Sarah Haslam

And we're off!

2012-01-05T11:09:00.002Z

Happy New Year!
For once, I appear to be almost on time! It always amazes me just how long it takes me to put a page together sometimes, but sometimes the ideas keep me awake at night, and other times I have to drag them kicking and screaming from somewhere deep inside!I started this one on new year's eve and finally finished it last night. I have been trying to get away from using pink and orange for a bit, because I LOVE them, and therefore tend to use them a lot, but I decided that since I was on holiday, I would indulge myself and have a bright and cheery start to the new year and my new journal! The stamp (Stampotique's Dance Party Break Up) has been sitting in my collection for a while, but she hasn't been afforded the honour of a journal page yet, so it seemed a good opportunity to use her. She looked so perky and positive, I thought that the caption 'best foot forward' summed up how I feel at this time of year. In January, the new year seems so pregnant with possibilities, I always feel as though I am starting with a clean slate. I don't do resolutions as such, more I set myself challenges, so I don't have that feeling of abstinence or denial, more the anticipation of new adventures. Funnily enough, as I was sticking the many feet down the side of the page, I was listening to the radio, and the presenter actually said 'best foot forward into the new year' - how weird is that! As you can see, Hobbes, our cat, was taking a keen interest in proceedings! Here is the finished page (minus cat)

>Stampotique 6136 'Dance Party Break Up'
Collaged images 'odd bods' by Collage Anonymous, Lisa's Altered Art

Happy Christmas everyone and a wish for the new year!

2011-12-28T21:11:00.003Z

It has been way too long since I blogged, but then it has been pretty long since I did any art. As anyone with a job and a family knows; this is is a manic time of year, what with nativity rehearsals, last minute paperwork to get finished before the end of the year and then all the cooking,shopping, wrapping etc. Still, it is pretty much all over now, and I have managed to spend most of this afternoon at my desk, arty-farting about.

This is my page for the Stampotique designers challenge, which is to use Stampotique stamps to describe our dreams and hopes for the year ahead. This is Twinkie, who is trying really hard to juggle all the commitments I have. The background is painted in Dylusions lime and lagoon, and Twinkie is standing on Tim Holtz tissue tape. I printed the captions and numbers on the computer and coloured them with pan pastels.

Right, I'm off to finish my December calendar page before I end up starting next year already behind schedule!

November ready!

2011-11-17T21:30:00.003Z

One of these days, I will get my calendar page in on time. Although I am working less, I don't seem to get any more done - how is that?
This is an homage to the fabulous Dina Wakley - on one of her courses, we did intuitive drawing and painting, and whilst I can't pretend that I particularly liked the piece I did on the day, there is something very therapeutic about painting random areas in bright colours. As a child I used to do this kind of thing with felt tips, and now I'm 38, but it still gives me pleasure...
You might notice that there is a slight technical hitch at the bottom of the page. My poor, long-suffering, moleskine has finally given up the ghost, and split down the middle. I have just enough space to get December in, and then it's on to the new, pink leather bound baby!

Poison

2011-11-01T22:15:00.004Z

I decided to do something a bit different this week, as it is so long since I did anything non-journal-y. As you will no doubt have observed already, I have something of a passion for Stampotique stamps, so the challenge on their design blog every couple of weeks is something I have been meaning to get to for a while... The challenge at the moment is to design a poison bottle, using Stampotique stamps only. I happened to be cleaning out my spice drawer and found an almost empty test tube container that is used to store vanilla pods in. Seemed like a good place to start. After a few mishaps (i.e. the cork getting wedged in the tube just after I had filled it with green spray ink, and the fact that as a test tube, it doesn't stand up - doh!)here is my finished creation:

Goglin just seemed the obvious choice for guarding the potion, and with his little hands poised - I kept thinking 'my precious' all the time I was painting him! I added some beads and buttons to the rusted wire, the pointing finger button is a handmade porcelain button, made by yours truly...

I used upholstery tacks to attach a tag (and to stop the cork sliding inside the tube again, hmm hmm)and used a torn piece of old book page to break up the darkness of the green 'potion' inside.
Hope you all had a happy halloween everyone!

October almost over!

2011-10-25T22:21:00.005+01:00

Yummm! Stroke my new, pink, recycled leather journal! I bought this to replace my A4 moleskine, which has all but disintegrated after two years of paint, ink and general abuse. I'm going to try and squeeze the last few months of the year into the old faithful, and then start the new year with a pristine new journal.
I'm not sure how it happens, but I always seem to be playing catch up these days. My only excuse this month is that my desk has been inaccessible as we have been shunting furniture around as we continue our decorating 'journey'. Boy, am I sick of it! But, we (that'll be the royal 'we' then)have finished all the rooms on the top two floors, and 'only' have the downstairs and the hall, stairs and landing left to do. Yippee! Bleuurgh!
Apart from all of that, it has been busy busy busy... I have been teaching at artisOn (great fun, and such lovely students - and such GREAT food!!). I have been on an upholstery course (also at artisOn)and have upholstered two chairs for our newly decorated bedroom. Here's a before and after:

I spent a fabulous weekend at Art from the Heart on a three day course with the beautiful, talented and generous Dina Wakley, which also involved the fabulous Jude and her husband and eldest daughter coming to stay.
So all of this is a build up to an excuse for taking so long to getting my October journal page posted! But, here at last, it is:
The stamps are Stampotique for the figures, and Paperbag Studios for the houses. My 10 year daughter came and took a look at the page just before I blogged it and suggested it needed sweets falling from the sky. I looked at her, looked at the page and decided that she was right, but I decided to make the dodgy character in the corner guardian of the sweets. I think this probably says something about our attitude to Halloween in our house. The kids, of course, love it. My husband and I are somewhat less enthusiastic. For him, it is a kind of begging, for me it goes against everything we ever teach our children about not accepting sweets from strangers! I guess we get the humbug award...

Granny's wisdom

2011-09-15T21:51:00.001+01:00

This page is for Roc's monthly journal prompt, which is for 'what quote moves you in your everyday life?' This phrase is a favourite of my husband's Grandmother, who was married to a man whose favourite quote was 'better late in this life than early in the next'. I often aspire to the second quote, as I am frequently in danger of meeting myself coming back the other way, but as a mantra for life, I think that being lucky has so many benefits. I have a couple of truly wealthy friends, but I don't think that they are really, truly, happy. Don't get me wrong, we aren't on the bread-line, but we are far from rich, financially. We do, however, live in the most beautiful place, have our health, wonderful friends, a large extended family and kids of whom we can be proud. I think that's pretty lucky.

The page is created with Dylusions ink sprays, using a technique I picked up from Kate at the Art from the Heart birthday party last weekend. The images are from downloads I have been hoarding for a while, and I embellished the rich lady with a pearl necklace and a crystal bead as a diamond ring. She is sitting on a torn piece of lottery ticket, because let's face it, winning the lottery is a secret fantasy that many of us have!

A big week!

2011-09-08T23:12:00.002+01:00

This week is a big week in our house for one person at least. My ten year old has to take her 11+ tomorrow and then again on Tuesday of next week. For those of you who aren't familiar with such concepts, this is a kind of entrance exam for the Grammar (High)school where she hopes to go next year. It's the most serious thing that has probably ever happened in her life, and at ten, it seems like quite a big ask when it is something that will influence her education for the rest of her life. She is very chilled about it, which surprises me, as I used to have to fight her tooth and nail to get her into school for a spelling test!I, on the other hand, am feeling quite nervous for her, but trying very hard not to show it!
The background paper for this page is a sheet of japanese newspaper that came as packing in a parcel of my husbands. It's a long story, but he is reliving his childhood with Airfix-type model kits of cars, and they keep appearing with the postman from various far flung corners of the world. As a committed scavenger, I saved the paper..
The stamps are a mixture of Paperbag Studios and Tim Holtz (for the stars), and the head and feet of the figure are from Lisa's Altered art, and the body is from an advertisement in one of the British daily broadsheets. I was covering a table at work with newspaper and thought, hmm, that picture of all those marbles could look good on a journal page...I'm sure my colleagues think I am slightly barking as I am often swiping things out from under the children's noses for my own creations!
As you can see,the page is dated the 17th August, as it is one of the backgrounds I did whilst on holiday. Don't know about you, but I just love the combination of colours, courtesy of Dylusions and jo sonja's.

September ready!

2011-09-03T21:58:00.003+01:00

So here is the page I showed you previously, but all ready to go now! Since we came back from holiday, all I have been able to do is paint walls and learn how to wallpaper, but haven't done much on the creative side. The kids go back to school on Monday, so there's every chance I'll get to play in peace and quiet.

Lazy days

2011-08-26T22:30:00.004+01:00

We have just come back from holiday, I mean literally just come back. The washing machine is going round, the cat is meowing like crazy having been left to his own devices for 12 days (apart one of the local kids coming in to feed him), and we have been to our local half pub/half indian restaurant for something to eat, because the fridge is empty and I couldn't be bothered to cook. We have had a great time walking, cycling and generally kicking back in the Lake district. I spent a lot of time journaling, and the picture above is one of the views I had to admire whilst I was sloshing paint about. I have a few bits and pieces to show you, and wonder of all wonders, I have actually got my September journal page ready in advance! Well, I haven't stuck the squares on yet, but the page is to all intents and purposes ready. I bought these Stampotique stamps ages and ages ago, but just haven't got around to using them, so I took them away with me with the express intention of inking them up.

Whilst I was away, it was my birthday, and I had a lot of luvverly presents, including lots of journaling books:

And this, beautiful journal of rag paper from my friend, you know the one I made the journal in my previous post for? It seems great minds think alike! I have already done one page:

Yes, I know, it is very much the same as my September page, but when I had finished the September page, my husband said, 'I can't believe you are going to stick squares all over that, it's a shame to cover it up'. I had to agree, and so I decided to do it again. Actually it was an interesting experiment, as the different kinds of paper made for a very different result.
A long time ago, at a workshop with Kate Crane, I did an atc in hot pink, lime green and orange, which I look at everytime I use our downstairs loo. It bugs me a bit as I really like the colour combinations, but I was in a bit of a rush, and I didn't blend the colours very well. I decided to have another go, well two actually, one where again, it didn't work brilliantly, and one where it did. This is the not so good one:

The one I really like isn't quite finished yet, so I'll show you that next time. I need to keep a few things back, as I will back on with the decorating from tomorrow, and who knows when the journaling will fit in around that...

