Playing the Game

"Yellow Car!" 

"Oh, no! I said it first!" 

"I didn't hear you..."

"Dad, didn't I say, 'Yellow Car'?" 

"I didn't hear you either..." 

"Maybe we should call it One-All?" 

...

"Red Car!" 

"Daaaaaad!" 

"What? What's wrong with that? It is red." 

"The game is called 'Yellow Car', Because the Car has to be Yellow." 

"Oh, so that's one of  the rules?" 

"Dad! It's the ONLY Rule!" 

* * *

Welcome to our car (not yellow)...  It's our current favourite game.  James always wins, because I'm too busy watching out for cars of any colour - also lorries, buses and anything else that I really shouldn't hit.  And Dave forgets to say "yellow car", until it's too late!

Disputes have arisen in the past, as to what actually counts as a "yellow car".  Can we use vans? If so, how big does a van have to be, before it's a "lorry"?  Do buses count? Or lorries, trucks, mopeds, scooters, motorbikes? (answer - no!).

Music to my Ears

James has been playing the guitar since he was 7 years old.  He started having lessons while he was at Lower School and has continued enthusiastically since then. 

He's pretty good; in fact, he has a bit of a gift for it and loves to play pieces of all kinds, as well as composing his own music. 

He had the opportunity to play some of his own compositions, while he was at Middle School, though since he went to his Upper School, there hasn't been so much chance to perform in concerts, since they prefer groups, orchestra and bands - if they offered one solo slot, they'd have to offer lots and they don't think there is time in a concert.  It is a very large school, so they're probably right, but James has been saying he feels like the poor relation of the music world. 

He does at least have the opportunity to play and compose, as part of his Music GCSE studies.  The group play together and also perform for each other, so it gives him the chance to make music with other people.    

He has started to learn the Double Bass now, which has meant he has more involvement in the music groups at school - in fact, he was so much in demand as an accompanist, that he had to choose one group and stick to that, turning down several other requests because he just doesn't have time.

I posted about how James got a Double Bass - the instrument is a bit old and battered, so it's currently at the repairer's, having new strings and a replacement bridge. 

It'll cost us a fair bit - new strings start at £70 and go up into the hundreds; a new bridge starts at around £50 and also goes up & up.... As it's a student instrument, the shop recommended that we had a basic-but-good set of strings and a basic bridge, rather than spend a very large amount on professional-standard items. 
We have already spent £55 on having the better of the two bows re-strung. It was in a very sad way, with strings coming off and all tatty - completely unusable - so it's great that it is now repaired; it's quite a good bow, made of a nice quality wood - whereas the other bow is plastic and wood.  The quality of the bow makes a difference to the quality of sound achieved, just as the instrument itself will do.  At least a good bow will help James to make the best of his instrument, even if it isn't a particularly high-quality bass. 

Meanwhile, I am regularly treated to a serenade, while I'm busy about the house - especially in the evening, when I'm making dinner in the kitchen.

James is learning a new piece just now.  He's been working very hard at it and already it's sounding lovely.

 

I feel very lucky to have a child who can play so well - it's lovely to have music played to me every day.  I never get tired of listening to that guitar humming away in the dining room, while I stir up something nice for dinner! 

 

I'm proud of James - he works so hard at his music and enjoys it very much.  For him, music is the ideal way to relax and unwind; he plays with all his heart and it really is a pleasure to hear him. 

Happy Happy Happy (Mail)!

Today's post.  Three parcels.  All Treasure.  Happy Three Times Over!

Happy #1!

A set of printing inks - red, blue, yellow, white, black and gold (!) - plus additional tubes of turquoise and a special print medium.   A bamboo baren (burnisher for rubbing the back of the paper to transfer the ink).  Samples of lino (the little grey one is the "traditional" hard stuff... don't think I'll buy more of that), the blue (green on other side), is a lot less hard than the original grey stuff - it's a kind of vinyl.  I want to try it out.  Pieces of Japanese mulberry and kozo tissues, to experiment with. 

