Mixed Media Canvas

Hi there.  I've neglected my blog a bit this month as not much creativity has been going on.

I did do a multi media canvas for Fionas room as part of her Christmas thoughwith a photo of her and her best friend Jade on it

I tore some strips from scrapbooking paper and adhered with gel medium.  I added some texture paste through a stencil in a couple of areas, added a painted and sprayed chipboard flourish postioned my photo adhered some lace and trim which I then gessoed over. I covered the photo while I sprayed with some Dylusions and shimmerz inks.

I gessoed over some flowers which were not the right colour before again giving them a good spray so that they matched.

It took me the whole day at my crop to do but it was so worth it to see her face when she opened it on Christmas morning.

I have a whole load of canvases in my craft room waiting to be decorated so i think you will be seeing more of them on my blog soon.

UK Scrappers Christmas Blog Hop

Good morning and welcome to my wee contribution for the month long Christmas projects Blog Hop being organised by UK Scrappers.  I hope you have been following as there has been some fabulous projects and there are more to come right up till 24 December.

For my project I have a Christmas card with a painty background and a fab stampotique stamp

I started out with a square of watercolour card just slightly smaller than my card blank.  I sponged on some blue paint (sky blue paper artsy fresco paint) and some of their nougat colour,

 I then sponged some more of the nougat
through both a circular stencil and a stencil made from a snowflake punch.  I then sewed round the edges of the square with black thread as a contrast.

Then I stamped the stampotique image (global warming) and coloured it in with my derwent coloursoft pencils (ooh I love these pencils, so soft and creamy and easy to blend).  I added some glossy accents to his buttons, stuck him to the background with some gel matte medium and finished him off with some snow made from various frantage embossing enamels and glitter.  The final touch was computer generated text et voila here he is.

I hope you like my wee project and remember there is a new project on the home page of UK Scrappers each day thorughout December.

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there.  It's Tuesday again so its time to show what you have been spending your little ten minute bursts of creativity on this week. Pop over to Vicki's to see what she has been up to this week.

I really am having a bit of a creative slump at the moment.  Between working all week and the dark gloomy nights I haven't really been in the mood for creating much.

When I was away at Lochhouse with the girls last month we were following a tutorial by Roben Marie Smith (oh how I love her work) and as pert of the process she used a gelli plate.  Now none of us are fortunate enough to own one (yet!!) so we improvised.  I had seen people using all sorts of other things to experiment with and as I had bought a couple of non stick oven liners from the Poundshop to use as craft sheets we cut those in half so we could all have a  go.  We actually got some not bad results. These ones are not entirely smooth but I quite like the texture the surface gave the prints.  Of course I only remembered to take the only photo!!

I think I will experiment a bit more with these but not bad for 50p though.

Why don't you join in and share what you have been up to this week.

Tryiptych Canvas Swap

Hello there.  Some time ago (yes quite a long time ago!!) I signed up to take part in a triptych canvas swap with the Secret Swappers group on UK Scrappers.

I got Lou as my swap partner and her brief was pink/cream, feminine, shabby chic, distressed, tatty, butterflies and angel wings.

I used a wee set of 4 by 4 canvases.

I sponged on some cream and pink paint, collaged some tissue paper and music paper and stamped a script stamp on the front and sides.  On the middle canvas I used a digital image and on the other two I stamped the butterflies and the sentiment onto tissue paper and adhered with gel medium.

I finished off with some wee flowers and some ivory frantage to give a more distressed feel.

Lou has now received these so its safe to post them on here.

Ten Minute Tuesday - 26 November

Hello and welcome to another Ten Minute Tuesday.  Hop over to Vicki's to see what this is all about.  Its about taking wee ten minute bursts of creativity when you don't have a huge slice of time and seeing what you come up with

This week I have this wee art journal background.  I got a glue gun recently as I have been dying to try out a technique I saw demonstrated by Contadina K on Your Tube.  My first attempt isn't as good as hers but I'm quite pleased with it.

Basically you make trails of glue over your paper and allow to dry, sponge over some gesso and then
 spray some inks on to your background.  I just love the texture you get.  I have no idea what I will use this page for yet but it was fun practising.

 

I also made this flower shape out of the glue gun.  Its basic but it was my first attempt.  I'm going to use this as a stencil to put on my page and then mist some inks around it to see what effect I get.

