Running with Scissors

Card class catch up

2012-01-26T23:48:00.000Z

I am not entirely sure where this week has disappeared to, I can only educe that I have been residing in my own little bleb and have been entirely unaware of the passing of time

Here are the two simple cards I taught in class this week

Two fairly young styles, I had been asked last week about cards for younger family members. I think we all find it much easier to craft for the mid range age of females, but men, children and teenagers all seem to cause concern.

The stamped images are Prima, painted in Tim Holtz Distress inks, papers on little boy card are by Bo Bunny, on the little girls card the papers are by My Minds Eye.

Both of the characters on the images are tiny, slimsy little figures which are much cuter when coloured and far easier than they look to add colour to.

It wasn't until I logged in this evening to update the blog that I realised that it has been almost four days since I last blogged.

I have been burying my head in my art books of late, I have been doing lots of sketching and painting, it has taken a great deal of mettle to tear myself away and concentrate on anything other than the postcard challenge or the Life Book course I am taking, I am enjoying them both so very much.

I have almost finished class one of life book, which was our first goddess page, as soon as I have the journalling on there I will share my pages with you on here.

I am also busy planning all the fabulous new products and promotions we have in store for our customers at the shop, february is going to be an amazing month, jam packed with bargains, fun and promotions to celebrate our 3 year anniversary - watch this space and the RWS website for all the up and coming events - the first of which will be announced over the weekend.

To know the dark

2012-01-22T23:12:00.001Z

Sketch 365 - Saturday's sketch and Week 3 of Life Book

I multi-tasked this week and combined my sketch challenge with the lifebook task this week.

Bonnie shared the technique of sketching and shading using the hatch and cross hatch technique - IN PEN !!!!!

I am happy shading in pencil, heck I love shading in pencil, I have my trusty rubber by my side, poised and ready to eradicate any slips, PEN shading, with tiny little lines, one way then the other - whole new ball game, my nerves are shot I tell you.

The background around the girl is painted in water soluble crayons, the border I created using the shaving foam marbling technique

I am not entirely sure I did a great job and debated a while before sharing here, natheless it is part of the journey and so should be documented.

We were exploring the light and dark sides of our natures with this class and so the words I have written around the outside of the sketch read :

To go into the dark with a light,

Is to know the light.

To know the dark,

Go dark, without sight

And find that the dark too

Blooms and sings

And is travelled

By dark feet and dark wings.

Wendell Berry.

Winters butterfly

2012-01-22T00:08:00.000Z

Here are my atc's for last months swap on our forum

The theme was winter and the obligatory colour was white

I used the serendipity technique for the backgrounds, painted white and then rubbed all over with Rock Candy

Sketch 365

Thursdays sketch was Christ the redeemer from yesterdays post

Yesterday I completed this sketch for the Life Book course, this will be coloured with paints in the coming days, I will share it again once it is finished.

I hit a little remora with todays sketch which has just been painted and is still too wet to scan, so I will share that tomorrow.

Postcard challenge, week 3 - Brazil

2012-01-20T21:57:00.000Z

This week Darcy led us to Brazil with our postcard challenge

Aside from football, coffee and carnivals, I didn't really know much about Brazil, so, I turned to the oracle that is Karl Pilkington and An Idiot Abroad for inspiration. I recalled he had travelled to Brazil as part of his 7 wonders series and I thought it might be cool to incorporate a wonder into my postcards.

Christ the Redeemer

I sketched out Christ with a graphite pencil directly onto my postcard, did all the shading with the same pencil and then added a really simple background so as to not detract from the main image. The sky was watercolour crayons, the clouds and mountainside were acrylic paint. The title was added with a Pitt Artist journalling pen and highlighted with a white gelly roll pen.

The back of my postcard reads :

Dear Kathy

What did you mean when you referred to running away ? I know so little of your youth !

I won't make it home for a while so please forward the documents to Carlton's. I am hoping they hold information regarding my parents.

Do you like my latest sketch ? The view from here is breathtaking, so peaceful and a direct contrast to the mania below.

I don't have a clue who the man is, I hope he isn't bothering you !

Thankyou for tending the garden, you have always been so kind to me.

Boa Noite

Sammy xxx

I decided that as well as the handwriting being different on each set of cards I would also create them in completely different styles. Sammy's are all going to incorporate a hand-drawn element, she will draw something each week, inspired by the country of her placement. Kathy's, on the other hand, will be much more 3D, she is not the one travelling, so she will be delving into her keepsake box each week to make her cards.

I aim to develop their personalities, which will help give clues to the twist at the end of the story and I plan to weave in additional characters and sub plots.

It is a little scary how deucedly fun I am finding the two personalities part ! Maybe we all have multiple personalities lurking beneath the surface !

Massive thanks to Darcy again this week xxx

Bonnie bounces back

2012-01-20T00:31:00.000Z

Well, things are finally reverting back to some sort of normality after the christmas and new years break.

Classes are falling back into their regular rhythm and Bonnie was back with a bang.

Here is the gorgeous box she taught both classes today.

It is a dainty little thing perfect for a mini book, small gift or card

If we were relying on shiv and patience this little beauty would have taken hours upon hours, but thanks to the Cuttlebug and several rather lovely dies it came together in under two hours ( and the actress and the bishop only made one appearance all day)

See you tomorrow with my Brazillian ( postcard not wax !!!)

Girls and boys

2012-01-19T00:21:00.000Z

This week for class I decided to go very girlie for one card and masculine for the second.

I shared how to make these lovely layered tattered floral flowers ( single handedly helping to keep Royal Mail in business with these babies !)

The greeting is by Stampin' Up

And for the second more masculine card we used the emboss resist technique with distress inks to create the tag

The sentiments on this card are a mix of computer generated and a stamp by Inkadinkadoo.

We used wax rubs to highlight the embossing on the diamond shaped borders.

Todays sketch (Wednesday)

I am much happier with the face on this one. You may think I am being persnickety when I pull my sketches to pieces, but, being able to critique your own work and spot the weak points is a big step in learning to correct the mistakes. I very much need to work on faces and especially hands, why are hands so awkward ?

I have finished my postcard for Darcy's postcard challenge, a whole two days early, inspiration struck whilst I was texting back and forth with Anita last night, and yes Anita, An Idiot Abroad was my inspiration, but I will leave it there, I am not going to give you any more clues lol, and I will share my postcard on Friday when Darcy has the linky set up.

Sitting pretty

2012-01-17T23:38:00.000Z

Todays sketch - tuesday

Just a quick post from me today, updating my sketch. I preferred this one, to the last two I completed. I felt the lines were better, it came together quickly but it was a bigger jump than I thought moving from the magical,mythical alate imaginations of Brian Froud to the paired down modern and much less detailed images of Inslee Haynes.

But that is the beauty of choosing many varied artists to draw inspiration from. playing with styles and exploring which I enjoy more.

I also started work on my life book, the sketch is done but I decided I really needed to treat myself to some neo colours to finish the piece, so I will be sharing that once I have added the colour.

I enjoyed a really lovely afternoon with Nicki and Anita today, and we actually managed to get some crafting done, we are working on some mini books. Mine is for a very special friend who also has a birthday in feb ( I thought I had better start early as I have quite a few projects ongoing)

Back tomorrow with my class cards

xxx

Together

2012-01-16T21:04:00.000Z

I managed to get myself all caught up at work this week and actually prepared a class in advance ( shock horror - this surely cannot last !)

So to reward myself I spent a lovely hour making this scrapbook page for my album.

The background is three layers of paper Tim Holtz, Stampin' Up and Basic Grey, they have been dry-brushed with watered down white acrylic paint, I then swiped on some 'neat' flesh tint acrylic and added bubble wrap circles with titanium buff.

The fancy border below the photo is a nestie border, cut out of black cardstock and rubbed with a bronze coloured wax rub.

I added some metallic mesh behind the double matted photo and swiped the titanium buff over the flowers also, to tone them down and integrate them into the page, the flowers were attached with metallic coloured brads by Tim Holtz.

I finished the page with a title, sub-title and a little computer generated journalling. I like to incorporate wording where I can on my pages, they don't feel complete without !

Next up I have a little sketch catch up

Sketch 365

Saturdays sketch and the final one in the Brian Froud inspired series.

Sundays sketch.

This week I am drawing inspiration from an artist who does a lot of fashion plates, she has a really sassy and fun style, so, for the next 7 sketches Inslee Haynes will be my muse.

This first one is not up to my usual standard, I got fed up with the feet and didn't put as much effort into the dress as I should have, I had a lot on my mind sunday morning and couldn't concentrate, the journalling in my morning journal flowed, sadly the sketching didn't, never the less I wanted to keep up the sketch a day.

A tad better for todays sketch, but still not entirely happy, the face turned out a bit weird and although I was happy with the transparency of the veil ( not the easiest of things to accomplish I have discovered) I really didn't pull this one together as well as I know I can. But I am trying to stay within 15 minutes for my sketch, some of my earlier ones ended up being more like half an hour, so I am really trying hard not to 'overwork' or 'overthink' them.

AJ has been hovering all evening, watching me draw and being incredibly complimentary, I have had several hugs and 'I love you's' which is all very lovely but .....

Being the perspicacious mum that I am, I realise this has more to do with the fact a birthday is looming and there is a Blackberry atop of the list, rather than anything to do with me being in fact anything closely approximating wonderful !

But I am going to take the hugs and enjoy them, they are becoming more and more precious as the kids grow up ( even if it is cupboard love !)

Off to do a little research on Brazil, our next destination on our postcard challenge !

Boa Noite x

Postcard number two - Spain

2012-01-15T18:51:00.004Z

Darcy's postcard challenge takes us to Spain this week

I cannot explain how this challenge has taken me to the very outrance of my creativity, I am so enjoying the art AND the writing side of the challenge. My teachers always urged me to take sensible subjects ie maths, economics and english to 'A' level as I had good grades and an aptitude for the more academic qualifications, but, I think, deep down, my arty side has always been screaming to be unleashed, the beauty of this challenge is that it allows me to utilise both sides of my personality.