Happy #2!

Three fat quarters of Liberty of London Tana Lawn fabrics, courtesy of Miss E. from Miss Elany.  Wonderful fabric - it's 100% cotton lawn, printed with gorgeous Liberty designs.  I already have quite a stock of Liberty prints, to make books for my shop.  These are new designs - the golden one has peacock feathers on it - I have some lovely ideas for these...

Happy #3!

A pack of hand-printed lino-cut cards, from Amanda Colville of Mangle Prints!  I bought a pack of 4, but she's sooo nice, she sent me an extra.  They're lovely - in fact, so lovely that I will have trouble parting with them; I may have to add at least one to my New Art Wall!

I could hardly believe they all arrived at once - it was almost like having a birthday... 

Scrap Club - Four Pages in One Day!

... must be a record (for Lizzie!)

Sunday was Scrap Club day.  As my title says, I managed 4 pages, which is pretty good going for me.  I tend to be slow and dreamy when scrapping, so it's not often that I manage more than 3 pages. 

I had a couple of details to finish, so I did that this afternoon, while the Gas engineer was overhauling the heating!

I used an adaptation of Shimelle's "Stash Diving" technique.  For Christmas I received a rather lovely and very thick pad of scrap papers, from my lovely Niece.  It is called "Lost and Found" by My Minds Eye.  There are a number of colourways and lots of designs, all co-ordinating beautifully.

I chose papers from three "sets", to go with a number of photos I wanted to scrap.  Then I cut pieces/strips of the papers and arranged them to make good backgrounds for my pages, using extras to mount the photos and create some embellishments. 

I have ended up with two single and one double layout; and I'm really pleased with them!  While I won't use this technique every time, it's certainly a handy starting point for creating some good pages with co-ordinating papers.

Here they are:

"Location Location Location"

The two photos are of our very favourite place, Wells-Next-the-Sea, in Norfolk.  As the journalling says, we'd love to live there, if funds and logistics would allow it.  We can't so we have to settle for frequent holiday visits. 

For those who are not familiar with "Kirsty and Phil", the title is borrowed from a popular British tv programme, where two property finders help people to locate their perfect homes. 

I cut little hearts from some scraps of the patterned papers, then used one of my small lino stamps, to make two prints, which I cut with a scalloped punch.  One was printed with a soft turquoise ink, the other with a much brighter shade, so I layered them, with the bright one raised on foam sticky-pads.

* * *

"Play Your Happy Music"

James loves his guitar - possibly more than he loves Sherlock!  He plays it every day and composes his own music.  His tunes are always "happy" and I love to hear him play.  It makes me smile! 

Recently I had a "proud mummy moment", when he played in a local fund-raising concert, at the church in a nearby village.  His friend, A,  got the concert started and his mum helped to organise it.  They did a fantastic job, arranging for the local middle school to bring their choir to sing and for local amateur and professional musicians to play for us.  A and another friend, M, have a band together; James joined them, with his guitar, as they sang / played two very nice songs.  James also had his own "spot", playing "Romance" by John Brunning, plus a tune he had composed himself, which he called "Spanish Armada" - it really sounds very Spanish and is a good, stirring piece, which he plays very well.  The concert raised a good bit of money - over £700 - which was split between the church fund and a charity nominated by A & his family.  We were all very proud of our boys!

The photo on this layout isn't from the concert, but it is James practicing.  We weren't allowed to take photos during the concert, however I know that A's mum did take one of James - I must ask her for a copy of it!

* * *

"Oh for a Book - and a Shady Nook"

Little E. loves to read her story books.  Keri-Anne took these wonderful photos of her reading and drawing. I think they are so lovely and just had to make a layout with them.  It ended up being a double-page layout, as I didn't want to separate them. 

