Detailed and simplicity

Detailed
I've been working on a page today with quite a lot of fiddly bits. The Counterfeit Kit challenge this time is to use some old unloved stash, something that you have had a long long while but has gone out of favour with you.
I knew exactly what I had to use EYELETS goodness they became a no no with me ages ago as I just didn't seem to be able to use them without either squashing the front too much or not getting the shank to bend over.
Do you know in this layout I've used (let me go and count them) 15 of them and not one has misbehaved.

I also brought out of retirement my Silent Setter that I found just the other day.

the tags I made from the example that Jemma (Jimjams) gave thanks Jemma I really like these.


Simplicity
Today for Learn something new we have been encouraged to do our page in a simple way. I was quite pleased to see that the patterned paper I had put in for today was one that had quite a bit of detail already printed on it so a simple page would still look complete.



and the story....

I love my walk down the back lane to Asda, I've said that more than once, but I truly do get so much out of the pleasure of seeing what is around.
I had eaten lunch before I decided to go out (mainly because I was working on that first page) so desert would be the blackberries I could pick and eat as I walked along. I thought as I reached for the first one 'I must avoid the stinging nettles' oops too late I got stung. Always the scrapbooker/blogger I just had to get a photo of my leg too near to the dreaded weed lol

I love the blue blue colour of the sky at this time of the year. It's a different blue to spring or summer, a deeper blue


I also had a little play with arranging leaves that were beginning to turn. Copying Rinda's idea Thanks Rinda



Today I am grateful for the continuing fine weather, for blue skies and changing leaves

Iced up

Good evening my blog friends. Today I'll tell you a tale of woe, a tale of procrastination that led to a long long job.
I have been putting off defrosting my freezer for so long, but as it had got to the stage that the ice was forming in the fridge part I knew that I couldn't put it off any longer.
Luckily I have a large chest freezer in the garage so was able to put everything in bags and pop them in that one.
I kept out all the little bits of food servings and put them all into a saucepan with some extra vegetables and that made a great soup, never to be repeated but I have enough for another two days' lunches.

I knew that ice was forming in the fridge but hadn't realised how badly



This lump had formed itself around a jar of home made mincemeat that didn't get used last Christmas.

So, what is my lesson for today? Don't leave it so long next time. lol



Hopefully now it will work far more efficiently

I'm going to try and make Mondays my day to tackle these sort of jobs that I know need to be done but just push to one side.

I did manage to do the weekly challenge from UKS today too so not all bad news

We had a sketch to use and I've kept very close to it this time
we were to use several shades of pink
all scraps
and lots of bling



Looking at the layouts I've done recently you wouldn't think that as a child and young mother too I hated pink and wouldn't dress Helen in it. I chose turquoise instead and then people would say "what a lovely little boy" grrrrrrr. Now days I love pink and wear it quite a bit.

I am thankful for finally tackling the freezer
and for still having scrapping time.

Sunday Best

Sunday is a day that I like to dress nicely, I like to honour the Lord by being at my best. I choose carefully from my extensive overflowing wardrobe.
Today I've chosen to wear a slate blue grey skirt that has a red belt and buckle and I have topped this with a red jumper and blue cardigan. I feel good. I feel special. I feel loved.



Walking back from church, thinking about the morning I was deep in thought and looking down, suddenly this feather caught my eye. It was dressed in dewdrops but although it looked spectacular it wasn't where it should be. Is there a lesson there for me?



The feather is my page for LSN because we are told so often to look up and see what is around you see the beauty of nature but occasionally it is good to look down too.



today I am thankful and very very grateful that the Lord is gentle with us leading us the way we should go. He doesn't condemn but he does convict. Help me Lord to remember to come to you often

I want to end this diary entry with a poem by Susan Lenzkes

It's all right, question, pain and stabbing anger

Can be poured out to the Infinite One

And He will not be damaged.

Our wounded ragings will be lost in Him

And we will be found

For we beat on His chest

From within the circle of His arms.

Saturday Scrapping

An all day crop, the meeting of lady who love to scrap. Kits organised, photos printed, all set for a good day.
First things first, set up the room, once that is done nip to the shop for my Saturday crop treat Pecan Plait.

