trimmingthesails

Posting change ...

... and will be posting on Saturdays, rather than Fridays. Autumn slipping into the garden here amidst the last of the summer sun:

And hope to see you tomorrow!

4 on Friday (14)

Just a bit of fun, sun and colour today. Up here in the grey, blustery world outside and the grey, frustratingly unfinished inside, this week's 4 on Friday celebrates the quirky, the relaxed and the d'you-know-so-what? feeling of a recent holiday in the west of Ireland...

As we face yet more delays to the building work (now, there's a misnomer), it feels good to connect with something light-hearted and upbeat. Though if anyone has a spare cannon, please send it this way. :)

White space - 4 on Friday (13)

 Heard of Before and After magazine? Designing without photos, using only text, was the challenge offered recently to John McWade, the magazine's founder and designer. It piqued my interest. Shimelle's current class focuses on journalling, and I've been pondering - like you have, perhaps, at some time? - photo-less pages. Where do you put the text? How much of it? What else do you put on if you haven't got a photo?

Now John is not (to my knowledge) a scrapbooker, but one of his points struck a chord and I did some mock-ups of my own. A page like this one below has lots of text - plenty of potential for telling a story.

However, that's all you notice: the page behind is just a carrier for the text. It's barely visible. John's solution? Borrow white space from it, and make this into a design element of its own. The page now has two visual elements: the text and the (white) space around it.

 

To the eye and the brain, this is much more restful and more satisfying to look at, says John. Does it have the same effect on you? Or does it not matter? I liked this idea, and incorporated it into my 4 on Friday: two sections of journalling, the third above (the line and the embellishment) and the fourth below (the stripy strip), with the journalling centred and plenty of white space for it to breathe. And since my wardrobe and I are currently engaged in a battle of nearly epic proportions, I thought I'd share the story with you here ...

 

And a double mention here of things you might like. Someone whose lovely scrapbooking work makes excellent use of design, in the best tradition of simple scrapbooking is Giselle: do go and take a look at This and That, and scroll down to see some great pages ... And are you a bibliophile? Go and have  a look at Kel's video about books on her Journal Journeys - hoping it makes you smile, too. Happy browsing and happy weekending!

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!

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!

4 on Friday (10)

Oh, nearly at the weekend! 4 on Friday this week is combined with my Chocolate Teapot (About As Much Use As) Award, and is a product of months of mild irritation every time I passed the following sign. Well, two signs, in fact, juxtaposed and cunningly designed to distract the driver's puzzled attention from the sharp bend and fifty foot drop beyond ...

Happy Friday-ing, and thank-you for joining me this week ...

4 on Friday (9)

Phew, made it! A close run thing this week ... Really wasn't sure if I'd manage to finish Shimelle's class 'Learn Something New Every Day'. Here are the last few as part of my 4 on Friday page for this week. The sketch? Just a fine pen and some watery acrylic, based on an idea from a Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine from several years ago.

Looking back over the month, it occurs to me I should have renamed this class "Learn something anew every day". Many of the things I seem to have thought are recurrent themes: you'd think I'd have finally got to grips with them by now! This time next year, I do not want to be watching the same items float to the surface... So I am going to spend the first day of October - today - giving serious thought to a theme for myself for the next month: something which encapsulates the learning from the class and propels it into action. I think this might just involve a notebook and pen. Oh! and very possibly a café. Hoping you, too, have a restful end to your week ... And thank-you for being here. :)

4 on Friday (8)

Gosh, it's two months since I started 4 on Friday - only another eight to go ...

This week's experimenting with four simple photo/journalling spaces and a title has, as its subject, a new member of our household - and to whom I'd like to introduce you. But first (drum roll, please!), a warm welcome for his creator, Amanda, whose inventiveness and skill with a needle knows no bounds. Recently, Amanda offered to give away a very special creation, and I was thrilled to be the lucky one on the receiving end. Yesterday, there was a parcel to be opened, a little fellow unfolded, followed by a getting-to-know-you time, and a tour of my craftroom. So, without further ado, let me proudly present ...

I am hoping that he and I will become firm friends, even if I am stitch-challenged and a little lacking in the knitting department. :)

Tomorrow, we have Big One and Little One arriving from Europe for a few days, as it is Himself's big annual family reunion, and our delightful DD and DF are travelling up to stay too. Did I mention we're hosting? So that thirty-odd for a beanfeast, and no cooker... Hoping you have a lovely weekend!

(Journalling, in case it's too small to read above: "Hi Amanda! Just to let you know I got here safely, though the letter-box thingy was quite a squeeze! Having an explore, and getting to know ‘the girls’. Bit of a wistful moment when she brought up your blog, but am settling in. She lets me read her mags though they’re rather old! D’you know what? I don’t think she knows about sewing! Thank-you for everything, Rab xxx".)

 

4 on Friday (7)

I knew it would happen. And I was doing so well ... Then other things absolutely demanded my time and attention and I fell behind. Don't you just hate that expression, 'to fall behind'? So gloomy, and down-trodden! I could reframe my inability to keep up with Shimelle's online class as 'paying attention to more important priorities', but it doesn't make me feel any better ...  Her prompt for today was "Since starting this course, have you changed anything about the way you look at each day"? 'Well," I was tempted to whinge, "I might have but I ain't had time to reflect on it!" (Reminder to self: only do online classes which have a break and catch-up time at the weekends).

And as I started to cast my mind back across the week, the first thing that hove into view was a snippet of conversation overheard in the village stores near my workplace on the way home today: about the local farming families who are reviving a tradition of making scarecrows at this time of year. That reminded me of some pictures I had snapped several years ago, and I dug them out. As I began typing alongside them, something began to take shape and gel in that wonderful alchemy that used to be known as 'putting pen to paper'. Here's how this week's 4 on Friday turned out ...

 
Hmmm, perhaps I have changed the way I look at each day, without having fully caught up with myself about it until I began, in fact, to create something ... Let's see what next week brings! I will now abandon any attempt to 'catch 'up' and will start reading the class prompts afresh - on Monday. I need a weekend off!

Hoping you enjoy yours ... And if you have any thoughts about anything which has changed for you this week, I'd love to hear. :)

 

4 on Friday (6)

Phew! Nearly the weekend. We have promises of hot water by tomorrow, and heating by next Tuesday ... Due to the dust, grime and general lack of available surfaces for scrapping, my 4 on Friday this week is digital. You'd be surprised just how much room the entire contents of your kitchen takes up across the rest of the house when you have to empty it!

Amanda and Linda both have lovely 4 on Friday pages on their blogs, if you'd like to visit them, and if yopu decide to have a go yourself, then please do let us know on here.

This week, my page recalls a very happy day spent recently with my little learning-to-be-bilingual grandson. DS, aka My Big One, perused some of my sketched designs for 4 on Friday, sniffed, and thought that I was cheating not to put the photos in a square: I was deviating from my original concept. Well, I've looked at my design brief and I'm not so sure! Here it is ...

So let me know if you too think that there is - in best "Just A Minute" style - hesitation, deviation or repetition! Hoping you all have a happy and relaxing weekend ...