Time to move over!

Hi there everyone!

As I am so busy with the New Tearooms, some things have to "give" and this blog is one of them I'm afraid. I may resume updates on here at some point, but as my main blog includes everything that used to be on here, you are better off bookmarking that one.

The main blog is... SundayLDesigns.com and I am still (just about!) posting on that blog, and of course, I have the Tearooms blog to update now too.

So head on over for more Scrapbooking, Cardmaking and general Papercrafting blog posts, along with other bits and pieces.

SundayLDesigns.com

Changes are afoot!

I was going to leave posting till the weekend - when I will be making an announcement.

But then I realised that my computer is going in for major surgery tomorrow and we all know how "interesting" that can make things! LOL

So I am just posting a quick hello now to say that my plan is to post some pictures and words on Sunday... here's hoping everything fits back together again and there are no forceps left in my little pooter! LOL

All will be revealed with the announcement on Sunday... fingers crossed!

Love to all till then and keep on Scrapping!

A New Direction

I've been doing a lot of thinking and soul searching these past weeks. And I have made some decisions along the way, some choices.

I have been keeping this blog completely related to scrapbooking (as much as I can) and at times it can be very restrictive to my creative flow!

I didn't want to just trawl the web and bring you links, and I didn't want to bung a load of "chit chat" or personal life stuff in here like some other blogs, because it can get boring for readers.

But I have made the decision that rather than start a new blog to run alongside... something I don't want to spend more time on, I have decided I will be posting more than just scrapbooking ideas here - more than just ways to display your photos.

I want to explore other avenues and you are welcome to join me on my journey of discovery through my creative potential.

I was worried I would be judged and people would not appreciate my ramblings on such subjects as finding ones true self and inner wishes, whilst I try to find out who I am.

You know all those cliches of "finding oneself", but you get to a certain age where you realise that there is more to life and you just can't smother this undercurrent any more.

I have already started my journey, by listening to audiobooks and videos/DVDs and read quite a few books. I have mentioned "the Secret" a few times already (about the Law of attraction) but I have tried to keep things within the boundaries of Scrapbooking... bearing in mind the title of this blog.

But it is time now for me to lift the lid on stuff, stop hiding and start expressing! It's ok, I won't go into personal details... there is stuff that is much better left unsaid (LOL). But I hope you will find inspiration and some meaning and maybe even talk to me about your experiences.

So just before you fall asleep... I'll leave you with a taster of a small layout I made recently... I'll post the completed page and explanation in the next post!

Decorations using recycled catalogues or scrapbooking materials

Here is a great "Recycling idea"!

It is Flower Garland idea from a blog called Zakka Life, which has lots of "natty" ideas actually.

This is the link for the tutorial for these flowers.

They are made from the pages of catalogues. You could, however, adapt for scrapbooking paper, as although you need a number, these are just strips of paper.

Also it's a jolly good way to keep the little ones occupied for a while, and with the materials of just an old magazine and some glue.... it's a winner!

Woo hoo - I'm connected again

I'm back online boys and girls... phew, what a lot of catching up I had to do!

So I have nothing Scrapbooking to post here yet... but will be back shortly with some tidbit!

Sunday

SimplyScrapbookingNow.com Blinkie !

Well I actually managed to make my first ever blinkie !! Woohoo... only took one and a half hours, when I really should have been doing something else! LOL (see also earlier post)



Still I have already sorted all Honey's stuff ready for her first day back at School after the half term break, and sorted the packed lunches ('s' refers to the fact that I have to make one for myself too as I work in an ordinary office a couple of days a week!) so I started fiddling and you know what's it's like... "I'll just do this quickly" ha ha!

Well I'm impressed that I managed it in only 90 minutes! Here is a tutorial I found on the web about making a blinkie using PhotoShop Elements (which I use).

So what do you think then? Oh and I've added some other graphics to the side too... scroll down to see... mmmm... lovely sunsets!

