Oh hello ...

are you still here? I thought everyone had left already.

Seriously though, if you're actually readying this, then either;

a) you haven't updated your "blogs I read" list in a REALLY long time
b) you can't remember how to update your "blogs I read" list
c) you 've been waiting [very] patiently for me to write something worthwhile, meaningful and/or amusing

If your answer is a) or b) ... snap. Me too.
If your answer is c) ... sorry, maybe next year.

smartphones & dingbats ...

Yes, this IS the third week in a row that I've actually updated my blog #shock #horror #dontfaint and talking of hash-tags, have you checked out the "mobile ready" goodies launched at The Lilypad this weekend? They're so cool! They're dingbats type fonts (TTF) that you can download right to your smartphone (iOS & Android) and then add to your photos using suitable software. I'm using a FREE app called Phonto and I'm able to change the size, colour & opactity of the wordart / dingbat / font. Here are just a few examples of the photos I've created & uploaded to Instagram so far ...

And here are a few layouts created in the past week (or so) ...

Credits: Paislee Press - Press Cards no.27 (available at The Lilypad)

Credits: One Little Bird, Heatbeat At My Feet (available at The Lilypad)

Credits: One Little Bird, Identity (available at The Lilypad)

beige delights ...

It certainly wasn't intentional, but over the past few weeks I've found myself creating layouts with a distinctly beige feel to them ...

Credits - One Little Bird, Forever Young (available at The Lilypad)

Credits - One Little Bird, Narrative (available at The Lilypad)

Credits - One Little Bird, This & That (available at The Lilypad)

Credits - Paislee Press + Valorie Wibbens, Make Believe collab (available at The Lilypad)

just some stuff ...

I'm not even going to make up an excuse. I'm just rubbish at remembering to update this blog. Sorry. If you're still here and reading this, I thank you. Your patience is always appreciated.

credits: Paislee Press - Presslines no.19 (available @ The Lilypad)

credits: Three Paper Peonies - Book Smart (available @ Oscraps)

credits: One Little Bird - Equinox (available @ The Lilypad)

not a fan of [unnecessary] change ...

but then again, who is? So this week when Flickr updated their site, I admit to cursing, several times, under my breath! I'm not a fan of the new style / LO. My first instinct was to try and revert back to the way it was before and the way I prefer it, but I guess I'll get used to it ... eventually.

In the mean time, here are the layouts I've created since my last post ...

Credits: Paislee Press - From Where I Stand (available @ The Lilypad)

Credits: One Little Bird - Philosophy + Philosophy Journaling Cards (available @ The Lilypad)

Credits: Paislee Press - From Where I Stand, Paislee Press - 2013 Calendar Kit (available @ The Lilypad)

Credits: One Little Bird - Philosophy (available @ The Lilypad)

Credits: Paislee Press - Press Plate No.37, Paislee Press - On My Desk (available @ The Lilypad)

Credits: Ange Designs - Mr & Mrs (available @ Digi-crea.fr)

it started with a single snapshot ...

and ended up being a week long photo series! I treated myself a new casual scarf and took a snapshot, which I then uploaded to Instagram. I deliberately cut-off the top of my head in the photo and thought it looked kinda fun, so I decided to take a similar style snapshot each morning [before going to work] showing my chosen outfit for the day ...

credits: paislee press - is it friday yet?, writer's block vol.2 & gallery frames no.5 (available @ the lilypad)

credits: one little bird, interlude & flight plan no.17 (available @ the lilypad)

credits: paislee press - the weekender, the weekender journal cards & nine (photo collage) (available @ the lilypad)

credits: one little bird - suncatcher papers & element, rise and shine (available @ the lilypad)

yeah, I'm still here ...

It was never my intention not post here for 3 months. Earlier this year, I took a short break from some of my CT responsibilities and this allowed me to scrap for myself for a change. Since returning to all my CT commitments, I've decided to simplify things. I'm going to use my blog to mainly showcase my layouts and photos. Sure there will be some other kind of posts every now-&-then (like holidays or other things that capture my attention), but in the main, this is going to be another gallery, somewhere I can post any LO without having to meet certain percentage criteria etc.

Hope you'll still pop by once in a while.

do you print?

I don't usually print my layouts / projects, but every once in a while there comes a kit that just begs to be printed out and Hipster from Three Paper Peonies is one such kit ...

Not only do you get a layered .psd template to play with, you also get handwritten month and day stamps and 25 wordart stamps such as "fabulous", "best day ever", "fun times" and many more ...

Just create, print & cut ...

Hipster is available exclusively from Three Paper Peonies' store at oscraps.com

I'm just a big kid at heart ...

I still get excited every time it snows and this past week, it's snowed quite a bit around here and it's been proper snow at that ...

 

I've been trying to get into the habit of getting out of the office during my lunch-break at work. Luckily, I work on a well designed business park and they have what they call a "trim trail" that winds it's way around the park and takes in some really quite pretty scenery ...

 

 

 

The snowfall was at it's heaviest on Friday morning, so-much-so that our managing director actually decided to close the office and sent everyone home at 11:30am. This was [and actually still is] the view from my front door ...

 

 

I probably should've brought my yucca plant indoors before it snowed. The plant itself was given to me as a house warming gift 17yrs ago and it's survived all sorts of weather conditions in the past. Here's hoping it makes it through this cold snap too ...

