Love it and Loathe it ... a tale of two pages.

This is the third in a series of very haphazard and random posts looking back at some older layouts.

As much as anything it is a way to 'save' images of them should something nasty befall both pc and the albums too.

It is also an opportunity to see how both my style has changes AND how 'fashions' have changed in scrapbooking.

Whilst this is nothing like my current pages, I can live with my older layouts that look like this. They may be very 'basic' but at least they don't offend me :)

I see images of layouts done by people fairly new to scrapbooking and they look much better than my early efforts.  And I can hear that childish inner voice whining 'it's not fair!'.  Then I have to remind myself that my pages looked very much like most other peoples did .... that's just how most of us scrapped 11+ years ago.

And we all know that one topic of conversation frequently heard in the scrapbooking world, is whether to re-do old pages. 

I put my hand up to having done this on more than one occasion. 

I redid this a few years ago ... when kraft cardstock was the big fashion.  I'm not 100% about this anymore but it is a HUGE improvement on the original!

I have also 'added' to old layouts to try and improve them.

Oh boy has this led to some pages where the eye doesn't flow around the page but is dragged randomly by a tussle between embellishments and photos.

I couldn't shift the 'frame' stickers and had to paint over where I had removed something else and it ripped the paper.  At some point these photos will have to be freed from this monstrosity of a page.  This really doesn't have any redeeming features!

These are my two love it and loathe it pages.

This is the loathe it ...

... where I can now see that the stamping and stickers drag your eye AWAY from the photos, rather than lead it around them.  The stickers are also so naff and tasteless.  Although very of the time since 'proper' supplies were so difficult to find and expensive to buy.  I couldn't afford to 'waste' paper or card matting the photos, so yet again there is an appearance by the dreaded outline stickers!

And here is the love it page...

which is very dated but still ok to look at, probably because I left it fairly simple in style.  The paper is quite dreadful, but then I wonder how I will feel about some of my current papers in 5, 10 or 20 years time.

Many thanks for popping by,

Louise x

Memorandum Monday .... on a Tuesday

Despite it being half term I deemed to not quite manage to write this post yesterday ..... teenage angst didn't help!

So I am joining in with Sian and the other Monday sharers with my something new.

I took on a new role, as Head of Y11, at work this year.  So last week I did two new things - I ran my first parents evening and I headed the rewards assembly (the pastoral deputy head has taken overall charge before).

It would have been nice if someone had thought to tell me I was organising ALL of the parents evening AND just what I needed to do for this BEFORE the day itself!

My official job title is Progress and Achievement Leader (Y11) so not everything falls under my remit.  Thankfully I have a pastoral support manager who has helped organise Parent Evenings before. So whilst I was teaching (all day) she ran around sorting the jobs that I was meant to somehow know needed doing.

Thankfully all went well - even if only 1 of the students I teach actually attended! 

 

I didn't sleep well Thursday night - I wasn't consciously worrying about the assembly but perhaps it was in the back of my mind.

So I spent Friday with a dull headache, feeling a bit sick (probably more unconscious worry) and knowing that I had stupidly booked a meeting with a parent during lunch and that the assembly would start fairly soon after it!

The Head teacher told me not to walk around too much, as that had been deemed an issue in assemblies earlier that week.  So I stood there, aware that I had a decent presentation but hadn't really thought through everything I wanted to say.

It had been one of those weeks where one job became 5 jobs, all of which were constantly interrupted whilst I was doing them!

So I was thinking on the spot, with an annoying headache and thinking 'don't walk around too much'!  My friend Rach said that I just needed a bit more 'energy' - which all said seems quite a good result!

I'm off to visit your blogs now, thanks for popping by

Louise x

Private Patterns

 

I don't know quite how she does it but Julie seems to have an endless supply of interesting ideas, and writes about them so eloquently.

I am joining in with her new idea of Private Patterns. So after some pondering and procrastination I have settled on my first topic for this interesting new meme.


