trimmingthesails

Well, it's the height ...

... of summer (or in my case, summer madness) multiplied by three today...

For a little while now, I've been wanting to salute some blog friends by:

• making a contribution to Julie's entertaining series, The Height of Summer
• following Paula's clever lead in using a movie ad as a page design at live.scrap.repeat
• finding a film poster for my attempt at item 18 on Rinda's imaginative Scavenger Hunt

Will this do triple duty?

The truth behind that shocking image? It was a very tall sundial. Taller than me, in fact, by several inches, and I'm five foot two and a half (and yes, that half does matter!). Goodness knows who was supposed to check the angle of our watery sunlight: I'm standing on my tippy-toes.

And thank-you for all your kind support on the Ode to Nature front. I am about a week behind, but have the prospect of nature walks and collecting things to enjoy, with an umbrella and wellies, probably: our height of summer is, alas, filled with lows here, meterologically speaking. As I splash merrily in puddles and reach into rain-drenched hedgerows, what's your week looking like?

 

Good to go ...

Two 'good to go's from me today ...

Pass The Book ...
And the lucky person who is going to receive Sian's very generous loan of The Shutter Sisters' Expressive Photography is ... Rosie! Many congratulations Rosie, and if you email me your details, it will be in the post to you before the weekend. Marcie, you didn't specify whether you wished to be in the draw, but I inferred from your comment that you were already familiar with the book and so I haven't included you: I hope that was the right call? For those of you who don't know Marcie's already stunning photography and words, do visit her here. Her work is just lovely. Commiserations to those of you who were not so fortunate this time - I do so wish I had copies for you all!

And the Graphically Quirky Page ...
It looks like this - it was great fun to do, in little pockets of time across the last few days. Some of you have let me know you have downloaded the digital template, and Sian has wondered about doing a paper version (would look great, Sian!), so if you do play with it, do let us all know and we'll come and admire. :)

I see that it's time for slipping past time for Julie's excellent Month in Numbers, so getting my skates on is the order of the day. How can it possibly be nearly Easter already? Anyone else feel that this year is speeding by? Yikes ...

Pass The Page - and it stops here!

Well, you are right up against the buffers - this is the terminus, and welcome!  If you've arrived here having jumped on at the last stop, The Station Master might just have to send you back to the booking office over at Julie's Letting The days Roll By for a ticket :). I hope you've enjoyed seeing how Julie's initial sketch has evolved as each of us in this imaginative Pass The Page Blop Hop has reinterpreted it. Just in case you arrived via a branch line or want to go back and revisit, the full list of stations looks like this:

Julie
Candace
Lea 
Helen (Beacon Crafts) and Lizzie
Sian
Clair 
Helen
Alison 
Ginger
Jemma 
Lisa-Jane 
Deb 

Deb's lovely version with its vintage feel  is here (don't you just love these pretty hair styles) ...

I love Deb's use of 'white' space, with a perfect paper for the era of her photo, and the grouping of the embellishments which pulls your eye to the central picture (not to mention all that careful cutting and matting!) and I wanted to honour those in a contemporary setting. (You might even notice that some of my papers are, in the modern fashion, 'wonky' - eek!). My take on Deb's looks like this:

 We both:

• focus on a single photo
• share a similar theme of a family group
• use the colours pink and blue, with some flowers
• incorporate a coloured border: Deb's around the photo, mine around the background
• slip a horizontal border behind the photo: I've used a scattering of beads
• cluster elements together: embellishments (Deb's), mats/tags (mine)
• add rounded edges: Deb in her bird and fruits and journalling spots, and I've softened the corners of the papers
• have two sections of journalling, one above the other
• like a large area of 'white' space

Thank-you, Deb! Julie, it has been great fun to do: thank-you to you too for all your hard work in setting it up, and many congratulations on its success. Hoping that all of you reading along, as well as our talented co-participants, have enjoyed it as well, and wishing you happy and creative times - full steam ahead to the weekend, toot-toooooot!

A cornucopia of congrats to Kirsty ...

... who is 200 posts old today, over at the richly inventive and creative Curiouser and Curiouser! Have you arrived here from Alison's lovely Life in the Slow Lane? Welcome!

And to celebrate, Kirsty thoughtfully posted us each a very pretty embellishment and asked us to make something with it for today. Being also this month the lucky recipient of Sian's Pass the Book, I've been reading about how to jumpstart creativity with a pinboard of inspiring items - remember pinboards? The precursor to Pinterest? Nope? Oh to be so young! Read on ...

Great idea, I thought. I think I'm ready for this. Unearthing and deconstructing my DD's magnetic board from when she last lived at home eight years ago left me with a white surface (good) and a clutch of pink and grey wooden circles which bore a distinct ressemblance to pieces for a game of draughts (not so good). Then Kirsty's lovely embellie leapt to my gaze smiling and waving "Look at me!" - and with a swoosh of blue paint and a swizzle of ModPodge, a sweet magnet was born ...

So thank-you, Kirsty - I will be making another four in similar colourways, and will be remembering you and being inspired by your own creativity every time I look at them. :)

(Oh, and I will be passing on the Painted Pages book next week, so do pop back if you are interested.).

And, ending with a fanfare, here are some of my favourite moments of Kirsty's; do go and have a browse as you pop back to her here, and so close the blog hop loop.

• Favourite page? This one - keep scrolling down below the photo.
• Favourite line? "I have a love-hate relationship with my Masters, but without the love part." Read the rest of her further degree lament in this post.
• Favourite story? Oh, we're spoilt for choice here. I really enjoyed the cider one. But then there's also the one about the snails ...

Bon, euh, alors, Kirsty ... félicitations et merci pour tout, et je te souhaite une journée - non, une année - merveilleuse. :)

(Please, Miss, did I pass?)