Tuesday 29 January 2013

Project Life

I did my own take on Project Life last year using a 12x12 American Crafts D-Ring Binder and my own assortment of papers and paper scraps, which is a very good way of using up bits and pieces. At times, however, I found the 12x12 page protectors a little too much to fill up so this year I have opted for a Simple Stories 6x8 binder and I am quite smitten with the Simple Stories Sn@p Collection, so I am using a mixture of Sn@p papers and elements, some Smash stuff and other bits and pieces I already have. I'm quite pleased with results so far, even though it's only been 4 weeks of course! Having said that, the 6x8 format may end up a tiny bit too small...there's no pleasing some people , I know!
I'm forever trying to organize and re-organize my crafting stuff and I currently have a reasonably sized plastic tub with all my Sn@p elements, journalling cards, stickers, random but cut-to-size pieces of patterned paper, pens, glue, washi tape, date stamps, ephemera and so on sitting on a chair in the dining room, so if it needs to be out of sight I can just push the chair under the table!!

I can't get enough of those Sn@p colours, they really do make me feel cheerful. 

Monday 7 January 2013

Happy New Year!


 I'm back! 
I was lucky enough to travel to Basel in December for the second year in a row as my friend's brother lives there. Basel fascinates me as it sits right on the German/French/Swiss border, so coming from Germany originally a lot of what I see, hear and eat (yum!) there is familiar to me which is great fun.

We had the opportunity to visit a number of beautiful old towns and their Christmas markets which I love and can never get enough of. Who doesn't love a mug of Gluhwein!? 
I love how every nook and cranny is decorated for Christmas and I particularly love a lot of the windows.
Another thing I get really excited about is that in Alsace there are still REAL storks. Storks have been something magical to me since I was a little girl living in Germany and I do remember seeing the odd stork's nest on a roof. Of course there aren't any storks in Alsace during the winter but some of the nests are, and I love spotting them. (Is that really sad...?)
My favourite building has to be this one, the Gingerbread House, another thing that takes me straight back to childhood and stories like Hansel and Gretel. The Grimm Brothers Fairly Tales are one of my  most favourite things in the whole world, I am really just a little girl at heart.
There are often people in traditional dress at the Christmas Markets, and these two lovely girls in traditional Alsatian dress got a lot of attention from the boys!
I wonder which Christmas Market I will visit in 2013?

I'm not a great believer in New Years Resolutions and I don't generally make any, but I would very much like to blog more this year, and I want to craft much much more. But I think I may need to become a little more organised and focused, and somehow bring a little structure into my life.
I'd love to know how some of you manage to structure your lives?