notes on paper

Art Journaling: Power Dressing .. for Dogs

2012-01-22T22:32:00.000Z

Hello.

Do you have someone in your life who prevents you from taking life too seriously? Someone who, despite all your best efforts not to give-in, makes you laugh even when you're trying make a deep and meaningful point?

I do. I live with him.

And this is a page a made about one such 'OK, you win, I'm smiling' conversations which took place between us recently:

As the journaling says, I'd heard a Radio4 programme all about training Search + Rescue dogs, the dogs which sniff you out when you're stranded in a forest ... or whatever. And in it they discussed how, when it was time to go to 'work' the handlers dressed the dogs in a coat to mark the change that would be expected in the dogs' behaviour:

At tea time I'd told James all about this programme mainly for the following reason:

when I'd been listening all I could think about was if I was stranded, injured, cold and lost somewhere, just hoping to be found ... how exactly I would feel if some barking dogs came dashing around a corner to 'save' me.

Because that would definitely be a case of being caught between rock and a hard place for a me!

Anyway ... later that night ...

"You need to get a little coat ... like the dogs." he said, looking at me with his 'I know, I'm impertinent ... but I'm funny with it' face.

And I laughed. And suddenly it didn't seem like such an issue any more.

Besides ...

... what's not to smile about when you've just been handed on a plate a perfectly valid excuse to go and buy a new jacket?

---------------------------------

Whether you're working from home, from a desk or from a cold forest surrounded by well-dressed dogs, I hope you have a happy week ahead.

Julie ;-)

Painted Project: A little friend

2012-01-20T16:03:00.000Z

Hi, hi.

As someone with a birthday quite soon after Christmas I know all too well how hard people find it to send you a gift that [a] you really want or [b] you might just need ... or even [c] that you actually like.

You see, the thign is, us Capricorns have had no time at all post-Christmas to run out of anything to put on our Birthday Wish List.

Actually ... no, we may, like the rest of the population have run out of money, but that's soooo boring to ask for. Especially when you, like most other people, are tired of shopping by that time of year and we just dream of a nice little non-Christmassy [hopefully not random dregs from the 'Sale' bin] gift landing in your hands.

In birthday wrapping paper.
[NB: I am aware that, to any nowhere-near-Christmas babies amongst you I might sound ungrateful ... but before you judge me just take a moment to consider how, unless I wanted the gift of hypothermia for my birthday:

I have never had an outdoor party; and
I've never been able to wear a little floaty dress to a birthday meal!

I know ... you've got tears in your eyes now ... I can see ... ].

Anyway ...

A friend of mine is in an even more vulnerable birthday position than I am as hers comes only 4 [rather than my 16] days after the Big Day so, with all that in mind, I wanted to make her something special. Something brand new, not from the sales and - most importantly - something she would know for a fact wasn't an unwanted 'regifted' Christmas gift!

And here's what I decided on:

It's her. As a Kokeshi Doll.

As I'm not going to show you a picture of her you're just going to have to trust me that it looks just like my friend ... exactly in fact ... kind of ... just about. Ish.

Pre-Christmas I'd bought a 'Paint Your Own Japanese Friendship Doll' kit, from the toy department of a local sells-a-bit-of-everything type shop [FYI: I have since seen them on Amazon], containing 3 blank wooden doll figures, paint, instructions etc. Not that I used any of that.

Instead I used my own acrylics to create this little replica. Complete with floral tunic and jeans - rather than a kimono:

The face and details took a little bit of concentration and a steady hand and [apart from spattering flesh coloured paint on my dark brown leather sofa] ... I think everything turned out OK in the end:

When I was photographing her to share with you I thought I'd take a shot of her standing next to the wooden figure we have in our dining room ... to give you an idea of scale ...

And then, afterwards, I realised that you probably don't know how big the big wooden figure is either !!! So I'll just tell you that she's approx 3.5 inches tall.

The doll that is.

Not the friend.

Fortnately for me, my friend overlooked the startling lack of arms on the doll and even liked the bulging bit around the chest! So it was definitely worth the effort.

-------------------------------------

When I blogged about my birthday last week I know there seemed to be a lot of January birthdays out there, so if that applies to you Happy Birthday! And if you're going to be giving a gift to a Capricorn anytime soon ... have pity on those of us born in a dark, cold month which most people only ever complain about ... and buy/make them something to brighten their day.

Julie :-)

------------------------------------

p.s:

There's still time to use the code 2012BIRTHDAY to receive 20% off everything in my Etsy shop. The discount is applied at the checkout.

And finally:

I've been in touch with Sheena, the winner of my birthday giveaway and, any moment now, her personalised, custom-themed, pack of Plundered Pages will be landing on her doormat.

Plundered Pages Giveaway Winner + Discount Code

2012-01-16T13:12:00.004Z

Hello again.

How are you feeling today?

If you just replied to that question in a grunt, mumble or, worse still, through tears then don't panic - it's only understandable:

On the news here in the UK today they've been referring to today as 'Blue Monday' as it's supposedly the most depressing day of the year!
Last Friday was Friday the 13th after all ...
Plus last night was the rather harrowing final episode of this series of Sherlock for goodness sake! And if you're not feeling bereft after that, then really ... what's wrong with you?

So, with all that in mind I feel obliged to do my Pollyanna bit and raise some spirits around here.

So I'll begin by announcing ith the winner of the custom-designed pack of Plundered Pages from my birthday giveaway.

I used random.org to choose the winning number:

Which made the Sheena the winner :

I'll be getting in touch with Sheena ASAP to finalise what she'd like in her custom pack.

----------------------------------
If you'd like your own custom pack I'll be happy to work on one for you. Maybe you'd want one based around:

your 'word of the year';
your blog;
an upcoming holiday/event etc you plan to scrap;
or really just a mix of everything you like with a few surprises thrown in.

The custom packs will retail at £14 and for that I will provide assistance in working out what you'd like in your unique collection. Just drop me an email or contact me via Etsy to discuss your options.
----------------------------------

If you fancy an existing pack, then I've just added 7 new packs to my shop with themes ranging from Geek stuff, to Ballet to the Circus!

Now here's where I extend my post-birthday good cheer even further in an attempt to brighten your day ...

-----------------------------------------------------

until next Monday [23rd Jan] use the code:

2012BIRTHDAY

at the checkout to receive 20% off any order from my etsy shop.

[This includes custom packs which will be added to the shop for purchase].

-----------------------------------------------------

I also wanted to thank you for all the amazing Plundered Pages feedback that was left in the comments on the original giveaway post. You've given me a great boost and also lots of ideas for future themes!

I hope you find something you like enough to grab while the special offer's on.

Happy pack-hunting!

Julie :-)

January 'Month in Numbers' reminder, plus a few vintage numbers

2012-01-15T18:25:00.001Z

Hi, hi.

We're half-way through the month so it seemed a good a time as any to drop by to say that in another 15 or so days I'll be blogging my first 'Month in Numbers' post of 2012 ... and I know some of you will be doing the same.

So, in case you've forgotten to start saving your statistics for January, consider this a gentle reminder, one which I'll try to repeat on or around the 15th of each coming month.

If you're new here and you'd like to know more about on the whole Month in Numbers idea then you can click here where you can read the full details.
There's also a permanent link there to my tutorial looking at 'How To Record Your Month in Numbers' if oyu need a bit of inspiration to get you started.

The very next day after I blogged that tutorial back in December, I found this fabulous 1960s school book in a charity shop:

A more handsome, creative, amazing maths book I couldn't wish to find!

Its pages are ones which I won't be plundering for my vintage paper packs and it will live out its days on my 'Ones that got away' shelf. I aim to share more of its lovely pages with you each month, in my 15-day Month in Numbers reminder posts.

I'm still thrilled at the coincidence of writing the tutorial one day - all about where to find your monthly numbers and how to record them - then discovering this gem 24 hours later!

There couldn't have been a more appropriate book waiting for me to find it that day. I mean ... look ... this page could have been made for those of us scouring for statistics:

I hope it inspires you to keep spotting and jotting down your own numbers, I'll most likely be sharing mine on Tuesday 31st January - but you can join in any time at all.

I'm really looking forward to seeing who's playing along this year! I'll be back a little earlier than that though. Tomorrow in fact, when:

I'll be announcing the winner of my birthday giveaway; and ...
I'll have news of a special offer in my Etsy shop.

Until then then ...

Julie

Birthday Giveaway!

2012-01-10T11:38:00.002Z

Hello again and ... Happy New Year to you and ... Happy Birthday!!

What? Haven't you got a birthday today? No?

OK, that must be just me then!

On my birthdays when I was young my Grandma and Great Aunts and Uncles would often give my sister a little gift too. And no, we're not twins. They just used to think it was nice not to leave her out on when I was receiving lots of presents [and vice versa on her birthday]. So, with that in mind, I'd like to offer a little gift your way today:

You might have already seen my 'Plundered Pages' range of themed vintage paper packs in my Etsy shop, but if not then you can catch up on what they are here.

This year I'd really like to build on the idea of offering custom packs tailored to suit exactly what you'd like to find in a pack of papers so here's your chance to grab one for free. As my birthday gift to you.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS - NB: the giveaway is now CLOSED - thank you to all who entered.

I'm offering one person a fully customised [large] pack of original vintage/retro papers and images.
The deadline for entries is Saturday 14th January 2012 at 6pm [GMT].
~~To enter simply make it clear in a comment on this post that you'd like your name adding to the giveaway list.~~

~~If you'd like to add in details about the kinds of themes and topics you might like to find in your pack, you're welcome to do that too. [It won't effect the outcome at all - it's just for fun].~~

I'll select a winner at random on Sunday.
If you're selected as the winner I will need to be able to get in touch with you so we can discuss what you'd like in your pack - so please bear that in mind when you log in [or not] to leave your comment. I need to be able to click a link, or at least copy + paste an address you've added to your comment so I can find you again and let you know you won.

Examples of custom themed packs:

If you need some inspiration as to the kinds of things you could request in your custom pack here's a few I made earlier ...

This one was requested by someone putting together an album to celebrate a 60th Birthday:

For me to know what to include the customer gave me some details about the man for whom the album was being made, things such as:

where he grew up;
his activities as a child [trips to the beach etc];
his occupation in the advertising field;
his love of art and culture;
and his current hobbies and activities.

I then tootled off to browse my collection to put this pack together.

As with all my packs, there's far more tucked inside than what is visible in the front + back photos.

Anothe request came from someone compiling an album of recipes handed down through her family and she gave me the theme of 'Vintage Food / Cooking / Kitchens' to work with. Here's a few of the items which made it into this pack:

It included various vintage advertisements, recipes, dictionary definitions, illustrations ... and more:

Next up is a pack I put together as agift for a friend, tailored very much to the things I know she likes such as: cats; cute dogs; baking; pink ... and flamingoes:

I even parted with a fabulous 1950s dress-pattern advert for this pack ... because I like her and I'm kind like that ....

I've also put together a couple of packs for friends I know through their blogs and the stories they tell there, which is what I based their themes around.

For some reason I haven't taken photos of any of these but luckily Sian of From High in the Sky blogged this photo of the pack I made for her. [This computer won't let me add a link properly but you can find Sian here:

http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com/2011/11/tuesday-tuesday_15.html I'll change it when I get home!]

As I was compiling her pack I was stunned to find a page in one of my books which featured part of her blog name in it! It was a perfect Plundered Pages moment for me!

I hope these examples give you an idea of the range of themes, topics, images you could receive and approaches you could take if you win a pack for yourself.

Feel free to contact me if you'd like a custom pack of your own at any time too.

--------------------------

Right then, I'll be off to enjoy the rest of my birthday ... so far [being in work on and off today] I've had a celebratory banana and a drink of water and am just about to walk up 7 flights of stairs to attend lecture. You're jealous, I know. I predict dark chocolate, caramel and sea-salt truffles later this evening to make up for things!

See you soon. Good luck with the giveaway.

Julie [aka The Birthday Girl]

My Month in Numbers 2011: December

2011-12-31T12:22:00.000Z

Hi, hi, hi.

Here it is - the final Month in Numbers post of 2011 which features some suitably Christmassy statistics, starting with my first ever craft fair as a seller ...

2 = the number of tables which were booked between myself and 3 friends at a church hall Christmas fair.

4 = the number of tables we'd managed to colonise by the close of day ... let me explain ...

Here's Table #1 where Jan and I set out our items [here's my little patch with my collages, magnets, brooches, cards and paper packs]:

And here's Table #2, featuring Effie and Jean's stock:

So how did we do?

Let's just say that business was slow. Very slow. We quickly realised that this wasn't the right fair for our style of products and several other vendors seemed to feel the same as they packed up and disappeared before lunch ... which is where Table #3 came from. When the other people left, we spread out a little ....

And then we spread a bit further when the people from Table #4 went home:

Not that it did us a great deal of good ...

£5 = the grand total I made, after fees.

Yet it wasn't a complete waste of time, the others faired better than me and it was definitely a valuable learning experience. For example I learned that:

people aren't afraid of talking about your stock even though you're standing right in front of them;
Outside the creative community the idea of 'Handmade' is a niche idea to the wider public. So many people asked 'Did you make it all yourselves?' with such a completely baffled / awed look on their faces.

Also ...

I learned that if you're going to spend 4 hours in a church hall, with a children's Christmas performance going on in the next room and where the vicar walks around talking to everyone ... at some point you'll feel like you're inside an episode of Rev.
Plus I learned lots of new kinds of coat beginning with each letter of the alphabet as we played The Alphabet Game during the quiet times [ie: most of the day!].

And my biggest lesson of the day was:

Never to do a craft fair where there's also face-painting on offer ...

Speaking of handmade ...

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = the numbers featuring on the bag Effie made me for Christmas:

3 = the number of sewing machines she went through to make it - watch this little video clip on her blog to see the amazing machine she ended up having to use to finish it!

6 degrees = the temperature in my back garden on Boxing Day:

15 degrees C = the difference in temperature between this year and the photo I took for my Month in Numbers post last December which showed Minus 9 during the day.

15 degrees difference!!! And no, I haven't moved countries, it's some strangely mild weather we're having here. Just think ... if next December were to be 15 degrees warmer than this ... Christmas would be a balmy 21 degree C summer's day ...

And here's another 15 ...

15 = the number of projects posted off to Creativity and Papercraft Inspirations magazine:

5.25 = The number of the dye I used to colour my hair with its other name being an accidentally-yet-highly-appropriately festive: 'Frosted Chestnut'!

935 = approximately how many fewer pages there are in the vintage illustrated Don Quixote James gave me for Christmas than there are in the [as yet unfinished] 'proper' version which I've been attempting to read for about 3 years.

Here's the final page [from which I'm still about 850 pages from in the 'proper' version]:

And here's what page it features on:

As I opened it James commented: "I thought you might get this one finished" ... and he might just be correct! [Not that I've actually finished it yet!]

Here's who else joined in with their December numbers:

First timer Helen of 'Helen's World' joined in with her first Month in Numbers here.
And another novice number counter who heard about the idea on UKScrappers was Sue C of 'A Little Bit of Organised Heaven' who joined in with this post.
Jayne of 'Paper Wool + Thread' joined in by spending some of the last few minutes of 2011 writing up her post, here!
Fiona of 'Staring at the Sea' shared her statistics once again, beginning with a great before + after photo here.
Laura of 'Airing Cupboard Crafts' blogged her project plans for 2012 here which includes joining in with Month in Numbers.
Claire of 'The Crafty Alchemist' managed to blog - and scrapbook - her Month inNumbers each month throughout 2011 and in her final post of the year here she shows no signs of stopping just yet!
Mel of 'Let's Get Scrappy' joined in here with tales of travel and a Pointless game.
Sian of 'From High in the Sky' shared another great scrapbook page featuring her month's summary here.

