Word-A-Week photography challenge #10 and a scrapbook page

So first off today, my photo for last week's word-a-week challenge. The theme was 'letters'.

This shows, many, many letters and sums up life for me at the moment.
Revision, revision, revision. I am spending most of my weekends making revision sheets like this one, particularly for Biology which is the subject I am struggling with most. I used the prime lens to get a really shallow DofF, which I love :)

The large amount of revision explains why I haven't been scrapping much recently, I've missed 2 sketchy Thursday's sketches and Emilie's colour challenge for a few weeks, and it looks like I'll probably miss this weeks too!! However, on Friday night, after a full day of lessons and lots of work, I decided to sit down and scrap. I noticed a page from my Prom book that I'd started and didn't like, so I decided to sort it out. Here is how it finished up.

I quite like it now, it feels good to have rescued it, and I'm very glad I stopped and walked away before sticking it down when I first tried it as I much prefer this attempt. I am very pleased with the flower. I finally plucked up the courage to try the technique where you melt the edges of the fabric, making it ruffle slightly and stop fraying. It looked awful before, so flat and lifeless, but as soon as you heat it it gives it a great form and a bit of life. I shall definitely be doing more of these sort of flowers :)

I hope you've all had a great weekend, it's been nice weather here again, although we still haven't had much rain!!!

Bye for now, I'll be back with next weeks word-a-week in a mo.

Prom scrapbook

I've managed another page of my Prom scrapbook.

I really like this page, I love the colours. Just a little warning, the majority of my book will be these colours as I love them and they seem to be the colour most of my friends chose to wear to the prom. I'm really looking forward to my book being finished, it's really coming together nicely.

Yesterday we went to a local abbey where they have many snowdrops out. The place was so busy, the overflow car park was already nearly full when the abbey had only been open a short while. Because it was so busy it was very hard to get any decent wide angle shots of them, so I just stuck to macro shots. Here are my favourite few.

The dew drops still on the petals looked great and I was very determined to capture them. I've had a little play around on Photoshop and really like this vintage version of the photo.

I'm off school this week as it's mock exam week and we get study leave between each exam. I only have 2 exams, and one doesn't require any revision, so hopefully I'll get a bit of time to relax and revise at my own pace, plus a bit of free time in between.

Bye for now,
Hannah :)

A scrapbook page at last!!!

Ahh, finally another scrapbook page. It's really quite hectic at the minute, I thought once my modules were over I'd have a tiny bit more time to breathe, but no, I've still had loads to do. I was fed up of doing school work a few days ago and felt run down, so I did no homework that evening and scrapped instead.

I am a nightmare, I have re arranged and re organised my room over the last week and the amount of unfinished mini books I've found is just unbelievable!! I have set myself the target of getting at least my Prom mini book finished this year, if I just give myself that tiny challenge it might actually get done. I've made a bit of progress, here's my next page.

I need to continue my book and get it finished before too long, before anymore changes happen. I've already realised that I was going to put in a picture of one of my friends and her boyfriend, but they're now not together, so that may be an interesting page!! I need to get on with it before anything else like that happens :D

I haven't had much time to take pictures either recently, plus the weather hasn't really been the nicest for outdoor shots has it, so no photos from me at the moment. Hopefully as the weather improves I'll be able to get out and take photos more, although Mum will be wanting the camera too then. I really need a DSLR of my own :D

Bye for now,
Hannah :)

'A' fab day

Hi everyone, this will be quite a big post.

I don't know where the time has gone or why it has been so long since my last post.

I'm sure everyone knows that today was A level results day. I took AS maths early as a GCSE class, and have been to collect my result for it today. I have basically taken an AS level in Statistics and my result ....... an A. I am so pleased with that, I needed a high mark in the 3rd module to receive an A overall and I managed it, getting 91/100. :D I'm a very happy bunny.

Now to some scrapbooking. I have finished my whole Jessica Sprague Up + Running class now, here are the layouts created from lesson 3 and 4.

I have followed this lesson exactly and although the colours wouldn't be my first choice for those photos I quite like the finished piece.

I have changed some elements in this lesson 4 page. I haven't used the title word art provided instead using a Dawn Inskip Alphabet I have purchased. I decided to do my layout about my crafting area.

I learnt so much from the course, it's just a shame I haven't had time since to do any digi scrapping.

Instead I have been doing proper scrapbooking, decorating more pages for my Prom book. I have managed 2 more pages.

(By the way I hope you like my copyright stamp I've created using fabulous brushes I found on this website)

I have done more paper pleating and another flower on this page, I have fallen in love with making my own flowers! The doily on this page is a hand cut paper cut, the technique I learnt in GCSE art. I have drawn my design on the back of my piece of card

and then cut it out with my craft knife to create a sort of doily with my own pattern.

