one photo & twenty words

An adventure into water colour. I had grand hopes. Why does pinterest make things look easy? Results aren't blog worthy!

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My challenge for you today. Find one photo and choose up to twenty words to tell its story. Jot it down and link back here. The link will stay open for a week so you have plenty of time to join in! 

me on monday and a reminder

Hello, hello.
I am linking up with Sian and sharing 'me on Monday.' In my happy place, at my desk, working on this and that. A quilt here, a bit of painting there, some postcard writing in between.

It's been a long skirt wearing, cream tea eating, strawberry munching, tennis watching sort of weekend. Thrown into that were trampoline building, church going, photo taking and board game playing. One of those glorious summer weekends were it doesn't feel like a lot happens but in hindsight it really has. Do you know the sort?

This is also me on Monday issuing a little reminder....
Wednesday 9th. I'm challenging you to find one photo and tell its story in twenty words, then link back. 
(it's amazing how far twenty words will take you, as I have just shown in a reminder less than twenty words long!)
Looking forward to seeing you there! (Last month's beautiful entries can be found here)

five ways i have made project life work for me. Half way review

We are half way through the year and didn't it just fly by! 

During my first year of Project Life I wrote my thoughts at the halfway stage. This year I want to share a few ways I feel I have found my groove in this project.

If you are a project lifer perhaps these will help, if you are not, I think most of these apply to all types of memory keeping so feel free to meander through! 

1. Dropping the guilt. 

This project feels far less pressured, far easier and a far gentler craft than it did last year. Last year I was intent on making perfect pages, filling a double spread and carving out my style. 

I've let that go this year. Being behind is ok, only making one page is just perfect and my style? I'm not forcing it. It happens. 

2. Looking at the bigger picture. 

I have always created. I have always journalled or taken photos, or written stories or made things from paper and glue. I have come to realise that just because I don't feel motivated for several weeks with project life does not mean this project is going down the drain. I am naturally a memory keeper. I will always come back to it. 

Similarly, this is one creative outlet. I think there is a danger with PL that it becomes the idealised memory keeping system of the moment. It isn't. It works for me, it works for many people but it doesn't for others. It may not work for me next year, who knows! I'm soaking the system in while I can. 

3. Buying digital papers rather than specific PL cards. 

When I was finding my feet with PL last year I relied on specific PL cards. This year, I am more a fan of buying papers and suiting them to my needs in photoshop. I think it has given me more scope and it is certainly the cheaper option. 

4. Using two different templates. 

I use the template designs Q and D. I like that they can be used together, that they give the pages different feels. I like that I haven't got bored of a page template yet. I would highly recommend switching the templates up. It was one of the best decisions I made with the project this year. 

5. Being 'me'. 

I am not a big name scrapper. My pages won't look like theirs because I am not them. I want my pages to look like Abi. 

This has taken 18 months to really grasp. For me there is a fine line between looking at others work for inspiration and feeling downcast that my pages aren't as 'good' as theirs. 

Comparison is rubbish. Project life is working for me this year because I am creating to record memories, not to create a page that is magazine/blog worthy. 

As Ali Edwards has said in a recent post, "I am memory keeping for the long haul." 

I want to enjoy telling the stories, recording the memories and sharing the past. That's the bigger picture and that is what holds all of project life together. 

Ali wrote a fab post on a similar topic here and the lovely Amy followed it up in a blog post here. They are both worth a read whether you are a project lifer or not. 

June favourites

I saw this post by Elise Blaha the other day and totally fell for the format so here is my attempt....

These are things that have been making me happy in the last month...

EATING- Strawberries. Summer fruit is the best. My brother's birthday falls in mid June and my mum always makes a raspberry gateau for him. Just perfect.

LISTENING TO- "All of me" by John legend. Gorgeous song and gorgeous lyrics. I have also been enjoying Joshua Radin and a bit of Paper Aeroplanes for some slow summer music.

MAKING- Quilts and quilt squares. Lots of quilts on the go. Lots of pinning and piecing to be done. Quilting is making my heart happy at the moment.

PRACTICING- Hand lettering. Drawing fonts is hard but it is possibly the most relaxing craft I have tried. 

DRINKING- Tea. Always tea. The teabag variety at uni and the much nicer loose leaf type at home.

LOVING- Simple little stork scissors. These are kept by my sewing machine. They are super sharp, very delicate and and wonderfully pretty. Such a joy to use. I totally recommend having a pair to snip off all those ends of thread from your sewing projects. 

 What have been your favourites this last month?

Let's sit and have a cup of tea

Hello! Come in, it's so good to see you again. The kettle is on and there are some biscuits in the tin. Do pull up that chair and we can sit in the sun outside.

If I was meeting you now, I would carry the tea tray outside from the kitchen, all the while chatting and asking you questions as we poured the first steaming mug in the bright sunshine. You would probably ask about home and I would say with a happy sigh in my voice that it is good to be back. I like the slower pace of holiday time, the lazy, balmy days, the crafting in the daytime and the board games in the evenings. It is good to get away from what can be quite a high pressured academic environment. That said, I do miss my friends back in Durham. You would most likely say that it sounds idyllic and laughing I would tell you that I am painting a very rosy picture of my holidays. Much of it this time will be spent looking for work which is possibly one of the most dispiriting things to do.

