A nice break in Greece....

...  a chance to recharge, top up the freckles and...erm... well to be honest that's about all we did recently while on holiday...

I was inspired by Julie Kirk & her blog 'Notes on Paper' to summarise my holiday 'in numbers'... so here we go

20 = the number of swimsuits/bikinis ordered in the never ending quest to find the perfect beach/pool wear (4 = number finally purchased)

4 = number of books read

2 = number of planes caught (nb 1 = number of planes almost missed)

120 = number of minutes (approximately!) spent in Duty Free mainly trying on these:

10 = days spent enjoying this view:

7 = (approximately) number of cocktails sampled

5 = pages created in my holiday sketchbook... sometimes creating in the sun enjoying the view and topping up freckles - multitasking! (a sunlounger makes an ideal desk!)

2 = number of interesting/inspiring floor surfaces in the resort.. (I especially like the hexagon steps..)

9 = the number of years we celebrated being married (1 = the number of bouquets of flowers received)

1 = number of local towns visited, & beautiful painted chapels seen/admired.

1 = the number of smiling, if slightly crumpled, faces I saw in the tree....

and finally...

0 = number of days I was bored of looking at this view/sunrise

so there you have it - my holiday in numbers... was fun to do - thanks Julie Kirk for the inspiration.

ALBOTAT: When its raining....

......... while you're on holiday you have to make your own amusement....

This is what I did one rainy afternoon using 2 full page adverts (from the magazines (handbag size) brought along to read by the pool), 1 set of JOFY stamps, and some pages of the magazine that had areas of solid colour...:

 

(and a single flower from JOFY26)

and this is the result:

Kate Winslet looking like a princess of a planet in a galaxy far far way in episode of Star Trek in the 1960s

This is the finished one - it started life as a Dior foundation advert.. she looked like a snow queen but now is a summer diva!

This was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon... (and I'm pleased I take glue, pens, scissors, ink & stamps on holiday with me!)

x

Home Sweet Home....

... over on the PaperArtsy blog today where my monthly project ready and waiting...  click on the photo to visit the blog...

Excited....

.... to be running a day of workshops at the very lovely Sugar and Spice Craft shop at Barleylands in Billericay, Essex.  This is the my 'local' craft shop so its a pleasure to be running workshops there.

The date of these JOFY workshops is 18th October - we'll be creating a flower themed project in the morning and christmas project in the afternoon....

(photo for illustration only, not actual project)

Marion, lovely owner of the shop,  will have more details about the classes on the Sugar & Spice website very soon - but I just wanted to let you know about the classes so that you can make a note in your diaries.

x

ALBOTAT: Beautiful....

....  & stunning vocals on this track by Paolo Nutini.. recorded live at Abbey Road Studios..

(on the album/single version there is a spoken dialogue over the last section - really moving, I couldn't place the voice and so I looked it up - reason I couldn't place it was because it was by an actor who was not known for speaking..... Charlie Chaplin.)

We're building a house...

... a Green House, full of lovely gardening bits and pieces.  I love this project!

I'll be running this assemblage/niche-frame workshop at The Stamp Attic on the 27/28 September... During this weekend I'll be teaching a day of card making (using NEW JOFY stamp releases) and the 'Green House' project workshop (die cutting, stamping, assemblage)..

Go to the Stamp Attic site to book your place.

Hope you can come along - look forward to seeing you there..

x

ALBOTAT!

My poor little corner of the www is being a little bit 'ignored' by me because:

• sometimes I'm working on 'secret' projects I can't share yet.
• by the time I get around to blogging I have so much to say/post it becomes overwhelming and so I don't blog at all (where to start??)... (I'm sure other bloggers might feels the same way at some point in their blog lifetime)
• I'm posting items onto Twitter - little bits and pieces - photos or trivial news. 

Twitter (I think is the main 'problem/distraction')...I post things there because:

• its quick
• I think the item might not be 'worthy' of a full-on all bells'n'whistles blog post - but why does a blog post have to be long, wordy and full of pictures??.. why can't the posts be quick'n'easy??

So, with that in mind and in the spirit of the subheading on my blog, I'm going to start posting (or try to) 'little bits of this and that' on to the blog rather than Twitter...

Along with my usual posts there will be occasional 'bitesize' posts - under the heading ALBOTAT which stands for A Little Bit Of This And That... these bits probably won't be earth shattering or rocket science but they'll hopefully be interesting to somebody somewhere lol

So that's the plan.. let see how this goes..

... and here is the first ALBOTAT.. 

I like a bit of clever packaging and I saw this in Thessanoliki Duty Free - to have your pencil sharpener IN/as-part-of your pencil case is a perfect idea! Loved it! (I didn't buy it but I thought it was definitely worth a photo!)

x

Not disposing of the disposable.....

.... or upcycling as I like to call it!

I have a Instax portable printer (more about this lovely little gadget another time) and it has disposable print cartidges - and these, I discovered on holiday, make great little box frames...

When I go on holiday I pack a basic craft kit (I'm not good at laying in the sun for too long lol) - this time I packed 2 sets of JOFY stamps (1st time I've done this) - the alphabet plates (JOFY21&22) - along with pens, glue, washi tape, and some bits & pieces of patterned paper... and a small set of alphabet stamps (approx 5mm high)...

When the printer cartridge is empty it looks like a little mini tv screen when laid sideways (landscape)...

but I decided to used it'standing up' because I really liked how it was wider at the bottom and so stood up.

I created the piece by stamping the flowers from one of the stamp sets onto papers, cutting them out, stamping a background & word strip and compiling it all inside the cartridge.

Its a really simple little 'thing' and was fun to make - nice to make 'something' from an object that was to be thrown away... hope this inspires you to look at 'rubbish' in a different light.

xx

(please excuse any wierdness in the layout etc of this blogpost - I'm using a Greek computer and it literally is 'all Greek to me'! I'm quite proud that is got this far lol)