Happy Blogiversary to me!

I knew it was coming so I checked out my post feed and yes, my 10 year blog anniversary is today.

10 years ago, 15th September 2006, I wrote my first "real" blog post about the start of our Nova Scotia adventure.

It's a badly written piece to be honest and includes no photos... I wrote it from the lobby of the hotel we stayed in at Frankfurt Airport before we headed over the ocean - in the days before wifi and smartphones. I was excited about the trip and excited to share my adventures online - using a fixed internet (modem perhaps) computer available for guests at the hotel - oh the pain of that slow connection. Of course, no one read me back then. I'm not surprised, like I said, it's badly written! But also, blogs were still relatively new back then in the UK and especially over here in Germany. Most people I mentioned it to had never heard of a blog. No one could see the point or why they should be interested.

I'd been scrapping since the start of 2006 and was still a painfully inexperienced newbie but it was exciting and fun and the industry was so much bigger then too. Was that the peak? Did I join the trend at the high point?

Anyway, 10 years on I'm wondering who's out there still reading blogs. Are they passé? Should we all consider giving them up in favour of the dreaded social media? I'm not sure but it's something I'm thinking about - what direction to take. Many people have stopped sharing through their blogs and I'm wondering if I'm just hanging on for the sake of it! But for now, I'm still here. I'm even thinking about an overhaul of the blog - design, layout and even the name. After all, I haven't lived in Recklinghausen for 7 years!

But all this is just a preamble for one of those shares...

This evening I made a layout to celebrate this milestone in my personal blogging journey and followed my own Whimsical Musings prompt WM#299 to be inspired by scrapbooking product made by a manufacturer that doesn't produce scrapbook product any more.

It had to be BasicGrey of course. In fact, this collection is one I treated to myself in that first year. It might even have been the first papers I ever bought. I ended up buying it twice I think. It's "dated" of course, but I still love it. And thank heavens that my style has changed considerably over those ten years so I tried to use some of the products in a more up-to-date way. I fussy cut and layered and roughed up the edges. I matched it up with some modern items such as gold mist, washi tap, Thickers and mini-alphas. Back in the day a BasicGrey collection consisted of papers, a sheet of alpha stickers (almost always the same font!) and a sheet of die-cut labels - non-sticky of course. I did find some remnants of the infamous matching BG fibres and really tried to find a way to use them on the layout - but no! 

I'm not totally convinced at how successful I was at bringing Urban Couture to 2016 but I do like the layout and isn't that what matters?

What's your opinion about the future of blogging? Should I be moving on to other mediums or continuing forward with a bit of a redesign? What's your own blogging adventure? I'm really interested to hear what you think as I carry on thinking about what I'm doing here.

Happy 15th everyone! Back soon with Simple Scrapper shares and a (no doubt) late 16 loves!

A little blog love

Last week,fellow Master Forger Jemma over at Just Jimjams kindly gave me a blog award! She said some lovely things about me and I was blushing but delighted at the same time.

You should go over to her blog and say hi to her too as she creates some amazing stuff with her Counterfeit kits and has a great writing voice - I'm always interested by her take on things. Her post about the Liebster blog award for example includes a fun calculation about how many blogs have felt the love! Check it out here.

The idea behind the Liebster award is to spread the love and let your favourite small bloggers (less than 200 followers) know that you read them and enjoy them so much that you want to recommend them to your own readers. It's all about being part of the community as far as I can see.

So, I'm sending some love to (in alphabetical order):

If you are trying to be a big kinder to the Earth while still crafting your heart out, you need to got and say hello to Danielle at EcoScrapbook. As well as being an über-funky scrapbooker and crafter, she is gently teaching us all about how we can combine our love of craft and paper with being environmentally conscious. There's a lot of projects, challenges and information over at her blog and she's always updating us with which manufacturers are the greenest. I've learnt such a lot there and I'm sure you will too.

My Stamping Guru and maker of all things gorgeous, Deb over at A World Of Imagination. She is truly an incredible source of inspiration from scrapbooking through card making, stamping through crochet, photography through to seemingly whatever she turns her hand to. She is such a lovely person and is always so generous with her time and help. Her blog is the epitome of blog candy for sure.