I'm grumbling now. Could I offer you a cookie? They are a Beach family favourite- chocolate chip. You can't go wrong! As I passed you the tin the topic would move round to the end of term. If you have children are they finishing up for the year? My term ended beautifully with lots of picnics, social events and a wonderful college ball. It took place at a big country hotel with a ferris wheel in the grounds. Very romantic on a still summers evening. Smiling, I would tell you that I am meaning to blog those photos however there has been a bit of a boy overload on the blog recently and perhaps they could wait for a bit!

Cradling my mug in my hands we would chat about the passing of time, how quickly this year seems to have gone, how I only have one more year left of uni. As so many people ask at this stage you would bring up future plans. I am one of the lucky ones who has a pretty firm idea of what they want to do. I am planning on going into teaching. It will mean one more year of study but I am excited by it. I come from a family of teachers so I have a pretty clear idea of the highs and lows of the profession.

Speaking of school, the conversation would move to my own school and my little brother who finished there last week. I think you would nod with understanding as I told you how odd it is to say goodbye to a place I have known well for ten years. I think it was stranger for my parents. All their children have now left school. Our school was very special to us. We boarded there, we grew up there, we made lasting friendships there. On Saturday we went for the prize giving service and it was a very surreal experience to be suddenly losing that connection.
Listen to me! I'm going all nostalgic!

The teapot is topped up, another cookie is offered and as usual we begin that lovely talk about crafts and blogging and creating. I am working on lots of quilting projects at the moment. One quilt for my friend, one for me and lots of quilt squares. Are you participating in the friendship quilt? Have you had your 'month' yet? I have also got an exciting project in the works involving paper scapbooking again. I am excited and terrified about this as I haven't paper scrapbooked in nearly two years. I am hoping it will all come back to me!

We both look at our watches. Where does the time go? It seems five minutes since you came through that garden gate. I feel there is so much left to catch up on but I think that is always the case with good friends. We rise and then another topic springs to mind and we get talking again. It is only on the third attempt that we realise you really must be off. I walk you to the drive and we hug tightly.

Come back soon I say.
It is so good seeing you again. Let's do this again soon.
"definitely" you say as you turn and wave goodbye.

If you were having tea with me today what would you tell me?

If you would like to write a "tea" post please add it to the linky at the bottom so we can all sit and share with you! The linky will be open for a week so you have plenty of time! 

Come in for a brew

It's the end of the month and once again I am inviting you into the garden for a spot of tea. 

This is the meme without any rules. Simply tell me what we would talk about over a cuppa. 

Tomorrow I will be greeting you at the garden gate and you are so very welcome to join in. 

As always there are three ways to join in with the 'time for tea' meme. 

1. Grab a drink and take a tour around the world first stopping with me and reading my news and then following the links to the many other lovely ladies who join me each month in a brew and chat. 

2. A conversation is no good if I am just talking (and I do like to ramble) so feel free to keep the discussion going in the comments on mine or anyone else's blog. This meme is as much about news as it is about sharing good company. 

3. Write your own tea post. Tea posts don't have to be long. Share a list, share some summer goals, give me five things that have made you smile this week. 

Don't think too hard. Just write as you talk and I promise you there will be many of us listening. 

Simply, "what would you tell me if we were sitting down for tea together?" 

Once you have written your tea post link back here so we can all enjoy your company. (The link stays open for a week so you have plenty of time.) 

In my experience of running this meme, there are always stories to be shared, triumphs to be celebrated and losses to mourn. As our 'tea community' grows bigger there is always someone who can sympathise, laugh with or celebrate with you. The blogging community is magic. Let's celebrate it over a cup of tea! 

See you tomorrow. 

If you are stuck on what to write or how to go about a 'tea post' there is a link on the sidebar with previous posts

Project Life week 23

Catching up with this project. This is what my week 23 looked like:

Things I am loving this week: 
Having happy sunny photos. This week marked the end of exams so there was more to write about and more to document.
I am also really enjoying that collage sequence in the bottom left of the first page. It gives a chance for more photos and I like that is simple and linear.

Techniques I have tried: 
I got the graphics tablet out again to write across that photo of the library. I like the idea of journalling about the end of exams in my own handwriting.
I also tried something different with that series of photos of the boy and me. I wanted to keep them simple with just the dates so therefore stretched them across the top two pockets. I think it makes quite an impact.

Photos I have documented: 
This week was the end of exams for me, the end of a degree for the boy and a final visit to his uni house. We enjoyed a few outings whilst I was there so I recorded those. I also wanted to record the spontaneous photo that seems to happen each year. I love that it is becoming a tradition to get the 'selfie'. You can read more about it here.

Thoughts on this project: 
I am behind as usual but I have a summer to take this project at my own pace and I am excited by that. I am also looking out for some more digital supplies so if you happen to come across anything pretty do ping it my way!