Brrr

Spring's coming. March starts tomorrow. It's supposed to be warmer! Darn it.

Trying to upload Jan & Febs pics to order so I can make a start on Doc 2011. Looking forward to putting it together. Actually, I have plans for every single photo I ordered. That never happens. There's usually a bunch that 'might' make a good page (or mini...) but nothing ever really comes of them. I think I like this thinking things through malarky. Saves money too I'd imagine.

Went a little bit mad at pre-sale for Studio Calico yesterday. Oops. I knew what was coming (ish) from the sneaks to I ruled out 2 of the add-ons (1+4) as all I liked of them were the stamps. So that left 2+3. Do you think I could decide?! I ended up getting them both. Naughty. And some of the stamps that I'd been eyeing up were on offer. I'm trying to justify it by saying that I absolutely will not buy any extras next month but I guess we'll just have to see what happens there...
I am, however, on a mission to use up (at least) the equivilent of PP (19 pieces) before the kit arrives. And maybe put a dent into the last kit (Dec. Bought as one off). We shall see...

Still need to finish my CJ. It's not looking great on the whole 'needs to be posted tomorrow' front, but I'm trying my best.
Also trying to find an easier way to store my papers (might help with the 'must use min.19 pps before next kit' plan). It's so hard to sort through my papers with how they're stored at the moment. Have to give that one a think...

Ok, I think the pics have finally uploaded - whoop! Now onto the re-sizing/cropping/ordering...sigh...

Hope you're all well
xxx

What's making me happy right now...

* Clip in extentions. Now I can try braiding. I have no patience to let my hair grow. Not sure I could pull off the 'leaving hair down' look with them though. They're as long as I'd like my hair naturally though I keep seeing cute little pony tails everywhere. Must stay strong through my annoying in between length stage. They're giving me something to aim for. As much as my hair's grown in the past year I'm hoping I'll be there this time next year. No doubt in time for short hair to be in.
* Sneak peek of Marcus Fosters new album. Can't wait for this one. I hope there are a decent amount of songs on it. Last time I was this excited for an album there were 4 songs. Lovely songs. But still - 4!?
* Sunshine. Bring on Spring! T-shirt weather would be fabby. Also a day or two without the freezing need for heating and jumpers.
* Flowers. Again with Spring. As lovely as green and brown are it's nice to look out the window and catch a flash of purple and a promise of lots of yellow.
* New freezer. It's been dying for months now for some reason it took a humming/rattling that could keep the neighbours awake to buy a new one. I'm not exaggerating - it's kept outside in the lean to (delightful to get food out of in the pouring rain )and I'm genuinely shocked no-one's come round to say anything. Mum posted a letter and she said she could hear it down the street...). Fun coincidence? We looked in the local paper and ended up buying one from the family a few doors down. Handy for pick up.
* No more need to go out in the pouring rain for an ice cube.
* No more need to keep eating frozen stuff to make space. New freezer is smaller than last one. My body is starting to crave fresh fruit and water.
* Crafting. Just the one layout so far (sorry teamies). But still, it's something.
* Spray mists. Mr Huey rocks.
* New People Tree catalogues. I can't afford a lot of the clothing but I admire the priciples and ethics behind them. (I do own a few bits from Emma Watsons first collection. And some jewellery. And 2 scarfs.). What I also love the is the way they smell. They remind me of school. I wish I knew why.
* I can get back into UKS. They were having problems, combined with my seperate issues = no entry for me. Still, I'm back now. Whoop!
*And last, but definitely not least, Pip finally seems to be over his PMS or whatever the heck he had going on this week. Don't tell me boys don't get it too. Or cats. Countless random attacks. Bring on the dettol. Joy.

Hope you're having a happy day.
xxx

Oh hai

It isn't so hard being a clock. See? It's 10 past 11...no, 5 to 2...wait...when's food time?

