A year in the life of an art journal

A journey began today, in fact two journeys both interconnected. My newly pink Moleskine is now winging it's merry way to Darcy in Cleveland, as I begin my journey into art circle journalling.

She started out life as bare naked Kraft and went through many layers and coats of gesso and paint to become the shabby little number she is now.

The back side

The first two pages were mine to decorate and the remaining nine will be adorned by my crafting circle of friends, I used gesso, acrylic paint and dyes to create the blue toned background, the flourishes are stamped, the circle had been doodled with a Pitt Artist fine-liner.

The first tag was also mine to play with, I kept it simple to leave some room for a little journalling.  These tags fit into the pockets we made from gluing the pages together.

I journalled on the backside too, not shown here.

One of the girls in the group suggested it might be a good idea to keep a copy of the pages we complete ourselves, and I totally agreed with the idea so I set to making a duplicate book to record all my pages in, so in effect I will actually do every page twice, one for the recipient and one for me.

And so this little guy is my duplicate, he received the same  treatment as my other journal but I changed up the colour and title.

The back side

First two pages.

I created the journalling part of this page slightly differently as I will be keeping both books I didn't want two pages identical.

Again the first tag completed.

I have now received Catherines little work of art and can't wait to get started on my pages for her. She has set a high standard so I need to get my thinking cap on.

I am so happy to be a part of this project, it is really exciting especially as we start receiving the books. I think the most amazing part will be when we finally receive our own journals back, ten months later with ten pages filled with love and creativity from ten new friends !

Doll Face

Scrapbooking, just for me, not for a sample, not for a class, not for a display or a commission, just for me and just because ..............

It is a while since I just sat and played, but this weekend that is exactly what I did do and loved every minute

I also completed the front covers and first two pages of my two new journals which I will share with you tomorrow

Amy is home

A little bit grubby

A little bit hungry

A lot tired

And with a good chunk of Leeds still clinging to her wellies

And then there were 5 again - much better !!!

Lace Door

As promised yesterday, here is the card I made for a commission this week

The brief was cream, beige and a hint of blue for the colours and A5 in size, the name and age also had to be included on the front

I used Melissa Frances papers ( 5th Avenue ), the frame was cut using Lace Door by Cuttlebug, the flowers are a selection from my shop. Sentiment panel was computer generated.

Just a quick post tonight Neil and I are watching MCR at Reading, wow, really need to see them live !

Thankyou everyone who sent reassuring messages and emails yesterday, I know I am a worry wart, Amy is fine and has been checking in with me and her dad every couple of hours, she has loved every minute, she will be home by lunch time tomorrow, laden with muddy clothes, soggy socks and a new found independence and I can't wait !

Quickly before I bid you all a goodnight, I have a little event to share with you all.

My lovely friend Linda has recently changed career direction and is now demonstrating for Stampin' Up, she is holding a 'Make and Take' day at Stallingborough Village Hall next sunday. She is such a sweet girl and a really talented stamper and card-maker, so if you fancy a little crafting fun, pop on over, all are welcome. All the details are on the flyer below, please contact Linda if you have any queries or to let her know if you are planning to come, myself and quite a few girls from the shop will be there - we might see you there xxx

Planet Leeds

This weeks class cards

I don't normally create cards to a specific theme when planning a class, rather generic style cards which can be adapted to the needs of the creator. But I have been asked for ideas for 'new home' cards recently.

And the second card I taught, simple cuttlebugging, simple stamping, simple design = simple card

I have also finished next months ATC's for the Stampman swap,  get me being a whole month ahead of myself ! The theme was garden

I went with a little whimsy this time, not my usual style, but fun to do

I have also been busy with a very special circle journal, more details to follow shortly.

I will be back tomorrow with a card I made for a commission this week.

On a personal note, I am extra busy this week because I am attempting to take my mind off the fact that my daughter is in Leeds at the festival.

I know I am not the only mum that goes through this.