I chose the large letters to emphasise the "Oh" and "Book", as I wanted to have a good "stand-out" title, but obviously couldn't make all words equally large.  This worked really well, with the two "speech marks" and the little pink letters for the rest of the quote.  I wrote the name and dates in grey pen, underneath the quote.  I used my new heart border punch to make some little trims for the title boxes, then cut larger hearts and some butterflies, to embellish little corners of the photos etc.  The cut-out hearts from the edging punch made great "confetti" to decorate the journalling box.  I haven't written any journalling - I think I will ask Keri-Anne to help me with that.

The photo isn't very good - in fact, none of the photos are good, as the light was very poor this afternoon.  You'll just have to believe that these pages look much nicer "in real life"!

* * *

My other Project this weekend, was to have another go at tidying and organising my Studio.  I didn't get it all done - there is still a lot to do - but I made some progress:

I put the folding table under the window.  It had been cluttering up the middle of the room, in the way of the white desk and shelves.  Now the room feels enormous! 

It's hard to see, but there is now an extra shelf at the bottom of the unit.  I had a big stack of paper on the bottom shelf, which was too difficult to get into.  Whenever I needed something, I had to lift out all the paper, so I could get at what I wanted; I had cleared the second shelf from the bottom (the one that's visible, without much on it now) and put half the paper storage on that.  However, the shelf has a big space above it, which wasn't being used.  We have added an "in-between" shelf, so my paper can all be stored on two shelves, but I now have the tall space back, to use for boxes etc.  Still need to sort it out, but I'll get there soon! 

I did tidy my desk and table, but the mess crept back onto them very speedily - especially when I got lots of stuff out, to get ready for Scrap Club!

* * *

The other thing I did on Saturday afternoon:

"Midsummer", by Mariann Johansen-Ellis - a lino reduction print.

I've had this print, which I bought from Mariann, since June 2010. 

It had been languishing in a folder, shamefully neglected, along with all my other prints. 

I finally got it framed up and mounted on the wall, above my white desk (spot the reflections)!  

And I was fed-up with having all the lovely art prints I'd collected, sitting in a folder, waiting for me to save up for frames and mounts.  So, I cut some pieces of white and black card, then mounted them with invisible photo-corners (so I didn't damage them).  Then I attached them all to the wall behind my desk.  I think they look fabulous!

On the left are three wonderful photographs, by my very talented niece, Keri-Anne Pink. 

There are prints here by four artists. 

Top left: Three Cat Lino Prints, Lori Dean-Dyment; Below: "Dandelions", Nina Moscrip (was Clough); 

Bottom Left and also the other bird prints along the bottom row: Amanda Colville;

Top of the middle section - the deep blue owl print - "Night Flight", Celia Hart. 

To the right, next to my poster: "Old Books" reduction lino print, Jennifer Bass; 

details of two prints by John W. Golden. 

The other four prints?  Well, they are my own work and I thought I really should put them up on my own wall!  They are "Reflection" - a three-colour lino reduction print; "Spanish Lemons" - a four-colour lino reduction; the central one, below the clock, is a drypoint etching, "Lace Birds", which I did on my printmaking course at Knuston.  At the top right is a collograph print, which I also did at Knuston; it's not fabulous, but it's not awful either and I like it, so there it is!!

And that is my new Art Wall, that I have been threatening to make for about two years!

So, I think I achieved something this weekend.  Quite pleased with myself!

Odd Sox Rox - Totally!

Hello Blog Friends,  sorry I've been away for a while. I have been pretty busy, but also had one of those blog-breaks that happen from time to time... No lack of material, but a definite lack of inspiration!

But here I am, back again, like the provervial Bad Penny!

To tell you about an Event that Happened this morning.

For a bit of background...  You may not know, but I have a Page on Facebook - called, funnily enough, "LizzieMade" (you can find it here, if you fancy a look - feel free to "Like" my page, it will make me smile anyway!) .  Sooooo.... Anyways, I follow a number of other folks' Pages from my own, including a lot of artists and crafty folks, who make fab and wonderful stuff.  A few times, I have bought something from one or two of these people - either from their shops on Etsy, Folksy or BigCartel etc, or direct through their Facebook Page. 