I created my own notes card in Photoshop Elements for this page, and am very pleased with the way it has turned out, it shall be so useful for both digi and hybrid use.

Here is the next page I have managed to complete. I'm very pleased with this page. I wanted to include 3 photos on this page, but didn't want them to be obvious, so I have hidden them in a flap.

I liked the way this ended up, I have used flowers on the page to cover the edges of the photos below to hide them when the flap is closed, they also overlap to hold the flap shut. Once again, more flowers, beads and hand-stitching.

Here's a little close up

That's it for my scrapbooking progress over the last week. Just a little craft shopping to share.I purchased this lovely little set of things from Hobbycraft recently, with the colour scheme of my prom book in mind. I've finally found some crocheted ribbon, so had to buy some!

Also look at this
I have recently discovered this blog 'Life & Times of a 12x12 addict'. Not only does she do some gorgeous layouts but also has a few giveaways. The photo above is of the giveaway that's on offer at the moment, so head over to her blog, if you haven't already, for a chance to win this lovely stash.

I've now just got a few non-scrapping things to share.

Let me introduce you to Mr Giggles...

Mr Giggles is James' new toy monkey. We had a mini holiday to stay at my Uncle and Aunts on Monday and Tuesday, which we enjoyed. We had a good run around in a country park on the Monday, James playing with my Uncle and learning how to kick a rugby ball far. On the Tuesday we went shopping, and James found Mr Giggles. He was in Hawkins Bazaar and after a look around the shop he wouldn't let us exit without Mr Giggles. He loves him so much. You tickle his 'Tickle spot' and he giggles like mad, much to James' amusement. I'm surprised his batteries haven't already run out, our house has been full of giggling since Tuesday.

And finally... My bag is packed and I'm ready to go. Weighing 16kg I'm glad I don't have to wear it for a very long journey!! It is packed out and I am looking forward to camping with the rangers as it shall be a very different experience to our normal camping trips, which are luxurious compared to how this will be!! Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to my first experience on an airplane, slightly anxious, but know that it will be an experience and open up doorways to the rest of the world.

So from me, night night. I'll post next when I'm back next week from my adventure.

Bye, Hannah xx :)

Scrapping days

This is the produce of my past few days scrapbooking.

I did another page of my James mini book a few days ago. This photo of James and my uncle always makes James giggle, I think it reminds him of all the funny things and expressions that our uncle does :D

Now, my proudest pages I've done recently. My prom book is already becoming a precious thing, no one's allowed to touch it until it's done and even then I don't think I'll let anyone handle it for a while!!

The front cover took quite a while and it doesn't even include photos!! I love making ruffled ribbons at the moment, they are time consuming but I find it so therapeutic and I love the end result so I feel it worth it. I also love paper with text on, and pleated ribbons, so decided to combine my two current faves into one, plus added beads which I don't think I have ever done on a layout before!!

Here is a close up.

And here is page 1.

As you can see I really do love those ruffles at the minute!! I am using some of the pages of Ocbrandy's mini books as inspiration and sketches for my book. All of the flowers on this page and the cover are handmade following tutorials from Gabrielle Pollacco here and here. They were great fun to make and the results were very pleasing. Have a go, they're easier than they look. I have enjoyed all of the hand-stitching, I haven't done any stitching for ages so it was nice to get the needle and thread out.

Here are a few close ups.

I haven't done any digital scrapbooking since my last page, I decided to get on with my prom book instead.

I am going to Ireland on a girl guiding trip in a few weeks time. This will be my first time out of the country (well I've been to the Isle of Wight and France, but that was on a school trip which i hated so that doesn't count!). The biggest thing though is that this will be my first trip on an airplane, which I'm slightly anxious about as it will be completely unknown and I don't know what to expect. Once I'm there it'll be amazing, we have some fantastic days out planned and I can't wait for all the amazing photo opportunities.

I hope you like the beginning pages of my prom book, I'll have more to show soon.

Bye for now,

Hannah :)

A bit more..

..scrapbooking but still not as much as I would've liked to get done. I have another page of James' mini book, this one is all about him taking imaginary photographs of us all.

I have made a start on my Prom book today, this is as far as I have got.

The clip-board covers are by Teresa Collins and are brilliant for this book as hopefully it shall protect all the inside pages. I couldn't find anywhere that did really interesting chipboard or card shapes to have as the inside pages, so decided to cut my own on the Cricut. I'm so glad I did as I have a brilliant range of shapes now out of thick card and can easily cut the same shape when it comes to covering the pages. I have been planning out packs of papers that coordinate with each other and the photos, which shall make the decoration easier. I just need to get on with the decoration now!!

