Family tree

Hello to all. First I feel I should issue a warning. The online blog class has now been completed and I heartily recommend that you go and pay it a visit if you haven't. Henceforth all mumblings, rantings and ponderings are of my own invention.

So, to begin with, I am launching a massive digi project for myself. I am currently researching my family tree, and have now got to the stage where I have bits and pieces everywhere and no central place for the storage and record of information. I had always intended to finish the project with scrapbooks detailing out the family tree, but had never been happy with the solutions for dealing with the vast quantities of information, or having to pick definately pre-designed papers and embellishments that will probably go out of style and stock as the years go by and will cost a small fortune to maintain.

But last night, in a flash of washing up induced inspiration, I came up with the idea to solve all my woes. I can do all the pages as digi-pages. I am fairly handy with digital imaging software (if I do say so myself) and so the task of designing my own papers and embellishments is one that fills me with excitement and not dread. And, if undertaken properly from the start, I can turn the digi pages into either a presentation or a proper family tree based dvd.

So from now, be prepared to be witness to my first tentative efforts in digi-kit making. Any comments and suggestions are more than welcome. The only concern I have now, is that with a dish-washer arriving in a few days, where will my inspiration come from now?

Where are we now

Any of you who live a long way from friends and family will know that there are certain times of year that you tend to make trips back "home". For me, the first half of the year, normally until July, is fairly evenly scripted out, depending on whose birthdays I wish to hit, and whose I unfortunately have to miss. My friends and family are normally very obliging in this respect by having birthdays which are close together, which makes date picking easy, but weekends very busy.

But this year I might have to miss out on a birthday celebration of a best friend, mainly due to the uncertainty of the Big Move. This is one of the key birthday celebrations of the year. I have never missed it before, it is one of the few times in the year that we guarantee all to be together in the same place, unlike Christmas when we are all trying to make time around various family commitments. It is a good opportunity to mark changes that have happened in the last 12 months, take note of friends who were sure to have been around last year, but are definately not expected to join us this year.

The manner of the celebration will also change, depending on the events of a year. We started by celebrating with house parties, then by long nights of clubbing, then with holidays. Now we will celebrate with a noisy evening at the pub, or as last year, a day at Thorpe Park and a late night barbeque at the birthday girls house, almost coming full circle with our teenage selves.

With the changes that have happened in the last 12 months, and particularly the last 3, I am hard pushed to guess what manner the celebrations will take, I only know that they will always be filled with love and laughter.

Love Elliefantasy

I will Scrapbook this

Having spend most of my weekend packing and cleaning, I thought I would take some time out for a little blog post. I'm on the final weeks worth of prompts for my online class but have reached a sticking point. So before I start the post for prompt 12, can I first put out a little plea for any of my readers who did Shimelle's class, or anyone who is interested in joining in.

Prompt 11 was all about Blog Parties. Because I am not doing this class "live" I have missed out on all the parties which were done in time with the prompt. So, what I am asking dear readers, is a) is anyone doing a party that they don't mind me joining? or b) is anyone interested in joining a party that I start? If I do host my own, it will be in a few weeks (ie after the Great Move) when I have all my stash available and lots of time to play. If you are interested, please can you leave a comment and i'll get back to you asap.

Prompt 12 - I will Scrapbook this.
Naturally, with all my stash packed away, I have become super inspirational and random scrapbooking ideas keep popping into my head. Some I have recorded, some are quite silly and might not make it to the page, and some appear when I am nowhere near either pen, paper or phone. So, as per prompt instructions, I am going to try and record them here.

Today's is football related (shamless bandwaggon jumping I know) and can potentially be used as an argument as to why some women shouldn't really be into football. I am a vague follower of the beautiful game. I am an Arsenal supporter thanks to my step-dad and best friend, and have been to watch 1 Emirates Cup match and 1 Premiership match. I will quite happily sit through MoTD and for the last 3 years have run our office Fantasy Football League. But as a woman I find great amusement in things that are probably not meant to be found funny.

A classic example is the Hiddink/Ancelotti situation. For those that don't know, at the end of the 2008/09 season Chelsea were managed by Gus Hiddink, who consistently stated that this was a temporary post, given his prior commitment to the Russian national side. So at the start of the 2009/10 season a new manager stepped up to the plate, Carlo Ancelotti. And for a whole season I have (and still) maintained that Ancelotti is actually Hiddink in disguise. I have spend 9 months of happy and vocal amusement, much to the bemusement and eventual boredom of my OH. Which just goes to show that really I shouldn't be watching it if I'm not going to take the whole thing just a little more seriously. However ladies, see what you think. I mean they do look very similar! (Hiddink is on the top)

Just as a guide to my easy amusement levels, yesterday I saw a man walking a greyhound and a dauschound. This kept me going for 5 minutes!

Love Elliefantasy xx

WOYWW (better late than never)

Todays online blog class is about regular features, but for the second time (and quite unknowingly I promise!) I have already started this with a WOYWW thread. So as its late, I thought I would continue. But unfortunately there is nothing on my desk! :-(

After finishing off the baby book last weekend (pics of which I hope will arrive soon by way of flickr photostream) I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I really did need to start packing and the best place for me to start was the craft stuff. So all the bits I had used got tidied away, the clip-it-up got unclipped and the teetering pile of page protectors, chipboard albums and other bits and bobs got put into a box. After that I got a bit bored, so went in search of a cup of tea and matching buscuit and nothing else got packed.