--------------------------

Thank you for reading my final statistical summary of the year but I'll be back in a month's time with the first My Month in Numbers of 2012 [there's a birthday involved ... but I doubt my age will be one of my featured numbers!].

To those who've been talking about joining in with your own Month in Numbers during 2012 ['Hello' to you if you're new here from the UKScrappers thread where some of you have been chatting about joining in!] here are few useful links:

The Month in Numbers page where you can find full list of all 24 previous posts of mine plus the blog button if you want it!
My recent tutorial post on 'How to Record Your Month inNumbers' which features lots of tips and ideas on how to get started ... and how to keep going!

Give it a go, see what you think, try it out in a format which suits you and don't forget to link me up when you do.

And if you've managed to fit in your own final one of the year now - leave me a link to that too and I'll add you to this post when I get chance [in between taking decorations down!].

So, as 2011 walks off into the distance and the top of 2012's head begins to appear on the horizon I'd like to wish you 365 brand new days filled with enough happy and healthy moments that you forget to count the less happy and healthy ones.

See you soon.

Julie x

A Christmas Greeting

2011-12-23T18:29:00.000Z

Hello you.

Actually, is that you? I can't quite make you out behind that pile of wrapping-paper scraps and under that slightly wonky Santa hat.

How's it going? Have you broken open the Christmas cake or the emergency supplies of chocolate and/or alcohol yet?

Me? Well, I'm planning my night's TV viewing while waiting for James to come back from the Indian takeaway with a festive Sag Aloo and Garlic Chilli Chicken Karai. And two naan breads. [We're nothing if not traditional ...].

In a more traditionally seasonal moment let me grab this chance to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Thank you for dropping in on me here from time to time during the last year. I'll be back on New Year's Eve with my final Month in Numbers of 2011.

Whatever you're doing, whoever you're with, wherever you're going to wake up on Christmas morning ... may you have a happy heart, peace of mind and at least one gift which shows you that someone has worked out what you'd really like!

Take care, grab a chance to put your feet up at some point, and I'll see you next week.

Julie x

Overheard: Ahh... but he's a clean-handed idiot.

2011-12-16T22:02:00.000Z

Hi, hi.

Wednesday afternoon was a bit of a treat for me.

Not only had I just finished the day job for Christmas ... and not only was I trying on a nice pink jumper ... I was also listening in to an amazing conversation happening across the changing room ...

Young woman 1 to Young woman 3: No, I met him when I was shopping the other day ... I just thought she'd like him.

[Turns out that 'she' was Young woman 2.]

Young woman 2 [unconvinced]: You said he was an idiot.

Young woman 1: Yeah ... but ... a nice idiot. I just thought you'd like him.

Young woman 2 [although I couldn't see her face I could tell by her voice that there was some heavy-duty eye-rolling going on]: Yeah, well ... if I ever find myself shopping at midnight and I'm bored then ...

Young woman 1 [with one final, beautiful, attempt to match-make]: You both carry wet wipes in your bag ...

And, my friends, I'm afraid we'll never know if this masterstroke of persuasion won Young Woman 1 over because, by this point I'd finished trying my jumper on and left the changing room [not before getting my diary out and writing it all down of course!]

I thought that this photo proved how there really is someone for everyone. I mean, there's at least two of us who can have a high-old-time making freaky faces by sticking on the discs from the holes of cardboard ribbon reels on to our eyelids ... and then take photos. So maybe there's hope for the wet-wipe pair after all.

'See' you soon.

Julie :-)

[Oh and in case you're wondering yes, the jumper fit. I bought it. Looks nice, thanks.]

Layout: Holy Halloween Costume Bat Girl

2011-12-13T21:50:00.000Z

Hello.

It's very blustery and wet here and I walked about for the most part of the day with wet socks ... but enough about me, how are you? You hanging in there? Not been blown away yet?

Unless ofcourse you're in another hemisphere to me, in which case it's more like summer for you isn't it? And your socks are probably dry today.

But now allow me to further seasonally confuse me you even further as I share both the page I've got to share today and the story behind how it came to be.

A few months ago the lovely, hugely talented, Sharmaine Krujiver and I decided to have a little 'stash-swap' between us. So I put together a custom Plundered Pages pack, based on the topics and stories she blogs about at '4 Squirts and a Dollop of Cream', and posted it off to the Southern Hemisphere ....meanwhile this pretty parcel packed with goodies found itself on my [much colder] doormat as somethign of an early Christmas gift:

There were lots of lovely things inside, some of which I've already used [like the ticket, cabochon, vintage paper, button and envelope on this recent layout for example] and others which will be cropping up in my work until they've been used up!

And a few of them made their way on to today's page ... about Halloween [yes, I know it's the wrong season for this ... but I couldn't scrap Halloween photos until after Halloween could I?].

Anyway, here it is:

The large butterfly die-cut and the cabochons came from Sharmaine, a did the little cloud stickers.

I do accept that, in my doing fancy things to the contrast and colour in the above photo I have pretty much removed my nose thereby giving me more than a passing resemblance to a feminine Voldemort ... now let me move on to something equally as scary to some of you ...

Here I used butterlfy peel-offs [yes peel-offs and look - I lived to tell the tale!] as masks before inking over them which is one of my ~~only~~ current favourite uses for peel-offs. And similarly I heat embossed a few more butterflies as a resist before spritzing and using a brush to swipe spray ink across the page:

Here I created a little character from a tag, sticker, ticket and cabochon from Sharmaine and some ArtChix German Scrap wings and paper doll wellies from 3DJean.

And as for that costume ... well, it wasn't actually a costume ... it was just a regular dress I found on a rail in New Look! Not that I bought it for everday-wear you understand ... those days have gone [I haven't worn a dress that tight for a few years now ... and secretly I quite enjoyed it!] but I did buy it specifically for the Halloween party and not for a night out ... unlike some people:

And as for the title, well, my friend Kirsty and I often refer to each other as Bat Girl, [that sounded perfectly normal to me ... until I typed it out loud ...] so when I went to a Halloween party as a glamorous bat ... it seemed like a natural title choice!

So there we have it, seasonally a little late and sartorially a little questionable - but a lot of fun. And yes, I have kept the dress ... but I think it's going to be staying on the hanger until at least next Halloween!

OK ... I'll let you put your Christmas head back on now. See you soon.

Julie :-)

How to Record your Month ... in Numbers

2011-12-09T13:30:00.000Z

Hi, hi.

Next month [January 2012] will mark the 2nd anniversary of me blogging My Month in Numbers.

Not that I ever intended it to be a regular feature, I'd just had some pretty interesting numbers to record that month and the idea just spilled out ... then some people seemed to like the idea [me being one of them] ... and I just kept going.

Over that time I've had questions about exactly how I go about recording all of my numbers and about how I don't forget them and which ones I choose to feature and so on, so finally I've put together the following 'Tips for the Month-in-Numbers-curious' for anyone who's ever wanted them!

Warning: if you've ever harboured a romantic notion that I have divine inspiration when it comes to recording my monthly stats ... prepare to feel like Dorothy when she discovers the Wizard of Oz is just little guy pushing buttons. But, if you're OK with that ... then read on ...

The HOW
How are you going to work out what's happened each month and which numbers belong to those events?

I guess the most simple answer to that would be to say - write it down, make notes, add things in your diary except ... while this is what I do from time to time, it isn't what's consistently kept me blogging my Month in Numbers for 2 years.

But what has helped me the most is my photographs.

Whether or not you plan to use photographs to illustrate your Month in Numbers blog post they're a great aide memoire when it comes to writing your post and preventing one month's events blurring into another.

So you're going to need to find all the photographs you took during the month in question:

You can do this by looking at the date stamp on the photo - but you can make this easier still by storing your photos in monthly folders.
I store the majority of my 'general life' photos in folders marked with the year, containing sub-folders for each month. A quick look through that folder brings up the events of the month ... which is usually my MinN starting point.

Failing that, during less organised months, I go to Picasa [a free photo editing+ organising package] and use the slider bar at the top to 'Filter by Date Range':

Here I can adjust the date range so it only shows me the photos taken in the last month:

Then I know for sure that those are the moments, memories and events which are the starting point for my post. It's amazing how often I misremember and would end up writing about something that happened over a month ago if I hadn't checked the dates on the photos.
I believe Apple's iPhoto has a similar function, and I would guess most other photo storage packages let you sort like this too.

If you don't take lots of photos then I think your best resource will indeed be a notebook ... or the online equivalent ...

The WHEN
I don't tackle my entire 'Month in Numbers' post the day I plan to publish it. That way madness [and a very brief post] lies.

Often, as soon as I publish the current MiN post, I immediately create a new draft post for the following month.

Then, throughout the new month I can open it up and add in quick ideas, things that have just happened, numbers I've just thought of, rough notes and sometimes photos straight away.

Then, when the end of the month arrives there's the basic shape of a post already waiting for me.

I then knock it into shape, adding in details, more photos and constructing actual sentences!

So, you've browsed through your photos, you've got a few ideas and reminders of your month PLUS you know where you're going to store the numbers and the inspiration when it strikes - now let's move on to exactly what you'll be documenting ...

The WHAT
What are you going to record? Which numbers?

Some months the numbers will be obvious and come completely naturally to you.

there'll be birthdays;
anniversaries;
house moves;
travel;
sporting events;
winning the lottery [OK, so that one might not be a monthly occurrence ... but we can hope!]

And all of these kinds of events will give up their numbers naturally: ages; dates; distances; scores; lucky numbers etc etc

But unless your life is so very much more eventful than mine ... you're also going to have to seek out the numbers within some of life's more day-to-day events.

so what are your key - everyday - events?
what are your activities / hobbies?
who or what have you shared your month with?
what have you made?
anything unusual and out-of-the-ordinary happen?
alternatively is there anything that happens so often, it's regular, repetitive? Because the numbers involved there are going to be worth collecting too - and even comparing with the same thing in the next month!

So, once you've worked out your events, now you need to let the numbers emerge from them and here's where you need to think like you're still in Primary School.

Think: money, think size, weight, height, time, distance, temperature, frequency and so on ... any and all measurements are useful!

For example:

What did something cost?
How big was it?
How heavy?
How often did X happen?
How much did something / someone grow?
How many X did you make / receive / give / find / lose?
How long did X take?
How far did you walk / drive / swim / fly?
How may pages did you read / write?

It's all really just a form of documenting your daily life.

Then, pretty soon, you won't be on your own doing this as I've found that once people know you're recording your Month in Numbers, they start offering you suggestions!

For me it's often James or my Dad ... or people on Twitter!

But if you have kids you could get them involved in offering suggestions or keeping a record of their own special statistics.
Or maybe it's a project they'd like to do for themselves?
That would make a great family record to look back on in the future.

Once you're up and running, I promise that the numbers will start to leap out at you more often and more easily. Especially when you're browsing through your photos and asking yourself the kinds of measurement questions listed above.

However ... there will be other months where you'll find yourself crowbarring the numbers in like an Ugly Sister's foot into a glass slipper!

But that's OK too. In fact, it's often these that tell the true story of your month ...

It's like the time in 2010 that I met one of my writing heroes David Sedaris and there was no possible way that that event was going to be left out of my monthly round-up. But which numbers could I fit around it?

Well, I started with the obvious: 250 - which equalled the number of miles travelled to London to see him. But that didn't tell a big enough story so ... so I added in 125 as that was the amount - in millilitres - of hair conditioner he gave me after he signed my book. [He was handing out similar bottles to everyone ... from hotel rooms he'd stayed in while touring ... yes, I know it's odd ... but you can forgive your heroes anything!]

But what I'm hoping this shows is that, no matter what the event, the moment, the memory, there are numbers there, if you look hard enough.

But, if you're wondering why you need to look that hard, why bother if there are no obvious numbers to record ... then ...

it's because, really .. you don't want to forget The WHY
Why are you recording these numbers in the first place?

The BIG SECRET ... revealed

For me, it's not actually because the numbers - in and of themselves - are the story. They're not. But what they are is:

a handy, interesting hook for you to hang the story of your month on to.
the padding which gives a shape to each set of 4 weeks in your life;
the focus for you to begin writing down what happened in the last 30 days;
a clear, simple, way to share your stories with people who read your blog [but who you wouldn't neccesarily share your secret diary entries with!].

So, it doesn't matter if you have to bend, twist and contort the numbers to fit the events ... because the events are more important - the numbers are just there to help you record the events.

Not vice versa.

Then, when you look back upon them in maybe a year's time ... those statistics will still mean something to you simply because of the story they were attached to.

The other HOW ... or HOW TO PRESENT YOUR NUMBERS
I know some of you are planning to blog yours next year and maybe, like me, you'll illustrate this with photographs but ...

Alternatively ...

You could make a scrapbook page featuring your numbers each month and then blog the page which is what Month in Numbers stalwart Claire Salisbury of 'The Crafty Alchemist' has been doing each month throughout 2011.
Now she has a beautiful album and a full year of events, to look back on through her colourful pages:

If 12x12 layouts aren't your thing ...

Alternatives to the alternative:

how about a digital scrapbook page? Maybe using a template to add in a few photos and space for your stories [perhaps something on a smaller scale to the approach Alexa took with her September album here]
you could art journal or 'smashbook' or 'glue-book' your Month in Numbers;
you could just blog one single photo that sums up your most important number of the month'
you could add to the pages of a mini-album with your new numbers each month;
make monthly tags;
or even just keep a regular journal / notebook and fill it with your statistical summaries.

Whatever you choose to do, whichever numbers you choose to make a note of and however you choose to record and share them ... I hope you enjoy it while you're doing it and then enjoy it all over again when you look back at it in the future.

And whether you join in every month, once a year or as and when you can, that's all fine by me. Just make sure to drop by and leave me a link when you do so I can swing by to compare statistics!

---------------------

I know I've packed a lot in this post, but I'll add a link to it in the Month in Numbers tab at the top of the blog for ease of reference, or you could pin it to one of your Pinteerst boards if that's easier for you.

Thanks so much for your interest in the Month in Numbers idea this year, I can't wait to see how you all adapt it in 2012!

Happy number-hunting.

Julie :-)

Cards: mini Christmas cards with Cosmo Cricket.

2011-12-06T16:45:00.001Z

Hi, hi, hi.

How big are yours? Your Christmas cards I mean ...

This year, some of mine are just 3x3 inches - not that that makes them any quicker to complete than my usual 6x6 and 4x4 size. But then, I ought to know from personal experience that small things can be equally as high maintainance as the average-sized ...

But enough about me ... here's those other festive little ones:

The cards are 3DJean shop Design Team project for this month so I used the Cosmo Cricket Dear Mr.Claus and the Mixed Christmas Coloured Carnations which are both in stock there at the moment.

After stitching a square of the Cosmo paper to the cards I added a postage stamp die-cut [which is this one from X-Cut] on top, followed by a smaller square cut from the papers for an added postage stamp effect:

Ideally I'd have stamped '25p' on each one - as if it were an actual postage stamp, but my tiny Studio G lettering stamps don't include numbers - so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for some small number stamps [although I'll probably find some ... just as I forget exactly why I thought I needed some ... ]

Anyway, I used rub-ons on some instead and added the paper flowers, a few gems and a stamped greeting:

I made these while I was away on my early-Christmas-crafty-friends-in-a-cottage-weekend where ideas and supplies can spread like wildfire. The greeting stamp I used wasn't mine - but it found itself being passed around the entire group of us to add to one project or another. In return, my postage stamp dies were put to use by others too ... and the mini-sewing machine, which someone else set-up in the kitchen, was for all and sundry to use.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... it takes a crafty-village to complete a project sometimes!

