Holiday ups and downs

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

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

 

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!

 

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

 

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

 

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

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!