Blog Makeover

Oh my! Oh my!! Isn't it lovely?? Shimelle has done such a brilliant job on this for me and I'm so honoured to be one of only 5 people from the 'Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers' class that got a makeover like this. For once I was quick off the mark for putting my name down for stuff. Unlike normal, when I'm usually about 3 weeks too late!

So, I asked Shimelle to make it look more 'website-y' and less 'bloggy' and I think she has managed to do that really well. I wanted nice clean lines and a not-too-cluttered look. Lovely, lovely, lovely!! Now you can see my 'about page' and my 'fat to fit' page tabs on the Right hand side, along with ways to contact and connect with me. I'm mostly on Facebook but just recently joined this thing they call Twitter. So I'm still getting to grips with that! Also, Shimelle has handily (and very neatly) listed all the classes, meme's and communities that I'm involved in. I'll be adding more as I join and take-part too.... if I can find out how to resize all the little logo's.

I am soooo happy with the end result! A big "Thank you!" to Shimelle for working so hard and putting up with my rather large amount of questions and modifications. It's brilliant!!

So what do you think?? Come on, be honest!!

Do's and Don'ts of blog writing

Over on Shimelle's class yesterday the prompt was all about what NOT to post on your blog. Reading the prompt this morning I found it to be highly informative and I was pleased to see that for the most part I don't do most of the stuff she was warning about. Things like:

Don't make your readers nod off
Don't turn your blog into a whingefest
Don't forget to credit your inspiration or sources
Don't post just for the sake of posting. Rambling on about nothing in particular does not make great reading.
Don't write with your emotions in control. You could regret it later.

etc, etc.

 I thought I was doing ok with all of them as for the most part I'm only posting when it's important (to me) or if I think my readers would be interested. I read on a bit further.... and then it hit me. One of the final points was "Having too much to write" and subsequently making multiple uses of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!! LOL. Oh dear, this is where I fail completely. I am a serial !!! user. I got the bug baaaaaaad. I sometimes look at what I'm typing and think "oh my!!!! I'm on the happy juice again!!". LOL.

I think my problem is that typing just doesn't have the vocal nuances that speech has. It's difficult to stress certain words or get the inflection and intonation absolutely correct. Other than higlighting specific words in bold, but then I'd be highlighting my whole post because I'm just super-excited about everything. Which wouldn't work. At. All. And so, I hide in the refuge of the exclamation mark. A little too much.

So the question I have for you today.... how do you get off Cloud Extra-Extra-Happy!!!!! and back to the real world where people talk normally without going Extra-Extra-Boring?? There's got to be a way of reducing the !!!'s without reducing my sense of excitement (or stress) in the post. I've got to find a way because if I don't my SHIFT and 1 buttons are going to stop working soon!

A Day in Photos

** WARNING! Photo-heavy post. Please be aware that it may take a while to load. **

Join in on Shimelle's site!

Top 5.... posts!

Ok, today I'm going to start with saying "Today Shimelle has asked us to look at...." Only because it's difficult to introduce this topic any other way. At least I can't think of any other way to introduce it! Anyway, I'm having a little catch up session with the class because I'm procrastinating with the masses of photos I'm supposed to be Scrapbooking for the album I have been commissioned to do. Let me say this, as much as I enjoy scrapping.... it is a completely different kipper when you have to do it 'to order' or 'to a deadline'. Suddenly my mojo has fled the building and taken inspiration with it. I'm worried the the whole album is going to be plain, boring and very dull. So here I am, procrastinating! I am very very very good at procrastinating. Ask my Mother. So....

Today (okay a couple of days ago, actually.... but I'm good at procrastinating aren't I?!) Shimelle asked us to look at our blog and analyse which 5 posts we loved. Which ones got the creative juices flowing? Which ones got the comments going and discussion happening? Five. Hmmmm, I'm not sure I'd come up with that many!! Let me go back over the blog posts and see what I can come up with....

Oh yes, here's one! Handbag Envy. It was one of my early posts when I first started blogging. It very accurately described my view on handbags at the time! However, a while later I revisited the topic and blogged this post. This is my current handbag. A bit bright and in your face, but I luuuurve it!

I'm still amazed at how my life has changed soooo much in the past few years! And I'm loving the fact that this blog has charted that change even though I only blogged sporadically during that time.

Another post I did was inspired by a prompt from the last time I did a class by Shimelle. She knows how to get the most out of you! In fact, I think I need to hire her as my personal inspiration. Hmmm, that might be a little expensive! Still, I love the results when she gets me thinking about the mundane!