Here is my 'Espanol' inspired postcard

My base is an actual postcard, bought from T.K.Maxx this week ( love that shop) I bought a little book of 20 fantastic quality postcards, they are all decorated with really pretty fairy images, but, I have used them as a base. I have mainly covered up the images but left the outside showing and used the colours as inspiration for my finished piece.

I used lots of Spanish ephemera, all inked with Vintage photo distress ink. I created the ornate frame by embossing chipboard with gold patina embossing powder.

And here is the back of the card with the second instalment of the story, please don't strain your eyes I have typed out the writing below this next photo.

Kathy's message to Sammy reads :

Your letter arrived and I have placed it into my safe. It looked very official !

The cottage is fine and all the plants are watered.

I hope you don't mind but I took it upon myself to dig out a new flower bed.

I travelled a lot when younger, I guess I was really trying to run away, but as you know, travel is impossible now.

I dug out some bits and bobs from my very last journey, I hope you like my Spanish inspired card!

Please stay safe sweetie and don't work too hard (Carlton is a slave driver !)

Do you know where you are next ?

Oh and I nearly forgot, a rather persistent gentleman keeps calling for you but won't leave his name or a message - very odd !

Take care

Love Kathy

Only one of my characters is travelling ( you will discover why Sammy's neighbour and friend, Kathy, can't, later in the story) so I had to weave in a way to explain the second set of postcards. Carlton - Sammy's boss is introduced this time and we have a mysterious guy trying to track Sammy down.

I wanted Kathy and Sammy's postcards to be different so am using two separate ways to make them, I am also using different styles of handwriting to reinforce their personalities. Sammy's handwriting is loose and free flowing, she is a free spirit and generally happy-go-lucky with a good sense of humour, so her writing will hopefully convey that.

Kathy on the other hand is older, wiser and more considered in her writing. She is precise and suffers from OCD among other things, she cares deeply about Sammy and her well being and is trying to look out for her young friend and neighbour.

Here is the original postcard I used as the base.

As my desinence today I will leave you with this famous Spanish quote

Art is a lie that makes us realise truth - Pablo Picasso

xxx

Away with the fairies

2012-01-13T23:25:00.000Z

Just a quick sketch catch up from me today

Sketch 365 - Thursday's sketch

And fridays sketch

I think this cute little sprite looks like has has just escaped from some marshy, viscid bog and is leaping to freedom and a dance with his fellow fairies and goblins.

That's all for tonight, I should be back with my postcard and some crafty stuff over the weekend.

Bigger

2012-01-12T23:59:00.000Z

I generally toss the scraps left over from teaching a card class into my set of drawers at the shop, this week I decided to use them to make some additional cards

Here is the first one, I think I have enough oddments to make around three more. Each time I will vary the design and sentiment slightly

Sketch 365 - Mondays sketch

Tuesday's sketch

Wednesday's sketch

I am loving doing these Brian Froud inspired sketches, I hadn't heard of him before this week but I will definitely not forget him, he truly excels in fantasy.

Just before I head off to do my sketch for today I will leave you with a little cuteness from yesterday.

One of my ladies brought her son to the shop to pick up grandma who had just finished one of my classes. Stevie is 3 and I engaged him in a little conversation about school and general 3 year old chit chat

He is such a bonny little lad and was happily chatting away, when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he gave me the best answer yet - he replied in a very serious, matter of fact voice 'bigger !'

Lol both me and his grandma were in stitches and he just looked at us both like we were the silly ones.

Journals and jollies

2012-01-11T23:30:00.000Z

First up I have my pages for the circle journal I am participating in

The pages and tag have been created for Becca and with her own tastes in mind, hence the bolder colours than I usually use.

And the rear of the tag including my own details so as Becca knows who has created the pages

I am enjoying this journal far more that I thought I would and have come to the conclusion that the project has elevetated itself to an almost heterotelic level, it has become far more than just a swapping of artist endeavours and 10 friendships have been made and deepened with each month.

This week the shop is back to normal and classes are back into their usual routine, here are the two cards I taught tuesday and wednesday

We used Copics to highlight a portion of the embossing folder on this first card

And we did a little masking on the die-cut doily on this second card

Our sale on saturday was a resounding success, i am verily verified in saying that as you can see from the photos ( pardon the paregmenon)

Approximately one third of all the paper trays have been left bereft of their contents.

As you can see lots of empty spaces - which can mean only one thing - lots of lovely new strokable stash winging its way to fill those empty and rather sorry looking trays !

Finally before I bid you goodnight to complete my sketch for today.

I would just like to let my regular customers know that february is going to be an extra special month.

It is three years since I bought the shop and february marks the anniversary of our opening.

It has been suggested several times that it is an occasion worth celebrating and at first I began to to expostulate, but I finally came around to the idea and have to admit I agree.

Thinking about it, in this current climate with all the difficulties it entails I think Running With Scissors has a lot to celebrate, we are still here after several setbacks and some pretty awkward economic times, so, as a massive thankyou to everyone who has contributed to the success of the shop we will be launching some fabulous new product lines and lots of promotions, bargains and events throughout february - for the whole month !

All news will be placed on the RWS website and I will also update here.

Darcy's postcard challenge

2012-01-08T22:18:00.002Z

Darcy's Postcard Challenge

Here is my first postcard for Darcy's fantastic new challenge, you can check out what we are all up to HERE, there is also a permanent link in my sidebar

This weeks country was Austria

The front of my postcard is decorated with a vintage map of Austria and a hand drawn Edelweiss flower , you might remember the flower from a post a couple of days back, I incorporated it into my sketch 365 project. The flower was drawn in pencil and then painted in distress inks. I added three little strips of ribbon in national colours to represent the Austrian flag.

And the back of my postcard

The postcard reads :

Dear Kathy

The paperwork I have been desperately seeking is being delivered tomorrow, could you please sign for it and keep it safe.

I will try and get home between conferences.

The Baroque architecture of Salzburg is bewitching - sadly the boardroom is not !

Please reply through the office as I should get a stopover in London next week.

Thanks

Sammy

P.S Don't forget to mist the fern

Kathy is housesitting for her neighbour Sammy who is a PA for a jet-setting entrepreneur.

Kathy is a kind but reclusive lady who has lived next to Sammy for as long as Sammy can remember.

Sammy is an adventurous, sweet natured girl who until recently had been living with an elderly couple whom she believed to be her parents, when both sadly passed away Sammy learned she was in fact adopted. Her world was turned upside down and she felt she no longer had roots in the cottage she had always called home. Driven by a desire to be anywhere but where she had been brought up in a lie, and with a deep yearning to know who had given her up and why, she took a job that would take her far away from all the unanswered questions.

My story will unfold as Sammy shares her travels and discoveries with her trusted neighbour and friend Kathy.

I can't believe we are all taking part in such an amazing challenge AND writing a story as we go. I have never ever taken part in such an inspiring and unusual challenge. I am also lucky to be sharing this journey with Anita, Nicki and Margaret who have also completed their first postcards.

Thankyou so much Darcy, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard you are working to make this challenge the massive success it already is, this is going to be one AMAZING year long journey !

Next I have my sketches from this week

Sketch 365

This was from thursday, I am working with MacKenzie Thorpe as my inspiration, I didn't share this on thursday as I was waiting for the paint to dry, as you can see the poppies were all important, this sketch really did need the colour !

Fridays sketch was the Edelweiss for my postcard (at the top of this post)

Saturdays sketch is the final Mackenzie Thorpe, I have fallen in love with his little hooded character who always seems to have a huge heart with him.

And the next artist I am using as my inspiration is a guy called Brian Froud, who does the most amazing Fairies and Goblins

So here is the first of seven, todays sketch Sneezewort.

No sketches for a few days and then I hit you with a pencil profligacy. I think this format may suit me a little better, I may combine the sketches and upload several at a time in order to free up blog posts purely for crafting.

I enjoyed a lovely walk to grandads this morning, the weather was really mild, the sun was warm on my back and about half an hour into the walk I was offered a lift from a very kind youth who obviously thought I had missed the bus and didn't realise I was actually walking for the sheer pleasure of it. Yes a young lad with a hoodie and very polite he was too, not all teenagers are trouble being the proud owner of two so I should know lol.

After grandads I enjoyed lunch with mum and dad and a really good chinwag with mum who I don't see nearly as much as I used to or as much as I would like to.

I also had a few minutes with Anita who bought me a lovely surprise, the next instalment of Sabine's notebook ( Darcy's inspiration for the postcard challenge) thanks hon xxx

Tomorrow we get to find out our next country for our postcards - can't wait !

Happy Anniversary mum and dad

2012-01-08T00:49:00.000Z

For mum and dad - love you xxx

Using my GORGEOUS new Stempelglede stamps from Anita, thankyou so much I LOVE them, in fact I think they are my all time fave item of stash EVER

The heart was stamped twice, the second time onto pink patterned paper and layered onto 3D pads for a little dimension

The patterned papers are Echo Park and My Minds Eye, and I used diamond stickles as an accent, the mini tags are Stampin' Up as are the sentiments in them

THANKYOU so much to everyone who came and made the sale a massive success today, my aim was to clear some wall and shelf space for lots of fab new stash coming soon and boy did we manage that !

It was lovely to see you all after the christmas break too, so thankyou

Big thanks also to my partners in crime Anita and Margaret, who helped set up the sale, kept me fed and watered all day and much, much more

We did manage a five minute break in the afternoon, just enough time to have a rather cimmerian conversation regarding modern art, the depth of subject was inexplicably lifted by the topic of David Beckham in his pants ( Anita's fault) I honestly don't think I have ever been in the company of two women who could change the course of a conversation quite so dramatically and hilariously. I think they also managed to cause mayhem in the cycle shop down the road (don't ask)

What a day !

Happy birthday dad

2012-01-07T02:09:00.000Z

If I had not been so tardy blogging these cards, it would still be dad's birthday, alas it is now the day after.

This is the card I made for the kids to send, the image has been coloured with Distress inks, the papers are by Bo Bunny.

