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Showing posts from 2009

Wordle

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Very cool wordle created from the words on this blog: Never thought the word 'sentences' would be so large... (created on wordle.net )

How to improve your journaling skills

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(A few years ago I was in a design team and, as a part of it, I had to write articles regularly. I saved all the articles I wrote then and never added them to my blog... until now! This one is particularly special as it tackles what is possibly my favorite part of scrapbooking: journaling. Enjoy!) Journaling is the heart of your scrapbooks. Without it, the little details may be lost, the emotions forgotten and the moment incomplete. Some layouts only need a few written details, like names and dates, to be complete, but others demand a bit more attention. You may have read fantastic journaling entries by other scrappers: stories that really grab the moment and make you wish you could write like that. How do they do it? Well, generally the follow some easy pointers that come from the world of journalistic writing. These pointers come from the legendary “ Elements of Style” by William Strunk, Jr ., which is required reading for anyone that wishes to write better, clearer and more

sad day

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It can now be said… I nominated Milton Keynes to be Walt Disney World’s first twin town and, although I was shortlisted, in the end we lost out to Swindon . I am bummed because, deep down, I know that I was very, very close to winning this and I was really looking forward to it. I made a good case but of course it wasn't good enough to win. Maybe next time... Sad day indeed! (but, I guess, happy for the folks in Swindon !)

Could Milton Keynes be Disney World's long lost twin?

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I live in Milton Keynes . For a while, I also lived in Walt Disney World (yeah, really ). I know these places inside out, backwards and forwards and can therefore say with some authority that they are twin towns . Let me present some evidence: Milton Keynes was officially designated a new town in January of 1967, placed in the middle of England and with lofty ideals of modernist town planning in mind. A month later, a press conference was held in Winter Park, Florida that would announce to the world the creation of an “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” in central Florida. In this conference the now-famous film of Walt describing his beloved Epcot was first shown publically. As both towns were being built – out of nothing – more similarities emerged. Both towns have their fair share of manmade lakes and parks, as well as roads and other infrastructure required. New technologies were extensively used in the construction and both are glowing examples of the New Urbanism move

Sometimes removing customer choice is a good business idea

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Every week, on a Thursday, I get home and have a surprise waiting for me. It is a box of lovely organic veggies and it gets delivered while I’m at work. So I get home and it’s almost as if someone gave me a lovely gift. I take my box inside and almost can’t wait to see what we got this week: lately it’s been yummy courgettes, sweet carrots, fantastic pumpkins and the best sweetcorn I’ve ever had. Sometimes I even get a vegetable I can’t identify and I have to use the included leaflets to learn what it is, how I store it and what to do with it. It is all terribly exciting. The organic veggie box schem e is one of my weekly thrills, not the least because of the element of surprise. I have little choice of what goes in the box, other than basic decisions (what size? All veggies? Some veggies, some fruit? etc) the whole experience is one where I have very little control. And I wouldn’t want to change that. I have noticed that there seems to be a rise in the amoun

Frugal scrapbooking

(A few years ago I was in a design team and, as a part of it, I had to write articles regularly. I saved all the articles I wrote then and never added them to my blog... until now! Here is the first one of those - enjoy) Happy New Year scrappers! I hope your holidays were filled with great times, memorable moments and great gifts. Now that it is all over (at least for another year) many of us find that the finances are a bit tight. To help us all along, I’ve compiled this short list of tips that can help us all save a bit of money while still enabling us to create memorable pages. 1. Use what you have I know that a lot of scrappers have huge stashes so what best way to save money but to actually USE what you have already? You may not remember exactly what you own, so spend some time organizing your stash and you may find that you have quite a few things you’d forgotten about. Try to create pages using only what you have – think of it as a design challenge and you may

Design Thinking

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I don’t often intersect my blog and my work so allow me the indulgence – because it really is worth it! There is a great new course at the OU that is so good not only am I considering signing up myself but I think everyone that likes design, creativity or thinking in new ways should. Really. I don’t think the OU has ever offered such a cool course and I just want to shout it to the world! The course is U101 Design Thinking and starts in February. It is a Level 1 course (60 points) and looks like seriously good fun, as well as fascinating and engaging. From my point of view, the best part of the course is the course materials offered. If you are at all familiar with the OU you will know that the courses are conducted over distance (“supported open learning” in OU parlance) and all materials are included. For most courses this means a good supply of books, CDs, DVDs and even quirkier things like lab supplies. However, no other course has course materials like U101. They must be seen to