An Attitude of Gratitude - Week 2 Catch Up

Hi there.  Brrr! it's been a horrible dull, damp and freezing week here in my corner of Scotland and that has meant my energy levels have been severely sapped and Im taking to my nice cosy bed with a hot water bottle and a dvd or book early doors most evenings.  I hate the dark cold winter months with a passion and it seems the older I get the worse I feel about them.  This has meant that I am lagging more and more behind with my Attitude of Gratitude journal pages.  I am determined to plod along and catch up but I guess it will be well into December before I complete this month long challenge.

If you want to know what this challenge is about then hop over to Bernice's blog here and have a look.  The prompts are fab and I'm really enjoying myself challenging myself to attempt as many of the techniques as I can without having to actually buy any new stash.  Its amazing what you can do with what you already own!!


So here's my pages for Days 8 to 14

Day 8 - Fun.  I scraped some modelling paste through a stencil (thank you Donna for the loan of this one - I love it) then when it was dry sprayed with Dylusions inks, stamped a Kate Crane stamp and doodled and journalled round the page

Day 9 - Generosity.  For this one I spread on gesso quite thickly all over the page tehn drew some swirls with the end of a paintbrush.  Once dry, I sprayed with Dylusions inks (I love how the gesso gives them a softer look) and  I cut out and stuck down a border and an image from Crowabout Studio B and did my journaling around the swirls.

Day 10 - Ideas.  I scraped modelling paste through a tando cogs mask in two of the corners and again sprayed on Dylusions Ink.  I thought the wee guy called Hunk from Stampotique was perfect to finish off the page as his rather large head looks like it is full of ideas lol.  I cut out some text paper and doodled the places I go to for ideas on and did some journaling around the sides.

Day 11 - Home.  I covered the page in gesso again and heated it with a heat gun till it bubbled up, then sprayed with the inks again.  I doodled the houses on text paper, added roofs from corrugated card and finished if off with stamping the word home and finishing the phrase with chit chat words and a corrugated heart.  I journalled around the houses and finished the page off with a doodled border.

Day 12 - Joy.  I tried the Vaseline resist technique for this page by scraping some Vaseline through a stencil then carefully painting over the top with acrylic paint.  Let the paint dry naturally then wipe away the paint from where the Vaseline was to reveal the card underneath. Th hot air balloon stamps is an Indigo Blu one

Day 13 - Knowledge.  For this one I used the glue stick resist technique.  I rubbed a glue stick over my stencil, let it dry a bit then sprayed on inks and wiped off where the glue was. I stamped on an Indigo Blu compass stamp and journalled around it and doodled some flowers.  I dont really like this page but I will stick with it.

and finally for now

Day 14 - Life

I used a wax crayon resist for this one.  I doodled the border and the swirls with a white wax crayon then washed over the page with watercolour paint.  I journalled in the swirls.

So here we are at Day 24 so just the ten days behind now although I do have some backgrounds started which I am working on this afternoon

Will post next weeks lot hopefully next Sunday,

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hi there.  Today I have a work in progress to show you for my Ten Minute Tuesday post.  Hop on over to Vicki's and see what its all about and join in with us.

While I was away for my crafting week with the girls at Lochhouse, Dee was showing us her recycled art journal made from a cereal packet using a tutorial by Jenniebellie.  I instantly wanted to make one so when we popped into the Tesco's in Dumfries I had to purchase a box of cereal.  I can report that as we weren't going to eat the cereal its possible to purchase a suitable box of Tesco own brand cereal for 31p!!! Not bad for a journal cover eh!!  I also got a roll of brown wrapping paper to cover the box with.

I managed to create my covers in various ten minute bursts between doing other projects.

You need to open up the cereal box.  Glue all the flappy bits to the covers for strength and cover the whole thing in pva glue.  Cut your brown paper bigger all round and place on top of the gluey covers and scrunch it up a bit to give some texture.  This then needs to dry for a fairly long time while youa re getting on with something else.  I left mine overnight.

Next step was to paint the covers - I choose dark turquoise.  It took two coats to cover the brown paper.  I then glued two pieces of corrugated card to the inside front and back covers for strength.  We recycled an amazon box from martins recycling pile for this purpose.  I stripped back the card to reveal the corrugated bits before glueing them in.

The final stage was to rub some treasure gold over the raised bits of the painted brown paper which really highlighted it well.

