Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there fellow bloggers.

Tuesday has rolled round again and it's time to join in with Vicki's  Ten Minute Tuesday, hop over to Vicki's blog  The Biskit Barrel to see what it's all about.

This week I decided to scrap the April photo for the View a month challenge on the Lucky Snapping in 2013.blog.  I made the accordian book and scrapped January to March at my recent weekend away so only had my April pic to do to  keep me all up to date.  Each wee page is only 6 x 6.making it easy to scrap and that coupled with the fact that I'm only using papers from the one collection (Studio Calico Snippets - chosen as they have a dinky wee sticky tab for each month plus I loved the colours) meant that its easy to grab the bag Im keeping the papers, the accordian book and my printed photos for each month and get going with my ten minute slot. It's blooming hard to photograph though lol.

What will you do with your ten minutes this week?

Summer Girl

Sharing another page in my teeeny wee A6 seaside journal.  I used a stamp from a set which came free with the magazine Creative Stamping.  I wasn't impressed with the mag itself but there was a plate of beach/seaside stamps which I reckoned were worth the price so I'm sure you will be seeing many of them appearing in this wee journal.  I coloured the stamped imagine in with watered down distress inks and journalled all around the edge about how I hate the winter but love the summer.   I really admire Rosie's lettering on her pages which you can see on her fab blog here  but it's going to take me a lot of practising to make mine anything like hers lol

The Lochhouse Ladies

Hello folks.  Last week I had a  tired and back down to earth with a bump  week, having just spent a fab long weekend with my crafting friends at Lochhouse Farm near Moffat.  Lochhouse is a lovely wee place and we usually go twice a year in April and in October. This.time round there were six of us and that really is the perfect number for the scrapping space available. We always have such a good time with plenty of laughter sprinkled in among all the crafty goings on

Mary and Martin  always look after us supremely well and the food is just lush.  Its so nice just to kick back and chill out with good company and the best thing is that once the crafting stuff comes out in the lovely stables conversion it can stay there until we are ready to pack up to go home.

Unfortunately I just havent had much scrapping mojo lately so only managed one layout which was  for last weeks weekly challenge on UK  Scrappers. Its not the best photo in the world but as its such a  rare one of Fraser with his Great Gran who sadly passed away when he was two it needed scrapping for his album. After all isn't that what scrapbooking is really about, scrapping real family moments and not just always showcasing the best photos with the newest paper ranges.  I titled this layout precious moments, because that's what it was to us

I spent most of the weekend messing around with paints and inks and faffing in my art journals and even  converted Dee to the joys of art journalling.

Heres a page in my A5 Book of me journal.  I went for collaging with paper for this page and used what was left of this lovely Teresa Collins sheet as I liked the words "Happiness" and " .  I hate photos of me but quite like this one Lesley took of me at Lochhouse last October , I used some distress stains on the paper to darken it down a bit.  Having borrowed Lesley and Donnas stains over the weekend I have come to the conclusion I need to invest in these as they are fab for backgrounds.

I will be back later with some of the other pages I did but for now the coundown is on until our next one in October when are are going for the WHOLE week whoooo hoooo, bring it on.

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - April

Goodness me. Running late or what this month!  Just sneaking in with a few days of April left with my view.  Taken early this morning as  woke up early and it was such  a.beautiful, if cold morning.

I took various shots then heard some geese taking off and just managed to catch them in my photo.

I've finally managed to decide on a format to display my monthly photos and have plumped for an accordian book with 6 x 6 pages using the Studio Calico Snippets papers, film strip washi tape and Bo Bunny mamarazzi 2 stamps (which by the way stamp like a dream) all obtained from my friend Angela of Angel Crafts.  How long we have waited for the film strip washi tape so it was hard to break into it lol.  I'm looking forward to filling the book up with mini layouts each month

Ten Minute Tuesday

Hello there blogging friends.  Im joining in with Vicki and her ten minute Tuesday again.  Its such a good idea when you are short of time to give yourself just ten minutes to play and see what you come up with.

Ive been away for a crafting weekend with friends and am back shattered but happy and will do a separate post all about that later this week.

I had a play in my art journals whilst away and even converted my friend Dee to an art journalling journey.

