted some rather gorgeous handmade jewellery in there. I resisted. I did think of a certain friend when I saw some earrings and a pendant in the shape of cherries though...

Yesterday, Ang came over in the late afternoon for a spot of scrapping and dinner. We both managed to produce a whole layout and Stephen produced a very fine chicken dinner with yorkshires and roasties. Yum.

Today I've just been recovering mostly. I finished off one book at 4.30am just after Stephen brought me a cuppa on his way out to work and then started another which I finished about 10am. I've done a bit of housework, watched Doctor Who and have started another layout. I might do some cross stitching in a bit. Or maybe I'll start another book. 

It's been a bostin week Ang, but I think you've worn me out ;)

 

And surprisingly

I did actually manage to produce two actual layouts at yesterday's crop. Started and completed on the day. And one used some products bought on the day too. Wooooo.

Of course, I haven't actually been as organised as to photograph them so I can share them yet. Oh no, that would be going to far. Instead I have one I prepared earlier. This uses stuff I bought when I went down to PaperArts with Ang last time. Isn't that BG Origins doily gorgeous. And wasn't I brave to actually use it?

So, yesterday's crop. It was fab to see Chris, Jackie and Fiona again. Fiona had made Raspberry and chocolate cupcakes, which were delicious. (I had two). Lots of coffee was consumed, some shopping was done and we talked pretty much all day. Chris and Jackie did some gorgeous layouts. Much nicer than mine.

My first one took four and a half hours to do, btw. It might have got done a bit quicker but every time I stuck something down, I celebrated by eating a cake or doing some shopping. Yeah!

And, on my second layout, and please make sure you're sitting down for this, I used a journalling pen and did actual handwriting. Yes, you read that correctly. I wrote on the layout with a pen. Not computer journalling. Hand journalling. And as we all know, I really, really hate my own handwriting.

I'm pretty sure Chris and Jackie have a bet on to see how long it takes me to stick a flower or something over it to hide it...
 

And there's more

While Ang and I were at PaperArts, mentioned in my last post, there was a mini crop underway. Rachel was there doing some very lovely layouts. One of them in particular caught my eye as it looked very scrapliftable.

Is scrapliftable even a word? Ah well, it is now.

So, I asked Rachel if she'd mind if I nicked her idea for this layout and of course she didn't, so here's my version of it. All using brand new Basic Grey bought on the day. Lots of it. Well, lots of small pieces of it. Look at how many sheets of paper I had to cut up to make this layout. Gasp, horror.

 

Ok, panic not. There were no collection packs of BG Origins left, just odd sheets so I purchased the 6x6 pad and that is what has been cut up. You don't seriously think I'd cut up that many sheets of 12x12 do you? 

The photo is of course a Disney Photopass photo. The obligatory Simba one taken in Animal Kingdom. Paper, stickers, and brads are Basic Grey Origins, plus some Thickers and some Prima flowers.

See, this is why I like Basic Grey. I buy it, I use some of it.

Then I hoard the rest of it... 

Stuff to look forward to

I have a couple of things coming up this month that I'm rather looking forward to. Firstly my Brummie mate Ang is on her way down again so we can cause mischief all over Birmingham and quite possibly in Earlswood too this time. Coffee shops, bookshops and craftstores beware.

The other thing is that my friend Chris is organising a wee crop down at PaperArts which'll be wonderful as I haven't seen her for ages. I predict lots of chatting, drinking of coffee and eating of cake but very little scrapping on my part. Great fun.

Which reminds me of my last jaunt down to PaperArts which was when Ang was last down. We went to chat rather than to scrap as we hadn't seen Fiona in ages and it was a good excuse to visit the best scrapbook shop around. I bought some of the new Basic Grey that had just come in. It was so new that it was still in the boxes and Fiona was good enough to let us rummage.

