New look and new feel - now wearing my glasses all the time!Tag reads: "Finally, I had to give in to the idea of wearing glasses permanently! I’ve had these rimless ones for two years but never wore them more than for driving, lectures, theatre or other “long distance jobs”. At the beginning of the year, however, I realised that my eyes went more and more out of focus, felt tired all the time, and I was having lots of headaches. I thought I give the glasses a try and sure enough things improved quickly, which I take as proof that this was the problem. I don’t really like wearing glasses and find them irritating but I suppose there’s nothing for it but to get used to it…"Paper is Club Scrap "Framed"; fibres from "Musical Interlude"; brads and numbers from Making Memories; acetate from 7-Gypsies; peel-offs from Craft Creations.
One month on from my Ebay listings LO (see February 16) I managed to sell about half of what I had on offer - nice bit of pocket money to get some of the Club Scrap digi kits I wanted! And - space in my stash shelves. The photo shows all the packages ready to go to post.Papers are Club Scrap "Tou You With Love"; numbers from "Let me Count"; brads from Making Memories. The title letters are done with the Quickutz stencil alpha dies and inked with Ranger espresso die ink.
A good reason to take a photo of my little car: today I've had it for a year exactly! This is where it is usually parked: in our small front garden next to the driveway.Paper and cutout from Club Scrap "Road Trip"; numbers from "Freedom"; peel-offs from Craft Creations (the silver strip above the title says "Birthday" - camera can't cope very well with metallic effects); title alphas are Papermania Ornate Letters and the balloon is a Jolee's Epoxy Sticker.
This is James, the curate in Weybridge, whom I knew vaguely through my job, and also more closely since the lovely dinner we shared at Eve's a month ago... (see February 20) He was leading this month's walk for the London Goth Meetup Group of which both Eve and James are members, and so I decided to join them and see what it was like. The theme was Churches Crypts and Clerics, and James' explanations, stories and quotes he had collected on the six old churches we visited and their former clergymen were not only interesting but sometimes downright hilarious! An outing I enjoyed very much...Tag reads: "I joined the LGMG for their March Walk, which was led by Curate James whom I had recently met both through work and at Eve’s dinner. About 30 odd black dressed people following an old-style vicar figure was certainly funny, and James came up with some interesting detail on the churches we visited and the people connected to them. Everybody’s favourite was the little St Olave’s Hart Street with its strange entrance of spiked skulls and its literary connections. We saw several old small churches that you would never expect in the middle of London, and had a nice meal in the beautiful “Blackfriars Pub”, a fitting meeting point for the Churches Crypts and Clerics Walk."The paper is Club Scrap "Halloween" spiderwebs - for the Goth aspect as well as the removal of cobwebs from some very old stories; fibres from "Extra Extra"; alphas don't know (threw the packaging away...) and the two cross charms from my needlecraft stash.
Kitchen emergency: my garlic press snapped "in action", just when the garlic needed to go in of course. Sean must have heard my rather unsavoury mouthings and came to look what was wrong, went off to fetch a hammer and squeezed the garlic through with that! There's nothing like a man in the house...!Tag reads: "Panic in the kitchen! I was just about to squeeze the garlic into the pan, when there was a loud snap, and gone was the garlic press! One of the handles had clear broken off. I was probably using a lot of unsavoury language as Sean came looking for his damsel in distress, to see what was amiss. I was already envisaging pasta without garlic when he returned with various implements to try and squeeze the press by force. In the end, the hammer did the job, and we still had a nice tasting dinner – thanks to my “Hero with a Hammer”!"Background paper is from Club Scrap "Workbench"; blue paper and Hero cutout from "Mosaic Twist" and the alphas/numbers I think were with one of those kits as well. Fibres from "Painted Desert" and hammer from Jolee's Boutique.
This is the view of our house taken from the entrance of the school across the road. As you can see, we are just at the border of Chertsey town - our house is the last on the other side of the road, framed by the welcome sign, with Sean's red van just about visible as well. This view always looks lovely at this time of year because of all the daffodil bulbs around the town sign.Paper from the same Club Scrap Retreat kit I used previously. Title cutout from "Hearth + Home"; numbers from Making Memories; mini daffodils from Craft Creations.
Spring Day! The photo is of an embroidery that hangs in our passageway, part of a Four Seasons set I stitched many many years ago back in Germany. The weather was not very spring like so I had to go for the "indoors option".Paper is from Club Scrap "Retreat" paper and stickers are Provocraft Rob and Bob Studio.