I am so bored! Yesterday's craft time in the loft plan didn't pan out too well once I stood up and kept falling into things. Probably not the best idea to go up the stairs. Problem is now I'm confined to my bed. Again. Grr. Also my comp's still being weird. I've typed this all out before (well not *this* bit...) but it was going so slowly it couldn't keep up with my typing (I'm just that good). Then it kept cutting out. Then it just stopped responding. Then it closed down (browser not whole comp). Grr. Hence the re-typing. Grr. And to top it off I *still* haven't had my 'express 24' parcel from Parcelforce. Double Grr. Though, I suppose I should really be feeling sorry for the driver. I mean, according to my tracking code they've been out delivering parcels non-stop since 6.33 Sat morning. That's over 48 hours of driving. Poor thing's got to be feeling tired now....(how can you portray rolling eyes without the aid of a smiley dude?)...

So, In my boredom I've decided to fall upon the fail safe '10 things you may not know about me'. Yay.
#1. I have a birthmark. Most people find this fascinating and immediately ask to see it. I find it fascinating that I've yet to meet someone else who also has one.
#2. The idea of siblings both amazes me and completely weirds me out. The idea of growing up in a house with people from the same(ish) generation as you? Surreal.
#3. I'm genuinely considering creating an FB profile for my cat. I get irrationally annoyed at my 'neighbours' who sign up to play games but never actually do and when I ask for help to 'build' things they just ignore me. So many bits lay half built...It's either that or pay actual money. I think option 1 sounds like the better choice...
#4. I love to play sports. Seriously. I'm great at them. As long as they don't involve running, hitting, throwing, catching, hand eye co-ordination, any measurable upper body strength or large expanses of water I'm totally there.
#5. I have a fear of getting into large expanses of water.
#6. I'm adopted yet somehow have inherited one nans pepper allergy and the others nose. I'm not particularly happy about either.
#7. I do not in any way shape or form want to track down my birth parents. Not in a cruel way, just can't see the point. Wish I could access an up to date medical record though. (even my 'grandparents' were in their 30's when I was born - who knows what's changed...)
#8. I'm allergic to cats. I didn't realise until Pip finally started letting us touch him (6 months after we brought him home). Too late by that point. Oh well.
#9. I'm somewhere on the cover of the fan edition of Terry Pratchetts 'I Shall Wear Midnight'. I still haven't read it though.
#10. I have never smoked a cigarette. Not once. Not even a puff. Decided when I was about 3 that all grown-ups were stupid for doing something they did nothing but complain about (the smell, the cost, how hard it was to give up) and have not once changed my mind.

(Pip's with me on that last one. Every time he comes across an ashtray he 'buries' it. We went into the lounge after dinner once to find he'd buried one under the tablecloth. Good boy.)

So there you go. It'll all be good once I can get back in to UKS - I can ramble on at them instead of here...I bet they're all enjoying the 'peace'!

Hope everyone's well and staying dry in this delightful weather
xxx

Huff of frustration

Okay - this strop my internet has going on right now is getting real old real quick.
It wouldn't bother me half as much if one of my fave sites (UKS) wasn't affected. Also a couple of FB games, a link to Daily Mail (?!) and some pages that may have images to print off for my CJ. Those 3 aren't as annoying (well, the CJ thing is a bit but hopefully I can find them somewhere else...).
Also on my 'things that are currently frustrating me list' -
Parcelforce.
I ordered something from a site on Friday, says order Mon-Fri before 3pm and you'll get it the next day. Great I think. I ordered well before 3pm. Got the tracking info in the late afternoon. Checked Sat morning and apparently at 6.33 am it was put onto the van and was 'out for delivery'. Has it been delivered?! Has it heck! I was starting to wonder if I'd read the delivery whatsit wrong but it's labelled as 'Express 24' and it still says it's 'out for delivery'. Has the delivery man been driving around since 6.33 yesterday morning!?...grr...if this is express 24 I'd hate to see what the regular delivery times are like.

