May you have...

...a very merry Christmas, full of love, life and happiness. And turkey, if that's your grub of choice!
I wish all my readers and friends the best of everything for 2010, and I'll see you all very soon.

'Tis the season...

... to take silly pictures! Or rather, to improve my photography skills. I'm taking an online class by Cheryl Johnson (I've seen her work in Scrapbook Inspirations, and submitted some of my layouts to her for the readers' gallery!) (class registration is closed - unfortunately the class numbers were limited).

It's a class called "12 days", and it aims to improve my Christmas photography skills, which is perfect, because I have some pretty ropey Christmas photos. All that indoor lighting, bleurgh.

First challenge - take a festive self-portrait. Done. See above. I'd love for you to take one too, and post it, and then tell me :) Go on, I dare you!

12 days part 'a'

Do you remember that other class I'd signed up for this November? This one here? Well, it's started, and wow, there is an incredible amount of ideas and it's only been running four days. Only 2 official class days, but we got another bundle of tips, tricks and tutorials to keep us going this weekend. One of them was for a rather cute christmas banner type thing, but once I saw the flag images, I just had to do this:


(let me tell you, I'm so envious of Kirsty's colour sense. It's awesome. Just look at those colour combos!)

It's the flags all printed out together, resized to fit an A6 card and frosted stickles traced over the lettering. I really like it. I also did a large square one here:


but I don't like it as much. Might sneak the sewing machine out at some stage and stitch a grid inbetween all of the tiles. Any other ideas gratefully received!

Lists and links ahoy!

I made this ^ :)

Lists. Now I love lists (see Hallowe'en post for a good example). In fact, I'm often heard saying that it's one of my favourite ways to procrastinate. So, I thought that I'd give you all a glimpse into my surfing world, my other favourite way to procrastinate, blogs that I look at regularly. So here are 5 that are nearly always updated every other day. Perfect when you're feeling less than inspired.

It's A Creative World is a blog contributed to by a number of very talented people. At least one of the team blogs each day, and I still haven't made my way through all the wonderful stuff I want to make just from ideas from this site. Plus, my gingerbread recipe is featured on it today, so I figured I'd return the favour :)

Banana Frog makes gorgeous acrylic stamps, but their design team have some amazing ideas that could easily be done with existing stamp stash.

Tollipop is a blog written by a very creative lady who illustrates her own delightful tales. She has a very dry sense of humour, which I most definitely get.

Craftastrophe is possibly the scariest collection of crafts ever. They trawl the web looking for those handmade objects which only a mother could love, if you know what I mean. It's always good to see others' crafting disasters; makes me feel a whole lot better about mine :)

And finally, It's all fiddle fart is a blog I found quite recently. The lady who blogs here posts regularly with pictures of her creations, mostly cards at the moment, though she does have an eye for bargains that can be gussied up to look pretty darn tooting. There're so many ideas here, you're bound to find something to inspire you!

There are many more blogs that I find inspirational, some are in the linky bit to the right, others perhaps I'll talk about another day.

(Two posts in three days! Now I'm sure a regular reader of mine might take the mick a little for that, but I'm pretty pleased with that count. It is theoretically day 4 of the "Blogging for scrapbookers" class, but I'm just going to work through the prompts as and when I feel like it, what with the dissertation blah blah blah :) )

Blogging for Scrapbookers day one

(I'm afraid that's about as imaginative with the title as I can get today! The Blog class officially started yesterday, but I'm fairly sure there's no-one watching to make sure I post each day)

If you're here through the links from that class, hello! Come in, sit down, have a cup of tea and a chunk of gingerbread (see recipe on the previous post). It's nice to see some new faces, hopefully I'll see you at your place too!

(If you're not here from that class, and you're interested in the sound of Blogging for Scrapbookers, then click on the square graphic to the right to be taken to Shimelle's website.)

So, my aim for today is just to make a resolution, a promise to myself that I will try to post more regularly on the blog, perhaps with a view to separating my blogs like my friend Trees (she has one crafty blog, and one blog for less crafty but no less interesting musings which is updated more regularly). Now I like that idea, and it sort of appeals to me because I do like this blog, but on the other hand I feel like if I waffle on too much about non-creative stuff then I'll bore you all rigid. And I'm taking this class because I want to record more of the daily stuff that goes on, not just that special picture every few months.

