The photos

Here there are, as I said before, the photos of my Around the World album.
I bought the album in Papier+, a lovely shop in Paris.

On the front there is a rubon from 7Gypsies and a piece of plain Basic Grey. On the spine I stuck a woven label that reads Bon Vogaye which is made by Me and My Big Ideas.

On the inside is plain pages, no protectors, in a off white textured paper as a base.

I have to say that the great influence behind this album is Ali Edwards.
This two pages are from a weekend break in Lisbon last year. One of the easiest ways to scrap for me is using the colour blocking technique, which is provably in every page through out the album.
All the stamps are from Autumn Leaves, the new clear sets, both the journalling spots and the swirls.
The fisrt pages I made were the ones for Istanbul, which was the more recent trip (ironies of us scrappers). I wanted the feel of a journal so I printed some lines with the computer. Then I cut different plain Basic Grey papers to fit inside and attached them. Then, it's the tricky but fun part of embellishing and stamping. 

Some projects

There are some days that are very productive and some others that aren't. Well my life is filled with the latter ones. I try hard, although it may be not hard enough,
to be more industrious and I seem to fail daily. But, and this is a happy but, the recent days have been a good change. I have finish tidying my studio, which for those of you who haven't been in is tiny, and I feel great about it. I know where the stuff is, the non essential is hard to reach and the where-is-it and need-it-all-the-time stuff is easily reached.
Also, I have almost finished an small (not mini though) album in which i just put photos of our trips. You see, Omar and I travel quite a lot and because of that I end up with thousands of photos, most of which are quite nice. To scrap them all in albums would take me a lifetime, so I have opted for an easier way of displaying them. If I can I will post later on some of the photos of this project.
In other news, next weekend I am going to Spain for over a week. I am excited but also nervous all my family will be there and they are fantastic but intense!

Almost a month, yet again

I really want to write more. I have no excuse but work, us crafters are so busy before Christmas, I mean really all those cards and projects to make.
But I found this site and it is so cool, it needs to be check out. Specially the face recognition!

Busy yet calm

It is funny. I like to go for a few days to Mallorca, just enough to see my friends and family and eat and buy good food. But that's about it. Anything longer it's too much.
Life back in the UK is good, busy with work and with our little (or not so little) cat Wasabi. Right now I am preparing a dress for the Craft Show that is going to be on the NEC Hobbycrafts in November. I have loads of ideas, but they don't seem to work that well. fingers crossed.

About a month and some days later

The power of friendship is powerful, no doubt. It just lifts you up, and, altough it may not be the cure it's certanly a good medicine. My tiredness of crafting is almost totally gone. I am excited again about the creative process. Maybe the reason is because I spent a lovely evening with Saffa
or maybe it's because right now I am in Spain, mallorca, visiting my parents. Who knows?
Since the last post I have been in three different countries and one of them was a new one for me. Omar and I visit Prague and it is beautiful. Perfect size, small and pretty with loads to do. It's just a pity that there are so many tourist. Wait, I was a tourist there too.
The following week I joined Omar in Paris. I didn't do much, just my regular paper shopping trip to rue Louis-Philippe. But I did have one of the best spanish style hot chocolates at Ladoure (my spelling is bad) and at Angelina. Both of them great, although maybe the former was a tiny little bit better. Ah, and this time I check the ForumLes Halles shopping centre. Nothing new or really exciting, just the H&M and Mango's that you can find anywhere else.
And now I am in Mallorca. Really beautiful, a little bit too builded up.

Too much {uninspired-tiredness}

By chance I have read this blog. And, boy, todays entry it's just how I feel right now. But I don't think I will sell my stuff, it is still too precious for me and provably it will always be.
Most of these days I am tired of the crafting backtabbing. I don't know how, but I keep feeling that there is so much of it, and it's just not going away. Mostly I think it comes from the huge egos that few crafters seem to have, but also the envy on how they look at your success. And of course, all this affects my love and need for crafts. I don't enjoy as much as I used to seeting and creating new things, I need to make an effort to do this things. And because for me it's not a hobby but a job, I can't afford to be in this uninspired-tiredness situation.
But, who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up in a crafty mood!

100 happy things

I recently read an article where Ali Edwards (scrapbook artist) had a layout which listed a 100 things that make her happy. I tried, my list still is open (40 things to go), but just making it it make me happy.

Cooking and other matters

Until a few months ago, I neither hated or loved cooking. I was indecisive, sometimes I would enjoy cooking, and in others "take away" seemed the only option. But after spending two weeks watching cooking tv channel with my mother in-law, I am a cooking-loving sort of person. I am still in the very foundations of learning how to cook and I am already a bit of a rebel (I wont follow a set recipe), but there is hope for that day when my mama will be proud of my very own cooking.

It's good to have old friends

I am not a good writer and definetly not a regular one, somtething that it's quite obvious. Yet I like the fact I have a blog. I know almost no one will ever read it and that security makes me a little bit more free to express myself. I express myself in other ways like with dance or specially crafts, butI like to have the blog just in case, just for those occassions in which nothing else will be the adecuate vehicle to my crazyness.
Two days ago I decided to write an email to one of my best friends of the past. Well, actually, I still consider him as one of my best friends although I hadn't been in contact for a few months. I realized on his answer and on reading his blogg (cisne.blogspot.com, in spanish) that he is more or less the same person. I used to be more like him, although I had never the ability to write like he does, there was always a sharing of literature, art and conversations that I truly miss. I try as hard as a I can to not think too much about what "I left behind" when I came to the UK, because when I do so I feel some sadness.
I remember my five years at University (the norm in Spain) as some of the happiest of my life. Maybe the word happiest is not really the one I should use here, it was more like the most confindent years. You see, I am very insecure, it takes a long time for me to feel confident in a particular situation or place. My high school years were very good too, but at University for the first time I had two very close friends (Ana and Josep) that had lots of interests and similar points of view. All right, I have other friends from High school that I love very dearly, specially Tomeu and Catalina, but with Ana and Josep it was more like an adult friendship. I miss them. I miss having coffee in the faculty "bar", talking about film, literature and all this other beautiful things. Although, now that I come to think of it, maybe we weren't as close as I think we were, or maybe we were and distance in time and space has kind of confused my memory.
So, after hearing from my friend, I decided to do some googleing. Oh, I have enjoyed doing that! It's nice to see that some good writers are still good writers! (That is for both of you Jose Maria and Josep, not that ever you will read this.)

It's been a long time

I know it has been, but then life happens all the time sometimes even every day! I am going to try and be a little bit more constant.
This week I am having a scrapping session at home as well as a class on Friday (Creative Pastimes, Limpsfield) and another two on Saturday (The Craft Co. Worspledon).
Love the weather, the temperature the nice clean air that we are having now, here.