My first home made Smash Book! Eeeek!

I have had my eye on creating my own Smash Book for a while - the pre-printed ones seemed so expensive for what you got therefore, here you have my DIY effort!

I have made this for a trip I will be making with my family to the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland at the end of October - a little early to be done and dusted but you know me, I always like to be organised!

I have not bought anything to create the book. To begin with I had one of my favourite things to work with, a Reeves sketchpads in stock from when I used to make embellished journals. (Check out my Pinterest board here.) I wanted to show you the inside pages using a video link thing into my blog but have failed miserably. Instead here are a few of my favourite pages and I'll figure out how to do it another time - might see if I can get it onto Pinterest.

To start making something of the blank pages I searched through all of my papers, card, embellishments, stamps, you name it. I also took pages out of books I use for paper crafting and basically anything I had lying around that seemed appropriate. Luckily I am a bit of a magpie and usually have something of use! Again, as with any journals I have done in the past I tried not to make it look too contrived and I think I'm really happy with it. I have purchased a double-ended glue/pen pen to take with me 

and I have asked for a few things to make my entries special for birthday presents.

Whilst I'm at it I may as well tell you about getting set for the coming school term. We were given some weekly plans from school. as usual to keep tabs on what the boys will be doing each day but they are a bit plain, being black and white. Instead I found these on the internet so are now completed and placed on the wall under the calendar in the kitchen. This way the boys can double check what they are doing and I know when things have to be in school on what day! Love them. Good job I printed off an extra one last week as the tomato ketchup came flying out of the door shelf of the fridge yesterday in spectacular fashion and practically covered one of them. Funny?

Time to go but just have a minute to show you the first Gladioli I have ever grown and that I am very chuffed with myself. Love the colour!

 Right, must dash but hope you liked what you saw, especially the Smash Book.

Catch ya later.xxx

A Scribbler I Was, A Blogger I Be!

Ever since I can remember I have been a writer and a scribbler. If I had money to go to the shop with, my mum was never surprised when I came home with a super-sized jotter pad!

Throughout my life I have kept diaries, written poems, always been fond of letter writing and forever felt that you cannot beat the first, fresh page of a brand new notebook!

I am a continual list maker and lover of my Household Notebook (HN); if I don't write it down it just may not get done. Here is where you can get the printables I use, and more!  I am a planner of menus and for upcoming events on the organizer calendar I have on my kitchen wall. My HN is an idea from the States and it brings together all I need to keep body and soul in order throughout the house. (Whole sections of Pinterest are dedicated to printable sheets you can utilize to organize every aspect of you and family's lives.) Mine helps me with things like a daily To Do list, inventories for my freezers and shopping overflow, shopping lists, phone numbers and information about school/children.

 

I keep part of the article about Team Pugh from A Year Without Supermarkets and their shopping habits for inspiration.

The A4 folder stays on the kitchen table most days, along with my calendar it is command central for me and I love it!

I guess you could say my blogging comes as an extension of my love of scribbling, a place where I can ramble on and share my thoughts, every day goings on and happenings. I use my embellished journal for my scribbling for blog posts and other things.

 
I really do enjoy writing a great deal and a dream I have is for something to be published in a magazine; I was very flattered when asked on a couple of occasions to be a guest blogger. If I never get thousands of visitors to my blog I don't think I will care too much; for me it is about the writing, the words and the sharing. If people chose to read it and find something  I have talked about interesting, then that is just wonderful and I hope they, and you, continue to do so.

Thanks for stopping by and catch ya later! xx

Do you keep a journal?

I do. I have been looking back at is this morning and seeing about decorating some more of the pages. I try to have half a dozen done in advance so that I don't waste my journalling time on that and I can concentrate on the fun part.

If you keep a journal is it an artistic journal, a place for life thoughts, ideas for a project ? I would love to hear about your journals, see some photos of them and tell me, how do you decide on your entries? 

I use the pin in the dictionary method sometimes and just see what comes to my mind from a random subject - it can often trigger different thoughts and maybe an idea for a future entry. Then, on other occasions something may have taken place to give you the urge to write. 

This happened to me on Sunday. I have recently submitted a couple of pieces to possibly be included in blogs and websites I follow. I really enjoyed the writing and spent time making sure it was humorous and fun to read but also informative. This made me think I should do more actual writing, hence today's post being a little less show and tell.

Hope you have enjoyed today's post. xx