This next card is from Neil and I.

Papers on this card are by Prima, flourish is Tim Holtz and label is a Spellbinders die cut. Stamp is M.S.E, Flower - Hero Arts

Sketch 365

I have plans for this little plant, all will be revealed tomorrow.

Massive thankyou's going to Mother Margaret who organised and bossed us little sprats into getting a ton of work done today, also to Nicki and Anita, I honestly could not have gotten all the sale preparations completed without you all THANKYOU

The Running With Scissors SALE is TODAY Saturday 7th January

At least 20 % of EVERYTHING in store with up to 90% off some items

10am - 4pm for ONE day only

Brave Heart

2012-01-05T22:31:00.001Z

I created this layout in my lunch break this afternoon ( thats one of the good things about working in a craft shop!)

The photos are of my lovely niece Katie, who has had a particularly hard couple of years, she has bravely to come to terms with being an insulin dependant diabetic, all at the same time as moving up from primary to secondary school and has done so with such maturity, she is such an inspiration ! Hence the title of the page.

The letters are a mix of chipboard painted with crackle paint and glittered stickers.

I added twill ribbon and wound around some rustic looking thread ( it reminded me of the ropes you often see tethering horses)

Lots of distressing, a little shabby painting, flowers and ribbon sliders finish off the page.

I painted the white chippie letters with Tim Holtz crackle paint, allowed them to dry and then rubbed them with Antique Linen distress ink.

It was my Design Team turn on IACW today and I had decided to share a little tutorial with our readers.

At the risk of going off on a little gasconade, this is a good idea for some time saving arty backgrounds, here is what I did with mine.

I layered them up and created backgrounds for my Stampman ATC's this month.

If you would like to read more and see the full tutorial, pop on over to IACW and I will guide you through one of many ways to make a unique masterboard.

The girls have some lovely ideas on there at the moment too, I loved the advent calendars !

I don't have my sketch to share tonight as I have not quite finished it, I had a lovely catch up with Rose today, she kept me company for most of the day and Carol too. So the only thing I made at work was the layout. After work Neil and I visited a close friend who is in hospital, get well soon Kev, we love you xxx

The sketch is half done and paint is drying, it was one of those that I felt needed colour ( you will see why when I can scan it in tomorrow)

Did any of you guess what my blog challenge is this year ? I alluded to it yesterday Anita was on the right track !

I have registered for a word a day on Dictionary.com, so each day the site generates a lesser used word and I add it to my moleskine ( yep I am geeky like that )

Anyhow I thought that as all the words are a little unusual and not in most peoples day to day vocabulary I thought it would be fun to challenge myself and actually add in each word every day in context on my blog.

Therein lies two challenges in one, in order to incorporate the word I must also blog every day !

I bet they stand out like a sore thumb, but I wonder how many of my readers can spot the word each day, at the end of each week ie Sunday I will list the words in my side bar ( no cheating and going to dictionary.com though lol)

Anyway enough waffling on, I have a couple of special projects to finish tonight, so I will love you and leave you.

xxx

All the love in the world

2012-01-05T00:29:00.000Z

First up and back to regular crafting here is a little 4 inch square card I made for a friend.

This was for Karen who is AJ's best friend's mum, she has been a star this year giving the boys lifts and taking them out and lots of other good deeds too, so I bought a little thankyou gift and added a note in this card.

The Kraft cardstock is Stampin' Up, the music note paper is By Bo Bunny. The ornate corner and flourishes are Cuttlebug, sentiment is also by Stampin' Up.

Sketch 365 - Inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe

Quickly sketched in pencil and coloured in very loose and casual with Polychromos, again these are supposed to be quick and easy, I really have to pull myself back from over-finishing them and spending hours on them.

Christmas is all but a blur, Neil is back at work and the kids are back at school and college. All ran rather smoothly apart from one minor panic when AJ misplaced his tie. AJ is incredibly ordered and precise with things, he likes routine, planning and being organised, his packed lunch and school bag have to be ready and by the door well before it is time to leave the house or he suffers a minor meltdown.

We only just averted said meltdown after frantic searching, the tie was found lurking among bedclothes ( AJ muttering about camouflage all the way out of the house - far too many hours spent on C.O.D this holiday !!!)

So, tie found and we are all settling back into the usual day to day rituals.

I enjoyed the company of Margaret today who came to fill me in on all her news and to show me her latest crafting projects, I am hoping she is going to blog them very soon as they are fantastic and she really does need to be sharing them, if she doesn't, I think Anita could have something to say about it, all hell will break loose and I will be summoned in my fetial capacity.

Me ! Melodramatic ! no !

Actually there is a little something going on with my blog, I have set myself a new challenge, can you tell what it is yet ?

I will reveal all later in the week, I think I might have a few class members who could guess.

Finally before I bid you all a goodnight

SHOP NEWS

The Running With Scissors JANUARY SALE

Will be taking place this saturday

SATURDAY 7th January 2012

There will be at least 20 % off EVERYTHING

AND

Much bigger reductions on some of the older stock - up to 90%

Sale starts at 10 am and we are open til 4pm

This is by way of a MASSIVE THANKYOU to all my loyal customers whose support has seen us through a trying start to the year

AND

it is also in preparation for some exciting changes

It is three years in February since I bought the shop and it has gone from strength to strength, I would really love to make february a whole month of celebration, so I have planned lots of events, special offers and exciting new stock, all will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Humphrey

2012-01-03T22:19:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Humphrey

My sketch for today has been inspired by Sally Hunter, the creator of Humphrey and his friends, you can visit Humphrey's website HERE

I fell in love with a calendar with these cute sketches on and had to treat myself.

I sketched him out this morning in between customers (back at work now) and then painted him in watercolours this afternoon whilst I enjoyed a fabulous catch up with Anita

- and yes you are my diamond too ( providing you are able to read my blog and forgive my solecisms as promised earlier lol xxx)

I aim to incorporate each of Sally's 12 sketches into my sketch-a-day project, so at some point each month expect to see more sugary sweet cuteness by way of Humphrey and his charming companions.

Whilst on the subject of sketching.

I am mixing it up a little this year.

Last year I completed 7 days straight with one particular artist of choice as my inspiration, although I am still going to continue with the inspirational artist part, I will not be completing a run of consecutive days.

As I have undertaken rather a lot of challenges this year - most of them art based and year long ( what on earth was I thinking - please tell me 2012 has more hours in each day) I decided that I would integrate the sketches I do for my moleskine journalling project, Kate's art calendar, Tam's lifebook course, Darcy's postcard challenge and any other challenge that I fail to say no to, into my sketch 365 project.

Still with me ?

I thought not lol

And before any of my longer standing readers begins to think I have abandoned my other crafting, I am still going to be posting regular cards and scrapbook pages, I have made a promise to myself to create at least one christmas card per week for 2012 and also increase my scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is my passion and I have allowed it to take a back seat for the last couple of years, but I really want to make a concerted effort to reintroduce regular layouts into my creative repertoire.

Dancing in the Rain

2012-01-02T18:34:00.000Z

Here is my January page for Kate Cranes art calendar challenge

As you can see, it looks quite different from yesterdays photos which were really just to illustrate the background technique I had used.

All my little squares were cut from scraps and boy did I have to rummage for those. I did learn that I generally don't use or buy lilac and purple shades of stash, I really delved into the depths to find enough to finish the page.

But, as it clearly is not a colour I generally opt for, I immersed myself in the challenge of making it work for my pages.

I originally planned to do those quirky images people are using all over their art journals, but if I am completely honest with myself, I don't really like crows on heads, pointy hats and mismatched body parts, they really aren't me, I am sorry, they look fine in other peoples books, Dyan Reavely and Kate make them look absolutely amazing, but when I do them they look like scientific experiments gone badly wrong - ooooops !!!

So I am going to remain true to myself and allow my own style to furnish my calendar.

The girlie started out as a black silhouette and initially she was holding the brolly over her head, but when I laid her out onto my completed page she looked wrong and far too dreary, so I paper pieced her and removed the brolly to position over the right side of the page.

I actually love the way the repositioning of the brolly worked out as the page now fits the quote really well.

The quote along the right hand side page reads :

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it is learning to dance in the rain

So she now looks like she is wantonly flinging her brolly and dancing in the rain (although I did have to perform a little reconfiguration of her feet to make her look like she was dancing)

The days of the week and the quote were computer generated and inked to blend in with the other elements

My daily journalling squares were daubed with white paint lightly to blend in a little better with the background and also to make the eventual journalling stand out more, I added numbers to each day with a journalling pen

The title and year were created with letter stickers.

And so the art calendar begins - I wonder if I can keep it up for the whole year.

I hope so.

I LOVED completing these pages - thankyou for the inspiration Kate.

It is not too late to join in the fun, Kate's website is linked in my sidebar if you fancy giving it a whirl ! One of the really wonderful parts of this project is that I am also doing it with some of my closest friends. Anita, Nicki, Margaret and Marie are also joining me, we plan to meet up and work on the calendars together throughout the year.

Sketch 365

Today I practiced 3/4 faces for my Lifebook class ( more on that later in the week)

The photo above is just a really quick basic outline, I was trying out shape and proportion mainly. I have been happy sketching faces front-on for a while but profiles and slightly offset angles are something I really need to work on. I am awaiting the delivery of my new watercolour paper so I won't be completing the actual piece until later in the week, but it is good to practice.

I promised yesterday to talk a little more in depth about my "One little word"

This is a project started by the amazingly talented Ali Edwards, you can find her blog HERE

The word I have chosen for the year is POSITIVITY

I am not a negative person generally, in fact, I am pretty optimistic most of the time, but positivity has so many nuances, I aim to explore them all through the year and return to the word to inspire me in my journalling, blog writing, creativity and personal life, I will share these on here as I go along.