I made the most of the 30% off sale at Pickleberrypop over the weekend and have bought a few bits from the team over there to build up my stash. I managed to find some fantastic bits and hopefully I shall get using them tomorrow on a layout I have planned if I have time.

If I manage to do my digi page I shall be back again tomorrow night, but for now, I'm off to get a head start reading a book I shall be studying next year. Bye. :)

I'm 16 :)

Hi everyone. My first post as a 16 year old!! A tired one at that after having roughly 6 hours sleep last night following our school prom!

(This may be quite a long post, I'll just warn you now!!)

I had a party at our house on Wednesday evening which was the first time James had met some of my friends and the first time they've been round to the new house (even though we've lived here 6 months!). James absolutely loved having all of my friends round and ended up nearly losing his voice he was chattering so much!! We all enjoyed the evening in the garden.

Now I shall reveal more of the butterflies I showed you in my last post. I decided to decorate my own birthday cake as I haven't done any cake decorating for at least a year, due to moving and then not having space to do it, and wanted to get back into it. I found a gorgeous cake in a book and adapted it to the size of my cake. I really enjoyed making it and am very proud of the result (well what was the result before it was eaten!). Here it is:

(This photo looks a lot more yellow than I thought it was, the cake was a much lighter cream than it looks in the image)

Then Thursday, my birthday and prom day. I received some amazing gifts, I am a very lucky person. I had asked for a point and shoot camera as I had accidentally broken the family one a few months ago, and I was lucky to receive one for my birthday from my Nan and Grandad. I spent the whole morning reading the manual and practising so I could take it to the prom. I received many other gorgeous presents, including jewellery, money, tops and chocs.

I had my hair done for the prom at my normal hairdressers and loved it. We were supposed to be going to the prom in a limo but, as my luck goes, it broke down, so we ended up going in a range rover. As you can imagine I was devastated, I've wanted to go in a limo for years, but at least we got there. I'm afraid to say that the whole prom didn't go smoothly. Me and a few mates missed all of the food as we didn't feel hungry and then they'd run out by the time we did, so I was rather hungry by the time I got home having not eaten since lunch! We also paid money to have professional photos done, to then end up having 2 photos taken as the queue was massive and people kept pushing in!!

However moaning over, it was lovely to be able to be outside and enjoying the warm failing light of the evening. I managed to get some nice photos and it was really interesting to see which styles of dresses people had gone for and the boys in suits looked so different. I'm not a dancing person, I avoid the dance floor like the plague, but as soon as my favourite two songs (Queen 'Don't stop me now' and 'We will rock you') came on I couldn't resist! It was lovely to be able to dress up and I loved my dress, it was so comfortable. Comfortable isn't a word I'd use to describe my shoes though, by the end of the evening my heel ached like anything and the majority of the girls had taken their heels off. At least I now possess a pair of heels and can walk in them. A few photos to show you, taken by mum before I left.

I took this photo at the prom with my new camera, it isn't the best but it really shows the happy lively atmosphere of the dance floor. I would've liked a lay-in this morning but because James hardly saw me yesterday I got up to see him this morning. I'll sleep well tonight, that's for sure!!

I've been out this morning with mum as she needed to take photos for a course she's doing, so I practised with my new point and shoot to get used to the scene settings and buttons.Here's a photo I took which I was very pleased with.

A quick bit of scrapbooking for you. We purchased photoshop a few weeks ago and I have joined one of Jessica Sprague's online digital scrapbooking courses which starts on Monday. For a bit of initial practise I have created a page using the tutorial and downloads she provides you. Here it is, a page about me and mum. I can't wait to start the course now.

Thanks for looking, I hope I haven't bored you.

Bye for now,

Hannah xx :)

It's too hot!!!

Sorry everyone, 'I'll update you all tomorrow' never happened!! The days are just sliding into one and the time is passing so quickly at the minute. Here we go though, another post.

I know everyone will moan at me for complaining about the weather, but it's just too hot. I love it when it's warm and hot and when I can get my summer clothes out, but not when it's so hot that you cannot be bothered to do anything like today has been.

However, I have got some stuff done today, not scrapbooking but nonetheless creative. Here's a sneak peek.
More pictures will come later on in the week.

My birthday and school prom are only 3 days away!! Yippee. I'm trying not to get excited as I'm very good at expecting something to be so good and then it being a let down, but I'm getting more excited as the days go by. I finished off my prom outfit a few days ago, I now have all of my accessories and feel ready to go out and enjoy it. Here's all of my accessories.

They are very big heels for me, the biggest I've had before are about half the height and double the base size, so I've been wearing them around home to get used to them. I'm doing OK at the minute, haven't fallen over yet.

