MondoMio

2008-09-04T11:23:00.001+01:00

2008-09-04T11:11:00.001+01:00

I'm Back!

2008-09-04T09:36:00.004+01:00

At last I have my computer back and am able to start updating my blog! You'll see my last post was all in Italian - I'd been in touch with a cousin of mine who is the litle girl you'll see in my slideshow of scrapbook pages of when I went to live in Italy (barely started-an ongoing project)! Manuela was only 3 years old back then and she's the daughter of the cousin I lived with in a beautiful little village in the Sardinian mountains called Enas. She is now 33, married and expecting her 2nd baby although sadly she lost her first baby boy when he was only a few weeks old. We keep in touch via email and it's lovely to chat with her, she keeps me updated on what her family is up to!
I've compiled a new slideshow of all the scrapbook pages I've done in the last year or so-not many compared to some peeps on CSF but I seem to take ages over them and lose all sense of time! I find it the most satisfying, relaxing and therapeutic craft I've ever done and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone! The very first scrapbook was the 8x8 album I created as a little tribute or story about my mam, I just wish I'd started something like this when she was alive as maybe she'd have filled in all those gaps I don't know about her life! I've also started doing some of the challenges set by Lesley on CSF as I find it a great help in getting me to try different things on my pages, so these are also pictured in the slideshow, (if you want to see the titles of any pics, just hovver the mouse over them) You'll see I have developed a very distinctive style - fussy and flowery would best describe it! I do tend to like working with 'pretty' things and am not very minimalistic - I like to think of my style as expressing my feelings about the content of the pages, or the mood i was in at the time! I hope you enjoy browsing through the photos, any comments would be appreciated and maybe let me know which ones you like best! You'll see I also have no problem with adding lots of journalling, and I know there's quite a few people out there who find this hard to do. I would say just have a go and write down your thoughts or memories that the pictures bring to mind - you always look at an old photo and think something - so write it down! Even if it's just to say 'what a happy day that was' or 'what a disaster, it poured down'! I often find I'll end up laughing or crying when doing my journalling - but what the heck, It makes me feel better either way!

Un Messagio Per Manuela!

2008-05-01T16:15:00.002+01:00

Ciao Manuela!
Spero tanto che sei riucita a trovare il mio blog! Questo l'ho fatto per mostrare alcune foto e chiachere sul mio 'hobby'. Mi piace fare lo 'scrapbooking', e faccio qualche cartoline. Forse puoi fare un giro delle foto che ho messo qui.
Non uso questo blog cosi tanto, meglio che mi scrivi tramite e-mail.
Ti lascio con un forte abbraccio e saluti a tutti in famiglia. Ciao a presto, Anna

My First Attempt with Alcohol Inks!

2008-03-09T13:11:00.004Z

I've had my first try with alcohol inks today! After a couple of go's to get used to what they 'do', I've made this fat page-and to be honest, I'm well chuffed with it! I used acetate and the colours are a set of 3 called Tuscan Garden, which as you can see gave me the idea for my design! I just used one of those little pads for taking make-up off with, scrunched it up a bit, added a drop of all 3 colours and dabbed away - i went over it a couple of times to get the effect i wanted. I'd also bought some 'flower soft pots' (just cos i knew i'd have a use for them even tho i'm not into flower soft at all)! and used a cotton bud to stroke bits of the inks on to change their colour, and defined it with a marker pen. Then i used foam pads to stick them down after i'd 'curved' them a bit round my finger. I used the cotton buds again to dab the inks on another piece of acetate to make the 'geranium' flowers, cut them out and that's it! I'd have loved to have been able to 3-d the flowers too, but couldn't see how without seeing the glue or whatever i'd need to use!

I think i'll give this to my sister after i attach a pice of ribbon to hang it with - (i suppose it'l look a bit like a tile) she'll love it for her kitchen!

Spring Scrapbook Challenge

2008-03-05T23:48:00.003Z

This double page layout was made for Lesley's Spring Challenge, we had to use a tag, flowers and green and yellow! As soon as I read it I knew exactly which old photos i was going to use for this - they go back to 1988 when I was working at a lovely hotel in The Lakes, and a sunny spring afternoon when me and my friend wandered round the grounds (which were huge and went right down to the Lakeside) we had a fun time taking photos of each other amongst the daffodils! just looking at the photos remind me of the clean fresh air and sunshine, (and they also remind me how much thinner I was back then too)!

To make the pages I went straight to the pack of K&Co Tim Coffey design papers, which I thought were perfect and now I know that they were sitting around just waiting to be used with these photos! I made a couple of tags, one telling the 'when and where' and on the back a bit of journalling about the day, and on the other I printed the first verse of the 'Daffodils' poem by our famous local poet William Wordsworth - I think it was just waiting to be used on my scrap pages ha ha! I then added a few little stickers from the same paper kit, a bit more journalling on the page and some 'title' letters and that was it. I hope that they bring a little bit of sunshine into your day as they do for me!