Holiday fun

2011-08-12T21:43:00.004+01:00

So the holidays are upon us, and I promised my children I would take tham camping for a few days. The campsite is a looong story, but suffice to say whilst the views were fabulous, the facilities were a little...filthy? As we were not keen to use the showers, this waterfall and natural pool were a much more attractive option.
This view made the campsite worth the trip.

And who doesn't take Twister on a camping trip with them? Really, I must supervise my children's packing better...

Since we came back I have been pressing on with the wall and woodwork painting, but I found a few minutes one evening to do this page in my A5 moleskine journal.

Then, do you remember that I posted a while ago that I had been on a bookbinding course? Well, of course, part of the fun of doing a course in a new technique, is the shopping for new supplies afterwards! Whilst I had stocked up in various bookbinding goodies, I haven't had the chance to do anything with them. However, some people in your life are so special that you really want to give them something that you have put a bit of yourself in. So, I made this book for my friend, who as well as being like-minded, is an incredibly generous, supportive, shoulder-proffering, star. (And if she is reading this, she's probably reaching for the tissues now!)
This is the finished product, complete with 7gypsies bookband and 'little feet' stamp from Paperbag studios.

Here you can see that I made the register from 4 sections of handstitched watercolour paper:

I made a little bookplate to put inside with a message:

The book is about half way between A4 and A5, and 3/4" thick. I hope it holds together long enough to get a year's worth of journalling in it!

Ta -da!

2011-08-05T21:48:00.000+01:00

In my last post, I said that my new studio was habitable, but not yet showable. Well, now I think I can share a bit of it with you. This is the very old bookcase, which came from husband's grandparents, which I have loved since the first time I saw it seventeen years ago!

Here is my desk, with my favourite pebbles on the windowsill and Charlotte the penguin, and lots of natural light. Believe it or not, if it weren't for the roof of the house opposite, Kate Crane and I could almost wave to each other!

As you will all know, we need somewhere to store all the 'paraphenalia' so I have this bookcase, which has plenty of space for baskets of paint, babywipes, etc, my collection of old books and the journals I am currently working on

and the books which I call on for inspiration..

But my favourite thing is this:

My husband was kitting out a his new office and whilst at the office furniture showroom, saw this and thought of me. Not only can you move the shelves depending on what you want to store, but at the bottom, there is a pull out table. Oo, but I was a happy girl the day he brought this home!
And this is the first creation from my new room. This year, having spent all our money on the building project, we will be spending our summer holiday in the UK, so we will be subject to the vagaries of the British summer - which, at best, could be descibed as unpredictable!

The background is a very patriotic red white and blue, and the figure is a Stampotique stamp.

Woo-hoo!

2011-07-04T10:05:00.000+01:00

It has been a busy time in the Haslam house recently, so a weekend away with very little on the agenda, other than relaxing and spending time with the kids has been something of a treat - not least because I actually got my June journal page finished! Well, I say finished, I haven't finished colouring it in in yet, but nearly there...
This month time seemed to be either flying or dragging - depending on the situation. My little sister was awaiting the arrival of her first baby, so for her, the time was dragging. For us, the end of the school year is approaching, ever faster, and it always focuses the mind on how much you have yet to achieve before time runs out.
Suddenly, the building project that we have been living through since last November is almost nearing an end, so I have had a mad dash on to get sanding and painting complete before the flooring people wanted to get the floor laid and carpets down. We are still a way off completing, but the children have moved into their new rooms and they love them! (So do I!)
So, my June journal page was pink and blue (with a bit of yellow in between) as we didn't know what 'flavour' the baby was going to be, and I have used old timetables as a base layer, clock stencils over the paint layers, and cut up a watch advert to make the body of the creature juggling time(the face is from Crowabout). I typed up several different phrases about time to complete the page.
Something of an indulgence was the fact that the first habitable room was my workroom! It isn't quite 'showable' yet, but I have a space to create in for the first time in 6 months! I'm hoping that I can squeeze some journal painting in between the wall/woodwork painting on a more regular basis now!

Playing catch up again

2011-05-27T22:22:00.000+01:00

I always look forward to seeing everyone's new blog posts, so I feel that I have been a bit lax recently. I think that five weeks is a bit of a no blogging record for me, but I promise that I am still here! Things at home are not really conducive to creating anything but mess, and the only painting that I have done is acres and acres of new plaster with a bucket of emulsion! I have been 'camping', creatively, in the dining room for the past five months, and I have to say, it is not really the best environment, wedged in between large pieces of furniture, my husband's two best bikes, my horse tack, and various other non-arty bits and pieces. But, the end is in sight. Today I went to buy the flooring for my new 'studio', which measures 2.6m x 5.2m. How lucky am I! However, in the absence of space to create at home, I have taken advantage of opportunities to learn some new skills elsewhere.

In my last blog post, I mentioned about my glass fusion course that I did with my friend Nicky. I can't explain the alchemist kind of thrill that you get from putting sharp edged pieces of glass with mysterious looking powders sprinkled on them, and then how amazing the creations look when they emerge, still warm from the kiln. We spent the first day learning how to cut glass and mastering differing techniques, and then we went away overnight to come up with our designs for our final piece.
Here is my final piece before the kiln:
And here it is after:

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I went on a bookbinding course at artison in Masham. Run by Victoria Lucas, who has created some beautiful collections of images in hand bound books, we learned how to make Japanese Stab bound boooks, a concertina book and then a traditional hardbound book. I can't tell you how exciting it was, not only making the books, but thinking of the possibilities for creating my own journals. Needless to say, I was online as soon as I got home, buying supplies to make more books! Here are the three books I made on the day:
As far as normal journaling goes, I have almost finished my May page for the calendar journal challenge, which is good, seeing as May is almost over... It's half term here now, so hopefully, in between the painting and sanding, I might get some journaling done!

Catching up again!

2011-04-18T22:44:00.000+01:00

I have to admit I have struggled to find inspiration for my calendar page this month, but a visit to my Mum's garden gave me the push I needed to get something on paper. Her garden is a riot of daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinths, and the combination of colours is so cheerful, I thought I should try and capture it. My attempts to draw and paint the hyacinths however, were pretty rubbish, so they didn't make it onto the page! She and her neighbour have an ongoing joke where they hide a garden gnome around the outside of their houses to make each other laugh, so the little Stampotique character had to sneak in too!

Things here are as hectic as usual - the building work continues with the constant demand for tea,coffee and decision-making - I always thought of myself as a pretty decisive persion, but I am becoming seriously decisioned-out! Hopefully it won't be too much longer until the builders are done, and I will share my new studio with you when it is ready!

Mary-mare has settled in well and is now well and truly part of the family. I still have to pinch myself from time to time to believe that something so beautiful is mine! We have had some great fun together, and I have realised a long held ambition to jump the hunt jumps in the woods near us, much to both of our excitement!

My first art teaching experience went well, in fact so much so, that a second date has been discussed. They were a lovely bunch of people and I have heard from several of them who are now committed journalers!

I have just come back from a weekend away with my friend Nicky. We attended a two day course on glass fusion with a lovely and very talented lady called Genevieve Thompson of Wicked Gen Crafts is her blog, but she also has a website here. It was very exciting and there is more excitement yet to come, as my final pieces have yet to be fired and so I won't find out how they have turned out until next week. I'll tell you more about it next time, with pictures too!

The cat that got the cream

2011-03-22T21:54:00.000Z

Although I have about a million things I should be doing at the moment, such as finishing my teaching models for my art journaling course at Artison on Friday, I spent last Saturday afternoon at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza in Harrogate, so that means new rubber! Purely in the interest of research, I have obviously had to have a bit of a play! This is one of three stamps I bought at Art from the Heart from Octopode. After some really tricky times last year, this year is definitely going our way, and I do feel like a really rather naughty cat with a really large pot of cream, especially since so many people around the world are having such a horrible time at the moment. A member of our family lives in Lyttleton NZ, and has all shades of carnage surrounding her, and a really good friend of mine in Japan has survived an earthquake and a tsunami, but now faces radiation from the Fukushima leak. It's hard not to feel a bit guilty, but equally, I think some of the events recently just reinforce that you have to live life to the full and seize the moment. And, on a lighter note, who could be downhearted in this beautiful weather!

Catching up at last..

2011-03-16T18:36:00.001Z

Phew! I am, at last starting to catch up with things. Had an enjoyable couple of hours putting this together yesterday, in between doing the Brownie run and cooking and washing - does the pile ever go away? The stamps are from Claudine Hellmuth, and although I have had them for a couple of months, this is the first time they have been out of the packet. I decided to go with fresh, springlike colours, as the weather here has been be-au-ti-ful, until yesterday, when the fog descended and since then we haven't seen the sky, just grey, grey, grey. I figure if this weather continues, at least looking at this page everyday will cheer me up!
I'm always intrigued with some of the things that people blog, especially the what's on your workspace type thing, as I am always pretty ashamed with the state of my desk when I am in the groove, and certainly wouldn't willingly share unless I had had a bit of a tidy up first! However, yesterday our cat decided that my painting water was more appealing than his bowl of water (probably full of brick dust and cement, like everything else in this house at the moment!), and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Long time no hear!

2011-03-11T22:10:00.000Z

I know I said that I might be offline for a bit, but I hadn't anticipated it being quite so long! Lady Mary has settled in well, but in a busy life, a new demand on my time takes a little adjustment. Anyway, I now have her settled in at home and we have been having a fantastic time enjoying the spring sunshine and watching the little lambs over the hedges.
Mr H and I have also been skiing (our annual week of married time, no kids!)where we had a great time, did LOTS of skiing and even got a suntan. In the meantime, the building work at home continues apace, which is exciting, but not always in the right way...This week we have had high winds and driving rain at times, which compared to things happening elsewhere in the world, isn't worth mentioning, but at the moment we have no roof on half of the house, which makes for refreshing temperatures, intermittent electrical supplies and some interesting night time noises! It will all be worth it in the end, but the inside if the house is in turmoil to say the least. Each time I try to create anything, I have to search through boxes of stuff in at least three rooms to find what I am looking for.
As I was so behind with the 365 challenge, I decided to have a make a kind of summary page of February. it's not exactly true to the spirit of the challenge, but I hope that the other participants won't mind.. March is in progress, and I am keeping a note of the events of each day ready to put into my squares once the page is finished. To those regular visitors who have been asking when I was going to start posting again, thanks for waiting!

