Capture Real Life in 52 Weeks - catch up

It's been a while since my last post..... I haven't been immersed in papercutting, but I have been busy with the 'Capture Real Life in 52 weeks' course from A Beautiful Mess.

This course has been so fun. The weekly prompts make me think about different aspects of my daily life and take pictures of things that I wouldn't ordinarily. 

The first week was 'good morning, goodnight' and I posted about it here.

Here's a summary of the past few weeks: 

Week 2: Guilty pleasures - This was hard as I turns out that I don't actually feel that guilty about stuff like music, I love Bon Jovi but I am out and proud about that. But thinking of it, James and I go out for dinner, a lot. I feel guilty about it, and it's (usually) a pleasure! Also, I'm a sucker for a pub...especially this one, a boat with a view of Westminster!

Week 3: Nature - This was not hard at all. And awesomely coincided with James and I doing  a few walks... in particular an 8 mile walk from Richmond to Wimbledon, walking through Richmond Park which is one of the largest parks in London. 

It was pretty great how this theme coincided with the start of spring here. I moan about the weather in the UK pretty much all the time but there the spring flowers here are really the most beautiful thing.

Top left, daffs were at the Horniman Gardens, top right was the Pen Ponds at Richmond Park and left, I'm not quite sure...but these magnolias are all over the place. 










Week 4: Outtakes - Trying to catch the 'inbetween' moments. Fun as not something I haven't tried before. 
















This is by the garages behind our flat (where the foxes live). There is this old guy who goes out every morning at half seven to feed the seagulls. I think he thought I was a bit mad but I really love the way these pictures turned out. 

Week 5: Mini album - So each month there is a challenge to make an album with a different technique, the first one was stamps. I used this as a prompt to start scrapbooking some old stuff, starting with James and I's first holiday in Seville. After my first rocky start with scrapbooking I actually really enjoyed this and the stamps were really fun to use.

 I really liked the stamping made to look like the Seville oranges...














Four weeks done! It's been really fun. I have just finished week 6 so I'll post about that soon.

Worth noting that the course is still available and self-paced so you can still sign up for it...

A foray into scrapbooking and non-linear time

I've been a bit under the weather this winter and combined with my hatred of cold, gloomy days it's meant I have spent a lot of time indoors which is why I have had so many craft and art ideas.

It's actually a little hectic in my head at the moment. I have works in progress that I want to finish, new ideas I want to work up, a commission I need to get cracking with...and that's in addition to normal work, life, feeding ourselves, being social etc. So it seemed slightly mad when I was catching up on blog reading yesterday lunch and came across A Beautiful Mess post about e-course: Capture Real Life in 52 Weeks and I immediately signed up for it. (Side note: if you don't already read A Beautiful Mess, you should, it's fab)

I have plenty to be getting on with already but I think this is going to be great. I have never been part of an active creative community - I mean, I have my Etsy shop and I work with customers and have been creative all my life but I have usually operated and worked in a pretty solitary way. I suppose this blog is me trying to change that...and I think this course and interacting with other participants and seeing what they do will be fun.

I think there is an element of scrapbooking? I have not really got involved with scrapbooking in the past, which is stupid as I am a hoarder of sentimental scraps of memorabilia which are have been tucked away in sketchbooks, bags and drawers for years. Last year I bought a scrapbook and organised all our menus, ticket stubs, cards etc into a chronological pile and proceeded to do nothing with them.

Last night James was out and I was all revved up at the thought of my new e-course challenge so I dragged out various glues, pens, washi tape and the pile o' stuff and attacked with enthusiasm and what turns out to be a not very linear sense of time! Anyway, after a glass of wine, a fair amount of swearing and sticking, peeling and re-sticking glue dots and photo corners I condensed some great memories into a dozen or so pages. This was in no way an artistic triumph, this was more of a get-it-done-already job.

But I do feel better that it's not looming over me any more and I can embark on the 52 week challenge without feeling a bit freer and like I have at least attempted some scrapbooking.