Indigo Mill October Kit Sneak Peeks

Can you believe that it's nearly October? In this month my little boy turns three- argh!! Where did the years go?? It's also half term so I'll be popping up to Scotland and going on a retreat. And I'm sure that there will be plenty of scrapping oppurtunities thrown in for good measure. September was another bumper month of scrapping and the arrival of the October kit from Steph at Indigo Mill for me to have a play with as part of my Design Team role gave me the stash delights to enable me to do them justice. If you haven't already had a look then do! The kits have changed a bit since my earlier post because of stock issues, and I didn't have the whole kit myself so they're bound to be even more delightful than I've seen. I've had monster mash to play with and I am totally in love with 'Monstrosity' as I knew I would be.

Here's the kit;

And here's a sneak peek of what I've been doing with it

Learn Something New Everyday: The LOs

As I've mentioned I had a mad moment (because September just isn't busy enough) and signed up for Shimelle's class 'Learn something new everyday'. You always know what you're going to get with Shimelle and I've loved it. Sadly I just didn't have time to do a LO every day to illustrate what I've learnt, so I thought I'd do a LO each week instead. I came across this sketch in the first week and thought it was just perfect- thanks Prima! And here is my interepretation of it too. For the second one I used a Becky Fleck sketch (I think!) to place the photos. I found a great quote 'You learn something everyday if you pay attention' by Ray Le Blonde that I wanted to include and it ended up taking over the page a bit, but nevermind!

Indigo Mill Retreat Info.

I am very excited that Indigo Mill have unveiled their retreat info. You can see it here. I'm even hoping to teach a class and have it all planned out in my head (it's scary in there!).

There are also sneek peeks of the October Kits at The Mill Pond. I've had one of these in real life and have been stroking and scrapping from it this week. It's absolutely fabulous and I can't wait to show you what I've done with it.

There's also FREE STASH here. I'll give you a hint, I'm one of the DT members who is a science teacher ;) And whilst you're there why not have a go at the challenge.

What did I learn this week?

This week was a tough one. I spent a lot of it with someone who I don't get on with all the time. But I made it through and learnt some things.

18th September: Nature is beautiful.

Obviously I know this, but sometimes I forget. On one morning I saw beautiful flowers that would have not been our of place in a garden in the middle of summer, conkers on the ground and in the trees and leaves changing colour around autumn berries. It reminded me not to take them or my senses that enable me to engage with this beauty for granted.

19th September: I can live without Facebook :)

You may not believe it, but it's true! Being away meant that I had limited time to get online and catch up on everyone's lives, but I managed it. Take my phone away though and there'd be trouble...

20th September: It is really nice to come home to a clean and tidy house.

I get rather caught up in life and the housework gets put to the bottom of the to do list. The only time that it is a real priority is if I'm going away. I love coming home to a clean and tidy house, just for 10 minutes it's bliss before the cases get opened and the contents flung around the room ;)

21st September: Life is short. Eat dessert first.
I was sent a box of goodies by someone who is just lovely. In it was a card with the words 'Life is short. Eat dessert first'. Isn't that lovely? I like to think that that's what I do with my life, but perhaps I should learn to do it more so.

Naughty blogger!

Haven't I been naughty?! I have started 5 LOs but none of them are ready for public consumption yet- maybe tomorrow :) I'm still learning something new everyday and will share my findings from week 2/3 later this week. But today I wanted to show you all my lovely Prima things that arrived whilst I was away- yum, yum and more yum!!!

If you know me, then you'll know how much I love a cybercrop. So you will be able to imagine my excitement this evening now that Bunny has asked for classes ideas over on UKS. Already the chatter and request for clues has started! I love the build up almost as much as the actual weekend, and it's def less tiring. How very exciting!

Still Learning something new everyday

Thanks to Shimelle I'm still thinking hard about what's going on around me each day and learning something new everyday.

13th September: Chance encounters can yield friends for life.

This is Steve. Steve is 'my football friend'. It's how I've always described him. We met in 1998 in a nightclub on Tottenham Court Road. Steve took me to my first Charlton match and I was hooked. Because of that I started going to away matches and home matches alike and when Steve couldn't/wouldn't go I went on the supporters coach. On that coach I met a whole bunch of lovely people, some of whom I'm still in touch with. And when I came to buy my first house, it was in South East London near those friends. It's incredible to think that Steve had such an influence on my life. And although we don't go to all that many matches together anymore, I think we'll be friends for a while yet!

14th September: Even grown ups can feel like teenagers sometimes. I'm going to be secretive about this one, just for now ;)

15th September: Learning things by song seems to stick.