Travels around the World (Showcase) - Norway

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(This is probably going to be the longest-ever blog series in ANYTHING at the rate I’m writing it!) As we travel around the virtual World Showcase we have already stopped in Italy , Japan and France . Today it is the turn of Norway – one of the newest pavilions and one that inexplicably hosts Princesses these days. Norway is probably one of the most unusual countries for the average US tourist. It doesn’t have the heavy cultural weight of somewhere like China , isn’t accessible to them like Mexico or Canada and doesn’t have the effect on the imagination of France or Italy . It probably doesn’t figure on most US citizens’ “must visit” list and they probably know very little about it. I must admit I was the same. I knew nearly nothing about Norway other than it was probably very cold, it was somewhere up north and had Vikings in its history. I could probably only name Leif Ericsson but no other famous Norwegians. I had no idea about the culture, industry,

Of roundabouts and 4-way stops

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When I first moved to the UK (almost 13 years ago) I had to learn a lot of things all over again. One of the most useful was to ‘learn’ to drive UK-style. As you probably already know, the UK driving is on the left – and of course I learned to drive on the right. It’s not just a case of sitting on the other side of the car and going though, think about it: all the controls are in the ‘wrong’ place and the mirrors too! Thankfully the foot pedals are the same but things are different enough that I really did have to take lessons and stuff. I had been driving for more than 10 years when I had to do all of this. The actual mechanics of driving were the easiest part – the challenge was learning the new rules and driving decently, at least during the test. (Those that know me will agree that I drive like a lunatic with lots of bad habits. I drive pretty decently now, until I get back home and then all those bad habits and lunacies make an appearance!) Anyway, one thing that was different wa

The haircut that changed my life

I hadn’t even intended to get my hair cut that day. I did, however, have an appointment to get my hair styled for my friend’s wedding. This was back in Mexico , where one simply does not attend a wedding; much less a good friend’s wedding, without spending a couple of hours and some money getting our hair professionally done. So there I was, in the salon on a Saturday afternoon, along lots of other girls who were there doing the same thing I was. The place was buzzing and full of the smell of hairspray, the sound of happy chatter and hair dryers. I was being prepared and suddenly my stylist breezed in, took one look at my hair and said: “I can’t work with this.” She was dead serious. But instead of being offended, I actually agreed with her. I couldn’t remember the last time I had my hair cut, other than some trims here and there. I am always so disappointed with haircuts here in the UK – they are expensive and hardly ever do I feel that they helped. I feel that

It's all about personal style

As a scrapbooker, I am generally very restrained. I don’t shop for new stash very often, I don’t get seduced by the latest thing and I make the best of the stuff I already have. I have gone for as long as a year without buying anything new, except basics like adhesive and cardstock when they ran out. Yet my pages are, if I may say so myself, pretty acceptable and in some cases, actually very nice. Why can’t I be the same way when it comes to clothes? I am almost the complete opposite when it comes to clothes shopping: I am always buying something new, love getting the latest thing (if it suits) and sometimes do not make the most of what I already have. I have a lot of very pretty things hanging in my closet but, because there are so many things in there, I miss them and never wear them! How can I convert my scrapbooking resourcefulness into the fashion world? What strategies can I learn from one to apply into the other? First of all, I should stop the shopping. Just like my stash, my w

"Meet the Reader"...

I have been a subscriber to Scrapbook Inspirations since it launched and while I think the magazine is not as good as others, I still subscribe and read every issue I get. In terms of actual scrapbooking inspiration, well I don’t actually get that many great ideas from the magazine (so much for the title!) but there is one little section that I always read and enjoy. It’s called “Meet the Reader” and it features questions and answers to one of the magazine’s readers. I don’t know how they are chosen and I would love to be in this section. However, I think my chances are slim so as a complete indulgence – and because this is MY blog – I am going to make my own “Meet the Reader” slot right here! How long have you been scrapbooking? I actually don’t remember ever starting to scrapbook so in a way I have always done it. I remember way back in the early 90s I started purchasing some supplies specifically designed for scrapbooking and I also remember when paper piecing was THE big