In other, happier news - Made it into the loft. Whoop. Tidied up some of the piles of mess I'd left up there from last time. Glued on my front and back covers for my CJ. Managed to spill red ink on my trousers. (cream coloured of course).
Hopefully I'll be up there again later. If anything I'd like to get the inside covers of CJ stuck and the pages cut to size. Would also like to do the Weekly Challenge. Don't fancy my chances of getting the Monthly Challenge uploaded to UKS (grr) so it's probably best to focus my remaining energy on the weekly effort as I can stick it on here if need be.
Still haven't done my Jan pages for Doc 2011 (or the rest of Doc 2010 now I mention it...) as seeing how many (or should that be few?) photos I have to print off it really didn't seem worth the postage. Now we're so late into the month I might as well wait and get Jan and Feb done at the same time. I'm determined to keep up with Doc 2011 - I'm getting frustrated (ah, more of it!) wih Doc 2010 as it was all so flippin' long ago now I just want it over with! Stupid past self! Maybe I can try and get some of that done too...hmm...

Wow, that was a lot of rambling even for me!
If any passing Magpies happen to see this know I'm trying to work out how to get back on UKS - hopefully it will be soon! Hope you're all well xxx

Normal service will resume shortly

Spring is starting to pop up all over the place and this blasted cold finally seems to be shifting - in time to sniff all the flowers? Lovely.

I think my computer's out to get me today. Keeps deciding what pages I can and can't open. I can almost read the Magpies posts on UKS (scrolling is so slow and jerky) but it won't let me comment quickly to say I can't comment (iykwim).
The browser keeps freezing.
I had to re-boot the whole thing once already today...sigh...ahh technology...
At least the sun's shining.
You know what I would like? Ignoring the outlandish...let's all be sensible now children...I would like to get into the loft and craft. I have written/sketched/planned out about 10 layouts (admittedly I haven't got the pics done for 2 of them...) not counting my mojo layout once I can get to the jar and most importantly - my CJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After my layout blitz at the beginning of Jan I happened to not be feeling well but luckily the team decided to bump CJ posting from Feb1st to March 1st. 'Oh that's fine' I figured - an extra month. What I didn't count on was feeling like death and then catching a cold and being trapped in my bed for the past week. I have done nothing!!!!! I do know what I'm going to do though so that can only be a good thing, I tend to work faster with a plan in my head.
I wonder if this will have any trouble posting?...hmm...

Wordless Wednesday 6

And what gives you the right to look down on me?
That's better.

Wordless Wednesday 5

Mmm...chin rub...

Bah

I'm trying very hard to get an 'eyes in focus' shot. It's difficult with this dude as the only time he sits still for long enough is when he's about to go to sleep. I made a whole bunch of daft noises trying to get his wide eyed interest and managed this one. I think one eye is in focus but I can't really tell...maybe it's just the area around it...my eyes are terrible atm, even with my glasses on!
Anyway, I also had a bit of a play at trying to get a self portrait. This is *not* the lens for a self portrait. But I do, sort of, kinda like this shot. One eye ended up in focus making me look a bit bugeyed (!) but seeing as how up to that point the only things I'd photographed were the things behind me (rolling eyes) I was mostly just happy I'd ended up in the shot at all!
I edited it on Picnik - soft focus (to tone down the bug eye) and B&W to hide the blotchy/haven't slept properly in 12 years-ness of my skin and ta-daa
And here's another shot of The Fluff. Remember that cute yawn picture I posted last time? Well here he is yawning from a different angle. (you know, if I actually tried to get a pic of him yawning it would never happen.)
Meet Gollum's hairy cousin-
It's the fangs that get me (quite literally on occasion). I don't know whether to hug him or run screaming...
Hope you're all staying grounded in this delightfully breezy (!) weather!
xxx

Wordless Wednesday 4

"Yaaaawn...I'm so tired I think I might just have a nap in this sun spo..."
"FOOD!?"

