A long weekend

Just a quick post from the delayed 13:30 Kings Cross to Newcastle service.

I'm returning from a long weekend visiting my Mum. I would love to say this was a visit for pleasure but unfortunately not.

My step father died on a sunny Sunday afternoon almost 9 months ago... This event has changed everything for those who knew him, but the events of that day shook my Mums life to it's core.

Friday was the inquest into Nigel's death, a day I had been dreading for a while but it never crossed my mind that I wouldn't go... I felt I needed to support Mum but I also needed answers for myself as to what happened that day.

The inquest was a really useful experience for me and I finally feel I have the answers I have needed.

It doesn't change the fact he is gone but I feel it will help me move on and I hope it will help Mum too.

Delayed trains give you plenty of time to think (and crochet).

Thanks for visiting x

UKS blog hop.

First let me say a big HI to anyone visiting me for the first time, you are very welcome but I must warn you this Blog is in it's infancy so please bear with me... we all have to start somewhere.

Speaking of starting somewhere, there is a Blog hop today over on UKS so I decided to start at the top with Alison over at her blog- Bricabracadocio where she had a lovely home decor project to pretty up her bedroom while trying to sell her house.

She asked if anyone else had anything similar and I was ready to write my reply when I realised actually for once I DID!

I love pinterest.. I can spend hours on pinterest.. in fact I did today pinning pretty crochet things (if I work out how I will add a linky button in on the side over there... you know over there ------->) anyway I digress.

This is my home decor project... inspired by Pinterest and shamelessly ripped off from the gorgeous things over on Not on the high street dot com.

Sorry for the photo quality and evidence of clothes washing in background I snapped a few pictures just before wrapping it.

This canvas was a Christmas gift for my step sister and uses my much loved Martha Stewart butterfly punch and scraps from my equally well loved (and vast) October Afternoon paper collection.

The butterflies were suppose to all stand neatly but the pesky things just wanted to fly off... so I let them!

Thanks for visiting.

Liz

ps yes, I know it is silly later for playing around blog hopping but I'm on nights starting tomorrow so resetting my body clock to sleep in day by staying up half the night is one of the few pleasure involved in shift work :)

Everyday life

Last year I did project life and was doing well (if a little behind at times) but I loved this project and then.... Well one of those bumps in the road came up.

At the time I had been including pictures of something I was very exciting about in my project life and then well.. It didn't pan out.

I found it hard going back to project life after this... I know life is not always sunny days and happy faces but I haven't really included the darker side of life in my scrapbooks so didn't feel ready or comfortable including it in project life.

Now I feel like it might have been good for me to include the tough times but I just wasn't strong enough. I decided wait until January to start the next year of project life.

Fast forward 9 months and I have a not quiet finished June 2011 to June 2012 project life and an empty album for 2013. January 2013 came and went and I still wasn't in a place where I felt I could take a photo a day and write an 3x4 card about it.

Recently I have been noticing the little things in my life and thinking 'oh that would be good for project life'. I miss this project but need to find a way to make it work for me. I think a photo a day might be too much but I would like to pick this project up again.

So I was thinking since I have started blogging this might be an ideal place to capture some of those everyday photos but they might not deserve their own page but I would still like to capture these moments.

So here is my everyday life-

An empty cup cupboard....

Means lots of washing up to do.

A few layouts

I have had a few days off last week but as often happens I didn't do any scrapping on my days off... instead I rush to get the UKScrappers weekly and monthly challenges done in the evening and then find I can't photograph my layouts (LO) as there is no light!

This weeks challenge was to make a LO using buttons, ribbon, stamping and this sketch.

I turned the sketch on it's side.

I'm not 100% happy with the way this LO turned out.. i think it's the buttons and pearls but the photos are from the first meal my husband and I had when we arrived in Maui on our honeymoon, it was a lovely steak meal at the Black Rock Grill at the Sheraton Maui.  The papers are Summer's End by Fancy pants.

I've also had a stab at this months house challenge which was to use a specific colour pallet of Iris Blu, leaf green, orange and yellow.

The photo is of my mum on our summer holiday to Turkey this year.  The papers are an old my minds eye collection.