A couple of days later I managed to justify the entire purchase by using one whole sheet of it. Plus one of the delicious embroidered brads, no less. Apart from some matting on the photo and the journalling that's pretty much all there is to the layout but the colours in the paper match the photo so perfectly that I'm quite happy with it as it is. The BG range is Kioshi and the font used for the journalling is one of my favourites - Chicken Basket.

The journalling waffles on about how we were in the China pavillion in Epcot at Walt Disney World. (where else?) There was a photographer waiting for Mulan to come out for photo ops and she very kindly took us on a walk round the gardens for some photos while she was waiting.
Thanks for looking.

Sometimes I scrap too...

With all the reading and cross stitch stuff I've posted recently, you could be forgiven for thinking that I've completely given up on scrapping. I haven't. Not completely, anyway. After my recent trip to PaperArts with Ang, I did do a couple of layouts and I've had an idea for a whole new album of layouts. That's not to say I'll actually do them as I have more than one album started and not completed, but the thought is there. This isn't one of the newer layouts, but I thought I'd post this one as it's been sitting on my blog in draft form for several months. Then I'll go and photograph the new ones - all three of 'em - and maybe get around to uploading them some time soon. Just to prove that yes, I do still scrap. Occasionally.

This is one of the more amusing Disney Photopass photos from 2007. The photographer tells you to pose as if you're holding something in your arms. After taking one photo, he then tells you to look at this imaginary something. When you view the photos online, Baby Simba has been added. Now the first photo is fine, but just look at Stephen's face in the second one. Priceless.

The title looks as if it's falling off the end of the photo. It's completely level in reality, honest. It just looks that way because I was messing with the skew thingy in Elements to make the layout look square as the photo wasn't...

Basic Grey Mellow, In Stitchz template and floss, Prima felt alpha, Queen and Co. Felt Fusion. TFL.

I should apologise to

Hamilton, Button and the other Formula One drivers. I'm afraid I couldn't give them my full attention today as I was busy stitching away at my January My Little Heart cross stitch. I did take my stand into the living room and was half watching the race and half stitching. Miraculously, I didn't make any errors in the pattern, but that's more to do with it being a very easy chart to do than because of any amazing powers of concentration that I have.

I'm really enjoying doing this one. The border is pretty and fun to do. January stitched up nicely and I love how it turned out. I must do some more to March's Winnie the Pooh calendar before starting February's My Little Heart though as there's rather more to do on the WTP one.

This is how they're both looking at the moment.

Winnie the Pooh calendar - These squares are about 9.5cm, and there's just over half of WTP left to do, plus his kite and various other bits. So, I do need to get cracking on it. This has lots of backstitch on it too.

 

My Little Heart - I've done the border round the corner and all of the January motif. There should be a french knot in the centre of the bow but I've decided to sew on a bead instead. As I might want to launder the piece when it's finished, I'll wait until that's done and then add any beads afterwards. That's the plan, anyway. The Jobelan is actually a nice ivory colour, it looks a bit grey on my screen. The border round the motif is a very dark brown, not black.

I had a couple more lovely days with Ang last week. We went down to PaperArts on Wednesday and spend ages chatting with Fiona and purchased some very nice Basic Grey straight out of the box. It was lovely to see Rachel and Sarah too.

Yesterday Ang came over to mine and we spent some time scrapping with our new purchases. I managed a whole layout using my new Basic Grey Kioshi. Ang reckons that justifies the whole purchase and who am I to argue? I also started another layout using some of the Basic Grey Origins that I bought so as that's nearing completion I guess that I can justify buying that too.

So, all in all I've had a lovely week off. Lots of time spent with friends. Lots of reading, scrapping and stitching. Outings with coffee and cake. Bostin!

Back to the grindstone tomorrow though. Bummer.

Scrapping, reading, stitching...

Ah, the joys of having a week off work and nothing much planned to do. Ang is down so we'll be getting up to plenty of mischief but apart from that I intend to do very little other than relax.