401

Yesterday was post 400. I started this in Dec 06 and I only reached 400 yesterday. You could never accuse me of over posting...
So, 2 days, near passing out and a great deal of help from mum I made another batch of cakes. You do have to ask if it's worth it...I may need to look up a different way of mixing. As it is you need to stand up as the cord's too short - maybe a free standing mixer...hmm...
No colours in the buttercream this time so I tried the coloured strands. So prettyful. And what a lovely excuse to try out the new lens again...
Oh how I'm loving the colours/light this lens gives!

Hope it gets a bit warmer soon so I can try going outside - it's so cold at the mo I can't hold the camera steady enough - brr...

Hope you're all staying snuggled up!

xxx

2 days in a row?

Goodness me, something must be wrong - I crafted 2 days in a row? huh...
Now don't get me wrong, I'm far from well enough to be doing these things, but I'm at breaking point. My boredom has reached its peak and I cracked. Just hope I don't push it *too* far...hmm...
Anyhoo, here's this weeks UKS Challenge. I've forgotten the rules again...The word 'who' in the title, red or earth tones, stars (which you can't see, but they are there!) and...umm...oo, a baby theme! (or something new)...so here you are -

I don't love it. I'm not sure what it is. It's good as a basic but I think it needs something added I just can't think what...hmm...
This next one is me at Doc 2010 breaking point. I've done the 2 July layouts but haven't started the divided 6x4s bit and am currently annoyed at my past self for not keeping up with this last year! I get bored quite easily and decided I needed a change before I start fudging up my layouts and get sad looking back at 2010 because you can tell I got bored and muffed all the journalling up.
So, I went through my 10,000,000,000 (or there abouts) photos and came across my (and fellow teamies) snaps from the Magpie retreat in 2009 and thought I'd start doing something with them!

I hope Stacey doesn't mind the photo - I needed to document the cake goodness and she was the baker so she had to be on there!
Anyone who keeps up with current scrapbooking trends may notice that those papers have just been released. Yes, I caved. Honestly I knew it would happen. Thing is (and I realise this may sound like an excuse!) I went through my papers and can you believe I didn't have any pink? Just some scraps and bits but no actual sheets. So, when I bought some new/different divided pages for Doc 2011 some of the new Echo Park little girl range fell in my basket. Oddly enough there are a lot of cupcakes and tea pots in it - is that what little girls do?! I played with toy cars myself...anyway, cakes worked out quite nicely for this page!
Oh, and while I'm in confessional, I treated myself to some new border punches from EKSuccess. The slim ones? I used 2 on the above pages. Wow, I love them. The first punch I've ever used that I can punch one handed! Really helpshaving a free hand to help keep the border pattern straight. A couple of sheets of the new AC Love range may have fallen in the basket at the same time...argh...it wouldn't bother me half as much if my fellow Mission One Ten teamies weren't doing so well at sticking to the rules. You know, the ones *I* set!? But that's it. When I put my papers in my box I noticed that it was now practically to the top. That's about a rulers worth of paper. (well, there is a bit of card and a few alphas in there too, but it isn't far off...) This is awful. Wasn't there a thing about a certain thickness of paper lasting you for x many years? I think I may be set for life...hmm...What I think I need to do is stop using card for backgrounds and try using PP too. And layers. And matting photos with PP. And layers. And no more hording scraps. And layers. Lots and lots of layers.
Argh.
I thought they said confession was good for the soul? I feel even more guilty now! Darn it.
This may ring a bit hollow now but I really am completely off stash buying. Completely and absolutely. There isn't anything else out there that's caught my eye anyways (phew!).
I shall leave you with this shot. Now this guy is *not* a lap cat. Emphatically *not* a lap cat. And yet he jumped on my lap while crafting so I figured I should get a photo as proof. He attacked me about 5 minutes later. Marvellous.
xxx

And finally she goes up the stairs

Well, they took their time but my legs finally let me go up the stairs to be all crafty. Yay.
1st up - I managed to get a photo of my UKS week2 Jan challenge.
It's my focus page for July in Doc 2010. I'm not overly in love with it, not sure on the title either, but I do love the papers and photos so I don't hate it! I can't remember the rules for it as it was a while back now! Umm...3 different papers, a die cut...ink pad? Possibly something else? Whatever it was I got full points...

