Little Corner of Ania

Some things I learned this weekend:

• If the taxi hasn't shown up after 5 minutes, call. Don't wait until it's been 15 minutes. Especially not if you're gonna hit the airport...(I'm ok, it's all good, the taxi drove to the wrong place and left after 15 minutes (coudln't he have doublechecked the street#??? duh) - luckily hadn't gotten far when the central got hold of him so he returned to the right place picking me up :p)
• Make sure you don't pack your craft-knife in your craft-bag that you put inside your coffin in case you have to swap bags because of overweight. (Luckily the nice lady at the security-port was all understandable and let me keep my Basic Grey precision file set despite them being more pointy than knitting-thingies which kinda isn't allowed either :p) And thank god it was just a cheap craft-knife from Clas Ohlson and not some expensive brand-knife either :p
  
• I'm thankful for nice weather. Especially when I'm sitting in a very small plane for an hour. A small plane that like, shakes for nothing.
  
• Norway really is a HUGE HUGE country with lots and lots of vast space where like no man lives at. (I knew that but every time I fly over the country I'm reminded of this fact. So.Much.Snow!)
  
• Do doublecheck that your ticket's in your bag before leaving the store. Thank god for small airports with namelists and no real need for tickets :p
• When you're gonna demostrate a technique - make sure you actually remember the technique yourself so you don't waste everybodys time having to fetch more cardstock cause you made almost everybody do the same mistake as you did while demoing *bluuuuuush!!!!!!!!*
• Don't stay up laaaaaaate before leaving for a teaching-weekend. For some reason I was sososo exhausted all weekend so I was pretty much no fun in the evenings..wish I could have stayed until 3am and stuff for the crops buuuuut I needed my sleep!!! :p
• I think people enjoyed my classes. At least the feedback's been nice so far - thank you so much for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed the classes! :D
  

I had such a lovely weekend at Papir i Hjertet in Porsgrunn despite the minor problems getting to the place ;p Lindas class was so inspirational and so great - I'm so totally in the mood of whippin out my gesso atm -- demoing Glimmer Mist is funfunfun (I *love* talking about Glimmer Mist haha) and my classes went well methinks *smile* Meeting Mona, Linda and Pelle again was lovely and great, helping out in the store with Therese and crap, I forgot her name again *blush* the brownhaired girl *blush* was fun (14 boxes opened & sorted & stacked to the store!!) and I'm so glad Monica and KjerstiKK was there too as that meant I had familiar & friendly faces among all the people kinda (and it was nice to get to know you more :) ), loved meeting new friends like Moni - so cool that she could do some sign-language, HegeALs Maia was like the kindest and cutest little angel ever (so sweet and so quiet letting mommy have her scrappingfun :p), Yasmin was cute and sweet and I look forward to my classes in Oslo with her working in the store & maybe even helping me+?? :) And yeah, just loved being there with all these ladies I *think* I know who might be but still am not quite sure ;p

Anyways. Shitload of photos - I'll just upload and if anyone prefers to remove anything lemme know ;p And oh, the photos are a bit mixed up from "all over" the weekend - cba to fix them atm :p Thanks to Linda helping me taking photos during my classes :)

And to the ladies (and man *wave Pelle*:D) of the weekend - thank you so much for the weekend and for being so nice w/me both during the weekend&the classes!!!! :D :D :D

Off for my first PrimaDonna/Tattered Angels-classes this fall at Papir i Hjertet - butterflies in the stomach (and everywhere else) - check, HEAVY suitcases w/everything in - check (I hope :p), new books to read - sadly no - didn't arrive in time :( - guess I'll buy a photomag or similar at the airport (such a bummer..ordered Fragile Things and Anansi Boys by Gaiman cause it's about time to read'em...I can't really claim to be a Gaiman-fan when I haven't even read those, duh). My Nov BG kit - check (I love kits & crops - it's SO easy to just grab a kitbag and go), lack of sleep because I had to scramble last-minute-style - check.

