Variety is the spice of life...

The new challenge is now up at Scrapschemes. This time we had to lift a lovely page by Holly.

I of course grabbed my November Studio Calico kit and created a fun autumnal page with some added lashings of Sassafras for added cute-value!

One of the things I love about Scrapshemes is that it's a different sort of challenge each time... I'd get a bit bored with the same old idea every week... it's nice to have a bit of variety in your life!

Getting sketchy...

There's a sketch challenge over at the this challenge blog - and her's my take on it... sketches are great for cards (as well as scrapbook pages of course!) as you can mess with it to your hearts content to get something totally original. At first glance the sketch was a bit linear for me to use 'as is', but if you bring in your own style it soon becomes your own. I simply can't have anything floating on it's own so by skewing a few elements i've made it more pleasing to my eye!

So the moral of the story is.... (if you haven't dropped off yet!) don't dismiss something out of hand just because it isn't 'you'... there's always a way round it!

50mm is plenty...

Most digiSLR users will admit it's nice to have a big ol' bag of lenses to play around with, but sometimes if you take more than a couple out on a jaunt you'll end up with either a headache or backache... a headache from the fuss of changing them over or picking the best one for the job, or backache from lugging them around all day... Sometimes it pays to do yourself (and your chiropractor!) a favour and limit yourself to just one... So on Sunday I set out with just my Canon 50mm f1.8 (and my external flash for a bit of fill...) on my camera.

This lens is a total gem... it's pin sharp (especially when you stop it down a little bit), it's light and small in size so you can leave your huge camera bag at home! It's massive maximum aperture (f1.8) is perfect for dull winter days (yes... it's officially over!) when you'd give your right arm for a bit of decent light! Plus it's only about £70! (or you could get the f1.4 for 3 times the price!) Bear in mind thought that the f1.8 does feel a bit plasticy (if you've got some quality glass you'll be forgiven for wondering if it's a toy) and the AF is as noisy as hell! But if you can forgive that you'll be rewarded with a new best friend!

This lens is of course a prime lens (ie - a fixed focal length, you'll need to use the manual zoom.. aka your feet!) and what I love most about it is that you really have to think about compostition and framing rather than rely on a handy zoom!

All that being said it works just as well for frenzied action shots like these... where framing is sometimes more down to luck that judgement!!

Sassafras Land...

I'm finding the November kit perfect for a few fun Autumny (it's a word!!) pages - including these one of Martha not loving munching on some Pumpkin. I honestly think Sassafras can do no wrong as i've bunged loads on here! (I've just realised i've totally missed a dot off the 'I' on this one!)

Here's the little flower embellishment up close - I have to admit this is more a chance to show off how wicked my macro lens is!!! I can heartily recommend the Canon 100mm!

I'll hopefully be back later with a little challenge card for your viewing pleasure!

I managed to get out and about in a tiny window of sunshine opportunity to take a few more potential Christmas card pictures... neither the hat or antlers went terribly well last week... but i think i've got a winner now!

Famous smells.... in a good way!

I love it when you are browsing your old photos on your hard-drive and come across a really cute one that you missed scrapping at the time - i guess when you have a puppy, pretty much everything gets missed!

This page (which is all November Studio Calico) features baby Martha helping to sort our paper recycling into the special bag... I think the term 'help' is relative...

Today saw the wonderful experience of new carpet! It's one of those iconic yummy smells, along with new car, baking bread and dog conditioner (you had to be there!) and I can't stop wandering around in bare feet over it! Of course it's not one of those fancy shag-pile affairs... by necessity it has to be hard wearing, easy clean and a fetching beigy-brown tone to disguise dusty doggy footprints between vacuums! But it's a great finish and I love the warm colour and the open and spacious look it's given the room! The girls love it too!

Tell their story too...

The new Challenge at A True Friend is now live and it's all about the stories of our pets - My page features baby Lola and tells how it only took about ten minutes for Sandie to teach her to bark on command... told you she's a bad influence!!

For this page I've used some scrummy Sassafras along with my new Ali Edwards, Technique Tuesday stamps.

Paper clouds make me happy...

While i'm not what you'd call a fan of the real thing (unless they are those gorgeous fluffy white ones with a cerulean blue sky), the paper variety makes me so much happier. Lots of brands have some lovely cloudy offerings at the moment, this scrummy paper is October Afternoon - Weathervane and of course the stickers are Sassafras.

Another thing that always makes me happy is BasicGrey (Offbeat rules!) so i'm sure I can be excused for combining it with a Forever Friends bear! This is for a challenge that you can check out here...