One of these people is Louise, proprietor of Odd Sox Rox, maker of  "Original stuff made from socks."  - she has a shop here. 

Odd Sox is not the place to find a cute sock bunny (though, as you will see, Cute does occasionally happen there).  You won't find a monkey or a giraffe, elephant or bear... But she makes and sells the fabbiest Sock Creatures in the whole world, so it doesn't matter if the traditional toys are not featured!

So, to return to This Morning:

The doorbell rang and the Post Lady was there, with two dark pink parcels for me.  Cue happy dancing, as I had forgotten!

Once I had (nicely!) got rid of the post lady, I hurried to open them and then to find my camera, to record the Event:

What was Inside the packages...

This adorably cute little person, is a Bug.  She is my very own - I chose her from a basketful - and she is the Best Bug in the Basket.   See the note on the back of that postcard in the previous picture?  That shows how Important my Bug is.

She has cute little Buggy Wings....

...and a little heart-shaped pocket, just right for tucking a note inside - or holding a folded-over notice like the one above.

That was the first parcel.  There were also some very nice cards, with envelopes, as I had paid for two lots of postage (2 orders on the same day), but Louise felt I should have only paid for one; so she sent me a pressie (or two... wait and see!)

Parcel Two

First of all, out fell this sweet little heart.  He says his name is Clive - who am I to argue? Welcome Clive, to your new home!

Then this Person! 

This is a Grump.  You can tell because he looks like one.  He is a Grump and Proud of it!

I don't know his name - he doesn't seem to have one.  DS will help him to choose one later.

The trouble with being a Grump, is that grumpiness is your natural state.  But, hey! I know other people who don't like having their photo taken (in fact, I have an excellent photo somewhere, of my mum and grandma, at my sister's wedding... point a camera at them, and they immediately began to look as if it was a funeral, rather than a wedding - yet they were all smiles before and afterwards. Hey-ho! )

So, anyway, grumpy being his version of Normal, this Grump found it hard to pose for a photo shoot.

He did try - I'm sure he did...

I thought it was time to introduce the new members of the household to the Studio and its other inhabitants.  I started with Zombie Monkey.  He's been a bit lonely the past week, because all his friends - Bella, Elvis the Teddy-Bear, Apres-Ski Bunny, White Bichon Puppy and Doggy - are at Tudor Rose (the sewing shop), being "models" for my Sock Creatures workshop day in January.  They are supposed to look cute and drum up trade.  Zombie Monkey isn't good at being cute.  Besides, he had work to do last night, so I couldn't let him go away. 

I thought they would like to meet each other.

In spite of the challenges he faces, Zombie Monkey is primarily a kind and friendly creature.  He doesn't like to see anyone else feeling sad.  He tried a kind word or two, a friendly gesture.

Mixed results, I think.  Our Grump didn't run away, but he seemed a bit bemused. 

I introduced him to the Shelf, where Zombie Monkey lives and works. 

You can see that Zombie Monkey is doing his best to be welcoming.

The Grump seemed less unhappy after being reunited with Clive.

The meeting between Zombie Monkey and Bug was more successful. I think they like each other.  Bug just needs to be loved - and Zombie Monkey does his best to be kind to those smaller than himself.

I think, in time, they will all settle down happily together... 

Thank you to the wonderful Odd Sox Rox, for my fab new Sock Things! 

Shimelle's Scrapping Weekend - Signature Accent Challenge

This weekend, Shimelle held a great Scrapbooking Challenge Weekend at her blog!

I decided to make the best of a day's scrapping at Scrap Club and I made / completed several pages (on Sunday and since), as part of the challenges.

A slightly loose connection, since I am not certain that I have one "signature accent" as such...  However, this page has four of the things I have been using most on my layouts in the past few months - circles mounted onto scalloped circles, something fancy done with ribbons, inked edges (on everything!) and hand-embellished/ hand-made lettering. 
The lettering is something I have always done - If I can't find some letters I like for my titles, I either embellish plain ones, or just cut out some from paper that I do like! 