Resolution duly made. Watch this space!

You are invited...

to join the party! It's not my party, but I am a guest and I'm allowed to bring friends. So, pop along to see Kirsty Neale and Julie Kirk's double-blogged Hallowe'en inspiration party. They asked me to join in and make a little something Hallowe'eny, so I have.

I think I've realised that I get a little carried away when people challenge me to do things. Last time was here, when Shimelle Laine challenged me to make things with her printables during her weekend party. That was 4 things. Now, I've calmed down a little today; there are still 4 things, but I've only made 3 out of paper and digital. The first was the invite that you see at the top of the post. Dead simple, with a couple of digital scrapbooking kits from the Shabby Shoppe - I used "Boo" and "Bountiful", though mostly Boo for that project.

Then I made this:


A little close-up of that tag:


This repurposed Prima flower tin was covered in printed out digi-designed paper, using the Bountiful kit. I then printed out the phrase, the digi-rub-on bird and the lettering on card, cut them out and stuck them together. Add a touch of ribbon and ta-da! Possibly the prettiest thing I've ever made, apart from my darling daughter ;)

Now I can't promise you actual party cake, but I am going to give you a rather lovely recipe for sticky gingerbread, and for those of you who may be dairy-free, you can make this one, just use the veg/sunflower oil option :)

Sticky Gingerbread

Makes 1 x 25cm/10in square "loaf"

275 g (10oz) plain flour
5ml (1tsp) ground cinnamon
5ml (1tsp) ground ginger
5ml (1tsp) bicarbonate of soda
100g (4oz) butter or margarine or sunflower oil
175g (6oz) golden syrup
175g (6oz) black treacle
100g (4oz) brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
150ml (1/4pt) hot water

Sieve together the flour, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.
Melt the butter/margarine/oil gently with the syrup, treacle and sugar and pour into the dry ingredients (the heat helps to combine all the sticky stuff properly).
Add the eggs and water and mix well (the mixture will be very runny, but I promise you it does work).
Pour into a greased and lined 10 inch square cake tin, or 2 large loaf tins, then bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 40-45 minute until well risen and springy to the touch. Test with a skewer to see if middle is cooked.

(adapted from the classic 1000 cake and bake recipes, Wendy Hobson)

I'm afraid I didn't have time to bake one to show you (plus there's only me to eat it, although it freezes VERY well), so you'll just have to imagine a chunk of sticky, moist cake delicatey placed on a pretty plate alongside a steaming hot cup of tea, coffee, or whatever you fancy!

Now for the last one. It's a layout that I've decided will join this one to become part of an album on "5 things". The first layout was published in Scrapbook Inspirations earlier this year, and I really enjoyed messing about with the photo. My new layout came from this photo taken on my web cam:


(a pretty scary photo in itself I think you'll agree!). Then by resizing, fiddling around with the brightness and contrast and then applying a cut-out filter effect, I ended up with this, on an 8" x 8" document:

Woah, look at those pink eyes. Can I hear you say "conjunctivitis"? :)

Now, I am currently working on the title and journalling on this, and later this morning I hope to photograph and upload a picture of the finished article, but I really wanted to make sure that this blog post was ready to go for when it all kicks off. So, pop back later and find out exactly what this layout is all about...

ETA: Done, done and done. Here you go:


I used "Thriller" font, the bargain pound alpha stamps from studio g, some my little shoebox alpha stickers, and my trusty bare chipboard American Crafts Thickers. The thickers got covered thickly in copper acrylic paint; I then sprinkled a bit of dark blue embossing powder on them and gave them a good blast with a heat gun (until it all went a bit bubbly). Great fun.
I'm very pleased with the finished article, and am now racking my brains for other "5 things" to do. Any ideas gratefully received!

Thanks for looking, and if you haven't come from Kirsty or Julie's blogs, go look at their individual and their joint copy and paste challenge blog as well. Maybe see you in the kitchen :)
ETA Apparently if you sign up for their 12 days class this weekend, you get a bonus set of printables... look here for details. I love freebies!

OK, so I lied...

...I may be fitting in a little crafting, but not so much of the blogging.