Blogging took place pretty late last night, in fact I was still messing with photos and sketching ideas until 4.30 in the morning, naughty me! In doing so, I totally forgot to add the 'afters' of my operation - CLEAR CRAFT AREA

You can scroll down through a couple of posts to see the 'befores'

I emptied every single paper tray and drawer and sorted through their contents, most items were tidied, sorted into like groups and replaced in a tidier manner, a few objects were trussed in groups and sorted for donation ( mainly to Amy for her art and textiles coursework). So I did manage to rehome a few items.

An empty desk and a visible printer ( previously buried)

Completely clear window sills, floor and tidy drawers !!!

AJ said "Well done mum ! - are you going to keep it like that ?"

I had to admit "Noooooo it will probably last about 3 days !"

Oh well, it CAN look tidy.

Positivity

2012-01-02T01:36:00.002Z

I made a promise to myself, this year I will start journalling in earnest.

And so my first novation of the year is in progress.

I was inspired by Karen who manages to juggle a busy home and work life with an incredibly productive creative life too.

This is the inside cover with a reminder of a few of my long term goals for the year, they are actually only my creative ones as personal ones will be within the pages for each month and not all will be blogged or shared publicly.

There are some inspiring quotes with my word for the year on the left and my creative goals on the right.

I will go into more depth with regards each of my projects for this year with each blog entry this week.

My first page for the month is a calendar page, this is where I will note down birthdays etc.

I have left the bottom half blank as I am not sure of all I want to include just yet, so just in case I decide to add another project or such I do have some room.

My book is set out a little like Karen's, in the way that I have included a page of lists, these are my 'to do' lists, and is my attempt at being more focused and organised both at home and at work. I will write these up each sunday for the week ahead and cross them off as I complete them, they can be added to also.

I aim to complete a morning journal each day, before my head is filled with day to day hum drum, my first is really all about my projects for the year.

Please excuse the state of my handwriting, I aim to write these pages with a view to achieving thoughts on paper, neatness is secondary.

From the double page above, this is the page illustrating my 'one little word', more on that tomorrow and the illustration is my sketch for today - yes I am back to sketching every day ! Again, I will blog more about that later in the week ( this post is already turning into a marathon, so I am just going to touch on the basics for now and delve a little deeper in future posts)

I sketched out the word in pencil, created a black outline and shading in pen and then coloured my rainbow with my polychromos pencils, I held off blending as I didn't want an overly 'neat' finish.

The quote along the bottom of the page reads :

There can be no rainbow without a cloud and a storm.

The quote leads me into my next project

Kate Cranes Art Calendar

The first page of which reflects the miserable weather we have experienced of late.

I have completed the pages now but lost daylight so didn't get chance to photograph them before I blogged, but I did want to share some progress pictures of the background.

If you have seen the challenge, you will know that a fair portion of the background becomes masked by the journalling calendar squares so I thought it would be helpful for you to see each stage before all the frippery has been added.

1. Black white and shades of grey swiped vertically with a broad paintbrush for the initial layer of colour.

2. I then added swipes of lilac with a credit card, followed by streaks of white using the very edge of the card too apply the paint.

3. Stamped spotty circles in archival ink followed, after which I used a discarded glue stick lid, dipped in acrylic, to create some bold black rings.

Here's a close up of the layers of colour so far.

Tomorrow when the light is better ( today was pretty dismal in Lincolnshire to be honest) I will share the completed pages with you.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T22:06:00.000Z

There are only a couple of hours left of 2011, so I thought I would share a few more of the christmas cards I created this year, I didn't photograph them all, in fact I didn't make as many as I wanted, alas, I promise to try harder next year.

One of my current bug bears is my messy craft area, I have stolen the back end of our lounge and have a very functional set of drawers, but as for organisation, I am hopeless.

I always start each crafting session with good intentions but the photos here show the state it usually ends up in

Even the window sills behind me and the floor end up piled high with discarded stash or half complete projects

And the weird thing is I HATE working in a mess and Neil will attest to the fact I am super tidy everywhere else ( in fact I drive everyone in the family potty by putting everything away as soon as it is finished with and I LOVE clean surfaces)

So what is it about craft spaces ? I know that I am not alone, I have shared many a messy desk story with lots of fellow crafters

Anyway, the photos above were taken yesterday afternoon, ( the awful part is, they were taken an hour after tidying began !)

I sorted ribbons yesterday before my gym session, went shopping and did the cleaning up around the rest of the house and really intended finishing it all up before bed.

No hope! I ended up being sidetracked by Johnny Depp with Amy and making banana splits and fruit smoothies for the kids ( anything really just to delay the pain of sorting out all that STUFF)

But

I have made a concerted effort today, Amy helped with the papers and some more ribbons, hopefully tomorrow I should have some 'afters' to share

On that note, I will bid you all goodnight and wish you all

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thankyou for your kind words and comments all through the year

xxx

Christmas catch up

2011-12-27T22:36:00.000Z

I hope you have all enjoyed a happy and relaxed christmas

I must apologise for my absence, I made the mistake of relaxing myself and ended up with the mother of all colds ( not quite man flu but you get the gist)

Neil and I have a theory that whilst you are busy and do not have time to get ill your body kind of just battles on, but, the minute you relax and let down your guard - BAM!!!! the bugs get you

Anyhow, thats what happened to me so blogging, sketching and all things other than family and necessary christmas preparations have taken a back seat.

These cards I share with you today are the ones I made my fellow circle journallers and raggy dolls. As a group we have become very close and have a special friendship which has quickly transcended mere association by art alone.

The papers are all from a 6 inch paper pad by Bo Bunny, the stamps are Stampin' Up and the reindeer are Tim Holtz, very kindly die cut for me by my dear friend Anita - thanks hon xxx

The tree die cut is also Tim Holtz

Although not in the best of health I did have a lovely christmas, received some fabby gifts, ate lots of yummy food and luckily Neil had the week off too, so the family time with us all together was precious and by far the best gift.

Angels but no demons

2011-12-14T23:22:00.000Z

The card I made for Neil's birthday which was yesterday.

I was going to take Neil out for something to eat and maybe a movie but when I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said bring in a KFC to share with the kids and to be home watching a film with us all together. So we bought Super 8 on blue ray and did a detour on the way home from the gym to pick up a bucket of chicken. It's always the simple things in life that give me the most pleasure, so glad we enjoy the same things, love you Neil happy birthday xxx

All the kids were home and it was lovely to chill out all together, we opened a huge bag of popcorn and a box of choccies and enjoyed a good old fashioned family movie night - bliss !!!

Crafting wise, this week I finished my angels. They were inspired by Laura Dennison who shared the technique on her blog as part of her 12 days of christmas inspiration, you can find her tutorial here if you fancy trying them out for yourself. Thankyou for the inspiration Laura.

I made 7 in total and strung them together with satin ribbon and pearl strands to form a garland for my fireplace, here they are in situ.

Also, I made a second wreath for my mum and dad, I chose slightly different colours for mum's as her living room is a gorgeous soft shade of green.

Also in the last few days we have enjoyed Robbie's band performance as part of his Music AS level. He played electric guitar and did us all proud as he performed a Green Day track in front of an audience at school - proud of you son xxx

Gym Diary

Total visits this week - 5

Bike - 3 x 20 mins = 1 hour

Rowing machine - 2 x 10 mins = 20 mins

Treadmill (max incline) - 2 x 20 mins, 1 x 40 mins, 1 x 45 mins, 1 x 60 mins = 3hrs 5mins

Treadmill flat - 1x 20 mins

Cross trainer - 2 x 10 mins = 20 mins

Walking ( outside) - 1 hours

Total cardio this week = 6 hours 5 mins

Toning plates x 5

Weight loss - 4 lbs lost

Mood - proud

Targets

Did really well this week and stepped up the intensity at the gym, resisted several temptations this week food wise and enjoyed some treats without going mad, delighted with weight loss this week.

Was not able to achieve the self set target of 7 hours in the gym this week but realise this is a hard target to reach with all the christmas preparations, school, work and family commitments I have had this week.

Managed two sessions on the cross trainer and did much better with water consumption although still not drinking two litres.

This next week my targets are to maintain at least 6 hours of cardio over the week and to finally achieve the 2 litres of water per day.

Going round and round in circles

2011-12-10T00:13:00.001Z

We made this gorgeous wreath in the Stampin' Up class yesterday.

The design is by YeeTing who guided us through the process of cutting, rolling and gluing 100 squares into cone shapes and adding them to our rings to create this yummy chocolate coloured decoration

I am not going to pretend it is a quick project, it took around 5 hours ( with minimal coffee and bickie breaks)

But we all agreed it was worth the sticky fingers and numb bottoms.

YeeTing hosts regular classes at my shop, this was her last class of this year for me but she will be back in the new year - can't wait ! Details will be posted on my blog and on the shop website nearer the time so keep your eyes peeled if you are up for a little Stampin' Up fun.

On that note I would like to say a massive thankyou to YeeTing for all the classes she has taught this year and for sharing all her talent with us ladies at the shop, thanks hon you are very much appreciated xxx

Bonafide

2011-12-07T22:15:00.000Z

This weeks class cards, the final two Christmas themed cards this year.

Next week we will be back to making non christmas cards, next week is also the final week for all classes

And now for something entirely different.

All of you who know me well, know I love my music, especially rock.

Neil surprised me with tickets this week at the Yardbirds in Grimsby to see a band we have only just recently become aware of. Wow what a gig ! Bonafide definitely made it into my all time top ten, and I have seen many many bands play live.

The band had a lot of fun on stage, just the right amount of playful banter with the crowd and absolutely rocked their hearts out.

Pontius's voice was amazing.

We met the band and had a chat and a squeeze lol. They were incredibly friendly and patient and spent all the time between sets in the bar with us normal folk, they were so humble and unassuming, and appeared completely unaware of just how brilliant they are.

Neil took Anita backstage afterwards for some photo ops

One of the support bands was called Silverjet and they were pretty good too, again Anita backstage with the lead singer.

So thankyou to Neil for the tickets and Anita for joining us, last night was definitely one of my best ever nights out and it was all the more special because I got to share it with two of my fave people.

Bonafide - please come to Download in June, Donnington needs YOU !