I just wasn't prepared for the way it would make me feel. Ironic really, I have spent the last 17 years teaching my only daughter how to be independent and the first time she shows a little independence I panic. She is with lifelong friends who are all sweet, good girls, she is sensible and practical and yet I am sat here worrying whether she is warm enough, safe, happy, hungry, and whether she is talking to some bloody weirdo.

Leeds feels like it is a million miles away and for some frustrating reason my natural ability to sleep at the drop of a hat has been completely obliterated. Last night was spent examining the ceiling (how do they manage to plaster so smoothly without it all dropping off onto their heads ? I can't even ice a cake !) Although, by all accounts, Amy had no sleep either as the girls managed to find a lovely place to pitch their tent, right near the DJ playing rave music til 5am. Lord knows what I am going to be like when they all eventually leave home !!!

Snowy is at a complete loss, he keeps wandering up and down the hall, moping, looking for her, under the bed, behind the door, in her wardrobe, tirelessly seeking out his playmate, he keeps looking at me with his cute little puzzled head tilted on one side and then glances back towards her bedroom door, yeah I know mate, I want her home too !

Stampin' Up

Todays fabulous creations from the Stampin' Up class, our new demonstrator YeeTing got us off to a flying start with these gorgeous little projects.

A lovely quilted effect on this card, and below is a matching gift bag

And we also made this simple but supercute card too.

YeeTing kept us busy with some brilliant new techniques and although there seemed to be quite a lot of work we all did manage to finish all three projects, even though we seemed to spend an awful lot of the time giggling and eating chocolates. There were also a few missiles launched specifically by Anita and Victoria. Don't ask lol, well all I can say is, at least our classes aren't boring.

If you are local and want to take part ( I promise to keep Anita and Victoria under better control), the Stampin' Up classes take place every 2nd and 4th thursday each month, for a comprehensive list of the dates for the rest of this year please check our shop website HERE

Thankyou girls for a fab afternoon and especially to YeeTing for her inspiration and patience xxx

Ocean View

Augusts swap over at The Stampman this month is 'Ocean'

Here is my interpretation. The quote is one I found on the internet and printed out.

The background was created using Gesso to create subtle waves, which was then painted with two shades of ink, the sky was watercoloured and the clouds were sponged with white acrylic.

The lighthouse was created from - shock, horror a peel off. I stuck the peel off onto some grey card and then stippled crackle paint through it, once it was dry the peel off was removed and the shape cut out, I inked all the edges and added some shading.

Next up are my backgrounds for the tags to complete my MIMM art journal, you may remember I finished the bones of the book a couple of weeks ago.

These tags will eventually hold all the more personal journalling and will fit inside each of the full page pockets

I used various techniques to apply gesso to plain tags and then colourwashed each one with various inks

I used a stamp, a credit card, bubble wrap, lids, foil, a roller, a sponge and a stencil to apply the gesso to create lots of different textures and the inks I used were a variety of Dylusions spray inks, Glimmer Mists and Cosmic Shimmer mists.

A gentle reminder to my customers, the Stampin' Up classes start this thursday, there are spaces available both in the morning and the afternoon, please telephone the shop if you are interested in a place.

The two cards I taught in this weeks class, I had been asked to do some black cards a couple of times, and I had this lovely Crate paper in the shop.

This week also saw the first of Bonnie's Cuttlebug classes at my shop, the class was a roaring success - literally ( it was a wonder a representative from the local constabulary didn't come and ask us to keep the noise down lol) These are my two cards, very slightly different from the ones Bonnie made ( due mainly to me not concentrating !!!)

To see Bonnie's original cards pop over to our shop website HERE and to find out future dates for the classes ( Basically the third thursday each month), a list is available HERE

A big thankyou to Bonnie who hosted such a fun and inspiring class, and also for providing me with this bounteous bowl of veggies - yummmmmmmmmm

Another big thankyou to Pam for this perfect posy of flowers, handpicked from her own garden and arranged in such a pretty manner, they are currently subtly perfuming my work table as I write this post.