So far I've produced a layout, or rather got round to finishing off and photographing one I started a few days ago. Now I've run out of the pretty shaped papers I've reverted back to my comfort zone - Basic Grey. Infuse this time. I have so much BG with pink in it that I deliberately wore as much pink as I possibly could on holiday that year in order to be able to use it. Unfortunately this layout hasn't made much of a dent in it.

Apart from the usual Costco paper background, it's all BG, and all Infuse apart from the Sweets chipboard.

I finally finished reading Vanity Fair yesterday morning. I think I started it about a year ago on e-book. The idea was to take it to work to read as it's much more convenient, for a number of reasons, to take than a normal book. Then our breaks got cut drastically so there was barely time to eat, and definitely no time for reading and I didn't like the digital format enough to read at home. I got fed up of seeing Vanity Fair in my current reading list though so made myself finish it. I liked the book well enough but I doubt I'll be reading anything else on that format. I like proper books, with pages you can stick your nose in and sniff. I know, I'm a bit odd.

I've been stitching away at my Winnie the Pooh calendar. March is coming on nicely and I should have no problems doing one month each month, if you see what I mean. In fact, Tree has persuaded me that I really need to have a second project on the go so I'm about to start My little heart. It's another one that starts in January but is quite simple so I think I can backtrack and catch up. I have the charts printed off and have ordered the fabric and floss from Sew and so and am hoping they arrive on Monday so I can make a start. This is the blog that's doing the SAL. 

So, there you are. Lots of reading, scrapping and sewing. Ang and I are going to terrorise Birmingham on Tuesday and plan to cause mayhem down at Paperarts on Wednesday so lots more fun to come. I do love having a week off work.

Having an indecisive evening

You know when there's several things you'd quite like to be doing and you have the time to do them, but can't quite summon up the energy or the inclination?

My box of cards is almost empty. If I need to send any birthday cards in a hurry I'm stuck. Ditto the notelet cards I like to put in with any books I post out for bookrings etc. for BookCrossing. I'm all out of those too. I've got plenty of Thank you cards and several Get well soon cards, but no friends that currently need thanking and happily no-one currently in need of a get well message. So, I'd quite like to have a mammoth card-making session. Some of the necessary bits are still on the desk from Sunday from when I wanted to make a family birthday card, so it wouldn't take much but I just can't seem to get moving in that direction.

So, maybe I could finish that last bit of tweaking on my '1001 books you must read before you die' spreadsheet. I only have about 900 entries in one column to do and then it's all ready for the next edition of the book to come out next month. I can't wait to get my hands on that so I can add in all the new books. I love fiddling about in Excel. Usually I do anyway. Can't seem to fancy that at the moment either.

I have about a gazillion photos printed off that need scrapping and I'm really getting back into that now. Last week I sorted out some layout ideas that I'd put on one side and I'm keen to start using them. I just need to pick which photos to use with which ideas then pick paper etc to go with them. Problem is there are sooo many photos I just can't bring myself to start choosing. Maybe at the weekend...

Nah, I think I'll just go back to my book. That Scarlett O'Hara is up to mischief in Atlanta and the thing I'd most like to do this evening is to see what on earth she's going to do next. It's been years and years since I read a good bodice-ripper. I'd forgotten just how marvellous they are.

And just for a change

My first layout for February and it uses yet another sheet of shaped Crate paper. This one however, isn't round so that's ok. It was my last sheet of shaped paper though so I'm going to have to get out of my rut and come up with something different to do next. Shame, I was quite enjoying using up all of those impulse buys from quite a few months ago.

I also managed to pop some chipboard letters on there that I've had for ages. I got them in Florida and bought them in three different colours because I loved them so much. Hmm, I loved them so much in fact, that this was the first time that I've actually used them. Same trick as the other old stash - I hung them up above my desk so they were in plain sight.

So, Costco paper for the background and a bit of the patterned stuff on there as well. The shaped stuff is Crate paper, as noted, Chipboard is Pressed petals chip chatter, and the date is in a Sizzlets font - Funky Brush. TFL