Of course, no blog love fest would be complete without shouting out some internet love to my Whimsical Musings partner in crime, the ever delightful Pam (find her at Daily Pamage). She's just the cutest thing and our friendship has grown and grown over the last year to the point that hardly a day goes by without some kind of positive communication between us. She is more than just a scrapbooker, she seems to be able to create just about anything (although I *think* food might not be her strong point ;-)  ) and is a joy to have in my life. A favourite blog read and a very special friend.

Fellow LOADster, Master Forger and BPC participant, S over at Snaps and Snippets, is a fun place to stop at every day. She has a sanguine (to use one of her own words) way of looking at the world and I often find myself laughing out loud while reading her posts. She is a great scrapbooker and a lover of colour which combines into some wonderful pages. She also runs a challenge of her own "In Good Company" where she encourages us to familiarise ourselves once more with our stash, picking out one manufacturer a month to focus on, scrap with and share. If you, like the rest of us, have a lot - uh-hum - of stash hiding out in your scrap space, then join in on the fun. S has hinted she might stop the series which would be a shame but I'm sure a few more entries would keep it going :-)

And last but by no means least is a relatively new blogger and scrapper who has been joining in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge since February, Tricia at Playing With Paper. I've been loving her layouts and you will too. She has a lovely delicate scrapping style with lots of white space, beautiful layering and just an all round gorgeous design. Even though my style is very different, I am inspired by her blog and her pages whenever I drop by.

So, let's look at the rules to check that I'm being a good girl...


1. Thank the person who gave the award √
2. Link back to their blog √
3. Post the award onto your own blog √
4. Choose 5 new recipients with fewer than 200 followers √
5. Let each of them know about the award √


Thanks again to Jemma and now it's time for you to go over and check these blogs out. You are in for a treat, I promise you.

It's the details that count

I'm guest blogging over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge again and today I'm talking about the details that make up Christmas or this time of year, depending on what and how you celebrate the season.

I also used this idea for Challenge #18 over at the Whimsical Musings blog and Pam has already posted her wonderful layout with several, until now, unrecorded details of Christmas - such a wonderful layout.

I'm hoping to get to mine later today.

For the CKC blog post I made one of my favourite layouts of recent months. All credit goes to October Afternoon as it's a pretty straight direct lift but I still adore the details and it was such fun to make.

Anyway:
Today I’d like to talk to you a little about scrapping all the small things that make up this time of year. And I’m not talking about the little scamps that many of you have running around getting hyper-excited at the thought of all those presents, though.

Yes, today I’m talking about non-kiddie scrapping! In fact, let’s try scrapping even without people.

Just a few of the things that I see right now that make me get into the jolly feeling are:

·       The arrival of the Toffee Nut Latte at Starbucks

  

·      The opening of the Christmas markets here in Germany

·      The Advent wreath and the lighting of the first candle

·      The tree (oh how I love my tree!)

·      Cookies, or rather Plätzen in German, preferably home baked if I have time

·      The food and drink that’s only available at the Christmas markets – Poffertjes and Glühwien

·      Sparkly fairy lights on the balcony

·      My sometimes un-traditional coloured decorations

  

I find that my Christmas scrapping mostly involves these details rather than the main events – the dinner, the presents and the people – because these are the things that add the sparkle to Christmas for me. I’m not going to forget the dinners we have or the members of my family but I might forget how excited I was when I tasted my first Toffee Nut Latte, or how beautiful my pink baubles were.

So this year, I decided it was time to record the first Poffertjes of the season. Never heard of them? Nor had I before my first Christmas Market. They are a Dutch speciality and are sort of tiny, mini, puffy pancakes that are served with butter and icing sugar. They are simply divine! You can read about them here. I was inspired by a layout from the October Afternoon blog featuring an over-laden banner and pretty much lifted it completely!

This layout makes me smile and is another piece in the puzzle of what makes Christmas for me. I had such fun using up all those bits and pieces on my layout - sprinkles of sequins, buttons, bling, labels and twine. It came together really quickly and makes me want to do the same over and over again!

What details are missing from your scrapbook pages? Try to identify one little thing that is part of Christmas for you and record it. No kids allowed!

If you do join in, make sure you let us know at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and also over there at Whimsical Musings! It's never too late to join in and we love to see new faces and challenge creations!

