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Iran-Spring 2015
Tag Archive | scrapbook
Travel Journal-Persian Posts
Front cover
Some of you already know that I write a couple of blogs (when the mood takes me!) my other blog being about my travels and experiences in Iran-Persian Posts. Over the past few days I have been catching up with my articles based on my 3-week holiday back in July 2014. Thank goodness then that I always keep a travel journal which I religiously and lovingly write up each evening so that I don’t forget even the smallest detail. It is amazing what you do forget and I love re-reading my journal weeks and months after my holiday.
My travel journal has come in very handy this whilst writing up my posts and I have managed to complete quite a few. We are already planning our 2015 visit so I must catch up before we go!
Travel journals are easy to put together and good fun. Collecting tickets and stubs, receipts, leaflets, postcards, menus, photos, labels and anything else that will stick onto the pages or slip into pockets is addictive but they give a great flavour of your travel experience and trigger memories otherwise filed away.
For this trip I used a great wire-bound book from paperchase. For £7.00 I got
Back cover
lots of pages, both lined and plain so I could add my own drawings, plastic pockets and half-page paper pockets which were really useful to keep the leaflets and menus in.
You can buy the book online-Paperchase
If you are short of ideas but have collected a wealth of material, you will do worse than look on Pinterest for inspiration. There are lots of completed pages to view, ideas for travel-themed embellishments and layout designs as well as suggestions for what works well.
I will be writing another journal to cover my 2015 travels and have already got the book ready to pack! All I need now is to sort out the rest of my equipment to take and I will be set. Only 5 months early!
The planning
Lost luggage!
Traditional Tea House
Me & Will Vank
Travel quotes
Journey to Na’in
Na’in old mosque
Na’in old mosque
Qanats & Pirnia House
The carpet weaver
Na’in citadel and caves
The hunt for Zayandeh Rud
Zamankhan Bridge
We found the river
Friday in the family orchard
Fruit picking
Julfa- Vank and Bethlehem Church
The Armenian Genocide
Esfahan Bazaar & Restaurant
Shopping
The End
The Wedding scrapbook
I have now completed 30 pages for my nieces wedding scrapbook and have had to buy another album to put them in. I am going to limit myself to 52 pages in total which, by the time I’ve added photos, journaling, tags and the matching embellishments, will make a couple of really lovely mementos of the day. No two pages are the same colour or design although I have used the same paper in some of them.
It is a difficult task to do as each page takes a while to design, plan out and complete. I wanted to get as much done before the wedding as possible so that when I get the photos of the day, I can finish off the pages quite quickly in weeks and not months. If I had left it until after the wedding, it may have been a Christmas 2014 present instead of the wedding present it is.
I don’t really want to use any of the official photos as they will already have those presented to them in a formal wedding album. Instead I will be taking lots of photographs myself and will try to capture the more informal and personal moments during the day.
I have planned the scrapbook so that there is plenty of space for journal entries, both visible and hidden behind photos, in mini-envelopes and on tags. I have also tried not to take the emphasis away from the photos and journal entries by making the pages so full of embellishments that they draw the attention. It is a difficult balance to achieve and only time will tell whether I have been successful. I like to include lots of surprises in the scrapbook and the happy couple will find lots of them when they come to explore each page. That’s the fun of scrapbooking, you can include all sorts of very personal touches like mini-letters, words of wisdom, poems, favourite things etc etc and it is great fun for me contacting everyone for their contribution.
Scrapbooking is a great activity for me especially when low on energy and fighting fatigue. I get lost in the design and creativity, it is very relaxing and I like to feel that I have done something constructive. It is also a hobby that you can leave for a while and pick up at a later date with ease.
I recommend it!
Wet Weekend
As if we haven’t had enough rain here in the UK, yet more is on its way and it is pouring down as I write. Sadly, for many people in the South and West of the country the wet weather is causing much misery and I feel for those who have been flooded out of their homes and businesses yet again. I cannot imagine what such upheaval would be like and I am very grateful that we don’t live in a flood area.
For me the wet weather means a crafty day indoors and I’m sure that I will be able to turn my hand to something. I feel another page of my nieces wedding scrapbook coming on and I wonder if the gorgeous Kaisercraft papers which I ordered on Monday will turn up in the post today? Here’s hoping they do when hubby’s out so I can steal them into my stash without him noticing! Bless him, as soon as I “open my shop” as he calls it, he finds a friend to visit for a few hours, leaving me to spread my stuff all over the dining/kitchen surfaces. He hates mess and is better off out of my way than watching me wreak havoc with his über tidy kitchen.