So what did I achieve in ten minutes. Well here it is, a background in my A4 journal.  not my usual colours for a wee change Ive used pink, yellow and orange acrylic paint smeared and blended with my fingers, some stencilling with paint and a wee bit of background stamping with stazon inks and a doodley flower stamp, stamped along the bottom and  ta da a background all ready for finishing off when the mood strikes.

 Hop on over to Vickis placeThe Biskit Barrel and join in with this one

Ten Minute Tuesday - the Basics

Arrgh! Completely forgot to post this on Tuesday.  If you want to join in with Ten Minute Tuesday then hop over to Vicki's blog and have a look and see.

Ive been too busy this week so far for anything creative as Im busily trying to get organised for our bi-annual weekend away to Lochhouse in Moffat with my scrappy pals. 

Stash is everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, while I try to organise it into some semblance of order for packing lol

I did manage to get the paintbrush out but only to apply a base coat of gesso to a few pages in my A5 and A6 art journals so they were all prepped and ready to go just to grab when I got there and make a start without waiting for the gesso to dry.

Will be doing lots of lovely crafting at the weekend so hopefully will have something a bit more exciting to show next time round.

Another AJ Page in my book of me

 Thanks so much to all of you who Popped by yesterday during the UKS Spring Blog Hog, all of your comments were much appreciated and it was fab to hop round all the blogs and see all the projects on view.

I cant believe this will be the seventh post I have done this month already, yes really, the seventh!!


This is wonderful that I am blogging so much and most of the credit must go to the lovely Julie Kirk of  Notes on Paper (hop on over and have a look at her Push up Bra approach to blogging series - its a fab series designed to get you on a blogging roll) Shes also raising money for Save the Children as part of her series and would appreciate a wee donation from you.

I started the background of this page after I had been to the workshop with Kate Crane and then stopped as I didnt really like it and put it away while I thought about it.  I dug out the book again on Saturday and contemplated it a bit more, added in a bit more paint,  some stamping and some stencilling through a numbers and heart mask and it began to grow on me a bit

I had bought this Steampunk Nipper Siouxsie stamp from Jean at 3d Jean and hadnt used it yet so I got it out decided she would look better with wings as she looked like she was up on her tippy toes trying to take off so I stamped up with the wings stamp which came with a recent edition of Craft Stamper.  Added some Tim Holtz chit chat stickers which read "Take Flight and Live" and I added some journalling which reads "Dont let life hold you down, stop dreaming and start living, the only thing stopping you is your own doubts, Spread your wings and fly high

UK Scrappers Spring Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my little corner of blogland.

If you are following the UK Scrappers Blog hop you should have arrived here from Soojay

If you get lost along the way then the full list of blogs can be found here 

My project was originally going to be a page in my art journal but has now morphed into a canvas for a very special friend who has had a bit of a rough week last week.

Firstly I applied a base coat of paint all over the canvas blending in each of the three colours as I went. Sorry about the quality of the photos but Im having to use my Mums ancient laptop and she has no photo editing software *sigh*

 Let this dry by heating carefully with a heat gun,   then sponge some paints through a stencil, dry off again, put the stencil back on again but slightly offset this time and sponge through with some white paint which gives a softer effect especially if you are using brighter colours.  I have also used some script stamps to stamp some interest in the background using similar tones to my painted background. Use a waterproof ink for this.  Make sure each stage is dry before proceeding to the next one.

Next up choose your focal image, it could be a stamped image or digital download perhaps.  For this I chose a stamped image with the quote "Northing is to be feared, It is only to be understood" by Marie Curie.  I scribbled on some thick watercolour paper with a couple of Neocolours which I then went over with a damp baby wipe to blend the colours in softly.  I let this dry then stamped on my image again with a waterpoof ink and tore round the edges carefully.  I taped four decorative pins together and attached them to the underside of my stamped image which I then raised up on waste pieces of chipboard before glueing to the canvas, glossy accents or similar glue is ideal for this.  I painted a chipboard butterfly purple and dry brushed some turquoise paint around the edges and finished it off with some turquoise rhinestones along its body   I glued it to the canvas with the edge slightly overhanging and then made a trail of turquoise rhinestones as a tail. 

For the final finishing touch I glued a cabochon onto a button and stuck them both to a paper bloom.

