Getting ahead

One of my objectives related to "ahead" is the push to finish projects that have been lying around for, oh I don't know, let's say months..... Such as my Yukon Sep 2007 travel journal, my 2007 year in review album (an online class I even paid for), my Photo A Day project (since Jan 2007), the Bellaboo music mini-album designed by Cleo from back in Sep 2008...  You get the picture??? 

So many things started and not seen through to completion. So many projects that are sitting collecting dust rather than being out for me to flip through and enjoy.

Enough.

As part of my Photo A Day, I started putting together a simple (or rather two because of the number of photos) album to showcase them. Hours were spent planning it and putting it together, only to run out of paper, steam and enthusiasm.

Well, yesterday I finished it/them!

A simple concept: two slip in albums. A monthly header, dated photos, a few pockets of pp here and there. A cover title and a label on the outside. 

It took HOURS to do but the next one will be even simpler. I learnt a few lessons along the way. 

AND I found time to go through all my photos and pick out my Photo A Day for all of 2008 and 2009. I even have them all printed out. Those albums are already in the planning. 

Most of my daily photos are just for me - not really suitable for "showing" or for use on scrapbook pages but I love the fact that I can now look through this album and really remember my 2007. There are loads of nature photos which highlight the seasons; there is a month of Recklinghausen photos, which captures a lot of the places I love in my *hometown*; there are close ups and landscapes; events and even a few people thrown in; a few of my favourite Yukon memories and lots of experimenting with my camera shots. 

Fun.

Just trying to decide what is next on the list...

Happy New Year!

It's a good job blogging is silent - I have totally lost my voice since last night, which may or may not be a good thing!

So much to update but first of all, Happy New Year or even Frohes Neues Jahr! 

Wow, 2010. A new decade. That just kind of slipped in, didn't it? I hadn't even thought about the fact that it was the turn of a decade until Ralph mentioned it to me at about 11.58pm. I was prepared for tears. None came. It was a good year end and a great year beginning - we celebrated with family but more of that later.

I have much to report but will start with my sort of December daily. My photo a day which I started in 2007 took quite a bashing in 2009 with lots of gaps and loss of mojo, but December saw fresh enthusiasm and I made an effort to take photos every day up till Christmas. 

And while I was at the Bromsgrove crop on Saturday, I put a little mini album together to showcase them. No journalling at the moment - though I may add some text on page 1. I made it über-simple and am pleased with the outcome.

And here are the 25 photos that made it into the book (out of a total of 354 taken!)

1st December

2nd December

3rd December

4th December

5th December

6th December

7th December

8th December

9th December

10th December

11th December

12th December

13th December

14th December

15th December

16th December

17th December

18th December

19th December

20th December

21st December

22nd December

23rd December

24th December

25th December

Photo a day - an update

You might be surprised to know that I am still continuing my Photo a day project which I started in January 2007. I know that I have been rather slack in updating my albums (here on the right) but the photographs have been taken on a very regular basis if not always every day. It has just taken me some time to work through them all and sort out my favourites for each day. Can you see the cheat photo?

Anyway, all quiet on the scrapping front right now - must be the weather - but it is all set to ramp up again over the next day or so with the Bellaboo July kit which is (yet again) a stonker! Oodles and oodles of stuff to play with which is so exciting. I just need to clear my desk and my head and then off I go! Watch this space.

What you been up to?

12 on the 12th

Something new for me this month. Something I heard about some time ago - I think it might have been one of Stacy Julian's columns in Simple Scrapbooks. Then again in this post by Cathy Z last month. Sounded fun, sounded like a good idea! So I got in touch with Susan and added my name to the list - the list for a gentle but firm reminder before the 12th and again after the 12th!


So I am late. But I did take photos on the 12th which was good as a starting point.


But have you noticed that when you WANT to remember to take photos of all the little details from something (like the day for example!) you FORGET! I mean, I take photos all the time. Photos of the little details. Photos of the sky, photos of the flowers, photos of the buildings. But throughout THIS day, I kept missing the detials! I missed getting a photo of me - looking reasonable for a change as we went out for breakfast. I missed the detail of the farm shop where we bought the first Deutsche Spargel (German asparagus - long story, another post!) of the season. I missed the detail of me collecting my NEW reading glasses or the chance to get a photo of me in the glasses. I missed the detail of the said asparagus sitting on the kitchen counter, all stripped and bare. I missed the detail of the boys having a whisky tasting. The only photo of me? One right at the end of the night - looking definitely worse for wear (both of us actually!). I remembered to get Ralph waking up. I remembered to get the weather. And I remembered to get the asparagus reaching the table. So all is not lost. But a learning experience for next month!


Here are my photos for 12 on the 12th - a day captured from beginning to end.

Photo update

I have been continuing with my photo a day challenge to myself - started last January - and have just got around to updating the blog with pictures from November, December and January.

