pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

When I left home on Sunday morning, there were thousands of people arriving in our little corner of the world to run the London marathon. I was catching a train in the other direction to get to Alexandra Palace to stamp trees, birds, hedgehogs, polka dots and bunting on tiny pieces of paper all day, which is far more my type of activity. Though we did start to realise that standing still for the same amount of time as it takes to run twenty-six miles is not easy either, but we all made it through and managed to sell a few sets of woodgrain and cakes and woodland creatures along the way. All good fun. And lots of lovely people who said hello! It’s lovely to see a friendly face during the day.

Today I’ve at least had the luxury of sitting down a while…first to pack kits for a little something special from UKScrappers, then for dinner, then to watch Dr Strangelove (The Boy had never seen it and has been strangely obsessed with it lately) and knit a new rug. I collected all sorts of chunky wools when I started knitting, before I learned the important rule that jumpers knit in fat wool look even more fat when you’re wearing them…so I have made many chunky scarves and now I’m thinking the rug is the new answer. The floor doesn’t mind if it looks a bit extra thick around the edges.

The little something special from UKScrappers goes on sale here tomorrow morning at 7am, so do stop by in the morning if you fancy knowing a little more!

And thank you for all the lovely wedding stories…this week has a lot of real stuff happening, and then it will practically be around the corner. My goodness!

xlovesx

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Goodness, I didn’t realise I would be away quite that long. Spring seems to be announcing it is here, despite messing with us (and the cherry blossoms) by giving us short-sleeve weather one day and enough snow to sledge the next. This morning it is ever so sunny, so this bodes well. Every year the winter seems to be a little longer, especially when it’s just cold and dark rather than snowy. Making it through seems like something tiny and feels like something bigger. I don’t mind that I still need a jacket right now—there is light! Also, the sun sets just early enough that you can really enjoy watching everything go pink and orange. Like a big sky of embroidery.

Thank you so much to everyone who made ScrapFever one of the most wonderful experiences ever. Amy, you’re a star and I am so honoured to be asked to teach. Girls, all of you made me remember why I love this so much. It’s been a long time since so many people were so happy about paper and cameras and stories. It felt like the good old days, and yet so many of you were new scrappers. New scrappers…this alone was brilliant. I could gush all day, but I will just say again: thank you.

Lots of lovely spring things are happening. We’ve been getting our flat into order, largely by following this idea called The Cure (and yes, I was quite upset that it didn’t come with a Robert Smith soundtrack specially chosen to help you clean your house of dust and depression…though on second thought, that might be a very difficult mix to create) and as a result there is a lot of in-the-middle going on in our flat, but it’s going in the right direction. So that’s lovely. The Jayhawks won the championship, in the first year I haven’t followed March Madness since I moved away from Kansas. So that’s lovely. And I heard from an old friend who I had lost touch with many years ago, and that was definitely lovely.

Don’t be mistaken into thinking that everything is sane in this loveliness, however. If I also mention that I am in the middle of dresses, shoes, invitations, catering, photographers, flowers and other such things, you will remember that while I’ve been calmly doing other things, I was supposed to be planning my wedding! And in fact, I did a lot of planning and not enough of getting done so…things are getting done now. One by one. All will be ready. All will be fine. All will be lovely.

But today, I better get something done!!!

Please oh please: tell me a little wedding story in the comments. Over the past year I’ve learned most girls really want to talk about their wedding but they don’t because they are being modest and polite and don’t want to indulge on telling these stories. Today I say: indulge! Tell! Lovely little wedding stories, yes pretty please.

xlovesx

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This weekend, you can book a last minute place to ScrapFever! Hurry and just do it. You know you want to! You’re sick of cold, grey winter weather and you want to do something lovely and relaxed and invigorating and good.

Plus the most fabulously wonderful Karen Russell will be there. I am so giddy to meet her.

Plus you’ll be super productive: a minibook, a 20 page 8×8 album, and six 12×12 layouts, just to get started. The kits for this weekend…oh my goodness. You can have a party with all the stuff.

Plus we’d love to see you there.

xlovesx

PS: that’s the lovely jen g with her just a girl album. she makes fabulous things, she does. so you should check her out too.

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Running to catch up with myself this week…the first week of a new class is always chicken-with-my-head-cut-off territory. It felt so wonderful to solve a mysterious technological curveball this morning, so I’m hoping I can find the answers to a few more.