Deck the halls

2011-12-06T02:14:00.000Z

I have a couple of 'Thankyou' cards to share with you this evening

Papers are Melissa Frances, sentiments are by Stampin' Up

Sketch 365 - Day 25

Inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe, I couldn't resist creating a version of this, as we are all Liverpool supporters in our house

Gym diary

Total visits this week - 4

Bike - 3 x 20 mins + 1 x 30 mins = 1 hour 30 mins

Rowing machine - 1x 20 mins + 1 x 10 mins = 30 mins

Treadmill ( max incline) - 1 x 50 mins + 1 x 20 mins + 1 x 30 mins = 1 hour 40 mins

Treadmill (flat) - 1 x 40 mins = 40 mins

Walking (outside) - 2 x 1 hour = 2 hours

Total cardio - 6 hours 20 mins

Weightloss this week - gained 2 lbs

Mood - happy but not elated

Worked hard in all gym sessions but failed to reach my 7 hour cardio target, mainly due to time issues and a heavy schedule outside the gym

Hit target of increased rowing

A couple of slips with the eating and drinking and a failure to keep up with the water intake

I started using the toning plates with four 10 minute sessions completed this week

Targets for next week

7 hours total cardio

2 litres of water per day

At least one session on the cross trainer

5 toning plate sessions

All three kids are suffering general coughs and colds this week bless them, nothing too serious but enough to make them all sniffly and a little off colour, let's hope the recent cold snap kills off all those nasty bugs and viruses.

We began the yuletide decorations last night and are gradually beginning to feel festive ( although the merry and bright might have to wait until all the coughs have cleared up !)

The new tree was an event in itself, I had no idea when I bought it that all the branches came separately and had to be inserted into the trunk in a very specific order, thankfully AJ took to the task with a vigor usually only reseved for scooting escapades, had I been left to do it on my lonesome I would still be assembling it now !

Have you started decking the halls yet ?

MacKenzie

2011-12-04T00:41:00.000Z

This card I made for AJ's best mate Jack who is 12 today - happy birthday Jack xxx

The boys are crazy about all things scooter and skateboard at the moment, so the image choice was easy.

I added some hardware in the form of eyelets and brads and a mini paper clip

Next I have a little sketch catch up to share

Sketch 365 - Day 22

Sketch 365 - Day 23

Sketch 365 - Day 24

All these sketches have been inspired by MacKenzie Thorpe, who I wasn't aware of til my friend Darcy suggested him to me( thanks for the suggestion hon) I love his style. All the sketches were pencil drawn with no shading and painted with water soluble crayons.

Snowflakes and bows

2011-12-02T00:39:00.000Z

Just a quick post from me tonight, Neil and I decided to enjoy an impromptu date night, so all else went out of the window, but I did want to share my class cards

Lots of embossing, a little inking and a Tim Holtz border on this first lilac card

And a more traditional feel with this second card, heat embossing and a chocolate box bow finish this one

I will be back with my sketches and another card which currently lie half finished on my desk.

I cannot believe it is december already. By a twist of fate I have two trees to put up this year, more on that in a later post, so it looks like I may have a busy weekend, we have chocolates at the ready (sustenance of course !!!)

Friend hugger

2011-12-01T00:03:00.001Z

So much nicer and squidgier than trees don't you think ?

Hugging friends I mean !

A second card this week for another friend who is also in need of some TLC

I used Melissa Frances paper, another crocheted flower from Anita, the alphas are by Prima and the tiny tag punch is by Stamppin' Up.

The heart dies are Marianne design and the ribbon is Tim Holtz

The paper had a little banner across the top corner, I highlighted this with some tiny weeny dots of liquid pearls, you can just see the detail in the top right corner of photo above.

And onto my daily scribblings, I am playing catch up again, although the sketches are done each day, I sometimes run out of time to blog them, so forgive me if they come in two's and threes, I may be changing the format of my blog next year and could possibly upload a week of sketches in one go - therefore saving a little time as I do have quite a few new weekly and monthly projects beginning in the new year, but I haven't decided yet, we'll see !

Sketch 365 - Day 20

Fleur inspired by Abigail Halpin

Sketch 365 - Day 21

Bathing Buddies inspired by Abigail Halpin

This brings me to the end of this wonderfully whimsical week of sketches, I adore Abigail's style and feel it may be a form of sketching I will enjoy revisiting later in the year.

Hugs

2011-11-29T00:03:00.002Z

A card for a friend who could do with a hug right now

I used Melissa Frances papers, Prima alpha stickers and a beautiful crocheted flower by my generous friend Anita

The pennant was created using a Whimsy Die

Next up I have a little sketch catch up

Sketch 365 - Day 18

Shelby inspired by Abigail Halpin

and Sketch 365 - Day 19

Harry inspired by Abigail Halpin

The sketches this week have been much quicker than my last two weeks worth. Abigail's style is far more 'loose' and less detailed, but they are incredibly fun and my book is looking much cuter with a little dash of colour here and there.

Gym diary

Total visits last week - 3

Bike - 3 x 20 mins = 1 x 25 mins = 1 hour 25 mins

Rowing machine - 1 x 20 mins = 20 mins

Treadmill - 4 x 20 mins (2 % incline) 1 x 20 mins = 20 mins

5 x 20 mins (max incline) = 1 hour 40 mins

Walking ( outside) - 1 x 1 hour = 1 hours

Total cardio = 4 hours 45 minutes

Weight loss - 5lb

Mood - Happy - did reasonably well with eating this week and worked hard at the gym but didn't get quite as many hours of cardio logged as I had hoped

Goals for this week - increase rowing ( increased length of session but only rowed once last week), achieve 7 hours cardio, and 2 lb weight loss

I have been eating healthier since August and have lost a total of 2 stones and 1lb to date

The exercise has helped me break through a recent plateau and has increased my energy levels

The tape measure is now showing decent losses with 5 inches banished from my waist.

I aim to stay strictly on plan until christmas week and would love to be under 11 stone for christmas, and I will reward myself with copious amounts of mince pies and choccies ... nom nom.

Autumn

2011-11-27T00:17:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 17

Inspired by Abigail Halpin

Now's the time when children's noses

All become as red as roses

And the colour of their faces

Makes me think of orchard places

Where the juicy apples grow,

And tomatoes in a row.

And to-day the hardened sinner
Never could be late for dinner,
But will jump up to the table
Just as soon as he is able,
Ask for three times hot roast mutton--
Oh! the shocking little glutton.

Come then, find your ball and racket,
Pop into your winter jacket,
With the lovely bear-skin lining.
While the sun is brightly shining,
Let us run and play together
And just love the autumn weather.

Katherine Mansfield

Snowmen, sassy girls and sons

2011-11-26T00:55:00.000Z

This weeks class card using a really cute Penny Johnson stamp

The image was coloured with Distress Inks and the card was constructed in an easel style, papers used are by Bo Bunny.

Sketch 365 - Day 15

Inspired by Abigail Halpin

I did not miss a sketching day, I just ran out of steam when it came to blogging the piece.

I needed to attend a parent/teacher meeting at school for Rob last night after work and by the time I had prepared the class for friday, fed the kids, done the usual mundane household tasks, whipped the dog around the block and completed my sketch I realised the day had ended and another had begun, bed beckoned and blogging took a backseat.

So, today I have two sketches to share

Sketch 365 - Day 16

Inspired by Abigail Halpin.

As I was completing my sketch last night, I glanced up to see the boys engrossed in one of my art books, they sat side by side for half an hour, completely unaware of anything around them, one turning the pages, both totally absorbed in the book, neither noticed me taking photos and neither moved an inch, they were as close as two peas in a pod.

They truly have a special bond and always have done, I am so proud of them both and hope they always feel so comfortable with each other.

On another note entirely, our moleskines have arrived, so, Margaret, Anita, Nicki, Marie and myself are all set and rearing to go for Kate Cranes journalled calendar. We can't wait and have plans to create the backgrounds together at the shop, it will be a lot of fun to complete the book as a group of friends, sharing the journey ( and no doubt lots of coffee, cakes and laughs !!!)

Happy birthday sis

2011-11-24T00:01:00.000Z

Happy birthday Helen xxx

This is the card I made for my baby sister, I really wanted to use my favourite alpha stamps on this card.

This card is an unusual size for me, I created it in the 8x8 inch format, sometimes it is a healthy challenge to break out of the 'same old same old' routine

The fancy ribbon idea is one that has been shared by YeeTing and Linda on their Stampin' Up cards, thankyou for the inspiration ladies, I enjoyed creating the variation of a bow.

This card formed the basis of my DT post for the IACW inspiration blog today, you can see the entire post and a couple of other ideas for letter stamps HERE

Sketch 365 - Day 14

Love hurts inspired by Kat Von D

This is the last sketch I will do with Kat as my inspiration, tomorrow will see me move on and garner inspiration from another artist. One of the most enjoyable parts of this self-set challenge has been researching all the varying forms of art and artists, my book will eventually hold inspiration from 52 sources, the journey of exploration is truly exciting for me. So, who will be next ........... hmmmmmm............... I will reveal all tomorrow.

Before I bid you goodnight I will leave you with this photo I took from my back garden this morning. It was pitch black for a good hour or so as I sat and made a couple of cards, when I turned round to wave Rob off as he set out on his paper round, I was greeted with the most gorgeous jewel coloured sky, deep bruises of purple and magenta gave way to cerise and ruby before the rising sun eventually drained all the luscious hues away. Sometimes an extra early rising provides more than just a head start on the day !

Skull

2011-11-23T00:16:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 13

Skull inspired by Kat Von D

Be Seated

2011-11-21T23:45:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 12

Be Seated inspired by Kat Von D

I enjoyed a lovely visit with my friend Nicki today. Nicki has been suffering with a really bad back for a long, long time now and has just been told she will require surgery next month to correct a disc problem. Poor thing ! It is awful to see someone you love in so much pain, get well soon Nicki we miss you and your lovely smile.

Thankyou to Anita who took me there and brought me home again.

