trimmingthesails

4 on Friday (12)

Words. I've always been fascinated by them - much more so than numbers. Digits run riot, multiplying themselves all over the place, adding on zeros like there is no tomorrow, spreading out to infinity and beyond. No sense of decorum. Letters, on the other hand, limit themselves to just twenty-six, contained and restrained, re-using and re-combining themselves marvellously to create an infinity of meanings. They know how to behave.

And they will allow you to do all kinds of things with them. They even let you repeat them for different kinds of effect: you might enjoy reading Miriam's and Sian's lovely posts which do this wonderfully. The journalling class I am taking, prompt four, suggests writing a letter - not just your bread-and-buttter sort, but all kinds of imaginative missives and flights of fancy. Mine is finding its place on my very simple '4 on Friday' page, and is just a bit of fluff, really ...

And I have needed some fluff and levity this end of the week. Those of you reading along on Wednesday might like to know that the provision of Penguins did not, alas, have the desired result: we now have doors opening the wrong way and on the wrong side (and four months to make new ones correctly), windows at a slant, and rain running down the inside of the new patio doors. When everyone gathers on site again tomorrow, There May Well Be Words! Which takes us back nicely to where we began ... Hoping you all have a lovely weekend - and thank-you!

It's all Numbers - for an hour anyway...

With some trepidation, I started another class this week - I use the word trepidation advisedly because my record of finishing classes is not good. The first prompt was to reply to questions you are frequently asked; but since I can't remember when I was last asked a question that wasn't of the "Have you seen my ...", or "Where did you/I put ...?" variety, it was more of a non-starter than a starter. However, today's gave me a little nudge in the write direction. As a long-time admirer of Julie's Month in Numbers,  the opportunity to put together a piece of journalling featuring digits felt do-able. I thought I might cover the entire day originally but - as it turned out - I didn't get past much after eight ...

 
Hoping you all, too, have - well, a NICER day!

 

 

A Book of December Days

So far, until this weekend, chatter about Christmas has passed me by: I normally refuse to even think about it until well after Hallowe'en. However, the sheer pressure of the inspiring Ali Edwards' posts on her December Daily 2010 has shifted me into contemplating how I might do one in a way which means I can keep up and will finish it. This may be an unusual December for us here: with luck, and a lot of hard work, the extension to our house for my parents (in their eighties) could be finished by then, and we will be helping them move - slowly, with comings and goings - to live with us permanently. It would be good to record this: for us, for them, for our own children, and for theirs ... However, it really is going to need to be super simple, and very well planned in advance.

I anticipate there will be quite a lot of photos and a fair amount of story-telling too - not to mention realia like removal firm bills, receipts showing the cost of new items for the home, and favourite Christmas recipes of my Mum's which we will now be cooking together. So I think Ali's 6"x8" is not going to be quite spacious enough, and I'd like enough room for a border around mine so that the punch holes are not intruding on the journalling or the photos (which they seem to in the 6"x8" version). Then I saw this:

It's built on the principle of dividing by two, vertically and horizontally, so that although the sizes of the resulting shapes are different, the eye is soothed by the similarity of the proportions. I think this will suit my purposes very well, and translate nicely to A4 or 8.5x11 - although mine will either have a border all the way round, or down the punched edge. Playing around with the possible combinations results in the page layouts below. (For 'photo', read also 'patterned paper' or 'embellishment').

All of these can be flipped horizontally as well, of course, for right-hand pages. This gives a current possibility (there may be more!) of 16 different page variations: I think that's enough to be going on with! Next step will be to think about the design of the date/title sections, whether I will need transparencies or will use pockets instead, and how to do the cover...

Any of you thinking of doing a December Daily? I am still hovering between naming mine "A Book of December Days", or "A Book of Days for December". How are you thinking of designing it? What will you be putting into it? Or perhaps you are doing something else, or not bothering at all? Please do feel free to share your thoughts below!

Two helpings of gratitude before I finish... Firstly, a special thank-you to Amy for her splendid foodie blog-hop yesterday! If you missed it, you are not too late: set off here. And secondly, thank-you to you all for mulling over which of the colourways for 4 on Friday you liked best, and for letting me know. I promised to tell you mine: it was the top row, on the right - the soft taupe one. Which, as it happens, was also your overwhelming favourite too. :)

 

 

Let's Eat Blog Hop!