The Traditions of the Season – St Nikolaus Day

I'm guest blogging over at CKC today:

It’s the 6^th December which means that children all across Germany are waking up to a boot full of chocolate and presents outside their front door after a visit from St Nikolaus (and maybe even a few “big children *wink*). Hopefully! Of course, if they’ve not been good, they might go outside to find nothing but coal and sticks in their boots instead. But since when have children at this time of year ever really found themselves on the naughty list?!?

You can read about the origins of St Nikolaus across the German speaking world here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nikolaus) but many see this figure as the origin of our English speaking world Father Christmas or Santa Claus. This original figure was a bishop from today’s Turkey called Nikolas of Myra who had a reputation for secret gift giving. I even read somewhere that he was very shy and used to climb up on the roofs and drop sliver coins down the chimney for the poor people below. I’m always fascinated to see where our Anglo-Saxon customs originated from.

My first Christmas in Germany was a cultural experience for me with so many traditions totally different to what I was used to in the UK. And after 10 years here, I’m still learning! I remember my husband being very disappointed to find that St Nikolaus had “forgotten” him that first year so it’s something I try to remember to celebrate every year, even in a small way.

Over the years, we have cherry-picked the customs from both our backgrounds that we like the most and have created our own form of the festive season which is a lot of fun. And I know that most families out there have one or two individual little traditions that might come from their ancestors or have just developed over the years. Don’t forget that these are important to document in our scrapbook pages. Is it food you always eat? Presents you always exchange? Things from other cultures or countries? Perhaps something really quirky that’s unique to you. Or maybe there’s a new tradition you’d like to introduce to your own family?

Here’s my St Nikolaus page that I made to capture a few thoughts about our special day including the first one we celebrated together.

I used Sketch Support  One Page Sketch #15 (http://www.sketchsupport.com/2011/11/one-page-week-part-6-guest-designer.html)  and some rather older Cosmo Cricket, Jolly By Golly papers for this simple page. Great to allow these papers and product to get an airing!

Why not give it a try and create a page about one of your cultural or family customs?

More good company

Always up for a good challenge, I'm again joining in on a new one set by my blog friend S over at Snaps & Snippets.  

Her idea is that we should spend some time in good company with our wonderful stash and become reacquainted with the treasures we possess. I love it and was sold at once.

Week 1 was Cosmo and I posted about this 2 weeks ago. 

Week 2 was Making Memories and I missed the deadline - arghghg! I'm so busy scrapping at the moment that I've been neglecting my blogging. But not to be outclassed by mere deadlines, I'm posting it here and have every intention on linking up with this week's ;-). You don't mind, do you?

I used up some of my precious Passport collection, now severely depleted ;-( to pull together a travel layout about Salzburg. Love these papers so much that I'll be really sad when they finally give up. I may have to get some more ;-) (Yes, I know that defeats the object!)

I love MM and have quite a lot of bits and pieces of it in my stash. I don't find myself buying a lot of full collections but odd sheets and lots of embellishments. It's usually pretty, colourful and easy to use. In my top 10 for sure.


Week 3 is now almost at an end and S has challenged us to use Graphic 45. Surprising for me, I appear to have a lot of it in my stash and I have no real idea how to use it! The patterns are so "all over" and themed that I find it tricky to know how to cut, use or build with it. But I'm pleased to say that I gave it a try and surprised myself in the process.


I had a whole collection of papers and had disregarded them as too themed but when I looked through them, I found 4 or 5 sheets with simpler designs that went together beautifully. I suppose I ought to look at the papers more carefully in future!


The LOAD prompt for today was nature and I thought this photo went with the papers I'd chosen really well. 

All in all, a fabulous challenge S! Thanks for making me see my suppplies in a new way! I'd never have made this layout without your gentle persuasion :-) 


Don't forget to check out this post (here) about our new challenge blog, Whimsical Musings (very exciting!) and the chance to win a giveaway courtesy of Bite-sized Scrapbooking!

An announcement and a chance to win...

I've talked about Whimsical Musings a lot recently and you might have been wondering what it's all about...

It all started when Pam (Whimsical Nature) and I set about doing a daily challenge of our own during July. We came up with the name combining Pam's screen name, and my blog. Clever, huh? :-)

When July came to an end, we decided to take it weekly. We alternately create a challenge for the week and then wait to see what gorgeousness each of us creates.

