Spontaneity

I don't do spontaneous.
I am a planner, an organiser.

But once in a while spontaneity throws me a line and I take it.
This sunny day last week was one such occasion.

We decided to go exploring a neighbouring field. Out of the blue we got up and went.

You know what?
The field was boggy, there was too much wheat growing to walk far and there were lots of bugs.
BUT, I laughed the hardest I had in ages. Even when my shoes squelched with muddy water, even when flies buzzed around my shins, even when I missed my footing and landed in the bog.

I laughed with the joy of just doing something because I could, of just taking off and spending quality time with this man with a camera around my neck. In that spontaneous moment we talked deeper and longer than we had in a long time.

And you know the best bit? Spontaneity creates some amazing photos!

Remind me of this, next time I am sitting down to plan my day!

Would you believe it...

I have made another Layout.

I know. The age of miracles has not yet passed!

Again, I did it in an afternoon and really enjoyed the process. I had challenged myself to not look at any other layouts whilst I was making it. I can get inspiration before hand but whilst in the process of crafting I wanted the layout to be totally "me".

The layout documents the lovely mailboxes we saw all over Virginia- something we just don't have in the uk!

I used sprayed paint to create a soft effect and tried to mirror the postal elements with twine, an airmail envelope and lots of handwriting. I also created a border with my sewing machine. It ended up looking a bit like a large stamp (totally coincidental!)

Nothing hugely special, but I really like how this layout turned out.

Thanks for stopping by

The height of Summer

Hi friends

Today I am joining in with Julie Kirks experiment/ investigation/ link up, to find out the heights of bloggers. You know, the person behind the words! It is intriguing I must say, finding out just how tall some of you are! 

I am going to say it how it is...

I am small.

As in 5 foot 1 and half an inch. (on a good day)

And yes, that half an inch IS important.

I stopped growing at the age of thirteen. This wasn't a problem until everyone else continued to grow and I was left staring at shoulders.

That isn't a joke. In a crowd I come away with neck strain because I am looking up the whole time.

One of our my favourite things to do at school was to stand next to the tallest people in my year. Just to make them feel really tall and all!

Great huh!

Short has it's advantages.

I am an expert at wiggling through crowds. Find that gap and I am off, leaving my tall friends fighting with elbows.

I can fit into children's clothes. Childrens clothes are cheaper, what's not to love? Although I do draw the line at frills and ribbons.

Boys will never, ever be taller than me. Honestly for tall girls I have spoken to this has become a real issue for them. I have never worried about it. That whole let the man do the big and protective thing,..I.have.it.covered.

I have no issue wearing disgustingly high heels. I won't be taller than you, I promise!


But short has its..well, short comings!

Working at a prep school I avoided being around the 13 year olds. Most of them were taller than me. I went on one fated field trip and got handed a clipboard and pen by the supervisor who thought I was a child. I am nearly twenty. Awkward all round really.
Dealing with the five year olds was less of a problem.

Somehow being short seems to come with a label of, oh it's ok to pick me up. Especially now the little brother who isn't little has grown so much, he just throws me over his shoulder.

This leads me onto the hug. You know that awkward moment when you don't know quite what to do. Aim for the neck? If so be lifted off the ground when the other person straightens up or they look like a hunchback having to bend down so low. OR do you go for the middle and end up with well.. a face full of cleavage? It's a dilemma.

Thankfully my mother suffers the same problems being 5 foot (ahem) 2

She was once greeted with this from her future grandma-in-law...

"You're small aren't you, but you're not thin. Your sturdy."

I figure there are two ways of looking at it... "the best things come in small packages" OR "poison comes in small bottles". There are two sides to every coin friends!

Thanks for stopping by and Thank you Julie for such a fun thing to write about!

Tutorial- How to make a blog planner

Hi 

Today I want to share a quick make with you. This was inspired by Elise Blaha. On her blog she showed the wonderful calendar she uses to plan her blog posts. I knew that I couldn’t buy something like that in England so had a brain storm and decided to create my own. 

This is a great tool if, like me, you tend to schedule posts. 

You will need: 

Tacks or nails.

An A3 (ish) sized whiteboard. I got mine from Tesco for £3.50. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a whiteboard, but you need a solid base with a frame. A whiteboard also gives you a prepared clean background. 

A tester pot of paint in matt or any paint that will go onto wood well. 

Printed sheets of numbers to thirty one. I used arial in bold with a font size of 200. 

Watered down PVA glue or modge podge

1. Paint the edge of your frame. I chose a zingy blue. I wanted by planner to look very graphic so tried to make my frame a solid colour. I coated it in two layers of paint. Before you paint it is a good idea to tape off the edge of the board. I didn’t bother with this stage as the whiteboard was shiny. Any paint that dried on the board itself could just get scraped off afterwards.

2.I used a computer to print my numbers. You could easily buy them but I found that the cost rocketed up. Instead I chose the longer, but cheaper, option and hand cut them. Don’t bother cutting the inside of the numbers out (like the middle of the eights). If the board is white, they won’t show up. 

3.Arrange your numbers on your board. I decided not to add the days. This meant my planner wasn’t confined to one month. I wasn’t too fussy about how straight the rows and columns were so my numbers are a little squiff but you could easily take more time over this!

4. Grab your watered down PVA and a paint brush.  Glue each number down and then brush the glue over the top to seal it. The glue goes on white but dries clear. 

5. Leave to dry and then hang. Beautiful! 

6. I follow Elise’s tips and use post-its to plan my blog posts. I write the title of the post on the note and stick it to the appropriate date it will be published on. Green are blog posts, pink are events. I know. I know!  