Mother's Day Thoughts

2008-03-01T13:57:00.003Z

I've recently made this double page layout to go into the memory album I've made for my mum, (a project I started some time ago, and every now and then I think of something else I want to add)! I wanted to do something for Mother's Day, but sadly don't have any photos at all of this occasion, so I just used a couple of old photos of Mam with me and my sisters.

There's only a little bit of hidden journalling inside the envelope embellishment, but the little bit across the bottom sums up the pages exactly - "For Mother's Days we never shared, and those always remembered"

2008-02-06T23:25:00.000Z

Thanks to all those who have left lovely comments - it's a lovely boost to know you've enjoyed looking round 'my little world'!
I've finally bought a new scanner, spent the best part of the afternoon and evening getting it up and running and then learning how to use it!
Hope I find it quicker and easier to post piccies on here and in my photobucket from now on.
Not done any crafting today due to the scanner thing but also the pump on the washing machine has gone so have to wait a week for a new one! There's bound to be something else that'll go - you wait and see - they say things come in three's don't they!
I made lovely lemony pancakes yesterday, and today made a couple with banana and ice cream, mmmm yummy!
Well, that's all my chit-chat for today, think it's about time for bed as up for work tomorrow, so night night all!

2008-02-05T21:45:00.000Z

Well I've finally managed to get a slideshow added! So far I've just put in a selection of atc's I've made since I joined the CraftSwapForum, hope you enjoy looking!
Tell you what though, it's hard work getting your head round all this technical stuff - or is it just me...?! I've tried adding some more images but can't seem to get it to do what I want - frustrating or what!?

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-02-05T16:52:00.001Z

2008-01-26T00:15:00.000Z

The bunch of roses atc has again been made using 'goodie bag' elements! (Again, a simple design, no special techniques used)! The group of 3 were made using images from 'Heartwarming Vintage' (found on Joanna Sheen's website) I really like the 4 ladies - the wording says 'Where's the sale'?......!! Wish I could get a better photo of it.

Valentine Fat Page

2008-01-26T00:06:00.000Z

Made this from bits n bobs from the goodie bag! Colours have come out a bit odd, it is all red and black - no 'orangey' papers used!

My First Fat Pages!

2008-01-25T23:34:00.000Z

The photo's not very good, but I think you'll just about see them okay!

Funny how sometimes I take really good, sharp close-ups, then sometimes they're rubbish - what makes it worse is that I can never work out what I did to get a good photo!

I based these two on Friendship, seeing as that's what really got me into these in the first place - seeing everyone's lovely artwork on the forum!

No special techniques involved here, just nice papers, stamping, and a bit of layering the odd image!

2008-01-25T16:45:00.000Z

I've made a few more atc's today, as need to get plenty made for swapping when i go to the SEC and meet with a few friends from the forum!
I received a 'goodie bag' (from another forum member) and I've made some atc's using various items/papers etc from the heap of stuff that was in it!
I've also had a go at making fat book pages, only made 3 so far, but am enjoying doing something new.
My little challenge to myself for the next few days is to use only items from my 'scraps' box!
This is where, after a crafting session, I chuck all the little bits of things that aren't worth putting back into their proper storage areas. Stuff like bits of ribbon, fibres, odd flowers, jewels, beads, diecuts, and of course bits of paper and vellum! It's looking pretty full at the moment, because I had a bit of a tidy round the other day, and found loads more scraps lying around (you know how we don't like to throw anything away) so that's why i thought I'd better start using some of it! Luckily for my atc making, there are some nice bits of papers in there - forgotten about as usual - so at least I'm not cutting into full pages! I allow myself to use stamps & punches, also brads & eyelets - but not anything else unless it's out of the box!
After my lack of inspiration and no inclination at all to craft in the run up to xmas, I'm so pleased it's all come back again - mind you this does mean that whilst I'm crafting, there's no decorating prep being done! My excuse is that the weathers horrible and not really suitable for decorating (do we have 'suitable for decorating weather? lol!) so I stay nice and cosy upstairs in my craft room while the wind and rain are raging outside!
There'll be some pickies to follow shortly - will let you know!

Been making atc's

2008-01-21T14:27:00.000Z

Over the past few days, I've been making some atc's just so I have a few ready for swapping. I'm a member of Craft Swap Forum which is where everything crafty (and more) is always happening! This forum is where I first discovered the atc craze and got more and more into scrapbooking - all down to seeing everyone's fantastic works of art regularly shown off in photo buckets and blogs - great fun!

The Oriental Cranes is really simple just using peel-offs, brads and backing paper. The little girl image was stamped/embossed then a couple of words added - I called this one 'Pride'. The Art Nouveau Iris design I traced onto acetate, then coloured in. Just kept this clean and simple too. I have tulip and grapes designs using this method too.

My First Post!

2008-01-14T06:21:00.000Z

Well, here I am with my first entry so 'Hello' and 'Ciao' to anyone who pops in for a look.
This blog will not just be about my crafting hobby, but occasionally of other things going on in 'My World' too! Hope you enjoy browsing, oh, and my choice of music once I get it up and running!