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

How random is this…a new place to teach, a totally new format, a new group of crafty girls set to arrive, and what I am worried about? Traffic.

One of the joys of living on the outskirts of London is going pretty much anywhere will likely involve the M25. It’s a ring road, but on a freakishly massive scale. As far as ring roads are concerned, I have but three that I driven enough to tell stories about: the M25, at the extreme of oh my goodness, I am moving an inch an hour but it is illegal to phone anyone and tell them I will be late madness, Interstate 435 that encircles the sprawling metropolis that is Kansas City (as the nice, happy medium) and at the other extreme, Iceland’s Route 1, which is 840 miles around, but pretty much all the accidents are caused by unfortunate combinations of tourists, rental cars and sheep.

But the funny thing about the M25 is as soon as you start to swear about it, there’s no traffic. So I can never totally write her off. Plus, I am useless on countrylanes. Give me big roads. With road signs. And petrol stations are also nice. But last Thursday, it took me about two and a half hours to get home from Creative Pastimes, so yesterday I left very early, thinking it would be worse during morning rush hour.

There were like three other cars on the entire road. At 8:20am. It was uncanny.

And I was there so early that I walked around the countryside, taking pictures of flowers, accidentally scaring a heron and talking to baby ducks. As you do.

And then, when it was a reasonable o’clock in the morning, we had a journaling workshop. With a sparkly layout class in the morning. Then lovely coffee shop lunch with paninis and much discussion of weddings past, present and future, then an afternoon session with a minibook and oreo cupcakes. Plus some shopping! So cool to meet new faces.

There are a few kits at the shop if you fancied one but couldn’t make the day. If you contact them, you can order one for £9.50 and they should be able to post it to you. £9.50 does not include the shipping but does include all the supplies (3 sheets of cardstock, 6 patterned papers, 1 envelope and velvet ribbon) and all the instructions from me, via email. There are only a few, so get in touch quickly if you want one.

My next workshop at Creative Pastimes is Friday, August 24th. It’s all about embellishment, and we’ll be working with ribbon in the morning and chipboard in the afternoon. It would be fabulous to see you there for a girly day out!

Thanks again to all involved yesterday.

xlovesx

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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

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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

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Actual photographic evidence, less than an hour old, that there is some sort of organisation that I must have in order to function. Boxes at the back of shelves are labelled, and as they are at the back, closed up and have lids, they are things I don’t need to get to all the time, bit by bit (I keep supplies I need for classes in these, so I can just grab the box and have all of that item, but I’m not tempted to use it up with my other stash while I scrap).

Magazine files are my favourites for stickers. I keep all my letter stickers together in one shelf cube, directly behind me as I scrap. I just turn around and they are all there…so handy. Baskets hold newish shopping so I will use it. This doesn’t work one hundred percent of the time, but it’s way better than if I pack it away somewhere. Loose letters and little things go in coffee cups. Because I may drink a lot of coffee, but I have even more cups than I can drink.

And sometimes I organise by manufacturer because I might like all the little bits by a company for filling in my gaps—that’s why I have a pink cube filled with little accents from Heidi Swapp. I keep my Heidi chipboard letters and rub-ons mixed in with other brands, but strips, shapes and frames of chipboard plus tapes and other accents all stay here so I can just grab a few options to play with an empty space. Also easy to throw back the bits I don’t pick in the end.

But this is the reclaim reward project. Once you’ve got your desk clean or your space reclaimed, no matter how big or small, give yourself something that lets you put your own personal stamp on your space. Something you can display that reminds you of your creative ethos, maybe your ‘one little word’ or anything else that motivates you or declares that this space is yours (even if most people would call it the dining room table).

The page frames are fabulous—totally loved them at CHA and only now getting a chance to play with the idea. Basically, you can work both inside and outside the frame, so you can use the frame to protect your photos and paper, but you can adhere things to the outside for texture, like chipboard and buttons. You can omit the paper inside and use transparencies to create a clear background that shows the woodgrain behind, if you hang it on a door. You can stamp on it and apply rub-ons on it. I’m even told that with a Cropadile, you can punch right through the frame and jumprings, eyelets or anything else you might punch through paper. Picture It has a fab gallery to look through if you want to get some ideas.

