pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

Trying to make it a non-working weekend, but didn’t quite manage it. But a pretty carefree Saturday and a trip to the cinema today. Not too bad.

Also in much denial about someone moving back to America. I hope she finds much happiness, but also manages to visit, or something. I also hope she finds some scrapbook stores in her neighbourhood, since she’s such a convert now.

Hope you’ve had a fabulous weekend. See you in class tomorrow, perhaps!

xlovesx

Comment [26]

Oh thank heavens I am not the only one in the awkward boat with house hunting. Thank you for putting things in perspective!

On a note that doesn’t hurt my feet at all, I just wanted to share a little sneak peek from a class at Creative Pastimes next Tuesday. This is the first in a little series of weekday workshops I’m doing at CP, in Surrey. A little something different than going to a convention or a retreat where things are busy-busy-busy and classes can be big-big-big. Nice small classes in the countryside, with a break for lunch in the adorable coffee shop. Seriously, scrapbook store + coffee shop? This is the life!

This first workshop is all about getting things written down. Love, love, love getting to talk about journaling. In the morning, we’ll be making a 12×12 layout and in the afternoon we’ll make this accordion book. Along the way, we’re going to talk about all sorts of things to make journaling easier or more natural and even a little prettier. For the morning, you need one photo (4×6 or 5×7) of a person, place or pet that you would like to discuss. For the afternoon, you need 5 or 6 photos of food (4×6, but we will be cropping them a little smaller). The minibook gives you a way to journal about some of your foodie memories—your favourite treat, a recipe handed down, whatever you make when you’re in a hurry, what you like to eat for breakfast, etc. There are still a couple places left (and you can do just the morning or just the afternoon), if you’ve got a free Tuesday and want to join us.

And not long till Monday…when this starts!

xlovesx

Comment [6]

I seriously can’t count how many times a week I am asked if I am moving. Worse, I don’t know how to answer. This is starting to make me feel like the boy who cried wolf.

It all started when we decided we would be better off with a mortgage rather than renting, so we went on our merry way for the depressing event that is one’s first mortgage interview, and then we went away to rearrange our savings and start houseshopping.

I have to tell you, the very first house we looked at? We still love it. On the day, it was a little past our price range, plus it was the very first house we saw, so we were thinking it would stupid for so many reasons to put an offer in that day. Unfortunately, another couple who were viewing the house at the same time, not only put in an offer on the spot, they put in more than the asking price. Seriously, who does that? They must have really thought we were going to try to buy it. Or they were just weird and ten million kinds of stupid. So yeah, we weren’t going to be moving in that particular instance.

But that was so long ago, the entries don’t even go back on this blog. It predates the pink polkadot era back to my days on livejournal. And if you’ve been reading since all the way back then, frankly, you deserve a medal.

We looked at tons of houses for a few weeks. We put in an offer on one. We argued the offer back and forth. In the end, it all came down to a refridgerator and a pair of fitted miniblinds, but we did not buy that house either. That took up so much energy that we sat back and didn’t look for a good few months. And that was easily a year and a half ago.

So friends continue to ask if we’re moving, and we go on little week-long househunting excursions. We consider neighbourhoods that surprise everyone. We debate the small-in-the-city versus bigger-in-suburbia argument. We look online, but get too frustrated from calling estate agents only to find that all the properties they’ve put online are already gone. So we look at a few and then stop again. And then out of the blue, we decide yet again we need to look.

If my stripey-socked feet could talk to you, they would say house shopping is a terrible, terrible idea. Today they have walked up and down several neighbourhoods several times, sometimes on nice streets and sometimes on scary streets, and all in terribly uncomfortable shoes. (Of course, they weren’t uncomfortable when I left home…only once I was far away from anything resembling comfortable shoes.) They have looked at flats that cost twice as much as ours but are half the size. And then they decided to visit pretty much every estate agent in Islington (which oh my goodness is a lot of estate agents) only to collapse on the train, still without an answer.

Maybe some day we’ll move. But my feet say definitely not this week.

And to add something crafty to this otherwise craft-lacking update, girls doing the Fill My Little World album at Moxley and Ickenham…are you ready to start your homework? I’m emailing it out in the morning! All done, but I want to wait until the morning to proofread and double check! And then you can get to work!

xlovesx

Comment [11]

So I’m late to my new job, on the first day. Because I thought it would be a good idea to finish my reading Sunday night so as to not spend the whole of Monday’s workday thinking about the book and not the work. One late night followed by getting to work an hour late, and yet the boss didn’t say a word about it.

The first thing she did, however, was lock me in my office and tell me to clean it. It turned out to look a lot worse than it was. Now there are not only surfaces to work on but also places to sit. All in all, it’s a pretty fabulous work environment, even though it has been raining so much that all my paper feels a little soggy. Hopefully that will slow down a bit, as I’m not sure I can fit a dehumidifier in either my office or my budget.

Once all that was done, I actually did a little warm-up scrapbooking, then some work on some actual assignments. I even paid bills on my first day!

So far my new boss seems alright, though she did insist I do her laundry off and on throughout the day, and she was mumbling about reorganising some kitchen cupboards, but I can’t fault her as she says I can count tomorrow afternoon’s knitting time as on the clock, since there will be all sorts of networking and crafty activity going on.

I’m guessing the pension plan isn’t so hot for the first year, but I think I can get my head round the new place. Now, just to figure out the best way to answer the phone.

xlovesx

PS: Since the boss isn’t looking, we can talk Harry Potter in the comments if you fancy…I do realise it is something one needs! to! discuss! just after they have finished.

Comment [22]

Normally I wouldn’t post any pictures of people from school, but I think this group will forgive me, just the once. Thank you, Jen, for snapping this picture of my last lesson with Year 10.