I love blog hops, don't you? Being able to see everyone's posts on a particular topic or crafting technique? I'm not sure if blog hops are something just crafters do or not. Afterall, I don't ever recall having seen a blog hop on the topic of  "Far Left politics and it's effect on today's society". I took part in a blog hop to commemorate Elvis' birthday. Not that I'm an Elvis fan, but I am a musician... or rather I was!

Lastly, in a blog full of really random posts... nothing is more random than LEGO. Or rather my husband's love of all things building-blocky and multicoloured!

Hmmm, 5 posts that I enjoyed writing. They're all.. completely. random. Does that say something about me? For someone who started off blogging to keep friends and family in the loop and then progressed to blogging about crafting; it seems weird to me that not one of those posts are about crafting or family life. Is it weird?

Leave me comment please! I need some pepping up and love how special comments make me feel. (I'm not going to go into WHY I need pepping up... that would just open up a whole can of worms!!)

A very important question for you!

Remember last week I said I'd signed up for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class? Well this is the next one! I'm hoping that it will help me with the whole design of my blog, what I'm writing about, how it looks, how we interact with each other etc. So over the next three weeks there will probably be quite a number of changes here on this blog... and probably over on my business blog too! Is there anything you'd like to see happen or change? I'm open to suggestions! After all, that is the whole reason for taking this class!!

Like a lot of scrapbookers I started my first blog (dont' worry all the stuff I wrote then is now on this blog!) with the aim of keeping in touch with family and friends who live far away. Then I discovered that none of them were reading it... but my crafting friends were! So my focus changed to show more of crafting projects that I'd completed. However, then life got in the way and needed to be blogged about - with the full intention of scrapbooking it at a later date of course! -  and then slowly this blog morphed into a "life, the universe and everything" type of blog instead. Lately most of the "everything" stuff has been about my weightloss journey. So now, I'll admit that I am confused what this blog's general topic is supposed to be. It's not really a crafting blog anymore, but I'd still like to include that if I ever get any crafting done that I can actually show you! It's a little bit about life, kids and holidays... but it's also a little bit about weightloss. Oh and perhaps a touch about my faith?? Basically it's a confused mess. LOL. So as we're making changes over the next three weeks I'd like to ask you a question... what would YOU prefer to read about?

Is there anything else that you would prefer? Granted, I'm not going to turn into a pro-blogger overnight but I'm hoping that this class will bring about a few improvements over the next three weeks.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving me your opinion and comments! I always love reading them. In fact, I was thinking of doing a post in response to some of the comments I've had lately. Would you like to read that or would it be too boring??

See you soon!

One Little Word 2011 and other such online classes!

You know what? I'm a complete sucker for online classes. I love the idea of signing up to learn something new and that I can be delivered directly to my inbox. I don't have to pack up bags of books, drop the kids off anywhere and I can do it when it suits me. My idea of Utopia. Except...... when the emails start coming, I get behind. And then I get frustrated, and depressed and cross with myself because I've shelled out good money for something that I'm not actually getting any benefit from! Still, sometimes one or two come along that say "hey, it doesn't matter if you're not keeping up with the prompts right now, just do it when you can!" I love that. Which is one of the reasons that I love classes by Shimelle and Ali! They're both like that. Which is why I don't have any regrets signing up for Shimelle's latest class, which is called 'Blogging for Scrapbookers'. I've done this one before but it's great to have a refresher course in preparation for her next class 'Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers'. I've been re-learning a lot and I'm hoping to learn a lot more! This time round I've been a bit behind on this class, but I'm not stressing... because unbeknownst to you all I've been following her prompts! I just wasn't starting with 'Today Shimelle has asked us to blog about...' Which is good.

My other class that I signed up for this year is being taught by Ali over on BigPictureClasses. It's called 'One Little Word'. Although this is my first time taking the class, you might still recognise the title as I have played along unofficially several times before. Last year my word for the year was 'Self-Discipline'. A rather tricky word for most people but I needed it and saw great results from it. A few years ago my word was 'Create'. That year I created loads, including my second child! I love that the words start off with one intention in your head and then as you live them loads of other things start happening as a result too. So this year, I decided to sign up with the class that runs through the year. It's more for creative ideas on how to document the word and the results. I signed up late because I was umming and ahhing about whether I should or not. So I started out behind! However, I'm taking photo's and pondering and mulling and in the meantime I'm trying to live my word for the year. This year my word is 'Reclaim'. Tricky, I know but I think it will be interesting to see how it all pans out at the end of the year!

