12 on 12th June

And another month completed! And look how fast it was this time. It's only the 17th and I have not only edited the photos down, but also completed the layout. Go me!

So pleased with myself and love this project. A really great snapshot of my life month by month.

This month, the theme that came out was time and transport which was interesting. I noted down the time of each photo and it showed me that I had a great morning complete with an always welcome Starbucks time and then in the afternoon, there wasn't really so much going on - or at least not that interesting. And the sky was still a bit light at nearly 11pm which really surprised me. I have also listed all the places I went and how I got there - I think I used every type of local public transport which will be interesting to look back at in the future. An ordinary Thursday for me - nice!

I've been a busy scrapper!

I took the opportunity of some alone time this weekend (Ralph needed to work the WHOLE weekend) to catch up with some serious scrapping - how fun is that? I had almost the whole day on Saturday and Sunday and I used it all for being creative which I enjoyed so much.

I was busy working on the July Bellaboo kit (another winner if I might say) but of course, you will have to wait to see it - let me give you just a single sneak peek as a teaser!

And you know summer is here in Germany when it seems like everyone is on holiday or about to go on holiday. The school summer hols here in North Rhine Westphalia start on 26th June so lots of my students with no children or much older or very young children take their holidays in June or later in August and then of course, the main 6 weeks of holidays is like a business desert with all the others taking three weeks off at a stretch.

Which of course means lots and lots of cancelled classes for me. On the one hand this is bad because no class means no money but on the other hand, it means that I get a bit more free time to myself.

So, this morning, I got up really early and I do not need to leave the house until 10 so I decided to catch up with some "me" scrapping. I have been taking Stacy Julians's Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking which encourages a non-chronological way of looking at scrapbooking. Not focusing so much on the events, holidays etc but rather looking at making connections, scrapping about the everyday and benefitting from an organisation system that supports the way of looking at subjects differently. This last week, the focus was on "Things we do" or "Things we love" and I have realised over the class that while I do a lot of non-typical scrapping, I was sometimes missing out on the things that are important to me.

I have been trying to rectify this with some of my recent scrapping (for example, my "I *heart* my iPod" layout from the May Bellaboo kit) and this morning, I decided to sit down and just complete two layouts. So easy, not complicated and using coordinated products which made life easy. Each took less than 30 minutes from beginning to end - the system helping me to find my photos really easily - and while they are not perfect (in fact, I think that on the one, the photos are decidedly a bit wonky!), I got them done and uploaded and captured another thought on paper which is what it is all about.

So chuffed with myself and now I can go off to work having completed something just for me today - what an achievement!

Photo a day - an update

You might be surprised to know that I am still continuing my Photo a day project which I started in January 2007. I know that I have been rather slack in updating my albums (here on the right) but the photographs have been taken on a very regular basis if not always every day. It has just taken me some time to work through them all and sort out my favourites for each day. Can you see the cheat photo?

Anyway, all quiet on the scrapping front right now - must be the weather - but it is all set to ramp up again over the next day or so with the Bellaboo July kit which is (yet again) a stonker! Oodles and oodles of stuff to play with which is so exciting. I just need to clear my desk and my head and then off I go! Watch this space.

What you been up to?

12 on the 13th

I cannot believe that actually, on the 12th May (which was ideal as it was a Bank Holiday here in Germany), I FORGOT to take my pictures. The reminder had come out from Susan during the weekend and I was all set up but poof! my mind went blank and did not remember until I went to bed that evening! But I decided to do it the next day instead and still stick with the twelve pictures even though it did cross my mind to do 13.


But again, it is really interesting that even though you know the whole day that you need to take photos, it's so easy to forget. I had a completely manic day because I was determined to get all those errands done that I usually cannot do because I can't do them on foot or public transport and on this day I had the car. It was a hot, sticky day but I still managed to do everything on my list (normal for any woman I think but Ralph was well impressed!). However, some of the stops I made along the way were not captured on film because I forgot - how this is possible, I have no idea but there you go!


And I am pleased to have managed to finish the layout before the end of the month, even though once again, I am not enamoured with the layout itself. Maybe I am making it too hard for myself by trying to come up with a different design each month - maybe I should just decide on a sketch and keep to it. I will see how I go in June and take it from there. But anyway, I am pleased to have captured another month and June will be interesting because Thursday is a busy day for me and we will be in the middle of the European Football Championship so I fear my living room will be once again turned into some sort of a football studio by Ralph! So I guess the German flag will feature and probably some sort of football stuff. (mmm exciting - NOT!)

Ok, own up... who stole that last month???

I mean, it can't be a whole month since I last updated my blog. It's just not possible! I think I must have entered some alien space time continuum where I am in some kind of 5-hour day parallel universe!

It was a busy month all things told with two trips to the UK and quite a lot of scrapping although I cannot share most of it with you! Bellaboo is keeping me really busy with crop kits, National Scrapbooking Day (check out their blog to see what fun we had over there!) and their fabulous monthly kits.

Yes, I know that I say this every month, but June's kit is a total must have - and don't forget that the May kit sold out in just 3 (yes you read that right) days.

You can find a sneak peek in the shop here and I think that it would be ok if I shared a few sneakies for you here. Let's just say that it was a joy to work with and I think I could have gone on and on and on...