When I teach 'Rocks and Weathering' I teach the kids the rock cycle song, which is sung to the tune of 'row, row, row your boat'. I started the topic today with my new year 7s and by chance saw the pupils that I taught it to last year. I asked them to sing it to me- and they did, word for word after a year. It always amuses me int heend of topic test when you can hear them humming it to themselves as they find the answers tucked in their memories. Happy days.

16th September: Germans get out to chat to each other in a traffic jam. Even if it's raining.

I know that one of the stereotypes of the English is that we're standoffish and don't engage strangers in conversation but I never really thought that that was true of me. I'll quite happily chat to anyone about anything (hence my entry for the 13th). However, the Germans take it to another extreme and I can't quite see it taking off over here. If they get stuck in a traffic jam, they all get out and wander about chatting. How nice!!

17th September: I love wearing hats, and have the confidence to.

I've always liked hats but never been sure if they suited me. Now I don't really care. I think that if I enjoy something and it's not doing any harm to anyone, then I should do it. Life is too short :)

Learning something new everyday

If you're playing along with Shimelle you'll know that she emails a prompt each day to help you think about what you're learning each day. It's now day 13 (why is it I can't say that now without a geordie accent saying it in your head, I wonder?!) and I've not learnt anything new so far but it's only 7.00 am so plenty of time for that. I have been thinking a lot more about what's going on around me though and have been learning things. Some of the things I'm including aren't exactly things that are new, but things that I've remembered on that day and things that need to be remembered from now on. I've printed the photos to scrap the first few entries, and now I just need the time to do it :) I thought I'd give a bit more background to what I've learnt here though.

1st September: Mushrooms are yummy!

There are some foods that I just didn't like; mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, corn on the cob for example but as I get older I seem to like more and more foods. I thought that it was the result of being pregnant (and certainly that's when I started to crave black olives) but maybe it's just because I'm getting older, and have to encourage my own child to eat a variety of food. I did draw the line at tasting the liver dish I used to give Connor when he was a baby however- yuck!

2nd September: Woodford Park has two playgrounds

We moved to Woodley last August and have been visiting the duck pond and park at Woodford Park since then. Today we went to play with one of Connor's friends and I discovered that there is another park tucked away. Connor often talks to me about the helicoptor and now I know what he's talking about!

3rd September: If Connor wakes up and both his Dad and I are in the same building, it is me he comes to cuddle first.

I am very insecure about Connor's enjoyment of my company compared to that of his Dad. I'm very conscious of the fact that it's easy to entertain a child on a 24 hours a week basis- to give him exactly what he wants when he wants and to take him to lots of fun places and buy lovely toys. On this morning, and every morning that we were in Germany Connor woke up in a room that he was sharing with his Dad, and came next door to climb in to bed with me. I loved that!

4th September: Playdough is quite relaxing really

Connor is an only child and as such he seems to have learnt to entertain himself. He's happy playing by himself and only occassionally asks me to join in off his own back. Today was one of those days though and I found playing with him and the playdough realy relaxing. I can see why he likes it so much.

5th Septemeber: Bubblegum ice cream is not delicious
Connor visited his Dad in Germany earlier in the summer and every night he told me about the bubblegum ice cream he's had and how delicious it is. I tried some. It's not!

6th September: Business class is adjustable!

I've always assumed that business class on a plane is a set area. The curtain attatches to the plane so why would I think otherwise? Today I found out that that part of the plane can move to accomodate as many people who wish to fly business. Who knew?!

7th September:I never tire of teaching Food Lesson 4

This is one of my favourite lessons to teach, if not the favourite. It involves a pink rubber glove, a washing up bowl, a mallet and me passing mashed up weetabix, milk and orange juice through various tubes, tights, bags and a cup to demonstrate what happens when food is digested. The kids think it's grossly good and it's a fun lesson that seems to stick in their mind. I love teaching it!

8th September: I'm too old to go out on a school night and feel good in the morning.

I only went to the cinema, but I didn't get home until 11pm and when my alarm went off at 6am my whole body shouted 'Noooooo!'.

9th September: In the olden days they were a bit rude too. My illusion that in the olden days everyone was very proper and polite was shattered today when I watched this clip here. It's not for the faint hearted! I literally laughed out loud.

10th September: The Tescos and Connor combination is getting much easier.I found shopping with a toddler such a chore that I started to shop online just to avoid it. But it's not the same. You don't get to choose which piece of tuna looks the nicest or spot all the new flavours that are out there and I sometimes missed it. Connor is almost three and we seem to have reached the point where he is happy sitting in the trolley or helping me to fill it up with the things that we actually need, rather than the things that he wants. Now I just have to pursuade him that shopping for clothes and shoes is fun ;)

11th September: A postive attitude goes a long, long way.