And here's my WOYW...F...?! It's my planning for this weeks challenge, hopefully I'll get it done this weekend before the time's up! I'm going to be so annoyed with myself if I can't manage to count it after getting it all ready!

Yeah, I didn't really manage a lot - took a photo and planned a layout...hmm...still, better than nothing.

And no, I still haven't covered up my mojo jar...really need to dig out some pretty papers and get rid of the coffee mate logo - not overly inspirational!

xxx

Wordless(ish) Wednesday 3

Wordless(ish) as though I probably could have gotten away with it, I think some of them needed explanation...
A bit more lens fun - it's funny, even when I missed focus I still kind of like them...
Pretty headband I got in the post the other day

I love this picture, even if The Fluff is out of focus, the colour's lovely. Though I'll be honest, if nan and granddad starting their car hadn't made him turn and run half a mile up the road, I probably would have taken another shot.

Here's the wordless part...

xxx

New Toy

I caved and treated myself to a new lens. It came today, just after it started raining and not long before it was getting dark anyway so couldn't really give a good play - of course. (feel like death too so it's probably a good thing). So far I'm loving it. Hope I have a bit of daylight (and energy) to try it outside tomorrow.
First up - mums purple ball thingies. Ooo DOF goodness...
Then slightly above the purple ball thingies...ahh rain...

I think this lens was built for keyboards and walls etc. Here's my keyboard. (well, organ...)

And let's face it - what's a photo shoot in this house without a picture of The Fluff...was trying to focus on his eyes but I still like it. He moves around so much though, it's really hard to get a focus on anything never mind anywhere specific!

Fingers crossed for dry weather tomorrow! (and, you know, muscles that co-operate...)

xxx

A third of the bottle later...

Mmm - dontcha just love a good post day? One day I'll have a good post day without having to buy the contents first...but still, yummy!
There's a headband from Hollysarah on Etsy. (slightly funny thing - she sent it from Morden in Canada. My Nan lives in Morden in London. Cool!)
The other cutely wrapped bits are lipbalms from Orange Thyme on Etsy (I love that place!)
The scents are Caramel Apple, Blood Orange and Lemon Cupcakes. Mmm. Also a Blackberry scented lip tint that is just beautiful. I love them - wish I could find a seller with similar stock in UK though...
Also, I baked! I was somewhat excited about trying out my new recipe book - then I found the natural food colours. So overwhelmed I was I didn't know where to start! I ended up picking blue as I haven't ever had any blue food my whole life - I didn't even realise blue could be made naturally. It's technical name is 'spirulina extract' which is either a seaweed or an algae...I keep forgetting...
Now, I didn't pick an exciting recipe as I think the test for a good cook book is how it handles the basics. So vanilla cupcakes it was! Different way of making them - more complicated and slightly strange, but it worked.
Only problem with the recipe - I'm not keen on buttercream with unsalted butter. But I'll try them again with reg butter and see if they still work. The sponge's yummy though!
Now, as excited as I was to dye the icing blue, it didn't really work...I think I can see why food companies tended to avoid making food with the natural colour - I used about a third of the bottle (normal food colouring size) to get this pale shade! It's a lovely shade though - maybe if I just pour the whole thing in next time...!

Turns out (after a little experimenting) the red and yellow are pretty bright with just a little bit so hopefully I'll have a bit more luck next time!?

Oh, and here's The Fluff. Wasn't intentional but he jumped on the table just before I went to upload the photos - how's a girl to resist!?

I'm still working on those f stops - I'm considering a new lens. I do love a shallow depth of field and this lens just doesn't really give one. (It's the original kit lens from my film canon). I mean, it's good - it's lasted me...umm...8 years?...but I'm starting to get more aware of the yummy lens goodness out there now and I would like to experiment. I'm pretty much decided on the 50mm 1.8 (I'll be honest, the price is the thing that drew me in at first!). I've checked out a whole bunch of review sites and it's gotten some really good reviews too - I think a trip to Jessops might be in my future...
Anyhoo, that's enough rambling for now...