Well, now we've decided to take it one step further and have set up our own challenge blog! And we'd love to see some visitors over there. We've been working hard behind the scenes to get the blog ready and have posted all the previous weekly prompts there and are in the process of uploading our layouts. It's still a work in progress but if I say so myself, it looks pretty darned good!

The concept is simple. Each Monday a "just-for-fun" challenge will be posted and it's designed to really get those creative juices flowing. We have a week to complete the layout and then you will find two posts on Sunday night with our layouts with a small amount of thought process behind it.

And you know what they say, the more the merrier.

Why not pop over to Whimsical Musings Challenge and say hi!

If you join in with the prompts, just let us know in the challenge post comments and we'll drop by and say hello to you too.

And as a little celebration of our launch, I'd like to offer you a little giveaway, courtesy of my "Bite-sized Scrapbooking" friend, Kim. She has bundled up the first 6 months of Bite-sized Scrapbooking prompts into one PDF file - BSS Bundle #1 - and is offering it for sale on her site for $7.99. Do you remember that I had a layout featured a few months ago? My layout is #18!

However, she has generously offered me one to give away to one of my blog readers. You'll love it. So much inspiration, so many layouts and so easy to complete in three easy steps. Kim walks you through each layout right down to the size, number and type of photos you might want to use as well as ways to change it up. You'll love it (have I mentioned that already?!?) and she is now offering FREE membership subscription until the end of January 2012 when the service will come to an end. Get on board while you can!

All you have to do to win a free "BSS bundle #1" is to go over to the new Whimsical Musings challenge blog and say hello! Then come back here and leave me a comment to say you were there! Simple. I'll keep it open to the end of the month and let you know the winner next week.

Tagged!

I know that I talk about the wonder of the blogosphere more than often but there's hardly a day goes by that something sweet doesn't come my way because of it.

Whether it's a sweet email photo from my adorable Whimsical Musings friend Pam, the wonderful gifts I've received (as in this giveaway post - still open - here), plain outright lovely comments on blog posts, new ideas for new things to try, right through to kind blog awards.

Today I've been tagged by the idea generous, Stamping Guru Deb who has inspired me to stop being afraid of card making and stamping and whose blog is full of fun photos, gorgeous cards and stunning crafts - go check her out, you won't be disappointed! :-)

I have to tell you ten things about myself... tricky as I've told you all so much already.

1. I hate shopping - no really! Unless it's scrapbooking stuff or shoes/handbags that I don't "need"!
2. I've always loved to take photos but am happy to say that I've improved my ability a gazillion percent over the last few years - when I look back at old photos they are awful!
3. I'm about to embark on my 4th daily layout challenge of the year (eek!).
4. I'm in love with Canada and am still living on the memories of our Yukon adventure 4 years ago - but you might know that already :-)
5. I'm a BasicGrey-aholic - but you probably also know that already :-)
6. I can't live without "importing" tea (just plain old builders' tea) and chocolate (Cadbury's) from England.
7. I have a huge schoolgirl crush on Taylor Lautner - go team Jacob.
8. As of right now, I've received an incredible 1,400 comments on the 386 posts I've posted so far on my blog.
9. I am considering learning to crochet after seeing Deb's incredible creations and wanting a piece of the action. In fact, I stumbled across this blog today with an amazing free class on offer in October to learn the basics of crochet and am really considering joining in! What do you think?
10. I'm a Scorpio - need I say more?!?

And therefore, I tag my Whisical Musings partner, Pam. She's cute, she's quirky, she's very creative, she's a lot of fun and she makes me smile! Go on over and say hello! Tell her I sent you...

And just because Deb was kind enough to compliment my photos and because I agree with my friend Sarah that all blog posts should have a photo, I'll leave you with a couple of my favourite Autumn pictures of recent years (from our previously mentioned Yukon adventure).

Just a reminder: Don't forget to go over to my "Delightful" post (link here) and leave me a comment for the chance to win a small giveaway. I'm celebrating 5 years of blogging and want to share the love!

The infamously titled "Pre-Informal October LOAD Blog Hop"

Welcome to the "Pre-Informal October LOAD Blog Hop"!

