CAPTURE THE MOMENT

It is important to make the most of opportunities when you can, and not let a moment slip away. 

I was reminded of this just the other day.... 

Along the roadside there was a blaze of beautiful yellow dandelions in full bloom. They looked amazing and I thought 'I must pull over next time I am passing to take a photo'. Sadly I was not quick enough. The heat and the sun turned the flowers quickly into seed heads and now that fleeting moment is past. At least I captured it in my memory.

Luckily, there was a photo last year that did not get away.  Driving a long the same stretch of road I saw the newly baled straw.  The field looked beautiful in the early morning light and even though I knew it would mean I would catch heavy traffic it was a moment I did not want to miss.  So I pulled over and took some photos.

That night, driving home from work, they were all gone.

Sometimes you just have to capture the moment before it is lost. 
 

...............

This post was ready to be published and I saved it in draft ready...

But guess what?! 

The sun had been out and when I next drove down the road there was a new flash of yellow.  More dandelions among the old..... 

And I realised that it was not a moment lost after all. Because the seed heads are just as beautiful as the flowers themselves. 

It is important to keep your eyes and mind open.....

 

 

THE GREAT BIG SWAP OF VERY SMALL THINGS

There is more Happy Dancing here!


A few weeks ago Sian asked if anyone would be interested in taking part in a swap of very small things. Now I love swaps and challenges so immediately signed up.  This morning a package arrived from the US and I knew it was from my swap partner, Susannah.  Imagine my excitement! 

 Especially when I opened the envelope and found a tissue wrapped package with beautiful tape. Now anyone who knows me will guess that my immediate thought was 'how can I remove that gorgeous tape so I can upcycle it'! 

                       Do you ever do this? 

Then, having peeled back the wrapping, my eyes popped! 

So many little goodnesses!  All carefully and beautifully put together to make an art piece in their own right. Susannah had used a temporary tape and sticky pads to secure everything into place - it was so creative and well done!  There were tags and buttons, ribbon, embellishments (I love those little wooden camera's!)and 2 stamps.

Did Susannah know how much I love birds? I know already the bird stamp will be very well used!

I didn't know where to begin... but as usual my instinct is to grab the camera first and look after. And when I deconstructed the page there was layer upon layer of gorgeous small things...  A HUGE thank you to Susannah!! 

This weekend I planned to declutter and re-organise my cabin .  This was the ideal time to put together a swap of small things for my partner.  But there has been a strong distraction.  Jennifer is posting hourly as part of her Onwards and Upwards weekend and there are so many give aways and fun challenges.  I have been glued to the computer all morning!!  I really must tear myself away and face the clutter.  But I will be back and if you've not already visited Jennifer Grace Creates then you might want to see what you are missing!

 

Thank you to Sian too for organising the swap. It's no wonder it is hard to be away from the computer when there are so many lovely people in Blogland doing such lovely things. Happy day!!  Oh... and my 365 magazine arrived in the post too so I have something to look forward to when I have done some work in the cabin.  Hope your day is good too. Now it's time to go.  Yes.  Really!

 

 

  

MINI MAXI BOOK VIDEO

After sharing my frustrations in my previous post about not being able to download my first video - suddenly it worked!!

Yay!!  Happy dancing here!!

If you have already visited my previous post you will have seen

 

photos of my new Mini Maxi Book. 

 

 

And if you would like to see the video version,

 

 here it is! 

 

A MINI MAZI BOOK - Part 1

This week I ran a class at my monthly Crop, Eclectic Keepsakes. I chose an accordion design within a box cover which keeps the pages nicely together. I played around with scrap card until I was happy with the construction and called it a Mini Maxi because it measures 6 inches by 6inches but it is thick and quite substantial.  There are lots of pockets and places for journaling or adding extra photos and the book is easily adaptable for different themes.  Photos can up to 6x4 inches or 4x6 inches with a combination of smaller ones. And for those who like using photos the pages can easily accommodate
up to 20.  This is no lightweigh mini book and now you know how it got its name!

As this post is photo heavy I tried to do a slide show.  But I continue to struggle with doing this.  I used to make slideshows regularly so can only think I forgot to load some software when I recently changed my computer. And despite some good instructions when I asked for them, I still can't crack it! I will keep trying...

Meanwhile,

I thought I'd try making a video..... 

Now I've never made a video before to show my work, but I thought this would be another good way of showing the album. So I experimented and after a couple of attempts I made a video I was happy with. BUT then I had trouble uploading it!  Argh!!

I really do need to become more techno savvy!!  I waste SO much time fumbling and failing.  Yes. Really. (sigh)

I started this post 5 days ago but I will waste no more time...  this is the photo heavy version and if you can't see all the detail or work out how things are constructed I am planning a tutorial of how I made this book. I'll be posting this soon. Meanwhile if you click into the first photo it does enlarge the view and offer a slide show of the rest. I accidentally discovered this after trying to add the photo to my Pinterest album. But that is another story (can you hear me sighing again?).... 

 

Anyway, let's start:

 

Untie and fold out the cover page to reveal accordian pages ....

some pages are just layered....

other pages have tags hidden under the photo...

This tie opens to reveal space for journaling.

If you prefer, this could be used for more photos or page decoration 

 

 



 

  

 

This photo has a tab that lifts....

space for more photos on the back and under.

Another tab to lift......

 An envelope covered with patterned paper makes a good size pocket.

Inside, a folded card giving 4 more pages for photos or journalling

 

 Another photo pocket - such a useful space!

 Finally, a birds eye view of the album.

 

 

 

  I hope you can see how it all comes together. 

 

 

I mentioned at the outset that I taught this mini maxi book at a class.  I was hugely excited a few days after to see Deb's had completed her book and posted it on her blog.  And what an inspiration - it made me smile all day. 

Thank you for visiting.

 

ps. If you have any tips with uploading videos or making slide shows please share!

 

pps. I spotted a mistake in my journaling after adding these photos.  Did anyone else notice?

 

ppps!!  After publishing this post the video DID finally upload.  If you would like to see, here it is!