New addition to the family!

2011-01-27T20:46:00.000Z

Big news of a new arrival later, but the journal page above is something I did a few weeks ago, but it turned out to be strangely prophetic. The quotation is from Dyans Downloads and the image is, I think from Crowabout (I often spend my evenings watching tv with a pile of download sheets and a pair of scissors, so that I just have to delve in my box of images when the creative mood strikes which makes it easy to create, but not necessarily easy to attribute the images to their source). The quotation refers to a kind of pleasure/pain process I have been through this past few weeks. All my life I have wanted my own horse, because although I have ridden almost my whole life, and never been short of horses to exercise, it's a bit like borrowing someone else's car - convenient and cheap but ultimately not what you really want! Anyway, I have been looking off and on for the past two years, but I never found anything I liked enough to make myself cash and time poor for the forseeable future! Until now. Meet Mary:

Now, whilst Mary is not only beautiful by nature and looks, her owner was a nightmare to deal with! So, whilst the overall outcome was positive, I feel a bit about horse-buying the way some people feel about house-buying.

And this is how a horse looks when it is let out for the first time in at least a month:

Tomorrow we are off to get fitted for some tack, and on Saturday we shall be venturing out on our first ride together! There might be a bit of lull in the creative flow whilst we both get used to each other and get fit!

happy days

2011-01-08T00:03:00.000Z

This is one of the pages I started last week when we were away. I love orange on the page - it is so vibrant and happy. It's a colour I would never wear, but I can't get enough of it when I am sitting at my desk, it's just one of the paints I reach for first - that and pink.

This is a page I did yesterday. My Mum wants to start journaling too, so we spent yesterday splashing paint about, drinking tea and chatting. Not only was it fun, but while I was out today, she delivered a giant Toblerone as a thank you - not great for the post Christmas, pre-skiing abstinence, but who can resist Toblerone!

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes - I feel like a big fraud, I've only had the flu bug that everyone else has had, but cheers guys, nice to know you care!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T20:52:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! We just got back from five days in the rural idyll that is the cottage in the Lake District. Fully restored to health, I not only managed to reach my feet (no mean feat given the amount of eating and drinking I have done since I gave up running in favour of being ill) for long enough to tie my laces and do two little runs, but I also managed to do four (yes FOUR) journal pages! So here for starters is my January page for Kate's calendar challenge. I always find the letters for the month a bit challenging to come up with, so this time I borrowed Kate's idea as seen in last months Craft Stamper Magazine. The past few years, the weather here has been very cold and snowy in January, so I decided to make my page cool in colour and with a background of snowflakes. The bird images are from Dyans Downloads and they are singing the song that we traditionally make a total hash of on New Year's Eve in the UK.

This is another page in my tiny journal. The background is painted with Dylusions paints and then oversprayed with Dylusions spray inks. The image is from Divas D'este and the caption from Dyan's Downloads again. A conversation this weekend about New Year's resolutions made me think about how we are always looking at our negative points rather than emphasising the positive, so this is to act as a little reminder about self-confidence.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and look forward to a creative time ahead!

A cautionary tale..

2010-12-29T17:29:00.000Z

A belated happy Christmas to everyone. As ever good intentions went out of the window in the pre-Christmas silly season, so all hope I had of blogging, doing Dyan's tag challenge etc, got left by the wayside in a maelstrom of nativity, illness, cooking,illness, family commitments, illness and building work. But I have survived it all, even the illness (almost) and once my body recovers from the inevitable abuse of Christmas and New Year, I'm sure all will be back on track. As my husband disappeared to do some shopping with the children about 12 hours ago and my house guest has absented himself for some local visiting, I find myself alone with nothing special to do. I say nothing - the house could use a hoover, the washing needs doing and I could start packing for our weekend away, but what the heck, it'll wait. So I did this. This is a little journal, a double page measuring about 7" x 5 1/2". I have this notion of having it in my handbag with a few scant supplies so that I can journal on the go, but who am I kidding? I can't go anywhere without a huge bag of paints, pictures, crayons, pastels etc etc. Nice idea though? I think that the quote is rather appropriate for this time of year too, although can't say I have eaten anything truly huge, just lots of little things and some quite big things...

And finally.....

2010-12-08T21:06:00.001Z

It has taken a while but here at last is my December page. This snowy weather is beautiful but goodness, doesn't everything take a long time! Living in this winter wonderland is a long cycle of getting dressed and undressed, drying wet clothes, trekking through either deep snow, or tip-toeing over sheet ice. Add children and animals into the mix and add at least another fifteen minutes!

The background is a mixture of Dylusions and Studioline paints, oversprayed with Dylusions mica sprays in the special edition Christmas colours. The tree is a Sizzix die cut out of Crafty Individuals Christmas paper cut up and glitter glued - after all it is Christmas! The stamp is from Stampotique.

Last Friday I had a first: I went snow shoeing! The trusty Beast (my car) ploughed through snow and over ice to reach the moor a mile or two outside our village. We then snow-shoed through snow which was at times above my knees (and I am 5'11). It was great fun and VERY tiring!

And this is what happens to a dog who has at times had to swim through snow it was so deep!

2010-11-30T22:30:00.000Z

This page has been on my mind for a while, but for ages I couldn't find a picture of an elephant that I liked. I think I will add more journalling to it, but it might be too personal to share, so this is it for now.
Judging by the amount of blogging that has been going on over the past few days ( I came online to blog hours ago, but have had to catch up with everyone's new posts), a lot of people are suffering the effects of the snow and unseasonally cold weather. We had our first snow fall last week, and it has just kept on coming. Perfect timing as we have no loft insulation at the moment, due to a building project - brrr!

Of course some creatures don't mind the snow, as you can see here:

The downside of working within walking distance of work is that you can always get there, and the head of our village school is determined to keep school open, mindful of the trauma that some parents have been going through to get their children to school and then to work. Admirable of course, but my children are NOT happy, as they are desperate to get the sledge out, and by the time we get home, get togged up and are ready to hit the slopes, it's dark. Still, judging by the forecast, we'll still be sledging at the weekend....
I haven't completed my December page for Kate's calender challenge yet, but it is in progress, so pray for a snow day tomorrow and I might get it finished instead of working all day...

Can't sit still!

2010-11-22T14:34:00.000Z

Can't settle to anything - have so many ideas and can't quite decide where to start. More of this later. Anyway, first things first - Sandra was asking what pages I produced at journaling at Dyan's the other day. I haven't blogged them yet a)because I really don't like this page, and b)because I haven't been in the house for long enough to take a photo. Having said that, the days have been so dull that I had to resort to scanning this is as the light was so bad. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like purple on the page. I wear purple a lot, so it's not that I don't like it as a colour, but I never like anything I create in purple. Dyan challenged us to make a page with random sentences put together, and this is my result.

Whilst hunting through her enormous stack of magazines, I found the phrase on this next page that I felt had to be put to good use. Like most people, I don't have the luxury of being able to turn a blind eye to household chores, work and animals, so all my journaling and artistic endeavours are tinged with a little guilt, because I know there is always something that I should be doing instead...

So, onto the cause of my ants in the pants...

Some time ago, my lovely friend Nicky suggested that I should introduce myself to the lovely team of people who run a local artists studio and skills workshop called ArtisOn as a potential tutor for art journaling. I did what i am sure most people do at first - mutter, shuffled my feet, did a lot of 'oh noooo, I couldn't possibly, I'm not a proper artist - I just splodge paint about' sort of stuff. When I mentioned it to other people (like my husband, my Mum, Sandra)and they all had the same response: 'why not?', I started to wonder myself. Anyway, long story short, I went, introduced myself, showed them my work and they booked me! Me! So, that's the first stage, it doesn't mean anyone will actually come right? Well, yesterday was the open day at the studio and I went along to demonstrate for a couple of hours. Four and a bit hours later, I came home with a great big grin on my face. I met some lovely people who clearly thought that journaling was as great an idea as I do, and lots of ideas were shared and paint was splodged and inks blended and generally fun was had by all. Some people booked on straight away and lots of people said that they were going to - so fingers crossed that they do! I couldn't sleep last night for all the ideas going round in my head, and today I have managed to achieve practically nothing. It was great to be a part of such a vibrant, creative atmosphere, I'm only sad that I didn't really get a chance to look at all the other artists stuff - I couldn't get away from my table! Check out the ArtisOnwebsite for some of the exciting things they are doing, or their facebook page. Right, back in the real world, my hands are nearly frozen solid - the builders are busy here and that means no loft insulation, a big hole in the ceiling and now they are forecasting snow for this week...

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas...

2010-11-15T21:11:00.000Z

Christine asked me to do an entry for her round-robin journal when we were at Art Journaling at Art from the Heart on Sunday. Although I said that I wouldn't get around to it for a bit, I sat down to do something else today and this just happened...Procrastination has always been a particular forte of mine, and although this doesn't look like a lesson plan, it was much more fun! I am not feeling remotely Christmassy - in fact I got quite grumpy the other day when all the shops were full of tinsel and Christmas carols - it is only November you know! As if you didn't know, the stamp is Uncle Buck by Stampotique, and the paints are a mixture of Claudine Hellmuth and Dylusions. I have made a smaller version to use as a Christmas card, although I am not sure who I would send it to though! Are you feeling Christmassy yet?

Phew!

2010-11-04T21:12:00.001Z

What a week! My life is a finely balanced thing - one extra element and the whole pile of cards comes tumbling down. I am in a phase of change - trying to do more of the things I want to do and make them pay, so that I don't have to do the things I don't want to do. I make new year's resolutions twice a year - January, with the new calendar year, and September with the new academic year. My academic year resolution was to accept the things I cannot change, and change the things that I don't like. After all, there is no point moaning about things you have the power to change. Anyway, all this means that I have been taking on more, with a view to taking on less if you see what I mean! This week has been mad, compounded by the fact that I was away for a week with the children last week. We went to Cornwall (in the South West of England) for some chill out time, involving some journalling:

This is my eldest, journalling the most hideous journey ever - eleven hours!
This is also the first time my kids have been surfing, and if you look close enough, you might be able to see how well they took to it:

And here we are - the surf dudes!