Crafting for November starts here for me. It's a 12 day crafting explosion, with gorgeous crafty ladies Kirsty Neale and Julie Kirk. I quote "With twelve full projects, plus a whole bunch of bonus ideas, downloads and tutorials, it’s designed to help you make the most of your creative supplies in the run up to Christmas. What's even better is that we’ve designed each of the main projects, and many of the additional ones, to be adaptable, which means that, instead of turning into giant crafty pumpkins the minute Boxing Day arrives, they’re just as relevant at other times of year. "

I've been lurking on the Copy and Paste blog for a few months now, dabbling my toes in their challenges,but mainly just being gobsmacked at their creativity. BUT, now they're sharing it with me. Well, not just me, other people too. I just had to go along for the ride. The idea is that they are providing 12 projects for 12 days for a handmade Christmas, using (hopefully) things that you have around your house for minimal outlay, which in this climate is purdy darn tooting, if you ask me (but then, any old excuse will do for me to have a Christmassy play with card, glue and glittery stuff, really). It all looks wonderful, and if you have a browse through their blogs, I'm fairly sure you'll agree.

So, maybe I might get round to posting a couple of pics, like the advent countdown calendar I've made out of BIG matcheboxes, or a recipe book out of an old filofax-type organiser, or some of the results of the new class. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

In addition to this, I also signed up for this class, Blogging for Scrapbookers. But that was a given really, since there's only one class of Shimelle's that I haven't taken. It was inevitable I'd sign up for this one, as it was part of my plan to change the blog layout after new year. Perfect timing. So who knows what this class will prompt me to do, I'm sure I'll love it, Shimelle has a lovely way with words and will get me thinking I'm sure!

So, I feel my evenings are going to be fraught with tricky decision-making... craft, blog or dissertation. Which would you choose?

P.S. Amazing blog candy here - go see! A silhouette die-cutting machine. Love my cricut, but I think this looks even better.

A hiatus.

Dear fellow bloggers, I write to you in a spare moment before I launch headlong into the final 11 weeks of my degree. I may well be panicking, but I assure you I'm hiding it well (the above photo isn't me going bonkers). I've therefore made the decision to suspend "normal" service until nearer Christmas, and am also considering redesigning the blog completely, now that I (sort of) know what I'm doing.

I'll be lurking on your pages, and soaking up the crafting inspiration for the time when my time is my own once again. Thanks for playing along with me the last seven months!

So, please remember me in the new year, and if you can spare a thought (and believe in that sort of thing) please send one my way for good luck :)

Sarah
x

And the winner is... (take two)

So, back to the draw. Or re-draw as it is. I gave Lana another couple of days, but to no avail (apologies if you're reading this and cursing me, Lana!). My daughter charmingly chose the number of the winning post, and it was SarahLP Sarah sent me a RAK last year, and so I'm very glad to be able to return the favour!
So Sarah, please email me with your address at rattuspackus at hotmail dot com and I'll get your parcel off to you asap :)

In the interests of fairness...

I'm giving "Lana" over the weekend to reply to me, then I'm going to have to redraw my prize from the last blog candy - it's been nearly two weeks and no news. So, if you know Lana, tell her to email me :)

See you Monday, have a good weekend!

And the winner is...

"Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah,

All the best for your degree studies - it must be hard work! I've loved your recent LOs in SI magazine. Oh, and I'd love stash pretty please!

Lana

August 26, 2009 12:24 PM"

Thanks so much Lana, please send me your name and address to rattuspackus at hotmail dot com, if you know what I mean!

And thanks to everyone else who joined in. I'm not far off my 100th post (well, another 25 or so anyway) so follow if you don't already, and keep an eye out. And keep an eye out in the December issue of SI, I'll be in there too!

Giveaway update

Here's the picture of the stash for my giveaway post. Bundle includes the following: 3 sheets white cardstock; 6 double-sided patterned paper; 2 single-sided patterned paper; 1 embossed cardstock; 1 pack gel stickers; 1 pack cardstock alphabet stickers; 2 spools ribbon (probably 3 feet on each); one tree-shaped minibook.

If you fancy being in with a chance, go leave a message on the post reached by following this link here, remember to state "stash please" or "digi please", and keep your fingers crossed!

Now, about that giveaway...

