It's all gone MAD I tell you...

I only announced our next Time Out retreat last Wednesday and already 30 places have gone. It's GREAT!!! We've already got some fabulous classes in the pipeline (see Vanessa's blog entry for today for a sneak peek at something Fiona's going to be doing...not that ACTUAL one but one of those is my point). And my little organisy brain (thanks for that Jakki G!!) is already whirring about fun things to do for pre-retreat challenges etc. etc. Anyway...I'm missing Peter Kay on telly...am I mad??? Byeeee.

Plait Hair

In Crickhowell, at that shop where I wanted to steal things, they sold gorgeous dolls with lovely big bloomers for knickers (why do we ALWAYS look!?!). I bought one for Celyn and had her sitting atop my Artbin the whole retreat then. So if you were at Brecons, this photo, taken when she was fast asleep (I love my new camera which has proper F stops!!) is just to show you how my girly-girl loves her new doll, 'Plait Hair'... named by Celyn about 1 minute after owning her.

No one said my girl was original on the naming front. LOL Another doll she owns is called 'Pinky Pink' (the doll's hair is pink!).

15 out of 10 for "awwww" factor though eh?

Easter Scrapping

Just a simple layout of my girly-girl when she was nearly 7 months old. Heavily inspired by a layout from one of the Autumn Leaves books. And I'm completely irritated because I can't find my DMC threads for adoration nor sixpence, so I can't finish off the little thingummies (name escapes me for the moment). One of the classes at The South Wales Crop yesterday was Fiona's 'C is for Chocolate Cake' (my version below) and I had the thought then to create an A B C album for Celyn to edge her along the road to reading. She actually did read the word 'Yum' on this layout (didn't know the sound for Y (it's pronounced 'ih' in her name of course) but once I said that letter phonetically she put it together with 'uh' and 'mmm' and then said the word). So this is going to be 'Y is for Yum Yum' (I'll do the other part of the title on the side) and I'm going to carry on and get the layouts done quickety-quick (otherwise, at my usual rate, she'll be about 10 by the time I've finished it, and probably reading fairly well by then! LOL

I know a lot of people would say my handwriting spoils the layout but I really do have a thing about getting journaling down and getting it down in your own scrawl. As I say in my 'Journaling With Doughnuts' class, your descendants aren't going to give a rat's bottom whether your handwriting is stunning or not (they'll just love that it's something of you). Nor will they care that it may not have the eloquence of Oscar Wilde.

Anyway...enjoyed having a little Easter Sunday scrap. Been feeling a little bit low today so enjoyed the self-indulgence.





















Later 'gator

Easter

I think I love Easter much more than I love Christmas (especially when
it falls in April). The flowers and trees are all bursting back into bloom, baby animals are in the fields, the sun begins to shine (after a long winter it's such a welcome sight!), and the promise of long summer days beckons. Not only that, but Easter to me is about the living Christ. For me it's not really about chocolate eggs and bunny rabbits (although these things are nice!) but about my love for a Saviour who bled at every pore so that I might be forgiven, and who rose from the dead so that I might live with my family and friends forever.

If you fancy a bit of uplifting Easteriness, please watch these short films. Happy Easter everyone

(Tsk! These people that bring religion into Easter *roll eyes*)

A few more pics of Brecons...

Most are mine, and some are fellow Breconees'...



They don't make sheep quite the same way on The Wirral as they do here in Wales!


Linz and Rach

and Imogen, Linz and Katie-Jane

Gill and Chris (well...Chris' bum anyway...)

Another of that gorgeous view (and we had gorgeous weather too)

I was really rubbish at getting off my backside and actually taking photos at this retreat...I've not got photos of so many people. Bad Chrissie, bad, bad, bad. So if you've got pictures, please email them to me at Chrissie@ScrappersUnlimited.co.uk

Oh. Happy Easter by the way.

A Chunk of Chutney...

Sitting it out. Am I bothered...bothered?
I stare - brace the shot. I'm in company.

I had a letter yesterday from one of the girlies who took my Journaling With Chutney class last Saturday at the Brecons Retreat. (A letter I tell you! They still exist! And they are still lovely to receive.)

Katie-Jane had used this photo as inspiration for writing some iambic pentameter poetry journaling, to use when she actually scrapbooks it. This photo of her then boyfriend (now husband) Rob (on the left) was taken at a wedding in Paris. Rob is a good friend of mine too. The other guy in the picture is a French friend of Katie's from when she lived in Greece. Oh stop your whinging! It's not THAT complicated!

The point of all my ramblings is that this is literally the ONLY photo she has of Rob from their dating days, simply because he absolutely hates having his picture taken. She took some the other day on their digi camera and when she went to print them, found that he'd deleted the lot. He only bore the annoyance of this snap because he was with Katie's friend!

I asked the ladies in my journaling class to write a couple of lines of blank iambic pentameter (taught them how first, of course!) for 5 photos, just to get the feel of the metre. And the letter contained the lines I've written above.

I don't think her writing would have been so good had she not had the structure of the metre to work with. Fab isn't it? I told her on the phone, "Well...now we have to talk about ceasura and enjambment..." Heh heh heh...

Get Me!

Ain't I just da bomb with my new header? Thank you, thank you Jools for your kind help using Photoshop. I am a baby Photoshopper but fast heading towards toddlerdom. Mwwwaaah x

Brecons...

I love ellipses...

Anyway... we had the best time at the Brecons retreat. What a great group of ladies. I'm not going to single anyone out... except...the kids. We had 3 children at our weekend in Wales, and they were just so lovely. Charlotte and Dan came down from London with their parents, and I spent a whole dinner persuading Charlotte to try food (just try it...put in your mouth, chew 5 times, spit out if necessary) because she is of the 'I'll only eat plain pasta with a bit of cheese' brigade. Great fun! And her little brother was a complete delight and made me cry at the end of the retreat (tsk!). He gave me one of his layouts "because you didn't win anything". So so so sweet. I shall post that layout on here tomorrow.

And then we had 11 year old Bethany who was just so polite and lovely (and loaned me her pens for doodling).