Hope you're all well xxx

Camera play time

One of my missions for the year is to take my camera off auto and try out a couple of the manual settings. Today I tried playing with the f.stops. Still haven't got a flipping clue what they mean (maybe that should have been my first lesson...) but here's a couple of pics of the frost on f5.6
Believe it or not the above is not a carpet, it's my mums cars windshield. Frost to the extreme this morning!

The sun had hit the roof to melt a bit of it by the time I'd gotten out there.

When I went in to upload and have a look these guys appeared in the back garden - I forgot to change the settings, or at least to auto, so they've all ended up a bit 'soft' looking. Of course it was through the window too so that probably didn't help...

"Did I hear something?..."

"Yes, I definitely heard something..."

"Hey! Stop taking my picture!"

Whoops!

He was hanging out with a great tit - how cute! I love the little birds, esp. this time of year. Acting all twitterpated and such ^-^

Wordless Wednesday 2

Wordless Wednesday 1

On a roll

I like being in a sunny frame of mind - hurrah for June photos! I'd forgotten we'd actually had sunshine last year...
Here's my layout for my teams monthly mojo challenge - I picked one of Debbie's which was to use more than 3 photos.
Above was my highlight of June below is the opening page. Highlight? Well, the photo op. was funny but I'm not too sure about the actual event!!

I've changed up my style a bit for this months opener as I didn't really have anything to put in an envelope. I can see the point of them - I know people can gather lots of little pieces of paper day to day but I don't really get anything! I've made the bigger piece of paper into a pocket just in case I find a receipt in the bottom of a drawer or something...!

And here's a bit of a deeper page. I made it in response to the UKScrappers monthly challenge - we had to follow a sketch and include at least 50% journaling.

I've decided to document my journey for the year - remember my rant from a few days back? I am determined to find at least a bit of peace of mind & contentment this year. I really hope this is the start of something positive!

xx

Ooo photo heavy!!

In fairness I should have done this when I was halfway through the year but there you go. Here are a bunch of my pages from Document 2010. Looking back through I think I need to put some dates on my earlier pages. Also I need to add some more journalling in places - maybe add a tag behind a photo or 2...hmm...yeah, anyway, here we are -
January - lesson learned here - I wasn't keen on the adding January twice so haven't done that again!

Feb - I didn't want to add too much on the photo of my drawing so I just added a K (as it's supposed to be of Kristen Stewart. The close up is of my favourite part of the drawing and now wish I just crop it down to that bit...mum won't let me!)

To match the 'K' on the previous page I added a 'O' for Owen. After adding the 'good' for the month summary I realised adding a S (for me!) up the top would actually make the month 'so good' - aren't I clever!? (don't answer that...)

March - couple of fun things for March. Went to see Avatar in 3D which was completely lost on me. I think if I try it again I'll try and wear my glasses as I could only see a couple of bits in 3D while mum was blown away...ah well...

it should say 'drama' in the top left...little re-cap of the trip to the vets!

April - nice and pastel! This was the month of the new - New blossoms, new dress, new hair, new library, new drawing, new car (briefly...) - good times!

I'm ashamed to say that my new drawing (that you can see on the left page in the middle) hasn't had much done to it since I started it in...april...argh! And I swore I wouldn't take a year on this one like I did with the last...

And here be May. Started with a vote ended with a sprained ankle. Luckily the inbetween wasn't as bad (!)

Anyhoo....there should be another page here so not sure where that one went...! It's been fun doing the pages but I wish I'd done them a month at a time - I'm finding they're all starting to look similar! I know someone that did them each month using just the scrapbook kit they got each month, I don't get a kit...maybe I should create one each month to do it myself? Hmm...

Hope you're all well!

xxx