My Month in Numbers 2013: October

Hello you.

I feel OK about mentioning this because [1] the layers of yellowing leaves on the floor and [2] the fact that it's now dark by the time you eat your tea has already given the game away: it's now the end of October! Scary isn't it? [And not just because it's Halloween!]

But, as another month disappears from the calendar like a vampire's reflection it brings with it another statistical summary of the days it left behind ...

Let's begin with my results for The Communal Count I set us all. [As usual I'll answer both, you're welcome to pick one or none!]:

9 = the number of items of mail I received which were directly addressed to me. While this doesn't seem like very many it was definitely a case of quality over quantity! Many of those were parcels containing lovely things such as: a free and entirely unexpected gift from a fashion brand; my mail art swap card; a postal themed gift in a fabulous envelope and the largest order of scrapbooking supplies I've treated myself to in a long time! I'll take a handful of deliveries like that over mounds of junk mail and letters addressed to 'The Occupier' any day!

The second Communal Count prompt suggested we share any weather-related statistic and I chose this:

20 degrees C = the temperature on the way home from a crafty weekend away:

Just like the summer, our Autumn here [N.E England] has been pleasantly mild ... so far. There've been a few awful grey and chilly days, but interspersed with real mini-heatwaves like this one. And I'm not sure if that's helping me ease into winter gently ... or just prolonging the inevitable frosty agony!

Oh and while we're on the topic of my crafting weekend let's take a closer look at its vital statistics.

On the way there we stopped off in Harrogate where I had my first sit-down meal at the famous Betty's tearooms ...

30mins [approx] = the queuing time to get in:

But at least we weren't the party of 10 who  had to wait for enough diners to leave to create a big enough space for them all to sit together.

4 = the number of us at the table and 4 = the number of us who couldn't resist taking photos of our meals [if you look carefully you can see two other photos being taken at the same time I took this one!]

3.5 days = how long we spent at our now traditional twice-yearly 'Crafting in the Country' retreat. Other numbers include:

• the 6 friends I met up with there;
• the converted 17th Century farmhouse we stayed in;
• the 5 bedrooms inside with 3 of us having a room to ourselves with the 4 others shared 2 twin rooms;
• the 2 craft shops we visited over the weekend.

I was a little bit under the weather sat the time so spent a good deal of time over the weekend doing nothing ... apart from picking out the eyes of the Muppets.

No, wait ... that needs explaining ...

1000 = the number of pieces in the Muppets jigsaw we began ... but didn't finish:

And I trawled all 1000 pieces seeking out any pieces of jigsaw which had a Muppety eye on it, so I could begin to put all the characters in place.

At the end of the weekend, when it came to packing up to go home I was more than happy for the half-complete jigsaw to be thrown back in the box ... but my friend Jean had other ideas.

Off she went to the kitchen and returned with a fish slice ...

Which she then used to lift up big completed areas sliding them carefully into the box so we'll have a head start when we unpack it all at the next weekend away in the spring! 

28 = the number of antibiotics taken. Least said soonest mended.

40 = the number of tags made + 20 = the number of gifts wrapped as my contribution to a gift-per-day-for-40-days-until-'someone's'-turns-40 surprise birthday 'thing' I organised for someone this month!

As I explained to the birthday girl herself : "think of it like an Advent calendar only it’s 16 days longer ... and it's not in December".
6 hours = the time spent getting painty with 10 others at the Kate Crane workshop organised by 3DJean:

Photo borrowed from this post on Kate's blog.

I made 2 sheets gelli plate print and 2 art journal backrounds. One which I like and one which makes me wonder what on earth I was thinking when I chose the colours. It's almost like I've never met me!

And speaking of colour ... after the workshop James, who'd collected me, had to go into his office so  while he got on with something important at his desk ... I was left to  my own devices in the store room ... which led to ...

 

200 = the number of reels of flooring weld I arranged into colour order. Here's the 'before':

Either you 'get' the need to put things in colour order ... or you don't.

If you do then I'm sure the above photo alone, with its jumbled shades all thrown together on the poles, is enough of an explanation as to why I did it! And, although I stupidly didn't take an 'after' photo of all 200 in their happy rainbow, I did take this 'during' shot:

That's better isn't it?

If you don't 'get' it then you probably just think I have [a] 'issues' and [b] far too much time on my hands. To which I reply ... the next time you're in a life or death situation which can only be resolved by something being arranged in perfectly shaded gradations ... you'll be sorry you mocked! ;-)

[Now, let me confess that the '200' is only an approximate number because, surprisingly I didn't count each one. I think pandering to one of my obsessions at a time should be quite enough for one afternoon.