The last couple of years have been tough and mostly miserable. On New Years Day this year or even just before it I decided that 2009 was going to be a great year. I decided that I was going to lose the weight I'd put on over the last three years (check!), get my self confidence back (check!) and have fun (check!). I've had about 3 'bad' days when I've woken up and wanted to go back to sleep again and not have to get out of bed and face the day. On the 11th September I woke up with that feeling. I closed my eyes. And as I lay there feeling sorry for myself, the things that I'm thankful for started to replace the negative thoughts and I started to think about all the good things I could do with the day. I got up and had a lovely day.

12th September: Football makes me happy

Years ago, before I had Connor, my weekends revolved around football. I loved it. I couldn't wait for Saturday to come around. I'd forgotten how much I loved it. I guess I'd put it to the back of my mind because with a small child it's just not possible to have it all, and football was one of my sacrifices. It might be easier if I supported my local team but I don't. I support Charlton so it's a whole day thing by the time I've met Steve for a pre-match drink and sausage! Having been to a pre-season game I realised how much I love it, and how much of a release football is for me. I made a vow to myself that I would see one game a month this season. Today I learnt that I made the right decision. Football makes me happy.

Suddenly I have the urge to scrap each story individually with these stories. Time is not on my side, but I have an idea...

Saturday sentiments.

Last night I babysat. I started doing this for Sitters a few months ago when I was spending a lot of Friday night's sat at home and realised I could be sat in someone else's home earning money. I'm doing it less and less now as my social life improves, but last night I enjoyed relaxing with my IM September kit, some double sided tape and a pack of photos. Having said that, I'm not entirely happy with the two LOs that I did, so I'm not going to show them to you just yet.

I'm off to Germany again next week and want to take some kits with me to work with, but that depends on me tidying my desk and put things where they are supposed to be first I think so who knows if that will happen. I did pick up my new printer today so at least I can print some more photos out, including the Learn Something New Everyday photos that need to be a specific size.

Today I went to the Valley. It's the first time that I've been this season and I wasn't disapointed. Although we didn't play all that well there were moments of pure genius and the fact that the boys scored three goals (although two were disallowed), hit the post and had a bit of a barney on the pitch made it an entertaining afternoon. I didn't take my camera with me and am wishing that I had done as I'd like to scrap about what it all means to me tonight. Steve (my footie friend) and I made a pack to go once a month this season so hopefully I'll be able to recreate these feelings in October when I will make sure that I have the camera with me.

So, not much to report tonight really other than watch this space...

Pendants and papercrafting

Woo hoo, it's Friday!! I'm not sure why that should matter to me since my weekend starts on Wednesday morning, but maybe it's because soon there will be more people around to play with. I do hope you've all had a good week.

Yesterday I caught up on another CJ and a SLYMI challenge from a couple of weeks ago that I missed. I stupidly posted the CJ without taking a picture though. The SLYMI challenge was from Week 35 and the challenge was to scrap a Bank Holiday. This photo of my son and I was taken Whitsun weekend at a baptism.

Materials;

Bazzil blooms

K&Co. Urban Rhapsody Adhesive chipboard

October Afternoon 'Cherry Hill' stickers

Daisyds rub on

Jillibean Soup 'Journalling sprout'

Kaiser crafts gemstone

Basic Grey 'Lilykate- Cherry Blossom'

Doodlebug 'alphablocks'

Adorn it min etched alphas

Lace and button from stash

Cut up t-shirt

And I have more goodies from my friends to show you. This time it's Leigh's lovely pendants. You can see the whole collection over on her blog but here is my favourite. Gorgeous isn't it :)

A CJ entry

Just a quick blog today. Don't think I've shared my '2000' entry with you in the sketch CJ so here it is,

It's Thursday which means SLYMI new challenge day. This week Shimelle has challenged us to scrap with metal. I was just looking an my metal 7 gypsies zanzibar colletion clips so it seems like fate to me...

And the winner is...

...Juliebird40!! Thank you for your lovely entry for the challenge Julie. It's a great interpretation. This is the LO that Julie did based on her book. Julie said;
"My nearest book was one I picked up at the library sale - 'If I Were You' by Julia Llewellyn and my sentence was "Sophie knew not even to bother batting her eyelids and pleading". It made me think that in our family my daughter has everyone wrapped around her little finger, so "Anything for You" shows her with Grandad and cousin playing her game on the beach."

