Snow, Snow, Snow...

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing here. Just very small flakes whirling around in the wind. It was not until in the evening when it started settling on the ground. It continued to snow on and off during the evening and night...

These are just some photos from the neighbourhood this morning... It's still snowing more or less all the time and the sky is very grey. I definitely think we have more to come...

It seems like most of England is at a stand still. Roads closed, schools closed, trains cancelled... For me, being from Sweden, this is not very much snow at all. But here it's bad and not something you'd really want to drive in. In Sweden we have special snow tyres (no not the sow chains - this is different) which makes it safer to drive in bad conditions (not that it's ever "safe").

I frequently remember going to school in lots & lots more snow than this. Sometimes it was around -20 degrees and mum would drive us to school. It was so cold that you'd breathe in and your nostrils would stick together because of the cold. We built big (a metre, a metre and a half tall and several metres wide) snow fortresses in the garden and then had huge snowball fights with the neighbour's children. So much fun! So much snow and so cold LOL!

"A Little Tricky" Layout Class...

I designed this class as part of my on-line class work for A Trip Down Memory Lane. Please feel free to use these instructions to make your own layout. You are free to link to this page from any forum etc if you wish. Please do NOT copy this information and/or photos to use for your own classes/forums/webpages without permission.

Supplies needed:
Fancy Pants – Laugh
Fancy Pants – Confetti
Fancy Pants - Jubilate
American Crafts – Thickers – Shoe Box, White Glitter #42882
Basic Grey – Journal Block Stamps #sta-1217
October Afternoon – Photography Stamps

Also needed:
Scraps of white cardstock
Glue (I use Herma removable)
Black journaling pen (Zig Millennium)
Black Slick Writer
Charcoal Chalk Inkpad (optional)
One blue jewel (optional)
Corner rounder

Start by cutting your “Confetti” paper to size. We will be using the blue side as the base for the layout. I scrap in true A4 size, so I cut mine to 29,7x21 centimetres (cm). Please feel free to adapt to another layout size if you prefer.

Pick your photo. I’m using a standard landscape photo.

Cut a piece from the “Jubilate” paper. It should have the same width as your photo (mine’s 15,3 cm) and needs to be 8,5 cm tall. Then cut a piece from the “Laugh” paper, again the width of your photo and this time 8 cm tall. Round the two corners on ONE of the long sides on both pieces of paper. Chalk the edges.

Attach your paper pieces to your background in a long row going down. I started mine 1,5 cm from the top of the layout. First the “Laugh” paper, then your photo and finally the “Jubilate” paper. Outline with a black pen and then draw “fake stitching” around it.

Create your title above the photo. I used a mixture of Thickers chipboard alphabet and journaling by hand.

Now get a piece of scrap paper (anything will do – we’re only making a template) and freehand (or use a ruler!) an arrow. Mine’s 5 cm long. Once you’re happy with your arrow, cut it out and use it as a template to make two identical arrows. Cut one from the “Laugh” paper and one from the “Jubilate” paper. Chalk the edges and put in place using the photo below as a guide.

Stamp the big Basic Grey journaling stamp onto white card, journal, cut out, ink the edges and attach to your layout. Add a blue jewel to the side.

Finish off by adding a stamp and filling in the date.

I hope you enjoyed my class! Wishing you lots of fun creating your own version!

More Christmassy Stuff...

Another Christmas tree photo in the entry for the 21st of December and journaling about how I was playing with the settings on my camera to get different effects on the photos with the Christmas tree lights.

The page for the 22nd is a vellum page (had some from aaaages ago which I thought I might use up). It features journaling about my niece's 1st birthday which we missed back in November (due to being in different countries!). She came and visited on the 22nd and we gave her the presents then which seemed to make big success.

I'm fancying getting something new for my Cuttlebug. Been feeling like this for a few days now. Any die or embossing folder that you could recommend which you use a lot please? I'd love to hear which are your faves :)

New Class...

Yay it's Friday! :)

The on-line layout class that I mentioned here has now gone live. If you have a few moment spare, please pop over to A Trip Down Memory Lane and take a look. :) It's completely free and even if it's not your style it might just give you some inspiration for something else.