We also went to visit the Eden project - what an amazing place. The different biodomes each house a different environment, rainforest, mediterraenean and outdoor. The rainforest was amazing - to see bananas, pineapples and peppercorns growing in the Uk - wow! It was made all the better because there was an African children's choir singing, dancing and drumming too - it gave me goosebumps all over.

In between all this excitement, I did manage to squeeze in a little journalling - here is October finished :

And here is November ready to go:

Can't believe that we have nearly completed the year - who's carrying on next year?
And finally, because my Mum has a beautiful new house, and it's her birthday today, and because a certain person let me down on the present front, I had to create her a gift at short notice. Here it is - she said she loved it, I guess I'll know how much by where she hangs it!

Have a safe and fun Guy Fawkes Night!

Better late than never

2010-10-17T21:43:00.001+01:00

This page has been weeks in the making, and a combination of being busy with swaps (another post in the pipeline) and life just generally being busy, has meant that I have only just got around to finishing and posting this. Although I hadn't finished it, I started to fill in the squares so that I didn't fall too far behind. The trick or treaters are Stampotique (of course!), the background is Jo Sonja's acrylic paint and Dylusions spray inks. Like a lot of people, to me October suggests Halloween, although I'm not really into it. My kids are, of course, and they are already way over-excited about dressing up on the 31st. We will be sending two members of Team Jacob out trick or treating (two werewolves for those who haven't read the Twilight books).

How many skeletons are there in your closet?

2010-09-20T14:31:00.000+01:00

I am a lucky girl, I know. Yesterday I went to Art from the Heart for a day of chilling out and journalling, whilst husband took two overtired children trainer shopping (snigger). It's my first time on a journalling day, but I had met many of the journallers before, on the Dina Wakley weekend, so it wasn't too daunting. Dyan challenged us to journal the skeletons in our closet, which we had to write on a piece of paper and place in a disguised pocket. We also got to play with Tim Holtz's new stamps and Dyans new paints and mica sprays - lush! Unfortunately they had sold out of paints, so I shall have to wait until later in the week to bring them home to stroke.... I'm not sure that the photos do justice to the fantastic shimmer that the new sprays with mica have - it's very intense.

This is just a detail shot to show you that I removed the arms and legs of my skeleton so that I could sew them back on again, and that way he would move about. (I had a few happy moments jiggling him up and down, much to Sandra's amusement).

And finally, for those who requested pictures and new car smelly vision, here at least is a picture of my new 'car'( haven't found the smell setting on the camera yet).

I know, it is a tank. After much resistance about fuel consumption, cost of ownership and general 4WD hating, him indoors finally caved and bought me a vehicle that will mean I can tow a trailer and two horses, so that my friend and I can go off and do events without turning up exhausted, having hacked all the way there first. I know, I am a very lucky girl. What can I say, I must have done something to deserve it....

Remember these little fellas?

2010-09-14T21:39:00.000+01:00

Remember these guys? We won them from the slot machines on a family trip to the seaside at the beginning of the summer holidays. I realised the other day that I had never got around to blogging this page, and whilst I am getting back into the routine of having a husband back at work, me and the kids being back at school and all that goes along with that, I thought that this might stop you from thinking I had fallen off the blog planet! I haven't forgotten that you asked for the new car smell and pics of the the new wheels, but I haven't been in for long enough to take a picture yet! I promise I will catch up soon!

Skin of my teeth...

2010-09-02T22:43:00.000+01:00

Phew! Because I am still carless - new wheels are due to arrive any day - Kate did the swimming run. I feel a bit guilty that she worked and then took my son swimming whilst I got to play, having had an afternoon at the hairdressers, but I promise I'll do my bit once the new car arrives!

How lucky am I?

2010-09-01T21:30:00.000+01:00

Right, pour yourself a glass of wine, this could be a long one! First of all, August has been and gone - where did that go? It just goes to show how much I function on routines, because I have been rubbish at keeping up with my journal this month. However, it has been a GOOD month! First of all for all those that know, my husband was made redundant earlier this year, and yesterday he started a new job, which so far, he is loving! (Huge sigh of relief, loving having an empty house...)

Secondly, it was my birthday, and just look at all the lovely presents I got!

My Mum bought me these little beauties:

My in-laws bought me this little stash - oh yeh! Should keep me busy for a bit...

My lovely (now employed!!) husband bought me these - pan pastels. The picture doesn't do the vibrant colours justice, and I can't wait to really get going with them.

And what about this: a card made for my birthday by my friend Anna, who insists that she isn't the least bit arty, but in all the years I have known her, has never just given me an off the shelf card. She is one of the girls that I open water swim with. We have had many fantastic wild swimming experiences, and she has used the faces of the two of us and our friend Karen to make us into Sylvis's sirens. Sylvia is our seventy-something year old swimming teacher, and we love her to bits. Not only has she helped us all become better, fitter swimmers, but she has helped to form a fantastic, supportive band of friends without whom my life would be so much the poorer.

And finally, my sister-in-law turned forty today, and this is the card I made for her. She texted me first thing this morning to thank me and to say it was 'a keeper'. Bless.

Phew! Right, back to work tomorrow - only seven and a bit weeks until half term!

More Dina Stuff

2010-08-20T10:01:00.000+01:00

So I was just reading this morning that even Dina Wakley has down days where she questions her art and finds it hard to motivate herself. That makes me feel a whole lot better, because I feel like I have just let this whole holiday pass me by without really taking advantage of it artistically. Can it be that I haven't completed a single thing since the Dina course? Hence why I am still blogging it.
So on the second day of the course, we had to 'do' texture. 20 layers was the target, but I have to day I was enjoying myself so much, I never managed to keep count of how many I used.

One thing that Dina taught us was that sometimes pages just don't work, and that's ok. But, just because they don't work as a whole doesn't mean that they can't work at all. So we made a page, folded it into a booklet and hey presto - a little journal to work in...

Afterwards we went out for dinner with Dina and her future heartbreaker of a son. Also in the picture are Christine, Kate and Jude

The next day was something of a challenge. Portrait painting. Hmm. It's easy, just like painting by numbers apparently! You just highlight the lightest areas, add black to the darkest and then build up layers of colour in tones. Easy. Ha Ha. Well, here are the two pictures of my kids that I am prepared to show. The one of myself looking like Mrs Doubtfire is going to the same place as that picture of Kate....

Right, well it's raining here today, so for the first time in weeks, I am going to focus on some housework instead of the garden, then next week when I am home alone ALL WEEK (yee-ha!)I can create to my hearts content. Ooh and I need to blog my birthday presents - prepare to be green with envy!

Dina Wakley Weekend

2010-08-13T13:55:00.000+01:00

Can't believe that this time last week, I was in the first of three fantastic days of Dina Wakley classes at Art from the Heart. It was a fabulous experience, not least because not only did I get the opportunity to have three days of guilt free art (no thinking about whether the kids are hungry, thirsty, watching too much tv etc.)but I got to meet some of the people I have previously only met online! It's hard to know where to start, but I guess the pictures can do most of the talking!

Dina, of course makes it all look so easy, her style is so effortless and even when she just throws something together to illustrate a technique, it looks way cooler than I could achieve with hours of deliberation. But these pics are the results of the first day of spraying and daubing and generally playing!

Special mention should also go to Dyan, as her altered originals inks were a key part of the creations we made!

More next time, although I am not allowed to publish one particular picture of Kate when we shared a room....

Cake and candles

2010-08-05T22:17:00.000+01:00

In case it isn't obvious, it's my birthday this month. Hence the cakes. As a child my Mum always used to make the most amazing cakes - decorated to illustrate the current passion in my life. If she were to make one this year, it would have to have big inky splodges on it, because tomorrow I am off to Art from the Heart for three days of inky painty fun with Kate for Dina Wakley's three day workshop. How lucky am I!

I am not particularly taken with this page, but I think I have used up all my energy this week on digging a big hole in the garden for a patio and then shovelling 2 tons of hardcore into it. Right, off to paint my toenails now...

July done!

2010-08-01T21:26:00.000+01:00

Ooh, that snuck up quickly. One minute I was happily filling in a petal or two (on the days when I remembered I hadn't done an entry for a week!) and then I read Kate's blog briefly whilst I was waiting for some dinner guests to arrive last night(love the tea towel Nicky - sorry couldn't face trying the wine today for some reason!) and for some reason I was surprised to find that the month had ended. This in itself wasn't a problem as I only had two days left to fill in, but doing a page for August? Doh! I shall have to think up something quickly, as I am already behind.....

Bird Brain

2010-07-29T19:47:00.001+01:00

At last - the holidays are here! Not before time either - if we hadn't broken up when we did, I fear for what may have happened - my brain was just a nano-byte away from meltdown...Hence the journal page above. The borders are a mixture of collage sheets I have collected over time from Collage Anonymous and Crowabout and the figure is from Collage Anonymous with the owl head from Tumblefish. The background is made from Sir Tim's new distress inks.

We have just spent a few days in that most tacky and British of seaside resorts - Blackpool. My Grandmother lives there and we went to see her. The kids love the miles and miles of slot machines there and we spent several happy hours shoving 2p coins into the penny fall type machines. These little critters were some of the prizes we won - how cool are they? Before the kids could attach them to anything, I said I had to photograph them so I could use them on a journal page, which is what I am off to do now.....

Loo Blues

2010-07-19T12:09:00.001+01:00

When I was a kid, loo bloo was a strange thing that hung over the edge of the toilet bowl and made the water all blue, and I suppose probably did some kind of cleaning job. Now I am a big girl, loo blues is more appropriate! I am now coming down from my huge strop about how much I do at home and just how disgusting a bathroom/kitchen/carpet has to be before anyone will even consider wiping a cloth round/getting the loo cleaner out/hoovering up the dog hair (oops, think I might be on the verge of another tantrum.....1..2..3..calm...). I think all this comes mainly from the fact that I am overtired, probably more stressed than I am admitting and just plain sick of doing everyone's thinking for them (oops, there I go again...).

Anyway, this started out as an ATC for Marsha's blue challenge, but went a bit wrong, so I re-did it as a journal page to perfect the technique. The floorboards are these strange chinese visiting cards that are made of wood, which I painted and distress inked and stuck on. I added the fish for a little humour (I needed it!) not that any self-respecting fish would live in any of the toilets in our house!

busy, busy, busy

2010-07-07T18:33:00.000+01:00

Cor, but life is a bit hectic at the moment. It's at times like this that I am glad to have prepped a few journal pages in advance so that I can have a little fun without being distracted from the work I should be doing! Another three weeks and life should go much calmer, or at least I hope so! Until then, I have pupil assessments to finish, college work to get done, a million one school events and activities to keep up with with my own children, and all this with only one car and that doesn't work very well...I did think that having a husband at home all the time would lighten the load, but as you will be able to tell from these journal pages, it is not always the case....Right need to go and finish the dinner before I head off to a meeting this evening. No rest for the wicked!