I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get round to this post. I've been manically working for my degree, only 7 weeks to go of my placement, and then it's all mad mad mad 'til December 12th, when I'm supposed to hand in around 15000 words split between two highly intellectual pieces of work. And with a 2 year old daughter, that's pretty blooming difficult!

So I'm hoping you'll forgive me when I say I haven't had a chance to look through my stash for prizes. My blog, however, has had its 2000th visitor and then some. Therefore, this little giveaway is long overdue. If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning some Christmas-themed stash, then leave your comment below, also adding the phrase "stash please". To get an idea of the amount and variety of stuff you might get, look here and here, my previous stash prizes. I've been known to dabble in digiscrap and hybrid too, so if you'd prefer to win a $10 voucher for either the Shabby Shoppe or Two Peas, please leave a comment and say "digi please" at the end.

I will try to have a look through some time this next week, the comments will be open until 29th August 2009, at 12 midnight GMT.

And just to pretty up the post with a layout, here's one I made earlier (this year, that is!)

Another couple of pages and an imminent giveaway!

Who would've believed it, but my little old blog is nearing its 2000th visitor. I'm so pleased that so many people have passed through that I feel the urge to host a little giveaway. Again. Soooo... watch this space, next weekend I shall do just that, giving me a few more days to cobble together something tasty to pass on.

Meanwhile, I have scraped another couple of hours together today, and have managed to finish another two pages for the Simple Pleasures album:



Not the best pics, they look all flat, and there's definitely a bit more dimension to them. I'll try to take some more photos tomorrow if I get a chance. I'm liking this simplistic approach at the moment, glue and run seems to be the order of the day.

Remember, watch this space for my giveaway next weekend, and in the meantime, tell me what else YOU do for fun (keep it clean ;) )

"Go To Press" has started!

So now that I've recovered from the challenges that Shimelle sent last week, I've given a small parcel of time to my cover for the album for Go To Press (go here if you don't know what the heck I'm blathering about, and you want to know).


As per usual it took me a good while to decide what paper and layout to use, but once I'd chosen an embellishment or two, the whole thing came nicely together!

I'm quite pleased with it, and can only hope that the other pages come together as well. What do you find the hardest part of crafting? Do tell ;)

Blog challenge

So, first thing's first, I've been challenged by Jo to do the following:

1 Open the 4th file where you store your photos

2 Pick out the 4th photo and publish it to your blog

3 Explain a bit about it

4 Pass this challenge to 4 other blogs

Now, luckily, it's a good photo, and even more fortunate is that it's not of me!


It's of my darling daughter, a.k.a. Tink, when she was 9 months old. She's still got the same grin, though now with teeth, and also with more hair! Gotta love her. No, I have to, it's down in writing ;)

I challenge Trees, Janice, Lisa and Debs to do the same.

A secret mission from the no-stress scrapper

So, there I was, browsing my email the other day when I got a request from Shimelle Laine. She was wanting to host an inspiration party on her blog this weekend, and was looking for some contributions. I was very honoured to be asked to contribute, and I was sent an assignment forthwith. Be warned if you've come here from Shimelle.com: my photos are in no way as arty and beautiful as all the other party-ers, though I am working on it :)

I tried printing out the cupcakes and one of the quotes on shrink plastic, but the only stuff I had was clear - the ink on the cupcakes was taking AGES to dry, and I'm really not that patient!

Shrinking them resulted in a bit of a messy mini-cupcake fob, which, though still useable (only just - see keyring) was not what I wanted. So I traced the original cupcake onto the plastic, dabbed white opaque StazOn over the back, and then coloured the front in with my alcohol markers.



These shrunk really nicely, so I threaded them onto a ball-chain and used this to hold my second project together. This project (a minibook) involved lots of copies of a journaling tag printed out onto cream card: I then cut then out and punched a hole in the top left corner. Easy peasy. I'm going to pick out a selection of my favourite indulgent recipes, and write them in the minibook, probably with a photo on the left-hand page.


The cover of the minibook has a cut-out chocolate cupcake stuck on it and a shrink-plastic "indulge" title, also found on the printables sheet.


So, onto the card. Cupcakes, and lots of them, deserve to be presented nicely, and so I cut a cake stand out of some white card, keeping it simple, drew a brown rim on the plates, chose some co-ordinating paper, glued it all down, added the "indulge" title and voila! One tasty-looking card.


