Sunday, May 11, 2008

When I feel overwhelmed

Whenever I feel overwhelmed - by clutter, or by things to do - so that my creativity starts to suffer (and worse, my sleep starts to suffer!) I ask myself this question:

What can I do that will give me the greatest sense of accomplishment today?

Sometimes it may be a creative thing - giving myself time to complete a layout or two, make a card, allow myself time to shuffle through my papers. Sometimes it's something very much more mundane: seeing the bottom of the washing basket, phoning up someone I've been putting off.

Still, however, I find sometimes things hang over me and worry me more than once. It's silly to let that go on - recent examples have been getting round to applying for a passport, finding my birth certificate that I'd lost in the overflowing paperwork pile...

But when I finally received my new passport, and when I found the birth certificate (in the box of papers I had already thrown away, then decided to look through one more time!) I DIDN'T feel a sense of accomplishment. Despite the disproportionate stress not doing the task had caused, I didn't feel all that much better when I completed it... it was just high time! And what gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment? Clear kitchen surfaces, a dining room table clear of the usual flotsam and jetsam of family life and ready for a meal to be laid (or a creative session to start), a clean loo.... have I become a housewife in my middle age????? !!!

No - I still HATE housework with a passion. I just like the results. It was great when I could afford a cleaner, because every Thursday evening the family knuckled down and tidied up (which they would never do just for me!) before the cleaners came on Friday, and every Friday I sat in a clean and tidy house, without even cooking to do because we also had Friday as takeaway night. And the whole weekend stretched ahead with the house tidy so we could do useful family things and not chores. Maybe I really need to find the money for that again - in fact - that's a great incentive for making my new business work - if the business brings in money I spend my time doing what I want to do and hire someone else to do the housework!

My grandmother used to say "What every woman needs is a wife..."
She was right. (Think about it)
Or maybe: "Every scrapper should have a cleaner!"

What do you think?

Friday, May 9, 2008

New ways to display photos?

Get your photo, logo or picture on an abundance of different items.

Try
moo.com (interesting stickerbooks, customisations for greetings cards and the like)
or
orangehedgehog.co.uk (including a thermochromic mug that you put a pic on which is only visible when full of hot drink...)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Scrappers' links

A couple more helpful blogs this time.

Sketches and more:
http://www.littlebookofsketches.blogspot.com/

Craft Robo GSDs and more (in German)
http://meinekleinescrapwelt.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Titles with double meanings

I've been musing on titles that are not quite puns, as they don't have the obvious humour, but nevertheless have more than one meaning:
  • It's a walk in the park
  • It’s all relative
  • What A star! (for someone who's scored well at GCSE)
  • Hair today
  • Calendar Girl
  • Hold the front page!
  • Picture perfect
  • Hair raising
  • Top Gear
  • Circle
  • Marry together
  • Rules of engagement
  • Laws

Monday, April 21, 2008

Lightening photos that are too dark

I have just found out a really useful tip for using Photoshop to tidy up photographs.

I have been fiddling with Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast to try to lighten dark photos, without much success, but now I've read in an online article (I wish I could remember which!) that Image > Adjust > Levels is the tool to use to lighten up pictures. It's revolutionised my scrapping because now I can use all those photos that are a bit too dark.

Try it, open a dark photo in Photoshop (I have a very old Photoshop version - 5 and it works in that as well as later versions) and use Image > Adjust > Levels

Move the central slider to the left to lighten the picture instantly, and experiment with the other sliders.
Alternatively try Auto Levels and see if there's an improvement.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Put The Fun Back Into Scrapbooking

This article from Aby Garvey in August 2007 struck a chord with me. "Suddenly, where once you had an enjoyable hobby you love, now you have DREAD". And why? Because I can't find anything, and I look at my piles of paper or embellishments, or ribbons or stamps, and think - what do I do now? "Scrapbook overwhelm is typically a symptom of too much STUFF getting in the way"

Monday, April 7, 2008

Narrowing down cardstock colours

I love to read about and see pictures of other people's scrap spaces, so I was interested to read Ali Edwards' blog entry about her scraproom.

But the thing that really intrigued me was when she said:

"I have pretty much narrowed down my cardstock selection to just a few colors - white, cream, kraft, black, and red - which has really simplified my process and helps me focus more on the story."

Well if you look at her gallery there's a bit of yellow and khaki/green - but yes the colours are pretty limited - no blue, purple, pink...

Could I do that? Restrict myself to a few colours?

I have done so in my clothing. I had my "colours done" and found out that I am a "winter" (though I can wear summer colours too, especially in the summer). Which meant I could forget about brown and green. I now base my winter wardrobe around navy, black, grey and purple with turquoise and blue accents, and some red or fuchsia, and my summer wardrobe is chiefly blue, aqua and turquoise. It makes it much easier to shop (except when one of the key colours is out of fashion, as navy has been for several years!) and to choose basic pieces such as jackets with which everything will go.

Could I do the same with scrapping supplies?

Not really - because photographs can be in any colours (unless you go so far as to choose your clothing in the colours of your cardstock!), and I choose paper and cardstock to match the photos usually. However, I do have my favourite colours and paper ranges (blue and turquoise feature here too...) I don't think I'm ready to limit my colour selection just yet. How about you?