Two days back at work and I am already noticing the fatigue brought on by the extra travelling but this will improve as I get back into routine, lose some weight and continue with my healthy eating programme. It seems to be working and so far I am 3lbs down on my starting weight. That seems a lot to lose in a short time but it’s how my body reacts and I know that next week it will be on full alert to conserve energy and my weight loss will slow down or come to a halt for a week. I am prepared for this which is just as well as it can be very demoralising to lose weight one week and nothing the next when you have been soooooo good. I have learned not to take much notice of weekly weight loss but look at longer periods like a month-6 weeks. If you keep going you will notice a trend and individuals will have their own ups and downs as their bodies adjust. It’s also a lot to do with the hormone cycle and again, everyone is different in this respect so week-on-week it can change dramatically and affect weight loss.
I find however that it’s easier to keep to my new habits when in the daily work routine than at home where temptation lurks in every corner. The first weekend is always difficult but my determination and resolve is still intact and I will get through to Monday with no blips.
Fingers crossed!
A Picture for Pippa
Altered art-picture frames
When life gives you paper………
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Happy Scrapping!
Well, such a lot can happen in a short time and it only takes a few nudges from the right people at the right time to kick ass into gear.
I’m talking about my new-found passion for scrapbooking which started last year when I decided to make a keepsake for my teenage son making sure that his family history and childhood memories are there at his fingertips should he ever be interested enough to enquire. I just wish I had been more inquisitive about my family whilst my parents and grandparents were still alive as lots of interesting stories are now lost. As a result of outside interest in my passion, I have set up a website The Scrapbook Fairy where you can view my gallery of pages I’ve created, register for scrapbook workshops or, if you have a special family event approaching, think about ordering a personal, bespoke scrapbook as a wonderful gift. Or, even better, treat yourself!
Scrapbooking family photos, history, and memories is a creative and interesting way to display keepsakes and whilst looking through endless pages of photos in a boring album and which all look the same can be rather tedious, the same cannot be said of looking through pages of photos and journalling which have had the scrapbook treatment.
You may be sitting there thinking “I can’t do this”, “I’m not at all creative” and “Where do I start?” but there is plenty of guidance available on the internet as well as scrapbooking workshops and friendly craft shop owners who will give you a friendly welcome and help you on your way. In the meantime, here are a few basics to allay common fears!
- Don’t be scared! Enjoy experimenting with colours and paper and ideas. There is not a right way or wrong way to scrapbook. Everyone has their personal style and what suits some, doesn’t suit others but that’s ok.
- Keep it simple. Sometimes less is more and although some scrapbook pages you may see done by others are beautiful, they can also be expensive and time-consuming to produce. Practice on simple designs first.
- “If you never make mistakes, you’ve never made anything”………is the sign posted in my local craft shop and how right Sandra is! Since making my scrapbooks I have made many many mistakes and as a result I have found more amazing ways to use the stuff I have.
- Never throw anything away! Football programmes, tickets, newspaper cuttings, even old lace, buttons and ribbon can be used to embellish your pages.
- Don’t stick to the same colours and themes. This is hard to fight against if you have a natural preferenece towards vintage colours, modern patterns or shabby-chic designs but make yourself think outside your comfort zone and make your scrapbook more varied and appealing to everyone. Try using a colour wheel and you may be surprised at the combinations of colours you never considered.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions and seek help. The crafting community is a very friendly and helpful one and you will be made to feel very welcome. You learn a lot by talking to other scrapbookers and you will have a constant flow of ideas once you develop even the smallest network of like-minded crafters.
So, what are you waiting for? If you need an outlet for your creative tendencies try scrapbooking. But beware, it may take over your life!
Happy Birthday Poppyposts!
Poppyposts celebrates it’s first birthday tomorrow and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to log-in and read the posts. A total of 11,072 views in 12 months-I am amazed and delighted. Here’s to the next 12 months and exciting times.
I have now renewed my subscription which enables me to continue writing and unsurprisingly some themes will remain constant. Fighting the ever-present spectre of depression (currently in remission) is still important as is helping in the campaign against the stigma of mental illness which remains a priority. Talking openly and honestly about my experiences with depression undoubtedly helps to do this and I will continue to do this for as long as it does help. There will also be more trips to Iran which are a rich source of blogging material but I’m not planning on going out anytime soon as I understand that the temperature has dropped close to freezing and they have snow. Brrrr…..too cold.
Children In Need is upon us again and deserves another highlight. This year I have my Pudsey Bear ears to match my T-shirt and fairy cakes. I won’t however be doing the Santa 5k, or BBQ-ing Christmas Dinner in the back garden this year but I do have my new creative venture “The Scrapbook Fairy” to keep me occupied during the long winter days. I will also be working with Sandra, the lovely proprietor of JLT Crafts to put on scrapbooking crops and workshops in her shop in the New Year. This is something I’m really looking forward to.
The last 12 months have been exciting, challenging, sometimes difficult, often dark and disappointing but they have also been amazing. I am blessed with new friends, new activities and a new perspective on life.
Happy Birthday Poppyposts!
Thank you XXXX
Poppyposts 