Then finally to the easiest project of the lot. This photo:


I enlarged the printables file (opened in Adobe Photoshop Elements, not in Adobe Acrobat), and copied the cupcake quote that I wanted. This was then placed on a new layer of the photo, printed out to A4 and framed. Job's a good 'un!

It's been so useful to have this challenge, it's given me loads of ideas for future projects, but alas, there was only so much time to spend crafting this week. Mind you, I think that 4 projects in about 6 hours is pretty good. So, cruise on by Shimelle's blog this weekend, take a look at all the other blogs that she's linking to. Who knows what you might find? And if you can't make that, maybe I'll see you in the classroom for Go To Press!

Are you joining us?

I feel oh so privileged to have been asked to contribute to Shimelle's inspiration party this weekend, as part of the pre-class fun. She's asked many, many talented scrappers and crafters to join the fun, and now we'd like you to join us too, for a weekend of "challenges with a chance to win a prize, free downloads for both digital and paper scrapbookers, new projects, tutorials, bargains and some surprises along the way." Read all about it HERE!

New class ahoy!

My favourite time of year - a new online class at Shimelle.com! Shimelle's classes are always highly enjoyable, and this one looks like no exception. It's all about taking the stress out of scrapbooking, and this definitely rings true for me. Go take a look at her blog, if you haven't been there already (though I'm guessing most of my readers probably know me from that site anyway, so I'm preaching to the converted as it were!).

Still, worth a pop, and at about £15 (depending on exchange rate) well worth it in comparison to some of the more expensive classes around at the mo. Maybe see you in there?

And this one....

...was on page 70 of this month's Scrapbook Inspirations, in the Readers' Gallery section. This is my second layout that's been published in that section (I think!). The other was this:

which was in the June issue. Two very different styles, I'm sure you'll agree! I don't think I've settled on a style as yet, I am still definitely in the experimental stage. How about you? Do you have a style that you seem to scrapbook in? Do tell ;)

I'm famous(ish)!!

Go see - My layout featured on the Scrapbook Inspirations blog here. I recently completed their Ready Steady Scrap challenge, and they've featured my layout on their blog. How chuffed am I?
Really quite :)


I guess since they've published it on the web, I'm ok to publish it here. The bit I particularly liked making for this layout? It's a toss-up between the hand-cut picket fence and the owl peeking out of the layered hole in the tree! No journaling as such, but I think the title says it all.

Challenges galore!

Under extreme duress from Janice, I am posting again this month! Personally I think that she is desperate for me to reach my 100th blog post, so that I'll have another giveaway.

Anyhoo. Back to the challenges. Shimelle has just posted a photography challenge involving water on her blog here. I had a go, and pulled a rather fetching little snippet (snappet?) out of the vaults. So, strictly speaking, it's an old photo, but it fulfills the brief quite nicely I feel. I pumped up the contrast to really highlight the flowing white water.


Not only that, but Julie Kirk and Kirsty Neale have set a delightful challenge on their joint blog Copy and Paste. It involves secrets. Now, I am AMAZING at keeping secrets. The feeling when you realise that someone trusts you enough to tell you what weighs heavy on their mind -my mind boggles with the honour. Consequently, I don't much like gossip, which is surely a good thing for a secret-keeper? Despite that, I'll happily share one in the name of creativity.

Font by me, photo mask by Rhonna Farrer.

It's probably a very common feeling for many women, we probably don't give ourselves enough credit for the things we do in our home life and work life. I desperately tried to think of a lovely juicy giggly secret to share with you all, and perhaps this one will open the floodgates to a whole host of them. Watch this space!

So go on, tell me a secret. I promise I won't tell a soul. x

Blog candy link

Blog candy! Not mine for a change. Go here for a chance to win the above goodies!

Look what I found on my macro setting!

That title isn't strictly true. I'd found them before I got the camera out, but it gave me a chance to play around with the macro setting, which I have only just discovered after owning the camera for well over a year. Manual? Me? Pah. I laugh in the face of such sensibilities.
Though perhaps I should read it, 'cause I'm fairly sure I managed accidentally to get a picture with actual BOKEH on it:

and if I'd realised that was possible with my cheapish digicamera, I might have planned the snap better. Still, I'll include a prettier one of the DD, just in the vain hope of prompting some "aw, she's cute after all" type comments.