So yep. School’s out. There is a lot going on in my head. There are a lot of notes I keep reading. A ton of photos I keep flipping through (both old prints from when I started at the school and I swore I’d be all-film-for-all-time to about three hundred shots (many from Chesney and Marianne!) from the last three days in iPhoto). And thanks to what the BBC can only term a deluge of rain this morning, I do have to sneak back to my classroom on Monday to collect my boxes and pass over a few last bits of paperwork. But it’s not my classroom from now on, and of course I can be super excited about what’s to come, but also…well, you know. I probably don’t have to explain where my head and heart have been today if I tell you that one person in the photo above sang a beautiful Sarah McLachlan song at our end of school assembly today and another fronted a band who dedicated their fabulous Queen number to Jen and I.

When I went through my teacher training, I remember a lecture about professional distance. It specifically mentioned that teachers need to be very careful not to hug their students, in case anything was misunderstood. Let me tell you I broke that rule a lot today, and I’m pretty sure we were all on the same page, understanding wise. I will say it over and over again: kids are fabulous people.

So now what…yes, into the thickets of wildest guesswork, indeed. I’m going to take the weekend to do a bit of mild mourning and a fair chunk of reading. After having the last book ruined by someone who wasn’t being particularly fabulous at that moment, I am going to switch off most of ye olde internet until I’ve finished absorbing the last installment of prophecies, squibs and St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I expect to be back to reality on Monday, just in time to start my first entirely self-directed working week.

For any of you fabulous people who might drop by: please keep in touch. I want to hear all about your fabulous adventures more many fabulous years to come. I owe you all so much. Thank you for putting up with me and inspiring me to keep learning too.

xlovesx

Comment [16]

Here’s what you need to know:
If you have ten photos, you can make this book.

It will be a book that will live on your coffee table, a book you’ll be pleased to share with friends, family and visitors. A book that will say a lot about you, your family or your neighbourhood. A book that won’t be hard to make.

A picture is worth a thousand words… asks what if we could tell a story in ten pictures? The story you choose to tell is up to you: it could be the story of your life, the story of a certain romance or the story of a journey you wish you could live over and over again. It could be the story of who you were before, who you are now or who you are becoming each day. It could be the story of you but it could be the story of someone else. The story is in the ten pictures…and when you choose them, you choose the story.

A picture is worth a thousand words…
…starts Monday, the 30th of July, with an audio prompt.
…Eight downloadable PDF prompts take you through the process of making the book and telling your story.
…The prompts include sketches and photos of several finished examples so you can adapt the ideas to your own style and supplies.
…You can choose to follow along in real time and finish your book before the end of August or save all the materials for a rainy weekend and make the project over a few days later in the year.
…You can choose to join in email chat with other participants or just receive the class materials.
…You can keep your project to yourself, or post your work at our community blog, written down.
…You can make this album with the supplies you already own, but if you want to go shopping for supplies, I promise not to tell.
…And just to be extra special, you’ll receive a little care package in the post, with limited edition embellishments designed just for this project.

You may join in at any time, but be sure to join by July 28 in order to receive your care package promptly. You can join us no matter what country you’re in, though all the materials and the embellishments are in English.

A picture is worth a thousand words…
Sign up now:

USD $15.00

xlovesx

PS: Thank you all SO MUCH for your excitement in the last post’s comments!! So, so psyched! The random number generator gave me number 185. That means AngelNikki_UK you are the winner! Email me the names and email addresses of four friends to join you! Congrats!

Comment [41]

So they say a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Then what about ten pictures?

On Monday, you can sign up for a new online class for summer. You’ll need ten pictures. Not necessarily ten thousand words.

Also on Monday, you can see the first sneak peek of the actual project here.

But better yet: some lucky person who comments on this post any time between now and the sneak peek on Monday, will win five free passes on this class. You + four friends. You + your two sisters + your mum + your grandma. You + your other half + some wonderfully cool couple you both know. You + any four people you know that also have ten photos!

See you here on Monday!

xlovesx

Comment [327]

Some things never change. Like my desire to show you pretty food, despite it having nothing to do with the conversation that follows.

Some things do. Like addresses, hair colour and careers.

So since the under-16 population found out today, I will go ahead and share this with you. When I say the end of term is next Friday, I mean a little bit more than that. I mean I’m not going back for next term in September. Not even in another school. Nope. I’m going to do this full-time.

Okay, I’m not going to make my blog my full-time job, but I’ve been realising that it will be difficult to describe with one label what it is that I will be doing. I’ll be scrapbooking. And teaching online classes (check back Thursday for an important announcement on that subject!). And going to cool places to teach real live classes (see some over there at the right). And sewing. And consulting. And wedding planning. And cupcake baking.

I am totally excited. Excited for a time when I can actually do even half of all the ideas I want to do. Excited that something that has been my second job, my part-time bit of fun can become my full-time job. Excited that I can say yes to things that happen during term time.

Of course, I am also partly terrified. Terrified to work quite alone, rather than surrounded by more than a thousand people every day. Terrified that it will feel weird to go into the next room to be at work. Terrified that there will be no bells to tell me when to move on to something new.

And of course, I am more than a little sad about leaving some of the coolest teenagers in the entire world. I hope that once they forgive me, they will still speak to me, and maybe some of them will keep in touch and share the odd cup of coffee. After all, they are some of the coolest teenagers in. the. entire. world. But they will be fabulous no matter what.

So here’s to paper, fabric, yarn and cupcakes from July 23rd. And if anyone asks, I will work on replying, with a totally straight face, I am a professional scrapbooker.

But I really don’t think I can say it without laughing!

xlovesx

Comment [67]