I'm so thrilled to see you here, whether you are a fellow Scrap Happy member, a LOADster or one of my regular blog friends. Please DO leave me a comment to let me know you were here.

I have the honour of kicking off this hop so when you are finished, head over to Katherine at Looking 4 Inspiration for the next batch of fun!

First of all, we should maybe explain our over complicated name. Normally, Lain organises three LOADs a year - Feb, May and Oct - but she's been busy doing a marathon (a layout a day for 26 days) over at BPC and didn't feel she was able to hold the usual LOAD in October. That made us LOAD addicts a bit sad and it was suggested that those of us who are members of Lain's Scrap Happy group (if you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for?) would organise our own daily challenge over in our Scrap Happy Flickr group. Once the idea of the "informal" LOAD took hold, the idea of a blog hop was sure to follow. And here we are.

This is my pile of 2010 LOAD layouts - makes me smile every time I see it!

So, today I'd like to repeat, cut and paste and generally offer some of the advice and suggestions I've put forward before for making a layout every single day for a month. I've taken my post from earlier and updated it so hopefully there is something for everyone even if you think it looks familiar! 

For those of you who are new to the idea of LOAD, it can be done. Many of us have several LOADs under our belt with 100% layout completion! And boy, do we feel good at the end of the month.

But at the same time, it's not essential to commit to a layout a day - some members just join in the fun when they can and find that they get a lot more done than they normally would and that makes them feel good too. The key is to do what you can. And my number one tip is to keep it fun. As soon as it's just a slog, that should be a sign to give it a break and maybe try something non-scrappy for a day or two. Life gets in the way, kids need feeding and houses need to be kept. It's no pressure.

Saying that, I've continued to have fun now for 6 LOADs (plus another informal one - Pam and I did one through July as well - yes, we are mad!) and have completed more than 200 layouts just in those months. Again, that makes me very happy! This will be my fourth LOAD this year and even when it feels like it's taking too much time, or I feel a bit uninspired at the start of the day, I always feel good when I've taken the time to create and have uploaded my finished page to Flickr and have taken the time to see what my fellow LOADsters have created! And I feel even better when I look at my pile of creations.

My February 2011 pile *happy dance*

Even if you are not participating in LOAD, I am sure you can find something here that might help you speed up your process or even something to inspire you to join in next time. I use these techniques pretty much every time I create. I am a very slow scrapper but I still manage to make dozens of pages most months.

And more scrumptiousness from May 2011

Back in February 2010, being the control freak I am, I came up with a 10 point "strategy" for how I was going to get through the month. I have to say, that this has become somewhat of a strategy for my scrap time in general and is how I approach most of my creating. 

There's not a lot of changes since I posted this list both here and here but I'd like to share it again and there are a few changes since I first wrote it. 