Spent today setting up at Olympia for Stitch & Craft. My fingers are numb from the paper cutting. But all is good…we would love for you to join us for a free make & take or two or three! The show opens tomorrow this morning. I’ll be in the Scrapbook Theatre all day Thursday, Friday and Sunday, so come say hello!

Got giddy because you can buy my stamps now!

Saw REM at the Albert Hall this week. Sigh. REM were my first actual gig. Ever. On the Monster tour at Sandstone in Kansas City. I had saved up for what seemed like forever to buy my ticket (I think it was $30) and then saved more to buy a t-shirt with a big black star on the front. And then at Hyde Park in 2005, rescheduled a week after the 7/7 bombings and all spine-tingly-come-and-get-us-if-you-really-mean-it. And then this week indoors, civilised and grown up and dreamy.

And it’s crazy o’clock in the morning and I need to either work or sleep so I’m going to stop writing this poorly constructed blogpost now.

I promise something more prosaic next time.

xlovesx

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There’s No Place Like Home starts today…and I’ve got a big stack of email addresses on paypal accounts that are bouncing!

If you’ve signed up and can’t access the home class forum, please send me an email. If your paypal email is an account that you don’t check or it doesn’t exist, I can’t reach you.

We are mostly good to go, but I don’t want you to miss out! Many thanks.

ETA: Prompt One is sent now! I’ve got to do a two-to-three-hour drive now, so just know that if you email in the next couple hours, I will get you all set as soon as I am out of the car!

xlovesx

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Greetings to those arriving here from Design for Mankind—it has made my day to be featured there. Such a lovely place to check out if you haven’t already! (And there is a giveaway there today, which is cool too.)

It also made my day to have a nice, tidy kitchen that now has food in it. We are rubbish at food shopping…we mean well and then things get in the way. We are extra rubbish when it is chucking it down with rain, which lately, it is. A great deal. But today we have stocked the fridge and the cupboards and there is life in the kitchen and we have eaten things that do not contain MSG or glow-in-the-dark colour additives. I also get excited when there is juice in the fridge. Right now there is a choice of juices. Many days I could quite happily live on juice and dark chocolate, so juice is a good thing in my world.

As happy as those two things have made me, they may not sound outwardly inspiring, and the other things I have been doing today involve typing, decluttering, paying bills, sneezing, studying for an exam (when I’m not in any type of school! It’s a story for another day.) and finding out the recycling bin is very full only when one’s arms are full of recycling. These things are also not outwardly inspiring. So, here are some things that I do find outwardly inspiring today:
pretty spring colours and lacy cardigans from Emily Temple Cute,
a spring green art journal entry,
this crocheted garland that is just right (but I can’t crochet for toffee) and
this kitchen illustration by Camilla Engman. I quite like the idea of something like that on a photo of our own kitchen to be displayed in our kitchen, even if that is like looking into a kitchen-filled kaledioscope.

Which has just reminded me of the many hours I used to be entertained by finding things I could put in the end of a kaleidoscope my grandpa made. I remember being particularly mesmerized by the pictures made by sequins and dry cat food. Those were days before internet so I am sure Grandpa made it by understanding the entire concept and thereby being able to make it (which is how I see the way my grandfather works at pretty much everything, and if I am wrong, I don’t really want to be corrected) but because these days the internet has all our answers, here is a “set of instructions”.

And this post is just about as coherent as my day has been. How is yours?

xlovesx

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You are all so sweet. ‘What’s a quick fix?’ you ask. Like…how quick?

So I wanted to make sure you got one little sneak peek of a quick fix.

The thing about the quick fixes is that they have options. So you can decide whether you want to spend five minutes or less, ten to thirty, thirty to sixty minutes and so on. This is just one picture from one day, with options to create a five minute piece of art (yes, really) up to spending an hour or two creating a display of things you love. Giving things a home and giving you the spark of inspiration you sometimes need as you walk down the same hallway for the tenth time one morning.

Class info is here.

xlovesx

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Another little sneak peek…this one from Miss Beshka, who uses some of my most favourite letter stickery things ever, though I am driven crazy by the reversed apostrophes. But the green makes up for it. Oh, the green.

Wonder what Beshka gets up to when she’s not making books about home? Check out her…
beautiful work for Fancy Pants Designs,
a lovely Valentine Box project,
this adorable photo garland,
the cutest gift box ever
and this fabulous book which was pretty much why I had to ask her to contribute something to There’s No Place Like Home.

Class starts one week from today!

xlovesx

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