Explore: Closing notes ...

... the last week of prompts was very much about goal setting, tracking your goals and thinking of the future.

I am currently trying to lose the bit of weight I have put on since getting to my goal weight 2 years ago. I lost 3 stone that year and so am determined not to let it pile back on. However I wish that I could get to the point where weight management was part of my subconscious not a daily grind.

I remember when I realised I needed to lose weight in 2009. My friend had started going to Weight Watchers and I didn't think she looked anymore than a size 12, so I thought I'd better get myself there (I was a size 18). Clothes were getting tighter and I didn't like how I looked in photos. It was one of my best decisions ever to go, I would never have managed it without the support I had.

This is one of the very few photos I have from then. I hadn't realised my face was so chubby!

I have made a few more pages in my playbook noting all of this. There are a few prompts and techniques that I will come back to, but for now I feel pleased that for the first time in a long while I have completed a class!!

Explore: a goal for the week ...

... to lose 2 pounds and exercise 3 times.

Not sure what's going on with my boobs here!

Explore: Colour ...

... I've scooted through the Week 3 prompts to ensure I keep on top of the class, but I'm OK with that, I've got 4 pages in my playbook and the LO I did last week. On to Week 4!

Explore: The meaning of colour ...

... the next prompt had several elements to it, firstly what colours meant to us personally. This is what I came up with:

Black - dark and moody
Red - brave
Orange - youthful
Yellow - sunshine and energy
Green - eco/helping the planet
Blue - a happy day/ the sea and sky
Purple - me!
White - only to be worn by slim and tanned people!

Then we were asked how we use colour when we're scrapbooking:

Which do you choose first: colour or pattern? Colour
How many colours would you typically use in a single project? 3 - 4
Would those colours appear in solids, single-colour patterns (like subtle red on red dot or multi-coloured patterns? Multi-coloured
Do you prefer soft, deep, muted or bright tones of your chosen colours? Muted tones
What colour do you avoid if at all possible? Orange
Do you prefer colour of black and white photographs? Colour
When you work with colour would you classify yourself as brace, predictable or something else? Predictable

There was then the suggestion that we could label our days with a colour. Yesterday was grey with a hint of yellow for me. My moods are very much affected by the weather and I'm very much missing the turquoise sea of the med.

I decided to scrapbook this as part of the Scrapbook Circle challenge to use circles on a LO.

(I made a couple of typos on the typewriter but I'm OK with that!)

Colour: Part 1 ...

... so week 3 is all about colour and the first couple of prompts have already got me thinking about possible LOs.

In the first prompt we were asked what our favourite colour was, that's easy - purple! And here are a few of my most recent acquistions!

I thought I would ask my Facebook friends what colour they associate with me and interestingly a few said turquoise. Now this isn't a colour that appears very often in my life - in clothes or homeware for example but before I asked the question I had already pulled out this photo as when asked to 'recall the colours of a beautiful day you remember in happiness' this is what I think of:

Turquoise sea indeed! I can see a canvas featuring purple and turquoise too!

Explore: Create ...

... so this is my creation for the end of Week 2 using one of Shimelle's sketches. I shall probably stick a print out of my 24 hours to the back of the LO.

Explore: 24 hours ...

... yesterday I captured what activities I did and I think I'll do the same when the girls have gone back to school as a contrast. I used Ali Edwards pdf to capture this.

4:00am - 8:30 Sleep
8:30am Wake and get up. Have difficulty deciding on a healthy breakfast.
9:00am Do a few chores
10:00am Crafting on Explore; girls watching Hairspray
11:00am Straighten Mia's hair; Lily drawing; service the girls bikes
Noon Make and eat lunch; put bikes on car and drive to Offchurch Greenway
1:00pm Girls cycled whilst I walked Modbury

2:00pm Stop at the canal to watch the boats go through the lock whilst having a drink and snack

3:00pm Blog hopping
4:00pm Start prepping tea. Drive to Argos to pick up new kitchen scales and to Blockbuster to choose somes videos

5:00pm Home again; finish cooking tea
6:00pm Eat; clean up dishes

7:00pm Wine o'clock; blogging; ordering photos from Photobox
8:00pm Steve home at 8:30pm
9:00pm Put girls to bed; watch TV
10:00pm Go to bed at 10:30pm; read until 11pm
11:00pm - 4:00am Sleep

Breakfast Porridge and Banana
Lunch Soup and toast
Dinner Veggie Chilli and Rice
Other Apple, nectarine, orange, rocky choc bar, glass of Rose wine

Observations
As it's the school holidays and no work there's no structure to the day and I feel at the moment that we're not quite as productive as we could be (although I'm not sure what that should be!!!) We are waking later and the girls are going to bed later. I'm trying to come up with different ways to walk Modbury to interest and include the girls.

The weather is overcast and variable.

Overheard
The usual sister bickering and fighting - sigh!

Favourite Moment
The drawing that Lily made for me.

Gratitude
The freedom to come and go as we please. Safety and security in our enviroment.

Explore: Photo enhancement ...

... when I put the playbook together it was suggested that we add some random photos and this prompt included doodling on them, painting, inking, whatever took our fancy.

It's been awhile since I doodled/wrote on photos for a LO and shall definitely try to remember to do this again.