Most of my friends have finished their exams now, a couple have one tomorrow but that's it, so we'll be able to meet up more often now. I went out earlier this week to do a photo shoot of some of my great friends who were willing to put up with me and the camera. I ended up with some results I was very proud of, and have been enjoying playing around with them in Photoshop a bit.

Not much more to add I don't think. I shall be back to post again this week as it looks set to be exciting and busy! :D

Bye for now.

Hannah xx :)

Half term fun

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted, I've been enjoying the half term break. Unfortunately I can't say I've got enough revision done as I probably should have, but I've been enjoying the break. I've got so much to tell and say.

Firstly, unfortunately I have no scrapbook pages to show, the page I did hope to do never got made, but I'll get round to it at some point. Lots of photos to show though as I have been concentrating on my photography as it is easier to do quickly unlike scrapbooking.

So what have I been up to. Well mainly enjoying the lovely weather we've had (I say as it is now thundering, lightning and chucking rain at the windows!!), I hope you have been too. In the holidays we tend to spend a large amount of time at my Nan and Grandad's house as James loves to see them and their garden is lovely in the sun. I've spent the second half of the week living in my shorts, trying to get my legs a little nicer than pure white!! Some sunny garden pics:

I did manage however to go out and get my prom dress. I am planning to do a mini book all about my school prom so we snapped as many photos of the shopping trip as we could. It was great to go out just me and mum for some girly shopping. I tried on over 10 different dresses, finally finding the one after at least 3 hours shopping. I love the one we decided on, luckily it was both mum's favourite and mine so it was a dead winner. It's so comfy and elegant, just the style I was looking for, and even though the price was more than we had planned, we both felt it was a very successful shopping trip. Here it is, I hope you like it, it's not the best photo.
Today we have all been to a Summer Fun Day set up especially for children with disabilities and their families. At first we had slight doubts, but we all loved it and were so glad we went. James loved it and so did I. Even though it wasn't set up by a club who commonly (in fact they may have never) deal with those sort of children, they were so friendly and understanding. The activities were aimed specifically at the children's style, with simple games, and not too many things to do. James' favourite (well actually there were many), the stocks. Putting dad in the stocks and throwing wet sponges at him was so great, James was laughing so much and it was a great photo opportunity.
Then when it came to James' turn I had great delight in lobbing sponges at him. I have an awful aim but a lucky handful got him, much to his amusement.

I love taking photos in macro, especially of flowers and their intricate centres. This is a photo I took today of one of my nans amazing poppies.

I have exams again this week, Maths and English. I am confident about these subjects but shall be busy revising for Geography and Citizenship the following week. I have 12 days, 7 exams, left and then it's my summer holidays!! :D

Thanks for looking at my blog, I'll write again when I can. :)

Hannah xx

What a lovely weekend!

I've had a great few days since my last post.

I had my PE exam on Friday, it was really easy, all the questions were multiple choice and the half an hour of revision for it seemed perfectly adequate. I had the morning at home for study leave, it was amazing, I felt all grown up!! It did however feel really weird changing into school uniform half way through the day.

Wow what lovely weather it has been, I hope everyone has been enjoying it but not getting burnt! I've been to a local nature reserve a few times in the last couple of days and it's been lovely. There's so much nature around at the moment, it's been a nice break from revision to get outside and enjoy the wildlife. The shorts and white jeans have come out of my wardrobe, so summer must be nearly here!

This is my last official week at school. Wow, 11 years of schooling and this is the last week were I actually have to go in (well apart from exams after half term). That's such a weird thought!! Even this week will be disrupted with study leave, so really Thursday of last week was my last full day at school in lessons. After failing to find an autograph book which I liked, i decided in the week to make my own. This way I could decorate it, assemble it and ensure it is just how I wished. Here are the blank pages I ready to hopefully be filled during this week. They have patterned paper on 1 side, maybe for photos or me to write on later, and are blank on the other side.

They are the only remotely crafty thing I have managed to fit in this week, although I have been planning a page in my head which I am hoping to do in the half term holidays, if I can find time. It's the first time I have taken a photo to go with a paper, it's always been the other way round for me. I can't wait to actually make the page.

One thing I am definitely setting time aside for in the half term is shopping. I am turning 16 in July and am having a party planned for me all for £20. I'm afraid I can't tell you where you can get the amazing deal, because there isn't an amazing deal. I am just very fortunate to have my birthday the same day as my year 11 prom!! It's brilliant, all of my friends will be there, everything will be organised for us, and I can treat it like my birthday party. So I'll be dress shopping in the holidays, a day shopping and trying on lots of dresses, I'm looking forward to it :D

I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say, but I've forgotten it, all I have going through my head is quotes from my English Literature revision!

I hope everyone has a great week. Bye for now.

Hannah :)