I have all the signatures folded ready to be sewn in but I have ordered some waxed linen thread from Vicki at A Sprinkle of Imagination as I thought that would have been stronger than the embroidery thread I usually use.

Once I have sewn the signatures in I will blog the finished book.  I love it already and can see me making another one in the not too distant future.

I had to take it outside to photograph on the window sill as the light has been so bad recently and look little Maisie Moo just had to get it on the action!!

An Attitude of Gratitude - Week 1

I have been joining in this month with An Attitude of Gratitude over on Bernice's blog here.  Although I am running a little behind I am determined to keep going and will be playing catch up at my crop on Saturday.

Bernice is posting prompts, quotes and bible verses each date on a theme and a new technique to try every couple of days. 

I am using the quotes and the verses as inspiration for the journaling on my page and Im trying to follow the suggested techniques as far as I have the necessary stash to do them with,  I am completing this project using stash I have and am not buying a single new item

Here's a round up of my first weeks pages.  The techniques for Days 1 to 17 was to use distress products and as I only have distress ink pads I had to dig deep but did manage to try seven different techniques.  It just served to remind me how versatile the distress ink pads are.

The one common denominator in all my pages is to stamp the word for each day using the same set of alphabet stamps.

I have backgrounds done for Days 8 to 11 and am hoping to work on these tonight.

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there.  I have missed out on posting for the last couple of Tuesdays as life has been a bit hectic recently.

I am taking part in An Attitude of Gratitude this month and will be blogging a full round up of my pages so far before the weekend but for the moment here's a few of the backgrounds I have prepped ready using Bernice's prompt to have texture  on your page.

For two of the backgrounds I spread texture paste through a stencil, allowed to dry and sprayed with dylusions inks and for the pink one I spread gesso on thickly and heated and bubbled it up with my heat gun before spraying on dylusions inks in pinks, yellows and reds, I love the more muted shades the gesso gave them.  For the final one I spread on gesso, again quite thickly and drew swirls into it with the other end of a paintbrush, let it dry and sprayed with the dylusions inks.  Not too bad for a couple of ten minute sessions.  Just need to get the pages finished and then I will be on track with this month long project.

Hop over to Vicki's blog if you want to join in with Ten Minute Tuesday and you can find Bernice's blog here if you want to join in with An Attitude of Gratitude.

Not So Secret Art Journal Circle Journal

Well round one of the Secret Swappers art journal circle journal has been completed and Chrissies cj is now winging its way to Heidi. 

Chrissie's theme was funky, kooky, weird, stampotiquey and as I don't have a lot of stampotique stamps (yet) I was a bit puzzled at first as what to do. 

I then spotted some fab downloads from Deviant Art.  The ones I liked were Mermaid Tales by Nancy Baumillar and one of the images was an octopus body.  I searched on google and pinterest for octopus type quotes and found one which made me laugh and summed up the way I had been feeling recently.  "Some days I wish I was an octopus so I could slap eight people at once"  I knew Chrissie wouldn't be offended by this so my page was born

I started with some pink and turquoise paint over a coat of gesso and then did some stencilling with white paint and added a few strips of paper and some rocks from the downloaded papers which I doodled some white dots on./  I attached the octopus body with gel matte medium and added one of thefaces with a crown to finish her off.  Some of the fish from the set were dotted round the page.  I love the pink spotty ones.

Some black lines of paint and circles with oil pastels and the words and it was finished,  I just hope Chrissie likes it when she gets it back.

Round 2 is commencing now and Jane's lovely cj arrived yesterday.  Its on the theme of Flight and I think I might just have an idea for her page.  Watch this space.

art journals

hello everyone I just realised that there were still a couple of pages com my art journal I did on my recent crafty break with friends I  hadn't shown you.

I'm still very much a novice at this art journaling but I am just loving the whole learning process.  

I think the main thing I have learned so far is to.keep layering until you are happy with the effect you have.
 This dream page started with some green and turquoise acrylic paints, I then kept adding some stamping using some script and bubble stamps till I was happy with the effect.  I cut the heart and the.circles from text paper and finger painted a layer of pearlescent pink paint on, the paint is quite translucent so you can still see the text.  I added a few strips of.washi tape, some rub ons and stamped the dream sentiment and butterfly stamps on white tissue paperr using stazon inks. you then tear
 round the tissue close to the stamping and apply it to your page using gel medium.  you can't then see the tissue paper so it looks like you stamped directly on the page.