I like ribbons and have fun fiddling with them in lots of ways - flowers, bows, double-layered strips with a slider decoration... and the technique on this page, made by cutting slots with a great little edge punch that I was given, then threading a narrow ribbon through, to make a decorative edging. I've used it several times and I love the effect.  It even looked good in black, just here!

And the scalloped circles are something I've had fun with several times.  I used them on the page about my Present from Deb (though to be fair, she made these as labels for the various sweeties etc in the parcel!); I made my own hand-printed lino-cut embellishments for this page... I just like sticking circles on my layouts!

And I've discovered that inking the edge of a photo, matt or other element for a page, really makes it stand out and gives it a "finished" look.  The edges of photos are often very white and they show up against the paper when you matt them; inked in a matching or contrasting colour, the photo suddenly "pops" on the page and somehow stands out much better. It just looks more complete somehow.  I like it anyway and use it A Lot.

So, this page has all four of those things - I think it therefore qualifies as a "Signature" layout for me; I hope you agree!

Where I Have Been...

I haven't been blogging much recently.  I just haven't had the time - or when I did have time, I had no energy.  You may have noticed me pop up occasionally, with a comment on one of your blog posts, but I admit I have not been a very good Blog Friend recently...  Sorry!
I have been Busy... I really have!  My small bookbinding business has suddenly taken off and I have had Work To Do! 

I'm not a very organised person;  nor do I have much stamina. For me, it is a challenge to run the household, do housework, help DS organise his life, help DH with bits of his own life, keep the laundry and grocery shopping up to date.  Somewhere I need to also fit in the outstanding decorating and clutter-clearing tasks...

Then there is my mum, who needs varying amounts of my time and assistance, depending on her own state of health.  She has had another series of nurse / dr appointments recently, which have taken up a couple of mornings a week; I also do her "Monday jobs" every Monday morning - collect her pension, pick up her prescription and then drop back round to the dr with the new prescription for next week, collect the eggs from Mrs B. in the village, pay the newspaper bill (once a month), help hang out / bring in laundry, make her bed and take away the sheets for washing at my house, occasional bits of shopping, other little jobs...There are often other jobs or appointments to fit in too. 

So, I have a full-time job already... Then I start a Business from Home! 

Hum... sometimes I wonder Why? Why did I do this?  Why tie up 3 or more days per week, that I could use for all those other things?   Why remove them from my "available" calendar and say "I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday"?

But, on days like today, when I just took two completed Wedding Guest books to the Post Office and sent them on their way; weeks like this week, last week, the week before, when I have finished lots of books, I know why...

16-photo Template, kindly sent to me by Amy

These are 16 of the books that I have made since February.  Most of them have been commission books, made and sold in the last 3 months.  

And I still have orders on the go, for four large books and one set of 16 pocket notebooks, for wedding favours! 

I have had such a great three months, working on all this.  I feel very lucky and quite blessed. 

Why? Because I have this God-given ability to create, coupled with a desire to make beautiful things; because I so enjoy making things that will give pleasure to others; and I love to have my hard work appreciated - so Wedding albums and other books are an ideal vehicle for my creative talents; because I have been sent all these wonderful, lovely customers, who have patiently and enthusiastically embraced the process of imagining and designing a special item for themselves - which has made my job so much easier and more joyful; because I have been able to produce these beautiful and useful items and send them out, all over the world, to carry that joy with them. 

So, this is where I have been, the last few weeks, while I have not been blog-hopping (much) or commenting (much).  There just haven't been enough hours in the day, for me to keep up with everything; blogging has had to take a bit of a back seat.  I'm sorry to have missed many of the things going on in my friends' parts of the world; I am sorry that I have been unable to join in with some of the great group activities going on; but I am oh, so glad that I've had this wonderful Springtime, full of creativity and joyfulness, improving, experiencing and sharing my craft!