This was a very easy and very cheap make. It could be easily adapted for a more proffesional look, using number stickers instead of printed paper. You could also cut out the days of the week and blue tac them to the top and move them depending on the month. 

Thanks for stopping by

Life Right Now- according to instagram

Hi friends!

Due to circumstances out of my control, our home internet decided to go AWOL! Therefore all the blog posts I had been sitting planning had to stay just that-planned!

Anyhow, the internet has returned, much to our rejoicing and here is life right now- according to instagram...

Top Row left to right- Coming back from the sunny states. Getting used to my beautiful mac. We started the daunting task of house moving at the beginning of August. I found I had far too much stuff! I also found that when sorting my room, my desk was sorted before my bed was..hmm priorities!

Second row- Our beautiful new house. According to instagram I have been drinking copious amounts of tea whilst crafting- either that or I like taking photos of my mug?

Third Row- This could be a reason for the tea drinking- our Aga! A cup of tea is all the more exciting when the kettle whistles right? Supporting team GB in the olympics. Planning, planning, planning whilst I had no internet. Setting up a calendar tutorial for the blog. 

Fourth Row- Experimenting with reverse appliqué. Organising my fabric. Spending some quality time with this man. 

Phew!!! We are only half way through the month too! 

What has August brought for you so far. 

Instagram is becoming a great tool for me. I love following a few of you. If you would like us to stop by your instagram, why not put your username in the comments then we can share the love there as well as on our blogs ( only if you want to mind!) 

 If you want to follow me my username is abibeach

Thanks for stopping by!

Tips for holiday journalling

Hi

This year I decided to write a holiday journal. I wanted to record my experience of America whilst I was there. I found it to be a really fun tool for capturing my memories and all the memorabilia I had collected.

There were several things I learnt that I thought I would share:

Be prepared

I decorated and set up my journal before I left the UK. I knew I wouldn't have time to do this abroad. I avoided any bulky embellishments on top as I thought that these may get knocked off while traveling.

I also made sure that I brought some small supplies. This was a godsend as the house we were staying in didn't even come with a pair of scissors. I simply packed a glue stick, scissors, a roll of decorative tape and a fountain pen. All amusingly squeezed into my wash bag!

I think it is important to remember that journalling isn't scrapbooking. At least it wasn't for me. I knew I couldn't bring bags of patterned paper so I kept it simple.

I bought a journal from paper chase and it turned out to be a nice size. Don't go too small as I found that leaflets and brochures are quite big and only just fit in my book which was 9.5" tall.



Write each day
This sounds like a really silly tip, but I found that my memories were far clearer when I wrote them up at the end of the day. Try and find a piece of time when things are quiet, before supper in my case, and write what you remember from the day.

I wrote a simple itinery in the front of the journal and then each day wrote a few pages about what we did. I tried to record the little moments as well. We had plenty of laughs and funny quotes on holiday and I wanted to make sure I remembered them.

I finished off each entry with a simple "today I am: thinking, feeling, listening etc" It helped me add a personal touch to my journal and break down my day into emotions and senses.


Collect
After each journal entry or before in some cases I stuck in things I had collected through the day. Wherever we went I tried to pick up at least one brochure or leaflet. I also collected things like tickets or gift tags or wristbands. I even stuck in receipts after a visit to the outlet mall. The more you collect the more you can play around with in your journal when you get back.

I found that collecting things made a great form of evidence in my journal. I also liked how interactive it made my journal. Many of the leaflets and maps had to be unfolded to see properly.

Share
I told my family what I was doing right from the start and they were great in collecting things for me. They would often see a leaflet on the side and ask if I could put it in my journal. Involving them also meant that there was more than one brain behind the journal entries. I wrote them all myself but they were invaluable when I forgot a place name or detail!

Don't stress about the photos.
At first I didn't really know how my photos would fit in with the journal. I mean they were all stuck on my camera, did I leave space for them each day or put them at the back?

I think this really is personal preference but I opted to put them at the back and order them online when I got home. Although it means that the journal entries and the photos will be a little bit disjointed, I didn't want to leave space each day and then find I had more photos than could fit in.

Either way I think it is important not to stress about where the photos fit in. At the end of the day the words and the pictures go together, each as important as the other. The taking the photos is the important part, not the sticking them in.

I ended up really looking forward to writing in my journal each evening. It was satisfying to see it get fatter over the course of the holiday, knowing that it was full of thoughts and memories.

Have you ever written a holiday journal?
What tips do you have?

Once upon an August afternoon

Once upon an August afternoon a girl sat at her desk thinking. She was thinking about a certain man and a certain photo she was holding in her hand.

As the light streamed through the window a ray of inspiration came.

For the first time in over a year she moved over to the purple plastic box and thumbed through the contents with trembling fingers. 

Nothing took her fancy so she moved to the bags, bulging with scraps, burying her hand in and pulling out colours and patterns at random.

She cleared a space on her desk and set to work. Not following a pattern, not pressured into doing what everyone else was doing. She followed an old instinct for patterns and combinations, revelling in the stickiness of the glue and the joy of combining words and photos.

It felt strangely easy for her to be coming back to this craft. She didn't think too much, just used things she liked.

A couple of hours later and she was done. 

She looked at her layout and saw all that it represented, not only in the subject matter but also in the cathartic process of creating in paper again. 

There it was, a scrapbook page..


Four years

For those not in the know, I hit a low point with scrapbooking over a year ago. I felt a lot of pressure to create and not enough time to do so. I wrote about it here. The other day, as written above, I sat down and made a page again and LOVED it. Hopefully this is the start of scrapbooking again. I am certainly drooling over all the new paper collections online, which has to be a good sign!