So far, so good

This is going to be my year for achieving goals and challenges I have set myself.  So far I have recorded 3 challenges for myself.
1) To read 50 books in 2014
2) To read 13 or more books that are either written by Scottish authors or are set in Scotland
3) To take more photos, make more scrapbook pages and record more stories

To help me with challenge 3 I have set myself a goal of completing 40 of the weekly challenges set on UK Scrappers.  I have bemoaned the fact that it is very quiet and that posts aren't moving as fast as they used to but I haven't helped that by visiting infrequently and not posting when I do visit so with a combination of completing challenges on UKS and using story swoop on Get it scrapped I am hoping to achieve this goal.

The week 1 challenge on UKS was to use the following sketch -

and combine it with inks, paints and sprays and lots of journalling.

Here is the page I made as a result -

  

I don't think I have ever used as many different multi coloured papers on one layout but I found this just came together so easily and quickly.  It was great fun to make.  I do love my doily stamps.  I find stamping can be a bit hit or miss these days, due to my shaky hands.  I find I get the best results by putting a soft mat under whatever I am stamping onto.  I am having to find all sorts of tricks to get the same results I used to get but things could be worse.

For challenge 1 I completed a book called The Lavender Keeper set in France during WW2.  The first half of the book was really good and it was clear that the author had done a lot of research.  Sadly the second half of the book was a let down with an unbelievable main character and a pretty predictable romance.  At the moment I am reading Ian Rankin's Saints of the Shadow Bible featuring John Rebus.  So far, so good as they say.  It will be interesting to see how things pan out for John Rebus, I hope Mr Rankin has a few surprises for his readers.  Time will tell.