Fire and Ice

Now that my vacation is a long, distant memory I have spent a little while putting together a kit of sorts, with all the various bits that will be used to create the scrapbook. As this one’s a special holiday, it gets a scrapbook all to itself! I noticed that about 70% of what I put away in the box was paper: but we’re not talking patterned paper or even plain paper but more like literature. I had hundreds of bits of papers – tickets, maps, menus, hotel brochures, local paper, theme park guides, etc. I managed to fill an 18lt box with all sorts of random documentation. Thing is though, it is all important to me one way or another. I have always been ruthless to throw things away and don’t tend to hoard anything except for when it comes to Florida vacations. I may grab things here and there on other vacations but when I’m in Florida (especially Disney) I take all I can. I always have. Eventually I had the problem of storage and when my box overflowed, I started cutting up bits and piec...

Just before I went on vacation, a dream store opened here in Milton Keynes: Borders! Yes, the bookstore. I really love this store mainly because it sells books and does this job beautifully. There are few bookstores that display books so well and make it so easy for me to have to buy another book. If I could, I think I’d love to work there and I would be in heaven, surrounded by books. I’ve already been like five times since it opened earlier in the month, and bearing in mind I’ve been on vacation for most of November, it isn’t a bad average. I just love books. I love and love and love books. Books have been my friends for a long time, since I learned to read at the age of 4. Ever since I discovered the written word I have been pretty obsessed with books and have always been attracted to reading. It’s one of my favourite pastimes – sometimes even more adored than scrapbooking, I have to say. Reading is portable, easy to do and it fills my head with places, peoples and ideas that mig...

t’s official – there is something wrong with me when it comes to shopping for stash. I’ve just spent a lovely couple of weeks in the States and along with enjoying the sunshine and beaches of the Sunshine State, I had the chance to visit a few scrapbook shops (only a few, honestly, I was having too much fun to be inside). I visited a couple of the big chains and a couple of smaller, independent shops but the result in all of them was the same: I hardly bought anything. I don’t know what it is about stash shopping but I seem unable to do it like everyone else does: with gusto. I relish the experience and like looking through the lovely shelves of merchandise but when it comes to committing some money, I become far too practical and choosy: it is all so lovely but do I really need it? The answer is usually no, so it stays on the shelf. Besides, I say to myself, where will I put it when I get home? I don’t have that much room anyway. Nothing really grabbed me and shouted at me BUY ME. Sur...