I've got a nice Kars reindeer stamp I'd like to try out on my next set of cards so I'll share them if/when I have any success with it.

After buying the new stamp, it danwed on me that it'll be the 2nd year in a row I''ll have made tiny Christmas cards with deer on them ... so I'm deciding to call it my 'signature style' ... because it sounds so much nicer than 'repetitive' and 'unoriginal' ... doesn't it?

Happy almost-Christmas to you.

Julie :-)

Vintage Books: it's not what you're thinking ...

2011-12-04T15:27:00.001Z

Hi, hi, hi.

Occasionally, when casually leafing through one of the old books I've gathered in to my hoard, something stops me in my tracks.

Sometimes it's the wonderfully retro typography. Sometimes it's the amazing colour schemes of the illustrations. And sometimes ...

... sometimes it's the splutter-inducing titles of the articles.

Like this:

Have you been seeking a new way to enjoy your bangers? Have you? Well you'll just have to wait a minute before I share the advice they give.

But if that all sounds a touch too energetic for you, perhaps you'd prefer to read about:

Alas ... upon further reading I realised my salacious-radar had picked up on something rather more mundane than it first appeared.

Turns out the bangers in question were of the sausage kind:

Still ... might be worth a try anyway.

And as for those old balls:

Well, it really did mean old balls used for the utterly wholesome activities of feeding birds and improving 'floral decorations'.

To be honest though ... considering the book the articles came from:

Maybe I should've known better from the start ....

;-)

Julie

-----------------------------------

Various pages from this book appear in my Plundered Pages packs as we speak ... but if you'd like the exact page featured in this post just let me know and I can build it into a custom themed pack for you.

My Month in Numbers 2011: November

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000Z

Hi, hi, hi.

So it's the end of one month and the start of yet another. Again.

You know what this means don't you?

It means that all of our joint efforts to slow time down have failed for the 11th month running! We really must try harderthis month people, this can't happen again, OK? OK.

Right then, let me start with the most important number first. The number without which - and I can say this without overstatement or exaggeration - it's the number without which none of us would be here right now ...

3 years = how old notes on paper was this month! Hurrah!

On November 8th 2008 I dipped my toe into the craft-blogging waters for the first time with a post entitled 'Yes ... we can'. And it turns out, we still can. I'm still turning up here a few times a week happily blogging away, getting to know you better and getting to know me better in the process.

I truly love blogging. In fact, I love blogging so much I'd do it for free if I had to ... [oh, hang on, yes, I do do it for free ... so, you see? I told you I loved it!]

406+ posts and counting = number of posts I've blogged during that 3 years, which averages at around;
135 posts per year, which is roughly ...
2 to 3 posts per week ... which ultimately means ...
I blog more often than I do laundry [a fact which doesn't surprise me in the slightest!]

1 day = the number of days difference between when I first blogged and when my good friend Kirsty Neale did as her 3 year 'blogiversary' was on November 9th, the day after mine. The strangest thing about it is that we started blogging [a day apart] before we actually knew one another ... so, when we've always joked at how similar we are and how we must have been separated at birth ... it turns out we weren't far wrong!

3 = the number of times I've now seen the comedian Dave Gorman live.

2 hours = the amount of time James and I spent on a hill, in our nearest RSPB reserve watching the 'murmurations' - the phenomena where 1000s of starlings come in to roost for the night in swishing and swirling flocks.

When we did this last year [on 28th November] it was in the middle of this freezing cold snow storm:

This year [on the 6th November]... we had this:

I wish I knew the temperature differences between the two events - that would have made a great Month in Numbers statistic!
4 = days away in a cottage with 7 crafting friends.

35 = the number of days early we exchanged Christmas gifts and ate Christmas lunch while we were there:

3 = the number of new zebra-related items I've managed to accrue this month. I bought myself a scarf:

And as part of my 'Secret Santa' gift at the Christmas weekend there were some zebra charms and a big spool of zebra stripe ribbon.

And finally ...

6 = the number of peope who'll be working on the launch of Featuring Magazine [and I'm one of them]:

--------------------------------
That's all from me, for November.
If you'd like to join in this time around then I'm pleased to say you'll be in good company - the number of people blogging their own Month in Numbers has been steadily growing.

[Note to fed-up bloggers who've introduced a new feature that hardly anyone joins in with!: I've been blogging My Month in Numbers for almost 2 years now and it's only in the last few months that participation has grown. But I didn't stop doing it because I loved the idea no matter who else joined in. And if they all stopped playing along now... it wouldn't mean I'd stop!]

A few people are ahead of me and have blogged their November stats already:

Sian of 'From High in the Sky' recorded hers on a very stylish number filled layout;
Ginger of 'Ginger's Life of Spice' recorded her impressive card-making total in her November numbers.
Month in Numbers stalwart Claire of 'The Crafty Alchemist' has blogged her 11th statistical scrapbook page in a row in a post which gives a lovely glimpse into her life. [Including the 11 muffins she 'accidentally ate ...].
Melissa of 'Remember to Breathe' joined in with her statistics once again here.
Kate from 'Nana Kate' bravely soldiered on with her Month in Numbers here despite having a laptop meltdown and a corrupted memory card.

If you blog yours, let me know and I'll add you to the list. [A tiny mention and a link to me somewhere in your post would be nice, thanks.]

-----------------------------------

The 'How to record your Month in numbers' tutorial [or should I have called it my 'Tips for the Month in Numbers-curious'?] I've been asked to write will be with you sometime next week. So that should still give you a chance to start testing out the ideas before you record your own summary post at the end of December ... if you fancy it!

I'll see you soon.

Julie

Purple Phase: using purple with yellow, navy + silver

2011-11-30T14:30:00.000Z

Hello, hello.

Back in September, when I stated the Purple Phase, I decided to run it right throughout Autumn so I didn't feel rushed. And when I decided upon November 30th as my end-date it felt like an age away ... and now it's here!!

So here's the final purple palette:

In honour of the final post of the series ... and to show the passage of time ... today's outfit post is brought to you by a rather colder, more bedraggled looking garden than in the rest of the series ... and a colder, more bedraggled looking me!

During the rest of the series I aimed to convince more poeple to wear purple by creating some quite easy-going, laid back, casual, totally wearable palettes and combinations.

Not once did I suggest you wear bright purple tights with silver shoes and a sunshine yellow cardigan ... until now:

For me, yellow and purple just works.

In fact, I like it so much that I don't really care:

that it was the colour of the uniform in the last school I worked in ...
or even that I once wore a yellow + purple outfit on a weekend away in a Premier Inn hotel which, as you might know, has those exact shades as their corporate colours! I matched their decor rather too well. So well in fact that if I'd stood very still in the foyer... you wouldn't have been able to pick me out .... [I blogged all about it at the time here].

And as for the silver shoes ...

I could argue that, as I wear a lot of silver jewellery, like the necklace I'm wearing here for example:

... then the silver shoes work to balance out the effect somehow, as there's silver scattered across the whole outfit. But ... .really ... do I need to make an argument for silver shoes?

They're silver shoes for goodness sake!

Silver. Shoes.

And they're comfy. And were in the sale.

Enough said?

The skirt and vest are my most recent purchases and - if you remember this colour palette from a few weeks ago, the mix of purple and yellow with blue will seem familiar. Maybe, just maybe, the navy calms those tight down a touch .. maybe!

This series has been a lot of fun and, despite it never being intended as having as many outfit posts as it turned out, it's made me realise I want to blog more outfit posts next year. So watch this space.

Maybe purple will manage to creep its way into some of those 2012 posts too ... but it won't be my focus. [If you'd like a say in what exactly the focus should be ... keep your ideas coming].

But, for now at least, here's where the purple colour-story ends.

Cardigan: H&M ¦¦ Skirt: Gap ¦¦ Vest: Gap ¦¦ Shoes: Kenneth Cole ¦¦ Tights: Primark, I think.

----------------------------------------
OK then, as this is the end of the series, then I ought to say 'Thank you':

for reading the series;
for being a guest blogger;
for leaving encouraging comments;
for blogging your own purple projects and preferences;
for following the Pinterest board and re-pinning things which caught your eye there;
for reconsidering your discriminatory views about a specific section of the colour spectrum ... and for giving purple a second chance! ;-)

So what's next?

Well, I've got a few ideas already about blog features and series I'm going to tackle in 2012. And I'm 95% sure I've chosen the theme of the next series with the same structure as this one. But in the meantime ...

I'll be back tomorrow with my November in Numbers.

Julie :-)

Using Purple: in a Travel Journal

2011-11-29T15:00:00.000Z

Hi, hi, hi.

Today's purple project is a mini-album I made last year but never got around to sharing here. But at least it proves that I've been practising what I've preached and I've used purple 'in the wild', outside of this series!

Here it is:

Let me tell you about something I just don't 'get' ... [no, it's not 'time-travel' or 'why people let dogs lick their face' ... although those two things do baffle me ...] no, what I really don't get is why some people worry about not being able to find ready made supplies which exactly match the theme of their albums.

I mean, sometimes you just have to accept that you're probably not going to find a brand who's brought out a 'Harrogate, York, Carlisle, craft-show, visiting Hannah plus seeing Dave Gorman doing stand-up' themed mini-album kit ... and then what are you going to do?

You mgith jsut have to make your own, with products you like ... and see where it takes you:

The album itself was made from the kraft-board covers from an accordian album I hadn't used, bound together with a spine made from fabric paper [I think it's ancient Love Elsie stuff], then the pages are held in with a large bookring:

There's a stretchy band holding it together when it's closed, which acutally came from the swing-tag of a new hoodie James bought while we were on the holidy which the book is about. The band passes through the bookring so it doesn't get lost when the album's open:

As the fabric on the spine was my starting point for the colours of the album, I pulled together lots of purple and brown items before I began, to sift through and see what worked. I also found a use for all my travel-themed bits and pieces too:

Some of the pages are pockets to hold receipts, tickets and details of the food we ate ... because that's surely one of the best things about going away and deserves recording just as much as any picturesque landscape!

The pockets were made by simply folding over a piece of card and either stapling or using tape to hold it in place. I also added in a recycled paper bag in co-ordinating colours:

The book's full of interactive elements, slots, pouches, tags and tabs to pull:

Then there's the ubiquitous photos of feet:

I really like projects like this, where nohting has been bought in, new, especially for it. It not only reminds me of how much stash I have and how I never really need to go shopping again ...

... it also makes me happy to use up those items which I bought once upon a time 'just because', and now they've found a home! Like this gorgeous rose print paper:

This is my final creative project I'm sharing as part of Purple Phase and I feel it takes us full-circle, right back to the very first project and palette which also featured purple and kraft:

Kraft is the new black. Kraft is the new denim. Kraft works with everything. And that includes purple!

--------------------------------------

So, that's almost it for my Purple Phase the only other thing I've got planned is a final outfit post for tomorrow so, here's a few reminders:

There's a list of ALL the posts for this series here, in its own page. So if you've missed anything, want to catch up, or want to revisit a post, they're all there for you.
The Pinterest board is here and it turned into a nice mix of pins of blog posts readers sent me links to; posts I spotted in the course of my regular blog-reading - which just happenend to mention / use purple and also inspirational purple-related images I spotted on Pinterest too. I'll still be adding any pots anyone wants to send [at least until the New Year].

And:

If you want to help me mark the end of the series by blogging / linking me to a photo of you wearing purple [as I mentioned in yesterday's post] or just a photo of your purple clothes [if you'd prefer not to be in the photo] then please do!
Whether you're a veteran purple wearer or a complete novice inpsired by the series I'd love to see how differently we all interpret the same misunderstood shade on the colour spectrum!
I'll be blogging mine tomorrow - you can do yours whenever you choose - let me know where it is and then I'll pin it when I get chance.
[I'm just about resisting the urge to go overboard and declare November 30th National Wear Purple Day .... just about ...]

OK then, I'm going to go and iron a crease in my purple tights ready for tomorrow's photo! ;-)

See you then,

Julie

Purple Phase: Using that purple poem on my 1st ever layout

2011-11-28T22:53:00.000Z

Hello again.

The end of November is nigh and I promised myself I'd be through with my Purple Phase by then ... so here I am frantically tryng to blog the remaining things I had planned, while having to accept that some of my colour might bleed into December at this rate.

So let's get started:

Way back in September, in my first Purple Phase post I posted a music video about wearing purple ... which [after I'd stopped dancing] put me in my mind of the famous poem by Jenny Joseph 'Warning' which features the lines:

"When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me." [see bottom of post for full poem].
Which, in turn, reminded me of the first ever 12x12 scrapbook pages I made a handful of years ago. Which were these:

I know ... my style changed a little in the intervening years ... but that's not the point!

The idea behind the page was that, whereas the poem lists all the things the narrator will do when she grows old:

I don't think my Grandma really waited for old age to be an excuse to be herself;

... to not care what other people thought of her:

To tread her own path, press alarm bells and wear clothes that didn't match!

I can learn from this [even right now ... while sharing my first ever attempts at scrapbooking!] and I can go on not really caring if anyone else likes what I wear ... even if it's purple:

And:

At the end of the month I'll be photographing - and blogging - myself wearing purple one last time for the series.
How about you?
You're welcome to join me - you can blog your post anytime - I'm just doing it this week to finish-off the series nicely.
I'll still be pinning purple blog posts until you hear otherwise.
November's My Month in Numbers is going to wait until Thursday / Friday now.

See you soon ... in your finest purple I hope!

Julie x

----------------------------------------------
Warning - by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
By Jenny Joseph

News of 'Featuring' Magazine.

2011-11-24T08:48:00.001Z

Hello, hello.

Ifyou like mixed media, art journaling, general arty-paperyness .... and magazines ... then stick around, as I come bearing good news.

'Featuring Magazine' is a brand new international, quarterly, print magazine due for launch in Spring 2012:

'Featuring is the creation of Marit Barentsen and here's how she describes it:

"This magazine wants to provide a stage for all kinds of artists. With each issue, we seek to bring our readers a view on creativity in all its forms. The focus will be mainly on art journaling and mixed media, but other types of art will be highlighted as well. FEATURING wants to bring a spectrum of art-related articles and stories. You will also enjoy seeing pages jammed with collaborative projects, glimpses of studios, interviews, background stories, layouts, paintings, photos, poetry and much, much more!"

So, does that sound like something you'll be interested in?

I hope so.

Because my application to be part of the Featuring launch team was accepted this week and I'm going to be starting work on it very soon!

It's all very new and exciting so there's not much more I can add right now really, except ...

I really need to thank Sian for being thoughtful enough to send me the link to the call for team members in the first place. Thank you Sian. So much. x

As a way to pay Sian's thoughtfulness forward I'd like to point you toward the Submissions page of the site which contains the details of how you can submit your own work to the magazine. I'd be thrilled to see you there.

[If you need some extra encouragement and guidance on how to submit to a magazine, then here's the post about doing just that from my Design-Team curious series. I don't know anything about submitting to Featuring - other than what's on the site - so, that's the best place for you to get the details right now.]

OK then, here endeth my big news. I'm going to scurry away and get all shy about it now ...