Scrapbooking Blinkies for blogs

I was looking into making my own blinkies for this site and my other sites, but thought I should actually sort out putting them onto my own first.

I haven't done so before as I am not a fan of flashing lights, but I know a lot of you like them and they can certainly be colourful!

So I went on a search for instructions as to how to go about putting blinkies on this 'ere blog... and I found a great one here on the GingerScraps Blog. Thanks Ginger for a clear tutorial on how to sort out a blinkie problem! And just for that help, I have added Ginger's blinkie to my favourites!

Have a look on the left hand side (you may need to scroll down a bit!

Now... off to make my own and see what you think!

Would you combine such colours for a Scrapbooking Page?

Well, in the wake of uploading the latest issue (November) of the SimplyScrapbookingNow.com Newsletter last night, I am currently in the process of "clearing the decks"!

Goodness me it is a mess in here! Mostly of paperwork and not of craft stuff unfortunately, but my aim is get stuck into a page or two tomorrow.

Honey has not one, but two birthday parties to go to tomorrow! What it is to be popular eh?!! LOL

Anyway... Have you worked out what the top picture here is yet?

Well it's a photograph from one of the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the year 2008. And actually the picture intrigued me, but that's not why I post it here... I actually think that the little write up that went with it was beautifully written! It is posted below exactly as I found it on msn news.

The second picture I do post here for aesthetic reasons... such beauty in nature... such superb colours. It is a "Carmine bee-eater"... um I wonder what he likes to eat?!

A fabulous photograph!

Anyway, I give you the write up with that picture as the text is evocative too.

Now would you think to put those colours together in a scrapbooking layout? Nature.... doesn't have any rules... and neither should we!

(For the TOP picture)
Baris Koca, Turkey: Starling genie (Animal Behaviour: Birds)
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008
Birds are among the most popular subjects for photographers entering the competition, but the challenge is to take a picture with aesthetic appeal that also shows active or interesting behaviour. At Lake Mogan, near Ankara in Turkey, the photographer tried over and over again, day after freezing day, to capture the amazing shape-shifting of the flocks of starlings coming into roost, but none of his attempts did the spectacle justice. Then, one weekend, something different happened. The lake was frozen, and so he was able to stand facing the reeds with the sun behind him. As usual, at around 5pm, thousand-strong flocks of starlings wheeled in over the horizon to merge into dense super-flocks, providing half an hour of incredible aerobatic routines. Then, as the sun set, the birds pirouetted into the spotlight of its rays, and the perfect picture was created. As they descended, their wings sounded like soft clapping. It was ‘so relaxing’ that he stopped taking photographs and just listened. Then the starlings twittered down into the reeds, and the curtain of darkness fell.

(For the BOTTOM picture)
Chris van Rooyen, South Africa: Bee-eater ballet (Animal Portraits)
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008
This category, one of the most popular in the competition, invites portraits that capture the character or spirit of an animal in an original and memorable way. A boat moored on the Zambezi was the perfect hide from which to observe the colony. At least 1,000 carmine bee-eaters were breeding in this area of riverbank, in Caprivi, Namibia – one of the largest colonies in southern Africa. Whenever a loitering raptor drifted too close, a burst of carmine would explode from the numerous burrows. Activity was constant and the birds never stopped chirruping to each other as they chased insects. “I had the distinct impression some were just having fun,” says Chris. “They would weave around in the wind, hover in the updraft created by the riverbank, and then fold their wings to parachute back into the nest-hole.”

Words By Benjamin Chernivsky
Photographer, MSN UK News
For more information about the photographs visit Natural History Museum: official website

The beauty of a flower

How beautiful is this...

... and the picture below.

It is a photograph of a "SunPatiens" (or Busy Lizzy) in the evening sunshine.

If you click on the pictures you'll see a bigger image and you will be able to appreciate the glistening of every petal, especially noticable on the white flower.

