29 Days Later

During January I went public with my goals for 2012 and it's only fair that I come clean with how well (or badly) I am doing:

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Februaries (!) in numbers

I've managed more pages for my BOM, all of which are in the album (although not organised in chronological order - that's something for 2013 perhaps?)!  I've de-cluttered our under stairs pantry after tipping over a bottle of wine, which smashed on the tiled floor, emptying its 70cl all over the floor and under quite a lot of "stuff" that shouldn't have been there.  The bedroom, started last month is, unfortunately, still ongoing!  I've forgotten three birthdays and remembered two (with home-made cards).  I've been busy with some Guest DT work and plenty of other scrapping, including my page for my January in numbers and, without further ado here are February's numbers:

12 = marbled cup cakes made on the 2nd attempt - it would seem that I have been remiss in teaching Child No.3 (and her friend) how to cream butter, sugar and eggs together without curdling the mixture!

50 = key words in the programming language that Hubby studied during much of his 5 days off - he tries to share with me when he finds something interesting or annoying, but that's all I have remembered!

2 = the number of decades celebrated by No.2 Son with a trip to visit No.1 Son for a Skrillex concert.  Hours he spent in cars, coaches and trains to get there and back: 12


4 = books read this month - "Ours are the Streets" by Sunjeev Sahoter - a very interesting tale of life for a Sheffield Muslim lad as he before and after he becomes radicalised, counting down the days until his suicide mission.  Not an easy read at times, but thought provoking to the end.  "The Passage" by Justin Cronin was bought for Hubby as an emergency birthday present last year, but he loved it and insisted I read it too.  Set in the (not too distant) future it tells an apocalyptic tale of the human struggle against vampire-like zombies!  Lots of excitement and adventure with believable and all to frail and frightened characters, it's the first in a trilogy and I'd like to read more.  My friend from Book Club recommended "The Prison of Perspective" by Rudolf Bader but I can't say I enjoyed this one. It describes the lives of each main character entirely from their own perspective and perhaps because of this, I found them equally selfish and self-centred and ultimately unsympathetic.  Thankfully this month's official choice was great: "The Long Song" by Andrea Levy which was a witty, rollicking tale of the trials and tribulations of slaves (and their white owners) in Jamaica during and after the abolition.

1 = an exercise bike exchanged, 2 months after the on-board computer broke, just 3 months after No.3 child chose it instead of a rabbit!

1 = also how many new recipes I tried - roast duck - and it worked pretty well: juicy, tender, perhaps not quite crispy skinned nor pink enough; there's room for improvement when I try again soon!

10 = days turn-around for 2 new passports which was a relief as there are now just 19 and 27 days to go before they will be needed.

73,392 = worldwide target for geocaches to be logged on February 29th - I did my bit and found 1 :o}

Between The Lines

A final contribution to
Julie's Month of Sunrays

The third of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog monthly challenges is to get colouring.  I've been borrowing Child No.3's Promarkers a lot recently and decided to see what would happen if I used her extra fine nibs with the pretty patterns to be found inside business envelopes.  I picked out a lovely hexagon pattern and had fun making some sunny flowers.  A few scraps from my February Kit and a card was born.

I'm not certain that colouring in each hexagon individually was worth it, but I do like that the pattern shows on the punched leaves & circles: free, recycled, subtly patterned papers coloured to match perfectly!!

Lost?

Hubby and I often go out for a walk at the weekend.  We tend to tread the same routes around our village, adding variety by going anti-clockwise sometimes ... and whenever we see a sign for a footpath going across the fields we remember we forgot to study the Ordnance Survey map in advance and therefore have no idea where the path will lead! 
We had to laugh last weekend when we were out enjoying the chilly sunshine:

Sometimes too much help is no help at all!

Hello Doily

The latest challenge over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog is to use doilies ... not my favourite scrapping resource, but having dipped out of the first challenge this month, I felt obliged to have a go.  Actually it was easier than I thought after spotting this page by Kirsty where she'd made a real statement with her doily by painting it black!  (The page I made with a black doily is here)
For today's page I used Child No.3's Promarkers to add colour to a small doily, picking out the blue in the striped border I used to make chevrons for my page.