While new things spring into life outside every day, my Christmas poinsettia indoors is dying. They die on me every year - I have no idea what I'm doing wrong... Somehow this balance of growing and dying reminded me of the Eastern principle of Ying and Yang which gave rise to the title and the choice of paper.Paper and alphas/numbers are Club Scrap "Art Deco"; mini poinsettia from a Wiggly Woods Christmas kit.
This is the very first camellia bloom of the year - I'm looking forward to seeing the whole bush aflame with blooms again! It is such a beautiful sight...Everything is from Club Scrap "Painted Desert" kit except for the peel-offs from Craft Creations and the brads from "County Fair" kit.
This is at my friend Emilly's house - she's the one sharing her allotment with me. We were potting some seeds to go into her greenhouse to get a headstart for planting out...Another one of those Scrapmuse garden papers, used with tags from Club Scrap "Farmer's Market"; the lollipop stick is from the "Down to Earth" kit (turned over to use for a title done with Craft Creations peel-offs); flower brads from Making Memories and a silk flower from a mixed flower bag bought 2nd hand from UKS.
Taking another walk with my friend Eve in Staines, along the River Promenade, we saw these rowers training on the Thames.All materials used are from the Club Scrap kit "Varsity" except for the medal sticker.
A very spontaneous shot - enjoying the March sunshine to put the washing out for the first time this year. I think it smells just so much fresher if it's been dried outside!Paper is Club Scrap "Kit for a Cause"; title is a Pebbles Real Life Label; and numbers are Karen Foster "Football Font". The cute little dress on the washing line is a Jolee's Boutique sticker and the sun charm was with the Wiggly Wood's Beach Texture Box; brad from Making Memories.
Here goes the last of the bulbs that managed to survive the slug attack: one hyacinth. Most of the writing is printed on the paper inlcuding the "bloom" in the title, but I added the bottom line "Spring is coming"...Paper from the same Scrapmuse gardening kit as used before; peel-offs from Craft Creations; first letter alpha from Provo Craft "Rob and Bob Studio"; mini numbers from Colorbok "Sue Dreamer".
This photo was a definite cheat - it was the 13th of March when I first discovered about the 365 photo challenge from Marianne and I loved the idea. It was lucky that for some reason I had been taking lots of photos of various things this year, even some quite everyday stuff, almost as if I had known I would need them... I had to retrace the dates from the camera dates that the computer saves in the file details - I wouldn't have been able to do that if they weren't digital! Yes, long live digicams! This photo of course was taken several days later after I got the first batch of photos printed but I wanted to scrap it for the 13th to document what was the most special thing on this day!Tag reads: "Today I saw Marianne’s album and learnt about the 365-photo challenge, and I was instantly hooked! I loved the idea of documenting my every day life for a year, and it proofed to be a jump-start back into scrapbooking!"The lovely red embossed paper came with a Scrapmuse kit a long time ago; alphas and numbers are Making Memories; peel-offs from Crafts Creations; and the 3D stickers were a birthday present from my Australian friend (can't remember the brand and forgot to write it down - not one I normally use).
A few more bulbs came up in pots - these are going to be tulips... It's always so exciting to see things growing, particularly in spring when everything is just awakening.This is very old Club Scrap paper, I think the kit was called "Botanicals". Alphas from CS "Serengeti"; number from "Asian Artisan"; peel-offs and tulip diecuts from Craft Creations.
This year we decided to also try and grow some vegetables at home - not much, mainly salad plants and herbs, beans over the arch; plus Sean wants to try something called "The Three Sisters" (maize, runner beans and squashes grown together - I will get a LO of that once he gets started). Today, we had several packs of seeds in the post which was rather exciting - it's a shame I will have to wait till May to plant them, to avoid any late frost...The paper and brads are from a garden-themed Scrapmuse kit; sticker and tag from Club Scrap "Farmer's Market"; number sticker from CS "Time + Space".
Very few of our bulbs came up this year - they had all been ravaged by the slugs! These tete-a-tete were the only daffodils we had - boohoo.The paper is Club Scrap Retreat (can't remember which year - it had flowers for all the months of the year); alphas from Making Memories; peel-offs from Craft Creations; daffodil is a Jolee's Boutique Vellum Sticker.
The title reads "Carbon Fast" but the camera couldn't quite handle the clear + gold dome stickers...Tag reads: "I got interested in the idea of Carbon Fast last year at Spring Harvest and brought back idea leaflets. This year, it was even our Diocesan Lent Programme and so we joined in! It is harder than you think to come up with 40 things to do for a day to save energy. But I discovered that many things we habitually do with appliances are not at all that difficult to do without – we are all much too dependent on our electrical gadgets…Some days we took ideas from the leaflet – like taking out one of the bulbs in a room and have it slightly darker. The photo is of our bedroom lamps – there are two of these wall-mounted sets. Actually, I never put that bulb back in – it’s way bright enough for a bedroom…"Papers are Club Scrap "Time + Space"; miniature bulb string from Dress It Up; 3D lamps from Jolee's by You; and those dome stickers from Paper Mania.
