April - where did it go?

April is a busy time in our family as it's my husband's birthday as well as both of our son's birthdays - and invariably Easter is usually somewhere in the mix! This year was my OH's 50th, so an extra special birthday and both boys managed to come home for it so we had a lovely family day.

The weather in our little corner of the world is still very changeable and unpredictable, there doesn't seem to be so much rain anymore and we even seem to be getting the occasional ray of sunshine but boy, the wind is dominating everything now and it's oh-so-cold! Every time I open the door to leave the house the door almost gets ripped out of my hand!

We are STILL in the process of house-selling/house-buying and as I can be  little superstitious that's all I'm going to say at this point! It does mean, however, that crafting has taken a real back seat due to all the other things that are going on and I'm managing to keep on top of the scrapping addiction with my Project Life, it's been my salvation. As it's only a small album I don't feel guilty about making a little time every weekend to satisfy my creative urges! I can't wait for the day I can surround myself with all of my stash again though!

I joined the lovely Julie Kirk's "Push-up bra approach to blogging" a few weeks ago, I love her humorous style of writing and this series has been so informative and thought-provoking for someone like me who really wants to blog but just procrastinates about it most of the time. I really recommend it to any of you out there who like the idea of blogging but - like me - aren't really sure where to start. I also love that, instead of charging for this class Julie is encouraging everyone to donate to her Just Giving page in aid of "Save the Children". 

Again, I'm unable at the moment to give this the time it deserves and the time I want to give to it, but I'm making notes (in my shiny new notebook!!) for when I have a little more time on my hands again. There are so many good ideas to work through...

Well it's back to the mundane stuff for me for now, hope you're all well out there in blog land!
Much love.xxx

Life...

Sometimes life can feel tricky...

I've been feeling very restless for a week or so, a bit sad and teary and I don't know what on earth is the matter with me, but I know it's not the first time. I'm wondering if it's my age (does anyone know if this could be true? I was born in 1965 so I'll let you work out how old I am! ;))

Everything and anything sets me off at the moment and everywhere I look I see doom and gloom. But that's just me, not what's around me really. I'm sure I'll snap out of it soon...

I've been carrying on with my Project Life which I enjoy very much. These are some of the pages.

They seem to have uploaded in the wrong order though!

I have also got completely carried away making cards with illustrations from second hand books I bought from a local charity shop, as well as using my basket of scrap bits of paper and assorted embellishments. I'm particularly in love with decorative pins at the moment. 

I'm not usually a pastel person but I love the combination of turquoise and pink. Needless to say that being creative usually goes a long way towards making me forget things that are bothering me as I get completely engrossed in what I am doing at that moment.

Much love,

Angie x

Project Life

I did my own take on Project Life last year using a 12x12 American Crafts D-Ring Binder and my own assortment of papers and paper scraps, which is a very good way of using up bits and pieces. At times, however, I found the 12x12 page protectors a little too much to fill up so this year I have opted for a Simple Stories 6x8 binder and I am quite smitten with the Simple Stories Sn@p Collection, so I am using a mixture of Sn@p papers and elements, some Smash stuff and other bits and pieces I already have. I'm quite pleased with results so far, even though it's only been 4 weeks of course! Having said that, the 6x8 format may end up a tiny bit too small...there's no pleasing some people , I know!

I'm forever trying to organize and re-organize my crafting stuff and I currently have a reasonably sized plastic tub with all my Sn@p elements, journalling cards, stickers, random but cut-to-size pieces of patterned paper, pens, glue, washi tape, date stamps, ephemera and so on sitting on a chair in the dining room, so if it needs to be out of sight I can just push the chair under the table!!

I can't get enough of those Sn@p colours, they really do make me feel cheerful. 

Happy New Year!

 I'm back! 

I was lucky enough to travel to Basel in December for the second year in a row as my friend's brother lives there. Basel fascinates me as it sits right on the German/French/Swiss border, so coming from Germany originally a lot of what I see, hear and eat (yum!) there is familiar to me which is great fun.

We had the opportunity to visit a number of beautiful old towns and their Christmas markets which I love and can never get enough of. Who doesn't love a mug of Gluhwein!? 

I love how every nook and cranny is decorated for Christmas and I particularly love a lot of the windows.

Another thing I get really excited about is that in Alsace there are still REAL storks. Storks have been something magical to me since I was a little girl living in Germany and I do remember seeing the odd stork's nest on a roof. Of course there aren't any storks in Alsace during the winter but some of the nests are, and I love spotting them. (Is that really sad...?)

My favourite building has to be this one, the Gingerbread House, another thing that takes me straight back to childhood and stories like Hansel and Gretel. The Grimm Brothers Fairly Tales are one of my  most favourite things in the whole world, I am really just a little girl at heart.

There are often people in traditional dress at the Christmas Markets, and these two lovely girls in traditional Alsatian dress got a lot of attention from the boys!

I wonder which Christmas Market I will visit in 2013?

I'm not a great believer in New Years Resolutions and I don't generally make any, but I would very much like to blog more this year, and I want to craft much much more. But I think I may need to become a little more organised and focused, and somehow bring a little structure into my life.

I'd love to know how some of you manage to structure your lives?