So here’s the challenge: Reclaim {some} space. Reward yourself with a sign for your door, wall or table. Use a photo you love, papers you love, words you love, whatever will make you know this is yours.

More about this over the weekend. Get your thinking cap or go ahead and get started.

xlovesx

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Have you been over to the Banana Frog Blog? (Or just said it ten times fast?) This little project is over there today—totally loving the combination of that journaling stamp with the scallop punch. Can’t get enough—something you’ll notice in tomorrow’s project too I think! Might as well soak it up while I like it—that’s my theory anyway. Gotta love a theory.

Here’s my other theory: whether you’ve spent May being super crafty or just wishing you were, every once in a while you have to fight to reclaim your workspace. Supplies and other things just seem to end up all over the shop and not where you want or need them to be. So…I’m dedicating the first week of June to reclaiming my workspace—no rebuilding or furniture shopping or anything crazy—just getting things back to where they should be and making sure it is both happy to work in and not embarrassing should someone knock at the door for an impromptu visit. I can’t be the only one, right?

Just a Memory is helping me out with this, and they’ve got this one little purchase that I will suggest. Because once we’ve got our space the way we want it, we need a way to remind ourselves that it deserves our attention every now and again. Pick up a 6×6 page frame here and join us for that part of the project on the 7th. (Girls in the US and Canada, you can pick up one here and play along!)

A few more little projects to post tomorrow to share the love for May!

xlovesx

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When you arrive at a crop to find little touches like this, you know something special is in the air.

Thank you so much to the ladies at Wyverstone who invited me to their event to talk about The Reasons Why...It was a fabulous day from start to finish, and I was verklempt more than once. It was brilliant to meet all of you.

Hope you have had a lovely long weekend!

xlovesx

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Well, I said at the beginning of May that this month was insane—and now I fully remember that. This week has been kicking me in the teeth: we’ve had the first English GCSE exam (two more in two weeks and then we’re done for another year), the coursework went off to the examiners (who grade our grading, so the entire process is more than a little nerve-wracking) and some other big stuff at work, but all that is beside the point. There has also been craftiness, if delayed. I won’t have made a project every day in May but nearly and through my month of crazy, I guess that’s not so bad! Plus there is the fabulous reward of next week—a week off school to recover from the bone-shaking stress of this week. I have some things to finish that I started, so a little bit of catch up will be good for the soul. That, and having the time to make a latte in the morning.

Better yet: Saturday’s workshop for The Reasons Why. I finished up about a gazillion of these little journaling bubbles while the sun went down by my window.

xlovesx

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The forecast I read said rain all day, and there hasn’t been any at all. Just lovely open window weather. I am so glad the days are getting longer, at long last.

Today’s project? Get everything ready for next weekend. I am so excited for this workshop. I can’t even explain. Can’t wait, can’t wait. Love 6×6 books, but there’s a whole other concept that I just can’t put into words just yet.

I’m teaching this workshop stateside a few times in the autumn. More details on that in a week or two!

A little housekeeping:

I forgot to put a closing date on this post, so the closing date will be 5pm London time tomorrow (21st of May). Then Melanie will send you goodies!

The book I mentioned was this which I had wanted to read for quite some time but I needed to wait. I needed my own feelings to settle a bit first. I am glad I read it now. It is beautiful. It was my suggestion for book club, but we have another two weeks before our meeting, so I don’t know if everyone liked it or just me.

I haven’t forgotten about the heart layouts. Annoyingly, the playing cards that were supposed to be here ages ago have never arrived. As soon as that is sorted, I’ll update with winners.

Speaking of winners, I am going to the post office tomorrow with a bunch of stuff to mail! Hurrah!

xlovesx

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