trimmingthesails

How do you do it ...

... those of you who live in regularly warm and sunny climes? Anything creative, I mean? Here, we are in full throttle of the most glorious summer weather in memory and all I want to do is be outside. And my computer is inside. You see my dilemma ... Still, as the golden day slipped away into dark, I put together another page for Ali Edwards' 31 Things. One of the most interesting aspects of this class, with Ali's mantra of Tell me more, is that as soon as a topic provokes the reaction "I really don't want to write on this", or "I haven't got anything much to say", it's followed hot foot by a sweeping flood of thoughts and memories, resistances and realizations - and at least another whole page which could be written here. But it will need to be cold and wet and windy first. :)


So please share your secrets to scrapping in the sun! At this rate, if we have a good summer, my record of it may be pitifully thin ... :).

Getting Girly with Gingham

It must be the sight of all those fresh-faced little ones skipping along the pavement holding onto a parental hand these bright warm mornings. As our summer has suddenly and wonderfully arrived (at least for a week or two), so have the ankle socks, shorts and school summer dresses - and my thoughts have been turning to gingham. There's a quartet of them here for you, in a bunch of different formats. Perhaps not the usual pinks and blues, but hopefully you'll find something useful in them - I know of at least one regular reader with a fondness for grey gingham :).


If you're a digi-lover, you'll find below a zipped file of four 12x12 inch jpg. files for Photoshop and Elements. And if you'd just like a little cluster to print out, four sections to a single page (as above) of A4, 8.5x11, or 8x10 just for cards, tags, or for punching shapes for your scrapbooking pages, please just help yourself to the appropriate pdf.

Downloads here:

Sheetof4Ginghams8x10pdf

SheetOf4Ginghams8.5x11pdf

SheetOf4GinghamsA4pdf

4GinghamsAlexa12x12jpgs

Oh, and if there's another colourway you'd like a gingham in, let me know below! As the temperatures climb here to a delicious 28C (82F), I am wishing you a warm and happy weekend. See you Monday?

It's all relative ...

"Hello, Grandma" said the three-and-a-half year old voice on the far end of the phone line, over a thousand miles away. "Are you busy?"
"Never too busy to talk to you, little one", I said, dropping onto the sofa and signalling to Himself to come and join me. "And what are you doing today?
Tenses are a little difficult when you're learning two languages at once. "Don't know", came the doubtful reply.
Himself tried to help out. "Is Daddy going to put Kipper on the computer for you?" The DVD we'd given him was a firm favourite.
"No", he said, with surprise in his voice. "It's not Sunday". He gets to watch a story from it once a week.
"Oh", I said casually. "Well, it's Sunday here."
Pause. I could hear him thinking. "Yes", he replied finally. "But you're a long way away".
There's no arguing with that. He clearly has a grasp of at least part of Einstein's theory of time and space. One of these days, I'll make a scrapbook page. But I thought I'd better get it down quick, before it disappears into a black hole ... :).

Writing it down ...

... certainly makes it swim sharply into focus! If you'd asked me about my mornings before today, you'd have heard words like rushed, and fitting it all in. There might even have been the odd pushed from pillar to post with a grimace and a roll of the eyes. But on sitting down and musing on Ali Edward's prompt in her 31 Things class, I realise it's quite orderly and peaceful in comparison to the years of young children or teenagers at home. So I am now officially ceasing to whinge, appreciating what I have, and taking my metaphorical hat off to all of you whose mornings are almost certainly more frenetic than my own. Which makes me a little embarrassed to actually let you in on it ...

Clearly, most of the imagined hurry-hurry-hurry is all in my head (apart from the days when there is actually a little crisis): a fact on which I will be pondering tomorrow morning! But for today, may your cereal be unsoggy, your toast unblackened and may your cup of tea or coffee be hot (old Irish blessing). :)

 

 

Unfolding ...