I love how Julie makes these fab photo collages.

I hold my hand up to admit that I am most DEFINITELY not a very tidy or organised person.  I am quite able to find some very good excuses to avoid housework - and despite my best intentions (and a near daily blitz) my work desk is often lost beneath a pile of paper!

I probably veer more towards hoarding than being OCD, but I do have one or two peculiarities.  Or at least one or two I shall admit to in such a public arena.

As a maths teacher I don't get out the coloured pencils, or Berol felt pens, too often but I do have a small stock of each.  What I can't abide is when the kids put any old colour of lid back on the felt tips.

I'm sorry but if it is an orange felt, with an orange base then the lid ALSO needs to be orange.  So I have to then spend 10 minutes reuniting lids with appropriately coloured barrels.

And just as bad are broken and worn down colouring (or normal) pencils.  I understand that occasionally a lead will break - although where teenager boys are involved it seems to be a little more frequent than normal circumstances would dictate. 

It irritates me immensely when they are just returned to the box, instead of being nicely sharpened first.  I think I need to buy one of those huge sharpeners with the 'pincer' clip that you squeeze to hold the pencil in place and the handle you turn to sharpen the pencil - in fact when I press 'publish' I will be off to browse online for said item.

I am feeling itchy and twitchy just at the thought of blunt pencils!  And yet I can happily ignore a pile of ironing or clutter in a corner. 

Thank you (I think) Julie, for suggesting this interesting idea, and thank you if you've popped by and actually read this to the end,

back soon

Louise x

Winter Photography Scavanger Hunt

I love the summer scavenger hunt, and decided to join in this winter one.  However life (and a kindle obsession) have got in the way slightly.

The problem has been less in taking the photos - that has been delayed due to the atrocious weather we seem to be suffering! 

I just don't seem to be making the time to BLOG them.  So I am trawling through my snaps to try and catch up a little.

Here is the list

and here are some of those I have taken but not blogged yet.

# 1 A robin redbreast

Despite often seeing one in the garden I haven't managed to coordinate this with having my camera.  So I am using this image from a lovely National Trust calendar instead. 

#9 A tree that has lost all its leaves

I love photographing trees so I have LOTS of snaps that would fit this category.  I quite liked the urban setting of these ones.

#10 A windy day

I struggled to capture the true windiness - but since wind seems to have been accompanying us for most of the last month or so, you know it was there.  All I could capture was some of the damage it was causing.

#17. A ladder

Taken whilst my dear OH was putting up the outside Christmas lights.  Whilst the steps were out he took the opportunity to tidy up the tree we have.

I now need to get a wriggle on with getting some more of these photos taken!

Thanks for popping by

Louise x

Memorandum Monday ......going down the spout.

Hello, I am joining in again with Sian and the other MMers - a big wave to you all.

I learnt this week that we needed a totally new downpipe because the one we had was VERY blocked. 

So blocked, infact, that it was overflowing.  And of course the overflowing water (as water always will) was finding a gap between two parts of the roof.

And it was leaking into this gap and making the kitchen, dining room and bathroom walls damp.  That horrible brown spreading stain damp.  So damp that black mildew was forming in the kitchen.

So on a cold day we had some new drainpipes and extra flashing added to the roof.   Hopefully the walls will now dry out and in a few weeks we can repaint them.

You can see the lovely growth of moss and
algae where the bricks have been damp.
And the new flashing to channel the water into the 'hopper'.

It's been a while since the kitchen and dining room were painted so I have a sneaking suspicion that they may end up a NEW colour - but that can wait for another Memorandum Monday.

I also learnt that boys have to know WHY they are doing something but girls are quite happy just to get on and do it.  Which sort of fits, because very often around here if I want something doing I have to get on and do it myself!

I hope you've had the opportunity to learn or try something new (or, like me, just stretch the 'new' to fit a blogpost).

Hope to catch up again soon,

Louise x