I'll be back out of my shell very soon no doubt! See you then.

Julie x

Purple Phase: purple with blue, denim + grey

2011-11-21T20:29:00.000Z

Hello!

Well, I was away, but now I'm back. So I thought I'd grab the chance to share the next purple-ish outfit.

I say it's the 'next' outfit in the series when actually ... it could be the last, because it's the last pre-photographed outfit I prepared for the series. I took all the photos for the outfit posts before the new term started in October and while I had enough time and daylight to get the shots.

But now: I'm at work 3 days and it gets dark at 3pm so things are a bit different ... in fact even my hair colour is different since I took these photos [far less red and much more like my natural colour] so it definitely feels like a long time ago now!

However, I do feel like I ought to make the effort between now and next week to dress-up smart to mark the end of the Purple Phase ... so this may not be the last you see of the purple-side of my wardrobe. [I've been taking note of all the ideas you left for me about future non-purple outfit posts, thank you, so it certainly won't be the final outfit post altogether.]

Anyway ... here's today's purple palette which, if you live in the parts of the UK which have been hidden in mists this weekend, you may find familiarly grey and foggy in feel:

Do you ever forget that [the majority of] denim is blue? I know I do.

It's so ubiquitous, I wear it with so many other colours and it hardly ever dawns on me that I'm making a colour-combo with blue.

Think of your favourite outfit which involves blue denim in it somewhere ....
Got it?
Now, in your head, swap out those jeans / jacket etc for something exactly the same shape / style etc ... even the same shade of blue ...
But now imagine it's NOT denim.

Doesn't that change the whole feel of the oufit for you? It does me, if only for the fact that I certainly don't have at least 6 pairs of blue trousers in my drawer. Why would you? But jeans? Jeans are different? You can never have too many jeans!

Now, I know this outfit doesn't involve a pair of jeans - it's a denim/chambray dress - but the principle's the same: denim goes with everything you might not think to wear with regular blue clothes ... and that includes purple tights:

I love the soft shades of aubergine-y? grape-ish? purple in these wooly tights. And, like so many of the shades we've looked at so far in the series, they're a far cry from the harsh 'purple' which turns so many people off. And, along with 'with grey' and 'with neutral shades ' I'm adding 'with blue denim' to my 'really easy-ways-to-wear-purple' tips!

That's not to say that I don't like non-denim blue with purple, as this bag proves:

And while none of the shades of blue, grey or purple in the whole outfit 'match' exactly ... that's not really essential, they blend together well enough for me:

And really, I'm never really worried about what 'matches'. Blue, purple, grey. Stripes, checks, geometric designs ...

They're all fair game in an outfit for me.

Apart from 'No wool', 'No tight elastic' and 'Must be able to breathe in it' - I have no great overarching rules when buying - and wearing - clothes.

Dress: H&M ¦¦ Cardigan: H&M ¦¦ Boots: Ugg ¦¦ Bag: Matalan

------------------------------------------------------

In other news:

There are only 9 days left of my Purple Phase, so if you've wanted to join in and blog your won projects, you might want to do that soon. [But I'll still pin your post to the Pinterest board afterwards if you let me know].
The impending end of November also means it's nearly time for another 'My Month in Numbers' round-up. So if you've been planning to join in - consider this your 9-day warning!
Also, due to how often I get asked where I start with my Month in Numbers posts, I'm planning a kind of 'how-to' on the subject, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested ... stay tuned.

And finally an unapologetic shop-plug:

Another of my custom-made Plundered Pages paper packs has been well-received this weekend, so if you'd like to give one as a gift then just get in touch and I can put together a personalised pack tailored to match your friend and their specific interests [whatever they may be!]
Or you could even persuade a gift-giver to get in touch with me to put a pack together for you! Either way, I'm very happy to compile one-of-a-kind packs! [All excuses to sit and flick through old-books in the name of 'research' are fine by me!]

See you soon.

Julie :-)

Vintage books: Old World and New World Fairy Tales

2011-11-19T03:30:00.000Z

Hi, hi, hi.

I'm not here, [well, obviously I was here when I wrote this ... you're not imagining it.] but I'm not in my usual blogging spot right now, I'm in a cottage, crafting like a crazy person with 7 other equally-as-craftily-crazy friends.

As I'm away I thought I'd schedule this post to keep things ticking-over here until I get back - like how you're supposed to leave the heating on a tiny bit when you go away in the winter, so the water pipes don't freeze-up. So just consider this post me keeping my pipes warm ...

... moving swiftly on ...

When I was designing the labelling for my 'Plundered Pages' vintage paper packs, I came up with the tagline:

"I cut up the books ... so you don't have to."

Which I thought said everythign there was to say and which might strike a nerve because, really ... who likes cutting into books?

I know I don't!

But I bravely pick up my craft knife so that old, neglected books can enjoy a new lease of life with their lovely purchaser ... and so the lovely purchase doesn't have to feel sick doing it themselves!

[I know ... you're impresed at the levels of self-sacrifice I put into my business now aren't you? ;-) ]

However, while I do manage to cut up the majority of the books I gather-in ... there are others I collect which live in safety on the 'Keep away from the scissors' shelf.

The occasional ones which pluck at the strings of my hard book-slashing heart. The ones that cry out: "Please ... don't cut me ... if you loved me you'd keep me away from sharp implements". The ones I thought I might start sharing here with you from time to time.

Starting with this:

Amazing. In my eyes at least.

My reasons for keeping some and not others in tact rarely has anything to do with what they cost to buy. This one was £1:00 from a table-top sale a few summers back but the colours and illustrations are worth far more than £1:00 to me:

Their value to me comes in their content.

When I find a beautiful book like this amongst the mass-produced novels and tacky modern kids' books on a stall or on a charity shop shelf ...

my heart skips a beat;
I begin to feel warm;
my eyes glaze-over somewhat;
and my grip on my 'treasure' tightens in case someone else notices its gloriousness and tries to buy it first!

[If you need a clearer image, James likens my response to that of a drug-addict snorting a controlled substance ... so .. yeah ... like that.]

And then, while I'm at the till paying for my amazing discovery, I even get the feeling I've done something illicit. That I'm going to be found out. That I'm getting away with robbery paying so little for something that makes me that excited.

All of which, I suppose, means I'm in the right hobby for me!

I just don't know where else I could get such quality artwork, such character, such unique items for such a low price. And the rareity of the finds makes them all the more precious ... and narcotic to me.

Hi.

My name's Julie ...

... and I'm a vintage book addict.

Julie ;-)
----------------------------------------------------

p.s: I'm also a Plundered Pages pusher. The full range is here and I'm happy to create bespoke packs based on any theme / combination of themes you'd like. [NB. any orders placed now will be posted out on Tuesday 22nd November because, like I said ... I'm not here ...]

All the world's a stage: Mini theatre scene

2011-11-17T07:30:00.000Z

First things first: Happy Birthday sib!

It's my sister's birthday today [or it's your birthday today ... if you're my sister] and today's project is the card I made for her / you. But then if it is you, you'll have already seen it as I gave you it last night.

OK! Enough of the time travel confusion .. or maybe not quite enough. You'll see ...

Anyway, here's the card:
But this is not just 'a card', no ... it's an interactive stage-set card complete with a fully functioning David Tennant ... [the latter of which I know for a fact was on her birthday wish list!]

As she recently went to see him perform in Much Ado About Nothing I used some appropriate wording cut from the vintage book [above] which I'm thinning out before I start to use it as an altered book/ journal.

If you'd like the full details on how I made this - it's my Design Team project here on the 3DJean blog today . But basically it's an Artchix chipboard 'Scalloped Stage' decorated with vintage wallpaper, shiny things and doodling - with stamped wording and characters glued to lolly sticks!

I hope she / you liked it!

Love you big sis. x

------------------------------------
And if that's whetted your Shakespearean whistle and you fancy a bit more of the Bard then you might like the 'Culture, Literature & Shakespeare' themed pack of Plundered Pages I added to my shop last week:

End of shameless shop-plug.

---------------------------

I'm off to a crafting weekend with friends tomorrow morning .. so if I don't see you before ... I'll see you next week.
Julie x

Purple Phase guest blogger: Kirsty Neale

2011-11-15T19:30:00.000Z

Hola.

If you've been reading me a while you'll know that my special guest today is one of my most favourite of favourite people. So much of a favourite that:

I've co-hosted a blog with her [during which time I generally referred to her as 'my blog-wife' and, if I'm honest, I still do call her that when she's not listening - so let's hope she's not listening right now ... ] ;-)
I've delivered online workshops with her;
And also regularly pestered her for advice, joined with her in ridiculous chat and plotted world domination with her.

On top of all that, she still finds time to be a writer, illustrator, designer and maker of great things!

And as if being my guest wasn't a big enough excitement for her ... ;-) ... she's just learned that she's one of the brand new Design Team members for Hambly!

So, allow me to introduce you to Kirsty Neale:

... and now I'll let her speak for herself ....
------------------------------------------------------

Kirsty Neale:

Around ten years ago, I worked for a girls’ magazine. Along with pink, purple was one of our signature colours, and although I adored the job, I was never overly fond of either colour. When I moved on, both of them were left well and truly behind, in a drawer marked ‘hues to avoid at all costs’. I’ve since sort of made my peace with pink – in certain shades at least – but purple has never really recovered.

Then, a few weeks ago two things happened that made me think it was time to put my purple prejudices aside:

First of all, Julie asked me to join in with her Purple Phase project. She’s talked me into colour-loving once before, so saying ‘no’ was never an option. I was all set to go ahead with a colour-scheme picked out of my yarn basket (purple, navy, grey and yellow – so gorgeous!) ...
when I had a second request – to make a birthday present for a little girl who loves anything pink and purple.

After switching my attention from yarn to felt, I finally came up with a set of colours which I think made everyone happy, even me.

The pink and purple shades are all quite muted, which makes them easier on the eye, but it’s the splash of green which I love the most.

It makes the bolder colours feel more natural and somehow closer to the tones in a real flower. Not that my flowers were supposed to look real, but it’s maybe reminded me that the colours I don’t like are the ones which feel plastic-y and artificial.

Fake flowers good, fake colours bad.

If you’d like to make a similar set of coat-hooks for a child’s room (or maybe your own – I’m not here to judge), here you go with a quick how-to.

SUPPLIES:
wooden peg rail | acrylic paint | paintbrush | PVA | gluepaper | scissors | felt | pins | fusible (iron-on) interfacing | needle | embroidery threads

INSTRUCTIONS:

Download the template pdf here.
Copy the templates onto paper and cut out. Check that the hole in the centre of each flower fits over one of the pegs on your rail. Adjust to make larger or smaller, if necessary.
Pin the templates to felt and cut out pieces, as noted on the template sheet.
Cut out interfacing (again, as noted) and iron to each flower and leaf to stiffen.
Sew the leaves and the larger flowers together in pairs, back to back. Add the smaller pieces of felt on top to decorate, sewing with a variety of stitches for interest (I used running stitch, back stitch, whipped back stitch, French knots, straight stitch and two-colour couching).

Paint the peg-rail in colours of your choice – I used green for the backing section, and yellow for the pegs.
Fit your flowers over the pegs, and add a leaf behind each one. When you’re happy with the way they look. Fix into place using PVA or tacky glue (if the peg rail has pre-drilled holes, take care not to glue over the top of them).

As for that first purple-inspired project, I’m still hoping I might squeeze it in before the end of the month. I might not have fallen quite head-over-heels for purple just yet, but the fact I’m planning to use it again so soon can only be a good sign.

Kirsty.

-----------------------------------------------
Thank you so much Kirsty!

And ... speaking of a 'good sign' ... how about this one Kirsty drew a few weeks ago. Here I am complete with animal print cape, purple frock and my Autumn/Winter manifesto!

Now tell me, who wouldn't want a friend who sends them adorable illustrations of topics which came up during ridiculous Twitter conversations? Who?

If you'd like one of Kirsty's whimsically wonderful illustrations without having to indulge in such nonsensical chatter, then have a browse around her shop in peace!

-----------------------------------------

I'll be back on Thursday with a little 3D project to share, so until then ...

Julie x

Purple Phase: purple with stone, brown + teal

2011-11-14T20:30:00.000Z

Hi, hi, hi.

Thanks for the ideas you left on my previous outfit post, and for the tweets, about the kind of fashion posts you wouldn't mind seeing here in future. I'll be bearing it all in mind for the new year.

[And thanks to all those who aren't interested at all but who held their tongue and didn't tell me!]

I did joke to someone, who said she struggled to wear scarves, that I'd create a Tips for the Scarf-Curious class for her ... which was an exaggeration ... but Sarah, look, there's some specific scarf-talk in today's post!

So ... here's this week's wardrobe ponderings complete with colour-palette:

Once again, I've used brown with purple for a warmer, softer effect than black. And as this is a nice warm pinky-purple I think the combination works nicely:

I mentioned way back near the start of the series how you can easily balance-out a new or vivid colour in an outfit / scrapbook page / creative project if you use it at least twice on the 'canvas' - like my scarf + skirt in a similar shade:

I have lots of scarves and in the colder months they pretty much replace necklaces for me. I wear them most days, all day long [rather than just as something to keep me warm outside].

Having them in plenty of colours and patterns gives me the ability to match shades and make an 'outfit' from individual items of clothing.

Best of all, you can ask for scarves for Christmas/birthdays from anyone - even those who don't know your vital statistics - and there's no danger that they won't fit!

Let's face it, you probably will get a scarf .. or two ... or three ... without even asking for them [this one was a gift - and probably not something I'd have gone out searching for] but if you wear them as everyday accessories they'll all come in useful - colour-matching-wise - eventually!

I keep mine in an open basket in the hallway so I can easily grab one before going out.

Skirt: H&M ¦¦ Cardigan: H&M ¦¦ Leggings: Primark ¦¦ T-shirt: New Look ¦¦ Boots: Ugg

I don't know what you've learned from this series so far but personally I've learned that I have a lot of clothes from H&M! Which puzzled me for a while ...

... until I realised it's the first/last fashion store I come to when I walk through the town to/from work ... and everything became clear!

--------------------------------------------------

I'll be back pretty much every day this week I think ... turns out I've got a lot to pack in, before scooting off for the weekend, including a post my final Purple Phase special guest!

See you soon enough.

Julie

Purple Phase: purple with shades of grey

2011-11-09T09:35:00.001Z

Hi, hi.

The eagle-eyed amongst you - or those of you who live in England - might guess that the photos in today's post were taken a couple of weeks ago now. Because right now there's no way you'd get me to pose in my back garden in short sleeves and sandals.

Today I'm wearing 2 pairs of socks, legwarmers, boots ... and my arms are buried beneath so many layers they might just be turning into coal at the bottom.

However, today's colour palette is perfectly suited to this cold turn in the season and it's appropriately cool and wintery:

Ahhh grey. Lovely, lovely grey.

If you thought I had a lot of purple clothes ... you need to see the mountain of grey billowing from my wardrobe.

Grey really is my new black. Where I once would have turned to black as the default shade for my basic items [t-shirts, tights, socks, cardigans ... especially the cardigans. If it's grey .. and a cardigan ... I have it] I now turn to grey as a softer alternative.

Particularly with purple:

While black and purple certainly do work together there's always the risk of it going a bit Goth-y. Which is perfectly fine, if that's what you're aiming for [I've been there, done that, bought the eyeliner] but there's less contrast between grey and purple so the overall effect is lighter:

And yes, that is indeed a purple bag I'm brandishing ... because, after remembering that I had 2 pairs of purple shoes [in this previous post] I also remembered there was a bag lurking on a hook somewhere ... beneath the other bags ... of which there are a few! So I dug it out for the occasion.