June done, July ready!

2010-07-01T20:57:00.000+01:00

Seems odd to think that I have been doing this for six months now - it doesn't really feel like it, and I am still really enjoying it. I decided to document my mood or the weather on each day as well this month - just as well we have had good weather recently, ha ha!

So, I am ready for July now. This page has layers of dressmaking pattern, distress inks, gesso, acrylic paint, spray paints and stencils and then stamped over the top. I then cut the petals out of white paper and layered them up into the flower design - all this beautiful weather means that even my miserable gardening skills are resulting in flowers all over the place, so why not in my journal...? I am off to see how everyone else is doing now - I wonder if people will keep going next year too....?

Hot stuff!

2010-06-27T09:59:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to a workshop with Kate on beeswax. I have done some beeswax before, but with varying degees of success. Unsuprisingly, Kate's method worked a dream, and I am particularly taken with the idea that I have to keep buffing up this little fella's behind to maintain the sheen! All the elements are adhered with beeswax, and the background is coloured with distress inks.
This atc is just sealed with beeswax, all the elements are adhered and sealed with gel medium. It was a quickie, so the background isn't as layered as I would like, but I wanted to try the strong colours with the wax, rather than the usual muted, grungy tones. The background is ranger dabbers and the Stampotique figure is coloured with neocolours.
Right, off to provide broom wagon services to my angel of a husband who is hustling three Brownies on a sponsored bike ride - 15 hilly miles in this heat!

I'm back (almost)

2010-06-16T21:36:00.000+01:00

Seems like ages since I last blogged, and, well it is. But the reason is not that I didn't want to , but that I have been bogged down with work stuff. In fact, last weekend I took myself to a little rural hideaway and worked solidly from Friday lunchtime until Monday lunchtime. I did take art supplies with me, but can you believe that I hardly even unpacked them - I'm such a good girl! In between furiously typing away at my college work though, I did manage to slap a few coats of paint on for some backgrounds, and then I was lusting after some new stamps to use on them. I am so in luurve with the Stampotique stamps, but when you are hours away from the nearest craft shop, what's a girl to do? I decided that I would try and draw some characters myself, which would illustrate the kind of pages I have in my head, and will actually get into my journal when I get a chance. This first page (above) is one I did over half term, and Marcy is who get me started on Stampotique. She first came into my life when the fabulous and inspirational Kate made me a notepad with her on. The next two characters are my creation, the taller 'you did what?' character kind of reminds me a bit of a girl I went to school with and a bit of Dyan at Art from the Heart. It wasn't intentional, she just came out that way - it was the attitude I was looking to achieve.

Hopefully I will be getting a big chunk of my college course signed off tomorrow so that will mean I am really really nearly finished - and then I can put these two gals into my journal...

May down, June ready

2010-06-02T20:12:00.000+01:00

I was all ready to post this yesterday, but I got bitten by the ironing bug and once it has hold, I can't afford to ignore it, else my entire house will be submerged in screwed up clothes.
The background for June is done in the Dina Wakeley style, and I decided to make the blotches of colour into trees and added tree trunks in various animal print styles with marker pen. The character is from Stampotique, the other stamping around the edges of the pages are all Tim Holtz.

Ooh, almost forgot. Kate has very kindly forwarded me an award for a trendy blog.
How cool is that? Now I have to nominate ten people whose blogs I like. I always find that tricky...

On a roll...

2010-05-30T19:56:00.000+01:00

This photo frame was a nasty orange wooden frame from a pound shop that I bought years ago, thinking that one of these days I would do something with it. Strangely, once I got down to it, it really didn't take long, the ideas came thick and fast and it took minutes to put together. The stamps are all from Sir Tim, and the frame itself is painted in a mixture of Claudine Hellmuth and Ranger acrylics (mainly traditional tan and juniper).

This is a page from my little Moleskine journal, with the background done in a Dina Wakely style, with sprayed ink and water circles. I actually used ecoline inks in mini mister bottles, as I prefer the brighter colours, but Dina uses the Adirondack colour washes. You can see how she does it
here.
The stamp is my latest Stampotique purchase - now that Dyan is stocking them, rather than having to send for them from the States, it would be rude not to indulge these urges wouldn't it...
Amazingly, I have actually prepped two more pages in my little journal, one of which has really surprised me, so I have posted it below. I am not a fan of purple in my art, when it comes to clothes, I wear a lot of purple, but I never really like it on paper. But, I have to say, I am quite taken with this:

Tomorrow I really have to get on with some real world stuff, but not before I have been for a ride on my horse, had coffee with a friend, picked my daughter up from Brownie camp and of course blogged my completed May journal page....

Watch the birdie!

2010-05-29T21:36:00.000+01:00

How else to spend a wet Saturday afternoon, but in your craft room? I bought these little gems about a year ago, and always intended to do something with them, and the miserable wet afternoon we had today seemed like an ideal opportunity! So, I dragged out the Claudine Hellmuth sticky backed canvas, paints and the sewing machine, and hey presto, my little birdie friend! On reflection, he probably should have been a bit smaller, or maybe I just need to find a bigger bird cage?

Fun and Sun!

2010-05-22T21:08:00.000+01:00

Well, how can a day get more perfect? First of all the weather is AMAZING here - warmer than Majorca, and it's not often you can say that in North Yorkshire! Then, I spent the morning at a workshop with Kate, and for once had a really productive morning. I loved doing these, I love Stampotique stamps, and playing with Kate's extensive range of these and Tim Holtz's stamps as well as some of the new Distress Ink colours made for a cracking start to the weekend! I made this pad for a friend who invited us over for a BBQ this evening, thought it would make a change to a bunch of flowers.

I adore this set of stamps (they are from paperbag studios) and I have been lusting after them for ages, so it was nice to have a play, and now I know I really want them!
Anyway, I was on such a roll, that I came home and made this pad for another friend who had us over last weekend. The text is from a Mills and Boon, they are so great for stuff like this! I have cheekily used it as my entry for Wednesday Stamper's theme of the week, which is Orange:

Tomorrow I have to take my son into Harrogate for a swimming gala (boo!), but I suppose it would be rude to go all that way and not call in at Dyan's and satisfy that itch for some of the new distress ink pads....(yeh!)

Can you keep a secret?

2010-05-20T22:13:00.000+01:00

I have been reading 'Journal Spilling' by Diana Trout, and she talks (and she is not alone) about the benefits of spilling all your innermost thoughts, fears and secrets into your journal, which sounds like a good idea, except when you then put it out there in the blogosphere for anyone to read! Not just that, but my family and friends often want to see what I have been up to, and even the normally disinterested almost teenage son of a friend of mine wanted to know what I was 'colouring in' when he saw me at it one day. So, those private thoughts, secrets and the like wouldn't be for long would they! Which is why I wrote my secret into my little moleskine, added some torn book pages and then I don't know how many layers of paint over the top. I sanded some of them off in between, and there was a point when you could still make out my writing underneath, but at some point it got covered up! I have to say, I am not overly thrilled with this page, because the colours all got a bit dark and the overall effect is a bit muddy, but 'it is what it is' as my Mum would say. I have given the Stampotique character a zip for a mouth, and the text is from a Mills and Boon novel! I'm not even sure that I will add any more writing to this, we'll see. One thing is for sure, no-one else will ever know what lies beneath!

Whilst I remember, have a look at this! I never knew it was possible to do such things with paper, but Sue Blackwell is amazing.

Grumpy Old Woman

2010-05-06T23:00:00.000+01:00

I am convinced that I am getting less and less tolerant and more and more grumpy as time goes by, and if I am noticing it, goodness knows what everyone else is thinking...Having said that, I prepped this page and then thought I would add to it as and when, and I actually found it quite hard to fill the page. These bug images are from rian and the background is painted in claudine hellmuth's studioline acrylics. What bugs you?

Beatles Swap

2010-05-04T17:51:00.001+01:00

These are the atcs I have done for Marion's Beatles swap. So many great tunes to choose from, but I went for three of my favourites. The girl is a Stampotique stamp, but I had to shorten her legs to make her atc sized! The background and ticket stamps are by Crafty Individuals.

This Octopus is from a set by Stampin' up and the background stamps are by Crafty Individuals and Paperartsy, with plenty of beeswax to try and suggest the underwater element.

The fool is from printer's block that I found in a box that were given to me by a neighbour, stamped into tissue with the aid of a brayer, as the image doesn't transfer well otherwise. I wonder what I will get in return....?

2010-05-02T20:29:00.000+01:00

I'm starting to get a bit scared about how quickly this year is going! Another month down. I don't know if it always goes this quickly or if documenting it just makes it seem as though it is going fast! Anyway, still going, still logging the minutia of my life. I know that some of you were rather dismayed about how organised I was early in this process, so I am sure you will be glad to know that I put the finishing touches to May's page this afternoon, and I haven't even committed pen to paper for the past two days. As far as June goes, I'm just glad that half term is only four weeks away...

Right, off to finish my ATCs for Marions Beatles swap now, so I can post them next! look forward to seeing everyone elses pages!

March away!

2010-03-31T22:12:00.000+01:00

Another month over! I'm not sure that my husband was all that impressed by the fact that as well as all the ski clobber, I also insisted on taking some journalling kit away with us - really, you would think that he would be used to it by now! Contrary to popular opinion, I did get some journalling done in my little journal as well, admittedly not much, but there is a reason for this you see. TWILIGHT. If you have read the books, you'll know what I mean. It takes over your life. I took the first two books away with me, thinking that I would be too tired to read any more, but I was hooked before the plane even took off. I finished both books in the first two days of the holiday, and spent the rest of the non-skiing time surreptitiously looking for the next book in a any shop we passed. I figured that if I bought it in French, it would take me a little bit longer to finish, and then I wouldn't have the terrible dilemma - read as fast as possible to find out what happens, or spin it out as long as possible so that I don't have that horrible empty feeling that you get when you finish a really good book. One of the reasons it has taken me so long to blog since we got back is that I have been spending every 'spare' minute reading. I am now up to page 311 of the fourth book, and am still obsessing! I can't decide whether I want to see the films - surely they can't be as good as the books? Just as well we have a school holiday coming up, I can catch up on a few things...