I truly feel that my talent for books has been given to me, so that I can share a little joy with the world! It has made me so happy!

So, where have you all been? Have you been doing anything special that I have missed?  Tell me where to go, so I can catch up a bit! 

Thanks for coming here to read my post - and for bearing with me while I have been "too busy" to take much time out.  I do miss my blog friends; I will try to plan more blog-time into my week from now on.

Fun on Fursday 5

Just a bit of fun for a Thursday afternoon - a new Simon's Cat film:



Hope you liked it! (sorry about the silly advert that pops up - can't stop that!)

A Lovely Weekend

I'm a spoiled person... this weekend has been so lovely and I've had two great (early!) birthday presents, to make it even nicer.
Yesterday we went to spend the day with my niece, Keri-Anne, and her little family.  G. had to go to work, so we only saw him for a short while, but we shared a lovely "picnic" lunch (at the table, as it was raining!) with Keri-Anne and the little ones. 

In the afternoon, we played with the babies for a while then, once the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to shine, we went for a stroll along the canal, through the park and into the playground. 

The canal has recently been renovated, to create a marina.  Some large trees had to be taken down and they have been used to make these sculptural seats in the park - great for a bit of climbing, messing around and chatting.

A certain someone didn't feel like chatting - Let Sleeping Babies Lie!

Little swings and Big Roundabouts...

...and a Great Big Swing, for friends to play on together!

I met a new little friend...

...who was happy to take a piece of cereal bar, then scamper off on his own little errands.  He wasn't at all shy and was happy to pose for his portrait.

So were we!  We don't have many photos of the three of us together, so we were really glad to pose for Keri-Anne!

* * *

Yesterday, I received this Birthday gift, from Keri-Anne & Co -

Isn't it great?  It's a fab cushion, for my Studio (when I have a sofa to put it on!).  It's so nicely made and all soft and squashy. I love it!  Look at those great big wooden button-eyes... the cute floral fabrics and the spotty bit for the face... the little scallops for the feathers.  It's wonderful!

After all that exercise and excitement,  I was ready for a good sleep...

I was woken by my DH and DS, with breakfast in bed, plus cards and a Birthday present. We decided to celebrate my birthday today, since DH will be working on Wednesday and will be very late home.

This is what was in my surprise present:

Wow!  I am SO spoiled!  I didn't ask for a Kindle at all... I wasn't even quite sure whether I'd like one, although I have followed the blog debates about them for a while now.  Several bloggers I follow have made very interesting posts about their electronic books and what they think of them.  I originally thought I didn't want one at all - I love Real Books - after all, I do make them!   However, recently I've been borrowing DH's i-Pod Touch, to read books during the night, when I can't sleep; I do like this and have been sort-of mulling over the idea of having my own electronic book, of some kind. 

And now I have one! I have my own Kindle.  It is a 3G & Wi-fi version, which will let me browse the Net as well as buying books online etc.  I'm impressed by how clear the screen is, though the keypad is a bit clumsy (especially to someone who's become used to a touch-screen on an i-Pod). I was also surprised to find the screen is entirely monochrome.... just Black on White... with bits of grey... No colour.  Hmmm... I think that will take a bit of getting used to.  Browsing in B&W is an interesting experience.  But then, this isn't designed to take the place of my very nice lap-top pc.  Any browsing I do, will be just reading blogs, or checking on my Etsy shop, to make sure there's nothing urgent to deal with; or choosing nice, shiny new e-books to read!!  

I've already assembled a small library, all ready to read.  I have found a lot of free versions of various Classics; recent books - and a number of very popular classics too - can cost a fair bit to buy.  I'm not sure if I'm prepared to pay £11 for an omnibus edition of something, in an electronic copy, when I can probably buy a paper version more cheaply anyway.  I still love real books and that isn't likely to change.  But I can see that my wonderful new Kindle will come in very handy, especially when I'm out and about, or on holiday!

I am a very lucky blogger today!