Arranging things in colour order in a warehouse is one level of weird ... but going on to then count them all up so I could mention it in a number themed blog post ... well .. that would just be ridiculous ...

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So, that's how my month's statistics added up. To share your own then ...

• please visit the full 'How to join in My Month in Numbers' guide here.  
• There aren't many 'rules' as such - they're mainly a few ways in which you can help me to keep the Month in Numbers community running happily.
• I'll gladly visit you, comment and save your post to the Month in Numbers Pinterest board [currently followed by over 700 people] but this takes time, so there are a few simple things I ask in return. All of which you can find here in the guide.

I'll look forward to reading your memory-keeping-by-numbers and in the meantime ... I'll be working on the next Communal Count prompts.

 

See you soon.

 

Julie :-)

Scrapbooking: Simply A Moment - October 2013

Well hello there.

When I rounded-up the Going Postal series on Sunday I mentioned that normal service would resume soon and what better way to get back into the regular swing of things here than with a spot of scrapbooking?

2013 has certainly not been The Year of the Scrapbook round here!

I have several theories as to why that may be [some of which I'll probably bore regale you with at some time in the future ...] however ... it hasn't been an entirely un-scrapped year.

No, there've been a few valiant things which have helped me document at least some of the story of this year:

1. I'm managing to keep up-to-date with not only taking, but also scrapping my photos from the 52 Weeks of Photos project. One photo per week is the nearest I'll allow myself to get to falling down the Project Life rabbit hole!
2. I've been scrapping some of My Month in Numbers posts, printing out the full text from my blog posts to slot inside and ...
3. I've faithfully scrapped every one of my Simply A Moment blog posts and again, I print out the full text, only this time I've been adding it to my pages inside pockets:

If my memory serves me, I don't think I've shared any of them here ... so I'm trying to rectify that by sharing the page I made to accompany my most recent Simply A Moment post:

I also combined it with my 3DJean Design Team post today by using some of the lovely new blank tickets which are perfect for holding stamped dates and small blocks of journaling:

After creating the page from mainly a selection of patterned paper layers, the page was feeling a little too flat for my liking, so I added a couple of colours of Shimmerz Texturez [again, from 3DJean].

These heavily textured pearlised pastes [applied directly to the page by scraping through a section of plastic embroidery canvas] plus a few splatters of Shimmerz spray inks were just the thing the page needed to stop the whole thing feeling too 'safe'.

Ah, I'm living dangerously here you know?

Whoever said scrapbooking couldn't be an extreme sport?  ;-)

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Join me back here on Thursday for something scary.

[No, not a Halloween project but my October Month in Numbers round-up which will serve as a reminder, should you need one, that this year is very nearly over!]

[Please read this with a spooky ghostly voice in your head] I'll be seeing you sooooooooooooooon!

Julie x

I'm sealing the envelope + dashing to the post-box before the last collection: the end of Going Postal 2013

Hello there.

My title for this post was going to start: I'm licking the envelope etc ...

... but I didn't think giving you a mental image of my tongue was quite the tone I was trying to set here ... so let's move swiftly on ...

This is my final post about all things postal, at least for this year ... maybe I'll be tempted to open the envelope and go postal again at some time in the future, but until then ...

... the Going Postal Pinterest board is where you can [permanently] find:

•  all of my own postal-themed blog posts and craft projects from the 3 years in which I've been Going Postal;
• plus all of the posts which other people have contributed via their own blogs ....
• and ... a fair few other mail-ish projects, supplies and inspirational images I've stumbled across online.
• [just click on the image you're interested in reading more about until you're re-directed to the individual post].

I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all those bloggers who managed to find the inclination and the time to go postal along with me this time round.

As I mentioned, you can catch up with all of their contributions via the Going Postal board, but I wanted to just take a minute to introduce you to them all here so I can thank them 'in person'.

So 'thank you' to:

• Alexa from 'Trimming the Sails'
• Bernice of 'Newly Creative'
• Deb of 'Deb's World'
• Hetty from 'Roses in December'
• Jennie of 'Jeant-Jinnag'
• Katie of 'A Grown up Gap Year'
• Kirsty Neale at 'Ginger & George'
• Louise at 'Boys, Bugs and Beautiful Buttons'
• Mel of 'Let's Get Scrappy'
• Nicky at 'Creative Flourishes' 
• Sally of 'Sally Makes Art'
• Sian at 'From High in the Sky'

Thanks ladies! It was a treat to have links to each one of your posts drop through my [metaphorical] letter-box over these last 6 weeks.  I hope that through pinning your posts and sharing [most of, forgive me if I missed yours] them on my Facebook page that I've played a part in matching you up with some new blog readers along the way.