So this was the page I managed to squeeze in between skiing and reading last week. I heard this phrase on the radio, and I love it. I think it sums up quite well the British sense of humour - either laughing at our own failures, or less generously, at other peoples'.

Finally, I was tagged by Marsha at Tumblefish Studio http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/. You have to select the tenth picture in your picture file and post it, and tag five other people. This is a very early journal piece I did, and whilst it is by no means my favourite, I like it for the fact that I can see how my style has developed and remind myself of some of the things I have achieved!

I tag:
Kate at http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/
Marion at http://bockel24.blogspot.com/
Sue at http://sue-paperparadise.blogspot.com/
Katrin at http://kreativkram.wordpress.com/
Sarah at http://sarahanderson1.blogspot.com/

I look forward to seeing what comes out of your archives!

Getting organised

2010-03-14T22:07:00.000Z

Where is this month going? Can't believe that we are already half way through March! Winter seems to have been sooooo long, but at last spring seems to be springing! I just hope that winter lasts a bit longer in some parts as we are off for a weeks' ski-ing on Friday! Yipee! We are leaving the children at home with Grandma, so you can imagine what kind of a week I am going to have.... Apart from working (although my hours have reverted to the usual pattern thank goodness!) I will have to get us organised for our trip, do some work before my college tutor comes on Thursday, but I also have to make sure that my house is spotless from top to bottom, the children's lives are all organised, the animals are organised and that I leave instructions for my Mum so that she can take over my sometimes complicated and generally always chaotic life! I think it unlikely that I will have the chance to blog before I go, so thought I would get in now before it all hits the fan....
I have prepared a few pages to take with me (as well as keeping my 365 journal up to date), so now I have just got to work out how much journalling kit I can fit in between all the ski clobber...

Some of these need some serious doodling, tinkering and fiddling, but some of them I am already quite happy with and I am ready to get down some of the ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while - finally!

These images are from a variety of sellers, like rian or on etsy;AsunderEphemera, Cassi's Creations and siefert2. I'm sorry I can't attribute them all individually, as I have saved them to my computer and neglected to note what came from where (tip for those who sell collage sheets - put your details on the sheet, then you can get your credit for the designs you help to create!)

These bugs are from rian

I hope that I won't be so shattered after all the skiing that I can't fill some of these in, but at least it will keep me busy at the airport! See you soon!

bye bye February!

2010-03-01T20:37:00.001Z

Another month completed! Looking back over the past two months, I can see how I have started to settle into these little squares. This month's squares have been a lot more intricate and decorative, as I have got more confident in my ability to squeeze more into a small space! I must thank my lovely husband for the gorgeous box of 48 Faber-Castell Pitt pens he gave me for Christmas, they have proved invaluable. Without those and my trusty white gel pen, where would I be?

It has been commented that I am being far too organised (and believe me, anyone who knows me will testify that that is not the normal run of things!), but I have been fortunate (or maybe just disciplined enough!) to have a few days away at the cottage in the Lakes, so I have got well ahead of myself, and not only has my March page been ready to go for a while, but I have almost finished preparing my May page - he he! (The rest of my life is total chaos - don't worry. Funny how you find the time to do the things you like doing, isn't it!)

Life isn't all flowers

2010-02-22T16:05:00.001Z

My house is being inundated with seed catalogues at the moment, so I decided to put them to good use and cut them up before they go in the recycling bin! So, they made into a journal page in my little moleskine, and I have scanned them in to my computer as a kind of homemade collage sheet. I'm not sure that the image particularly goes with the subject matter, but I'm told that doesn't always matter...I think the phrase I was thinking of was 'life isn't all sunshine and roses', but this is how it came out. I kind of wish I had stopped before I did all the black and white, but I was watching the skier-cross at the same time and I kind of got carried away. Have you seen those guys? Nutters!

Do you want the truth or something beautiful?

2010-02-11T16:31:00.001Z

I love collage sheets - they give you a starting point when you are stuck, a finishing touch when you aren't feeling very confident in your own arty abilities, and they are a legitimate way of using the bits of other people's style that you admire. However, sometimes it's good to challenge yourself to create something all by yourself. This page was inspired by my children - I had been reading a book with my daughter about mermaids, and what with Christmas and losing teeth, I get the distinct impression that they are asking ever more challenging questions about things that they just used to accept. Add to that the fact that I got the Paloma Faith CD for Christmas (which has this title) which I LOVE, and this page was born. It was just one of those evenings when I was half watching something on the couch, and couldn't be bothered to move myself to go and find any more materials, so I just used what I had to hand, namely pens and pencils. I find people really hard to do (note the rather surprised look on her face!), but at least with a mermaid, you don't have to worry about legs and feet!

the next installment

2010-02-04T19:44:00.000Z

I said that I had been busy over the Christmas period, and I have. I know some of you have felt that I have been TOO organised getting my monthly journal pages up to April ready, but I have just been fortunate enough to have some child free, guilt free time. As well as that, my little journal has seen some action, mainly because we have been through some fairly emotional times at home, so these pages reflect that:

The image is from itkupilli and the background is painted in Adirondack acrylic, partly covered in Tim Holtz Hard Candy and then the cracks highlighted in Frayed Burlap distress ink. The corner stamp is Tim Holtz too.
The next page is one I prepared a while ago, and was just waiting for inspiration. The images are from itkupilli again, and the text from an old novel (I still get a bit twitchy about cutting up books though). I used the Tim Holtz scratchy tool to distress the pages and Neocolour IIs and charcoal to 'bed in' .the images

January into February

2010-01-31T20:49:00.001Z

It's not often that I get ahead of myself. But get me - I have not only finished my January journal page, but got my February page ready to go! I really like this format - just enough to have something to do each day, but not enough to feel any pressure to complete a whole page. I have taken to keeping a bucket of pens, pencils etc in the lounge so that I can doodle in front of the tv each evening.

The balloon images are from Rian. I also helped my 8 year old daughter make a journal today, she too is now taking part in the 365 challenge, starting tomorrow!

I'm baaaack!

2010-01-30T15:03:00.000Z

At last - normal service is resumed! You don't realise how much you rely on a computer until you don't have one! I must say though, I'm not sure that it is a coincidence that I have had more time to do 'real' stuff since I haven't been able to spend ages cruising blogland!Anyway, some catching up to do!

I prepared this background using neocolours ages ago, and sat and filled it in on New Year's Eve when we were talking about what we wanted to achieve this year. I didn't like it to start with (might have been something to do with the fact that I had had a couple(!) of glasses of wine when I did it... However, I added some 7Gypsies rub-ons a few weeks later, and I am a bit happier with it now.

This is my own personal challenge for the year. A couple of years ago I started going to swimming lessons again - it makes a change from running and I wanted to improve my front crawl. Little did I know what it would turn into.... We are now a big group of swimmers who whilst not competitive with each other, are very competitive with ourselves. Last year some of the girls swam the Great North Swim - a mile in Lake Windemere. I can't do that kind of thing - I have this weird claustrophobia thing that makes swimming in large groups give me panic attacks, but it started a chain of events where we have taken any opportunity we can to indulge in a bit of 'wild' swimming. Co-incidentally it has become a real growth sport in the UK recently, and there is even a fabulous and beautiful book about it. Anyway, this year I want to swim the mile loop of the lake at our local racecourse, as much as possible in front crawl. I appreciate that for some it might not sound like much of challenge, but that putting your head in freezing cold water thing is quite an issue for me! The images are from Tumblefish Studio The lettering is from Cassiscreations on etsy.

Back (briefly)

2010-01-20T18:11:00.000Z

I have a small amount of computer time, before the battery runs out and I am still waiting for a new power cable to arrive, so this will be brief! I have had a great Christmas, and even managed to get in a bit of journalling! First of all, here is my January page for Kate's 365 challenge:

After all the grey and whiteness of the past month, I needed lots of colour! I have had a lot of fun doing these pages, and found the little square quite manageable even during the hectic Christmas period. We have just a weekend away, and I even prepared the pages Feb, March and April!

Here's a page from my little journal, in which I have completed a staggering (for me) TEN pages sine I last blogged!:
This was our first Christmasat home as a family since my son was born 6 years ago, and I loved it!

As the snow began to melt, I felt I had to mark the occasion of a whole month of winter whiteness somehow. This whole weather thing is unprecedented in my living memory - I wonder if my kids will look back and think it always snowed in winter and was hot in the summer....?

My battery is fading fast, so better save the other pages for another day. Thaks for visiting - I will be back soon!

still here. honest!

2010-01-13T19:21:00.000Z

I know it looks as though I have fallen off the blog planet, but believe me I have been busy in between all the Christmas and New Year festivities. I finished my December page and am enjoying my January page - have even prepped my February page, but my computer is broken, so whilst I can do aquick post like this, scanning and uploading pics is a bit beyond my technological capabilities at the mo. Should be back up and running next week though, so will deluge you with work then. Look forward to joining in with the challege proper then!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

2009-12-19T23:08:00.000Z

So yesterday was a red letter day - the last day of school and it snowed! My children, who normally need to be persuaded, begged, threatened and cajoled into being ready to leave the house at 8.30 on a work day, were outside playing in the snow at 7.20 yesterday! It's amazing what a bit of the white stuff can do! This is a view of the walk to school! How picturesque does it look in the snow!

As we were the first in to school, the playground was a virginal white blanket, unsullied by human footprint...That is until I dared Charlie to make a snow angel!

I love the snow, but more than anything, I love the look on my kids' faces when we get this kind of snow. The pure glee on her face makes me giggle. Mind you, contrast that with the state of my son after an hour in the snow that afternoon when I left them sledging in the field next to the horse whilst I was busy breaking the ice in the water troughs and filling haynets. The poor mite was crying with the cold - the snow was so deep it was coming over the top of his wellies and his little feet were numb. A fire, 2 hot chocolates with marshmallows and a blanket later, plus the final of one man and his dog - he recovered.

Countdown...