Another Eve connection: she gave me the tip on "Slankets" - basically a huge fleece blanket that you can wear like a "coat the wrong way around" to keep warm while laying on the sofa with your hands free for a book or a cup of tea - but it's also useful to wear the "wrong wrong way" around (i.e. just like a coat) to sit on the computer... Best buy of the year for me!!!Papers are Club Scrap "Tiny Treasures" and plain TSBH cardboard; number from "Let me count the ways"; brads from Making Memories.
Eve and I had been discussing this "wedding cake" for weeks, if not months, before the event - and when I finally saw the photo of the beautiful setting in which it was presented I couldn't resist making it my photo-of-the-day.Tag reads: "Eve made this fantastic “The Nightmare before Christmas” wedding cake for the handfasting of her Goth friends Odette and Declan (alias Min + Dex). The happy event took place in Whitby (you can see the beach out of the window in the photo!), with ceremony in the old Abbey, and a very Victorian party in this “Haunted House”."
Paper is Club Scrap "Halloween"; fibres from "Musical Interlude"; peel-offs from Craft Creations; haunted house sticker from Jolee's Boutique; and I-kan-dee Shaker Bubbles "Halloween".
My friend Eve was off work for several weeks in March due to stress and high blood pressure, so I visited more often than normal and one nice and sunny day we had a stroll around the Farmer's Market.Papers from Club Scrap kits "Farmer's Market" and "Retreat Home Town"; sticker from "Farmer's Market.
A very nice surprise today was an email from Sophie - she came to us as a "house daughter" from Germany a couple of summers ago, to improve her English for her A-levels, and again to celebrate Christmas and New Year with us. Tag reads": It was great to hear again from Sophie – after almost a year! She had been busy with her studies but now she has finished her A-levels (and passed in English!) and started apprenticeship in the trade of hearing aids, living away from home for the first time in her life. Now we are back in contact via email – not quite the same flair as the letters of my youth, but much more practical for keeping in touch!!!"Papers and fibres are Club Scrap "Written Word"; alphas from "DIY"; pen sticker from K+CO Embossed Stickers "Antique Images"; number from a Scrapgoods kit.
Finally - the day the much talked about diet started! The photo shows the cookbook that explains it all, along with some of the main elements I will be using to create "taste" in the food now that I can't use any pestos, sauces, dressings etc that my cooking has depended on over the last years.
Tag reads: "After battling with the various health problems possibly caused by candida for years, I finally decided to try out an anti-yeast diet. It’s long term (at least a year), strict (or you may as well not bother) and complicated (no sugar or substitutes, no yeast, no refined carbs and no stimulants) – but of course sugar and yeast in some form are in many things. It means practically cooking and making everything from scratch. Even ketchup, mayo, hummus, bread etc… It takes a lot of time and thought, good planning and a lot of resolve! --
Lent seemed the perfect time to start and after clearing all potential culprits out of the cupboard (Eve was a willing recipient), today was the day I started!"Papers, fibres and acetate are from Club Scrap "Science"; brads from "County Fair"; peel-offs from Craft Creations; "corn crisps" from Jolees for You.
When we first moved into this house four years ago, Sean decided to completely redo the electric wiring and the heating system, and then redecorate the rooms. He got as far as finishing the living room and master bedroom (both in the front of the house), then started at the second bedroom which is to be his work room when finished. He got the heating pipes under the floor but the radiator never went back on and nothing else got done - instead he lumped it full of "stuff" - DIY things, electronic things, boxes, dust sheets... Since then - which was about 3 years ago - nothing has changed. Now he finally promised to finish the room this year - I thought I take a "BEFORE" picture - let's see how long until the "AFTER" one!Paper is from Club Scrap "Workbench"; alphas from Making Memory "Alpha Confetti"; peel-offs from Craft Creations; diecuts from MME.
Back at the allotment, the first of our winter sown crops were showing: garlic and onions. Nice to see something coming into life!Paper and cutouts from Club Scrap "Salsa"; chipboard from "Let me count the ways".
It was at the beginning of March that I finally felt ready to pick up scrapbooking again and this was my first LO after almost a year of non-crafting. It felt decidedly odd at first, but I was happy with the result and soon got into it as fervently as ever. The LO shows Sean paddling in the Salmon Steps at the river Barle during a canoeing club trip several years ago when he had to rescue another paddler and his belongings out of this weir.Papers and alphas used on this page are the same as used on the LO shown: Club scrap "Weather" and "Salsa"; plus 3D stickers from Jolee's Boutique.