I'm ready!
Be nice!
Say hi.
Smile.
Or
something.

And to my friends heading out for Papirfesten -- HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND *sooo* wish I could clone myself!!! Be nice with Trisha! Mwah!

(Oh yeah. Layout. Scenic Route. Love!)
No FFF today sorry!!

AND HOORAY!!! Bad Girls finally crowned their Top Designer 2008, and it was JENNIFER MATOTT who won - such an artsy artsy soul!! And I am so happy to see two of my friends as runnerups, sweet sweet Oddbjørg (so sweet - and with such a BIG talent inside) and Emeline Seet (a fellow MMM09runnerup, yay! :D)!! So happy for you all!! The competition was truly fierce..so kudos to all of those who attended and those who was chosen as the top 11!!!! (and hooray for the Norwegians doing so well all the time!! :D) The Nov kit reveal is on Monday btw - not today due to Halloween :)

Oh, Luxe is having a Halloween-Giveaway!!

Oh, speaking of Halloween - here's the photo I wanted to save for Halloween!! Played some w/my church-photos from Uppsala, Sweden. Cool eh. Kinda eerie yet comforting.

Have a spooky Halloweeeeeeen!!

Ps! Tessa - re Ålesund - just get in touch w/Familieminner :) The classes will take place Nov 21-24 :)

Ugh sorry folkens - hodet begravd i masse kursgreieforberedelser i hele dag - TUSEN TUSEN TAKK FOR HJELPEN ELI!!!!

Lovte bilde av kitene men det ble littegranne travelt og sånn, masse stress&jobb når pakkene kommer så sent ;p Men uh, her er et bilde av kitet til layoutkursene m/en bortgjemt Eli (kunne delt noen kitbilder med henne på og men jeg er så snillatte hun skal få slippe ;p) - minialbumkitet - samme som de fargerrike arkene + DUDE ark (orangeish). Sorry for manglende bilde *insert hundreogørtenunnskyldningerhermenførstogfremstfordidetersåmørktogvistressasånn(jajegstressalangtetterdudroogelihelttilsenenattagitt)*. Stæsjet synes ikke så veldig fra denne vinkelen men de får dere iallefall se nærmere på om dere skal på kurs med meg da - tør påstå kitene er ganske så velutstyrte igrunn (og nå tenker jeg nesten koffert her gitt, urk, sorry, sent på natta og akkurat nesten ferdig med å stresse..tror jeg) =)

Og jadda der var klesvasken min i bakgrunnen. *host*

Ps. Skal du ikke til PiH i helga? Kommer til Oslo og Ålesund og holder kurs og litt senere i november i tilfelle du er rundt der ;)

Sorry gals- classkitphoto - was asked to share. Nothing interesting going on here, move along :p

Yay!
My Prima-class-box is here - thank god I don't have to whine or nag or complain about it being held up in customs anymore cause quite frankly even I was getting tired of doing that ;p
So. Preparing and checking inventory and samplemaking today. Kitting tomorrow. Maybe a photo or two for those curious about the kits tomorrow then as I've gotten a few requests about that.

In other words - my bookmark-project at Fancy Pants is up - feel free to check it out complete w/full images and step-by-step-instructions (they post projects every monday - and yesterday was my turn). Another Fancy Pants project is also up at Minneriket - where I held a mini-workshop w/deco-scissors some weeks ago - and we decided to put all the classes on the frontpage (in other words; more classes to come!).