Things I want to reclaim:

• My weightloss
• My self-discipline
• My self-confidence
• My creativity
• My kids
• My husband
• My home
• My faith
• My fitness

Amongst other things!!

We've been set a task to take photo's of things/people/places that would encapsulate your word or things you associate with your word. I'm struggling a little on that one!!

So far, I have only got a few photographs including this one.

Have you got anymore ideas on how I would photograph the word 'Reclaim'? Any suggestions would be gratefully received!! Thanks for your comments!

JYC Prompt 28

My favourite Christmas indulgence... baked goodies! Shop bought or home baked I don't mind which! Mind you, home baked is definitely better!

I'm still trying to catch up with all the JYC Prompts that I've missed. Its going to take some time though as I'm waaaay behind!

JYC Layouts

Sorry for having been absent the last week.. or two.. or three! You all know how it goes, Advent arrives and you swear its going to be calmer and  more organised than last year; and then before you know it you're running around like a headless chicken. Well, its happened again!

The good news is that we are now with the extended family and have been forced into a more sedate and calmer way of life. Which also means that I've been able to get some essential stuff sorted out on my laptop... things like - organising the mess of photo's I'd just dumped on my laptop for the past 8 or 9 months, and also sorting out my digi scrapping kits that I'd downloaded and then done nothing with. Anyway, they're all sorted now and actually inspired me to do some scrapping! Going along with the theme of catching up, I decided to do some layouts for Shimelle's 'Journal Your Christmas' class! So here are the two that I've completed today.. and hopefully there will be more in the next week or so, so keep checking back to see my progress!

And so it begins!

The Christmas madness, that is! Its slightly frustrating as I'm trying to keep the focus on the various birthdays happening in our family over the next week or so, but I know that everyone else doesn't give a fig about that and just wants to concentrate on that extremely commercialised, de-Christianised, overindulgent, who-will-be-the-number-1-pop-jingle, waiting-for-that-episode-of-Dr.-Who-and-snoring-through-the-Queen's-speech, festival. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not all "Bah! Humbug!" or anything. I just like to get the birthday's done with before I go dashing headlong into this period of madness. At least that's what I always resolve to do. The reality is usually far different! I get past my birthday on the 2nd, and my sister's birthday on the 4th, but then by the time I get to my Mom's birthday on the 8th I'm itching to get the Christmas tree up and start being festive. Come the 9th of December I'm usually running around like an overexcited child!! Then by the time the 20th arrives I've found that my whole festive period has turned into an exhausting fiasco which involves me doing my ingredients shopping at 1 in the morning at the local 24hr Tesco, posting my cards two days *after* the Royal Mail posting deadline and hoping that they get there in time, spending Christmas Eve wrapping millions of presents, eating far too much between Christmas and New Years and then collapsing in a tearful, quivering heap on the 2nd of January. At which point I write a long list of New Year's resolutions that I know I will completely fail to do anything about before January is even over! Does this sound familiar to anyone? Please tell me you do the same thing and that it's not just me?!

In an effort to reclaim my Christmas sanity this year I have decided to take part in Shimelle's 'Journal Your Christmas' class. I signed up for it 2 years ago, and then again last year - but ended up not doing anything at all and letting my Christmas simply degenerate into the fiasco as usual. However, this year I am determined to remain calm and serene and to enjoy it to the full with Shimelle's help. Obviously being a crafting sort of person, Shimelle tries to encourage us to produce a wonderful album full of beautifully scrapbooked memories of this season. However, I am going to keep this simple. I intend to blog about it most days, and will occasionally produce a layout when I have the time. I am not going to end up running around like a demented person. I am going to enjoy my Christmas. I hereby give everyone notice that I am reclaiming the festive spirit, and all the serenity that is *supposed* to go with it!

So, here is my declaration of intent:

"Starting today, December first, I will keep a Christmas journal. In it, I will write something every day to reflect on the holidays of my past, enjoy the holidays of the present and dream about the holidays of the future. To some, this would be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me. I am taking back my Christmas, I am letting it be something I relish and most importantly I am giving at least fifteen minutes to myself, every day, no matter how crazy this season becomes. This Christmas I will make something with my own hands, my own words and my own memories."

Later, I might add a picture or a finished layout to this post. But right now I'm going to go finish making my Christmas cards so that I can actually post them early this year! Well, earlier than normal anyway. May everyone have a very Merry Christmas, a relaxing festive season and many happy memories. As for me, I'm looking forward to my birthday tomorrow!!

Photo gallery cannot open this picture...

