The eternal search

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

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

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?

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!

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

 

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

 

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'.