Retrogirl

ART JOURNAL - WORD OF THE DAY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH

RETRO GIRL

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH 2015

I have always liked the retro/vintage look, 1940's and 50's fashion and have had a few items in my wardrobe as well as accessories that were reminiscent of this era for quite some time.

But I have never fully embraced it, until recently and I'm happy that I have now done so.

What I Wore Today

Cardi - M&Co Cropped Jewel Button Cardigan

Skirt - Lady V London Damson Floral Pleated Jive Skirt

Pink Belt - Lindy Bop

Pink Pearls - Accessorize (purchased years ago-one of those items I referred to above)

Pink Bow Shoes - Carols Shoes

Pink Swallow - Brooch by Vivien of Holloway

LIFE HAPPENS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD 2015

(please note I do not own the rights to this image, I obtained it from here)

Well, it has been quite some time since I have been on my blog.

It seems like life had a sequence of events in store for me.

After studying for and passing my UK Citizenship test I happened to go back to work full time, after being unemployed for mostly two years.

It was quite a shock and a major adjustment, to say the least and then shortly thereafter my father passed away.

Life became a maelstrom.

In the way of creativity, I haven't done much nor been anywhere near my craft table since May.

The only thing I have been working on since then is an art journal to help me work through what I need to and I am also embracing other things in life at the moment.

I felt compelled to come on here today more so for my own reasons. I know I didn't have a huge following, nor actually much of a following at all. I'm certain no one was checking to see "when I would post next".

For now who knows whether I will keep this up, alternatively take it in another direction or just stop all together.

But nonetheless, this is me, for now.

UK CITIZENSHIP

THURSDAY, APRIL 30TH, 2015

Here is the reason why I have been absent for so long from my blog.

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I have been studying for my "Life in the UK" test so I could eventually apply for my UK Citizenship.

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And I have to say that I am over the moon that I not only passed the test but more recently, that I attended my naturalisation ceremony at the local registrar office and have been sworn in as an official UK citizen!

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This is a life event that is definitely worth documenting!
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I feel like they're not the best pictures of me but as a scrapbooker and the picture taker we have to learn to become more comfortable in front of the camera as well as behind it, so there you go!

Happy Scrapping!

#THROWBACK THURSDAY

FRIDAY, 20 MARCH, 2015

Well, I completely missed my #Throwback Thursday post yesterday as have been super busy with some important legal matters so I guess officially it is now Flashback Friday!

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Apologies for my tardiness. Not that there were probably many people checking in to see yesterday's post but nonetheless, here it is!

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Today's post is sharing a layout I did back in 1999 - 2000 about my grandfather, who was a real cowboy. Not something you see that much nowadays, or even back then, a true cowboy that is, unless you live in the Midwest U.S. (which I didn't, by the way).

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My grandfather had actually passed many years before this but my mother had recently acquired some of his personal effects due to my grandmother passing. I was so moved by some of the stories that my mother had told me about him and what it was like growing up with him that I thought I would create a commemorate page in his honor.

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I used a mini themed kit to create this layout, something that I typically did not use back then. I think this was more of a L.S.S. kit then it was a manufacturer's kit. It included a few sheets of cowboy themed patterned paper and full size sheet of cowboy themed stickers.

I also added a few embellishments that I thought fit the theme and created the journalling on my computer using a font that was rope like.

Left page

For this page I wanted the main focus to be my grandfather so I included a picture of him on one of his Appaloosa's in the annual Las Vegas parade.

Right page

For the accompanying page I added a picture of us three kids with my grandfather along with a picture of myself on one of his horses during a family visit, which wasn't complete without a ride on his horse.

I love the page for the uniqueness of it and as well the sentimentality of it.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog!

Happy Scrapping and Happy Friday!

JUST BAKE IT OFF LAYOUT

TUESDAY, 17 MARCH, 2015

Well, it seems like once I got going with creating traditional layouts that the creativity just kept coming.

So I went with it!

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Sometimes if I want to get completely lost in the process of something I will do a bit of baking. I find it a bit therapeutic. I seem to be able to switch off and get completely absorbed by whatever I'm doing. Like I'm sort of on auto pilot, which is nice.

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I have to say that the inspiration for the title for this layout came from Taylor Swift and Jamie Oliver somewhat. They did an advert in the UK for Stand Up to Cancer sung to the tune of her song 'Shake it Off'.

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It's really quite cute. You can find it here. Hence the title "Just Bake It Off".

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The full page

Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog.

LOOKING RUFF LAYOUT

SUNDAY, 15 MARCH, 2015

Hello Fellow Crafters!

I have been in a bit of a crafting funk lately, seem to have lost my crafting mojo earlier this week.

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Wanted to sit down and finish my PL for February but it just wasn't happening. I do hate when that happens. You find the time to scrap and then nothing comes.

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I played around with a lot of stuff, seemed to get out all of my supplies on my desk, as if this would help but I just couldn't create anything. Nothing felt right. I fiddled around with pictures, changing things - the background card, trying different colours, the position of the pic on the card, adding every embellishment known to man and nothing.

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So I put it all away and went back to basics, just creating a standard layout, which I blogged about here.

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Then after I created that layout I found myself playing around with another photo that I wanted to scrap. I said to myself that I would do something quite different from my usual page, a bit more abstract, lots of tiny details and also use a bit of paint.

This is what I ended up with and I like it!

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A close up of the cute pic that inspired the layout!

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As always, thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog!

Happy Scrapping!