30 days of Thanksgiving

Hello 

I have seen the 30 days of thanksgiving floating around the web and instagram for the last few weeks and thought it was a really lovely idea. Over here in good old England we don't celebrate thanksgiving but giving thanks is always a good thing I think.

For those who don't know I have seen this little meme in several different ways, firstly as a form of journalling like a scrapbook page and secondly as a hashtag on instagram. The basis is really fairly obvious: journal, record, photograph what you are thankful for for thirty days. 

Now, I was pretty slow to jump on the bandwagon so I have recorded the things I was thankful for in the first few days of November but I am missing some from last week. 

I wanted my "things" to be everyday thanksgivings so I therefore turned to my favourite...instagram.

I felt the pictures needed something more though so I whipped up a few templates for the photos and some added journalling. 

I think a blurb book of these at the end of the month would be great! 

Such a great idea and such a reminder to me that rather than focus on what has gone wrong, in all things we should give thanks. 

Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving? 

I have made blank templates of each design if you are interested in using them. If so please say in the comments and I can put them on here!

Giveaway winners

Hello

Thank you to all of you who commented about my notecards. There were some really helpful opinions and advice.

So without further ado the winners are....

Jo who wins set 1

and

Missus Wookie who wins set 2

If you ladies could email me at abigail(dot)beach(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk with your address then I can get them sent off to you.

Hopefully before too long I will be setting up shop with these- fingers crossed!

Thank you for joining in!

An adventure into digital scrapbooking

So I used to be a digital scrapbook snob.
I used to think that it was a cheat's way of scrapbooking.
I used to think nothing could compare with getting your hands messy.

Well things have changed and uni has marched in with a vengeance and you know what? Yeah getting my hands messy is great but not when you have 10 minutes at a time to do so.

The other day I sat down and did a few internet searches. I searched for digital bits and bobs for free. I found so much to make me excited that I did a quick whoop of joy!

Because you know what, I love designing, I love playing with fonts and I really enjoy photoshop. I also miss recording my stories on a scrapbook page.

So yep, it may not be as tactile and yep it is fully digital but I had so much fun losing myself in a story again, in colour and text.

I don't know if this page "is" digital scrapbooking. But for me it works just fine. I don't need or want my pages online to look like my pages in real life. I don't really like those digital elements that try and replicate brads or string. For me being digital is different and I am so cool with that.

I had fun making again. I miss scrapbooking properly but this does fill the gap and the best part my friends...it was free!

Supplies: Persnickity prints, The Lily Pad, Two peas

Does anyone else know good online sights for digital supplies?

For the love of Tea

Tea. 

That great ice breaker, the comforter, the conversation filler, the break in the awkward silence. 

When things go wrong we British solve it by offering a cup of tea. 

There is something so soothing about clicking the kettle on and pouring out of a nice china teapot. 

I am a compulsive tea drinker. In my book there is never a wrong time to have tea. I owe tea a lot. Over my first five weeks at uni I have had some great conversations over a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

There is nothing better than sitting with a group of friends on the floor of an overcrowded bedroom getting to know each other over a pot of tea. In the first few weeks asking all the standard questions but now comfortably leaning up on each other, laughing over the lack of milk and playing disney songs into the small hours. 

There is something familiar about cradling a warm mug in your hands. Yes, I owe a lot to tea because without it I wouldn't have found the group of friends I now have. On that first day all of us craving something we knew. We bonded over a love of tea and Downton Abbey (which I am certain go hand in hand).

Isn't it funny how a simple drink can bring people together? 

What are your tea stories?

Want to win some hand-stamped goodies? Look here!

Stamp and Scribble Giveaway

Over the last few months I have been seriously considering selling handmade. I enjoy creating and I enjoy seeing the happiness a few handmade items can bring.

I have toyed with several ideas of what to sell. For a long time the main thing stopping me was time. The things I created took a while to make.

Back in September I started playing around with a few ideas. I love stamping and I love sentiments. I combined the two and came up with this:

Simple, hand stamped notecards with inked details and sentiments.

They are all pretty minimalist but hopefully they can be used for a variety of purposes. They are 5 x 4" and are blank inside for your own message.

What I would love to know from you guys is...

What do you think? 

I would really appreciate honest answers. If you think they wouldn't sell etc I would love to hear it because this is just an idea at the moment.

To say thank you for your opinion I am giving away two sets of 5 notecards.

To be in with a chance of winning just post a comment giving your opinion and which set of cards you would like if you won. Set one above or set two below. (Click on the photo if you want to see a bit more detail.)

The giveaway will close on Sunday 7.00pm GMT so hurry! 

Thank you.

Any other ideas on how a poor student can raise some more cash would  be greatly appreciated too!

Storytelling Sunday- The story of the indoor washing line

You may remember when I was packing up to go to uni, see here, that I took with me all manner of things. Crockery, folders, highlighters, saucepans and pegs to name a few! I know, the pegs were a long shot but last week I congratulated myself on thinking outside of the box.

You see, when you are a student, money and laundry are both big issues. The washing machine costs £1.80. ( A serious source of annoyance because you have to find a 20p and a 10p. Irritating.) As a student I am faced with an age old dilemma. Do I do a wash each week, stay clean but spend quite a bit of money on washing or save my washing, smell for a few days but save more money in the long run?

I decided neither of those options was so good so bought a few more pairs of socks and tights etc to tide me over for ten days. £1.80 every ten days is much more reasonable!

I didn't however think this through. After stuffing the machine with my laundry and then lugging the clean wet clothes back to my room I stood facing my clothes airer wondering what had got into me?

How on earth was it going to fit?
There was no way ten days of dirty clothes, bedsheets and two towels were going to fit on a small airer and get dry.

After forty five minutes of trying to squeeze socks around my wooly jumpers I had to concede that there was just no way that everything was going to get dry. The bedsheets were hanging over the wardrobe door, the towel was dripping limply on the peg and there was still half a basket full of clothes.

It was then that inspiration dawned.

I had packed string. I had also packed pegs.

Oh hello indoor washing line.

Yes, it may have been a potential hazard and yes I had difficulty getting into bed that night but I had clean, dry laundry and that my friends makes a girl happy!

This story comes from Sian's storytelling Sunday. Do pop on over to Sian's lovely blog to hear stories from around the world.

Hasn't the year flown? It feels only yesterday we were welcoming summer in and now we are saying goodbye to Autumn! Crazy times. As the days get shorter and the weather turns colder I am setting myself a few goals to keep me happy...

In November I want to...

- Get back into blog commenting and reading. I love all your words and they always give me a boost. I feel so lucky to have such a wise, funny and talented group of blog friends!

- Travel to see the boy for the weekend and get out of Durham for a bit.

- Get stuck into church. I really want to invest time in the people there.

-Make a knitted scarf for my friend

- Experiment with some oil cloth ideas.

- Not get complacent about where I live. It is truly beautiful and I don't want to become blasé about it!

What are your goals for this month?