The classes were great. Personally I just loved taking Sue's clipboard class. It was so fun AND I've already used it. Twice! We had a great classroom on the first floor, overlooking 'that view', with huge Georgian sash windows (read "LOADS of light"!). My journaling with chutney class went well too (which is good, as it was the first time I'd taught it). I've received 3 verses of iambic pentameter from ladies who took that class this week, one of which I will again post later cos I luuuurved it. And my other class, 'Glamour Girl', was fun...you've never seen so many people punching 1" circles in all your born days - LOL

Here's a couple of the other classes too. These ickle photos just never do them justice.

I shall also post challenge winners entries later as well (grief, I'm going to be blogging till kindom come at this rate).

How funny is THIS!?

My fingers idly tapped out www.amazon.co.uk today to hunt for a book I've been wanting on scrapbook design (thinking in the back of my mind to get my mum involved in purchasing books for herself...her passion...and then wait for the inevitable, "Oh, I'll buy that one for you."

Oh WHAT?!! Give me a break. At least I'm honest!).

Anyhooo...I typed 'Scrapbook Design' in the search facility, and the first book on the resulting list was this! It's a crime novel based around scrapbooking. Toooooooooo funny. This one is due to be published in June, but there are 3 others. And I quote the first couple of paragraphs of Chapter 1 of Keepsakes Crimes (ahem...):

Carmela Bertrand spun out a good fifteen inches of gold ribbon and snipped it off tidily. "This" she told the little group of scrapbookers clustered around her table, "gets added to the center panel." Heads bobbed, and eager eyes followed Carmela's hands as she punched two quick holes in the scrapbook page, then deftly threaded the ribbon through.

The ladies had been asking about wedding scrapbooks, and Carmela had come up with a layout that was easy for beginners yet elegant in appearance. Color photos of a bride and bridesmaids were alternated with squares of embossed floral paper, three down and three across, like a giant tic-tac-toe board. A diamond-shaped card, perfect for personal jottings, was positioned in the center.

How hilarious. *Chrissie makes a mental note NEVER to create that layout*

Now...back to getting my mum to buy the actual book I want...

All I can say is...

Look at that view. And the hotel we were looking at it from. Sheep (and boingy, tail-waggling newborn lambs) baaing in the morning as you woke up. Daffodils everywhere. And the little tiny town of Crickhowell just 5 minutes down the road was just happiness. Sue and I popped down there on Friday morning and we were both completely tempted to stay a lot longer...drawn in by a very evil art gallery type shop which made us spend money and had beautiful beautiful beautiful things in it that I wanted to run out of the shop with under my arm shouting, "Quick Sue...get the car!!!"

Oh. And the food. Outstanding food. Food served pleasantly and in a lovely restaurant or in the terrace room (with big squashy sofas and windows looking out on that view!)

Hotel staff...well, one of the Scrappers Unlimited team said she felt like you could put on your jammies and wander around like that for most of the evening and they wouldn't bat an eyelid. It was like staying in someone's house, it was so relaxing, and yet we were very well looked after. They were so helpful and friendly. I felt like giving them a hug at the end...they were like pals you were saying goodbye to. My bed (and I can of course only speak for myself) was the best hotel bed I've ever stayed in.

And that's just the hotel...

More later on the scrapbooking. All of that and scrapbooking for 3 days. I tell you...it was just HAPPINESS!!

Just killin' time...

While the hair dye I have on my hair takes. Just another 5 minutes...

Can't go to the Brecon Beacons Retreat looking like a badger now can we??

Oh my goodness me, I was up till 2.30 last night and I just could NOT wake up this morning at 7 when my (mobile phone) alarm went off. I woke up an hour later holding my Pebl nice and warm under the duvet with me - LOL. It had a little kip pressed to my bosom - bless. Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow...

I am starting to get excited now. Will feel a heck of a lot better once I'm in the car driving, which I hope will be in about 1 hour. So ...ooo...time to shower.

Adios!

Classes!

Well the Brecon Beacons retreat is tomorrow (and breeeeeeathe...) and both my classes are ready and I'm all excited about them. I finished work on my journaling class yesterday and thought I'd share...a bit...just a smidgen...just a tantalising morsel...

So we're going to be Journaling with Chutney. (I also do a Journaling with Doughnuts class too!). Why chutney? It's something to do with using poetry in your journaling (I can almost hear everyone clicking their mouses to shut down this blog RIGHT NOW - LOL). But believe me...by the end of this class my ladies will be writing in iambic pentameter with imagery and all sorts. We'll be playing the piano, saying words out loud in various accents, looking at Picasso drawings, knowing what 'opsimath' means, and tapping out ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM, ti-TUM on the table. We'll be reading poetry from Wordsworth to Roger McGough, talking about volcanos, and staring at photos.

It's going to be a BLAST!! (I. Love. Teaching!)

Procrastination...

is a marvellous thing. I've got tons to do for the Brecon Beacons retreat and I'm faffing about on here changing my blog template. Tum tee tum.

Okay, okay...off to pack goodie bags (you're SUCH a nag).

Once upon a time...

By Celyn. Age 3 (and a half) (written down, word for word, this morning)

"This is a story all about Father Christmas.

Father Christmas was stuck in the snow. Then a little pea came rolling, and then Father Christmas went to sleep. Then a camel was passing down the road. Then there was a zebra and the camel went and put a zebra suit on by mistake because it was a camel.

One day it was night-time. Everybody was alseep but only little girl was going out. The girl taked seven toys out of his bag. A cloth, then a bracelet and then a necklace was rolling, and it stopped on the street. A night-light was up and there was a little thing that was over there. It was a foot that was broken off and it was Humpty Dumpty's leg. He fell off the wall and broke his head off. Then his lips froze together and nearly his eyes fell off. His eyebrows just winked. His ear sank right into his forehead and then into his chin and it went right into his beard.

And then the pea did be squashed by a big enormous apple. And then a little nose just came to school and then went back again by mistake because it wasn't home time.

The end."

(So, at which point did YOU start laughing? Only 3 year olds can get away with stories that bizarre and not be hauled off by men in white coats).