As I had made up kits I found that I was scrapping much quicker than usual, and I managed to get three pages done. None of them how I thought they would be mainly because we were given a sheet of sketches and I just had to try some of them. I was not disappointed I felt happy with all I had done.

This first one is for a challenge which my team will be setting in two weeks time. (so I'm not giving any details away



My cats often feature on my pages so here is Mittens enjoying her warm 'bed'


the final one was the photo of me I took the other day and then used Paintshop Pro to enhance my appearance, not by much but it did seem to take years off my face.
the challenge here was to use this colour palette


old rub ons and stamps that have been neglected.



Having been out all day not getting home till 5.00 pm I then had to quickly feed the cats and grab the song sheet, dash up to the church to get the multimedia ready for Sunday. It was also our harvest supper which started at 6.00 pm so it was a bit touch and go that I would get it all done in time.
I decided as soon as the meal was over to come home, for one thing I wasn't feeling too good, just cold I think, still soon warmed up with my pjs on.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

I had forgotten that Saturdays were for learning new skills, but as I had been watching Thinking Inking on and off most of the week I decided to hone a few of the skills I had learnt.


My as seen for Saturday has to be a church full of happy people

Learn something new every day - Changing seasons

There is a nip in the air now and the mornings are much darker when I awake. But there was a pleasant feel to the day.
The leaves are beginning to turn colour in the lane and the whitebeam is dropping its leaves. It was such a temptation for Rudi to just roll in the crisp crunch of the drying foliage. Although he is getting on in years, 15 now and an old man, he still has his moments.
My page for today's lesson just has to be Rudi I didn't realise he still had some playfulness in him.



I have also been busy tidying up my tables, goodness me I didn't think it would take me all day but I did have rather a lot of stash and rubbish on them and was forever pushing things to the edge of my cutting board so that I could work on a page. Now look at it.



The question is how long before it is as bad as before? I am just not a tidy crafter.

I've just realised I haven't put my 'as seen' pictures up since the 11th so here is Wednesday's this vintage bus outside Asda



Thursday's was my forgotten to use camera (the only picture I took that day apart for the page for LSN



and today's just has to be Mittens balancing on the top of the conservatory door. The little minxes get up onto the conservatory roof and make quite a racket I think then they forget that the easiest way down is the way they got up, fence, garage, roof.



today I am grateful for the effort I put in to clear my tables
for finding things I had forgotten all about
for the weather still being pleasant

Regrets I have a few

One regret happened today. Let me set the scene

It's Thursday, that means the sale at the church, always a busy time and I'm usually very tired afterwards and all I want to do is go home, have some lunch, and have a snooze in my chair.

OK today has to be different, we still have the sale, it is still busy, but I have to go into town straight afterwards, I need ink for my printer see yesterday's post

I get into town with this one thing to get and once I got it I would have lunch in one of the cafes I was hungry by this time and really wanting something a bit more than just a snack.
As I walked through I discovered that they have a farmers market there every Thursday, some yummy food for sale but I don't want to try any because I want a proper meal. So I hurry by just glancing at the stalls. I do have a proper meal and then catch the bus back home.
When I come to thinking about what I did today I realised far too late I'VE TAKEN NOT A SINGLE PHOTO which is a shame because it would have been perfect for my 'As Seen' especially the colourful cauliflowers on the vegetable stall


Source photo

and here is my page



Today I am thankful that I do not feel tired
That I got my ink and my printer is working fine
That I have managed to get two kits made up with photos ready for Saturday's crop

My lesson for today

I'm on a scrapping crop on Saturday and soon will be going to a weekend retreat two in fact two weeks running so have to get lots of kits and bit up together. The first retreat I have to travel by train so really do need to be well organised as obviously I can't carry too much stash with me.
I've made one kit up complete with a photo and was trying to print off some more photos but all I was getting was red prints. My printer says that the cyan is low, but not that it is out, and of course that is the one cartridge I don't have. Very frustrating.
I will have to nip into town after the sale tomorrow and get one. Just hope that is the reason and that nothing has gone wrong with the printer.