I finished it off by scribbling round the circles with pearlescent pink acyrylic ink and letting it dribble down the page.  I love the effect so thank you Dee for letting me use yours. A bottle of this is on my wish list now but probably in turquoise, no surprise there then.

Ten Minute Tuesday - on a Wednesday!

Morning everyone, we are having loads of computer issues at work and I completely forgot to publish my ten minute Tuesday post yesterday.  So what is Ten Minute Tuesday hop on over to Vickis blog to see what this is all about.

Although I have been happily playing away in my art journals I haven't felt the urge to scrap for some months but finally, on Sunday I was inspired by the monthly challenge over on UK Scrappers where you had to use a Dr Seuss quote.  I thought it was perfect for this photo if.ny lovely daughter Fiona with her pink hair.

 I doodled around the edge of the cardstock with a pink posca paint pen then sprayed on some bubblegum pink dylusions spray.  I matted the photo on to a scrap of patterned paper then doodled a heart behind the photo. I put on some strips of washi tape, a button badge, a figure which I painted pink again with the poca pen and finished it off with the camera transparency froma  recent Quirky Kit.

To finish it off I stamped the quote as the title.  I used the quote " Why fit in when you were born to stand out" was ideal for Fiona

 So there you have it, my first layout in months,  very simple but I'm hoping it has kick started the mojo as I have a pile of photos waiting to be scrapped.  This only took me a.couple of ten minute sessions on Sunday to complete.

 What will you create with your ten minutes this week.  Why not join in and let us all see.

Rocking Your World Friday - 25 October 2013

Morning all.  Its Friday again so that means its time to join in with Virginia over on her blog to see what's been rocking everyone's worlds this week

Apologies for not joining in last week.  I was off work and away on a crafty week away with the girls so should have had the time but was so busy up to my elbows in paint and ink that I completely forgot so this post covers the last two weeks

So firstly I am grateful to have such lovely friends who share a common interest in scrapping.  Last week saw us at Lochhouse Farm, Beattock, near Moffat where Mary and Martin always treat us like friends.  We have been going here twice a year for the last four or so years and it has morphed from a two night weekend, to three nights, to five to an entire week this time round.  It was a truly wonderful week and the days just whizzed past in a flash.  My mojo for scrapping has still deserted me but I did a lot of the inky painty stuff and had an absolute ball. Its amazing how much inspiration bounces round the table when everyone is working together.  I made a fab start on a junk journal helped along by Dee after a hilarious trip to Tesco in Dumfries eyeing up all the cereal boxes for the cheapest suitable one to make the covers - in the end up I got Tesco everyday rice pops - 31p - result!  Covers are made, painted and highlighted with some Treasure gold (courtesy of Dee) but I wont post pics till I have all the signatures sewn in.  They are folded ready to go, I just need to get a big needle to do this at the weekend.

I will just post a picture of one of the art journal spreads I did.  I love this one as the background turned out nice and grungy and I even managed to draw the figure myself.  Yes I know its mega basic but I drew it and I'm proud of that fact.  More of the pages will follow in future posts.

I'm grateful to have such lovely crafty friends in Dee, Lesley, Donna and Lisa and cant wait till our next visit.  Its just a pity Heather wasn't able to be with us this time around.

We had to break our week away to come back to East Kilbride for our charity crop in memory of our dear friend Heather Cuthbert who sadly lost her battle with cancer earlier this year.  It was a fab day, completely manic and we were all utterly exhausted at the end.  However it was worth it as we have raised in excess of £1100.00.  It was a tremendous total and I am grateful for the team work all the girls at the crop showed.  There is still some more money to come in from sale of mini book kits.  I am grateful for each and every person who turned up, spend money, gave in donations and all the organisers who put their heart and soul into making it a great day.


I know I've  said it before but I am grateful to work with such lovely colleagues and friends and this was brought sharply into focus when I received a call from Mo while I was still away last Sunday to say that one of our lovely guys at work Bob King had passed away very suddenly.  Bob was only 65 and was working part time.  It was such a shock to us all but we have rallied round each other for support.  The funeral is tomorrow and I can hardly believe he is gone.  He was truly a gentlemen and the nicest chap you could ever meet.  We will all miss him loads. I was grateful to count him as a friend. RIP Bob you were truly one of a kind and will leave a big pair of shoes to be filled.