I want to add some journalling to this LO but need to think a little more about what to write... it was a truly wonderful holiday but the events since have made it hard to scrap this holiday.. i'm not sure whether I want to write my journalling from my current perspective or as I felt at the time.  I have left this LO to one side while I think this over.

Thanks for visiting.

Hello again,

I don't seem to have quiet got the knack of regular blogging and life keeps throwing little speed bumps in my way! OK some of them have been HUGE speed bumps but I mustn't dwell.

Anyway, my team mates, the Rik Rak Ravers, over on UK Scrappers have organised a circle journal and since it will be a monthly occurrence I thought this might be a good chance to get into regular blogging as well.. I'm told blogging is lots of fun.. we shall see!

So, the idea of the circle journal (CJ) is that you pick a theme and a size for your journal and other people complete pages for your journal for you.  Usually you would make the covers, intro and sign in pages then post it on to the next person... and it goes round in a circle.  Obviously as the journal grows this can get quiet costly when it comes to the postage so our CJ will be shared online and the person completing pages will then only have to post out their pages to the recipient so hopefully cutting down the cost as the physical journal will stay with it's owner.  I'm not sure I explained that very well.

The theme for my CJ is the word GROW.

I have been doing Ali Edwards One little word (OLW) for a few years.  You pick a word at the beginning of the year which 'speaks to you' and throughout the year try and bring that word to life.

In 2011 my word was JOY and I bought the class from Big Picture Classes.. I started off well but didn't complete any pages past February.  Although I watched all the class content (and bought the recommended page protectors) I never seemed to get round to actually DOING the pages, so in 2012 I decided to try again and I picked the word GROW.  I did better last year getting into April this time and completing some of my Joy pages alongside.

I have to mention although I didn't complete the 'project' I found the concept of OLW very useful and by having a word for the year I really did feel I worked on bringing more Joy into my life and I found the word Grow very grounding last year.. I set goals of how I would like to grow my life and managed to achieve many of those goals.. some as simple as subscribing to Gardeners World and some much more challenging such as tackling my hoarding/messy ways.

Although Grow was my word for 2012 I don't feel I am ready to let it go... I still have more growing to do I have decided to keep it as my word for 2013. As the idea with Ali's OLW is to keep your word present in your life I thought receiving a journal page each month based on the word would help bring it to the front of my mind.

So this challenge I have set my teamies:

My theme is the word Grow, you can interpret this in any way you like... things you have seen growing, your garden, favourite flowers, inspirational phrases around the theme grow, ways in which you/things have changed and grown. 

As part of my Grow theme, I would like to learn some new scrapbooking techniques this year so I would like you to use a technique or product which you enjoy.

So to kick the CJ off we all made our first entries in our own journals as inspiration for the next person.

Here are my pages, using a bit of acrylic paint and my current favourite product washi tape:

My journal is 6x6 and can be in any style the maker likes.  I have asked for one 6x6 page so I can make a second page inspired by the first and they will sit opposite each other in the completed CJ.

Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Thanks for visiting x

It's almost Christmas

First I must apologise for the absence but I hope you will understand.

It has been a difficult few months and some more sad news last week has rather taken the shine off the lovely Christmassy feelings that were starting to creep in.

But there is nothing like a bit of snow to pick up your spirits.

The longest week of my life

Today is the end of the longest and one of the most painful weeks of my life.

A month ago I was busy packing to go on a holiday to Turkey, a week in a tradition boat called a Gullet. It was a surprise for my Mums 60th birthday and organised by my step-father, Nigel.

We had the best time, relaxed, swam, ate and just watched life go by.

Life was good... We came back and resumed everyday life with that post holiday glow and slowing fading tan.

Then last Sunday, the phone call. You know when someone rings that something is wrong but the words are so unreal. Nigel died in a motorcycle accident on Sunday 9th September.

I have spent the week with my mum, organising things, putting the kettle on again and again and cooking meals at regular intervals. I'm not sure it's real still... It just shouldn't happen.

Nigel was a wonderful, kind man (deaf and diabetic) but good humoured and great company and I will always miss him.

If this week has taught me anything it is- to live each day as if it could be your last and tell everyone you love just how much they mean to you.

Thanks for visiting x