one of the few part of the tourist strip aka La Rambla that we like in the artist end, closest to the harbour when the artist and craft stalls are and where the Living Statues set up to entertain and scare the unwitting.
The costumes and attention to details are just stunning.
ps Lily is wearing my Klingon tshirt (i had a long sleeve underneath) as the sun was going down and it gets a bit chilly in February in the shade.
firstly that I have a ton of half finished scrapbook projects that hopefully i will find the creative will power to finish. I ended up being so burnt out when I left the scrapbook industry that i just got out of the habit of scrapbooking everyday. I have been trying techquques and doing some rpesents so hoping that i can work my way back into that side of things.
after that, here is a general and basic list of whats been happening... food, my girls, cookies, cosplay, ice hockey, steampunk, parades, interesting finds, street art and a million other things...
I have been scared and neglectful of this blog to be honest. To get started again with regular posts, when I haven't scrapbooked in months and months, made me feel very wary of what value I could share with anyone or even if people cared to know about what I have been doing. So I was not really sure what to do with this blog, where it was going and where I was going creatively.
but several recent conversations with people made me realise this is my space and I am not "just" a scrapbooker and that some people would love to see what is going on regardless. so I am back to try again, to see if i can pick this up and figure it all out again but I am making no promises and I have no expectations as that only leads to a mental health breakdown.
for those wanting more regular connection, I am on facebook and these are where else you can find me... honestly the same stuff is on most of them so take your pick...
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/kihaku-anam
http://instagram.com/kihaku1974
so I will be using this space for things that are not just a single photo or a line of though but for projects and journeys that i have taken in the creative world.
and on that note, i will leave you with this recent photo...
I made all the costumes that we are wearing :) very proud of that fact.
so hoping you are all still out there like a seti listener...thanks.
to let you know that I am having a scrapbooking celebration over at The Paper Passion for my birthday week... the girls there were very sweet to me so so and check it out :)
sneakies...
Today has been a year since the last time I have contact with this awesome person - we were going to be within a few miles of each other for once but our schedules just didn't make it happen. We talked by email and promised to meet up properly once the kids were back in school.
I never got that chance as Kimmy died from sudden late stage Cancer in September. It is hard to think that I knew her for so long - nearly 8 years and now I wont get to hear her laughter or read her pointed comments or see her new projects be it layouts or knitting. We've had some blazing rows and some amazing laughs but mostly we shared common interests and life experiences.
It might have been that hers was the 3rd death in our extended group within a year or the fact it was so sudden nut hHer death hit me harder than I expected as we weren't super close as personal friends but I counted her in my close friends and she was always there when i need advice or a swift kick.
Her funeral was serene and poignant. We got a good giggle out of the fact she was cremated in a woolen coffin - I think she would have found that awesome.
It made me think of the what-ifs and also of the whys, the wasted energies and wasted time in trying to keep reaching out to people and family who are determined to live a negative or destructive life. Life is too precious to waste it like that.
Her legacy will be there in the people she inspired and I will always be grateful to have known Kim.
We went to the Barcelona zoo yesterday as Ian is on vacation and it's Lily's birthday wish - and all added together meant we bought ourselves a year membership so we can go again and again and again :)
It turns out that the zoo here is a good one, awesome enclosures, well run and quite fantastic - it was the home for the amazing white gorilla 'Floquet" aka Snowflake.
We had a good day but it was hot and we didnt see everything even after 5 hours so return trips are already planned.
and Lily being an Orangutan.. they were awesome
sharing some more of my mail art envelopes that found homes last week...
We put our Catalan to the test yesterday by going to see Totoro on the big screen last night. The CaixaForum have a few Studio ghibli movies on show as part of their Japonism exhibition so it costs us a whole $2 each :)
We know Totoro word for word so this was a two fold event: 1 - see it on the big screen and 2 - see how our catalan is coming along.
It was an awesome lecture hall set up and it was good to see so many family with young kids aswell as couples and judging by people's reactions to the movie, a lot of people seeing it for the first time! which surprised me as the film is nearly 25 years old but it was nice to hear the kids all giggle at the antics on screen.
The movie was up by the fountains so it was nice to walk through given its on the direct metro from our house.
so a good night was had for the start of our holidays - everything shuts down really for august here as its very humid and hot (28c at midnight!) so we're going to be finding lots of cool things in barcelona - more of the hidden and odd bits so expect photos.
I have always had a big love for sketches - and after 5 years of providing sketches for Manufacturer's such as Prima and My Mind's Eye, Magazine and the App aswell as a few challenge blogs along the way, I took a break from everything - especially sketches.
But now I am back scrapbooking again, I've had a bunch of requests for more sketches so i thought I'd try them as a weekly addition to my blog - no design teams or anything - just my sketch, and my layout and hopefully that will work for everyone.
You can see the other sketches in this adventure, and keep an eye on these sketches by adding http://anamstubbington.typepad.com/a_little_of_my_life/saturday-sketches/ to your blog feed, although my 5Ws course also has sketches every week aswell.
I will try to always have two finished layouts for each sketch - one is more 'trendy' than the more 'traditional' style one so hopefully that will inspire more people.
This Sketch is for a landscape Photograph and a cluster of smaller embellishments on some tags with some ribbon or paper tabs.
Layout 1: "Grandad Cuddles"
I used Papers from American Crafts "My girl" release and some prima flowers and basic grey wood veneer which I got from The Paper Passion. I punched the edges for a little extra and converted the back piece into a frame to try and keep it light and airy.
The Photo is of Fay and her Grandad hanging our in our garden in Barcelona this summer.
Layout 2: "#BCN Girl"
I used papers and wood shapes from the awesome Polish Manufacturer Sodalicious which I embossed some of them to give them more texture using plates from The Paper Passion and added a tim holtz clock die cut along with some sequins.
The Photo is Fay outside Barcelona Cathedral looking very chic and trendy. BCN is the airport and short code for Barcelona. Somehow we managed to have kids that are pretty photogenic.
enjoy,
Anam
and for those of you who have found my blog but have english as a 2nd or 3rd language, I recommend using http://translate.google.com/ to convert the blog to your language as that has the option of adding to you blog feed in a language that suits your better.