 

 

That's it for this week.  Hop over to Virginia's to see what this is all about.

Secret Swappers Art Journal cj

I'm taking part in my first ever proper art journal cj with the Secret Swappers group on UK Scrappers. my theme is that there is an envelope of prompts for you to choose from to base your entry on. I chose the prompt to describe yourself in three words which was harder than i first thought. I eventually plumped for loyal, chatty and creative. I built up my background with layers of acrylic paint, stencilling and stamping. I coloured in the Stampotique minky girl figure and stood her on a collaged trip of patterned paper and washi tape. I cut round a photo of myself and collaged it on to the heart and finished with some marks from the edge of a credit card and bottle top on paint and some oil pastels. I stamped the sentiment on white tissue paper, tore round the edges and adhered to the page with gel matte medium. I was pleased with the way it turned out and can't wait to see how the girls interpret the rest of the prompts.

Rocking your World Friday - 11 October

hello and Happy Friday everyone. just a brief one from me today and as usual I forgot to take photos! some scrapbooker I am eh! it's been another one if those weeks very busy and work and at home as Im trying to get ready for my bi annual trip to Lochhouse Farm near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway with the girls for some crafty time away. Im no where near as organised as I should be so Im grateful that we arent going till Monday so I have the weekend to rush around like a headless chicken ramming stash into bags and boxes. I'm very grateful that despite my Mums bad fall the other week there doesnt seem to be any lasting damage and she is now moving about a bit easier. Im grateful thst the horrible cold has finally gone and.I'm feeling much better for the first time in around two weeks As ever I am grateful for my lovely daughter who dyed her hair pink and stood tall even in the face of a shall we say less than enthusiastic response from one half of the family.

I'm grateful for the support my lovely boss Mo has given me over the last five years I have had the pleasure of working for her. She left last week among many tears from us all to take up a new fabulous positon. We have really missed her this week. I am grateful that as from Monday I am off for for a whole week and will be among the best bunch of girls ever having an entire week - yes you did hear that correctly - we have upgraded our usual weekend for a full week of crafty scrappy, inky, painty fun, laughter, tears, chocolate and wine. Hopefully I will find my creative vibe again and be back with all outstanding projects finished and some fabulous bits and pieces to show off on my blog. I'm just sorry that Heather isnt joining us this time. It will be a funny one for me being there without her and our room in the cortage wont be the same. If you want to know why Im sharing my gratefuls this Friday then hop on over to Virginias and see what its all about Back to the packing now girls lol

Ten Minute Tuesday - 8 October

Hello there. After nursing a hellish cold for the last ten days and really struggling to do anything much in the way of anything at all never mind creative I finally feel better and raring to go. One thing I did manage to do recently was prep my blank art journal for a new cj Im taking part in with some of the Secret Swappers girls on UK Scrappers. As I was using a blank cheapo moleskine type book the inside front pages did look a bit on the boring side so I got out the paints and made a background using the paper artsy fresco paints. It took me several ten miute bursts over the course of a few days to get it the way I wanted it. I used some of Kate Cranes hand carved stamps. These stamp really well with paint and Im very happy with them. I also slipped in a couple of torn pieces from one of Julie Kirks fab plundered pages packs. I used some pages from a book about calculus - I thought it suited the dont over think it theme of the page. The wording on the page is a message to me and to everyone doing an entry in my journal "Dont over think it Just create" I do haope I can take my own advice as I spend more time fussing over what to do rather than just getting stuck in and getting on with it.

I will blog my own entry for this cj later on in the week If you fancy joining in with Ten Minute Tuesdays then hop over to Vicki's to see what its all about.

Rocking Your World Friday - 27 September,

Hello fellow Rockettes. Im on a roll as Ive remembered to post this for the second week in a row yay!! I just wanted to thank everyone for their lovely comments on last weeks post. I have drawn a line under all the negatives and have had a positive week Firstly I am grateful for our crop last Saturday, all the girls proved very supportive and have all agreed to help so that I am not left running the crop on my own. I always said what a great bunch our crop girls are and they have sure proved me right this last month or so. I had some fun doing a demo for Angela (Angel Crafts) of the lovely frantage products - I could get quite addicted to these. Heres a few of the tags I made for the crop.

These bad boys arrived from Amazon - Carmen recommended them as as they were only a couple of quid I thought Id give them a go. I havent tried them yet but will do so soon and let you know how I get on with them.