I love this K&Co paper and all the little accents and techniques that you've used to create this LO. I also found this LO in Juliebird40's gallery and thought I'd share it too because it's lovely.

Your kit award is winging it's way to you. I hope that you enjoy it and will show me what you did with it.

I also wanted to share a couple more pieces of other people's work with you. First up is Sharon over at 'My Little Pad'. A while ago she mentioned that she was being an old printer tray to alter. Great idea I thought and quickly purchased one too. Here is what mine looks like.

And this is what Sharon's looks like!! Double click on it to see it in all its gorgeousness.

Wow! I wish I'd had mine delivered to her now ;) You can find out how she altered her tray on her blog here.

Next up are two delicious LO from Julie over at 'It's a Scrappy Life '.

I love the photo is of her little great nephew Reece and look at all those Prima pretties he's asleep on. Beautiful LO don't you think? And then there's the Solfest LO with her and hubby peaking out of the page. Love it. Check out the rest of Julie's work on her blog sometime soon!

Something magical?

The SLYMI challenge last Thursday was to scrap something magical. Most people were digging out their Disney photos, and whilst I've been it was on a school trip some 14 years ago (eek!!) and I don't have any Disney-ish photos. So I had to think some more (there is literally steam coming out of my ears these days!) and I came up with the story of a magical morning 'fruit picking'. This was the first time that Connor had been to a pick your own farm and we had great fun.

Materials;
My Little Shoe Box Gretchen
Large Ric rac (Hobbycraft)
Kaisercrafts rub ons
Fontwerks bohemien labels
MM shimmer alpha
Adorn it mini alphas etched
October afternoon 'Road Map' shapes and 'Cherry Hill' label
Zoophabetz Safety pins
Buttons from stash (mostly BG)

Autumn colours- really?

Autumn, autumn and, in the case of the shops, Christmas all around! I don't feel as if we've had a summer yet let alone it being time to think of autumn. But since I will be teaching my first classes of the autumn term today, it must be true. I do love the autumn though and my favourite celebration of the year falls in it too, so I did give into one little bit of autumn in the form of the Papermaze challenge.

The challenge was to use autumn colours which to me is orange, red, brown, yellow and a teeny bit of green. So here is 'beautiful beach life'
Materials:
Jenni Bowlin 'The Farmer's Wife Die Cut Label Paper'
BG doilles, colour me funky paper
K&Co Dictionary Printed Vellum, flowery paper
Bubblyfunk chipboard butterflies
Scenic route 'Travel words' rub ons, teal date label cardstock stickers
Fontwerks orange sticker
October Afternoon 'Road Map' shapes
Sassafras lass sticker shape
dasiy ds rub ons
Kaiser craft gems

I didn't get my Learn Something New Everyday first 5 days LO done last night because my printer has broken, but here is what I learnt;

1st September: My tastes have changed and I like mushrooms now
2nd September: Woodford Park has two playgrounds in it
3rd September: If Connor wakes up and both his Dad and I are in the same building, it is me he comes to cuddle first
4th September: Bubblegum ice cream does not taste 'delicious'
5th Septemeber Business class is adjustable!

Huh! I really do learn things every day. Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go!

Missing mojo

I know that some of you, like me, lost your mojo over the summer. With at least another month until the next cybercrop (she says hoping that it will only be a month until the next cybercrop) how can you get motivated? Well, as well as the weekly challenges from Shimelle over on UKS in 'Scrap like you mean it' (or SLYMI as we affectionately call it) and the various inspiration blogs what about this article to get you thinking practically? I especially like number 10 and can supply you with my address should you need to action that point ;)

No, is it too early for icecream...?

This is Germany calling!

Yep, I'm in Germany! I have brought my son out to visit his Dad. We're in the beautiful town of Heidelberg where there is a castle. I'll be snap, snap, snapping a bit later on :)
I have my 'Learn something new everyday' notebook with me and will be preparing my summary of the week on my return to England tomorrow (assuming that I get all my lesson plans done today ready for Monday morning of course!).

Have you had a go at my challenge yet? I'm pretty sure that it's still fairly Autumnal across the UK today so why not settle in with the paper and scissors and get sticking. And of course there are lots of yummy new kits out being the beginning of the month so a quick browe on the internet wouldn't do any harm, surely?!

Perhaps I should mention at this point that I was sent the Prima Marketing Inc catalogue this week. OMG!!! Here are some of my personal highlights...

Dangerously pretty stuff!!

I leave you with a freebie. Here are some printable tickets :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend .