10th September

I am a bit of a list and storage woman, and like to think of myself as being fairly organised. Ages ago when I bought Megan's uniform I bought a pen and labels to mark it with. Well, the day before she starts nursery, and I couldn't find them anywhere! I realised that although I may have been organised in buying them, if I'd gone to label the uniform earlier than the day before, I might have realised I couldn't find them and saved the last minute stress!

9th September

I was feeling really stressed out, was in between 2 night shifts and had only had 3 hours sleep in 2 days, the girls were being really hard work and I was shattered and getting worked up, and my husband walked in from work. I'm so grateful for the way he can calm me down and helps me! Not a new revelation, but important to focus on every now and then.

8th September

Much as I love her, Megan is quite high maintenance, and rather unpredictable in whether she's going to behave well or have a freak out! Her two new teachers came to the house for a visit before she started pre-school, and she proved to me that when it suits her, she can behave impeccably! From the minute they walked through the door she was sweet as a nut, chatting away like they were her best friends.

And when they left, I breathed a sigh of relief :-)

7th September

When Maisie woke up this day she has really swollen lips, which was a bit scary. The first thing I did (after giving her Piriton!) was ring my mum, and it made me think that I'll never be too old to ring my mum. I know she's busy, but she's there for us in moments of stress, joy, and for a chat. I love her!

6th September

The message at church on Sunday 6th was all about God's grace for today and holding onto His promises. The photo is of some 7 Gypsies chipboard frames I've been altering with different verses on to encourage me through the day.

Actually, the lesson was even stronger the next day when I thought we were going to lose £300 a month, and I had to remember to pray before panicking! God is faithful, though, and He has provided again (as He always does :-) ). If only I'd be quicker at learning this lesson!

5th September

Well I am a few days behind with scrapping, but even more behind with blogging! So whilst the girls are being fairly quiet (thank goodness for sunny garden days!), I thought I'd add a few layouts.

5th September was a bad day in work - I didn't get to eat until very late, by which time the canteen was shut, and when I went to the fridge for my emergency snacks they'd gone! Not happy times, a painful lesson to learn for a pregnant woman! `

4th September

Ha ha! Took Maisie for a hearing test at the hospital, and about 2 minutes before we were due to go in for her appointment smelt that smell...only I'd forgotten to take a clean nappy with us! You'd think after 3 1/2 years of motherhood I'd be prepared!

3rd September

It was one of those days where one minute your family is driving you bananas, then the next minute they do something really lush! My little sister came over to look after my girls for me, and I was watching them play with her and loving the bond my girls have with my siblings.

2nd September

Breakfast is normally a rushed piece of toast on the go. Today I indulged in a boiled egg (done perfectly thanks to my amazing egg timer with 3 choices of 'doneness'), and yummy buttery hot toast. And I decided it was the most comforting food to eat, and a good way to start the day (maybe that was what was missing yesterday?!).

Sept 1st

The day didn't start well...too early, for a start! Husband had to be at work early, which meant I had to come round quickly and be up with the girls before 7 (not too good at that in my pregnant sleepless nights state!). The girls were hyper and trashed the house, there was the world's biggest spider in the settee which I had to remove...I couldn't get the photo of the sun through the trees that I wanted. Generally, I was feeling pretty grumpy, and then at some point in the day, I had a word with myself, read the verse that I scrapped the other day, and decided to cheer up.

And, surprise, surprise, by the end of the day, I realised it wasn't so bad. And that the way a day begins doesn't dictate how it ends.

Book Cover

Feeling unspired recently I decided to pretty much completely scraplift Shimelle's cover, except that I split the elements between an acetate layer and a recycled corrugated card layer. Feeling a little more inspired now, I might actually come up with my own design for the pages!

Learn Something New Every Day

It's the start of a new month, one that's going to be a bit weird I think. Megan starts pre-school this month, so I'll be trying to figure out how to fit that in as well as the normal childcare headache! It feels like a new season, new start, but at the same time some things are in limbo...I'm 24 weeks pregnant, and have already started the whole physio/pelvis trouble scenario. I'm trying to enjoy it more this time, and not spend the next few months wishing it was over, but I'll be glad when it is!

So, to help my lack of crafty inspiration this year, to help time to go a bit faster, and just to keep myself a bit focussed, I've joined Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day online class.


http://www.shimelle.com/classes/586/learn-something-new-every-day/

I've already made my cover, although I decided to start small and basically copied Shimelle's design. I quite often find if I copy something it helps me get back in the flow and I start getting my own ideas again, lol!

Anyway, I'll be back later with some things I've learned today!
xxx

Monochrome

Whilst I do have Adobe Photoshop I have to admit I don't do an awful lot with it, except to convert images to black and white. I do the odd bit of cropping, brightening, and improving contrast, but that's about it. I took this picture because I loved the patterns on the guys board, and was already planning to convert it to monochrome. This was a good thing, because when I looked at it when I got home I was disappointed with the colour version. It was overexposed and the sky and beach were colourless and uninteresting. However, I felt that once I converted it to black and white in Photoshop, and increased the contrast a bit, I loved it. Again, I like the fact that the reflection on the sand adds so much interest to the foreground of the image, and I love the focus being the man with his board, which has enough pattern on it to make something of the image.

I've printed this out big at home, and I love it for it's simplicity. Which just shows that maybe some images can be saved!

Maisie

I took a lot of photos one evening on the beach with the reflections on the sand, and I think this is my favorite. The girls spend a lot of time running to the sea, and I like the way Maisie is mid-stride here. The reflections that evening were really clear, which makes what was a very simple (and possibly not that interesting for anyone except her mother!) shot into something more interesting. I also like the way there is a little of the sea in the shot, completing the story, and the reflection in the top of the cliffs hints at there being more to the surroundings than seen in the picture. f/5.6 1/200 ISO-100

Reflections

For module 3 we were asked to look at reflective surfaces whilst varying the focal length. I like this one as I feel the rippled reflection of the building adds foreground interest. However, I was shooting in manual and realised afterwards that I hadn't changed the aperture from 5.6. I guess if I had, the overall shot would have been clearer.
f/5.6, 1/200, ISO-100.

Eden

We went to the Eden Project whilst on holiday, and I wanted to try something different in photographing the Biomes which are the defining feature there. I was pleased with this shot, the lavender in focus in the foreground, with the Biomes featured but not overpowering the photo.
f/5.6, shutter speed 1/500, ISO-100.

I'd seen a picture similar to this so thought I'd try it. DH and children obligingly built stone towers for me! To get the nice blurry background I went for f/4.5, shutter speed 1/1000 and ISO-100 as it was a very bright day. Was especially pleased the horizon was level, as that's the thing I often forget to check!

I love this one of Megan, she's just got to an age where she wants to pose whilst her little sister (who is now 2, say no more) just scowls! This was in a coffee shop on a very rainy day, so the light wasn't great. We were sitting by big windows, so this helped. I went for f/5.6, a slow shutter speed 1/100 and ISO-800.

Visual Diary

Still trying to catch up with the class before it finishes, I decided the theme of my visual diary was going to be 'Makes me smile'.

So the first week was exposure...and here are my offerings.
Megan in the field was on a really bright day, so I used f/5.6 Shutter speed 1/640 and ISO 100.

On a new class!

Well it's been a while...we moved house, the kids broke the laptop, etc etc, but here I am! This time I'm doing Cheryl's Masterclass to get to know a bit more about my DSLR camera. Time these days is limited, so I don't know how good I'll be at updating the blog, but I'll try!

The first week on the class was on exposure, which I practised a bit on holiday in Cornwall.

The classic Land's End photo - f/5 1/800 sec ISO-100.

love 'n' hugs x

Maisie's New Accessories

These are for her Daddy, who is at work, and wants to see Maisie's new accessory. I've replaced them several times today already, and Megan keeps asking Maisie if she can wear her 'earring'! They may bring their own challenges, it seems! She's been very good so far, though, considering how much she was poked and prodded this morning. xxx

Aprons...the start of a new obsession...

A while ago I bought some beautiful fabric from Hobbycraft that was in pinks and greens with cupcakes on. There was no plan for it, and I kept thinking about making an apron for Megan. Eventually, last week, I decided to go for it. At that point, I realised I hadn't actually bought enough of any one of the material to make a whole apron!

Not to be phased, I decided to go patchwork, and was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. Megan loves it, and it's now been joined by another one for Maisie.

Unfortunately, I can see that success may go to my head, and I've got a whole heap of things to make next, especially having come across Heather Bailey's blog, fabric, patterns, and paper craft goods! Eek, I'll have to get a second job soon to pay for my hobbies!

Peace

Last January I made a scrapbook page called 'Rest', about where I was in life at that time, and as a reminder to myself that when I was tired (with a 6 month old, 18 month old, and starting back at work), that my rest should be in God!

This year I'm trying to remind myself to trust and be at peace in the unknown. Liam's job contract is up again at the end of March, and we have no idea whether it's going to be renewed, and if not, where and if he'll have a job. We'd love to move house for space, and I would love to not be at work, but obviously that is all on hold with the job situation. I used a picture I took in November in Centre Parcs, and the words from the old hymn 'When Peace Like a River'. Now I just have to remember to listen to my own advice ;-)

xxx

Photos for 'This Year' mini book

Had a lot of fun yesterday (whilst both girls slept :-) ) taking photos for Shimelle's This Year class. I just went round the house taking pictures of things I'm into right now! Obviously with the hot chocolate and the jar of chocolates there were added benefits in the consumption post photo shoot!

This Year

Having finished Journal Your Christmas, which I loved every minute of, I've just been browsing on Shimelle's blog again, only to find out she's running a free mini-class called 'This Year', which looks great! Check out http://www.shimelle.com/classes/404/a-free-mini-class-to-say-thank-you/ I can't wait! Hopefully it will get my scrapping brain in action again after a sluggish start to the year.

The final few layouts for Christmas 2008.

29th December to 2nd January

More JYC layouts!

Been a while!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted! I did well with the journal up until December 23rd, but over the next two weeks I didn't manage any of it! Christmas itself was fab, and then I worked most of New Year's Week. So, 10 days after Journal Your Christmas finished, I finished my journal! So glad I did the course, it was great to get memories and traditions down on paper. I'm realising how quickly the girls are growing, and it's nice to know that the little things they said and did over the season are down in the journal and won't be forgotten. So here are the rest of the layouts!