I am very grateful that despite a rather nasty fall at the caravan this week whilst trying to climb up to see over a wall if you dont mind!!!! My Mother (well into her seventies) escaped with some nasty bruising on her back and the back of her head having to be glued back together. It could have been so much worse and although she is going to be sore for a while it looks like no major damage has been done. I will leave you with a wee face that never fails to cheer me up. Maisie Moo thought the new pink flamingo bag I got last week from Asda was a perfect place for her. She does love her a bag that kitten!!

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there. Despite my best intentions I've been missing in action for the last couple of Tuesdays but as things hsve calmed down somewhat I'm back this week. I really haven't been up to much on the crafty front so thought I'd share with you a couple of backgrounds I've done in my art journal. At our crop on Saturday Donna lent me her paper artsy chalk finish paints. I've been having a wee play with them and they do behave a bit differently to the acrylics I'm used to but after several sessions and a lot of layering I finally got two backgrounds I'm happy with. The colour palette is a bit more pastel than I'm used to but they do have a lovely soft finish and I broke out my fab new Kate Crane stamps, to use and I am totally in love with them.

That's all from me so why not pop on over to Vicki's to see what Ten Minute Tuesday is all about

Rocking your World Friday 20 September

Hello everyone. I've been missing in action a bit over the last couple of weeks and I'm sorry theres been nothing of any great interest to share with you. This was due to events completely outwith my control which once uncovered just seemed to spiral into ever more of an increasing nightmare. So sorry I havent been round to comment on all your lovely blogs either but I will put that to right this week. I'm pleased to say that I'm pretty confident everything has pretty much been resolved now as best as can be in all the circumstances but I have been left pretty much knocked right down by them. There's nothing worse than being let down and betrayed by someone you counted as a friend but I guess as usual you live and learn. It was made all the more difficult for me as folks who know me will know that after my husband of 20 years fell for and subsequently married my former best friend it took me a very long time to build up trust in anybody again and to have done thst and then find yourself betrayed again albeit in a completely different way has hit me very hard. I think what is worse too is that this person comes from the crafting world and up to now every crafter I have met has been just so lovely. I have worked alongside this person setting up and running our local crop for the last couple of years and to find out that all sorts of what can only be described as nastiness and deviousness has gone on behind my back has really sickened me to the core. this was made worse on Sunday night and Monday morning by a completely unwarranted attack publicly on me out of no where by a team member on an online forum I'm part of.

Anyways enough of the negativity, this week at least there have been things which have at least given me a reason to post my rocked my world post. Firstly my lovely daughter, who stood by me while things crumbled all around. She is a very loyal and very strong young woman and I am immensely proud of her. she is the one in red, her best friend Jade in black.

Secondly, look at this this funky little bag from Asda, with pink flamingos on, it was designed by Julien McDonald for their Tickled Pink campaign and with a proportion of the price going to breast cancer charities it would have been rude not too. Its going to hold some of my crafting bits and bobs for taking to crops.

Then last Sunday I had a lovely lunch out with my Mum and Dad at our favourite local deli and a glass of two of rather delicious merlot just might have passed my lipes!!! Well I deserved it.

This little package of stampendous encrusted jewels embossing powders and fragments arriving in the post from Angela (Angel Crafts) for me to play with in readiness for giving a wee demo at our crop tomorrow, I got to pick the colour (teal) and its gorgeous!

And looky looky at these little beauties - stamps made by Kate Crane from her Etsy shop which I was lucky enough to be ab

le to get a hold of - cannot wait to get these little beauties inked up. FInally, good friends both old and new who have really come through and rallied round with support during the aforementioned horrible time. The level of supoort and friendship has been astounding and I'd like to thank then all for being there for me. Im looking forward to reading all your Rocking your World posts and if you are not sure what this is all about then hop over to Virginia's place and take a look. Hoping to regain my creativity at my crop tomorrow so might have something new and crafty to show you.