Gym diary

Total visits last week - 5

Bike - 5 x 20 mins = 1hour 40 mins

Rowing machine - 2 x 15 mins = 30 mins

Cross Trainer - 2 x 10 mins = 20 mins

Treadmill - 4 x 20 mins (2 % incline) = 1 hour 20 mins

3 x 20 mins (max incline) = 1 hour

Walking ( outside) - 2 x 1 hour = 2 hours

Total cardio = 6 hours 50 minutes

Weight loss - 1lb gain ( bad bad bad week - 3 date nights)

Mood - Disappointed (eating) but happy with exercise levels

Goals for this week - increase rowing, achieve 7 hours cardio, and 2 lb weight loss

Swaps n sketches

2011-11-20T23:39:00.002Z

I am back with some crafty stuff to share.

I bet you were all thinking the crafting had taken a back seat to the sketching.

Most of the projects I am working on at the moment are gifts so unfortunately can't be blogged just yet as all the recipients are also viewers of my blog.

In the meantime I do have some rather lovely ATC's to share, here are the five I received in the RWS swap last week, the theme was Ivory and buttons.

From left to right and top to bottom the above ATC's were from

Lorraine

Debbie

Jan

Anita

Clarky J

And the following ten ATC's were received in an international swap my friend Anita had helped organise

And this set was from

Britt

Mira

Arja

Jehkotar

Riitta

Taava

Jehkotar

Marjo-Riitta

Riitta

Thankyou everyone for all your gorgeous little works of art, my ATC folders are getting lusciously plump with lots of wonderful swaps

Last but not least I have my sketch for the day

Sketch 365 - Day 11

Romanticide inspired by Kat Von D

I do hope my sketches aren't boring you all, I promise to have some non pencil related goodies to share this week.

Just before I go on my journey to the land of nod I have two thankyou's to make

Trish - thankyou for the fabulous books, I didn't think the fairy one would appeal but I found it fascinating and can't wait to give them a go and all the books are an inspiration

Dawn and Jay, thankyou for the study books for AJ, very much appreciated ( no excuses now lol)

Night night xxx

Cupid

2011-11-20T00:27:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 10

Cupid Inspired by Kat Von D

To Love

2011-11-19T00:32:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 9

To Love inspired by Kat Von D

Anita pondered how long I was going to keep this sketching lark up.

Well 9 days straight on any project is an achievement for me.

I officially have the attention span of a goldfish, anyone who knows me will tell you that.

9 days in and still having an inordinate amount of fun.

Not saying I will achieve 365 days.

Suggesting it may be achievable.

Just saying !

Love grows

2011-11-17T23:17:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 8

Love grows inspired by Kat Von D

Aside from completing my little sketch today I have accompanied Neil on a little trip to pick up Rob's birthday gift from Hull. We have bought him a new electric guitar, we got an absolute bargain, so although it is not his birthday til february we decided it wasn't an opportunity we could miss.

My scrapbook pages are complete and written up for class this week and I managed my fourth gym session of the week.

The gym is going well, this is my third week and I am settling in to a routine now, I am managing around an hour on the cardio machines with each visit and have been steadily building up the intensity with each workout. Once I have reached my target weight I am going to return to a little light weight training alongside the cardio, it was always the weight training I enjoyed before, the cardio I always find to be a complete slog, but after over three years of relative inactivity it is all uphill at the moment !

As of next week I am going to document each weeks progress on here so I have some kind of record, so please feel free to skip those parts when they do appear on here.

I have also ordered four A4 moleskines for myself and three special friends, Margaret, Nicki and Anita. We are all going to join in Kate Cranes art journalled calendar next year so we are getting prepared. I am already saving lots of scraps to use as the daily squares and practising background techniques, so excited and it is going to be so much fun sharing the experience with three of my closest friends.

Dream

2011-11-16T23:01:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 7

Inspired by Dali's "Dream Caused By the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, a Second Before Waking Up.

For all his talent in painting I have to smile at some of Dali's titles, not one for choosing snappy, succinct ones obviously !

All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them !

Walt Disney

So that brings me to the conclusion of my first week of Sketch 365.

I am currently compiling a list of artists to use as inspiration for future weeks, if any of my readers have any suggestions I would love to hear them. I am going to attempt all styles so no-one is off limits, from whimsy to the classics and from urban to fairytale, I will tackle them all.

So, after Dali this week, tomorrow I will be jumping a generation or two and drawing inspiration from

Kat Von D - tattoo artist extraordinaire.

Butterfly power

2011-11-16T00:09:00.000Z

This weeks class cards

Stamping, embossing, sanding, inking, distressing

And I showed my ladies how to make these vintage tickets, so easy and versatile.

Sketch 365

6 of 7 Dali

I found this Dali - esque image in google but not entirely sure of its origin, I liked the style so my inspiration was drawn from the butterfly powered windmills, what a lovely concept !

Just living is not enough, said the butterfly, one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.

Hans Christian Andersen

Metamorphosis

2011-11-14T23:26:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 5

Inspired by Dali's The Metamorphosis of Narcissus

Feeling sleepy

2011-11-13T18:34:00.003Z

Sketch 365 - Day 4

Inspired by Dali's Sleep

The Land of Nod
From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.


All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do —
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.

The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.


Robert Louis Stevenson

I am currently working on a number of cards and projects which are gifts, so I am unable to share any of them as all the recipients are readers of my blog and I wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.Please don't think I have abandoned all my other creative outlets.

That said I am playing with a couple of ideas this evening so I may have something crafty to share along with tomorrows sketch.

Instrumental art

2011-11-12T19:56:00.000Z

Sketch 365 - Day 3

Inspired by Dali's The Masochistic Instrument

Floppy clocks

2011-11-11T23:57:00.001Z

Sketch 365 - Day 2

Inspired by Dali's The Persistence of Memory

Sketch 365

2011-11-11T01:30:00.001Z

This weeks class card, we only made one this week as there was plenty to keep everyone busy( or so I thought) Although the wednesday morning ladies beat the other two classes and became the elite class of the week with all ladies finishing in record time.

The stamp is by Magenta and was embossed, the photo below shows both the heat embossing (gold) and the dry embossing through the Cuttlebug ( green patterned paper).

YeeTing taught these two baublicious cards today along with two matching gift tags, thanks hon

And YeeTing's next class is in a fortnight's time and will be this fantastic advent calendar, the class will be held on Thursday 24th November at 12.30pm and will be a very reasonable £10.00, places are limited so if you fancy making this cute little treat please ring the shop on 01472 359158 as I know this class is going to fill quickly

As promised yesterday ( ooops it is now tomorrow didn't realise the time - so two days ago !), this is the absolutely amazingly beautiful painting my dear friend Trish gave me. Trish has brought in several of her pieces of art to share with me in the past and I love her style, I am delighted to have an original piece of her art and will treasure it for always, thankyou Trish you are so very thoughtful xxx

Now this is just going to pale in comparison, but the photo below is the start of a new venture for me. I have been a blog-hopping ( as you do) and have been seeing people participate in photo/art/ journalling- a-day challenges. One of the facets of my creativity that has taken a back seat over the last couple of years, is sketching. I used to sit and draw for hours, anything, any subject, people, animals, landscapes, fruit, you name it I drew it. Lately I have become stuck on the treadmill of creating scrapbook layouts and cards for my classes.

I decided to set aside a few minutes each day to do a quick sketch.

So I set myself a challenge - - - Sketch 365

Every day for the next year I am going to spend a maximum of twenty minutes sketching, these are going to be little more than doodles, just quick little pieces of art that will allow me the luxury of the pencil in my fingers once again.

Here is number one

To make the 'deciding what to draw' a little bit easier, I will each week choose an artist who inspires me and for the following seven days draw inspiration from one of their pieces.

This sketch is based on The Ascension of Christ by Salvador Dali and took me approximately 15 minutes.

I will be working on Dali all this week so expect some floppy clocks at some point ( careful how you read that !!!!!)

And on that note I will bid you all a goodnight ( morning) xxx

Vintage mini

2011-11-09T22:06:00.001Z

Warning - Photo heavy post

As promised, this is is the Vintage Mini Book I made for Amy for her birthday

The book is made from a gutted hardback novel from the charity shop

The cover has been primed, painted, waxed and sealed

The Tim Holtz flourishes have been embossed with some metallic powder and rubbed with wax

Some pretty Prima trinkets adorn the ends of the ribbons decorating the spine

I have kept each page really simple with lots of blank space for Amy to document this milestone year

There are half pages as well as full pages adding lots of extra space for photos

I used a calendar page, inside the front cover with her birthday highlighted.

I added decorative paper pages

I also included quite a few various sized journalling cards

Between these next two pages you can see the handstitched pages

All the papers are from a Tilda paper pad and an assortment of oddments I have accumulated

These journalling sheets are from a Making Memories notebook

Of course I had to include at least one japanese inspired page

Amy loved her book and we are planning to fill it together, it will be so special to create this keepsake as mother and daughter - precious times !

The book is actually a variation of the class I taught last month, the class was a resounding success and I have a waiting list to do it again, so it will be repeated in the new year. So far I have made three of these books and have another two in progress, mini books are a bit of an obsession of mine - love them - in all their various forms and styles.

Next I have the ATC's I made for the RWS October swap, the theme was Buttons and we had to used the colour Ivory

Thankyou to everyone who took part, as always the standard was incredibly high, I have exchanged all the swaps this evening so they will be in the shop as of tomorrow for collection.

This months (November) theme is TREES and the required colour is RUST if you are interested in playing along all the details for the months swap are HERE and the rules and regs for the swaps in general are HERE

While on the subject of ATC's, I won this months swap over on The Stampman site with my Oriental ATC below, woohoooo, thankyou Janet xxx

I received the most beautiful gift today, alas I didn't have my camera with me and after returning home after work and the gym, the light had disappeared completely, I will try and photograph it tomorrow and share it with you all tomorrow, it really is gorgeous and a real honest work of art.

Zero to 18 in 3 seconds flat

2011-11-08T22:12:00.002Z

What is it about milestone birthdays that make us all stop and think for a moment ? I know I am not alone in that moment of mild panic at the thought of 'x' amount of years disappearing in the blink of an eye.