I don't think I'd use the bag if I was wearing an outfit with a lot of purple in it already [looking like Barney has never been high up on my style agenda] but as an accent of colour amid the grey, with just the dress to co-ordinate with, I think it worked!

Dress: H&M ¦¦ Bag: Primark ¦¦ Jacket: TopShop ¦¦ Jeans: Primark ¦¦ Sandals: Moda in Pelle ¦¦ Necklace: Lemon ¦¦ Scarf: handmade gift from Kirsty Neale

------------------------

To be honest I'm getting quite attached to blogging about my clothes. Putting outfits together was possibly the first creative thing I latched on to as a toddler so I don't think there's any possibility of me changing now. And it's reminded me of how much I enjoyed doing the My Year in Outfits project a few years back.

So, after the Purple Phase is over, I'm thinking of continuing to blog outfits every now and again and would love to know what you think.

Note: If you think it's the worst idea you've ever heard, ever, there's a good chance that I won't listen to you and will carry on regardless ... just so you know ... ;-)

I'm not sure how I'd work it yet without a focus - like 'purple stuff' - so:

I'm open to suggestions on what kinds of outfits I'd blog;
What, if anything, you might like to see;
What reasons there might be to blog an outfit. [Other than I like playing with clothes! Or maybe that's enough in itself?!]
Challenges you might like to set me! And ...
whatever else you can think of ...

[Unless you're going to say 'don't bother' in which case ... I'll be putting my fingers in my ears].

OK, then ... over to you ...

Julie :-)

Purple Phase: Using purple in my bedroom

2011-11-07T21:40:00.001Z

Hi, hi.

I thought I'd start the week with a look at how I've used purple in my bedroom and, if you read yesterday's post, about the heirloom I keep on my chest of drawers, then you might just recognise something in one of the photos later on.

As I've mentioned ~~a million times already~~ once or twice during this series, I like to use purple as part of a pattern and nowhere is that more obvious than in my bedroom. The patterns I use there often have lots of other colours running through them alongside purple, then today's palette looks like this:

If I told you my bedroom was pink and purple ... I fear you'd get the wrong idea.

I fear you'd start picturing it as something resembling the terrifying plastic kingdom which is the little girls' aisle of Toys R Us.

But, I'm very happy to report, that that's not what it looks like. No, it looks like this:

Because I'm flighty and contrary and liable to change my mind about things our bedroom is a permanent blank canvas:

all white walls [although I think they could've added 'finding the right shade of white paint' to the list of Hercules's Labours - it was that hard!];
light neutral carpet;
white wardrobes and bedside tables;
white blackout blind - no curtains;
wooden chest of drawers.

On to this neutral base I can add any set colours I choose without having to redecorate and a simple change of bedding can change the entire feel of the room.

This is one of my favourite combinations - especially as they didn't come as part of a set - I just found them, loved them and combined them:

So when I say I like patterns ... you might just believe me now!

I love how there are so many colours in there which are not automatically thought of as co-ordinating with purple - there's grey in there, turquoise, yellow, orange, coral ... and more.

Do you think maybe the idea for a purple series came to me in my sleep, by osmosis?

Now, let me spin you around from facing the bed, so you can see the drawers at the end of the bed:

A cluster of purple ornaments, some vintage, some new and a painted hollowed-out gourd with a lid [a gift from someone!]. Oh and a pom-pom I once made:

I think it's this combination of the purple against the wood that gave me my ideas about purple / natural textures I've been referrig to throughout the series. That and the purple cushions on my brown leather settee [which I might try to squeeze in before the end of the series!].

Now, before I go here's a peek at where the pot I inherited from my Grandma, the subject of yesterday's post, now resides:

My Grandma also liked lots of colours and patterns, so I think she'd approve of her ornament's new home.

So, now that I've shown you around my bedroom I guess we really know one another! If nothing else if you're someone who finds patterns difficult, I hope it gave you a few ideas about how much fun mixing them can be.

[Either that or you're sat there wondering how on earth I sleep with all those print clashes going on!]

---------------------------------

I'll be back in a day or two with another outfit post, until then I should mention that:

I've added more themed paper packs to my shop today. There were more, but I'm delighted to say that they've already sold! So do have a glance if you've got time.
If they're not for you ...maybe you might find a Christmas gift for a creative friend amongst them.
And, if there's a particular theme - or combination of themes - you'd like I'm actually going to work on a questionnaire to help people choose a custom pack but until then, just have a think and get in touch. [By email or etsy convo, either is fine with me].

------------------------------

OK, I'm going to leave you be for now. I hope you're warm and cosy - it was most definitely a Winter's day here today complete with frost and the need to wear gloves!

See you soon.

Julie :-)

Sian's Storytelling Sunday: Grandma's Treasure

2011-11-06T09:00:00.000Z

Hello, hello.

You might have noticed that I like to tell a tale or two here, so I'm a bit surprised I've never joined in with Sian's 'Storytelling Sunday' which she's been hosting all year at From High in the Sky. So let me make up for that straight away...

'Grandma's Treasure'

This glamorous lady graced my Grandma's shelves for as long as I could remember. She, like Grandma, was just always there.

A few years ago, while visiting Grandma I mentioned to my Mam how much I liked the [I don't know exactly what to call it ... is it a mug? A cup? A glamorous Toby Jug?] ... so let's call it the pretty ornament! Whatever she is, I liked her ...

Later on Mam joked to Grandma: "Julie's putting her name on that ... for when you've gone". [Don't worry ... that was Grandma's sense of humour too!] and to this day I remember vividly what happened next.

A look of surprise but also pleasure spread across her fac as she weighed up the situation. You see, she didn't own many of those things that some families put value on and hand down through genrations [no house, no diamond rings, no family silver] and I think she was taken aback at hearing that I wanted something of hers.

"Do you really want it?" she asked and when I nodded 'Yes' she replied without skipping a beat:

"Then take it now".

"If you want it, take it now" she insisted.

Which is how Grandma's treasure became mine.

And while I no longer get to see Grandma's face I do get see this one, every single day:

In fact, as it sits on the chest of drawers at the bottom of my bed, it's one of the first and last faces I see each day.

Better still, Grandma had a habit for storing things in vases and jars and now I seem to have taken up that mantle, as carrying on in that tradition, I now use my heirloom pretty-lady-jug to store my earrings in!

I think Grandma would be happy to know that, quite apart from a much-loved ornament, I've inherited aspects of her character too.
-------------------------

Thanks for listening to my story, if you're in the mood for more, drop in on Sian to see who else has left a link to theirs.

Julie x

Purple Phase: purple with lilac, lavender + green

2011-11-04T14:42:00.000Z

Hi, hi.

Throughout this series I've been trying to show purple in a new light by offering a few unexpected colour combinations and suggesting modern, casual ways to use it .... but then ...

... I put together this palette:

And I think it's the most traditional one yet. I'm contrary like that!

The colours are actually taken from the birthday card I made for my Mam last month:

And, it looks like something in the traditional colour-combinations have rubbed off on the design too as this isn't entirely my usual cardmaking style. However, it's retro in feel ... and that is my style.

I really wanted to use this illustration from a children's comic because [without the lamb] it looks quite like photos of my Mam when she was little:

Another thing which again, does feel like me, is the mix of white with cream I've used. I know sometimes this is classed as a no-no, but I like the effect. I like that the cream warms-up the white while the white adds a clean feel to the cream.

And, in such a traditional colour-scheme, the purple here seems to take care of itself!

Here's a few of the supplies I used:

InLinkz.com

There's only 3 weeks of purple posts remaining, but the Pinterest board will stay where it is indefinitely.

----------------------------------
In other news ....

I finally worked out how to install a Facebook Page 'Like' box on here!
So if you'd like to Like my page [where I'll be posting about various paper products from my shop], then it's over in my sidebar. I'd be very happy to see your face hovering there!

And that's all really, apart from to mention I seem to be utterly surrounded by alliterative activities this weekend:

I'm working on Purple Phase posts and Plundered Pages packs;
I need to make a layout to go with the story I'm preparing to blog for Sian's Storytelling Sunday;
and I'm going to a birdwatching event called Soup + Starlings!

How about you?

Do your weekend plans involve picking out pretty purple papers? Or cooking cute cupcakes? Or just simply sleeping soundly?

Whatever it is, thanks for stopping by today, I'll see you very soon.

Julie :-)

Purple Phase: purple as a pattern with stone + denim

2011-11-01T09:40:00.002Z

Hi, hi, hi.

Happy 1st of November!

I've got a back-log of purple posts to share and only 30 days left to do it if I'm to meet my self-imposed 'no more going-on about purple after November' deadline ... so here we go ....

Wearing any colour you're unsure of as part of a pattern is usually much more appealing than the idea of bold, in-your-face, colour-blocking .... so how about easing your way in to purple with a print?:

Worn with sandals and a pretty little shrug or shawl, this can be quite a delicate summery dress ... but I'm not often in the mood for delicate so, more often than not I wear it over leggings ... or jeans:

And yes, apparently I have 2 pairs of purple shoes - the ones in this previous outfit post and these:

When I remembered that I had this pair lurking in the bottom of a shoe box it came as almost as much of a surprise as the time I remembered I had at least 3 pairs of silver shoes ... and 1 pair of gold ... and yes, 1 pair of bronze ... I think maybe I need to make a shoe spread-sheet to keep track!

Anyway ... as I've mentioned so many, many times already in this series, neutrals, like this off-white / stone jersey cardigan takes the edge off the 'sweetness' of the lilac:

Dress: TK Maxx ¦¦ Cardigan: Vero Moda from House of Fraser ¦¦ Jeans: GAP ¦¦
Shoes: Primark ¦¦ Belt: Peacocks ¦¦ Garden: Mine!

So, what do you think? Do prints and patterns make purple more palatable to you? And can you say that fast 3 times?

You really don't have to go the whole 2--pairs-of-purple-shoes-plus-matching-belt route to wear purple, just allow a touch of it to sneak into your wardrobe carried along on a pretty pattern and take it from there!

----------------------------------------------

While I'm here ...

Thanks for continuing to send me links to your own purple posts and for all the Purple Phase mentions I've noticed popping up around the place. It's been funny to see the same faces in comments sections, sharing their conversions to the purple-side!

I'd forgotten to keep the Purple Phase post list updated but it's back on track now! So if you want an easy way to flick back through the colour posts then that's there for you now, otherwise, you can just jump to the Pinterest board where I've pinned all the palettes so far

And on a non-purple note:

I've set up a Facebook Page for myself here - just to keep all my etsy /businessy / selling type posts in one spot, especially [hint, hint] as I've just launched a brand new product Plundered Pages -my vintage paper packs which I'm really [like, ridiculously] happy with and proud of.
But ... I'm having all kinds of confusion with the FB page at the moment, so if I invited you to join twice already - my apologies! And if I haven't invited you at all - my apologies!! You can join anytime, I promise! It's just it's making me feel like I've never been online ever in my life ... I don't know what's going on!
Anyway, if you'd like to 'Like' my page over there then great! If not ... I've got a thicker skin than it might first appear, so I reckon I'll get by OK.

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope November has gotten off to a good start for you.

Julie x

My Month in Numbers 2011: October

2011-10-30T11:43:00.001Z

Hi, hi, hi.

You might not believe this but ... tomorrow signals the end of yet another month. It's a bit scary really [and I don't just mean because of Halloween!] and the very minute I find out how to stop these days flying by in a blur ... I'll let you know.

Until then, here's my October 2011 in numbers:

2.45 metres = the length of the sheet of acrylic I currently have on my dining room floor:

The reason being?

You know how people have tried to define what "Love" is? Such as "Love is never having to say you're sorry"? Well, allow me to add my own definition ...

Love is ... rescuing a sheet of acrylic discarded in a skip and bringing it home in your van because you know that your good lady is suffering from this:

Because Love is ... having enough acrylic in the house to make 11 brand new [flat - not curved and cracked] sets of cutting plates for a Big Shot die-cutter!

4 months = the number of months - in advance - my brain has been tricked into believing it is after sending in my Valentine's Day projects to Creativity Magazine!

Valentine's Day!! My brain sees Halloween + Christmas and responds with: "Please ... they're so last year".

1 = the number of day's notice I had that we were to have a small house guest. Which I wouldn't normally mind about but it coincided with the time I had to work on 16 things for my commission.

Fortunately our niece is artistically minded too and was happy to sit and craft along with me while I worked:

Tip to all children aspiring to get on a crafter's good side: you can't go wrong with the conversation opener she used on me:

"Auntie Julie, do you do your art every day?"

There was no room there for the usual silly modesty: "Art?' Who? me? Is this art? This isn't art it's just pushing paper around." A simple, "Yes, most days" seemed the best reply. Especially if she wants to grow up and do it every day too. Which she very well might ...

While she sat with me she produced 14 cards, 2 gift boxes and 1 Halloween bunting banner with very little help from me [and a lot of help from my DOCrafts supplies, maybe she's a Creativity contributor of the future!]:

2 = the number of submissions of interest I ... err ... submitted!

1 = the number of rejections I took on the chin. [Still waiting to hear about the 2nd].

1 = the number of layouts made following that rejection. [The Get Ahead one from this post last week].

2 = the number of lovely, surprising and unconnected offers I had in the days immediately following blogging that layout.

As that post had been about not waiting for others to offer you something, it was very interesting to see the offers coming in after I'd let the idea go. I am quite partial to a bit karmic balancing!

Speaking of which ...

2 = the number of special guest bloggers I invited to add to my Purple Phase series. Both Sian Fair and Lara Watson joined the ranks in the mission to prove purple is usable in scrapbooking!

And ...

2 = also the number of times I got to be someone else's special guest. Shimelle Laine invited me to her Pretty Paper Party and then Erika Senneff, of Oops I craft My Pants, asked me to share my Tips For the Twitter-Curious with her blog readers.

Not for nothing is 'What goes around comes around' one of my [and The Carousel Zebra's] favourite ideas!

All, lots, almost as much as my body weight = the amount of paper and ephemera I decided to sort through one afternoon.

On a whim.

A whim which, hours later, led to me and our dining room looking a little worse for wear.

Like this:

26 = the number of packets of Plundered Pages, my new mixed vintage paper kits, I've made up so far ... from all that paper I sorted through:

[Edited to add: I've begun gradually adding them to my etsy shop now.]

1 = the number of items I included in one of the themed packs which I already went to look for to add to a layout of my own ... [an old collectors card with a bat on it] until I realised it was now sealed up inside a themed pack!

Hopefully this is a good sign ... that if I want to use the kits ... then maybe someone else will too! No doubt I'll update you in next month's numbers!

5 = the number of people who blogged their own Month in Numbers posts - for September - who I added links to at the bottom of my September post. 3 of which were very welcome 1st-timers.

I'll be doing the same again with this post - so just let me know if you blogged yours and I'll edit this post to add you in.