And just to prove it is totally possible to complete three layouts in an afternoon here is what I accomplished in one afternoon using the great Rusty Pickle based NSD crop kit (pinks, grey and black sparkle just worked so well!)

When Libby and I are working on the crop kits, we are usually really strict and try to complete three layouts in three hours using ONLY the kit supplies (meaning, you can come along to a crop, purchase the crop kit and do not need anything else except the basics - knife, glue, ruler etc) but this time, I was a little slower - too much giggling and gossiping! - and used one or two things from my own supplies for the third layout here. Try challenging yourself to only using a certain amount of supplies and see how creative you can get! It works. There are a few of the NSD crop kits available here.

And as for my 12 on the 12th? Yes I did it, even if it is actually 12 on the 13th! I have the photos and the sketch for my layout - just need to get the two combined. Hopefully, this weekend.

In the meantime, it is hot and humid here in Germany which is not really my kind of weather (how I EVER lived in the Philippines I will never know!) so I will be taking things easy this weekend in an attempt to avoid "glowing". But have a great one whatever the weather and if you come across May in your travels, send it to me - I need those days back.

12 on the 12th layout

So pleased to have got this done today. I am not overly thrilled with the layout itself but it got all 12 photos down and the important information captured. This is definitely something I want to try to do each month. It will be interesting to see the months go by and how the weather will change, how we will look different and what we do month by month. The anatomy of a day encapsulated by just 12 images - I love the idea.

I will work on improving the composition next month but this time, it was just important for me to get it done and finished! 12 photos on one layout? Sounds impossible and it took me a while of jigging them around until I found the overlap I was happy with. I like the idea of the two page layout too - I have been doing so many single page layouts recently that it was nice to rediscover them during the Bellaboo May kit and then it seemed obvious to me the 12 on the 12th would be a double too. But maybe next month, I will make the photos smaller again and leave more white space so it is not quite so busy!

And I have just realised that I should put the month somewhere on the layout! Doh! I will use the small stickers and just put the month very small in a corner somewhere. Good job I realised in time!

12 on the 12th

Something new for me this month. Something I heard about some time ago - I think it might have been one of Stacy Julian's columns in Simple Scrapbooks. Then again in this post by Cathy Z last month. Sounded fun, sounded like a good idea! So I got in touch with Susan and added my name to the list - the list for a gentle but firm reminder before the 12th and again after the 12th!


So I am late. But I did take photos on the 12th which was good as a starting point.


But have you noticed that when you WANT to remember to take photos of all the little details from something (like the day for example!) you FORGET! I mean, I take photos all the time. Photos of the little details. Photos of the sky, photos of the flowers, photos of the buildings. But throughout THIS day, I kept missing the detials! I missed getting a photo of me - looking reasonable for a change as we went out for breakfast. I missed the detail of the farm shop where we bought the first Deutsche Spargel (German asparagus - long story, another post!) of the season. I missed the detail of me collecting my NEW reading glasses or the chance to get a photo of me in the glasses. I missed the detail of the said asparagus sitting on the kitchen counter, all stripped and bare. I missed the detail of the boys having a whisky tasting. The only photo of me? One right at the end of the night - looking definitely worse for wear (both of us actually!). I remembered to get Ralph waking up. I remembered to get the weather. And I remembered to get the asparagus reaching the table. So all is not lost. But a learning experience for next month!


Here are my photos for 12 on the 12th - a day captured from beginning to end.

A little birdie told me...

... that the new Bellaboo kit was fun and colourful and great to play with.

This is so TRUE!

Available to you in May but I thought you might like a few sneak peeks...

Bad blogger

Where does the time go? More than two weeks or is it three perhaps and not a blog entry in sight!

But I have been busy on Bellaboo projects - some you can see, and some you will have to wait for!

I had such a good time working on the April kit (it is really a lovely kit - full of scrumptious soft colours and loads of texture - such fun) and April newsletter - it just went on and on and on and on! I was practising my white space skills and using less and less PP which was really interesting and I was so pleased with some of the results.



















Got to dash right now (apart from the fact that it is nearly 1.30am!) but will try to get some more on the blog over the weekend...

Ah, the 80's - they were so special...

Boy, oh boy - this brings back just the best of bestest memories. I am a true child of the 80's and so proud of it. I was (and still am!) a huge Duranie even before they released their first single (here for your pleasure) and it brings a smile to my face every time I hear this song. I go back to being a 13 year old again and all the excitement that came with it - do you know what I mean?

I was always totally in "love" with Simon Le Bon and was honestly devasted when he got married. I wanted to change my name to - wait for it ... Portia Le Bon! (We were reading Shakepeare at school - Merchant of Venice? - and I thought the Portia sounded so much more exotic than Lisa. And of course it "is"!)

I have wasted a whole Friday evening wading my way through You Tube bringing back those days of the early to mid eighties - nothing else really matches up for me. Japan - Quiet Life; Department S - Is Vic There?; Big Contry - Chance; and the ultimate: David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes, Fasion, Scary Monsters. The list could go on and on.

Anyway, enough rambling from me - let me know if you appreciate my choice of Friday night music...