I've also been scrambling a lot to wrap up various Glimmer Mist samples -- am doing a demo at Papir i Hjertet on saturday before the classes start and I am nervous -- I've never demoed before soooooo I dunno - I feel like I am "overdoing" it just making things complicated -- I *think* I'll just try to limit (and display) the samples and just do easy demoing (just spraying on paper like, randomly..cause quite frankly - who wouldn't fall in love w/Glimmer Mist just seeing it on paper just like that - it's so pretty!!!!) and explain how the samples were made if asked. Or something like that. Eeks. Please be nice w/me if you're attending!!!!! The above dino is one of my faves from the samples I've made till now btw...:) (Glimmer Mist on both the dino&the background - other stuff includes paint, crackle paint, glossy accent & canvas/chipboard (LOVE this dino from Riff Raff Designs!)..and pen :) ) I am glad I got this sample made - I've had it in my head like forever but never got the kick in the ass I needed to actually get around to make it - it'll hang in the kids room when Im done w/the demo - it's a minicanvasgroup of four :)

Pencil-Lines #108 - guested by Japaneese Kanako Nakinishi, sketch by Anna and sponsored by Scenic Route!! YAY!!! Scenic Route's like, my very first love when it comes to manufs (next after Chatterbox who was my first haha) - so thrilled they're sponsing PL this week!! Grabbed some photos that's been in my photomap forever - printed these for a miniproject which wasn't made afterall and they've been gathering dust forever since :p Everything's from SR but the rubons (Luxe & Hambly) and the flower (Prima) and clip (MM) :)


This is what Amalie did on friday. She fell asleep on my lap. While I was home alone. And had a pizza in the oven. But. As she's now three and half - I realize that these moments are as precious as they come - I have no idea how many more times she'll do this - climb into my lap and fall asleep just like that after two minutes (and really, I can't recall the last time she did this - it's been too long). Maybe this was my last time. So we sat like this for about fifteen minutes, me doing nothing but stroking her hair and reminiscing the moment, listening to her snore (and it's NOT a gentle snore I can assure you...she..uh..snores like a ..uh..p i g....we've been to the doc&a specialist but they couldn't find anything particular so..) and thinking my little baby is growing up so fast.. then I HAD to break off bc of the pizza...carried her with me to the kitchen, put her on the floor and put the (slightly burnt) pizza out and another in...then carried her back and sat down with her for another twelve minutes (cause fifteen was way too long)... I contemplated grabbing my camera....it was just within reach...but thought I'd be silly taking photos of like, everything...but then the thought about this being possibly the last time I get with her on my lap like this made me give in and I grabbed it and took a bazillion photos of her with my arms up high - darn 50mm lens - and this is when my husband came home and asked me what I was doing taking photos of my chest (he came in from behind) :P

But seriously. Right now I am able to blow the pain away from her knee when she's hit herself - she'll cry and yell out loud, run to me or daddy and let us know she's in pain (or well, "pain" I guess is more accurate) and once we blow on whatever it is she's all fine and smiles running away to continue playing. And every time I wonder if this will be the last time. Next time this won't be enough. Like Adrian, he's too big to have his pain blown away like this...he still likes to be cuddled and comforted, but it'll take a while before he's alright... *sigh*


Oh. And the prev. layout of mine, the one with the green Hambly and me as little?
Well, Amalie admired it this morning and exclaimed "Amalie" pointing at mini-me. "No, that's mommy" I told her. "Amalie!" she insisted. "No, mommy". Then the floodgates of tears broke loose ;p

And just to balance the post some so it's not Amalie, Amalie, Amalie - here's my boy making one of his gazillion faces (note the missin teeth in between):P Things to note about him: He loves getting up early in the mornings so he can play some videogames in peace and/or watch Disney Channel. I remember being like him once -- only in my case I was so eager to get up so I could watch Pat Sharp on SKY Channel :p Popples, Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, Bompi bears, Dr. Who.....are a few of the cartoons/series I remember from these days...ahhhhhh :D

Right now I am winding down after a familydinner w/my husbands grandparents - so sleepy...have a lovely afternoon! :)

LOL...it seems like I keep showing off my Hambly-layouts on fridays along with my FFF...hmm!! :P Hope you don't mind...maybe I should mix up the manufs and show off another manu-layout next week...who knows..I might surprise you ;p

I am amazed by my luck on finding matching sheets of vintagebookpapers... this is the second Hambly-layout w/a matching bookpage telling the story of the layout...and yes...both papers were lying on my desk forever without me noticing the words and when I needed them I also noticed how well they matched.....