Louise from 'Boys Bugs & Beautiful Buttons' blogged a great twist on the idea by listing the numbers of photographs she took of various occasions during October. It's a great idea which you can read here.
Melissa from 'Remember to Breathe' joined in with her numbers for the first time here after hearing about the idea from Sian.
Cate of 'Life Behind the Purpe Door' was another first-timer who joined in, catch up with her statistics here.
A warm welcome back to Clair of 'The Crafty Alchemist' - my Month in Numbers stalwart - who after playing along all year has caught up on 2 month's worth of numbers in this post as illness stopped her totalling-up her September statistics.
Nathalie from 'An Ounce of Creativity' has joined in with some Halloween + Pinterest inspired numbers in this post.
Kate from 'Nanna Kate' joined in once again with some foodie statistics here.
Cate from 'World Elsewhere' returned to blogging her month in numbers here after a few months break [which she counted, obviously!] and October had a special significance for her ... which needed cake + party.
Sian of 'From High in the Sky' joined in once again with a great layout to document her numbers this time round here.
Fiona of 'Staring at the Sea' found me through Sian and blogged her numbers for the first time here.
Then after seeing Fiona's post ... Julia from 'Scraps of Life + Pieces of Paper' joined in for the first time too here.
Ginger, of 'Ginger's Life of Spice' joined in with hers here which features the best sighting of an acrobat you'll see all week! ;-)
Melissa, of 'Remember to Breathe', joined in once agan here.

--------------------------------------------

So those are my October statistics and as it's almost lunchtime I won't mention the smells which came from 1 bottle of milk being spilled in James's van nor the 1 noxious chicken he unpackaged and swiftly returned to the supermarket this morning.

Here's to a sweetly scented November. For all of us.

Julie :-)

Still Twitter-Curious after all these years.

2011-10-29T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hi.

So my title is a slight exaggeration ... but the Paul Simon song lyrics I was paraphrasing didn't say 'still crazy after all these months' and I can't imagine he'd have got where he is today if he'd written 'still crazy since earlier this year' or 'still crazy since January/February time'.

But I digress.

I really wanted to tell you that I wrote a guest post for Erika on Oops I Craft My Pants [which went live yesterday] and the subject I wrote about was: Tips for the Twitter-Curious.

After all these months!

If you're new here, Tips for the Twitter-Curious is a free instructional series I wrote earlier this year - which you can still access here. What's amazed [and delighted] me is how, even after all this time, it's still reaching new eyes out there in Webland.

After the initial set of Twitter-Curious signed up to play along with the class in 'real time' there's been a steady stream of people tweeting me out-of-the-blue to tell me they've read the series and are now using Twitter.

The latest was the inspiration behind this journal page:

It took me hours and hours to put the class together. Some nights after work I was on-my-knees-tired but I persisted in completing each post on time.

And, ever since, as I didn't charge for it, I've made sure to promote it to the best of my ability ever since. I've sent links to bloggers who've passed the link on to others and, most recently, I passed it onto Erika from Oops I Craft My Pants ... which is how that guest-post came to be!

I think of it like this:

If I were a supermarket then Tips for the Twitter-Curious would be my 'loss leader'.
Like cheap crates of beer, it's one of the key things that tempts 'customers' through my door.
Then, once they're here, hopefully they find something else they like the look of. Such as my scrapbook pages, my etsy shop ... or my crisps and salted peanuts.

And I'm not embarrassed to tell you any of that, because I'm proud of that series ... in fact I'm crazy about it.

Still.

After all these ~~years~~ months.

--------------------------------

If you get do chance to swing by my post on Oops I Craft My Pants then you'll see it's an overview of the series has to offer if you're Twitter-Curious, Twitter-Ignorant or even Twitter-Disdainful! So it's definitely worth a peek if it's new to you.

If not, it's still worth paying Erika a visit as her site is filled with craft projects and tutorials [her latest idea for boot socks made me want to rush headlong into my jumper drawer with scissors!] so there's plenty to feast your eyes on if you're new to Oops.

----------------------------------

And finally ....

If you are someone who's followed some of the Tips for Twitter-Curious then I'm wondering/hoping you'll consider ...:

leaving a comment [either here or on my guest post at Oops] letting new readers know how the class was for you;
or you could jot down any noteworthy Twitter experiences you've had yourself since taking the plunge;
or even just share any Twitter tales stories or offer suggestions for any new readers and new Tweeters.

Would you? Because that would be amazing. And make sure to leave your Twitter username in your comment too so we can all swing by and see you over there too.

See you there, or here, or both. Thank you!

Julie x

Purple Phase guest blogger: Lara Watson

2011-10-27T10:38:00.001+01:00

Hello hello.

Today's Purple Phase colour palette has been interpreted by my special guest-blogger today, the new Creative Editor of Mollie Makes magazine: Lara Watson.

And here's the palette I gave to Lara as her starting point:

The colours are a fairly unusual combination which I'm not sure I'd have come up alone ... but I didn't have to. They're the colours of the beads on a favourite necklace of mine [I've had it for years and that pale pink still makes me swoon!]:

Now let me get out of the way and make room for Lara and her take on this colour scheme ...

------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm something of a purple fiend. It has to be said.

I love the colour so much and have berry tones of tops, dresses, tights and scarves galore. So I was shocked - nay, horrified - when I looked through my vast paper stash in preparation for this challenge and found not a single sheet of purple.

Have scrapbook companies been rationing it? Maybe just saving it for their Halloween collections?

I'm not sure but it's something I need to address.

So, instead I found a photo with purple in it. My brother's hoody. In what turned out to be a rather adorable photo of him and his baby boy, my first nephew. Ripe for scrapbooking!

Sticking to the colour scheme, I used:

lots of blue Maya Road mist;
yellow Sassafras chipboard butterflies;
brown Bazzill and woodgrain;
lots of pink accents;

I added a few extra purple highlights here and there with some cute buttons, too, for good measure!

Lara.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love what Lara did with these colours and I'm now wondering why I've never taken colour inspiration from that necklace before now! It works so well.

Again, like many of the purple palettes we've looked at so far, it's another one which nicely balances natural, neutral shades with some interesting, unexpected splashes of colour. Along with demostrating how purple can be a subtle addtion to a scheme, Lara's page also gives a nice twist on using pink on a masculine page too and afterall, it did say 'baby pink' on the palette didn't it?!

Thank you Lara!

And thank you for dropping by on us both today.

I'll be back very soon with news of where it's my turn to guest blog for someone else! Have a great day.

Julie

Layout: If You Want to Get Ahead ...

2011-10-25T09:32:00.001+01:00

Hi, hi.

There seems to have been something of a flurry of purple activity going on in the last few days with people directing me to their purple posts - thanks so much! As we head rapidly toward November I still have plenty of purple posts and palettes to share [try saying that fast three times!] to share along with two special guests ... so there's plenty to come. But until then ... here's something with only the smallest hints of aubergine visible!

This was one of those pages which developed as I went along. No grand, overarching plan and set of supplies from the start. Nothing was set in stone.

Nothing except that photo.

Because, let's face it a photograph of me wearing a hard hat was always going to find itself at the top of the 'To Scrap' list. Always. But I didn't know how to scrap it or what story to tell.

Stories I considered telling included:

I was wearing a hard hat because I was waiting to go down a drift mine at Beamish.
It was approximately 30 years after I did the exact same thing as a child.
Family lore tells that when I was there the first time I got the giggles when a man in front of me banged his hard hat on the low ceiling of the mine; [This is highly likely to be a true story as I did the same thing as an adult on a tour of a cave once when the man in front kept bashing his head like some sort of cartoon character! Clearly I find hard hats humorous.]
I also remember being smug when I went down t'mine as a child because I didn't have to stoop like everyone else as I was so small.

But instead of telling those tales ... a phrase my Grandma used to say came to mind and seemed to fit perfectly:

I won't swear that I know exactly what it means but it fits and it tells a story of its own which is quite different to that of me laughing down a mine!

At the time I made this page I'd just hit a bit of a dead end with something workwise:

But you can't win them all, I know this. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to use this sentiment stamp I bought months ago but had never stamped: "I couldn't wait for success, so I went a head without it".

So, the story I really wanted to tell using this photo, on this page, was the one about:

not relying on others to offer me success, but seeking my own, no matter how hard that feels at times;

and, most importantly ...

If you want to get a head, by all means get a hat ...but
You might as well make it a hard one, because then, despite the inevitable bumps to the head ... you can then carry on regardless!

If you've had a dent to your armour lately I wish you luck in finding a hard hat that fits.

Then we'll have you back down that drift mine making 5 year olds crease up with laughter in no time!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Julie x

------------------
p.s: this is my 3DJean Design Team project for this month, if you'd like details on some of the products used you can visit my post on their blog here.

Other products include Studio Calico papers, FabRips and alphas and vintage paper/ postage stamps from the packs I'll be offering in my etsy shop ASAP.

Pretty Paper Party Giveaway Winner

2011-10-20T10:35:00.002+01:00

Morning all.

Well ... lots of you really wanted to come to the party!

There were 74 entries and as promised I listed your name twice if you also answered the additional question:

I let Random.org select a number:

And it picked 5 [after I typed out 113 names ... it picked 5!!!!].

And 5 was Patty:

I'll get in touch with Patty and then Shimelle ASAP.

My party project has already been revealed in the class materials, but I still can't share it. But here's a tiny peek of what I made form those supplies I showed in you in the original giveaway post:

OK, I'm off to contact the winner!

See you soon.

Julie

Purple Phase: purple with orange, brown + blue

2011-10-18T10:44:00.001+01:00

Hi, hi, hi.

I always knew that those purple boots, featured by my guest-blogger Sian Fair [in this post last week], were going to be a hard act to follow, so today's post contains the next best thing I could find ... purple shoes.

The shoes will be making an appearance in a moment, but right now, here's today's Purple Phase colour palette:

The colours are taken from a tunic style dress whose pattern I fell in love with the minute I spotted it and which i've worn rather a lot this summer:

It's another example of :

how purple can often be easier to wear [or use in scrapbooking etc] when it's mixed with other colours as part of a print rather than as a solid block of colour.

That said, I don't want to detract from how it contributes to the pattern or colour scheme. Just because it's mixed-in with other shades doesn't mean it's hidden entirely.

Take my dress for example, I liked it because the bright-yet-cool spots of purple and blue were an interesting contrast against the neutral background and warm orange, tobacco and brown shades:

That particular shade is what I think of as 'candy purple' - sort of an equivalent of candy pink? If you see what I mean? It's a lighter shade than full-on 'purple' but it's too bright to be 'lilac'. So, yes, it's a candy-purple-bright-pastel. And whatever it is, I like it!

In fact, when I bought the dress I already owned the vest I'm wearing underneath, which is a perfect match, so I guess I've liked that shade for a while at least.

It's also another one of those shades of purple which I find works really well with grey - and you can expect several more 'grey with purple' posts before the Autumn's out as I've realised it's one of my regular 'go to' combinations.

Anyway ... enough chat ... here's those purple shoes I promised:

What you can't tell from the photo is that they're a wedge heel which is covered with a kind of raffia which, once again, confirms that I really do have a things for purple with natural materials like string! [remember the card I shared a few weeks back?].

And just to prove it is in fact me in these photos ... here's one with my head in it!

Dress: Dorothy Perkins ¦¦ Vest: H&M ¦¦ Leggings + cardigan: Primark ¦¦ Shoes: New Look

----------------------------------------

Don't forget to link me up to any of your new posts about your own purple phase [a link back to here would be most welcome in there somewhere] and I'll pin them to the Pinterest board ASAP.
In case you're new here, the Purple Phase Pinterest board contains mostly other people's work and photographs, along with all of the colour palettes of mine.

In addition to which ...

I've just created a Purple Phase Flickr folder to house all of the palettes and projects I've created especially for this series alongside ...
Everything from my entire Flickr photostream which looked remotely purpley-shaded and appropriate!
So if you're interested in more of my crafty projects in purple, then that's a good place to find them now.

I'll be back soon with another purple post and if you missed it yesterday, hop here for a chance to win a pass to Shimelle's latest online class.

Thanks for reading me today.

Julie :-)

Giveaway: Win entry to the Pretty Paper Party at shimelle.com

2011-10-17T10:56:00.005+01:00

Hello you.

It's no secret that I like paper. In fact it's the exact opposite of a secret. There's not a day goes by when, in some form or another, I don't work with it, shuffle it, admire it or desperately look around for places to keep it!

And now I get to attend a party held in its honour ... and so can you ...

You know Shimelle ... right? Well after finishing teaching her Learn Something New Everday class [the one which I made my recent journal for] she's throwing a four-week online party... a Pretty Paper Party to be exact!

Here's what the hostess has to say about her new party/class:

"This is the party to attend if you:

have a collection of paper stacked up for a rainy day;
if you have more scraps of paper than you know what to do with (but you know you don't want to throw them away!) and;
if you've ever put a piece of paper back in your stash because it was just too special for the photos at hand.

Through printable prompts and tutorial videos, me and dozens of special party guests will share beautiful and innovative techniques you can achieve with the paper you have already collected."

And you needn't worry that you won't know anybody there, because at the very least ... you know me.

I'm going to be appearing at the party as one of Shimelle's guests and, as I don't have any other party-tricks, I've created a scrapbook page especially for the occasion.

While I can't show you the page here ... I can show you the supplies I used to create it. If you know my work pretty well, you might be able to guess what some of them will be before you even take a look!:

Did you guess anything? Lots and lots of patterns [including animal print!], paint, postage stamps and old book pages. Yes, I'm nothing if not predictable!

[p.s: I'll be offering packs of reclaimed book pages, as seen in the photo, from my etsy shop very soon!]

So, now you know there's going to be at least one familiar face at the party all you need do now is sign-up .. or enter my giveaway for a free pass!

------------------------------------------------------------

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave me a comment on this post making it clear you'd like to win!
That's it!

OR

If you'd like your name entered into the draw TWICE then also tell me:

which crafting supply you think would make a good party outfit or accessory;
For example: is there a particular patterned paper you'd like a dress made from? Or a kind of embellishment you could dangle from your ears?!

Edited to add: I'll announce the winner ASAP after the closing date however - please bear in mind that I'll need to be able to contact you if you win. So, if you need to leave an Anonymous comment that's OK, but please direct me to a blog/Twitter account or something so I know who you are and can let you know you've won!

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES:

08:00 [UK time] Thursday 20th October 2011

NOTE:

If you have already signed up to the Pretty Paper Party you can still enter!!
If you win, Shimelle will either refund your sign-up fee OR donate the pass to a friend of your choice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The class itself began this morning but hey ... as with any good party, it's okay to arrive fashionably late. Also:

The class has no deadlines;
Everyone receives permanent access to all the class materials;
So anyone can RSVP to the party at any time.

Good luck! And if this class isn't for you ... please consider passing the details of the giveaway on to a friend.

I'm going to go and get my party frock on ...

Julie :-)

Overheard: It's OK, the council make them from fairy pillows.

2011-10-15T22:28:00.000+01:00

Hi.

I thought it was about time I shared an Overheard with you - which I'll do any minute now - but you should know: I'm trying to eek them out and ration them because my back-catalogue is getting smaller ... my campus overheards are becoming quite rare! An endangered species.

I don't know what I've been doing wrong lately but I either need to start hanging around in more lectures and cafes on campus ... or I need to clean out my ears. I'll see if I can do both over the next few weeks, until which time, here's one I heard earlier ...

Scene: I was crossing the campus [on 19.02.10 to be precise - yes, I do keep such detailed records, thanks for asking] behind a group of students discussing the frosty, icy, weather when one of them shared this ...

Male student: "I slipped and nutted our front door."

Now ... at this point in his tale you might be thinking something along the lines of 'Ouch', 'Nasty', 'Sounds like a lucky escape', 'I wonder if it left a bruise' ... but, really, there's no need to fret about the possibility of brain damage, for, as he went on ...

"But it’s one of the council doors. Not a solid oak one ... so I didn’t mind that much."

You know that phrase 'where there's no sense, there's no feeling'? Yeah ... that.

:-)

Julie

Purple Phase: purple with teal, coral + black

2011-10-12T16:37:00.003+01:00

Hello, hello.

It's a rainy old day here and I'm wearing all black and brown ... so I'm going to indulge in a splash of colour ...
With today's palette, and the project I made with it, I'm hoping to show :

that it is possible to use lilac in a non-twee, non-cute manner!

It is possible! I swear!

All you need is ... orange [or 'coral' if you want to be fancy about it, which I do]:

The inspiration for this scheme came from the seagull illustration I cut from a 1970s children's book:

The colours from each of the additional items I added were all taken from him:

I inked the edges of the lilac [Basic Grey] backing paper to reflect the colours on the wings;
But this meant the image blended in too well and was lost - so I added the spotted paper in a deeper, punchier shade.
The striped strip helped tie in the purple and teal shades;
The [7Gypsies] word sticker and [Jillibean] baker's twine picked out the yellow in the beak;
And the bunting stickers [by LilyB Designs] picked out all of the shades I'd used:

And that all important shade of coral came from his legs:

And I repeated this with a little scrap of crocheted trimming in the ideal shade! [I love it when I find just the right thing to match!]

So, maybe next time a lilac card, project or outfit feels in danger of straying into 'too cute' territory try breaking-up the cool shades with a lively touch of coral.

Just think 'seagull card'. What could possibly go wrong?! ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I've got another outfit post on it's way using similar shades as today's palette, so I'll see you then.

Julie

Purple Phase guest blogger: Sian Fair

2011-10-10T10:18:00.001+01:00

Hello you.

To kick off a new week in style I'm thrilled to introduce you to Purple Phase's first guest blogger Sian Fair:

And as we're going to be kicking things off ... we could do worse than doing it in Sian's boots .... trust me [or scroll down if you don't!] ...

I'll let her speak for herself ...

---------------------------------

Guest post from Sian:

This post comes to you courtesy of a pair of boots.

Purple ones.

Obviously.

I posted a picture of them on my blog and they caught Julie’s eye, and she said (maybe) “Mmm, Sian’s having a purple moment, let’s see what she thinks” ...

So, I’d better be honest. Let’s get this right in the open: I spent years loathing purple.

Didn’t like it at all.

Until one day I spotted a felt bag sitting in a shop window:

I went back again and again and eventually I brought it home. And when I looked at it carefully I started to see what it was telling me about purple.

It’s rich and warm, but it doesn’t push itself forward.

It can be a backdrop, a background, for so many other different colours.

Just look at the collection there is on my bag – blues and green, yellow and burgundy.

I saw the light.

I began choosing a purple piece and layering one of these colours on top. Then I swapped round and added purple accents to a different base.

And that’s how I moved on from a bag ...

... to a pair of purple boots.

They’re big boots, but they go with almost anything.

Sian.

----------------------------------

Thank you Sian! I love the layout, especially the insight in the journaling into what you've been wearing the boots with!

If you don't know Sian's blog ... you ought to!

And you might also be interested to hear she's a Design Team member for 'Scrap 365', a brand new scrapbooking magazine due for launch next month.

-------------------------------------

My next purple guest [well, she's not purple ... her project is!] will be here in a couple of weeks' time and until then you're stuck with me!

I'll be back in a day or two. See you soon.

Julie

Purple Phase: purple with pink, red + denim

2011-10-07T02:00:00.000+01:00

Hi, hi.

We're a couple of weeks into the Purple Phase now [it's running until the end of November] so I thought I'd take two minutes to check how it's going, so ...

How's it going?

If you already like purple ...

have you been tempted to try any of the colour-combinations so far?
a few people have let me know about their blog posts and they've now been pinned to the Pinterest board.
Show me yours!

If you didn't like purple before ... or you didn't think that you liked purple ...

are you a convert yet?
have there been any palettes in particular you'd consider trying?
anything seem wearable yet?

Thanks to those who've been in touch so far both here and on Twitter.

This week the words: "I thought of you when I was playing with the purple mist." were music to my ears as I'm never quite sure who's reading / listening ... so to find that out ... was just so much fun! So was learning that a painting on a restaurant wall reminded someone of my colour-palettes and how did I learn this? She tweeted me, while she was there having her lunch opposite the painting! The whole scenario made me smile, lots!

OK, now all the fun stuff's out of the way, it's time to move on to the all important business of convincing to you wear purple ....

---------------------------------------------------------------------
When I blogged the previous colour palette, from a page in my journal, [the one with plum, fuchsia + cream] it reminded me of a retro-floral summery top I have ... so that was the starting point for today's combination.

Hopefully it will show how the palettes can easily crossover from craft projects to outfits and vice-versa. So here it is:

I think I paid the grand sum of £1 for it, in a sale at Internacionale years ago! I wanted to use it as a way to show an easy way to introduce purple to your wardrobe:

as part of a pattern, mixed in with other more familiar colours,
and as a part of a very casual look:

It's certainly not particularly the easiest item to wear: it's very bright, very patterned and that little frill on the shoulder really distracts me!

And I probably wear it more in the winter than summer despite the palette and design feeling initially quite spring/summery.

I'm much more comfortable in it when I wear a cardigan over the top:

I find shades of purple are made much more wearable/usable when paired with natural shades and neutrals.
So this charcoal/brown cardigan feels like a good choice to tone things down.
Imagine if I wore a matching lilac cardy with it ... it wouldn't be the same outfit. It might be pretty, but it wouldn't have the same relaxed, casual feel.
And as for the jeans, well, they go with purple because they go with everything. Everything!

So, I had my splash of colour and I added in some safe neutrals and/or denim, now what?

Remember, last time I extolled the virtues of balancing out colours in any scheme by repeating them, well, that's what I tried to do with the shoes:

Top: Internacionale ¦¦ Cardigan: H&M current season ¦¦ Jeans: Primark ¦¦ Shoes: by Converse

So, there we go. Another palette, another outfit using purple.

Another glimpse into both my wardrobe and my tiny back garden!

-----------------------------------------------------

I'll be back on Monday with the first of several posts created by guest bloggers. So make sure you swing by to see Sian Fair's fabulous take on Purple Phase!

Until then then ...

Julie :-)

Journal: LSNED 25 - 30

2011-10-05T11:53:00.003+01:00

Hello.

September certainly went out in a blaze of glorious heat leaving me no excuse for not sitting at the garden table last Saturday and not moving until my Learn Something New Every Day journal was finished.

It was a dirty job but ... you know ... I struggled through. Now here are the final fruits of my LSNED labours:

Sept 24: That's the page with the Dr.Who reference which I blogged earlier this week here.

Sept 25: Look, dry hands!

Let me assure you that I am, in fact, a good driver - it's just that James does 99.9% of the driving when we go out together so he doesn't often get chauffeured around. He always used to find it hard to be a passenger ... but not so this time. Progress! ;-)

Sept 26: Seclusion

While making these pages I stumbled across an interesting alternative to splashing white paint around: I splash my white poster pen around instead. I had a white Sharpie Poster Paint Pen which was running low on paint and I kept having to really shake it up. I found that, after doing this the poaint sometimes easily splattered out when I removed the lid ... so I started doing it on purpose.

Shake it up. Remove lid. Flick the wrist ... as if you're from Hogwarts. Result!

[If you can't find a white Sharpie pen then Posca do a very similar version. I have one. It's the one I use 'properly'!]

Sept 27: That's the page I made the 'from start to finish tutorial' about, which you've already seen [unless you haven't ... in which case it's here].

Sept 28: Just plain 'sad'

As the journaling says, it's often the simplest words, the ones we teach children, that are the most appropriate to describe your feelings.

Also, feeling sad for someone else is often far worse than for yourself.

Sept 29: Sunny day philosophy

Unaccustomed as I am to extended periods of sunshine ... I made the most of those few incredibly sunny days we had last week and took lots of photos. And started writing a tutorial and then ... my internet was cut off!!

Long story.

Anyway ... I remembered Shimelle's LSNED prompt for that day re: making time to fit in something nice, making the effort to schedule-in something you'd look back and wish you'd done ... so, rather than stay home, minus broadband, and just do some crafting ... I went for a walk in the sunshine to visit my parents and an adorable 2 year old [from my Month in Numbers post a few days ago.]

And we collected leaves in a dumper truck and played with snailshells and toy cars. Which I don't think i'd have done if I'd stayed home ...

Sept 30: Lucky

Shimelle had suggest we do a 'round-up' page:

"You don’t need to write reams, but a few words to finish your book gives it that explanation to anyone who might read it while also reminding you of the feeling of finishing such a record of your life this month, this year."

If you can remember back to when I was thinking about September's arrival you'll know I wasn't looking forward to it. But while journaling the month I began to realise that I had nothing at all to complain about. Nothing.

I had days out with James, I had interesting work, I saw my family, I had lovely online feedback, I sat in the garden ... I had a much needed haircut!

And so for a final closing page:

I was right ... October, it's only 4 days later and already you haven't been able to keep that weather up!

Here's the finshed book:

Slightly buckled and a smidge crinkly but mostly colourful and cheerful. Not bad qualities to aim for ...

------------------------------------------

For the person who asked where I get ideas for my pages I thought I'd quickly add in a few ideas:

I should say that this particular journal came from me taking Learn Something New Every Day - a class delivered by Shimelle Laine. While I didn't always follow the exact prompt for the day, I would say that a mix of everything she covered eventually found its way on to my pages.
Alternatively there's a new art journaling challenge each week over on UKStampers , hosted by Effie, that anyone can join in with.
There are so many prompt / challenge blogs out there if you have a search around.
Emily Falconbridge did a year of journal prompting for her 52Q series which I absolutely loved!! The tiny journal pages I made in response to her prompts can all be found here and they remain some of the things I am most happy to have created!
And sometimes my ideas come from something that happened, a photograph, a feeling, an interesting magazine clipping or phrase I come across.

If you have any interesting inspiration sites you'd like to share, feel free to leave a note in the comments.

I'll be back soon with another Purple Phase colour palette, it's an outfit this time, in a similar colour-way as the post from earlier this week.

As for today, I'm not sure how I'm going to spend the rest of it ... but I'll take a guess that there'll be paper involved somewhere.

Soon enough,

Julie x

It's A Sign: Quite Some Free Gift! With a layout too

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000+01:00

Hola.

Never let it be said that I'm not a multi-tasking blogger, because today I bring you a single post which manages to combine:

a funny sign for my It's A Sign feature;
my 3DJean Design Team project;
a scrapbook page AND ...
a splash of purple to fit in with Purple Phase [which now has it's own page tab ^^ up there containing a list of all the posts so far].

Oh and I'm also experimenting with a new LinkManger thingy at the bottom of this page ... so all in all this is one packed post.

So, while I have a short nap to recover from the exertion you can have look here, at the sign I spotted above the door of the printing press in the Edwardian Town at Beamish:

Isn't the English language an amazingly flexible thing? While I'm certain the signmakers hadn't intended my interpretation of it ... the idea that if I went round the back I'd be supplied with my very own agent or newsboy well ... that made me laugh!

It also made me want a photo of me with the sign ...the next best thing if I wasn't actually going to get an agent or newsboy to bring home! ;-)

Now here's the page I made to record it:

The journaling is written on some office supply labels while the titling is a combination of October Afternoon and Making Memories alphas. I bought 4 packs of the same colour of the latter in a cheapy bumper pack from TKMaxx and, rather than have 400 identical pink letters to use up, I've coloured over some of them with ProMarkers to match my page:

For a little embellishment cluster at the top I used a chipboard frame from a Collections Elements micro-book [listed below] and a strip of purple paper to balance out the similar strip at the bottom of the page. It also co-ordinated with the purple Shimmerz inks I sprinkled across the page, especially around the chipboard stars:

All of the illustrations plus the snippets of wording were taken from a vintage comic book story ... which possibly wasn't originally about a shop which supplied newsboys ... but hey that's what 'artistic licence' was invented for:

The chevron design fabric strips are Studio Calico 'FabRips' which are quite expensive ... for an embellishment [IMO] but I love them, so I treated myself. I used every last tiny scrap of the last packet I had and imagine I'll be doing the same with this one too!

Appropriately enough, due to the newspaper theme of the photos, the Chinese text I used on the stars and tucked down at the was torn from a free Chinese newspaper I spotted on a stand at work which I walked past one morning. It was on my mind all day, so I made sure that, before I left - and when I had a bag with me - I'd return to collect one. First I had a quick scan around to check no one was looking, then I swiped one and stuffed it into my bag in one swift movement.

Considering they were free papers I don't know what I was worried about ... possibly a fear of being questioned about whether or not I could read Chinese! Which of course I can't! And really, I didn't feel like explaining to someone that I didn't want to read it ... I just wanted to use it in my crafting because ... y'know ... it like .. looked sort of ... cool ....?

Because I don't think they'd have understood. But you do ... don't you?

Thanks for reading here today.

Julie :-)

-----------------------------------------

Here are the 3DJean supplies I used on this page:

Vintage Comic	Collections Elements - Chipboard Stars	Vintage Labels CD
Vintage Food Labels	Micro Accordian Book

InLinkz.com

Purple Phase: purple with plum, fuchsia and cream

2011-10-03T13:27:00.000+01:00

Hi, hi.

I completed all my pages for my Learn Something New Every Day journal at the weekend, which I'll share here later in the week but before then I thought I'd use one of my pages as the inspiration for today's 'using purple with ...' colour palette. So here it is:

I really like this combination as it's an extension from the idea of using purple with neutrals which I've talked about already. Here, the cream helps lend an additional warmth to the plummy shades and the bright pink which could have easily been the base of a cooler colour-combination.

Imagine this page minus the touches of cream running diagonally from top left to bottom right:

I think it would still have worked, but it would have been a cooler scheme where the blues would have been more predominant.

btw: You should know that I didn't plan any of this before starting my page, it's just how it evolved. As you may have gathered by now - especialy if you read the post I did showing a page from start to finish - I'm fairly free and easy with my journaling approach, things get torn, splattered, smeared and splashed around with my main concerns being telling a story/creating a theme ... and enjoying myself. So don't imagine I'm sitting there chained to a colour-theory book!

My use of colour on all my LSNED pages came from two key things:

the colours in the papers I'd glued down in advance of starting the individual pages; and
the colours within the main images and wording I'd selected for the page.

These are the things couldn't be changed: I couldn't peel off the base layers without spoiling the book and I wasn't willing to use an image which didn't really fit my theme solely because the colour matched. Therefore I used additional accents of colour to help pull the scheme together.

Whether on a journal page, a scrapbook layout etc or in an outfit you're wearing, repeating the colours across the scheme always helps the overall look appear cohesive.

Notice how:

the red + white patterned strip [from a security envelope] mirrors the red + white of the space rocket:
the light blue ink splatters lift out the paler blue of the rocket flames and the blue/green areas on the little face below;

Then, once I'd added this face sticker [because it fit perfectly inside the spacesuit] I wanted to repeat the use of purple somewhere else on my page, to tie it in. So I added a purple heart:

And finally, that splash of plummy/pinky/purple Shimmerz Spritz at the bottom was a way to repeat the colour of the "now why no try something new?" wording I'd cut from a magazine.

[I apologise it all these comparisons mean you've been scrolling up and down like a crazy person!]

----------------------------------------------------
Even if you're not interested in art-journaling, I hope the palette itself is useful to you, whether for a craft project, a home decor idea or an outfit you put together:

And if you're stuck with how to combine several new shades together:

Try out the idea of repeating the same shade in a few places across your project or outfit.
Whatever colour you add [eg. purple!] - make sure you add it again, somewhere else, too;
Even a tiny splash of the same colour elsewhere, [eg. earrings, gloves, bag-charm, paper flower, sticker etc] will bring surprisingly impressive cohesion and balance to the whole scheme;

If I sound evangelical about this .. it's because I am!

It's the single most important colour-rule I follow.
I rely on it when I'm introducing new colours to any existing scheme.

... and I'm sure it can work for you if you give it a go ... it even works with purple! ;-)

--------------------------------------------------
Don't forget you can:

save/pin the palette ... if you like it;
check out the Purple Phase Pinterest board for more inspiration;
refer to the Purple Phase post list if you think you've missed any purple posts so far!

--------------------------------------------------

I'm going to be back here tomorrow with a 3DJean Design Team project complete with a 'sign' and then later on in the week I'll post the remainder of my LSNED journal pages.

And to everyone who left a supportive comment on my 'from start to finish' post - thank you!And thanks for your thanks!

Julie :-)

My Month in Numbers 2011: September

2011-10-01T21:21:00.002+01:00

Hello hello.

Another month brings another Month in Numbers round-up so let's start with a photo taken exactly one month ago:

Looking back at this written-in-sand reminder I've just now thought how it might have made an interesting project to take a photo on the 1st of each month in a similar way ... telling a story of where you were ... but it's a bit late for that ... I should have remembered before it got dark and I still had time to experiment! maybe next month ...

Anyway, when I took that photo ... as well as '1.9.2011' being significant, so was this number ...

22 years = approximately [but I could be wrong] the number of years it's been since I've visited the 'seaside' with my both parents. [Mam, Dad, if you can correct me on that figure please do ... but think ... have we all been on a beach at the same time since Florida?].

And the reason we were at the beach was so that this little lovely:

... could dig and splash. Which he did.

He also stood very still and let me hold him out of the way while a big dumper truck type thing drove along the sand mainly because ... he thought it was being driven by Bob the Builder!

I think I was as delighted as he was when the man [complete with convincing Bob-like hard-hat] waved at us as he passed by! Aren't people great?

4p = the exorbitant amount of money James and I spent in an arcade at Whitby:

We don't often visit the arcades but hey, call me a wild spontaneous kid if you will, but this particular occasion I threw caution to the wind and decided to go in and spend all the copper I had in my purse.

Which was 4p. 2p each. 1 go each on the 2p push machines.

Unsurprisingly ... we didn't win anything.

9 = the number of pages my work appears on in the issue of Creativity which was released this month:

Receiving this particular issue was double exciting for me as one of the photos of my projects was taken by me in our back garden and they liked it enough to print it! If you've got a copy it's the one with the glittery Halloween bats dangling on a gate!

Speaking of dangly things ...

1 = the number of mice caught on camera in our greenhouse banqueting on bird food ... by sitting in the bag James had haning up in there!:

What a life! If that was me ... and if the bird food was ready salted crisps ... if only ...

Well I think that's all of my numbers for September really ... because I think I've exhausted its happenings by blogging my Learn Something New Every Day journal pages throughout the month.

If you're new to the whole idea you can catch up here and if you decide to play along and blog your own numbers just yell out and I'll swing by. You can join in any time at all - it doesn't need to be the end of the month and I'll edit this post to add you in so others can come and visit you and your numbers too.

Those who've joined in with their September numbers so far include:

Dawn from Scrap Happens joined in here for the first time this month;
Nathalie from An Ounce of Creativity blogged hers for the second time here;
'NannaKate' joined in once again here.
Another first-timer, the lovely Sian from From High in the Sky blogged her September statistics here.
And another novice gave it a go! Amy from Amy, etc blogged hers here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now let's get stuck into October shall we?

It's only the 1st day but for me, it's started so well ... I'm wearing a summer dress [in this freakish yet beautiful weather] and I've eaten a raspberry pannacotta so that's a fighting start if ever I saw one!

I'll see you very soon as I have the next Purple Phase palette plus the final installment of my LSNED journal pages and another It's A Sign post on their way next week.

Until then ... happy new month to you!

Julie :-)

An Art Journal Page: from start to finish

2011-09-29T21:33:00.001+01:00

Hi, hi, hi.

Well, it turned out that some of you were indeed interested in me posting a tutorial on the kind of pages I've been making in my Learn Something New Every Day journal. Which was nice, because really, you could have just shrugged saying "Meh. Whatever." when I put the idea out there!

So, for those of you who'd like to see how this page came into being:

Then this is for you:

I should just maybe say:

It's not an in-depth look at art-journaling or scrapping or even LSNED in general;
It's just a look at the process behind constructing a page for this particular journal [although seeing as how I'm a bit in love with the style it's going to appear in other journals without a doubt];
It's a bit of a photo-heavy post - just so you know.
If you'd find it beneficial to scrap lift / journal-lift straight from my page and produce a very similar page of your own - to get you started - feel free - that's what I've made the tutorial for.

Step 1: Prepare a base layer with mixed papers:
As I've mentioned several times now, I prepared the first layers of all 30 of my LSNED journal pages in advance of getting to the 'interesting' bits.

Glue approx. 3 roughly cut or torn sections of paper in a fairly random manner on the page of a notebook.

I used:

an old book page;
the inside of a security envelope;
a scrap of patterned paper;
Glued down with Daler Rowney 'Matt Glaze Medium'.

Once I'd done this on all 30 pages, in advance, I knew I had a fighting chance of getting this 'daily' project completed.

It meant I could sit in front of the TV, or at the dining table with relatively few supplies at hand, as I already had a workable base. However ...
I've also been made aware that this style of working could be useful if you're a crafter with a disability, as it's a way of breaking a page up into manageable chunks.

Thanks so much to the commenter who brought this to my attention as it perfectly draws together my two-strand working life: crafting and working with people with disabilities. I'd be thrilled if this method of working means you feel comfortable making a start, knowing that it can be done in stages as and when you want to or feel able to.

Step 2: Look through magazine clippings, catalogues and ephemera for focal images to suit the theme and feel you'd like the page to have:

Step 3: Select the ones which fit best or which speak to you most.

Trim around them and experiment with where they'd work best on the page.
Glue them down.
[I mostly only ever use a plastic glue-spreader rather than a brush as it means I don't have to have any water handy - I just wipe it with kitchen roll or let the glue dry on and pick it off when it gets too bulky! It saves time and is easier to manage if you're working quickly or on your knee in front of the TV!]

Step 4: Add additional, interesting scraps of paper/labels/ephemera - in colours which match what you've glued down so far:

Try overlapping some of your magazine clippings with these new elements;
This helps pull everything together, anchoring your images rather than having them floating around.

Step 5: Sift through magazines, catalogues, old books etc for wording which suit your theme / feelings / thoughts for the page:

Look out for key words or phrases which can help tell your story.

Step 6: Look for words or phrases you can combine to create your own sentences:

Glue them down, again try overlapping existing snippets for a more interesting composition:

Step 7: Cover up some of the text on the old book page with white acrylic paint:

Again - due to laziness and impatience - I don't often bother with a paint brush for this type of thing;
I use the glue spreader, a scrap of card ... or my fingers.

I also added some streaks of paint at the bottom and along the side.

Step 8: Flick ink at the page!:

If you don't want ink on your main images cover them up first;
Remove the applicator/pump/dispenser thing from a bottle of spray ink and tap it with your finger to spatter the page;
This delivers more individual spots of colour than if you just misted the page in the 'proper' way.

Step 9: When everything's dry add a few more themed words - using stickers:

Amongst others, I turn to sheets of 7Gypsies '97% Complete' stickers a lot for journal pages and on cards, layouts ... everything!

Step 10: Doodle around some or all of the words you've added to the page:

This can help to incorporate it into the overall page - rather than have things dotted around;
Actually 'doodling' is probably a kind word for what it is I do. Let's just call a spade a spade and say it's scribbling with gel pens:

Step 11: Add the 'journaling' part of the 'art-journaling':

You don't really need any fancy pens or supplies for this;
I run strips of cheap Correction Tape across the page [an idea I saw somewhere!] and write on them with a black Biro.

And that's it! A completed page:

I hope you've found something useful or interesting here, if there's anything else you'd like me to ramble on about ... just let me know.

And if you use it to help you create a page of your own ... let me know about that too ... and I'll pop by and grin at you!

See you soon.

Julie :-D

-------------------------------------
p.s: This page is my response to the new 'Take One' feature on the Little Musings blog where the idea is you take inspiration from a previous piece of work you've made ... and create a new one. I took the colour scheme and position of the main image from this earlier LSNED page and reproduced it here.

Purple Phase: Purple papers with kraft tag + string

2011-09-28T00:30:00.000+01:00

Hi, hi.

Since I started 'Purple Phase' I've been intrigued at how many people have 'outed' themselves to me as Purple-fanciers!

Here was me thinking it was the unloved colour of the spectrum when you're all secretly harbouring passions for plum after all! Or are you just like I was, where I'd somehow been oblivious to the extent of my use of purple until one day the evidence was too great and I realised: 'Oh, I guess I quite like purple ... who knew?'.

Well, whether you're a life-long purple-lover, if it's a recent revelation to you, or even if it remains your least favourite colour ... I hope there's something in today's project which you can take and adapt for yourself.

I talked about purple tones working well with natural and neutral products in previous posts already but I think it's going to be a recurring theme throughout the series. So with that in mind, here's today's palette:

And here's where the scheme came from:

The deep, muted shades on the backing paper make this a card easily suited to send to a man [At least I hope so ... because I did send it to one!]. Also:

It's another example of using purple where you might have reached for brown;
It lifts the colour-scheme where brown could have become 'muddy';
The purple combines with the neutral shades while retaining an element of colour on the project;
In this context the plum-coloured velvet ribbon adds a luxurious touch without appearing feminine;
It adds a smart backdrop for the kraft card tag:

When trying out this particular combination of colours and textures, think along the lines of:

the sumptuous decor of 'Gentlemen's club' lounges - complete with their velvet smoking jackets, leather armchairs, bold wallpaper designs and wooden furniture;
Or think of faded signs and the peeling painted wood of an old allotment;
Or think of the shades found on heather-covered moors in Autumn;

Rather than the pretty ribbons and bows I might add to a feminine card my finishing touch here was a more masculine equivalent:

a knot tied in a length of fine natural coloured button-twine combined with a length of faux-leather thonging - in plum.

Supplies used:

- Kraft tag and 'Happy Birthday' stamp: Papermania

- Papers: by Onirie, 4Heures37, Cosmo Cricket, LilyBee Designs

- Faux-leather thonging: from The Works craft section

- Button twine: The Ribbon Girl

-------------------------------------

So purple ... on a man's card ... what do you think? Would you try it?

Any thoughts on how else you might use today's palette? [Remember you can pin it to Pinterest or add it to your Favourites if you'd like to keep it safe for future reference.]

If you have any other occasions or situations in mind for this scheme you're welcome to share your ideas in the comments.

I'll be back later this week with ... I'm not sure what ... maybe more LSNED journal pages ... or more purple-ness ... or .. it's ages since I scrapbooked a page for myself so maybe I feel a layout coming on.

Soon then.

Journal: LSNED Days 18-23

2011-09-26T22:30:00.001+01:00

Hola.

How is / was your Monday? I managed to finish off a mini-book for Papercraft Inspirations, conquer the camera-timer so I could take outfit photos of myself and make a rather tasty chilli-con-carne using homegrown tomatoes ... so I'm calling that A Good Day.

I do have more Purple Phase posts to come this week but I thought I'd get as up-to-date as I can with my Learn Something New Every Day pages. I really appreciate the great feedback you've been leaving for me about them ... thank you. Some of the comments have made me consider making a some sort of tutorial / step-by-step type thing in a similar style ... so if that's something you'd like to see, just let me know.

Here we go then ...

Sept 18: 'Captured'

While giving the sofa its annual [if it's lucky] cleaning and vacuuming pampering-session I turned around to be greeted by a lens:

Sept 19: 'Breathe ... and try again .. and again.'

Sept 20: 'Signature Style'

When Shimelle's prompt mentioned thinking about our signature style there were certain things which leaped to mind immediately. I'm sure there are others ... but I put down the most obvious. I find it both strange and reassuring to realise that I do have an identifiable 'me' style.

Sept 21: 'Matters'

If I'm going to have to suffer Death-by-Powerpoint all day ... telling me what I do at work matters is a good way to start the day!
Sept 22: 'Speaking Up'

So, I spoke up and it was fine. But I wanted to say SO much more. [It's probably best I didn't though ... for now.]

I don't know where 'Mr. Smith' comes into this .. but this snippet fits the theme and made me smile!

Sept 23: 'Books lovely books'

Unlike the model I used on this page, I didn't actually wear a leather mini-skirt and caress the bookshelves in the Helmsley bookshop ... else I might not have come away with quite as many bargains as I did.

I might have been politely escorted out instead!

Thanks for dropping in today. I'll see you very soon with an Purple Phase post.

Julie :-)

notes on paper

Art Journaling: Power Dressing .. for Dogs

Painted Project: A little friend

Plundered Pages Giveaway Winner + Discount Code

January 'Month in Numbers' reminder, plus a few vintage numbers

Birthday Giveaway!

My Month in Numbers 2011: December

A Christmas Greeting

Overheard: Ahh... but he's a *clean-handed* idiot.

Layout: Holy Halloween Costume Bat Girl

How to Record your Month ... in Numbers

Cards: mini Christmas cards with Cosmo Cricket.

Vintage Books: it's *not* what you're thinking ...

My Month in Numbers 2011: November

Purple Phase: using purple with yellow, navy + silver

Using Purple: in a Travel Journal

Purple Phase: Using *that* purple poem on my 1st ever layout

News of 'Featuring' Magazine.

Purple Phase: purple with blue, denim + grey

Vintage books: Old World and New World Fairy Tales

All the world's a stage: Mini theatre scene

Purple Phase guest blogger: Kirsty Neale

Purple Phase: purple with stone, brown + teal

Purple Phase: purple with shades of grey

Purple Phase: Using purple in my bedroom

Sian's Storytelling Sunday: Grandma's Treasure

Purple Phase: purple with lilac, lavender + green

Purple Phase: purple as a pattern with stone + denim

My Month in Numbers 2011: October

Still Twitter-Curious after all these years.

Purple Phase guest blogger: Lara Watson

Layout: If You Want to Get Ahead ...

Pretty Paper Party Giveaway Winner

Purple Phase: purple with orange, brown + blue

Giveaway: Win entry to the Pretty Paper Party at shimelle.com

Overheard: It's OK, the council make them from fairy pillows.

Purple Phase: purple with teal, coral + black

Purple Phase guest blogger: Sian Fair

Purple Phase: purple with pink, red + denim

Journal: LSNED 25 - 30

It's A Sign: Quite Some Free Gift! With a layout too

Purple Phase: purple with plum, fuchsia and cream

My Month in Numbers 2011: September

An Art Journal Page: from start to finish

Purple Phase: Purple papers with kraft tag + string

Journal: LSNED Days 18-23

Overheard: Ahh... but he's a clean-handed idiot.

Vintage Books: it's not what you're thinking ...

Purple Phase: Using that purple poem on my 1st ever layout