 

 

 

 

Wherever you are in the world, I hope you're warm & cosy (for any northern hemisphere readers) and cool & relaxed (for any southern hemisphere readers).

thank you cards ...

I don't know about you, but I love to receive thank you cards / notes / letters. Sadly, thanks in part to modern technology, I think the tradition of sending thank you cards has almost completely vanished. It's so much easier [& cheaper] to send an email / text / tweet to show your appreciation.

Now don't misunderstand me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sending your thanks electronically. What's important, is that you say "thank you" in whatever format is best for you. For me, that means creating handmade cards ...

As you can see, they're not fancy. They're just a simple printed card, with a heartfelt message of thanks handwritten on the inside.

What about you, do you send thank you cards / notes / letters?

it's that time of year ...

You know, when everyone reflects on what kind of year they had. What went well, what they achieved and what they didn't. I've never done a "review of the year" type post before, so this year I thought I'd give it a try.

I've taken my inspiration from Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl (aka Christine Newman's) blog, which by-the-way is a brilliant read! Christine never ceases to amaze me at just how much "living" she manages to squeeze into any given month. I frequently leave her comments saying how exhausted I am just from reading her blog! Seriously, after you've read my post (and  yes I'm hoping you'll stick around long enough to read it), head on over to Christine's blog and you'll see what I mean.

So without further ado, here's my highly condensed summary of what happened in 2012:

• I started the year on a creative high with thank you cards and wedding invitations
• I began a new cooking adventure, lovingly referred to as NEWrecipes52
• We celebrated Iain's 40th birthday in Barbados
• The weather was a talking point throughout the year (as normal) from snow and stormy winds messing up the garden, to the very few days of sunshine that was our summer
• I baked bread for the first time
• I received 4 bouquets of flowers throughout the year
• I discovered (& became addicted to) Instagram
• I "baked" two diaper cakes for friends expecting babies
• I baked LOTS of real cakes as part of my NEWrecipes52 adventures (although I only got as far as trying out 30 new recipes rather than my intended 52)
• I watched my beloved Chelsea win the Champions League
• We celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a street party at work
• Oscraps sub-committee meeting was held in London and we welcomed some of our international friends from Holland (Diane & Maya) and Australia (Ona & Marie)
• I celebrated by 41st birthday
• I found Fat Mum Slim's photo-a-day inspiration lists
• I made my first ever claim on my car insurance (I accidentally scraped the side of someones car in a car-park. The lady was very nice about it & my insurance dealt with the claim very quickly!)
• The Olympics made me proud to be British
• Iain and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary
• I finally got my hair cut (after almost a year since the last visit to the salon!)
• I blagged my way in to One Little Bird's and Paislee Press's creative teams (still pinching myself about both appointments!)
• Hazel and I went to New York and had a BLAST
• Iain grew a moustache for #movember and the team he was part of raised over £1000 for men's health charities
• I created my second Blurb photo book
• We got creative for our Christmas lunch at work
• I uploaded 232 Instagram photos (and counting!), blogged 59 time (more than in 2011 - yeah! but less than in 2010 - boo!) and took 2728 photos (not many compared to previous years!)
• Christmas was a quiet affair at home, just the way we like it

So there you have it, my 2012 in a nutshell. When you see it listed like this, it doesn't really look like I've done a lot. But in between all of the above, I've been working (quite a lot), relaxing (quite a lot) and generally loving my life as it currently is!

I've no doubt that I'll be asleep as the calendar flips over to from 2012 to 2013, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous New Year.Thanks for reading. See you next year!

be merry

credits: One Little Bird, A Star On Top + Wrap Star

creative fun and games at the office Chrismas lunch

On Thursday this week, my company had it's annual Christmas lunch. It usually takes the format of a staff briefing, followed by a buffet lunch, then the handing out of Secret Santa gifts. This year, they decided to change things up a little and introduce some fun competitive elements too.

The senior management team took part in their own version of the Great British Bake Off with each of the 6 senior managers bringing in [preferably homemade] mince pies for a blind tasting that was judged by the staff. My boss, Paula, was runner up for her "homemade" pies (they may have been homemade, but I'm pretty sure not by her!) and it was our MD who came first ...

Congratulations David!

We had a Christmas themed trivia quiz in which staff were grouped into teams of 5 or 6 and had answer 20 questions about all things Christmassy! The team I was in came joint third. Kudos!

We also had a homemade Christmas hat competition and the entries were all really impressive!

Cute little Santa hat ...

Gingerbread house inspired hat, complete with working lights ...

Jingle bell covered hat ...

Rudolph and Christmas tree hats ...

Tinsel and bauble crown ...

(oooppps, this is a bit more blurry than I thought - sorry!)

And a Christmas pudding hat, alongside the Grinchiest Santa ever ...

Then there was my not-so-little chimney hat, complete with fake snow, presents (at the very top) and pom-pom reindeer on the brim ...

I had no idea there were so many creative people at my company! Here's a group shot of everyone that took part, wearing their own homemade creations ...

The overall winner of the competition and now proud owner of the brilliantly ugly Christmas jumper prize was [insert drum roll here] ... Andy and his Christmas pudding hat ...

Congratulations Andy!!!

It was a really fun afternoon and probably one of the best Christmas lunches we've had in a while. But without a doubt, the funniest moment of the day came when my colleague, Hayley, tried on the winning hat ...

and did a little shoulder shimmy dance ...

Just think of the episode of Friends where Monica puts the turkey on her head and you'll get the general idea!