Monday Morning Blues!

Why is it I never seem to have any "Get-Up-And-Go" on a Monday morning? I am supposed to be at C&C at 9.30am and I am still here. And, to be honest, I really don't feel like going but know I have to as they are expecting me to bring the clowns heads I have made.

It was Marks birthday on Saturday and poor thing had to work. Still, I hope I made up for by getting him plenty of beer in for the evening. I also invited some friends around and we had a Chinese. The problem with going out for a meal is that, as I don't drive, he can't drink. And now, with this law banning smoking in public places, he can't smoke either. So doing it all at home meant he could drink and smoke in comfort!

We went out Christmas Shopping on Sunday. Benjamin went to a car boot sale with friends and two bags of toys. He came home with one bag of toys and £10.80. He did quite well and was pleased with it. It was the easiest I have ever managed to get him to sort his toys out to make more for Christmas.

The idea of him going with them was to give us a chance to get his pressie. Thats all sorted now. We also had to get a tux for Mark and a dress for me to go to his posh Christmas "do" for work. Luckily, the dress I got goes perfectly with the shoes I got last year. One less shopping trip! However, having lost a fair bit of weight from last year, I need a new strapless bra to go with it. And the tops of my arms are all saggy so I need a shrug or something to cover them.

All this hassle for one night!

Still, best get off now and get to C&C.

I am pleased to anounce..

That all of the digi frames are now ready to download. You can find them all on the Scrapbooking Frames page. Have fun with them and don't forget to tell me about anything you have done with them so I can add them to the Rainbow Valley Album.

When I am good....

....I am very, very good!

Here is the 10x15cm rectangle frame, complete with a bow. And whats more, the bow is a free pattern on Rainbow Valley. You can also download the free digi version of the bow.

I have been working on changing some of the other frames to pngs. The Flower Frame is also available on the same page. I will let you all know when the others are ready to download. In the meantime, have fun with the bow.

And Now...

... I have been even better! I have finished converting the Star Frame into a png and you can download it here!

Don't forget to show me what you make with it and if you can send me a copy I would love to add it to the Rainbow Valley Layouts Album.

December Calender

I have been good! The December calender is up nice and early ready for you to download and have on your desktop on the 1st!

More Scrapping Frames

I have taken pictures of the new frames and here they are. I was really pleased with the Christmas Tree, it took me ages to get right! The flower took almost as long as well and looks much nicer than in the picture, I really need to to that one again.

I have also made a 10x15cm rectangle. That one needs blocking before I can photograph it. I will also be doing square frames and other rectangles in different sizes. And if you want to turn them into pressies, I am working on a bow to go on the top.

All of the digi versions will be available as freebies when I finish editing the pngs. I was thinlking about selling them but there is soooo much gorgeous free stuff out there that I don't really see much point!

And talking of free stuff, have you seen Lilybelle Scraps? Go and take a look!

Playing Catch-up!

I feel like I am sometimes chasing my tail. I didn't have a good week from a health point of view. I didn't get any scrapping done. I left my OU studies till the last minute and haven't done the photo assignments. I have a few photos of Chatteris for me week 6 assignment, I need one more for the set. I suppose I could upload the 5 but wanted to do all 6 together. And it is raining so I can't go out and get the 6th one!I have only uploaded 3 from week 7 and the weather was far too dark to do the others yesterday.

However, the week wasn't a total wash out. I felt a bit better by Thursday and went out and had a lovely day with Valerie, the lady I met on the OU course. I got a couple of photos I wanted for other things but none for the course. And there was a terrific frost on Friday so I went out early and got some nice pics then. Not the ones I was aiming for but I was still pleased with them. I also got muddy knees, a couple of funny looks and rude comments because of kneeling on the floor.

And I finished a Flower frame, a Christmas Tree frame and a 6x4 rectangle frame. I suppose, all in all, not a bad weeks work.

New Photo Album

I suddenly had a brain wave! Why not set up an album for all those layouts made with my crocheted embellishments? So I did!

Its here! If you have made a layout with any of my embellishments, whether digi or paper, I would love to include them. Please let me know.

Crocheting again.

I knew it wouldn't be long before the urge to get creative crochet-wise would take over. As much as I am enjoying this course and learning how to do all this stuff, taking photos just doesn't have the thrill that creating something with a hook does.

I am working on a new Scrapbooking pattern. This time it is frames. I did post the large heart one in a previous post. Here is the lovely layout by Fi.

However, now I have created a new smaller heart and two different sized stars as well. The large one is about 20cm diameter and the small one about 14 cm.

Mary has done a lovely layouts using a digi version of the large star. You can't see the true size on this as with digi you can make them any size - and use as many as you want!

I have just finished a flower and next on the list is a Christmas tree. If you have any suggestions for more shapes, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

I hope to have them all up on the site for sale soon.

Organised??????

I managed to get 2 weeks worth or reading and videos done last week with the intention of getting some free time this week to do some scrapping.

It started off well. I did the weekly challenge with the photos I took of the fireworks on Saturday night. using some newfound skills, I merged them to make a montage and found something suitably sparkley for the writing. I went to C&C, then came home and spent ages cleaning the kitchen to get rid of puppy hair etc.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny so I thought I would go out. However, I got sidetracked with Christmas cards so didn't manage to get ready to go out til lunchtime. Then, just as I was organised, I had a call from the school. Benjamin had broken his specs. This meant taking his spare pair to the school and taking his broken ones to be repaired. And that was the afternoon gone. I did go out last night to try to get some night shots of Chatteris. However, there was one a particularly wanted and the light was off.

This morning, of to Tesco on the free bus. My photos I ordered were still not there despite having an assurance from online customer service that they had been re-ordered. The woman in the customer service in the store isn't very helpful. She managed to lose the email that I had given to the other lady last week. So when she asked for a slip this week, I reminded her she had lost it. I now have to email the online customer service yet again and tell them what I think of their photo service.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have been neglecting you but I just have so much on at the moment that I don't know where the time is going!

This OU course is wonderful fun. I have learned loads. I have the perfect excuse to go out skiving and taking pics. And I am taking better pics. I don't use the camera on just auto any more. I play about with the settings until I get what I want. This months calender is one I took recently. Just look at those colours!

I would recommend it to anyone. As part of the course you get PSE5 and loads of videos to learn to use it. Of course, it doesn't suit everybody. It is totally online so you have to be proficient with the computer to get the most out of it. There are no tutors, you are expected to work through the sessions on your own. However, there are forums with professionals as moderators and you can learn so much from both their comments and those of other students. All of this means there is no professional feedback on the photos you post. However, there are plenty of other students both better and worse than you who comment. You can lean a lot from them. And you lean a lot from other students photos. The whole course is designed to make you think and look at your photos in a different light. It encourages you to take photos of things and in ways you would never have before.

It isn't for you if you want you hand held through it, if you can't cope with a lot of time spent on the computer and if you can't set aside some time each day to study. There is a lot of on screen reading (although I printed mine off and read in peace on the sofa) and activities. It isn't for you if you expect "expert" opinions and advice all the way through. And it certainly isn't for you if you can not share both your photos and experience (or lack of it) with your fellow students.

However, I am loving it! Can you tell?

On top of that, Christmas is coming. Orders are coming through slowly and I haven't started my Christmas cards yet! I am also puppy sitting - Why did I say yes????? Scrapbooking has taken a back seat, along with a quite few other things.