I often get lost for a few special moments just admiring the wonder and beauty of nature.

I sometimes wonder how I can recreate such texture in a scrapbook page! I am thinking about creating a background paper with these and/or some photos I have taken of flowers... I will have to make sure that I choose the right paper for printing mind!

I may even use some spots of 3-D gloss to attempt a recreation of the sparkle of the petals... Hmmmm!!! thinking...!!!

Scrapbooking - Blog Action Day

I mentioned last week about the fact that today was Blog Action Day. Well this year it's about Poverty.

I said... "I definitely have my views on this subject... but maybe not the sort you might think...! "

Well that's because I'm NOT going to talk about Poverty and ask you to think about giving more and caring more for those less fortunate than others!

"Then what ARE you going to talk about?" I hear you enquire.

Well... I'm going to talk about the COMPLETE OPPOSITE!

"Why?" you ask.

Because all the time we Talk, Think and Act about Poverty it is our focus of attention and the more you focus on something, the more of it you get.

I have talked about "The Secret" (see this post and the link within the post) which is about the Law of Attraction. And the Law of Attraction says that if you focus on something, you eventually get it! Good OR bad.

If we focus our attention on Poverty, we will get more of it! What we should be doing is focusing on the opposite... abundance. That may be very difficult for those who are poverty stricken at the moment, but people have pulled themselves from the gutter, ie homelessness, using this Law.

Even if you don't consider yourself in Poverty, and let's face it, if you are sitting in the comfort of your home, sitting at a computer reading this... then I don't think you are!, you could improve your life by doing ONE simple thing.

Want to know what it is?

Gratitude

We constantly remind our children to say thank you, but why? Because it is polite to do so, right? Well actually there is a LOT more to "thank you" than mere courtesy.

I'm not going to preach to you here, instead I will tell you of my own experience.

Since learning about the Law of Attraction around this time last year, materially I do not appear to be any better off.

But inside... I am a LOT better off. I have much more peace, so much so that people have commented on how much more confident and happier I look on the outside.

Now there are a number of reasons for this, but one of the things up there on the top of the list is that I have learnt to FEEL gratitude.

I don't just enjoy the blue sky and sunshine, or the beauty of a flower, I say thank you for it. And not to God, I am not a religious person, but I just say thank you and really feel it in my heart. I am fully in that feeling, maybe for only a fleeting moment, but it is there.

It was hard for me to know what it actually felt like at first, and I still can't hold on to the feelings for long, but it is starting to become automatic now that I can "really" appreciate things.

I think that one reason I didn't allow myself to "feel" gratitude in the past (and why it's still hard for me now because it is an ingrained habit) is that to feel grateful meant I was to feel vulnerable. It meant that I was weaker for opening up to this feeling. I realise now that maybe I was only subconsciously trying to protect myself from hurt, possibly a childhood habit that no longer serves me.

We are supposed to "appreciate what we have, while we strive to achieve what we want". And now I understand what that means...

Don't forget, or push to one side in your mind, the good that you already have around you, don't begrudge where you are now because it's not where you want to be. Embrace where you are right now, right this minute. Look around you, you will start to see all the things to be thankful for.

Even if you are reading this in a library, because you don't have a home PC, or even a home... be really thankful that the library has a PC for you to use, that you have your health, the clothes you are wearing.

If you know someone who is "on their knees" physically, mentally, or spiritually, ask them to identify something to be grateful for... the clothes on their back maybe, that they have a friend in you? If it's a beautiful day, they can feel "thank you" for the blue skies... if it's a rainy day, say thank you for the beauty in a raindrop. It's all there if we can but see it the right way.

Joe Vitale (Google him he's all over the place!LOL) said that when he was really struggling and in dire straights, he felt he had nothing to be thankful for, then he realised that he could be thankful for the pencil he was holding in his hand, that potentially he could write a masterpiece with it, that he could write his CV with it and get a job, etc. He is now a multi-millionaire... but he had to start somewhere.