The biggest buzz!

As mentioned before, Julia and I taught a Scrappers Unlimited seminar on design in Reading last weekend and we gave our delegates some challenges upon their return home.

I've just had this in from Tina who lives in Aylesbury. I'm just so chuffed! She says:

"I just wanted to thank you for a totally inspiring day on Saturday. Like so many scrappers, I was at a place where I wasn't keen to 'scraplift' other people's work, yet unable to come up with strong designs of my own.

"When I came on Saurday, I was hoping that I would come away with a few ideas to help develop my own design skills, and I have to say, the seminar more than met my expectations.

"I drove home desperate to start collating my ideas, and certain that I needed to restart the habit from my college days of keeping sketchbooks full of ideas and inspiration. Having done so, I have scrapped with more confidence and speed than ever before! No more dithering about wondering where to put things; it was just a case of choosing photos and papers and cardstock to match. I have halved my use of 'repositionable' adhesive, and stuck things down without agonising for days first. What freedom!

"I have actually made several LO's based on the things that I started to learn on Saturday. Since music has always played a hugely important part in my life, it occurred to me that album covers with their 12" format would be an ideal starting point. So I attach a LO based on an album cover for you to look at. I hope you like it!"




















When people respond to what you teach...now THAT's the biggest buzz in the WORLD!

Yey!

How cool is this drawing?

Celyn loves to play with her... whateveritscalled... drawey thingy which uses magnets to work. Anyway...Sunday morning she got up and was busy chattering away to herself in her room and she drew this. It's a crocodile.

The spiky bit at the back is its tail, then the large circle is its face (B.I.G scary eyes!). And then the bit sticking out from its face are its teeth. And apparently crocs have 6 legs (we need to work on that bit - LOL!)

We both thought it was so fab we had to get a photo of it before she pulled down the thingy at the side which wipes it.

I think she's so good at art, seeing as she's only 3 1/2 (Julia laughed at me because I say 3 1/2...but that 1/2 makes all the difference! LOL)

Proud Mummy moment (cheesy grin)

Funny moment I want to remember

You know those funny little things that happen that, if you don't write them down, get forgotten? This little story has amused me for a couple of days now so I thought I'd blog it so I can look back on it in a year...

On Monday Celyn had one of her nursery school friends come over to play at our house in the morning. However, they (Amy and her mum) arrived half an hour earlier than I thought we'd said, and I was still in my dressing gown from having taken a shower, Celyn was butt naked from taking a bath, and Danny was butt naked still IN the bath. Anyway, fine, no problem...let them in...I scoot upstairs and get Celyn dressed quickly and then myself and as soon as Celyn got downstairs with Amy she dragged her upstairs to show her her pink girly bedroom (which apparently Amy appreciated very much).

Later on Danny told me that he could hear their little conversation. "This is my bedroom. Do you like pink? And this is my mummy and daddy's bedroom. And this is the bathroom. My daddy's in here. Would you like to see him?"

Daddy is now having butt naked kittens and images of innocent 3 year olds wandering in and staring at him in all his butt nakedness flashing across his mind. "Er...no no Celyn...that's okay. Er...I'll be out in a minute. Just stay THERE" yells Daddy.

She did.

Phew!

Excellent! 10/10 for amusement factor.

Of layouts and teaching and my home town...

I've realised that I hardly ever post my scrapbooking on here...except for a couple of beginners' classes...and that's because nearly everything I do is for upcoming events (and I don't think it's fair for Scrappers Unlimited delegates to have their classes shown for all to see when they've paid good money to take the class...until the class is done and dusted, as it were). And the classes from this weekend are no exception. But I just wanted to say that I do scrapbook!!! But no one ever sees recent layouts unless they're coming to a seminar or retreat! I'll post some soon!


Anyway, Julia and I put together a design seminar for this weekend which I am so proud of! We looked at design from all sorts of sources, discussed what design was, and how it applied to scrapbooking, and then created some layouts that applied the principles. The ladies even had homework to do beforehand and challenges to do when they got home (which I shall publish if they send in their layouts as they said they would). I had some fabulous comments from the ladies at the end of the day about how much they'd learnt and how inspired they were to create their own pages, and that is what it's all about for me. I just love teaching and I get a huge thrill knowing
that people have actually learnt something and can be better at doing this hobby (or anything else I happen to be teaching!). There were some real talents at that seminar yesterday too and I hope they take all the design ideas we've given them and send off their pages to magazines and get published all over the place. That would make my day! {Pictures: Roo with her cool design inspiration collage. Julia teaching one of her classes. The lovely Lorraine and Erica from The Scrap Cafe}

Julia and I also taught two Year 5 classes and two Year 6 classes at Arborfield Junior School on Friday. Knackered! But the children really enjoyed what they were doing. I just hate that we have to do it all in such a rush to squeeze them all in. I wish I could just sit with one or two classes only for a whole day and do something that was really fantastic. They were pleased with their layouts (a 'portrait' of themselves) but I just know they're capable of more and it's a bit frustrating. Julia was on chief stamping duty, and her hands were absolutely covered in black ink by the end of each session (not to mention my stamps!!)...children are messy little beggars - LOL! But it was just great being in a class of juniors again. I love them (especially Year 6...they crack me up!).

It was fab being in Reading for a couple of days too. It's home. I just feel like I belong when I'm there. Don't get me wrong...I love living in Wales - I love our house which we could never have afforded in Berkshire, and I've made some friends here who I love very much and with whom I have a great time, and I love being able to be on the beach or in the mountains within 20 minutes. But I just 'get' people in 'my' part of Britain. I feel like I'm truly 'me' there. And I feel comfortable and enjoy knowing how to get everywhere. The seminar yesterday was in conjunction with a scrapping business called The Scrap Cafe (http://www.thescrapcafe.co.uk/). Although I only met the owners, Erica and Lorraine, in January, and didn't know them before I moved, we know mutual people and chat about them. And Julia and I were in Waitrose in Caversham on Friday evening, and I ran in to my old next door neighbour's parents and got chatting. I don't bump into people I know in the supermarket here even a quarter as much as I did at home. It doesn't reaaaaaaally matter, but it does give you that sense of belonging. History. Years and years of history.

