Answers in a blog post...

The wonderful Jennifer's Jumbles tagged me in one of her posts recently, she had some questions which she needed answers to.

I don't normally like these sorts of things as I find it so hard to come up with one answer and then I over-think it all and probably miss the point of it anyway. But, seeing as it was Jennifer doing the asking, I didn't want to let her down, and so here are my answers. And as I was answering hers, I thought I may as well answer the Copy and Paste's questions from their birthday party a few weeks ago.

As suspected I dithered and dallied over the questions and my answers are probably vague and slightly nonsensical. So I don't know what that says about me... that I'm indecisive and fickle, hmm, maybe.

So here goes, Jennifer's first:

1. Do you blog on a laptop or desktop?
Laptop, (I think it's technically known as a notebook). I'd quite like a nice new desktop screen as I end up squinting at my baby one.

2. If someone offered to buy you a plane ticket to visit a country you've never been to before, where would you go? (I'm not offering though - sorry!)
Too many choices!!! Africa, Russia, Japan, Canada, Newfoundland, ANYWHERE!!!

3. What do you most like to cook from scratch?
Prety much everything from cakes to curries. I suppose my favourite cooking is something that is simple and delicious and that I mostly make up as I go along. LIke the other day I threw some asparagus spears, tomatoes, olives and a little white wine into a dish and warmed it in the oven for 15 minutes with some fresh rosemary. Then I served it with salad, potato wedges and sweet chilli chicken kebabs. Delicious. So basically, if I'm cooking, it's starting from scratch. Pizza being the only exception because my bloke tends to buy them. Ready meals, I do not do.

4. Which animated movie is your favourite?
I had to think about this for days and days and have narrowed it down to these: Aladdin and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But of course there's also Toy Story, Shrek, Lion King... the list is endless. Depends on my mood, and the time of year... and look... next question!

5. What craft project / scrapbook layout etc are you most proud of? (Share a photo if possible!)
I was quite pleased with my party scene (see first post), but I also compeleted a scrap book for my brother as his wedding present, which detailed his relationship with his (now) wife. I was really pleased with that and I know they were touched and I've even seen it on their coffee table and I know they show it off to family and friends. Unfortunately I have no photos, so you'll have to take my word for it that it was brilliant.

6. Do you still have a teddy bear / soft toy that you love? If so what's it's name?
I love all my soft toys and teddy bears. Don't make me choose! Some of them I've had since I was a baby (such as Eeek-eek the mouse and Sarah Snow my rabbit).

7. What's your favourite online store? (Does not need to be craft related but can be!)
Ummmm, I don't know. I don't tend to buy a huge amount online. I suppose the ones I use the most are amazon and ebay.

8. What's your earliest memory?
Ummmm, I don't know. I have lots of memories but no idea how old I was when I had them. One of my most interesting memories, is lying in bed - my dad has just tucked me in and as he goes downstairs I suddenly realise that he carries on existing when I'm not there. I remember trying to imagine him walking down the stairs, lifting the latch to the front room , walking across the living room and sitting down on the sofa next to my mum. It blew my mind to realise that people existed even when I wasn't around!

9. Picnic or posh restaurant - which would you choose right now?
Normally I'd pick a picnic everytime. But actually, right now, this exact moment in time, I would love a fancy restaurant with nice food and lots of wine and candle light and being utterly indulgent.

10. What have you done recently to make someone else feel happy? (Can be as simple as listening when they wanted to talk).
Babysitting!

Phew! You see how dithery I am? Right, now for the Copy and Paste project's fill in the blanks...

1. Everyone knows that I love reading and writing but you'd never guess that I secretly write trashy romance novels when I'm feeling blue.
2. I'm proud to admit that I enjoy eating healthy food but my guilty pleasure is raw cake mix.
   
3. I'm inspired by art and going to new places and it surprises me when other people have no curiosity about the world.
4. I'm always moody but I'm never satisfied.
5. I've got lots of big ideas but I've always wanted success.
6. I tried to live my life through someone else and it didn't make a lot of sense.
7. If I never stop dreaming it will be always interesting.
8. I didn't really know what I was doing and now I still I don't know.
   
9. It's not that I am unhappy. but I'd really rather be somewhere else.
   
10. Doing things makes me smile.
    
11. Someone once told me that I was good at something and then I couldn't stop doing it.
    
12. I'm happy to say that I have no big regrets and even when I am feeling blue I have wonderful people to help me smile again.

Ok, that's me then. Hope you found that interesting. I would reccomend answering some of these yourself. It can be quite revealing.

Now, I'm concious that's there's a lack of visual stimulus on this page, so here's a knight in shining armour that I happened upon in Lulworth Castle to keep you amused until next time.

Bye,

Rosie xx

Playing Mum

Last Monday, my fiance David and I looked after The Cheeky One (my friend Jennifer's little girl). This was so her mum and dad could spend some time alone celebrating their 2nd anniversairy. She came for dinner and stayed the night.

I love it when The Cheeky One comes to stay. I get to play at mum, although I think she thinks of me more as her friend (which is fine by me!). Jennifer and I often have to work at her house, and if The Cheeky One is about she finds it hard to accept that I haven't come around simply to play with her! I used to look after her at least once a week when she was very small, but I don't do that so much anymore, which means that I really relish every opportunity of playing with her. She is such a little character, at times as stroppy as a teenager, and at others so small and little girly that it just melts my heart. When she stays over David and I both play with her and look after her, it's like owning my own small family for a few hours.

This last visit just gone we spent some time painting mugs as a present for mummy and daddy. The Cheeky One had a great time, as you can tell, even though she took it very seriously too.

Afterwards we all went out for a walk in the early evening light. We meandered around the town walls and played for ages amongst a mass of skeleton-dandelions, blowing the seeds away.



At one point The Cheeky One fell over and grazed her nose and head, but after the shock had worn off, and I had wiped her tears away (and David had distracted her with a dandelion), she insisted on contuining the walk and we ran around pretending to be horses.

I think we all had a great evening and following morning, including mum and dad! And as lovely as it had been to have her stay, it was also quite nice being able to hand her back. Cheeky, charming, micheivious and beautiful, but most of all exhausting!

Rosie xx

The Copy and Paste Project

Hello again,

Imagine this post as a big toe being dabbled into the waters of crafting and blogging. Inspired by the Copy and Paste project’s first birthday party last weekend, I have decided to attempt their challenge (here) to reuse some images created by Kirsty in some way.

I really loved the images, especially the colours and textures, and they immediately conjured up scenarios and story. My finished picture is trying to tell a story. It’s a bit rough around the edges as I made it sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by bits of paper and with my cat Tilly sitting on all the bits I wanted to use. I’m quite pleased with the result though, not least because I actually did it and then even managed to blog and post it! So here are photos as proof. The quality isn’t great, but I think you can get a sense of what it’s about..

The bunting above the two figures reads: ‘A Party Brings People Together’

I wanted the colours to conjure up quite retro ideas of a party - the sort of sitting-around-in-your-kitchen-looking-silly-in-party-hats kind of party as opposed to ultra cool and glam get togethers.

The challenge was part of the Copy and Paste’s first birthday celebrations. It was the first time I’d ever read the blog and it sucked in me in on first read. It was a good weekend to get hooked. With 30 posts over two and a half days, some written by guest bloggers, I really felt as though I was meeting lots of new and exciting people.

I love parties where the guests are an eclectic mix of people that don’t know each other well. It’s sometimes surprising who you get on with. Meeting new people gives me a real buzz - people are endlessly fascinating. So, when I put together my story-picture I wanted to get across that feeling of being an odd one out at a party and then suddenly meeting someone that you connect with in a surprising and unexpected way. Someone you never would have come across in your normal every day life.

The girl and the monster are actually left overs from a workshop that never ran, inpsired by a shadow puppet blog that I can’t find again - I will keep searching for it in order to credit him here.

They are lifted up from the page letting them stand out against the background and giving it a 3D quality.

There’s lots I’d like to improve on it, but at the same time I’m really pleased with it because it represents something that I have been scared of doing for a while. Nobody may ever see these pictures, or read this blog, but I know I have done it and that is a very good thing.

That’s all for now.

Rosie xx