A picture is worth a thousand words... or so the old addage goes. So I wonder when I get a message that says "Photo gallery cannot open this picture or video. The file appears damaged or corrupted" how many words, impressions, descriptions of my little one I have lost? I wonder what this picture would have said to me. I cannot tell. I have lost the words, but the memory is still there. I remember taking lots of photo's of her first few hours, her first days. All in hospital. A photo of her under the photo-therapy lamps - looking like a little sun worshipper complete with sun-goggles. A photo of her in a Number 2 bodysuit to match the one of her older sister in the Number 1 bodysuit at the same age. I have that one, but not the other. 

So imagine my delight when I find, hidden in the vast megabytes that is my mother's picture folder.... these! These few pictures of her that are now so precious, so treasured. A few thousand words returned to me out of the many thousands lost to the crimes of technological corruption.

Thanks Mum, for being such a shutterbug.  A thousand words could not express the gratitude I feel for just one of these pictures!

Lazing on a sunny afternoon... in the summertime!

(Photo's taken in May 2009)

Prompt #4: Blogging the Mundane...

I'm loving Shimelle's class! Today's prompt is all about blogging mundane things. Things that we think are 'boring' that might actually be interesting to other people. So, life is not always a rollercoaster of highs and lows, sometimes its just nice and flat and uninteresting... so what? Perhaps nice, flat and uninteresting is good - because a rollercoaster life can make you sick! Shimelle was talking about blogging about things like

• going to the library
• doing the shopping
• the school run
• filling up at the petrol station ....

....oooh now there's one that would do me! I nipped there this morning to get some milk after I had dropped herself off at nursery. I filled up with petrol too at the same time... and then came home to find Shimelle's prompt sat in my inbox. It did get me thinking! I remember when I was a kid I used to sit in the car with my parents while the petrol was being filled up! Yup, my Mum and Dad sat in the car too! See I grew up in South Africa where illiteracy is high and lots of people don't have jobs. There is no dole, no benefits or handouts - so if you don't work, you don't eat. Consequently, there are a lot of things that people are 'employed' to do, that here in the UK we do for ourselves... and one of them is filling up at the petrol station. You drive onto the forecourt, open your window and hand a guy the keys. You tell him what type of fuel your car takes and then wait for him to fill up. I remember as a child thinking how it all sounded like a foreign language as my Mom would hand him the keys saying "fill up, 98, oil and tyres" Suddenly there would be three guys rushing around. One would be filling up, one would be checking the oil and another would be checking the tyres. A fourth man would approach the window and ask if she would like the windscreen cleaned. The petrol attendant would then tell my Mom how much it cost and she would give him the cash (before the days of credit cards!) he would take it to the kiosk and bring her the receipt and the change. She would then have to tip him and they would divide it between them. That is how they lived... on tips. I only found out years later that the garage didn't pay them a salary, they did all that in the hope of a tip... and quite a few people didn't give them even that much! The only time my parents would actually set foot anywhere near the kiosk was when us kids nagged them into getting us some crisps or a drink. Quite unlike living here in the UK... where we now have to get out the car (shock, horror!) and do it ourselves. So I filled up the car; watching the numbers whizz by until it clicks. Then I do this "thing", I rock the car - to get the air out of the petrol tank - and then continue to fill it up until it clicks again. Does anyone else do this? I'm not sure where I picked it up from? I think I must be the only person who does this. LOL. I collect my wallet from the car and then head into the shop. Of course it is a *shop* now - not just a little kiosk- petrol stations have now become mini-supermarkets. Our local one has a Marks & Spencers shop, so I often get stuff for tea from there too. I wander around the shop; even though I know I really only need milk -  and pick up a quiche, milk, bread, a snack selection, ham, cheese and sushi. Mmmmmm, yup Sushi. Its a M&S and their sushi is gorgeous. I'm addicted to it! I can happily walk right past the chocolates and crisps as long as I can get my hands on some sushi! I take my stuff to the till and pay.... £60 later I walk out of the shop with a full tank of petrol, the milk I originally wanted and nearly £20's worth of stuff that I had never intended to buy! And sushi. Yum!

I think that the old South African system was probably better, the temptation to buy additional stuff was easier to resist when it was someone else who was handling the money and doing all the work!

(Photo source)

Blog Prompt #3: 5 Favourite things!