SO back to the caterpillars. They're apparently Gooseberry Sawfly, and I seem to remember it happening last year, with me just thinking it was slugs/snails. It also explains why I've had no fruit this year - apparently it knackers my chances of getting fruit next year. There were loads of the little blighters, and if I'd have realised what they were, I'd have squished them, instead of putting them gently in the grass a long way off, thinking "Ah, don't kill the potential butterflies". At least now I know what to look for, so roll on 2011, I might actually get some gooseberries.

How long since?

Blimey. I think this is the longest gap between posts in my blog's short history! Suffice to say, I've been busy doing worky-type stuff with the people at my placement (see last post), gardening, woodwork and general vocational fun. Current project involves helping the trainees all make a personalised clock out of wood and printed images. All good!

So, in my little craft world, I've been watching Shimelle's Month of Colour which is rapidly nearing its end. The challenges have come thick and fast, and I've been biding my time and thinking which ones to attempt, mainly because I have very little spare time at the moment. I had a go at Kirsty Neale's guest spot challenge last night, after being inspired by her pants (that is not as dodgy as it sounds, I promise. Check out her guest post here, and you'll see some fabulous customised vest/pyjama pants sets). So here is my card, inspired by the fab colour/graphic combo on one of her creations.


I'm definitely not a pink/green girl, but I think this looks pretty funky. I reckon I'm also going to have to get myself a few square envelopes, as this may well be my choice of shape for cards in future.



Another little project I've been working on is these little menu magnets for my fridge. Every week, I make a list of what food to cook, in order to reduce waste and to keep me sane! It usually ends up on a tatty bit of paper stuck to the fridge, and then in the bin at the end of the week.



I thought I could make a set of reuseable labels, and got these natty little magnets to hold them. I had some resin vegetables that I'd been saving for a recipe book project, but I thought they'd look good on this instead. The lettering is some plain American Crafts Thickers in chipboard, and I haven't yet decided whether to paint them. I might just matt varnish them instead... whaddya reckon?



(For those that are in the know, I'm now aware that canneloni actually two 'l's. And I'm still trying to get another two magnets for Fri and Sat - wish me luck, as I bought them over a year ago)

Lastly, my blog-buddy Trees has reached the grand total of 100 posts on her creative blog, and is giving away a generous bundle of gorgeous goodies. She's firmly convinced that only 3 people read her blog, and it's most definitely a shame if this is the case. Feel free to cruise by her blog here and leave your mark. Though if anyone else except me wins, I shall hunt them down and nick the bundle off them ;)

More twitter posts scrapped

So, what have I been doing with myself the last week or so? I've been busy playing with some fabric and ribbons, and recovering a cheap looking journal ready for my work placement next week.


I'm off to spend 6 months working part-time with adults with learning disabilities in a local vocational rehabilitation-type place. I'm so excited, they do some arty-crafty type stuff, as well as running a cafe and garden centre there. I'm hoping that my meagre ideas will also play a part in helping them to become self-funding. I have to say, I've found a lot of inspiration for stuff on this blog - It's a Creative World. There're a lot of regular contributors, and the variety of posts is fantastic.

Besides that, I've been adding to my Cathy Zielske album, as seen below.

Some of the images are stock ones, free from here, others I've replaced with patterned paper.

I didn't have any appropriate pictures in my "library", and I have too many other things to do to be setting up photo shoots for this little album.

For future reincanations of this idea, I might actually take an appropriately linked snap at the same time.

In a completely unrelated post, I got a lovely FREE box of nibbly goodies through the post today, courtesy of www.graze.com. I have also got a code for anyone else to get their first box free and the second box half price - YT6XNN7 is said promo code if you fancy trying it out. I intend to cancel after my second box, but in the meantime, I'm loving the gorgeous fresh pineapple, milkshake mix and cashews I got this morning. Not only that, the sturdy card box it came is is the perfect size for either converting into a mini album, or perhaps for posting delicate birthday card type things - double bargain!

I'm definitely becoming more adventurous in my creativity, I'm hoping I'll be brave enough to post some more stuff here soon :)