Wishing you all a great weekend!! :)

More Pages...

Still so many pages left to do for my Christmas Journal LOL! So I better keep going. Here's the next double spread in my book:

...I'm journaling about my early Christmas present (iPod Touch - which I love to bits and which you already will know if you read my blog regularly) and then on the right side if just a daytime photo of the unlit Christmas tree.

I nearly fell off my chair yesterday as I got a comment on a previous post by *the* Cathy Zielske herself. Wow - cool :)

Oh and I nearly forgot. Jana - you asked me about the overlays that I'd used in this post and what they were... Good question... *goes off to hunt on my hard drive* Yay, found it! They are by Anna Aspnes and they are called "Magic Sparkle Photo Frames 01" and "Magic Sparkle Photo Frames 02" (Designer Digitals). Hope that helps :)

Cathy's BPS class...

I have gotten a few comments/questions about Cathy Zielske's BPS class that I took..

Anonymous (sorry you didn't leave your name) - no I don't mind at all if you use "my idea" for what to do with the handouts :) Of course not :)

Jana - Yes I totally agree - Cathy's class was the best BPS class I have taken so far. I think what really made it so special was that Cathy was so much part of the class and the way she spent so much time with us on the message boards etc. It does make a huge difference and is very much appreciated by the people taking the class I think :)

This is a double layout done for the class. We were told in advance to have a one page enlargements printed and I was really pleased with how this came out when I used some Ali Edwards digital brushes straight onto the photo. Must do this again some time :)

Happy Day...

Just a quick post to show you this "Happy Day" layout. Yet another one done for the BPS class by Cathy Zielske. It's seriously the best BPS class that I have taken so far, and I really hope she will do another one at one stage as I really miss the weekly handouts etc (it ended back in December).

This was a really quick page where we had actually been supplied with the file to print the "Happy Day" text etc so it was a case of adding the Kraft cardstock to your printer, print the text and then scrap. Quick but still a lot of fun, and very satisfying :)

Thank You...

Here are the next pages in my Christmas journal:

You can see the back side of the page from yesterday (day 18) with a cosy photo of the Christmas food set out on the table. It's a transparency page so you see through to the calendar page below etc.

For the 19th I journaled about my early Christmas present. My very much loved iPod Touch which I use several times a day. We'd planned to buy them (me and Ross bought one each, for each other as such) at the airport on the way to celebrating Christmas in Sweden. But then we decided that maybe that was too big of a gamble (only a few days before Christmas and it could be sold out) so we ordered them from Amazon instead. It's definitely my favourite "gadget" by far and I'm totally in love with all the "apps" (if you have one you know what I'm talking about). I constantly have to remove some as I fill the 9 "pages/screens" allowed LOL!

Before I end for today I'd like to thank "Froggy" for giving me the blog award above. Thank you very much :)

More From My Journal...

These are the next two double spreads from my Christmas journal :)

I'm journaling a lot about the "perfect Christmas present" on the 17th..which present we thought would be the perfect present, and it did indeed turn out like that.

The page for the 18th is a half size transparency page (see the black circles on the right side) with a photo of the Christmas lunch on one side and the evening food on the back side (you will see that next time I take photos and upload).

The Million Holes That I Was Punching...

The million holes that I was punching...well it might not have been exactly a million...but it felt like it. LOL! What was I doing? This:

I had printed all the handouts etc that we got back in Oct-Dec by Cathy Zielske for the "Design Your Life" BPS class. Now these handouts were great. Seriously loved it :) Lots of good tips, layouts and sketches. As I was looking at my pile of printed out handouts, I thought to myself "this class is really like a book". And from that the idea came. To make it into a book. I mean we're talking something like (guessing here) about 150 pages, maybe more I think, look:

So I started punching holes in the pages with my Bind-It-All. And punched and punched. It's a LOT of holes LOL! Then I got some chipboard and cut some covers, found some papers and covered them. And finally I altered a graphic from one of the handouts and printed out as a title/cover for the book. I used red 1 inch o-wires for the binding and that fit perfectly, just. I'm seriously pleased with how this came out (you really don't get the feel for the look and sturdiness etc in the photo) and I can see that I will use and refer to this a lot :)