I was really just checking the settings on my camera so I could pass it to someone to take a picture, but I really love this little series. Funny and sweet.
I had the most amazing stop between trains and took some pictures there too. This is seriously just outside a train station. And to think, all that’s opposite our local train station is a fish and chip shop.
PS: There is just one opening for the album workshop I am teaching this Saturday at Eclectic Keepsakes in Colchester. Grab it while you can and treat yourself to a lovely day of scrapbooking!
Just waiting for my train home, but I wanted to post a huge thank you to all the lovely scrappers I met this past weekend at Crop on the Rhine in Oberwinter, Germany. Barbara and Heike have been the most amazing hostesses for the past few days and it has been fabulous to share scrapping stories with the crafty ladies at this crop. Thank you so much for having me and for embracing my ‘about this size’ philosophy. I never realised how much I would be rocking the boat for not being a lover of measurements!
Must dash but wanted to share a few quick pictures from the weekend!
A special note about this last photo: this is Conny, who attends the crop and goes so far beyond just being a cropper to get into the spirit of things. She baked cakes for everyone at the entire event, personalised with their names and everything! And lots of other little touches to make everyone smile. She was named Queen of the Crop with her name on a trophy and everything! So sweet.
Okay, I say start the week and it’s Tuesday but I needed a day to recover from the party! (Or rather I just had to get through a big stack of work, but it sounds more fun to say recover, I think.)
I am super lucky to have friends who not only understand scrapbooking but love it and today a few of us are surprising Miss Laura who had to miss most the party and all the nice weather while she worked on her final essays for the shiny new qualification she will have in just weeks! She did complete one layout and we loved it so much that we scraplifted it. Check out Leanne’s blog and SJ’s blog to see two more versions. And feel free to join in the LauraLift, of course!
And a drumroll please – it’s time for the party winners! Be sure to check for your name so you can claim your prize!
Thank you to all who entered and played along! To claim your prize, please email me at shimelle@gmail.com with PARTYPRIZE in the subject line. If your prize is one that I will need to post to you, please be sure to include a mailing address. Thanks!
Thank you so much for joining me for this weekend-long celebration of scrapbooking! Shall we do this again some time?
I have just one final challenge for you and again it’s a thinking challenge rather than a making-things challenge.
What five scrapbook pages have you not made but feel you should?
Answer this question either in the comments or on your blog (then leave a link in the comments) any time between now and noon UK time Monday. One randomly selected entry will win a class pass for two people so you can take a class of your choice and invite a friend to join you!
It has been lovely to see all your projects this weekend and I can’t believe how busy some of you have been with the creating! I hope you enjoyed it and found a little something up your street. To support parties like this, it always helps if you take an online class or click here to shop for your scrapbooking supplies as those things make it possible to buy and post prizes and otherwise keep the website online. Thanks for your support, as always!
How about some seaside inspiration as we head into the evening? Some chilly beaches here and some warmer beaches in Hawaii… all something I knew nothing about growing up right in the middle of the states! So although I am not one for sailing or sunbathing, the seaside is still something special for me!
Cornwall, England
Hanauma Bay, Hawaii
Driving to the North Shore on Oahu — but snapped this as it is a spot that has appeared on Lost!
SJ of Little Musings is not just a fab scrapper, but she also draws amazing little cartoon family portraits. The day she sent the Little-Shim-Musing above to my inbox I literally shouted ‘eeeep!’ from the cuteness. Now if only I really had the coat that I have in the drawing!
SJ also helps me out a lot behind the scenes these days and there is no way I could have thrown this party without her. Please pop over to her blog and say hello! I owe her the biggest of thank yous for keeping me sane while getting ready to party! And look, she even had the time to make us a special party freebie with tea and cake!
Your challenge is to create a card, tag or scrapbook page that includes a Little Musing! You can use the party drawing above or you can choose from any of the of the freebies she offers on her blog — she posts a new character every Friday.
To enter, post a link to your Little Musings project in the comments here. Entries close at 6am Monday morning UK time. One randomly selected entry will win a gift pack from shimelle.com and Little Musings, including the new Mad Hatter’s Tea Party drawing and more!
And the perfect party music for SJ? I’m thinking this.
Please do not make me count how many cameras I own. There’s the good camera, which also answers to ‘proper camera’ and ‘big camera’, but then there are vintage cameras because I have a weakness for any old camera under £2 just to see if I can make it work…and there are toy cameras that aren’t old but sometimes work like they might be. Some with film, some digital and all very much happiness-inducing. So just a few little things to share with you today!
The camera above is the harinezumi, which is… Japanese for hedgehog! How could I not love that? I actually have two versions of this: one that shoots 110 film, just like the cameras that came in cereal boxes circa 1981 and a digital version that takes still shots and digital 8mm movies. It is hilariously unpredictable but teeny so I have taken it to some places where I wouldn’t want to carry the proper camera. As a result I actually have some old-cine-style movies taken while sitting on a ski lift and once I finally find the time to piece them into a little movie they shall be ever so sweet.
Then there’s the Instax Mini which makes me laugh because the demise of Polaroid made these an item that boutiques could sell for the better part of a hundred pounds when a few years ago no one wanted them! Mine sadly does not have Hello Kitty on the front, but as I managed to buy the camera and quite a few packs of film with nothing more than my Boots points, I think I can deal. (Um, translation for those of you outside the UK: I paid with a loyalty card from the pharmacy. Bargain!)
Anyway, think Polaroid but credit card sized and adorable. That’s this camera! In Japan you can buy the film with your choice of any number of animated friends decorating the otherwise plain white frame! But here in the UK I get film (cartoon-free) for this here.
And then there’s the app that turns your iPhone into a film camera – complete with waiting for the flash to power up and waiting in between shots for the picture to develop. I tell you, I wish I had a commission for this app because every time I show it to someone they say ‘is that free? I only do free apps’ and I frown and say no, it’s not free. Five minutes later they’ve downloaded the app and bought all the add on lenses and films. (Though since it is $1.99 I suppose my commission would be about half a penny, now that I think about it!) Seriously: try it and you shall be hooked.
I keep thinking I should try to find a cheap version of my very first camera — a disc camera if you remember those! But I think that is one type of film that is truly obsolete so I shall let it go. Care to share what your first camera was like?
Another up-for-your-interpretation challenge for you! Finish the sentence: Happiness is… and create your layout from there!
For those of you who like going about things digitally, you can download this page as a free digital page template. It’s a PSD file, so it will work in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and other programs that support PSD layered files.
You do not have to do a digital page for this challenge nor do you have to follow the sketch. As long as your page includes the words ‘Happiness is’ then you’re all set!
Post a link to your project in the comments to enter. Entries close at 6am UK time Monday morning. One entry will be randomly selected to win a shimelle.com class pass good for your choice of class past or future.
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