While, if I am honest, I may not take photos EVERY single day (so much more difficult in winter with terrible weather or horrible light), I certainly take hundreds of photos across the month. Where I have a day with a lot of what I consider to be good photos, I might use some of those to fill those sad days when inspiration just was not there - cheating? Not at all - this is just a challenge for me and I get to make the rules!

I have lots of ideas about photo themes for the months to come - any further suggestions from you? Let me know and I will add it to the list. February is just a "whatever takes my fancy" month. Themes are easier when the light and weather are better.

You can find my albums to the right - thanks for looking!

Photo of the day

I have actually been keeping (more or less) up to date with my photo of the day project even if I have not been so good at sharing them. I have just spent a few hours organising my albums for August, September and some of October - you can see them to the right here. I would love to hear your comments on my photos - have they got better throughout the year? Are they boring because they feature far too few people? What advice would you give me to improve?

Admittedly, there are some days when I just have not managed to get the camera out or the weather was just so terrible that it seemed no point but then there have been other days when I have taken dozens of what I think are really nice ones so I have "spread" these around a little!

I was trying to have a theme per month but then the holiday in Yukon came at the end of August so obviously, these take priority. Then in September, I was in another daily creativity class including a photo of the day, but I had the holiday, a trip to Birmingham and a trip to Harrods, so I have just interspersed a few of the daily prompts in between those photos I took in these locations.

Clearly, I have a bit of an autumn leaf fixation going on this month (just LOVE autumn) but TODAY marks the start of the last 30 days of my 30s so for the next 30 days, I am going to try and focus on my life right now including some (rather dodgy) self portraits.

It's really weird but HS started a photo a day project last week too so I have just sort of incorporated it all in to what I wanted to do anyway but I will include the next 30 days' photos in the little album she shared with us - mine is covered with adorable Amy Butler "Belle" and I am going to write more in there than she was prompting for. I will also be taking more than one photo on some days (like today for example) so my monthly photo album will contain more than 31. Just to let you know!

Anyway, as ever CC gratefully received.

Photos for June and a confession...

I completed my month of photos without any problems in June but since then, I have FAILED!!!! I have not taken any photos all week (although I took some on the 1st because I was home for my Isabella's christening) and have not even decided on a theme for July - BAD GIRL!

But as a starting point, here are my Recklinghausen photos for 25th to 30th June:

Monday 25th June

The market square again. We often have small town festivals and this weekend was a wine festival. I love that our town does this - really helps to produce a community feeling and it is always fun to go down and have a crepe or some bratwurst!

Tuesday 26th June

This is our building. We live on the very top floor - those little windows at the top are our flat! I think it is so amusing that we live over a hobby shop. They have recently started to stock a few scrapbooking supplies (it's quite new here in Germany) and Ralph always laughs that I have WAY more stock that they do! But it's quite useful for glue or peripheral products such as mod podge etc. I had not discovered scrapbooking when we first moved into the flat so I think it is quite funny now when I think about how this hobby has taken over my life and there I am living over a hobby shop!

Wednesday 27th June

This is the Engelsburg hotel around the corner from us. It was built in 1701 and isn't it beautiful?

Thursday 28th June

And this is also the Engelsburg - it is built around a central courtyard. However, it is really great that they have incorporated one of the two remaining town wall watchtowers into the building - you can see the round roof here. They have since turned it into a great hotel suite with a bathroom on one floor, a bedroom on the next and then a sitting room on the next all connected by a fantastic old spiral staircase and wooden beams etc. The rooms are of course, all round and the small, narrow windows show that the depth of the walls are really thick - we stayed there one night and it was such a fun experience!

Friday 29th June

Ok, so this photo was not actually taken in June (hence the leafless tree!) but I wanted to include this photo of the medieval tower from the old town wall mentioned in my previous day's photo.

Saturday 30th June

This is the Gastkirche (Visitor's church) which is really just around the corner from us - on a Sunday morning during the summer, we can hear them singing through their open window. It began life as a poor house(until 1366) back in the 14th Century and is just such a pretty, small church. I imagine it must be very beautiful inside.

Photo of the day ...

... for

Sunday 24th June

The street where I live - quiet and empty. Although we live in the centre of town, it is so peaceful and you would never know most of the time. I like this time of day, when everything is closed and there is no one on the street. Our street is quite old-fashioned with small, individual shops and we have a great coffee shop, a small bistro/cafe as well as a super pizzeria which means that we are never short of somewhere to go for something to eat if I am feeling lazy - and we do not have to worry about driving home!

June Photos

Thursday 14th June
Recklinghausen at sunset

Friday 15th June

Somewhere close to my heart - the bus terminus and train station! I seem to see quite a lot of this place throughout the week.

Saturday 16th June

Sunday 17th June

Monday 18th June

I would love to live in this house. It looks so interesting and must have been wonderful when it was originally built. However, today it is on a busy road junction, the back garden has been taken away and it is occupied by businesses. I still love to dream about how it must have been to live there...

Tuesday 19th June

Wednesday 20th June

Thursday 21st June

Midsummer's day!

Friday 22nd June

Saturday 23rd June