I blogged my first Month in Numbers at the end of January and here it is, down on (Scenic Route's double-sided Sonoma patterned) paper:

My doily had 12 sections to it, so after colouring,  I removed 6 of them to see if there was a snowflake vibe to it ... that would be a "No!" ... so I cut it into two sections and layered them to make a dimensional semi-circle.  The chevrons are cut from a striped border from Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend Collection.  My numbers were cut with Sizzlit Ducky Wucky dies from my Kraftcore cardstock, sanded and inked to help the numbers stand out.  I added some buttons and a title made from all sorts of random chipboard alphabets pulled from my stash, coloured with black ink to match each other.

In an effort to be ready for February's numbers (and create a facing page for my album), I have half-prepared a page with the same supplies and another border strip from my February Kit along with another Promarker coloured doily - a heart of course!

I'm doubt I will continue with this page design (and doily use LOL) for the rest of the year as I'll get bored, but I'll definitely use matching designs and base colours for each pair of pages - that will work well and save effort!

A Story Scrapped

Do you enjoy the Sunday Stories that you read here and via Siân's Blog?  I do - but one of my 2012 goals was to get more of my stories down on paper i.e. into my scrapbooks!  So here is a page from last August's Sunday Storytelling with the memories hidden away on those two pull-out tabs:

The flowers were in my Christmas embellishment swap - thanks Susanne! - and I was inspired to try colouring a doily by this page by Kirsty.  The tiny alpha stickers are by Adornit and come in a mix of colour combinations dominated by black, red and white.  Unfortunately the printing (on my sheet?) isn't quite true so some of the letters end up with a black or grey (or white) strip along one edge which is annoying once the stickers are off the sheet.  I guess that's the trouble with buying my supplies on-line - I have no idea if it's a one-off or a general problem with this range! 

My layout is based on my Just One Sketch sketch - rotated as per prompt 2 of the class - yes I am a little very behind as we just had prompt 11 yesterday!  It's also not square as the page is for my BOM which is 8½"x11" and I've changed the shape behind the photos to a circle and there's no border!  In fact, as usual, I have deviated quite a lot from the sketch - but then I always see sketches as a starting point rather than something to stick to rigidly!  Do you like sketches?  Are they recognisable by the time your page is done?

Brightening My Day

It doesn't take an awful lot to put a really big smile on my face: 

Watching a blackbird pecking at the halved apple I put out near the bushes
The unbidden arrival of a hot, steaming mug of tea
Cherry blossom falling like pink snow
Listening to giggles upstairs
An unexpected hug

And most recently, spotting this month's Reading Group book on the library shelf which means I don't have to order it in specially, and nor do I pay the £1 reservation fee.  On top of that bit of luck I was quite taken aback at how beautiful this particular copy is: a bright sunny yellow cover, embossed front, back  and spine with a bronze design and lettering, with decorated end papers and chapter heading illustrations.  It's not even an old book; published in 2010, the people of Headline Review obviously understand that we readers still appreciate a good cover, even if we don't necessarily judge the book by it!

On the subject of books ... I'm to be a World Book Night Giver ... Hurrah!  Watch this space as some of those books will be given out right here!

P.S. These little rays of sunshine have brightened my day - if you pop over to Julie's blog she has a whole month of sunrays going on!

Half-Term Hiatus Here

Our plans to go travelling this half-term holiday went out the window, but there are a million and one other things that have been occupying Hubby, Child No.3 and myself - DIY, revision, cinema trips, shopping, clubs, sleepovers, cake-making, reading, de-cluttering, appointments - but sadly not as much crafting as I would have liked.  Hopefully there will be some time for that in the next day or two.  In the meantime here is a page I made earlier:

 

The photos are from Child No.3's sketch sitting on Las Ramblas in Barcelona last Easter - at least she had a chair to sit on (and an umbrella to shelter under) - Hubby and I  had to stand there for nearly two hours while we first queued for the artist she'd picked out and then watched in fascination as her portrait took shape on the paper.  Made with various papers from my February Counterfeit Kit, with the addition of a scrap of red card and Boys Will Be Boys Sizzlit dies, for a sketch-based challenge over on UKScrappers but also tying in with ATDML's Thirsty Thursdays T challenge for Turquoise and the passage of Time :o)