Welcome! Gosh, are you full yet? Stuffed with glorious ideas for things to look at and cook, make and bake, and savour the flavour? I've just been scribbling down notes on Sharon's wonderful-looking pikelets, and checking the fridge for supplies!

Luckily, being last, this is a bit of what the French call a 'bonne bouche': just a little sweet mouthful to finish. This 'recipe' was born in our house over a quarter of a century ago, when then Little One (now Big One) explained - on his sleepy and slightly incoherent way to bed - that he absolutely needed to take some little buns in for the school fair the next day, and his Life Would Not Be Worth Living if I did not come up with the goods.

Then, as now, we were in the middle of renovations and had no oven and no microwave. A quick explore of our solitary food cupboard revealed some chocolate and marshmallows but - panic! - only two or three tiny buncases: no hope of dribbling melted chocolate into twenty of them and popping a marshmallow on top. Oh dear ... Kettle on, cup of tea ... And this was what happened next. They've been a firm favourite every birthday party and celebration since, and easy for children to make; and as Big One now has his own Little One, the 'recipe' may well be handed on to the next generation. I've put 'recipe' in inverted commas because, truthfully, I'm not sure it deserves the name but here it is anyway. There are two pdfs: one for 8.5x11 paper, and another for A4. Hoping you have a happy and sticky time!

And so, back to Amy over here, who (should you be doing the Blog Hop in reverse as a Golb Poh), has some very creative ideas and links - and lovely photos too ...

Download A4recipe
Download 8.5x11recipe

4 on Friday (11), x 4

Isn't colour fascinating? Especially interesting is how one colour affects others round it, and how that in turn changes the feel. I've been playing around with that this week - for the eleventh 4 on Friday, here are four different colourways. First of all, these two ...

and these two ...

The journalling for Playboy of the Western World reads:

"If there is one around, you just cannot resist striking up an acquaintance. And from there, it is but a brief interval until the holding and the loving stroking starts. Before we know it, all sorts of buttons are getting pushed, and no-one is quite sure what is going to happen next. Just as well we are talking gadgets here, not girls. Give it time, little buddy. Give it time ..."

Is there one of the colourways you instinctively like, or dislike, more than another? Which should make it through the edit? (if any!). Do please feel free to share below! (And I will share my own favourite of the four next week).

You might notice the image on my sidebar. This Sunday, the talented and multi-faceted Amy is hosting a 'Let's Eat Blog Hop', though the contributon in my case (given the absence of a cooker in the current renovations) will probably be more of a 'nibble' or 'little mouthful' than a hearty or robust tuck-in. Do look out for her all across the blogsphere!

3 tomatoes, 2 concepts and 1 train of thought ...

  We were lucky this year. By dint of sawing a hole in the roof and slipping in a clear plastic sheet, the rickety allotment shed metamorphosed into a (still admittedly lopsided) greenhouse of sorts. And on Sunday we proudly picked these. Now, those of you with gardening nouse will quickly spot that our tomatoes would not win any prizes: our erratic visits and ill-judged estimates of the amount of water required inbetween has left them with pockmarked spirals on their skin. As tomatoes go, they were nicely wabi sabi (see 17th June): humble, earthy, and full of their own loveliness.

Although wabi sabi has been around for thousands of years, imperfection is becoming a hot topic these days: there are books on it, posts about it, and whole blogs dedicated to it. I can't help mischeviously wondering, given that 'perfection' is a value judgement and an idea in our heads, where that leaves 'imperfection'. Is that just an idea, rather than a reality, too? Is my blurry photo imperfect, or is it just, well ... blurry?

The one in the layout to the right (some of you may remember this page) nearly didn't make it through the photo-pruning process - the desire for perfection nearly consigned it to the trash can. Yet it seems ungracious to label it 'imperfect': it took me somewhere I would not otherwise have gone. So I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pursue perfection, or embrace the gifts of imperfection either, whether in scrapbooking or in life! Perhaps it's time to forget about both those words and just welcome and appreciate what is...