I love old photos..."hopeless" photos that mean the world to me still because of the subjects and feelings attached. In a way I feel old photos really show more about what scrapping is because well, for me (and most people I'd assume) older photos are usually not perfect in the sense we think about perfect photos these days -- if I had taken such a photo like the above - I'd probably have deleted it and certainly not scrapped it (BUT I'd probably have a zillion similarlooking photos to use instead aswell - and most of them "perfect" in the sense of positioning the subjects)..hmm...I dunno.... ?? The situations are hard to compare I guess (and not fair - not my fault I am able to shoot more these days way cheaper etc - doesnt mean my photos today arent worth scrapping the way these old photos are) - I mean - I used to purchase rolls of 36 photos-a-film and I thought that was A LOT (and it was, compared to the 24-rolls)!! These days? Pfft....try to tell me to limit to 36 photos taken a weekend (NO deleting) and I'll LAUGH you in the face.....or somethin like that...:p Hm. Actually sounds like a challenge. But don't even think about challenging me w/that!! :P

Ahwell..
down to business..
:D

1. I lovelovelovelovelove Snow Angel!!! (thank you Gyda for suggesting this color!) Yeah, the kids are cute when making these but no, no snow here in Norway yet (at least not my part of the country) - I'm talking about Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Snow Angel is a Winter Limited Edition and it's .... I am pretty much at loss for words, SO beautiful is this. I've only worked it on white paper so far, so I guess I better experient more on other colorbackgrounds/mediums but oh my gosh..... the pink is so delicious and sheer and just the right intensity/amount.....the shimmer....it seem different!! I honestly felt like I was looking at snowcrystals!! *deep sigh* I need to whip out the other Limited Edition Winter colors, but I can't drag myself off this one lol.... So looking forward to demostrate Glimmer Mist next weekend :D (Psst..looking for Glimmer Mist? Bad Girls just got these and more in the store :) And most Norwegian stores stocks GM :D)
   
   
2. Glossy Accent. I have rekindled my love for this and hope I have enough for all the samples I am making for the moment being!
   
   
3. Pizzabuns! Love baking pizzabuns and putting them in the fridge. Great to quickly defreeze when you've forgotten to buy bread and the kids needs lunch for school *cough* *cough*
   
   
4. Playing with canvas!! There's so much I want to do with canvas...
   
   
5. The Hambly Gallery is up!! One thing I love about this team is the diversity - we all seem to have different styles and I think that's a great thing....we get to show that Hambly can be used by everybody despite style or preferrence...(but I still can't help having a slight feeling I don't fit in *blush*) Anyways - head on over and join for several chances to get some Hambly-goodness you too :D
   
   
   
6. (I knoowwwww...six is NOT five.......) Love Skunk Anansie, been listening to the old tunes once again....Hedonism (Just because you feel good) is such a great song!! :D
   

Enjoy the weekend!! :D

I created this mini with Maya Roads amazingly cool chipboardmini, supplemented with some pages from a K&CO mini and with lots of Luxe Designs stuff - like the Simple, Stiletto and Capris papers, different jotters, rubons, epoxystickers and journalingstickers. Oh, and Maya Road chipboardalphas (which fits the Luxe alphastickers perfectly - they cooperated on that one you see - so you can stick the stickers in any color right upon the MR chipboardalphas for added dimension :) ), a piece of Hambly (cuz......Uppsala is in Sweden and the Swedish flag bears the colors blue and yellow and the Hambly-piece was yellow sooooooo :p) and a lil glimmermist&dabberpaint :)