When in Poverty there is more of an incentive to focus on improvement, but being "just ok" can be improved on too.

So be grateful today and always that you are not in poverty by being grateful that you are where you are, that you have good things all around you everyday. Be grateful for what you have now and you will attract more things to be grateful for.

And so to scrapbooking..? Time to start scrapbooking those things to be grateful for now. This is a great way to start a Random Mini Album (see SimplyScrapbookingNow.com website for article) because you can be grateful about all sorts of things, using different shapes and sizes of paper and other stash to show the diversification of all things around you.

I may have waffled a bit here, but I do hope it has made you think, even if for just a moment.

Blog Action Day - 15th October 2008

I have decided to take part in the Blog Action day again . Last year it was about the Environment and this year it is about Poverty.

I definitely have my views on this subject... but maybe not the sort you might think...!

So, stay tuned... on 15th October (next Wednesday) all will be revealed in my ramblings!

In the meantime, if you have a blog, pop over and sign up (click the image below) and become part of a HUGE event of one voice from a thousand mouths.

New ideas, exciting scrapbooking future!

I'm really excited about all the things I have lined up for this blog and the SimplyScrapbookingNow.com website.

I plan to do lots more "HowTo" videos, and some digital freebies (for digital, hybrid and traditional scrapbooking layout use) for downloading too.

There is also a plan to include a "Subscriber's Only" area of the SSNow.com website. This is where I shall post snippets of information (maybe some more exclusive freebies) specifically for Newsletter readers!

And of course I have my new ebooks in the pipeline... so lots of exciting new stuff to look forward to!

Kit Kat wrappers - or Candy Wrappers!

Common place in the US, I didn't quite understand the fascination with candy wrappers, until recently.

I wanted to give the carers/teachers something on my daughter's last day at nursery and for some reason I thought it would be nice to "personalise" these chunky KitKats!

So for any of you reading who are on a diet, my apologies!!

My hubby had eaten one of the packet of nine before I got a chance to tell him that they were gifts and not for eating!

Anyway, I digress...

I simply made a few measurements of the chocolate bar and put up a piece of paper in Photoshop Elements. I added some digital scrapbooking embellishments and some text, leaving a gap for Honey to sign her name, and it was done.

What you can see in the bottom picture is the print out of 4 to an A4 sheet of paper, but that was out of "Word".

That's because I saved the Photoshop file as a jpeg (picture file) and just inserted the picture into the Word page 4 times (copy and paste).

When I have time I will upload a version for you to printout and use, maybe just saying "Thank You"... what do you reckon?

Sticky Dots to the rescue

For those of you with children already, you will probably identify with what I am about to say..!

For those of you who are yet to partake of the wonders of parenthood (hmmm, maybe a teensy bit of sarcasm there! LOL), take heed of this 'ere warnin'!!

Don't get rid of your stash when the kids come along... you're gonna need it!!!

My daughter was given a children's magazine by her auntie and within it's bright colourful pages was a die cut racing car. My daughter of course, wanted to make it, and for the most part it was ok, but very fiddly, and needed sticky tape to stop it all springing apart while you tried to put the next "tab A in slot B" sort of thing!

Well, luckily for me it was bathtime for daughter just before we embarked on the wheels (daddy does the baths!), so I continued without her as they looked a bit fiddly... well there was an understatement!

The instructions called for some sticky tape, but there is no way these wheel would have stayed together without the use of my sticky dots!

I had to put sticky dots on all the tabs around the circumference of the wheel in order to keep them from sliding straight out of the treads before I had even managed to get the requested sticky tape anywhere near them!

There is no way that a older child would have successfully made these wheels, let alone a 4 year old!

I wouldn't mind but I have never even heard of "Roary" the Racing car!!!!!