I hope the recipient likes it and that you have found something in this post that you can use to make a canvas or page of your own

Next stop on the hop is Maryanne

Heres the finished page from my previous post for Ten Minute Tuesday

I stencilled some painty swirls through a stencil and stamped some background stamping on then stamped the focal image of the two wee girls under their parasols and coloured them in with Promarkers then overstamped with some bottle tops and the edge of a credit card.  Using a mixture of my  handwriting and word stickers I titled the page Happiness is a day at the Beach.  It is to me and its been way too long since Ive been on the beach at my beloved Beadnell so Im aiming to get in a visit there for one of the holiday weekends in May.  Its not my most favourite page Ive made but its a whole new learning curve to me and Im thoroughly enjoying the learning process.

Ten Minute Tuesday (on a Thursday!)

I really enjoyed joining in with Vicki's ten minute Tuesday last week and had a go again this Tuesday but its taken me until today to blog it oops!

Another wee background started for my A6 seaside  journal. a bit basic but.I can build on it.  I used neocolours and scribbled on the page then ran over it with a wet paintbrush.  It was the first time I had used these and I dont think they really liked the fact that I had gessoed the background.  I think they will probably work better on watercolour paper.

I then sponged yellow paint through a stencil on the top right to represent the sun and stamped along the bottom with this fab stamp I bought recently - I think its by Lost Coast Designs to represent the sea.  I coloured in some of the bubble shapes with my white Uniball Signo pen, I love it , its the best white pen I have tried so far.

It needs some more work then I will post a piccy of the finished page but its not too bad for ten minutes work.

Hop on over to Vicki's Place http://thebiskitbarrel.blogspot.co.uk and see the fab background she has made this with with her ten minutes.

Oops piccie is on its side but its too fiddly on my phone to rotate round - sigh!

Better Late Than Never

Oops after being so organised in advance for the first three months of the art journal Calendar challenge set by Kate Crane  I fell at the first hurdle this month. I have been keeping an online diary on my phone though ready for when the mojo returned.


Finally today I got my book out and once I slapped on the first brushload of paint that was it, I was off.

I have to say these colours are not my normal choice but I am.trying to come out of my confort zone colourwise this year and I. am happy with the.overall effect.

I knew I wanted to feature wellies and umbrellas , yes I know, I know a bit cliched for April but as its my first year of doing it and all that I thought I could get away with it lol. I didnt have any stamped images to suit so I eventually bit the bullet and doodled some. Now I cant draw but these wee doodles arent too bad so I think I need to be a bit braver and practise some more.

It you want to join in hop over to Kates blog The Kathryn Wheel for more information.



In a bid to be more organised I am thinking of what to do on my May pages already.

Ten Minute Tuesday

I decided to join  in this week  with Vicki from The Biskit Barrel.

She has started this fab idea of Ten Minute Tuesday  and in a bid to kick start my non crafty activity during the week.  I thought it might be an ideal chance to make a start on my new wee dinky A6 journal which is going to be all about my love of the seaside.  I worked on it for longer than ten mins which has got to be good due to the drying time of paint.  I need to over stamp the wee beach but to embed it in the page as it doesnt look quite right. Not the best page Ive ever done but I will tinker  a bit more with it and see if Im happier

Hop on over to Vickis place to see what she and others did with their ten minutes

My Month in Numbers March

Ooh first time joining in with this challenge set by the very lovely Julie Kirk
31 days filled in on my March Art journalling calendar (challenge organised by the lovely Kate Crane). Cant believe Ive managed to keep up with this for 3 months yay!
418 miles round trip (via Heathers in Holystone) to attend an Art journalling workshop in Middlesbrough organised by Jean Sharrocks of 3d Jean and.taught by the lovely aforementioned Kate Crane.  Well worth the trip and new friends made including the founder of The month in numbers challenge Julie Kirk. Hoping Theres another One and I manage to get a place on.it.if there is.
4 - the number of weekly challenge layouts done for the challenges on Uk Scrappers during March giving me a points total for my UKS team The Rik Rak Ravers of 240.
2 crops attended, our own one in East Kilbride and Heather's One in Holystone
20 - the number of brightly coloured balloons released at our March EK crop in  Memory of the gorgeous Heather Cuthbert who lost her battle against cancer.
41 - the number of inchies and twinchies made for a swap on UK Scrappers.  Twinchies, not a bad size to work on but those inchies - tricky little size to work on but I eventually conquered them

Hmmmm too many! The number of Creme eggs consumed by us at work and that was before Easter lol