2009-12-16T18:30:00.000Z

Inspired by Kate, who in turn got her inspiration from somewhere else in Blogland, I have created a December calender page for my big journal. This month, as anyone who works with children or who has children will know, is mad. I knew that I wouldn't have much time, or come to that, energy for creative stuff, so this seemed to be the perfect answer to getting messy, getting a few things down without having to do a whole page. As you can see, I haven't had much creativity since I did this page, cos' I seem to have done little other that scribble a few words on some of the boxes, and I'm even behind on that! Still, on countdown now, and only 2 days to go until we break up.....

A la Teesha

2009-11-20T16:29:00.001Z

So, like a lot of other people out in blogland, I have been watching the online tutorials that Teesha Moore has posted on her blog and utube. I thought it would be fun to give it a go. It was, but I'm not wild about the fact that it isn't really my page, it's me copying Teesha (and that not very well)and I need to seriously practise my lettering! And it took ages! I think I've been at this one page for well over a week! Admittedly I have been nose to the grindstone with college assignments and being VERY disciplined about not doing any art. I enjoyed the process, and learned a few techniques that I want to try on my own stuff, but I also added to my ongoing shopping list of things I 'need' next. If anyone finds a UK stockist of those Sharpie poster paint pens, or Uni Posca pens which I think might be similar, will they let me know please?

Heart on my sleeve

2009-11-16T19:43:00.000Z

This isn't quite finished yet, but I have reached a bit of a dead end with it, so I thought I would blog it, and them I am bound to think of a thousand things I could have done to make it better. At least that is what usually happens! The image is from Crowabout, and the stamped background is from two Tim Holtz stamps. The hearts are just drawn onto old german book text. I think a journal is an excellent way to vent all the things that usually set me off, but I'm a little concerned that I do both....

Remember, remember...

2009-11-09T07:26:00.001Z

On November the 5th, it is Guy Fawkes night here in the UK. We celebrate the capture of Guy Fawkes and his team who were plotting to blow up the houses of parliament in order to dispatch King James I and most of the aristocracy in 1605. I love Bonfire night, it is one of the few really British traditions we have. We go to a local display in the next village, where they have great fireworks and you know everyone else there. Whilst I was standing there in the dark, watching the kids faces (they love it almost as much as me), I remembered when I talked about this tradition when I was teaching in France. The kids looked at me as if I was gone out, they couldn't understand why we Brits celebrate the failure of a plot to overthrow the monarchy, when they are so fiercely proud of their revolution and their Republic! I had never thought of it like that before, but I suppose it is slightly bizarre.

The background is simply black paint and then spattered paint in yellow, orange and red. The rocket is from some Crowabout papers, and then just journaled in white gel pen and lots of stickles!

By the way, thanks to Kate for the blog award. Apparently I have to tell you seven things about myself that nobody knows. Hmm, tricky..

1. I was once an extra on Emmerdale (a British soap), although I never watch soaps.
2. I failed my driving test twice (never having failed anything before, I was devastated)
3. I would love to be on a 'normal' people's version of Strictly Come Dancing. My husband is not a natural dancer, and I love dancing, although never having seen myself, I may be just as bad...
4. I have just bought my first pair of ski boots, and can regularly be found wearing them around the house..
5. I suffer from claustrophobia. It can attack at any time - sometimes just when I get my feet caught up in the duvet.
6. I wear my heart on my sleeve. What you see with me is what you get. I am quite an emotional person, and I don't generally hide it. (Hmm, journal page coming up?)
7. I never (ok, hardly ever) lost my temper until I had children - now I do it on a daily/hourly basis.

Phew, that was hard. Right, now I have to pass it on. Quite tricky as I think quite a lot of people have this already:

Katrin
Marion
Mandy

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T23:30:00.000Z

Well, ok, I know I'm a bit late, but I just haven't had time to blog this page yet - I did actually finish it on Saturday. My children are a bit grumpy because we ran out of time and they didn't get a chance to go trick or treating. My husband is a pretty fervent anti-Halloween-ist, and I had no intention of creating anything halloween-y, as I am no big fan myself, but I had these mermaid images from indigochylde on etsy, and had been wanting to use them, so I thought it would make a funky twist on the usual witch. The witches are from Lisa's Altered Images.

Find some joy in your life

2009-10-27T15:21:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago, we watched 'The Bucket List' starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, about two men who escape from a cancer ward and decide to complete a list of tasks before they die. Of all the things that they did, the one that struck me the most was 'find some joy in your life'. The Jack Nicholson character, whilst being fabulously wealthy, was a fairly unpleasant character who was estranged from his family, and finding joy was one of the things that he couldn't buy. It made me think of some of the people in my life who have been through some terrible things recently, but manage to stay positive. My husband has often been known to call me a duck (i.e. gliding along on the surface of things but paddling like mad underneath) and there is a tendency to dwell on all the hard things in life when you are feeling a bit out of control, but probably what we should do is focus on the happy things, however tiny. Like this morning for example, when my five year old crawled into bed in his stripy pj's, all warm and soft, and covered my face in kisses. With a start like that, it doesn't matter how bad the day gets, that little boy will make me smile all day....

The background is acrylic paints, water soluble crayons, oil pastels. The pennants at the top are hand-drawn on 7gypsies 'catalina' paper, the letters are magazine clippings. The images are from lisa' altered art and the leaf shapes are from Stampin' up, stamped onto pages from an old german paperback.

Housewarming

2009-10-27T15:09:00.000Z

Back to the Claudine-esque style for my friend who after a very stressful 12 months has finally moved into her new house. We went to school together, our children are the same ages and we have had to maintain our friendship over hundreds of miles for years, but now she lives only about 30 miles away, which is fantastic for both us and the children. Anyway, in her new downstairs loo, she has a couple of framed pieces of artwork by visitors, so I thought she might add this canvas to the collection. It is all Studioline paints, some old book text and marker pen.

Didn't we have a lovely time...

2009-10-19T13:18:00.000+01:00

What bliss! After a week of operating at full tilt, where I was in danger of meeting myself coming back the other way, what better way to wind down than spending a day with Kate getting messy? We made gift bags, Christmas bunting (not finished mine yet) and then got the paints out and got messy. This canvas came together really quickly and was very therapeutic. It started out quite Christmassy, but ended up not so, but I still like it. I'm going to make some of these as Christmas presents for my special friends, instead of Christmas cards.

The eternal search

2009-10-08T23:19:00.001+01:00

Ooh, I've had a lovely time this evening - kids in bed, husband out, iPod on, inks out (in fact my hands are now blue)and I've made lots of mess. It's therapy, relaxation, whatever, it just helps me to download. Anyway, as a tall girl who also happens to be on the curvaceous side, I find it tricky buying jeans. If they fit me in one place, they don't fit me in others, and if they fit most places, then they are too short to wear with anything but flip flops! Last year, on a shopping trip to New York I found THE perfect jeans, and they were soooo long I had to take a couple of inches off them, even wearing them with platform heels, which at 5'11 (and a bit)is pretty unheard of for me. But, they are black, and I want them in blue! I have been searching for them ever since, but it appears they do not exist. I guess I have two options: go back to New York (sounds like a plan), or ask our local butcher to use his meat slicer to shave bits off me, so that I will fit in the kind of jeans that the Claudia Schiffers of this world manage to wear. I know which option I am erring towards...

Anyway, the tags are from a pair of jeans that I bought recently, and are purely functional - i.e. they can be worn for work and it doesn't matter if they get covered with paint/snot/poo etc.
The hems and pocket are from a pair of Gap jeans of my daughters. I have been trying to persuade her that they are way too small for her now, but she still insists on wearing them - but not any more, ha ha! The background is adirondack denim ink pad applied direct to paper and the stamps are Tim Holtz, with a couple of 7gypsies rub ons.

Rants of the middle aged

2009-10-03T10:18:00.001+01:00

I'm not sure when middle age officially starts, but my ranting has definitely hit 'writing letters to the editor' proportions this last few weeks. Had fun getting some of it off my chest anyway. The images are from Lisa's altered art and stamps are Paperartsy and Tim Holtz. I used sequin waste and acrylic paints for the background - a mixture of babywiped studioline and ranger dabbers.
Feeling on a bit of a roll at the moment, but I think preparing a few backgrounds in advance has helped, and I sat in front of the tv the other night and cut out several sheets of images so that they are ready to go whenever the creative fairy visits. It certainly speeds things up. I have been known to put on a coat of paint before breakfast this week, slap on another before leaving for work and then tackle the page proper between the kids bedtime and mine. Hmm, maybe that's why my son ended up at his swimming lesson without his trunks this week? Off to batten down the hatches at the allotment now, as riding Megan in the gales outside my window at the moment is not an idea I relish. Apparently they have already lost power and telephone lines up at the stables and as I write the power has flickered off and on here too. Best post this quick!

Swimming with the Fishes

2009-10-01T19:10:00.000+01:00

No, not like that! Last weekend I had an amazing experience, swimming a mile in a local lake. The early morning mist made it really magical, and the opportunity to see the wildlife from a different angel was really special. Can't wait to do it again! The images are from phenomenen1859 and indigochyld on Etsy, the background is old book pages, studio line paints and oil pastels and charcoal. It's the first journal page I have done that I feel quite happy with, although I think that I'll probably go back and tinker a bit. As I can't find my camera, I had to scan it, which makes me think that in future I'll make journal pages that fit the scanner better!

Messy but productive?

2009-09-28T13:09:00.000+01:00

On the art of moodlingSarah has challenged people to own up to their craft room messiness. My husband is constantly telling me that he is going to come in and organise my desk for me (you can imagine the response he gets!)and I suppose looking at this, you could understand why. But, I know where everything is, and can reach most of it without getting up, which is pretty much all the criteria I have...In my defence, it was a lot tidier than this when I sat down yesterday morning, but you know how it is when you get into the groove... Anyway I have been making ATCs to swap with my new friend Katrin in Germany, who I met through Marion's Zetti swap, so I had a lovely couple of hours 'craaafting' as my husband calls it, in the hammiest of west country accents:

I so liked the nude image that I did for my friends card last week, I decided to scale it down to atc size and made one for myself too!

I have often wondered what to do with my atcs, as sticking them in a file in the cupboard seems such waste, until I saw what Kate does with hers. Then I found this nifty bit of kit in a gift shop in town, so I bought it and now it hangs in the downstairs loo!

Right off to do some jobs now so that I can get on with some journal pages that I am dying to get down...

More naked women!