... as we write: it strikes me afresh every time. How beginning seems hard, and yet it's difficult to stop. How there's a decision to write about one thing, and yet another unfolds. Jewellery? I thought, on reading Ali's first prompt for her 31 Things class. I've got nothing to say about that; I'll never fill the space. This is your cue to smile knowingly. :)

Of course, I did - and could have written more. There's the story of wedding ring number one which slipped off my finger into the sea and how, on diving down through the cloudy water in a desperate and seemingly futile attempt to find it, my fingers closed round it first time. Or how, on ripping apart the old kitchen, the sliver of copper piping we spied behind the sink unit turned out to be long-lost wedding ring number two. And that's before we begin the tale of the tiny opal lost in a gravel drive ... Start with one small memory, and a chain of them unfolds like gems on a bracelet, each a little reflection of some facet of ourselves. I'm glad I have not lost those: I think I might enjoy this class!

And perhaps my remembering is unfolding some of your own stories and memories too?

In the post ...

... or at least in this blog post, I have a little something for those of you who have been enjoying, as I have, another of Julie's inspiring Going Postal weeks. Here's my contribution to blog happy mail. :)

I've prepared a 'blank' stamp, without the photo above, for those of you might like a digital version into which you could drop your own photo, change the country, type of stamp etc.


In the zipped flle below, you'll find the layered psd. file, a TOU file and, in case you'd like a little bit of help, a pdf. of instructions:


You can download the zipped file here:
Download AlexaStamp

A couple of postmarks might be a nice addition, and there are some great free photoshop brushes in these sites:

• photoshop free brushes
• Libertiny's passport stamp brushes
• redheadstock deviant art postage brushes

Hoping you have some fun with it, and will be happily stamping all over the place; if you do, please do let me know so I can come and admire! Warm regards to you all on a chilly May day - unbelieveably, it was only 1.9C this morning and it snowed. Yep, I know. Welcome to the Great British Summer ...

Returning ...

... after a break always feels a little strange, like first opening the door to home after a holiday: curiously quiet but hopefully not for long. Hello! and thank-you for popping in :). Himself is recovering now and was very touched by your messages wishing him well ... Determined though I am to contribute at some point to Julie's wonderful Month in Numbers, in the meantime, as a quick catch-up, will A Dozen Days In Digits do?

• almost 800 miles driven, 4 hospitals visited for 3 poorly loved ones (now in various stages of recovery), and 8 medical appointments attended (as a companion). Phew!
• 3 glorious pieces of post plopped onto the doormat (for more, see below). Wow!
• 15 pounds sterling to replace the work parking permit which I carefully remembered to take off the window of my car when it went for a service, but subsequently forgot to remove from the hire car. Bummer!
• 4 online classes in which I enrolled some time ago, and which I realise now are happening at more or less the same time. Arrgh!
• 5 days of Ali Edward's A Week in The Life which are still languishing in a folder on my desktop and may well never come to state of legible fruition. Sigh!

In the midst of all this, covering much greater distances than I was, a glorious trio of creative kindness was winging its way: a World Book Night present from Jemma at Just JimJams, and very happy mail art from Lisa of Recklinghausen Musings and from Amy who is Over At Our Place, who are taking part in Ginger's inventive Mail Art Exchange. Like a peek?

See that intriguing card full of printed pattern top right? Lisa's stunning work gently unwound to reveal a length of delicately cut and threaded butterflies which is taller than me, and which you can see fluttering down the unit in my workroom in the long thin photo left. They're just lovely! As is the thoughfully-put-together envelope: dance being my word of the year, and Ich werde es nicht vergessen (I will not forget) being so very appropriate for a scrapbooker with family in Germany. And Amy's simply elegant white butterfly is proudly gracing my noticeboard, with Jemma's present happily ensconced on my bedside table. It's been a delight to receive them, and thank-you. :). Oh, I nearly forgot ...

• from the small scrap of card peeking out from under a pile of still-to-do paperwork, I can see that it's less than 72 hours until Ali Edward's 31 Days which starts on the 17th of May. Panic!
• most serendipitously - and which I realised only a few moments ago when popping into Julie's blog for her URL - Julie is Going Postal again this week from the 14th to the 19th. (Does this post count, I wonder?) Do join in: such fun!

I am hoping to catch up with more of you very soon - see you over at yours? :)