Feathering My New Empty Nest

Did I think I'd be sat here at the age of 60 seeking solace and comfort and reassurance by working my way through a maths exam paper ? No , I didn't. But here I am doing just that. It's an odd occupation. Solitary and yet permanently in the presence of a stream of students of mixed ability . They keep me on my toes. I have to be one step ahead, anticipate their errors and ready to find a resourceful means of pointing them in the right direction without actually giving them the answer. It keeps me sharp, it keeps me keen but boy does it exhaust me. When I mention that I teach maths , people's eyes glaze over. The I feel them I also teach English they are dumbstruck. Polar opposites ? Maybe - academically but both of these disciplines involve a relentless search for answers and clever devices of interpretation so maybe they're not so very different after all. The poetry keeps me sane, the maths eases my racing mind and the writing excites my imagination. Not suc...

When Pinkfresh Studio burst onto the scrapbooking scene around 5 years ago I was smitten by their designs and contemporary take on the scrapping scene. Their colours were fresh, their designs were fresh ... well , they were called Pinkfresh after all ! Then they started producing stamps - oh my ! Not only that but they then produced a line of stamps by Lizzie MacKay - one of my favourite British designers. I was in seventh heaven. So, when I saw they were throwing down the gauntlet and challenging paper crafters to produce a project to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day this year, I couldn't resist. We were asked to draw inspiration from a selection of favourite layouts chosen from the Pinkfresh Studio design team. I was inspired by Zsoka Marko's use of frames as I've always loved these as a device to cluster some photos together. Here's my finished layout and I'm tickled pink (fresh ! ) at how it turned out. I decided to create my own patterned bo...