So today Shimelle has us thinking about lists. Mostly lists of our favourite things, places or people. Favourite aspects of life, our kids, food, landscapes, tv programmes, clothes, colours, scrapbook pages, books, movies, CD's, concerts, plays, colours of nailpolish, pizza toppings...  Well as you can see the list of all the lists could be endless!  So thinking about my list of favourites, I started thinking about all the bits of life that are good right now. So 5 things that I love about life at the moment: 

1. I love our new house! OK, so its cost us a fair bit more than we had expected. We've had to do stuff that we didn't think needed doing. Like replacing the entire fuseboard because the vendors had tampered with it and it was unsafe as a result. Like having to replace the oven - which had looked perfectly ok, but wasn't. So the ensuite needs completely replacing because the previous people bodged it and the garden drainage needs sorting because a tiny bit of rain turns it into a quagmire. BUT! And here's the big BUT, I love it. The house feels more like home in the few weeks since we moved in, than our previous house did - even after all the work we did to it. We've all settled in well and most of the boxes are actually unpacked!




2. I'm loving how both the girls are playing so nicely on their own now! Both herself and the little one are enjoying taking themselves into their own corner and playing. No interference from me! Herself is currently dressed in a Stephanie costume (from LazyTown) and playing with her little sisters toys. The little one on the other hand has crawled between the bookshelves and sofa and is happily unpacking and re-packing her older sister's bag of Baby Annabel accessories. Both girls are happy playing with each others toys, and peace has ensued. Long may it last!

3. I'm enjoying my little scrapping space! So himself finished building my new scrapping space inside the spare wardrobe, all the rails and flatpack have been assembled and the stash has been unpacked and sorted... and then re-sorted again! Now that its all accessible I am really enjoying my crafting again. I'm trying to make time every evening to sit and do a little bit of scrapbooking and also some altering. In fact, I'm in the process of completing a project that I bought the pieces for 2 years ago! I shall post piccies once I've given it to the recipient.


4. I love that the Christmas preparations are underway! I love the festive period every year. The days getting shorter, the air is getting that cold bite, the councils are putting up the christmas lights, we're drawing up pressie lists and making our purchases (slightly later this year!), menu's are being created, christmas cards crafted (or bought!), christmas cakes baked,  the decorations will soon be taken out of the loft and then christmas trees start appearing in every window on the street and soon we'll be sitting down to eat a meal and open presents with family and friends. I love it all... including the mulled wine!!


5. I'm loving the thought of setting up my own business! BUT, the reality of it is quite scary actually! There's so much to think about! Wholesalers, ebay, website, premises, funding, business plans, bank accounts... and then the elusive name for the whole lot! Definitely having problems with that one! Each time I think I've got a name that's suitable I discover that someone else has beaten me to it. Suggestions on a postcard please! 


Phew, that's enough for now I think! Thanks for reading!

I'm back!

Wow, doesn't time fly? Over a year ago I had a new babe in my arms, sleepless nights were in progress and we were just getting used to having a new member in our family. Now I find that we are finally more settled and I realise I haven't updated the blog at all in 14 months! Ouch. In fact, I had actually let my subscription go rather than keep paying for something I wasn't using. However, I'm back on my feet again... life is getting to be as normal as its ever going to be, and I feel the need to share it with you!

So, In order to get myself back into blogging mode, I've signed up for a class with  Shimelle (love her classes!) all about Blogging. Feel free to take part too, as its not too late yet to sign up! As part of this class we're being provided with 3 weeks worth of blogging prompts and technical know-how to make our blogs more reader friendly. I hope that you will come back and share this experience with me? I'm hoping to blog at least two or three times a week as a minimum. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more tho'... it just depends on how inspiring I find the daily prompts! 

Also, as part of my return to blogging, I'm going to be looking at the possibilities of moving the blog to an alternate site. This all depends on how much I can manage to do with this one as I would love to have a blog that looks a little more 'me' rather than having the bog standard template as provided by TypePad!

So, hopefully I'll see you over the next three weeks!

(image source)

Confessions of a 30 year old!

So the lovely Shimelle.. scrapping goddess as she is, has graciously given us a freebie class! Normally you have to pay, but this one was free.  It's called "I have to confess" and was just about doing silly confessions, things that people might not necessarily expect I suppose.  So, earlier this week I printed out my photo's and got my cardstock, inks, stamps and some scraps of patterned paper out to do some serious confessing.  I really enjoyed this little class and although I used the same stamps (Scribbled Flowers from Banana Frog) my pages came out completely differently. I also got to experimenting with UTEE on inked chipboard brackets which was loads of fun and the result was very pleasing too!  So here's my Confessions:

I'm beginning to like Pink

I have to get out

I don't 'do' handbags

I'm arty but...

I could happily do Jam and Jerusalem

I really enjoyed doing this project, so a big "Thanks" to Shimelle!