Another part of the prompt suggested using TtV (Through the Viewfinder) on our photos and during today I have been using the Vignette app on my phone to capture my day - more on that tomorrow.

Explore: Memory Sparks ...

... back from holiday with quite a bit of catching up to do on Explore. This prompt I read the day it arrived and struggled with it for awhile, especially as Shimelle had said to ignore all negative memories. So I left it for a day and it was whilst I was driving down to Dorset for a couple of days camping that the triggers started - firstly as I drove through Hampshire near the first house Steve and I rented together and also of our first camping trips together.

I've started a list in my playbook and will use it to add to as and when.

I've expanded on the house memories and it's definitely worthy of a LO, although I don't think I've got a picture of the house.

Simple and not a pretty page but it serves a purpose!

Perfect ...

... a quick layout from the photo that I took for the perfect prompt last week.

Explore: Observe ...

... today's prompt could not be more apt and is quite a biggie for me. It called for taking a picture of where you sit, stand and sleep. We were then asked to consider where we spent most of our time, which location was most comfortable and which added value.

As it was my last day at work I decided to focus on where I sit to work and what I will now be trading this with.

The journalling reads:

Today is the last day that I will sit in this chair as a Customer Support Manager. Now I'm trading it for longer walks with the dog, playing in the garden with the girls, sitting and creating, decorating step ladders, making more home cooked meals. The seat no longer adds value to my day, week or life. I'm trading it for a different routine and more sponataneity, a different routine in the week for more sponataneity at the weekend.

Explore: Get Creating ...

... so today's prompt was to make something drawing on what we had learnt from the week. I decided to go with a She Art girl using the cut up map from a couple of days ago as a background.

This is the 8th girl I've made now but the first that is truely based on me.
Here you can see the map in the background.


I'm also going to make a LO at some point over the weekend with the picture I took yesterday.

Explore: Perfection ...

... I thought about this prompt for a long time when it first came through. There are so many things in my life that aren't perfect - Steve and the girls may be, but my relationships with them isn't. I'm not a perfectionist at all, sometime I wish I were more so. I could only come up with negative thoughts. So I spent a few hours thinking about this as I went about things this afternoon and then I realised that what I do think is perfect is family time, not just the four of us, but my whole family. And part of leaving work is to make more of this time, this is really important to me. So I made a few notes in my playbook.



The prompt also called for a photo that captured this and I was all set to share a couple I already had until I captured this one on the way to Lily's school disco earlier this evening. This is what I call PERFECT.

Explore: Maps ...

... yesterday's prompt was all about maps.

I LOVE maps and will pour over them for hours. It's the first thing I do whenever I go anywhere new.

I decided to do a page in my playbook about how I've been discovering new walks since having Modbury and before you cry "how can you cut up a map?" I've got two because Modbury chewed the last one!


Another part of the prompt was to get some circle punches in different sizes and have a play around with them. Well I've only got 2, so I decided to use buttons as my smallest circle and have made these embellishments. Think they're going to form part of a LO when we get tomorrow's prompt.

Don't you just love how the map co-ordinates with my colours!

Explore: Adventure ...

... do you consider yourself and adventurous person? What does the word adventure mean to you?

These are the questions asked today. We'd already been warned to find a postcard prior to the prompt coming through. I had some leftover from when I had a half hearted attempt at Postcrossing, but decided these weren't personal enough so I grabbed a Cath Kidston card from a birthday present set instead.

The prompt asked us to write on that postcard whatever moment felt the most adventurous. Immediately I thought about my travels to the Far East BC (before children). But when I thought about it some more I think adventurous and adventure actually mean different things to me.

Adventurous is about travelling to somewhere new, trying out different things, experiencing unfamiliar environments. However adventure to me means more about my life as a mum, wife, friend - life being the adventure itself. The first is a short journey, the second a long one.

Anyhow, I stuck with the Far East memories for my postcard and if you click on it you should be able to read the journalling (although a tad messy). I shall post it later when I have a stamp!

This is the first page of my photo album highlighting the journey we took.
This is the last page - that photo of the train carriage is where we slept - cockroaches and all!!!!

Explore: Playbook ...

... part of yesterday's prompt was to create a 'Playbook' - somewhere to jot notes and reponses to prompts, for when a full 12x12 page isn't needed.

I decided to stick mainly with Scrapbook Circle June kit for the class, so I've added in some salmon and teal cardstock to make this mini book - it's 6x4 - along with the patterned paper. The alphas on the front are from the July kit, the tag has been on my desk for ages waiting to be used!

I've also taken Shimelle's idea of adding random photos along the way to add interest - I've include a sunset, some boats, a train and skyline.

Explore: Note to Self ...

... having recently resigned, lacking creativity and wondering what to do next Shimelle's new class seemed like perfect timing to me and I was very captivated by the title!

So first prompt today - take a self portrait in the mirror and write a Note to Self:



18th July 2011

So here I am just past my 41st birthday. I'm pretty comfortable having pictures taken of myself (even with the extra wrinkles) and do document myself in my scrapbooks. This is really quite important to me.

However, my creativity is low at the moment, there are so many projects that I wish to tackle but I just don't feel I have the energy.

Now I'm at a crossroads and hoping to take a new path that will lead me to a new, invigorated person, full of life and energy.

'Explore' is most definitely what my life is about at the moment and I'm intrigued as to where it may take me.

Fay