And yet another week slips past in the blink of an eye, the children have only a couple of weeks left and they will all be back at school/college. Let's hope the weather is kind for their last few days off, both my boys are outdoorsy so the rainy days are torture for them.

One last little thing before I go, here is a cute little conversation I had with A.J this evening

A.J - "Mummmmmmmmm, how long have you and dad been married ?"

Me - "Well our next wedding anniversary will be our 20th."

A.J - "Cool ! What award do you get for doing 20 years ?"

Lol is he expecting Neil to get a medal for putting up with me for that long I wonder ?

Flutterby Butterflies

As promised in yesterdays post, here is the mini book I have been working on, the pages of which have been created from the humble coffee filter.

Anita bought me a pile of filters as a challenge quite some time ago, and we sat and cropped at my house working through some ideas, we managed the bare bones of our books but then mine languished in a zip-lock bag, sidelined for more pressing projects.

I felt inspired to finish the book last night, the coffee filter pages have been stamped and hinged together with some large butterfly shapes. The basic shape was a google image printed out and used as a template on patterned paper, all papers used in this book are Cosmo Cricket.

Then I set about finding all my butterfly punches, dies and chippies

I used lots of quotes, typed up and printed out onto textured card, one of my fave quotes in the book is

"Butterflies are self propelled flowers" and I used this as license to add lots and lots of lovely flowers (not that I normally need an excuse!)

I added a few pearls and grunge-paper hinges to the outer covers which were crackle-painted.

We have our new Cuttlebug class starting tomorrow and I can't wait, the ever bubbly and brilliant Bonnie is benefitting us all with her expertise on all things die-cutting.

The classes are the third thursday in each month, they are £6.00 and we are currently running two sessions, 10-12am and 1-3pm,  I have a couple of spaces in the morning but the afternoon is at present full

Dates are 18th August

                15th September

                20th October

                17th November

                15th December

Please ring or call into the shop if you are interested in booking a place.

One last thing before I bid you all goodnight, thankyou to Victoria who bought me a cute little bauble to decorate, even though the 'c' word is still banned I think I might just relent and have a play with my bauble, I promise to share when it is finished.

The Circus and Circles

A few friends and I have been participating in an international ATC swap, this month the theme was Circus. Anyone who knows me also knows I don't 'do' clowns, in any shape or form and to be honest I am not entirely enamoured with anything circus, but I do enjoy a challenge.

So, rather than go down any obvious route, I instead based my ATC around generalizations in the form of stripes and the slightly distressed look that a Circus always seems to call to mind, fading canvases and chipped paint !

And the star of my Circus is the tight rope walker, die cut from black glitter card with a Marianne stencil, she is actually a ballerina but I thought she made a beautifully elegant Circus act.

Next up is the ATC I made for our very own Running With Scissors swap, you can find Augusts swap HERE, all welcome to play, for details and further information please read the info page HERE

The ATC below is for July, the theme was Circles and we were required to use the colour yellow somewhere on the card.

We had some gorgeous entries as always, thankyou to all who took part.

If you fancy playing along with August check the links above, the theme is DREAM and the requisite colours are black and white. Future swaps are also listed on the shop website.

Class news -

Firstly, apologies for a mistake in yesterdays post I wrongly listed YeeTings class price, please note the class price is in fact £6.50, this was a typo, it has been amended now, there are just a couple of places left in the afternoon and a few in the morning, thankyou to everyone who called in today to book your place.

And I am also opening up a tuesday afternoon for my card class, wednesdays have been full for a while now, both morning and afternoon are fully booked but I am aware people are on the waiting list, hence the extra class, price £6.50 time 1-3pm.

I am hoping to have the classes up and running towards the end of september, please ring the shop if you would like to book a place.

I am just putting the finishing touches to a mini book, should I have it complete by bed-time I will share some piccies with you tomorrow.