Fickle is as fickle does

I don't think I would ever have considered myself a fickle person but that's how I am feeling.  Many, many months ago I dabbled in art journalling.  I enjoyed it in itself but I didn't like the fact that it took my time away from scrapping memories and stories that didn't really fit into an art journalling format.

While I was in that mode though I bought some stuff, as I have a tendency to do, but eventually found myself boxing it up for sale someday as I wasn't using it.  Then along came a mixed media class at Studio Calico which caught my eye round about the time my oldest granddaughter and my daughter started dabbling in art journalling.  With my granddaughter Beth it came about because she is very keen to take art as a choice subject in third year and I have been teaching her to sew over the past few months, which her art teacher is delighted about.  I first showed her some art journalling books I had on my bookshelf including Journal Bliss.  I then showed her some zentangle books on Amazon and I ended up buying her one along with some pens and a few acrylic paints. 

As a result of this my daughter was keen to try some of the zentangle stuff herself and, as her birthday was in March, I bought her a zentangle book along with Journal Bliss and a few other arty bits including a blank journal to get her started.  This then got me interested in learning to draw and doodle.  I loved art at school but wasn't allowed to take it as a choice subject because the art teacher told me I couldn't draw well enough.  That label has stuck with me ever since.

As a result of all of this I signed up for the mixed media class, pulled some inks and bits out of my 'for sale' box, dusted off my mists and ordered more gesso.  The UKS weekly challenge for this week was to use a sketch, stars and chevrons and this page was my take on that.

I am not too sure about the random chevrons down the side but it will do for now.  I really enjoyed the messy bit so I can see more of that on the horizon.  Unfortunately this may mean another shuffle round of stash to make room for the bits I had earmarked for selling.  I will see what happens but for April's scrap a sketch challenge the following sketch is to be used -

so I think more messy will be in my future.  Watch this space!

Keeping up with the ...

Jones' challenges!

When I was younger the phrase keeping up with the Jones' was an often heard one.  It means to keep up with those around you in terms of things  such as getting a car/new curtains/new clothes etc.

In these days of recycling and upcycling it would be frowned upon, these days the challenge seems to be to have less and spend less, much as I was brought up to do.  We never really considered ourselves as less well off than others though because where we lived it was just what was done.  My mother being one of five girls helped because everything that had life left in it was passed on to someone and I still try to do that today.  I think during the 80's and 90's there was almost a stigma attached to having something that wasn't new which was a great shame.  I was watching last Sunday's episode of Call the Midwife earlier and a young dad whose children were not thriving was talking about his younger brother who had died and he said 'things have improved since then' and they had and some things continue to do so.

I would be lost without my internet connection.  I use the internet all the time, to find out things, to share things, to keep track of things yet for young people, and sometimes not so young, it can be a dangerous place.  I like to share my scrapbook pages, some of the things I knot or crochet, some of my photos, my thoughts but I also like to keep many things to myself.  It is all about finding a balance, something I am still working on in terms of my health.  Recently I have been using a walking stick as my left ankle has been really bad and i have found it helped a great deal.  The stick I was using had been loaned to me by the hospital when I had previously torn the ligament in my knee and was barely able to walk.  As it had made such a big difference to the amount of pain I was in and my ability to walk I decided I would try and buy myself one.  The hospital one has a rounded top and isn't always comfortable to lean on so I opted for a flat handle and thanks to the internet I am now the proud owner of not one, but 2 snazzy walking sticks.

I have also been busy with the many challenges I have set for myself.  I have finished Truth Lies Bleeding by Tony Martin, my 3rd book of the year and my 2nd for my Scottish book challenge.  This one was definitely a challenge and as I got to the end and reflected back I couldn't say I enjoyed it much.  It did keep me reading and keen to find out more of the story and some of the characterisation was excellent.  Sadly though I felt I was none the wiser about the main character and I actually didn't like many of the characteristics he was given in the book.  I may or may not read another of this author's books but if I do it won't be for a while.

I have also been keeping up with my scrapbooking and have completed 3 pages recently, including 2 at a crop.  It is a long time since I was so productive at a crop so I am hoping that this is the start of an upturn in my desire to scrap.

The week 2 challenge on UKS was to choose 3 of the following and make a page -
1. hot tropical or warm summer colours
2. ribbons or flowers
3. birds or butterflies
4. sparkle and bling
5. break open your new stash after the holidays
6. use your favourite photo from last year (2013)
7. ice cream
8. sand or water
9. frame the photo
10. scraplift from someone else's work and please do credit them when you post your LO picture

I went for numbers 2,3,4,5,6 and 9 for the first ever 12x12 page I have made using only Webster's Pages paper.  Normally these papers scare me and much as I find them pretty, I never quite know what to do with them.  However just before Christmas I bought the Postcards from Paris collection pack from my friend Angela and I am determined to use the whole pack!  1 page down and a few more to go.

This week's challenge is to use at least 3 of the colours shown.
Use a photograph taken outdoors.
Add some triangles, at least 2, and create some layers or a cluster of embellies.

I had volunteered to make a page for Maggie to show as an interpretation of the challenge, which I loved.

These were taken on one of our many trips down by the river where Sean was climbing trees and showing the kids how to do it, which I found a bit stressful.  Needless to say the kids thought it was great fun!  I hope I can find the balance in how far and how well I can walk so that we can spend time by the river again.  Fingers crossed.

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.

Challenge Number 3

Last year I hardly made any scrap book pages and I took far fewer photos.  In fact I took less photos last year than at any time since I had bought my first digital camera about 11 years ago.  What's almost worse is I did nothing with the photos I did take.  I ended up getting some prints of photos I had taken between June and December last year in the week before Christmas and I still haven't integrated any of these photos into my file system.

Much of this was because of the problems I have with my hands, I simply couldn't hold my dslr camera and my phone takes awful photos unless the light is really good.  I do have a small point and shoot camera but it is just so slow to take a photo that I found myself missing most of the shots I wanted.

In some ways being part of things rather than being the observer behind the lens was quite nice but the fact that so many memories have not been captured bugged me.  As a result I have bought myself a Nikon 1 camera and I love it.  It is so small and light but so much better than my wee point and shoot.  I am still working out what it can do but so far so good.

My third challenge for myself this year is to take more photos, capture more memories and get more stories recorded on pages.  I think that my scrapbook style is changing but I am not sure in what way yet.  I am finding myself drawn to things I have previously ignored and moving away from things I previously liked.  I know I need to get creating pages to work out what I am comfortable with and that is part of this third challenge.  I am between feeling anxious and curious about my way forward but I cannot put it off any longer.  The last 6 months of last year saw me scrapping only at crops and not always at that.  One crop I simply took my knitting and another I was so busy organising and selling my dear friend Heather's scrap stuff, I barely had time to think, let alone scrap.

I also barely looked at UKS, which was once a daily must, so I am aiming to be more active on there as well.  I seem to be a bad luck charm for any team I am in as they always break up a few months later.  I have put myself forward to join a new team so fingers crossed this one works out.  I find being in a team encourages me to scrap more to gain points and join in with the different challenges.  I am part of a scrap a sketch group where a sketch is uploaded on the 5th of each month and the participants have till the 4th of the next month to make and upload their pages.  I chose December's sketch and this is the page I made using it . . .

I also uploaded a page I had made at the last crop I was at using some very sparkly and pretty ancient Bo Bunny papers.

I find it almost impossible to get a straight photo of a scrapbook page from above, as you see.  I do need to find the best spot to take photos of pages as I am hoping to have many more to show over the year.  For now I am off to clear my craft desk ready for the next page.