As our church choir was finally disbanded for lack of a Musical Director to practise with us, this was our last engagement, singing for a wedding. The picture shows me with our former Musical Director Rosemary in our choir robes.Everything is from Club Scrap "Musical Interlude" except for peel-offs from Craft Creations and a musical charm from my stash.
This was a bit scary (although by everything I'd learnt about these things in the past, I knew it was harmless...). I have had this lump on my throat for many years and it has grown over this time only minimally but by now is quite visible. Tag reads:" "This lump on my throat has been in existence for many years but it was only now my doctor suggested I have it removed as “unsightly”. Off he sent me to a colleague in Shepperton who runs the “Lumps + Bumps” clinic. Luckily for me, Dr Bellamy agreed with me that “if you don’t need a procedure, don’t have it done!” And so it all came to nothing and I continue living with my harmless sebaceous cyst."Yellow paper is Club Scrap "Down to Earth"; shiny paper and stickers from "Reflections"; beadchain from "Salsa"; mini number stickers from Sue Dreamer.
This was sheer desperation: with the set date for the start of my diet coming up pretty soon, I bought myself a luxury box of my favourite pralines. I don't have much of a sweet tooth but the various types of Ferrero Rochers are irresistable...Paper is Club Scrap "Chocolate Shoppe" (finally a page that does the paper justice!); choc mousse from Jolees by You; alpha peel-offs from Craft Creations.
For a long time, I'd been wanting some sort of garden furniture to be able to sit outside for meals in summer... Although still really very cold, somebody on Freecycle decided to clear out their shed, and so - in the middle of winter, really - we came by a set of garden seats for free: extendable table with umbrella; 2 chairs; 2 loungers; 2 low tables that can also function as seats. cushions and umbrella were in the shed when I took the photo...Paper is from a garden-themed Scrapmuse kit; mini flowers are Jolee by You; alphas from Club Scrap "Surf's Up"; and title from Phrase Cafe.
Pancake Day ("Shrove Tuesday") in the Hudson household. All to do with this diet I was embarking on, I had to try out how to make pancakes myself... I used to buy them in the shop because I always found English style ones difficult to make - they are exactly the thickness that needs cooking from both sides but fall apart if you try handling them with a utensil! So, finally Sean got to teach me how to do the pan-flip. Tag reads: "We usually have pancakes on Pancake Day - what made it a remarkable event this time was not the date but the fact that with my upcoming diet I can't have shop-bought pancakes anymore - I will have to make them myself. BUT - I'd never before made English-style pancakes (the type that you flip over in the pan...) before, so I decided to try this out, requiring a lesson from Sean! After some initial problems with the oil beading in the non-stick pan and the heaviness of the buckwheat batter (I can't have white flour, either), he got things going, while really showing off doing flips and double flips halfway to the ceiling. Then it was my turn - the first ones were decidedly frilly at the edges and folded over or landed on the edge of the pan, breaking apart. But all in all, only one ended up in the dog (off the floor!) and we had sufficient not only to eat but also to freeze a batch - apparently, I'd been a bit optimistic with the amount of batter (or pessimistic, depending on how you look at it...). Plus: I had a thoroughly good time cooking tonight!"Papers from Club Scrap kits "Sparkle" and "Textiles and Notions"; alphas are CS, too, but can't remember which kit; 3D stickers from Jolee's Boutique "Chef" and Provocraft Standouts "Sweet as Pie". This was a real fun LO to do...
After the flooding earlier in February, the council finally decided to do something about the drains in our road - so for several days we had traffic queues back past our house because, being a major A-road, it couldn't cope with the needle's eye created by the roadworks (one side of the road was closed).Paper and cutout from Club Scrap kit "Road Works"; brads from "Wheels + Sprocket"; alphas from K+Co Clearly Yours "Dome Random". Those alphas were fun - I had to use them in this manner to hide some horrible writing I had tried out instead...
Just in case you find the title a bit difficult to figure out - part of it comes from the print on the paper, it reads: "Bananas Gone Pear-Shaped". The reason for this LO is this: for years - ever since I've known him - Sean's favourite fruit had been bananas. He would have one every morning and one for lunch time, too, and be really upset if I forgot to keep the supply up... Then all of a sudden he told me he didn't want to eat bananas anymore because they "bung him up"... Paper is from Club Scrap kit "Fruit and Spices"; sticker alphas from Making Memories and MAMBI, and using an American Crafts "Slick Writer" on the photo.
New look and new feel - now wearing my glasses all the time!