Ten Minute Tuesday - 3 September

Morning folks. Ive been having a bit of a time of it lately and I missed completely joining in with this and Rocking your World Friday last week. I really havent had the time or the inclination to do much crafting but I did make a start at the weekend on a wee project but that is for the UK Scrappers End of Summer Blog Hop so I cant show you that yet. Come back on Monday 9 September when the hop goes live though and join in with us So the only bit of craftiness I have managed is to continue with my Intentions page in my Art, Doodle, Love book. Its getting there but its still not quite finished. Id like to completely fill up the whole lot before I move on from that to another page. I am still really loving picking this up and having a wee doodle although I do have a way to go compared to others I have seen. I started off using the Feber Castell Pitt pens but i kept ruining them writing on top of paint so bought a couple of the Pigma Micron ones and I must say that for doodling they are my new favourite. I have yet to try them over paint though lol. The colouring in has been done with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and I do love these, they are soft and blend easily and there is a fab colour range.

Well thats all for me today. Hop over to Vickis to see what Ten Minute Tuesday is all about. Im not sure if she will have a post today or not as her kiddies might just be going back to school but theres always something lovely to look at on her blog.

Rocking Your World Friday - 23 August

Well hasn't that last week just whizzed past at the speed of light and here we are at Friday again and its time to Rock Your World with Virginia. If you fancy joining all the Rockettes which what they are grateful for this past week then hop over to Virginia's blog and see what its all about Each week I tell myself to take more photos to go along side my gratefuls and each week its an epic fail lol. Note to self - get out your camera!!! So what have I been grateful for this past week It was our crop last Saturday that I co-run and I am so grateful for my cropping buddies, we had another fab crop last Saturday and a day with these girls never fails to inspire me and lift my spirits. Sometimes there is far more chatting, laughing, drinking tea and eating cake goes on than crafting but you know what - thats actually okay. They really are a great bunch and the support I have received from them after what was a quite frankly difficult week was pretty epic. I was actually quite productive for a change and managed a circle journal entry and also this double page spread for my own art journal - its not finished yet but Im quite pleased with the way its shaping up. Id never used the hambly transparencies before but Angela (Angel Crafts) had been clearing out her stock room and found a whole pile and brought them to sell at a reduced price. After remarking that I had no idea what you would do with them Linda gave me some great ideas so some were purchased and I set about cutting up this brick wall one and attaching it to my journal with washi tape. The image behind the wall is a girl trapped behind a bird cage and I put it behind the wall to symbolise being trapped. Im not sure how I am going to finish the page off but I will be working on it this weekend.

The continuing generosity of folk with the prizes and hand made items for sale which are still coming in for our forthcoming charity crop - I thank you all. The world is full of generous and talented crafters The Range - yes I know! - is it strange to be grateful for a shop? I think not. For years Ive listened to my English friends saying what a marvellous place it is and what arty bargains you can get there. Well I went on Sunday because at long last the Range has arrived in Scotland. Its only about 20 minutes away in the car from my house and it has a fab wee art department. Im on a tight budget so I just treated myself to a few indivdual brushes as Im sure that part of not getting the painty background effects I want is down to my brushes. They have a fab selection of paints, mediums and canvases so Im sure I will become a frequent visitor there. Ive had a wee experiment with the brushes already and while my efforts are far from perfect I do really think these brushes have helped a bit. I forsee another visit in my future to collect up a few more lol. Using my new brushes I tried to follow a Dina Wakely page from her book and although the colours are a bit on the bright side Im pleased with the way its shaping up

So what have you been grateful for this week. Come along and join us,

Ten Minute Tuesday - 20 August

Hello, hello, its Tuesday again so that must mean its time for a Ten Minute Tuesday post. Vicki is on her holibags at the moment so I dont think she will be posting but I am so in the routine of doing this I'm just continuing along. I have a circle journal entry for you today. Its for the Mojo Busters 3 cj and is for Leah. Her theme is 1967. I was last to get this so most of the obvious ones for the year had been done. While researching I noticed that one of my favourite songs was released in June of 1967 Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison - so that's what I decided to do for my page. Again I did this in various ten minute (ish) bursts. I painted the background trying to follow the instructions for colour patching in the Acrylic Solutions book - again mine didnt turn out like it should but I quite liked it anyway. I then sprayed some paper with dylusions inks, lemon zest, bubblegum pink and cherry pie and die cut them with my tattered florals die. I stuck these down to the page and doodled on and around them. I drew the girls face and hair, coloured with coloursoft pencils ( I still need more practise at that - but the lovely Suzi at our crop who is something of a colouring expert is going to give me a little tutorial to help me along) and cut her out and stuck her down to the page in amonst the flowers. I doodled a wee border round the pages, stamped the title and doodled some of the words of the song around the girl. I was quite pleased with the way it turned out and I just hope Leah likes it.