Last year one of my entries for LSN was that I have way too much stash, and yes I still have way to much stash. But without a photo I just can't use any of it

My lesson today just has to be I'm stuck without being able to print my own photos. I know that I could get them done at the shop but they only print 6x4 or 7x5 and as I very seldom use those sizes and if I do I never use the whole of the photo which makes it imperative that I get my printer working properly.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

today I am grateful for having a printer and a computer to play withuse for having lots and lots and lots of lovely stash
for a comfortable home and three cats to keep me company
for books to read for plenty of variety of food to eat
for nice clothes to wear
for two eyes that see two ears that hear two legs that get me around and two arms and hands that enable me to create nice thing.
I have so much to be thankful for that the niggles are as nothing.


Goodness that has put everything back into perspective
I pray that you may find the blessing in your life today
see you tomorrow

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I did do a page for today, I thought if the lesson is have spare inks then I need to do a page without a photo so here it is

LSN Day 11 Layout

here is my page for day 11 of Learn something new,



We are learning what sort of photos we take and how we take them. I do tend to either take close up of flowers and plant life of try to get pictures of myself. I think living on my own (except for the cats, but they can't take my photo) I have no one else to take my picture. The most difficult thing about it is not knowing how the photo is composed until it is taken so lots of pictures later I may have one I can call half decent. Still as you can see from the above layout I have fun in the trying.

This morning, after I had finished the page, I had a little play with one of the photos and here is what I came up with



softening my face to lessen the wrinkles and harsh skin tones and blurring the background brings me into sharper focus so that the backdrop is less obtrusive.

Scavenger Hunt

Looking through my old Christmas cards, (I'm trying to find ones with a non porous shiny backs) I came across this one sent by a scrapping friend and just had to add it to my list of finds


I've now found my final item the hammock lol

A mish mash of things

Today I had my hair done, dyed, cut and blow dried. I love going the hairdressers, I love the company and the chatter and best of all, while I am waiting for my colour to take, I love reading Good housekeeping and Good homes because there is always some interesting colour combo or design or just some quirky thing that catches my eye. Today was no exception and for my 'As Seen' I just had to go with these two finds



Which reminds me I didn't do my 'As seen' yesterday. I actually didn't go out yesterday and therefore didn't take many photos but I did find a tutorial that I tried out, (more than one in fact) but I rather like these little paperclip embellishments and I adapted them and put my own twist on them.




Coming back to today, after the hairdressers I caught the bus into town and another one out to Hobby Craft, and had a very pleasant afternoon browsing and buying.

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I did the weekly challenge yesterday, well I tweaked it this morning before going out. This is the lovely photo that my dear Son in Law sent me of my two grandsons actually sitting down together with a 'nice' smile on their faces and allowing their Daddy to take their picture.



I also managed to do a layout yesterday for day 10 of Learn Something new, but I really struggled with this one. I don't want any gaps in my album so had to come up with something.



Not done today's yet but I have plenty of photos to make something with

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Today I am thankful for a lovely afternoon, for the weather still being pleasant and for being able to afford to indulge my hobby when I want to.

10 on the 10th

Hi Blog friends I have at last got round to doing my 10 on the 10th a challenge set my Shimelle which started some time ago. I haven't done this for a while but here goes I will try to list 10 things I've learnt from watching tutorials on UTube

1. From Glitter Girl I have learnt to balance my page with a triangle design
2. To make sure that if I put an embellishment in one place to at least copy the colour in other places
3. How to use Distress inks to better advantage (still learning more in that line)
4. How to make my own glimmer mist using the perfect pearls which I have had for some considerable time.
5. Making a cluster of embellishments off the page and only adding it when nearly complete (again from Glitter Girl)
6. To use sewing on my pages more and to better use
7. Using alcohol ink on more than just bits of metal
8. how to make my own washi tape
9. how to make stick pin flags
10. how to make better use paper clips

The first picture is a good example of triangular placements. and also 3 spots of orange
No. 5 this little cluster was put together then added to the page and the washi tape place afterwards
No 6 I did zigzag stitching on the machine then went over it with orange embroidery thread using the existing holes
Just had a little play with the alcohol inks made my own felt pad and used a spare piece of photo paper
for the washi tape I stamped on gold tissue paper cut it into strips and sprayed repositional glue on the back
the stick pins are made with quilting pins and a little bit of paper tape, I've have done some using ribbons in the same way
the paperclips I made from an example on The Counterfeit Kit challenge blog

Learn Something New

Today we are thinking of how we learn from others. Listening to what they say, sharing our concern and love. I've learn so much over the years how a group of people from different backgrounds can be family. Today looking around the church before the service started, listening to the buzz of conversation. I just felt the love that was there. I took this photo




I wish I had taken a more panoramic view as this was only half of the building. By the time we started all the seats were full

So here is my page for LSN today.