But. I love my life here. I just want to reiterate that.

Anyway...the next seminar in Reading is on 24 June. We'll be teaching the design seminar we taught yesterday in the Cardiff area in the near future too. Exciting stuff!

We're Going UP!

I have been in Reading since Thursday till last night teaching scrapbooking with Julia and I'll chat about that on my next post, but I just had to say WOO HOOOO!! Reading yesterday drew 1-1 with Leicester which means that we are now guaranteed a place in the Premier League next season. I can't believe it!!! Sooooooo coooooool! After years of near misses on getting into the Premiership, we've finally done it. I must try and get home to see some of the games next season (if I can get a ticket!!)

How red is that nose...?

{Lesson No. 1} Ballerinas blubber when over-tired...dramatic souls that they are

Celyn had her first ballet class yesterday. Talk about beside yourself. She was absolutely desperate to get in the class. Honestly, I could have bribed her with "no ballet if..." for days (if I was so inclined, which I'm not - LOL!). There were about 12 little ballet-slipper clad girlies who all had to walk in in single file, holding their skirt out and sit on little carpet mats placed in a circle (oop sorry...'magic carpet' ... beg your pardon...). The teacher wouldn't, of course, let me go in the room to watch, nor even watch through the window...in fact she shooed me out of the building. So I scurried around the corner and pressed myself flat against a wall next to the fire door, in a Starsky & Hutch manner, and watched through there (but not for the whole lesson...I'm not THAT sad!). Celyn's face was just a delight. She was full of smiles and was just watching so intently so she could do everything right. She loved every minute of it. When she came out at the end, she asked if she could go again. "Of course love. You're going to go every week now". "No...can I go again NOW?" she asked. Desperate.

I have to say, this woman does seem a bit expensive though. £45 for 10 weeks of lessons, plus she charged £10 for the ballet slippers (all my friends seem to have paid around the £7 mark) and other exorbitant amounts of that flimsy skirt and leotard. AND £10 to 'register' her in the first place. And the lesson only lasted 45 minutes. Mmmm. Anybody out there who has a budding ballerina, let me know what you pay. I'd be interested to hear. But I think I'm being diddled a bit.

Anyway...there was obviously no way (except with the help of a black cat suit and a system of pulleys to hang from the ceiling unnoticed) I was going to get a photo of Celyn in her class, so I had to make do with pictures once she got home. But ballerinas who have been to school that afternoon as well as their first ever very very exciting ballet lesson are not happy about anything at all when it's nearly time for bed. We had tears and tantrums and dramas trying to get a photo.

My red nosed ballet dancer. Bless.

Trying to be positive...

I have a cracking headache and have not had enough sleep and I'm off to church to teach a lesson I have not had time to prepare very well (and it's on teaching lessons!!! Grief! LOL) and this hymn just came into my head. It's either that God's got a sense of humour or He's trying to teach me something!

Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning (click on the 'Words with music' button and then press play on the control panel top left to listen)

Musical Me

I have been meaning for ages to put some music on my blog, because music is such a part of 'me'. So, if you haven't got the sound up on your pooter, turn it up now and get jiggy with Will (scoot down to the bottom of the blog).

So whose idea WAS this balloon launch anyway...?

I have been so busy these last 7 or so days trying to catch up from that awful coldy thing I had and being drippy around the house (in EVERY sense of the word!) for 3 weeks. Catch up on sorting out things both organisational and class wise for Scrappers Unlimited's next retreat in the Brecon Beacons, catch up on organising and making layouts for our Design for Design seminar in Reading on 25 March (...23 people booked and only 1 space left!), plus design a layout to teach to 100 Arborfield school children the day before (and order the paper...remember to order the paper Chrissie!!!), and design a Mother's Day layout for our scrapping evening here in Pontarddulais next Wednesday. As well as clean the house, make dinners, do grocery shopping, wash and dry clothes, oh...teach at Crafty Pastimes this Saturday, prepare Sunday School lessons, get Celyn to doctors appointments, school, ballet classes...and fit in time to see Desperate Housewives! (well...I mean...a girl's got to have SOME diversion!). Honestly, I was awake at 4am last night because Celyn woke up all freaked out by the dark, and I was lying there in bed with her, giving her a cwtsh, thinking, "Mmm...I need to order that paper. Oh I must design that layout. Oh must get the paperwork sorted..." etc. My head's spinning, and not in a good way - LOL

But we did have a fantastic day last Saturday at The South Wales Crop's 12 hour 2nd birthday crop. The lunch was scrumpsheelitious and we raised £145 for the breast cancer charity. But, oh...what a saga (and a laugh). This is how you go about setting off pink balloons:

1. Spend half the morning making pretty tags to enter into a contest and place on your balloon
2. Tie the tag (and a plastic bag) onto the balloon and discover that they all fall to the floor
3. Take off made tags and just put on return information for the finders
4. In the process of swapping tags, have some ladies let go their balloons so that they float about on the ceiling for the joy of all people attending church in the hall the next day
5. Go outside and take silly photos
6. Count to 3 and let the balloons go
7. Have half the balloons get tangled up in the tree (very pretty decor, but not quite what we'd planned)
8. Shake the tree...to no avail.
9. Swipe and then throw a broom and a mop at some of the lower down balloons in an attempt to dislodge them from the tree
10. Get the mop stuck in the tree too.
11. Break out the Tena Ladys because we're all peeing ourselves laughing
12. Finally dislodge mop from tree and give up on the 16 balloons
13. Discover that 8 of the balloons manage to free themselves of their own accord during the day anyway.

I really love those ladies at our crop, and I'm really proud of the South Wales Crop too. We really are the biggest and the best!

Anyway...cracking on...more layouts to design, more phone calls to make, shepherds pie to create....

Just a quick post...

I like this quote!

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others"—Gordon B. Hinckley

Have a good Sunday everyone!

I am 14 again...

I went to St. David's Hall, Cardiff last night to see my teen idols, The Osmonds, who were appearing in concert there. Minus Donny of course, and now including Jimmy.