Does this mean that the half-hours with Herma, endlessly repositioning photos to get them 'just right', are no more? Or that it will be possible to settle for the first patterned paper which suits the photos, and not spend another twenty minutes covering the floor with others, only to go back to the original choice? I'll keep you posted!

Mmm... where you are in the perfection versus imperfection debate? I'd love to hear ...

 

 

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Writing on Monday ...

 
Hello! and thank-you to all of you who, with such kindness, left me helpful and supportive messages when last Friday's post just didn't happen, and to Julie, Helen, and Sian whose posts touched me deeply. Thank-you all so much again ...

Today I am here, recovering and reviewing, and using the magazine page from last Wednesday (Writing on Wednesday) as a basis for some journalling. In the photos, you will see the wonderful embroidery I received through the post as a present on Friday from the very talented Amanda. (She is currently experiencing tecchie problems, but don't let that stop you leaving her a message - this woman is truly amazing.) Just look at that glorious stitchery! You've heard of a brainbox? Well, I'm calling this a 'brain-bag', with Amanda's special cards inside for jotting down ideas. With a draw-string top from ribbon and beads, it came with the lovely card you see below, and the message on the front set me off on a train of thought ...

 

I've often heard it said that online relationships are not really 'real' - that they're a pale reflection of a face-to-face encounter, ersatz, not the real McCoy. Well, I beg to differ. These last four days I have been deeply touched, moved to tears, felt warmly held-in-memory, and it has been very real. And I know that I, in turn, will be ready to do the same for you. So let's counter the cynics and the nay-sayers and celebrate our online, creative relationships. As we dip in and out of each other's lives, offering what we can when we can, with genuine friendliness - here's to all of us!

Not quite 4 on Friday ...

Write on Wednesday ...

The skeleton of a design ...

Much as I like clean and simple design, I also love a page with plenty to read on it. I like it when my eye is satisfied, but when my mind gets a chunk of something to chew on too, even better! Flicking through a magazine the other day, I saw one which had both of these - not only that, but the writing took centre stage. Having absolutely no graphic design training whatsoever, I am continuing to learn as I go, simply by looking closely and mulling over the shapes and how they hang together. This page, I thought, would make a great scrapbook page! But why? And how could I re-create it?

Here's the result of my scribbled musings, though out of deference to you (and because I am terminally ashamed of my scrappy script), I've typed them up - just in case you're interested in these things too, or would like a page layout to copy or adapt...

If you'd like a pdf. to print out for your own reference, or to scribble your own ideas on, here it is, in two sizes:

• Download AnatomyOfAPageA4
• Download AnatomyOfAPage8.5x11

Putting flesh on the bones with writing ...
Those paragraph headers got me thinking too ... D'you notice how they rhyme? Sow/go, take/make? This is, if I can think back far enough!, an AABB rhyme. They could have written is as an ABAB (sow/take/go/make), or even invented an AAAB (e.g. sew/go/show/make), or sow/take/visit/make (ABCB). Lots of possibilities with any pairs of words ... Just run through the alphabet - I'm already hearing sew, bake, cake and see, me, p-- ... no, perhaps not! But lots of possibilities for some creative writing, and nowhere near as hard as a haiku. I think I'm going to give this a go for next week. Anyone else like to try their hand? Or got any good multi-purpose rhymes they'd like to share? Hoping you'll contribute below!

 

3 Moments for Monday ...

And they are, briefly - Duh! Wow! and Oh-h-h!

Duh!
The good thing about resting and reflecting is that it let's you see things you haven't noticed before. LIke the fact that I have a pile of things to sew and mend, and never seem to get round to it. Solution? Shift a wooden chest to the floor, and create a permanent home for the machine at the back of a fold-up work surface. Easy to access, I've done three bits of sewing already. Rab is ecstatic...

Wow!
A gloriously warm day for October, a whole day clearing up the garden builder's yard, and a late afternoon walk before the sun finally disappeared behind the hills ...

 

Oh-h-h!
And finally, a surprise from my DS ...

And how are you today? Had any Duh! Wow! or Oh-h-h! moments this weekend? Do share, or point us in your direction!