But this week we wrote out the novelty cheque, and many many more boxes have been found and donated so its really time to get it all packed away. I am still refining the ideas for the new room, which might result in some lovely sketches, and I had a fairly large session on Two Peas and downloaded all the free digital kits that took my fancy. So there are still opportunities for crafting.

My desk is bare, which makes for a very depressing WOYWW. So instead, please find a picture of my chipboard bits, ready and waiting for when I am free.

Elliefantasy

Fun, Fun Fun.

Today's online blog class is all about things that we find fun on the internet. Through starting this blog and linking about here and there, I have rediscovered my love of spending hours looking at stuff for no real purpose, other than that I like it. Or getting almost to the checkout at Amazon before deciding that I really shouldn't be spending that money just at the moment. One of my favourite new discoveries is this blog, which is one of the best I have ever read. I now check back every day to see what is going on, and its always something that makes me smile. So, as you have been linking about from site to site and have happened to land here, why not make it your next jump?

Elliefantasy xx

Shoes, glorious Shoes!

When I was little I would have sold my soul for a pair of "cointy" shoes. "Cointy" was the best way to describe the sound high heels made when in motion. My mum had a pair of green ones (this being the 80's) and I loved trying them on and attempting to walk in them, although with little success. My shoe collection at that age consisted of hand-me down trainers and patent leather t-strap Magic Key shoes, which came with a little plastic key shaped badge that unlocked the door to my imagination, although nothing else.

A few years later, whilst at secondary school, Doc Marten boots were the must-have item. I managed with a pair of slightly cheaper black ankle boots, which were quickly given the name of "clod-hoppers" by my nan, along with the plaintive question of "why couldn't I wear nice lady-like shoes?"

GSCE's and A Levels were accompanyed by my Pod shoes, which lasted for years and were the first pair of shoes that I was genuinely sorry to see go. Yes they were expensive at the time, but Dad, they really really did last! Also, anyone who said that Kickers were a waste of money can eat their words, because they did me for 3 years of Saturday work without any complaint! The end of my teens and early 20's introduced me to the wonder of knee high boots and lady like ankle boots, with a few sets of strappy sandals thrown in for good measure. (The pod shoes were still going at this time, able to enjoy a rest due to the variety of footwear that I had accrued)

So I was well into my 20's before I finally got my hands on the legendary "Cointy" shoes. I saw this pair online and had to have them. So far my total count of wearing them on nights out is 2. And on both occasions I had to take emergency back up shoes. Cointy shoes are not comfortable at all. But they still look oh-so-pretty and they still make that magical noise, the noise that says "Yes, I am a grown-up, see me in my grown-up shoes!" So, despite the discomfort, I shall keep these for a very long time. They might even outlast the Pod shoes!

Elliefantasy

WOYWW

First WOYWW post! As mentioned yesteday I am still working on a baby book for friends of mine who are expecting their first child.

I love making baby books, as you can try and reflect the personality of the parents as well as guessing the personality of the child.

I have made some changes with the layout of this book to the "grandad" one that I made for my step-dad earlier in the year, especially since I watched him try to use the book over the weekend. In my efforts to add lots of inspiration for the photo ideas and detail on the layouts I hadn't left enough room for him to put in good sized pictures. In particular I had left nice big spaces for pictures of my step-sister and me, but not a lot for pictures of Mummy and Daddy! There were also pictures that had been taken which were worthy of being placed in the album but that had nowhere appropriate to go. So definately a rethink was in order.

So in this album I have tried to leave lots of spaces for pictures and not been so restrictive in the layout themes. As I have seen, there will be tons and tons of pictures, especially now there are so many digital cameras around, and now most phones have a very adequate camera for catching those candid and rare images. The page to the right is one of the first that I did, showing my excitement about being able to colour in peel-offs with permanent brush pens. Mummy to be is a very pink orientated person (to the point that we refer to her as Pinky, though initially that was to deal with duplicate naming issues) and I think that the black here really sets it off. A simple little layout but very effective and leaves lots of room for lovely pictures.

Also having another go with the Robo, now that I have it back up and running again. However I think it is time for a slight overhaul, when funds are available. The letters that I cut today were slightly pulled and torn, and only the clever application of fast tack glue and seed beads has helped me out. But the diversity it gives me proves that it was worth every penny of what I spent!

Elliefantasy

Scrapbooking for me

I am currently in the middle of working on a new baby book for a friend whose first is due this month. Once I have finished this I have a mini-mini book to make for my step-sister with pictures of our nephew. The last project I did was a mini-mini book for my best friend, and earlier in the year I made a first grandchild book for my stepdad. Lots of lovely projects, but none for me to keep :-(

Today's online blog class is all about blogging and scrapbooking plans for the future. With my craft room iminent, I have been thinking of doing some layouts and projects that I can keep. I have mentioned some in my previous post about my craft room, and the more I look at other people's blogs, the more wonderful ideas spring out at me. In particular, this is a fantastic tutorial for a piece of wall art at Scrappy Sticky Inky Mess, one of my favourite blogs. I can see this being the perfect way to frame pictures of my family as most seem to be taken on my phone and therefore aren't suitable for being enlarged.

Another idea I had was layouts, mini-books and wall hangings based on some of my favourite songs. Wooden Boat by Take That is a song that I think lends itself to being illustrated. And Bohemian Rhapsody appears to me to be the ultimate challenge!

So here is the start of my efforts to make some lovely pieces that I can keep.

Elliefantasy