I'd also like to thank Gabrielle from The Green Gables who provided the great special offer on her eco-stationery during the final week. Make sure you follow Gabrielle on Facebook, Twitter or via her blog so you can be the first to hear of upcoming discounts and special offers from The Green Gables.

And I wouldn't dare end the series without thank all those who read, commented, repinned, retweeted and shared anything at all to with the series! Thank you so much!!

I thought I'd draw things to a close by sharing two fun packages of mail I received while Going Postal was running [I'll spare you any photos of the Electoral Registration form and myriad take-away menus which also landed on my doormat in the last 6 weeks!].

The first is the card I received as part of the 'Do What You Love' Great Big Stitched Postcard swap.  Remember when I shared the card I made? Well this is the work I received in return:

Inside that fab text-print envelope there was also that rarest of things: a handwritten letter from my 'swapee' and a lovely bundle of papery gifts:

 ... all of which had travelled safely from Shannon in Florida, right across the water to the North East of England where it's all now nestling cosily in my craft-room. Thank you Shannon!

And finally ... I was gifted yet another bundle of papery goodness and another handwritten letter, this time from Heather, one of my lovely shop customers: 

Now then ... as gorgeous as Heather's gift of an envelope-filled hand-bound art journal [which I've already started using] and a great selection of postal ephemera was ...

... perhaps the most noteworthy thing about her parcel was the envelope it all came in. As I mark all my outgoing shop orders with only a brief return address Heather found a rather striking way to make sure her gift found its way to me ...

And, hurrah for the Royal Mail, because it worked! It made it to me without a problem ... and I do hope it raised a smile with the postal workers along the way!

Thank you again Heather!

So, there we have it, the 6 weeks of posty fun is now over and regular non-postal-service will now resume.

I plan to gently drift back into my usual blogging schedule ... just as we all begin to wonder about those all-important last mailing dates before Christmas!

See you very soon.

Julie x 

At home: Like sleeping in a giant envelope ...

Hi, hi.

This is the penultimate post of Going Postal 2013 and I couldn't think of a better way to prepare to put the series to bed than this:

What? I know, awful pun ... but get over it ... and let me explain ...

As I type, this ^  is the linen we currently have on our bed [so far so entirely random but bear with me].

While you can clearly make out [and are no doubt not surprised by] the zebra print quilt in the photo, you might not yet be able to see what exactly it is that makes the remainder of the bedding so appropriate to our current topic ...

But the thing is ... when I spotted it on the shelf at TK Maxx a few months back then as, like you, I got closer:

... and closer to it ...

... I began to realise that the print was almost exactly like the kind you find inside security envelopes!! And, as this is my 3rd year blogging about postal themed ephemera ... you should know by now that security envelopes are one of my favourite everyday treasures!

So how could I resist?

[FYI: On previous occasions when I've shared photos of bed-linen I've had quite a few emails asking where I got it from - so this time I've come prepared. As I say, it came form a TK Maxx store[in England] so is probably old stock from somewhere or other. The name on the pack was: Wallis Young Home and, rather than the more accurate 'awesome security envelope patterned one' the actual name of this set is 'Harriet Blue'. However, I can't find anything about it online anywhere.]

So now you know how I've been sleeping at night after long hours of posty-themed blogging! But, for the record, no ... we don't have to tear the top of the duvet cover open each morning to get out of bed!

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Join me tomorrow for the final Going Postal post of 2013!

 

Julie

Cardmaking: with skulls and chains

Hello hello.

 

Do you know the Daring Cardmakers ? They're a weekly challenge blog who've reached their 7th birthday this month:

And they recently invited me to pull on a party hat and join in the celebrations over there today.

After giving me a list of themes I could choose to play along with I chose Spooky Birthdays ... because, really, any theme that justifies me using a skull and chains on a card is always going to win me over!

And here's my card:

The skull in question is a Cuttlebug die-cut + embossing set while the chain is a scrap of silver wrapping paper cut with the 'Delicate Chain' Poppy Stamps die, and I arranged them to give the idea of a skull chandelier:

But - skull & crossbones aside - by keeping the other elements quite subdued and subtle I was aiming for a fairly sophisticated, even feminine, finished result. And you can't beat a touch of crochet trimming and bling for that can you?

And, as you might have come to expect, no card of mine is really complete without a few word snippets, these cut from an old children's annual: 

Here's the end result again, to save your scrolling finger!

For more Spooky Birthdays ideas make sure to hop over to see how the Daring Cardmakers have interpreted the same theme and check out the challenges and competitions too.

 

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And join me here over the coming weekend as I prepare to post off my final few Going Postal missives of the 2013 series! It's your last chance to get your contributions linked up, pinned to Pinterest and promoted on my Facebook page too.  

 

See you soon.

 

Julie