Cartonnage

Be still my heart.

Although the French word 'cartonnage' technically means cardboard, I seem to have stumbled upon a great word for things constructed out of cardboard, like boxes. Except the English word 'cardboard box' doesn't really cover it. It sounds so disposable.

These are actual items constructed out of cardboard. They are sturdy objects like drawers and even some furniture. I'd like to try some of these techniques, it opens a whole world of new options for scrapbooking and bookbinding.

Many of the items pinned below are not styled to my taste, but you can see the possibilities. A tiny bookcase for a set of mini-albums? A box to contain a travel journal with a drawer for all the extra memorabilia? Fantastic.




Check out this Pinterest board too.

Learning French

Bonjour!

J'ai commencé à apprendre Français encore. C'est le deuxième fois. J'avais appris à l'école mais avec pas beaucoup succés.

[ Hello there! ]

[ I've started learning French again. It's the second time. I did learn at school but with not a lot of success. ]

That's not true. I learned quite a lot, and my reading comprehension is still quite good. I was just a bit lazy and didn't take it very seriously. Now I am enjoying learning irregular verbs. Maybe I would have enjoyed it at school if there had been an app for it like I have now. I'm currently using Brainscape which is a flash card based system for learning all sorts of things.

Or if there had been YouTube videos like these:

Comme une Francais TV - Geraldine is great, she inspired me to start speaking French more
Her show is aimed at people who live in France and want to fit in. So its not for beginners but I find it fascinating! She also has a website - commeunefrancaise.com

Damon and Jo - these guys are funny. They have a LOT of personality. They make travel videos and sometimes French videos as Damon teaches French.

Caillou! - Geraldine, Damon and Jo, and everyone else suggests finding TV programmes in French similar to those you like in English (or your native language). I find these extremely difficult to follow and a lot of the French is slang-y. Not useful when you are still learning. So I started watching Caillou. Yes its aimed at 5 years olds, but it's very sweet and I understand a lot of it. Plus they use real words so the kids can learn.


Tu parle le Français? Or do you speak another language?