They were really fabulous it has to be said. Their voices are still spot on, they are polished and extremely entertaining. They all play a variety of instruments and they sing such a variety of styles of music. The Proud One, Love Me For a Reason (brought the house down), Let Me In (gorgeous song...and not a love song, as people think it is). But it's when they did their more rocky numbers that I remember why I liked them so much. Hold Her Tight, Yo Yo, stuff from The Plan, Crazy Horses had everyone up on their feet dancing, and Jay's drum solo earlier in the show was excellent too. Danny came with me and I think he was amazed how many songs I knew off by heart! Thoroughly brilliant evening really.

Alan doesn't sing with them hardly ever now because he has MS, so the oldest one performing is Wayne, who is now 54 (55 this year)! I find it really weird that they're that old. How can it possibly be that many years ago I had every single inch of my bedroom covered in their posters!? But when I see them (or Donny) I always feel exactly like I did when I was 14. Happy days.

I'm a scrapping fiend!

Two layouts in two days. WHAT is going on?

This is the second class for tonight's beginners. It's actually got several techniques in it, not least of which is the gutting at the back which will throw them into a tizzy no doubt.

The layout is of my mate Nell...the title is influenced by Just Jools blog! I was looking at this picture of Nell this morning thinking "Well, what would I call it? Something arty like, 'Woman With Car'?" and I thought, "It's Nell. It's Just Nell" and immediately thought I'd been reading Jools' blog far too often - LOL!

Now...before anyone points this out...I know I said I hate this Fusion paper (80s curtains paper), but it just goes perfectly with this photo so what's a girl to doooooooo?

PS. I've added a gorgeous daffodil at the bottom of the word 'Dewi' on the other layout. Looks luuuush. Finished it off just perfectly.

And the Bertie goes to...

Shaun!

He is so excited bless him. The most hilarious part of it was that he chose Crash as winning best picture and all of us, to a man, had picked Brokeback Mountain. So there we were...one more Oscar to be announced, Shaun was on 18 correct and Danny was on 17. "Oooh deeeeear" we were all shaking our heads and sympathising. "Shaun's going to be kicking himself that he picked Crash now. Went with his heart and not his head. He's going to have to share the prize with Danny now." Best Picture noms are announced. "And the Oscar goes to..." We wait for the inevitable. "...Crash!" Well I leapt forward in my seat, shouting "No!!" with this incredulous grin on my face. None of us could believe it! So instead of levelling with Danny, Shaun pulled clear ahead by two points. And I'll tell you...he was SO excited when he got up the next morning (the lightweight...no staying up half the night for him!) and saw Crash had won. I awoke (after 4 1/2 hours sleep) to find this email from the victor:

Please accept this e-mail as an oppotunity to gloat!!

I'd like to thank all those that were laughing their heads off (all of you) when my
nomination for best picture came in.

I see this as a victory for the guy who actually watches the movies in question (no offense Chrissie. I know you are busy with your scrapbooking!)

Cheeky swine! So £30 on an HMV gift card and the Bertie are heading to Reading. And Shaun is promising that he will definitely join us here next year to defend his title.

As for me, I came 5th. Clare and Katie were joint bottom (in Clare's words when she rang right after the ceremonies, "I suck!" LOL). Rob and Simon were 3rd and 4th, and Danny 2nd.


As for the show itself...George Clooney winning best supporting actor was fab (I didn't think he would get it, so hadn't voted for him, but was so pleased). It gave me, at the very least, an opportunity oggle his eye-candiness! Meryl Streep and Lilly Tomlin were absolutely hilarious presenting the Honarary Oscar to Robert Altman. Charlize, Charlize, Charlize...that dress was NOT good. And I was completely irritated by Reese Witherspoon. Best dress of the evening for me was Jennifer Lopez's. GORgeous. And let's hear it for Wallace & Gromit...lovely bit of Wensleydale!


Now all I've got to do is see most of the films. Ho hum.

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus - The Layout

I have another beginners' class tomorrow evening so I thought I'd scrap that picture that was screaming at me like a banshee. Simple use of paper - no embellishments - because they're very very new. The thin strips of black pick up on the black and red check on their jackets and the boy's hat, as well as the black line around the bottom of the girls' skirts. The black semi-circle with white lettering reflects the lacy hats. And I had to ask my first language Welsh speaking neighbour to make sure Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus was correct (word order being something of a mystery in Welsh!)...which it is. Deeth Dew-ee Sant Hap-iss is the pronunciation for the uninitiated - LOL

I'll blog later about the Oscars. Needless to say, I didn't win (BUT I wasn't last either).

Later.

And the winner is...

For years (years) my friend Clare and I have 'done' the Oscars. I'm a good girl, Iyam (a la My Fair Lady) but once a year we pick out the winners...put down our £5 HMV voucher...eat chips and dip...and stay up aaaaaaaall night to watch the glitz and glamour live from La La Land. Usually Clare would take the haul home, but I think once or twice I won. Mostly Clare though. Then I moved to Swansea (as a student) in 1994. I meet The Gilmours...the last 2 of the 8 children (identical twins) are well into the Oscars too and do the same 'we're LDS and we don't bet...but, go on...it's only once a year and within our family' thing. So we amalgamated Oscar betting, and now we always get together on Oscar night. Then I got married to Danny in 99...he joined the throng. And then in 04 we allowed our friend Shaun (in Reading) to join in too (as an avid movie buff)...but he never joins the partay...just throws his guesses and money onto the pile. And Rob married Katie-Jane last year...so she's in too (which is great, cos she's usually worse than I am for her picks! It's not so lonely at the bottom now - LOL!)

And it's tomorrow (is my point). Oscar Party Season is upon us.

Trouble is...I'm so boring haus frau now I never get to see the piggin' films. And my house is a tip (so I'm not even that good a haus frau - LOL!). And Simon, Rob and Katie will be arriving with chips, dip, HMV vouchers and guesses (in Rob's case, all neatly placed on forms in a scary manner) tomorrow evening. (Clare's not coming up from Reading this year).