Right. Nuff babling. Here it is :)
(Did I mention the shape of this mini is just too cool??? :D)
OH, and the newest Luxe lines are shipping now!! I love the calendar-line and I am so looking forward to checking out the Christmas line and the boy/girl line for real - and they have a free shipping special for US residents - purchase for 25$ and get free shipping :) Wish these specials would apply to Internationals too uh :p

(oh, and by the way -- check out this cool post on flowers over at the PrimaDonna blog.....they used an old layout of mine as an example too :) )


(I should maybe mention that before we pretended we were into culture and stuff the others we spent hours waiting for me trying to decide for a purse to purchase :p) I finally bought one. The last day :p

Watching paint dry is boring.
I know. "Use your heat gun". But I get too impatient and create bubbles and while bubbles is a cool feat that's not what I want now. So.
I think I'm gonna take a bath while waiting.
Yeah.
It's much better than whining about the stupid P.O. and customs and stuff. Yeah. Even though I do want to whine about them. Cause the P.O/customs is so stupid not letting my stuff go. Or keeping my stuff in "acceptance" for days and days on end. Which is not letting go at all either. On the other side of the sea. The big one. Grr.

HUm. I already did a post w/o photos so.
From one of those boats between Ålesund and here. :p
Been playing some w/levels lately, trying to see if I can figure that one out - like - what color does what to what color how (I have another cool one but I am saving that for a Halloween-post methinks). For the moment being I just do stuff like a headless chicken tho, going "ooh cool" then 2 secs later "uh. what did I just do". I think I need some kind of table or something. Anyone's got one?? I mean. There should be one. It's like, simple colortheory or something like that. I just don't know what to google for.

Ps. Teheee I find this fun. How cool is this+? My very own Fancy Pants gallery-thingie :) Silly I know :p

I just signed up with Jessica Spragues Stories in Hand-class.

I really admire Jessica Sprague, and her issues has been something that's been on my mind lately too -- I have the brains of a guppy - no matter how hard I try - I ALWAYS forget to record the little everyday things.... the small things that show so much about how the kids really are, their lives, our lives. Sometimes I look at a photo and remember stuff from my childhood - but I don't really have the "time" to scrap that yet so I put it on hold - filing the memory away in my brain to get lost :p Oh yes, I know -- make yourself a notebook and write it down. Well. Sometimes I write the snippets here on my blog, sometimes I write it on documents on my computer... but most of the times....it's just ... lost.. So...here's Jessicas own words about this class:

A few weeks ago, I was sitting down looking through my albums. They’re disorganized. They’re out of order. There are photography tags and shipping labels on the page protectors. Not user friendly at all. As I was flipping through the pages, I realized that I have spent a lot of time on the pages that are there. And I’m proud of them, don’t get me wrong. But there are so many other stories I have to tell, and want to tell. So many stories for which I didn’t have a picture, or the picture wasn’t good enough, or I ran out of time and went on to something else, or whatever other reason kept me from telling it.

I actually asked myself as I looked through my albums, “If I disappear tomorrow, and this is all there is, is that enough?” And I’ve been haunted by the answer to that question.

This experience was part of a process I’ve been going through this summer, while I’ve been working on other projects, traveling and teaching (photo editing, digital scrapbooking, etc). I’ve been realizing that for me, there needs to be a way to capture little stories that can either be made into scrapbook pages, or not. There needs to be a way to fill in those gaps for which there might not be a full-blown 2-page spread that took me 4 hours. But that is a story worth telling nonetheless.

I'm confident that I'm not the only person out there in this situation. So that's why I developed this class. We ALL have stories. And whatever way it is that we choose to tell them, we all need a way of capturing them first. So that's where Stories in Hand comes in.

In our week-long, instructor-led class, we will learn:

• Techniques for capturing memories from our own lives and from others
• Dozens of prompts for stories you might have forgotten
• A cool system for capturing the stories happening in your life right now, AND for listing the stories you have yet to tell
• Technologies you can use to help you gather your stories together with photos, video, your blog, or any other media you have that gives a peek into your life

And we will make a REALLY CUTE project! (You’ll find out the supply list when you register). You are not required to have Photoshop to complete the project.