This week - Sunday 6th November my baby girl turned 18 and it honestly does feel like yesterday since Amy was a baby, all tiny and pink and vulnerable.

I made this card for her from me and her dad

It is a three layered card, in her favourite colours.

The papers I used are from a Tilda paper pad

The verse was downloaded from the internet and printed onto cardstock

I couldn't be prouder of my little girl, she may be as tall as me, enrolled in college and on the cusp of adulthood but she will always be my 'little girl'.

Love you Amy xxx

Yesterday I spent a lovely relaxed day making cards with Linda G, you can visit her website HERE, I have the luxury of two fantastic local Stampin' Up demonstrators ( who also happen to be friends) so I am spoilt for choice.This week we made 5 cards and a cute little cracker.

Talking of Stampin' Up, our next class at the shop with YeeTing is this thursday and I do have spaces if you are interested, please telephone the shop if you would like me to save you a seat, the class is 1.30pm - 3.30pm and is £6.50 Tel : 01472 359158

A big thankyou to Ann who brought me in a couple of bags of yummy alterables to play with and also to Linda for the lovely box which I am going to have loads of fun playing with too.

I will be back tomorrow with photos of the altered book I made Amy for her birthday and the atc's I created for our October RWS swap.

I'm a creative girl

2011-11-04T20:23:00.000Z

My first Design Team post is up at IACW

Here are a couple of sneak peeks, for more photos and details pop on over HERE

The girls are really inspiring us all with some fabulous ideas and tutorials.

Doda has a fantastic method for photo transferring to fabric and Eleanor has just shared a fabulous take on altered clothing.

Two quick thankyou's before I sign off to play with my paper scraps

Thankyou IACW for inviting me to join your amazing team, I am honoured to have been asked.

And thankyou to the ever lovely Ann N who bought me the prettiest bouquet of flowers this morning, they truly added a spot of sunshine to an otherwise cold and wet day - thankyou xxx

Let the light shine

2011-11-03T11:37:00.001Z

***IMPORTANT***

There are NO saturday workshops for the next couple of weeks, there will be a new class schedule in the shop at the end of next week - thankyou xxx

This weeks class cards

A simple design with some simple paper-piecing for the frock - simples !!!!

And a golden glow from the lovely new Lantern die - new in the shop this week.

The background on this card was created with Distress Inks inks and glimmer chalks

I have the day off today, dad is kindly manning the shop ( and hopefully keeping Bonnie in line - some hope !!!!!!)

So I am working from home on some new classes, catching up with the housework and then off to the gym ( don't you just love days off lol)

I recently took control of my spiralling weight issue. I put myself on a low carb diet and have lost 21 lbs so far, I still have a few to go but I am pleased with my progress so far. This diet seems to work for me in the way that I don't ever feel hungry ( protein is so much more filling and longer lasting than carbs)

I am still enjoying treats but have managed to curb the binging cycle I had become accustomed to.

In my efforts to tone up and help burn some extra calories I also decided to start back at the gym and Neil very kindly bought me a months membership as a trial to see if I can fit it in around home and work. So far I am enjoying it, it feels good to be back in control and I am loving having some extra time with Neil, gym buddies again !

And the defining moment that led to the return to the gym - those bloody God awful multi view mirrors in Marks and Spencers, honestly they are so unflattering, the lady in the next cubicle was killing herself laughing at me uttering 'NO !!!! that can't be my backside'

I even tried to swivel it round to see if there was some evil prankster with a massive bottom lurking there in the corner pretending to be me.

How on earth did it happen ?

Surely I haven't been walking around all this time with a posterior the size of a mini cab and not been aware !

Apparently so !

The horrors !

So there you have it, if you need an incentive to get your own backside to the gym, just go and try a new pair of skinny jeans on in Marks and Spencers, I guarantee you will be spending an extra ten minutes on the stairmaster ( either that or you will do what I would have done two weeks ago and thought 'sod it I am off for a cake and a coffee !')

xxx

New DT position

2011-11-01T22:10:00.002Z

I have some really exciting news to share

I was recently approached and asked to join the brand new Design team over at IACW

Woooohoooooo I am so pleased to have been asked, thankyou ladies, pop along and check out what the new and 'old' girls have been up to, we have some fabulous projects in the pipeline and there are some incredibly talented ladies contributing all manner of crafting goodies. My first post on the site should be going up later in the week ( if I can work out typepad lol)

In the meantime. I have a couple of little projects to share

First up my second pair of pages in my glue book

Most of the paper scraps were left over from my recent mini book class, everything else is bits and bobs that have been languishing in my drawers for eons !

I also have a set of ATC's to share which I have recently completed for an international swap I had been invited to join. I must apologise for the weird photo, I took it in haste at the shop and the lighting was poor

The only criteria for the swap was to have stamping included somewhere on the card

My backgrounds were a sheet of wordy patterned paper, which I stamped with various flower and flourish stamps

The sentiment is also stamped ( all stamps on these cards were by Stampin' Up)

The butterflies are die-cuts from Marianne Design

And that's it for tonight, I will be back tomorrow with the class cards for this week, I am now going to put the finishing touches to my project for IACW

Cards, cards and more cards

2011-10-29T22:05:00.000Z

The cards from todays Christmas card class

We stamped and painted House Mouse.

I had booked the class last minute and had been busy all week ( other commitments, journals, classes, atc swaps that needed posting etc and a little late night jaunt to Sheffield midweek, as well as the usual family and work commitments)

So I made all the cards and did all the class prep and instructions after work last night, a little tighter than I usually like to have my deadlines lol, but it did help me to time the class and at least I knew it would be possible for all my ladies to make the cards in the one day.

We used a vintage image on this one, the gorgeous glittery papers are by Making Memories.

Die cutting and embossing, ink and stickles on this next one

We went for a frosty look on this next card and turned a label into hinges, the snowflake border is by Tim Holtz

And this last DL sized card is actually made from envelopes to create a pocket for gift certificates etc, the lantern is a Marianne Design die

We had a great day, lovely company, lovely relaxed atmosphere and some hearty laughs thrown in for good measure

I have a few thankyous to post tonight

Thankyou to Kate for giving Amy and I a lift home, it saved me catching the bus with all my bags and Cuttlebug xxx

Thankyou to Carol for the box of chocolates earlier in the week xxx

Thankyou to Anita for the gorgeous crocheted flowers and fabulous stamp xxx

Thankyou to Debbie for the loan of the Christmas stamps xxx

Thankyou to Ann for the great big bag of all things inky, painty and alterable - you have no idea how much fun I am going to have with those - my mind is whirring already xxx

Thankyou to all the ladies who helped Amy and I to clear up tonight, especially Trish, who always sneaks out back and washes up pots, clears the tables by stealth and generally keeps the shop looking less like a bomb site during the classes she comes to xxx

I have had a crazy busy week, but it has been absolutely brilliant, I am so lucky to have so many wonderful friends, the hard work and effort is worth every single minute - thankyou all xxx

Friendship is not a big thing - it's a million little things!

Heavy metal

2011-10-27T22:07:00.000Z

The card I taught this week in class

We did a little painting and a lot of distressing.

And the following three cards are the ones taught by YeeTing in our Stampin,Up class today.

Gorgeous rich colours

And a quick but not so simple card as this one necessitated the use of a stampamajig.

Thankyou for a lovely class YeeTing

The next stampin' Up class will be in a fortnights time, next thursday is parchment with Bonnie.

We had an interesting day yesterday. Neil had bought us all tickets to see Volbeat at Sheffield. We love Volbeat, they played at Download last year and were fantastic live.

Unfortunately AJ wasn't old enough and we were turned away at the door.

Rather than lose out all round and face a long drive home we decided to split up, Neil took Amy and Rob in to see the band and I found the nearest cinema to keep AJ amused.

This is where I can strongly recommend a handy little app for all you iphone users. Last year we downloaded 'Around me'

I'd had no need to use mine, but it came into it's own last night. My gigging days in Sheffield are a fair few years back and my memory is not great at the best of times, I didn't have a clue where all the amenities were.

You open up the app, choose the kind of amenity you are wanting ie bank, restaurant, cinema etc and it finds every single one in the vicinity and lists them with their distance from you.

One click and it gives you a little street map with a starting point and target so you can't get lost, brilliant, I love my little apple appliances.

So the boy and I found our way to the local Odeon and thoroughly enjoyed Real Steel, an entirely different kind of metal than we had been anticipating originally but fab all the same.

Vulcanicity

2011-10-25T20:55:00.000Z

Another layout for my 'face' book album.

Amy sporting her new hairstyle, she is definitely not one to follow sheeplike, I love the fact my daughter dares to be different and is confident enough to blaze her own trail.

I used mainly scraps on this page, the flowery flourish has been bladed out of a piece of Bo Bunny patterned paper. I am having so much fun completing this album.

Here are the next two pages and tag for the circle journal I am currently involved in. Art journalling has definitely become one of my favourite methods of relaxation. I love the act of starting with a blank space and just playing, seeing where the inky painty mess leads me and then adding some inspiring words, it is all the more special sharing this journey with so many lovely and creative friends .

What ???????? Orange !!!!!!!!! you might think, yes I know ! You haven't stumbled upon the wrong blog. I have been completing the pages with colours and styles I perceive to suit the recipient. This current journal belongs to Marie and she loves bright colours.

As I completed the pages this month - October, I decided to draw inspiration from the changing foliage, therefore trees became the basis of the quotes and design.The metallic finish you can see above is gold leaf.

The backgrounds were created with a mixture of acrylic paints, Dylusions ink sprays and wax rubs.

And the back of the tag with information for Marie.

I hope you like your pages hon xxx

Love mini

2011-10-24T23:03:00.000Z

Some snapshots from the class I taught on saturday.

We made flowers

And added lots of stamping with some lettering and quotes, each of these pages holds a pocket for a tag, I added heart shaped tabs to the top of my tags as my theme was 'love'

Each person chose their own embellishments, stamps, colours and inks, so each book turned out completely unique.