So be warned... you'll need your scrapbooking tools for all sorts of things... this isn't the first time my crafting equipment has come to the rescue!

Scrapbooking stats! Amazing figures!

I was interested to find out the following facts and figures regarding our Industry... because that is what it has become... a huge industry. Here is a link to some information gathered from surveys run a few years ago now, but the industry is still expanding so the figures are probably more mind boggling now!

These are stats for the United States... has there been a proper survey for the UK, I wonder?

Scrapbook Inspirations magazine ran one last year, but only within scrapbooking itself, ie, it's readers, so there are no figures for how many households in the UK may scrapbook, for instance.

Still this article gives you an idea...


Scrapbooking Industry Statistics Reveal a Growing Phenomenon
Did you know that Mark Twain was an avid scrapbooker? Although scrapbooking has been around for centuries, the hobby continues to grow in popularity. Some people attribute the increased interest in scrapbooking to a renewed passion for genealogy, while others say it’s a natural outlet for people who are interested in photography and graphic design to express their creativity. The widespread available of digital cameras may also play a part in promoting scrapbooking, since Americans now take more than 30 billion photos per year.

For evidence of the increased interest in scrapbooking, consider the following facts. ... MORE>

Swirls like Two Scoops

Apparently it was National Vegetarian Week last week here in the UK!

Did anyone else know that!

Hmmm... I think it's a classic case of "Notta lotta people know that!" (spoken in Cockney London accent) to quote our famous Michael Caine (although I understand that he didn't actually say that! LOL... a bit like the infamous "Beam me up Scottie" quote that never actually happened either!) But I digress!

Anyway... the reason for bringing this up, has nothing to do with vegetarianism... I for one, have always been, and always will be a meat-eater... sorry all you veggies out there!

Nope, I witter on here because when I saw the pamphlet for the event, I thought the graphics looked somewhat familiar!

As you can see from the photograph... the swirls are very similar to the Basic Grey "Two Scoops" c0llection, and I have placed the packaging for the stamps beside the pamphlet!

What d'ya fink then? Are they extremely alike or am I losing it? LOL

Spring is here

Ah... spring is here... the sun is shining (in between the rain clouds, LOL), the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming!

This is a photograph of the fresh iris leaves in our pond with the sun shining through them.

It may well end up being used as another background for you to download for free.

Chicks!

Get ready to say "Ah" !!

This is my daughter with one of the chicks which hatched at her nursery!

They have actually gone back to the farm from whence they came (as of today) but they were really cute!

They grew very quickly from wobbly new borns (or should I say hatches!) to feisty little things with proper feathers sprouting - you can see the adult feathers showing on their wing tips.

It was great for the children to see the eggs as they were developing in an incubator and then to watch them hatch... what a treat, and of course all the mum's and dad's had a good look too! LOL

So..... did you say "ah"???

Check out my Slide Show!

I decided to use this program to show a slide show of some of my work... Am currently trying to work out how to get it into the side margin of this blog instead of here as a single entry, I suppose you will soon see if I have been successful!!

Scrapbooking for Children

Yesterday I held a workshop for Kids aged 8 and over at a local library.

Rather than getting them to create a scrapbooking layout I decided to organise a workshop for creating a 4x4 mini album instead.

Now technically it was a card covered on all sides, but we also made 2 pockets for tags.

Anyhow, of the 5 children in the group (aged 8-11) 3 of them were boys! Now I did cater for them in that the kit I produced did have blues and blacks in it, but actually they took to the flowers and girly stuff really well. I was pleased to see how their items turned out and when I post their pictures on the ScrapBuddies website I will post a link over to them.

I think they all did really well. One of the boys flashed through his creation and then wanted something else to do, so I gave him some left over paper and bits and he made me a thank you card! Wasn't that nice.

It was a funny feeling actually, cos I remember doing that sort of thing (making thank you cards for people) when I was the same age! Anyway... it was a pleasant surprise... well done Kynan!