Busy, busy...

It's been a busy old time since we got back from France. Of course there was the usual stuff when we got back - piles of post and a whole lot of washing! Fortunately it was half term here, so I had some chill time with the kids and thanks to my Mum, some time out on my horse. This weekend I was teaching at artisOn all weekend, so I had a lot of preparation to do - just packing up all the resources we use takes a while! As always, Sue and Gaynor made me very welcome and Vanessa and Sue prepared a real feast on both days - it's worth going just for the catering, never mind the wide variety of courses they do! The ladies on both days were fab, we had a real giggle, apart from the bits when they were concentrating hard and it was REALLY quiet - might have been something to do with the sticking out of tongues...? The picture above is at the beginning of the first day - you can tell because the table is still really tidy!
I love the fact that people start off really restrained and before you know it they are flinging colour around like 3 year olds. One of the ladies confessed that she has long had an issue with having dirty hands, but that a day art journaling had been good for her, once she realised that she had no hope of keeping her hands clean. On that note, here is a page in my big journal.

This is huge - A3 size. I bought it on holiday last summer, and I have been a bit afraid of tackling it. I found the giant scissor blades in the newspaper when I was laying it out for the children at pre-school and I knew it would come in handy one day.... Right, best get off to bed, we have a visit from Jude and Paul this weekend, and a combination of busy days with Dina Wakely at Art from the Heart ahead of us this weekend, and late (and probably quite boozy) nights afterwards, means I'll be shattered by Sunday!

February chills

I'm late again! I have a good excuse though, I've been away. It always amazes me just how much organisation a week away can take. I'm not complaining, because the week was a week skiing with Mr H, and my mother-in-law was here looking after the children; but while my husband comes home from work and chucks a few things in a bag, I spent the best part of a fortnight cleaning, organising cupboards, writing instructions, filling the freezer and making sure that my poor mother-in-law could manage to navigate her way through our chaotic life without major incident. It was so worth it though. We had a fantastic week skiing in the French alps, although I have to say, I have never experienced cold like it. Our last day, the thermometer on one of the chairlifts said -21C! This is the fourth time that we have been to this resort, and we have never experienced temperatures anything like this. The photo above is from a tiny little mountain restaurant where we stopped for a 'vin chaud' and a warm up on the last day. Better then the view from your average Starbucks, eh?

I had my best ski week ever, something clicked this year and suddenly I found I could go faster and more controlled than before, even faster than my dare-devil husband, which may account for the daft pose in the photo above - clearly I was feeling a bit cocky! I can't describe how much good fresh air, beautiful scenery and quality time together does for the soul.

Anyway, onto things arty! I started this journal page in mid January, but was lacking a bit of creativity to actually finish it. However, I filled in the squares until inspiration struck, and finally completed it this morning.

And here is the Valentine's card I made for Mr H, all made from scraps. The background is a page from my mop up journal, and the other pieces are all bits from my scraps box. I haven't bought any new downloads or stamps for ages, which is usually where my inspiration for a new page strikes.