Saturday, 8 October 2011

Queen of Romance

One of the reasons I love blogging is that I use it as an electronic diary of sorts.
I was actually looking for Sports day results when I saw that I had blogged this sweet poem he had written for Valentines Day, so I scrapped it instead.



My thanks to:
Kit - A charming party Dream Big Designs (ScrapMatters)
Journaling tag - CariCruise_checkered past tag _01
Template: Tania Deskins _so divided_temp 02

Friday, 7 October 2011

Oink oink


It took me a little while to realise that I had a pork allergy. I kept thinking that I had a touch of the flu, every few weeks with a general aching body and high temperatures. After I took DS to Melissa’s to celebrate him getting his learners I wondered what it was that I had been exposed to that made me sick but not him. After the roast pork I cooked and ate I was certain. I googled it and I am one of those incredibly rare people who are allergic to pork. Arachnoid acid builds up in the joints making them swollen and incredibly painful. When my ankles were affected I could only hobble around, a few toes were also afflicted, then my hands, wrists so painful I couldn’t lift a pot or pan to cook, my fingers too swollen to wear my wedding ring. The last straw was a very sore jaw, just on the left side, mind you, talk about random!

Things I will miss and take a moment to mourn the loss of:
Bacon, esp Eggs Benedict with bacon, bacon opesies and pork sausages at a braai, viennas, frankfurters, salami, country ham, gammon on Christmas day,  deluxe meaty pizza with pepperoni

I used:
Template: Studio Double D Layer works template 104 (Designer Digitals)
Katie Pertiet recipe card _22011 (Designer digitals)
Katie Pertiet clean stitched borders brown 1-1 (Designer Digitals)
Kit: Ellie Lash (was from Gingerscraps) E-I-E-I-O

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Colour coded

I follow Kayleigh Wiles's blog and she issued a colour quiz to Layout challenge.
Go to the Better Homes website and take the colour test, then create a LO with that as the main colour.

I took the quiz and discovered that I am Green.


Your color personality is: Green
It sounds like the hue you most relate to is green -- the color most evocative of nature. Adjectives such as kind, gentle, and contemplative likely describe you. You enjoy being involved with your neighbors and coworkers, but you also require plenty of time to yourself to recharge.You are social yet introverted, and modern but not trendy. Surround yourself with your signature color to create a restful, soothing environment. From sage to hunter, green can work well in virtually every room of your house. Use it generously to create a haven you'll love coming home to.




Now the reason you see no actual journaling on my LO is not because I didn't journal, but because I edit what I put out there in the cyber world.

My (edited) journaling:

I admit that it wasn’t too subtle leaving the brochure hubby’s car as a hint for my birthday. And I could have been subtler when he came bounding in to bless me with it, saying something instead of “Oh, the same gift as last year”, after all it wasn’t his fault that I never actually signed up for the class last year. This year I jumped in with both feet. On our practical outing to a neighbouring town, I learnt many things.
A perfect histogram (the grass) makes for a boring photo, the sky and trees has 2 peaks and all good photos need 2 peaks, one in the light and one in the dark ranges. Next we out on our zoom lenses, worked with the self timers on tripods. Moving inside the greenhouse we played with white balance, from sun to cloud to inside, adding a yellow cast all the while. The fountain shots were a lesson on shutter speed, the slower one (1/5 th sec) giving an ethereal feel with the faster (1/500th) actually freezing the water droplets. I struggled a little inside the greenhouse, thinking that I’d broken my camera trying to photograph the orchid, turns out I was standing too close for my zoom lens. I crawled around, capturing the insect eating plant. Pansies are my favourite flowers. Next the sign that was in half sun and half shade. A shot we were instructed to avoid at all costs, yet to me, adding context makes it worth while. The ugly statue…we changed the white balance again, and played around. I loved that the artist had signed his creation. It made me think how much more, we  who are created in God’s image and bear His fingerprints all over us, showing off his creativity in our bodies.  Depth of field was used for the jasmine and wisteria and then we had some coffee and I handed my camera over for my very own portrait – slightly under exposed for the perfect shot.

My thanks to Kayleigh Wiles for the challenge &
Janet Philips for her template: 2 many photos 89 (sold through the Sweet Shoppe) 
and to Elise's Pieces Designs for her kit - All Natural (sold here at ScrapMatters)


and again absolutely nothing to do with this month's challenge but hoping to inspire you just the same.

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Inspiration station

Just because I can I am linking you to another great site that you can use as a resource to jump-start your journaling.
Scrapjazz has some tips and tricks for creating an album all about you.
It is an awesome list and even if you decide not to make an album, maybe you could start with just a page?
choose a topic and just jump in.

  1. 10 Things about Me
  2. The Chef in Me (love it or hate it)
  3. Circle of Friends
  4. Crafts & Hobbies
  5. A Day in the Life
  6. Faith & Me
  7. Favorites
    • Activities
    • Clothes
    • Games
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Books
  8. Favorite Foods
    • Restaurants
    • Drinks
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
  9. Favorite Job
  10. Fears
  11. Growing Up
    • Where I was born
    • Where I lived
    • How many houses I lived in
  12. Hairstyles through the Years
  13. High School Years
  14. Hopes and Dreams
  15. Housework & Me
  16. I am Blessed
  17. I am Grateful
  18. The Last 10 Years (how I have changed over the years)
  19. Making My House a Home
  20. Man of My Dreams
  21. Mom & Me
    • What we do together
    • What our similarities are
    • What our differences are
  22. My Emotions
    • What makes me happy/sad
    • What makes me laugh/cry
    • What makes me angry
    • What makes me nervous
  23. People That Inspire Me
  24. Pieces of Me
  25. Self Portrait (a personal photo and journaling about the photo)
  26. Uniquely Me (things that make me unique)
  27. Vacation Favorites
  28. My names (maiden, married, nicknames)
  29. My Purse
    • Favorite purse
    • What's in it
  30. My quirks

You have to admit there are some really great ideas there....even if which cartoon character would you be isn't featured.