2009-09-21T15:12:00.000+01:00

This might seem like a new obsession, but this is for a birthday card for one of my friends who was involved in the wild swimming incident last week, so when I found this image on karenswhimsy.com, I had to use it. The background is ecoline inks and salt, the stamps are a mixture of Tim Holtz and Crafty Individuals. The text is from Lisa's altered images, and I couldn't resist the pale moon, even though the mica chip makes the moon not quite so pale!

New Journal, new experiences

2009-09-14T16:06:00.000+01:00

My new moleskine journal arrived last week, and I have spent a few days trying to decide how best to 'christen' it. Committing something to paper, especially when it is bound into a pristine new book is quite hard for me - it doesn't allow for any 'errors'. This weekend I went away with some of my very best friends, and we had such a marvellous time that journalling it in my new book seemed only fitting. I used a mixture of watercolour paints (which haven't seen the light of day for ages), studio line acrylics, oil pastels and permanent pen. It records a challenge which was dreamt up after a few too many glasses of cava, but executed in the cold light (and cold water) of day!

Autumn

2009-09-14T15:07:00.000+01:00

Can you tell that the kids are back at school, and that my life has taken a turn away from the self-indulgence of sitting at my desk? It's been ages since I had anything I felt like blogging - nothing else I have done felt worth sharing. Even this page has taken me nearly a week, and it's not even that pleasing to me. I was feeling quite miserable about the onset of autumn and the fact that summer seemed to be over even before it really got going.... But then I thought about some of the great things about autumn and the harvest time. As my good friend Anna would say, 'it's good enough'.

Does my bum look big in this?

2009-08-20T14:57:00.000+01:00

Armed with all the tips and techniques picked up from Dyan earlier in the week, I got out the Claudine Hellmuth paints last night, created my background with pink, brown, blue, and stamped with Tim Holtz stamps. A little highlighting in oil pastels and some computer generated text, and then a layer of beeswax. I'm quite happy with it:)

More Claudine-y stuff

2009-08-19T16:25:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I spoiled myself to a day with Dyan at Art from the Heart. She was running a class to teach some of the different ways that you can use Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Line paints. Happy coincidence seeing as I now have the full range! It was great fun as usual and verrrry relaxing. Anyway, here are the results....Now for some reason my computer won't let me rotate the images today, think I must have upset it...

A Tale of Two Houses

2009-08-17T15:23:00.000+01:00

I decided to do this journal page yesterday, but it wasn't supposed to look like this, or at least not quite so shamelessly Claudine Hellmuth-like. It was the paints you see. I painted the background and had the idea of the two houses to illustrate the fact that my parents are in the process of moving into separate houses after forty years of marriage. It was the colours you see - as soon as I had painted them (new paints for my birthday) it just made me think of some of Claudine's art. After that, the Charlie and Lola collaged details and the black and white photo additions were obvious. I was reading last night that you have to try on different styles until you find your own, so if Claudine were ever to see this, I hope she would take it as such, and not just as shameless plagiarism. I really enjoyed doing it though.

Happy Birthday to me...

2009-08-16T21:12:00.000+01:00

I love birthdays. I love other people's birthdays, I especially love my birthdays! I have never been one of those people who dreads getting another year older, but maybe it's just that I love presents more than I dislike edging closer to middle age! Mind you, if you had a husband who had ventured into a craft shop all on his own, and had chosen you this little selection of goodies, you'd have a birthday twice a year wouldn't you? I could say it's a shame that he picked six Claudine Hellmuth paints that I already have, but then I'm hoping that Dyan at Art from the Heart will let me swap them for something else when I go for a class later in the week. It's like a gift within a gift!

Decided to break the artistic fast brought on by the holiday with a journal page. I have spent all week planning, cleaning and catering for my own birthday party, so I thought I would spoil myself to an afternoon at my desk with my new colours!

Holiday ups and downs

2009-08-16T20:54:00.000+01:00

You might wonder what downs there could be on a holiday where every breakfast was with this view. Quite so. It was fantastic, hot, sunny every day, the kids loved the pool (for hours every day)and we thoroughly chilled out. BUT!! How I wish I had taken some art supplies with me! I even looked for some whilst we were there! I thought about before we left, but decided I couldn't carry all the things I would want. I'll know next time, and prepare some journal pages before I go like my clever friendKate, and then when I am bored of reading and sudoku, I can take advantage of the lack of washing, ironing, dog walking etc. My clever nine year old was smart though, she took her journal look:

zetti swap

2009-07-24T13:44:00.000+01:00

The very talentedMarion set a challenge to do three zetti atcs. As this was an area I have never been before, I fancied the challenge, but having seen some of the entries on Marion's blog, I am now feeling like a bit of an imposter, they are all scarily good. Well, a bit like the journal page, I haven't got time to do anything nowbecause at this very moment I am supposed to be emptyiung the fridge and taking the cat to the cattery etc, so here they are.

Queen journal

2009-07-24T13:43:00.000+01:00

Dyan at art from the heart set a challenge to use one of Patti from Lisa' Altered Art's 'Queen' collage sheets. This is my entry. Almost as soon as I had finished, I had a million ideas about how I could have made it a million times better, but I 'm off on holiday today, so this is it. Better luck next time!

2009-06-26T17:25:00.000+01:00

Here are my entries for the 'Think Monday, Think ATC' challenge of Frogs. My first thought was to go with the Frog prince theme, hence this little fella with his grungeboard crown and triple embossed golden ball. The background is ecoline ink and salt and the zig zags are from a paperartsy border. The numbers are also from paperartsy. Then I got to thinking about a saying we have in our house 'madder than a box of frogs', but this little guy looked more sad than mad, so I had to alter the text!

Purple and Green

2009-06-02T20:51:00.000+01:00

This is my entry for Wednesday Stamper's theme, in by the skin of my teeth, rather late on Tuesday The background is alcohol inks in lettuce and wild plum, over stamped in imperial purple with a crafty individuals stamp of a tree. The birds are from paperstreet on Etsy. And since the inks were out, I made a card for my great aunt, whose birthday it is on Friday in the same colours.

Mixed media - and a lot of beeswax

2009-05-23T18:09:00.000+01:00

Just come back from a beeswax collage course with Dyan at Art from the Heart , and thought maybe this could be the thing for the mixed media challenge on Mittwochstempler this week. Ranger dabbers, tissue paper stamped images and some fab collage pictures from Lisa'a Altered art, together with some german scrap, and BEESWAX! Hmm, think the technique may need a little refining, but oh how much fun can you have with your clothes on - and how much mess can a girl make!

The Smiths meet saucy Victoriana

2009-05-17T22:19:00.000+01:00

So it's my little sister's birthday tomorrow. If you knew my sister, you would know that she is pretty much obsessed by how she looks and when we went to New York a few years ago, I could not believe a) how many clothes she took and b) how many times she changed before we went out every evening! Not sure how I arrived on this particular composition, but the inspiration came all of a sudden in the middle of Wednesday night so after work on Thursday I got down to it. The background came from my friend and teacher Kate's article in this month's Craft Stamper magazine. The image came from a free download somewhere ages ago, a bit of Tim Holtz stamp over the background and the text from the classic song by the Smiths. It just needed a bit of something to finish it off, so the stitch to wear prompted me to create a bit of a border with the sewing machine. Continuing the theme I added a press-stud, et voila! I hope she likes it!

holidays and birds

2009-04-14T21:28:00.000+01:00

It's the school holidays, so that means a bit more time for messing about. Combined with having no car for a week whilst mine was off the road, I got quite productive for me! I'm not quite sure why, but sometimes it takes me hours to do even the simplest atc, and other times they just fly out. Anyway, I'm on a bird phase at the moment - they are everywhere in all things crafty.

The background is distress inks, for the wire I used Tim Holtz's borderline mask, and the bird is also one of his new stamps. To emphasise the wire element, I wound wire and beads around a cocktail stick to make a border.

Continuing the bird theme, this atc was one that took me a fraction of the time that the previous one did, and my husband says he much prefers it to the other one.
I used Claudine Hellmuth acrylics for the background, a paperartsy stamp for the tree, and the free stamp from this months Craft Stamper magazine for the bird.

I also managed to get around to doing a journal page of our recent ski holiday. It was the first time my sporty husband had ever been skiing, and some time since I had been, so it was something of an experience for both of us. It is a long time since I have laughed as much, as often, and a long time since I have been quite so tired! I thought that getting some of the thoughts and memories down would be a good way of reminding myself of the things I need to remember for next year's holiday!

mediocrity complex?

2009-03-09T22:38:00.000Z

My arty friend who continues to inspire me, not least for her ability to keep so many balls in the air at once, told me about art journalling. As someone who has kept a diary on and off since I was about nine, it sounded like a great idea to experiment with new ideas and get some of the clutter in my head out in the open. I have to say I have found it remarkably cathartic so far, it helped to clarify some things that I have been struggling with for a couple of weeks, although my husband is starting to worry that I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment, but as I reminded him, most of what I do is self-inflicted, and I only do it because I want to - I just wish there were more hours in the day or days in the week!

Wednesday stamper - skinny

2009-03-09T22:13:00.000Z

This is my contribution to this weeks wednesday stamper challenge for a skinny. As I also had to make a birthday card for my friend who is 40 this week, I have combined the two. It just so happens that she too is skinny! The background papers are basic grey, and I have used a combination of acrylic paints and distress inks. The text stamps are from a making memories set and the other words are from a old book. The stamping around the edge is from one of Tim Holtz's new sets.

2009-02-26T18:12:00.000Z

This is my submission for the Mittwochstempler "silhouettes" challenge. I used Tim Holtz distress inks (mustard seed, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick and fired brick) to create a sunset effect and then overstamped with some Lavinia stamps in black archival ink. I made a mask to suggest the sun sinking, maybe into the sea? Think I might need my David Bailey-esque husband to teach about taking photos though!

my first blog!

2009-02-23T12:09:00.000Z

I had made it my new year's resolution to use some of the many craft goodies I have, instead of just buying them, and that I would create something from craft stamper magazine each issue. Then I discovered the wealth of blogs out there, and more specifically mittwochstempler http://www.wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/ ! So here is my first attempt, with an atc for the 'shiny' category this week. I used alcohol inks to create the background (wild plum, slate and stream, with some pearl mixative) and stamped over with one of my new Tim Holtz stamps. The butterfly is from a set which I picked up really cheaply years ago, and I have stamped it onto the atc with black archival ink as well as onto some aluminium sheet with stazon.