Lord I want to thank you for the love that we share. For how you have placed us in family given us folk who care for us and will pray for us when things are hard and rejoice with us when things are going well.

A Day to Play - LSNED

I originally made the title of this post A Day to Scrap but that made it sound as if I hadn't enjoyed it at all which is far from the truth.
I started this morning by doing yesterday's LSNED layout and I went with my new breakfast discovery.



Then I found today's prompt and I've been having fun with distress inks and perfect pearl. I have had the perfect pearl for ages and never used it till today.

I've enjoyed watching the videos with techniques on how to use them, not sure how much I have remembered but it has been a fun day of learning, even if my attempts leave much to be desired.

After a break and a bit of fresh air (I had to go up to the church to get the multimedia ready for tomorrow), I did the monthly challenge from UKScrappers using my Counterfeit kit for this month. The criteria Work Rest and/or Play. I had these photos of Rudi that I was longing to make a page with so Rest it is



and on the tag is some of the distress play for today
By the way the first use of some of those threads I put in my kit was to make Bakers Twine to wrap round the tag (so sorry no sewing yet) ;D



My last page for today is my LSN playing with distress inks

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On my way home from my errand I caught up with a lady I often see walking her dog and we stopped to chat. Suddenly she said with a giggle I've come out in odd shoes and so she had. Bless her she let me take a photo of them and this, of course, just has to be my 'As seen' for today



I've just realised I forgot to put my picture for yesterday. It is from a quilting magazine, the idea being to quilt different things between two pieces of material and I feel I want to try that sometime.



Today I am grateful for learning new techniques
for the sunshine
for my day of play

Counterfeit Kit challenge - My September kit

Goodness I don't think I have ever struggled to counterfeit a kit so much as I did this one.
It is a kit from Birds of a Feather it looks good but a bit small to see exactly what the papers are like.
So this month I've really done my own thing and put together Glorious Autumn



and added lots of embellishments



and a few more bits

We will see where I go with this kit, certainly enough there for more than a month.

LSNED

First of all here is my page for thankfulness



The title sticker is a downloadable freebie from Scrapdolly
and the cats stamp is a giveaway from Rinda Thank you Rinda I love this stamp so perfect for my cat layouts

Today we are supposed to be thinking about our in between times, time when we are travelling, going from one place to another. I have found this so difficult to sort out so instead I am going with two things that have been a little different today.
For my breakfast every morning I like to vary it, sometimes having cereal and sometimes bacon and egg, or mushrooms on crumpets. Today I went a little bit different and discovered another breakfast that I will surely do again.
Take an English muffin slice in half and lightly toast
Dry fry a lean rasher of bacon and two mushrooms (this is just for one person)
when they are practically cooked add a tablespoon of tinned chopped tomatoes (don't mix)and heat through, spread the tomato onto the muffin halves put the mushrooms on top and the bacon to one side.



this was absolutely delicious and just thinking about it now is making my mouth water.

This afternoon I decided to go into town, I did need some paper clips, the coloured ones and that was my excuse for going, as if I needed an excuse.
I just missed the bus at my usual stop so decided to walk up the hill and catch the bus at the top, (a bit of exercise is good for one) this meant I caught a different bus than usual and get off at a stop nearer to the shops. Walking through I arrive at Paperchase, one of my favourite browsing/shopping shops. They have a new line of yummy stationery called Time Flies, somehow I managed to spend money as well as time in there today.



I bought a few other bits and pieces elsewhere, then onto my favourite haberdashery shop for ribbon & buttons



a very pleasant afternoon indeed

today I am grateful for the lovely Indian summer we are having
for finding nice things to buy
and finishing the day with a takeaway curry (yummy) and no cooking