So...my guesses (which I will update over the weekend...guesses have to be in by 9pm Sunday) are:

Best Film: Brokeback Mountain
Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Best Actress: Felicity Huffman - TransAmerica
Supporting Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardner
Best Director: Ang Lee
Animated Feature: Wallace & Gromit - Curse of the Were Rabbit
Art Direction: King Kong
Cinematography: Brokeback Mountain
Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha
Documentary Feature: March of the Penguins
Documentary Short: The Death of Kevin Carter
Editing: Munich
Foreign Film: Tsotsi - South Africa
Make Up: The Chronicles of Narnia
Music: Brokeback Mountain
Song: Travelin' Thru - TransAmerica
Short Animation: One Man Band
Short Live Action: Cashback
Sound Editing: King Kong
Sound Mixing: King Kong
Visual Effects: King Kong
Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain
Original Screenplay: Good Night & Good Luck (George Clooney & Grant Heslov)

Mmmm...not sure about one or two of them. May change a few. Big sigh.

We have also acquired a little Oscar statuette of our own that goes to the winner to display all year. He's called Bertie because he was first won by Rob in 2004, and my Danny won him last year (oh the head swelling, oh the strutting...oh, the Bertie on top of our TV all year). Perhaps he'll be mine all mine this time. But I doubt it!

Right...off to tidy.

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus!

It's just SCREEEEEEEEAMING to be scrapped now isn't it? I invaded Celyn's school yesterday and took photos of her and her classmates in all their Welsh finery. She's the gorgeous piece of scrumptiousness bottom left. They're all sooooo cute though (I of course do not include the teacher or LSA in that comment - LOL). And now it's a scrappin' I will go. If I can get past the guilt.

I just read the funniest article on UK Scrappers which honestly could have been written by me (except for the tea slurping, as tea is the dominion of my mother only in this household).

This soulmate of mine (I'll have to tell her...) explained that she had a whole day to herself...children at school, husband happily skipping off to work, and visions of wallowing in a scrapbooking bliss all day, producing 5 or 6 of the most fantastic layouts ever known to woman or dog. But before she embarked on her journey of Bazzill and glue dot delights she thought, "I’ll just have a shower" ...and now I quote her:

"I’d best clean the bathroom actually, I thought, as I wafted a towel and watched the fluff rise and fall on the side of the bath. I’ll just dry off my hair I thought. I’ll just dust my bedroom with a sock from the laundry bin, I thought, watching the dust billow up from the dressing table as a result of my wafting hairdryer… and before I knew it, it was 10.30 and I was in my underwear upstairs cleaning."

Welcome to my world sister.

And then...THEN...when you do actually have time to scrap (e.g. at a crop) your brain is so entirely fried and frazzled from all the work and organising and nurturing you've been doing for the previous month, that you sit there in a part catatonic state, chatting and shuffling paper around in front of you. But your Artbin looks good.

Anyway. My cold is (oh praise be all things Tixylix) nearly better. Current report is that the left tonsil is still slightly up but not too bad, I can breathe almost 100% through my nose again (just the odd violent sniff to clear the passages), and I'm coughing only once every half hour and it only woke me up once in the night. You have no idea how happy I am to be feeling like this. Nearly 3 weeks of it nearly sent me barking.

Perhaps I'll go and do some scrapping now I feel better. Better tidy the living room first...

It's all about attitude

Yesterday evening the antibiotics I had finally crawled into the doctor's surgery to get, started kicking in. There I was stood in my kitchen with my Mum, thinking, "It's beginning...I can actually feel myself just starting to get better. Oh hooray!" And I looked around at all the activity going on around me in that room and remarked to my Mum, "Do you know what I love? I love washing machines, and tumble driers, and dishwashers, and central heating, and antibiotics!" And she replied that these were all things she did not have when she was a young woman. They just plain didn't exist. And she's not 150 or anything!

That thought has rested with me. I began to add to the list. This week I was on the phone to my dear friend Lee who lives in Manhattan, and was trying to explain something to him. "Oh wait...I'll show you" says I...and sent forth an email with a picture of what I was talking about. Less than 30 seconds later I heard the melodic ping of the message arriving on his work computer in downtown New York. I know we sounded like old ducks sitting on a park bench, but we both marvelled that we could communicate so easily and fast with this here new fangled tech-nol-gee. But I am really grateful that I live in world where that is possible. It really is awesome (in the NON-cheesy sense of the word). All these things make my life so much more pleasant and easy.

I think it is not only good, but necessary, for happiness of soul to feel gratitude. A great man once said, "There is a great tendency for us in our prayers to ask for additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devote more of our prayers to expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much!" I think of the prayers of my 3 year old. She's grateful for such small things...her nose, the windows, her bed, The Tweenies (by name!), our house, curly hair, rain, sunshine, school...you name it. She asks for practically nothing.

So...this weekend I'm going to ponder just a little more on all that I'm grateful for. Have a good one everyone.

Love
Chrissie x

PS. If you read this, leave a comment...list 5 things you're grateful for (not including family...that's a given) :-D

I'm soooo miiiiiiiseeeeeraaaaaable (hack, hack)

I'm sooooo miserable because I feel so ill still...all my nerve endings are throbbing, my glands feel like they’ve been doing a work-out, my nose is still full of snobs (as they say here in Wales), I sound like a rancid old codger when I cough and coughing makes my brain expand and pound against my temples (I’m sure that’s medically correct...). And sleep at night is just a joke. I was up for an hour around 4am (trawling around UK Scrappers) . I just really feel like indulging in a really good cry...but it would take too much energy. So I thought I'd come and whinge in my 'journal' instead.