Oh, and it's free - you can't beat that!! ;)
So although November will be quite busy for me I'm not gonna let this chance go from me - I probably won't get much done but I'll still learn....and pick up a trick or two...I hope!! :)

Thank you Jessica!!!

YAY!!!! Pencil-Lines #107 featured one of my scrapping heroes ever since well, I got to know her as one of my fellow Bad Girl team-mates. She's incredible with paper (and ribbons!!) and makes such beautiful layouts, and I love love love her layered style..so happy she's guesting PL this week!!!! Please do drop by the PL blog to check her out - the ever-so-talented Cari Fennell!! The sketch itself was created by our own Anna :)

As for my own layout..I decided I wanted to use the old "daddy" line from Fancy Pants because I initially found it so hard to use.....(I'm all about challenges..or self-inflicted pain, whatever :p)...and I paired it up with another (to me) difficult line, Sweet Spring. Although I wasn't too happy about it when I created it I think it has kinda grown on me by now. Besides, Adrian's just so cute and handsome here right?? =) Next to the kindergarten there's some hazelnut-trees/bushes and he loves to pick some when he drops by - either when he's with me picking up Amalie or when he's visiting his friend who lives next to the kindergarten. Not sure what it is with kids and the fascination for stuff they pick up from like, all around, but it's kinda cute (and well, I do recall being like that once too :p). (Does anyone know if you can actually eat these too by the way?? I mean, they do look like the normal hazel-nuts you get in the store...but I don't dare trying....but uh, it should be the same kind of hazelnut no?)

Anyways..sharing a short story about Amalie that happened on friday..in Norwegian...because it's kinda hard to translate and because I know my fam would love to be able to read this wo goin thru some kind of autowebtranslationthingie. :p

Have a lovely week & thank you so much for all your nice & sweet comments!! :)

På fredag;
*oppspilt Amalie har tydeligvis noe spennende å fortelle*:

"Ba-hagen, idag, lalle poko!"
"koko?"
"bahagen, lale pohko!"
"Eh...sang dere koko i barnehagen?"
"neiii! Ba Ha Gen, Poh Ko!" (hun har en tendens til å legge trykk på Ba, Ha, Gen med pause mellom stavelsene og bekreftende nikkelser til de sånn ellers og)
"....??.... ko-ko?"

*Amalie faller ned på gulvet og griner og mumler og vræler enda verre*

"..."

*Simen ringer til barnehagen for å spørre hva de gjorde på der*

"Ååååhh lagde dere POPKORN i barnehagen idag!!"

Sukk. Amalie er tre og et halvt og prater en god del (fortsatt ikke helt rent men...) - men når hun blir oppspilt og ivrig etter å dele noe så er det ikke alltid like lett å få med seg sammenhengen eller skjønne noe - og jo lengre tid det tar for oss å prøve å differensiere hva hun sier, jo mer fortvilet blir hun og jo mer mumling og enstavelsesord ispedd tårer og gørr blir det og ja - det hele blir bare enda verre og verre og hun blir fort helt umulig å skjønne i det hele tatt. Og til vår forsvar- både Amalie og Adrian er glad i å rope/synge "ko-ko!" (som i det gjøken sier :p) nå og da, så vi trodde nesten det var noe med det liksom.

Etter denne episoden satt hun i stua og knep igjen øynene demonstrativt og skikkelig fornærmet med dirrende lepper hver gang noen av oss nærmet oss henne...duh (men da jeg kom på å dokumentere dette og dukket opp med kamera for å prøve å knipse en fornærmet Amalie begynte hun bare å smile og le igjen - grr! Får illustrere denne lille historien på en annen måte gitt, eller prøve huske dette neste gang hun er fornærmet :p).

Ha en finfin uke alle sammen og tusen takk for alle koselige kommentarer dere legger igjen :) :)