1. Perfection is over-rated: I'm not the first to state this (Lain reminds us again and again), but it's so true. If you are doing work for a design team or a magazine, then it might be appropriate to get things just right - I check spelling, straighten things up, write and rewrite my journalling until it's just so. But the layouts for LOAD or in fact, just for me? They very often contain a mistake or ten! Over inked? Not quite straight? Colours not perfectly matched? Glue showing? Embellies not optimally placed? No problem, move on!
2. Preparation: I don't mean that I have page kits ready to go - this is absolutely NOT my way of working (although I know this approach is perfect for many). But each day I think about what I might scrap. What picture I might use. What I have to say that day. If I have a bit of free time (I travel on public transport and so have a lot of time to kill!), I might even write my journalling out to a story that has come to mind. And I have a pile of photos - good, bad and a lot in between - on my table, and my storage binders to hand. Often, I just have a bit of a rummage, see what catches my eye and am off. This month, we have all clubbed together to come up with daily prompts which will be interesting to see the mix of ideas and inspiration, and in the past I have used the prompts as a jumping off point for my layout. But if the prompt doesn't resonate with me, I will either just store the idea for another day or ignore it and do my own thing.
3. Glue & Go: I learned this on my Heidi Swapp class in 2007. Yes, I move things around a bit before I decide on position, but I'm talking 2 or 3 minutes, not all evening. Then, it's Glue & Go. And live with the result. And love the result!
4. Handwritten journalling: In the past, I've avoided the printed & have hand-written almost all my journalling when time is short. No, I don't particularly like my handwriting. But it's mine and there's not a lot to be done. Hand-writing is quick, easy and I don't need 16 attempts at getting it just so. If the hand-writing goes a bit skew-whiff, I accept it. It's typical Lisa to have a few mistakes in there after all. Saying that, I love strip journalling and with practice this can be done quickly and easily on the computer. But I'm not hooked on only having printed journalling. It's probably a 60% hand written ratio for me.
5. Sketches: I have Page Maps 1 & 2 books and I love them. I use them all the time. I don't consider it cheating and uninspired. I make the sketch my own and think of it as a motivator. There are a million and one sources online for sketches including Page Maps itself where you can find all the archives as well as the new month, and a new resource I came across last month, Sketch Support, which also breaks their sketches down into one or two pagers as well as cards. 
6. Clear space: I tidy up my scrapping space after each project. Completely. And for those of you who know me, you'll appreciate this is difficult and unnatural for me. I'm so untidy by nature! But I put every scrap, pen, glue stick, ruler or ink-pad etc back where they belong - even if I take it back out again after 2 minutes. Clear space = clear mind. Now, if I could only apply that to the rest of my life...
7. Be part of the LOAD/Scrap Happy community: The community in our LOAD Flickr group is wonderful and this time around it will be all about the Scrap Happy community. I make sure I make the most of it. I spend (way too much) time in the gallery getting inspired and commenting on layouts. I know how thrilled I am when I get supportive positive feedback on my uploads and so I try to pass on the love. Even if you just look at the last 5 or 10 uploads before yours in the gallery, you will be amazed at the talent and creativity out there - I make sure that I "favourite" those that I really love and am inspired by so that I can go back to them again and again. Scraplifting is the highest form of flattery after all! And the message board is great too. I go in and read the latest and use it for tips and tricks or generally connecting with my fellow LOADsters. It's a great resource.  I have made some wonderful scrapping friends over the last year through LOAD and BPC and this is really special.
8. Use that stash: I see this as an opportunity to use up papers and products that have been lying around a long time but that I still love. Often I just grab a background cardstock and my mixed paper organiser along with my box of scraps and fish around until I have 3 or 4 papers I like. This is not the time to be precious. I will not be buying any new stash at all for this month but I have a partially used up Counterfeit Kit from August to finish and there will be my October kit too to make up and use. Making up your own kits (CKC is a wonderful resource for this) can make your own products feel like new as you combine them in new ways. Make sure you can see the products that are inspiring you at the moment or that you want to use up - if you have them in view, they are more likely to be used up. And think about the excuse you will have to go out and stock up again when you have finished as you will have used up SO much of your stock!
9. Quick techniques: I try to return techniques such as border punches, inking the edges or distressing which give good results with minimum effort and time. Although I might do a bit of stamping you won't find a lot of that on my pages - it's too hit and miss, and very time-consuming for me. Not to mention the fact that the ink ends up in places it really doesn't belong... several ruined tops later...
10. Have FUN: I remind myself that this is supposed to be FUN! No pressure. If I decide on the 15th that I'm not having fun, I'll simply stop. I can't imagine that happening, but this is a hobby and nothing to be taken too seriously. Life gets in the way sometimes and if that happens, then I will not stress about it, I will just do what I can. I make sure I'm enjoying the process. I might experiment. I mix it up. One day, it might be more complicated, the next a bit simpler. Layered and distressed one day, clear lines a la Zielske the next. I will use different products, different photos, different colours. More or less journalling. 4x6 photos one day and then chopped up or tiny photos the next. I play! But I'll be telling stories, using up product, preserving memories, remembering happy times. And that IS fun!

A more colourful pile than usual from our informal LOAD in July 2011 - must have been Pam's influence! ;-)

So, take a deep breath, clear off your scrap space, print off your photos, stock up on your adhesives, collect your supplies so that they are near to hand and enjoy the ride! 

The next stop for you will be Katherine at her blog here and the whole list of bloghop participants is...

Lisa (you are here!)

Katherine

Tambur

Pam

Katrina

Christie

Lisa

Have fun and thanks so much for dropping by - make sure you let me know you were here!