Stitches was great fun (apart from the 7 mile walk to and from the car park!). It is just cool to see all the new stuff and see all those other people who just 'get it' like we do! The Scrappers Unlimited gang who were there (me, Fiona, Sue and Julia) gave our vote to Scrapbook World for most hospitable stand. Apart from the lovely products, they had several men in kilts wandering around (just a delight!) and truly scrumptious tablet fudge (which I ate far too much of) and we were offered Scottish mineral water bottles when thirsty, and there was somewhere to sit (ooooooh...to sit down. WHAT a joy…and a pleasant place to get chatting to other traders too). And the lovely Stacey Panassidi of Junkitz was there doing a fab make-n-take and giving out gorgeous pink Junkitz bracelets…we like, we like! She remembered me from Bonanza which I taught at last year. That was really sweet. And she's got a great sense of humour. Well done Scrapbook World. Also got chatting with Tim Holtz after his demo, and he remembered me from Bonanza too. Get me...what a name dropper - LOL!

I also enjoyed seeing Marilyn and the other rep from All My Memories again (she let me queue-jump with her in the cafeteria! And he (I apologise profuuuuuusely…can’t remember his name which is really awful) gave me such a lovely gift when we were leaving…bless him). It is genuinely nice meeting these people though...if they're nice then they're just nice to meet. I just don't do nasty people, it doesn't matter HOW 'famous' or 'in-crowd' or talented they are. Talking of famous...appaaaaaaarently Helena Bonham-Carter was on the Scrapgenie stand just minutes before we got there...she's a scrapbooker it seems. Bit mad eh?! I wonder if they could get a Hollywood Stars Crop going - LOL!


So what did we love product-wise then? Well...we loved the new Hermafix glue sheets that are coming out. Hermafix repo little dots of glue on a 12x12 sheet...so you can easy-peasy glue a 12" length of ribbon or little teensy bits of paper cut into fonts from your Sizzix. We also loooooved (did plenty of stroking) the new colour red Artbin. Suddenly everyone on the Scrappers Unlimited team wanted one…!


As for papers, we thought these new released by Sassafrass Lass looked ych y fi in the catalogue but when we saw them in real life, we were ooing at aahing like a herd of cows.


And we absolutely loved all the new All My Memories stuff, especially the new albums and handbags (handbags I tell you! Fiona was practically dribbling).

However, I have to admit to craft-over-exposure by the end of the day…shock horror…but I was at full-on overload point and could take in no more pattern, colour or product information! How anyone went for two days is beyond me!

I cannot believe it is the night before The South Wales Crop and I have a really busy 3 days coming up and I've been sat around doing naff all most of the evening. No get up and go today. And no voice either. 'The cold' has moved through:

Stage 1. The throat from hell; on to
Stage 2. Breathing through your nose could be an issue as you have snot enough for all mankind; ...and it is now rapidly heading for
Stage 3. Full blown, cough-till-your-muscles-ache bronchitis.

And no voice. Talk about the hoarse whisperer (mwaaahaaahaaaa). I try to tell myself it's sexy, but who am I kidding?

South Wales Crop tomorrow (as mentioned), then on Sunday evening I'm picking up Sue and we're meeting Fiona at Julia's house for a little PJ party (I said we should all do each other's make-up and be really girly! LOL) and then all 4 of us are heading up to the Stitches trade show at the NEC on Monday. We get to stroke all the new products coming out...and possibly stroke Tim Holtz too, if we can get close enough (heh heh heh).

And as of this moment...I. Am. Not. ORGANISED! And, quite frankly, can't be arsed either.

It'll be fiiiiiiiiiine.

C xx

Pass the Lemsip & Toast...Happy Valentine's Day!

Danny and I went to Newport last night to have a Valentine's meal (as he teaches guitar on Tuesday nights so it couldn't be today) but I felt so bleuh by the end of it we bagged the movie we were planning to see in Cardiff and came home. On top of that, I had an IBS attack on the M4 which is NOT fun, I can tell you. Anyway, by the time I got in bed, I couldn't decide which part of my body felt worse, but I think the throat eventually won and managed to wake me up at least 5 times in the night, due to the cutting knives that were obviously scraping down my tonsils every time I swallowed. Oh joy.

So I woke up this morning feeling like poo on toast. Well, creamed scrapings of poo on toast with a garnish of cack would be a better description of how delightful I felt. All I could manage to do was moan and carry on sleeping with my mouth open because I couldn't breathe through my nose.

Poor me.

And then my lovely lovely lovely man brought me up a Lemsip (BLESS the man who invented those...they really do help me every time) and a plate of toast...the toast was resting on a serviette cut into a heart shape, and the toast itself had been cut into the letters, "I Still Do". And then he gave me this Valentine's card that he'd made...MADE I tell you. He'd torn paper! He'd stamped! He'd even...hang on to your eyelet setters...raised up the middle part on pop dots. Heavens to Betsy, if I didn't know better I'd say he was gay.

I did ask him where he'd bought the stuff to make the card and when he told me the shop, I said, "Ooo yes...they sell some srapbooking stuff don't they?" and he looked at me like I was slightly moronic and said, "Um. I don't know. I didn't go in and think, "Ooo look...that looks nice!". I bought what I needed and I left. No browsing. Effective shopping".

Men.

He's definitely not gay.

Forget big bouquets of flowers and weekends to Paris. When Danny and I were first together he brought me toast in bed then too, cut up in the words, "I Love You". "I Still Do"is all I want.

Happy Valentine's everyone.

Great Quote...Great Woman...

God never gives me more in one day than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. (Mother Teresa)

It's already 2pm and I need to do so much more with today... Better get off the computer and do it then eh?

Have a great weekend anybody out there who reads me.

Chrissie x

Sing-a-Long-a-Scrapbook!

Well, the scrapbooking evening last night was a great success...all the people who came just loved it and were practically bouncing out the doors, demanding another scrapping evening soon. But, what was even more fabulous was the free concert we were privileged to hear!

The Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir, the most successful Welsh male voice choir at competition level, practice in the school on Wednesday evenings and have a concert this Saturday...so we got a free concert of our very own. Scrapbooking along with Men of Harlech and Sweet Georgia Brown was truly memorable!

Diolch yn fawr a da iawn!!!!

Roll Up, Roll Up...