We had a fabulous day, a full class of lovely ladies ( a couple of new faces as well as familiar ones too) resulting in beautiful 'one of a kind' finished mini books to take home. This was the second sample I made for the class, I wanted to show that it could be used for photos and journalling also.

Of course my photos had to be my favourite subjects

The slide mounts were sanded, inked, embossed and stamped

The papers are all by Melissa Frances

We added texture and dimension with die-cuts, embossing, flowers, ribbon and lace. It is always hard to tell from the photos but the books were quite small, 4 inches square.

I chose to add journalling on my tags, I wanted to document the 'things' my children love right now, I think it will be interesting to look back on in years to come. The backgrounds for these tags were created with masks and a direct to paper inking technique.

I received a lovely email and couple of text messages from the ladies to say thankyou but honestly I want to thank them for making my saturday such a fun and relaxing day.

I am busy planning and making cards for this saturdays workshop which is an all day Christmas card workshop, I will be back in the week with some peeks of the cards we will be making, as always, please telephone the shop if you are interested in a place.

I have also completed a page in my glue book, my circle journal pages and a scrapbook layout this weekend, I will be back tomorrow with a few more pics.

Remember, Remember

2011-10-18T17:59:00.000Z

Remember this little accordion envelope book from a couple of weeks ago ? I am teaching this on saturday, I have just a couple of places left if anyone is local and interested, please telephone the shop for details.There are more pictures on this post HERE

And here are my contributions to the Stampman ATC swap for next month, the theme is 'Fireworks' ( if you hadn't already guessed)

Each firework has been painted in various shades of acrylic onto black cardstock. The painted piece was then layered onto some gorgeous starry acetate which my lovely friend Margaret bought me and then layered once again onto plain black cardstock.

The sparkle was added with little dots of stickles.These are such a departure from my normal style but fun none the less.

Just before I go to have a play in my glue book and add a layer of painty goodness to my circle journal, I have a huge thankyou to say to Margaret, for the acetate and charms(last week), for the lovely set of ribbons (this week) and for the beautiful white roses on saturday - thankyou thankyou

thankyou xxx

Also a happy birthday to Beryl who is 17 plus VAT today and always makes me smile and feel so much happier on a tuesday xxx

Putting the Merry into Christmas and the Glue Book

2011-10-13T19:37:00.000Z

As promised in yesterday's post, here is one of the images I coloured in, adorning my second Christmas card of the year. My first was completed in January, at this rate I will have a grand total of two cards to be sent out this year !

As mentioned previously I have used a super cute House Mouse stamp, these are such a pleasure to colour in. I used Distress Inks as my preferred colouring medium.

The papers are new in my shop and are by Making Memories - sooooooo lush. I have added Stickles to both the image and the sentiment plates, all edges have been distressed with a Tim Holtz tool and inked with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

Aren't they adorable ? They remind me of my three when they were little and playing with the boxes and wrappings rather than the gifts.

And yes I have started yet another project, I really can't help myself. This time I was completely inspired by the supremely talented Jean from the Bluebird Paperie

Jean collects all her scraps and odds and ends, totes them in an amazing little leather travel case and compiles her 'gluebook' on the hop ( well in the car whilst waiting for her daughter at various after school clubs etc)

So here is the beginnings of my 'gluebook'. Although mine is not a travelling gluebook, as my journeys are usually short without any waiting time, it makes more sense for me to complete my pages either in a crop or at home, adding bits and bobs ( more to clear my table and eat into that huge pile of oddments that I just cannot bear to part with)

I am challenging myself to complete the pages without procrastinating and fussing. I am just going to collage all manner of printed material, add a little stamping, flat embellishment and the odd wise word here and there.

The book I am using is the last one in a set of three and is a plain Moleskine journal measuring approximately 8x5 inches, the other two journals are currently works in process also, my Circle journal and my copy of circle journal pages.

So, THANKYOU Jean for the inspiration, what a clever and beautiful way to use up those scraps !

Life Book

2011-10-12T20:11:00.002Z

I have enrolled, I tried to resist, I honestly did, but all to no avail, and I cannot wait for January to roll on round.

My friend Anita and a couple of my new circle journal friends are joining me, are any of my blog readers taking part too ?

I have also decided today that it might be a good idea to make a start on my christmas cards.

I am busily adding some lush colour to some rather cute House Mouse stamps and have a lovely little pile of festive finery to embellish the finished cards with.

So, please excuse me for tonight and I will be back tomorrow with the fruits of my labour.

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

2011-10-09T19:02:00.002Z

You might remember I was invited by Darcy recently to join a group of artists in a circle journal ( more on that further down the post), well I decided that each month as I complete my pages and tags in the journal that has landed upon my craft table, that I would also create duplicate pages in a journal for me to keep as a record of each completed months work. Also, I intend to make an altered art item with the same techniques and theme.

So..... here is the project I completed this month, an eight inch MDF frame

The background is a mixture of gesso, various paints, book pages, stencilling, dry-brushing with acrylics and detailing with water soluble crayons.

The script is hand painted and the quote is the one I used for the journal pages also.

And here is the double journal page, as you can see - almost identical. I have created two of these double pages, one for Catherine's book and one for mine.

The butterflies have been coated in Tim Holtz Rock Candy Stickles.

And here is Catherine's tag with a second quote, I aim to add inspirational quotes to each of the journals following a different theme for each recipient. I will also be trying to bear in mind each persons likes and dislikes, I know Catherine loves blue so there is a fair bit of blue in these pages.

And the back of the tag with my details so Catherine knows who the page has been made by.

The tag for my book will contain Catherines details.

I am so excited to be a part of this fabulous circle of friends, they are such an amazingly talented and genuinely lovely group of ladies. I am thrilled to be getting to know them all better, so, a massive thankyou to Darcy for introducing me to the group xxx

Also this week we have just completed the RWS September ATC swap, the theme this month was hearts and we were required to use the colour red somewhere on our little works of art.

I used Kraft as a base and distressed a playing card for the background, the border stamp is by Stampin' Up, the butterfly is a vinyl sticker that was gifted to me by my lovely friend Helena - thanks hon xxx

The heart is an Inkadinkadoo stamp and the sentiment is also by Stampin' Up.

Thankyou to everyone who took part this month, we have had a very talented new player for the last two months who has been contributing some fabulous ATC's thankyou Debbie for joining us, can't wait to see what you come up with this month. And another thankyou to Su in France who always makes an extra card just for me so I always have one of hers, thankyou xxx

If any of my blog readers would like to join the group, the guidelines are HERE

and this months swap is HERE, the theme for October is BUTTONS and the requisite colour this time round is IVORY.

One last thing before I go, a huge thankyou to Marlene who bought me a gorgeous bouquet of the sunniest flowers this week, they really did chase away the cooling temperatures and gloomy cloud laden sky, thankyou xxx

Oooops I fibbed, that wasn't the last thing, I have some really, really exciting news to share very soon ( so exciting I almost forgot lol), I promise to share here first, there needs to be some dotting of 'i's' and crossing of 't's' but I promise as soon as they have been done I will let you all know.

Thinking of you times two

2011-09-30T17:58:00.000Z

It has been a crazy busy week, the new classes going really well and fully subscribed.

Bonnies cuttlebug class was thursday and the ladies all left with four fabulous cards and big smiles. Thankyou Bonnie for an amazing day.

Apologies to Jan - sorry I didn't have time to take photos of the cards this time round.

The new altered art classes on saturdays are also fully booked at the moment, the altered book we are creating will be repeated later in the year or possibly early next year, I didn't advertise it this time round as it was full within a week of it being on the class list, but I will try and give some warning next time for those who missed out.

Personally I have been busy with my circle journal, photos to follow soon and some new classes, again photos to follow in due course, also a few cards for friends , above are two I made for special people who could possibly do with a hug right now.

And thats is it for tonight, I have several projects sat on my table all requiring finishing touches and I have some new Tim Holtz goodies for the shop which happened to fall into my bag as I was leaving tonight, they are calling to me to come play as I type, so obey I will ( not one to argue with Mr Holtz)

Picture Perfect

2011-09-25T19:14:00.000Z

It has been a pretty sleepy sunday, a day at home with the family, catching up, chilling and a little crafting squeezed in whilst they all had their heads in school books.

This layout is the result of my playing with my paper stash

It is a little while since I completed a monochrome project and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of limiting myself to a black and white palette.

Black music paper for the hearts, wrinkled and distressed, little wooden butterflies and lush black roses

The chippies are Thickers and the black papers are by Crate.

This Tim Holtz ribbon is a new fave of mine, the little soft spirally roses are so delicate and pretty.

The film strip was a gift from my lovely friend Nicki a while ago and I have been reluctant to use it as I keep thinking none of my projects have been special enough, but what could be more special than my beautiful daughter.

The gorgeous crocheted flowers again were a gift from Anita, I am running a little low now as I appear to have a little obsession with them at the moment (wink wink)

Vintage shabby chic book

2011-09-23T17:21:00.000Z

As promised here are some sneak peeks of the book I will be teaching on saturday afternoons

Lots of lovely texture and embellishment

Flowers and lace and ribbon, bookplates and lots of handmade embellishments

Gesso, paint, glimmer mists,wax rubs, multi medium, sanding, embossing and stamping

Pockets, folds, hidden pages

A book within a book

Unique details on each and every page

I will also be teaching the basic bookbinding stitch to hold all your gorgeous work together

I am showing you the feminine version here but I also have a masculine sample for those of my class members wishing to complete their books for the special men in their lives.

This class marks the start of the new classes in the shop, saturdays will now be workshop days with loads of yummy new techniques and projects

Don't worry if you are already booked on scrapbooking, those are still running in the morning.

Class cards

2011-09-22T23:03:00.000Z

This weeks class cards

Just a quickie from me tonight, I am busy putting the finishing touches to my new Saturday afternoon workshop.

I will be back tomorrow with sneak peeks of the new workshop and the Stampin' Up cards we all made with YeeTing today.