Rocking Your World Friday - 16 August

Hi girls its Friday again so welcome to my rocking your world post. Hop over to Virginias place to see what this is all about So what rocked my world this week. Firstly the generousity of people with donations for our charity crop. Facebook is a marvellous tool sometimes and the crafting community in the main is full of fabulous people. Payday was yesterday - yes!! - I only have a teeny weeny stash allowance this month in particular but its always fun trying to decide what I might treat myself too. The girls at work, I am fortunate to work with a great time and to celebrate payday we all went to a local italian restaurant and had a fabulous meal out after work last night for payday Good friends who all come together to form a mutual support network when things get shall we say awkward. Thank you girls for coming together to help get over a difficult situation, you all know who you are. Finally for this week time for a little crafting in my "almost re-organised" craft room. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed sitting at my desk rather than balancing my stuff on the coffee table. Im a bit behind with an art journal cj on the secret swappers group on UKS Im a member of so I took the chance to catch up a bit. This is my entry for Karen - I just hope she likes it. She wanted an atc to match her page.

The background was a mop up page with dylusions inks and the reverse of stencils from another page and I love the way it turned out. I bet it I try to replicate it I wouldnt be able to. Its our crop tomorrow so I need to get organised tonight as Ive an important cj entry I need to be working on. Enjoy your week and if you join in then let me know as Id love to come and visit your post.

Ten Minute Tuesday - 13 August

Morning all its Tuesday so its time for another Ten Minute Tuesday post. If you want to know what this is all about hop over to Vicki's blog and have a look at some of her posts. I dont think she has time to post at the moment as she has her kids off for the school holidays but her lovely blog is worth a look at for her previous posts. Im in the middle of a major craft room clearout and the scrapping stuff is still to be sorted. I did however manage to get my desk cleared and my arty stuff more or less organised so I managed to sit down in between the clearing out and get two pieces of mail art for the trail on UKS off to their recipients. The base was a piece of card I had used to mop up the overspray of dylusions ink sprays from a page and from some sequin waste. I chopped it to size then drew the figures and coloured them in with my coloursoft pencils, I realised I didnt have any skin tone ones though so the shade I used for the faces turned out a bit odd,. However my lovely friend Donna has picked up a set of skin tone ones for me which were on Offer in WH Smith so I will be able to use the correct shades now :) I stamped over the dress with a kaisercraft alphabet stamp, stamped the Tim Holtz sentiment then finished them off with a couple of strips of washi tape and some zig zag sewing rub ons. I coloured in the open bits of the sentiment stamp with a posca paint pen.

Im enjoying the trail and once the recipients have received these I will be putting my name down again. What did you get up to in your ten minute bursts this week, Id love to see.

Rocking Your World - 9 August

Hi, hi, hi and welcome to Rocking your World. Friday has come around again rather quickly and its time again to join Virginia and the other rockettes in seeing what we have all been grateful for this last week. So where do I begin, firstly I am grateful that as last weekend approached and I had decided to do something about the pit that was my craft room I spotted a large second hand expedit unit for sale on facebook which would help with my storage issues. I am also grateful that Fiona and her boyfried Gary helped me to put the blooming thing up or I would never have managed by myself. I am grateful that my mojo returned and I actually finished this art journal page that for once I am quite pleased with.

Now I have finished phase 1 of the clear out I have a mostly cleared floor and a cleared desk to work at and I have managed to catch up on a few outstanding swaps so I feel much better about that. The sunshine - again - I know - I still cant believe that here in Scotland we have had such lovely weather, its been fab and I do hope it lasts a bit longer. My lovely kids - both Fraser and Fiona were marvellous at helping to organise everything for their Grandpa's birthday the other week and Fraser has been working hard trying to tackle the jungle that is our back garden. However this week the thing I am most grateful for is life itself. Myself and friends from the crop I co run have been spending some time this week organising a charity crop for September in memory of our very dear friend and talented scrapbooker Heather Cuthbert. Heather sadly lost her battle with cancer earlier this year and is very much missed in our crop. We are planning the charity crop in Heathers name to raise money for Marie Curie as it was a charity very close to Heather's heart. She shaved her hair before the chemotherapy made it fall out and a substantial amount of money was raised by her from that brave act.

I am so grateful to crafty friends stepping forward with offers of help and donations for our raffles and tombols. God bless you all ladies.