...Git your scrapbookin' 'ere. I'm teaching a beginners class tonight at Celyn's primary school and I realised it's been ages since I've taught total beginners, it's almost scary! Between the lot of them they don't own one paper trimmer, they've never even seen a brad, let alone heard of one, and Pritt Stick is de rigeur cos they won't have Hermi, that's for sure! Anyway, I created this layout of Celyn's first day at nursery school as one of the two classes and I'm quite pleased with it, even if it is fairly basic. I was yabbing to Julia on the phone doing the 'Day' part of the title and the D went wonky. Ho well! Got to go and pack up 10 kits now, write and print the handouts, and buy some munchies to keep them fed and watered.

Ciao!
Chrissie x

Not wanting to be a sadcake or anything, but...

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE!!!

Ahem. Compose yourself, compose yourself. It's just that I've been tagged. No biggie. Just my first. No sweat....

Thanks to Just Jools for the tag (inked around the edge, and with THE cutest ribbon) and such fab questions too.

What scrapbooking lines/products/etc. do you dislike?

I really don't like one of the last (pre-CHA) Basic Grey lines...Fusion (see piccie). Picture yourself in a dodgy hotel...bit tired looking, trying its best but needs a damn good interior designer to gut the place. As your eyes glance around, look either at (a) the bedspread (just the fact that it's a bedspread... but I think I'm losing the plot here...focus Chrissie, focus); or (b) the curtains. What do you see? You see that damn Fusion paper in material form. It. Is. Minging.

I also HATE peel offs. The delightsome sheer laughing joy of having a friend phone me from around the corner at last year's Stitches to tell me that she was spying on a certain 'card celebrity' (who shall remain nameless) who was in the process of buying a shedload of holographic teddybear peel offs.... THAT is the only use for the things...they are fabulous fodder for a good mock. But then peel offs aren't really a scrapbooking product anyway. Still, I had to make the point.

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?

My wedding photos because they're very lovely and they're of one of the best days of my whole life but I've taken so long to do them (done a couple of pages) that I actually don't like the paper I started out using, although the colours are perfect (is it scrapbook snobbery...because they're not 'trendy' now?). So I feel the need to redo, but then I have memories associated with the 2 pages I HAVE done and oh it's such a dilemma.

What technique do you use more than any other?

At the moment it's circles, waves, circles, curves, and oh...what the heck...circles. My Circle Scribe's never seen so much action.

Ever been published?

Yes, in The Scrapbook Magazine.

What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?

Scraps of paper. Can't be tiddled with them. I give them away to scrapping buddies who grab the carrier bags full to their chests and glance around the room in a "keep off, it's MINE" manner. It's got to be at least half a sheet of 12x12 for me to keep it.

Ever have any scrapbooking-related injuries?

Sticky-Willie-Related Irritible Bowel Syndrome Trots. I really had to watch myself at the last retreat so I didn't end up in the toilet. You think I'm joking?... Apart from that, no not really. Nearly burnt myself on a heat gun a couple of times but not anything really.

Finish the sentence "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money on....."

Well, this question suggests that I spend out on scrapbooking stash, whereas (hopefully) I actually EARN money from scrapbooking...and then I go out and buy the other stuff I need/want.

Give us your best storage or organisational ideal

What is this 'organisation' you speak of? Chuck it all in the Artbin and hope for the best, and then borrow what you can't find is usually my method of working (bad Chrissie, bad, bad, bad)

You just won a week-long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?

I'm sort of with Jools on this one...you waaaaant to say your family but the words that actually fall out in a rush from my scrappy mouth are JuliaFionaSueAmber. It wouldn't be any fun being on a scrapbooking cruise without my scrapping buddies (I could name another 10 people at least but as they are my lovely team on Scrappers Unlimited one feels that one should ask them first!). The fifth place would go to George Clooney who would be our Scrap Slave during the cruise and keep us topped up with iced drinks and delicious nibbles... Ah hang on...including me, that makes 6. Dump Clooney overboard.

After you've answered the questions, tag six of your scrapbook buddies!

Ah. Right. Six scrapping buddies who also blog. You'll have to give me a day or two...

Of Pants and Duvets and Jiggling Boobs...

This time LAST week we were in the throes of the Newbury Time Out and bless me, it's a whole week later. Where does the time go? I'm going to be an old age pensioner before I know it...

And what a fab Time Out it was. Everyone kept coming back with one particular comment (apart from the classes being great, and the food being great, and the challenges being great...). What a relaxed, chilled out, calm, peaceful retreat it was (which everyone loved). I'm telling you, the atmosphere was so laid back, it had a pillow and a duvet. Not so much swing your pants as put on your big big pants and a comfy set of of PJs.

Duvet. Talking of which...

The hotel staff, bless 'em, hid my duvet on Saturday night. After the retreat finished and we'd tidied up and packed up, most of us headed for the bar and just chatted, and laughed about Sue's comment about changing your pants (had to have been there) among other things. And one by one people either left or went to bed. Finally at about 1am Sue, Fiona and I headed upstairs. I went to go in my room and I couldn't get in...the hotel seemed to think I'd left and my key didn't work. So I had to disturb Sue and Fiona to ring down to reception for the lovely little duty manager to come up and let me in. Hooray. Finally get in the room...no duvet. Where's me bl**din' duvet, thinks I. Now I knocked once more on Sue and Fiona's room. "My duvet's disappeared." I think they took another half an hour to get to sleep because they were in gales of giggles. Beggars.

Anyway, it turns out housekeeping (bless 'em and all their cotton dusters) had put one of their own duvet covers on my duvet. Of course. As you would. Sigh. Duvet found, I finally get into bed. And then I lie there thinking, "Where's my new AMM tote bag and Basic Grey notch tool?" as you do (my pressie to me for organising the retreat). I realised they were both still sitting in a box in the corridor where we'd been sorting out all the goodies for the prize-giving. Couldn't sleep. Some pesky scrapbooking fiend would come along and nab them, evil swines. Get up again, get dressed...trot downstairs (boobs a jiggling and no shoes...I wasn't bothered about putting on either a bra or footwear...I was on a scrapbooking mission and a girl has to do what a girl has to do). I found the box (hooray) and hauled the whole thing upstairs. It's now 1.30am or more. If they had CCTV they must have thought I was barking.

Good point.